Tuesday, January 25, 2011

St. Augustine Record: Lincolnville: M&M is key to revival -- City Commission asks residents for thoughts

Lincolnville: M&M is key to revival -- City Commission asks residents for thoughts
Posted: January 25, 2011 - 12:03am

By PETER GUINTA

Lincolnville residents were recently asked: "What should the city do with the seized M&M Market on Bridge Street?"

St. Augustine commissioners received a cornucopia of valid suggestions Monday night, though most speakers said the seized building be turned into a museum, market or restaurant.

Missy Hall, 66 Weedon St., didn't want to see "anything that will attract unsavory people" and asked the City Commission to make the building attractive and "consistent with the historical feel of the neighborhood."

She said it would be the perfect place for a high-quality grocery market with a core of products, but not a convenience store.

"Sell it to someone who cares about the neighborhood," she said.

David Brezing, 7 Cincinnati Ave., said there's already an authentic Cuban restaurant next door, the Chill Grill, which would like to expand into the rest of the building.

"There are people in this neighborhood who would enjoy going to this restaurant," Brezing said.

The city paid $300,000 to satisfy the mortgage on the building -- though city officials said this move saved the city 18 months in court -- and one resident, Peter Romano of 62 Sanford St., said it would take another $100,000 to fix it up and bring it up to code.

"So any business opening there would have to pay a (roughly) $3,000 a month nut," Romano said.

Some residents said the building should be sold and remain on the tax rolls. The commissioners wanted people to know that it is still on the tax rolls.

But also that they were not going to make a decision that night and that there's no rush to decide.

Mayor Joe Boles said buying property "to alleviate a social ill in the community" is "outside the core function of city government, but it is done all over. It will increase property values and rid the community of a blight. It's going to cost something to hold onto this building for a while, but it won't cost the neighborhood any more."

St. Augustine Police Chief Loran Lueders said an investigation into criminal activity at M&M began in March and ended in November with the arrest of two men and a woman and forfeiture of the building.

"(Undercover officers) bought (untaxed) cigarettes, marijuana and crack, and there was (Food Stamp) fraud," he said. "We couldn't seize the building until we connected the owners to the crimes."

There were other suggestions for the structure, such as one by Christopher Ryan Stone that the St. Johns County Emergency Services & Homeless Coalition could operate a new market there and also feed the hungry, homeless and "unmet needs of the community."

While he spoke though, a few heads in the audience were shaking no, as if unhappy with that idea.

Theresa Segal, 126 Oneida St., a city and Lincolnville activist, said she only visited M&M twice to get emergency cat food and found it "visibly neglected, dirty and overpriced. I'd like to see a market or general store there, a simple, unpretentious venture. Many residents of Lincolnville don't own cars." Several speakers pointed this out and said that is the only walkable place to buy food.

Cash McVay, 139 Washington St., also a Lincolnville activist and originator of City Sprouts, a community garden near the Willie Galimore Center, said it is obvious that the store is a market location.

"If we do this right, it will prime the pump for other commercial activity in Lincolnville," he said.

Lincolnville resident Judith Seraphin sent a letter to the commission saying that in 1964, there were 41 businesses in Lincolnville. "None survive," she wrote.

Commissioner Errol Jones said that the city must maintain the building.

"We certainly know what we don't want it to be," he said. "Whatever we do, we want to benefit the community as a whole."

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