Ella Baker

"Give light and people will find the way."

Ryan Maier, Lake Worth District 4 candidate, and his schtick at the door

From several sources, we learned of Ryan Maier's campaign schtick. He's taught by political professionals, you know. He knocks on the door and when someone answers he says this:

"Hi, I am Ryan Maier and I am running for commissioner. Do you know who this is?"

Maier then quickly produces a picture of Commissioner John Szerdi and says this:

"No surprise there. No one else has either. He is a do-nothing commissioner."

Then Maier goes on to promise the sun, the moon, and the stars. Consistent with what has gone on before. This is the same Ryan Maier that was kicked off the Sister City board for lack of attendance.

What a wonderful dance night at the Lake Worth Casino Ballroom last evening

AnnaMaria was at the Lake Worth Casino Ballroom last night for the special Daddy/daughter and Mother/son Date Night and took a lot of pictures. Click title for link. This is what you call Community Journalism at its best. Thank you, AnnaMaria!

Crime in Lake Worth and the BIG LIE

Everyone knows how "the other blogger" (TOB) greatly inflates the crime issue here in our little City of Lake Worth.

This is how TOB attempts to manipulate her readers: along with actual crimes like assault and theft, TOB's latest rant includes these 'crimes' such as JUVENILE TROUBLE (3), SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT (3), and BEVERAGE VIOLATION (2). These are NOT CRIMES.

Then TOB does this:

Do you know where Lake Bass Circle is? Hint: it's not in the City of Lake Worth. Not even close. In TOB's zeal to highlight crime in Lake Worth, she fails to go through the list and identify which crimes actually occurred in our City.

Then TOB throws in crimes like a theft/larceny on High Ridge Road without specifying which side of the road. The north side is Lake Worth; the south side is unincorporated Palm Beach County. But it's Close Enough for TOB.

Now TOB has an ally in her attempt to smear our PBSO and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to obfuscate the issue, Margaret Menge. Later next week I'll demonstrate how Margaret Menge manipulates her "Crime Blotter" to make it appear that the crime issue is worse than the reality.

Be very skeptical of people like TOB and Margaret Menge. They're trying to manipulate public perceptions of reality. Think of a Wannabe-FOX News, Lake Worth Bureau.

Beach Parking with a Debit Card

There are occasions that I do not ride my bike to the beach, but they are rare. When I do, like yesterday morning, I park in the lower lot, do the dance at the parking kiosk, put the receipt in the window and off I go to the pool. This is how the charge usually shows up in my bank account online:

It is a minimum of $4 for a length of stay up to two hours if you use a credit or debit card to cover the fees the city has to pay for a small charge such as this. Like I said, it is a rare event, but with the wind and bridge repairs being what they have been, I've used this method more frequently. I never have had a resident beach parking pass, but may consider it.

From yesterday's parking this is how the charge looked in my bank account this morning:

That's also an XL black Dunkin' Donuts coffee from this morning.

Why would the same machine, 4 days later have a charge for the beach parking meter as "Coca Beach Area Chamb...Merritt Isla...FL"?? I have never been but hear it's lovely. There is no other charge that could be the Lake Worth beach.

Is this some sort of skimming? A fluke? Are the parking fees still going to Lake Worth? Did the meter re-set itself to a previous owner? Are these meters part of a larger network?

 I just find this odd and have never seen this before.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) Operation to Deter Prostitution in Lake Worth

Lake Worth Prostitution Operation

Due to numerous citizen complaints of prostitution activity, PBSO – City of Lake Worth, conducted an operation designed specifically to combat street prostitution activity. This operation was designed to deter individuals from patronizing local prostitutes conduction activities in the City of Lake Worth.

Stats February 2 – February 5, 2015 - Lake Worth Prostitution Operation
February 2nd
Total Arrests – 18
Drugs/Narcotics – (1) Marijuana, (1) MDA
Warrants Arrests – 1
Guns Recovered – 1

February 3rd
Total Arrests – 17
Drugs/Narcotics – None
Warrants Arrests – 1
Guns Recovered – 1

February 4th
Total Arrests – 19
Drugs/Narcotics – None
Warrants Arrests – (1) “Coco” Travesty prostitute
Outstanding Felony PC – (1) Julio Soto
Guns Recovered – 0

February 5th
Total Arrests – 19 (18 Males & 1 Female)
Drugs/Narcotics –(2) Marijuana
Warrants Arrests – 0
Guns Recovered – 0

The lowly hyphen: a character inferior to an "en", but in the hands of Margaret Menge? A powerful tool

Stay with me here.

In publishing there are three "dashes":
An "em": —
An "en": –
And the lowly "hyphen": -

Margaret Menge knows the difference. She knows where 'dashes' are used and when, as importantly, when they are not to be used.

Here is an excerpt from Margaret Menge's newspaper on 2/6/15, her 4th issue, on page 4:

Register Monday—Thursday, 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at the Osborne Community Center at 1699 Wingfield Street.
Registration ends Saturday, March 7. For more information, call Coach Osborne at 540-5133 [...]

Note how Margaret Menge uses the em (—) appropriately, the en (–) in a range, and a hyphen (-) in a phone number.

Here is a line from Ms. Menge's newspaper on page 3 about the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival and the need for volunteers to help with the Trolley "Welcome Wagons" shuttling visitors to the festival:

Email Greg Rice at greg-rice33460@gmail.com to volunteer.

Only an intern or an amateur editor, surely not a 'journalist' with skill levels equal to Margaret Menge, would line-break an email address. A professional editor would edit to avoid. Well, she did and we think it was purposeful. This is what you see when you email greg-rice33460@gmail.com:

Here is Greg Rice's actual email address: gregrice33460@gmail.com

Question; the casual reader of Margaret Menge's newspaper would be expected to know the hyphen (-) in Mr. Greg Rice's email address is unnecessary? Of course not. 

Nice try, Margaret. Oh, and by the way, all the volunteers for the "Welcome Wagons" are already scheduled. At least that is my understanding, however, email Greg Rice to be sure.

Watch out for Negative Nellies...

On February 22/23 the annual Street Painting Festival will kick off in our downtown Lake Worth. This will be the 21st year of our signature City event. The festival that helped put our little City of Lake Worth on the map.

Last year's festival was the best attended Street Painting Festival ever, by most accounts. However, some were not happy. What if I told you on February 21, 2014, the day before last year's Street Painting Festival, a Lake Worth resident and blogger included a picture of a Hispanic male "conked out" drunk on Lake Avenue?

Well, that is exactly what the other blogger did:

Many bloggers use "keyword manipulation" to drive traffic to their blogs. Notice along with her tags of "street painting festival, city of lake worth", the other blogger also includes the tags "addictive substance, illegals, third world". This is intentional.

By adding the extra tags, that blogger was trying to increase that blog's traffic and attempting to manipulate visitors to her blog to not attend the Festival. Why include a picture of an 'illegal, third world' (according to the "tags"), Hispanic male 'conked out' on the day before the Festival, on Lake Avenue? That blogger tried to damage the image of the Festival. Some people can't help but spread their miserableness.

Some readers of that blog were tired of the antics and childish behavior and they let its author know it:

As we get closer to the Street Painting Festival, a small cadre of troublemakers may try to drive wedges in our community for their own petty political objectives. When you hear or read criticisms of the Festival and its organizers, understand their motivations aren't objective or ideologically pure.

Stay positive. Help your City. Leave the politics of envy and hate out of OUR STREET PAINTING FESTIVAL. Choose carefully that which you choose to read. The city you save may be your own.

Forget LA and NYC: This is the New Maker Hotspot [Lake Worth, FL]

Click title for link to a great article circulating on the Internet about Lake Worth and the LuLa program. The CRA is mentioned, along with the $23 million in NSP2 monies that were used to improve the city, and add to our artistic community. Love the headline! From the article:

A small city in South Florida is an under-the-radar, up-and-coming hotbed of makers. Miami obviously has a huge arts scene. Locals know that Ft. Lauderdale does, too. 

But Lake Worth, in Palm Beach County, is the one to watch. It’s a city on the verge.

Here is what you see on the "Commissioner McVoy for re-election" web page

Screen grab for Commissioner McVoy's web site taken on 2/6/15

I encourage everyone to get out and vote for Commissioner McVoy on November 6th. 

The 4th Edition of Margaret Menge's newspaper is out and what a mess!

Above the banner on Menge's newspaper is the line: Lake Worth's Best Local Newspaper. Ms. Menge claims this after only 4 issues. Four.

If you don't know, this is Ms. Menge's second attempt at publishing "the news" in Lake Worth. Read about her first try here in 2012.

The Lake Worth Herald, of course, is the City of Lake Worth's "Oldest Established Business", in their 103rd year and on issue number 6 this year publishing a newspaper in our City. Outlandish claims are one of Ms. Menge's journalistic talents, and if you've been reading my blog about Ms. Menge, you are aware of her issues when it comes to facts and the truth.

What better barometer of Ms. Menge's "Best Local Newspaper" than advertisers? Here is the number of ads in Menge's newspaper by issue:
January 16, issue 1: 8
January 23, issue 2: 8
January 30, issue 3: 7
February 6, issue 4: 4

The number of ads in The Lake Worth Herald this week: 38

And it gets curiouser and curiouser at Ms. Menge's newspaper: the Classifieds. In each of the categories, Jobs!, For Sale!, Sale/Rent Houses, Apartments, Community, and Dating (???) the same phone number appears in each ad: (561) 586-6643.

Here is the ad Ms. Menge published in her paper in the "Dating" section:

Dating: Call (561) 586-6643 to submit your classified ad for DATING and get results!

Ms. Menge doesn't clarify what she means by "get results!" But if you're living a life of loneliness I wouldn't recommend advertising in Menge's paper. You'd have a better chance for a love connection at The Lake Worth Herald. 

Show us the proof... [UPDATE]

[UPDATE AT END OF ARTICLE]

This image from Facebook was sent to me by a reader of my blog last night (Wednesday, 2/4/15).

Mrs. McGiveron: I never asked for such a list. I do not have such a list. I don't know if such a list even exists. Even if it did, it would have no basis on how I conduct myself on the Historic Resource Preservation Board. If you examine the record of the board's actions, you would find fair treatment across all of the applicants that appear before us. What and who people have supported at election times is immaterial to the board's decisions. I invite you to view the videos of our meetings that can be found on the city's website, or attend a meeting in person to see for yourself.

I would ask that you retract or delete your assertion on Facebook, as it is baseless.

Oh, and by the way, the word "lawsuit" is one word, not two. A 'lawsuit' is quite different from a "law suite".

[UPDATE: It has come to my attention that the entire thread on Facebook, including the offensive accusation by Mrs. Katie McGiveron, has been deleted.]

Essential resource for the Arts and events in Lake Worth

If you follow the art scene in Lake Worth at least once a week you need to visit Rickie Leiter's The Rickie Report. This week in The Rickie Report is this story on our Lake Worth treasure McMow Art Glass. From the article:

McMow Art Glass is proud to announce The Shari Lynn Soldano-Carney Scholarship Fund. Shari frequented classes and entered contests at McMow, as she found a place to immerse herself in creativity. Throughout Shari’s life she was always looking for new therapeutic and creative outlets to craft her expressionism and skills. McMow Art Glass is proud to partner with Shari’s family to honor her memory. Each April, in conjunction with the ‘Glass as Art Contest’, a scholarship recipient will be awarded. This scholarship will be utilized to provide a comprehensive glass arts education, including glass blowing classes through the Benzaiten Center for the Creative Arts, to a local student in need. The Rickie Report is honored to share the information and a few photos of Shari’s beautiful glass work.

To contribute to this fund please make checks payable to: McMow Art Glass
(Memo: The Shari Lynn Soldano-Carney Scholarship Fund)
Mail checks to: McMow Art Glass, 701 N. Dixie Hwy, Lake Worth, FL 33460

From The Coastal Star: City of Gulf Stream revising sign law

Dan Moffett writes this article titled, "Gulf Stream: Town revises sign law amid claims it quashes civil liberties". Two interesting excerpts from the article:

     Town commissioners gave unanimous final approval to a revised signage law at a Jan. 26 special meeting and — with only Chris O’Hare and Marty O’Boyle, the town’s litigious critics, on hand to offer opinions — immediately faced authoritarian comparisons.
     O’Hare likened the law to suppression of free speech worthy of the world’s worst totalitarian states. “In North Korea, anyone speaking ill of Kim Jong Un will be arrested and never heard from again,” he said. “In Cuba, anyone speaking badly of Fidel Castro or his revolution will be arrested and serve jail time.”

[and...]

   “Your comments are palpably absurd,” Morgan [Gulf Stream Mayor Scott Morgan] told O’Boyle and O’Hare. “Comments comparing this town to despotic regimes are insulting and absurd. Your comments are designed to take what is a good-faith effort by this town to pass a reasonable ordinance — and as always apply the ordinance fairly — but your attempts are to position as such so you can advance legal action against it, again costing us time, resources and money.”
     In October, the commission voted to pursue a RICO case against the two men, alleging abuses of public records requests and frivolous lawsuits.

Another Lake Worth Restaurant in the News: The Pelican Restaurant downtown

Staci Sturrock in the Post's TGIF section has a front page, above-the-fold story on the TOP 10 restaurants to get the best blueberry pancakes. The story is titled, appropriately in the print edition, "BERRY, BERRY GOOD".

And guess what? A Lake Worth restaurant made the list. The Pelican Restaurant at 610 Lake Ave in Lake Worth. Staci Sturrock had this to say:

Whole-wheat blueberry pancakes are a staple at this breakfast spot in downtown Lake Worth.

The reviews on TripAdvisor are off-the-charts excellent. Here is one (there are 8 pages of excellent reviews):

Make sure you stop by and get some blueberry pancakes...in the little City of Lake Worth!