"You Guys don't care a thing about Seniors" and other Comments

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That was my parting remark last night to the three commissioners who were conducting City Board interviews. Scott Maxwell was not there and Mayor Waterman, as you know, is in Orlando for the League of Cities Annual Conference to learn how to screw the citizens. Normally I don't give the commission a whole lot of negatives but last night they all deserved it when it came down to the Recreation Board and our shuffleboard courts.

I attend every board interview meeting and every time I am so impressed with the level of talent and expertise we have in our community. I can't even imagine that any city has so many smart and engaging people. Of course they do but it is still hard to imagine.

Last night we had people ranging in professions and degrees from an attorney who was highly qualified for the Community Relations Board. He stated that he believes in tolerance for all walks of life and stated that the CRB should be equal when judging and concern should be impartial. He did not get chosen. We had a woman with a Divinity Degree, trained in conflict resolution. She did not get chosen. She gave up her house to her daughter and son-in-law who are temporarily living there while waiting for their NSP2 grant to conclude. She lives in a neighboring town but she must physically live here to serve on a Board. The Commission appointed Panagioti Tsolkas, a passionate guy who doesn't trust the police and actually has been arrested a number of times and someone who, in my opinion, would not be impartial.

Cara Jennings was chosen for the Planning and Zoning Board--no surprise there. She is highly qualified. Gael Silverblatt also was chosen for that Board. She was wonderful on our Tree Board.

The Finance Advisory Board will have three highly qualified people with Leanne Evans who is Treasurer for the PB County School Board and is on the Finance Committee for Palm Beach County. The Commission finally chose someone from the Lake Osborne area, Bill Cherenekoff and Bill McAusland was chosen who had a career in State government and who dealt a lot with budgets. Perhaps the Board will now find a secretary.

The "winning" appointment for the Recreation Board was John Hanscom who is a personal trainer as well as Fitness Director at the Palm Beach Country Club. A lot of his experience has involved working with middle aged to the senior population and he suggested ideas for our Shuffleboard Court. When told that it was on the demolition block, his face fell. So did mine. I was still hoping that the city would at least compromise and save half the courts and give one hot damn for the elderly.

Recreation is a big thing in Lake Worth. There are various programs for children such as basketball, tennis, football, soccer and swim lessons. Most of our parks have been improved and are in tip-top shape. It has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading parks. The City prides itself on what it offers for children. But there is nothing now for the Seniors who make up a healthy percentage here. The only things we had were aerobics at the pool (the pool has been closed first because of finances and second because of the casino renovation), and shuffleboard. Last night Mr. Hanscom was told that the courts were being demolished because "no one used them."

Now let's tell the truth, commissioners.

• No one used them when you turned over the Shuffleboard Court property to The Mentoring Center. They trashed the property.

• Illegals walked on the courts and put out their cigarette butts on them. They urinated on them.

• Illegals were rude to the Seniors who tried to play there. I had one who was very rude to me. I should have called the cops or maybe the Community Relations Board. On the other hand, that would have been a bad idea because its concern is about the "rights" of illegals, not the citizens. Seniors were scared to come back.

• The City does not want to spend the money resurfacing the courts. It is cheaper to get rid of them. It was the City that ruined them by allowing the illegals to trash them.
  

Truth be known, the shuffleboard courts were always active and it was the one sport that Seniors had, not to mention again that the courts are part of our history. They have always been located next to or close to City Hall. The City wants to make this a park so that the inner-city can once again hang out there. It is my opinion that this was the quid-pro-quo with Staff--vote to get rid of that horrible Mentoring Center and we will give you a park for your immigrants.

There is nothing left to add to this long list of amenities taken away from the Seniors unless, of course, you want to add that the commission believes that we are all stupid. All recreation for seniors is now gone. We have been sacrificed supposedly because of money and now deception has been added to the mix.