Recently we had a group of snowbirds from the Bryant Park neighborhood appear before the city commission to talk about what they thought "fairness" meant. Delightful bunch. "Fairness" to them meant that they should all get a beach decal sticker because "we pay more in property taxes than you do." They wanted free transportation and wanted the trolley back to take them here and there. One complained that they couldn't vote here. The right to vote for local office is governed by local, state and federal law. We do not allow nonresidents (someone without a Florida driver's license and/or Florida vehicle registration or who doesn't have a voter's card) to vote based on property ownership. And if one of these snowbirds voted here as well as in their own state or country it would be deemed electoral fraud. That's how far they took their argument for living here for 3, 4, 5 months of the year. They want the whole enchilada.
They were all there again Tuesday night probably at Commissioner Szerdi's suggestion and screaming at people during the commission break with one Canadian nasty woman saying, "You (the city) would starve to death without us." They showed their arrogance and impudence and fit right into the squeaky wheel syndrome talked about earlier, (Szerdi is listening to them) by screaming in the hallway, "We pay more taxes than you do." So? There are advantages of being US citizens and residents of Lake Worth, or at least there should be.
They are only property owners in our city, guests in our city if you will. Most guests are cordial and play within house rules...not these people--rude and obnoxious and encouraged to be that way by a city commissioner who is siding with their complaint for "fairness."
**So, by using the description above, snowbirds are NOT residents even if they own property here. They just seasonally reside here; they are property owners.
Many of these "snowbirds" are clever folks. It's not only the weather that attracts them but they buy a property here to use for their low-cost vacation time. In most cases, it is cheaper than staying in a hotel during the Season. In Lake Worth, they have manged to get good buys in property. They have money; they just want "deals." Early bird specials are the norm. A vast majority of them are Seniors and they can afford to pay the metered price of $2 an hour--they just don't think it's fair to make them. They come here to primarily use our beach.
Commissioner Szerdi truly believes that these property owners are being discriminated against and he believes in "fairness." These people aren't even voters so he's not pandering for the vote. The snowbirds don't understand that the situation at our beach changed after the beach redevelopment. We used to have unlimited spots for decal permits and snowbirds paid double the price of residents. Now we have to adhere to the Palm Beach County Bond Agreement.
The city sold 1,332 decals in 2013 for 50 resident spots and now some seasonal property owners want to hog these spots because beaching it is what they do best other than complain, and open them up for all the thousands of snowbirds who own property here. The next time you can't get a decal parking spot, call Commissioner Szerdi:
561.586.1734
561.231.4535 Cell
jszerdi@lakeworth.org
18 comments:
it really does boil down to not only common sense but what is a resident. You described it very well. It has nothing to do with how much money they pay in taxes. Snowbirds need to change their domicile and get homesteaded here and get a florida vehicle registration. French Canadians are known to be really cheap and now as you pointed out, rude.
What the hell? There are 50 spots. What is John Serdie thinking here? He's not thinking.
this city cracks me up
thanks for the daily laugh
I can see both sides to this but I really think that we have to distinguish between people who do not live in our city full time but own a home here and people who live elsewhere and own nothing here. So maybe we should have three classes of people:
Permanent resident sticker pays least expensive sticker price;
Part-time resident pays higher rate for a sticker, (say twice the normal rate); and
Non-resident who has to pay full price for parking.
This would seem to be a fair compromise as the part-time resident is paying taxes to support the beach and is paying our high utility rates that also support the beach and as such I don't think they should be put in a non-resident category. I think we should work out some compromise.
It's still 50 spots! Taxes have nothing to do with whether someone is deserving of a resident sticker.
How do you work out a compromise with FIFTY (50) spots?
This blog did exactly that Mr. Rinaldi. It made the distinction between resident and non-resident. Can you all stop trying to bleed blood out of a turnip?
Actually, there are more options. The lot across the street, Causeway Park, Old Bridge Park or Hot Dog! Park should be resident overflow. The Employee lot, directly behind Mulligan's could be used as resident and let employees park in Causeway Park.
I do think that snow birds offer a great deal, they do often pay more in taxes (and we need those tax dollars) than similar homesteaded homes and while they often pay more in taxes they utilize less services. That is a win for us as a city. I, actually would like to see more snow birds, and the city market itself to snow birds. As a city we gain much by having these folks here.
Now, should they get the same services a resident does? No, but why not come up with a compromise as John mentioned and have them pay more for a decal or have a limited snow bird decal good just for Jan. - March or something like that. How often is the resident lot full, is this really an issue? Could we offer some other options for the snow birds?
I own property in a resort area, I receive no services for my tax dollars as my property is undeveloped. This is an area I visit regularly b/c I have family there. One time I went to the town library for some reason (which is a beautiful new building) and I was told I couldn't do something b/c I did not have a resident library card. Well how can I get one I asked, well you have to live here, well I own property here, etc. I have to say I was not happy when I was told that I basically had no rights to the services I needed, despite the fact that I had been paying taxes to this town since 2004. I figured at the very least since I received no services I ought to be able to get library services. So I do see it from the snow bird side as well.
50 spots, people! 1,332 decals were sold for 50 spots ! Isn't that fraud ? Anyway, if these snowbirds want to take the steps to become RESIDENTS, then they can buy a RESIDENT beach sticker !
If Szerdi wants to open the ENTIRE BEACH to resident parking, then we can have a conversation. Until then, the rude obnoxious snowbirds can take a flying leap right up Szerdi's AZZ! Go home, snowbirds! We don't need you or your filthy money ! Maybe 15 or 20 years ago we did , but not now. We have a huge year round population which is getting bigger by the day. As a matter of fact, I think we need to charge Canadians a 1,000 dollar fee right at the U.S. border just for the privilege of stepping foot in America and for all of the rude crap and nonsense spewing from their cavity ridden mouths that we have to endure! And by the way- while you're lucky enough to be in America , we have these doctors that look at your teeth called dentists. Go see one!
Lynn, how can you say that taxes have nothing to do with resident status. It has to be considered as at least one factor in deciding if you are a resident. If you own a home here you have a vested interest in the city and you should not be put in the same category as someone who lives in Ohio and is staying for 4 days or someone who lives in Wellington and wants to go to the beach. We are trying to get more folks to buy homes here and snowbirds use very little city services and pay the same taxes as the rest of us. We need more of these folks given the fact that we are broke. I agree with John. We need to give these folks some benefit. The fact that we only have 50 spots can be attributed to Cara Jennings and Mulvehill who got rid of our upper parking lot.
This Commission, minus Mr. Szerdi, had EVERY OPPORTUNITY to change the damn design. They let it fly. We can put the final blame on them just like the greater bay settlement.
P.S. The amount of taxes someone pays has NOTHING TO DO WITH RESIDENT STATUS.
Let me repeat that-
The amount of taxes someone pays has NOTHING TO DO WITH RESIDENT STATUS.
I explained that.
I think we should change our definition of resident. If you pay taxes and live in your home a certain amount of time you get a certain status. Full time residents get the bet deal and part-time residents get a different deal. That's the fairest way to work this out.
Let's just open up the entire beach and make it free parking for anyone who pays taxes, businesses and all. We then no longer have to worry about 50 decal parking spaces for 1,332 people who bought stickers and the 2,000 more to come who demand them.
Someone who owns property here in our fine city and pays MORE in taxes should be provided some consideration. We do want to attract snow birds, the ones that live in close proximity to me are wonderful. They have money, they spend it, they pay more in taxes, they help subsidize our poorer residents or those that have been here long term and pay very little in taxes. We don't want to alienate these folks. How often is the resident parking full?
It's ok to alienate the residents though, right?
We attract Snowbirds. There aren't too many beaches around that they can go to and none where they can go without paying.
We depend heavily on our parking revenue--without it the beach enterprise would fail.
Perhaps we should just flip it all around and have Snowbirds able to get decals and the residents made to use the parking meters for $2 and hour. Would that make you happy? After all, 50 spaces don't go very far unless, of course, it is you or Szerdi going to the beach.
What is wrong with trying to work out a compromise as suggested by Mr. Rinaldi? Purchasers of beach decals are made aware there are only 50 spaces alloted for decal holders. The current number of decal parking spots was set when Lake Worth accepted $5 million from PBC for the beach and the County dictated how many parking spaces how to be available to everyone in PBC. That agreement was worked out by a previous Sity Commission so blame them for the lack of decal parking spots.
And there was some yelling in the hallways on Tuesday night. But to be totally transparent, a resident was yelling just as much as the snowbirds.
How often is the lot full? Are there any stats on that, would providing decals to snow birds (at a greater rate) impact whether or not the lot is full or not?
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