CITY GOVERNMENT
Residents of planning areas 6 and 7 met with planners to talk about what they did and did not want in their neighborhoods.
In May, the popular event moved to the Westmoreland Riverfront
Park, which residents helped to design last summer.
Proceeds from River Nights will be used to extend the scenic
riverwalk from the north side of Port St. Lucie Boulevard to
the new park on the south side.
One of the more unusual community events occurred during
the annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival in March at the civic
center. The city hosted a rock painting session in collaboration
with the 17,000-member Facebook group called PSL Rocks.
Hidden in parks around the city, 10 of the 1,000 brightly
colored rocks were worth prizes. After they’re found and
turned in, they’ll be made into an outdoor sculpture.
City officials said the painting party met three objectives.
It brought residents together to enjoy the popular pastime, it
encouraged the use of parks and it dovetailed with the state
and local health departments’ initiative to promote an active,
healthy lifestyle.
PLANS FOR PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
Looking to increase its cultural appeal, the city advertised
recently for volunteers to serve on a public art advisory board
that will be responsible for drafting a public art master plan,
recommending art projects, selecting works of art and even
suggesting architectural enhancements and special landscape
treatments.
With city expenditures constantly being scrutinized by
residents and businesses, the city council decided in March
to revive its citizens budget advisory committee to make sure
residents have a say in the annual budget.
In April, planners held a workshop for residents to discuss
features for a new park off Becker Road. Suggestions for the
park included hiking trails, a small playground, lots of trees,
a dog park and an open area for games. About $850,000 from
the city’s recycling program will pay for construction by the
end of this year.
The city also has Facebook and Twitter accounts and encourages
residents to visit them.
“I definitely see a big change,” Simmons says. “There is a
lot more transparency now. In the past, councils wanted to
have their way and didn’t seem to care much about what the
people said. Today, especially with (the app) Access PSL I feel
like they know me and I know them.” The app allows people
to report problems or concerns directly to the city.
RELATIONSHIPS CANTANKEROUS
Simmons moved to Port St. Lucie in 1991, during the “water,
sewer, fire, design decade” as the city planners called it.
It was the decade of fiery battles, in particular over the 1996
plan to expand water and sewer lines. Residents didn’t want
to pay the fees and assessments associated with the $145 million
project and even took the city to court over it and lost.
With much of the most disruptive infrastructure construction
era out of the way, the city turned to quality of life issues
like creation of neighborhoods with names — something
eastern Port St. Lucie has never had.
“At first you dealt with the big picture,” says Mayor
Gregory Oravec, explaining that the big picture meant all the
infrastructure such as roads, sewer, water and drainage that
the city had to put in. “And now, we’ve made enough progress
to get to the neighborhoods.”
The new neighborhood services planning division, a part of
the Neighborhood (formerly Community) Services Department,
works directly with the residents to create an identity
for their neighborhood and find ways to enhance it.
Chief among the ideas is renaming what city staff knows
as numbered planning areas into neighborhoods with names
like Oakridge.
“Then if you tell someone you live in Oakridge, they’ll
know exactly where you mean,” Oravec said.
Tradition and St. Lucie West, west of the turnpike in Port
St. Lucie, serve as good examples for what the city hopes to
do on the east side of the turnpike in areas where homes were
built between 1960 and 2000.
“You can’t just be new and shiny in one area, the whole city
has to prosper together,” Oravec says. “So we are working
with residents (in the eastern planning areas) to find out what
they want. Anywhere else you have areas with names, we
have numbers. We don’t give kids numbers, we give them
names because we love them.”
COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVING
Patty McCurdy, who lives near Veterans Memorial Parkway
in what is known as Planning Area 6, said the city did a
good job of notifying residents about meetings. She gives the
city high marks for its communication efforts. “They’re very
responsive and they’re reaching out.”
“The meetings were wonderful,” she says. “The city was
very prepared. They asked us to tell them what was good
and what was not so good and what they might improve.”
Sidewalks and bus stops were two of the group’s priorities,
she said.
Planning Director Tobin said the meetings with residents
from areas 6 and 7 showed her that “they really love where
they live. And that’s exhilarating to see. City Hall is really >>
42 Port St. Lucie Magazine