City of St. Augustine Violates 14th, 15th Amendment Rights of West Augustine

The City of St. Augustine is violating the 14th and 15th Amendment constitutional rights of West Augustine residents and businessmen.

Redlining?

That's exactly what the City is doing. Sure sounds like Mark Knight is doing exactly what WILLIAM B. HARRISS wants -- disfavoring West Augustine, large parts of which the City won't annex (while annexing white areas more than 60 times in some 50 years).

The sign for West King Street would not have cost anything if the City and State sign-makers had pointed both left and right to the Business District.

Our City of St. Augustine has delusions of adequacy. See below:


St. Augustine Record: West Augustine merchants: City killing business zone
Road construction, parking shortage hurts, they say
Posted: April 13, 2010 - 12:07am

By Peter Guinta

Merchants along West King Street from U.S. 1 to Palmer Street say the county's recently finished repaving project took an entire year and stretched local businesses to the financial breaking point.

On top of that, they say, the city appears unwilling to help solve parking and signage issues created by the project.

Robert Balch, owner of The Green Home Store at 205A West King, said the repaving eliminated every on-street parking space along that five-block strip.

"We needed those spaces," Balch said. "They told us street parking blocked the view. What view? And they widened the sidewalks for what? Nobody walks over here. The west side is being redlined."

"Redlining" describes the not-so-secret practice of banks, insurance companies or other entities to avoid doing business with properties or individuals located in a specific area believed to be deteriorating or unprofitable.

Balch said he realized that's what it was when he saw the large green sign on U.S. 1 North saying "Business District" with its directional arrow pointing east.

But there's no arrow to guide motorists toward West King, he said. And the city said there won't be one, either.

"They're killing the commercial section over here," Balch said. "Tell me this project would have taken a year if was on the east side of U.S. 1."

West King businesses include The Green Home Store, The Present Moment Cafe, two pawn shops, Sailor's Exchange, Ammar's Beauty Shop, The Hookah Lounge, Mermaid Marine and Tattoo, Recover Now, Gifts for Living, Labor Finders, Catholic Charities, Screen Arts and Magnum Tattoo, among others.

Mark Knight, St. Augustine's director of planning and building, said the traffic sign pointing east was part of the city's $450,000 signage plan, approved by the City Commission and aided by a $100,000 grant from the Department of Transportation.

The arrow points that way so motorists would not be confused, he said, adding that it would cost $6,000 to change it now. Also, if this exception were granted, San Marco and Anastasia Boulevard merchants could possibly request signs for their own business districts.

"Everybody wants a sign," Knight said.

Balch said, "Tell me this is not a blighted side of town. We've had no money for three years."

Evette Schindler, owner of Present Moment Cafe, said the city is discriminating against West King.

"If there are no merchants here, there's nothing. We lost $300 to $500 per day during construction. I've lost $80,000 or more since construction began," Schindler said. "All I've got to show for it are new cracks in the ground and on my building. Again, we're being slapped in the face. If they're not going to help us, we're going to fold."

Just getting the project contractor to install the detour signs correctly took two months, she said.

County spokeswoman Karen Pan said the West King project seemed to take forever because "it was a complete rebuild of the road and associated infrastructure. They installed new storm drains, sanitary sewers, potable water lines, roadway, sidewalks, curbs and gutters."

Pan added that it is a very small area to work in, and that one open lane of traffic further tightened the space.

She said a county engineer told her, "Anywhere we would have done a project of this magnitude, it would have taken a long time. But this one was on time and on budget."

Jamal Ammar, owner of Ammar's Beauty Supply and other West King properties, is luckier than most on West King with his own parking lot serving not just his customers, but also anyone going to Catholic Charities, Screen Arts and Present Moment Cafe, all nearby.

"I don't have the heart to stop someone (parking on my property)," he said.

Ammar, who also lost about $80,000 in business over the course of the project, rents a few of his spaces and lets others use the lot without charge. He hopes the city will give him some help in maintaining it.

"We've done our part in improving our properties. Now the city should come in and help us," Ammar said. "We're willing to work with them."

The Hookah Lounge, next door to Ammar's place, will serve customers only until the end of the month, he said.

"When the road reopened, they thought they'd bounce back, but couldn't recover from the losses," he said.

Rob DePiazza, owner of Screen Arts, a graphic arts and printing business, has two or three parking spaces along the side of his building, which he bought in 1984.

The county removed all the parking on the north side of West King Street in the 1990s, he said. Now the south side spaces are gone too.

"The sidewalks are wider, which is nice. But we're not necessarily a walk-in business. And nobody's going to cross U.S. 1 to get here. It might as well be the Grand Canyon," he said.

Some merchants, and some city officials too, believe the answer to the parking situation is creating small 10-12 car lots disbursed throughout West King. The Coombs Oil lot has been mentioned as one possibility, as has a lot owned by the DeBow family across from their appliance business at Palmer and West King.

Nothing, however, has come of either idea.

"If you don't have parking over here, it's a dead zone," DePiazza said. "If it is not convenient for a person to park, they'll go somewhere else. We need to get something back. It's time for the city to pony up."