City Attorney Larry Karns could not be reached for comment, despite an attempt by telephone. Though a settlement agreement was reached, the city did not make an admission of liability.and:
The settlement includes payment of the plaintiffs' attorney fees, which total $195,000.
See comment for fact correction.
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Oral argument before the 4th DCA on September 10. FYI. This is regarding the Sunset property and the possibility of a referendum on the rezoning and land use designation - this is an appeal of the Circuit Court ruling.
Dear Community Leaders,
Click title for link to staff back-up showing changes from recommended budget identified as proposed budget.
Palm Beach County officials have argued that the church is running a shelter illegally in a residentially zoned neighborhood. Further, it has charged at various times that the facility is a fire hazard, unsafe for housing up to 100 nightly.
The church has gone to battle in court on the zoning matter and lost, but the decision is under appeal. As for the safety hazards, the church has managed to stay one step ahead of being shut down through donations and last-ditch repairs and upgrades.
Hello, As some of you know my house was burgled last month. The thieves were (and are) staying at 431 N. L St. aided and abetted by a well known ringleader lowlife next door at 425 N. L St. I know this from neighbors, police and the prostitute who was acting as lookout while the guy robbed my house. The Swat team visited 425 L St. about three weeks ago, according the neighbor at 423 L who saw it happen. Wes Blackman has highlighted our plight, with the help of the neighbor at 423, on his website and I want to thank him for helping our neighborhood by showing the deplorable conditions of a city owned property that is holding our neighborhood hostage. Armand has been helpful as well. But the time has come to tear down those back shacks and broker a deal with Adopt-A-Family to rehab the historic property. Matt Constantine told me there is interest. Ditto for 503 N. K St. which had a fire set in it over the weekend by vagrants - a waste of expensive city services. Thank you in advance for your immediate action in this matter.
(Note: This was originally posted in early August. I'm bumping it up as a comment was left this morning.)
Up-date: I am told by city staff that it is best to contact the police department on their non-emergency number to report this sort of activity
The editors of the Palm Beach Post published their endorsement of the proposed Day Labor Center on September 1st. This is my response which did not appear in the paper. The Commission will meet tonight, Sept. 2 at 6 pm to vote on the matter. Please attend and make your feelings about this important issue known.
Re: lead editorial, "Don't blame Lake Worth, Labor center is solution for immigrant workers"
Your editorial position - "that Lake Worth should do what Jupiter and Loxahatchee Groves have done: Provide a safe place for day laborers to meet people who want to hire them" overlooks the simple fact that the proposal before our Commission is vastly different than what was implemented by our neighbors to the north and west.
Neither of those cities proposed to vacate 65 percent of the only city-owned recreation facility available for more than 200 city blocks. Both of those cities worked hard to line up non-profit organizations with the interest and financing in place to operate their centers. Each of those cities made considerable effort to hear and answer neighboring residents concerns. And finally, the Residents of Jupiter and Loxahatchee Groves enjoy millage rates of 2.5 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, as opposed to Lake Worth tax payers who labor under a millage burden of 7.3 percent.
Lake Worth Residents are facing severe cuts in sanitation services, drastic reductions in life saving operations at our beach, the elimination of 33% of our fire/rescue fleet and the further delay of necessary capital improvement projects in our electric, water and sewer systems. Unpaved city streets will remain unpaved yet another year. As Lake Worth approaches its' Centennial, even our City Museum is threatened with closure. Lake Worth just signed a contract with Palm Beach County Sheriff's office to provide police services primarily because of our inability to fund Police pension obligations and our inability to recruit or retain additional officers.
The pool of documented City of Lake Worth employees was diminished last year by 42 positions and faces even more lay-offs, terminations, and job eliminations this year, further reducing the services Lake Worth taxpayers will receive from our City. None of these hardworking, underpaid city employees enjoyed the benefit of new job placement or re-training to assist them and their families. Free services to assist and assimilate Lake Worth's undocumented non-citizens are currently provided in another city owned building right across the street from the proposed day labor/resource center. If any shared use should be considered, perhaps our officials should think about locating our Code Enforcement offices there in the heart of the city's blight and chronic code violations instead of paying market rent to house Code Enforcement off city property.
The only traffic hazard along Lake and Lucerne Avenue is the lack of vehicles coming to work or shop in our downtown and the harassment of those few who make the attempt. Forty-two percent of our retail space is vacant and no one is beating down the doors to our building department for permits or new business licenses. The number of free lance job seekers has diminished as our local landscape and construction industry struggles to survive. The number of thugs and thieves who prey on the undocumented has increased, attracting a new dangerous element of concern for the few home-owners left in surrounding neighborhoods.
The consortium of non-profits solicited by Commissioner Jennings to run the center has failed to materialize a Memorandum of Understanding outlining the specific responsibilities each will provide. Funding for operations of the center remains elusive and no financial statements from any of the proposed service providers has been forthcoming despite repeated requests. Furthermore, supporters of the proposal have dismissed legitimate questions about the center financing with charges of racism and "white middle class nativism, vigilantism and bigotry."
Lake Worth would do well to emulate the officials of Jupiter and Loxahatchee Groves by first addressing one of the highest millage rates in Palm Beach County, offering essential city services that measure up to that rate before they squander limited city resources on social services that benefit the minority at the considerable expense of the majority.
I'd like to remind everyone who comes here that I encourage you to leave your comment(s) and react to what I post. This has been a feature of this blog since its inception. And in the two year plus history of the blog (one that has about 1,000 different posts), I only remember rejecting a total of two comments that readers have left due to objectionable content.
An example of some of the upside-down logic of the current District #2 Commissioner:
Wes - well, things got slow in WPB and ther didn't seem to be too much on the horizon. I was here in early May for a short (10 days) assignment, took that one pretty much for the adventure and to say I'd been here, but was approached at that time about a coming back for a more extended stay. The money is great, hours are long, safety/security hasn't been an issue but there's always the chance, so here I am - I've just completed the 1st two months of a one-year tour. Probably a good thing I volunteered as well, because the guys back in WPB have been on shortened hours for over a month and there may be layoffs soon if there's no FL work.
Work is mostly construction inspection and contract administration, stuff I know a lot about, just the culture/attitude towards business is quite different. Example, with only a slight exagerration:
The pipe is supposed to be steel, and the contractor is trying to use plastic - I point his out, saying they can't use it, and they tell me "No, no, is steel" - I say that if it were steel, a magnet would stick to it but they insist, "is steel, is steel", all with a straight face and I'm wondering how they can lie like this - only later does it occur to me that they weren't lying and what they were saying was "is steal, is steal" and they want to bury it before the rightful owner shows up!
Anyway, hope you are well and having fun - take care.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUL75cv6zJQFjX15ojOIIz9AjnbqH4asHJTYSDhnGnYr7rJZRha1NcNTirj2xPcId158vkz5Hw-wXgOfrlztj8Zr8jLFFCfuEN6PyV44ZlpMRmJ68xbtFL9vzxNiG7xDs_HJvm/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
