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Published by former Mayor George Gardner August 6 2014
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Shaver and Boles
tangle at forum
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Boles
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Shaver
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Just one spark at Monday's tourism forum for this year's rack of county and city candidates lined up across the Lewis Auditorium stage to answer prepared questions.
Mayoral candidate Nancy Shaver, sitting next to current Mayor Joe Boles, threw up her hands and shook her head as Boles responded to her comment that "the reality of it is we have not taken care of our infrastructure."
Boles said, "Let me correct her because she's just wrong. We have a master plan for all the water line replacement and (Public Works Director) Martha Graham is sharp, she's got vision ..."
Shaver, whose business expertise includes gathering facts to seek solutions, said after the forum the current water line replacement program is not a master plan but "a plan that is not funded totally, with needs of $16 million. There's no plan for sewer lines, and there was no budgeting for street repair until this year when $100,000 was put in the budget at the request of Nancy Sikes-Kline after I and others spoke with her about the situation.
"Martha Graham is a magician to achieve what she does with minimal funding," she added.
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Different
animal
What makes Frontier Airlines different is featured animals on its tail sections.
What makes Frontier Airlines especially different in this region is its providing commercial flights between St. Augustine's regional airport and Trenton NJ, within easy reach of Philadelphia (35 miles), Princeton (10) and New York (50).
The service established in May, provides three flights a week, in September hopes to add five flights a week to Washington Dulles and residents are now asking about service to Denver, Frontier's primary hub.
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Responding to a question on historic district congestion, mayoral candidate Shaver said, "We need to start with accurate data collection and determine what's needed to deliver solutions," Ken Bryan suggested more clear signage and more use of digital devices to direct visitor traffic, and Boles praised the Visitor Center transformation into an exhibit hall and noted parking revenue "is the second highest revenue generator" for the city.
"Many cities would like to have our congestion problem," he said.
On increasing revenue from visitors, Bryan said visitors don't mind paying extra fees and taxes, Shaver looked to the Visitor Center parking facility for additional revenue: "You don't go to a parking garage anywhere where there's not an hourly rate with a very high cap." And Boles suggested, "Visitors at times are cost insensitive. We need not be afraid of a food and beverage tax."
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TOLOMATO RESTORATION - A restored crypt stone and new tile floor now await visitors to Tolomato Cemetery's Father Felix Varela Chapel. Marble Masters of Jacksonville restored the tablet. An early photo shows the stone and interior in 1924. The cemetery is open for visitors 11 am - 3 pm the 3rd Saturday of every month.
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Open Letter
What's ahead for
450th Mayor Boles?
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If the 1960s effort was "abysmal," I can hardly wait to see what's coming for the 450th.
In an open letter to Mayor Joe Boles, Janis Versaggi Williams compares what Boles called an "abysmal" city effort for the 400th with city hall's management of the 450th.
Here are excerpts from that letter. Find the full text here.
The intense effort to prepare a fitting celebration for St.
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Williams
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Augustine's 400th birthday began with a clear focus and tremendous citizen input in the late 1950s. Buildings were restored or reconstructed by state, federal and foreign governments, local not-for-profit organizations, individuals, churches, private enterprises and foundations. Cabinet level dignitaries and ambassadors from Washington and Spain were honored guests for dedications, openings, conferences and book signings of scholarly publications.
... Monuments such as the Great Cross were fabricated and installed. The Amphitheater was built and an outdoor drama was commissioned and performed for decades. Local festivals were enlarged and new ones added. By the end of the 1960s, the historic area was much improved, with over 28 buildings restored or reconstructed. Programs were underway to showcase the Spanish contribution to American history, a counterpart to the stories of English colonies which were far better known to our nation.
... Since you say there was no plan in mind when you took office, I would like to know what plan is in place now, eight years later. We have seen the Discover First America series, two museum exhibits in the renovated Visitor Information Center, with a final exhibit now being prepared, and a concert in Francis Field. We have heard unconfirmed reports of dignitaries who have been invited to events with no dates or details so far.
With one year to go, what's ahead? ... Considering years of staff time, untold volunteer hours, significant sums from the public purse, national and international travel for fact-finding and cementing relationships, what can we point to as a lasting legacy of the 450th for our children and grandchildren?
If the 1960s effort was "abysmal," I can hardly wait to see what's coming for the 450th.
(Janis Versaggi Williams was Director of the 1992 St. Augustine Columbus Commission and her family were major contributors to the 1950s restoration effort).
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National Park sites strong draw
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The five major national monuments and parks in our region are major contributors to our tourism flow, from the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in the north to Canaveral National Seashore to the south.
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Pathway in Timucuan Preserve
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The 2013 National Park Service Economic Analysis tallies 3,774,265 visitors during the year - the biggest counts going to outdoor recreation areas - 1,133,688 at Canaveral, boasting 57,000 acres is the longest stretch (24 miles) of undeveloped beach on Florida's east coast, with back-country camping, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, fishing, surfing, swimming, boating and birdwatching opportunities.
Next is the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve with a count of 1,031,667. It's a 46,000-acre area, one of the last unspoiled coastal wetlands on the Atlantic Coast and includes Fort Caroline and Kingsley Plantation.
Our Castillo de San Marcos National Monument follows with 778,128 visitors - it's the oldest masonry and extant 17th century fort in North America, Fort Matanzas, 523,694, originally built on less than two acres of dry land and today a part of 200-acre Rattlesnake Island.
Fort Caroline National Memorial, 138 acres memorializing the short-lived French presence in sixteenth century Florida, drew 307,086 visitors in 2013.
Of the five sites, the Castillo is oldest in the National Park Service, established in 1934, followed by Fort Matanzas in 1938. Fort Caroline enrolled in 1957 and Canaveral in 1975.
The Castillo's peak year was 1992 with 808,780, perhaps drawn during the Columbus quincentennial. Matanzas hosted 1,002,444 visitors in 1974, Fort Caroline 327,339 in 1981, the Timucuan Preserve 1,195,171 in 2009, and Canaveral Seashore 1,496,961 in 1965.
By comparison, Gettysburg drew 1,213,349 visitors in 2013 and Yellowstone 3,188,030.
Find the complete annual visitation through the years for each site here.
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RECLAIMING LEGION HALL - Forward March, a nonprofit whose goal is to revive St. Augustine's American Legion Post 37 on the bayfront, is $200,000 closer to its $2 million goal and project completion during the city's 2015 anniversary year. Work on the first floor is expected to be completed by October 2014. The hall is open to the public and offers dining and full bar.
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Buskers work for Ellensburg
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 "I had four merchants tell me it was their best Saturday of the year. And we have a ton of events in this community, so it's good to hear when something we're doing is really working for the merchants."
Carolyn Honeycutt, director of the Ellensburg WA (population 18,174) Downtown Association, reporting on Ellensburg's annual Buskers in the Burg festival in Downtown Digest..
The downtown association networked with other busker festival producers and blended lessons learned with its own unique touches to create its unique event, drawing large crowds from surrounding areas to see sword swallowers, fire jugglers, and giant puppets.
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Quotable
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We are not street performers, we are educators. We are not parades, we are historic programs. This is not an exercise in free speech, this is an opportunity to educate. We are not promoting a political agenda, we are promoting the city's history through a practical and factual teaching method.
Reenactor Chad Light of Historic Florida Militia, asking City Commission for monthly Changing of the Guard reenactments over the next year.
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History's highlight
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The magic of St. Augustine
399 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Author/historian Buff Gordon defines the "magic" of St. Augustine in "Thoughts about colonial St. Augustine and civic identity." Gordon is a research associate at the Historic St. Augustine Research Institute and currently serves on the board of directors for the St. Augustine Archaeological Association.
There is magic in St. Augustine's architectural heritage if we can see it through the eyes and times of those who laid out this city. There will be magic in the eyes of tourists, visitors, residents and future magazine and newspaper writers if we can convey to them the awesome breadth and depth of the city's 16th century colonial architectural prologue.
Architectural activities tell a story, not just about materials, sizes, and shapes, but about humanity and culture. In the absence of the colonial churches, the monastery, and the bishop's house, we forget in our more secular age that the builders of colonial St. Augustine lived in their religion. It was a time far removed from today.
Look at the cathedral with a different eye. In its walls are the very stones of earlier churches. Its proportional system, like that of the Plaza, was inherited from an ancient canon of measure that had spiritual meaning.
Flagler's 19th century hotels embody similar Renaissance values of symmetry and geometric harmonies that structured the colonial town. They provide a continuum, a sense of connection and continuity with the 16th century town.
The colonial St. Augustine style house is America's first original vernacular style of architecture. It responded to the ordinances, to the site, the climate, the coquina, horrific events, and its multi-cultured builders. It was not a rerun, not a revival.
Elements of the popular "New Urbanism" ideal sweeping the country began here. Long before the Miami architect, Andres Duany, introduced "New Urbanism," there was St. Augustine.
The Town Plan is the most distinctive colonial feature and oldest remnant of this Spanish town.
Gordon's research can be found in Florida's Colonial Architectural Heritage (University Press of Florida 2002) and Heart and Soul of Florida: Sacred Sites and Historic Architecture (University Press of Florida 2013). Historian Michael Gannon writes her work, " will be an eye-opener to readers who identify American colonial buildings solely with the powdered-wig states of Virginia and New England."
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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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