Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Converting downtown streets into a shady pedestrian oasis through the Lake Wales Connected plan got a financial boost as the City of Lake Wales has received a Federal grant. Congressman Darren Soto (Dem, Kissimmee) arranged an $800,000 infusion for downtown street rehabilitation in the bi-partisan Infrastructure package approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. Those funds will aid in fulfilling the Lake Wales Connected plan, augmenting Community...
Population growth on the US 27 corridor has led transportation planners to plot the future course of an "alternate" route that will parallel the busy inter-regional highway. The proposed limited-access toll expressway will thread its way around the west side of Lake Wales before crossing US 27 near the north city limits to run along the Ridge east of Dundee and Haines City. Planning maps released by the Polk Transportation Planning Organization, a multi-agency body which...
Ben Hill Griffin, III, 78, passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 25, 2020, at his home in Frostproof. Ben Hill was born on March 3, 1942 in Lake Wales to Ben Hill Griffin, Jr. and L. Frances Griffin. He was a lifetime resident of Polk County. He graduated from Frostproof High School in 1960, received his Associate of Arts degree from College of Central Florida in Ocala and attended the University of Florida in Gainesville. He also served with the Florida Army National...
As County Manager Jim Freeman prepares to retire, he quietly reflects on his accomplishments - rather, his team's accomplishments; the future of Polk County; and his own plans, post-retirement. Jim Freeman says other people say he will be remembered for guiding the county through the Great Recession of 2008. "It was challenging," Freeman said. "It took a lot of creativity and we had to make a lot of difficult decisions on reductions, expenditures, staffing levels. We got...
A recent article in Business Facilities called Florida an "economic super-state," praising the way our state "excels at getting people, products and services anywhere." The article went on to mention Polk County in particular the Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven and the miles of railroad that far outnumber those in any other county throughout the state. We are certainly proud of those distinctions, but we would be remiss to overlook how success and growth have...
One hundred thousand tons of coal ash being hauled from Puerto Rico to a Central Florida landfill have resulted in a raging controversy that affects Lake Wales, as a candidate tied to the project seeks to represent the city in the Florida House. The coal-ash controversy led to more than an hour of agitated public comments at a recent County Commission meeting in Osceola County. At that meeting Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. found himself the target of much of the ire. Hawkins,...
If we at the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council were to survey people who travel through and around greater Lake Wales, I think we would be hard pressed to find even a fraction of them pleased with driving conditions here. If we were to narrow down the survey to a discussion only about U.S. Highway 27, the area's major north-south route, the fraction of pleased motorists likely would be even smaller. The issue here really isn't about road...
