Freeman contributions from Kanti Patel hotels

After last night’s vote to approve re-zoning of three HP-5 lots that include the Barnacle Bill’s restaurant, Historic City News readers questioned how much money, if any, Patel had contributed to Leanna Freeman’s political campaign.

At one point, Freeman appeared interested in the concerns being expressed by the dozens of speakers who attended the St Augustine City Commission meeting or wrote letters, email, or sent text messages, in objection to rezoning the property to accommodate a parking lot.   She asked questions that exposed undisclosed business relationships between supportive speakers and the developer.

In the end, she sided with Commissioner Neville and Horvath, allowing the rezoning and inclusion of the property into the San Marco Hotel PUD.

Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline was absent for the vote.

We checked the St Johns County Supervisor of Elections office and learned that during her initial run for office (2008) she received a total of $500.00; representing $100.00 from each of five of Kanti Patel’s businesses.

Unless the contributions were made under other names, we could not locate contributions from Patel to Commissioner Freeman during her 2012 or 2016 re-elections.

The original records are open to public inspection and can be searched online.