Now, now Wes.So, let's delve a little deeper into our conversation as it relates to the beach. We talked about many things during our hour long conversation and Doctor Varela comes across as a thoughtful and principled person but lacks knowledge of the history and background of the Lake Worth Beach odyssey and therefore is somewhat naive. A good example of that was his response to the question regarding the beach.
It appears that you may have missed your true calling in life. Indeed, you managed to condense an hour long conversation (that I requested) into one, poorly phrased, manipulation of a sound bite. That was surely the envy of the corporate mainstream media. The blogoshere is supposed to be our oasis from that sort of mindless manipulation. As I said to you in our conversation, I fully expect and encourage to be challenged by Lake Worth's active citizenry, including you. This is the only way that we can insure elected officials are kept accountable. However, I am disappointed when your blog doesn't even attempt to extend the effort to mount a decent challenge to my entire point. How can we move forward in this city if we continue to dissect each other's words to form a damning sentence for publication.
As for our conversation, I continue to assert that when there is a stalemate in progress, some form of diplomacy must occur. It is the only thing that has historically overcome impasses. I also believe that there is much more that unites us than divides us. Some choose to focus on the divisions, but I remain hopeful that we can come together for a better Lake Worth. Hopefully, you can continue to work hard to be part of the solution for all residents. There is enough fuel for the divided factions in this city, why don't we break out of that mold and bring the majority of well-meaning residents to the goal that they all seek: A better life for them and their loved ones.
Respectfully,
Rene' A. Varela
Intended candidate for Lake Worth City Commission District 4
Paid for and approved by Rene' A Varela for Lake Worth City Commission District 4.
***Must include that disclaimer, lest I annoy the author of the cute 'Dolphin Boy' blog entries. Maybe you can pass that along to him when you see him?
He said that 90% of the people in this town have lost faith that anything will happen at the beach. Half of the rest either don't want anything done there or just to make minimal improvements and half want to follow through with Greater Bay on the current plan. We agreed that the lawsuits create certain obstacles right now. He then mentioned the existence of other plans (?) and that everyone seems to want their version of what they think the beach should be. He thought it was a good time to, within a month's timeframe of public input, come up with what really should be at the beach. He did express that whatever is there should be able to feed our downtown and he didn't seem to shy away from some sort of commercial content on the beach. He expressed his opinion that if the casino building needs to come down due to structural concerns, that the reason for doing that must be based on objectivity and that information should be made amply available to the public. He believed that the City had some sort of moral obligation to assist in the relocation of the tenants there and not just let them find space in our downtown area, or other location.
This is why I think that Doctor Verela's thoughts are naive. How many different versions of beach redevelopment have we seen and been a part of over the past 30 years? Too many to count. All have come and gone and in the meantime we have the deplorable conditions of facilities there that we have today. To think that within one month's time we could come together as a community and do something substantially different than what is currently being discussed, which already does have support within the community, is wishful thinking at best. I also think that his estimate on the base of support for doing something like the current plan and partnership at the beach is grossly underestimated. That was not my experience in walking neighborhoods during my campaign last year.
What opponents of the beach plan, which seem to be Doctor Varela's early base of support, fail to realize is that Greater Bay is willing to adjust their site plan. In my many talks with Peter Willard, he has always shown a flexibility in what is proposed as part of the redevelopment plan. The initial site plan was an "illustrative plan" - meant to be discussed and amended as it went through the site plan review process - which hasn't happened yet. The City is in a partnership with this private entity to redevelop the beach which is founded on a contractual relationship. I fully expect that Greater Bay and the City can come up with a workable plan. Doctor Verela did not acknowledge that possibility in our discussion.
There will be more later on our discussion. I hope that the good Doctor Verela understands that and will rely more on himself getting out his platform through the campaign process rather than in me having to recount our conversation.
I did enjoy the opportunity to meet with Doctor Varela and I thank him for making the effort to contact me.
And, Doctor Varela, always include the disclaimer as it is required by state law.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
