Lake Worth Beach City Limits

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Announcement from Genesis Neighborhood Association, Inc.

Dear Bloggers,

I would like to ask for you help, once again, to get the word out about a neighborhood cleanup that Retha Lowe asked Genesis Neighborhood Association, Inc. to help get volunteers for. We will be meeting this Saturday, March 10 @ 8:00am in front of the New Hope Baptist Church 819 Washington Avenue. Let us allow our actions to give testament to how much we Love our city. Join us for what is sure to be a fun morning of fellowshipping with your neighbors working together for one common goal, the rise of our city to greatness!

Trash pickers, gloves and garbage bags will be supplied.

Best wishes,
Mark A. Parrilla
President
Genesis Neighborhood Association, Inc.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

CITY OF LAKE WORTH 4th ANNUAL “EASTER EGG HUNT” - SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012 - 11:00AM – 2:00PM - Bryant Park

The City of Lake Worth is hosting its 4th Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Come out and enjoy a day filled with excitement! There will be egg hunts, bounce houses, a water slide, music, games, raffles, performances, prizes and food vendors. Tickets are now available for advanced purchase as well as during the event. Candy art, raffle tickets & photos with the Easter Bunny may be purchased for $1.00/activity. Food and drinks will be sold by vendors for a nominal fee. There’s also an opportunity to win a fabulous prize by entering our homemade Easter Bonnet or Tie making contest! Just use your creativity, make the bonnet or tie at home, and bring it with you.

Ratepayers Would Save Millions if 'Munis' Sell Out to FPL: Study | Sunshine State News

A study was done that confirms what we already know. There is much talk in the article about taxation without representation related to customers outside municipal boundaries. That is the situation people in half of Palm Springs and the unincorporated area of Palm Beach County that is served by Lake Worth electricity. Click title for link to article.

Monday, March 5, 2012

FILM NIGHT: Yo Soy Cuba (1964) - Monday, March 12th @ 6pm

On Monday, March 12th, at 6pm in the Rosenthal Lecture Room at the Foundation’s offices, the film Yo Soy Cuba (1964) will be presented in conjunction with Michael Dweck’s lecture on Habana Libre which is set for March 14th.

A documentary of early 1960s Cuba and its culture, Yo Soy Cuba (1964) was long held back from American audiences until Martin Scorsese began a campaign to restore the film in the early 1990s. Originally intended as a piece of communist propaganda, it was banned by the USSR and Cuba for its too loving view of the bourgeois pre-Fidel classes and Havana high-life, best exhibited in the film’s narration of “I am Cuba, the Cuba of the casinos and the people.”

To see a trailer for Yo Soy Cuba (1964), follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwLZOpxAFQ

The showing will begin at 6pm and end at 8:30pm.

The showing will be held in Rosenthal Lecture Room at the Preservation Foundation’s offices located at 311 Peruvian Avenue in Palm Beach.

Please note, doors lock at 6:15pm.

The Foundation’s Executive Director Alexander C. Ives will present a short introduction to the film.

Refreshments will be provided.

The film showing is FREE to all. However, only reserved seating is available. Those who wish to attend must call 561.832.0731 to reserve a seat.

As with all events, the Foundation expects attendees to act respectfully. We reserve the right to turn away anyone.

Dalai Lama

"In today’s materialistic world there is a risk of people becoming slaves to money, as though they were simply cogs in a huge money-making machine. This does nothing for human dignity, freedom, and genuine well-being. Wealth should serve humanity, and not the other way around."

Friday, March 2, 2012

TRNA | Meeting Reminder

Happy Friday friends & neighbors!

Just a friendly reminder that on Monday, March 5th @ 7pm, the Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association will be holding it's monthly meeting. Please join us at Compass Community Center - 201 North Dixie Highway.

We look forward to seeing you there!

SUSAN STANTON HIRED IN FORT LAUDERDALE

As an accountant? At $60,000/year? I think many of us would question her accounting abilities, unless those abilities are used to obfuscate. Click title for link to article.

Not what you would expect for the "Best City Manager." Ever.

By popular request...

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Lake Worth signs off on $6.7 million in work for city beach project

If you haven't already seen this, here is the PBP take on Tuesday night's meeting. Click title for link.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

R.I.P. Davy Jones

My take on the special City Commission meeting last night (2/28)....

You can see my account while I was at the meeting and then the video from the public comment portion of the meeting. A couple interesting things happened during the meeting. During public comment, Mike Spruce with Kimley Horn got up and volunteered some information in response to the Commission's preceding questions about the cost and timing (when the dollar amount was known) of the parking lot lights. He said that it was never the intent of the group working on the specifications that the entire parking lot would be lit up. The Commission let him go over his time, responded to his statements and asked additional questions. This could and should have been done during staff's (Carr and Margoles) presentation. Then Micheal Singer, himself, and Jason Bregman from this office got up and were afforded the same opportunity. Apparently the two of them had been working over the past week examining the bids and Morganti's fees. They were of the opinion that Morganti's fees were high and that some very important items that would add to the longevity and attractiveness of the final project had been value-engineered out. There were also concerned about the small number, sometimes only two bidders, for an item like paving the parking areas - which amounted to around a $1.6 million item. They even recommended that the City Commission not act last night, delay for at least 10 days to see if some reduction in the GMP could be found through alternate methods - and getting additional bidders in. Margoles feared that the City could face legal challenges since the bids are now in the public realm and anyone could say they could do it for less money to get the job. Hmmm. Ultimately, the City Commission did not go along with the delay - fearing the wild card proposition that the County Commission could decide enough is enough and take back the $5 million.

Public Comment eventually resumed, but after a 10 minute recess the Mayor called so that people could "cool off." This sprang from the following back-and-forth. Maxwell got on the subject of leases and that Fox Sports Shop has dropped out from being a tenant. When asked when she found out about this, she said maybe the day before. Then Maxwell said that he found out at least a week ago - casting aspersions at staff for again being left out of the information stream, which had been a thread throughout the meeting anyway. To that Margoles said, in a bit of a smart aleck tone, "Good for you." You can over analyze this, but she had been on the defensive all through the meeting and staff basically was saying that this had been a long process, assumptions changed along the way, that mistakes might have been made, but that doesn't mean that the City should not go forward now and approved the GMP. The consequences of not doing so would be dire.

Things that are clear for me. Stanton did more than her fair share of withholding information, Morganti probably manipulated the timeline so that no other answer could be given other than going ahead at their established GMP and that the project - touted by McVoy as being an environmentally sensitive project done by a "forward thinking" city - was really not bid out in any way but a conventional way and therefore will fall short of the lofty environmental talk coming from the dais AND be more expensive than anticipated.

All in all a disappointing effort, but one that the city was backed into a corner, yet again, with little chance to do anything else but approve what was before them. Can we ever end this syndrome? Perhaps for our next 100 years?