Some "Great" Moments...

E-Mail from City of Lake Worth - Temporary Closing of Library

The Lake Worth Public Library will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 18th, 19th, and 20th for the installation of a new air handler inside the library. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please return all books and materials in the drops on the library's front porch.

Thank you,

Vickie Joslin
Librarian III
Lake Worth Public Library
15 North M St.

Sad News...

This was an e-mail sent around the City today about the condition of "Martin the Mailman". Anyone who has attended a City meeting would probably recognize him. He is a fixture here and his route happens to be in the downtown area.

Let's all wish him a quick recovery from a serious affliction.

Hello to the Lake Worth Community,

You may not be aware that our dear “Martin the Mailman” has been in the ICU at JFK Medical Center since last Friday. He experienced a severe stroke on Thursday and is still unconscious. We do not know whether he can hear us. Hopefully over the next few days this will be determined.

Get well cards would be wonderful, as visitors can read the cards to him. If he can hear and comprehend, I'm sure he will be encouraged by everyone's love.

You can send cards to:

John Martin Saarnio

MSICU Room 2018

JFK Medical Center

5301 South Congress Blvd.

Atlantis, FL 33462

JFK information: (561) 548-3710

Martin's girlfriend and Lake Worth brother have been visiting. His other brother is arriving from the midwest this weekend.

Please pass this on to anybody who knows him.

I'm sure that Martin would appreciate our prayers.

Annabeth

This, that and the other thing...

Thought you might be interested to see where people have been visiting from over the past 30 days. This is from my Google tracking software. The other one is tracking about the same and the pace is still about what it has been - up since the summer months. I expect as we head passed the holidays into the new year, the volume will increase. Thank you all for coming here. Regardless of the reason for your visit, I hope you find this site informative - and if you are entertained a little too, that's o.k.

Given the holidays, we are suspending the "Truth Matters" show until after the new year. Greg Vannier and I will gear up again in 2008 to review what has been going on in Lake Worth from time to time - probably will keep the show on Tuesday nights. If you have a suggestion, or if that just doesn't work for you, please contact me at wesblackman@gmail.com. You can also catch the archived shows on the Lake Worth Talk.com homepage link.

I'd like to share a story with you. Normally, I wouldn't do so, but this scene has been repeated in many different places, on many different topics in my travels around our city. There are also others here that do a lot of work behind-the-scenes and not-so-behind-the-scenes that experience the same thing. We talk about the similar situation in which we find ourselves. Last week, while at the Democratic Club gala, I happened to sit next to people who were ardent supporters of my opponent and eventual winner (by a slim margin) of the District #3 Commission race.

Now, let me say that I am glad that we could all be in one room, as local Democrats, coming together to celebrate a milestone in the history of the club. And, I hope that we will be able to unite forces this coming November 2008 and make sure that the Democrats return to the Oval Office and make a good showing in Congress.

But, I thought it fascinating that the same people that were so "for" my opponent were feverishly asking me about about how I was coming on the cleaning up of North Dixie Hwy. - they had heard that I had some involvement. It was one of my campaign platforms and it is in desperate need, but not something that I have focused on recently. To my knowledge, nothing much is happening in that area except the construction of a new catering/take-out building and another derelict gas station that has finally been re-done - both which were approved while I was on the Planning Board.

One, who reads this blog, asked me why my friend just can't write a check to the City and buy the building at 431 N. L. Street. Well, let's see. First of all it isn't on the City's surplus property list (something that is reviewed by the Planning Board and approved by the City Commission). Second of all, we have something that requires a referendum to sell City property that might get in the way of this and other hurdles. This is an important structure that has been "saved", but only temporarily. How long does a structure last that is unprotected from the elements in our South Florida environment? Is our Commissioner, whose district the historic property is in, doing anything about it? The answer is "no".

Then I was asked, "How are things going on the Planning Board?" - I was polite in my answer and gave them an update on the Comprehensive Plan changes and how the land development regulations should be coming out early next year. We talked about how Treasure Coast's Kim Delaney came down to Lake Worth and helped put in some goals, objective and policies in place to make sure that we rank high in the need for a transit station once things get rolling. And then I talked about how we were able to get the Rail-volution conference here for a charette and set some good direction about the area around the Tri-Rail station.

NEWSFLASH: I resigned from the Planning Board last December prior to the election and do not hold any position on any board in the City of Lake Worth.

Then we talked about freight traffic on the FEC and how nice it would be to get trains to stop blowing their horns. I said that there is a way to do it, it is complicated and the likely body to get that started would be the CRA, as they were successful in West Palm Beach, in doing so. (Train horn is sounding in the distance as I write this.)

And then I thought, these are the same people that campaigned against me, supported and voted for the current District #3 Commissioner and the same ones who said that I wasn't "diverse enough" to be put on a soon-to-be-sunseted board after the election. And at the same time they read my blog and there seems to be an expectation that I still am "up to speed" on what is going on. And then I wonder, what has our current District #3 Commissioner accomplished in comparison and wonder how much different things might have been had 90 more people "checked Wes" on March 27th?

March 27th has come and gone. In many ways, I continue as I would have had things been different on that night - I am doing all that I can to make the City a better place to live and put us in better strategic position in relation to other Palm Beach County municipalities. Handicapped as we all are that are not in an appointed or elected or official position within the City.

So, when you think that all is lost in Lake Worth and the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper, that the Commission seems completely detached from reality and you can't reach our costly City Manager by phone or e-mail, that negativity reigns during public meetings - rest assured that there are many good people working on the sidelines trying to make this place better - just as the two are that I was talking to last Tuesday night. All is not lost - but we might do well to ask ourselves how we elect our leaders and how that contributes to our current state of affairs.

That is the point that needs to be made on January 29th. More later on that topic.

Moving Video

So many themes run through this video - patriotism, sacrifice, societal change, history, suffering, perseverance, celebration, nostalgia, family, saying good-bye, moving on and never giving up. But, more than anything, it speaks of community. I hesitated posting it here, but there are lessons to be learned from it that we could apply to our experience here, in Lake Worth.

I hope that you get as much out of it as I did.

Lake Worth Democratic Club - 35th Anniversary Gala

I attended this event last Tuesday at the Golf Course Clubhouse. While there, I was able to take some pictures of the event, but my flash wasn't doing what it was supposed to do - FLASH! As a result, I didn't get any really good shots of the presenters or elected officials as they were addressing the crowd in attendance. The timing competed with the Lake Worth City Commission, but many familiar commission meeting attendee faces could be seen.

Harvey Millstein led off the evening and was followed by Dave Aronberg, Shelly Vana and Mary Brandenburg who all made appearances before the group. Ric Bradshaw, who could not attend due to the ceremonies surrounding the deaths of two sheriff deputies, Bill Graham and Rodney Romano were recognized as "native sons" of Lake Worth - all of whom have gone on to serve their community in numerous capacities and continue to do so.

It really served as a good kick-off for the 2008 election year and all the possibilities in store for the future of our Nation.

Good job Lake Worth Dems! You can check out the club's website by clicking here.

Mars and Venus Align

College Park Holiday Home Tour 12/8

Upcoming Commission Meeting - 12/04/07

There are some interesting items coming up on next Tuesday City Commission agenda. I will be attending the Lake Worth Democratic Club Holiday Gala at the Lake Worth Golf Course and the time conflict will prevent me from attending. If you happen to go, there are some issues to keep in mind. I put clouds around the items in the agenda that I have singled out for special mention.

The first one is a presentation from Sun Recycling on their activity at the land fill. This is an issue where the company had asked for permission to stage some debris there after hurricanes and the like. It was thought to be only on an emergency basis, but apparently more activity has been going on there. I am sure the Commission will have many questions, or at least they should.

Another item is one that appears on the consent agenda. This one would almost double the deposit required to open an account and begin utility service. The back-up material says that an adjustment hasn't been made in 21 years. Late fees would also increase and be based upon 1.5% of the outstanding balance. It is a pretty exhaustive series of changes and I don't think it should be on the consent agenda. What is disappointing is that if the item is not pulled, then public comment is not possible and then the Commission goes ahead - making an important decision(s) without the benefit of the public. This has to be changed!


I am sure one item that will get a lot of undeserved attention will be the amendment to the Development Agreement with Greater Bay Group, LLC to accommodate changes in the scheduling and work program for the pool refurbishment. I might have time to do more analysis on the item and make a separate post prior to the meeting, but from what I have seen the changes are fairly perfunctory.

Also, in the nothing new category, for the third time the density allowed by the Gateway Zoning District will be up before the Commission. The Planning Board has recommended no less than three times that the maximum density be 30 units to an acre and the Community Redevelopment Agency concurs with that recommendation. The entire zoning district is designed to discourage the use of cars and be pedestrian /transit friendly. It is what the Mayor of Vancouver, B.C. terms "eco-density". Instead of the density of the zoning district being in question, it has ended up being a density issue on the Commission - if you know what I mean. This change will allow up to 30 units an acre for affordable housing and provide more of an economic stimulus for the redevelopment of the corridor. Or, we can choose the status quo and think we are doing the world a big favor - which we wouldn't be.

And, finally and coincidently, there is another item on the agenda that relates to parking and allowable redevelopment in the downtown area. That is the change of the parking space fee to those who are not providing parking on their property (a good thing) to one half of what the City is charging now. I was on the committee that is described in the letter as working on the issue back in 2004 (seems longer ago than that). Then Commissioner Egly is the one that put forward the motion to increase the fee $5,000 per space higher than the Committee, or the CRA or the Planning Board's recommendation. It has been pegged at $15,000 per space since then. If anyone wants to move into a vacant storefront, they can do so without paying the fee, as long as their required parking is not 10% higher than what was there before. If it is higher, they need to pay the $15,000 per space they are not providing.

There are a couple of concerns here that merit discussion. The City does need to create a sizable parking fund for future parking facilities in the downtown. The thought is that the current $15,000 fee is a disincentive for anyone wanting to intensify the existing uses downtown. There have already been some businesses (Rotelli's, for example) that have paid the full fee. Is it fair to them now that they are in to lower the fee? Do they deserve a rebate? By decreasing the fee, we are making it easier to intensify existing uses in the downtown - is that something we want to do? We need to discuss this. I personally worry that the former Lake Theater (most recently the contemporary art museum) would be vulnerable to conversion to a nightclub, or similar use. Is the current fee an obstacle to that? If so, we should probably continue it or have two categories of fees - one that would encourage businesses we do want in the downtown and one for businesses we want to discourage.

I happened to be downtown last night around 8:30 p.m. and had to drive around a lot to find a space (about 15 minutes). There was the valet parking stand on South J Street - I understand they are using public spaces. Didn't they work out an arrangement with the First Baptist Church for parking? I will put together an e-mail to the Mayor and Commissioners about my concerns since I can't attend.

The back-up on the parking item appears below. Remember to click the image for more detail.

Some Holiday Cheer...

Singer is Don Mclean - famous for "American Pie".

Milestones this Week: Personal and Otherwise

It was a busy week on many fronts for me and some significant happenings on the part of the City as well. Here is a quick summary of the happenings:

• I'll be starting Karaoke at Club A. J.'s on South J. Street (east side, behind L'Anjou) next Wednesday night from 9 p.m. until 12 a.m. The deal was sealed this week. And NEWSFLASH - I will no longer be at the Mad Hatter doing Karaoke. Come by and see me at Club A.J.s - we will have a lot of fun!
• Monday night I was the guest of Drew Martin on the Martin Hour. This was streamed from the newly re-vamped Lake Worth Talk.com studios. (Great work Jim!) We talked/debated the positives and negatives of the Hometown Democracy initiative. I hope you had a chance to hear it. From the reviews I have heard, people thought it was informative and thought that it was great that a civil discussion could take place on the topic.
• I registered on the Lake Worth Media discussion board and will be posting under the name "TruthMatters", when and if the urge comes over me.
• Last night, I ended up visiting TooJay's for a sandwich and bumped into NOW (National Organization for Women) member Justine Postal. She is the one that did the endorsement interviews for the last election cycle. It was good to see her again. Then, at the next booth, Trip Cioci and Jennifer Marcel were both enjoying dinner. Both are very active in the Lake Osborne neighborhood.
• We found out that the City has $4 million parked in a fund that has been temporarily shut down by the State of Florida. It seems that some government agencies have used the fund as an interest bearing account to store funds before they are utilized. Some agencies became concerned about the quality of the fund since it consists mainly of mortgage-backed securities. Some rather large units of government were closing out their accounts, thus prompting the hold being placed on the fund. One can only hope that the 10% of the City's total budget is safe and will remain whole!
• Finally, through reports in the local press, it seems that County Commissioner Mary McCarty "went off" on Lake Worth. Her outburst revolved around the negotiations between the City and the County taking over our Fire Department and the increased cost that it would mean for the County (even though no one knows the final figures). She actually said something to the effect of "Let Lake Worth burn." - which prompted a response from Mayor Clemens, essentially asking for an apology. In his e-mail to Mary McMarty, he referred to "my city and my citizens". Jeff, you're a great guy, but I do not consider myself one of "your" citizens - fellow citizen, yes. Let's try to assert the city's goals and objectives here and not make this some sort of a personal confrontation between elected officials.
  

Playful City USA Grant Application

This is a post made by Erica Whitfield on Lake Worth Talk.com.

HELP LAKE WORTH RECREATION

Now is your chance!

Lake Worth's Recreation Board has recently applied for a grant requesting $25,000 to add a mini soccer field in Lake Worth. This is something that is desperately needed for the city. We created a short 3 minute video to advertise our project and now we need as many votes as we can get!

Please take a minute and go to the website below to vote. You must register your email to be able to vote, however the company has promised not to sell it or spam you in any way.

The deadline is December 21, 2007.

In addition, please share this email with anyone else who you believe might help us in our efforts.

Thank you very much for you time!

CLICK HERE FOR LINK - COMMENT AND VOTE TODAY!

Special Commission Meeting on Day Labor Issues

Going on now (11/28 - time now 6:15 p.m.) - click here for live feed.

They are talking with various representatives of non-profit organizations regarding feasibility and logistics of running such a center, the possibility of the City providing surplus property or building which is consistent with the Town of Jupiter model. They are also discussing the implementation of the ordinance enacted a few weeks ago related to the prohibition of picking up of workers from Lake Avenue and requiring them to be picked up at the Shuffleboard Court property. The Mayor called the meeting "hastily arranged". Mary Lindsey made a good point about the neighborhood that is most affected was not specifically invited to the meeting. The Mayor responded that these are just the initial steps in forming the structure of such a center.

One good thing relating to format of the meeting is that it was more of a give and take and not the rigid three minute time limit as is common in other meetings. A trend? Let's hope.

I was interrupted by a phone call or two - the meeting got over with around 7:20 or so. If any of you went, you can leave a comment by clicking below.

Large Water Bill

This story appeared on WPTV Channel 5 last week. Did you happen to see it? This Lake Worth couple had two high September and October water bills that are clearly out of line with their historical average bill. I actually saw the spot and it was obvious that they were not using 4,000 gallons a day to water their lawn. It's interesting that Commissioner Golden is only mildly sympathetic to their plight - she did not appear on camera. This article is from the WPTV website.

I have heard of other instances recently where this has happened and in each case the resident had to pay the unusually high bill or suffer the consequences with having their service disconnected for non-payment.

How would voting on changes to Comprehensive Plans work?

Proponents of the Hometown Democracy movement are circulating a petition that would put an item on the ballot - potentially for the November 2008 statewide election. The ballot item would ask the voters to approve or a deny a change in the way local governments around the state handle their adoption of new comprehensive plans and amendments to existing plans by requiring a referendum on those items. The language from the petition appears below:

I thought it would be a good idea to show just what is involved when a local government body amends its comprehensive plan. And, it turns out that it is timely as the County is wrapping up one of its comprehensive plan amendment cycles.

The bulk of this post contains items from the Board of County Commissioners agenda for the adoption hearing on changes to the Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan. This is the second of the two amendments allowed by state statute for the year 2007. The public hearing will take place tomorrow. The agenda itself is 14 pages long. If you would like to go to the County's site with the actual agenda and see the links to the back-up material, you can click here.

If you click on the active links, that will take you to the back-up information on each item, which usually - at a minimum - adds about 50 pages per item of material. This information includes maps, information on adjacent properties, minutes from other County advisory boards with their recommendations, issues related to compatibility and traffic impacts, the nature of the changes requested and some details regarding the ultimate "site specific" improvements contemplated by the applicants. (Note: This example is not as involved as other rounds of changes as the property specific requests were processed by the County earlier this year)

One type of comprehensive plan amendment deals with property specific changes to future land use designations. Another type deals with amendments to the actual text of the comprehensive plan. Both are considered major amendments and entail complete review by all sorts of state and regional agencies. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is the ultimate review body. The amendments appearing on the agenda below include both types. Since this is the adoption hearing, these proposed amendments have been reviewed by DCA. You will see that some items are still being worked on by staff and will appear on future rounds of amendments once the details are sorted out and general agreement has been reached between the DCA, local government, any intervening parties and property owners, if applicable.

Now, looking through these various items contained in this agenda, I think you are getting the idea that there is a great amount of detail and complexity associated with each proposed change. In order for a thorough understanding of the items, and in order to make an informed individual decision would require some of the following. It would require those voters, assuming the Hometown Democracy petition drive is successful and ultimately approved at a general election, to be familiar with the comprehensive planning provisions of the State of Florida.

If there is any hope of quality decisions being made through approval or denial of comprehensive plan amendments, voters would need to understand the difference between land use designations and zoning regulations. They should also have a good working knowledge of the local government's current comprehensive plan and the various elements (chapters) that are in it, what concurrency means and how it is implemented, what a capital improvements program is and how it relates to level of service standards for public facilities, which zoning districts implement the various land use plan designations in the local comprehensive plan, etc. They should also know about each one of the particular site and property characteristics of each amendment and their impacts/implications. There are also issues related to adjacent municipalities with impacts and changes "just over the line".

Imagine the items contained here, in this agenda, being placed upon a ballot for all the residents of Palm Beach County to approve or deny. A big issue would be where to draw the line regarding who actually votes for what on comprehensive plan amendments. There are some issues contained within the Palm Beach County comprehensive plan that include the incorporated municipalities - like the traffic performance standard provisions for example.
Then we get to the ballot box - let's say a typical November ballot. Already, there is fall off on longer ballots as you go through the various governmental subdivisions from federal, state, county, special districts, municipalities. These could have referendum items and always have elected representatives of every kind. Then you would get down to the items related to changes to the local government comprehensive plans. How much attention do you think these will get? I would guess a small portion of the total voter pool would vote on these changes, with most of the votes coming from those that are motivated to be against the proposed change for one reason or another. I am not insinuating that those reasons to vote against may not be valid, but would it really be representative of the vote of the electorate? And that is assuming everyone is equally well-informed on every requested change. How would you deal with people in Jupiter Farms voting for a change that would affect a small area in west Delray Beach, for example?
So, while it tugs at the heartstrings and elevates the hope of those that wish to bring development to its knees in the state, it would like push development to areas where there would be the population of voters that would over-ride comprehensive plan changes. This could have perilous environmental consequences by adding speed to an already present trend.
I agree there are areas that need work in Florida related to growth management. One is in the way of educating the population - through the addition of curriculum in schools (competing with the FCAT?) - and general public service announcements and courses that would emphasize the importance of planning and land use decisions on the built and natural environments. We also need to be engaging people in the already existing public process where they feel alienated from decisions and decision makers.
Look at the items on this agenda and think about the quality of your decision, the time you have to devote to research these and the relative impact that you would incur. How comfortable would you be on voting these items up or down?
Note that my debate with Drew Martin on this issue has been changed to 6 p.m. tomorrow from the originally advertised time of 8 p.m. I will be posting a thread on Lake Worth Talk introducing the show and reminding people of the time change. There will be space to post your comments and questions as well.