News in month: May 2012

 Immokalee High School students were given a firm lesson in the importance of water safety and learning to swim last week. 

The lesson, which included a mock drowning, was the result of a joint program to teach young Floridians the importance of knowing how to swim and general safety on - and in - the water. The project is produced by the Immokalee Fire Department and the Safe & Healthy Children Coalition of Collier County. 

Fort Myers television station, WZVN-ABC-7, was on hand and reported the event in this video: 

 Special from the Naples Daily News: 

 The Elvises will be wall-to-wall in the building June 22-24 as the Immokalee Seminole Casino plays host to Elvis Fest 5. 

The best Elvis tribute artists from all over the United States will celebrate and compete to become King.

The big weekend kicks off with a concert by award-winning and nationally acclaimed Elvis tribute artist Dwight Icenhower. Elvis enthusiasts will also enjoy musical performances by The Great Pretenders and Todd Martin, winner of Elvis Fest 4.

Admission to all Elvis Fest 5 events (excluding Dwight Icenhower concert) is free for Seminole Player’s Club members. Anyone who’s 21 or older can join; it’s fast, free and easy.

Visit the Elvis Fest 5 website and read more in the Naples Daily News. 

It was enough of a crowd to fill the community room of the Immokalee Community Park May 23 as Immokaleans came to hear and understand what the community's proposed Master Plan holds in store for the future. 

"It is a blueprint for the future," said Penny Phillippi, executive director of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency.

"Whatever is going to happen is not going to happen tomorrow, next week or next year but down the road this is what we want to see happen. It is not set in stone ... it is a living breathing document that can be changed as (Immokalee residents) see fit."

 The future of Immokalee - as expressed in the Immokalee Are Master Plan - will be decided  - in Immokalee - on June 18. 

Collier County commissioners unanimously agreed May 22 to reconsider their December, 2011 rejection of the proposed Master Plan and hold another vote on that June date, in an evening meeting at Immokalee High School with the people of Immokalee in attendance. 

Click here to read the Naples Daily News' coverage of today's Collier commission vote. 

While it remains unclear how that final vote will go, the decision to come to Immokalee to reconsider the Master Plan is a great victory for Immokaleans and an indication of how seriously the county lawmakers take Immokalee's drive and determination to become a shining example of "Florida in the 21st Century." 

 Special from the News-Press:

Todd Newton smiles his megawatt game-show smile and then utters one of the most famous catchphrases in TV history: “Silvia Santiago, come on down! You’re the next contestant on ... The Price Is Right!”

 Special from the Naples Daily News: 

The Naples Philharmonic Orchestra made what was said to be its first journey in 11 years out to Immokalee, Tuesday, where it not only made music but heard it from young musicians in training.

The students of Immokalee schools, including a squad of young Suzuki violin students and mariachi players, came to Immokalee High School to learn from the pros after an orchestral concert.

The concert was an outreach from ArtsNaples World Festival during its initial year. and judging by the children's response, may be the beginning of a relationship. The concert was an outreach component of the inaugural ArtsNaples World Festival. So keeping with its Russian theme, the orchestra played Tchaikovsky -- two scenes from "Swan Lake," and two movements of the Russian composer's famous Fourth Symphony.

 Immokalee's planners and visionaries hope to set the wheels in motion May 22 toward a final up-or-down vote on the Immokalee Master Plan - and hope the vote will take place in June in Immokalee. 

Collier County commissioners will be formally asked next week - invited - to hold the June 26th county commission meeting in Immokalee and during that meeting formally and finally vote on the community's future as expressed in the Master Plan. 

A formal and regularly-scheduled county commission meeting in Immokalee would be historic. It has been decades - the late 1980s - since the Collier lawmakers held a formal commission meeting in Immokalee, although the Collier Metropolitan Planning Organization, a joint body of the Collier commission and Naples City Council, held a meeting here in April. The Collier County School Board holds an Immokalee meetings at least once each year. 

The Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency's I(CRA) citizen advisory committee will formally ask, invite, the Collier lawmakers on Tuesday to make that trek on June 26 and at the meeting vote on the Master Plan. 

Nearly a decade in development, the Master Plan was voted down in December, 20ll when it failed to garner the four out of five votes needed to adopt it. Because the plan is a major alteration of the county's formal growth management plan its adoption requires the "super majority" of four votes to win approval. While three lawmakers supported the plan in December - Commissioners Jim Coletta, Fred Coyle and Donna Fiala - one commissioner - Georgia Hiller - voted against it and Commissioner Tom Henning abstained, saying he had a conflict of interest because he owned a piece of property in Immokalee. 

While the December vote might have killed the plan, the State of Florid agreed in January to grant an extension of the deadline for its adoption unti late September.

The Immokalee CRA is in the midst of holding a series of three public meetings about the plan for anyone who might still have questions or who may want to learn more. Click here to learn about those meetings. The remaining public meetings are set for: May 23 at the Immokalee Community Park, 321 North First Street, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 30 at Southwest Florida Works (also known as the One-Stop Shop), 750 South Fifth Street, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

The plan and much more information about it is available in English, Spanish and Creole at the special Master Plan page on this website. 

 One of Immokalee's oldest and most venerable vegetable growers is clearing making a bold move into the 21st Century of Internet communications. 

Lipman, known for decades as 6Ls Farms, continues its rebranding effort by launching a consumer website and social media outreach. 

LipmanKitchens.com was launched earlier this month and includes recipes and a whole range of information about Florida produce in general and Lipman produce specifically. 

“We think it’s important to understand our consumers and what’s important to them,” Lipman spokeswoman Jessica Kerstein told The Packer, an industry news organizations.

“There’s a need among consumers to know where their food is coming from,” she said. 

The company also established a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube - some of the most popular social media platforms. 

 Special from the Naples Daily News: