Palm Beach Post May 23, 2013
Lake Worth deserves better deal
Regarding The Post’s coverage of Lake Worth’s electric utility: For too long we in Lake Worth have wanted to see our rates as low as FPL’s. I am encouraged by our elected officials taking a public stand to bring down our rates to what our neighbors pay FPL. That’s something no other city-owned electric company in the state is now able to do.
We all want to believe that it could happen. We’ve been promised that before. Let us all hope we have the unified will to make the sacrifices to wean ourselves off the cash fix our electric utility has hooked us on, to make up for our depressed property values. Small cites never can attract experts to compete with a company like FPL. Our government-owned electric utility is a big drag on our local economy. Lake Worth is a special place, but not special enough to charge us higher rates for lesser service, especially when there’s a better option all around us.
GREG RICE
Lake Worth
Note: All comments by Mr. Rice are not necessarily the view of this blog but everyone deserves the right to be heard.
59 comments:
GREG-
We have all seen our rates go steadily down and they are not too far off from FPL now.
But you are missing a larger, more important point. We are now seeing many cities go under and become Detroit because of the economy, poor decisions, and selling off their assets.
Lake Worth has been relatively untouched because we have the ability to cover our bills via the utility.
How many city layoff have we had? How many services have we had to give up? Did the city go broke like so many others? No. And it is still contemplating more development. Where do you think those losses will come from? If you sell the city assets, like the utility, which generates money, you put us all in the position of being able to be taken down with one (more) bad development deal.
I think a lot of commissioner-types and, sad to say, administrators don't want to act like adults and run this city as a city.
If you give up the utility, you will be nothing but an appendage of the county. And what do you think will happen then? Then they will take the beach, the lagoon and anything else, to make up for "losses".
Do you think the county will fix our sidewalks? maintain our parks? protect the beach?
And after that, why have a City Hall or City Manager at all? Just let the county absorb us. We've already let our police force go, good or bad, but we have no control over them anymore and they have lost their bargaining power.
Some times the cheap way out is not the best way out. I think people just need to grow up and MANAGE the city.
To survive we must remain as autonomous as possible. Look around the world. Autonomy is being taken everywhere. Its not the right way to go.
And need I mention that if anyone is lobbying for FPL, or being offered money, or any other thing to influence a deal, and that person serves the city, you must disclose that under penalty of law.
I'm sure you would not like to see our city turn into Detroit, Greg. We have valuable assets to protect and others won't value them as we do, so I hope you reconsider.
Mary Beth
I don't get it, is this coming from a businessman? Does he not realize that our city needs this electric company to run our city? Yes, it might be good to have comparable rates if we can, the city seems to be lower them some now. Our utility company is an asset to our city, it raises a lot of money to "pay our bills." After reading this, it makes you question the IQ of what we thought was a businessman, now not sure, seems more like super star comments. Not impressed with this editorial Lynn, sorry.
Instead of writing such an asinine editorial, Rice should focus on cleaning up his blight in our city. He says, ''......Let us all hope we have the unified will to make the sacrifices to wean ourselves off the cash fix our electric utility has hooked us on, to make up for our depressed property values...."
What sacrifices are you making? Why do you keep your property at 1306 Lucerene Av with the boards falling off your boarded up roof caving in building which is always overgrown, like now with so much rain. Wean ourselves off the cash fix, you hypocrite, yet you keep your property looking like hell for all of us to have to live next too, all you care about is money and wanting to develop and hope you can someday sell this dump of a property for millions, this avarice is your motive right? You should be ashamed of yourself for writing such a piece and for how you as a landowner keep your property in this city, what a sin, what a hypocrite.
What I would really like to know does Rice really believe all of this or is there soemthing in it for him? What about Mary Lindsay?
Lynn, did you publish this editorial on your blog as a favor for your friend Greg Rice? I agree with MB and others, Rice seems to make many comments that do not seem too intelligent as a "business man." And yes we have and live in a great city, with so many assets, one being our utility company. And it would be much better if ALL property owners, like Rice did not contribute to our blight here. Yes, Lake Worth is a special place Greg, and it can even be better if you helped to clean up your property and keep it pristine. Gracias!
I second that!
Anonymous said...
What I would really like to know does Rice really believe all of this or is there something in it for him? What about Mary Lindsay?
May 24, 2013 at 10:07 AM
Greg, Mary you guys write on this blog sometimes, can you answer this? Motive?
mb what is not to far off? we are now 25% higher residential and 42% higher commercial than fpl and still no sreet and sidewalk repair. your post has alot of mistakes.
Anyone who has read my blog should know where I stand on the issues. I am not for handing over our city and its assets to anyone like this same crowd has been attempting to do for years. They did it with our police. They did it with our fire. They attempted to do it on our beach. They also tried on our water. They tried to do it on Old Bridge Park. Mr. Rice is still hoping to have some sort of influence to overturn our election on heights.
It was published to generate a reaction. It did.
Rice, our depressed property values are because of people like YOU! You are who keep us blighted in this city, keeping our property values down, look at your own property, a roof with a huge gaping hole, TRUE blight. The nerve of you, what a hypocrite and you are supposed to be rich, that is what is the shameful thing about this, a rich man who keeps his property blighted and then wonders why we have depressed property values. It makes many of us question a lot about you both related to intelligence and integrity.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Rice said, ".....cash fix our electric utility has hooked us on, to make up for our depressed property values....."
Lynn, you said, "Mr. Rice is still hoping to have some sort of influence to overturn our election on heights.
It was published to generate a reaction. It did."
This bothers me, so is that why he keeps his property so unkempt and blighted, so that he can sell it someday for billions of dollars to build high rises there? He puts no money into his blighted property that he wants to sell someday for a lot of money, he doesn't think that this is what contributes to lower property values.
Oh, now I get it. Rice wants property values to go up so he can sell his property on Lucerne for millions for skyscrapers, that is why he wrote that piece about the electric rates! His logic seems flawed thought, it seems as if he would think, if he would instead eliminate HIS blight he contributes he could help to raise property values to then sell his property for a lot of money, now it can't be worth much since it is such a dump and looks so bad. I wonder how much he pays in taxes for that place at 1306 Lucerne? Not much that is why he keeps it so dumpy, right?
How many greedy self serving people do we have living in this city anyway?
" Matthew 7:3 said...
Rice, our depressed property values are because of people like YOU! You are who keep us blighted in this city, keeping our property values down, look at your own property, a roof with a huge gaping hole, TRUE blight. The nerve of you, what a hypocrite and you are supposed to be rich, that is what is the shameful thing about this, a rich man who keeps his property blighted and then wonders why we have depressed property values. It makes many of us question a lot about you both related to intelligence and integrity.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Rice said, ".....cash fix our electric utility has hooked us on, to make up for our depressed property values....."
May 24, 2013 at 10:30 AM"
I can only assume that he wants to have the election overturned. He was, after all, the treasurer of Friends of the Gulfstream opposing a low-rise downtown.
I honestly have trouble with all special interest groups or self-servers and this is what keeps me going even on days when I don't want to write this damn blog. The more they pull, the more motivated I get. The nastier they are, the more motivated I am.
I do not know, I am still waiting to hear from Greg Rice on this blog, what do you have to say for yourself Greg?
Mr. Rice doesn't have to live at 1311 Lucerne Ave like I do and see and live in front of his deplorable building and grounds on a daily basis. If he is so concerned about property values as he states in his editorial, why doesn't he take the boards off his building, give it a paint job and make the building and ground more alive and more pleasing to look at. As it is now, it looks abandoned and really blighted and careless. We are from Guatemala and love living in this little sity called Lake Worth, it could be better if all people made their properties nicer.
Thanks Lynn, you are a true champion, I wish you would be our mayor and keep your blog to always get input from us. I wonder, do you think you would change if you had the power of being the LW mayor? Your blog is great, thanks for the outlet and honesty, thanks for going after all these people and trying to make them honest and better.
"I honestly have trouble with all special interest groups or self-servers and this is what keeps me going even on days when I don't want to write this damn blog. The more they pull, the more motivated I get. The nastier they are, the more motivated I am."
come on now. nasty was the posts by dee. you post that but not a post like this.
Diego--are you putting this blog on?
'Lake Worth deserve better deal' Mr Rice? Come on, you are rich, how can you care about paying a little more for your electricity? What a hypocrite, and like it says here on this blog, you do not even maintain your OWN property, yet are concerned about how high electricity rates are lowering property values? NO, it is YOUR blight that adds to the low property values, give me a break man. Are you really a man of integrity? Do you really care? Do you care enough to do what is right? You are living well off the rest of us, making us live in your slum, yet not caring enough to do what is right by your brothers and sisters. I don't want to judge you, but I just think it is very sad.
I would just like to know the "true" motive of Greg Rice to write this editorial?
"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions."
--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Tyler, 1804
Yes let the truth come out!
I am totally shocked Mr. Rice has a property in this city that adds to the blight! From a seemingly ‘stand up person’ and respected local businessman, I just do not understand. Mr. Rice is surely aware WE ARE ALL either part of the solution or part of the problem? Now that this situation, personal to Mr. Rice, has become public knowledge, MR. RICE HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SET IT RIGHT AND BECOME A STELLAR EXAMPLE FOR EVERY HOMEOWNER AND PROPERTY OWNER. As only a tenant renting a beautiful home, I take considerable time and effort to maintain the property and the surrounding streets out of respect for the city I love, the property owner and indeed, myself. I respectfully ask Mr. Rice to do the same by joining me and the many other Lake Worth residents who do their part in caring for this precious city. Barbara Jean Weber
Yes Mr. Rice should maintain his properties. But if he did that this weekend, Monday we would still have the highest electric rates in the state and be dangerously close to the highest millage rate allowed by law. So what do your complaints solve. If all these posters would volunteer on cleanups once in a while we might see improvement. All these uninformed posters bring nothing to the table.
Hola! Sorry Lynn, between me and my brothers Juan Diego, it is frustrating. Lupe
Diego--are you putting this blog on?
Greg, The real drag on the city economy is property owners who don’t give a damn about fixing up their property. How much money do you think this costs the city? Decent people don’t want to see or live by run down buildings. No wonder people throw everything all over the place. Sell the electric utility? Why not, all the more for some hotshot to dream up what it should be p*#&ed away on just like was done before.
I wonder if most LW residents can see through this vale or know the real motives of Greg Rice for writing this piece. I am sure most intelligent and well off people who live in this city can see what he is really up to with this editorial. I mean really, why would a millionaire actor and business man care about paying a little more for electricity? It is just so ironic though that he mentions how it brings down our property values never mentioning the real drag on our property values is the blight that properties like his cause to our city and people. I am with you Barbara Jean, I hope this supposed stellar figure in our city does the right thing and starts caring for his hell hole better.
I am sure Juan, Diego, and Lupe are not happy living in front of your slum property, right, "Decent people don’t want to see or live by run down buildings." like the above post says. We all want low electric rates, but we need the utility company to make money for the city too, we have a great city, it is just brought down buy people who do not care about ALL of us.We need a cleaner city with NO blight, please Mr. Rice, spend some of your money to give us some sidewalks to walk on in this city. Walking in the road is killing us.
anon at 12:53 That may be true but having our own electric is still an asset and sold or not it is a blessing for the city. The cost is slowly going down and with an uncertain global future; the time will come when many cities wish they had their own electric and water facilities. Probably many do now.
The editorial on the PB Post, Lake Worth deserves better deal, seems like it has a political motive, as many will say "yes" we need lower rates and applaud this author. Does Rice have some political motive for writing this? Is he going to run for mayor or commissioner now? I am sure the PB blog is just all so positive about this piece, have have to wonder what the hidden agenda is with this and Rice, it makes you think?
I'll bet all of the authors of the previous 27 comments on this thread, many are by the same person, haven't put in the hours in total to help promote this city that Mr. Rice has in one month.
This is a perfect example of the politics of character assassination.
Don't like the message? Attack the messenger. Greg has been on this sell to FPL to lower each and every electric customer's bill by 25% or more for years.
Rice's building on Lucerne looks 10 times better than what many of you are living in right now and is painted and boarded up per code, not left open so that vagrants can use it for illicit purposes. If it is such an eyesore, REPORT IT to code enforcement. What? Will you have to leave your real name? What a bunch of ass clowns.
You post pictures of garages, garage sales, yards of the week, banners on sky scrapers and REAL BLIGHT. Go ahead and post a pic of this property if it's so bad. I pass it each and every day. I'll bet I can find worse conditions within 100 feet of that building.
So if you can get over one property that one person owns, what can you say about what his editorial is about? OK, you all know that the city uses the amount of money they gouge us with each month to run the city government that every other city must do without. How do they do that?
Why can't we run our city with what we are charged in taxes and fees and not have to be raped each month.
Knowledgeable people that do their homework will avoid buying here. Ask ANY real estate agent about our reputation for high utility rates.
Why would ANY reputable employer company relocate here when our commercial rates are 46% higher than if they relocate just outside our borders.
So, ass clowns, who does that leave to fill the void of intelligent people?
That's right, look into Mr. Mirror.
Thank you Greg for keeping the issue in front of the public. Nobody will be "handing over" anything.
Ask the voters if they want to lower their electric rates. Ask the rate payers if the city should operate within their own means just like 37 other cities in Palm Beach County must.
Hell, ask the customers of LWU if they'd rather deal with customer service here or FPL.
When Vero Beach put it in front of their voters, the margin to sell to FPL was 75%.
Thanks Greg. Keep it up. Apparently you are getting to them if they must resort to attacking you personally.
I posted the above because you took some time to write it. However, I promise you if you use slurs and words like ass clowns, etc. in the future, no matter the rest of the content, it will be deleted, especially if you remain anonymous. Thanks.
Wow, It,s amazing that one person can be so vindictive towards Greg Rice. My neighbor has become a real life Sybil, and it's really sad.Not something you would expect of a christian. You really need to find a hobby. Mr Rices's property
does not affect me as much as the prostitutes, drug dealers and drunk drivers in our neighborhood. Now you have the 3rd commenter on this thread.
A solution would be for Greg Rice to bulldoze the building unless of course there is some value in it. Why doesn't he do that. It would then quiet all this chatter. Just a thought.
Bringing FPL into town Being their champion. What's in it for Greg Rice?
Lynn, have you checked out Greg Rices property on Lucerne? I did. Did not see a problem. This is another case of attacking a successful person just for being affluent. This is a man who volunteers countless hours to the city. No wonder people will not run. This, while one of your most prolific posters is famous for signing up and then not showing up to volunteer.I would not post her name as personal attacks are not good form. I guess that listed rule of your blog is very loosely followed.
Mr. Rice wrote a letter to the Editor of the PBPost. He is a public figure.
I have no idea of whom you speak regarding volunteering. My rules are followed to the best of my ability and it is my choice what goes and what doesn't. You should see all the ones that get culled! As an example, I never post anything that is a personal attack against fellow bloggers, or at least I try to screen them.
And it is true...why would anyone want to run in this city? That is why politicians insulate themselves from their opposition.
It's too bad about this property. I have not looked at it that closely lately. It used to be filled with graffiti and had holes in the ceiling. As I recall, it didn't appear too bad lately and would not deserve Mess of the Week on this blog. but the point here is, someone(s) in that neighborhood think it an eyesore.
Lynn, why is it OK to have any building in this city boarded up? I am sorry, but boarded up buildings anywhere in our city make the city look blighted. Bulldoze it down then! They did it to one on Dixie not too long ago.
Who hand painted 1306 in black paint on the Rice building, looks pretty tacky? Is that graffiti? The Rice building has been boarded up for so many years now, that the board covering the front door must of rotted off and fell down now, just thought you might like to know Mr. Rice. Boarded up buildings in any neighborhood look bad for a city, it adds to the blight and brings property values down and then the city has to raise electric rates.
Good point Peggy but code enforcement boards up buildings. We allow that in LW apparently.
It would be a crazy idea to sell our electric utility plant to FPL, we need that and the money it generates to run our city. Little by little our rates are being lowered, I have seen it in my own bills. We can eventually get the rates comparable or even lower than FPL's, it is possible, if we can attract more homeowners and if we can clean up the blight, property values will go up, things can get better, but we all need to care and take care of our properties to attract more people that want to buy, invest in, and live in Lake Worth and make it their home. Now we only attract poor renters who do not care and are preyed upon by slumlords and all the blight just flourishes. Lake Worth will bloom again once we get boards off buildings, yards cleaned, no graffiti, and have all buildings and properties alive again with people caring about them and living in them. Boarded up buildings will only keep lowering our property rates and raising our utility rates. We keep committing suicide with all this blight we do not address in this city.
We used to play ball, hide and go seek, games on that property on Lucerne when we were younger as kids, but then there was just too much broken glass from beer bottles and it got too dangerous, my mom didn't want us playing there anymore. I still see a lot of the Guatemalan playing soccer there behind the building, the turf is all warn down there, maybe they need to put up a fence so to prevent kids and people from trespassing and getting hurt, there is a lot of junk all around in the back there.
So you are saying that the City of Lake Worth had that building at 1306 Lucerne boarded up? We paid for it not Mr. Rice? Why is any of this right? Blight, blight, blight, we allow too much blight too, sorry I just do not agree with people who contribute to blight I do not care how rich, famous, or Christian they are. No wonder why people become suicidal or mentally ill living in this city, it is crazy, the city doesn't enforce codes or clean things up and allows all this boarding up of buildings, just crazy, it has me crazy!!!!!!!
" Lynn Anderson said...
Good point Peggy but code enforcement boards up buildings. We allow that in LW apparently.
May 24, 2013 at 8:39 PM"
Amen, that is what many of us would like to know.
No to FPL, no to big business, no to rich slumowners!
No No No!
"anonymous said...
Bringing FPL into town Being their champion. What's in it for Greg Rice?"
Lake Worth Commissions are
scared of the CRA;'s Joan Oliva,our employee.She is inflicting low income housing and rentals on lake Worth to descrease the taxbase of Lake Worth,undermining its' sustainability!
The spineless Commission needs to redistrict it according to its Mission:Restoring blight only in their blighted area,South West of 6th Avenue So.Not the most lucrative as is the case now.Lake Worth's progress is crippled further by the CRA's Joan Oliva low rental housing creation on 6 th Ave So.to make Lake Worth's own Dunbar Village.Rice thinks that upgrades the City?
With CRA in blighted Lake Worth's South West of 6th Avenue So.
Our Downtown Tax revenue can be added to our General Fund and reduce the draw on our 35000 Citizens owned,not by rice, most valuable assett,Lake Worth's public Utility.
Monopolies like FPL,FMPA,Progress Energy etc across America, are only interested in stockholders profits,and feeding Wallstreet with blood of the poor.
They sucker simpleton,but devious Commissions and Counsels from small Towns into stealing,i.e.;selling it at bargain basement prices, or like a raging bi-polar abrasive Lake Worth Dixie HWy.crackpot ,suggests, give it away as if she owns it.Give her to the sanitation dept.Give the Lake Worth publicly owned Utility away from their tax payers, who pay their salaries?Electric rates can be reduced by removing the Joan Oliva low income rental housing CRA Director.our employee!!!from our most lucrative district,counter to the Mission of all CRAs!If she won't,fire it.
Respect begets respect!
Advocate of honorable,clean Government,County/National whistleblower
Sorry--I have no idea who paid for the boarding up of that particular building. I was only stating here that it is LW's policy to do so.
I have always said,one of the best things our city leaders can do is abolish the CRA and take it over and run things themselves to address and clean up the blight, the CRA can't and won't do it, they will lose their jobs and all that funding and they do not want that to happen. It really though only hurts the city and all of us. The CRA should only be in place for a short time to do a job, then eventually be eliminated, it has turned into a subsidiarity of the city not doing what it is supposed to do. I agree with the other posting, fire Joan Oliva and abolish the CRA and take back our city to address the blight front on.
"Lake Worth Commissions are
scared of the CRA;'s Joan Oliva,our employee.She is inflicting low income housing and rentals on lake Worth to descrease the taxbase of Lake Worth,undermining its' sustainability!
The spineless Commission needs to redistrict it according to its Mission:Restoring blight only in their blighted area,South West of 6th Avenue So.Not the most lucrative as is the case now.Lake Worth's progress is crippled further by the CRA's Joan Oliva low rental housing creation on 6 th Ave So.to make Lake Worth's own Dunbar Village.Rice thinks that upgrades the City?
With CRA in blighted Lake Worth's South West of 6th Avenue So.
Our Downtown Tax revenue can be added to our General Fund and reduce the draw on our 35000 Citizens owned,not by rice, most valuable assett,Lake Worth's public Utility.
Monopolies like FPL,FMPA,Progress Energy etc across America, are only interested in stockholders profits,and feeding Wallstreet with blood of the poor.
They sucker simpleton,but devious Commissions and Counsels from small Towns into stealing,i.e.;selling it at bargain basement prices, or like a raging bi-polar abrasive Lake Worth Dixie HWy.crackpot ,suggests, give it away as if she owns it.Give her to the sanitation dept.Give the Lake Worth publicly owned Utility away from their tax payers, who pay their salaries?Electric rates can be reduced by removing the Joan Oliva low income rental housing CRA Director.our employee!!!from our most lucrative district,counter to the Mission of all CRAs!If she won't,fire it.
Respect begets respect!
Advocate of honorable,clean Government,County/National whistleblower"
That building is maintained on the exterior on a monthly basis and more often when needed, like when local neighbors tag is with graffiti. Possibly the same one complaining about it here.
Go North or South from Rice;s building and see many abandoned houses that are NOT boarded up, attracting prostitution and drug activity and who knows what else. They are overgrown. Rice's is not.
If his property is so offensive to you, make him an offer and maybe you can do what you want with your new property.
Then maybe you would become as involved as Rice is in order to see your investment increase in value. Maybe then you could open it and make a big vegetable stand out of it with a mini-soccer field in the fenced in back yard.
People are starting to move into the Arts Lofts. The CRA has made an investment in bringing activity into the Western neighborhoods. New homes, new families, helping to start or support existing neighborhood associations there.
Maybe you can join to make some real changes in your neighborhood. Or is it easier to sit on here and badger someone who is actively make things better for YOU by lowering your monthly expenses by a large percentage.
I love hearing how much you all love Lake Worth Electric Utility and you don't care how high the rates go as long as the big bad FPL doesn't get in here to help us lower our rates by millions of dollars and FORCE our city government to live within its means.
What's wrong with letting us vote on this?
i think you post all these nut job comments for your own entertainment.we know that 10:11 is the ranting of dee. but, to say you allow it because greg is a public figure is shameful. this is a small town not national politics where anything goes. many of the people you allow to be blasted are tireless volunteers. why would you want to make so many enemies? alot of your commenters are people you never see at a cleanup.
10:11 Being a person who knows your entire post is untrue. Ask specific questions and i will share the facts.
"Nut jobs?" Well, we do have a lot of opinated people. Greg Rice wrote his article. He put himself up for comments. Volunteering is a noble thing. What does that have to do with selling FPL? What does that have to do with the writer's building that is boarded up and those in the neighborhood objecting? When you disagree, certain people resort to name calling as they just can't debate the argument. That's the way it is. The facts remain.
What's wrong with letting us vote on this?
In order to sell the utility, it would have to be a vote of the people. But this is something that should NOT be political. At the moment it is, and every time through the years it has been a political platform. Instead of talking about its value, the same people want to turn it over to someone else for 10 cents on the dollar.
Thank you for getting back to the FPL subject made by Greg Rice.
We continue to urge the sale of our most important asset without even knowing its value. It is worth a heck of a lot more to us than anyone would ever be willing to pay.
I take it all back when I said it doesn't deserve Mess of the Week. It does. Just looked at it closer.
Thanks Lynn for a great blog and for caring. You are the best blog in LW. You bring the pertinent issues to the forefront for us to argue and debate, to expose the truth and to make people aware that we want a better Lake Worth for all of us. Thanks for your honesty and ALL your hard work in running this blog giving the people of the city a place to voice their concern since the elected and admin. do not always listen to us! You are the best. Happy Memorial Day!
You are welcome. But now.....
"We continue to urge the sale of our most important asset without even knowing its value."
This is misstatement.
We wish to engage FPL and any other interested entity, but mostly FPL because of their positioning around us and their consistent "lowest electric rates in the state", in a conversation.
That conversation would consist of how they would be able to help us out of the situation we find ourselves in.
If, repeat, IF they make us an offer, we have qualified staff and would hire even more qualified industry leaders to examine the offer.
We would weigh all the facts and figures, drags on our reputation and benefits we derive from it.
A recommendation would come to the commission to either accept or decline the offer. Debate would ensue.
Only the commission could put it to a vote of we the people. At the end of the vote, we would either still be in the electric business with the utility supporting our lack of property valued tax base, or we would start attracting new business and home owners with our new lowest rates in the state.
Let's start the conversation.
Your opinion, anonymous. Having been in real estate for over 20 years, I was used to finding out the fair value of something before I attempted to sell it. That is the way business is conducted. You have to know where you are coming from. Same thing with our utility. As said, it will be much more valuable to us then to a prospective buyer.
I would think that the first thing you would want to know is, the percentage of people who would even want to entertain the idea of selling it. You say "we wish to engage FPL... Well, not everyone feels the way you do.
To have a utility board with members not even in this field determining a fair value is ludicrous to me.
Greg,
It doesn't take a genius to know we are better off keeping our utility company here in Lake Worth as it generates and has in the past millions of dollars for us to pay our bills and run our city for many years now, someone years ago had real insight.
Anyone with brains or a little education can deduce this, no need to have a business or accounting/admin degree to realize this. Any move to even consider selling such an asset is idiotic and could be suicidal for our city. All we need to do is clean up our blight, get rid of boarded up buildings, clean up this city, to promote more home-ownership to increase our tax base to then be able to lower our electric rates comparable to FPL. I strongly warn against any even consideration of selling something that is invaluable to this city and its people.
I hope this provides some logic to your flawed editorial. God bless!
You seem to forget that FPL did not even give us the lowest power rate. Orlando beat them. You may want to sell but they don't want to buy unless we sell it for a big loss. Why would we want to do that? Just so you can get a lower elec bill and their CEO can make more than 33 million a year? Such a deal. All you little power people just have to have your hands into everything. Ramiccio ran on selling our utility. Didn't do him any good.
@8:07--I concur.
We should already know, with 100% decree of certainty, what equipment we have in the utility and come up with a value. I don't mean starting from 1913 but with all of our equipment that is operating and functionable today and not obsolete. Without even considering depreciation, we should be able to estimate its worth right now. If we can't do that, then this utility has been mismanaged, IMO.
And even to come up with a value is only the first step of hundreds to figure out whether or not it is better to sell it or keep it. This would be an awesome process.
I still do not understand why some people want to hand over all of our assets that make us an independent city. The utility is one of the top Assets if not our number ONE.
someone above suggested that all of us need to volunteer and clean up properties. NO WE DON'T. Every individual is responsible for where he lives and to live within our code. All you do gooders stop patting yourselves on the back for volunteering. We think you're great. That doesn't make Mr. Home occupier any less great for not volunteering but rather, picking up after himself and ensuring that his property is crystal clean is more important. It is his responsibility, not the volunteers and not the government. Stop blaming all of the wrong people for these deadbeats. Mr. Rice does what for the community?
"Mr. Rice does what for the community?"
Amen, I agree, we all volunteer and do a lot of good things I know I do and for 16 out of 17 years of living here, Rice needs to be like the rest of us and clean up this dump. Take the boards off and bulldoze it, but clean it and keep it clean daily, not monthly. I am not proud of him owning property next to me, it is an embarrassment. He should be ashamed of himself. Clean, bulldoze it, sell it, if you cannot do it let someone else. What a pecado!
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