Commissioner Cara Jennings and her link to the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico

Here is our Empress showing off her new clothes by offering a proclamation against oil drilling in Florida's territorial waters.  It was passed with a unanimous vote by the Commission and Mayor and joined many other communities in doing so.

This is good on the surface, but what does it really do?

Well, for one thing, this is great window dressing for her upcoming campaign.  But what has she done to support and encourage effective mass transit in Lake Worth and find ways to minimize the importance of the single occupancy automobile in our transit patterns.  Beyond what she does personally with riding a bike and driving a car that burns bio-diesel, not much.  Her actions actually contribute to everyone being more reliant on oil, gasoline and increased carbon emissions.

A house or a building built in Lake Worth is a house or building that is not built in the sprawling areas of Palm Beach County.  It is also one that is not built in the environmentally sensitive areas of our state.  Can we stipulate that, as one of the oldest municipalities in Palm Beach County, that we are actually an urban area.  We are a city.  Our land has already been adulterated from what it was before settlers arrived on the scene.  It is therefore the most environmentally responsible land to redevelop.  It is near infrastructure to support it and already along transit and rail lines.  Suburban development or greenfield development is neither.  But by eliminating the possibility for redevelopment in Lake Worth, you do nothing to make the world less oil dependent...you make it worse.  If you like Cara Jennings as a Commissioner, you better like your car seat just as much.

This is not to suggest that we "build to the sky," but it should tell us that a three story model for redevelopment is not realistic.  By insisting on that model, we increase the demand for oil and related products.  Three weeks ago, I had to physically go outside the City Limits of Lake Worth to buy underware and socks.  I would hope you agree that these are wardrobe staples for the vast majority of humans.  Due to the lack of buildings housing clothing retailers, I saddled up my five cylinder fossil fuel burning vehicle and headed to where I could find these things.  This is repeated day after day after by anyone living in Lake Worth.  Think of the amount of gasoline that could be saved, tons of carbon not emitted if we didn't have to go elsewhere for our basic staples.

A "no growth" policy is a political panacea - it panders to the electorate, but it really is a false promise of saving the environment.  Responsible, sustainable redevelopment is what is needed not signs at our borders saying "Developers Go-Away."  It also has a cost that most assuredly will come, but unfortunately it comes only after a few election cycles.

Did I mention that we have lost about half of our taxable property value in the City of Lake Worth over the past five years?