St Johns County
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The Scope of a Commissioner’s Role
In an earlier post, I shared two things that Commissioner Whitehurst said at the July 9 Candidate Forum, and I expanded on his perspective on development after a brief follow up conversation with him. As we also talked about his work on the Northeast Florida Regional Council, I came away with new respect for the Continue reading
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A Strategic Approach to Development
At the July 9 Candidate Forum, Commissioner Whitehurst made a couple statements that drove home (at least to me) the concept that the commissioner’s role is so much more than spending two days a month on the dais listening to residents. He spoke of his voting record, not in terms of percentage approved or denied, Continue reading
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Commissioner Candidate Forum
This 2024 Commissioner election is important. Not to sound overly dramatic, but the viability of the county’s future is at stake. If you have not been following this election season, the Ponte Vedra Community Association and Palm Valley Community Associations hosted a candidate forum for the eight candidates. This was a forum, not a debate. Continue reading
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Important business not getting the County’s attention
The July 16, 2024, Board of County Commissioners’ meeting was a perfect example of how to waste time. Three gentlemen, all fishing charter captains, spoke at the 11:30 public comment about the challenges they have with keeping their businesses afloat because they have been told that they are not allowed to use the public docks Continue reading
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Say it with music 🎶
There are two musical lyrics that capture the essence of the St Johns County Candidate Forum on July 9, 2024. Promises, Promises The first is the song “Promises, Promises” from the Broadway musical of the same name. The lyrics go something like this: “Promises, promisesI’m all through with promises, promises now” It’s an anti-love song, Continue reading
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Important Information for Anyone Voting in the August 20 Primary
This probably is not the right year to “wing it” when casting your vote for local government officials. This is a year for digging a bit deeper than what you see on social media and in your mailbox. This is a year to think hard about the future of the County. Background Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph Continue reading
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Grassroots
The term “grassroots” is sort of like mom and apple pie. Who can not like the private citizen who goes up against the political powerhouse? That is the traditional David and Goliath story. The little good guy beats the big bad guy. “Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to implement Continue reading
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How can we condone this behavior from an elected official?
On June 20, 2024, Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph posted this on her personal Facebook page. Apparently, “them” are the three County commissioners up for reelection, Commissioners Henry Dean, Christian Whitehurst and Roy Alaimo. Yes, I realize that the threshold for courtesy and respect has plummeted, and professionalism has been redefined to mean, “anything goes.” But is Continue reading
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Are you prepared to vote?
At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, the coming primary election on August 20 is crucially important to the healthy future of St Johns County. And now that all the primaries are closed, registered Republicans will most likely select our elected officials. It would be easy to just ignore it and either not vote or Continue reading
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Well, that was just plain rude
On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, Commissioner Joseph laughed out loud at Commissioner Dean during a Commissioners meeting. It was a derisive laugh, not a friendly one. After Commissioner Dean made a thoughtful comment about at charter school proposal and the history of growth in the County, Commissioner Joseph claimed she was shocked about Dean’s comment Continue reading
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