Simpson Park Community Center Celebrates Spookfest

by James Coulter

Children often stop by the Simpson Park Community Center late in the day to attend its many after-school programs. On Thursday, they stopped by to celebrate Halloween during its annual Spookfest event.

For the sixth consecutive year, Spookfest (an event which recently had its name changed this year) allowed local children to dress up in costume and visit the community center for a chance to receive candy, play games, and enjoy a free hot dog dinner.

Local vendors set up various booths with fun activities including inflatable bounce houses, laser tag, basketball, archery, and video games. After playing games and receiving free candy, attendees could enjoy a free meal with hot dogs, chips, and lemonade.

This year, the Simpson Park Community Center partnered with several other local neighborhood organizations such as after school programs, churches, schools, and the police department to help put on their event.

“Our goal this year was to have a fun and exciting and safe trick or treating experience for all the kids in the community,” said John Williams, Simpson Park Community Center Recreational Supervisor.

The hardest part of hosting an event such as this is ensuring that there is enough food for everyone, Williams said. Other than that, the effort that goes into organizing this event more than makes the whole endeavor worthwhile, Williams said.

“I enjoy seeing the costumes, all the children dressed up in costumes as their favorite characters and superheroes and what not, just out here dancing and having a good time,” he said.

Lake Gibson Middle School was one of the local organizations assisting the event that evening. The school has an outreach team that regularly ventures into the community to offer their support in an effort to reach out to local children and their families, explained Kelsey Whalen, a teacher.

“So we are here to be a part of this event to showcase the community that Lake Gibson is here and that we care about them and to see what we can do for the parents and the kids,” she said.

Whalen appreciated how the event allowed a safe environment for the children to receive their Halloween candy and enjoy other fun activities without having to venture too far from their homes.

“I think it is an amazing event,” he said. “I think it is so awesome to see the kids having fun in a safe environment.”

Crystal Graham, Executive Director for Kids House, also volunteered for the event. She was one of many representatives from local organizations who served as vendors offering information to the public about their respective causes.

As the coordinator for Red Ribbon Walk, Graham was able to inform the public about her organization’s upcoming event, where local children would walk from downtown to the park and offer a pledge to stay in school and remain drug-free.

“Red Ribbon serves as an engine for communities and individuals to take a stand for the hopes and the dreams of our children through a drug-free commitment to live drug-free lives for the creation of a drug-free America,” Graham said. “I do this every year in the community to educate the kids as well as the adults.”

Not only was she able to reach more children and other prospective participants for her event this year, but she was also able to help with that evening’s event to offer children a safe place to celebrate Halloween.

“I think that the weather was a great turnout,” she said. “It is a great way to keep kids safe and keep them in a safe environment and not have them throughout the community and be in one place where you know the people are and what they are getting from the people.”

Simpson Park Community Center is located at 1725 Martin L King Jr Ave, Lakeland, FL 33805. To learn more about its after-school program and various other community programs, visit their website at: https://www.lakelandgov.net/departments/parks-recreation/simpson-park-community-center/

Editorial

Imagine paying for something very valuable for decades and not being able to use it. Then imagine a privileged few get to use it, but you don’t. That’s the situation Lakelanders face today.

Lakeland owns over 330 miles of fiber network infrastructure. This infrastructure uses a particular type of cable that utilizes light (instead of electricity) to transmit information. In the past, the cable was installed for communication between critical municipal services. Then Lakeland began providing that fiber to a select few who find it in their best interest to use the city’s fiber rather than private providers. The select few with access love the city fiber that you are paying for. It is time for this fiber infrastructure to work for everyone.

We can now use that fiber to give you fast, reliable, and affordable internet. The only component missing is the connection from the road to your home or business.

The city has been discussing building out a high-speed internet network using our fiber-optic infrastructure for years.  Lakeland is uniquely positioned to take advantage of such a network, and it will save us money in the long run.  We have existing infrastructure that can be leveraged to serve all Lakelanders, not a select few.

By investing in the final connection, we can reduce customer costs in the long-term, because you are the owners and not just the users.  To private providers, you are a source of profit; to our city, you are an investment in our shared community. That investment will create innovation, economic development, job growth, and a higher quality of life, while also providing a savings on your internet bill.

History of innovation:

In 1904, our community rallied around a vision to invest in electricity. The vision to create Lakeland Electric has brought us over a century of benefits, adding $31 million dollars to the city of Lakeland’s budget this year alone. This revenue helps keep our property taxes low. All told, Lakeland Electric has contributed close to $600 million dollars in dividends since inception.

In 1914, that same community vision was applied to quality healthcare for residents. We now have access to an amazing hospital and medical complex that has contributed close to $300 million dollars to Lakeland while providing premium care to our community. A century later, an opportunity presents itself to connect our community to the future by building out our existing high-speed fiber network.

In the ’50s & ’60s, the private sector was not building roadways that our burgeoning county desperately needed for sustained growth. The government stepped in and built the badly needed roads, literally paving the way for accelerated progress. That investment in our infrastructure was one of the cornerstones of American achievement. Today, the roadways of the future are not concrete; they are fiber.  Lakeland has invested millions of dollars in building the current fiber network, and now it’s time to make the final investment to connect all Lakelanders.  Keep in mind, whether we hook-up that fiber to every home and business or not, we all continue to pay for the existing infrastructure.

The city has done its due diligence by having a feasibility study.  There have been numerous community meetings, a survey, a forum, and hundreds of public comments.  In response, private providers have done what they do best, raise prices. Many of us are still using decades-old infrastructure, and we’ve grown accustomed to the high prices and lousy service.  Because of the investment that has already been made, we have been granted a chance by our past leaders to move forward and allow this infrastructure to benefit all Lakelanders.

The choice is clear; Lakeland will benefit from our current fiber infrastructure and the city of Lakeland has a proven track record it can deliver quality services.

When we grow older and our children and grandchildren ask us how Lakeland prepared for their future, I don’t want us to say we tried to rely on someone else.  Lakelanders deserve better than we currently offered. Join me in this infrastructure plan by asking for a public vote! Please support the efforts to place this on the ballot, so Lakelanders can decide if we want to continue the track record of shared innovation and excellence in our community.

Justin Troller

Lakeland City Commissioner, Mayor Pro Tem

Broadband Task Force, Chairman