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Guest BloggerBy: Anonymous, volunteer petitioner for Respectful Planning PAC
In response to a commentator at 12:51 on the blog, Keeping Our Small town charm
Such lazy thinking. If a mixture of building heights is going to save us, why does WPB have a $6 million budget shortfall? If building height limitations are so disastrous, why hasn’t 48’ height limits in downtown Delray bankrupted Atlantic Avenue? Please give me a detailed explanation of your economic development theory with supporting evidence (isn’t that what you usually demand of anyone who disagrees with you?!).
Please try to avoid the tired developer-driven tripe that assumes an increase in height has a positive impact on the net budget. Anyone who can read a Cost of Services study knows that this is patently false. You would call it a lie. So please, stop spreading your lies. I would love to see how a hotel will “pay for” a library and beach. We already have a beach . . . do we need another one? How much in taxes will your six story hotel generate? Bed tax? Goes to the county. Property tax? Goes to the CRA.
Also, please explain why, if building a hotel is such a quick
and simple endeavor, the PB County Commission has been unable to build one for
10 years. And they have the land, the convention center (built in room nights),
and lots of free money. I know the answer. Do you? Not likely. You’re just
parroting what the mayor says. Is this where we chant “Build it and they will
come”? Except . . . Mulvehill, Golden, Jennings actually got some things built.
This commission is all talk, no walk. Big decision to be made? Let’s put it off
until someone else can take responsibility. Bold move to be made? Oh no, not
us. Let’s just have a sidewalk sale. Hire an auditor? No need, we’re in charge
now. The charter only needs to be respected when it’s convenient for us.
Building heights will save the day!
The last commission spent two years improving streets and
sidewalks in my neighborhood. As soon as the new commission got in, the
improvements stopped. How come????? And FYI, Susan Stanton already brought us
back from the brink of bankruptcy. Now this lazy commission and manager, who
can’t figure out any new revenue streams, and apparently there is no waste left
to cut from the budget now that they are responsible for budget cuts, will
start dipping into our RESERVES that were diligently built by Susan Stanton. I
guess our rainy day has arrived. Spend, spend, spend our savings.
By the way, someone should do something with that rat-infested
disease-ridden pile of toxic waste sitting on the corner of 5th and
K St. The neighbors are all complaining about it to our (Respectful Planning Pac) volunteers.
Your bogus review of that dated Dept of Ag study on rural cities--it did not include any in the state of Fl--shows what a tool you are to the AKs-LDs and Mulvehill-McVoys of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou can't publish this as it is not a unique misunderstanding or misinformation that people like you are well known for----BUT WE KNOW!
I've been fighting to have that big, square moldy box torn down for years. Wes fought to keep it and Cara fought to keep it. Because it is historic(built by the City Hall builder) it is a holy site. I've begged them to sell it for a dollar and put stipulations upon it. There IS a re-hab on 6th and K that gives me hope. That guy pulled off a miracle there. The tenants love it and it brought the whole corner back to life. It's a huge asset now. Go find out who that guy is and BEG him to do the same for 5th and K. C'mon Andy you can do it...or anybody ...PLEASE!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood guest editorial by the way...got me to thinkin'....
The previous majority spent very dollar this city had, plus the reserves and not o mention millions of additional utility dollars to fund a casino project at the expense of high priority, job creating projects...poc comes to mind here.
ReplyDeleteStanton simply had nothing to work with when she arrived and frankly no choice but to cut to the bone.
Any suppose Jennings stepped down here? She accomplished what she set out to and use her buffoon commission mates to carry it out.
Kindly inform readers what you are talking about regarding a study. Must dispute your opinion?
ReplyDeleteTo the first poster above...please elaborate. I have no idea what you are talking about. Were you insulting me or just being insulting in general? I really wish you had the guts to post under your own name.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being a tool--I don't think so. My opinions are just that. Let's keep it real now boys and girls. I have no personal benefit tied to my opinions. I am not a lobbyist. No developer, no Realtor nor am I tied to any special interest group.
You are failing and flailing in your denigrations.
The previous commission did WHaaaaaAT? What a total clown you are. Are you talking about the Clemens commission? The Casino will be repaid through revenues. What in hell planet are you on? God,don't tell me this is the King himself.
ReplyDeleteThe cost study Commissioner Mulvehill used was quoting was compile by the American Farmland Trust. No doubt a bias pro-farming interest group. No FL city was looked at and the most recent source provider , most of which was AFT or ag related sources was on 2002.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.farmlandinfo.org/documents/27757/FS_COCS_11-02.pdyf
As we all know, you can find something on the Internet to substance ate just about any opion you want. And just like blogs or the newspaper just because it's printed it doesn't make it true.
No, a few 65' structures will not in and by themselves dig us out of the hole we're in. Also know that for the last couple of decades there's only been 2 buildings built in the downtown commercial corridor that are over 45'. We will never be another WPB or Delray, but if we don't start pulling together we could be the first city in PB County to go down the tube.
Greg--We are not going to go down the tubes if we don't allow 65 foot buildings in LW. We are not going to go down the tubes, period.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like the study that Mulvehill had, then please check with William Waters or anyone on the former P&Z board to confirm that it cost more to service residential than what the city get back in taxes--also industrial development is lucrative.
As someone told me, building residential or commercial development will make the city lose revenue not increase the tax base. And that the push should be for the POC that will give us the biggest bang for the dollar.
How can we pull together when you want 65 foot buildings in the Comp Plan and we don't?
This is a conservative who believes in a low rise city. I know. You don't think The Lucerne is tall. But of course, most everyone else does. And, more importantly, most everyone else does not own 2 units in that building.
And even when we get this on the ballot and it is voted in to keep buildings at 45 feet, there will be you and your friends still not accepting the will of the people.
Let's start "pulling together," Greg. I like your idea.
Lake Worth trusting residents have listened to con stories, promises, without verifying what contributions Candidates made to our City and voted in, another pack ofknow nothing bragging incompetents ,but are disrespectful to the Citizenry,which deserves it as they voted them into our Commission seats against Laurence!
ReplyDeleteWhere is your favorite Candidate Xavier, Suzanne? Cara, Trisha, etc.Enjoy!.Result:A $40,000,000,- Law suit because the lazy Commission Nadine Burns, Retha Lowe, Dave Vespo did not want to check the back ground of the flim flam "developers",and read the very Lake Worth damaging Contract with Greater Bay,which technically gave our Beach away for 43 years, with an unlimited Construction,building time,i.a.w.gave it away indefinitely.They could have sold that Contract for $20,000,000,- and walked away, telling the CitiZens to thank their Commission for having prevented any multi million dollar revenue potential from our Beach! Paul Boyer, C.M.negotiated profit sharing with Lake Worth out of the Contract, which no Commission member knew but signed on for.Laurence McNamara's Charter Amendment made this Contract illegal,limited any lease etc for more than 20 years to be approved by ALL CITIZENS.Laurence McNamara did the Citizenry an enormous service,was rewarded with treachery by the usual vipers, and stopped Lake Worth Beach give-away by the Lake Worth Commission, of Nadine Burns, retha Lowe, and Dave Vespo who did not want to, and know how to maintain our 20 acre Palm Beach Island Beach.No gratitude was shown to Laurence. He was instigated against as an alledged racist by the vipers and their assoc. he in good faith helped get elected too.They now have a Commission they deserve.These creatures don't know that building high on Downtown makes the City lose revenue to the CRA, the sole benificiari of all revenue from Downtown Lake Worth.
This Commission can achieve one thing to increase revenue to our General Fund,not with talk but with votes :
Redistrict the CRA to where they belong according to their mission, the present windbags don't know,
to 6th Ave.South West of Dixie, a blighted area which need rehabilitation, not distruction of Historic Lake Worth, with treacherously offering our land to developers.
Our Downtown revenue will then increase our general Fund's revenue,
which pays for our services.
oops. the fabulous re-hab I spoke about above is on 6th and L St. South west corner..two old stucco buildings....just like the city owned eyesore at 5th and K. Find that re-habber !!!
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a little confusion here. Didn't Stanton and the previous commission use all the city's reserves? I distinctly remember this blog complaining about the missing reserve funds? NOW they saved the reserve funds? Which is it?
ReplyDeleteSeems like Dee has some inside info on the status of the Greater Bay lawsuit and it don't look good.
Dee's limited understanding of the law and retail real estate never seem to have resulted in substantive statements in those areas.
ReplyDeleteIf the GB contract could have been flipped for a $20,000,000 profit, why was GB the only RFP bidder that offered financial responsibility----in the whole US.
While word on the Street is that GB is asking $30mil in damages, $20mil seems more likely. While predicting the outcome of any trial is tenuous at best, it doesn't bode well for the City when GB calls the X City Attorney as their witness.
Lynn to answer your answer to Greg, Looks like assessments are on the way, get ready to break into your piggy bank.
ReplyDeleteWhat gives you the idea that assessments are on the way? Bornstein has already suggested robbing from our cash reserves to supplement the shortfall.
ReplyDeleteAnd to answer someone else on cash reserves who suggested that it was Stanton that spent all of our money--NO IT WAS NOT. After Stanton came in, she discovered that $12 million in reserves were spent by previous city managers. She was actually fixing this town.
I really don't care for the Lucerne for the following reasons. Its an eyesore in the middle of our lowrise historic city. Its ugly from the east, towers over our historic library and cultural plaza. There is a big gab on the Lucerne side in business flow. The store fronts that were included on the Lucerne side are not big enough to actually support a real business.
ReplyDeleteIf we want a hotel in the City, we've got one. The beautiful, historic Gulfstream. This property recently sold from the bankrupt developer that bought it to new owners. Maybe our City can help the new owners with tax credits of incentives to get it refurbished and reopened. And the Gulfstream didn't fail b/c the City reject the awful modern addition the developer wanted to add on to it. It failed b/c the developer paid too much for the property, over leveraged and all of his projects have gone belly up, the one in Palm Beach, the one in Nantucket, etc.