Monday, May 23, 2011

Politics, People and Punks

Comment Up
Who will win this tug of war?

Politics, people and punks. Most cities are fighting the same wars and they are struggling just to pay what the Sheriff wants and continue to operate as a city. We have a lot of all three in Lake Worth but the punk element has been contained over the past year or so because of the gang task force. What we have now is a fight over precious resources--money. The Sheriff wants us to honor a contract signed three years ago and we no longer can meet his high cost for services. Until recently the Sheriff has refused to negotiate.

There are some who believe that the Sheriff is the only way no matter the cost, no matter whether this city goes bankrupt--safety in their minds is paramount above all else and they believe that the Sheriff is the only one who can provide it even though 99.999% of the people across the country do not have PBSO. Without the Sheriff they say, gangs and crime will escalate. And to bring up the Willdan Policing Study that was recently presented to Lake Worth showing us a plan to have our own police department once again and saving $3 million dollars, has caused an outcry from segments of the public who were organized and frozen in fear of even considering any alternative.

It reminds me of Jim Jones fanatacism.

There are residents who won't believe any report put in front of them unless they wrote it themselves. They are here to show the city who is boss; it is all politically motivated by friends of PBSO, the largest political entity in PB County. They actually have people, including one city commissioner, dedicated to tearing apart any and all information coming from City Hall. It is their new sport.

The truth of the matter is that the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office's Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) was formed to assist Palm Beach County law enforcement agencies with major case violent crime investigations with an emphasis on gang related violent crime. You do not have to have contractual services with the PBSO in order to get these services as you pay for them on your County tax bill.

Prior to this task force, gangs seemed to be in control of some neighborhood blocks. Now gangs have been stopped and members are serving long prison sentences. Stopping the gangs was all due to the following: Detectives from Palm Beach County, State of Florida and Federal law enforcement agencies, FDLE, Florida Highway Patrol, PBSO (of which we are now a part), and those cities with their own police departments--Lantana PD, Boca Raton PD, Boynton Beach PD, Delray Beach PD, Greenacres PD, Jupiter PD, PBC School Board PD, Palm Beach Gardens PD, Palm Springs PD, Riviera Beach PD, and West Palm Beach PD.

Gang violence was getting out of hand and that is why Sheriff Ric Bradshaw started a gang task force back in 2007 because throughout the County we were experiencing a lot of murders with the majority of them drug related. Most of the crime was attributed to gangs that were engaged in organized crime. Bradshaw got the Feds involved and gang members eventually were rounded up and tried on RICO charges that got them stiff prison sentences. Local sentencing was most often a revolving door system and they would be right back on the streets doing the same thing all over again.

Many members of these gangs lived here renting houses from slum landlords where background checks were non-existent. Their crimes were committed elsewhere unless it was a drive-by where they were killing their own. There were many times that I walked "the hood" and gave out campaign literature. Many in Lake Worth felt our own police department was not doing the job and this was due to poor management, certainly not the cops on the streets. Thus the push to join the PBSO became huge. PBSO was getting a lot of great publicity for reducing crime and we wanted that in our own city. Unbeknown to most people, these services were provided for and paid for and were in your County taxes. It was the PBSO's job, in conjunction with local police departments, to halt the gang crime activity and it was our police chief's job to take advantage of the program's resources.

It was a management problem with our police department then, but politics dictated and demanded a costly change that was predicated on emotions and perception (helicopters, dogs, crime lab, community policing when needed, as examples) with no thought to the unsustainable cost that was predicted by Jennings and Golden. They were right, but by then people were just plain fed up and the political frenzy began. It all could have been different under good leadership and a different majority commission but Clemens, Vespo and Lowe voted for the PBSO. They were the three who wanted to erode our city independence by outsourcing certain functions in Lake Worth. Policing was just one of them, as crime was and still is a hot political potato, and politicians were beholding to the Unions. They had no faith in our City and that is the tune today--"we can't manage anything," some say. Of course, we know that this is a wrong assessment because today we have excellent management and a strong city manager.

Bradshaw's $500 million budget accounts for over half of the County’s total operating budget and public safety in Lake Worth is no different. Bradshaw has told the County that he won't cut road patrol deputies and essentially has told Lake Worth the same thing. The County and Lake Worth can't afford the Sheriff and both have asked him to reduce his budget.

So instead of those who spoke out in front of city hall telling the City to pay anything that is asked thus putting the city up to hostage for public safety, and to come up with the money even selling off our city to do it, is outrageous as well as politically and emotionally off the deep end.

The politics and people are still around--same group, nothing has changed. The same men who were on our police department now wear different uniforms and are with the PBSO. Many of the punks are looking through bars. And the City of Lake Worth, a poor one at that, wonders how to afford policing that has quickly become unaffordable...a contract with PBSO that is getting all of us one step closer to bankruptcy as we inch towards becoming the highest taxed city in Palm Beach County, another statistic of politicians who acted on the fear of the people and who were quick to sign on the bottom line.

How about telling the Sheriff to reduce his multi-million dollar over-inflated tab. It can start with staffing. While population has remained relatively flat, the Sheriff's staffing has gone up about 29%.

Wishful thinking of that I am sure but I expect our Commission to do the right thing by all the 37,000 people who live here and not cave into political threats by the Dirty Dozen who has riled up the public into believing that nothing else is possible and saving $3 million dollars doesn't matter. I will respect you. The citizens will respect you. The Dirty Dozen will never respect you no matter what you decide. It is all about the game, because if they really cared about the City, $3 million dollars would matter and we would be hearing about all their calls to the PBSO asking them to reduce their cost.

19 comments:

  1. Lynn you are wrong on this issue. This city can't manage anything right. If we go with our own PD we will get none of our old officers back and get rent a cops from out of state who no nothing about our city. The "dirty dozen" have long since moved on. Instead there are hundreds of folks who feel the same on this issue. Stanton has no business controling our PD.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wrong on the $3 million dollars?

    You were there and listened to the Willdan Report... professional cops waiting to come here. It doesn't take long to know our city. You just said yourself, that those 80% that are still here will be re-assigned. Therefore, we will be getting new deputies assigned to LW. Every cop alive understands what crime is and what a criminal is. LW is not unique.

    The Dirty dozen is alive and thriving right now in LW and they are rallying around the PBSO as an issue.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why no mention of the fact that LWPD cost over $1 million MORE in their last year than we are paying PBSO today? Where's the projection of what LWPD would cost today? Why no mention that PBSO HAS worked with the city the past 2 years?
    You have never answered the question, what has the city manager done to prove she can manage anything? Provide one example. You rip Scott Maxwell for asking the tough questions your friendly comissioners should have been asking, but they don't have a clue what to ask or what to do.
    And at some point you should start wondering why it's you and the anarchists against PBSO? There are alot of businesses downtown that support PBSO and don't want to change back. Are you saying they can't think for themselves and were tricked? And you are also the only resident that thinks the city manager is doing a good job.
    Your battle seems to be more with the dirty dozen than the cost, because it's in black and white. LWPD cost more for inferior service than PBSO which provides better service.
    Do you really think that if different commisioners won the last election and decided to change back to LWPD there would not have been the same outcry? There would have been,so there goes your "it's politics" angle.
    Like everything else your arguments and your political choices are based on your hatred of handful of residents and nothing more.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You want to shoot the messenger. The city is broke. Is there anything about that you want to address? On Thursday the County will tell us exactly how broke we are. It is easy to criticize but I don't see you, the person who write above, coming up with anything that makes sense.
    J. Jordan

    ReplyDelete
  5. If we had our own LWPD, costs would be reduced and we wouldn't have to beg. This is a different time and different circumstances. We do not have control.

    Businesses as well as citizens like the PBSO. That has never been the argument. Affordability is.

    As far as the rest of what you say, it is your opinion and you're welcomed to it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Clemens, Vespo and Lowe got us into this mess! If the Scott Maxwell crowd was the majority and they said "look ,we can't afford this. We have to negotiate a better price for the citizens of Lake Worth", the Mary Lindsey crowd would be screaming for joy about how smart Scott was!This is all about politics,not about the people who live,work and pay HIGH!!! taxes here already. Mcvoy,Mulvehill and Golden didn't need 50,000 bucks to know that they are in a crappy,unworkable contract. And they should have had the balls to stand up,point at the Lindsey fake fear mongers and say "YOUR people,the candidates that YOU supported,Vespo ,Clemens and Lowe are the ones that got us into this mess! Go point your bony finger at THEM "!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I allowed the above post even though there was a personal attack mainly because there is a good point made. Some have called me fat, old, wrinkly, now bony. I have asked that you refrain from personal attacks unless you use your true and complete name. I am asking again. No one is insulting you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lynn. If the city is so broke how can they afford the beach? Plus where will Stanton get the transition costs of $6mil to get her own PD? You know everything, so please educate me on these questions.

    Who are the dirty dozen anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I do not believe that person was talking about you, Lynn, but rather that anony above. Just my guess and I could be wrong. Yes, this commission should not have caved in to that horrible crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  10. To anonymous at 9:29-

    I have answered this before.
    1. the transition cost is about $4. Most of it would come from the savings that would be realized with a city department (13.2 vs. 10.3) ... and the rest with leasing equipment instead of making cash payments ...(i.e. cars and equipment). It will come from developing our own benefit plan vs a Union one out of control...a big savings here.

    2. The beach casino will be paid from revenue with a loan from the city initially. As soon as the space is leased, it will be all revenue, loan paid back to the city...NOT taxed to the residents here.

    3. The beach redevelopment is from BOND money that we have been paying for years. It is about time that the County free up our money. And tell Burt Aaronson to go fly a kite.

    ReplyDelete
  11. We are not going back to the old way of doing business in this town. Like Stanton or not, you proponents of "kill the messenger" will still have the same facts in front of you with a different manager. The manager is right and even with a new one who is non-political, the message will still be the same. We can't afford the PBSO.

    ReplyDelete
  12. One of the better blogs that dares to tell the truth.
    Andy

    ReplyDelete
  13. Even Mary Lindsey knows we have to cut costs. why does she have to make this some sort of conspiracy brought forth by the city manager who is doing exactly what she is supposed to do. What is the purpose. What drives her? What is in it for her? Police endorsement of her candidates. Now how shallow is that.
    Joe M.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, I would venture a guess and say the majority of the above posters don't live on the ghetto side of town. If they did, they would have a different point of view. I can't speak highly enough of the PBSO's impact on my neighborhood and my quality of life.I don,t believe any Commission should have control over our Law enforcement agency's. I believe that's too much control, and leaves out the possibility of manipulation.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I use to like maxwell but he really has turned out to be a political panderer. Can't think of anything much worse than that. Isn't he Republican? He should act like one. What a disgrace. As republicans are cutting everything in the state as well as in congress, when they can, Maxwell wants to spend and spend and spend.
    George D.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You guys have no clue. This city is so screwed up that if you think Stanton can run a police department for 10 million a year and keep us safe you have smoked to much of the good stuff. Wake up people we are heading for a cliff and the one thing we have going for us is that the city is safer today than its been in years. Everything else is much worse. Should we lose any ofthese big cases against us Stanton will try to cut the Police budget down to 3 million a year. I could care less what Mary says or Lynn or anyone else. We need PBSO.

    ReplyDelete
  17. For Christ sakes. Let this end already. We want the PBSO. Double our taxes. Let us all file bankruptcy just as long as we feel safe.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I happen to like Mary Lindsay's bony fingers. They point to facts and back up her opinion of events and decisions made and that are being made now.

    I disagree vehemently that if Maxwell said the PBSO cost too much, and it does, and suggested changing back to our own LWPD, that we'd all rally around him.

    At the citizen meeting that residents gave up their Saturday to attend, only one commissioner thought it important to attend. The others were welcome if they really cared about what we thought.

    There were even Sheriff deputies there so Suzanne could feel safe from her constituents.

    PBSO is more professional and CHEAPER than if we had stayed with our own department. We were unhappy with the costs of the old department, the lack of resources, the lack of their ability to combat our gang problem and too few cops on the street.

    Cara diverted money that could have been used for better security for our residents and renovated the Illegal Hiring Hall. What a success that was!

    The premise for the study was a farce but there was some little bits of good information that can be useful in the upcoming negotiations, if they truly want any negotiations.

    We need to find a way to keep the PBSO through cuts in level of service and raising of revenue. Let's start at the top at city hall. How many people have been laid off at the TOP?!?!

    ReplyDelete