Good Morning and Good Friday!

Loose County!

This is Sunland News, the newsletter that feels like good conversation, good food, good music—you know, home.

Happy Labor Day weekend! If you’re looking for something to do, don’t miss our weekly events list, published every Thursday. Now, let’s dive into the news.

— Ja'Min

In Today’s Sunland News ☀️🗞️:

1. 🌉 The Bridge Build: Roads Will Be Closed

2. 🆓🚗 FreeBee looks to limit free ride service

3. 🎉 Week Events: 🍿 Friday Drive-In Movie Nights | JAWS

📚 Read Time: 4 Minutes
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☁️ Weather Forecast

Weather TL;DR: "I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain is... here" Expect some sun, but showers are on the horizon.

🌤️ Day: High of 87°F with increasing clouds and showers developing this afternoon. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
🌙 Night: Low of 78°F with some clouds. A slight chance of a rain shower. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 24%.
🌅 Sunrise: 6:59 AM
🌇 Sunset: 7:43 PM

🌧️ Rain: 40% chance during the day, 24% at night.
Stay prepared!

NEWS

FreeBee Looks to Roll Back 🚗

So! If you’re not in the loop, let me clue you in—have you seen those white and blue Teslas cruising around Fort Pierce? They’re hard to miss, though I can’t say I’ve spotted them much in Port Saint Lucie. That’s Freebee. According to the City of Fort Pierce, “Freebee is a free, on-demand, 100% electric transportation service available in Fort Pierce 7 days a week. Serving the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency’s districts, Freebee focuses on transporting residents and visitors between their homes and local businesses. This service enhances connectivity within the business districts, driving economic development, filling mobility gaps, easing traffic congestion, and reducing parking demands. Freebee will pick you up at your doorstep and safely deliver you to your destination within the service zone.”

Sounds pretty sweet, right? I gave it a try once, and it’s like a local version of Uber or Lyft—just with a bit of a clunky app (at least when I tried it, maybe it’s better now).

This service launched as a pilot back in February 2023, and it quickly gained traction. So much so that by May 2023, the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency (FPRA) decided to make it official, signing a $480,000 annual contract with BEEFREE, LLC. They even expanded the service hours and boundaries. So far, so good…

But here’s the thing—it’s kind of blown up, and not in the way you’d expect. We’re talking over 5,100 passengers in July 2024 alone—a whopping 358% increase from the previous year.

Now, with all this newfound popularity, the city is starting to pull back a bit.

Recently, Freebee’s Regional Manager, Chris Walker, proposed a couple of changes:

• Age Restriction: They want to limit the service to those 18 and older to cut down on joyriding. (Honestly, can you blame the kids? I’d have done the same thing back in the day. 😂)

• Service Zone Adjustments: They’re refining the zones so that rides must start or end in the designated "inner zone" (aka the commercial area). This means no more house-to-house rides in residential zones, but they’ll still take you to local businesses.

Some FPRA Board members raised concerns about how these changes might affect businesses in the residential (blue) zones. Walker’s response? They could reclassify specific businesses into the commercial (pink) zone if needed. See map here.

There’s also some chatter about whether more vehicles should be added to meet the growing demand, but Walker thinks it’s better to see how these changes play out first.

The goal here is to boost economic development throughout the city. But while having a popular service is a great first step, rolling it back could do more harm than good. There’s probably a middle ground to find here. Speaking of which, remember those scooters that used to be around town? Whatever happened to those? Maybe it’s time to revisit the idea of personal vehicles cruising around for free—it might just be the answer we need.

🔔 Sunland Bulletin

The St. Lucie Cultural Alliance Needs Your Help: Advocate to Keep Art and Culture in St. Lucie County Budget! Join the effort to keep the St. Lucie Cultural Alliance doors open by attending the St. Lucie County budget hearing on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at 6 PM at the Commission Chambers, 2300 Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce. Support the arts by writing a letter to the Board of Commissioners and emailing it to [email protected] by Monday, Sept. 2.

September is Hunger Action Month! 🧡 City of Fort Pierce lit up City Hall and the River Walk Center in orange to raise awareness. [See Here]

🧑‍💻 Free Tech Class: Interested in learning how to download free eBooks and audiobooks, all with your library card? Libby on Tuesday, Sept. 3 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Lewis Branch.

🚗Check the current traffic situation via Google.

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📰Other News

🚤 TREASURE COAST AT LARGE

💳💵 Bids have been a big talking point recently (not for the best reason either) However, City launches new electronic bidding platform for vendors, suppliers: The City recently began using OpenGov technology to streamline its procurement operations [More Info]:

🍊 FLORIDA AT LARGE

🌉 Roads Will Be Closed: Expect detours at the intersections of State Road A1A, U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway near North Hutchinson Island to last about two years. The closure begins Tuesday, Sept. 3

🌍 WORLD AT LARGE

✈️ For Labor Day : This weekend is expected to see 17 million people go through TSA, the busiest on record for the travel period. [Read More]

🪮Sunland Picks

📢 Got a Story?

You can now submit a story for Sunland News to cover! Whether it's news, events, or anything you think deserves attention, just click the button below to share it with us. Thank you for being part of Sunland News! 🙏

📸This Is Saint Lucie

It Just Hit Me ☀️

All week, I’ve had Sunland on my mind—not just while writing the newsletter, but also thinking about what I want Sunland to represent. The word “home” keeps coming to mind. The idea of what makes a home, finding home, chasing home, chasing the sun—SUNLAND. It just hit me that Sunland is here to guide you home, to go deep, to discover your roots and what makes you who you are. This is a universal idea, one where I can use the habit of going deep to write this newsletter, inspiring people, no matter where they’re from, to do the same.

As we head into Labor Day weekend, I’m going to labor over this thought and use September to drive this point home. If you’ve been here with me, I thank you. If you just got here, I thank you. I look forward to continuing to build this newsletter and the idea of chasing the sun until we find it. You know what I mean?

With love,
Ja’Min… See you next month!

🗓️ Things To Do

Friday Drive-In Movie Nights | JAWS
🗓️ Date: August 30, 2024
⏰ Time: 8:00 PM
📍 Location: 601 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL
Watch the classic thriller JAWS under the stars at this drive-in event.

Saturday Drive-In Movie Nights | The Garfield Movie
🗓️ Date: August 31, 2024
⏰ Time: 8:15 PM
📍 Location: 601 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL
Grab your popcorn and enjoy "The Garfield Movie" at this fun drive-in movie night.

Miami vs. Florida Watch Party
🗓️ Date: August 31, 2024
⏰ Time: 12:00 PM
📍 Location: 1640 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL
Cheer on your team at this football season kickoff watch party!

Black Business Pop-Up Shop
🗓️ Date: August 30, 2024
⏰ Time: 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
📍 Location: Boynton Beach Arts & Cultural Center, Boynton Beach, FL
Support local Black-owned businesses and enjoy a night of networking and inspiration.

🕹️ Sunland Games

Sunland Games is evolving! We're introducing a new head-to-head showdown of local restaurants. Kicking things off with a classic: JoJo’s vs. Phatz. Cast your vote below and let us know which one you prefer!