Author unfairly attacks Lake Worth for Discrimination

"Lake Worth’s new commissioners must end discriminatory practices"

That is the title of the biggest piece of horse sh*t that I have read in a very long time.This writer references what he believes happened in 2006, 15 years ago, about treating illegals/immigrants less than human in the City of Lake Worth and decides to promote his false discriminatory narrative against our city just to be acknowledged as a "journalist" investigating and exposing racism. Big Whoopie!

Perhaps he will get an Emmy like Andrew Coumo...for lies and BS. Lake Worth is a "Welcoming City."

The time he references was during the years Marc Drautz was mayor--one of the liberal guys who was married to a woman of color. This supposed attack of immigrants never happened. And Omari Hardy is still stirring the pot of false racism. Thank God that guy is no longer in this city.

At the time, Drautz said he planned to meet with the code enforcement staff. He wanted them to crack down on slum landlords and vacant properties, while still employing a "personal touch" to make sure the city treats residents fairly.

Read the crap

The new Commission for some reason believes that our code department goes after poor folks as a policy because it's easier to extort money from them. This is liberal drivel. We have a lot of code violations in our city--just drive around. We have so many transients and rentals that violations occur more often within these properties. It has nothing to do with what nationality resides there.

Blast from the Past - A David and Goliath moment in time

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Election of March 2005
Remember this mayoral election that occurred on 3-22-05? Mr. Romano had raised ten times the amount of his opponent and lost the election:

Romano: $54,555
and newcomer,
Marc Drautz with little money, $5,250.

The moral of the story? Well you get it. It isn't always the amount of money you collect although many believe that it takes three things to win: "The first is money, and the second is money and the third is money," a line from the book the Dark side of Camelot and attributed to Joseph L. Kane, a campaign operative of JFK's. In the case of the City of Lake Worth, it is $50,000 of taxpayer money to be used for campaigning for the general obligation 30 year bond to ensure its passage. The taxpayers' only voice will be at the ballot box, not an even playing field.

It is the amount of public disgust that motivates the voters to change the tide. It is the simple fact that some elected officials (too many) just don't listen to the people they serve and consider anything they might say in opposition as "uninformed," "emotional," or "just plain not in their best interests." In other words, they consider you stupid. They are only there to please their "friends."  They have lost touch with the people and have no clue what the people are thinking because they are surrounded only by their inner sanctum that isolates them and leads them to believe that they are right. They call out the other side and say that they are "disingenuous," a nicer sounding way of saying "you are a liar" and all of the other things mentioned above. Arrogance usually will bring defeat or at least it should.

So, David slayed Goliath in 2005 for whatever reasons. It can be done again on August 26, 2014.

Marc Drautz

55.63%

Rodney Romano

44.37%

Marc Drautz back in the News

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Read about Lake Worth's former mayor in the Sun Sentinel. Marc will be running the exact route that the Barefoot Mailman took in the late 1800's.

A Snowball in Hell - The Greater Bay Fiasco

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It's very disgusting to sit down at my dining table, open up the Palm Beach Post and read a horrendous article such as I did today on the Greater Bay lawsuit...particularly when I think of Peter Willard laughing his ass off. Here we have outside counsel blaming his failure to do his job for Lake Worth, a job he took willingly and wanted from day-one.

Greater Bay was to pay for and submit a site plan. They never did. They were to pay for all the financing. They never paid one dime for anything. All they did was stall and stall and eventually screwed up our pool when they finally did something.

The Development Agreement had a provision that essentially said that all government zoning land-use approvals had to be in by June 30, 2007, and if they weren't, either side could terminate the contract within 15 days notice.  The City attempted to make a Comprehensive Plan change but it was challenged by Tallahassee.

The McCauley/McNamara law suit challenged the Lease agreement of 20 years minus a day plus a sub-lease of 20 years minus a day and a development period with NO time limit or cap.  The Court agreed the suit had merit. The City knew that the charges in the suit were correct and went ahead and made an amendment to the Lease Agreement with Greater Bay. That suit was not dropped until Greater Bay was off the beach and rightfully so. Citizens formed a PAC to preserve the beach as Public Recreation and Open Space and to keep it from becoming more commercial. There was to be a referendum and the signatures on all petitions were certified as the citizens believed that they had a right to vote on what happened at their beach. Then the City, bending over backwards for Greater Bay, sued the PAC. The PAC, much to my dismay, bowed out of the process because of politics, not the threat of a law suit. Our outside counsel, Brian Joslyn, was behind that.

Joslyn says that there were several  beach redevelopment plans over the past 20 years that had fallen apart for one reason or another. To straighten out that perception, there was a plan for a General Obligation bond, pushed by then mayor Rodney Romano, of $19 million to redevelop our beach in 2002. That failed overwhelmingly at the polls. The residents did not want to be obligated for that much money. No other suggestion for the beach got off the ground.  Then Greater Bay answered the RFQ and presented a public/private partnership that would have tied up our beach for years with the city making no money other than $500,000 a year that would not even have paid for the lifeguards and have caused the City an annual loss for 20 plus years.

This was such a deal, that Greater Bay had no money, never had done a project of this magnitude, never got its bank financing and never even had opened up a bank account until years later when it was going to suit. Greater Bay charged that there was a government conspiracy to get rid of them from our beach even though they never performed, not once. People will say anything for a buck.

The biggest problem with Greater Bay was when the commission agreed to allow them to renovate our Olympic Pool before the Grant money expired. This was the biggest mistake of the city--allowing Greater Bay to appear to be a hero. I believe that this was the turning point. City attorney Larry Karns, at the time, told them not to go ahead with GB; they did anyway.  If someone is not performing and jerking you around, you don't let them proceed on another aspect of a project.

Now Scott Maxwell and Pam Triolo want to get "to the bottom of the Greater Bay lawsuit' and what got us to this $1.6 million settlement. What got us here, commissioner, was Lake Worth being too trusting; they never even did a background check on the principal, Peter Willard, and never even bothered to see first-hand one project that Greater Bay constructed. The main reason was trying to get something for nothing with a partnership with a company that was going to pay all of the bills.They naively believed the bull because they wanted to and because as Retha Lowe had always said, "We have been trying to do some thing with our beach for 30 years."

It would be her legacy when this beach was finally renovated. She was one of the top reasons why we are where we are today as well as the rest of the majority commission (Vespo and  Burns) who went along with the insurrection--she initialed the contract without reading it, every single page of it, not the mayor, Marc Drautz. Of course no situation tests us more than the urge to get something for nothing. That's what happened here. Everyone is tempted by "something for nothing."  In this case, elected officials made a political decision to sign the contract without understanding it, without even reading it, and the snowball just kept rolling down the hill.

With every bad thing that happens sometimes there is a silver lining.  In this case, the settlement is a good deal for Lake Worth considering we would have had a loss at our beach of several hundreds of thousands a year over 20 years while Peter Willard and Greater Bay originally wanted to sue us for $40 million, or make an estimated $2 million profit every year for 20 years. We are now in control of our beach, not them, and with good management, we will be making the money.

Supposedly in February, Scott Maxwell, the most political commissioner who has ever held the office in Lake Worth, will have a public workshop to bring out all the reasons that he wants the citizens to believe as to what occurred here. This is being done to justify this commission handing over $1.6 million of our money to the biggest scam artist who ever hit town and of course, to "hit" his political opponents right between the eyes.  The sad part of this is that there will be a certain percentage of people who will believe the politics here and not the facts.

It has been a snowball in hell that has not yet melted.

Greater Bay and the Wimps at City Hall who Cost Us

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Peter Willard of Greater Bay and
former mayor, Jeff Clemens

Over two years ago on November 16, 2009, Greater Bay filed a suit against The City of Lake Worth. Prior to that the City had ended their contract and kicked them out of town for non-performance on our beach/casino. They then decided that they would pull a pit bull act. They wanted a big piece of whatever meat Lake Worth had on that bone. Afterall, this was a city government with deep pockets, or so they thought, and they had already jerked us around for quite some time. What difference would it make if they just kept on jerking?

Retha Lowe kept complaining that we had been talking about the beach/casino for 30 years and had never done anything. The City Commission at the time decided something was going to be done on their watch and had Vice Mayor Retha Lowe grab the contract out of the hands of Mayor Marc Drautz. They only listened to their supporters who packed the chamber (some were ugly). The rest of the citizens they ignored. No one on the commission had read the Contract. Lowe signed it and that was the start of three law suits including a petition drive by the citizens to reverse the mess. Anarchy on the dais caused the problems that we see today encouraged by some of the very same people who cry out now about "anarchists."

I do not have up-to-date legal costs on this suit however in February 2011, the costs for outside council were $224,523.94. Citizens don't get to know these important details. Attorneys have a way of dragging things out. Brian B. Joslyn is our attorney on the matter and he is a partner with one of the most highly respected law firms, Casey Ciklin Lubitz Martens and O'Connell in West Palm Beach. The firm used to have the name Boose but they dropped that after William Boose went to prison. It seems like it was just yesterday. He was involved with former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti in illicit multi-million dollar land deals. Both are now out of the slammer.

Joslyn was also the attorney that the City of Lake Worth hired to sue the petitioners on August 21, 2007 of We Love Lake Worth Political Action Committee of which Commissioner McVoy was the President of the PAC. We Love Lake Worth, Inc. tied up the Greater Bay deal for the City's attempt to change our beach to a commercial zoning and allow a developer to grab our 19 acres of prime beachfront to develop a mall along with a parking garage. There was a citizens' law suit back then, McCauley/McNamara, against Greater Bay that stated it was not a 20 year lease but a 40 year lease. The WLLW case was dropped on June 23, 2009 after Greater Bay was relieved from its contract for non-performance. The private citizens' suit was dropped as well.

The only law suit still in effect is the Greater Bay vs. The City of Lake Worth. The attorneys have had a field day and now, two years later, the Court has decided that the Parties have reached a total impasse and that all issues require court action. We could have told them that over four years ago when we, the citizens, were all rallied to a just cause and understood our priorities in Lake Worth when the elected officials did not do their due diligence, did not listen to anyone but their inner sanctum.

Lake Worth is still getting slammed by the Greater Bay law suit that attorneys drag on and on for billable hours with Greater Bay hoping for some sort of a settlement or in their dreams, the whole enchilada. Now, it seems, there will be a jury trial. Greater Bay was wrong then. It is still wrong today but you just never know about juries and that is what they are counting on..

We have a new commission that has complained about the number of law suits involving the City. The vast majority have to do with code issues and foreclosures. Some have implied (as well as their supporters) that we should cave in and settle some suits before they get as far as the Greater Bay suit. I worry that they will put principle aside and create a whole new line item where anyone can come into Lake Worth and sue knowing they will get a settlement.

There are several pending cases, one of which is Sunset Drive Holdings, that says it has a Bert J. Harris claim. I worry that we will digress and become wimps for anyone who wants to file suit. The Vice Mayor has fought the Casino project and its financing since he became elected. He is only listening to his mentors. What next can we expect?

Teachers Reelect Dow

Marc Drautz loses another election.

The teacher's union, with only 2,800 people voting out of 7,800 eligible members in PB County, relected Robert Dow with 62.5% of the vote.

Marc Dratuz running for President of Teacher's Union

Former Lake Worth Mayor, Marc Drautz, is running for the President of the Palm Beach County Teacher's Union.

A teacher at Boca Raton Elementary, Drautz has been an educator and a politician; he is young and enthusiastic, perfect qualities for this job.

Drautz said, "The union needs to be more pro-active and that showing up at school board meetings holding signs and wearing red t-shirts, as teachers have done, is not enough. We need to be the forerunners in coming up with ideas to make changes."

Marc Drautz to run Marathon

"I like running 100 miles a lot more than being in politics," said Marc Drautz, who was mayor of Lake Worth from 2005-07. He expects to exceed 100 miles for the first time in a 24-hour race at Peanut Island.

Read more of the story at The Sun Sentinel

Clearing up a few things on Cara Jennings

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Self-proclaimed Anarchist, Commissioner Cara Jennings

Patrick Parrish of the Lake Worth Herald came out with a scathing editorial of Commissioner Jennings. He entitled his commentary, "Are Law Suits Accomplishments?" Well, sometimes they are.

The other thing that must be said is that any idiot can file a law suit. If you remember the anarchy on the Dais, Retha Lowe grabbed the Contract with Greater Bay away from Mayor Marc Drautz, and signed it as Vice Mayor. Even our self-proclaimed anarchist would not have done that! The Dirty Dozen was in the Chamber that night jeering and saying all sorts of vile things toward Drautz. The mayor wanted to study it first...read it, unlike Lowe. They were determined to get our beach out of public control for the enrichment of their friends and themselves.

There was no haste here, as the Lake Worth Herald states, in this contract termination. Greater Bay was given every opportunity to perform--the City bent over backwards. Greater Bay had dragged its feet for over a year. Even Retha eventually voted to kick the flim flam man out of town. As I recall, the entire commission voted to do that--reason? Non-performance. Cara Jennings is not responsible for this frivolous law suit. Those commissioners who voted for the Greater Bay Contract are responsible: Lowe, Clemens and Vespo. They started the entire mess and several law suits that followed.

The Herald further complained that she interjected herself into the city's problems at the south end landfill that is out of her district. Commissioner Jennings represents this City, not just her District. That is why we get to vote for all commissioners up for election. She was not interfering. She was doing her job. And where was the Herald's good friend Retha Lowe in all this landfill mess? Did she even support that community? No. She got campaign contributions from Sun Recycling, the company that was doing all the dumping and damage to our land and causing health problems to her neighbors in her District that she represented. Later she was fined by the Florida Elections Commission.

As far as Jennings trying to get support of the Haitian community for her re-election this year when she tried to divert the delivery of our ambulance to St. Mark's Hospital in torn ridden Haiti, is nothing more than a fictitious and malicious allegation by the Herald. The Haitian community is a very small voting block. Jennings has worked closely with them through the years advocating and supporting their needs. She has always had a good relationship with them. She always said that she would not seek a third term.

It is true that our Comprehensive Plan is being held up but that is not Jennings' fault. The City Commission approved 35 foot height limits. The Comp Plan is being help up by La Sonna Hayes, a resident who wants to change her residential neighborhood into mutli-family zoning. She does not like height limitations. Jennings had never said that she is against development. What she did was to make the developer establishment and friends act like rabid dogs when they thought they were ensured of a developer's field day on 6th Avenue South and 10th Avenue North by building high. This is the one action of Jennings that motivated them to action...money slipping from their fingers is not a pleasant feeling. They even formed a PAC, Businesses Aligned for Change. Limiting heights will not deter developers. That is always their excuse and a main reason why the State of Florida is in the shape it is in. It was all about money with this Group. It always is and why we need Amendment 4.

I look forward to Commissioner Jennings presentation prior to her ending term and to be reminded of her accomplishments. There were many. Because she refused to "toe-the-line" to conservative politics and developer interests, should not deny the existence of truth nor should it diminish her skills and achievements during her tenure. She will probably take this opportunity for her one last anarchist action to remind us that we are all equal, no one is "illegal," and that it is government's responsibility to take care of humankind. The majority of citizens did not agree.