My Response to Kkss21

I am reading a fascinating book right now.  It's called "Letters to Jackie" and consists of a select compilation of the millions of condolence letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy, after his assassination.  The out-pouring of emotion that the letters represent is tremendous. I find that I can only read so many in one sitting.  The sympathies started coming in right after the tragic events in Dallas and continued well into 1965, some two years later.  Millions of letters were received.  So many in fact the First Lady's staff was quickly overwhelmed and many went directly to storage. When they finally stopped coming in, the collection totaled over 1.5 million letters.  In 1963, prior to e-mail, the boxed letters, if lined end-to-end, would stretch about a quarter of a mile.

Of all the horror that happened that day, and those following, certain symbols and images lingered:  the riderless horse, John-John saluting his father in his funeral procession, the muffled drums and, from that terrible day itself, the image of Jackie wearing the same pink dress late into the night which still carried the gore from her husband.  Many people encouraged her to change to another dress - and she had one available.  But, she told them no, that she wanted them to see what happened to her husband in a visceral way.

Well, Kkss21, that's is why I chose to post your comment today and why I wanted to leave it up all day long on the top of the blog so that everyone had a chance to see it.  The example from 1963 dealt with the cowardly assassination of a President; your comment tells everyone about a cowardly assassination of character which has been a consistent drumbeat since August 20005 - when the annexation of the Sunset property came up on the Planning and Zoning Board agenda.

Like those events in 1963,  the Sunset property has turned into a perennial garden of myths and conspiracy theories.  I have covered the facts here in this blog as I experienced them.  If anyone is interested in the "facts" - about how we listened to hours of testimony from residents, after having three meetings on the topic, after making sure that most people were content with the compromises that we made in coming to our recommendation to the City Commission, please use the search box for the blog and type the word "Sunset."

The string of myths, half-truths, lies and insinuations were put together in a compelling song that was sung at most every doorstep in Lake Worth during the two elections in which I ran for a Commission seat.  Not surprisingly, I gathered the least votes from your portion of the City.  Your comment continues the tradition and spreads most of the juicier, wild and far-fetched accusations.

As with any compromise, there were those that were not satisfied and, Kkss21, you fall squarely in that group.  We will never see eye-to-eye on this issue because by being a volunteer on a Planning and Zoning Board, one is supposed to deal in facts and evidence.  Yours is an emotional argument that will never be satisfied by facts and apparently is fed by the flames of anger that I hope never to experience.  I sincerely hope that you are able to find joy and happiness in other areas of your life.

A few things we know: There has been nothing built on that property, the issue has stretched a span of five years and counting and now, it seems, the City may have to pay out money to purchase the property - which was never presented as an option during my short firsthand involvement in the review of the project.

What do we really need to be concerned about?  There is a pattern emerging through the actions of this Commission - it is something that I call "Checkbook Zoning" - an expensive proposition for a city in such dire financial straits as ours.

Thanks for visiting.