Letter: An election about people

George M Gardner
Former Mayor and Commissioner
St. Augustine, FL

Dear Editor:

There is progress in St. Augustine, carried on by effective professional management. We are a city manager form of government, not strong mayor form.

So streets and pipes are not really the issues in this campaign.

The main job of the elected is to represent the electorate, to carry the concerns of the people to city management.

Nancy Shaver’s greatest business asset is gathering facts and finding solutions, and her greatest people asset is involving our community in that effort.

It’s about the people, and Joe Boles has shown little interest in involving the community in its signature event, the 450th anniversary of the nation’s oldest city.

No reprise of the Cross and Sword state play, no Days in Spain, no celebration of, by and for the people.

This current mayor’s legacy is to tell the world about 200 years of Spanish heritage before the United States through Mumford & Sons, a British folk rock band, and during the economic recovery to reduce the unemployment rate by three – the city hall 450 staff, at a cost of $3 million in salaries and exhibits.

Enough “business as usual.” As the Record once editorialized, “the mayor’s post is a perk, not a coronation.”