Tracking the eye of the storm

The Poynter Institute released their annual "Eyetrack" study, in which they tested online and print newspaper readers from all across the nation. The study tracked where readers' eyes roamed and how long they were focused on single stories. Turns out, readers are likely to read more of a news story online than in print. According to the study, an average 77 percent of a single online story is read compared to 62 percent in broadsheet and 57 percent in tabloid.
Those figures are interesting. I can't help but wonder if the main media source for North Port is online journalism. Of the 50,000-plus population, less than 10,000 are newspaper subscribers. Meanwhile, this city, where the median age is 38 and the population consists mostly of families, is considered to be ripe for online use. Many families don't have the time to read the newspaper. But they'll find the time to surf the internet.
I've noticed both media companies taking steps to fill that desire for online content. The North Port Sun is now offering a broadsheet version of its paper online in a PDF file and has created a community section specifically for North Port on its site. Meanwhile, the Herald-Tribune is getting ready to join the many papers offering hyperlocal media sites - news at that neighborhood level.
How do you prefer your news? Do you watch the news on television or read the physical paper? Or do you get most of your news from the Web? And when you surf the web, do you find yourself reading the entire story - from start to finish?
It's fascinating to track where this "changing media" storm is headed. And North Port seems right in the eye's path...

Powered by ScribeFire.

A severe loss

With 9,000 school students in this city, North Port's youth sports leagues play a strong part in family life here. The North Port community experienced quite a shock this week. We lost a valuable community leader and mentor. Check out the Herald-Tribune article: Rallying to make Coach Larry proud. My sympathy is with all of the current and former North Port Mustangs. I'm sorry for your loss.

The beginnings of a Sunday morning ritual

"Smell!" I yelled over my shoulder as I cruised across the bridge on Tropicaire just passed the Sumter Boulevard intersection, my bicycle clicking because my feet stopped peddling.
"What?" my friend shouted behind me as she did the same.
"Fresh pine. Fresh oak. Fresh palmetto," I yelled back.
"Nature," I heard her say.
It was true. The fresh smell of nature had engulfed us - one of the pure joys of cycling through the North Port Estates.
It was Sunday morning. We had woken up early. I met her at her house, just around the corner of my own, in our densely populated neighborhood off Chamberlain. Our bicycles immediately took to the pavement, the cool morning dew hitting our bare arms, keeping us cool despite the growing heat from the rising sun. We quickly turned north on Toledo Blade Boulevard, out of our neighborhood and beyond the interstate overpass.
Then, with the bustling of the city behind us, we entered the Estates - one of two North Port neighborhoods where the tracts of land span three or more acres.
I love cycling through the Estates, past the Plantation houses, horse farms and thick oak canopies. My tires pick up great traction on Tropicaire Boulevard's smooth pavement and I can easily get up to speed.
My friend and I rode our bicycles to the American Legion, tucked on a small side road in the center of the Estates. It was exactly 6.4 miles from our driveway. There, we ate a quick breakfast with the rest of the Sunday morning crowd. Friends greeted us, teasing us for our tenacity to ride our bikes that far. A couple motorcyclists agreed with us that it was a great morning for a bike ride. And after a couple cups of coffee and quite a few laughs, we took to the pavement again.
This time, we ventured home along Estates Drive, adding an extra mile to our trip. We cruised slowly, looked for alligators along the canal that stretches along the side of the roadway. We saw plenty of fish and various water birds. We then turned home.
The breeze was light - but strong enough to keep us just cool enough that we didn't notice the sun's late morning heat.
When we neared our homes, I admitted that I loved riding in the summer time. If it were Spring, we would have fought a tough wind to get home.
My friend and I agreed that we should try to repeat the ride next Sunday.
Who knows... maybe this was the beginning of a Sunday morning ritual.

On the bike again

I hadn't been on my bicycle in two weeks.
I also haven't written a post in nearly a month. So, tonight I decided to break my slump, hoping to improve my mood and pick up a routine again.
I pumped out 10 miles, averaged 11 mph and hit a top speed of 16 mph. Those who cycle regularly would laugh at those stats, call that their warm-up and probably complain of not even breaking a sweat afterward.
But I didn't ride to push myself tonight. I just rode to ride, and along the way I reminded myself why I love to ride.
There's something special about being on a bicycle in general. I'm suddenly a kid again, racing my little brother on that two-lane country road in the heart of DeSoto County, passing the cows in the pasture and the blossoming orange groves. The wind beats on my face, and the sun heats my skin. And I breathe in the fresh air.
I'm not alone. Many bicycle riders rejoice in riding because it reminds them of their childhood. There's something freeing about being on a bicycle. I can go anywhere on my bike. And I love that feeling.
But North Port offers some of the best slices of life. One minute, I'll be riding down a street vacant of houses but full of wildlife. Birds. Squirrels. Rabbits. Chirping grass hoppers. The smell of fresh pine trees and crisp clean air from the untainted oak and pine forest. The air tastes sweeter.
The next minute, I'm riding down a neighborhood street, passing children on their skate boards, people mowing their lawns and the smell of hamburgers on the grill wafting in the air.
Tonight was especially nice. We've had two days of rain; the recent downpours cut through our humiditiy and heat, leaving a cool summer night - a rarity this time of year in Florida. Few mosquitos were out. Likely because of the recent rains. And the sky - with its wispy clouds - was pink, blue and orange...
What a night.
It felt so good to get back on the bike again.

Those were the days

Check out what ran in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Thurday, June 28: North Port is growing rapidly, Census Bureau says
I've always thought it was interesting the dispute about North Port's population. The world uses the Census Bureau as its primary gage. But according to the city of North Port, we'd surpassed 50,000 people in early 2006. A private study by a local developer predicted we were beyond 50,000 people in 2005. That same developer brought us Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Applebees. He also is bringing us another Publix and Walgreens.
One thing is for sure. North Port isn't growing fast now. In fact, I was just teasing the city's building director, Scott Williams, the other day about whether or not cobwebs are growing in his department. I hadn't seen him him a while. He smiled at me and said it was eerie, how quiet everything has been. For the last two years, his department has been averaging 300 or more building permits a month. I recently heard that number is down to 30.
So, what does that mean?
On the positive side, it means North Port isn't on track to get 250,000 people in less than 10 years - predictions the city first came up with when we were traveling at full speed ahead. A sigh of relief can be heard from those who didn't want their small town lifestyle to transform into that of a huge metropolis.
But I would argue the negative side to this is critical. When you are the fastest growing city - in one of the fastest growing regions of the Sunshine State - many people have built their lives around that growth. Cabinet makers, house painters, furniture store owners, blind store owners... You wouldn't believe the amount of businesses there are inside North Port's industrial parks - all serving the building community.
This is especially true in North Port. Because of this city's affordability, many of the cabinet workers, concrete layers and drywall hangers own their homes here. (As opposed to some of the more affluent neighborhoods in this Southwest Florida region like the city of Sarasota or Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County - workers drive in and drive out each day).
But with the slow down... Many of these people are out of work. People are struggling.
And the few jobs that are available are getting sometimes 10 times the number of applicants they would normally get.
Meanwhile, people that are finding work are often taking huge pay cuts. It's simply supply and demand. Employers know they don't have to pay much because an employee is easily replaceable.
I hope building starts again soon. I've heard recently that predictions are saying it won't be until 2009.
When I read the Thursday article, it reminded me: Those truly were the days.

The Discount Giant

So speaking of Wal-Mart... I've already brought up the subject in my official welcome-to-my-blog post... I spent three hours inside the nation's Discount Giant today. Mainly because I took my car there for an oil change. It's sad, isn't it? I feel like I'm admitting that to a support group.
So let me start at the beginning. I can honestly say, for the first three years that I lived inside the city of North Port (I've been here four now), I could count on one hand the number of times I'd stepped through the front sliding glass doors of Wal-Mart.
It had absolutely nothing to do with Wal-Mart being considered a corporate monster that cheats people out of fair wages and closes mom-and-pops - all arguments I've heard over and over from my more worldly friends.
No, this small-town girl has nothing against Wal-Mart. I never shopped there simply because the only Wal-Mart closest to my house was in Port Charlotte - a city next door to North Port.
But that changed when North Port got its own Wal-Mart.
There's something to say about a city that went for so long without a box store.
In general, people here felt the Discount Giant helped put them on the map. Maybe that's because Florida's towns and cities have always been defined by Wal-Mart. Take a Sunday drive through the center of the state on U.S. 27 or State Road 17 and you know you're driving through another town because there's another Wal-Mart.
In addition, city officials and economic development forecasters said because Wal-Mart was now here, other elements of Corporate America would follow. So far, they were right. Home Depot opened shortly after. We now have an Applebees, Beef O'Brady's, Taco Bell and three Quiznos. Meanwhile, we are set to get a Perkins by November, a Buffalo Wild Wings and Grill and a third Walgreens. A Super Target is rumored to be popping up at the corner of Sumter and Price boulevards, but that has been unconfirmed by Target's corporate folks.
But there was something else tied to that Wal-Mart when it opened. Something I was never expecting: a sense of ownership.
I know I felt it. So did others that I've talked to. It isn't just another Wal-Mart. It's OUR Wal-Mart.
And that's strange to admit, considering that I'm a journalist who has written story after story about communities fighting the mere suggestion that a Wal-Mart might be moving near their neighborhood. I'm naturally skeptical and question most everything.
But, indeed, there I was, for the first time, standing in the middle of North Port's Wal-Mart just after it opened. My heart was singing praise.
I'm now a Wal-Mart shopper. Most of my clothes come from the Discount Giant. Why? It's cheap. The sales racks are under three dollars. And they have a nice professional brand George that does well for my work attire.
Best of all, I now grocery shop at Wal-Mart. Just today I got a pound of red seedless grapes for a $1 less than at Publix. It's not just fruit and veggies (although I have to say that's really what I'm after most). The same is true for several of the other name-brand goods at Wal-Mart. Soup costs less. Cereal costs less.
Yes, my worldly friends cringe. You might be cringing, too.
But Wal-Mart offers something you can't see elsewhere: a glimpse at North Port. I truly believe a store like that reflects all of the different faces and cultures of a city. Most shoppers there are exactly what the statistics are telling us: they are young, families, middle to low income, and looking for a great deal just like me. It's no wonder Wal-Mart didn't open sooner.
I think that's why I didn't mind spending three hours in Wal-Mart today. I spent three hours being out and about in my community.

Welcome to my blog

Life is changing inside this 103-square-mile city.
North Port has more than doubled its population in the last four years, surpassing 50,000 residents. The median age dropped to 38, making it the youngest community in Southwest Florida (to compare, the median age of our neighbors, Port Charlotte to the south and Venice to the north, are somewhere in the high 60s and low 70s). North Port also has more than 9,000 school students. We are getting our second middle schoool. We already have four elementary schools and a high school. District officials are discussing when to build the city's fifth elementary school.
But with dozens of new rooftops, lagging behind is the needed commercial space, parks, road repaving projects and sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
This city is in the midst of transitioning from a sleepy retirement town to a metropolis. And I happen to live right here in the center of it.
So, the focus of this blog will be on life in North Port and the rest of Southwest Florida, based primarily on the idea of a "placeblog" (a term conceived by Lisa Williams, creator of Placeblogger.com and one of the experts in the citizen journalism). I likely will not be following City Commission meetings, lecturing about what I think this city should be doing or not doing or getting heavily involved in the politics of this town. Instead, my blog will be about my life - as just an example of what life is like inside North Port... a sort of first-person account of what walking into the Wal-Mart here is like. What do I see, what do I smell, what do I hear? And is Wal-Mart a reflection of what the people of North Port are like?
But I also might delve into the topic of our changing media. Afterall, the industry is changing at a rapid pace. Is that good or bad? Newspapers are either selling to the highest bidder, undergoing massive staff layoffs or completely shutting down. And, seeing that my career happens to be impacted by that new trend, this will be place that those types of issues may also come up.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I will writing. Feel free to comment. Tell me your stories about North Port. Do you live here? Have you ever been to Southwest Florida? Or maybe your town is growing and changing a lot like this city. I look forward to hearing your feedback and being a part of that conversation with you.
-Flawritergrl