How The West Was Won. . .

I have posted about how it would be a good idea to move the CRA’s office and purchase one of the dilapidated buildings on Lake or Lucerne west of the railroad tracks.  The CRA currently rents office space downtown on South J St. and would be required to give 6 months notice if they intended to not renew the lease.

Of course purchasing a building west of the railroad tracks would involve the cost of the property plus renovating it. 

However it turns out that the City already owns a very suitable property at 1310 Lake Ave.

The two buildings at 1310 have more than enough room for the CRA and could likely also house other offices.

Since the City already owns the property the only cost would be the renovations. Moving there would put the CRA  into the center of one of the most blighted areas in our City, helping to jump start its recovery.

Wagons Ho!

Too Tall For The Playground. . .

You know those signs they put on rides and  playgrounds that tell if you are too tall or short to use them?   Well, it might be a good idea if we put a few of them up at the gateways to Lake Worth.

Don’t get me wrong, I moved to Lake Worth for its small town charm and cottage style neighborhoods.  But there are too many issues with the changes Commissioner Jennings wants to make to the Comprehensive Plan to just plow ahead.  Simply put, it’s painting with way too broad a brush.

Despite e-mail blasts from Commissioners Jennings and Mulvehill promoting the changes, the majority of the public comments were not in favor of them.

The Good. . .

Located at 15060-01510 Lake Ave. House of Frames has to be one of Lake Worth’s oldest businesses. I stopped by and chatted with the owner John George and he told me that the business was started by his mother, father and grandmother 37 years ago.

These days John is working with the Sheriff’s Department to help stop the illegal hiring going on all around his store.

Frankly I think John deserves a medal for sticking it out on the west side. So stop by House of  Frames and shake the hand of a man fighting the good fight.

The Bad. . .

This is John. He lives on E St. between Lake and Lucerne and is a handyman.

It’s been pretty hard living where he does.  A few years ago an illegal resident in a stolen car drove over John’s legs while he was working. Without insurance John piled up $9,000 in hospital bills and was unable to work.

About three weeks ago somebody threw a cigarette  into the cab of John’s truck. It caught fire destroying many of his tools and once again preventing him from working.

When I met him this afternoon his church had just helped him move all of the food out of his refrigerator since his power has been shut off by the City.  John said that his landlord is going bankrupt and had about $1600 in unpaid electric bills, which he showed me. When he tried to get the power put in his name John said the City refused to do so until the landlord’s bills were paid .

John gave me a glimpse of what it’s like for him living on the west side of town.

And the Ugly. . .

On the same walk through the west side of downtown today I noticed that the garbage and disrepair just seems to be getting worse.  The sidewalks are filthy, there are people passed out on private property and innumerable  code violations.

It is worth noting that Brendan Lynch brought forth the idea of moving the CRA’s office to the west side of downtown in an effort to “put feet on the street” as it were. Yes, Brendan’s comment about locusts was ill conceived and had a lot to do with his not being reappointed.  However Vice Mayor Golden’s, Manny needs to get used to living in a ghetto comment was equally bad, and when walking through the west side of downtown today I had the feeling that the people there were indeed used to living in a ghetto.

At the Commissioner’s  interviews for the new CRA board Michael Hyde recounted his experience in helping turn around parts of Grand Rapids, MI. When he was through Commissioner Jennings asked of him with disdain in her voice, “Could any of what you did be considered gentrification”?  After a long pause Mr. Hyde answered “No”.  It appears that Commissioner Jennings fears that gentrification would displace low income renters. Well, that may be true, but in order for Lake Worth to get out of this quagmire having owner occupied single family homes is key.  To achieve that we first must have a cleaned up commercial district.

I see nothing progressive with the current state of affairs.

One idea to to quickly jump start the clean up of west downtown is to require each worker at the Mentoring Center to earn their free meals and TV time by picking up one large bag of garbage each day. They can start at the shuffleboard court and fan out from there. It will build respect and value for their neighborhood.

Unsecured burned out house on Lake Ave..

Are these trees going to be replaced as code calls for?

This house is for sale on Lake Ave..

Garbage.

Passed Out.

Featured Video. . .

Fresh from the ’80s Donna Ross sings, Don’t Drop the Bomb on my Boyfriend.

A Win for the Home Team!

In a nail biter at Bill Harvey stadium last night the mighty Trojans pulled out a 39 to 31 win over Wellington.  It was a beautiful night to watch Lake Worth’s home team pick up their first win of the season.

Gave Proof Through The Night That Our Flag Was Still There. . .

Lake Worth Trojan Football, Be There!

This Friday the Lake Worth High School Trojan Football team takes on Wellington. The game starts at 7:00 PM at the Bill Harvey stadium at Lake Worth High. So come on out and root for the home team.

Shown above is the cover of this year’s Trojan Football program. I designed and produced the cover and with Donna Ross’s help, took all the team photos this year. Show your support by purchasing a copy at the game as well as visiting all the great concessions.

Another Candidate, Another Tax Lien?

After posting about Javier Del Sol’s tax lien yesterday, I was approached by someone wanting to know if I was going to post about Wes Blackman’s tax lien. I went on the Palm Beach Clerk and Comptroller’s website this afternoon and it showed that the candidate for District 3 has a tax lien too.  Actually I should say had a tax lien.

I spoke with Wes  tonight and he explained that he had actually paid it off today. He is waiting for formal confirmation, which can take 30 to 45 days. Wes said, like many small businesses he had gone through difficult times, compounded by some complicated circumstances.  But, it was clear from our conversion that things are looking much brighter business wise for him these days.

Wes e-mailed me a copy of the receipt and check from his payment in full: