Noche de Gala sends the wrong message

The voters in St Augustine sent a clear message in November to those who have run roughshod with taxpayer funds, prioritizing their own personal preferences over those of the citizens who pay the bills. The citizens are at the top of the organizational chart — the politicians are “hired help” that work for us, not the other way around. See also: Public Servant.

“Gala” has become an embarrassing word in St Augustine. Using the occasion of the birth of Pedro Menendez, as if he were a saint, as the pretext for Noche de Gala sends the wrong message to the public.

Here’s a news flash — in the 16th century, St Augustine was largely unsettled wilderness occupied by indigenous Seloy Indians, alligators, and mosquitos. The “black tie” finery and period dress associated with Noche de Gala and copied from the Gilded Era of Henry Flagler, is not relevant to Pedro Menendez or a century surrounding his birth.

I find the very idea of celebrating an elitist class system repulsive. Noche de Gala organizers will allow the hoi polloi city department heads, whose $400 a couple tickets are being paid for with public tax dollars, to rub elbows with the city’s pseudo-rich in the balconies, but the re-enactors must not interact with the patrons. Who is willing to own that idea?

There is no charity to this Noche de Gala event. In the past few years that it has been in existence, the Lightner Museum, the so-called beneficiary of the proceeds, has received no money. They have furnished their facilities to Noche de Gala without charge. Manager Bob Harper told me he thought events like the mayor’s lighting and Noche de Gala helped introduce The Lightner to the public. The same facilities for your daughter’s wedding are going to run in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The Casa Monica will provide accommodations in its hotel for that wedding, but, even with the royal treatment, its hard to imagine a budget of more than $80 – $100 per person. How much prime rib and mashed potatoes can one person eat?

But, if you can afford it, which most St Augustinians can’t, or won’t, even if they can, you can enjoy an evening looking down on our living historians; because, after all, you are a little superior.

Paying to denigrate people by class makes me wonder what would have happened if those who agreed to this embarrassing, ego-stroking adventure, had just said, “no”? Would ex-mayor Boles, the Kessler minions-with-the-millions, the bankrupt Federal 450th commission, and the TDC reprobates, been forced to round up some Flagler College drama students and put them in black face to tap dance for the ruling class? Lordy, Lordy, massa.