Definition of "chickens come home to roost": The consequences of doing wrong always catch up with the wrongdoer

From my trip to Harbourside Place in Jupiter this week...

From Facebook - Best Wishes to John Rinaldi

PBSO arrests for arson in LW

From the Sun Sentinel we have breaking news about an an arson arrest in Lake Worth:

A teen was arrested Thursday for a May arson, the second teen arrested for the fire, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The boy, 16, is charged with burglary and arson. The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the teen because of his age and the nature of the crime.
According to an arrest report, deputies said the teen and another juvenile, who was 16 at the time and is 17 now, set fire to a storage room attached to a carport. The fire started just before 9:30 p.m. on May 14 at a house in the 1400 block of South H Street in Lake Worth.

Don't drink alcohol and ride a bike

The Lake Worth Critical Mass ride is this coming Friday (11/7). Later in the week will provide details as far as time, route, and requirements (lights!). I have been part of several Critical Mass rides and they are quite exciting and fun for the most part. The mix of young children, families, older people and experienced athletes makes for an interesting evening. However there is a subculture within the Critical Mass community and they are the riders who drink alcohol before and during the ride. I've witnessed this behavior, usually among the twenty-somethings, mostly being done by males. For them, it seemed like the bike ride was a reason to drink. Let's just remind everyone that a bike is considered a vehicle and you can be pulled over for DUI on a non-motorized bike in Florida.

I was reminded of this when reading this story in CityLab, click title for link:

The numbers from the latest study on cycling and safety are alarming, no doubt. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, the number of cyclists killed in crashes with motor vehicles climbed 16 percent between 2010 and 2012. So alarming, in fact, that Streetsblog pulled out both Y axes to deflate the claim that cycling is dangerous.
Risk, according to fatality data put out by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is far lower today than at any point in the last three decades. Although the number of fatal accidents has increased, the number of cyclist commuters has absolutely surged. In part, that's a function of new investments in infrastructure and innovation, which has made cycling more appealing to more Americans in only a short time. And that means that even though the absolute number of deaths has risen, the relative risk of every ride is actually much lower.  
Case closed. Miller time, right? Not exactly. Another part of the report is slightly more worrisome, and not just a trick of the numbers. The same Governors Highway Safety Association study finds that 88 percent of the victims of fatal cycling accidents in 2012 were men. Worse still, 28 percent of all fatal-accident victims in 2012 had a BAC of more than 0.08 percent. The risk question aside, is bro culture claiming cyclists' lives?

The numbers are very convincing. For the safety of everyone joining the Critical Mass ride next Friday, try to refrain until after the ride is over.

Big news about FPL

Selling our utility seems more like a pipe dream now. The focus is getting our rates equal to FPL and part of that will include reducing the contribution the utility makes to the general fund. Here is FPL and their parent company's third quarter report for 2014. Click title for link.

Customer growth and capital investments helped drive Florida Power & Light Co.’s profits for the third quarter, as the average number of customer accounts increased by 82,000 to 4.7 million.
Profits for both FPL and its parent company, NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) rose for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
FPL’s net income grew 9 percent to $462 million and $1.05 per share from $422 million and 99 cents per share for the same quarter a year ago.

FPL has 110 megawatts of solar-generated power operating in Florida and wants to do more. Although utility-scale solar projects are not generally cost-effective, the company believes it can bring three roughly 75 megawatt solar photo-voltaic projects into service by 2016, Dewhurst said.
The solar projects’ costs would not be added to customer base rates until after the four-year agreement expires in 2016.

West Palm Beach art chair: outlet mall’s “sails” not art | West Palm Beat

Requiring art as a percentage of cost of a project is a program that many cities adopted. West Palm Beach is one of those cities and I wouldn't be surprised that the Town of Jupiter is one too. Later today, I will post pictures of the new Harbourside Place project that I visited earlier this week. You will see many examples of public art placements there that stood out in their design and number. Click title for link to article. Commissioner Materio feels passionate about the issue.

The head of the city’s “Art in Public Places” committee hates the artwork the Palm Beach Outlet Mall is submitting to meet its requirements with the city.
“The project they are proposing is not art and is exactly the type of project that we as a committee have worked to avoid,” James Knox told commissioners at their  meeting on Monday. “This is a prime example of a proposal by a developer that is an attempt to skirt the ordinances in order to save money.”
What Knox was talking about was the overhead “sun sails” the mall installed to provide some coverage from sun and rain prior to its opening in February.
The city’s “art in public places” program requires developers, as part of city approval, to provide art, or cash, equal to 1 percent of the value of any construction or renovation project of at least $500,000.

Coming November 15th!

Happy Halloween!

Flagler Memorial (North) Bridge

The Flagler Memorial Bridge will reopen to two lanes of traffic on Saturday, Nov. 1. There will be one lane of traffic in each direction with no restrictions. The north sidewalk will reopen for pedestrians. 

The ramp from northbound Flagler Drive to the eastbound Flagler Memorial Bridge is permanently closed. Drivers going north on Flagler Drive who want to go east over the bridge should go west on Banyan Boulevard to N. Dixie Highway, take N. Dixie Highway north N. Quadrille Boulevard, and take N. Quadrille Boulevard east across the bridge. 

Royal Park (Middle) Bridge 
Left turn restrictions are in place at the intersection of Flagler Drive and the Royal Park Bridge. Drivers going south on Flagler Drive cannot turn left to go east over the Royal Park Bridge and drivers going west over the Royal Park Bridge cannot turn left to go south on Flagler Drive. The following detours are in place: 

Drivers going south on Flagler Drive who want to go east over the Royal Park Bridge should take S. Dixie Highway to Okeechobee Boulevard and go east on Okeechobee Boulevard to cross the Royal Park Bridge. 

Drivers going west on the Royal Park Bridge who want to go south on Flagler Drive should continue west to S. Dixie Highway, go south on S. Dixie Highway to Okeechobee Boulevard, and go east on Okeechobee Boulevard to Flagler Drive. 

Bridge Openings 
As of Nov. 1, Flagler Memorial Bridge opens for marine traffic as needed once per hour at 15 minutes past the hour. Royal Park Bridge opens for marine traffic as needed twice per hour on the hour and at half-past the hour. The Southern Boulevard Bridge opens for marine traffic as needed twice per hour at 15 minutes past the hour and 45 minutes past the hour. In case of an emergency, these bridges open on demand. Bridge information is published in the Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners at www.navcen.uscg.gov

Remember, you get a chance to turn back time this Sunday at 2 a.m.

Coming up November 5th...at Little Munich

Wise

FYI - An example of Public Information - Emails to elected and public officials

Lake Worth's proposed panhandling ban is too broad | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

The Post's editorial board weighs in on the anti-panhandling ordinance up for second reading this coming Tuesday. Click title for link. I have some concerns about its ability to be enforced and with that comes some vagueness, and they pick up on that. Here is a bit from the editorial:

City attorneys say Lake Worth’s ordinance, which faces a final vote Tuesday, is modeled on similar panhandling bans in Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg. Lake Worth’s ordinance wouldn’t ban panhandling across the board, but it would do so in many of the places where people are most likely to congregate: bus stops, cafes, parking lots and within 15 feet of the entrance to any business or government building.
That would seem to eliminate nearly all of downtown Lake Worth’s main strip, whose sidewalks are lined with small stores, cafes and bars. The rule may not officially impose any blanket bans on panhandling downtown, but that very well could be its practical effect.
The proposed rules would also impose a sweeping ban on all “aggressive panhandling,” which is defined as repeated or intimidating requests, including those accompanied by physical contact or verbal threats. Since much of this sort of behavior is illegal already, it’s doubtful that this prohibition will raise many hackles. It’s the bans on simple panhandling that seem more problematic.