
Vote Drew Martin
Lake Worth Commission
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.