City of Lake Worth POLITICAL Advisory Board Appointments

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A blast from the past--

Example of "dirty tricks" to confuse the voters. 

(A reminder how important board appointments are

 and how the will of the people can be diverted through deception)

New Volunteer Political Board Appointments:

Planning and Zoning Board:
Mayor’s reappointments of Greg Rice and Anthony Marotta both for a term ending in July 31, 2019. (Greg was in the Friends of the Gulfstream PAC as treasurer to defeat the Heights amendment...every nasty trick in the book was used but they still lost)
Vice Mayor’s reappointment of Dustin Zacks for a term ending in July 31, 2019.
Commissioner McVoy’s appointment of Tara McAlonan to the fill an unexpired term ending in July 31, 2017.

Historic Resources Preservation Board:
Vice Mayor’s reappointment of Judith Just for a term ending in July 31, 2019.

Finance Advisory Board:
Mayor’s reappointment of Sherry Canterbury Schmidt for a term ending in July 31, 2019. (She was the gal on the secret ITN Committee that wanted to hand over our beach to Hudson Holdings)
Vice Mayor’s reappointment of John Szerdi for a term ending in July 31, 2019. (He is an employee of Hudson Holdings)

Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals:
Commissioner Maier’s appointment of Ryan Paplow to fill an unexpired term ending in July 31, 2016 and reappoint for another term ending in July 31, 2020

2015 ITN "Secret" Meetings and Audios

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Hear it for yourselves, folks--

Invitations for Bids and RFPs for FY 2015

Invitation to Negotiate | ITN # 14-211 | Lake Worth Beach Casino

Meeting Date
July 30, 2015	6pm	City Hall
April 28, 2015	6pm	City Hall	Video	Public Notice
March 31, 2015			Audio
February 10, 2015			Audio
December 9, 2014			Audio
December 2, 2014			Audio
November 4, 2014			Audio

Evaluation/Select Committee and Hudson Holdings

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We had a Select Committee that spent six months listening to the original three proposals for our beach casino/park. Why the city manager decided on this process is anyone's guess as we had just spent $13 million on our beach redevelopment/revitalization and built a new casino.  All we needed was an employee who could manage it all properly and lease the upstairs space.

Commissioner Andy Amoroso volunteered himself to be on the Committee and the majority commission agreed--Amororo was their guy. The city manager who claimed he was "the father of the ITN" opened up this secret process (Invitation to Negotiate)--secret because  the public was not allowed to attend. It was totally his idea but this entire commission voted for the process, including the Mayor. Not sure why no one even asked "why" this particular process or why we needed it. Later on, the City Attorney confessed that it is used when you don't have a clear intent on what you want to do...a process to give us ideas.

So, you just go out, form an appointed committee even including the Inspector General of PBCounty to make it all very legitimate, spend money and go off willy nilly because you just can't figure it out. Perhaps some money bags developer will come in with a public/private partnership and get his grubby hands on our beach property...wink, wink. They get to manage the casino complex and we get relief from maintaining it.  Such a deal. Does anyone believe for one second that the majority commission did not know what it was all about?  John Szerdi was still buzzing in their ear.

At the April 28, 2015 meeting, the Evaluation Committee (dissolved on that date) made three recommendations to the City Commission:

1. That the City Commission direct City staff (William Waters) to develop a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a qualified firm to prepare a traffic/development impact study with related evaluations in order to discern viable levels of development and intensity of uses at the beach.

2. That during the budget process, the City Commission hold a separate workshop on the Beach Fund in order to address policy decisions that must be made for the FY 2016 Beach Fund budget.

3. That the City Commission continue negotiations with Anderson Carr (on behalf of Oceanside Bar & Grill) for the lease of the upstairs vacant space at the Casino Building and management/lease of the ballroom. The Evaluation Committee also recommended that the foregoing be concluded within six (6) months.

As far as I know, none of this was ever done. The Evaluation committee was a waste of time but at least we got to understand what Hudson Holdings wanted to do on our beach property...and a vast number of people believe that they still do. They wanted to DESTROY our Olympic pool,  build a convention center with a private beach club and take over the management of our casino along with the parking income and build a parking garage. They wanted control of our beach park.

Please remember all of this when you cast your vote on March 15.

Gulfstream Hotel - Most Memorable Controversy of 2015

The Most Memorable controversy in 2015 and over the previous two years:

The Heights Charter Amendment vote of March 12, 2013.

**The  election results won by the people.

This measure amended the Lake Worth City Charter to limit buildings to 45 feet in height between Golfview Road and F Street and 35 feet between F street and A Street in a designated area of downtown, with exception to existing buildings and currently approved building permits.

It stands per Florida Statutes Section 166.031(2) and was effective on the date the results were certified, March 19, 2013. According to the former Inspector General, Sheryl Steckler, the date that the revised charter was filed or not filed with the Department of State, has no legal effect on whether or when the charter amendment is effective.**

On Tuesday night, there will be the second reading of ordinance 2016-04 to upzone the MF-30 parcels to DT, a commercial zoning that will allow Hudson Holdings to build to 65 feet. And as everyone knows, zoning changes are always political. And don't let them kid you--the casino complex is still on the city's back-burner to give Hudson Holdings a long-term lease on our property with development rights. This is dependent upon the outcome of the March election. They want to make their Gulfstream Hotel property package more valuable to them as well as to a possible buyer.

On September 15, 2015, Hudson Holdings withdrew from the ITN process.  The Palm Beach Post mentions the Gulfstream in today's article saying that this commission rejected the Hudson Holdings proposal in October.  The Post, once again, does not give the public all of the facts and NEVER writes about our Charter Amendment.

The Fall Guy

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On Tuesday night, and just like a true pirate, City Manager Bornstein took one "for the gipper"--the fall for the ITN fiasco.  Some wonder if the entire secret ITN was planned to eventually get Hudson Holdings as the only player still left, after the fact so to speak. (They're still lurking in the wings). We will never know the real intent of this non-transparent Invitation to Negotiate but it dragged on for nearly three quarters of a year with only three replies.

The city manager remained expressionless (pirates are "stand up" men) and was not the least bit surprised when Mayor Pam Triolo threw the blame of this decision right in his face. Sometimes, especially when you just got a big raise and a 5 year contract, you have to lay down for your bosses. If you recall, the entire commission voted for the ITN but no one really knew what in heck it was all about and no one asked, why not an RFP? They formulated a special committee and even dragged in the Inspector General to give it another level of credibility and their idea of transparency. Perhaps at the time the mayor simply rubber stamped staff's wishes and "rushed" it through the agenda with little discussion/understanding like so many other items. Now it's election time.

Triolo said the following:

"...We all know, for all intents and purposes, that you, city manager, introduced us to the ITN process for reasons to bring creative solutions to some of the challenging areas in the city, the beach being one of them I guess for this specific thing but it was a major failure, for lack of a better word...Other towns and cities do it but Lake Worth requires an extra level of scrutiny over everything."

Hudson Holdings keeps pushing on

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At the September 15, 2015 meeting, Commissioner Amoroso asked about putting the "ITN to bed" with the possibility of hiring a Realtor to address the 5,000 sq. ft. upstairs space. He wanted it as either an agenda item or for discussion.

Our City Attorney, Glen Torcivia, said that it could be added to the agenda.

Mayor Pam Triolo said that someone in the previous week wanted to add something to the agenda and they were turned down. She is into consistency and said that you need X amount of days to put something on the Agenda. Pam Lopez, City Clerk, agreed. It didn't matter what the city attorney said. Triolo did not want the subject brought up in any way shape or form that night.

It was agreed to bring back commissioner Amoroso's request at the next general meeting.

Now we have Hudson Holdings sending out an e-mail that indicates this is their third proposal in the ITN process even though they dropped out of the process on 9-15-15. Every newspaper around reported this as well as this blog and Hudson sent a letter stating it--they dropped out.  The ITN ended months ago.

But the above e-mail on the reference line says: RE:  ITN-LW-PT3-final. The city supposedly has 30 days to answer this latest proposal.

Hudson Holdings Bows Out of Beach Negotiations

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September 15, 2015
Mr. Michael Bornstein
City Manager
City of Lake Worth
7 North Dixie Highway
Lake Worth, FL 33460

Dear Mr. Bornstein,

Please consider this notice of our intent to withdraw from the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) as it relates to the Lake Worth Beach Casino Complex.

We remain committed to the City’s progress through our significant commercial and residential holdings in Lake Worth, as well as our continuing support of community initiatives. Unfortunately, the current ITN process has been derailed by a lack of clear direction and structure. Additionally in our estimation the misinformation that has been propagated in recent months – specifically as it relates to the reality of the precarious financial stability of the beach complex, and ongoing questions about funding of the previous complex renovation which has raised the cost of water to every resident of Lake Worth. Further exacerbating the problem is the number of times the “goalposts have been moved” by staff regarding the size and scope of the project making it impossible for the ITN to be completed in a fair and responsible way.

The positive results from our recent open community meeting on August 24th attended by over 250 residents, as well as our ongoing neighborhood and small business outreach program have made it clear that stabilizing the current budget shortfall of the beach casino complex and responsible, reasonable and sustainable upgrades to the facility though a partnership with the private sector is desired by a large component of the public. We are hopeful the financial needs of the city, as well as the now well-documented desire of the residents to have an improved pool and casino property, can be addressed in a more structured, responsive way, and in a more timely manner.

Sincerely,

Steven Michael
Hudson Holdings

Read the original letter

Hudson Holdings' Meeting at the Lake Worth Casino

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Last night's Hudson Holdings was the sameo, sameo, at least for all of us who have heard it before. They want our beach.  There are many people in this city who feel that they will get this deal because of politics and their "in" with the commissioners.  And we can't forget, that it was the city manager who opened up this can of worms. The meeting started at 5:21pm, 21 minutes late, because of the registration slow-up as well as people arriving late. I got there at 4:30 and the entire decal parking lot was filled. One lady really was mad that the city took out those 23 decal parking spaces. She thought that they had just eliminated them but we informed her that they had been moved closer to Benny's on the Beach. That is where I ended up parking.

All doors were locked to the ballroom other than one on the north side where they had a registration table. Besides the preregistration online and the ticket that they requested you bring, they wanted proof of who you were and if your license matched your registration.  We were told that they needed a driver's license ID.  Even Muslims wearing Burkas don't have to show their faces in some states across our country to prove identity. They gave us a blue arm band that you had to wear while there and you literally had to cut it off. As they were attempting to be fully aboveboard, they wanted to assure us that no commissioner or public official or anyone on the Selection Committee from the ITN was in the room. There was no way that they wanted to be accused of collusion. Open and transparent was the message but it had to make you wonder.

When we walked up to the casino there were four Sheriff vehicles parked in front. When I asked about it, I was told that Hudson Holdings had hired the PBSO as security. As they hired enough men for two vehicles, there had to be a third vehicle as two require a supervisor.  That was a lot of overtime.  The fourth vehicle was because of a burglary. I asked one deputy if there was only one door for egress and ingress and he said "yes."  When asking about a fire, he said that he would open the rest of the doors at the ballroom.  That was comforting.

Also, our pool was opened and it was packed with swimmers from the Swim Club.  It looked beautiful.   We are so lucky to have this gorgeous Olympic pool right at the beach.  Szerdi even mocked the murals of beach scenes on the inside walls of the pool area saying we had the real ocean on the other side of the wall. It was a desperate attempt to ridicule.

Most of the chairs that had been set up were filled but there were a few empties. It was hard to estimate the number of attendees as my estimation was half of someone else's.

If you only came for the food, well...

Most of Hudson's budget for this event was obviously spent on mailings and

signs illegally erected on city rights of way.

Former commissioner John Szerdi who works for Hudson Holdings did much of the presentation. They took questions from the crowd, some of which were right to the point even bringing up their failure to do anything at the Gulfstream hotel. Basically, and in my opinion, the crowd overall was not happy that anything could change at our beach and were not thrilled about Hudson. Commissioner Szerdi, to this day, does not believe that he lost his election because of Hudson Holdings...that we all lied. Hudson must believe that too as they use Szerdi for all presentations.

John Szerdi grinning and working the crowd

We left that meeting early and headed up to the Lake Worth Golf Course where there was a book signing about historic Lake Worth and the cottages. The proceeds from this book are all being donated by the author, Marion Cone and the Designer, Walter Harper to the Friends of the Lake Worth Library.

The golf course is another fabulous asset of ours that this commission always likes to tell people--"It's not making money" either. Folks, the beach is sustainable. It takes about three years for any new business to start supporting itself. The golf course IS now making money after we spent a lot of money re-doing the greens.

We like our beach just the way it is. Although different than Hudson's message, ours is "Hands off Our Beach."

July 30th City Commission Workshop

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Come on down to City Hall and listen to what the city wants in store for our beautiful beach park, you know, the one that they tell you they are losing money on when in reality they are making money and where parking is going up 12.5%. Gosh, Peter Willard must be laughing his azz off while he counts that $1.6 million.

UPDATES/FUTURE ACTION/DIRECTION:
A. Lake Worth Beach Complex, Casino Building Vacant Space and Municipal Pool
Invitation to Negotiate (ITN)

PRESENTERS:

1) Hudson Holdings
has submitted revised drawings.  Of course, NO one can read them. Apparently they have scaled back "what they originally want" but so what?  This is a group that can't even clean up the blight at the Gulfstream.  After a year, they did trim some trees and got rid of some brush recently.

2) Oceanside Bar and Grill
still wants a lease term of ten years with 3, five year renewals. Sorry, can't do it. They also want control of the total upstairs level . All ballroom rentals will be under their control. Want rights to rent the courtyard. Wants hotdog stands and carts. Willing to pay $20sf including CAM. Such a deal.

At the April 28, 2015 meeting, the Evaluation Committee (dissolved on that date) made three recommendations to the City Commission:
1. That the City Commission direct City staff (William Waters) to develop a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a qualified firm to prepare a traffic/development impact study with related evaluations in order to discern viable levels of development and intensity of uses at the beach.

2. That during the budget process, the City Commission hold a separate workshop on the Beach Fund in order to address policy decisions that must be made for the FY 2016 Beach Fund budget.

3. That the City Commission continue negotiations with Anderson Carr (on behalf of Oceanside Bar & Grill) for the lease of the upstairs vacant space at the Casino Building and management/lease of the ballroom.

The Evaluation Committee also recommended that the foregoing be concluded within six (6) months. So, that would be October 28, 2015 when we are into our new 2016 budget. So the city wants a decision waaaaaaaaaaay before that. And they want to, once again, hand over our beach complex (that could be up to 99 years) because they just want it off their plate...one less thing to worry about in this city that can't fix a pot hole but can find $8.6 million to pour into the Park of Commerce.

Getting the Facts straight regarding Lake Worth's beach park

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Well, if Kevin D. Thompson, PBPost reporter can recycle old articles, I can once again publish facts about our beach complex. Thompson says that Etta James might be crooning, "At Last."  Retha Lowe might still be tossing her football regarding the beach, but we residents are happy with our beach park and that it all got upgraded just a few years ago to the tune of $13 million.  Where has Mr. Thompson been that he doesn't know that? And $13 million ain't hay for a poor city. Read his article.

Following are some of the important points that were NOT mentioned in the article:

• The $6 million was borrowed from ourselves out of reserves to build the casino. There are people out there who after reading his article, believe we are defaulting on a loan and Mr. Thompson says that the city is worried about paying back the money.  We are not worried. This is one point that really drives me nuts as it leaves out the facts and it comes directly from City Hall to scare people.

• The most insipid statement in this article: Since the site was restored three years ago and had its Roaring Twenties opening in March 2013, the city has said it’s having a hard time paying back the $6 million it borrowed to fix the building, mainly because the site doesn’t have enough tenants. Think about that for a moment.  The square footage is constant no matter if one tenant leased the space or ten. And now the city will listen to a presentation on Thursday night from a prospective tenant that wants to lease the entire upstairs at $20 a s.f. including CAM (Common Area Maintenance) ...such a deal.

• This commission has voted to delay principal payments on the Casino loan to ourselves because of other issues however we have paid back $250,000 in 2014 and 2015 for a total of $500,000 and have paid all interest on the loan to ourselves. Ridiculous stuff comes up such as hiring a public information officer, some obvious priority for this majority commission that is up for re-election. They don't need to hire anyone at taxpayer expense; They have Kevin D. Thompson of the Post.

• The mayor is wrong about our pool.  It IS regulation for high school and college for 25 yard meets.

• The city has 100% failed to market our pool or to even let visitors know we have a pool.

• We just upgraded our entire beach park of 19 acres with the casino opening in 2012 for $13 million. Maxwell and the CM are not allowing the financial plan to work because the city has not rented the upstairs space. Pool operational expenses were thrown into expenses that never were included in the financial plan.

• The city manager went out on an ITN on his own initiative. It was brought before the commission with no discussion or approval by the public. The CM appointed the Select Committee other than commissioner Amoroso. There was never any discussion on this and if there was, they would have known to keep their hands off our beach.

Our big problem in this city has always been lack of maintenance.  No one takes care of anything. Our pool is not cleaned properly even if a lifeguard just told me that "it is not mildew; it's a stain on the bottom of the pool."

At its worst
Now I ask you, who in their right mind would want to swim in a pool that looks like this?  Just another reason why they are not getting business.

Better

Lake Worth to hold Special Meeting - Ways to screw up our beach

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Commission Meeting
When: Thu, July 30, 6pm – 8pm
Where: City Hall, 7 North Dixie Highway
Discussion of Beach/Casio Invitation to Negotiate

The City of Lake Worth is STILL pursuing development at our casino property and pushing its agenda. All they continue to do is wear you down. They won't let it die or just take care of what we already have.

We are now going to hear presentations from the three companies that submitted their individual plans per the Invitation to Negotiate, a secret meeting held behind closed doors over six months. Hudson Holdings, owners of the Gulfstream Hotel, Oceanside Bar & Grill and Wave House Miami. Wave House was previously turned down by the ITN Select Committee for late document submission but we get to hear them anyway. Why would we want surfing in our pool when we are right on the ocean with the real deal.

And don't forget our Olympic Pool--the city and majority commission want to screw that up too.

A "white elephant" according to City Manager Bornstein 

who just won't market it

This will be an opportunity for those residents of our city who are working for Hudson Holdings to come forward and finally admit their participation in this attempt to grab our beach. John Szerdi never admitted it during the election and a former HRPB member, who recently admitted to a resident his connection to Hudson Holdings, has not either.

People who are Clueless

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It's a Failed Business Plan, says City Manager Bornstein.
I'm not happy that the city is nearly $1million behind paying itself back, says Brenda Schuttler.  We need people in there who know what they're doing, she says. Secret meetings and developers are what we need she further implied.


(We ran this before but it's worth running again, least we should forget)

Lake Worth Budget Workshop Tonight

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The 2nd budget Workshop Meeting will be held tonight at City Hall at 6pm.  Again, NO BACKUP.  The information to be presented will consist of a copy of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget. So, in other words, commissioners, take some damn good notes because you can't read what's on the screen--but then you probably don't have to.  The city manager will feed you what you need to know.

Burton developed an inter-active Comprehensive Integrated Financial Sustainability Analysis that  provides the framework for the development of a City wide business plan and the basis for the FY2015/16 through FY 2026 Budgets. The program will provide the information for multi-year plans and will be based on the consultants wide ranging knowledge of local government finance projections. The system will plot multiple variables and changes through all funds that would be affected and allows for realtime changes of variables.

A. Discuss Fiscal Year 2016 proposed budget
1) Sanitation Fund
2) Stormwater Fund
3) Local Sewer Fund
4) Regional Sewer Fund
5) Other Business

And to bring up the ITN again as the city wants us to forget about it, prior to the June 2 commission meeting, Commissioner Andy Amoroso  spoke at the Downtown Jewel Neighborhood Association and said:

The ITN (Invitation to Negotiate) for the Beach complex was only gathering information ideas.  There was NO intention to privatize the beach.  No action has been taken for the beach.  The building has a large number of flaws and unmarketable areas.  The Commission will be discussing the ITN at the Commission Meeting at the June 2, 2015 meeting.  The Pool is losing about $300K per year.

The ITN was secret from the get-go and continues to be and the City continues to spend money on "studies." Just ask the people what they want at our beach and you will get the majority saying, "NOTHING, leave it alone...Hands off our Beach."

Our Lake Worth Casino building

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Our newly assigned Palm Beach Post reporter had an article published today on our Lake Worth Casino regarding last Tuesday night's commission meeting--Residents want Casino Plan. That was the title in the hard copy of today's paper.

Now, for the life of me, I can't figure out where that title came from.  Residents don't want a plan unless leaving our beach park alone and the city efficiently managing our asset is the plan. We just all approved of a plan several years ago and our casino complex and beach redevelopment is exactly what we said that we wanted in the charette.  No one is "weary" about what we want at our beach as we have what we want. We are weary that a football keeps being thrown at us to change the complex and even consider losing control of anything there. There are still people who want more commercial development at our beach. We really wanted more amenities than we got but had to scale down the "wants" from the "needs" because of money. Can you even imagine if we had spent more than we did?  Maxwell would be having a stroke.

Following are some of the important points that were NOT mentioned in the article:

1.     The $6 million was borrowed from ourselves out of reserves to build the casino. There are people out there who believe we are defaulting on a loan.  We are not.
2.    This commission has voted to delay principal payments because of other issues.
3.    We have paid back $250,000 in 2014 and 2015 and have paid all interest.
4.    The mayor is wrong about our pool.  It IS regulation for high school and college for 25 foot meets.
5.    The city has 100% failed to market our pool or to even let visitors know we have a pool.
6.    We just upgraded our entire beach park of 19 acres with the casino opening in 2012 for $13 million. Maxwell and the CM are not allowing the financial plan to work because the city has not rented the upstairs space and threw into expenses the pool operations that never were included in the financial plan.
7.    The city manager went out on an ITN on his own initiative. It was brought before the commission with no discussion or approval by the public. The CM appointed the Select Committee other than commissioner Amoroso. There was never any discussion on this and if there was, they would have known to keep their hands off our beach.

I could go on and on about this but these are some of the highlights that the article didn't address.

Last night's Lake Worth City Commission Meeting

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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.

Lake Worth city commission meeting tonight

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Palm Peach Post article on tonight's meeting.

Don't forget to come to City Hall tonight--6pm--to listen to the discussion on what the ITN offerors have proposed for our casino complex and what the Select Committee has recommended.  We should also find out which way the commission is leaning.

Commission Meeting Tuesday

Tomorrow night, the regular commission meeting should be brief--following the general meeting is the main topic of interest and certainly importance -- introducing the proposals submitted to the ITN Select Committee and its recommendation for what they feel should happen at our beach complex, if anything. 

The first part of the meeting will be amending the budget for the following:

• Gumbo Limbo:  $4,025

• Pineapple Ridge law suit settlement:  $175,000

• Regional Sewer Fund reimbursement of over-charge:  $1,202,601

• Refuse Fund: failure to include Solid Waste authority's annual assessment in last year's budget:  $165,188.91

• Sewer Line on 6th Avenue South:  sinkholes from excessive traffic, $300,000

• Training expense shortfall:  $2,000

Following that meeting is a workshop on the Lake Worth Beach complex and discussion on the Invitation to Negotiate on our casino and pool space. No one really understands why an ITN was issued to begin with or why the city believes this is necessary other than admitting that they can't manage anything.

There are several options in front of the commission:

Anderson & Carr that exclusively wants the entire 2nd level space including the lucrative ballroom space; 10 year contract with 3, five year renewals; exclusive rights to have hotdog carts and stands throughout the lease term, to name a few

Hudson Holdings submitted plans. They want just about everything and for as long as they legally can get it.

Wave House is out of the running but then you just never know--they want to create waves for surfers in our pool. Normally their facilities are not located on a beach where there are real waves. Wave machines are installed where you can experience the sport of wave riding. 

and the commission will have to decide what to do going forward:

• Determine which offeror(s) should be awarded a contract(s) with the City (with or without further negotiations)
• Request presentations from any and all offerors

• Request further fact-finding by City staff or other appointee(s) with any and all offerors

• Reject any and all of the replies; Cancel the ITN

• Re-issue the ITN.