Playful City USA Grant Application

This is a post made by Erica Whitfield on Lake Worth Talk.com.

HELP LAKE WORTH RECREATION

Now is your chance!

Lake Worth's Recreation Board has recently applied for a grant requesting $25,000 to add a mini soccer field in Lake Worth. This is something that is desperately needed for the city. We created a short 3 minute video to advertise our project and now we need as many votes as we can get!

Please take a minute and go to the website below to vote. You must register your email to be able to vote, however the company has promised not to sell it or spam you in any way.

The deadline is December 21, 2007.

In addition, please share this email with anyone else who you believe might help us in our efforts.

Thank you very much for you time!

CLICK HERE FOR LINK - COMMENT AND VOTE TODAY!

Special Commission Meeting on Day Labor Issues

Going on now (11/28 - time now 6:15 p.m.) - click here for live feed.

They are talking with various representatives of non-profit organizations regarding feasibility and logistics of running such a center, the possibility of the City providing surplus property or building which is consistent with the Town of Jupiter model. They are also discussing the implementation of the ordinance enacted a few weeks ago related to the prohibition of picking up of workers from Lake Avenue and requiring them to be picked up at the Shuffleboard Court property. The Mayor called the meeting "hastily arranged". Mary Lindsey made a good point about the neighborhood that is most affected was not specifically invited to the meeting. The Mayor responded that these are just the initial steps in forming the structure of such a center.

One good thing relating to format of the meeting is that it was more of a give and take and not the rigid three minute time limit as is common in other meetings. A trend? Let's hope.

I was interrupted by a phone call or two - the meeting got over with around 7:20 or so. If any of you went, you can leave a comment by clicking below.

Large Water Bill

This story appeared on WPTV Channel 5 last week. Did you happen to see it? This Lake Worth couple had two high September and October water bills that are clearly out of line with their historical average bill. I actually saw the spot and it was obvious that they were not using 4,000 gallons a day to water their lawn. It's interesting that Commissioner Golden is only mildly sympathetic to their plight - she did not appear on camera. This article is from the WPTV website.

I have heard of other instances recently where this has happened and in each case the resident had to pay the unusually high bill or suffer the consequences with having their service disconnected for non-payment.

How would voting on changes to Comprehensive Plans work?

Proponents of the Hometown Democracy movement are circulating a petition that would put an item on the ballot - potentially for the November 2008 statewide election. The ballot item would ask the voters to approve or a deny a change in the way local governments around the state handle their adoption of new comprehensive plans and amendments to existing plans by requiring a referendum on those items. The language from the petition appears below:

I thought it would be a good idea to show just what is involved when a local government body amends its comprehensive plan. And, it turns out that it is timely as the County is wrapping up one of its comprehensive plan amendment cycles.

The bulk of this post contains items from the Board of County Commissioners agenda for the adoption hearing on changes to the Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan. This is the second of the two amendments allowed by state statute for the year 2007. The public hearing will take place tomorrow. The agenda itself is 14 pages long. If you would like to go to the County's site with the actual agenda and see the links to the back-up material, you can click here.

If you click on the active links, that will take you to the back-up information on each item, which usually - at a minimum - adds about 50 pages per item of material. This information includes maps, information on adjacent properties, minutes from other County advisory boards with their recommendations, issues related to compatibility and traffic impacts, the nature of the changes requested and some details regarding the ultimate "site specific" improvements contemplated by the applicants. (Note: This example is not as involved as other rounds of changes as the property specific requests were processed by the County earlier this year)

One type of comprehensive plan amendment deals with property specific changes to future land use designations. Another type deals with amendments to the actual text of the comprehensive plan. Both are considered major amendments and entail complete review by all sorts of state and regional agencies. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is the ultimate review body. The amendments appearing on the agenda below include both types. Since this is the adoption hearing, these proposed amendments have been reviewed by DCA. You will see that some items are still being worked on by staff and will appear on future rounds of amendments once the details are sorted out and general agreement has been reached between the DCA, local government, any intervening parties and property owners, if applicable.

Now, looking through these various items contained in this agenda, I think you are getting the idea that there is a great amount of detail and complexity associated with each proposed change. In order for a thorough understanding of the items, and in order to make an informed individual decision would require some of the following. It would require those voters, assuming the Hometown Democracy petition drive is successful and ultimately approved at a general election, to be familiar with the comprehensive planning provisions of the State of Florida.

If there is any hope of quality decisions being made through approval or denial of comprehensive plan amendments, voters would need to understand the difference between land use designations and zoning regulations. They should also have a good working knowledge of the local government's current comprehensive plan and the various elements (chapters) that are in it, what concurrency means and how it is implemented, what a capital improvements program is and how it relates to level of service standards for public facilities, which zoning districts implement the various land use plan designations in the local comprehensive plan, etc. They should also know about each one of the particular site and property characteristics of each amendment and their impacts/implications. There are also issues related to adjacent municipalities with impacts and changes "just over the line".

Imagine the items contained here, in this agenda, being placed upon a ballot for all the residents of Palm Beach County to approve or deny. A big issue would be where to draw the line regarding who actually votes for what on comprehensive plan amendments. There are some issues contained within the Palm Beach County comprehensive plan that include the incorporated municipalities - like the traffic performance standard provisions for example.
Then we get to the ballot box - let's say a typical November ballot. Already, there is fall off on longer ballots as you go through the various governmental subdivisions from federal, state, county, special districts, municipalities. These could have referendum items and always have elected representatives of every kind. Then you would get down to the items related to changes to the local government comprehensive plans. How much attention do you think these will get? I would guess a small portion of the total voter pool would vote on these changes, with most of the votes coming from those that are motivated to be against the proposed change for one reason or another. I am not insinuating that those reasons to vote against may not be valid, but would it really be representative of the vote of the electorate? And that is assuming everyone is equally well-informed on every requested change. How would you deal with people in Jupiter Farms voting for a change that would affect a small area in west Delray Beach, for example?
So, while it tugs at the heartstrings and elevates the hope of those that wish to bring development to its knees in the state, it would like push development to areas where there would be the population of voters that would over-ride comprehensive plan changes. This could have perilous environmental consequences by adding speed to an already present trend.
I agree there are areas that need work in Florida related to growth management. One is in the way of educating the population - through the addition of curriculum in schools (competing with the FCAT?) - and general public service announcements and courses that would emphasize the importance of planning and land use decisions on the built and natural environments. We also need to be engaging people in the already existing public process where they feel alienated from decisions and decision makers.
Look at the items on this agenda and think about the quality of your decision, the time you have to devote to research these and the relative impact that you would incur. How comfortable would you be on voting these items up or down?
Note that my debate with Drew Martin on this issue has been changed to 6 p.m. tomorrow from the originally advertised time of 8 p.m. I will be posting a thread on Lake Worth Talk introducing the show and reminding people of the time change. There will be space to post your comments and questions as well.

Example: Over-Commercialization of a Beach

Some Quick Notes

First of all, have a great Thanksgiving. If you are traveling or staying at home, remember to be safe. There really is so much to be thankful for and we tend to forget that in our everyday routines. Enjoy your family and friends over this long weekend, for many, and remember that the people you are with are the ones that matter the most.

Second, Drew Martin has invited me to a debate on the Hometown Democracy movement. This will take place on his show next Monday night from 8 to 9 p.m. Those that wonder what will happen with Karaoke - we will just start a little later than usual.

Finally, I will be having another Truth Matters show next Tuesday. I'll be posting more material here leading up to both shows over the long weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

Tonight's City Commission Meeting

Tonight's Commission meeting has a light agenda and I am not sure if my schedule today will permit me to attend. However, for ease of access, I thought that I would post the agenda here. You will notice that under Consent Agenda Item B there is a request from the City Manager to allocate almost $325,000 from other accounts to make up for expenditures that were incurred, checks cut and paid beyond the level authorized by the City Commission. We can only be thankful that these oversights were from a previous administrative staff and that this is part of the cleansing process occurring in the Finance and other City departments.

It makes you wonder about all those years and projects that have taken place before. How much was spent that the Commission and the public were not aware of? How many dollars were spent either in error or due to contractors' lapses and the like - working on behalf of the City? In this request, the most significant overrun was in street improvements - almost a quarter of a million dollars. Let's try and find out why this happened.

Let's hope that this represents the last example of an "after the fact" approval of funds.

SAFETY TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON

This was sent out to all the COPs in the volunteer ranks by Joel Morganstern, Lake Worth Police Department, Crime Prevention Specialist:

With the holiday season approaching, here are a few safety tips that parents as well as their children should follow to make it a safe as well as a happy season.

When in a public facility always supervise your child, and ALWAYS accompany young children to the bathroom. Make certain your children know to stay with you at all times while shopping and always CHECK FIRST with you or the person in charge before they go anywhere. It is important to know where your children are and who they are with at all times.

If older children become separated from you while holiday shopping, have them meet you in a pre -designated spot such as the sales counter of the store you were in or the mall’s information booth. For younger children teach them to look for people who can be sources of help within the store or mall such as a uniformed security officer, salesperson with a nametag, the person in the information booth, or a uniformed law-enforcement officer. They should NEVER Leave the store/mall or go to the parking lot to look for you or your car. Make visits to the mall opportunities for your children to practice these “Safe Shopping” skills.

Practice having them CHECK FIRST with you before going anywhere within a mall or store. Leave clothing with your children’s names displayed at home, as it can bring about unwelcome attention from inappropriate people who may be looking for an opportunity to start a conversation with your children.

Parents should not leave children alone at public facilities such as video arcades, movie theaters, or playgrounds as a convenient “babysitter” while they are shopping. If you allow your older children to go to the mall or other activities without you, they need to TAKE A FRIEND. It’s more fun and much safer. Make certain a clear plan is in place to pick them up including where, what time, and what to do in case of a change in plans.

Nothing takes the place of your supervision when you are in a public place with your children. If you are going holiday shopping and feel that you will be distracted, make other arrangements for the care of your children.

It’s easy for you and your children to get distracted with all the sights, sounds and crowds of holiday shopping, so make certain they stay with you at all times.

In Honor of Thanksgiving (and Karaoke)

Florida Hometown Democracy - Beware!

I hope you were able to read the editorial in the Palm Beach Post today entitled "Still Florida's good friend". In it, the editors note that the group 1000 Friends of Florida is not lending its support of the petition drive being put forward by Florida Hometown Democracy. The petition appears below:
It's funny that this editorial came out today since I planned to do a review of petition and its implications this weekend. As you may already know, there are many followers of this movement that are active politically in our community and were the key promoters of the failed supermajority initiative on zoning and land use decisions.

This is a dangerous petition for a number of reasons. It would lead to a series of unintended results not thoroughly considered by the movement's followers if it became law.

First of all, it wraps itself in motherhood and apple pie by stressing that our current growth management system is pro-developer. The term "hometown" recalls visions of Norman Rockwell paintings. One can almost smell the apple pies cooling on the window sill. They believe that the only way that "the people" can take charge and slow/stop growth is by requiring a referendum on any changes to a comprehensive plan or adoption of a new one. Thus, one is left thinking "Ah ha! We finally got the developer on the run!" Well, that may be so, but not to where they should be running.

The group here locally that is behind this is the same one that charged the City with being a spawning ground for "over-development". What would happen here locally is that land use plan changes would be put up to a referendum and our army of well-organized door knockers would spread the word and defeat such changes. They are the "hard to beat voting block" that the Post talks about in their editorial. Eventually, this would draw development right to where we don't need it to go - where there is no entrenched population of voters. This would likely lead to the nightmare scenario predicted in the 1000 Friends of Florida report "Florida 2060 - A Population Distribution Scenario for the State of Florida" Here is a graphic from that report which is available in its entirety by clicking the link provided above:Based upon the population projections contained in the report and the typical densities found in various Florida counties, the highlighted portion of the text concludes, "The result of the projected development pattern is an almost continuous urban strip extending from eastern Ft. Myers to West Palm Beach." By developers chasing the "easy way", we would be promoting the exact kind of development pattern that we should be preventing. Meanwhile, the not-in-my-back-yard people would be enjoying their lower density life styles in the already ecologically disturbed area consumed by our already existing urbanized area.

The other point that followers of this movement fail to realize is that comprehensive plans are complex documents. There seems to be the assumption that the status-quo is the ideal and that any change must be looked at skeptically and be subject of a referendum. As someone who has put together many amendments to comprehensive plans, the plan is always a flexible document that needs to change as conditions change. Furthermore, comprehensive plan changes can be, and most times are, voluminous! And, as someone who ran a campaign earlier this year, I know that it is extremely difficult to communicate complex multi-faceted concepts on the doorstep, in fliers, at candidate/issue forums, etc.

If you are adopting a completely new comprehensive plan, you are dealing with a "telephone book"-sized document. How are you going to communicate that accurately and efficiently to a voting population that is already overloaded with distractions of all sorts? Sometimes, communities have individual changes that would appear as separate items on the ballot. How would you like to wade through 100+ proposed changes to a comprehensive plan and make an informed decision on each one? Some of the changes might be the equivalent of taking out an "and" in the text; while others would be more weighty in their consequences. The most important point here is that comprehensive plans have inter-related parts - so if you have multiple amendments and approve three of them, and turn down five of them, and the three that the voters approved don't work without the other five, then where are you?

If all the supporters of this effort want to do is "gum up" the system and spend more money on attorneys, then maybe that is their ultimate goal. But do we really want to dismantle the system? I don't think so.

This would lead, in my opinion, to a system that would be ripe for a sophisticated, moneyed political action committee of either stripe that would interpret the changes for voters in easy consumable sound bites. Is that who we want controlling growth in our communities?

The solution is to promote the existing processes and encourage public participation/understanding at all steps of the process. We have to wake up to the fact that Florida is going to grow in population and where to direct that population growth will be the key to our survival as a state. It is naive to think that growth will stop or that we are doing a service by stopping the redevelopment of Lake Worth or other coastal communities. In fact, the service we should be doing is finding ways of directing responsible redevelopment to communities like ours.

So, beware of petition gatherers and the tales they tell. I am sure you won't be hearing about the unintended consequences of this quaint "hometown democracy" movement from them.

The following is from their website that indicates the number of signatures they have gathered to date:

Meet "Manny the Manatee"

Have you ever seen this public service announcement on T.V.? Found on YouTube. There might be other stuff I find on there. Beware!

Lake Worth Bridge Closed

FDOT will be closing the Lake Worth Bridge on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. to perform an inspection, per city announcement.

Did a YouTube search on Lake Worth Bridge and found this:

Nice Letter from City of Lake Worth re TOD Charrette

Update on Status: 431 N. L Street

Apparently the demolition request never came back to the board and the recommendation from the PZHRPB was to not include the property on the surplus list as one that could be used for affordable housing. (Oh, and please excuse the typos in my message to Sandi.)

LW Kiwanis - Nite Golf Event

I spent most of last evening at the 4th hole, Lake Worth Municipal golf course serving ribs and sweet potato fires from the Rum Shack to night golfers. A little over 40 people came out.

With my camera at the ready, I was able to take some videos of the fun. Not too visually stimulating, but the audio is amusing. And you can definitely tell that the weather report was right when it called for increasing darkness after 6:30 p.m. It was severely dark last night! The players used transparent golf balls that had small glo-sticks inserted in them for "visibility". Proceeds from the event went towards various Kiwanis charitable causes for local children.