Thunder Thumbs

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School in Wynwood gets Street Art Treatment, like the Shuffleboard Court Building

Lake Worth Critical Mass Ride - 12/5 and some ABCs on counting

Stay with me here: Some of you are aware our Earth First (EF) friends had a protest in Palm Beach Gardens yesterday. I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for them. Every protest lately, in one way or another, was mishandled. The protest yesterday however was well managed and they stayed on message but sadly their efforts will go unnoticed by most due to the massive protest in Miami. WPTV (Channel 5), number one in local TV news, didn't even send a reporter to their protest.

You can see Channel 12's Chuck Weber news segment here. You can also read the story by Julius Whigham II in the Palm Beach Post here. It is interesting to note that Mr. Whigham reports there were "about 35 people" at the protest. [Editor's question: At a protest do young children count as one of the protesters?] Mr. Weber reports there were "several dozen" protesters. As of now we really don't know the actual count. I'm sure that EF would say there were hundreds.

The reason it's worth mentioning is that counting people is actually quite simple. For example, last night, I participated in the Critical Mass ride through Lake Worth. It was, without a doubt, the best ride ever by Critical Mass in our Lake Worth. The ride was led by a guy who went by "T3" and he did a remarkable job. About midway through the ride, a young man rode ahead of the pack, stopped, and began pointing at people riding by and counting off, "one, two, three", etc. When he pointed at me he said, "fifty-four". Later I learned from the young man there were sixty-eight riders last night. Exactly sixty-eight.

Big kudos to our Lake Worth Critical Mass.

FYI, the Critical Mass ride is the first Friday of every month. The next one is January 2nd. See you there!

Coming Soon - Behind the Scenes at La Joya Villages

 Construction tour video out next week!

See inside a Lake Worth castle; set to become next Red Cross Show House

Click title for link to article about the Birthday Cake Castle, right at the southeast corner of 5th Avenue South and South Lakeside. It will be a feature home in March, part of the Red Cross Designer Show House. The project went through the Historic Resource Preservation Board at its last meeting. From the article:

In the process,  the 7,000-square-foot estate, with 52 windows and an octagonal turret, will receive a major makeover from more than 20 local and national interior designers.
Designed by Addison Mizner draftsman G. Sherman Childs, the house was built in 1925 along the Lake Worth waterfront, where 5th Avenue South meets the Intracoastal, just south of Bryant Park. It was the first property included on the Lake Worth Register of Historic Places. (Childs also designed the Lake Worth City Hall.)
Built by local banker Earl Reed for his wife, Florence, in 1925, it didn’t earn its nickname until 1954, when ulta-conservative, anti-Semitic former foreign correspondent Upton Close bought the house as a birthday gift for his wife, Margaret Fretter Nye.
Since Close was tapped out after three divorce settlements, the wealthy Nye had to pay for her own present.

Nice to see one of the city's more important historic properties undergo a much needed renovation project and have it be in the spotlight.

Other things the Post beat reporter for Lake Worth writes about...

Chris Persaud is currently assigned the beat of covering Lake Worth for the Palm Beach Post. He has a story in today's 'B' section. Lately, Mr. Persaud has shown an ability to communicate the facts, successfully avoiding the "corrections" section. For those of you unaware, the Post publishes their corrections and clarifications on page 2 of the printed version of the paper's 'A' section, generally at the bottom of the page. Mr. Persaud has the rare honor of having to publish a correction and then having to publish a correction to the correction. You can read about that here.

Notably, I cannot find where the corrections are in the on line edition of the paper.

In another story that he is covering outside of Lake Worth, Mr. Persaud has weighed in on the "Double D Saloon" controversy that has many people upset. I think most people would not be happy to have a strip club in the neighborhood. You can read Mr. Persaud's story here.

The question I have is this, after reading Mr. Persaud's story, is there any there there? Do you feel like you've been manipulated just a little bit?

Mr. Persaud starts off the story with this paragraph:

Two Palm Beach County commissioners — Hal Valeche and Steven Abrams — PREVIOUSLY [emphasis added] accepted campaign contributions from the man behind the Double D strip club, whose construction along Southern Boulevard west of Florida’s Turnpike has generated fierce opposition from western communities’ residents.

A full 8 paragraphs later, after your blood pressure has already spiked, Mr. Persaud writes this:

The permit to build the Double D was issued in 2001, long before either Valeche or Abrams won a seat on the county commission.

If the sentence above was included in the first paragraph of the story, where campaign contributions by County Commissioners Valeche and Abrams were reported, wouldn't that have changed the entire perspective of the story? Would this be an example of "spin". Here is the definition of spin.

At least on the local level, I have found that campaign contributions do not sway the voting pattern of elected officials in a meaningful way anyway. It is also impossible to vote "retroactively", which would be the case if there were a there there in this story.

New Softball Team Formed

Correction to an earlier post on this blog. On Tuesday 12/2 I inadvertently attributed an apparent "gang hand gesture" to TOB . You can read that post here. It ends up that I was incorrect. The 'VL' hand gesture by TOB is not the symbol for the "Vice Lords" gang after all.

The "VL" gesture by TOB is actually the team gesture for the John Prince Park (Pinkie League) Softball Team, the Vapid Lacunas. Here is a promotional item for the newly formed team.

I'll be posting the schedule for the Vapid Lacunas: games, venue, starting line-up, fielding and batting statistics. 

Join me at the next game! Support our Lake Worth Vapid Lacunas!!!!!

GO TEAM!

From the Town of Palm Beach - Traffic Delays - Sunday, December 7th - Marathon of the Palm Beaches

The Marathon of the Palm Beaches is this Sunday, December 7th. Traffic to and from Palm Beach will be affected at various times from approximately 5:30 AM until approximately 2:00 PM. 

The Flagler Memorial (North) Bridge will remain open, but will be reduced to one travel lane with flagmen at the eastern and western ends of the bridge. Delays will be minor. 

The Royal Park (Middle) Bridge will be closed periodically and delays will be significant until approximately 10AM. 

The Southern and Lake Worth Bridges will experience periodic delays. 

Commuters are asked to be patient and plan travels accordingly.

Coming soon...Our roving reporter Larry the Lenz, with a new story!

Discussion regarding the Villages of Lake Osborne - Multifamily Project on Lake Worth Road

Important things are discussed here and you should take time to listen to the discussion. Here are some of the highlights, with minute marks and a synopsis of what was said at that point in the meeting.

4:25 - Market rate housing development. No subsidies.

8:30 - Status of pre-leasing on the Villages of Lake Worth project at the northwest corner of Boutwell and Lake Worth roads.

9:30 - Community benefits program discussion.

13:20 - Commissioner McVoy continues the community benefits program discussion. There is $14,000 in a "sustainable bonus trust fund" that the City Commission can determine how best to use to enhance community sustainability.

15:20 - "No investment in the city for seven years." William Waters.

16:00 - "$150 million worth of projects have come in for review" since passage of the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) last August. That is more than what came in during 2006-2007.

19:15 - Passed unanimously. There are four other large projects, including a hotel, on the way.

16 U.S. Communities Recognized as Climate Action Champions

Click title for link. Lake Worth is not mentioned. There are some Native American tribes on this list however.

Broward County, Fla.: Broward County, a member of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, a regional partnership of four counties (Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach) to advance climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 2 percent per year, reaching a 10 percent reduction target by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.

Don't forget. The Lake Worth Critical Mass bike ride is tonight

If you're looking to do something later on today, consider the Critical Mass bicycle ride tonight. The ride is open to everyone, even novice/rusty riders looking to get into the bike riding experience again. Tonight's ride is a 10 mile ride around our City of Lake Worth. The riders start assembling in front of the Gulf Stream Hotel at 6:15 and the ride sets off at 7:30 SHARP.

Although bike helmets are recommended, bicycle lights are mandatory. So make sure to check your batteries still have a charge. 

I have been on four Critical Mass rides and can attest they are quite fun. Here is a link to the Critical Mass Facebook page that has a map of the route tonight.

Evening on the Avenues - Tonight!

From Tuesday night's City Commission meeting (12/2) - City Commissioner Reports