The Kid's tiles are complete!

Thanks to Corrie, all 90 kids finished their individual pieces. Check out some photos!

American Legion Post 194 After School Program

A few 450Next-ers stopped by American Legion Post 194 After-School Program to help out with production. Corrie Borgland instructed the group of approximately 12 elementary school-aged children on the details of creating mosaic art. Then the creative juices began to flow!

Check out the video!

450NEXT Public Mural Project 01 from Seth Ferreira on Vimeo.

Plans are under way!

We're very excited with how the project is progressing.

Wendy McDaniel and Corrie have been chosen as our artists and managers. Their selected medium, Mosaic Tile! They will be involving the children of the West Augustine community in the process. It has been decided that the conference room of the Calhoun Center will be used as the studio to create the mural pieces. All materials will also be stored there.

The children from the Boys & Girls Club, American Legion and Calvin Peete after school programs will be driven to the Calhoun Center by their own buses to work on the project. Volunteers from 450NEXT and YPO will assist in the production.

Wendy and Corrie are now coordinating with Greg White to order and store the materials.

We got our wall!

We are super excited to announce that our lunch meeting was truly divine intervention. Below are the photos of the wall. It is ready to go at the new Calhoun Community Center. Greg White, chairperson of the West Augustine CRA steering committee, was wondering what to do with the back of the wall when we started our lunch. During the lunch he decided we could be the group to coordinate a mural for the wall. He has money for paint, the children and Wendy McDaniel and another artist will help. Our contribution will be to fundraise to pay for the artist time. All of YPO can get involved if they are interested.

Juneteenth Celebration

The Juneteenth Celebration was a success! The '65 Sport Van flew the 450Next banner in the parade to kick off the event. Our tent attracted kids immediately due to the 20 foot inflatable monster truck bounce house that rose behind it! The only requirement to jump, they had to paint a picture. And the paint began to fly! When the dust settled we saw some great talent! Sharks, houses, self portraits, hearts, boats and some very interesting abstract creations in an array of colors.

As the kids waited in line to paint, we were able to speak to the parents about our project and vision, and it was very well received. The only thing we wished we had was a "leave-behind" to pass out.

After sampling a few hot dogs and some garlic crabs we all agreed it was a successful day and look forward to the next step!

Here are some photos:

View Cheryl's Photos

Topic Chosen!

After much debate and deliberation we have chosen a topic! The first 450Next project will be a public mural. We'll be calling upon the artistic talents of the children in West Augustine to help us paint our masterpiece.

Visit us at our table at the Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 20-21 at Collier-Blocker-Puryear Park at 10 N. Holmes Blvd. The parade starts at 10am, then stop by the table to paint your ideas for the mural! Bring the kids!

See ya there!

Top 4 chosen

We have narrowed the list to 4.

1. Public Art
   a. Lighthouse
   b. Lion
   
2. Public Mural
   
3. Recycling Awareness
   
4. Local Recreational Sports Team

Bounce House!

Set up bounce houses for young professionals that have small kids

Community farming

Community farming

Local Artist Auction

Sponsor a local artist auction.

Community service festival

Community service festival

Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald House

Bars Open Later

Last call at 12:30? C'mon people!

Live Music at the Pier

Live music at the pier – charge more money and have vendors sell food.

Flyover

Flyover at US1 and 312

Bridge from Vilano to Anastasia Island

Over the inlet!

Waterpark

Waterpark (i.e., aquatica)

Recreation Sports

Local recreational sports teams i.e., paintball, kickball, bowling

Dance

Dance instruction/classes

Wow, Check this one out!

Graffiti all over the new bridge of lions- straight up gang signs!

City-wide WIFI

always connected in the oldest city!

Hybrid buses and trolleys

Re-route driving north of town and transport workers and tourists into town using hybrid buses and trolleys

Staffing Service

Staffing service for the dog park, the farmer’s market, expand community volunteerism.

Artificial Reef

Artificial surf reefs for coastal protection – no more dredging/filling

Hurricane Protection Plan

Improve retention wall downtown. Improve drainage.

Energy

Wave/tidal based local power generation or wind/marginal solar

Lion Sculptures around the city/county

Local art classes could have competitions to design them.

Littering Awareness

No more cigarette butts out of cans.

Public Recycling

Place bins conveniently around the city beside trashcans.

Recycle Awareness

Drive around on collection day and take note of households who don’t have bins and distribute them.

Water Taxi

See the beautiful shores of our city's waterways and get where you need to go at the same time!

Children's Museum

Launch a St. Augustine children’s museum highlighting the history of the area.

Ultimate Frisbee!

Develop an ultimate Frisbee course!

Dog Park

Create a dog park in a centralized location.

Sustainable Business Incentives

Develop sustainable incentives for downtown businesses.

Downtown Drainage and Paving

Assess the drainage and paving needs in the downtown area and improve as needed.

Brick Sales on new Bridge of Lions

Betty Crosby's idea:

Organize brick sales/dedications for the renovated Bridge of Lions.

Fuel-Efficient Buses

Create fuel-efficient public bus system that runs throughout the city.

LED street lights

Convert street lighting to LED bulbs.

Recycling Awareness

Increase recycling awareness and participation city-wide.

City Holiday

Invoke a St. Augustine holiday celebrating the nation’s oldest city.

Civil Rights

Determine a method for publicly displaying civil rights as they relate to the history of the city.

The Homeless

Generate strategies for effectively addressing the substantial homeless population within the city.

Give jobs to homeless like cleaning up trash.

Wall Mural

Rally local artists, organizations, and volunteers to collectively create a community wall mural.

Farmer's Market

Organize a weekly Farmers Market between the Visitors Center and parking garage.

San Sebastian Entrance

Create an entrance corridor over the San Sebastian arch.

Lincolnville Park/Playground

Purchase a vacant lot in Lincolnville and develop land into a park/playground to build a sense of community within the neighborhood and invite new visitors to the area.

Hardees Property

Transform Hardees property into an attractive intersection and entrance to the city.

Youth Fitness

Develop an after school fitness program for underserved youth.

Street Performers

Re-examine ordinance restricting street performers on St. George Street.

Pedestrian Traffic

Limit area between Cordova and Menendez to pedestrian traffic.

Tour Guide Certification

Require the completion of a course in Saint Augustine history of all city tour guides. I swear they're making half of that stuff up!

Entrance Signs

Improve the landscaping around and appearance to entrance signs welcoming visitors to Saint Augustine.

Active Young Professionals

My friend Lauren Titus' idea:

One thing this town needs is more publicity about the young professionals who are becoming active in the community. This is a very encouraging sign and we should be hearing more about positive news these days. Also, seeing that there is a thriving professional circle in St. Augustine does much to encourage other young people who are just starting out to stick around and participate in the town, the area...

One word

MONORAIL!

What it is and Five Starter Ideas

450 Next is a commitment to comprehensive community change in Greater St. Augustine through sustainable projects, with the involvement and for the enduring benefit of its citizens.

Some ideas are:
1. Develop a staffing service to manage and expand volunteerism community-wide
2. Create a historic trail to deepen the awareness and appreciation of our nation's oldest city through walking tours of various lengths and styles
3. Commission local artists and organizations to craft artwork (i.e., lighthouses or lions) for public display and auction off the pieces for selected charities
4. Launch city-wide wireless network
5. Boost tourism through monorail system that exits at various points of interest

The path that got us where we are

My friend Michelle Robideaux Pent's idea:

When I was growing up in St. Augustine back in the sixties...San Marco was where it was happening (bakeries, resturants, tourist attractions... traffic came from the North to St. Augustine down San Marco... around the fort and down King street or over the Lions Bridge. It was simple...South Dixie Hwy picked up from King and continued South. I would love to see many of the vacant buildings on the old route before ( U.S.I. or Ponce blvd.) came in "realized" as wonderful veues once again...It could be called "The path that got us where we are"...

March 4th meeting

The March 4th meeting was productive. We decided a blog would be the best way to communicate our progress and ideas. Feel free to join in on the conversation!