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Published by former Mayor George Gardner April 9 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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Great vision, serious doubts
Riberia Pointe aquarium plan under fire
If the City is to engage in efforts like this, the first step is an adequate vetting of potential partners and their proposals. And that is your job, which has clearly not been done here.
Resident Nancy Shaver
This is not easy work and it takes all of us to determine the best path to success, even if in the end we decide the best path is to do nothing. At least we will have tried.
City Manager John Regan
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Regan
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Shaver
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A local resident and professional business analyst has raised some serious doubts about a proposed aquarium at Riberia Pointe, while City Manager John Regan responds, "I think it is worth the effort to try."
Among points researched by Lincolnville resident Nancy Shaver (she previously challenged faulty figures on the Picasso Exhibit revenue and a now defunct plan for coral development at Riberia Pointe):
Developer Shawn Heister claims no experience either building or operating aquariums, but he claims credible partners on his Marine Conservation Partners website that cannot be verified.
Based on my research the operating costs ... will be between $2.5 and $3M year. ... At an average ticket price of $15 which is the market, Heister would need 170,000 to 200,000 visitors annually to just break even.
Can an aquarium actually be engineered on a capped landfill? ... Installing an aquarium of similar size in the Kansas City build out required a complex array of concrete pads and piers, and that was on solid ground.
Regan, responding to an email from Shaver, noted a public Lincolnville Neighborhood Association meeting tomorrow at 7 pm at Galimore Center "will be the start of an intensive public outreach process that will include multiple opportunities for the staff, the public, and City Commission to evaluate their proposals, business plans and ultimately the suitability for our community."
Read the email exchange between Shaver and Regan here.
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Flower & Garden Expo
The 19th Annual Herbie Wiles Insurance
Flower & Garden Expo
blossoms this weekend at the St. Johns Agricultural Center.
Blooms include garden-inspired products, expert lectures, discount attractions coupons, unique and different plants, shrubs, and flowers, amazing Quilt Show, astounding displays in the Garden Club's Flower Show, and free admission to A Taste of St. Augustine April 26.
Hours are Saturday 9 am-5 pm, Sunday 10 am-4 pm. Benefit for EPIC Behavioral Healthcare.
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Visioning process
Begins the process
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Meeting the facilitator and opening comments out of the way, the Visioning 2014 & Beyond goes to work Saturday, April 26 with a town hall meeting 9 am to noon at The Treasury on the Plaza, 24 Cathedral Place.
The 15-member steering committee will follow it up with a workshop May 3 at 9 am in the Alcazar Room at City Hall and update for city commissioners May 12 during its regular meeting.
Last Saturday's opening session at City Hall drew comments from a half dozen residents. The focus was on traffic.
"Vehicles are getting in the way," said one resident, who works downtown.
Resident Nancy Shaver suggested a beginning and end for the visioning process. "Start with facts," she suggested, "and end with a strategic plan that can be measured."
Find details and updates on the 2014 visioning process as well as the 1995 effort here.
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Streaming and more
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The live streaming introduced with the City Commission's March 24 meeting offers live coverage, and a breakout of meeting sections for quick search, and coverage of meetings like last Saturday's visioning session as well as the commission, Historic Architectural Review Board and Planning and Zoning Board.
Those live sessions are also stored on the website for later review.
Check out live streaming at CoSATV1.cfm.
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Palm Sunday is
Annual Blessing of the Fleet
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The annual Blessing of the fleet follows the 11 am Sunday Mass at the Cathedral, with a procession of clergy, Knights of Columbus and St. Augustine Royal Family and entourage from the cathedral to the Municipal Marina, where commercial and pleasure vessels will pass by for blessing.
The tradition originated here during the heyday of shrimping, when dozens of shrimp boats would receive the blessing for fair seas and bountiful harvest.
Egyptian artist/activist's visit
 Internationally renowned Egyptian artist and activist Mohamed Abla will facilitate an interactive public art project, Seeing One's Self in Others, at the Lincolnville Farmer's Market Sunday, noon to 2:30 pm, as part of his visit which includes a discussion of The Role of Art in the Egyptian Revolution Monday at 7 pm in the Flagler Room at the college.
Abla, considered Egypt's leading contemporary artist, is founder/director of the Fayoum Art Center which brings together artists from around the world to demonstrate the harmonious nature of art in a region of conflict.
"When many in our world today, including in my own country, directly or indirectly encourage sectarian tension, it is all the more critical that creative demonstrations of dialogue be created" says Abla.
His visit is cosponsored by Flagler and the St. Augustine Initiative for Compassion.
Boating Club Fish Fry
The 62nd annual St. Augustine Boating Club Palm Sunday Charity Fish Fry Sunday offers fried fish, hush puppies, baked beans, coleslaw, cheese grits and drink from 11:30 to 5 pm at The Boating Club on Boating Club Road.
You can also try Minorcan clam chowder, baked goods and the club's "famous datil pepper hot sauce." Tickets $10, kids under 12 free.
For details, call Matt Jenkins 823-7488, Don Hohne 829-5954 or Jerry Vaughn 347-7052.
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History's highlight
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El Galeón's heredity
1 year, 5 months to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Account in Wikipedia, citing among others Menéndez: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Captain General of the Ocean Sea by St. Augustine Historian Albert C. Manucy, published 1992 by Pineapple Press, Inc.
 The replica 16th century Spanish tall ship El Galeón gracing St. Augustine's harbor is 170 feet long and weighs 495 tons - the anchor alone weighs more than a ton.
The ship has 6 decks, and 3 masts with 7 sails that take the crew over 1 1/2 hours to raise.
The galleon class was an ocean going ship type which evolved from the carrack class in the second half of 16th century. It differed from the older types primarily by being longer, lower and narrower, with a square tuck stern instead of a round tuck, and by having a snout or head projecting forward from the bows below the level of the forecastle.
In Portugal at least, carracks were usually very large ships for their time (often over 1,000 tons), while galleons were mostly under 500 tons.
With the introduction of the galleon in Portuguese India Armadas during the first quarter of the 16th century, carracks gradually began to be less armed and became almost exclusively cargo ships, leaving to the galleons any fighting to be done.
One of the largest and most famous of Portuguese galleons was the São João Baptista (nicknamed Botafògo, Spitfire, a 1,000-ton galleon built in 1534, said to have carried 366 guns.
Carracks also tended to be lightly armed and used for transporting cargo in all the fleets of other Western European states, while galleons were purpose-built warships - stronger, more heavily armed and also cheaper to build. Five galleons could cost about the same as three carracks.
It was the captains of the Spanish navy, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and Alvaro de Bazán, who designed the definitive long and relatively narrow hulled galleon in the 1550s.
The principal warships of the opposing English and Spanish fleets in the 1588 confrontation of the Spanish Armada were galleons, with the modified English "race built" galleons developed by John Hawkins proving decisive.
Image: El Galeón in St. Augustine harbor, tedpappas.com
Get ready for 450th anniversary with St. Augustine Bedtime Stories - Dramatic accounts of famous people and events. Details 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 gardner@aug.com
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