Mail Art in Lake Worth

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Mail Art Lake Worth

This was a project by Annamaria Windisch-Hunt, local artist, who through her art contacts, invited people to participate in Lake Worth's Centennial Celebration by sending mail art of decorated envelopes, all received at city Hall. She has coordinated the mail art as an exhibit now displayed at our Lake Worth Museum located in the City Annex building at 414 Lucerne Avenue, Lake Worth. The mail art is of various mediums and techniques painted by all age groups and people from many countries congratulating Lake Worth for its 100 years.

Going Back to a Bygone Era

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There have been some in Lake Worth who want us all to ride bikes. We even built bike paths and have spent a hundred thousand bucks. We have one guy on a major board who even suggested that we ban cars from parking at our beach and people either ride bikes, walk or take public transit to get to our beach park. Even though these few people say that they want to "move forward" and celebrate the next 100 years and grow the city (although we are built out other than the Park of Commerce), they would prefer that we fall back a century and literally stand still. No wonder we are confused here.

But one town in this country thinks the way that they do and actually does ban cars. "Visitors to this island have described the experience as like going back in time to a bygone era, one before the constant din of traffic and vehicle exhaust became a part of daily life in America."

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Lake Worth Centennial Postcards

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LULA Lake Worth Arts and the City of Lake Worth’s Historic Preservation staff invited artists in Palm Beach County to submit artwork for the Centennial Postcard Project. Known as a community that embraces artistic expression the City of Lake Worth is celebrating its 100 anniversary this year. The goal of this project was to provide a Centennial keepsake for the community to purchase while promoting the arts and historic preservation in Lake Worth. Proceeds from the sale of the Centennial Postcards will benefit LULA Lake Worth Arts and the City’s Historic Preservation Program. Five works of art were selected for the postcard project, making the selection process competitive.

• Photographer Jim Stafford of Lake Worth’s photos titled “Casino Building” and “Street Painting Festival” were chosen as part of the photography category.
• Artist Shannon S. Torrence of Lake Worth submitted an acrylic on paper painting titled“Now & Then, Where the Tropics Begin” as part of the vintage category.
• Wellington artist, Corinne Ingerman’s watercolor, pen and ink painting titled “3 girls onthe beach” represented the visual arts painting category.
• Lake Worth’s John Vincent Palozzi’s submitted a digitally enhanced photo of City Hallunder the graphic and digital category that showcased the architecture in Lake Worth.

The artists are credited on the back of their selected postcard including a small bio. The selection panel consisted of art professionals Tara Maule, President of the Lake Worth Art League, the City of Lake Worth’s Mayor, Pam Triolo, and Historian, Mark Easton, of the Lake Worth Herald. The panelists reviewed the submitted images and selected the qualified artists based on credentials and artistic design. The postcards will be sold in a package of 5 for $5.00 and will be available at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County’s gift boutique, Lake Worth CRA, Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery on J Street and Studio 205 on Lake Avenue.

My favorite? The sunset, of course.

Lake Worth Centennial Postcards

Architect's granddaughter of the 1922 Casino sends letter of congratulations

Congratulations sent to Dee McNamara--

Just wanted to congratulate you on your dress at Saturday night's opening of the Lake Worth Casino.
I remember 7 years ago, when I was visiting my parents (James Addison), you and I had a conversation about saving the Casino as my great grandfather had designed it. I'm so proud to see the completion of the project and know G. Sherman Childs would be proud as well.

My thanks to you and your husband for your steadfast determination to see that the project was as beautiful as the original building was! Wish I could have been there Saturday, but I plan to be down later this Spring.

Brenda Addison Watson

Editor's note:  G. Sherman Childs designed our original City Hall, the birthday Cake Castle as well as other properties. He came to Lake Worth from Minnesota in 1912. His daughter Jean was the first-born girl in the city and was the mother of our beloved, James Addison, who was here for the Centennial Ball.

McNamaras at the Centennial Ball

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Centennial Ball

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Read about the Centennial Ball.

Ed Deveaux and Dee McNamara take prizes for most Fashionable.

Centennial Ball - A well-heeled event

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It is ironic that the upcoming February 16th Centennial Ball to be held at our new public Casino has a theme where the elite in 1922 were doing very well and didn't bother to think about the people who couldn't afford the fancy beaded gowns, expensive suits, rag top automobiles and speakeasy parties.

Fast forward to 2013, the year of our city's centennial, and we begin the festivities with the formal inauguration and grand opening festivities at our municipal ballroom with Ferris wheels and most likely cotton candy and a sold out crowd of 300, most having paid $75.00 per ticket plus whatever it would cost them to rent a costume to fit the required Gatsby/Zoot suit attire to be in harmony with the celebrated theme of this grand event.

Those of you who were at the commission meeting recently heard me make a humble request to raffle off or gift via lottery one or two tickets so that at least a couple of our residents for whom I am sure would have loved to have attended but could not afford to spend $75.00 plus at least another $75.00 for costume rental. The commission was quick to state they didn't host the event. Really? That did not have to stop them from at least stating they would make an attempt to approach the committee who did plan this and ask them for this concession.   

Brings me to my closing point...My personal opinion is that we are falling short of sending the message that we care about ALL of our residents not just the more affluent ones in our city.  Many of our senior residents who would enjoy a 1920's themed event mostly live on fixed incomes and could not afford the stress that a $150.00 incidental expense would cause to their budget.

I wonder if anybody thought to gift some tickets to some of the residents of Lake Worth Towers, I hope so.  I hope a comment gets posted saying "Mark, you spoke too soon we donated X amount of tickets to residents of Lake Worth Towers or a Senior Care Facility operating within our city."  One of the few times I HOPE I am wrong about something, I really want to be wrong on this one.

Just because it's a fundraising event doesn't mean there isn't value in the good will created by my suggestion.  I dare to suggest it outweighs the monetary benefit of the sale of one or two tickets.

Sincerely,
Mark A. Parrilla

Boynton Beach Pulls a Coup

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I don't know what Boynton Beach's billboard sign will look like but what we do know is, they are renting billboards in Lake Worth to promote their city.

Now wouldn't you think that Lake Worth would have been on the ball especially when we have opened our new Casino, the beach redevelopment is almost complete and our 100th birthday is coming up.

As dysfunctional as Boynton Beach is, they beat us to our very own billboard blight, or in this case, the best marketing tool that is right in our own back yard. We citizens are paying dearly for this blight for 19 years and 364 days.

Does our staff just have too much to do like cutting down trees instead of promoting our City and just thinking inside the box? Thinking outside the box is just too much to ask.

Artist creates X'mas ornament for Lake Worth's 100th birthday

Anna Maria Windisch-Hunt, a local artist, created the above Christmas ornament in honor of Lake Worth's 100th birthday that will be coming up early next year. I was one of the lucky ones to purchase one last night at the Mango Groves Art Show at the Eco Centre. They were all sold out within a very short time.

Lake Weird and the Vice Mayor

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Cerabino is a scream. Lake Weird is his suggestion for the name change of Lake Worth. Sometimes his humor is weird and depending upon your mood at that moment, you can find him outrageously funny, like today, or a total boob, like today...take your pick.

He wrote about the proposed name change to our city and in many respects, he was in tandem with Mark Parrilla and Barbara Jean Weber who both spoke before the commission the other night. To paraphrase what Mark said, "Naming someone Marilyn Monroe doesn't make that person sexy...Let's act as if, to become as if."  Barbara Jean said, "I don't have to say I have a diamond--you can see that it's a diamond." The Commission looked at them both with blank stares.

The Vice Mayor who dreamed up this entire matter of our name change to put it on the ballot, even down-played the potential costs of renaming our City by saying costs of 50 years ago were a lot more than costs today because of the Internet, or some such statement. No one twists things better than Maxwell to make a point. White is black and vice versa. It depends. He gives reasons why one should vote on one matter and gives opposite reasons why they should not on a different matter. Whatever turns him on is democracy in action. Why did the name of our city even become an issue?

This is a commissioner who is obsessed by costs. This is a commissioner who accuses everyone of being political but himself who, as it turns out, is the most political commissioner we have had in well over a decade. He accuses other commissioners on the minority side of the vote of playing politics for any statement they make that is opposite to his view (the Mayor did this as well) when in truth, Maxwell is always running for election. It certainly seems as if he is reaching out in this instance to the special interests--he didn't reach out to me or anyone I know who lives in his District. Did he ask anyone from a Pioneer family? Our opinion was unimportant.

It is totally outrageous that this Commission wants to change the name of our city that has been named Lake Worth since 1896 and a commission that is pandering to the business community and being led around by the Vice Mayor who just doesn't like a whole heck of a lot in our City. He believes by changing the name that the people will come; investment will begin and our city will soon change before our very eyes with taller buildings and single family neighborhoods with multi-family development that will change our character forever...like some fairy wand was waved over our city, an instant transformation for the better. Even a president of a neighborhood association believes that by building taller downtown, we will get more advalorem taxes. NO WE WON'T. This is why I have little regard for most neighborhood associations...they are way too political.

Clean up the blight. Stop attracting slum lords who rent to slobs or owners who leave their property vacant, ignoring it to become blighted. Stop trying to re-write our history and condemn a war hero of the United States. Preserve our heritage that is so important--a city that I am proud to call Lake Worth and one in which I am proud to call home. How weird is that?

Can we get a Recall Petition going?

Pam Triolo gives big donation to Lake Worth Women's Club

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Unable to be at tonight's event for charity, Mayor Triolo just gave a sizeable donation to the Lake Worth Woman's Club.

Singers and dancers from Dragonfly productions will perform in a musical at the Lake Worth Playhouse tonight, November 29, with popular songs and dances from the early 1900s to 2011 with costumes of each decade.

This musical celebrates the upcoming Centennials of the City of Lake Worth and the Lake Worth Women's Club. This event benefits the charities which the Lake Worth Women's Club supports.

Featured are familiar old-time songs and dances including ones from the roaring twenties, the Art Deco thirties and jitterbugging forties. Everyone is welcome to tap their feet and sing-a-long.

A fashion show will take place in the lobby during intermission with clothes and jewelry from local shops.

Buy your ticket at the door. 8pm, Lake Worth Playhouse.

Centennial Celebration Commission

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This committee will consist of eleven members with each commissioner and mayor appointing one representative.

So far, the following have been appointed and accepted:

District 1: Retha Lowe
District 2: Dena McCracken
District 3: Helen Green
District 4: John Rinaldi
Mayor: Appointment to be voted upon at the October 4 meeting.

On August 2, 2011, the Commission voted on the following:

A motion was made by Vice Mayor Mulvehill and seconded by Commissioner Golden to approve the creation of this committee; each commission member to appoint one member; appoint a representative from the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business Alliance, Neighborhood Association, Lake Worth Marketing and Re-Branding Task Force, a member from a Pioneer family; Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau and Cultural Council and appoint a liaison to the committee. The vote was 4/0 with McVoy absent.

Lake Worth featured in Neighborhood News of the Palm Beach Post

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Featured in the Neighborhood News section of the Palm Beach Post today is an article by Willie Howard entitled Lake Worth Council working on 100th anniversary plans.

Unfortunately the link does not provide all the photos that were in the Post that featured the Neighborhood Council's Chairman, Ryan Anderson on the front cover at the July 4th Kayak race, as well as Robert Waples President of ROLOH, Mary Lindsey President of College Park and former commissioner, Nadine Burns of the Eden Place Neighborhood Association.

It Comes in Threes - William A. Boutwell

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William Arthur Boutwell Jr, 93, died Wednesday in Jacksonville. He was a graduate of Lake Worth High School, Class of ’34. He had worked in the family dairy business since 1929 when it was first established until it was sold in 1965. I believe it was sold to T. G. Lee Dairies, a division of Dean Foods whose main plant is in Orlando.

The Boutwells were one of Lake Worth’s prominent families. Back when I was a kid, Boutwell Dairy was west of Boutwell Road on Congress Avenue in Palm Springs, the only milk that my Mom bought. The other brands of milk back then were MacArthur’s and Bordens. The Boutwells also owned a produce store located on Dixie Highway that sold meat, fruit and vegetables. They owned a building materials store located on South H Street.

His father, W. A. Boutwell, Sr. and the inventor of Half & Half, was very much involved in the development of Lake Worth. He became involved in our city and was the one who proposed the development of our waterfront property that is now the Lake Worth Golf Course. W. Arthur Sr. was Vice Mayor of Lake Worth and served on the School Board. One of Junior's brothers, George Boutwell, was President of the First National Bank in Lake Worth which is now vacant property belonging to Lesley Evans.

A lot of history is passing as we approach our 100th birthday in 2013.

Take charge like our Pioneers Did

Nearly one hundred years ago Lake Worth had 38 residents. Now we have 37,000+- people and we are entirely living on top of each other on our 25 foot residential lots. People originally came here for the good life, to relax and enjoy the sunshine in homes in which they could afford to live. They are still doing that to this day. Lake Worth is affordable and has so many fabulous amenities.

• Florida became a State in 1845.

• 1872: 1st land claim filed in Lake Worth

• 1912: 1^st newspaper (now the LW Herald), railroad depot, post office and school

• 1913: 1^st bank

• 1914: 1^st police and volunteer fire facility and lights were turned on

• 1919: 1^st bridge to the beach and the Brelsfords sold the city of Lake Worth 1,000 feet of beachfront

• 1920: 1^st bond to build the Casino in the amount of $100,000

• 1922: 1^st pool built

• 1926: 1^st public library
  

I present this little bit of history trivia to show you how the Pioneers took charge of our city to make it prosperous and thrive. I remember Fountains Department Store on Lake. We also had a Morrison’s Cafeteria. We had diversity in our downtown and we could actually shop here without going elsewhere. We have now become a city of bars and eateries and antiques.

We have been a city for nearly 100 years and what we have been doing over the past decade is destroying our city by outsourcing everything from police to fire to garbage. One commission actually gave away our waste water. Why did the past majority commissions want to destroy our city? They said it is cheaper for the other guy to perform the service. They say we can't manage anything. I say, hire people that can manage.

Right now we are still paying for police and fire retirement. We have no control over any outside services as to what they charge or how they perform. Recently we contracted with Boynton Beach to handle building. We have rapidly become a city in name only but we still pay city taxes for services performed by the County or some other municipality and it is was one of the highest millage rates in the County. This attitude of "cleaning off the desk decisions" have cost us dearly. We have a utility Department that should be MAKING money. It isn't. Why? Where is the money going?

We took over County Roads that they maintained and it cost the citizens $15 million dollars plus now we maintain them. We have a new tax on our utility bill that is paying for the new bureaucracy at City Hall instead of cleaning up blight. We just get taxed to death and all fees are higher.

It is a sad situation for the City of Lake Worth that has been chartered for so long to be dissolved informally by outsourcing. There are over 10,000 cities across the Untied States? How are they managing? Our forefathers never envisioned this for Lake Worth. I think that if they were here right now they would figure out how to be a global tourist attraction, open our hotel and promote our sea side as an affordable resort destination thus bringing in billions of dollars to Lake Worth for decades to come. What do you think?

We do not want to follow the way of Pahokee, South Bay and Belle Glade that are just hanging on and might have to dissolve their Charters. That would be a sad day for Lake Worth and something our forefathers never entertained.