Attention all artists: Poster design contest for “Annual L-Dub Film Festival”.

Note: Artwork submission deadline is Friday, September 8th.

See below for poster requirements and contact information. This year’s festival is September 22nd–24th. Information from press release:

Each year, our L-Dub Film Festival features a variety of film genres from music videos, shorts and documentaries to full length features. Our mission is to celebrate the art of filmmaking, provide industry collaboration opportunities for emerging filmmakers and outlets for filmmakers to present their work and gain recognition from their peers, the public and industry professionals.

[“Hmmm. What does ‘L-Dub’ (or ‘LDub’) mean?”
See explanation below.]

The Lake Worth Playhouse is located at 713 Lake Ave. in Downtown Lake Worth. The Stonzek Theatre
is next door.

Artwork must be submitted by Sept. 8th.
Contact Nicole Laing for more information: nicole@lakeworthplayhouse.org

We are seeking a poster that is graphically attractive, original and unique to the artist. The artwork should be at least 24″ × 36″ in dimension at 300dpi. The poster will be displayed in the Stonzek Theatre, used in marketing and advertising, posted on social media, our website and included on the event program.
     The only requirement, besides the dimensions, is that it needs to be printable as a poster. A low res jpeg can be emailed as the submission and if chosen, you will be required to send high resolution, editable artwork.
     The winner will be announced at this year’s L-Dub Film Festival and will have their work be the official new look for the festival next year. 

EXPLAINED: L-Dub, or LDub [Br. var. 199-], is hipster slang for “Lake Worth”, the actual City of Lake Worth. 

The ‘L’ is short for “Lake” and ‘Dub’ is short for “double-‘u’ ” as in the letter “W”, hence the term LDub. Used in a sentence:

“Welcome to LDub dude! Have you been to World Thrift yet?”.

Use this link for a more in-depth discussion of this topic.

UPDATE: “Project title, RFQ 17-305”. The meeting last Wednesday at Lake Worth City Hall.

What follows is a blog post from yesterday (for those of you who missed this latest news) and there’s further information below for those of you following these latest “developments” (pardon the pun).

The Lake Worth Beach, Casino, and pool: Happier days.

Remember when the pool had water in it?

Yes. The City of Lake Worth is considering a project at the Beach. However, if any project does proceed,
it will be many months if not years away
from actually happening.

First, it may be confusing for the public to learn an RFQ (“Request For Qualifications”) — encouraging developers to come forth with ideas how to fix all the problems at the Lake Worth Beach — when the City just recently reached a ‘settlement’ with Morganti and REG Architects on August 1st (exactly a month ago), to try and fix water leaking from the 2nd floor of the Casino structure, a problem discovered over 4 years ago.

Let’s just say for now, it’s rather complicated. For example, see the blog post following or use this link for an article in The Coastal Star,

“At issue is whether building should continue east of Coastal Construction Line”.

But one can understand why there may be confusion and some “head scratching” going on. By the way, the construction company Morganti, is not one of the respondents to “RFQ 17-305”:

City staff’s Evaluation Committee meeting last Wednesday on the topic. . .

“Lake Worth Beach Complex Conceptual Plans Design, Cost Estimates, Construction Design and Construction Phase Services”.

Whilst on my way to this meeting I received a call informing me the meeting was already over. The meeting began at 1:00 and only lasted 10 minutes. Per Asst. City Manager Juan Ruiz there will be another meeting next Friday by the Evaluation Committee beginning at 9:45.

There are some already overreacting about this matter on Facebook and elsewhere. Why? Because they didn’t do their homework ahead of time. The facts, as Mark Twain famously noted, always need more time to catch up with the rumors, open-ended questions, and uninformed speculation.

Is the money for future construction, maybe even
a new pool, coming from proceeds of the
County’s ¢1 sales tax increase?

To even suggest that is absurd. The City Commission seems in no mood to spend all the ¢1 sales tax at once but would rather fund multiple community projects like annual bill for FEC track grade crossings, license plate readers, and public safety improvements (e.g., demolition of condemned pier at Spillway Park).

There is also the City’s Neighborhood Road Program to consider. It would look downright irresponsible for the City to consider shifting money from the County ¢1 tax proceeds to the Beach only to discover more of our streets have since fallen in the Pavement Condition Index and are in need of repair.

And. . . why would anyone try and speculate how to pay for a project when there is no project? The meeting last Wednesday was only to see if the companies responding to the RFQ were QUALIFIED to be part of a future project. The meeting next Friday will be a broad view going forward with few specifics, mostly about ideas, concepts, and possible designs. And. . .

THERE IS NO ONE TRYING TO
“STEAL OUR BEACH!”

These meetings are open to the public, the City of Lake Worth will have an attorney present, and the rules will be followed to protect the public interest. What’s the timeline? Time will tell. In other words there are many known unknowns and many unknown unknowns as well. This is simply a process that needs to play out. It may go somewhere. It may go nowhere at all.

If anything does comes of this RFQ, one thing is for certain: this will be a City project and not a public-private partnership of any sort. There were only two responses to this RFQ and the respondents are:

• CPZ Architects, Inc., 4316 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation, FL.
• Kimley-Horn, 1615 S. Congress Ave., Suite 201, Delray Beach, FL.

Disappointing only getting two respondents. It’s very possible another RFQ will be needed for more respondents to come forward and provide a wider range of ideas on how to proceed and fix all the problems at the Casino and Beach property.

Here is the information provided by the City last week noticing this public meeting:

Notice is hereby given [on 8/22] that the staff will be meeting in regard to the following item:

Project Title: RFQ 17-305.

• Subject: Evaluation Committee Meeting.
• Purpose: Determination of qualifications of RFQ responses.
• Location: City of Lake Worth City Hall Conference Room.

Should any interested party seek to appeal any decision made by the Negotiation Committee with respect to the matter(s) considered at this meeting or hearing, such person will need to insure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based.

Stay tuned for the agenda, the meeting at City Hall next Friday, September 8th, at 9:45.

Excerpt #3 below: Post reporter Scott McCabe about our Lake Worth High School: “Project Lake Worth turns diversity into strength”.

Check back for Excerpt
#4 tomorrow.

To read Excerpt #1 in its entirety use this link:

“For what had begun six years earlier as a search for a way to save the high school had flowered into a movement to save the city itself — Project Lake Worth.”

Excerpt #2:

“Despite the rumors of Project Lake Worth’s imminent demise, Joe Egly, its former president, vows to keep it alive — no matter what it takes.”

A pull quote about Project Lake Worth
in Excerpt #3 below: 

“Project Lake Worth brought people together who would otherwise have never met and made things happen,”
Kathy La Croix said.*

Read more below about Project Lake Worth from Post staff writer Scott McCabe, datelined:

Sunday, February 14th, 1999.

Click on newspaper clipping from 18 years ago:

 From the timeline. 1992: “Project Lake Worth member Jody Gleason elected to school board.” 1996: “Model block program begins.”

Excerpt #3:

     Cantley [principal David Cantley] warned the district that without help, the school would have to close. He turned his office into the headquarters for a handful of citizens bent on saving the school, and the district provided $30,000 seed money.
     “We realized the problem was far broader,” said parent Jody Gleason, now a school board member. “To fix Lake Worth High, we needed to change the community and make diversity a strength.”
     The circle of volunteers grew. They broke into committees for education, business, housing, recreation, beautification and safety.
     The goals were so encompassing that, at first, the IRS wouldn’t approve the group as a tax-exempt nonprofit, said Joe Cappella, a Lantana Realtor and founding member of the group. “They couldn’t comprehend what we were doing.”
     As they taught themselves how to make “the system” work, they also tutored immigrants in English, their rights and responsibilities.
     High school teachers Carl Romano and Gerry Crocilla organized students to collect donated materials and fix run-down homes.
     “Project Lake Worth brought people together who would otherwise have never met and made things happen,” Kathy La Croix said.

Check back tomorrow for another excerpt about Lake Worth High School and Project Lake Worth.

Is it time for Project Lake Worth II?

*Kathy La Croix was executive director of Project Lake Worth in 1998; hired in 1993 for project.

City’s new favorite word: “vibrancy” (used in a press release, news article, and examples in daily usage).

More vibrancy is coming to the area surrounding
our Lake Worth Arts Center, now called
“Hatch 1121”, in the Downtown.

Is there any vibrancy at the Gulfstream Hotel?
Find out below.

Our old favorite word, “charming”, has been mothballed after being replaced by “dynamic” and “unique”. Here’s our new favorite word:

vibrancy; the definition:

“pulsating with vigor and energy”; “vigorous; energetic; vital”; “exciting; stimulating; lively”.

The word “vibrancy” used in a press release:

“Designed to attract arts related businesses and amenities, the new commercial building [West Village Art Lofts] as well as street level artist work space will add to the vibrancy of the West Village commercial area through small business development.”
—Press release last June, “Neighborhood Renaissance Receives $500,000 Project Reinvest Grant for West Village Art Lofts in Lake Worth”.

The word “vibrancy” used in a news article:

“We’re bringing back that vibrancy to the hotel, which in turn brings back vibrancy to the downtown district,” said Michael [Steven Michael, principal of developer Hudson Holdings].
—Quote from article in the Sun Sentinel datelined April 14th, almost 5 months ago.

Has any vibrancy returned to the Gulfstream Hotel? No. There is no vibrancy to report.

Hudson Holdings bought the Gulfstream Hotel in
May 2014. This is how it looks now:

But the Gulfstream Hotel’s Facebook page is showing some vibrancy once again!

Excellent advice from the Post’s reporter in Wellington for residents and business owners here in Lake Worth.

Remember the ban on packaged alcohol sales after 10:00 p.m. in Lake Worth and how twisted all those convenience store owners got? They marched down to City Hall and got the attention of Lake Worth’s beat reporter for the Post to plead their case BUT IT WAS TOO LATE.

The ordinance had already been before the City Commission for two (2) public meetings and the ordinance PASSED UNANIMOUSLY both times in early 2016.

Later on the convenience store owners learned all about this. They thought getting a Post reporter involved would help. It didn’t. It was too late.

Am happy to report this ordinance is working out wonderfully. PBSO Cpt. Baer says crime is down as a result and many neighborhoods are experiencing much less disruption and disturbances. Several times at City Commission meetings Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell remarked on how well this ordinance is controlling problems in neighborhoods near where these establishments once sold alcohol late at night and into the morning hours.

Now for the great advice from Wellington reporter Matt Morgan

Morgan penned this item last year about an issue in Wellington that was no longer an issue when people first got upset about it. That problematic “sidewalk” in Wellington was no longer a problem. The problem is some people weren’t paying attention. Below are excerpts from Morgan’s commentary: 

“. . . a couple weeks later, people started showing up to meetings saying they didn’t want it [the sidewalk]. I got calls from locals asking my help to stop the project.
     It was too late.
     The time for telling the council they didn’t want the sidewalk was long over. It’s a lesson on why it’s important to pay attention to what is happening in your town.” [emphasis added]

[and. . .]

     “Make your own decision whether you want it, and tell your elected officials. They represent you and want to hear what you have to say.
     Think this will be a great way to build on a vacant property, raising the home values of the surrounding neighborhoods? Tell them that.”

[and. . .]

     “If you show up a month after the project is approved and tell the council that you don’t want it, you waited too long.”

“Reefer Madness”

News: Economic development in the little City of Lake Worth (and why you need to support LOCAL newspapers).

Front page news (see below) about economic development, new construction, and more businesses opening up in the City of Lake Worth was reported in The Lake Worth Herald just recently.

And, of course, everyone else in the press is jumping on the bandwagon now which is to be expected.

The so-called ‘mainstream’ press and news media uses a much different model now to gauge public interest than do local newspapers like the Herald. Reporters at the Herald attend meetings and neighborhood groups, contact public officials and staff (not just when it’s convenient for a story), and they don’t go about “shamelessly” over-hyping stories like a tabloid would.

A classic example of over-hyping was a ridiculous news report last Christmas when a Palm Beach Post beat reporter tried to make the closing of a Downtown chocolate store a huge story — which it wasn’t — a non-story to try and sell more newspapers suggesting our Downtown was suffering from a lack of foot traffic. Nonsense.

[The real story was Hoffman’s couldn’t compete with Kilwins Chocolates on Lake Ave. And don’t forget Kilwins at the Lake Worth Beach too!]

For example, Reporter Will Oremus explained how the news reporting process works in the present day: 

“[S]hamelessly covering and promoting the most crowd-pleasing stories. . . . What it probably won’t mean is robust, daily coverage of such institutions as city hall, the statehouse, and the local schools.”

The oft-cited observations on this blog by reporter Jennifer Brandel:

“So how do newsrooms determine what the audience wants? They’re increasingly looking to analytics for answers. With finer and finer grain metrics, they pore over which of the newsroom’s offerings get the most clicks, shares, time on site, or whatever the metric du jour is. They then do their best to repeat whatever they believe was the magic ingredient of the story’s success.”

Does that remind you of a certain crime that occurred in Downtown Lake Worth three weeks ago?

Remember the blaring headlines in the Post and stories that followed for a week with little new to report? What was the point? Just for more smartphone and Facebook clicks and selling a few more newspapers?

Anyhow. . .

Here’s the latest news (with emphasis added) from your LOCAL City of Lake Worth newspaper, the Herald:

The City of Lake Worth has suffered through empty buildings on Lake and Lucerne Avenues and up and down Dixie Highway. There was a period of years through which there were no applications for commercial building permits in the City.
     Times have changed, there are a number of new building permits pulled for Dixie Highway and along Lake and Lucerne Avenues. Second Avenue North and Dixie Highway sport two construction projects which are bringing new businesses to town. Starbucks will be occupying part of the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue North and Dixie while TD Bank is building on the southeast corner.
     12th Avenue North has seen a major renovation of the former Chuck’s Appliance building and it is said to be preparing to house a controversial Medical Marijuana Dispensary. 7-11 is building a new store on the southwest corner of 10th Avenue North and another Medical Marijuana Dispensary has renovated the building on the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and Dixie Highway.
     Mathews Brewing Company has remodeled the building on the Northeast corner of 2nd Avenue South and H Street (the former home of The Lake Worth Herald).
     Many fault a former commission for the lack of progress, many fault the Building Department. The policy changes made by the commission majority over the past few years and the direction of City Manager Michael Bornstein has led to more economic growth in the city in the past two years than in nearly a decade before.
     With the efforts being made to find ways to accommodate parking along Dixie Highway, It shouldn’t be long before the empty buildings are occupied by vibrant new businesses.

Remember, the City of Lake Worth isn’t just charming any more. We’re VIBRANT too!

Support your LOCAL newspapers: The Lake Worth Herald and Coastal/Greenacres Observer.

Use this link for the online editions. Contact the editor at 561-585-9387. Pick up the print edition
at the City’s newsstand at 600 Lake Ave.
in the Downtown.

“Art Lofts Of West Village In Lake Worth Announces Purchase Assistance To Artist Households”.

There’s more news from the Rickie Report:

“The Rickie Report shares this Call for Artists* to join 12 current resident artists in the West Village of Lake Worth. Each townhome includes street level studio space with attached garage, 2 bedrooms and 2½ baths. Delivery is planned for Early 2018.”

To learn more about the Art Lofts of West Village “in the heart of Lake Worth, Florida” use this link or call Michael Pecar at 305-401-7405.

Across the street from HATCH this location is walkable, close to Downtown, groceries (3 blocks), Tri-Rail (½ mile), and ride your bike to the beach.

“The Art Lofts of West Village in Lake Worth announces purchase assistance is available. Eight new townhomes with ground level studios are under construction and will be sold to Artist households. Purchase assistance is available to qualified buyers, if you or a member of your household is an artist and can afford a mortgage of approximately $150,000. This is phase 2 of 20 total live-work townhomes in the West Village located at the corner of Lucerne Avenue and F Street across from the Lake Worth Arts Center [HATCH].”

*“Artist” — An individual with a record of professional accomplishment demonstrated through continuous public presentation and peer acceptance as either an emerging artist of outstanding promise or as an established artist with a recognized body of work. A determination of “artist” status is dependent on experience, reputation and achievements verified through a résumé, letters of recommendation and support materials. Determination can also be made by the applicant’s job description and years working in an art-related field. This could include such trades or occupations as architect, graphic and web designers, theater, teaching in an art-related field, writers, interior decorators and others that work in an art-professional field. Presentation to a screening committee is required.

“Boil Water Notices” in the City. Information you need to know is provided below.

On the issue of “Boil Water Notices” this may be a good time to consider a switch to clean and affordable natural gas if your neighborhood is one that has that option available. For example, during periods of extended “Boil Water Notices”, such as after a major storm, with natural gas you can still boil water and cook food. If you have an electric stove that’s not possible if the electric is out for an extended period of time.

To learn more contact Florida Public Utilities at 800-427-7712 or use this link to find out more. Remember, 9 out of 10 professional chefs prefer cooking with natural gas.

On social media and elsewhere in the City of Lake Worth there’s been concern about “Precautionary” and other kinds of notices (see image below) about the water supply that comes from the water plant in the City of Lake Worth, through pipes (many which need to be replaced), and then into your home and out of the tap.

Some have been asking questions about what is happening vis-à-vis the noticeable increase in notices from the City. Note that every question one has can be found with just a quick search: type the words, “boil water” into the search bar at the top of the City’s website.

Going forward there are going to be a whole lot more notices when major projects begin to fix all the water lines and infrastructure in this City.

From the City’s website, when this infrastructure project is complete, you will have:

• Better water pressure.
• Clear and better tasting water.
• Fewer boil water notices.
• Reduced maintenance costs for the City.

These notices are not intended to send anyone into a state of apprehension or uneasiness. It’s required by law to issue “Boil Water Notices” when there is any activity in neighborhoods — e.g., construction, maintenance, pipe replacements, etc. — notices to keep the public informed and instructions on what to do.

Here is an example on the City’s website:

Below is more information on the City’s website: “Lake Worth Water Utilities, At Your Fingertips”:

Introducing Lake Worth Water. . .

“Lake Worth has embarked on an ambitious Capital Improvements Project that will replace many of the water pipes which were installed in Lake Worth 50–60 years ago. The project will span six years. Replacing the severely corroded water pipes will provide better water pressure to customers and require little maintenance by city workers.”

Need more information? Here’s another link to the City’s website.

Sometimes the best source for information is your very own “official” City of Lake Worth.