Saturday, January 23, 2016

Identifying Local Oppurtunities: Palm Beach County

So far in this blog we have looked into peronsal issues, world issues, and now it is time to turn our focus to local problems. I grew up in Lake Worth, Florida so I decided to search issues facing my local community in South Florida.


  1. 'Empty Bowls' event aims to reduce local hunger; Minestrone for the soul benefits Food Bank;donors get soup, bowls. link:http://www.lexisnexis.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=144576               This article covers a fundraiser being held in Palm Beach County to raise money               for local food banks. The fundraiser entails selling handmade soup bowls for $25               a bowl. These bowls are made by local potters and then are filled with soup                     made by local chefs.                                                                                               Although this article chooses to focus on a solution for the problem, it also                       makes specific reference to the population of people going hungry in Palm                       Beach County.                                                                                                       According to the article "1 in 6 local residents do not know where their next                     meal will come from."
  2. Prove law is anti-homeless: Get arrested                                                                    link:http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A898F056417AB0?p=AWNB                                                                                                                       There was recently an ordinance passed which tuned all public outdoor areas                   into public parks. On top of this public curfews have been set for the local public               parks, therefore making it illegal for anyone to be in the parks past a certain                   time. Currently a large portion of the homeless population in Palm Beach                         County is using the park for shelter at night. These two new laws would make it               illegal for them to sleep there.                                                                                 The real problem here is that there is a large population of people who don't                   don't have a home. Instead of trying to fix that problem the community is                       focusing on making it illegal to be homeless.
  3. Harbourside suit goes to meditation                                                                            link: http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A883E877BB1AE8?p=AWNB                                                                                                                     One of the most popular places to be on a Friday night in Jupiter is the                           Harbourside. Frequented by bands and music events the Harbourside is a great               to spend the evening with family and friends. Recently though there has been a               lawsuit filed by Harbourside place againest the town of Jupiter claiming that                     Jupiters noise restrictions are unlawful. At present the lawsuit has gone to                       meditation and will hopefully be resolved without going to trial.                                     I believe that the problem here lies in the communities inability to find a                         compromise.
  4. County: Try using trains, bicycles, buses                                                                      link:http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A883E86C4FCBB8?p=AWNB                                                                                                                       If you have ever been on I-95 during rush hour you will know that traffic and                   transportation is a huge issue in Palm Beach County. Residents are being                         encouraged to turn to other forms of transportation including the train, buses,                 and bikes.                                                                                                             The focus of this article is the problem of traffic and air pollution. It offers a                   few solutions to both problems including alternate forms of transportation.
  5. Schools deal with rash of threats                                                                                link: http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A7DB8F50AD2270?p=AWNB                                                                                                                     This article discusses a string of threats against public schools in Wellington. It                 goes into specific detail of the recent threats against these schools.                               This problem hits very close to home for me as the article specifically refrences               a middle school less than two miles from my house which my sister use to                     attend. These threats are effecting the education of the schools students and                   frankly making alot of the student population afraid to go to school.

4 comments:

  1. Hey there Niamh,
    It was great reading all of your posts. I used to live in Jupiter Farms while I was in Architecture School. It was a great place to live and I miss it. I found your post about the curfew being set to impact the homeless population. It's unfortunate because the homeless population has exploded in light of the economic downturn. There are other factors, including a housing market that is still not affordable as well as an average credit history of more than half of the country that prevents any financing. It's sad that an "ordinance" was the perceived solution. It would be more responsible of the county and city governments to work together to provide short-term housing and job placement programs for folks that are struggling so hard. Good luck with the rest of your semester!

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  2. Check mine out if you have a chance:
    http://breident3003.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-worlds-biggest-problems.html

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  3. Wrong link sorry, here's the local opportunities:
    http://breident3003.blogspot.com/2016/01/identifying-local-opportunities.html

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  4. Hey Niamh!
    I did the same thing with my local opportunities, focusing on my home town of Orlando. So these problems are more relatable to you. The issue concerning the traffic on I-95 is probably relatable to everyone. I-95 does run along a large part of Florida but really any interstate can have crazy traffic during rush hour. Trying to promote alternative forms of transportation will not only help the environment but also the sanity of people that are always stuck in traffic.

    You can check out my list of local issues if you get the chance.
    http://lasnerlieblogging.blogspot.com/2016/01/identifying-local-opportunities.html

    ReplyDelete