From the "This and That" file...

As I was packing up to leave the Commission Chambers, the City Commission was considering an item related to the two-way/one-way issue of 2nd Avenue North.  Staff presented the Commission with four options, which included temporarily returning the road back to a one-way condition from Dixie to A Street.  When Publix was originally approved and in order to accommodate entry and a workable parking lot configuration, the Planning Board and City Commission approved making 2nd Avenue two-way between Dixie and J Street.  That is the way the street is stripped now and the way the signal was re-designed and installed at 2nd Avenue North and Dixie.  After the building was built, it was further decided by the City Commission that the entire length of 2nd Avenue North should be two-way - from A to Federal.  Stripping for the two-way was completed west of the FEC tracks and signs were posted that it was indeed a two-way street.  That left a situation where the FEC crossing was unprotected for left bound traffic - that is why traffic has been blocked from going over the tracks for some time now.

This is where the city thought they were operating in a vacuum.  The city made this unilateral decision - a good one to make the street two-way, but doing it the wrong way - without consulting with the Florida Department of Transportation, FEC RR, Palm Beach County.  Permits are needed to do this - not just a city worker and a stripping machine.  It turns out the original cost communicated to the Commission, according to Commissioner Mulvehill, was around $45,000.  She pointed out that the real cost, according to the back-up material they were looking at last night, was closer to $300,000.  She was very quick to lay the blame at the feet now-departed Joe Kroll.  She did this in a way to say "Just in case you ever think you are going to hire him back..." - at least that's what was implied.

Come to find out, the new TD Bank that is going in on the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue North and Dixie has gone through site plan approval which assumes a two-way traffic pattern and Chase is looking to do a new branch location at the southwest corner of the same intersection.  There was a representative there last night who said that they would not consider locating there if the street was one-way - which lends credibility to the decision and shows that, in the long run, a two-way 2nd Avenue North, along with the new Publix, is attracting redevelopment.  Imagine that!

I pointed out in public comment that this situation resulted from an inadequately staffed and professionally challenged planning staff at the time of the original review of Publix - that is when this could easily have been dealt with in the proper way, with full review by all the applicable agencies.  It might have even been part of the original package which landed Publix at this new location in the first place.  So, the result is to open the road again as a one-way west of Dixie and wait until the permitting and money is in place to improve the RR crossing - which will be sometime in FY 2013.  I encouraged the Commission to leave the positions that are in the budget for additional planning staff in place in order to prevent things like this from happening in the future.

Then, walking out the door and down the hallway outside the Commission Chambers, Kathleen Margoles came up behind me to let me know that the city is going ahead with a study/examination of the seawall at the beach!  She said that the OIG said that just a visual inspection was o.k. (what do they know?)  I told her that I was aware that the OIG was backing off having the city do a study of the seawall, why I didn't know.  But, I was impressed that the city is finally going ahead and performing a study of it and I was surprised with the special effort shown by Ms. Margoles in informing me of the status of this.  Perhaps things are changing for the better after all??

Also, I want to let you all know that I had an interview with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal.  She is doing a story which will appear after the first of the year on shuffleboard courts in Florida.  I told her about the plight that ours face here in Lake Worth and referred her to Juan Ruiz for more details related to the condition of the courts and what is needed to make them playable.   I still have not heard of a time that the charette on the building or the courts has been rescheduled to - I will let you know if I do.