WARNING: We blocked a virus that was sent to you (by the City of Lake Worth!)

So says Gmail's virus catcher. And guess who the e-mail was from? None other than our own City of Lake Worth. See above - please be careful if you use an older computer or do not have web-based e-mail. This is HIGHLY irresponsible on the part of the city. And, it is something that almost never happens with e-mails sent by anyone!

One of the chief concepts behind "branding" - something that our Commission talks about - is that everything your organization does should reflect a morsel of that core "branding" message.

What does this say to every media outlet that receives this virus-filled email? That the City of Lake Worth doesn't know what they are doing, that no one is in charge and that it's dangerous to do business with them. This is exactly the same message that is sent through the City Commission or the City Administration actions or inactions - at least we are being consistent with our "branding" message.

But there is so much more that we could be if we demanded excellence and had, in this case, just a little more tech-savvy City Commission. There also seems to be a bias against digital communication - however green it is compared to the printed word - that it somehow only informs the elites due to the digital divide. The antidote to that attitude is to make sure that people that do not have access to computers be given the opportunity to obtain that access - which is one of the good things that the Resource Center is doing. Compass has a fantastic Cyber Center that is open to the public and the library is another good public resource for free Internet and computer access.

By the way, the City sent out another replacement e-mail on the same topic and included a "no virus" tag at the end of the subject line. That's kind of like shaking someone's hand and saying, "It's o.k., I don't have typhoid fever."
Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3