At The Very Least: January

New Parking Meters Offer Discounts for Locals

The City of St. Augustine installed a dozen new solar-powered parking meters around the Plaza de la Constitucion in December, a continuation of a program that eventually will put an end to free daytime parking downtown, said Mark Litzinger, city comptroller for the city.

At first glance, the meters seem to charge $1.50 an hour, but locals can get a price break with the Park Now Card. With this prepaid debit card, available at the Financial Office off Bridge Street, meters charge 50 cents an hour.

The meters are enforced Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., said Litzinger.

Eventually all of downtown will be monitored by the machines, which accept debit cards, credit cards and cash.

Landfill Plan Draws Fire: St. Augustine residents voice opposition

St. Augustine’s agreement with the state to fix the city’s illegal dumping of landfill material into a borrow pit could be put on hold.

In 2005, city staff took dirt from an old landfill site on Riberia Street in Lincolnville and dumped it into a water-filled borrow pit on Holmes Boulevard.

To fix the massive mistake, the city struck an agreement with the state to put the materials back on the landfill site and form a 19-foot mound that would be monitored to prevent groundwater intrusion.

But at a December 13 meeting, some residents said they were against that plan.

Ed Slavin, one of the speakers, said dumping the material back into Lincolnville, a predominately black neighborhood, would be a case of “PIBBY, Place In Blacks Backyard.”

“(Martin Luther King Jr.) said St. Augustine was the most lawless city in America,” Slavin said. “We’re here to tell you that’s going to stop.”

Slavin and others at the meeting wants the waste taken to a landfill.

The city scrapped that option because tipping fees alone could cost the city $1 million to $2 million. And putting the material back on the original site would cost about $800,000.

There were also very low traces of arsenic and other toxins found in the material, according to studies by laboratories paid by the city. Slavin wants an independent source to sample the material.

Regan said he would be happy to see that happen and would supply city funding for the sampling.

Among the 50 or so people who attended the meeting were City Commissioners George Gardner and Errol Jones and several city employees. Members of DEP were also in the audience but did not speak at the meeting.

Regan said the city will host an informational public meeting on Jan. 10. Seraphim requested it be held, not at City Hall, but at the St. Paul AME church, site of Thursday’s meeting.

“We want it in our neighborhood,” Seraphim said. “We don’t trust you.”

Regan agreed with the request.

Carrie Johnson, a well known resident who has lived in Lincolnville for years, said the city plan’s for the landfill “is frightening to me.”

“I have always felt like Lincolnville is the stepchild. We’re the last ones to get any attention,” she said. “I want to see Lincolnville be what it is, a great place.”