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Published by former Mayor George Gardner May 21 2014
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Memorial Day dedication
For city's War Memorial
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Relocated War Memorial on north side of Public Market. Foot Soldiers Memorial can be seen on south side.
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St. Augustine's War Memorial, set by the Pilot Club in 1946 and nearly forgotten over the years behind a row of electric panels in a corner of the Plaza de la Constitución, gets a rededication Monday in a place of prominence in the Plaza. Pilot Club President Kay Burtin said ceremonies will begin at 11:15 am Monday, after the annual Memorial Day massing of the flags at St. Augustine's National Cemetery on Marine Street, 10 to 11 am. It was a visitor to the city who criticized the memorial's previous location and spurred immediate community action, with $10,000 in contributions and a host of contractors donating time and materials to reestablish the memorial from the corner of Charlotte Street and Cathedral Place to a site adjacent to the public market. The Pilot Club is also continuing its Memorial Day tribute to veterans with flags in front of the Lightner Building through the Memorial Day weekend. Club Secretary Anne Heymen invites names of military service people to be placed on the flags. Call 824-2486 or email ach76@att.net. The holiday weekend will open with a city-sponsored pool party reopening the Galimore pool with hot dogs and soda beginning at noon Friday.
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The nation's oldest city garnered nine awards from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation at its 36th annual conference in Tampa, and the city's Historic Preservation and Special Projects Planner Jenny Wolfe (above) was named to the trust board.
The city collected awards for the Avenida Menendez Seawall and Promenade Rehabilitation project, its orientation video and Journey - 450 Years of the African-American Experience exhibit at the Visitor Information Center.
Flagler College received awards for its Hotel Ponce de Leon, the Architecture and Decoration presentation and Solarium restoration, while its President Bill Abare was honored for "guardianship of Florida's historic properties through philosophy and actions."
The St. Augustine Art Association was recognized for its Art y Facts of Drake's Raid exhibit, the Ice Plant and St. Augustine Distillery for its restoration, and federal St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission Member Katherine Dickenson for "significant achievements and leadership in non-governmental state historic preservation arenas."
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A host of community support
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Glen Easters, left, and Clayton Schmermund of Glen Easters Metal attach a plaque to the memorial
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Seven community-minded contractors and consultants and dozens of workers took part in reconstructing the War Memorial in a place of prominence in the Plaza.
Contractor John Valdes assembled the team, which dismantled the former coquina-faced concrete block monument and reassembled it adjacent to the Public Market.
Before the contractors volunteered for the project, financial contributions came into the city for the estimated $10,000 project, including $5,000 each from Florida Power and Light, whose electric panels blocked the former location, and Nena Vreeland, honoring the memory of family military service.
Vreeland also contributed $20,000 to the community-erected $70,000 St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Memorial.
The Pilot Club will use half the memorial donations for landscaping and plaques for casualties of more recent conflicts, while the balance will go toward memorial maintenance.
The relocated memorial is a foot higher, recommended by Pilot Club President Kay Burtin. And a brick-topped band was created at the base for a floral planter around the memorial.
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National sing June 14
for anthem's 200th
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Original Star Spangled Banner
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St. Augustine will join cities and organizations across the nation in singing the Star Spangled Banner on its 200th anniversary at 4 pm on Flag Day June 14.
Former County Commissioner John Reardon got City Commission approval to arrange a community gathering in front of the Lightner Building, back dropped by an American flag, and suggested the St. Augustine Community Chorus and high school choral groups be featured.
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC is spearheading Raise it Up! Anthem for America, and suggests, "We've got our eye on setting a new Guinness World Record for largest collective national anthem performance."
Reardon told commissioners St. Augustine was the only Florida city signed up as of last week. He said there will be a webcast 2:30 to 4 pm, with marketing consultant Nico Recore assisting with arrangements here.
In Washington, the Smithsonian is organizing a grand sing-along of the anthem on the Mall.
Visit the Smithsonian website.
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Feast or famine
Booming tour trade good for business, bad for traffic
When you had the 30 out there did we have the Segways, did we have the pedicabs ... do we want to add more carriages to the problem?
City Commissioner Roxanne Horvath posed the question during a recent City Commission debate on adding fifteen more horse carriage permits to the current fifteen because, as one carriage businessmen said, "We don't have enough for special occasions."
"It's feast or famine," Commissioner Leanna Freeman remarked. "We're talking about congestion a lot these days."
The city three years ago put horse carriages into a franchise system like the city's sightseeing trains and trolleys. Businesses pay a franchise fee to the city based on ticket sales and apply for individual unit permits. Thirty permits were authorized at that time, but one business later gave up fifteen.
Horvath's comment evolved into the recent increase in what City Attorney Ron Brown calls "sub-8s," currently unregulated commercial vehicles holding less than eight persons - Segways, pedicabs, and electric tour vehicles.
The same discussion was on the commission table two years ago, when Mayor Joe Boles asked, "Do we want additional shuttles?" and then-Commissioner Bill Leary said, "If we regulate some, we should regulate all."
City Attorney Brown said any requests for additional horse carriage permits will go to the commission for approval.
For those sub-8s, "We are developing three ordinances which will require staff vetting as to administration and enforcement, Brown says. "These will include factual findings defining the problems and ordinances designed to provide solutions."
He estimates a presentation to commissioners in the next two months.
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History's highlight
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'A day of Honor and Glory'
1 year, 3 months, 19 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Written by Col. Henri "Rik" Erkelens, United States Army Retired, President, Military Officers Association, Ancient City Chapter.
 Should you take the time to look in the downtown area, as so many have since the 1868 establishment of Memorial Day, you will find memorials to the dead - the Seminole War dead under the pyramids at the National Cemetery on Marine Street, along with many individual graves from other wars.
Located on the East Plaza is an obelisk dedicated to the Civil War dead. Nearby is the recently relocated War Memorial to the servicemen of World War II, Korea and Vietnam who died during those wars. Soon to be added to this monument will be the dead from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Across from this monument at the corner of the American Legion Hamblen House Post 37, are the names of the World War I dead.
On the west side of the plaza can be found the obelisk dedicated to General William Loring, general in both the Union and Confederate armies.
Nearby can be found the monument for the Rosario defense line protecting the city from the west. It is thought that a number of dead are buried there in the plaza from those defenses, and along the other defense lines of the city.
Outside the city are locations - some marked, others unmarked where soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect this city for 449 years. Places like Fort Matanzas, Fort Mose, Fort Picolata on the river, Fort Peyton and others. These locations serve to remind us that the price of our freedom is bought dearly with blood and treasure.
Today, we are seriously challenged around the world and our troops still die in Afghanistan. The blood of our heroes never dies as no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for us, his comrades, families, freedom, and our way of life.
Our most sacred monuments bear their names. We are judged as a people and as a nation by how we honor our heroes.
Capture 449 years of St. Augustine history 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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