3 candidates for local office denounce historic city news amid 'Niggardly, colored people' exchange

Well this was an exciting weekend!



After I was told about a local man, Daniel Carter, and comments made directed at him in an email exchange, this little known blog was the start of the breaking-of-the-back of an entire corrupt local "news" source, causing almost every political candidate to renounce him, and pull their support.

The story was shared by one person to local facebook groups, ended up on the RANT & RAVE page, and then within hours, in the middle of the night. I was getting requests from every news agency in town, asking for comment, and requesting my permission to use some of my content, and I'm sure Mr. Carter was too.



The article has now been seen over 70,000 times in just over a day! It's been picked up by First Coast News, My 904 News, Florida Politics, The St. Augustine Record and a couple more, all followed with deeper dives into the match we set on fire the other night.

I'm not writing this to brag, or humblebrag, just to say that it doesn't always take much to make a change. We only had 4 "likes" two days ago, and today only have 22, still almost every political figure involved with the owner of historic city news has since discontinued their contracts with the blog.

Thank you,

SYD

You Give All COLORED People a Bad Name - Local Campaign Manager Tells Black Man

Not many people realize this, but Michael Gold (Historic City News Editor) manages political campaigns here in St. Augustine. The ethics of a local "News" organization representing candidates has already been challenged in court, and poses a clear conflict of interest.

His facebook page lists him as Jill Pacetti's campaign manager, which would explain all the  puff pieces, and her logos splattered all over his social media accounts.




Obviously if you're managing campaigns, your "news" coverage will be highly slanted. At the very least, HCN has now proven itself to be completely non-credible during election season.

Now I'm not one to throw around accusations, especially serious ones. However this latest accusation is just one of so many over the years. Gold, who barely understands how to conduct himself on social media, had a surprising response to a request to be removed from a mailing list, due to racial insensitivity in Gold's publication.



He also believed it was appropriate to slide the word "niggardly" in his response. While the word means "stingy"  it seems a bit convenient to use it in this conversation, even though no one ever uses that word.

It seems the only person who regularly comes to Gold's defense, happens to be the local "Pastor" Doug Russo, who has publicly proclaimed on numerous occasions that God believes black people should still be slaves, according to the bible, an interpretation that almost no one else on earth believes.



Other accusations over the years have come from local activist Ed Slavin. He has numerous blog entries calling Gold a racist and "exposing" him as a former KKK supporter.

http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-about-michael-gold-fka-michael.html

http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2008/09/anonymice-at-plazabum-sexist-racist.html

http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2010/05/michael-gold-fka-michael-tobin-operates_11.html

If I were a candidate in this city, I would stay as far away from Michael Gold as possible.

His candidate, Jill Pacetti, has given him THOUSANDS of dollars in exchange for positive press.

These four local fast food chains struggling to staff

If you're planning to go for a quick bite to eat today, you might want to make plans to stay away from a few places. Not necessarily because of the qulity of the food, but rather the time it will take you to get your "fast food."

#4 - McDonald's on the Island -
These guys are struggling! Every they have a staff of about 3 people at night, who are running around like crazy trying to keep up. On the bright side, at least their ice cream machine usually works!

#3 - Steak N Shake
If you drive through Steak N Shake after 10pm (Which is when most people go) you might want to plan for longer than usual service. During a recent visit, they were down to one employee in the entire place!

#2 - Krystals
There is SOOOOO much wrong with Krystal's, other than their food. Krystals (By Ned's) is down to 2 employees at any given time. To make things worse, the US1 chain has decided to park EVERY SINGLE CAR in a space after they pay. This means that the cook has to cook each meal, and then run it out to people's cars, costing even more time. No lie, I've waited 30 minutes for 3 Krystals recently. The system there is completely screwed!

#1 - Dairy Queen
DQ's situation is so bad, they were actually forced to close due to a lack of employees.

The major issue in St. Augustine is that the cost of living is outrageous, due to factors like short term rentals, booming tourism, and a huge influx of wealthy people moving into the county. Seven-dollar-per-hour jobs cannot sustain anyone in this city today. Not even close!

If these establishments hope to staff their restaurants, they need to be offering at least $12/hr. Unfortunately, if they don't, they just won't be able to find anyone who thinks the job is worth it.

Discriminatory Embassy waterpark returns for round 2

Court documents show that earlier this month, the Embassy suites filed an appeal to the St. Augustine Beach Commission's unanimous denial of their water park, which was not part of their original design plans.

The Embassy developers billed the park as a great experience for families, but neglected to mention that the park will not be open to local families, but rather only paying tourists.

The next commission meeting will take place August 6th at St. Augustine Beach City Hall next to the police station.

St. Augustine Spectacle readers are encouraged to attend.

Candidate thanks mayor for contextualization... Or does she?

Today, Jill Pacetti posted to the group, "Stop Racist Rawls" a letter thanking mayor Shaver for her work on contextualization. Only the post was from crazy man, Ed Slavin.

I'm confused...

This is either her attempt at a joke, or her campaign manager Michael Gold, who runs Historic City News as well as every move Jill has made since her announcement, taking a dig at his sworn enemy, using her as his voice.

Beach Are Police Checking Your Cars

RECORD - If you find an Operation Lock it Up card hanging on your vehicle door, it’s the St. Augustine Beach Police Department’s way of reminding motorists that their vehicle was left unlocked or that valuables were left exposed. Operation Lock it Up prevention measures include removing valuables from vehicles at night and ensuring they are locked, closing garage doors, making sure doors and windows are properly secured when homeowners are working or are away and facilitating adequate lighting at home and at business locations in dark or secluded areas. For information, call the St. Augustine Beach Police office at 471-3600 or go to sabpd.org.

Crumbling Building Shuts Down Iconic St. Augustine Road

 

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Avilés Street in St. Augustine's historic district is open for pedestrian traffic only until further notice because of concerns about an unstable building, the city's police department announced Wednesday.

Cecilia Aiple, with St. Augustine Police Department, said a trolley train operator called after seeing damage done to a building at 9 Avilés Street on Wednesday morning. A sergeant sent to investigate agreed there was a safety concern and shut down the road to traffic between King and Cadiz streets. Pedestrians can still pass on the street.

"In an abundance of caution for public safety and given the nature of Aviles Street, a single lane, narrow street and the route of sightseeing vehicles, the street was closed to vehicular traffic until evaluations can be made by structural engineers as to the safety of the building," city spokeswoman Melissa Wissell said in a statement released Thursday morning. "These evaluations are currently underway."

Aviles was closed to vehicles as crowds descend on the city for Fourth of July entertainment and fireworks.

FULL STORY: CHANNEL 4 NEWS