Breaking News: Rachel Smithson leaving

Within the month, Rachel Smithson will be leaving for Charlotte, North Carolina.  She has been Assistant to the City Manager here and lead person for the city on the beach project, among others.

Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association - Garage Sale - Last Chance!

Greetings everyone!

Just one last reminder that this Saturday, December 4th at 7am the Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Assoication will be having a garage sale on the corner of Lucerne & North F St. Given the location, I suppose it's actually a yard sale!

We can really use some donations! Clothes, toys, books, dvds, holiday decorations, etc. If you can't drop it off Saturday morning, we can come pick it up from you tomorrow.

Stop buy bright and early and help us sell, sell, sell!

Email: jessica@tropicalridge.org or ryan@tropicalridge.org for details! See you Saturday!

This is the comment that caused me to remind everyone how I allow anonymous comments.

And you used the beach tenant contributions Ad nauseam. 

Come on Wes, are your telling me that if Blockson and Maxwell were elected you would be posting the same report on them? 

Answer truthfully! 

O.K., if I answer truthfully and say "Yes" I would be accused of not being truthful and if I said "No" I would be accused of doing just what you thought I would do.  That's why I didn't post this comment.  

As far as using the "beach tent contributions Ad nauseam" - the whole beach project was used by McVoy and Mulvehill Ad nauseam during the campaign - how it's going to lead us out of our recession and that all is good and great with this rehabilitation project.  Good luck to those who ran on that platform and let's see how long the wheels stay on that wagon.  I would be pleased to be proved wrong.  In the meantime, consider your posting a comment here a privilege Mr/Ms Anonymous and trust my judgement in what I choose to publish and what I choose not to.  If not, there is another blogger in town that would love to have your readership.

The "beach tenant contributions" seem to have hit a chord.  It's like Commissioner Golden saying we shouldn't be focusing on the fact that Lake Worth has had record decreases in our assessed value for the past two years - more than any other municipality in Palm Beach County.  It seems not to matter to her - we have to get used to living in a ghetto according to her.  No one wants to be reminded of the REALITY here.  That is why I keep doing what I do.

Fort Worth streetcar discussion shows need for improved public process | Editorials & Opinion...

This is an op-ed piece by Joel Burns, City Commissioner in Fort Worth, Texas on a Modern Streetcar program being initiated and administered by the city of Fort Worth. You might remember Joel from his recent 15+ minutes of fame regarding "It gets better..." and his experience with bullying as a gay teen and a response to all the bullying that has and continues to go on in our country. Business goes on in Fort Worth and in this piece for the Star Telegram, he explains the importance of public involvement in the decision making process. I found his commentary eerily similar to what I would say about the importance of public input and how to change the process for the better. So, maybe we can take a lesson from Fort Worth, Texas as we at least we both share half of the same name. Click title for link. By the way, they have a representative Commission where there are at-large and district commissioners. The district commissioners represent only those in that district. They also have no Sunshine Laws in Texas that I am aware of - he speaks to his fellow Commissioners in the article which is not allowed in Florida.

Reminder to Everyone - this is still the only place that you can post a comment anonymously in Lake Worth.

I edit, but have a (very) light touch.  Please don't abuse the privilege.  The PBP doesn't count.

Lake Worth waste truck runs on vegetable oil — and smells 'like egg rolls'

More public purposes for John Gs - grease from their deep fat fryers can go to fuel our Vegomobile!  Vice Mayor Suzanne Mulevhill can head up the effort.  Click title for link.

Here's one for you: Northern Kentucky lands Noah's Ark park Tax breaks, donations to help fund creationism-themed amusement park

From the article - click title for link:

Ark Encounter developers seek to recover under state tourism development laws up to 25 percent of the project's cost by recouping sales tax revenue paid to the state on tickets, lodging and other goods.

While state support of a religious-themed project is probably not illegal, attorney Ed Kagin, called it questionable, said the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“They’re implicitly endorsing this project, and I think that is improper,” said the American Atheists board member.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From Wikipedia re "The Spoils System"

In the politics of the United States, a spoil system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a system of awarding offices on the basis of some measure of merit independent of political activity.

Click here to read more.

What we have lost in Lake Worth is any measure of objectivity.  One would hope that at the advisory board level, appointed members would be able to objectively evaluate matters that come before them and their recommendations to the ultimate authority, the City Commission, would be free of bias and not be a result of a lack of independent thinking.  What is happening here is that people are being told how to vote, what issues to raise, who to be against by the very people that are elected by the residents.  New ideas and ways of doing things are discouraged - creativity abhors a vacuum.  There is little fresh air in the system so things stagnate.  Look about you.  Myths perpetuate themselves and are spewed at all doorsteps during election seasons.

One place where objectivity and professional experience is important too is at the city staff level.  Unfortunately, anyone that questions the direction of the City Commission or administration (City Manager) on a matter based on "best practices", fiduciary responsibility, professional opinion or established process seems to be shown the door - or they leave on their own accord.  In their place, we get "yes" people who do what they are told in order to survive in the system.  Objectivity ceases to exist and the right questions are never asked. At least we don't have city staff contributing to campaigns - that we know of.  Until we allow objectivity and reason back into the process, things at 7 N. Dixie Hwy. will continue to be like:

Adjusted - Suzanne Mulvehill Special Interest Campaign Contributions - 2010

This is an adjusted tally of Suzanne Mulvehill's campaign contributions.  I added her modest contributions to her campaign and deducted them from the total to determine the percentage of special interest contributions.  Strangely, these included under $10 worth for admissions to the pier.  I can't think of how this related to the campaign other than perhaps photos being taken for campaign literature and the like.  I also added contributions made by Laurel Decker - I described her relation to this faction in the post on Christopher McVoy's contributions.  Gael Sliverblatt, Chair of the Tree Board also gave a modest amount to both campaigns - I think $40 to each.

Adjusted - Christopher McVoy Special Interest Campaign Contributions - 2010

This chart probably does a better job at showing the proportion of special interest contributions in Christopher McVoy's campaign.  He lent the campaign over $4,600 of his own money.  Including that in the calculation throws off the actual percentage that comes from special interests or people with special access or ties to the candidate.  It ends up being about 1/5 of the total amount raised from other people and entities.  In this version, the duplicate Shauna Coolican contribution is removed.  Also, something I didn't mention before, Cary Sabol is current Chair of the CRA.

Note: McVoy lent a significant amount of money to his own campaign. I will back that out and revise the tally. The percentage will increase.

Christopher McVoy's Special Interest Campaign Contributions - 2010

Here we have the tabulation of Christopher McVoy's special interest contributions.  This is through the G4 report and the termination report is due later on, early in 2011.  But we do know that while now Commissioner McVoy was consistent with the party line on how great the current beach and casino building rehabilitation is, he didn't gather as much support from the tenants there as did Commissioner Mulvehill.  He did gather some and you can be sure he will be erring in favor of the tenants when decisions are made related to their interests.  He could surprise us and be more evenhanded, but that would indeed be a surprise.  I will be updating Commissioner Mulvhehill's special interest contributions as well to include Laurel Decker as she is a member of the Finance Advisory Board.  Ms. Decker has long lurked in the ranks of Golden and Jennings supporters and usually supplies "in kind" campaign finance software for campaigns such as these, as is the case here.  She also was a strong supporter of the casino financing proposal put forward by staff that uses the city's "cash portfolio" for interim funding of the casino rehabilitation project.  No one has yet identified where the permanent funding is coming from.  Shauna Coolican, pals with Annabeth Karson, shows up on the list and had a contract with the city to perform the Total Count Census effort this year.  Both are known political operatives within this camp.  Commissioner Golden appears on this list, along with her housemate and members of her extended family.  She serves as staff to the Lake Worth Community Development Corporation (CDC).  The CDC leases/leased (?) a city building near the Osborne Community Center that could be used for after-school and other programs needed in the area.   Likewise, Kathy LaCroix (staff) and Edward Grimm (Board Chair) serve on the CDC.  Mr. Grimm is also an appointee to the CRA and was interviewed and voted for by Commissioner Golden, an employee of the CDC, despite an apparent conflict of interest.  Lynda Mahoney, current Chair of the P&Z has worked for Commissioner Golden's campaigns and served as chair of the CDC for a while, as well.  Other contributors on this list appear on Commissioner Mulvehill's as well.

Editor's note:  I counted a $48 contribution twice for Ms. Coolican and will fix that later.

Click here if you want to leave a comment on YouTube re: Liana Werner-Gray, Suzanne Mulvehill, John G.'s video

!Emergency! !Meeting! cancelled due to lack of quorum.

Evidently another Commissioner, other than the two that were known to be out of town, cannot make the meeting tonight.

Question:  Will the sun rise tomorrow?

Special City Commission Meeting Tonight at 6 p.m. "Emergency Ordinance!"

Remember back in September, the night the City Commission had to adopt the budget by law, there was an unsettled issue about Police pensions.  The Commission went ahead and passed the budget by a 4-1 vote, Maxwell dissenting, with the intent of the City Manager to go back and work out the details with the union.  Well, the chickens come home to roost tonight when the City will likely have to swallow a $1.6 million dollar hit to the current fiscal year budget.  The "emergency" is that the pension changes must go into effect December 1 - tomorrow.

What sort of negotiating position did the city think it would have with the delay?  Now, again some more, at the eleventh hour, the Commission has to make this final.  Commissioners Maxwell and Mulvehill are both in Colorado at the National League of Cities conference.  Ring, ring?