Saturday, February 3, 2007

Order your lawn signs NOW!

Yes, my lawn signs are here - help spread the good word and share the vision! Signs are available at the Mad Hatter - southeast corner of 16th Avenue North and North Dixie Hwy. Just step in and they are stored on the back patio.

If that is inconvenient, you can call me at 308 0364, e-mail me at wesblackman@gmail.com or respond to this post with your address. In your message, let me know the number of signs that you need.

Thanks again for the warm out-pouring of support. Your encouragement gives me strength of purpose on the campaign trail.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

"We Love Lake Worth" Party - Friday, 2/9/07 at the Mad Hatter - Starting at 7 p.m.


Join your friends and neighbors as we celebrate our love for Lake Worth. With Valentine's Day on the horizon, what better time to gather and rally around our shared love of our City. You can think of it as a little patriotism, at the municipal level. We all know that our City has taken its lumps and bumps, having the bruises to show for it. Time to administer a little TLC.

And what better way to demonstrate that love other than to have candidates for our March election be invited to participate, talk and meet the people they will be representing should they prevail on March 13th. All the candidates are invited. This really will be an opportunity to meet and greet the candidates present there. Mics will be provided, but there really will be no structured presentation - just a friendly mixing and mingling.

Thanks to Broward and Kelley, owners of the Mad Hatter Lounge for opening their doors for this community event. There will be some tasty treats, Valentine's decorations (which are already starting to sprout) and a good time.

I look forward to seeing and speaking with you about the lovely future in store for the City of Lake Worth.


The Mad Hatter is located on the S/E corner of 16th Avenue N. and N. Dixie Hwy.

In honor of this event, enjoy some Valentine's cards from the early 20th Century - about the time our City was born.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Chance Meeting...

Funny story. About two days ago now, I was minding my own business walking my dogs down Federal Highway (I guess we were actually taking care of their business - ha!). Anyway, a gentleman was walking north on the opposite side of the street as we were walking south. Upon seeing me, he crosses the street and introduces himself. He had just read this blog, read about my dogs and was going to check out where I lived. Well, in the process, he stumbled upon the whole family. We had a nice conversation. He is from the mid-west as well (Oak Park, Illinois) and has been active in historic preservation activities there. He has invested in properties in West Palm Beach, but knew that Lake Worth was really where it was at. It had a sense of place, a history and was being kind to its roots and heritage.

As we were talking, wouldn't you know we bumped into Jeff Clemens (who was running around with his campaign's yard signs). All three (err, five) of us had a nice exchange, Jeff left and Warren walked back with us to the house. The following is an e-mail from Warren sent after our meeting:

Hi Wes,

I still can't believe the timing of running into you today.
Meeting you and Jeff in the same short period had a real "meant to be" quality about it. Ordinarily, it wouldn't be like me to display signage for a candidate without learning more about their positions, but meeting both of you at the same time convinced me the Midwestern God's had spoken. Besides, not only did I discover that both of you have the good judgment to live in the right neighborhood, you both chose homes on the right side of the street! I could
never support a candidate whose front door bakes in the Sun all day long.

Seriously, I've tried to do my homework about you and the other candidates as best I can. I'm limited to the amount of time I can spend reading (due to a medical condition I have with my eyes), but talking with you two today
encouraged me that neither one of you embraces the idea of over-developing Lake Worth. I have a very urban consciousness, but I get concerned when I see too
many multi-family projects being approved. I understand the concept of population growth to support tax-generating commercial development, but these mega-projects threaten to over-burden the roads, dilute single-family property
values, and destroy the basic character of Lake Worth. I won't make the mistake of investing my time or energy in a town whose leadership lacks the sophistication to understand that.

I hope we'll have another chance to talk sometime. I saw some of those old post cards on your web site that showed the original Lake Worth Casino, and wondered if recreating something like that is what's being talked about over on the beach front. I just assumed "casino" meant gambling, and development meant "high-rise", but the opulent structure pictured in your post cards gave Lake Worth something priceless..... An IDENTITY.

Thank you for spending so much time with me today,

Warren Stewart
1828 N. K Street
And, my response:

Thanks Warren and nice to meet you too. Serendipity as it were. Yes, the original casino building had some interesting architecture, but happened to be in a very vulnerable position as it relates to storms, etc. The plan is to emulate the building, but not be a replica. We haven't seen the final plans for the building yet, but they should be moving forward during the later part of the
year.

And thanks for your assessment regarding Jeff and me. I'd really like to keep up a dialog with you and keep you informed on happenings, etc. Thanks also for displaying my sign and I am sure that Jeff appreciates that too.

Wes

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"

Positive Preliminary Reaction to the EAR

You know, in the midst of what seems like a never ending stream of bad news coming from 7 N. Dixie Hwy, it's nice to hear some good news for a change. The first results related to the saga of our Evaluation and Appraisal Report - EAR (a report required to be submitted to the State of Florida every 7 years that discusses how the City is performing related to its Master Plan). are in and they are POSITIVE!

At the January 16 meeting of the City Commission, the Commission voted 3-2 (Jennings, Drautz dissenting) to send the EAR to the State Department of Community Affairs. Along with the EAR, the land use change requests regarding the establishment of the Beach and Casino future land use district and another project related land use plan change were transmitted as well.

As part of the State review process, all Comprehensive Plan related matters are forwarded to Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council for their comments and those comments are then forwarded to Tallahassee.

The following letter represents Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council's take on our EAR:


You might remember at the January 16 meeting, before the vote on this item, Commissioner Jennings and Mayor Drautz made a big deal about this being "rushed through" and the Mayor said something to the effect of "Here we go again, Lake Worth sending up another incomplete document". It was almost as if he would relish the news that our EAR was incomplete - confirming his suspicions, whatever they are.

You can click on the above letter to see it in greater detail. If you are unable to on your computer, the following is a quote from the letter:

"...we have reviewed the Evaluation and Appraisal
Report (EAR) adopted by the City of Lake Worth on January 16, 2007. The City has done a very thorough job in preparing the EAR, including the incorporation of the results of the recent City-driven visioning and strategic master planning process."

So, the first step in the review process is complete and under review by the Department of Community Affairs. Our EAR, although late (a plight shared by many communities throughout the state), did the job that it was supposed to do and is being favorably received by reviewers. We, as all municipalities in Palm Beach County must do, will continue to address workforce housing issues as mentioned later in the letter.

"Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wes Blackman for Commissioner – District #3"