Lake Worth CRA and our Reality

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Tonight is a CRA meeting and it will discuss giving Publix supermarkets $500,000.

They have pushed for Publix to build on the Hammon Park property. Everytime I think of Publix, Associated Industries comes to mind. They represent Florida businesses, including Publix Supermarkets Inc. and is heavily behind the group out to defeat Florida Hometown Democracy. Publix is ranked 101 out of the top 1000 top ranked companies by Fortune. It has 107,000 employees with the average salary at $109,989. Click here for the source.

I am curious to know if there is a major supermarket on U.S. #1 in the State of Florida. If so, where? If one exists, does it border a single family residential neighborhood? What does Code allow? What zoning is allowed and what is appropriate? The City now will be changing ALL OF THAT to accommodate Publix. Is there really a need when we have a Publix less than 1 mile from this location (3 minutes away) and located in an appropriate area? Those caught up in the rapture say "yes." It will allow some folks to ride their bikes to the grocery store, a big priority.

Publix’s sales for the first half of 2009 were $12.4 billion, a 2.4 percent increase from last year’s $12.1 billion. Comparable-store sales for the first half of 2009 decreased 2.7 percent. Net earnings for the first half of 2009 were $622.3 million, compared to $638.9 million in 2008, a decrease of 2.6 percent. Earnings per share increased to $0.79 for the first half of 2009, up from $0.77 per share in 2008. And they have their hand out for one half million dollars of our money. This $500 thousand is nothing in the scheme of things to this corporation. This is a lot of money to us and certainly would not break the deal. All companies pull this stunt but in a poor city? Pathetic.

Randal T. Jones, President of Publix has stock options worth over $855 million dollars. They should be paying us to come to our City.

Just ask Tropical Ridge neighborhood. For all the tax money they have been paying for years, where has the CRA been for them? Find out tonight at the CRA meeting at 6pm at City Hall.

The CRA meeting conflicts with two candidate forums tonight so I doubt if there will be many from the public to speak out. This gift of $500,000 to Publix will probably pass just as the $700,000 to the PB Cultural Council passed. $1.2 million give-aways--one to a wealthy corporation and the other to a council with zero guarantees that it will do one thing for the City of Lake Worth.

Talk about irresponsibility of the CRA--just look at the Audit. They have over $5 mil in an account that then was only insured up to $100,000 if the bank failed. The FDIC insures up to $250,000 now.

One lawn mower and a few trash cans--that is the reality in Tropical Ridge. The reality for the City of Lake Worth is that the CRA just keeps spending and taxpayers just keep paying and the city still looks like hell.