Friday, September 2, 2016

Tick. Tick. Tick. The editor at the Palm Beach Post on the upcoming November 8th bond referendum

Of late the Post editorial page has been cut back to one page. Back in June or thereabouts it was a 2-page spread every day with musings from the editor on this or that. On June 30th was that editorial about the problems at the Lake Worth Casino that got my blog readers called "dumb", "insane" to "why don't they find some other city to pick on?".

Then, just fifteen days later they wrote ANOTHER editorial about Lake Worth concerning Garlic Fest's move to John Prince Park. Why? Who knows.

Below are my random thoughts in no particular order on that Post editorial. Also look in the right-hand column for On Casino fiasco, Post editor chimes in: "Blah blah blah blah blah."
  • "[Vice Mayor Scott] Maxwell urged the city to hurl lawsuits immediately." Hurl? Really? More loaded language from the Post. The word "file" is a 4-letter word too.
  • "The city’s elected officials are all understandably upset." All? Commissioner McVoy too? Why wasn't he upset six years ago?
  • Editing error I: "the commission voted 3-1 to give the responsible companies. . .". Should read "the companies responsible".
  • Dear Editor used the wrong quote from City Attorney Torcivia. Should have been, "I'm being a nice guy here but frankly your comments are irking me."
  • Understatement by Dear Editor deserving of award: "To make ends meet, it appears some corners were cut." Clever turn of phrase to sidestep the building's "Greenwashing".
  • Editing error II: ". . . the builders [construction company] found more damage than expected." There was only 1 "builder".
  • For years the Post has been a crucial cog in the propaganda machine that the Casino building was "renovated". They finally gave up. They know the truth: it was 94% demolished.
  • It's disingenuous, at best Dear Editor, to care so much after turning a blind eye to all the problems for so long. Too little too late. Lake Worth needed your editorial a long time ago.
  • Why wasn't McVoy quoted?
  • But. . . "Maxwell could not be reached for comment." Why not hold off until he could? Nothing else to opine about Dear Editor?
  • Dear Editor mentions "The $6 million plunged" but not Greater Bay settlement of $1.6 million and City's legal fees.
  • "Lake Worth has been generous in giving the parties until October to fix the very real problems with the upper part of the building." What about rainwater that cascades onto the sidewalk?
As far as Post editorials go there was a time not long ago, in 2014, when the editor looked clearly and thoughtfully at the issues in Lake Worth and saw how and why we're still struggling with so many problems:
From another Post editorial in 2014. . . a rare moment in time when they could clearly see what was needed to improve "the city's basic needs".