The grant dollar amount will ensure approximately 120 residents water connections free of charge. Currently, there is no access to county water and high iron contents in water are undesirable to residents. The Utilities Department was present to announce the news of the grant and to answer questions about the project. The Cemetery Association held elections at this meeting and elected new individuals to its offices. I believe the highlight of May was the demolition of two old, abandoned homes is West Wabasso. The two homes had been condemned for years and instead of the county placing a lien on the property, I had to think creatively to find another alternative. The result was that the county officials waived landfill fees and Fisher and Sons, Inc. donated the machinery and labor to tear the homes down. One of the homes was a crack house and so the community was very happy to see it torn down. During May, Code Enforcement officials, the Sheriffs Dept., and the Planning Dept. all met and listened to a presentation regarding substandard housing in Indian River County.
I created the power point presentation and Detective Teddy Floyd presented it to the officials. It highlighted abandoned houses in Wabasso as being a safety and health hazard and made light of ways to get rid of such hazards in the community. A lot of time was spent coordinating the World Changers event, which consists of 360 youths descending upon West Wabasso for the week of June 11-18th to perform minor exterior repairs and paint homes. I selected homes and was able to aid the organization in meeting with the homeowners to seal the deal. All work is done free of charge to the homeowner and I expect it will lift many peoples spirits as it is their homes are still in disrepair from the hurricanes and have not been repaired. May 31st was my fourth radio broadcast on 101.7 Facts and Feelings show with host, John May. Detective Teddy Floyd was able to join the broadcast and we spoke on how our agencies partnership can create great things in communities. The more that governmental agencies work together toward a common goal the more results can be seen in the progress of improving the quality of life for communities such as West Wabasso. Thanks to the PACE EH methodology and the time commitment allowed by such grants, we have been able to establish these connections and give communities back hope for a better way of life. Past Indian River County Updates
Media CoverageThe following files are provided in the Adobe Acrobat pdf format. Files over 100 kb in size that may take longer to download and view, have their file size listed. September 20, 2005 - Indian
River County replaces septic tanks for 10 families in west Wabasso July 8, 2005 - Indian River health officials receive national award June, 2005 -
Spring 2005 PACE
Progress Report for the Wabasso Environmental Assessment (380 kb) June 17, 2005 - World Changers group fixes homes in West Wabasso June 15, 2005 -
Impoverished area
to get waterlines June 12, 2005 -
World Changers
redo Wabasso May 1, 2005 - Water
System on its way to Wabasso December 25, 2004 -
Woman's work aids west Wabasso
residents October 18, 2004 -
Storms stall Wabasso help September, 2004 -
PACE Progress Report
for the Wabasso Environmental Assessment (620 kb) September 28, 2004 -
Storms run Wabasso family
out of own, borrowed homes August 28, 2004 -
Families get new homes August 11, 2004 - Draft Brochure,
Bringing Basic
Needs to a Forgotten Community (1.4 meg file) July 30, 2004 -
Kindness rules in Wabasso (109 kb) July 28, 2004 -
Teens team up to build
man's house June 2, 2004 -
Indian River seeks aid
for water
May 26, 2004 -
Groups enlist residents
to help revive Wabasso
May 11, 2004 -
Wabasso may have to
wait a year for street lights to come on
May 9, 2004 -
Town hall meeting to
address Wabasso's needs
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