The Sour Heart, a poem by Prince John of B. of B.

In my own World
I blog, flustered, boorish,
Who, splayed upon the floor,
Grip my sour heart in my palms,
And ate of the sour.
I said to K.T., “Good? K.T., is it Good?”
“It is sour, Most Sour,” K.T. echoed, 

“Still I like it, K.T.";
“Because it is of sour,
And of that sour is my heart.”

Bucher: 60,000 bad absentee ballots have to be counted by hand...(re-posted from 10/11/12)

Another Supervisor of Elections fiasco - sometimes it seems little can go right as it relates to counting ballots.  Remember the Wellington reversal?  Click title for link to article.

Link still active as of 9/6/14

A dramatic part of last night's (9/5/14) Commission Meeting

A rare person who thought that voting was fine that day.

Suggested listening for the other blogger...

Click here to check your voting status of the State of Florida Division of Elections

There was discussion during last night's meeting about the importance of knowing where your precinct and its polling location are. A former Commissioner thought that one should just intuitively know where your polling location is and, short of that, it is your duty to know where you vote. That is even if your voter registration card says you are to vote in different location. We heard many stories last night of people having lived here five or so years and voting in about as many places.

I stumbled on a page of the State of Florida Division of Elections website. Click title for link. When you go there it will look something like this.

It will ask you for your first and last name, along with your date of birth. Then you have to agree that you have a right to view your own information and you are not trying to find someone else's which may contain information you don't have a right to see. Then you hit "Submit."

I did just that to see what happened. Here is how the page looked:

Along with your address, you will see your party affiliation, when you registered to vote for the first time in Florida and whether you are "Eligible to vote." In the box on the right side of the page, you can check your absentee ballot status, if you have one, and you can also get information on your precinct location. That link leads you directly to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website. That page will look like this. Here it is with my information:

Note that under my Florida Voter ID Number, it clearly says that I am eligible to vote. Further down it even has my current email address. Below that it has my precinct number and the name/location of my polling place.

My question to the Supervisor of Elections would be, if I can find this information, on-line, at home, with my own wifi and computer, why isn't this information as easy to confirm on election day at the polling location?

How many people whose status indicated "A - You are eligible to vote" had their provisional ballots thrown out due to errors by the polling clerks? Wouldn't the Canvassing Board have this information at their finger-tips when they met on the day after the election? Most people with smart phone could pull this information up themselves. According to Supervisor of Elections, this new Mini iPad system was "off the shelf" technology.

I'm left not understanding how this whole mess happened, unless it is due to gross, systemic incompetence.

The August 26th Election in Lake Worth - The Ugly Truth

This is a playlist of the entire City Commission meeting that took place last night, a Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m. Attendance was much greater than I expected, which is a testament to how seriously Lake Worth residents take their voting privilege and their shock at how the election was run that day. The Mayor did a good job of keeping the meeting on track, reminding people that this was to be an airing of the problems they experienced with the voting process that day. It was not about rehashing or challenging the results of the election. This rule was adhered to, with a few exceptions. The beginning of the meeting was a little rocky, but it smoothed out as it went along. There was a strong sense of purpose that I felt throughout.

You will be astonished at the multiple layers of failures in the voting process. Included are descriptions of ill-prepared and under-trained poll workers dealing with a new "off the shelf" technology for the first time, consistent instances of long-time voters being told they couldn't be found in the system, which resulted in many people having to place provisional ballots. The total number of those ballots used in Lake Worth is unclear and their safe-keeping suspect. The Canvassing Board's review of these ballots led many to be uncounted due to "clerk error," not the voter's error or based upon whether they were eligible to vote. In the video, you will hear of people being "called back" to cast a regular vote later in the day. How many were called? Some just heard that you could go back from word "on the street." Some couldn't go back due to work or family commitments. Polling locations are exposed as being ill-suited for being a polling location. One of those discussed was the Oasis Rehabilitation Center on 12th Avenue South. We also find out how cavalierly the Canvassing Board treats the requirements of the Sunshine Law. Much of their meeting was conducted in whispers. One comment made by a member of the Canvassing Board was that "it is not their job for you to be able to hear us." And on, and on, and on...

The meeting ran almost 3 hours. The Commission departed from it usual 2 minute limitation on public comment and let people fully describe their experiences on that Tuesday. Questions were asked of some who spoke and at times there was a dialog between the dais and the podium. It was apparent that the City Attorney and City Manager were keeping a list of some of the details of these incidences. That list will be presented at a future City Commission meeting, perhaps as early as next Tuesday night. The city is going to make an effort to communicate with other municipalities about their experiences on this past election day to see if a unified approach to address these problems is necessary and feasible.

During the day, I will attempt a pared-down and condensed version of some of the more poignant moments. Its shorter length will be more viewer-friendly, but I really do encourage you to watch the entire meeting from start to finish. So, grab the popcorn. Take breaks from time to time.

I left astonished how little things have changed from Palm Beach County being the epicenter of the 2000 Presidential election debacle, and how things have probably gotten worse. Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher needs to be held accountable for these operational lapses, much more so than her bureaucratic fortress needs to remain impenetrable, which seems to be her over-riding goal.

If you couldn't attend the meeting, and experienced similar problems on election day, you can email me at wesblackman@gmail.com with your accounts and I will forward them to the Mayor, City Commission and Administration. Or, you can go ahead and do that yourself by finding their email addressees here.

West Palm Beach finance director out. City: she lied on resume | West Palm Beat

It turns out that our larger municipal neighbor to the north isn't perfect either. Click title for link to an Eliot Kleinberg article that reveals what led to West Palm Beach's Finance Director being asked to leave. From the article:

A search of federal records by the Palm Beach Post shows that, in 2002, the National Association of Securities Dealers had barred her from trading “in any capacity.” The agency’s report said it concluded she’d faked documents to suggest she’d canceled a trade when she hadn’t. It said Sias didn’t admit guilt but consented to the disciplinary action.
Sias’ position with the city didn’t require her to have the securities license. But, city spokesman Elliot Cohen said late Friday, “we were taken, plain and simple. She lied to us and we didn’t catch it. One of the things we are looking to now is why we didn’t catch it, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Point of View: Lake Worth’s ‘no’ vote was the wrong choice | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Click title for link to an article which appeared in yesterday's print edition of the Palm Beach Post. It is by Daryl Glenny, who the city hied for public relations work associated with the bond issue. She seems to have an accurate perspective that infrastructure is not an easy sell, especially when you are asking people to pay for it through a general obligation bond. She makes many strong points, including the fact that conditions will get worse and repairs will get more expensive. From her article:

Sometimes, however, the ballot choices – and the arguments for and against them — are more difficult. A case in point is the City of Lake Worth’s “Lake Worth 2020” referendum on Aug. 26 asking voters to approve $63.5 million in general obligation bonds to fund infrastructure repairs.
I worked for the city in its effort to educate voters, and in my opinion, voters made the wrong choice. In the long run, they are likely to pay a higher price as the city’s infrastructure disintegrates further. But infrastructure is hard to sell. Eliminating yawning potholes, replacing crumbling sidewalks, and enhancing neighborhood safety with street lights and fire hydrants would seem to be desirable projects, but infrastructure repairs are not perceived as life-threatening and don’t lend themselves to provocative sound bites.
Marketing wasn’t the real challenge, however. The question that Lake Worth property owners ultimately had to ask themselves was this: “How much am I willing to pay to subsidize improvements that would help the whole city but would not necessarily benefit me personally?”
By a margin of 26 votes, Lake Worth residents said, “Not so much.”

This also points out that the notion of "community" and that "we are only as strong as our weakest link" did not get adequately communicated during the campaign.

Putting numbers together...August 26th Election in Lake Worth...Questions Remain

Up until now, these are the numbers we are seeing on the Supervisor of Elections website related to the Lake Worth 2020 bond issue.

The margin is 26 votes, with the "Against Bonds" ahead.

The numbers above are before "provisional" ballots. The Canvassing Board met on Wednesday, the day after the election. There were 231 provisional ballots cast Countywide. I understand that there were 31 cast in Lake Worth. Here is what the State of Florida Division of Elections website says about provisional ballots:

Notice that if you submit a provisional ballot, you are to receive a written notice of your rights as a provisional ballot voter. It goes on to say that you have 2 days after the election to bring in additional evidence that would prove that your ballot should be counted. That would have been by Thursday at 5 p.m. and this information would have (or should have) been given to you if you cast a provisional ballot. Here is more on provisional ballots from the same website:

Again, there is mention of the "Notice of Rights" that you were given if you voted through a provisional ballot. Please contact me at wesblackman@gmail.com if you voted provisionally and let me know, so that others can know, if you received this "Notice of Rights."

The Canvassing Board, the body charged with determining which provisional ballots are counted and which are not, met on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 beginning at 1:30 p.m. This is 27 1/2 hours before the deadline by which people can submit additional information and evidence to support whether their provisional ballot will be counted. By 7:17 p.m. we were told through the news media that the provisional ballots had been reviewed and that there would be no recount in the Lake Worth race.

The Canvassing Board met two days too early. The earliest they should have met would have been Friday at 8 a.m.

There was a 26 vote difference and a 15 vote difference would have triggered an automatic recount.

Of the 231 provisional ballots submitted countywide, 91 were discarded. In Lake Worth, there were over 30 provisional ballots and only 5 were counted. That translates to 61% of the provisional ballots being approved countywide and 16% being approved in Lake Worth. Why such a drastic difference between the county and the city? Were people given their "Notice of Rights" about the possibility of additional information being provided prior to the deadline? Why did the Canvassing Board meet two days early and how could they make decisions regarding whether or not to count provisional ballots when additional information was still allowed to come in?

The Supervisor of Elections Office offers this page on their website that you can check to see whether your provisional ballot was counted. People were told on Thursday that they could call 656-6200 (SOE's office) to see if their ballot was counted on Wednesday, but not offered the opportunity to provide additional documentation as afforded by state law. This was only to check to see if it had been counted, by a decision made the day before. I heard reports that people were given the run around when they called the number.

For the record, the final count according to the SOE, after accepting those 5 provisional ballots, results in 1545 FOR BONDS and 1570 AGAINST BONDS.

Get Honest with Yourself

"Total honesty is how we connect with our passion and our truth. We can disconnect from who we really are, from what we really want in life, because we lack self-honesty. We stop listening to ourselves and begin to believe our own lies."

From Employee to Entrepreneur, 2003, page 61. Author: Suzanne Mulvehill, MBA.

Is someone obsessed with fire?

Posted 9/5/14

Posted 8/29/14

Feast of the Sea - West Palm Beach's Seafood Festival - September 13, 2014 09/05 by High Noon in Lake Worth | Food Podcasts

Join your host Wes Blackman as he welcomes Steve Todd, one of the creators of West Palm Beach's upcoming Feast of the Sea festival, to the High Noon in Lake Worth studios. The event will take place on the waterfront in the area of Clematis Street and Flagler Drive, with music provided at the Meyer Amphitheater and Fern Street stages. The festival will begin at 11 a.m. and run until 10:30 p.m. next Saturday, September 13th. Admission is free, and VIP and Family passes are available for a fee. Proceeds will benefit Future 6 Helping Hand which is a Florida based 501(c)3 providing alternative youth athletic programs and free sports camps in Palm Beach County. We will chat about the origins of the festival and what you can expect if you attend.

Click title for link to live show between 12 and 1 p.m. today (9/5) or for the archived version of the show after it airs. Leave questions as comments below.

Environmental hypocrisy? Greenpeace embarrassed by leaders’ jet-setting carbon footprint

Check out the Washington Times article about the jet-commuting executive of Greenpeace and the hypocrisy it represents. From the article:

Each of Mr. Husting’s round-trip flights generated 313 pounds of carbon dioxide. He flew between Luxembourg and Amsterdam as often as once a week — normal for a banker but too much for many of Greenpeace’s environmentalists. The total cost of his flights over two years was around $20,000.
Mr. Husting issued a public apology on Greenpeace’s website saying he “ignored the voice of my own conscience.”
He pledged to start making a 12-hour round trip by train, but the damage is done.
In the Netherlands alone, nearly 700 donors have canceled contributions to Greenpeace in response to the news of Mr. Husting’s flights.
As the public relations disaster became clear, more than 40 Greenpeace staff members signed a letter in July demanding Mr. Husting’s resignation and asking Greenpeace Executive Director Kumi Naidoo to “reflect” on his own job.

Proposed tower would triple downtown Boca's current height - Sun Sentinel

Boca Raton may see its current 100 foot height limit in its downtown overcome by buildings nearly three times as tall. Click title for link. Pay special attention to all the new residential projects Boca Raton has in the pipeline. These are ones that are approved but not built. Here is a portion of the article:

New Mizner would be built on 8.7 acres at 200 SE Mizner Blvd., where 244 townhouses would be knocked down to accommodate it. Going taller would give the public a park along Mizner Boulevard, a prime downtown location.
"It's going to have walkways throughout the project, seating areas and sculpture," Shewalter said.
Before the project embarks on what would be a 5-year building schedule, it faces a longer journey in front of city officials than most projects.
In addition to passing muster with the city's Community Appearance Board, Planning and Zoning Board and City Council, an ordinance loosening height restrictions needs to get the City Council's approval.
Traditionally, downtown building heights in Boca have been limited to 100 feet. New Mizner would be more than triple that height.

Go Erica!