Build higher where it is appropriate

In the City of Lake Worth it is always the guy looking to make a buck. The developers and those who love them are struggling to regain their control of Lake Worth. They honestly believe that building higher is the answer to our problems. Building high on the Gateways will make Lake Worth better they say. Better for whom? Their pocketbooks?

Some candidates want to go back to the Romano regime when there was a growth vision for Lake Worth and they are doing everything behind the scenes to assure that their pro-development candidates are elected in November. I wish there was just one person willing to tackle the slum and the blight throughout our City. Building higher will not do that. I wish that there was just one person stating that we need to hire a marketing firm to attract businesses to Lake Worth.

Ask yourself, do we want another Lucerne built in our downtown? Our strategy on height and density is all in our Comprehensive Plan and should be controlled there. Smart growth is coordinated there. This is what Commissioner Jennings wants to do tonight.

Developers do not care what our city looks like. All they want to do is build out, build high with as little setbacks as they can get away with. Also, they don't want to even consider the impact on our resources such as water, sewer, electricity and roads. Generally, constructing higher buildings will yield more tax revenue but even with our downtown now, we have a lot of empty storefronts and a lot of empty office space. The tenants won’t come when the building is lower in height so what makes them think they will come when it is higher?

There are always public officials who go around our Comp Plan, however. They did that when they all approved of The Lucerne. There was to be a public benefit here—parking. It never happened. Instead, the developer was the only one getting a benefit and the taxpayers in the CRA are still paying dearly for that politically wrong decision. That building is the prime example of what we don’t want in our downtown.

They try to tell us that it is a matter of fiscal necessity for Lake Worth's health to build higher. They forget to tell you that it is developer profit that is the driving force behind this move for higher buildings in Lake Worth. They want our City. They always have. Let’s start looking at the Park of Commerce, an area that will be appropriate for higher buildings, and keep our downtown heights low thus keeping our small-town charm.