This was left as a comment tonight...

...under the post regarding the Day Labor Center and Commissioner Cara Jennings' circumventing of the process as it relates to the zoning and land use designation for the property. My original post is one that has been up for some time, so this person must have just stumbled upon it tonight. I guess Cara's supporters are just now getting around to cruising the Internet. This is what he said:

Where were you when the City violated its Comprehensive Plan in a dozen ways to build the Lucerne condo? Or the dozens of other development projects that required unneeded variances in violation of the our Comprehensive Plan?
Oh yeah, you were there facilitating them on the Planning & Zoning Board.

You seem to have so much time on your hands to explore and critique the workings of the city. Why can't you put energy into issues that benefit the community beyond real estate developers and middle class yuppies?!

..I challenge you to a karaoke duel, tonite, SouthShore Tavern 12 midnight. Be there or be a sleazy lackey for corporate greed and fascist xenophobia.

-panagioti evangelos tsolkas

First of all, do you find it pretentious that someone would refuse to capitalize the initial letter of their name? I do. I think it is done to somehow signify that you realize that you are individually not as important as people that do capitalize the first letter of their name. You are, therefore, more filled with humility and compassion than those that follow convention and capitalize the first letter of their name. An affectation, but again underlining the divide that we have between those core supporters of Commissioner Cara Jennings (or is it cara jennings?) and those that are not within the inner circle as this gentleman (perhaps an elitist term?) is most definitely. I found an interesting article on this subject if you care to read it.

And here, in this question to me on my blog - and not through another means like talking, calling or even e-mailing - this gentleman is bringing up the Lucerne Building. We all know that the building is indeed there and that, yes, I was on the Planning and Zoning board when it went through the review process. But, the building that was eventually built was not the building that we, sitting as the Planning and Zoning board, approved. The one that we approved had public parking spaces - not just reserved for those who were owners of condominium units. It was also one that had much more visual interest than the one that was built due to the elimination of ornamentation along the building's roof.

No, that plan changed due to the intervention of the developer, the CRA, the City Commission and the building department after it went through the Planning and Zoning board. It should have come back, but it didn't. And that, sir, is a corruption of process, which also has a lot in common with the ignoring the zoning and land use implications for the Day Labor Center in the shuffleboard court building - avoiding public input in the process - just executing a lease without that in place. Now it's being dealt with in an "after the fact" manner.

I'd like to remind you that the Lucerne project was challenged in court by many of Commissioner Jennings' sympathizers and they were ultimately not successful in scuttling the project. It withstood legal challenges and is there now. For better or worse, the building will be part of the downtown area for a long while.

And, apparently, the writer with the lower case name forgets that I supported Commissioner Cara Jennings in her initial campaign and voted for her rather than her opponent. Perhaps now you scratch your head and ask,"How can that be?" In response, I sayeth thus: Cara Jennings was involved in the community, had been to public meetings, was part of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee and spoke for a segment of the population of Lake Worth that I thought was under-represented on the dais. That would be those that might have had a issue with the Lucerne building or the beach or what have you. When I supported Cara Jennings in her initial run for office, I still expected that she would represent the rest of the city too - not just her circle or her interests.

That's where I was proven wrong through her record on the Commission from the day that she took the oath office - I guess that would be like the pledge of allegiance, but we know she is troubled by that.

Now, I maintain this blog because it is something that I like to do. Part of the reason I do it is to counter the poor job that the City or sitting elected officials do to get the word out to the public on what the City is doing. Yes, it takes a lot of time, but I don't mind it. I wouldn't mind doing it even if no one read what I wrote. The fact that people do and respond to it makes it even more worthwhile. I ran for office myself with what I thought was a bundle of experience and ideas about what Lake Worth needed, but a narrow margin of residents said differently in the run-off election.

What motivates me is to make Lake Worth a better place to live, work and play and I would hope that Commissioner Cara Jennings and you would share those motivations. And I would also hope that you realize that we can get more done working together than we can do apart. Automatically assuming that I am solely for developer interests or the "yuppy middle class" is an over-simplification that does not justify your intelligence. We are in this together as residents of Lake Worth and working together should be the focus of Cara Jennings' campaign.

It's not and that is why I am supporting Cara's opponent Mary Lindsey this time.

As for your invitation to a karaoke duel, I must turn it down tonight. One reason is that I felt compelled to respond to you in this way and the other is that I just wanted to stay in tonight. I hope you understand that and you don't think it's due to me being a "sleazy lackey for corporate greed and fascist xenophobia."

You obviously don't know me very well to use those terms. I urge you to try to get to know me better in the future. And if you want to talk about any other decisions/votes/pronouncements during my eight year stint on the Planning and Zoning board, I'd be pleased to discuss them with you.

Or would you rather lie in the street and block entrance to my driveway?