Palm Beach Post about Lake Worth High School: “Project Lake Worth turns diversity into strength”.

At the end of this blog post is a question. But first consider this: the City of Lake Worth has a number of volunteer advisory boards, e.g., a C-51 Canal Advisory Board, an Electric Utility Advisory Board, a Library Board, a Recreation Advisory Board, and a Tree Board too.

But guess what this City doesn’t have? A board tasked with coordinating and working with our one charter school, the four public elementary schools, Lake Worth Middle, Lake Worth High School and the private school at Sacred Heart Catholic. And how many other private and faith-based schools are there in this City? Does anyone know?

The C-51 Canal Advisory Board has only met one single time since being formed in November 2016. Don’t you think it’s time for a school advisory board or a school coordinating board in this City?

There are four excerpts from Post reporter Scott McCabe about Project Lake Worth. Below is #1.

Without further ado. . .

A quote from the article by Mr. David Dale, former president of Project Lake Worth:

“People are wondering, ‘Have we done our job?’ Yes. But there’s so
much more to do.”

From excerpt #1, the news by former Palm Beach Post staff writer Scott McCabe (1998–2005), datelined Sunday, February 14th, 1999.

News published in the Post 19 years ago.

Click on newspaper clipping to enlarge:

 From the timeline: 1994, Wall of Unity Mural painted. “A mural designed by students depicts their vision of unity in the Osborne community.”

 
LAKE WORTH — When the Palm Beach County School Board convened in the Spring of 1995, its members expected to hear from Lake Worth residents who wanted $30 million released to save their dying high school.
     They expected frustration. The school board, after all, held up voter-approved money for 10 years. In the meantime, Lake Worth High had moved from the top of the list of schools slated for improvements to the bottom.
     What they didn’t expect was 150 residents lined up in white T-shirts with identical logos waiting their turn to talk. They talked for three meetings, tying up other school business until the board hollered uncle.
     The school board couldn’t have known what it was up against. For what had begun six years earlier as a search for a way to save the high school had flowered into a movement to save the city itself — Project Lake Worth.


Check back next week for another excerpt about Lake Worth High School and Project Lake Worth.

Now ask yourself this: Is it time for “Project Lake Worth II”?

“From Where I Sit. . .”, by Pelican Pete.*

From The Lake Worth Herald in June last year,
two weeks before the July 4th Raft Race:

“Look over there, Mabel. That nasty blob floating in the water. Is that blue-green algae? Call CBS12! And what’s that beat reporters name again?”

Don’t be tricked by rumors and tall tales of blue-green floating blobs or a ‘plague’ of beta-Methylamino-ʟ-alanine either!

There are no rules in the July 4th Great American Raft Race. If you want, you can even make up buckets of blue-green jello blobs to pysch-out competitors, make them scream with fear!

*Please note: The electeds on the Lake Worth City Commission and City Manager Michael Bornstein WILL HAVE A RAFT in this year’s July 4th Raft Race as is the case every year but as is usually the case, it’s just for show. And also stay tuned for the schedule of pre-Raft Race festivities, the captain’s meeting which is mandatory but not really, and the heats coming up to test rafts which are supposed to be done in secret but never are.

News from reporter McKenna Ross at The Palm Beach Post.

[UPDATE: The news below from Ross appeared in last Tuesday’s print edition on page B2. Gleaning from several sources in the Sun Sentinel and elsewhere, it’s apparent the incident that occurred June 1st on the FEC tracks was no accident. For more information about this incident is another article datelined June 5th by Post reporter Jeff Ostrowski that concludes with this sentence, “If someone has an agenda that day to cut their life short . . . there’s no amount of safety that can stop that from happening.”]


Very sad news in the Post. The name of the victim was removed from the news report. Here are two excerpts:


BOYNTON BEACH — Authorities on Monday [June 4th] identified the man struck and killed by a Brightline train Friday as a 49-year-old Lakeland man.
     Preliminary investigations found that ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ jumped in front of the train as it was traveling south from the FEC Railway crossing on Woolbright Road, Boynton Beach police said Monday.

and. . .

     Six people in Palm Beach County have been struck and killed by Brightline trains since last year, when the company began testing along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. Three of those deaths, including Friday’s, occurred in Boynton Beach. In the five previous cases, officials say victims were on the tracks despite lowered gates, warning lights and train horns. [emphasis added]

More information about Brightline, public safety, and the editor(s) at the Post with their stance
on this important topic.

Attempting to cross railroad tracks at any location other than a designated crossing is illegal. It’s called trespassing. This latest tragedy was completely avoidable and so were all the others. But some critics of Brightline will attempt to use this terrible news as the editor(s) at the Post pointed out on May 30th, as another way to stop Brightline going north to Orlando, “[H]aving failed with environmental and safety questions, specious concerns about the federal deficit and lawsuits.”

Brightline will be connecting with Orlando. Explaining this journalist Scott Powers penned a piece this week in Florida Politics titled, “Brightline’s Orlando line could be settled in next few months”. Now it’s time to focus on the big picture. Saving lives. Not a specious concern by any means.

Educating the public about safety along the railroad tracks and at railroad crossings needs to be the top priority north of the Brightline station in West Palm Beach to the nearly completed train station in Orlando. The #1 message needs to be “See Tracks? Think Train!” Just more monkeywrenching trying to stop the inevitable just takes away from the #1 message.

Hammering the point home, here is another excerpt from the editor(s) at the Post:


     Brightline has its issues, to be sure. The Post has reported extensively on fatal accidents on tracks, delayed quiet zones and trains still seeking riders. But as evidenced by the recent opening of the Miami station, the project is plowing forward.
     Its chances for success, though, hinge on finishing the West Palm Beach-to-Orlando leg. It doesn’t make sense to derail that. Not when Florida is so close to realizing the potential of high-speed rail. Not when the state’s clogged highways are only getting more so. And not when our infrastructure needs are so great.
     The train has already left the station, so to speak.

To the critics of Brightline, “The train has already left the station”. So to speak.

Learn the signals and what they mean.

Click on image to enlarge:

“The fact is, the only safe place to cross rail tracks is at a designated public crossing, which are marked by flashing lights, a gate, crossbucks, or a combination of these safety signals.”

Today is the final day for “2018 Hurricane Sales Tax Holiday Week”.

Click on this link to see the front pages
of The Lake Worth Herald and the
Coastal & Greenacres Observer.

“Sales Tax Holiday Week” was big news in the Herald and Observer. Have a question about subscription and advertising rates? Contact the editor at 561-585-9387 or send an email to: Editor@lwherald.com

Below is the list of qualifying items for disaster preparedness during Sales Tax Holiday Week which began last Friday. Today is the final day. For more detailed information click on this link to download Florida Dept. of Revenue, TIPS publication #18A01-05.


During this tax free week Florida residents will not be required to pay sales tax on hurricane supplies that include the following:

Selling for $10 or less: Reusable ice (reusable ice packs).

Selling for $20 or less: Any portable self-powered light source* (powered by battery, solar, hand-crank, or gas),

• Candles.
• Flashlights.
• Lanterns.

Selling for $25 or less: Any gas or diesel fuel container, including LP gas and kerosene containers.

Selling for $30 or less:

• Batteries, including rechargeable batteries, sizes AAA-cell, AA-cell, C-cell, D-cell, 6-volt, 9-volt (excluding automobile and boat batteries).
• Coolers and ice chests (food-storage; nonelectrical).

Selling for $50 or less:

• Bungee cords.
• Ground anchor systems.
• Radios* (powered by battery, solar, or hand-crank), Two-Way, Weather Band.
• Ratchet straps.
• Tarpaulins (tarps).
• Tie-down kits.
• Visqueen, plastic sheeting, plastic drop cloths, and other flexible waterproof sheeting.

Selling for $750 or less: Portable generators used to provide light or communications, or to preserve food in the event of a power outage.


*Eligible light sources and radios qualify for the exemption even if electrical cords are also included.

Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Board meeting tonight in City of Lake Worth.

Meeting begins in City Hall at 6:00. There are four items under “New Business” and here is the first one, item G1:

PZB 18-00500007 Consideration of a request for a Conditional Use permit to allow factory manufacturing, office, wholesale sales and distribution, research and development, and warehouse uses in an existing structure at 2201 4th Avenue North, within the I-POC zoning district.

To download the entire agenda click on this link and scroll down for P&Z June 6th “Agenda Package”.

And stay tuned for the minutes of the Finance Advisory Board (FAB) and Bond Oversight Citizens’ Advisory Board (BOCAB) that were held last night in the City Hall conference room. The minutes from these meetings should become available very soon.

Here were the presentations at the FAB:


Financial Services Department.

• FY2018 Budget Development Overview: Major Funds Reviewed “Big 3”: Beach Fund, Electric Fund, Water Fund.
• FY2018 Budget Calendar of Events.
• Election of Officers.
• Richard Guercio – Report Out on Work Performed as Previous Board Chair.

Under “New Business” at BOCAB were these items:

Neighborhood Road Program Citizens Oversight Board presentation:

• Darren Portner [City Treasurer].
• Brian Shields [Water Utility Director].
• Jamie Brown [Public Services Director].

News.

“PORT ST. LUCIE — The city may take legal action against the contractor that built its 10-year-old Civic Center because of premature structural deterioration.”
—News datelined June 5th in TCPalm.

At the groundbreaking of historic “Hummingbird” in Downtown Lake Worth yesterday.

Below is more information about this structure located at 631 Lucerne Ave., “[C]onstructed c.1922 and is a contributing resource within the Old Town Local Historic District.”

Photos taken yesterday. . .

Exactly what our Downtown has needed for a
long time: New office spaces (±20) will make up
the new “Hummingbird”.

Access to these offices will be off Lucerne Ave. and ‘J’ St. as well which many in attendance were pleased to learn about.

Floor plans.

The invitation sent out announcing the event:

“Re-Purpose and Re-Use to Class ‘A’ Office Space”:

For more information send an email to: infosanassociates@gmail.com

The former Hummingbird Hotel was an agenda item on the City of Lake Worth’s Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB) last year:


HRPB Project Number 17-00100137: Consideration of a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) for exterior alterations and a pre-construction approval for a historic preservation ad valorem tax exemption for the commercial structure located at 631 Lucerne Avenue . . . The subject property was constructed c.1922 and is a contributing resource within the Old Town Local Historic District.


The exterior changes proposed were consistent with historic guidelines and the City staff recommended approval which the HRPB did. Also, the plans include restoration of the “Hummingbird Hotel” sign on the building. Stay tuned for more information about that.

A rendering from last year:

From The Lake Worth Herald, more history about this historic structure in the Downtown:

“The Hummingbird Hotel was, since 1921, the McCarty or New McCarty Hotel. The original owner was Mary A. McCarty. McCarty was part of the company owned by A.D. Clark Insurance. Clark, Mayor from 1923–1926, sold insurance and was a prominent realtor in Lake Worth for 39 years. She was an active member of the Board of Realtors.
     The hotel remained the McCarty Hotel until c.1995 [see image below] when Rose Belanger and JoAnn Davis purchased the hotel. They changed the color, refurbished the rooms and renamed the hotel — The Hummingbird.”

Click on image to enlarge:

Newspaper clipping, Palm Beach Post, July 1995.

Photos taken at the “Hummingbird Hotel”
two years ago:

Public meetings scheduled this week at Lake Worth City Hall.

The Finance Advisory Board (FAB) meets tonight in the City Hall conference room. Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 5th) is a regularly scheduled meeting of the City Commission and the Planning & Zoning Board meets on Wednesday. All meetings begin at 6:00.


Please note: The meeting of the City’s Electric Utility Advisory Board (EUAB) scheduled for next Wednesday has been rescheduled for June 18th.


The big surprise is not what is on the agenda at the City Commission tomorrow but what is not on the agenda. This is very good news. Check back tomorrow for more about that. And I think it’s time to increase the time limit for public comment to three minutes across the board. For all agenda items.

The experiment last year increasing the time limit from two to three minutes on just “Non-Agendaed Items and Consent Agenda” has worked. One could say the normal people have firmly taken control. Again. It was back during the administration of Mayor Jeff Clemens and a commissioner named Cara Jennings that the time limit was reduced from three minutes to two. The trepidation returning to three minutes again is understandable. It’s been that way for a long time.

True. Some will take advantage of that extra minute to the extreme. However, that extra minute will also be extremely beneficial for the majority of the public, most of whom are reasonable, deliberate and respectful and they shouldn’t feel like they are being rushed or brushed off. Most everywhere else in Palm Beach County the time limit for public comment is three minutes. All the City’s volunteer advisory boards, including the FAB and EUAB, have a three minute time limit.

We are the outlier. And that needs to end. It’s time.

So with a caveat or two like keeping public comment to forty-five minutes on any one item or a warning of some sort when people just get up to the podium and parrot what somebody already said, then it’s time for three minutes. Maybe this topic will come up at public comment tomorrow. Maybe somebody will get up and make the case for keeping the limit at two minutes? Stay tuned as they say.

Meet your elected leaders in this City of Lake Worth:

Not a long agenda at the City Commission this week. To look it over for yourself use this link and scroll down for “June 5, Regular Meeting”, then look for “Agenda & Backup” to download the full version.

City of Lake Worth news from July 2017: “New Electric Utilities Director Hired”.

Before we get to the news from last year, the biggest news in this City of Lake Worth is the news nobody is talking about. Yet. To find out what is going on there is a link at the end of this blog post. And no, it has nothing to do with ‘zombies’.

Lake Worth Electric Utility Director Ed Liberty will be with the City of Lake Worth one year coming up next month. Let’s take a look back to an article in The Lake Worth Herald last year:

“Lake Worth’s Oldest Established Business — Established in 1912”

The Herald newsroom is located at 1313 Central Terrace. Have community news? Use this link or
call 561-585-9387.

 

Excerpt from the front page news, July 13, 2017:

Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein has announced the selection of the candidate for Utilities Director for the City. Ed Liberty brings experience, expertise and leadership qualities to the City of Lake Worth Utilities Department.
     Liberty is an energy industry executive with experience in natural gas and electric T&D [Transmission and Distribution] operations, electric generation, renewable energy project development, energy and sustainability services and asset development.
     Most recently with Public Service Electric & Gas, Newark, New Jersey, Liberty has been the leader of the company’s utility operations with functions including Materials and Logistics Management, Transportation/Fleet, Environmental, Health & Safety and Training.

Welcome to the City of Lake Worth, Mr. Liberty.

The latest news about the Lake Worth Electric Utility is not good. But it’s in times like this when experience matters. Mr. Liberty demonstrated his mettle last year during Hurricane Irma. Liberty’s work during that storm was well-chronicled by the City of Lake Worth’s Public Information Officer (Mr. Ben Kerr), The Lake Worth Herald, and on this blog as well.

But the Electric Utility director’s work during that storm last year was never chronicled in The Palm Beach Post. Why not? Because their beat reporter and most everyone else at that paper hauled ass out of town before the storm arrived.

So when the next ‘storm’ hits and the Post finally gets around to reporting this story, maybe then they’ll finally get around to acknowledging how great a job the City’s Electric Utility, director, staff, and lineman (and out-of-town linemen too) performed last year.

But hope springs eternal. Last October the Post was put up For-Sale by the Cox Media Group. This year, on May 1st, Gatehouse Media took over operations. So when the next major storm hits, an actual weather event, maybe it will actually get chronicled in the County’s paper of record.

News about the City of Lake Worth by Palm Beacher Carleton Varney.*

A Special to the Daily News
(aka, The Shiny Sheet).

“[Y]ou should head just across the Lake Worth Bridge”, wrote Mr. Varney. To read the entire article click on this link; an excerpt follows:

     While you’re in Lake Worth, stop by ZaSu, which is named for ZaSu Pitts by the young charming woman who owns the shop, Larissa Fitzgerald. ZaSu was her grandmother’s favorite movie star, way back when there were real movie stars. ZaSu, 617 Lake Ave., sells women’s fashions in bright colors along with a mix of trendy jewelry and fragrances, all presented in an environment where creativity takes a starring role. And ZaSu knows how to picture frame its shop windows.
     I like to visit Lake Worth to dine — one of my favorites is Rustico Italiano, 701 Lucerne Ave. And I always stop by city Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso’s corner shop, Studio 205, at 600 Lake Ave.
     The shop is filled with just about everything from wraparound beachwear, to perfume, to costume jewelry. It is the place I go to buy my newspapers — local publications as well as international ones — from the racks on the sidewalk. Andy is a special host all his own. He knows everything about everything and everybody in this little town to the south, which is home to pretty painted cottages, the historic casino swimming pool and so many charming boutiques.


*“Palm Beacher Carleton Varney is president of Dorothy Draper & Co., an international design firm with offices in New York, West Palm Beach, London and White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Visit CarletonVarney.com or email him at cvarney@dorothydraper.com”

A man ahead of his time: Former CBS12 reporter Jonathan Beaton.

Before news organizations such as The Palm Beach Post got around to tackling the issue of ‘sober homes’ that were tearing apart our communities and neighborhoods here in Palm Beach County there was a TV news reporter already on the story.

Jonathan Beaton* was a former radio personality in Orlando. He wanted to try and make his way into TV news. In doing so, unfortunately, he ended up inking a contract to work for one of the worst TV news stations in the United States: CBS12. That news station is terrible now. But imagine ten times more terrible. That was CBS12 three years ago.

But Mr. Beaton had no clue. He thought CBS12 was just your average TV news station. But through it all Mr. Beaton managed to get beyond the noise and the nonsense and make a huge impact. With little experience and left mostly on his own he listened to the public. He asked what was troubling people here in our City of Lake Worth. The answer was so-called ‘sober homes’ that were opening up all over town. People frightened about a sober home one block over were waking up the next day to find one right next door. Once a single family home with a For-Sale sign became a place with six, eight, or even ten ‘residents’. Crime went up. For-Sale signs went up. More sober homes opened up.

Mr. Beaton has gotten erased from CBS12. His stories got scrubbed. It is like he never worked there. But he did. Below is the proof. Although the link has been deleted here is an excerpt from one Beaton’s news segments from May 2015:


LAKE WORTH — A Palm Beach County town wants to drop the hammer on sober homes, demanding more oversight over the controversial halfway houses at the federal level.
     CBS 12 learned a Lake Worth commissioner recently made the trip up to Washington D.C., meeting with some of Florida’s most powerful lawmakers discussing how to finally get the problem under control.
     It’s an issue he has investigated for years, sober homes and their occupants moving into neighborhoods filled with families.
     “They are buying up property and renting property in and around neighborhood children,” said Andy Amoroso. [emphasis added]
     Commissioner Amoroso just met with several Florida lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Lois Frankel, presenting the problem and asking for solutions.
     His contention, the halfway houses often increase crimes of opportunity, disrupting neighborhoods where families and children should live in peace.

Meet Jonathan Beaton:

The good news is Mr. Beaton bounced back quickly after leaving CBS12. Click on this link to learn more about, “Whatever happened to that reporter who sounded like Orson Welles?”

Partly due to reporters like Beaton the issue of sober homes became a huge issue for our elected leaders at the County and State level. Also in May 2015 State Rep. Lori Berman, now State Senator Lori Berman, delivered a legislative update to the Lake Worth City Commission. At the 12:15 mark District 1 Commissioner Scott Maxwell and Berman have an interesting back-and-forth on the role of insurance companies in this important debate.

Remember. This video is from three years ago:

By the way. . .

In the video above are two former commissioners: Chris McVoy, PhD, and Ryan Maier. MeVoy was re-elected in March 2015. Maier was a political newcomer and he was elected in March 2015 as well. Both McVoy and Maier won because they opposed the Neighborhood Road Bond in August 2014. One of the major reasons given to voters to oppose the bond vote were concerns over sea level rise. That bond vote in 2014 failed by just 26 votes.

Imagine how far ahead our City would be right now had that bond vote passed? 

In March 2017 McVoy got booted out of office. He opposed the November 2016 bond too. Why? Once again sea level rise was given as a major reason to vote “No”. But sixty-nine percent of the electorate voted “Yes”. Maier opted not to run for re-election in District 4. Now Commissioner Omari Hardy represents District 2 and Commissioner Herman Robinson represents District 4. They were both elected because they stressed how important it was to fix our streets and sidewalks.

Yes. Sea level rise is an important topic.

But so is public safety.


*Johnathan Beaton is now the president of Inside Advantage PR: “Not all public relations firms are created equal. We’re a different kind of a media relations agency. One that is purely results driven and client orientated. Started by former journalists, with a knack for storytelling and branding, in every market.”

Did you miss Trolls last month? Then come out this evening and see Moana at Screen on the Green!

The fun starts at 6:30 in
the Downtown Cultural Plaza.

Click on image to enlarge:

The City of Lake Worth is your official source for “Special Events”. Click on this link to learn more: The Soul Food Festival is this tomorrow in Bryant Park from 3:00–9:00 and Mango Festival is
coming up on June 16th!

Request For Proposal (RFP) #18-208: “Beach Equipment Rental Concession” at the Lake Worth Beach.

Important Information:

• Pre-bid meeting: None.
• Deadline to submit questions has passed.
• Questions? Send an email to: Purchasing1@lakeworth.org

RFP #18-208:

The City of Lake Worth is seeking proposals for the purpose of establishing a contract to serve as an independent contractor to the CITY for operation of a Beach Equipment Rental Concession.

and. . .

Time is of the essence and any proposal received after 3:00 p.m., June 6, 2018, whether by mail or otherwise will be returned unopened. Proposals shall be placed in a sealed envelope, marked in the lower left-hand corner with the RFP number, title, and date and hour proposals are scheduled to be received. Proposers are responsible for insuring that their proposal is delivered and stamped by the Financial Services Office personnel by the deadline indicated. The City reserves the right in its sole discretion to reject any or all proposals and/or to waive all non-material irregularities on any and all proposals. All costs and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, incurred by any firm in preparing and responding to this RFP are the sole responsibility of the proposer including without limitation any and all costs and fees related to a protest.

Interested parties may obtain a copy of the RFP by contacting the Financial Services Office at 561-586-1651 or from the City’s website, “Bids & Proposals”.

The Delray Beach Historical Society presents: “The Prehistory of Coastal Palm Beach County”.

“HERITAGE LECTURE
SERIES”

To learn more about the speaker,

Christian Davenport, click on this link.

State of Florida Archives. Lantana, Florida. Chaffin family home after hurricane of 1928.

Credit: State Archives of Florida,
Florida Memory.