Our Village Voice VOL. 36 NO. 8
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AUGUST 2025
The Shores Of Jupiter HOA (“HOA”) Bill’s Box Street Trees In Front Of Your Home 2025/2026 We are sending this out to all owners as a reminder regarding your responsibility to properly maintain any oak trees located in the swale in front of your house (the “street trees”). The only responsibility of the HOA with regard to the street trees is to periodically lift any clear low hanging branches over the roadway and sidewalk to meet FDOT standards for clearance. All other maintenance of the street trees is the responsibility of the homeowner. • Pursuant to the ACC Guidelines, the pruning of street trees shall ONLY be done under the supervision of a certified arborist. This is necessary for ensuring proper class 2 pruning and to maintain a healthy tree overall as well as branch balance especially during storm season helping to prevent any damage to the tree or ANY property. • Topping or hat racking your street tree is NOT allowed • Lion-tailing your street tree is NOT allowed • Landscapers are NOT arborists and typically will not have the knowledge to cut such trees properly and may use harmful practices such as DESCRIBED ABOVE to name a few, which many times lead to disease and death of the tree within the year after being cut. NOTE: IF YOU EMPLOY LANDSCAPERS OR TRY TO PRUNE A STREET TREE YOURSELF AND IT IS DONE IN AN IMPROPER MANNER, YOU WILL
NOT ONLY BE SUBJECT TO FINES OR OTHER PENALTIES, BUT YOU WILL ALSO BE ASSESSED THE COSTS FOR AN ARBORIST TO REVIEW THE TREE AND PROVIDE A PLAN TO SAVE THE TREE. THE COSTS FOR THE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WILL BE BORNE BY THE HOMEOWNER AND/ OR ASSESSED AGAINST THE HOMEOWNER’S PROPERTY. NOTE: IF YOU FAIL TO RECTIFY ANY IMPROPER PRUNING OR MAINTENANCE OF YOUR STREET TREE AFTER NOTICE FROM THE HOA, THEN THE HOA HAS THE RIGHT TO PERFORM ANY WORK NECESSARY AND WILL ASSESS ALL COSTS TO THE HOMEOWNER’S PROPERTY. • MULCHING – Options are, no mulch, pine needles, or wood mulch. We ask that you try and maintain a space of at least 6 inches out from the bark of the tree base for the health and growth of the tree. Mulching can be suffocating to the tap root of the tree, depriving it of the oxygen it needs to grow and thrive properly. We appreciate you keeping the above in mind, helping to ensure the health, LONGEVITY and best growth for our street-lined oak trees here in the Shores. Sincerely, Board of Directors for the Shores HOA
Commissioner’s Update More Than Books: Everything Your Palm Beach County Library Offers
By Mayor Maria G. Marino Libraries have long been regarded as cornerstones of communities, offering not just access to books, but a wealth of resources that enrich lives, promote lifelong learning, and strengthen neighborhoods. The Palm Beach County Library System exemplifies this role, offering a robust catalog of services that extend far beyond the traditional idea of shelves lined with novels and encyclopedias. Recently the Palm Beach County Library System has been recognized by the Florida Library Association as the winner of the 2025 Maria Chavez-Hernandez “Libraries Change People’s Lives” Award. This honor highlights the library’s commitment to fostering community
engagement and providing valuable resources for individuals of all abilities. Expansive Digital Offerings A great advantage of our library is its expansive digital library, which makes knowledge and entertainment accessible anytime, anywhere. With just a library card, residents gain free access to eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and streaming media through platforms such as cloudLibrary, hoopla, Flipster, and Freegal. • cloudLibrary lets users borrow thousands of eBooks and audiobooks, plus access magazines and newspapers from around the world. • hoopla is a treasure trove for entertainment lovers, offering instant access to free movies, TV shows, comics, music, audiobooks and eBooks. • Flipster offers digital magazines across a wide range of interests—from cooking and fitness to news and fashion. All titles are available instantly with no holds or waiting lists. • Freegal allows access to about 18 million songs. The collection has music from over 93,000 labels with music spanning more than 90 countries. For those on the go, or unable to visit a physical branch, these resources allow users to enjoy reading or viewing content from their phone, tablet, or computer. Summer Activities Palm Beach County Library branches host hundreds of programs every month for children, teens, adults, and seniors. These include story times, book clubs, author talks, financial Commissioner’s Update on page 2
By Bill Thompson Well, here we go again. Andy Rooney; remember him? He had a segment on one of the network channels some years ago. It was humorous: always about something to grump about. The older I get the more I relate to him. If you get up early, it is dark. The dog doesn’t carry a watch. My dog is Harley 2. He needs to relieve himself in the mornings, way too early in the dark. I like to wait till it is daylight. He doesn’t care. Now it is DST and time jumps ahead an hour now. In the fall when it is back to real time, Harley will expect me to get up at 5:30. That is the middle of my night in my bed. Harley doesn’t care. I rolled over this morning to find Harley looking into my face. You know what that means. Slip on a pair of shorts, find his leash and walk him outside. Then he is ready for his treat, breakfast and fresh water. My wife says getting up and making the bed gives a day a good start, thus setting the day’s tone to be more productive. I don’t like making up beds, but I am sure she is right about that and a number of other things. An unmade bed attracts me to get back under the covers for a little snooze. But rules are rules. Guess who makes the rules. Sometimes I run into children in their 40s, 50s and even older folks who believe in getting up early to get a great start on their list of to-dos. They seem so joyful and full of vim and vigor. Back awhile, I was an obsessive runner. Not too fast. A seven-minute mile was my speed. Not bad, but I wasn’t in a race. Once, before we were married, I got the bug and we ran together five days a week. Then, in addition, I didn’t hesitate to get up in time for a morning 3.1-mile run, come hell or high water. That includes pouring rain and cold air. I never wore a shirt. Just running shoes and shorts. Discomfort or faint of heart was not in my then programmed life and my drive to impress Dawn, who had been running for years. When I felt confident, we got up early one morning for a 5K race. We ran side by side at a good clip. When we could see the finish line, Dawn took off like a rocket. I tried to beat her to the finish line. I lost my
Bill’s Box on page 4
REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IMMEDIATELY TO THE JUPITER POLICE DEPARTMENT
(561) 799-4445
Use 911 for emergencies only. Lock car doors. Do not leave valuables in the car.