Go to 1:25 for the beginning of the pool discussion and listen to public commentary that starts off the discussion on the pool.
I agree with Betty Resch--"It was the will of the city to to make it fail." It is unfortunate that the city drained it allowing the sun and the elements to further its deterioration. People are unhappy, rightfully so. Richard Guercio says the pool is beyond help. We could have fixed it at the time for $509,000 (we paid for the engineering study) but the city wanted it out of there. Michael Bornstein is behind this travesty from almost the day he was hired as Lake Worth city manager even calling it a "white elephant."
The city stopped funding our pool in 2018. It was never their desire to save it. Click here to go to the pool workshop of May 2017 and see the total repair costs by Kimley-Horn of $509,000 that included the locker rooms and the pool pump house.
Commissioner Omari Hardy: Says, we are a representative democracy and 1200 people signed a petition that they want the pool and want it opened. He is in favor of having the pool at the beach. He defended Commissioner Robinson from the city manager's remark for Robinson calling for a workshop on the penny sales tax. The CM said it was "ill advised." When is transparency ever ill-advised unless you are going to receive opinions for which you are in disagreement.
Our pool not that long ago
Mayor Triolo: She thinks we are in partnership with the county pertaining to our pool. No. We received $5 million to redo-our parking and the upper level area. The 30 year agreement had nothing to do with the pool in order to receive this county bond money that passed on a county-wide referendum that all Lake Worth taxpayers had been paying for. We never spent a dime on those renovations until the agreement was signed that included decal parking spaces for our residents negotiated by Cara Jennings that we, the city, paid for, not the county. The mayor says we can afford a pool at the beach and yes, the pool has been ignored for a long time. This dais is part of that problem. She said that we shouldn't be in every type of business when "we don't know what in hell we're doing." Why don't you direct the city manager to hire people in the know. And that is the problem--the beach park should be thought of as an amenity, not a business. She brought up residents starting a GoFundMe account to help offset the costs. They're already paying $40 million on a road bond.
Commissioner Andy Amoroso: No back-up on the agenda. Says we need parking up at the beach (and downtown) and to use some of the penny sales tax money. They need to come back with a penny sales tax conversation, not just on the pool. "We need to identify how to pay for it," he said.
Commissioner Scott Maxwell: With respect to the pool--"We don't embrace that amenity." He reminded us that it was a "regional beach." It has and always has been a regional beach. He doesn't understand that being a regional beach (people using it from all over the County and beyond) does not affect the county's participation in any funding of our casino or pool amenity or anything else. The casino and pool are NOT the beach. The county has no responsibility to us. We make our money on parking revenue and everyone visiting our beach pays. He accused a former commission for getting them into a mess at the beach. That myth continues. He, Triolo and Amoroso have had years to do something instead of letting the pool rot.
Mike Bornstein: Looking for direction from the dais, he said that having the workshop was ill-advised..."Not good to go into those things." Says they have spent $2.4 million on downtown parking. I wonder why he couldn't, from the beginning, invest money to maintain and repair our pool. He said, "The beach is a collection of decisions and they brought forth a series of options from competent help. City is ready to go on a design...As a government, they have to follow a process." Bornstein even goes after a former commission on the Casino. Just fix what we have, Mr. Bornstein instead of pie-in-the-sky money schemes to commercialize our beach park.
Commissioner Herman Robinson: Says he's not going to make a speech. He likes workshops. $14 million left on the penny sales tax. (Where did all the millions go?) Roads, our downtown and our casino park. He said that it is a county park. WRONG. Our beach park belongs to the City of Lake Worth. PERIOD. The county has no obligation to spend one dime there. He set the city manager straight and said that is why he called for a workshop--to give the city manager some direction and they need to understand what the city manager expects from them. Robinson is not thrilled in the way the penny sales has been spent thus far.
Just fix our pool and listen to the people.
And--over and above the $400,000 that we put into the pool repairs back then with Greater Bay, the State of Florida gave the city $250,000 with the stipulation that the pool remain open to the public. How many years has it been closed with no intention of ever reopening?
It seems that the mind-set is to just start all over by spending millions and building a new pool, etc. rather than repairing and maintaning what we have. That is the way in Lake Worth--always.
Our pool now--rapidly decaying
A Jim Finnegan photo
