Speech has Soul and so does She

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Commissioner Mulvehill's Acceptance Speech

I don’t usually read prepared statements, but this is so important I am going to do so this evening.

I first want to say, that I had the most fantastic core of volunteers that showed up day after day, not just for me, but for the shared vision that we have for our city. I sincerely thank you for all your hard work and for believing in me to carry forth and implement our shared vision.

I decided to run for office two years ago because that vision was in jeopardy. The prior City Commission majority had voted to privatize our beach property, outsource one of our most valuable resources, our water, and refused to exit the expensive electric contract. There was a lack of solid leadership in city hall and this was not being addressed either.

In 2008, our voters and residents spoke out in favor of a new direction for Lake Worth.

In these last two years, we have had a commission majority with the courage to look at these issues and address them on behalf of our residents, not outside interests. We reversed the decision on our beach; we reversed the decision about our water, and we reversed the idea that bad decisions and bad contracts could not be fixed.

The idea of dissent has been long- revered and at the same time criticized in our country. Dissent is a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea. Our country was built on dissent and I feel that same momentum here in our community of standing up for what is right, despite the entrenchment of conformity. I have talked to a lot of people in the last few months who recently moved here and they told me that they moved here because Lake Worth isn’t like anywhere else. What they did not articulate, but is clear to me, is that people are drawn here because of the soul of our city. Lake Worth has a personality – it has a spirit – unlike any other. And when you nurture the soul of a city, it comes to life. And that is exactly what is happening here now.

Voltaire said, “Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing the new road.” A professor at the University of Amsterdam states, that without dissent, society would come to a halt, we wouldn’t change or create or innovate. Dissenters commonly are despised, ignored or persecuted by the majority. We have seen that here in our own city, in this very room. So I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and respect for Commissioner Cara Jennings for being a dissenter – for courageously standing up to the persecution and the shocking incivility that she was subjected to as our commissioner. She is incredibly brave and visionary and was instrumental in bringing about a new direction for Lake Worth.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”And Commissioner Jennings has blazed a trail. The decisions we make today will have a tremendous impact on the future of our city and it is our responsibility as commissioners to not only address our short term problems, but to always look to the future. So my focus is no longer on what I’ve done in the last two years, but instead on what needs to be done in the next two years - and that is….. to connect Lake Worth’s history to Lake Worth’s future.

The first iteration of our Lake Worth Casino building was a bath house built by Mr. A.A. Jones in 1912. Lake Worth’s population at that time was 38 people. And yet a book on our history reports that it was not unusual for 500 or more people to attend dances and festivities at this site. That means that even at that time, our beach property was a regional destination.

This quote from the book stood out to me, “But many a tourist elected to make his home in Lake Worth because of the Old Casino’s friendly accommodations and the splendid beach it overlooked.” As it was 100 years ago, so it can be today. And I look forward to making Lake Worth a regional destination once again and preparing our city for the next 100 years.

Thank you.