Thursday, September 13, 2007
Monday, August 06, 2007
Arghhh....Ebay!
Ok, I call back.......30 more minutes on hold. I got a customer service rep by the name of Jeff. He knew I was pretty frustrated by now. Again, their trust and safety department tried to tell him that the documentation that I faxed wasn't enough. They already had a copy of my drivers license and my bank statement and NOW THEY WANTED A COPY OF MY UTILITY BILL!! I wanted to know why they are trying to collect all of this personal information on me. I faxed the same information to him and he had my account reinstated within minutes.
Kudos Jeff! I honestly believe that Meg should share some of that 1.2M salary of hers!
Day 12 of Ebay 7 Day Suspension
Yes it is day 12 of my 7 day suspension. One of EBays customer service emails had said that these issues would be resolved by August 6th. Well, today is August 6th, so I guess I have to wait until whatever they consider to be the start of their business day. I still have not received any answers to the questions that I submitted to them and then resubmitted after the first time they didn't answer them. In reading all the discussion boards, it is apparent that this has been an ongoing issue with customer service, or rather lack of customer service on eBay's part.
Here's an interesting question. If a department works 24/7, but they don't consider weekends a business day, do the people working there just go in and get paid for not working? EBAY HIRE ME!!! Then again, does hitting reply and sending out a form letter (to speed up the response time) not answering any questions...does that qualify for working? According to some report that I read over the last week (have read hundreds!!!), Meg Whitman (CEO of eBay) makes $1.2M year as her salary. How many people would jump on that job. Gosh, you don't even have to make your customers happy or even attempt to. Your business can be used as a fence for stolen goods and sit back and tell the media....we don't like to get involved.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Day 10 of 7 Day eBay suspension
If anyone gets into this situation with eBay....check out the internet for alternative ways to make money on eBay.
Stolen goods are doing wonderful on eBay, and eBay doesn't care so you should be pretty safe....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrzFkbYnWw
Selling your soul brought in $504.00 as reported by Fox TV! This is also acceptable on eBay...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tIJZGkf1vI
Do you search out sellers with good feeback? I always do and my feedback is very important to me. Well, it seems that even feedback is abused on ebay and sold on the black market as reported by the US News. (This is probably a good one if you choose to go the stolen merchandise route for selling on ebay....just buy yourself some feedback!)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070129/29ebay.htm
And for those that are skeptical like I am do a search on eBay for e-books. You can buy an "e-book" for .01 with free shipping and they promise to provide feedback within hours if not immediately. I just did a search and sorted by price and the whole first page was this kind of stuff!
Here's the article about this. Ebay Feedback Farms
Have you been suspended from eBay? Don't worry, their are lots of websites out there that will get you back on under a new identify. They range from free advice to paid information. You can even buy information RIGHT ON EBAY on how to open a second account in case yours is suspended. Wow....here you go (just in case).
To summarize.....I have made an honest living on eBay. Apparently, the real money on eBay is the dishonest and shady!
Friday, August 03, 2007
More Ebay replys
I sent another email asking them for the answers to the same questions posted 3 days prior. They have already responded! With a Form Letter!
Here is the response:
Thank you for contacting eBay regarding your suspension. Your account was suspended because you listed a potentially infringing item. When an item is labeled "potential infringing" it means that the item may violate certain copyrights, trademarks, or other rights.
So I am arrested (suspended) for potentially committing a crime.
Well, it's Friday and I've been told the parole board (Trust & Safety) works 24/7. Their emails state "business" days. Well, if you work 24/7, everyday is a business day....isn't it?
It's very hard to remain civil at this point. Nothing they say holds any water.
Day 9 of my 7 day EBay suspension
They finally responded today!!! YEAH!! (Not!)
"We apologize if our responses seem automated or 'canned'. Please understand that this is partly due to our business processes and partly due to our efforts in providing a rapid response to our members. I assure you that for each reply there is a real person at our end who is dedicated to helping you resolve your concerns."
This entire statement is an oxymoron because the rest of the email DOES NOT ANSWER ANY OF THE QUESTIONS THAT IT WAS IN RESPONSE TO!!!
I was referred to the EBay user agreement, which also DOES NOT answer these questions.
Please understand that this is partly due to our business processes???????? So apparently, eBay has set up their business processes to NOT assist their members.
and partly due to our efforts in providing a rapid response to our members????? Let's see, if I ask a question and it is answered by an email that does not provide an answer.........HOW IS THAT HELPING?
It's very sad that eBay has become what it is today because of all the people out in the real world like me. Since they are the only venue on the internet such as they are....they feel that they can screw around like this....because where else are you going to go? Customer service is only a required department, but not required to actually provide what the title suggests.
Over the last several days.....the most common response that I have gotten was "I'm sorry". I don't know about anyone reading this, but I know that when I am sorry for something, I try to make it right.
Welcome to the year 2007, where faxes have made all of our lives easier. Not with eBay. Did you know that it takes an average of 3 days for eBay to receive a fax!!!! That is what customer service told me! They also state that it takes them 5-10 business days to read that fax! Unfortunately, if we ran our businesses in the way that eBay runs theirs, we would all be out of business within 30 days!
I will continue to post here to let you know what is going on with this nightmare! Wish me luck!!!!!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
ARGHHHHHHHHHH.....Ebay
Envision this scenario:
You are shopping at a mall. You’ve spent hours browsing and found just the items you were looking for. You are at the checkout and have paid the cashier. In rushes the mall security and they take all the inventory from the store and gather it up and throw it in a dumpster, including the package that you have just paid for!
Customer: (outraged) Wait, I just paid for that!!!
Security: (shrugs) Yeah, so what?
Store owner: (frazzled) Wait, stop. What are you doing??
Security: (non-chalantly) We received a complaint that someone doesn’t like what you are selling.They think you may be infringing on their trademark.
Store owner: But I’m not infringing on anyone’s trademark. Don’t I have the opportunity to defend myself?
Security: Nope, you can email the mall owner. If they are in a good mood, maybe they’ll even look at it.
Store Owner: What about my business, what about my customers??
Security: Hey lady, we really don’t care. Do you think we really have the time to check out every complaint to see whether or not it is valid? Think again, it’s easier for us to just handle things this way. As for you customers who paid, not our problem lady.
Store Owner: Let me at least take care of my customers who have paid me.
Security: Lady, are you crazy. No, screw your customers. Oh yeah….we emailed all of your past customers also and told them that you were no good to deal with!
Store Owner: I thought that this was my business and that I owned it. I pay you guys good money every month for my rent!
Security: (rolling on the floor laughing) YOUR business, that’s the funniest thing we’ve heard all day. Let’s get one thing straight. This is OUR business. When we see fit, we ALLOW you to sell your products. You are a speck of dirt to us and if the mood strikes us, we will sweep you under a rug. Anyways lady, we’re too busy to talk to you. You want to talk with us, email us. You don’t like what we’re doing….follow the yellow brick road.
Store Owner: Ok, that’s what I will do. I’m sure that you work for reasonable people.
Store owner picks up phone and dials the mall owner. Ring…ring. Hello, please push 1 to talk to…., please push 2 to talk to….please push 3 to talk to…. Ok, I think I need 1. Hello, thank you for contacting us. Please visit our website and click on 78 links to get the answer that you need. Ok, let’s try 2. Hello, please visit our website and click on 94 links to get the answer that you need. ARGHHHHHHHH!!! Ok, let’s try 3. Hello, the great wizard does not speak with people on the phone! Please email us and we will return your email within 48 hours with a form email that has nothing to do with your question. Thank you!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Veternarians in Port St Lucie
For those of you that know Raven (Michael's dog), you know that she has been sick a lot. She had another one of her "asthmatic attacks" today. Of course, this usually happens on weekends or in the middle of the night....when there aren't any vets open!
For all the animal lovers out there...here's the run down.
Mike is low on cash and needed a vet who would understand this and make arrangements with him.
1. Emergency clinic...forget it. All about money, your animal will only get the treatment that it needs up until your wallet is empty. They will watch an animal die if they can't get paid in full up front.
2. Morningside Animal Clinic. We have been customers of theirs for years. They have received numerous referrals from us. They refused to see or treat Raven due to a balance being owed from her last episode. Mike took them the money and requested that they look at Raven and help her. The receptionists reply was "we have to eat too" and they still wouldn't look at her.
While Mike, Kanesha and Teddy were trying to get Morningside to treat her, I was on the phone looking for someone open.
3. Port St Lucie Animal Hospital. Not in, but said the vet would call me to give me advice. The vet called me and when I started explaining everything to him, his comment was "Spare me the editorial, this is my cell phone. Call my office on Monday and set up appointment." Not in this lifetime idiot.
4. A vet from Palm City called me and when I told him we needed to make payment arrangements, he said if the dog was that sickly and financially draining, we should consider euthanasia. For those of you that know me....you know exactly what I told him. He then told me that we should take the dog back to where we got her and give it back after all, Florida does have a "lemon dog" law. We are talking about a puppy here, a part of our family, not a car. We want to get her medical attention, not return her because she is too much trouble! I ended up hanging up on him as he really pissed me off with his non-caring attitude. He called back and suggested that we "sign" her over to him and he would treat her and find a good home. I told him he should not be a vet!
Well, we DO have people that care. They took Raven to a firestation where the paramedics gave her oxygen. Those guys are the only ones that cared enough to help her. Kudos to those guys.....you were wonderful! I'm not mentioning what firestation or any names so as not to get anyone in trouble. You know who you are and we thank you for what you did. You did not have to, but you had more compassion than those who were trained and supposedly took an oath to help sick animals.
Veternarian Oath (Adopted by the House of Delegates in 1969, Amended by the Executive Board in 1999 and added to by the Herb's in 2007.)
Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine,
I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge
and skills for the benefit of society
through the protection of animal health,
the relief of animal suffering, as long as we get paid in full before looking at that animal!If owner of said suffering animal does not have the financial ability to pay us in full upfront, the above oath is null and void.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Midway cooperation sought in PSL
The council voted 4-1, with Vice Mayor Jack Kelly against, to hammer out an agreement with the county within 90 days to widen Midway Road west of I-95 to Okeechobee Road, an area that will see tremendous housing growth in coming years.
"This will be our northern entryway into the city," Mayor Patricia Christensen said. "I don't want to see a two-lane rural roadway 10 to 15 years from now."
City Manager Don Cooper recommended the county do the $50 million project, saying the city could not take on the expansion without hiring more staff.
"This will add another project to a very long list (of 18 major road projects)," he said.
Vice Mayor Kelly sided with city staff.
"It's a county road, let the county build it," he said. "I don't know when they (last) built a road in the city."
Engineer Butch Terpening and lawyer Bobby Klein, who represent some of the two dozen-plus developers with a stake in the area, said the developers will pay for designing and expanding the road, a hurricane evacuation route.
A taxing arrangement called a special assessment district would be set up with developers voluntarily joining because they wanted the road expanded for their projects, with funding set up for extra staff, Terpening said after the meeting.
After the expansion, Midway Road would be six lanes from I-95 about a mile west to an unnamed arterial road, then four lanes west to Okeechobee Road, with bike paths, sidewalks, and landscaping throughout.
Klein said it would be "difficult" to work out an agreement with all parties in the 90 days set by Cooper, but council members said that there shouldn't be surprises because city staff had previous meetings with the developers about the plan.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
The City Council:
• Approved 5-0 a site plan for Lowe's at St. Lucie West, to be across the street from Home Depot. Lowe's Senior Site Development Manager Chris Thalmann said he expected the home improvement store to break ground by April or May.
• Discussed possible road names for City Center, with several north-south and east-west streets to be named at the Council retreat at the end of the month.
By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com
Monday, January 15, 2007
PSL residents wary of planned parkway
PORT ST. LUCIE — As engineering plans for segments of the Crosstown Parkway get finalized in coming months, homeowners near the corridor's edges wait nervously for the earthen barriers to shield them from vehicle traffic.
"We're not too thrilled," said Teri Paisley, who expected a road expansion when she bought her property four years ago but noted the project has gotten bigger since then.
The segments from Interstate 95 over Florida's Turnpike to Manth Lane should be finished by sometime in 2009, allowing a major east-west route through most of the city. Workers will build berms on both sides of the road with grass, bushes and trees on top through the entire project, although the height will vary, officials said.
Project manager Jim Angstadt, who oversees the segment from I-95 to Florida's Turnpike, said the city will leave in place a berm abutting Lake Charles, a neighborhood in St. Lucie West. Workers will start adding a 5- to 8-foot-high berm on the south side of the Parkway in March or early April to shield neighbors on Southwest Janette Avenue, Angstadt said.
In addition, the city will install a 6-foot-high chain-link fence clad in black vinyl along the property line as an extra barrier on segment two, from the turnpike to Manth Lane, and possibly a similar fence on segment four, from the turnpike west to I-95, he said.
Segment two's berm will be lower — 3 to 4 feet — in places, Angstadt said, but will have more landscaping than in other areas.
Officials sped up constructing a berm along several blocks east of the turnpike between Empire and Hibiscus streets last year after residents abutting the future parkway complained that dirt from immense piles was swirling into their yards.
Teri and Bob Paisley said the city could have kept residents like them more informed on the project. They researched the parkway before they bought their land but said it got bigger since then, including going from four to six lanes.
"I'm afraid (the parkway) will decrease property values of the houses backing up to it," Bob Paisley said.
Residents in Lake Charles have voiced concerns as well, even taking their Councilwoman, Michelle Berger, on a golf cart tour of the areas closest to the parkway. They told her they wanted more berms, but she said, "We want to make sure one neighborhood doesn't get more than others."
Armand Moniz, 80, a resident near the parkway's southern edge, said he was fine with the road as long as the berm was put up.
"Anything to stop the congestion and traffic," he said.
By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Port St. Lucie debates tax relief for poor elderly
PORT ST. LUCIE — In eight years, Florida voters have twice enthusiastically supported property tax breaks for poor senior citizens, but 3,556 eligible city residents haven't seen their city tax bills drop by one dime as a result.
Mayor Patricia Christensen would like to rectify that, especially since the city has never complied with the first voter referendum in 1998 that authorized local governments to extend an additional $25,000 homestead exemption to residents 65 and older whose household income is less than $20,000 yearly.
Voters in November ratified a second $25,000 shield to elderly residents, meaning local governments that enact both measures would extend a $75,000 homestead exemption to low-income seniors. Although past city councils declined to extend the initial $25,000 tax shield to eligible taxpayers, fearing it would rake too much money from their annual coffers, Christensen said she wants to explore the impact and afford the greatest tax cut possible to those most in need.
"It's the least we can do now that the second exemption has passed," Christensen said. "To some people it would mean a lot."
St. Lucie County commissioners in 2002 ratified the 1998 voter amendment, voting to gradually phase in the full $25,000 exemption over five years. Property Appraiser Jeff Furst told Christensen there are 3,556 low-income seniors in Port St. Lucie who receive the exemption on county tax levies.
If all 3,556 eligible city residents received an additional $25,000 homestead exemption on the city portion of their tax bill, it would reduce the city's property tax revenues by $391,160, given a tax rate of $4.44 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
Extending the additional $50,000 exemption would double that loss to $782,320, assuming all eligible residents owned property with taxable property values of at least $75,000 each.
Other city council members are mixed on the plan, with Councilman Christopher Cooper opposed and Councilwoman Linda Bartz undecided. Councilwoman Michelle Berger supports both tax breaks, and Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said he'd like to phase in the breaks, much as the county is doing.
"There's a small portion of people who fall into that category," Berger said. "I don't need to be hit over the head three times. I'm a proponent of actually listening to what the voters want."
Cooper said granting special interest groups tax breaks simply shifts the burden onto other taxpayers, some of whom may be needier than the ones receiving the benefit.
"We need to go back and revisit the entire homestead exemption program to make it fair for everyone," Cooper said. "For us to grant people exemptions based on their age, income, military status and everything else, is not the answer."
Christensen said she will schedule a council discussion on the topic after receiving more information about the financial effects.
City Manager Don Cooper said he considers the tax loss minimal given the city's $62 million general fund budget, which depends largely on property taxes. "It never helps, but it's not the end of the world," he said.
By Teresa Lane
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
PSL to open pet-friendly hurricane shelter by June
It would be the first shelter in St. Lucie County available for pets and their owners.
Emergency Management Coordinator Don Freedland said the city had a tentative agreement with a church to use its community room to house dogs, cats and birds."I don't want St. Lucie County to go through another year without a pet shelter," he said Friday.
Other counties in South Florida such as Broward and Miami-Dade have pet-friendly shelters available for their residents, Freedland noted.
"We have a lot smaller population than some other counties; there's no reason we can't accomplish this," he said. In past hurricanes, some special-needs residents were hesitant to leave their pets behind because there wasn't an appropriate shelter for them, so they stayed home, he said. After past storms, homeless animals fled buildings and roamed city streets disoriented and possibly injured, he said.
The shelter would be staffed by city animal control officers to feed and exercise the animals, and would be free of charge. Residents should expect to give proof of proper vaccinations and sign a waiver that the city is not liable for the animals, Freedland said.
Owners would need to bring their own cages. Preregistration with the city would ensure a spot.
City residents would have first priority, then residents in St. Lucie County.
The Public Works and Animal Control departments will present specifics at the City Council retreat at the end of January.
City officials would entertain other private groups' facilities to use as pet shelters, said Freedland, who is also the city Public Works director.
More hurricane preparedness information will be offered at an expo at the Community Center May 19.
By CHRIS YOUNG
chris.young@scripps.com
January 7, 2007
Dredging delays are unacceptable
Unfortunately, they'll have to wait a little longer.
Illinois-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, the lone company that bid on the project, was scheduled to start work Dec. 6. However, faulty equipment and bad weather pushed the launch date back to Jan. 1.Well, it's now Jan. 8 and the long-overdue, much-needed dredging project still hasn't begun.
This is unacceptable.
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock has a $10 million contract in hand from the Army Corps of Engineers. The company needs to honor the contract by solving its equipment problems and completing the project ASAP.
Time is of the essence — for various reasons.
The first is public safety.
Channels are being buried under piles of drifting sand. Consequently, the inlet has become an increasingly hazardous stretch of water for boaters to navigate. If you're a boater who hasn't used the waterway in recent months, exercise extreme caution.
There's also an economic reason to start and finish the project in a timely manner. Poor conditions in the inlet have forced organizers of some fishing tournaments to move events to Fort Pierce. These hazards are likely to discourage other boaters from launching their watercrafts in Martin County.
The marine industry has an enormous financial impact on the local economy: $688 million in Martin County, according to the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast, a Florida not-for-profit trade association.
The nesting season for sea turtles starts April 30. If the dredging project isn't completed by then, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock will have to pull its equipment off the beach — another reason to get the project under way right now.
Just how bad is the St. Lucie Inlet? In January 2006, the waterway was given the dubious distinction of being named the "most treacherous inlet" on the Atlantic Coast by Saltwater Sportsman magazine. That's bad.
Equally bad is the fact Great Lakes Dredge and Dock has failed to uphold its contractual agreement with the Corps of Engineers — and the taxpayers of Martin County.
Port St. Lucie finally will help Prima Vista
Port St. Lucie residents who live in neighborhoods near a 40-year-old wastewater pumping station could predict the sewage backups.
After heavy rains or especially, during holidays, just when the neighborhoods near Prima Vista Boulevard wanted to look good for the annual influx of visiting friends and relatives, the pump station would fail. Raw sewage would spew into streets, stream into canals and inundate yards. The latest spill happened on Christmas Day, filling the neighborhood with foul odors and leaving lawns covered with caked sludge and toilet paper.
That spill, one of at least six that has occurred in the same neighborhoods in the past 19 years, was triggered when a temporary bypass pipe at a lift station failed. About 1,500 gallons of raw sewage frothed up out of manholes along Prima Vista Boulevard, Naranja Avenue, Serenata Court and Floresta and Sandia drives. Waste filled yards and streets and poured into a nearby canal. Neighbors angered by the frequent failures and backups called the federal Environmental Protection Agency to complain, and local officials sent an employee out to sprinkle disinfecting lime around one of the manhole covers.
But finally, after years of the same scenario playing out again and again, the neighborhoods will get some relief. Though city utility crews have repaired the old pumping station and vacuumed spills for several years, officials finally budgeted a replacement unit, which crews will begin installing this month.
The Port St. Lucie City Council had to buy a house and lot to make room for the larger pumping station, and also had to demolish the house so construction can begin. Another spill Dec. 17 affected four homes on Westmoreland Boulevard, where raw waste backed up into the houses after an old underground pipe became clogged. The city has filed claims with the utility's insurance carrier to pay for damages to residents' carpets, walls and furniture and to pay for temporary housing for residents until the mess is cleaned up.
For the Prima Vista neighborhood, help is in sight. But the city's utility should review all its frequent and recent trouble spots, list them in order of urgency and start making repairs - well before the next holiday.
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
PSL goes back to talks on corridor
The City Council directed Mayor Patricia Christensen Monday night to meet with Martin County Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi and ask him what exactly the county wanted from city officials.
A meeting between Martin County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne and Port St. Lucie City Manager Don Cooper abruptly ended two weeks ago, prompting DiTerlizzi to ask for cooperation at the City Council meeting last week.
Reached before the meeting, DiTerlizzi said the corridor would benefit the city's 15,000 residents who commute to Martin County, per results of a regional study done several years ago.
Officials said the issue was whether Port St. Lucie developers should pay to widen the road from two lanes to four lanes in the future. DiTerlizzi said those developers planning huge projects west of Interstate 95 will negatively impact Martin County's roads, boat ramps and beach access.
"All we're asking is those developers pay for their impacts," he said.
City officials agreed in concept for the connection years ago, Christensen said, but not the lane expansions. There was no interlocal agreement on the road, she said.
DiTerlizzi disagreed, saying the road was addressed in an interlocal agreement the two governments made about a year ago, dealing with either development orders on large developments or the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
Before the meeting, Councilman Christopher Cooper said that a decade ago the connection would have been important, but with multiple routes to Martin County now, including a Becker Road access to Florida's Turnpike opening early next year, the corridor wouldn't be used as much.
The City Council also voted 3-2 to do more research and continue to educate its employees on the benefits of opening a health clinic for city workers, effectively rejecting the clinic opening as city staff hoped in early 2007.
Mayor Christensen and Councilwomen Michelle Berger and Linda Bartz voted for the continuation and Vice Mayor Jack Kelly and Councilman Cooper voted against.
The city could save more than $500,000 its first year with the clinic, according to city staff. The clinic would keep workers healthier, reduce time off work for medical appointments, and reduce the number of visits to specialists, Crowne Consulting Group officials said.
Human Resources Director Tamara Williamson said her staff had gotten only positive feedback from employees about the clinic, though the two police unions did not support it.
"Holding off will hurt us," she said.
Councilwoman Berger, who voted against the clinic concept before, said the city needed to renegotiate with the unions on health care benefits to control costs.
"Our health care costs are escalating, but they are everywhere (else)," Berger said. "We need to go back and renegotiate with the unions. We don't expand government as a response."
IN OTHER ACTION
The City Council:
• Tentatively approved a code enforcement amnesty program that was discussed previously. For all code fines and liens assessed before May 22, 2006, if violators fix the problem and pay a $150 application fee, they would be able to pay only a fraction of their fine. During the month of March, the amount is 25 percent, April — 50 percent, May — 75 percent.
• Voted 4-1 to waive about $29,400 in city fees the Workforce Development Board was billed for relocating its offices. The board asked to waive the fees because it was forced out of its offices to make way for the City Center.
• Unanimously approved a five-year lease with the St. Lucie County School District to let the district build a temporary school in the city. The city would get park facilities the district would build onsite after the district leaves.
• Accepted an environmental study by Port St. Lucie consultants Mark Youmans on the proposed canal park boat launch site on the C-24 Canal.
(By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com )
Blogged with Flock
Sunday, December 03, 2006
PSL's City Center a work in progress
But shoppers still hustle across the cracked parking lot at U.S. 1 and Walton Road, going to the store and its neighbor, Beall's Outlet. Most don't even spare a glance at the dirty yellow backhoe sitting next to a growing pile of concrete and tile next to the deserted storefront that once housed Keiser College.
LEB Demolition is knocking down buildings and scraping out asphalt and utility lines around open businesses. Beall's Outlet and Dollar General, sitting on the fringes of the shopping center, have long-term leases and the Department of Motor Vehicles — settled in the heart of the plaza — will stay open until February. On Saturdays and Tuesdays, a green market sets up shop on what's left of the parking lot.
Just south of the site is Midport II, a condominium complex where homes overlook the 70-acre site that slowly is being scraped clean. One resident, Cheryl Snow, has complained to city officials about noise and smells from the construction.
"I didn't think I'd be up at 7 a.m. in the morning, on the weekend," said Snow, who works at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. "If I can't sleep, I don't know if I'll be safe to drive on the road, or even to work."
Construction crews are working within city regulations, however, leaving Snow few options for relief. Demolition and construction is expected to last for several years, as City Center is built in phases. The city is moving as fast as it can, officials said.
"Get 'er done," said Vice Mayor Jack Kelly, who represents the area. "That's all I'm hearing (from residents). Get 'er done."
Demolition, groundwork on roads and utilities and building all will be happening on the site by April. In about a year, developer George de Guardiola will start on the private portion of City Center — three seven-story buildings with homes and retail slots and several restaurants and office buildings.
"That makes the project even more complicated at that point," City Manager Don Cooper said. "The problem will be when we start construction, having all those guys on the site ... the various contractors will start blaming each other for delays.
"It's going to be a busy site," Cooper added.
Redevelopment Director Glenn Vann is resigning his post Jan. 31, just as ground work is to begin and not long before construction is scheduled to start on the $25 million Civic Center. Coordinating the work could fall — at least for a while — to Cooper, who has not yet reviewed potential replacements for Vann.
But if all goes well, the Civic Center and many of the shops and restaurants could be open by 2009. It's the payoff that makes most of Snow's neighbors happy to put up with construction noise and dust.
"I'm excited to see something happening finally," said Mike Whalen, whose condo overlooks the site. "I can just plop over there and enjoy restaurants and shopping. A little bit of noise and banging doesn't bother me."
CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE
• Demolition is expected to last about two years.
• Construction of roads and utilities will start in February.
• Building of the $25 million, 100,000-square-foot Civic Center should begin by April.
• Within the year, developer George de Guardiola and his partners will start work on three seven-story residential and retail buildings and several restaurants and office buildings.
• The first part of the downtown, including the Civic Center, should open by 2009.
CITY CONSTRUCTION REGULATIONS
• Construction crews can work from 7 a.m. until sundown Monday through Saturday.
• Crews can work from 8 a.m. to sundown on Sunday and holidays.
(By HILLARY COPSEY
hillary.copsey@scripps.com
December 3, 2006)
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Equity One buys 16 acres near Becker Road for $7.6M
The company is planning a retail center on the site. In late October, the firm met with the city and residents of the surrounding community. While neighbors support a retail center, they oppose plans that would include a Publix. Equity One owns 203 properties nationally, 130 of them anchored by grocery stores. The project also depends on whether the city would improve the road at that intersection.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Overhaul of downtown Fort Pierce will mirror Venice
FORT PIERCE — Fast forward 10 or 15 years from now into Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency Director Jon Ward's world and envision downtown looking like St. Mark's in Venice, Italy.
Buildings that once were one story would be torn down and transformed into multi-storied attractive buildings overlooking the waterfront. Surface parking lots would be almost non-existent and replaced with new structures with parking incorporated inside the buildings. A public park would be centrally located in the heart of downtown surrounded by a promenade of shops and cafes.
"Imagine St. Mark's in Venice where open public space is surrounded by dense buildings," Ward said. "We could have exactly that here. I think people will start to see the impact of this when they start to see the skyline accentuated by the new Clerk of Courts building."
SCRAPPED GARAGE
Since the city scrapped plans — after spending almost $1 million — to build the downtown parking garage on the former JCPenney lot on Indian River Drive, opting instead to build it in the parking lot of City Hall, the 1.2-acre site has caught the attention of developers locally and out of state. The same is true for 2.43 acres of city-owned property across from the JCPenney site between Avenue A and Orange Avenue — the site where Palm Beach Gardens-based Catalfumo Construction bailed out of the condominium hotel, mixed-used Marina Square project.
City officials will seek a request for proposals on both sites within 30 days and hope to hear some good ideas for projects in prime locations. In particular, city officials would like to build a destination hotel or a mix of uses, including condominiums and commercial development, on the JCPenney lot and would like to preserve a portion of the Marina Square site for a public park and a promenade.
"The city of Fort Pierce will not be a destination until we have a destination hotel, a place where we can put the performers at the Sunrise Theatre and the people who come to see the shows," Ward said.
As an example, Ward said he's hosting the Florida Film Commission in town this week and, "they want to see the sights here, but they can't stay here. They're staying in Port St. Lucie."
Mayor Bob Benton said local developers such as Leo Henriquez, who's building the downtown Renaissance on the River Project, had expressed interest in the JCPenney lot.
"We need a hotel very badly downtown," Benton said. "We need visitors coming downtown."
MIXED REACTIONS
Some downtown merchants marvel at a potential park across from their businesses at the Marina Square site, but balk at a hotel on the JCPenney site. Many are bitter over the city's decision to ax the parking garage plans on the JCPenney lot and build it at City Hall.
And they have the ears of at least two city commissioners, Christine Coke and Eddie Becht, who both adamantly opposed building the garage at City Hall. The move was spearheaded by Benton and backed by commissioners Rufus Alexander and R. "Duke" Nelson, all of whom said a parking garage would not be the best use for prime waterfront property in the heart of downtown.
Several business owners contend the City Hall location is an inconvenient place to put a parking garage, especially for elderly shoppers who are leery of crossing the railroad tracks, let alone lugging heavy shopping bags back to their cars from businesses several blocks away.
"Putting a parking garage on City Hall right now is only going to serve one purpose — extra parking for city employees," said Charles Brinkman, vice president of the Downtown Business Association whose business, Java Charlie's, fronts the JCPenney and Marina Square lots. "We have a lot of elderly. We can't expect them to walk across the railroad tracks in wheelchairs and canes. I'm assuming it's all about politics. It just makes no sense to me to spend a million dollars in preparing the property to build and going, 'Oh, no, we want to build condos.' "
Terri Ann Palumbo, owner of The Barkery on Second Street, said city officials aren't considering how their decisions are impacting the downtown business owners. Palumbo, like several other downtown merchants, want officials to reconsider building the downtown parking garage back on the JCPenney site.
"From a planning and practical perspective, it just makes sense to have it there," she said. "Putting a parking garage at City Hall knowing in advance that it's likely to be more populated by city employees is not a solution."
SAFETY AND CONVENIENCE
Bob Swisher, treasurer of the DBA and an accountant at Chaney's House of Flowers on Second Street, said officials need to consider safety and convenience of having a parking garage at the JCPenney site.
"The first time somebody gets a cane stuck in the railroad tracks, oh my," he said.
In May, about 20 people signed a petition objecting to a parking garage at City Hall. Others say they weren't aware of the petition and would have signed it.
Brian Campbell, who co-owns Sunrise City Carpets on Second Street, has a different perspective about the parking problems downtown. He says building a parking garage at City Hall would force people to walk by other businesses they had not intended to patronize. He said more walking would draw more visibility to downtown merchants, which means more impulse buying.
"We need to build whatever is going to beautify the place and make people feel more comfortable downtown," Campbell said. "Fort Pierce has a stigma that we need to break. I have customers who won't send their wives down here because they have a perception that Fort Pierce is a bad place. I know people in Jupiter who won't stay in a hotel in Fort Pierce. We need to change that. If people aren't walking they're not noticing the businesses."
(By ALEXI HOWK alexi.howk@scripps.com )
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Boat ramps will damage C-24 canal, Port St. Lucie residents say
Port St. Lucie has 6,000 registered boaters but just one boat launch. Every recent recreation survey has shown that residents want more ocean access, so the City Council decided earlier this year to plan a boat launch park on the canal, just west of Southbend Boulevard.
At a September meeting about the plan, Parks Director Chuck Proulx said 72 percent of residents who gave comments supported building boat ramps at the eight-acre canal site.
But a handful of neighbors say the plan is going to cause environmental damage to the canal and wetlands on the site. Given the complaints, Proulx is demanding City Council members either support or scrap the plan.
"I do not wish to waste further engineering costs, staff time and public consternation if politically this is not a project the City will pursue," Proulx wrote to City Manager Don Cooper on Monday.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the park at its regular meeting Dec. 4.
The city has a $60,000-plus contract with American Consulting Engineers to design the boat ramps and has spent about one-third of the money. A draft study the firm did in July said the wetlands on the eight-acre site were of poor quality and wouldn't be hurt significantly by the ramps.
Another study — paid for by residents near the canal — reached the opposite conclusion.
Led by Christy Church, the anti-ramp residents hired local consultant Mark Youmans to study the canal site and critique the city's study. Youman concluded ramps could hurt the wetlands and that the American Consulting Engineers study was biased in favor of the city.
"Many factors of the surrounding hydrological environment were completely ignored," the critique said.
Church showed Youmans' study to city officials and council members, but said her fellow residents did not want to give the city a copy.
"We paid with our taxpayer dollars (for the American Consulting study), and now our own... We paid good money for it," she said, adding she didn't feel comfortable giving out copies without asking her neighbors again.
Proulx said if the city had a copy he would take it to American Consulting Engineers to review.
"If they have valid information, we need to take it and adjust our plan accordingly," he said.
If City Council decides to pursue the canal boat launch — potentially two ramps and parking for as many as 90 trailers — getting permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection, South Florida Water Management District and Army Corps of Engineers could take years, Proulx said. Building would take about nine months, however, the city still must find the $2 million to pay for the project.
If council members scrap the canal ramps, the city has just a couple other locations where boat launches could be built, including another site off Southbend Boulevard.
PROPOSED CANAL PARK
• Eight-acre boat launch facility on the C-24 canal west of Southbend Boulevard.
• Two ramps, 60-90 trailer spaces, at a cost of about $2 million.
• Residents opposing the site paid for their own environmental study, which contradicts the city's study.
• City Council will discuss whether to continue the project at its meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 in City Hall. '
(By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com )
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
PSL hopes to compromise with Martin on road plan
City Manager Don Cooper vetoed connecting the Western Palm City Corridor to Port St. Lucie Boulevard during a discussion last week with Martin County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne.
In an e-mail to the council, Cooper said he was following a council order that neither the city nor its residents — including developers — should have to pay for the corridor's maintenance or eventual widening to four lanes.
But Ballantyne said the plans approved by the city and state for the massive developments west of Interstate 95 require developers to pay for the corridor's widening.
"I would expect that Martin County will take further action via courts," Cooper wrote in the e-mail.
Before that happens, the council wants a chance to craft a compromise.
Martin County Commissioner Michael DiTerlizzi appeared at Monday's council meeting to ask the city to cooperate on the road project.
"We weren't in a position to give you an answer tonight," Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said. "We made a deal with you five years ago. A deal's a deal. (Paying for a four-lane connector) wasn't the deal."
DiTerlizzi and Mayor Patricia Christensen agreed to meet to negotiate after a City Council meeting December 4, when council members will decide what the city's terms should be.
"I think a lot more can be accomplished if I'm there, at least, with staff," Christensen said.
Other council members want to get the city the best deal from the connection. Councilwoman Michelle Berger suggested Martin County should have to pay for part of the intersection costs, which are part of a $50 million widening of Becker Road.
"We followed through on our end of the deal (contributing $500,000 to the corridor)," Berger said. "In the ongoing effort to be a good neighbor, they should absolutely help pay for that intersection."
DiTerlizzi said that "cooler heads will prevail," and that Martin County officials had already spent years and a lot of money designing the road. He said it would be a two-lane road initially if city officials granted the connection.
"I think the connection has mutual benefits," he said.
The $30 million corridor's connection into Port St. Lucie came into jeopardy this month when the City Council approved a roundabout at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Becker Road.
Cooper warned that the intersection of two major thoroughfares — Becker runs into a proposed mall site west of Interstate 95, while the corridor is an alternative to U.S. 1 and Murphy Road — would generate more traffic than a roundabout could handle.
Meanwhile, DiTerlizzi said the timing of the negotiations would force Martin County to further delay opening of bids for construction of the 5.6-mile road.
WESTERN PALM CITY CORRIDOR
Cost: $30 million.
Proposal: Connection to Port St. Lucie Boulevard at Becker Road.
BECKER ROAD
Cost: $40 million to $50 million.
Proposal: Expansion from two to four lanes. Roundabouts planned at Port St. Lucie, Savona and Darwin boulevards.
(By HILLARY COPSEY hillary.copsey@scripps.com )
Monday, November 27, 2006
Pioneers of PSL sharing history
With a camera. And an audience.
Fay James, 79, and Mickey Ford, 66, are some of the first people to share their memories of the earliest days of Port St. Lucie for the city's Historical Society oral history project.
With help from the city's Communications Department, the society has recorded the recollections of more than a dozen Port St. Lucie pioneers — people who came to the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Contributors include Bob Minsky, the former mayor who spent more than an hour during his last week in office sharing memories with the camera.
"If we don't preserve our history as we go, we're going to look up one day and it's going to be gone," Minsky said.
James, who moved to Port St. Lucie permanently in 1978 after years of coming down from Virginia for vacations, recalled winter cocktail parties at golf course homes in Sandpiper Bay.
"People dressed up for the parties," James said. "I mean dressed — furs, you know this was in winter, and full-length gowns."
In those years, Port St. Lucie was a retirement village near enough to Martin County, the playground of Frances Langford Stuart, to attract a few famous faces. It wasn't unusual, James and other pioneers said, to see Perry Como out on the Port St. Lucie golf courses.
But the General Development Corp. town wasn't exactly the high life. There was one restaurant and one gas station.
When 83-year-old Roman Mager moved here in 1959, before Port St. Lucie was even incorporated as a city, friends laughed at him. They called the city an "out of civilization" place.
"That's where I wanted to be," Mager said. "Now, I'm missing the out-of-civilization place, to be perfectly frank."
Thanks to the population boom of recent years, most of the city's 150,000 residents are newcomers. Which is precisely why pioneers like Mager think Port St. Lucie Historical Society has the right idea trying to preserve history.
"There are very few people who know of it," Mager said. "Things were constantly changing. We need people to keep ... the past."
PORT ST. LUCIE REMEMBERED
General Development Corp. incorporated the original 80-square miles of Port St. Lucie in April 1961. The population in 1970 was 330. Early residents were mostly retirees from the Northeast.
Pioneers remember a variety of experiences including:
• Cocktail parties on patios overlooking golf courses.
• Roughing it in homes wired for just 60 amps. The electrical appliances were a refrigerator, a coffeepot and "maybe" a toaster.
• Telling friends to send letters to "Sandpiper Bay Country Club" instead of a city address.
(By HILLARY COPSEY hillary.copsey@scripps.com )
Monday, November 20, 2006
Retiring mayor's tough shell screens soft heart
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 19, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — At 7 p.m. Monday, Mayor Robert E. Minsky will tap his gavel on the lectern one last time, say goodbye to the city's lawmakers and drive his Ford pickup home with the woman who's shared his life the past 38 years.
Not much pomp and circumstance for the mayor of one of the nation's most up-and-coming cities, but that's the way Bob Minsky has lived for 73 years.
Classic quotes from Minsky
1. 'Well, when you put it that way ... I still disagree!' - Common joke Minsky used at council meetings.
2. 'It is most unfortunate that you are under the delusion that your opinions are of consequence or importance to anyone but yourself, especially to me.' - February 1993 letter to a developer.
3. 'It's been very disappointing to find out that I am mortal after all.' - March 1993 comment to a reporter after critics said he was maturing in office.
4. 'The way GDC (General Development Corp.) developed this place, I describe it like the Oklahoma stampede - everybody goes out and drives their stake and waits for civilization to catch up.' - September 1994 comment about the city's lack of a downtown.
5. 'GDC stands for Genetically Defective Community. They sort of brought us into existence, but I sometimes look at it as a case of incest.' - January 1998 comment about city founderGeneral Development Corp.
6. 'Your letter is exactly the kind of letter someone who uses Preparation H for toothpaste would write. As for how I feel about CNN now that I have your apology, let me say you and your motley crew can all go to hell.' - December 2004 letter to CNN after Minsky was booted from a hurricane special the network was taping.
7. 'I was thinking about sending a condolence card to Burnham (Institute), seeing as how they'll be moving to Orlando now.' - August comment about the biotech institute choosing to build a lab in Orlando rather than Port St. Lucie.
8. 'The next time Martin County starts harassing us, we can tell them, "You think you're such a big-shot county? We've got more people than your entire county. Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" ' - September comment about Port St. Lucie's population surpassing Martin's.
9. 'I am constantly amazed at how hard some people will work to prove they are ignorant of the truth, and how willing they are to prove it.' - October letter to the editor responding to a resident's complaints about utility contracts and downtown redevelopment.
10. 'I don't like it that people will think of me every time they flush their toilets, but some things you've got to live with.' - November comment about his work to expand water and sewer lines citywide.
Simply. Directly. Larger than life.
"You either loved him or you didn't," said state Sen. Ken Pruitt, "but that was one of his redeeming virtues. He said what he meant, and he always had the city's best interest at heart.
"You just don't replace a Bob Minsky."
Indeed, Minsky's transition from gadfly to statesman mirrors the city's own coming-of-age during its 45 years on the map. Although Minsky never lost his acerbic tongue, he was more prone to compromise than confrontation after a rocky start in 1992 that saw City Manager Don Cooper hosting the equivalent of marriage counseling sessions for council members.
Cooper, once the target of candidate Minsky's wrath, said he's never seen a politician mature quite like Minsky, who has served longer than any other mayor in Port St. Lucie history.
"In an era where everyone was a slave to being politically correct, Bob was more concerned about getting the problem solved," the city manager said. "He was just saying what everybody else was thinking."
Ironically, city founder General Development Corp., the eventual bane of Minsky's existence as mayor, brought the Colorado real estate agent to Port St. Lucie in 1978.
"His aunt knew about GDC, and she told us he might be able to get a real estate job here," said Emily Minsky, who met her future husband while tending bar in a military officers club. "He got his Florida real estate license, but GDC didn't have an opening."
Minsky began selling real estate for Robert DeSantis, who still has a commercial real estate office in Stuart.
Although most people know the public side of Bob Minsky, the one who fires off hyperbole-laced letters and takes on anyone who dares criticize his beloved city, few know the man behind the rough facade.
"He's a pussycat," said his wife, who is three years older than Minsky and calls him the most honorable man she's ever met. "I've seen him come home many a night almost in tears, and he'd say, 'I feel so bad for the people because I had to say no.' It hurts him because we've been there."
They met at an Air Force base while Minsky was in the midst of a 20-year aerial photography career. Both were divorced with children, and neither was looking to jump into another marriage. But something clicked between the Jewish son of a clothing manufacturer and the Irish farm girl from Maryland.
"I said, 'What are you doing sitting at the bar by yourself? You look lonely,'" she recalled. "He said, 'I'm looking for a baby sitter. You wouldn't be able to help me.'"
It just so happened that she had an 18-year-old daughter who was looking for a job. Three months later, Bob and Emily married.
And life never would be dull again.
"Nobody thought it would last," she said. "We were so different. Bob was quiet and reserved, and I was one of them gals that had seen it all. I said what I felt, and I liked a good time."
In retrospect, she said her openness may have helped launch Minsky the extrovert. After retiring from the Air Force, he dabbled in numerous jobs, from moving furniture and managing a Montgomery Ward retail store to selling real estate and working as an armed security guard at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Most people knew him as a mailman.
Although the Minskys never went without food or clothing for their nine children, she acknowledges that times weren't always easy.
"He had to borrow $15 a week before payday just to feed the kids," she said. "That's why the stories about people losing their homes to taxes really gets to him. We've come from nothing, really."
Hardship and frugality
His childhood in the New York City borough of The Bronx was sometimes laced with poverty, he said. Although his father, the son of Russian immigrants, managed to open a small clothing factory in New York's garment district, the business collapsed twice. His father ultimately was forced to work for another company after union demands skyrocketed.
"I remember my mom selling her jewelry," Minsky said. "My dad was a very decent person. I never saw him raise his hand to anyone in the family."
Observers say Minsky's humble beginnings led him to be among the most financially conservative members of the city council.
Indeed, Minsky's political career was launched after the city threatened to charge him $16,000 he didn't have for water and sewer service along the infamous "Bayshore Corridor."
One of his greatest achievements in office was launching an expansion of water and sewer lines to every lot in the city for an average cost of $2,200 a lot. Expansion of parks for children also was high on his to-do list. The city even named its only gymnasium after him.
"He's one of the most honest men I've ever known," said longtime friend and colleague Jack Kelly, who helped Minsky get reelected before seeking his own term on the city council.
Although Minsky lost one reelection bid after voters accused him of growing too arrogant in office, the two-year respite proved a blessing in disguise. It was during that time that his wife developed breast cancer, prompting Minsky to remain at her side for more than a year.
"When they gave me chemo, he was sitting on the floor at the base of my chair," she said. "He cried when they told me I had cancer, not me. He told me if he'd been in office, he probably would have quit."
With his wife in remission and no trace of the disease remaining, Minsky approached her in 2000 while she was cooking.
"He said, 'Do you mind ...,' and I knew what he was asking," she said. "Before I could even say, 'Go for it,' he was out the door, burning up the road to city hall to file his campaign papers.
"He told me, 'You know I love you dearly, but our city ain't done nothin' in the past two years, and I can't stand it.'"
Minsky admits that, if it weren't for feeling guilty about leaving his wife at home every day while he dons a suit and heads to city hall, he probably would have run for his sixth term this year.
But the former high school swimmer can feel it in his bones: He's not as quick as he once was, and he no longer has the same zest for the job.
Plus, there are the six great-grandchildren and a few grandchildren in Oregon and California he and his wife haven't met. The job, and the public, always came first.
Not anymore.
"We'd like to travel, go see the national parks," said Minsky, who waited until Thursday to clean out his office in time for Monday's swearing-in of Mayor-elect Patricia Christensen. "I feel like the city is in very good shape, and it will continue to prosper. It's healthy for someone new to take over the reins."
Although some speculate Minsky will jump back into the local political scene after a few months of political detox, he vows that won't happen. But he's extended an open door to Christensen anytime she needs a little advice from an old pro.
He also passed out gifts Thursday to his fellow council members, many of whom had vocal battles with him on the council dais, only to crack jokes with him in the hallway a few hours later. Even his detractors admit life was never dull when Minsky was in the building.
"Love him or hate him, everyone will miss Bob Minsky," colleague Kelly said. "People have said he was a colorful mayor, but I think he was the aurora borealis of mayors."
Friday, November 10, 2006
Port St. Lucie begins City Center project
Friday, November 10, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — Twelve exploding mortars and a simulated bomb jolted neighbors from their porches and sent a massive fireball skyward Thursday, but that's how officials wanted construction of the city's only downtown to begin.
With a bang.
After 20 years of clamoring for a central gathering spot, city officials think they've found it in the shadows of a nondescript shopping center that sits at the retail heart of Port St. Lucie on U.S. 1. As dozens watched the front wall of the former Village Green 6 Theatres crumble in the jaws of a track excavator Thursday, officials urged residents to keep their eyes on City Center over the next few years.
They might just think they're in a real city.
"We're going to see a new and beautiful downtown rise out of the dust," a beaming mayor-elect Patricia Christensen said. "What we'll see here in three to five years is something this community can be so proud of."
Indeed, with $85 million in taxpayers' money pledged and another $291 million in private investment, the transformation of the former Village Green Shopping Center into a CityPlace-like downtown will signal a new beginning for a town never designed to be more than a bedroom community, observers say.
"Everyone wants to feel like they're part of something," said councilman Jack Kelly, "and now people will have a place to belong."
As early as April, residents will see construction begin on the heart of the downtown: a 100,000-square-foot civic center in the northeast corner that will house everything from a gym and sprawling banquet rooms to a fitness center and the city's only public art gallery. The city also will begin work on two multistory parking garages and a large tiled plaza with interactive fountain that will have ample room for outdoor concerts and festivals.
Later in the year, Jupiter developer George de Guardiola and his partners, brother Eduard de Guardiola and Rendina Companies of Palm Beach Gardens, will begin work on three seven-story buildings that will house retail and residential units. The group also will start work on three stand-alone restaurants and two office buildings, all of which should open about the same time as the city's buildings in 2009.
Demolition of the former shopping center will last 18 months, largely because crews must await the February exodus of the Department of Motor Vehicles before razing the central part of the center. If it weren't for that, Community Redevelopment Agency Director Glenn Vann says, L.E.B. Demolition could rip through the aging walls of concrete and stucco in half that time, scraping up the massive parking lot and underground utility pipes as it goes.
While Beall's Department Store and Dollar General will remain open for years because of long-term lease agreements, all other buildings will vanish by mid-2008.
In their place will rise a Mediterranean-themed cluster of stores, offices, restaurants and homes, a close replica of West Palm Beach's CityPlace but situated on nearly twice the land. Pedestrians will stroll along tree-lined sidewalks just feet from slow-moving traffic, and cars will be tucked out of view in parking garages.
For Joe Holiday, president of the St. Lucie Professional Arts League, the promise of the city's first public art gallery means more than paintings and jazz performances.
It means the arrival of a true city.
"Art and music is the soul of any city," said Holiday, who longs to bring musicians and visiting artists to the 4,000-square-foot art gallery inside the civic center. "You need your stores and offices, but when you've got music and art, you feel a sense of completion."
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Cooridor hookup debated by city
Thursday, November 09, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — City officials are debating whether they'll allow Martin County road builders to connect the long-awaited Western Palm City Corridor to Port St. Lucie Boulevard after City Manager Don Cooper this week said the connection would doom the use of planned roundabouts on Becker Road.
Three months after Martin officials bought the last piece of land needed for the 5-mile, multimillion-dollar road from Martin Highway to Port St. Lucie Boulevard, Cooper told city council members in a memo Monday that excess traffic from the connection would cause roundabouts to fail.
Although the city contributed $500,000 toward the road, Councilman Jack Kelly said he'd rather beautify Becker than connect to a highway that will prompt Martin officials to complain louder about Port St. Lucie's inflow of motorists, boat owners and beachgoers.
Martin County officials feel so strongly about the effects of Port St. Lucie newcomers, they've asked state officials to deny Port St. Lucie developers the right to build on thousands of acres west of Interstate 95 until they pay for the impact to Martin's beaches and boat ramps.
"I'm going to agree with Martin County," Kelly said. "They want us to stop sending St. Lucie license plates down there, so we're going to help them."
While Cooper said the Palm City connection would cause a proposed public square or roundabout at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Becker Road to be overrun with traffic, he advised council members to give "serious consideration" to removing planned circles at Darwin and Savona boulevards as well if the road is built because of the expected stampede.
Councilwoman Michelle Berger said she believes a traffic light at Port St. Lucie Boulevard would handle the Martin connection plus hordes of drivers who could one day flock to a proposed mall just west of I-95 at Becker. The remaining intersections could sport roundabouts in a project that Cooper estimates will cost between $40 million and $50 million.
Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen, newly elected Tuesday to replace retiring Mayor Bob Minsky, said she's hesitant to refuse the Martin connection given congestion already in the Becker Road area.
"I think at some point in the future we will definitely need that connector road to ease the traffic, even when the turnpike interchange opens.
"Maybe we can ask Martin County to help contribute to our project because they're going to impact us."
In addition to roundabouts, Cooper is recommending buying about 150 vacant lots along Becker to store rainwater runoff, buffer nearby homes from commercial development and create a linear park to encourage pedestrians. The plan also would limit the number of driveways onto Becker, close several roads to reduce conflicts and require businesses to use side streets for entrance ways.
City council members will discuss the recommendations at 7 p.m. Monday at city hall.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Proposal for a Lowe's to go before PSL City Council
November 8, 2006
A proposal to build a Lowe's home improvement store at St. Lucie West and Cashmere boulevards will go before City Council without the support of two resident advisory boards.
The Planning and Zoning Board followed the lead of the Site Plan Review Committee on Tuesday, voting unanimously to deny Lowe's plan. The 139,000-square-foot store will cause more traffic problems than the company is willing to fix, city engineers and planners said.
City engineers estimate the store will bring as many as 5,000 additional vehicles through the already congested intersection. They wanted Lowe's to make significant road improvements, including adding turn lanes and making Cashmere Boulevard four lanes from Port St. Lucie Boulevard.
The company refused and accepted the advisory boards' denials in hopes that City Manager Don Cooper could settle the disagreement before City Council considered the proposal.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Fort Pierce rejects plan for dock expansion
November 7, 2006FORT PIERCE — The City Commission late Monday night denied developer Mason Simpson's plans to expand the Harbour Isle marina with an additional 28 boat slips.
About 40 residents in the 912-unit Harbour Isle development crowded commission chambers Monday night to object to Simpson's plans. The commission turned the request down 3-2, with Commissioners Rufus Alexander and R. "Duke" Nelson dissenting.
Simpson wants to expand the development's 63-slip marina with slips large enough to moor 60-foot boats.
Several residents complained noise pollution and diesel fumes created by the expansion would devalue their properties. The also worried the expansion would damage sea grass beds in the lagoon.
Philip "Flip" Gates, president of Visions of Fort Pierce and spokesman for the Harbour Isle at Hutchinson Island East Condominium Association, told commissioners about 200 of its members opposed the plan.
Additionally, about 60 residents signed petitions protesting the plan.
Several commissioners, including Mayor Bob Benton, said they would have looked at the proposal more favorably had Simpson completed commercial buildings on the property, including a restaurant, grocery store and a marina support building.
"To me, when we approved this we expected to see a finished product before we approved additions," Benton said.
Simpson argued there hasn't been a demand for commercial development and he has been unsuccessful finding people interested in running a restaurant.
"I can't see building a building and doing the field of dreams trick, if you build it, they'll come," Simpson said.
Philippe Jeck, attorney for the developer, said he received 25 letters in support of the project. Still, the objections far outnumbered those in favor of the plan.
"My apartment would be looking at a 60-foot boat, and I will be sucking in diesel fumes,"
resident Kerrie Russell said. "People will be looking into my window. I don't like that my privacy is going to be disrupted. My view is going to be obscured."
Resident Paul Gagnon said he recently received a letter from the homeowners association saying he would have to pay a portion of $50,000 to repair a deteriorating sea wall. He said additional slips would put more undue burden on residents, especially because use of the marina isn't restricted to residents.
Jeck told commissioners the boats would be about 50 feet from apartments. He said the existing marina, which is open to the public, is full. He said 27 of the 63 slips are used by residents and 36 are used by nonresidents. There are 37 names on a waiting list for slips.
Commissioner Christine Coke sided with residents.
"From what I'm hearing from the people that live here, they're responsible for maintaining that sea wall," Coke said. "So, you're looking to build something that is possibly going to jeopardize or damage their sea wall. They're going to be in charge of maintaining it or repairing it.
"They're going to be the ones putting up with the noise and the smell every time someone starts a boat. They're going to put up with it, while you guys walk away with the money."
IN OTHER ACTION
The commission:
• Dropped a proposal to prevent the public comment portion of its meetings from being televised.
• Postponed a planned unit development consisting of 284 town houses and 218 single-family homes on the east side of Selvitz Road, a half mile north of Midway Road. The commission instructed Midway St. Lucie LLC to work with residents in the surrounding area who oppose the project and come up with a compromise by the Nov. 20 meeting.
• Adopted the 2002 Port of Fort Pierce master plan into the city's comprehensive plan. The plan limits cargo development to berth 1 and encourages gentrification of the port through a mix of recreational, commercial, residential and industrial uses.
• Approved 244 recorded annexation agreements in the Paradise Park subdivision. The properties will increase the city's tax base by $47,000.
• Approved a proposal by Shelby Homes at Hutchinson LC to construct 35 boat slips, one of which will be city-owned, from the Mariner Bay town house development on the west side of South Ocean Drive, south of Indialantic Drive and north of Jaycee Park.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
PSL's Riverwalk South closing moves forward
Despite some city officials' skepticism, the developer of the proposed hotel at Riverwalk South says the company will close on its land purchase.
Richard Mielbye, senior vice president of development for Innkeepers USA, wrote to the city that a revised planning document should be delivered today, putting it on track for review by the City Council early next year.
The site plan for the hotel, a seven-story Embassy Suites by Hilton, still would take at least through mid-2007 to be approved, Mielbye said.
Officials questioned the project's viability due to a disagreement between the city and Innkeepers USA plus another developer on how they would pay for road improvements through a special taxing arrangement called a SAD.
Councilman Jack Kelly is particularly riled about the timing. Kelly said when the city signed the contract to sell 9.75 acres near the St. Lucie River to Innkeepers USA in April, officials expected the sale to close by September.
"A deal was a deal," Kelly said. "They had no right to delay (the land purchase) for the SAD."
Mielbye said the land purchase could be speeded up if the city allowed it to submit multiple planning documents at the same time, which normally isn't allowed.
Innkeepers will close on the $4 million property after the city signs off on its site plan and other planning documents, he said.
Kelly scheduled a discussion to let Innkeepers expedite their plan submissions at the Nov. 6 City Council meeting.
"If the City Council approves it, there will be no more roadblocks to them closing on the property," he said. "That way they have to make a decision."
The City Council decided last week to scrap the special taxing arrangement with both developers and instead borrow $1.1 million to make sure intersection modifications at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Westmoreland will continue as planned.
Innkeepers plans to build a 1,800-foot-long boardwalk to connect to the existing boardwalk north of Port St. Lucie Boulevard, scheduled a year after the hotel approval, Mielbye added.
The property will also have a 6,500-square-foot restaurant and some retail shops, with condos to be built in the future.
PSL pool to get splashy additions with water park
Palm tree sprinklers, frog water cannons and a variety of geysers will splash into the Ravenswood pool next year.
St. Lucie County is building its first-ever "sprayground" — a water play area filled with splashing and spraying toys — in Port St. Lucie. The $727,000 project includes the 4,800-square-foot splash park, a ticket booth, a classroom and shade structures at the pool that sits just off the south side of Prima Vista Boulevard.
"We're just trying to build the pool up and make it grow," Manager Katie Grafton said.
St. Lucie County is getting the necessary permits now from Port St. Lucie and still must choose a contractor for the project. But if everything goes smoothly, the sprayground should be open by next fall, county spokesman Erick Gill said.
The county plans to build two smaller splash parks at the open space pool on Avenue M and in Lakewood Regional Park. Port St. Lucie also is thinking about building a sprayground of its own.
"It's an added feature that our parks lack," Councilwoman Michelle Berger said.
The city is about to start planning its $12 million Torino Regional Park. If residents want one, a sprayground could be part of the project, which is the largest park ever built by the city.
Residents can share their thoughts on Torino park — and its possible sprayground — during a Nov. 8 planning session from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Community Center on Airoso Boulevard.
SPRAYGROUND
St. Lucie County is building a water toy play area for $727,000 at the Ravenswood pool off Prima Vista Boulevard. The facility, which is slated to open next fall, will include:
• Palm tree sprinklers.
• Magic touch fire hydrant.
• Frog and seahorse water cannons.
• A variety of hoses and geysers.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Summit eyes housing costs
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PORT ST. LUCIE — The real estate mantra "drive till you qualify" can mean an awfully long road trip these days.
With a median housing price hovering around $250,000, St. Lucie County - once a haven for affordable homes - is off that route for many service-industry and public-sector employees.
Yet the demand for such housing will only increase in the coming decades, experts predict, potentially trapping the region in an economic vise.
By 2025, the four-county area stretching from Palm Beach County to Indian River County will need about 120,000 new "workforce" housing units: homes that are affordable for people who make 60 percent to 120 percent of the median income.
That's about one-third of all homes the region is expected to build during the 19-year period, said Greg Vaday, economic development coordinator for the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
"That's a significant number," he said.
Vaday outlined the figures, compiled by the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing, on Friday during the Realtors Association of St. Lucie Inc.'s first housing summit.
The roughly 40 real estate agents and local leaders in attendance spent the day studying the problem and compiling seven recommendations that they will bring back to local governments.
At the top of their list: Create more diverse rental properties.
"I would estimate that 90 percent of the teachers that we hire and recruit want to rent," said Steve Valencia, personnel director for the St. Lucie County School District.
High rental costs are causing the district to lose teachers, he said, citing a popular, second-year band teacher who recently moved away.
"Students loved him. Teachers loved him. The community loved him," he said. "He was doing a good job, but he just couldn't afford to live in St. Lucie County."
The county's sheriff's office and fire district are facing similar recruitment roadblocks, even as they need more hires than ever to keep pace with record growth, leaders reported.
"We can't compete with the salaries that are being offered to the south of us at this point, particularly Miami-Dade County and Broward County," said Rick Carreno, human resources director for the St. Lucie County Fire District.
Meanwhile, the average rent for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in Martin and St. Lucie counties rose 9.5 percent during the past year to $1,058, according to the Novato, Calif., firm RealFacts.
Buying is even further out of reach for many workers.
Starting salaries for teachers, firefighters and sheriff's deputies in St. Lucie County are in the low $30,000s, below the $53,000 a household must earn to afford a $250,000 home.
Even if workers can get into a home, the rising costs of insurance and property taxes may prevent them from staying there.
"Getting approved for the mortgage is not really the issue," said Sheila Grandison, head of recruitment for the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. "It is more the costs associated."
To alleviate that problem, the group recommended creating additional property tax exemptions for community service workers, similar to the senior homestead exemptions some counties have passed for the elderly.
That's something St. Lucie Property Appraiser Jeff Furst said he could support.
The group also wants local governments to create a "community land trust," which would purchase land and homes for affordable housing using money from a new trust fund.
That's among the ideas another housing group, the Attainable/Affordable Housing Task Force of St. Lucie County, plans to present to the county commission next week.
Palm Beach County has created a community land trust and is considering a bond issue to buy land.
But across the region, the fragmented movement to create more affordable housing during the past several years has created few bottom-line results.
Builders tend to oppose subsidizing affordable housing, while governments have limited resources with which to work.
"This is not an issue of fairness," Vaday said. "This is really an issue of sustainability."
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Port St. Lucie City Council to set date to auction homes at interchange
PORT ST. LUCIE — With buyers dictating the local housing market, officials wonder how much taxpayer money they can recoup on a handful of houses originally purchased for an Interstate 95 access ramp.
The City Council is scheduled to set a date for an auction at its meeting on Monday. But with every passing day, the six homes near Becker Road the city bought are sitting without maintenance. Neighbors wanted the houses sold a long time ago.
"We need to sell them, now that they're totally worthless," said Michael Tomaselli, who lives across from several of the houses.
Some have swimming pools in the backyard, but Tomaselli said someone stole the metal enclosures for scrap several weeks ago. Tomaselli, 63, remembers them being "beautiful" when they were occupied, but time and weather has made them eyesores.
The city bought dozens of houses and vacant lots in 2004 for the I-95 interchange at Becker Road but found itself with the extra property when the interchange was redesigned in late 2004 with a smaller footprint.
Some former owners bought their homes back from the city and the city Community Services department is buying two for its housing program.
The city paid between $150,000 to $230,000 for them, according to county property appraiser records. City Manager Don Cooper suggested the auction use a minimum bid priceof what the city paid for each house.
Large white signs posted in the front yards read, "Property of City of Port St. Lucie. No trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted."
"All of a sudden, you're in a desolate area," Tomaselli said, gesturing at the block. Residents have said they couldn't sell their own houses with the expansion of the Becker Road area still being planned.
After inspecting the properties in June, the building department recommended demolishing two homes in the 4500 block of Cacao Street because of their poor condition, but those houses are still on the proposed auction list.
Councilman Christopher Cooper, whose district includes the houses set for the auction block, said he was worried the process had taken too long.
The auction company said the holidays are not a good time for an auction anyway, Cooper said.
"We probably will take a loss," he said. "They're fixer-uppers. Let's just get rid of them. I say, 'cut your losses and move on.'"
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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Monday, October 16, 2006
Developers of PSL's Riverwalk South want to step up process
PORT ST. LUCIE — Developers of a hotel and commercial strip at Riverwalk South are trying to keep their projects from stalling any longer.
Innkeepers USA and Gladstone Realty Investments plan to build a seven-story hotel off Westmoreland Boulevard, though city officials said their $4 million land purchase hasn't closed. Frank Poma of Palm City Holdings plans a commercial strip called City Fountain Center at Westmoreland and Port St. Lucie Boulevard.
Steve Ball, agent for both developers, said all the fees they have to pay was "much greater" than anticipated.
In lieu of paying for road improvements directly, they have proposed paying into a Community Redevelopment Area to cover the improvements. But the CRA, which currently includes the City Center project on U.S. 1, hasn't been expanded to include the Riverwalk area.
The City Council is scheduled to hear from the public on whether to expand the CRA at Monday's meeting, but a consultant report justifying the expansion is full of flaws, according to city staff.
Those flaws mean the CRA expansion will be delayed anyway.
City Manager Don Cooper said regardless of what the developers do, the city needs to get on with the road improvements the developers were supposed to contribute to.
"This is a project that needs to get done, it needed to get done yesterday," he said.
The city has planned to widen Westmoreland Boulevard to four lanes, add sidewalks and landscaping, and add turn lanes onto Port St. Lucie Boulevard.
Cooper recommended borrowing $1 million and using $1 million from a Conservation Trust Fund to help pay for the project.
He wrote in a memo that the City Council can compel the developers to pay the estimated $1.1 million of their share as part of their site plan approval or in another taxing arrangement called a special assessment district at a later time.
Poma said the special assessment district the City Council is considering on Monday should include other properties in the area that will benefit from the Westmoreland project.
"I just want to pay my fair share," he said. "I'm not the only one in that (intersection) who will benefit."
He said he plans to break ground on his project early next year.
Friday afternoon, Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen said the developers met with her and other council members individually, but they wanted to talk with Don Cooper about his memo, which they hadn't seen
Cooper said late Friday he hadn't met them.
"They may ask for another delay (Monday) to review Don's response," Christensen said.
