The New Year

I make no New Year resolutions nor do I offer any predictions for 2010. When it comes to Lake Worth, we are always in for surprises and that is something that makes this city so much fun!

We always have new people on the political scene like Chris and John; they interest us. Who are they, we wonder? Or we have old timer politicos resurrected from Costa Rica that have a flavor all of their own. And what about James Addision who felt he no longer "fit in" to a town he lived in for nearly 80 years and moved to N.C. Jeff Clemens kicked him out of the Chamber for saying "shit" when talking about the 6th Ave South Gateway. There are many of us who feel the very same way and that spending $15 million on two roads was not "cool." There is Katie and Save Our Neighborhood who has given 4 years to a cause. I miss Bill Coakley and hope he will find new inspiration and get back to his investigative exposes. More importantly, we hope that people will LISTEN and take heed to what he has to say.

We are forever thankful for those who are involved in the City by giving their time to serve on Boards, neighborhood associations, the citizen who just reaches down and picks up a piece of litter on the street as well as those who care enough to write their opinions or speak before the Commission. And we can't forget all those who have run for office who put themselves right on the line for Lake Worth. These are the colorful people of the City that help make it what it is. We always will have new fires to put out and policies to understand. And we will always have interesting, caring folks.

We can only hope that the Commission will be on top of its game--looking for waste, demanding a forensic audit to go over everything with a fine tooth comb, employing a professional Staff that can be trusted to give the correct answers and solutions. We hope that commissioners will not allow themselves to be manipulated. No more Greater Bays. No more of the County trying to take our water and our beach and us handing it over. No more FMPA's. No more of the "we can't maintain anything" attitude. It is about being honest about the problems we face in Lake Worth as well as understanding all of our opportunities. It is about listening to the people. It's about the Commission and CRA spending money foolishly. And it is definitely remembering our history and what got us to where we are today. Our problems of previous years are not over as Mayor Varela would like us to believe and who says that he wants us to forget the past and "move on." We have much to learn from it.

Overall, this is about a City Administration full of people who hopefully possess character, the right approach, attitude and a respect for all the citizens for whom they serve. We are optimistic that this new Commission will be strong and united in its goals to make Lake Worth, once again, an affordable and inviting City.

Here is to the local "news" papers taking some lessons from Fox and actually reporting the facts in a fair and balanced way. The Sunset parcel comes readily to mind. This parcel was NEVER up-zoned, so there is nothing to down-zone. It never got transmitted to the DCA.