Discussion at the last City Commission meeting (8/4): Comm. McVoy gets schooled on theory of 'Defensible Spaces'

This was the second reading for changes to the residential project north of Publix, now referred to as "Bella Terra." It will allow for the completion of the project north of 3rd Avenue North which fixes and adjusts some site related flaws. One of those is the additions of gates to control access to the property. At about the 30 second mark, Commissioner McVoy starts in on the gate topic that he raised at the first reading. Listening to him begin his remarks, it is interesting that it seems difficult for him to say the word "developer." He called the gentleman in charge of the project, Troy White, the "developer" up to the podium to ask him if he had rethought his position on having gates added to the project. He didn't.

Mr. White immediately referred to Oscar Newman and his urban planning work regarding "defensible spaces." He proceeds to "school" Commissioner McVoy on the concept and how he feels that Oscar Newman would be on the same page in terms of gates being used in this instance. He said that the project would encourage the interaction between the residents of the project and those in the neighborhood surrounding the development. Then McVoy tries to speak for Mr. Newman beyond the grave. McVoy says that with gates being there it would be a "false sense of security" and that the gates wouldn't really matter. Mayor Triolo provides a real world example of when she acquired her house: she had people hanging out in her backyard prior to installing a fence.

The motion passed 4-1 with McVoy dissenting. Parts of the video I suggest watching:

• Peggy Fisher at 10:30 mark
• Greg Rice at 12:10 mark
• Anthony Marrotta at 14:20 mark
• Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell ends the discussion at 18:30 with some very strong comments

Message from Palm Beach County Commissioner Steven Abrams:

"Ride the Bolt for free! No, this is not an amusement ride, but it will let you take public transit up Federal Highway [Dixie Hwy in Lake Worth] in a more convenient way. Palm Tran's new limited-stop service on Federal will be offering 10 free days of service on August 19-23 and August 26-30. The Bolt provides express service between Boca Raton and West Palm Beach during weekday morning and afternoon peak times with only 14 set stops northbound and 12 stops southbound. Federal Highway has the highest overall ridership, serving over 9,000 passengers on an average weekday. I'm going to check it out to get up to my West Palm Beach office!"

This applies to Bus Route #1 on Dixie Hwy. through the City of Lake Worth.

Road Closure in Lake Worth: Lucerne Ave. RR Tracks To Close for Repairs

From The Lake Worth Herald have this news about Lucerne Ave closure:

     Beginning at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8 until 11 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) will close the railroad crossing located on SR802/Lucerne Avenue, (between F and G streets), weather permitting.
     During this time, all traffic will be detoured away from the Lucerne Avenue crossing and directed to follow signs to alternate local streets. 
     This detour is being established to allow workers to perform necessary repairs to the FEC Railway crossing surface. Workers will remove and replace concrete crossing panels and track panel, and repave the crossing surface to improve ride quality.

For questions contact Maurice Borrows at 954-777-4379, or Marco Incer at 954-677-7899.

Jeff Ostrowski reviews an iconic, splendid restaurant in Lake Worth

Here are some excerpts from the review by Jeff Ostrowski of Paradiso on Lucerne Ave. in downtown Lake Worth:

     High-end Italian food. Paradiso serves salads, pasta, risotto, fish, steak and duck. We visited for lunch, when the highest-priced entrée on the menu is $21. Tasty, high-quality food, including homemade pasta, is served at Lake Worth’s Paradiso Restaurant.

[and. . .]

     Our entrees were quite good, but the appetizers were off the chart. The insalata de beitola ($10), with golden beets, strips of apple, blue cheese and macadamia nuts, was amazing. The gazpacho ($6) was salsa-like in its thickness. The organic chicken ($15) and mushroom risotto ($18) were tasty and expertly prepared, but the opening act was the highlight of this meal.

And here is a special at Paradiso's reported by Laura Lordi!

Senator Marco Rubio when he was a Commissioner for the City of West Miami (pop 6,000)

From Gawker: "Reddit (Finally) Bans CoonTown"

Sam Biddle at Gawker has welcome news about Reddit. From the article:

After months of bending over backwards to explain why a subreddit dedicated to violent hate speech against black people was OK, Reddit’s new CEO [Steve Huffman] announced today that /r/CoonTown is no more.

From the press release by Reddit CEO Huffman:

Today we [Reddit] removed communities dedicated to animated [child pornography] and a handful of other communities that violate the spirit of the policy by making Reddit worse for everyone else: /r/CoonTown, /r/WatchNiggersDie, /r/bestofcoontown, /r/koontown, /r/CoonTownMods, /r/CoonTownMeta.

Only time will tell if this will affect the blog content by The Other Blogger (TOB).

Evening on the Avenue TODAY in Lake Worth—music by the Andrew Morris Band and Screen on the Green ('Box Trollst')

The movie this week is Box Trolls.

Lake Worth in Line to Receive Grant from US Economic Development Administration

The City of Lake Worth has received a “further consideration” letter from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) indicating the city’s grant funding application for the Lake Worth Park of Commerce Infrastructure Improvements was selected through EDA’s competitive application review process for further consideration for funding. Subject to the US Congress appropriation and availability of funds for FY 2016, Lake Worth is slated to receive $1,389,100 in EDA funding under the Public Works program, as authorized under section 201 of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. Moreover, there is additional documentation that the City must provide by September 4, 2015 in order to receive the funds.

“This has truly been a team effort,” according to Michael Bornstein, City Manager. “It is a project that involved all departments of the City – from the planning to water/sewer, from electric to roads, engineering to landscape – every department has been impacted in some way.”

The collaboration extended outside of Lake Worth, too. Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council included the Lake Worth Park of Commerce in the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for the region – a necessary component for the project. The Business Development Board of Palm Beach County & the Economic Council of Palm Beach County authored support letters detailing the importance of the Park.

But the biggest is the strategic alliance is with Palm Beach County – specifically the Department of Economic Sustainability. Without their expertise and guidance in grant writing along with the approval by the County Commissioners making Palm Beach County a co-applicant for the EDA grant, the Park of Commerce would not have been as competitive.
“It is all about fostering and building relationships in order to improve the City of Lake Worth,” says Mayor Pam Triolo. “That notwithstanding, the biggest winners are the citizens – adding over 300 jobs with an economic impact of $183.7million – that is great news for us all. I am grateful to the entire team that has brought us to this point.”

Located in central Palm Beach County, Lake Worth is a dynamic, multi-cultural city with an individualistic style. People are drawn to the city by its acceptance of different cultures and lifestyles, historic districts, hip downtown and colorful arts district.

Critical Mass bike ride in Lake Worth TODAY (8/7); video of ride in July

This is a video of the last ride on July 3rd:

This Go Pro movie was made by the proprietor of Papa Wheelies, a bike shop in Royal Palm Beach. People from all over Palm Beach County come to Lake Worth for this event; it always takes place on the first Friday of the month.

The next ride is tomorrow:

Remember, this ride is at your own risk!

Here are other things you need to know:

• The ride departs from Bryant Park at 7:30 SHARP
• Bike lights are required: white light (front) and red light (rear); if you have lights check the batteries
• Bike helmets are recommended
• 'Corkers' will control intersections for safety; wave to the motoring public and say "Thank You" for being patient
• The ride is open to EVERYONE: you don't have to be an athlete to participate

See you tomorrow!

Consistently inconsistent: JoAnn Golden's Gates and Fabulous Fences in Lake Worth

While we anxiously wait for the video to be processed, I thought it would be good to add some perspective on the discussion regarding gates and fences in residential projects. We heard complaints from Commissioner McVoy and former Commissioner JoAnn Golden about the installation of gates and fences at the Bella Terra project, just north of the downtown Publix. This issue came up during first reading and rose to a level where Kevin D. Thompson wrote an article about "gated communities" in Lake Worth.

I think we established that the project in question was not a gated community, in the traditional sense like those out in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach or western Delray. This is compact urban development that shares its western boundary with the sidewalk along Dixie Hwy. The developer of the project gave an eloquent overview of the concept of defensible space and how his project is consistent with this theory of urban planning.

Former Commissioner Golden spoke, following Commissioner McVoy's lead, about how gates are not appropriate for this location and it is about the "uplifting" of neighborhoods. This is a slightly altered version of her famous "get used to living in a ghetto" comment while she was commissioner.

The picture above is from Google Maps, Street View of Ms. Golden's property nestled between North Palmway and North Lakeside Drive. It seems to be that she is a big fan of fences and gates when it comes to her home property, blocks away from the unseemly influences present on Dixie Hwy. She just thinks differently when it comes to others. An example of being consistently inconsistent.

Also, the notion of a "community garden" was briefly mentioned. Commissioner McVoy has one of the more publicized and well-known community gardens (most everyone knows where it is) in his very own district and this is how it looks now:

The "community garden" has become a community "eyesore".

Question: How fair is it for Commissioner McVoy to hold a developer to a standard he can't demonstrate in his very own district?

EarthFirst! meeting in Palm Beach Gardens tonight vis-à-vis the Alton (former Briger) Tract

I'm getting more 'FlockNotes' from EarthFirst! and here is the latest one:

Note the meeting is tonight at the library in Palm Beach Gardens.

The "Briger Forest" is now called the Alton Tract.

Why they keep me on their FlockNote list is a mystery. Ever since their fiasco with the 'battery in the lake' think I would be the last person in the world they would want promoting their efforts. 

Here is what EarthFirst! is trying to stop:

All Aboard Florida clears big hurdle

Kimberly Miller at the Post has this news about All Aboard Florida:

     The Federal Railroad Administration has concluded All Aboard Florida’s express passenger rail project will have no adverse impacts on communities from Miami to Orlando if increased safety efforts and noise reduction plans are completed.
     The highly anticipated final environmental impact statement was quietly posted to the FRA website at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in stark contrast to the September draft report that was publicly announced in a news release.
     At more than 600 pages long, it comes on the eve of the crucial vote by the Florida Development Finance Corp. on whether to approve $1.75 billion in tax exempt bonds to pay for All Aboard Florida’s ambitious plan to run 32 trains per day on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks.

When is the Post going to get stock photos of passenger trains from All Aboard Florida? For months they've been using pictures of freight trains in articles about passenger rail:

Feds release final report on All Aboard Florida http://t.co/qxqIPQeTpq pic.twitter.com/q2UXuE9ySL

— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) August 4, 2015

The Independent—"Australia's war on cats: Government plans to cull 2 million by 2020"

This article from The Independent was mentioned at last night's Lake Worth City Commission meeting (8/4). When I heard that Australia was planning to "cull" (kill) 2 million cats I found it hard to believe—but it's absolutely true. Feral cats are decimating the environment in Australia and forcing many species into extinction.

The Palm Beach Post editorial board recently attempted a 'call to action' about cats and the destruction of the native bird population but they came up against the powerful cat lobby and backed off. Here in south Florida the cats have powerful benefactors and lobbies; the native birds and small mammals don't. 

Here is a video of one species facing extinction in Australia due to cats:
Here are two excerpts from the article in The Independent:

     The Australian government has announced plans to cull up to 2 million feral cats by 2020 in a bid to preserve dozens of native species that authorities claim face extinction because of the cats' predatory behavior.
     Speaking to a national radio station, Gregory Andrews, the country's first threatened-species Commissioner, said Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt "is declaring war on feral cats, and he's asked me to take charge of that programme."
     Hunt unveiled the five-year plan at a Melbourne zoo on Thursday, vowing to protect Australia's native mammal and bird populations.
"We are drawing a line in the sand today which says, 'On our watch, in our time, no more species extinction,' " [emphasis added] Hunt said.

[and. . .]

     This is hardly the first time the scourge of feral cats has made national headlines in this part of the world. In 2013, a prominent economist turned environmental activist in New Zealand called for the wholesale eradication of the country's cats, deeming them "natural born killers."

Public comments from last night's Lake Worth City Commission meeting (8/4/15)

Please proceed to the 2:25 mark to bypass Lake Worth gadfly Peter Timm's tired act. Joanne Kelly makes reasonable points and I strongly encourage everyone to listen to her 2-minute comment:

Peter Timm's best recent performance was when he showed up with tape over his mouth:

Lake Worth City Commission comments from last night's meeting (8/4/15)