Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Three new businesses open on Clematis Street
"These three new businesses join nearly 25 others that opened in downtown West Palm Beach in 2011. Clemantis Street expects 15 more openings within the next couple of months."
Click title for link to Sun-Sentinel article.
Click title for link to Sun-Sentinel article.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Steve Jobs
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
From the City Manager's Report for Week Ending September 1, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
"The blogs will always complain. These blogs are 15 individuals who lie to one another." - Mayor Rachel Waterman
"Honesty is as much saying everything as it is saying what is true" - Richard A. Snelling, elected five times to the Office of Governor, State of Vermont.
The top quote, in the title, is from the August 29, 2011 City Commission meeting made by our Mayor for-three-and-a-half-months Rachel Waterman and showed up in the Lake Worth Herald this week. Ms. Rachel Waterman better study the quote, placed below her's, of a person who was no stranger to the electorate and understood the importance of the public input in our almost 250 year experiment in self-government. For me, it underscores the importance of transparency in everything involving the city of Lake Worth.
We need, and have a right, to know everything and our elected officials and city administration need to know what the public is thinking...good, bad or indifferent. This cannot be solely through the 2 minutes selectively dispensed to the public that is interested and engaged enough to attend City Commission meetings. It cannot be the generally one-way communication by people challenged by the truth at the doors of likely voters during campaign time. The people knocking at those doors are selling a product, only instead of a Fuller Brush, they want you to buy what they're saying and get you to the voting booth for their candidate.
So, what tools does the public have left to be informed about what is going on in their local government, arguably the level of government that most impacts them? Can they rely on the "local paper of record" that endorsed all five of our current City Commissioners? Can it rely on a local beat reporter for that paper who has a cozy relationship with the city administration? Can we rely on a small local paper with a small circulation and no Internet presence, with little interactivity? No, we can't.
So, in this day of the Internet, personal computers, laptops, I-Pads, smart phones and any other electronic device capable of sharing information, it is logical to think that people would find their own way of following what is going on in their local government through the use of any of these tools. And, this can be frightening to those that we elect since it allows for the democratization of information distribution. In a state that has at its foundation something called the Sunshine Law, this can be a very powerful tool for the public - but, unfortunately, our elected officials like to see it more as a weapon than a tool.
For a long time, I have maintained that if we can agree on the facts, we can have different opinions about them and have that as the basis for public debate. The problem comes when facts are manipulated by those in power to such an extent that we are no longer dealing with reality. Instead, we are left to see the world through someone's eyes as how they would like us to see that world. That is no way to run a representative democracy - that is a way to run a totalitarian regime. Any organ that dispenses a truth contrary to those in power is dismissed as either unimportant or the source of distortion. See Mayor Rachel Waterman's quote above for proof.
I maintain this blog, and have for the past 5 years, in order to encourage public discussion and distribute information. I don't do it for financial gain - hardly! Regardless of what some might think, I have been to more than a few rodeos in my day and know my way around local government. I try to bring that expertise and experience to this forum to try to make this city a better place to work, live and play. It's where I call home and that is the extent of my self-interest in doing what I do.
I try to do a good job at backing up my opinions and pronouncements with research and references to original sources - if I am not doing that, I expect my "15 readers" to tell me. I am not even going to go into how much traffic this blog gets. I just know that anyone that is running for "re-election" for Mayor should at least show respect to the resident(s) of her city that spends the time and effort in providing a public forum for her citizenry to discuss what is going on in her city.
If she chooses not to, then use your right to vote in November accordingly.
The top quote, in the title, is from the August 29, 2011 City Commission meeting made by our Mayor for-three-and-a-half-months Rachel Waterman and showed up in the Lake Worth Herald this week. Ms. Rachel Waterman better study the quote, placed below her's, of a person who was no stranger to the electorate and understood the importance of the public input in our almost 250 year experiment in self-government. For me, it underscores the importance of transparency in everything involving the city of Lake Worth.
We need, and have a right, to know everything and our elected officials and city administration need to know what the public is thinking...good, bad or indifferent. This cannot be solely through the 2 minutes selectively dispensed to the public that is interested and engaged enough to attend City Commission meetings. It cannot be the generally one-way communication by people challenged by the truth at the doors of likely voters during campaign time. The people knocking at those doors are selling a product, only instead of a Fuller Brush, they want you to buy what they're saying and get you to the voting booth for their candidate.
So, what tools does the public have left to be informed about what is going on in their local government, arguably the level of government that most impacts them? Can they rely on the "local paper of record" that endorsed all five of our current City Commissioners? Can it rely on a local beat reporter for that paper who has a cozy relationship with the city administration? Can we rely on a small local paper with a small circulation and no Internet presence, with little interactivity? No, we can't.
So, in this day of the Internet, personal computers, laptops, I-Pads, smart phones and any other electronic device capable of sharing information, it is logical to think that people would find their own way of following what is going on in their local government through the use of any of these tools. And, this can be frightening to those that we elect since it allows for the democratization of information distribution. In a state that has at its foundation something called the Sunshine Law, this can be a very powerful tool for the public - but, unfortunately, our elected officials like to see it more as a weapon than a tool.
For a long time, I have maintained that if we can agree on the facts, we can have different opinions about them and have that as the basis for public debate. The problem comes when facts are manipulated by those in power to such an extent that we are no longer dealing with reality. Instead, we are left to see the world through someone's eyes as how they would like us to see that world. That is no way to run a representative democracy - that is a way to run a totalitarian regime. Any organ that dispenses a truth contrary to those in power is dismissed as either unimportant or the source of distortion. See Mayor Rachel Waterman's quote above for proof.
I maintain this blog, and have for the past 5 years, in order to encourage public discussion and distribute information. I don't do it for financial gain - hardly! Regardless of what some might think, I have been to more than a few rodeos in my day and know my way around local government. I try to bring that expertise and experience to this forum to try to make this city a better place to work, live and play. It's where I call home and that is the extent of my self-interest in doing what I do.
I try to do a good job at backing up my opinions and pronouncements with research and references to original sources - if I am not doing that, I expect my "15 readers" to tell me. I am not even going to go into how much traffic this blog gets. I just know that anyone that is running for "re-election" for Mayor should at least show respect to the resident(s) of her city that spends the time and effort in providing a public forum for her citizenry to discuss what is going on in her city.
If she chooses not to, then use your right to vote in November accordingly.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Shooting at 10th and Dixie Hwy - according to WPTV Channel 5
From FaceBook:
I am hearing that the entire area from 7th Avenue North to 10th is closed and they are evacuating people.
Up-date: Dixie Hwy. is closed from 3rd Avenue North to 10th and North Grade Elementary is on lock-down (standard procedure)
Up-date: Dixie Hwy. is closed from 3rd Avenue North to 10th and North Grade Elementary is on lock-down (standard procedure)
Demolition of Shuffleboard Courts Delayed
According to a small notice in the print edition of the PBP, demolition of the shuffleboard court area was to begin next week. Perhaps with a twinge of conscience, the city will be holding a meeting about use of the space as a green area before work actually begins. Perhaps someone is realizing that consulting the public on the elimination of public park amenities or the spending of public money is necessary. It may be part of a new defensiveness, since the city administration now knows that it not only has to answer to the people, but it has to answer to possible inquiries by the Inspector General. Seems to me there was a building in town that was the subject of years of debate that just "disappeared" - oh, I'm sorry, it didn't disappear, it is being "repaired."
I'll let you know when this meeting has been scheduled. Why don't they refer it to the Planning and Zoning Board? It is in the board's stated purpose. From the code:
23.23.01.03. Duties and authority.
A.
The duties and authority of the city planning and zoning board shall be primarily to suggest plans for the arrangement of the city with reference to its general improvement, growth demands, and the extension, improvement and changes in public utilities and city works; also with reference to transportation, streets, alleys, sidewalks, highways, waterfronts, seawalls, docks, wharves, public buildings, parks, playgrounds, city-owned property, and other such matters as may be of a municipal nature or lawfully under municipal jurisdiction. However, the duties and authority of the city planning and zoning board shall not include any matter which is the responsibility of one (1) or more other city boards, unless the city commission specifically refers such matter to the planning and zoning board for recommendation. The city planning and zoning board shall be designated the local planning agency, pursuant to chapter 163, Florida Statutes. The planning and zoning board shall review and recommend to the city commission on all changes to the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Palm Beach County Commission presses staff auditor to find corruption before inspector general does
Well, imagine that! Did this sort of discussion occur last night regarding re-instituting the Internal Auditor position? Or, is it as I assume, that the general opinion is that there is no fraud, waste or corruption in the city of Lake Worth. Here are some excerpts from the PBP article (click title for link):
According to the City Manager, there are/were seven (7) active investigations being undertaken by the Inspector General's office of some aspect of the city of Lake Worth - one of them relates to the beach.
Palm Beach County commissioners on Tuesday said they wanted to conduct "more aggressive" internal audits of county departments, a move they hope will reduce the need for the county's Inspector General to investigate cases of waste and fraud.
AND
"You should be robust and aggressive enough so that the IG should have nothing to do," Commissioner Karen Marcus told Bergeron Tuesday. "I am questioning why they are doing the Palm Tran audit and not you all. I would think that would be something, as a county department, that you would jump into."
Bergeron is one of three county employees, including County Administrator Bob Weisman and County Attorney Denise Nieman, who report directly to the seven-member commission.
Message from County Commissioner Steven Abrams - The Redistricting Process: Resident Input Requested
Just as the U.S. Congress and the Legislature have to redistrict their seats every 10 years, so does the County.
The recent 2010 census count resulted in a 16% increase in population for Palm Beach County. So that all of the County’s seven districts have as equal population as possible, the district I represent (District 4) needs to acquire an additional 17,000 people.
The following criteria, approved by the Board of County Commissioners, will be used to guide the redistricting process:
- Achieve population equity among commission districts (10% or less variance)
- Adhere to the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Follow major natural and man-made boundaries
- Maintain integrity of communities of interest
- Encourage compactness
- Ensure contiguity
- Preserve the core of the existing voter’s districts
County staff is currently reviewing and analyzing 2010 Census data based on the above guidelines. Revised district boundaries will be presented to the board in the fall and adopted prior to January 2012. For more information and to provide the Board of County Commissioners with your input, please visit http://www.pbcgov.com/
Thank you for your time and please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Commissioner Steven L. Abrams
Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners
District 4
Monday, August 29, 2011
Read this and weep...this is the attitude of our illustrious City Manager as it relates to enforcement of Nuisance Abatement cases:
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