Despite problems the future looks promising for our business community but why won't two of our elected's "take the walk"?

The Gulf Stream hotel, hopefully in the near future, will be coming back to life and contributing to our City and downtown. The City's Park of Commerce long held back from its potential is finally moving forward but more funding is needed and hopefully Governor Scott and the legislature will help despite that unfortunate veto.

Did you know there are 38 cities in Palm Beach County and only two, Pahokee and Belle Glade, fared worse than Lake Worth during and after the Great Recession? Lake Worth's "LW2020" bond vote failed by just 25 votes and it was a former City mayor, who now lives in Atlantis, a city with wonderful streets and infrastructure, that had a key role in that outcome (remember the CAUT PAC?).

Remember these signs? Many of these signs lined 'J' Street north of Publix. That terrible stretch of road everyone complains about would have been fixed already if the bond had passed.

But despite all these challenges our business community for the most part has remained loyal to our City. Michelle Sylvester is one of those business owners. She's been working with businesses and the City to solve many of the issues and the headwinds that business owners face and she's had a lot of success bringing attention to this issue. She had organized "walks" with City leaders for them to see first-hand the problems along with the successes. Lake Worth Mayor Triolo and Commissioner Amoroso (both re-elected by landslides) took one of these walks but they didn't have to. They both own businesses in the downtown. They know what is happening because they see it every day.

But two commissioners in Lake Worth have refused to walk the "walk" and they've ignored the invitations offered by Michelle Sylvester. The video below is from the Lake Worth City Commission on January 19th. The video quality is poor because it was recorded off a TV screen but the audio is clear. She thanks those who walked the walk with her. And you can clearly hear the frustration she feels trying to get the attention of two City commissioners who have thus far ignored her invitations: commissioners Ryan Maier and Chris McVoy.

What Sylvester said at that City Commission meeting caused quite the stir and much was written about it on this blog and other places. Watch the video for yourself then ask yourself this question: Why won't Maier and McVoy take the "walk"?