Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Friday, October 16, 2009
Endorsement Letter from Realtors Association
Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Message from Christina Morrison Pearce
On Tuesday, October 20th at 6 PM the Lake Worth City Commission will be voting to severely cut back the height limitations on ALL future buildings throughout the City. The Commission has proposed that no future buildings be any higher than 30 feet in most areas, no homes be higher than 2 stories anywhere in the City, and commercial areas, including Dixie Highway , Lake Worth Road and other commercial corridors, be limited to mostly 25 feet. The proposed height limits are shown in the chart below.
If you own property in the City of Lake Worth, such onerous restrictions will only serve to further erode your property's value, will limit your rights as a property owner, and will also limit future taxation opportunities for the City thereby leaving the entire onus of the tax burden on you, the existing residents and owners of property in Lake Worth. Aren't our taxes and other City fees high enough already??
These proposed changes, discussed in City documents as "EAR-Based Amendments" so that most residents and property owners won't realize what the Commission is proposing to do, will serve as a death sentence to most new development throughout the City and would even threaten the proposed Publix market building since it is submitted to be 48 feet in height.
If you care about Lake Worth , your property, its future value and/or the future of this promising City, please attend the Commission meeting on Tuesday, October 20th at 6 PM at City Hall and speak against this damaging proposal. Your help in this endeavor is sorely needed and will be most appreciated.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
E-mail from Supporter - We can more more compassionate than this!
Click for larger imagePolitical Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Just received word that the Palm Beach County Board of Realtors endorsed my campaign!
Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Click here for link to New Times Blog article on Publix and the LW CRA
I attended the CRA meeting last night after finishing up with the N.O.W forum - the vote was unanimous to grant the project $500,000 for infrastructure improvements. But not after some scares from the CRA. I remember wondering out loud if I had ever heard a member of a CRA anywhere be more concerned about the negative effects of rising property values rather than the threat of declining property values.
If you are interested, the project will be before the Planning and Zoning Board tonight - the meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Nice to see good news from time to time!
If you are interested, the project will be before the Planning and Zoning Board tonight - the meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Nice to see good news from time to time!
Agenda and Back-up Material for Today's Joint City/County Commission meeting at 3 p.m. - PBCC
Per the previous post, I would refer to this map if you plan to attend the PUBLIC meeting:
The agenda and back-up information came from Palm Beach County - not the City of Lake Worth.
Joint City/County Commission meeting - PBCC - 3 p.m.
Some things never change - but they will if you vote for me on November 3rd. This is the kind of public information we have come to expect when dealing with the City of Lake Worth.
First, a little background: There is a joint meeting scheduled today between the City and County Commissions regarding the bulk water agreement between the two entities. It's billed as "Conflict Resolution" and results from the City stiffing the county in the amount of $6 million - the current City Commission wants out of the contract. The contract was entered into when the previous City Commission could not get a permit for the Reverse Osmosis plant from DEP and canceled work on the project. The current City Commission is charging ahead with the Reverse Osmosis plant - which at the current time does not have the permits necessary to allow for deep well injection for the waste generated by the plant.
Below, after some searching, is the announcement of the meeting on the City's website.
The agenda for the meeting is not available on the City's website:
Since this joint meeting will be held at Palm Beach Community College's Lake Worth campus, we called the City Manager's secretary to get directions to Room NS29. We were told that the meeting was "not open to the public" - of course it's open to the public! We were then transferred to the City Clerk's office and given the following set of directions:
"It's in the Board of Trustee's room. Use the Lake Worth Road entrance, park in the blue lot - B-13 through 16, do not park in the reserved spaces, get out of your car and head south, there is a banner sign on top of the building and there is construction."
Below is the information from the Palm Beach County website (click title for link to complete listing of county meetings in October - this information is on page 7)
According to the County, the meeting is in room CE129 and, after calling the County and then PBCC, we received the following directions:
"Come in off of Lake Worth Road, take the first right and go all the way to the end, past Social Science, across from the Library. The meeting room is opposite the bathrooms."
This is the item as described on page 7 of the County schedule.
Given what we know about Lake Worth and the reliability of information coming from the city, I would go with the County's directions.
Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
First, a little background: There is a joint meeting scheduled today between the City and County Commissions regarding the bulk water agreement between the two entities. It's billed as "Conflict Resolution" and results from the City stiffing the county in the amount of $6 million - the current City Commission wants out of the contract. The contract was entered into when the previous City Commission could not get a permit for the Reverse Osmosis plant from DEP and canceled work on the project. The current City Commission is charging ahead with the Reverse Osmosis plant - which at the current time does not have the permits necessary to allow for deep well injection for the waste generated by the plant.
Below, after some searching, is the announcement of the meeting on the City's website.
The agenda for the meeting is not available on the City's website:
Since this joint meeting will be held at Palm Beach Community College's Lake Worth campus, we called the City Manager's secretary to get directions to Room NS29. We were told that the meeting was "not open to the public" - of course it's open to the public! We were then transferred to the City Clerk's office and given the following set of directions:"It's in the Board of Trustee's room. Use the Lake Worth Road entrance, park in the blue lot - B-13 through 16, do not park in the reserved spaces, get out of your car and head south, there is a banner sign on top of the building and there is construction."
Below is the information from the Palm Beach County website (click title for link to complete listing of county meetings in October - this information is on page 7)
According to the County, the meeting is in room CE129 and, after calling the County and then PBCC, we received the following directions:"Come in off of Lake Worth Road, take the first right and go all the way to the end, past Social Science, across from the Library. The meeting room is opposite the bathrooms."
This is the item as described on page 7 of the County schedule.
Given what we know about Lake Worth and the reliability of information coming from the city, I would go with the County's directions.Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Note from N.O.W.
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for appearing at the North PB County NOW Candidates' forum tonight. We appreciate the time you took to share your views with us.
For those who left before the end, we want you to know that Wes Blackman, Loretta Sharpe, Javier Del Sol, Rene Varela, and Laurence McNamara arrived early and were able to participate in the forum.
Jo-Ann Golden arrived later during the NOW membership meeting and Ron Exline arrived about 8:30. Both were able to address the NOW members.
Again, many thanks for sharing in our event.
H. Joan Waitkevicz, for the North PB County NOW Board and members
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
N.O.W. Mission...(sponsor of forum at Compass at 6 p.m. tonight)
The purpose of the Florida National Organization for Women, Inc. is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men. This includes, but is not limited to, equal rights and responsibilities in all aspects of citizenship, public service, employment, education and family life.
We support AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, equal opportunity for women and people of color. Florida NOW condemns the racism which inflicts a double burden of race and sex discrimination on women of color. Seeing human rights as indivisible, we are committed to identifying and fighting against those barriers to equality and justice that are imposed by racism. We believe Affirmative Action is a necessary tool to achieve balance.
FLNOW is committed to LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS. We continue to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation in all areas, including employment, public accommodations, housing, child custody, military and immigration policy and legally recognized marriage.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS are issues of life and death for women and not mere matters of choice. Florida NOW supports access to low cost, safe and legal abortion, effective birth control and access to reproductive health care and education.
We deplore VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. We challenge and act to change the status and image of women as victims, which leaves them vulnerable to sexual assault and spouse abuse. We have pioneered model rape and spouse assault legislation and support programs for battered women, and promote self-defense programs for women. We have developed model judicial rape education curriculum and urge that all the judges and state attorneys in Florida be required to attend seminars to educate themselves on the effects violence and rape have on women.
We seek equality in jobs, pay, credit, insurance, pensions, fringe benefits, and Social Security, in short, full ECONOMIC JUSTICE for women. Florida NOW is dedicated to ensuring economic protections for older women, who are all too often condemned to lives of poverty. We work to eliminate discrimination in pension plans, retirement programs, health insurance plans and social security. Florida NOW supports public programs to provide early childhood development as well as quality of child care to meet the needs of children of all ages and their parents of all economic backgrounds. Florida NOW actively supports full rights for homemakers and recognition for the economic value of the vital services they perform. We support legislation and programs reflecting the reality of marriage as an equal economic partnership. We actively pursue the rights of girls and women to full and equal educational opportunities. We oppose discrimination or gender segregation. We are unequivocally committed to equal distribution of financial resources to ensure equal opportunity in sports and recreation for girls and women. The FEMINIZATION OF POWER will work toward reversing the feminization of poverty. We urge you to influence placement of more women into policy-making positions within our government, business, education, religion and media institutions. The requirement to teach Women's Herstory in education is essential.
These are but some of the issues which fall into the wide-ranging category of Women's concerns. We are concerned about our society's insensitivity to the needs of the physically challenged and the special problems of rural women and farm workers. We are very concerned about the well being of our earthly environment. We strongly believe in the separation of church and state.
It is our fervent hope that you will work in partnership with the membership of Florida NOW and support the women of Florida in their endeavors to be recognized in all aspects of life as full citizens.
CRA Meeting - 10/13 - Publix
Click title for back-up material. The location is the vacant lot south of Hammon Park - northeast corner of 2nd Avenue North and Dixie Hwy. Here are colored renderings below:
These are preliminary and still have to be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board at their 10'/14 meeting.
This would be a new destination location - those are places that attract people on a daily basis. Other examples of destination locations in our downtown are City Hall, Post Office, Compass, the Library - all attract people doing their day to day activities. That is the power of a downtown, you can park once and walk to all your other destinations - or if you're lucky enough to live close to downtown, you can leave your car parked in your drive or on the street and walk/bike anywhere.
These are preliminary and still have to be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board at their 10'/14 meeting.
This would be a new destination location - those are places that attract people on a daily basis. Other examples of destination locations in our downtown are City Hall, Post Office, Compass, the Library - all attract people doing their day to day activities. That is the power of a downtown, you can park once and walk to all your other destinations - or if you're lucky enough to live close to downtown, you can leave your car parked in your drive or on the street and walk/bike anywhere.
Last night's candidate forum - South Palm Park Homeowners Association meeting...
Thanks to all that turned out last night to listen to the field of ten candidates for the various races. Nice to see such a good attendance. Questions were wide-ranging, but strangely none were directly about the beach, the electric or water utilities - although those topics came up. Tonight we have NOW and some will be going to the Christian Coalition interviews - I will be at the NOW forum and then make my way to the CRA meeting where they will be talking about Publix moving into the downtown area. If you see me in my travels, stop and say "Hi." And, remember to vote for me November 3rd.Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Town of Palm Beach expanding green initiatives, saving taxpayers money
Click title for link to Palm Beach Daily News article.
Some key changes: Digital plan filings for planning, zoning and building related documents, motion detectors in offices that switch lights on and off, Town Clerk saving and sharing documents electronically, among other efforts.
Some key changes: Digital plan filings for planning, zoning and building related documents, motion detectors in offices that switch lights on and off, Town Clerk saving and sharing documents electronically, among other efforts.
Candidate Forums Lake Worth Municipal Elections 2009 - Note that N.O.W. is 6 p.m.
South Palm Park
Brogues
Oct 12, 7pm
N.O.W.
Compass Building
Oct 13 @ 6 pm
LW Democratic Club
Brogues on the Avenue
Oct 14th @ 7 pm for the Mayoral Candidates
8 pm for the City Commission Candidates
Bryant Park NA MAYORAL CANDIDATES ONLY
LW Chamber of Commerce Bldg
Oct 19 @ 7pm
LW Playhouse
Oct 25 @ 7pm
Parrot Cove
St Andrew's Church, 100 N. Palmway
Oct 27 @ 7pm
Brogues
Oct 12, 7pm
N.O.W.
Compass Building
Oct 13 @ 6 pm
LW Democratic Club
Brogues on the Avenue
Oct 14th @ 7 pm for the Mayoral Candidates
8 pm for the City Commission Candidates
Bryant Park NA MAYORAL CANDIDATES ONLY
LW Chamber of Commerce Bldg
Oct 19 @ 7pm
LW Playhouse
Oct 25 @ 7pm
Parrot Cove
St Andrew's Church, 100 N. Palmway
Oct 27 @ 7pm
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