Andrew Marra's editorial in today's Palm Beach Post must have been fed to him by the Vice Mayor who wants to continually take credit for predicting that the beach redevelopment plan was not sustainable--that it would fail. He loves to tell us it is a "loser." Of course, the Vice Mayor never wanted the casino expense to begin with and voted it down at every opportunity. The Big Picture was not considered, only pennies in the present.
The truth of the matter is, yes, our costs were higher for this first year because many leases did not start until after their build-outs which were months after the beginning of the fiscal year. Therefore the balance sheet did not show a full year's worth of lease payments. The pool is now opened attracting many more to our beach. We have five times the number of visitors than in the past and this is reflected in parking fees.
If the current city administration said that the previous administration is responsible for underestimating the expenses per Marras' article, then they have to blame themselves...the key players (finance) ARE the previous administration. This spoon fed line in the Post was nothing but politics. The finance plan was presented and approved by the Finance Advisory Board and the Finance Director, the very same director on staff today. When you do projections, you take your best shot completing all analysis and feasibility studies. No one can be 100% accurate in a new business. No one is clairvoyant. And no one wants to over-charge the beach merchants. We want them to succeed. Their success is our success.
Right now, at least two of the merchants (don't know why only half) will be paying double or more what they were paying previously to reimburse the city for maintenance of the Casino. The merchants are paying extra for their outside cafe space which is over and above the basic rent. The upstairs ballroom is constantly leased out. A tenant for the upstairs restaurant space is a requisite to our Casino's overall monetary success and real estate agents are constantly working on that--a full commission is involved. Rents have gone up through lease escalation clauses. The Traffic Manager is writing tickets galore and enforcing paid parking...the kinks have been worked out and the meters are actually working properly. There are more people than ever before visiting our beach and casino--business is brisk. And just think, the Season has not yet begun.
Any new business (our beach casino and redevelopment) needs time to succeed. Although we are not paying back ourselves this year for "borrowed" money that belongs to us, this too is a temporary situation. We are NOT subsidizing the operations at our beach park to the tune of $400,000 as Marra suggests--we are only delaying paying it back to ourselves on the books. What we will find is that our beach is the turn-around for the entire City of Lake Worth. Tourist dollars are desperately needed and we are getting more visitors than we ever dreamed.
22 comments:
Those elected officials and three are up for reelection, need to be more positive for our city. When we have accomplished something like this at our beach, they should be promoting it in a positive light. also, they need to stop comparing us to Belle Glade at every chance they get. Let's get positive and turn this place around. Our beach is a success and it will be for decades if not always in the future.
Great article, Lynn. Thanks. We have a beautiful beach and Casino bldg that everyone enjoys, especially all those who live in the county who only help pay for it through parking. We have volunteers who are trying to keep the pool opened all year. Everyone is behind the success of our beach.
Lynn, generally I agree with your posts and anyway it is your blog and opinion. But this post passes off as fact outright bs. You fail to mention the cities contribution to pool expenses is 140 thou. The cities projected loss in 2014 is 400 thou for the casino. Regardless of who is to blame and this commission as well as the previous one shares responsibility, this cannot be fixed until leases are renegotiated. More maintenance staff is needed and shoddy building material will have to be replaced. Neither has been budgeted. You call the post editorial political, what in the world was yours.
11:46, what are you smoking? we accomplished a big loser that the majority of l.w. citizens cannot afford to use but have to pay for.
It's great to have an opinion, isn't it NO one ever said that the pool has to sustain itself other than this commission. Parks don't sustain themselves; ballfields don't; the Osborne Gym sure in hell doesn't. Give me a big break. Talk about BS!
Leases will not be renegotiated. Steve Carr has already said they projected correctly on the rents. The Expense factor needs to be adjusted and charged fairly across the board to the tenants. The entire pool amenity should be marketed.
If there is shoddy building material, the contractor is addressing that, isn't he?
What I wrote had absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
2:21--what in heck are you talking about? This property has been paid for by the residents for 100 years. So, what's new? The casino is projected to be self-sustainable. Other than parking, the use of the beach is FREE. You can ride your bike across the bridge. It cost little to use our pool.
This entire project will be a WINNER but I guess you don't use the beach and just want to give it negative spin.
Sure we have financial issues with the new beach development that Scott Maxwell knew were coming because Susan Stanton refused to disclose the true costs involved. That's why Scott canned her. Now that we are up and running I feel that we are I finally getting the true facts and our city management is working to make it better. There is at least a sense that we know the problems and we are working to fix them. In the past things would have been hidden and the problem would get worse. I can finally say I am proud of our new beach complex.
John, this is the least transparent commission and administration EVER. I disagree with your assessment on our beach or why Scott Maxwell "canned" Susan Stanton. Where did you hear that one? Stanton had the most transparent government in years.
Now that we are up and running one year later, we are finding out the true expenses on our casino and the beach. These costs are something that we could not project with any degree of accuracy until we had been operating at least one year.
Andrew Marra's negativity shows his lack of awareness of the 30 years of frustration and community divisiveness that preceded the recreation of this beautiful historic building, replacing a dilapidated concrete box with a sparkling edifice that has put Lake Worth on the map in a positive light.
The beach itself is more beautiful than it has been in the 25 years I have been going there, and the umbrellas lined up make it look like a first class hotel.
Now if we could just get his paper to stop giving Lake Worth 'credit' for all the crime that happens south and west of our city in areas that happen to be called Lake Worth by the Post Office but are actually unincorporated Palm Beach County, their readers will be better informed and our reputation will be enhanced.
Lynn, your 2nd paragraph in the 4:55 comments are a business plan that no one would follow. Well unless you want to lose. Actually your whole post is off base. Your love of Mulvehill and Stanton is really clouding your understanding. Okay enough by me you will not print this anyway.
5:34--you're entitled. Just shows how we will never have A MEETING OF THE MINDS IN THIS CITY....NEVER!!
The business plan, as stated in the blog, was approved by many people who were involved. We can't manage a damn thing that we own but other than that...
There is NO way we will lose with our beach.
Funny, Lynn you are just ga ga over Stanton.
Through the 32 months Susan Stanton was here, I pointed out the faults as well as the virtues. You just choose not to remember that and want to hold her up as the absolute worst or some sort of ogre when in fact, she was just what this city needed in many respects.
6:00,Lynn I said that I agree with a lot of your posts, maybe you are the unbending one. Well we already lost 400thou. the first year. My prediction is we never pay back the utility.
OK.
But that will be determined by the finance director's recommendation, the city manager's and the commission's. The utility is there to subsidize operations.
Thanks for the positive message on our new casino. There will always be people who relish in possible failures on a project that is a positive especially after we got rid of greater bay.
"Tourist dollars are desperately needed and we are getting more visitors than we ever dreamed."
Too bad you have worked so diligently against having those tourists STAY here in Lake Worth to help support our other businesses.
AND...
We REALLY missed the opportunity of a lifetime by denying the one proposer wanting to take the whole first floor restaurant AND the second, when a stairway and inside elevator could have been added easily during construction.
Re-writing history again I see.
Keeping the downtown at 45 feet is not detracting a hotel to be built or even the renovations of the existing Gulfstream. Find one of your developer buddies who is not so greedy.
As far as Johnny Longboats is concerned, to allow any business to occupy the vast square footage that it wanted as the anchor tenant was giving the city risk if they failed. The entire upper level was going to be a bar opened until the wee hours of the morning as I recall. Don't we have enough bars?
I will never understand how a small group of people that don't have 2 nickels to rub together or have a cumulative balance of zero business experience can be experts at so many things?
Once again, you are making assumptions that have no validity. Please share all your experience and all your "success" with this blog. Name your foreclosure while you're at it. Even Albert Einstein had a failed business experience :) People are either smart or they're not.
I keep saying the same thing about Obama though.
Lynn,
please show only the Mediterranean, elegant part of our re-created 1921 Lake Worth Casino.
The ugly,no style, but stacked concrete blocks, concrete box attached to it,
we did not vote for.It resembles a a storage bldg,or truck repair one, It is not liked, never photographed by the surrounding Newspapers.No project in Lake Worth has brought so much praise, so much photographed, tourism, and if managed by competent Commission with knowledge of Palm Beach Island Real estate value ,can make enormous revenue.Only idiotic offal would call this a failure.Pray for a future competent Commission instead..
They help Lake Worth, with showing only the beautiful part of our Casino the architecturally glamorous part!
If the vacant space must be leased, the concrete box picture undoes any chance of success.i know you want to help lake Worth succeed to create more jobs, with the beautiful part of our Casino.
I've lived in the City since 1999, the Casino, beach and parks projects have been the best money we have spent. We have a beautiful slice of paradise here and it finally looks the way it should. Everytime I go to the beach it is crowded, the parking is full, I pay for parking with pride, I enjoy Mulligans, ice cream, pizza, breakfast at Benny's, etc.
This a great facility and I really cannot understand why the Mayor keeps going on and on, in the press, about how poor and awful we are. It almost feels like she is trying to drive down valuations and prices so one of her developer friends can come in and take advantage.
We have so much to be excited about, a vibrant downtown, a beautiful beach, Snook Islands, great golf course, the Arts and culture, Bryant Park, the new Publix, the NP2 project, etc. We should be touting our accomplishments, encouraging people to move here and invest in our neighborhoods. If I ever heard a mayor talk about her town the way our mayor does, no way would I buy a house here.
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