Comment Up
From: May Goodstein [mailto:maygoodstein@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 5:14 PM
To: Wes Blackman; Mary Lindsey; Lynn Anderson
Subject: blight
Dear Lake Worth Bloggers:
Reading each of you this week left me thoroughly depressed. Here in my little blighted end of Lake Worth, I find a lot of people happily living their lives and being friendly in the world. Not everyone, of course, lots of people in various kinds of personal and social disorder, and passing their stresses on to their neighbors. Despite what Mark Easton thinks, there was not a row of developers waiting to build us a nice hotel at Bryant Park. Our city's future does not rest on hotels, but on community spirit, which we have. Our present dilemma is part of the national dilemma from social imbalance and for-sale legislators who see their own careers not their responsibility to the greater good.
Even if there were many developers waiting to build and so bring up our property values, a trip down A1A from St Augustine reinforced my understanding of the risks of big development. I recommend you all take that trip. Huge wealthy condos surrounded by blight and poverty. In Lake Worth, we choose to be a real place, not a winter haven for the very well to do. We are a real place, full of history and long term residents. Plus we own our beach, and to date, our utilities.
We are a small town which hopes to stay livable. Here in Lake Worth, we need more bed and breakfasts, and more help in reworking the 20 foot lot layouts. That is work done by small developers, not Marriotts. We need real code enforcement accompanied by volunteers who can help those people fix their problems. The combination of poverty and ignorance makes up much of our problem. In the old days, people fixed their own problems, now permits are required and no one knows how to do anything anyway. (Before the city gets volunteers to clean the alleys, volunteers need to go to the front doors and invite the inhabitants to join the team. Community building is job one in those areas.)
When you are complaining about the illegal immigrants, think of the early inhabitants of this continent who were overcome and destroyed by our own ancestors. Not a proud story. But from the earliest roots of history, we know that people have migrated to find better forage and there is no likelihood that we can change that. What we can do is educate and improve our stewardship of our own community. We can celebrate our accomplishments......this last year brought sidewalk by Pinecrest cemetary, where kids had to walk in the street for generations. We also got storm drains a few years ago, great help. If you drive down the lower alphabet streets south of 6th, you will see lots of nicely painted homes and trim yards, much progress visible. Not all discarded beer cans and needles down here.
And those young people conspiring to make the world a better place are not half the menace you paint them as, time will cure their idealism and bring the grim reality that the more things change the more they are the same.
May Goodstein
13 comments:
Have you ever seen an unhappy challenged person/ We should put up with people breaking laws and be happy. Great.
May makes a lot of good points.
Thank you May!
Yes, we are generally a happy community. I'd agree. We just had a party tonight for our mailman, Jim, who is retiring after serving the Bryant Park and South Palm Park neighborhoods since 1983. Many people came out to thank him for his service. It was a wonderful neighborhood event. But we have problems, too, including a rising number of burglaries from homes and vehicles, as the visiting PBSO deputy informed us. We need to talk about both the good and the bad. Let us be as brave in facing the bad as we are in delighting in all that is good in our town!
how can you say a challenge person is happy----nobody truely knows what is in the mind of anyone theses days and i will tell you if you are happy in lake worth your either a recovering drug addict --a drug dealer--mental problems or you have just given up in life--that is how the majority of the people look--unkepted
i think a lot of people just dont want to believe that lake worth gets all the rejects---what is it about the class of people that come here--why is it that the people that hung out here seems to be the rejects of the world---i was having coffee outside starbucks and i will never do that again --who are these people and do they have a place to live--what is go on in this city--where is the class
lake wroth is notg about calss. they don't want any class here. even one of the major citizens who runs her mouth on everything looks and sounds like a bag lady.
i know the people who are speaking up for lake worth need a day at the beauty salon---they look worn out --it is so important for a women to keep her hair up and take care of their teeth---lake worth is missing alot --their teeth
I think it's actually their BALLS that the Commission, City Manager and attorney are missing. Whisper the word "lawsuit" and whatever testicles that are left in this city retract right up into the throat area!!!!
Thank-you May, it's refreshing to hear intelligent, down to earth thoughts for a change.
I do want to keep our wonderful unique livable city. But I don't think that means we should ignore the code problems in our City.
I'd be all for the City focusing its code efforts on properties that did not have a homestead, but I'm not sure that is legal.
Really, I'd like code to focus on the properties where there are repeated crime and nuisance issues. Properties where there are drug deals, prostitution and then eventually murders where the property is in disrepair/abandoned and attracting crime. If the city would focus its meager code resources on those properties that would make me happy.
As for the illegal immigrants, I don't think we as a City can ignore the law breakers in our midst and expect to move forward. I love our mutlicultural mix but I don't love the law breakers or the slum lords that cater to them.
Lynn said this responding on another post:
I draw the line when it comes to personal attacks, things for which no one has any control, i.e., weight, looks and that sort of thing.
But then she allows this:
lake wroth is notg about calss. they don't want any class here. even one of the major citizens who runs her mouth on everything looks and sounds like a bag lady.
Not the same thing at all.
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