Pics from Downtown Last Night

Looking west toward the Little Munich restaurant. We were on our way to the SurfRider event there.

Jim and Gina Stafford at Little Munich. We signed up as members of the SurfRider Foundation there.

Corner of K and Lake.

Group discussion going on at Lake Worth Playhouse.

Underside of new marquis outside the Lake Worth Playhouse.

Venus On-Guard, Mars on Alert

Have a Happy Easter...

Sustainability Lecture - FAU Jupiter Campus - 4/24

Matt Tompkins Resigns from CRA

(click on image for greater detail)

Horseshoe Crab Survey

We might be able to help out the Florida Fish and Wildlife Institute in the research related to the horseshoe crab. The full moon on Saturday of this week might bring a lot of the species out of hiding. Click here for the relevant Palm Beach Post article in today's paper. Click here for the link to the Fish and Wildlife horseshoe crab survey on-line. It also contains information on the plight of the horseshoe crab, which apparently is less of a crab and more of an insect.

Surfrider Fundraiser - 3/21

All,

Please spread the word to your members and friends to come join the Palm Beach Surfrider Foundation Chapter, Snook Foundation and its individual plaintiffs Friday night in Lake Worth to celebrate the petition filed against DEP and the Town of Palm Beach in order to save our reefs for surfing, diving, and fishing at Lake Worth Public Beach. This is history in the making….

See above flyer for info.

There will be some great music and raffle prizes, including a chance to win a boat! Please contact me if you are interested in donating any additional raffle items.

Hope to see you all there.

Ericka D'Avanzo
Florida Regional Manager
Surfrider Foundation
PO Box 683
Jensen Beach, FL 34957
772-225-3780
edavanzo@surfrider.org

Click here to give a gift that gives back:
https://www.surfrider.org/donate

Very flattered am I....

Thanks for visiting. It seems like we had a surge of page views after the City Commission meeting. Hmmmmmm. The most popular was the post about Nuisance Abatement Orders.

Just FYI.

Alert from Florida Cultural Alliance

Senate Bill - SB 610
DATE of Bill Review: Wednesday, 3/19/08, from 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

COMMITTEE: Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee

DEADLINE for Your Action: Please ACT BEFORE 4:00 PM on Tuesday, 3/18/08.

VOTE OUTCOME we want: Encourage Senators Bullard and Deutch to vote AGAINST
SB 610.

WHY VOTE AGAINST SB610:
This bill, if passed by 2008 Legislature, would require all school board
districts to mandate 225 minutes of physical education (PE) each week for
all students in grades 6-8, without providing an additional period or
funding to implement this requirement. Electives, such as theatre, music,
art, dance, as well as other electives, will be eliminated or drastically
limited in schools with 6-period days to make time to meet this PE mandate.
Senators Larcenia Bullard and Ted Deutch represent parts of Palm Beach
County and serve on the
Senate Education Pre-K-12Committee. Tallahassee telephone numbers and e-mail
addresses are listed below.

Who do I CALL and E-MAIL?
Please call AND e-mail the Senators¹ Tallahassee offices. You will probably
not get them directly when you call, but leave a message with one of their
assistants.
Senator Larcenia J. Bullard
E-mail:bullard.larcenia.web@flsenate.gov
Tallahassee Phone: (850) 487-5127
Legislative Assistants: Jennifer Alexandre, Linda Dallas
Administrative Assistants: Merdochey LeFrance, Ryan Hawkins

Senator Ted Deutch
E-mail: deutch.ted.web@flsenate.gov deutch.ted.web@flsenate.gov>
Tallahassee Phone: (850)487-5091
Administrative Assistants: Tara Lyn Laxer, Joshua Sztorc, Casey Kustin

Suggested MESSAGE: Copy, paste, and personalize this suggested message in
your e-mail and phone call to the Senators. Be brief, to the point, and
polite.

My name is______ and I live in Palm Beach County. I encourage you to please
OPPOSE SB 610 when it comes before the Senate Education Pre-K-12 committee
this Wednesday.

This bill, if passed, will have serious unintended consequences if
additional time (an extra period in the day); certified PE teachers; and
substantial financial resources are not allocated to properly and fairly
implement it.

Fine arts courses, as well as other important electives, that creatively
engage students in learning, encourage them to stay in school, and prepare
them for higher education will be eliminated or drastically limited if SB
610 passes.

Please OPPOSE SB 610. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Suggested Topics for Subject Box: Select one below; copy and paste it in
your e-mail subject box.

Please OPPOSE SB 610
Please VOTE NO on SB 610
SB 610 ‹Too Many Unintended Consequences!

House COMPANION bill? Yes, HB 757 ‹to date, no action taken on HB 757. We'll
keep you posted.
Questions? Please e-mail us at flculall@aol.com

Some items catching my eye on tommorow's City Commission agenda

Tomorrow is the second regular City Commission meeting for March. I've highlighted some topics on the agenda that captured my attention. The first, of course, is Commissioner Jennings - our self-described anarchist - leading the Pledge of Allegiance. This comes around every four regular meetings and it's always entertaining to hear her start the pledge - usually the first three words - and then try and look nonchalant as she fails to finish what she started. Sometimes she chimes in again at "...and liberty and justice for all..", but not all the time. Must be according to her mood. Or, on meetings such as these, she may just show up a little bit after the meeting begins to avoid the spectacle. Whatever...

I am sure that John Szerdi's presentation will be interesting related to Green construction techniques. It will be a good follow up to our tour of the EcoCentre two Friday's ago. This is an area that we have great common ground in the city, and the nation, for that matter. Something to "build upon" perhaps...

The next item that interested me is the ability to pay our utility bills by setting up an automatic payment program (already available, but now to be encouraged through an incentive) and the future ability to pay your bill on-line!

From the back-up:


This helps lead the way to other alternatives to pay your utility bills, besides waiting in that terrible line that flows out on to Lake Avenue. Remember, information that I gathered at the retreat said that the window will be eliminated in May - Yeah! Think of all the greenhouse gases we will be saving by eliminating the cars idling as they wait to pay their electric bills.

The next item that is of interest is the one that funds a transportation engineer. I find it interesting in that this seems like more a common, recurring item that would be a regular staple on most city commission agendas. This is especially true with the item concerning the improvement of the Worthmore crossing at the FEC tracks. This one item signals to me that we finally have an administration that is reacting to what actually needs to be done in the city. I remember when I was campaigning that it seemed like money was flying out the windows at City Hall and I wasn't far from the truth - as it turns out. But it seems to me that routine things like this were either ignored, or that Mock Roos was sure to get its tentacles on something and then it becomes a major bond issue or some such. I found this a refreshing change. But, I think it comes at the hands of Mr. Bates - not Mr. Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin is hard to find in his office, doesn't answer e-mails and can't be reached by phone. Why are we spending money on someone who isn't there and someone else is doing all the work? Film at eleven...

Then expect major protestations from those opposed to the FPL plant. These will be the same people that laid it all on the line a couple of weeks ago in front of the new gas-fired FPL plant. So, when city staff says this is a "win-win" situation to provide waste water for cooling for the new FPL plant, the dynamics should be interesting.

The drama continues...

By the way, you can always click on the link to the City's website (found on the right hand side of the blog) and get the back-up materials yourselves - something that I strongly encourage.

Lake Worth St. Patrick's Day Parade - Slideshow

Really a good showing - where I was stationed for the COP duty (traffic control) was at Lake Avenue and Lakeside Drive - most of the crowd watching the parade could be found between Federal and Dixie Hwys. So the pictures are a little deceiving as there weren't a whole bunch of people in this particular location watching the parade. All in all a wonderful day, however it would have been better on a weekend day (like last year) so that more people would have the benefit of being able to watch it on a traditional non-workday.

Remember, for the slideshow, you can click on the pictures and it will bring it up in more of a full screen mode and you can better control speed, etc.

Enjoy! Another great day to be in Lake Worth...

Oh, and here is a special message to a fellow COPer from the south end:

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mohandas Gandhi

Update and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've been through a busy time recently and haven't had a lot of time to post here. If you are going to the St. Patrick's Day parade this afternoon, you may see me in my COP uniform. I'll be amongst the other COPs that volunteered to be part of the parade. I'll have my camera with me and will post the pictures here later in the day. This is also the day of the St. Baldricks benefit for children with cancer - this will be taking place around Brogue's.

Have a great day!