Saturday, December 31, 2011
Carl Bard
"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."
Friday, December 30, 2011
The REAL Greater Bay Story, from an alert and loyal reader...
"The Commission, against the advice of the City Attorney, Karns, and led by the Cabal Leader, the Limo Liberal and Suzy Clueless voted to unilaterally terminate the contract with Greater Bay.
The resultant Greater Bay slam dunk winnable lawsuit was assured by the clouding of title by our infamous Dr. Dumb Dumb as President of the We Love Lake Worth PAC lawsuit against the city and then the McCauley-McNamara filing of their lawsuit gift to GB. It seems all of the requirements of Greater Bay under the Contract were contingent upon the City delivering “clean title”, which of course the lawsuits clouded.
Stanton commandeered the control over the Greater Bay lawsuit and ran up the legal bills and delayed the GB lawsuit at every opportunity for God knows what reason. Poor judgment or a desire to shelter the Cabal during Election Campaigns are the reasons most often given.
Stanton is accused of poor judgment in choosing the law firm that drew up the Contract to defend the city. Stanton also kept that law firm after their promise to easily dispense with Greater Bay through a quick Summary Judgment was thrown out of Court.
Stanton attended the Depositions and Interrogatories as the legal bill passed $500,000. We are waiting for Humphries & Carr to reveal the cost to date with expectations as high as $700,000. Of course, Never Settle Any Lawsuit for Any Number Stanton was true to form yet again.
If the city loses the lawsuit, the City will probably also have to pay Greater Bay’s legal costs. The only thing the city gained out of this was that Dr. Dumb Dumb no longer lectures us on his saving of the city from an evil developer."
To the above, I would add that the We Love Lake Worth PAC, headed by current Commissioner McVoy, gave him a chance to emerge from political obscurity and parade around town with other cabal storytellers. The stories told at the doors of thousands around the city included the prospect of a hotel, a mall and other unspeakable evils that the new zoning and land use designation for the beach would allow and encourage. Many storytellers went so far to talk about other potential evils - demolition of the library with no windows on the east side of the Lucerne as evidence - completely unrelated to the content of the petition drive. We now know that the zoning and land use designation that were the subjects of the petition drive to repeal ended up being needed for the current city-run project at the beach. The City Commission met out of the sunshine to discuss the breaking of the contract and the possibility of suing Greater Bay - minutes of which have been produced to the court during the discovery process. The city tried to duck by redacting, under Stanton's orders, large sections of relevant material. Seeing these areas "blacked out" in the documents led the judge to suggest that the attorneys representing the city review public records law in the state of Florida and submit public documents intact. Don't you think that the plaintiff's attorneys would compare the two sets - blacked out versus intact document - to assess what the critical areas of interest to the city are? I have never heard of such a boneheaded move in my career. It is just a matter of time until the court decides how badly the city loses this case.
HOT NEWS: Becky Mattey turned in her resignation yesterday.
That is our utility director. She gave two months notice and offered to stay on three additional months to prepare the budget. However, she requested three additional months of severance pay to stay longer.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Mango Groves Neighborhood Watch
Good afternoon neighbors,
At the last Mango Groves meeting several neighbors expressed an interest in starting a neighborhood watch for our neighborhood. Joel Morgenstern of PBSO has agreed to hold an informative meeting if a number of our residents are truly interested in making this a goal for our neighborhood. Please reply to this email (mangogrovesna@gmail.com) if you would like to learn more about what this process entails. There is no obligation if you would like to attend a meeting on this topic. Thanks in advance for your interest and Happy New Year!
Sincerely, Mango Groves Neighborhood Association Board of Directors
At the last Mango Groves meeting several neighbors expressed an interest in starting a neighborhood watch for our neighborhood. Joel Morgenstern of PBSO has agreed to hold an informative meeting if a number of our residents are truly interested in making this a goal for our neighborhood. Please reply to this email (mangogrovesna@gmail.com) if you would like to learn more about what this process entails. There is no obligation if you would like to attend a meeting on this topic. Thanks in advance for your interest and Happy New Year!
Sincerely, Mango Groves Neighborhood Association Board of Directors
Reopening of Phipps Ocean Park in Palm Beach
Palm Beach, FL – The Town of Palm Beach announces the reopening of the Phipps Ocean Park public beach on Friday, December 30, 2011. The Town’s Public Works Department has restored access to the stairway that was covered in sand. Currently, the only stairway access open to the public beach is at the south parking lot.
The north and central public beach access points along with the north parking lot still remain closed and will reopen sometime in the future.
Lifeguards will be on duty during normal operating hours.
The north and central public beach access points along with the north parking lot still remain closed and will reopen sometime in the future.
Lifeguards will be on duty during normal operating hours.
Dee McNamara Speaketh
Click title for link. Why does this remind me of the North Korean mass display of grief accorded to Dear Leader?
Buzz Aldrin
"Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind." -plaque left on lunar surface by Apollo 11.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Officer K. Tucker-Carsillo Crime Prevention Unit West Palm Beach Police Dept
If you have statues that have been stolen, please call and make a report. If it's happening here, it is happening in neighboring cities. Knowing how far reaching it is can be helpful in solving these thefts.
It appears as though there has been an increase in the number of statue thefts in the Southend. I have received several reports and was advised that there are several unreported thefts of lawn statues and other metal statue's in people's yards. Some of the victim's may not be making police reports but never the less they are still victim's of these theft's. Several people aren't documenting these incidents being that they feel as though the items are impossible to locate once stolen. These have consisted of cement Lions, large bronze figures, decorative pots and other misc. statues that all seem to be fairly heavy. Most of these items cannot be lifted by a single person so more than likely there a several men with a pick-up committing these crimes. These items are difficult to locate unless the victims locate them online or elsewhere. Just FYI for those working in the Southend if you do observe someone with those types of statues in the bed of their truck please get a name and tag.
Note: The "Southend" he refers to is West Palm Beach. Here in the north end of Lake Worth, a neighbor reported a similar crime last week. See previous post.
It appears as though there has been an increase in the number of statue thefts in the Southend. I have received several reports and was advised that there are several unreported thefts of lawn statues and other metal statue's in people's yards. Some of the victim's may not be making police reports but never the less they are still victim's of these theft's. Several people aren't documenting these incidents being that they feel as though the items are impossible to locate once stolen. These have consisted of cement Lions, large bronze figures, decorative pots and other misc. statues that all seem to be fairly heavy. Most of these items cannot be lifted by a single person so more than likely there a several men with a pick-up committing these crimes. These items are difficult to locate unless the victims locate them online or elsewhere. Just FYI for those working in the Southend if you do observe someone with those types of statues in the bed of their truck please get a name and tag.
Note: The "Southend" he refers to is West Palm Beach. Here in the north end of Lake Worth, a neighbor reported a similar crime last week. See previous post.
FYI
The aforementioned other blogger cites "Lake Worth" as being 35th on the list of most dangerous cities in the nation. If you look at where the data for "Lake Worth" comes from, it includes all of the geographic area that carries a Lake Worth address. Regardless of whether it would make the statistic better or worse, it is not reflective of crime in only the 33460 and 33461 zip codes and shouldn't be used as a comparison.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Rep. Jeff Clemens will run for the State Senate - see below
The press release reads:
Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth), whose House District was broken into four pieces during the first round of redistricting maps, announced today that he will run for Senate, provided that
amended maps produce a district in central Palm Beach County.
“I believe these maps that have been produced are unconstitutional and that subsequent amendments and court proceedings will change them dramatically,” Clemens said. “If the final maps create a Senate district largely east of the turnpike in Central Palm Beach County, I intend to run for Senate.”
Maps approved by the Senate are expected to undergo changes during the amendment process, and the Florida Supreme Court will also have the opportunity to weigh in on their constitutionality in the wake of the passing of Amendments 5 and 6 in 2010. Amongst other things, those maps required the districts to be drawn compactly in a way that doesn’t benefit incumbents.
“Central Palm Beach County deserves representation of its own,” Clemens said. “It has distinct issues, just like the western, northern and southern areas of the county. My hope is that the amendment process and the courts will recognize the need for a fair map that gives weight to each one of these regions of our large county.”
The first set of gerrymandered maps created for the House are clearly designed to fracture the current House District 89 by breaking it into four pieces, including dividing the small city of Lake Worth, where Clemens was mayor, into four separate districts. Clemens currently represents West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Lantana, Greenacres, Boynton Beach and six other municipalities.
Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth), whose House District was broken into four pieces during the first round of redistricting maps, announced today that he will run for Senate, provided that
amended maps produce a district in central Palm Beach County.
“I believe these maps that have been produced are unconstitutional and that subsequent amendments and court proceedings will change them dramatically,” Clemens said. “If the final maps create a Senate district largely east of the turnpike in Central Palm Beach County, I intend to run for Senate.”
Maps approved by the Senate are expected to undergo changes during the amendment process, and the Florida Supreme Court will also have the opportunity to weigh in on their constitutionality in the wake of the passing of Amendments 5 and 6 in 2010. Amongst other things, those maps required the districts to be drawn compactly in a way that doesn’t benefit incumbents.
“Central Palm Beach County deserves representation of its own,” Clemens said. “It has distinct issues, just like the western, northern and southern areas of the county. My hope is that the amendment process and the courts will recognize the need for a fair map that gives weight to each one of these regions of our large county.”
The first set of gerrymandered maps created for the House are clearly designed to fracture the current House District 89 by breaking it into four pieces, including dividing the small city of Lake Worth, where Clemens was mayor, into four separate districts. Clemens currently represents West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Lantana, Greenacres, Boynton Beach and six other municipalities.
NYT article on Brazilian visitors/tourists flooding Miami...
Click here for link. Apparently there could be more if not for the visa requirement and lack of enough U.S. consulates in Brazil. Time to learn that third language?
Miami Has a Hearty Oi (Hello) for Free-Spending Brazilians
Flush with cash, Brazilians are spending millions of dollars for vacation condominiums, clothes, jewelry, furniture, cars and art in South Florida.
Loosely related, since it is about a soon-to-be former city of Islandia in the Miami area, is this article from the Miami Herald.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Are we back to restoration now?
From the City Manager's report of 12/23/11:
And didn't someone's campaign literature talk about November 2012 - or are we to forget about that? Isn't the building done when the utilities to it (water, sewer, electric) are completed? That's not happening by Spring of 2012. It also is finished when the tenants move in, open for business and pay market rents. When is that happening?
Monday, December 26, 2011
New Life for an Old Depot
An example of how art and preservation can go hand-in-hand and be part of the redevelopment picture. Click title for link to article on how the Savannah College of Art and Design used the remains of an old train depot building.
And here's a song about Johnson City...
Maybe Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill can use this song as a model to compose a song about Lake Worth's reverse osmosis plant?
How about an original Lake Worth song contest for the Centennial...
We could have it this year leading up to 2013 to build interest in the celebration. I am serious about this suggestion. We could gather sponsors for prize money and perhaps have different categories - traditional, rap, hip-hop, humorous, country, ethnic, etc...
Here are two examples from different eras about a town that I had the good fortune to live in for a while. It's a medium-sized Midwestern university/college town, former home of UpJohn, Checker Motors. Something to think about....or sing about....
Here are two examples from different eras about a town that I had the good fortune to live in for a while. It's a medium-sized Midwestern university/college town, former home of UpJohn, Checker Motors. Something to think about....or sing about....
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![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)
