Video from Last Night's Dixie Hwy. Merchant Meeting (10/14/13)

About 20 or so people from the general public with an interest in what is happening on Dixie Hwy. showed up last night to a meeting at the Shuffleboard Court building. The meeting was organized by the CRA and invitations went to everyone up and down the highway. Many of them were merchants or property owners along Dixie Hwy - the latter group less represented than the former. The group heard from Commissioner Amoroso, Vice Mayor Maxwell, Mayor Triolo, Joan Oliva of the Lake Worth CRA, Director of Community Sustainability William Waters, City Manager Michael Bornstein, Captain Silva of PBSO and others. Mr. Waters gave a summary and introduction to the new land development regulations and what that means for future development along the corridor.

While there were many issues discussed that will take a longer time to be solved, the focus ended up being directed at things that could be done quickly to make an immediate difference. Paint, plantings, further organization as a merchant organization, establishing a special identity for the corridor like a "Heritage Highway" designation, etc. You really do owe it to yourself to watch and listen to the video(s) to get a sense of the some of the ideas to make Dixie Hwy. a better place and one that contributes more to the city's tax base.

I couldn't help feeling frustrated when I heard our elected officials talk about how it is a little known secret that our utility rates have gone down three years in a row and that more reductions are on the way. Social media is a way to get that information out to the public, but the city remains slow to get into the game. Meanwhile West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and Delray Beach issue half a dozen press releases every week through a variety of platforms to get their message out.