- Donald Trump said, "Eminent domain is wonderful."
- The "visionaries," Scott Maxwell, Pam Triolo and Andy Amoroso along with McVoy (that one was a surprise) said the same thing when they voted for Eminent domain on June 16th at Lake Worth City Hall. The Park of Commerce is all about spending (OPM) other people's money or public money to ready land for developers.
- Marco Rubio railed against the relatively obscure issue of eminent domain Thursday. While eminent domain is necessary for important (that's the key word--important) infrastructure projects, the power is often used to benefit wealthy private developers.
I stand by Marco especially when we think about the Park of Commerce and all the private property they will take in order to fulfill Scott Maxwell's field of dreams and the multi-millions that the City plans to invest there over-all.
11 comments:
What will the owner of the trailer parks out there have to say about this? Do you think they will comply without saying a word?
Good luck! More of my tax dollars wasted on a no win lawsuit! The city has tried this before. They LOST. The gang of three Pam,Andy and Scot along with their puppet master Bornstein need to be recalled just on the basis of wasting our money.
For some who rely on the Internet as their sole place for information, (God help http://www.floridaplanning.org/great-places/great-places-florida-2015-nominees/ people), you need to also point out exactly how and what the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says about eminent domain. Yes, the constitution says sovereign entities, (the Federal, State, counties and city's) can take property for the benefit of the public as a whole, but not without being paid the just and fair market value of the property taken. Now you say how is the Park of Commerce (POC) part of "the public as a whole?" What LW is doing in the POC is providing adequate infrastructure needs for the land use and zoning of the area. In doing so everyone in the region who either works, does business with, or even drives, walks or rides their car or bike down Boutwell Rd. benefits from the city providing those basics. There's a good chance a sovereign entity used an eminent domain taking to provide some or all of those same necessities to your home, church or place where you work at one time.
Well, Greg, this is for a commercial/industrial park--not residential even though this city sneaked in some apartments and townhouses on the fringe. There should be a public policy of placing the costs of public improvements on the private businesses that require and use them...not this poor city or its tax payers. On top of that, we should be requiring developers to pay our city the impact fees that reflect the costs of additional infrastructure needs arising as a result of a project, such as this road widening or eminent domain. If it were your property, would you feel the same?
What's ironic is these property owners are happy to give up a sliver, and I do mean sliver of their land, to finally sell it. They've been waiting for the city to do this , as promised, for at least 30 years!
Well, what's really asinine is that you, anonymous @1:01am believe what you just wrote. Bad night?
What's ironic is the anon 1:01 AM comment has no idea that a willing seller wouldn't have their property "TAKEN" by the government thru eminent domain!
The owners are obviously NOT happy to give up a sliver, both sides have lawyer-ed up and the fight has only begun. At what cost & proven public (not private developer needs)are important questions.
If this fiasco has taken 30 years to "push" thru - it's not organic and probably shouldn't be happening at all! Sounds more like 'insider trading' - hey buy this cheap and when we (the gov) can push through a POC you'll make a ton of money on more valuable property - like artificial insemination - it isn't natural/organic and quite troubling that this is all being done w/taxpayer dollars or OPM Other People's Money!
Anon 1:01 is unbelievably naive or purposefully deceptive
While I have a lot of admiration for the personal accomplishments of Greg Rice, I do not feel the same about his opinion re Park of Commerce. Going way back in planning--one of the big names on this project that jumped out at me was Warren Newell. I understand he has completed his prison sentence for fraud and is now back in the real estate business. Need I say more about necessity and personal interest? I'm sure realtors just love this deal and why not? We put in 8 million in tax money and they get the benefit. The only benefit I could see was perhaps it would keep the special interests away from our beach if they were occupied with POC. No dice there either. If you really want an eye opener on Eminent Domain read the book "Little Pink House." It proves there doesn't have to be any public benefit in reality--just powerful interests.
Lynn, so you're saying cities should only provided infrastructure needs and services to residential areas within its boundaries? The dictionary defines a city as, an incorporated municipal center where many people live and work. Lake Worth is a city, not a neighborhood. Owners of commercial and industrial properties pay property taxes too. They pay a lot of taxes. They also pay other fees that most residential properties don't pay and as you know most of their owners don't get to vote in the city. The adequate infrastructure needs in the POC being planned is main trunk lines, roads, signage and sidewalks. The cost of connecting adjacent properties in the area to the cities infrastructures will be paid by the property owners. They will also pay fees to the city to be able to do that. The Park of Commerce, while not a residential area of the city, is just as much a part of the City of Lake Worth as the parts of the city we live in. By definition a city without vibrant business districts would not be a city, it'd be just a neighborhood.
And for the Anonymous poster trying to connect the dots between W. Newell and the POC it was also Warren Newell who pledged $5 Million Dollars of county money that LW used to redo the parking lot and southend bathroom over at the beach Casino development. Are we going to try and tie him in with our Casino problems too?
I think I've made it pretty clear. We are not building a city but allocating $8.7 million for sewer, etc. on a piece of dirt with the hopes of this commission to attract development. Originally Maxwell wanted $17 million to pour in there. OPM.
I have written so much about this over the past year or so that I am exhausted now. You didn't even get the money from the State of FL...they did not find it as important as you all do either.
It is true that Warren Newell was instrumental in getting us the $5 mil from the recreation bond.
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