• 07 Dec 04  Open letter to City Commission giving our purpose and right to speak

My name is Dave Lott, 993 Ocean Overlook Drive and I am a resident of this beautiful city.  I am speaking tonight representing Concerned Friends of Fernandina.  At the November 16^th Commission meeting, several questions were raised about Concerned Friends of Fernandina – some that were interpreted to question the legitimacy of our organization to represent positions on various issues impacting the City of Fernandina Beach.  Since those questions were raised in this public forum, we believe that it is our responsibility to respond to those questions in this same venue.

Concerned Friends of Fernandina is a non-partisan, grassroots citizens group that was organized in November 2003 to inform and involve residents wanting to preserve the identity of Fernandina Beach and its natural beauty.  Concerned Friends is led by a Steering Committee of six volunteers who are listed on the sheet I have handed out.  Of these six, five are residents of the City – the other member just recently moved into the County after living in the City for several years.

We are a volunteer group that has no dues or fees; so we don’t have ‘members’ in the traditional sense.  The costs related to our operations such as postage; hosting our web site; and meeting room charges are covered by the Steering Committee members digging into their own pockets or through the generous donations of our supporters.  As mentioned earlier, we seek to inform and educate residents on issues that are important to our quality of life here in Fernandina Beach.  We communicate with those that are interested in our efforts through our web site (www.cfofgroup.org); newsletters and e-mail messages. 

We work hard to encourage the personal involvement of - and the interaction with - our supporters.  We hold meetings at least quarterly that are open to the public.  In that regard, I would like to invite everyone to our next meeting which will be held this Thursday night, Dec. 9^th, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Nassau Council on Aging; which is located across from Baptist Nassau.  We will have some light refreshments before leading discussions on some of the important issues of today and the coming year.  Mayor Roland -- we appreciate the offer you have made to speak at one of our upcoming meetings and we hope to get that arranged right after the first of the year.

It should be noted that the name of our organization is Concerned Friends of Fernandina, not Concerned Citizens of Fernandina.  While our focus is predominantly on issues directly impacting the City of Fernandina Beach; we respectfully submit that there are some issues that transcend the boundaries of our City and require the support of City residents and non-residents alike.  The recent approval of the FIND referendum is a prime example of such a case. 

We want to stress that Concerned Friends strives to improve the quality of life in Fernandina Beach and we seek ways to work with the City and various service organizations.  Perhaps it was unfortunate that one of our first high profile activities was our opposition to the inclusion of the north & south residential neighborhoods in the CRA.  That effort generated a level of animosity to where our critics derisively referred to us as "Concerned Foes of Fernandina".

Just as you don’t read about the thousands of safe landings at an airport, but just the one accident, the general public usually only sees Concerned Friends mentioned relative to controversial issues.  We would like to review some of our efforts that have garnered less attention:

• We facilitated the invitation for David Roach, Executive Director of FIND, to speak before the City Commission just prior to the General Election.  We arranged a similar invitation for Mr. Roach before the Nassau County Commission.  We distributed the FIND information to our mailing list as well as urged them to vote YES. Given the fact that the margin of victory was less than 100 votes, we believe that our efforts contributed to this successful result.
• We continue to work with homeowners in the Lakewood subdivision.  With the assistance of Commissioner Walker and City staff, we are helping these homeowners deal with violations by a developer of the City's tree ordinance.  So far the developer has ignored the City’s request for compliance and we will continue to work to ensure the requirements of this important ordinance are met.
• Our Steering Committee has reviewed the latest drafts of the CRA Development Plan and Finding of Necessity documents and provided comments back to City staff for finalization of these documents.  We believe that we are the only citizen’s group that has provided such feedback. 
• We provided an objective, fact-based analysis of the Marina's financial performance that was later validated by the consultant's paid by the City.  One of our steering committee members is working on a volunteer basis with the City’s team on developing the future financial projections for the City marina.
• We participated in the Coastal Clean-Up effort at Main Beach earlier this year. 

We assure the Commission and our fellow citizens, that we do not seek to be confrontational.  We respect each of you for your public service and we thank you for that service.  But sometimes, we will find ourselves on the other side of an issue.  At such times, we believe that is our right, and our duty, to offer our alternative position to the officials who are making the decisions that impact the future of our City.  One of our most treasured freedoms is the right for a citizen to be heard and we intend to continue to exercise that freedom.  But, in reality, the exercise of that freedom is not easy for many – especially for many of our supporters.  Some are shy or otherwise afraid to speak in public; others are afraid that since we live in such a small city, there might be reprisals against them at their job or business. 

In closing, the Steering Committee of Concerned Friends of Fernandina makes the following pledges:  To the best of our ability, the positions that we take will be based on a foundation of fact and accuracy.  We pledge that every effort will be made to consolidate our remarks and statements to 1 or 2 speakers so that we can be thorough, concise and thought provoking.  We pledge to continue to encourage citizen’s participation in local government whenever possible.  And finally, we pledge that we will always strive to act in a courteous, professional and respectful manner – and only ask to be treated in the same way. 

Thank you for your time.   

                                                                        ____________**_____________

For more information about the Friends of Fernandina and how you can be involved, send an email to: info@fofgroup.org or Click here

or write us at:    Concerned Friends of Fernandina                                       JOIN OUR E-Mail List   Click here

                            2487 Captain Hook Dr

                            Fernandina Beach, Florida   32034

The Roots:

         Julie Ferreira       David Lott       Richard Rothrock      

         Joan Altman       Judy Belz

Contact us at : steering@fofgroup.org   or  Click here

NOTE: You can find this website at:   www.cfofweb.org   or

                                                                   www.fofgroup.org  or

                                                                   www.cfofgroup.org