Train/Auto Accident - Sixth Avenue South and FEC Tracks this morning:

Thanks Kevin D. Thompson: "Want to get wet and have fun this weekend? Lake Worth may have the answer"

Thanks to our new reporter at The Palm Beach Post, we have information on the water exercise classes that take place on the weekend. These are the same ones that I participate in and will be going to shortly. There is a class tomorrow, Monday, since it is a holiday. It will start at 10 a.m. like the regular classes and be followed by a potluck picnic at the pool.

From the article:

Well, a water exercise class will be held on Memorial Day at the Lake Worth Casino pool. The class is taught in shallow and deep waters. Equipment is provided.
Everyone is encouraged to bring something to eat so the group can have lunch together.
Class is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Fee is $5. For information, call Sally Welsh, 561-281-5086.

Small business owner in Lake Worth? Check out CRA Loan Program

Here is the website for the CRA Small Business Loan Program.

Why all the pulling of hair? Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell's comments from Lake Worth ITN Beach Workshop Meeting (5/19/15)

There is simply too much to point out in these three videos (the 1st one is 2:36 minutes, the 2nd is 9:22 and the 3rd is 2:46). What Vice Mayor Maxwell said in these three videos is causing much hand-wringing, hysterical reaction, and a quite a bit of anger from those who would prefer "THE BEACH!" history start from last year; the history of all those terrible mistakes went back much further than a year. Over the next week or so will feature one video at a time and pull out the major relevant facts and observations.

And Maxwell should know, he was there at the time watching it all happen, and warning of the train wreck to come.

When Maxwell was speaking you could see how uncomfortable Commissioner McVoy was, with good reason:

Why? McVoy was one of the people who made all those terrible decisions which has caused all the public angst of late. This boondoggle, the Casino complex (along with many others), is draining the City coffers dry. Who else was involved in this fiasco? Here they are:

Don't they all look so happy? If they only knew then what we all know now.

And more good news about the little City of Lake Worth!

The good news train just keeps on running for Lake Worth.

Wayne Washington at The Palm Beach Post with our local beat reporter Kevin Thompson and others contributing have this story about the rise in property values in the county (here is the story in the Sun Sentinel ). Property values are way up in the City. Out of all the municipalities Lake Worth had one of the highest raise in percentage. Consider this about Lake Worth's rise in property values (percentage):

• Higher than in unincorporated Palm Beach County
• Higher than all of Palm Beach County in total (cities and unincorporated combined)
• Higher than 26 other cities in the county (out of 38)
• Higher than the average of all cities combined
• Higher than Greenacres, Atlantis, and Palm Beach (33480)

Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein gets quoted:

     Other city officials saw the increased property values as validation of their growth and development strategies.
     “Lake Worth’s growth is more about people rediscovering and investing in our cottages, walkable neighborhoods and cool, funky downtown,” said Michael Bornstein, city manager of Lake Worth, which showed a 9.5 percent increase. “Unlike some of our sister cities that are adding new, large urban development communities, we are re-filling with residents who appreciate our lifestyle and assets such as the beach, golf course and arts scene.”

Congratulations Mayor Pam Triolo, Mr. Bornstein, to the rest of the City Commission, City staff, employees and volunteers that have worked so hard to make this happen. Viva Lake Worth!

Save the Date: June 13th at the Lake Worth Grey Mockingbird Garden

Note the sponsors of this special event. Remember to thank those who organized this event and all those, mostly volunteers, who help to make it happen. It's a community effort.

Jonathan Beaton (CBS12/WPEC) steps up & hits one out of the park: positive, upbeat segment on Lake Worth

Any of you who follow this blog know my near-disdain for TV news. The lack of time devoted to frame a story adequately the primary reason and also the high focus on the negative. Just the other day WPBF did a story on a shooting in Lake Worth and the man fortunately is going to be OK. The story ran in the morning and then later that night they promoted the story AGAIN as breaking news in Lake Worth.

I sent them a note asking if the man had gotten shot a second time. They took the story down. 

There is a lot of very positive stuff going on in the City of Lake Worth and CBS12/WPEC's Jonathan Beaton reports on one of them. You can see that story here. 

The reporter interviews a local school principal, city staff and one of our commissioners for this story. This area Mr. Beaton reports on is in the southwestern part of the City we know as District One. For many years it's been neglected by previous City administrations going way back. It's in this area of the City where Tammy Pansa and PBSO had their latest Crime Walk. 

Thank you, Mr. Beaton, for a job well done.

Here is an excerpt from the story on CBS12/WPEC:

     A Palm Beach County community is making big changes to the face of some of its most densely populated neighborhoods.
     CBS 12 learned the city of Lake Worth is determined to clean up unpaved streets and alleyways, which are often used by area children coming and going from school.
     “There was gravel, trash all over the place. There were abandoned cars along with all kinds of other things,” said Brian Killeen.
     Brian Killeen, the principal of Highland Elementary in Lake Worth, has seen the changes for himself.
     For years he watched his students walk through A and Fifth Avenue North, gravel roads deemed unsafe by locals.
     But now through Community Development Block Grants Jamie Brown, Lake Worth’s Brown Public Services Director, says the area’s been transformed into a gorgeous greenway.
     “These are grants you can apply for based on economic situations, basically areas of need if you don’t have the funds to do roadway projects,” said Jamie Brown.
     It’s a push Commissioner Andy Amoroso has been behind for years.

Mike Uhren with a Commentary: All Aboard Florida, ‘quiet zones’ help Palm Beach, Broward

Nick Uhren is the Executive Director of the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization. He writes about 'quiet zones' and the work that's being done along the FEC corridor in Palm Beach and our neighbor to the south, Broward County. Here's an excerpt:

     The Broward County and Palm Beach County Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) have been working together to ensure the residents, businesses and visitors along the Florida East Coast (FEC) railroad corridor can get some well-deserved quiet. Today, for safety reasons and per federal law, the trains operating in the FEC corridor must blow their horns at virtually every grade crossing. By law, a train horn must be between 96 and 110 decibels, which is as loud as a rock concert.
     But, there is another way to ensure safety without having to sound the horns. Quiet is coming as the MPOs are working with our municipal and county partners to move forward with a Quiet Zone designation. To help us establish this Quiet Zone the MPOs have set aside a small portion of our federal funding to build additional infrastructure (new medians and crossing gates). The additional infrastructure is needed to replace the safety of the train horns and to qualify for the Federal Rail Administration Quiet Zone designation.

[Worth Another Look] Michael Grunwald on President Obama's visit to the Everglades (last month)

[This post is from a month ago immediately after President Obama's visit to the Everglades. It was this visit some believe that fractured the political will on both sides of the aisle over spending so much money on Everglades "sheet flow" and the "Land Buy" that some thought was necessary: $700 million to start and at least $2.1 billion later. As President Obama teaches the nation about sea level rise and the risks to come, and hard choices to be made, many wondered the wisdom in saving the Everglades (especially south of Alligator Alley) when it's likely to be one of the first victims to rising seas. You can't build a wall around the area. It's a legitimate question since so much of the Everglades is below sea level and these are taxpayer dollars on the line.

So when the Post editorial board asks today, "Florida needs real plan to fight real sea-level rise" aren't they taking the easy way out by pointing fingers at the usual suspects in making this a political game of "gotcha"? And also note in the Post's editorial about sea level rise they don't mention one single time the man that has brought this topic to the forefront: President Obama. 

The original post from last April 23rd follows:]

First off, Michael Grunwald at Politico has a lot of credibility.

In the lead-up to President Obama's visit yesterday to the Everglades there was a muted and measured response from those people I thought would be the most excited, mostly in the environmental and activist community concerned about Everglades restoration. And today, in many of those circles it's as though the visit by President Obama never happened at all. Michael Grunwald in his article here titled, "Could Obama’s Everglades Stop Hurt the Everglades?" explains why; here is an excerpt:

     The fear for some activists is that by hitching the Everglades to the polarizing climate issue, he could end up making Republicans less Everglades-friendly rather than more climate-friendly. It was notable that Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Tea Party Republican who has found common ground with Obama on Everglades issues and virtually nothing else, took to Twitter this week to question the president’s commitment to restoration. Obama proposed a $70 million funding increase for the Everglades this year and has repeatedly requested more money than Congress has been willing to provide, but Scott still dinged him for failing to “find a way” to avoid cutbacks. And Earnest quickly fired back, attacking Scott for reportedly barring state officials from using the words “climate change,” suggesting that demonstrated a dubious commitment to the imperiled Everglades—even though Scott has proposed a 20-year, $5 billion funding commitment to restoration.
     Climate change was not the problem that the Everglades plan was designed to fix back in 2000. It was supposed to help restore gentle water flows that had been discombobulated by levees, highways and canals, as well as pristine water quality that had been polluted by runoff from sugar fields and suburbs. The progress over the last 15 years has been slow, but at least some dirt has begun to fly in the Obama years. For example, his administration has elevated a mile of a highway to let water flow into the parched national park. And after aides to the two Bush brothers fought bitterly over water quality, the Obama and Scott administrations have forged a groundbreaking deal to get runoff from sugar farms even cleaner than Evian.

The politics of the "River of Grass" is a lot more complicated now after President Obama's visit. The proponents of "sheet flow" as it's called are not thrilled with the President. Sheet flow, the cliff note version, is water from Lake Okeechobee flowing south into the Everglades. The problem was and still is that the water is polluted and must be cleaned somehow, some way.

Cleaning water of phosphates and other pollutants is relatively easy. The problem with "sheet flow" is the scale. There is no current technology to clean that much water, millions and millions of gallons. Then there's the canals and the pumps . . .

The President's message of climate change, rising sea levels, and the Everglades will have many questioning the wisdom of saving many low-lying areas of the Everglades if they're ultimately going to be under sea water anyway. A tough argument just got a whole lot tougher.

Folks at All Aboard Florida with a question: "Can you spare a minute?"

Why is this getting so much attention on my blog? I posted this in February of this year and it's still getting a lot of attention. Another 100+ hits today and it's only 4:30 p.m. This is not a new video by any means; All Aboard Florida (AAF) released this last year.

Would it be because AAF is beginning construction of the West Palm Beach station very soon and closing streets to install new track?

Anyway, this video demonstrates the reality of projected wait times for an AAF train. A very interesting and very short video. Focus because things happen very quickly. Enjoy.

Palm Beach County Public Affairs: First-Ever Golden Post Award for Government Social Media

This is from the Palm Beach County website:

     Palm Beach County Public Affairs was recently recognized at the inaugural Government Social Media Conference Golden Post Awards ceremony in Reno, Nevada.
     In the category of Comprehensive Government Social Media Policy, Public Affairs placed first out of nine entries from around the nation. Heather Shirm, manager of Digital Marketing and Communications, accepted the award on the department's behalf.
     Public Affairs is charged with monitoring and overseeing countywide social media activity and assuring that the current policy is compliant with the latest legal standards. The original version of the countywide social media policy was drafted in 2010 and has transformed into a living standards and design document that changes almost as fast as social media itself.
     A special thank you goes out to the County Attorney's Office for partnering with Public Affairs to produce a model policy for other local government agencies to follow.
     The Golden Post Award is the first major awards program created exclusively to recognize the outstanding use of social media by U.S. local and state government agencies.

Would be interested to know if there's a plan to train local municipalities on the benefits of Social Media? Can municipalities request training? Will try to get some answers.

Would any former Lake Worth Commissioners care to comment?

In yet another story about waste in government and the media's reluctance to report on former commissions in City of Lake Worth. . . Are former commissions in this City a protected class? 

Our current Mayor Pam Triolo, City Manager Michael Bornstein, city commission and staff with yet another mess to clean up:

Should I include map coordinates to the site so they can see for themselves? Or how about a big sign with an arrow pointing to the $64,000 unused natural gas pipe? Hire a bikini model with balloons to dance on top of the pipe? A Chippendale throwing confetti? 

What does it take?

Post: "Lake Worth residents sound off on troubled casino expansion plans"

Well, the new beat reporter for Lake Worth's first notable effort follows in the tradition of the former reporter Chris Persaud. Somehow, not understanding the proposed relationship that there would be between the Gulfstream Hotel and the failing Casino complex, he says this:

     So, when the 69-year-old [former Commissioner Retha Lowe] speaks at a city commission workshop, as she did Tuesday night on expansion plans for the troubled beachside and casino pool complex, her words carry extra weight.
     The city, as everyone knows, has been debating for decades (centuries some snide residents might hiss) what should be done with the historic Gulfstream Hotel on Lake Avenue.

Kevin D. Thompson seems to think that the meeting was about the Gulfstream Hotel, at first. And I don't think we have debated would should be done with the historic hotel, other than to have it open. I also didn't hear any hissing at the meeting, but that might have depended on where you were sitting. And the decades-long debate has not been about the Gulfstream Hotel, but it HAS been about "THE BEACH!". He rights himself later in the article. Unfortunately, Retha Lowe's quote about what the city did at the beach with the new Casino building turned out to be a "field goal", and "not a touchdown", didn't make it into the article.

Mr. Thompson suggests more is coming later. The Casino complex debate is difficult enough for most people to understand. There are many moving parts, however the good news is people are engaged in the process and asking a lot of good questions. While not about the Gulfstream hotel, it would help if Mr. Thompson elaborated on the relationship between it and what is being proposed at the beach. Unfortunately, we didn't hear anything specific about that proposal at the meeting. That is promised in the future.

The problems with protests... [UPDATE: adjunct professor Evan Rowe suing college]

[Below is a post from last December about protests and "the bizarre tale from Evan Rowe". He got fired from Broward College and he is not happy about that. You can read about the latest on Evan Rowe from Deirdra Funcheon at the Broward New Times; he is suing Broward College. Our local malcontents, EarthFirst!, are mentioned first on their problems with staging a protest. I would strongly encourage you to open the link in the third paragraph, "exceptionally long hand-wringing diatribe". It is very enlightening to say the least. Without further ado, here is the original post from December:]

Protests are not easy undertakings. They take coordination, many people, and it is always helpful to have a clear and concise message. There are even groups that hold workshops on how to put on successful "actions", as they are called in the trade. Eh hem.

For instance, even here in Lake Worth, our Lake Worth-based EarthFirst has exhibited a Keystone Cop approach to protests. Just in case you missed the "battery in the lake" you can read about it here. Even more curious is the EarthFirst protest scheduled for December 12th that was apparently cancelled with no public notification. It is true that if a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it, it doesn't make a noise. That is, as far as the media is concerned.

Now we enter the bizarre tale from Evan Rowe who is a professor of history at Broward College writing for the New Times. Professor Rowe writes an exceptionally long hand-wringing diatribe on why activists in Ft. Lauderdale can't get organized and shut down the annual Winterfest Boat Parade. Without further ado here are some excerpts from Professor Rowe:

The target selection of bridges was an improvement on previous actions, as was the highway shut down in miami [sic] but the ability to put up enough points to overwhelm police forces long enough to take, hold, and control private spaces for long enough time periods of time is the one of the next major tactical hurdles.

[later...]

There has been some backlash to the protests as they have angered commuters. A Sun-Sentinel writer, Gary Stein, today dismissed the protestors [sic] for "being cute on social media" as he totally missed the bigger point of police aggression and injustice. He also condescendingly advised "don't be total slobs."

[and...]

Actions that might disrupt the boat parade are viable defensive moves that can POTENTIALLY [emphasis added] send a symbolic message but use improved tactical actions. And while they are not yet at the level of daily or weekly workplace occupations or strikes against key capital targets, they do show an improvement in the defensive ability.

I would bet the good people of Ft. Lauderdale are interested in knowing a professor at Broward College was so determined to shut down the city. It is also illustrative that Professor Rowe laments the lack of a message by the protesters. Curiously, I found it difficult to discover a coherent message in the article by the Professor in the New Times. And so it goes...

A few questions for Lake Worth Comm. McVoy: If rising sea levels are such a threat. . .