Lake Worth Commission OK’s Benzaiten Center for the Creative... | www.palmbeachpost.com

Good summary of the discussion regarding the use of the former FEC Railroad Freight Depot. Look for video of the actual topic as it was discussed at last night's (11/5) City Commission meeting. It came right after the break and many people stayed just for that item. Luckily, the item was approved unanimously. Click title for link.

Here's a good place to let you know about other things that happened that I didn't catch on the coming videos. One is that Finance Director Steven Carr is "re-retiring" after being with the city for the past three years. He'll be here through January of next year. Last night, the city received the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Document Award - for the fourth consecutive year. City Manager Bornstein heaped praise on Mr. Carr and his work directing the department and getting things in order. Here is a picture of Mr. Carr accepting the award.

Later on in the meeting, during a discussion on the Kimley-Horn contract amendment and parking situation at the beach, we learned of the following revelations. Some $38,000 of extras were actually incurred by the city back in 2010 - at the direction of those in charge at the time. Director of Public Services Jamie Brown said that Kimley-Horn discounted some of the services, which they didn't have to do, but that the city did owe them this money. The Commission approved the change order and agreed to pay the amount outstanding. Vice Mayor Maxwell made a snide comment that this amount was nothing compared to the $20 million and counting we paid for the beach renovation project. The real total was not revealed. It seemed to me like a lot went unsaid about the status of the punch-list for construction of the building and I hope that we are treated to that in the near future.

Complaints about the parking situation were raised from the public, especially the lack of handicapped parking spaces near the Casino building. They are required, but their placement is in the upper parking lot near Benny's and the pier - not near the Casino building. City Manager Bornstein said that the County is still holding back the final payment (about $500,000) for work there so nothing can be done to address the situation until that money is released. This led to a discussion about the city resident decal parking area that is just north of the Casino building - 50 spaces. It turns out that the slope in that parking area rules out handicapped parking there period. So the City is aware of the problem and it seems that the general public makes them aware of the issue on a daily basis. Some frustration was detected here. They are working on solutions, but it will not be immediate.

Don't get me started on how this site plan was approved by the City Commission and Planning and Zoning Board - but that was mentioned last night. All I will say now is this. Certain Kool-Aid drinkers at the time were all about "saving the building." Saving the building actually resulted in the construction of a brand new building in the exact same place as the old building. This did not allow for a "clean slate" approach to the site and there was a great disconnect between the location of the building in relation to parking and loading areas. Opportunity missed and we are paying the price now in the present dysfunctional layout to the detriment of the public. Those people who pointed out these deficiencies in the project at the time were essentially told that by pointing out problems with the plan, we wanted the project to fail and told metaphorically to "move to the back of the bus." Thus, we are living with the results of a flawed, politically-charged process. More money will need to be spent by the city to address this issue after-the-fact. Cheers!

The City Commission also wants to allow seasonal residents the chance to purchase a resident parking decal for one of those 50 decal spaces. We were told that over 900 such decals are out now. This item will be brought back after this coming tourist season. As the Mayor pointed out, we really haven't experienced the full impact of a winter season as the building and beach were finished in January of this year and in many ways is still being discovered by the public.