Our community just held another great event – the Festival of the Flutes. PNA, Terry Boccard and a committee of about twenty business professionals volunteered a great deal of their time for three great causes. We raised over $16,000 to support The Community Chest of Coral Springs, the Lisa Boccard Breast Cancer Foundation and The Sidekick Foundation. Thanks so much to Fusion for being the wine sponsor for the Main event and to Wine Warehouse for sponsoring the fine wines for the VIP Hour. We extend our gratitude to our Title Sponsor, Commerce Bank, for making such a great commitment to our community! If you attended, you can look for your picture on www.pnanetwork.com.
Are you familiar with the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award? We are ecstatic that we will have completed our site visit by the time you read this. We are very hopeful that we will receive this prestigious award for organizational excellence and performance and enhance our national reputation for our outstanding quality of life.
Did you hear about the Teen Political Forum? Wow! We have some extraordinary teens that live in our community with a great eye on the future. Last month, Vice Mayor Roy Gold spearheaded this open dialogue between various elected officials and our youth. The program was led by several engaged teenagers who did a great job. WE HAD AT LEAST 800 ATTENDEES! The youth shared their concerns about their educational future, the irrelevant FCAT’s and generally expressed a desire to be more connected to government. It was very reassuring to meet so many engaged youths looking to make a better future for not only themselves, but everyone around them. I want to congratulate the Committee, our City’s Marketing Department and the participants for making the event such a success!
It looks like the State Government will be putting forth another set of solutions to the property tax dilemma. I am confident that there will be something good that will be presented, including a strong portability option. The Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office will be available at the Northwest Regional Library to answer any questions relating to the proposed tax bills and the new property tax laws on Wednesday, November 14 from 3 to 5 PM. Special homeowner sign-up for Homestead, Senior and other property tax exemptions will also be available. Qualified residents 65 years of age or older as of January 1, 2007 may also apply for the additional Senior Exemption. Eligible seniors must have a total household income not to exceed $24,214 per year. For further information, please contact Kelly Brown at 954-357-6035.
On the day that I am writing this I met with our City Manager, Mike Levinson and Kevin Knutson, our Director of Media and Marketing in the City. We discussed the commencement of our new Government Academy that will take off in early next year. I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS PROGRAM AND HOPE YOU WILL CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN IT WHEN IT KICKS OFF. It is tentatively set to be a six-week program for everyone in our community over 14 to learn about the intricacies of our City and what makes us so unique in the Nation. Whether you are a business owner, a potential candidate for elected office here or merely curious about our special community, you will not want to miss this program.
Lastly, I want to thank the Customer-Involved Government Committee for developing a framework for building more Community Partners for the City. If you are part of a business or organization that would like to learn more about the city and be in the loop about upcoming city events, please email me at SBrook@CoralSprings.org. I also invite everyone to look at our website, www.CoralSprings.org, to learn more about what we offer throughout our community.
Have a special Thanksgiving!