For those of you who missed it...

This is the editorial which appeared in the August 2, 2012 edition of the Lake Worth Herald.  It is re-published here with permission:

Editorial
Building Heights in Lake Worth have become an issue once again and it is the same players on both sides. Some of the players are, as usual, in the public, but the most dangerous players are behind the scenes. If those in the public could think for themselves, the wedges of division would not run so deep.Lake Worth needs responsible growth and the movement to change the charter is bent on no growth, without compromise. This group thinks their way is the only way and there is no room for compromise. This is the same group that spent nearly 9 million dollars from the fund balance with no effort to replace it, and then added Fire assessments. The same group that says $25,000 is too much to spend to hold an election in March, but $100,000 was not too much to spend an a worthless study to undo one of the best decisions made in Lake Worth’s history, the hiring of PBSO. The present commission repealed the assessments, by a 3-2 vote.
Lake Worth needs to build to heights east of Federal that can accommodate a hotel to increase the tax base and attract visitors.Commissioner Scott Maxwell asked that a moratorium, or whatever is legal, be placed on any development in the downtown district that exceeds the heights specified in the charter amendment until after the March 2013 ballot results are counted. This was a compromise put forth to give time for the ballot question to be explained to the general public in an honest way.The petition has been mired with accusations of misrepresentation, slanted to indicate over building. Petitioners use the Lucerne as an example, but don’t inform anyone that this could not happen again in Lake Worth. It was their leaders that changed things to insure this would not be permitted in the downtown area.After four years on the dais, Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill suddenly sees a need to change the charter, without regard to the charter provisions by forcing a vote down the throats of Lake Worth in November. It wasn’t an issue for three and a half years, why is it necessary to do it in 90 days?With her coat tails filled with miscreants, who will stand before the commission and twist facts without stuttering, this malcontent commissioner will continue to spin untruths upon the public. It is the likes of these that would post the antics of “texting,” to the dais as a tactic of the majority when it was their dearly beloved that got caught, with the ringleader in the crowd.Ten percent is enough to get an item on a ballot, it is not a mandate to elected officials or the public, especially when the public wasn’t even sure what they were signing.Lake Worth is poised to move forward and this “little ladies club with a few others” is standing in the way again.
Lake Worth needs “responsible growth” not demagoguery from the few outspoken.