Published by former Mayor George Gardner August 6 2016
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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Cutting off cut-throughs
In a presentation at Monday's City Commission meeting sure to please Nelmar Terrace residents and anger pass-through traffic along busy May Street, City Manager John Regan is expected to propose a street redesign to stop cut-through traffic at Magnolia and Douglas avenues.
Sketched out by city staff, traffic islands at each intersection with May Street will allow right turns only onto May Street with no left turns in.
A bicycle lane will be provided onto Magnolia from May.
City staff surveyed the streets to find a large volume of traffic using the streets to avoid delays at the May Street/San Marco Avenue intersection.
In a memo to commissioners the city manager noted that while he has authority to make the changes, "due to the sensitivity of my recommendations, I think it is best to seek the consensus of the City Commission and provide an opportunity for public input."
Others in a series of recommendations to be implemented "as soon as practically possible:"
- Close East San Carlos Avenue at the East San Carlos Avenue/San Marco Avenue intersection.
- Review and optimize signal timing after the change to East San Carlos Avenue.
- Recommend to FDOT signage at A1A and County Road 210 to encourage southbound A1A traffic to use CR 210 and US 1 to avoid "congestion ahead"
The regular commission meeting begins at 5 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall and is live-streamed on CoSA.TV.
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Award for good
stewardship
The Woman's Exchange of St. Augustine will accept the Adelaide Sanchez Award for Historic Preservation, Restoration, Education and Interpretation Monday "for its unwavering commitment and dedication to preserving the Peņa-Peck House, a building that has stood on the corner of St. George and Treasury streets for over 250 years," according to a city media release.
The Woman's Exchange has been steward of the city-owned property since 1932, offering guided tours, operating a small gift shop and researching and exhibiting elements of the storied property - colonial home of the Spanish treasurer and for later generations home and office for Dr. Seth Peck and his family.
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$120 million, 5 year
challenge for city
The city has a list of $120 million in capital improvement projects over the next five years.
Everything from road rehabilitation - $525,000 annually, to big tickets like a $20 million parking garage and $320,000 fire truck penciled in for 2021.
The five-year Capital Improvement Plan 2017-21 will be explained to city commissioners in a 4 pm session before its regular meeting Monday by Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield.
"It is important for the City to maintain an adequate balance between day-to-day operating expenditures and capital expenditures," Burchfield says. "Both must be adequately planned for, evaluated and controlled to prevent future financial and service crises."
Find the five-year Capital Improvement Plan 2017-21 here.
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A modification to the special event limits policy adopted by the city would allow the annual Easter Parade to continue on Easter Sunday afternoon.
City Manager John Regan will tell commissioners an analysis of daily traffic volumes shows Sunday traffic volume "well below the peak as the same time on Saturday.
"A goal in improving mobility is to develop data driven solutions that improve mobility without degrading 'quality of life' and 'livability' factors that define our unique identity as a City," he writes in a recommendation memo to commissioners.
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City website getting social
The city's web site has a new look - and on-line presence, Public Affairs Director Paul Williamson will tell commissioners Monday.
"The brief update will include a description of the progress thus far in the development of the web site, and steps taken in the launching of the city's presence on social media," Williamson says in a memo to commissioners.
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Fire Chief Costeira
announces retirement
 After nearly 30 years with the St. Augustine Fire Department, the last tweo and a half as its chief, JC Costeira is retiring.
"It has been an honor to serve the St. Augustine community as a firefighter, and to have worked with some of the finest people I have ever known," says Costeira. "I now look forward to spending more time with my family and friends." City Manager John Regan has begun the process of naming a new chief to ensure a smooth transition over the next few weeks. During his tenure as chief, Costeira and the department have worked to maintain the Class 2 rating and move the city's rating to a Class 1. Public Protection Classification ratings issued by the Insurance Services Office guide most insurers in underwriting and calculating premiums for residential, commercial and industrial properties. The Class 2 rating places the St. Augustine Fire Department among the top 1.3% of departments in the nation.
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Wreaths Across America
2016 campaign begins
The annual drive for Wreaths Across America has begun.
"The Veterans Council of St. Johns County wants to ensure that every headstone in the St. Augustine National Cemetery is adorned with a live holiday wreath this year," says Veterans Council Chair Bill Dudley.
The council has successfully sponsored the drive for several years.
Individual wreaths are $15. If two wreaths are purchased at $30 the council receives a free wreath. Corporate sponsorships are available and greatly appreciated.
Wreath placement will be December 17 at 10 am.
Checks made payable to Wreaths Across America may be sent to: Veterans Council of St. Johns County, P. O. Box 2117, St. Augustine, FL 32085-2117.
For additional information contact Campaign Chair SGM (Ret) Ray Quinn at 904.797.5622.
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 Limelight ramps up for fall season
Limelight Theater is doing auditions, prepping scenery and getting ready for its fall season with three plays.
Oklahoma!, the venerable musical set in a Western Indian territory just after the turn of the  century, has completed its auditions for a cast including Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, playing out their love story amid a high-spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cowboys.
Show dates are September 21-October 23, with a 25th Season Party & Opening Night Wednesday, September 21, at Raintree Restaurant, followed by the opening show at Limelight Theatre.
Junie B. Jones, The Musical, is auditioning Monday, August 22 at 6 pm for adult actors only.
Performances will be 2 pm Saturdays - October 1, 8, 15, and 22 for this delightful adaptation of four of Barbara Park's best-selling books. They're brought to life in a genuinely comical (and not strictly-for-kids) musical developed by Theatreworks USA, featuring the sassy little diva, Junie B. Jones, and her adventures in first grade.
School of Rock auditions are at 2 pm Saturday, August 27, for students in 1st through 12th grades. Performances are set for 7:30 pm November 4-5 and 2 pm November 5-6 on the Matuza Main Stage.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, the man who brought rock and romance to Broadway, is back with heart-stirring School of Rock, a hilarious musical following Dewey Finn, a failed rock star who poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school where he turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band.
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History's Highlight
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And Some Were Spies
From Floridanos, Menorcans, Cattle-Whip Crackers - Poetry of St. Augustine, by Ann Browning Masters 2015 The Florida Historical Society Press.
Francisca (Panchita), Maria Dolores (Lola), and Eugenia Sanchez were Floridanas-Menorcans. They were also Confederate spies during the Civil War. Unfortunately their ailing and aged father, Mauricio, was mistaken for the person passing Union intelligence to the Confederacy, and was imprisoned in the Union-held Castillo de San Marcos. 
One evening Lola, Eugenia, and Panchita overheard battle plans while they appeased Union soldiers with dinner preparations. Prompted by this information, Lola made a wild ride to the St. Johns River and borrowed a rowboat to cross to Confederate lines.
This probably would not have been possible without her sisters' hair-raising resourcefulness as they cooked dinner and hid her departure from the Union soldiers.
Initial reports claimed that Lola rowed across the wide St. Johns River, but Carol Lopez Bradshaw and others think that she crossed a smaller tributary or creek to arrive at Captain Dickison's Camp Davis.
All chronicles agree that Lola was clever enough to leave the lathered horse far away from the farmhouse when she returned. Lola's ride resulted in a Confederate victory.
Dickison, nicknamed "The Swamp Fox," is mostly remembered for leading the attack resulting in the capture of the Union warship USS Columbine in the Battle of Horse Landing.
This was one of the few instances in which a Union warship was captured by land-based Confederate forces during the Civil War and the only known incident in US history where a cavalry unit sank an enemy gunboat.
For this and other intelligence gathering that Lola and her sisters provided, a captured Union pontoon boat was re-named Three Sisters.
Image: Then-Capt. John Jackson Dickison in 1864
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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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