Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Political Theater - Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell

Comment Up
"Height issue was political theater...we need to change things." 

I like the vice mayor's political sound bytes--he is adept at those. Sometimes they are actually humorous and some are right on point but last night's remark was not the least bit funny nor accurate. You have to wonder if he really loves to antagonize half the voters and you have to wonder if this commission is playing with the same deck of cards as the rest of us. I think we already know that answer.

The vice mayor was referring to the height referendum believing that a referendum began at the last 98 seconds of the Comprehensive Plan process after years of them trying to get a workable plan...the Respectful Planning volunteers just wanted to do all of that work because we love to walk our azzes off in the sweltering heat to exercise our rights and to allow the voices of the people to be heard.  Maxwell wondered why we didn't do it before. Well, there NEVER was a problem before. He believes that it was the YES people who put the cog in the wheel and it was the YES people playing politics. We just didn't roll over and play dead. Comprehensive Plans and zoning changes ARE political and he did this from the dais when he voted in 65 foot heights. He started the political process and those who disagreed with our city growing taller exercised their rights to referendum and took the issue to the voters.

I was there that night when the commission voted to raise the heights in our downtown from an agreed 45 feet and ignored the consensus reached by a former Planning  Zoning board, the former Historical preservation Board and a former city commission itself at a meeting held on January 26, 2012. It was this vote that started the political process. The "theatrics" began from this commission and this vote that night. Nothing was mentioned by them that it was just being relegated to east of Federal--no mention of it being just in a hotel district--it incorporated our entire downtown.

The night this commission voted to raise the heights to 65 feet in our downtown the Commission then took a ten minute break. I then went over to Maxwell and said, "Well, I guess we will have to go out on a referendum." We did. We won. Well, sort of. The issue is still in limbo thanks to this cracker-jack commission that want heights and are still playing political theater and a vice mayor who wants to blame the voters and stomp all over them.

If he had cared one iota about voter's rights, he had a perfect time to ask about this law of Rick Scott's when the governor was here last week as to whether or not the charter amendment vote three months before the signed legislation was legally sufficient to declare the election results null and void. But that was not in the theatrical script.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Telling the majority of voters in Lake Worth that you don't care about them is just stupid. Our Commissioners are supposed to uphold the law. These Commissioners spit on the law. When Scot Maxwell asks for your vote ask him why your vote suddenly matters. Then tell him to go sit on it.And rotate a bit while he's at it.

Anonymous said...

Maxwell has swallowed the developer Koolaide

Anonymous said...

The mayor announced that the utility has its own place on the agenda. What good is that if the commission does not read it or the uab minutes. It was obvious that besides MR. Amoroso not one of them knew we were buying the same bar code system twice. Am I the only commenter who thinks other mishandling of funds may be happening.

Lynn Anderson said...

I must have missed that part of commentary where Commissioner Amoroso knew that. I will have to go back and listen again. One of the very first questions the commission should ask when a Board is there to make recs, is, did it go before such and such board for its recommendation? If it did not and if those recommendations are not listed then pull it.