Real estate: Developer buys Delray Beach land for hotel, condos - Sun Sentinel

Click title for link. Another hotel/mixed use project coming to downtown Delray Beach.

Hotel developer Alan Mindel wanted to boost his portfolio beyond New York, so he flew to South Florida last winter in search of deals.
He figured Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood might offer the best opportunities, but then his brother suggested he consider Delray Beach.
"I landed in Delray one night, and I was out on Atlantic Avenue, and I just fell in love with the place, plain and simple," he said.
Mindel, managing member of Long Island, N.Y.-based Samar Hospitality, ended up spending $2.54 million for a 39,000-square-foot lot at 202-232 S.E. Fifth Ave. He's expected to close on another parcel immediately to the south this month.

Neighborhood Appreciation Thanksgiving Dinner - 11/15

All Aboard Florida to ask West Palm Beach to close rail crossings | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

One of the first steps of many to establish the West Palm Beach All Aboard Florida station. Click title for link. From the article:

All Aboard Florida will ask West Palm Beach commissioners Monday for permission to close two downtown railroad crossings so it can build a train station for its express passenger service planned to run between Miami and Orlando on the Florida East Coast railway tracks.
City officials, however, caution that the decision is largely ministerial. Ultimately it will be up to state’s Department of Transportation to determine whether railroad crossings at Evernia and Datura streets are permanently closed.
“They can do it with or without us,” West Palm Beach spokesman Elliot Cohen said. “Doing it with our consent just makes the process easier.”

The item was pulled from the consent agenda to allow for additional discussion.

Click here for an address given by our Supervisor of Elections on June 28, 2013

The report was given to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration when they came to Florida. The Commission has since issued a report that you can find on their webpage. Below is an infographic of what their goals are:

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher gave a talk on June 28, 2013. The following is the text of the talk she gave to this group a little over one year ago. Parts of the text are highlighted for emphasis, but I encourage you to read the entire text.

After doing some simple math, it turns out the Ms. Bucher gave this talk late during her fifth year in office. I don't know about you, but had I been in a job for almost five years, I wouldn't consider myself "fairly new." This could be in relation to the audience she was talking to, but I think it shows that she feels that she is still learning the ropes after five years. And then she acknowledges that her office is probably one of the "most scrutinized in the country when it comes to elections."

This is the second page of her report.

Here, more than a year ago, Ms. Bucher mentions "off-the-shelf" technology that will be employed soon in the form of "mini ipads." This was the new technology that caused many of the delays, especially early in the day of August 26th. She claims that "a picture will be taken." This means that some sort of electronic record would be available created by those mini iPads. Those pictures and information should be available as a check and balance to see who came out to the polls. So far, people have been told that information is unavailable or will cost $400 to retrieve that data. Furthermore, Ms. Bucher claims that this system "will go a long way in moving our voters more quickly", that it will be less difficult to use and is "a great example of moving election equipment forward using current technology." It seems that she is heavily invested in this new technology.

This is the third page of her report:

Here we find out that the manual process for counting Provisional Ballots is more "detailed and time consuming than absentee ballots." Really? From the descriptions of the experiences we heard from Friday night's special City Commission meeting, it sounded like the process was time-consuming, secretive, and less than detailed in the review of those Provisional Ballots.

Here is a report about Palm Beach County's election process and its standing, compared to other counties in Florida. Many factors are examined and you should really read the entire report. It just so happens that the number of Provisional Ballots taken in and the percent that are discarded are listed. Here are some snippets from the report that pertain to Provisional Ballots: (Data from 2012 election).

Title of Report

 

"...the high rates at which Palm Beach and Miami-Dade rejected provisional ballots raise questions as to why those counties found provisional ballots to be invalid much more frequently than other counties." Of the provisional ballots issued in Lake Worth on August 26th, more than 80% were found to be invalid, many due to clerk error.

At the bottom of the third page of her report, she briefly mentions the major snafu with the Wellington municipal election that "caused us to call the wrong winners." The blame is firmly placed upon the "vendors." Earlier in the page, she refers to another problem with a printer/vendor that incorrectly printed 25,000 absentee ballots that couldn't be scanned, requiring the hiring of temporary personnel to hand count the ballots. The Palm Beach Post's account of that mishap reported that it involved 60,000 ballots.

Back to Ms. Bucher's talk in June of 2013. This is the final page of her report:

Here Ms. Bucher proclaims that "future voting systems will use more current technology that contains off-the-shelf items, at decreased cost, that allows for improved administration of elections." How is your level of trust related to that prediction? "Finely," (instead of finally), Ms. Bucher concludes with one of the loftiest, and best Ted Kennedy quotes, as if she is of that caliber of public official. Why am I reminded of Dan Quayle?

She ends by sharing her email address, complete with a typo.

Commissioner McVoy sees the light, after the bond election...his Plan B? Raise taxes and utility rates.

An earlier email from Mr. Waples that went everywhere but nowhere at the same time.

Notice that the entire hierarchy of NBC and CBS News, along with the White House, was copied. I'm surprised that the Secretariat of the United Nations was left out.

Discussion from last Tuesday's City Commission (9/9/14) regarding the Capital Improvement Program budget

The entire discussion here lasts about 15 minutes. I will be making a separate video of the last 3 minutes where Commissioner McVoy seems to have an "ah ha" moment about how to fund infrastructure. That is, through higher millage and utility rates. This comes after the realization that, while there are road projects identified in the Capital Improvement Program budget, there is no money beyond what comes from the sewer fund now to address road repairs. Didn't we just go through all this in preparation for the vote on the bond issue?

Collection of items from the City Commission meeting agenda of 9/9/14

This segment includes minor changes to the LDRs, elections, adoption of minutes and consent agenda items.

College Park New and Replacement Street Banners

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

In 2011, ten banners were placed on street lights around the College Park Neighborhood. Over the years, three of those banners went missing and all seven remaining banners required cleaning and re-stitching. Eight new banners have been ordered and all 15 banners will be hung by the City's Public Services Dept. in the next two weeks at the same previous ten locations and at five new locations. Click here to visit the College Park Facebook page and view the photo album with the new and replacement banners in their virtual locations.

Thank you again to our College Park neighbor, Laura McGlynn for designing our beautiful street banner.

Monday, September 15th meeting of the Parrot Cove Neighborhood Association

LAKE WORTH CITY COMMISSIONER ANDY AMOROSO IS THE GUEST SPEAKER  at the Monday, September 15th meeting of the Parrot Cove Neighborhood Association.  

The meeting, which begins at 7:00pm, takes place at Believers Victory Church, 10th Avenue North and north Lakeside Drive.

Commissioner Amoroso will discuss the general state of the City and District 3.  At the end of his presentation he will take questions from the audience.

All residents are encouraged to attend for this informative meeting.  EVERYONE is welcome, you don't have to be an Association member or live in Parrot Cove. 

Always remember this...

CHRONIC NUISANCE SERVICES REMEDIATION – DEMOLITION DAY in Lake Worth

From a City press release (mentioned by Channel 5 here):

The City has scheduled a formal kick off for its Chronic Nuisance Service Remediation Program on Monday, September 15, 2014 at 9:00 am. With slit fences in place and permits issued, the demolition of 105 South D Street will be a welcomed sight. 

The City’s program includes demolishing unsafe structures, boarding and securing vacant abandoned buildings, and clearing vacant, overgrown lots. With more than 100 properties requiring these services, residents and property owners are eagerly looking forward to initiation of work and the removal of blight from across the city.

Initial activities include the demolition of three (3) unsafe structures including one (1) each at 105 South D Street, 315 South F Street and 124 Ocean Breeze as well as lot clearings and boarding & securing of many other properties. The demolitions are being done under continuing services contracts with Arbor Tree and Land and Cross Construction.

Commissioner McVoy's "Plan B?" - as reported by the Lake Worth Herald

In a front page story, above the fold, in this weeks Lake Worth Herald was a bombshell article titled, "[Commissioner] McVoy Suggests Raising Millage Rate and Electric Rates To Fund Roadwork"

Some excerpts from the article:

"Commissioner Christopher McVoy Ph.D stated he had been hearing requests from people for traffic calming on many of the city's streets. Without funding available, McVoy suggested there were a couple of ways to fund the road projects. He said Lake Worth could raise the millage rate and increase the electric rates to get the money to do the roadwork." [emphasis added]

[later...]

"The bond referendum recently voted down by Lake Worth voters was for 63.5 million dollars to fix the infrastructure in Lake Worth on a five year plan. The first phase included about 20 million dollars for roadwork."

[and later...]

"During the debate over the budget, Commissioner Scott Maxwell was talking about Lake Worth Electric rates, when he was elected, being the 'highest on the planet', a figure of speech. Commissioner McVoy said that was not true, taking Maxwell literally. McVoy then said there are countries in the world where they charge 30 cents per kilowatt hour. Asked during a break what country he was referring to he said Italy."[emphasis added]

To read the entire article, more news about Lake Worth, and the enigmatic musings our Lake Worth "Pelican Pete" visit LWHerald.com.

Eric Holder asked to investigate Palm Beach County sheriff office | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Click title for link to article citing multiple complaints about PBSO treatment of the Guatemalan community of Lake Worth. From the article:

Scarola’s letter also asserts that PBSO does not have one deputy of Guatemalan ancestry stationed in Lake Worth. That district includes 80 sworn officers, according to the PBSO website. Guatemalans make up 13 percent of the population in the city of 36,000.
“There is not a single uniformed officer drawn from the Guatemalan community to mitigate the ‘us — versus — them’ mentality and to bridge the war zone boundaries,” Scarola writes.
The Rev. Frank O’Loughlin, director of the Guatemala center, echoed Scarola’s criticism in an interview.
“Police are supposed to reflect the communities they are in,” he said. “But the sheriff’s deputies in Lake Worth are like aliens in the Guatemalan community and are uncomprehending of the people they are dealing with. That lack of comprehension is dangerous.”

Poll worker error disenfranchises 14 Lake Worth voters | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Click title for link for a story that will appear in tomorrow's edition of the Palm Beach Post. Joe Engelhardt writes about the high number of provisional ballots used in Lake Worth on August 26th and includes a breakdown of their ultimate fate. The Supervisor of Elections office remains defensive, but also indicates that one of its Lake Worth poll workers was terminated as a result. There is also this at the end of the article:

While voters casting provisional ballots are supposed to get paperwork describing their right to prove within 48 hours that they were entitled to vote, Matullo said she got nothing. Almost two weeks after the election, she didn’t know until told by a Post reporter that her vote had not counted.

What the article does not say is that the Canvassing Board met the day after the election, prior to the end of the 48 hour deadline after the Tuesday election. Voters were not told of their rights, but the door had been closed on them anyway. Voters were only given a website to go to where they could enter their name to see if their vote WAS counted. They were also given the main Supervisor of Elections office phone number, but that proved to be a run around for most.