The St Augustine Beach Civic Association Report

This summer’s evening thunderstorms have presented a few challenges but so far the Music by the Sea Concert series has been blessed. No cancelations so far and we are so grateful to the hard core dedicated patrons that have come out no matter what the forecast to enjoy what has been a very enjoyable summer so far.

August dates are filled with some traditional MBTS favorites including The Falling Bones, The Grapes of Roth, Big Lonesome and Billy Buchanan with Free Avenue.

The political season is upon us and we are pleased to announce our first candidate’s night. Please join us at City Hall on August 11th at 7 pm as we hear from candidates in contested races. If you can’t be there in person you can see the forum live on local cable and the event will be repeated several times to give everyone a chance to evaluate the candidates before early voting starts on August 15th. We have more information on our website http://www.thecivicassociation.org/

Civic Association tee shirts will be available soon. Our Secretary Barbara Kleisler and Concert Volunteer Sherry Menet decided we needed a shirt that was fun and carries a message of positivity and they have come up with a theme of “This is why we live here”. Look for the new tee shirt on our website and for sale at our market and concerts in early August.

Please make a note on your calendar for the 2014 Surf Illumination event. It’s scheduled for Saturday December 6th at Pier Park. We’ll light the holiday tree, enjoy great entertainment and there of course will be a visit from Santa. We also look forward to presenting the SEC Football Championship game on a large screen so football fans can keep an eye on the game while feeling the holiday spirit.

Here’s a large thank you to some people that have worked very hard to bring about some much needed improvements at Pier Park. The parking lot has new signage and a well-marked traffic pattern to help with ingress and egress. Parking spaces have been striped including new parallel spaces making it easy for people to determining what is and is not a parking space. No parking areas are clearly marked in yellow and the fire lane near the Pier Office is now marked in red. A new loading zone has also been designated and marked.

The loading zone is essential for our concert series and for anyone that rents the pavilion to host an event. Kudos the Billy Zeits from County Parks & Recreation, Public Works Director Joe Howell from the City of St Augustine Beach, Commissioner Rachel Bennett and Mayor Andrea Samuels. All four of these people have worked diligently, communicated effectively and helped us get this work done in an amazingly short time frame.

The Sheriff and our City Police will be enforcing the parking regulations at Pier Park. This will be especially true in handicap spaces and no parking areas. This enforcement has our support. It is vital that emergency vehicles be able to access any area of the park quickly. If you or a loved one needs help, you should get it as quickly as possible.

The Civic Association and the City have now gone to extraordinary lengths by implementing shuttle service from City Hall to Pier Park on Wednesday nights and on weekends. By using the shuttle you can still access all of the amenities at Pier Park and help alleviate traffic and parking congestion on the Boulevard. See you soon on the shuttle and at the beach.