A lot happened yesterday...

First the good news: The CRA voted to make a forgivable loan of $700,000 to the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. The Commission chambers were packed with supporter and all were singing praises about the relocation of this group into one of our downtown historic buildings. We will know more about which one specifically within the next few months. This really builds upon our already formidable arts community. Now, we will have the group that "trumpets" the arts and cultural goings-on of Palm Beach County to the entire world right in Lake Worth - a perfect fit. Nice to see lots of familiar faces there last night too. I'm just sorry I wasn't still on the CRA - I would have loved to throw in my vote to add to the unanimous chorus of approval.

Like I said, that was the good news of the day. This is how I spent most of the afternoon. The City Commission had another 1 p.m. daytime meeting that most find difficult to attend. I posted the agenda earlier on here. You can scroll down to the see the contents. My main purpose for attending was to hear and see what the item on the beach was about. As of yesterday morning, the back-up for that item was not available on the website. As it turns out, it may have been. If so, whoever loaded the actual back-up forgot to take out the first sheet that said "Back-up Material Coming." Maybe someone should make a point of checking that from now on.

When I got there, I visited the reception desk (to the left at the top of the stairs) and asked to see the back-up for the meeting. This is always a handy in-case-of-emergency break glass alternative. And, sure enough, there it was, the back-up memo for the beach item with a cover memo dated August 21 - which would have allowed it to be posted on the website.

So, I took a seat in the chambers and a sparse crowd was there - mostly those interested in the Sunset reversal. Presentations were being made by the engineering team respondents ffor the deep injection well project associated with the reverse osmosis plant. Most interesting quote coming from the dais was Commissioner Jennings saying, "I don't think I'm qualified to make this selection." This was echoed by the Mayor when he said he agreed and recalled feeling the same way with the selection of a City Manager. There we are ladies and gentlemen - the crux of our problem exposed.

After the presentations, the Commission re-ordered the agenda so that the public hearings on the Sunset matter could go first. It was not my intention to sit through that, but I did. I will say this: Forgive them for they know not what they do.

Then on to the beach. Mayor Clemens and Commissioner Lowe had left at this point of the meeting - so the three remaining Commissioners were Jennings, Golden and Mulvehill. What was before them was the final site plan for the beach (posted previously), the final list of public improvements and a summary of where the City is in relation to the original interlocal agreement with the County on the $5 million. The long and short of it is that we are ending up with a 628 space parking lot - restripped with new asphalt, some landscaping. About $2 million of the City's original pledge has "been allocated somewhere else" - this said under the breath of City Manager Stanton. As part of this, decal parking would be relegated to Old Bridge Park - which is a goodly walk from across the street west of A1A.

There was much talk amongst the three how this is just a parking lot that eventually may have shade once the landscaping grows in. The 628 spaces is a firm County requirement, verified in a recent meeting with Palm Beach County representatives, including Commissioner Vana. We have to maintain that number of spaces for 30 years, slightly less than forever according to the three Commissioners. They were very upset about the prospect of additional parking being taken out of the "dune" area (on both sides of the picnic pavilion - see site plan.) City Manager Stanton said something vague about in the future she would find a way to make the Casino building financially viable with decked parking - the only time the building came up in discussion from that side of the dais.

I was called upon last to offer public comment. I pointed out that this meeting had been called to order at 1 p.m. with the title on the agenda of "...Other Public Improvements at the Lake Worth Beach" - which in my mind was confusing as what would make up "other" when they were essentially talking about the entire project. If they really wanted to fill a room with people, call a meeting on the beach and book the auditorium at the High School - I have been at such meetings. Sending on this final product during an afternoon meeting is a way of hiding what is going on. I reminded them that most of the discussion related to this "new" beach project has been done during daytime meetings - to which City Manager Stanton later responded that the Charette was on a Saturday and all the other meetings were just a follow up to that (hmmmmm.) I told them that I was concerned about the scaling back of the project and wondered if the public would think of this as a "renovated" Lake Worth beach - with only new asphalt and a restripped parking lot to show for it. I also reminded them that they have not addressed what will happen to the Casino building and how it will relate to the site. And, if everything proceeds as planned, we will have darker asphalt, parking laid out differently and the same dogeared building staring at us. I wondered if at this point is the project even worth doing? I pointed out that it might be a good idea to contact decal permit holders and let them know this is going to happen, etc. I told them it is looking more and more like the County money is in question.

Immediately, Commissioner Jennings said that the Commission should really put this item on their regular meeting agenda for September 1st. She also wants to get representatives from the County to attend - County Commissioner Vana was mentioned. They want to make a plea to be released from the requirement of providing that number of parking spaces. Commissioner Jennings noted: "This is another example of the County telling us what to do." Really? Mention was also made by City Manager Stanton about the difficulty the County has with other matters regarding Lake Worth and that they might be tiring of that. She urged old-fashioned "one-on-ones" with County Commissioners leading up to their decision to amend the contract for the $5 million.

So that is where the beach project sits right now - new surface parking lots paved by County dollars. This project now ranks about 1 or 2 on the 10 point Visionary Scale.