Hearing set for preliminary injunction against City

Historic City News was updated by PACER last week that the four local artists who are suing the City of St Augustine in Federal District Court for violation of their constitutionally protected rights, have filed proof of service with the court announcing their motion for a preliminary injunction against the City.

The artists, Bruce Kevin Bates, Elena Hecht, Kate Merrick, and Helena Sala, all of St Augustine, want to restore their use of public venues to create paintings, photographs, sculpture, sketches and other similar objects of artistic expression.

“It appears that Plaintiffs have complied with the procedural requirements of Rule 65, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 4.06, Local Rules, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, which govern the procedure for seeking a preliminary  injunction,” United States District Judge Brian J. Davis wrote in his order for the Middle District Of Florida, Jacksonville Division.  “Upon consideration of the Motion, and the record, the undersigned finds that an expedited briefing schedule and hearing are necessary.”

 

If you are following the Case, the number is 3:15-cv-00731-BJD-JBT

The injunction hearing will be held on August 21st at 10:00 a.m., before Judge Davis on the Twelfth Floor of the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse, Courtroom 12C, located at 300 North Hogan Street in Jacksonville.

Historic City News editor, Michael Gold, spoke Monday with local attorney, Tom Cushman, one of the members of the artist’s legal team.  Cushman shook his head during the interview, saying that when he approached the commission in January, he had high hopes that a new direction in City Hall would prevail over the continued erosion of alternative venues to Monument Plaza and the Market on Charlotte Street.  “The fact is, the six venues granted when we last went to court, March 6, 2009, have been whittled down — now, only two remain,” Cushman said.

We have a new City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney, and Cushman anticipated that would help.  He spoke with Assistant City Attorney Denise May after his appearance before the commission.  “She seemed to have a handle on the request; then, when she called back, she simply told me that the City was not going to make any changes at this time.”

 

In addition to former city attorney, Ronald W. Brown, there were other city officials who seemed to “carry a grudge”; brooding over the embarrassment of previous losses in court.  Former mayor and attorney Joe Boles, insisted that the prosecution of the plaza artists continue; going so far as to see that former city manager, Bill Harriss, had city police officers video tape artists on the street, cite them for violations of the unconstitutional ordinance, and carry them to jail to post bond if they returned.

“Boles, Harriss, and Brown are all gone now, but they persist as malevolent spirits whose bad policies and overreaching authority still haunt City Hall,” Gold wrote in his notes from the Cushman interview.  “We need an exorcism,” he concluded.

There are both conflicting and competing interests at play in City Hall, as well as a hypersensitivity to doing anything that might negatively impact the demands of the city’s vital tourist-centric economy.

Historic City News has publicly editorialized that the last thing we need is another cancer on the city treasury, just to stroke the egos of a few remaining cultural throwbacks; while outside legal counsel laughs all the way to the bank — paying for their children’s college education off the backs of city taxpayers.