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Published by former Mayor George Gardner January 30 2013
The Report is an independent publication serving our community.
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George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084 |
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2 named for La Florida
Commission dilutes highest city award process
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Adding one slot and changing the voting requirement from unanimous to a simple majority, city commissioners Monday ended an impasse by approving both Dr. Robert Hayling and Herbie Wiles for the city's highest honor, the La Florida Award.
Despite a call for a moratorium until the award process could be clarified - Commissioner Leanna Freeman charging, "I feel like I'm being so manipulated, manipulating the vote to make it politically convenient" - a commission majority moved forward with the changes - including a moratorium on future La Florida and de Aviles award nominations until procedures are sorted out.
The La Florida Award had been limited to eight living persons, with only one current opening. The process had included the city manager polling commissioners privately to determine required unanimous support before making a nomination public.
Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline nominated Hayling and Commissioner Bill Leary later nominated Wiles.
City Manager John Regan explained to commissioners Monday that, after being cautioned by City Attorney Ron Brown that the polling process violates the state's Sunshine Law, Sikes-Kline's nomination "went on the agenda so as not to place the commission or city manager in violation of the Sunshine Law."
The Sunshine Law, enacted in 1967, preceded the city's adoption of the award process in 1975. Brown says, "In all fairness, at the time the courts and the attorney general were still opining on the application of the law.
"Clearly, our Commission at the time wanted to avoid unseemly public discussions of sensitive matters and may have concluded the new procedure, because it did not require an articulated response, met the requirements of the law. The evolution of the interpretation of the law now removes any doubt." |
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Valencia Street from Riberia to Malaga has resumed its place as St. Augustine's prettiest residential brick street after months of being torn up to replace city utilities.
The project, which went the length of Valencia with the eastern section repaved in asphalt, will be recognized with a ribbon cutting Friday, February 1, at 9:30 am adjacent to the main fire station.
The restored street has added features - brick pavers lining new sidewalks and installed in crosswalks.
Take the bridge
Northbound traffic is scheduled to be shifted onto the San Sebastian River Bridge Thursday night in the final configuration over the new bridge. Carrera and Malaga streets intersections with US 1 are scheduled to reopen next week.
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'Can't they get it right?'
on transient vending
A Florida League of Cities attorney who has represented St. Augustine in transient vending cases told city commissioners Monday, "You've earned a reputation you don't deserve - the concern in courts when these cases come up: 'Again? Can't
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Street vendors outside
Madrid's Prado Museum
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they get it right?'"
Attorney Susan Erdelyi had no magic bullets for the commission's thoughts of a citywide ban on merchandise sales not protected by the First Amendment, but cautioned, "Don't put law enforcement officers in a position of having to decide; unlike you, they can be sued personally."
She repeated criteria often presented in previous discussions: "Determine what is the problem, and what legitimate government interest will be served?" in restricting vending activity.
Commissioners, who cited the Visitor Center grounds as an alternative vending location when creating bans elsewhere, are now debating clearing that area in light of the center's elevation to an exhibit hall.
(Ed. Note - In Madrid, the Paseo del Prado to the Spanish national art museum is lined with street vendors.)
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Clan leader:
'You're not hearing us'
Lacking an Indian Advisory Committee as Jamestown created for its 400th anniversary, commissioners Monday had to bear criticism from a tribal clan leader and half dozen aboriginal rights activists charging, "You're still not hearing us."
Bobby C. Billie, Clan and Spiritual Leader of the Council of the Original Miccosukee Seminole Nation Aboriginal Peoples, presented commissioners a booklet as a "written record" of his concerns, and argued the Castillo should be torn down or given to native peoples as "sacred burial grounds, both in the fort and in the waters.
He called archaeologists "shameful, digging up our people, their belongings. They deserve the same respect you show your own."
Billie and others are still smarting over Mayor Joe Boles hanging up on a conference call last June which resulted in aboriginal representatives calling off a proposed healing ceremony for the city's 450th.
Native American activists held a ceremonial gathering at the Castillo earlier Monday.
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Bulletproof shield for commissioners?
What began as a request for a bulletproof shield for the City Commission table developed into a brief discussion of security measures for the commission room and Lightner/City hall building. 
"We should have a bulletproof shield under the table," Commissioner Leanna Freeman argued during commissioner comments at the end of Monday's commission meeting. "There is no place that is safe." She was also concerned with "people bringing covered items up to the podium."
Pressed into the discussion was urging by Lightner Museum trustees for the past two years to return that table, loaned to the commission 30 years ago. The six-foot deep, 14-foot long mahogany table was purchased by Otto Lightner in the 1930's from the Blackstone estate in Chicago.
Previous discussion of table replacement led to redesign proposals for the commission room ranging up to $50,000. The room was originally the Alcazar hotel's Ladies Parlor.
City Manager John Regan said his staff has been working on added security for the entire building. Ideas will be brought to a future commission meeting.
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Commentary
Sophisticated lady
 Visitors to the Visitor Information Center - whether for information or the Picasso exhibit opening Friday - will see notable changes after a $1.5 million overhaul of the 1930s WPA building.
St. Augustine Record editorial writers suggest, "Picasso exhibit reflects city's growing sophistication."
The Visitor Center is now right up there with the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, built for the city's 400th to stage The Cross and the Sword play celebrating its founding, and now hosting the sophistication of Matchbox Twenty and Yo Gabba Gabba Live!
 Positive features in the Visitor Center retrofit include an overhead megascreen rolling visuals of St. Augustine scenes and two interactive touchscreen tables to search shopping, transportation, history, etc.
Negatives might include the jumble of overwhelming pictorial panels separating exhibit from information areas, designed to slide away for exhibit access.
On a normal day - pre-Picasso - there's comfortable room for visitors to the rollout information desks, touchscreen tables and of course sales booths for red trains and green trolleys.
When Picasso opens, those panels will slide forward, cutting the information area in half.
450 Director Dana Ste. Claire says the Picasso exhibit fee was reduced from $150,000 to $100,000 with the city providing "in-kind services (exhibition design & development, curatorial) and materials (fabrication) to create an exhibition around the 39 works of art." He said the display cases and partitions will remain with the city when Picasso leaves in May.
Picasso will have its own gift shop at the end of the exhibit, while the city gift shop will carry some authorized Picasso merchandise.
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News and notes
Nights of Lights ends
The 19th season of the Nights of Lights ends tomorrow, January 31, closing a 10-week run begun the Saturday before Thanksgiving as a nationally recognized holiday program.
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Conquistadors Marc Sala and Fernando Arangu visit with tourists in this video presented at First America program produced by John Stavely and Chad Light for sponsor Fountain of Youth.
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Picasso begins
An exhibit of works by Spain's Pablo Picasso opens Friday, February 1 at the Visitor Center Exhibit Hall and continues through May 11, weekdays 9 am - 5 pm.
Back in time
Ponce de Leon's conquistadors, who found themselves oversleeping 500 years, will be back at home Saturday, February 2, at the annual School of the 16th Century at the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. Look for 16th century displays, demonstrations, training drills and interpretations from 9 am to 5 pm.
YMCA shows off fitness
The St Augustine Family YMCA on Pope Road hosts an open house Saturday, February 2, 10 am - 1 pm, to unveil improvements to the wellness floor, Kid Zone and lobby. Free event includes demonstrations and information on its programs.
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History's Highlight
2 years, 7 months, 10 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
This is the second of two highlights on notable women in the history of St. Augustine. These excerpts are from Florida Women's Heritage Trail, a Florida Heritage Publication of the Florida Division of Historical Resources.
Wilma E. Davis (1890-1992), at a time when women ministers were rare, was ordained a deacon in the Florida Conference of Methodism in 1924. Five years later she was ordained an elder, becoming the first woman to receive this certificate. As she traveled around the world, she maintained her association with Grace Methodist Church serving as a church pastor, working with youth and studying in Boston and the Middle East.
Jean Louise Flagler Benedict (1855-1889), daughter of Henry Flagler, is at rest with Flagler and his first wife, Mary, in the 1890 Memorial Presbyterian Church he had built in her memory.
Emily Lloyd Wilson served as historian and librarian for the St. Augustine Historical Society from 1919 to 1953. She is largely responsible for the society's outstanding library, where she devoted her life to securing copies of old maps and Spanish documents. The museum contains exhibits on the history of St. Augustine and a museum shop.
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Nina Hawklins
1910 photo
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Nina Hawkins (1890-1972) was 21 years old when she began her job as a reporter with the St. Augustine Record in 1910. Her career would span 43 years, of which 19 were spent as editor and editor-in-chief of the Record. In 1999, she was inducted into the Florida Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Anna and Sarah Dummett operated today's St. Francis Inn as a boarding house beginning in 1845. When Union forces took over St. Augustine During the Civil War and Anna heard that the Union flag had been raised at the St. Francis Barracks, she led a group of women who chopped down the wooden flagpole, thus preventing the Stars and Stripes from flying in place of the Stars and Bars.
Frances Kirby Smith, mother of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, was rumored to be a Confederate spy and was banished from St. Augustine during the Union occupation. Today, the building is the research library of the St. Augustine Historical Society.
Margaret Cook, Eliza Whitehurst, Sarah Anderson and Louisa Fatio were successive figures at the Ximenez-Fatio House on Aviles Street, a fashionable rooming house for most of the 1800s. Cook began its use in 1830. Whitehurst managed it from 1830 to 1838. In 1838, Sarah Anderson purchased the property. In 1855, Fatio bought the house. Sometime after her death in 1875, the house became a gift shop and club. In 1939, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida purchased the property. Today's visitor can tour the "boarding house" restored as it might have been when Eliza Whitehurst managed it.
St. Augustine Bedtime Stories - Dramatic accounts of famous people and events in St. Augustine's history - in booklets designed for quick reads before bed. Information here
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The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and Commissioner (2006-2008) and a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com |
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