- Construction stopped for past three to four weeks at a cost of $700 to $800 a day.
- City Manager tells no one on the Commission about delay and associated cost before Thursday night.
- Construction not stopped at south end of building.
- Apparent contradiction about delay cost being assessed by Morganti and construction continuing unexplained.
- Construction stopped due to delay in determining whether we are going to have one, two story restaurant (Johnny Longboats) or two separate restaurants on the first and second floors.
- Probable name for second floor, stand-alone restaurant: "L'Rance de Annabeth Dee-lites"
- Cost of hole in the floor to accommodate two story restaurant around $35,000.
- A 2 a.m. closing time will change the character of the beach "park." Does this mean "sun up to sun down?"
- Conflict in closing hours among the Commission and overall "commercial-ness" of the project will subject a complete review of the business plan - to come in the future - time uncertain.
- Mr. Banting of Anderson/Carr, official leasing broker for the property, said that he understood why no one else responded to the RFP. The City of Lake Worth is impossible to work with.
- Mr. Banting of Anderson/Carr asks where new broker was when RFP was issued, defends Mr. Snitkin as doing everything he can do to find tenants - according to previous direction given by the Commission.
- Johnny Longboat's chances of walking away at this point: 99% according to Mr. Banting.
- Commissioner McVoy's introduction of NEW broker recalls the bringing in of Straticon and their claim that the building can be saved.
- Commissioner McVoy's introduction of NEW broker shows no respect for RFP process and the work of official broker.
- The faithful - Lawrence McNamara, Annabeth Karson, Lynn Anderson, Commisssioner McVoy vow to carry on how they have gotten "this far."
- "This far" means: Not saving the building from demolition, expensive Greater Bay lawsuit which could result in large multi-million judgement against the city, losing legacy/destination tenant John G's, pulling money from no visibly provable fund with no end financing, end financing would include the pledging of other city revenues to secure a loan, pretending the project is a rehabilitation when it is new construction, not checking on the soundness of the seawall that will protect the unfortified foundation of the new building, building seaward of the coastal construction control line, ignoring impact of earlier closing times on parking revenues, not having a clear understanding of when turtle nesting season is or how this project will impact them differently than the other building, favoring previous tenants that have contributed to seated Commissioner's campaigns, delaying the project due to indecision, further cementing the impression that the City of Lake Worth is anti-business and cannot be trusted.
- Maxwell's request to reschedule meeting to a future date proven correct.
- Did I leave anything out?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Revelations from last Thursday's special Commission Meeting on Casino tenant leases...
Attended an ethics seminar yesterday...
I am a member of the board of directors of the Palm Beach County Planning Congress and the group had it's 5th Annual Ethics Seminar yesterday. The group is made up of urban planners and members of like-professions throughout Palm Beach County. However, yesterday's event drew a crowd of over 100 people which included representation from some Treasure Coast counties, and some folks from Broward and Dade counties as well. Many topics were covered, but there was one in particular that I thought would be good to share in this forum.
But first, I stumbled on an example of the reach of this blog yesterday and it was heartening to realize that the words here are not going out to an empty theater...quite the contrary. One of the presenters was Frank Schnidman, LL.M., Esq. He is Director of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Education, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale. He essentially opened the seminar by pointing out examples of public corruption in the south Florida region. He brought a copy of the current day's Miami Herald with him and, as an exercise, went through it and identified at least eight articles that were dealing with current examples of all types of public misdoings. After his presentation, during the lunch break, he introduced himself to me as we had never formally met. He said that in the class he teaches on urban redevelopment, one of the on-going assignments is to request that this students go out and find articles on redevelopment, print them out and bring them to class to share and discuss. He said that he is very familiar with my blog, as many students bring in things that I write here - he says it happens "a lot." So, it was gratifying to hear that what I say here is being used in an academic setting, and not just reverberating in our little hamlet..
The next session dealt with "Informing the Public about Ethics and Public Corruption: The Role of the Old and the New Media." The moderator of the panel was C.B. Hanif, a refugee of The Palm Beach Post - former Editorial Writer and Ombudsman. You can check out his blog by clicking here.
The panelists were an assortment of "new media" types with diverse backgrounds, two with roots in the "old media"world. In no particular order, one of the panelists was Dan Christensen, former investigative reporter with The Miami Herald & The Daily Business Review. He is now known as a political blogger and he runs The Broward Bulldog. It is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose public purpose is to cover what is not being covered by traditional media outlets - with a great focus on the actions of local governments in Broward County. He suggests that this sort of organization represents the "wave of the future" in the world of informational media. His blog is a member of the Investigative News Network which establishes standards for "watchdog" sorts of publications so that they adhere to and maintain certain journalistic standards.
Another panelist was Al Crespo, a political blogger who runs the The Crespo-Gram Report. He covers the rough and tumble world of Miami-Dade government. It turns out that the came to do this line of work somewhat by accident and notorious for being an ex-con. He has a bank robbery on his resume. He pulls no punches with his blog and people that are outraged by the content of blogs in Lake Worth should check out his to see what exactly is possible with this medium. Lake Worth blogs are tame in comparison.
Lastly, Mary Kate Leming shared her experiences as editor of The Coastal Star whose turf includes the barrier island communities from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton. She is another refugee from The Palm Beach Post. Her publication is a monthly printed newspaper that doesn't rely a great deal on a web-presence. It is a for-profit model that sells traditional advertising to pay the bills. She lamented that during her coverage of the goings-on of the ten or so local governments she rarely if ever sees any reporters from traditional media outlets.
That was the universal sentiment of the panel. The "Fourth Estate" has pretty much abandoned its watchdog role. We can have all the sunshine in the form of the Sunshine Law, but if a tree falls in the forest, no one is going to know if it made a noise or not if no one is there to hear it. In order to keep government accountable, we are more and more having to rely on sources such as these, and the one you are reading now, in order to get the real lowdown on what is going on.
I posed a question about how can we expose the lack the legitimacy of the traditional media in the eye of the public. If they aren't sending reporters to cover local meetings or don't have people with the expertise to cover the happenings of local government, then why are they in the business of endorsing candidates? When they do endorse a candidate, they immediately become part of that candidate/elected official's PR department. Dan Christensen commented that this was a good question and one that needs to be asked more. He reminded that the traditional media outlets in Broward endorsed Sheriff Ken Jenne.
And, by the way, Sheryl Steckler, Palm Beach County, Inspector General attended and presented as part of another session. She gave a presentation on the duties of her office and some of the items they have been involved with to date. She talked about the Lake Worth casino project and how the city was calling it a rehabilitation project, when it really was not, which had all sorts of code implications. She said that they were able to correct the situation and the process was initiated by someone present in the audience.
< < blushing > >
But first, I stumbled on an example of the reach of this blog yesterday and it was heartening to realize that the words here are not going out to an empty theater...quite the contrary. One of the presenters was Frank Schnidman, LL.M., Esq. He is Director of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Education, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale. He essentially opened the seminar by pointing out examples of public corruption in the south Florida region. He brought a copy of the current day's Miami Herald with him and, as an exercise, went through it and identified at least eight articles that were dealing with current examples of all types of public misdoings. After his presentation, during the lunch break, he introduced himself to me as we had never formally met. He said that in the class he teaches on urban redevelopment, one of the on-going assignments is to request that this students go out and find articles on redevelopment, print them out and bring them to class to share and discuss. He said that he is very familiar with my blog, as many students bring in things that I write here - he says it happens "a lot." So, it was gratifying to hear that what I say here is being used in an academic setting, and not just reverberating in our little hamlet..
The next session dealt with "Informing the Public about Ethics and Public Corruption: The Role of the Old and the New Media." The moderator of the panel was C.B. Hanif, a refugee of The Palm Beach Post - former Editorial Writer and Ombudsman. You can check out his blog by clicking here.
The panelists were an assortment of "new media" types with diverse backgrounds, two with roots in the "old media"world. In no particular order, one of the panelists was Dan Christensen, former investigative reporter with The Miami Herald & The Daily Business Review. He is now known as a political blogger and he runs The Broward Bulldog. It is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose public purpose is to cover what is not being covered by traditional media outlets - with a great focus on the actions of local governments in Broward County. He suggests that this sort of organization represents the "wave of the future" in the world of informational media. His blog is a member of the Investigative News Network which establishes standards for "watchdog" sorts of publications so that they adhere to and maintain certain journalistic standards.
Another panelist was Al Crespo, a political blogger who runs the The Crespo-Gram Report. He covers the rough and tumble world of Miami-Dade government. It turns out that the came to do this line of work somewhat by accident and notorious for being an ex-con. He has a bank robbery on his resume. He pulls no punches with his blog and people that are outraged by the content of blogs in Lake Worth should check out his to see what exactly is possible with this medium. Lake Worth blogs are tame in comparison.
Lastly, Mary Kate Leming shared her experiences as editor of The Coastal Star whose turf includes the barrier island communities from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton. She is another refugee from The Palm Beach Post. Her publication is a monthly printed newspaper that doesn't rely a great deal on a web-presence. It is a for-profit model that sells traditional advertising to pay the bills. She lamented that during her coverage of the goings-on of the ten or so local governments she rarely if ever sees any reporters from traditional media outlets.
That was the universal sentiment of the panel. The "Fourth Estate" has pretty much abandoned its watchdog role. We can have all the sunshine in the form of the Sunshine Law, but if a tree falls in the forest, no one is going to know if it made a noise or not if no one is there to hear it. In order to keep government accountable, we are more and more having to rely on sources such as these, and the one you are reading now, in order to get the real lowdown on what is going on.
I posed a question about how can we expose the lack the legitimacy of the traditional media in the eye of the public. If they aren't sending reporters to cover local meetings or don't have people with the expertise to cover the happenings of local government, then why are they in the business of endorsing candidates? When they do endorse a candidate, they immediately become part of that candidate/elected official's PR department. Dan Christensen commented that this was a good question and one that needs to be asked more. He reminded that the traditional media outlets in Broward endorsed Sheriff Ken Jenne.
And, by the way, Sheryl Steckler, Palm Beach County, Inspector General attended and presented as part of another session. She gave a presentation on the duties of her office and some of the items they have been involved with to date. She talked about the Lake Worth casino project and how the city was calling it a rehabilitation project, when it really was not, which had all sorts of code implications. She said that they were able to correct the situation and the process was initiated by someone present in the audience.
< < blushing > >
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Click here for special City Commission meeting on the casino tenant leases (11/3)
Click title for live audio stream. Commissioner Maxwell is trying to get the entire meeting rescheduled to a future date since there was so much material added to the packet after Friday. He has made a motion, and it dies for a lack of a second. They need to make a motion to waive the rules to consider the additional information that was not available five to seven days prior to the meeting. They are now trying to quantify what exactly was added. One of the items was a side-by-side comparison of all of the leases. Mulvehill made the motion to waive the rules, Maxwell seconded it for discussion. Maxwell is asked why this is being rushed. Mulvehill says that they have a full house and they are ready to go so the time is now. Golden says that no one needs to vote for any of the leases tonight. McVoy understands Maxwell's concern, we can go ahead and make it "informational" and not vote on it. He also says that we don't want a building that is completed without tenants in it. Maxwell says that it seems that the important decisions made in this city are made in the eleventh hour and we are going to sit here for four and five hours not having all the information or new information. Waterman confirms that they are having the same conversation they had two weeks ago, but they had a lot of questions then and some of them have been answered in this material. She wants some time limits perhaps - wants to productively use the time they have.
Maxwell withdraws his second. Waterman asks if that means that Maxwell is leaving - since he said he didn't want to be a part of this. Mulvehill's motion stands and Golden seconds it anew. Maxwell was the only dissenting vote. Now they are on to McVoy's request. McVoys broker, Sussman, cannot be there until 6:30 p.m. and only deals with the north end of the building. There are re-ordering the agenda to deal with the leases first.
Margoles is reviewing the leases and is talking about operating hours and how Johnny Longboats serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a 2 a.m. closing. There are differences in the leases since there are different tenants and different businesses.
(I'm listening on line from home - planned on going to the meeting, but things got a little busy this afternoon. Feel free to comment if you are listening too. By the way, I think they need to state - again - that the entities they are considering contributed to their campaigns - if not a complete list of all of them, they should refer to their previous declarations.)
Waterman wants to deal with the lease with Kilwin's since there were no issues with it. She wants that first. Maxwell is pointing out that there are things missing in the lease and staff should have taken care of that prior to the meeting. Carr is answering questions about the "final financing" and that won't happen until the project is finished. He is referring to the PFM Group memo - he is saying that is a secondary issue. He says that they - the final creditors - will look at the financial capabilities of the city as a whole, since this is a new project and it is considered speculative. The City will have to pledge some sort of revenue toward payment of that loan - but the revenues will be the ones that will be paying the construction cost off - but that revenue stream is currently committed to other functions (this is where I have a problem with this scenario.)
Golden thinks that the turtles will be disturbed by 2 a.m. closing hours and the lighting required. ERM will have ultimate review. McVoy wonders if there is anything in the lease that would be conflict with ERM about closing hours if things change. He thinks there is an uncertain element. He thinks its international law. Now he thinks it might be a sound issue that will bother the turtles, not the lights. McVoy says that they are averse to law suits around here - eh hem. Babble, babble, babble...he wants to give the city the ability to change the hours of operation if things change or if it becomes a problems. Golden is now insisting that sound is also a concern related to the turtles.
Stanton is saying that giving the city the unilateral ability to change important conditions of the lease, that would impact the business plans for the various tenants and it would require a re-look at the basic business plan. She is saying that it is a commercial building in a city park, and McVoy doesn't like that. He thinks it is a park first. In talking about language about the lease allowing for the city to enforce all of its laws, the City Attorney said that there are no guarantees in law. Encouraging. Golden is talking about the opening and closing of doors that would let light out that wouldn't be protected by turtle glass. They are talking about about different operating hours during turtle nesting season. Turtle season is May 1st through October 31st - outside of the traditional south Florida tourist season - fyi.
Waterman brings the conversation back to the Kilwin's lease. McVoy is wondering how many of the five proposed tenants that hours of an operation are an issue. Margoles responds that for the food service tenants - three of the five. McVoy wants the issue "un-linked" from the 2 a.m. issue. He says that other people have talked to him about hours of operations issues beyond the impact to turtles. Maxwell thinks it may be best to have two sets of hours based on food service versus retail. He is also concerned that the lease does not require them to be open to a certain time, which would be a negative. He says there is an expectation that a certain tenant would be open till 9, and they close at 7, there are going to be people that are disappointed. Mulvehill goes to Carvel - we seem to have an ice cream loving Commission. Their hours changed recently. Waterman says if there is a problem, the city can change the rules if it wants to. Mulvehill says that people will call city hall and tell on businesses that aren't open.
Stanton says that the businesses need to have certainty and not be subject to the "highs and lows" of Lake Worth politics. Good point Susan! How do you like your job now? Waterman is not saying that this is not allowing for the "whims of the foolish." Golden asks if we had closing hours at eleven p.m. during turtle season would be lose tenants. Broker Snitkin responds, yes two would not want to go forward. He says that we can make it work. (He didn't know the true period for turtle season, which you would think he would know by now if he is dealing with these leases in this building.)
Mulvehil is making a motion on the Kilwins' lease, with some amendments regarding following city laws and some language that ERM is requiring. Plus, no polystyrene and plastic bags. Waterman wants to know if that applies to "gift bags." They are saying that they can restrict it through leases, but not through city ordinances according to state law. Now they are talking about "gift bags." McVoy thinks a bag is a bag. This is getting ridiculous. Waterman doesn't want to be too restrictive. Golden seconds the motion. Public comment on Kilwin's. Lynn Anderson is all over the 2 a.m. closing and thinks it changes the whole flavor of the beach, that they should close at a reasonable hour. Lynda Mahoney says the closing should be 11 p.m. and that turtles are sensitive to many things, not just light. She is talking about changing the closing hours for alcohol sales to an earlier hour - citywide. Mary Lindsey, sides with the city manager and says that the Commission should step way back and realize that this is a commercial business plan. She also points out that this item has gone past the 30 minute for this to go to a workshop, she is afraid that Kilwin's is gonna walk and she is still waiting for an answer where this money to build the building is coming from.
McVoy says a 2 a.m. closing is changing the character of what goes on up there - he is saying there needs to be clarity and he thinks they need to resolve it. He thinks there should be some consistency, he wants to decide on hours and say that 12 a.m. is the closing time - let's get it done now. People need to know what they are getting into. Maxwell says that the leases needs to be set up so that the city doesn't have the ability in the future to tinker with it. He thinks we need to step back - he says it's o.k. to make a mistake, but it's not o.k. to defend it. Golden says that if they approve the Johnny Longboat lease to 2 a.m., they are all going to want to stay open until 2 a.m. She is saying 12 a.m. at the most and 11 p.m. during turtle season. Mulvehill is disclosing her contributors again - it is like they are reading this, which it really seems that they are. Now they are talking about deciding these all at one time - and they are talking about setting firm hours as an issue. Mulvehill hears the concerns and that some businesses are going to have different closing hours. Motion fails 1 - 4 with Mulvehill the only one for it. Waterman is now saying they should workshop on it, and that Kilwin's was not supposed to be contentious, they have talked two hours already. Stanton says they have to re-visit the business model, they have stopped construction due to the uncertainty regarding the nature of the use of the second floor. All of these will be work-shopped in the future. Mulvehill says that the second floor of the Riviera Beach Johnny Longboat's location is vacant - that we need to go on and doesn't see second floor stand alone businesses as being viable. Vote was 4-1, with Mulvehill dissenting.
They are now going back to item 2(a) and this is McVoy's broker that he is bringing in. He thinks he will have the answers about how to make it commercial without changing the character of the beach. He is now saying 11 p.m. should be the closing. He likes quieter and nicer dining on the upper floor with spectacular views east and west. Mr. Sussman has experience in creating restaurants and we don't want to be in a position that the building is empty. He thinks that there are restaurants that would want this unique location. Mr. Sussman says that this is a last minute request. He says that restaurants are a theater-like experience. He thinks that this location is exceptional and would not apply to the rule that restaurants do poorly on the second floor. He thinks its a spectacular location. "The view is drop-dead fantastic." There is an opportunity to "raise the bar." He thinks that you need to put something "iconic" there. He thinks they aren't giving the location its due - he does not have a tenant in his pocket. He says that they have to step back and see if there is a tenant out there that would met those criteria. He says after the first one fails, it hard to get a winner later.
No comments, other than McVoy thanking him. He is repeating what the guy says now. He wanted to get some pictures from up there and didn't want to trespass. It would work financially and meet the other requirements. Golden is throwing a wreath at Mr. Sussman's feet. Public comment now. Lawrence McNamara points out that there are Palm Beach restaurants in a stand alone location that are successful and could make it here. Gentrification anyone?
It's 8:15 p.m. now and they are wrapping up. I am signing off for now. Comment away.
Maxwell withdraws his second. Waterman asks if that means that Maxwell is leaving - since he said he didn't want to be a part of this. Mulvehill's motion stands and Golden seconds it anew. Maxwell was the only dissenting vote. Now they are on to McVoy's request. McVoys broker, Sussman, cannot be there until 6:30 p.m. and only deals with the north end of the building. There are re-ordering the agenda to deal with the leases first.
Margoles is reviewing the leases and is talking about operating hours and how Johnny Longboats serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a 2 a.m. closing. There are differences in the leases since there are different tenants and different businesses.
(I'm listening on line from home - planned on going to the meeting, but things got a little busy this afternoon. Feel free to comment if you are listening too. By the way, I think they need to state - again - that the entities they are considering contributed to their campaigns - if not a complete list of all of them, they should refer to their previous declarations.)
Waterman wants to deal with the lease with Kilwin's since there were no issues with it. She wants that first. Maxwell is pointing out that there are things missing in the lease and staff should have taken care of that prior to the meeting. Carr is answering questions about the "final financing" and that won't happen until the project is finished. He is referring to the PFM Group memo - he is saying that is a secondary issue. He says that they - the final creditors - will look at the financial capabilities of the city as a whole, since this is a new project and it is considered speculative. The City will have to pledge some sort of revenue toward payment of that loan - but the revenues will be the ones that will be paying the construction cost off - but that revenue stream is currently committed to other functions (this is where I have a problem with this scenario.)
Golden thinks that the turtles will be disturbed by 2 a.m. closing hours and the lighting required. ERM will have ultimate review. McVoy wonders if there is anything in the lease that would be conflict with ERM about closing hours if things change. He thinks there is an uncertain element. He thinks its international law. Now he thinks it might be a sound issue that will bother the turtles, not the lights. McVoy says that they are averse to law suits around here - eh hem. Babble, babble, babble...he wants to give the city the ability to change the hours of operation if things change or if it becomes a problems. Golden is now insisting that sound is also a concern related to the turtles.
Stanton is saying that giving the city the unilateral ability to change important conditions of the lease, that would impact the business plans for the various tenants and it would require a re-look at the basic business plan. She is saying that it is a commercial building in a city park, and McVoy doesn't like that. He thinks it is a park first. In talking about language about the lease allowing for the city to enforce all of its laws, the City Attorney said that there are no guarantees in law. Encouraging. Golden is talking about the opening and closing of doors that would let light out that wouldn't be protected by turtle glass. They are talking about about different operating hours during turtle nesting season. Turtle season is May 1st through October 31st - outside of the traditional south Florida tourist season - fyi.
Waterman brings the conversation back to the Kilwin's lease. McVoy is wondering how many of the five proposed tenants that hours of an operation are an issue. Margoles responds that for the food service tenants - three of the five. McVoy wants the issue "un-linked" from the 2 a.m. issue. He says that other people have talked to him about hours of operations issues beyond the impact to turtles. Maxwell thinks it may be best to have two sets of hours based on food service versus retail. He is also concerned that the lease does not require them to be open to a certain time, which would be a negative. He says there is an expectation that a certain tenant would be open till 9, and they close at 7, there are going to be people that are disappointed. Mulvehill goes to Carvel - we seem to have an ice cream loving Commission. Their hours changed recently. Waterman says if there is a problem, the city can change the rules if it wants to. Mulvehill says that people will call city hall and tell on businesses that aren't open.
Stanton says that the businesses need to have certainty and not be subject to the "highs and lows" of Lake Worth politics. Good point Susan! How do you like your job now? Waterman is not saying that this is not allowing for the "whims of the foolish." Golden asks if we had closing hours at eleven p.m. during turtle season would be lose tenants. Broker Snitkin responds, yes two would not want to go forward. He says that we can make it work. (He didn't know the true period for turtle season, which you would think he would know by now if he is dealing with these leases in this building.)
Mulvehil is making a motion on the Kilwins' lease, with some amendments regarding following city laws and some language that ERM is requiring. Plus, no polystyrene and plastic bags. Waterman wants to know if that applies to "gift bags." They are saying that they can restrict it through leases, but not through city ordinances according to state law. Now they are talking about "gift bags." McVoy thinks a bag is a bag. This is getting ridiculous. Waterman doesn't want to be too restrictive. Golden seconds the motion. Public comment on Kilwin's. Lynn Anderson is all over the 2 a.m. closing and thinks it changes the whole flavor of the beach, that they should close at a reasonable hour. Lynda Mahoney says the closing should be 11 p.m. and that turtles are sensitive to many things, not just light. She is talking about changing the closing hours for alcohol sales to an earlier hour - citywide. Mary Lindsey, sides with the city manager and says that the Commission should step way back and realize that this is a commercial business plan. She also points out that this item has gone past the 30 minute for this to go to a workshop, she is afraid that Kilwin's is gonna walk and she is still waiting for an answer where this money to build the building is coming from.
McVoy says a 2 a.m. closing is changing the character of what goes on up there - he is saying there needs to be clarity and he thinks they need to resolve it. He thinks there should be some consistency, he wants to decide on hours and say that 12 a.m. is the closing time - let's get it done now. People need to know what they are getting into. Maxwell says that the leases needs to be set up so that the city doesn't have the ability in the future to tinker with it. He thinks we need to step back - he says it's o.k. to make a mistake, but it's not o.k. to defend it. Golden says that if they approve the Johnny Longboat lease to 2 a.m., they are all going to want to stay open until 2 a.m. She is saying 12 a.m. at the most and 11 p.m. during turtle season. Mulvehill is disclosing her contributors again - it is like they are reading this, which it really seems that they are. Now they are talking about deciding these all at one time - and they are talking about setting firm hours as an issue. Mulvehill hears the concerns and that some businesses are going to have different closing hours. Motion fails 1 - 4 with Mulvehill the only one for it. Waterman is now saying they should workshop on it, and that Kilwin's was not supposed to be contentious, they have talked two hours already. Stanton says they have to re-visit the business model, they have stopped construction due to the uncertainty regarding the nature of the use of the second floor. All of these will be work-shopped in the future. Mulvehill says that the second floor of the Riviera Beach Johnny Longboat's location is vacant - that we need to go on and doesn't see second floor stand alone businesses as being viable. Vote was 4-1, with Mulvehill dissenting.
They are now going back to item 2(a) and this is McVoy's broker that he is bringing in. He thinks he will have the answers about how to make it commercial without changing the character of the beach. He is now saying 11 p.m. should be the closing. He likes quieter and nicer dining on the upper floor with spectacular views east and west. Mr. Sussman has experience in creating restaurants and we don't want to be in a position that the building is empty. He thinks that there are restaurants that would want this unique location. Mr. Sussman says that this is a last minute request. He says that restaurants are a theater-like experience. He thinks that this location is exceptional and would not apply to the rule that restaurants do poorly on the second floor. He thinks its a spectacular location. "The view is drop-dead fantastic." There is an opportunity to "raise the bar." He thinks that you need to put something "iconic" there. He thinks they aren't giving the location its due - he does not have a tenant in his pocket. He says that they have to step back and see if there is a tenant out there that would met those criteria. He says after the first one fails, it hard to get a winner later.
No comments, other than McVoy thanking him. He is repeating what the guy says now. He wanted to get some pictures from up there and didn't want to trespass. It would work financially and meet the other requirements. Golden is throwing a wreath at Mr. Sussman's feet. Public comment now. Lawrence McNamara points out that there are Palm Beach restaurants in a stand alone location that are successful and could make it here. Gentrification anyone?
It's 8:15 p.m. now and they are wrapping up. I am signing off for now. Comment away.
Dustin Zacks' Press Release - 11/3
DUSTIN A. ZACKS
216 N. Federal Hwy. #4A Lake Worth, FL 33460
(561) 310-8159 DustinZacks@yahoo.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
DUSTIN A. ZACKS UNOFFICIALLY DROPS OUT OF CAMPAIGN; ENDORSES TRIOLO
Announces Official Unofficial Drop-Out Celebration: “Occupy The Cottage,”
Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 8 PM at The Cottage Lake Worth;
Free Appetizers and $4 Well Drinks, Draft Beers, and House Wines
Today I am proud to announce that I am unofficially dropping out of the campaign for Lake Worth Mayor and endorsing Pam Triolo.
I was driven to enter the race to oppose the mayor based on the following issues:
1. The mayor has raised citizens’ taxes and utility rates, and also has voted for a special assessment;
2. The mayor has spoken glowingly of restrictive land use regulations that drive businesses away from Lake Worth;
3. The mayor has singlehandedly revived the issue of a trolley, which our city’s taxpayers cannot afford at this time and which would be an unmitigated waste of taxpayer money;
4. The mayor has not always been candid and forthright with the citizenry;
5. The mayor has already spoken about her desire for a raise at taxpayers’ expense after only months on the job; and
6. The mayor was notably absent, spending taxpayer money on a trip to Orlando, while the city commission appointed a person with a lengthy arrest record to the city’s Community Relations Board, which is responsible in part for improving relations between the community and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The above demonstrates her complete inability or unwillingness to comprehend and address the issues that are the most important to Lake Worth.
Now that I have spoken to the citizenry about the issues important to me, I want to prevent the possibility of a costly runoff election that our city can ill afford, or worse, that could result in the mayor’s re-election.
Thus, I am asking citizens to vote for Pam Triolo because I believe her proven track record as a successful businessperson would serve our city well in these tough economic times.
To celebrate my campaign and the issues I have brought out, and to thank my supporters, I am proud to announce that I will be holding the official unofficial drop-out celebration, “Occupy The Cottage,” at the Cottage Lake Worth, 522 Lucerne Avenue, Lake Worth, FL, on Friday, November 4, 2011, beginning at 8 P.M. The Cottage will feature free appetizers and $4 well drinks, draft beers, and house wines from 8-11 P.M. Both the 1% and the 99% are invited to “Occupy The Cottage,” because occupying a local bar is so much more fun than occupying a public park. Live music will accompany the festivities all evening long.
###
If you’d like more information about this press release or to schedule an interview, please contact Dustin A. Zacks at: (561) 310 – 8159 or dustinzacks@yahoo.com.
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Dustin A. Zacks for Lake Worth Mayor.
216 N. Federal Hwy. #4A Lake Worth, FL 33460
(561) 310-8159 DustinZacks@yahoo.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
DUSTIN A. ZACKS UNOFFICIALLY DROPS OUT OF CAMPAIGN; ENDORSES TRIOLO
Announces Official Unofficial Drop-Out Celebration: “Occupy The Cottage,”
Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 8 PM at The Cottage Lake Worth;
Free Appetizers and $4 Well Drinks, Draft Beers, and House Wines
Today I am proud to announce that I am unofficially dropping out of the campaign for Lake Worth Mayor and endorsing Pam Triolo.
I was driven to enter the race to oppose the mayor based on the following issues:
1. The mayor has raised citizens’ taxes and utility rates, and also has voted for a special assessment;
2. The mayor has spoken glowingly of restrictive land use regulations that drive businesses away from Lake Worth;
3. The mayor has singlehandedly revived the issue of a trolley, which our city’s taxpayers cannot afford at this time and which would be an unmitigated waste of taxpayer money;
4. The mayor has not always been candid and forthright with the citizenry;
5. The mayor has already spoken about her desire for a raise at taxpayers’ expense after only months on the job; and
6. The mayor was notably absent, spending taxpayer money on a trip to Orlando, while the city commission appointed a person with a lengthy arrest record to the city’s Community Relations Board, which is responsible in part for improving relations between the community and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The above demonstrates her complete inability or unwillingness to comprehend and address the issues that are the most important to Lake Worth.
Now that I have spoken to the citizenry about the issues important to me, I want to prevent the possibility of a costly runoff election that our city can ill afford, or worse, that could result in the mayor’s re-election.
Thus, I am asking citizens to vote for Pam Triolo because I believe her proven track record as a successful businessperson would serve our city well in these tough economic times.
To celebrate my campaign and the issues I have brought out, and to thank my supporters, I am proud to announce that I will be holding the official unofficial drop-out celebration, “Occupy The Cottage,” at the Cottage Lake Worth, 522 Lucerne Avenue, Lake Worth, FL, on Friday, November 4, 2011, beginning at 8 P.M. The Cottage will feature free appetizers and $4 well drinks, draft beers, and house wines from 8-11 P.M. Both the 1% and the 99% are invited to “Occupy The Cottage,” because occupying a local bar is so much more fun than occupying a public park. Live music will accompany the festivities all evening long.
###
If you’d like more information about this press release or to schedule an interview, please contact Dustin A. Zacks at: (561) 310 – 8159 or dustinzacks@yahoo.com.
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Dustin A. Zacks for Lake Worth Mayor.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
For those of us in the peanut gallery...
...that spend much time poking and pouring over the city's perilously clunky website, I want to share an observation that you may or may not realize. This past Monday, I downloaded the meeting packet for this Thursday's - tomorrow's - meeting on the Casino Building tenant leases. I was about to do a post on it and something told me I had better check to see if there are any changes to it from when I first downloaded and reviewed it. Well, come to find out there are 47 more pages of back-up material for the meeting - with no indication of when the changes are made or what is different.
One exception being a memo from Commissioner McVoy requesting a "second opinion" from an unidentified broker that supposedly has 40 years of experience. This is his attempt to convince his "colleagues" that the second floor restaurant space is so unique that surely it would attract a quality, long term tenant. More on that later.
I have Acrobat Professional and I use it to highlight, comment, bookmark, OCR the packets. It does have a compare document command, but it doesn't work on documents over 250 pages. The new edition of the packet has 356 pages. Now it is search and find what is different - or just re-review the whole thing again.
Oh, gods that are our elected officials, can you find a way to indicate what has changed from the original posting to the up-dated one - and when that happened? We may be in the peanut gallery, but it seems that we are only getting the shells.
Click here for a link to the city's website for the current packet. The agenda for the meeting appears below:
Update: Sometime between downloading the second (?) version of the packet and now, two more pages were added. That was McVoy's memo.
One exception being a memo from Commissioner McVoy requesting a "second opinion" from an unidentified broker that supposedly has 40 years of experience. This is his attempt to convince his "colleagues" that the second floor restaurant space is so unique that surely it would attract a quality, long term tenant. More on that later.
I have Acrobat Professional and I use it to highlight, comment, bookmark, OCR the packets. It does have a compare document command, but it doesn't work on documents over 250 pages. The new edition of the packet has 356 pages. Now it is search and find what is different - or just re-review the whole thing again.
Oh, gods that are our elected officials, can you find a way to indicate what has changed from the original posting to the up-dated one - and when that happened? We may be in the peanut gallery, but it seems that we are only getting the shells.
Click here for a link to the city's website for the current packet. The agenda for the meeting appears below:
Casino Construction Pics from 10/29
These were included in the latest City Manager's Report. I took note of this introduction offered by Ms. Stanton:
The first item that caught my eye is the use of the term "bi-weekly." If you Google it, you will find that technically it means every two weeks and that the term "semi-weekly" refers to meetings that happen twice weekly. I would hope they are meeting more than twice a month on this project - it would be nice to know more definitively what the meeting schedule is, but we have become numb to ambiguity around here. What is not ambiguous is that the OIG is having their staff attend these regular meetings. I am sure discussion about whether the seawall meets code standards so that the NEW building does not need to be built on pilings is not on the agenda.
Here are the photos:
Here are the photos:
Time-Lapse of a REAL restoration project
This is a time lapse video of the preservation of The Historic Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, Iowa. Frank Lloyd Wright designed six hotels. Five were built, but only two remain. Remember how the Commission talked about having a webcam at the beach during the construction of the casino building? What happened to that idea? I guess they didn't want anyone looking that closely at what was really going on.
Last night's Commission Meeting - Discussion on Community Relations Board
After all sorts of feel good, self-congratulatory and self-promoting presentations placed on the agenda, Commissioner Maxwell made the case for revising the scope of the CRB to make sure that it would not involve itself in investigations of PBSO activities as he believed that violated state statutes. You would have thought he was speaking a language that our multi-lingual Commission didn't understand. They questioned the statute and they questioned why they didn't have back-up material in advance. When Commissioner Maxwell brought up the e-mail penned by panagioti, Mayor Waterman questioned whether it was a personal e-mail and then said that we shouldn't be going through people's personal e-mails. Huh? Maxwell pointed out that it was signed by him and included the fact that he was chair of the Lake Worth Community Relations Board. He also pointed out that it was Golden, Mulvehill and McVoy that voted to put him on the board, over another qualified candidate and that maybe that was the wrong decision. He put forward two different motions to amend the ordinance that created the CRB in order to prevent it from going after PBSO, but both failed for a lack of a second.
Then discussion faded into the land of the bizarre as Mulvehill brought up other communities that have CRBs and how they are used in other communities. She hadn't seen the e-mail and didn't have time to read it then, complained about not having the material in advance but did think a workshop with the CRB was a good idea. Golden liked the workshop idea and completely ignored the e-mail or the declaration that panagioti was an anarchist. She wistfully recalled how Manchester, Vermont had a similar ordinance (where she came from 20 years ago - only if she could go back now!) and how it was just a good thing to have. McVoy lectured on how it's o.k. to have someone on the board with these sorts of views and compared it to hiring a computer hacker to investigate hacking crimes - since they were experts in that anyway and knew how criminals think. I started thinking that would be like having criminals sit on a parole board. He thought it was o.k. as long as everyone on the board didn't think that way.
They all thought that it was important to talk with other members of the CRB to get their opinions. I thought why? They are the ones that appointed a radical activist to a board that really is in a position to sit in impartial judgement of sensitive situations. To appoint someone like this to a board of this type is just wrong. John Pickett, during public comment on the item, said it very succinctly: It is o.k. to admit that you made a mistake. Others thought the same way and were worried that this meant another round of questioning the PBSO contract - of course the brilliant minds on the dais knew that was political poison to admit so they heaped praises on the PBSO and on and on and on.
In the end, they agreed, with Maxwell dissenting, to have a work session with the CRB, PBSO and others that might help them amend the language that the CRB operates under.
I keep thinking about the political blind spot they have regarding panagioti - read his manifesto again. You will see how many of his principles are really the operative decision-making direction of the majority of this Commission. Scary is too mild a word. However, it is interesting to note how panagioti mentions mainstream "Burt Arronson Democrats" and seems to be referring to Rachel Waterman as being part of this group and being an unknown quantity. He seems to pine for the Tom Ramiccio days when they knew who the enemy was. Perhaps evidence of a cleavage in the cabal?
Lake Worth board's role in sheriff's office under scrutiny
The Post's take on last night's meeting. Click title for link.
New arts website is designed to promote downtown Lake Worth exhibits
Good news courtesy of the CRA - who else? Click title for link.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Click here for live stream from City Commission meeting of 11/1/11...
Click here for agenda and back-up material.
At 7:12 p.m. - they are starting on discussion of the Community Relations Board.
At 7:12 p.m. - they are starting on discussion of the Community Relations Board.
City Manager Susan Stanton's misreporting of board appointments...
A sardonic Edwin Newman's take on the 1964 World's Fair...
Complete with a spotlight on the Florida pavilion. This is the second of six segments - you can find the rest on YouTube.
General Motors' 1956 vision of 1976 "smart highways"...
Well, they got the navigation screen right, just a little early on the predicted arrival date. Part of the propaganda for more public funding of highways...it worked, for a while.
From one of our roving correspondents...
Why small cities are poised for success in an oil-starved future | Grist
Book review of Small, Gritty and Green by Catherine Tumber. Might be a good book to pick up - it argues against the future success of "mega-regions" and elevates the importance of small and medium-sized cities. Not sure if her theories would apply to Lake Worth, however, since in many ways we are part of one of those mega-regions. Click title for link. (I just picked up the Kindle edition)
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Challengers hope business backing carries them in Lake Worth election
I'm hearing violins. Click title for link.
[CPNA] Friends of Lake Worth Library Annual Book Sale
The annual Lake Worth Library Fall Book Sale takes place Saturday, November 12 between 9:00am and 3:00pm in the Cultural Plaza across from the library.
They need volunteers for the following days, times and jobs:
Friday, November 11 to prepare items for the sale, 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
Saturday, November 12 to set-up prior to sale, 8:15am to 9:15am
Saturday, November 12 to be cashiers and refill shelves during the sale, 9:15am to 3:00pm
Saturday, November 12 to break down the sale at 3:00pm
Each year they raise money to donate to the library for requested items, projects and programs. As budgets get tighter and funding is cut, the book sale plays an even more important part in generating money for programs. Please help by volunteering. Just a two hour shift (9am-11am, 11am-1pm or 1pm - 3pm) can help!
Call June Evans, President of Friends of the Lake Worth Library at 561/586-7136 or 561/252-8672 to volunteer or e-mail her atjuneevans2000@yahoo.com to volunteer.
They need volunteers for the following days, times and jobs:
Friday, November 11 to prepare items for the sale, 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
Saturday, November 12 to set-up prior to sale, 8:15am to 9:15am
Saturday, November 12 to be cashiers and refill shelves during the sale, 9:15am to 3:00pm
Saturday, November 12 to break down the sale at 3:00pm
Each year they raise money to donate to the library for requested items, projects and programs. As budgets get tighter and funding is cut, the book sale plays an even more important part in generating money for programs. Please help by volunteering. Just a two hour shift (9am-11am, 11am-1pm or 1pm - 3pm) can help!
Call June Evans, President of Friends of the Lake Worth Library at 561/586-7136 or 561/252-8672 to volunteer or e-mail her atjuneevans2000@yahoo.com to volunteer.
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