During the week of January 6 - 12, there were 75 bookings into the Palm Beach County Jail: burglary, larceny, grand theft, tress-passing, marijuana possession, carrying a concealed weapon, battery, DUI and other sundry violations to warrant arrest. These are the criminals who were caught.
Sorry I have to burst everyone's bubble again but we have a serious crime problem in Lake Worth.
You have a few choices. Alarms, gun, big dog,take up Karate, sit a big male manequin by the front door in a chair or move.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it wasn't such a great idea to cut the police contract by over a million dollars.
ReplyDeleteLynn, do you think there is more waste and mismanagement in the budget than the $1,700,000 that needs to be cut to offset the special assessments for fire and street lights?
The problem is not a lack of police presence, nor is a lack of work on their part. The problem is the type of people the City seems to attract. Convicts, illegal immigrants, vagrants, drug addicts, alcoholics and on and on and on.
ReplyDeleteYou can't prevent a DUI or concealed weapon or a trespassing. Those types of crimes will be committed no matter if it is PBSO or LWPD. What matters is catching them and hoping that an arrest will be some sort of deterrent to committing the crime again.
Yup--you are absolutely right. We are attracting these types because of cheaper housing stock, lack of code enforcement (not because they are not trying), criminals non-fear of the Sheriff, bleeding heart liberals, you name it. It just seems like we have given up on slum and blight and instead we are concentrating on say, the Park of Commerce as an example that will cost us millions that we do not have. It also seems like the damn criminal is winning.
ReplyDeleteAEJ--Our ad valorem that we receive was reduced because of falling property values. If we want the services that we now have, we must get the money. My argument was delay some capital projects that are not absolutely necessary--not spend that amount of money--until our economy improved and we start getting the taxes, etc. It looks like property values are projected to go down another 2% this year. I always maintain that we can find more cuts if we look. No department wants to cut its budget. I don't know the answer but maybe if we hire an internal auditor we will find a way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynn for the comment about the Internal Auditor, as that assistance didn't come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThe capital projects paid for by the general fund are already on the chopping block as part of the proposal for repealing the fire assessment. The other capital projects are all non-general fund programmed projects - stormwater and the elephant - UTILITY. Delaying them doesn't put any extra dollars in the general fund. Unless, of course, the City hiked it's PILOT or administrative fee and pulled in a few extra million from the Utility. Which is exactly what the past and current Commission has said they will not do.
ReplyDeleteCara's dream has come true, blight, slum, over crowding, low property values...
ReplyDeleteThat was never her agenda. I want to thank Cara for our RO System, kicking Sun Recycling off our landfill and kicking Greater Bay off our beach.
ReplyDeleteDoes any of this have anything to do with many being against gentrification here in Lake Worth?
ReplyDeleteYea because the RO system and the beach are going so great!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you contine to deny what Cara's agenda was/is?
Well, why do you keep talking about BS and being a broken record on BS? Cara is NOT up on the dais...hasn't been in some time. Ask Scott Maxwell why he has dropped his number 1 priority of slum and blight and now wants to develop the Park of Commerce? Ask him. Ask all the rest of them what they are doing to correct this serious problem. Ask them about the last time they went on a crime walk. Ask them the last time they even talked about it. Ask them if they are ersious about cleaning up our streets and not just leaving it to the PBSO that can't do it. The CRA has 23 million to build affordable housing and they won't be able to make one dent in the slum and blight.
ReplyDelete"Sorry I have to burst everyone's bubble again but we have a serious crime problem in Lake Worth".
ReplyDeleteWho are you kidding, it makes your day to post negative stuff about Lake Worth. You're like those conservative talk show hosts that claim to love america but hope for it's failure.
You must not be able to remember how bad the crime was before PBSO took over from LWPD.
If only Stanton was still around to implement her brilliant plant for LW to have it's own police department.
Pathetic.
Anon @ 7:59 am
ReplyDeleteCara did not have any such agenda. Her efforts were to help those less fortunate. Her heart was and is in the right place. The problem is with the receivers and a complete lack of responsibility: I am entitled, I can do what I want - I do not have to take care of my own property, I do not have to help keep the city clean, I do not need to participate in city meetings, I do not need to help raise up my own neighborhood, I do not need to volunteer for school programs that help the children, I do not have to report crime or look upon the police as help to the city instead of being the bad guy... etc etc. If one is going to receive, one needs to give... not even money... RECEIVERS, PLEASE GIVE YOURSELF AS A USEFUL PART OF THE COMMUNITY!
Dear Pathetic-
ReplyDeleteCrime is UP, not down since PBSO has taken over...up in every category but two.
thank god for conservative talk show hosts who tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteSo Lynn, again, what is your opinion about gentrification here in Lake Worth? For it or against it? balance, what? Do you really want the crime, slum, and blight addressed in this city or not?
ReplyDeleteWell, since you continue to goad and you don't seem to remember anything I have ever written here, one more time--
ReplyDeletewe need to raise our property values. Just trying to get more affluent to buy here is the problem. It is all just an economic process. I want to see our neighborhoods rehabilitated. I want to see more owners actually residing in these houses and taking pride where they live. We have seen a dceline of the middle class in Lake Worth. We need people with disposal income living here in LW. It is time to work on changing the past trend. So, read between the lines on the gentrification issue. :)
So if I'm understanding 9:32's explanation, Cara's expectation was that her making Lake Worth a sanctuary city, attracting hordes of illegals and the super poor would result in those poor huddled masses leading Lake Worth out of the financial hole it's in? How? She's smarter than that. She can probably find more effective ways to help the poor than by impacting a bunch of middle class working folk.
ReplyDeleteLynn maybe petty crime is up since PBSO took over but the gang violence, street prostitution and other major crimes have been reduced dramatically. What's more important? Not to you, but in general?
Get your facts straight, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleterobbery and aggravated assault, down 19% and 12.6% respectively, which skews the entire crime category percentages with the remaining crimes listed below. Read about it here.
Crimes in Lake Worth are up for--
Forcible rape...75%
Burglary...0.8%
Larceny...6.1%
Vehicle theft...7.8%
Murder is at 2 cases, the same as last year.
The Post reported that Lake Worth has had 1,042 crime cases this year compared to 1,034 for 2010.
This is NOT ABOUT PETTY CRIMES BEING UP.
I am not playing 20 questions with you.
This was kinda humorous. I had a couple come up from Miami Gardens to buy something off Craig's List. They had never been here but were very surprised by our main street and all the "foreigners" out on the street. Made her nervous.
ReplyDeleteShe wondered if they were Mexican or what and I tried to explain they were mostly from Guatemala with many from neighboring countries.
I told her they were hard working, mostly non-violent, quiet types.
She compared it to her "hood" where people are robbing and shooting each other. "Be careful posting on Craig's List where you are asking to get robbed".
She still preferred her hood to ours.
Just saying it was a little humorous.
c