Should Palm Beach County create a Citizen Review Board to monitor Sheriff Bradshaw and PBSO?

I don't have the answer to that question. However, the PBC County Commission will be discussing it. I wouldn't be presumptuous to tell the commission how to proceed but. . .as someone who has actually seen a 'Citizen' Review Board in action I do have an opinion.

Any review board that is established to monitor PBSO will have zero legitimacy if there is even the possibility an Anarchist/PBSO-hater like someone such as Peter Tsolkas can have a seat at the table. Tsolkas once gained control of a "Community Relations Board" here in Lake Worth and it was not a good experience. That 'Community' board to establish trust in the community had the opposite effect—it divided the City like no other board had ever done before or the City has ever seen since. It was a disaster.

A board, any board to review law enforcement, has to have strict rules on who has a seat and who does not. The number one rule should be impartiality. In the end the only way found to get the Anarchist off the Lake Worth review board was to disband the board entirely. And that's exactly what was done.

Secondly, the City of Lake Worth wouldn't be where it is today without PBSO. There's no need to rehash past history once again except to make this point: The Lake Worth PD lost control and PBSO came into the City and cleaned up the mess. Of that truth there is no doubt. And everyone, except for an Anarchist or two, has to agree with that.

So please: Proceed carefully and take note of what happened in Lake Worth. A 'Citizen' Review Board might sound like a really good idea right now but it can go off the rails and become an embarrassment for everyone. It happened in Lake Worth and it can happen at the county level too if it isn't done correctly and the public lacks the confidence a board will maintain public order and the safety of lives and property.

An Anarchist from Lake Worth at a rally for Corey Jones in Palm Beach Gardens. Is this someone who should have a seat on a board reviewing PBSO?

A Banner Day for The Palm Beach Post! And is the Editorial Board FINALLY giving it up for good? It would help those circulation numbers

In one of the more hopeful signs for Palm Beach County, the editorial board at The Palm Beach Post is now farming out their opinions. Now instead of focusing on manipulating local elections and other trouble-making the newspaper can finally get back to its true mission after 100 years and think many of their readers would be on board with that sentiment. In the Post today the editorial is from the Tampa Tribune which is not to be confused with the Tampa Bay Times, a newspaper which has won 10 Pulitzer prizes.

And Lake Worth makes it on the Front Page! How cool is that!

The little City of Lake Worth makes it on the front page, above the fold.

Another hopeful sign is a Letter to the Editor published today (1/19) by a Lake Worth resident. The letter published makes the case once again for the Gulf Stream hotel project and the City's Park of Commerce. Urban sprawl into western Palm Beach County is a concern for everyone and many people think future development should be concentrated along the I-95 corridor and east towards the coast. It's good to see more support for that position.

Things fall apart in the B (Local) section though. Our local beat reporter for Lake Worth still thinks that Palm Beach State College is in the City. It's not. Eliot Kleinberg, another reporter at the Post is aware of that fact:

Palm Beach State’s Martin Luther King, Jr. event, at its main campus west of Lake Worth, is free and open to the public.

All in all, on Monday's Martin Luther King Day in Lake Worth and throughout Palm Beach County the message was one of unity and peace. Dr. King would be proud of all of us.

Here is a wonderful news segment from NBC5/WPTV:

Traffic Advisory from the Town of Palm Beach re: the Lake Worth Bridge

Glad someone is on top of this:

Lake Worth Bridge
The Lake Avenue (Lake Worth) Bridge will have intermittent lane closures in each direction, 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, January 20, and Thursday, January 21, for joint repairs.

"Hello Lake Worth Twitter feed, come in Lake Worth Twitter feed!"

Peeing in public is "no big deal", said Lake Worth Commissioner Ryan Maier at the City Commission on 1/19/16

I wasn't able to attend the Lake Worth City Commission tonight and take video. I watched from home. However, the City's video will be public soon and I can snip that part of the discussion.

The new meme is "You're Not Any Better". Note that no one is claiming to be "any better" than anyone else but the meme makes people think that some people, like the business community for example, is claiming they are. That is not true. So stay tuned.

Lake Worth Commissioners Ryan Maier and Chris McVoy continue to take the focus off the City's streets and other safety issues to focus on one group and only one group—the homeless.

Election day in Lake Worth is March 15th. Do you think peeing in public like on Lake Ave. in front of your children is "no big deal"? In front of your home? Your business?

Stay tuned for the video to come soon.

Does Palm Beach County need an ombudsman to monitor the news media? Especially the TV news?

Palm Beach County (PBC) hired a "Climate Change" Czar for about $90,000/year and I think the county could get an ombudsman to monitor the TV news for a lot less than that; a lot of people would be glad to do it for a pittance, expenses, and a weekly therapeutic back massage after having to watch all that news.

The problem is that TV news is creating much confusion in the county about what exactly is a city and what is not. This happens all the time in central PBC where Lake Worth is located. Murders and all kinds of other news nowhere near Lake Worth is reported as having occurred in the City. The latest news about the increased reward to solve the murder of Cynthia Moffett by ABC25/WPBF is just the latest example and there are many, many more.

Consider this: Let's say someone saw the report by ABC25 and lived near where it happened at the time. If that person(s) were given the correct information might sit back and think for a while, "Hmmm, did I see something that might help?". But if that same person thought, falsely, that the murder occurred many miles away "in Lake Worth" they probably wouldn't give it a second thought. This false information isn't just a simple mistake that doesn't mean anything. It does mean something. If the news is incorrect that is misinforming the public. What is the purpose of having a media in the first place if not to inform the public with accurate information?

The media is free to put their particular "spin" on the news. But you can't spin these facts: The date, location, and names to name a few.

I had contact with someone in the TV news business who suggested an ombudsman might be a way to go in getting TV news to improve. It could be one paid for by the news outlets themselves or have the county do the job for them. Either way, it has come to the point where something has to be done. A producer complained to me that the misreporting is damaging the reputation of TV news generally in the public's eye. Another person explained that the problem is that PBC is an "in-between" market between the bigger news markets like Miami, Tampa, and Orlando so it gets a lot of reporters/producers/editors forced out from other places that the big markets aren't interested in.

Is all TV news bad? No. For instance NBC5/WPTV works hard at getting the news correct, particularly locations. Generally speaking, TV news shouldn't be your source for all the news about anything but if TV news is what you like then I would suggest you choose NBC5. Why? For the most part they know where Lake Worth is and more importantly, what's NOT Lake Worth.

The biggest man in Lake Worth who is also the shortest, Mr. Greg Rice, has an assignment for you

Greg Rice posted this on Facebook a short while ago about a poll on the best beach in Palm Beach County:

There’s only been 148 readers vote so far, as of Monday morning at 11:09 AM, but in the Palm Beach Post they’re doing a readers poll. The Best Beaches in PB County, and LAKE WORTH MUNICIPAL BEACH has the most votes right now. Want to chime-in for your favorite beach follow this link. And please, let’s keep politics out of this discussion. No one is going to take the Lake Worth Beach away regardless of what some say. So grab some sunscreen, your towel and sunglasses and let’s go to the beach!

And, no, there truly isn't a boogeyman out there who has plans to steal the BEACH:

Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo—A bio to share with your friends and neighbors:

Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo with City Manager Michael Bornstein and Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell at the City's annual, highly theatrical July 4th Raft Race.

"Mayor Pam Triolo, a Lake Worth homeowner, is also a wife to Michael Clahane for 17 years, Mom to furry child Buster, Daughter to part time LW resident Vic Triolo, and owner of her Downtown Lake Worth Advertising firm, where she currently employs 4 Lake Worth residents. Triolo, a BFA Graduate from Emerson College, has spent a good part of her life in broadcasting and the arts. In 1997, Pam launched her award winning company, First Impressions Creative Services. She’s held top positions in professional and government organizations including President of American Women in Radio and Television, VP for Advertising Federation, Liaison to the PBC CVB, currently serves as a member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, PBSO Pension Board, Florida Bar Grievance Committee, and is the Neighborhood Association Presidents Council (NAPC) liaison, City Employee Pension Board Chair and creator of the city’s first Mayor’s Education Council.

Since 2011, Mayor Triolo’s accomplishments include creating over 100 new ordinances to eliminate blight/slum and reduce crime, the elimination of streetlight and fire assessments while bringing in new LED streetlights, negotiating a $700,000+ savings on our police contract, consistently lowering electric rates and is working to secure funding for infrastructure improvements to make roadways safer and bring in much needed jobs."

Lake Worth Mayor Triolo explains to a young boy what it's like to be a mayor of a small city.

City resident fights to save public safety hazard: A toxic, invasive tree that can also snap in high wind conditions downing power lines and impeding emergency response vehicles

Here is another true story in Lake Worth from the file, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up". Last June a resident of Lake Worth who lives on the outskirts of the City, as far away as you can get without falling into Lake Osborne, came to the defense of her precious Australian Pine before the City's Tree Board. This ridiculousness was forgotten until someone recently went looking for information on another topic, the upcoming Tree Festival. It was discovered that no minutes from the Tree Board have been posted to the City's website since (drum roll please). . .you guessed it: June of last year.

Anyone can speculate as to why this occurred. The good news is the Tree Board now has all the minutes available for the public to read. We'll have to trust that the minutes are accurate and reflect what actually occurred. I am not aware of anyone that is disputing the minutes and don't expect that to happen.

Now back to that toxic, invasive, and public health/safety hazard: the Australian Pine. It's a dangerous and nasty tree in south Florida and especially so the taller it gets. Besides stealing habitat from song birds and Gopher Tortoises it can snap in high wind conditions. Surrounding each tree is what's described as a 'death zone'. The needles are toxic and kill almost anything nearby. When the top of the tree snaps off you can imagine the danger to people, structures, utility lines, and if it lands on the road any vehicles (such as emergency vehicles) can have their route blocked.

Despite all this information, Lynn Anderson (who is referred to by many as The Obtuse Blogger [TOB]) went to the Tree Board to defend her Australian Pine:

The first page from the minutes of the Tree Board meeting on June 11th.

Note that Australian Pines are "one of the 3 worst" trees to Florida's wildlife habitat. One of those affected species is the Gopher Tortoise.

The Tree Board defended the City and their position on the Australian Pine. They also made recommendations going forward dealing with invasive trees that pose a danger to the public and environment. The City of Lake Worth has what's called a "Vegetation Amnesty" week; this year it is May 23–27. If you have an Australian Pine, that would be a good time to consider removing it—prior to this year's hurricane season. 

You wouldn't want that Australian Pine falling on your neighbor's home or car, or your own home, or have to deal with a community-wide electric outage. Can you even imagine anyone taking an opposite opinion? It's absurd.

On this day in Florida History JANUARY 17

1821 Ossian Bingley Hart, the first Florida-born governor of the state, was born today in Jacksonville. Hart's father, Isaiah David Hart, was a founder of Jacksonville. Ossian B. Hart was an attorney who initially practiced law in Jacksonville, but eventually moved to Fort Pierce to become a farmer. In 1845, he represented St. Lucie County in the Florida House of Representatives. In 1846, he moved to Key West and resumed the practice of law. In 1856, he moved to Tampa. Although the son of a slave-owner, Hart was opposed to Florida's secession and actively opposed it. His opposition earned him a great deal of trouble during the Civil War. In 1868, Hart was appointed an Associate Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. In 1870, he was defeated in a bid for Congress. He was elected governor as a Republican in 1872, but died of pneumonia in 1874.

1861 Jackson Morton of Santa Rosa County, Patton Anderson of Jefferson County, and James B. Owens of Marion County were appointed as Florida's delegates to the Southern Convention scheduled to meet in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4.

1862 The U.S.S. Connecticut captured the British blockade-runner, Emma, off the Florida Keys.

1863 A Federal naval officer reports that he has found 45 bags of salt on a conch bar near Jupiter Inlet. It is also reported that a small boat with two Confederates has been captured near the St. Lucie River.

1866 John Beard assumed office today as Florida's Comptroller.

1873 S. B. McLin is installed as Florida's Secretary of State today.

1884 The first issue of the Florida Baptist Witness was published today.

1919 Florida's first Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post #30, was chartered today in St. Petersburg.

1964 James W. Kynes took the oath of office today as Florida's Attorney General.

Courtesy of Florida History.

An olive branch from The Palm Beach Post to the City of Lake Worth and the City's CRA

The Palm Beach Post really didn't have much of a choice in this matter—instead of offering an outright apology the paper did a positive and uplifting article about the City's CRA following the absurd and silly piece about the mural at the CRA's La Joya Villages. Hardly a week goes by when there isn't more good news from the CRA and for the Post to attempt and sully them in such a manner outraged many in Lake Worth. The reaction from the public was swift and in many cases quite hilariously on point condemning the paper.

For the mural non-story the Post reporter searched out for "a woman" who has hardly lifted a finger to improve the City of Lake Worth while another "a woman", Joan Oliva (the CRA's Executive Director), has devoted many years of her life to improve the City while taking the daily slings and arrows with that ubiquitous smile.

Anyhow, the Post reached out to the CRA and published this article titled, "Four Lake Worth intersections could get artsy makeover" and Joan Oliva is quoted several times. Here are two short excerpts:

     “Instead of art and culture being segregated from the public by being in galleries and art shows, we really want to bring art and culture to the public at large,” said [Joan] Oliva, executive director of the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency. “At the same time we wanted to highlight some of the areas that are primed for redevelopment.”
     That vision helped the city become one of 158 finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge, a program open to 26 communities nationwide to receive up to $5 million in grant money for projects that will improve cities, provide economic opportunities and spur civic engagement while attracting — and retaining — young talent.

[and. . .]

     Oliva said initial projections are the project would cost between $250,000 to $300,000 and take about a year to complete.
     “We want to make sure this is something the entire community can get behind,” Oliva said. “What we’re trying to do here fits nicely with what the Knights Cities Challenge is all about — community engagement and economic opportunity.” [emphasis added]

Also stay tuned for more on the "Art Junction" coming up at the Urban Arts Lofts on January 23rd:

Art Junction Urban Arts Lofts 1/23/16 #lakeworth #art pic.twitter.com/q5R4Lze3V7

— LULA Lake Worth Arts (@LakeWorthArts) January 7, 2016

[RE-POST BY REQUEST] Information to pass on to the homeless in Lake Worth* (cannot vouch for its accuracy)

[*NOTE: This is a re-post as a public service. Scroll down for new content. As always Thank You for visiting my blog, Wes.]

"Dear Wes, when I see a homeless person that needs help I tell them to ask a PBSO deputy where to go, go to a church, or look for a house with a red and white sign that says 'Hands off our beach'. It's a secret symbol that really means the homeowner will offer them sanctuary. Spread the word."

Note: There are two versions of the 'sanctuary' sign for the homeless. Both have a solid red background with boldface white (sans serif) lettering such as the ones shown above.

Curious thing: When something happens to the Lake Worth Electric Utility it's news but when something doesn't happen it's not

[Oooops. Note that Jack Borsch is the Director of Lake Worth's Electric Utility and Walt Gill is the Assistant Director. I corrected that error in the post below (note the comment below). And Congratulations! all of you at the Electric Utility for doing such a great job.]

Yesterday (1/15) terrible storms rolled through the Lake Worth Electric Utility service area and what many people expected to happen didn't happen. There were no widespread outages. There may have been a few small ones and you can comment below on your experience if there was an outage.

However, FPL had some outages you can read about here.

The City of Lake Worth now has a "Power Tracker" to monitor outages and Walt Gill, the City's Utility ASSISTANT Director penned a newsletter about this very subject.

If you've been paying attention the biggest concern for many who depend on Lake Worth for their electricity is the possibility of a future spike in electric rates:

Lake Worth commissioners Ryan Maier and Chris McVoy made a failed pitch to raise the City's electric rates.

Many neighborhoods in the City have Florida Public Utility natural gas line access and if you have the resources you can switch out your electric appliances to gas and save a ton of money. Any future spike in electric rates will be blunted due to less dependence on electricity like an electric dryer or stove. The other benefit of having natural gas is you can still cook if the electric service is disrupted.

Note that Mayor Pam Triolo, Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell, and Commissioner Andy Amoroso have worked hard to bring electric rates down and try to achieve parity with the rates that FPL charges. It might behoove you to pay attention: If the current majority on the City Commission is flipped you could very well end up paying a very high price when you get a future electric bill in the mail.

From Vickie Joslin, Lake Worth's Library Services Supervisor: Public Library Winter Adult Programs

"Dear Friends and library supporters,

Well, the new calendar is full of things to do. Please join us for fun, learning and literature. To register for any of the programs please call the library at 561-533-7354."

Vickie Joslin can be reached at 561-533-7354. The address for the library is 15 North 'M' Street.

Below are a few examples of programs available at the City's library:

Saturday, January 16th
3rd Saturday Book Club
City Hall Annex Meeting Room at the Cultural Plaza at 2:00 pm
Book: The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker 
Free. No registration required

Saturday, January 23rd
Computer Class: Keyboard Basics
Location: Library
9:00–9:50 am
Free. Registration required

Saturday, January 30th
Scrabble Fun Day!
City Hall Annex Meeting Room
2:00–4:00 
Free. No Registration Required

CBS12/WPEC changed the format on their website: Now it's more difficult to find the latest news segments

It was quite a terrible weather day in Palm Beach County yesterday and here is a Tweet sent out by a CBS12 reporter:

Bad weather sends Car on tree in Century Village WPB @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/27THJ9Wwjl

— Kathleen Walter (@KathleenWalter_) January 15, 2016

Of course, the picture tells the story: the tree fell on the car. But if a car did fall on a tree somewhere that would be a huge news story.

CBS12 changed the format on their website a week or so ago. It used to be you could simply scroll down and find their latest drive-by news segment done in Lake Worth. As it is now you need to type "Lake Worth" in the search bar and this is the first news that shows up, a segment by Michael Buczyner from last August.

So I'm going to need help from my blog readers. If you see the latest drive-by news from CBS12 send me the link so I can check it out. I don't want to miss anything. They might need to be corrected again like I have to do with ABC25/WPBF all the time.

If you're new to the Lake Worth/central Palm Beach County area and are looking for a really good TV news station to watch you need to turn to NBC5/WPTV. You can read my review of local TV news here.

Flashback: The disgruntled and disaffected from the March 2013 election

Oh, and about that glorious myth of the "overwhelming" heights vote that is just that. A myth:

An "overwhelming" vote to limit heights downtown? Hardly. And how did your elected representatives vote to save the Gulf Stream hotel in downtown Lake Worth?