Residents First.
Developers Last.
- Florida attorney and patent professional with no ties to land development or tourism
- 16 years experience as a federal civil servant
- My wife and I are raising our three sons, born right here in St. Augustine
Running For Residents
I work in intellectual property — patents and inventions — so my career has nothing to do with land development or tourism. My only interest in running is to make our city the best place for residents to live and raise a family.
Issues:
-
Stop Reckless Development
- In 2014, the city commission sent a referendum to voters — it was sold as “strengthening the 35-foot cap on building height,” but really only made it easier to build 10 extra feet of structures on top of roofs (parapets).
- 7 months later, the city, via the P&Z Board, approved a 52-foot hotel (Embassy Suites) WRONGLY — they measured the 35-foot height limit starting from above the first-floor parking garage.
- The city has never admitted it measured wrong, despite “clarifying” that future measurements will be made correctly starting at the ground instead of above raised parking garages.
- We need a charter amendment that actually strengthens the 35-foot cap and doesn't allow any future commission to change it by a simple majority vote; further, we need to clean up the charter language so nobody can make any frivolous arguments or claim loopholes allow 52 or 55-foot buildings.
- I will advocate for closing the loopholes ASAP so the Embassy Suites never happens again.
-
Lower the Tax Burden
- The city commission has voted to increase property taxes every single year for 12 consecutive years.
- The same house today pays more than double, almost triple, (+172%) the taxes it paid 12 years ago (if no exemptions apply).
- In addition, the city commission voted to add a brand-new stormwater tax of about $200 on the typical single-family home.
- Taxes levied have increased 172% in 12 years (almost tripled), but the city doesn't seem to have gotten any better.
- We need to only tax our property for what is absolutely necessary to provide the essential services that make our community better — nothing more.
-
Remind Commission They Are Elected by Residents
- In the last 8 years, residents only had a chance to vote for 2 commissioner-terms out of 10.
- The commissioners are supposed to be in charge of the city and represent voters — they've been acting more like subordinates to the city employees.
- We ran into this problem with the Embassy Suites — city staff was feeding bad information to the P&Z board members, and the P&Z board members and city commissioners couldn't stand up and vote according to what was best for residents (and legally correct).
- We need to re-align the city commission to sit at the top of leadership, with the commission truly representing the best interest of RESIDENTS.
Raising our boys here
Our three sons were born right here in St. Augustine, and this is the only home they have ever known. This campaign is about making St. Augustine Beach the best city for residents and families.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Loading comments…
Be the first to share what you think.