Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Tonight at 11pm

UPDATE: Video now up
Comment Up

Channel 12 News tonight will run a segment on Lake Worth Commissioner travel on the taxpayer dime.  You don't want to miss this one as I have been told that it suggests that commissioner priorities are askew.

18 comments:

Weetha Peebull said...

What's MORE IMPORTANT then potholes?

NLC University: Utilizing Tax Increment Financing (TIF)

Credits: 2
Level: 201(Specialized/Advanced)

Tax increment finance (TIF) and special assessment district financing have become the primary funding mechanisms for the development of defined geographic areas. TIF captures the future increases in

property or sales taxes

that new development generates in order to finance the present cost of improvements in economically sluggish or blighted areas. TIF provides local governments with a mechanism that does not rely on federal funds, escapes state limits on revenue and expenditures and does not apply new taxes on municipal taxpayers. This workshop will explain the basics concepts of TIF and best practices for using this tool. A variety of successful projects will be highlighted to help inspire how TIF can be implemented in your community.

CA did a huge study called the
Unknown Government. They did the math and the places that did it on their own did MUCH better than gov bright ideas!

http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/education-and-training/event-calendar/congressional-city-conference/featured-speakers-x9818

Anonymous said...

ANDY AND MAXWELL NEED TO BE WATCHED VERY CLOSE--THESE TWO HAVE BEEN AT IT EVEN BEFORE ANDY WAS ELECTED,THEY WERE HAVING MEETINGS AT DAVES--REMEMBER ANDY GOT MUCH MORE MONEY FROM CRIMINAL DYLAN HARRISON THEN THE PUBLIC KNOWS--WE ARE LOOKING INTO ACCOUNTS IN THE CITY I

Anonymous said...

I think what the video told us is that this commission doesn't give a flying duck about anything but themselves. Screw you and the horse you rode in on as it stumbles in the hole. They are going to do what they please, ethical or not.

Weetha Peebull said...

Ut-Oh, the trip ch 12 shows paperwork on is from November 2013

The National League of Cities 2014
Congressional City Conference is
March 8, 2014 - March 12, 2014 at
the Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C.

See something wrong, say something!
Time to make the call y'all!
561.586.1600

Contact your commissioner 1st is suggested as the proper line of authority to deal with our problems.

Lynn, any chance we could do a poll on the calls made vs. the call backs?

May or may not wake some up as to why the news was involved when they see the response (or lack thereof) from their elected representatives!

Don't call me crazy said...

Do any sane people ever comment on this blog? All I see is whacked out conspiracy theorists. Entertaining for sure, but certainly not based on Planet Earth.

Anonymous said...

Could we at least get a report on their trips at the Commission meetings?

Anonymous said...

It's a nervy bunch.

Anonymous said...

Paid vacations! Thats what public service is all about. Right Andy, Scott?

Lynn Anderson said...

Someone just attempted to post here but resorted to name calling.
To answer the obnoxious comment--Yes, Suzanne Mulvehill DID go to Europe somewhere, invited to give a report at some conference. Don't have time to research it.
The DIFFERENCE, anonymous, is that she had the public vote of the entire commission and on top of that she gave a Power Point to the public on the trip and her presentation.
The point now is, we have NO money to fix the damn potholes but commissioners go here, there and anywhere with no conscience about spending money like this.
If you continue to name call here, your comment will NOT get posted. Make your point without the juvenile BS.

Anonymous said...

Excellent coverage of the problem we have. I didn't see it last night as I fell asleep waiting for the news to come on. Thanks for posting the link. They did a good job on it but it wasn't strong enough. Who reported it to channel 12?

Anonymous said...

With reporting stories like that, it's no wonder WPEC TV 12 is the lowest rated local news station in the area. Where to begin? The want-to-be reporter starts off by say several people in the city want to know why some commissioners are spending "their" tax dollars traveling to attend city related conferences. Well, a quick PBC tax roll search showed no Hiltner as the owner of record of property in LW. So, since he seems to not pay property taxes here in LW who else might have called them? Then the reporter went on to say they "uncovered" information about the LOC conference; information that anyone who keeps up with events here in LW, knew they were going to attend. The info they sensationalized by saying they "uncovered" was actually available by a simple public records request at city hall. No BIG discovery there. They didn't even identify the second person who gave his personal opinion that he felt the money could have been spent elsewhere. Does this person own property in LW and pay property taxes? Does he even live in the city? Then there was more sensationalism when the reporter said "they jetted off on a taxpayers funded trips". How do most business travelers go to conferences these days? By Grayhound? Perhaps that's Mr. Hiltner's preferred mode of travel but most business travel today is by air. It's more cost efficient. And why did the reported have to do a close-up shot on the dog? A dog that seemed to have no rabies tag on its harness. Was this story trying to show our city as wasteful spenders of taxpayers money or trying to portray us as residents of "Cornfield County"? You'll have to be old enough to remember "Hee-Haw" get that one. Professionals never stop learning. Good leaders go to conferences to gain additional knowledge, knowledge they can use to do a better job. Even though a business and a city have a lot of similarities, there are differences in how the two are run. Even though our elected positions are considered a part-time job, I appreciate the fact that this commission is willing to take time away from their family and businesses to acquire additional knowledge from other city leaders and officials to help us solve some of the many problems and challenges that others ignored or didn't feel was important to our community. Good luck WPEC. Maybe the Weekly World News will be your next owner since you're already fairly proficient at tabloid reporting.





Anonymous said...

anony at 2:45 so you are all for th4ese commissioners spending money on party tim. Ok. We heard you. You also said that renters should not have a voice on how commissioners spend money. Is that what you are saying? More than half the city are renters. You just offended plenty of people. You are doing some sort of tabloid reporting when you make an assumption on the guy's dog not having shots but then you guys make it up as you go along. Christ, can it get any worse than you people? Don't know where you get your stats on channel 12 but they are doing a great job on reporting local news and have taken an interest in our city whereas the Post has given up.

Anonymous said...

The Palm Beach Post are not the only ones who have given up. No one ran for office this time around against the WCE. Apathy at its lowest ebb. Channel 12 is gaining viewer share by exposing this stuff. Way to go News 12.

Anonymous said...

Spoke with the mayor about traveling out of state and she told me that they are attempting to get whatever possible funding is available from the Federal Government as well as from the state to help finance the infrastructure repairs that need to be made in the city. No one is traveling for fun here. They are looking for funding and help wherever they can get it.

Lynn Anderson said...

There will always be some who believe that this commission can do no wrong. It's budgeted they will tell you, as your car skirts the holes in the streets that they can't afford to fix. Anyone with just a little bit of integrity can see that spending money like this at this time is greed beyond the pale.

They are not accountable to the residents. They don't want to be accountable nor do they want to be transparent. They believe that they deserve this because they make such a small salary for making policy. Hell, even the top dog Democrat in LW agrees with that. Well, make a policy on this. Make a policy to fulfill the vote of the people last March. That would be a good start.

To answer an anonymous above, I don't know who called Channel 12 but I am happy that they did. Hopefully, there will be a heck of a lot more exposure and waste pointed out by Channel 12. Maybe that's what it will take to get it all solved.

Anonymous said...

I heard that the reporter got bombarded by negativity today from the "best commission ever" for telling the truth. I guess reporting the truth is just too much for lake worth commissioners to handle. Free speech and all of that is just an inconvenience. How does going to this event in order to get elected a vice president of the gay group help this city?

Anonymous said...

IT'S ALL SELF-SERVING BULL CRAP AND LYING JUSTIFICATIONS TO HAVE A VACATION. SCOTT HAS MORE INTEREST OUT OF THIS CITY THAN IN.

Anonymous said...

"Spoke with the mayor about traveling out of state ,,, this from an anonymous poster.

The MAYOR needs to speak to the people that she is representing in a PUBLIC FORUM LIKE ,OH, SAY A DAMN CITY COMMISSION MEETING !!!!
When did being accountable to your bosses, we the people of Lake Worth ,go out the window?
I want a pre-trip explanation of all trips, out lining what the trip is trying to accomplish. And I want a PRESENTATION of the trip after the fact reporting if goals were met. Or not. Katie Mcgiveron