EDITORIAL: Buying a ticket to oblivion

Click title for link to Palm Beach Post editorial on Tri-Rail finances. They're relying on former capital replacement monies to fund operations. This in the hopes the state legislature comes up with some sort of funding source (like the $2 rental car fee) in the next legislative session.

Happy 4th of July Everybody!

Crist picks Taylor for Palm Beach County commission seat

Local Blogger Ignoring Facts (nothing new) and Stokes Conspiracy Theory

A local blogger (ehem) has linked one of the principals of the Sunset Property with the current issue regarding Mojito's and their hours of operation. Here is the e-mail chain between me and the blogger in an attempt to set the record straight. As of posting, she continues to leave the erroneous post on her blog - thinking that since it's the same family, the same "conspiracy" holds true. Link to Palm Beach Post article.



If you read the article, you'll know that Mr. Lang, Sr. has no interest in the business now. It was run by his family as a bar for many years and the attorney representing Mojito's is going back to him for his recollection on their hours of operation - back when. Other than being a member of the family that formerly owned the business - back when, the principal with the Sunset property has no tie to this property. This doesn't stop the blogger from using the son's picture and tie-in with the Sunset property as evidence of some dark "good old boy" conspiracy.

This is a good example of the type of fiction offered as truth told at many a doorstep during campaign season.

Required Reading: City Manager's Reports

I hope she keeps this up. These are issued at the end of each week and include a wide range of topics. Click title for link. In this one for July 3rd, she talks about vegetation and trash pick-up woes (sounding like an elected official should sound), the status of the negotiation with the County on the water contract, changing of the hours at the beach and more.

When there is a Commission Meeting, you can find the link under the regular meeting agenda - City Manager Report. Going to the website on the off weeks, they can be found under City Manager (left side of page) - then click on the link that says "City Manager Reports."

From the Palm Beach Post:

Click here for article on Mojito's

And these letters to the Editor re Hometown Democracy - Amendment 4 on 2010 Ballot

Amendment 4 threatens to bury voters in piles of land-use changes

Blackner's rebuttal of Post writer strays off the point under debate

Fourth of July Party Music:

zSHARE - Matt-T_Live_at_Lovedove_3rd_July_2009.mp3

This comes from a good friend of mine in Windsor, Ontario. Think of it as a Canadian Fourth of July gift to the USA. Downloadable to your portable digital music devices!

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech...

From the C-51 Canal on the north, to 18th Avenue South, from the Atlantic Ocean to the western city limits...

This is wrong on many levels...

Where do I begin with this one? This appears on the New Business portion of next Tuesday's agenda. I have included a link to the audio record of the meeting. Click on the title and that will bring up your Windows Media Player. Go towards the end of the meeting by clicking your mouse on the right side of the moving blue line at the bottom of the player. Go to where it says you're at the 1:55 mark and click to hear the actual discussion on employment contracts referenced in this memo.

Below are the two pages from the minutes of this workshop meeting when this item was discussed - no action could be taken. The minutes were approved May 5, 2009.


This is Commissioner Mulvehill asking the Mayor and the rest of the Commission to bring in outside attorneys to sue former City Manager Robert Baldwin for not following the direction of the City Commission - supposedly made clear at the workshop meeting of February 26, 2009 - and executing contracts for certain employees, resulting in an obligation of the city to pay severance pay.

If you listen to the audio, you hear Commissioner Mulvehill saying that she agrees with Commissioner Lowe that this item should not be discussed at this meeting. She suggests that the item be work-shopped so that a clear policy is developed. The minutes reflect this. There was no direction given to Mr. Baldwim other than to talk with the various elected officials and act accordingly. While there was one specific employee situation discussed, that employee was never identified and there was no discussion of other contracts. The only need identified was that the Commission have a workshop to clarify its policy. I am sure that those Lake Worth residents that dwell in the hall of mirrors will conclude differently. They'll be the ones in attendance Tuesday night talking about how we should spend money on attorneys and further embarass the city.

Now, I am not a defender of Mr. Baldwin. In my mind, he was essentially a "drive-by" City Manager that over-delegated responsibilities and never really invested himself in the future of Lake Worth. But, I am a defender of process and the City Charter. Here are excepts from the Charter that address the separation of powers between the City Commission and the City Manager:
So, we have a clear "over-reaching" of the City Commission into the administration of the City. Listening to the audio, we hear Mr. Baldwin asking for clarification of a Commission policy regarding contract employees. Reading between the lines, we get the sense that it involves the amount of severance pay attached to such contracts. But the Commission fails to give direction and the person writing the "let's see if we can sue" memo doesn't even want to discuss it.

Now, there are two things that could have happened. One is that the City Commission and/or City Manager never scheduled a workshop to further refine the policy before Mr. Baldwin's departure. These employment contracts were on his desk, were the last order of his business and acted in his capacity as City Manager to consummate the contracts before leaving. Or, and this is the more problematic scenario, he went around to our elected officials and gained "consensus" behind closed doors and out-of-the-sunshine. We'll see if anyone can shed light on this.

Commissioner Mulvehill's memo says that the policy was clear from that meeting. Listening to the audio and reviewing the minutes, it is clearly NOT CLEAR. If anything, the Commission is to blame from not making it clearer in a public forum before push-came-to-shove and the contracts got executed per the City Manager's powers as given in the Charter.

More troubling is the message this says to the world about being a professional employee for the City of Lake Worth. What this potentially says is that, "If you work for the City of Lake Worth in an administrative capacity, even if you adhere to the City Charter and policies enacted by the City Commission, you are liable to face a lawsuit for your actions once you leave our employment - even if the action was prompted by the inability of the City Commission or Mayor to articulate city policy as it related to your action." I blame the Commission here not being more PUBLICLY explicit and it was really treading outside its Charter mandated powers in the first place.

And here we have the city now using the services of Ms. Hoffman to recruit a new professional for the position recently vacated by Ms. Bach in the form of the Community Services Director. How does this sort of statement go over with the pool of potential applicants for that position or any other high level administrative position with the city? Not well is the answer. Like so many things in Lake Worth, we will be left with adverse selection. The better candidates will not bother with our recklessness and confusion and will go to places where there is a clear direction and established procedures are followed.

Lake Worth - left to chose from the worst of the worst, instead of the best of the best.

From the June 26th City Manager's Report - Rachel Bach's Resignation Letter and Need for New Director...

Remember to click on images for greater detail.

'Top 6' gang in Lake Worth and Boynton Beach featured on History Channel's 'Gangland' series

Click title for link.

The Gangland episode will air tonight at 9 on the History Channel. For more information about the program visit www.history.com/content/gangland.

Interaction with Lake Worth Utilities...

Remember Wilma? Of course you do if you were around Lake Worth in October 2005. That was a couple of months before I started the blog. The back part of my house was hit pretty hard. In the process of things flying around, my electrical connection, meter etc. was ripped off the house. The picture above was taken while waiting for an inspection - after my neighbors already had power for a few days. I happened to be on a long list, along with other people in a similar circumstance, waiting for an inspection first, then delivery of a meter and a tie-in to the grid from the house.

After the inspection, the day finally came when I got a call - around 10 p.m. that the crew was ready to put in the meter and connect the house to the main power line. Two guys get here with a truck "the size of Denmark." They get out and start connecting the three leads to the new power line they strung from the pole. I chat with them. They said they were from Ohio and they'd been working "two shifts plus" everyday since the storm. They said they had just come from the southwest part of the city and had been doing the same thing all day.

A couple of thoughts came to mind - wouldn't it be more efficient to assign crews based on location rather than who was next in line. If you had a crew in one geographic area, more time could be spent doing what needed to be done hooking up houses rather than driving from one of the farthest reaches of town to another. They said they had been doing this all day but didn't have a meter in the truck so they had to go by the shop - which they probably just passed on the way here - to get one. They left and came back in about 45 minutes. Finally, I was back on line after about 20 days without power.

Why do I tell this story now? Last week, during one of the rain storms, I noticed my lights flickering, but not completely losing power. This happened a couple of times - enough so that I started wondering if there was something unique to my property. I went out and looked at the connection to the house and at the line between the meter and the city's pole. Something didn't look quite right with the "neutral" line - the silver wire. It looked "loose" for lack of a better term.

So I called Utilities Customer Service and they sent someone out. They were here in about two hours. They decided to replace all of the leads coming into the house. They said something about corrosion, being close to the ocean, but I think it comes down to sloppy work by the contractors the city employed in the storm's aftermath. If you suffered the same fate as I did, I would recommend having someone who knows what they are looking at check the work that was done. I understand that had the "neutral" feed come completely off, there could have been a catastrophic fire if not detected soon enough.

Hope this helps prevent a disaster.

Golf Course Shoreline Clean-up July 11th - Volunteers Needed

Last April, a start was made to the clean up of the intracoastal shoreline along the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course, as 25 volunteers removed 25 trash bags full of litter from the area south of the clubhouse. On Saturday July 11^th work will continue to the north. The area is littered with old tires, broken bits of lumber, plastic and paper trash. All are welcome to participate in this clean-up effort spearheaded by the Kiwanis Club of Lake Worth. Volunteers will meet at the clubhouse (located at 7^th Ave N and the intracoastal) at 8 AM. You don’t have to be a Kiwanis member to join in the effort, but volunteers must be 18 years old or accompanied by a parent.

All participants are asked to park in the golf course parking lot the morning of the event. Golf carts will be used to shuttle folks to the cleanup locations along the length of the shoreline. Plenty of garbage bags and latex gloves will be provided. Please be sure to wear old clothes, closed-toed shoes, sunblock, sunglasses, and hats if you have them.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. There are over 350,000 members in 84 countries.

New Orleans was Nation’s Fastest-Growing City in 2008 Population Getting Closer to Pre-Katrina Levels

Click title for link to U.S. Census press release. Notice that there are no Florida cities on the list. The only Florida city to make it on the absolute (numbers of people) increase was Jacksonville.

Special City Commission Meeting on 7/20 to determine fate of CRA

This leaves very little time for any other outcome other than the City Commission taking over the functions of the CRA. Existing CRA board member terms expire on July 31, 2009. If the City Commission does act to disband the existing CRA, it will be another example of the Commission consolidating power, discouraging public input via volunteer boards and taking on another specific and often complicated function. It would essentially squelch any opposition voice - a continuing trend where we actually have little or no debate on major issues. This also comes after two joint CRA/City Commission meetings when City Commissioners never discussed this possibility.

The City Commission already has trouble focusing on what it needs to do to manage the functions of the city and utilities. The CRA will become a "grab bag" for Commissioner Jennings' et al projects which will deplete the funds necessary to spur re-investment in our community. The promise of the CRA becoming a self-sustaining financial entity will all but disappear.

More later on this important topic.

Three anouncements from the City this morning:

CITY OF LAKE WORTH BOARDS

The City of Lake Worth is currently seeking volunteers to serve on City Boards with vacancies, as follows:

Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals (Electric Contractor)

Firefighters' Pension Trust Fund -- Division 1

If you are interested in serving on the above Boards, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 586-1663 for further information, or the Board Application can be downloaded from the City of Lake Worth's website at www.lakeworth.org. All applications must be received by the City Clerk's Office no later than Friday, July 10, 2009, at 5:00 PM.

A Special Meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, at 5:30 PM to interview those board applicants who applied for vacant positions.

Please note the P&Z mtg. on July 1^st was canceled, the Recreation Bd. meeting was rescheduled to July 2^nd, and a Special Commission mtg. was added on July 20th

CITY HALL CLOSED City Hall will be closed on Friday July 3, 2009 in observance of Independence Day

July City Meetings

PBSO Urges Fireworks Safety

Courtesy of Talk.com

New PZ and HRPB Appointments

The City Commission met yesterday and appointed the following people to the Planning, Zoning and Historic Resource Preservation Board: Linda Davis, Ron Exline, Lynda Mahoney, Robert Waples, Manuel Occhiogrosso. You can see the geographic distribution of the new board above and that of the old board below. It's a little better in terms of lessening the eastern bias. Mr. Occhiogrosso has an architectural background. He and Mr. Waples will be alternates to the Planning and Zoning Board. Members of the former board: McGunagle and LeBlanc were not re-appointed.

From my kitchen window early this afternoon...

For all fellow Lake Worth crusaders...

Time to correct an imblance...

The City Commission meets at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Monday, June 29th to interview applicants for the Library Board, Planning and Zoning - Historic Resource Preservation - Nuisance Abatement - Sign Appeals Board (PZHRPB), and the new Sister City Board.

Above is an aerial view of the city that shows the residence locations of the current members of the PZHRPB. There are seven (7) regular members and two (2) alternate members of the Planning and Zoning Board. There are nine (9) regular members of the Historic Resource Preservation Board. These are two boards that are currently combined together, but there is a movement afoot to make them separate boards - which will be further discussed during budget considerations. It's surprising that this interview process is not taking that into account, but it hasn't happened officially yet. This board is one of the more important boards of the city and deals with many zoning/land use/site plan and preservation issues.

There are a total of five (5) terms expiring on July 31, 2009 - these are seats currently held by full members McGunagle, Foreman and LeBlanc. The two alternate PZB and full HRPB seats are up for re-appointment every year. City Clerk Lopez, in her cover memo, indicates that only one there is one vacancy since only Foreman has chosen not to re-apply. But, in reality, there are five (5) open positions.

Historically speaking, there has always been a lack of representation from the western half of the city. Of the current members, only McGunagle and Exline live west of Dixie Hwy. While I was on the board for eight years (Chairman for five, resigning in December 2006 in order to run for the District #3 Commission seat), there was NO representation from west of Dixie Hwy.

This imbalance was a major flaw as planning and zoning is such a geographic-based discipline and in a city the size of Lake Worth, your view of the physical and social world is related to where you happen to be living. The concentration of members east of Dixie Hwy. distorts the decision making process of the board and, in a very negative way, can contribute to an "us against them" dynamic that really has no place on such a board or our city. I have always maintained that if we had balanced representation from various geographic areas of the city, we would not have had the situation with the Sunset property. It might have been the same ultimate recommendation, but with broader geographic representation, including members from the southwest part of the city, the decision would have been more credible and not as subject to claims of "they didn't listen to the neighbors, etc.."

Above is the same aerial of the city with the locations of the current applicants to the PZHRPB. These include those current members that are seeking re-appointment due to an expired term. The aerial below shows the applicants' residence locations along with members of the board that do not have expiring terms - Paxman, Spinelli, DeVito, Hoctor - all of which live east of Dixie Hwy.

Beyond qualifications and experience, which you can review by clicking on the title of this post, I really believe that the variable here that is most important is geographic location. We are lucky to have a lot of qualified applicants in this batch of applications - some of which live west of Dixie Hwy. I wouldn't mind seeing all the appointments coming from there, however it is important to have representation of an architect on the board and there are two - one existing and one potential member - that are architects. Both happen to live east of Dixie Hwy. And, besides the east and west distinctions, you need to take into account a north and south potential bias. I have always thought it is good to have a few around the traditional downtown area as lots of requests spring from that area.

It's actually good news that we have an opportunity to correct a distortion of representation on one of the most important city boards. Let's hope the City Commission feels the same way after the interviews when they make their appointments. I'll be sharing this sentiment with them via e-mail.

Lake Worth, We Have a Problem. (re-post)

I thought I'd bring this back to the front of the blog for people who may not have read it before. It was an op-ed piece I did for the Lake Worth Herald during the time when the original Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant faced its Waterloo (sorry) regarding permitting RO discharge from an existing ocean outfall. At last Tuesday's 1 p.m. City Commission meeting, we learned from Dr. Darceneau, P.E. from the University of Central Florida that we know more about what happens with RO concentrate (the "waste product" from brakish water filtration and desalinization - actually 33% of the salinity of sea water and wrongly classifed as industrial waste) than we do with deep well injection 3,000 ft. below ground. We also learned that many of the problems associated with ocean outfall of concentrate can largely be dealt with through various technological applications, but deep well injection is the most promenient disposal method throughout the state of Florida. The City Commission seemed all over the board with their opinions in terms of the preferred method and, as of now, we are proceeding with deep well injection. There will be a bid package put together for a 3 mgd and and 4.5 mgd (mgd=millions of gallons per day) RO plant on the July 7th City Commission meeting agenda. This will allow for the city to apply for a state revolving loan fund grant for, I think, $3 million.

It struck me after hearing the various presentations that the ocean outfall was not that bad of an alternative - but the perception of dumping what is called "wastewater" in the ocean is difficult to overcome in the eye of public opinion.

This is a piece that Pat Parrish asked that I put together regarding the Reverse Osmosis ocean outfall. Drew Martin was to put together one against issuance of the permit. Don't forget to pick up a copy of the Herald to read both points of view!

Title: Lake Worth, we have a problem.

Our problem began about 100 years ago when the human population of South Florida began to increase. First brought by trains, then by cars, then by airplanes, then by boats and eventually by combinations of all modes of transportation, the population of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties mushroomed to over 5,000,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the year 2000, the area even gained the “honor” of being a named Urbanized Area by the Bureau. Over the past 50 years, our region has outpaced all but two others within the United States in annual percentage rates of growth. The post-World War II growth is the most phenomenal. In 1950, our region’s population was 500,000. Since that time we have added a population equal to the cities of Chicago and Philadelphia combined! Being part of the region, Lake Worth’s growth followed the same pattern, but is now relatively stable.

Now, think about our geography as a region. We have another honor in that we are one of the longest urbanized areas in the Country. We are about the same length as the New York metropolitan area – there is no close second. This is due to being sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean to the east and what is left of the Everglades to the west. The very reasons that we came here – a unique sub-tropical environment and proximity to the Gulfstream became the ultimate controllers of our geographic and, maybe, of our population growth. The extensive geographic length of the region spreads its human impact over a much greater area – especially as it relates to ocean-related resources. One needs only to look at the devastation of the coral reef system in the Keys as one of the results of this concentration of human activity.

Like the 1971 Earth Day “Pogo” Cartoon so succinctly put: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We are placing more demands upon a sensitive eco-system with every new person that moves here. Each drink of water, flush of the toilet and turn of the spigot is more than nature or man ever anticipated. The results have been most recently demonstrated by our current record drought situation, the shrinking of Lake Okeechobee and threats to our own municipal potable water well sources.

In search of a stable source of potable water, a previous City Commission chose to go forward with its own reverse osmosis plant instead of contracting with Palm Beach County Water Utilities as a supplemental source of water due to probable saltwater intrusion into the surficial aquifer. This became necessary by the South Florida Water Management District’s reduction of our permit to draw water from the surficial aquifer – from 7.5 million to 5.5 million gallons per day. Our City of Lake Worth’s demand will range from 8 to 12 million gallons of water per day.

Regardless of your position on whether or not going forward with the reverse osmosis plant was a good idea for the City of Lake Worth, $40 million in bonds have been issued, plans have been drawn, work has been started and a permit to discharge 4 million gallons a day of “concentrate” – the waste product from the reverse osmosis treatment of the salty water drawn from the Floridan aquifer – may be issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). For a whole lot of money and possible impact to our off-shore natural resources, we are hanging on to our status as a “full service city”. Hopefully this will guarantee our own municipal water source for a future generation - maybe. Hubris and necessity have a price.

In reviewing a discharge permit application, DEP officials examine four main criteria to determine whether or not such a permit would be in the public interest. One is reduction upon the reliance on the surficial aquifer which is vulnerable to saltwater intrusion. With the reverse osmosis plant taking its water source from the shallower Floridan aquifer, this criterion is met. Another criterion is that the discharge of concentrate does not create a public health hazard. The concentrate would not have bacteria or suspended solids, so it meets this criterion according to DEP. A third criterion is that the discharge of this concentrate would not have an impact on the Surface Water Management Plan and, given the ocean location of the existing dormant outfall, it wouldn’t impact that resource.

Nutrients have been linked to reef degradation and algal growth, which smothers reefs. Concern about the release of the concentrate through the existing ocean outfall relates to its potential impact on the coral reef system. This includes the Horseshoe Reef that is approximately 5,000 feet (slightly less than one mile) from the discharge point. In DEP’s opinion, based upon the experts working on the City’s behalf and their own professional experience, the scientific modeling showed no impact to the reef system – the final criterion upon which an application is judged. Experts concluded that the additional nutrients carried within this lighter-than-ocean-water concentrate would be ten times less nutrient laden than the next closest source of nutrients – that being rainwater. It is further dwarfed by other point sources of nutrient contamination along Florida’s Atlantic coast. These include the two outlets from the Lake Worth Lagoon and six wastewater outfalls along the eastern coast of Florida – the main contributors to the ocean’s nutrient load. Its lighter-than-ocean-water quality has been shown by experts to carry the reverse osmosis concentrate up and away from the bottom of the ocean – the reef’s habitat.

Other alternatives to the discharge have been examined and discarded due to excessive cost, impracticalities or other negative environmental impacts. Also being discussed is a possible Lake Worth Lagoon discharge.

So, Lake Worth, we have a problem. The City is in the unenviable position that it must assert itself as being just another very small straw on a weakened camel’s back. We are just a five mile by five mile municipality of around 40,000 people – 0.8% of the region’s total population. Those that are against this outfall for environmental reasons see the City as potentially being the straw the breaks the camel’s back once and for all.

The point here is that we really need to do all we reasonably can to control the large point-source contributors of nutrients to the ocean’s ecology from South Florida’s mega-urbanized area – which would likely have a large positive impact per dollar spent on the reef system. We also need to monitor the results of the concentrate discharge both for nutrient content and reef impact – by a third party and for the long term. We must also sever any connection so that future sewage discharge is impossible (one of the former uses of the outfall and one of the conditions of the permit). And, finally, we need to take into account all relevant public and scientific comments. We should make sure that we thoroughly examine other alternatives, such as a discharge to the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Taking all this into consideration, DEP should issue the discharge permit with these and other applicable conditions to safeguard our reef system for future generations – along with a providing a reliable and relatively economical supply of drinking water for the 40,000 residents of Lake Worth.

Catching up from a busy week...

I've got some summarizing to do over the weekend about important happenings during the week and will be writing about the special City Commission meeting on Monday. They will be interviewing candidates for the Planning and Zoning Board, the Library Board and others.

You might have noticed that I just added a "Hot Button" section in the right hand column of the blog that will lead you to some of the more "popular" items featured here. A long standing popular draw here is anything Cara Jennings. I've had that link for quite a while. But today, in order to battle the continued misinformation coming from a certain camp, I have made it easy to find all the information regarding the Sunset property annexation, land use plan and zoning change and related hyperbole surrounding this issue.

Since a local blogger seems to think that she personally speaks for all of the 450 people in her neighborhood, (never mind that she lives across the street in a high density condo complex), it's only fitting that the facts be packaged in an easy way so that you can understand the REAL story and not just the one that you will here at your front door during campaign season. Hitting that link will take you to all the posts here that address the issue.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for visiting!

Tropic Fest Road Closures

Media Release

To facilitate the staging and dispersal of the Annual Tropic Fest to be held Saturday, July 4th , 2009, parking will be temporary prohibited on the following streets:

2nd Ave South between Federal Hwy. and South Golfview (South side of road only)
1st Ave South between Federal Hwy. and South Golfview (South side of road only)

Parking at the above listed locations will be temporarily prohibited from 2:00 PM Saturday, July 4th, 2009 until the conclusion of the event, which should be approximately 11:00 PM.

To assure a safe and successful Tropic Fest, your cooperation in this matter is urged. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office may tow vehicles left parked on the street in violation of this temporary order.

The Bryant Park Boat Ramps will be closed from noon on Friday, July 3, until noon on Sunday, July 5.

In Addition:

Lake Ave. from Federal Hwy. to South Ocean Blvd. and the Lake Worth Bridge will be temporarily closed from approximately 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

Media Release Prepared By: Lieutenant Moss
Date Released to Media:
Teri Barbera
Division Manager/Public Information Officer
Media Relations
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office

Lake Worth High named among state's worst schools; state to intervene

Click title for link to PB Post article. The prospect emerges of shutting down the school - that's what started Project Lake Worth in the early to mid 90s when the school district threatened to close the school instead of improve it. A group of concerned citizens got together to make sure the school stayed open and would benefit from reinvestment. This time its closure could be for other reasons.

R.I.P. Michael

Hialeah Racetrack to Reopen?

Hialeah Racetrack to Reopen?

A Florida landmark...

Examples of not addressing structural deficiencies...

Harvest from Public Information Request - Re Casino Shoring Plans, Bids

Above is the bid tabulation from four (4) bidders on the shoring project - once mandated by the city's FORMER chief building official. The low bid exceeded the estimated cost of the work by more than double. These have been discarded and the city will not be issuing a contract related to the shoring of the building. Also note the two (2) year work period.

I have a copy of the actual shoring plans in .pdf. If you are interested, please e-mail me.

Above is the cover to the 134 page addendum to the bid solicitation issued by the City. Apparently there were many unanswered questions after the mandatory "Pre-Bid" meeting that happened on May 28, 2009. Included with this addendum are all of the seven (7) structural reports on the building since 1995. I can forward a copy to you if you are interested, as well.

This is perhaps the most telling item of the 134 pages: A two page report introduced as "Revised Site Report." Click on image for greater detail - these two pages speak for themselves. Notice the use of BOLD type and the use of the words "compromised," "jeopardized" and "immediate."



This gives you a clue what would happen when a contractor attempts to rehabilitate the building. What it comes down to is what will we have when we're finished renovating this building at a much greater cost, due to the greater amount of unknowns, than we would have for spending less money building a new building that met all the current construction standards and would be more aesthetically appealing? If money were no object, which it most definitely is, I would say renovate - and probably in the same design that is there now. I just don't think that is a realistic option - especially in the eye of the public looking down at a ballot request for a General Obligation bond to fund the improvements.

Yesterday's City Commission Work Session - the one at 1 p.m.

I got there a little before 1 p.m. yesterday (with a bag of lychees to snack on during the meeting - inset) and, if you haven't been in the City Hall conference room later, the next time you go you'll notice some changes. The "football field" size table that took up most of the middle of the room is gone. Now there is a smaller conference table at the east end of the room - set up parallel to Dixie Hwy. There are rows of chairs for seating. As people kept entering the room, it was apparent there was going to be a large crowd and there was a push to move the meeting to the Commission Chambers - which was unoccupied throughout the afternoon.

The Chambers also has the capability for Internet streaming of the goings-on. Why in 2009 we can't seem to make meetings in the Conference room have the same capability is beyond me. But, that just says that it's not a priority to keep the public informed of what is going on in their local government - the Conference room provides a special place to hide if you don't want wide and immediate distribution of what is transpiring during a public meeting. The move to the other room was vetoed by those on the Commission. The Mayor's face expressed amazement that so many people would want to come and listen to this meeting - one that was about our Reverse Osmosis plant, the Casino building, the budget and City Attorney recruitment. He also made it clear that no decisions would be made at the meeting, it was just called so that the Commission could talk to each other about the items on the agenda and that there would be no public comment.

Moral of the story: Schedule meetings like these in the evenings when people have a better opportunity to attend, use the Commission Chambers if the group exceeds a certain size (at one point there were 28 people in the audience plus the 8 or 9 around the conference table) and wire the Conference room for Internet streaming.

Now, along these lines, I really wish more people had the opportunity to hear and see Dr. Steven Daranceau, P.E. give his PowerPoint presentation on Reverse Osmosis, it's history and evolution, national and state trends, budding technologies and concentrate disposal options. This is the sort of thing that would be ideal to video and have archived for retrieval by anyone at a later date. You see, part of leadership is the ability to educate so that others can learn. We need to have this capability in Lake Worth and soon.

Some of the more interesting points in the presentation were these. WORK IN PROGRESS

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. Mohandas Gandhi

Perhaps this is why we don't see much progress here.

From my BlackBerry:

This is what I posted on Greg Rice's FaceBook page regarding this afternoon's City Commission meeting: (more later)

The "work session" this afternoon was informative. Lots of education from learned people on reverse osmosis - too bad more people couldn't be there due to the time of day. It was in the conference room so no Internet which is a problem. Lots of blah blah talk on the casino. Mayor toe-in-the-water tried to split the baby, Cara is concerned about cost of rehab and investing in building east of the CCL, Jo Ann said she was just saying she wanted to tear it down and not replace it - both Cara and Jo Ann said what they think personally is different than thinking as a commissioner, Suzanne is bought and paid for by the tenants. Retha summed it up best - saying we've talked and talked and I still don't know what we're doing.

What the near future looks like...

Had about three power outages at my house this morning. The longest was a little over an hour and from what I have heard, other parts of the city were out much longer. Along those lines, a friend sent me a couple of links on "pre-paid" electric meters - this is something Commissioner Golden thinks is the next best thing. This may be part of a Community Development Block Grant funded pilot project in Lake Worth - here are some links to check out about this rather new technology. Click here and here. They are being touted as helping with energy conservation - but there are drawbacks - including functions that would limit the amount of energy use per day if you exceed a certain limit, etc. Another tentacle of Big Brother, perhaps.

Also, I am taking time out of my day to go to the City Commission "work session" meeting today. This is another in the recent trend of meetings that are being held during the middle of day, this one at 1 p.m. in the City Hall conference room with the City Commission - topics to include the Reverse Osmosis plant, the Casino building, the budget and City Attorney recruitment. I'm not sure I can stay for the entire meeting, but we will see.

In the meantime, I leave you with this:

Part II - City Commission Meeting - Tuesday 6/23 - 1 p.m. - Casino Building

This is a continuation of a post from yesterday regarding the City Manager's back-up memorandum regarding the future of the Casino building. Click here for link to the full memo.

Here is policy objective number 3 per memo:

The city has had at least five studies done over the past 15 years that all point to the structural deficiencies present in the building. Reinforced concrete in a coastal saltwater setting is problematic over a period of time - especially when steel rebar has been exposed for long periods of time, the spalling of concrete and the rusting of the rebar continues throughout unseen parts of the building. I do not know of an engineer that would certify the condition of a building of this type in this location - warts and all, which is the kind of analysis I think that the City Manager is looking for. It's an attempt to make sure there are no uncertainties and that all conditions are "known." My opinion, and this is coming from someone who was in the trenches supervising work on an oceanfront, historic reinforced concrete building, is that the only way to rid the project of all unknowns is dismantle the entire building - which of course defeats the purpose if you are out to rehabilitate it.

I agree with the need to find an objective firm to perform the study which I think we can all admit that Straticon was not that firm - or any firm that Straticon brought in for that matter.

This comes to my main point here. A contractor building a new structure at the beach would have more than an even chance to come in on or under budget on a fixed price contract. This is not so for a contractor doing a rehabilitation job on this existing structure - there are going to be unforeseen conditions regardless of the amount of study one does before the job begins. A new building would also allow more flexibility in the design to meeting loading, dumpster, utility connections that meet current standards and are most efficient for the end users of the building.

If we are going to spend public money on this public property, the most responsible method would be the construction of a new building. It would also allow for Commissioner Jennings' impassioned plea (via her PowerPoint presentation from 2007) about how government should lead the way with a "managed retreat" from proximity to the shoreline. This building is seaward of the coastal construction line. Putting millions (and it would be much more than the $6 million talked about in the Fishkind study) of City of Lake Worth money into the building is essentially saying that the City is not taking the lead when it comes to responding to the impacts of global warming.

Likewise, being seaward of the coastal construction control line also increases the standards for rehabilitating a structure. From what I have heard from coastal engineers, as soon as the slab is touched, the need to shore the existing building (pilings) would come into play. That is money spent that would never be seen on the "topside" - taking money away from the functional and aesthetic upgrades necessary for the building. Any comprehensive analysis of the condition of the building should include an analysis of this likely contingency. Also part of this comprehensive analysis should be and ability of the building to meet the 140 mph wind load standard and the cost associated with this. The work planned here is well over 50% of the assessed value of the structure, therefore all new code requirements would come into play - including meeting ADA accessibility standards throughout the building. Any analysis would have to include these factors.

Such a study would not be needed with a new building - it would automatically be part of the design development process. And where are the green building standards being addressed? Wouldn't this be the perfect spot for some urban wind power generation equipment? Watch the grant dollars fall from the sky if it's part of the project.

I've grouped policy objectives numbers 4, 5 and 6 together as they relate to the tenants of the structure:

The above chart and picture explain why this is a tenant-driven, not a city-driven approach to the rehabilitation of the Casino building. The picture of the sign was taken during last October and is the menu board inside of John G's. The tally of Commissioner Mulvehill's contributions speak for themselves and I left out the run-off election contributions, which reflect the same predominance of Casino building tenant donations.

Regarding the business needs of tenants - wouldn't a new building allow all the existing tenants to stay a longer time in the existing building, build out their space and finish it in the new building and then move in - leaving the existing structure vacant and ready for demolition? Isn't it more of an inconvenience for the existing tenants - if they want to be in a new structure - to try to stay open during what would be a massive construction project? Wouldn't this complicate the work necessary to deliver the job on time?

What is being suggested here, that the city will be responsible for the tenant build-out? Is what is being suggested here the large patio featured in the Straticon proposal to the west of the John G's space - effectively doubling their seating area?

Market based rent - $30 to $35 dollars a square foot is not market rent for oceanfront retail and dining. $50 is more realistic and someone would need to do an independent market analysis to confirm this. The difference between the market rent for such space and what these tenants have been paying for years represents a subsidy from the residents of Lake Worth. Where is the tenants' financial contribution to this project? Why aren't other tenants being considered?

I think we know why.

Lake Worth CRA is offering Commercial Enhancement Funding

The Lake Worth CRA is offering Commercial Enhancement /Tenant Iprovement Final Cycle Now Open - Limited Funding Available. Applications will be accepted from June 30, 2009-July 30, 2009. Contact the CRA for more information at 561-493-2550

Native Offerings III at Pine Jog opens at 6pm on Friday 6/26

City Commission Meeting - Tuesday 6/23 - 1 p.m. - Casino Building - Part I

There is so much to talk about here I scarcely know where to begin. In a previous post you read that I had asked for copies of the RFP, amendments and responses regarding the shoring project at the Casino Building. This coming after paying $20,000 for engineered shoring plans. At the time, the reason to do this was in response to numerous structural studies on the building documented problems which may affect safety of the general public. So much so that one of the half dozen chief building officials the city has had over the past few years issued a pronouncement that if work didn't commence or if the city didn't make progress and put these steps into motion, the tenants would have to vacate the building on March 31, 2009.

The shoring was to be done with the tenants in place and estimate to be in the $100,000 range or a little less. With the RFP process initiated, the tenants were allowed to stay in the building. The bids were due back last Tuesday. At the City Commission meeting, City Manager Stanton indicated that she dismissed all the bids from some 10 contractors as they all came in significantly over the estimated price. I copied Ms. Stanton on the request and she wrote back that she would like to meet with me - we haven't had the opportunity yet - and that she would hand me the information then. That was Friday and I expect more communication with her this week, perhaps leading to a meeting.

In that set of e-mail communications, she told me, and this is reflected in the back-up memo (click here for link to full report), that she didn't see the purpose in shoring up a building that the city was going to renovate. Wise thinking if that is the course the city is taking, but when did this decision get made? Up until now, the building's future was in limbo as to whether it would be renovated, torn down and replaced or just torn down and not replaced. And, by the way, this is where any kind of wise thinking ends if the city pursues renovation.

At 5:59 on Friday, I received the agenda for the Tuesday 1 p.m. meeting and the related back-up material was on the city's website. Let me say now, and I will probably say again, that this meeting has no business being held at 1 p.m. in the afternoon. It's being held in the City Hall conference room which does not have the ability YET to stream meetings over the Internet. Also on the agenda, besides the casino building's future, are discussions on the RO plant, on the budget and on the City Attorney recruitment process. Are there any more important issues other than these right now? I am highly suspicious of this being called a "Work Session" and not a "Workshop" - can action be taken here or is this just another way to refer to conversations between the Mayor, Commissioners and staff? If direction is given and acted upon, I would say that is taking action. Again, another reason not to have this meeting at 1 p.m.

I should also point out that the CRA workshop meeting would have been held Tuesday night and if it took place would conflict with an evening City Commission meeting. However, this coming CRA workshop was cancelled so there is no conflict either schedule-wise, room-wise or attention-wise.

Now let's turn to the contents of the memo. This City Manager has been here two months. The saga of the Casino building and beach goes back at least 30 years or more, depending on who is counting. It's worth noting that none of the multitudes of proposals to redevelop the beach ever talked about using the existing building in the redevelopment scenario. She does get the importance of the building's location and that it "is a very significant community asset worth preserving and protecting."

However, she ironically points out below that the poor condition of the Casino building "is a very visible reminder of what happens in a City when it fails to develop an effective dialogue with community residents." Ms. Stanton, how is holding a meeting at 1 p.m. developing an effective dialogue with community residents?


The first of the ten policy objectives is a thorny one, but let's wade into it. Yes, the Casino building has historical significance. But in what way should it be protected and preserved? Should it be returned to the much smaller original version that bears no relationship to the current structure, other than some architectural elements on the west side of the building? This "restoration" option would likely be the most expensive and the tenants and the city would lose leaseable space. Remember, most of the second floor was ripped off during a late 1940s hurricane. (Note that the banner of this blog, for almost its entire existence, is taken from this postcard)

Or do we rehabilitate the building in its current style? No one wants this option, but from a historic preservation perspective, it has the most merit. The building's design is reflective of the International Style and has a right to be preserved in and of itself.

The direction we are heading in, according to this memo and if past behavior is any indicator, is some sort of amalgamation of the two which has no basis in history and would be frowned upon in historic preservation circles. It would essentially put a 1920s -ish "icing" on a cake that is way out of proportion with the original. Freeing our selves from the confines of the existing structure opens up many more desirable design options and a new building could more closely replicate the 1920s style, but do so in a modern, functional fashion.

Moving on to the second objective:
I'm not sure who Ms. Stanton has talked to during her two months at the helm, but there is a substantial portion of the community that feels disenfranchised from the actions of the city due to the "no compromise" approach by the current majority on the dais. We have no debate here - what we have during City Commission is an "echo chamber" where everyone in attendance falls all over themselves agreeing with Commissioners Jennings, Golden and Mulvehill. Any view to the contrary is met with disdain and the mumbling begins how anyone that doesn't agree with the majority is corrupt, developer pawns, out of touch, etc.

I would say that most people in the community want a quality redevelopment project at the beach that most efficiently uses public or other funds to accomplish its goals. Digging into a building without any drawings of record, that has been buffeted by salt air for most of a century, that has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, that has questionable functionality for the current times, that has almost no aesthetic appeal in its current state - I would argue that doesn't represent a responsible use of public money on public property.

To be continued tomorrow in Part II

A little suggestion from Bloody Mary - South Pacific

Hidden Provision of SB 360 and the Gulfstream Hotel

Tomorrow, the City Commission will be meeting at 5:30 p.m. to hear yet another appeal by Charles Celi of the Historic Preservation Resource Board decision to extend the Certificate of Appropriateness approval for the historic hotel property. I am not going to go into the details of the dates, what the approval was for or any of the multiple and nonsensical arguments that Mr. Celi continues to make before the City Commission. I actually pity them for having to repeatedly hear the percieved items that were somehow overlooked by the HRPB in the decision making process.

However, we may be spared in that there is a provision in SB 360, recently signed into law by Governor Crist, that allows for a blanket two-year extension of all development orders issued by local governments. Click here for applicable passage from SB 360 and notes from the committee that put the bill together.

By the way, as I have stated before, I think that SB 360 is bad legislation that wrongfully identifies non-urban areas as urban and severely weakens traffic concurrency requirements. But, the law is the law and this is a case where state law would prevail. My point is that Mr. Celi's appeal is moot now due to this blanket statewide time extension. He should not be wasting the time of the Commission and city staff with this matter - again, some more.

Click here for South Park's "Lake Worth" Episode

Many people have told me about this particular episode, but up to now I had never seen it. I just found out that it was available through the South Park website.

There are some parallels. Rumor has it that one of the creators of South Park grew up in Lake Clark Shores. Coincidence?

EDITORIAL: Keep the city above water

Click title for link to PB Post article.

One of the lessons we need to learn from our water debacle is the need to work cooperatively with other municipalities and the County. Once your reputation is tarnished by going back on agreements or by mismanaging your established relationships and responsibilities, it's difficult to build that back. And, once those relationships start going south is when you usually need to rely on them more and more. So the city's strategic position gets worse and worse; we end up begging for scraps or forgiveness, hat in hand.

When was the last time the city ever negotiated from a position of strength? The County has no incentive to deal with us on the water contract - after it was signed and they acted on good faith to fulfill their responsibilities, we stiff them on a required $6 million payment. Don't think for a minute that the County won't back down on this agreement, no matter how "amicable" we try to make it. Think of the precedent it would set with other local governments that have similar agreements with the County - for water or any other service. Then, imagine you are a County Commissioner and here come representatives from Lake Worth into your office. In one hand, they carry a marked up copy of the County water agreement and in the other hand they carry the "site plan" for the beach. Wouldn't you say to these Lake Worth reps, "Why don't you honor your agreement, and we'll honor ours - and maybe then we can talk about extending the deadline on the $5 million for the beach project?"

I think it is a grave situation when political theater and the goals of an extremist group (Jennings and her supporters) imperil such a valuable resource such as the city's water supply. West Palm Beach has a history of problems with its water supply and will eventually have to switch from its surface water source to another - over the span of ten years. Our 80% plus water fee increase scheduled over a five year period and draconian water restrictions are a result of poor leadership - but unfortunately some revel in the fact that we have this problem as a ready made excuse to stop any kind of re-investment or redevelopment. Why isn't anyone talking about how REGRESSIVE this sort of fee structure is for such a basic human need - water?

Back at it...6/20 @ 10 a.m.

My A/C adapter to my laptop blew up today. New one coming tomorrow. More news later on this same station. This comes via my BlackBerry.

Palm Beach County - High School FCAT Grades - Click here

Public Information Request - Casino Building

I have made a public information request for the city's bid package and any amendments related to the Casino building shoring project - plus all 10 or so responses to the RFP package.

At the end of the City Commission meeting, the City Manager reported that there were 10 respondents and that all came in over the estimate. There were no comments from the Mayor and Commissioners. I am not surprised, but am interested in seeing the results myself. It's an indication of the uncertainties involved with a building such as this one and is a forecast of the over-runs and change orders if rehabilitation of the building is pursued.

There is supposed to be a meeting next Tuesday to discuss the beach in detail. No announcement is available on the website and it might be one of those sneaky 2:30 p.m. meetings.

Note: The latest audio of a Commission meeting available on the city's website is June 9th. The latest set of minutes available is from early April.

Metro Times - Rolling on the Riverwalk

Metro Times - Rolling on the Riverwalk

This comes to me from a good friend of mine that works for the State of Michigan - sometimes as a volunteer, apparently.

"The MI Nat. Resources Trust Fund helped pay for this project. I got to shake the Governor's hand the day after she cut 6 days pay from my income via "furloughs"! This park area is not patrolled by Detroit PD, but private security co. 24/7/365 security cameras, panic phones marked by blue beacons every 8th mile or so. No serious crimes, ever, with this system in place! Gave me the creeps! However it is an improvement; but the little veneer of redevelopment here and there still covers the great rot that is the rest of the city. 60% of the City is vacant; I mean NO buildings, infrastructure, etc. The "prairies" near City airport have the highest pheasant densities per square mile in the State. A series of articles last year, which I will send to you, super-imposed the maps of San Francisco, and Boston over the map of Detroit. All 3 of these Cities have similar populations of around 800,000 to 900,000 people. Yup, you guessed it: Detroit's incorporated area is about 3 times larger than the other two. Of course mere comparison takes a lot of things out of context, but the fact remains that most of the vacant land in Detroit is land nobody wants to develop."

Just added a "Share This" button, which will appear on every post...

So, if you are part of a social networking site - like FaceBook - you can share individual posts with your friends. I had these blog posts on an automatic feed to my FaceBook profile and, with the changes in FaceBook, suddenly they were all appearing on all my friends' home pages. These might be interesting to find if you live in Lake Worth, but if you live in DC, Paris, LA and you're not a planner - you may not be that much into what is happening in our little city.

Feel free to use this new tool to help spread the word!

Fans gather to share a pint and read from the book of ‘Ulysses’ in Lake Worth

This happened last night - perhaps City Commission meetings are like trying to read "Ulysses."

This is the organization responsible, also a recipient of a CRA grant recently.

The event was put on by Blue Planet Writers’ Room, a local nonprofit organization founded a year ago by Cora Bresciano and Susan Gay Hyatt. Blue Planet will offer free tutoring and writing workshops for students from 6 to 18, and hopes to find a permanent home in downtown Lake Worth.

Click for live link to City Commission meeting - 6/16

These are some rough notes taken while listening to the meeting.

Lisa Wilson, director of the Resource Center, is about to give her presentation - this is the group that runs the operation in the city's shuffleboard court building. She is talking about "stimulus grants." The Energy Efficient Jobs Block Grant is the program - training in green jobs and then placement in green jobs. Training will be for all Lake Worth residents and in two or more languages. Benefits: Green Workforce. Classes would be in the shuffleboard court building. Trained, tested and certified - then some can go into the small business development center after that. Percentage of funding from city would leverage other funding - she is asking for city money here. She estimates that "a lot more" jobs would be created.

Costs: Training certification $50,000 - 45 Lake Worth residents could take class. Have to train the instructor $1,500 - then the balance could be used to create energy auditors. Plus another $20,000 for administration 57 green jobs ready for Lake Worth residents. She is talking with PBCC.

Questions: Jennings - total number of residents in database now that are seeking employment 1,200. How many people are you placing? Increasing month over month, from February through end of April 300 jobs, some full time permanent. "Can't live off a day job." How would you determine who would be one of the 57 people that could take part of the program? She has to give it a lot more thought - might have a Spanish and an English only class. Mulvehill - demand for jobs placed - 100 a month, are there categories that are hiring - there is no trend. Most are residents from around the County that need a helping hand at home. Is there green job demand? This is part of a vision. They have looked at Richmond (this came from Jennings) - she says its coming. Lowe: Employers are coming from all over - are the people that you are helping Lake Worth residents - it's a prerequisite for people looking for work - must be Lake Worth residents. Mayor Clemens - Would like a presentation on what is going on there, not just to talk about a grant program. That was his expectation when he asked for a presentation earlier. Questions about recruiting and marketing - most recruiting is done by volunteers at the center. The Center would also use a "training company" that would participate in the grant-related program. Mulvehill - market to get job placement rather than recruitment. It's a "multi-service" center - this would allow recruitment to all Lake Worth residents, that hasn't really been done yet. Jennings: Apologizes for having her focus on the grant program and not their current functions (smokescreen?) Funding from city - looking for money from city beyond the rent, utilities etc that are already subsidized. Free to the participants.

They're going to be talking about it later in the agenda under New Business.

Nothing was pulled of the Consent Agenda - approval was unanimous. The item on the Gulfstream (yet another appeal by Charles Celi) that was on the agenda was postponed to next Monday, the last day of the 90 period to hear the appeal.

There are two grants that would go in for Block Grant money - one for the Resource Center and one for the utility department - "pre-paid meters." Mayor is asking if partial funding would be o.k. for the center - like $35,000.

Environmental Justice Conference

On Saturday, June 20, the School of Urban and Regional Planning is co-hosting an Environmental Justice Conference at the Broward County Main Library Auditorium. During the Conference we will discuss the progress that has been made with regard to the 2001 Economic and Environmental Equity Program Management Plan that was part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. In addition, we will discuss how we can make sure that the needs of low income and minority communities will be addressed in the future. Attached is the invitation for the event, please feel free to distribute to others that you think might be interested.

When: Saturday, June 20 from 10 am to 3 pm

Where: Broward County Main Library Auditorium, 100 South Andrews, Fort Lauderdale

Parking: For Environmental Justice Conference Free Parking, take Broward Blvd. east to Andrews Ave. turn left and go one short block and turn right.

Go into Fort Lauderdale City Parking Garage. Walk half block back to Andrews Ave. Turn left and walk across Broward Blvd. to the Library.

For more information, please call Linda Foster at 954 762 5652.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday,

Cordially,

Jaap Vos, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Director

School of Urban and Regional Planning

111 East Las Olas Boulevard, Suite 1009C

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

VIDEO: Vintage promo film made for Detroit's 1968 Olympic bid reveals city's precipitous decline

VIDEO: Vintage promo film made for Detroit's 1968 Olympic bid reveals city's precipitous decline

Shared via AddThis

This next video presents scenes from the 1967 riots that gripped Detroit - just two years after the promotional video was made for the Olympic bid. Later parts of the video show widespread evidence of disinvestment and urban decay. What once was a city of 1.8 million people and an industrial powerhouse is now a shell of its former self. Click here for link to informative site on the effect of urban sprawl, automobile based land uses and urban flight over time in terms of population and location in the Detroit area.



Click here for a Detroit transit website called "A Desire Named Streetcar." At one time, in the first half of the 20th Century, Detroit had a very large and successful streetcar system. What do you think the auto companies thought of that?

Fiction

Click title for a Wikipedia definition (sometimes fictional) of fiction.

"A masterwork in fiction..."

Welcome to the world of Lynn Anderson. This is her Intervenor filing to the Department of Community Affairs against the finding of the land use plan amendment for the Sunset property to be IN COMPLIANCE. Look this over and add comments, questions, etc. Over the next couple days we will dissect this and expose the hyperbole and the twisting of reality we have come to expect. REMEMBER - Click on the image for larger view.

RECORD WEEK! Thank you New Times!!

Some gems of information from the current City Manager's report...

This is part of the agenda tomorrow night at the regular second City Commission meeting of the month. I've cut out some of the more interesting topics that are covered in the report. I think it's great that we have a City Manager that takes the time to put this together and share information with the public. I just hope it is a sustained effort and the secrecy that we have known all too well in the past doesn't re-appear.

Above is a set of clues about coming attractions at future City Commission meetings. One is the expansion of Snook Islands - the dredge and fill environmental project that has roundly been acknowledged as a success but was vociferously opposed by a group of people - some that are still very active on the political scene. These people are the same ones that are usually vociferously opposed to many worthy projects and have gained politically in recent times. The passive park issue is about allowing soccer to be played in places like Bryant Park and brings up all sorts of issues some people don't like talking about - like excluding classes of people from playing a recreational game in one or more of our parks. The noise ordinance issue meeting is supposed to be a "field trip" of sorts, with the Commission being led around downtown with someone working a noise meter. That will be one not to miss! And, then, the shot across the bow we heard last Monday when the City Commission refused to interview 31 people for the CRA so that the City Commission could take over that function (yes, the brain trust we know as the City Commission.) will have its own meeting where the Commission can take the action. Stay tuned for that one.

This is about the trip to Tallahassee taken by Stanton, Bach and Mattey. Need to read the tea leaves a little bit here, but it sounds like DCA thinks public input is more important than those that pretend to "speak for the people." Also, we see what's going on with the Sunset property - or do we? More to come on that as I just got all the information on the Department of Administrative Hearings docket for the objections still being raised by those rarely satisfied by any compromise.

Here we have the city addressing customer service issues with the City Manager taking part in the training exercise. Great idea!! Let's keep going down this path, but there is a long row to hoe.
Not exactly one of the burning issues of our time - music on hold when you call city hall - but Commissioner Golden is good at bringing up these sorts of issues. At least the conversation got around to having it be another way to get information out to the public, which in my mind, is one of the more important functions of local governments.

Looks like the bidders on the shoring of the Casino Building needed more information in order to adequately make a bid to to the work. Hmmm. No surprise here. The deadline is tomorrow at 2 p.m. The estimate was up to $100,000 - we'll see what the bids come in at. This whole thing started as a result of a threat to close the building and oust the tenants by March 31 - the heavily subsidized and politicized tenants revolted, contributed heavily to Commissioner Mulvehill's campaign and got their way by instead having one of the city's most recent building officials "relieved of his duties" - in what seemed like a middle-of-the-night operation. Anyway, with this work being done, it was argued that at least attempts were being made to make the building safer - after multitudinous reports prepared by licensed structural engineers cited grave failings in the building - especially in areas where the public gathers.

This item concerns the shuffleboard court building - another one of the ill-maintained public buildings and properties under control of the city of Lake Worth. It needed many repairs as well - before the "Resource Center" went in, according to the same building official that mysteriously disappeared. But since that rattled the proponents of the center, rules were over looked - both zoning and building - and the center was allowed to begin operation in a substandard building. If any other private entity tried to accomplish the same thing in Lake Worth, they would still be doing the work and waiting for the day their Certificate of Occupancy would be issued. By the way, Lisa Wilson, the "Resource Center" director will be making a presentation before the City Commission at tomorrow night's meeting. I am sure the "echo chamber" will resound with how well the center has done since its opening.

Click title for link to full report and click on images for better viewing.

FYI - a convertible top was slashed in a neighbor's driveway last night.

Who says the impossible isn't possible?

Art Review

Turn Cramped Paris Into the City of Light? Capture the Process? Voilà!

By KAREN ROSENBERG

Published: June 12, 2009

“Napoleon III and Paris” at the Metropolitan Museum tackles a complex topic — the remapping of a major Western city — in just three intimate rooms.

Click title for link to New York Times article.

Pics from the Beach yesterday morning...

If you've been to the beach either early in the morning or later at night, you probably know that the beach is now open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The City Commission recently bought gates and had them installed at the entrance from South Ocean Boulevard and the Lake Avenue intersection. These pictures were both taken by a friend of mine around 7:45 a.m on Saturday morning. The gates for the east bound traffic were open, but the gates for the exiting traffic were still locked and in place. In the second and third pictures, you can see that exiting traffic has to "go the wrong way" - against traffic - to exit the property. The safety hazard this causes is obvious and it underscores how Lake Worth has the inability to do the simplest things, sometimes with potentially catastrophic results.

And, with the longest fishing pier on the east coast of Florida now repaired and opened for business, one would think it would be a good idea to have it open later in the evening for people that fish. Also, with the 9 p.m. closing time, what would happen if we had a restaurant there that wanted to serve dinner?

The second picture also presents one of the more unflattering views of our beloved Casino Building. This entire post has been sent to the Mayor, City Commissioners and City Manager.

SAFE Newsletter: Tri-Rail's Survival

Your responses from last month's article on Tri-Rail was overwhelming! There was almost as much feedback as there was during the SR A1A bicycle lane petition drive.

We will publish some of your comments next month when we continue our series on Tri-Rail by report on a trip on Tri-Rail to the West Palm Airport that will include a critique of the new Intermodal Facility in WPB.

In today's special edition, we will focus on Tri-Rail's financial survival and want we can do to save it.

Financial Train Wreck?

For years, Tri-Rail has struggled operationally. However, many of its problems have now been solved with improved maintenance, better security, the purchase of new cars, more east/west connectivity, and especially double-tracking that enabled service to be more reliable with reduced head ways during the morning and afternoon commuter rush hours. Did you know that Tri-Rail runs every 20 - 30 minutes for three hours during the morning and afternoon rush hour?

SAFE is not saying Tri-Rail is perfect. Those in charge of Tri-Rail - the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) readily acknowledge that. But, the point is that Tri-Rail has reached its tipping point. Increases in ridership attest to its success. When people ride Tri-Rail for the first time, they realize that there really is an alternative to driving. Further progress surely will come as Tri-Rail becomes a more seamless, integrated public transportation system. It'll take some time, effort, and funding, but the future direction is clear. The shuttle systems that have been added and the new intermodal transportation hubs at the Miami Airport,and West Palm Beach are another step in achieving that goal.

Sure, there are some who will never take Tri-Rail to work. But, that's OK, because those who do, take many cars off the road that otherwise would be adding to congestion, pollution, and foreign oil dependency.

Some are opposed to subsidizing Tri-Rail, but at the same time forget that all our sidewalks and streets are subsidized. In fact, there are no public transportation systems anywhere in the world that are not subsidized. All great cities in the world have comprehensive public transportation systems - e.g. New York, Boston, Washington D.C., London, Paris, Rome, etc.

In the past, South Florida solved its transportation problems by laying more asphalt. Now we are at the point where we are running out of land to expand existing roads or build new roads. South Florida transportation experts - Jim Wolfe, Secretary FDOT District 4 and Palm Beach County Commissioner Chair Jeff Koons - have warned that I-95 cannot be widened anymore, and that the future solution to road congestion is public transportation. Of course, building a complete public transportation system requires additional public investments.

But, now as Tri-Rail continues to improve service, it's faced with an imminent catastrophe. It lacks sufficient operational funding.

For five or six years, the SFRTA has been requesting a dedicated funding source from our state legislators. For several of those years, our legislators struggled to even identify a source, and after finally identifying a source they have failed at implementation. A $2/day tax on rental cars in the Tri-County seems to be the accepted revenue source, but the legislators can't get together and approve it. Part of the problem during the last Session was that legislators from the middle of the state wanted to build their own Tri-Rail, called SunRail and a partisan battle ensued, and once again Tri-Rail funding failed.

Without a new funding source, the SFRTA has concluded that the only way for Tri-Rail to survive is by implementing a 25% system wide fare increase, and by reducing service frequency from 50 to 30 trains on weekdays, and eliminating all weekend service. The fare increase went into effect June 1st, and the service reduction has been scheduled for October 5th.

SAFE does not believe that Tri-Rail should cut its service. That's like cutting off an arm and a leg. People will stop taking Tri-Rail, jobs will be lost, and the very future of Tri-Rail will be in jeopardy. At a minimum, Tri-Rail will be set back for years and years.

How can Tri-Rail, avoid a financial train wreck?

There are several possible solutions.

The Tri-Counties might continue funding $4.3 million /ea (roughly $ 3 million more than state mandated funding), and the FDOT might continue matching the counties funding, or about $13 million. However, as a result of dwindling revenues from declining property valuations, the three counties have given the SFRTA an early warning not to expect the same level of funding this year. In other words, if the three counties revert to the state funding mandate and the FDOT matches it, Tri-Rail funding will decrease by $ 18 million/yr. What's the likelihood of the counties continuing to contribute the extra $3 million/ea? Not good.

Could the MPOs come to the rescue? Doubt it. Palm Beach MPO's, Jeff Koons recently said that the MPO doesn't have any available operating funds for Tri-Rail.

Another possible solution could come from Gov. Crist. Eight Florida Senators have asked the governor to use part of the previously approved SunRail funding to keep Tri-Rail operating at current capacity for the coming year. However, according to Rep. Paula Dockery's Office, the letter that was sent to Gov. Crist on May 2nd, remains unanswered as of June 7th. So, doesn't seem like you need to rush to the mailbox expecting a reply from Gov. Crist.

What's the likelihood of Gov. Crist riding to the rescue and saving Tri-Rail? SAFE believes the odds are better than you might think. Governor Crist will be opposed by Marco Rubio in what could be a hotly contested Republican primary election for the US Senate and a broken down Tri-Rail, in the most populous section of the state, is not what you'd want to happen on your watch.

Another solution is for the SFRTA to re-examine its operating expenses and make drastic cuts in all expense items that do not affect service frequency. SAFE believes that if operating expense cuts are not sufficient, then the SFTRA should consider shifting a portion of its capital budget to its operating budget to make up the remaining deficit. One SFRTA Board Member emailed SAFE that " you are not supposed to transfer funds intended for capital equipment or preventive maintenance to your operating account. In most instances, those funds are restricted. SFRTA and the Board can be held liable for diverting such funds to operational expenses." SAFE believes that a thorough review may uncover some capital funds that may be transferred without affecting train maintenance or Board liability.

In the final analysis, SAFE knows that the SFRTA Board will do everything it can to maintain the existing 50 train system until a long term solution can be found

However, if weekday service is cut, as preliminarily agreed to at the last SFRTA meeting, the Federal Transit Administration warned that Tri-Rail will default on a $ 256 million federal grant.

Not a pretty ending for a Tri-Rail system that is moving closer to becoming the vital link in an integrated, seamless public transportation system.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO SAVE TRI-RAIL?

There are two steps we can take now:

1. Email Gov. Crist asking him to provide bridge financing to Tri-Rail until the state legislators are able to come up with a solution. You might want to copy the eight Florida Senators who asked him for his support.

charlie.crist@myflorida.com

dockery.paula.web@flsenate.gov, rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov, aronberg.dave.web@flsenate.gov, deutch.ted.web@flsenate.gov, gelber.dan.web@flsenate.gov, wilson.frederica.web@flsenate.gov, sobel.eleanor.web@flsenate.gov, villalobos.alex.web@flsenate.gov,

2. Attend next week's SFRTA Board Meeting and show your support for keeping the trains running. The meeting begins at 9:30 AM on Friday, June 26th. The meeting will take place in the Board Room of the SFRTA Admin Bldg., 800 NW 33rd St. Pompano Beach. The building is located about a half a block from the Pompano Tri-Rail Station - just to the southeast of the station. If you are unable to attend - most of us work - then send your email to the Board Members asking them to do everything possible to avoid service reductions.

jeggelletion@broward.org,bruno@miamidade.gov, alice.bravo@dot.state.fl.us,mailto:felix%20@lasartelaw.com, gmorgan@morganpg.com, hunterjim@bellsouth.net, Mhorenburger@cs.com, FMPerri@perrytaylorlaw.com, jkoons@co.palm-beach.fl.us, giulietti@tri-rail.com

Please take a minute to do your part to save Tri-Rail.

Thank you,

Jim Smith,
SAFE Chairman

1225 S. Ocean Blvd, # 202
Delray Beach, FL 33483
(561) 330-6798 Phone & Fax
jamesejimchar@aol.com

"Make Florida become the most motorist, pedestrian, and bicyclist friendly state in the USA"

"Rapacious Developers"

First of all, let me say that I was very surprised to find out this week that the New Times (Broward/Palm Beach) named this blog as the Best of 2009. If you haven't read what they wrote, there's a link in the upper right hand corner, just below the banner, that will take you there. Thanks to all the people who offered their congratulations and encouragement to keep doing what I am doing.

The person that did the write-up obviously had spent some time here on the blog, knew my bio information and had read some of my Commission meeting previews. But, somehow the writer linked my calling out of Commissioners Jennings and Mulvehill to their ties to "rapacious developers." This, of course, caused more than a giggle since I am the one that is usually, erroneously, tied to "rapacious developers." They may be tied to hypocrisy and multiple special interests, but not to "rapacious developers." At least I don't think so. Note to all who read this: There are no developers in Lake Worth due to the lack of certainty in the political and regulatory environment - period. Something that I have said is a means to their end.

This got me thinking about truth and the power of the written and spoken word. Just this morning, I heard a piece about how journalists in Myanmar are routinely arrested for reporting what is going on in that country. At a minimum, their equipment, tapes, recording equipment are confiscated. Most of the time they are arrested and kept for long periods of time. We have witnessed the same sort of action recently perpetrated by North Korea...and the list goes on from the more subtle forms of censorship to the more extreme examples.

People are willing to risk their lives and livelihoods for the purpose of getting out the truth. Presentation of facts to an audience is really a sacred trust. Many times in Lake Worth, I am amazed by how many people treat the truth or facts so cavalierly and dismiss reality entirely if it doesn't fit with their "great work program" or their quest for power and control. So, that being said, please call me out when you think I am not honoring the facts in the way they should be honored. If we all were more ginger in the way we handle the facts - what is true - we would at least be focused on the same set of circumstances with a chance to work together to make conditions better - not just arguing about what the conditions are.

Thanks for visiting. Remember, the search engine in the upper left hand corner of the blog is your friend! There is TONS of material on here and that's the best way to navigate around if you are looking for something in particular.

Let's attempt to keep each other honest.

Seen on my street yesterday...

There were 7, sometimes 8, city vehicles on my street yesterday and then again this morning. Seems that a palm tree root ball penetrated a 2" water line along the back property lines between Columbia and Cornell. I didn't notice any drop in water pressure. Now, about those sidewalks... I read in the City Manager's report (more on that later) where the city is about to re-do 2,000 ft. of sidewalks in the city. College Park has long been plagued by poor sidewalks, some of the worst are along the two fronts of my corner lot. Maybe this time?

Residential Real Estate, Sales within past 30 days 33460 zip code

Click title for link - some good buys - some scary, low prices.

June 9, 2009 Workshop Meeting - Agenda and Back-up posted after meeting

Better late than never? Click title for link. Of particular interest is the City Manager's memo on organizational matters. Many more departments will report directly to the City Manager -a good thing. There are also major physical relocations planned for departments, including moving Community Development/Code Enforcement and Building (although the building permit function wasn't mentioned, which makes me think that the Boynton Beach rumor might have some legs.) This shifting of departments will allow the city to vacate space it is currently leasing in the Gallo Building.

Here are the floor plans that show the new location of various departments:

"HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY" AMENDMENT TO APPEAR ON BALLOT, GROUP CLAIMS

Here are a few posters against the Florida Hometown Democracy movement from Floridians for Smarter Growth. Read more about the "movement" by clicking title. Click here to see all of the organizations against Florida Hometown Democracy.

DC increases transparency with Google Apps - Hmmmm.

You are Reading the BEST BLOG of 2009 - New Times!

Click title for link.

Multimodal Transportation Planning Workshop

Rally to fight foreclosures |West Palm Beach News, South Florida Breaking News, Forecast, Video from WPTV

Rally to fight foreclosures |West Palm Beach News, South Florida Breaking News, Forecast, Video from WPTV

Posted using ShareThis

"THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT— What it is—and why FL MUST RATIFY IT NOW!”

NORTH PALM BEACH COUNTY NOW PRESENTS:

"THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT—

What it is—and why FL MUST RATIFY IT NOW!”

Speaker: Rep. Kelly Skidmore, FL House District 90.

Short film: “The ERA, Unfinished Business for the Constitution” by the Alice Paul Society

Open discussion will follow.

When: Monday June 15, 2009 at 6:30 PM.

Where: Compass Gay and Lesbian Community Center,

201 North Dixie Hwy, Lake Worth FL.

Directions: I-95 to 10th Avenue North, east to US Hwy 1, south 9 blocks to Lucerne, right on Lucerne 1 block, right on H St. 1 ½ blocks, then immediate right into parking lot (bright blue building.)

From the south, I-95 to 6th Avenue South, east to US Hwy 1, north 7 blocks to Lucerne, left on Lucerne 1 block, right on H St. 1 ½ blocks, then immediate right into parking lot (bright blue building.)

Free and open to all, bring friends!

Wheelchair accessible meeting space.

Childcare available by request, please call 561-802-3722.

COLUMN: Florida Hometown Defense

Opinion piece by PB Post's Joel Englehardt. Click title for link. An excerpt:

But SB 360 is so bad that it may persuade public officials who dislike Hometown Democracy to embrace it. Voters fed up with Tallahassee are sure to like the concept of public control, despite a concerted Florida Chamber of Commerce campaign to defeat it. Trust in Tallahassee is so low, consider this potential response to the passage of Hometown Democracy: Legislators could eliminate land-use planning. If there is no land-use plan, there can be no voter referendum to change the land-use plan.

Rather than cave in to the inevitability of Hometown Democracy, local communities can unify. If they don't, SB 360 will mean a different set of rules, or no rules at all, in every city based on artificial boundaries, not common sense. Traffic allowed by one jurisdiction would cause congestion in a neighboring jurisdiction. Without countywide control, the neighboring city will have no say.

Getting neighbors to agree can be a problem, as the Royal Palm Beach-Wellington experience reveals. But it's worth the effort. Lantana Town Manager Michael Bornstein has suggested that cities, counties and the school district come together to identify critical issues facing Palm Beach County and create a plan to confront them.

Right now, he correctly notes, the county is like a fibrillating heart because every jurisdiction dances to its own beat. What better issue on which to start dancing together than growth management? Cities and counties have been doing it for two decades. In 1988, Palm Beach County voters insisted on it, approving a referendum that put traffic planning under the county.

This idea of regional planning has merit - and a logical reaction to the illogical enactment of the Hometown Democracy initiative would be the state taking away comprehensive planning as we know it. Then, there would be no referendum since there would be no local comprehensive plans. Perhaps we should talk with our neighbors since we already serve many of them with our utilities - oh, that's right, they may not want to talk to us since we threaten to take away our water service, we bill for items 10 years in arrears and we don't honor agreements. In a way, we are ahead of the curve since we essentially don't have a Comprehensive Plan now.

My point is, it would be great for Lake Worth to be in a position to lead on this regional planning concept, but we have lost any right or claim to that role based upon how we manage our own affairs and our relationships with other local governments.

Hurricane Information from Palm Beach County

From the Desk of Commissioner Steven L. Abrams

With hurricane season upon us, I took the opportunity last week to visit the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center and was briefed on the County's emergency plan. Having led the response and recovery from three hurricanes when I was Mayor of Boca Raton, I was very impressed with the county team we have in place to handle a natural disaster. The key element for all is to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Advance preparation is crucial for the safety of you and your family. The county has an extensive amount of useful and important information available online. In addition to the Hurricane Preparedness Guide, you can find locations of Publix and gas stations that have generators, links to federal and state agencies and much more. To access this information, go to http://webdev.co.palm-beach.fl.us/countycommissioners/district4/ and click on the red button marked “Hurricane Preparedness.”

Also, just a reminder that battery operated televisions that receive signals over the air will not be operational due to the digital switch effective June 12. Battery operated radios (AM/FM) are recommended and battery operated portable “digital” televisions are available for purchase.

Please take some time to review the information online. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 561-276-1220 or the county’s Emergency Management Division at 561-712-6400.

Commissioner Steven L. Abrams

Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners

301 N. Olive Avenue, 12th Floor

West Palm Beach, FL 33401

561-355-2204

Yesterday's City Commission meeting at 2:30 p.m. - no agenda, no streaming audio

Topics discussed?

NY Times article:

Opinion

Allison Arieff: Rethinking the Mall

By By Allison Arieff

Published: June 1, 2009

At a convention for shopping mall designers and developers, a glimpse of the future and, unfortunately, the past.

Some "out there" concepts - not advocating anything here, but it's interesting to look at trends. Click title for link.

Residential Vegetation Amnesty Week in Lake Worth

Residential Vegetation Amnesty Week

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 at 11:50 AM

The City of Lake Worth is offering a special "Residential Vegetation Amnesty Week" during the week of June 15 - June 19, 2009.

The City encourages all residential property owners to utilize this "Vegetation Only Amnesty Week" to prepare their properties for the 2009 Hurricane Season. We will be picking up unlimited amounts of vegetation only in accordance with the Health and Sanitation Ordinance. Vegetation can be left curbside beginning Saturday June 13 and will be picked up during your regularly scheduled pick up day. As an example, if your pick up day is Thursday, you can put out vegetation only starting Saturday, June 13, up to your pickup day on Thursday, June 18 and the city will pick all of it up. After Friday, June 19, your regular vegetation pick up schedule will resume and regulated limits will apply.

During this “Vegetation Only Amnesty Week” no citations will be issued.

This does not include demolition or construction debris or bulk waste (stoves, refrigerators, old furniture, mattresses, etc.)

We encourage all residents to use the guidelines as set forth within the city's "Tree Preservation Ordinance" when pruning and trimming trees and shrubs. Hat-racking or Topping, as is commonly referred to, is strictly prohibited within the City of Lake Worth and Palm Beach County. You may be subject to a monetary fine as well as tree replacement if you are found to be in violation of this ordinance.

For further information about the Amnesty week pickup, contact the City of Lake Worth Refuse Division at 561-533-7344.

For additional information regarding proper pruning or trimming contact the City Horticulturist, Martin Cybulski, at 561-586-1720 or the Grounds Maintenance Division at 561-586-1677

Lake Worth to keep buying water from West Palm Beach, despite taste and odor problems

Click title for link to PB Post article. Note that Commissioner Jennings is trying to play both sides:

Following today's vote, Commissioner Cara Jennings asked city staffers to post a notice on the city's Web site telling residents that the use of West Palm Beach water is temporary.

"I don't think any of us want West Palm Beach water," Jennings said. "This is an emergency."

Strange how emergencies can last 2.5 to 3 years with this City Commission.

Why are we fighting the Palm Beach County water contract? This is another obstacle for our Comprehensive Plan to achieve compliance - another excuse to say "no" to any redevelopment.

Public participation and input are not valued in Lake Worth.

Letter sent to CRA Board applicants...

Now, the City Commission needs to send letters of apology out to all of the people who received this letter. I personally don't need one; it's something that I have come to expect. But I am concerned about those people that really thought they could contribute and were looking forward to the experience. They, instead of being able to exercise their civic duty, were greeted by a closed door.

Things wrong with yesterday's last minute City Commission agenda change...

Here is a quick list:

• Notification 45 minutes before the meeting begins that 31 some people won't be interviewed as indicated in the published agenda
• Less than 24 hours notice of the change
• Polling of Commissioners by phone regarding the change prior to the meeting
• Adding an item that was never part of the original agenda - i.e., the future of the CRA
• Getting many new people to apply for a volunteer citizen board to help their community - only to be told "We don't want you anyway, we know better ourselves"
• Having at least two joint meetings between the CRA and City Commission within the past few months and not ever speaking about the prospect of being taken over by the City Commission. Even though it was never really out-of-the-picture, it says a lot about the character - or lack thereof - of those on the Commission who cannot communicate what is really on their minds.

"Let the sunshine in..."

Sunshine Law--polling members by memorandum

Click title for link to Florida Attorney General opinion. An excerpt appears below:

"The right of the public to be present and to be heard during all phases of enactments by boards and commissions is a source of strength in our country. During past years tendencies toward secrecy in public affairs have been the subject of extensive criticism. Terms such as managed news, secret meetings, closed records, executive sessions, and study sessions have become synonymous with 'hanky panky' in the minds of public-spirited citizens. One purpose of the Sunshine Law was to maintain the faith of the public in governmental agencies. Regardless of their good intentions, these specified boards and commissions, through devious ways, should not be allowed to deprive the public of this inalienable right to be present and to be heard at all deliberations wherein decisions affecting the public are being made." Board of Public Instruction of Broward County, supra, at 699.

The opinion then continues: "Thus, telephone conversations between public officials on aspects of the public's business are part of the process which ultimately leads up to final recorded action in a formal public meeting, and they may not be held covertly." It was held that such conversations had to be conducted under the provisions of the Sunshine Law. In so holding, it is clear that the word "meeting" is not limited to the physical coming together of the board members but, rather, includes the entire decision-making process of a public body. A memorandum containing policy suggestions passed around to members of a board for their approval, which approval gives the memorandum the effect of an official action, is not only a part of the process which leads up to final recorded action but is final action. Deliberations of the type you mention are part of the decision-making process, are of public interest and should be held in the sunshine. The memorandum method is an attempt to by-pass the Sunshine Law by not having meetings and is a violation of the intent and meaning of the law. In IDS Properties, Inc. v. Town of Palm Beach, 279 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973), which held that an advisory board to the town council fell under the purview of the Sunshine Law, the court said that "[i]t is axiomatic that public officials cannot do indirectly what they are prevented from doing directly." See also Green v. Galvin, 114 So. 2d 187 (Fla. 1st DCA 1959). Public officials legally bound to conduct their business under the Sunshine Law cannot escape this duty by acting in secret on public matters by means of such memorandums.

Section 286.011(3), Florida Statutes, provides that any member of a board who violates section 286.011(1) by attending a meeting not held in accordance with its provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree. To hold that this section does not apply to the memorandum method since it is not a "meeting" would also be contrary to the intent of the law. If telephone conversations and memorandums are considered "meetings" so as to fall under section 286.011(1), then they must be considered meetings under the misdemeanor section, section 286.011(3). Therefore, any board member participating in conducting public business by memorandum, in violation of the Sunshine Law, would be subject to a criminal action.

June 8, 2009 Commission Meeting

CRA Board Members,

At tonight’s meeting, the Commission decided not to hold interviews for the vacant Board seats but to instead have a meeting within the next 30 days to discuss having the Commission serve as the CRA Board.

When additional information becomes available, I will be sure to let you know.

Joan

CRA Interviews Cancelled for Tonight

Note Item B: Discuss the future/terms of the Community Redevelopment Agency

Commission was "polled" over the phone regarding the change - Sunshine Law violation? To do it correctly, they would have to meet according to the publicized meeting and change the agenda then.

Here we go again...

Notice the scheduling of the workshops on alternate Tuesdays from regular City Commission meetings. I understand that by looking at this calendar issued today that these Commission workshops will be held at 2:30 p.m. If you go to the City's website this afternoon, this is what you will see about the topics to be discussed at this mid-afternoon meeting:

There is no associated agenda for tomorrow under City Commission agendas on the city's website, as of 3:33 p.m. Monday. You have to go back to the City Manager's report from 6/2/09 to learn what will be discussed.

These are big issues - the beach, our water supply, etc. Folks, this is not open government - sketchy, if any, notice and holding these meetings in the mid-afternoon is a bad idea if you want transparency. Will this now be used as a litmus test for candidates - making sure they can be available for meetings at all time of the day?

This is what is known about tomorrow night's meeting - this is essentially a "make up" meeting for when Commissioner Mulvehill was absent. No agenda is available on the website but for this notification under "Meetings and Events":

Free Lecture By Jeff Speck - June 28th at 6:00 PM

The Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa and its partners are hosting a free lecture and dinner on Sunday, June 28^th at 6 PM in Fellsmere, Florida, in Indian River County. Jeff Speck, an international sought-after architect and designer is our keynote speaker. Speck will be speaking about urban design and how to make choices in achieving sustainable design and smart growth goals. He, along with Andreas Duany and Lizz Plater-Zybeck, co-authored Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, a book that compares two different models of urban growth: the traditional neighborhood and suburban sprawl. These two models are polar opposites in appearance, function, and character: they look different, they act differently, and they affect us in different ways.

Please join us for this final Design Institute of Abacoa program. RSVPs are required so that they can plan for dinner. Capacity is limited, so please send your RSVP to hreed@lpaplans.com to reserve your spot.

Note: The first 30 reservations come with a free dinner. If you are interested in going, let me know soon so that we can ride together and take advantage of the free food!

The CRA Family Tree

Above is a chart that is included in the back-up information for the City Commission special meeting tomorrow evening re board appointments. It shows the history of appointments, length of terms, policy changes, etc. that resulted in the current situation. One of the more controversial matters regarding this series of board appointments and re-appointments is that a total of six of the seven seats are up on the CRA board - only Commissioner Ross would remain from the current group. We do have an explanation - maybe not the total "why" - but at least we know when the elimination of staggered terms, as required by state law, happened according to the explanation below.

Of course, staggered terms are in place to prevent a wholesale turn in direction of a board and support the concept of continuity in operation and programs. Recently, we on the CRA have been talking about budget priorities for the next fiscal year and the probable draconian cuts that will be necessary based upon the falling property tax valuations in the city, especially within the CRA district. We have asked ourselves how this discussion will be carried forward by a potentially "new" board. We shall see.

My interview for re-appointment happens to be at 6:10 p.m. tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Click the title for a link to the complete back-up material with applications.

More sprawl feared in Legislature's bid to boost Florida economy

Good assessment of SB 360's impact to the State of Florida, this time from a Jacksonville perspective. This is a key point from the article:

...because older areas are often years behind on infrastructure upgrades and because downtown streets in particular are difficult to widen, the law effectively discouraged developers from building in urban areas or undertaking downtown redevelopment.

The new law would strip away those rules for most cities with more than 1,000 people per square mile, all counties with that population density and any counties with more than 1 million people.

Mosteller said that simply exacerbates the existing problem. Land still costs less in the rural areas of urban counties, she points out, but the transportation break is countywide.

"This bill has said sprawl is even cheaper," Mosteller said.

For Jacksonville, city leaders may need to come up with new incentives to encourage in-filling in urban areas and combat sprawl.

The moral of the story: In-fill redevelopment in cities like Lake Worth is a good thing environment-wise compared to the alternative sprawl pattern this bill encourages. It is selfish in terms of land use not to act on this principle.

Tropical. Ridge Neighborhood Association - Crime Walk | June 5, 2009

This evening, June 5^th at 6:00pm, the Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association will be meeting at the First Church of the Nazarene, located at 1422 Lucerne Avenue for a Crime Prevention Walk. We will be spending approximately one hour walking the streets of our neighborhood meeting neighbors, promoting association activities and making our presence known to the community.

There will be deputies from the PBSO that will be accompanying us on our walk. Please come out to show your support for our association and to make it clear that the residence of Tropical Ridge are caring, thoughtful and will not tolerate crime and blight.

For more information regarding upcoming TRNA events please visit www.tropicalridge.org.

Upcoming Events

- ROLOH Crime Walk – June 15^th – 6:30pm – West end of Collier at Lake Osborne

- Vegetation Amnesty – June 15^th-19^th – Hurricane preparedness

- Security Expo – June 20^th – 12:00-4:00pm – First Church of the Nazarene

- Raft Race - July 4^th – Please volunteer to row!

Wisdom of Buddha

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

DCA Hosting Two Events to Explain Impacts of SB 360

June 12 Virtual Forum with DCA Secretary Tom Pelham on Senate Bill 360

The Florida Department of Community Affairs will host an on-line event on June 12, 10:00 AM – Noon on the subject of Senate Bill 360, which became law on June 1, 2009.
· The program will focus primarily on the provisions of SB 360 relating to transportation concurrency and how these provisions affect local governments.
· The Secretary will present remarks and information about the new law, including DCA's interpretation and implementation plans.
· The floor will then be opened to questions from statewide participants.
· Questions may be submitted in advance of the event on-line or by email, through June 11. Questions may then be submitted live on-line.
· The event is free to the public and advance registration is encouraged but not required.
· Those who wish to listen in by phone rather than taking part on-line may do so as well. Speaker phones and cell phones are permitted.
To register for this timely event, go to: http://www.dcatechnicalassistance.com/Event_and_Replays.html. There you also will find an on-demand replay of the Secretary’s May 21 virtual forum on planning and growth management.

The registration link provides the opportunity to submit your questions early and to access information on the phone-in option. In addition, you will receive an automatic reminder by registering in advance.

Mark your calendars and register now to be a part of this important event on legislation affecting Florida communities.

June 25-26 DCA Growth Management Implementation Workshop

DCA is holding its 2009 Growth Management Implementation Workshop on June 25-26 at the Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, and will include information on how the agency will implement the provisions of SB 360. The cost is $115. For more information regarding the workshop or to register, please visit http://www.dca.state.fl.us and click on the registration tab under the "Spotlight" header. AICP (10 hours), PE (12 hours) and CLE (hours TBD) continuing education credits have been applied for with the respective associations. Approval is expected prior to the workshop.

ALL TIME RECORD DAY! Thanks for visiting!!

Link to Neat Piece on Lake Worth Bike Night - thanks Adam!

Lake Worth moves ahead with water treatment plant

From last night's meeting, click for link to PB Post article. This from the article:

On Tuesday, commissioners deadlocked 2-2 on a recommendation that the city spend $510,000 to buy supplemental drinking water from West Palm Beach through Sept. 30. After much discussion, commissioners agreed 3-1, with Retha Lowe dissenting, to buy supplemental drinking water from Palm Beach County and West Palm for the next week.

Are we buying water from the County and West Palm from week to week? What level of insanity have we reached?

The 1939 World's Fair - GM's Futurama Vision of 1960

This is a re-post from about this time last year. I thought I'd bring it to the front in light of GM declaring bankruptcy yesterday. In many ways, I see this as a turning point that moves us further away from the single passenger automobile as the primary mode of transit - one step on a very long road. These snippets from GM's Futurama remind us of what the auto companies' vision for land use was. A scary vision in retrospect.

Fascinating look back at what the future looked like almost 70 years ago. Many of the themes and paradigms shown here helped to shape the post World War II United States. Oh, but for the unintended consequences! I found these fascinating.

Part 1:


Part 2:


The hyperbole is so thick towards the end of the Part 2 you might need an air sickness bag. These really represented GM's vision of the future - traffic first, tons of their cars on the road, etc. Separation of industrial, commercial and residential uses for efficiency - yeah, get in that GM car and drive to each one rather than park and walk or bike or take mass transit anywhere.

Click here for a brief background on Alfred P. Sloan - GM's Chairman of the Board at the time. Click here for more information on the elimination of the streetcar nationwide and GM's likely role in it.

What's done is done. What this shows is that land use decisions that discourage the use of the automobile and encourage other modes of transit are the way of our future. We have a long way to go to make up for the sins of the past.

What do you think? Think of the ubiquitous role the automobile has played in the growth and development of our nation. Think about its role in the laying out of all of the post World War II subdivisions and its contribution to urban sprawl development patterns. Think about the current "echo" energy crisis and the $4.00 + we are paying for gasoline. Think about how Lake Worth can lead in the turning of the tide against the automobile. Think about our future 20 years from today.

EDITORIAL: The governor can't hide

Click title for link to PB Post editorial on Governor Crist signing SB 360 which would severely weaken growth management laws in the state of Florida. From the opinion:

Supporters say that Senate Bill 360 will improve the state's growth management efforts by removing unnecessary restrictions in urban areas. But the bill creates a ridiculous definition of "urban area." Tiny towns, such as 400-person Briny Breezes, qualify. So would rural areas along State Road 7. In all, eight counties and 245 cities qualify, including all cities in Palm Beach County along with Stuart, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie on the Treasure Coast.

This is the worst part of the legislation - including a very liberal interpretation of what are considered "in fill" areas. We should be promoting in-fill development, but rural areas have no place in this legislation. Elimination of the Development of Regional Impact process is another major problem. Even though I am against the enactment of this legislation, I am sure that a certain "Princess and the Pea" blogger will find somehow to make it seem like I endorse it. So it goes.

Too bad for the future of the state of Florida.

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant

The above was in an e-mail from the city's grant writer that was sent to the Commission, most senior staff and others. It introduced a fairly open-ended grant program that is funded with Federal Economic Stimulus dollars. You can read about the specifics if you wish by clicking the title to this post. This is potentially a BIG money grant that perhaps could be used to re-establish our trolley system or another imaginative transportation-related program in the city. The deadline is September of this year. Is anyone going to bite on this?

This is a section on grant programs from the city manager's report that's part of the agenda for this week's City Commission meeting.

I guess responsibility for grants will be going to the Assistant City Manager for coordination. Hmmmm.

Can we please make an attempt at additional grant money? The grant application would essentially write itself given our profound needs.

Tax rate/ increment calculation for CRA budget given revised (lowered) taxable value...

From Joan Oliva today to CRA members:

CRA Board Members,

Many of you have seen the recent headlines whereby the Property Appraiser has indicated a significant loss in values in the City. The CRA is predicted to have an even higher loss. As you can see from the calculation below, our increment dropped from $411 M to $254 M – a loss of 38%. New construction taxable value was less than $10M.

CRA - Current Year Increment Value $ 254,995,256

" - 2008 Actual Increment 411,323,015

Decline in CRA Tax Increment 156,327,759

Percentage Decrease =38%

This significant decrease in value, coupled with the City’s lower millage rate due to the County Fire Rescue merger, lessens our TIF revenues by almost 50% compared to last fiscal year. In 08/09, the CRA received $4.3M from both the County and the City in TIF. This year, that number will drop to approx. $2.2M.

We anticipate the City will report a tentative millage rate to the County before the end of July. Communication between the CRA and the City will be vital as we prepare our 09/10 budget. The availability of any supplement will determine the future of many CRA projects and programs.

I look forward to working with you all.

Joan

Robin McGehee's Msg to President Obama - "Show Me You Have The Courage"

Robin McGehee was forced to resign from her position as President of a P.T.A. board after she attended a "No on 8" rally. This rally was in Fresno, California this past weekend after the California Supreme Court's ruling to uphold Proposition 8 which banned marriage between same sex couples.

Live near an abandoned home with dangerous debris? If hurricane threatens, call your city

Click title for link to Sun Sentinel story. Today marks the first day of hurricane season. Here is an excerpt from the article regarding hazards and remedies for unkempt, vacant and foreclosed properties:

There aren't a lot of options for homeowners in this situation beyond relying on local code enforcement departments.

Municipalities discourage civilians from entering private property because to do so violates trespass law. Inspectors have to respect that restriction too, and are limited to taking action on what can be seen from a yard's border. But if a place is unsafe, officials can inspect and secure a property immediately. They also use code enforcement boards, special masters or magistrates or the courts to levy liens and pressure an owner, if one can be found, to clean up a site.

Can we rely on the city of Lake Worth to do this?

2009 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

A little more on Miami Marine Stadium...

"Commission Work Plan"

This was an unsuspected surprise that's found at the end of the current City Manager's report. It lays out the topics that will be addressed by the City Commission on alternate Tuesdays (2nd and 4th) in a workshop format - separate from their regular meetings. Unfortunately, this schedule conflicts with CRA board meetings, so maybe another regular date can be chosen that doesn't conflict.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to see when the various topics will be addressed - and more importantly, what the topics actually are. On June 9th, they will be talking about the beach and the estimate for renovations and clarification of the scope. They will also be talking about the Treasure Coast Transit Oriented Development plan - YEAH!

On the 23rd, more on the beach with a "public improvementss" RFP on the agenda, along with discussion of the Comprehensive Plan future land use element - that's where all the discussion about height and density could take place.

Look here - on July 14th there is talk about a referendum on height - surprise, surprise! Also lots of other hot topics like golf course operations, etc.
Nice to be aware of these coming topics and to be able to monitor changes/progress.