I have concluded that the City does what it wants to do. Regarding the Shuffleboard Courts, the back-up on tonight's packet for the special city commission meeting said that it was public consensus to use the CDBG funds for the shuffleboard courts as it was the highest priority. The City only mentions the one proposal to retain one-half of the courts at the shuffleboard court building and demolish the remaining 14.
The truth of the matter is: At the first public meeting the vote was 14 to 12 FOR retaining only 14 courts. Two people in my community had already left for their own meeting and did not stay for this tally. They would have voted to retain ALL 28 courts.
At the second meeting, 11 people out of 13 wanted ALL of the courts to remain.
Why doesn't the back-up mention the REAL count? We know why. It's a fix. No one cares about national or international tournaments and putting Lake Worth on the map. Any kind of national meet brings tourist dollars. No one cares about our history. No one cares about convenience at the beach. What they do care about are windmills and all things "green."
4 comments:
FYI, the recommendation by Staff is for the $194k to be spent on "infrastructure" NOT on the Shuffleboard Courts.
Regardless of they keep 14 courts or 26, the point is that NOTHING will be done to improve security or to refurbish the courts unless the Commission acts TONIGHT to direct those CDBG funds for the Shuffleboard Courts.
Alarmist? Perhaps. But once that money goes to infrastructure, there is no going back to the Commission and asking for other infrastructure money be taken away for use at the Shuffleboard Courts. Can you imagine the uproar? The $62,000 currently earmarked is not enough to refurb the courts, put in lighting, fencing, security cameras , landscaping, etc. to truly make this a recreation destination for the residents of the west-side.
When was the last time those courts were used for a tournament? I'm all for retaining some for sake of history, but does it really make sense to pay all kinds of money to retain and refurbish courts for the sake of a few people who might want to use them.
When the courts were active, there were many tournaments there. The City allowed the property to be trashed when it rented it out. With the proper marketing, it can be hugely successful. It is in the heart of the commercial area in our downtown right up from city hall and it is an important property that anyone in the city can use. It can, once again, be something of pride for all of us especially the neighborhoods its borders.
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