This Casino and our beach do not belong to Staff or the City Manager no more than City Hall is Stanton's house.
With Staff's attempt to push Johnny Longboats down the throats of the citizens and the Vice Mayor in agreement, none of the leases were decided upon last night. No one wants to remember all of the work we did just a few years ago to save our beach from commercialization. We all who signed the petition have a clear focus on what we want at our beach. No one wants to remember the act of Retha Lowe when that majority commission had her grab the Casino lease from Mayor Mark Drautz's hands and had her, as Vice Mayor, sign the lease with Greater Bay, a lease that did not protect the City of Lake Worth and now has resulted in a $40 million lawsuit.
We learned at the beginning of the meeting that the back-up was not received in time according to the rules of the Commission. Maxwell said that they were still receiving documents. He asked that the Commission table the agenda so that the commission could have sufficient time to read and digest all the documentation, that there had been lease changes, etc. The City Attorney agreed with Maxwell that the rules had been violated, that information had to be received 5 to 7 days before the meeting and that supplements had been submitted only 2 days prior some actually received that day..."The Commission needs to be consistent in the rules," she said.
One of the most important decisions of the commission will be to ensure that all if the i's and t's have been crossed when leasing our casino spaces and that no Lessee will have a loop-hole to sue the City. Closing times are very important and should be stated explicitly. Last night it was obvious that not having time to digest the information was of no importance to four sitting on the dais when Mulvehill made a motion to waive the rules once again (4/1 vote) and proceed with the meeting. This is becoming a habit for this Commission.
Vice Mayor Mulvehill asked Kathleen Margoles to read the additional information that was not submitted in a timely fashion: The FAB letter, comparison of the leases and the additional information from Commissioner McVoy. Even more significant and not mentioned--Leases had been altered and changed from just 2 weeks ago.
There is a definite disconnect between staff, the commission and the public and I would think that the public's views far out-weigh the other's.
"It is not a building in a city park; it's a commercial building."
~City Manager Susan Stanton
"Yes it is a building in a city park."
~Commissioner McVoy
"It's unfair to restrict hours." "ERM wants to monitor the project."
~Assistant City Manger, Kathleen Margoles
"The Commission needs to step back. We need to table this until we can read all of the back-up. This will be the most important decision we make...whatever goes into that anchor space is the glue that brings it all together. This is not a simple process we are engaging in tonight."
~Commissioner Scott Maxwell
"I have a problem with the closing time" "We do not want to sell ourselves short" (by rushing in a tenant)
~Commissioner Jo-Ann Golden
"We have an opportunity right now to go forward. I am very disappointed."
~Vice Mayor Suzanne Mulvehill
"2am closing changes the nature of our beach."
~Commissioner Christopher McVoy
"I'm feeling unappreciated right now."
~Robert Banting, President Anderson & Carr (brokers on the casino)
"The Commission needs to step back."
~Mary Lindsey, President of College Park Neighborhood Association
We need a Commission that is in rapture with the public, not Staff, and one that understands once you agree to something in a Lease such as a closing time and then you change that for whatever reason, you will have a law suit--guaranteed. This is a business, city manager and Vice Mayor, and as such, it is offensive to the public that you are rushing this and attempting to push this down the throats of the people. It is also our beach park, and we want to keep it that way.
It took 3 hours to reach the conclusion, originally requested by Scott Maxwell, to table. The Commission on a 4/1 vote with Mulvehill dissenting, tabled the execution of the beach leases.
15 comments:
I listened to some of the meeting and have to say that that is collectively the most scattered brained group of individuals assembled in one room that anyone could find. The CM should be fired for lack of leadership, it is so obvious that all of them are going in different directions with absolutely no cohesive plan of action. How the project has progressed absent of a plan is mind numbing and unacceptable. Why Stanton doesn't have a firm plan on the lighting issue from the electric staff is inconceivable, they should have a complete redesign of the entire beach project, please tell me they have a plan. The beach is served by the submarine cable across the intracostal, they should have made a decision on that long ago. It is so maddening to even me the level of incompetence and failure of leadership. This all translates into dollars, for the CM to make the ridiculous statement about enthusiasm was beyond acceptable. How do you people survive in that culture. Fire the whole bunch.
I had to stop listening last night because I could not believe the level of incompetence. To hear that all construction has been stopped by Stanton because the commission cannot agree what they want and that it is costing us $800 a day to do nothing is crazy at this stage of the project. To see the City Attorney just sitting there and not using her position to educate the commission and offer solutions to the issues they were discussing made me sick. Does the city attorney have any experience with commercial leases? Does the City Attorney have a voice? WTF. These delays are unacceptable because they are based upon the failure of the commission and staff to do their homework. Can someone explain to me how all the condo's on the beach were ever built as each one of them has 6 stories of lights on in each apartment every night during turtle season. Last night hopefully educated the public on how disfunctional this group is and how important it is to get new people on the dias.
Waiving the rules is a license to steal.
"To hear that all construction has been stopped by Stanton because the commission cannot agree what they want and that it is costing us $800 a day to do nothing is crazy at this stage of the project."
Something is wrong with the cost figure here. Should $800 be replaced with $8,000/day? $800/day would not pay for a laborer, a supervisor and a piece of equipment.
For any staff member to stop construction at our casino is OUTRAGEOUS. Commission, please DO YOUR JOBS.
Sounds like Maxwell is the only one up on the dias that has any idea of what is going on.
What is very alarming is that Stanton made the deicision to stop construction without telling her supervisors, the city Commission. Margoles knew too and said nothing. It is unclear when the construction actually stopped, but Stantonreferenced making the decision because of the Commissioners' enthusiam about the Letters of Intent. Those letters were presented on August 4, 2011 so I hope it doesn't mean the project has been delayed in some way since then. The first meeting to execute the leases was on October 19, 2011. This means a minimum of 11 days and a maximum of 64 days lost. OMG! When is the Commission going to get Stanton under control?
He is also kept in the dark but at least he is mad about it. The rest of them go, ooooooooohh, Susan, let me kiss your ring.
Last night Golden and McVoy did NOT bow down to Susan Stanton. Every now and then I get a little encouragement. Last night was one of those nights.
Lynn, you are 'encouraged' by Golden and McVoy's stance on the beach.
PLEASE tell us where these 2 plan to get tenants.
What they want up there will not support the project financially. The phrase beggars can't be choosers keeps coming back to me. I know that's hard to swallow, but it's true considering LW's reputation.
McNamara comparing LW to Palm Beach is non-sensical to the extreme.
He believes that a PB restaurant would come to LW...
That is a joke. Our troubled city issues trump any view of the water.
You, nor the majority of the Commission seem to be able to see objectively what the outside world sees about LW.
I really don't mean to disparage our little town, but we are known to break contracts, known to have a vocal anarchist
group (who are now being appointed to city boards), and make policy geared toward favoring undocumented workers...
I think we have to see the forest for the trees and work WITH a tenant who may want to give us a try.
Or, you all can be high and mighty and watch the Casino project go imminently down the drain.
STOP the insanity, please.
SORRY--TOTALLY disagree with you.
Will the Special Assessment for the low Loan Amount be $4-6Million, based on the Golden-Waterman-McVoy new Business Plan for the Casino?
No, Golden, Waterman and McVoy want to STICK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN. It is the CM who is diverting along with the assistant city manager. The feasibility study has been done and rents, along with parking fees, will pay for the Casino.
As I said earlier, and I promise it's the last time I'll mention it...mark my words, and hold out for the quality establishments for the Casino, and therefore watch the entire thing crumble.
The self inflated ego of the city will be it's undoing.
You can cater to immigrants and welcome the anarchist community into our local government, but we will NOT attract the kind of business that you all seem to think we deserve.
And by the by, it bears noticing that Cara's vision for the beach is what will most likely happen in the end...a green park with no commercial entities.
Coincidence?
Anon 11:34pm Absolutely NOT....The construction is already under way even with a temporary halt, so it will not become a Cara Vision.
As for the rest of that meeting it is proof positive that not only do we need to change the dais this election but also on the next one as well...
I'm not for one side or the other but can clearly see that the individuals sitting there are not balanced or using clear business sense of any kind. What a hoax!
Also once the Dais is changed not only do we need to change the CM but Margolis needs to go with her. Sorry but back stabbers are just no longer welcome in this city!
It will be great to have the current Dais back as private citizens so we all can look at them as "people" once again and put this "haters" mentality to rest once and for all.
I will actually be praying the remainder of today and through out the end of Tuesday that WE THE PEOPLE get fair representation!
Thank You - one member of the peanut gallery.
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