Titusville, Florida: The Icon of the Space Age
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| Mercury monument at Space View Park at east end of Broad Street in Downtown Titusville. |
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| Kennedy bust & astronaut handprints in Space Walk of Fame Museum. The museum will be moving to the Searstown Mall on September 7th. |
By Al Koller, Sr.
Surely, when the first entrepreneur in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the early l900’s opened his (or her) first visitor’s souvenir sales store, the local citizens didn’t believe that it was the beginning of what 50 years later became the Icon of the Civil war. Yes, there are many, many other important locations of civil war battles, but today, Gettysburg stands out as THE top representation of civil war memories and souvenirs the ICON of the Civil War!
Now, let's look at Titusville, Florida. A slow growing, county seat of Brevard county, located at the main entrance of the Kennedy Space Center. US l passes through the city’s downtown (still only two blocks long), and Interstate 95 provides two exits to the city. The northern exit is identified as the direction to the National Seashore Reservation of the US Forestry Service. All of Cape Canaveral, north Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space center comprise this massive Wild Life Reservation; which also includes the last undeveloped Ocean Beach on the Atlantic coast of Florida. This beach is called Playalinda and is located near Mosquito Lagoon, the world famous trout fishing location. The southern I-95 exit to Titusville is located at State Road 50 (from Orlando) and State Road 405, Columbia Highway, which is the direction to the entrance to the Kennedy Space Center. The only tourist’s entrance to the Kennedy Space Center and the Air Force Canaveral Air Station is through State Road 405, Columbia Blvd, where the Visitor’s Center is located east of the Intercoastal Waterway (Indian River) on Merritt Island.
The real history of the United States’ space program takes place at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the Space Shuttle operates from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island. So, why is Titusville going to be the Icon of the Space Age? Simply because Titusville IS the Space Age! No where else in the world will you find the U.S. SPACE WALK OF FAME FOUNDATION and MUSEUM end products. Yes, END PRODUCTS !
This group of retired “space workers” formed a NON-PROFIT foundation to PRESERVE AMERICA’s HISTORY IN SPACE. These volunteers, together with many, many “space workers”, retired and active, have contributed their time, money and skills to provide a “SPACE VIEW PARK” in Titusville, second to none other in the world!
The park contains a monument of the Mercury program, titled “Omega Seven”, which was the program symbol for the first seven astronauts of the U.S. first manned space program, called Mercury. The monument is mounted on a base which contains many of the names of the “space workers” who were involved with the Mercury program, both at the Cape (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station) and associated locations. The Mercury monument stands at the beginning of a 300 foot SPACE WALK OF FAME which contains embedded bronze plaques of the program missions and the mission patches for the six flights.
This Space View Park also presently contains a GEMINI monument and WALK of FAME for the Gemini Space Program. This was the second U.S. Manned Space Program, and was the intermediate step toward achieving a manned Lunar Landing. Gemini bridged the flight experience between the short duration Mercury missions and the very long missions of the APOLLO program. The GEMINI monument is mounted on a very impressive black marble base which contains the engraved names of many of the space workers of the Gemini program. This monument sits at the end of a very impressive WALK of FAME, which contains pedestals for each of the Astronauts. The pedestals contain bronze plaques of the hand imprints and signatures of the Gemini Astronauts.
The Gemini flights were manned by two astronauts on each flight and there were 10 successful flights.
These Gemini and Mercury monuments and walks of Fame are separated by a small lagoon and will soon be connected by a dedicated walkway over the lagoon.
The next monument, the Apollo Program, is presently being fabricated, and parts of this monument are on display at the SPACE WALK of FAME Museum at the Miracle City Mall, located on US l at Harrison Street in Titusville.
This FREE museum is open daily from l0 a.m. till 5 p.m., and contains space memorabilia loaned or donated by many retired space workers or their families. Much of this “Space junk” doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.
Seeing this actual space “hardware” is like being in Gettysburg and seeing the cannon and shells of the battle.
This “hardware” may even give off “vibrations” of by-gone launch experiences. Many scale models of spacecraft processing equipment and facilities are on display. There is even a scaled topographic map of the entire Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island “Space Port” on display. This map covers over 80 square miles of the “Space Port”, and shows all the launch complexes and missiles. It even shows the Light house! The museum and gift shop is operated by volunteers, and all profit and donations are planned for future monuments and walks of Fame to be constructed in Titusville.
Come see our Space View Park of monuments and Space walks of Fame and visit our museum-FREE !
The previous article was submitted by Al Koller, Sr., Volunteer, U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation, P.O. Box 6385, Titusville, Florida 32782-6385.
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Gateway hospitality breaks ground on Hampton Inn
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| Photo by Bob Socks |
From STAFF REPORTS
The ground breaking of a new Hampton Inn located at the intersection of I-95 and State Route 50 (exit 215) took place on Wednesday July 9 at 9:30 a.m. In attendance were many community leaders including Marsha Gaedeke, Titusville Chamber President, and Ronald Swank, Mayor of Titusville.
The Hampton Inn will be owned by Sunshine Hotel Associates, LLC, and is expected to open in late 2003. Gateway Hospitality, headquartered in Columbia, SC, will manage the operations of the hotel and is excited to have their first hotel in the sunshine state.
Located just 11 miles from the Kennedy Space Center and next to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant, the state-of-the-art Hampton Inn facilities include executive suites with high-speed Internet access and a business center. The hotel will cater to corporate and leisure guests. Special corporate rates as well as rates for AAA and AARP will be available.
Sam Agee, Chairman of Gateway Hospitality states, “The Hampton Inn will fit well into the Titusville market because the features of the brand are special as they not only exceed the needs of the business traveler, but also provides the amenities to the family and leisure travel markets.”
Gateway Hospitality started owning and managing hotels in 1995. Since then Gateway has been successfully involved in over 15 hotels. In addition to the new Hampton Inn, Gateway is involved in various hotels throughout the Carolina’s including the Clarion Townhouse in Columbia, two Sleep Inns and a Wingate Inn in Charleston, a Ramada Inn in Clemson, a Days Inn and Suites in Mockville, NC, and a Microtel Inn and Suites in Cherokee, NC. Gateway has immediate plans for the development and acquisition of 10 more hotels by 2005.
Brevard County Citizens Academy
The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners is pleased to announce the fall session of the “Brevard County Citizens Academy”. The Academy is being provided through the County Manager’s Office.
The Academy is a learning forum intended to provide participants with insight on how county government works; promote open lines of communication between citizens and County staff; provide information on how citizens can easily utilize the services offered by County Government; and provide a realistic and a clearer understanding of County Government.
The Academy is provided free of charge as a service to the community to residents 18 years of age or older.
Applications are accepted year-round and participants are selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. The fall session will begin on Wed., Aug. 20, 2003.
Each Academy consists of nine classes on Wed. mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. or evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at various County facilities. A half day tour is also scheduled on a Saturday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
For information or an application, contact Marea Assante, 633-2010, or by email at marea.assante@brevardcounty.us
Applications may be completed and returned online at http//:www.brevard county.us/county/citizensacademy or printed and returned by fax to 321-636-2115 or by U.S. mail.
Contact Marea Assante, Special Projects Coordinator, County Manager’s Office at 633-2010.
“Taste of Titusville”
The Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Committee is proud to present the first “Taste of Titusville” on Aug. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Miracle City Mall in Titusville.
Titusville and Port St. John are experiencing a real surge in business growth as well as residential development. To highlight the many new restaurants and catering services the Small Business Committee wanted to provide a showcase opportunity for these new and established businesses.
Our list of participants is still growing. At this time we have a wide variety of Chamber participants including: Showtime Deli, Papa John’s Pizza, Cafe’ Chocolat, Publix Deli, Brevard Community College Culinary Arts, Custom Design and Decoration, Mr. Submarine, Michael’s Eastside Bistro, Wal-Mart Deli, Outer Marker Cafe’, Quiznos Subs, Village Inn, Something Sweet and Tijuana Pete’s. There is still time for you to join the list, call Nora Drown at 321-267-3036 to participate.
Geoff Schofield will provide music for the evening from Florida Mobil DJ. Titusville Florist, Lynn’s Floral and Flowers of Distinction will donate table decorations.
Everyone is welcome to attend for a taste of the most terrific tidbits of food presented at the first “Taste of Titusville”.
Op-Ed
By SCOTT COOK
Let’s hear it for Ben Curtis!
Kent State University is my alma mater, a sleepy school tucked away in the northeastern quadrant of Portage County, which is likewise tucked away in northeastern Ohio, United States of America.
Most of you remember Kent State for the ill-fated events that transpired and led up to Ohio National Guardsmen shooting and killing four students and wounding 13 others on May 4, 1970.
Kent State has been trying to shake that persona and has done a fine job by honing its academics and competitive sports teams.
Enter Ben Curtis, the 2003 British Open Golf Champion.
Curtis came out of nowhere. His only previous tournament win was on the Hooter’s Tour last year, and he was only able to garner a spot in the British Open by qualifying in a pre-qualifying tournament just days before the Open.
I spent this past weekend staring at the Open on TV, scarcely believing what I was seeing. Here was a young man defying all odds, defying the intimidating presence of the world’s best players and, seemingly, defying the cosmos itself.
Curtis’ win will go down in golf annals as one of the greatest - if not THE - greatest - British Open championship win of all time.
And though Curtis is a fellow alumnus of mine, I don’t like him much. And here’s why:
I attended Kent State from 1994 through my graduation in 1998. I helped pay for school expenses by working off and on as a golf-course maintenance worker at the Kent State University Golf Course.
Working at the course was good work, and I was afforded the opportunity to work on my golf swing and play the course for free.
Occasionally I would find myself sitting atop my lawnmower just daydreaming and thinking of ways to lower my handicap enough so that I could move to Florida, hook up with some professional players and become a caddy.
On some days I would find myself sitting atop my lawnmower while Kent State’s men’s golf team played through.
God, how I hated them! Clear faces and smiles with not a care in the world, $300-dollar leather bags with their names stitched on the sides, golf shoes worth more than my car.
And here I was, 36-years-old, barely scraping by and sucking on a rusty spoon.
Two years passed by, and I was set to graduate in a few months. I no longer worked on the golf course; I had all my course work done, my required internship with a newspaper was past history and it looked like I was going to be a journalist, for good or bad. But I still wanted to be a golf caddy.
So one morning I woke up and decided to walk 18 holes on my old course just for old times sake.
The dew was lifting, the sun was beginning its lazy ascent and the giant oak trees bent down to whisper their goodbyes.
I looked around at the cart paths I had helped shape and fill, the flowers I had planted. Over there was a hedgerow that had died but now lived because I had painstakingly dug up each bush and removed the burlap from around the root balls. Whoever had planted them didn’t know any better.
While exhaling the crisp country air I hit an approach shot onto a par 5 and watched the Canada geese and squirrels scurry off the green.
I felt truly alive.
And then I heard that unmistakable sound of a small, white missile coming toward my head and I instinctively ducked.
I looked back down the fairway I had come and saw four Kent State men’s golfers lobbing shots my way. I heard the snickering and saw their smirks.
That did it. My fists clenched and blood rushed to my face. You golfers know how it is - you just don’t hit your ball into the group in front of you. And you don’t do it to me because I might be some lowly nobody in this world, but I’ll protect the right to be a lowly nobody until the day I die.
So I threw down my wedge and started trotting toward the foursome. I noticed one of the bags had BEN CURTIS emblazoned on the side.
You can call it cowardice, fear, or just plain “coming to my senses.” But I just knew it was senselessly useless to pursue the matter, so I turned around and headed back to the green, picked up my club and bag and walked on to the next tee.
Just a bunch of young kids that didn’t know any better.
But I’m willing to bet good money that Ben Curtis doesn’t hit into a group ahead of him ever again.
All is forgiven, Ben. You can bean me with a ball any time you want. Just let me be your caddy.
MOM, APPLE PIE AND THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM
What do hamburgers, guns, baseball and the piano all have in common?
Besides sounding as American as mom and apple pie, plying any of the aforementioned could earn you a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
President Bush last week selected 11 leaders in the arts, politics, science and business worlds to receive the coveted award, which was presented in a ceremony at the White House on July 23.
Dave Thomas, who created the Wendy’s restaurant chain, will be award the medal posthumously. Dave was a true humanitarian who donated his time and money to children’s charities. You couldn’t help but like Dave on all those TV commercials; he always reminded me of a kindly basset hound that had been kicked around too much.
Although Dave hails from my home state of Ohio and was a great and generous man, I feel he definitely didn’t deserve the medal based on the taste of his burgers. I don’t like ‘em. They taste, well, too much like real hamburgers. Give me those greasy, spattering, heart-stopping, llama-choking patties from Burger King and McDonald’s any day.
And supersize those fries while you’re at it!
Oscar winner Charlton Heston, best known for his portrayal of Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” received the medal for his political activism. I just hope that someday they don’t have to pry the medal from his cold, dead fingers.
Remember Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder Roberto Clemente? He was also awarded the medal posthumously. Clemente died in 1972 while air-lifting emergency-relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
I grew up not far from Pittsburgh, and I can still see Roberto shagging flies with ease and happily spending hours signing autographs for us kids.
The guy was a world-class athlete and probably never earned much more than $30,000 a year. He was my idol, and a kid back then - or now - couldn’t pick a better one.
Piano genius Van Cliburn was also honored with the medal. At the tender age of 23, Cliburn won the first Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition held in Moscow in 1958. I remember seeing him on TV when I was a kid, and I remember just feeling comfortable that Cliburn didn’t look and act like Liberace.
The Medal of Freedom was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize civilians for their service during World War II. The award was reinstated by President Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished service.
THE “LET’S TICK OFF THE OLD FOLKS” DEPARTMENT
Come on, you geezers, you need to give up your drivers licenses. The country collectively shivers and whimpers at the very thought of another octogenarian mistakenly pressing down on the gas instead of the brake, thus sending a ton of steel, plastic and glass headlong into a crowd of innocent bystanders whose only transgression is fondling cantaloupes.
That’s what happened recently in Santa Monica, California, at an open-air farmers market. Poor old Russell Weller, 86, sped through the entire length of the market, killing 10 people, injuring dozens more and hitting as many as 50.
Closer to home and one day after the farmers market incident, a 94-year-old man with a suspended drivers license plowed into a video store in Melrose, injuring two teenagers who were then treated for cuts on their legs.
The old man wasn’t injured.
Reports indicated that his drivers license was suspended due to a lapse in his auto-insurance coverage. Now tell me honestly - if you were an auto-insurance salesman would you sell coverage to someone pushing 100? Kinda like selling frostbite insurance to an eskimo.
Anyway, Gov. Jeb Bush was quick to jump on the “we need to do something about this elderly-driving problem” bandwagon, initiating some mandatory driver-safety programs that will be forgotten by quicker than it takes to pass a driving exam.
Despite the media hoopla involving elderly driving lately, it’s not the oldsters driving that bothers me.
THE “LET’S TICK OFF THE YOUNG FOLKS” DEPARTMENT
Let me tell you, it’s downright dangerous driving through Orlando, or most anywhere for that matter. It seems that the Gen-X’ers - statistically the most accident-prone on the roads - just do not care what happens to them or anyone else on the nation’s highways.
Something has to be done, and I propose this: let’s treat malicious vehicular manslaughter the same way we treat those who commit a crime while brandishing a gun.
If, for instance, someone flees the police and drives through an intersection and kills someone, then that person should be prosecuted as if he or she had shot and killed another with a gun.
I also propose this: Let’s make 19 years old the “Magic Age” in this country. That will be the age when a person can vote, serve in the armed forces, drink booze and, finally, procure a drivers license. (Nineteen should also be the age when mommy and daddy are mandated to toss Junior and Muffy out of the house. Maybe then Junior and Muffy will have to buy their own cars, their own insurance, their own tires and their own gas. And just maybe they’ll appreciate the value of a buck and they won’t be so reckless on the roads.)
THE “LET’S TALK ABOUT ME FOR A MINUTE” DEPARTMENT
A good journalist shouldn’t want to talk about him or herself too much. Please indulge me this once, for it could be my last.
I don’t like filling someone else’s shoes, and I don’t pretend too. But the show must go on, and I would like to say goodbye to all you good folks in Titusville. I’ve moved on to where the grass is greener, figuratively, because the grass in Florida just doesn’t seem that green to me.
I moved to Titusville from Ohio in September 2000 with a head full of dreams. And now I’m leaving Titusville with a head full of dreams.
I’ve enjoyed my short tenure here at the News Observer. However, after repeated and fruitless attempts at procuring a job at Florida Today and the Orlando Sentinel, it’s time maybe for a career change and a change of scenery.
I crossed paths here with mostly good people, and that says it all about your community in a nutshell.
Good luck and God Bless!
By BOB SOCKS
Hollywood comes to Titusville
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| Film crew at Titan Rocket in front of Titusville High School |
On Mon., July 7th, a major Hollywood production team set up shop in front of the old rocket adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce Building. The movie being made is called “First Time Caller”, about a small town late-night talk show radio host who has no following, and fewer phone calls. Then one night at 3 a.m. a strange call comes in, and the voice is garbled and difficult to understand. And every night at 3 a.m., the calls come in, each time a little more easy to understand. The radio show’s host becomes very popular. There are lots of theories as to who is calling, and pretty soon everyone is up and listening to this show. And that s all they will tell me so you will have to look for the movie next year.
The production in Titusville took one day, then they left for Melbourne. Several of the big stars are Chris Elliott and Fred Willard.
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Monday, July 14, 2003
A Huge crowd gathered at Cruise Terminal # 4 at Port Canaveral to bid “bon voyage” to the brand new Carnival Cruise Line GLORY, as it made its way out to the open seas and its maiden voyage to Mexico with 3,000 lucky passengers and VIP’S.
The GLORY will be sailing every Saturday afternoon to either the eastern or western Caribbean. |
The malls of Titusville
With the Space Hall of Fame leaving Miracle City Mall by the end of this year, reliable sources have told me that there are two potential buyers for that mall. One of the purchasers may have the inclination to tear down the mall and use the property for more productive uses, of which there are many. The following is an article that was produced for CNN MONEY, July 8, 2003 and written by Sarah Max.
Malls: Death of an American icon
The shopping mall is headed the way of the drive-in movie and the eight-track. What’s replacing it?
If you spent your formative years at the local shopping mall sipping Orange Julius and hanging out near the ubiquitous water fountain, you might be sad to learn that the mall as you know it is headed toward extinction.
Even former mall rats seem to think there are better ways to spend a weekend than wandering through the windowless vestibules of a non-descript mall, shopping in tired department stores and eating food court fare.
After turning our backs on Main Street and fleeing to the suburbs, Americans are looking for a sense of place. We’re fixing up houses in the older parts of town and spending more of our free time in newly-revived downtowns. And when we want to do serious shopping, we head to upscale mega-malls and big-box stores such as Costco, Home Depot and Target, even if it means driving a little farther.
That leaves smaller neighborhood malls — which are often carbon copies of each other struggling to keep retailers from packing up and following the crowds to downtown districts or mega malls. Although some have managed to turn themselves around by looking beyond Sears and J.C. Penney and bringing in the likes of Ikea or Borders as anchors, more drastic measures are often needed.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and the Congress for the New Urbanism describe dying malls as greyfields (after brownfields, the term for contaminated industrial sites) and define them as malls where annual sales per square foot have dropped to less than $150, or one-third the rate of sales at a successful mall.
In a 2000 study, PWCs found that 140 existing regional malls were already greyfields, while another 250 were headed in that direction. (There’s even a Web site, Deadmalls.com, dedicated to tracking some of these doomed malls.) With the average greyfield spanning about 45 acres, these old malls represent thousands of acres of land. “Doing nothing with them is not an option,” said real estate developer Will Fleissig, co-founder and partner with Continuum Partners.
So cities and developers have begun breakinq up old malls, turning their inner corridors into streets, bringing the storefronts outdoors and integrating them with the rest of the city.
“Because they’re often small, older malls can’t provide the same options for consumers,” said Bill Anderson, vice president with consultancy Economics Research Associates. “But once they’re redeveloped there is an opportunity to attract the growing number of people who are frustrated with driving everywhere and want more pedestrian areas.”
Turning the mall inside out
The Winter Park Mall in Winter Park, Fla., was a classic case of a dying mall. The 400,000square-foot mall was located in the heart of the city’s downtown. But with all of its stores facing in and a huge parking lot surrounding it like a moat, it was completely isolated from the rest of the town.
As the nearby downtown shopping district thrived, the mall failed.
In the late 1990s, a new owner, the city and local business started making plans to break up the mall. Several phases into its makeover, Winter Park Village, as it’s now called, is not unlike its surrounding downtown, with apartments, restaurants, a fitness center, a movie theater, a supermarket, office space and, of course, retail.
There are similar examples from across the country. Since local governments are loath to see a mall go belly up because it represents a huge loss of tax revenue, many are teaming up with developers to make sure the space is put to the best use possible.
Lakewood, Colo., for one, is playing a large role in the redevelopment of Villa Italia, which was the largest mall west of Chicago when it was built in the 1960s. By the early 1990s, however, it became clear that the 1 00-acre dinosaur could not compete with the area’s newer malls, in part because it was not near a freeway interchange and did not have the space to surround itself with big-box stores.
In 2001, most of the mall was demolished to make way for Belmar, a mixed-use development that will have less retail space but nearly double the square footage. When complete, Belmar will be an extension of Lakewood’s downtown, linked with city streets, bike paths and walking paths.
And by putting housing, entertainment, office space and parks into the mix, developers are creating demand for their retail tenants. Even if you don’t plan to go on a full-blown shopping spree, you might just pop into the Gap for a new sweater while on your way to dinner or a movie. Or so they hope.
I remember when
Last Wed., July 16 came and went with little mention that it was one of the greatest days in American History, as it was 34 years since we launched Apollo 11 for our great first moon landing, and the first man on the moon.
Titusville was jammed with people, every road, sidewalk, and viewing area was full of cars and people, as everyone wanted to see this historic sight. The Apollo launches were spectacular, five fold more than the Shuttle. The race to the moon, U.S. versus the Russians had put a great deal of pressure on our space program, and July 16, 1969 was the culmination of 8 years of intense efforts by NASA, its contractors, and the federal government, to fulfill John Kennedy’s dream to land men on the moon by the end of the decade and return them safely to earth.
At the time I owned and operated the Orange Julius in Miracle City Mall, and the Mall was the city center of Titusville at that time, with throngs of locals and tourists hanging around the mall until just prior to launch.
The day was gorgeous, blue sky, a breeze off the ocean, and hot as the dickens. That’s why all the folks were hanging inside the mall. Ten minutes prior to launch, the stores closed and everyone went outside and it was a glorious sight. Within minutes it was off to the lunar landscape and the traffic jam was the worst ever seen in Titusville. It took hours for the traffic to get back to normal. My family and I went to a launch party over at Royal Oak and by the time the party was over, everything was back to normal.
I’m kind of sad that July 16 came and went....and that’s the way it was.
Strictly my opinion
The battle for Riveredge Drive
Many years ago, Riveredge Drive, south of of the Holiday Inn, was our U.S. 1, the main thoroughfare from New York to Miami. There was no I-95, no Florida Turnpike, etc. Just a two lane road, through sleepy, little, fishing town Titusville. Then the real U.S. 1 was built, then the NASA Causeway, cutting off Riveredge Drive and nothing much else has changed on Riveredge Drive in the last fifty years.....until now.
The drive is less than two miles long and is very interesting....go with me for an interpretative drive. Turning south from the Holiday Inn, I notice a 4-plex condo, on the river side, badly in need of paint and other exterior work. Next are several luxury condos, a small vacant house, about a half mile of scrub on both sides of the road, then several homes, a one million dollar home, a female prison, which is badly in need of re-location to Sharpes, where it should join the other collection of prisons on Camp Road, next a restaurant, a biker bar, some other homes, one vacant lot with an asking price of $350,000, then an old marina, recently sold and now fenced where a home is being built and then the Ackley private guarded gate area where a mansion is being built.
So now you understand that Riveredge Drive is a melting pot of lots of diversity with no clear direction.
Enter Towne Realty who has an option on 10.5 acres of vacant property on the near north section of the street. They want to put up 3–six story buildings, to accommodate 90 units, with parking underneath, on the west side of the drive. And this is where it becomes interesting.
The Riveredge Drive area is in the county, with the exception of the Ackley compound. Sam Ackley installed water and sewer lines for his future homeowners, and brought his piece of property into the city, called annexing.
Towne Realty wants to annex their property into the city, and get hooked into our water and sewer system. The street has had no political direction for years and the residents of the street are having difficulty determining what direction they want to go. They would probably like to see expensive single family homes but that is not going to happen. Then low density townhomes, but that may not happen either. Anyway, the Titusville City Council is taking up the charge and are supposed to discuss the condo project this Tue. night (July 22), but I am hearing rumors that it may be tabled for several weeks.
The battle has begun.......
Quote of the Week:
“I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.”
John Adams
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Mark your Calender for the Titusville Downtown "Hoedown" Street Party scheduled for Fri., Aug, 1st.
The Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce invites everyone to join them in the streets of downtown Titusville on Friday, August 1st from 6 to 10 p.m. for a downtown hoedown. Admission is free to this family event, and all ages are welcome. The street party will feature live entertainment by HomeSpun, karaoke, as well as performances and demonstrations from local square dancing, line dancing, and clogging organizations. Attendees can enjoy the entertainment as they stroll through the streets of downtown sampling food from local restaurants and vendors, and shopping in the downtown specialty shops. Also scheduled are an antique and classic car show, a moonwalk, face painting, and live animals.
Space is still available for vendors at this event. Please contact Michele McLendon at 267-3036 for more information about participating as a food or merchandise vendor.
Check out all the ads in the downtown section for specials. Be sure and go to all the shops and restaurants on Washington Ave., Baldwin Shopping Center, Main St. and in the Gaslight Mall by the post office for an evening of fun.
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Gals, join Curves now and work out for free this summer. They have locations at Cheney Hwy., and Port St. John and plans to open one at Dairy Plaza soon.
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Check out Brevard Feed and Seed's ad for summer time fun. Plus go down and register for a weekly 50 lb. feed give-a-way.
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Parrish Medical Center has direct access for health testing. This gives you the freedom to have lab tests when you want them. See the ad for more details.
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Plan to take the Indian River Historical Cruise for a 45 minute "Living History" boat tour along Titusville’s historic waterfront. It will be departing from Space View Park, east end of Broad Street every Friday at 6 p.m. See ad for other info.
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Park Villas Apartment Community has move-in Specials every Sat. & Sun. See ad.
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See The Dusty Rose Antique Mall's ad for antique Furniture, glass and more. See ad for other info.
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Miracle Photo has a new Digital Printer to make prints & enlargements from film and digital media. Stop in and ask about it.
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Join the Indian River City United Methodist Church at 1355 Cheney Hwy. for a block party on Fri., July 25 from 6-9 p.m. It’s all free, family fun, food and door prizes.
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Seasons In the Sun Motorcoach Resort has same freebies. Check out their ad.
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Easy Waves Styling Salon says to pamper yourself with a perm wave special, cut & style for $45.
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Cindy’s Hallmark not only has gift items & cards. They also are a post office for packages up to 20 lbs. mailing domestic throughout the u.s.
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Planning a wedding, family reunion or need a meeting room? Call Best Western Space Shuttle Inn for all the details.
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Buy a 21" Toro at Bucks Lawnmower Shop with a 5 year warranty & get a free Toro Rake-N-Vac.
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It’s Christmas in July at Viking Sewing Gallery. Check out their ad for Free Holiday Sewing Classes.
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What’s a wow? Call Steve Smith’s Aamco Transmission to find out.
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With Lightning being a major problem to households you might want to call T & B Heath Electric for an inspection to make sure everything is working right. See their ad for more info.
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Glenn Swartout says the news is picking up on the internet – and so are the viewers at Titusvillehomepage.com – for more info see their ad.
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Terry, Ed, and George know that when it comes to great golf scores, you "gotta be cool". Check out C & D Golf Carts for a "cool ride" around the course at their new location 16 S. Park Ave., Titusville. See their ad for more of their service and selection.
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Has your dog or cat had a Teri T "Cool Klip"?
Get one now at DogGone Pet Salon. See ad for phone number and make an appointment.
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The Buzz on Bo Miller’s Automotive Service is Great Service, Great Prices, and Speedy Appointments. Save mom some hair raising moments by preparing for back to school – see ad for specials.
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Cleaning a chore around the house? Let Garner Garrison’s Pressure Cleaning Service do the job and you’ll save $5. See his ad for services.
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Pool Maintenance can get quite costly – but not at Pinch-A-Penny on Garden St. Clip out their $5 off coupon and save big bucks in this issue.
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