That’s about all the time it took last night at the CRA meeting for Brendan Lynch to make a motion for the Board to approve a beautification grant for Zachary Freeman. On a 4 to 2 vote with Wayne Marcinkoski, (true to his stated purpose of implementing a common sense approach to his decision process), and Donna Ross dissenting, the owner at 1014 N F Street was granted his wish—a sprinkler system, new sod for his front lawn, removal of three trees and a wooden fence/gate.
What the CRA says about its Beautification Grant: The Residential Beautification Grant offers residents living in the CRA district up to $10,000 in matching funds for the repair of certain exterior residential fixtures as well as the beautification of exterior portions of an owner occupied property. A main mission of the CRA is to provide the residents and business owners in Lake Worth the necessary resources to eliminate slum and blighted conditions. That is directly from their web site.
The house at 1014 N F Street was NOT blighted. This money was NOT for repairs. This money was not for beautification when its owner applied for an irrigation system or the removal of three trees. This is not about whether these trees are invasive or not. This is about how we spend tax dollars.
Yes, it’s true; I like grass, not xeriscaping. That’s my preference. However, no matter what I or anyone likes, we don’t need to be giving money away to someone whose property is NOT blighted and contribute money towards his desire to have a showplace on his street. There are way too many people worthy of this money, not someone with an adjusted gross income of $77,000 a year, over twice the medium income of a Lake Worth resident. This is not for someone who is perfectly capable of taking care of his property but instead wants a hand-out. This money, of which we have little, should be going to the truly needy, with the purpose of eradicating blight, if doled out at all.
