Calvary United Church in Lake Worth to close

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Calvary United Methodist Church

What a shocker!  Cavalary United Methodist Church will close.

City Manager Michael Bornstein says it is because people are migrating to the western communities and the city is not as "filled up like we were 20 or 30 years ago with people who live here and have their lives centered around Lake Worth."

Can't we just tell it like it is?  Clearly, the Church is dying. Church attendance is down all over America, not just Lake Worth.  We have an over abundance of churches in Lake Worth--at least 30 within the city limits. Lake Worth churches.

We may be an artsy and funky city as Michael Bronstein says, but there is no re-birth going on--just people doing things they consider "cooler."  According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, more than 40 percent of Americans "say" they go to church weekly. As it turns out, however, less than 20 percent are actually in church. In other words, more than 80 percent of Americans are finding more fulfilling things to do on weekends. Here, it's the beach or water sports or an art festival somewhere.

Many people don't have the money to support a church with weekly donations and they are rejecting the teachings, with younger people moving away from formal religion. Some actually attend church just for the free breakfast that might be served or the free loaf of bread. Lake Worth is predominately made up of younger people some of whom feel the church has been an obstacle to their life style. This is a progressive city and as such, these folks with their liberal influence are rejecting even the idea of Christianity and are offended that churches do not accept gay marriage. We are seeing the results of this rejection even with some believing that the sheer mention of Christianity is offensive. Churches have been struggling for quite some time and this one even was feeding the homeless. Now they're broke. That's where we are.

And now we have a Candy Lane Parade instead of a Christmas Parade in Lake Worth.

Construction hours now regulated in Lake Worth

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Currently, the City does not regulate hours of construction activities. Staff says that it has received constant complaints from city residents of contractors working any hour under the Sun. Staff decided to create an ordinance, 2014-4 that will regulate the hours of construction activities.

William Waters proposed a 7am to 7pm time frame, Monday through Friday; 8am to 6pm on Saturdays and no work on Sundays.  After much discussion from the dais with commissioner Szerdi opposed to 7am saying "it is too early" and Scott Maxwell for it because he doesn't want to put obstacles in the path of businesses, the public spoke.  Consensus was--7am was way too early.

The ordinance passed unanimously on the first reading and the new hours will be 8am to 7pm and Saturday and Sunday will remain unchanged from staff's proposal.

Mess of the Week

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This business will remain nameless as the store manager is now attempting to make a daily effort to clean up the mess. He is appalled and can't even understand why people who visit his store ignore the trash receptacle right outside the front door.  They even change oil in the parking lot and leave the empty containers there.  Shoplifting is a big problem and many of the customers are entitlement babies. The government is complicit because when you get something for nothing you respect nothing.

While I was exiting my vehicle, a woman took her merchandise out of the plastic bag and threw the bag on the ground.  I picked it up and said, "Ma'am, you dropped your bag," and handed it back to her.

Anti-social behavior is everywhere and that's what we are dealing with.  Some of it is a culture thing but primarily it is the lack of respect that so many have towards others, their property and themselves. Let's tell these people, "Not in my city, no more."

Meet Larry, panhandler in Lake Worth

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Larry is a panhandler and he regularly works Lake Avenue dropping in on people while they dine at outdoor cafes or he just pops into a business asking for $$$. He has a tale of woe a mile long--cancer, AIDS, got poked in the face and blood all over. He is a sad sight.  There are many panhandlers in our city but Larry is one of the more aggressive ones. He has a mission--to get sympathy and get your money.

Although "aggressive panhandling" has been specifically prohibited by law in various jurisdictions in the United States and Canada, typically defined as persistent or intimidating begging, Lake Worth does not seem to have an ordinance on it because if it did, wouldn't it stop?

Palm Beaches Marathon

PALM BEACHES MARATHON RETURNS FOR 10TH YEAR

More than 5,000 runners are expected to participate in the Palm Beaches Marathon and Run Fest presented by Publix will return December 6-8 with its usual series of running events, an Expo and fun innovations such as a Friday 5K / 10K, a simultaneous half marathon on Sunday, wacky water stations and a post-race downtown party at Waterfront Commons Park. Contact: Gary Ferman (954) 558-5203.

Road Closures on Sunday for the City of Lake Worth from 7:00am- 12:00pm

• Duke Drive between N Olive Ave & N Lakeside Drive

• N Lakeside Drive between Duke Drive & 12th Ave N

• Golfview Rd between 12th Ave N & 8th Ave N

• N Palmway Drive between 8th Ave N & 6th Ave N

• N Lakeside Drive between 6th Ave N & 2nd Ave N

• N/S Golfview Drive between 2nd Ave N & 2nd Ave S

• 2nd Ave S between S Golfview Rd & S Lakeside Drive

• S Lakeside Drive between 2nd Ave S & 10th Ave S

• 10th Ave S between S Lakeside Drive & S Palmway Drive

• S Palmway Drive between 10th Ave S & 9th Ave S

• 9th Ave S between S Palmway Drive & S Lakeside Drive

Governor Rick Scott

Right now and up until the election next year, the Democrats will be doing a hatchet job on Governor Rick Scott. They are in their destroy mode as I write.  It's hard to know who to trust because politics is brutal. Personally I don't think he's done that bad of a job..at least he stopped the high speed rail to nowhere.

After Rick Scott was elected he was handed large debts and budget deficits. Florida was in a complete mess. He then rolled up his sleeves, sat down and did the job he was "hired" to do:

• Provided over $2 billion in funding for education

• Stopped the teacher tenure and instituted merit pay. Florida teachers and students are now ranked 6th in the nation.

• Raised education standards and found new testing solutions

• Reduced property taxes by over $200 million

• Put the brakes on auto insurance rates

• Led the fight to keep illegals from voting

• Created a $24 billion trade surplus

• Unemployment down by 4.4% since 2010

• 440,900 jobs created with job growth for 39 consecutive months

• Florida median homes prices up by 16.6%

• Signed a bill protecting gun owners and the 2nd Amendment rights

• Signed a bill prohibiting the use of state funds for abortions

Vacation Rentals - Mini Hotels

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This past Spring, vacation rentals were on the minds of many residents in Lake Worth.  Owners of these properties appeared before the city commission wanting the city to change its laws for them. Several commissioners were leaning their way just so they would not get into litigation that was being threatened by these owners. Our laws say no less than 60 days and the commission was even considering 2 weeks in order to appease these people. An estimated 50 properties are being used as vacation rentals and not licensed to do so, competing with legitimate businesses. The commission has been totally silent on the issue ever since--these properties thrive.

Seven months ago, the City said, "The present issue for the City is to decide whether to enforce its current prohibition on short term vacation rentals and begin code compliance proceedings against those establishments advertising themselves as such, which include as many as fifty (50) properties in Lake Worth. Well, guess what?  All this capitulation and/or procrastination by this commission which has become the norm in our city (scared of LAWSUITS mentality) might be decided by the Florida Legislature.

New bill targets vacation rentals: Groups of vacationers that each year turn vacation rentals into “mini-hotels” might be out of luck if lawmakers pass legislation filed by a duo of St. Johns County lawmakers. Spearheaded by a Hammock Beach Club Condominium Association in Flagler County, the idea is to again allow local governments to regulate vacation rental laws. A 2011, state law gave that control to state government…Read more.

Field of Dreams and Wish Lists - Lake Worth

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The development of the Park of Commerce "wish" has been trekking along. This has been Scott Maxwell's wish for years now and the rest of the commission has followed suit--get it all shovel ready and developers will come.

On August 26, 2009, the City was awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to develop an infrastructure needs analysis for the POC. The City used matching funds and the Study was done with a total of one-half million invested.

Over the last four years, discussion has been virtually non-existent until lately. Now it's all a part of the Commission's WISH LIST to develop the POC with your $13 million dollars doing it.  Maxwell and friends have suggested a possible general obligation bond for roads infrastructure to be approved by the voters with phases 1, II, and III of the Park to be included if the bond goes forward. The city is not being forthcoming as to the exact amount they want to charge the taxpayers or if they can even get the financing.

Tonight, the commission will be voting on a professional services agreement that has been negotiated with Mathews Consulting (yes, I said "consulting") to serve as the city's representative for Phase I of the Boutwell Road Infrastructure Project (Project) in an amount not to exceed of $349,930 for a term of thirty (30) months.  I don't know why they don't round the figure up to $350,000. Considering this commission has always ridiculed Studies and Consultants, just proves the importance of them when politics dictates.

So, that will mean $850,000 into the project that we don't know will ever get off the ground. We can't even get rid of slum, blight and crime. Soon we will be looking at affordable rentals there that overlook Lake Osborne.  The political WISH is to make it easier for developers by obligating taxpayers to spend millions of  money over decades. It is a righteous, virtuous, good, honorable, upright, decent, worthy, moral, ethical and reputable pursuit, so they tell us.

Late afternoon at Lake Worth beach

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Jeff Clemens keeps sponsoring bills

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Sunshine State News said, Sen. Jeff Clemens filed measure SB 450 to expand Florida’s “Do Not Call” list to include text and electronic communications to the landline, mobile or Internet phone services. Currently, state law prohibits sales solicitation by telephone to numbers on the list. The Lake Worth Republican’s proposal would expand the definition to include other, more advanced communications apart from landline or cell phone calls.

BUT, but, but.....Clemens is a Democrat!

Read more... at St. Peters Blog.

Knockout victim wins the game

The punks can call it a game if they want, but it is all sick, vicious killer attacks against white people.  This is one victim who was "packing." More people need to get a concealed permit.

More on E-Cigarettes

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By Associated Press, Published: February 15PENSACOLA, Fla. — A Florida man trying to kick the smoking habit was puffing on an electronic cigarette when a faulty battery caused it to explode in his mouth, taking out some of his front teeth and a chunk of his tongue and severely burning his face.

On a recent front page of the PBPost was an article on e-cigarettes. The main jest was that e-cigarettes are an alternative to regular cigarettes and will not have harmful effects, but no one knows this for sure.  It talked about the celebrities smoking electronic cigarettes and how delighted people are of all ages to have this cool device. Very little emphasis was given to the dangers.

The subject interests me because we have such a store right in the heart of our downtown. Those that push this stuff say that E-cigarettes don't contain tobacco but there is liquid nicotine that is heated up by some sort of mechanism and you exhale nicotine vapors. No one really knows if this is dangerous or not and some regulatory agencies and  health experts have a lot of questions about the possible side effects of inhaling nicotine vapor. They want to know if there are any bad side effects to this latest trend both to users and to the public. Proper research trials have not been conducted and there is no prove that they are safe.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and some doctors are concerned that the side effects of inhaling pure nicotine have yet to be adequately studied. According to the FDA  it is concerned about what sort of ingredients make up these e-cigarettes. The FDA has not evaluated any e-cigarettes for safety or effectiveness. When the FDA conducted limited laboratory studies of certain samples, it found significant quality issues that indicate that quality control processes used to manufacture these products are substandard or non-existent. FDA found that cartridges labeled as containing no nicotine contained nicotine and that three different electronic cigarette cartridges with the same label emitted a markedly different amount of nicotine with each puff. Experts have also raised concerns that the marketing of products such as e-cigarettes can increase nicotine addiction among young people and may lead kids to try other tobacco products.

Here is what IS known about e-cigarettes:
they contain toxic chemicals
kids and teens can buy them
they come in all sorts of flavors that kids like
e-cigarette companies are spending millions on advertising
Can be used where smoking is banned--restaurants, beach, etc.
People think they can quit cigarette smoking by using e-cigarettes but there is no proof
Aimed at the young

The British Medical Association and the World Health Organization are wary of the trend and warn of the dangers that may be associated with the smoking devices. In 2013, 4.3% of middle school students and 12.1% of high school students had tried e-cigarettes and 1.8% of middle school students and 5.4% of high school students had used e-cigarettes on one or more occasions during the past 30 days (current e-cigarette use).

How can an electronic cigarette that contains unknown or possibly toxic chemicals be legal? Due to tobacco lobbies, it took centuries before the government had definitive studies that proved tobacco is injurious to your health.  How can anyone, with any degree of certainty, be confident that they are not injuring their health by doing something that they consider "cool" but not tested?

The effects of E-cigarettes must be studied. How does anyone know if inhaling these vapors is not dangerous?

Duh, Debbie Does it again

RNC chair Reince Priebus defended the GOP and claimed that Obamacare has led to millions of people losing their insurance, while DNC head Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) lashed out at Republicans and claimed that her opponent doesn’t understand how the health care system works. Duh, Republicans are dumber than dirt, right Debs?

Trinkets and Treasures in Lake Worth

Located at 712 Lake Avenue--

this is one of my favorite shops

Visit them on Facebook

West Palm Beach City Commission has final say on CRA

Even though West Palm Beach's strong mayor, Jeri Muoio, gets to select and negotiate the contract with the outside firm that will take over its Community Redevelopment Agency, the city commission will have the final say thanks to Commissioner Shanon Materio questioning the process.

Read about it...

"Why should I work?"

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Woman on welfare and gaming the system making over $1,300 a month says, "Taxpayers are fools."

Lake Worth Playhouse

At the Lake Worth Playhouse through December 8--Cute comedy--

It is December 1936 and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. Then it’s up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

Black teens beating up white senior citizens

NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral

Letting the Genie out of the Bottle

Rayan Dhamuke, 12, doesn’t get to swim a lot, unlike her brothers. During the past summer, she had to visit the pool at 5 a.m. so that she would have the privacy she needed to enjoy the water while still adhering to her family’s cultural and religious beliefs. No assimilation in America, no siree.

Read more... about the first steps of Sharia taking over. The YMCA and the St. Paul police are accommodating the Somali Muslim community. Read more.

Valentina's Treasures now in downtown Lake Worth

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Valentina's Treasures at Dixie and Lake Avenue

Hollywood and Vine, owner's Chihuahuas

Owner, Eddy

This store has it all from jewelry, consignments, antiques, furs, vintage.

 You can even buy a car.