Published by former Mayor George Gardner December 16 2015
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 Traffic-plus Commission discusses Toys, trucks & parking
A dissertation on vehicle types, a proposal on delivery truck regulations and questions about adding parking on busy weekends dominated the final meeting of 2015 of the City Commission Monday.
Toy Vehicles etc.
"You gave us, very rapidly, a lot to think about," Mayor Nancy Shaver commented as Assistant City Attorney Denise May, in a special session before the regular meeting, completed a summary of the rapidly growing variety of vehicles on city streets and available regulation methods.
Included: toy vehicles - skateboards, coasters and the newer hover boards.
By the numbers, May said there are 276 currently issued medallions and 36 companies registered as vehicles for hire, 150 trains, trolleys and horse carriages, 47 taxi cabs and 12 pedicabs.
"Our ordinance for vehicles for hire originates from 1964," said May. "It has been hodgepodged a couple of times over the years. It mostly addresses taxicabs. There are opportunities to make that more up to date, more encompassing."
Commissioner Leanna Freeman said, "I look forward to breaking up the topics and discussing them separately," while Mayor Shaver cautioned, "if we just look at each silo we won't look at the whole picture."
Asked for her recommendation, May suggested, "In the short term we need to get an inventory, better data and analysis on what the major right of way uses are."
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 Beach to blast in New Year
New Year festivities are set to go in St. Augustine Beach.
Live performances by Old Enough-2-Know Better and Papercutt are wrapped around the featured fireworks display at 8:30 pm.
Festivities get under way at 5 pm at St. Augustine Pier.
Free parking/free shuttles are set in numerous beach area locations.
Get all the details on the website.
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Trucks
A consultant report on regulating delivery trucks "was a recommendation coming out of the parking and traffic committee," commented Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline. "We've been asking for years and years and now it's well under way."
Among recommendations in the report, larger delivery trucks would be limited to 5 to 8 am near the historic district by special permit, 5 to 10 am in other areas, and until 5 pm in more distant locations.
Public Works Director Martha Graham said, "We will be creating more spaces, and they will be incrementally reduced during the day so as to encourage early deliveries. "We plan to do an outreach on this so everyone has a chance to learn how it works." The consultant's Monday presentation is on CoSA.TV and his PowerPoint here.
Parking
At least two commissioners questioned the wisdom of creating more parking at busy times, 450 spaces in Francis Field and additional private lots.
"You're welcoming another 1,000 cars down those two-lane roads, and so we're trying to fit more into the bottle than there is room for, Commissioner Freeman said. And Commissioner Todd Neville added, "I appreciated having the PSAs (Public Service Assistants) directing traffic. "It would have been gridlock without it."
City Manager John Regan conceded, "Last Saturday there were many events compressed in one period, but he added, "There's really good data about traffic circulation because the trailer train companies are tracking the amount of time it takes to (complete a circuit)."
He said an average normal circulating time is 30 minutes, busier times an hour and fifteen minutes.
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Good gifts for
the holidays
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Mayor Nancy Shaver commented, "During the holiday season these are real gifts to the city" as commissioners Monday advanced to public hearing and final action at a later meeting ordinances creating an 11 acre public park at Riberia Pointe and two parks in Lighthouse Park, and a definition of "Undeveloped Conservation Park Lands" for inclusion in the City Code.
Planning and Building Director David Birchim noted the creation of the public parks at Lighthouse Park was spearheaded by lighthouse park residents. Lincolnville residents had earlier pushed to preserve the peninsula area at the south end of Riberia Street.
Special events venue
legislation adopted
Special Events Venue will become part of the city code after being approved Monday by commissioners.
The ordinance defines it and regulates special events.
A second ordinance provides a procedure for administrative determination of vested rights from the requirements of a special event venue - this for preexisting venues.
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The gates at Tolomato Cemetery open Saturday 11 am - 3 pm for guided or self-guided tours of the oldest extant planned cemetery in Florida, with burials dating back to the First Spanish Period (1565-1763). Admission is free, but donations are encouraged.
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Colleges donate to host city
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From the Northfield, Minnesota, News, December 9 2015
As part of a nearly century-long tradition, the city of Northfield received $156,000 on Wednesday, as part of the annual gift from Carleton and St. Olaf College.
Carleton College Chief Finance Officer Fred Rogers and St. Olaf College Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jan Hanson each presented Mayor Dana Graham with a $78,000 check.
According to a release from St. Olaf College, the gift dates back to the 1920s, when the tradition began. Carleton and St. Olaf are among the first colleges in the United States to make such a gift.
The gift is made in appreciation for the city's support of the colleges, according to a release from the city.
Each academic year, nearly 5,000 students from the two colleges call Northfield home. The two colleges also make up one of the largest employers in the city, with more than 1,500 employees.
The colleges and the city work as community partners, each working to enhance economic development, education, and cultural opportunities for the entire Northfield community.
Submitted by Bob Fliegel
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History's Highlight
As holiday feasts are prepared, a look back at the tables of yesteryear
 Garbanzo stew, hard sea biscuits and red wine, deer, gopher tortoise, shark, drum, mullet and sea catfish, maize, beans, squash, nuts, fruits, and miscellaneous greens. Possible menu items for the first Thanksgiving in today's continental United States, according to University of Florida Historian Michael Gannon, whose carefully researched assertion has earned him the epithet up Massachusetts way as "The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving."
That stew would include garbanzo beans, salted pork, and garlic, while most of the other entres could have been brought by natives of the region.
The founding and settlement of Florida in the 16th century brought a blending of European, African, and Native American foodways and the birth of the first uniquely American cuisine.
Florida's food-related firsts include:
1521 The first introduction of Old World livestock, food crops, and draft animals into the continental U.S. by Ponce de León at the first European colony in southwest Florida
1576 The first restaurants/bars - the Olmos family ran a taberna (tavern) in St. Augustine, while another was owned by Don Martín de Argüelles the Elder, the city's first alcalde (mayor)
1580s The first agricultural exports in the continental U.S. - shipments of onions began from St. Augustine to Havana
1598 The first public market in the continental U.S., established by Governor Don Gonzalo Méndez de Canzo, who also built the first grist mill and the first slaughterhouse
1640 The first cattle ranches in the continental U.S. - the Hacienda de la Chua (now Alachua County, FL) was founded by the Menéndez Marquez family
1640s The first cattle drives in the continental U.S. - Native American and African vaqueros (cowboys) were driving herds to St. Augustine, where the cattle were slaughtered, the beef sold, and the hides and tallow exported to Havana
Compiled by Davis Walker of Los Compañeros de la Cocina
Image: Cooking in former Colonial Spanish Quarter
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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 a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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