Shh!

Most readers of Tom’s Page like to know what’s going on in our community and many often attend meetings of the City Commission or the volunteer boards.  Having a meeting’s agenda posted at the City website (or in the CRA’s case their own website) is a vital link to the public.  By knowing the agenda you can not only decide if you want to attend but also know what the Commission or a board is working on.

A visit to Lakeworth.org will inform you that there is a Community Relations Board meeting tonight, however there is no agenda posted for it.  In fact only one agenda has ever been posted for the CRB, December 14, 2009.

Not posting the agenda prior to the meeting shows, at best, poor organization and, at worst, deprives the public of the knowledge of what the board is doing and their ability to make informed comments at the meeting.

Abandon(ed) Ship. . .

Tom’s Page has posted about the boats moored off of Byrant Park in the past and the situation does not seem to have improved.   One houseboat in particular appears to have developed a homing instinct for the park as it repeatedly drifts ashore.

As the seawall and playground reconstruction draws towards completion (more on that topic in a later post) these offshore eyesores continue to spoil the view.  Of course they constitute more than just an eyesore as they hold fuel and other contaminates that can be released if their hulls are punctured or, as in the case with at least three of them visible from the park, they sink.  Additionally abandoned boats can damage sensitive marine environments such as sea grass as they scrap along the bottom.

While Florida leads the nation in income from recreational boating (estimated at 18 billion dollars in 2007) it also has the largest number of abandoned and derelict boats.  In 2009 Florida State Statute 376.15  authorized the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and its officers and all law enforcement officers to remove any derelict vessel from public waters and the costs incurred to be paid by the owner of the vessel.  The Fish and Wildlife Commission also established a grant program to assist local governments in the removal of abandoned vessels.  Unfortunately funding for the program was not appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009 and ending June 30, 2010.

Florida State Statute 823.11 also covers abandoned and derelict vessels and violation can result in an a first degree misdemeanor.    However tracking down the owners of abandoned boats is difficult; the Hull Identification Number or HIN (the nautical equivalent of a car’s VIN number) is easily obliterated or simply may not exist on older or homemade  vessels.

The issue of the abandoned boats off  Byrant Park is not unique to Lake Worth and there are many stumbling blocks in the way of  solutions.  However they constitute blight and pollution to our waterfront, warranting the enforcement of existing statutes and exploring other possible avenues to affect their removal.

The Boys From Paducah. . .

According to Hands On Consulting the word provide doesn’t mean in writing.  Perhaps the word pay doesn’t necessarily mean with money.

A Worthy Cause. . .

In response to Lake Worth Mayor, Rene Varela’s call for aid to our neighbors in Haiti suffering in the aftermath of the massive earthquake, the Dreamweavers at McMow Art Glass will be awarding this beautiful window, valued at $600, to the lucky person whose name is drawn in the raffle to be held Saturday, February 6th at 1pm. A donation of $5 will be gratefully accepted for each raffle ticket. The window features stained and beveled glass in a classic design and measures 20 1/4 inches by 29 1/4 inches. See below for a list of neighborhood businesses where tickets are available.

McMow Art Glass
701 North Dixie Hwy, Lake Worth

Ragtops Motorcars
2119 South Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach

Webber Galleries
705 Lucerne Avenue, Lake Worth

Cyber Business Center
824 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth

The Illustrated Men. . .

Spotted these guys in the Cultural Plaza the other day.

I’ve Been Away. . .

Hi all,

I have been away for the past week or so taking care of a personal matter.  Thank you to all of you who wrote e-mails asking if I was OK.  I am and over the next few days will begin posting again.

Tom

Day’s End. . .

This evening’s rainbow.

Saint-Marc. . .

Photo taken in the mountains outside St-Marc. The child was reunited with her mother.

Sifting through the internet this morning it appears that Saint-Marc did escape the earthquake relatively unharmed, however refuges from Port-au-Prince are now flowing in to the city.  The need for supplies in Saint-Marc will be great .  Please give all you can, go to the City of Lake Worth’s website http://www.lakeworth.org for updated information on how to donate locally.

Here is some of the most recent news of Saint-Marc, gleaned from blogs and news accounts on the internet.

My husband was in St. Marc during the earthquake at Mission Possible with a missions team working on a vocational school. From all the reports I’ve read, though there was shaking, there were no injuries in that area.

I have a child in St.Marc, I am so happy to hear the report there is no injuries there. Praying for all children and people of Haiti. This is so heart wrenching.

Reports from some of the IOM sub-offices have filtered in with staff in the town of St.Marc who visited a local hospital saying that about 50 injured people had come in from Port-au-Prince for treatment. Many people were also looking in the hospital for lost family members. St.Marc was reported to have suffered minor damages and no injuries.

Saint-Marc escaped much of the earthquake damage, but officials there are anticipating an influx of refugees.

A big problem now seems to be the injured from Port-au-Prince who have been sent to hospitals near the orphanage for treatment, Francis said. He saw hundreds outside the hospital in the nearby town of Saint-Marc, waiting for help.

“We have a lot of fractures,” he wrote in an email. “We are running out of meds, I’m on my way to St. Marc [a PIH facility] for supplies.”

Importantly, given the patients already flowing out of Port-au-Prince to St. Marc and our other facilities outside the city, we cannot leave our hospitals understaffed.  So we are recruiting surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, and other medical professionals to travel to Haiti in the next couple of days to help with staffing, particularly as many of our staff have lost family members and friends.

The 23 Million Dollar Letter. . .

“I am so thrilled about the award of NSP-2 funds for our community. This is another example of positive thinking, vision and all of us working together for the good of the City.  I am proud to work here with a terrific staff and leadership. All of our consortium partners and the CRA Board gave us tremendous support and deserve all the accolades that can be bestowed upon them.”

Joan C. Oliva

Executive Director, Lake Worth CRA

Click Image To Enlarge

City Staff “Races” To Help Haiti

This is what our City Staff is doing to help out Haiti.  It’s an extraordinary effort but knowing Lake Worth’s staff it is a sure bet they will exceed their own expectations.

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I am sure that you have seen the devastation that the Haitian Community is experiencing in Haiti. We are asking that you the employee connect with us so that we may reconnect with the Haitian Community. Our heart goes out to those employees whose families were impacted due to this devastation. Directors please kindly identify those employees and submit their names to the Human Resources Department.

When making the decision to donate, think about the fact that you are “safe” here in the United States and your loves ones are near or you have the opportunity to pick up the phone and be reassured of that. In Haiti the simple process of making a phone call is impossible. People have died and families separated due to this devastating earthquake. Walk in the shoes of this community for a moment…now let’s speed up the pace of your walk and “Race for Relief”! The Human Resources Department is challenging you to exceed your expectations when it comes to reaching out to a hurting people. How are we going to do this? Glad you asked, here is the process:

1) The City is being divided into (3) Teams:

Team #1 City Hall, Building Divisions and Customer Service – Team Captain (Diane Clark)

Team #2 Public Services – Team Captain (Joseph Kroll)

Team #3 Utilities – Team Captain (Rebecca Mattey)

2) We are asking that each team “Race” to see who can offer the most relief to Haiti by 5pm on Thursday, January 21st. There is a list of items attached to this e-mail that are needed and we are asking that you deliver those items to the Human Resources Department. There is a “per item” point system and the Team with the most points will enjoy a Pizza Party. The team Leaders with less points will serve the Pizza to the winners . Keep in mind that we are all winners, we just might have to buy our own pizza if we end up being on the teams with the least amount of points!

3) Donations can be delivered to the HR Department starting today! Moving slow is not an option! Think about it, when you are hurting don’t you want relief immediately? Donations have been assigned a point system (see attached list). Monetary donations will receive (1) point per $5 donation. Team Leaders should deliver any monetary donations to Barbara Hiller in the Finance Department.

4) Our Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Commission have met with the Lake Worth Haitian Community already and should be commended for their quick response, Thank you! The employee effort will work in concert with the City’s efforts. A committee of residents have been formulated and we have been in contact with the Barton Elementary Principal who is heading this committee. Once we have collected our items they will be delivered to this group who will in turn have them delivered to Haiti. This group was formulated to ensure that efforts are organized and that all donations are safely delivered to Haiti so that the people may partake of these much need items immediately.

1) We have ONE WEEK to come together and exceed the expectation of the residents that we serve! The race starts NOW and ends 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 21, 2010. Yes we will accept donations after this time BUT they will not be applied toward your points to win the challenge.

2) The items will be delivered to the Committee on Friday, January 22, 2010. We will need volunteers to help transport these items as well.

Thank you for your usual cooperation! If you have any questions just ask.

Make it an extraordinary effort,

Sylvia Woods

Human Resources Department