Published by the Department of Public Affairs, City of St. Augustine. Florida September 13 2011 |
City to 'start process' against FSDB
Seeking compliance with city codes
A resolution to "start the process" against the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind will go before the City Commission September 22 as the city presses its demand that the school comply with city codes.
City Attorney Ron Brown told commissioners Monday school officials, responding to the city starting a code enforcement action, "are demanding an alternate dispute resolution available to governmental bodies." The school is a state agency.
Steps in the process include staff discussions, and if unsuccessful a public meeting of the two bodies and, if necessary, a mediation.
"The whole process could take the remainder of the year," Brown said.
The city, sparked by Nelmar Terrace neighborhood complaints, is attempting to get the school to agree to interlocal agreements recognizing authority of city codes. | |
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9/11
Retired New York Fire-fighter Bill Brennock rings St. Augustine's 1902 fire bell Sunday before bowed heads at ceremonies commemorating the 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks on the east coast of America.
Brennock, now a St. Augustine resident, was with New York Ladder Company 47 responding to the city's twin towers September 11, 2001.
The fire bell, on loan from the St. Augustine Historical Society, has been set on the grounds of the fire department on Malaga Street.
Photo courtesy of Historic City News |
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$1.5 million in bed tax
potential for the 450th | |
The Tourist Development Council (TDC) may set aside up to $1.5 million to support the city's 450th commemoration.
A total of $600,000 has been allocated to marketing and $450,000 may be directed to "special (event) grants separate from the traditional grant process," TDC Director Glenn Hastings told city commissioners at a 450 workshop Monday.
The remaining $50,000 would go toward sports and recreation under TDC allocation guidelines.
Hastings and Richard Goldman, director of the Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB), were invited by City Manager John Regan to brief the commission "as our largest government partner" for the commemoration.
Hastings said the TDC is "waiting on the Cultural Council to make program recommendations for the Arts, Cultural & Heritage 450th grants before final approval of this part of the funding."
Regan said city Heritage Director Dana Ste. Claire will handle 450 program development, while a new staffer will come on board later this month to develop "an aggressive list of events with the community." |
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'Sense of urgency'
on Visitor Center use | |
Saying "We need something more for our birthday than two Spanish songs," Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman Monday called for a "sense of urgency" to modify codes to allow events in and around the Visitor Information Center.
She referred to the city's cake-cutting during a concert in the plaza two weeks ago, accompanied by the songs.
"Let someone try something," Freeman said. "People need time and excitement to build."
Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield assured the vice mayor details have been worked out with Ponce Celebration/ Days in Spain promoter Stuart Gamsey to move forward on such events, and City Attorney Ron Brown said an ordinance modifying current codes will be presented at the next commission meeting.
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Further review for M&M bids |
City staff will review its Request for Proposal/Qualifications form and gather information on all three bids for the former M&M Market property in Lincolnville, following tabling Monday by a City Commission dissatisfied with the bidding process.
City Planning and Building Director Mark Knight admitted of the bids, "They're apples, oranges, and pears," and the bidder favored by a staff evaluation committee had never visited the property.
That bidder, Sons and Daughters Architectural Design of Seneca, S.C., envisioned a neighborhood gathering place with covered outdoor pavilion, an eatery, and five to seven housing units, all serving mainly Lincolnville clientele. Other bidders were Frederick Canterbury, proposing to tear down the building and develop an unspecified horse and carriage business, and the non-profit Lift Up Lincolnville Revitalization Corporation, proposing a mixed use of community services.
The city bought the property for $305,185.70 when it was seized and its former owners arrested on a variety of charges. |
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Graffiti ordinance advances |
City commissioners Monday advanced to public hearing at a later meeting an ordinance providing stiff fines and community service hours for graffiti vandals.
The vote was 3-1, with Mayor Joe Boles absent. The split occurred as commissioners debated the severity of community service time, Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline still not satisfied after discussion.
"I worry about unachievable punishment setting up juveniles for failure," said Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman, a lawyer who said she's handled juvenile defense cases. "For 200 hours, assuming four hours on weekends, that'd take a year, and 500, it's just too much."
Commissioners Bill Leary - also a lawyer - and Errol Jones, offset Freeman's concerns, Leary saying, "It's not the community service that hurts them; it's that they got caught." Jones added, "Judges take into consideration all aspects during sentencing." |
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Reliving the earliest days |
 Historic Florida Militia's Men of Menendez were out in force at Fountain of Youth Park during Founder's Day Saturday, reenacting authentic activities that would have been part of settlement life 446 years ago - right down to an assortment of duck, rabbit, beef, and turkey on fire spits in preparation for the evening feast. The Fountain of Youth is part of the actual area where Pedro Menendez founded St. Augustine in 1565. The locally organized living history group has been interpreting St. Augustine's earliest history for more than two decades. (Photo: Michael Isam)
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Historical Society speaker series opens |
The St Augustine Historical Society opens its speaker series tonight with Magen Wilson, Research and Programs assistant to Executive Director Susan Parker, describing Images of the Monument to the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
October 26, the University of Florida's Matthew White takes on The Scientific World of Edmund Kirby Smith, and January 17, the University of North Florida's Michael Francis discusses Politics, Murder and Martyrdom.
All presentations are free, at 7 p.m. in Flagler College's Flagler Room. |
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AARRRGH said Dave Berry | |
Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy are willing to admit that syndicated columnist Dave Berry put sails on the idea of a Talk Like A Pirate Day back in 2002.
"We are dinghy-sized-talk-like-a-pirate kinda guys, but you, Dave ... you are like a frigate-huge-sized-talk-like-a-pirate kinda guy," they emailed him.
With Dave's agreement - via his widely read column - "two reasonably well-adjusted middle-aged guys who are trying to take what started as a small private joke and turn it into a productive job" were successful.
Their story is here, and locally, the day will be celebrated starting at 5 p.m. September 19 in the courtyard of The Pirate Museum on the bayfront.
"The courtyard overlooking the Castillo de San Marcos will be transformed into a lively pirate stronghold with everything from sword fighting demonstrations to a talk like a pirate contest," promoters promise. |
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16th century militia challenges history | |
The English militia tradition in the Massachusetts Bay Colony is credited with giving the modern National Guard its earliest organized regiments, but Greg Moore will tell you it's a fact of history that the Spanish first brought the European tradition - men available for short terms of military service in time of war or domestic turmoil - to the New World ... first in Cuba and Puerto Rico, then to the continent at St. Augustine.
Moore, command historian for the Florida National Guard, will be on hand Friday, September 16 for a full day of activities commemorating the 446th anniversary of that day in 1565, when Pedro Menendez organized the first muster of settlers into a home guard while his military force began a 40-mile trek to attack the French Fort Caroline.
It will be a day complete with 16th century soldados demonstrating the art of war with crossbows, swords, halberds and "hand gonnes" - small portable cannon.
Activities include demonstrations on the St. Francis Barracks parade grounds on Marine Street, with museum open house continuing from 9 a.m. and a military retreat at 3 p.m.
The event is part of a five-year program to educate the public about Florida National Guard history, culminating in 2015 with the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine. |
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History's highlight
1st militia September 16 1565 | |
3 years, 11 months, 27 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
September 16, 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles gathered around him the soldiers of his small Spanish army, as well as the civilian settlers that had accompanied him to the newly established presidio town of St. Augustine. 
He was about to march north to the French settlement of Fort Caroline near the mouth of the St. Johns River, with the purpose of driving out the "usurpers of Spanish land."
Because his plan called for the use of the majority of his regular soldiers, Menendez drew upon Spanish laws governing the militia, or milicia, in an imperial province.
As both the civil governor and commander-in-chief of the military establishment, he had the authority to call all free male settlers in the presidio province to active service.
That first muster in St. Augustine consisted of about 50 men.
The exact location of that first muster is unknown, but historians and archeologists place it in the vicinity of the Mission of Nombre de Dios and Fountain of Youth Park, several miles north of the present site of the Florida National Guard headquarters.
In the earliest tradition of the Citizen-Soldier, the musters of the late 1500s and early 1600s were not much more than simple gatherings of able-bodied men in the town square. It wasn't until 1671 that volunteer militia units were organized in St. Augustine.
The St. Augustine Militia followed the European tradition - men available for short terms of military service in time of war or domestic turmoil - which came to the New World first in Cuba and Puerto Rico, then to the continent at St. Augustine.
The formation of a militia on that September day in 1565 predated by nearly a century the English militia formed December 13, 1636 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which is credited with giving the modern National Guard its earliest organized regiments.
From records in the Florida National Guard State Historian's Office
Image: Everythinghistory.org |
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The St. Augustine Report is published by the Department of Public Affairs of the City of St. Augustine each Tuesday and on Fridays previewing City Commission meetings. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, former St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and Commissioner (2006-2008) and a longtime newspaper reporter and editor. Contact The Report at gardner@aug.com |
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