Lake Worth Beach press release.

Lake Worth Beach, Florida — The 18th Annual Great American Raft Race will take place in Bryant Park as part of the City of Lake Worth Beach 4th of July celebrations. This year’s theme is “As Seen on TV”. The race is preceded by a parade of competitors down Lake Avenue to Bryant Park starting at 11:00 a.m. The Great American Raft Race is organized by the Neighborhood Association Presidents Council and is an opportunity for local groups to take part in friendly competition and celebrate life in the quirky City by the Sea.

Please note that in order to accommodate the race the City will be closing down the Bryant Park boat ramps on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 9:00 p.m. and will reopen them on Thursday, July 4, 2019 at 10:00 p.m.

For more information please contact Ben Kerr, Public Information Officer at 561-586-1631; email: BKerr@lakeworth.org

The Palm Beaches [sic] Marathon: A 26.2 mile race yet to reach its potential.

The Palm Beaches [sic] Marathon will be held in early December later this year. This full marathon, the 26.2 mile race route has been slightly improved over the years but not by much. For example, there is no beach along the full marathon route. Not one single beach.

Should this race be called the Palms Marathon instead? There are plenty of beautiful palm trees along the race route but not one single beach.

West Palm Beach is the star each year for the Palm Beaches Marathon but West Palm does not have a beach. Lake Worth Beach has a beach but each and every year the full marathon falls short of our beach. What LWB should do is what the Town of Palm Beach did: tell the organizers of the Palm Beaches Marathon to go pound sand somewhere else. Later in this blog post is information about all that.

For residents and business owners in this City of Lake Worth that’s where you come in. Start lobbying now for a better presence and a better stage for our City in this year’s race and years beyond. Our City deserves an equal seat at the table, not just race infill or an afterthought.

The Town of Palm Beach rejected the Palm Beaches Marathon last year. They said it wasn’t “town-serving”. Our City of Lake Worth needs to demand this annual race serve our City better than it has in the past. How many in the public and those in the running community even know part of the full 26.2 mile marathon goes through this little City?

Several City neighborhoods are included in the race and all are east of Dixie Hwy. and the runners never even get one single glimpse of the Lake Worth Lagoon off the shores of LWB. Runners will see a lot of the Intracoastal in West Palm (No Beach) though. Ironic. It’s not called the West Palm Beach Lagoon for a reason.

Question: Did you know of all the types of races in the Palm Beaches Marathon event lineup (there are several of different length and skill level), the biggest and by far the most popular is the 26.2 mile race called a full marathon as opposed to a half marathon and other shorter races.

Organizers hope this annual event will some day rise to the level of the Boston and New York marathons.

But for this City the full marathon is basically race infill. Race designers picking the streets and turns to make it exactly 26.2 miles. The race does not make it to the Casino at the Beach. The race does not make it to either of our iconic Downtown streets: Lake and Lucerne avenues. The race doesn’t even come close to the Cultural Plaza. How sad.

Remember, last year the Town of Palm Beach rejected the Palm Beaches Marathon. Their elected leaders called it not “town-serving”. That’s right. Rejected. Get out of town.

So what are residents, business and restaurant owners in this City of Lake Worth to do? Here are several ideas:

Start contacting the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, your elected leaders here in the City of Lake Worth, and the good folks at LULA Lake Worth Arts and tell them you want the 2019 Palm Beaches Marathon to be more “town-serving” for our City.

What happened in the Town of Palm Beach last year? Why did they reject the race?

How we got to this point starting off with the news in the Palm Beach Daily News.

In August 2018 organizers of this marathon had a glimmer of hope the Town of Palm Beach would allow the race to enter the town according to journalist William Kelly at the Shiny Sheet. But those hopes were dashed on August 15th.


Deputy Town [of Palm Beach] Manager Jay Boodheshwar said marathon organizers must meet several conditions to receive a special event permit from the council that would allow bringing the marathon into town. Councilman Lew Crampton suggested last week that marathon organizers make a donation to the town in return for being able to bring the race here. [emphasis added]

and. . .

     “It’s not in the interest, I think, of our residents,” Lindsay [Councilwoman Bobbie Lindsay] said. “It’s a small town, it’s quiet, they’re here to have peace and quiet … it’s a drain on our police and also the rest of our staff.”


Here is more news from reporter Ian Cohen at the Shiny Sheet, more excerpts:


The Town Council on Wednesday [8/15/2018] voted 4-1 to reject a permit request by the marathon’s managing director, Kenneth Kennerly, to allow the annual race to run through about 1.2 miles of town.

and. . .

     “It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving. The president [U.S. President Donald Trump] will be in town,” Moore [Council President Danielle Moore] said. “This would just be another piece of a very complicated weekend in Palm Beach. It causes me great consternation to think about the things that could possibly go wrong.”


The Lake Worth Tropical Triathlon every year uses the Robert Harris (“Lake Worth”) Bridge and the Casino as part of the course for runners. So why can’t the organizers of the Palm Beaches Marathon find a route to include our Casino in this City?

In 2017 it was sort of like the organizers tweaked the race to make it exactly 26.2 miles and that was our City’s only role. The stars of the show, of course, were the Town of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

About the race two years ago from the organizers of the Palm Beaches Marathon:


“We [2017 Palm Beaches Marathon] have worked to improve the course from previous years, in order to make the route the best and most scenic as possible. The Marathon course will be a Boston Qualifier, and fast, flat and beautiful. For the first time in the event’s 14 year history we will be crossing into the Town of Palm Beach!”

Below is the Lake Worth leg of the
2017 full marathon race.

Click on image to enlarge:

Full marathon runners in 2017 entered the City, headed east on Duke Dr., then south on Lakeside Drive to 10th Ave. North. and then at the turn exiting the City on Federal Hwy.

In 2018 runners ran seven blocks further south prior to the turnaround. To see the 2018 map of the full marathon race click on this link.

The Palm Beaches Marathon in 2019?

Make your voice heard! Further on over the bridge to the Lake Worth Casino!

A Look Back: “Historical Overview of our Current City Hall (former Municipal Auditorium)”

It’s hard to believe sometimes . . . this blog began 13 years ago. Now and then, especially for new or recently new blog readers, I’ll go back and find a blog post about our City’s history that will surprise a lot of residents, especially all those who’ve come to call Lake Worth Beach “home” in the last 2–3 years or so.

Looking back through some of those early posts found this one about Lake Worth City Hall from August 2006. The current City Hall was once the City’s Municipal Auditorium, what you know now as the “City Hall Annex” at the Cultural Plaza was City Hall “back in the day”.

Enjoy this look back in our City’s history and how the current City Hall came to be, a blog post titled, “Historical Overview of our Current City Hall”.

Click on images to enlarge:

“Strong Towns” and the public narrative (storytelling) coming to Lake Worth Beach on Wednesday, June 26th.

To get registered for this seminar at the Casino and Beach Complex including ticket prices, guest speakers and list of sponsors, all that information is later in this blog post today. This all-day event (7:45 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) will include breakfast and lunch and FREE parking is also available.

This event is called “Planning Challenges 2019: City Stories” organized by the Palm Beach County Planning Congress (PBCPC).

Excited to announce Daniel Herriges — a long-time contributor and content manager for Strong Towns — will be the keynote speaker at this event in Lake Worth Beach.

Strong Towns is “a nonpartisan organization where strong citizens from across the political spectrum can gather around the common goal of making the Strong Towns approach real in more places. We consistently find that our movement is uniquely politically diverse, and our readership consists of people identifying as broadly liberal, conservative, moderate, and everything in between.”

At this event on Wednesday the Palm Beach County Planning Congress will have master storytellers and a wide-ranging group of well-known planners and other professionals, community members and leaders including keynote storyteller Daniel Herriges from Strong Towns; the luncheon keynote storyteller will be Tony Garcia with Street Plans Collaborative; will hear stories by Caren Neile from the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies at FAU and others throughout the day ending with a “Sidewalk Talk” along the Lake Worth Beach seawall.

About the Palm Beach County Planning Congress:

The PBCPC includes public and private sector professionals in fields of urban planning, water resources, transportation, education, local, regional and state planning, architecture, growth management and environmental law, engineering, landscape architecture, real estate, health and human services, and other related fields. The PBCPC meets on a regular monthly basis. To become a member of the PBCPC use this link.

The sponsors of “Planning Challenges 2019: City Stories” are:

• The host City of Lake Worth Beach
• Florida Atlantic University
• KCI Technologies
• Kimley-Horn
• Lewis Longman and Walker
• NZ Consultants
• Palm Beach County
• Treasure Coast Section – APA FL
• WGI

Event fee:

• For PBCPC members: $75.00.
• Non-members: $85.00.

For attendees purchasing tickets at the door on the day of the event the cost is $65 for those who become members of the Palm Beach County Planning Congress.

Click on this link to get registered for “Planning Challenges 2019: City Stories”.

Lake Worth Beach now has an official Facebook page!

For many of you this news will be hard to believe but it’s true. Below is a press release from the City including a link to the official page on Facebook.

This is what came to mind on learning the news about Lake Worth Beach now having a official presence on Facebook:

Here is the press release datelined June 20th:

Lake Worth Beach, Florida — The City of Lake Worth Beach is pleased to announce the launch of the official Lake Worth Beach Facebook Page. The City invites all who want to learn more about what is happening throughout the City to like and follow the new page.

For more information please contact Ben Kerr, Public Information Officer at 561-586-1631; email: BKerr@lakeworth.org


Here is more information Worth Noting about Lake Worth Beach: To become a subscriber and receive official updates and future press releases from the City use this link.

News from The Coastal Star: “South Palm approves merger deal with sheriff”.

Here are two excerpts from the story by journalist Dan Moffett:


After running its own police department for more than a half-century, the Town of South Palm Beach has decided to join forces with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The Town Council voted 4-1 on June 18 to approve a draft contract for services with the sheriff that would begin on Oct. 1 and run for 10 years. Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan voted against the merger agreement, saying she wanted to see the final version of the contract before considering approval.

“I just hope everybody is happy with us moving forward in this town,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “It was a big step but I think it’s going to be good.”

and. . .

Council members credited Kellogg and Town Attorney Glen Torcivia, who oversaw Lake Worth Beach’s switch to the Sheriff’s Office a decade ago, with negotiating the 10-year commitment, an unusually long term for interlocal law enforcement agreements.

For Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, taking over South Palm Beach is a significant inroad into the county’s barrier islands. The sheriff has service contracts with 10 other municipalities, and one in the works with the newly formed Westlake community, but currently has only a limited presence along the coast.


To read the entire story in The Coastal Star use this link.

News from reporter Austen Erblat: FREE community event in Lake Worth Beach to discuss sanctuary city ban.

According to the Sun Sentinel the Florida Immigrant Coalition will be at the Guatemalan Maya Center this coming Friday, June 21st, from 5:30–7:00. This event is open to the public and there is no charge for admission. This event will also have free food and drinks available for attendees.

The Guatemalan Maya Center is located at 430 North G St.

Here are two excerpts from the South Florida Sun Sentinel:


Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning so-called sanctuary cities, an issue that brought activists and protestors to the Florida Capitol from across the state when it was being discussed in the state legislature.

DeSantis ran for governor on the issue of promising to ban so-called sanctuary cities, which aim to prevent local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration officials if they arrest immigrants for low level or nonviolent crimes. Some critics have called the bill unnecessary since Florida did not have any sanctuary jurisdictions, according to the Department of Justice.


and. . .


Now a group of organizations led by Florida Immigrant Coalition, who led the opposition efforts to the state’s senate and house bills in Tallahassee, will host a community awareness event to educate South Florida communities on what the bill means for them.


Click on this link to read the entire article in the Sun Sentinel.

It is worth noting the City of Lake Worth, now called Lake Worth Beach, was never a so-called ‘sanctuary city’ and the Town of Jupiter was also mistakenly confused as a sanctuary as well because that municipality is home to the El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center.

About the reporter at the Sun Sentinel:

Austen Erblat is a reporter covering various communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties for the Sun Sentinel Media Group. He has covered music, politics and environmental issues for regional and national papers, magazines and blogs. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University, where he was news editor and managing editor of the student paper.


To follow or send a message to Erblat on Twitter use this link.

Lake Worth Beach City Commission meeting last evening.

The meeting starts off with a legislative update from District 89 State Representative Mike Caruso:




Worth noting tonight is a meeting of the City’s Recreation Advisory Board at 501 Lake Ave. in the downtown. The meeting begins at 6:30 and is open to everyone from the public. Tomorrow evening (Thurs., 6/20) at Lake Worth Beach City Hall is a Commission Budget Work Session which begins at 6:00.

To look over the City’s official calendar use this link.

Lake Worth Beach press release:

Books and Bubbles: Literacy in the Laundromat

Healthier Lake Worth Funds Unique Project Developed by the Lake Worth Beach Public Library

Lake Worth Beach, Fl — The Lake Worth Beach Public Library is pleased to announce that Healthier Lake Worth has chosen to fund its groundbreaking Books and Bubbles program. This project seeks to encourage literacy in the City of Lake Worth Beach by bringing Storytime events and books to families who are not currently library users while they wait for their clothes to wash and dry in local laundromats.

“These funds will enable us to purchase start up materials and books to give to the families who attend the programs – thank you, Healthier Lake Worth!” said Children’s Librarian Cindy Ansell as she accepted the $3500.00 check.

The impact of this program is 2-fold. The families who attend the programs will be encouraged to develop early literacy behaviors and the volunteers who attend the training session will be provided with a way to positively change their community for the better.

In August, the Lake Worth Beach Library will begin training volunteers on how to present a Books and Bubbles Storytime program. The program will consist of reading simple books and singing songs to familiar tunes. Each volunteer will wear an apron which will identify them as a Books and Bubbles volunteer. Volunteers will begin visiting laundromats in September.

For more information about this project contact Cindy Ansell at 561-533-7354.

“A love letter to Lake Worth” by Rena Blades.

This was a letter from the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County published in March 2017 by The Palm Beach Post in a first-of-its-kind “Special Keepsake Series”.

The Cultural Council is located in the downtown in Lake Worth Beach.

Featured in this Special Insert two years ago were Mayor Pam Triolo, “[T]his City is on the road to recovery and renaissance”, a feature story on City Manager Michael Bornstein, a full-page story on the historic cottages in Lake Worth, local artist AnnaMaria is quoted, “True [local] artists need to create. True [local] artists have a passion that must be expressed.”

There was a feature story about the Lake Worth Beach and Casino Complex, “The crown jewel of city amenities, home to a beach, a pier, restaurants, a casino building, and an award-winning wedding facility.” But there was no mention of a municipal pool at the beach in Lake Worth and hopefully that community eyesore will be removed in short order.

That Special Insert published in the Post was an incredible piece of work led by editor Jan Tuckwood and photojournalist Bruce R. Bennett.

And also in that Special Insert was another feature story. One by Rena Blades herself, the past president and CEO of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

Click on newspaper clipping
from the Special Insert to enlarge:

Rena Blades left the Cultural Council in January 2018 to start Delos Consulting. To meet the current administration at the Cultural Council use this link.

Just for kicks: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Don’t Spook the Horse”.

From the 1990 vinyl album Ragged Glory included in the “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. Los Angeles Times music critic John D’Agostino called the record “impressive primitivism coming from a 45-year-old rock icon”:





From Wikipedia: “Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for their association with Neil Young. Beginning in 1969 and continuing to the present day, they have been co-credited on a number of Young’s albums, with 11 studio albums and numerous live albums being billed as by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. They have also released six studio albums of their own, issued between 1971 and 2009.”

A work in progress.

The officially new website for Lake Worth Beach was unveiled over the weekend. To look it over for yourself click on this link.

On March 12th of this year the electorate approved renaming this City to Lake Worth Beach and then later that month the City’s website was taken down for well over two months. Part of the new website is dedicated to the “Strategic Plan 2020–2025”; worth noting, however, there are still six months left in 2019. About the new website:

This is evolving for format and to best coordinate with new name and new marketing and branding. Concept captures individual feedback meetings with each commissioner and the similarities they have.

Here is how to contact your elected leaders in Lake Worth Beach with your feedback on the new website:

• Mayor Pam Triolo: 561-586-1735; email, ptriolo@lakeworth.org
• Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso (District 3): 561-586-1733; aamoroso@lakeworth.org
• Vice Mayor Pro Tem Scott Maxwell (District 1): 561-586-1731; smaxwell@lakeworth.org
• Commissioner Omari Hardy (District 2): 561-586-1732; ohardy@lakeworth.org
• Commissioner Herman C. Robinson (District 4): 561-586-1734; hrobinson@lakeworth.org

There are several public meetings at City Hall this week. This will be a good test going forward how well the City gets the word out and posts the agendas for the public.

Stay tuned. 

2020 Elections in Palm Beach County: A rematch, Caruso vs. Bonfiglio?

Before long the 2020 Election Season in PBC will be a very big topic. For an early look at the field and candidates thus far according to the Supervisor of Elections click on this link. It’s hard to believe but it was just six months ago that Susan Bucher was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis then appointed Wendy Sartory Link to become the Supervisor of Elections and Link promptly announced she would not become a candidate for the office in 2020. But that was then.

Another Caruso/Bonfiglio race for District 89 will most certainly focus on what happened in 2018 but it remains to be seen if that issue alone will drive the voters to the polls. It may have the opposite and negative effect and depress voter turnout or drive up undervotes especially in a highly partisan election year.

Many of you will recall in November 2018 when Jim Bonfiglio lost the House District 89 race to now-State Rep. Mike Caruso; it was a very close and contentious election. Already Bonfiglio has filed to run against Caruso once again even though the five-day qualifying period does not begin until June 15th, 2020, just about a year from now. How does one get ones name on the District 89 ballot? That information is a little later in this blog post.

Is another Caruso/Bonfiglio all but certain? Of course not. A lot will happen between now and June 2020 and most certainly others will enter the fray.

In 2018 both Caruso and Bonfiglio were vying to replace Rep. Bill Hager who was term-limited but the 2020 race will pose a much different dynamic: Mike Caruso is now the incumbent which is a huge advantage.

Caruso defeated Matt Spritz in the August 2018 Republican Primary and Bonfiglio won over Ryan A. Rossi in the Democrat Primary; interestingly, both Caruso and Bonfiglio got 56% of the primary vote heading into the November General Election. Thus far no one else has joined the 2020 race for District 89 but if a primary election is held it will occur on August 25th, 2020 with the General Election the first Tuesday in November. Terms in the Florida House are for two years and term-limited to four terms.

In the 2018 Democrat Primary for District 89 Ryan Rossi had just recently graduated from FAU and was only thirty-two years old at the time which may have been a disadvantage but two years later Mr. Rossi could be a formidable challenger in the 2020 race. For more about Rossi read an article by feature editor Thomas Chiles in FAU’s University Press from November 2017 by clicking on this link. It is very likely Caruso will also have a primary challenge as well.

The State of Florida has yet to complete the 2020 Election Year Handbook with all the details and requirements to become a candidate, e.g., the candidate petition process, but in the meantime here is the address for more information to become a candidate:


Department of State, Division of Elections
Bureau of Election Records
Room 316, R.A. Gray Building
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0250


District 89 covers coastal Palm Beach County along Highland Beach to the south to Riviera Beach in the north with Lake Worth Beach roughly in the center of the district. Here are two excerpts from journalist Ryan Nicol at Florida Politics, news datelined June 6th:


Former Ocean Ridge Mayor Jim Bonfiglio is pushing for a rematch against GOP state Rep. Mike Caruso in House District 89.

Bonfiglio has filed to enter the 2020 contest as a Democrat, according to the Florida Division of Elections website. The two competed in 2018 to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Bill Hager, who was term-limited.

That 2018 contest was one of six throughout the state to head to a mandatory machine recount. After all votes were cast, Caruso edged Bonfiglio by just 32 votes out of more than 78,000.

and. . .

Bonfiglio gave Caruso some stiff competition both in the vote tally and in the fundraising game, with Bonfiglio willing to put in his own money. Still, Caruso largely led in outside donations.

The district has been competitive for several cycles, though not nearly as close as the 2018 contest.


The news from Ryan Nicol ends with this short paragraph, “So far, no other candidates have filed to run on either the Democratic or Republican side.”

But once again, it’s still very early.

Palm Beach County expected to open shooting park later this year.

Below is news from journalist Lois K. Solomon at the Sun Sentinel about a new shooting park scheduled to open in Palm Beach County and it will be one of the largest in Florida. For those of you in the environmental community this new park is southwest of what used to be called the Briger Forest and was the former “Biotechnology Research Park” concept that ended up being located in Jupiter.

According to the Sun Sentinel this new park is,


Being paid for with funds from national excise taxes on weapons and ammunition, as well as money from Palm Beach County, the National Rifle Association, Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, and the South Florida Water Management District.


This shooting park is west of Palm Beach Gardens and north of Westlake. To go and see the location of this new park for yourself go west on Northlake Blvd. all the way to the end and then head north on Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. After about three miles the shooting park will be on the right side of the road opposite the JW Corbett Management Area and Everglades Youth Conservation Camp. The address of the shooting park is 11730 Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. in unincorporated PBC.

Here is the news in the Sun Sentinel datelined June 3rd:


The opening of the Palm Beach County Shooting Sports Park would be three years after construction started and a year later than a target date announced last year. Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officials have blamed delays on problems with contractors. The most recent holdup involves completion of the potable water plant.

and. . .

Palm Beach County’s park is close to completion, according to the update. The administrative buildings and restaurants are finished, while landscaping is set to be installed this month.

When the water plant is done, the Wildlife Commission will open the 100-yard rifle and handgun ranges on the weekends. Contractors will keep working on the 200- and 300-yard shooting lines and trap and skeet fields, according to the update.

When these projects are completed, the park will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday.


To read the entire article in the Sun Sentinel click on this link.

Flag Day 2019 is Friday, June 14th. Everyone is invited to Lake Worth Beach to honor American flag.

The City’s American flag flying full mast in

Bryant Park for Flag Day 2018.

Flag Day is celebrated at the Bryant Park Bandshell each year attended by dignitaries and a huge crowd. There is plenty of free parking nearby and the program begins at 6:00.

Here is an excerpt from a 2016 article in The Lake Worth Herald about Flag Day:


     In 2008, then Mayor Rene Varela invited the Flag Day ceremony back home to Lake Worth, where it has been magnificently celebrated and greatly revered annually ever since. The ceremony this year was hosted by Scottish Rite General Secretary, Mike Cribbit who said he was pleased to see more people than ever in attendance.
     The brief but moving ceremony in recent years has included hailing the names of our sons and fathers who attended Lake Worth High School since the school began in 1922, and who have given their lives in service to our Country. Another treasured part of the ceremony is the recitation of “What the Pledge Means to Me,” written and originally performed by the late Richard “Red” Skelton [see video below], a 33 degree Mason in the Scottish Rite Fraternity.