HERE’S THE SCOOP….CRYING UNCLE!…..WHERE HAVE ALL OUR PROACTIVE COMMISSIONERS GONE?….
May 22, 2023 by Barbara
Dear Readers…. A followup-
Unfortunately, this writer is unable to attend the LBTS Budget Presentation in Jarvis Hall at 5 PM…
I did however send the commission the following email …. Let’s all see what transpires….
It is most disappointing that there was no alert or email sent out prior to it leaving residents to only know by looking on the Town website.
There is no substantial backup to justify the numbers and no substantive qualifiers for much of the desired “ asks” and increases.
It looks very much like the glossy presentation put forth for the downtown project which may be the real impetus for this new way of handling the Town budget.
The downtown project left off months ago with having everything included with the commission then meeting to decide what stays and what goes.
That meeting never happened.
Tonight at your commission meeting you have essentially accepted all the bells and whistles and are deciding on which lights and which signs only.
Perhaps, this similar presentation will produce that same result.
We, the taxpaying residents will be left with all that is on this presentation and will have to dig deep to cover it all.
This year should be residents first.
Our residential neighborhoods look awful.
Our residents are being deeply impacted by inflation, huge insurance increases, huge utility increases and huge assessments.
As you all like to say, but rarely deliver-
Sharpen your pencils, bring out your sharpie permanent pens and show your constituents you are not just showing up to pat each other on the back and take your marching orders from Town administration and staff who do not live here.
I know the dais will most likely just look to get past my 3 minutes and circle the wagons for our Town administration and staff if I am able to make it.
But, I am always hopeful that a few commissioners will question and direct the Town showing the awareness those who voted for them were promised when they were asked for their support.
In any event, I will be watching- if Channel 78 allows for sound that is!
Respectfully,
Barbara Cole’
CRYING UNCLE IN LBTS…..
Dear Readers…. It has been a while…. but this writer still keeps up with the goings on of this town, its administration and our commission….
Sad to say since my last post on shopping sprees….that was just an opening act for what is coming in 2024..25…26 etc…etc…etc….
A look at the 2024 Town Budget on the Town Website which curiously was not sent out by alert or email shows we are no longer a commission run dais…The residents come last…. and our Town government is bloated beyond what any mile and half long barrier island hamlet should ever entertain as acceptable!….
Town Budget Presentation Link…
5/17/2023
https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/lbts/d7ba117226ef05cb9252ec5c3ad856200.pdf
That being said playing in to this scenario are the overriding facts that we no longer have a large contingency of voting homesteaded…taxpaying residents who participate, organize and call to task those who are elected to represent us…
This promotes a Town Manager led budget and agendas that put the residents at the bottom rung of every decision and puts LBTS on a trajectory that in this writer’s opinion will produce within the next few years ….LBTS taking out a bond…. building a massive public safety building ….being in debt for the first time……looking indistinguishable from our neighbors to the north and south (with the expected re-do of Commercial Blvd)…. and lastly….having a referendum on the 2026 ballot on height limits…which will reverse our current one…due to the factors listed above…and the fact that when the height limits won…it was a slim margin…and that was with a huge effort of mobilized citizens to get it over the finish line!….
Look around….what do you see….a town overrun with people due to the Town marketing extensively which is not necessary as the hotels and the businesses are able to easily market themselves at no cost to the taxpayers….the new budget shows how out-of -wack this is….
We are being inundated with alerts to vote LBTS as the best beach….How so?…. A look at our beaches shows…they are way too crowded….leaving little space to homeowners…and we have a broken Pier that is a disgrace to see in photo after photo online …. no matter that it is privately owned…the Town should be embarrassed….
The plazas are full of smokers…and the parking on El Mar Drive south is full up of non-residents with no intention of going in to our downtown….
We…the taxpayers are yet again paying for transportation with Circuit to the tune of $200,000 + rather than letting private enterprise control transportation needs…
El Mar Drive….is yet again abandoned…in the new budget…but $125,000 is going to a 75th art installation and around the same is going to re-design the award winning Anthony Abbate portals…
Our Town Attorney is set to make twice the amount of Lighthouse Point…Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale…
Our Public Safety costs are no surprise….In fact …this writer predicts that sometime in the not- so- distant future…LBTS Public Safety …police, fire and EMS will be county run… due the increased costs….unless we are annexed …which too is a strong possibility…
But…alas….on Tuesday May 23,2023 at 5 pm with the presentation for the 2024 budget…it is utterly predictable that there will be no one in the audience…with perhaps the exception of this writer…and Ron Piersante…who will go to the podium with the same polar opposite positions…against…and for respectively ….while the Town Manager…staff and the commission look beyond the 3 minutes allotted to speak… This provides what will happen next…due to the dais taking it as a signal that their constituents are all satisfied with them and the Town…
The commission will take turns giving accolades to the Town Manager and staff…for a great presentation…and all their hard wok…exclaiming what a wonderful town we have…unlike any other……
And…just like the soldiers that all fall back in unison during the annual Christmas Boat Parade…they will all vote for everything the Town Manager has brought forth… and continue to do so until the final vote in September…
They will not take in to consideration…the size of our town….the residents of town…and the impacts these residents and businesses are facing with inflation…insurance skyrocketing on their properties and how they …the commissioners ….should be reining in the government….the redevelopment….and the path we are barreling towards with the loss of LBTS as we know it….
Where have all the proactive commissioners gone?….
More to Come…..
