Access Lakeland February

30290-I-0192

PARKS & RECREATION ACTIVITY PASS

SAVE BIG WITH THE NEW CHANGES

HOLLINGSWORTH RD. SAFETY UPDATE

IMPROVEMENTS MADE FOR PEDESTRIANS

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

MEET ELIZABETH HOLLIDA

WHAT IS NEXTDOOR?

A NEW WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS

BALLGAMET A K E M E O U T T O T H E CITY OF LAKELAND NEWS & EVENTS

FEBRUARY 2018

Detroit Tigers Open 82nd Season In Lakeland

The Tigers entered into a historic agreement last year, and their winter home will remain in Lakeland for an unprecedented 100
years. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium featured major renovations and ballpark enhancements last season for a truly entertaining
experience for all ages. Images of the state-of-the-art complex can be viewed at tigers.com/Lakeland.

This spring marks the Tigers 82nd season at TigerTown in Lakeland, extending the longest-standing relationship between a Major
League team and a current Spring Training host city. The 2018 spring season marks the club’s 53rd consecutive season of exhibition play
at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers will open the exhibition schedule on Thursday, February 22 as the club plays host to Florida Southern College in the annual
matchup against the Moccasins. The Tigers open the home portion of the Grapefruit League schedule against the Toronto Blue Jays on
Saturday, February 24.

The home schedule is highlighted by visits from the New York Yankees on Tuesday, March 6, Saturday, March 17 and Tuesday,
March 20. Other notable games include the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, February 24 and Wednesday, March 7. The New York Mets
will visit Publix Field on Friday, March 9 and the Washington Nationals on Monday, March 12. For additional ticket information and special
group pricing, call the Lakeland ticket office at (863) 686-8075 or visit tigers.com/springtraining.

DETROIT TIGERS 2018 SPRING TRAINING HOME SCHEDULE

ALL GAMES BEGINS @ 1:05PM

Thurs. February 22 - Florida Southern College
Sat. February 24 - Toronto
Sun. February 25 - Pittsburgh
Thurs. March 1 - Atlanta (SS)
Fri. March 2 - Miami
Sat. March 3 - Tampa Bay
Tues. March 6 - New York Yankees
Wed. March 7 - Toronto (SS)
Fri. March 9 - New York Mets
Sun. March 11 - Atlanta
Mon. March 12 - Washington
Fri. March 16 - Philadelphia (SS)
Sat. March 17 - New York Yankees
Mon. March 19 - Baltimore
Tues. March 20 - New York Yankees
Sat. March 24 - Philadelphia
Sun. March 25 - Atlanta
Mon. March 26 - Tampa Bay

IMPROVEMENTS TO HOLLINGSWORTH RD
FOR STUDENT SAFETY

The City of Lakeland’s Traffic, Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Team recently had a meeting to review strategies to improve safety along Hollingsworth
Road as students approach Lakeland High School and Harrison School for the Arts. The City of Lakeland’s Traffic Operations, Community
Development, Engineering and Police Department along with representatives from the Florida Department of Transportation attended the
meeting. The group reviewed available options to improve pedestrian safety including reduced speed limits, enhanced street lighting, new 15
MPH reduced speed school zone with flashing beacons and improved crosswalk signage. The City of Lakeland’s Traffic, Pedestrian & Bicycle
Safety Team have implemented the following public safety enhancements along Hollingsworth Road.
• 1. HOLLINGSWORTH ROAD POSTED SPEED LIMIT: Traffic Operations has replaced 35-MPH speed limit signs along the Hollingsworth

Road corridor with new 30-MPH signs (and an additional northbound sign installed just north of the round-about). The reduced 30-MPH
speed limit is justified based on the residential character of this roadway with numerous driveways, the presence of three (3) schools and the
uncontrolled pedestrian crossings adjacent to both high schools.
• 2. ENHANCED STREET LIGHTING: Lakeland Electric conducted a field inspection along the corridor resulting in the roadway lights at
Cumberland Street and Palmetto Street being upgraded with brighter LED fixtures. In conjunction with these enhancements, Lakeland
Electric replaced streetscape lights along Hollingsworth Road with new LED lights.
• 3. 15-MPH REDUCED SPEED SCHOOL ZONE: The City of Lakeland installed reduced 15 MPH speed limit school zone signage with flashing
yellow beacons. A recent traffic study confirms significant pedestrian crossing activity at the two uncontrolled crosswalks. The City’s Traffic
Safety Team recommends that a reduced 15-MPH school zone be established fronting Lakeland High School/Harrison School of the Arts.
The yellow flashing beacons will operate for 45 minutes in the morning (6:30 – 7:15 a.m.) and the afternoons (2:00 – 2:45 p.m.) when school
is in session. Vehicles that exceed the reduced school zone 15-MPH speed limit (applicable when the yellow beacons are in “flash mode”)
will be subject to a traffic citation. Additionally, the signage “SPEEDING FINES DOUBLED” will be posted and applicable during these
student arrival and dismissal times.
• 4. CROSSWALK SIGNAGE: Crosswalk signage with push-button LED lights is another tool that the City of Lakeland’s Traffic, Pedestrian &
Bicycle Safety Team put in place at Cumberland Street and Palmetto Street. For more information on the City of Lakeland’s traffic operations,
please visit www.lakelandogov.net/publicworks.

DOWNTOWN PARKING UPDATE

In January, the City of Lakeland implemented new improvements to The Park and Ride spaces on Rose Street, the Lake Mirror Center
downtown parking. These includes the opportunity for customers to Parking lot and the Peggy Brown Building parking lot (depicted in
park longer than two-hours in downtown spaces and a “Free After purple) continue to have free unlimited parking at any time. All City-
Three” option in the Main Street Parking Garage. owned on-street and off-street parking has free unlimited parking
Angelo Rao, Manager of Traffic and Parking Operations said, “We evenings and weekends, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., Monday thru
are trying to create a user friendly balance between those that require Friday and all day during the weekends. Please visit http://www.
additional time to park downtown and customers who have short-term lakelandgov.net/parking for additional information on parking in the
parking needs.” City of Lakeland.
As a solution for those that require more than two-hours of downtown
parking, on-street peripheral locations on Massachusetts Avenue,
Main Street and Orange Street are now in place. Customers can use
the ParkMobile app to park in these locations longer than two hours.
The exact areas are depicted in green on the map. This peripheral
parking will have a new ParkMobile zone number assigned: 2725. For
this new zone, the first two hours of operation will be free of charge,
followed by the ability to purchase up to seven additional continuous
hours (for a grand total of up to nine hours) at the rate of $0.25 per
hour plus applicable ParkMobile fees.
The lower level of the Main Street Garage, for those that enter from
Cedar Street, will be “Free After 3”. This area is depicted in brown
on the map. The current hourly payment of $1.00 per hour plus
applicable ParkMobile fees will only be required from 8:00 a.m. to
3:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday. No payment is required after 3:00 p.m
or during the weekends.

Kelly Recreation Complex • Simpson Park • Beerman Family Tennis Center • Gandy Pool • Simpson Pool • Coleman-Bush

For more info call 863-834-3284

CITY OF LAKELAND EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

ELIZABETH HOLLIDA DigitalContentSpecialist

Meet Elizabeth “Liz” Repass Hollida, the Digital Content Specialist number of job positions during her career: Graphic Designer, Production
for the City of Lakeland’s Communications Department. One of her Assistant, English Teacher, Substitute Teacher, Server (Olive Garden), and
biggest projects to date was the redesign of the new lakelandgov.net prior to joining the City of Lakeland, she was the Digital Media Specialist
website. She worked closely with IT and all the City Departments to for Heartland for Children in Bartow, Florida.
launch the new, user friendly site last year. When not designing websites
and managing webpages, Hollida spends part of her day monitoring Hollida and her family attend Oasis Community Church and host
all the City's social media platforms. the These include Facebook, weekly life groups in their home. Hollida is passionate about travel.
Twitter, Nextdoor, Instagram and even Snapchat. In addition to social She has lived in Florence, Italy (studied abroad); Kawasaki (Tokyo),
media, Hollida plays an integral part in helping City Departments with Japan (taught English); Los Angeles, California; Astoria and Ridgewood
their marketing plans to promote things like upcoming events to job (Queens), New York before circling back to Winter Haven and finally,
openings to making sure citizens are informed. Her favorite part of her Lakeland. In addition to being passionate about travel, she loves to
job is working on video projects. Keep an eye out for new episodes create fine art and has recently begun getting involved with the local art
of the City’s new series, Lakeland VIBE, starring Hollida and fellow scene, joining groups like LKLD Creative Makers and taking art classes
Communications teammate, Jamin Smith. VIBE focuses on a different at Polk Museum of Art. Other favorite hobbies include exploring local
aspect of Lakeland’s creative community in each episode. coffee shops, her favorites now are 801 E Main St and Hillcrest. She loves
karaoke, making new friends, and binge watching series like Stranger
What Hollida enjoys most about her position is that she is able to Things, Mr. Robot and watching movies. Her current favorite movie is
use her creative background and variety of skills gained over the years The Greatest Showman. While she has seen the movie two times, she
on a daily basis, from creating and editing videos and web graphics has practically worn the soundtrack out; she cannot get enough of this
to photography, to being a part of the production team for events like music! Her ultimate, ALL TIME favorite thing to do is spend time with
Red, White & Kaboom! and the Lakeland Christmas Parade. Hollida is her “funny little family”, her husband Patrick and two daughters, Veda
grateful for the other 6 members of the Communications Department, (10) and Zoë (6). They are all equally artsy and quirky and are working on
saying," she loves how creative, fun and hilarious they are!” trying to explore all of the parks in Lakeland. “There are just so many,”
she says. They love taking family bike rides, playing tabletop/board
Hollida was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Fairfax County, games and RPGs, working on creative projects, and generally laughing
Virginia. She moved to Winter Haven when she was 14 and graduated and having as much fun as possible!
from Winter Haven High School. Hollida went on to graduate from
Florida State University (Magna cum Laude) with a Bachelor’s Degree
in Studio Art with a Graphic Design emphasis. Hollida has held a

When Lakeland neighbors start talking, great things happen. Nextdoor is Come to Munn Park on Saturday, March 10, 2018 from 8:00 a.m.
a free, private social networking website for your neighborhood. It makes it – 3:00 p.m. for the 16th Annual Spring Obsession, Garden and Art
easy to connect with your neighbors and build stronger, safer, happier places Festival. Enjoy a free family day of activities while exploring the many
to call home. We’d like to invite you to join the City of Lakeland on Nextdoor! flowers and plants for sale, attend garden presentations, purchase art
for the patio and listen to live music from the jazz band Free Time.
With Nextdoor, you can:
• Find local resources, such as: babysitters, plumbers and dentists. It is time to stock up on all your spring plant needs including:
• Share information on suspicious activity and safety concerns with neighbors. flowering plants for house and garden, outdoor plants for your
• Organize neighborhood events, such as garage sales and block parties. landscaping and garden art and accessories to spice up your lawn or
• Get assistance to find lost pets and missing packages. patio. Learn about jazzing up your yard from landscaping professionals
• Promote items for sale/free and inquire about items for purchase. as part of the garden presentations. There will also be a presentation
• Connect with parents, pet owners and other groups in your neighborhood. on rain barrels and water conservation with decorative rain barrels
• Get to know your fellow neighbors so you can finally call them by name. available for purchase.
• Receive important updates from the City of Lakeland!
Join or start your Nextdoor neighborhood at nextdoor.com, or download Delight in hard to find exotics, orchids, Florida native plants, roses,
the Nextdoor app herbs, gingers and more as you stroll through Munn Park to the
Nextdoor is for neighbors only. All of your information is secure. sounds of Free Time. Free Time will play an eclectic and entertaining
blend of musical styles ranging from Al Jarreau and Stevie Wonder
to Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Grover Washington, Duke Ellington and
BB King. Spring Obsession is a non-profit event.

springbreak

CAMP
MARCH 26-30
7:30AM-5:30PM
KELLY RECREATION COMPLEX
$50 per child • K-5

REGISTER @ KELLY RECREATION COMPLEX
404 IMPERIAL BLVD • LAKELAND

STAY CONNECTEDOnline | www.lakelandgov.net ­ In Person | City Hall • 8AM – 5PM • Monday-Friday
FACEBOOK TWITTER SNAPCHAT NEXTDOOR INSTAGRAM VIMEO YOUTUBE |
Listen Lakeland • First Sunday • FM 97.5 WPCV @ 8:30AM | FM 98.3 WWRZ @ 8AM | AM 1430 WLKF @ 8AM | AM 1230 WONN @ 9AM
Public Meetings | City Commission Meetings • First and Third Monday • 9AM | Utility Committee Meetings • First Monday • 1PM
Live Broadcast on LGN | Channel 643 (Spectrum) | Channel 43 (Frontier FiOS)

IMPORTANT NUMBERS:

City Hall • 863.834.6000 Lakeland Electric Customer Service • 863.834.9535 Power or Water Outages • 863.834.4248
Pollution Hotline • 863.834.3300 LPD Crime Tips Hotline • 863.834.2549 LPD (Non-Emergency) • 863.834.6900

PAYING YOUR UTILITY BILL:
ONLINE | www.lakelandelectric.com BY PHONE | 863.834.9535
IN PERSON | Lakeland Electric has partnered with over 50 local businesses including area AMSCOT offices to accept your utility payment.