Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Getting the Facts straight regarding Lake Worth's beach park

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Well, if Kevin D. Thompson, PBPost reporter can recycle old articles, I can once again publish facts about our beach complex. Thompson says that Etta James might be crooning, "At Last."  Retha Lowe might still be tossing her football regarding the beach, but we residents are happy with our beach park and that it all got upgraded just a few years ago to the tune of $13 million.  Where has Mr. Thompson been that he doesn't know that? And $13 million ain't hay for a poor city. Read his article.

Following are some of the important points that were NOT mentioned in the article:
  • The $6 million was borrowed from ourselves out of reserves to build the casino. There are people out there who after reading his article, believe we are defaulting on a loan and Mr. Thompson says that the city is worried about paying back the money.  We are not worried. This is one point that really drives me nuts as it leaves out the facts and it comes directly from City Hall to scare people.
  • The most insipid statement in this article: Since the site was restored three years ago and had its Roaring Twenties opening in March 2013, the city has said it’s having a hard time paying back the $6 million it borrowed to fix the building, mainly because the site doesn’t have enough tenants. Think about that for a moment.  The square footage is constant no matter if one tenant leased the space or ten. And now the city will listen to a presentation on Thursday night from a prospective tenant that wants to lease the entire upstairs at $20 a s.f. including CAM (Common Area Maintenance) ...such a deal.
  • This commission has voted to delay principal payments on the Casino loan to ourselves because of other issues however we have paid back $250,000 in 2014 and 2015 for a total of $500,000 and have paid all interest on the loan to ourselves. Ridiculous stuff comes up such as hiring a public information officer, some obvious priority for this majority commission that is up for re-election. They don't need to hire anyone at taxpayer expense; They have Kevin D. Thompson of the Post.
  • The mayor is wrong about our pool.  It IS regulation for high school and college for 25 yard meets.
  • The city has 100% failed to market our pool or to even let visitors know we have a pool.
  • We just upgraded our entire beach park of 19 acres with the casino opening in 2012 for $13 million. Maxwell and the CM are not allowing the financial plan to work because the city has not rented the upstairs space. Pool operational expenses were thrown into expenses that never were included in the financial plan.
  • The city manager went out on an ITN on his own initiative. It was brought before the commission with no discussion or approval by the public. The CM appointed the Select Committee other than commissioner Amoroso. There was never any discussion on this and if there was, they would have known to keep their hands off our beach.
Our big problem in this city has always been lack of maintenance.  No one takes care of anything. Our pool is not cleaned properly even if a lifeguard just told me that "it is not mildew; it's a stain on the bottom of the pool."

At its worst
Now I ask you, who in their right mind would want to swim in a pool that looks like this?  Just another reason why they are not getting business.
Better

12 comments:

John said...

This Thompson is one lazy reporter. He's writing this article with BS fed to him by the city. He lied by omission on the loan.

Anonymous said...

Palm Beach Post = Kissing up to corruption

Anonymous said...

The Post has gotten almost everything about Lake Worth wrong over the last couple of years. But it seems like Kevin Thompson is taking it to a new level. No wonder no one here subscribes to this paper anymore.

Anonymous said...

Kevin D. Thompson. Don't forget the D. He doesn't like it excluded.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure its the reporters fault since the City gives him their spin. Who else should he talk to. I think its hard to rebut the City's disinformation since they have the bully pulpit.

Anonymous said...

Damn right it's the reporter's fault. He should apply for the Information officer for Lake Worth.

Weetha Peebull said...

Showing up and asking a city in corruption county what their spin is - well it's spin obviously! Not doing your home work and auditing meetings (a hard task) shows laziness and not research - a big poker tell! The ITN meetings audio are an obvious poker tell and just showing up like you do and taking current pictures is a better article than he'll ever write - unless he looks for the truth - the whole truth and nuttin' but the truth...! Come on Kevin - when the dais flips you will be outta job' like the others before you - speak for the 'other' part of lake worth and not just the ones that seem popular now but will sink and take you with them in March...you have kids and need the job, right?

Anonymous said...

Bornstein needs to be fired for this disgusting shame that was pulled on the citizens.Secret meetings?? REALLY Mr. Bornstein?
Why haven't William Waters and Andres Amoroso been fined or put in jail for trying to tamper with an election? It's all there on the ITN tapes.
I called Mayor Pam Triolo last week on her city hall phone number and asked her if the public could speak at the Thursday meeting. SHE HASN'T BOTHERED TO CALL ME BACK YET !!! Next time Pam starts telling the audience at city hall all about how she always answers her citizens, can we all stand up and shout LIAR at her face ?
Pam, Scott (William ) and Andy (Andres) remember what happened to Szerdi.The citizens aren't dicking around when we tell you HANDS OFF OUR BEACH.
Katie Mcgiveron

Anonymous said...

Can we do a recall on Scot Maxwell? His neighbors would sign the petition.

Anonymous said...

Really and truthfully there are no really good investigative reporters anymore. They all write the same manufactured BS from the reigning editors. Once in a great while you will find a reporter that seeks the truth and exposes the lies. Love it when you see a reporter of this character, as they actually stand out from the herd. Doesn't take much for journalist reporters to qualify for a job, just need to take orders and listen, don't think on their own. Ahh...that would be you Mr. Kevin D

Anonymous said...

I have a small pool and it is constant work every day. Do you really think these people want to work that hard? It needs to be scrubbed.

Anonymous said...

Hey folks, don't you remember this guy "Kevin D"?? He was the TV WRITER at PBPost for years. Wrote puff pieces about what's on TV. He might be a competent writer (correct grammar, meets deadlines) but he is NOT a journalist, and certainly not qualified to cover local politics.

Apparently, the Post likes it that way. I've liked/not liked previous Post employees (aka "reporters") assigned to the LW beat. But this guy Kevin belongs in the entertainment section. No wonder he's dazzeled by the fiction that comes out of City Hall.

I'm a longtime Lake Worthian, but have lived in LA & NY, and believe me, the LA Times or NY Times/Post/News do not hire entertainment reporters to cover the news (local or otherwise.)