From a Devoted Reader comes this...

Dearest and Most Admired Blogmaster,

What a fabulous event at City Hall yesterday! The Marriage Equality Rally had a large, enthusiastic crowd. Didn't think it significant at the time but had a short conversation with the city manager, Mr. Bornstein. Asked him a few questions and he answered, pleasantly and professionally as usual.

On Lynn's blog today she had a decidedly different take on Mr. Bornstein. Surprised? And the set-up for the attack had nothing to do with the Marriage Equality Rally. The set-up were the flags at half-mast about the City. Of course the half-mast flags are in memory of our former Florida Governor Reubin Askew.

Yet Lynn wrote this on her blog: “Several people [unnamed] have asked, 'Why are the flags in Lake Worth flying at half-mast?' "

That's the set-up. The set up for what you may ask?

This. Then Lynn goes on, “However, no one can tell us why our flags have been flying at half-mast for weeks. A citizen [anonymous] just asked our city manager [Michael Bornstein] who was at the steps of city hall and was told, 'It's Sunday; I'm not answering any questions.' It was then cleared up by the mayor who said it is because a former Governor of Florida passed away on March 13, Reuben Askew. Now we know.”

Which set up this anonymous comment: “Good post. Thanks for spreading this info Lynn. I never knew exactly how it worked either. What is it with our city manager [Michael Bornstein]? Is he a total, royal a**hole, or what? How dare he talk to any resident of this city or anyone else this way.”
So very charming, don't you think?

And! It's Greg Rice to the rescue to educate Lynn and her readers:
Greg Rice wrote... “Lynn, as a former member of of the local Democratic club, you didn't know that Covernor Askew had died? He was one of the most popular governors of his era. Flying the flag for 30 days is a sign of respect and a way for the ruling party to extend an olive branch to the minority party in Tallahassee.”
And Greg Rice continued to educate: “If you didn't hear our city manager make the comment that you credited him as making really shouldn't be quoted as such since it was hearsay. I'm inclined to think that if a CM from the past was to say something like that, some might think it was something said in jest. A little comic relief. ;-).”

Valiant effort by Mr. Rice. Doomed to fail on an obtuse bloggette with no interest in truth and a childlike rage at our City Manager, Mr. Bornstein.

And by the way it was so nice to see Kathleen McGiveran and NA President Robert Waples at the rally!

Parking Restrictions for the Pridefest Parade on Sunday 3/30

Temporary Order Prohibiting Parking and Vehicular Traffic in the City of Lake Worth

The Annual Pride Parade will be taking place on Sunday, March 30, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Parking at these locations will be temporarily prohibited from 9:00 am Sunday, March 30 until the conclusion of the Parade at 1:00 pm.

· Lake Ave from South Dixie Hwy to South Golfview Rd.
· Lucerne Ave from South Dixie Hwy to North Federal Hwy.
· J, K, L, M, O, So Palmway, So Lakeside Dr, So Golfview Rd Streets from 1st Ave South to Lake Ave.
· J, K, L, M Streets from 2nd Ave North to Lucerne Ave.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office may tow vehicles left parked on the street in violation of this temporary order.

The Lake Worth (Robert Harris) Bridge will remain open during the Parade. There will be detour signs in place to direct vehicle traffic to access Lake Worth Bridge and off the Island of Palm Beach.

Palm Beach County Commission faces Agricultural Reserve... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Joe Capozzi writes about the big County Commission meeting where the Ag Reserve will be discussed. Many are concerned that the Commission is backing away from the Ag Reserve concept voters approved in 1999. There does seem be some inequity with smaller property owners and the County would have to find the resources to compensate them, perhaps. It is a thorny issue for the County Commission to tackle, for sure. Interesting that some of the comments in the article talk about the need to push growth to the east in order to encourage redevelopment. It would be nice if that idea finally became policy. Click title for link.

Napoleon Bonaparte

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

From Mayor Triolo on Facebook...

The game of good sports | Lake Worth every minute

Click title for link to AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt's report on the Floffing event this weekend in the Downtown Jewel Neighborhood.

Click here for link to Channel 5 story on baseball location in John Prince Park

This aired on the 11 p.m. news on Sunday night. It looks like some of the same people were at the park yesterday, plus some new faces. There is mention of a petition against the location of a spring training facility in the park. That is something I heard Saturday from the people there. Commissioner Maxwell is interviewed in this video.

Yesterday's (3/23) Celebration of Love - Marriage Equality Rally - Lake Worth, Florida

Must watch!

Celebration of Love - Marriage Equality Rally - City Hall, Lake Worth (3/23)

At the conclusion of the Celebration of Love - Marriage Equality rally, couples were asked to come to the steps who had been married in other places. They created signs saying where and how much money was spent in the other location. They then held up their signs, once everyone was in place, for a group picture. This is video of what happened.

We were lucky! False Alarm Report of a Large, Dangerous Animal at Publix...

 

Scary, huh? Yeah, looks menacing, but it turns out his name is Harry and he is known as the Happy Hippo. He is a widower and recently moved to Lake Worth to retire. He was at Publix and some of the customers misunderstood that he was trying to be friendly. Of course, our roving photogrpher Larry the Lenz was at the ready...he is never far from our downtown Publix. It turns out he is renting now, but would like to find a place near one of our wetlands, with a shady tree canopy, to buy and really settle down.

Here are some customers and Lake Worth residents after they realized that he is really a harmless giant.

You see, this hippo just loves Publix and he says he wouldn't have moved here without it being here. He and Larry the Lenz are becoming close friends. Look out for Harry the Happy Hippo if you are in and around the downtown. One thing you could help with is that Harry the HH hasn't been to Starbucks yet. He's looking for someone to accompany him to explain his back story, so not to purposely scare people sitting outside. Larry the Lenz can only do so much. His workload is increasing now that he's got this gig with the blog and his free time is hard to come by.

Yesterday at John Prince Park...

After seeing the "nature walk" written up in the Palm Beach Post in John Prince Park and the following announcement on the Residents of Lake Osborne Heights blog, I decided to go and be a part of the group that was to assemble at 4 p.m.

 

So, it was a beautiful day yesterday. When everyone was assembled, there were about a dozen there. Half of those people were from other parts of the community and not from the area near the park. I brought my camera in hopes of getting Dorothy Brindle's history and description of the park. When I started videoing, hackles rose and one gentleman insisted that he not be videoed. The other blogger also requested that I not record her. So much for being in a public park and listening to someone tell us about the natural areas there. The one gentleman even suggested that someone should call the sheriff. I said, "Well, do that. That would be interesting." The sheriff wasn't called and we went on.

I am pleased to report to all the camera shy people there that, for many reasons, the video didn't turn out well and you won't be seeing any of it here. But I do have these still pictures that I took of some of the places that we went and who was there.

The above is before when Dorothy Brindle was talking about the history of the park. From the parking area near the Recreation Department's administration building, we left for the area in the north part of the park where the playground is. This was said to be one of the locations of the new stadium.

Here we are looking over Lake Osborne. This event even drew a former Commissioner out of hiding! See below.

Again, here we are at the first stop. There I talked with Pam Bergsma and she shared her strong feelings about John Prince Park, the lack of green space there is already east of Congress and how baseball isn't the economic generator we think it is. She did agree to be video-taped, but as I said, the video did not come out well.

We then went to the area of the park near where the campground is. There are a series of nature trails there and we wandered through this area.

This is where the group split into two groups and the front group, I come to find out later that all those that were so camera shy...well, you'll see.

It turns out that Channel 12 was there to video a segment for the newscast that evening. Can you imagine? Here they are interviewing Robert Waples  and Dorothy Brindle about what the park means to them and the impact a baseball stadium would have on the park and the surrounding area.

 

Here are snips from the broadcast last night. The piece aired at 11:47 p.m., after the NCAA basketball tournament. I would guess that viewership was low at this time and on a Saturday night. The piece is not on their website, which I find interesting.

It turns out that all the camera shy people weren't too shy for the photo opportunity to look at all the nature there. The guy on the right, below, said he couldn't be photographed since he was wanted in a number of states. Anyway, I left disappointed not to hear more about the park and ended up hearing all the terrible things that a baseball stadium would bring to the park.

 It's also worth to note some of the other people that were not present on this outing. The Ciocis, Jennifer Marchel and Katie Mcgiveron immediately come to mind.

Large Crowd Today (3/23) at Celebration of Love Event

Mayor Pam Triolo reading the proclamation.

This was a rally for marriage equality in the state of Florida. Couples who had gotten married in other places where gay marriage is legal were asked to bring a sign saying where and how much money you spent on your wedding elsewhere. This sends a message that there is a definite economic cost to continue discriminatory practices. Video up soon.

This week's (3/22) Seaview Radio interview with Mayor Muoio of West Palm Beach

Here she talks about the Boat Show this weekend, the on-going investigation of water testing by the city, the golf course clubhouse demolition, the retirement of their police chief (they are looking at doing an internal hire), the shuttle service planned between the new Palm Beach Outlets and the downtown and the "naysayers" who wrongly claimed that the outlet mall would not be a success and be ridden with crime.

You can think of this as the .1%...

These two properties represent one-tenth of one percent of the vacant properties here in Lake Worth. We are told that there are around 2,000. The city is making a start, courtesy of the new ordinances now in place that will protect the city from legal claims from the owners. These two legal notices for these structures appeared in last Thursday's edition of the Lake Worth Herald.

 Click either notices for a more readable image.

We rode by them on Friday and it was obvious these have not been inhabited in a while. I was already familiar with the one on Ocean Breeze, but had never seen the one on South F Street. That one is not too far away from the FEC freight depot that will be the new home of the Benzaiten Center. Follow the link on their website for more information. This is what is eventually envisioned for the entire area around the center.

The Surrounding Neighborhood, which is zoned ‘Art Light-Industrial’ is surely to blossom into a location for all types of various artist studios and live-work artist housing. This ‘Art Zone’ will become an exciting hub of creative activity that will attract visitors from all over South Florida and benefit all three-dimensional artists living in the community. Bringing artists of different disciplines together will foster an atmosphere of joint collaboration and a synergy of creativity unparalleled in the world of art.

Here are pictures of the structure and yard. The structure will likely be demolished soon.

The following pictures are of the property on Ocean Breeze. This is within a historic district. Once a structure has been found unsafe by the building official, the Historic Resource Preservation Board gets notice at our monthly meeting (2nd Wednesday in the Commission Chambers). There is nothing that we can do at that time to prevent the structure's demolition. It is shown to us for informational purposes only.

So the notices and legals ads are the precursor to progress. If you look around the city, you will see other similar notices placed on dilapidated structures. Costs for the demolition, if performed by the city, become an item on the property tax bill. This was one of the key changes brought forth by the new ordinances.

Vote ‘yes’ Tuesday | www.palmbeachdailynews.com

The Shiny Sheet comes out in favor of the PUD-5 in its editorial today. If there is a Palm Beach establishment way to vote, this is it. I see the measure passing this coming Tuesday at a special election. The paper has ads from both sides, but the "pro" side includes a list of names of those that support it. Former Mayor and respected member of the community Lesly Smith endorses the PUD-5 concept in a letter to the editor, along with others both "pro" and "con." This issue has consumed a lot of time and one senses that the Town just needs to move on, and according to the wishes of many, do so in a civil manner. Click title for link.

For more than six years, the town has wrestled with redevelopment controversies simmering along its northern entranceway. However vocal they have been, opponents of the amendment have offered no real alternative, except to trumpet the efficacy of the existing zoning. Yet that zoning is largely responsible for the downward slide of what should be one of the town’s jewels.

Change is inevitable in any commercial district — either change for the better or for the worse.

A “yes” vote on Tuesday clearly represents a change for the better, and voters should cast their ballots accordingly.