LOCAL NEWS

WORDS Barry Friedman/LkldNow.com

ALDI AND FRESH KITCHEN ARE COMING TO SOUTH FLORIDA AVENUE

Food fanciers in south Lakeland have a double shot of tasty news. An Aldi supermarket and a Fresh Kitchen restaurant will be built on side-byside lots on South Florida Avenue near Alamo Drive. Aldi, known for epicurean house brands and lowfrills shopping, will replace a Golden Corral restaurant that’s slated for demolition. Planned for next door: the 14th store in the Tampa-based Fresh Kitchen chain of healthy-oriented restaurants where diners build their own bowls from a menu of bases, vegetables, proteins and sauces.

BAR MANAGER GETS A $1,000 TIP AND HIS BOSS PAYS IT FORWARD

The general manager of downtown Lakeland’s Dissent Brewing got a $1,000 “welcome-to-the neighborhood” tip courtesy of the local Big Fat Tip non-profit. So the brewery’s owner decided to pay it forward; he donated $1,000 to the organization, which surprised a Mister Fish employee with a one-grand gratuity. The employee was especially grateful because she had been praying for help paying her mother’s medical bills. Big Fat Tip has provided cheer through large gratuities more than 30 times in the past few years, all of them funded through donations.

AMY WIGGINS RETURNING TO THE LAKELAND CHAMBER AS PRESIDENT, CEO

It will be a homecoming next month for Amy Wiggins when she takes over as president and CEO of the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. Wiggins, 43, was a vice president at the organization that represents local businesses before becoming executive director of the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra seven years ago. She replaces Cory Skeates, who resigned suddenly in October after seven years with the chamber. Wiggins, who grew up in Plant City, is a graduate of Florida Southern College. She is a certified chamber executive and on the boards of Lakeland Vision and Polk Vision.

CITY PUSHES FOR BOARDWALKS ALONG THE WESTERN SIDE OF LAKE HUNTER

Imagine a wide recreation path along the western side of Lake Hunter giving walkers, joggers and bicyclists a scenic route to downtown and Bonnet Springs Park. State transportation planners have been working on such a plan and wanted the city of Lakeland’s endorsement. City commissioners said they like the idea, but they really want the recreational trail to follow a boardwalk over the water rather than alongside busy Sikes Boulevard, as the state proposed. Mayor Bill Mutz acknowledged the city may have to supplement the state funds that would otherwise pay for the trail but said there may be state recreation funds available for a boardwalk.

CITIZENS RAISE CONCERNS ABOUT FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE TIMES

When Lakeland’s city commissioners hold their strategic retreat Feb. 23 and 24, one of the issues they’ll be looking at is Fire Department response times. Commissioners have been approached recently by groups from both ends of town concerned about response times. First, residents of Carillon Lakes expressed apprehension that ongoing development and increased traffic in southwest Lakeland strains the ability of Fire Station 7 at the airport. Then a delegation from Foxwood Lake Estates pushed for a new fire station north of I-4 but requested that the city abandon plans to possibly close Station 3 at North Florida Avenue and Bella Vista St. City Manager Shawn Sherrouse told the commissioners that efforts to find land north of I-4 for a fire station have been stymied by high property costs.

CITY HALL LOSING TWO HIGH-PROFILE LEADERS: NICOLE TRAVIS, JOEL IVY

Two of the most visible leaders in Lakeland’s municipal government have announced their departures. Nicole Travis, who rose through the ranks from project manager to deputy city manager, started a new job with the city of Tampa on Jan. 24. She now works for Mayor Jane Castor as Administrator of Development and Economic Opportunity. At Lakeland Electric, General Manager Joel Ivy will be leaving in April to become director of Lubbock Power and Light. Ivy, 62, came to Lakeland in 2012 as Lakeland Electric’s top administrator. His decision to leave is “significantly based on being closer to my family, kids and grandchildren who all live in Texas,” he said.

LKLD LIVE SHUTS DOWN FOLLOWING PANDEMIC SETBACKS, LEASE LOSS

Lkld Live, a scrappy nonprofit that offered alternative music and arts performances in a downtown black box theater, folded at the end of the year. The organization didn’t see a way forward after it suffered pandemic setbacks and then lost the lease on their spot next to Rec Room, a popular arcade bar. Over the summer, Lkld Live had hired a new executive director, Kat Agner, who brought new energy and bigger audiences to the venue. After Lkld Live folded, she moved to The Polk Theatre as sales manager. Ironically, Lkld Live’s first director, Shane Lawlor, had been hired away from the Polk Theatre.

LAKELAND RENTS HAVE LEVELED OFF AFTER HUGE SPIKES, BUT MORE INCREASES EXPECTED

People looking for rental housing in Lakeland have seen prices escalating rapidly in the last couple of years. Rents finally stabilized over the last few months after rising 25.3% since the start of the pandemic, according to apartmentlist.com. However, the organization’s senior economist, Chris Salviati, said trends tell him that summer could see “skyrocketing rent growth … It is hard to say (by how much). Lakeland is poised to be a market that will see above-average rental growth, continued fast rent growth, but I assume at a lower rate” than since March 2020.

LAKELAND AIRPORT HAS TO START OVER ON ITS NOISE REDUCTION PLAN

After Lakeland Linder Airport officials began getting complaints about noise from Amazon cargo jets, they devised a plan to reduce the roar over many neighborhoods. But just as they thought their plan was about to take off, they learned that they had to go back to the drawing board. The Federal Aviation Authority insisted that the airport use an instrument approach for incoming traffic instead of a visual landing path. That will delay a solution by about a year, but airport Director Gene Conrad said there will be advantages: An instrument approach can be used in more kinds of weather, and an instrument-based departure plan using set corridors should allow jets to gain altitude more quickly than they can now, reducing noise over Grasslands.

OMICRON DROVE RECORD COVID CASES, BUT NUMBERS HAVE RECEDED

The omicron variant of COVID-19 brought record numbers of infections to Polk County, but the rising caseload peaked in mid-January. For the most part, infections were not as severe or long-lasting as previous strains, especially among people who had received vaccines. Still, Lakeland Regional Health saw its patient load escalate to levels higher than the January 2021 spike but far lower than the summer 2021 delta peak. In part to relieve pressure on its emergency room, the hospital opened a temporary COVID-19 clinic across Parkview Place from the ER to treat patients with mild, cold-like symptoms.