City Of Stuart | Sailfish City - Stuart Florida Community Site

Stuart Florida - The Department of Homeland Security is analyzing a new threat to national security - recreational boaters. That’s right, at the top of the list of potential threats to the country and it’s more than 95,000 miles of coastline and inland waterways. The government has already spent millions and made significant progress in tightening up security on large cargo ships and cargo containers coming into the country but small boats are another story.

According to the feds, there is little protection right now from al-Qaida or other terrorist organizations using small boats to attack the United States. Not only is the threat real that al-Qaida could use a small boat to deliver a nuclear or dirty bomb, but a more likely threat is they could use small boats to attack public infrastructure like bridges and dams. Not to mention more critical infrastructure always located near water - nuclear power plants.

The feds are not planning a major crackdown on boaters, instead they are trying to enlist the help of local boaters who know their area and are familiar with other boats they typically see out on the water. Local boaters will know the usual fishing spots and typical boat behaviour around things like bridges. They are encouraging boaters to keep an eye out, like a neighborhood watch on the water, for suspicious behavior. Boaters are encouraged to report suspicious activity to authorities.

There are discussions in the works of additional requirements on recreational boaters to help authorities mitigate the threat. Many boaters will no doubt feel that the threat of national security is just an excuse to police recreational boaters but there are real benefits to the extra safety measures. For example, less drunken boaters on the water is a plus everyone could live with. Boats that are going out on the water will have to be checked to make sure they are sea worthy and hopefully the boaters will have to learn some boating safety guidelines to operate safely on the water ways of our city of Stuart.

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Posted in Sailfish City News

Stuart, FL – (April 18, 2008) The RiverWalk Jazz series is pleased to announce that Mike Levine will be performing on the beautiful RiverWalk stage, Sunday May 4 starting at 1 p.m. The RiverWalk Jazz Series has become a ‘hot’ favorite with jazz fans up and down the Treasure Coast. Since November 2006, jazz fans have flocked to the free concert by almost every mode of transportation, car, shuttle, bus, motorcycle, boat and even segway. Each month hundreds of music aficionados come to historic downtown Stuart to listen to first class jazz in a beautiful waterfront setting.

Pianist Mike Levine is a man of many talents whose career is a blend of different aspects of music. He attended the University of Miami where he studied piano with Vince Maggio. There he formed his first group with Billy Ross and they released their first album “That Summer Something” which featured jazz legend Pat Metheny as a guest artist. Mike wrote the majority of the bands compositions and earned national recognition for them, staying in the top ten jazz charts for six seeks. Subsequent releases also did very well.

Mike can be found on a number of jazz celebrity albums such a Michael Bolton, Jaco Pastorius, Less DeMerle, Ed Calles and Julio Iglesias. He often performs locally in some of South Florida’s top jazz and blues venues as well as some of the most renowned jazz festivals such as the Syracuse and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Mike has recently released another CD “From the Heart” which features both Hiram Bullock and Ed Calle as guest artists. Cd’s will be available at the concert.

“We haven’t featured a jazz pianist for several months now, so we are very excited to have him come and perform for us. I think our fans are going to love him and be thrilled that were featuring such an accomplished jazz artist.” Jim Chrulski, City of Stuart Assistant Parks and Recreation Director.

For more info about Mike Levine, go to www.rhombus-records.com or www.mikelevinemusic.com

For more information about each of the artists go to www.riverwalkjazzseries.com. Free to the public the RiverWalk Jazz Series takes place in a beautiful outdoor setting along the St. Lucie River. The RiverWalk Stage is located along the St. Lucie River boardwalk at the end of St. Lucie Ave in historic downtown Stuart. The RiverWalk Jazz Series is a public/private venture between the City of Stuart, The Downtown Business Association, Stuart MainStreet, Stuart Heritage, Hi Mom Productions and is completely underwritten by the Stuart News. The RiverWalk Jazz series of concerts take place on the first Sunday of the month between 1-4 p.m.

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Posted in City Events