Sunday, May 1, 2016

A factual error in the Palm Beach Post about the City of Lake Worth and union negotiations

[Update: A correction was never published and that's no surprise. But the error was a good one in that a lot of new residents got to learn more about the City's recent history and many of the past mistakes and bad decisions that were made. And. . . tomorrow is Monday, so that means it's Lake Worth's special day again!]

If you didn't know, Lake Worth is one of the six special cities in Palm Beach County, according to The Palm Beach Post. Every Monday from now on, each and every week, our City will be featured and other cities like Palm Springs, the Great Walled City of Atlantis, and Lantana will not. Why? Because we're very special for some reason.
The other special cities are Jupiter, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach.
In the print edition, which you can also read online, there's a factual error which needs a correction. Here is the excerpt:

     "In 2000, former City Manager Susan Stanton switched pension plans to save the city money, moving from a 20-year plan to a 30-year program. Workers say this was done without negotiating with the unions."

In 2000, 'Susan Stanton' was then known as Steve Stanton and hadn't undergone a sex change as yet. Stanton's tenure as the city manager only lasted 953 days in Lake Worth after being fired in December 2011 (in 2000 Stanton was probably still in Largo, FL). You can read about that and also learn more about the City's current city manager, Michael Bornstein using this link and an excerpt from a post from last December on this blog:

     "Today (12/23/15) marks 1,346 days since City Manager Michael Bornstein was hired on April 16, 2012. There is nothing significant about 3 years, 8 months, and 7 days except as a matter of perspective. The previous city manager, Susan Stanton, was fired on December 6, 2011 after 953 days on the job."

Hope that clears things up. Also note the recent union negotiations are another mess the current majority on the City Commission has to fix. It will take many more years to fix all the problems created by "The Best Commission Ever!"* led by Stanton.

If you happen to be a resident of Lantana, Greenacres, Palm Springs, or any other city that's not as special as Lake Worth and you're curious why, well, a lot of other people are also very curious. Seriously, how many times does the Post need to publish the phone number for the Parks Department?

If you have something you would like to share from the City of Lake Worth, suburban Lake Worth (unincorporated County), the Lake Worth Corridor, or Greenacres here is how you contact the Post reporter, Kevin Thompson:
Email: kthompson@pbpost.com
561-820-4573
Twitter: @kevindthompson1

*"The Best Commission Ever!" (or BCE for short) was the mantra by the sycophants during the Stanton era who ignored all the bad decisions being made and the consequences to come. For example, there is the failed Casino plan, unused Community Block Grant money, gutting of code enforcement, and many other terrible decisions as well.