Published by the Department of Public Affairs, City of St. Augustine. Florida September 23 2011 |
'Operational Plan' for Galimore
40th ACCORD to make presentation
An "operational plan for the Willie Galimore Community Center, to "be known as the Willie Galimore Educational and Recreational Center/Program, under the umbrella of the 40th
ACCORD, Inc." will be presented to the City Commission Monday as the community struggles to keep the Lincolnville center open after county support ends next Friday.
Also on Monday's agenda, ordinances permitting alcohol sales in an area outside the Visitor Information Center and providing stiff penalties for graffiti vandalism, review of proposals for development of the former M&M Market property, agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $4.7 million toward the $7 million seawall project, initiation of conflict resolution procedures with the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and refinancing of some $11 million in utility bonds issued in 2001.
The regular meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Alcazar Room at City Hall, following a 450 workshop at 3:30 featuring a report by Commissioner Bill Leary on signature program development. | |
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Gazebo restored
Wood columns have been set in place in the city's Plaza gazebo after a summer in fabrication.
The gazebo was closed in April to replace the weakened columns, and a temporary stage was set in front to continue summer concerts.
General Services Director Jim Piggott said the plywood visible here was set for spray-painting the gazebo's wrought iron fencing. |
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Galimore management, advisory board in plan | |
40th ACCORD President Gwen Duncan will make a presentation on the Galimore Center plan as co-director of the management team, in the absence of Director Purcell Conway, who will be out of town.
Initial plans include Sharyn Coley as operational manager and an advisory board which includes Audrey Galimore, widow of the center's namesake, Dalonja Duncan, manager of the Excelsior Museum and Cultural Center, and Barbara Vickers, chair of the St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Remembrance Project.
The plan is expected to include a request for city assistance, including "some of the $400,000 received from the County" with discontinuation of its management, according to city General Services Director Jim Piggott.
City Manager John Regan and Piggott met with concerned citizens at the Galimore Center last week to discuss ways to keep the community center open after county support through an interlocal agreement ends.
M&M proposals back for review
Proposals for development of the city-owned former M&M Market return to the commission Monday for review, after commissioners rejected a presentation two weeks ago as incomplete.
Only one of three proposals was presented, that by a South Carolina architect who officials say never visited the property. The two other proposals are from the non-profit Lift Up Lincolnville Revitalization Corp., proposing a multi-use community center, and Fred Canevari, proposing a horse carriage operation.
The city hopes to find a private sector use beneficial to the neighborhood and to recover the $305,000 it paid for the property when it was closed and its former owners were arrested on a variety of charges. |
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Alcohol sales area for city festivals |
Recognizing that "allowing the consumption of beer, wine and other intoxicating beverages at the Visitor Information Center ... will foster events and programming appropriate to the planned heritage  tourism and 450th Commemoration programming," the City Commission Monday will consider an ordinance allowing alcohol sales in an outside area south of the center.
Described in the ordinance: the area between the Canos de San Francisco Fountain and the Zero Mile Marker. If approved, the ordinance will advance to public hearing at a later meeting.
Need for an area outside the center - which already allows alcohol - arose as Stuart Gamsey worked with city officials to develop Ponce de Leon and Days in Spain festivals on the Visitor Center promenade. He noted alcohol sales in some outside area would be necessary to support festival expenses.
Planned is a "cantina" in the specified area where sales and consumption would be limited. |
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2011-12 city budget adopted |
Despite last minute pleas by a former mayor and soon-to-be former part-time interpreter at the Colonial Spanish Quarter, the City Commission Thursday adopted a budget that eliminates funding for the Spanish Quarter.
Former Mayor George Gardner urged reconsideration of increasing the millage rate beyond the current 7.5 mills, and St. Augustine Archaeological Association President Toni Wallace, a part-time Spanish Quarter interpreter, told commissioners, "I'm very disappointed in you" for "closing the heart of our historic interpretation."
The 2011-12 budget is $701,000 lower than the current budget; that's the amount that would have been needed to subsidize the Spanish Quarter operation.
Mayor Joe Boles said the Quarter is not being permanently closed, but reconfigured. "We have to find a different model," he said. |
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US 1 bridge won't be that high |
The replacement San Sebastian River bridge on US 1 north of King Street will not be as high as a towering mound of dirt along US 1 suggests.
Project spokesperson Laurie Sanderson explained, "The raised construction you see northwest of the bridge at this time is extra material to help compact the material being used as a base for the new bridge."
Sanderson said "A significant portion of the new bridge will be in approximately the same location as the existing bridge," and "at its highest point, the bridge will be approximately six feet higher than the existing bridge."
She said a new connection with the city fire station will be much less elevated.
"Lanes will be shifting as we begin removing portions of the existing bridge along the northwest edge in the next few weeks," Sanderson said. "The sidewalks on the new bridge will be separated from the travel lanes by a concrete barrier, improving safety for pedestrians, including the fishermen who frequent the bridge."
Computer rendering by Florida Department of Transportation |
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Police join in support of our teachers | |
St. Augustine Police Officers helped in the recent "Tools for Schools" drive to assist local teachers by providing them with school supplies.
Everything from pencils and erasers to binders and paper were distributed to St. Johns teachers in a "school supply shopping spree" at the end of August. The program helps offset teachers' classroom costs.
The annual drive is sponsored by the St. Johns County Education Foundation, and officers were happy to help their chief's wife, Foundation Executive Director Donna Lueders. |
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History's highlight
The creation of colonies | |
3 years, 11 months, 17 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
From the Florida Humanities Council's educational fold-out poster, Florida's Spanish Colonial Past 1565-1821
What is a Colony?
The word colony comes from the Latin word colonia meaning a settlement established in conquered territory.
In the 1500s, Spain, England, Portugal, and France all tried to set up colonies in the New World. Spanish monarchs soon realized they could create an overseas empire. They appointed viceroys to be their representatives. The viceroys lived overseas and kept an eye on Spanish possessions. In Spain, a Council of the Indies took care of colonial business.
The Majority Does Not Rule
Spaniards had few concepts of democracy or elected government in the 1500s. Instead, people in Spain had traditional privileges handed down from the Middle Ages.
The extent of these privileges depended on a person's rank in society. Nobles and clergy, for example, were largely exempt from paying taxes. Craftsmen joined guilds to protect their means of earning a living.
One of the most common ways to settle disputes was to sue, and courts and lawyers were always busy. But Spanish nobles showed little interest in the kind of parliament that developed under the English monarchy.
In the Americas, Spanish settlers were in the minority among the hundreds of thousands of native peoples living all over the Caribbean, Mexico, and South and North America.
Spanish conquistadors won their way to power by strength of arms. The conquistadors entered the Americas at the head of armies, looked for native people who might become their allies, and defeated powerful native kings and emperors.
Many people from Spain then emigrated to the Americas. Over time, the population of Spanish America became a mixture of Spaniards and people of Spanish descent, Native Americans, Africans (both slave and free), and people of mixed heritage.
Image: Spanish Colonial Florida, 1584 |
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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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