Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated by Executive Editor Chevon Baccus after the Sept. 16 CRA meeting. City commissioners agreed to invest $460,000 to help finance a proposed redevelopment of the 140-unit Grove Manor public housing complex. Pantheon Development, which in 2018 formed a partnership with the Lake Wales Housing Authority to do the work, requested the money from the city's Community Redevelopment Agency as part of a plan to help finance the construction of six...
Al Goldstein didn't realize being a Lake Wales city commissioner would be so time-consuming, but he's eager to sign up for another three years. He was elected without opposition in April 2019 after incumbent Commissioner Tonya Stewart failed to qualify to run for re-election. He has already started campaigning for the District 27, Seat 4 that will be filled in the April 2021 municipal election. "I'm finally understanding the job of a city commissioner," Goldstein said....
Henry Kebabjian wants to redevelop the historic Seminole Hotel in downtown Lake Wales, but his timing may be a little off. Kebabjian bought the three-story hotel Aug. 19 at a bargain-basement price of $10,500, two months after the city's Code Enforcement Board voted to foreclose on the property. The city in 2017 declared the building unsafe, emptied it of tenants and condemned it for multiple code violations. Recent owner Cardiff Howell of Orlando was unable to submit an...
Marking the occasion of his 36th birthday, Lake Wales City Commissioner Curtis Gibson on Sept. 11 announced the start of his re-election campaign. Gibson plans to qualify for the April 2021 ballot, seeking a 3-year term to continue his service as the District 19, Seat 2 commissioner. Before announcing his candidacy in a live online video, Gibson paid tribute to those killed or impacted by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack, reading out details of the historic day's events. "N...
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," says Dolores Vogel, Legacy Real Estate Center broker and owner. "So, DREAM BIG, we do!" The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine hasn't slowed down this entrepreneur who moved into new digs at 218 E. Park Ave. in downtown Lake Wales. The building was purchased in 2018 and completely renovated. "I'm proud that the Center has been ranked number one in sales within the Lake Wales Association of...
The Lake Wales Charter Review Committee is ahead of schedule and looking for public input on changes that can make city government operate better. The next Committee meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10 at the city administration building, 201 W. Central Ave. People can attend in person or join online by registering at https://www.lakewalesfl.gov/Register The current Charter, which was last reviewed in 2010, can be found online at http://lakewales.e...
This is the eleventh installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. Nations strive for a positive trade balance, where they sell more products than they buy, thereby receiving increased capital and creating a higher standard of living for their citizens. The same holds true for any economic unit. Let's take Lake Wales downtown for example. It's a...
A vision of restored brick streets and sidewalk cafes under the shade of umbrellas and spreading Live Oaks changed many viewers' ideas of the future of downtown Lake Wales Thursday evening. Those images were among many shared during a 90-minute presentation by consultants and engineers hired by the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to create the "Lake Wales Connected" plan. The plan is designed to attract crowds, and thus business investment, to the neighborhood...
The initial unveiling of drawings for the proposed Park Avenue Streetscape in downtown Lake Wales has been postponed three weeks but the public will have multiple opportunities for input. "We are bending and swerving and I think it's actually going to turn out better," said Lake Wales MainStreet Director Karen Thompson. An in-person open house originally scheduled for July 9 was postponed due to concerns about the COVID-19 virus. Thompson said an online session now will be...
Lake Wales City Commissioners have given the green light to fund two positions largely concentrated on improving the quality of life in the city's northwest community. Acting as the board members of the Community Redevelopment Agency, the group unanimously approved the hiring of a police community liaison officer for District 3 of the CRA, which covers the northwest area, as well as a CRA coordinator for that district. The action came during the CRA meeting on July 14. The...
Although it would only cost about an extra $8,300 for the year, the Lake Wales City Commission in a split vote decided not to approve a potential 30 percent salary hike for themselves that would have taken effect next May. Mayor Eugene Fultz and Commissioner Al Goldstein advocated for the raises, citing the increased number of meetings and out-of-pocket expenses, but Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson and Commissioners Terrye Howell and Curtis Gibson voted against the raises, citing...
This is the tenth installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. Best Bang for the Buck Trees are the best. Their mere presence improves individual property values. Collectively they improve the town's tax base as a whole. The improved value comes from the purchaser's desire to buy the advantages of appearance and aesthetics. Not only do trees...
This is the ninth installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. Victor Dover and his co-author have poured their careers as town planners into what has become the definitive handbook entitled Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The book recounts the history and experience of a wide range of different situations across the globe that...
Lake Wales Interim City Manager James Slaton has hired certified planner Mark Bennett to become the city's new Development Services director. "I'm coming home so to speak," said Bennett, who has been a Lake Wales resident since 1998. In addition to being a certified planner, Bennett is a certified redevelopment specialist with more than 20 years of public and private sector experience. For the last eight years he has served the City of Haines City as Deputy Director of...
The Lake Wales City Commission, in its role as the Community Redevelopment Agency, will consider at its July 14 meeting offering $150,000 in incentives for two proposed downtown restaurants. James Ellis of Ava Properties in Heathrow is asking for a $100,000 grant - double the amount specified in the city's restaurant incentives program – to help him fund the Corner Café at One Scenic Central, a combination coffee shop and fine dining restaurant. His company purchased the tw...
This is the eighth installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the private enterprise segment of a successful community redevelopment effort. Florida's Community Redevelopment Act illustrates the point. The very first section of the Act is entitled "Encouragement of private enterprise." The Community...
This is the seventh installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. The Dover-Kohl plan is much more than an update of the well-worn 1973 improvements to Downtown. The plan covers the town's historic core. It is thorough, comprehensive, and doable. The entire plan can be viewed at: https://www.doverkohl.com/lakewales. Appropriately named "Lake Wales...
Lake Wales has long been known as "The Crown Jewel of the Ridge," but that didn't happen by accident. It took the efforts of Edward Bok and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. While many are familiar with Bok, the name of Olmsted, arguably the more significant historic figure, is an enigma. It was Olmsted who designed Bok's famous gardens, as well as Mountain Lake, and scores of private landscapes there. It was Olmsted who designed the Colony House, and our familiar Town Clock. And it...
Lake Wales Charter Schools officials have selected a contractor to do phase one and phase two work this summer in getting the new Bok North Academy campus ready for opening this fall. Whitehead Construction has been awarded the contract that includes converting the former Boys and Girls club building into classroom space, and potential renovation and updating work on the old cafeteria building at the historic 1919 Building site, which the charter system purchased from the...
Lake Wales city officials are hoping the state will help provide funding for needed repairs at one of the city's most historic structures. The Historic Stuart House on Central Avenue near downtown was damaged in 2017 when Hurricane Irma swept through the city, according to Lake Wales Museum Director Jennifer D'hollander. She said temporary steps to mitigate damage to the roof of the house were undertaken then, but that long term repairs are still needed. "Rehabilitation is...
This is the sixth installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. First, let's talk about where we are headed, and next, about one of the trouble spots we may confront in getting there. Where We're Headed. The Dover-Kohl plan, entitled "Lake Wales Connected," is a comprehensive plan for the revitalization of the Lake Wales historic core. It connects...
Shock, stunned disbelief blanketed Bartow last Sunday, June 7, as the community learned Ken Riley, 72, died suddenly from a massive heart attack. Heartbroken tributes posted on Facebook paying tribute to the NFL all-star demonstrated how beloved and well-respected he was, and showing the fragility of life. "He was at the Solemn Assembly yesterday and seemed fine," wrote Richard Dreyer on his Facebook page, as Riley was among the more than 100 people gathered. "Yes, a great per...
Lake Wales Finance Director Dorothy Abbott tried to calm commissioners' fears at the first 2020-2021 city budget workshop June 3. She said she's been preparing city budgets for 19 years and if she's not panicking over the likelihood of reduced revenue, neither should they. "Everybody just stay calm, tell us what you would like to see and trust your staff to bring back a budget document," Abbott said. "If I'm not too worried yet, please don't be too worried yet." Abbott said sh...
Lake Wales City Manager Ken Fields and the city commission agreed Tuesday June 2 to part ways in something akin to an "amicable divorce" but it took a lengthy discussion to reach agreement on the terms for the split. "I hope I am viewed as someone who has made Lake Wales a better city," Fields said, noting leaving two years before his contract expired wasn't his choice but he was resigned that it was time to go. Fields' departure was effective immediately, but everyone made...
This is the fifth installment in the Lake Wales Renaissance series. Lake Wales City Commissioner Robin Gibson serves as Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. Dover, Kohl & Partners is an internationally known town planning firm working out of South Miami. Among their many achievements are nationally recognized revitalizations of traditional communities much like Lake Wales. Victor Dover is co-author of the definitive work on the subject...
