about my county st johns county florida

This message is for everyone who cares about St Johns County, particularly those who are not aware of the serious situation we face in the County with this election, or those who are considering not voting. 

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For the past couple years, Nicole Crosby has been stoking anger among residents, pouring gasoline on the existing unrest about rapid growth and development. She has created the myth that the incumbent commissioners are intentionally trying to “pave over” the county. She has built her Fight For St Johns County Facebook page intentionally over these couple years, growing an audience that wants change but may not know how that sort of change happens in a large, complex organization.

Who is Nicole Crosby? 

If her name doesn’t sound familiar to you, you haven’t been tuning into the County Commissioner meetings or reading her vitriol on social media. I can appreciate that because it is not fun to watch or read.

Crosby is a former NYC marketing exec who relocated to SJC several years ago.  Since moving here she has been a self-proclaimed environmental activist who, at one time, worked collaboratively with Commissioners and staff to bring attention to the environmental impact of their decisions.

About three years ago, she lost an elected position on the Soil and Water Conservation Board because the qualification for holding the seat changed through legislative action.  She holds Senator Travis Hutson (of the Hutson developer organization) accountable for intentionally pushing through the law that denied her the role, in retaliation for her ostensibly stopping developers from building in the Guana preserve.  In fact, Commissioner Henry Dean was responsible for that stoppage.

Since that time, she has turned into a bully, a propagandist and a liar.  She ran the successful campaign to oust Jeremiah Blocker and place Krista Keating Joseph into the District 4 Commissioner role.  Joseph won by less than 200 votes.  At one point, I thought that Joseph was essentially a puppet for Crosby, but I have come to think that they are of the same ilk.  I sense that they will use anything, whether untrue or unethical, to get what they want.

Crosby is being sued for defamation for her social media posts.  If you want to read the court records, go to the St Johns County Clerk of Court website and search on case #CA24-0665.

When the Governor appointed Sarah Arnold to the District 2 seat, Crosby sent a group of protestors to her home.  Why?  Because Arnold’s family is long-time friends with the Hutson family.

For the past two years, Crosby has accused Arnold, Dean and Whitehurst of being in the pocket of developers, and beholden to vote for their projects. Her proof? Developers contributed to their campaigns. That is an inference and not fair, yet Crosby repeats it ad nauseum.

Crosby and Joseph found two candidates with similar values to run for commissioner in Districts 1 and 5, against Christian Whitehurst and Henry Dean.  Ann-Marie Evans and Ann Taylor have demonstrated their lack of ethics simply by attaching themselves to Nicole’s coattails.

The last-ditch email

Last night, many residents received an email titled “7 developers and builders control our county and election.” 

The email started, “Let’s skip the niceties.”  Well, there hasn’t been anything remotely nice about anything Nicole Crosby does.

The email is full of the same tired vitriol she has been placing on social media for 10 months.

She is a one-trick pony.  She knows only how to desperately link the sitting commissioners to developers to suit her personal agenda and propaganda. 

The Good the Incumbents Have Done

She doesn’t see any of the good that this commission has accomplished, nor does she want to – that wouldn’t help her power play to seat Commissioners who will do her bidding. 

She doesn’t want to see how hard the current commissioners have worked, holding developers accountable for their commitments, working with critical commercial businesses to find the right home for their distribution center, and bringing in key businesses and cultural landmarks that will bring jobs and revenue to the county.

She’s Leading the Wrong Way

Crosby tosses out spreadsheets and expects her followers take them at face value rather than ask the hard questions….what is wrong with developers contributing to commissioners?  They are, after all, County constituents. And we need economic development to thrive.

She accuses Commissioner Dean for the attack ads against Ann Taylor, while for the past year, she has, in a malicious way, blasted every single thing Commissioner Dean has ever done, through out-of-context statistics, and nasty memes.  In this recent email she photoshops his head on an individual flying a PRIDE flag?  What does that have to do with his ability to govern effectively? Dean has been a friend to St Johns County and its residents for 8 years.

Partisan politics at the local level is silly, particularly with the divisiveness in play these days.  We have real challenges here in the county. The rapid growth and development pose real problems. Four of the commissioners are working their butts off to find solutions for the challenges.

Nicole wants retaliation and power.  She wants to control the County and thinks that if Commissioner Joseph and the Anns are on the dais, they’ll do her bidding. She’s probably right.

She panders to residents who don’t understand how the county operates.  Mind you, she understands the County operations well enough to exploit everything that the commissioners do.

She exploits the proposed sales tax, not in honest debate, but because she knows that her followers don’t understand it and she can use that to sway them.

She creates opportunities for Commissioner Joseph to appear a hero by authoring a proposed tree ordinance, and having Joseph make the proposal. Never mind the way it was introduced was outside process and protocol.  But she knew that because she wanted to use it to exploit her platform.

It is crucial for residents right now to look behind the curtain, see the manipulation that is happening and recognize the danger to St John County if “the Anns” are elected and Nicole Crosby is given majority control the Board of County  Commissioners. I truly fear for what will become of St Johns County.

The challengers are happy to hide behind Nicole.  They know her ultimate plan and want to be in on it.

I have asked this question in several blog posts before but will ask again….is this what we want or need in St Johns County?