- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
1. “Hearing” was pitiful. No public comment allowed--illegal. Why?
2. St. Augustine City Attorney can’t write an ordinance, so we hired an outside lawyer, Michael Kahn, for $25,000.
3. City Commissioners created this problem by criminalizing art and music on St. George Street, emptying the places buskers filled, thus creating the panhandling opportunity. Cool musicians like Sam Pacetti and Tommy Bledsoe got their start on St. George Street. Criminalizing music and art there turned St. George Street into “one giant t-shirt shop,” in words of Cathy Brown, former PZB member and longtime Council on Aging Director. Sad Result: cool stores owned by locals disappeared. Greed is destroying our City’s charm. Enough
4. When we first visited (1992) and moved here (1999), St. George Street was hip and cool.
5. Then misguided Commissioners rubber-stamped Kahn’s unjust laws, erasing authenticity.
6. Kahn created anti-artist, anti-musician ordinance that created the panhandling problem. Now he’s hired to solve the panhandling problem his anti-artist ordinance created! Conflict of interest? Kahn won’t solve problem he created, because he won’t admit the truth.
7. Reminds me of character in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather,who ran overweight trucks, damaging roads, and then was hired to repave those roads What a racket!
8. City Manager John Regan, and attorney Michael Kahn, ignored First Amendment concerns I expressed to them in November -- unanimous Supreme Court decision in McCullen v. Coakley -- banning 25 foot distance limitations on First Amendment rights outside of Massachusetts abortion clinics Why?
9. Kahn will be paid $300 an hour WHEN we get sued, IF his proposed ordinance is enacted.
10. Come speak out against this harebrained scheme Monday, March 26, 2018« less
2. St. Augustine City Attorney can’t write an ordinance, so we hired an outside lawyer, Michael Kahn, for $25,000.
3. City Commissioners created this problem by criminalizing art and music on St. George Street, emptying the places buskers filled, thus creating the panhandling opportunity. Cool musicians like Sam Pacetti and Tommy Bledsoe got their start on St. George Street. Criminalizing music and art there turned St. George Street into “one giant t-shirt shop,” in words of Cathy Brown, former PZB member and longtime Council on Aging Director. Sad Result: cool stores owned by locals disappeared. Greed is destroying our City’s charm. Enough
4. When we first visited (1992) and moved here (1999), St. George Street was hip and cool.
5. Then misguided Commissioners rubber-stamped Kahn’s unjust laws, erasing authenticity.
6. Kahn created anti-artist, anti-musician ordinance that created the panhandling problem. Now he’s hired to solve the panhandling problem his anti-artist ordinance created! Conflict of interest? Kahn won’t solve problem he created, because he won’t admit the truth.
7. Reminds me of character in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather,who ran overweight trucks, damaging roads, and then was hired to repave those roads What a racket!
8. City Manager John Regan, and attorney Michael Kahn, ignored First Amendment concerns I expressed to them in November -- unanimous Supreme Court decision in McCullen v. Coakley -- banning 25 foot distance limitations on First Amendment rights outside of Massachusetts abortion clinics Why?
9. Kahn will be paid $300 an hour WHEN we get sued, IF his proposed ordinance is enacted.
10. Come speak out against this harebrained scheme Monday, March 26, 2018« less
- 20 hours ago (edited)
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
11. Story omits general public comment opposed to this ordinance.Why?
12. This reporter routinely omits public comment. Why?
13. Does GateHouse share Morris Communications antipathy toward government watchdogs?
14. Will GateHouse-Austin kindly review meeting tapes?
15. A homeless man spoke during general public comment, criticizing City’s lack of compassion. Why not quote him?
16. Article oddly reports homeless “going to the bathroom.” In fact, public elimination of body wastes.
17. Wonder why? City-owned restrooms at 81 St. George Street close at 9 PM! They’re supposed to be maintained by ex-Mayors Len Weeks and Joe Boles. See Folio Weekly cover story about below-market rate rental, based on “maintaining restrooms.” Folio’s reporting on one-sided lease terms helped lead to Mayor Boles’ 2014 electoral defeat:http://folioweekly.com/THE-BLOGGER-THE-LEASE-AND-THE-ST-AUGUSTINE-MAYORS-RACE,10719
18. Mr. Kahn’s scanty “evidence” does NOT support first reading vote
19. Plural of “anecdote” is NOT “data.”
20. As Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” But five Commissioners voted for flawed draft ordinance, w/ scare headline, scaring tourists w/ demagoguery & pettifoggery
21. Are rich people enlisting middle class people to attack poor people, attempting to distract your attention from real issues, e.g., greed, corruption, destruction of charm, history, nature and culture? Enough
22. Kindly cover what matters, e.g., the continuing coverup, 2010-2018, by St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar, State’s Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza, et al., of the fatal September 2, 2010 shooting of Michelle O’Connell in the home of Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Banks, termed a “suicide,” before the sun rose the next morning. See NY Times, PBS Frontline.« less
12. This reporter routinely omits public comment. Why?
13. Does GateHouse share Morris Communications antipathy toward government watchdogs?
14. Will GateHouse-Austin kindly review meeting tapes?
15. A homeless man spoke during general public comment, criticizing City’s lack of compassion. Why not quote him?
16. Article oddly reports homeless “going to the bathroom.” In fact, public elimination of body wastes.
17. Wonder why? City-owned restrooms at 81 St. George Street close at 9 PM! They’re supposed to be maintained by ex-Mayors Len Weeks and Joe Boles. See Folio Weekly cover story about below-market rate rental, based on “maintaining restrooms.” Folio’s reporting on one-sided lease terms helped lead to Mayor Boles’ 2014 electoral defeat:http://folioweekly.com/THE-BLOGGER-THE-LEASE-AND-THE-ST-AUGUSTINE-MAYORS-RACE,10719
18. Mr. Kahn’s scanty “evidence” does NOT support first reading vote
19. Plural of “anecdote” is NOT “data.”
20. As Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” But five Commissioners voted for flawed draft ordinance, w/ scare headline, scaring tourists w/ demagoguery & pettifoggery
21. Are rich people enlisting middle class people to attack poor people, attempting to distract your attention from real issues, e.g., greed, corruption, destruction of charm, history, nature and culture? Enough
22. Kindly cover what matters, e.g., the continuing coverup, 2010-2018, by St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar, State’s Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza, et al., of the fatal September 2, 2010 shooting of Michelle O’Connell in the home of Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Banks, termed a “suicide,” before the sun rose the next morning. See NY Times, PBS Frontline.« less
- 8 hours ago
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
Thank you Sheldon Gardner, for here followup story February 28, 2018 inter alia quoting Mr. “Adam Mutschler, who said he is homeless, [who] spoke against how the city and others have been handling the panhandling situation to date. Mutschler called the St. Augustine Vagrant Watch Group Facebook page — where residents post stories, videos and images of vagrancy in St. Augustine — a hate group, and he complained about treatment by police and the city’s efforts to curb panhandling. I’ve been constantly filmed, and watched and berated on Facebook, and they use that as a false pretenses for arrests,” Mutschler said. ‘The police here have been using that as a way to arrest us over simple things as just sitting down ... We don’t have the right to sit down. We don’t have the right to sleep. We don’t have the right to talk to people.’”« less
- 24 minutes ago
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
See http://www.staugustine.com/news/20180228/commission-supports-permanent-trimming-of-events
2. Thanks to “Vagrant Watch” FB group for its ejecting gun-toting vigilantes who made false accusations against named individuals and who called for destroying people’s personal property and throwing it in the street.
3. No thanks to “Vagrant Watch” FB group for kicking people off its page for advocating for compassion and questioning the name of the group. How gauche.
4. No thanks to City Manager and Mr. Kahn for delegating to a Facebook page the function of gathering “evidence.”
5. City Attorney Isabelle Christine Lopez has delusions of adequacy -- she and her successive assistants can’t write an ordinance?« less
2. Thanks to “Vagrant Watch” FB group for its ejecting gun-toting vigilantes who made false accusations against named individuals and who called for destroying people’s personal property and throwing it in the street.
3. No thanks to “Vagrant Watch” FB group for kicking people off its page for advocating for compassion and questioning the name of the group. How gauche.
4. No thanks to City Manager and Mr. Kahn for delegating to a Facebook page the function of gathering “evidence.”
5. City Attorney Isabelle Christine Lopez has delusions of adequacy -- she and her successive assistants can’t write an ordinance?« less
- 8 minutes ago
- Marty Miller
- Rank 0
Panhandlers are attracted to tourists because tourists always have money. The more tourists, the more panhandlers. Is the plan to chase the homeless and panhandlers away from the tourists and into the not-so-quiet neighborhoods? Once again we see locals paying the price for the tourist related businesses downtown. We don’t want our streets and homes to be threatened, or smell of urine and worse. However given enough time, the panhandling problem will take care of itself once they chase away... » more
- 1 day ago
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
1. Marty, please watch video. Knowing of your work helping homeless, I think you will agree that some 2/26 hearing statements were overstated, exaggerated, or inflammatory. City MUST open its 81 St George Street restrooms 24/7. Restrooms locked at 9 PM. Thus, “public health issue” -- body waste elimination problem -- is ENTIRELY within control of City and its two louche lessees, ex-Mayors Joe Boles & Len Weeks (Weeks was one of Mr. Kahn’s witnesses about human body waste found adjacent to one of his many downtown businesses).
2. In legal/equity terms, do City, its $25,000 ordinance-writing lawyer (Mr. Kahn) and estimable ex-Mayor Len Weeks ALL have “unclean hands?” (Pardon pun)
3. Did candor require that Mr. Kahn disclose that City helps create waste problem by closing restrooms at 9 PM?
4. Another created “crisis?”
5. Like the time when manipulative, mendacious, Machiavellian City Manager Wm. Harriss created a “circus-crisis” w/ “vendors” @ Plaza de la Constitution (including Bruce Maguire, married to Virginia Whetstone, operating a hotdog cart)!
6. City IS inhumane, as homeless man alleged in general public comment at February 26, 2018 City Commission meeting
7. Cross-examination at March 26, 2018 hearing is essential -- as Wigmore said, it is “the greatest engine ever invented for discovery of truth
8. Cross-examination was sorely lacking from Kahn’s “evidence” and “testimony” on February 26. Enough
9. We need Ombuds. Some misguided, unenlightened burghers would STILL rather attack poor people and scare our tourists, distracting attention from their own failings.
10. Sheldon Gardner: please, report FACTS and LAW, instead of accepting City’s “spin.” We need investigative reporting -- not amanuenses (for 4 City shills w/o any critical thinking skills)!« less
2. In legal/equity terms, do City, its $25,000 ordinance-writing lawyer (Mr. Kahn) and estimable ex-Mayor Len Weeks ALL have “unclean hands?” (Pardon pun)
3. Did candor require that Mr. Kahn disclose that City helps create waste problem by closing restrooms at 9 PM?
4. Another created “crisis?”
5. Like the time when manipulative, mendacious, Machiavellian City Manager Wm. Harriss created a “circus-crisis” w/ “vendors” @ Plaza de la Constitution (including Bruce Maguire, married to Virginia Whetstone, operating a hotdog cart)!
6. City IS inhumane, as homeless man alleged in general public comment at February 26, 2018 City Commission meeting
7. Cross-examination at March 26, 2018 hearing is essential -- as Wigmore said, it is “the greatest engine ever invented for discovery of truth
8. Cross-examination was sorely lacking from Kahn’s “evidence” and “testimony” on February 26. Enough
9. We need Ombuds. Some misguided, unenlightened burghers would STILL rather attack poor people and scare our tourists, distracting attention from their own failings.
10. Sheldon Gardner: please, report FACTS and LAW, instead of accepting City’s “spin.” We need investigative reporting -- not amanuenses (for 4 City shills w/o any critical thinking skills)!« less
- 7 hours ago
- Marty Miller
- Rank 0
@Edward Adelbert Slavin
Do happen to recall when the Florida ******* Cafe was built? I believe old structures on St. George St. were demolished to make room for the restaurant, with the provision that they supply public restrooms. Do you recall who the owner/builders were?
Do happen to recall when the Florida ******* Cafe was built? I believe old structures on St. George St. were demolished to make room for the restaurant, with the provision that they supply public restrooms. Do you recall who the owner/builders were?
- 48 minutes ago
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
@Marty Miller I just called the Division of Historical and Cultural Resources, Florida Department of State, asking about 81 St. George Street, which told me that Florida Master Site File has “no recorded structure there.” Documents on present and former historic structures are available at City Planning and Building Department, at St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library, and at Florida Department of State at:
sitefile@dos.myflorida.com
Phone 850.245.6440
Fax 850.245.6439
http://dos.myflorida.com/historical/preservation/master-site-file/
Messrs. Len Weeks and Joe Boles built their Florida ******* Cafe on a City-owned vacant lot subject to controversial lease terms unfavorable to City. Restrooms close at 9 PM.« less
sitefile@dos.myflorida.com
Phone 850.245.6440
Fax 850.245.6439
http://dos.myflorida.com/historical/preservation/master-site-file/
Messrs. Len Weeks and Joe Boles built their Florida ******* Cafe on a City-owned vacant lot subject to controversial lease terms unfavorable to City. Restrooms close at 9 PM.« less
- 28 minutes ago
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
The name of the restaurant is apparently censored by software because the term ”*******” is an ethnic or racial pejorative, chosen by Len Weeks and Joe Boles as the name of their business property?
![Edward Adelbert Slavin]()
- Edward Adelbert Slavin
- Rank 0
I wrote Mayor Shaver and City, asking them to direct ex-Mayors Boles and Weeks to open our City-owned 81 St. George Street restrooms 24/7. Problem solved. As Anatole France wrote, "How noble the law, in its majestic equality, that both the rich and poor are equally prohibited from peeing in the streets, sleeping under bridges, and stealing bread!"
- 10 minutes ago