Public Input for developments in Lake Worth is in order

Lake Worth Beach majority commission against requiring developers to meet with public

I listened to the commission meeting and I agree with Herman Robinson.

There is no earthly reason why developers can't meet with the public when they want to build a large project. It is our city after all. It is apparent through the years that the commission wants development for the tax base. They want to build high, a Wes Blackman belief. Wes is an urban planner running for mayor. They could care less about what the residents think or what the city looks like or even how much tax money we are giving to them to attract that development.

Remember that "small town charm?" As you recall, they went against the vote back in 2012. Respectful Planning Lake Worth PAC was formed to gather petitions to get an item on the November 6 ballot to limit building heights in downtown Lake Worth. We won the vote but clever commissioners found a way to get around the will of the people. Retaining the small town charm was not their desire or intent.

And to be completely fair here, Betty Resch's statement was spot on as were all those who submitted comment cards. It didn't matter in the end, as the commission decided to wait for a staff report. We know how it will all end.

Read about it...

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...

Over-reaching developers nearly grabbed waterfront property for a 25 story high rise

A proposed 25 story office tower went down in flames last night when the West Palm Beach city commissioners voted 3/2 to defeat the project.

West Palm Beach wanted to create an overlay district to encourage development of high rises along Okeechobee Boulevard. Related Group wanted the waterfront at Okeechobee and Flagler for their One Flagler proposal. That property is zoned  no higher than five stories.

When reading the article this morning it reminded me of what Lake Worth Commissioners did when they changed the zoning and the land use east of Federal to accommodate the owners of The Gulfstream Hotel. They created a Hotel District and allowed six stories to be developed and told the voters literally to "go to hell" who voted in a low-rise downtown Lake Worth of no more than four stories

Lake Worth's Planning & Zoning department voted to change our comprehensive plan and the land-development regulations and gave their recommendations to their "develop at all costs" leaders, Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso, on the Lake Worth commission. The only ones who spoke out against it were ordinary citizens who were totally ignored as well as former Commissioner Christopher McVoy. Citizens formed a political action committee, Respectful Planning PAC. They rallied the voters and won by Referendum on March 13, 2013, five months before the city changed the Land Development Regulations on August 6, 2013 on a vote from the dais.

I congratulate West Palm Beach Commissioner Shanon Materio for voting this down thus preserving the waterfront on Flagler from an obnoxiously high development and to honor their voters (something all elected officials should be doing) who told them in 1996 that they did not want high rises on the waterfront.

Lake Worth - Sued Again!

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Yesterday, the City of Lake Worth was served with yet another law suit in their long string of suits. This one was directly caused by this city commission of Scott Maxwell, Mayor Pam Triolo and Andy Amoroso, all incumbents up for re-election.

For a simple recap: The trio decided not to honor the vote of the people after they won the Heights Charter Amendment and told them no more than 45 foot heights were to be allowed in that area. The trio commission wanted their favored developer, Hudson Holdings, to be able to build higher as he was promising all sorts of things to "make our city great again." The city did not send the results forward to Tallahassee and waited to see if some law would be signed by Rick Scott three month after the fact that would not allow this election. Scott signed HB 537. The city then jumped on that bill stating that our vote was null and void.

The bill, HB 537 prohibits initiative or referendum processes for any development order, local comprehensive plan amendment, or map amendment. That was NOT what the heights election was about. It was a CHARTER CHANGE and in order to change the Charter, it must be by vote of the electorate. The Charter is the Bible or Constitution of the city, not the comprehensive plan or a map that can be changed by a political vote from the dais. The Charter already addressed heights. That is why Respectful Planning PAC was formed and took the issue to the voters. Their vote was decided on March 12, 2013 and it is supreme.

Hudson Holdings' intent was to build an "additional 150 room hotel with full catering and conference breakout space if awarded the beach front project." They are still in the wings to grab our beach until after this March 15, 2016 election.

The people who are a party to this suit believe we were all wronged by the city. I personally believe that anyone who petitioned for, who campaigned for and/or voted for the heights charter amendment should have standing as well.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA

JO-ANN GOLDEN, LYNDA MAHONEY,

ROSANNE MALAKATES

Petitioners Filed pursuant to

Fla.R.App.P.9.100(f)(2)

v.

Case No:

CITY OF LAKE WORTH

In Re Applicant: GULFSTREAM HOTEL LLC

Respondent

____________________/

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

Read the entire Writ...

Exercising legal rights to stop inappropriate development

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The Chapel By the Sea will have a condo, 22 stories high

unless citizens can stop it

Citizens for Thoughtful Growth, is a political action committee in West Palm Beach with approximately 400 members. It was formed to protect the quality of life for West Palm Beach citizens and businesses by advocating controlled growth and preservation of an appropriate Zoning Code and Comprehensive Plan.

Here in Lake Worth, we have the Historical Preservation and Planning & zoning boards and we are under the illusion that they are looking out for our quality of life as well. No one on these boards ever spoke out to honor the vote of the people in March 2013 to keep the downtown a low-rise city. In fact, with their packed developer oriented boards, they voted to change the comprehensive plan and the land-development regulations and gave their recommendations to their "develop at all costs" leaders, the Lake Worth commission. The only ones who spoke out were ordinary citizens who were totally ignored who formed a political action committee, Respectful Planning PAC. They won the vote but temporarily lost the war against a corrupt regime.

Citizens for Thoughtful Growth political action committee was formed because they have experienced that elected officials and political appointees are not looking out for Joe Citizen and it wants to protect and preserve the quality of life for all those in West Palm Beach. It supports reasonable and appropriate development. One of the developments it does NOT support is the development of the Chapel by the Sea waterfront property. They have sued the city for granting waivers for the development of this project that they say the city is not authorized to grant and for the city councils' decision to allow a high rise condo to be developed. They are challenging what they believe to be unsound proposals by over-reaching developers and elected officials.

It is most unfortunate that citizens have to file lawsuits because of elected officials that are there to represent the people. The city commission as well as the mayor did not listen to the citizens when they voted to allow out-of-town developers to build a 295,000-square-foot building that is 315 feet high on the Chapel by the Lake waterfront property no more than Lake Worth's commission did on the heights amendment.

If you want to contact Citizens for Thoughtful Growth or donate, click here. You may not think this is your "fight" but in reality it is everyone's fight.  What could be better than helping to protect the waterfront and the voice of the people?

Boynton Beach's Leisureville hires top land-use attorney

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The Boynton Beach commission voted in a four story Holiday Inn out near Leisureville and Ocean Drive.  Those residents who have spoken out against a commercial enterprise next door to their neighborhood have hired Ralf Brookes attorney. He is a legal expert in land use and development litigation.

If you recall, Mr. Brookes is also 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%.  At this moment no one can build higher than 45 feet in downtown Lake Worth.

As one Leisureville resident, Sandy Peterson-Hardt, said, "It is the job of those (elected officials) who listen  to the people to present their (residents) ideas to the developer...they have to determine what is right or wrong...that didn't happen."  Sandy, we feel your pain. Elected officials represent themselves or come up with all sorts of excuses why a developer can do what he wants. The biggest one is "we can't stop development on private property."

Why can't cities tighten up their land development regulations, stop giving waivers and exceptions and protect residential neighborhoods as well as our waterfront skylines ( the chapel By the Sea in West Palm Beach comes to mind)?  How do elected officials totally ignore people they represent and especially, in the case of Lake Worth, the vote?

Lake Worth Charter Amendment legal challenge granted Court date

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The case was filed on August 5, 2013 after the city attorney, Glen Torcivia, gave a legal opinion agreeing with the majority commission that wanted higher buildings in our downtown. He determined that our heights referendum election held on March 12, 2013 was null and void due to HB 537 signed by Governor Rick Scott three months after the election. The case will be heard by Judge Joseph Marx on December 16th at 2pm.

Laurel Decker, Petitioner, was the Chair of Respectful Planning Political Action Committee who organized the volunteers for the referendum, acquired the necessary signatures that were certified and got the heights issue on the ballot.  The city commission certified the results of the election that the PAC won by 55.86% that were never moved forward to Tallahassee by the City Clerk.

The fact of the matter is the election results of 45 feet in our downtown east of Dixie and 35 feet west, stand per Florida Statutes Section 166.031(2) and was effective on the date it was certified, March 19, 2013. According to the Inspector General's office, the date that the revised charter was filed with the Department of State, or whether it was filed at all, has no legal effect on whether or when the charter amendment is effective.

The Pac's argument:

• 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 an initiative and referendum to amend our Charter.

 Case Description

	Case ID:	502013CA012420XXXXMB
	Case Caption:	LAUREL DECKER V CITY OF LAKE WORTH
	Division:	AJ - MARX
	Filing Date:	Monday , August 05th, 2013
	Court:	CA - CIRCUIT CIVIL
	Location:	MB - MAIN BRANCH
	Jury:	N-Non Jury

Political Theater - Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell

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"Height issue was political theater...we need to change things." 

I like the vice mayor's political sound bytes--he is adept at those. Sometimes they are actually humorous and some are right on point but last night's remark was not the least bit funny nor accurate. You have to wonder if he really loves to antagonize half the voters and you have to wonder if this commission is playing with the same deck of cards as the rest of us. I think we already know that answer.

The vice mayor was referring to the height referendum believing that a referendum began at the last 98 seconds of the Comprehensive Plan process after years of them trying to get a workable plan...the Respectful Planning volunteers just wanted to do all of that work because we love to walk our azzes off in the sweltering heat to exercise our rights and to allow the voices of the people to be heard.  Maxwell wondered why we didn't do it before. Well, there NEVER was a problem before. He believes that it was the YES people who put the cog in the wheel and it was the YES people playing politics. We just didn't roll over and play dead. Comprehensive Plans and zoning changes ARE political and he did this from the dais when he voted in 65 foot heights. He started the political process and those who disagreed with our city growing taller exercised their rights to referendum and took the issue to the voters.

I was there that night when the commission voted to raise the heights in our downtown from an agreed 45 feet and ignored the consensus reached by a former Planning  Zoning board, the former Historical preservation Board and a former city commission itself at a meeting held on January 26, 2012. It was this vote that started the political process. The "theatrics" began from this commission and this vote that night. Nothing was mentioned by them that it was just being relegated to east of Federal--no mention of it being just in a hotel district--it incorporated our entire downtown.

The night this commission voted to raise the heights to 65 feet in our downtown the Commission then took a ten minute break. I then went over to Maxwell and said, "Well, I guess we will have to go out on a referendum." We did. We won. Well, sort of. The issue is still in limbo thanks to this cracker-jack commission that want heights and are still playing political theater and a vice mayor who wants to blame the voters and stomp all over them.

If he had cared one iota about voter's rights, he had a perfect time to ask about this law of Rick Scott's when the governor was here last week as to whether or not the charter amendment vote three months before the signed legislation was legally sufficient to declare the election results null and void. But that was not in the theatrical script.

Ralf Brookes, Attorney

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About Ralf Brookes, attorney for Respectful Planning Pac member, Laurel Decker:

Mr. Brookes takes on cases that he believes in. It's not the money but the validity and the principle.  Ralf Brookes Attorney is Board Certified in City, County, Local Government Law by The Florida Bar representing public interest groups; not-for-profits organizations; homeowners organizations; sustainable, green businesses and development clients with community vision; public and private sector clients; and local governments.

Even though everyone is deserving of a fair trial and legal representation, I have always had issues with attorneys for taking on cases solely for the money and not the truth. Mr. Brookes obviously has integrity and for that reason alone, I am extremely happy with the choice of lawyer handling this heights charter amendment for Ms. Decker and the YES voters who want to keep our downtown no more than 4 stories. 

Click here to read a little on Mr. Brookes. To find out even more about him, just Google.

Andrew Marra - What he didn't say on the Height of Hypocrisy

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What he didn’t say about the height referendum in Downtown Lake Worth--The Height of Hypocrisy

• The Commission disallowed the referendum to be voted upon in November 2012 on the pretense that the public had to “get educated.”

• The Commission pushed the vote to March 2013 to give themselves time to sabotage it.

• In March, the residents voted and won by 56%. (He did say that).

• The Public had plenty of time to get educated and the city commission did everything within its power to ensure that they were.

• The commission allowed an illegal banner to be erected on the Gulfstream Hotel right before a major weekend in the city—the Street Painting Festival. Not only were The Friends of the Gulfstream (two people who were on major boards that have influence on what our city looks like, Loretta Sharpe and Greg Rice) were told to remove it, but they erected it twice. They never were fined for their insurrection. This all was done within weeks of the election.

• A complaint was filed with the Florida Election Commission that did fine Loretta Sharpe who was Chair of the Friends of the Gulfstream PAC for her banner. The disposition of that complaint comes up next month in Tallahassee.

• This PAC made the election about the Gulfstream Hotel, pulling at the heart strings and lying to the voters. Of course, it was not about that at all. The Gulfstream Hotel was/is protected under the Height Limit Charter Amendment; it can be restored or rebuilt to its current height. Any expansion to the Gulfstream can be built to four stories.

• The commission kept telling us that we needed to build higher to attract a developer in our downtown and that we needed the tax base. Any taxes in this area goes to the CRA and the taxpayers will pick up the cost of services. Developers haven't come to Lake Worth in a half century to want to build anything but affordable housing, a legal scam on the US government.

• The commission would not codify the results of the election and delayed the outcome hoping to find a loophole to overturn the results. Some friend of William Waters came through in the much needed delay of the opposition and this city commission.

• H.B. 537 was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott just a few weeks ago that said referendums were not allowed for development orders, Comprehensive Plan changes or Map changes.

• The relevant question is--did the 2011 and 2012 versions of the legislation preclude local citizens' rights to vote in their community on heights. If it did not, an amendment to the legislation has probably no legal basis. Courts have regularly "shot down" post-facto legislation.

• The referendum in Lake Worth involved a charter change. Heights were already addressed in the charter.

• The opposition, as well as Andrew Marra, says that limiting heights discourages development. The 56 percenters say that is hogwash.

• Those who voted for height limitations in our downtown say that they did not want any more buildings over 4 stories in the downtown and that developers had 100 years to build higher buildings and didn’t.

• Although Mr. Marra did not like the vote outcome, 56% of the voters did.

• Although the majority city commission did not like the outcome of the vote, they ended up getting their way by subverting the will of the people with a delay that they say is in their favor…the public be damned.

• The commission, 100% created this problem and should have moved the results forward immediately. That was their responsibility.

• The commission, right now, could honor the vote by making a comprehensive plan change reflecting the will of the people. They haven’t. They won’t. 

• This commission does not care about what the people want only what they think we should have.  This is not democracy.

The Vote and Will of the people are NOT supreme in Lake Worth

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Glen Torcivia, city attorney--
Worth his weight in Gold

 One legal opinion siding with his bosses
4 of whom stomped on democracy

Last night, the attorney who reports to the commission, a body that stalled this referendum from the get-go, gave his legal opinion-- the heights referendum is null and void due to a recent change on a bill that Governor Scott recently signed. Was anyone really surprised? 

The bill, HB 537 prohibits initiative or referendum processes for any development order, local comprehensive plan amendment, or map amendment.

That was NOT what the heights election was about. It was a CHARTER CHANGE and in order to change the Charter, it must be by vote of the electorate.

The Charter is the bible or Constitution of the city, not the comprehensive plan or a map that can be changed by a political vote from the dais. The Charter already addressed heights. That is why Respectful Planning PAC was formed and took the issue to the voters. Their vote was decided on March 12, 2013 and it is supreme.

Even Vice Mayor Maxwell got rip roaring mad and red in the face by going so far as to accuse Commissioner McVoy of lying about heights by saying that the commission NEVER wanted to raise the heights; they wanted to lower them. Even Maxwell is confused about the Comprehensive Plan and the Charter. The commission RAISED heights in the Comprehensive Plan and this is why the Political Action Committee was formed to allow the people to vote.

This entire commission minus Commissioner McVoy has always wanted more heights in our downtown. Even now when the vote was decided and 56% of the voters said NO to their demands, they are stomping on democracy just one more time to get their way. You never would have known that last night with all the soft peddling they did. Triolo, Maxwell and Amoroso are all up for re-election. Even commissioner Szerdi, another conveniently "confused" commissioner, said he thought the language of the ballot initiative was "confusing."  Last night you felt as if you were in the campaign all over again. The ONLY thing confusing was their argument and devious tactics or stating that they had "no pony in the race." Of course they always did and do.

They fought the Respectful Planning PAC and all those who signed the petition tooth and nail and rather disrespectfully. They cost the voters $25,000 by moving it from the November election to March for a special election; They cost the PAC money to bring the vote home and exhausting hours to even getting it on the ballot. They delayed and delayed the outcome and would not codify the results. They were waiting for their opportunity and they got it with William Waters and Glen Torcivia both who are paid by the commission to achieve results to their point of view.

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 an initiative or referendum to amend our Charter.

Florida Statutes mandate referendum when 10% of the registered voters sign a petition for it. When the referendum is successful, the Charter must be changed according to the expressed will of the people. Last night, this commission told the voters who wanted to keep our city at 45 feet that their vote did not matter to them.

When it comes to legal issues, there are always differences of opinion. That is why there is even a divide in the Supreme Court with 5/4 decisions. The Chair of Respectful Planning PAC said, "I will bring them to court."

Charter change was Will of the People

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The local newspaper took such delight in telling us that the Charter Amendment is in the hands of the Governor and the entire heights election might just have been a waste of time. This is the problem with newspapers today.  Because they are partisan, people have less and less faith in what they write or even in their opinion. The other thing, the politicos in this city are bathing in their own dribble believing that the will of the people should mean nada, excepting, of course, when it comes to them.

Some of the height advocates are drooling at the mouth. They have convinced William Waters and City Attorney Glen Torcivia that the Charter change that was won by 55.86% of the voters this past March under the worst of conditions by the opponents, might now be moot because of HB 537 which prohibits initiative or referendum processes for any development order, local comprehensive plan amendment, or map amendment. At least they are all hoping, and they are counting on the Governor  deciding it all when he signs into law HB 537. HOWEVER, the Charter Amendment is outside the scope of the first part of F.S. 163.3167.

That was NOT what our election was about. It was a CHARTER CHANGE and in order to change the Charter, it must be by vote of the electorate. The Charter is the bible or Constitution of the city, not the comprehensive plan or a map that can be changed by a political vote from the dais. The Charter already addressed heights. That is why Respectful Planning PAC was formed and took the issue to the voters. Their vote was decided on March 12, 2013 and it is supreme.

By law, it is the duty of the city to uphold the results of this election.

The facts of the matter are:

• 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 an initiative or referendum to amend our Charter.

The statute goes on to say "However, any local government charter provision that was in effect as of June 1, 2011, for an initiative or referendum process in regard to development orders or in regard to local comprehensive plan amendments or map amendments may be retained and implemented."

Florida Statutes mandate referendum when 10% of the registered voters sign a petition for it. When the referendum is successful, the Charter must be changed according to the expressed will of the people.

So, now we have just another stall and delay on moving our Large Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment forward.  How many years has it been now?  City Attorney Torcivia will take two months to figure out an angle to make his bosses happy and all the rest of the little consortium who hang around city hall day in and day out who just continue to nag them. The commissioners are livid that they lost this one to the people, people they represent by the way, who won the election to keep our downtown low-rise. This outcome and Charter change needs to be sent to Tallahassee. 

So you might just as well stop drooling or chomping at the bit for awhile. The people will have legal counsel if needed so that the will of the people is not subverted.  :)_  The saddest part of this is that the Commission learned nothing from this election--they still don't honor the people they serve and want to beat them down.

Heights Amendment in Lake Worth - Watch Out for the Killer Bee

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Question 2
		Percent	Votes
YES		55.86%	1,291
NO		44.14%	1,020
			2,311

The NO Group--Friends of the Gulfstream...$10.86 per vote

The YES group--Respectful Planning Pac.... $ 4.78 per vote

The Friends spent close to $1,500 for people to wave signs at the various precincts on election day and another $400 for two campaign coordinators, one being Haitian. In-spite of the lies and confusion and the treachery, the NO Group still lost. As few trust these politicians and their "friends," some are wondering what they have up their sleeves. They have been way too quiet and certainly not conciliatory. They go about their business in public like that ton of bricks never scratched them.

In the words of Karen Carpenter, perhaps "We've only just begun." Sometimes when you think it's over, you soon discover that it's only the first step.

The post Lake Worth Heights Election and Disgruntled Losers

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The Lake Worth Herald got one right, well sort of. This week's editorial touched on the one-on-one with the voter and the beneficial advantage of knocking on doors in order to bring home your message. This is campaigning 101.  Everyone knows that in local campaigns, the most cost-effective and beneficial activity is door-to-door campaigning. Voters want to meet the candidate up close and personal and they like someone taking their time to explain the issues.

However, the Herald was wrong when it said that disruptive issues are always raised by the same people who have plenty of time to knock on doors.  His implication is that all of us who believe in the Constitution and our right to petition don't have jobs and are miscreants with nothing better to do--this time his descriptive adjectives were hurled subtlely.

The reason why it seems there are so many "disruptive" issues is because commissions do NOT listen to the people. In fact, this commission is about the worst that I can remember...they think they are smarter and they know better. How long ago was the last referendum? Each and every time there has been a referendum, it was because the citizens were ignored by the commission or the elected officials pulled dirty tricks. Referendums were approved by the voters. It seems to always be about unpopular development issues. It's a good thing that citizens get involved in the democratic process and are "disruptive."

During this last election, the majority of people who volunteered to bring the message forward on keeping the downtown a low-rise area were working folks. There were a few like myself who are retired. And even though retirement sounds like you must have a lot of idle time and you sit around all day long twiddling your thumbs, retirees today are very active.... involved in their community and/or active on a myriad of issues and getting things done. Those working on the referendum volunteered to take the simple message to the voters. It had nothing to do with keeping the city from having a hotel district as the Herald said. It had everything to do with keeping the heights 45 feet east of Dixie and 35 feet west of Dixie in our downtown commercial district.

The developer crowd through the years has always counted on raising a lot of money to flood mailboxes full of lies and distortions, taking the lazy way out. They raised twice the money that Respectful Planning did but one knock on one door dispelled those lies and myths and all that money. Each door knock, was one more vote for honesty and integrity and the facts. And no one had to make up anything. This majority commission gave itself four extra months to "educate" the people and instead wasted this precious time by conjuring up lies and confusion instead of sticking to a simple message.

Next is the venom being spewed by this majority commission since it lost and did not get its way. They have been caught up in the rapture of politics and now we have to listen to disgruntled commissioners who want people to believe that we lied or threatened poor Hispanics about deportation or the election was only decided by 14% of the voters and therefore meaningless or we said highrises would be built next door to their houses. They are using the power of their position to transmit their distorted and loathful message. I remember the NO people and one mailer they sent to all the voters that indicated everything else around the downtown was 100 feet and 65 feet with the implication that tall buildings could be built anywhere, even next to their houses...we never said it; they did.

All the lies didn't win it for them and all their ranting now and in the future won't either. If anything is to be learned from this election, besides having an honest message, is to honor the people you serve. You didn't do that commissioners.

Black is White--again

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Gosh, we heard it all last night when it came to commissioner Szerdi's and the commission's discussion on height limits in the city--it was shocking really. Opening with opposition to the Charter being a "vehicle for heights," then doing an about face and supporting an Ordinance city-wide on heights in the neighborhoods. Amoroso even suggested a referendum which would include a hotel district and changing the Charter. Some sort of language will come back to the commission.

This majority commission really takes the cake. It believes its own lies. The Respectful Planning PAC concentrated ONLY, let me repeat that, concentrated ONLY on the downtown corridor on the heights referendum. No one who volunteered for the PAC talked about anything else. Scott Maxwell said that people in his neighborhood mislead voters. I originally worked on the petition in his neighborhood. Unless you have a recording, I would say that this statement is highly inflammatory and just sore loser political tactics.

Politicians will resort to anything and say anything to make a point. Commissioner Amoroso complained that the election was only won by 200 plus votes when there are 38,000 people in the city or some such number he used as a total populous, a number flawed for any purpose to use in an election as a justification for anything. Well the mayor won her election by 220 votes and he won his by 575.

Maxwell stated that "we need to get beyond the politics of divisiveness in the community."  I agree. Do that commissioner. Stop playing politics and undermining the will of the people. We are not going to take Mayor Pam Triolo or any other elected official passing off unsubstantiated innuendo as fact. We don't want to "take it anymore" either. And why should we?

Immortal Words Written by a Madman

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From the not too distant past:


"The Respectful Planning PAC campaign is destined to become a classic in the Lake Worth anarchist archives. "It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying NOTHING."

And yet, in its nothingness lies the very real possibility that it may prevail. For what is easier to achieve than NOTHING

NOTHING to protect the Gulfstream Hotel.

NOTHING to create jobs in Lake Worth.

NOTHING to build on the success that has been achieved by finally having the beach and casino property ready to welcome visitors.

NOTHING but build momentum for candidates who care so little for Lake Worth that they tried to get rid of PBSO!

Vote NO on 2 because Lake Worth deserves more than-- NOTHING but lies and fear and sound and fury!"
.................................

For the entire YES team and to the 55.86%, be assured that you achieved a lot. The opposition's lies and money and insults as well as their constant twisted message did not prevail. One thing that the negative NO's are right about, this will be remembered for a long time--how a group immediately took action after a bad commission decision and saved our downtown from growing vertically and saved the city from manipulative special interests. Honesty won one.

The Voters said NO to the Negative NO

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To date, The Political Action Committee,
 The Friends of the Gulfstream

 has reported contributions of $11,075 to

RPPac's $6,130

What the NO people did:

• Installed an illegal banner on the historic Gulfstream Hotel on a Friday afternoon and then played games with Code. Refused to take it down. This act as well as their unethical yard signs did them in.

• Un-installed the banner at the Gulfstream two days after the official deadline from the City of Lake Worth and then re-installed it three days after that. The stupid banner finally came down.

• Their first yard sign was not working so they made a new one, twisting the Respectful Planning Pac's message saying Vote NO, keep Lake Worth lo-rise.

• They told everyone who would listen that by voting YES, you would be destroying Lake Worth. They further told them that the city was being taken over by anarchists, socialists and people who were encouraging slum and blight.

•  They told everyone that we needed a hotel district, that tourists were coming here but there was no place for them to stay.  By granting heights, a developer would be attracted to build as heights lower than 65 feet would be a detriment to an investor.

• Got a guy on a bicycle to install yard signs everywhere on public rights of way and the medium strips, an illegal act.

• In bed with the Lake Worth Herald (they are social buddies and had all of their campaign printing done there), the editor wrote abominable opinions to bring down the Referendum and this blogger and even printed an editorial which seemed to have been written by a 3rd grader attacking the people who disagreed with their position.

•  Concocted an outburst by the leader and always vocal Chair of Friends of the Gulfstream PAC to humiliate this blogger in the city hall chambers by calling me the most EVIL person in Lake Worth. I responded with "fuck off." They proceeded to capitalize on that but not the bully's evil outburst that was never printed. The Lake Worth Herald never writes about the entire story, only the side it wants to project.

• They charged that I posted a comment on my blog calling Greg Rice a name and Loretta Sharpe a medically ill ridden woman using despicable words.  They could not produce the comment but they decided to go viral with it to bring down this blogger on what some anonymous person had said. Throughout this campaign, the most vile of comments showed up almost on an hourly basis that were deleted by this blogger. One was turned over to the PBSO Detective Division.

• The mayor and Greg Rice took it upon themselves to project their opinions with Channel 12 News. Channel 12 never sought the other side of the argument. Channel 12 ended up looking stupid on a segment that was entitled the Pros and Cons of the Height amendment.

• The mayor, Pam Triolo, who represents all of the people, gave a state of the city one day before the election to use her persuasion/marketing techniques to convince voters that we need to have a hotel district and absolutely need to grow up the city--subtly suggesting that the Vote Yes people were the cause of Lake Worth's problems.

The essence of this blog is to show the depths of which the NO people were willing to go to bring down others who disagree by using unethical tactics, lies, distortions, personal attacks, despicable messages and breaking Lake Worth laws. Even their yards signs were lies.

What we did learn from this outcome was that a huge percentage of the people want to keep a low-rise city that was not reflected in the vote.  Both signs, Yes and No, mentioned keeping a low-rise city. It was only their die-hard developer oriented supporters who wanted to keep 65 feet and 100 feet in our downtown. Everyone wanted a low-rise downtown with no more buildings as high as The Lucerne.

With everything going for them including nearly twice the campaign contributions of the Respectful Planning PAC, that is a true grassroots effort, two newspaper endorsements, three commissioners plus the Mayor in their camp, the President of the Neighborhood Council working diligently and doing everything under the sun to confuse the voter, hiring out of town people to wave signs at the voting precincts on election day, fighting this campaign in the most unethical fashion ever witnessed by Lynn's Little bit of Trivia,

they lost.

Q & A on Lake Worth Charter Amendment

Comment Up

There are a few on the growth side of this issue who constantly complain that we won't debate them--we won't give them any information. I don't know where they have been but the points below might help.

Q- Why do we need the Height Limit Charter Amendment?

A - During the Master Planning process, 75% of participating residents wanted building heights limited   to four stories or less.  The commission recently changed the Land Development Regulations and the Comprehensive Plan to allow high-rise development along Lake& Lucerne and the adjacent neighborhoods.

Q - What does the Height Limit Charter Amendment propose?

A - The Charter Amendment proposes to limit heights to 45 ft. from the intra-coastal to F St and 35 ft.from F St to A St, between 1st Ave South to 2nd Ave North.

Q - Don’t the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) already limit heights to 45 ft.?

A - Height limits in the LDRs and the Comprehensive Plan can be changed by the city commission at any time, as just happened. The only meaningful protection is to limit heights in our City Charter. Only the voters can amend the Charter.

Q - Why does the Charter Amendment limit heights to 45 ft. (4 stories) and 35 ft. (3 stories)?

A - There are three reasons:

1.   Good planning requires compatibility with surrounding structures. The 45 ft. heights will allow for quality redevelopment to improve our local economy without encroaching on our neighborhoods or the historic downtown.

2.   The new train station will require 45 ft. in the Transit Oriented Development District (just west of city hall).

3.   Residents in neighborhoods west of Dixie are fighting to limit maximum building heights to 35 ft.  in their single family neighborhoods.

Q - Why does this charter amendment only protect the downtown corridor?

A - This is the area where high-rise development will happen first. It is important to our economy to preserve the low-rise, Old Florida character of our downtown as this is the main reason that visitors, new businesses and homeowners are attracted to our city.

Q - Won’t high-rise development generate needed tax revenue for the City?

A - No, the entire area covered by the Height Limit Charter Amendment is in the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) District so tax revenues from new development in this area will go to the CRA, while increased cost of services will be paid for by the City.

Q - How will the Height Limit Charter Amendment affect the Gulfstream Hotel?

A- We believe that reopening the Gulfstream is an important part of revitalizing our local economy.  The Gulfstream Hotel is protected under the Height Limit Charter Amendment; it can be restored or rebuilt to its current height. Any expansion to the Gulfstream can be built to four stories.

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Respectful Planning Pac,  126 N. E St., Lake worth, FL  33460

The only sign you need to read

With all the political shenanigans of late--

• an illegal banner on the Gulfstream,

• defacing an historic building that is in the National Register which is clearly illegal,

• telling voters that we are trying to destroy this city by keeping it low rise,

• telling voters that we want to destroy the Gulfstream Hotel,

• and a yard sign with a false message by The "Friends"--

the above sign is the only one you need to read.

 VOTE YES ON MARCH 12

Don't get Duped!

Comment Up


Friends of the Gulfstream are trying hard to dupe you.  Don't get fooled by emotion and lies. They are out to pull every trick in the book and to make you believe that we will never have a hotel opening in our town if you vote to keep it a low rise city. The Gulfstream Hotel is grandfathered in and the Charter Amendment does not affect it and cannot change it. The height remains as is.

Repeat--The Height Charter Amendment will not affect the Gulfstream Hotel. Respectful Planning PAC believes that reopening the Gulfstream is an important part of revitalizing our local economy.  That will be up to the bank and whoever buys the property. The Gulfstream Hotel is protected under the Height Limit Charter Amendment; it can be restored or rebuilt to its current height. Any expansion to the Gulfstream can be built to four stories.

Did they get a sign permit? Did this pass code? Is the City in collusion? Did they have permission from the owner?