[Note: disturbing video] Message from the Broward County Sheriff: "Flakka is no joke"

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Comprehensive Study on Aquifer Storage & Recovery Capabilities

This is a press release from yesterday (6/16). It is a very interesting read and it's comforting to know so much effort is being put into the Florida aquifers. There are links to the 'Key Findings' and for additional information. Here is an excerpt:

     The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District has released a comprehensive study on research related to the use of Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR), an Everglades restoration component proposed as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) to recharge, store and recover water underground for ecological restoration uses.
     The ASR Regional Study was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to reduce uncertainties of ASR implementation on hydrological, ecological, and geotechnical conditions in the Greater Everglades.
     “The ASR Regional Study documents the results of over a decade’s worth of scientific and engineering investigations,” said April Patterson, Jacksonville District project manager for the study. “The results of the report will serve as a technical guide when considering ASR implementation as part of future Everglades restoration efforts.” 

Public Comments from last night's (6/16) Lake Worth City Commission meeting

[If you are short on time I suggest you go to the 17:30 mark of the video to hear about the "elephant in the room" earlier in the meeting.]

We were regaled by John Jordan on the intricacies of Robert's Rules of Order. He suggests that the meetings aren't being run properly and alluded to some instances from last night's meeting. I didn't notice anything that was unusual. He was there since Mr. Dennis Dorsey from Atlantis usually gives him a ride in his Mercedes if he attends a Commission meeting, which he did last night and sat in the front row.

At the 8:45 mark, we are introduced to one of the architects that will be working on the Gulfstream Hotel and we get a sense of their experience in historic preservation process around the nation. At the 17:30 point of the video, we get a hint of the code issues related to Commissioner Maier offered by Mark Parrilla.

Here is the tail-end of the public comment portion of the meeting.

Commissioner Comments from last night's (6/16) Lake Worth Commission Meeting

Last night's elephant in the room that no one chose to talk about until public comment was the hullabaloo over Commissioner Maier's issues with code enforcement. You can hear that awkwardness play out at the beginning of this video. It's cringe-worthy.

The Mayor usually starts this section of the meeting at one end of the dais or the other. This time she started to her left with Commissioner Maier who was left re-directing the first comments to Commissioner Maxwell. He had the idea that Commissioner Maxwell was going to raise the issue based on what happened at the last meeting and he didn't want to lose his chance to respond to it. You could tell Commissioner Maier had prepared some sort of elaborate response which we failed to hear. That will probably be at the Special Magistrate meeting. The next one is scheduled for June 25, 2015 at 9 a.m.

And there were many people, dressed in Maier campaign shirts, and others that weren't, ready to rush to his defense. As you will see and hear in the next video during the Public Comment section of the meeting, the topic came up through some of the comments. The issue remained mostly in the background, with a few exceptions.

Here is a picture of some of the crowd with the Maier-wear.

Palm Beach International Airport Noise Comments

Palm Beach International Airport has established methods of communicating noise comments. Noise comments can be reported via phone (561-471-7468) Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., via phone (561-683-7242) after business hours previously noted, and via the Airport’s website (pbia.org/contact-us/noise).

C. J. McGregor on Religion and Society: "Hate theology deserves no place in religion"

C. J. McGregor is the minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Palm Beaches. He penned a 'Point of View' that appeared in The Palm Beach Post on Monday, June 15th about an Arizona pastor that wants to "rip out the heart" and cast a "soul into Hell." Here are two excerpts from C. J. McGregor:

     The wisdom of scripture and the existence of a loving God have been mangled and misinterpreted for thousands of years. No matter your faith, surely we can agree on the ministry of the Christian Jesus, which encourages benevolent and generous relationships.
     Shouldn’t prayer be reserved for lament and thanksgiving, versus asking the divine to punish?

[and. . .]

It is our inability to separate politics and religion — and our gross misinterpretation of the world’s sacred texts — that reduces us to an uncompassionate, callous, ghastly theology.

Talking about the mangling and misinterpretation of scripture, were you aware that there is a war against God in the City of Lake Worth?

[PINNED POST] The broken promises by Lake Worth Comm. Ryan Maier: Transparency and openness

[New blog content follows after this 'pinned post'.]

Maier standing next to JoAnn Golden the night of his election victory party (image from M. Menge's now-defunct tabloid).

In Margaret Menge's Always Free, always emotionally-charged, now-defunct tabloid, delivered for FREE to doors in College Park (Vol. 1, Issue 9, on Friday 3/13) was this account of Maier's celebration on election night on March 10th:

     "We ran a campaign on transparency," said Maier to his supporters gathered at Mamma Mia's Pizzeria at the beach on Tuesday night. "Obviously, it was so desperately needed in this city."
     "I look forward to the next two years, working hard for all of you, making this the kind of city you want it to be."
     "I am your voice in City Hall," he told them.
     Maier hugged a number of those gathered, who included former commissioners Jo-Ann Golden and Cara Jennings, and at one point, wiped his eye.

Jesus wept.

Who would have guessed just 3 months later this would happen?

Lake Worth: Mango Groves NA Meeting TOMORROW & don't forget the meeting at Dean's house!

Hello All—We will have a short social Mango Meeting tomorrow. We will meet for a short PBSO Update at Southshores at 7pm, and then proceed outdoors for a dance rehearsal for the July 4th event.
     We also need to have a brief MGNA Officers meeting, to determine responsibilities of the officers.
     We will also have a boat meeting at 6pm, before the meeting at Dean's House, 509 N L. We are looking for a pickup or truck trailer or something similar for that time period, if anyone can help. 6-7p.
     Reminder that this Friday is Bulk day.
     Reminder to make the call y-all to PBSO if you see anything suspicious 561-688-3400.

Best,

Mango Groves Neighborhood Association

Laura Lordi & Leslie Gray Streeter: The Best Karaoke in PBC is Right Here in Lake Worth

Laura Lordi and Leslie Streeter teamed up for this article on karaoke. Two of the top 6 karaoke venues in Palm Beach County are right here in the little City of Lake Worth:

#5: CJ's Island Grill offers karaoke Friday nights. CJ's is located at 606 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. For more info call, 561-249-6131.

And. . .

#6: South Shores offers karaoke Friday and Saturday starting at 9 p.m. and Sundays from 5 to 8 p.m.. South Shores is located at 502 Lucerne Ave., Lake Worth. For more info call, 561-547-7656.

Thank you for helping to promote karaoke in our little City!

Note that The Mad Hatter located at 1532 North Dixie Highway has karaoke on Sunday's from 4 to 8 p.m. Call them at 561-547-8860. Contrary to what you may have heard, The Mad Hatter is not a 'gay bar', it is 'gay-friendly' which means everyone is welcome as long as you're fine being at a bar with gay/lesbian people and a lot of bright rainbow colors all over the place.

And, not to be forgotten is Penny's at the Duke, 902 N Dixie Hwy, Lantana, also is a gay/lesbian bar and they have karaoke on Wednesday nights!

Parrot Cove Summer Block Party THIS SATURDAY!!!

Parrot Cove neighbors in the little City of Lake Worth are all invited and encouraged to attend this Saturday's Block Party which is taking place on Golfview between North 11th Ave and North 12th Ave, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Free to members. For non-members it's $10 per person or $20 per household (which includes a 2015 Parrot Cove membership). Parrot Cove will sponsor the main food items (burgers, hot dogs, chicken, buns, plates, cups, napkins, ketchup/mustard/relish, ice, non-alcoholic beverages, beer and wine).

Please RSVP to parrotcove097@gmail.com so we can get a count of attendees and also let us know if you plan on bringing a side dish or desert​.

Remember this. . .

SFBJ: "All Aboard Florida reveals size of residential tower at West Palm Beach station"

Brian Bandell at the South Florida Business Journal with the news about the proposed residential tower at the West Palm Beach All Aboard Florida (AAF) station:

     According to the pending development application with the city, the 1.27-acre site would have 275 residential units, 13,472 square feet of ground-floor retail/restaurants, 3,668 square feet of office, and an 800-space parking garage with an amenity deck. The restaurants would have outside dining.
     It was designed by HKS. The application said the project would connect CityPlace with the Clematis Street shopping and entertainment district.
     “The new residential tower’s 275 units will bring full time and seasonal residents to downtown West Palm Beach and its retail component will activate the street,” [emphasis added] the application said.

Miss the launch of the SkyBike bike sharing program in West Palm last week? Here's a video

Transportation Planning for south Florida's long-term future

Miami-Dade County pledges almost $14 million dollars in committee recommendation to the County Commission. This would make possible the co-sharing of a station with the future Coastal Link proposed by Tri-Rail that would eventually run on the Florida East Coast (FEC) tracks. Those same tracks will have commuter trains running up and down the three county, or more, south Florida region. A stop for this local service will eventually find a home in Lake Worth. This is an early step in the right direction. From the Miami Herald article, here's why:

     But backers see two big advantages to bringing Tri-Rail downtown.      First, eliminating the need to transfer trains should make the rail option much more palatable to people who otherwise would be driving back and forth to downtown. “Whenever you put a transfer in, you put in a barrier and people say it’s not worth it,” Stephens said.
     Second, by taking advantage of All Aboard’s new station and rail tracks, Tri-Rail can plant itself downtown at a fraction of the cost it would face if it had to acquire real estate itself. That gives Tri-Rail a chance at a far more ambitious plan down the road: using FECI track again to create a new commuter line closer to the coast, able to serve popular Miami-Dade stops like Aventura.
     Tri-Rail, which is funded by Florida and the three counties that it services, does not have the money to launch the coastal link. But backers see the Miami station as at least preserving the option should funding surface for a coastal line.
     “This is one piece in the puzzle,” County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said Wednesday. “This definitely sets us up for the future.”

Great Britain: A perma-culture, residential project in the middle of an urban area

Saffron Acres is a lottery funded project based at the allotments in Copinger Road, just around the corner from the Saffron Resource Centre, and has been running since May 2006. This once neglected four acre site has been transformed into a thriving allotment and community garden, with the help of work placement trainees, volunteers, and school pupils. From the article:

     Neil Hodgkin, Head of Development at Saffron Lane Neighbourhood Council, said that "the original plan had been for the 68 homes to be built around the farm so that they would look onto it in a village green type construction, but this was not approved by the planners".
     He added that since the houses are to be rented, the residents will have to sign a contract with the housing association, but "it will not be a feature of the contract that they have to do work on the farm, nevertheless they will receive encouragement and training". It is very unusual to see a development which includes all of these features, and they are in line with the principles of 'one planet living' as espoused by the One Planet Council which notes that there are many benefits to this approach.  

From more information contact Youth and Development Worker Neil Hodgkin at neil.hodgkin@srcentre.org.uk