Friday, March 10, 2017

Until 4:00 today: Another good example of the new and improved “New Lake Worth”.*

Please Note: There is an “Open House” today at the Dept. of Community Sustainability from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., located at 1900 2nd Ave. North. Use this link for the press release from the City.

I happened to visit the Dept. of Community Sustainability office on Wednesday for a matter. This office houses the planning, historic resources, building and code enforcement staff. The whole look of the interior has been transformed.

Bright, contemporary colors combine the walls, office furniture and signage. You are greeted by a row of “windows” clearly marked “Customer Service” with a chair in front of each. This allows you to talk face-to-face with the city employee behind the opening. There are more new chairs in a waiting area.

For those who have never visited this office, a large conference room with windows (physically unchanged) lines the eastern wall so you can see who is meeting but not able to hear what is being said. Once in the conference room there are new black chrome office chairs along with more bright, contemporary colors.

I really encourage you to check out the “Open House” all day tomorrow.

The staff was very interested and engaged about whether you were being helped or if there was anything you needed while waiting. This combined with the steady heartbeat of press releases coming from the City’s Communications Specialist† (about time for a better title?) gives me more reason for hope about the future of our City.

We are seeing the transformation of our local government before our very eyes. There is still work to be done in terms of operational efficiency, but again, these changes are positive physical signs that things remain moving in the right direction.

*The idea of changing the name of the City of Lake Worth to “Lake Worth Beach”, “Jewell”, and the most recent idea, “New Lake Worth”, continues to be bantered about and discussed. Possibly an item at a future City Commission meeting?
Would Ben Kerr be the City’s spokesman? Another way of saying “Communications Specialist”? For questions and media inquiries contact Mr. Kerr at 561-586-1631; email: bkerr@lakeworth.org