Mr. Mark Foley, the Blueway Trail project, and the C-51 Advisory Committee.

UPDATE: Finally. After almost 8 months the C-51 Advisory Committee (CAC) is noted, staffed, and made public on the City of Lake Worth’s website. Here are the CAC members and the elected officials who appointed them:

• Laura Starr: Mayor Pam Triolo’s appointment.
• Stacey Tucker Arlosoroff: District 1 Commissioner, Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell.
• Sally Gonsalves: District 2 Commissioner Omari Hardy.
• Michelle Sylvester: District 3 Commissioner Andy Amoroso.
• Mark Foley: District 4 Commissioner Herman C. Robinson.

Is the role of the City of Lake Worth’s C-51 Advisory Committee to. . .

“. . . advise a slew of agencies, including the South Florida Water Management District and U.S. Corps of Engineers, on a project to build locks on canals between Delray Beach and Lake Okeechobee”?

Completely 100% False.

More about that below. First, the news blackout about the Blueway Trail project at The Palm Beach Post continues, however the Miami Herald published this news recently:

     An advisory board gig might sound like small potatoes for a regular at the White House for more than a decade. But Foley doesn’t see it that way.
     “A $250,000 house along a canal with that kind of access to the ocean and the lake [Lake Okeechobee] would double in value immediately,” Foley said. “It’s not unimportant. It’s a major project.”
     Can a return to bigtime politics be that far ahead for Foley.
     “I’m enjoying life right now,” he said.

For more background on this story and how the C-51 Advisory Committee (CAC) came to be use this link. What is Mr. Foley’s political background? It’s very extensive; from this blog:

Mark Foley was a City of Lake Worth commissioner from 1978–1979 and 1982–1984. Later he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1990–1992; then the Florida Senate, 1993–1994. He returned to private life in 2006 after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for 11 years. His most recent accomplishment was saving Spring Training baseball in Palm Beach County.

Here are the facts about CAC:

• The CAC hasn’t held a single meeting and has never produced even one agenda since November of last year.
• CAC ostensibly is to monitor the C-51 Blueway Trail project. The C-51 Canal is outside the jurisdiction of the City.
• The Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t manage water flow in South Florida. That is the job of the South Florida Water Management District.

When, or if, an agenda is created and the first CAC meeting is scheduled will let everyone know.

In the meantime, have you heard a rumor about the Blueway Trail project?

Use this link to contact the expert at the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, Kim DeLaney, PhD, with your questions and concerns.