f e at u r e sto ry
and more connectivity, he said he wouldn’t mind walking
from work to his apartment, especially in our beautiful “fall
and winter” weather, when it’s very walkable. Planting shade
trees in our city is the answer to make our city more
walkable.
Still the question of connectivity exists . Though we have
the golf cart service provided by Palm Beach Free Ride,
which rides up and down downtown all day, we also have
the Downtown Trolley system, but there’s no App for it. So,
you never know where they are and how long they will be.
You can be at a waiting spot for five or for twenty minutes.
“I would love for the City of West Palm Beach to consider
the Trolley like Uber, where you can look at a map and see
where the trolleys are,” said Gonzalez. “When you’re walking,
you can either choose to take the trolley, or say forget it, I’m
going to take my bicycle today, or look at your Trolley App
and say, ‘Look, there comes the next trolley, and it’s only two
minutes away from that station. I’ll take the trolley today.’”
But Gonzalez doesn’t want that kind of mobility to stop
there. He would also like to see connectivity to Northwood,
to the west of I-95, and to Palm Beach.
Rick Rose, owner of Gardens Bed & Breakfast and
Vacation Homes concurs. “I think the trolley service should
be expanded down South Dixie and to a public beach.
Although we’re the largest city in the county, we don’t have
direct access to a public beach and access is becoming more
and more difficult for communities that don’t have their own
beach,” he said.
Rick loves West Palm Beach for the diversity of its cultural
and social environment without the density of being such
a big city, as well as the location directly on the Lake Worth
Lagoon and the proximity to the ocean.
Rose volunteers his time by being one of the city’s leading
train safety advocates, as well as serving on the board of
Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association and Discover
the Palm Beaches, the destination marketing organization
for Palm Beach County.
No doubt West Palm Beach is fabulous, especially our
waterfront. This area is the epicenter for most events and
activities involving our community. Festivals like SunFest has
put West Palm Beach waterfront in the list of top destina-
tions in Florida to visit.
Our city has been honored and recognized with many
international and regional awards for our vibrant collection
of community events on the Waterfront. We have also been
awarded for Waterfront Community Events by the Interna-
tional Festivals & Events Association by the Florida Festivals
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& Events Association. The much-loved Waterfront events are
produced by the City of West Palm Beach Parks & Recreation
Department, Division of Community Events. Mary Pinak,
Community Events Manager, has vivid recollection of West
Palm Beach, a city that has seen her grow and become a
successful woman.
According to Pinak, the City of West Palm Beach Depart-
ment of Parks and Recreation hosts more than two hundred
event days annually. She loves to work with the community,
and see how hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors
attend our events and celebrate living “Where Paradise
Begins.”
“At our free city events, we see every socio-economic
demographic come together as one for fun,” said Pinak. “It
truly is the people that put the ‘special’ in special events.”
Pinak says she is privileged to lead the City’s Community
Events Division and produce annual, monthly, and weekly
events including our heritage events of Clematis by Night,
the West Palm Beach Green Market and 4th on Flagler, plus
our new traditions of Sandi the World’s Only 600 ton Sand
Tree and Summer in Paradise. These free events have proven
to put ‘unity’ in our community by attracting diverse crowds
of up to 100,000 to celebrate our vibrant city.
“We’re a city that cares deeply about quality of life for all,
not just the top tier,” added Carey O’Donnell, who owns
O’Donnell Agency, the area’s largest advertising and PR firm.
They’re the authors of the holiday snowfalls at CityPlace, and
the brilliant minds behind the restoration of the 1916 County
Courthouse. O’Donnell and her team stay plugged in and
make sure to channel plenty of intellectual electricity toward
making this city even greater. Recently, O’Donnell presented
a program, now being introduced by the WPB Downtown
Development Authority [DDA], that will instantly make
DowntownWPB even friendlier by inviting more engagement
between residents, regulars, the business community and
visitors. They designed and produced high end lapel buttons
in the shape of a large conversation bubble that says simply,
“Talk To Me” in a style that synch’s with the DDA’s brand
family.
“Imagine being a visitor to the area and seeing people at
Subculture, Starbucks and the GreenMarket wearing one of
these, inviting you to start up a conversation,” she said. “Your
West Palm Beach experience just got a whole lot richer.
People are lining up to get one, which speaks to the DNA of
our Downtown: a spiral of fun, fabulous and very friendly.”
O’Donnell grew up in Palm Beach and moved to West Palm
Beach in 1996. She loves the city’s gritty, can-do mindset,
and the distinctive vibe that’s unmatched in South Florida.
“We’re home to real innovative thinkers across a surprising
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