ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The City of St. Augustine says it’s a symptom of success, but also recognizes that it’s a problem needing a solution.
Public trash bins along some of the Ancient City’s most popular streets overflowing with refuse, night after night.
“I don’t think it’s the employees’ fault at all, I think it’s just being understaffed,” St. Augustine resident Shane Carman told First Coast News Tuesday. Carman is one of a number of people who in recent days have posted photos online of bins filled beyond capacity, many with trash stacked atop or aside the bins.
Carman acknowledged that the bins have typically been emptied during the wee hours each morning, but asserted that the problem is being mismanaged in a city that not only expects heavy tourism during holiday season, it thrives on it.
“It’s not like tourism is a new thing here, you know?” he said. “They know this is one of the busiest weeks of the year.”
As we walked and drove along such tourist magnets as Avenida Menendez and St. George Street about 5 to 6 o’clock in the afternoon on New Year’s Day, we noticed some bins only partially filled.
“Right now it doesn’t look that bad,” he said, pointing to one receptacle on pedestrian-only St. George Street. “But definitely, once it hits around 10 p.m. or so, it really starts to pile up.”
Indeed, some bins that seemed about half-filled at sundown were nearing capacity less than two hours later. Carman said he had seen bloody towels left on a sidewalk by EMTs after they tended to a woman on New Year’s Eve. He also said the bins often fill fastest even later in the evening, after bars close.
“I think a lot of it does blow into the water, which obviously goes to our ocean, so it’s certainly not a great outcome,” he said.
It was city commissioner John Valdes who noted, by phone Tuesday, that the trash is a direct result of tourism-driven prosperity, but he was anything but smug about it. One specific cause, he said, is growth in the number of food vendors in St. Augustine, leading to more food-related garbage.
Carman said that compounds the problem with the concern of health hazards.
"On a nightly basis I see at least two to three rats,” he said. “Last night one popped out of a trash can right as I was walking past it.”
As the trash draws such unwanted elements, Carman and others are also concerned that, unless managed better, it could make St. Augustine a victim of its own success by deterring future tourism.
“It’s nice with all the lights and everything,” said Meredith Willey, visiting the nation’s oldest city for the first time from Michigan, “and then you walk around, you see trash in all the bins … it kind of puts a damper on things.”
The timing is perhaps even worse because the city’s historic crown jewel, the Castillo de San Marcos, is closed by the partial federal government shutdown. First Coast News observed trash building up on the grounds, even where there are no bins. As a national monument, the Castillo typically manages its own waste and is not a city responsibility. Neither Mayor Nancy Shaver, city manager John Regan, nor Valdes knew of an official plan to manage waste on Castillo property during the shutdown.
But, regarding the problem on city property, I asked Willey and a friend, Tucker Anderson of Jacksonville, whether larger bins, a greater number of bins, or more frequent pickup would be the answer.
“All of them,” Anderson said, followed by “All of the above,” from both in unison.
Another visitor, Chris Cook from central Florida, agreed. “More trash cans or more frequent pickup,” he said. “It’s kind of a no-brainer.”
Valdes pointed out that pickup is most difficult during the busiest times because St. Augustine’s narrow streets can be difficult to navigate for large garbage trucks, especially if streets are still crowded during wee hours. But, he said, the city is aware of the problem and plans to consider each of the aforementioned solutions or a combination.