October will usher in very big changes to the City of Lake Worth.

One is the change in recycling methods and the other one hasn’t gotten the attention of the press and news media. Yet. A very big change is coming to Code Enforcement: Slumlords Beware.

And expect the ‘G’ word to be resurrected once again. Below is much more information about that.

Another item of note. The scheduled City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 2nd has been cancelled. The next regular meeting of the Commission will now be held on Oct. 16th. Now to big changes coming to this City and. . .

Starting on Monday, October 1st: Expect to see a lot of press and news media in this little City.

The City is switching from single- to dual-stream recycling. One of the publishing leaders of industry news about recycling in the U.S. is called Waste Dive. Journalist Katie Pyzyk’s news datelined Sept. 4th is headlined, “Lake Worth, Florida reverting to dual-stream collection next month”.

Despite all the information coming from the City and the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) about the change in recycling methods there will always be those who are not informed, for any number of reasons, or maybe they were informed and then claim they weren’t. But regardless, those are the people the press and news media will be attracted to, with scenes galore of people dragging those new 18-gallon bins out to the street like they were each three hundred pound boulders.

There is also a major change coming to the City’s Code Enforcement Dept. as well. For about Code Enforcement below is much more information about what happened at the City Commission meeting held on September 20th and also watch a portion of the YouTube video from that meeting (at end of blog post).

That this information about Code Enforcement and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding has gone unreported in The Palm Beach Post is nothing short of incredible. For example, one recent story in the Post was that old tired distraction about medical marijuana dispensaries. Enough already.

Take note slumlords in this City: October will
usher in very big changes for you.

And expect those slumlords to fight back. And hard. Expect the ‘G’ word to come back with a frenzy. Those slumlords have their allies to protect them. Who are those allies? They are the ones also making tons of money off disgraceful, unsafe and dilapidated properties. The ‘G’ word of course is “gentrification”. If you wish, after reading this blog post scroll back up and read about “the politics of fear” an oft-used tactic in this City.

What happened at the Commission
meeting on September 20th.

At the beginning of the Commission meeting Commissioner Omari Hardy made a request to pull Item B off the Consent Agenda and it was moved to New Business. Item B on Consent was:


Resolution No. 57-2018 - Community Development Block Grant Agreement with Palm Beach County: “[A]uthorizes the Mayor to execute the Interlocal Agreement between Palm Beach County and the City that sets forth the terms and conditions for the use of $294,477 . . . for increased code enforcement activities within the CDBG Target Area.”


Then resolution 57-2018 followed this item on New Business:


Ordinance No. 2018-16 - First Reading - Amending Chapter 2 “Administration”, Article VII “Abatement of Nuisance”, Section 2-75.11 “Foreclosed, Vacant and Unimproved Property Registration Program” and to require additional requirements for vacant and unimproved property and scheduling the Second Reading and Public Hearing [Oct. 16th].


[FYI: To look over Resolution 57-2018 and Ordinance 2018-16 use this link to the City’s website then look for “September 20 Regular Meeting” to download the agenda and all the backup information. To learn more about the City’s Community Code Compliance Dept. click on this link.]


Basically, what is happening is Code Enforcement will be going after the worst of the worst and then going after the less worst. And they are going to keep on going. This information came from the discussion as Commissioner Hardy wanted more information about what would be happening when ordinance 2018-16 passes on Second Reading.

The City of Lake Worth will be getting CDBG funding, this is Federal money administered by Palm Beach County. Due to this CDBG funding more fully-trained and experienced code enforcement officials will be hitting the streets going after “the worst first” in the CDBG Target Area.

The CDBG Target Area is roughly 7th Ave. North to the Town of Lantana border, west of Dixie Hwy. and east of I-95.

Next Monday is the Post’s Lake Worth Very Very Special Monday Cursory Print Edition (LWVVSMCPE) so it will be interesting to see if there is any mention of the increase in Code Enforcement officials considering how much focus that newspaper has put on this City’s Code Enforcement in the past.

Here are some takeaways from the Commission meeting last week:

• City Manager Michael Bornstein emphasized the major goal is compliance with City codes and getting more structures on the tax roll.
• City Attorney Glen Torcivia talked about the high rate of success by the City before the magistrate but expressed some frustration as well not mentioning any cases in particular.
• William Waters from the Community Sustainability Dept. said that magistrates, “Need to treat the bad guy like a bad guy”.
• Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso talked about how important the Neighborhood Assoc. Presidents’ Council will be in getting the word out to neighborhoods.
• The practice of abating fines by 90% will be getting much more scrutiny and expect heavier fines (the limit is $250/day which is State law).
• Commissioner Herman Robinson said, “The public needs to understand there is a new sheriff in town”.
• And “Insert salty language here”, quipped Bornstein at one point in the discussion.

Now to the video.

The YouTube video below is an 8½ minute segment of the discussion about Resolution No. 57-2018 and Ordinance No. 2018-16, a portion of the discussion which sums things up quite well:




To watch more of this discussion, what occurred previously to this video segment, click on this link and go to the one hour and 28 minute mark.

And as always, Thank You for visiting today.