Friday, February 28, 2014

Sunset 2-28-14

Friends of the Lake Worth Pool

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Friends of the Lake Worth Pool says: It will meet Saturday morning (March 1) at 9:30 a Mulligan's at the Casino. Support our pool now that it is open. We need to do things to keep it open and let folks know it is open. Everyone is welcome. Bring your ideas, suggestions, questions and support.

FL Senate Bill 198

This is another bill that makes sense to me. Come on now, Jeff...you're making too much sense lately. Employers thoroughly check out the backgrounds of all prospective employees now and especially Facebook. There are all sorts of weirdos on Facebook. This bill would prohibit employers from requiring employees or job applicants for their passwords to access private social-media accounts.

CS/SB 198 - Social Media Privacy

General Bill   by Commerce and Tourism and Clemens (CO-SPONSORS) Latvala
Social Media Privacy: Prohibiting an employer from requesting or requiring access to a social media account of an employee or prospective employee; prohibiting an employer from taking retaliatory personnel action for an employee’s failure to provide access to his or her social media account; prohibiting an employer from failing or refusing to hire a prospective employee who does not provide access to his or her social media account, etc.
Effective Date: 10/01/2014
Last Event: 02/19/14 S Now in Governmental Oversight and Accountability on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 3:40 PM

Gas lines being installed in Lake Worth

N. K Street and 13th Avenue North

Described as a "piece of new gas pipe that looks like it was installed by directional boring." The small wire is a tracer wire used to locate the pipe when it is completely buried. They will add more pipe and fuse the two ends together to make one contiguous piece.

It has been reported that Florida Public Utilities is upgrading new pipes and gas lines in three separate phases in the alleyways throughout Lake Worth,  Phase I has begun--26,000 feet of line. All of it should be completed in the Fall of this year.

South L Street Clean-Up this Saturday morning

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Sent out by Bryant Park Neighborhood Association:
  • What: Clean-Up a neglected and abused property that reflects poorly on our Great City!
  • When: This Saturday Morning from 7 AM til 11 AM
  • Where:  1231 S. L Street
  • Why: Because it's bad enough that so many properties are abandoned and neglected in our neighborhoods! It's UNTHINKABLE that one of these has become a dumping ground for inconsiderate slobs to leave all kinds of trash, piles of old tires and garbage on this sad little neglected property. Neighbors have had it with sensational news stories that go out of their way to focus on the negative. (I say, thank God for the News Media!) - Join with Neighbors who are willing to turn this mess around with Positive Action!
Thanks to Nadine Burns for organizing this opportunity and to all the Neighbors from all the Neighborhoods who have signed up to help! A very special Thank You to our local merchant, Caroline Tires, who has graciously and very generously offered to cart away all the tires!

Thanks also to City of Lake Worth Public Services Department that will be collecting all the trash after it's been neatly deposited at the curb.

For more information, visit the Facebook Event Page for this clean-up:

Judge Rosenberg appointed to Federal Bench


West Palm Beach Circuit Judge, Robin Rosenberg and wife of Michael McAuliffe former State Attorney, was just named a Federal judge by President Obama.

Read about it...

Don't dump on my wall

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Roving LW Photographer

The owner of this building is appealing to all those who might have the slightest idea of painting a mural, graffiti or dumping near his property. Hey, he's trying!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Abandoned Vehicles in Lake Worth - on WPEC channel 12 tonight

UPDATE: link to channel 12 video
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Katie McGiveron, VP of ROLOH and
 Chair of Save Our Neighborhood, Inc.


Lauren Hills, reporter with WPEC Channel 12 News, is doing a segment tonight on abandoned vehicles in Lake Worth.

Tune in at 5pm.

Lake Worth Library gets a cleaning

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Two staff employees pressure cleaning the cement at our historic library.

Lake Worth alleyway still closed

Is this closure temporary?

When calling the city, no one seems to be able to even direct you to the correct department that can answer anything about these locked bollords that are still there from the Street Painting Festival.

Does this mean that the city might close this alleyway afterall and allow adjacent restaurants to rent the space?

Junks being junked in Lake Worth

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We have talked before about this abandoned vehicle at 419 3rd Avenue South. The licensed tag is expired and it was dumped on our street last year. It was yellow tagged on January 28, 2014 after being featured on Lynn's little bit of Trivia on January 20. The owner had 72 hours to get it off the streets. The PBSO says that this is a city code problem and that the city has a relationship with towing companies...it is their responsibility to remove the car. This all might be true but please refer to the County and City codes below.

We have become a dumping ground for junk cars. The City has all the tools in its possession to now clean up the slum, the blight and the streets.

The vehicle has 4 flat tires.
Cited by the city on 1-28-14

COUNTY (f) Whenever any Law Enforcement Officer receives a report of or finds a vehicle that is without a current license tag or inspection sticker standing on the public right-of-way, the owner will be notified to remove the vehicle. After 24 hours the officer will treat it as an abandoned vehicle and remove it immediately. (Ord. No. 01-9, §§ 1, 2, 3-20-01)

CITY Inoperable motor vehicle. A vehicle which cannot be driven upon the public streets for reason including but not limited to being unlicensed, wrecked, abandoned, in a state of disrepair, or incapable of being moved under its own power. Motor vehicles. Except as provided for by Florida Statute or other City of Lake Worth ordinance, no inoperative or unlicensed motor vehicle shall be parked, kept, or stored on any premises. (Ord. No. 2009-27, § 2, 10-20-09; Ord. No. 2012-03, § 2, 1-3-12; Ord. No. 2013-04, § 3, 1-8-13)

801 Lake Avenue

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The city put up with the graffiti for six months on this building.  The owner never would paint it over so a private citizen did it for him. Now it has a hole in the exterior wall that has been there for over a month.

Will someone call the owner?

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Sweetest thing in the World

Click here. Fox29 WFLX TV, West Palm Beach, Florida-

State of the City - Lake Worth

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The end of the speech that took about 40 minutes
 with around 60 in attendance.

I have heard variations of last night's speech so many times. You get to hear all of it if you attend city commission meetings with regularity.  I have written about them. There is nothing more I want nor need to say. The mayor did her job by giving a speech that was to uplift all of us well into the "22nd Century," focusing on things that "could be" rather than the things "that are."

Focusing on the positive is a good plan and it is something politicians do; there are surprising benefits to that. There is never a good reason to focus on the negatives if those negatives can't be changed.

In the case of our city, we have enacted 44 ordinances over the last four years to help rid the city of slum and blight and to give teeth to our code enforcement department.  A large part of the slum and blight comes from the 1,500 homes in foreclosure and the 2,000 abandoned houses in Lake Worth. Graffiti still is ignored even though we have an ordinance that says it must be painted over within 24 hours. Hired by Susan Stanton, William Waters has been a great asset to Lake Worth especially in getting these ordinances written and on the books. Ordinances, however, are as good as their enforcement.

What came across last night, of which there is no doubt, the mayor loves our city and wants to see it prosper. I appreciate that she did not play the blame game that has been ongoing for the past several years and stuck to facts, something that most politicians find difficult or twist to suit their agenda.

Graffiti in Lake Worth

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As I was walking on the sidewalk to get this shot, some guy on a bicycle going 40 miles an hour nearly ran me down. After an expletive, he told me to watch where I was walking!

Graffiti on 4 poles/piles under the 12th Avenue South overpass. This graffiti has been there for one month now...reported twice to the PBSO.  We do have a 24 hour ordinance to remove graffiti in the City of Lake Worth and as far as I know, there still is a PBSO Graffiti unit.

Quote of the Day - Sean Hannity

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“The American people have to decide this: are they willing to accept an America where 50 million Americans are on food stamps? The labor participation rate is the lowest since 1978. One in five American children are in poverty … Are they willing to accept more of that? Or are they now open to the idea that we’ve gone in the wrong direction, and America needs conservative solutions to change?”

 ~ Sean Hannity

Craig James fired by Fox Sports


We know we're in trouble when Fox Sports fires anchor and former New England Patriots football player, Craig James for stating an opinion made almost two years before while running for the U.S. Congress. What did he say? Marriage is between a man and a woman. He was subsequently vetted and hired and now fired by Fox Sports who lied about its reason. Fox Sports admits it made false statements to the Press.

Read about it.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Early Evening at the Lake Worth Beach

No love in Uganda

Whatever you do in this life, stay the hell away from Uganda. Not only is it evil and ranked 130 out of 176 nations on the Corruption Perceptions Index,  it is one of the more hideous nations in the world when it comes to human rights. We still gave it $487.5 million in 2010 and they receive our aid every year in spite of their hate for us and everyone else.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museven, just told Obama to stick it in his ear. What say we give our own message to President Obama--No more aid to corrupt and evil regimes.

The Fountain at the Cultural Plaza

This morning, the city had a back hoe at the Cultural Plaza to remove the fountain that has been left to decay for far too long. If there is one thing that the city does consistently, it is the lack of maintenance on assets we own. Full of mildew with a broken pump, it has now been removed for what they say are "repairs" and will be back in one week's time. The last time the city was involved in a project there, it chopped down a 75 year old ficus/banyan tree. We can only hope that the fountain, as well as the tree, will be replaced/repaired and not succumb to the city graveyard of neglected obsolescence.


What it used to look like in 2011--

Taking a Snooze

Directly across the street from Commissioner Amoroso's store

It was always weird when the city installed benches in our downtown and had most all of them facing away from the street. Now we know why.  Drivers passing by just might miss these homeless people sleeping in our downtown.

Another Major Whopper

Given to Obama by The Washington Post--
 just another lie

“We’ve got close to 7 million Americans who have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.”

~ President Obama, remarks during dinner with the Democratic Governors Association, Feb. 20, 2014

Quote of the Day - Michael Bornstein

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"Its been a lot of fun. We've been running around singing, 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'! The potential spot is the perfect centralized location. The area offers a Tri-Rail stop, easy highway access and plenty of roads. (It's good) not just for bringing people into the city that may participate and spend some money in our economics. But also to boost our ego. You know this is a city that has had some hard knocks in the past. The attitude around Lake Worth is changing. Landing the Nationals and Astros would knock them out of the park."


Monday, February 24, 2014

Sunset 2-24-14

Military being sacrificed on the alter of entitlements

With wars happening all over the globe and terrorists wanting to bring down this super-power, the Pentagon has said it wants to shrink active members of our military from 570,000 to 490,000.  Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel is proposing to cut it even further which would make our fighting team the smallest since before World War II -- pre-911 mentality.



E. R. Bradley's celebrates with grand opening party

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Back on October 30, 2013, E.R. Bradley's Beach Club Restaurant, located at the Lake Worth golf course had a ribbon cutting and their "soft" grand opening.  On Saturday, they had the "real" grand opening. About 500 were invited for the free buffet and to celebrate at our beautiful golf course setting.


E.R. Bradley's Beach Club
One Seventh Ave. North
Lake Worth, FL  33460
561-493-2554

  

Crime Downtown Lake Worth

VANDALISM--14042075--LUCERNE AVE & N DIXIE HWY--Palm Beach County Sheriff--2/23/2014 7:47:00 PM

THEFT/LARCENY--14042067--400 BLOCK LAKE AVE--Palm Beach County Sheriff--2/23/2014 7:42:00 PM

BURGLARY - VEHICLE--14042053--100 BLOCK N FEDERAL HWY--Palm Beach County Sheriff--2/23/2014 6:06:00 PM

THEFT/LARCENY-- 14041966-- 600 BLOCK LUCERNE AVE-- Palm Beach County Sheriff-- 2/23/2014 1:24:00 PM

THEFT/LARCENY-- 14041958-- 400 BLOCK LAKE AVE-- Palm Beach County Sheriff-- 2/23/2014 12:52:00 PM

The Aftermath - Cleaning up after the Festival

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When you have a huge event such as the 20th Annual Street Painting Festival, it brings a humongous effort to clean up all the trash. It is always helpful when establishments help the city's effort along. Most do. Some don't.

Aftermath of Street Painting Festival
One establishment said "not to worry, the city will pick it all up."


Again, the City opened the streets last night to traffic before the streets were swept.
Seven County jail trustees spotted this morning cleaning up the streets.
Roving photographer

CRA cleans up tarped trash

Now you see it--

Now you don't--

Florida legislature attempts to overhaul its Retirement System

Heading in the right direction under Rick Scott--A new bill (SB 1114) on pension plans was just submitted on 2-19-14 by the Community Affairs Committee. It would apply to all new workers entering Florida's Retirement System after July 1, 2015 with the exception of special-risk employees. That includes law enforcement and firefighters who take the biggest part of the pie as it is and a group whose pensions are out of sight. Employees would choose between a 401(k) type plan or a cash balance plan.

Read more...

B 1114: Florida Retirement System

GENERAL BILL by Community Affairs
Florida Retirement System; Requiring the Trustees of the State Board of Administration to establish the Florida Retirement System Cash Balance Plan; requiring employees and employers to make contributions for funding the plan; providing that the plan provide a lump-sum or annuity benefit; providing procedures for employees who are members of the pension plan or investment plan before a certain date to transfer to the cash balance plan; providing procedures for employees employed after a certain date to be enrolled in the investment plan or cash balance plan, etc.
Effective Date: 7/1/2015
Last Action: 2/19/2014 Senate - Filed
Location: Filed
Bill Text: Web Page | PDF

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Tonight's Sky

Wise guy Bill Maher confronts Rachel Maddow on Chris Christie coverage

Liberal Bill Maher says Benghazi is NOT a scandal. MSNBC is obsessed with Chris Christie. Disses FOX. Bill Maher thinks he's funny.


The Silent and Wonderful Heroes

This family picks up trash every Sunday between 6th Avenue South and 12 Avenue South, Dixie to Federal. The dad works for SWA and got shirts so that his family will be clearly seen as cars drive by. Not only is he helping to rid our city of blight, he is giving his children important lessons in life--pride of home, city, and country. Kudos to them all.

Before Street Festival opens

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Before the Festival opens, the city has to ensure that the sidewalks are clean and the garbage containers are emptied and new liners inserted. City garbage workers were down at the Street Painting Festival early this morning and caught dragging leaking garbage bags across street paintings. Channels 5 and 12 were on the scene.

Street Painting in downtown Lake Worth

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A few pics from yesterday.  We all remarked that in spite of what seemed to be record numbers of people at the festival, we only ran into two people we knew! If we thought it was crowded yesterday, wait for today! The streets were full of festive people from one old hippy who was shirtless showing off his tattoos to one young couple with a baby doing the same. (They had their shirts on!) Another elderly dude was shown how to smoke an e-cigarette. In spite of the heat (82^), people showed up with Fido and several establishments provided water bowls. Everyone was well behaved--no drunks and no incidents and no police walking the streets. One woman said if she had to do it over again, she would have taken the free shuttle at the Tri-Rail as she had to walk for what seemed to be a mile. The various shops said sales were brisk. We ate at Too-Jays with only a 15 minute wait.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Sunset 2-22-14

Restaurant in Compliance

By the time I got to the Street Painting Festival, CJ's was in compliance. I guess they realized that laws are for a purpose. I didn't witness any abundance of go-cups or open container beer drinking. The streets were mobbed and attendance should be an all time high this year.