To read the 16 page letter in its entirety, Click here.
The letter was hand-delivered to City Hall sometime on Monday and opened by the Mayor's secretary. Pam Triolo's secretary had every intention of going over her mail with her on Tuesday but it never happened. I was told that the mayor had not yet seen the letter by Tuesday night's special meeting and therefore was unaware of Hudson's intent. Silvina did say that it was also e-mailed to the Mayor and that Michael Bornstein had an original of the same letter hand-delivered to him on Monday.
As this was an extremely IMPORTANT letter, it is difficult to understand why this letter was not transmitted quickly to the recipients and leaves one to wonder if they already knew the contents.
Hudson Holdings plans on taking advantage of a law enacted in 2013 on public/private partnerships.
This proposal is exactly what Lake Worth needs. Its time to be realistic that a public/private partnership will enable the Beach Complex to thrive and all of our community can enjoy it with no cost to the taxpayers. It perplexes me how anyone would be against that. And no I am not a stakeholder in this just a long term resident who wants to see Lake Worth realize its potential.
ReplyDeleteIf you live in this city, then you are a stakeholder. Hudson Holdings grabbing our beach complex has nothing to do with enabling our casino to "thrive" once they get their hands on it, which is all they want to do.
ReplyDeleteBefore the city jumps into this hornets nest, I want them to get 5 years of financials and do a thorough investigation of Steven Michael and his Stonehenge Hedge Fund before they go one minute further as well as any projects they have ever successfully completed. Get that info and then let them submit a proposal.
Wow,anon at 1:41, Hudson Holdings was just what the Gulfsteam Hotel needed,right? Ummm well maybe not. And you really are stupid enough to hand over our public beach to these con men? Remember when Hudson Holdings wanted to put a private beach club up at our beach? They sure do keep on changing their tune , don't they?
ReplyDeleteAs for the Mayor and Silvina, how dare a secretary censure my elected officials mail! This secretary ultimately answers to we the people. Us, who pay her salary. Silvina ,be very glad that I'm not the Mayor, because I would have had your ass fired for this. And maybe "ass" is the operative word here. Maybe this secretary is making the letter time line up to cover the Mayor's ass.In either case, I don't think that this women deserves a paycheck from me or anybody else in this city. If there's one thing that we tax payers have every right to demand of our employees it's THE TRUTH !
Katie Mcgiveron
Let's get something clear, no one is handing anything over for free. The city is not giving away anything. The city owns this property and a private entity is offering to build and pay for millions of dollars of upgrades to the property at no cost to the taxpayers. The city will still own everything up there and will be a landlord like it is today. So who is giving away what? If the city protects itself with a good contract that is bonded there is little risk to the city. If we continue on as is, we lose money each day and things will just get worse. So don't tell me we are giving away the beach. Let's get real and look at the real risks to the city and the real rewards to the city. Balance both and than decide what you believe is best. It's not every day that an opportunity like this comes along for folks to consider in our little city with no money.
ReplyDeleteWhat IS every day in our city are some people here who believe that anything involving a developer is a good deal...a developer who lied his azz off in the video Tuesday night. Open up your mind to the truth, anonymous, not what this might do for you financially speaking. That's what it's all about isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWho said it was a good deal? An offer has been made. A smart city would look at the benefits and risks and than make a decision. A stupid city would ignore it and cost us taxpayers millions. It's to early to tell if the deal is good or bad but at least keep an open mind and study it.
ReplyDeleteOh, is that like looking at the benefits and risks in the contract with Greater Bay? This city has made few good contracts I guess--just can't think of one off hand.
ReplyDeleteThe ITN is OVER. Why are they still here? Who invited them back to submit anything? Are we supposed to get involved with every developer who wants our "stuff" and just won't accept "no."
"If it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true".
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Lynn before we go any further with these smooth talkers, they need to be fully investigated.
They promised the Gulfstream would be ready in 14 months last November, now 11 months ago. How has that been going?
Do they want more than 20 years on the contract they will likely flip?
Let's elect some new people in March who will be more respective and responsive to the residents they are supposed to represent.
Anon at 7:06.
ReplyDeleteDo you honestly believe that our bohemian town has a plethora of high minded business candidates, willing to run?
I don't think so.
it's not shameful, it's just what we are...
But to have this group denigrating everything before it's even on the drawing board kind of speaks for itself.
It's just not bright. It's immediate knee jerk rally city.
I wish our people had the smarts to out smart HH. 😊
Lynn, what IS in this city is a very small vocal group who Hates the mention of the word Developer or Realtor.
ReplyDeleteThat's not it at all, anonymous. That's what the very small vocal minority keeps pitching. We proved that in the Heights Amendment winning by 57% of the vote.
ReplyDelete@10:16. We're smart people, anonymous--smart and honest. We are not like some politicians or even greedy people. Some of that type get kicked out of office or go to jail. :) Now Triolo and Maxwell are pretending they didn't know a thing about the letter. As said, some of us are smarter than what they give us credit for.
ReplyDeleteHey, Lynn, I see the Hudson Holdings PR force is out strong on this one! The huge majority that voted John Szerdi out of office last March is the same huge majority that does not want more development on our beach. The beach property is fully developed. The city said at a meeting that they are already going after the architect or builder to fix the problems with the building. There is no reason for Hudson Holdings to be offering up anything. We want to keep our beautiful pool. We want to keep the beautiful green space. We want to keep control of our beach. NO to a private takeover of our beach!!!!!!! No, No, No!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey Anon at 8:28- what is your definition of "fully developed"- vacant, disrepair and disuse, but yes, built? Lawsuits can take years, so in the meantime "our" beach property continues to fall apart and become an eyesore? Who is this "we" that is so concerned about keeping the pool? I've been there several times and been the only one swimming- so yeah, I guess I would like to keep my private pool on the ocean, but do you seriously disagree that this property could be put to better use? What good is "control" when large parts of the amenity are underutilized? What is this "private takeover"? Everything I have read indicated that HH largely wanted the parts of the casino building that are not being utilized- the second floor and part of the pool- big deal- you aren't using it, I'm not using it, nobody is using it- oh, except for perhaps that one cubicle that appears to be occupied- probably the best office space on the east coast. Love looking in the second floor windows and seeing storage. I bet it's the only storage facility in South Florida that has an ocean view. Can we start proposing solutions, or at least not having such a knee jerk reaction to any proposal? Let's get smart, work together, and make this town great. We can't do it by criticizing and opposing every single thing. But then I guess criticizing is easy, it's fixing that is hard.
ReplyDeleteAnony at 6:30 a.m.....NEWSFLASH. "Developer" is a dirty word in Florida for a very good reason!!! They've taken the natural beauty of our state and thrown up cheap and ugly buildings to stuff their pockets with cash and then skated out of town!! Nothing built today is of any quality. It is all garbage and developers know it. They are destroyers of communities. The people who built buildings like the Gulfstream hotel and the two theaters on Lake Avenue - the Cultural Council and the Playhouse - now those were artists! Their buildings were beautiful when built and are beautiful now 100 years later.
ReplyDeleteHH wants anything it can get! Probably even your first born if they can get their hands on it and it can be developed or placed in their portfolio to flip.
ReplyDeleteThe pool is great. Just market it. Your arguments don't hold any water and really, you must be @9:02 an employee of this investor?
I like one of the ideas of keeping the vacant upstairs and making it into office roomns, storage and a small meeting room to lease out.
Nope, not an employee of the City or of HH, just a resident, who loves Lake Worth, and what it could be. The second floor is currently being used for storage. Great use of ocean front (that was sarcasm, for those who need a primer).
ReplyDelete