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Published by former Mayor George Gardner                      April 10 2013
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George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084
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Mini golf site tour wars? 

Red train, green trolley

Historic Tours of America's green sightseeing trolleys may figure back into the city's bayfront mini golf site, offering to lease ticket booth space next to current tenant Ripley's red train booth.

In a letter to the commission, Historic Tours General Manager Dave Chatterton offered $25,000 a year and suggested "the same offer of $25,000/year in rent could be made to Ripley's to maintain their own ticket booth there as well. This shared use of the property would mirror the existing fair and successful model at the Visitors Information Center."

"If one ticket booth, why not two, like at the VIC (Visitor Center)," Mayor Joe Boles said Monday.  

In bidding on the bayfront site last year, Ripley asked for 5 years with two renewals, with a sliding payment rising from $42,176 to $46,561 through the first period, based on a 3% Consumer Price Index. Historic Tours offered $32,000 a year for 5 years with 5-year renewal.

In August, Boles got support in a 3-2 vote to dismiss the bidding process and begin a study of highest and best use for the facility. Two weeks ago the commission extended Ripley's current month to month lease on the site through the end of September, so it can make plans for the summer while commissioners continue to debate its future.

City staff will contact both sightseeing tour companies and gather figures on the mini golf course use for future commission discussion.

Sanchez vault and marker

Remembering

Francisco Sanchez

   County Commissioner Ron Sanchez takes great pride in tracing his roots to Francisco Xavier Sanchez, patriarch of the Sanchez family who remained in St. Augustine during the British occupation of 1763-84 and provided food to French, German, Spanish and American prisoners of the British.

   His descendants were notable in their own right. In Tolomato Cemetery is the vault of the 19th century James Sanchez family, and it's here Commissioner Sanchez will take part in dedicating a marker honoring Francisco Saturday at 2 pm.

   This marker, one of several placed and many planned, is funded by the Sons of the American Revolution, who researched Francisco's significant role in support of the Americans during the revolution.

   "Since we don't know where (in the cemetery) he is actually buried, we decided to place the marker next to the family vault" says President Elizabeth Gessner on the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association (TCPA) BlogSpot

   Image: Marker placed next to Sanchez vault.

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CRA OK, concerns 
can go to committee
CRA areas for transportation (blue) and Lincolnville (red)

City commissioners Monday approved creation of a Lincolnville Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) and redevelopment plan, shifting any concerns to a future CRA Agency and citizen advisory committee.

The agency will be the City Commission and the advisory committee can be created by the commission. Assistant City Attorney Isabelle Lopez cautioned "the commission cannot put these (elements of concern) into this legislation. That's the job of the CRA agency - which you will be."

Concerns mentioned by residents during a public hearing include proposals for expansion of commercial zoning along ML King Avenue and alternating one-way side streets.

The legislation wraps the new CRA into the existing Historic Area Transportation and Parking Community Development Agency, renaming it the St. Augustine Community Redevelopment Agency. That previous CRA covered the downtown area and provided bonding to build the Visitor Center parking facility.

Funding for the new CRA will come from tax increment increases as property values rise - projected by consultant Prosser Hallock to reach $8.48 million in 20 years. 

PUD's revised revisions 
extend first reading

City Commission tweaking Monday of revisions to the city's Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance, sought at an earlier meeting, will require yet another first reading - Assistant City Attorney Isabelle Lopez explains the change is substantive enough to require a new legal advertisement.

Commissioners were debating numbers Monday - should PUDs be allowed in historic districts for new construction, as in Flagler College's classroom plan at Cordova and Cuna streets which sparked calls for revision, should a change of use be allowed in that new construction, and which of the city's five Historic Preservation (HP) districts should be impacted by the regulations.

 The vote was 3-2 that new construction PUDs in all HP districts cannot change the property's existing use, while PUDs for modification of existing structures can change to other allowed uses.

Mayor Joe Boles and Commissioner Don Crichlow favored a more relaxed approach, arguing that commission and lower board reviews offer sufficient protection against unwanted changes.

Previous modifications in the proposed PUD revision include greater detail in project plans, early notice to neighbors, and streetscape renderings for visible projects to show relationship to neighboring properties.   
Weekends of centuries
Ponce and Royal Family surrounded Muster parade 2012
 St. Augustine moves from Fiesta de la Florida, a 16th century salute to Ponce de Leon played out along St. George Street last weekend, to the city's 18th century Spanish Garrison this Saturday with the Spanish Grand Muster parade on St. George. 

The Historic Florida Militia hosted last weekend's Ponce de Leon Celebration, featuring Father Gilbert Medina of Eustis as Ponce, Miss Ponce Raisa La Rosa, and Aztec, bellydance and folkloric groups. Sunday's closing ceremonies had to be cancelled because the militia exhausted its gunpowder supply in demonstrations during the weekend.

The militia's garrison promises to be restocked for Saturday's parade, featuring volleys of salute after a parade from the Castillo to Government House, beginning at 6:30 pm. The parade was originally planned as part of the rained out Grand Muster March 23.  

Images: Ponce de Leon and St. Augustine Royal Family surrounded by well-wishers last weekend, and Spanish Garrison Muster parade assembly in 2012. 

News & Notes

County detox center endorsed

St. Augustine's City Commission Monday lent its support to development of a 12-bed detox center in St. Johns County, joining with the County Commission, sheriff and police departments and Flagler Hospital.

EPIC Behavioral Healthcare CEO Patti Greenough said jail and hospital services today cost $1.2 million annually for temporary relief, while $1.3 million at a detox center can provide more permanent professional service.

Cost for the facility is estimated at $2 million, with a funding bill currently working its way through the legislature. Site for the center has yet to be selected.

Container housing catching on

Jacob's container duplex It began with an idea from then Mayor George Gardner, advanced with a conversion by Flagler College's Students in Free Enterprise for a disabled veteran in Hastings, and now is offered as living units by builder Cameron Jacobs, with duplexes at Florida Avenue and Julia Street in West Augustine. Container housing, being developed into everything from homes to hotels worldwide, recycles an abundance of unused oceanic shipping containers, is catching on here. Visit Jacobs' website.

Wax Museum moving to Old Drug Store

Freddy Krueger wax figure Freddy Krueger is moving his Elm Street nightmare from King Street to Orange Street, along with the rest of the Potter's Wax Museum gang as they set up new digs at the Authentic Old Drug Store. Potter's originated here in 1948 in the current A1A Ale House building, then moved up King Street to a section of the former Woolworth building. The Old Drug Store has retained its original setting up front, while a large addition has offered an eclectic mix of tourist goods.

 

History's Highlight 

Ponce as tragic figure

 
2 years, 4 months, 30 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary

  Enrique S�nchez Goyanes spoke at last weekend's Ponce de Leon ceremonies, drawing a vivid sketch of the discoverer from his Retablo of Ponce de Le�n, published on this 500th anniversary of Florida's founding. Goyanes holds a Doctorate in Law and also studied History, Literature, Social Sciences and Art. He is author or co-author of nearly 60 books.

   For centuries, the name and figure of Juan Ponce de Le�n have remained buried beneath the sands of time. Some groups from inside Spain, and others from outside, were interested in making sure that this happened.

Dr. GGoyanes (right) with Reenactor Chad Light

For the first group, Ponce was a heterodox, a discoverer that had gone against other discoverers, especially against the methods of discovery and the subsequent colonization process, the first three decades of which he had experienced in the Americas.

In particular for a certain official histiography, Ponce de Le�n was also a dangerous witness who had known all the secrets of the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand as a result of escorting them as a pageboy during the days when they were both persecuted in Castile.

In the case of the second group, Ponce was a discoverer that did not fit in with the Black Legend  that had been so carefully concocted against Spain, precisely for being a heterodox, but most of all, for having been a man that had never given in to the thirst for gold, for having been a colonist and not a conqueror, for having defended the South American Indians, like so few others, for having treated them with loyalty to the Gospel that Castile had brought to the Indies.

Between the coinciding will of these and those like them, the figure of Ponce was buried, hidden among the dazzling feats of Columbus, Cort�s, Balboa and Pizarro.

Gradually, his exploits were forgotten. Or, worse still, they were reduced to his obsessive expeditions in search of the Holy Fountain. His historical image was therefore deliberately distorted, transformed into that of an everlasting dreamer, the posthumous son of the Middle Ages.

For centuries, the truth about Juan Ponce de Le�n, the truth and the truths, remained forgotten. I have patiently restored his altarpiece. I have tried to rescue a voice, whose last echo was heard almost fifty decades ago, from merciless oblivion. I have dreamed of reconstructing the vision of Discovery that a discoverer had.

In doing so, I have tried to pay a triple homage:

To Castile, because it generously sacrificed so much of itself, the best that it had for the great enterprise.

To the Spanish language, because it is the supreme symbol of the legacy of Castile in the three Americas, and which is today in urgent need of being defended against multiple aggressions.

And to the Castilians, because it was their ancestors that from 1492 onwards undertook the most formidable, collective task that Humanity had witnessed until then: colonize the New World.

Image:Dr. Goyanes (right) with Reenactor Chad Light at Saturday's Ponce Landing ceremony
Retablo is offered as e-book here.

   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 [email protected]