Hagiography to demonization in 6 months...

 This is a post that was written by the other blogger in September of last year. Later on, as a comment to the original post, she suggests that something in the city be named for Mary Lindsey.

We have many choices Lindsey Park, in place of Bryant Park. Lindsey Way instead of Lake Osborne Drive. Or, you could go real big and rename the entire city Mary Lindsey Beach.

Katie Mcgiveron agrees with the other blogger. Remember, this was six months ago.

Layer on the praise Katie. What could have been your motive? Something like hoping Mary's ego would get stroked enough so that she would run against either the Mayor or Commissioner Amoroso? My bet is on this reason.

And...

Suddenly, it's six months later and the bowels of hell have opened. Here's a recent sample. Funny how leopards don't change their spots.

And then this...

What if we had named something after her? I doubt that this keeps the other blogger awake at night. Quite a contrast after just six months.

Dustin Zacks, RELEASE THE CATS FROM HELL. Oops, they're already released.

Larry the Lenz does it again!

Larry the Lenz is worth every cent that we pay him. Here he is doing what he does best as our roving photographer. He found an abandoned car, parked on South J Street by Publix. You can  clearly see there is no license plate and the side windows are either left down, or they blew out. Gosh, Larry. I know how you got your name.

Keep up the good work! I hear that he is hot on another story.

Marcellus Shale EF!ers Held at $57,000 Bail | Earth First! Newswire

Look at the total amount of bail for the five protesters. Click title for link to article. Didn't they have a fundraising effort at the end of last year to publish their EF! Journal in print? I hear now that they are going all digital, so I wonder what the money they raised is being used for?

The 5 arrestees from this morning’s blockade of an Anadarko fracking site face misdemeanor charges and a total bail of $57,500 for defending the wild what is wild. Visit their WePay account to contribute to the liberation of these brave ecodefenders!

All Aboard Florida draws opposition from Treasure Coast, Palm... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

This is part of the review of the project and how the Environmental Impact Statement is prepared. A draft should be out later in the Spring. But this article by Emily Roach of the Palm Beach Post, click title for link, gives us an idea of what the document will contain. There are some good points made here. It is hard to point out the benefit of the train, if you don't have a station nearby, but still have to deal with the impact of 32 trains a day running through your backyard at 110 miles per hour. Here's a bit from the article.

Rail opposition in the Treasure Coast is growing as effects of the project become common knowledge. The passenger service has no stops north of West Palm Beach until Orlando, and the train is expected to be traveling 110 mph through that area.

During slightly more than an hour of public comment from 26 people, only one person spoke in favor of the project. Most were Treasure Coast residents.

Here is a quick list of facts about All Aboard Florida:

All Aboard Florida has plans to start construction on stations and the tracks this year. The  goal is to start hourly service by early 2016.

All Aboard Florida

Miami to Orlando express passenger rail

Operating hours: 6 a.m.-9 p.m.

16 round-trip trains daily, for 32 passes through crossings

Stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando

Construction begins 2014

Service estimated to begin 2016

Environmental Impact Statement notice filed April 15, 2013

Environmental Impact Statement

Prepared by Federal Railroad Administration

Process required for railroad to qualify for federally supported loan

Draft EIS publication expected in late spring 2014

> Spurs public comment period of 45 days

Final EIS publication unknown

> Spurs public comment period of 30 days

Record of decision finalizes EIS process

Environmental Impact Statement

Prepared by Federal Railroad Administration

Process required for railroad to qualify for federally supported loan

Draft EIS publication expected in late spring 2014

Spurs public comment period of 45 days

Final EIS publication unknown

> Spurs public comment period of 30 days

Record of decision finalizes EIS process

President Obama Greeted by Animal Costume-Wearing Keystone XL Pipeline Protesters

And as long as we are on the subject of hysteria, here is a report about the protest during President Obama's visit to Miami for a fundraiser. Be sure to check out the pictures. I am not seeing any familiar faces. They did wear costumes, and some of them were quite creative. Click title for link. Here is a picture that is from another source.

To me, it looks like a furry convention. I have never actually seen one, but if I did, I bet it would look something like this.

Residents of Lake Osborne Heights (ROLOH) reaches new levels of hysteria...

Larry the Lenz called me this morning to point out this post on the neighborhood association's blog. Click title for link.

 You'll find this post right below the title of the blog. It was put up sometime last evening.

The blog post links to this article which talks about the days after 9/11 and how there were terrorists that lived among us and even used the Lantana Airport to train for the attacks. Larry points out the article says they also used the Boca Raton library as an Internet portal. Using this logic, we shouldn't allow the public to access the Internet from public libraries?

Somehow Mr. Neighbors Helping Neighbors, who Larry says is actually Robert Waples, is making a link between terrorists, 9//11 and the proposed John Prince Park location for a spring training facility. That somehow this was missed and the "Lake Worth City Commission jumped on this before they knew all of the facts."

This is what amounts to facts? Read on...

Larry and I scarcely can believe that this was actually put to print, but here it is. My advice: Step away from the keyboard if you are nipping at the cooking sherry.

Click here for today's archived version of High Noon in Lake Worth with Commissioner Amoroso

George Orwell

"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations."

Parking and Lane Closure at Palm Beach Town Hall

The Town will be closing the parking spaces on the west side of Town Hall at 360 South County Road from today, March 21st, at 4:30 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. on March 22nd. One southbound lane of South County Road will be closed from 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on March 22nd. The parking and lane closures are to perform removal and replacement of a roof top air conditioning unit at Town Hall. All lanes will reopen on March 22nd at 1:00 p.m. Pedestrian crossings will be open and maintained during the closure.

Please obey all barricades and avoid entering the work areas.

If you have any questions regarding this project, please call Brett Madison at the Public Works Department, 561-838-5440.

Palm Beach County faces big decision, big costs ahead on...

This would change the face of Palm Beach County. It will be expensive to construct just one of these interchanges at major intersections. The MPO is talking about the potential of six of these throughout the county. The cost estimates also do not include right-of-way acquisition, which would be substantial. Ultimately, the County Commission could make a policy that they are not going to pursue this option, but what are you going to do about car travel in the future?

Have you been out to State Road 7 and Forest Hill Boulevard? Scary. Click title for link to Joe Capozzi's article.

For example, the intersection of Okeechobee Boulevard and Military Trail would have 132,800 daily vehicle trips in 2035, according to MPO projections. Today, there are 100,232 daily trips through that intersection.

Forest Hill Boulevard and State Road 7 is the largest “at-grade” intersection in the county, with 31 total lanes (including turning lanes) approaching from all four directions. There are 94,177 daily trips through that intersection today, and the 2035 projections call for 105,000 trips.

“It needs to not be a do-nothing approach,” Uhren [Nick Uhren, Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization’s executive director] said after the meeting when asked about resistance to urban interchanges.

“But at the same time, when you’ve got bottlenecks for cars, there’s not an alternative. Unless you can convince people to get out of their cars, you cannot provide the capacity of an urban interchange in another fashion to move that many cars.”

President Obama to Be Met by Keystone XL Pipeline Protesters Dressed as Sea Creatures

This would have happened yesterday. I will check to see if there is any news coverage or video of the protest.

A couple of questions I have about the emphasis on stopping the Keystone Pipeline are these. One is that there are other pipelines being constructed that are going to do about the same thing as this particular pipeline, so why single out this one in particular? If this pipeline wasn't there, couldn't the oil get to other refineries by train? And, if that is true, isn't transporting this oil more hazardous by rail than by pipeline? One protester is quoted that it wouldn't create any long term jobs. But, isn't this being done to help North America be more energy independent to help with our strategic security and economic development goals? I don't know. Just asking these questions. Click title for link.

South Florida considers investment against rising seas

Some great information in this PBS feature. Click title for link to the article. There is a video as well, but for some reason is not playing for me. The audio is working. It presents the various challenges that the south Florida region will face due to the effects of sea level rise.

This just in from Roving Photographer, Larry the Lenz...

First of all, a thousand sorries go out to Larry. Can you believe that when I posted his bio last night, I misspelled his last name!? Sorry Larry, I'll get it right from now on. You get the "Z" man, you deserve it. Especially if you keep getting me material like this - STRONG my man, STRONG.

Did anyone know that there was a protest in Bryant Park today? Well, Larry did. Look at these exclusive shots:

Nice overall shot Larry, but he also got close-up shots so you could read the signs better. The one above came later as the protesters got gutsy and rushed on stage. These are from earlier in the day when they were on the lawn.

 

You can see that the crowd was eventually overwhelmed by the grass and took refuge on stage. Here is a dramatic zoomed-in shot Larry sacked.

This was towards the end of their action. By this time, the Channel 5 helicopter came by and captured the goings-on. Larry is close with some of the reporters there. He worked it and got these stills from the air. 

 

Obviously, this couldn't continue to go on, so the authorities were called and, in the end, the City Manager arrived and saved the day. There were no arrests, the protesters dispersed under their own power, but left their signs in their wake.

 

Ruh-oh!

Thanks Larry! This will be a great relationship going forward.

Celebration of Love - March 23rd, 2 p.m., City Hall

Lake Worth City Commissioner Andy Amoroso 03/21 by High Noon in Lake Worth | Politics Podcasts

Join your host Wes Blackman as he welcomes Andy Amoroso to the High Noon in Lake Worth studios. Commissioner Amoroso enters his second term after an uncontested election - a rarity for Lake Worth. He is just back from the National League of Cities 2014 Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C. He'll share what he learned from attending the conference and what he was able to do to garner attention to issues facing Lake Worth. He'll also talk about the Marriage Equality Event on March 23rd and the lead up to Pridefest the weekend of March 29 & 30.

Click title for link to live show between noon and 1 p.m. (3/21) or after the show airs for archived version. Leave questions as comments below.

College Park Meeting Monday, March 24th

Dear Friends and Neighbors, The College Park Neighborhood Association will hold it's quarterly meeting next Monday, March 24th at the First Congregational Church, 1415 North K Street. The meeting begins at 6:30 pm. Everyone is welcome. In addition to our regular report from PBSO on activity in the neighborhood, we will also be discussing the College Park entry in this years' 4th of July Raft Race. The theme for this year's race is "Art on the Water". Entries are asked to choose any well known artist or work of art to decorate their raft. This is a pretty big category with so many great ideas to choose from ... please bring your best ideas to the meeting and let's get started.

The raft we have used for the last two years is safely stored, stripped of decor and ready to be re-decorated for this year. However, no matter how we decorate it, we will never be able to fit more than 4 paddlers on the raft unless we build a bigger and hopefully faster one. The raft race is July 4th and our next meeting after this one is not until June 23rd, so we should make all these decisions at this meeting on Monday.

A reminder that there are some great events coming up - This weekend on Saturday, March 22nd, the Downtown Jewel Neighborhood Association hosts their 3rd Annual "Flolfing Tournament". Flolfing is a sport invented by the "Jewel" and it's a kind of cross between neighborhood home tour and mini putt putt golf. Players travel from home to home and try hard to make par on the 9 mini golf holes constructed on each one. Everyone ends up at the 10th hole for a great party and award ceremony where the Flolfing Green Jacket is awarded to the winner. As it happens (ahem) College Park is the defending champion this year having won the Tournament last year with the help of many and legally purchased mulligans. We hope to retain our Championship title this year without the help of mulligans using raw talent only and therefore we are putting out a call for College Park's most talented golfers to enter this tournament.

The fun begins this Saturday at Hole #1 located at 207 South M Street. Tee off time is from 11am until 2pm. A score sheet and map will be provided at the first hole. Tickets are $20 and all proceeds go to benefit the Downtown Jewel Neighborhood Association.

On Sunday, March 23rd, "A Celebration of Love" will be held on the steps of City Hall at 7 North Dixie Hwy to demonstrate support for equal rights for our LGBT friends and neighbors to legally marry in the State of Florida. The press release with all the details is right here.The Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council will be speaking in support of this effort at the event.

A reminder that PrideFest begins the following weekend, Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 3oth with music, vendors and loads of fun in Bryant Park from Noon until 6pm both days. The PrideFest Parade will be Sunday, March 30th starting at 11:30 am. The theme this year is "Fanta-Sea". Everyone is invited to march in the parade along with the Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council float. Line up to march in the parade will be on Lucerne Avenue around M Street (look for the NAPC float) starting around 10:30 or so. The parade will travel west on Lucerne to J Street then South on J Street to Lake Avenue and finally East on Lake Avenue to Bryant Park.

Hope to see you all this coming Monday at 6:30. Please feel free to share this information with friends and neighbors who may not be on our email distribution list.

Mary Lindsey, President
College Park Neighborhood Association

Lake Worth Demonstrates in Support of Marriage Equality to Keep the Revenue at Home

Click image to enlarge.

WPB mayor: “leave junk in trunk” at Boat Show

Mayor Muoio shows what will be allowed and not allowed to be carried into the boat show this year. Click title for link - check out the video too.

Last year’s SunFest and Boat Show, the mayor said, came before and after the fatal Boston Marathon bombing.

“We’re very sensitive to that issue,” she said. “All municipalities are. When we have special events, we need to make everybody safe.”

She also said the West Palm Beach police boat will be on hand.

“Some people think that after spending the day in the sun and in the bar, they can swim back to their boats,” Muoio said. “We had to rescue several people last year. So don’t do that.”

Peru to tourists: 'Stop getting naked at Machu Picchu!' - CNN.com

Well, we were all about eco-tourism, how about this as a branding idea? Click title for link.

Peru's Ministry ofCulture has denounced the spectacle of nude visitors at Machu Picchu as"disrespectful" and "unfortunate events that threaten cultural heritage."

"There are places in the world that people can get naked, but not all places are (appropriate) for getting undressed," Alfredo Mormontoy Atayupanqui, director of archaeological resources for Peru's Ministry of Culture, tells CNN.

According to Mormontoy, park rules printed on the back of admission tickets warn visitors against being nude in public."Tourists should comply with local rules and regulations when they are traveling, otherwise there will be thousands of problems," he says.

Rumplestiltskin: a field trip to the Lake Worth Playhouse

Dear Friends,

The Lake Worth Public Library is holding a special field trip for children 5-11 to the Lake Worth Playhouse to see the play RUMPLESTILTSKIN on Wednesday, April 30. Tickets for this field trip were purchased using funding from the grant “State-Aid to Libraries.”  Tickets are limited, they are offered on a first come first served basis and registration is required. Children will meet here at Lake Worth Public Library at 2:45 pm then walk over to the Lake Worth Playhouse at 3:00 pm, the play will begin at 3:30 pm. For more information or to register please call the library at 561-533-7454

The LW Playhouse said the play is “Adapted from the story by the Brothers Grimm, this classic uses the Elaborate Masks & Comical Characters of Commedia Del’Arte (Italian Renaissance Comedy) along with Audience Participation to tell the tale of the magical little man who can spin straw into gold. This high energy performance is Great Fun!”

Thank you,

Vickie Joslin

Library Services Supervisor

Lake Worth Public Library

Tropical Fruit and Vegetable Garden Workshop: A conversation with Master Gardeners Dick and Mary Pase

Join Dick and Mary Pase, master gardeners with over 15 years of volunteer service with the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service as they teach you about Florida fruit and vegetable gardening. In this workshop they will give you tips and pointers about soil preparation, fertilizing, container gardening, and have an open question & answer time. This workshop will be held on Saturday, May 3^rd at the City Hall Annex Building meeting room located at 414 Lake Ave, Lake Worth beginning at 2:00 pm.

The workshop is FREE and open to everyone and is suitable for beginners as well as experienced gardeners.

For more information please call the Lake Worth Public Library at 561-533-7354

Vickie Joslin

Library Services Supervisor

Lake Worth Public Library

More vessels than ever at PB International Boat Show

The waterfront in West Palm Beach will see a lot of action this weekend. The event is here, of course, due to the potential customers from Palm Beach, and follows two shows that were held early in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. It's fun just to go and dream. Boats come equipped with amenities unimaginable just 10 years ago. Click title for link to the Shiny Sheet article.

 “The buzz around the show is great,” Efrem “Skip” Zimbalist III,president and CEO of Show Management, said earlier this month. “So farthis year, exhibitor registrations are running well ahead of last year.That’s a good sign for another great show. Exhibitors are afraid of not getting space.”
That’s a far cry from 2009, when the recession dampened registrations by 20 percent, he said. By 2012, he added, things were on the upswing – and this year’s show has been on track to become the event’s largest.

West Palm Beach Golf Commission votes to knock down course...

The title displayed here is a  little misleading as it chops off the word "Clubhouse." There is some lamentation going on that the city spent a lot of money to improve the golf course in 2009, but did nothing about the clubhouse. Now, they are paying for that oversight. A new building will be expensive, but it seems as though there is the political will to do it. Click title for link.

The city has given up trying to save the clubhouse at the municipal golf course
and voted Monday to raze it. The vote by city commissioners, sitting as the city’s golf commission, was 5-0.
In August, the city ordered the clubhouse closed following a visit by Palm Beach County health officials to the course, which lies behind Forest Hill High School between Interstate 95 and Georgia Avenue.

Zombie home is bank blunder, Chase apologizes

The unincorporated area of the County, and the area carrying a "Lake Worth" mailing address, is not immune to the problem of vacant properties. This one has not fully been taken over by the lender and has slipped through the cracks of the foreclosure process. The bank, JPMorgan Chase, is being shamed into taking care of the property. Click title for link.

The decaying home at 8072 Burlington Court in suburban Lake Worth should be cleaned up soon following a Monday apology by JPMorgan Chase,which said a miscommunication is to blame for the maintenance slip.
According to Chase spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus, the property management crew responsible for upkeep on the home thought it had been purged from the foreclosure process. The initial foreclosure was filed in September2010.

Walter Anderson

“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself.”

Rip Currents Likely Today

Meet Larry the Lens...

Let me introduce my new Roving Photographer, Larry the Lens. Larry is a humble man. Even though he was physically different from other children his Mother and Father loved him and nurtured him. Though meager in means, his Father was a horseshoe salesman and his Mother sold Afghans at the county fair (the dogs, not the blankets), he never felt, not once, that he didn't measure up. He worked the Midway. Proudly. 

 

At the County Fair he acquired his love of the camera. After high school he enrolled in the prestigious Myopic School of Photography, where he graduated with honors. Here he met Delores Dingleberry. It was a match made in heaven.

Fast forward to Lake Worth. Dolores is a checker at the thriving establishment known as World Thrift. Larry the Lens is a struggling photographer. They just had their first litter. Adorable.

I (Wes Blackman) sought him out because Larry the Lens possesses a unique world-view. Unlike some photographers in Lake Worth who take photos like snipers in the grass, Larry the Lens gets into the action and doesn't mind getting scuffed up now and then. Larry did work briefly for Channel 12, doing a piece for Peter Schaller, and hopes this will not be a black mark on his career. Everyone makes mistakes.

Have an event? A news story? Larry the Lens can help you. When you see him around town, say "Hey Larry!" - you won't regret it.

A fresh voice for Lake Worth. 

My new roving photographer, Larry the Lens!

Bulletin from the Roving Photographer:

Car rollover, at the fork in the road, hits turtle. New blog FEATURE - We have our own roving photographer. His name is Larry the Lens. We'll have his bio up soon.

Send in the Queens - Lake Worth Playhouse - 3/21 & 3/22 8 p.m.

Friends Spring Used Book Sale

Dear Friends,

The Friends of the Lake Worth Library, a 501c3 organization which raises funds to support the Lake Worth Public Library will be holding their SPRING USED BOOK SALE on Saturday, April 12th at the Lake Worth Cultural Plaza (414 Lake Ave.) from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Prices range from 50 cents to $5.00, with some specially priced items.

The Library is now accepting donations for the sale of gently used books, DVDs, music CDs, and audio book CDs. Donations may be brought to the Lake Worth Public Library at 15 North M St., Lake Worth during operating hours: Tue. & Wed. 10-7; Thu. 10-6; Fri. & Sat. 10-5. 

The Friends group is always looking for new members, donors, and persons with great fund raising ideas. They meet the 2^nd Tuesday of the month at 5:30 pm (October through May) at the South Shores Restaurant on the corner of North M and Lucerne Ave across from the Library.  To enquire about the Friends or Fall Used Book Sale please call the Lake Worth Public Library at 561-533-7354.

 

Hope to see all of you book lovers there!

Vickie Joslin

Library Services Supervisor

Lake Worth Public Library

Royal Poinciana Neighborhood Association Meeting

Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 6:30 p.m., at the Shuffleboard Court building.

Larger crowd than usual at last night's City Commission meeting (3/18/14)

Many people attended to hear discussion about the city's beach parking decal parking policy. Video coming shortly on that discussion. I got there just a little later than usual and it was standing room only. For the first part of  the meeting, I squirreled away in the corner chair by the door and the location didn't allow for the set-up of my tripod. The last picture, above, was taken during the presentation on the Park of Commerce Process. There will be a stakeholder meeting next Thursday, March 27th at 6 p.m., Shuffleboard Court building on the project.

Theme announced last night for this year's Great American Raft Race...

"Art on the Water" - fertile soil to unleash Lake Worth's creativity!

Delray residents continue push for sidewalks, bike lanes - Sun Sentinel

Click title for link for some Delray Beach residents' opinion about the need for a sidewalk and bike network. I've been involved in some projects in Delray recently and this issue came up in two instances. One was related to a large project in the downtown area and another in the Lake Ida neighborhood. Thuy Shutt, who is quoted in the article, is an urban planner. She points out that it can be a complicated and expensive project to accumulate adequate right-of-way for dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks. This was discussed at a recent Planning and Zoning Board meeting, with recommendations eventually coming before the City Commission.

Resident Jim Smith said city officials need to start setting aside money for sidewalks, bike lanes and shared lanes now. With the recent announcement of added passenger lines on Tri-Rail Coastal Link, he said thousands more people will hit Atlantic Avenue without cars.
"They will be looking around for sidewalks and bike lanes," he said. "We need to be ready for them."
The downtown core isn't the only place residents pushed for more sidewalks and bike lanes.
Resident Bruce Bastian said Lake Ida, Tropic Palms and Tropic Isle neighborhoods also need attention.
"We need sidewalks in these major arteries," he said. "It's challenging for kids, walkers and cars to travel on the same road."

Boynton Beach commission delays vote on changing old high...

This is Boynton Beach's version of the Lake Worth Beach epic. It too has been used as a political football in that community and now is the subject of a lawsuit. Juan Contin, who was part of the most recent redevelopment attempt, is a member of the Historic Resource Preservation Board here. Click title for link to article. Here it seems that they are just kicking the can down the road.

The old building, which sits across from City Hall and has been vacant for decades, has been the subject of numerous failed revitalization attempts. In June, commissioners voted down Lake Worth architect Juan Contin’s project that would have used private money to build an events and destinations center.
Contin’s was the first that proposed to use private money to build the destination at the school, but commissioners eventually grew frustrated as Contin, whose project had a $4.5 million price tag, remained protective about investors and their identities and miscommunication arose about who would own the building and pay permit fees.
Developer Boynton Old School Partnership LLC sued the city after the board’s June vote.

A couple of weeks ago, we went by to take pictures of the property, building and surrounding area. Until now, there wasn't an opportunity to post those pictures so here they are.

It really is a handsome historic building and you think that it could be adapted for another use. I am sure that its auditorium or gymnasium would make a good public meeting area. The building is immediately south of Boynton Beach's City Hall.