The Museum of Discovery and Science, in cooperation with Broward County Waste and Recycling Services and Partner Cities, is presenting a free, hands-on exhibit at the Northwest Regional Library, 3151 University Drive in Coral Springs. The exhibition, which demonstrates the ways common household waste is transformed into useful electricity, will end March 30.

The exhibit, titled Wonderful World of Waste and Energy, is specially designed for children to help them learn how they can recycle and reduce trash amounts while helping the environment. In addition to interactive displays, the exhibit will also comprise a 13-minute video, “All About Garbage,” as well as recycling commercials, on a continuous loop.

The exhibit will be presented at three other Broward County Library locations; North Regional/BC Library, Main Library, and North Lauderdale Saraniero Branch.

For information about the exhibit in Coral Springs, call 954-341-3900.

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Coral Springs is giving residents an opportunity to bring green initiative ideas to an open forum discussion starting in May.

If you live in Coral Springs and are looking for a place to discuss environmental solutions with your neighbors, attend the city’s upcoming open forums sponsored and hosted by the Coral Springs Customer Involved Government Committee (CIGC).

These forums will give Coral Springs’ residents and business owners a chance to discuss action strategies for developing more environmentally-friendly habits. The CIGC is looking for people who are passionate about the subject and are interested in becoming more active in the community.

Visit www.coralsprings.org/gogreen or call Toni Hawkins at 954-344-1148 for information or to sign up.

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Money is hard to come by with sponsors playing hard to get, but a 29-year-old Coral Springs tradition will remain unbroken for at least another year.

Our Town America, the city’s longest running festival, will begin March 6 at the Coral Springs Sportsplex. The event, organized by OurTownAmerica,Inc., will provide fun for the entire family and last three days.

Proceeds will go back to the community, said Fran Cunningham, event coordinator.

Visit www.ourtownamerica.org.

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Coral Springs Commissioner Roy Gold does not hide the fact that the city’s teen political forum is one of his favorite events.

“It is a great opportunity to reach out to the high school population in the community,” Gold said. “This is a chance to let them know that elected officials are normal people; that they can become one if they want to. It’s nice to have young people working for the community."

On March 5 at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, Gold will get another chance to be in the hot seat along with other elected city and state elected officials at the second edition of the event. Like they did last year, they will attempt to answer questions thrown at them by high school students who live in the city or who attend local high schools, public or private.

“This is a city event but it is student-driven,” Gold said. “I want them to have a sense of belonging. It’s awesome working with the students. They are very qualified, talented, and capable people.”

The event will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. March 5 at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, 2855 Coral Springs Drive. Call 954-344-1005.

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Coral Springs Mayor Scott Brook will be the new representative of the City Commission on the board of directors of the city’s Economic Development Foundation. He replaces Claudette Bruck, who held the post ever since she became a commissioner in March 2006.

The decision was made at last week’s City Commission meeting after Brook expressed his desire to be on the board. Brook would serve on the board for a year, as a non-voting ex-officio member, before passing the baton back to Bruck.

There are opportunities the city might be missing because the mayor is not on the EDF, Brook said, explaining why he wanted to serve on the board. “As mayor, I am viewed as the figurehead of the city. I have an MBA. I have a good understanding of business. There is nothing more important in my agenda than economic development of the city.”

Earlier, Bruck made it clear that she wanted to continue serving on the committee. “I believe I have been very well received. I have attended almost every meeting. It is one of my favorite committees. I believe my professional experience makes a difference.”

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Coral Springs is all set for Taste of Coral Springs.

The event, which gives city residents a chance to spend an evening with a Mardi Gras-theme and samplings of food and spirits, will benefit local children’s charities. It will be 6:30 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, 2855 Coral Springs Drive.

Tickets are available online at www.tasteofcoralsprings.org as part of the sponsorship packages starting at $250.

Visit www.tasteofcoralsprings.org or call 954-341-7191.

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State Rep. Martin David Kiar, District 97, will organize a series of town hall meetings throughout his district prior to the 2009 Legislative Session. Among the topics to be discussed are the recently concluded special session, property taxes, the budget and windstorm insurance, as well as any other issues of importance to the citizens of South Florida.

There will be a meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at the commission chambers of Parkland City Hall, 6600 University Drive. State Sen. Jeremy Ring will also be present. In Coral Springs, the meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the Coral Springs Commission Chambers in City Hall, 9551 W. Sample Road. State Sen. Jeremy Ring, and State Rep. Ari Porth and Jim Waldman will also speak.

The Davie/Cooper City meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the Davie Town Hall council chambers, 6591 Orange Drive.

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Broward Health and the Florida Panthers recently recognized the Boccard Family as Broward Health Cancer Heroes of the Game.

Broward Health Heroes of the Game is a new initiative between the Florida Panthers and Broward Health designed to recognize community members who have been impacted by cancer and gone on to make a difference to the lives of others or the community.

The Boccard Family was the first to be recognized as Cancer Heroes of the Game. Lisa Boccard was 29 when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She has been in ongoing treatment again since 2003 for metastatic breast cancer and is presently undergoing chemotherapy. Throughout her long fight against cancer, her brother, Coral Spring Vice-Mayor Vince Boccard, and his wife, Terry, have been by her side.

Together they are working to make sure that women without insurance have access to mammograms through the Lisa Boccard Breast Cancer Fund and their partner, Broward Health Coral Springs Medical Center. In 2008, over 200 women received free mammograms. Of those, 10 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer.

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Students, teachers and staff officially marked the inaugural year of Imagine Charter School at Broward in Coral Springs recently with a special ribbon cutting ceremony. School Principal Kevin Sawyer and guests from Imagine Schools, the city of Coral Springs, and Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce were present.

Imagine Charter School at Broward, 9001 Westview Drive, is in its inaugural year as a public charter school for children in grades Kindergarten through 5. Charter application has been presented for the addition of middle school in 2010. Enrollment for the 2009-2010 academic year is underway.

The school is the first in Broward County to use the “Project CHILD” model of learning. Children are taught by teachers who are specialists in their fields and rotated through their cluster for instruction in math, reading, writing, social studies and science in addition to daily specials such as media, art, music and physical education.

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Erica Turret, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a Parkland resident, has won State Rep. Martin David Kiar’s essay contest. The contest asked for essays on why the student wanted to go to Tallahassee to participate in the legislative process.

The contest was held to offer a student in District 97, or within one of District 97’s schools, the opportunity to serve as a messenger in the Florida House of Representatives during the 2009 Legislative session.

“Erica’s essay showed much creativity and passion,” Kiar said. “She used airplane pilots as an analogy to the political process by comparing pilots flying the plane to politicians steering the state they govern in the right direction. Erica understands the art of compromise through her participation in the model United Nations club.”

Students ranging in age from 15 to 18 submitted essay and were from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Boyd Anderson High School, American Heritage School, and Cooper City High School.

Visit www.myfloridahouse.gov.

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When the Garden Club of Coral Springs organized the inaugural Gardenfest Coral Springs last year, club president Marcy DiMare wasn’t expecting a miracle.

“We were to be a part of the city’s green market, but the city canceled it,” DiMare said. “We didn’t have much time to put the event together, but everything worked well. The vendors made money.”

Buoyed by last year’s success, club members are preparing for the second edition of the event on Feb. 21 and 22 at Riverside Park. Besides a variety of orchids, native plants, unusual ferns, roses, palms, succulents, herbs and other plants that will be up for sale, the event will also have others features, including a plant clinic.

“It is a lot of work, but it is very rewarding,” said DiMare, who has been a master gardener for seven years. “We hope to have about 30 vendors. This event will be more than twice the size of what we had last year."

Gardenfest Coral Springs will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 21, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 22. Admission is free. Visit http://www.gardenfestcoralsprings.com/.

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Parkland officials agree that most of the windows and doors at City Hall need to be replaced, but there is no consensus on the best way to go about doing it.

Despite opposition from Commissioner Dave Rosenof and Vice Mayor Mark Weissman, the commission recently decided 3-2 in favor of replacing only the 41 “critical” windows and two doors using the $137,000 the city received from the insurance company. The $200,000 the city had budgeted for the purpose won’t be used.

Mayor Michael Udine said he had a problem with spending in excess of $320,000 for replacing the windows in the current budget situation. “Not all of the windows need to be replaced. Let us replace the critical windows using the money we got from the insurance. [About] $320,000 is a lot of money to spend on City Hall windows now.”

Commissioner Jared Moskowitz agreed with Udine. “I don’t know why the prices have gone up dramatically. There was an increase of 33 percent from the original quote we were given. I don’t want to use the word ‘extortion’ but it is getting real close. I am not happy with the numbers that came in on the project. I understand there are some critical windows, but I wouldn’t be upset if we threw the bids out.”

Commissioner Rosenof said he wouldn’t support only doing a portion of the windows. “I agree with Jared regarding prices but we have to put that aside. If we don’t replace all the windows now and go through another storm season, we will have to spend much more than 300,000.”

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Jaemi Levine, founder of the Coral Springs-based Mothers Against Predators, has taken her five-year fight against Internet predators to the next level.

“I want the world now. We are now on Facebook,” said Levine, who started her crusade against child predators on the Internet after her daughter was lured by one. “We are less than two weeks old and we already have more than 260 members. We have members from London, Turkey, and other countries. I am fighting against these people by using the same medium that I am protecting children from and educating their parents about.”

On Feb. 22, Levine will talk about Internet safety at an event to be organized by Temple Beth Orr as part of its Judy and Phil Averbuch Life Long Learning Program. State Rep. Ari Porth and a representative from the Broward Sheriff’s Office will also speak.

“Internet Predators: How to Protect Your Children from Internet Dangers” will be at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 22 at Temple Beth Orr, 2151 Riverside Drive in Coral Springs. Call 954-753-3232.

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A group of students at Coral Springs Charter School is seeking help from the community to make life a little easier for the increasing number of pets that are being abandoned due to foreclosures.

From March 2 to 6, members of the school human relations council will collect towels, dog/cat treats, toys, food and other items for the Humane Society of Broward County. The collected items will be donated to the society later in the month.

The students themselves came up with the idea, said Michelle Gunning, eighth grade language arts teacher and sponsor of the club. “They wanted to do something different. It is nice that they are thinking about animal shelters and the welfare of pets. Often, we are busy worrying about ourselves.”

It is the first service project of the council for the year, said Cory Alonso, council president. “I expect students in our school to support us because many of them are into People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and vegetarianism. I have two dogs and a cat at home; this is something very close to my heart.”

Coral Springs Charter School is at 3205 N University Drive in Coral Springs. Items can be dropped off at the school between 7:30 a.m. and 2:35 p.m. Call Michelle Gunning at 954-340-4100.

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Most of Coral Springs’ green initiatives have been met with the wholehearted approval of the community, but not everyone is pleased with the city’s proposal to introduce preferred parking for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles.

Frank Maluda, a former member of the city’s customer involved government committee, appeared before city officials at a recent City Commission meeting and asked them to drop the idea. The proposal, even if introduced with good intentions, will adversely affect the city, he said.

“Look at the number of codes we have. I don’t think we need new ones,” Maluda said. “Introducing preferred parking for green vehicles will cost the city at a time when it is trying to cut costs. Think of all the parking spaces involved. Who is going to pay for that? Will it be the city or places of business? Is sign pollution being considered? Who will enforce it – the police or code enforcement?”

The city has more than 130,000 residents, but 95 percent of them won’t get any benefit from it, Maluda said.

Vice Mayor Vince Boccard, who introduced the idea at a commission meeting late last year, said the city was not rushing into anything. “We are not here to create any financial burden on anyone. We are thinking out of the box. This is something that I think will benefit the city. We are looking at the issue. There is still a long way to go.”

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Parkland, which has implemented many environmentally-friendly programs over the last 18 months, is getting ready to take its energy incentive reward program to the next level.

City commissioners recently discussed the program and decided to bring five new initiatives under the purview of the program. Florida Power and Light's Sunshine Energy Program, which was among the 12 programs that were part of the original plan, has been scrapped.

According to the new proposal, people will be rewarded for sustainable landscape design, as well as installation of photovoltaic solar pool heaters, automatic sprinkler rain sensors, and programmable thermostats. City staff will find out of there are other initiatives that fall within the framework of the program and give periodic updates to the commission.

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An event that will take place later this month in Coral Springs will focus attention on housing discrimination that still goes on in Broward County and other parts of the country.

Four million incidents of housing discrimination are reported every year in the country, said Keenya Robertson, president and CEO of Hope Inc. The organization fights to ensure equal housing opportunities in Broward and Miami-Dade.

“We receive [more than] 100 complaints every year in Broward,” Robertson said. “Discrimination could be on the basis of issues like race, national origin, and disability. These days, we receive a lot of complaints of people being denied housing due to their race. We are the only fair housing organization in Miami Dade and Broward.”

Robertson will be among those speaking at Diversity: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, an event that will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 at Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs. Besides offering free housing counseling, there will be story-telling and a video on tolerance for children. Coral Springs Police Department will offer fingerprinting services and safety information.

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Parkland has made automated external defibrillators mandatory for all pharmacies within the city. There are two pharmacies in the city, with a third slated to open soon.

An automated external defibrillator, or AED, is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses potentially life threatening cardiac issues and treats them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy that allows the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.

Commissioner Jay Smith wanted the commission to consider not mandating it for small, independent businesses. “What is a small amount for a large chain will be a large amount for a small business,” he said.

“We don’t have any independent pharmacies in Parkland,” Mayor Michael Udine said. “It is highly unlikely we are going to. Two years ago, we didn’t have AEDs anywhere. Now we have them in parks and other big facilities.”

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Parkland officials are exploring the possibility of allowing private businesses to utilize the city’s amphitheater at Pine Trails Park for concerts and other special events.

At a recent City Commission meeting, officials asked Parks and Recreation director Scott Davodoff to continue discussions with private parties who have evinced interest in the city facility. Staff is expected to get back to the commission with a concrete proposal within the next few weeks.

“Driven Productions wants to hold a series of super Saturday events. They are looking to bring carnival-type events to Parkland,” Davidoff said. “Casey Gunther, owner of Gunther Volkswagen in Coconut Creek, wants to hold free concerts at the amphitheater as promotion for his business. There is also a Parkland resident who is a promoter of a national production company. He wants to bring events to the city.”

Mayor Michael Udine said he was in favor of exploring the idea further. “Let us try it without being locked in," he said. "Our residents are used to free concerts, but a ticketed event will be fine.”

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When Coral Springs Medical Center opened 22 years ago, Coral Springs was a young city of 47,000 people. The city has nearly tripled in size since then, but the size of the emergency department at the hospital has not changed.

That, however, is soon going to be a thing of the past.

In the first major expansion since the hospital’s inception, the size of the emergency room will go up from a little more than 12,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet. The expanded facility will have 40 beds. Work on the project, expected to begin this month, will be completed by December 2010. The groundbreaking ceremony took place Jan. 28.

Patrick Maloney, Medical Center CEO, said the expanded emergency room would be a tremendous asset for the community. “Every patient will have a private room. We will be able to take care of more patients as well. This will be an emergency room that the community deserves.”

“The number of beds in the emergency room will go up from 23 to 40,” said Drew Grossman, chief operating officer of the medical center. “We will have 26 adult, eight pediatric and six fast track beds. Due to the expansion, we will lose 50 parking spots. The expanded emergency room will have a new entrance.”

The expanded facility will be the best in Florida, said Daniel Stone, emergency room medical director. “We are very excited. We will now be able to help more people not only from Coral Springs but also places like Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Margate and Parkland. We see 48,000 patients every year now. We will be able to take care of at least 60,000 after expansion.”

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There will be no reduction in the number of police officers or firefighters in Coral Springs this year, and all parks and recreational facilities will remain open, said City Manager Mike Levinson .

“2008 was a difficult year to get by,’” Levinson said, presenting the State of the City 2008 report at Coral Springs Center for the Arts last week. The city’s volunteers and members of different committees were recognized at the event that also featured performances by saxophonist Markus Howell and the Ramblewood Middle School jazz band.

“We managed to cope with the harsh realities last year,” Levinson said. “The city managed to lower your tax rate by 13 percent. We were able to do more with less. 2009 is shaping up to be an even more challenging year but we will maintain our central services.”

Mayor Scott Brook was also gung-ho about the city’s future. “We have some challenges ahead of us, but we also have a team like no other city has. We have volunteers like no other city has. In terms of success and level of commitment, this year will be no different from last year when we faced challenges but came through with flying colors.”

According to the state of the city report, the city will undertake 35 new initiatives this fiscal year. Since 2002, the city has decreased its tax rate by 21 percent; the average tax bill for a homesteaded property owner has decreased by $153 in the last two years. The city’s fire assessment fee is among the lowest in the county at $104.25 while it has the lowest solid waste rate of large cities in the county.

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Parents who didn’t qualify for free and reduced price meals for their child now have another chance. Broward County schools are letting families who’ve recently had a change in financial status to reapply this semester.

To receive free and reduced price breakfasts and lunches, Broward residents must satisfy household size and certain income criteria determined by the United States Department of Agriculture.

More than 123,000 students received benefits for the 2008-2009 school year, an increase of 10,000 over the last year, according to a district report.

To reapply and read menu prices, visit the Broward School’s Food & Nutrition Services Web site to download an application form, or call 754-321-0250.

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Coral Springs and Broward County are partnering to have a household hazardous waste collection day on Feb. 8 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be in the parking lot at City Hall South, 9530 W. Sample Road.

City and county residents are encouraged to bring their old paint, used motor oil, batteries, household cleaning supplies and other hazardous wastes to the collection site for proper disposal. Disposing of harsh chemicals and household wastes by professionals helps protect the environment.

Past household hazardous waste collection events in Coral Springs have resulted in the disposal of 4,700 gallons of old paint, 500 gallons of used motor oil, 4,500 pounds of flammables, and 2,400 pounds of pesticides and poisons. Almost 1,000 Broward residents participated in previous collection days, 793 of which resided within a five-mile radius of the city.

Other items accepted include: solvents, pesticides, lawn and pool chemicals, propane tanks, compact fluorescent light bulbs, tires (a maximum of four per person), fire extinguishers, car batteries, flares, mercury thermometers, televisions, computers, monitors, keyboards, mouses, printers, fax machines, cell phones, and rechargeable batteries. Business generated waste is not accepted at this event.

Call Broward County Waste and Recycling Services at 954-765-4999.

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