Post-election day and the City of Lake Worth Beach.

Question #1 on the ballot yesterday was approved by the electorate:

NAME CHANGE TO THE
CITY OF LAKE WORTH BEACH.

IN ORDER TO DISTINGUISH ITSELF FROM SURROUNDING UNINCORPORATED AREAS, SHALL ARTICLE I, SECTION 1 OF THE CITY OF LAKE WORTH CHARTER ENTITLED “CITY CREATED” BE AMENDED TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THE CITY FROM THE “CITY OF LAKE WORTH” TO THE “CITY OF LAKE WORTH BEACH?” [emphasis added]



First a shout out to Willie Howard, a former beat reporter who once covered the City of Lake Worth for The Palm Beach Post. Learn more about Howard’s role in this story later in this blog post. And a shout out to the new news media as well, Andrew Lofholm at WPTV and Andrea Marvin at CBS12. What did Lofholm and Marvin do?

What they did is they both reported the facts about “Lake Worth Beach” way before anyone else in the news media did. For example,


LAKE WORTH, Fla. (CBS12) — Changing the City of Lake Worth’s name to the ‘City of Lake Worth Beach’.

It’s a move leaders are ready to make, after city commissioners voted unanimously [on Dec. 4th, 2018] on the change. But in the end, it’s up to voters.

—Source. CBS12 journalist Andrea Marvin, news segment datelined Dec. 5th, 2018.


To read about Andrew Lofholm’s news report from the City Commission meeting on Dec. 4th, 2018 click on this link.

And at the very end of this blog post is a YouTube video from a City Commission Work Session in November 2018 and each of our elected officials, in their own words, explain why they support rebranding our City by adding the “Beach” to our name.

Renaming this City was breaking news by WPTV reporter Andrew Lofholm late last year and then a little later Andrea Marvin at CBS12 did an excellent news report as well. Where was The Palm Beach Post? Nowhere. And then later on they had to scramble to catch up.

And then Frank Cerabino had to chime in too. Read all about that a little later in this blog post today.

In many ways the name change to “Lake Worth Beach” highlights the generational digital divide in a major way. Many in the older generations will get the news about Lake Worth Beach from a dinosaur, a printed newspaper. Younger generations will get this news on social media.

To their credit many from older generations like Commissioner Scott Maxwell don’t understand social media but they do most certainly understand its power.

Harry’s Banana Farm on N. Dixie Hwy. in Lake Worth Beach getting in the spirit last year.

From Harry’s on Dixie Hwy. in Lake Worth Beach to the Post building on Dixie Hwy. in West Palm Beach is just 3½ miles. But West Palm does not have a “Beach”. Our City does have a “BEACH”.

It’s worth noting the effort to rename this City was a very serious public policy debate and to confuse the public the critics took a two-pronged approach: First, that renaming this City ‘is just silly’ and secondly that renaming this City will be too expensive.

However, consider first that due to terrible and irresponsible news reporting in The Palm Beach Post and other news outlets that a municipality in Palm Beach County would even have to consider changing its name in the first place. Think about that for a few moments.

On how expensive a name change to Lake Worth Beach would cost, the hard costs like signage and print material would change over time. In some cases, many years. There is no rush. The immediate effect would be on social media, marketing and branding. And the effect will be almost immediate.

Whilst on the topic of cost, do you receive the Sunday and daily print edition of the Post with digital access? That costs $683.79 annually. 

Now back to Cerabino, Lake Worth Beach and comparing apples to sour grapes.

Ever since NBC5 reporter Andrew Lofholm broke this story the Post had to scramble. Three days after Lofholm’s report the Post beat reporter put together something and then Cerabino got into the act. The story in the online edition was headlined,

Name change worth the trouble in Lake Worth

And then the next day in the print edition the headline was,

‘Lake Worth Beach’ wasn’t quite
what I had in mind

So according to Cerabino on one day it’s “worth the trouble” and then a little later it’s not “quite what I had in mind”? Just curious. Does anyone remember asking Cerabino what he thought or thinks?

And then following the usual ramblings are the obligatory quotes from patrons at Harry’s Banana Farm which explains why Cerabino never quite made it to City Hall.

About Question #1 on the ballot yesterday Cerabino opened up his missive with these two lines last year:


Oh, no. Lake Worth’s thinking about changing its name again.

This happens every so often. The last time was about six years ago.


Here is what Cerabino left out: This was a big news story by former Post reporter Willie Howard in 2012 (see below). Howard interviewed Commissioner Scott Maxwell about his proposal to rename this City. The City’s Millennial year was in 2013 and most everyone agreed that the timing was bad as was recently stated by Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso. But in 2018 almost everyone agreed that renaming this City is a good idea worth considering or at least give the public the opportunity to decide.

From 2012 to the present the idea of renaming this City never went away. Interest in pushing this forward would go up and then other things would take priority and interest would go down. But the idea of renaming this City as “Lake Worth Beach” never went away.

So the suggestion by Cerabino that the idea of renaming this City, ‘happens every so often’ is ludicrous and petty.

And then there is this from Cerabino:


Lake Worth city leaders think by adding “beach” [sic; s/b “Beach”] to its name, Lake Worth will distinguish itself as both a coastal community and one that is distinct from the larger Lake Worth postal region to the west, which has a higher crime rate.

“That doesn’t give us the ability to say our crime is down double digits,” Mayor Pam Triolo explained. “When people are looking to invest or purchase a new home to bring their family here, I’d like them to be comparing apples to apples, not apples to cucumbers.”


But instead of cucumbers, let’s talk about sour grapes.

The Post editorial board did not endorse Scott Maxwell in his re-election bid last year. The Post endorsed his challenger, Sarah Malega. But it didn’t matter. Maxwell won anyway.

A bite of cucumber will help after sour grapes.

FYI: Maxwell first served on the City Commission from 2001–2003. Then Maxwell got re-elected in 2009 and has been re-elected another four times. So when Cerabino posits that renaming this City to “Lake Worth Beach” happened ‘about six years ago’ not citing Maxwell’s role in this effort is short-sighted at best.

And then Cerabino goes on to say. . .


Lake Worth is the undisputed offbeat capital of Palm Beach County. It’s a cultural hub for both Finnish tourists and anarchists . . . Just sticking the word “beach” [sic] at the end of Lake Worth doesn’t do justice to the city’s singular charms.


The ‘anarchists’ in this City are not even worthy of mention any more. They have been largely replaced by the Apatharchists, former Anarchists who gave up on politics are much more concerned that this little six square mile City continues to be maligned by news stories like this still circulating on the Internet.

For more information about “Making the case for changing the name of our City to Lake Worth Beach” click on this link.

And also making the case is this excerpt from a Willie Howard article published in The Palm Beach Post in 2012:


“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. [emphasis added]
     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.’
     With the 100-year anniversary of the city next year and the opening of the renovated beach site and casino scheduled for this fall, he said, this is a good time to change the city’s name.
     ‘The timing is just about right,’ Maxwell said. ‘It kind of gives us a renewed since of pride for the next 100 years.’ ”


Causing so much confusion for so many years is this oft-asked question:

“Where exactly is Lake Worth?” 

Click on this link to learn why changing the name of our City will clear up so much of the confusion for visitors, tourists, investors, Realtors, and the press and news media as well.

And in conclusion, listen to Mayor Pam Triolo and each of the four City Commissioners explain why they support renaming this City of Lake Worth with a spectacular BEACH!

The discussion lasts about fifteen minutes and ends with public comment by well-known City resident AnnaMaria: