Remember the Annex Protest! And on painting of the CRA’s Annex: “It’s not to my liking and, ummm, Yikes!” And then she said, “Harrrumphhhh.”

Remember the protest in Lake Worth after the painting of the CRA’s Armory Art Annex building, or as some recall it, the former shuffleboard courts? The signs read:

• “Stop The Andy!”
• “Eliminate the CRA!!!!!”
• “I’m SO ANGRY I made a sign!”
• “Luddites Of Lake Worth UNITE!”

Former City reporter Larry the Lenz caught all the action!
Following that protest in 2014 a concerned citizen appeared at the City Commission meeting during public comment with a “true story” and she said, “It’s not to my liking . . . Yikes!”

News in this week’s Herald: Lake Worth High School part of Sprint’s “1 Million Project”

“Lake Worth Community High School was the only high school in the state of Florida to be included in this program.”

The entire article is on page 10 of this week’s Herald; here are two excerpts:

Lake Worth Community High School has been selected as one of 11 high schools across the country to be part of Sprint’s new pilot program entitled the 1 Million Project.
     The 1 Million Project is designed to help close the homework gap by giving one million disadvantaged high school students free mobile devices and internet.
     Five hundred (500) Lake Worth High School students will be enrolled in the project which kicks off in January, 2017. Sprint will be providing a mix of free smartphones, tablets and LTE data per month to each of the students for four years.

[and. . .] 

     Claudio Hidalgo, Sprint’s Florida Region President stated, “High school is a critical period in the lives of our young people as it marks the time they begin to build the skills needed to prepare for college and the world ahead.”

A look back to 2011. Wonder if this group is still looking to replace that truck battery?

Been to Palm Beach Gardens lately? After the “battery in the lake” fiasco in 2014 things went downhill fast trying to ‘save’ the Briger Tract, or Briger Forest if you will. Here is a look back to when “Defend this Forest” was at its peak: Embedded in the video:
The fight to save the Briger Forest in South Florida is ongoing! We are in the midst of making a documentary about saving this 682 acre forest, and this is the first release for the documentary. [Scheduled for a 2015 release in North Korean theaters?]

A 682 acre endangered and threatened species habitat, the Briger forest is the largest unprotected wild space in the eastern corridor of 95 as far south as Miami. We have put our sweat, blood and tears into protecting this forest from the biotech research company Scripps and developers that want to turn it into a Biotech city, with strip malls, housing, and vivisection labs.

Join our campaign today to fight to save the Briger Forest!

Explained: Building height limits in the little City of Lake Worth.

The image below is a nice recap. Please remember this next time you hear “Knock Knock” at the door and then get handed a flyer (like the one later in this blog post), and that smiling face says a high-rise is going to be built down the street from you:

Our height limits keep our little City “charming”. Isn’t that a lovely word? But it’s true. Lake Worth will never be like downtown West Palm Beach or Boca.

Let’s take a look back to what many people found on their door back in 2013 leading up the ‘heights vote’ that had nothing to do with keeping “Lake Worth LOW RISE”:

Lake Worth was already “LOW RISE” in 2013. The ‘heights vote’ was about one thing: Making sure our City would never have viable, successful hotel in the Downtown.

As we continue to deal with the twisted ‘facts’ let’s examine the propaganda above from the ‘Respectful Planning’ PAC that tricked people into voting to reduce the Downtown height limit to 45′:

“Provides clear, community-supported guidelines”
What “community” are we talking about? It would have been imposed by a small minority within a City of 35,000+ residents.
“Increases tax base without burdening City services”
No evidence whatsoever for this claim. How does reducing building height in the City’s core increase the tax base? The height limit in the Downtown hotel district is 65′. Lowering that to 45′ would increase the tax base? What additional infrastructure would be required for a 65′ structure that would not be required for a 45′ one?
“Promotes reinvestment in historic and vacant properties”
How does a height limit ‘promote’ reinvestment Downtown? Vacant properties are less likely to be built on if they are made less economically attractive.
“Protects the Gulfstream”
Yes, we all Love the Gulfstream. But a 45′ height limit would have made redevelopment of the Gulfstream less likely because it seriously reduces development capacity (i.e., land value) on the adjacent properties along Lakeside Drive. These lots are an integral part of the Gulfstream property. Let’s get real. The Gulfstream may be an iconic property but it is not economically designed for modern standards. If it were it would have been restored already.
“Allows construction of a new boutique hotel”
A meaningless statement. What exactly is a “boutique” hotel? Where exactly would it be built in the Downtown? Is one of the characteristics of a “boutique” hotel that it is no taller than 45′? Who devised that rather convenient rule?
“Does not limit development in the Park of Commerce”
An irrelevant and gratuitous statement.
“Supported by residents during the Master Plan process”
Completely untrue and patently dishonest. Height limits city-wide were discussed as part of the Master Plan process (you may recall the multi-year process squandered $1.2 million in public funds). The proposal to limit heights Downtown was never discussed in any way and would undoubtedly have been rejected had it been proposed.
“1700 registered voters signed the petition”
So what? What were they told? What scare tactics were used to get signatures? It’s less than 5% of the City's population.
“Follows the low-rise trend of many Florida coastal communities”
“Trend” in coastal communities? Some are high rise, some are low rise and everything in between. Each community has its own vision. Also keep in mind our “coastal” community is limited to the length of the beach. The communities cited by ‘Respectful Planning’ are communities with actual oceanfront coastlines. Many of these cities are struggling with redevelopment where existing single family neighborhoods exist. That is not Lake Worth’s problem.

Once again, the lies, mis- and disinformation continue. The names of the PAC’s may change but the goal is the same: to confuse the public. Don’t be fooled again.

The view west from Golfview and 1st Ave. South? This is one of the images passed out in 2013 to trick people into voting to limit heights in the Downtown.

Santa spotted at Highland Elementary School

“Santa Claus visited the good little boys and girls of BRIDGES at Highland Elementary to take pictures, spend some quality time with the kids and make sure their Christmas wishes were heard!
     Kris Kringle tells us that heard about the event from our good friend, City of Lake Worth Commissioner Andy Amoroso and that he couldn’t resist coming to the BRIDGES pot luck to see our families.
     In addition to posing for pictures, he also helped us write thank you letters and shared some holiday cheer.”

Video from my YouTube channel last year: Yes, there is a lot of interest in our schools here in Lake Worth.

Just a few days after I posted the video below of PBC School Board member Erica Whitfield at the City Commission on December 8th, 2015, it was up to almost 40 views or so. Now, a year later? It’s closing in on 3,000. Here is a link to my YouTube channel for other videos that may interest you. Look for the red “Subscribe” icon to become a subscriber. Following the video is the blog post written last year about the video, with emphasis added:


I post these video because, as opposed to others who tell you what they think happened at City Commission meetings, with my videos you can see for yourself what happened without the fuzzy filter, revisionism, spin, and nonsensical ramblings.

Lake Worth’s own Erica Whitfield, who lives in College Park, gave an informative talk at this week’s City Commission meeting. Early on in the video you will hear that the Palm Beach County School Board has a problem defining what is actually “Lake Worth.” In preparation for her talk she asked for demographic and other information for Lake Worth schools. That yielded many more schools than are actually in the City of Lake Worth—some way out west, far beyond the City limits.

Her talk focuses on the actual schools where City of Lake Worth children attend. It is clear we are a very diverse population and speaking multiple languages. We are also an area that has many impoverished students with the majority of them on free or reduced lunch programs. She identifies principals and talks about the number of students in each school and how they are graded. She also confirmed that the quality of schools can be a key determinant of property values. The maxim seems to be that the better the schools the higher the property values.

Erica Whitfield’s presentation is a wide-ranging overview of our public school system and really is a “must watch.” Some excellent questions came from the commission as well.

Just in case you missed this from yesterday

Now that commissioners Ryan Maier & Chris McVoy have decided to run for re-election. . .

. . . when the editor at The Palm Beach Post took a good, long, honest look at the City of Lake Worth’s leadership, even he came to the same conclusion the voters in the City did last March. The editor wrote:

Lake Worth’s “leadership has kept its eyes on the right goals. . .”

The voters in Lake Worth re-elected Mayor Pam Triolo, Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell, and Commissioner Andy Amoroso by landslide margins last March.

It’s been nine months since the elections last March and watching things shake out is extraordinarily heartening. The community, supporters of the re-elected majority along with many former critics are coalescing and debating the issues of the day. The City Commission, unfortunately, doesn’t yet reflect the community mood ergo all those 3-2 votes with commissioners Ryan Maier and Chris McVoy dissenting on so many issues. The good news is another election is coming up next March; Maier and McVoy are both up this time.

There will always be those few in denial or still shell-shocked who will act like the elections last March and the referendum last November 8th never happened, throwing out things like ‘secret meetings’ nonsense, insinuations of wrongdoing, distraction tactics. . . same stuff, different day in Lake Worth. Some things will never change.

Remember the image and words above next time you see one of those ridiculous editorials or ‘satirical’ Frank Cerabino articles, a bizarre letter to the editor, or news article spun this way or that. They’ll all get a collective case of amnesia heading into the elections next March regarding their papers’ glowing endorsement of the majority on the City Commission. . . but no one else will who is paying attention and involved here in this City.

This is an exciting time to be in Lake Worth. There is much good news and great things happening all the time. All kinds of positive changes are going on, community and neighborhood meetings all the time, and problems that once seemed intractable now are manageable and being discussed like a healthy community should. Attend all the City meetings you can, keep involved, and above all: Stay Excited!

The media needs another lesson. Just because you think you’re in Lake Worth, that doesn’t mean you are.

The media, especially the TV news, is getting sloppy again. And their editors who should be finding these mistakes are not doing much good educating the reporters. When it comes down to it, this is a disservice to the public. It’s no fluke that in poll after poll the news media gets ranked right there with used car sales and the U.S. Congress.

Frequent readers of this blog will know this is a recurring topic. For new residents of this City this is more important than you may realize at first since this affects the City of Lake Worth’s image and how the rest of the County sees us. The City of Lake Worth covers an area just over 6 square miles along the extreme eastern portion of Palm Beach County. It does not cover the vast areas west of Congress and south towards Lantana, as you will hopefully learn here.

As the City goes about re-branding itself, it doesn’t help matters when the news media reports on crime, accidents, and other mayhem occurring in other parts of Palm Beach County as having occurred in “Lake Worth”. Incidents outside the City should correctly be labelled as “suburban Lake Worth”, or “unincorporated Lake Worth”, or “unincorporated County”.

When I googled Lake Worth zip codes, came up with a list and they are below with a google map showing the area covered. Interestingly, once believed there were three Lake Worth Zip Codes: 33460, 33461, and 33462. I was wrong as you’ll see below.

33460 This zip code covers the vast majority of the City from the C-51 Canal south to Lantana and west to I-95. Also in this area is a small pocket of the City west of I-95 and east of Lake Clarke Shores:

33461 Most of this zip code is Palm Springs and unofficially named the “Lake Worth Corridor” (suburban Lake Worth). A small part of the City of Lake Worth west of I-95 is in this zip code; for instance some mobile home communities and the condos along Lake Osborne Drive are located in the City along with some single family residential neighborhoods. The Lake Worth Park of Commerce is also located in this area:

33462 This “Lake Worth” zip code includes no part of the City of Lake Worth. Atlantis, Lantana, and Hypoluxo are some of the municipalities in this area, and some are unincorporated Palm Beach County. For a long time believed a small part of the City was in this zip code but I was wrong:

33463 Another “Lake Worth” zip code area exists well outside the City limits, west of Military Trail and the Great Walled City of Atlantis. Notice where Greenacres is to the north on this map:

33465 This is the southern part of the town of Lantana, but it has a “Lake Worth” mailing address. It is not in the City of Lake Worth (Notice the location of the landmark “Friendly Greek” restaurant along U.S. 1 [Dixie Hwy.]):

33466 Another area that is not in the City. This is along a stretch of Lake Worth Road. There is some Village of Palm Springs in this area as well as unincorporated Palm Beach County. It also is known as the “Lake Worth Corridor”:

33467 This is one of the more problematic areas as far as the media is concerned. Many incidents in this area are labelled as “Lake Worth” in news reports; notice the Florida Turnpike. Again, well outside the municipal borders of the City by many miles:

33449 This zip code is on the edge of the Everglades and south of Wellington. Most definitely not “Lake Worth”:

33454 Another zip code outside the City. Notice “Planet Fitness Lake Worth”. Yes, it can be confusing:

The location of the dot on the above map is one of the county’s main north/south streets, Jog Road. 

I hope this information was helpful. When you boil it down, this over-use of the “Lake Worth” name has its roots in the sprawl development pattern that began in the 1960’s and continues today. Below is a USGS Map of the same areas indicated above from 1956. The orange on the map is considered “developed” or “urban” area; the green area indicates where the type of vegetation has been identified. The rest, ladies and gentleman, is essentially swamp land. Also note that this is prior to I-95 coming through. The Florida Turnpike is here by this time but no development leading up to it on the major east/west roads.

As areas developed over time and pushed west there was obviously a need to deliver mail to those areas. No one thought to call it anything else but “Lake Worth.” The unintended consequence of that is many things that happen at “Lake Worth" mailing addresses is attributed to the City, in the minds of many people. The news media is doing a better job of late, with assistance from time to time, to make the distinction between what is in the City of Lake Worth and what is not.

Can we come up with a name for the vast area that is “Unincorporated Palm Beach County” that does not rely on whether it is west of Lake Worth or West Palm Beach? Or does this fuel the argument by some to change the name of the City to something such as “Lake Worth Beach?”

But then again if the City had it’s own PIO, or media specialist, it wouldn’t be up to me to teach the media. They could learn to do it themselves.

Video: Meet Omari Hardy, candidate for District 2 in Lake Worth. Election Day is March 14th, 2017.

This was at public comment on unagendaed items at the City Commission last night (12/13). Dustin Zacks, at the 1:00 mark in the video, had a few things to say about my Michigan State Spartans. Remember Dustin my friend, there’s always next year.

At the 4:40 mark Omari Hardy comes to the podium:Following Hardy’s remarks Peggy Fisher has some interesting thoughts on the two-minute time limit for public comment. She thinks it should go back to three minutes again. The time limit was 3 minutes back in 2009 or so. It was commissioners Cara Jennings, Suzanne Mulvehill, et al. that lowered the limit to 2 minutes.

Maybe it’s time for 3 minutes again. Something for the City Commission to seriously consider.

The videos from last night’s (12/13) City Commission meeting

Here is the link to my Lake Worth YouTube channel. All the videos (11) are labeled and available for viewing.

When you click on the link above look for the red “Subscribe” button at the top right corner. Subscribers get an email when new videos are available.

If you hear or read anything about what happened last night you can watch the videos for yourself instead of being spoon-fed what someone else thinks happened or the all-too-familiar spin from the press and some social media sites. For example, most involved residents of Lake Worth are now very aware of what loaded language is and how that tactic is used by the media et al. And. . .

As always, Thank You for visiting.

Dark underside of ‘environmentalism’: “Enviro activist calls for ‘death of thousands’ in Lake O discharge controversy”

A scathing Point of View was published in the Post by Hendry County Commissioner Janet Taylor earlier this year with strong criticism of two influential environmental groups: the Everglades Coalition and Everglades Foundation. She pulls no punches.

In the editorial by Commissioner Taylor she mentions an email referencing the Herbert Hoover Dike which surrounds Lake Okeechobee:

Some activists’ desires apparently go far further than wanting to end Florida agriculture. A Feb. 11 post of a Sierra Club email exchange suggested that “a dike failure would fix everything. The human toll would be inconceivable. The benefits to our environment would be immeasurable.”
     “Inconceivable” is right! More than 39,000 people live in Hendry County.

It sounds inconceivable anyone would think a breach and resulting collapse of the dike would be a good idea but that is exactly what one ‘environmentalist’ suggested. If you didn’t know there is a mass grave in West Palm Beach with bodies recovered when a previous dike collapsed. You can learn more about that here.

Peter Schorsch at the Florida Politics blog broke this story last February and here are some excerpts:

For those of paying attention, however, they have no doubt been aware of the release of excess water from Lake Okeechobee, a result of historically high El Niño rainfall in South Florida.
     Unsurprisingly, environmentalists have been vocal in opposition. But this time, the rhetoric may be getting out of hand.

[and. . .]

     In one email, an activist named Mike Elfenbein goes beyond the pale.
     Elfenbein, in an especially nasty rant, wishes death via a disastrous Herbert Hoover Dike failure, resulting in the death of thousands of South Floridians. Such a catastrophe would “fix everything,” [emphasis added] noting the human toll would be “inconceivable.”
     But the benefits to the environment would be “immeasurable,” he concludes, drawing a line in the sand. “Question is … Which side are you on? Human or nature?”

[lastly, Mr. Schorsch has this observation. . .]

     It may seem passe to say so, but wishing death on opponents is not the most efficient way of winning hearts and minds.
     When forced to choose between living with humans or going down with Mother Nature, I may be selfish, but I’ll side with humans.

Understandably, there is a lot of frustration about the Lake Okeechobee, “Send It South!”, and water releases but there needs to be some perspective also. In the article cited above is a reference to Godwin’s Law: What happens when the debate gets out of control. Good advice.

Post editorial board tries to appease the Trump voters: Let’s “bridge that gap”, and please, “with no prejudgment”

UPDATE—There’s a newspaper executive “Post-election analysis” tomorrow:

“On Dec. 14 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center at 7:45 a.m., join our South Florida newspaper executives as they discuss their coverage of the recent presidential election . . . as well as how they combat perceptions of media bias propagated during the recent campaign.”

To register for this Chamber of Commerce of The Palm Beaches event use this link. The newspaper executives will be from:

• The Palm Beach Post
• The Miami Herald
• Sun Sentinel 
• Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

If you recall, on December 7th (and this is not a joke), The Palm Beach Post editorial board held a “Facebook live chat with Trump voters” and. . . 

“We narrowed our invitation down to a dozen or so [emphasis added] Palm Beach County voters.”

However, that brings up the obvious question: Will the editors invite a “dozen or so” Democrats in for a Facebook live chat? Possibly discuss why the editorial board didn’t endorse Hillary? And they didn’t endorse Mr. Trump either. Why didn’t they make any endorsement?

And maybe the editors will discuss this too:

A full page ad in the Post on Sunday, November 6th, page A5, two days before election day. The editors need to “bridge that gap” with Democrats too, don’t you think?

From Facebook: State Senator Jeff Clemens on that decision by The Palm Beach Post

“This is a TERRIBLE decision by our local newspaper. Evidently, what happens in our state capitol is of little interest to them.”


Many people are upset about what happened to reporters John Kennedy and David Rogers. And many in the media are talking about this, well, except for the Post. After the initial announcement there hasn’t been any mention of this in our local newspaper. From reporter Jim Rosica at SaintPetersBlog is this article titled, “Palm Beach Post closes capital bureau, lets John Kennedy go”; an excerpt:

     His [John Kennedy’s] wife, Miami Herald capital bureau chief Mary Ellen Klas, added in her own post: “Sad news for us this holiday season as the troubling trend continues. It’s one more chapter ended but another to come for my resilient, talented and respected (husband).”

     POLITICO Florida scribe Matt Dixon quickly noted on Twitter: “The (Post’s) decision leaves the state’s third largest county without any full time reporters covering state government.”

     The Post is owned by Cox Media Group, which also publishes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Austin American-Statesman and other papers, as well as holds an array of television and radio stations, websites and direct mail companies.

And so it goes. . . How is it Palm Beach County ends up with one of the worst newspapers in Florida? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a paper like the Tampa Bay Times here?

Jazz vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger: Special concert this Friday in Downtown Lake Worth

Acclaimed jazz vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger and her jazz ensemble will perform works by the late Billie Holiday plus a few holiday standards.

“A special concert will take place next Friday night (12/16) at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County featuring jazz vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger. The last time she performed here it was sold out. This local artist is a huge hit.”

Use this link or call 561-472-3338 to purchase tickets and to learn more. But hurry. Tickets won’t last long.

Lake Worth City Commission meeting tonight, excerpts & highlights from the “Agender”

Ever watch a City Commission meeting online? Learn how below.

The Consent “Agender” (Item 9) is very long, from A–Z then AA up to FF. It’s a long one. Plenty of opportunity for one particular commissioner to pull some items for monkeywrenching (see below).

To watch this meeting Live use this link and click on “Video of Public Meetings” at the top right of the page. Meeting doesn’t show up? Wait a few minutes and try again. Commission meetings are later archived for the public. See that list using this link.

If you hear or read something about tomorrow’s meeting take a few minutes and see for yourself if what you heard is true or not. Here is the link to the agenda.

When you open up the agenda look on the left side for the “Bookmarks” menu bar. Instead of scrolling through the entire agenda you can go directly to that item. For example, look in the bookmarks section for Item 12B - Ordinance 2017-02 on pages 705–707. This agenda item will be getting a lot of attention.

Below are excerpts and highlights, things you may want to pay special attention to, starting with Item 5 [highlights added]:

5. Presentations (there is no public comment on Presentation items)
A. Proclamation recognizing Farmer Girl Restaurant for supporting the community every year on Thanksgiving Day
B. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Community Police update
C. County Fire Rescue Station 91 recognition for Station of the Year award presented by the County Chamber of Commerce
D. Palm Beach County Cultural Council update
E. South Palm Park Neighborhood Association update
6. Commission Liaison Reports and Comments
7. Public Participation of Non-Agendaed Items and Consent Agenda (public comment allowed during Public Participation of Non-Agendaed items) Note: Two (2) minute limit!

[and. . .]

9. Consent Agenda 
A. Resolution No. 58-2016 - record the official results of the municipal bond referendum election
B. Resolution No. 59-2016 - set the general election ballot for March 14, 2017

[and. . .]

E. Resolution No. 62-2016 - authorize the process for the issuance of General Obligation Bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $40,000,000

[and. . .]

12. New Business
A. Ordinance No. 2017-01 - First Reading - call for a charter referendum election and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017
B. Ordinance No. 2017-02 - First Reading - prohibit conversion therapy on minors and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017
C. Ordinance No. 2017-03 - First Reading - compensation adjustment for elected officials and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017
13. Lake Worth Electric Utility:
A. Presentation (there is no public comment on Presentation items)
1) Update on the electric utility system

[and. . .]

D. New Business
1) Agreement with Turbine Technology Services Corporation for the Gas Turbine Unit-2
2) Annual Florida Municipal Electric Association membership dues for Fiscal Year 2017
3) Professional Service Agreement with Spectrum Systems
4) Proposal with Mock Roos & Associates, Inc. for Park of Commerce Phase 1A design engineering services
5) The City of Lake Worth Electric Distribution System Upgrade from 4.16kV to 26.4kV

This meeting will be a long one. But expect it to go way into the evening if one commissioner, Chris McVoy, PhD, thinks everyone needs a another long lecture on one thing or another, aka “monkeywrenching”. And expect to be reminded several times by McVoy that he has a PhD. It’s easy to forget:

Talk “at great length” and “raise the question” are two of McVoy’s favorites. To really slow things down, he’ll bring up matters “decided upon at the last meeting”.

TOMORROW NIGHT! It’s the return of “Beer & Hymns” at Aioli’s!

There is breaking news in today’s Lake Worth Herald. See that exciting news following a short, merry video.

The Christmas/Holiday Season in the City of Lake Worth:

Two excerpts from the news today in the Herald:


     On Friday, Sept. 7 [TOMORROW NIGHT!] at 6:30–8:30, the 9th Beer and Hymn songfest will take place at Aioli’s. Sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Lake Worth, Richmond Schmidt, the musical host with the most, will return with the popular hymn sing-along. According to Schmidt, “It is a great opportunity to be together, enjoy some drinks, good food and sing all your favorite hymns together.”

and. . .

     The address of Ailio’s is 7434 South Dixie Highway, just over the north bridge [C-51 Canal], across from Winn-Dixie. Bring your voice and your smile at 6:30.


Please note: You do not need to be a member of the First Congregational Church to attend. Cold beer and excellent food by Aioli’s will be available for purchase.

Another stroll down memory lane: Remember when the Post reporter wrote that Herman Robinson is a “developer”?

Remember this from the file, “Could only happen in Lake Worth”?

No. Herman is not a ‘developer’. This is called “spin” or loaded language. Remember when the Lake Worth ordinance to curb drug use in Downtown parks was reported a ‘curfew’? Just one word can spin “the news” in a negative way.

Calling someone a “developer” in Lake Worth can be like waving a blood-drenched flag in front of a bull having a really bad day. But that’s what Post reporter Chris Persaud did to Herman Robinson in August of 2014 leading up to that bond vote to fix our roads. Don’t believe me? Use this link. Herman’s only crime was being Chair of the “YES” PAC formed to promote the bond and get our roads and potholes fixed.

In an ironic twist, Mr. Persaud was later nominated for two prestigious journalism awards for election reporting at the Post and won! Not joking. Read about that using this link. Persaud is forever immortalized now as one of the greats in Palm Beach County journalism. If you recall, that bond vote in 2014 failed by just 25 votes.

The latest news is Herman is running for a seat on the City Commission, the elections to be held in March of 2017. Judging by the attendance at his campaign kick-off event last week many people are very excited.

Anyhow, following is a blog post from August 2014 when Herman was described as a ‘developer’:

I have it from a reliable source that Chris Persaud called Herman Robinson yesterday afternoon to apologize for misrepresenting his profession. In reality, Herman is a contractor, but more in the sense of a Mister-Fix-It, than a Morganti (the contractor that did the work on the casino building). In either case, he would not be classified as a developer.

In typical Herman Robinson style he took the high road I'm told and they talked like two gentlemen for a few minutes. I'll see Herman tonight at the Commission Meeting. Unsure if there was an official apology or if a retraction is coming yet we'll discover that soon enough. [There never was a correction or retraction published.]

Now for the illogical nonsense of The Obtuse Blogger (TOB). She comes to the defense of Persaud and in a twisted process of thought she equates having a “contractors license” to being a “developer.” Using her logic you can call someone with a fishing license a “harvester”; someone with a vending license a “venture capitalist”; or even someone with a hunting license has a “license to kill.” It is almost as illogical as an Atlantis resident forming a PAC to keep our City looking like a “third-world country". [Which actually did happen.]

Now, sit back and be prepared for what TOB wrote on her blog. This, better than anything, illustrates just how illogical this whole issue is.

“Hey, this is election time”. And “. . . the bully blogger is giving the Palm Beach Post reporter hell today” and wants to “nit-pick everything to death.”

Only in Lake Worth: A City where a “contractor” is an evil ‘developer’ and the reporter goes on to win a prestigious award for election reporting!

Photo of Lake Worth, FL: View is east towards Atlantic Ocean from the Northwest Ballfields

Photo courtesy of James Stafford Photography. Note the Lake Worth Lagoon in the distance and the Town of Palm Beach (33480).

Tonight: Food Truck Invasion at the Cultural Plaza in Downtown LDub

“LDub” is a good-hearted, short-hand nickname for “Lake Worth”. We all have to remember from time to time there are many new residents of this little City. To learn more see below for an explanation and three (3) usage examples in speech.

The Food Truck Invasion is every second Monday in the City. Check out their website. South Shores? Ask somebody about that when you show up.

LDub explained with 3 usage examples. LDub, or L-Dub, is the nickname for “Lake Worth”. The ‘L’ is short for “Lake” and ‘Dub’ is short for “double-‘u’ ” as in the letter “W”, hence the term LDub.

Examples:

1. Used in a sentence by a Hipster Millennial: “Welcome to LDub dude! Been to World Thrift yet?” 
2. By an Anarchist Millennial: “Hey! That’s not fair. Who didn’t clean out my LDub poop bucket!”.
3. By a convert to Apatharchism: “That’s it. I’ve had enough of this LDub Anarch bs. I’m going to be a Citizen on Patrol (COP) for PBSO or move to Cuba.”.

Try using the slang “LDub” yourself at the Food Truck Invasion this Monday!

Next Tuesday at noon is the deadline to get your name on ballot for elections next March.

Please note: Contact information for the City Clerk is below to get your name on the ballot. When you arrive at City Hall take the stairs down to the first floor; the door on the left is the Clerk’s office. Be patient and always treat the Clerk and City staff with courtesy and respect. The notice published in The Lake Worth Herald:

CITY OF LAKE WORTH

NOTICE OF GENERAL ELECTION

NOTICE is hereby given that a General Election will be held in the City of Lake Worth, Florida, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 (with a Run-Off Election on Tuesday, March 28, 2017, if necessary), for the purpose of electing a Commissioner from District #2 and Commissioner from District #4, each for a two (2) year term.

Persons seeking election may qualify with the City Clerk from noon, Tuesday, November 29, 2016, until noon, Tuesday, December 13, 2016.

All citizens qualified by the Charter of the City of Lake Worth, Constitution, and laws of Florida who are registered voters in Palm Beach County and whose principal place of residence is the City of Lake Worth shall be electors.

The election shall be held in accordance with the Charter of the City of Lake Worth, Florida and the State of Florida Election Laws.

Pamela J. Lopez, MMC
City Clerk

For more information contact the Office of City Clerk:

• Location: 7 North Dixie Hwy., west side of road between Lake and Lucerne avenues; free parking!
• Hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00–5:00
• Phone: 561-586-1662 or email: plopez@lakeworth.org (in subject line use “Qualify for Election March 14, 2017”)

Sister City Board meets tomorrow at 5:30. Could this be two quorums in a row?

The meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 12th, at 5:30 in the conference room at City Hall. Use this link for the agenda.

Have you thought of volunteering some time for the City? Volunteers are vitally important to keep Lake Worth functioning. From the City’s website:

“The City of Lake Worth has a number of advisory boards which provide assistance to the City Commission. Most meet once a month and only require a few hours of a volunteer’s time. All members are selected by the Mayor and City Commission. Board meetings are open to the public. Interested in serving? Click here to learn more.”

There was an actual Sister City Board meeting held on Monday, November 14th. We’ll learn much more about what happened at this meeting tomorrow, the next scheduled City Commission meeting. Everyone will be relieved, I’m sure.

This particular board was a topic of discussion at the City Commission in October. The board had been unable to reach a quorum so it was decided to reduce the number of board members from 7 to 5. Now only three members will need to be present for the meeting to proceed.

Learn more about our Sister Cities Lappeenranta, Finland and Saint-Marc, Haiti.

If you remember back, everyone got excited last July when we received news the board had finally reached a quorum after 3 months. That was false. Actually two more people were removed from the board for non-attendance, something Commissioner Maier knows a thing or two about, since he was also booted off for not attending meetings.

Commissioner Maier is the City’s liaison to the Sister City Board. It’s true. For more backup on this letter use this link.

Keep the faith Lappeenranta and Saint-Marc! Things are moving in the right direction.

The agenda for next Tuesday’s City Commission meeting is available online

Commission meetings are available Live Streaming and later archived for the public. See that using this link. Check back to this blog later for how to watch these meetings live, in real time.

If you hear or read something about next Tuesday’s meeting take a few minutes and see for yourself if what you heard is true or not. Here is the link to the agenda.

When you open up the agenda look on the left side for the “Bookmarks” menu bar. Instead of scrolling through the entire agenda you can go directly to that item. For example, look in the bookmarks section for Item 12B - Ordinance 2017-02.

Later this weekend and on Monday will pull out more items of interest, what to pay special attention to. This is what jumped out right away, from pages 705–707:

12. NEW BUSINESS:
A. Ordinance No. 2017-01 - First Reading - call for a charter referendum election and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017
B. Ordinance No. 2017-02 - First Reading - prohibit conversion therapy on minors and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017
C. Ordinance No. 2017-03 - First Reading - compensation adjustment for elected officials and schedule the public hearing date for January 10, 2017

What goes on at these meetings is very important. But what’s also important is what happens during the breaks. If you’re short on time, for example, go to the 50 second mark and the 2:00–2:20 mark to watch a splendid performance by one City commissioner:To watch more videos use this link to my Lake Worth YouTube channel. Look at the top right-hand corner for the red “Subscribe” button. Subscribers get an email when new videos have been uploaded.

If you plan to attend next Tuesday, try to get there early. Expect to see a big crowd.