While watching TV earlier this week an ad for Subway sandwiches appeared featuring the purple haired anti-American, kneeling U.S. female soccer player, Megan Rapinoe, hawking that chain’s sandwiches.

The ad prompted wife Linda to comment out loud saying: “That reminds me we got a coupon in the mail for a Subway sandwich that needs to be tossed in the trash.” She’s not alone in her opinion.

Why would a company select a spokesperson for their products or services that will alienate millions of folks that view their ads? What were the nitwits in this firm’s advertising agency thinking? Did the Subway CEO review this ad before it aired? If so he should be forced to eat at one his places every day, they need the business from what I’ve read about the nationwide backlash to this ad.

Many of the Subway franchisees are extremely upset claiming that the purpled-haired Rapinoe isn’t helping but is costing them business. If Subway’s communications dimwits had a clue they’d have hired Carli Lloyd, the one gal on the team that stood and showed respect for the national anthem and her country. Or even better the enthusiastic gold medal winning gal wrestler, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who tearfully and gleefully wrapped herself in the American flag on the podium.

Forget Subway if you’re looking for a good sandwich hereabouts? There are a variety of establishments on Amelia Island that serve excellent sub sandwiches and Subway isn’t one of them. One of the best is locally owned Coastal Pizza in the Island Walk Publix Shopping Center at the corner of Sadler and South 14^th Street. Ask owner Tom Demario to add his homemade tapenade to your selection.

Among national chains residing here I like are Jimmy Johns – also in Island Walk – and Jersey Mike’s just across the street. And there’s Fire House Subs at 1978 South 8th St. that has excellent sandwiches and is owned by the good guys. I’ve heard the new V’s Restaurant on Sadler also has a tasty sandwich but haven’t visited it yet.

For a great sandwich of any kind, you can’t beat the locally owned 4^th Street Deli downtown across from the North 4^th St. side of the old Post Office. Owner Jae Kim and his wife Annette will generously fill your sandwich order with the freshest ingredients at incredibly reasonable prices.

If you’re in the mood for fun, fast and inexpensive the sandwich menu at Pajama Dave’s Beer & Wine Garden at 12 South 2^nd Street is it. The plump fat hot dogs are the best on the island and pop when you bite into them. I love ’em loaded with sauerkraut. The pajama-clad eccentric also has a choice of Panini sandwiches, more than 200 different kinds of beer and an eclectic crowd of regulars that will keep you entertained.

I was in the media, public relations and advertising business for my entire career and I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of the ad agency’s and Subway’s staff when they selected this purple-haired nincompoop to promote their sandwiches. It’s like Longhorn Steakhouse signing PETA to endorse its chain. It may be time to cut back on the drinking during working hours.

Go woke then go broke!

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“Hey, Dale I just realized that the tax payers vote!”

City Budget Axe & Common Sense Needed: Fernandina Beach City Commissioners need to start whacking away at the city’s bloated budget or its citizens are going to face a tax increase particularly since the $200,000 impact fee use for the Peck Center is “illegal”.

Here’s why says a local expert who knows more than most about such matters:

• Robbing from the reserves again leaves the city unprepared and reserves have already been depleted from $7 million to $4 million—the legally required minimum.
• The adjusted roll-back is a tax increase—how do they justify that in the second year of a pandemic?
• Cut $795,000 in unessential spending:
  • Hold Operating Expenses in non-safety Departments to current budget levels—that produces $272,933 in savings
  • Defer Parks & Rec Vehicle Replacement—that saves $107,000
  • Reduce Police Vehicle Replacement—that saves $50,000
  • Remove Beach Conservation (new item)—saves $44,876
  • Defer ERP Payroll Module—saves $320,000
• The full-roll-back budget can be achieved by eliminating non-essential spending—so do it.
• “Serve the people”, he says – “not City Hall!”

He surmised that with the $250,000 the Commissioners have already cut; these reductions add up to $1.045 million – exactly what is needed to achieve a budget based on the real Roll-Back Rate.

This needs to happen this year or it never will. After the pandemic taxes will have to go up, so the Commission must act now for the sake of the city residents:

• The Federal Reserve says inflation ran at an annual rate of 6.1% in the second quarter and is now over 7% according to the Department of Labor
• Real incomes are flat
• COVID is not going away

The Commissioners need to explain why they insist on raising taxes when it isn’t necessary. Playing games with budget accounts does not cut it when people are suffering.

The Commission has also indicated it wants a bond to be approved, which raises taxes. So, a $5-6 million bond issue adds about .3 mills to the property tax rate. If the Commissioners want to hike taxes for a bond, they should cut now – cut that .226 saved by going to the roll-back and use it to help soften the tax blow when they float the bond.

Cocky Commissioner Chip Ross once told watch dog group Common Sense founder Jack Knocke that citizens don’t care about tax increases. He based that on the fact few ever complain. So, if you’re a tax paying citizen of Fernandina Beach and don’t want your taxes going up tell the Commissioners to start cutting the budget. Here’s their contact information. Call or email them and demand that they make cuts. Remember they work for you, not the other way around.

• Mayor Mike Lednovich  (904) 502-0650 cell; mlednovich@fbfl.org
• Vice Mayor Len Kreger Cell (904) 432-8389 cell; lkreger@fbfl.org
• Commissioner Bradley Bean  (904) 415-5181; bbean@fbfl.org
• Commissioner Chip Ross (410) 394-0220 cell; cross@fbfl.org
• Commissioner David Sturges (904)753-2445 cell; dsturges@fbfl.org

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Speaking Of The City: The final results of the poll that’s been running on this site the last few weeks asking if Fernandina Beach residents think the state should audit how the city administers impact fees and building statues shows that an overwhelming number of folks would like to see Tallahassee come in and take a look at the books. The results of 168 voters indicate that 156 of them or 93 percent want the state to take a peek, while only 7 percent or 12 say it’s not necessary. A lot less than 156 votes have determined election results hereabouts. A new poll starting today asks if city tax payers think the Commission should start whacking away at the city budget to keep taxes from going up. This one seems like a no-brainer.

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Wait! What? There is a move on within the American Medical Association to do away with the sex designation on birth certificates.  The nitwits behind this nonsense say that designating a newborn either male or female is a blatant act of discrimination. I suppose in much the same way, suggesting that there is any difference between a Democrat and a lunatic is a blatant act of discrimination.

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Hypocrisy Should Be An Olympic Event: Like many communist country athletes in the past Belarus sprinter Krystina Tsimasouskaya took advantage of her presence at the Tokyo Olympics, to escape her wretched native hellhole of a country and seek political asylum in Poland.

That is what people who live in oppressive societies do. So how come we didn’t see the USA’s bellyaching soccer players and hammer thrower doing the same?

Instead, they repeat the same tired old lies about systemic racism and white supremacy while signing endorsement deals with the world’s number one oppressor of human beings, Communist China.

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Things I Wish I’d Said: “When I see lovers’ names carved on trees, I think it’s strange how many people bring knives on a date.” – anonymous.

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Polly Wants The WSJ:  My west coast friend and pundit Burt Prelutsky, a former screen writer and L.A. Times columnist, explained the current state of journalism when he said: “Having an editorial board room full of Communists and a newsroom full of nincompoops has resulted in the New York Times being a newspaper that even parrots are loudly demanding be removed from their cages.”

What sparked his recent ire was that an American newspaper would actually title an opinion piece “There’s no good reason you should be a citizen to vote.”

“How dumb must someone be to subscribe to this venerated rag?” asked Burt of NY Times readers.

“Polly may want a cracker, but she does not want the New York Times littering her home,” he explained.

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Speaking Of The Media: Mary Maguire, who founded and wrote the Nassau County Independent online newspaper has abandoned Amelia Island and moved to Chicago, leaving the print News Leader as the only source of news in the area. The online Fernandina Observer doesn’t qualify as a news source since it’s purely a news letter for the Fernandina Beach City Commission.

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Birds & The Bees Plus More: Tampa pal and American Spectator writer, Larry Thornberry, sent the following: “I pity the poor parents today attempting to explain the birds and bees, the bees and the bees, the birds and the birds, the birds that used to be bees, the bees that used to be birds, plus bees that look like birds but still have a stinger.”

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Brace Yourself America: Pete Buttigieg, the strange little man, who is Biden’s head of the Department of Transportation, is now America’s self-appointed electric vehicle czar.

Prior to heading up that department the only experience this weirdo had in transportation and electricity was driving back-and-forth to work and plugging in his toaster. But like most in the Biden administration experience and intellect don’t matter, only sexual preferences and skin color count.

Buttigieg, who was once mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is part of the massive takeover of the lives of average Americans by the left-wing bureaucrats in Washington D.C. being orchestrated by the Biden Administration.

The train wreck that is the infrastructure bill includes mileage requirements that make it central planning and tax funded socialism. Mandating 50% electric vehicles by 2030 is beyond absurd. There are only 3% now. To reach 50% in nine years requires a massive rebuilding of the electric grid, massive purchases of minerals from China and Congo, massive government subsidies paid for by tax increases, and weird Pete deciding where to put charging station.

The auto manufacturers are very happy to let the government pay for and build the 400,000 charging stations needed. What happens to all the gas stations isn’t their problem.

Did the government tell the oil companies where to put gas stations? Of course not. But Mayor Pete wants to be “equitable”, so he’s mandating that charging stations be put in poor areas where there are no electric vehicles because folks there can’t afford them and even if they could, don’t want them.

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Drinking, Dining & Dancing: The Beech Street Grill will once again come back to life the first two weeks in September says owner Ernie Saltmarsh. Ernie tells me that Covid slowed progress on the restaurant that will feature middle-priced fare, a bar and a renovated upstairs that will be open for the first time in almost 15 years. Instead of leasing the eatery to a restauranteur like he did the last two times, Ernie’s professional staff will run the operation this time around. The menu will feature what he calls “elevated southern coastal food,” items that are not as high priced as David’s or Bob’s Steakhouse, but not fast food or bar grub either. The upstairs will host private functions and feature special meals such as wine and bourbon dinners. A little-known fact is that the house was originally known as the “Bell House” originally built by one of two Bell brothers for his wife. The other Bell brother built what is commonly called the Pippi Longstocking’s House in Old Town, also for his new bride. Both brothers were local boat captains. Another project Ernie has been working on is the Lesesne House on Centre Street, that will be open to the public for the first time in 158 years as a venue for special events only. Located across from the old court house, It was the oldest continuously inhabited house in Fernandina Beach and the last residence on Centre Street and should be available in a couple of months. Fernandina Beach is fortunate that Ernie calls it home as he has saved numerous iconic and historic buildings and restaurants from the wrecking ball revitalizing them into thriving popular venues while carefully preserving them. These include the South 3^rd Street Green Turtle and the Florida House and Down Under beneath the Shave Bridge. He has also purchased and physically moved a pair of 18^th Century homes to his properties to preserve them. His name comes up often during the discussions over the waterfront Atlantic Seafood facility and its owner Anne Coonrod. If Ernie is involved residents couldn’t ask for a better community-minded individual. Otherwise, we’re looking at absentee developers from Jacksonville or Atlanta, as there aren’t many locals with pockets deep enough and passion to maintain the quaintness of the city’s historic look and feel. This Saturday, weather permitting, Piano Man John Springer and his sidekick, drummer, Rob Taylor, will be poolside at the twin Marriott hotels on Atlantic Avenue across from Fort Clinch beginning about 4 pm. If Tropical Storm Fred interferes they’ll play at the inside bar area. This evening, Friday, August 13, the Sandbar & Restaurant at Main Beach will host the band VOX from 6-10 pm and tomorrow, Saturday, August 14, the Decades band will perform, also 6-10 pm.