Comment Up
On June 18th I got a call with a live person who was conducting a survey for the City of Lake Worth. There were various questions asking what I thought about the present commission's job performance, whether I would consider supporting a $40 million dollar bond for roads followed by a question on whether I would support a $50 million dollar bond for roads and sidewalks. They even asked whether I would support the PB County 1 cent sales tax increase.
Unfortunately, there were no details along with the questions such as the term of the bond, its total cost including interest and what all it would specifically cover. The last bond the city wanted us to approve was for $63 million for 30 years that would have cost us a total of $131 million, a detail never discussed. That bond covered all sorts of things besides pothole repair even an $800,000 slush fund for each commissioner to spend as he wanted in his district.
To this day, under freedom of information, no one can get any answer from the city on this survey--not even a commissioner for whom I contacted was told about it--the city manager is remaining mum. There is no doubt in my mind that the trio of commissioners (Maxwell, Triolo and Amoroso) know all about it. It's sickening when decisions are made out of the Sunshine, requests by the public are ignored and democracy is relegated to an unimportant position.
1. Who authorized this survey?
2.Was our Commission informed about this survey?
3.How much did this survey cost the taxpayers?
4.What is the name of the company conducting this survey?
5.Who has access to the survey results?
6.Will the public have access to the survey results?
7.Will a neutral third party company be hired/is already hired to verify the survey results?
8. When was a telephone survey for a new roads bond discussed in public?
9. How many people were surveyed? Were certain areas targeted?
There will be a Workshop on July 7th at 6pm at City Hall to discuss potholes. Perhaps then the details will be revealed.
The refusal to answer FOI requsts has got to stop. Pam Lopez and Debra Andrea need to be fired, along with Bornstein. Any other town or even the county gives you your info within one or two days. Lake Worth sucks.
ReplyDeleteI know you won't like what I have to say here anonymous @10:13--If Deborah Andrea can not answer a request, she forwards it on to the person or department that can. I would say that it is a very difficult situation when the request for information is out of her control to provide. In this instance it is only something the big boss can act on...the city manager, and he obviously does not want to. Debs does a great job to the best of her ability as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteDebra has always been great when I've requested anything!
ReplyDeleteThe city manager and trio on the dais approved spending $50,000 to convince us to vote yes on the bond the first time round. How much will they spend this time?
ReplyDeleteWould you like a magical fairy to fix the roads and infrastructure issues?
ReplyDeleteThat is basically what they tried last time around and sounds like they are getting ready to try in the future. Without real discussions of real numbers and protections for home owners, year round, snowbird and businesses then any proposal will not be successful
We all want the roads fixed, I think many of us would even pay something more for the roads to be fixed (although our millage rate is already close to the max it can be). In order for folks to truly assess the issue, real numbers, not the fakey cost of a cup of coffee baloney, needs to be provided. Full transparency and disclosure. Who will have to pay, everyone or just those who pay city taxes, how much will they pay, and most importantly WILL IT BE CAPPED.
Our roads do need to be fixed. But I'll be damned if I would trust this majority commission with my money. They throw everything away to their developer cronies. Even our public land. And they continue to spend our money in the dark.
ReplyDelete