Links to recent PBP articles related to Lake Worth:

Lake Worth commissioner takes shots at sheriff's contract on way out

Voters approve ethics reform countywide


A couple of comments on the above.  Now ex-Commissioner Cara Jennings taking a swipe at the Sheriff's helicopter is emblematic of her tenure as Commissioner.  First of all, the helicopter flew over Lake Worth before the switch-over to the Sheriff department.  In talking to law enforcement officials, it is used as an "eye in the sky" to protect officers who are in pursuit of perpetrators - many times armed and dangerous.  It's there for the protection of law officers' lives.  To ex-Commissioner Jennings, it represents a visible "thing" to implant in people's brain that somehow the helicopter represents excessive cost, excessive police presence and, perhaps, excessive invasion of privacy.  So, in her mind, every time someone hears the helicopter overhead, it's like an ad for how ex-Commissioner Jennings thinks about law enforcement and the Sheriff specifically.  And I still remember her taking credit for the CRA providing money for police overtime under the City Police department in her last campaign literature.  When the appropriation of a similar amount (around $250,000) came up on the CRA's budget after the Sheriff takeover, we decided (I was on the CRA at the time) that money was no longer needed due to the superior service offered by the Sheriff.  That money was then released and directed toward the Cultural Renaissance Program.  This was "found money" due to the Sheriff takeover, but ex-Commissioner Jennings refused to recognize that as a benefit - instead she questioned, and still questions, about the program's potential to gentrify Lake Worth.  Alas, she may be gone, but will not be forgotten, and her agenda will still be pursued by the majority of this Commission.

Regarding the other article, the County's municipal voters overwhelmingly approved adoption of the County's Ethics Code and eventual oversight by the County's Commission on Ethics.  Work is underway to establish an Inspector General's office that will provide ethical oversight and investigatory powers of actions within the County's 38 municipalities.  Last Friday, I took part in the Palm Beach County Planning Congress'  fourth annual seminar on ethics.  Click here for a document which has links to about 2,500 pages of back-up information related to some of the issues addressed during the seminar.