Gulfstream Hotel Presentation with Bryant Park Neighborhood Association

More on this later. Please ask questions in the comments in the meantime. This was a Zoom meeting, facilitated by the Neighborhood Association Presidents Council (thanks Ryan Oblander). About 20-30 people attended this virtual meeting where the prospective purchasers of the Gulfstream Hotel property answered questions and shared some details about the plans for the project.

There are still some loose ends on financing, but as posted previously, the Lake Worth Beach CRA made a major commitment to the project and its August 11th meeting. Both principals of the company May and Amrit Gil participated in the meeting. You will hear what directed their design choices, the timeline for the project and how much parking will be provided by the redevelopment.

Watch the video - it's not very long. And, for now, leave questions in the comments section. Thanks!

Palm Beach County Community Services Department to Temporarily Suspend Rental and Utility Assistance Applications

 On Sept. 1, 2020, the Palm Beach County Community Services Department (CSD) will temporarily suspend the acceptance of rental and utility applications to allow sufficient time to process applications currently in the queue.  The county will reopen the application portal in October if funds are still available.  Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31 in order to be processed.

Currently, more than 3,400 applications have been submitted for a total request of approximately $8 million. An additional 3,300 applications are in draft status. Individuals who have already submitted applications can check their status at www.pbcgov.com/clientservicessearch. 

To date, Palm Beach County has processed close to 1,000 rental and utility payments totaling over $1.4 million. The review process has been completed for an additional 360 payments totaling approximately $560,000.  There are 620 applications currently pending due to missing documents, 320 have been denied, and 1,120 applications are under review.

The rental and utility application portal will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2020.  Households seeking assistance can apply by visiting www.pbcgov.com/OSCARSS.

Let TooJay’s Do the Cooking on the Jewish High Holy Days

 It’s Time to Make Your Reservation or Place Your Order 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (August 25, 2020) – With the Jewish High Holidays fast approaching, TooJay’s Deli has begun taking reservations for in-restaurant dining and orders for its menu of traditional favorites available for convenient takeout, catering and contactless curbside pick-up.  

Rosh Hashanah 

Reservations are required for Rosh Hashanah dine-in at the restaurant on Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19. In keeping with current requirements from local and state governments, seating will be limited.  

 

Takeout and catering orders must be placed by Tuesday, September 15. Curbside pick-up is available only on pre-paid orders through the TooJay’s website or Delicious Rewards app. To order online, visit toojays.com/order-now.  

 

The Rosh Hashanah menu of traditional savory and sweet specialties includes the following popular choices: lean and tender brisket platter; herb roasted half chicken; broiled salmon with dill sauce; roasted Cornish game hen; and grilled London broil. All dine-in entrées include a glass of kosher wine, made-from-scratch matzo ball soup, gefilte fish or chopped liver, mini potato pancakes, carrot tzimmes, coffee or tea and a choice of dessert.  

 

Yom Kippur 

Orders must be placed by Wednesday, September 23 for Yom Kippur takeout, catering and contactless delivery in time to prepare for the break-fast on Monday, September 28.   

The classic TooJay’s Yom Kippur break-fast includes platters of sliced Nova, baked salmon and whitefish salad, bagels, cream cheese and accompaniments all ordered in desired quantities. Blintzes, mini potato pancakes and other holiday favorites from TooJay’s kitchen also are on the Yom Kippur menu, along with freshly baked breads and desserts from TooJay’s famous bakery. Classic, made-from-scratch round challah, raisin challah, almond cake, honey cake, sponge cake and macaroons top the list of traditional favorites.  

TooJay’s has welcomed guests into its dining rooms at all locations throughout Florida in accordance with capacity and distancing requirements from local and state governments and enhanced sanitation procedures. For information on how TooJay’s is implementing COVID-19 safety regulations, please visit TooJays.com/how-we-are-navigating-covid-19.  

 

Founded in 1981, TooJay’s currently serves guests in Palm Beach and Broward counties, the Treasure Coast, the West Coast of Florida, the Orlando area and The Villages.  

 

TooJay’s received three Palm Beach Post 2020 Best of Palm Beach County Awards for Best Sandwich, Best Dessert and Best Caterer; 2020 Best of Orlando Award for Deli; 2020 South Florida Family Favorites Award for Favorite Family Restaurant; the 2019 South Florida Gay News Golden Spoon Award for Outstanding New Spot in Fort Lauderdale; and the 2019 Restaurant Neighbor Award as a State Winner from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation for its work with Feeding Florida. 

 

For more information about TooJay’s, visit TooJays.com. Follow TooJay’s at twitter.com/therealTooJays and instagram.com/toojaysdeli orvisit the Facebook fan page, which has over 93 thousand fans, and become a fan at facebook.com/TooJaysDeli. 

Vice Mayor Amoroso’s Design-A-Mask Contest

 Contest Rules

Vice Mayor Amoroso and the Lake Worth Beach Recreation Division would like to invite you to join our Design-A-Mask Contest! While we all do our best to follow safety protocols to keep our families and community around us safe, we can also have fun while doing it. Use your inner artist to style a unique mask that speaks to you. The community will come together to vote on the top masks. You can submit individual and/or group themed masks.

Starts Monday, August 17th
Submissions are due Thursday, September 17th

There will be 3 Categories to allow for a wider range creativity and submissions of masks including:

Most Creative - Most Inspiring - Most Comical

Guidelines

Materials for the masks may be purchased from any arts and crafts store, found around the house, or ingeniously crafted.

• Mask submissions with pre-assembled simple store-bought masks will not be accepted.
• Masks must be able to be worn on a face without additional hands or structural support if the materials are too heavy.
• Masks must cover at the minimum the nose and mouth.
• Submission photos must show a full head and upper shoulders of each person in the photo.
• Submissions can include a short 1 paragraph text on what inspired the mask.
• All masks must be in good taste and not display any profanity or offensive language.
• Submissions should be submitted on our website at https://lakeworthbeachfl.gov/recreation/.

Reason for Optimism: The Gulfstream Hotel

Frankly, I was beginning to wonder. I hadn't heard much of anything about the rehabilitation, restoration and expansion of the Gulfstream Hotel since the March election. You may recall that the ballot contained a question on whether to amend the city's Charter to allow for buildings to be built to the same height of the historic hotel. This only applied to the block between Lake Avenue, Golfview, 1st Avenue South and Lakeside Drive. That question passed with 65.21% of voters saying "yes."

The date of that election was March 12, 2020. Almost immediately afterwards, we all began to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and we entered a period of stay-at-home orders. Our lives have been altered ever since. 

We also got word through a Palm Beach Post article that Restoration St. Louis, the contract purchaser of the Gulfstream Hotel property, received an extension of their due diligence period until October. Later on, I heard through the grapevine that another extension had been granted until December 2020. The extensions were made necessary due to the pandemic and what appeared to be skittishness on the part of lenders regarding the project.

Other than that information, I heard little about the project or its progress until I talked to someone who had watched a recent Lake Worth Beach CRA meeting. 

It turns out that a lot happened at the August 11, 2020 Lake Worth Beach CRA meeting. Click here for link to the meeting video. I'll do another post on the project north of The Mid, which is under construction now. You'll be excited to see what is planned for that site and the CRA accepted the $2.49 million offer for the 2.3 acre Dixie Hwy. property from Office America Group of Coral Gables, Florida.

I'm going to let the following snippets from the staff report speak for themselves regarding the Gulfstream Hotel project. Suffice to say that project is REAL, the CRA is offering significant financial incentives and the project is about as real as it gets. Check out the following:

Tomorrow night at 7 p.m., a Zoom meeting is being held by the Bryant Park Neighborhood Association. It falls on the same night as their regular monthly meeting. It is my understanding that the developer of the project will be in attendance, make a presentation and answer questions. As there is a limit on the number of attendees, you are asked to email your questions to bryantparkneighborhoodnews@gmail.com. You can ask for the link to the Zoom meeting and you can attend as long as there are enough places.

In the meantime, I plan on attending and will be able to give you a sense of timing and when this will make its way through the Historic Resources Preservation Board for review.

And, most importantly, the CRA board voted unanimously in support of the project.

2020 Census - Announcement from City of Lake Worth Beach

 How Can You Verify That Someone Is a Census Taker?

If someone visits your home this year to collect information for the 2020 Census, check to make sure they have a valid ID badge with their photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark, and an expiration date. Census workers may also carry Census Bureau bags and other equipment with the Census Bureau logo.

Antigen Rapid Testing Site

 Rapid antigen testing is now available at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The site will be open Tuesday – Saturday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for anyone 65 years of age or older, 18 years of age or younger, or anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19. Appointments are required. Registration can be done online at www.tourhealth.com or by calling (866) 416-6341. Online scheduling is preferred.

Information about additional testing sites in Palm Beach County can be found at https://lakeworthbeachfl.gov/testing

Blog Update: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

You may have noticed that the posts have been few and far between for the last year and a half. Frankly, dear reader, the focus has been elsewhere. I'm still alive and well, living in Lake Worth Beach. Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, my planning, zoning and historic preservation business took the front seat. Now, I hope to create a better balance between what had been a very active blog and that business.

You will notice more frequent updates and they will likely be geared to my line of work, but still with a major focus on Lake Worth Beach. Regional issues will also be addressed that impact our quality of life.

Besides doing some major housekeeping on the material found in the right-hand column of the blog today, I also turned back on the ability for readers to comment on entries. You'll find a comment tab at the end of each post. A "pop-up" window will appear where you will be able to submit comments. As before, all comments will be moderated and reviewed prior to posting. Long-time blog readers may remember that I exercised a light editorial touch to the comments. There were very few that I could not all to be posted. I also plan to interact, so that would be a good place to ask questions about the topic at hand.

You will also notice that I moved my contact information up to the top of the right-hand column. If you feel the need to contact me via other means, all the information is there. 

No promises that you will see a regular five or more posts per day on Lake Worth Beach goings-on. I am sure it will be crawl, walk and then maybe run. Just expect to see more regular updates with a little more narrow range of subject matter. I will be announcing up-coming City meetings and attempt to pass through other announcements of general public interest.

Another note: I am keeping all the older material up. There is a robust search engine in the upper left-hand corner that is specific to this blog. It's very good at retrieving that post with just the keywords you are looking for.

"Hello again!" I proclaim. Be patient at first and we'll get things underway again. There is a lot going on.

One last thing, don't be afraid to click on the ads you find on the blog. You will find that they cater to your particular interests. Each click helps put a few cents in the tip jar. If you appreciate the content you find here, it is an easy way to support this blog.

 Thanks for your loyal readership. 

Lake Worth Beach CRA REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS #03-1920

The Lake Worth Beach CRA is seeking Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of vacant, City-owned parcels along Lake Avenue and North “B” Street in the mixed-use east zoning district.

The site contains three lots located between Lake and Lucerne Avenues and between “A” and “B” Street.

SITE: .6 acres

LAND USE / ZONING:

• Zoning: Mixed-Use East

• Land Use: Mixed-Use East

• Over 20 units allowed + 4 stories

PROPERTY FEATURES:

• Within Arts District

• 1 mile to beach

• 5 miles from Palm Beach International Airport

• 1.2 miles from Palm Beach State College

• .2 miles from Tri-Rail

• 1/2 mile to I-95 access

• Several redevelopment projects underway nearby

• Frontage on Lake and Lucerne Avenues

The CRA is seeking one proposal for the development of all three lots. The intent of the RFP is to create a unified vision with similar uses in the District that complement the evolving landscape as seen further east on Lake and Lucerne Avenues.

A proposal from one developer, willing to develop all of the parcels is required. It is the CRA’s intention to competitively select a Developer with the proven ability and interest to construct a development, and own the property once constructed.

Projects must be at least three stories in height. The project should have a mix of uses, predominately residential. Due to the site’s location, at the entrance-way to the City of Lake Worth Beach, the proposed development must be distinct, iconic and welcoming in its design.

Proposers are encouraged to speak to City Staff to discuss architecture, ideas and possibilities.

BID DEADLINE:

OCTOBER 14, 2020 • 3:00PM

For FULL RFP 

For more information please contact via email: cdabros@lakeworthbeachfl.gov

COVID TESTING 08 21 20

 Free COVID testing continues in the City. These sites offer free testing.

Saturday |22-Aug| 4-8 PM | Pre-Registration Required (561) 547-0085|Harold Grimes Memorial Park

Thursday | 27-Aug |9AM-1PM|Pre-Registration Required after 11AM at (561) 547-0085 or (561) 770-2370 |Peniel Haitian Baptist Church

Saturday |29-Aug | 4-8 PM| Pre-Registration Required (561) 547-0085 |Harold Grimes Memorial Park

In addition to tests within the City, the County’s COVID page has an interactive map and list of testing sites.

COMBAT COVID Palm Beach County APP AVAILABLE

 In English, Español, and Kreyol

CombatCOVID is a tool developed in coordination with state and local governments, physicians, and public health officials to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It uses Bluetooth technology to inform you if you have been in contact with anyone else using the app who has voluntarily, anonymously, and confidentially self-identified as being COVID-19 positive. This information is not shared in any way with any third-party or any local, state, or federal government or public health organization. This system=not any person or government agency – notifies you of your potential exposure and then suggests locations form which you can obtain COVID-19 testing.

This helps with containment efforts and combating the pandemic.

It is your decision alone to choose to share that you are VOID-19 positive through CombatCOVID. If you do so, the data you share will help further COVID-19 response efforts by allowing people to learn about their potential COVID-19 exposure anonymously and confidentially.

Your use of CombatCOVID is voluntary. You can at any time direct us to delete your personal information by choosing to do so within the app.

For more information please visit the Palm Beach County website at www.pbcgov.org

What comes around goes around...

 All along U.S.1, there was a time when the City of Lake Worth Beach's economy run from the tourists that filled motels that lined that same road. That land use pattern and design of lodging established flourished before the dawn of the Interstate Highway System.

During a tourist family's stay, they would visit our beach and on their way, drop money at our downtown retail establishments along Lake and Lucerne Avenues. Given the Covid-19 pandemic, there are those that think the time has come for a rebirth of the open hallway model of motels. Click here for what may be an idea whose time has come again. 

Reminder about care and treatment of the City's alley network...

 

NOW is the time! All Census Data Collection activity to cease on September 30, 2020

Only 54 days remain for the Lake Worth Beach community to collect a complete census count for the next 10 years. This is the last chance to get an accurate population count for the next 10 years. Let’s Make It Count Lake Worth Beach!

The administration has accelerated the 2020 Census timeline so that ALL responses and census data collection activities will cease on September 30, 2020.

There is no time to wait! The City has collected only 49.7% of the potential residential homes. PLEASE don’t allow this Census to under-fund and under represent the City.

PLEASE text and call EVERY neighbor, customer, and client to ensure they have been counted.  Please ask if they have responded to the census for their address in Lake Worth Beach.

Community schools, roads, parks, healthcare, housing, representation and much more depend on EVERY PERSON responding. Without a complete count these programs/services will be underfunded, under-prepared, and under-represented for an entire decade.

You may see Mobile Questionnaire Assistants (MQAs) around the City beginning this week. MQAs are Census Bureau employees that can answer questions and encourage responses out in our community (in front of supermarkets, at food distributions, at service providers, etc.)

Census Bureau employees will begin to visit homes that have not responded beginning next week. They will have visible Census Bureau identification, US Department of Commerce photo badge (with watermark) and trained to practice CDC COVID prevention recommendations.

Please remind people of the confidentiality and security of their responses. NO INFORMATION would cause deportation, incarceration, benefit reductions, etc.

Big SHOUT out to Census Tract 52.02 (Memorial Park, Downtown Jewel, Pineapple Beach, and Royal Poinciana) for 4-days of impressive increases (0.1% + 0.4% + 0.6% + 0.1%) for a 1.2% increase since July 28!! Keep up what you are doing! 

Please contact me if you need any census materials or promotional items.

I have attached the City’s email newsletter full of information. If you are not receiving it directly, you may sign up on the City website’s main page at www.lakeworthbeachfl.gov.  

PBSO Weekly Update - August 3rd

Greetings,

Hurricane:

We got lucky again with Hurricane Isaias. It was a good practice run. The way 2020 has been I have no doubt there will be another one or two this season. Now is a good time to prepare by cleaning up yards and trimming foliage. Stock up on food and water, etc.

Crime: 

Crime was up a bit this week from last. 

We had five robberies and made arrests in two of the cases.

A three year old was shot in his home. We made an arrest in this case.   

We had seven auto burglaries with 5 of the 7 left unlocked. A handgun was taken out of a truck. This is a pattern countywide. Please spread the word not to leave guns in your vehicles, particularly pickup trucks.  

Covid 19: Please follow all of the recommendations so that we can curb this pandemic. We are all in this together and it takes everyone doing the right things.  

Census 2020:  

Lake Worth Beach’s reporting numbers are dismal. I cannot stress enough the importance of the census  

Stay safe and healthy,

Captain Todd Baer

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office

Commander – District 14 – City of Lake Worth Beach