Lakeland Local

New Sports Blog for Polk County

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 11, 2008 11:28 PM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

Take a gander at this: "Our mission is to be one of your go-to spots on the Internet for all the latest happenings in the world of sports in Polk County."

That's the mission of a new sports blog in Polk County. CatchCentralFlorida is the work of the staff at Polk County Sports Marketing. From a quick look at the home page it seems they plan to cover Baseball, Softball and the little sports, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball. They're even covering sports without a ball: auto, fishing, and "water sports." There is even a place for golf news. Though why anyone would hit a ball and then go chase it is beyond me.

The blog has been flying under the radar for a few weeks. The first post on March 25th included a peek at why Polk County Sports Marketing started the blog: "We host more than 200 sporting events each year in Polk County and this blog will be a way to get the word out on all that is going on in the world of sports in Polk County - and beyond."

A belated "Welcome." If you like sports, or even golf, you should add CatchCentralFlorida to your feed reader.

Smokey Bones to Revamp

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 11, 2008 7:05 PM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

On Monday, don't go to Smokey Bones for lunch or dinner.

The restaurant was recently sold by Darden. According to an employee of the restaurant, the 3901 US Highway 98 N location will close on Monday to retrain staff on a new menu and new procedures.

The restaurant will open Tuesday at 11 am.

Downtown Saturday

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 10, 2008 8:35 AM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

What to do on a warm Saturday in Downtown Lakeland? At top, the guys from K&F Unlimited cook for donations at the Farmer's Market at 200 N. Kentucky Avenue. Below was the scene yesterday afternoon as vendors scrambled to set up their tents for Mayfaire on Lake Morton.







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IF ITS TOO LOUD YOUR TO OLD

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 9, 2008 3:47 PM | Permalink   | Comments (5)

I saw this truck in the Southgate parking lot this morning.

Who can find the fourth problem with this truck?

Baseball at Brighthouse

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 8, 2008 11:28 PM | Permalink   | Comments (1)

I haven't seen any notice at Brighthouse online or in with my bill, but they've added a HD channel for Polk County subscribers with the MLB Extra Innings Package.

Each day Extra Innings has one or two games listed as HD. Until last week, those games were carried by Brighthouse only in standard definition. They are now carried in both standard and HD. The HD games will appear on channel 717.

More Lakeland Crime

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 8, 2008 11:11 PM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

I'm attempting to get back on schedule with the weekly crime maps. The two maps and the stats are from the most recent data available from the Lakeland Police Department.

The small map at Lakeland Crime.

Full Page LakelandLocal.com Crime Map 04/28 to 05/04 2008

53 This week's stats:

07 Business Burglary
00 Business Robbery
04 Gang Grafitti
05 Personal Robbery
14 Residential Burglary
00 Residential Robbery
00 Attempted Stolen Vehicle
01 Recovered Stolen Vehicle
04 Stolen Vehicle
18 Vehicle Burglary

Who is Running This Train?

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 8, 2008 6:06 AM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

On May 1, 2008, just before the Florida House and Senate failed to approve the CSX Project a news release was rushed to area officials and the media. It read in part:

"In addition, FTA has received and is finalizing agency approval of the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) project impact report. This report was recently required by FTA to examine noise, vibration, and rail crossing safety impacts along CSX Railroad’s S-Line that runs through the center of the state. Several residents along this alignment had expressed concerns about the impacts of additional freight traffic through the corridor, which CSX estimates will be an additional four trains per day. FDOT’s report found the impacts of the additional freight traffic will be negligible, which are the most highly favorable results the report could offer."-- Full release

Those interested in the project reported they had been given assurances that they would have a "formal opportunity to express their concerns." The press release caught them by surprise as they had not been given that chance by the FDOT and the FTA.

It wasn't a surprise that the release came from the office of Congressman John L. Mica, the Ranking Republican on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Mica had sent a "threatening letter" to the Florida legislature urging them to vote for the project.

When the project failed at the state level, Mica took over.

In this morning's Daytona Beach News Journal:

Mica is undeterred.

He secured a continuing commitment from CSX. He got the state Department of Transportation to go forward with the project, promising to keep designing the stations and routes and keep buying land for parking. He corralled assurances from the federal authorities to hold the money for Central Florida for a year. And he did it over the weekend.

By his projections, the only damage the recalcitrant Legislature did to the $1.2 billion train is to delay its opening six months.

The News-Journal also offers this quote: "If you push Central Florida back and it doesn't get a (train), then there's no possibility of a project linking Tampa to Orlando," Mica said

The article doesn't explain where Mica thinks a rail from Orlando to Tampa would be placed. CSX officials have been oft-quoted that the rail from Tampa to the East is not for sale.

City Green Lights Cameras

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 6, 2008 6:20 AM | Permalink   | Comments (1)

opinionThe City has given the go ahead to seek proposals to add red light cameras. according to a report from Rick Rousos at the Ledger.

This should come as no surprise to anyone. The City and the Ledger have been pushing for red light cameras for over a year. It took this long only because City Commissioners waited for the Florida Legislature to pass a state law. Evidently the House and Senate were busy with other business.

Since a company hasn't been chosen to install the cameras, there are no details how the Lakeland cameras will work. Except for this important point: "City officials say Lakeland police and not a private company will do the deciding when it comes to mailing infractions to drivers who run a red light." It is more common for the company to use out-of-town police to check and mail the infractions. Kudos to the City for going that route. I wonder how much the City Commissioners will add to the LPD budget for the new LPD position?

For new readers, Lakeland Local had a series of articles on red light cameras in March 2007. You might want to check how red light cameras work, why Lakeland wants cameras, and The Dilemma Zone?. If you read just one, read The Dilemma Zone.

"Unavoidable and intentional" drivers were best helped by increasing the yellow light duration an extra .5 to 1.5 seconds. These drivers account for the majority of "red light violations" and increasing yellow duration reduced violations about 50 per-cent. The study concluded drivers did adapt to the longer yellow, but that didn't undo the benefit of the increase. -- The Dilemma Zone

When the city gets proposals for the contracts, they should make sure Lakeland avoids problems experienced in some other cities:

• Make sure the City does not have to pay for installing the cameras. Companies do this for a piece of the fines.

• If a camera fails to replay it's cost, make sure the City isn't responsible for the difference.

• If a camera is placed at an intersection with too few red light violations, make sure the City isn't responsible for the cost to move the camera.

• At each red light camera intersection make sure the amber light is properly set for that intersection and traffic speed. Then add .5 second of yellow. Do not have Lakeland traffic engineers or red light camera operators shorten the amber lights at RLC intersections.

• Install cameras that show enough of the intersection and infraction so that LPD officers can see if a car ran the light due to two rare reasons and one more common (1) moving out the way of emergency vehicles, (2) fear of an accident from behind, and more commonly (3) the vehicle was in the intersection before the light turned red.

• Make sure Lakeland Traffic Operations checks and properly sets all signs and lights. Also have LTO inspect the placement of all cameras.

• There will also be an outcry from some drivers that the cameras violate their privacy. That can be reduced by proper placement of the cameras. Because the cameras don't take a picture of the driver, most fines fall to the owner of the car.

Remember always, the goal is to reduce red light violations, not to make cash for the city. Don't succumb to temptation and reduce amber lights, or hide the placement of the cameras.

If Lakeland follows the experience of other cities, there will a reduction of intersection accidents caused by red light runners. That is offset by an increase in the number of rear-end collisions caused when a driver follows too close to a driver who stops at an amber light. Proponents of red light cameras say they don't mind the offset since rear end collisions are less life threatening. There will also be an increase in red light violations in intersections near the cameras as some drivers change their habits to avoid the cameras.

Finally, red light cameras designed to catch avoidable violations can benefit Lakeland drivers. It's up to the citizens to watch the lights as closely as the cameras will watch them. With any luck, in a couple of years the City will remove the cameras because there are too few red light violations.

Lakeland Crime

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 5, 2008 9:27 AM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

Another week of crime and another crime map at Lakeland Crime

You can choose between the small crime map or the Full Size LakelandLocal.com Crime Map 04/21 to 04/27 2008

52 This week's stats:

07 Business Burglary
01 Business Robbery
04 Gang Grafitti
03 Personal Robbery
18 Residential Burglary
00 Residential Robbery
01 Attempted Stolen Vehicle
01 Recovered Stolen Vehicle
06 Stolen Vehicle
11 Vehicle Burglary

Fog & Delay @ Harden

Posted by Chuck Welch on May 5, 2008 7:57 AM | Permalink   | Comments (0)

The camera phone pic isn't the best, but that's Harden Blvd. Southbound is down to lane and is backed up from Grasslands Blvd to at least Ariana. If you know someone who takes that route, that's why they're late for work.

Fog & delay @ Harden CC by Chuck Welch.

Finished this week's entries? You can check out the archives