Saturday, June 23, 2012

Beauty and Blight

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In spite of the fact that the shuffleboard courts have been allowed to go to hell because the city wants to give us some song and dance that 1) old people use them and we count for squat 2)  they are part of the past 3)  courts are unsustainable and 4) whatever other ridiculous reason they give, the city has a beautiful and magnificent Magnolia tree on the east side of the property. Even its fate has the potential possibility of  destruction in order to free up that little green space for some sort of recreation for God knows whom.

It is truly unbelievable to me what little regard we have for our assets, our history, and of course, the reason why we were at the Courts this morning--the people's right to vote and not three politicians acting like dictators telling us what we want.

The word “magnolia” is synonymous with our native Magnolia grandiflora, the classic Southern magnolia with large, glossy leaves and huge, fragrant white blossoms―the state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana. Few trees can match it for year-round beauty and we have this magnificence right in our own backyard.

It is more than too bad that this stunning tree is growing around blight and run down shuffleboard courts that are trashed and mildewed with half the courts on the jackhammer block with no public input.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was Downtown WPB and enjoyed watching the children in the Fountain that they have on Clematis St. Seeing as the pool at the beach maybe unfixable, maybe we should do something like that at the Shuffleboard Courts.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that the Shuffle Board Courts will be used in July by Royal Poinciana and Tropical Ridge Neighborhods both NA are joint sponsors of the competition taking place at the shuffleboard courts, commemorating the Olympics.
Guess the leisure dept. needs to get off their leisure chairs.

kimbombó said...

Anon 8:09Pm, what you saw in WPB is the results of forward thiking, something Lake Worth is lacking. The 3 - 2 division that is a permanent thing in Lake Worth will continue, and neither side has the best interest of the community.

Anonymous said...

Kim, I don't think that is true at all. We have to have a 3/2 in order to move forward. One side does not seem to engage the majority of the city. The minority at present has no self-interests other than keeping Lake Worth a nice small town and a good place to raise a family and generally a good place to live.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:20 AM
you are right on the comment about what the minority commissioners want... all that comes along with Slum Lords, People that can't care for themselves, low cost housing for those who failed in society, blight, garbage piled up on the curbs, unkept properties, no code enforcement, eventually we will have chickens on our back yards and fron yards...
Build baby bild, yeah go to 65 feet we can double our population in a very short time and attract people with mucho $$$$$$$$$$, to hell with poverty... let them go elsewhere.

Joe Middle America said...

slum landlords are not the poor people. They are your wealthier individuals who have created the problems in this city by renting to immigrants, etc. They are people who have not taken care of their properties. Building to 65 feet will not attract more prosperity in this city. It will do just the opposite. It will cost taxpayers a lot more money for developers to make money off the low rise charm our city experiences today. Stay with 35 and 45 feet.

Anonymous said...

To Joe Middle America, you are talking about 3 lots east of Federal that could go to 65 feet.Where the Gulfstream, and several Condo buildings are over 65, and 50 feet.The one historical building on the Gulfstream site the city would not let them tear it down, and for months had a sign on it take it for free. From first ave to second ave north east of Federal are historic Distracts, the city will not allow them to tear down historic buildings, regardless of this map supplied by Commissioner Mulvehil, that showed nothing from 1st. ave so, to 2nd ave no. east of Federal.But 65 foot tall buildings.

Lynn Anderson said...

In an ideal world where everyone respects our laws and ordinances, it would be true that no one can just knock down an historic property without the proper permissions and reasons.

However, if developers want to build bad enough, they WILL bulldoze the property and pay the fine. It happened with a former P&Z board member of the past only a few years ago.

A Charter amendment will protect the City from all the waivers that builders always ask for---Oh, we need 10 more feet to make our project "work" and we need to make money to make it "work" and the only way we can do this is to build higher. How many times have we heard this?

Anonymous said...

ONCE the Lucerne.

Anonymous said...

The Lucerne was never beautiful. We have been forced to accept that building in our downtown that was approved by a corrupt commission, P&Z and CRA.

Anonymous said...

Amen to this comment, you know, a perfect example of this is the owner of 1306 Lucerne, a slum property owner who is rich, famous, and powerful but does not keep the property looking fine. Lucerne is a major thoroughfare in our city, and this looks like a dump, a lot west of city hall on Lake and Lucerne is overlooked, most owned by wealthy slum owners who do not assume responsibility for their property, hoping for another big boom to make millions to build high I am sure, but they can as money talks. Look at the corners of Lake and Palmway or Lake and Lakeside, or Federal and 1st South, pristine, because they are in Bryant Park NA, they have power over the city to make the owners keep them clean, yet, in Little Guatemala, the rich slum owners can maintain the silence of the poor and illegals. That owner of 1306 will never amount to anything more than being know foremost as a slum property owner in the minds of many people, many who do not even know him and some who do. We are all beautiful, but our actions or lack of them sometimes taint us. We need to clean up the blight once and for all!

"slum landlords are not the poor people. They are your wealthier individuals who have created the problems in this city by renting to immigrants, etc. They are people who have not taken care of their properties. Building to 65 feet will not attract more prosperity in this city. It will do just the opposite. It will cost taxpayers a lot more money for developers to make money off the low rise charm our city experiences today. Stay with 35 and 45 feet."

Anonymous said...

The city could easily clean up the blight, but they do not want to, Maxwell and Triolo suck, even the new CM, they will not do anything about the blight. Their mentality is this, oh instead of us putting some sidewalks to improve the safety for citizens and residence, oh, just let them develop it over there and they can take care of the lack of sidewalk problem, we wait and wait, 10, 15, 20 years, but still no safe sidewalks to walk on, we have to walk in the road waiting for the developers who are not coming to do it for us, this is a lot of crap. We need to get rid of the CRA who is not doing what their supposed mission is and we need to clean up the blight and make things safe for all of us in this city, I am so tired of all the excuses and mediocrity here in this city from our so called leaders and elected officials, the new CM, these visionaries, and many in the past all stink, none of them do anything, a lot of lip service. I don't think the new CM will last long in his position if he handles people the way he is, passing the buck, not listening, and not willing to meet with citizens to deal with their concerns. We all deserve better in this city, we deserve a clean, safe, and orderly city where our leaders listen to the people and not allow big business and developers control all here. I am very disappointed now with all our leaders.

Anonymous said...

when the city is facing a deficit because the market plummeted, and the taxable property values went down with them, and part of the town pays no taxes to the city at all, where are we suppose to come up with the money for sidewalks? The city is looking for ways to balance the budget, which will lead them to even less services than we have now.

Anonymous said...

what? what? the new city manager howdie doodie bow tie boy won't meet with all the citizens he respects soooooooooo much? What a jerk, huh? Who woulda thought?

Anonymous said...

Channel 5 News aired a report tonight, Monday, June 25, about all the blight on South B Street west of downtown, Mr. Demps who lives there says the city is not being on top of all the blight and rundown and abandoned buildings, code violations, and safety issues, he had many valid concerns. Our city just is not addressing the blight and rundown properties and overgrown lots we have, many even belong to the city, like on C and E Streets. It is a sin, how can we respect our city, leaders, and codes, when they do not do their job any better then the slum owners who leave them this way. 1306 Lucerne owned by a rich famous person is aloud to leave his property looking very shabby, the codes and city overlook it and have for over ten years. I am with Mr. Demps, how can we respect the city or the slum owners who do not keep up their properties and bring this city down for all the rest of us who care.

Anonymous said...

to Joe middle america, we would not be in the predicament with the slum landlords, except that is what the past commission wanted CJ,JG, and Mulvehil, wanted to stop code, and for a while won that battle. Now is the time to turn this city around, and I ( and please Lynn note I said I) belive that is what this Commission is trying to do. Hopefully they will not disappoint the city. I ( again I used I) belive this smoke screen that is being feed to the public is a ploy so that Mulvehil can say she tried to save the city. It is time to move forward this is not the old city of the newly wed or nearly dead


G.B. Elder