New Community Garden Approved
Volunteer work on a new community garden site will begin soon. It’s a partnership between the City of Florence and Florence First Harvest. The city will provide the land at the former Senior Center Site on Airport Road along with some staff assistance. Florence First will coordinate the actual garden itself. The City Council approved the project last week and City Manager Jacque Betz said the idea came out of work done by staffer Katya Reyna.
Jacque Betz – “And one of the projects that she’s been exploring is there’s an interest in people wanting to have community gardens at the old Senior Center site.”
Reyna is a participant in the federal RARE program… also known as Resource Assistance for Rural Environments.
Jacque Betz – “And this came about when she was actually working with different volunteers in the community on an adopt a park program.”
Florence First Harvest will also adopt and help maintain the nearby dog park and Singing Pines Park.
Crab Catch Exceeding Expectations
The initial opening of the Oregon Dungeness Crab season was delayed twice because of quality concerns and many thought this season was going to be bit of a bust. But, after only 12 weeks of work crabbers on the Oregon Coast have exceeded last year’s haul by nearly three-million pounds.
South coast crabbers are leading the way, landing almost a third of the catch worth an estimated $12.1-million dollars according to the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.; ports in Charleston, Newport and Astoria round out the top four.
The commission reports the total value of the season thus far has been more than $43-million.
Japanese Hitchhiker
We will likely continue to hear stories about interesting debris washing up on U.S. beaches from the March 2011 Japanese Tsunami. The latest though, is not likely to be repeated.
A small barnacle encrusted boat recently washed ashore in southwest Washington near Long Beach. The boat made the trip upright, but was swamped; filled with water and a live trap containing several Beak Fish, used for bait, made the trip. The fish are not native to the West coast of the United States so Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife workers destroyed all but one.
That was taken to the Seaside Aquarium where it will be placed on display… and studied.
Budget Cycle Begins
The Florence Budget Committee begins work this evening at six at city hall. Finance Director Erin Reynolds briefly review budget rules and guidelines as well as present an overview of the fiscal year 2014 budget timeline.
She will also review financial reports and provide an update on the city’s long range financial plan.