It's been over two months since the News Chief was purchased by The Ledger. How's the outlook? I think this photo of the 'News Chief' sign might offer some foreshadowing.

Looks a bit temporary. You figure they could get a more permanent sign. In my review of the sale one of the points I made was that it didn't make sense for The Ledger to operate the News Chief under a separate masthead. They're competing against themselves. Their non-purchase of the Chief's facilities also raised this flag.

When will it happen? You know the statement that says something like, "We gave it our best shot, but unfortunately economic forces......"

3 months? 6 months? Perhaps we'll start a pool. I'll take either July 23rd or October 23rd.

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That's probably as close as I'll ever get to commuter rail in Central Florida. It's my son's LEGO train set.

The defeat of the CSX incentive-laden bill has been hailed as a savings to taxpayers. Two quick questions though

1. When in the next few decades do you think building a commuter rail line will be cheaper?
2. How do you plan on building a rail line without some sort of involvement from CSX?

Here are a few quick answers:

1. Now or Never? If there is one certainty other than death and taxes, it's that major public-infrastructure projects don't get cheaper over time. So if you're complaining about the cost now, just wait a few years....especially when we don't have any Federal funds. Throw in a connection to Tampa and watch the cost get even higher. However land is a bit cheaper today than it was two years ago. Perhaps this recession is good for something :-)
2. Good Luck. They own the major rail lines in the area, so that leaves you with three options: a. build your own, sure....any estimate on what that right-of-way would be? b. deal with the devil, CSX that is....and I bet after this last go around they won't be lowering their price...or c. Use the center of I-4, after all that's what we widened it for right?

Once again regionalism has screwed over the area. Lakeland doesn't want more freight trains, Orlando is sick of them and wants commuter rail, Winter Haven doesn't seem to care as long as their is tax revenue to be gained. South Florida doesn't like funding an Orlando rail initiative with limited immunity, even though they benefit from a similar deal. The Four Corners is growing with residents that work and play in the Osceola/Orange area and we just killed their rail deal, that should go over well. The list can go on and on.

I hope that something good will come out of all this. Hopefully the entire region will begin to think about a good rail system, but it's going to be hard for any Orlando politician to deal with Lakeland for a bit. They'll get over it.....but when?

One day the planning will start and then the finger-pointing will resume all over. What's that...you want to build a high-speed rail connection between Orlando and Tampa but bypass downtown Lakeland and Winter Haven? No way!

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Will there ever be decent rail in Central Florida? In the past year I've seen a number of great commuter rail systems, but alas I don't think we'll ever get there.

I am often in San Francisco/San Jose/Palo Alto for business and I often use CalTrain when I'm there. I don't know the political/financial back-story on CalTrain, but I know it works for me and works well. If I'm at my Palo Alto office, I can get on CalTrain and be in the city within an hour and thanks to EVDO, I can work the entire way...or I can just relax. Something a car never allows. If only we had something like this in Florida.

I experienced something similar in the UK recently. Work had me staying in Windsor, but London was just a short/reliable train-ride away. The SouthWest Trains service was great and I ended up using it for three round-trips in 4 days. On two occasions I used it during rush hour. It's hard to imagine folks in Florida switching to a train-commute lifestyle, but I enjoyed it. Part of this is the make-up of our urban centers.......or perhaps more specifically our lack of urban centers. It would be nice to live in the English countryside and have work be a nice train commute.

Of course, once I arrive in San Francisco or London there is a good subway/transport system in place there to get me around the rest of the city. Something Orlando and Tampa are missing.

That's one of the often cited issues related to subways/rail systems. Cities like London/New York/Chicago had systems in place that allowed development around them. Trying to build after the fact is difficult and expensive, just ask MARTA about that.

When F O X, that's Florida Overland Express to you newbies, or whatever it was going to be called was a glimmer of hope I was just that, hopeful. I was traveling to Jacksonville quite a bit and the drive was killing me. I looked forward to sitting back, relaxing and doing some work while somebody else took care of the transit. Ah yes, dreams of the TGV and Thalys from my honeymoon in Europe.

So I'll repeat the question, will there ever be decent rail in Central Florida?

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So the CSX project is dead? The Ledger talks about the end of the CSX bill, while the News Chief talks about how the Integrated Logistics Center (ILC) is still on track (sorry for the bad pun):

Neither the intermodel center nor the ILC were dependent upon the commuter rail plan getting through the Legislature, said Sease, the CSX spokesman. If anything, it was the other way around, he said, adding that the commuter rail system will not work without the Winter Haven terminal.

That's the quote in the News Chief from CSX's Gary Sease. Is this true? Perhaps. If it is, things are about to get much more interesting, after all, we're just finishing season one.

Lakeland was upset with increased train traffic brought on by the ILC, or was it the commuter rail plan? Either way, they lobbied hard and won, at least they think they did. After all the CSX deal is dead. Well at least the commuter rail portion of it. But CSX says they're not related.

If the ILC goes through, then Lakeland will have their cake and eat it too, except the opposite...what's that? Losing your cake and paying for it too?

If the ILC is built, expect more freight traffic. What's stopping CSX from running more freight traffic through Lakeland/Polk County? After all, they own the tracks, can they do what they want? Actually that's a good question, Billy/Tom? Can they just do what they want, does it require any government approval to increase the number of trains, or can they just do it?

If so, then let's look at the recap: Lakeland helps defeat the commuter rail bill and manages to upset most of the Orlando area in the process. Then, at the end of the day it still might see more train traffic.

What's the next step?

What's that....the Van Fleet trail? Sure, that's easy for Lakeland....make it Polk City's problem, after all they're a bit below the lower-middle-class status and won't mind more trains.

What's the solution for commuter rail? Will we ever see a commuter line from Tampa to Orlando? And can that be done without involving CSX? Ask Dennis Ross (from The Ledger):

"They still hold all of the cards," Ross said, referring to the railroad corporation's ownership of the tracks.

In Part 2 I'll look at some recent commuter rail experiences I've had and in Part 3...well, we'll see.

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You remember in Star Wars - A New Hope when Alderon was blown up and Ben Kenobi felt thousands of voices crying out, then silenced? The same thing happened with Polk Online, the News Chief's former web site. If you visit PolkOnline.com it now redirects to NewsChief.com. All the old stories and links are dead. How many links? According to Google 116,000 links. That's a great way to kill your PageRank, search traffic, ad revenue, long-term relevance.

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When The Ledger purchased the News Chief, one of the benefits I hoped for was improved reporting, specifically around the CSX story. The News Chief has long ignored the CSX story from an investigative standpoint. Looks like things haven't changed much. Great case-in-point this morning. Shown below are the front pages of the News Chief and The Ledger.

The Ledger has a 'Special Report' on the CSX deal. Big news, with an investigation into the secrecy surrounding the state's deal with CSX. Surely this story has impact on Winter Haven? After all we're the proposed location of the ILS.

Nope, the News Chief featured a story about CSX, but a bit more positive....construction could start soon.

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The WHYPG meets tomorrow, Thursday the 17th, at Tanners for a networking social event.

RSVP today! Don’t miss the first WHYPG networking social event at the Tanner’s Pub’s courtyard. Meet and mingle with area young professionals under the beautiful stars. Enjoy delicious hors d’oeuvres from Tanner’s Pub. You also have a chance to win a great door prize. Admission is free for WHYPG members and $10 for guests and non-members. Cash bar. RSVP through the Web site. The WHYPG is affiliated with the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and operates under the Winter Haven Chamber Foundation.

http://winterhavenfl.com/calendars/371-WHYPG-Networking-Social-Event-at-Tanner-s-/details

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Just a small note that Winter Haven's cnp_studio just helped launch yet another high-profile web project, this time for eBay. Both Nick and I noted the hat trick that cnp_studio has recently completed with projects for eBay, Yahoo and Sony. Who says we're a 'rural' community?

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When Bob posted his little hint about something going on in the local newspaper market, my thoughts were:

1. The News Chief is shutting down.
2. Somebody was going to buy them.

Truth be told, I figured option #1 was going to happen a long time ago. I thought when Wayne Ezell left and they didn't announce a full-time replacement that the writing was on the wall. I thought that since Wayne had been at the helm so long, they (being Morris) didn't want to shutter the paper while he was there. Better to let him move-on to Jacksonville, then let the paper die a few months later. People could always say, "See....once Wayne left, the paper was never the same."

Truth is the paper has never been much of anything for a while. That leads to option #2

If somebody was going to buy them, at first for me, the two choices were another outside group (as in outside of Florida) or either the Orlando Sentinel or the Tampa Tribune. Buying the News Chief would give them a beachhead into the Polk market. But of course what would they be buying? A dismal circulation and poor facilities? In the long run it would be cheaper to compete them to death, then buy them.

Enter The Ledger. As we now know, the Ledger is the buyer and they've indicated some of their plans. Here are some random thoughts:

- Nelson Kirkland is the man for the job. I've worked with Nelson on projects and chamber dealings (both Lakeland and Winter Haven) for a number of years. He's direct when it comes to business. Some people don't like that, but it's what gets the job done. He's also very connected (and concerned) about this community, something none of the previous two News Chief publishers were.

- Was it a mercy buy? Did they really need to buy them? Terms are not public, but could you spend the same amount of money improving the features/services
and just crush the News Chief? Or was it easier and cheaper just to buy them?

- With the end of the East Polk edition will Lakeland finally get their paper back? By this I mean will the Ledger become a Lakeland-focussed paper and the New Chief the Winter Haven/East Polk paper? Will this mean less Winter Haven news in the Ledger? It will be interesting to see how the content shifts in the coming months.

- The Ledger indicated that they intend to keep the News Chief masthead. Sounds good now, and makes everybody feel good about the purchase. But what about one year from now, will it still make sense for The Ledger to dilute their brand across the county with competition from the Sentinel and Tribune on opposite sides? The Ledger didn't acquire the facilities, just the titles/mastheads and some staff. Shutting down the 'paper' a year from now won't require much effort, compared to selling a building/presses/equipment, etc.

- I know many advertising folks were scared about a Ledger purchase of the News Chief since it would impact print ad rates once competition was gone. The Ledger indicates that the rates will remain the same for now. But, like the point above, let's see what happens one year from now.

- Is there a place for an afternoon paper? Thinking about the logistics....the News Chief will be printed by the Ledger at their main facility in Lakeland. How does this
impact the production of the Ledger. A few options:

1. The News Chief is printed first and thus has an earlier deadline. This would actually be status quo, since PolkOnline is usually updated around 11pm with tomorrow's stories.
2. The News Chief is printed after the Ledger and thus we have a tight delivery schedule.
3. The News Chief goes back to an afternoon paper. Think about that, it might be interesting.

- I can't wait to see better reporting in the paper. That's one thing the Ledger will bring to the News Chief.

- I'll have to ask Barry what the plans for PolkOnline are. I have some ideas, but I gave up working with newspapers last year. Barry lunch sometime soon?

Anyway, the next few months should be interesting.

Disclosures: In the past two years I have done paid consulting work for The Ledger and the Orlando Sentinel. Many years ago with a previous company I also did work for the News Chief. As far as the Tampa Tribune is concerned....I know Billy :-)

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We've heard from a number of people about the closing of the Citrus Festival. The articles in The Ledger and News Chief both quote Winter Haven officials, Citrus Festival officials, and local residents.

However there is one group that we haven't heard from. The citrus industry. After all, it's their festival. I use the word 'their' loosely here. They seem to be conspicuously silent in this matter?

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So the Citrus Festival is no more......I'm not saddened by the loss. How about you? Will you miss the 'fair'?

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Why is it that I can't drive by the Citrus Festival without feeling dirty? Never been a big fan....perhaps it's the carny's.

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I'm searching for a classic Winter Haven photo (well, semi-classic) of the old "Barrel-of-Fun" arcade from the Winter Haven mall. I need this for a project I'm working on, so if anyone can help out, please let me know in either the comments or by email [me at adamweeks dot com]

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Grace is Gone, a film starring John Cusack which had scenes filmed at Cypress Gardens is officially released this Friday in a limited capacity, but will go wider December 14th.

Grace Is Gone is a romantic heartbreaker starring John Cusack as a freshly widowed father who can't bear to tell his two young daughters their mother has died. It's also a family comedy as his character, desperate to hide the truth, takes them off to a Disneyland-type park on an impromptu road trip that the girls find extremely weird.

That 'Disneyland-type park' is Cypress Gardens. The film initially ran at Sundance this year.

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Yesterday I was eating at Crispers in downtown Lakeland with a friend. I used the opportunity to try the new Bistro Vegetable sandwich (which replaced the Garden Party). My friend asked, "how is it?"...my response, "decent enough, nothing too exciting." He quickly responded with, "Well is there such a thing as an exciting veggie sandwich?"

Actually there is and it can be found at Cafe Latte in Winter Haven. Or I should say, 'they' can be found. 'They' because Cafe Latte changes its menu almost daily and there are always good vegetarian selections.

Cafe Latte is one of my favorite hang-outs. It's small, low-key and they have great food. The recent addition of wifi makes it perfect.

If you remember the Ledger had an article about vegetarian dining in Polk County. I also offered up my favorites.

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If you've driven in downtown Winter Haven recently you'll notice that some of the stoplights have been removed and a few more are 'under review' for removal.

I e-mailed Joy Townsend with the city to get all the details. Here is what Joy had to say:

Currently, the traffic lights on Third Street at Avenue A NW and Avenue A SW are still being reviewed for removal.

Traffic lights on Second Street Northwest at Avenues A and B have already been reviewed and will be removed as soon as the 90-day notification period is complete. That will be in February.

No other lights are, or will be reviewed for possible removal in the near future.

I welcome the removal since many of the lights used to run on a basic timer and would hold up traffic for no need. Of course the down-side is that Winter Haven may soon become a 'One-Stoplight' town. Come to think of it, that's not a bad 'nostalgic' marketing gimmick :-)

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The Orlando Sentinel has an update that the CSX/State of Florida deal for commuter rail is done:

With one day to spare before losing out on about $180 million in federal funding, CSX and the state of Florida on Thursday finally reached a deal that will turn over 61 miles of tracks from DeLand to Orlando to Poinciana for the region's first commuter rail system.

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Some areas of Polk County have some seriously out-of-date Google satellite images (ala Google Maps and Google Earth). Here's an example:

Recognize this shot? It's Cypress Gardens before it was rebuilt by Kent Buescher way back in 2005.

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With all of the excitement my three-year-old son had of putting up Christmas decorations , we decided to take him up to the "Festival of Trees" at the Orange Dome. The Festival of Trees was hosted by the Florida Citrus Festival and Polk County Fair along with its Festival of Trees Partner, Ridge Art Association. We really enjoyed all the professionally decorated trees, which unfortunately left ours feeling sub-par. My son's favorite area was the "Crafts and Cookies" where he got to decorate a cookie and make some art.

Take a look at my photo album here if you missed it.

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I had planned to post this question a few weeks ago, but Adam sort-of beat me to it. He received notice that his neighborhood had been wired for FIOS. What is FIOS? It's Verizon's Fiber-to-the-home solution, as in super-high-speed internet access.

I've been on DSL since day one from Verizon and it's getting slow. My Sprint EVDO wireless card is often faster than my DSL at home. FIOS will hopefully give me a nice boost of speed, but I don't know anybody locally that has it.

Are there any areas in Polk County wired and using FIOS yet? If you have it, what has your experience been like?

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Yes, lots of discussion about rail the past few months, but there is another partner with rail......telecommunications firms, aka telcos. Most of the major fiber-optic build-out over the past decade has occurred along rail lines. The main reason is that rail has established right-of-way all over the country, so burying fiber is easy. The telco only has to deal with one source, the rail line, opposed to numerous agencies, locations, etc.

Just look for those orange and white poles, chances are there is fiber below. And more than likely, those orange poles are next to a rail line. The one pictured above is in Auburndale on the main CSX line.

As we've learned via the CSX debate, Polk County is a crucial location in the rail network. The same goes with fiber. If you've even been around Auburndale you might notice a medium-sized building next to the rail lines. It used to have MCI branding on it, but that's been removed. That building is a major connection point for fiber (telco) for the state. Going back some time ago when MCI was the internet backbone, that building was a big deal.

So what's the point? Well when people talk about closing down rail lines or converting them over to other uses, there is a hidden lobby out there that will fight that....the telcos. Just food for thought.

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Remember the movie Coming to America with Eddie Murphy? In the movie Eddi'e character worked at McDowell's a blatant rip-off of McDonald's. The similarities are even part of the storyline:

Cleo McDowell: "Look...me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's...I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds. "

In Winter Haven near Jan Phyl Village there is a former Hardee's location, now called Georgee's. It seems they took the location and the two ee's on the end of the name.

Each time I drive by it I always think of McDowell's and wonder if the owners of Georgee's have ever been contacted by attorneys from Hardee's? I guess in their defense, they have the chezburger and not the cheeseburger.

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Billy Townsend has announced that he's going to move off the CSX story. Why? It's because of a possible conflict of interest issue. I don't have an issue with it, but others might.

Anyway it's a sad day since the only 'real' media covering the story is The Ledger (don't get me started on the News Chief). Tom Palmer submits things from time-to-time on the print side of things, but his blog is where all his CSX action is at. However as Chuck recently pointed out, Tom can turn into Mr. Snarky McSnarksalot on his blog.

The only other major source of CSX coverage is Chuck Welch at Lakeland Local, a blog, imagine that :-)

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One of my keyword searches alerted me to this post about the intelligent design debate and offered a quote by Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science from an Orlando Sentinel article:

Joe Wolf, president of Florida Citizens for Science, called the draft standards a “wonderful” blueprint for science education. Wolf, of Winter Haven, said the evolution debate holds little interest to most scientists, who accept it as fact. That’s why the issue did not become controversial during the standards-writing meetings, he said.

“It’s a PR issue,” he said. “And it’s a religious issue. In the scientific community, it’s not an issue.”

Joe is from Winter Haven. A Google search for his name shows a number of results, one of which is the FCS web site. The main purpose of the group according to their site:

Florida's economic future depends upon providing our children with the best education that modern scientific instruction can offer. Florida has major investments in medicine, biotechnology, space technology and other fields. We compete with our sister states for employers in these fields. It's critical to support our future success by investing in our educational system in the present.

The current hot-topic issue is the revision of the science standards for public schools...this of course leads to the debate over intelligent design.

Joe was recently interviewed by the SPTimes gradebook blog. (Hat tip: Chuck)

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The Ledger announces that curbside recycling will begin in Winter Haven Nov 12. Next week, Nov 5, blue recycling bins will be distributed to city residents. My question is, didn't we already do this? When I moved into my house within the city limits, I had a yellow recycle bin, filled it with recycling materials, put it on the curb, and the garbage men threw it away with the trash!

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Well it finally happened, the News Chief has been sold. There had been rumors for some time and I had also heard word from an insider that it was on the block.

Morris Publishing Group agreed Tuesday to sell 17 of its newspapers, including the News Chief in Winter Haven, to GateHouse Media Inc. for $115 million.

Morris will use the cash to pay down debt. The sale of its smaller newspapers will leave the Augusta-based company with 10 medium-sized papers.

The other papers sold:

In addition to the News Chief, the Morris daily newspapers to be sold are the Dodge City (Kan.) Daily Globe, The Newton (Kan.) Kansan, The (Pittsburg, Kan.) Morning Sun, the Hillsdale (Mich.) Daily News, The Holland (Mich.) Sentinel, the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post, The (Independence, Mo.) Examiner, The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent, the York (Neb.) News-Times, The Daily Ardmoreite (Okla.), The Shawnee (Okla.) News-Star, the Yankton (S.D.) Daily Press & Dakotan and The Oak Ridger (Tenn.).

The nondaily newspapers include La Estrella (Dodge City, Kan.) The Girard (Kan.) City Press and the Vermillion (S.D.) Plain Talk. Also sold was a commercial printing operation, Flashes Publishing (Mich.), which also publishes The Holland Sentinel and the Flashes Shopping Guides.

So it looks like they're dropping their smaller market papers. Properties like Jacksonville and Augusta, their stronger brands, remain. Here is the official release from Morris.

The new owners, GateHouse Media, own a number of smaller publications across the country. Papers like The Daily Telegram and the Boonville Daily News. Looking around at some of the paper web sites, they're not that impressive which isn't a good thing since the future of all news is online. There are some bright spots like the Taunton Gazette. It features a somewhat decent layout, RSS feeds...but a completely blank blogs page.

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Well everybody who was anybody was there. CSX folks, City of Winter Haven folks, Anne Furr of the LDDA, Kathleen Munson of the LACC. If you had a stake in the CSX debate you were there.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow regional/state/public agencies to put forth their case with respect to the DRI application. Contrary to what was in the paper, this is not a public hearing and does not offer the ability for public input, that will come at a later process. The discussion is also centered on the applicant's application and is not a discussion of regional decisions regarding rail, etc. Agency comments are limited to five minutes a piece.

I think after the intro, a number of citizens who were expecting to speak were quietly upset.

Neil Frazee with MSCW gave a brief project overview, nothing new to many of the folks in the audience who have been following the process. The proposed project is a one phase project. Construction starts in 2008, completed in 2009. The project will employ up to about 200 employees once completed.

Anne Stokes with Southeast Archeological Research then spoke about the archeological survey completed. No major archeological sites/structures have been found on the site.

Dale Dowling then reviewed some of the ecological findings. (sorry I was uploading photos so didn't get all of it) The next presentation dealt with traffic, didn't catch the guy's name. I think everybody here was interested in traffic. There will be only one primary access point which will connect to SR 60. All traffic coming in/out will then head East or West on SR 60. There are no plans to extend the connector

The Taft rail yard is often mentioned as a good example of how the site will operate site. The Winter Haven facility is going to be a combo of automobile cars and traditional container cars, no tankers.

The next portion of the meeting was a request to eliminate questions about the DRI. These are things like issues with on-site wells (there are none), per-capita issues (there are no additional home units being built). Much of this was inside-baseball.

So what did we learn today? If you've been following the CSX project, then not much. Remember this was a DRI pre-application hearing, so that actual application wasn't really being debated. From what I can gather, much of it was, "Here's what we're going to submit....what do you think?"

Things will get interesting once the actual application is submitted. That will be the middle of December when the actual application will be submitted. Neil Frazee said the tentative date is December 9th. Once submitted, the application will be made available to the public.

A hearing has been scheduled for October 24th to discuss the specifics of the traffic impacts. Need to get more details on that.

Next up was comments from other agencies/cities, while this is not part of the official DRI pre-application review it was allowed today. First up was the City Manager of Lake Wales. His major concern is the traffic issues. The City of Lakeland submitted some questions but did not review them publicly. Need to see if I can get a copy of those.

Jean Reed, spoke and said her comments were her own, since she can't speak for the BOCC. She thanked the participants for bringing forth the DRI process. Also, since the project is surrounded by county residents, it will impact Polk County.

Jim Studial, City of Lakeland spoke some more on behalf of Lakeland. Jim said they would be disappointed if the DRI process did not address the increased rail traffic in the county. The project also needs to be reviewed from a comp plan perspective within the county. Although it's a Winter Haven project and within their comp plan, it impacts all of the county.

Prior to the application and public hearings, public comment can be sent to csxdri@cfrpc.org.

That was it, not much excitement. December is when the real fun begins :-)

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If I had more time (as in, if this was my full-time job) I'd do a report/post on the growing homeless population in Winter Haven.

In Polk County, Lakeland has always received attention about its homeless population. However, there are a number of organizations in place there to help, think Salvation Army and Talbot House to name a few.

It may only be my perception, but there seems to be more homeless people in Winter Haven. A large percentage of them congregate at night in one of the covered pavilions on Lake Silver. During the day they go their respective ways about town.

You wonder how they got in the position they're in, what they used to do.

Hopefully one of the local papers will put a reporter on the story and develop a feature out of it.

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If you were in downtown Winter Haven today it would have been hard to miss these two guys working on a church steeple.

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A recent comment on an old post on my other blog from Crispers' IT Director indicates that all Crispers locations now have free wifi. Nice.

We have just completed a technology revamp at all our locations including new POS Systems and WIFI. All Crispers locations are now a WIFI hotspot, Crispers loves its customers and wants them to enjoy their visit. Whether on business or with friends and family, come in for the great food and bring your laptop or PDA..!!

I'll need to swing by the Winter Haven location to check things out.

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Back in September I asked when the Ritz Theatre renovation would ever be complete. It looks like there might be 'some' movement on that front. I say, 'some' since a meeting/fundraiser has been scheduled for this Thursday to talk about this very subject.

According to one of the Ledger's blogs, "Lets Finish the Ritz" will discuss the completion of Winter Haven's Spruce Goose. The event is being held on Thursday, Oct 11th at Scores Cafe.

Unfortunately I'll be in Indianapolis for business, but hopefully some news about the event will be posted somewhere.

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Well, it appears that a Quizno's is going to be put into the new shopping center "Towne Center" adjacent to Cypress Gardens. I have nothing against Quizno's (except for one small case of food poisoning that pretty much guarantees my avoidance), but do we really need 3 different locations withing 5 miles? There is another one 2 miles down Cypress Gardens Blvd across from State Farm and yet another in the Eagle Ridge plaza just south of Home Depot on 27. Is there really that much demand for the "Q"? Is the volume at the other CGB location just too much to handle?

How about a Panera or a First Watch? Is that too much to ask?

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It seems like so far away, but this time last year we were right in the middle of election season for county commission. On Sept 18, 2006 I attended the Tiger Bay debate in Bartow, FL. It was there that Randy Wilkinson, Robert Connors, Jean Read and Bruce Parker squared off.

What else happened in September of 2006?

- Randy had his DUI/non-DUI in Lakeland
- Cypress Gardens Filed Chapter 11

I also asked, "How Divided is Polk County?" That post seems somewhat timely given the recent battles of the CSX project. Take a look at this quote:

In politics and local issues, folks in Lakeland just don't care/worry about what happens politically or growth-wise in Winter Haven and vice versa. In the mean time, nobody seems to pay too much attention to the Four Corners area, which just happens to be the fastest growing part of the county.

People care now :-)

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Just a quick reminder that the auction of Cypress Gardens will be held tomorrow in Valdosta, GA. I assume that the Ledger might send somebody up there to cover the proceedings.

Sunday's Valdosta paper had an editorial concerning the sale of the two parks (CG & Wild Adventures):

In two days, Wild Adventures in Valdosta and its sister park, Cypress Gardens in Florida, will be auctioned. The parks will be sold individually to different companies, bringing a premature end to what could have been the beginning of an entertainment dynasty.....

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Over the past couple of weeks, more and more underground marker flags and spray painted lines have been showing up along Dundee Road. In the section between 10th and 14th street, hundreds of orange, yellow and blue flags have been placed. Its not just along Dundee Road either, they extend back to Lake Otis Drive. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? Is this the famed Dundee Road widening project I've heard about since 1995? Someone please give me some insight!

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When I picked up my mail on Saturday I had to do a double-take. At first I thought either the Tampa Bay or Orlando Business Journals were printing a Polk County edition. It turns out that it's the Lakeland Ledger. The debut issue of the Polk County Business Journal should be in your mailboxes now. Business mailboxes that is.

It's a monthly publication unlike Tampa and Orlando which are weekly. According the the article today, it will be mailed to 7,000 businesses. I wonder if they'll ever start inserting it in the Monday paper like Orlando does with their Monday business feature???

I read through the first issue while having lunch at Mama Dilo's on Saturday. It's your standard business content, with ads of course :-).

As of this post, the web site: http://www.polkcountybusinessjournal.com/ was not working. Probably just a DNS thing.

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We're coming up on Armand Nardi's first anniversary as publisher of the News Chief. At least I think we're close. I noted his appointment back on October 3, 2006. I first met Armand at an FPRA event on October 18th of that year.

In honor of his 1st anniversary I wanted to interview Armand about his year and what's to come.

I sent him three e-mails over the past week and a half including the questions (below).

1. Your one-year anniversary at the News Chief is approaching, what is the exact date?

2. What have been some of the highlights on the job this past year?

3. After a year in Winter Haven, what are your thoughts about the community?

4. What's the one community project you've become involved with that you find the most rewarding?

5. Speaking of community, how do you view the relationship between the News Chief and the community? How has/will this change in the future with more news moving online?

6. Obviously Winter Haven is the primary market (and home) of the News Chief, but what about other East Polk cities like Lake Wales and Haines City. What's the relationship like there?

7. With respect to the online world of news, Morris Publishing/Morris Digital have developed a number of products for the online world. Many of these are featured on sites like the Jacksonville Times-Union and the Savannah Morning News. The News Chief has used the 'Spotted' product, any plans to adopt any additional community/citizen-journalism tools?

8. On this blog I've been somewhat critical of the News Chief, specifically the lack of reporting on the CSX project. The majority of the research and reporting is being conducted by The Ledger and the Tampa Tribune. Considering the impact this project has on Winter Haven, why hasn't the News Chief put more of a focus on the pros/cons of the project?

9. Like many other newspapers across Florida, the News Chief has diversified their offerings with additional print products like Active Senior, Her Voice, etc. What percentage of resources/revenue do these products use/produce compared to the daily news product?

10. Anything exciting planned for the next year? (That you can talk about)

Yesterday I finally heard back from him. He thanked me for the opportunity, but declined to answer any questions.

It's always a bit ironic when members of the media decline to answer questions.

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I often get into a routine for lunch and really don't have a problem eating at the same restaurant a few days in the same week. Here are my usual hangouts:

Winter Haven

- Mama Dilos Deli: I've been going to Mama Dilos for almost a decade and I usually get the same thing each time. As an added bonus there is a sandwich on the menu named after me.

- Cafe Latte: This little coffee and sandwich shop in Orchid Springs is always good. It's small, but cozy. They change the menu almost daily so there is always something good.

Lakeland

- Mitchell's Coffee Shop: It's always a toss-up when I'm in the downtown area. At Mitchell's I get the veggie burger and a side of macaroni and cheese. Plus Mitch has free wifi

- Black & Brew: The other coffee shop in downtown Lakeland also has some great food. I order the veggie panini. Like Mitchell's they also have free wifi.

- Moe's: I'm a sucker for Moe's and as I've often lamented on this blog, there is no Moe's in Winter Haven (yet).

The only other one I'd add would be Peeble's BBQ in Auburndale, but they are only open seasonally and even then only Thursday-Saturday.

How about you, where are you a regular?

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John Frost writes The Disney Blog and knows a thing or two about theme parks. John and I hung out at Cypress Gardens a month or two ago. During our walk around the park he talked about a number of issues he saw with the park. In a recent post about the sale of Cypress Gardens, John talks about what the new owners should do to improve the park.

1) Figure out how to add a separate parking lot and entrance for the Water Park.

2) Food & Dining. Currently Cypress Gardens uses food like a club to hit guests over the head with. You aren't allowed to bring in outside food or drink (which is fine), but then they do things like not providing kids meals or reasonably priced food.

3) Employee training. The heart of Cypress Gardens right now is its employees.

4) A slight reconfiguration of the park. Hire a theme park architect company to come in and redo the whole area from the ticket booths all the way through to the old parking garage area.

5) Dark rides. There are no dark rides in the whole park. If you're going to spend any money on new attractions, a couple dark rides would be the first place to look

6) Theme. Identify a theme and stick with it.

John expands on each one of these points in his post, check it out.

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Billy Townsend and Lindsay Peterson have an extensive story/report concerning the CSX project. While the CSX deal has been quite the topic in the Polk County area, their report looks more from a statewide level.

Polk County has always touted themselves as being the 'center of it all' from a tourism and business development perspective, it's certainly the case in this massive commuter-rail/freight project. The report is a good overview of the years of dealings between the DOT and private railroads in developing a plan for Florida's passenger and freight rail traffic.

With more focus coming to the project, another sleeping giant may awake, Tampa.

The likely loser is the Tampa Bay area, particularly Lakeland.

Under the state's new plan, commuter rail isn't likely to come to Tampa for decades - if ever - because of CSX's plans for unlimited freight increases in the area. That freight traffic will be routed through downtown Lakeland, where local officials fear years of expensive redevelopment efforts will be ruined.

The Lakeland area has a strong ally in Tampa.

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The Ledger has a report today about the new residential spaces in downtown Winter Haven. The News Chief reported on this back in April of 2006. At the time I wrote about my experiences living in downtown Winter Haven. It's probably worth a look again.

For many years there were only a few places to actually live downtown, and I lived in both of them for a while in my younger days (1998-2000). Like the article mentions one big attractor is restaurants. In my time downtown there was nothing to do past 6 p.m. All the restaurant (and I mean single, restaurant) were only open at lunch.

Here's the full post.

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