Song and Dance given by Commission

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Yesterday, there was a letter to the editor supporting a "yes" vote on the general obligation bond of $63.5 million that will get every property owner in this city in debt until 2049.  The writer's property, if it is the same Suzanne Martinez, was worth $87,687 total last year so with a double exemption you can see that she won't have to pay much at all if a bond tax is passed. It sounded as if it was written by the mayor herself.

The writer even resorted to mud-slinging against Dennis Dorsey, former commissioner and mayor and a gentleman who has done much for our city that is on-going even to this day. Just in scholarships alone for needy high school kids, Dollars for Scholars and the Lake Worth High School Alumni Association gave away $87,000 this year alone. The high school pool facility was named for him as he was the one who contributed a lot of time and money to get it built.  I even sold magazine subscriptions as a kid to raise money for our future pool.  His daughter has lived here all of her life and pays taxes. For some reason the opposition doesn't think Mr. Dorsey should have a say as to what goes on in our city. When it comes right down to it, they don't believe anyone should have a say unless you agree with them.

In today's paper, there is a letter with a general overall theme of  "stop giving in to developers..." This is what has happened, not only in our county but in the State of Florida.  We have seen it happen in our little city where commissioners do not listen to the people.  We are essentially built out and now with no other place to go but up. The people won the heights election wanting to keep the downtown low-rise (not over 45 feet) but it was this commission that decided not to honor the vote where the people told them that they wanted a low-rise downtown. They put tax dollars behind it to come up with some funky law that was passed nearly three months AFTER the vote. Now, they want us to spend $10 million on land we don't even own so that their developers and their friends can come in and make the money off of our taxed investment that was pushed down our throats by their vote from the dais of taking $50,000 of taxpayer money to use in their one-sided general obligation bond yes campaign. Is this even moral? 

An excerpt from The Letter to the Editor:

... If you really believe in global warming or climate change, it’s time to stop giving in to the developers and special-interest groups that want to pave over and build on every green space in Palm Beach County. Our county commissioners give the residents lip service but give the developers and builders what they want, and to heck with the people. Our county commissioners have taken the Seven50 money, (federal grants), and tell the citizens it’s only a study. So if people want to make a change and cool our planet and restore the natural reflector we once had, they have to stop all this senseless building and leave the natural green space alone.
JOSEPH R. BYRNE, WEST PALM BEACH

Mr. Byrne is 100% correct when he says that elected officials do NOT listen to the people.  This is a constant complaint towards all commissions. Our commission wants for you to tax yourself for 34 years with the only people making money off this bad deal being developers, contractors, planners, Realtors and the like. The property owners will still see the lousy roads (only 30% are being reconstructed) and the lousy maintenance as no matter how much money is spent, nothing changes and nothing is ever maintained and...money goes "missing."

Voters can see through all of this. No trust; no bonds.