Happy 4th of July Everybody!

Crist picks Taylor for Palm Beach County commission seat

Local Blogger Ignoring Facts (nothing new) and Stokes Conspiracy Theory

A local blogger (ehem) has linked one of the principals of the Sunset Property with the current issue regarding Mojito's and their hours of operation. Here is the e-mail chain between me and the blogger in an attempt to set the record straight. As of posting, she continues to leave the erroneous post on her blog - thinking that since it's the same family, the same "conspiracy" holds true. Link to Palm Beach Post article.



If you read the article, you'll know that Mr. Lang, Sr. has no interest in the business now. It was run by his family as a bar for many years and the attorney representing Mojito's is going back to him for his recollection on their hours of operation - back when. Other than being a member of the family that formerly owned the business - back when, the principal with the Sunset property has no tie to this property. This doesn't stop the blogger from using the son's picture and tie-in with the Sunset property as evidence of some dark "good old boy" conspiracy.

This is a good example of the type of fiction offered as truth told at many a doorstep during campaign season.

Required Reading: City Manager's Reports

I hope she keeps this up. These are issued at the end of each week and include a wide range of topics. Click title for link. In this one for July 3rd, she talks about vegetation and trash pick-up woes (sounding like an elected official should sound), the status of the negotiation with the County on the water contract, changing of the hours at the beach and more.

When there is a Commission Meeting, you can find the link under the regular meeting agenda - City Manager Report. Going to the website on the off weeks, they can be found under City Manager (left side of page) - then click on the link that says "City Manager Reports."

From the Palm Beach Post:

Click here for article on Mojito's

And these letters to the Editor re Hometown Democracy - Amendment 4 on 2010 Ballot

Amendment 4 threatens to bury voters in piles of land-use changes

Blackner's rebuttal of Post writer strays off the point under debate

Fourth of July Party Music:

zSHARE - Matt-T_Live_at_Lovedove_3rd_July_2009.mp3

This comes from a good friend of mine in Windsor, Ontario. Think of it as a Canadian Fourth of July gift to the USA. Downloadable to your portable digital music devices!

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech...

From the C-51 Canal on the north, to 18th Avenue South, from the Atlantic Ocean to the western city limits...

From the June 26th City Manager's Report - Rachel Bach's Resignation Letter and Need for New Director...

Remember to click on images for greater detail.

'Top 6' gang in Lake Worth and Boynton Beach featured on History Channel's 'Gangland' series

Click title for link.

The Gangland episode will air tonight at 9 on the History Channel. For more information about the program visit www.history.com/content/gangland.

Interaction with Lake Worth Utilities...

Remember Wilma? Of course you do if you were around Lake Worth in October 2005. That was a couple of months before I started the blog. The back part of my house was hit pretty hard. In the process of things flying around, my electrical connection, meter etc. was ripped off the house. The picture above was taken while waiting for an inspection - after my neighbors already had power for a few days. I happened to be on a long list, along with other people in a similar circumstance, waiting for an inspection first, then delivery of a meter and a tie-in to the grid from the house.

After the inspection, the day finally came when I got a call - around 10 p.m. that the crew was ready to put in the meter and connect the house to the main power line. Two guys get here with a truck "the size of Denmark." They get out and start connecting the three leads to the new power line they strung from the pole. I chat with them. They said they were from Ohio and they'd been working "two shifts plus" everyday since the storm. They said they had just come from the southwest part of the city and had been doing the same thing all day.

A couple of thoughts came to mind - wouldn't it be more efficient to assign crews based on location rather than who was next in line. If you had a crew in one geographic area, more time could be spent doing what needed to be done hooking up houses rather than driving from one of the farthest reaches of town to another. They said they had been doing this all day but didn't have a meter in the truck so they had to go by the shop - which they probably just passed on the way here - to get one. They left and came back in about 45 minutes. Finally, I was back on line after about 20 days without power.

Why do I tell this story now? Last week, during one of the rain storms, I noticed my lights flickering, but not completely losing power. This happened a couple of times - enough so that I started wondering if there was something unique to my property. I went out and looked at the connection to the house and at the line between the meter and the city's pole. Something didn't look quite right with the "neutral" line - the silver wire. It looked "loose" for lack of a better term.

So I called Utilities Customer Service and they sent someone out. They were here in about two hours. They decided to replace all of the leads coming into the house. They said something about corrosion, being close to the ocean, but I think it comes down to sloppy work by the contractors the city employed in the storm's aftermath. If you suffered the same fate as I did, I would recommend having someone who knows what they are looking at check the work that was done. I understand that had the "neutral" feed come completely off, there could have been a catastrophic fire if not detected soon enough.

Hope this helps prevent a disaster.

Golf Course Shoreline Clean-up July 11th - Volunteers Needed

Last April, a start was made to the clean up of the intracoastal shoreline along the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course, as 25 volunteers removed 25 trash bags full of litter from the area south of the clubhouse. On Saturday July 11^th work will continue to the north. The area is littered with old tires, broken bits of lumber, plastic and paper trash. All are welcome to participate in this clean-up effort spearheaded by the Kiwanis Club of Lake Worth. Volunteers will meet at the clubhouse (located at 7^th Ave N and the intracoastal) at 8 AM. You don’t have to be a Kiwanis member to join in the effort, but volunteers must be 18 years old or accompanied by a parent.

All participants are asked to park in the golf course parking lot the morning of the event. Golf carts will be used to shuttle folks to the cleanup locations along the length of the shoreline. Plenty of garbage bags and latex gloves will be provided. Please be sure to wear old clothes, closed-toed shoes, sunblock, sunglasses, and hats if you have them.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. There are over 350,000 members in 84 countries.

New Orleans was Nation’s Fastest-Growing City in 2008 Population Getting Closer to Pre-Katrina Levels

Click title for link to U.S. Census press release. Notice that there are no Florida cities on the list. The only Florida city to make it on the absolute (numbers of people) increase was Jacksonville.

Special City Commission Meeting on 7/20 to determine fate of CRA

This leaves very little time for any other outcome other than the City Commission taking over the functions of the CRA. Existing CRA board member terms expire on July 31, 2009. If the City Commission does act to disband the existing CRA, it will be another example of the Commission consolidating power, discouraging public input via volunteer boards and taking on another specific and often complicated function. It would essentially squelch any opposition voice - a continuing trend where we actually have little or no debate on major issues. This also comes after two joint CRA/City Commission meetings when City Commissioners never discussed this possibility.

The City Commission already has trouble focusing on what it needs to do to manage the functions of the city and utilities. The CRA will become a "grab bag" for Commissioner Jennings' et al projects which will deplete the funds necessary to spur re-investment in our community. The promise of the CRA becoming a self-sustaining financial entity will all but disappear.

More later on this important topic.

Three anouncements from the City this morning:

CITY OF LAKE WORTH BOARDS

The City of Lake Worth is currently seeking volunteers to serve on City Boards with vacancies, as follows:

Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals (Electric Contractor)

Firefighters' Pension Trust Fund -- Division 1

If you are interested in serving on the above Boards, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 586-1663 for further information, or the Board Application can be downloaded from the City of Lake Worth's website at www.lakeworth.org. All applications must be received by the City Clerk's Office no later than Friday, July 10, 2009, at 5:00 PM.

A Special Meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, at 5:30 PM to interview those board applicants who applied for vacant positions.

Please note the P&Z mtg. on July 1^st was canceled, the Recreation Bd. meeting was rescheduled to July 2^nd, and a Special Commission mtg. was added on July 20th

CITY HALL CLOSED City Hall will be closed on Friday July 3, 2009 in observance of Independence Day

July City Meetings