Palm Valley Market is every Tuesday
The Palm Valley Market hosts a variety of local vendors at the Palm Valley Community Center on 148 Canal Blvd. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday. There will be fresh local produce, baked goods for humans and pets, sweet treats, plants, artwork, handcrafted jewelry, soaps and more.
Beach cleanup Saturday
There will be a beach cleanup from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 23, at Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Meet at the visitor center, 505 Guana River Road, Ponte Vedra Beach. Gloves and trash bags will be provided. For additional information, email Candace.Killian@FloridaDEP.gov.
Beaches Go Green student clubs hold training
Almost 50 student and teacher volunteers dedicated five hours of their summer to Beaches Go Green club training, learning about environmental issues and meeting Beaches Go Green club officers and future officers from different schools in the area.
Flagler Health+ sponsored the meeting space at the link in Nocatee. Publix sponsored all of the food and snacks for the volunteers.
There were environmental and leadership lectures, with guest speakers from Cornell. Participants toured the link, dissected albatross boluses for plastic, experienced the Flagler Health+ Immersive Studio, did yoga and drumming mini sessions and collaborated with local environmental groups like the Matanzas River Keeper. Attendees also heard from Beaches Go Green officers.
There will be offering a much shorter makeup BGG/Leadership training session at 4 p.m. Sept. 11. Location to be determined.
City launches new payment program at parking garage
The City of St. Augustine launched a pilot program Monday, July 18, at the Historic Downtown Parking Facility that allows motorists to pay via the ParkStAug mobile app or a payment kiosk.
The northernmost entrance to the garage is being used as an express lane, marked with a blue sign, without a parking attendant manning the toll booth. Drivers entering through the express lane will park in a marked space and use the ParkStAug mobile app or enter their license plate at the payment kiosk to make a payment.
With this pay-by-plate system, users are no longer required to place a receipt stub on the dashboard of their vehicles. The receipt stub is proof of payment. There is a 15-minute grace period to allow for making payment regardless of which payment option is selected.
“This payment option at the parking garage has been in the works for quite some time and we are excited to launch the pilot program,” Public Works Director Reuben Franklin said. “We’ve had great success with the parking app and payment kiosks in our street parking spaces and parking lots, and now we can offer this great convenience to folks parking in the garage.”
The ParkStAug mobile app is available to anyone, but also offers an automatic discount for St. Johns County residents who register their vehicles with the app. To register your vehicle, go to ParkStAug.com.
For additional information, contact the Historic Downtown Parking Facility office at 904-484-5160.
$800K awarded to project in Lincolnville
The City of St. Augustine Community Redevelopment Agency has been awarded $891,932 through the Florida African American Cultural and Historical Grants program for the funding of the Lincolnville Community Redevelopment Area Institutional Rehabilitation Grant Program, specifically for the Fountain of Youth Elks Lodge 684, located at 100 Washington St. in Lincolnville.
The grant opportunity was presented by the Florida Department of State in 2021 with funding provided by the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, as authorized by the Department of the Treasury, for construction projects at facilities in Florida that highlight the contributions, culture or history of African-Americans.
Organizations could request up to $500,000 or up to $1 million with 50% matching funds from other sources. With a project budget of $1,141,932, the St. Augustine Community Redevelopment Agency matched the 50% at $250,000.
“We could not be more pleased with this grant award,” commented Jaime D. Perkins, St. Augustine’s Community Redevelopment Agency administrator. “We have 24 months to complete all the proposed project activity and have already begun meeting with consultants and stakeholders to get started.”
The grant panel discussion and scoring took place in February. Although the application was not initially accepted, an additional $30 million in grant funding that was added to this year’s state budget allowed for this project to be approved.
For additional information, contact Perkins at jperkins@citystaug.com or call 904-209-4254.
— Compiled by Shaun Ryan
