Published by former Mayor George Gardner March 16 2016
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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Multi-faceted solution
for traffic congestion
The problem
St. Augustine is being developed as a tourist destination at the expense of our residents.
Locust Street resident Nancy Noloboff
One solution
The issue of satellite parking will not be a technical problem. It will be a financial problem and how to pay for it.
City Manager John Regan
 After hearing options from City Manager John Regan Monday to break traffic logjams, city commissioners gave a green light to moving "right to the solution," as Commissioner Todd Neville put it, but with "the flexibility to find the solution that fits," Mayor Nancy Shaver added. "You need to have every weapon at your disposal to reduce and attack the event problem."
Regan told commissioners in an hour-long discussion "Our solution is not 400 spaces. Our solution is 4,000 spaces." He suggested the use of Francis Field for overflow parking "makes it more complicated to make the satellite parking successful."
Among those options Regan will wade through: dedicated queue lanes, block out (denying) dates on new events at Francis Field in March and April and Thanksgiving through January 2, satellite parking and shuttles for larger events, increasing event fees for Francis Field from $300 to $1,000 with consideration for smaller events, even a possible shortening of the Nights of Lights period (now Thanksgiving to the end of January).
"Night tours during Nights of Lights are a new economic engine (but) we need a fair cost recovery from tour companies. Those companies are willing to chip in."
Regan told commissioners he's committed to solutions before the next big holiday period - July 4th.
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The annual Blessing of the Fleet, dating back to St. Augustine's earliest history, begins at noon Sunday with a procession from the Cathedral Basilica along the Plaza de La Constitución to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina.
Watercraft from trawlers and yachts to sailboats and motor craft, decorated with flags and bunting, will receive this special blessing from the Bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine.
The free event is hosted by the Easter Festival Week Committee and St. Augustine Yacht Club.
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Mayor 'committed'
to reenactor support
Mayor Nancy Shaver Monday promised Monday that efforts are under way for greater visibility and support for St. Augustine's reenactors.
"We have added to the budget a small town experience line item ($5,000) for reimbursing reenactors for being on the street and the TDC (Tourist Development Council) is picking up that funding and is willing to expand it.
"We definitely may not be where we need to be but we absolutely are making that commitment."
The mayor's comments came after a public comment from former Mayor George Gardner for greater visibility and support.The mayor's comments came after a public comment from former Mayor George Gardner for greater visibility and support. He noted additional monies from those parking facility fees raised from $10 to $12 to fund 450th events, and justification for reenactors in the historic district despite a ban along and around St. George Street.
"Justification is in the preamble to the very ordinances virtually banning such activity," he told commissioners. "... to vigilantly protect and preserve the quality and historical and cultural ambience of the historical sections of the City ... a vital area of the City that serves the community and visitors to St. Augustine as the frontispiece of the story and life of this oldest city in the United States."
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Gardner as well as several members of the Easter Festival Committee including its president Michelle Reyna had less success asking a waiver of an estimated $8,000 in city fees for the Easter Parade.
The half century old committee has nearly $13,000 in bed tax funding, but half must be spent on out of area advertising and recipient groups have to pay their expenses before being reimbursed.
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Taxi mileage limits on hold
Commissioners want more information before acting on a proposed ordinance requiring taxis to be less than ten years old and have less than 250,000 miles on the odometer.
Commissioner Todd Neville and Mayor Nancy Shaver both asked for the age of fleets on the road now,. And Ed Slavin, in public comment, noted that one company he checked has some cabs 2 years old with 350,000 miles.
Assistant City Attorney Denise May will return with information for a first reading of the proposed ordinance.
Greeks researching city sister tie
The Greek community here is researching what would be an appropriate Greek city to join St. Augustine's Sister Cities.
"There's a very strong Greek community here," Mayor Nancy Shaver said as she introduced the idea to fellow commissioners Monday. "I think it has the potential to be a wonderful relationship."
The idea was suggested in a recent visit by the deputy minister to the prime minister, Terens Spencer Nicholas Quick of Greece.
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Busy Spring period, continued
The St. Augustine Orchestra Spring Concert will be presented Friday at 8 pm in Lewis Auditorium, under the direction of guest conductor Scott Gregg, musical director and conductor of the Jacksonville Youth Symphony and maestro of Jacksonville Chamber Orchestra. Tickets $20, students $5. www.staugustineorchestra.org
Commemorating Founding of Fort Mose
Fort Mose celebrates 278 years as the first free black settlement in today's America 10 am - 3 pm Saturday. Living historians and reenactors will tell the story of Fort Mose, and there will be children's activities as well as speakers including Darcie A. MacMahon's presentation of The Discovery and Public Impact of Fort Mose. The event is free but there is a $2 charge to view the museum. www.floridastateparks.org/fortmose
Free Civil Rights Walking Tour
A licensed, professional tour guide will offer a free tour Saturday of locations in St. Augustine that were significant in the city's civil rights movement. Hear stories of the struggle for civil rights while walking in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Andrew Young. The one-hour tour departs at 4 pm from the Tour St. Augustine office on Granada Street. Reservations required. www.staugustineblackheritagetours.com
Tolomato Cemetery Guided Tour
Tour the oldest extant planned cemetery in Florida, with burials dating to the First Spanish Period (1565-1763), Saturday. Free admission, donations encouraged. Tours from 11 am - 3 pm. www.tolomatocemetery.com
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Saturday's Report got some date corrections, courtesy of historian David Nolan.
On the Wendler lawsuit story, the Flagler estate on Valencia Street was demolished in 1950, not in the 1960s.
"Kirkside was demolished by Lawrence Lewis and the Flagler heirs in 1950. It was the symbolic act that launched the age of massive bulldozing in St. Augustine, because if you could demolish Flagler's house, then how could you say any other house was worth saving?
"Several fragments of it survive--like the columns and leaded glass windows in the Kirkside Apartments at 55 Riberia Street. The doorway at 46 Valencia Street is also from Kirkside, and the fanlight windows at 311 St. George Street, and the staircase and black-and-white marble tiles at 77 Dolphin Drive."
On the Women of St. Augustine history highlight, "Miss Fulwood died on May 12, 1994," Nolan says. "Her house at 83 Kings Ferry Way was moved to that site circa 1960 when US 1 was cut through North City and displaced houses on the west end of each street. Some were moved, others demolished.
"It must have been quite a move, down a narrow street and to a narrow lot. George Reedy, President Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, made several visits there negotiating LBJ's appearance here in 1963, when they were planning to have an all-white banquet for him at the Ponce de Leon Hotel."
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History's Highlight
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Celebrating Women's History Month, this is the second of two highlights on notable women in the history of St. Augustine. These excerpts are from Florida Women's Heritage Trail, a Florida Heritage Publication of the Florida Division of Historical Resources.
Wilma E. Davis (1890-1992), at a time when women ministers were rare, was ordained a deacon in the Florida Conference of Methodism in 1924. Five years later she was ordained an elder, becoming the first woman to receive this certificate. As she traveled around the world, she maintained her association with Grace Methodist Church serving as a church pastor, working with youth and studying in Boston and the Middle East.
 Jean Louise Flagler Benedict (1855-1889), daughter of Henry Flagler, is at rest with Flagler and his first wife, Mary, in the 1890 Memorial Presbyterian Church he had built in her memory.
Emily Lloyd Wilson served as historian and librarian for the St. Augustine Historical Society from 1919 to 1953. She is largely responsible for the society's outstanding library, where she devoted her life to securing copies of old maps and Spanish documents. The museum contains exhibits on the history of St. Augustine and a museum shop.
Nina Hawkins (1890-1972), pictured, was 21 years old when she began her job as a reporter with the St. Augustine Record in 1910. Her career would span 43 years, of which 19 were spent as editor and editor-in-chief of the Record. In 1999, she was inducted into the Florida Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Anna and Sarah Dummett operated today's St. Francis Inn as a boarding house beginning in 1845. When Union forces took over St. Augustine During the Civil War and Anna heard that the Union flag had been raised at the St. Francis Barracks, she led a group of women who chopped down the wooden flagpole, thus preventing the Stars and Stripes from flying in place of the Stars and Bars.
Frances Kirby Smith, mother of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, was rumored to be a Confederate spy and was banished from St. Augustine during the Union occupation. Today, her home is the research library of the St. Augustine Historical Society.
Margaret Cook, Eliza Whitehurst, Sarah Anderson and Louisa Fatio were successive figures at the Ximenez-Fatio House on Aviles Street, a fashionable rooming house for most of the 1800s.Cook began its use in 1830. Whitehurst managed it from 1830 to 1838. In 1838, Sarah Anderson purchased the property. In 1855, Fatio bought the house. Sometime after her death in 1875, the house became a gift shop and club. In 1939, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida purchased the property. Today's visitor can tour the "boarding house" restored as it might have been when Eliza Whitehurst managed it.
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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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