Vote Drew Martin

Dear Friend, Neighbor and Voter, 

I am Drew Martin, candidate for Lake Worth Beach City Commission. 

I am asking for your vote on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.

I have lived in Lake Worth for over 20 years and have served on a number of our

city boards. I was elected for 8 years to the Palm Beach County Soil and Water

Conservation District.

I believe our city is at a crossroads. We have had a dysfunctional commission that

has had difficulty conducting its meetings. There has been a reluctance to permit

public participation during meetings and a lack of transparency. The city needs to

listen to its citizens, have inclusive city commission meetings.

The downtown is under the out of control CRA, Community Redevelopment

Agency. The CRA is losing money on land purchases, i.e. purchasing land for $4

million and selling it to developers at over $1 million loss and removing many

historic cottages and homes that are the trademark o f Lake Worth Beach. We

pride ourselves on our quaint downtown which draws visitors here.

Further, the CRA drains significant money away from our budget. Any increased

value/tax revenue goes to the CRA and cannot be used to fund city services. At

the same time the city income is derived heavily from our Lake Worth utility; as a

result, we rely on the utility to cover city expenses. We have done little to

modernize our utility. By increasing rooftop solar on commercial and city

buildings we could generate solar excess power to sell on the grid during peak

usage. This could provide the city more revenue.

The long term solution is to sunset the CRA and to redirect tax revenue to the

budget to pay for basic services. Overall safety and employee expenses will

increase due to rising pension and medical costs. We can no longer let the CRA

syphon our city’s funds. We can modernize our budget and reduce the CRA’s

power. The first step is to place a moratorium on all CRA projects. This can be

done by the City commission appointing itself as the CRA board. The CRA would

then be accountable to the voters, not an unelected CRA board.

We need to restore the pool at the casino to provide incentives for families to

come to the casino. The pool is also great for aerobics. The Gulfstream Hotel can

be renovated so more visitors will come to our downtown and beach.

We must certainly protect the quaint traditional Florida historic look of Lake

Worth Beach, not replace it with high rises. Our downtown is one of our greatest

assets.

Thanks for your vote. I look forward to your input and hope I can represent us all.

Drew Martin

You can vote for Drew by mail or March 9 , 2021 at your poll.