If you drive along Southwest 39th Boulevard these days, you’ll see what is quickly growing into one of the largest privately owned solar-powered electric systems in the State of Florida.
The vast array of solar electric panels covers the roofs of 25 of the 35 buildings in the Stoneridge Apartment community. The project began in October 2009 and, when it is complete, Stoneridge will have about 3,500 solar electric panels generating 750 kilowatts of power per hour under sunny conditions, says Barry Jacobson, whose company, Solar Impact, is installing the units.
That should be enough to power 200 apartments each month—more than half the complex, Jacobson estimates.
Phil Emmer, whose Emmer Development Group owns Stoneridge, says the project will cost about $4 million in total. He says he decided to have solar panels installed to be environmentally conscious, with hope that the system would pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time and become profitable.

I recently read a very interesting book called, Letters from Leaders: Personal Advice for Tomorrow’s Leaders from the World’s Most Influential People. The book includes nearly 80 letters from those who have done so much to shape our world today—including Muhammad Ali, four U.S. Presidents, Mikhail Gorbachev, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, King Abdullah II of Jordan and the Dalai Lama. There are also viewpoints from Hearst media head Cathie Black, oil billionaire and philanthropist T. Boone Pickens, Donald Trump and a number of Nobel laureates.
As someone who has studied leadership and life success for nearly 20 years, I really enjoyed reading what these amazing people had to share.

The fate of a proposal that would curb elected officials’ control over local land use changes may be months away, but the battle lines are already drawn—and this planned amendment to the state constitution is bringing together unexpected allies. Many of the state’s major environmental groups and at least one developer are supporting the plan, while most businesspeople, developers, local commissioners and even some environmentalists are in opposition.
At the core is the question of whether voters should have final say over use of Florida’s pristine land, or whether the decision should rest with city and county commissioners. There’s little doubt where most businesspeople stand.
“This is a dangerous departure from representative government and an extreme solution to a perceived problem,” says Brent Christensen, president and CEO of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. “This would mean either a loss of jobs, or it would significantly hurt our ability to bring new jobs to the community.”

In years past, before they lost the “Community” part of their names, colleges like Santa Fe might have been perceived as a “fallback” option—a place where recent high school grads could turn when their first-choice colleges turned them down.
But if that description ever was accurate at Santa Fe College, it’s certainly not now.
These days, Gainesville’s local college is the training ground for tomorrow’s workforce.  It provides specialized education to tens of thousands of students, including many who already have bachelor’s degrees, as well as workers, young and old, who want to profit from the school’s more than 50 accredited technology and applied sciences programs.