and last updated 2021-05-10 22:22:04-04
LAKELAND, Fla. â More people are calling Polk County home.
According to new census population estimates, the Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area had the second-highest rate of population growth in the U.S. from July 2019 to 2020 at 2.7%.
Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz said more people are migrating to the smaller metro because of its focus on safety and quality of life.
âWeâre almost a suburb of the two large cities in some degree. So, it gives you that feel of people that are friendly, maybe a downtown that is more walkable with less intensity some of the larger cities might have,â Mutz said.
Katie Worthington, president and CEO of the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce, said those figures don t surprise her at all. She added that within Winter Haven city limits, the rate of growth has been 4% over about the past five years.
Worthington added that while Florida itself is attractive because of the lack of state income tax, the weather and location, Polk County brings even more to the table. Polk County is centrally located, it is affordable in comparison to the metro markets that directly surround us and the quality of life you can pretty much live any type of life you want in Polk County, Worthington said.
It took some time to adjust, and even still, I wake up in the middle of the night because I do not remember where I am, Marley said. If I am honest, I am preparing for the worst to happen always. I m so used to being unsettled because everything in my life has been out of my control.
Marley, although a resident of Lakeland, was one of several people to speak at the April 12 Winter Haven City Commission meeting. The Polk Ecumenical Action Council for Empowerment, commonly known as PEACE, gathered speakers to call for more affordable housing in the city and a commitment from commissioners to allocate more funds toward the long-term issue.
LAKELAND – It would cost Lakeland approximately $9 million to equip 200 of the city s police officers with body cameras and in-vehicle cameras for the next 10 years, according to police department.
Lakeland Police Chief Ruben Garcia presented three options for equipping the city s officers with video, either body cameras or on vehicle dashboards, to city commissioners on Monday morning. It s the city s first discussion on possibly implementing body cameras since the topic came up in public forums amid last year s national protests after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota. There s a perception that body-worn cameras is a useful tool and there are some arenas within this profession they could be useful, Garcia said. Recent research . says your biggest value is deploying these in a troubled agency.
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