Parkways, DRIs and Realtors, Oh My!

Wednesday was a busy day in the Winter Haven area. If you were lacking for a meeting to attend, you weren't trying very hard.

The commercial realtors of Winter Haven had their monthly breakfast with guest speaker Rick Dantzler. Rick started by saying that recently he and the group of investors with the project had stopped speaking about the Heartland Parkway, but this breakfast was scheduled months out and he didn't want to disappoint the commercial group.
It was a very informative speech about the parkway project. Rick stressed the conflict of the parkway, even for himself. He said he knew that region would eventually open up and with proper planning it could be done the right way. He had hunted on that very property in the area and it bothered even him to develop it.
The plan calls to develop condensed "pods" with fewer exits off the parkway, leaving untouched areas along the way like a string of pearls. Even Rick admitted that as much thought and planning were being put into this project, not everyone was happy, but the developers were trying to do their best to look into the next 25-50 years.
I hope they can accomplish their goal and keep Florida's natural areas as pristine as possible.

At 9am was the CSX DRI meeting at the SE Complex. I'll go over that meeting in my next blog.

11:30am on to the East Polk County Association of Realtors luncheon. The guest speaker was Lori Edwards, Supervisor of Elections. I had never heard Lori speak before, boy is she a dynamo for a very petite woman! I was impressed with the issues she covered and her enthusiasum. A realtor asked about volunteering at the polls for elections and she said it was paid part time work on election day as a poll worker! A fact I didn't know. Or your organization could have a group work and donate the procedes to a non-profit organization! I thought it was an excellent idea!

Now, on to the next blog!