COMMUNITY
AWARDS GALORE
BY SUSAN BURGESS
8 Port St. Lucie Magazine
CITY OF PSL PHOTOS
Tranquil, attractive neighborhoods dot Port St. Lucie, bringing it accolades for being a wonderful place to raise families and a great area for retirement.
Safety, beautification programs, planning and environmental measures all played a role in the city’s praises.
City’s high rankings, honors keep it on track
for one of the best places to live
Port St. Lucie continues to reap multiple national, state
and local honors for outstanding efforts to keep its
citizens happy and safe.
“One of the Port St. Lucie City Council’s goals is for
us to be a high-performing government organization,” says
Sarah Prohaska, the assistant communications director for
the city. “These honors are one way we measure our progress
toward that goal. And, it helps us see how we are doing compared
to others — awards are a great way to do that.”
Seventeen honors have come the city’s way just since June,
for everything from being pet-friendly to being one of the
best places to live in Florida. But that’s just a small portion of
more than 35 honors that rolled in during the last 12 months.
And in some cases, an award may be listed only once but the
awarding organizations have handed out awards in multiple
activity categories.
RESIDENTS INFORMED
The communications department picked up more than two
dozen awards for a variety of services in the first eight months
of 2019. A major initiative to persuade voters to approve an
additional half-cent in sales tax caught the eye of more than
one organization. Residents had said they wanted the projects,
such as sidewalks, that the tax money would make possible.
Since then, the department has meticulously kept residents
updated on the projects and how the money is being spent.
“We are proud to have received this recognition and are
always looking for ways to keep improving and set the bar
higher,” Prohaska says. She is a familiar face on the local
government television channel, discussing and describing
current and future events and projects — all part of the city’s
mission to be open and transparent about what it does.
The Port St. Lucie Parks and Recreation Department >>