Coming soon from the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce: “Lake Worth Community News”.

Question. Are you ready for some football? Here is new news from the Lantana Chamber:


We have chartered a bus for the Miami Dolphins game on November 4th. Game starts at 1:00 vs. New York Jets. Cost  =  $80.00. Includes tickets (section 335; rows 25–28) and breakfast, cocktails and sandwiches on the way down to the game. Only ten (10) tickets remain on 50-seat bus.


For more information contact Lynn at the Lantana Chamber and reserve your spot(s). Call 561-585-8664; by email: lynn@lantanachamber.com

The Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce is located on S. Dixie Hwy. at 212 Iris Ave. (between Lake Worth Ave. and East Pine St.). Stay tuned for the “Lake Worth Community News” section at the Lantana Chamber for updates and new news about business and other related topics in the City of Lake Worth as well.

Troublemakers waving ‘Confederate’ flags stayed away this year.

It’s usually about June or July in Palm Beach County when the malcontents start showing up at public parks and ride around in their big trucks with big tires waving their ‘Confederate flag’ along the roads in cities like Lake Worth and West Palm Beach.

But warned everyone in early Summer: When you see one of those flags don’t get angry or upset!

That’s exactly what they want you to do. So what should you do? Just chuckle and laugh to yourself. Why?

They’re waving the wrong flag!

Do you know the difference between the “Stars and Bars” and “Southern Cross”?

Learn more about the difference below.

Most people running around with flags and banners in support of the defeated ‘Confederacy’ don’t know the difference either.

The Post’s Eliot Kleinberg posted this information in June 2015. It’s a lengthy article about the Confederate flag and what is causing so much confusion. Two flags are in question (both images below are from Wikipedia):

Note the stars and bars:

This is the official flag of the Confederacy,
called the “stars and bars”.

This flag IS NOT the flag of the Confederate army:

This flag is confused as the ‘Confederate’ flag.
It’s not. This is the “Southern Cross”, also
called the Confederate Battle flag.

Here is an excerpt from Kleinberg’s article:

The first casualty of any war, it often has been said, is the truth.
     First, this [the “Southern Cross”] is not the official flag of the Confederate States of America. [emphasis added] That flag, the real “stars and bars,” had a circle of stripes on a blue bed in the upper left corner, with two half-stripes alongside, red and white, and a full red stripe along the bottom.
     The flag that’s drawn all the attention, the “Southern Cross,” is a square banner showing diagonal blue bars and white stars on a sea of red. It started as a battle flag.
     In the last two years of the Confederacy, it created what later was called “the Stainless Banner.” It placed the “cross” in the upper left corner of a white flag. In the closing weeks of the war, to avoid the appearance of surrender, the Confederacy added a vertical red stripe on the far right.
     The “Southern Cross” spent 100 years in obscurity, then sprang to prominence in the 1950s. It was part of a movement scholars say had nothing to do with heritage and was instead an act of defiance to federal civil rights efforts.
     A big part of the problem is ignorance of the complexity of the Civil War and its causes, said Irvin Winsboro, a professor of history at Florida Gulf Coast University and author of “Florida’s Civil War: Explorations into Conflict, Interpretations, and Memory.”
     “The event is fact,” Winsboro said of the Civil War. “The causation is open to interpretation.”
     Many Floridians now are Northern transplants. But Florida in the 1860s had more black slaves than white people and was the third state to secede from the Union. And brutal Jim Crow practices continued for decades.

The “Southern Cross” is an act of defiance, not against ‘Northern aggression’ but against the civil rights movement in the 1950s.

Period. End of story.

At a ‘Confederate flag’ rally in Loxahatchee in July 2015 the attendees rallied around the wrong flag.

Here is a picture from the rally taken by Bruce Bennett (including caption) from The Palm Beach Post:

“If the south would’ve won, we would’ve had it made”. Who exactly is “we”?

RFP No. 18-222: City of Lake Worth Historical Resources Survey Update, Phase III.

For more information about this Request For Proposal (RFP) the link to City of Lake Worth’s website, phone number and email address are below:

• Pre-bid meeting: None.
• Deadline to submit questions: Friday, August 31 [tomorrow] at 4:00.
• Questions by email: Purchasing1@lakeworth.org
• Closing date and time: Tuesday, September 11 at 3:00.
• Small business participation is strongly encouraged.

Time is of the essence and any proposal received after 3:00 PM, Tuesday, September 11, 2018, whether by mail or otherwise may be rejected by the City.

and. . .

Interested persons or entities may obtain a copy of the RFP by contacting the Financial Services office at 561-586-1654 or from the City’s website, Services & Departments, Bids & Proposals.

The Fabulously FAB and the EUAB meets tomorrow at Lake Worth City Hall.

Please Note: Tomorrow is a meeting of the Electric Utility Advisory Board (EUAB) at 6:00 in the City Hall conference room (see agenda below). Part of this meeting will include a “Closed Discussion” meaning not open to the public.

And last night at Lake Worth City Hall was a Budget Work Session and it started off with a presentation from the Finance Advisory Board (FAB) where “100% of our recommendations were reached unanimously”. Because everything was fabulously unanimous this will of course provide the ‘logic’ for everyone who thinks this board is just another rubber-stamp.

But more about this Budget Work Session later on in the week. Here is a Tweet from last night. . .

News from @LakeWorthPBC at Budget Work Session tonight. Water rate increase 3%/year for ten years to meet reserve target.#LakeWorth is "planning to plan". Maybe water rates will rise. Maybe they won't.

This is what is sometimes called "sausage making". Stay tuned, as they say. pic.twitter.com/9a9sWZrQaa

— Wes Blackman (@WesBlackman) August 28, 2018

The Final Budget Hearing at the City Commission will be held on September 25th.

Not in attendance last evening were Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso and Commissioner Scott Maxwell. Mayor Pam Triolo officiated the meeting and in attendance were District 2 Commissioner Omari Hardy and District 4 Commissioner Herman C. Robinson.

“Finance Advisory Board:
FY2019 Recommendations”

Would you like to help “Make Recommendation” and volunteer for a City board? Find out how by clicking on this link or contact the City’s volunteer coordinator by email: obrown@lakeworth.org

The video from last night’s Budget Work Session, the presentation by Finance Dir. Bruce Miller and a representative from Stantec:





Now about the EUAB. This volunteer board advises the City Commission,


[O]n the establishment of fair and equitable policies, plans and programs that are consistent with customer needs, legal mandates, public policy, operational requirements and the long-term financial stability and viability of the electric utilities.


The liaison to the EUAB is Electric Utility Dir. Ed Liberty.

The agenda tomorrow at City Hall:

• Roll Call.
• Pledge of Allegiance.
• Agenda: Additions/deletions/reordering.
• Presentations (no public comment on presentation items).
• Public participation of non-agendaed items (three-minute limit).
• Approval of minutes.
• Unfinished business.
• New business: A) Electric Utility Purchase Power Contract — Closed discussion, not open to public. B) Open discussion.
• Board comments.
• Board liaison reports and comments.
• Adjournment.

Note: One or more members of the City Commission or any member of another volunteer advisory board may attend and speak but note the “Closed Discussion” cited above is the exception on the EUAB agenda tomorrow night.

Light at the end of the tunnel. Start the preparations: Snowbirds are coming! Snowbirds are coming!

Soon, beginning in mid- to late-September, everyone is hoping to begin Prancercise classes once again.

How exciting!

Because our precious Snowbirds from Canada
just love to Prance.


Here are the initial plans [subject to change] for the route in this year’s Snowbird Season: The L-Dub Prancers will form up near World Thrift located at 2425 N. Dixie Hwy., gather up all the Snowbirds in ruffled sports attire and then prance south to the new medical marijuana dispensary, take a short break and a long deep breath, cross Dixie and start singing and prancing north past our one and only elementary charter school to Tacos Al Carbon for lunch and then spend the rest of the day shopping at World Thrift!

How cool is that?

For those of you unfamiliar with prancing:

What is this sport? It’s called “Prancercise”,
a novel way of prancing.

Please watch this instructional video.

Then there’s this variation on the theme:

Start getting excited about prancing
classes once again!

A blog post from yesterday. . .

For those of you who may have missed this, about Free Speech in our City of Lake Worth.

Four quotes:

“A democracy can remain healthy only when citizens are well-informed and can make decisions based on facts. Why else would the Founding Fathers, with the First Amendment, make sure to protect this one profession in the Constitution?”
—August 16th, 2018. Excerpt from Palm Beach Post editorial board.


“I paraphrase our brilliant third president [Thomas Jefferson] in saying that the greatest form of government is the one nearest to the people.”
—August 23rd, 2018. Hypoluxo Councilwoman Christine Nagy on topic of “Home Rule in Florida”, front page news in The Lake Worth Herald.


“It [pool at Lake Worth Beach] doesn’t lose that much money. In the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, it lost just $123,000.”
—April 10th, 2015. Former tabloid that littered the streets in City of Lake Worth (learn more below).


“Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.”
—Quote. The New York Times’ Learning Network, “The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics”.


Now moving on. . .

About that former tabloid in the City of Lake Worth: it first appeared on January 16th, 2015. It was FREE and with FREE advertising too. Each and every week the ‘editor/publisher’ informed readers the tabloid would require a subscription at some point but that never happened. It remained FREE until late April 2015 when the doors closed for good, just ninety-eight days after the doors opened.

And each and every week on the front page of that rag, under the masthead was the Latin phrase, “Domine, ut videam” which translated means:

“Lord, I want to see”

On April 10th, 2015, from that former weekly (more properly called a ‘scandal’ sheet) here is an excerpt by the ‘editor/publisher’ who tried to see:


     “I would like to know why he [City Manager Michael Bornstein] isn’t familiar with the overall financial picture for the Casino complex — why he didn’t know, for example, that in three years [April 2018] the beach fund will have a very healthy balance if all goes well. And according to reports, all is going well at the beach [emphasis added], with the city bringing in about $1.5 million a year just for parking.
     I would like to know why he [Bornstein] is refusing to market the municipal pool, and then advocating for its closure, complaining that it loses a lot of money. It [pool] doesn’t lose that much money. In the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, it lost just $123,000.

‘[I]t lost just $123,000.’

But the dollars were the least of the problems. . .

A recent slide from CPZ Architects,
click on image to enlarge:

Right next to the ‘renovated’ Casino is the now-condemned municipal pool. The former administration shut down the pool in 2010. Then after the current majority took over the ones who shut down the pool demanded it be reopened again. It would be funny if it weren’t true.

[FYI: To learn more about the seven schemes recently presented by CPZ Architects to address the issues at the Lake Worth Casino Complex click on this link.]


So. The municipal pool lost $123,000 in 2015. But that doesn’t include all the other losses 3½ years ago. And another line from that ‘House Editorial’:

“And according to reports,
all is going well at the beach. . .”

 Click on tabloid clipping from April 2015:

“[O]n the heels” of this former tabloid. . .

Note that all of this occurred shortly after the municipal elections that year and City Manager Bornstein’s contract was extended for five years by the City Commission. Not quite what one would expect for a city manager not “familiar with the overall financial picture”. But the City Commission, the majority of them, understood quite well what was going on.

However, one of those in the minority, Chris McVoy, PhD got re-elected in March 2015. And one of the big reasons why was McVoy accusing the majority on the City Commission and Bornstein of all kinds of shenanigans. But two years later all of that came back and bit you-know-who on the proverbial you-know-what. McVoy was defeated by a young man named Omari Hardy in March 2017. In the endorsement for now-Commissioner Hardy the editor at the Post called McVoy a “gadfly”. A pretty harsh word to call an elected official.

Another clipping from that former rag. . .

Following the municipal elections in March 2015, the celebration at Mamma Mia’s at the Lake Worth Beach and Casino Complex:

Former Commissioner Ryan Maier (left, white shirt) celebrates with former commissioners Jo-Ann Golden, Cara Jennings and newly re-elected Chris McVoy (arms raised, blue shirt). McVoy lost his re-election bid two years later.

So that tabloid finally shut down on April 24th, 2015. By then kids were hired to distribute it around to people’s homes and it was dropped off in places like the Cultural Plaza where is was distributed by the wind all over the place. At the Tree Festival that year The Lake Worth Herald was a paid sponsor of the event but that tabloid wasn’t a sponsor but those FREE rags were all over the place anyway. A lot of them were disposed of properly and legally.

In conclusion, you may like The Lake Worth Herald and dislike The Palm Beach Post. Or dislike the Herald and like the Post. Or like both. Dislike both. But they are both newspapers. Free Speech if you are a subscriber. Or if your neighbor gives you the paper for FREE. Either way, protected by the First Amendment.

But consider this. Today marks six years, four months and twelve days since Michael Bornstein was hired away from the Town of Lantana. So whilst we all await the next editorial in the Post about this City of Lake Worth (the last one was exactly one year ago yesterday!) maybe there will be some acknowledgment — a nod of some sort — that this City has come a long, long way in 6½ years.

It wasn’t all Bornstein’s doing though. He had a majority on the City Commission who were on board with the vision as well when they weren’t hearing footsteps from a former administration that got swept out of City Hall.

And once again. .  .

Contact your elected leaders some time soon and instead of complaining, like most everyone else does, ask this question: “How can I help?”

Worth another look: Artist/muralist Craig McInnis, City Seal, and City of Lake Worth’s 100th Anniversary in 2013 at Bryant Park Bandshell.

What an artist created for our City 3½ years ago:

This one is my favorite. Note the cool shadow.

The City’s Bandshell is located in Bryant Park
along the Intracoastal just south of the
Robert Harris Bridge.

Meet the artist, Mr. McInnis:

Working on a hot day in the sun. . .

Another view:

And after a short break and some cold water. . .

Back to work.

Hope you enjoyed this blog post today.

Click on the front and back of McInnis’ card
to learn more about this artist.

Tomorrow at noon. Public meeting in Jupiter on Loxahatchee River Preservation Initiative (LRPI).

Below is important information from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) about the Loxahatchee River and the public LRPI meeting tomorrow (Monday, Aug. 27th).


FYI: The next meeting of the Water Resources Analysis Coalition (WRAC) is on September 6th. The next regularly scheduled SFWMD Governing Board meeting is on September 13th. Both meetings begin at 9:00 a.m. and are held at SFWMD headquarters located at 3301 Gun Club Rd. in suburban West Palm Beach.     


Briefly, from last month’s meeting of the SFWMD Governing Board was an “Ecological Conditions Report” by Dir. Terri Bates. To learn more about the meeting last month and this latest conditions report click on this link.

From the presentation last month.

Click on image to enlarge:

How many of you reading this have seen this news about “Nest Numbers in 2018” in any recent press or news media reports?

Note the Loxahatchee River Watershed in the map below (top right):

To learn more about what is being done to control the Lygodium plague in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge located in Palm Beach County (see WCA 1 on map) click on this link.

From SFWMD about upcoming meeting. . .

Loxahatchee River Preservation Initiative (LRPI).

The details:

• Date: TOMORROW (Monday, Aug. 27th at noon; official notice of meeting).
• Location: Jupiter Emergency Operations Center, 3133 Washington St. in Jupiter.
• General subject matter to be considered: Meeting to discuss and consider LRPI business, including current and future projects and activities. 

For additional information contact Nestor Garrido at SFWMD’s Office of Everglades Policy and Coordination at 561-682-6908 or by email: ngarrido@sfwmd.gov

Today is the anniversary of the failed LW2020 bond four years ago.

Due to concerns about sea level rise and street flooding a former commissioner here in this City of Lake Worth successfully rallied enough votes to defeat the City’s LW2020 road bond on August 26th, 2014. That bond vote failed by just twenty-five votes.

The subsequent Neighborhood Road Bond in November 2016 passed by a “whopping 69%”. The very same critics back in 2014 used the same argument again about sea level rise as the reason to vote no on the second bond vote. But that argument didn’t hold any water in 2016.

Now that today is the four-year anniversary of the failed LW2020 bond, think for a moment how far ahead our City would be right now had that bond passed? Ironically, one of the most vocal opponents of the LW2020 bond later wrote a letter to the editor (see below).

August 2016. The two-year anniversary
of the failed LW2020 bond.

March 20th, 2016.

“Paid Political Advertisement Paid For By

Citizens Against Unfair Taxation”

Four-year anniversary.