EDITOR'S NOTE -- Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insights on various topics of local interest in STEVE'S MARKETPLACE. __________

Steve Nicklas

They’re dancing in the streets in downtown Fernandina Beach these days, with free music and entertainment and revelry.

The imaginative activities are designed to draw tourists and residents alike -- and ideally bring more business to downtown businesses. There will be musicians and artists and concerts, and a historic reenactment at The Palace Saloon.

However, you could say other recent city-related developments are a little late to the dance. These developments may be positive in nature, but a bit late in developing.

City commissioners have made bold comments about the willingness of their county counterparts to grant new developments along Highway A1A in Yulee. The roadway is already over-congested by state standards. New development -- without a plan for increasing space on local roads -- will complicate the situation.

The city’s public pleas are welcomed, but a little late. The A1A issue is paramount and requires immediate attention by the county before things really get chaotic. It does little good to seemingly rubber stamp projects because a developer’s attorney finds a loophole and proceeds to sell naïve commissioners on it.

Keeping with the “late to the dance” theme, state officials are moving at a snail’s pace in rectifying the environmental mayhem of Egans Creek Greenway. They say they now have permission to stop salt water from intruding under Jasmine Street and ravaging the Greenway south of there, but it will take additional time (someone said “years“). It probably took less time to build the Hoover Dam.

Colorful resident and landowner Smiley Lee suggested putting a board across the opening under Jasmine Street for a temporary reprieve, like a wooden band-aid, until something more permanent can be built.

And then one state official suggested “studying” the problem. Whenever someone hints at doing a study, duck and run the other way. There are enough studies sitting on the bookshelves at City Hall to fill up a congressional library. They are expensive, time-consuming, and eventually mothballed.

Did a city candidate also mention we should go back to the drawing board on the downtown waterfront plans? How many times are we going to change our minds? This would, by any and all means, be late for the dance.

If you’re in the mood for music or art, come to Centre Street on Fridays and Saturdays this month. Street musicians and artists will perform at five locations from 2-8 p.m. each of those days. 

But it doesn’t stop there. The Amelia Island Museum will bring to life instrumental characters of years’ past in a “History Alive” event. The legendary Palace Saloon provides a perfect setting for the colorful settlers and dignitaries who helped make Fernandina Beach what it is today.

The event will be April 16 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Reservations can be made at the museum, 233 South Third St., or by calling 261-7378. Proceeds will benefit the local renovation fund.

If you attend the downtown festivities, you can choose to dance, or not to dance. Just don’t be late.

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(The dates for Sounds on Centre Street are the first Friday evening each month through October, in historic Fernandina Beach. The remaining dates in 2008: June 6th, July 4th, August 1st, September 5th, and October 3^rd.)

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(Steve Nicklas is a financial adviser who lives on Amelia Island.
He can be reached at 904-753-0236 or email at thenicklasteam2@msn.com.)