This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Usually when I speak to the free lunch issue I am speaking to the moon. Not one commissioner believes that we need to stop this sort of spending.
Tonight on Consent (which means if not pulled for discussion and moved over to New Business, the public cannot comment) is the item to vote on allowing Vice Mayor Suzanne Mulvehill to spend valuable and rare taxpayer dollars traveling to Vancouver, Canada in order to attend a Sustainability Conference held at the Robson Square, University of British Columbia. She may also be chosen to give a presentation on sustainability. The back-up says that the funds are budgeted. As long as you, the taxpayer, is there to pick up the tab for travel whims, memberships, conventions, etc., the spending will continue and the special assessments will multiply.
The City Commission has no shame when it comes to the free lunch. They all believe that this spending is an entitlement and say that it is for the betterment of Lake Worth knowing that it is neither. Afterall, they say, they are learning ways to improve our City. Of course, we have never had one presentation on anything, ever, after they shamelessly spend taxpayer dollars to have a Martini good time. A lot of these conventions are to learn how to screw the resident.
"Sustainabilty" is the new buzz word in Lake Worth. The City just elevated William Waters to the Director of Sustainability. Sounds impressive. Sustainability is to modify behaviors such as convincing people to ride their bikes to and fro rather than hopping in that car. That is probably why we are spending so much money on bike lane striping. Can't wait to see that biker driving over that first big pothole, another thing that you will most likely be assessed for in the future. Golden, when speaking last night, thought it perfectly acceptable to tax churches, non-profits, schools and the poor for this fire tax. We certainly have lost our way.
We are told that we can no longer build without understanding how to incorporate natural systems into the man-made environment. The goal is to have responsible development and reinvestment in all neighborhoods within Lake Worth. We are one of the most dense cities in Palm Beach County and in order to make our city more sustainable, building design and its practice, as well as perception and lifestyle must adopt sustainability thinking.
We also must consider our resources. Can we sustain more people? Some of the candidates as well as developers and Realtors insist that we need to change our heights to allow more density. Of course it is all about making money for them. Andy, who just got the Realtors endorsement said that our height restrictions drove developers away from Lake Worth. I don't believe that for a minute. And land use regulations will solve our problems. If you look at any large city with building heights out of control, many, many are not sustainable. You don't see small cities going bankrupt but you read about plenty of large ones that are. Jo-Ann is right when she says that one of the reasons why people come to Lake Worth is because of its small town feel.
But, what about responsible leadership...those who watch over our precious tax dollars. Once again, is this the time to spend money when the city leadership voted to raise $1.45 million for fire pensions going around the millage cap, money that will be just dumped into the general fund...money that they clearly do not need but just want.
This is just another convention costing over $2,000 which includes travel and the conference. It seems like we have one monthly and the entire commission is of the mindset that if it's budgeted, then its okay to spend it. It's not okay with me. Let's stop the free lunch right now.
How sad that this Commission which is constantly being told by Stanton that we are in a state of "financial urgency" and has done everything to tax us that Stanton has demanded but at the same time done nothing to stop the waste of our tax dollars. Mary Lindsey points out today that we still don’t have an Internal Auditor and may never have one. Lynn you point out how Mulvehill is taking trips. No one is asking for a complete audit of every dollar and you have to start wondering why. Why would a commission decide when we are near financial collapse that they don’t see the need for an auditor ASAP? Why would they take trips, allow peope to get raises and lay off so many that the city can barely function. At this point I don’t care. I know when I see negligence and failure to govern. All I can do now is vote in November.
ReplyDeleteYes, sustainability is such a buzz word now. My friend just did his whole dissertation on this topic and goes around talking to all the communities on it here, John Hardman. It does seem to be true, our politicians constantly want to grow populations and growth for development and use of consumption. We push too much in this country consumption, it all seems to be about consumerism, this is what our government and politician wants to sustain, consumerism! It is very sad. They only see more tax dollars. So they have more money to play with and waste. We need to have them stop wasting, cut spending, take 10% cuts in their pay, and show us they are willing to sustain such cuts and waste in the future. That where we need to see real sustainability.
ReplyDeleteWe have talked about an internal auditor ever since Stanton fired Scot Menke back in 2009. How long does it take to have our desires recognized?
ReplyDeleteNo one trusts City Hall. Andy Amoroso is correct when he speaks to this. The numbers just don't add up.
Where is the missing cash reserves? What did the city spend them on? How can we, as a City, in one year go through all of that money when last year we had $66 million in reserves half of which were unrestricted.
We will get an internal auditor. It is in the Budget--finally. However, we will have to insist that he/she be totally independent and not an employee. There is such a mess and such a lack of transparency, that whoever gets the job will have a difficult time. I also fear that going out on an RFQ, the process will not be as independent as it should if Staff is involved.
I am so tired of the free lunch and all these trips we here they are taking, like Dusty was talking about last night, there is just way too much waste in our government, it needs to stop now!
ReplyDeleteI think Sustainability can be great both for the City and those of us who live here.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, positive sustainability would include things like the City and Tree board working to plant sustainabile trees, plants and grass on city property. This is good for the environment and good for city coffers because such plants would require less water, would last longer, and therefore less costs.
Same for citizens, we have changed our ordinances to encourage and not penalize sustainable plantings instead of lawn, lawn, lawn. If done right these yards look great, cost less to the homeowner, reduce water (since we are under water restrictions) and are better for the env.
Bike lanes, I am anti CRA bike lane project, because it makes no sense to stripe the roads they are striping. No sense because they are residential, under 25 mile per hour, low traffic and make no sense under any best practices. Also makes no sense to stripe several parrallel roads and doesn't make sense to stripe next to car parking, which is what they are doing, because again best practices and all treatise show that on a low volume low speed road, bikes will opt to bike in the middle of the road and not next to parked cars, because of dooring.
But a good bike network, and by good I mean well researched, including traffic studies and reconfiguring roads, like Key West or even Boca, can be a wonderful addition to the City.
Hello LW you are doing it wrong.
Someone sent me this e-mail last night and it seems appropriate to all the waste in our government and the waste and expenses of our politicians, I thought it might be nice to share with you all here, see what you think and if you agree with Warren Buffet:
ReplyDeleteHere's a great start for the 99% "ters" looking for a platform:
Warren Buffett does it again...
> Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the
> best quotes about the debt ceiling:
> "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just
> pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more
> than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible
> for re-election
>
> The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18
> year-olds) took only
>
> 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people
> demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell
> phones, etc.
>
> Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year
> or less to become the law of the land...all because of public
> pressure.
>
> Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to
> a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask
> each of those to do likewise.
>
> In three days, most people in The United States of America will
> have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed
> around.
>
> _*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_
>
> 1. No Tenure / No Pension.
>
> A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no
> pay when they are out of office.
>
> 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
> Security.
>
> All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
> Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
> the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
> American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
>
> 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
> Americans do.
>
> 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
> Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
>
> 5. Congress loses their current health care system and
> participates in the same health care system as the American people.
>
> 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
> American people.
>
> 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void
> effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this
> contract with Congressmen.
>
> Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in
> Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
> envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
> term(s), then go home and back to work.
>
> If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will
> only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive
> the message. Maybe it is time.
>
> THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
>
> If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete.
> You are one of my 20+.. Please keep it going.