Freddy Francis' donative intent in letting the City have Francis Field was for athletic fields and tennis courts. Not parking.
Our athletic fields, tennis courts and trees have been destroyed for private profit -- parking to benefit historic downtown merchants, many of whom who underpay their employees and made half a billion dollars last year.
They literally "paved paradise and put up a parking lot," in the words of Joni Mitchell. (corrected, thanks to commenter, below).
First the $20 million "Historic Downtown Parking Garage" and now the "special events field,' frequently used for parking now. PZB member Jerry Dixon and Commissioners Leanna Freeman and Nancy Sikes-Kline (both former Vice Mayors) have rightly questioned the destruction of the athletic fields and abuse of Francis Field for parking. I am requesting chemical tests of the soil for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with parking hundreds of cars there during Nights of Lights and Independence Day fireworks.
Record Opinion Editor Jim Sutton and a letter-writer suggest today putting athletic fields on top of additional parking at Francis Field.
I respectfully disagree. Creative idea, yes.
BUT, to LEN WEEKS, his father-in-law (both beneficiaries of no-bid subsidized City leases and opponents of "socialism"): We don't need more parking downtown.
There is too much gridlock now due to the construction of the "Historic Downtown Parking Garage."
There are too many cars downtown.
IF new parking is required, put it on the periphery, and create a real mass transit system.
No, we don't have one yet. I don't think we have even excuse for one in the second-rate Sunshine Bus Company, operated only a few times a day, too often late, with idiosyncratic routes, running only six days a week, subject to a squalid questionable no-bid contract with St. Johns County Commissioners by the Council on Aging, which avoids and evades Open Records requests, hiring a corporate law firm to do so).
The St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore legislations promise to help us get a first-class mass transit system with more federal dollars, and even another parking garage (if needed).
Building athletic fields on top of a parking garage: the wrong idea at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Georgetown University on February 4, 2016 opted to close Kehoe Field, built on top of Yates Field House. It was a great idea, and I happily swam, took saunas and a yoga class there during my last year at Georgetown. But the roof leaks. Always has. The facility facilitated litigation.
Ed; tourism drives economic growth for the city, county. Where do you want everyone to park? On the beach?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSebastian Inland Harbor? See today's Record column. It's flat. Why not park cars there now, before parking garage promised in 2002 is built? No downside. Let Francis Field be used for its intended purpose. It's the height of hubris for City officials to violate Freddy Francis' donative intent, for years, destroying our ball fields, tennis courts and trees for a few coins. Mumford & Sons demanded trees be removed. They must be replaced. Now. The field must be restored to athletic use before summer. If it takes pickets and sit ins.
ReplyDeleteIt's not ""took paradise and put up a parking lot," in the words of Janis Joplin."
ReplyDeleteIt's "paved paradise and put up a parking lot," in the words of Joni Mitchell.
Jus' sayin'.
As for the use of the field for parking, why not? I drive by there regularly and, FAR more often than not the field is empty; not a soul using it.
Sure, we'd love to have plenty of available parking downtown so we wouldn't need Francis Field, but we don't. That's the reality, and that reality needs to be addressed. Until it is, Francis Field is the most immediate viable option...
Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteDid you know the City allows parking there without testing the field for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)? Not exactly environmentally sensitive.
Occasionally using Francis Field for overflow parking and events has destroyed its functionality.
Could it be that you see no one on Francis Field when you're there because there are no baseball diamonds, as Fred Francis provided, and as existed when we moved here in 1999? No soccer goals? Athletics require investment in fields, and the CIty has been guilty of disinvestment in Francis Field ever since the monstrous "Historic Downtown Parking Garage" was located there, a big mistake.
Rebuild the baseball diamonds, restore the tennis courts, replant the trees and let Francis Field live as intended, as part of a living breathing City -- not parking for a Disneyfied downtown. There are large spaces off King Street (Sebastian Inland Harbor and FEC dorm building lots) suitable for parking.
Let's ask Commissioners to make data-based decisions, Then let's vote to put residents first, as Commissioners Freeman and Sikes-Kline said in January, and as Jerry Dixon said in his eloquent St. Augustine Record column (in print but not online yet -- why?) Also see Steven Cottrel column.
It seems that whatever execrable ex-Mayor LEN WEEKS demands, LEN gets.
He doesn't even live here, and he is all about moneymaking, not historic preservation, as was proved by what happened on September 25, 2014 at Don Pedro Fornells House, 211 year old Spanish colonial building destroyed while he was working without permits, in a hurry, digging trench all around coquina building.