Update: Next meeting of the Lake Worth Business Alliance has been scheduled.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, Nov. 28th
(more details below).

Everyone in the City of Lake Worth’s business community, those concerned about the future of our businesses, and everyone looking to possibly open a new business here in Lake Worth are invited and strongly encouraged to attend the next and future meetings of the Lake Worth Business Alliance.

It’s very important to understand this IS NOT a meeting to address any one problem or particular issue a business or investor may be having. However, following the meeting there will be many in attendance who will be very able and eager to give you good ideas and possible solutions.

The Lake Worth Business Alliance is about THE BIG PICTURE. How everyone working together, an alliance, can bring about the changes necessary so the next time when you hear the words “Lake Worth is open for business” you know those words are true and not just a slogan.

The initial get-together of those interested in starting a business alliance met at Tacos al Carbon on October 18th. About 30 people were in attendance on a rainy night it needs to be noted. Following that meeting a small group of volunteers met twice to talk about the organizational structure. The last one happened yesterday (Nov. 14th) at TooJay’s in the Downtown to discuss more about the beginning stages and narrow the focus of the group, e.g., a mission statement.

Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein is highly supportive and has attended two meetings thus far. It’s his belief the business community here in this City needs to be more engaged and involved plus the City needs a clear, reliable, and consistent way to communicate its message to the entire business community and vice versa, City-wide, something that’s been lacking for far too long.

It was encouraging to see new faces with fresh ideas at the meeting yesterday and it was great hearing what they all had to say. A lot of great ideas emerged like using the hashtag #mylakeworth to promote good news and positive messages about the City of Lake Worth. We concluded the meeting asking everyone to come up with concepts for a Lake Worth Business Alliance mission statement. These will be collected via email from everyone already on our list and shouldn’t take very long. Check back in a few days and will share some of those suggestions. 

We need everyone’s input! If you want to be involved and are not yet on the mailing list send your contact information via email to: wesblackman@gmail.com

These ideas will be printed out and shared with everyone at the next meeting.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 28th at 8:00 a.m. at Toojay’s on Lake Ave.
in Downtown Lake Worth.

We would like each person to bring along someone new that hasn’t attended a meeting thus far.

Some of the themes discussed about the focus of the Lake Worth Business Alliance are paying very close attention to what is coming up at City Commission meetings and at City boards as well that impact the business community. The geographic area covered by this business alliance is limited to the municipal limits of Lake Worth to help better define the City’s identity and branding, improve business-to-business networking and for attracting more customers for all businesses.

Events can be promoted and businesses can coordinate activities, advertising, and marketing related to those activities, the idea being the better “branded” the City of Lake Worth is the better “branded” our business community and services will become. Some upcoming events discussed included the Tree Lighting ceremony coming up on December 1st at the Cultural Plaza as well as the Holiday Parade on December 16th.

Hope to see a big crowd on November 28th at Toojay’s. FYI: we’ll be running a very tight meeting with an agenda focused on the goals moving forward. These meetings will not be an “airing of grievances”; it’s time to move forward. The most important part of the meeting will be comments and suggestions regarding how best to achieve this new organization’s goals. So be prepared to speak your mind or come with your ideas written down and turned in at this meeting. You are encouraged to email them ahead of time.

Not sure if you can attend the meeting coming up? Then send your ideas to me and I’ll forward that information on to the organizers. Once again, the email address is: wesblackman@gmail.com

Why isn’t the press and/or news media educating the public about “gunshot detection technology”?

Breaking news from Post reporter Olivia Hitchcock: “Six gang members arrested in recent Lake Worth killings”; the first paragraph:

LAKE WORTH — Six gang members, five of whom are juveniles, have been arrested in two recent Lake Worth killings, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.

Blog post from earlier today:

From the editor at The Palm Beach Post in the Sunday editorial last week:

     “The death toll understates the violence. As charted by Post reporter Olivia Hitchcock, gunfire has injured 12 people as well as killed two, just since Oct. 20. The mayhem has resulted in only two arrests.
     The shootings stem from the drug trade, sure, but for other, depressingly mundane reasons as well: a domestic dispute, an insult. Minor provocations that used to prompt a fistfight now end in semi-automatic fire. [emphasis added]
     It’s clear that there are too many guns around and too little sense.”
—November 12th editorial titled, “Unacceptable rise in WPB homicides requires quicker action”.*

From Wikipedia: “A gunfire locator or gunshot detection system is a system that detects and conveys [in real time] the location of gunfire or other weapon fire using acoustic, optical, or potentially other types of sensors, as well as a combination of such sensors. . . . Systems used in urban settings integrate a geographic information system so the display includes a map and address location of each incident.”

West Palm Beach has had twenty-five homicides so far this year, in 24 of those senseless crimes firearms were the weapon. Two weeks ago — over just a one-week period of time — there were two more homicides in the City of Lake Worth bringing the total number of homicides to six in 2017, 5 of those murdered were victims of firearms. Twenty-nine people murdered by guns in WPB and Lake Worth.

Just like injuries and homicides by gunfire are clustered in areas of West Palm Beach, that’s also the case in the City of Lake Worth. Only one homicide was east of Dixie Hwy.; the others were west of Dixie in District 1 and District 2.

[Click on this link for the map of Districts 1–4 in the City lf Lake Worth.]

Instead of looking at gun violence and shootings as a “Lake Worth problem” or a “West Palm Beach problem” could the solution be Lake Worth’s District 14 PBSO and the West Palm Beach Police Dept. working together and collaborating to acquire gunshot detection technology to help solve a regional problem here in Palm Beach County? Wouldn’t you like to know more?

But has a beat reporter from either Lake Worth or West Palm Beach taken up this topic? No.

This topic of gunfire detection technology is not a new one by any means. Gunshot detection technology (for example, ShotSpotter, “Real-Time Intelligence to Fight Gun Violence”) was a topic of discussion several times at the Lake Worth City Commission and possibly funded by the County’s ¢1 Sales Tax proceeds.

Last June after a homicide in Lake Worth, in City Commissioner Omari Hardy’s District 2 (the City’s 4th homicide of 2017), Hardy brought up the topic of “ShotSpotter” technology and District 1  Commissioner Scott Maxwell (also the City’s Vice Mayor) also came out in strong support of the idea and agreed to discuss this idea further.

However, in August at a City Commission budget work session we learned,

“This is a subscription service and is quite expensive. However, it was decided to work with PBSO and find out if there was a way to get around this problem.”

So. . .

As to the question — if an enterprising reporter is up to the task — how much does acquiring gunshot detection technology cost? If the cost is prohibitive is there a way for cities to pool resources? “Is it possible for the West Palm Beach PD and Lake Worth PBSO District 14 to work together and solve this very serious problem?”

Or is the real problem, for some who’ve become accustomed to the status quo, is the thought of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth working together to help stop gun violence just completely unimaginable?

*On the issue of crime the editor at The Palm Beach Post recently praised PBSO Sheriff Ric Bradshaw who “smartly requested $1.8 million to hire 15 entry-level deputies” applying for a highly coveted federal grant for COPS.
     Community Oriented Policing Services: This program is “the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing . . . through information and grant resources.”

Lecture this coming Saturday, 2:00, at Palm Beach County Main Library.

Do tree islands in Florida Everglades, “[H]ave the potential for permanent, year-round occupation”?

Meet at the Main Library located at 3650 Summit Blvd. in West Palm Beach (use this link for directions and more information). The lecture is titled, “The Archaeology of Everglades Tree Islands” by Palm Beach County Historic Preservation Research Intern Jessica Baker:

“During this presentation, we will be exploring the archaeology of Everglades tree islands through time, with particular focus on the genesis and prehistoric occupation of this network of islands which spans ~12,000 square miles of wetlands.”

and. . .

     “It has long been held that Belle Glade and the surrounding Everglades area was largely a series of short-term occupational areas of those traveling from coast to coast; this discussion will illuminate the incredible amount of potential habitation area and the resources available, which have the potential for permanent, year-round occupation.”

Whilst on the topic. . .

Have you ever visited the Lawrence E. Will Museum of the Glades, “exploring the total Glades experience”? The museum will record history-in-the-making, an excerpt from the museum’s website:

     “The water and sedges [south of what’s now called Lake Okeechobee] created feet of rich muck, which when eventually drained, turned into an agricultural wonder. Now some of that land close to the lake is beginning to be used for manufacturing in South Florida’s industrial expansion. This is sure to bring cultural and economic change in the next decade to the Glades.”

Tonight at 7:00: Mango Groves Neighborhood Assoc. meeting at Blue Front BBQ, 1132 N. Dixie Hwy.

Tonight’s special guest speaker is Lake Worth
Mayor Pam Triolo:

Remember, the Blue Front is more than just excellent BBQ, “it’s a step back in time” to what is called mid-20th Century “roadside architecture”.

Learn more about the Mango Groves Neighborhood Assoc. using this link. This is a public meeting and everyone is invited to attend:


“Hi everyone, once again it’s time for a meeting and we are a bit late making the announcement. We will meet at Blue Front tonight at 7:00. Mayor Pam Triolo will be in attendance to give us an update on our fair city. Hope to see you all there!”

Welcome an exciting bagel store in Lake Worth serving “bialys, eggs, pancakes, jumbo muffins and more.”

Did you hear about that new bagel store in Lake Worth called “Bagels &”? Clever name, no? Has that “LDub” vibe everybody likes to talk about.

“We take pride in being a staple for the Lake Worth community, and providing some of the best
tasting food around!”

To try out Bagels & you can visit its premises from Monday–Sunday, 6:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. See below for the address, directions, phone number, and website. From the press release:

Bagels & Lake Worth: Serving The Local Community, One Delicious Bagel At A Time.

“LAKE WORTH, FL — Bagels &, Lake Worth’s beloved destination for breakfast and brunch, [emphasis added] has had a successful start to catering events ahead of the busy fall and holiday season. Providing a custom selection of items from its menu, Bagels & takes on catering for events large and small — anything from a picnic at the beach, to a family get together, or even elegant business functions — taking painstaking care of the finest details, making sure all attendees absolutely love their food and overall experience.”

One of the important things a business will look at when considering a location here in the City of Lake Worth is how well the City does at “branding” and creating an “instantly recognizable brand”. For example, the Village of Wellington has done a terrific job at branding and is very careful to protect its image.

The City of Lake Worth back in 2012, according to an article by former Post reporter Willie Howard, came up with a way to make the City more recognizable much like Wellington did so people aren’t confused about whether a business is “in Wellington” or somewhere else in unincorporated PBC. Excerpts from the article by Willie Howard: 

“LAKE WORTH — City commissioners are scheduled to decide Tuesday [June 19th, 2012] whether to ask voters to approve two amendments to the charter — one changing the city’s name to Lake Worth Beach . . .
     Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell is suggesting changing the city’s name to Lake Worth Beach to help distinguish Lake Worth from parts of unincorporated Palm Beach County that have Lake Worth mailing addresses. According to postal officials, places as far west as Wellington can use Lake Worth mailing addresses.
     In a memo to the commission about the name change, Maxwell notes that crimes committed west of the city in unincorporated parts of Palm Beach County are sometimes reported by the media as happening in Lake Worth. Residents with Lake Worth mailing addresses who live west of the city mistakenly come to city hall seeking solutions to their problems.
     Maxwell said Lake Worth is distinctive, with its walkable downtown and beach, and that the new name would create an ‘instantly recognizable brand for the city.’ ”

But enough about old history.
It doesn’t matter any more.

You want to learn more about “Bagels &” right?

“Bagels & offers an extensive breakfast menu featuring its famed bagels, along with other breakfast staples such as bialys, eggs, pancakes, jumbo muffins and more.”

• Website: http://bagelslakeworth.com/
• 561-963-3500
• Address: 6556 Hypoluxo Rd.

Directions: Drive west on Lake Worth Rd. and go south on Congress Ave. Once you pass the Great Walled City of Atlantis go west on Lantana Rd. to S. Military Trail. Go south on Military to Hypoluxo Rd. and then go west. Once you pass Jog Rd. the bagel store will be on the south side of the road. . .

Beginning to get the idea?
This bagel store isn’t in the City of Lake Worth.
It just has a ‘Lake Worth’ zip code.

Bagels & is located in the southwestern corner (bottom left) in this map, courtesy of your Palm Beach County government.

Maxwell’s idea of “Lake Worth Beach” doesn’t sound like such a bad idea after all, does it?

Just in case you missed this from yesterday. . .

Video and photos: Large-scale sculpture installations in Downtown Lake Worth.

Received an email from Judith Czelusniak* at the Palm Beach County Cultural Council earlier today about this event:

As Lake Worth prepares to kick off the exciting CANVAS outdoor art project for later this month, today three sculptures will arrive in Lake Worth. We’ve just learned that a giant crane, sculptures and installers are on their way to the Cultural Council project space. They will be installing over the next couple of hours. If you’d like to stop by and photograph/film the process, please let me know.

Would have liked to set up the tripod with sound equipment but just as the installations began the rain began. If you would like to go by and see these sculptures for yourself they are located behind the Cultural Council on ‘L’ St. between Lake Ave. and 1st Ave. South.

Some photos from today (short video
follows the pics):

Click on images to enlarge:

Two sculptures arrived today. One more will be delivered later this week.

View from ‘L’ St. behind the Cultural
Council building.

Heavy equipment and a crane was needed.

And. . .

Here is how the scene looks now to passersby.
Enjoy the video:

*For more information contact Judith Czelusniak, Public Relations Manager at the Cultural Council by calling the office, 561-471-2901, by text at 917-655-3217 or email: Judith@palmbeachculture.com

Tonight: City of Lake Worth CRA meeting and the legacy of a former commissioner.

Excerpts from the agenda are below. To look over each item for yourself go to the City’s website and scroll down for “Community Redevelopment Agency” and then click on the items of interest under “Agenda Package”.

One item in particular, 7D, is the latest about a program that the CRA, the City of Lake Worth’s Electric Utility, Adopt-A-Family et al. tried to implement but before it even had a chance, on the pretense of “gentrification”, former Commissioner Ryan Maier suggested the program was a nefarious conspiracy to steal homes from City residents. But more about that later. From the agenda later today:

Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency.

Regular Meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 14th at 6:00, 1121 Lucerne Ave. (HATCH 1121).

• Roll Call.
• Pledge of Allegiance.
• Agenda: Additions/deletions/reordering.
• Public participation of non-agendaed items (3 minute limit).
• Approval of minutes: August 8.
• Discussion agenda: CRA Legislative Update, David Tolces.
• Action agenda: A) 1013 Lucerne Avenue – Approve Purchase and Sale and Development Agreement. B) 211 North Federal Highway - Approve Grant Funding. C) Disposition Process - 1000 Lake Avenue. D) Approve Residential Rehab Grant for 930 South F Street. E) Lake Worth Advocacy Group, CRA Liaison. F) 610 South “H” – Approve Purchase and Sale and Development Agreement.
• Executive director report.
• Board member comments.
• Adjournment.

Note: One of more members of the City Commission or member of any other City board may attend and speak.

Now to the “Conservation and Rehabilitation Program” for City homeowners.

Below are excerpts from a blog post
dated June 23rd, 2016.

The video (see below) will either have you scratching your head in disbelief or angry a City commissioner would act this way on the dais. For an entire 10 minutes at the City Commission meeting on June 10th [2016], Commissioner Ryan Maier tries to grasp how this new program works to no avail.

The CRA’s Director Joan Oliva does her best to explain and so does the Electric Utility Dir. Jack Borsch and others to no avail. Maier’s convinced there is a massive conspiracy involving multiple private and public entities and he won’t let it go.

Eventually the vote was 4-1 with Maier voting “No”. Even [former] Commissioner McVoy voted “Yes”. Here is what to focus on in the video below:

• At the 9:10 mark Maier begins his comments.
• Pay particular attention to 13:30–19:30.

Eventually Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell calls for the vote and shortly after that the public in attendance roundly applauds the end of this nonsense.

The specter of black helicopters comes to mind:

Post beat reporter: “Why you’ll find this Lake Worth reporter at RaceTrac [in Village of Palm Springs] a lot”.

“You depend on us. You depend on a free press.”
—Quote. Timothy D. Burke, publisher of Palm Beach Post, Nov. 4th, 2017, following news by reporter Jeff Ostrowski, “Cox Media Group said Tuesday it has put a for-sale sign on The Palm Beach Post.”

Other than vehicle crashes and an occasional crime does anyone remember the last time there was any political news about Greenacres in the print edition of the Post’s daily “Local” section? News about code enforcement? Or an update on the merge with PBSO? The Post beat reporter for the City of Lake Worth is also supposed to be covering political news from the City of Greenacres as well.

Let’s pause momentarily. Test your knowledge. How much do you know about the City of Greenacres?

• Did you know Greenacres also has a Little Free Library program and they are also on Facebook? It’s true.
• This month marks two years since the Greenacres PD merged with PBSO. Have you seen anything about that in the Post?
• Greenacres is having elections next March too.  
• Is the City of Greenacres, per Frank Cerabino, just a place, “In the middle of Palm Beach County’s suburban sprawl between the glitzier Wellington and the cooler Lake Worth”, and Greenacres is “[A] little bit of everything and a lot of nothing.” No, of course not.
• Did you know The Lake Worth Herald is a reliable and trusted source for news in Greenacres? That is also true.
• And. . . by area and population Greenacres is nearly the same size as Lake Worth.

But of course, for reasons unknown, the focus in almost totally on the City of Lake Worth. For example, every Monday is the Post’s Lake Worth Very Very Special Monday Cursory Print Edition (LWVVSMCPE), a weekly print edition item. That’s right. Each and every Monday about Lake Worth on page B3.

Do you live in Greenacres and want to know why your news is being ignored? Write a Letter to the Editor
and ask why (use this link to learn how).

Remember “IN FOCUS: LAKE WORTH” and those “Icy treats”? This RaceTrac isn’t in Lake Worth.
It’s located in Palm Springs.

There’s more information to help the good people of Greenacres as well: Do you know about the “5 Tips” to get your community event, business, or service noticed in the Post? Use this link to learn more. The expert at the Post, Business Editor Antonio Fins writes,

“. . . the trick is reaching to the right journalist.”

Anyhow, from last January is the explanation why the Post beat reporter hangs out at the RaceTrac convenience store in Palm Springs:

“I hang out at RaceTrac a lot because it’s a good, clean, and inviting place to plug in my laptop when I’m working in and around Lake Worth, [emphasis added] something I’m now doing four days a week — a new mandate from our editors to fully embed ourselves in the communities we cover.”

“. . . [F]ully embed ourselves in the communities
we cover”?

If you live in Greenacres and are scratching your head right about now, well, join the club.

But it’s not like Greenacres is completely ignored. Every now and then the editor publishes a letter written by a resident of that wonderful community:

“His [Frank Cerabino’s 2016] review and ranking of Greenacres, where I reside, is insulting, and any fact-checking is missing. Although I am not Asian, he neglected to include them in our mix of residents.
     And ‘a little bit of everything and a lot of nothing’ is so far off-base [emphasis added], it proves he not only knows nothing about our community but didn’t bother to find out. Just going to our city’s website would have enlightened him.”

Tonight in Downtown Lake Worth, it’s the Food Truck Invasion!

At our Cultural Plaza between Lake and
Lucerne avenues.

Food Truck Invasion from 6:00–10:00.
Learn more about this exciting monthly event using this link.

Public meetings this week in the little City of Lake Worth.

Publicly noticed in The Palm Beach Post yesterday (Sunday, 11/12), the P&Z and HRPB Joint Workshop is this Wednesday.

To see all meetings scheduled this month use this link to the City’s official website then scroll down for the “Calendar” tab in left-hand column.

As noted in the Post yesterday, on page B3 of the Local section (also listed on the City’s official calendar), on Wednesday at 6:00 is a Joint Workshop between the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Board and the Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB) in City Hall chambers.

Also on the City calendar next Wednesday at 6:30 is a meeting in the City Hall conference room of the Recreation Advisory Board (RAB), which should be very interesting because that board has not met in over twelve years so it’s unclear if there will be a quorum next week since no one knows for sure if RAB has any members left.

Note as well on the City calendar there is a Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:00. As yet there is no agenda available. Stay tuned as they say.

Before making any plans to attend a public City meeting next week you might want to contact the City Clerk first to see if there are any changes to the schedule next week, just to be on the safe side.

The editor(s) at The Palm Beach Post finally woke up today.

The Sunday editorial today is titled, “Unacceptable rise in WPB homicides requires quicker action”. Better late than never. An excerpt:

It is deeply troubling to see murder again on the rise in West Palm Beach. This year, 24 homicides have been reported in the city as of Friday, the most of any year in The Palm Beach Post’s database, which goes back to 2009 — and it’s only early November.

What’s more “deeply troubling” is the editor just focuses on West Palm Beach. Riviera Beach, just next door, has 11 homicides so far this year. Out of 87 homicides in Palm Beach County thirty-five (35) were in WPB and Riviera Beach, 40% of the total number of murders.

In the cities of Lake Worth, Greenacres, and all of unincorporated Palm Beach County there have been twenty-three homicides thus far in 2017 (two in Greenacres and six in Lake Worth).

Check back later on for the breakdown of the numbers. The numbers this year about the homicide rate is “deeply troubling”. West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach have their own police departments. Greenacres, Lake Worth, and all of unincorporated Palm Beach County have PBSO.

It’s time for the editor and publisher of The Palm Beach Post to put aside their petty bickering with Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and focus on what’s more important: working together and saving lives.