Immokalee: Florida in the 21st Century

"Price is Right" hits Immokalee Seminole Casino

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:41:00 -0400

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!”

When they hear those words, some people run to the “Contestant’s Row” podiums inside Seminole Casino. Some leap over a neighbor’s lap to get there. Some can’t stop grinning. And some even cry.

But they all want the same thing: To win big, whether it’s cash, a refrigerator-freezer or – as Newton bellows the famous line — “A NEW CAR!”

Susan Webb ends up winning $250 by spinning the giant “Price Is Right” wheel. After a frantic beep-beep-beep, the numbered wheel stops on 95 cents, getting Webb the closest to $1 without going over.

“I didn’t really know how I would do,” says Webb, 53, of Fort Myers after leaving the stage. “It’s pretty exciting!”

The Price is Right traveling road show runs through June 18 at the Immokalee Seminole Casino.

That’s putting it mildly. “The Price Is Right Live” opened at the Immokalee casino last week with a sold-out show of 400 people, and everyone there seemed to be a hardcore “Price” fan.

The energetic traveling show is part rock concert, part church revival and part department-store guessing game.

Immokalee welcomes Naples Philharmonic Orchestra

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:35:00 -0400

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.

Forward motion toward Immokalee Master Plan vote

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:02:00 -0400

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.

Lipman moves into 21st Century with web, social media

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:55:00 -0400

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.

Immokalee's Jarvis James signs with Arizona Cardinals

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:28:00 -0400

Special from the Naples Daily News:

The Arizona Cardinals have signed Immokalee High School graduate and former Miami Hurricanes running back Javarris James after trying out James at a rookie camp over the weekend.

James didn't play in the NFL last year after rushing for 112 yards on 46 carries with the Indianapolis Colts in 2010. The signing continues James' path of his cousin Edgerrin, who starred at Immokalee, with the Hurricanes, then with the Colts, and was with the Cardinals when they lost to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl in February 2009 in Tampa.

Javis' more famous cousin, Edgerrin, also played for the Cardinals after leaving a very successful career with the Colts as leading rusher for Peyton Manning.

Master Plan public meetings: "a refresher course."

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:23:00 -0400

Think of it as a master plan refresher.

That's how the Naples Daily News described Wednesday's first-of-three public meetings about the Immokalee Master Plan, quoting Penny Phillippi, executive director of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency.

"What we're trying to do is put forward a master plan that's been worked on for a period of time," Phillippi told the newspaper. "It is a blueprint for the future. 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 Immokalee CRA's citizens advisory committee, who with the community at large has been drafting the plan's revisions for a decade wants to make sure everyone has a chance to completely understand the plan and the blueprint it lays out for Immokalee's future.

NOTE: Translation of this post into Spanish and Creole, indeed translation of our entire site, can be accomplished by clicking on the "Google Translation" button in the right sidebar of the page. An additional notice of the meetings, in Spanish, can be found by clicking here. The additional notice of the meetings, in Creole, can be found by clicking here.

What were live tweets from meeting are available in a stream on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. Click here for our social media page, links and live feeds.

The advisory committee has been holding a series of small gatherings with various groups around town for the past month. The series of May meetings will be the culmination of an effort to give all Immokaleans - and others - the most thorough review possible of the plan before it makes its way back to Collier County Commissioners.

The master plan failed to win the four out of five votes necessary to win approval last December when one county lawmaker voted against it and another abstained from the vote. The plan needs four out of five votes to win final adoption. Read more here, including a history of the Master Plan.

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.

Anyone can attend any or all of these meetings. Any and all questions will be welcomed and the answers will be complete and informative. Translations will be available for Spanish and Creole speakers. All information about the Immokalee Area Master Plan is available on our special Master Plan page on this website.

Video highlights of Immokalee news!

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:29:00 -0400

You may have noticed the video now gracing the top of our ImmokaleeToday page.

We hope you clicked on the video, watched its brief summation of the news and, maybe, shared it with friends via Facebook, Twitter or GooglePlus.

It's a new feature, prepared by our friends, Relevanza, working in conjunction with the Wibbitz video design team.

The amazing new Wibbitz technology draws posted pieces from our news sections and transforms them into a quick video recap. It's great for a hurried review of the news or you can click on each piece featured in the short video.

Read more about the new feature and the new techonology on the Relevanza blog and on Relevanza's Tumblr blog. Reach out to Relevanza to find out more.

IMMBIZ attends international conference on entrepreneurship

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:40:00 -0400

Marie Capita, manager of the Immokalee Business Development Center, of IMMBIZ, is headed for an international conference on business incubation in Atlanta, Georgia.

The 26th International Conference on Business Incubation is sponsored by the National Business Incubation Association and will bring together around 600 business incubation practitioners and economic development professionals to explore strategies for entrepreneur support. Participants will attend in-depth workshops, educational sessions, incubator tours and receptions, and will have many opportunities to connect with colleagues through informal conversations. Through these training and networking opportunities, attendees learn about incubator sustainability, entrepreneur support services, client funding options, industry best practices and more.

"I've had the opportunity to network with other incubator managers from South Africa, Canada, London, Kuwait, Belize, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico," Capita reported from the conference. "These few days have taught me the rural and agricultural aspect of Immokalee is an asset on which we need to build."

Atla

Immokalee High Senior Guzman named Gates Scholar

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:50:00 -0400

Special from the Naples Daily News and Collier County Public Schools:

Immokalee High School Senior Daniel Guzman just learned he is one of only 1,000 recipients nationwide of a Gates Millennium scholarship (yes, from Bill Gates). This is truly huge because it'll pay for any and all expenses beyond those covered by his other scholarships for seven full years…to any university he gains admission to (he's been accepted by five thus far). This generous scholarship covers everything you'd expect plus personal expenses and travel to and from school.

Daniel's dream of becoming "Dr." Guzman and earning a doctorate in environmental engineering just gained a whole lot of traction. He'll attend the University of South Florida in the fall to get his bachelor's and possibly his master's degree, but his dream school for doctoral study is now Yale!

Daniel is a straight A student, ranking 10th in his Indians' graduating class of 241 with a grade point average of 4.48. He's taken advanced placement, dual enrollment and honors courses throughout his high school career and he'll have earned 15 college credit hours by the time he graduates.

Immokalee's Aaron Henry signs with Oakland Raiders

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:17:00 -0400

Special from the Naples Daily News.

Aaron Henry couldn't resist. After not planning on watching the NFL Draft or sitting by the phone waiting for a team to call, the Immokalee High School graduate found himself doing both the past three days.

"I thought I had something else in mind," the former University of Wisconsin safety said. "It was nerve-racking."

The nerves eventually went away when four teams called offering free agent deals just before the draft ended Saturday night. "It was chaotic," Henry said.

Henry and agent Matt Brei decided on the Oakland Raiders over the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, and he agreed to a contract.

Immokalee runner places 2nd in state meet 800 meters

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:09:00 -0400

Special from the Naples Daily News:

JACKSONVILLE — Jean Deceus knew it was the last individual race he would run in high school, and he wanted to make it one of his best. It was, it just wasn’t quite good enough to win.

Immokalee’s Deceus was among a group of Southwest Florida performers competing in Saturday’s Class 2A State High School Track and Field Championships at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Deceus finished second in the 800 meters, clocking a time of 1:55.64 to finish behind North Broward Prep senior Nick Palermo, who won in 1:54.40. Palermo went out fast and took possession of the lead in the first 300 yards and never relinquished the lead.

“The race started out fast. Palermo is a really good runner and I knew he would likely go out that fast,” Deceus said. “I did my best to stay with him but he got that lead and held it.

“I just wanted to run my heart out because I knew it was my last 800 race in high school,” he added. “I wanted to make my family happy, the coaches and all my teammates who have supported me these years. I wanted to make it one of my best races before I go off to college.”

That would be Florida Gulf Coast University. Deceus signed with the Eagles cross country team earlier this week.

Immokalee High on track for state championship

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:06:00 -0400

Special from the Naples Daily News:

Immokalee High boys track coach Allen Williams turned to the words of a Collier County legend to sum up the Indians' chances at the Class 2A state finals.

"As Coach (John) Weber used to tell me during football, 'Once you get to this stage, Lady Luck has a lot to do with it,'" Williams said.

Weber's saying is appropriate considering eight of the 11 Indians headed to state Saturday at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville also star for the school's football team. And like Weber and the Indians football team did in 2004, Immokalee is trying to win a championship.

The Indians qualified in eight events — five individual and three relays. Immokalee has won all but one of the track meets it's been in this season, but with athletes in less than half the 17 events, the odds are long to win this one.

Just don't tell the Indians that.

"Everybody knows our goal is to win state," said J.C. Jackson, who will be in four events. "We want to compete. We're working hard in practice. We're going to try to give it our best."

Immokalee certainly has the talent to compete. Four of the Indians who qualified for state already have committed to NCAA Division I colleges. Jackson and Deadrin Senat will play football for Florida State, Xavier Richardson will play football at South Florida, and Jean Deceus will run cross country at Florida Gulf Coast. Three others — twin brothers Mackensie and Mackenro Alexander, and Jacky Marcellus — have Division I football offers.

Immokalee's beautification district has new manager

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:04:00 -0400

Immokalee's beautification and lighting district has a new project manager.

Jeffrey Nagle will become chief of the Immokalee beautification muncipal services taxing unit (MSTU), next week, moving to the community from Sarasota. The property tax funded MSTUensures public thoroughfares are brigtened with street lights and landscaped with native plants.

The taxing unit, formerly independent, was included in the portfolio of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency earlier this year, although it will continue to have its own board of directors chaired by long-time Immokalee community activist and supporter, Cherryle Thomas.

Nagle comes to the MSTU post as a versatile Licensed Landscape Architect and Licensed Professional Planner. His 26-year career has been built on an innovative management approach and state-of-the-art design solutions utilizing multidisciplinary technical skills with expert communication and coordination.

As a seasoned professional project manager, he applies a strong expertise in specialties in master planning, parks and recreation, streetscapes, roadway, environmental reclamation and mitigation, .ow impact development and lighting design and construction services.

"Jeff will be a welcome addition to our Immokalee CRA utilizing his vision s as a landscape architect, and implementing his process as a professional planer to serve as a project manager, " said Immokalee CRA Executive Director Penny Phillippi.

As a graduate of Rutgers University, Nagle completed his studies in an accredited Landscape Architecture Program and developed his career as a landscape Architectural and planning professional providing professional planning and design services throughout Southwest Florida. He has held posts with SIMPLYVERDE LLC, Saint Petersburg; Kimley-Horn and Associates (KHA)/Urban Resource Group URG), Sarasota, and CME Associates of Howell NJ.

Language translation now available on our site

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:15:00 -0400

EDITOR'S NOTE: In an effort to make the information and news found on ImmokaleeToday.com available to as many people as possible from as diverse as world's population as we have, we are delighted to add a "Google Translate" feature to our website.

To translate the words on this page - on any of our pages - into 20 of the most frequently spoken languages, including and especially Spanish and Creole, simply click on the Google Translate button in the right sidebar of this page.

This service is just part of our effort to celebrate the cultural diversity of Immokalee and demonstrate why, in this rapidly changing world, Immokalee really is Florida in the 21st Century.

Naples Daily News continues to focus, some, on Immokalee in its Lighthouse Project

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:13:00 -0400

Immokalee once again returned to the spotlight in the Naples Daily News' continuing Lighthouse Project.

The pieces published over the weekend of March 21-22 focused, broadly, on the topice, "Who We Are" in Southwest Florida.

One piece, published April 22, focuses on Immokalee as a center for Latin culture and life and features the Lozano Family and restaurant.

"Like many Immokalee residents, the Lozano family moved to the rural farming community in eastern Collier County to work in the fields. After spending most of their lives migrating, they chose to settle in Immokalee," explains the piece.

"I love this town," said family patriarch Artemio Lozano. "I love the people here."

Click here to read the entire piece.

Another piece focuses on farm labor and farmworkes. You can read the piece here.

IN many ways, the piece reflect a coastal view of Immokalee and often fails to capture the true essence of this community that is change rapidly and emerging, just as rapidly, toward a bright future reflecting Florida in the 21st Century.