St. Augustine news highlights

Archaeology exhibit now open at The VIC

A new exhibit at The VIC offers a look into the extraordinary life of 18th century St. Augustine through ordinary items uncovered by the city’s archaeologist and volunteers. Organized into displays focusing on various aspects of colonial daily life, the exhibit offers items commonly associated with home life, the routines of a military lifestyle, and even those depicting entertainment including games and tavern items. The free exhibit, recently featured in a St. Augustine Record article, 450 Years of unbroken history, is open 8:30am-5:30pm in The VIC. For a map, click here.

The Grapes of Roth up next for Concerts in the Plaza

The classic rock trio, The Grapes of Roth, returns to the Concerts’ n the Plaza’s Gazebo stage on Thursday, July 12 at 7:00pm. Elizabeth Roth, lead vocalist and bass guitarist, one of the best known solo acoustic musicians in North Florida, is joined by Chris Spindler on drums and Matt Van Rysdam on lead guitar, bass and vocals. All together, the Grapes of Roth always brings a great show.

The two-hour concerts are free and attendees should bring lounge chairs for seating. Picnic dinners are popular, but alcoholic beverages are prohibited in the Plaza. For a schedule and helpful map-links visit www.plazaconcerts.com.

TS Debby kept city crews in rapid response mode

While Tropical Storm Debby may not have had the wind of many storms, it certainly had the rain, and it was that rain that kept city crews busy in locations where rainwater inundated the city’s sanitary sewer system. The heavy downpours, a total of 7.72 inches in less than three days, required around the clock attention during the height of the rainfall in response to overflows in several locations of the sewer system. The overflows occurred during the heaviest periods of rain on the weekend of June 23-24 through Thursday, June 26.

The city’s rapid response teams captured and removed nearly 1.4 million gallons of wastewater /rainwater from the sites preventing backups into homes or discharges into waterways. At no time during TS Debby was the city’s drinking water in any danger as only surface water (i.e. runoff water, streams, etc.) came in contact with the waste water.

In a follow-up review of the city’s practices after the storm, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection compliance inspectors deemed the city’s actions appropriate and in compliance.

Read more about the city’s response and see a list of locations where there were spills here.

New zoning maps available on-line

Updated zoning maps for the City of St. Augustine are now available on its web site. This valuable and easy to access resource is available in four separate maps: one for the over all city and others focusing on areas north and south of Castillo Drive and Anastasia Island. The maps may be found by visiting www.staugustinegovernment.com and clicking on the Maps Library link or by clicking here.

While The Break Room is on summer break, have a another listen

Whether working in an office cubicle, on a factory floor or along the aisles of a retail store, time spent in the break room is usually a quiet time, away from pressure, away from work routines and often a place where co-workers can converse in a relaxed environment.

That’s the idea behind WFCF/Flagler College Radio’s program called appropriately, The Break Room, which during the last week of June produced its 128th program since starting in February 2010. Hosted by Paul K. Williamson, the city’s Public Affairs Director, the 15-minute weekly program offers a behind-the scenes look at the workings of city government through interviews with people key in the city’s day-to-day operations.

The Break Room airs on Wednesdays at 5:30pm and again on Saturdays at 8:00am, and is then each program is archived at www.breakroom.info as podcasts available for download anytime.

So while The Break Room is taking a break during the month of July, stop by its web site and have another listen.

Time to get ready to vote

In early July the St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Office will mail new voter information cards to all registered voters, but in order to receive the new card, a voter’s address must be current with the Elections Office.

Voter cards are especially important this year as they contain all of the new districts, precincts and polling locations following the redistricting process and precinct changes. With the August 14 Primary Election quickly approaching, it is vital that voters receive their new cards to know their district, precinct number and polling place and to ensure the receipt of sample ballots that will be mailed prior to each election.

Voters are encouraged to visit the Elections Office website and use the voter lookup feature to check their status and verify their address. The last date to register to vote or make party changes for the August 14 Primary Election is July 16. Address updates should include voter’s name, address, date of birth, and new address and can be made by calling the Elections office at 904.823.2238 or by sending an email to elections@votesjc.com.

City boasts a host of Great Floridians 2000 honorees

It was 15 years ago that the Florida Legislature, forward looking to the turn-of-the-century, established a program to recognize individuals who had made important contributions to Florida’s history and culture. Called Great Floridians 2000, a partnership effort of Florida League of Cities and the Florida Department of State, the program would name 2000 individuals through nominations from municipalities each of which would be recognized with a distinctive marker placed at a location associated with each person.

Not to be confused with the Great Floridians program currently managed by the Florida Department of State which recognizes both living and deceased individuals, the Great Floridians 2000 recognized only deseaded individuals. While the program fell short of its goal of 2000 names, ultimately naming 385 honorees, it succeeded by bringing deserving recognition to many heretofore unrecognized Floridians.

St. Augustine, with a total of 29 recipients, lead all other municipalities in the number of honorees, and by the end of 2002 official markers had been placed at designated locations throughout the city.

To see a roster and read a brief biographical sketch of each of St. Augustine’s Great Floridians 2000, click here. You’ll also find links to other information, including the current Great Floridians program.

Senator Bill Nelson’s staff to meet with constituents

Staff representatives of US Senator Bill Nelson’s office will hold office hours for St. Johns County area residents on Monday, July 30, 2012, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm at the City of St. Augustine Beach City Hall, 2200 A1A South. The availability is open to anyone – including those who need help with a federal issue. Those unable to attend may contact Senator Nelson by mail at 1301 Riverplace Blvd., Suite #2010, Jacksonville, FL 32207; or through his website available here. For more details, call Senator Nelson’s office at 904.346.4500.

City Agendas

The City Commission meets on Monday, July 9 at 5:00pm. The agenda is available here.

The Code Enforcement, Adjustments & Appeals Board meets on Tuesday, July 10 at 3:00pm. The agenda is here.

The Parking and Traffic Committee will meet on Thursday, July 26 at 8:30am. When available, the agenda will be here.

The July meeting of the Historic Architectural Review Board had to be rescheduled from Thursday, July 19 until Thursday, July 26 at 2:00pm. When published the agenda will be available here. The meeting will be broadcast on GTV on Monday, July 30 at 3:00pm.

Agendas and minutes for all city meetings can be found at www.staugustinegovernment.com with a schedule of upcoming meetings listed under City Calendar. City Commission meetings are broadcast live via GTV (Comcast Channel 3 in St. Augustine) each second and fourth Monday at 5:00pm. Commission meetings are also recorded and rebroadcast as are Planning and Zoning Board and Historic Architectural Review Board meetings. For a current schedule of all programming on GTV, click here.

Source: City of St. Augustine

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