The Neighbor from Hell - Pure Trash

No matter where you might live in Lake Worth, there are always people who have no respect for their neighbors or themselves. They care about nothing or anyone. You know the type...pure trash. We have one such neighbor here. He is moving today and we are all rejoicing.

Yesterday, this man who has lived in our community for six years, had his son and some friend move his furniture from his 2nd floor apartment onto trucks. When it started, we just all assumed his furniture was being moved to his new residence. No such luck. He was  very much aware of the rules and was told about them.

You see, he is closing on his unit today and needed it empty. His son and companion then proceeded to drive around the building and empty the furniture into dumpsters. They made several hauls even though they were told that what they were doing was not allowed. They didn't give a damn. We were just pesky irritants to him.

When I talked to the son of the owner who was doing the dumping, he proceeded to get arrogant. I have subsequently learned that he was just hired at the Boynton Beach Police Department as a policeman. This has not been verified but a Board Director in that building says that is a fact.

All of us who were out there watching his illegal dumping received smart aleck remarks from him. At several points he even waved to us from a distance, his way of saying "screw you, this community and your rules."  Of course, the rules are the City of Lake Worth's.

We called PBSO and after an hour or so an officer showed up. He said he couldn't do anything because it was private property. However, the trash bins belong to the city. So I don't understand why he just couldn't be bothered to write a report. I guess we don't pay these people enough.

I called my absolute favorite city employee, our director of Public Works, Jamie Brown, during this and he said that he would take care of it. He did just that at 7am this morning.

The City Utility Department was called and the reprobate will be paying for his illegal dumping.

Public Meeting in Lake Worth on Domino Park

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 November 4, 2015
Contact: Jamie Brown, Public Services Director
Phone: 561.586.1720
Email: jbrown@lakeworth.org

PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

The City of Lake Worth’s Public Services Department would like to inform the community that on
November 17, 2015 from 6:00pm – 7:00pm there will be a public meeting regarding the “Domino Park” project at South G Street, between 8th Ave. South and 9th Ave. South at the railroad tracks.

$39,505 in Community Development Block Grant funds shall be allocated to this project. The site is
currently unimproved and is utilized by residents as an informal location to play checkers and dominoes on makeshift tables and chairs. In order to better accommodate the needs of these residents, the City intends to provide a more attractive venue that is better protected against the elements in which such activities can be more comfortably conducted. Planned improvements include clearing and grubbing of the site and the installation of a 15’x15’ open pavilion with metal roofing on a concrete slab, a concrete table with benches, type D curbing and 4” mulch ground cover.

This meeting will be a discussion with residents about current issues in the area and to ensure that
proposed improvements will meet the community need.

For more information regarding this project meeting, please feel free to call Public Services
Administration office at 561-586-1720.

Lake Worth Pier closed today

Public Service’s Notice to Close the Lake Worth Pier

The City of Lake Worth’s Public Services Department would like to announce they will be closing the Lake Worth Pier to remove the wooden decking today August 28, 2015, until further notice due to storm preparation lead times and the forecasted significant wind gusts/wave heights from Tropical Storm Erika.

 At this time the Lake Worth Beach, Benny’s on the Beach, and the Casino Building will remain open until further notice. For more information regarding Benny’s hours of operation please contact them directly at 561-582-9001. For the public’s safety and safety of our employees, please heed all warnings and advisories from the National Weather Service (NOAA) or visit their website at www.nhc.noaa.gov.

For more information on this press release, please feel free to call the Public Services Administration Office at 561-586-1720.

What: Closing of the Lake Worth Pier
Where: 10 S Ocean Blvd.
Lake Worth, FL 33460

Contact: Jamie Brown, Public Services Director
Phone: 561.586.1720
Email: jbrown@lakeworth.org

Vegetation Amnesty Week

Contact: Jamie Brown, Public Services Director Phone: 561.586.1720
Email: jbrown@lakeworth.org

PRESS ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Lake Worth Refuse Division
CONTACT: The Refuse Division at (561)533-7344
DATE: April 28, 2015

RE: VEGETATION AMNESTY WEEK.

The City of Lake Worth’s Refuse Division will be having a RESIDENTIAL VEGETATION (ONLY) AMNESTY PICK UP SERVICE beginning May 25, 2015 and will be picked up on the following days: Zone 1 Monday May 25th, Zone 2 Thursday May 28th, Zone 3 Friday May 29th and Zone 4 Tuesday May 26th. The vegetation amnesty week is designed to allow residents to dispose of large amounts of vegetation prior to the commencement of Hurricane Season (not to exceed 12 cubic yards per residential property).

Please place all vegetation curbside on your regular scheduled day and the City of Lake Worth’s Refuse Division will remove it at no charge.

DEFINITIONS OF VEGETATION ITEMS ARE AS FOLLOWS

• Includes bagged leaves, grasses, and tree or shrubbery cuttings incidental to the care of your lawn and garden that are capable of being containerized. (Please use the green container with the black lid for all vegetation that will fit inside the container.)

• Tree branches less than (2) inches in diameter, branches and palm fronds less than (4) feet in length, and stumps less than (15) inches in diameter and or less than fifty (50) pounds.

For more information on this please feel free to call the Public Services Refuse Department at (561) -533-7344

West Construction sues Boynton Beach CRA

Lake Worth based company, West Construction, has done a lot of work for Lake Worth. One of their memorable projects under a different Public Works Director who later wanted to be our city manager, was sidewalk and street repairs on Auburn and Harvard Drives in College Park back in 2010 for a job that was said to be $350,000 over the original amount. West was the low bidder for our concrete work. It was also paid another $196,000 for asphalt.

The Boynton CRA had 3 stipulations in order to be granted the bid: 1) not involved in litigation over the last 48 months 2) have paid liquidated damages for a public project or 3) have incurred cost overruns over 10% of the bid. West is back in the news yesterday because they are suing the Boynton Beach CRA for losing a marina job.

Read about it...

Hydrant flushing in College Park

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M. Hill photo

Periodically, you will see city personnel releasing water from hydrants. Hydrant flushing is necessary to test the hydrants to make sure adequate flow and pressure is available. Flushing is also done to remove sediment from the pipes in order to maintain water clarity and quality in the distribution pipes.

Potholes in Lake Worth

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A resident squealed to Channel 12 about our potholes--City Manager says that now Channel 12 can help them identify where the WORST OF THE WORST potholes are in the city!!!! Da donk.

Story by Peter Schaller / CBS 12 News
LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Pothole problems are so bad in one local city that now residents are turning to CBS 12 News for help.  Drivers are swerving and dodging the potholes, which is pretty dangerous, but some are unknowingly slamming right through them and ruining their cars.

Paul Bedard has lived in Lake Worth for decades, he says potholes have always been a problem.  Now many residents living on the lettered streets downtown are hitting a breaking point.  There are flat tires and close calls from drivers swerving to miss the potholes.

Bedard said, "They either straddle it or they swerve one way or the other."

CLICK HERE... to read the rest of the story and view the video!!

Bumpty, bump bump!

Now you see it--

Now you don't!

Public Works and the best manager ever, Jamie Brown, listened. Jamie said, "We have a real asphalt speed bump going in soon, so that one had to come up. The new one won't be so tough on the tires!"

Speed Bump on Akron

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The owner who lives on the east side of the street directly near this obnoxious bump came after me today like a maniac. He is as obnoxious as this bump. I almost called 911 to report Senior abuse. He followed me to Sabor/Publix raving like a banshee at the top of his lungs, blasting his horn, calling me every name in the book because I gave him a little toot of my horn as I crossed the bump.

Public Works informed me today that this bump will be replaced with a normal bump in the new budget year that begins October 1. That's good because we don't want this "abuser" to have a stroke or anything. The woman across the street from him who got the petition signed for the bump has her place up for sale.

In the meantime, drivers are getting whip lash crossing the obstruction and this guy is still getting his jollies off, mad at the world. His dog loves him though.

Jamie Brown to open for the Dave Matthews Band

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I always knew that Jamie was a celebrity--at least around Lake Worth he is. He has a huge responsibility as Public Services Director and I believe he is the best Lake Worth has had in years..

Jamie Brown will be playing tonight at the Cruzan Amphitheatre about an hour before the Dave Matthews Band begins at at 7 p.m. Who out here in the public knew he was a musician too? 

To buy tickets for tonight's show, Click here

Read more.. at The Palm Beach Post for the rest of this interesting story on our Public Services Director.

District 1 Community Meeting

PUBLIC SERVICES
District 1 Community meeting

Everyone is invited and bring someone along with you.

Lake Worth Osborne Center
1699 Wingfield Street
Thursday, December 6, 2012
6:30 pm to 8:00pm

 Come out to share your comments and concerns

 For more information, contact Public Services @ 561-586-1720

Lake Worth is trying to Improve its streets

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Before

We have a lot of pot holed streets in Lake Worth. Every time I go down 2nd Avenue South from Dixie, I worry about my tires. After all of the rain we have been having, no sooner do you repair a hole and the fill is washed away to leave a deeper hole.

Public Services works in conjunction with the Stormwater/Streets Division to generate work orders for patching potholes; erecting street signs, regulatory signs, and other required signage. Also managed through this coordination is the maintenance of storm sewers, removal of fallen trees and limbs from the roads, and the clean up and sweeping of city roads, right-of-ways, and easements. If this is the case, $36,100 dollars is allotted for street maintenance for 2013, down nearly 4% from last year.  See page 242 of new Budget.

Katie McGiveron was fit to be tied a few weeks ago and left a strong message for the vice mayor who forwarded her pot hole repair request near her house to Jamie Brown. He took care of it immediately.  Streets Maintenance says its goal is to respond to all calls related to pot holes and make the repair using cold patch within 24 hours after receiving the complaint.

Ardy Teitsma on South Palmway came before the commission several months ago and mentioned the huge hole behind her house. Eventually the city was out there. They leveled the hole but it still is a problem.

After
Leveled off but still needs fill

Road work on 7th Avenue North up for Commission approval

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Tonight Phase Two will be approved for road work on 7th Avenue North from Dixie Highway to Federal Highway. The contract was won by M&M Asphalt Maintenance not to exceed $308,174.00.

One year ago, during the last administration, commencement of Phase One began on extensive work  of the sidewalks, curbing, and roadway on 7th Avenue North from North “A” Street to Dixie Highway. This work was completed at a total cost of $456,198.

Roadway/Sidewalk Contract Study for Lake Worth

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This majority commission has always condemned former commissions for contracting with various companies for studies in order to make value judgments.

Now this trio is doing the exact same thing they like to complain about--A study on our streets and sidewalks is on Consent Agenda for tomorrow night--no discussion--just their vote of approval.

This contract will provide for a survey of all streets and sidewalks in the City in order to create an overall roadway and sidewalk master plan. This Master Plan, which does not currently exist, will be used to plan infrastructure and prioritize repair and replacement projects. The total cost of this project is not to exceed $128,987.00.

We approve of this Study as we have of all previous Studies.

Joe Kroll applying for City Manager Lantana

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Michael Bornstein's farewell was last night at Lantana City Hall. Lantana has 27 applicants to replace Bornstein as city manager. One is Joe Kroll. Frank Spence, another one of my top original choices and who had withdrawn here in Lake Worth, is on their list.

Read about it here.

Joe Kroll withdraws his name for consideration for City Manager Lake Worth

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From: Mark Farrington
Sent: Tue 3/6/2012 5:40 PM
To: Pam Triolo; Scott Maxwell; Andy Amoroso; Christopher McVoy; Suzanne Mulvehill
Subject: City Manager Candidates - Candidate Background Check / Availability Issues

Please be advised that Mr. Joseph Kroll has withdrawn his name from consideration for the City of Lake Worth City Manager role.

The other candidates have submitted the background check and availability information as discussed. We will be contacting if we need additional flexibility with your calendar.

Mark A. Farrington
Human Resources Director
City of Lake Worth
7 N. Dixie Highway
Lake Worth, FL 33460

Joe Kroll maneuvered into Top 5 for City Manager Lake Worth

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REMINDER: This is what was decided, approved, voted upon, take your pick at the February 7th meeting on the city manager candidates--

Each City Commissioner will submit his or her selections of up to eight (8) applicants to staff (Mark Farrington) by February 23rd. Staff will aggregate the list and provide a master list to the Commission; and during a public meeting, the Commissioners would reduce the list of applicants, by a majority vote one by one, until the list of candidates to interview was reduced to three. The City Commission agreed to meet on March 1st in a Special Meeting to narrow the list of candidates down to three.

Once again the Visionaries' "boy" wasn't in the top three when they took a count last night but by the time the meeting was over, the "directive" had changed once again. Aside from the very serious flaw in Kroll's resume of not ever having been a city manager anywhere, Mr. Kroll hadn't even bothered to complete his employment application. The back-up says he submitted his application on January 9 but in actuality, his employment application is dated February 9, about the only thing that was filled in. In the corporate world, even in spite of an attached resume, if someone had not completed the formal application, his resume would have been moved aside and/or rejected. This may be part of Mr. Kroll's persona.

But why should he even bother? We have three people on the dais who are stacking the deck...a few of whom with no idea of what Mr. Kroll has "accomplished" while Public Works Director. They like him because he has always bit the bullet for them in spite of wasting tons of taxpayer money.

The Mayor, someone who never came to a city commission meeting until she was campaigning, believes that all the e-mails she has received is reason to put him on the Short List. Because she listens to her supporters, she does not know that some on the dais actually saved the city a lot of money and may know what they're talking about here. She lost her cool again last night, a standard, normal behavior that in her mind sounds authoritarian...her need for power and toughness over two commissioners she has been told are inferior, who like chickens.

Now instead of Top 3 it is Top 5. This entire process has been a sick game from day one by three commissioners who finally stated for the record that they haven't met with or colluded with any candidate or any other commissioner regarding this process. Not surprised are ya?

The Kingpin ManeuvererVice Mayor Scott Maxwell
The man who says he has had no conversation or contact with any candidate
regarding the city manager position

The Fix Is In?

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Only in Lake Worth do we elect people that promise to do the best thing for the people but rarely do we find any politician who is not self-serving. We have been lucky over the last few years to elect a few that have been highly ethical with nothing on their agenda but making the best decisions for Lake Worth.

Tonight at 6:30 there is a special meeting to whittle down the Commission's short list to three applicants for the city manager's job. The new "visionaries" all have selected Joe Kroll as one of their top 8 candidates, a man with absolutely NO city manager experience. 66 Resumes were submitted and 3 commissioners all in rapture with each other have selected Kroll.

We all have known from the very beginning of this exhausting enterprise what the intent was--hire Joe Kroll, the guy who was always available to fulfill their wishes at their beckoning call.

If you go by their tallies, the five Top Candidates on the Short List:

Michael Bornstein with 5 votes
Richard Gestrich with 4 votes (Amoroso was the only commissioner who did not have him on his short list)
TIED WITH 3 VOTES EACH:
Joe Kroll with 3 votes (On Triolo, Maxwell and Amoroso's short list)
James Titcomb with 3 votes (Triolo, Maxwell and Amoroso)
Bonnie Therrien with 3 votes

More on the Labyrinth at Bryant Park

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Guest Blogger:
Tracy Rosof-Petersen

I have done quite a bit of research on the subject of successful public spaces.

The most successful public spaces include public input in the planning process with all of the stakeholders, which in our case would include the city public works department, the Planning & Zoning Board, the end users (the public) and the gift givers of this labyrinth. When I listened from home on the issue, I thought everyone was in fair agreement....... They love the gift, but the time frame and appropriate placement still needed to be decided and go through the proper channels. What happened? I'm still not sure!

My preference and many of the park users I talk to is: more trees, more nature, less concrete!! But just as food for thought, I've included my Top Ten list that was written during the last Bryant Park Fiasco a few years ago, when Joe Kroll moved ahead on very costly decisions about Bryant Park that were not approved by the commission or wanted by the general public at the time. These decisions cost the city and us tax payers a lot of money.

Top Ten Ways to Screw Up A Public Waterway Park

10. Start without an overall design or plan.

9. Never ask for community input and don't research the needs of the end users.

8. Put Cars before People

7. Remove or move historic trees.

6. Do not create pedestrian and bicycle friendly entry points.

5. Do not create any water access points.

4. Keep the budget costs in flux.

3. Do not look towards future use of the park.

2. Support the myth that economic prosperity depends on parking so local governments will continue to waste public money and distort the public planning process.

1. Put a blacktop parking lot in the middle.

Tracy Rosof-Petersen
EarthArtists Clay Studio, LLC

Power Prevails - We will get a Labyrinth whether we want it or not

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Even though it was agreed, even by the presenter, Nadine Burns, that public input was very valuable before any change to our Bryant Park was made and she was willing to get an extension from those she represented who were giving us this "valuable asset," Scott Maxwell did not agree.

At the end of the discussion, he disagreed that the labyrinth needed to go through proper channels, go before the Planning & Zoning Board and involve the neighborhoods, especially Bryant Park that it would affect the most. Public input had no importance with him, afterall, if you didn't agree with him, you were "playing politics." And because he disagreed that the "gift" should go back to the Recreation Department to ensure that it went through the proper process, the "visionaries" went along with him. We get the labyrinth. I suppose .0001 of 1% of our population might ever use it to meditate. Church would be much more inspirational. Maybe we'll get that next as a "gift" to be erected on Bryant Park.

Everyone on the dais "supported" the "gift" with Commissioner Mulvehill suggesting that another location might be more appropriate--this "gift" was going to be installed right next to the playground equipment. Can you even imagine a place for meditation being right next to screaming kids? My impression was that everyone on the dais was tip toeing around this labyrinth because it was proposed by former Commissioner Nadine Burns, the artist community that supports any form of art, and a few non-profits who will give work to some former felons or something.

The only person who made complete sense last night, and who was from the public, was no nonsense Loretta Sharpe. She was the only one who didn't dance around the politics of this supposed asset by stating the obvious: it should most definitely go before our Planning and Zoning board. Her argument was valid. We have a process for reasons and if we bypass the process, then we will have more and more of these types of "gifts" erected on city property anywhere the recipient chooses.

How dare any group or any citizen go to a department director to put something such as this on the Consent Agenda. We already went through a costly act when the Public Works Director, Joe Kroll, changed parking lots at Bryant Park with NO ONE'S PERMISSION or any input from Bryant Park neighborhood or anyone in the community. How dare a commission agree that this is proper? Perhaps they should go to The First Baptist Church on S. M Street where it was reported that they have a labyrinth.

We keep repeating the same egregious acts but this time it wasn't one lone rouge acting on his own but staff that was complicit. The only politics involved here was Maxwell's followed by the rest of the trio. Pretty sad commentary for a commission that says it values public input.