Saturday, August 9, 2014

It might be time to re-read the Palm Beach Post editorial on the Lake Worth 2020 plan - From May 2014

Click here for link to an editorial that came out on May 11th in support of our city rebuilding itself. Here are some key parts to remember:
City commissioners seem poised to ask voters in August for permission to issue $60 million in bonds to fix up the city’s dilapidated roads, sidewalks and sewers. They are calling the project Lake Worth 2020, which is as much a call for clear-eyed vision as it is a nod to the project’s time-frame. Indeed, for voters to approve this sort of debt – and the accompanying tax increases – they will need to understand the stakes very clearly.
The stakes are these: Lake Worth, despite its considerable amenities and rising reputation, is mired in poverty. Among Palm Beach County’s 38 cities, only Belle Glade’s residents are poorer. Years of neglect and mismanagement have left this city of 35,000 behind as its neighbors prospered.
The city is so underdeveloped that miles of streets in its poorest neighborhoods have never been paved. Children grow up in houses several blocks from the nearest fire hydrants or sidewalks. The city’s industrial zone, the Lake Worth Park of Commerce, has too few roads and utilities and, consequently, virtually no industry. Even streets around the city’s downtown center are so corrupted by potholes and cracks that they present hazards to cars and pedestrians evocative of the Third World.
Do we really need to question whether or not the quality of infrastructure impacts the value of the private property around it? It surely does.