ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla — People flock to downtown St. Augustine over the holidays for the popular Nights of Lights, but are there more people cramming into the small city than what the town can handle?
"It’s crowded," Barbara Blonder, a St. Augustine city commissioner, stated in a matter-of-fact way. "I hear it from residents regularly and we experience it ourselves."
Monday night, she brought up her concerns at the City Commission meeting.
"My main concern is crowding, the sheer numbers," she told First Coast News.
The influx of people into the old city during the holidays is great for business.
"It’s fabulous," she nodded.
However, Blonder is hearing complaints from residents – many who avoid downtown during Nights of Lights now – and even from visitors.
"'We’re seeing lots of trash. We’re smelling bathroom smells,'" Blonder said of some of the complaints she has heard. "That is not emblematic of a vital city."
Trash cans can only take so much, but the city has place more around downtown which compact the trash in order to hold more. The odors could be "more of an issue about dealing better with our homeless population," Blonder explained.
More people in town to see the lights means more traffic and often longer waits at restaurants.
"I think about the family sitting in a car," she said. "They finally find a parking spot. They get into a restaurant, and there’s an hour and a half wait. That isn’t a great experience for folks."
Blonder wonders if the lure of the lights has brought in more people than the quaint city can handle.
"We’re not putting our best foot forward because we just have too many folks coming in," she quickly added, "and that’s great! That’s a great problem to have!"
But what do you do with that problem?
It doesn’t sound like Blonder wants to limit the number of people coming to town. Instead, she’s saying the city may need to plan more when it comes to the holidays.
"I don’t want to imply the city staff isn’t doing everything they can, but we can do more in terms of being prepared," Blonder said.
For example, she added, take the complaint about noise, specifically coming from tour trains and trolleys which drive passengers around town to see the lights at night.
Blonder said the issue may need more discussion with vendors to say, "Let’s keep noise volume down with passengers. Let’s not encourage them -- late at night -- to be singing at the top of their lungs, for example."
Blonder believes there are ways to better balance the happy factor for both visitors and the folks who live here.