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Published by former Mayor George Gardner March 23 2013
The Report is an independent publication serving our community.
Contributions are greatly appreciated. Click or mail to
George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084
Click to order St. Augustine Bedtime Stories
two sets of twelve, $15 each set
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Vendor move?
Ordinance would relocate north of garage
A draft ordinance proposes moving vendors from the Visitor Center promenade to the north side of the VIC parking facility.
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Sidewalk area on north side of parking facility
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Also in the proposal for "transient or itinerant vendors" to be considered by the City Commission Monday:
- Annual $75 permits
- A limit of 25 permits
- Proof of state tax registration
- Insurance coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident
- Hours 10 am - 6 pm
The commission meeting begins at 5 pm in the Alcazar room at City Hall.
The proposed ordinance was prepared by City Attorney Ron Brown at the urging of commissioners to remove the vendors from the promenade area of the Visitor Center, recently converted into an exhibit hall, and to consider a citywide ban on merchandise unprotected by the First Amendment.
The preamble notes unregulated vending creates "a visual blight inconsistent with the ambiance of the City's historic preservation districts, damaging the economic retail interests of other retail vendors and merchants who must pay property taxes, lease fees, mortgages, insurance and/or licensing and permitting fees which are not currently required of vendors in public places ..."
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The St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District came to the rescue when the St. Augustine Police Department's rescue boat motor gave up after 4,000 hours assisting boaters.
The district donated $24,000 for a new motor and additional equipment, while the U.S. Customs National Marine Center north of St. Augustine did the installation including refabricating a new instrument panel.
Corporal Jerry Whitehead runs the unit along with Officer Jeff Truncellito. Started in 2004, the unit has rescued thirty-one people and two dogs in the waters of St. Augustine.
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Lincolnville CRA
goes to commission
A proposed Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) for Lincolnville goes before the City Commission Monday for consideration before public hearing and final action.
The CRA process reinvests property tax increases into neighborhood improvements. The proposal included several neighborhood charettes and reviews by the County Commission and city's Historic Architectural Review and Planning and Zoning boards.
Priorities selected by Lincolnville residents:
- Housing - homeowner assistance and acquisition and replacement of dilapidated structures
- Connectivity - sidewalks along South Street
- Amenities -revive cultural festivals
- Sense of place - beautification - design guidelines for Lincolnville style, and programs to celebrate cultural heritage of Lincolnville
- Land use - neighborhood scale commercial services on ML King Avenue
- Infrastructure - underground power lines
With commission approval, public hearing and final action will be at its April 8 meeting.
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PUD revisions on city agenda
Revisions to the city's often maligned Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance go before commissioners Monday to consider advancing to public hearing April 8.
Assistant City Attorney has vetted modifications before the commission over several months. She's noted PUD zoning, which allows planning outside of existing codes - subject to government review - is necessary because "the development of land is often difficult or impossible within traditional zoning district regulations."
But among the modifications are greater sensitivity to neighborhood scale and neighborhood notification of PUD plans early in the process.
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YMCA to present Galimore pool plan
The YMCA will present its plan to manage the Galimore pool to commissioners Monday. Proposed figures have not been released, but General Services Director Jim Piggott estimated previously $279,000, similar to the Y's arrangement with the county for the Calhoun Center pool.
Piggott said the city contract is "piggybacking off the county contract," and the plan "will include the pool being open seven days a week and three days a week for morning lap swimmers.
"The pool at Galimore Center is nearing completion and is expected to open the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend and operate through Labor Day," said Piggott.
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City hits another top list
"America's big cities may get all the splashy buzz," Fodor's Travel Blog says, "but for savvy travelers, our small towns are our best-kept secrets."
And among the "10 Best Small Towns in America" Is St. Augustine, says Fodor.
"In a time when 'authentic' is a travel buzzword, these hamlets are attracting visitors with an often unexpected-and surprisingly sophisticated-array of independent and locally-minded cultural, outdoor, and culinary offerings, all minus the urban price tags."
St. Augustine's partners in small town quality are Healdsburg, CA, Bozeman, MT, Sedona, AZ., Provincetown, MA, Brattleboro, VT., Traverse City, MI, Door County, WI, Galena, IL, Walla Walla, WA.
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History's Highlight
Menendez' strategic genius
2 years, 5 months, 17 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
From an account by Paul E. Hoffman, a graduate student in Latin American history at the University of Florida in 1966
In a letter to Spain's Philip II from Cadiz on December 3, 1570, Pedro Menendez said that he planned to "place myself in the Bahama Channel where he (Jacques Sores, considered to be one of the best French corsairs and at the time at large in the Caribbean) could not come out without my seeing him."
 Menendez had returned from Florida in hopes of rallying support for his infant colony. Over the next four years, he developed a set of strategic principles for both the Caribbean and English Channel, considered at least thirty years ahead of their time, and in concept used so successfully by Admiral Lord Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar250 years later.
Menendez recognized that control of the Bahama Channel was essential for the security of the Caribbean. He said that he was afraid that Sores would "make himself ruler of Havana and Florida, so as to be able to commit his criminal acts with greater safety."
His strategy was to control large areas of the sea through control of a strategic narrow-water passage.
The Bahama Channel was a bottleneck which exposed ships to capture, but its winds and currents were so favorable that the corsair problem was assumed a necessary evil.
According to Menendez's report, based on interviews of prisoners taken in the capture of Fort Caroline, Jean Ribault planned in January of 1566 to seize and fortify the Martyrs (Florida Keys), and build a fort at the Bay of Juan Ponce to provide a base for attacks on New Spain, Honduras, and Yucatan.
There was enough information available to the Spanish to conclude that a corsair base was being built on the lifeline of the empire.
That belief formed the basis for Menendez's execution of the French he found in Florida.
While Menendez did not have any opportunity to put his plan into effect in the Indies, he submitted it in a letter of August 15, 1574 for control of the English Channel. An armada would patrol the channel that winter, intercepting corsairs coming out of or returning to the channel.
Unfortunately for Spain, the political situation in Flanders and England eased enough so that Menendez' sudden death on September 17, 1574, was sufficient reason to disband the fleet.
Pedro Menendez drew from a commonly-held recognition of an important bottleneck to maritime commerce, the ideas of the French corsairs under Ribault, his knowledge of the Caribbean and of ships, and possibly the experience of the English or his Spanish contemporaries, to fashion a modern set of strategic principles for securing control of the Caribbean and geographically similar English Channel-North Sea area.
In both cases, his genius recognized the strategic possibilities of the narrow waters.
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.
Click to order St. Augustine Bedtime Stories through Paypal.
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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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