The Great Walled City of Atlantis is west of John Prince Park for those of you unaware. If you drive down 6th Ave. South leaving the City of Lake Worth and make a left (heading south) on Congress Ave. you'll see a very large wall. Behind that wall lies that mythical city.
There's a breach in that wall for cars to go through and a guard shack too. Two former mayors of Lake Worth live there and many former residents who left (or abandoned the City, if you will) back in the 1960's and 1970's. But I digress. Below are a few excerpts from a Letter to the Editor last year about our Lake Worth Casino building written by a resident from behind those walls to the editor of the Post:
[T]he first time someone took me to Lake Worth Beach, I had found heaven. The sunshine, the sand and the few steps to the ocean — Lake Worth Beach had it all.
Then a revision [the 'restored' Casino complex] mucked up the works; it added shops, places to eat and a little shopping. I could hear the sand, sunshine and the ocean, all crying. [emphasis added]
Later. . .
Handicapped parking is inadequate as well. Bring back a short walk for families and seniors — not climbing up what seems like mountains to the disabled (try it with a cane or a walker), and then dodging cars to get your toes in the sand.
Then the letter writer has this cryptic line in the form of a question:
[S]olicit debt help, and give us back a little part of paradise? Perhaps take the money from the investors and fix our streets and bridges, which are far more in need of help.
Is the writer suggesting that the Casino building be torn down? Seems like it. That some debt instrument be created to save us from the mountain of debt the taxpayers of Lake Worth are forced to shoulder by all those planning mistakes back in 2009/2010?
The letter writer is spot on about the handicapped access and the unsafe parking/traffic patterns at the Casino complex. It is a terrible mess. It breaks your heart to see the elderly and handicapped having to walk up that 'mountain' to the beach and THEN having to further put themselves at risk "dodging cars". It is very unfair and very unsafe and also a miracle there has not been a tragedy to date.
[T]he first time someone took me to Lake Worth Beach, I had found heaven. The sunshine, the sand and the few steps to the ocean — Lake Worth Beach had it all.
Then a revision [the 'restored' Casino complex] mucked up the works; it added shops, places to eat and a little shopping. I could hear the sand, sunshine and the ocean, all crying. [emphasis added]
Later. . .
Handicapped parking is inadequate as well. Bring back a short walk for families and seniors — not climbing up what seems like mountains to the disabled (try it with a cane or a walker), and then dodging cars to get your toes in the sand.
Then the letter writer has this cryptic line in the form of a question:
[S]olicit debt help, and give us back a little part of paradise? Perhaps take the money from the investors and fix our streets and bridges, which are far more in need of help.
Is the writer suggesting that the Casino building be torn down? Seems like it. That some debt instrument be created to save us from the mountain of debt the taxpayers of Lake Worth are forced to shoulder by all those planning mistakes back in 2009/2010?
The letter writer is spot on about the handicapped access and the unsafe parking/traffic patterns at the Casino complex. It is a terrible mess. It breaks your heart to see the elderly and handicapped having to walk up that 'mountain' to the beach and THEN having to further put themselves at risk "dodging cars". It is very unfair and very unsafe and also a miracle there has not been a tragedy to date.
So who is responsible for this mess?
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| You're looking at them. |
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
