Trees cleared at Barnes and Noble
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Published by former Mayor George Gardner January 25 2014
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Trees cleared at
Barnes and Noble
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BEFORE AND AFTER tree canopy gone at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on US 1
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No more reading in the shade of an old oak tree at Barnes and Noble Bookstore on US 1.
The tree canopy shading the popular bookstore is gone - apparently cleared last Saturday, a time when code inspectors are usually not working.
The site is owned by Retail Strategies LLC of Jacksonville. It's in the county, and St. Augustine Street Tree Advisory Committee Chair Chuck Lippi checked with the county to find the work was done without a permit. The property owner will have to "replace 100 inches of trees (trunk diameter)," Lippi was told.
"Something to consider for our city ordinance," said Lippi. "When property owners are fined for unpermitted removal of trees, the tree service involved in the illegal removal should also be fined.
"What a shame," Lippi lamented. "That B&N parking lot was one of the few parking lots in St. Augustine that had nice large shaded areas."
Clear-cutting for greater highway exposure is a policy of many national retailers, as Target argued while seeking a permit for its US 1 store several years ago. Planning and Zoning Board members responded, "It's not St. Augustine's policy." Today the store is fronted by long-standing trees and vegetation.
Praise for St. Augustine tree program
"The City of St Augustine's urban forestry program serves as an example for other Florida communities to follow."
Florida Urban Forestry Council newsletter article about St. Augustine's tree program, on page 12 of the Council Quarterly.
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Erotic Lightner
in curator tour
"In the spirit of Valentine's Day, this month's tour February 5 will offer a cheeky look into some of Otto Lightner's less discreet pieces of fine and decorative art," Lightner Museum tells us. "From flowing haired maidens to provocatively rendered marbles, ceramics and oils, this tour may leave you blushing."
Museum Curator Barry Myers will conduct that "cheeky" tour, as he does each month on the first Wednesday, offering an intimate encounter with a select few of the Lightner's eclectic relics.
The tours begin at 10 am in the front lobby of the Museum and are included in the price of admission. Donations are appreciated and accepted after the tour.
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City has bid for
live streaming
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The City Commission Monday will consider appropriating $17,500 "to secure internet-streaming service for the remainder of this fiscal year."
In a memo to commissioners, Public Affairs Director Paul Williamson says "Swagit Productions of Plano TX has recently started providing streaming service to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, and currently provides service for a number of other Florida local governments."
On Friday Comcast said technical problems which had interrupted its meeting telecasts since November have been corrected. That followed a strongly worded letter to Comcast Cable earlier in the week from City Manager John Regan to fix the problems.
Williamson says, "The service will provide live streaming and storage of past meetings, indexed to specific agenda items. Additionally, Swagit provides live monitoring to ensure the optimum performance and to address any technical problems immediately.
"The streaming service will carry all regular and special meetings of the City Commission, the Planning and Zoning Board, and the Historic Architectural Review Board," Williamson says. Only the Commission meetings were previously offered in live streaming.
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Old Town Trolley Tours will ask commissioners Monday to approve a rate hike to $28 due to "rising costs across the board on providing competitive benefits to employees and increases in fuel and vehicle insurance rates."
Old Town Trolley Tours, a subsidiary of Historic Tours of America, is a franchisee of the city, so needs permission.
Old Town Trolley Manager Dave Chatterton will point out to commissioners that these rates are competitive with other major tourist cities: Boston $39.90, Washington DC $39, Key West $30.45, and Savannah $27.99.
A decade ago, when the company sought an increase from $18 to $20, it was asked if it could also add a $1 preservation fee to support city services hosting visitors; the response was "No. We'd lose customers."
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Stemming rising tide of flood insurance
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City commissioners Monday will consider a plea to State Senator Jeff Brandes for "state legislation that removes impediments and creates appropriate market conditions for more private sector insurers to compete in the flood insurance market, so as to provide coverage for Florida residents based solely on Florida's experience."
Brandes has led the fight against the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, the Biggert-Waters Act, which aims to erase some $30 billion in National Flood Insurance Program debt with premium increases to 1.1 million homeowners who've received subsidized, below-risk coverage. Even more homeowners, whose homes met older building standards or were deemed at lower risk under previous flood maps, could be affected.
One homeowner here in the Wildwood Drive, Moultrie Creek area says her flood insurance "went up from $250 per year to $2,500 per year. I thought they made a mistake and added an extra zero but I was wrong. They raised my flood insurance premium by 1000%. I tried everything to get it back to a reasonable rate with no success. They left us with no choice but to cancel our flood insurance and pray."
Under the old rules, owners could retain their rates since they followed the rules when they bought or built their home, but they will soon lose those "grandfathered" rates under the new law.
To date flood elevations have not been raised here, but will be revisited in 2015, according to Planning and Building Director Mark Knight.
Increases of 16 to 17 percent in special flood hazard areas are expected after October 1 under the act. "FEMA does not have the statutory authority to exempt historic buildings from the mandated rate increases of Section 100205," according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency fact sheet.
Florida has 37 percent of the nation's flood policies - about 2 million. An estimated 268,000 Florida policies are subsidized. Two weeks ago commissioners passed a resolution urging Congress to delay or repeal the act that "could financially devastate the local economy and real property values in the City of St. Augustine and St. Johns County."
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Realtor: M&M property needs fix-up
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The former M&M Market at 102 Bridge Street needs $12,000 in repairs "immediately to allow our Realtor to continue her efforts in securing a potential purchaser," Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield will tell commissioners Monday.
"From a professional standpoint, roof leaks and moldy drywall have caused the building to be unpresentable to prospective buyers," he says.
The city purchased the property in 2010 to better control its future after previous owners were charged with criminal activity. Irene Arriola of Saltwater Property Group offered to market the property, waiving her commission.
West Plaza considered for War Memorial
General Services Director Jim Piggott will report to commissioners Monday on the possibility of moving the War Memorial in the Plaza to the West Plaza of Government House.
Blocking of the memorial by a bank of electric panels in the Charlotte Street/Cathedral Place corner has been criticized by tourists and veterans. Originally installed by the St. Augustine Pilot Club in 1946 to honor World War Two war dead, it now carries names of war dead from subsequent wars.
Floating maritime museum?
City Manager John Regan will seek commission input Monday on the concept of a "floating maritime museum based on a full scale replica of the San Pelayo," Founder Pedro Menendez' galleon.
Sought is a long term dockage agreement. Regan promises details at Monday's meeting.
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1 year, 7 months, 15 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
A copy of the original letter written from their jail cell in 1964 by 16 arrested Rabbis and an administrator, the largest mass arrest of Rabbis in US history, is included in Journey: 450 Years of the African American Experience at the St. Augustine Visitor Center.
In the spring of 1964, as the nation's "First City," St. Augustine was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its founding, while the United States Senate was considering the Civil Rights bill. With the intent of keeping civil rights on the front page, Reverend Martin Luther King decided to launch a massive campaign to end segregation in the nation's oldest city.
King knew that St. Augustine would be a challenge. So he called on the Central Conference of American Rabbis through his friend and supporter, Rabbi Israel Dresner, and said, "We need you down here with as many Rabbis as you can bring with you!"
Sixteen Rabbis and the director of Social Action for Reform Judaism came to St. Augustine and, early on the morning of June 18, 1964, found themselves sitting in the pews of St. Paul's AME Church.
From the pulpit, Reverend King gave directions to the crowd to march to the waterfront, then north to the Monson Hotel and Chimes Restaurant, to integrate lunch counters and the hotel swimming pool.
By early afternoon, the 17 Jews had been placed under arrest and were taken to the St. Johns County Jail where they were booked and thrown into a cell.
There they spoke of the reasons they had left the comfort of their homes to come to the seething city of St. Augustine. They came, they said in a letter composed by the light of the one light bulb burning in the corridor outside their cell, "because we realized that injustice in St. Augustine, as anywhere else, diminishes the humanity of each of us.
"We came as Jews who remember the millions of faceless people who stood quietly, watching the smoke rise from Hitler's crematoria. We came because we know that, second only to silence, the greatest danger to man is loss of faith in man's capacity to act."
The St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society has invited those who are still alive among the arrested to return June 17-18 and relive those fateful days half a century ago. They have been invited to participate in a Jubilee, leading a rededication to the cause so often cited by Reverend King, from the Book of Amos, 5:24, "Let Justice roll on like a river, and Righteousness like a mighty stream!"
Photo: St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society President Rabbi Merrill Shapiro explains the story behind the letter to former Florida Secretary of State Bruce Smathers at exhibit reception.
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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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