7th Ave South and LWH editorial

A few days ago I referenced the recent editorial in the Lake Worth Herald. You can read the editorial here. Some took offense and went to ridiculous lengths to blunt the editorial's effectiveness. You can read about this and how they use Peter Timm of all people to lamely make a point.

The editorial addresses the planned new street proposed for 7th Avenue South west of the new La Joya CRA project. The 'road' is now a dirt path. The city is finally using the unused Community Development Block Grant money that previous commissions ignored and worked with the county to construct a road. Months of work began that involved plans, drawings, city meetings, community meetings, that all culminated with the item placed on the Consent Agenda for the City Commission to approve, "by consent" on October 7th. You can read my report with accompanying pictures and a map here.

Then a 'thing' happened. At the very last opportunity after the City had done their due diligence a group assembled to monkeywrench the project claiming their voices were not listened to. This is after they failed to 'voice' their concerns at the previous city meetings. Note Commissioner McVoy was present at commission meetings where this project was discussed.

Now for a few excerpts from the Lake Worth Herald editorial that has some unraveling at the seams:

     It is time the commission accepts these few who come to commission meetings to gripe are going to be there to complain no matter what the issue is. The time has come for the commission to begin ignoring the few and serve the greater, most of whom don't attend commission meetings because they have put their faith in the elected officials and the process of government. These are the ones who will speak at the polls, they will either vote to re-elect based on performance or not re-elect, again based on performance. It is not a commissioner's job to please everyone, it is their job to use sound judgment in the decision making process. 

[Later in editorial...]

     Commissions who have pandered to the vocal minority through the years have put Lake Worth in the condition it is in.
     Once a decision is made, this commission needs to have the backbone to move forward and not let those who ignored the meetings on issues until a decision was made, interfere after the fact and delay progress. If they don't show their concerns when the items are being considered, they should not have a special meeting, scheduled just for them, which costs the city additional money.
     The roadways and greenways went through a number of workshops and district meetings, attended by none of those who appeared after the fact. Staff had engineering work done and plans drawn according to desires of those who took the initiative to attend the workshops and give their input. Now, comes the circus crowd, led by one commissioner, wanting to redraw all of the plans, which would cause the city to have to repay the county about 50 thousand dollars in engineering fees. The "Johnny come lately" tactic is just one of the ways they keep stalling progress, and should no longer be catered to. 

Visit the LWHerald.com to read the entire editorial and the clever musings of our Pelican Pete on the circus crowd's "battery in the lake."