Who wouldn't want to take control of this?
I was under the impression that the offerors would give a live presentation last night but it was not to be. Even the back-up was inadequate with Hudson Holdings giving us some site plan drawings that you couldn't read and John Szerdi, Hudson Holding's employee, in the chamber with some papers in hand. He still believes it was shockingly bad luck and voter ignorance as to why he lost his election.
The only thing "live" were the residents with many in the developer crowd there with one resident who even believes an audit of our beach complex is unnecessary. Every corporation and every city in the world has audits and Lake Worth even has delayed its 2014 general audit (the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014) that won't be out until July. What the resident said was: We were "hyperventilating...We need a middle ground, an informed public." Then in the same breath he said, "Audit figures are not necessary." How then do you get informed? How is the city supposed to know the reasons why we are not meeting expenses, (making money is their number one goal), or even if the pool expenses have been padded. There are no words to describe the idea of giving up control of our beach and going off willy-nilly without knowing the numbers and handing over one of our top assets, our casino complex, to a developer.
Last night's city commission workshop was not a workshop at least not in the sense of what we have grown to believe...it was a bunch of people giving three minutes of either agreeing with the commission or not based on little or no information. By the time it was all through, the commission went "Whew." I would suppose that the quote of the night which occurred early in the evening was Michael Bornstein's when he claimed, "I am the Father of the ITN." My question is why did we go out on one to begin with? Glen Torcivia, city attorney, answered that question--"It is used when you don't have a clear intent on what you want to do...to give us ideas." Why did we want to do anything but fix the problems we currently have?
Why then, if we had no idea of what we wanted to do or even why we were doing it, go out on this secret process in the first place? Why didn't we learn anything about the scaled back plan of Hudson Holdings and what they want to build? Why didn't we learn anything about Anderson and Carr's proposal and about their client and why they want the entire upper level of our casino for 25 years? Why didn't we learn why Mr. Bornstein thought it a necessity to do an ITN, a secret negotiating process with some appointed lay people on the needs of our Lake Worth beach? Why now, after a developer/investor who wants to further "expand" our beach park did Bornstein agree to do sustainability studies that will cost the city to basically accommodate this developer?
Why did we have to listen to the same old crap and the same old football line which is now, according to Retha Lowe, 40 years of tossing the idea around of doing something at our beach. I guess she added ten additional years as she has been out of office now and several years before she got us in trouble with Greater Bay when she grabbed the contract and signed it for the mayor who wanted to read it first. We just completed our beach and casino complex less than three years ago at a cost of $13 million dollars. Why is NOTHING good enough for these people? It has to make you wonder why that damn football is still being tossed around.
The Vice Mayor gave his observation (or was it a complaint?) that the "vast number of people who use our beach don't even live here..."it's a regional beach," he said and always wanting to be right, he grumbled again that the financial plan "will not work." No, it won't work when the 2nd floor space is not rented, when the grand ballroom is not grand and has a few problems of convenience, and the pool has never been marketed nor was it ever a part of the financial plan. They even put out false information apparently from Juan Ruiz that our pool is not a competitive pool. It is a competitive pool if used width-wise on 25 yard meets. The excuses are sickening, and spouting the company line as to why this complex is not working, is even more sickening.
Former Commissioner John Szerdi dissed the building, big time, bringing up all its problems in spite of the fact he had an interest at our beach development as his firm designed the restroom in the southern part of the beach. He was on top of everything back then. Resident Bob Lepa said that it was "incomprehensible that we're still subsidizing businesses there." We are supposedly operating at a loss because of the things mentioned in the above paragraph but we don't really know that because an "audit is unnecessary." We just keep on digging our own grave and giving unfounded reasons for failure.
Commissioner Maier, answering Scott Maxwell about his statement that the beach is being used mostly by those living outside our city and that it was "regional" asked, "Is our golf course a regional course? Is our downtown a regional downtown?" We own this beach and everything on it regardless of who uses it. Aside from Amoroso and McVoy, Commissioner Maier made some of the best points of the evening when he said "without the audited numbers, we can't fix a problem if we don't know it exists. Fix the building we already have there. Let's fix what we already have." McVoy's opinion was the same.
Maier's and McVoy's suggestion is all too simple but obviously all too difficult for this administration that seems to believe that the cure-all is to outsource and get the problem, once and for all, off their plate. Didn't they know that new businesses and business models take several years to start generating income? Profitability is whatever monies remain after all expenses are accounted for, including staff salaries. We have no idea what sort of expenses are being dumped into the casino operation. Fix the flaws. Rent the upstairs. Market the pool. Let's see the numbers and then let's talk.
If people can't do the job, then they really should give it up. No more excuses.
26 comments:
Scott is the biggest blowhard and bully, an insufferable boor.We get it Scott. You told us the business financial plan would not work.We got it.Pat yourself on the back for not finding a tenant for the 2nd floor.Pat yourself on the back for not drawing people to our pool. Beachgoers walk by and don't even know a pool is behind the wall.Clowns.Stop.
An audit isn't necessary? What an asinine comment for someone to make.
The only City manager Lake Worth ever had, was Susan Stanton.When she saw the bank deposits and cash receipts did not match,(I witnessed) she hired a Forensic Auditor,found $2,000,000- missing(Finance Director disappeared,)
she found a $250,000,- 2 years old check in the Utility Dept. safe, never Deposited,etc.etc.Implemented efficiency of employees number.Reduced unessential employees, by 300.Saved the City millions,started to investigate Pension funds,Police Budget, subsequently was fired.Since then we have had incompetent,proven incapable of managing our billion dollars Assets, without proof of previous any professional capacities,achievements,discards of other Towns,hired by ignorant Commission majorities.This proven useless element,lemons,to manage Ocean front Palm Beach Island Resort,Lake Worth resort's assets,turn to underhanded tricks to keep their ill-begotten jobs.Where are the revenues, profits, generated with our billions of dollars Ocean front Resort(Hudson Holdings is drooling)assets?This useless element has the audacity, to wish to give away lake Worth's 37,000 Citizens owned assets,as if they own them.
Lake Worth needs replacement of these proven incompetents now,by proven able to manage billions of dollars Assets of and Ocean front Palm Beach Island Resort Town!
anonymous at 10:38--
On the contrary, Marty is a brilliant philosopher:
"The past is the past, the future is the future, and we should be going there."
- Marty Wellfield, May 19, 2015
I don't understand why we're doing this either. Didn't we just go through this a few years back and redevelop the beach?I didn't even want that. By not wanting that, maxwell would say that I want slum in our city or I want no progress or I want, oh who cares what I want.
So was there any outcome or decision made?
It was just a "workshop"...no vote. The Vice mayor and mayor have both said that they did not listen to the ITN audios and know NOTHING about the offers that have NEVER been presented to the public or to them. This is incredible to even imagine as it is they who will be making the decision there. Wouldn't you think they would be listening to all the Selection committee meetings and reading up and studying the plans, etc.? Just sort of normal procedure. Why this hasn't happened is a mystery and a main reason why we continue to get in a lot of trouble in this city. No ideas were given by Maxwell and Triolo other than the vice mayor throwing stones at people if they disagreed with his ideas. The "visionaries" will do whatever Bornstein thinks best, but I sure hope they fool me on this one.
HANDS OFF OUR BEACH.
Lynn great article and I thank you for always telling it right on point.
I've known the pool was NOT regulation size from just after it was built. It is why we can't AAU sanctioned events held there. It was built with 25 YARD lanes, not 25 meters. It was built right about the same time the changes were made.
Also, the existing pool is 12 or 14 foot deep where we used to have a high diving board. Thank God for attorneys and so now we don't have a high dive any more. But we still have to treat the THOUSANDS of gallons of water necessary to fill that deep middle.
So maybe we SHOULD re-think the pool. Maybe a couple smaller pools would be better than one GIGANTIC non-olympic sized pool.
I also liked the facade of the plans extending more retail across the front where the deteriorating pool structure is. We (the city) certainly can't afford it.
That is correct--it is 25 yards, not meters as I had stated. Yards is the American measurement and it is used for high school and college meets.
I believe that the high diving board was 12 feet before this pool was re-done and it is now 12 feet.
Also, the reason why we can't have international meets is because the regulations were changed after our pool was built years ago. At that time it met all regulations. The end depths are now regulated at 4 feet on the 50 meters length rather than the 3.5 feet we have. You can still make flip turns on 3.5 feet.
Here's what I don't understand:
1. The city claims that no traffic study was conducted in conjunction with the Casino project. I sat with Cara Jennings and Jo-Ann Golden last night and they both said that a traffic study was definitely done.
2. Juan Ruiz (Leisure Services Director and "overseer" of the beach property) says that the beach is understaffed and he will be asking for personnel to be added in the 2016 budget. So why don't we skip the traffic study ($50k) and use it for an additional employee?
The new jingle is "we're really hurting ourselves by making the job of managing the property look so easy to do when we're understaffed". No, you're just doing your job. If it wasn't possible to manage the property with existing staff, then you wouldn't be able to do it. Get it??
3. The manager stated on the record "the Beach Fund is not paying back the debt". But he sent me financial data that shows the beach fund has paid back $250k in 2014 and $250k in 2015. When I asked him to confirm while I was making public comment, he denied one of the payments. This morning I ask for clarification from the CM or the Finance Director. Neither of them responds, but Juan Ruiz did respond and confirmed that the above payments were made. Why is the Leisure Services Director responding to a financial data request? No offense to Juan, but . . . please. Why are we discussing an issue of such magnitude (per the mayor) and no one on the dais knows enough about the fund finances to support what they are saying? But according to Mr Wellfield, we don't need audited financials, we know well enough what the situation is. Um, no. We don't.
The reason I referred to "audited financials" is because the city doesn't release financials UNLESS THEY'VE BEEN AUDITED. So it's audited or nothing, Mr Wellfield. We should have our financials by now, they were due March 31st. We should be incorporating them into the 2016 budget process which should be ready to begin in the next 30 days. But we don't have them. So for the new budget year, we will be estimating financial data for a budget year that began in Oct 2013. Does that fill you with confidence?
So we're actually considering these absurd proposals based on a spreadsheet, in the absence of all other (accurate) city financial data for the last 19 months?? This entire circus needs to be shut down immediately. Send home the clowns.
Thanks, Laurel. Well said.
Just for the record, I believe his name is spelled Welfeld.
Laurel has raised some interesting points, thanks.
Where were all of Laurel's "interesting points" when her little friends were running Lake Worth into the ground/ghetto?
Actually, you don't know what you're talking about. It was the economy that busted LW. It was a past finance director and city manager who spent our money. This was before the BCE and Stanton. I think you should ask Clemens, Lowe, and Vespo.
Funny how Clemens does not show up ANYWHERE in Lake Worth. Having screwed the city big-time by opening the door for the poorest of the poor from Guatemala to move into our town (causing about 10,000 middle class Lake Worthians to flee to Wellington,) he now makes himself scarce. M.W is a crook. I have the proof. He should be taken away to that place with the other birds. The kind that don't sing.
It's REALLY not Healthy to be SO BITTER!
What is NOT healthy is keeping your head in the sand of reality. Telling the truth and seeing the light will set you free.
who is MW?
Laurel used to clean air conditioning units. How did she get appointed to a group to over look financial matters? If I cried and complained to the CM, will I then become Grand Wizard of LW?
Oh you know who that is at 11:27, that bully liar who writes the other blog and rides a tricycle all over town with his noodle. He should be outlawed in this city and kicked off the city board.
"I am the father of the ITN". Our city manager is our EMPLOYEE. He has overstepped his job description. The fact that Scot Maxwell and Pam Triolo have not bothered to listen to the ITN committee tapes (has Andy Amoroso)? borders on impossible . How can they make an informed decision if they don't have the background? Laurel and Lynn are both better equipped to make this city a better place than Maxwell,Triolo and Amoroso ever were or will be. Katie Mcgiveron
Has McVoy or Maier listened to the ITN tapes? NO! Why leave them out of your statement Katie???
Of course they've listened to the tapes. In fact, they were the ONLY ones who showed up for the meeting a few weeks ago. The ONLY commissioners who have said that they have NOT listened were Maxwell and Triolo. Andy was on the Select Committee.
That's not true Lynn. Andy is on the committee. He LISTENED to the suggestions and what was presented. FUNNY when Maier was giving his two cents; he had nothing to bring to the table. It's on video. HE could only mimic what Laurel, Cara, and Barbara had to say. Maxwell just bullied and groaned his way through the entire meeting. Pam was just delusional, and McVoy kept his head down half the time. Maier has great potential but needs to put himself forth more.
Yeah, that's what I said, anonymous @9:51. Last sentence--Andy was on the Select Committee. Until this commission openly discusses the Select Committee's recommendations, no one is going to bring much "to the table" and none of us are going to know what they are thinking. It's a pity that this last workshop was a total waste of time essentially. I want to know how the commission is leaning and be able to rebut. I hope they reject all the proposals but they will be listening to what the CM wants.
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