As you can tell from the last few posts this morning was perfect for taking photos around town. The light was as crisp as the temperature and the details of our city’s architecture were highlighted by the sunrise.
The Gulfstream
Bank Building on Palmway
This morning’s walk revealed the sailboat Boomer had broken loose of her mooring and drifted ashore at Bryant Park. There are at least 4 boats off the park that have already sunk or are in the process of sinking. Fortunately a derelict houseboat that was moored close to shore has been removed. A small sailboat like Boomer stores only about 6 gallons of fuel in portable tanks and posses less of an environmental hazard than a houseboat with its much larger integral fuel tanks.
A sailboat washed ashore at Bryant Park is silhouetted by this morning’s sunrise.
Click on image to enlarge
It’s that time of year where just about everyone looks back on the year and considers its highlights. Coincidentally Tom’s Page was started right before Christmas last year and it has been very interesting to review the statistics. First and foremost the visits to Tom’s Page have grown exponentially, especially over the last few months. The number and quality of comments readers have sent in has also grown. With very few exceptions they are insightful and often witty. No doubt the recent elections had a lot to do with that as there was an abundance of topics to post on.
Yet looking back on the most viewed posts, it becomes clear that there is always something to write about here in Lake Worth other than elections.
In ascending order the most viewed posts were:
#10 For The Publix Good. . .
Posted October 12th.
After years of trying the City gets Publix to come to the downtown area. Public concerns are raised about the money the CRA gives to Publix for infrastructure improvements while the Commission inquires about the ethical treatment of farm workers and animals as well as the use of plastic bags. In the end a unanimous vote by the Commissioners welcomes the new Publix with open arms.
Posted December 13th.
Mary gets squashed this time as her ethics complaint against Commissioner Jennings is dismissed due to a lack of legal sufficiency.
Posted December 17th.
Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce President Tom Ramiccio walks the plank. Fired after many years at the helm of the Chamber Ramiccio earned the ire of many local merchants, Commissioner Mulvehill and ultimately the Chamber’s Board of Directors. Legal sparring has begun and we are sure to hear more about this in the near future.
#7 Ouch!
Posted November 5th.
Incumbent Golden defeats challenger Blackman for district 3 Commissioner. The cartoon drew mixed reactions and comments. It also let me know a lot about who has a sense of humor about my posts.
p
#6 Ding Dong. . .
Posted November 10th.
One of the more controversial political cartoons posted results in varied opinions from readers. A follow up post , citing the history of political cartoons, explains that it was intended as a metaphor and not a call to violence against the commissioner.
#5 There’s A Lot At Stake. . .
Posted December 13th.
Blood is shed on the altar of objectivity. The simple task of hiring goes horribly wrong as the City Manager raises Anabeth’s status from local activist to martyr.
#4 Another Caption Contest. . .
Posted December 2nd.
Tom’s Page readers rise to the occasion and lampoon the inaugural session of the new Commission.
#3 No Losers at Environmental Coalition Forum?
Posted October 2nd.
The first pre-election forum is marked by several candidates boycotting it due to perceived bias. While the event is well attended and generally fair a question about candidate Varela’s purported involvement in dolphin trafficking is thrown out in his absence, giving birth to Lake Worth’s “Dolphingate”.
Posted October 29th.
Commissioner Jennings lets her fingers do the walking as she and others mount a phone campaign in an attempt to dissuade Nature’s Way Cafe from hosting an event for Commission candidate Scot Maxwell.
Posted November 11th.
Tom’s Page readers supply captions to a cartoon featuring Mayoral candidates Varela and McNamara squaring off at the debates. The popularity of the caption contests was outstanding and you can be sure there are more in the works.
The ranking of these posts is somewhat surprising but can be attributed to the steady increase in the number of views per day Tom’s Page receives. It is only natural that the more recent posts have received more visits.
There were however other posts that stood out when looking at the year-end statistics.
In particular the The First Candidate’s Forum post by guest blogger Karma garnered more views in a single day than any other . Out of the 419 posts this year on Tom’s Page Karma’s were always in the top 25% viewed.
p
It has been a lot of fun writing Tom’s Page and given the nature of Lake Worth I am sure it will continue.
Thanks for visiting,
Tom
There is something remarkable behind the unassuming storefront at 722 Lake Ave.. Located right next to Island Water Sports Shereen and Hesham are putting the finishing touches on King Tut, The Egyptian Museum. They have decorated the store with some of Shereen’s handmade tapestry and are stocking it with interesting curios from Hesham’s native Egypt.
When asked why they chose Lake Worth to open their store Hesham said that they had tried different cities but felt that Lake Worth has the right type of customer base and in particular Lake Ave. has a lot of potential. He added that they thought that their store will bring customers “over the bridge” and to the downtown.
While the store is open now they plan grand opening on the 9th of January.
The next time you’re downtown be sure to stop by, browse the store and welcome Hesham and Shereen to Lake Worth.
Hesham and Shereen.
The store with Shereen’s tapestry hanging from the ceiling.
Just one corner of the store.
Hesham has created a little bit of his native country.
Art and fabrics from Egypt. 
I have had to reformat my C drive, reinstall a bunch of drivers and software and am now able to once again connect to the internet. While things are not quite 100% I will start posting soon. Thank you very much to all the people who sent me e-mails while I was down. I am just now catching up on reading my mail as well as the local news.
Tom’s computer has crashed resulting in the loss of files, settings and internet access. Perhaps it was the result of bad Karma from a previous post.
This is going to take a while to fix. In the meantime there will be limited posts at Tom’s Page. I hope to be back on-line sometime after Christmas.
December 21, 2009
Lake Worth, FL
The Army Corps of Engineers announced today that they plan to dredge and reconfigure Lake Osborne as part of a federal mandate to return lakes and waterways to their “pre-development” state.
Corps spokesperson Walter Pettibone stated, “Over the years development along the shore of the lake has drastically altered its shape. Reconfiguring Lake Osborne’s shoreline to its original profile will promote better habitat for wildlife by encouraging a more natural circulation of water”.
Using Ground Penetrating Radar the Corps has mapped the lake’s original contours and produced this rendition of what Lake Osborne will look like after the work is completed.
Click Image To Enlarge
After viewing plans for the lake’s new shape Lake Worth Mayor Rene Varela commented, “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something very familiar about it.”
Local resident Lynn Anderson, who lives close to the lake, added, “I like it!”
The Corps plans to start work on the project in the spring of 2010 and expects it will take about 10 years to complete.
Well, I don’t really have a headache, but I do have some holiday related stuff I need to do, so there will be no Radio Free Lake Worth Tonight. See you next Monday at 7:00 for the year-end wrap up.
Tom
A while back I posted on the situation with our City’s Rights of Way that abut the intracoastal waterway and Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill’s efforts in retaining, and in some cases, recovering them for public use.
Commissioner Mulvehill has shared the interesting and relevant example of Deerfield Beach’s experience with Rights of Way on the waterway. They were able to protect all 22 of them within their city limits. In the process 2 lawsuits were filed by landowners adjacent to Rights of Way, both of which were settled in the City’s favor.
The Deerfield Beach office of the Broward Sheriff’s Department reported that they were “not aware of any crime or citizen issues relative to the ROW(s) along our waterways”.
Deerfield Beach “beautified” these Rights of Way in the ‘80s resulting in great access to the waterway for the public to enjoy. The Commissioner noted, “Each is unique – some have picnic tables and/or benches – one has lights – some are used for fishing – some allow dog walking – others don’t- some have parking – some have hours posted”.
In the near future I will posting more about the Rights of Way here in Lake Worth and their status.
They provide public access to our waterfront and are worth protecting.
In the meantime here are some photos of Deerfield Beach’s waterfront Rights of Way taken by Commissioner Mulvehill:
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