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Looking back. January 11th, 2018 was a monumental day for the City of Lake Worth [Beach].

It was a packed house for a breakfast at the Casino and Beach Complex. Over one hundred RSVPs. Over one hundred invitees attended.

The City was on stage.
A spectacular performance.
And everyone noticed.

Well, not exactly everyone. This event was ignored in The Palm Beach Post. A complete press blackout. But it didn’t matter. The news got out anyhow.

Let’s set the stage.

What happened on January 11th this year followed a particularly terrible year in 2017 for this City when it comes to press reporting. Of course The Lake Worth Herald and Coastal & Greenacres Observer are the exception.

On the heels of a brutal dog attack that was reported in The Palm Beach Post in Dec. 2017 as having happened ‘in Lake Worth’ — that did not happen in this City — to a park being featured in the ‘LOCAL’ section with photos and an in-depth story about how wonderful this City park is.

Just one problem. John Prince Park is not in our City. Ten parks actually within the City could have been featured. But none were.

And on and on it went. One would think this City was the most terrible place on Earth and at the same time one of the largest land areas for a city in the southern United States.

This City is only six square miles. The crime rate has dropped dramatically year after year.

Now that the stage is set:

A blog post from January 11th
of this year.

It was the City’s “Breakfast” for Realtors and real estate professionals at the Lake Worth Casino Ballroom
at the Beach.

Attendees were greeted by miniature Little Free Libraries, the paperback “Cottages of Lake Worth” book, and much more helpful information as well.

I attended the City of Lake Worth’s “Real Estate Agent Breakfast” held at the Lake Worth Casino Ballroom last Thursday morning [Jan. 11th, 2018]. This was a momentous occasion for a number of reasons. For the first time in my memory the City actively reached out to a section of the population that influences how people think about the City of Lake Worth every day.

The City shared information about ongoing programs and efforts like the solar array that is part of our electric utility infrastructure, how we are almost at rate parity with FPL and how the City could be a pioneer in research and development creating energy from the Gulf Stream Current right off our coastline.

One of the many presentations was by Director
Ed Liberty at the Lake Worth Electric Utility.

There are three YouTube videos of this meeting
to watch at your convenience.

In this first video of the event you will hear Mayor Pam Triolo say just those things and more (links to videos #2 and #3 are below). This meeting and the presentations was for an RSVP audience of 103 real estate professionals and most, if not all of them, showed up. Word went out to these professionals about this “Real Estate Agent Breakfast” to change many of the false perceptions there are about this City and turn all that around in a positive direction.

The people assembled in the Casino Ballroom associate with other people every day who either own property or are interested in buying property here in this City of Lake Worth. This community of people, Realtors and real estate professionals are really the City’s ambassador corps. They are on the front line when people ask questions about Lake Worth’s Electric Utility, all the unique neighborhoods, and about crime and public safety too.

It is from their mouths that the answers come that present the City in a positive light — or if they don’t understand or know about all the progress that has been made — in a negative light.

Meet PBSO Lieutenant Anthony Johnson.
In his presentation we learned there was a
significant decrease in crime last year.

Why is there so much confusion about the issue of crime in this City? One reason is due to bogus news reports such as this, “Is City of Lake Worth one
of the ‘Most Dangerous Places in Florida’?”
Of course it’s not.

From attending this meeting myself and by you watching the series of three videos from the event you will see how the City was able to transform the perception of many Realtors and how this very important group of people actually “sees” Lake Worth.

For some it was their first introduction to the area and the City of Lake Worth specifically. Many were newcomers with a desire to learn more about what many Realtors already knew: the fact that Lake Worth is becoming more and more all the time a great place to live, work and play.

I heard people express that being part of this City, to them, felt like “finding the needle in the haystack.” Many talked about how they liked the City’s “vibe” and they were impressed with how distinct it was from other more “normal” communities in Central Palm Beach County and in South Florida generally.

A view of the Lake Worth Casino Ballroom:

The Realtors learned many things about this
City including more information about the
“Lake Worth Neighborhood Road Program” and other infrastructure projects.

Many people in attendance left convinced that “Lake Worth has turned the corner” and that “interest in Lake Worth is at an all-time high.”

Kudos go out to the City for hosting and organizing such an event. We have a good story to tell and yesterday it was told to a very receptive audience of ambassadors: real estate professionals and Realtors.

About the other two videos in the series
(link to the first video is above):

For the second YouTube video which starts off with the presentation by Lake Worth Utility Dir. Ed Liberty click on this link. Later in the video PBSO Lieutenant Anthony Johnson talks about how much the crime rate dropped in 2017 and there are other presentations including one from Director Brian Shields from the Lake Worth Water Utility.

The third and final video is a special one. It starts off with Mayor Pam Triolo and Commissioner Andy Amoroso discussing various important topics. That’s followed by a Q&A and at the end of the video it’s about how the press, specifically The Palm Beach Post, continues to promulgate many of the negative stereotypes about this City as cleverly demonstrated by City Manager Michael Bornstein.

Hope you found this blog post informative and helpful. And if you’re interested in learning more about this City start by browsing through the City of Lake Worth’s website, for example, the Planning & Zoning Department or learn more about the City’s Dept. of Leisure Services and all the listed “Special Events” as well.

I think you’ll be very interested, happy and excited about much of what you see and learn about this little City: