Start of Turtle Season

Today is the beginning of Turtle Season. Nearly 90% of sea turtle nesting in the U.S. occurs in Florida. From March through October they will return to their home beaches to lay eggs. Soon, you will be spotting stakes in the sand at the Lake Worth beach. It takes 8 to 10 weeks for turtles to hatch once the eggs are laid.

Recent attractions at Lake Osborne

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There is a mystery creature here in the 3rd frame.

Please help identify it.

Photos by one of my neighbors

Tour de Turtles

Do you like turtles?  I know, that's a silly question. We all love turtles.  On the right side of my blog I have a link to the Tour de Turtles. One big guy has traveled 1,032 miles in just 52 days.

These turtles have been released back into the ocean and are being tracked by satellite.

Click here to see how all of them are doing. Poor Amie is going around in circles and has only traveled 128 miles in 52 days. She has no idea where she's going or where's she's been..sort of like a few politicos in Lake Worth.

Having a swim in our Lake Worth Intracoastal

Thanks to a reader--
This is a Sea Turtle in back of her Lake Worth home

"a rare sighting"

Feeding on algae

Click here to follow the 6 turtles that were recently released back into the ocean and are being tracked by satellite.

Baby turtle

Walking on our sidewalk today
Another one of God's little miracles

Visitor at Lakeside Point Gardens

Approached him and his little head went into his shell while I picked him up and took him to the lake bed. Within seconds he wandered into the water.

Lake Worth Beach

Did you get your new beach decal?  $31.80

Only one nest at our beach. 

Everyone is enjoying our new beach redevelopment except the turtles

and perhaps the Vice Mayor?

Casino Grand Opening Tonight and start of Turtle Nesting Season

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Tonight the city is having another event at the Casino at the Lake Worth beach to raise money for a clock.  This one will cost $50 per person and begins at 7pm with a ribbon cutting followed by a 1920's party lasting until 11:30pm. It has been reported that the City has sold 200 tickets. Free parking is from 6pm. Folks attending are assembling or renting their costumes with women looking like flappers and men favoring short jackets with two or three buttons rather than jackets with long tailcoats as well as pinstriped suits. At 9:30, there will be fireworks from the Pier.

Today is the start of Turtle season. The County's web site says, "In 1987 Palm Beach County passed the Sea Turtle Protection Ordinance, one of the first in the state. The County's Department of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is responsible for implementing measures designed to protect sea turtles and urges everyone to learn more about these magnificent creatures.

Every year sea turtle nesting season begins March 1 and ends October 31. Lights visible from the beach during nesting season adversely affect both adult sea turtles and hatchlings by affecting their ability to find the ocean. ERM conducted a study to evaluate the effect of corrective lighting on reducing sea turtle disorientations. The study found that by reducing the number of lights visible from the beach, fewer disorientation events occurred and fewer numbers of disoriented hatchlings were observed, which resulted in a lower percentage of nests disoriented. Lake Worth has installed turtle friendly lighting.

Human activity, noise, and use of flashlights on the beach at night can cause nesting females to halt nesting attempts, resulting in what is called a "false crawl." Today, the most successful predators of sea turtles are humans. As this event is on the very first day of Turtle Nesting Season, the turtles  have the odds with them and won't be affected by car headlights, noise or fireworks.

Mulligans owner writes the Lake Worth City Commission

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After last night's City Commission meeting, you have to ask yourself, 'What is really going on here?" Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell did everything possible to derail it all. The Mayor, Pam Triolo, lost her cool once again and passed the gavel to make a motion to rescind all previous votes other than Kilwans. Commissioner Amoroso just followed Maxwell. None of them knew what the Right of First Refusal means. It was a complete farce of a night.

Below is an e-mail sent to the Commission by the owner of Mulligans:

January 18, 2012

To Lake Worth City Commissioners,

Last night’s City Commissioner meeting was shocking to me as I have spent weeks gathering and reviewing lease documents, financial statements, references, etc. for a lease to be approved for the Lake Worth Casino Project. I was told by the Realtor that this was simply a formality.

However after sitting through 4 hours of a meeting going nowhere I quickly realized that the commissioners are not viewing this decision properly and heading towards a decision that will leave their community disappointed with this project and a restaurant that Lake Worth will not be proud of.

I am insulted to be placed in the same category with Bokamper’s Sports Bar. After looking into their concept and their website I am appalled that the City of Lake Worth would even consider a place that does events as Bad Ass Bike Night and barely dress their employees.

I feel as certain commissioners are thinking too much about the initial bottom line and are not looking into what the community needs and wants in their back door. Lake Worth needs to build their reputation with Family Oriented locations, businesses that support the community in the way it needs to be supported. Bringing in a sports bar is not doing what is right for the community. As far as an owner of a restaurant saying sure we can serve breakfast or sure we can come up with another concept, that is not easy and if they do that it will not be done right. It takes years, and a strong infrastructure to build a new concept and to add another whole menu to a kitchen. This needs a different kitchen design, different cooks, and years of experience to do this properly. If you choose Bokamper’s you are selling out your entire community for a few dollars because you don’t have any pride in your project and think you can’t get anything better upstairs. That thinking is wrong and really disappointing coming from City Commissioners.

I have performed my due diligence before signing a letter of intent and presented the commissioners with a professional package of our financials, references, etc. in a timely manner and felt as I did what was required to be eligible for a lease. For a business to come in and toss a to-go menu up to the commissioner and state they will pay more money, is unprofessional and not the way this business should have been handled nor should they even be considered without a full proposal.

Mulligan’s Beach House is a company that has been successful doing breakfast, lunch and dinner for 15 years. We are a casual family seafood restaurant. Our list of references, donations and news stories of supporting the community that each commissioner was given speaks for itself. We are a restaurant that not only serves great food with fast friendly service to each customer we also highly support each community that we move in. Mulligan’s is what your community wants. We are a restaurant that knows how to handle high volume business, we are family owned and operated. I am in the restaurants every day and I am a hands on owner, constantly training my staff & managers, constantly looking for new better products for our menus, I am there talking to my customers and making sure everyone has a wonderful experience and will want to return.

Mulligan’s is currently on beach front locations we know the standards and regulations that need to be in place for the safety of our sea turtles and recycling policies to keep our beaches clean. We already follow those guidelines at our other beachfront properties and will guarantee that you will have a clean healthy place on your property. We have already hired architects and contractors to begin planning for this project and they will need time to get the proper paperwork and ordering process started. Holding this vote off for another month will just be very difficult on us or any other restaurant being considered to do all the work *properly* to build a
successful well-built restaurant. A decision is necessary in the next few weeks by the city commissioners to do this properly.

Mulligan’s Beach House does not promote their bar, we do not do shots, we do not do pitchers of beer, we simply sell a variety of tropical drinks, beer & wine to compliment your meal. Mulligan’s concentrates on families and pleasing all ages from 0 to 100. We are open 365 days a year giving families a place to celebrate all the holidays including Thanksgiving & Christmas with traditional turkey dinners and more holiday festivities.

I am asking that the city commissioners think seriously about your vision for the City of Lake Worth, if you do this you will clearly see Mulligan’s Beach House being the perfect fit for this location. I guarantee you that we will make Lake Worth proud; I guarantee you that once we are selected for that spot and other restaurateurs see the beautiful restaurant that we will build, you will be able to get the rent that is needed to fulfill all of your budget requirements.

Take a moment to view the websites and visit Mulligan’s and visit the Bokamper’s, imagine Bokamper’s with Welcome to the Jungle playing on their website and girls dressed in too tight shorts, wings & BBQ pork, customers smoking at the bar, more TV’S than people, imagine that on your beautiful beach front community…look good? No, now imagine Mulligan’s Beach House with the sounds of steel drums playing, fresh tuna, grouper & snapper on your plate, kids holding balloons, beautiful palm tree fabric booths, water lit bars and professionally dressed well-mannered employees serving your citizens, imagine that on your beautiful beach front community. Mulligan’s is the picture that your community envisions in that location, now you just have to make that vision become reality.

Sincerely,

George Hart,
Owner/Operator,
Mulligan’s Beach House Bar & Grill

Lake Worth Beach Redevelopment

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The Lake Worth Beach redevelopment is now estimated at $13,505,329. This originally was to be an $11 million dollar project: $6 million for the building and $5 million for the beach redevelopment. Now that we have so many people involved--Kimley Horn, Living Design, Michael Singer, and Morganti, it is no wonder that the price is heading towards the roof.

Whoever designed this out based on the $5 million dollar bond money for the redevelopment portion of this project, failed to include the infrastructure: Water main at $400,000, Sanitary Sewer at $500,000, lighting at $800,000, Stormwater, underground electric, for a total cost for infrastructure of $1,855.384. And we can't forget the turtle lighting that everyone missed from the beginning. It was sort of an oops moment for turtles when the beach park moved away from public recreation and open space to a more commercial enterprise with Johnny Longboats closing at 1am with city staff giving everyone the excuse that they just had to stay open in order to meet the price per square foot that John G's has always said they would pay. Now staff tells us, "Well, we just don't get that many turtles on our beach." One is all we need.

We paid REG $460,000 to design the casino and Kimley Horn $437,000 to design the beach. That's almost a million bucks before we even got started. There were amendments to Kimley-Horn's agreement that brought the design up to $501,400. We then needed them to design a sanitary sewer system. Morganti was then awarded a contract as construction manager and they along with Kimley-Horn will bring a line item bid back on all elements of the design in January 2012.

We over-designed the redevelopment of the beach--windmills and silly stuff. We forgot all of the costs of infrastructure. How did this happen? Our wish list was too great. We need to cut it down to reality. Through the years, project after project, those who want to take advantage seem to be attracted to Lake Worth. This is an example as to how they do it. Although not involved in the beach, Chaz Equipment Company has done work for Lake Worth but alleged corruption and graft is not limited to one lone company.

Someone, from the early stages on, dropped the ball on this project. Everything should have been included in the $11 million. I blame it on all those people involved in the design. There is NO way that the city staff ever said, "Oh, don't worry about the rest of it, we will take the money from the CIP."

It's now time for this new Visionary to stay within our Budget. I'm with the Vice Mayor on this one. Let's see now what they can do about it. I don't want to hear that, "Well, we have the money allotted in the capital improvement budget, not to worry." That is still taxpayer money. Eleven million dollars is more than enough to spend. That's all we ever said that we would spend.

As Scott Maxwell eliminated the assistant city manager from consideration to be elevated as interim city manager because of the importance of this project, perhaps he will change his mind on his number one priority. This project should be number one. This is the one that will drive tourism and a lot of money to Lake Worth.

Constitution Committee

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Suzanne Squire

For the most part, members of this group are strong believers in the United States Constitution. They have no other agenda. They remind me of certain bible sects that literally interpret "God's word" to their perspective. There is no other point of view that is acceptable.

Our Constitution gives certain rights to the people. It does not cover every eventuality and its meaning is challenged from time to time. When that happens, those disputes come before the judicial branch of our government. There is no black and white way to interpret many aspects of it and often times there are conflicting rights. The Supreme Court will then step in.

The Constitution Committee believes that the only way the Constitution should be interpreted is the way in which the "framers" intended, the most pure way. Times change and 200 years later our country has a whole new set of problems, a whole new set of circumstances. We have a diverse population today with over 300 million people from all over the world and it is less rural with less farm land than it was when this document was written. The entire lifestyle of this country has changed. We no longer have slave owners who wrote the Constitution. There is an entirely different set of standards today.

One question to ask is, does this document become old and stale in some ways through the eyes of all of us living in the 21st century. Should those in charge of interpreting the Constitution use modern realism? One thing for sure, when a situation arises, we all look to our Constitution, the greatest document ever written.

The Constitution Committee met last night at McKenna's Restaurant. They are located where the old Lenora's used to be. Suzanne Squire of Lake Worth, an expert on the Constitution, made an awesome presentation on Agenda 21 (See Wikipedia) which is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.

Suzanne showed how this entire Plan, that is being called sustainable development, is being used across America and even in Lake Worth, changing from a society of equal justice to one of social justice. Some of the current issues she cited were: smart growth development, leading children towards accepting global citizenship, laws being enacted that monitor individual activity, even microchips in our garbage cans, economies shifting from free enterprise to public/private partnerships, the League of Cities conference in Phoenix on global development (attended by Scott Maxwell) and even giving turtles on our beach consideration or a greater importance than the rights of human beings.

All in all, it was an evening to ponder. I left believing that there are many people among the group who are sincere and who have nothing more in mind than adhering to their strict interpretation of our Constitution with a small number of radicals sprinkled in. The last person who took the microphone to speak was very disconcerting. As I walked to my car, Ted Kaczynski came to mind. It was a weird thought.

MacArthur State Park

In "my day" it was known as Nude Beach. Nudists, a voyeur or two and free spirited people would park cars along N. Ocean Boulevard and walk through what seemed a jungle to get to the beach. No one bothered anyone. The Police stayed away. It sure has changed and is now family-friendly.

If you enjoy wildlife, there are 150 species of birds, 2,500 species of butterflies, you can also watch the Loggerheads, Leatherbacks and green turtles laying their eggs...no lights or noise from any bar at any Casino to worry about. It's how all our beaches used to look before the developers "found Florida." They, in conjunction with local and state politicians, allowed them to take over and ruin our natural shoreline by building high-rise condos all over the eastern seaboard of our State.

Now, even Lake Worth will be allowing a bar to occupy our new, six million dollar building at our beach-park and close early in the morning. And just like those developers who ruined our State's natural beauty, the Lake Worth Commission and city manager have forgotten the family-friendly thing too.

MacArthur Park is located in northern Palm Beach County along Jack Nicklaus Drive in North Palm Beach. Just drive north on North Ocean Boulevard from Singer Island and you will run into it. The park is open from 8am until sundown 365 days a year. The entrance fee is $5.00 per vehicle, maximum of 8 people. Park visitors can participate in a variety of recreational activities, including kayaking, fishing, bird-watching, snorkeling and sunbathing on a quiet beach.

So, for an interesting excursion over this holiday weekend, visit MacArthur Park, a taste of how Florida used to look--beautiful and serene.

The Meeting that was "special" in spite of itself

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Workshop, special meeting, and then back to a workshop. It all took about one half hour to accomplish but in the end, it was the smart thing to do. The room was packed with people wondering what was going on, some calling their attorneys at the last minute once word spread that it was a special meeting and the commission would vote.

In spite of Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell defending his inquiry to possibly change the workshop to a special meeting by saying, "I never requested that it be a special meeting," and also having the City Clerk announcing that proper notice was indeed given, they all finally voted on the meeting reverting back to a Workshop. Mulvehill was absent.

As notice was not in the Palm Beach Post as it usually is, proper notice in the mind of the City Clerk is a simple notice on the bulletin board at City Hall. In this case, it could not have been done before 3:13:04 pm on Friday afternoon when the secretary, Silvinia, forwarded the "non-request" of Maxwell's to Assistant City Manager, Kathleen Margoles. The City Manager, Susan Stanton, wanting to please the new Vice Mayor at all costs, then contacted the Mayor about Maxwell's suggestion that a special meeting might be in order and asked if she agreed. At that point the city manager became a conduit and Sunshine Law was violated. Also, the Mayor is the only one on the dais who can call a Special Meeting. As this meeting was already scheduled as a Workshop, it was only changing the voting possibility.

This Commission, however, wanting to be open and transparent as well as the fact that much of the material was not in their packets, some given to them after 5pm the day of the meeting, and the information not uploaded to the City's web site until after 6pm on Friday, voted to change the meeting back to a Workshop.

The question was asked by the Mayor, "Why didn't the former commission establish hours for the casino?" The former commission, strongly influenced by the City Manager, left it open ended with the idea that the market place was going to dictate the hours. As only one possibility for an anchor contacted the real estate broker, Paul Snitkin, with interest on the space, Longboats had a lucrative bar business and requested early morning closing. At that point, all enthusiasm stalled to look further for any other anchor. The City had an anchor that fell into its lap with no work involved. All the City Manager had to do now was to convince the Commission that in order for this whole project to be viable, the beach hours would have to be early in the morning to early in the morning. Nothing else mattered.

It was said last night by Commissioner Amoroso that he thought Midnight during the week and 1am on the other 4 days was acceptable. It was also mentioned that yes, this is a beach park but the Casino was a commercial building. With this new commission focusing on business as a priority, it won't matter if any resident objects to the beach "flavor" changing. Triolo wanted a compromise on the hours, have them like Palm Beach (that does NOT have a bar on the beach other than one in the Breakers perhaps that is totally enclosed) and agreed with Amoroso. The only entity mentioning hours at all has been Longboats. They offer and we either say yes or no.

There have been all sorts of excuses for allowing Longboats and its late night bar business to dominate our Casino. Even Stanton dissed the turtles. Don't look for any shop having an exclusive. The T-Shirt company will now be allowed to sell surf boards I guess. Scott Maxwell made the strongest points throughout the night speaking to the financials, the cost of the turtle lights, the fact that only one anchor was presented, and even saying that there was "no transparency in the process." He stated in no uncertain terms that the public was not going to pay one dime for this project and said that he has a "sneaky suspicion it will cost more than $11 million." He further stated that the City Manager had manipulated minds and it all has turned into a "head game."

The Commission has asked the public as well as the Broker to come forward within the next two weeks and present any interested anchor. Maxwell might have one in mind. They have asked the city manager to give them complete and true projections, some of which will be impossible until the end of January. We all must be assured that the building will pay for itself and with the turtle light fiasco, no one on staff can even give a best or worse case cost scenario on that or where the funds will be found.

Although the meeting lasted for about 3.5 hours with nothing much accomplished, what was portrayed to the public was a strong commission that will not tolerate proceeding without all the information they have requested. No more game playing will be tolerated.

Also, look for our beach to now become a destination for a late night bar even though it was only a few years ago that We Love Lake Worth PAC petitioned and received 2,613 signatures saying differently. One individual who lives in this city and who was close to this huge undertaking and petitioned, wants to forget what it was all about. Even though salesman Snitkin described Longboats as family-friendly, no little kids are out after 11pm hanging out in bars.

Closing hours will be decided on December 6 with the choice of 1) 3 days at 11pm and 4 days at Midnight or 2) 3 days at Midnight and 4 days at 1AM.

Sound Pollution

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Dr. Kirt Rusenko, Marine Conservationist for the Sea Turtle Protection program at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton says:

My main concern for sound pollution is frequencies below 200 Hz which is the range of the heavy, thumping base heard from many cars on the road. Turtles do not hear well out of the water for the higher frequencies but the lower frequencies are literally transmitted through the entire body of the animal and it does disturb them. My concern for sounds at the restaurants is the low frequency bass that seems to be a part of every bar/lounge everywhere. I do not know if there is a noise ordinance in Lake Worth, but one may make this point moot."

This is the same sound that has been driving residents crazy who live near certain bars in the downtown. It is the same complaint that prompted the City to enact a Noise Ordinance. Helen and Bud Greene are thinking of moving from this city because the noise ordinance has not been effective.

There are still some bar supporters who believe that residents don't have any rights when it comes to a decent night's sleep. I am sure that these will be the same people who want our beach opened to 1am with open air restaurant bar band noise polluting the entire coastline of Lake Worth and beyond and calling us "old farts" for being the least bit concerned about it..

Lake Worth Beach Redevelopment - Considering the Wildlife and the Rights of the People

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Now that we know that no one on staff or those that we hired considered lighting for turtles on our beach redevelopment, we still must address the grave situation if we are to have any business at our new casino that stays open after dark.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, improper outdoor lighting is probably one of the greatest issues affecting sea turtles. Sea turtles, one of the oldest animals on earth estimated to be here for 110 million years, must be protected. Light pollution and turtles just don't mix. Many species are on the verge of extinction and improper outdoor lighting is a major cause.

The FWC protects and manages...

• More than 575 species of wildlife
• More than 200 native species of freshwater fish
• More than 500 native species of saltwater fish

Because of the needs of our nearly 19 million residents and the millions of visitors we attract worldwide, we must balance the needs of our wildlife as well.

After our new Casino is built, we will be attracting more visitors than ever before spending money at our beach and in our City. Let's hope Rick Scott doesn't get his hands on this department.

We want to fix this horrendous error on our beach design that is now estimated at $2 million dollars more than planned. The best fix is a naturally dark habitat--turning off lights is the easiest and best solution. However, more than likely, we will never find another John G's restaurant, a business that closed at 3pm. That was an extremely successful enterprise for Lake Worth beach and was always in tune with our vision of a beach park.

The turtle lighting must be within the guidelines of the FWC. All exterior lighting for the entire project area including structural and landscape lighting must be reviewed and approved by FWC regardless of whether or not the area is seaward of the CCCL. Second level balcony lights, along with all of the lights, will be addressed in that the lights will not be allowed to illuminate areas seaward of the crest of the dune at the time of their night inspection.

The Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management has approved our turtle lighting application to install 610 exterior fixtures within the Sea Turtle Protection Zone and are specific as to what is authorized to be installed within the STPZ.

The City Manager is fighting the exclusivity in the potential contracts and is discouraging some of our long term tenants. She literally is wanting to give our beach control away to a tenant to dictate terms as our anchor by allowing them to have a bar business opened until the wee hours of the morning. She is making policy decisions on her own and convincing commissioners that her way is the right way and the project will fail unless we cement leases now and allow our beach to move in a direction that never was our vision.

When asking the city manager how the city was going to pay for this lighting, she said, "Once we finalize the design and know the cost and scope of lighting needs, the money will come from the capital budget, grant funding and revenue from the casino."

Thursday night at City Hall

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A few photos from Thursday night--

The only campaigns dominating the 4 corners by City Hall that night were Amoroso and a few Triolo signs were spotted. With the important beach leases about to be discussed as well as Channel 12 on the scene, these candidates seized the moment to get their message out.


Now that Peggy Fisher has made the word famous, here are a few photos of pissed off people in the Chamber.

Paul Snitkin, broker with Anderson and Carr

An unhappy Vice Mayor who wanted Johnny Longboats doing anything it wished to our new building thus changing the vision for our beach: holes in ceiling, noise, bars opened til 2am and watch out turtles.

No explanation

Casino Leases to be approved tonight

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Tonight's the night that the Commission will vote on the leases that will be presented to them--the lucky occupants of a brand new building situated across from the Atlantic Ocean and built in the style of the original building of 1922, a building that anyone would be lucky to inhabit.

We will hear why no one wants to rent the upper level and have an ocean and Intracoastal Waterway view and that we should be grateful that Johnny Longboats does. We will hear from the broker that he has looked far and wide and there is no interest. We will hear that Longboats should get a big break on the price per square foot because, afterall, they are taking 66% of our leasable space and they will be financing $1 mil in improvements to our property. We will hear that they just have to stay opened until 2am in order to make any money. We will hear that they are really doing us all a favor.

Will the commission give a dang about our turtles and the lack of proper lighting? And how will the city manager grab the cash for that because they surely have to be installed? Will they still care that this is a beach PARK and not a brand new $6 mil building so that one tenant can make a killing? Will all those one on one meetings out of the sunshine convince the commission to allow this to happen as well as to kick our long time tenants out, those who were treated abominably over the last 3 years never knowing if the casino was going to be condemned and they would be out on their ears and forced to rent in a building that was crumbling before their very eyes. Will the commission forget that John G's was there for 37 years, closing at 3pm and fed 4 families? Will the commission forget the desires of 3,000 people who signed the petition only a few years ago that outlined their vision of our beach and casino park property...a petition that was certified to go to ballot until Jennings used her influence and stopped it?

After the last meeting on October 19, the question will be, will the city manager and her assistant who is in charge of this project, convince this commission by getting approval of the most expedient solution, that of a Longboats lease. It will remove one problem off their plate.

Johnny Longboats

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Katie and I went to Singer Island yesterday to check out Johnny Longboats and have lunch. It has been years since I have been to Singer Island and the changes are astounding. In some respects, Dan Catalfumo has done a great job at the beach. Longboats is no longer situated in a stand-alone building but located in one of the pastel painted attached stores on the southern tip of the shopping area right next to where Palm Beach Shores begins.

The food was good and priced fairly. The service was good. The decor was fun and appropriate for a beach restaurant. The windows opened to give an open air effect. The restaurant had many customers but it was not crowded as John G's always was but it was, afterall, a Tuesday. One advantage of the beach experience at Singer Island is the free parking. The shopping is set off a ways from the beach itself. Longboats closes at 1am.

The tennis courts that had been located at the south end of Singer Island beach and there for decades were no longer there. When we left the beach, we noticed that they had moved them to the north end of the beach property.

Where Riviera Beach and Catalfumo failed is that you can no longer see the ocean on the drive-by, one of the disappointments of this beach redevelopment. This soon will be the same situation at the Lake Worth beach once it is done thanks to an insensitive commission of Cara Jennings and Rene Varela. People like to go to the beach to see the sea as they cruise by in their cars. It is a crime how a few people who had the power voted to destroy our beach in the name of "green" or progress and subsequent commissions have done nothing to rectify this. I was told by the head leader that it was too late; it is in progress. Nothing is too late, Mayor. No one has dug one hole of dirt yet.

And speaking of power, city staff wants Johnny Longboats, no matter what--a few thoughts on what I would like to see happen--

1. Allow them to take the lower level if they still choose and no loud music.

2. Rent the upper level to a different restaurant. It is smart to diversify and not give any one store so much control over our Casino should the tenant default. An anchor tenant is needed but not over 60% of the leasable space to an unknown. If this doesn't work out, find a national chain restaurant. Who cares as long as it stays within our vision and our rules and not the other way around. Build to accommodate that upper level tenant--outside elevators.

3. Have Longboats pay a big security deposit and submit 5 years of financials. Have them give the City a copy of their tax return every year throughout the lease. We need to know about their financial health.

4. Commissioner Maxwell wants a personal guarantee. Get it if you can. I doubt it.

5. Close the beach no later than 11pm and that is generous and later than I would like. This is first and foremost a park. There are other considerations here such as cost of utilities and public safety that the taxpayer will be paying at the beach to accommodate Johnny Longboats with their extended closing time. What are the estimated costs of these? Are the turtles in harm's way, etc. Contact scientists and government agencies and get opinions. Make a resolution now and change the BAC zoning to include a definite closing time so that no tenant can dictate its hours on our property.

6. Ensure that the City's lighting is in compliance.

7. Have them pay more per s.f. and increase the rent escalation clauses. This is a business and we hold the cards here.

8. Have them apply for financing immediately once a lease is negotiated and executed and give them a deadline to produce. We don't want a repeat of Greater Bay shenanigans. Don't produce, immediately find new tenant. In fact, find one now.

9. And for heaven's sake, if Mr. Banting and Mr. Snitkin still believe that they can NOT rent the upper space, find another brokerage with the proper attitude. If you don't believe you can do something, you won't, and we need someone who believes in the success of this Casino.

Casino Leases to be voted Upon Tonight

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Barry Freedman
B.F. Enterprises (LW Beach T-Shirt Co.)

Everyone at City Hall wants to forget that this is our beach; this is our Casino. None of them care diddly what we think or what we want. Just bringing up silly and wasteful expenditures such as a wind turbine goes on death ears. In fact, we are put down for not being forward thinking.

Tonight at 6pm at City Hall, the Commission has a special meeting to approve leases at our Casino and from the back-up, it certainly appears that City Hall will put the screws to our long time merchants, those who helped make our Casino great for nearly 3 decades.

During the past two weeks, leases were prepared and submitted to each prospective tenant for their review, modification and approval. All prospective tenants were given the same boilerplate lease and permitted to request revisions. As of October 14, 2011, the City had received executed leases from Kilwins, Lake Worth Beach Tee Shirt Co., NYPD Pizza, Mama Mia’s on the Beach and Lake Worth Pizza Department, and is finalizing lease terms with Fox Surf and Beach Shop and Johnny Longboats.


It was only a few months ago on August 4 that the commission, with McVoy absent, voted on essentially keeping NYPD and LW Tee at our Casino when they accepted the L.I's. Suzanne Mulvehill made a motion, seconded by Golden to accept the Letter of Intent from NYPD Pizza and the owner was so happy. Afterall, he had been a tenant of our Casino for 25 years just like the T-Shirt company. Another motion was made by Maxwell, seconded by Mulvehill, to accept the Letter of Intent from BF Enterprises (LW Tee) and have them work out their non-compete merchandise mix with Fox Surf. Also there was a request for casino business hours to be established within the months of September or October. The present closing time is 10pm.

Now I ask you, why would we prepare a Lease allowing Johnny Longboats a 2am closing? Is that a "boilerplate" lease? Are we that scared that we might not find a major tenant that we have to once again cave into someone's demand and do it the way they want it rather than the other way around? 2am closing is outrageous, not to even mention the cost of security and electricity that you, the taxpayer, will have to pay to have Longboats sell booze and play raucous music to 2am. At least the nearby residents and the turtles (we can't even pay for the lighting) will think it at least annoying.

The most disappointing thing is the non-renewal of our long time tenants, NYPD Pizza and Lake Worth Beach Tee Shirt Company. Barry Freedman, owner of LW Tee wanted the exclusive rights to sell name drop apparel. Fox Surf and Beach Shop wanted the same exclusivity. Other pizza shops wanted to come to our beach. What do do? The real estate broker did a credit check and our long-time tenants didn't pass their muster, not to mention that they will be making much more money in commissions on new tenants instead of leasing to the old.

Because the city manager is absolutely paranoid that this building might not pay for itself, she wants what she considers top notch tenants at the beach casino who have never been late on a rental payment. Loyalty to our long time tenants has been thrown out the window by this proposal in front of the commission tonight.

There is no such thing as loyalty in Lake Worth, not to our merchants and not to the people. The Mayor was concerned about "fairness" at the time we originally talked about the leases. The City's idea of "fairness" is not mine. I would suspect that NYPD Pizza and LW Tee would agree.

Lake Worth Beach Redevelopment - What a mess

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Deerfield Beach Public Beach
They didn't have to reinvent the wheel

When we got this Bond money from Palm Beach County, we all thought that our beach would look relatively the same. We would use the money to spruce it up: Pavers on the walkways, resurfacing our parking lots, new showers and bathrooms as well as new foliage.

What happens when money is burning in your pocket? Elected officials dream up all sorts of ways to use the money. In our case, it was changing a beach experience to a park experience with actual Jungle Jims. We had one young commissioner who might have been enamored with Disney World or something. Who knows. She never went to the beach; neither did most of the commission. They decided, in all their worldly wisdom, that people didn't come to the beach to go to the beach but wanted other forms of entertainment for little Suzie.

They decided to take out 164 upper level parking spaces saying that the visitors could hoof it for "green" and little Jimmy's play equipment. They, by even accepting the Bond money, lost control of our beach for 30 years. I have heard of people turning their soul over to the devil but losing control for 30 years so developers can get rich? We lost unlimited decal parking and now will be relegated to 55 spaces or so. Who knows what we will really have lost by the time this ever gets figured out.

Now the contractor, Morganti, says that turtle lighting will cost us $2 million. That is over and above the Bond money. Our project manager who took over for the original project manager, Rachel Smithson, who got the heck out of Dodge and moved to Charlotte, has figured out all sorts of cost adjustments by eliminating certain features and materials that total $1.3 mil. Lake Worth Utilities could pick up the cost of the lower parking lot lighting and rent it back to the beach/casino, per the project manager. Also it is planned that the Utility CIP will pay for another $730,000 for water and sewer costs for this redevelopment. There--the $2 mil shortfall was just fixed. This was NOT in the Plan. The taxpayers of Lake Worth were not supposed to pay one dime in extra costs. Again, it is costing us more money for someone's incompetence, or greed, maybe both.

They had previously decided not to go with pavers but monolithic slabs. Do you even know how ugly of an idea that is? The whole project will become a distant cousin of itself. In the project, the wind turbine is still there. Some "green" commissioners love the idea of a wind mill at our beach even though it is a totally impractical idea..."Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind."

The energy can’t be stored, meaning that 100% backup is needed when the wind doesn’t blow. The majority of our days at the beach are anything but windy and the wind is never constant. For some reason, this Commission is in love with all things "green" whether practical or not and whether we can afford it or not. They hate nuclear and there is no alternative that is economically competitive with fossil/nuclear.

It has been discovered and written that wind power would involve covering huge tracts of land all over the country in order to produce any meaningful power. Even environmentalists are becoming disenchanted with wind power, but Lake Worth must have that wind mill for $100,000. It's cool.

Right now we just need a beach. Let's not re-invent the wheel here. Spruce it up and knock off the bull by kicking them all off our beach redevelopment. Tell Johnny Shortboats to buzz off and close our beach at a reasonable time so that we all can be happy, even the turtles.