William Stephen (Dare?) Griffin

[Jim]

Urbanplanet, that was it. 


We've always had to deal with drama but I wish it didn't have to come down to actual legal proceedings.

[remc86007]

Why are parts of the article written in past tense? The site is still here.

[Captain Zissou]

^He got the names of 2 people he's suing wrong.

[Gunnar]

Can't we just blame everything on Aldermanparklover (remember him?) and be done with it?

Whatever happened to Aldermanparklover, did anyone ever check the IP for that account to see if it was a sockpuppet?  I mean the posts came in such a crazy number and were really out there.  Then they stopped suddenly.

I was thinking the exact same thing - he just happened to appear at an overly convenient moment. Did a good job of silencing the criticism on how dissenting opinion were treated on the forums.

[thelakelander]

^He got the names of 2 people he's suing wrong.

Not at all surprising.  That midget couldn't lawyer his way out of a parking ticket.

I don't know the guy, so I'm not going to say anything negative about him and would encourage everyone to remember our forum rules. As for Mr. Griffin, we'll take the false accusations made seriously when the threats stop and an actual suit is filed with the Clerk of Court.  Until then, this is all hot time wasting air.

[riverside_mail]

Just checked out Mr. Dare's new website. It was a bit.....sparse.

[Cheshire Cat]

No horse in the race, not privy to any inside info, and not interested in private details of someone else's business, but come on now, if there's one person who has earned MORE than the benefit of the doubt over the last decade, it's Ennis. Certainly doesn't need my defending, but guy has never been anything less than a class act. And the foundation of the site, as far as I'm concerned.

Concur 100%

Absolutely!

[jaxjaguar]

The only person I couldn't stand more than MMR was StephenDare... He messaged me a few times threatening to ban me so I'm not to sad to see him go. LOL

[Cheshire Cat]

I went looking for that Folio article a couple years back—I remember reading it when it was published—but their online archives do not go back that far.

Thinking back on my MySpace story, I'm glad MySpace wasn't particular about displaying real names—my screen name was taken from a Brian Eno song; my account could not be found if you tried looking up my real name—as he might have tried to call where I worked at the time and tell who knows what to my boss.

There is a hard copy of the Folio article in their physical archives.

[Cheshire Cat]

I just have to weigh in here for a moment about this entire issue.  First I think all that needed to be said has been said with the statement from the News page on this site.  It is short, succinct and to the point.  It reads and I quote

Metro Jacksonville, Inc. regrets the recent actions by Mr. William "Stephen Dare" Griffin that caused his removal as an officer/director of the corporation. There is an active investigation into associated financial discrepancies so we cannot comment any further at this time.

It speaks to financial discrepancies which is something most here would have no idea about.  The only ones who know the actual facts are those intimately involved.  It's best to leave it like that.  It will be worked out to their own satisfaction or through lawful process and none of that is any of our dadgum business.

I know Ennis Davis for along time now, long before this site started all the way back when Jim Webb had the MetJax site.  When that shut down it spun off into two sites, one I started called JaxOutLoud which focused on politics and the other was this site and forum.  The politics on this forum begun shortly after JOL was closed.

Ennis and I met due to a shared interest in historical buildings, historic restoration, urban core development, something I had been involved as a city official in south Florida long ago, transportation and yes even politics because the politics of transportation and development turn on local politics in Jacksonville like it does elsewhere.

Ennis is one of the most upstanding, forthright, no nonsense, educated and talented individuals that I have ever known.  I know him to be a man of his word, a person of integrity that I have great trust in.  He has said he has not deleted threads from this forum and knowing him that is absolutely the truth. It is worth mentioning that any one of us who posts can delete "their own posts" at any time, new or old.

Beyond that from the point of having started a forum years back it's worth remembering that other than those who are interests in the origination of the site, we are all visitors here and should be thankful that so much time and energy has been taken to make this forum available to folks like ourselves.  It is no easy thing. Right now the future of this site may be undecided but it is my hope it continues.  It is a valuable asset for Jacksonville and beyond. I will continue to post on politics because the truth is politics is intimately intertwined with all that happens in development one way or another from council meetings to State and Federal laws.

As for the individual suspended, this was a long time coming and truly not a surprise.  Again dynamics unknown to most were always at play.  In any event, to my view the forum is far more pleasant minus the constant contrarian dialog and moderation/comment deletions that made reading and interacting on the forum very unpleasant. The drama was intentional and part of an effort to create more readership in the eyes of one person.  Whether or not that is the truth, to my view the best forums are the ones of open honest discussion and "respect" for others opinions and until recently that was not always the case here as many can testify too. 

Ennis, Dan and Mike I hope you are able to keep this site and forum alive and best wishes for the complete success of Modern Cities.  I know it will be great. 

[NotNow]

For my first post here in a few years, I'll just say..I hope that the site continues and that real discussions can take place in an amicable and unhindered manner. 

[thelakelander]

Yes. Despite the accusations against me, I wish him well and good luck with his MetroJaxNews.com endeavor. We can never have too many people dedicating their time to the improvement of their communities.

[Adam White]

Yes. Despite the accusations against me, I wish him well and good luck with his MetroJaxNews.com endeavor. We can never have too many people dedicating their time to the improvement of their communities.

And for the record, I'm not taking sides here. But I think we all should appreciate the effort Stephen put into the website over the years. Sometimes it's easy to concentrate a lot on the forum and its various personalities - I know I do - but the site has had a lot of great stuff over the years and Stephen was a part of that, love him or hate him. And he clearly cares a lot of Jax, as do so many involved with this site (whether owners, contributors or visitors).

I appreciate the site and have found it very interesting and helpful over the years. Let's hope it continues!

[Suzanne Jenkins]

Hey everyone    I am back  ..... i too took a hiatus from the site since 2007.  It is good to come back and not worry about being harrassed and all the other things that have been mentioned here.  I missed the discussions but not the drama, harrasment and lies...   There are great members on here with good discussions, looking forward to getting back into it.

[thelakelander]

Welcome back! We missed you!