Indian River Blog

By Kirby Collins

I’m happy to unveil my new blog, the Florida PhotoBlog with many unpublished photos I’ve taken over the years. Almost all of the photos at Florida PhotoBlog are available for use on your website or blog under the Creative Commons License with Attribution and are hosted on flickr.

I have many photos of Vero Beach, Sebastian Inlet and Indian River County. The photos range from beach scenes to wildlife and are high resolution with sizes up to 1000 X 750. For more view the Licensing Guidelines.

Vero Beach, FL - Home sellers continue to hear bad news as the mortgage marketplace has concerns of an upcoming credit crunch. Today it was revealed by some sources that other home owners were also having trouble making their mortgage payments with as many as 5% of all homeowners are more than 60 days in arrears. Now, according to this blog, Fannie Mae is taking action just as oil prices are falling, well at least there’s some good news.

Families are invited to celebrate the start of summer at McKee Botanical Garden’s Annual Ice Cream Social in Vero Beach, Florida on June 9, 2007. The social is scheduled for 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM. Please call to make reservations for this event (772) 794-0601. Read more at McKee Botanical Garden’s website

Competition for the new proposal site for Piper Aircraft continues to rise. According to an article published in The Albuquerque Tribune, “The Vero Beach area has put forward a $50 million proposal to keep Piper along Florida’s Treasure Coast. Meanwhile, the Tallahassee City Commission on Wednesday was scheduled to consider an estimated $90 million proposal conceived by city economic development officials.” Other states, including New Mexico are very interested in hosting the new Piper site. Piper Aircraft is currently located in Vero Beach, FL and has over 1,000 employees. Read more here

According to the Fort Pierce Tribune, “Two of Vero Beach’s largest hotels have been sold for $14.43 million to South Florida real estate developers that specialize in hotel management. ” Read more here

Orange juice prices have increased 20 percent in the past year, although demand has decreased by 11 percent according to the Florida Department of Citrus. Growers report sales are still going strong thanks to health-conscience advertisements. This year’s projected orange crop will be the smallest since the 1989-90 freeze season. Read more here