The city of Pembroke Pines is planning to host a meeting to discuss a citywide efficiency study July 16 at City Commission chambers, 10100 Pines Blvd.

The Citywide Efficiency Study Evaluation Committee is convening at City Hall from 10 to 11 a.m. to address how Pembroke Pines can improve the organization and efficiency of day-to-day operations to help trim costs.

For more information about the meeting, call 954-435-6501, or visit www.ppines.com.

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Pembroke Pines residents eager for a sanctuary of classical music amid the summer doldrums needn’t look far: compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, Copland and Brahms will take center stage at Susan B. Katz Theater of the Performing Arts, 17189 Sheridan St.

Summerfest 2009, hosted by Symphony of the Americas and European orchestra Remenyi Ed Hungarian Chamber Orchestra is a free 90-minute tribute to classical composers like Hungarian Gyorgy Organ and a premiere or new works by Cuban Alfredo Munar.

Performances are punctuated by the music of Rachmaninoff and David Popper, and features cellist Endre Balog and the music of Wieniawski. These pieces are arranged and performed by concertmaster and soloist Laszlo Pap and maestro James Brooks-Bruzzese.

The 18th annual Summerfest runs 7 to 8:30 p.m. July 9. VIP tickets include a post-concert reception with visiting artists and can be purchased by calling 954-986-5027, or by visiting www.ppines.com.

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The 2016 Summer Olympics should be hosted in Chicago and nowhere else.

That was the subject behind a recent rally inside Walter C. Young Middle School's auditorium that called more than 300 Pembroke Pines summer campers, city Mayor Frank Ortis and world champion Olympic figure skater Todd Eldredge.

Dubbed the Olympic Day Go USA Rally, the hour-long assembly sought to celebrate Olympic values and ideals like health, fitness and sportsmanship. Representatives from United States Olympic Committee collected video and pictures of children competing in relay races and agility trials, which will later be packaged into a presentation for the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC is slated to choose the Olympic host country on Oct. 2, said event organizer Kathleen Kuebler.

“Chicago wants the Olympic games in 2016 and the mayor wants to put in a grassroots effort to show kids focused on fitness,” Kuebler said. “Showing Olympic spirit can only help our chances of being the host country.”

Restless campers from Pines Recreation Center, TownGate Recreation Center, Rose G. Price Park and Academic Village huddled inside the auditorium, flashing “Chicago 2016” and “Go USA” signs in support of the bid.

“How many of you would like to see the Olympics in the U.S.?” Ortis shouted over the microphone to the audience of children. “We deserve it in Chicago, don’t we?”

Organizers later screened a video featuring a patriotic slideshow of Olympians competing in sports. The rally wrapped after Ortis passed a symbolic baton to A.J. Masella of Pembroke Pines, a 12-year-old camper.

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PHOTO: Top right: More than 300 summer camp children turned out for the Olympic Day Go USA Rally, a rally designed to drum up support for the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. Bottom left: Mayor Frank Ortis passes a symbolic baton to A.J. Masella, 12, of Pembroke Pines.
PHOTO/Phillip Valys

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Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary West School now has the medal to prove its high education standards.

That’s because the campus at 1680 SW 184th Ave. recently received a Gold Seal of Excellence during a ceremony at Pines Charter High School, 17195 Sheridan St., by The Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, a state association dedicated to recognizing quality charters.

Earlier this year, the West Charter was subjected to a quality standards review process targeting daily operations like parent involvement, staff retention, financial management, governing board performance and student academic achievement.

With the plaudit, the campus is now responsible for acting as mentor to other public and charter schools in Florida.

For more information about the recognition, call 305-216-6208.

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The Pembroke Pines Fire Department raced against the clock recently to save passengers trapped aboard a wrecked watercraft.

The rescue call, however, wasn’t exactly life-threatening: the boating accident was staged and the injured passengers stranded at sea were all mannequins, not humans.

That’s because 10 local Fire Department teams suited up recently for the 2009 Broward Invitational, a competition pitting paramedic versus paramedic in mock rescue scenarios that simulate real-life accidents.

Contenders raced against a 15-minute clock to assess the condition of patients, recognize their medical needs and provide prompt appropriate treatment, said Pines Fire Department spokesman Shawn Hallich.

The boating accident rescue scenario netted the Pines Fire Department first-place honors in the annual Chief Michael Haygood Advanced Life Support Competition during the Broward Invitational, its second trophy in three years.

The Department also pocketed a Smart Airway Award for being the team that most accurately identified and treated a particularly difficult patient with airway problems.

For more information, call 954-435-6531, or visit www.ppines.com.

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PHOTO: From left: Pembroke Pines Fire Department Captain Marcel Rodriguez, Lieutenant Scott Gunn, Paramedic Rolando Hernandez and Lieutenant Moises Martinez pose with their Smart Airway Award won during the 2009 Broward Invitational.
Submitted Photo

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One former Pembroke Pines resident is raking in the community service awards.

Pines native Edgard Duque, a recent graduate from New York-based University of Rochester, pocketed a Bachelor of Arts in financial economics, a minor in German plus a handful of campus awards.

Involved in numerous campus activities and programs, Duque first won the Francis Price Award for student leaders who achieve a 3.0 GPA or higher and demonstrate dependability, citizenship, enthusiasm and college community support.

He also received the Kodak Young Leaders Scholar Award for community service, leadership and academic excellence and an Alice DeSimone Student Life Award, handed to students that display dedication, enthusiasm, collaboration, positive role modeling and contributions to co-curricular life on campus.

Before graduating, Duque served as a member to Rochester’s Modern Languages Undergraduate Council and the Catholic Newman Steering Committee.

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Red, white and blue will streak the skies over Pines Recreation Center this Independence Day.

That’s because the city of Pembroke Pines is having its Independence Day Celebration July 4 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. inside the park for what’s historically one of the highest-attended events all year.

After gates open at 6 p.m., families can bring their blankets and lawn chairs and settle down to live musical entertainment by Magic City, kid activities like hula-hooping contests, game booths for prizes and inflatable bounce houses.

Hungrier visitors can nosh on corn dogs, funnel cakes hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken food booths are offering before squatting down for a fireworks show at 9 p.m.
For more information, call 954-435-6525, or visit www.ppines.com.

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Aspiring young actors in training now have a chance to test their theater chops.

That’s because the Susan B. Katz Theater of the Performing Arts is having a Fantasy Theater Factory camp for children, grades three to five, July 6 through July 31 at the ArtsPark, 17189 Sheridan St.

The four-week session, which runs Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon, tackles the art of creative storytelling, vocal techniques, improvisation, playwrighting, and brushes upon movement, staging and creating characters from scratch.

By the conclusion of camp, they will perform a play on July 30 they wrote and produced over the previous four weeks. The cost to join is $380 per child for the session itself and $490 per child for all-day extended daycare from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Call the Fletcher Art Center, 7900 Johnson St., at 954-986-5027, or visit www.ppines.com.

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From yo-yo parties to Harry Potter, the lineup of July activities at three Pembroke Pines libraries is certain to reward families who opted for staycations this summer.

Children can drop by South Regional/Broward College, Southwest Regional and Pembroke Pines branch libraries all next month and enjoy a myriad of kid-friendly shindigs.

At South Regional, 7300 Pines Blvd., the light entertainment kicks off with the patriotic “4th of July Flyers with Cindy” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. July 2, “African Tales with Idya” at 2 p.m. on July 6 and “Professor McGonagall’s Magic Show” at 2 p.m. July 13, where kids can huddle around for some Harry Potter-themed sleight-of-hand. “Be a Game Show Star” rounds out the month at 2 p.m. July 27.

For Southwest Regional, 16835 Sheridan St. children can dress for messy fun during “Stories and Finger Paint Expression” from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. July 2. The more techno-handy can dabble in basic computer animation techniques with a “Creative Digital Cartooning” two-day workshop from 1:30 to 3 p.m. July 9 and July 10, while kids more deft of hand can toss bowling pins for a “Juggling Workshop” from 1 to 2 p.m. July 18

Inside the Pines branch, 955 N.W. 129th Ave., yo-yo tricks are in abundance from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. July 8, a “Puppet Workshop” promises to dazzle crafters with the art of sock puppet-making and a “Space Exploration Program” from 1 to 3 p.m. July 21 aims to blast children into a educational universe of space and the planets through videos and crafts.

All events are free. For more information, call 954-437-2635, 954-201-8825 and 954-538-9996, or visit www.broward.org.

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City commissioners are scrambling to keep their municipal charters schools afloat with last-ditch fundraising efforts in the wake of a $1.3 million deficit for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

During a recent City Commission meeting, officials voted unanimously to impose a $250 annual activity fee for FSU Charter Elementary students and a $5 hike on school uniforms to plug the charter school budget’s swelling deficit.

Other options hashed over that evening included firing all part-time aides and reducing salaries by five percent for full- and part-timers.

One measure by Commissioner Angelo Castillo to add more students per classroom, which would trim the school’s 10,900-student waiting list and boost enrollment revenues, also passed.

“We’ve been skating by on razor-thin ice for several years now,” said Castillo. “Our funding from the state was reduced and we’re in a lawsuit with the School Board.”

The city of Pembroke Pines is also embroiled in a November 2007 lawsuit against Broward County Schools, which argues the charters are entitled to new classrooms and funding tied to state capital improvement money called “2 mill,” or cash that directly aids charters and district schools, said City Manager Charles Dodge.

The charters, which include four elementary, two middle, and a high school, service 5,422 kids. To offset the projected $1.3 million deficit, city officials had collected roughly $150,000 in proceeds from carnival, golf tournament and wine gala fundraisers.

Commissioners last March also sought a “development director,” or professional fundraiser devoted entirely to school fundraising, but the option stalled over risks that the employee’s salary and bad economy would hemorrhage the charter’s budget ever further.

To combat the deficit and iron out a fundraising strategy, Commissioner Iris Siple is inviting charter school parents, students, volunteer advisory board members and PTA members to Pines Charter Middle Central campus, at 12350 Sheridan St., June 30 at 7 p.m.

For more information, call 954-435-6501, or visit www.ppines.com.

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