Friday, September 11, 2009

Smoke & Mirrors

Last night the City Commission told you that Life is Not Fair. We already know that but we are all victims here…victims of neglect by this as well as past city administrations. This City cannot and will not MAINTAIN our assets. This is malfeasance.

I don’t give diddly squat about the housing mortgage bubble that burst and the deadbeat that got a mortgage for a $500,000 house making $30,000 a year. I could care less about that idiot. I care about this city and how this government has encouraged the Third World to migrate and settle here. I care that we have become a city of 67% rentals to absentee landlords who do not take care of their property. I care that a small percentage of people are paying the bulk of taxes for this government’s neglect. I care that we have $60 million outstanding in code violations and then the City dissolves our Code Department, all the while the city is falling more and more into decay. I care about all the monies owed to this City that have not been collected. I care about the Billboard company that has not paid us ONE DAMN DIME for the blight. I care about a City that does not collect its debts—allows parking meters to malfunction and not have anyone collecting or imposing fines at the beach. I care about all the crap and the city’s solution – put on a Band-Aid to solve it—raise taxes and every fee imaginable.

We were told that we used to be a vibrant city—that our “hotels” were filled along Dixie and Federal. Yes, that is true. That was BEFORE I-95 WAS CONSTRUCTED. Now people driving to south Florida bypass Lake Worth. Now the motels are filled with prostitutes on every corner. Now, thanks to our CRA spending $14 million dollars, travelers can look at “prettier” roads but still see horrible conditions in our City—slum and blight abounds…neighborhoods that continue to get worse and worse.

The Commission told you that your electric power will go up by 3.5%. Where do they come up with this figure? What they failed to say is they have no control on fuel costs. What they failed to say is they have no idea what the real percentage of increase will be. The Mayor said that we were one of the least expensive rates for municipalities. Last night they all kept comparing what we do to what other cities do. Who in the heck cares? The rate sheet that I have has us at 11th out of 33 municipalities. What he failed to say is –WE OWN OUR OWN UTILITY!! What he failed to say is we have not had an Audit on our Utility in at least 3 years. What he failed to say is – WE RANK 29TH FOR THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMMERCIAL RATE COMPARISONS OUT OF 33.

As someone said last night, SMOKE & MIRRORS as he ripped up his tax bill and stormed out of the Chamber.

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