Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Seat 2 on the Lake Wales City Commission will have a new occupant after the April 6 municipal election – either Ricardo Navarro or Daniel Williams. Incumbent Commissioner Curtis Gibson is not seeking re-election, but is instead considering a run for Lake Wales mayor in 2022. Navarro, 33, is an internal medicine physician, owner and president of Navarro Medical. He also is a consulting physician for Vitas Healthcare and medical director for the hospitalist medicine program a...
Editor's Note: Check out questionnaires submitted by the four candidates in our People section. Videos of a candidate forum can be viewed at The https://www.facebook.com/247504432355875/videos/3578357928879748 or on You Tube at https://youtu.be/CU5pQcxhnLw Four candidates have qualified to run for two Lake Wales City Commission seats in the April 16 municipal election. Dr. Ricardo Navarro and pastor Daniel Williams are seeking election to Seat 2, which is being vacated by...
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,...
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...
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 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...
Responding to complaints from downtown visitors, Lake Wales commissioners have unanimously approved the first reading of a new panhandling ordinance for the city. The new law is patterned after a similar statute from Osceola County, which has not been legally challenged since it was passed about five years ago. City Attorney Chuck Galloway said finding an ordinance that would hold up in courts is an important part of the new proposed law. "Several years ago, there was a United...
Lake Wales City commissioners in a workshop session Dec. 9 indicated support for continuing with their foreclosure action on the historic Seminole Hotel. Only Commissioner Curtis Gibson expressed interest in holding off on the foreclosure and working with Henry Kebabjian, who purchased the hotel in August at a bargain basement price of $10,500. "Here's the deal," Gibson said. "We want to be pro-business. We want entrepreneurs to come into our city and work with us." But City...
City leaders are continuing to cast an eye towards improving the quality of life by approving the creation of a master plan for parks, trails and open spaces in Lake Wales. Commissioners have approved the hiring of S&ME to come up with the plan, a process that will involve a number of public workshops and meetings, and should take around 10 months to complete, according to the Orlando-based firm. "A master plan will serve as a guiding tool in order to elevate the current...
Design team members for the Lake Wales Connected downtown revitalization plan on Nov. 18 unveiled concepts for turning Market Plaza into a community gathering place. About 30 people participated in an online open house to see two concepts for the central square between Stuart and Park avenues. Attendees were told the 1931 historic clock, designed by the famed Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects and relocated to the marketplace as part of the downtown revitalization in the...
Lake Wales City Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 20 to appoint James Slaton as the next city manager. Slaton has been serving as interim city manager since June 2, when Ken Fields agreed to take an early retirement. Slaton has worked for the city for more than 17 years, most recently as deputy city manager in charge of nine departments. Commissioners considered other options for a search and decided Slaton had proven himself during his more than four and a half mo...
The Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency has been presented with the prestigious Florida Redevelopment Association Award for outstanding "Planning Study for Small Cities." The FRA annual awards program recognizes the best in redevelopment in the state of Florida. Selected by a statewide jury of community development professionals involved in economic development, winners demonstrate originality and positive impact on their communities and serve as a shining model for...
This is the twelfth 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. Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. is recognized as the founder of the profession of landscape architecture. In the late 1800s he set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture today. His two sons carried on and expanded the legendary work of the Olmsted firm wel...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated by Executive Editor Chevon Baccus after the Sept. 16 CRA meeting. City commissioners agreed to invest $460,000 to help finance a proposed redevelopment of the 140-unit Grove Manor public housing complex. Pantheon Development, which in 2018 formed a partnership with the Lake Wales Housing Authority to do the work, requested the money from the city's Community Redevelopment Agency as part of a plan to help finance the construction of six...
Al Goldstein didn't realize being a Lake Wales city commissioner would be so time-consuming, but he's eager to sign up for another three years. He was elected without opposition in April 2019 after incumbent Commissioner Tonya Stewart failed to qualify to run for re-election. He has already started campaigning for the District 27, Seat 4 that will be filled in the April 2021 municipal election. "I'm finally understanding the job of a city commissioner," Goldstein said....
Henry Kebabjian wants to redevelop the historic Seminole Hotel in downtown Lake Wales, but his timing may be a little off. Kebabjian bought the three-story hotel Aug. 19 at a bargain-basement price of $10,500, two months after the city's Code Enforcement Board voted to foreclose on the property. The city in 2017 declared the building unsafe, emptied it of tenants and condemned it for multiple code violations. Recent owner Cardiff Howell of Orlando was unable to submit an...
Marking the occasion of his 36th birthday, Lake Wales City Commissioner Curtis Gibson on Sept. 11 announced the start of his re-election campaign. Gibson plans to qualify for the April 2021 ballot, seeking a 3-year term to continue his service as the District 19, Seat 2 commissioner. Before announcing his candidacy in a live online video, Gibson paid tribute to those killed or impacted by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, reading out details of the historic day's events. "N...
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," says Dolores Vogel, Legacy Real Estate Center broker and owner. "So, DREAM BIG, we do!" The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine hasn't slowed down this entrepreneur who moved into new digs at 218 E. Park Ave. in downtown Lake Wales. The building was purchased in 2018 and completely renovated. "I'm proud that the Center has been ranked number one in sales within the Lake Wales Association of...
The city's consultants in an online open house Aug. 20 unveiled a design plan for a Crystal Lake Connector Trail that links downtown to the trail around Lake Wailes. City staff will be showing off designs and answering questions from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 in a storefront at 220 E. Park Ave. About 30 citizens participated in the online open house with city staff and consultants from urban planners Dover-Kohl and design architects S & ME. The consultants are working...
The City of Lake Wales is hosting a virtual open house Thursday, Aug. 20 to show off the preliminary site plan for the Crystal Lake Park Connector Trail. The focus of the trail is to connect Lake Wailes Park to Historic Downtown Lake Wales, while capturing the natural beauty of Crystal Lake. The open house from 5:30-6:30 p.m. will include consultants from city planners Dover-Kohl and Associates and SM &E, both of which are working on the city's downtown redevelopment...
This is the eleventh 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. Nations strive for a positive trade balance, where they sell more products than they buy, thereby receiving increased capital and creating a higher standard of living for their citizens. The same holds true for any economic unit. Let's take Lake Wales downtown for example. It's a...
A vision of restored brick streets and sidewalk cafes under the shade of umbrellas and spreading Live Oaks changed many viewers' ideas of the future of downtown Lake Wales Thursday evening. Those images were among many shared during a 90-minute presentation by consultants and engineers hired by the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to create the "Lake Wales Connected" plan. The plan is designed to attract crowds, and thus business investment, to the neighborhood...
Alfred Charles (Chip) Thullbery, Jr., 67, of Lake Wales died on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, in Moffitt Cancer Center, from an aggressive melanoma cancer in his liver and bone marrow. He lived fully until the cancer emerged and within three weeks debilitated him and took his life. We, his family and friends, are feeling bereft at losing Chip so suddenly, but are grateful to have had him in our lives, grateful to have known someone who was such a good friend, brother,...
