Governor DeSantis in Lake Worth Beach

Ron DeSantis was in Lake Worth Beach for expansion of Food Bank Program

As the left-wing biased Palm Beach Post continues to slam our governor at every opportunity, he was in Lake Worth Beach along with Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner Thursday morning at the Palm Beach County food bank's new Lake Worth Beach facility off of Boutwell Road at the Park of Commerce

The Palm Beach County Food Bank is expanding its "Food for Kids" program, providing weekend meals for students and families.

Read about it...

Palm Beach County Food Bank in Park of Commerce

Palm Beach County Food Bank celebrates new state-of-the-art facility in ribbon cutting ceremony

The Palm Beach County Food Bank opened its new warehouse location along Boutwell Road in Lake Worth Tuesday morning.

The 28,000-square-foot state of the art building is double the capacity of the previous facility in Lantana.

Read about it...

The Park of Commerce came about through the efforts of this past Lake Worth City Commission, particularly Scott Maxwell.

Palm Beach Mobile Home Park - Lake Worth Code Cracking down

Lake Worth Beach gentrification purge now targeting low-income seniors in mobile home park

Two years after Lake Worth Beach code enforcers targeted poor migrant workers in a mobile home community, the city is now coming after another trailer park filled with low-income senior citizens.

The ongoing crackdown is part of an orchestrated campaign to gentrify Lake Worth Beach and drive out the city’s neediest residents, locals and housing advocates allege. The seven-square-mile city’s desire to move on up even led voters, at the urging of city leaders, to separate itself from unincorporated area and its higher crime statistics by adding “Beach” to its name on March 12, 2019.

Read about it...

At 74 years old I shouldn’t have to deal with this bullshit,” said Jerri Greene, president of the Mobile Home Park Association.

Lake Worth mayor, Betty Resch, said she could not comment on the Palm Beach Mobile Home Park code enforcement crackdown. “I will certainly take a look at it.”

Food Bank moving to Park of Commerce thanks to generous gift

Palm Beach philanthropy: Schwarzmans put PBC Food Bank capital campaign across finish line

A $500,000 gift from Stephen and Christine Schwarzman pushed the Food Bank's "Grow With Us" capital campaign to its $3 million goal.

Now the Food Bank will be able to double distribution as it is fully funded and will be moving into its new home next month in Lake Worth's Park of Commerce

Read about the gift

Recycling Facility at POC opposed by Commission

Ralf Brookes represented an owner living near the Park of Commerce and objections to having a recycling facility next to the residential neighborhood. All those who spoke out against this facility did a commendable job to deny.

And for a little bit of trivia--

If you recall, Ralf Brookes was the attorney for Laurel Decker who was chair of the Respectful Planning Political Action Committee whose efforts kept the downtown of Lake Worth to 45 feet east of Dixie and 35 feet west to the Loop when the vote was won on March 12, 2013 by 55.86%.

Our referendum was ignored because of the City Attorney Glen Torcivia's opinion that bill, HB 537, a bill that was passed 3 months after our vote,  prohibits initiative or referendum processes for any development order, local comprehensive plan amendment, or map amendment.

 Our argument was that it was NOT an initiative or referendum for any development order
 It was NOT an initiative or referendum for any local comprehensive plan
 It was NOT an initiative or referendum for any map amendment.
IT WAS A CHARTER CHANGE. Do you understand that Pelican Pete?

But I've digressed--
Thursday night the City Commission listened to the people. They listened to the arguments against this facility locating in the POC by other businesses. After 4 hours, the commission, with a complete analysis and reasons to deny by Commissioner Hardy, voted down a recycling plant in our Park of Commerce with the vote at 5/0.

Read about it...

"Project Frank" kept Secret by Lake Worth Administration

Recycling center showdown in Lake Worth Beach: Residents don’t want it, but can they prevent it?

Residents had no idea that the city was entertaining the idea of a recycling company in the Park of Commerce... it goes beyond our city code.

"City commissioners will consider a special permit request for developer Jason Pepitone to build the construction and demolition debris center on one of the last plots of vacant industrial-zoned land in Lake Worth Beach."

Resident Mary Watson said that since tax dollars went into the Park of Commerce, a recycling facility should be put to the voters.

Read about it...

Proposed Recycling Facility in Lake Worth (Beach)

So much Sneaky Stuff in Lake worth (Beach)

It's really unreal the lack of transparency in our little city. It gets worse by the day. The only reason that this came to light is because the residents around this area got notified. They have to by law.

"City commissioners will consider a special permit request for developer Jason Pepitone to build the construction and demolition debris center on one of the last plots of vacant industrial-zoned land in Lake Worth Beach. The commission will not, however, have a recommendation of support from the city’s planning and zoning board."

Read about it...

Capzer Pharma

Lake Worth (Beach) Pharma company plans $8M expansion,

right in our Park of Commerce.

Capzer Pharmaceuticals has been here for 9 years. Has anyone heard of them? They have been here since 2010 and now they are expanding their present 12,000 sq. ft. facility with a second floor of 8,000 sq. ft. 10 additional jobs will be added at an average salary of $70k to $80k.

Below is a video on germs that was analyzed by Capzer

Park of Commerce

Read about the Lake Worth commissioners shoveling dirt on Boutwell Road and see city manager Mike Bornstein. He has changed his entire appearance...you won't recognize him.

Read about it... and what's going on at the Park of Commerce.

Boutwell Road Groundbreaking Ceremony

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Ben Kerr
Phone: 561.586.1631
Email: bkerr@lakeworth.org

WHAT: Boutwell Road Groundbreaking Ceremony
WHERE: North-West corner of 4th Ave N and Boutwell Road
WHEN: Thursday, March 8th 4pm

City of Lake Worth Boutwell Road Groundbreaking Ceremony Press Invite

The City of Lake Worth invites members of the press to join us on Thursday, March 8th at 4pm for the Grounbreaking Ceremony of the Boutwell Road Project. This project has been funded by an impressive EDA grant of $1,389,100 and will significantly improve Boutwell Road and make the Lake Worth Park of Commerce an even more attractive site for business growth. Mayor Pam Triolo along with members of the City Commission, City Management Team and Project Participants will be present to celebrate the start of this important project.

The ceremony will take place at the North-West corner of 4th Ave N and Boutwell Road.

I know at least one commissioner who won't miss this as his entire focus has been the Park of Commerce.

New Jersey Group buys into Park of Commerce

A group, two affiliates of the Short Hills, New Jersey-based Silverman Group, was interested enough in our Lake Worth Park of Commerce to pay 30.7 million for two industrial buildings.

Read about it...

Gov Scott vetoes money for Park of Commerce

BREAKING NEWS

Governor Rick Scott just vetoed $10 million  in Palm  Beach County Projects.

• $3 million for Lake Worth Park of Commerce improvements. 

Read about the PB County Vetoes...

Statewide Vetoes

Lupita and her Nightmare - Palm Beach Mobile Home Park in Lake Worth

Directly off of Boutwell Road is Palm Beach Mobile Home Park where Lupita Delvalle and other residents say they have been living a bad dream.

I talked with Lupita several weeks ago about her personal situation when she bought her home and leasing the lot in Palm Beach Mobile Home Park a little over one year ago, She pays $593 a month for lot rent. The pipes under Lupita's home were damaged and not connected to the sewer which is breaking the law according to an environmental specialist with Palm Beach County. No matter who she complained to, nothing was done. Management even laughed at her. She went to every agency possible that might be able to help her even the City of Lake Worth.

In the minds of most of the owners there, Riverstone Communities, owners of the park, are nothing more than slumlords. They are allowing Sober Homes, drug addicts and crime to escalate. There was even a dead body found there in July allegedly from a drug overdose.

As another owner told me, "When Lupita bought in, she was told that there was nothing wrong with the plumbing, electrical or the sewer and that she was responsible for "As Is" with regards to the inside of the home. We were told that Riverstone would rehab all homes and skirt them before they were sold to anyone. This has not happened in the past 3 years. People are being sold homes with roof leaks, plumbing is bad, electrical is bad, floors are bad etc."

This woman has had to have the city and the state come to her home and even one agency condemned the sewer, electrical and water lines. This problem has been on-going. She was told that the Park could not do what another manager promised to do. The Park residents were so desperate about the crime conditions that they called The Guardian Angels.  Lupita called Jeff Clemens' office about her sewer problem.

Read about it...

Heart of Palm Beach Report

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Nearly a year ago, there was a joint workshop with representatives from Palm Beach County and seven cities in Shelley's Vana's district. The purpose was to discuss major opportunities and impediments to economic development of her District that comprises 18-square-miles. The population is 62,790 people and includes all or a portion of seven cities, including Atlantis, Boynton Beach, Greenacres, Lake Worth, Lake Clarke Shores, Lantana, and Palm Springs. About 60 percent of the land area is unincorporated county, with the remaining 40 percent falling under the jurisdiction of these seven municipalities.

John Prince Park was discussed:

• Address homeless camps at John Prince Park

• Redo John Prince Park based on the changing demographic of the area and potential opportunities for Intracoastal Waterway access

• Create a new Strategic Plan for John Prince Park.

• Gold Coast Builders wants to focus on improving John Prince Park

• Palm Springs said that John Prince Park is a real opportunity that could have a world class facility to attract tourism from all over.

Attendees from Lake Worth: Dolores Key, Economic Development Manager and William Waters, Director for Community Sustainability

Lake Worth's ideas for Economic Growth and comments:

Improve infrastructure within Lake Worth Park of Commerce

Have more community redevelopment; work with other cities to find grant initiatives; provide more housing availability; more business investment. Branding is important.

Crime and panhandling is out of control and gives the cities a bad image. This affects all the community, because it inhibits investment in the area.

Lake Worth has been building consensus from the community on redevelopment and has developed new land development regulations.

There has been $45 million in recent investment to the Lake Worth Park of Commerce.

Read the Heart of Palm Beach Report

Let the Developers pay

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The Op Ed piece in yesterday's Post was very interesting and although it was about the sales tax, the author expressed my sentiments on who should pay for infrastructure for private development.  The question is, why should the tax payers pay the bill? This is what we are doing in Lake Worth at the Park of Commerce...a Scott Maxwell idea.

A novel idea: Require developers to finance this infrastructure before their projects are built. It could be in the form of a bond that would be paid off over 30 years. In other words, require Northlake Boulevard to be eight lanes, from Seminole Pratt-Whitney Road to the Beeline Highway, built on a bond tied to the new project.

Read this Point of View in yesterday's Palm Beach Post.

City Manager Michael Bornstein says he's shocked!

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It's so hard to keep writing about the same old situation:
The city of Lake Worth applies for millions from the State of Florida and gets turned down two years in a row.

Why officials here believe that other people's taxes should pay to develop infrastructure on this piece of dirt at the Park of Commerce for $18 million is the mystery. The city manager says "I'm shocked...We’re not going to give up and walk away. I’ll just get a bigger fist to bang on the door.”

On top of all of this, they keep telling us that it will create 300 jobs.  Anyone re-locating here will be bringing the same jobs with the same people their business had before.

Why should he or the mayor be shocked?  Governor Rick Scott reduced taxes by $1 billion and people still want hand-outs. Florida’s per capita state tax burden is the lowest among all large states at $1,779 and Governor Scott wants to continue to lower it to help businesses and families succeed while stopping the growth of government and we don't have a state income tax.

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Quote of the Day - Gov Rick Scott

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Yesterday we talked about Rick Scott and him being fiscally responsible--he turned down the City of Lake Worth's request (Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso) for $2.5 million for the Park of Commerce.  Well here he is again, endorsing Donald Trump.


“Here’s what really matters – we have to elect a Republican in the fall in order to grow jobs, rebuild our military, and put a person who respects the Constitution on the Supreme Court. This is the stuff that truly matters. If we spend another four months tearing each other apart, we will damage our ability to win in November. It’s time for an end to the Republican on Republican violence. It’s time for us to begin coming together, we’ve had a vigorous primary, now let’s get serious about winning in November.”

~ Gov. Rick Scott

Read more...

Rick Scott vetoes Park of Commerce

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"Perhaps the largest Palm Beach County project given the ax is $2.5 million for the Lake Worth Park of Commerce."  And just think, Maxwell even had Rick Scott here to see the POC. This is twice now that their grant request has been denied.

Even Governor Scott knows that it is a wrong way to spend taxpayer money. We told the incumbents that but yesterday, voters disagreed.  A big piece of dirt is more important than our roads and our neighborhoods.

Read about it...

Garbage collection classification and Zoning are two different things

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I received a comment last night that said "Stop the insanity." This reader was upset that their trio of Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso was taking some sort of blame for what happened to the seniors at Palm Beach Mobile Home Park.

"Lynn, PLEASE address the fact that the ordinance was approved by a PREVIOUS Commission. At least be forthright in acknowledging this fact. How in your mind, is this somehow an "evil 3" enactment?? Stop the Insanity, please....."

City Manager Bornstein was told by staff that a resolution was passed in 2009 that rated certain establishments as "commercial" for garbage pick-up purposes. The mobile home owners were not aware of any change in their status as curbside pick-ups were done from the beginning when this land was plotted out for mobile home lots and that service continues. Some of the residents have been there, like its president, for over 30 years with garbage pick-up in front of their home.

What came as the surprise was when the park was notified just a few weeks ago that garbage would be handled differently than it had from inception. Little explanation and certainly zero sympathy was given to the mobile home owners.

I believe, and its only an assumption, that this all came to light when the City of Lake Worth contracted with Waste Management for Roll-Off services for commercial and residential properties back in August 2015. This Trio commission was getting ready for the Park of Commerce that was in the process of design, etc. and realized then that their big garbage trucks were looming down these narrow roads. Through discussions, the mobile home park's garbage designation was mentioned and that it had changed in 2009 to a commercial service and rate.

And don't forget, in January Waste Management gave Scott Maxwell a campaign contribution of $1,000.

Prior to that, in June 2015, the commission voted for Eminent Domain at the Park of Commerce. Eminent Domain, something Trump says is a wonderful thing, is used for the public good such as for government buildings and other facilities, public utilities, highways, and railroads. It is not used for the benefit of private developers. This trio of commissioners, Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso voted for Eminent Domain at the Park of Commerce.

It is no wonder that the residents there feel like they have been treated like second class citizens. Garbage pick-up classification and their zoning are two different things. The first (garbage classification) took place in 2009 which was by Resolution and did not have to be publicly noticed. The other (land-use zoning) occurred in August 2013 under this commission and public notice was required.

Author Joyce Meyer said, "Don't just let the devil use your mind as a garbage dump."  A lot of people come over here trying to do just that.  There is NO insanity, just people who want to be treated right.

Protest tomorrow in front of City Hall

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A Palm Beach Post photo

Mobile Home park residents to protest tomorrow in front of City Hall 6pm

Read about it... and why they're unhappy with the city.