The way we are...

So, during our walk down memory lane - or our historical tour down some of our major commercial corridors - we saw that we were once able to sustain ourselves economically.  This came from capitalizing off of our location along the main north/south automobile routes in South Florida.  We used our beach as an asset to draw tourists that stayed at the local hotels and motels, spent money in our downtown and provided a tax base that was not as dependent on single family residential property as it is today.

I-95 become the major north/south transportation route in the mid-1970s and the city has yet to adjust to that reality.

With the recent demolition of the Midnight Sun building - fresh earth in the slideshow above - we have even more vacant land along large sections of South Federal Hwy.  Some of the properties were assembled for redevelopment during the recent boom period in residential construction, but were eventually caught in a lurch once the bubble burst.  South Federal Hwy. is not a historic district, nor does it deserve to be, but now it represents a significant amount of lost property tax base that supports the city's general fund.  This part of the city is not within the CRA district, so the tax revenue is not captured through tax increment (TIF) that land along Dixie Hwy. is.

We are still in the midst of a depressed real estate sector of the economy and that is not helping this situation.  Eventually, we will emerge from our current economic storm someday and need to be ready once we do.

Rather than deal with trying to rent out these small rooms and all the unintended consequences associated with that, property owners are choosing to demolish the buildings, lowering their carrying costs - and as a result reducing our tax base.  While on the Planning and Zoning Board, we would occasionally hear cases where we sat as the Nuisance Abatement Board.  That board is empowered to take evidence generated by code enforcement and law enforcement.  Many of the cases we heard came from South Federal Hwy. Usually code and drug/prostitution related issues were the focus.  If there was a problem property, we could take action and shut down its operation for a period of time, or even permanently.

Crime and its impact to adjacent single family neighborhoods is still a major problem in the area.  Its existence, and the perception of its existence, does not contribute to the incentive to redevelop the area.  I met with Commissioner Mulvehill this week and we talked about this issue.  I brought up the possibility of the Nuisance Abatement Board meeting more often to address the problem here and she said that she would talk with the City Manager about it.  It seemed to be news to her.  We also talked about the need to talk to property owners, real estate professionals and examine our new Comprehensive Plan so that we can try to generate interest in re-investing in these properties.  We'll see.

Now, it is up for discussion whether or not the current regime wants any shovel to hit the ground - ever.  Maybe vacant, low property tax producing land is what they want after all.  Perhaps this is an area of new urban farming - acres and acres of tomatoes and lettuce in the midst of the South Florida area?  Maybe on a more limited basis, but this would be extreme - and the tax consequences would be immense.

And maybe it is just that the "brand" Lake Worth is so tarnished due to - quoting from another message board:

 - "I've lived in Lake Worth 15 years, close to Dixie highway and have put up with:

Prostitutes openly working and getting picked up and dropped off in neighborhoods

Almost every home on my block has been broken into

Blight that is getting worse by the day

Illegals lining up on Lake and Lucerne even after the ignorant commissioners spent $400k on the shuffleboard courts for them

Gang shootings

No code enforcement, overcrowding

Taunts from my friends about staying in Lake Worth

But the "Pain Clinic" at N. Dixie and 12th is the absolute bottom. In addition to Lake Worth being known as the place to not to move to if you have a young family, a place to not to move your business to, a place where the utilities are overpriced and ineffective, a place where slumlords thrive, a place where illegals know they can hang out in the street looking for work and openly drinking,

WE ARE NOW KNOWN ALL ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST AS THE PLACE TO GO IN PALM BEACH COUNTY FOR DRUG ADDICTS TO GET THEIR ILLEGAL PRESRCIPTIONS FILLED.  

The parking lot at that place was packed with cars at 5 p.m. on Thursday all but 2 cars were from Kentucky or Tennessee and the parking lot was packed again this morning at 9.

Never mind what the scumbag people looked like. If you can believe it they make Lake Worth's homeless population look spiffy.

I've fought as long as I could. Time to sell and move

We have a problem that needs many solutions - is the current Commission and city administration up to addressing these issues?