School Board member, Erica Whitfield, gave a presentation regarding Lake Worth Schools. School grades are going up in some schools and she says they have had quite a bit of success. English reading scores, however, went down across the district. Most kids in Lake Worth qualify for free or reduced lunch and 62% in Palm Beach County. They all get free breakfast. Commissioner Maxwell said that he wants to make sure that these children are taken care of. Herman brought up discrimination and said that "meanness is there" whatever that means. He wants to eliminate the payment by students for lunches altogether. You can see how the demographics have changed, not only in our city, but the county as a whole and socialism has crept in.
Next up was former city commissioner, Retha Lowe, presenting her Jazzy Seniors. The ladies were there in their jazzy shirts to let us know all that they do for that $30 a year cost to join to keep the seniors active and social. They have been fundraising for a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, National Senior Expo. Retha "put the touch" on the Lake Worth commissioners to pick up the tab for the transportation to Memphis that will cost $8,000, funds to come from their discretionary fund. Retha said that she "would appreciate it." I guess she would. None of them declined and that's not surprising. What was surprising was Retha asking for the money.
Greg Richter of South Palm Park Neighborhood Association mentioned the continued prostitution and criminal activity in his area. He wants the city to figure out how to make South Federal highway a more economical viable and safe area. I want to remind all you Elizabeth Warren supporters that she wants to legalize prostitution.
Todd Townsend spoke and wants us to spend millions at our pool by using our penny sales tax. He told the crowd that he believes Commissioner Maxwell should "step down." As you know, Maxwell is against spending one dime at our beach.
Public Hearing on the City's Procurement Code was next and Omari Hardy was the lone dissenter for increasing the city manager's authority to spend $50,000 without commission approval, up by $25,000. He also believes we should not require a bidder to put up a 5% protest bond. And he's right on both counts. The city is freezing anyone's right to protest by charging them exorbitant amounts of money. I believe there was a mistake in thinking that this has not been raised since 1999. Since Bornstein was employed in 2012, this is the 2nd time it has been raised--it was $15k, then went to $25,000 and now to $50k.
Part II at noon
