For all you Polk County bloggers (all 4, 5 or 6 of us) you might be interested in a blogging unconference that I am hosting in Orlando this September. You can get all the details over at BlogOrlando.com.

Add a Comment

In 2004 I worked as a voter information specialist on election day for the Polk County Supervisor Elections. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it. This year I am moving up a bit and will serve as a precinct clerk for the primary on September 5th and the general election on November 7th.

I encourage you to sign up as a poll worker and help out this fall. If you work full-time, take a day off or ask your boss if you can have the day off with pay. Some employers are willing to grant that special request for election work. We especially need the younger folks to help out. Much of the day of a precinct worker or voter information specialist can be technical and process oriented, perfect for geeks.

If your interested head over to the Polk Elections web site and sign-up. I'd love to have a gang of friends/readers help out at my precinct.

Add a Comment

Ever driven on U.S. 27, north of Interstate 4? That's just part of the Four Corners area. Now here's another question, why is POLO Park named POLO? (Hint: it's not because they play polo there).

The Four Corners is named for the intersection of the borders of four counties: Polk, Osceola, Lake and Orange or POLO. That area of the county is the fastest growing and we only share 1/4 of the regional problem.

In today's Orlando Sentinel there is an article about the growth issues and lack of infrastructure in that region:

Take a drive through Four Corners and you'll notice something: There are a lot of subdivisions. More than 80, actually.

But there are some things you won't see mixed in with the rows of rooftops: Schools. Parks. A sheriff's station. Decent roads.

For years, officials in the region where Lake, Orange, Osceola and Polk counties meet have approved developments with little to no thought of cooperating with one another and few plans to provide the booming population with public services.

Today's result -- thousands of residents frustrated by fragmented government, traffic and crowded schools -- epitomizes what continues to occur throughout Florida with a lack of regional planning.

One of the issues facing the area is that there are no cities or local governments. The planning and infrastructure problems are the burden of the county governments. In Polk County, Paul Senft was quoted:

"We didn't do the best job with water, sewer and roads. When there's that concentration of people . . . they expect more," Polk Commissioner Paul Senft said. "I can only apologize for the deficiencies in the past, but we've been doing everything we can do to fix it and catch up."

The residents of Polk County need to start thinking more regionally. We all share in planning and paying for the growth of the Four Corners. I wonder how many Lakeland residents have ever visited the region?

Add a Comment

Using the wonderful, free Wifi access at Richard's Coffee (which is supplied by the Winter Haven Public Library) I was surprised to see that access to myspace.com is now blocked.

The Websense category "Adult Content" is filtered. Hmm, I thought myspace was for kids :-)

Gotta love those folks at Websense.

Add a Comment

There are a number of great community groups within the Polk County area that provide valuable services to residents in need. While many of these groups do not receive the amount of government funds (if any) that the Polk County Opportunity Council does, what impact is the PCOC's behavior having on other groups?

How many outsiders look at the PCOC situation and use a broad brush to paint other organizations in the same corner? (like that I combined two cliche's)

Add a Comment

Like many papers the News Chief has a number of vertical advertising sites like PolkAutoFinder.com, PolkDining.com and PolkMD.com. By focussing on one specific topic they can 'target' advertisers and charge a slightly higher premium for ad space.

Currently in design is Makin' Waves, perhaps a watercraft focussed vertical. However the inclusion of a 'Miss Makin' Waves' - bikini shot and all might not play well to the local base.

BTW...never heard back from the NC about what their circulation is.

Add a Comment

According to a News Chief article there will be a public hearing at 5:30 pm on June 30th at the Davenport School of the Arts (Map) to discuss land-use changes in the Northeast area of Polk County, aka Four Corners.

"The county is getting ready to make some investments in infrastructure - both roads and utilities and eventually parks and other facilities - in the northeastern area of the county," said Ana Martinez-Hubert with the county government's Long-Range Planning Division.

Currently, the approximately 12,000 acres located to the north, northeast and west of Davenport and south of the Ronald Reagan Parkway (formerly County Road 54) are designated for low-density residential.

This ties in nicely with the recent How Shall We Grow? community input meetings. If you want to have a say in what type of growth you'd like to see in Polk County I would encourage you to attend the meeting.

Add a Comment

Anybody remember PublixDirect? Show of hands? PD was Publix's attempt at online shopping. It was a short-lived experiment that only served a few areas of the Southeast. I think they got pulled in as more of a reactionary move than anything else. Most of the online grocery sites have shuddered.

Now e-commerce giant Amazon has quietly entered the online grocery world. Their product offering is mostly staple items that won't go stale or are normally bought on a regular basis.

Stephanie Nelson recently reviewed Amazon's new service and broke down some price comparisons:

if you are a shopper who likes the convenience of online shopping, and has the storage space to keep an inventory of your purchases, you may be able to find some grocery bargains on typical items from Amazon.com. Even so, I wouldn't order those items because I could probably find them at lower prices with coupons at my stores when they were on sale, without having to buy them in bulk quantities.

Add a Comment

Over at SpaceCoastWeb: blog, Dave has done a great job of rounding-up/discussing the use of blogs by Florida candidates. Go check it out.

Add a Comment

The Orlando Sentinel TV blog reports that an unsolved case from Polk County, FL will be featured on America's Most Wanted this weekend.

Priteshkumar "Pat" Amin of Winter Haven was slain April 1 at his convenience story in Dundee. The case will be recounted in a two-minute segment near the Fox series' midpoint. The program airs at 9 p.m. Saturday on WOFL-Channel 35.

Add a Comment

Update: I just posted my recap of of the event on the How Shall We Grow? blog.

The second How Shall We Grow? community input session will be held at Polk Community College this evening from 6:00 pm till 8:30 (Click here to RSVP). I encourage you to attend the event and help plan for our region's growth over the next 50 years.

There was a very weak 'East Polk' turnout at the initial session held in Lakeland, so we need folks from Winter Haven, Lake Wales, Haines City, Lake Alfred and the Four Corners to provide input.

Add a Comment

After reading the most recent Ledger article about PCOC's latest woes, I just want to go meet the staff down there and say, "what were you thinking?" The latest 'step backwards' is a report from MICA, the outside consulting firm hired by PCOC to help right the organization.

The report accuses PCOC's new executive director, Gary Hartfield, of scheduling meetings when MICA officials couldn't be there and of telling the staff and the board that "MICA's role was to close the agency," which has fostered a lack of cooperation....The report also accuses Hartfield of:

- Doing nothing to lead PCOC toward the objectives in the agency's quality improvement plan.

- Failing to attend meetings organized by MICA with program directors about the quality improvement plan.

- Writing to funding sources about financial issues without consulting MICA.

When is their next board meeting? It's not often that you can actually go watch a train wreck.

Add a Comment

Over at I4Jamming Robert discusses the the most recent salvo in the ongoing soap opera that is the Cleveland Indians spring training in Winter Haven.

City Manager David Greene told the Lakeland Ledger, in effect, that the city's attitude is for the Indians not to let the door hit 'em on the backside on the way out of town.

Add a Comment

Congrats to Joey Marchy of nGenworks and Urban Jacksonville. The local paper in Jacksonville did a write-up on local bloggers and Joey was featured quite a bit.

In true blogger form, Joey has some comments/clarifications about the article on his blog.

Add a Comment

I was in Port Canaveral this morning speaking at an event. A few minutes down the road is the former 1st National Bank of Cape Canaveral (now a Wachovia). The unique building was designed by Winter Haven's very own Gene Leedy.

In addition to the numerous buildings and homes he has done in Winter Haven, Gene has designed quite a few buildings around the state (and the U.S.). I took some shots of the bank early this morning.

If you remember Main Street WH is looking to develop a tour of Leedy's work in the Winter Haven area.

Add a Comment

Last week Robert pointed out that the Polk County Democratic Party has a new web site. There are a few issues when viewing on a Macintosh, but it's still a huge improvement over the old one.

You can check out the Polk County Republican Party site for a compare/contrast.

Add a Comment

A long time ago we asked, "What does downtown Lakeland Need?" Well let's look to Winter Haven. What does downtown WH need?

There have been a number of new restaurants added to the mix in the past few years, 6/10 has developed a number of commercial properties, there was talk of some more residential development, and the Ritz is slowly coming along. What else is needed?

For a while parking was an issue but I think that the majority of the people that work/shop downtown know where the parking is. Unfortunately, I don't see a major theater chain coming downtown, but other entertainment venues would be interesting. I also don't think we're big enough to support any type of art gallery in the downtown area either.

I'd like to see some more residential and a slow expansion of the downtown core. As I see it, the primary areas now are Central and the area around the park.

What do you think we need?

Add a Comment

I just posted my recap of the How Shall We Grow? event that was held in Lakeland this evening. Go check it out.

There was nobody from the Four Corners region at the event. Just a quick reminder that the Four Corners is the fastest growing region in the county. Also a very poor turnout from the Winter Haven area.

Add a Comment

Earlier this week on the How Shall We Grow? blog I posted an item about planning for growth in Polk County. The first meeting in the process is being held by myregion.org at the Lakeland Center from 6pm till 8:30pm this evening. The initial kick-off meeting on Tuesday was cancelled due to T.S. Alberto.

Just because this meeting is being held in Lakeland doesn't mean it's a 'Lakeland' event. No matter where you are in the county, you need to attend. Gotta make the drive from Winter Haven or Lake Wales? Do it.

One of the issues I fear is that we'll see little participation/input from folks in the Four Corners area, which happens to be the fastest growing part of the county.

I'll be there, will you? If you can't make it, check out the How Shall We Grow? blog late tonight for my report.

Add a Comment

Bob O'Malley has done some research and listed/linked all the candidates in Florida that have web sites and blogs. He only lists the state and U.S. races, but it's a comprehensive list. Check them out.

Add a Comment

Mike took this picture of the new Publix Marshmallow packaging. He thinks it looks phallic, what do you think?

Add a Comment

Last week in the Orlando Sentinel there was a small item about Nemours Children's Clinic opening up a satellite office in Lake Mary, FL. The article mentions that they are considering a Lakeland location as well.

Currently there is a bit of a children's hospital battle going on in Orlando. I wonder what the response from LRMC and Watson Clinic would be if Nemours staked a claim in the area.

Add a Comment

The Ledger is reporting that Polk County Schools will be closed on Tuesday due to Hurricane Alberto.

I am in Rhode Island trying to make my way back to Orlando tonight. We'll see if my flight is delayed/cancelled due to weather.

Add a Comment

From the How Shall We Grow Blog:

In consideration of safety concerns associated with Tropical Storm Alberto and its potential affect on the citizens of Polk County, the "How Shall We Grow?" Community Input Session scheduled for Tuesday evening, June 13, 2006, at Winter Haven Community College has been cancelled.

Because of this cancellation, the Input Session already scheduled for June 15 at The Lakeland Center will serve as the "Chip Game" for Polk County. We will then hold a Community Input Session on Thursday, June 22 at Polk Community College in Winter Haven.

Add a Comment

Last week I received quite a few comment spams on the Empirical Polk blog. It wasn't really a big deal since comment spam is something all bloggers eventually have to deal with. What was unusual was the source. All the spams were from a Polk County business. They were attempting to use the comments of this blog to promote their business (which shall remain nameless...don't want to provide any free promotion).

Looking at the log files, they were using a Polk County-based RoadRunner account. The user did a Yahoo search for 'Polk County Blogs' and ended up here. Then they proceeded to leave comments with the name, URL and phone number of their business. I deleted them as soon as they appeared, but they continued on for about 20 minutes.

Sorry buddy, if you want to promote your motorcycle-related stuff here, leaving comment spam is not the way to do it :-)

Add a Comment

For the past few weeks I have been assisting myregion.org with a blog project for the How Shall We Grow? initiative.

The purpose of these community involvement meetings is to start discussion about how Central Florida as a region should grow over the next 50 years. Here in Polk County we know that growth is a major issue, but of course we are not alone. Growth is a regional issue. A large number of Polk County residents in the Four Corners area work outside of Polk County. The same goes for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. We can't continue to take an isolationist's view of growth.

In the next few weeks there will be a series of How Shall We Grow? meetings in Polk County. I encourage you to attend at least one, if not all of them. Click the links below to learn more about the event, and to RSVP online. See you there.

Part One - June 13th: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at Polk Community College
Part Two - June 15th: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at The Lakeland Center
Part Two - June 22nd: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at Polk Community College

Add a Comment

So what's going on with the local real estate market? A local friend e-mailed me the following:

Last year at this time buyers couldn't get into the market because houses were selling before the signs went up in the yard. Today, signs are going up in the yards and staying up a long time before they sell. I guess we're moving back to a normal(?) market?

What caused the swing? Did prices get so absurd that folks stopped being able to afford what's out there? Did interest rates change consumer thinking? Is there a particular price range still selling and certain priced homes sitting? What are Polk's realtors saying? What tools are sellers and realtors using to price homes appropriately as things change? What's making houses sell in a slow market? What's the average time a house is on the market these days?

As someone who is trying to do both, sell my current house and make a move up, I can tell you, it's truly crazy out there right now

I know in my neighborhood there are a number of 'For Sale' signs up, with not much activity going on. I'm not the real estate expert, so what do you think is the cause of the market shift?

Add a Comment

My friend Bruce from Jacksonville and his wife made a quick trip down to Bok Tower this past weekend. They've posted some photos up on Flickr.

I think that Bok Tower is one of the most photographed locations in Polk County.

Add a Comment