Sunday, September 14, 2014

Battalla de vino is invidious, conspicuous consumption










Yesterday, September 13, is a date that will live in infamy -- a day of conspicuous, invidious, wasteful consumption and exemplifies how mismanaged our 450th celebration has become under St. Augustine, Florida Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, Jr.

Mayor BOLES' buddy, CHARLES SERAPHIN a/k/a GOOD-TIME "CHARLIE SERAPHIN," is a City Hall hanger-on. CHARLIE SERAPHIN is a dodgy $70,000/year City contractor employee, the failed 450th fundraising consultant, reborn as its marketing consultant.

CHARLIE SERAPHIN also heads the St. VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY and misused its resources publicly: when the City's negligence caused a pickup truck to plunge into a Charlotte Street sinkhole in the historic area, caused by City neglect of infrastructure -- the City and its SERAPHIN League of Cities Insurance would not pay the claim. That was wrong. The claim should not have been denied. The City should have advocated for its payment by the Florida League of Cities. Instead, the St. VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY, headed by CHARLES SERAPHIN, bailed out the City of St. Augustine and paid for the truck repair, matching community donations. That was so wrong -- those funds are intended for the poor, not to coverup bad city management and dodgy insurance adjusters. That was like burning money raised for charitable purposes.

That's CHARLES SERAPHIN for you -- a former sports marketer who masquerades as a city consultant, doing little of public benefit, a good-ole-boy on the government payroll, a hey-boy in the employ of Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR.

CHARLES SERAPHIN -- this frivol, this flop, this fop -- heads a group called the ST. AUGUSTINE SPANISH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL, INC. At Fred Francis Field, sometimes called the Special Event Field, there was an event held by SERAPHIN and his ST. AUGUSTINE SPANISH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL, INC., 44 Avenida Menendez a 501c3 charitable organization that also includes BOLES' cronies, including liquor store owner BARRY BROUDY, MICHAEL LUGO and JIM BABCOCK on its board).

Yesterday, CHARLES SERAPHIN's ST. AUGUSTINE SPANISH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL, INC., held an event: it involved people running about, squirting wine on each other. It is called the "Batalla de vino" or "battle of wine."

Not tasting wine. Not enjoying wine. Not drinking it. Squirting it on each other. How bizarre. How wasteful.

Economist and sociologist Thorsten Veblen coined the term "conspicuous consumption." Wikipedia reports:
Conspicuous consumption is the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to publicly display economic power—either the buyer's income or the buyer's accumulated wealth. Sociologically, to the conspicuous consumer, such a public display of discretionary economic power is a means either of attaining or of maintaining a given social status.

Moreover, invidious consumption, a more specialized sociologic term, denotes the deliberate conspicuous consumption of goods and services intended to provoke the envy of other people, as a means of displaying the buyer’s superior socio-economic status.


St. Augustine Record Editor KATHY NELSON considers it front page news, and there were several lengthy stories about the ST. AUGUSTINE SPANISH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL, INC. (while the Record refuses to cover local government waste, fraud, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, flummery, dupery, nincompoopery, potholes, red water and other issues that people care about, including waste by the 450th, and the preponderance of rich-guy events and the lack of free events for all of our people).

Snooty Ponte Vedra rich people (and poseurs and hangers-on) squirting wine on each other is by definition "conspicuous consumption" and may be considered "invidious consumption."

Wasting wine is like wasting food.

Wasting wine is like burning money.

It is in-your-face waste.

It is disgusting.

It promotes the idea that waste is okay.

It is contrary to the dignity and genius of a free people.

It is symbolic of waste by our City government on the 450th commemoration.

While some people don't have enough to eat, and more than 1200 are homeless in our county, and our Mayor said he did not want to be "crippled by compassion," our 450th celebration here in the City of St. Augustine is smeared, bleared and teared with a bunch of invitation-only, rich-guy events, including the conspicuous consumption and wasting of wine.

What immoral degeneracy.
What a waste of wine.
What a waste of time.
What a waste of government resources that CHARLIE SERAPHIN spends city time promoting wine waste to benefit liquor sellers.

Our 450th celebration is disorganized and poorly planned.

What a waste of an opportunity for our 450th celebration to leave lasting legacies, like the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore -- America's Best Idea. www.staugustgreen.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

THIS is an "event"?

Isn't is really a FOOD FIGHT?

For what PURPOSE? Fund-raising? What are the numbers?

How does this increase and impact the visitor experience? How does this mark our place "globally" among AUTHENTIC historical venues?

A farce better saved for someone's backyard FIESTA.

Charlie Seraphin, sycophant, is having his position description written YET AGAIN.

Maybe THIS time they will hit on something he is able to actually DO. He gets his contractor's raises before city staffers get their COL increase. He should be up to at least $78,000 per year now.

A department of FIVE -- the poor dears led by a buffoon -- with nothing to show for its existence. Accountable ONLY to Joe Boles.

OUT with Joe Boles. He has proven we can no longer afford him.

Anonymous said...

I don't know enough about the 450th's budget to agree or disagree with the validity of these accusations. Did the department generate revenue for the city? or was it operating in the red? Did it better the city or otherwise contribute, or was it indeed entirely wasteful? What is the context of this $78,000 salary? These questions should be examined before jumping to conclusions.

I do know Seraphin is a VOLUNTEER for St. VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY, where he donates countless hours towards bettering the welfare of St. Augustine's less fortunate.

According to The Record; Seraphin's termination occurred after Seraphin "questioned the ability of one of the mayoral candidates."

I'm curious, what questions did he ask that led to such political backlash?

“As Americans, we all have the right to ask legitimate questions and I had no intention of interfering in the political process,” Seraphin said.

This looks like a hatchet job. That's clear. The question is, what is Nancy Shaver hiding that motivated the attack? Why didn't she just answer the questions? Did it have something to do with accounting scandals at MCI where she was a former executive? What WAS Seraphin alleging?

Ed... Are you in Nancy's pocket? You've certainly spared little consideration for Seraphin in assigning nick names and name calling. Why don't you sit down with the man, get to know him and his work? How about asking him directly how he can justify these rich idiots wasting wine? As Gloria points out... $80,000 for what!? How about asking Seraphin that question instead of rail roading him like this? How about finding out what was really going on here?

Ed... I'm calling out your integrity. This post was unfair. Make it right. Until you do, you're part of the problem.

- A friend of Charlie & of St. Augustine

Ed Slavin said...

Obviously not. Talked to him for an hour and eleven seconds the morning after his firing. If you were a close friend of Charlie Seraphin, you would already know what we talked about, and I am not sharing it here. Machine used him as a bullet in his gun to commit Hatch Act violations, never paid him any benefits or withholding, and fired him when he spread malicious falsehoods and Lashon hara. http://historiccity.com/2014/staugustine/news/florida/seraphin-given-30-day-notice-termination-48437 Call me. 377-4998

Ed Slavin said...

City Hall phones and computers are not for Hatch Act violations. City employees need detailed instructions about their rights and responsibilities. Now.