Friday, September 29, 2017

Remember when a former Lake Worth commissioner suggested potholes shouldn’t be fixed, we need potholes for “traffic calming”?


It’s hard to believe now, but last year prior to the Neighborhood Road Program bond referendum, one of the illogical leaps by a former commissioner was that fixing potholes would make the public less safe and increase the number of vehicle crashes. Don’t believe it? Continue reading.

And this same commissioner, when the public here in the City was confused, worried, and upset about cryptic comments concerning his personal safety, when asked to explain said:
“I think I’ll pass. I think people will figure it out on their own.”
Saying “I think I’ll pass” was nothing new for this former commissioner, Chris McVoy, PhD. He said close the same thing in August 2014, the day after the first bond vote failed by just 25 votes. Whilst everyone else kept working hard and find ways to fix our roads, this commissioner just sat on his hands and did nothing for over 2 years, until he was booted out of office in March of this year.

Then leading up to the Neighborhood Road Bond referendum last November he played the role of obstructionist once again. After the referendum passed (by an overwhelming margin) he still tried to scuttle progress with all kinds of tactics and twisted logic. One of those illogical leaps is that potholes serve an important function: traffic calming? Ludicrous.

Even more absurd was suggesting the City isn’t considering a traffic calming component for the upcoming road improvements. Simply not true at all.

Now back to those cryptic comments McVoy made about his personal safety. You can hear McVoy for yourself say, “I think I’ll pass” at the 1:40 mark in the video (see below). Here’s the transcript:

Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell: “Before I begin my comments I guess I’d like to ask [former commissioner] McVoy to speak with a more specific level of detail because it seems like something is weighing on his mind and I’d like to know what it is.” 

Mayor Pam Triolo: “If you would like to Commissioner McVoy. You don’t have to.” 

Chris McVoy, PhD:I think I’ll pass. I think people will figure it out on their own.”

[then an audible mumbling can be heard from throughout the Commission chambers]



This discussion occurred in 2016. The public was left on their own to figure out what McVoy was referring to and some speculated it was about how he thought he’d been treated disrespectfully or unfairly. Later on responded with this blog post titled, More on “civility” and a stroll down memory lane: A mayor burned in effigy and names on bullets:

An image of Mayor Pam Triolo after the first bond vote to fix our roads failed, by just 25 votes, in August 2014. Not very “charming” is it?

Who exactly were the “Special interests” back in 2014? And if you would like to talk about civility, please, be my guest. Ever get your name on a bullet?