Update - City vs. We Love Lake Worth Lawsuit - Beach

The document above was filed on behalf of the defendants on April 15, 2008. With the number of lawsuits swirling around our City, it is difficult to keep them all straight and know where they are in the process. That is why the City Commission needs regular updates from the City Attorney about the status of them. I don't think that I have ever been at a Commission meeting where Mr. Karns, our City Attorney has went down the list of standing lawsuits. Anyway, it would be a good tradition to start.

This lawsuit springs from the attempt by petition gatherers to force the land use and zoning change related to the beach property to a referendum. This land use and zoning change would allow the Greater Bay project to move forward since the current land use and zoning only permits "open air recreation" and related uses. Commercial uses present in the Casino building would not be allowed under the existing land use and zoning designation. This should have been taken care of long ago, but it wasn't and we are experiencing the result of that oversight or attempts to postpone the inevitable.

The Political Action Committee (PAC), We Love Lake Worth, filed over the minimum number of signatures at which time, the City wondered what to do. The same Florida Statute that is involved in the Sunset property lawsuit is at issue here. That particular Statute says that local governments cannot hold a referendum on a development order that affects 5 or fewer parcels. If the property affects 6 or more parcels, then a referendum can be held. The City's Charter allows referendums on ordinances but does not single out development orders for special treatment.

What the defendants are attempting to do here is convince the Court that there are more than 6 parcels here and therefore, a referendum should be allowed.

What a shame that we are made aware of this after the good faith effort shown by the City and Greater Bay in working cooperatively towards a real deadline on the pool work so that a State of Florida grant would not be lost. That deadline was April 30th and according to all accounts that I have heard, they will make that deadline.

There is another lawsuit regarding the provisions of the lease and development agreement between Greater Bay and the City. I haven't heard a report on where that stands, other than the City made amendments to the agreement in response to that lawsuit, but that will not deter those that filed the suit.

Have you ever been to the Cove Restaurant in Deerfield Beach, it's on the Intracoastal and has a delightful nighttime dining environment? I recently went there with friends and we thought how nice it would be to have such a place on our Lake Worth beach. Until these lawsuits are resolved, I guess we will just have to imagine the possibilities.

Greetings from Mars and Venus

City Commission Workshop - 4/30 - Implementation of Climate Protection Task Force Recommendations

Friday Treat: Two Great Songs from the 60s

Both of these are karaoke favorites of mine:

Extra! Special! Roosevelt Inaugurated 03/05/33

This film footage amazes me at many levels. Of course, it comes from a pre-television era, but an important event like this would have had the finest technology at the time. I think the description of the "super fast" plane to transport the film from Washington D.C. to New York just underlines the contrast between our technology now versus then. Now the information would be sent over wires or by satellite.

It also is wild to think that we know have the ability to recall historical events, at will, and peer into the past. We have had the ability to do that before, but not with the ease of doing it now through You Tube or other Internet media. I'm not sure if this rises to the importance of publishing the Gutenberg Bible, but I think it is close. The ramifications of this will be long lasting and profound. It amounts to "time travel" on demand.

Here are more images and sounds from the Roosevelt era:

Progress on the Pool

Sources tell me that all the major systems are in (heaters, chlorination and new Marcite) and, as you can see, the pool deck is about 65% finished. The water is still adjusting to the chlorine and I understand that more is being added. I will have to admit that I was a skeptic, but I think they will make the April 30th deadline and retain the grant money.

These pictures were taken on Monday, April 21st.

This the area (S/E) that remains to be completed, along with the finer work along the edge of the
deck and the pool coping..

Kiddie Pool area.

Below is the budget for the pool work as performed by Greater Bay. This one dates from the first City Commission meeting in February. There may have been an update at the first meeting in April, but the back-up is not available on line.

Two Beach Pics from Today's Visit

Status of Pier - as of 4/21

You can see the elevation of the pier as it heads towards its eastern limit. The extra height is supposed to provide more protection from storms so that we don't have to go through this again. The ramp is done to allow accessibility per ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act - standards. A change order went through during a recent Commission meeting that took into account some piers that proved to be unusable in their current condition.

Work was on-going while I was there. I'll check on what is considered the current estimated time of completion.

Surfrider Foundation - Fundraiser Party - 4/24 - 8 p.m.

A nice addition to the downtown...

This renovation project turned out very well. This is in the downtown historic district, immediately east of the Lucerne. It blends in with the building at the corner and I like the colors and the way they're applied - a little rainbow power never hurt anyone, right?

When I was on the Historic Resource Preservation Board, this building came through with a proposal that was originally just more ersatz Mediterranean revival and would have looked like any other building, any other place in south Florida. We encouraged the owner to go back to the drawing board and bring something back that better reflected the context and the unique nature of the downtown. They worked with Darrin Engle while he was still here and now we see the result. Let's hope we get some quality retailers to fill these spaces and broaden the retail market in the downtown.

Nice job!

Sue Gibbons talks about the FEC Corridor Transit Study Analysis - 4/24

Introductory and Intermediate Level Courses - Community Land Trusts - Atlanta, 5/19 - 21

Response from FEC Transit Study Consultant

SFECT Study - Lake Worth Presentation

Mr. Blackman,
I am in meetings out of the office today. For the moment, please accept the following clarifications:

*
I will pass on your name and contact information on to the individuals who will be organizing the charette which is currently scheduled for June 21-27. The charette (which is not being conducted under the auspices of the SFECC Study) will be conducted by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.

#
The station area planning analysis is still work-in-progress and will continue over the coming months. The slide you are referring to was one which, as I stated during the presentation, illustrated the results of the initial broad-brush analysis conducted in 2006. As I stated, more station areas are still being identified and more analysis is still being conducted.
#
The project team is in the process of refreshing the project website, which contains much more information > documents, presentations, maps, newsclips, etc.
You may want to visit http://www.SFECCStudy.com to view and download additional information from Phase 1 of the Study and then visit it again in another 2 weeks when it will be populated with additional updated information.

Thank you for your interest in this important project.

Michael Moore
Regional Office Manager
Gannett Fleming, Inc.

Residential Real Estates Sales within the Past 30 Days...

Below you will find a link to the recently sold properties within the 33460 (City of Lake Worth) zip code. This lists represents all closed transactions for the past 30 days. I'd be interested in your reaction.

Click here.

This Week's Monday Song - Blue Monday

This version is from 1983 by New Order:



This version is from 1999 by Orgy: