Vets celebrated at Muster
Navy UDT-SEAL Museum’s big event
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New president elected
Negron named Senate president
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Is your child a Young Eagle EAA volunteers flying youth for free
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ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 4/ISSUE 2
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Mayor delivers uplifting state of the city address Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
PORT ST. LUCIE — It was hard to tell if Mayor Greg Oravec was delivering the annual State of the City to residents, or an enthusiastic sales pitch to relocating home shoppers and businesses. “We are lucky to live in Port St. Lucky,” he said during the address. Oravec delivered the State of the City before the regular City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 9. He rattled off a list of prestigious publications and the high rankings they’ve recently given Port St. Lucie for various things, from being among the best places in the nation to start a business to being among the best places to retire. “Just last week, we learned that 24/7 Wall St. concluded we were one of America’s 50 best cities to live in,” he said. Oravec said that while the severe economic downturn that squeezed the nation from about 2009 to 2012 — followed by an anguishing, slow recovery — was the Great
See ADDRESS page A8
Staff photo by Patrick McCallister County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky speaks to protesters at St. Lucie County’s Roger E. Poitras Administration Annex, Fort Pierce, on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The protesters oppose Compost USA of the Treasure Coast’s application for a conditional-use permit to do composting at a proposed facility on Shinn Road, just west of Port St. Lucie’s northern side.
Protesters urge County Commission to flush Compost USA Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Dozens of protesters raised a stink over Compost USA of the Treasure Coast. They were at St. Lucie County’s Roger E. Poitras Administration Annex, Fort Pierce, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, before the regular commission meeting. They got an unexpected guest speaker: County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky. “I wanted to personally thank you for coming out,” he told the crowd. While his appearance was gen-
erally popular, some protestors booed a few of the commissioner’s remarks. “He is the only commissioner to come out and talk to us,” Charles Gausten told fellow protestors, who cheered. Dzadovsky defended his commission colleagues for not meeting with the protesters, too, noting that they were preparing for a meeting. On Dec. 3 the County Commission will, for the third time, consider a conditional-use permit for a proposed composting facility on Shinn Road, just west of Port St. Lucie’s northern side. If the commission gives its nod, the company would have
state permitting processes to go through. Compost USA uses yard waste and a class of treated municipal sewage and turns it into a fertilizer. Opponents have a litany of concerns over the proposed composting of human waste in what they count to be close proximity to Ten Mile Creek, The St. Lucie County Fairgrounds, Allapattah Flats K-8 School, PGA Village and Tradition. “We’re not against Compost USA,” protester Rita Ferrara said. “We’re against where they’re putting it.” Compost USA insists that the
See PROTEST page A18
ECRWSS
Local Postal Customer
22724
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FORT PIERCE, FL PERMIT NO. 248