Delay and decay versus keeping forward progress: Why your vote on election day is so important for the Gulfstream hotel restoration

The latest news is the Gulfstream hotel redevelopment project has been given all their approvals by the Historic Resource Preservation Board (HRPB) with many conditions following discussion. A tremendous amount of work was done by the City staff, the all-volunteer HRPB, and the owner of the property,

However, all this progress could come to a stop following the elections next Tuesday. Remember, it's been the majority on the City Commission who has done the heavy lifting to get the project to this point. By the way, can you imagine all the jobs this project will create? And imagine having family and friends visiting and staying at the Gulfstream? How cool that would be.

One of the critics of the Gulfstream project is Frank McAlonan. He is challenging Commissioner Andy Amoroso for the District 3 seat. McAlonan wants to have it both ways: He says he wants to save the hotel but find some other plan. In other words, wait another ten years or so for another interested party to take on this project. More delay and decay.

McAlonan has made naïve comparisons of a two-story 'beach house' in Delray Beach and how that can be a benchmark on how to save the Gulfstream hotel—about as absurd as one could get. McAlonan is also using the new Hyatt in Delray Beach, not even a historic structure, as another example of how to proceed forward, adding into the mix "secret meetings" and attacking volunteer board members (he's been asked for an apology which has yet to happen). He hasn't lived in Lake Worth for very long and it's easy to tell: Lake Worth and Delray Beach are two very different cities and he has yet to understand that.

Lake Worth Commissioner Andy Amoroso's position on the rezoning of the Gulfstream hotel is unambiguous: He supports the efforts necessary to move the project forward despite the anger and ire from a very small group that disagree. Here is how the Lake Worth City Commission voted:

Remember: The "overwhelming" support to limit the building height surrounding the Gulfstream hotel property is a myth.

McAlonan claims to support saving the hotel but doesn't support taking the steps to save the historic structure. So he's for saving the hotel and against it at the same time. The citizens of Lake Worth deserve better politics than this. Telling voters a two-story structure of about 15,000 square feet built circa 1950 (a beach house/tiki bar/'hotel') in Delray Beach in any way compares to our historic hotel in Lake Worth is nonsense.

All this angst, remember, IS OVER 20 FEET OF BUILDING HEIGHT. That's all. Just 20 feet. Twenty feet is about 6 adult steps by a human being. Twenty feet is about the width of the goal post in football. And just twenty feet is the difference between a big leap forward for our Gulfstream hotel or more years of delay and decay.

If this issue is important to you, please cast your vote wisely.