RE: Uniting the Opposites

I have been talking of the polarity in our community and about "closing the gaps" so that we can move forward. I have noticed, and I am sure you have too, that regardless of who is at the dias, we have this polarization that is actually paralyzing our community.

In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang, or two mutually correlated opposites, are combined to create what is called, a unity of opposites. I believe we, in Lake Worth, are called to a higher consciousness to unite the opposites in our community. We have a diverse community and each of us chose to live here, in some way or another, at some time or another. How then can we rise to a higher level, and embrace our diversity, unite our opposites? I hear much hatred and racism in our community. Hatred and racism does not serve any of us and keeps us polarized and paralyzed. How can we treat everyone with respect? Help people who need help? Grow beyond hatred? I believe that as we as a community, accept the uniqueness and diversity of Lake Worth, we can unite the opposites. Respect is an effort, unity is an outcome.

We are all learning and growing.

Thank you for understanding.
Sincerely,
Suzanne

Boosting downtown with Wi-Fi

Another idea shared with me - of how some cities are boosting their downtown with Wi-Fi.

Some cities include:

Kissimmee, FL
http://www.prnewsnow.com/Public_Release/Maritime/58674.html

Charlston, SC
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3295951

Escondido, CA
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060917/news_1mi17ewifi.html

Spokane, WA - why they chose to stall their Wi-Fi
http://www.spokanejournal.com/spokane_id=article&sub=3417

Feel free to share other cities - or your experience using a downtown Wi-Fi.

RE: Florida Incetives for Renewables and Efficiency

The following website was shared with me to show incentives that are offered in Florida for renewables and efficiency.

http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/maphomeowner.cfm?State=FL&CurrentPageId=1&RE=1&EE=1

RE: Helping our Golf Course and Lagoon Restaurant

Please share your ideas to help our Lake Worth Golf Course and Lagoon Restaurant stay under the management of our city. In three weeks time, our commission will decide on whether or not to outsource the management of our golf course and restaurant or keep it in house. Any marketing and/or business development ideas are appreciated as I believe it is in our best interest to keep our city, OUR CITY.

Sincerely,
Suzanne

Artist Reb Han joins our community

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Reb Han, who recently moved to Lake Worth. Mr. Han has been noted by the NY Times as one of the "unorthodox geniuses toiling away in their labs and libaries, bent on changing the world." Mr. Han was living in Paris last year and has spent time in India. His family lives in Wellington and he chose to live in Lake Worth because as he stated, "it has more charm and is not overdeveloped."

To view web's work, visit www.rebfile.com.

Welcome Reb!

Sincerely,
Suzanne

RE: Saving and Restoring the Lake Worth Casino

The statement below has been posted to the Lake Worth Media webpage at www.lakeworthmedia.com.

I am working with the beach shop owners, with Tom Connick, attorney who was involved with helping Deerfield Beach save its beach, with structural engineer, BP Taurinski, of Boca Raton, and Jeff Hardin, owner of Straticon, who specializes in historical restoration of beach properties to determine the cost and viability of restoring the Lake Worth Casino building back to its orginal decor of the 1922 casino building.

We need a solution that restores the economic vitality of our beach businesses, while valuing the history and uniqueness of Lake Worth. The Greater Bay project will not do that, restoring our Lake Worth Casino will.

Sincerely,
Suzanne Mulvehill

RE: A Vehicle, a Method and a Bridge to a Green Future

Shared by Bill Milner:

A Vehicle, a Method and a Bridge to a Green Future
A Passion for People, Profits and a Sustainable Future

What if we could truly improve our Community?

Would you be willing to give the possibility consideration? Real thought and deliberation? The project before you will elicit “Buy In” at all levels, from Business Executives to Hourly Employees, Entrepreneurs to Civil Servants, and Professionals to Craftsmen. It seems safe to say we all see the need for the stake-holders of our community to fix for ourselves that which should to be fixed, to correct that which needs correcting. Now is the time to come together as a body of citizens, community and business leaders and public servants who recognize our responsibility to ourselves and our neighbors.
What is the vehicle to accomplish such a goal? Oddly enough it is founded in one of the most capitalistic and misunderstood ideas, The Direct Sales Industry or, as it is also known, Network Marketing. We all know the phrase of doom, “We’re looking for a few sharp people” at which point we cringe and run for the exits. However this concept isn’t designed solely to benefit the “Upline & Downline” rather, it is to generate capital to create a social venture capital fund that will manage and allocate resources to an Umbrella Organization made up of citizens, business leaders and civic leaders who will allocate the revenue generated to areas of need within our community. Naturally, individual distributors are compensated and a viable product is offered to people who often need this service when they least can afford it. In the best fashion of capitalism it is a win/win for all parties in the process. A product of value is offered, a need is met, individuals have an additional revenue stream, a community has democratic access to additional capital and is better for the effort.
As you will see after your review of the project, this will be accomplished by adding value to companies, employees and the community, value created from the hopes, dreams and efforts of our fellow citizens. This project will allow them each to contribute to the real improvement of the community with a broadly inclusive, city-wide project of beauty, social up-lift and enterprise. I invite you to take a clear-eyed and open-minded look at this innovative project combining the best impulses from our citizenry with the dynamism of the free market to produce a synergy that is greater than the sum total of the parts.

Click on this link for further details: http://imaginegreenfuture.blogspot.com/

RE: Emerging Artists Event

Meyerhoefer Gallery presents "One Night Stand Saturday Hangover"
A new series to promote really new artists, artists traveling through town and opportunities that pop up. It is a casual evening held on the third Fridays of the month. Featuring
"Words and Flowers"Graffiti Street art by
Loren Squier
Fri Sept 19th 6 to 9pm Sat Sept 20th 12 to 5pm

Visit: http://www.meyerhoefergallery.com/

RE: Green Business Incubation

Below are a few links to green business incubators and information regarding green business incubators. A business incubator incubates new and start up businesses. There are more than 1,000 business incubators in the US alone. Lots of exciting possibilities!

New Incubators will Nurture Green Business

Sustainable Business Incubator - NJ

Green Business Incubator - Chicago, IL

Clean Energy Alliance - AL

RE: An Organic Park

A Lake Worth resident shared this link to a large scale organic park in Malaysia:

http://persianoad.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/malysia-organic-park-draws-vsitors/

National Park(ing) Day

Please join me in celebrating National Park(ing) Day, on Friday, September 19, 2008.
National Park(ing) Day is a celebratioin of parks by creating temporary parks in public parking spaces.

When: Friday, September 19, 2008, 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m
Where: The City Parking Lot -North J Street and Lucerne Avenue - across from the Post Office.The 31 parking spaces are 9' x 19' and have extra space between each one so the public can walk between the spaces.

I will have a booth titled, The Organic Park. The theme for our park was shared by Lake Worth resident, Mr. Keith Bell. Our park will include: chemical-free, native plants, use of compost, community garden, and compost.

Join us for this exciting day!

Link with more details are below:

http://www.tpl.org/tier2_kad.cfm?folder_id=3428

RE: Organic Gardening

The following ideas and links were shared by a local resident:

I'm not sure, but I think the city has a mulch pile that can be considered compost and it's free material . . . or SWA does, as well: http://www.swa.org/site/information_and_documents/backyard_composting.htm

The angle most are unaware of with regard to compost is methane avoidance through landfill diversion of organics and how this curbs global warming. Nice overview here: http://www.ecocycle.org/ZeroWaste/climate/index.cfm

There are some Lake Worth residents who are experts in the field of natives and chemical-free gardening, but I just don't have their contact info. I'll bet people at Mounts can help find them: http://palmbeach.fnpschapters.org/

Mounts recently held a workshop about rain collection barrels:* Rain Harvesting: Put it Away for Another Day, 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 23 in Exhibit Hall A. Learn to "harvest" rainwater. A rain barrel how-to presentation will be given and each participant will receive one rain barrel and instructions. A 55-gallon barrel will cost Mounts members $50; nonmembers $60;

Coming up on 9/27 is a workshop about vermiculture, Composting with Worms:http://www.mounts.org/calendar.asp

RE: An energy-efficient city

BioTown USA is Reynolds, Indiana, a small city in the U.S. that aspires to become an energy self-sufficientcommunity. It’s a small town of about 500. You can access links and a video below.

When was BioTown, USA, founded?
BioTown, USA was founded September 13, 2005.

Why was BioTown, USA, created?
BioTown, USA was created to:
Develop local energy production to become independent from foreign oil sources,
Create a cleaner environment,
Implement solutions to animal waste management issues, and
Develop new markets for Indiana agricultural products and by-products.

http://www.in.gov/biotownusa/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeCR4bfwNdY

RE: Solar Options

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gregg Sirrine, one of our neighbors here in Lake Worth. He and I had talked briefly about various solar options and he shared a link below of a company in California that he had heard of that has a novel approach to making solar more accessible. Feel free to check out the link below:

http://solarlease.solarcity.com/SolarCityAbout.aspx?referrer=?master-lef

Thank you Gregg for sharing your ideas.

Sincerely,
Suzanne

Lake Worth: The Organic City

I was delighted to meet Mr. Keith Bell yesterday, a resident here in Lake Worth, who has a message board where we can share information with each other about going green. The message board is called, Lake Worth: The Organic City. It is a colorful, fun and easy to use message board that we can all use to learn more about going green and becoming an Organic City. I had thought of starting a compost a few years ago and then when I went to Mr. Bell's message board, I was reinspired. Please visit http://theorganiccity.forummotion.com
Together we can do more.
Sincerely,
Suzanne

RE: Thank you

I would personally like to thank everyone I met this week for sharing your ideas, challenges, concerns and hopes for Lake Worth. I was profoundly touched by your deep caring for our city. Thank you for giving me drinks and inviting me into your homes. As one woman shared with me today, " we need to restore our sense of community". She went on to say, " we build community when we work together towards something in our city." I totally agree and KNOW we have this potential for Lake Worth. Thank you for believing in the possibility.

Sincerely,
Suzanne

RE: Baseball League Schedule

Mrs. Mulvehill-

Please let the other resident now that we have Youth Baseball registrations taking place right now for the upcoming Fall season. This is a co-ed league. Registration takes place Saturdays and Sundays from the 11:00am-3:00pm at the NW Ball fields on “A” Street just north of Sunset Park. Ages range from 4-16 years old.

Below are the age groups and registration fees:
T-Ball ages 4-6 $75.00
Pinto ages 7-8 $85.00
Mustang ages 9-10 $95.00
Bronco ages 11-12 $95.00
Pony ages 13 -14 $105.00
Colt ages 15 - 16 $105.00

The first game is September 27th. For more information please call Ray Roach at 561-722-8249. If you need any assistance please call me or you can shoot me an e-mail. Thanks Juan


Juan Ruiz, Recreation Manager
City of Lake Worth
Recreation Department
1121 Lucerne Avenue
Lake Worth, FL 33460
Office: (561) 533-7359
Fax: (561) 533-7371

RE: Tennis Courts resurfing at Sunset Ridge Park

Suzanne,

As of yesterday in a meeting with Purchasing it was determined that, due to year end closing of accounts, this project would not be able to start until after October 1. We have the price quote already and are extremely eager to get the tennis and basketball court resurfaced. We anticipate that work will begin on the courts no later than the end of October and, believe me, we will try to expedite the process in any way we can. As Martin indicated, the Recreation Department is becoming a totally revamped organization with an increased emphasis on programs. I think you will be pleased to see the changes. And because of the close working relationship of all divisions in Public Services, we now have partners to assist us with physical improvements to fields and facilities.
Thank you for your support of our efforts and feel free to call me any time with ideas.
JudyJudy D. Reed
Leisure Services Manager
Lake Worth Public Library15
North M Street
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561-533-7354
FAX 561-586-1651
jreed@lakeworth.org

Conversations Suzanne is engaged with in our City

1. Helping businesses expedite their move to Lake Worth.

One company in particular has been trying to move into Lake Worth since May 1 and has been dealing with permitting challenges. Suzanne contacted the CRA to inform them of this dilemna and help the business owner expedite his move.

2. Forging relationships between Palm Beach Community College and the City of Lake Worth. Suzanne has had meetings that covered the following:

a. Connecting PBCC with our real estate agents to encourage teachers and students to live in Lake Worth.

b. Connecting PBCC with the CRA to help expand the teaching and exposure of green and environmentally friendly courses and expand the city's knowledge and resources to be "green".

3. Working with the CRA to explore a green business incubator operating in Lake Worth.

a. Suzanne has shared ideas of business incubators located in Chicago, Alabama and Tennessee that can help Lake Worth expand its exposure of a green philosophy.

4. Sharing with the Commission ideas to market the golf course and improve revenue opportunities and exposure. Suzanne made the following recommendations to the Commission in an email to the Commission following the budget meeting:

a. Have our golf course listed on the Dick Wilson golf course listing at this address:
http://www.worldgolf.com/golf-architects/dick-wilson.html

b. See how Palm Beach Golf Course markets its course with a separate web address at: http://www.golfontheocean.com/

c. Name the course after Dick Wilson (with permission, of course) - none of the other courses by him are named after him - this would give us a uniqueness and raise the awareness of the course worldwide.

d. Market the golf course on a separate website with its own meta tags and search terms to drive traffic to the site. In the mean time, mention that it is a world renowned course on our golf course page. No mention is made to it being designed by Dick Wilson.

e. Create golf packages with our B&B's - our B&B's are right next to the golf course - Sabal House has a beautiful view of the golf course. Cross-promote these packages on both websites.

RE: Marketing the Golf Course

From: suzanne@emotionalendurance.com [mailto:suzanne@emotionalendurance.com]

Sent: Thu 9/4/2008 11:44 PMTo: Jeff Clemens; Retha Lowe; Cara Jennings; Jo-Ann Golden; David Vespo

Subject: RE: Marketing the golf courseDear Mayor Clemens and Commissioners,

Below are a few additional thoughts and observations to help market our golf course:

1. Have our golf course listed on the Dick Wilson golf course listing at this address: http://www.worldgolf.com/golf-architects/dick-wilson.html

2. See how Palm Beach Golf Course markets its course with a separate web address at: http://www.golfontheocean.com/2. Name the course after Dick Wilson (with permission, of course) - none of the other courses by him are named after him - this would give us a uniqueness and raise the awareness of the course worldwide.

3. Market the golf course on a separate website with its own meta tags and search terms to drive traffic to the site. In the mean time, mention that it is a world renowned course on our golf course page. No mention is made to it being designed by Dick Wilson.

4. Create golf packages with our B&B's - our B&B's are right next to the golf course - Sabal House overlooks it. Cross-promote these packages on both websites.

5. Develop a marketing plan and have someone implement it. It's not difficult - it just needs consistency.

6. Hire a marketing person for promoting Lake Worth - I know it's not in the budget right now - but it is something to think about moving forward - maybe the Chamber can expand its outreach - do we have a marketing plan for promoting Lake Worth?