By Chris Guanche, Forum Publishing Group

The Taste of the Pines is returning for a second year as the kickoff event for Pembroke Pines‘ multi-day anniversary celebration.

The food and wine sampling event was introduced in 2010 as the lead-in to the city’s 50th anniversary festival at City Center, as well as a fundraiser for the city’s charter schools. This year, Taste of the Pines will run from 6 to 9 p.m. March 31 at City Center, 10300 Pines Blvd. Visitors can purchase tickets for $25 in advance or $30 at the gate for a food/wine pass, or $20 and $25 for a food-only pass. Food passes for children age 10 and younger are $5.

“It was a success, so we decided to do it again this year,” said Carol Campisi, recreation division director.

Visitors can sample food, wine and beer from local restaurants, including Latin, Asian, Mediterranean and Italian fare.

“Patrons found new restaurants they didn’t even know were in their backyard,” Campisi said.

The event also will include a jazz concert. The 11-day anniversary celebration continues April 1 with the return of charter school night, featuring music and dance performances from charter school students. April 2 will mark the Pines Day celebration, featuring music and more performances from local schools. The opening weekend wraps up with a day of children’s events and salsa music in the evening.

The festival also marks the return of a carnival, which will run throughout all 11 days with rides and other attractions. Campisi said the carnival will be the main focus of the festival from April 4 to 7, with no special evening events planned. Themed events will return on April 8 with public safety night, featuring demonstrations from the city’s fire and police departments. During the day, Mayor Frank Ortis will host his annual charter school golf tournament fundraiser at the Pembroke Lakes Country Club, 10500 Taft St.

The closing weekend starts April 9 with an Arbor Day expo, followed by the Miss Sweetheart talent competition and an evening reggae performance. As the festival’s final day, April 10 will get off to an early start with a 7:30 a.m. 5K run at the Shops of Pembroke Gardens, on Pines Boulevard just east of Interstate 75. Campisi said proceeds from the run will benefit the charter schools and the city’s Police Athletic League. City Center events will include additional performances and an R&B band, along with the carnival’s closing day.

Campisi said the schedule was similar to the 2010 festival, which was the first time the city celebrated its anniversary across multiple days.

“We’re not changing too much from last year,” she said.

Parents who have children in the charter schools can purchase tickets from their school. Tickets also are available at the Pembroke Lakes Tennis Center, 10500 Taft St.

For more information, call 954-431-4146 or visit http://www.pinesday.com.

Chris Guanche can be reached at cguanche@tribune.com.

By Chris Guanche, Forum Publishing Group 

When the 13th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival in the Pines opens March 12, it’ll be at a new location.

After many years at the Pembroke Pines Academic Village, the free festival is moving to the City Center site, 10300 Pines Blvd. The new location is intended to give artists more space and extra parking for visitors, said organizer Rose Colombo, chairwoman of the city’s Arts and Culture Advisory Board.

“We wanted to give our artists and patrons more room,” Colombo said.

Colombo said parking at the Academic Village has been limited when Broward College classes are in session and the Southwest Regional Library is open. Colombo said that by moving to a centralized location on Pines Boulevard, the festival can be more easily accessed by residents in both the eastern and western parts of the city.

Past festivals have focused on specific themes, such as a “green” ecological theme or a tour of the Americas. For 2011, the festival is going with an island theme.

“We want to ease people’s worries … and take them away for the weekend,” Colombo said.

Although artists can bring whatever work they want, Colombo said they’re being encouraged to bring anything island-related if they have pieces like that. They’re also being encouraged to decorate their booths with an island theme.

In addition, Colombo said the festival is placing more emphasis this year on crafts. One returning element from 2010 is the city donating a booth to highlight artists from the Cooper City-based Schott Communities. The nonprofit center runs an art program with artists who paint despite having such conditions as cerebral palsy or autism. Aside from the regular arts and crafts, the festival also will feature a tent with children’s activities.

As with past years, the festival will feature an art competition. Winners in categories such as best oil/acrylic or best photograph will win $350 cash prizes, while the winner for best in show will net a $500 prize. The festival has a mix of new and returning artists, but Colombo said it’s never the same from year to year.

“The artists make it different every year,” she said.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 12 and 13.

For more information, visit http://www.ppines.com or call 954-986-5027.

Chris Guanche can be reached at cguanche@tribune.com.

YMCA  Aquatic Center will offers swim lessons starting on March 1, 2011.

Pembroke Falls Aquatics Center (former) now referred to as the Pembroke Pines YMCA Aquatic Center located at 1361 NW 129th Ave Pembroke Pines has a 7500 square foot multi-purpose pool with eight lanes, diving boards and a 5000 square foot interactive play pool and two 140 foot water slides. 

The Y offers progressive swim lessons for ages 6 months – adult.   We welcome all swim levels. Parent and child and preschool classes are 30 minutes. Youth and adult are 45 minutes.Weekday classes are held monthly and include *8 lessons. Weekend classes run over a two month period on Saturday’s and incude 8 classes.

MORNING – Tuesday & Thursday March 1 – 31 No classes Spring Break March 15 & 17
9:00 am – 9:30 am Parent/Child (6 – 12 months)
9:00 am – 9:30 am Preschool (3 – 5 yrs)
9:45 am – 10:15 am Parent/Child (13 – 36 months)
9:45 am – 10:15 am Preschool (3 -5 yrs)

EVENING – Tuesday & Thursday March 1 – 31 No classes Spring Break March 15 & 17
4:45 pm – 5:30 pm Youth (6 – 12yrs)
5:00 pm – 5:30 pm Preschool (3 – 5 yrs)
5:45 pm – 6:15 pm Preschool (3 – 5 yrs)
5:45 pm – 6:30 pm Youth (6 – 12 yrs)
5:45 pm – 6:30 pm Adult/Teen (13 yrs & up)

SATURDAY CLASSES - March 5 – April 30 No classes Spring Break March 19
9:00 am – 9:30 am Parent/Child (6 -12 months)
9:00 am – 9:30 am Preschool (3 – 5yrs)
9:00 am – 9:45 am Youth (6 – 12yrs)
9:45 am – 10:15 am Parent/Child (13 – 36 months)
9:45 am – 10:15 am Preschool (3 – 5yrs)
10:00 am – 10:45 am Youth (6-12yrs)

COST
Y Member $55 Non-Member $85

Private Swim Lessons

Water Safety and Self-Confidence is a Benefit of Swim Lessons.
Do you work better in a one on one setting? Want to work on specific skills or strokes?
Would you like more flexible class times? Then private lessons may be for you!

Beginning in March Private lessons are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

More days and times available after March.

COST FOR 30 MINUTE LESSONS
One Y Member $22 Non-Member $32
Five Y Member $105 Non-Member $150
Ten Y Member $200 Non-Member $300

For Monthly events info visit the park at 1361 NW 129th Avenue Pembroke Pines, FL 33028 Or Call
Ph: 954.447.7645  Fax: 954.447.7087

By Chris Guanche, Forum Publishing Group.  January 22, 2011

When children from the Pembroke Pines Police Athletic League are racing in go karts Saturday, they’ll also be learning about real driving.

It’s part of a new program the PAL has been working on, said Joe Williams, executive director. A retired 38-year veteran of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Williams took over the executive director post in November. But he’s no stranger to PAL, having spent eight years working with it at the Sheriff’s Office.

While part of the racing in conjunction with Xtreme Indoor Karting of Fort Lauderdale will be for fun, Williams said the other part will be educational. Children will be taking a class covering several aspects of driving safety, including road rage, DUI and illegal street racing.

“There’s all the actions involved in the area, like the illegal racing on U.S. 27,” Williams said. “We wanted to give them a program to train on a track.”

Williams said covering such topics as DUI is timely as high school students prepare for prom. How to avoid confrontations with other drivers also will be covered.

The Saturday event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the PAL Youth Center, 7900 Johnson St. It’ll be the kickoff event for a season of races and will feature guest appearances from former professional race car drivers. Following the Feb. 5 safety class, the racing season starts Feb. 13.

Williams said the six-race season would conclude with an awards banquet, and that as the races continue, participants will be able to try out Bandolero and Legends miniature stock cars that are the next step up from go karts. Race events could expand in future seasons, he said.

The current group of PAL children is excited about the racing team, Williams said.

“There’s a huge level of anticipation,” he said. “What kid doesn’t want to go on a race car?”

PAL membership is open to children ages 9 to 17. Racers must be at least 54 inches tall.

For more information, call 954-986-5044 or visit http://www.ppines.com/police/pal.html.

Pembroke Pines Commissioners voted 4-0 on Wednesday to approve a site plan for a privately-owned charter school.

Franklin Academy,  a nonprofit K-8 campus which will be located at 18800 Pines Blvd., is breaking ground in late January and expects to open next August for the 2011-12 school year.

The 81,000-square-foot facility will include art buildings, athletic fields, jogging paths with exercise stadiums and classrooms, which will be constructed by developer Alliance Companies.

In-person inquiries can be made at the school’s Information Center, 18243 Pines Blvd.  For more information about Franklin Academy, call 954-703-2294, or visit www.franklin-academy.org.

$47 million plan would put 7 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into the aquifer

By Ariel Barkhurst, Staff Writer

PEMBROKE PINES The water in Pembroke Pines toilet bowls may soon show up in the drinking glasses of South Floridians from Miami to Boca Raton.

Within three years, Pembroke Pines plans to be the first South Florida city to inject treated sewage — about 7 million gallons a day — into the Biscayne Aquifer, which supplies most of the drinking water for Broward, Miami-Dade and southeastern Palm Beach County. That’s about the amount of water in 11 Olympic swimming pools.

If the state approves the $47 million plan, it means the aquifer would be depleted a little more slowly. But it also means people in the tri-county area could be drinking treated wastewater every time they turn on the tap.

Those six utilities now pump a combined 6.5 million gallons of purified sewage into the water supply each day. Pembroke Pines’ plan would double that.

Only about 71 million gallons of the approximately 640 million gallons of sewage the tri-county area produces each day gets reused in any way, and almost all of that goes toward irrigation.

The plan does have an “ick” factor, admitted City Manager Charles Dodge. But he guarantees the water will be pure and drinkable.

Pembroke Pines’ 7 million gallons a day may go into the ground in the city, but there’s no way of telling where it will come out, said Harold Wanless, professor and chair of geological sciences at the University of Miami.

“Aquifers flow,” Wanless said. “It’s difficult to tell where any particular water will move to. We don’t have the large conduits inside the aquifer well mapped.”

But for Pembroke Pines, it would be just as expensive to install a second network of pipes to move the cleaned sewage to lawns around the city or to build a plant to purify water drawn from the Floridan, said City Manager Charles Dodge.

Only Pembroke Pines and the city of Miami have plans to pump treated sewage into the Biscayne, said Jose Lopez, an engineer and project manager with the water district.

“We’re going to be the model, because we have to be,” said Shawn Denton, director of public works in Pembroke Pines. “Our [water use] permit was up early.”

Pembroke Pines has begun the expensive process of acting on its sewage reuse plans.

By Al Heavens, Special to Tribune Newspapers

The season of carelessness is approaching, when the spiked eggnog we may be drinking clouds our judgment, or so it seems. Before your holiday cheer turns to sorrow, take stock of these holiday dos and don’ts from the Electrical Safety Foundation International:

-Stay in the kitchen when food is cooking. Turn off burners if you have to leave the room.

-Never leave a child unsupervised while cooking, or when a stove is within reach.

-Keep towels, potholders, curtains and other flammable items away from hot surfaces.

-With greater activity in and around your home comes increased energy use. Be careful not to overburden your electrical system.

-Keep space heaters out of high-traffic and exit areas, and at least 3 feet from items that can burn.

-Turn space heaters off when you go to sleep or leave the room. Never leave a space heater unattended.

-ServiceMagic, a contractor search site, recommends not placing the following in your garbage disposal: fibrous foods, coffee grounds, eggshells, bones, glass, rubber or metal, potato skins and grease.

-It is also important that homeowners never overfill their disposal or use chemical drain cleaners to unclog it. It is unlikely that chemical cleaners will work and they leave the sink full of toxic liquids.

-When grinding food in a disposal, cold water should be running simultaneously to help the garbage as it is forced through the cutting blades and to keep the disposal cool.

-If items get stuck in the unit for too long and the sink begins to produce an unpleasant odor, eliminate the smell by grinding up a small lemon peel with ice cubes while running warm water.

And, the advice of a plumber who witnessed it, “Never use your garbage disposal to grind tree limbs.”  

For more information about how to prevent a desaster in your home go to : http://www.ppines.com/fire/safe.html or contact the Fire Prevention Dpt of City of Pembroke Pines. 

Fire Prevention
Laurie Barnes-Zargo, Fire Marshall
954-435-6531
lbarneszargo@ppines.com

These three projects will not only improve your guests’ experience, but also add to your own quality of life all year round.

Illuminate the walkway

Cost: about $350 for a 15-foot walk

Mounted on stakes you simply press into the ground, solar-powered LED lights automatically click on as the sun sets. Hammacher.com’s ($70 each) will run up to eight hours after an even moderately sunny day.

Space the lights every three to six feet on only one side of a fairly direct walk or both sides if it’s a winding path, says New Haven lighting designer Mark Loeffler.

Lose the coat pile

Cost: $170 to $580

Sick of throwing your guests’ coats and purses into a jumble on your bed? Try a hall tree. A cross between a coat rack and a boot bench, it has hooks for outerwear and bags that won’t fit in your hall closet, plus a spot for sitting down to pull off shoes.

Look for a unit with enclosed storage under the seat to hide your footwear.

Automate hall lighting

Cost: about $300, depending on the length of your hall

Help sleepyheads avoid stubbing their toes during middle-of-the-night bathroom treks by replacing your hallway wall switches with motion-detecting ones such as Leviton’s Occupancy Sensor Switches ($16 each at amazon.com, plus $100 to $200 for an electrician to install them).

When set on automatic, they click on as soon as someone walks into the space, and off again after the sleepwalker has padded back to bed.