1. Thank you! I think the developer of the proposed Children's Museum and Aquarium and some of our City of St. Augustine staff somewhat casually or hurriedly adopted "Riberia Pointe" *sic) to refer to the Cape, without approaching or appreciating the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and its Florida counterpart. There is no precedent for calling the area Riberia Pointe (sc), but there are longstanding Spanish and British colonial (Buena Experanza or Good Hope) and Indian names (Pocolalaca) for the area. A third name was used after 1905 to refer to the area (Pougeaud's Point). The word "Riberia" is itself a corrruption of the Spanish word for shoreline (Ribera); Riberia is the name of the main north-south street. Thus, "Riberia Pointe" (sic) is a twice-misspelled misnomer and it lacks historical support. One of the two authentic historic names is good enough for our Nation's Oldest City.
2. There needs to be a consensus before we go renaming historic places n our Nation's Oldest City. The U.S. Board of Geographic Place Names is the final arbiter, not developers or non-profit groups or the City.
3. What a wonderful idea to make "Lincolnville" a federally recognized place name!. This timing is excellent -- ten days ago, the City of St. Augustine opened an impressive exhibit, "Journey: 450 Years of African-American History." Lincolnville was the first settlement by freed slaves after the Civil War.
4. By the way, is Fort Mosé (or more formerly, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mosé) on the federal list?
5. I have shared your E-mail with city officials and the local newspaper in hopes of stimulating public discussion.
Thank you!
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Clean Up City of St. Augustine, Florida
www.cleanupciyofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.staugustgreen.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-377-4998
-----Original Message-----
From: Hodge, Stephen
To: Ed Slavin
Sent: Thu, Jan 30, 2014 9:54 am
Subject: RE: Riberia Pointe, St Augustine
Ed
Below is a reply I received from the National group that oversees this process.
To begin a formal name change request you should visit the site
http://geonames.usgs.gov/
Let me know if you have any questions
Stephen
--------------------------------------------------
From USGS GNIS staff
We're not aware of any effort to change the name of Lincolnville, nor to apply
the name Riberia Pointe to that area or to one nearby.
In fact, we have no listing in GNIS for Lincolnville. If that name's in local
use (and my quick google search suggests it is), we should add it. I found this
description: The Lincolnville Historic District encompasses 45 blocks in St.
Augustine and is bounded by Cedar, Riviera, Cerra, Washington, and DeSoto
Streets. It should be easy enough to determine the coordinates. I'll take care
of that.
I also found a few references to Riberia Pointe, but it's not clear if it's a
locally used name, or one that's being proposed. From last September's St.
Augustine Record: "An Orlando consultant on Monday presented the St. Augustine
City Commission with a multi-million dollar plan to build a 250,000-gallon
aquarium, a state-of-the-art children's museum, a botanical garden, shops and an
aviary in a massive Riberia Pointe development...."
Another: "On May 15, 2013, Historic City News reported on a "Lunch-n-Learn" held
to inform the Lincolnville Community of the City of St Augustine's intent to
relocate horse stables adjacent to the north end of the Wastewater Treatment
Plant. As a result of that meeting staff decided the plan should be scrapped and
other alternatives be evaluated. The proposal, relocating the transfer station
to the south end of the property returns to the agenda when the City Commission
holds its regular business meeting on Monday evening. After discussions among
staff and with the franchisees, the only other viable plan would be to construct
a transfer station south of the Wastewater Treatment Plant on Riberia Pointe
adjacent to the fire tower," says Assistant City Manager, Timothy A.
Burchfield."
... and "We have a street project for three streets in downtown St. Augustine,
there is a children's museum we want to help fund on Riberia Pointe".
And finally, "The museum, which plans to open in December 2014, will be located
in downtown St. Augustine, adjacent to the historic neighborhood of Lincolnville
on Riberia Pointe."
Do these suggest the name applies to a point of land ("cape"?) rather than a
community?
Without further input from the community, we don't want to speculate as to
whether the name should be made official (i.e. should a proposal be submitted to
the BGN, or can it be added directly into GNIS), but I'd suggest it's not a
renaming, but a "new" name for a distinct feature.
Does that help a little?
Jenny
Stephen W. Hodge
ISPA / FREAC Director
850-644-2882(w)
850-597-1139(c)
shodge@fsu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin [mailto:easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:54 AM
To: Hodge, Stephen
Subject: Riberia Pointe, St Augustine
> Dear Dr. Hodge:
> Have you or the Geographic Name Board approved renaming the south end of
Lincolnville in St. Augustine as "Riberia Pointe?"
> Thank you
> Sincerely,
> Ed Slavin
> 904-377-4998
>
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