Thursday, October 8, 2015

Lake Worth Commissioner Ryan Maier doesn't know where the Ag Reserve is in Palm Beach County

[This post below was published yesterday (10/7). Check back later today for some very interesting developments. Suffice to say that Commissioner Maier has some explaining to do. Enjoy Maier's summation of his presence at the TCPRP.]

And note that Maier is the City's liaison to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC). I was unable to attend the City commission meeting last night (10/6) but did watch much of the meeting online. I videotaped the segment off the City's website this morning (the video quality is poor taping off a TV screen but the audio is quite clear):
Maier thinks the Ag Reserve "surrounds Lake Okeechobee". The Ag Reserve is nowhere near the lake. You would think with former Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill being in the news lately about her effort to develop more Ag Reserve land and widen roads in the area would have gotten Maier's attention; apparently that's not the case.

This isn't Maier's first embarrassment vis-à-vis the TCRPC. Who can forget his report to the City commission on 5/19 about how easy it is to fix the volume of train horns on the FEC. It's a "quick fix" Maier said, and all that needs to be done is take out some "little bells". Because of that misinformation the public had to be educated that this was not an easy fix and would take much time and effort to correct the issue. How many people in Lake Worth still think lowering the volume of train horns is a "quick fix"?

This latest misstatement of fact was such an egregious one that his cohort, Commissioner McVoy, asked permission of Mayor Pam Triolo to correct the record. He starts explaining where the Ag Reserve actually is located starting at about the 30 second mark in the video below:
I received some interesting anecdotes about Maier's misstatement from people in attendance and they ranged from disbelief to hilarity. On a serious note though, the next time we have to sit through another lecture about turtles from Maier do we now need to fact-check everything for accuracy?

He's already gotten his facts wrong about Gopher Tortoises in Lake Worth's Park of Commerce (POC). He wanted the City to find out how many turtles (if there are indeed any) on City property in the POC. Just one problem: almost all of the land in the POC, other than right-of-ways and maybe a miscellaneous lot or two, are private property. Thank you to Commissioner Amoroso for correcting the record on that issue.

One last thing: Maier said the Ag Reserve was a major issue at the TCRPC meeting on 9/18. It was a very long agenda but see no mention of the Ag Reserve; maybe he can clear that up. His next liaison report to the City will be from the TCRPC's October 16th meeting—expect that at the City Commission meeting on October 20th. I'll try to be there with my camera.