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Community enhancement is a goal worth aiming for--we all want our neighborhoods to be clean and free of trash but to change an entire culture of people with some not even citizens or if they are they can't break from their culture or even want to assimilate, is insuperably difficult if not impossible.
The meeting last night held at the Shuffleboard Court Building by the CRA and the CRA Board was to determine ways to clean up our neighborhoods and appeal to those who trash them the most. To really change how a group of people thinks and behaves is close to impossible unless you convince them that everyone is "doing it"--you appeal to their
inner sense of virtue, if you can, which takes a humongous effort going door to door speaking in their language. And you can't stop there...the visits have to be frequent and potent.
The meeting was held out of all of our frustrations caused by slum and blight in every neighborhood in Lake Worth with most of it concentrated in the western communities. Why is most of it there and not say, College Park? Affordable rentals, something that Lake Worth is attracting and building by choice, thus a big influx of immigrants, more poor bringing more crime, slum and blight..
There is no way to punish the wrongdoers unless the city goes after the landlord who is responsible for his property. Those continually causing the slum and blight in our neighborhoods do not have any sense of right and wrong when it comes to community appearance and all the education in the world will not change that. Javier del Sol has tried for a decade with no results.
There were a lot of ideas to ponder last night. One was to reach out to criminals who are working off sentences by doing community service...they could clean up the neighborhoods. Frankly, I don't want any more criminals in Lake Worth for any reason. We already have them cleaning up our alleys.
Unfortunately, whether anyone wants to admit the truth or not, it is "us against them" our culture against theirs, although Benito Gaspar brought that up as some sort of negative. It is not our culture that is the problem. Those at the meeting who were grasping at straws out of an overwhelming concern for our city, want us to solve the ills deeply rooted in a culture so different from ours that are destroying our communities--an immense and impossible feat that would take generations to change.
The culture difference is the big gorilla in the room.
4 comments:
Beautifully written and sad but true.
Well put Lynn, yes all so true. But we also have another culture of rich and famous who abuse their power to leave us with many blighted boarded up buildings which breed and attract a lot of crime in the western neighborhoods, rich people who could also do something about their dumps, but don't. They force their mediocrity and low standards and dumpy conditions on the rest of us who do try to keep our places looking decent. Some of these dumps if they were over in nicer NA of the city would not be allowed to be this way, so there is also this mentality and culture of abuse or silencing from some rich and famous who are allowed to keep dumpy boarded up blighted roof caving in properties that breed crime in these areas, they do not help the situation one bit. So don't just blame it on the immigrants and other people coming from other cultures, because it is not only them, the rich slumlords and slum property owners are also to blame along with the city who overlook their dumpy places, they are all also irresponsible too.
Dear 6:24 - Also well said and you too are correct. Result, those who care are caught in the middle.
The new crop of the Commission can alleviate neglected houses of Lake Worth indigents, unable to maintain, homes,like when they were young, and working.
Abolishing the CRA, which is turning Lake Worth into a low-income rentals, Dunbar village style town, by using our money to build hundreds of low income rental housing,will generate the funds for the less fortunate Americans, not illegal alien sleazy ,criminal aliens.. Abolishing the CRA, since its' inception in the wrong district according to their Mission, would release millions in Downtown tax revenue to our General Fund.This in turn can subsidize many of our real indigent Lake Worth Citizens. Citizens unable to maintain their homes to be able to maintain their dignity.
I set great store by dignity,unknown to the cowardly,lowbrow element of this Town. No subsudy for the boarded up,
slum buildings of primitive, ill-mannered owners, subsidies only after thorough investigation.The CRA is inflicting 214 more low income rental housing..Thinking people know what that augurs!Those know that the taxbase of the City is being crippled,undermined by that CRA,odious organization, should speak up, not cower !
It takes a real Commission with knowledge of Municipal Government, like one respected Citizen,high tax payer has, who has proven ,good for lake Worth!5615
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