Commissioner DONALD CRICHLOW Says He's "Unopposed," Now Claims to Care About Neighborhoods, Treees

Preserving neighborhoods important, vital



DON CRICHLOW
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 09/24/06


In the midst of the campaigning this election season, I am privileged to be unopposed for re-election to the City Commission and look forward to serving the citizens of St. Augustine for another four years.

I want to thank you for your support and invite you to a Town Hall meeting to discuss some of the issues we have before us as a community. While you will not see my name on the ballot in November, you will see an initiative that I sponsored.

These past four years have seen improvement in the quality of life for residents and enhancement of the experience of St. Augustine for our many visitors. Inevitably, there is still more to be done.

I want to hear from you, the citizens of St. Augustine, and listen to your ideas, concerns or initiatives you might suggest for the next four years. Toward this end, I am holding a Town Hall meeting, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at the Council on Aging, 180 Marine St., at 7 p.m. Please plan to attend and share your thoughts.

Among the issues we need to discuss is a growing threat to neighborhoods. Just in the past year, more of our neighborhoods have experienced troubling change. More houses are being torn down and replaced with as many as three new houses crammed together on the same land. We are seeing more new houses towering over neighboring houses and changing the character of our neighborhoods. We are seeing more loss of our magnificent tree canopy. The integrity of our unique neighborhoods is under attack, threatening to alter forever what is special about St. Augustine.

While I support and acknowledge the need for change and new development, I believe that change should adapt to St. Augustine, not the other way around.

The initiative that will appear on the general election ballot in November asks whether you would support an ordinance that would prevent crowding and overdevelopment in residential neighborhoods by eliminating the trend of "tear downs" and building two or three homes in place of the one that was demolished. I hope that you will support this important initiative so that we can begin to craft an ordinance or other measure to reduce this threat to traditional neighborhoods.

Once the density issue is solved, together we may decide to develop architectural overlay districts, or conservation districts, that will influence the character of new construction in our traditional neighborhoods.

There are, of course, other issues to discuss. I believe in enhancing the experience of our historic downtown area for tourists, but I passionately believe that we should make it more accessible and attractive to the residents of our city as well. Residents who live nearby and their guests shouldn't have to compete with tourists to park in front of their homes. People who live here should be able to shop downtown.

The full implementation of our parking plan will greatly improve the ability of residents and visitors to enjoy St. Augustine. The garage and shuttle system should ease parking for tourists, freeing up spaces downtown for residents who have been frustrated in their attempts to visit downtown for years.

In addition to other changes to improve downtown, including re-bricking streets, we must better manage our harbor, so that those who live on boats or simply moor their boats here are held responsible for their crafts.

We must remain especially vigilant of development in entry corridors. I will continue to press to improve new development like the Sebastian Inland Harbor project near King Street to meet residents' needs. We must revitalize and restore historic areas and enhance state funding of state-owned properties.

We do not know all the issues that will confront us over the next four years. But we will need to make decisions about them based upon a guiding principle. My principle is that the city commissioners are guardians of our city, a national treasure. St. Augustine has been protected for over four centuries and we must not abdicate our generation's responsibility.

Thank you again for your continued support as we move forward together, and I hope to see you on Oct. 4.



Don Crichlow is the city commissioner, district 4, for the city of St. Augustine and is an architect. He is running unopposed for re-election.


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