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Transcript

50 Years with WPB! A talk with the City's longest-employed worker. · Inside West Palm Beach

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  [Music]
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  Welcome to the City Center podcast from
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  West Palm Beach. I'm Jerry Marcela.
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  Few cities have gone through the changes
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  that West Palm Beach
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  has seen in recent years.
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  Once a quiet little city in the shadows
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  of places like Miami, Tampa, and Orlando,
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  West Palm Beach is now a hotspot of
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  cultural and financial
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  prosperity, firmly on the map
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  with famous
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  destinations from around the globe.
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  But if we could turn back the hands of
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  time even further, we
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  would find a West Palm Beach
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  far different from what we could imagine.
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  A place that 50 years ago
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  lived life a little differently.
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  On the podcast today, we have a guest
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  that started a career working for the
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  city of West Palm Beach 50 years ago.
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  And he's here today to share a
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  perspective about our city that is a half
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  century in the making.
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  Greg Mihalko, welcome to the podcast.
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  Thank you. I'm happy to be here. I
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  appreciate the opportunity.
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  Well, we appreciate you being here. I
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  mean, 50 years with the
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  city, that is no small feat.
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  Actually, we double-checked it and I am
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  the longest tenured employee.
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  So it's actually a little over 50 years.
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  It's 50 in August 12th. So it's 50 years,
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  two months, and a few days.
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  That is nutty. Okay, so 1974 is when you
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  started. Tell us about
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  how you came across the job
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  and what it was like during those very
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  early days working for the city.
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  So I moved here in 1973 and I started off
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  in construction with no
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  basic skills or anything.
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  I was right out of high school. I was 18
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  and I was digging
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  ditches for construction.
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  And at that point, construction went a
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  little low and they
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  were laying people off.
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  So eventually I ended up losing that job
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  and got hired on by somebody else.
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  But again, because construction was low,
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  I ended up losing that one.
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  So I was actually out
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  of work for three months.
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  And I had I actually after after almost
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  three months, I had interviews with FPL
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  and the city of West Palm Beach.
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  The city of West Palm
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  Beach actually hired me first.
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  I don't remember exactly how I found out
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  about it, but I remember thinking, well,
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  you know, a city job
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  can be pretty secure.
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  Construction, you don't work when it's
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  raining, you know, you don't have the
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  holidays, you don't
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  have different things.
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  And city, you know, city have pension,
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  you have holidays,
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  you have vacation days.
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  And I'm going to get paid
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  52 weeks out of the year.
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  So I was making 450 an hour when I was
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  working construction and I started here
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  at 235, I think it was an hour.
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  Oh, my goodness.
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  Less than what is. But in my
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  head, again, I had benefits.
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  I had health
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  insurance. I had all that stuff.
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  And I'm working 52 weeks out of the year.
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  I didn't have to worry about putting
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  three months aside for rainy days and,
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  you know, slow seasons or
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  hurricanes and things like that.
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  And to give perspective, I mean, I mean,
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  I could imagine that I'm not sure off the
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  top of my head, but a gallon of gas was
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  probably 60, 70 cents
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  or something like that.
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  Yeah. When I started when
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  I was 14, it was 25 cents.
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  I think it was like 60 or 70 when I was,
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  you know, by the time here.
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  Yeah. Now you said that you were thinking
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  about construction gig and then you sort
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  of saw that the construction construction
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  was a little slow around here.
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  Was it a slow period of time? There
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  wasn't a lot of a lot of growth.
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  It was no, it wasn't. It
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  wasn't a lot of growth.
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  And the actually the construction job
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  that I was on was bringing houses in.
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  And there were duplex or triplexes and
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  they were cadding them together, back
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  together and they were moving them from
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  one location to another.
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  And I don't remember what that other
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  location was going to be used for, but
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  they were decent houses.
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  So instead of tearing them down, they
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  moved them to, they were
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  moving them to another location.
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  And that job started falling through as,
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  you know, the market, I
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  guess, was falling down.
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  And being young, I didn't understand
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  exactly everything that was going on.
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  But I knew it was
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  really hard to find a job.
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  It's hard to imagine when we look at the
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  city now about a time when things were
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  slow as far as building and growth.
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  Yeah, it is. I mean, looking at it,
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  looking at what's going on around here
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  now, I really seriously wonder how we
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  keep up with it, how planning and
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  engineering, you know, keep up with all
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  the building that's going on, because
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  it's a tremendous job to do all of that.
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  And the landscape has
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  changed. I mean, it has changed.
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  Sure. No, yeah. I mean, just any kind of
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  photograph from that period of time.
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  And, you know, the 70s, I mean, it is 50
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  years ago, almost a half century, but it
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  is, it isn't like forever.
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  It wasn't like 18 something or anything.
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  It's fairly, you know,
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  it's in recent memory.
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  And yes, the city has changed so
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  drastically over those years.
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  City Hall was in a small building on
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  Second Street when I
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  started here. Wow. Wow.
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  The engineering department was a
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  beautiful two, two or three story
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  building that was on 7th Street.
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  Yeah. Where down by the railroad tracks
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  were 7th Street dead ends off
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  of Dixie by the railroad track.
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  It was in a beautiful building there,
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  beautiful hardwood floors.
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  I mean, just the landscape, the stairway
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  going up, the building was phenomenal.
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  Yeah. Unfortunately not there anymore,
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  but that's where the
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  engineering department was.
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  When the old City Hall was on Second
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  Street, I never really got beyond the
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  basement because my most of my workings
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  with anything in City Hall was with the
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  printing department,
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  which was in the basement.
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  Yeah. So if we needed something printed
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  or something like that, I would run down
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  there and pick it up for him since I
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  worked in this area.
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  I started off as a laborer and I was
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  working in the downtown area, what we
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  called the Cove at the time, which was
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  from Banyan to Okeechobee.
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  And then we had different parks like
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  Okeechobee Boulevard. We
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  did Chillingworth Park.
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  You know, so we had other small, some
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  outer areas, but our main focus was down
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  here because the library was here and we
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  had Klamata Street at the time.
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  Did you actually live in West Palm Beach?
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  I did when I first moved here, yes.
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  Okay. In 74, I take it that it was more a
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  more sense of local community. It wasn't
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  like we were sort of sprawling. It was
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  just the folks who lived here sort of
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  dealt with each other.
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  Yeah. I don't know a whole lot of people
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  that – well, there was a lot of people
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  that I know that did not
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  live in West Palm Beach.
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  But most of the – most of us that I
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  worked with, the labor – you know, the
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  labor end of it, a lot of us did live
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  either in West Palm or just
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  right outside of West Palm.
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  Sure.
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  Some of them lived in Riviera Beach or
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  Lake Worth or something like that.
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  Sure. You know, I lived in Palm Beach
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  County at the same period of time. This
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  story is not about me. It's about you.
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  But the – what – I lived up in
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  Jupiter, Jupiter, Dequesta area, and man,
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  getting down to West Palm – that was a
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  big deal. That was a trip.
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  You're coming down to West Palm, going
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  downtown to go to Berdynes and go to
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  those stores that are down here.
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  And there was a sense of separation that,
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  you know, you lived up in this community
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  and you weren't going to go down there.
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  That seems to have really disappeared
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  over the years. It's like – we're like
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  one big Metroplex now.
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  Yeah. It's a lot – well, definitely a
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  lot easier to get around. I mean, 95 is
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  finished and 95 was just
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  a dead end and whatnot.
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  That's right.
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  It was funny. But, yeah, I mean, even for
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  those in West Palm to head up to Jupiter
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  was like, well, what do
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  we want to go up there for?
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  Right.
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  There was not really much for us to go up
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  there for. We stayed here.
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  We had the Palm Beach Mall.
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  You know, we had the auditorium at the
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  time. We had the baseball stadium.
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  So just about anything you wanted was
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  pretty much local anyway, even though
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  there was a lot more now.
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  But at the time, we
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  had everything we needed.
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  When – in the 50 years ago, was it a
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  younger community? Was
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  it a lot of retirees here?
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  What kind of profile did
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  you recall from that period?
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  Well, my first few years, you know, the
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  first two or three years as a laborer, I
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  was not really
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  dealing with the community.
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  Right.
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  I was in the parks. I was on the
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  roadways. I was doing
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  what we needed to do.
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  But as I became a supervisor and started
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  dealing with people, it wasn't – I
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  would say there were a lot
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  less retirees here at the time.
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  Yes. And, you know, people have stayed
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  here. Obviously, it was a, you know,
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  great place to live.
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  There was a lot going on around here. And
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  as things increased, I
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  think people realized that.
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  So they stayed here. And you started
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  getting more and more people that were
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  retired because, what?
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  They lived in that house all their life.
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  Right.
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  I've talked to people that have grown up
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  in that house from their childhood.
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  Yeah.
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  You know, families that were here that
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  maybe their parents were involved
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  politically or their parents were, you
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  know, had – were business
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  owners and things like that.
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  And, you know, they had
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  businesses on Klamata Street.
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  And I've somehow met up with them for
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  whatever reason they were calling the
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  city and had to go talk to them.
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  But, you know, you got to get to talking
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  and find out that, oh, yeah, you know, my
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  grandfather owned a bakery on Klamata
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  Street and, you know, things like that.
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  Sure.
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  So, you know, I've met a
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  lot of people that way.
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  Sure.
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  That's really – was really interesting.
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  It kept the job interesting, for sure.
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  So as you move through, you know, the 70s
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  until later 70s, what sort of changes did
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  you see in play? Would
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  things change for you?
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  Well, the biggest changes, I think,
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  really happened, like in the 90s when
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  they started changing to downtown.
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  When we moved the library, when the city
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  hall was built over on Banyan Street
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  across from the Banyan Garage, when they
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  built that city hall,
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  there was a big change there.
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  Things started changing and the city
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  started growing that way.
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  And for folks who may not be familiar
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  with that older city hall, not the one
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  that we're in now, but it also showed the
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  city hall was just across the street from
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  what is now is the Palm Beach County
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  Center of Government there.
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  Right.
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  Right. Okay.
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  Yeah. It's across from there, almost
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  across from their parking garage.
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  Right.
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  More in line with that. That's where –
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  it's there. It's now a
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  hotel and restaurant.
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  Right. Right.
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  And businesses on the bottom.
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  And then we had – we also had in that
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  area where the Chamber of Commerce is,
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  when I started here, we actually called
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  that Flamingo Park, and
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  that was a senior center.
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  So we had a building there, and it was
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  staffed, and they played – you know,
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  they had checkers and
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  chess and card games.
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  And it was organized and shuffleboard,
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  and it was a pretty active center for, as
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  I said before, not that many retirees,
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  you know, compared to what it is now.
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  It was still really active.
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  It was a nice active center.
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  And the park that we call Flamingo Park
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  that's on Dixie, Dixie and Park Place,
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  had a small building there, and it ran a
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  summer program out of there for kids.
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  Right.
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  So things have definitely gotten bigger
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  and, you know, in some cases better. In
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  some cases, sometimes
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  bigger is not better.
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  I understand. So about 1990, you saw a
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  seat – a real change taking place.
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  When we started doing the waterfront and,
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  you know, started developing all of that
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  and, you know, building this city hall
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  here, which was later on, you know,
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  building this city hall here and things
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  like that, things started growing.
• 1:12:27
  That's when I noticed the city getting
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  busier. You're now drawing more people in
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  with Clamatus by Night.
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  You had the – you know, all the
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  waterfront stuff going on, you know,
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  getting ready to build that, which I love
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  that, by the way, because I got to travel
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  with the landscape architects all over
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  – all over the state looking for trees.
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  You know, we went to Homestead. We went
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  to the middle of the state.
• 1:12:52
  We went all over the place.
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  We spent weeks looking for all of the
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  streets down there. And as a certified
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  arborist, that was
• 1:12:57
  just my dream. I loved it.
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  But, you know, it was – things were
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  really blowing up and people were taking
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  more of an interest in West Palm.
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  And, you know, and then we started having
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  City Place develop, you know, and that
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  whole area there, you know,
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  reconstruction in that whole area there.
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  So those were probably the biggest
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  changes that I've seen.
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  I've heard that around that period of
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  time, Clamatus wasn't as busy at night as
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  it is now. Is that – do
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  you recall it being that way?
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  Clamatus was very slow.
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  Really?
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  Yeah. After five or six o'clock, you can
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  pretty much walk around here and throw a
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  rock and not hit anybody.
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  Holy cow.
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  Yeah. It was pretty dead. We had some
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  really, really tall
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  Washingtonian palms there at the time.
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  And we used to trim them. We don't trim
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  palm trees anymore for your health, but
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  we used to trim them.
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  And we would have to come in after
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  everything closed. So we would come in
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  about midnight to trim them.
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  And for a period of time, it was okay. It
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  was nice. There was hardly anybody there.
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  Then as Clamatus Street started getting
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  more popular and different bars started
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  opening and restaurants started opening,
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  it got a little bit harder for us to keep
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  coming in here and trimming because we
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  would have to hit that time period when
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  everything closed down
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  and we could work without worrying about
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  somebody walking underneath us as we were
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  dropping the fronds and everything.
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  And I was so happy when they did
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  re-landscaping there that we didn't have
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  to worry about those anymore.
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  But now for a long period of time,
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  Clamatus was very, very slow.
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  You touched on something. You mentioned
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  that you were fearful of hurting somebody
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  with the palm fronds.
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  Where I was headed was, gee, middle of
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  the night, Clamatus, kind of quiet. Was
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  there a problem with crime back thing?
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  Well, they say there was, but we never
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  had a problem as we were working.
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  But it wasn't as, I would say, it wasn't
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  as safe as it is now.
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  So we've made an improvement.
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  Oh, absolutely.
• 1:15:16
  Absolutely.
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  That's great. That's great.
• 1:15:18
  We were talking earlier about some of the
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  places that people used to congregate at
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  and have dinner and have lunch.
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  Tell me a little bit about that because
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  that's usually where you see sort of the
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  profile of the community,
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  the culture that the area had.
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  Tell me a little bit about that.
• 1:15:36
  Clamatus Street had Woolworths. I mean,
• 1:15:39
  you wouldn't think, but the Woolworths,
• 1:15:40
  the little diner inside Woolworths was a
• 1:15:43
  spot for a lot of the business owners on
• 1:15:46
  Clamatus Street to like Mrs. Perry.
• 1:15:48
  They owned the locksmith shop, her and
• 1:15:50
  her sons owned the locksmith shop right
• 1:15:53
  next to Sewell Hardware.
• 1:15:54
  And some of the guys from Sewell
• 1:15:55
  Hardware, I'd see them in there.
• 1:15:57
  And it was close enough.
• 1:15:59
  We had a half an hour for lunch.
• 1:16:01
  And if we happened to be working in that
• 1:16:03
  area, it was actually close enough that I
• 1:16:05
  could run out there.
• 1:16:06
  And if they knew you, they kind of
• 1:16:08
  started putting your order in as they saw
• 1:16:09
  you walking in and have it ready for you
• 1:16:12
  almost by the time you were sitting down,
• 1:16:13
  you'd be able to eat real fast and run
• 1:16:15
  back and get back to work in time.
• 1:16:18
  So it was the culture was
• 1:16:20
  people knew other people.
• 1:16:23
  That's another big difference is now
• 1:16:26
  everything is so big.
• 1:16:28
  Everything is so rushed that people don't
• 1:16:31
  get time to know the other people.
• 1:16:35
  And you were able to go in there.
• 1:16:39
  And like I said, you know, if the people
• 1:16:42
  behind the counter would see you and they
• 1:16:44
  start putting your order in right away
• 1:16:45
  because they knew they knew pretty much
• 1:16:47
  what you were going to get.
• 1:16:48
  That's great. It sounds like I'm
• 1:16:50
  listening to a scene out of a 1960s
• 1:16:52
  sitcom or something.
• 1:16:54
  Almost was it was almost like walking in
• 1:16:56
  a happy days or something.
• 1:16:58
  It was funny.
• 1:17:00
  That one. And there was
• 1:17:01
  a place called the hut.
• 1:17:03
  And it was down where Phillips Point is
• 1:17:05
  where Trinity Park is on Flagler Drive
• 1:17:07
  close to Okeechobee Bridge.
• 1:17:09
  It was just a big building with a big
• 1:17:11
  open up kind of front
• 1:17:13
  awning kind of thing.
• 1:17:15
  Just a counter.
• 1:17:16
  And that was it.
• 1:17:17
  It was a drive up.
• 1:17:18
  You went up, you ordered your stuff and
• 1:17:19
  sat in your car and ate.
• 1:17:21
  You know, if we were mowing the grass
• 1:17:22
  down here or doing something down here,
• 1:17:24
  you took a riding mower down and you
• 1:17:25
  grabbed the hot dog, sat in a riding
• 1:17:27
  mower, ate the hot dog and went back to
• 1:17:29
  work right after lunch was over.
• 1:17:30
  That's really cool.
• 1:17:31
  You know, we had it was nice working in
• 1:17:34
  this area because we had those little
• 1:17:36
  things that so many
• 1:17:38
  other crews didn't have.
• 1:17:40
  You know, we it was kind of a kind of a
• 1:17:42
  perk of the work in the area.
• 1:17:44
  Now, we talked a lot about downtown.
• 1:17:46
  Did you do anything up
• 1:17:47
  in the Northwood area?
• 1:17:49
  I was mainly focused
• 1:17:51
  downtown when I started.
• 1:17:52
  And then then I started running crews.
• 1:17:56
  They saw potential in me.
• 1:17:58
  So I started running crews when the
• 1:18:00
  supervisor was out or on vacation or
• 1:18:03
  maybe resigned for some reason.
• 1:18:06
  They would put me in place till they till
• 1:18:08
  they found somebody else.
• 1:18:10
  And so I got to work up in the north end.
• 1:18:12
  So I got to work at Fogelman Park,
• 1:18:14
  Sullivan Park, Coleman, all those parks.
• 1:18:18
  And it gains, you know,
• 1:18:19
  all of those over the years.
• 1:18:21
  And then as I became a next level up
• 1:18:25
  supervisor, I had all of those parks.
• 1:18:29
  So I had all the parks in the city.
• 1:18:31
  So I got to work in either mowing the
• 1:18:34
  grass in them or inspecting
• 1:18:36
  them for some reason or whatever.
• 1:18:38
  All the parks throughout the city that
• 1:18:40
  were, you know, that we had.
• 1:18:44
  And there's, you know, like, of course,
• 1:18:47
  there was big changes down in Druerer
• 1:18:48
  Park when they redeveloped
• 1:18:49
  the north end of the park.
• 1:18:51
  Gaines Park had big developments, you
• 1:18:53
  know, with the ball fields and, you know,
• 1:18:55
  redoing the ball fields.
• 1:18:56
  And now they're going through and they're
• 1:18:58
  redoing the rec
• 1:19:00
  center up there now again.
• 1:19:02
  So that's going to be
• 1:19:03
  really nice once that's done.
• 1:19:05
  Coleman Park has an addition onto it and
• 1:19:07
  remodeling and everything.
• 1:19:09
  That's going to be really nice.
• 1:19:10
  So we've taken that bond
• 1:19:13
  money and put it into good use.
• 1:19:15
  And I think the residents are going to be
• 1:19:18
  really happy with the
• 1:19:19
  results once they're finished.
• 1:19:20
  That's fantastic.
• 1:19:21
  Okay.
• 1:19:22
  Let me ask you this sort of all those
• 1:19:24
  kind of mind bending questions.
• 1:19:27
  You have a perspective
• 1:19:28
  that very few people have.
• 1:19:29
  You've been here
• 1:19:30
  literally a half century.
• 1:19:33
  What message if you could magically go
• 1:19:35
  back in time and talk to young Greg as he
• 1:19:37
  was starting his career,
• 1:19:39
  what would you tell yourself now that
• 1:19:41
  you've been here for 50 years?
• 1:19:43
  What message?
• 1:19:47
  Maybe the biggest thing I would have done
• 1:19:49
  a little differently.
• 1:19:51
  And I don't know if it would have changed
• 1:19:53
  my perspective on how I
• 1:19:55
  wanted to take my career path.
• 1:19:59
  But I think maybe the biggest thing I
• 1:20:01
  might have done would be go back to
• 1:20:04
  school and get my either
• 1:20:06
  associates or bachelor's degree.
• 1:20:08
  And either business or some
• 1:20:11
  kind of bachelor's degree.
• 1:20:15
  Because that I mean
• 1:20:17
  everybody looks for that.
• 1:20:19
  And sometimes that's great.
• 1:20:22
  Sometimes experience is just as good.
• 1:20:27
  But just as a afterthought, I don't know,
• 1:20:33
  I might have done that, but I was never a
• 1:20:35
  college type person.
• 1:20:39
  I always wanted to do something.
• 1:20:41
  I always wanted to be out in the field.
• 1:20:43
  I always wanted to work.
• 1:20:45
  I liked being outside.
• 1:20:46
  I always liked being outside.
• 1:20:48
  And you're never going
• 1:20:50
  to get rich doing that.
• 1:20:52
  But you can be rich being happy.
• 1:20:55
  And if you like what you're doing and you
• 1:20:57
  feel like you're actually doing something
• 1:21:00
  for somebody and serving the residents
• 1:21:03
  and you feel like you're doing the best
• 1:21:05
  job that you can, I think sometimes that
• 1:21:08
  outweighs some other things.
• 1:21:10
  And so I don't like I said, I don't know
• 1:21:12
  if I would have changed
• 1:21:13
  my career path at all.
• 1:21:15
  And but I think the I think that might
• 1:21:19
  have been something
• 1:21:20
  that I would have done.
• 1:21:21
  Sure.
• 1:21:22
  Well, Greg, we have an opportunity here.
• 1:21:24
  You have the mic.
• 1:21:26
  You have the opportunity to send a
• 1:21:27
  message not only to people who work here
• 1:21:30
  at the city, but also people who live
• 1:21:32
  here at the city of West Palm Beach.
• 1:21:34
  What would be the message you'd like to
• 1:21:35
  share with our friends looking back over
• 1:21:38
  your years working for the city?
• 1:21:40
  Well, looking back, those that are still
• 1:21:43
  here and a lot of people that have left
• 1:21:47
  if they happen to be
• 1:21:49
  listening to this podcast.
• 1:21:50
  I just want to say I have many, many
• 1:21:54
  people I'm going to miss.
• 1:21:55
  I've thoroughly enjoyed working with so
• 1:21:58
  many of the people here and they've been
• 1:22:01
  dedicated, hardworking and just have
• 1:22:05
  always the people that I've worked with,
• 1:22:08
  especially in the parks and the parks
• 1:22:10
  department, the employees that I've
• 1:22:12
  worked with and the
• 1:22:12
  supervisors that I've worked with.
• 1:22:16
  I'm going to say this and they know it.
• 1:22:18
  I put them through hell sometimes.
• 1:22:20
  We had jobs to do that
• 1:22:22
  just nobody else wanted to do.
• 1:22:24
  There were nasty jobs.
• 1:22:26
  Nobody liked them.
• 1:22:27
  And that team came together every single
• 1:22:30
  time and got it done.
• 1:22:33
  We moaned and groaned and hollered with
• 1:22:35
  each other and we would get in each
• 1:22:38
  other's faces and we'd say our pieces and
• 1:22:42
  turn around, walk away and go out.
• 1:22:44
  I have to work and
• 1:22:45
  have a beer or something.
• 1:22:46
  You know, I just we were
• 1:22:48
  a team and we still are.
• 1:22:49
  We still are a team and I have the
• 1:22:51
  deepest respect for those guys over there
• 1:22:53
  and other departments.
• 1:22:55
  I know people they're
• 1:22:56
  hardworking and to the citizens.
• 1:22:59
  I want them to realize that that when we
• 1:23:02
  say no, we can't do it.
• 1:23:04
  It's not because we don't want to.
• 1:23:07
  It's not because
• 1:23:07
  we're trying to be nasty.
• 1:23:09
  It's because we either have an ordinance
• 1:23:11
  that tells us we can't or we just don't
• 1:23:14
  have it in our budget to do it.
• 1:23:16
  And we have to go buy a budget.
• 1:23:19
  Otherwise, it's like your own home.
• 1:23:22
  If you don't go buy your budget, you're
• 1:23:23
  going to go bankrupt.
• 1:23:25
  That's right.
• 1:23:25
  So I know it sounds bad when you tell
• 1:23:30
  somebody no, that I can't
• 1:23:32
  do that or I won't do that.
• 1:23:35
  As far as like let's use trimming trees,
• 1:23:37
  for example, we have an ordinance that we
• 1:23:40
  have to go by and we have NCA 300.
• 1:23:42
  So we have to go by and as a certified
• 1:23:45
  arborist bound by those standards.
• 1:23:49
  I have to go by those
• 1:23:50
  standards when we trim a tree.
• 1:23:52
  So the same token body ordinance were
• 1:23:55
  bound by those ordinances.
• 1:23:57
  So I just I just want them to know that
• 1:23:59
  this is a dedicated city.
• 1:24:03
  They are they are dedicated to the people
• 1:24:05
  and to do the right things.
• 1:24:08
  And we try our best.
• 1:24:11
  Greg, I couldn't imagine you saying it
• 1:24:12
  any better than that.
• 1:24:14
  There is no way to condense everything
• 1:24:16
  you've done over the past five decades
• 1:24:19
  into just a very short podcast.
• 1:24:21
  But we've covered some
• 1:24:23
  things that are important.
• 1:24:24
  We've got an opportunity to look back a
• 1:24:25
  little bit on how our city has changed
• 1:24:27
  and how the future is
• 1:24:29
  really very bright for us.
• 1:24:31
  And for that, I want to thank you for 50
• 1:24:34
  years of dedicated service to
• 1:24:35
  the city of West Palm Beach.
• 1:24:37
  I know I have a lot of voices behind me
• 1:24:39
  that are saying the exact same thing.
• 1:24:41
  Thank you so much for being a part of
• 1:24:43
  what we do here in the city and making
• 1:24:45
  the city the
• 1:24:46
  wonderful place it is to live.
• 1:24:49
  Thank you very much.
• 1:24:50
  I thank you for this opportunity.
• 1:24:51
  And it's been it's been a long run and
• 1:24:55
  it's going to be an emotional goodbye.
• 1:24:57
  And by the way, my last day is Friday.
• 1:24:59
  Heading to Jacksonville to be with my
• 1:25:01
  grandkids and my kids and
• 1:25:03
  enjoying the rest of my life.
• 1:25:05
  Oh, there's nothing better.
• 1:25:06
  And hey, I want to thank all of you who
• 1:25:08
  are listening today.
• 1:25:09
  We appreciate you being here and enjoying
• 1:25:11
  our conversation with Greg.
• 1:25:13
  Please feel free to like and subscribe.
• 1:25:15
  We're here all the time.
• 1:25:16
  We want to hear from you as well.
• 1:25:17
  Leave us some comments.
• 1:25:19
  Let us know what kind of
• 1:25:20
  things you'd like us to cover.
• 1:25:21
  Again, this is Jerry Marcello and this
• 1:25:23
  has been the City Center podcast from
• 1:25:26
  West Palm Beach, Florida.
• 1:25:27
  And we'll be seeing you soon.