I forget that we aren't supposed to compare Lake Worth to other municipalities. Sort of like we aren't supposed to recognize that we have had the largest decreases in taxable property value of any municipality over the past four years.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
City of Boynton Beach - News - City wins Most Outstanding Green Government award
And where is Lake Worth in the mix? Click title for link to City of Boynton Beach website.
Clean it Up & Walk it Off | TRNA
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Due to the severe weather experience over the past 24 hours and the 80% chance of continuing rain, the TRNA will be cancelling the cleanup event scheduled for 8-11am and the community walk scheduled for 4-5pm today. We will be rescheduling both events very soon. please continue to visit our website for information on upcoming events. Thank you!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Endorsement: Amoroso for Lake Worth commission
This is what the PBP says...I think they may be reading what goes on here more often.
Incumbents and challengers in this election and in the mayor's race generally agreed that City Manager Susan Stanton is tough-minded but needs to improve communication and be less abrasive with the public. Mr. Amoroso expressed that position more strongly than others.
Endorsement: Waterman for Lake Worth mayor
OMG - but they got this right:
Click title for link. Can we expect any less? PBP
Ms. Waterman, elected this summer to finish a former mayor's term, has proven a divisive figure in three months. She can appear arrogant and dismissive, and she often stokes the same "politics of division" she promises to heal. In a debate last week, she did herself no favors by proclaiming the election "a choice between lovers and haters" and clarifying that it's her supporters who "love Lake Worth."
Click title for link. Can we expect any less? PBP
Starting Tuesday, Palm Beach County city and town officials must report job gifts of $100 or more
I wonder if this will include use of vehicles or in-kind payment of rent? Click title for link to PBP article.
I-95 Express Buses Make Commute 'Relaxed' - Miami News Story - WPLG Miami
Click title for link - check out the video as well. It seems to be very successful. I wonder how the connection is to Tri-rail?
From FaceBook, JoAnn and Rachel will have to re-calculate our downtown occupancy figures...
By popular demand...
Mayor Waterman's "Lovers and Haters" Speech - set apart from other closing remarks made on 10/24/11 LW Playhouse Debate
Lake Worth marks new water plant
Will we ever get a true accounting of the cost/benefit of breaking the County contract and building our own plant? Is Saturday's barbecue lunch really free? Click title for link to PBP article.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
An open letter to Mayor Waterman on why I am seeing red...
Mayor Waterman, you are one presumptuous newly minted elected official. To proclaim that people who do not vote for you hate the city that you love is offensive and counter to your claims that you are against the politics of division. By your assertion, you are automatically writing off what could be a majority of people in Lake Worth as being "haters." These "haters" are not voting for you for reasons that you label "hate." They are not voting for you because they rightly question your allegiance to a city that you have had an "off and on" relationship for ten years. You don't own property here and have a murky professional past that your devotees use to proclaim you as evidence of the Second Coming. You have a condescending, know-it-all attitude that turns the public off that you are supposed to serve. You consider debate and dissension examples of "hate" and things that should be squelched and controlled so that the small cadre of your supporters can continue to direct the city of Lake Worth in dangerous and perilous directions.
As one of the people that will not be voting for you, how do you deal with the fact that I love the same things that you do about Lake Worth? I too am not a proponent of the politics of division. Until you can prove through your actions that you are not going to discard an entire group of people that love Lake Worth as much as you profess, you will not be the savior that Lake Worth so desperately deserves.
As one of the people that will not be voting for you, how do you deal with the fact that I love the same things that you do about Lake Worth? I too am not a proponent of the politics of division. Until you can prove through your actions that you are not going to discard an entire group of people that love Lake Worth as much as you profess, you will not be the savior that Lake Worth so desperately deserves.
Transcript of Mayor Rachel Waterman's "Lovers and Haters" Speech
"Vote for me on November 8th and together we will transform Lake Worth's potential into reality. I believe this election is not a choice between cavers and pavers, but a choice between lovers and haters. I love Lake Worth. The people that are going to vote for me love Lake Worth too. We love our public beach and our waterfront. We love our downtown business district which is now at 90 percent occupancy. We love our neighborhoods and our small town charm. We love the Playhouse and the Stonezek Theater. We love the Street Painting Festival. The Cultural Council will soon be opening its doors and LULA is coming soon and I am getting ready to love that too. I love Lake Worth because it is unique, special and dare I say funky. I am proud of Lake Worth because of the diversity of our city and it is a microcosm of the future of our country. And I believe that we can lead the way, showing everyone how diverse communities can live together and prosper. We will move beyond divisiveness and I am committed to use all of my talents and passions to get us there. Please vote for me, Rachel Waterman on November 8th." Mayor Rachel Waterman, Closing Statement, NAPC LW Playhouse Debate, 10/24/11
PBSO offers Citizens Police Academy | TRNA
PBSO District 14 in Lake Worth is making plans now to hold another Citizens Police Academy in January. The Academy is Free and involves meeting once a week for 9 weeks for a three hour session at the Lake Worth District 14 station to hear speakers from different departments within the Sheriff's Office organization. There are also field trips to the aviation unit to view the PBSO helicopters, the Communication dispatch location and a field trip to the gun club jail.
Last year 22 residents, including yours truly, took the classes and they were very interesting, informative and fun. This is a rare opportunity to look behind the shield and learn what really makes PBSO operate. Classes are held after 5pm and food and beverages are provided.
No date for the next Citizens' Police Academy has been set. This is just to let everyone know and get an idea of how many people would like to participate. If you think you might be interested and have questions please contact:
Deputy Sergeant Lozano at 436-1350 or
Deputy Sergeant Kovalski at 662-2320
If you'd like to get a citizens viewpoint from someone who has taken the classes, please email me, Ryan Anderson atryan@tropicalridge.org. I'll tell you it was a surprising and hugely informative experience that I highly recommend.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Finally, YouTube let me finish these uploads...
These are the closing statements from last Monday's Candidate Forum at the Lake Worth Playhouse.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sermon "The Person I Love The Least" Message, Sunday, October 23, 2011, MCC Windsor, Rev. Martha Daniels
Reverend Martha Daniels is a friend of mine and a high school classmate. This was her address last Sunday. It offers a fitting contrast to the "lovers and haters" line of thinking of Mayor Waterman last evening. Apologies for those sensitive to things religious, but there is a good message here. Mayor Waterman, just who are the "haters?" How is calling people not voting for you "haters" not the politics of division that you say that you are against? Can we at least get to a point where we acknowledge there are some that we "love the least?" That would be an improvement, but still not up to the ideal. (highlighting mine)
Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18 (Charley)
God spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Holy One your God am holy. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Holy One. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am God.”
Matthew 22:34-46
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
***
Will you pray with me? God of all times and places and nations, open our hearts and minds to your truth today; give us understanding and wisdom, not to be merely hearers of your truth, but to be doers of your will. In all your names, amen.
Love. What is love? That’s a question humans have been trying to answer ever since humans were able to ask questions. Another question—how do we love our neighbours, and who, exactly, is our neighbour? And the biggest question if all, perhaps: what does it mean to love God?
I can’t promise to answer all of these to your satisfaction, or to mine, for that matter. But maybe we can start thinking about what the answers might be, begin groping towards some kind of idea of what it is like to love God and our neighbour—whoever they might be.
Love is often seen as a fuzzy, sweet, cuddly emotion. Tell that to the parent protecting her or his child—love can be fierce. Love is not just about roses and chocolates and forever after—anyone who has had rough spots in their relationships can tell you that. Love can be complicated—sometimes you love a person but cannot stand to be near them; or what they are going through is more than you can deal with—serious illness or addiction or a family situation or a spiritual crisis. Love is not simple, it is not all sweetness and light.
We can quote 1 Corinthians 13:4-13—the famous “love chapter,” often used at weddings and Holy Unions: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” But ideally, these verses apply to any love, not only romantic or partnership love. Think of parental love, or between siblings, or friends. And even that sometimes abstract love of neighbours—ideally, this is true of how we love our neighbours as well, isn’t it? We are patient, we believe in each other, we hope for each other.
And, of course, the key word there is “ideally.” Many parents, siblings, lovers, neighbours do not live up to this ideal—we don’t either, if we are honest with ourselves.
Dorothy Day was an amazing woman who worked with the economically-disadvantaged in New York in the middle years of the last century. She was Catholic, an anarchist, and a social activist—a heady combination! She once said, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."
The person I love the least. It can be difficult to like some people; to enjoy them, to want to be with them, to understand them, maybe; to accept everything they do. But that does not mean we cannot love them. Love isn’t a feeling as much as it is an action—you may not like someone, but you can show your love for them by forgiving them, serving them, healing them. It can be easy to say, “I love you,” but love is shown in action—in the daily acts of caring that reinforce that love. It’s shown in mutual support by a couple, by a parent insisting that a child learn to be self-sufficient, by siblings sharing grief, by friends celebrating good news together. As the saying goes, “talk is cheap.” Doing is harder. I personally put more credence in the actions of someone than in what they say—don’t you?
The how of that love is described in the reading from Leviticus—justice, impartiality, honesty, forgiveness. Now, there’s also a mention of “reproving your neighbour or you will incur guilt.” This verse has been so misused, along with one from Paul, which mentions “speaking the truth in love.” It has been used to say hurtful and even hateful things to people, under the self-righteous pretence of “speaking the truth in love.” It has even been used to condemn the marginalized, the infamous “hate the sin, love the sinner.” It can be abused and twisted to excuse judgemental comments of all sorts. But the rest of the reading, all those verses around it, indicate that this is exactly what is not permitted—judgemental faultfinding by the self-righteous.
But the commandment is to love God and each other—to love, not judge or condemn or elevate yourself. We are to love others as we love ourselves. And the reverse is true—we cannot love others until we love ourselves. We cannot accept others until we accept ourselves. We cannot forgive others until we forgive ourselves.
But it is more than that. When we become angry or unforgiving of others, then we are giving them power—we are allowing them to dictate how we feel about them and ourselves. Instead, by not becoming angry, we make the choice to love—remember, you don’t have to like someone to love them—and thus to forgive.
I am not saying to accept the judgement of others—I don’t mean that we have to accept what other people think of us as truth. There is a difference between strong feeling, passion, on the one hand, and anger on the other. Passion is acceptable—stating your position, your feelings. Anger, judgement of the other person as being stupid, wrong, crazy—that is not acceptable.
So I’m not arguing for being a doormat. I am insisting that we have a choice in how we deal with this sort of judgement, of statement. The choice we make can be for love or it can be for judgement. It is up to us. God has told us what is good—to love God with all our power and our neighbours as ourselves.
It is not always easy; but then, the right path, the right choice, is often the most difficult. Sometimes that is how we know it is the right path—because it is more difficult. It’s harder to accept and reach out in Christian love to someone who thinks that because of your gender, age, race, nationality, you are less than they are; or that you are wrong in the eyes of God because of actions you felt called by God to take. Many churches still will not ordain women; some will attempt to exorcise gay men, as if they were possessed by a devil; there are others whose services are rigidly segregated by race or class; and so on. But who are we to deny what God has called someone to do?
The difference, I think, is not insisting that everyone believe in the same way, and acknowledging that others may have different beliefs, ways of living, and viewpoints. If Person A believes that women should not be ordained, and belongs to a church that does not ordain women, then I am not going to tell them they are foolish and wrong—they have their belief. But—and this is the not being a doormat part—I believe—obviously—that women can and should be ordained—that I am not to stand in the way of a person who is called by God, and therefore I must insist that Person A’s beliefs cannot be used to decide how my church, the church I attend and whose beliefs I hold, will operate. Person A has a belief, I have a differing belief. I respect that belief—but mine must also be respected. I am not going to judge them—I will love my neighbour as myself—and I will look for a reciprocal respect.
That is how we love our neighbours—by respecting their beliefs, seeing them as our sisters and brothers who may have different ideas or beliefs, but who nonetheless are made in the image of God, as we are, and who therefore is to be loved as we love ourselves.
So here’s a challenge for you for this week. Remember that quote from Dorothy Day? “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least." Who is it in your life, your daily everyday life, that you love the least? I’m not talking about world leaders or politicians, or historical figures. I mean someone you interact with, or used to interact with, who you find it hard to love as you love yourself. You don’t have to like them, remember—but you do have to love them. Maybe it’s a former partner, or a parent or sibling; maybe it’s a boss or co-worker or neighbour or even a friend. Whoever that person is, focus on loving them—seeing God in them, praying for them, loving them as you love yourself. I’m not saying it will be easy or simple—even thinking of them may bring back painful memories , or revive the frustration of the relationship. But if you continue to try, to pray for them, to love them as you love yourself—you will find, eventually, a change in how you see them. It probably will not happen in a few days, and maybe not in a few weeks or months. But keep at it—keep seeing God in them, keep loving them as you love yourself.
For this is the greatest commandment—to love one another as we love ourselves and as we ourselves are loved by God.
In all God’s many names, amen.
Three more YouTube vids on the way...
...that will take a while to load. Stay tuned. (Now Tuesday morning and I am still attempting a non-interrupted upload - stand-by)
Lake Worth mayoral candidates debate fire tax
Click title for link to Willie's take on the festivities. Interesting are the comments as well. Mr. Howard is better at counting trout in a stream than people in seats, apparently. Is this a flashback to the "Tuesday" announcement in the dinosaur version of the PBP?
Monday, October 24, 2011
LW Playhouse NAPC Candidate Forum 2011 - Update
 |
| Mayor Waterman chatting beforehand with Patricia Pearl Fitzpatrick Eisenhuer Oliphant, a member of her kitchen cabinet. |
Stinky Alert
[CPNA] IMPORTANT
Today's Palm Beach Post print version has an error on the front page of the Local Section. The NAPC Candidate Debate at the Lake Worth Playhouse is TONIGHT, not tomorrow night as the article says. Please share this information with our neighbors who may not use the internet or receive email.
The Playhouse debate has always been very popular for many of our Senior citizens and they are the ones most likely not to have internet access. It would be heart-breaking for them to make the trip and arrive at the Playhouse tomorrow night expecting to learn about our candidates in the November 8th election.
Thank You and please feel free to share this with your friends and neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list.
The Playhouse debate has always been very popular for many of our Senior citizens and they are the ones most likely not to have internet access. It would be heart-breaking for them to make the trip and arrive at the Playhouse tomorrow night expecting to learn about our candidates in the November 8th election.
Thank You and please feel free to share this with your friends and neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list.
Lake Worth homeowner Pam Triolo takes on Rachel Waterman | BIZPAC Review
Click title for link to article. Watch the interview below:
Candidates to debate in Lake Worth tonight
Announcement in the PBP about tonight's debate at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Click title for link. Click here for a link to the Playhouse website and a brief history of the theater.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Click here for back-up and AGENDA CITY OF LAKE WORTH CITY COMMISSION/COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY/PLANNING & ZONING BOARD TRI-WORK SESSION
This is to discuss the NSP2 program, a proposed fitness park and the LULA program and its website. It is not specifically about the townhouses planned along Lake and Lucerne that will essentially be artist lofts. While those may be discussed, it does not look like it will be the entire focus of the meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Compass Community Center - Tuesday, October 25, 2011. It is a work session and no action can, or should, be taken at this sort of meeting.
It is a challenge for discussion to stay focused during larger meetings such as this. There is also no indication that public comment will be allowed.
It is a challenge for discussion to stay focused during larger meetings such as this. There is also no indication that public comment will be allowed.
Click here for advisory board applications as submitted....
...and the City Commission special meeting agenda for this coming Wednesday, October 26, 2011. It had been rumored that Cara Jennings would be applying to be on the CRA. That turns out not to be the case. In reviewing the applications, and the resumes of those that included them, I think we have a good crop of applicants. I haven't looked into their geographic diversity of where they reside in the city, but east and west seem to be more equally represented than usual. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the City Hall Conference Room.
[CPNA] Candidate Debate at the Playhouse
Hi Neighbors,
A reminder that the Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council (NAPC) will host a Candidate Forum on Monday, October 24th at the Lake Worth Playhouse. The forum starts at 7pm. Admission is free but seating is first come first seated. The Playhouse is downtown on Lake Avenue between J and K Streets.
Please share this information with your friends and neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list. Hope to see you there.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. The polls are open from 7am to 7pm. If you live in College Park, your polling place is the First Congregational Church at 1415 North K Street.
If you don't live in College Park and you're unsure about where to vote, please call the Supervisor of Elections office at 656-6200 or visit the SOE website at http://www.pbcelections.org/Pr
A reminder that the Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council (NAPC) will host a Candidate Forum on Monday, October 24th at the Lake Worth Playhouse. The forum starts at 7pm. Admission is free but seating is first come first seated. The Playhouse is downtown on Lake Avenue between J and K Streets.
Please share this information with your friends and neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list. Hope to see you there.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. The polls are open from 7am to 7pm. If you live in College Park, your polling place is the First Congregational Church at 1415 North K Street.
If you don't live in College Park and you're unsure about where to vote, please call the Supervisor of Elections office at 656-6200 or visit the SOE website at http://www.pbcelections.org/Pr
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUL75cv6zJQFjX15ojOIIz9AjnbqH4asHJTYSDhnGnYr7rJZRha1NcNTirj2xPcId158vkz5Hw-wXgOfrlztj8Zr8jLFFCfuEN6PyV44ZlpMRmJ68xbtFL9vzxNiG7xDs_HJvm/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
