New Life In An Ancient Town

The COVID pandemic brought a halt to a lot of growth coming to Saint Augustine. The picture above used to be a diner, a cinema, and now it's just an empty building. Empty shops litter the historic district and main roads in Saint Augustine. Former apartments converted into Air Bnb's, businesses relocating for cheaper rent or better space now that competition and former companies have gone bankrupt during 2020.

Everything changes daily in the nation's oldest city. But with COVID-19, these changes will eventually become part of a much bigger production scale that will remove and eradicate parking and safe walking around large cars that seem to be getting larger every day. Here are a few of the changes happening to the sleepy ancient city:

Electronic Bikes

These new electronic bike options have been popping up recently in places around the parking garage for visitors and around the outskirt of Flagler College. There is a push to make these bikes a more permanent solution to getting around downtown. The city's goal is to remove all parking available to the public via the street or parking lots. As part of the Flagler Health coalition with another local business, all bikes are electronic and manual powered, for only $2 an hour. Helmets are required for these bikes; you can ask for one or locate a facility that provides one. There are several charging destinations around the city. The goal is to have over two hundred bike locations and vehicle parking on the opposite side of the historic district.

Parking Garages and Lots for Tourists and Downtown Businesses

Saint Augustine gets busy, extremely busy, from November to July. We only have one parking garage. The garage is available to use for locals who signed up for the Park Now card, which is $3 admission versus a $15 flat rate. But the city wants to expand the use of parking garages and other forms of parking for cars and vehicles that arrive to check out the sleepy town.

One option was parking near Creme de la Coca, a popular dessert bar and wedding cake design service (the gluten-free cakes are to die for). But that deal fell through. The next move would be to relocate the parking garages and lots on the opposite side of King Street near Broudy's Liquors. The parking garage would sit on the lot abreast to the liquor barn, with another structure on the opposite side would be developed next to it.

Traveling to and from the opposite side of King Street is dangerous at the US 1 intersection. So they would like to build a pedestrian bridge. However, for most downtown businesses, a building or lot dedicated to their shops and employees along with a pedestrian bridge is not doable for many who rely on opening at earlier hours. If you have to open your bagel shop at 6 a.m., but you can't get to the shop to open on time, then it would have to be either a change in hours or a location change. So many businesses might leave downtown due to the inability of parking for employees or their use. It is a move that the city has to work out with development, transportation, and businesses established downtown.

One option would be to work on adapting bollards going up and down to accommodate parking and logistics. In Iceland, some bollards and gates turn on and off during certain times of the day to allow pedestrian use. The famous rainbow walkway in front of the downtown church has gates that swing open and shut to allow pedestrians free access at certain times of the day. The city has looked into some of those procedures that are used in Iceland to regulate traffic and ensure the safety of pedestrians.

Gentrification of West King St.

Gentrification is the process of making someone or something more refined, polite, or respectable. West King Street is usually lower-income or government-assisted living. There is a high crime and high activity of violence past Old Dixie Highway. Police officers are often on the scene in that portion of King Street. One option that the city would like to do is clean up the area of West King Street and provide more shopping, lighting, ease traffic flow, and provide safe locations for those who feel uncomfortable in that area of town. It would mean some businesses and other buildings may be renovated or destroyed to bring in more people, parking access, and even some relocation options.

While many believe that gentrification is not a good thing for those who are urban poor or have a small income, the need to accommodate for large flows of traffic and tourism sometimes meets higher demand than the supply of affordable housing solutions for those who cannot afford other means of living. Saint Augustine is growing and changing at a rapid rate, there is always going to be someone stuck as the runt of the litter to ensure those changes come to fruition.