Lakeland Local

Two Opportunities for Bloggers to Meet

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:15:02 -0500

The Polk County Bloggers, a not-for-profit, bylaws free, organization sans leadership, is happy to announce two meetings in July for area bloggers, citizen journalists, paid journalists privileged to write blogs, business bloggers, and anyone with an hour to spare. July 21, 2008 Noon to 1 pm at the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce (Yes, you read that correctly.) 35 Lake Morton Drive Lakeland, FL This meeting is focused on the business that blogs, hopes to blog, or wonders why customers always ask for the company "blog." It doesn't matter if your company is for profit, not for profit, or wondering what this "profit" thing is that everyone talks about. We'll mainly discuss some of the problems and opportunities blogging brings to your business, but the floor is open to any of your questions. By July 17, please email me at meeting [at] lakelandlocal.com if you plan to attend the Noon meeting. I'd like to give the Chamber a head count. • July 28, 2008 6:30 to 8:30 at Mimi's Cafe 3770 Lakeside Village Court Lakeland FL This is a casual meeting of a very informal network of Polk County bloggers. You're invited even if you have never written a single blog post. We spend the time talking about blogging -- how, why, and where. Members are known to take the conversations far afield. Yes, "conversations". This isn't the traditional one member speaks at a time kind of meeting. We split up into small groups to chat. It's a restaurant and you can eat, drink, and be merry if you wish. If you plan to come please do me a favor and email me so I can call the restaurant with an idea oh how many will attend. So, by July 21, please email me at meeting [at] lakelandlocal.com if you plan to attend the dinner meeting. Thanks.

And in local media news...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:44:28 -0500

It looks like the Tampa Tribune has finally started posting again to the Polk County News Blog. When it was helmed by Billy Townsend, the blog was an important part of the local news community. Whoever takes it over has big shoes to fill. (Just ask Joe Girardi what it has been like to take over for Joe Torre.) So who's the new reporter? Jennifer Leigh. Not the poker player, that's Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh. Not the actress, that's Jennifer Jason Leigh. It's actually Lakeland resident and WFLA Polk County reporter and weekend anchor Jennifer Leigh. There's no indication on the site that Leigh is getting a job with the Tribune. So, I'd hazard a guess that the newspaper is getting her services as part of the WFLA and Trib "converged multimedia news organizations." You'll find Leigh's entry here: Polk Schools Dealing With High Diesel Costs

FDOT Rail Traffic Evaluation Workshop

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:25:50 -0500

Public Service Announcement The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) invites the public to participate in an open Stakeholder Workshop to discuss the Rail Traffic Evaluation being prepared by FDOT. This Workshop is to explain the scope of work and receive comments form the public as the evaluation is being initiated. The purpose of the FDOT Rail Traffic Evaluation is to identify potential projects, improvements or strategies to address community concerns related to rail services in Polk County . The study focuses on identification of opportunities in three key areas: 1) traffic and grade crossing impact and potential mitigation strategies, 2) options for relocation and/or reconfiguration of freight services, and 3) passenger rail and bus solutions. The Workshop will also be used to explain the planned stakeholder public outreach effort and engage the public early in the study process. This will be an on-going exchange of information between the project team and the public. The Public Workshop for the FDOT Rail Traffic Evaluation will be held: Thursday, July 10, 2008 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Bartow Civic Center 2250 South Floral Avenue Bartow , Florida 33830-7104 Phone: (863) 537-0120 Attend anytime during the hours specified to view study materials and to speak to the study team. To send comments or for additional information, please contact: Arlene Barnes FDOT District 1 810 N. Broadway PO Box 1249 Bartow, FL 33831 Phone: (863) 519-2349 Email: Arlene.Barnes@dot.state.fl.us This workshop is being held in compliance with Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act. Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status. Persons who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact Ms. Arlene Barnes at (863) 519-2349 or Arlene.Barnes@dot.state.fl.us at least seven (7) days prior to the public workshop. Your attendance at this public information workshop is encouraged and any comments made will be appreciated.

Meaningful Icons Return to Crime Map

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:14:31 -0500

This week marks the return of meaningful icons. Each crime icon again clues you into the type of crime committed. Cars for the stolen and recovered vehicles, a business building for a business burglary, a house for a residential burglary, a shopping bag for a personal robbery. You get the picture. These icons are part of the site I use to make the maps. I'm working on a set specifically for Lakeland Crime. You can find the small map at Lakeland Crime or check out the Full Size Map at LakelandLocal.com Crime Map 06/23 to 06/29 2008 40 This week's stats: 08 Business Burglary 01 Business Robbery 00 Gang Grafitti 02 Personal Robbery 17 Residential Burglary 00 Residential Robbery 00 Attempted Stolen Vehicle 02 Recovered Stolen Vehicle 04 Stolen Vehicle 06 Vehicle Burglary

Happy Day One for USF Polytechnic

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:13:05 -0500

Now we start the campaign for the day the university completely leaves the USF system and becomes Lakeland Polytechnic... or maybe MetroI4 Polytechnic. Both have a nice ring, don't you think?

Lakeland Local in Neutral

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:24:20 -0500

You may have noticed sporadic posts from Lakeland Local. Due to an unexpected set of unrelated events this pattern will continue until mid-July. That doesn't mean I've stopped tracking local news. While I'm not working on my own stories, each morning I am reading the Ledger, the Orlando Sentinel, and the Tampa Tribune. I suggest you give it a shot. If you don't have that kind of time, then at least check out MetroI4News.com. Each day I'll post links to the articles I feel that are important to residents of the region, but don't get as much promotion as stories of sex, celebrity, or gossip. • I do have a couple of quick notes: Dear Tampa Tribune - You received a lot of good will when Billy Townsend was your Polk County reporter. Don't let that fade. Who is taking over the Polk County News Blog? • Longtime fans of this site (Hello, dear wife) may be surprised by this recommendation: add the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce blog to your reading list. I like the approach Aaron Bates is taking with the blog. It's pro-business, as it should be. However, it doesn't read like those stodgy press releases of old, but has a loose, open feel to the writing. Personally, I hope we get columns and posts from various members of the Chamber staff. I believe the Lakeland Chamber blog has the opportunity to become a humanizing peek into the organization.

Lakeland Crime Map for June 16-22

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:44:07 -0500

You can see the small Lakeland Crime Map at Lakeland Crime or check out the Full Size LakelandLocal.com Crime Map for 06/16 to 06/22 2008 53 This week's stats: 09 Business Burglary 00 Business Robbery 00 Gang Grafitti 03 Personal Robbery 13 Residential Burglary 00 Residential Robbery 02 Attempted Stolen Vehicle 06 Recovered Stolen Vehicle 07 Stolen Vehicle 13 Vehicle Burglary

There is a Free Lunch! (It's the Drink That Costs)

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:37:40 -0500

In the mess that has been our software, Lakeland Local missed telling you about the Black and Brew Customer Appreciation Week. We missed four days of freebies, but today you can get a Free Frappe between 2 pm and 4pm. Hurry, there is a limited number. Best of all is Sunday when the Black and Brew brothers offer free lunch between 11:30 and 12:30. Not just any lunch. After all, as Henry Ford once said, you can have any color you want, as long as it's black. Sunday you can have any lunch you want as long as it's either their Tuscan Panini or the Wedge Salad. You'll have to buy a beverage to get the free lunch. You missed Free Beverage day.

We're Back & With Two Weeks of Crime

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:34:19 -0500

Due to technical difficulties the June 2 map is late. For balance, the June 9 map is early! The small map is at Lakeland Crime or you can choose the Full Size LakelandLocal.com Crime Map 06/02 to 06/15 2008 62 Jun 2 - 8 stats: 06 Business Burglary 00 Business Robbery 00 Gang Grafitti 05 Personal Robbery 20 Residential Burglary 00 Residential Robbery 00 Attempted Stolen Vehicle 03 Recovered Stolen Vehicle 06 Stolen Vehicle 22 Vehicle Burglary ------- 46 Jun 9 - 15 stats: 03 Business Burglary 00 Business Robbery 00 Gang Grafitti 00 Personal Robbery 12 Residential Burglary 00 Residential Robbery 01 Attempted Stolen Vehicle 02 Recovered Stolen Vehicle 07 Stolen Vehicle 21 Vehicle Burglary

What were those photos?

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:04:03 -0500

I don't usually write self-referential posts, but now that I'm finally home I want to explain those last two photographs. I was invited to be a part of panel on Media and Technology. Hosted by the Florida Humanities Council, and for Polk County teachers, the panel was part of an all day seminar entitled "News Matters: Ethics and Issues in the Press" My fellow panel members were Barry Friedman, Managing Editor-Digital for the Ledger, and Ellyn Angelotti, Interactivity Editor for Poynter Online. I used my camera phone during the discussion merely to demonstrate the real time aspect of covering news. With very simple tools -- an old camera phone, flickr, and an almost free website -- citizens have the opportunity to join the chorus of news producers. Does the technology make them journalists? No, but it does make them reporters. Youtube has proved anyone can be a witness to news and "report" the event. I just think it takes more to be a journalist. The journalist will take the additional steps to analyze, interpret, and prove relevance for her readers. Journalists must operate on a platform of ethics, accountability, verifiability, and revealed bias. Do I believe main stream media has monopoly on those traits? Of course not. They are also present also in the well-written citizen news sites. However, teachers, parents, librarians, and journalists are going to have to knuckle down to teach our children how to find those traits in all journalists -- main stream and citizen. How they can do that I'll leave as home work for the reader.

Friedman speaks to seminar

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:53:21 -0500

Ledger Managing Editor / Digital Barry Friedman speaks at the Ethics and Issues in the Press seminar. Ellyn Angelotti, Interactivity Editor of Poynter Online, takes notes.

Friedman speaks to seminar CC by Chuck Welch.

Ethics & Issues in the Press

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:48:44 -0500

Monica Kile opens the seminar in Lakeland.

Ethics & Issues in the Press CC by Chuck Welch.

USF Polytechnic - It's Signed

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:11:10 -0500

USF Lakeland officials just received word that Governor Crist signed the legislation giving the campus autonomy. There will be an official press release in the morning, but word is the Governor was strong in his endorsement of the move. The campus board previously approved the autonomy issue, name change and related issues. That means the campus is ready to move and will officially be known as USF Polytechnic on July 1st. Note that the Governor has yet to sign the budget, but the belief is that the USF money will be approved this year. Look here tomorrow for additional information. Update: It looks like the Ledger finally added the story to their site. Bill Rufty gave a couple of quotes from the Governor's press release or you can read the whole thing here: (Update 6/11: I was informed Rufty uploaded his story a short period before it went live on the Ledger. That slower moving hierarchy is an unfortunate part of the main stream media.)

Statement by GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST Regarding Senate Bill 186 "I am pleased to sign into law today Senate Bill 186, establishing the University of South Florida Lakeland campus as the University of South Florida Polytechnic. This step forward for higher education will place this campus on the same level as other campuses of the University of South Florida. This developing campus currently offers more than 20 undergraduate and graduate degrees and serves more than 2,000 students each year, with plans to double enrollment in the next few years. With this legislation, the institution will become the state's first polytechnic campus, strengthening our commitment to higher education, training a highly-skilled workforce and increasing economic benefits for the growing Central Florida region. "I thank Senators J.D. Alexander and Carey Baker as well as Representatives Seth McKeel and Ed Homan for their leadership on this issue. I look forward to the great work and continuing commitment to research and education from this promising institution."

Tigers option Dontrelle Willis to Class A Lakeland

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:10:38 -0500

Major League Baseball is reporting that the Detroit Tigers have optioned Dontrelle outright to the Class A Lakeland Flying Tigers.

In Lakeland, Willis will work with the organization's pitching coordinator, Jon Matlack, and Lakeland pitching coach Joe Coleman to iron out severe control problems that have plagued the 2005 Cy Young Award runner-up since Spring Training. Willis, who signed a three-year, $29 million contract after arriving in a December trade with Florida, has walked 21 batters this season in 11 1/3 innings.

If he gets back on track the Flying Tigers should have some very interesting games with Willis pitching. Not too many, as the Tigers would bring him back in a heartbeat if he regains his form.

Latest Lakeland Crime Map

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:57:33 -0500

If you didn't catch the small map at Lakeland Crime, you might want to try the Full Page LakelandLocal.com Crime Map 05/26 to 06/01 2008 If you use a feed reader, you can get the crime maps delivered. 53 This week's stats: 05 Business Burglary 00 Business Robbery 01 Gang Grafitti 04 Personal Robbery 09 Residential Burglary 01 Residential Robbery 00 Attempted Stolen Vehicle 02 Recovered Stolen Vehicle 09 Stolen Vehicle 22 Vehicle Burglary

Paula Dockery's Rail Editorial

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:13:55 -0500

On May 31, 2008 the Ledger published a letter from State Senator Paula Dockery on her views regarding commuter rail and the failed CSX deal. Today, the Tampa Tribune published the same letter. But not quite the same letter. In the intervening days Dockery has changed a few sentences. We'll save you the trouble of comparing the two letters. Here are the major changes. (Minor word changes such as "FDOT" versus "The FDOT" aren't included here.) •

The skyrocketing cost of gasoline, coupled with the frustrating congestion along the Interstate 4 corridor, has made commuters' patience grow thin, and understandably so. The people of Florida deserve an alternative to the crowded roads. -- The Ledger

The skyrocketing cost of gasoline coupled with the frustrating congestion along the I-4 corridor have made commuters' patience grow thin, and understandably so. The people of Florida deserve an alternative to the crowded roads, and a statewide commuter/passenger rail system has the potential to be an important part of a viable solution. -- Tampa Tribune

•

Why not just have CSX retain ownership and let us pay the company the $2.5 million to $10 million to run commuter rail on its tracks? -- Ledger

If this is a fair price to allow CSX to use our tracks for 12 hours a day, why not just have CSX retain ownership and let us pay them the $2.5 million to $10 million to run commuter rail on their tracks? - Tribune

•

If we are asking taxpayers to spend more than $1 billion and shift endless freight trains into neighboring communities, shouldn't we make sure that people would actually utilize it in the first place? -- Ledger

If we are asking taxpayers to spend more than $1 billion and shift endless freight trains into neighboring communities, shouldn't we make sure that people would actually utilize it in the first place? Shouldn't commuter rail stations be located at tourist attractions and the airport? -- Tribune

•

CSX has been unwilling to budge on the issue of indemnity, the most potentially devastating price to the Florida taxpayer. CSX demands that Florida taxpayers pay the damages in accidents even when CSX is at fault. Even if a jury awards punitive damages intended to punish CSX for grossly negligent behavior, CSX wouldn't have to pay — Florida taxpayers would. -- Ledger

If all this failed to trigger the alarm bells, CSX has been unwilling to budge on the issue of indemnity, the most potentially devastating price to the Florida taxpayer. CSX demands that Florida taxpayers pay the damages in accidents even when CSX is at fault. Even if a jury awards punitive damages intended to punish CSX for grossly negligent behavior, CSX wouldn't have to pay and be punished - Florida taxpayers would have to pick up the bill. -- Tribune

Forum Tonight on the Polk County Growth Cap Amendment

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:08:47 -0500

School is out and you're spending all day listening to the kids squabble over who gets the TV remote, who took the last apple juice, and if first in the shower means you get all the hot water. It's the perfect time to go to a forum on the proposed Polk County Growth Cap Amendment. Join other weary parents and homeowners tonight at 6 p,pm. in the LTB auditorium at the Polk Community College/University of South Florida ~~Lakeland~~ Polytechnic campus. Polk Vision will present information on the amendment. The word is they'll cover various viewpoints about the amendment seeking to moderate growth in Polk County. Representatives from the development industry, land use planning, and the Growth Cap Coalition will be featured on the panel. In the audience will be a resident whose family has been in Polk County for 100 years and doesn't see why he can't develop his land the way he likes. Also in attendance will be someone who moved here a fews years ago and wonders why we can't manage growth as well as they did in Portland. Oregon or Maine. It doesn't really matter which.* If you'd like more information try calling Polk Vision today at 646-0439. But I bet they'll be busy getting ready. * - Resident profiles do not reflect you, your neighbor, or that eccentric person your sister told you about.

Townsend to Leave Tribune

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:38:55 -0500

Tampa Tribune reporter Billy Townsend announced today he is leaving the regional newspaper's Polk County desk for a new position outside journalism. That's really too bad. Townsend's early work on the CSX Project was the first actual reporting done on the story. Without those first forays into the heart of the story Florida tax payers might be stuck for a 1.2 billion bill with no outside review. There is good news in the brief note:

I am also planning to remain in reporting and commentary as an amateur, taking advantage of the some of the excellent online media infrastructure that has been built here over the past two years. I hope that will allow me to maintain a voice in Polk politics and media.

That's great news for regional citizens. Billy, welcome to the ranks of ex-journalist. The grass really is greener over here, even if the money isn't.

Merge Your Caffeine and Internet Addictions

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:33:26 -0500

The rumor is that starting today Starbucks will offer free wi-fi access. There's a catch though: "Complimentary Wi-Fi for Starbucks customers When you register your Starbucks Card and use it at least once a month, you'll receive two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T." Can any of you coffee addicts tell me if this is true?

Will a Closed Street Impact the CSX Project?

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:46:39 -0500

An interesting press release from the City of Lakeland flew across my desk today. I'll quote the whole thing, but the fun is in the map.

LAKELAND, FL (June 2, 2008) -- Starting Wednesday, June 4, 2008 West Magnolia Street at Martin L. King Jr. Boulevard (*) will permanently close due to the second phase of construction of the Lakeland In-town Bypass. After the closure, West Magnolia Street can be accessed by turning east on Peachtree Street just north of Lake Wire Road and then north on Virginia Street. The first phase of the In-Town Bypass from the terminus of Bartow Road at Main Street to SR 35 (North Florida Avenue) opened on February 25, 2004. (*) The second phase of construction includes the westward extension of the In-Town Bypass to SR 600 (George Jenkins Boulevard), with an elevated railroad crossing near the old Florida Tile location. The project also includes the re-alignment of SR 539 (Kathleen Road). Kathleen Road is being re-aligned as part of this project to create a more direct “north-south route” between Interstate 4 and southern Lakeland.

OK, I need to find exactly which of those properties was the "old Florida Tile" location. I do see that tying in the In-Town Bypass to George Jenkins Blvd is sure to affect any opportunity to realign those CSX tracks. In one meeting that sharp turn (*) was blamed for slowing down freight traffic. Removing that left turn from Sikes Blvd. Northbound to Kathleen Rd. Northbound is sure to make many drivers happy.