Out with the Old - In with the New

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Not enough to pull it off

If Waterman could have received 12.3 more votes per polling location, she would have won the election. She needed to take 111 votes away from Triolo to win by 1 vote.

I can't tell you who is smarter--who will do the best job--but one thing in which we all agree, from the day that Pam Triolo introduced herself to all of us as a candidate for mayor, we liked her instantly. We believed her. There was no monkeying around. She got right to the point and understood what was in our hearts. Warm and sincere, we just knew that she would like us back.

This Mayoral election boiled down to a couple of things:

1. The Neighborhood Associations have become political over the past several years. If you recall, I predicted this in a Dirty Dozen series. Although there are a few neighborhood associations that insist they are non-political, when it comes down to taking off the wrapper, they are as political as the next. Everyone wants to make Lake Worth a better place to live. Kicking one perceived bum out and replacing that person with someone of like mind is a big objective. Many of the leaders of these neighborhoods are convincing their members that the city is being run by anarchists, officials who do not approve of code enforcement; love slum and blight, illegals and the homeless and are basically gypsies.

The neighborhood associations are out in their communities daily with crime walks and trash pick-ups and doing good deeds. They are influencing the community by working in them to make positive changes. Those who live in the neighborhoods are impressed by these deeds and the leaders of these associations who are pro-active. They have come to trust them to give them the "skinny" when it comes to casting their vote. Just in my own community, a forgotten one I might add, residents are always asking me for whom they should vote. This year I totally abstained from taking a position.

2. Negativity caught on. Two of the candidate forums put on by the Neighborhood Associations had many questions that were asked with prejudice. The forum at the Playhouse is tied with Tropical Ridge's forum as a put up job to cast doubt on the incumbents, especially Waterman...not sure which forum was worse. Dustin Zacks was there to do the dirty for the Triolo campaign. There was no other reason for him to be there. He could have dropped out immediately after Triolo filed. He said what Triolo couldn't say. All his comments trickled throughout the entire city of Lake Worth by those living in the neighborhood by those who had attended the debates.

3. The incumbent, Rachel Waterman, has no one to blame but herself. In a short term of less than four months, she managed to alienate many in the community. Several people who had been active for years were ignored as their concerns hit a brick wall and went dormant. She kicked 2 people out of the Chamber, one for whispering. She used an iron fist. Every time she smiled from the dais, or when she rolled her eyes, we all wondered when the sparks would fly. She voted for a budget after spending 80 hours reviewing it, not changing a thing. She allowed the city manager to jerk her chain at every opportunity. She voted for the free lunches: travel, membership fees, conventions and conferences. She brought up a salary increase at election time, knowing that voters would be very critical after she just voted to increase taxes. She had no conception of what the fire assessment was really about--all she knew is that the city manager just had to have the money to balance her budget and to get much needed cash. She tried to con us by saying that she never voted for the fire assessment. Her own personal finances had been a disaster and voters did not agree with the tax and spend mentality at city hall. She did not take her constituents seriously and in her mind, classified them as trouble makers, stupid, complainers and even used the words "rabble rouser" describing one resident. He voted for Triolo.

So, because of these three things, we now have a new Mayor, an extremely likable gal, Pam Triolo, who did understand. We have high hopes that she will be a leader and not be lead.