Saturday, November 10, 2007
Veteran's Day Parade
This is the first successful upload of a video. I took this with my digital camera as the batteries were wearing out and I think that affected the quality. We'll try again on some other subject matter. There was a good crowd out today and a nice showing in the parade. Lots of participation.
THANK YOU VETERANS FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR OUR NATION!
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Friday, November 9, 2007
A couple of other things that I'd like to mention...
Just following up from the last post, during the question and answer session following the presentation, the Mayor seemed very interested in the concept of establishing a shuttle along the Lake Worth Road corridor - between the beach and Palm Beach Community College. This would also take care of Lake Worth Towers and trips to the grocery, as well. The key point made by the group that came here was that the time between shuttles would have to be less than 10 minutes and it would have to be marketed well to capture the Community College traffic. These vehicles could use bio-diesel or hybrid technologies for less environmental impact. This idea was echoed by none other than Drew Martin at the last Commission meeting.
I really like the concept of bike lockers
and a bicycle "fix-it" station as part of the transit oriented development - another one of the ideas brought forth. We could even have some downtown and at the beach. The bike locker pictured here is just one of the styles available. You can do a Google search to see the other varieties.
Look for more posts coming up that summarize other presentations made last Wednesday. It's been a while since we've had a "Truth Matters" show so look for one this coming Tuesday from 8 to 9 p.m. I will also be joining Jim Stafford for the "Live Show" on Lake Worth Talk next Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
I really like the concept of bike lockers
Look for more posts coming up that summarize other presentations made last Wednesday. It's been a while since we've had a "Truth Matters" show so look for one this coming Tuesday from 8 to 9 p.m. I will also be joining Jim Stafford for the "Live Show" on Lake Worth Talk next Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Summary Presentation - Rail-Volution Conference Lake Worth Tri-Rail Charette











One of the concepts the Canadians present offered was that of "ECO-density". This is a whole movement that is being promoted by city of Vancouver, British Columbia. You can see mention of it under the comments offered by Group 2. I am preparing an upcoming post that will include some samples of information from Vancouver. There are a lot of things that we can capitalize on here, given their lead. And it happens to be consistent with my approach on redevelopment within Lake Worth. So look for more information on that soon. If you want to get a start on it, you can click here and that will take you to an informative .pdf booklet on the concept of eco-density.




Group 2 Comments
• Broader range of housing
opportunities to match
demographic changes
• “Eco Density”: Enough people
living close enough together to
reduce ecological footprint and
need to drive. Includes high
quality of life, local services within
walking distance
• “Invisible Density” – increase
housing without changing
neighborhood character:
Secondary units, smaller units,
better managed parking
• Broader range of housing
opportunities to match
demographic changes
• “Eco Density”: Enough people
living close enough together to
reduce ecological footprint and
need to drive. Includes high
quality of life, local services within
walking distance
• “Invisible Density” – increase
housing without changing
neighborhood character:
Secondary units, smaller units,
better managed parking
(Note: For some reason the slide with the above information did not translate well to a jpeg format. If you would like a copy of the whole PowerPoint presentation, please e-mail me or we can meet up and I can let you download from a thumb-drive.)






Thursday, November 8, 2007
Traffic is Up!
I thought that you'd be interested in seeing some statistics from this blog. The graphs below show the activity for the last 30 days (blue line), compared to the previous 30 days (green line). Note that there were 655 visits to this site over the past 30 days coming from 225 unique visitors.

The chart below shows the sources of traffic. Direct means that someone types in wesblackman.blogspot.com in the browser address window or has it as a bookmark. Search engines mean that they use a service like Google and type in "Wes Blackman" or "Lake Worth" in the search box. Referring sites mean that someone has a link on their site to this one. Almost 50% of the traffic here is direct traffic.
Below is a summary of the number of pages visitors look at while here. FYI: The most popular item of the blog is the "Beach" category. No surprise.
This is using the Google tracking software and web application. For some reason September numbers were unusually low and that was not reflected on my other tracking software. This month they seem to be more in sync.
Thanks for visiting and I hope what you find here is of interest.

The chart below shows the sources of traffic. Direct means that someone types in wesblackman.blogspot.com in the browser address window or has it as a bookmark. Search engines mean that they use a service like Google and type in "Wes Blackman" or "Lake Worth" in the search box. Referring sites mean that someone has a link on their site to this one. Almost 50% of the traffic here is direct traffic.


Thanks for visiting and I hope what you find here is of interest.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
More from the meeting...
So, both of those items passed on second reading, so they will be on the ballot on January 29th. There was another item too that passed concerning residency requirements for the Police and Fire Chiefs. Commissioner Jennings brought up the prospect of merging operations with the County and wondered if it was wise to change our charter given that major structural change. She thought that the issue would be moot if the mergers/takeovers go through. By the way, I heard today that the County pulled out of the negotiations today related to pension costs. We may be hearing more on this shortly.
Another item that took up a lot of time concerned the day labor situation on Lake and Lucerne. Apparently the State weighed in and said that the City cannot have the signs and the cones there anymore. So, now fines will be levied on those that attempt to pick up the workers, but not the workers themselves. All this activity would be moved to the shuffleboard courts. Commissioner Jennings, who voted no and was the only one to do so, was concerned about liability and enforcement "if things got out of hand there" - meaning fights for work, etc. There was a renewed discussion regarding the need for a labor center and part of the motion, made by Commissioner Golden, included calling for a workshop to talk to all social service agencies that might have a role in addressing the situation.
That's when I left the meeting. I understand that the Tree Ordinance passed 3 - 2, with Commissioners Vespo and Lowe voting no. The FMPA matter was tabled and I am not sure if there was a date certain or not. Certainly, the City needs some expert advice in this area to help map a strategy so that the City is protected over the long haul in relation to it electric power producing capacity. It is obvious the many cooks have had their hand in the broth here on the City's part, but none have adequately asserted the City's interest. Hopefully, some delay here will be used to strengthen the City's position.
The other item of particular interest was the appeal of the Sunset decision. The Commission voted 3 - 2, with Commissioners Golden and Jennings dissenting, to appeal the ruling. This is a smart thing to do and it has ramifications for municipalities around the state. Basically, the judge is asking that the City determine the number of parcels are affected by the land use plan change (the challenge related to the zoning was denied since that is considered a development order). According to the law and the judge, anything affect 5 or less parcels cannot be overturned by referendum. Any land use plan change affecting 6 or more parcels can be. So, what is the difference between 5 and 6 - an arbitrary decision in my mind. It also means that municipalities, in order to preempt a referendum would have to determine how many parcels are affected at the time of a land use decision. There is no way to "scientifically" determine how many are affected and it would lead to long-winded and ultimately meaningless decisions regarding the number of parcels affected. Remember that this is part of a slippery slope leading to referendums for all comprehensive plan and land use changes that is the keystone of the Hometown Democracy movement.
FYI: The group that sued the City is using the services of the attorney that is behind that movement. Adhering to the judge's ruling would be a step in that direction.
One last note: It is disappointing that one side seems to be disproportionately represented at City Commission meetings.
Another item that took up a lot of time concerned the day labor situation on Lake and Lucerne. Apparently the State weighed in and said that the City cannot have the signs and the cones there anymore. So, now fines will be levied on those that attempt to pick up the workers, but not the workers themselves. All this activity would be moved to the shuffleboard courts. Commissioner Jennings, who voted no and was the only one to do so, was concerned about liability and enforcement "if things got out of hand there" - meaning fights for work, etc. There was a renewed discussion regarding the need for a labor center and part of the motion, made by Commissioner Golden, included calling for a workshop to talk to all social service agencies that might have a role in addressing the situation.
That's when I left the meeting. I understand that the Tree Ordinance passed 3 - 2, with Commissioners Vespo and Lowe voting no. The FMPA matter was tabled and I am not sure if there was a date certain or not. Certainly, the City needs some expert advice in this area to help map a strategy so that the City is protected over the long haul in relation to it electric power producing capacity. It is obvious the many cooks have had their hand in the broth here on the City's part, but none have adequately asserted the City's interest. Hopefully, some delay here will be used to strengthen the City's position.
The other item of particular interest was the appeal of the Sunset decision. The Commission voted 3 - 2, with Commissioners Golden and Jennings dissenting, to appeal the ruling. This is a smart thing to do and it has ramifications for municipalities around the state. Basically, the judge is asking that the City determine the number of parcels are affected by the land use plan change (the challenge related to the zoning was denied since that is considered a development order). According to the law and the judge, anything affect 5 or less parcels cannot be overturned by referendum. Any land use plan change affecting 6 or more parcels can be. So, what is the difference between 5 and 6 - an arbitrary decision in my mind. It also means that municipalities, in order to preempt a referendum would have to determine how many parcels are affected at the time of a land use decision. There is no way to "scientifically" determine how many are affected and it would lead to long-winded and ultimately meaningless decisions regarding the number of parcels affected. Remember that this is part of a slippery slope leading to referendums for all comprehensive plan and land use changes that is the keystone of the Hometown Democracy movement.
FYI: The group that sued the City is using the services of the attorney that is behind that movement. Adhering to the judge's ruling would be a step in that direction.
One last note: It is disappointing that one side seems to be disproportionately represented at City Commission meetings.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
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