I am sure you are saying to yourself, surely Wes, things aren’t so bad that you are calling for the Second Coming by quoting from the Yeats poem of the same name. Well, rest assured that I am not making that dire prediction. I am actually more hopeful now about the future of Lake Worth than I was even one week ago. However, one cannot avoid the irony that the poem references anarchy, which seems to have a certain resonance in Lake Worth . The lines “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” can apply to the Lake Worth and the national political context, as well. But this is not the focus here.
The poem’s most famous line, over time, turned out to be “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” In the point of view of most urban planners, of which I count myself as one, the “centre” mentioned in the poem can signify the role of downtown areas in keeping a larger urban area together. We are witnessing just this phenomena in Lake Worth as I will further explain.
Years ago, I attended an American Planning Association conference based in New York. One of the mobile workshops that I participated in included a trip to Princeton, New Jersey. It was of particular interest to me at the time since I worked for a community which was home to a large university. Its downtown area shared a common linear border with the university’s campus and a similar situation existed in Princetown between its downtown commercial area and its campus. Our host, a member of the Princeton urban planning faculty, paraphrased Yeats by saying something to the effect of “If the center doesn’t hold, the rest falls apart.” This was in clear reference to their downtown area.
Since then, I have remembered this quote and find it almost universally true as it applies to downtown commercial areas. It is surely true for our own downtown Lake Worth.
Let’s look at what makes up we come to know as a downtown commercial area. It is one where there is a concentration of institutions and businesses which, by their very nature, attract people. In reference to commercial shopping centers, one would use the term “anchor tenants.” In a traditional downtown context, one usually refers to these creatures of the urban realm as “destination uses.” These “destinations” are “uses” of property and buildings that have the ability to attract a great number of people on a daily basis. The aerial view of our downtown above identifies some of these major attractions present in our downtown. We can think of these as “people generators.” The rest of the downtown, consisting predominantly of restaurant and smaller retail uses, while some being attractors of their own to a lesser degree, benefit from being in an area to which people are drawn.
Let’s look at the list that is represented in the aerial view above. I have limited the view and analysis to the general “core area” of the downtown and for this purpose is the area east of the FEC railroad tracks and fudged a little to the area east of Federal Hwy. Here goes:
City Hall, City Hall Annex, the Library and the Post Office: All of these government and civic buildings attract people throughout the day and the week to transact business with the city, attend meetings, pay utility bills, gather books and reference materials, etc. The added benefit that we have in Lake Worth is that all of these buildings are authentically historic. City Hall and the City Hall Annex used to have a stronger drawing power when they housed the building permit and planning departments. The library has reduced attraction power now due to its more limited hours. One could argue that it would be better for the downtown if those functions were returned to these buildings, more often. We shall see what the future brings in that regard as things are in a bit of a flux right now. City Hall has its own parking area.
Compass: A non-profit community-serving organization which occupies a city-owned building draws large numbers of people throughout the week. The greatest portion of those coming from the Lake Worth 33460 zip code. Besides serving functions that are part of its core organizational purpose, it also provides meeting space for many civic and city groups on a regular basis. It also has its own parking area.
Publix: One just had to witness the crowds drawn for the Grand Opening to realize the drawing power of a grocery store in a downtown area. In a future post, I will focus on the importance of quality grocery stores, instead of the usual convenience stores, in an urban area with a lower median income than suburban locations. This grocery store will also help solidify, and make more attractive, the residential area around the downtown over time.
Banks: A necessary part of contemporary life, many people visit their respective banks one or more times a week to make deposits, apply for loans, etc. In Lake Worth, we have a good representation of the various banks available to retail consumers and business customers. Banks also provide the liquidity, in the form of cash from ATMs, that make the retail and restaurant economy of the downtown go around.
Lake Worth Playhouse: Not only is this a historic building in our downtown capable of being filled with over 300 theater patrons during afternoon and evening performance times, it is also used for rehearsals and movies on other days of the week. All of these people represent a group that bring money and energy to our downtown.
Palm Beach County Cultural Council: Also soon to be contained in a marquee historic building in the center of our downtown, this agency will do a lot to promote Lake Worth as an “arts-related” destination. While the number of visitors to the agency may not be that great on a daily basis, it will do more than its part to attract people to the hub of the Palm Beach County arts community.
Note that all of these downtown destinations, with the exception of banks, either have a government function or have received some sort of government assistance in locating in our downtown in the form of a direct grant or a subsidy. In all of these cases, this is a justifiable public purpose that supports the life and health of our downtown, as well as that of the entire community.
What happens when you put this combination of uses into a compact, downtown environment is a synergy. People are able to comfortably walk from place to place, and not rely on their car, or they are able to walk or bike from their own residence in and around the downtown. This puts people on the sidewalk and diminishes the reliance on the automobile to get from place to place, as it is required in more suburban areas that owe their existence to the automobile. This synergistic effect is greater as you increase the number of different sorts of uses in the downtown area. One major category that is currently under-represented in our downtown area are offices. Success in promoting our downtown as a desirable office location will provide a captive population during the day. This captive population will bring their own money to circulate throughout the downtown in support of our existing business community.
The poem’s most famous line, over time, turned out to be “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” In the point of view of most urban planners, of which I count myself as one, the “centre” mentioned in the poem can signify the role of downtown areas in keeping a larger urban area together. We are witnessing just this phenomena in Lake Worth as I will further explain.
Years ago, I attended an American Planning Association conference based in New York. One of the mobile workshops that I participated in included a trip to Princeton, New Jersey. It was of particular interest to me at the time since I worked for a community which was home to a large university. Its downtown area shared a common linear border with the university’s campus and a similar situation existed in Princetown between its downtown commercial area and its campus. Our host, a member of the Princeton urban planning faculty, paraphrased Yeats by saying something to the effect of “If the center doesn’t hold, the rest falls apart.” This was in clear reference to their downtown area.
Since then, I have remembered this quote and find it almost universally true as it applies to downtown commercial areas. It is surely true for our own downtown Lake Worth.
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| Downtown Lake Worth Destinations |
Let’s look at the list that is represented in the aerial view above. I have limited the view and analysis to the general “core area” of the downtown and for this purpose is the area east of the FEC railroad tracks and fudged a little to the area east of Federal Hwy. Here goes:
City Hall, City Hall Annex, the Library and the Post Office: All of these government and civic buildings attract people throughout the day and the week to transact business with the city, attend meetings, pay utility bills, gather books and reference materials, etc. The added benefit that we have in Lake Worth is that all of these buildings are authentically historic. City Hall and the City Hall Annex used to have a stronger drawing power when they housed the building permit and planning departments. The library has reduced attraction power now due to its more limited hours. One could argue that it would be better for the downtown if those functions were returned to these buildings, more often. We shall see what the future brings in that regard as things are in a bit of a flux right now. City Hall has its own parking area.
Compass: A non-profit community-serving organization which occupies a city-owned building draws large numbers of people throughout the week. The greatest portion of those coming from the Lake Worth 33460 zip code. Besides serving functions that are part of its core organizational purpose, it also provides meeting space for many civic and city groups on a regular basis. It also has its own parking area.
Publix: One just had to witness the crowds drawn for the Grand Opening to realize the drawing power of a grocery store in a downtown area. In a future post, I will focus on the importance of quality grocery stores, instead of the usual convenience stores, in an urban area with a lower median income than suburban locations. This grocery store will also help solidify, and make more attractive, the residential area around the downtown over time.
Banks: A necessary part of contemporary life, many people visit their respective banks one or more times a week to make deposits, apply for loans, etc. In Lake Worth, we have a good representation of the various banks available to retail consumers and business customers. Banks also provide the liquidity, in the form of cash from ATMs, that make the retail and restaurant economy of the downtown go around.
Lake Worth Playhouse: Not only is this a historic building in our downtown capable of being filled with over 300 theater patrons during afternoon and evening performance times, it is also used for rehearsals and movies on other days of the week. All of these people represent a group that bring money and energy to our downtown.
Palm Beach County Cultural Council: Also soon to be contained in a marquee historic building in the center of our downtown, this agency will do a lot to promote Lake Worth as an “arts-related” destination. While the number of visitors to the agency may not be that great on a daily basis, it will do more than its part to attract people to the hub of the Palm Beach County arts community.
Note that all of these downtown destinations, with the exception of banks, either have a government function or have received some sort of government assistance in locating in our downtown in the form of a direct grant or a subsidy. In all of these cases, this is a justifiable public purpose that supports the life and health of our downtown, as well as that of the entire community.
What happens when you put this combination of uses into a compact, downtown environment is a synergy. People are able to comfortably walk from place to place, and not rely on their car, or they are able to walk or bike from their own residence in and around the downtown. This puts people on the sidewalk and diminishes the reliance on the automobile to get from place to place, as it is required in more suburban areas that owe their existence to the automobile. This synergistic effect is greater as you increase the number of different sorts of uses in the downtown area. One major category that is currently under-represented in our downtown area are offices. Success in promoting our downtown as a desirable office location will provide a captive population during the day. This captive population will bring their own money to circulate throughout the downtown in support of our existing business community.
Unfortunately, there are those who scoff at the importance of places like grocery stores in our downtown. There are also those, like Commissioner Golden, who openly voice how CRA grants to Publix and the Cultural Council are somehow “improper” investments of public money. Furthermore, burdensome regulations (more in terms of their enforcement, but also burdensome to some businesses) in form of the city’s noise ordinance, do not help support the nature of downtown’s as an area for socializing and entertainment - another synergy made possible through the attraction of people to a concentrated geographic area. Sometimes it seems that those on the City Commission and the City Administration want to do everything in their power to squelch the success of our downtown. Fortunately for us, the downtown has a good chance of being successful despite their efforts to the contrary. Much of the current and future success of the downtown can be laid at the foot of the CRA.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUL75cv6zJQFjX15ojOIIz9AjnbqH4asHJTYSDhnGnYr7rJZRha1NcNTirj2xPcId158vkz5Hw-wXgOfrlztj8Zr8jLFFCfuEN6PyV44ZlpMRmJ68xbtFL9vzxNiG7xDs_HJvm/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
