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The Lake Worth CRA is a "mixed bag." I am not really convinced that they will rise above their past decisions. I haven't approved of much and even with this latest Board that is striving to fulfill its mission, the give-away of $500,000 to Publix as well as $700,000 to the PB Cultural Council, or whatever the final figure was, does not set well with me.
Spending money for Hands On Consulting to develop an artist's destination to bring "culture" to our City is incongruent or illogical when you consider all the slum, all the blight and all the crime right in the CRA district. Until you do something about that, you might just as well forget about the rest. The neighborhoods that have to live in these conditions are not thinking about "culture" and it is their tax dollars going towards these projects.
The CRA has a multi-million dollar budget that is approved by the Commission. What do they do? When necessary, the CRA Director moves money from one line to another. Is this the same budget approved by the City Commission? No. It is the same amount of money only.
Spending $15 million of taxpayer money on two roads, 6th Avenue South and 10th Avenue North (The Gateways) in order to attract development was extraordinarily optimistic at best. The only people making money off of these projects were the contractors--not Lake Worth. The constant giving away of hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars to its pet projects is irresponsible. Nothing they have done has changed Lake Worth for the better.
All along the CRA should have been clearing up slum and blight and maybe, just maybe, someone might have wanted to buy here thus eliminating the 20 people to a property that has become the norm in many parts of the CRA district. Because properties have been allowed to deteriorate, the problem has exasperated. It is the CRA district that has the most problems and nothing is getting better.
For those of you who are arguing that it is the anti-development crowd (there actually is NO anti-development crowd, only people who are interested in Smart Growth and ending corruption or companies like Greater Bay or giving away city property for "songs") that has caused the problem in Lake Worth, please research the facts of the matter. For those of you who still don't quite understand The Lucerne and why the CRA is not yet getting any tax revenue from that bad decision, please read the facts about tax increments regarding that lousy deal decided by a previous CRA.
Now with the $23 million Neighborhood Stabilization Grant, the CRA has a chance to get back to its core mission. NSP funds may be used for activities which include, but are not limited to:
- Establish financing mechanisms for purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed homes and residential properties;
- Purchase and rehabilitate homes and residential properties abandoned or foreclosed;
- Establish land banks for foreclosed homes;
- Demolish blighted structures;
- Redevelop demolished or vacant properties
There's but one problem--the CRA has little discretionary money because the HUD money (the $23 mil) is given to the CRA on a reimbursement basis. Joan Oliva, CRA Director, has suggested a revolving line of credit be established to provide the necessary liquidity for the Program. It is projected that the CRA will experience another decrease in revenue this year that will make it more difficult to pay nearly $1 million on the principal and interest on the Gateways debt as well as tax increment reimbursement to The Lucerne.
Tonight's meeting, a joint workshop with the City Commission, will be at the Compass Building starting at 6pm.
The Lake Worth CRA is a "mixed bag." I am not really convinced that they will rise above their past decisions. I haven't approved of much and even with this latest Board that is striving to fulfill its mission, the give-away of $500,000 to Publix as well as $700,000 to the PB Cultural Council, or whatever the final figure was, does not set well with me.
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The Previous CRA board,and I do stress PREVIOUS,was a horrible mix of arrogance,and total disregard for the tax payers money and the taxpayers living in the blighted areas that the CRA was supposed to be improving. Brendan Lynch,ex-CRA member, went so far as to call Lake Worth citizens "locusts". The board treated the funds like their own private piggy bank. No bid contracts for their developer friends were the norm.Even today, ex-board members like Shannon Materio have the nerve to get up in public and tell this new CRA board to "ignore your Commission".Shannon, Brendan Lynch,and ex board members like them, wasted MILLIONS on bad decisions. Arrogance must recognize arrogance,thus we have Hands On consulting-brought to us by the previous board.The "NEW" 6th Ave South is a death trap.I wish that the people that wasted our tax dollars on this nightmare (Jeff Clemens, Shannon Materio, Brendan Lynch , Etc.) were forced to hold hands and try to make it safely to the other side, like all of the "LOCUSTS" that live there.In the slum and blight that Brendan and Shannon never got around to improving.Shannon, this new board is smart. They know enough to maintain open lines of communication with the people who appointed them,and who can also disband them. I think that the only one who is going to be IGNORED by this new CRA board is YOU Shannon. Good riddance.
Wow; so much venom.
Not for the last poster because I don't expect to rehab their beliefs, but for others; I wanted to say 3 things:
1) Every CRA board has made decisions based on development trends and the generally accepted belief about what the next 10 years will look like. This is important to keep in mind when it is 10 years later and someone is looking backward. So, in 2003, when the upward curve of increased development was believed to be never-ending, and in a climate where South Florida was the place to be, and the horizon was unlimited, THAT is the background for 10th and 6th. The economic climate is different than people thought, but I still firmly believe that the roadway improvements were great decisions, and examples of not waiting for Palm Beach County, or somoene else, to fix the gateways to the City. If your reasons for thinking they were bad decisions are based on today's recession, and on some kind of clairvoyant ability where you 'knew' all of that in 2003 than please tell me how things will be in 2018 so i can base my decisions on your knowledge, and while I'm at it, I will also buy the right stocks, it will be a great help, I'm currently limited in my future telling abilities.
2) You have got to be in the low low low 1% of 1% minority of people who could say with a straight face that a downtown Publix, and the Palm Beach Cultural Council, and a 23 million dollar grant are proof that the former CRA board were useless. Seriously? Listen to yourself, or at least read what you write. Walk by the formerly vacant beautiful new home for the Cultural Council when you are at the street painting festival and stop someone on the street, point out the building, and ask them if they think the Cultural Council's new home would be better off as a vacant empty building waiting to decay. Ask 100 people, ask 1,000 people if you want, until you realize that anyone that can think past their own bitter outlook can recognize something that is great for the town.
3) I am putting a reminder in my calendar for the year 2020, with a note saying "are they still talking about the Lucerne tax rebate?" I bet it will still be a hot topic. What do you think, maybe in 2030 it will be considered old news?
Venom? What about the TRUTH, Mark? This has been an inefficient Board in the past as well as corrupt. Are you suggesting that we should just forget about that and all of a sudden everything is warm and fuzzy and peachy keen? If you don't remind people of the wrongs of the past, they will definitely repeat them. Frankly, I don't want that in my City.
One mroe thing, Mark--the PB Cultural Council's "new building" was given to them by the Montgomery's. It was not sitting there decaying as the owners did not want to get rid of it. It would really be best to learn a little history before you start shouting the "dirty's" propaganda.
I wouldn't say venom, I would say OUTRAGE. You , Mark were not even around at the time all of these things were happening. You bet your butt I'm still mad at idiots like Shamnnon Matterio and Brendon Lynch. The arrogance was unbelievable. They totally ignored their mission of fighting slum and blight. All the previous CRA was was a piggy bank wish list for the developers coming into our town .80,000 to redo the CRA offices? Great- it's only someone else's money that we get to waste ! The residents needs were ignored. Who thought that it was a great idea to take over a county road and spend millions on it ? And by the way, Mark,go have some fun and try to cross 6th ave on foot now. Take a good ,long look at what the surrounding neighborhood still looks like,and see if you think the previous CRA was competent.They sucked.And just a word of warning,Mark. That new group of friends you suddenly find yourself surrounded by are a bunch of piranhas.And you know what happens if a school of piranhas gets the scent of blood , don't you ? You better watch your rear when you're around that group, or you won't have a rear to watch.
And ,by the way- The REAL reason millions was poured into a county road was so that the property flippers and con artists that people like Loretta Sharpe and Bo "The Grope" Allen were bringing in could drive quickly past the real blight and slum. I'm surprised that the CRA didn't just wall up the offending neighborhoods. People tried to bring up the question of pedestrian safety, but they got ignored by the CRA.Typical-we were all just LOCUSTS to be ignored.
Dear Lyn and kkss21,
I must clarify that the mark that has posted above is not me Mark A. Parrilla. I spoke to Lyn this morning and we cleared up this confusion. I ALWAYS SIGN MY FULL NAME at the end of ALL MY BLOG POSTINGS ON ALL BLOGS THAT I POST ON. I don't believe in hiding behind screen-names or pseudonyms. I was one of Lyn's strongest advocates to eliminate anonymous postings on her blog. Lyn thank you for helping me clear this up.
Sincerely,
the real,
Mark A. Parrilla
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