The former Patio Coffee Shop - SE corner of Cornell and North Dixie

A bird's-eye-view of the north water tower being painted...

Courtesy James Stafford Photography.

Urban Dictionary: Maplewood

Is Lake Worth "Maplewood" now? Is Lake Worth on a path to be a "Maplewood?" Is Lake Worth ready to be a "Maplewood" ever? Does Lake Worth want to be a "Maplewood?" Discuss. Click title for a definition of the word from the Urban Dictionary.

About 4,000 blighted Detroit buildings being demolished with $52M in federal cash | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Detroit has 78,000 vacant or abandoned buildings. Lake Worth has about 2,000. That is about 2.5% of Detroit's inventory. Lake Worth has 34,000 residents compared to Detroit's 750,000 (from a high of 1.4 million in 1950). As a ratio to population, Lake Worth has about one vacant or abandoned house per 17 residents; Detroit has one per every 10 residents. Click title for link to the Detroit Free Press article.

Part of the Lake Worth 2020 program includes money for the city to acquire and foreclose on structures that are part of that inventory.

CITIZENS PROPERTY LINING UP PRIVATE CARRIERS FOR CLEARINGHOUSE .: News Service of Florida

Good news and bad news. Citizens Insurance, run by the state of Florida, wants to get out of the insurance business. Private insurers will be insuring properties again through this clearinghouse. Note that if the private rate is within 15% of the rate charged by Citizens, you will have to go with the private carrier. That rate is probably going to be 15% higher than Citizens, but you may have a choice of private companies. I am not optimistic. This may mean additional inspections, etc. By the way, my current annual premium with Citizens is $5,500 per year - with a full shutter system that to them is out-of-date and with a one gable roof that they say is more than 10 percent of the roof area.

Click title for article.

Lights Out on N. Dixie

Up until 5 years ago, this was a favorite place for pizza. Since then it has been a revolving door. This is the strip commercial center  along the east side of Dixie, between Columbia and Cornell.

Soon to be dark. Their last day is next Tuesday (9/3). Get your ribs while you can.

Dark after 9/3.

A bay in the same commercial strip center  east side of Dixie, between Columbia and Cornell.

Same.

Same.

Empty, same strip center.

Been there a long time.

Vacant lot between Cornell and Dartmouth - used to be The Patio restaurant and other retail.

Dark as of 9/3

Same vacant lot - a full block east side of Dixie, between Cornell and Dartmouth.

Former cigar/beer/wine bar - closed for at least the past 6 months.

"The Bar" - formerly Ryan's and others- Dark since June

Soon to close and being replaced by a new one, with a drive-thru, north of the canal in West Palm Beach.

New West Palm Beach business

Cute and charming former "Pet Store" and other retail uses.

Facing northbound traffic.

The last two are other quality retailers.

EatBeat: PA BBQ to Close Lake Worth Store After 21 Years

TERRIBLE NEWS! You must read the entire article, click title for link. But this stands out:

Lavallee bought the building, a failing Denny’s, in 1991 and brought his version of barbecued ribs and chicken to Lake Worth. It’s remained a family favorite since, though the demographics of the area have changed since then – going downhill, he said. “It’s unfortunate, but that corridor of Dixie Highway to Forest Hill is just not coming up, he said.” An IHOP a few blocks north, another family draw for decades, also left the area.
His stores in Tequesta and West Palm Beach both have come out of the recession; the new outlet mall going in on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard is going to boost that store’s presence even more, he said.
“It’s going to be hard to look at loyal customers and say ‘bye – sorry, but we have to close.’ But we’re not the Post Office. We have to make money. It’s a business decision.”

The Denny's mentioned was closed for a long time before they bought it. I remember it being empty a while. Add this to the Dunkin' Donuts closing at Fordham and Dixie, an empty bar and many vacant lots. But, Carolyn and her dogs can still have breakfast on her porch.

The last day they are open will be next Tuesday (9/3).

Amazing aerial photos of Mexico City show that no natural boundaries stand in the way of endless suburban sprawl as homes cover mountain and valley in waves of houses as far as the eye can see | Mail Online

Check out these photos of suburban Mexico City - this is an extreme example of sprawl. Some think that development here in Lake Worth amounts to sprawl. Sprawl is defined as low density development that is primarily dependent on the automobile for its survival. Click title for link.

A tale of two piers: Juno or Lake Worth? Both offer fun for...

Nice article comparing the Juno Beach and Lake Worth piers. Click title for link.

Click here for a Sun Sentinel article on municipalities adopting social media

This is a timely article. Last Friday I was invited to be on a media panel held by the Palm Beach County City Manager's Association. It included Mark Easton of the Lake Worth Herald, Willie Howard and Andrew Marra of the Palm Beach Post. I was there representing the "new" media as a blogger. The event happened at our Casino ballroom. Our city manager, Michael Bornstein is the Vice President of the group this year and was the host of the retreat.

If you read the article, it talks about how Broward County municipalities are slow to adopt social media when getting a message out or to better interact with the public. There seems to be an issue with maintaining and archive of the postings on a site such as Facebook due to Florida's open records laws. But it looks like there are ways to do that which don't break the bank.

My message to this group of Palm Beach County city managers was that they need to be telling the story of their organization through a social media platform and not to rely on traditional media to do that job. I encouraged them to start slow and expand their municipalities' online presence over time. I suggested that each of them see if they could carve out five minutes a week to put together a regular series of YouTube videos on what is going on in their city, what's coming across their desk or what's next on the coming city commission agenda. The Post took a lot of heat about their editorial stands on some issues - like red light cameras and the inspector general.

Anyway, it was neat to be part of this panel and perhaps more Palm Beach County municipalities will be adopting and adapting various forms of social media - including Lake Worth.

That's Carey O'Donnell on the left, who served as moderator for the panel, Mark Easton, Yours Truly, Willie Howard and Andrew Marra. Those are cans of Spam Lite that were supplied by Mr. Bornstein as favors for being on the panel. Its meaning is enigmatic.

Video from yesterday's (8/24) City Commission Visioning Session

Above is a series of four videos that include the staff presentation of the draft Lake Worth 2020 Master Plan. This was taken before the break around 2 p.m. and does not include the public comment once the meeting reconvened.

I encourage you to listen to it all and refer to the presentation (link above) as you view the meeting.

This represents a major "catch up" project for the city's basic infrastructure, the Park of Commerce and the city's administrative and public buildings. We are likely to see a referendum item to allow the issuance of a general obligation bond to fund these improvements. There are various options that include more and more improvements and I am behind doing it all. I was glad to see that the conversion of the current city hall back to its original function as an auditorium was included as one of the projects.

I'll be talking more about some of the specifics as the week goes on. Watch the videos as an overview first. Enjoy!

Lawyer: West Palm Beach ‘civility code’ defensible, but could... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

West Palm Beach takes a stab at defining and maintaining civility in its Commission Meetings. Click title for link. From the article:

West Palm Beach ‘Civility Code’
Civility and decorum required. While the commission is in session, the members of the commission shall not, by conversation or otherwise, delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the commission and shall obey all orders of the commission or its presiding officer, except as otherwise provided. Displays of anger, rudeness, ridicule, impatience, lack of respect and personal attacks are strictly prohibited. The presiding officer shall preserve strict order, civility and decorum at all meetings.

The Lake Worth Beach looking south toward Lantana...

Happy Birthday Jim Stafford!

Is downtown Boynton Beach the next development hot spot? | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

No mention of Lake Worth becoming the next development hot spot, so Carolyn and her dogs can continue to eat their breakfast on the porch, with only the sundial-like shadow of the beautiful Lake Worth Towers to interrupt the sun rays. Click title for link.