Former Mayor of Venice notes the current Mayors absence for the 911 remembrance, after indicating Feinsods refusal to sign off on a permit for this event on city property

Dear City Council and Charter Officers,

Yesterday was a very special day, a coalition of Patriotic Citizens, led by Air Force Veteran Barbara Vaughn, put together a 9/11 Remembrance gathering at Patriot’s Park. It was not an accident to use Patriot’s as it is a county-owned parcel within the city limits of Venice, no problem with a “refusal to sign” permit for the Remembrance and it was attended by several hundred citizens. There were several prior council members at the event and Dr. Joe Neunder was the only current council member that I saw in attendance, but there may have been others that I didn’t see. Ron Cutsinger was present to represent the county and many of our police officers and fire-medics were also present as was Sherriff Hoffman. If you have not heard Venice Civilian Public Service Aide Will Acosta recall his ground zero experience during 9/11 as a special unit medic on FDNY, it would be well worth council presentation time to listen to it. If you don’t want to use that time in a meeting, I saw Francesco Abbruzzino simulcasting the remembrance so it may be available as a recording on his Facebook page. Will’s talk was from the heart and was very moving; we are fortunate to have him living and working in our city. Lorraine Anderson was also there and I’m sure she took many great pictures that she will share with the city, you should also be thankful for a dedicated and talented PIO like Lorraine.

That brings me to the other topic for this email and is the reason I am using my city email address as it is business-related.  I still don’t use Facebook, but periodically people send me screenshots of something they are questioning on social media; I have attached three of those shots to this email. It’s up to the city council and the charter officers to determine if these conversations qualify as city business, I certainly think they do and I would guess an attorney would think so as well. I looked on the city server and did not see copies of the screenshots, but that may be due to them being sent to a city address from a private address (unlikely, but possible). I don’t know how much more stuff like this exists, but it is irresponsible, dangerous, and has the potential of being costly to the city. One of the conversations is between the current mayor and a former mayor, so perhaps the former mayor already cautioned the current mayor about the necessity to make and keep city business available as a public record that the city clerk can locate and provide. I hope I am wrong with this assertion, please let me know if you all were aware of it and it is a public record.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

John Holic