I have been told that in every city department there is Lake Worth 2020 propaganda. I was even asked by a utility employee, "You mean you are going to vote against it?" They have been so heavily indoctrinated that it is incredulous for them to think of voting any other way; they know who butters their heavily laden bread of great pay and the best retirement of which most residents could only dream.
The sad reality is that staff must know that we are broke. If they don't know that, then why haven't they been told by city manager Michael Bornstein or their department heads? Why then do the department heads appear before the city commission and ask for MORE money for their budgets. Why then are they asking for more money for funding fun and games such as the Musical Festival, the Citrus Festival and the 4th of July celebration? Are they not in the world of reality when they ask for $$173,375 more than last year just in that department alone? Maybe we are paying these guys too much. They wouldn't last working for a public corporation.
A beer budget and champagne tastes--someone else's deep pockets--That's the sad reality.
4 comments:
The disconnect between what we actually HAVE and what they Dream about are 2 different ships on 2 different seas!
The suggestions for MORE MONEY is a huge poker tell of the flaming ignorance of math that has partly placed us in the financial strait jacket we are in!
Pay Off Debt and Do Not Increase it!
Take the $6 - $9 Million a year (stolen from our blue bills) and pay for roads FIRST and NOT PARKS AND PLAY THINGS!
Gov is suppose to be a reflection of the will of the people. Give them real math (CRA ROI) and a real calculator and real conversations on PUBLIC RECORD so we can see how close they are coming or if they just make it up as they go along feeding us the fabrications!
I have no idea what "Lake Worth 2020 propaganda" is, maybe you should have clearly defined that in your article, but let me go on a brief tirade about what I see wrong with the rest of your post.
Those festivals bring people to the downtown TO SPEND MONEY!
Sometimes the old sayings are true; "You have to spend money to make money"
Or you would rather hear crickets chirping as tourists pass our town by for Delray, Boca, or Palm Beach?
Spend wisely yes, but if we don't do anything fun...no one will come...And then...no one will stay!
Show me the statistics were no business profited from these festivities and then we will weigh whether or not they were truly worth it. But to just say we shouldn't have them because we are broke means you don't have a clue how to attract tourists or business yourself.
If we don't have people coming here to spend their dollars will Lake Worth survive on residential income? Do all LW residents visit LW businesses? Can an LW business survive in LW without outside clientele? If you answered yes to any of those, we do not live in the same dimension and I will leave you in yours because mine, while sometimes bleak, is far more preferable than a distorted reality.
If these festivities are not making money for business and driving more revenue to Lake Worth then the answer is not to have less festivities "because we are broke" it is to trim the festivities that are not profitable, invest in the ones that are, or better advertise to entice more people to come.
I see your numbers, but its not enough information for you to make your judgments. Come back with more numbers on how these things don't make more money for our town, or at least break even...then we will talk business!!!
Lake Worth is not broke because of its festivities! Lake Worth is broke because of its teetering (and lack of) political directions. One commission veers left, the next wants to keep going straight, then we vote in another round that wants to scrap everything and start from scratch. We have gone back and forth on some policy for 30 years without ever going FORWARD (Beach, case in point!). Lake Worth is also broke because of the frivolous lawsuits we keep putting ourselves into because one side or the other of the local political spectrum (left and far left) won't stop for a brief moment to pull their heads out of their butts. We waste too much money in our legal pursuits. THAT is the problem.
nunya-still anonymous I see--
I suppose you missed the point.
We are not here to keep this city afloat by encouraging people to come to our city to support businesses. We are here to support the basic services that must be provided by an extremely poor city: police, water, sewer, garbage collection, etc. Right now, we are struggling by just to provide those services.
As far as not explaining LW 2020, I guess you just need to read all of the blogs I have written on it. Make yourself informed so that you don't sound condescending.
The answer is to live within ones means and when times are tough, cut budgets, not ask for more money for fun stuff and the free lunch.
Gosh Lyn, are people really this unable to look up public record and present actual facts over opinions??? I did the research on the Street Painting Festival and I would also like to see that math posted! There is a promise of Scholarships (saw 2 small ones) and education (The festival itself is ...educational I guess) but I see a great $$$ wash for fannie slapping and have heard directly from businesses that close due to most backs are turned to their businesses (Use to be on cross streets and then they got some traffic). The rest that stay open have to get mean telling people they can't use their toilets (more bad math as there are not even enough port - o - lets ordered) as the permit requires!
The festival takes place in the CRA district and wake up LW CRA TAKES the tax increase! Get the CRA out of the City Business District till they come up w/ROI.
Anyone can sell any good thing and justify it but can we afford it? If job 1 isn't attended to how will any of this work. Remember this is a commission that the internal auditor (only took 1yr + to discover) said was paying for calls on a dead employee's city phone!
We agree the roads need fixed. How to do it what stays in the budget and what goes is the problem.
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