By Michael Martino
Martino: Ironwood Park Kudos
In case you have not heard the City of Palm Beach Gardens has a new neighborhood park. The location is the City-owned vacant lot on the corner of Holly Drive and Ironwood Road in Plat 1. It is fittingly named Ironwood Park. The City budgeted $150,000 as a commitment to the park’s success and has recently added updated safety features, irrigation, and enhanced landscaping. It has become an instant neighborhood sensation, as well as, a property value... [Read More...]
Martino: Charter questions… information is missing
I have authored several Martino Minute opinion articles concerning the City of Palm Beach Gardens City Charter Amendments referendum scheduled for election on March 13, 2018. The City Council is pitching four Charter amendment questions on which they are asking Gardens registered voters to cast a “Yes” or “No” vote. After listening carefully to the City Council’s reasons for and discussion of these four questions, and after gathering my... [Read More...]
Martino: “Fixes”…no thank you!
On March 13th the Palm Beach Gardens registered voters are being asked by its City Council to answer yes or no to 4 ballot questions that significantly change the City Charter and dramatically alter the recently passed City Council Term Limit Law. From my perspective, these changes do not upgrade, enhance, or provide forward momentum for the residents and their City Charter or government. In my opinion, the 4 ballot questions deserve a... [Read More...]
Martino: Say NO to the ‘Kool-Aid’
In part due to the overwhelming passage in 2014 of Term Limits the City of Palm Beach Gardens elected five new City Council members. Council members’ faces have changed and the dais nameplates have changed. But so far not much else has changed. The “newbies” promises of change have not materialized. The expectations of term limits have not kick-started the change in governmental style and culture as some expected. That’s my opinion and I’m... [Read More...]
Martino: The Dangerous Allure of Power
Well it’s a done deal. The newly elected Palm Beach Gardens City Council has satisfied its obsessive compulsion with changing the Term Limit Law and the, heretofore, democratic election process in Palm Beach Gardens under the guise and deception of modernizing the City Charter. On January 4th the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens voted to place ballot questions before the City voters that would substantially alter the City Charter. In my opinion,... [Read More...]
Martino: Charter Changes – No need, No reason, No urgency
At the tail-end of the December 7th Palm Beach Gardens City Council agenda scheduled for 1st reading considerations and Council votes were Ordinances 26, 27, 28, and 29. Each of these ordinances concerned ballot language for the City Charter changes that were recommended by the Council appointed Charter Review Committee. It is the City Council’s intent to offer these major Charter revisions as ballot questions to the registered voters of Palm Beach... [Read More...]
Martino: Term Limits Vitriol
On display at the November 2nd Palm Beach Gardens City Council meeting was exactly why Term Limits for elected City Council members was supported by 16,000 registered voters when they were finally allowed to vote on the issue. A member of the City Council that long opposed Term Limits and did everything in their power to prevent Term Limits from appearing on a ballot showed his true colors. In what has been described as an 8-minute “rant” excoriating... [Read More...]
Martino: Bush League City
Attention, Palm Beach Gardens’ residents, did you know that you live in a “Bush League” city? That’s right; according to our City Attorney’s comment at the October 5, 2017 City Council meeting we have a “Bush League” city charter. The charter is the bible for our City. By extrapolation then, is the City Attorney with his “Bush League” utterance inferring that Palm Beach Gardens is a second tier, minor league, City? Probably not is... [Read More...]