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Published by former Mayor George Gardner               February 20 2013
The Report is an independent publication serving our community.
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George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084
Police officers shaved to save
With their heads in the right place, St. Augustine police officers pose with results of last week's Shave to Save fundraiser for two fellow officers undergoing cancer treatments. 

Close shave for police

 
Commander Barry fox gets shaved
Grin and bare it -Commander Fox
gets shaved 
    More than half the St. Augustine police force faced a close shave last week, going in head-first to help save two fellow officers.

   The department's ongoing Shave To Save fundraiser realized some $900 to help cover medical expenses for Officer Matt Mitchell and Evidence Custodian Jack Kovalcik, who are undergoing cancer treatments. 

   Commander Barry Fox (2nd from right, front row) led the charge, and came away with a Mohawk. That too was gone by the end of the session with barber Tony Smith.  

   Mother/daughter Officers Baylee and CiCi Aiple (center front) went half way, donating longer tresses to Locks for Love, while Communications Officer Suzanne Schuyler to their left got the full shave.

   A portion of the proceeds raised in the continuing campaign will also be donated to cancer research in the officers' names.

   Donations payable to SAPBO can be mailed or dropped off at police headquarters, 151 King Street, or visit the St. Augustine Police Benevolent Organization's fundraiser website to donate online.

Restored Bridge of Lions

 Preservation 'Success Story'


   "Bridge of Lions Illustrates Early Community Involvement Key in Maintaining Historic Character in a Contemporary Bridge"

  Rebuilding America's Infrastructure July 2009

   St. Augustine's Bridge of Lions has been chosen by the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) as a "Success Story (in) the preservation of a historic place that is of great importance to St. Augustine, and indeed the nation.

   "The case relates to how a unique but aging historic resource was imperiled by the need to improve transportation safety and capacity, and how local citizen concern and official actions combined to find a way to mitigate the loss of a historic structure," ACHP said.

   It will join other national preservation efforts in a portfolio "to illustrate the functioning of Section 106 during the first half decade of the NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act). As is true of any Section 106 effort, this regulation allows tribal, state, local, and private entities a place at the table when federal undertakings may affect places important to American citizens."

   The complete report here.

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'Synchronizing' 450

   

   City commissioners have blocked out two hours this afternoon "to true up and make sure we're all synchronized" on planning for the city's 450th commemoration, as City Manager John Regan put it.

   The workshop will be held from 2-4 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.

   The session was planned before but comes on the heels of a St. Augustine Record article last Sunday in which some residents questioned the 450 management direction.

   Early commemoration planning brought different views from two mayors. Former Mayor George Gardner in 2007 formed an exploratory committee which recommended a community-based nonprofit to raise funds and manage the commemoration.

  Current Mayor Joe Boles opted for the 450th to be managed by city hall and for fundraising first, then program development. The 450th is managed today by a 3-member city staff.

Hotel cartoon
 Signature 450 event

   Acclaimed band Mumford & Sons has been announced as a signature event for St. Augustine's 450th Commemoration. The announcement that they'll be here September 13-14 has brought some pricing adjustments.

 

Cathedral Festival this

weekend at Mission

Festival grounds

 The 28th annual Cathedral Festival - jostled between February and April in recent years, is set for February 22-24 on the

Mission of Nombre de Dios grounds.    

Hours are 5-10:30 Friday, noon-10:30 Saturday and noon-9 pm Sunday.

Look for a midway of rides, live music, bingo, kids' games, a treasure sale, fireworks at 9 pm Saturday and annual shrimp dinner noon 'til sold out Sunday.

Proceeds will benefit the Cathedral Parish School and Early Education Center. Visit thecathedralfestival.com.  

New Galimore pool framed in

New Galimore Center pool is framed in as work continues on $300,000 project. Officials hope to open the pool Memorial Day weekend. General Services Director Jim Piggott will host a "brown bag lunch" with residents at Galimore Wednesday, January 30th, 11:30 am - 1 pm, with pool contractor Stuart Maxwell and consultant Jerry Dixon.

Fire and refurbishing at Lightner

 
Lightner exhibit room
Lightner pool dressing room now exhibit hall
history logo
As remarkable as an exhibit of watercolors of the devastating fire of 1895 is the setting - the restored dressing room area overlooking the former Alcazar Hotel's swimming pool.

Photographs of the same sites have been loaned by the St. Augustine Historical Society.

Gifts and grants were able to adaptively restore this area of today's Lightner Museum, which Museum Director Bob Harper says will be officially opened later this year with a major exhibit.

Lightner exhibit pictures
Period photos compare with paintings

The Junior League took on restoration of one of two other, end dressing rooms - one restored earlier and used as the Daughters of the American Revolution meeting room. Harper noted a number of features preserved as the space was adapted for modern use. 

Photos of these rooms' original use show that the dressing rooms formed a crescent around an open end of the pool, allowing swimmers to descend a ladder into the pool or swim in more privacy in the dressing room area.

There is hope with a new funding commitment by the City Commission that persistent leaking in the museum area will be corrected, while Harper continues to balance a slim budget and court benefactors to restore the fourth floor - former staff rooms now storing the Otto Lightner collections overflow.

Lightner dressing area original and restored
Dressing room area of Lightner pool original and restored 

News & Notes

Beds for toddlers

Sadly, the St. Johns Homeless Coalition is seeing an increase in families with very small children entering its Transitional Housing Program. Hopefully, the community can respond with needed toddler beds and twin mattresses and frames. Tax deductible donations can be dropped off at the Transitional Housing office, 62 Chapin Street, or call for pick up 904-819-0059 or 904-824-6623.

Lincolnville CRA plan making rounds

A Community Redevelopment Area plan for Lincolnville, blessed last week by the City Commission, is making the rounds this week for input from the Planning and Zoning Board (Tuesday) and Historic Architectural Review Board (Thursday, February 21, at 2 pm in the Alcazar room at City Hall), with an open house Monday, February 25, 5-6:30 pm at the Galimore Center. The City Commission will consider ordinances to adopt the plan March 11 with public hearing and final action March 25.  

Bike rack at Flagler College
Bike rack at Flagler College 

Pedal into regional bike plan

Residents in Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties have one final opportunity to comment on the North Florida Regional Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan Study prepared by the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization (North Florida TPO). Open-house walk-through public meetings include one Wednesday, March 6 in the Alcazar Room at St. Augustine's City Hall, 4 - 8 pm. Look for multiple stations for attendees to review and comment on the plan's draft elements. View the plan.

 

History's Highlight

Our historic black sites


2 years, 6 months, 20 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary

  

   This is the first of two highlights on St. Augustine's historic black sites, drawn

from Florida Black Heritage Trail, a Florida Heritage Publication of the Florida Division of Historical Resources.

   Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Ft. Mose), Saratoga Boulevard two miles north of St. Augustine off U.S. 1. In 1693, King Charles II of Spain decreed runaway slaves were to be given sanctuary in his colonies. Black fugitives from the British Colonies made their way south and fought against a British retaliatory attack on St. Augustine. 

   In 1728, the territorial governor abolished the slave market and freed any remaining soldiers who were slaves. Ten years later Governor Montiano established Fort Mose as the first free black settlement in North America and the northernmost outpost protecting the capital of Spanish Florida.

    Historical marker at St. Benedict site The Spanish encouraged enslaved Africans to flee English settlements in the Carolinas, promising them freedom if they converted to Catholicism. Fort Mose was a diverse community made up of people from widely varied backgrounds: Nandingos, Congos, Carabalis, Minas, Gambas, Lecumis, Sambas, Gangas, Araras and Guineans.

   The fort and village were abandoned in 1763 and for more than 175 years the remains of this first free black town lay forgotten in a salt marsh north of St. Augustine. Although nothing remains of the fort, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994 and is a tangible reminder of the people who risked and often lost their lives in their struggle to attain freedom.

   A festival is held annually to reenact the journey to freedom.

   St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church and School, 78 Martin Luther King Avenue. This block of property in the Lincolnville District is owned by the Catholic Church and contains historic buildings important to St. Augustine's African American heritage. It was part of the "Yallaha" orange grove plantation before the Civil War and was conveyed to the church by the Dumas family in 1890.    

   The first building constructed in 1898 was the school, originally called St. Cecilia, later St. Benedict. It is the oldest surviving brick schoolhouse in St. Augustine (now under renovation). With a tower and original wraparound porch, it is a landmark of Victorian architecture.

   It was the gift of Saint Katharine Drexel, a wealthy Philadelphia heiress who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People and established more than 60 Catholic parochial schools around the country. The Sisters of St. Joseph who came from Le Puy, France, in 1866 operated the school.

   They were involved in a civil rights case in 1916, when three Sisters were arrested for violating a 1913 Florida law that made it a criminal offense for whites to teach black children. They were released when a judge ruled the law did not apply to private schools.

   St. Benedict the Moor Church, located on the north end of the property, designed by Savannah architects Robinson and Reidy, was completed in 1911. The rectory was built in 1915 and housed the Josephite Fathers out of Baltimore, who pastored here for many years. 

   Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited the rectory in 1964.

    Photo: waymarking.com. Historical marker at St. Benedict site highlights celebrated Civil Rights case involving three nuns.

    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

   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