Lake Worth High School Band Benefit @ The Cottage TODAY!

All day today Saturday April 23, 2011 at The Cottage 522 Lucerne.  $5.00 drink coupons with ALL proceeds going to Lake Worth High School Band Fundraiser.  A portion of the days sales will also be donated.

Genesis Neighborhood has coordinated this effort in a show of support for our local high school students striving for excellence.

West Palm, Lake Worth join forces in opposition to Walmart

OMG - Do we really want to go there? Click title for link to the PBP's "blog." Can we stipulate that the Palm Beach Post is a "dinosaur" that thinks they are being hip and somehow not already attached to their already adopted opinion if it is included in a "blog" under their banner? There is much to say here and more will come later. But, I will throw this out for starters. What has the Lake Worth City Commission done to support Sedanos - just a block away from the vacant piece of land? Suzanne, can you demonstrate the kayak crossing for us - the one that would like the Lake Worth Lagoon to the C-51 canat? I will take a video as you raise your kayak and tote it across Dixie Hwy since we are all about eco-tourism and we will have to educate our visitors how to carry their kayaks and cross Dixie Hwy. safely. Is our anarchist community all about pushing growth away from the coast and away from existing transportation infrastructure? Is anyone concerned about Winn-Dixie in Palm Coast Plaza? How can you expect other municipalities to listen to your concerns when your modus operandi is not to cooperate with anyone, anywhere at anytime? How is anyone to believe you? Is the hottest property that can be developed on the other side of the border from a municipality that has commercial electric and water utility rates TWO TO THREE times the rate of others that are served by FPL but has a market that is under-served in relation to demand?

Like I said, there are issues to discuss here - one is the location of a future transit station on the FEC - but are we going to have a real discussion of the issues, or are we going to grace our neighbor to the north with protests on stilts and white sheets, pandering to the media and the public and obstructing standard municipal review processes? And why is Commissioner Mulvehill speaking on behalf of the City of Lake Worth? Has our Mayor left already or is has he already handed over the Mayor's job to Suzanne?

These are some of my questions.

Happy Earth Day!

CrimeWalk | NAPC

The Neighborhood Association Presidents' Council (NAPC) sponsors a Crime Prevention Walk each month in different neighborhoods throughout the city. This month, neighbors from all over the city are planning to walk the Genesis Neighborhood. Deputies from PBSO District 14 and volunteers from the C.O.P. program will be along for the walk.

 

Saturday, April 23rd  2-4pm

Meet at the North end of the Pinecrest Cemetery

South A Street and Elm (just south of 6th Ave. South)

Muoio talks about budget woes, new Wal-Mart at chamber breakfast

A neighborhood Wall-Mart is destined for the vacant lot along the C-51 Canal - at the southern border of West Palm Beach where the current vacant lot is - near the former I-Hop. Click title for link to article.

Lake Worth giving native trees to city residents on Saturday to help make up for hurricanes' destruction

This is a worthwhile program, let's hope people take advantage of it. Click title for link to article.

The chickens are coming back...

Under public comment on unagendaed items last night, Ted - did not catch his last name - announced that "they" - one assumes the local anarchist community - will be presenting an ordinance to allow chickens in the city - no roosters permitted.  He stressed the importance of locally grown agricultural products and the high quality protein that the egg offers.  Such protein would not rely on the food industrial complex.

I found an excellent summary of the issues surrounding the introduction of chickens into urban areas put together by the Albany Law School.  It's dated March 2011. Click title for link.  Especially look at the section devoted to zoning and permitting.

My point here is do we really want to introduce another item that needs to be regulated through the Code Enforcement process when we essentially have little effective Code Enforcement now?  The cow is clearly out of the barn now - do we want to add the regulatory burden of chickens along with the other issues?  Most people would say "no" - including me.  Or, would those that propose the ordinance want no enforcement or regulatory infrastructure - which would cause its own sets of issues.

Believe it or not, I must confess that for the first two or so years of living in Lake Worth, we had a chicken in our yard.  I moved in with a person who was living at 7th Avenue South and H Street.  A few months before, one of his neighbors dropped a chicken over the fence.  My friend thought that it was some sort of offering.  The chicken was sort of "beat up" - its beak had been ground down from pecking on concrete and asphalt, but it still produced eggs.  At night, it would roost in a large tree in the yard and then spend the day strutting around..  We met someone who lived on E Street - just north of Lucerne.  He loved chickens - chicken statues and figurines were all over his house.  He already had tropical birds and a big fenced-in backyard.  I am not sure what prompted the action, but we gave him our chicken.  The chicken lived for a while longer, until it drowned in his hot tub.  We didn't ask about  the circumstances, but assume the top was left off or some such.

Anyway, read through the material.  It should be required for anyone considering this - and there are a lot of things to consider.

Fun with branding! Someone else trying to make lemonade from lemons...

Lake Worth beaches, parks to go tobacco free

Another puppy mill ordinance? Let's again re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Here is a quote from the Mayor. Click title for link.

Enforcement would not be strict and would likely come by raising awareness about the ordinance, Varela said.

"We all know realistically we're not going to have police out there enforcing this," Varela said. "A big push in public health is creating awareness."

Governing through press release...what a concept...

Parking meters may pop up in downtown Lake Worth lots

Click title for link to PBP article. You know, it's funny, in a tragic sort of way. I was driving through downtown yesterday and as I passed the lot at L and Lucerne - empty save for four cars on the south part of the lot - employees? - seeing the parking meter pay station there made me think that was the camel's nose under the tent. Then today we get the whole camel in the tent as outlined in the article. I guess we are now ruling by decree and violating the Sunshine Law by telegraphing elected officials positions and how they would vote via the newspaper. Can we listen to our appointed advisory boards? Can we get a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Board? Can we have some public discussion on the issue before we see things "popping up" all over town?

I guess the message is that our elected officials' judgement cannot be questioned.

Sheesh!

Is it in Lake Worth's DNA? - A comment on another post by a loyal reader...

The situation is really a continuation of the Freemasons in Lake Worth that dates back to the 1920's. Most ALL who thrived in business in those days were Lodge Members, and part of the Good Ol' Boy network. They filtered out who they could use, what they could get out of a situation, and those not willing to engage in illogical, deceitful or dishonest actions were ridiculed, discredited, and routed out of their business, job and finally out of town. Note; the women from that era also played a vital part, with their Masonic husbands or their memberships in the Eastern Star. If you want to look at current day modus operandi, look at those who gain from the confusion or the ridicule / sarcasm towards others who try to effect positive change in Lake Worth. This rancor has always been rampant, and those who bore the brunt became isolated at best, or counter-hostile at worse. Hence, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The real problems are ignored, and other trivial non-meaning problems are created as diversions. As we used to say in the 1960's and 1970's; "Typical Lake Worth!!!" 

Alternative Stanton quotes regarding the Chamber Executive Director's departure...

Some "what ifs:"

"I am disappointed she is leaving, we were just starting to have a productive relationship with the Chamber."

or

"Beth brought a lot to the Chamber and the city.  She was part of the branding committee we formed to market the city in a better way.  We need to sustain that effort with her departure."

or

"It's rare that you get just the right person at the right time - with her departure, we will have to rely on the same kind of luck that brought her here."

There is some good news to report...

The former Kristine's, most recently Jetsetters, is about to re-open again as "Mara" - a place that will house the owner's catering operation and will serve as an event space for wedding receptions, office parties and the like.  It is one of our great architectural gems, representing the best of 20th Century highway architecture and recalls Lake Worth's past as a highway town.  The owners are busy fixing up the place since its been idle for so long.  It will be good to welcome it back as an operating business on Dixie Hwy. Here is an early version of the building when its main job was to entice customers traveling along U.S. 1.  This postcard is taken before the addition on the south side of the building.

Welcome and good luck!

Click here for the Urban Dictionary definitions of "Lake Worth" - And you thought L-Dub was bad?

Lake Worth Chamber director leaving for job in Boca Raton

This is a loss, Beth Johnston brought a lot to our community. Click title for link to PBP article. What stands out is this quote from Ms. Stanton:

City Manager Susan Stanton said she is not surprised Johnston is leaving because Lake Worth politics can be so emotionally charged.

"Lake Worth is an extremely difficult town to bond with and to manage," Stanton said. "It's so polarized it tends to be kind of toxic."

Beth didn't leave because of a toxic atmosphere - she left to take advantage of a great opportunity. Is Stanton justifying the weakness identified in her evaluation? Isn't this just more barrier building - instead of an attempt to knock down some walls? Maybe she listens to the wrong group of people...hmmmm.  And Susan, what are you doing to make it better?