What IS Going On?

Are we to become a cultural destination or a city of social welfare? The two concepts really are incongruent. Are we ever going to get anything right? To me, there is one big joke going on and all of us citizens are the recipients of the sick humor. None of us know where we are in the scheme of it all.

The City produces an Audit on the drop dead date required by law. Just a short while ago, I sat down to begin reading the Audit from our external auditor, Marcum/Rachlin. On the very first line of the very first table, there is an error. Does this now mean that I must check every figure on every table to see if even the math is correct? How much do we pay these guys?

On one hand, we have the CRA ready and willing to spend millions now and into the future to make this city an artist’s destination. The spiel given from the CRA to justify this plan is that art and cultural activities attract tourists which in turn will attract local and external reinvestment. Once that is done, property values will go up and the arts will be a direct result of property values increasing and more taxes to Lake Worth, er, the CRA. By some miracle, people will all of a sudden become responsible and not litter and urinate on our bushes.

On the other hand, we have a city hell bent on giving away city owned assets. To wit, our Shuffleboard Court Building and our former Senior Citizens Center now occupied by COMPASS. Both of the entities occupying our property have been given leases that go way beyond “favorable.” The Mentoring center pays $1 a year with them taking care of our property. They haven’t done that. No one has explained about their leasing out the main room to the DelSol Campaign with NO City permission to do so. They have violated the Lease terms. They also haven’t mentored because these guys still urinate on our bushes and are destroying our property in the process.

Compass, on the other hand, has made major improvements to our property in order to fit their needs and what was required for occupancy. They now are asking us to take a loan out for $600,000 to make their balance sheet appear in better shape than it really is (they want to be able to attract contributors) and because they found out they had to spend more than they wanted or planned. What are our obligations? The City Commission votes along with the City Manager who had already decided to go out and get a loan…get the citizens of Lake Worth in hock again. That’s what the "no brainer" is here, Mayor…our name on a loan…our obligation to pay it off and our City Manager working behind the scenes to do this before Commission approval in the Sunshine. What happens when Compass comes back to us in a few years unable to make the rent payments? What then? We still have a $600,000 note. Just take a look at our loan balances. The principal never seems to go DOWN.

There is just so much to write about regarding the inequities, the inconsistencies, the inaccuracies, the craziness, the mistakes, people not doing their jobs, the social welfare, the vision, the waste, the give-aways, that frankly, I give up--for today. The City gave up a long time ago.