As far as the Budget goes, Commissioner Scott Maxwell has been the biggest and most out-spoken opponent of the City Manager's aggressive and revolutionary Budget suggesting that it is full of "problems." It is no surprise, therefore, that he voted against it. He said it was full of "land-mines"...lots of places in which you need to be wary...but never giving a specific or offering any alternatives. In spite of his concerns, the Budget was passed on a 3/2 vote with Maxwell and Jennings voting Nay. Again, Jennings voted against it because she felt the millage should have been higher???
Some of those directly responsible for Florida's economic predicament are:
National League of Cities former President, Clarence Anthony
Florida Chamber of Commerce President, Mark Wilson
AFL-CIO Executive Committee member, Frank Ortis.
Florida Tax Payer
Everyone must follow the money to understand why groups such as the Florida League of Cities, Associated Industries and the Florida Association of Realtors tell the lies and are spending $15 million to fool the general public. Some of these people are the ones to blame for the crash of Florida's economy. Look to see how long their pockets are. Taxpayers across the State are experiencing empty pockets and higher taxes because of land-use changes that have gone against common sense.
Hometown Democracy president Lesley Blackner issued this statement after recent media coverage about an “Industry Mobilization Plan” being undertaken by the powerful opponents to Amendment 4, or Hometown Democracy:
“It is bad enough that major Florida employers are squandering millions of dollars to oppose giving voters a seat at the table, money that could instead go into growing their businesses and hiring new employees. Now, they have devised a plan to have those same employers lean on their workers to join their pro-overbuilding campaign and even provide lists of employees names to the anti-Amendment 4 campaign team."
The Vote No group had a Regional Rally in Orlando on September 14 and the ONLY people who attended were members of the various above mentioned groups...speaking to their own greedy choir for the photo op.
In case you missed it the first time-
JUPITER AT ITS BEST: Tonight, Sept. 20-21
Comment Up Comments below are basically on the PB Post article and no where near or close to the full picture of where these candidates stand on the issues-- their knowledge or lack of understanding. Although all may comprehend every vote and every reason for decisions made over the past few years, none other than Suzanne Mulvehill ever attended commission meetings or Board meetings with any regularity, if ever. They, of course, could have been listening over the Internet :). Even Lisa Maxwell was forced off the Planning & Zoning Board for lack of attendance.
Carla Blockson--candidate District 2: Supports lowering commercial electric rates. This is a subject that is too comprehensive to go into in this blog. Not only does she believe that we should eliminate the Conservation Program but we should return all the money to the taxpayers. Good luck on that one, Carla. The Conservation has been in effect for the past year. It had a million dollar budget with one-half going toward salaries. In the upcoming budget, the department is now at $1,454,624. That's what happens when you create bureaucracies. Departments NEVER get smaller. Teaching people to be more energy efficient can be done through a flier inserted with their utility bill. This program targets the poorer residents within our city who do not even have the money to buy more energy efficient appliances and air conditioning units. It is a revenue producing department, providing a service to some Lake Worth residents, that allowed former code officers to keep their jobs. Protecting our employees is something for which I thought Ms. Blockson approved.
Next, Carla wants fast-track permitting to encourage businesses to Lake Worth. We have that already, something Suzanne Mulvehill helped implement. Blockson wants to strengthen Code enforcement. We have a new Program that will do just that without increasing the number of code enforcement officers. I have always been FOR more code officers, not less. However, Wayne Bergman spoke at the Tropical Ridge Neighborhood Association about the new Code Enforcement Program and set me straight. Carla was at that meeting and listened to his presentation. At the same meeting she said that she would not do "favors" for her friends. We agree that all elected officials should adhere to high ethical standards and integrity. Blockson was a member of the Community Relations Board of Lake Worth and resigned to run for office. Carla works for the Social Security Administration.
Christopher McVoy, candidate District 2: Supports the completion of the beach and casino projects. Wants to crack down on banks and absentee landlords in keeping up their property and use his technical knowledge when negotiating for power rates when our contract with FMPA (our power provider) expires. He was a member of the Governor's Commission for Sustainable South Florida and is an environmental scientist with South Florida Water Management. He is for the beach redevelopment and Casino project and Chair of We Love Lake Worth Political Action Committee that petitioned to keep our beach, one of our greatest assets, public. He is an advocate of alternative energy. McVoy was a member of our Planning & Zoning board and recently stepped down in order to run for election.
Lisa Maxwell, candidate District 4: Supports reducing the size of the City budget which are her top 3 priorities--the budget, the budget and the budget. The City and the Commission, of which Suzanne Mulvehill is a part, just reduced the Budget for year 2010-2011. See Chart 11 of the City Budget that shows a reduction of 16.4% in the operating budget. She also wants to eliminate the Conservation program and return the money to rate payers but provides no viable plan to do so in a City that is in dire need of revenue. She is in favor of using the CDBG funds for roads and sidewalks, a recommendation made by the Finance Advisory Board. She has said that she might want to sell the Utility. This is not her decision; it would be the voters of Lake Worth. Ms. Maxwell was a Director of Redevelopment with Lennar Homes and is now a consultant who is forming an alternative energy company. She was a former member of our Planning & Zoning board.
Suzanne Mulvehill, incumbent and candidate District 4: One of the few elected officials that has ever fulfilled a campaign promise--she did just that when she saved the Casino from demolition and the vote to re-build it. She has a clear understanding of the importance of completing the Casino project and marketing our great city to get those tourist dollars spent here in Lake Worth. She understands the importance of being a provider (Reverse Osmosis System) of water rather than dependent upon anyone else for this precious resource. She was one of the Commissioners that reversed the bad decision of the Jeff Clemens administration that stopped our RO after spending $14 million and then going with PB County on a contract to buy water. Through her vote to reverse this bad decision, she saved taxpayers $3.5 million dollars. She supports a feed-in-tariff to stimulate solar power generation as well as lowering electric rates. Suzanne Mulvehill is our Commissioner District 4.
Helen Marino with Amendment 4 was there with Ben Franklin
Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill
Joe Budd,
