It's healing time in Lake Worth. A good place to start is with volunteers who've been unfairly attacked in this City

The information below was originally posted on March 2nd. Below is the statement by Greg Rice, the Chair of Lake Worth Planning and Zoning Board. Mr. Rice wants an apology for false statements made about volunteers who serve the City. Now that the election is over, hopefully an apology will be forthcoming. Below is the statement by Mr. Rice:

"I would like to make a public statement. Somebody running for city commissioner [Frank McAlonan] has made public comments at public meetings accusing members of this Planning and Zoning Board, and there are several of them in this room tonight, for being involved in secret meetings with the developer of the Gulfstream hotel and the Planning and Zoning Board. He's making a slanderous statement. That has never happened. I want everybody to realize that. I don't know why, whatever that means, to possibly create doubt and suspicion about what's going on here at City Hall. But these volunteers on this board that aren't elected officials that are serving this City, making the sacrifices, this could have a significant, things like slanderous statements like that, could have a significant impact on their ability to be able to make a living. Especially those that are involved in professions that are construction-related or design-related. I would like an apology before the election that ["secret meetings" alleged by McAlonan] never happened."

[You can hear this statement for yourself in a short video taken (below) from a TV screen which is of poor video quality but the sound is quite clear.]

Mr. Rice gave his yearly Planning and Zoning Board update on March 1st. At the 10:30 mark in the video he thanks the volunteers and the City staff for all their hard work and sacrifice. At the 11:00 mark he makes the statement above. Here is that video:
For the entire background on this important election issue use this link.

McAlonan relentlessly continued to spread this lie in the community and so did his supporters. Not only did no "secret meetings" occur but the Gulfstream hotel redevelopment project never went before the Planning and Zoning Board in the first place.

You can better understand now why it's so hard to find volunteers, especially professionals in a specific field, to serve communities like the City of Lake Worth.

Now that the election is over it's healing time. And that needs to start with the volunteers.