PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 Frigid temperatures didn\u2019t stop local residents from coming out to meet Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin to get answers to their questions. The monthly meet and greets are a way for Martin to speak to residents one on one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually speak to larger groups like HOA\u2019s or business organizations, but I like being able to meet our residents face to face, one-on-one and answer their questions,\u201d Martin said. \u201cPlus, there are so many new coffee shops in town, it\u2019s another way to support our small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
This event was held at the newly opened Artisan Cafe in the square in downtown Tradition.<\/p>\n
Several residents arrived with questions already in mind.<\/p>\n
Tradition resident John Hanchor was concerned about a rumor he had recently heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it true that the city is going to close the Saints golf course and sell it for more housing or allow it to go private?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThe Saints is owned by the city and is a public golf course and it\u2019s going to stay that. Besides, that land is zoned open space recreation and I don\u2019t see that changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if the city planned on opening another public golf course, perhaps west of town, Martin said that there were no such plans.<\/p>\n
One resident had a more environmental question.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of our lakes have grass around them and there are a lot of cypress trees. Is there a reason for that,\u201d questioned Alicia Foster, Branch Manager for PNC Bank and a Tradition resident.<\/p>\n
Foster said that she moved here from Wellington and the lakes there didn\u2019t have the same appearance. She was concerned if any organization is responsible for maintaining them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are actually stormwater retention ponds, and that is a requirement of the South Florida Water Management District,\u201d Martin answered.<\/p>\n
She explained that the ponds help prevent run-off of pollutants, manage heavy rainfall and prevent flooding.<\/p>\n
While many attendees had questions, others just wanted to introduce themselves to the mayor.<\/p>\n
One such person was Eric Blomquist, director of the newly formed St. Lucie Disaster Recovery Coalition. \u201cI just wanted to introduce myself and let the mayor know about us,\u201d Blomquist said. \u201cWe\u2019re currently trying to get word out about our new organization. We want to be a conduit of getting people together and letting them know we can be a clearinghouse when disaster strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeanpaul Ojeda, a recent graduate of New York University who attended with Blomquist, told the mayor how happy he was about the direction the city is taking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so happy to see everything going on in the city, especially Walton and One and the soccer stadium!\u201d Ojeda was talking about the proposed soccer stadium a developer wants to build at Walton Road and U.S. #1 in Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n
To learn more about future meet and greets, visit the Mayor Shannon M. Martin, City of Port St. Lucie Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 Frigid temperatures didn\u2019t stop local residents from coming out to meet Port St. Lucie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-152818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}