Senator Jeff Clemens tries to get Governor Scott's Emergency Management official to say "Climate Change."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has said that states must account for the effects of climate change in emergency management plans or face the possibility of losing federal disaster assistance money. The problem is that Governor Scott has banned state employees from using the term, "climate change." This resulted in one official being suspended and made to go through a mental health evaluation before returning to his position. State Senator Clemens tries to coax those words out of this state employee. Hilarity ensues.

Margaret Menge: more errors in her "community newspaper"—she misquotes John Szerdi

Received a text this morning pointing out more errors in Ms. Menges newspaper. These errors appear on page 7 in the "Full Text of Speech by Outgoing Commissioner John Szerdi". I took a video of John Szerdi's speech and you can watch that here.

 Mr. Szerdi's comments begin at the 1:50 mark on the video and Ms. Menge's errors can be verified starting at the 2:50 mark on the video:

Ms. Menge published this:

And I challenge those of you who don't know me to challenge any evidence to the contrary.

Mr. Szerdi said:

And I challenge those of you who don't know me to produce any real evidence to the contrary.

Ms. Menge published this:

I do take solace in the fact that there's no true satisfaction in learning by deceit.

Mr. Szerdi said:

I do take solace in the fact that there's no true satisfaction in winning by deceit.

Ms. Menge is a self-described 'journalist' and 'editor' with experience in the field of journalism, or so she claims. That experience has culminated in a newspaper that, after 10 issues, is still FREE and has almost no advertising. 

She's used her FREE newspaper to go after people like Nadine Burns, Mayor Pam Triolo, Marshall Pass, Gerald Coscia, John Szerdi, and if the reports are accurate, Commissioner Andy Amoroso is her target this week (which makes sense since PrideFest begins this Saturday). It's a truly sad commentary on what is offered up to the community of Lake Worth by Ms. Menge, a 'journalist' who has to corrected by a blogger and other citizens who have no professional journalism background at all. 

No doubt there are other, and I would guess many more errors in Ms. Menge's "Full Text of Speech by Outgoing Commissioner John Szerdi". I'll have more of them tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

Pictures of the Flolfing Event in our Downtown Jewel Neigborhood

Go to AnnaMaria's blog and check out all the pictures. The event was a huge success. You can find out more about the Downtown Jewel Neighborhood Association here.

If you want to know more about your neighborhood association or find which neighborhood you live in, go to the Neighborhood Associations Presidents' Council (NAPC) website where there is a map and also a link to each and every neighborhood association in the City of Lake Worth.

Here is the NAPC Facebook page and email.

Special meeting tonight, vis-à-vis the Gulfstream Hotel, and another reporting error by Ms. Menge

At 7:00 tonight a presentation will be given by Hudson Holdings about plans for the Gulfstream Hotel. You can hear for yourself what is happening without getting the filtered version with all the innuendo, misinformation, and disinformation you've heard up to this point.

The meeting is sponsored by the Bryant Park Neighborhood Association and will be located at The Beach Club at the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course.

In another reporting error by Margaret Menge on March 20th:

A presentation on The Cottages of Lake Worth will precede the presentation by representatives from Hudson Holdings.

This is not true. The Cottages of Lake Worth presentation was cancelled and will be rescheduled.

Work on the Lake Worth bridge is finishing up. . .

Taken March 23rd at about 11:30 a.m.

Thank goodness this is getting back to normal. I really am surprised that there have been no serious pedestrian/bicycle/car accidents while the bridge was down to half its usual capacity.

It's official: U.S. House Representative Patrick Murphy running for the U.S. Senate

George Bennett at the Post On Politics blog has the text from Patrick Murphy's statement announcing his run for Marco Rubio's Senate seat:

     “I’ve spent the last several months considering the best way I can continue to serve the people of Florida, and today, after much thought and discussion with people from across this state, I’m proud to announce that I will be a candidate for the United States Senate in 2016.
     “I’m a CPA and small businessman – not a career politician – who saw the dysfunction in Washington and decided to do something about it. I’m running for the U.S. Senate for the same reason I ran for Congress in 2012 – Washington is full of hyper-partisan politicians who can’t, or won’t, get anything done, and Florida deserves better. I’m a consensus-builder who is working to boost the economy by cutting waste in government, raise the minimum wage, strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and protect the Everglades. I’ve done all of this by being an independent voice for Florida, and that’s what the Senate needs more of right now.
     “For years, Senator Rubio has put the needs of Floridians behind his presidential ambitions. We need a leader in the Senate whose eyes are firmly fixed on the people of Florida by working together to get things done. In the coming months, I look forward to meeting Floridians across the state to listen, earn their trust, and ask for their support.”

Patrick Murphy is no stranger to long odds. Remember Allen West's meteoric political rise? It was Patrick Murphy who had Allen West crash and burn on the national stage for all to see.

Sound familiar? Drainage problems in Holly Hill, FL: fix will cost $28 million

Holly Hill is a city north of Daytona Beach with about one-third the population of Lake Worth. Here from the Daytona Beach News-Journal on infrastructure needs to counter their flooding woes:

     New pump stations, retention ponds and pipe replacements are all part of a comprehensive stormwater master plan to solve Holly Hill’s flooding woes.
     But with a price tag of more than $28 million, city commissioners say it will take some time to put the pieces together — and some outside help.
     “The study was kind of a dream plan,” Commissioner John Capers said. “I think we’re going to try and tackle some of the smaller things.”
For decades, flooding has plagued Holly Hill as well as other municipalities along Volusia’s east coast. City Manager Joe Forte said often when it rains that streets and yards become inundated with water that has no place to go. After a no-name storm dumped up to 25 inches on parts of the small city in 2009, Volusia County property records show 101 single family homes, 22 commercial units and 95 multi-family structures sustained “major” damage and hundreds more were “affected” by the storm.
     One of the main causes outlined in the city’s master plan released last week is the capacity and age of the existing stormwater infrastructure. [emphasis added]

Sound familiar? Interestingly, Holly Hill was incorporated in 1901 and, like the City of Lake Worth, has an aging infrastructure in need of repair. You can read more about Holly Hill here.

From Kevin Thompson at the Post: "Can we talk? In Greenacres, contact between staff, council prohibited"

Surprising political activity in the City of Greenacres, our neighbor to the west. They have a very strict policy on how/when council members can talk to staff members and vice versa. Some want the policy changed; from the article:

     The policy [Greenacres City Council policy No. 14] states that any council member who wants to talk city business with a staff employee must do so through the city manager and that staff members can’t talk to a city council member regarding city business without first getting consent from the city manager.
     The policy is under attack from two council members — Judy Dugo and Jonathan Pearce — who want to see it abolished.
     “It has an intimidating effect on employees and the council,” Dugo said. “I’m not undermining the city manager (by talking city business with a staff employee). We have seven department heads, and I think I should be able to ask them a question or share something. I’m a little frustrated.”
     At Monday’s council meeting, Dugo asked for the policy to be placed on the April 20 meeting as a discussion item.
     Pearce said the city uses the policy as a “weapon” to keep council members and staff workers in line.
     “They want to keep everything hush-hush so no one can talk to each other,” Pearce said.

The article by Kevin Thompson gives examples of how other city's handle this situation, Royal Palm Beach and Boynton Beach. It's a very good read and encourage those interested in policy to read the article.

Full story from Lake Worth Herald: "Racial Slurs Offend Member of City Staff Prior to Swearing In"

Here is the full story from the front page of The Lake Worth Herald about Dee McNamara and racial slurs at a public meeting (prior to swearing in ceremony) at City Hall on Monday, 3/16:

     Monday, prior to the start of the swearing in ceremonies, city staff placed signs on some of the pews in the commission chambers reserving seating for family members of Christopher McVoy, Ryan Maier and John Szerdi.
     According to a staff member, Dee McNamara complained and was told she should find another seat. McNamara asked the staff member if she expected her to sit in the back like a N_____. The staff member was deeply offended and McNamara pointed to the skin on her arm and asked if she looked like a N_____.
     The staff member demanded an apology and wouldn’t give in until McNamara apologized, which she, according to sources, finally did reluctantly.
     The staff member reported the incident to City Manager Michael Bornstein and City Attorney Christy Goddeau. Bornstein and Goddeau both confirmed they were apprised of the situation by the staff member.
     When asked about the incident, McNamara first said she was reserving a seat for Ryan. She then asked who was telling those lies about her and hung up the phone.

Here is what Lynn Anderson has to say about Dee McNamara using the 'N-word':

Here's another little item from Lynn Anderson, one of Dee McNamara's best friends (there's a lot more where this came from):

19 Days Later: Still no apology from The Palm Beach Post editorial board to Mr. Bornstein

"It’s healing time, folks."

—Rick Christie, Editor of the Palm Beach Post editorial board, 3/15/2015

Mr. Christie's sentiment is ringing hollow.

Prior to March 3, 2015, there have been no news reports in The Palm Beach Post (or anywhere else I am aware of) concerning any alleged inappropriate activity by Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein. Not one single reference. Mr. Bornstein has had a stellar career and has many supporters both within the City and throughout Palm Beach County. He has a good, solid reputation.

On March 3rd, Stacey Singer at the Post editorial board, penned the candidate endorsements for Commissioner McVoy and then-candidate Ryan Maier. It is her freedom to endorse the candidates she and the Post choose to endorse. However, it was completely unnecessary and unfair to lead the public to believe City Manager Bornstein may have been engaged in inappropriate behavior and using a clever oblique reference to the Sunshine Law.

In today's editorial (3/22) the Post came out strongly in defense of the county's Office of Inspector General and the need for the cities to do their part funding the OIG. The matter, it would seem, comes down to the issue of trust in government, no?

If they feel so strongly about trust then why would the Post, just nineteen days ago, unfairly call into question the ethics and public trust of a hard-working public official like City Manager Bornstein? He did nothing wrong. His only 'crime' was being the city manager during an election cycle in our City of Lake Worth.

Rick Christie and The Palm Beach Post editorial board set a very bad precedent:

Argument from ignorance (Latin: argumentum ad ignorantiam), also known as appeal to ignorance (in which ignorance stands for "lack of evidence to the contrary"), is a fallacy in informal logic. It asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false (or vice versa). This represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes a third option, which is that there is insufficient investigation and therefore insufficient information to prove the proposition satisfactorily to be either true or false. [emphasis added] Nor does it allow the admission that the choices may in fact not be two (true or false), but may be as many as four,

1. true
2. false
3. unknown between true or false
4. being unknowable (among the first three).

In debates, appeals to ignorance are sometimes used to shift the burden of proof.

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S QUESTION: From a loyal reader, "Notice anything unusual about this Lake Worth map?"

[SEE BELOW FOR ANSWER TO QUESTION!]

[Text from original post on 3/21:] How about you, my blog readers, do you notice anything unusual about this map of Lake Worth? This map appears on the back page of an ALWAYS FREE newspaper. I'll have the answer tomorrow and you're not going to believe it.

Here is the answer and you are not going to believe this:

Of course, this map is from Ms. Menge's Lake Worth 'community newspaper'. Consider these facts about the map:

• There is not one single business recommended on Lucerne Ave.
• No businesses are recommended at the Lake Worth beach
• The only businesses recommended (excluding one) are located in one single, small corridor.
• Two essential items for any "community" map, the location of City Hall and the Post Office, are not shown.
• The location of Lake Worth's oldest business not indicated on map.

This map is from the latest ALWAYS FREE paper by Ms. Menge, Vol. 1, Issue 10. Lake Worth has a thriving, loyal business community throughout the City; however, you wouldn't learn about it from this map.

From today's Post, front page below-the-fold: "Scripps: Non-biotech company ‘tenable’ on bio land — with conditions"

Many articles of late about Palm Beach Gardens. This is one from Tony Doris on the Scripps Research Institute and the Briger Tract that's part of their planned expansion:

     Scripps Research Institute, the center of a world-class biotech cluster meant to transform the county and state, says any effort to fill adjacent Palm Beach Gardens land meant for biotech spinoffs with companies not related to the industry violates the covenants upon which its arrival was based 10 years ago.
     At the same time Scripps, in a March 10 letter to Assistant Palm Beach County Administrator Shannon LaRocque, acknowledges pressure from business boosters to land a major non-biotechnology corporation on roughly one-third of the reserved parcel.

[and . . .]

     The Palm Beach Gardens land, known as the Briger Tract, was set aside as a crucial part of that plan, with room for spinoffs and other biotech companies to create critical mass for medical advances and economic growth.
     With a recession in the intervening years, that growth has been slow to materialize and United Technologies Corp. represents a big bird in hand.
     Kolter and those pressing for UTC and its 450 promised jobs paying an average of $85,000 a year on the northern 30 acres of Parcel B say the corporation fits the definition of high-tech in the covenants.

An American Answer for a public need: The price of a classical education for your children

No doubt there are many people in Palm Beach County who want a classical education for their children and who see the benefit of learning Latin and Greek as well as other classical learning theories. The question is this: should the taxpayers pay for it? Is it logical to criticize the county school system then demand taxpayer money from that very school system to selectively educate a chosen few? 

There's been an American answer to this question for many years (going back to at least the 19th Century) and its worked quite well: a private education. A new school is opening in the City of Lake Worth at the First Church of the Nazarene and they're not looking for a handout from the taxpayer. The school is called the Classical Christian Academy of the Palm Beaches. Here is their school tuition statement:

     After our families have paid their taxes to support public schools – which their children do not attend – we also charge tuition, and often ask for donations on top of that. Christian schools are bathed in prayer, but they are fueled by money. Think of Classical Christian Education, not merely in terms of "price" and "cost," but even more in terms of "investment" and "value." [emphasis added] Schools like CCA prepare students for college – spiritually as well as academically – so tuition dollars are really an investment in your children's future well-being.
     Still, realistically, making tuition can be tough – not impossible, but tough. If the Lord is calling you to do this, He will provide to make it happen.
     "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

Here is the tuition to attend the school:

Kindergarten
$8,000 per year

1st-5th Grade
$8,500 per year

Activity fee $600 per student

Next Friday, March 27, from 7pm–8pm, the Classical Christian Academy of the Palm Beaches will have a meeting to introduce their school. The meeting will be held at 1401 2nd Ave N, Lake Worth.

There's a chicken fight in Jacksonville and here come the yard signs!

A Jacksonville resident is angry as hell with the "unelected president of our non existent neighborhood homeowners association". The neighbor in question, instead of walking over and asking, "Are you raising chickens?", instead went to code enforcement and filed an anonymous complaint. Here from the story in The Shark Tank:

     On Thursday, I was falsely accused of harboring chickens in my backyard. Yes, chickens! I may have some in my fridge that I bought at the grocery store, but I did not know that was against the law.     Anyway, Jacksonville code enforcement representatives appeared at my door to search for the hidden fowl. I gave them the grand tour and as they suspected there were no chickens!     Don’t get me wrong… I am not mad at the code enforcement officers for doing their job. I am mad at the noisy neighbor who reported the incident anonymously and without merit. Of course I voiced my concern to the code enforcement office.

The neighbor falsely accused of harboring chickens made signs and put them in the yard. Here is what one of the signs read:

NO!! WE DON'T HAVE CHICKENS OR ROOSTERS! BUT...YOU ARE A CHICKEN BY NOT ASKING US FIRST!

From Kimberly Miller: "Our Growing Market: Who’s buying now?"

It's a good question and she answers it. The Palm Beach Post article has the numbers and they're very interesting: average down payment, average age, etc. Reading the article you can see why Lake Worth is such an attractive market with new townhomes/apartments being constructed and the supply of rentals and single-family homes.

Lake Worth is the perfect City for up-sizers and down-sizers as well. Here, for example, is the Lucenté project being constructed in the downtown. 

Here's an excerpt from the article by Kimberly Miller:

     The retreat of investors from South Florida’s housing market has left room for traditional homebuyers, but jacked-up prices, lack of inventory under $300,000 and lofty lending standards are still barriers to the American Dream.
     Nationally, millennial buyers — people age 34 and younger — represented 32 percent of all purchases in the previous 12 months, according to a report this month from the National Association of Realtors.
     But Palm Beach County Realtors say anecdotally they’re not seeing a rush of millennials or first-time homebuyers largely because of a housing price shift that rocketed off 2011’s bottom to a median of $273,750 in January.
     Instead, move-up buyers looking for more space and retirees down sizing make up a good deal of Realtors’ clientele. Unless a first-time buyer is ready to handle a fixer-upper or townhome, they may be renting for the near future.

[and this amazing fact:]

     Nearly 69 percent of Palm Beach County condo and townhome sales in January were cash deals.