|
Published by former Mayor George Gardner May 7 2014
The Report is an independent publication serving our community.
Contributions are greatly appreciated.
PayPal
or mail to George Gardner 57 Fullerwood Drive St. Augustine FL 32084
|
Ripley's plans new project
North city development in concept stage
 | Ripley complex on San Marco Avenue
|
We are looking at something very new for Ripley's that will combine art and local artisans, conservation, and education, all in a very beautiful and natural setting."
Ripley St. Augustine Manager Kim Kiff
Ripley Entertainment, Inc. goes to the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) May 15 for permission to demolish its buildings at San Marco Avenue and Picolata Road (SR 16 extension) to make way for "something very new for Ripley's," says Kimberly Kiff, general manager of Ripley's St. Augustine Attractions.
The HARB meeting begins at 2 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.
For Kiff the project she's been envisioning for years is a merger of her 14 years as a teacher and another 14 with Ripley, where she began with development of a schools program at Ripley's aquarium in Myrtle Beach.
"We want something that will appeal to all ages and draw in our community's artisans," she says. "But first comes this (HARB) approval so we know we can move ahead."
She answered one question sure to be asked by HARB. Referring to its name for years, the Sugar Mill, she says, "We found no evidence there was ever an actual sugar mill on this site, and the water wheel is a prop" for the buildings constructed during the 1950s.
|
|
|
|
1964, the year of Beatles Mania, Freedom Summer, the Civil Rights Act, and President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society.
Average yearly income was $5,880, a gallon of gas 25 cents, a gallon of milk $1.06, and a loaf of bread 21 cents.
A 1st class postage stamp was 5 cents, Thom McAn Shoes $9.95, an Admiral 19" portable TV $139.95, and a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud Ill sedan $16,655.
On TV the Addams family, Flipper, and Man from U.N.C.L.E. At the movies
Goldfinger, Mary Poppins, and The Pink Panther.
On the jukebox The Supremes' Baby Love, The Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love, and Bobby Vinton's There, I've Said It Again.
And May 9, 1964, at least one marriage.
Gas 25 cents a gallon???
|
Biblical theme art exhibit
|
Mustard Seed Arts Ministry's first annual Washing of the Waters Juried Art Exhibition opens Friday, 5 -9 pm at Parkview Baptist Church, 1765 Tree Blvd., Suite 3, St. Augustine.
For details, 904.330.4278, johnmark@parkviewlife.com.
|
|
|
|
Orange Street redesign
before Thanksgiving?
|
 | |
Redesign features restricted eastbound lane, Cubo Line, potential traffic signals on Castillo Drive.
|
A major redesign of Orange Street, including completion of the Cubo line extending from the Castillo de San Marcos, gets underway today with a public session, followed May 15 with an application for approval by the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB).
Project designer Jeremy Marquis of Marquis Halback hopes for bidding in early July and "substantial completion prior to Nights of Lights and Thanksgiving."
Today's session is 5-7 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall and the HARB session begins at 2 pm May 14, also in the Alcazar Room. Marquis says today's session is to present details and answer questions.
The project will include a bricked street along east-bound Orange Street, a potential crossing and traffic signal at Castillo Drive, and completion of the Cubo line from the City Gate to Cordova Street. Improvements are designed to improve pedestrian connections and visual continuity between the VIC, City Gate, St. George Street, and the Castillo.
The complete project, including sidewalk enhancements on the west side of Avenida Menendez, is $753,000, being funded by the Federal Transit Administration through the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program.
Visit the website.
|
Study offers no 7-Eleven relief
|
A roundabout "would provide overall improved traffic operations compared to the existing signalized intersections," according to a second study of May Street/San Marco Avenue congestion by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
But nothing in the study would impact 7-Eleven's plans for a store and 12 gas pumps at the intersection. The roundabout would fit on FDOT land south of the 7-Eleven site.
Meanwhile 7-Eleven has filed an appeal with the Circuit Court, arguing the City Commission didn't give a modified development proposal proper review.
Nelmar Neighborhood Association President Matt Shaffer says a roundabout "is a terrible idea that will not solve the traffic problem. ... drivers will continue to cut through neighborhoods to avoid the gridlock (and it would) discourage the pedestrian-friendly urban environment from expanding along San Marco any farther north than May St."
Shaffer urged continued pressure "on City Commissioners and City Manager John Regan to deny the application based on the Entrance Corridor standards," noting the project calls for a wider turning radius than the standards allow.
The second study was prompted after officials called for analysis of a broader area to include May, San Marco, and US 1.
|
|
|
|
 | |
10 Amazing Days in the Nation's Most Romantic City. Over 80 Shows & Exhibits! Discounted tickets may be ordered at Romanza Festivale.com. Romanza Festivale - It's not One thing. It's Everything!
|
|
|
Children's Museum continuing
its effort for Riberia Pointe site
|
If the most impacted neighborhood, which is Lincolnville, has a large division of how they see it, what's the point of furthering it?
City Manager John Regan to City Commission
The Children's Museum of Saint Johns is still very much in favor of pursuing Riberia Point.
Children's Museum Executive Director Kîm MacEwan letter to city manager
 In a letter to City Manager John Regan a week after the City Commission suspended any further development plans for Riberia Pointe, the executive director of the Children's Museum of St. Johns asked for clarification and continuation of the city approval process.
Perhaps reacting to a suggestion the best location for the museum is northwest St. Johns County with younger population growth, Kim MacEwan identified herself as executive director of the Children's Museum of St Augustine rather than St. Johns.
Her letter addressed six areas.
Dissolution of a Memorandum of Understanding with the St Augustine Aquarium
The Lincolnville Community Redevelopment Agency CRA process
The Planned Unit Development (PUD) process
The development approval process
The city's continuing role of Master Developer
Scheduling for permitting to begin construction
A scheduled museum outreach at Galimore Center during last Sunday's Farmers Market was cancelled, but opponents kept busy, forming a Keep Riberia Pointe Green Steering Committee and collecting 150 names of supporters.
Museum Board President Ben Platt wrote to Lincolnville resident Nancy Shaver, "Despite the fact that Riberia Pointe is located in the Lincolnville neighborhood, it is in fact an asset of the City of St. Augustine, which of course is a much larger area.
"Our goal is to be able to reach as many children and families as we can with this project, both in the City and the surrounding areas. It is our belief that this location represents an ideal opportunity to do so."
|
 | |
Drawing by Bob Donovan © 1964
|
Tourism, specifically a local industry that has become so dominant it risks stifling ordinary, everyday life in the city's heart.
Bye Bye Barcelona article in the Report
The Mumford concert, "for destination awareness, helping the world understand our important story."
Spanish Wine Festival, "We have great Spanish architecture and Spanish colonial history - we don't have a great deal of Spanish culture. We now have the interest of Spain and the national wine industry."
St. Augustine 450 Director Dana Ste. Claire
Really??!!
|
|
History's highlight
|
'Slave Market'? No
1 year, 4 months, 2 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
In the 1930s a national committee sponsored by the Carnegie Institution was formed to develop "a Preserved and Restored Historical St. Augustine." Committee Executive Secretary Dr. Verne E. Chatelain declared, "The program at St. Augustine must be absolutely sound historically without any flimflams or phoney stories."
Charles B. Reynolds, a member of the Florida Historical Society, undertook in 1937 a study of "Fact versus Fiction for the New Historical St. Augustine," citing several misinterpreted sites in the city. Excerpts from his comments on the Plaza's Public Market.
From 1605 to 1765 there stood on this site the Guard House and Watch Tower. Under British Possession it became the Market and Place of Public Auction ever since called the Slave Market. Marker at the Public Market
"Ever since called" means ever since "British Possession" ending in 1783, through the second Spanish occupation ending in 1821, and thence down through our own times to the present. But the building was not erected until 1840 and before that date could not have been "called" by any name whatever because it was non-existent.
The implication of the marker is that in 1840 the people of St. Augustine erected the building here on this conspicuous mid-town site intending it for a slave market and naming it "The Slave Market."
St. Augustine never had a "slave market" in the proper sense in which the term is used. Sales of slaves were occasional and infrequent. There was no commerce in them calling for a slave market, such as the institutions in New Orleans and elsewhere.
And such sales as there were, The Florida Herald files show, were customarily "in front of the Court House" at the other end of the Plaza. Further the records demonstrate conclusively that even when used in connection with slaves the name of the market was the "Public Market" and that this was the official designation and the one employed in legal documents.
The Plaza Market was designed, built and used for the sale of food supplies - meat, vegetables and perhaps originally fish (though at a later period there was a fish market near the basin).
Not until after the Civil War, when tourists from north of Mason and Dixon's Line came to St. Augustine, avid for things savoring of what they had read about in Uncle Tom s Cabin, was the market dubbed "Slave Market."
An enterprising photographer adopted the title to stimulate his sales, and gradually the fake has grown.
Never called a slave market when slavery was in force, falsely called slave market after slavery had passed away, the unique structure cannot historically be preserved in the restored city of the future as a reminder of the "Old unhappy far off things" of slavery years, nor otherwise than is what it actually was in the city's life.
Capture 449 years of St. Augustine history with St. Augustine Bedtime Stories - Dramatic accounts of famous people and events. Details here.
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
