The City of Port Saint Lucie

In the wake of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one question’s what they can do to better their local environment. As a citizen of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, I ask myself –How can I do my part to save local wildlife and better my community? Port St. Lucie, Florida has a sign when you enter the city, “A City for All Ages”, but what if we, as a community decided that the slogan was outdated? What about a more fitting slogan to our city should aspire to live up to, such as, “A City Proud” or, “Port Saint Lucie –A Green City for All”!

By asking ourselves how we can entice growth and development in our community, ultimately, we make it a better place for all ages. Many factors go into making a city “green”. One such factor is recycling. Many citizens in Port Saint Lucie do not recycle. Why not, you might ask? The bottom line is there are no incentives for citizens to do so. RecycleBank.com offers incentives such as points earned to be redeemed at hundreds of partner companies with gift cards, flowers and other products for everyday use. In light of the unfortunate economy, these incentives for our citizens can be just the right spark to get everyone to recycle and motivated about doing so.

Another factor that goes into making a city, “green” is water conservation. The city has done an excellent job of making residents cut back on water usage, encouraging homeowners to use water on certain days depending upon what their home’s address number is, alternating day usage. But, what if Port Saint Lucie took this a step further, involving local universities and schools as well as, local environmental groups to form an educational awareness campaign? What if local children helped secure this community’s waterways and wildlife, creating rain barrels for all residents and this was encouraged and supported by local government? Our local wildlife and the Saint Lucie River is in dire straits. If you don’t believe me, turn on the local news and watch a few clips of BP’s oil spill. Don’t think this will concern us? You are kidding yourself if you think the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will not eventually destroy or damage our waterways, wildlife and community as well as affect local businesses that depend upon oceans and our local river as their livelihood, a means for employment and income for many residents. This harmful BP oil spill will not only effect fishing industries but our valuable tourist industry too.

The third and probably most changeable factor in getting our community noticed as spearheading the green movement is home builders. Home builders, for many years now in Saint Lucie County have been afforded special treatment and kudos for their fast building methods and ability to quickly and safely manufacture homes and commercial buildings in our community. But, what if the city of Port Saint Lucie applied more stringent “green” methods to building new construction, offering builders extra incentives to not only get the job done quickly, but in a green way –utilizing green building materials in conjunction with solar power and water cisterns to lessen the carbon footprint for families. Port Saint Lucie, Florida has the potential to be the most desirable place to reside in the State! Who wouldn’t want a generation of forward thinking people who care about their environment populating their town?! And, Port Saint Lucie and Saint Lucie County can take this a step further offering green companies special incentives for moving their businesses to our town. -This would create new jobs, new industries and even further propel our city into the special place it can be.

As a homeowner, with vested interest in seeing Port Saint Lucie, FL succeed, I wish government and city officials would display faint interest in creating a community for the future. We are a society of 'now' and instant gratification, so future planning (beyond one or two years from now), unfortunately, is not top priority for the city at this time. It's surprising that communities everywhere can't see the positives in making a green change. Or, perhaps they can see the possibility of change, but their bottom line ($$$) would be too greatly affected to take the leap into a greener world. I love my city but wish it was more proactive and progressive. With the housing market tanking in Port St. Lucie, FL -you would think change is inevitable and change would be welcome.

Harold Wilson said it best, “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery”.

Win a $50 Safeway Gift Card

Check out this link: FrugalFLoridian
and enter to win a $50 gift card to Safeway and their affiliate stores.

There are several ways to enter to win, all of which are easy and fast!

I know if you have a Safeway Savings card, this gift certificate will help you out when shopping for dog food as well as human food ;)


I entered to win and if I do, I will donate the card to ABTCR or, American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue since Safeway is nowhere near where I live and I made it my New Year's resolution to help them raise money!
Good Luck! -D0nna

Candy Rant

This little rant came about after reading another blog concerning harmful kid’s snacks being pushed by marketing mavens on our kids. It makes me so mad that parents buy into this concept of character yogurts as being a healthy snack. Would you pump yourself with dye-filled, sugar infused yogurt if you really knew what was in that stuff? Probably not. So why is it O.K. if we give this to our kids? Because Sponge Bob’s picture is on each squeezy yogurt packet? My 4.5 year old son will never be allowed yogurts with characters on the label.
#1. Because they are LOADED with sugar
#2. They have crazy artificial colorants that are known to cause cancer in lab rats. Yes, cancer.

I always find it shocking that parents give this to their kids under the pretext of it being, "healthy". One mother I asked offered this, "It's yogurt, it's not baaaadd for them".

Oh, yes it is!
Another annoyance I have with kids' snacks (and these are BANNED from our house), are the gummy/fruit chews, bears and other appealing-to-children character candies. There, I said it! I called them what they are… "candy"! I have tried many different brands of soft, chewy fruit snacks –from organic to Nabisco, all of which make my loving and sweet child turn instantly into a crazy nut ball that bounces from sofa to Noguchi coffee table without flinching!

I say shame on these companies for making these products our kids beg for when we go to the grocery store extremely unhealthy and even, harmful. BUT, really… shame on parents for buying it too. After all, someone is buying these products for their kids. Not me. One could use the excuse of not having enough time. I am a busy parent too, but not too busy to peel a juicy orange as a healthy snack instead of on-the-go, sugar infused yogurt packets. I hope someone reads this and remembers my call to action that these snacks are not healthy when they reach for them to add to their grocery cart.

They are candy and nothing more!