Victory I -- South End of Lincolnville Will Be Permanently Preserved and Protected Forever as Passive Park -- No Building on Top of 35 Feet of Garbage

St. Augustine City Commissioners voted 5-0 to restrict a ten acre site -- the south end of Lincolnville -- from ever being built upon.
This is where our City and businesses dumped garbage and toxic chemicals for a century.
This is where our City took 40,000 cubic yards of solid waste, dumping it in the Old City Reservoir, in an effort to create an artificial wetland to facilitate the Sebastian Inland Harbor Project (still flat, still undeveloped).
This is where our City committed environmental crimes, and wanted to bring the 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated solid waste back, put dirt on top of it, and call it a "park."
This is where activists halted our City's environmental crimes (only after AKERMAN SENTERFITT had billed some $200,000 for legal fees to keep City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS & Co. out of prison and in a vain effort to avoid, evade and skirt requirements to put the toxic waste in a Class I landfill, with another $100,000 to Geosyntec for bogus engineering advice.
This is where three dodgy nascent wannabee businesses -- a coral growing enterprise, an aquarium and a children's museum -- euchred our city into wasting time and money considering building structures on top of 35 feet of garbage (forbidden by FDEP 2011 guidelines).
Thanks to Commissioner Leeana Freeman, and Lincolnvile activists, including future Mayor Nancy Shaver, Cash McVay, and Blake Romeyn Souder, for winning the day.
Now we need to get the National Park Service to invest in the park as part of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore.
The site is gorgeous -- as Chad Light's video revealed stunningly, with music.
It reminds me of Thomas Jefferson's favorite spot on this planet -- Harper's Ferry, W.Va., where two rivers also converge.
It must be called by its historic, authentic name -- Buena Esperanza (Good Hope).
It is NOT "Riberia Pointe," a name concocted by the City or developers (sounds like a gated community).
The U.S. Board of Geographic Place Names, working with Florida officials and local residents, will choose the name -- this is a question of federal pre-emption. It is a geographic feature (a cape). Local governments don't get to choose place names -- they may recommend them, but they do not get to arrogate decision making to a few unelected officials on the Fourth Floor of City Hall.
Not any more, any way.
Viva!
Thanks to all for ending the threats to Lincolnville's future and our City's future.
We shall overcome!