Monday, June 12, 2017

The City of Lake Worth needs to have a Facebook page for its residents.

The city of Greenacres is doing just fine with their Facebook page.

The City of Lake Worth’s city manager, Michael Bornstein, needs to be commended. Last year he hired a media spokesperson that didn’t quite work out. The final straw was that now-infamous press release about the “Heroine Epidemic”. Relying on “spell check” is part of the editing process, but just a small one.

But Bornstein was undeterred and hired another person: Mr. Ben Kerr. He’s done a spectacular job. Here is one of his first press releases:
“Power Outages in Lake Worth during storm on night of January 22, 2017”.
Here’s his latest press release titled, “First Neighborhood Road Program Project Complete”.

We’re heading into spectacularly exciting times in this City. However, along the way there will be pitfalls as well and City residents will need to be informed and updated quickly.

The City has a very good and well-maintained website. They issue regular press releases. They are on Twitter and are on Instagram as well. And have a YouTube channel too.

The missing link here is Facebook that ties all this together. Have the conversation.

How many more residents will begin to attend the City’s “Neighborhood Road Program” meetings if these are posted on Facebook as well?

Why more City residents don’t use Twitter is anyone’s guess. But one thing we know for certain: a lot of our City residents are on Facebook.

Invite the city of Greenacres’ Mayor Joel Flores to the Lake Worth City Commission on June 20th. Ask him about Facebook and whether or not it’s helped their city communicate with residents, neighborhoods, and communities.

As far as I know, they haven’t been sued for using their right to Free Speech.