What I'm hearing...

...from people as I walk around in my quest for the District #3 Commissioner seat. They paint an interesting picture of the state of the City.

One person moved here recently from Pittsburgh. He bought a home on N. G Street. He paid around $50,000 for it - thought it was quite a deal in relation to Ft. Lauderdale and liked the feel of Lake Worth for a variety of reasons. He recently received his proposed property tax notice and discovered that the taxable value of the property dropped from $80,000 last year to a little over $30,000 this year. After he applies for his double homestead exemption, he will pay a minimum total property tax of $460 per year. He is happy about this. But, think of the implications of this on a city wide basis. And we thought that this year's decrease in property values was bad - next year will be even worse.

I met someone else who grew up on South E Street, south of 6th Avenue. He and his family moved out of Lake Worth in the mid 1980s when crime became intolerable - he was about ten at the time. He remembers playing around the railroad tracks, finding railroad spikes, taking them home and painting them - making mobiles and stuff. His family moved to Palm Springs and his parents still live in that same house.

Another person on North O Street is renting a house from someone who is facing foreclosure. He's lived there at least 10 years and is just about the equivalent of a homeowner, he just doesn't have the deed. He has put a lot of money in the property - landscaping, paint, fixtures - the property is a showplace. He thought about arranging to buy the property and has good enough credit to do so, but can't justify doing that when an average summer utility bill ranges from $600 to $800 a month. He has given up trying to figure out when the trash and the green pick up takes place - he's been fined numerous times for putting things out in the wrong week. I told to refer to the schedule I have here on the blog - he's been doing that for a while now and says it helps - but the city doesn't follow its own schedule sometimes. He even cleared debris and vegetation from a neighboring property that was under foreclosure and then was cited for that as well. He probably has until the end of the year to move out. The bank sent an inspector to look at the property who just shook his head in disbelief that a property this nicely maintained will join the ranks of vacant, foreclosed properties.

Another property owner on North K has been battling the city over the condition and construction activity going on across the street. Between the vagrants and the squatters on one of them, to a perpetual blighting situation not helped by the city continuing to issue building permits for a building with running fines and one that the value of the improvements are more than 33% of the value of the building - meaning all code requirements need to be met, the property owner is losing all patience with the lack of response from City Hall. In talking with them yesterday, there does seem to be some progress in addressing the issue and they are crossing their fingers that this might be the beginning to the end of their problems.

On L Street, just north downtown, a friend told me about a visit from Commissioner Golden who knocked on the door asking for support in her re-election campaign. He told her about the problems he's having dealing with Citizen's and his windstorm insurance. They are telling him that he has to replace his roof with a metal one - which will range from $14,000 to $17,000. He is a doorman/security guard at a Palm Beach condominium and doesn't have access to that type of money. Commissioner Golden told him that she and the rest of the Commission are working on the problem.

Really?

When will these and other people see the beginning to the end of their problems?
Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Wes Blackman for City Commissioner District #3