August 5, 2015
Point of view: Honor the Intent of the Lake Worth Voters
Palm Beach Post
In the late 1990’s a hotel was proposed for our Lake Worth Beach property by an out of town developer. Soon after, another developer from Miami wined and dined citizens, lobbying them for their support of his proposal, a complex of townhouses spread over much of the property.
The public distaste for these and other similar proposals led to the Commission placing a Charter Amendment on the 2004 ballot, protecting the beach from sale or lease except for a lease of less than 20 years.
This Amendment passed by a landslide 9-1 margin. In spite of this history the present City Manager, Michael Bornstein, and City Commission majority of Mayor Pam Triolo, Vice-Mayor Scott Maxwell, and Commissioner Andy Amoroso act as if they are unaware of the strong feeling of Lake Worth citizens that they want to keep their public beach as it exists.
What has been created is the result of years of well attended charettes and public meetings and long hours spent by representative Commissions and citizens poring over various architectural proposals, and a painstaking selection process of both architect and builder to build what is there now.
The people and their elected officials decided that they wanted the size of the Casino as it stands and they wanted to keep abundant green space and the magnificent public pool.
Assistant City Attorney, Christy L Goddeau has said she might be able to find a way around the 2004 Amendment, subverting the expressed will of the citizen-owners of the beach.
This Commission must reject any proposal that seeks to build more than what exists now, and honor the legislative intent of the 2004 Charter Amendment by rejecting any lease that gives away long term control of our Public Beach and Park.
Laurence McNamara
Lake Worth, Fl.
17 comments:
The commission must also reject proposals that involve tenants that also want to manage the building! Rediculous!
i do not think that voters thought they would be saddled with a project that has them on the hook for 500thou a year.
Thank you for reminding this commission of the facts. Maxwell should already know them.
@9:54--On the hook?
We are NOT on the hook for anything. We borrowed this money from ourselves. We can take as much time as we choose paying it back to our reserves. This was a wonderful way to borrow the $6 mil to build our casino without going out on a bank loan, etc.
I think this is the first time ever that I have agreed with something that Mr. McNamara has said or written.
I absolutely agree with the recitation of the history of the beach and the fact that many of us attended meetings, fought these private plans for years, etc. I thought the beach issue was done and over and settled. I don't want more development at the beach, and I don't think most other citizens want more development at the beach.
Laurence,we love you. Thank you .
What Laurence McNamara wrote what most people in this city feel. If Mayor Trilo and the commission move ahead and let Hudson Holdings build another building up there then there is going to be hell to pay.
Let's forget that the design of what exists now was in keeping with and honoring the original architectural design of the original structure. That's about where it ends.
The construction turns out to have been shabby and because we exempted the contractor from litigation over faulty construction and contributed to it by not having qualified personnel to oversee it as it was being built. The value engineering also contributed to a "this is what you get for your money" attitude and you don't hear anyone bellyaching about how the contractor made out on this sweetheart deal.
We are now having to repair building components that should not need repair and leaks that will be difficult if not impossible to rectify due to faulty design.
We gave up valuable parking on top of the dune, we gave up resident parking where ever we wanted, we gave up being able to see anything at night. How affordable everything is up there is, well let's just say a former Mayor can't take her kids there for ice cream.
Then let's look at "the magnificent pool". Just let that sink in for a few seconds.
We charge $2.00 per hour to park and $4.00 admission each to swim in an over-sized, old fashioned pool with very few amenities and very limited hours of operation.. Gee, I wonder why it isn't full to capacity and a cash cow.
Every one of the stores and restaurants at the beach have leases. That means we give them control of the space they agree to pay us for. We therefore LOSE CONTROL of that space for the length of the lease. Most all leases have renewal clauses that give first crack to the occupant. So if I were to agree to a 10, 15 or 20 year lease with a renewal clause, shouldn't it be viewed as just that?
I worked as well as Mr. McNamara on the ordinance that would prevent the city from selling or in some cases "giving" property away without a vote of the residents. It saved Causeway Park, AKA Old Bridge Park, AKA Hotdog Park from being sold to the same individual who bought and flipped several valuable properties in Lake Worth all while telling us how he was going to build nice low rise structures and even brought pretty pictures for us to oooo and aaah over.
He was as flim flammy as GB.
To say the similarities with the HH project proposal are uncanny would be understating it. Especially figuring in the lease lengths.
The original pool was salt water. We can have a fresh water pool anywhere in the city. The only magnificent thing about our pool is the location on the beach and you can't see the beach from the pool or the pool from the beach. Put parking where the pool sits and you'd change a net loss to a net gain in a big way.
The article is well written and accurate. The only inaccuracy now is the gang of 3 (down from the gang of 4 minus Dirty Szerdi) and Bornstein repeating the lie that we simply cannot survive without THEIR mandatory plans to develop OUR beach. What don't they understand about their government out of the sunshine, back room land deals, and the fact that they are committing political suicide? Do you ever wonder if they as well as Wes are also working for Hudson Holdings?
Wes is definitely working for HH.
Yes we gave up parking on top, for more park space and seating space against the Casino. I thought that was fantastic, putting tons of parking and cars and asphalt on our most valuable land was always stupid. It sued to be like a 4 lane highway in front of the Casino.
Cars should go down below. Yes, it was sad that we as a City gave up permit parking in any spot, but we got $6 million in return. It is what it is.
The pool is magnificent, its location at our beach is a wonderful asset and part of our history, it was fully redone just a few years ago. To talk about paving it over so cars can park there is just about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. Yes, the locker rooms need to be upgraded, and the facade of the pool needs a face lift, but to give up control and permit huge development at the beach to get these things would again be very short sighted. I understand why HH wants to get their hands on our most valuable asset, what I don't understand is why our elected officials want to hand over our golden goose so easy. It really does smell and there are probably, most likely back room deals going on.
It is sad, but Lake Worth will likely follow suit with cities like Pompano Beach and Lauderdale by the Sea among others who have sold out and sold their beaches to developers and the people have lost beach access and facilities that once belonged to the citizens and city. It is very sad, we need to keep the pressure on, but it will always be a problem, developer have their ways, they are evil evil evil. WE need to vote these bastards out of office NOW.
Re: "vote these bastards out of office now." Excellent idea!! They can be recalled, but would be difficult. At least one commissioner in gang of 3 is breaking LW laws...Two is not a majority. We need to start now finding 3 new people who will really represent us. I think it's hopeful also that the Post actually printed a real article that states the truth. We really need to stayed attuned so they don't try to pull another quick bait & switch (from rent vacancy to build for developers) before their terms expire. I believe their arrogance is big enough that they will never imagine now being reelected--
They dont seem to care about their re-election. The community needs to start a Recall petition now, before its too late. Recall Mayor Triolo for allowing the ITN to go out with no public input or public knowledge.
11:44 "the people" lost public access to Ft. Lauderdale Beach? You guys are so full of crap you're starting to believe your own lies yet?
@3:44--re-read the comment above. Oh, and P.S. we don't want any more development on the beach.
I think maybe HH, Lee of Benny's and Wes are all in cahoots. Wes keeps deleting any negative or borderline negative comments on the post where Lee talks about how the second floor of the Casino sucks and that our pool is an embarrassment, etc.
Wes doesn't normally delete much, leading me to believe he is really protected Lee.
Yes, they all are in cahoots.
Les has been promised the restaurant on the 2nd level by HH.
Wes has admitted that he works for HH.
What a city!
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