Watch John Oliver on special tax districts.

John Oliver on special tax districts. FYI: I am running for a seat on the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County in the nonpartisan election on November 3, 2026. It is an independent special taxing district. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saU5racsGE

Slavin family values -- putting people first

On June 6, 1944, my late paratrooper Father parachuted into France and helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis, before the sun even rose that day.  

My Dad taught me, as JFK's dad taught me him, that "you have to stand up to people with power, or else they walk all over you."

In his spirit, my Mother helped organize the employees of Camden County College in Blackwood, N.J. into what became International Union of Electrical Workers Local 440.  Mom got some 40 union cards signed in an hour in 1970.  The clerical and custodial employees prevailed.  

One of my law professors in Memphis told a mutual friend that I was a "natural born attorney."  My Mother said, "I always knew you were an S.O.B."

My late mentor, the Honorable Nahum Litt, was the Chief Administrative Law Judge of the United Staes Department of Labor, 1979-1995.  

Chief Judge Litt stood like Horatius at the bridge, protecting the independence of hearings in whistleblower and workers compensation cases for Black Lung disease sufferers from the coalfields.

Judge Litt helped me to understand. We worked to understand administrative law's perversion of justice by rich and powerful corporations.  

I later wrote about ACUS for Common Cause Magazine.  In response, Congress defunded a federal agency from 1995-2010: the prestigious Administrative Conference of the United States lost funding because it wasted federal tax dollars on worthless studies by pro-agency law professors.  ACUS sought to inflict Alternative Dispute Resolution on workers and corporations. ACUS sought to defang and declaw the Freedom of Information Act.  ACUS sought to stifle lawyer representation of workers in cases against powerful employers, while encouraging non-lawyer representatives. 

My Mother, my Father, and Chief Judge Litt taught me valuable lessons. 

Here in St. Johns County, we're learning what happens when soulless corporations control and contaminate our governments.  

Deforestation. 

Flooding.  

Unplanned overdevelopment. 

Overcrowded schools with hundreds of unsafe portable classrooms. 

Since 1981, I've investigated and helped expose corruption in our country.

 I've lived in St. Augustine since November 5, 1999. 

We've seen the murder of a Sheriff deputy's girlfriend reported in The New York Times and PBS Frontline, 

My Mother had decades of experience in purchasing for Camden County College and corporations like F.W. Woolworth.

 

When I learned that our Mosquito Control Commission bought a $1.8 million no-bid helicopter, I asked my Mother if she would buy a helicopter withoutn competitive bidding: "absolutely not."  

Working with the late Robin Nadeau, John Sundeman,Jeanne Moeller, Don Girvan,  and other community leaders, 

We, the People helped persuade our Mosquito Control District to cancel the no-bid contract.  Taxpayers won a full refund of our MCD's 10% deposit. 

Chief Judge Litt was tight as a tick with government money. Judge Litt taught me that any government budget can be cut by 10%. Here in St. Johns County, we have a $4.5 million mosquito museum, with 41% cost overruns. There's too much waste in government. 

Mosquito-borne diseases kill one million people annually.  My Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943 as an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper.  

I believe in miracles. They called me a "miracle baby."

Likely due to my Father's suffering from malaria, it took my patents a dozen years, praying to Saint Jude, (patron Saint of hopeless causes), before they were able to have their only child (me).   Mom said the chances of my being born were less than one in 100,000.

We've achieved dozens of public interest victories. 

We can control pestiferous mosquitoes.

We can control corruption. 

Help me help you save money and save lives. 

I would be honored to have your vote to serve on the board of the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission. Vote on or before November 3, 2026.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998   

Mosquito Control and Overdevelopment

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County in the November 3, 2026 election.  May I please have your vote?

Flooding is increasing.  Increased flooding flows from every single proposed "development" here. Mosquitoes flourish amid flooding. 

The frequency and severity of storms and flooding is increasing.  We must use good science to prepare for the storms and remediate the flooding.  

We must protect people from persistent flooding, evidenced by testimony at government meetings.  

Whenever a development (sic) proposal is discussed, residents testify about flooding.  Too often, our governments are flummoxed, failing to present scientific evidence in response. 

Our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County does its best to apply good science to mosquito control.  It has five Ph.D. scientists.

But our St. Johns County Commission has no Chief Scientist, no Chief Economist, and makes decisions substantially unencumbered by good data and good science.  

Poorly-staffed County Commissioners rather remind me of what Sir Winston Spencer Churchill said in 1937, "The Government simply cannot make up their mind, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent. So we go on preparing more months and years – precious, perhaps vital to the greatness of Britain – for the locusts to eat."

Mosquitoes are eating us alive.  Building "developments" in mosquito swamps is unwise and unscientific.  It needs to stop. 

Our St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County are two separate local government agencies, with their own boards.  

SJC abolished its Intergovernmental Relations Committee under  controversial former County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK (2007-2019), who sought a County takeover of mosquito control.  We, the People stopped him. 

Our County must better regulate "development" by greedy "developers," who build homes in swamps, exposing residents to hordes of mosquitoes. 

Worldwide, some 1,000,000 people die every year after mosquito bites. My Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943, contracting malaria.  We saw his suffering.  Due to the effects of malaria, I was born fourteen (14) years later, after my parents prayed to Saint Jude (patron Saint of hopeless causes).. 

Our County's "Growth Management (sic)" staff must consult with experts with our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County and AMCD's scientists and professionals.  

Every single "development (sic) order" must include a mosquito control plan. Every single one. No excuses. Protection against mosquito-borne diseases must not be a "hopeless cause."

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (Seat 2) in the November 3, 2026 election.  

May I please have the honor of your vote?

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998

Mosquitoes Suck, as Do the Diseases They Carry. (Zeynep Tukeci, NY Times opinion, September 5, 2024)

In Sicily, in 1943, my dad, an 82nd ABN DIVN paratrooper, was bitten by a mosquito. That mosquito gave my dad malaria.  (An Army Captain, a "90 day wonder" physician" claimed he was infected in North Africa in 1942, as if my dad did not know when he was infected by malaria!) Dad recovered in Army hospitals, but we saw dad suffer lifetime effects. Likewise, Dr. Rudy Xue, Director of our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, was bitten by a mosquito in China in his youth.  The most dangerous deadly animal on Earth is the mosquito. Our way of life in St. Johns County and Florida would not exist without mosquito control. Our tourism economy would be wiped out if mosquitoes infected us with mosquito-borne diseases, which once caused Memphis to cease to exist as a city in Tennessee. Global climate change is increasing mosquito-borne diseases, a clear and present danger to our Florida economy and way of life.  That's why I'm running for a seat on our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. Let's get this right.  More here:

BTW: Vulgar crass title of a NY Times opinion column with sexual reference to fellatio, like inarticulate bullies of another era.  So sad. But perhaps some people will read this column, whose title cheapens the quality of debate in our country, typical during the time of DJT.  From The New York Times: 

Sept. 5, 2024, 5:07 a.m. ETSept. 5, 2024

Zeynep Tufekci

Opinion Columnist

Mosquitoes Suck, as Do the Diseases They Carry

Anthony Fauci recently disclosed that he was hospitalized after catching the dreaded mosquito-borne West Nile virus, telling Stat News, “I really felt like I’d been hit by a truck.”

Well, mosquitoes suck. And mosquito-borne illnesses — malaria, yellow fever — have long sucked for humanity. Cases of eastern equine encephalitis, another mosquito-borne illness, have recently popped up in Massachusetts. Some outdoor events in high-risk areas, such as Oktoberfest celebrations in Vermont, are being canceled.

Mosquito-borne diseases like these are widening their range partly because of climate change, but they’re still relatively rare in the United States.

This wasn’t always the case. Yellow fever, for example, caused multiple major epidemics in the United States, changing the course of history. But advances in science led to better understanding of its transmission and the development of a vaccine, as well as a public health response to eradicate mosquitoes in urban areas. The United States hasn’t had a major yellow fever outbreak since the one in New Orleans in 1905. And that history also points to what Americans need to do now, when faced with other mosquito-borne illnesses: We need a widespread public health response to eradicate mosquitoes in more densely populated areas and to place a renewed focus on developing new vaccines.

In addition, the best individual defenses are to use nets and screens to keep mosquitoes from entering indoors, to properly cover up as much as possible when outside — stuff those hiking pants into socks! — and to use a proper insect repellent. In many studies, DEET, Picaridin and PMD top lists of effectiveness.

I personally stick with DEET — it’s been around the longest, and thus is most studied. Yes, DEET has an unpleasant odor at first, but I’d rather smell that than contract a mosquito- or tick-borne illness, like Lyme. (Picaridin seems like a good alternative, too, and lacks the odor.)

With time, I do truly hope that we will develop new vaccines. It’s easy to forget what it took for past successes against terrible illnesses, but the price of public health is constant vigilance.

"County, city should pass the seven-generation test." (Ed Slavin, Sunday, September 8, 2019 St. Augustine Record column on 454th anniversary of our City's founding)

Please contribute to help support my zealous public interest advocacy and independent investigative reporting in St. Augustine, Florida. 

Thanks to all for your support and encouragement. Contribute to the cause!

Help continue the triumph of democracy, investigative reporting, environmental protection, historic preservation and honest government. 

Go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/evil-hedge-fund-seizes-advocates-possessions, to www.gofundme.com/edslavin or contribute via easlavin@aol.com at PayPal.com or 904-904-377-4998 at Zelle.

Here's my 454th anniversary column in the Sunday, September 8, 2019 St. Augustine Record,
"County, city should pass the seven-generation test:"

Opinion
County, city should pass the seven-generation test
By Ed Slavin / St. Augustine
Posted at 9:42 PM
St. Augustine Record

On our City’s 454th anniversary, Sept. 8, let’s take stock of our past and future. There is much to be thankful for here:

• We saved 32 Grenada Street, 1880 Victorian by City Hall — preserved and protected as a local landmark.

• We saved 7 Bridge Street. There’s a conservation easement indoors/outdoors, and HP-1 zoning survives as a bulwark.

• We saved Fish Island. Vice-Mayor Leanna Freeman called it a “miracle.” The burial place of orange plantation and real estate buccaneer Jesse Fish and his slaves will now be a park, preserved forever. As playwright Tony Kushner wrote in “Angels in America,” miracles occur through politics.

What’s next?

Let’s preserve our 1955 Florida East Coast Railway station. Let’s save our 3,000- to 4,000-year-old Native American site north of SAHS.

Hurricanes are bigger. The ocean level is rising. Flooding of our neighborhoods and streets is becoming the “new normal.” We will survive, but we must act.

There are 31-plus St. Johns County neighborhoods with bad drainage due to poor planning — officials granting approval to destroy wetlands and clear-cut trees.

Before World War II, Sir Winston Churchill spoke against “appeasement,” stating that “The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”

St. Augustine just survived another hurricane, our third since 2016.

Optimists founded our town Sept. 8, 1565 — 454 years ago. Some 22 generations of St. Augustine residents survived hurricanes, European religious wars fought on our shores, pirates, wars against Native Americans — having our town repeatedly burned to the ground, more hurricanes, the Civil War, tourists, scammers, monopolists, Henry Flagler, slavery, exploitation, racism, segregation, lynchings, corruption, and organized “crimes against nature” by developers (which former St. Johns County Commission Chair Ben Rich Sr. once called “worse than any carpetbagger”).

Minorcans and Africans in generations before us endured oppression and bondage, surviving slavery and indentured slavery-by-contract, mosquito-borne diseases and starvation.

Our Nation’s Oldest City has the Nation’s oldest town plan (1573). It was drawn for the generations, and still guides us today.

Let’s apply the “seven-generation test” to all who would modify this magical place. How would each proposal affect our quality of life, our precious historic, cultural and environmental heritage in seven generations?

Let’s finally enact the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, first proposed 80 years ago by Mayor Walter Fraser, Sens. Charles Andrews and Claude Pepper and Rep. Joseph Hendricks. Let’s protect 130,000 acres of land our governments already own, in two counties, preventing it from being bulldozed, polluted or hornswoggled away from us.

Let’s enact stronger state and local laws protecting the environment. Let’s plant trees, including mangroves as part of natural shorelines. Let’s restore wetlands and oyster beds to protect us from hurricanes.


Let’s enact a legal moratorium on big developments and comprehensive plan changes.

Let’s stop secretive developers’ devastating destruction of forests and wetlands, flora and fauna. As John Muir wrote, “These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.”

Let’s adopt countywide lobbying registration and ethics ordinances.

Mayor Nancy Shaver refused to meet with zoning applicants, except on one occasion. Too many officials meet secretly “ex parte” with developers. Enough. Let’s require officials to videotape their conversations with developers. If they don’t, who can ever trust them?

Let’s eject money-changers from the temple of our democracy. Let’s show “temple destroyers” the door — they won’t destroy our town and God’s country.

Dengue spreads in Tampa area after hurricanes bring ideal mosquito conditions. (Mahika Kukday, WUSF, October 29, 2024)

I would be honored to have your vote for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 1. Mosquito-borne diseases are a clear and present danger to our way of life in St. Johns County.  Overdevelopment is a root cause of their proliferation.  According to the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute, development is one of three co-factors.  Meanwhile, louche local leaders have rubber-stamped development adjoining swamps without reasonable inquiry or scientific testimony.  From WUSF: 

Dengue spreads in Tampa area after hurricanes bring ideal mosquito conditions

WUSF | By Mahika Kukday

Published October 29, 2024 at 7:33 AM EDT

Pasco Country Mosquito Control 

/

Courtesy

A Pasco County Mosquito Control technician treats for mosquitoes in an area flooded by tidal surge following Hurricane Helene.

The three hurricanes that affected the west Florida region this year created an especially inviting environment for Aedes aegypti.

The state’s recent onslaught of warm, wet weather is bringing back the mosquitoes.

And while you might be used to dealing with the tropical bug, now may be a good time to take extra precautions. 

“This is one of the most active arbovirus years for the state of Florida that I’ve seen in my 17 plus years in the state mosquito control industry,” said Adriane Rogers, executive director of Pasco County Mosquito Control.

Pasco County Mosquito Control 

/

Courtesy

A technician searches for the mosquito species that could potentially spread dengue during a domestic sweep of an area of concern in western Pasco.

Dengue continues to be a concern for Pasco and Hillsborough counties. Both remain under a mosquito-borne illness alert, and the former reported six of the state’s 50 locally acquired cases this year, according to a Florida Department of Health report. 

Rogers said that the year started with drought conditions, causing wildlife to congregate around limited water sources. 

“What happens is you get amplification of the viruses,” she said. “The mosquitos are transmitting it to the birds, and then it’s sort of a vicious cycle going on between the animals.” 

That means that even before storm conditions started, disease-causing viruses were already highly concentrated in local wildlife.

Then, three hurricanes, starting with Debby, created the perfect conditions for mosquito breeding.

With Hurricane Helene flooding Pasco’s coastline and Milton dumping over 15 inches of rain on the county’s interior, Rogers said the situation was especially inviting for the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue. 

Pasco County Mosquito Control 

/

Courtesy

River flooding in Crystal Springs after Hurricane Milton increased the abundance of disease-carrying mosquitoes. 

“That really likes to breed around people’s homes,” Rogers said. “So, things that are around your property like plant trivets, water barrels, wheel barrows, dog water dishes, things like that, anything that can hold water has the capacity to breed that specific mosquito.”

Hillsborough County reported its fourth locally acquired dengue case in a news release on Friday. 

You can view Hillsborough's planned mosquito spraying treatments  here.

In addition, seven human cases of West Nile have been reported in Florida this year, and Rogers said eastern equine encephalitis, which affects horses, is also being monitored in Pasco because of increased stagnant floodwater. 

To protect yourself from mosquitoes, Rogers recommends wearing long-sleeved clothing and using insect repellent containing the active ingredients DEET and Picaridin.

She added, “You want to be cognizant of times during the day that mosquitoes are most active. Typically, we say avoid periods of dawn or dusk.” 

Copyright 2024 WUSF 89.7

ED SLAVIN RESPONSE TO WASHINGTON POST May 12, 2025 article re: Mosquito Museum

Saw an odd article in WaPo May 12, 2025, and responded:

1. There were some 41% cost overruns on the $4.5 million Mosquito Museum. Why? Lax management. Anastasia Mosquito Control District Commission (AMCD) of St. Johns Commissioner Martha Gleason recently resigned in protest over financial mismanagement (41% cost overruns), but there was no mention in this article. AMCD has had the same auditor for some twelve (12) years. 

2. I filed to run in November 3, 2026 nonpartisan race, to help control wasteful spending, ask questions, and demand answers. 

3. As an 82nd ABN DIVN paratrooper (F. Co., 505th P.I.R.), my late Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943, contracted malaria, was awarded three (3) Bronze Stars, and helped liberate the first French town from Nazis on D-Day, before the sun even rose that day. 

4. The South Jersey Chapter of the 82nd ABN DIVN ASSN is named for my Dad, the "CPL Edward A. Slavin Chapter." I saw my Father's lifetime of suffering post-malaria. Possibly due to his being infected with malaria, it took my parents some twelve (12) years to have their only child. They prayed to St. Jude (patron Saint of hopeless causes).

5. My dad taught me, as JFK's father taught him, that "you must stand up to people with power, or else they walk all over you." In his honor, I make records requests, write a blog, go to meetings, ask questions, demand answers and expect democracy. AMCD Commissioners have given themselves illegal bonuses, exceeding the $4800 annual pay cap in Florida law. Read more on my blog, www.edslavin.com

6. AMCD Chair Pangiotta "Trish" Becker is resigning, leaving the Board and Florida. This is not my first environmental battle. 

7. I was Editor of the Appalachian Observer newspaper at age 24. We won declassification of the largest mercury pollution event in world history (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, May 17. 1983), recommended for a Pulitzer Prize by the local DA, Jim Ramsey. May I please send the Post a proposed column on AMCD in response? St. Johns County government requires scrutiny.

No response from Jeff Bezos' Washington Post. 

Wonder why? 

----

From Washington Post, May 12, 2025:

Florida kids love this mosquito center. Just don’t call it a museum.

Standing water displays and artificial dog poop teach St. Johns County residents about mosquito control.

Yesterday at 8:00 a.m. EDT

8 min

Mosquitoes feed in a contained area at the Disease Vector Education Center in St. Augustine, Florida. The center explores mosquito-related history and public health education. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

By Lori Rozsa

ST. AUGUSTINE, Florida — Of all the creatures associated with Florida — alligators, flamingos, manatees — possibly the most consequential doesn’t show up in tourism ads or on travel websites.

Did you know that the mosquito prompted the invention of air conditioning? For that reason alone, it deserves some kind of special recognition. A statue, maybe? A proclamation? How about a museum?

St. Johns County in northeast Florida has seen fit to acknowledge the noxious insect with all three.

And now an eight-foot tall bronze statue of a fierce looking Aedes aegypti stands watch at the entrance to the Disease Vector Education Center — a.k.a. the mosquito museum, the only one of its kind in the United States. The museum sparked some outcry about public funding, but the community has warmed to it.

Despite its ponderous official name, the museum is a colorful, trippy delight: Outside is a mosquito-themed playground, complete with a sliding board designed to look like oversize versions of common mosquito hiding spots — a barrel of water on a stack of old tires. There’s a climbing block made from a concrete culvert (prime mosquito breeding grounds), and a dragonfly-shaped riding toy with a sign that reads, “Dragonflies are good to have around because baby dragonflies eat baby mosquitoes.”

The education center is ostensibly aimed at children but also geared toward teaching adults a little more about the No. 1 insect killer of humankind.

“Florida has the distinction of being one of the most pestiferous places on the planet,” said Gordon M. Patterson, author of “The Mosquito Wars: A History of Mosquito Control in Florida.” “That museum is teaching us that we need to learn something about mosquitoes and viruses and plants and water and our place in that ecology.”

A mosquito specimen is viewed through a microscope at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

A colorful signpost outside the center highlights local destinations. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Preserved beetles and other insects are displayed at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Mosquito larvae are observed under magnification in petri dishes at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Inside are interactive displays that include a life-size rendition of the front porch of an old Florida cracker house. A lifelike model of a yellow Labrador retriever named Albo — short for the type of mosquito that transmits heartworm — sits in the front yard, near his water bowl. That’s another example of a mosquito attractant. So is a small but realistic pile of Albo’s droppings: a part of the exhibit that makes schoolkids squeal with delight, museum guides say.

Across from that is a realistic slice of swampland: dark green, shadowy and damp, representing ideal mosquito habitat.

Both large displays have touch-screen computers set up that encourage visitors to try to spy mosquito hideouts. Push the right button, and a spotlight shines down on the water bowl, or the flower pot, or the birdbath and a half-dozen other common yard items. It makes the point that mosquitoes can lay eggs in even a teaspoon of water.

A helicopter takes up a big space indoors. Visitors can sit in the pilot’s seat and pretend to control the chopper on an aerial spraying mission as a video of the St. Augustine coastline plays in front of them.

There’s an insectary full of live elephant mosquitos, which are large and look slightly alarming but are actually harmless pollinators that don’t bite people or animals. They do feast on other mosquitos — an unusual bonus.

Those are Genhsy Monzon’s favorites.

“When people come in, the usual reaction is, ‘This is not what I expected,’ but in a good way,” said Monzon, an entomologist and the coordinator at the education center. “They’re just in awe as soon as they walk through the door, and honestly I love that, because that’s the same way I reacted.”

Displays of live creatures — scorpions, ants, a huge honeybee observation hive — highlight arthropods, both the helpful (to humans) and the unhelpful. The exhibits walk visitors through the mosquito life cycle (“Wet, Bloody, and Brief”) and feature digital microscopes to take an even closer look.

A decommissioned mosquito control helicopter on display at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

A lab technician prepares mosquito larvae samples inside the center’s lab. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

“The kids just hear, ‘Oh, there’s bugs!’ and they’re curious,” Monzon said. “And there’s a playground. … We make it fun for them. And that’s why they want to learn.”

Monzon points out that the museum informs visitors “about all kinds of disease vectors”: ticks, tsetse flies, sand flies, black flies, lice and fleas.

Some of the exhibits in the museum look like something from one of the big theme parks 100 miles south in Orlando: large, detailed and visually striking. They were designed by engineers and artists who have worked at Disney World and Universal Studios.

But in keeping with the St. Augustine vibe — the historic Castillo de San Marcos National Monument is about six miles away — the mosquito museum is less about theme-park fun and more about education.

“We’re not Disney World here in St. Augustine; we are history,” said Richard Weaver, the mosquito control district’s business manager. “And really our museum ties into that very well.”

Weaver, who helped to research and design many of the exhibits, stops himself before he says more.

“I said the word ‘museum,’ which is banned by us.”

That brings up a thorny subject involving disease vectors, politics and tax dollars.

Mosquito control is serious business in Florida. Most of the state’s 67 counties and many cities across the state have districts that work full time to contain the insects, some of them with elected officials who oversee multimillion-dollar budgets.

A mannequin wearing mosquito control gear holds a pesticide spray wand. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

A colorful 3D model of a virus structure. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

The outdoor water feature demonstrates common mosquito breeding habitats. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

The exhibit highlights mosquito biology through enlarged models, microscopes, and live insect displays. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

Mosquitoes are disease vectors, which means they can transmit diseases between species. Among them: malaria, dengue fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, and Zika virus. More than 700,000 people die each year from vector-borne diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

Controlling them is key to keeping Florida survivable for 23 million residents and 143 million annual visitors. The Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, founded in 1948, is one of the best-known agencies dedicated to mosquito control. Researchers there work with universities and governments around the world, along with groups such as the World Health Organization.

Executive Director Rui-De Xue had the idea of a building a mosquito education center after visiting one in China several years ago. Supporters envisioned it as another tool in “understanding the tiny yet formidable mosquito,” as the center’s visitor guide puts it.

There was pushback from some residents and county commissioners about using tax dollars, but the mosquito district — which has an annual budget of about $9 million — forged onward. The district’s board said it makes sense to educate the public about things people can do to control mosquitoes: clean birdbaths every few days, empty the dog’s outdoor water bowl daily, dump out anything that holds standing water.

To get past the consternation over what critics called a bug museum, the name became the Disease Vector Education Center.

Monzon said more than 11,000 people visited in the first year, many of them part of school groups. The museum closes Mondays and Tuesdays to host school field trips. The rest of the week, it’s open to the public with free admission.

Sandra Gewehr visited when she was in town for the annual Arbovirus Surveillance and Mosquito Control Workshop last year. She recommends it, calling it a “smart and unusual choice” for tourists, especially families.

“While the subject matter is serious, the center does an admirable job of making it approachable and fun for children,” said Gewehr, who is director of research and development at the European Mosquito Control Association and based in Greece. “There are elements designed specifically to engage younger audiences — things they can touch, see up close, and interact with.”

Patterson, a history professor at the Florida Institute of Technology as well as a mosquito book author, gave the museum designers some tips and mosquito information. He likes the final results. There’s a historical timeline and exhibits that show the “epic battle” between humans and mosquitoes that was once mostly waged with chemicals — DDT used to be the insecticide of choice — and, more recently, with environmental controls.

The mosquito-rearing area at the center. (Michael Rakim/For The Washington Post)

He’s especially pleased with one display that lets visitors feed live mosquito larvae to a tank full of gambusia, also known as mosquitofish. The fish can consume up to 500 larvae a day and are seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to chemicals.

“I was knocked down at the level of expertise that they were able to deploy,” Patterson said. “We oftentimes think of history as just being driven by figures who stand on podiums and give talks, but sometimes something as small as a grape seed can cause more mischief and lead to more changes in the human population.”

Where to go

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