Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 726 - 750 of 1183
Editor's Note: Due to expected rain, the opening ceremony has been moved to 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. Artist E.J. Nieves of Ocala will be painting a street mural over the Feb. 19-21 weekend in the city's northwest business district and the community is invited to participate. An opening ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19 for the mural at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and C Street. A food truck will be on hand serving breakfast. In addition to Nieves,...
More than 50 artists will exhibit in the 2021 Lake Wales Arts Festival on the shores of Lake Wailes lake Feb. 20-21. The event is even more special this year as the festival celebrates its 50th anniversary. "We're one of the first art shows back in the whole country, especially in the state of Florida," said Andrew Allen, executive director of the Lake Wales Arts Council. "The quality of art will also go up dramatically since we're not taking as many artists." The free...
Lake Wales attorney Sara Jones has spent hundreds of hours volunteering to help redevelop the city's Northwest business district. On Tuesday Feb. 9 she took the first step to, as she said it, "put her money where her mouth is." Sara Jones Law submitted the successful proposal to purchase two city Community Redevelopment Agency lots on Lincoln Avenue to build a multipurpose professional office building and event venue. City commissioners, who serve as the CRA Board, accepted...
Darrell Starling already has an ambitious agenda in place following his recent hiring as the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Coordinator. In particular, Starling will work closely with the city[s Northwest neighborhood, one of two areas specifically targeted by the city's ambitious and award-winning "Lake Wales Connected" revitalization plan which also covers the historic downtown business district as well. City leaders expect to break ground on the early...
Lake Wales City Commissioner Curtis Gibson has been chosen as one of 20 participants in the 2021 Central Florida Political Leadership Institute, a regional, nonprofit program sponsored by the Orlando Economic Partnership. The program prepares business minded leaders throughout Central Florida for future leadership opportunities – as political candidates or appointees to government boards or commissions. Since its inception in 2008, 29 PLI graduates have served in public o...
Lake Wales city officials were hopeful the foreclosure sale of the historic Seminole Hotel would be ordered Feb. 12, but instead Circuit Judge Dana Moore agreed to allow current owner Harout "Henry" Kebabjian to continue his fight to develop the property. The city now will have to produce a large volume of documents related to the Seminole. Just a week before the foreclosure hearing Kebabjian's lawyer asked the court to have the city produce five years' worth of documents,...
Qualifying to run for the Lake Wales City Commission closes Friday, Feb. 19 at noon. Candidates must live in the district they seek to represent, but will be voted on citywide on April 6. Licensed mental health counselor Kris Fitzgerald has indicated plans to run against Seat 4 incumbent Al Goldstein. Incumbent Seat 2 Commissioner Curtis Gibson is not running for re-election. So far pastor Daniel Williams and Dr. Ricardo Navarro have announced plans to run for that seat. The...
Lake Wales city commissioners will vote Tuesday, Feb. 16 whether to move forward with a pilot project to test and evaluate police worn body cameras. The country's premier manufacturer, Axon, has offered the city four free cameras to test for 90 days, or a five-year licensing agreement for eight cameras - including equipment, software and cloud storage – for about $15,000 per year. Commissioners have been discussing body cameras for more than a year. Commissioners Terrye H...
One Lake Wales police officer has resigned and a second has been placed on administrative station duty pending an investigation into formal complaints against the officers. Christopher Cordero, 37, was arrested during a traffic stop Friday morning Feb. 5, and charged with resisting arrest without violence, threat of death or serious bodily injury of a law enforcement officer and assault on a law enforcement officer. Cordero claims Officers Colt Black and Travis Worley struck...
City leaders are anticipating shovels in the ground this summer in what will be the first project in its award-winning "Lake Wales Connected" revitalization plan for the historic downtown and northwest neighborhood areas. The Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved several measures this month which set the wheels in motion on several projects in both areas. The board approved an agreement with Chastain-Skillman Inc. that will provide construction documents...
This is the 13th installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. 2020 is been a bummer. It's time for some good news for 2021. We've got it. Dover-Kohl's "Lake Wales Connected" plan is coming off the drawing boards. It will be going out for bids this Spring. The pretty pictures you've seen -- in reality they are only promises. This summer the shovels...
The man who is earning more than $100,000 per year to promote business and economic development for the City of Lake Wales has moved to Lakeland, and a majority of city commissioners are not happy about it. Kevin Kieft in August bought a $290,000 home in Lakeland without notifying his bosses at the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council. Previously he had lived in the Lake Wales Country Club community, just east of the city limits. In 2013 the...
The Lake Wales Public Library has received "blessing bundles," courtesy of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., a community conscious, action oriented organization. The Gamma Phi Zeta Chapter of Polk County, through service within the community and the international initiative of Zetas Helping Other People Excel (Z-HOPE), provided 175 blessing bundles to Polk County libraries to include masks, sanitizer, gloves, tissues and wipes. In addition to the Lake Wales Library in Zone 4, the...
The Lake Wales Charter Schools Board of Trustees unanimously approved a separation agreement Monday, Feb. 1 that will end Superintendent Jesse Jackson's 13-year tenure on Feb. 26. Six of the eight trustees, including the non-voting teacher representative Jennifer Simpson, also signed a letter of apology requested by Jackson as part of the agreement. Trustees Danny Gill and Becky Gaston chose not to sign the letter. The trustees approved allowing Jackson to take a payout of...
Citizen Support Services is a group of people from our community who volunteer their time, talent, and financial assistance to support and advocate for needs that exist within Lake Wales, where existing service organizations are not well positioned to support or coordinate. Citizens of Lake Wales, in partnership with leadership from several community service organizations, aim to ensure support and equity is provided to citizens in need. During the month of December, members...
The Lake Wales Charter Schools Board of Trustees will consider an agreement Feb. 1 for Superintendent Jesse Jackson to exit Feb. 26 with about $59,000 owed him for accrued vacation and sick leave benefits. The negotiated separation agreement would reinstate him from the suspension issued one week ago, and he would continue receiving salary while not performing any duties as superintendent. Chief Financial Officer Alricky Smith would continue as interim superintendent. The...
Lake Wales city commissioners agreed Jan. 19 to hold off on full implementation of a police worn body camera initiative and instead consider a more limited pilot program. City Manager James Slaton said body cameras, other equipment, software license and storage for 32 police officers would cost about $93,350 up front and about $45,000 per year after that. He also said the police department would need to hire a technician to manage the videos to be used at trial, redact...
The Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency has approved spending $10,000 to purchase two vacant lots on B Street to help jump start a new affordable housing initiative in that area. The city is expected to partner with Keystone Challenge Fund, a non-profit organization, to build two houses on lots currently owned by the Green and Gold Foundation across the street from the B Street Center. Officials said the homes would have an estimated value of $170,000, with mortgage...
Two-term Lake Wales City Commissioner Curtis Gibson announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in April. At the end of their regular meeting Jan. 19, Gibson told his fellow commissioners he wants to devote more time to family, including his infant son, complete his business administration degree and prepare for his next level of service. Gibson said he made the decision after "prayerful consideration" and hopes people "who love Lake Wales and have a heart for...
City residents can thank a local restaurant for helping the Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce find its 2020 Public Servant of the Year. Lake Wales Fire Chief Joe Jenkins – born and raised in the city and now celebrating 30 years with the department – was honored with the award in late December, for not only his service as chief, but as the city's Emergency Operations Director during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Jenkins said he didn't really know what he wanted to do whe...
The show must go on. That's what the Lake Wales Little Theatre decided after an empty stage for nearly a year. The curtain will go up Friday, Jan. 22 for a two weekend production of The Odd Couple. Performances of the classic, fun play will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays through Jan. 31. The classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assemble for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder...
Bright sunshine broke through the dreary morning Saturday, Jan. 23 as friends, family and history buffs gathered to celebrate the opening of the Mimi Hardman Collections and Research Center. Named for the city's most noted historic preservationist, the center is located on South Scenic Highway in the newly restored 1916 Seaboard Airline Freight Station. Known for developing the historic Depot museum, bringing millions of dollars in historic preservation grants to the city and...
The next meeting of the Lake Wales Citizens and Police Community Relations Advisory Committee is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25 at the city administration building, 201 W. Central Ave. The meeting opens with communications and petitions, a time when citizens may speak about their experiences with the Lake Wales Police Department. Citizens may attend in person, but space is limited and masks are required. People also may join the meeting online and speak by registering...
The Lake Wales History Museum will dedicate the new Mimi Hardman Collections and Research Center at the restored 1916 Seaboard Airline Freight Station, one of its iconic buildings in the museum's historic corridor, at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23. After adjusting the fundraising goals due to COVID-19, and approval of matching funds from the City of Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency, the project began in July, and is now complete. This newly restored building will now...
With no announced opposition to date, Lake Wales City Commissioner Al Goldstein is pulling in some heavyweight endorsements for his re-election campaign. Goldstein was first elected in April 2019 with no opposition as the only candidate to qualify. Incumbent Tonya Stewart missed the deadline to submit the required 25 voter signatures to get on the ballot. The upcoming April 6 Municipal Election will include seven proposed city Charter amendments, Goldstein's Seat 4 and Seat...
