The Part 8 is a joke, but it seems that this story is an everlasting saga. NBC Channel 3 in Cleveland reports that Goodyear AZ has approved a user agreement with the Indians:

Under the agreement the Indians would pay a $100,000 a year lease for 20 years to use the stadium and practice fields for Spring Training. The agreement also includes two five-year renewal options.

The agreement also works out how profits will be divided between the Indians and the town of Goodyear.

Spring training games are expected to begin in Goodyear, Arizona in 2009. The Indians currently use facilities in Winter Haven, Florida.

Also today the Goodyear City Council made moves to secure the 75 acres and the $10 million dollars needed to build the stadium and related infrastructure.

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The Orlando Sentinel reports that Polk County is spending $50,000 in hopes of winning the All-America City designation. From the article intro:

Kissimmee/Osceola County allocated $109,000 for the event, while neighboring Polk County is making its bid with a $50,000 budget.

The two Central Florida communities are among 21 finalists named earlier this year for the award that the sponsoring National Civic League says exemplifies grass-roots community problem-solving and is given for cooperatively tackling challenges and achieving results.

Residents and officials from both delegations head to Anaheim, Calif., next week to make their respective pitches during 10-minute presentations and 10-minute question-and-answer sessions that supplement a written application

Later in the article the details about Polk's bid emerge:

Polk County is taking about 32 people, including seven teens and five county commissioners, spokeswoman Cindy Rodriguez said.

While the board approved up to $50,000 in funding, Rodriguez said the community is pitching in with funding that will offset the total cost.

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The Ledger is reporting that the Florida Department of Community Affairs has informed CSX that the proposed Winter Haven project is a DRI (development of regional impact):

In a letter to CSX on Tuesday, the state Department of Community Affairs said the facility should be considered a development of regional impact.

Developments of regional impact require review by regional planning councils and by a variety of state agencies that examine issues such as traffic, water use, endangered species and drainage. Without DRI review, only local planners would review the project.

The review process will slow the project down some, but it should continue to move forward.

On a side note, it's good to see that Winter Haven City Manager David Greene actually spoke to the press. He's quoted a number of times in the article.

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Ft. Lauderdale blogger Paul Holstein has a review up of a recent DayJet launch in Boca Raton, FL. If you remember, Lakeland is one of DayJet's initial target markets, or DayPorts. Paul questions the economic viability of their business model:

The whole plan sounds wonderful, however, I think it will be very difficult for Dayjet to make a lot of money. First of all, taking out the 6th seat was a big mistake. According to Dayjet, they needed the room for luggage. I think this will make it very difficult for them to make money.

Think about this. In the best case scenario, Dayjet is paying for two pilots for every three passengers. On average, the pilot per passenger ratio will be worse. How much worse depends on a lot of factors such as demand, passenger flexibility, aircraft available, etc.

Three revenue seats is terrible from a passenger perspective. If I want to bring my wife and two kids (doesn't everyone have two kids?) I'm out of luck. Let's say you're a DINK (Dual Income, No Kids) and want to go to Tampa for the weekend, if you go with your spouse, you're fine, but if you want to go with another couple, you'll need to take two planes. Also, if I want to go to Disney with my buddy and his kid, I can't do that either.

No word yet on when the Lakeland launch will take place.

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Yesterday I stumbled upon a Bartow blogger. Eric Monroe Woodard, a Bartow native, writes Monroe's a'Musing. Here are a few sample posts:

- It's Polk, not POKE
- Bartow Florida - Steel Magnolias on Crack

Eric also runs a great photoblog.

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Motorcross star Bubba Stewart has his fair share of merchandise. Just a quick search turns up a number of items named after the Haines City native. Oakley features Bubba on their site along with his signature series goggles.

A few years ago Bubba was featured on a huge Oakley billboard in London. I once saw a photo of this, but I can't seem to find it now.

Bubba also has his own shoes. They're produced by FOX a well-known motorcross gear brand. They also make a nice set of 'Stewart' pajamas :-)

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Earlier this week I featured a large radar installation in the Where in Polk County? post. The picture was a FAA radar tower outside of Mulberry, FL. The tower is off of S.R. 37 on, you guessed it, Radar Rd.

Spending some time on Google, it's difficult to find any details on the radar unit. Looking at the Google satellite view below you can see the tower and the shadow it casts.

While traveling to Sarasota earlier this week I drove up Radar Rd. to get a closer look. That's when I learned what it was and that I probably shouldn't venture much farther :-)

The sign says

WARNING - This facility is used in FAA air traffic control, loss of human life may result from service interruption. Any person who interferes with air traffic control or damages or trespasses on this property will be prosecuted under federal law.

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This supposed Lakeland High School Student has a rather long and somewhat humorous look at school. Much of it is 'inside baseball' but I wonder how much is true.

You know you're a Dreadnaught if...

1. A police officer searching your bag is an every day thing.

2. The football team gets treated better than everyone else.

The list goes on to 80.

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Alan Snel recently visited Polk County for a cycling trip along State Road 17. His trip was for an article in the Sun-Sentinel.

This morning at 7 a.m., I met cyclist Andrew Young from Winter Haven in Dundee on State Road 17 -- a Florida scenic highway that runs along the state's famed "Ridge." The ridge is Florida's hilly backbone, running north-south from Haines City to Frostproof through Polk County. Lots of orange groves, trailer/RV parks, new residential subdivisions and small towns like Dundee, Lake Wales and Babson Park are along the route.

There are a number of photos from the ride in Alan's post.

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Over at the other blog I have a lengthy post up about how traditional reporters are interacting with bloggers. It's specifically related to the CSX story.

The Ledger is working on a story on this same topic, i.e. hyperlocal blogging and local media interaction. We'll see what comes of it. The article has been posted.

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It's been a while, but today we have another installment of Where in Polk County? If you know where this photo was taken, leave a comment.

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With the recent 'Rubber Robbers' story making national news, here is what the rest of the world now knows about Polk County. (Remember the following items received national media exposure)

Things Not to do in Polk County

- Steal a single package of condoms
- Smoke crack and then nude-wrestle alligators
- Call your employees jelly bellies
- Chat online with underage children

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Popular web site SmokingGun.com is currently featuring the 'Polk County Rubber Robbers' story on their home page. Once again, tens of thousands of internet users will get a 'great' impression of Polk County.

Chris Wilson is also pointing out the story. Remember Chris Wilson?

Thanks tipster...you know who you are :-)

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Well the announcement came today that Target will be building along with quite a few other tenants in the Posner Park area (the intersection of I-4 and 27). I heard about this a month ago but haven't posted anything since it was a friend close to the deal that gave me the details.

The development which includes: Target, Belks, J.C. Penney, Best Buy, etc sounds like the now standard format similar to Lakeside Village in Lakeland, or take your pick ( ) St. John's Village - Jacksonville, ( ) The Avenues - Vero Beach, etc.

The big question on the mind of Winter Haven residents though is, "Does this help or hurt our chances of getting a Target?"

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One of the questions that often comes up in media/ad circles in the area is, when is the News Chief going to fold?

The last public statement about their circulation by publisher Armand Nardi stated that it was around 6,800. However, there is no growth in print circulation, just ask any publisher that. The innovation (and growth) is online. When you look around at other Morris papers in markets like Jacksonville and Savannah you'll see some innovative things going online. None of that is happening at the News Chief. Is the Chief the forgotten step-child of the Morris paper group?

While they do cover local news, some of it is press-release reprinting. When it comes to big issues/topics they're AWOL. I recently talked about their lack of substantial coverage of the CSX deal (which hasn't improved). The true investigative journalism is being done by The Ledger and the Tampa Tribune. That relegates the News Chief to fluff pieces on society and other local items.

The only thing going for the News Chief is that it's Winter Haven's newspaper, whatever that's worth. (Remember that WH/Lakeland divide?). Granted The Ledger has an East Polk edition, but when I pick up a Ledger it's a section buried inside, i.e. not the cover. I think that when Winter Haven resident's pick up a Ledger they still think of it as Lakeland's paper.

In defense of The Ledger though, they want to keep the focus broad with their East Polk section. There is more to this side of the county than Winter Haven. There's plenty of growth going on in Lake Wales and the Four Corners area.

The Four Corners region is an interesting microcosm in itself. The Ledger publishes a special paper called The Reporter just in that region. The sleeping giant in the Four Corners is the Orlando Sentinel. A large percentage of residents that live in the Four Corners work in the Orlando area, and want to read an Orlando paper.

I haven't seen any initiative from the News Chief in that market. The fastest growing area in their side of the county has been ceded to a paper across the county (The Ledger) and a paper that until now, never had a foothold in this market (Orlando Sentinel).

Things aren't all bad. Those in the local ad industry don't want the News Chief to fold since that will only leave The Ledger. Then, as the only source of newspaper advertising in the market, The Ledger is free to raise their rates. That's good news for the Chief since ad revenue is their only revenue.

The question is, what will/can the News Chief do?

Taking a cue from John Moore and his 'Would you care?' series:

Does the News Chief provide such a unique product and customer experience that we would be saddened if it didn’t exist? Does the News Chief treat its employees so astonishingly well that those workers would not be able to find another employer to treat them as well? Does the News Chief forge such unfailing emotional connections with its customers that they would fail to find another newspaper that could forge just as strong an emotional bond?

What say you?

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It was interesting to read the Ledger article about the City of Lakeland's investigation into the 'leak' of the recent financial losses from Lakeland Electric. One of the things I do in my real job is educate corporations that there are no more secrets. Just assume that those secrets you're trying to keep inside your organization are going to get out. And it if the news is really bad, it will probably happen faster.

Even if you say nothing, the word will get out. A while ago the Financial Times of London talked about how they use their search queries to locate stories. Here is how it works:

Employees of Company X know that there is some bad news coming, so they visit the local paper and begin to search for it. The newspaper then sees searches for "Company X scandal" or other variations on their site. Of course most of these searches are coming from Company X's network. Paper says, hmmm...must be a story there, and they start asking questions.

The speed at which truth moves on the internet is incredibly fast. Rather than hide it, you might was well stay ahead of it.

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Bok Tower inspires a number of people to write, photograph and paint. Not a week goes by that I don't discover a number of blogs talking about the Lake Wales landmark. In the past two days it's received:

- One recommendation from Vickie
- One painting from Lori

Do you want to know what people are blogging/photographing about Bok? Check out these links:

- Flickr Photos
- Blog Posts

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Billy Townsend from the Tampa Tribune has some questions for Winter Haven City Manager David Greene. Billy says it's been impossible for him to get any response from David in his years of covering local government:

It’s certainly Greene’s prerogative to talk or not talk to whomever he chooses. But I think it’s worth noting that I’ve covered local governments on and off for 11 years. Never in that time has the head of a city or county government or the head of a major public agency simply refused to answer questions. David Greene is the first and only official with whom I’ve had that experience.

I wonder if I should request an interview :-)

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A recent edition of Business 2.0 magazine had a feature article on Eclipse Aviation and DayJet. Eclipse and DayJet are in a bit of a symbiotic relationship in the new air taxi market.

To refresh your memory, DayJet is a new air taxi service run by Ed Iacobucci. Lakeland Linder Airport will be one of their DayPorts, or regional hubs. From the article:

Behind him is a map of Florida marked with the first five DayPort cities: Boca Raton, Gainesville, Lakeland, Pensacola, and Tallahassee. Florida is an ideal testing ground for this type of service because of its good flying weather, the density and high income of its population, and the miserable commercial air routes within the state....

...Iacobucci knows he can't compete with the major airlines in their hub cities. Instead, his DayPorts will be in hard-to-get-to cities that either don't have commercial airline service or are so far out on the spokes of the system that it's easier to drive there than fly. For DayJet to succeed, Iacobucci believes, it needs to replace car trips.

The obvious market are local politicos and others that regularly do business in Tallahassee.

While jet-service between Lakeland and Gainesville does not interest me, quick service to Tallahassee or Pensacola does. What DayJet is counting on is that it will be worth my money to fly rather than drive. The reason I drive now is that there is no low-cost/short-time solution available.

We'll have to wait to see what the exact costs for flights are to see it they will win over this driver.

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Lucy Jones from Tampa blogs about the National Park Service's recent photo contest. The 2007 National Historic Landmarks Photo Contest asks everyday people to take photos of historic landmarks and submit them online. Lucy lists some Florida landmarks, one of which is Bok Tower.

I'm thinking of submitting one of my shots of Bok Tower. The question is, which one.

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The Lakeland Economic Development Council has created a new initiative called Y Lakeland to connect with college students in the Lakeland area. The web site is still under construction, but says it will launch sometime this summer.

I discovered the site by an inbound link. Their first newsletter includes links to local blogs. EP was listed along with LakelandLocal.com.

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This past Friday I had a business lunch at PR's Taco Palace in Winter Park, FL. Walking out the door of the restaurant something caught my eye on the window. It was a Sun 'n Fun sticker.

You might say, how does a sticker stay there? Well, PR's is a rather eclectic dining experience. The walls are covered with hand-drawn cartoons, sayings and just anything else you can imagine.

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It's always interesting to see a photo taken of something you've also taken a photo of. A while back I took this shot of an abandoned factory in Bartow. (It was even a 'Where in Polk County?' feature)

In April, photographer Mike Simpson took a trip from Tampa through Polk County to photograph some abandoned buildings. One of the shots he took was of the same building and smokestack in Bartow.

Next was just outside of Bartow, Fl. I had driven past this smoke stack for 30 years or more and always admired it. So today I stopped and it to was part of a day gone by. I couldn't help thinking how this smoke stack had to be over 50 years old and how it was built one brick at a time. I got some nice shots of the stack and of the adjoining old factory. It looked like its last use was some type of fabrication shop. I concentrated on little things like gauges, antique door handles and the like.

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The Polk County Commission is on the road today to visit a CSX facility outside of Atlanta. This afternoon I was talking with a friend about this 'roadtrip'. I wondered if they were flying or driving, they're driving. Next question, carpooling? And how do they decide who rides with who? I'm not sure I could stand a 7-hour trip in the car with Randy :-)

However, if the commissioners are riding together, my friend classified it as, "One giant rolling illegal public meeting."

Tom Palmer from The Ledger is making the trip, so perhaps he'll blog about it.

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This past Saturday I attended the Concert Under the Stars at Historic Bok Sanctuary. The Imperial Symphony Orchestra performed a number of classics along including the 1812 Overture to conclude their concert season. There was a little bit of rain before the concert started, but by the time the music started the weather was perfect.

MySpace user Beka writes:

There is nothing I love more than live, lovely classical music with a cool breeze blowing in my hair, sitting below a blanket of stars peeking through the branches of the huge oak trees.

I've uploaded a photoset from the evening.

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On Saturday, Bill Rufty wrote an article about a new countywide bus system. Before those of you who have never ridden a bus in the county say, why? Remember the system really isn't for you. There are plenty of people that will take advantage of the system. However, you might want to check out the bus for a trip between Lakeland and Winter Haven.

A while back I spent a day using public transportation to get around Polk County. If you haven't read my review, do so. It's a good look at the pros/cons of the public transportation system.

I'll be repeating my experiment in June.

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Reading that headline you might say, huh? Well here's the back-story. David Briscoe has lived in the Winter Haven area since 1987 and was a skier at Cypress Gardens. He now runs a wakeboard school that travels the country. Before moving here David lived in New Hampshire and is being inducted into a local sports hall of fame.

The Dover, NH paper ran a feature article on David and his upcoming induction.

David Briscoe would like to regard his induction into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame as proof that even a self-described "dork" can come from nothing and be whatever he wants.

A 1985 Spaulding High School graduate, Briscoe lettered in ice hockey for the Red Raiders before taking up the sport of wakeboarding, which was just gaining prominence in the years following Briscoe's graduation.

"It's a huge honor," Briscoe said about his Hall of Fame induction. "Every time I go up there, it's sometimes tough because I'm not recognized for what I've done in the sport. I've traveled the world, so it's a nice honor to be recognized by your hometown."

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Two interesting developments in the CSX project today:

- Tom Palmer from The Ledger blogs about a CSX land deal and asks if the City of Winter Haven can objectively review development approval applications.

- Billy Townsend posts a letter from Randy Wilkinson. Randy wants the project to fall under a DRI and plans to take this up with the BOCC.

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It's always interesting to stumble across somebody's thoughts about a particular city/town. The blog monitoring tools I use bring me interesting posts about Lakeland, Winter Haven and other Polk County towns each day. Here are some examples from Lakeland.

Adam is encouraging his friends from Orlando to move to Lakeland. Why? Cost of living. He does miss some of the stores of the big city though.

It's nice not to hear sirens constantly, traffic constantly, helicopters, really much of anything. The nights are the best. It's quiet, it's actually dark (that's called light pollution in big cities). Other than all our friends living in Orlando and the people here being yokels, it's a really great place. So the solution is that all our friends should move out to Lakeland. C'mon! The apartment we have now would be between $1000-2000 in Orlando, depending on the area. We've got it in lakeland for $750. We can actually own a house and land out here for under $100 grand! Only trailers are in Orlando for $100 grand.

Caity on the other hand can't wait to leave Lakeland and posted a list of the things she WON'T miss.

Things I will not miss about Lakeland...

1) guys who think they are still in high school
2) people with no teeth or shoes
3) lakeland square
4) pcc
5) my house
6) bums on memorial
7) lack of parties
8) the vicious cycle that leads nowhere!
9) curfews
10) the bowling alley
11) people who just DONT listen!

The list goes up to 19.....

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David Harper from Space Coast Web:Blog has announced a new Florida blog aggregator: Sourstock.com. From David's announcement:

Following a great deal of research into Florida blogs, I've created an aggregator site which tracks more than 700 feeds. It's a public RSS newsreader, tuned in to the most creative folk in our state, from the Panhandle to the Keys.

Features:

- Syndicated content is funneled from hundreds of diverse Florida sources.
- Feeds are polled at hourly intervals, the site updates twice an hour.
- Most podcasts can be played with a single click, using an embedded flash player.
- Customize searches and subscribe to a search's RSS feed.
- Search Florida blogs from the browser's toolbar, using opensearch.
- The site works nicely with mobile devices.
- There's an opml list of Florida blogs, for import into the user's newsreader-of-choice.

David's been working on this for quite a while. I remember seeing some stats traffic from sourstock.com a few months ago. Go check it out.

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What happens when people from all over the world come to Sun 'n Fun and then go home? They blog about it. There are a number of blogs that have Sun 'n Fun content, but here are a few:

- David West talks about his trip to the Fly-In
- Rachael and her husband combined a trip to Disney with Sun 'n Fun
- Carolyn and John Spratt have a write up and plenty of photos
- Garmin GPS blogged from the event quite a bit including some video: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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Over at Marketing Profs, Lewis Green talks about the benefits of chamber memberships for business development. I agree with many of the points Lewis puts forth, with the caveat that your business fits a local model to some degree.

While I am a member of the Winter Haven Chamber, I know that I won't be getting many clients from my local market. It's just the nature of my current business. My major clients are based in: Florida, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Seattle and Silicon Valley. I joined my chamber to support the local business environment and community.

However, many years ago (1996-2002) when I owned a locally-focussed web design firm, the local chambers were indeed a huge part of my marketing mix. Like Lewis says though, you need to put something into it, to get something out.

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