Synopses, Snippets and Summaries from Monday's (6/20) Special Mayoral Election Candidate Forum

Like I said, and the pictures attest, it was a packed house at the Congregational Church last Monday night.  In between taking videos and stills of the candidate forum, I took some notes during the affair.  For the blog, I thought that I would just separate responses according to candidate and not by question.  We'll see how well this works.  The order below is how the candidates were seated from left to right as looking at the stage from the audience.

javier del sol:   Said that he would "hit the ground running," reminding everyone again that he has lived here for 34 years.  He's running for Mayor since other communities are not represented adequately - or here on this particular night.  He continually noted throughout his responses that the sheriff takes 50% of the city's budget and more could be spent on education as a way to prevent crime. He said that as far as utilities, you have to pay for what you use and conservation is the key to the future.  He noted that the room was too cold and doors were left open before the forum began.  He said that the city has neglected code compliance and that education about the codes would help with compliance.

Lisa Maxwell:  Lisa said that she would concentrate on the budget during the first four months in office before the November election.  She told a story about her clothes dryer catching on fire right before coming there that night and it reminded her of the importance of the fire department and is concerned about the renegotiation of that contract.  She is running for Mayor because she feels she has a background and experience that qualify her to tackle and solve the city's problems.  She is tired of the "politics of distraction" employed by the Commission and she would end that if elected.  She referred to city utilities as a "cash cow" referencing a term used by Mulevhill to explain its function in the city's budget.  She thought that was reprehensible and that the city had no discipline around the budget.  Saying that you should pay for the cost of what you use and no more, she pointed out the with the city using utility money to make up for shortages in the general fund makes that impossible.  She said that the cost of utilities is out of control and perhaps there should be an independent authority to rule over the city's utilities.  She thinks that code enforcement has essentially been shut down for the last two years and that she would restore it back to where it was functional.  Related to the question  on agricultural zoning, she said that she was not for down-zoning of property since that is going in the opposite direction of increasing property values throughout the city.  "Lake Worth is not a good place for animal husbandry." - it is an urban area.  The "chicken issue" is one of those "politics of distraction" and we need to rally around the critical issues, and there are many.  She said having a $4 million dollar budget shortfall and investing $6 million in our Casino building is an example of the city's financial problems.  There is no permanent financing for the renovations on the building and that the money for it could be coming from utility deposits, which is wrong.

Tom Ramiccio:  Tom said that he would focus on the budget during the first four months and utilize his experience gained in the position he held previously to do so.  He would explore the sale of the electric utility to FPL, attempt to settle the numerous lawsuits against the city and bring needed stability to the City Commission.  He said that the city has lost over $1 billion in taxable property value over the past few years and this has to stop.  This has led to record layoffs of city personnel, cutting way back on public works services.  He would be aggressive with economic development to reverse the trend.  Regarding code enforcement, he noted the existence of "Third World neighborhoods", that code enforcement had been gutted by the current administration and Commission and he said that the city should be about collecting fines already levied.  He mentioned the fact that the CRA received the $23 million NSP2 grant that is designed to address many of these problem properties and get them in the hands of working families.  He would work closely with the CRA and the neighborhoods to make conditions better.  He reminded people that Rachel thought that chicken farming was a good idea in the  Park of Commerce.

Rachel Waterman:  She backtracked on her statement made at the Playhouse saying not that she would run for Mayor in November - I wonder if this is a win or lose proposition.  She said that she would concentrate on the budget during the four months before November, looking at individual departments for ways to streamline functions, while improving customer service.  Being a fresh face, she can bring in new ideas and not fall into the pattern identified in the famous Einstein quote.  She would try new approaches to deal with the "pots of money" and said that the budget is too small and needs to get bigger through redevelopment.  She said that commercial utility rates are too high and something needs to be done since that deters economic development.  In response to Ramiccio's comment, she said that she lives in one of those "Third World neighborhoods" and that she would go after absentee landlords and bank foreclosed  properties with renewed code enforcement.  She noted that she has trained code enforcement people.  She said that we didn't need to reinvent the wheel and there are a lot of best practices out there to pull from for ideas.  She says that you wouldn't have to rezone the entire city to allow chickens, but that she would not propose that issue if elected as she saw it as being divisive.  Work on the beach is a good investment and that the rents will pay for the improvements.