Sunset lawsuit

The reason the city was sued to begin with was the reprehensible political decision of former Commissioners Nadine Burns, Mac McKinnon, and Retha Lowe, to allow up-zoning in a single family neighborhood. They did not care how this would affect the neighbors. All they were looking at was the tax base. This is not allowed in any other single family neighborhood in our city but they allowed it in Lake Osborne Heights. We went through the legal process to win twice in the Circuit Court but to finally lose in the Appellate Court.

What started out as a political decision may end the same way because the decision rendered today by the Appellate Court is not quite the end. As Tammy would say, "It ain't over til it's over."

This is why we need Florida Hometown Democracy.

Cut the Bull

I guess we all march to different drummers. I like Cara Jennings for a myriad of things but cut the bull.

Commissioner Jennings rode her bike during the Holiday parade with a sign on it that said something like “War is not the answer.” Neither is constant protest. One of our citizens spoke out last night against her decision stating that it was a “holiday” parade and protests such as hers should not be a part of the parade. The right of free speech is noble but in this instance the signage could have been left at home replaced by “Happy Holidays.” It would have been the more responsible and appropriate thing to do.

War is justified if there is direct or indirect aggression against the United States. It has to be morally correct, a realistic threat and we must be convinced that severe harm could come to our country. There are many times that war IS the answer. War is declared by Congress, but it is apparent that President Bush, when waging war against Iraq, believed his statement on renewing the US Patriot Act, that the Constitution “was just a damn piece of paper.”

Commissioner Jennings defended her bike sign with her protest message stating that if the local high school’s Junior ROTC members marched in the parade, she was justified in getting her anti-war message out there. I don’t think that she understands the purpose of being a member of this group.

The Junior ROTC is a group of kids that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics. There is no commitment to military service at this stage but its purpose is to produce people who can make responsible and informed decisions. The more you learn in this program, the more likely you are to be able to function effectively in a career in the community and in family life.

They are taught to respect their peers, superiors, and subordinates. Respect was not reciprocated by Commissioner Jennings last night when she made that statement.

2 Stars

The Rev. Ronald Brummitt of the Miami Rescue Mission, while reaching out to the least, the last and the lost, makes $173, 659.00 a year for his charitable services and his wife, Marilyn makes $54,827.00. Not a bad haul for doing God’s work and giving back to those poor lost souls. The Rev. Brummitt is listed as the Executive Director. There are two higher positions in that organization, that of President and Senior V.P./COO.

I would do a complete background check of this Group that is only given 2 stars before committing any property that is owned by the City. 2 stars means the charity meets or nearly meets industry standards but underperforms most charities in its Cause. In other words, it's not up to snuff...needs improvement.

God helps those who help themselves. In this case, the Rev. has done well. I would bet that Steven Spielberg wished he had done a little checking before he had invested millions with Bernie Madoff.

"Changing lives, saving dreams"

The good Reverend and former homeless person himself, Ron Brummitt, gave his pitch for the homeless and his desire to partner with the City. His objective is to save lives and save dreams of the homeless in Lake Worth with a facility that cares for the homeless which would include a shower, a kitchen, meeting rooms and offices. A 60 to 80 bed facility would be ideal.

He said that first he needs to secure a building and next, zoning issues must be solved. The Reverend said that he was here to check out his future partners, Lake Worth. Commissioner Jennings asked the City Manager to check out our surplus properties and check on their zoning.

Almost forgot--he needs funding--all of this just before Christmas. Good timing, Rev. Everyone is much more charitable around this time of year.

Care2 make a difference

More on Florida Hometown Democracy

Haven for the Homeless next?

Have you seen her lately? You probably will, along with the rat,
if Lake Worth has anything to say about it.

Well, why not. We have every other group alive, living and breathing in our friendly little family oriented city of Lake Worth. I never thought I would see the day that I agreed with Lois Frankel on anything but when you take an action to rid the homeless from congregating in front of a public building right down in the heart of your city and then you are sued by liberal groups with liberal lawyers, our standards have totally flip flopped into something of a joke. They brought the City of West Palm Beach to its knees. Unreal, really.

I have a soft spot for the homeless as I have always said that the majority of us are only a heartbeat away from being in that state. Who knows? The nicest of people lose jobs, lose their homes, and some end up on the streets but it is usually a temporary situation. But the majority of the homeless are chronic--alcoholics and drug users who need professional help for addiction.

These are the people hanging out in West Palm Beach and in front of the library once a week to get a free meal. There used to be hundreds living out in John Prince Park. We witnessed a lot of them in our Cultural Plaza, dancing drunk and bothering the citizens. And these chronics are the ones we probably want to harbor here in Lake Worth...just my guess.

Tonight we have a presentation on the HOMELESS. Can't wait. Watch. This will be the next liberal cause we take on in the City of Lake Worth, (like we can afford another one) and I would bet that it will be right down in the heart of our city, like the illegal labor center, allowing them a city park or building for this. After all, they have the rights. We don’t have enough problems here; we need more.

Response from James McCauley

Good report. Unfortunately government is incapable of running a competitive free enterprise business. We don't want government running the auto business nor the utility. We need to sell the facility and put the money in trust and reap the rewards of the interest for the public good. I want my bills competitive with FP&L.

JM

FMPA--Get out NOW

I left before the meeting was over but the message was clear—get out NOW. Being in the ARP (All Requirements Project) is costing us a whole lot of do re me—anywhere from $10 to 14 million dollars in year 2014 (it takes 5 years to exit our contract) or close to $4 million depending on what decision we make going forward.

The President of Energy Advantage Consulting, Sue Hersey, suggested several courses of action and admitted that “there’s a problem” with FMPA. She said that you really need people who can manage fuel risks. Right now we are 22.5% higher than FPL.

During Ron Exline’s term, he voted to purchase a share of the Nuclear Power Plant in Port St. Lucie. This has turned out to be a great investment for us and nuclear is cheaper. It provides 30% of our capacity with FMPA providing the rest.

We also own part of the Stanton Plant in Orlando which is coal producing. Coal plants now make about half of the electricity generated in the United States.

Volatile fuel prices and a weakened Florida economy as well as credit concerns could place pressure on the financial performance of the members of FMPA of which there are 14. Vero Beach exited with FMPA in 2005 and now in one more year it can sell its power and profit from what they produce. Right now, we must sell all of our power we generate to FMPA at a price they determine, not necessarily market rates.

We own our asset and Ms. Hersey said that all was in good condition because it has been maintained. The best plan of action is to maintain local generation for reliability, exit FMPA, run our transmission studies, do an RFP for long-term capacity and energy purchases, and highly consider a Stand Alone operation with the LM6000.

The overall message of last night was to give FMPA notice—NOW—before January 1 or we will have to wait another year and that will cost us possibly $14 million dollars to wait.

Perhaps we now have a Commission that will vote on the right course of action for The City of Lake Worth. One question that comes to my mind is, should we really be in the power producing business at all? With the right employees in place as well as Staff along with future Commissions that will read and understand Contracts, we have an excellent shot at being independent and lowering costs to all residents.

GM is making money!!

No, the other GM.

Today it is reported that General Mills is making money--up 11%

It's no wonder. No one can afford to eat anything but Cheerios. You would think that food prices would start coming down at the local grocery now that the price of gasoline is down but they buy on futures, locking themselves into contracts. Maybe next year?

Saying “NO” would be a start

At 285 feet high and reaching over 530 yards across the South Fork Holston River, this dam, built in 1947 by the Tennessee Valley Authority, helped in flood control, power production, and ecological preservation bringing lots of jobs to Tennessee

Years ago when I had my first job in Bristol, Tennessee, I believed in Unions 100%. No one back then made any money unless you were with a Union. People usually worked for a company until retirement. In that area, the Teamsters Union was predominate. People were poor but didn't dwell on it, but they were happy. Strangers invited you in for mac and cheese or October beans and corn bread. You always had a lot of good, home cooking on the table. Your social life revolved around Church and family outings. Everyone sat down at the dinner table together—at the same time. Black Friday was still prevalent in the minds of the older folks as was World War II. The majority of workers were blue color. Many in that area had never recovered from the past; it was the hills of Tennessee.

As the last piece of the New Deal, the G.I. Bill, caught on, more and more service people were getting zero interest loans allowing them to move from the crowded cities and their rental apartments to suburbia and becoming homeowners. Later came the low interest educational loans with the government pouring billions into that program, one of our first welfare programs in America. Everyone taking advantage of this wanted to be more successful than their parents and live the American dream; two cars, two kids and one TV.

I can’t pin-point when the greed factor took over. I would bet that the information technology explosion had everything to do with it. It’s sort of like the beginning of the boom of Florida growth caused by air conditioning. When I lived near Silicon Valley, everyone had money. I lived in San Jose and I have never met so many interesting people in one place. This was the early 70’s and that industry was booming, producing over-night millionaires. Everyone wanted on the band wagon. Loyalty to working for one company now was non-existent. Everyone job hopped to make more money. We had all become white color workers thanks to education and thousands of us receiving zero to low interest loans from the government.

Today, we are in the crisis we are in due to greed and the unwillingness of anyone to correct this run away train and taxpayer bailout. Unions in Detroit refuse to negotiate wages until 2011. All of the greed started at the top by corporate executives making millions a year as our financial institutions went south and those behind the mortgage industry wrote bad loans only to make commissions.

Locally, the City of Lake Worth is engaged in some creative financing, throwing more and more costs on to the taxpayer, shuffling the costs off to Palm Beach County to appear on our tax bill although we will still be paying for the service in City taxes. Did anyone’s taxes go down? Sacrifices should be made by all of us, not just the few. And this is why I believe there must be a moratorium on wages and benefits across the country with the Unions being a part of the solution.

Everyone needs to look at themselves and ask if they are part of the “pampered plutocrats” and then government needs to get tough. Saying NO would be a start. Let's start right here in Lake Worth.

Why we need Florida Hometown Democracy

It's time to put people back in charge of the places where they live.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Contemptuous

What I find contemptuous are a few citizens, and you know who you are—you know, the one who just hates everyone and everything, continually belittling anyone who tries to speak-out and make a difference in this City...the person who harbors contempt for those citizens who have any opinion and who finds conspiracy and hypocrisy in every written or verbal word.

The entire point of the Ramiccio story is not that someone downtown didn’t have a business license and was turned in by Mr. Ramiccio because a law was broken. It was the way in which he went about correcting the "problem" of the code violation by one of his members of the Chamber of Commerce.

The appropriate and sensible way to have handled this, if it was bothering Mr. Ramiccio that much and after so many years of that establishment operating not up to code, was to go to the owner and ask her to immediately obtain a business license and correct all possible code violations, not call Code Enforcement and have her subjected to a big spectacle with the fire department there too and shutting down her food business.

If he was not being vindictive, (the incident occurring the very next day after the CRA meeting) then that would have been the correct, friendly and businesslike approach by the head of the Chamber. I would be interested in hearing Mr. Ramiccio's reasoning behind his action.

Meeting of the "die-hards"

Katie McGiveron and I met Florida Hometown Democracy (FHD) supporters in New Syrmna Beach yesterday with those attending coming from across the State, from the Panhandle from as far south as Ft. Lauderdale in order to get an up-date and meet fellow sympathizers who worry about growth and sprawl throughout Florida. The meeting was attended by those who have a keen interest in letting the people decide on what land use changes they want in their community, not leaving it up to politicians. Across from us was seated, Joyce Tarnow, President of Floridians for a Sustainable Population.

Our attorney, Lesley Blackner and her partner in FHD,
Attorney Ross Burnaman, led the meeting.

Florida Hometown Democracy has been in front of the State Supreme Court on seven occasions. It has three suits pending at this time. As you may be aware, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries as well as many builders’ organizations spent five times what FHD had to defeat this grassroots initiative.

Back in 1985, the Florida Growth Management Act became law and mandated comprehensive planning. Why? It became law in order to protect Floridians from over-development. Its intent was that future amendments be few and far between. (It is supposed to be hard to amend a comp plan!)

So why didn’t the Florida Growth Management Act protect us? Over the years, the Legislature has made it easier and easier to amend comp plans, by carving out loop holes, like proposed plan amendments that do not have to go to Tallahassee for review, etc. But the real problem is this: comp plan amendments, like all land use changes, are POLITICAL DECISIONS MADE BY ELECTED OFFICIALS. When our commissioners vote on a proposed comp plan change, (a Comp Plan is simply a law that says what you can and can not do), they are supposed to be representing the greater good of the public

Through the years the public interest was discarded by politicians in bed with greedy developers and those in that industry. The well being of the community, the citizens' quality of life, our beautiful environment, everything that makes our communities a desirable place to live has been sacrificed at the alter of the growth machine. Politicians got in the way of sensible growth.

Katie McGiveron, Chair of Save Our Neighborhood, Inc.

All the shady politics and money under the table deals will come to a screeching halt when FHD gets passed. Developers will now have to work within the law. The people will now have the say as to what happens in their community and how they want it to look, not corrupt politicians. This will NOT stop building. What it means with Florida Hometown Democracy is that the voter decides on how he wants his community to look, not just a couple of politicians influenced by builders. If the majority of the voters want the change, then it will happen. If the majority says they don’t like the change, then it won’t. Simple.

We have now made a lot of progress in Lake Worth by over-turning the 3 to 2 vote. We will no longer see a high-rise across from Benny’s, as an example. I would like to see the zoning at the beach remain as it was, Public Recreation and Open Space, and refurbish the building we have in place. Hopefully, this will go forward and the proposed change to our Comprehensive Plan to BAC will sit on the shelf in Tallahassee.

We look to have Florida Hometown Democracy on the ballot in year 2010 and we will be asking for your help.

Salary freeze for school big-wigs

THE STORY

"Principals, assistant principals and all other school-based administrators have agreed to a salary freeze, officials announced Friday. Other employees, including directors, specialists and technicians, also will not seek raises."

Salary freezes are occurring all over the country. Lake Worth is always unique.

What Rene has to say on airport expansion

Palm Beach Post Letters to the Editor
Saturday, December 13, 2008

Runway expansion out of touch with county's reality

The proposed expansion of the PBIA runways is unnecessary, unwise and unreasonably expensive. As the author of the "Population not growing; why should runway?" letter so effectively stated, any expansion of our airport's capacity is out of step with the realities of Palm Beach County. We also need to rise above the broken thinking of the past, that of unsustainable growth for its own sake, and instead apply our efforts and financial resources on the challenges of the future.

Let's all hope that our political leaders seize the opportunity to start a new Florida tradition of adopting only necessary, wise and financially feasible projects that benefit all of their constituents. This tradition begins with stopping the currently proposed PBIA expansion plan.

DR. RENÉ A. VARELA
Lake Worth

Lake Osborne Heights Crime up-date

Crime Walk

Crime abounds in Lake Osborne Heights and Lake Worth in general

From a citizen on Wright Drive

"On December 3rd "last week", when I arrived home from work around 5:30 pm, I noticed my dead bolt lock on my front door was severely damaged to the point where I could not enter my home through the front door. My next door neighbor assisted me in removing the damaged lock and replacing it the same evening. Whoever it was trying to get into my home was somehow spooked and fortunately did not get access to my home.

That same evening, (December 3rd 2008) from 6:30 until nearly past midnight, I sat outside with my neighbor, and we did a mini-experiment to see how often the police drove down our street 'Wright drive', and in a 6 1/2 hour period...NOT ONE SINGLE GIVEN TIME DID WE SEE A POLICE CAR OR AN EMERGENCY VEHICLE, OR ANY OF THE SORT DRIVE PAST OUR HOME."

Katie McGiveron has talked to Deputy Mahoney and he has assured her that patrols will happen. As you recall, her home was broken into as well. Has anyone seen a C.O.P. car since the Sheriff took over? Has anyone seen a Sheriff's car other than the occasional one cruising Lake Avenue?

Code of ethics might have been breached

Even Loxahatchee Groves has an ethics ordinance

Brendan Lynch "locust" statement

I just listened to the tape and I think his point is well made. He was not calling all renters "locusts." He was saying that we are "off balance" in the percentage of renters versus the percentage of home owners and that renters do not have a vested interest in the City to the same degree as someone who has bought a house and pays taxes, etc. If things get intolerable in this City, renters just need to pack up and move on leaving the dregs behind for those who have invested in the City to solve and clean up. That's how I took the statement and I find it a fair analysis of the problems we face in Lake Worth as more and more illegals are encouraged to move here.

Is there a habit here?

photo from lakeworthmedia.com

Does Tom have a habit of strong-arming merchants?

Division of Administrative Hearings - Tom Ramiccio
Florida Commission on Ethics

1999 Final Order

2000 Recommended Order

Beef it up!

Richard Jarolem

Judge Diane Lewis says that Brian Joslyn and Richard Jarolem who specialize in criminal Defense and Appeals for the firm of Casey, Ciklin (use to be BOOSE, Casey, Ciklin but Boose is in Federal prison) that they are being unfair to their client by pulling legal shenanigans just to over charge and rack up fees

These are the same people who have been helping the City of Lake Worth fight its citizens on the beach. Legal costs on the beach, according to the CIP, in 2006 paid by the City were $21,871.01. In 2007 we paid $75,127.59. The request under the Freedom of Information Act for the 2008 legal expenses on the beach have been withheld by the City. The total legal costs are estimated anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000 paid by the City on the beach and two law suits, not the $50,000 Karns likes to tell us.