Seeking tools for challenges
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Published by former Mayor George Gardner January 8 2014
The Report is an independent publication serving our community.
Contributions are greatly appreciated.
or mail to George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084
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Workshop for 'here and now'
Preparing for a 'tsunami of money heading this way'
Trees, flooding, building mass and scale, neighborhood character, entry corridors - "All the things we talk about on the Planning and Zoning Board but don't have the tools to deal with," says Board Member John Valdes of a workshop agenda for January 15 at 2 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.
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Valdes
Photo: Historic City News
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"Trees being removed needlessly, houses that don't fit neighborhoods - there's a tsunami of money heading this way, and if we don't protect the character of our neighborhoods we'll be just another coastal surfing town," says Valdes, a contractor specializing in historic properties.
With Valdes on the board are Chair David Toner, a retired St. Johns School Facilities and Operations Director, Vice Chair Janet Ponton Lewis, a Realtor, Carl Blow, a veteran Port, Waterway and Beach Commissioner, architect and veteran plan board member Jerry Dixon, and recently appointed neighborhood activists Sue Agresta and Matt Shaffer.
Among key concerns, the board has been wrestling with building repositioning to preserve trees, lot coverage to decrease flooding, and preserving the character of entry corridors, the city's main entries.
"A visioning process is a good discussion," said Valdes, referring to the City Commission's focus on a vision project, "but we need to be focusing on the here and now pressure of development."
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African Americans
In First America
The city's First America
program continues tonight with the first of four presentations recognizing the African American culture here.
Vignettes of St. Augustine's African-American History at 7 pm in Lewis Auditorium will recount earliest years and the 1964 civil rights period in this 50th anniversary year.
Other programs include:
January 19 -
Let Freedom Ring, featuring remembrances of landmark events and a gospel choir performance.
February 26 - The Fort Mose Story, America's first free black settlement, reenacting Flight to Freedom, the dangerous journey of enslaved Africans to freedom in Spanish Florida.
March 12- In White America, a special performance of Flagler College's play In White America.
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Fifteen citizens selected by the City Commission begin work Thursday at 3 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall as the city's Vision Steering Committee.
Drawn from residential, business and institutional sectors, the fifteen include Jeannette Berk, Cathy Brown, Vaughn Cochran, Rob DePiazza, Linda Dixon, Phillip McDaniel, Jan Miller, Grant Misterly, Rhey Palmer, Jeanne Prickett, Pat Reilly, Tracy Upchurch, Len Weeks, Greg White, and Andy Witt.
City Commissioner Roxanne Horvath, who proposed a new visioning effort following the city's last visioning project in 1995, will chair the committee.
The 1995 vision project included ten committees ranging from Arts and Culture, Economic Development, Historic Resources, and Pedestrian/Vehicular Traffic Systems to Residential/ Housing and Tourism/Visitor Management.
Information on that 1995 project and updates on the current effort are at www.visionstaug.com.
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Sikes-Kline driving transportation home
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Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline's five years of service on the
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Sikes-Kline
Photo: Historic City News
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Northeast Florida Transportation Planning Organization have elevated her to chairmanship of the body that oversees long-range regional highway planning.
More importantly for St. Augustine she's brought to the city a Bicycle Plan, Mobility Institute, and Lighthouse Neighborhood Circulation Study, sidewalks along West Castillo Drive, repaving of West King Street and South Dixie Highway, and improvements along SR 312 and SR 207.
In the works or planned: New traffic signals on US 1, drainage improvements on May and King streets, a May Street and San Marco Avenue intersection study, and Bicycle Safety Awareness Program.
Says Sikes-Kline, "We urgently need to keep movement in the city safe and efficient for walking, cycling and motoring. But we have to do it in a way that balances the preservation of our historic neighborhoods and business districts. It's a challenge.
"As Chair of NFTPO, I intend to keep a strong focus on solutions to our City's and County's transportation needs."
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History's highlight
The Africans: Deep roots in America
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1 year, 8 months, 1 day to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Juan Garrido, a veteran of the Spanish conquests of Hispanola, Puerto Rico and Cuba, was a member of the Spanish expedition led by Ponce de Leon that discovered Florida in 1513. Juan Garrido was a free black African. 
Estevanico was one of the early explorers of the Southwestern United States. Estevanico was a Muslim slave from northern Africa.
American history recalls Africans kidnapped from their home countries to work as slaves in New World colonies. But much earlier, African-born blacks, free and slave, helped shape the future Americas in Spanish explorations and colony building.
Estevancio, slave of a Spanish nobleman, was with Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528, then explored Florida, Arizona and Mexico. Esteban, a black gun bearer, scout, slave, and soldier, was also with Narvaez. Juan Valiente, a black slave, was a member of numerous expeditions and fought side by side with Spanish soldiers in Guatemala, Peru, and Chile.
Other blacks were members of expeditions led by Lucas Vasquez de Allyon and Hernando de Soto.
And the Africans were with Pedro Menendez as he forged a presidio out of the wilderness at St. Augustine.
The first Underground Railroad in America led from north to south, as slaves in the late 1600s fled English-controlled South Carolina to freedom in Spanish Florida.
In 1738 a defense outpost was established north of the St. Augustine settlement. Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose became the first free black community in North America, home to more than 100 former black slaves.
The free black militiamen pledged to "spill their last drop of blood in defense of the Great Crown of Spain and the Holy Faith, and to be the most cruel enemies of the English." In 1740, that militia and Spanish soldados crushed a British assault on Fort Mose.
The Africans were laborers, masons, and metalworkers in the building of the Castillo de San Marcos and seawalls, bridges, and other public buildings. They were artisans, craftsmen, and merchants in the settlement of St. Augustine and rancheros and farmers supplying its food in the vast area around it.
Africans would continue to be recognized, as both war leaders and interpreters for the Seminoles in the 1800s War of Removal with expanding America, creation of a thriving community in Lincolnville after the Civil War, and as foot soldiers in the St. Augustine civil rights movement that led to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Excerpts from The Africans in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories. Click
for further information on this fascinating historic series.
Image: Artist's rendering of Estevanico
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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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