Taking a ride in a “Seventy-year-old car driven by a 92-year-old man. An interesting combination.”

The quote above is by Mr. Charles Blackman, my Father. The video below will explain it all.

I’ll be out of town for a bit but will continue to provide updates, shuffle blog posts you may have missed, and some new stuff as well, for example, tell the story about my tour of the Brightline Station in West Palm Beach last Thursday, with photos, video, and more information. The tour was incredible.

The juxtaposition of the old, a 1941 Buick, with the new, Brightline, is a marvel of American ingenuity. To follow my exploits in Michigan this week check out my Facebook page. First the video and then more about this 1941 Buick Super Convertible Sedan below:



This car is a rare body style. Only a little over 400 were made. It is my Dad’s favorite year for pre-war Buicks styling-wise. He knew about this car for a long time and when it became available was able to add it to his collection. This car would have been owned by a law professor, doctor, or a banker in a small town.

The Century and Roadmaster models had the same body style and had longer wheelbases and bigger engines. Ten of these Supers show up on the Buick club registry. This is the first show it has been in since being restored. It is somewhat of an event for me since I am along with him this week. Such is life born from a tailpipe.

The car was actually a “barn find” back in the 60s and 70s, was with the previous owner for a long time who started the restoration, which my Dad was able to finish. The interior is lovely and it has an intoxicating smell of leather.

For all you car afficionados will share a lot more about this car and others too after I return. In the meantime check out my Facebook page.

Part 3: Tour of the Brightline Station in West Palm Beach. And. . . do you recall news about the “donut hole”?

This post today will be a look back in time to the “donut hole” with more photos of the Brightline Station (see below). To read the two previous blog posts:

• Use this link to read Part One, the “big surprise” with a short video from the tour.
• Use this link to read Part Two about the Brightline Station functionality, signage, traveler drop-off, and much more.

By the way, on the tour last Thursday heard and could not confirm that train schedules will be “adjusted” for big events in South Florida, e.g., Miami Dolphins football games, College football games, and other big events. Is that true? We’ll all have to wait and see.

Do you remember the “donut hole”?

Today will start off with a November 2015 news segment by Brian Entin (a former reporter for NBC5/WPTV and now with WSVN in Miami). The news report by Entin was headlined, “Donut hole in downtown West Palm Beach” (you can read the entire story and watch a video using this link).

Following Entin’s “donut” report people had a lot of fun. Somebody came across this quote from Chevy Chase in Caddyshack:

“A flute without holes is not a flute.
A donut without a hole is a Danish.”

Not long after the news from Brian Entin, we all learned that “donut hole” people made fun of, was soon to become “a Danish”. All of a sudden people started paying very close attention.

Here are excerpts from the text of the news segment back in 2015:

There is record development in Downtown West Palm Beach. But some people who live downtown still complain about what is known as the “donut hole” between Clematis and City Place. It’s darker than other, more popular areas downtown and there are some abandoned buildings and parking lots.

and. . .

Entrepreneur Tony Solo bought property in the donut hole years ago. “When I purchased the property back in 2005, that is what I was calling it. There is a donut in the city of West Palm Beach” and Solo continued, “As West Palm goes through this renaissance, this area holds the key to growth.”

Here’s the latest — 20 months after Brian Entin’s news segment — more pictures of the Brightline Station or, if you wish, “the Danish”:

A view across the facility. Brightline courteously provided an array of food and a wine/beer bar.

The tour was sponsored by the PBC Planning Congress in collaboration with the WPB Downtown Neighborhood Assoc.

 The children’s play area.
Playing and waiting for the train.

Isn’t this view remarkable? On the 2nd floor is a 360° view of the entire downtown.

Closer look of the play area.

 “Quick. Convenient. Connected.”

“Getting to your destination has never been easier”

 One of the lounge areas on the second floor waiting for the train to arrive.

EVERYWHERE are charging stations, each one with 2 USBs and an electric outlet. Hope you enjoyed this post and check back soon for more pictures and information.

Notice of Cancellation: Item 10E at Lake Worth City Commission meeting next Tuesday.

To go over the agenda for next week use this link and scroll down for “August 1 Regular Meeting”; then click on Agenda & Backup.

My prediction about this agenda item, which passed unanimously at the Commission meeting on July 18th, did not come to pass. Yet. Read about, “Get prepared, Lake Worth. Is another press/media frenzy about to begin?”

This item (see below) was removed from next week’s agenda and that is a good thing. Why? It will give a little more time to slum landlords if they wish “to continue to receive utility service” at their substandard properties. And it will also give a little more time to help the families in need to find new housing and possibly legal aid as well.

Here is the agenda item, now a cancellation, that will likely appear on the Commission agenda on August 15th:

Public Hearings: 10E. Ordinance No. 2017-18 - Second Reading - amending Chapter 14 - “Business Tax Receipts and Business Regulations” to update use & occupancy inspections and provide for business license requirements prior to connecting utility services.

Summary: The proposed ordinance amends Chapter 14, Business Tax Receipts and Business Regulations, to require a Business License before utilities will be provided to a business and to include an inspection warrant option and to further clarify the scope of the Use and Occupancy Inspection.

Background and Justification: The City Commission adopted Resolution No. 07-2017 to require businesses within the City to have a Business License in order to open a new utility account and to continue to receive utility service.

Today was the Woof Dog Park ribbon cutting at the County’s John Prince Park.

The Lake Worth Herald has more information:

In addition, 42 regular parking spaces and four ADA accessible parking spaces will be added. The adjacent cricket field has also been renovated and now includes a new grass playing surface, irrigation and dedicated parking.​

Please note: The 3 park entrances are just west of the City of Lake Worth:

• 2700 6th Ave. South.
• 2520 Lake Worth Rd.
• 4759 South Congress Ave.

Lake Woof Dog Park features five enclosed landscaped dog areas with designated areas for large to small dogs, spanning more than four acres. The dog park also includes five gazebos with benches, drinking fountains, dog wash areas, and doggie bag stations and trash receptacles.

“John Prince Park is one of our largest regional parks and has existed for 65 years,” said Parks and Recreation Director Eric Call. “Adding a state of the art dog park and other amenities is something residents and their four-legged friends have looked forward to for a long time.”

Very cool video: Firefighter training and controlled burn of abandoned/unsafe structure in Lake Worth.

“We’re bringing back that vibrancy to the hotel. . .”

Why isn’t the owner of the Gulfstream Hotel giving our City residents any updates? Has anyone seen any press releases about the Gulfstream Hotel and what is going on? Do you remember the “vibrant” headline (see below) in the Sun Sentinel 3½ months ago?

Have you seen the latest “Weekly Progress Report” about the Gulfstream Hotel that — once again — shows no progress?

Headline: “Lake Worth’s historic Gulfstream Hotel slated for $80 million makeover”.

There are several excerpts below from this article in the Sun Sentinel by reporter Arlene Satchell, published on April 14th. It’s a short article but interestingly, the words “vibrant” and “vibrancy” are peppered throughout.

Here are three of them:

     “We’re bringing back that vibrancy to the hotel, which in turn brings back vibrancy to the downtown district,” said Michael [Steven Michael, principal of developer Hudson Holdings]. “Lake Worth has tremendous, tremendous potential… [it’s] a sleeping giant. Once this is renovated and this is vibrant again, it will be the catalyst to really bring more investors and development into downtown Lake Worth.”

and two more. . .

     “Lake Worth has tremendous potential to become a super vibrant downtown district,” Michael said. “It’s already a vibrant downtown district but it could be grown to a much bigger level.”

and a not-so-very-vibrant quote. . .

     “The city has been looking at this for the last 10 or so years as an empty facility and we can’t wait for it to be revitalized and rejuvenated because it means so much to this city in terms of its economics,” said Scott Maxwell, Lake Worth’s vice mayor.

On the upside, it was not reported in the Sun Sentinel article that Code Enforcement was responsible in any way for the Gulfstream Hotel being shuttered, as was falsely reported by the Post’s beat reporter here in the City of Lake Worth.

Everyone is waiting for more vibrant news about the Gulfstream:

     With its site plan approved for the renovation of the historic hotel, Hudson is estimating it’ll begin construction by this fall on the main building following completion of construction drawings and the finalization of its construction loan, Michael said.

There really is no Fall season in Florida. However, the official start of Fall in the United States begins with the Fall Equinox on September 22nd at 4:00 p.m. this year.

Stay tuned. That’s only about 2 months away.

$800M in bonds? For a new reservoir “which is intended to help” and “potentially reduce” algae outbreaks?

Is this theory even going to be tested prior to asking the Federal government for another $800M in matching funds, $1.6B [billion] total?

Do we know with any degree of certainty another “new” reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee will even work sending more ‘clean’ water into the Everglades? A journalist wrote recently this project will “potentially” reduce outbreaks of algae (see below).

How many reservoirs do we need? What about the Herbert Hoover Dike? Read more about that at the end of this blog post.

And we learned recently from Lake Worth Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell that “CDBG money may not be around for long.” And remember, even an expert on Everglades restoration said to Craig Pittman at the Tampa Bay Times, “this whole thing is part science and part what you can get politically.”

We know CDBG money works. Know one knows for certain another reservoir will work. But spend $1.6B, sit back, wait and see?

Journalist Jim Turner at the News Service of Florida has this article (reprinted in The Palm Beach Post) titled, “Army Corps needs more time on Negron’s Lake Okeechobee cleanup plan”; an excerpt (with emphasis added):

“The Senate bill allows Florida to bond up to $800 million as a way to speed construction of the reservoir, which is intended to help clean South Florida waterways and potentially reduce the recurrence of toxic algae outbreaks that have recently affected Negron’s district, which encompasses the Treasure Coast and northern Palm Beach County.”

Can someone please explain how $800M in bonds squares with these facts about the Indian River Lagoon (IRL)?

“To say that the reservoir will save the Everglades and prevent coastal discharges [into IRL] is wishful thinking that can’t be backed by science.”
—Quote by Melissa Meeker, CEO, Water Environment & Reuse Foundation and former executive director, governing board member of the South Florida Water Management District.

and. . .

“Scientists, county leaders looking to solve Treasure Coast bacteria issues”
—Recent news segment by WPTV/NBC5 reporter Alex Hagan. Brian Lapointe from FAU was interviewed about septic tanks, “Poor soil conditions and in the wet season, high water tables that in many cases infiltrate the drains fields of septic tanks”.

What about the Herbert Hoover Dike?

Remember this report from the Lloyd’s of London “Emerging Risks Team Report”?

“The current condition of Herbert Hoover poses a grave and imminent danger… … [The dyke] needs to be fixed. We can only add that it needs to be fixed now, and it needs to be fixed right. We firmly believe that the region’s future depends on it.”

My tour of the Brightline Station in West Palm Beach yesterday.

View from the 2nd floor. A short video is below.

Check back for more photos, video, and observations over the next week.

The tour started off with a big surprise.

First, this tour was sponsored by the PBC Planning Congress in collaboration with the WPB Downtown Neighborhood Assoc. About 50 of us arrived at 6:00. Who is us? Community leaders, architects, urban planners, electeds, city staff, designers, thinkers and doers, and some from other professions as well.

We were all greeted and waiting for the tour to begin. Ali Soule, Brightline’s Dir. of Public Affairs began to speak and then in a sort of “What’s the point?” manner skipped to the major subjects of interest. After all, she knew all of us have been following All Aboard Florida and Brightline, some of us from the very beginning. She said, “I’m going to answer all of your questions”:

• Do we have ticket prices? “No.”
• Do we have a start date? “No.”
• Can I share any more specifics on funding? “No.”

Then came the surprise. Soule invited us all to tour and examine the facility ourselves, either in groups or wander off individually. For me, it was like Christmas Day. People took off inspecting the ceilings, floors, windows, lighting, signage, furniture, under the furniture, saw how travelers would flow through the building, and then this caught my eye:

A charging station.

And then I looked around. . .

There are charging stations EVERYWHERE.

And guess what? They have 2 USBs and 1 electric outlet. For Brightline, the future is here right now.

I took a ton of pictures. And I took a few short videos and will share them on this blog a bit later. For the next week or so will share a bit more about this tour along with observations, mine and the thoughts of others as well.

There was a splendid array of food and a beer/wine bar. At 7:00 people were ready to mingle and commiserate and that we all did.

I wish to thank Ali Soule and everyone else at Brightline who were so gracious to us all. And one last thing — congratulations Brightline — you’ve come a long way when we all met once before under a big tent on a very hot day.

July 2014. The press conference for the unveiling of Brightline, a big tent next to a vacant lot:

That vacant lot in Downtown West Palm Beach in 2014 is vacant no more. Three years later. . .

Getting down to the nitty-gritty.

What is the early “wish list” from the Lake Worth City Commission for proceeds from the County ¢1 sales tax increase? There is a bullet list below.

Following the City Commission Work Session last Tuesday, Assistant City Manager Juan Ruiz is going back to Staff to fine tune the results from the “Proposed Projects” list. For more about this meeting use this link to read about,

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood”.

This meeting, in my opinion, set the standard how local governments deal with very important issues such as this. Yes. It was that good.

We learned from Ruiz there will be another Budget Work Session on August 8th. And the oversight for the “¢1 sales tax” proceeds Ruiz stated will be the task of the City’s Finance Advisory Board with guidance from the Palm Beach County League of Cities.

Ruiz summed it up this way, this money is to:

• Fund infrastructure projects.
• Leverage infrastructure projects.
• Complete infrastructure projects.

Note the word, “Infrastructure”.

Will this money fund “Tree Beautification”? Tree-lined roads? No. It will not. Will the County have veto power over a decision? That is still unknown.

The bad news from City Manager Michael Bornstein was the FEC Railway’s maintenance funding for the City’s railroad crossings ($500,000?). The FEC is constructing the quiet zones but it’s up to the City to maintain them. Remember, railroad crossings are a right-of-way courtesy of the railroad and regulated by the Federal government. As they say,

“The railroad [Henry Flagler] was here first.”

City Attorney Glen Torcivia said a project is what, “serves the public purpose” and “needs to comply with the ballot language.” A crucial point. Also, the definition of Infrastructure is not a broad one; it’s very precise.

About ¾ way through the meeting Ruiz said “it’s been a healthy dialogue” and tried to gauge the consensus (top priorities) of the City Commission — by rank, highest to lowest — here it is:

• #1: Roads (fix, repair, and maintain roads not on the Neighborhood Road Bond passed last year).
• #2: Park of Commerce and Boutwell Rd.
• #3: Construct a parking garage in the Downtown.
• #4: Address/fix the Casino business plan at the Beach.

Mayor Pam Triolo then tasked the City Commission to each pick their top three. However, some added caveats and ended up with a list of more “top picks”.

Here we go. . .

Mayor Pam Triolo:

• #1: Roads (along with Park of Commerce [POC])
• #2: Parking garage
• #3: Beach business model

Triolo also said, “Traffic calming is a big issue in all the [City] neighborhoods.” And Triolo set the theme for the evening, “Have everyone feel the love.”

Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell:

• #1: Roads
• #2: POC and Boutwell Rd.
• #3: Parking garage.

Maxwell also suggested a parking garage Downtown in tandem with a parking garage at the Beach run by a “Parking Authority”. The City could capture the resulting revenue sans running the day-to-day operations. Maxwell’s big push was for land acquisition and then “mortgage” that land to developers like the Town of Lantana has done for many years, a “huge opportunity”.

License plate readers are a “big priority” and Maxwell told everyone, “CDBG money may not be around for long.”

Vice Mayor Pro Tem, District 3 Commissioner Andy Amoroso:

• #1: Roads
• #2: Parking garage
• #3: Beach business model

Removing the pier at Spillway Park, now condemned, is “a no-brainer”. Amoroso also said, “Think Maxwell’s idea of land acquisition is a great idea.” And Amoroso also pointed out, “We know a parking garage will provide revenue . . . get multiple things done and share the love.”

District 2 City Commissioner Omari Hardy:

• #1: Roads
• #2: POC
• #3: Parking garage.

Hardy diplomatically called the Beach a “recurring expense problem” and think it was Hardy who first said the pier removal at Spillway Park was “a no-brainer”. Hardy’s position was firm on, “Invest now to save money later.”

Hardy also reminded everyone there are streets in this City still unpaved (2½ miles mostly in Districts 1 and 2). Streets that were platted 104 years ago. [In my opinion? A historic disgrace that needs to be remedied.]

District 4 Commissioner Herman C. Robinson:

• #1: Beach business model.
• #2: Parking garage
• #3: Roads

Robinson said, “Completing the Casino [business plan] is absolutely at the top of my list” and “has to be done.” Robinson’s focus was on ROI [return on investment] and the City can’t wait for “money from above”. Robinson was keen to Hardy’s idea of “pocket parks” to replace unpaved roads. [A consensus? No more unpaved streets in our City here in Palm Beach County?]

The big idea of the night was from Vice Mayor Maxwell and Commissioner Hardy seemed to agree:

Borrow money ($10M+) up front and pay off with the County money over the next 10 years. This would provide a big impact, for example, on fixing more of our roads in the City of Lake Worth. Is this even possible? Maybe we’ll find out at the next Budget Work Session on August 8th.

“Stay tuned”, as they say, and try not to get frightened or upset. All the City Commission is doing right now is exploring ideas. Why?

Because that’s their job as elected officials.

This will be exciting.

Tonight will tour the Brightline Station in West Palm Beach sponsored by the PBC Planning Congress in collaboration with the West Palm Beach Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Brightline representatives will be there to answer questions and provide information about the service. Following the tour will be “Clematis by Night” for the Summer in Paradise festivities.

Here’s the latest news:

Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) recently announced its new real estate brand Park-Line, offering residences for lease with unparalleled connectivity in urban locations. Located adjacent to the Brightline train station, Park-Line residences will debut in 2018 with a 290-unit tower in downtown West Palm Beach.
     The Park-Line residences will be located within steps of the Brightline express intercity train service connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach with new downtown stations, a fleet of innovative trains and a complete customer-centric operating and communication offering that redefines what it means to travel by train in America.

For more information use this link.

Stay tuned for tons of photos from this tour over the next 3–4 days on this blog.

Viewing and funeral for Maxime Ducoste.

Maxime Ducoste was the Assistant Director for Planning and Preservation for the City of Lake Worth. Many of you in this City got to know him during his four years at the City’s Community Sustainability Dept. He passed away suddenly last Friday.

Maxime will be greatly missed. He had a family and was only 44 years old. A trust is being set up for the family as well as a meal train.

Viewing.

This Friday from 6:00–8:00, Quattlebaum Funeral Center, 5411 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach (561-832-5171).

Funeral.

Saturday at 11:00, St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 North Olive Ave. in City of West Palm Beach (561-832-3757). A reception will follow.

Jeff Ostrowski with Post Exclusive today, front page news.

Below are two excerpts from this article titled, “Lake Worth to be home to Palm Beach County’s 1st pot dispensaries”:

LAKE WORTH — As Florida’s medical marijuana industry takes root, the state’s seven licensed pot producers have opened dispensaries from Miami to Pensacola — but not, at least so far, in Palm Beach County.

and. . .

     Modern Health Concepts of Miami-Dade County plans a 3,000-square-foot dispensary in a recently renovated building at 1125 N. Dixie Highway in Lake Worth. Building owner Scott Berman, who’s leasing part of a larger building to the marijuana seller, said the company aims to build a lavish space that could open in the next two months.
     “This is going to be the Starbucks of medical marijuana,” [emphasis added] Berman said. “Modern Health Concepts is spending $200,000 to $300,000 to make this a state-of-the-art facility.”

In hindsight: Voting for Commissioner Hardy last March — instead of the incumbent — was a “no-brainer”.

While watching the Lake Worth City Commission Work Session on the proposals for the ¢1 County Sales Tax proceeds last night (use this link or scroll down), couldn’t help but wonder what would be happening right now if the former commissioner in District 2 won his re-election bid — he didn’t — it probably didn’t help very much when the editor at the Post, in the endorsement for Mr. Omari Hardy called the incumbent a “gadfly”.

Commissioner Hardy’s first time through the recently started budget process as an elected official, his ideas for important acronyms like CDBG money, explaining what the PCI is, his coordination with the TCRPC and Dr. Kim DeLaney, the condemned pier in the C-51 that SFWMD is so concerned about and. . . well, you can see in hindsight why electing Hardy was a “no-brainer”.

For example, let’s take a look back to August 2016: the embarrassing and “Inglorious Demise” of an agenda item.

Last August the then-District 2 commissioner and now Mr. Chris McVoy, PhD, had an item placed on the City Commission agenda to “Send It [water discharges] South!” from Lake Okeechobee. A little problem with this agenda item (see below) is McVoy didn’t give Belle Glade Mayor Wilson, Pahokee Mayor Babb, South Bay Mayor Kyles, or Mayor Roland in Clewiston a courtesy call and say, “Hey, I think your cities should be wiped off the face of the Earth.”

Another problem with McVoy’s item on the agenda was this: septic tanks were not cited as a factor in algae blooms last year, a fact he conveniently left out. And the dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee which needs serious repairs? The Herbert Hoover Dike was also not cited as one of McVoy’s concerns either.

Around the same time last year, the Palm Beach Town Council also dealt with this issue, but in quite a different way. They had a resolution about Lake Okeechobee and below are three short excerpts from this article by reporter Aleese Kopf at the Palm Beach Daily News (aka, The Shiny Sheet):

     Town Council members agreed this week to adopt a resolution urging federal and state officials to spend more money on and speed up work to store, treat and move clean water to and from Lake Okeechobee.

and. . .

     Specifically, the resolution urges lawmakers to speed up planning for water storage reservoirs south of the lake in the Everglades Agricultural Area, to speed up repair of the Herbert Hoover Dike and to eliminate septic tanks in the region. [emphasis added]

and. . .

     Council members unanimously passed the resolution. Council President Michael Pucillo said it’s worded in a way that is not “particularly controversial.”
     “We’re talking about expediting planning,” added Councilwoman Bobbie Lindsay. “We’re not asking them to buy land.”

The ingloriously deleted Consent Agenda item C at the Lake Worth City Commission:

Resolution No. 38-2016 - implement a solution to long standing water discharge issues plaguing the City

“Plaguing the City”? The Commission meeting had barely started last August when, at the 2:00 minute mark, Consent agenda item 9C is pulled from the agenda. Gone. Erased. Wiped out. Which raises some interesting questions:

• Why did McVoy put the item on the agenda in the first place?
• A sizable group of people showed up (or were invited) to support the resolution. Did he wave goodbye to them on their way out of town?
• The vote was unanimous to delete it from the agenda. That’s right. McVoy voted to delete his very own agenda item. Why would he do that?

The text of the brief that accompanied this item:

AGENDA DATE: August 2, 2016, Regular Meeting
DEPARTMENT: Commissioner McVoy
EXECUTIVE BRIEF
TITLE: Resolution No. 38-2016 – implementing a solution to long standing water discharge issues plaguing the City
SUMMARY: The Resolution urges the Federal and State governments to implement solutions and fix the problems of water discharge from Kissimmee River Valley, Lake Okeechobee, and areas west of the City into the C-51 Canal.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION: The current plumbing in South Florida allows for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to, at times of high water and for reasons of human safety, discharge waters from Lake Okeechobee into the Lake Worth Lagoon through the C-51 Canal. The discharged waters degraded quality and elevated nutrient status of Lake Okeechobee causes undesirable and widespread algal blooms.

Has anyone seen any “widespread algal blooms” in Lake Worth? Has the water been “plaguing” us? The “current plumbing”?

Not exactly the language or terminology one would expect from a PhD, is it?

Reporter Lori Hope Baumel at Around Wellington: “I have a well-kept secret and I’m going to share it with you.”

“Benzaiten is the goddess of everything that flows: water, time, words, speech, eloquence, music and by extension, knowledge.”
—Source: Wikipedia.


In the past few months, the Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts has been a joyous discovery. We’ve attended a glass-blowing class, enjoyed their art gallery and have observed demonstrations by world-renowned glass artisans. Once a month they’ve hosted evening events complete with live music. The art space has a protected viewing area with bench seating for visitors and demonstrations.
     Unfortunately, the season for evening events is over. But, plan ahead, the nighttime festivities will begin again in the Fall. I will keep you posted when the live music activities return. In the meantime, you can take a glass blowing class or visit their gallery all year round.
     Located in the historic Florida East Coast Train Depot in downtown Lake Worth (in the Lake Worth Arts District), [emphasis added] this 14,500 square foot arts center is dedicated to working artists and the community at large. It has immersed the public in arts production and provides interaction with artists from around the globe. Benzaiten sponsors new works of art, encourages collaboration between peers and provides instruction from masters to emerging artists.

and. . .

     So there you have it. You now know my secret and have my permission to spread the word. As they say on their website: at Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, “You too can become an artisan.”

To read the entire article in Around Wellington use this link. More information:

Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts:
1105 2nd Ave. South in the City of Lake Worth
561-508-7315
For more information email: aholmes@benzaitencenter.org
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00–5:00 (closed Sunday and Monday)

FYI: From personal experience, if you’re looking for a place to hold an event or a public meeting, the Benzaiten Center is an excellent choice.

It’s still just Silly Season and there are five already!

UPDATE: Another one has thrown a
hat into the ring!

Another candidate, this one to try and defeat Commissioner Amoroso in the elections next year. Who is it? We don’t know yet. Stay tuned.

What is Silly Season? It’s the time period prior to the Official Qualifying Period (explained below).

Election Day in the City of Lake Worth is March 13th, 2018. So far, here is who is running:

• For mayor: Mayor Pam Triolo.
• For commissioner, District 1: Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell, Sarah Malega.
• For commissioner, District 3: Commissioner (and Vice Mayor Pro Tem) Andy Amoroso, ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■.

To learn more, or to declare your intention to run for an elected seat, contact the City Clerk (561-586-1662; office hours Monday–Friday, 8:00–5:00).

To actually get your name on the ballot you have to wait for the Qualifying Period (Nov. 28th–Dec. 12th). However, some decide to declare their intention early on to begin raising money, organize a campaign staff, and gain “name recognition”, which is very important.

For a little light-heartedness, and for those of you who are new residents to this little “vibrant” City of Lake Worth, let’s take a stroll down memory lane:

“It’s a bit of an oxymoron to be an Anarchist elected official, and there’s a lot of contradictions to it.”
—Quote by Cara Jennings (watch video below).

Cara Jennings was a District 2 commissioner from 2006–2010. Jennings’ hand-picked successor was Chris McVoy, PhD (2010–2017). Omari Hardy, now Commissioner Hardy, defeated McVoy in March of this year.

Enjoy Jennings’ talk about her time as an “Anarchist elected official” after a brief introduction by The Obtuse Blogger (TOB):



It was TOB — you know, the self-described ‘conservative blogger’ — who campaigned for and supported another Anarchist who ran against Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell in 2016. Do you remember Ryan Hartman?

“By the end of the campaign, they [press/media] refused to even call me for interviews (in fact, [Post reporter] Kevin Thompson lied in two of his articles about trying to contact me). Two days before the election, the majority of my ‘team’ dropped me like a bad habit to focus on another challenger.”
—Excerpt from Hartman’s concession message, March 2016. 

Get ready everyone! Will we be in for another bumpy ride? “Stay tuned” as they say.