Ex-trooper writes own ticket Tradition resident turns out spy tale
A3
Exponential value in locks Church tries for 67 contributions
A13 Got drama?
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Summer camp theatre at Sunrise
ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 2/ISSUE 34
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
City Center in flux
FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2014
Fierce on the floor Not at all aboard
Brandon Zeris
Brandon Zeris
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
PORT ST. LUCIE — A proposed city center along U.S. 1 and Walton Road could become a new central hub for international trade with space planned for a 200-room hotel, 1,080 residential units and 1.5 million square feet of business development. The plans, submitted on behalf of the 69-acre site’s owner Lily Zhong, claim the center will be lucrative, longterm for the city. During construction, Zhong anticipates the creation of 3,800 construction jobs and construction fees to cost roughly $380 million. Zhong also estimates more than $26 million to be paid in impact fees to the school board. Annually, she expects 2,650 jobs to be created with a payroll of about $102 million. Zhong is hoping to break ground on the site in April. Sam Yates, president of Yates & Associates — which Zhong hired as her public relations firm — said there has already been interest from businesses that would expand to the center. Yates said he could not reveal which ones, however. Most of those are places that already have locations along the Treasure Coast, but Yates said there has been interest
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — The St. Lucie Commission is against the proposed high speed passenger rail project, All Aboard Florida, that would make 32 daily passes through the Treasure Coast without making any stops in the area. The commission passed a resolution at their meeting June 16, citing safety concerns they say the service would bring to the area. The county joins Martin and Indian River counties, as well as the city of Port St. Lucie, the city of Stuart, the city of Vero Beach and St. Lucie Village as governing bodies that have passed resolutions against the rail. Safety and cost concerns were the main issues cited by the commissioners and other county officials. Much of initial cost is to be covered by a $1.6 billion loan from the Federal Railroad Administration, but county attorney Dan McIntyre said the county would be responsible for costs down the road. “The staff is concerned about cost, and that’s short-term and long-term. We’ve got existing track agreements; even if All Aboard pays for some short-term improvements, we
Staff writer
Staff writer
See FLUX page A20
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Courtney Quinones of St. Lucie West makes her statement while performing to ‘Fierce’ at the True Crew 8th Annual Dance Recital Saturday, June 21 at Fort Pierce Central High School.
See ABOARD page A12
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