Lack of maintenance of city playgrounds

Dear Editor:

I’m concerned with the lack of maintenance in our city playgrounds.

The park on SW 24 Terrace has a lot of safety issues that have been going on for a while. These issues would have been easily caught by a Parks & Rec worker if they were doing weekly safety inspections and daily walk-throughs.

I know the city has a tight budget, but kids safety at playgrounds should not be overlooked.

Here are some of the issue’s at this one park. I’m sure others are just as bad.

1) Baby swing has cracked plastic on the seat, exposing a rusty sharp metal edge right on the top where kids would put their hands

2) One of the posts that holds up the platforms has a crack going halfway through it

3) There is a picnic table with a rusted hole in the top. It’s rusted so bad basically, you can take the top off of the table.

These are some of the issue’s within one park.

Brian Moberg

Deerfield Beach

Hands Across the Sand – Deerfield

Dear Editor:

On Saturday, May 17, Deerfield Beach, along with hundreds of areas across the coastal United States, demonstrated against Fracking Oil from our beaches.

Close to Naples, not far from the site of their main drinking water source and home to the Florida panthers, plans for Fracking are taking hold.

“We must stop this!” are the cries of those involved. Fracking each well uses over 1 million gallon of water per well, poisoned with toxic chemicals which cannot be recycled.

The potential for gas blasts and chemical spills from Fracking is overwhelming. Hands Across the Sands meets every year on our coasts, hosted by such organizations as The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org) and Oceana (www.Oceana.org). Please go to them to see how you can help.

Donna Friedman

Pompano Beach

RE: Community gardens

Dear Editor: The Deerfield Beach city commission voted to explore community gardens.

All they need to do is look at history. The Pilgrims had a community garden for their first couple of years and they almost starved to death. The Soviet Union and China had communal gardening and they failed. The reason is that in every society there are many slackers who don’t show up for the work, but want some of the food at harvest time.

Apparently, the city has experimented with communal gardening in Constitution Park and failed. For years I have been taking my 94-yearold mother for walks in Constitution Park. They have a fenced-in garden area with two papaya plants in one corner and the rest is weeds.

The bad news is that the commission stated that this be one of the first items considered for the budget.

As far as I can tell, only one person has asked for this.

If a group of people commit to doing the work, the city could offer some land for their use, but if they make this a budget item, those tomatoes that we can buy for 99 cents a lb. will end up costing the tax payers $100 a lb.

Robert Lloyd

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: St. Paul’s United Methodist, at 244 SE 2 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441 (the same street as City Hall, just south of Hillsboro Boulevard) was offering community garden plots a few years back. 954- 427-9407.

The Fruitful Field, neighboring Deerfield on the acreage around Parkway United Methodist, 100 NE 44 St., Pompano Beach, FL 33064 offers a spectacular model of how a community garden can benefit a whole community, as the fresh produce grown supplements area food banks.

www.thefruitfulfield.org.

Illegal donation boxes

Dear Editor:

I just wanted to mention that we really do need to get rid of illegal boxes in Deerfield Beach and throughout the county.

Without your help, there is no way that all the positive changes in Deerfield and throughout the county could have taken place.

But, we have limited resources and manpower, which is why we would need to be able to place one of our boxes at a location in order to even consider picking up an illegal one.

Thanks SO much!

Jim Moyer

Salvation Army

Illegal donation boxes

Dear Editor:

Jim Moyer, the Salvation Army Director of Donations, needs our help. PLEASE, let me know if you see any illegal for-profit clothing donation boxes around the city (or anywhere you see them).

They are the ones without a real charity on them.

Email me the address of the box. I will contact the owners of the property, who usually don’t even know the box is there, and get permission for the Salvation Army to put a box in it’s place.

PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS.

Bett Willett

Deerfield Beach

RE: Hillsboro Boulevard Lane Elimination

Dear Editor:

OK, let me get this straight – as I am curious if I am the only person who does not understand.

Years ago, due to “beautification,” Hillsboro Boulevard east of Federal Highway had lanes removed. Wow, after planting the wrong plants, removing and replanting it is just so beautiful (sarcasm), but the traffic is unbearable.

Some days, weekends being the worst, it can take up to seven minutes to pull out of our neighborhood (Little Harbor) due to the fact that the City will not put up a blinking light on the signage that reads “Do Not Block Intersection.” This is continually blocked.

NOW, I am reading that west of Federal Highway, they want to remove two lanes due to the fact that they do not want pedestrians crossing a broad expanse of concrete. Really? People should NOT be crossing EXCEPT at crosswalks anyways. That is the law. Anything else is jay-walking. Besides the fact that, at a crosswalk, a median cannot be there, there needs to be a direct passage for visual safety.

So, can you please explain why this is needed?

Deerfield Beach [also] wanted more revenue from our beaches. Well, for this, local residents suffer. Try standing on the corner of 12th and Hillsboro and watching on a weekend. Congestion, pollution and major road rage. Our quaint little city has now become a mess of tangled traffic, no longer the nice little town most of us were thankful to live in. I, personally, am saddened to see what has happened to the beautiful city I grew up in.

Dana Wade

Deerfield Beach

Per a new study from Harvard Medical School and Northwestern University.

The study conducted by Dr. Hans Breiter of Northwestern University compared the brain scans of marijuana users with brain scans of nonusers. The results showed a direct correlation between the number of times users smoked marijuana and abnormalities in the brain effecting motivation and emotion.

The study determined that pot users who smoke one to seven joints a week had negative changes in the volume, shape and density of their brain’s nucleus accumbens and amygdala, which are regions of the brain that regulate emotion and motivation.

“What we are seeing is changes in people’s core brain regions that you never ever want to fool around with. More studies are needed to determine how these changes may have long-term consequences and whether they can be fixed with abstinence,” said Dr. Breiter.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy helped fund the study, which was published in the Journal of Neuroscience by Harvard Medical School, in cooperation with Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Publisher’s Note: The people of the State of Florida are going to be voting on this issue in a few months. You may want to keep and distribute this information.

—David Eller

RE: Metering The Cove Parking Lot

Dear Editor:

As to the idea of parking meters in The Cove, as a regular customer of a number of businesses there, it’s a bad idea, period.

You can’t ask people who work there to pay for parking. There are no meters at City Hall.

As for [the resident] who said his taxes went up last year, don’t think for a minute that just because the city commission were to get extra revenue from any source, they would not raise them [taxes] again.

Enough is never enough with government! Remember the utility tax that was supposed to keep taxes from going up too? We all know where that got us.

Steven J. Fabrizio

Deerfield Beach

RE: Metering The Cove Parking Lot

Dear Editor:

I have read with interest the Letter to the Editor by Judy Giller in the April 24 Observer [which goes on to discuss Deerfield beach].

Based on this letter, and on earlier expressions of ideas, I’ve come to respect Ms. Giller’s wishes to enhance her newly chosen home — its economy and quality of life. But it seems to me that, as a newcomer to Deerfield Beach, her sources of information have been limited.

Often the people who are loud and opinionated are those who have something personal to gain from changing what is working. I ask that you continue to keep the entire good of the city and the quality of life of those who live here first and foremost in your mind when listening to those who want changes.

The city can only hope to improve if the city is fiscally responsible AND the residents are treated well.

Adding massive congestion to the beach area is not the answer. In fact, that may well be a death knell to our beach.

Any study of residential housing results in the conclusions that it costs more to a city to service the homes than produced by the tax revenues. If development were to be the helpful solution, let alone the panacea that is suggested, then Ft. Lauderdale and Hallandale Beach would be rolling in tax revenue rather than still having had to raise residential taxes.

Allowing politicians to decide the fate of our precious gem of a barrier island will ensure that it is those who pour money into the election coffers who are the ones to benefit. Having the residents in charge is the only way to be sure our will is done in methods that protect us from that exploitation.

Allowing the beach referenda to be overturned and the codes put back into the hands of politicians will result in, if not sooner than later, our city’s becoming the typical overdeveloped Florida coastal city, and not the attractive familyfriendly city that brought her to Deerfield Beach.

I sincerely hope that she will soon develop a clearer and broader perspective.

David Cohen

Deerfield Beach

Need for Traffic calming

Dear Editor:

We have big trucks-car carriers, dump trucks and semis driving on SE 15th St. between Federal and Dixie Highway because there are NO traffic calming devices.

This is a residential area with a bus stop for children on this street.

There is one “No Trucks” sign on each end that cannot be seen. Please put up more signs and please talk to the Toyota and Honda dealers [and ask them] not to have their carriers use this residential street to unload their deliveries. Most use Federal Highway.

Perhaps our BSO, which has been contacted, can be aware and ticket offenders. I sincerely hope our commissioners can help us. Could someone please respond to this letter, so we know it has been read?

Suzi Daines

Deerfield Beach

RE: Deerfield politics: Are you serious?

Dear Editor:

The Observer newspaper edition for April 17, 2014 included a Letter to the Editor by our Mayor.

In that letter, she referenced me, the District 2 Commissioner. She starts her letter: “…I am fair game [for any comments about bigotry] but my late husband, Dr. Robb, is not…” by implying that I made some kind of bigoted statements about her late husband in regard to separate waiting rooms for blacks and whites, which were a part of their operating policy.

“…Where was the commissioner in 1958, when we purchased the practice from Dr. Schmidt and were told that there had to be a white and black waiting room? We were from Philadelphia and were stunned at the requirement…”

For the record, I have never made any statements about her or her husband as it relates to their past practices.

I didn’t go through the community, leading some sort of a charge against the Robb practice for what was policy in the ‘50s and ‘60s — though, I personally abhor the thought and implementation of such policies.

I have my personal feeling about those practices and only in private conversations did I express my point of view.

I purposely tried to stay out of this conversation and focus on the future, and, as difficult as it was, close the door to the past, but you [the Mayor] chose to open up this can of worms.

Since it is your desire to have this conversation in the open and since you went to the newspaper about me, then let’s talk.

You certainly have picked the right person to engage. I didn’t go out trying to provoke hatred or open old wounds about the humiliation and denigration of black people who had to suffer the indignity of being served at the BACK DOOR by your medical practice.

Where was I, Mayor, in 1958?

To answer your question I was a little boy in the great USA enduring racist practices similar to what was happening in Deerfield Beach.

The Mayor states that at the purchase of the practice, they were told that there had to be separate waiting rooms. Purchase, when used as a noun, means – the acquisition of something for payment.

You owned the practice, what followed from there was your own heart, your morals and personal preferences. Don’t blame Dr. Schmidt for this policy.

The Mayor says that they were stunned. Not stunned enough NOT to establish a practice built on racism. In what direction was your moral compass pointing Mayor? Obviously in the opposite direction of Dr. King and the locals in Deerfield Beach who believe, as did Dr. King, that all of God’s children should be treated with dignity and respect.

Why didn’t you just say, “We will not build a practice that doesn’t honor all human beings equally?” You could have made that choice but, instead, you chose what was popular in 1958. In making that decision, you chose protocol that was tremendously painful and shameful to a people, to a community and to God who loves all. And all are equal in his sight.

Mayor, after the 3rd or 4th year of the policy implementation, were you still blaming Dr. Schmidt? Your support of this unjust policy will be remembered forever.

The Mayor furthers states: “The Afro– American community that the commissioner is supposed to serve would testify that Dr. Robb took loving care OF THEM.” Mayor please tell me, who are “THEM?”

I serve my district and proudly, but not to be compared to how you served The African-American community in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Are you serious? In your statements, you rewarded your policies and practices on the neck of those who were harnessed with the yoke of oppression; a punishment and constant reminder that blacks were not the same as everyone else.

The African American Community at that time had no other choice but to endure.

Don’t ever mistake that because the black community came to you for medical treatment, it was a ringing endorsement of this humiliating policy.

Wounds of the past carry with it scar tissue. Scar tissue is a reminder of a past injury, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual. Scratch the wound of our past and it will surely again bleed injustice.

Many whites during that era did not embrace the policies of exclusion and instead fought injustice and intolerance. I’m sorry, Mayor, that you were not one of those people. You cannot EVER justify racism.

Mayor, simply apologize to the African-American community and the city for what you did and the practice you supported. Unless, you believe you did nothing wrong, so therefore no apology is needed. To simply say, “I’m sorry,” would go a long way in alleviating pain, it’s not a leviathan. I am saddened by your recent letter, but it could not go unanswered.

Now that we both have had our say, I will pray that we can move forward and work together for the good of this community.

Mayor, we are obligated to do the business of the people in an open and positive atmosphere.

It is time for us to get busy and to get some things done on behalf of the residents. I am willing, Mayor, are you?

Lastly Mayor, we are not referred to as The Afro -American Community, we are the African -American Community. What a great day it will be in the United States when the reference will just be American.

Vice Mayor

Ben Preston

RE: Metering The Cove Parking Lot

Dear Editor:

After reading the articles and letters about metering The Cove Shopping Center and the articles written by the Observer about the rise of massage parlors —including the one opening in The Cove, as a resident, I am very concerned about the direction Deerfield Beach is heading.

The Cove parking area is part of a trust deeded to the City.

The city doesn’t own it and, therefore, the City cannot sell it.

If it could be sold, based on the present city ordinances, the sale of any city property over $750,000 would have to be first approved by the citizens of Deerfield Beach.

After the citizens’ approval, the property would have a bidding process.

The Cove businesses could not be guaranteed that their bid for the parking lot would be accepted. Any investor other than The Cove businesses purchasing this property would at the very least put in meters at much higher rate than the city will.

As a newer resident who chose Deerfield Beach as my retirement home, it is alarming listening to folks rant and rave about keeping it a “village.” Deerfield Beach is identified as a city by the state. And this city is in trouble. Fitch has downgraded it. Districts 1 and 4 pay over 80 percent of the taxes and should not be the largest source of income. Our millage rate is one of the highest.

Deerfield Beach is one of the cities identified as a buyer’s market when compared to other cities in South Florida. Higher-end stores and restaurants cannot flourish and lowerend retail, grocery and massage parlors have made Deerfield their home.

We have a beautiful beach and are greeted with a slum motel when crossing over the Hillsboro Bridge.

On A1A, there is a red-tagged drug rehabilitation building that could have been a beautiful condo but, due to another city ordinance, the owner had no choice but to sell it to a rehabilitation company when the commissioners rejected a variance.

I do not want our beach to look like Boca or Ft. Lauderdale, but this ordinance is too restrictive for an investor to purchase an old building that does nothing to enhance this area.

Residents need to have truthful facts and not opinions to make educated decisions that effect our city — not just for the present moment, but with future consequences considered.

Judy Giller

Deerfield Beach

RE: Deerfield politics

Dear Editor:

At a previous commission meeting and from letters in the press, I have been vilified as the wicked witch of the west. The one thing I am guilty of is that I do interrupt, and I shall make a conscious effort to not do that in the future.

I shall begin with the allegations thrown out. I did not scream at the District 1 Commissioner. I called and asked him whether he was aware that his nominee [for the fire pension board] was the blogger’s father. I asked the same question of the District 2 and District 4 Commissioners, and, since this was after the vote had already been recorded, it certainly was not a violation of the Sunshine law — or maybe the letter writer does not know what the definition of the Sunshine law is.

Next, is the District 2 Commissioner… I am fair game [for any comments about bigotry] but my late husband, Dr. Robb, is not. Where was the commissioner in 1958 when we purchased the practice from Dr. Schmidt and were told that there had to be a white and black waiting room? We were from Philadelphia and were stunned at the requirement. The Afro-American community that the commissioner is supposed to serve would testify that Dr. Robb took loving care of them. Ask the Judge who gave the main address at the Martin Luther King Breakfast. She told the audience that she would not be here today without the loving care she received from Dr. Robb. Ask the many District 2 residents who have Dr. Robb’s name on their birth certificates.

And then there is the District 3 Commissioner, who claims that the former Director of Planning and Growth Management retired because of me. Not true, and when he comes back as a consultant, you can ask him.

The Assistant City Manager [and former CRA Director] is another story, as I was not enamored with his performance at the CRA, which was probably influenced by his record at North Miami Beach, and he knew it. $6 million and 4 years to pave Hillsboro Boulevard and $5.5 million to build the pier diner, when a snack bar was all that was needed. Instead of purchasing the motels at the entrance to the beach, the CRA will spend $5.7 million on Sullivan Park. That is why I supported the city manager’s request to sunset the CRA, but the commission said “NO.”

The only person who I have ever had a verbal confrontation with in City Hall is the manager, but if you or anyone else has a name to offer, let’s hear it. In City Hall, I deal with the manager’s staff and the clerk’s office, so I know I have had a good working relationship with them.

As for the District 4 Commissioner, I have taken all of his jabs at me since the day I took this office, so enough said. And I have said that I am not involved with the recall effort against him and would like him to know that my campaign manager and I are not bound at the hip. He certainly has a mind of his own and goes his own way.

Do I have a legitimate complaint that I can’t get anything done?

• At the request of a number of realtors, I wanted a referendum to rescind 11.01 that was passed in 2002 and has stymied beach development and has resulted in the proliferation of sober houses in the beach area.

• I wanted the purchase of the motels at the beach entrance way, but the commission wanted to spend the money in Sullivan Park.

• I wanted a referendum to determine whether the voters wanted to move the municipal elections to November. Couldn’t get that.

• Wanted to get a referendum for the sale of the property at Hillsboro and Federal, since the manager said the [fire] station would be in need of major repairs and had gotten an estimate of the money we could earn from the sale. That went nowhere.

• Wanted Habitat for Humanity to get 5 of the vacant lots the city owned, but the commission insisted we go to bid, although the city’s procurement policy exempts non-profit organizations from such.

• After toying with the Director of the Housing Authority and the Housing Authority for months over their takeover of the western CRA, the commission decided once again that we had to bid out the contract. Once again, not a requirement of the city’s procurement policy.

The malcontents who get up at every meeting to attack me are entitled to their opinions, but when will they realize that the election was in 2013, and their candidate lost — so live with it?

I’ll be here for the next 3 years and if you think you have evidence to have me removed, then bring it on.

Jean M. Robb

Mayor

City of Deerfield Beach

Relay appreciates communities’ support

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the Relay For Life of Deerfield Beach/ Lighthouse Point & Hillsboro Beach, we thank these wonderful communities — and Deerfield BSO — for the overwhelming support for our Relay, which took place April 5- 6. We could not have made this happen without our outstanding committee.

We broke all records with 47 teams, 434 registered participants and “over-the-top” fundraising. Our goal was $118,000 and, as of Sunday morning [April 6], we raised $126,000!

Special thanks to the City of Deerfield Beach for providing the many resources that contributed to the success that it was.

We also appreciate the numerous sponsors and other businesses, including the Deerfield Observer, that supported us. This was truly communities coming together to Finish the Fight!

Nona Breitenstein, Event Chair

Karen Hardy, Event Co-Chair

Thank you, and farewell

Dear Editor:

Unfortunately, time is not set aside often enough to simply say “thank you.”

I am truly fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with many sincerely caring individuals as we, here in South Florida, continue our efforts to build community and improve our environment.

Thank you for being part of the work and part of the community and part of my professional endeavors.

Nearly 5 years ago, the City of Deerfield Beach provided an opportunity for me to play a role in its redevelopment and I was sincerely appreciative.

Now, as I move on from Deerfield Beach, please allow me this moment to say THANK YOU!

Regards,

Keven Klopp

Assistant City Manager And former CRA Director

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: Keven Klopp is moving on to a new challenge as Director of Development Services for the City of Hallandale.

RE: Metering The Cove Parking Lot

Dear Editor:

This is in response to Mr. Jolivet’s April 10 Letter to the Editor.

Using the 460 South Ocean project to falsely blame the “Save Our Beach referendum” shows he did not do his research.

The 460 South Ocean project was unanimously approved by the city commission with all requested variances on May 2, 2006. The property owner received exactly what it requested from the city commission.

From the minutes of the commission meeting: “[The District 1 Commissioner at that time], Vice Mayor Militello said…, she supports the project. She said that this would allow the applicant to keep the design of the project and give some uniqueness on the beach.”

Why they turned it into a drug rehab facility has nothing to do with the building codes. To blame the 2002 Referendum for problems in the beach area is ridiculous.

The 2002 Referendum was approved by 75 percent of the voters to assist in preventing the increasing congestion in the beach area and difficulty in beach access. Responsible development is what our residents voted for.

RE: His suggestion that metering The Cove Shopping Center parking lot is a bad idea. The 780+ parking meters in the beach area generate $1.2 million. He says that metering the 500+ parking spaces in The Cove will bring in $3 million a year. That is so not true.

The surest way to kill businesses at The Cove is to put in metered parking there, something that no other shopping center in the city has. If you kill the business in The Cove, you will not generate any parking revenue from the meters.

These bad ideas and lack of logic advocated seem to have the ear of the Mayor, but fortunately, very few others.

If this is Mr. Jolivet’s logic on generating revenue for the city, I have to question why the Mayor asked him to present his ideas for economic development to the commission at their Dec.3, 2013 meeting.

Marge Hilton

Deerfield Beach

RE: Deerfield POLITICS

Dear Editor:

I just read the newest issue of the Observer newspaper that was delivered today [April 3] only to read [on page 1] how some malcontents want to recall [District 4 Commissioner] Bill Ganz.

I have lived here for over 10 years and, in the past 5, I have seen this city go from a quasi political fiefdom to an actual functioning government that held slackers and time wasters accountable for our tax dollars paying their salaries.

I have known Mr. Ganz since he first ran for office, when he introduced himself on a weekend before the Election.

In him, I felt we had someone like myself, a hard working resident who wants the best for his community.

He has NEVER disappointed me! He is very visible and responds rapidly to issues residents may have, this I have experienced many times, getting a call back from him.

To those clowns who wore the T shirts: Do us all a favor and stay out of District 4! You are not welcome!

I surely hope Mr. Ganz or one of the other two commissioners being targeted run against the current mayor. Her time of cronyism and washing style of politics have to go. Style politics has to go.

Ira Goodstadt

Deerfield Beach

RE: Deerfield POLITICS

Dear Editor: Respect has to be earned, not voted on. Commissioners Bill Ganz , Joe Miller, Ben Preston and Richard Rosensweig [the four Deerfield Beach city commissioners] have earned my respect.

Mayor Jean Robb has not.

How the city functions has changed since Mayor Robb was last in office. We now have a city manager who oversees the daily running of the city.

Each commissioner who represents a fourth of the population each still has the power and the obligation to vote on all matters that concern the whole city.

The mayor also has one vote. She seems to think that her will and vote counts more than the rest. That is not true. Her conduct has become belligerent toward all who disagree with her and she constantly violates Robert’s Rules by interrupting anyone who disagrees with her. That does not get you Respect.

Her comments that all who speak against her will did not vote for her does not bode well. Did she open mail-in ballots or sneak into the polls to get that information? Her ethics need improvement and her tolerance for those who either disagree with her proposals or vote against them must improve — or we, the citizens, who demand decorum and dignity at City Hall, will move to replace her.

Bernie Parness, civic-minded citizen

Deerfield Beach

RE: Metering The Cove Parking Lot

Dear Editor:

This letter shall serve to address the Letter to the Editor which ran in the April 3, Observer written by Anthony Dispenziere concerning metering The Cove Parking Lot.

Saying that the business owners should be able to buy the parking lot so that the commission can focus on more pressing matters than car parking is simplifying a much more complicated issue.

What Mr. Dispenziere fails to understand is that the revenues derived by metering The Cove Parking Lot are desperately needed to replenish the city’s reserves.

Let’s not forget that the city commission was forced to raise our millage rate, which is now one of the highest in Broward County due to financial shortfalls.

Moreover, the Fitch Rating Agency was forced to reduce our credit rating and city employees were laid off due to lack of funds.

The fact is, that the city has few options in order to raise revenues.

Similarly, The Save Our Beach referendum has stifled any development in the city that can produce additional revenues on the beach — which is our most valuable asset.

460 South Ocean is a clear example of how the Save Our Beach referendum halted the development of a proposed condo development called “soleil 460” by refusing to lift current restrictions on development and, consequently, today, there sits a dilapidated drug rehab facility.

Unless this city is able to turn this ship around and produce revenue, our future will be subject to higher real estate taxes, lower property values and more drug rehabs occupying properties on the beach that can no longer be developed due to the Save Our Beach restrictions.

The income [that would be] derived by metering The Cove Parking Lot is a necessity and not an option.

I have not heard of any other option that can immediately produce the revenues for this city, other than metering.

To illustrate this point clearly, metering of The Cove Shopping Center can produce revenues of close to $3 million per annum.

If you were to put a valuation on that income stream at 10 percent, it would put a value on The Cove Parking Lot to be approximately $30 million. I do not think that businesses in The Cove Shopping Center are prepared to pay that price, nor do they have the ability to do so.

I believe that the above scenario dismisses any notion that purchasing this property is a viable option for the retail tenants in The Cove Shopping Center.

The only option that this city has to produce immediate revenues in order to help offset our financial shortfalls is to meter The Cove Parking Lot as soon as possible. Thank You!

Patrick Jolivet

Deerfield Beach

RE: The Cove Car-park Conundrum

Dear Editor:

Is The Cove Parking Lot an untapped revenue source for Deerfield Beach or the primary utility for the conduct of The Cove’s various businesses?

The city [commission’s] answer to that question will ultimately guide the course of action taken toward resolution of the unsettled parking lot issues currently plaguing both the city and The Cove business and property owners. Make no mistake – these two conclusions currently could not be farther apart.

On the one hand, the city could create an additional revenue source where only maintenance expense and hassle currently exist. On the other, the city could manage the lot in the best interests of business and property owners.

Charging customers for parking in a dead-end cul-de-sac business plaza would do great harm to most of the plaza’s businesses by driving customers to the city’s other pizza parlors, florists, and bagel shops — where they are not charged to park.

Regardless of the amount charged, costs to customers will be driven up, and profit margins and traffic will be reduced. After all, The Cove, while charming in its own right, is not Las Olas Boulevard.

Charging to park [in The Cove Parking Lot] will likely create a spillover effect, and revenue projections will probably fall short once customers are driven away. People who want free beach parking will simply seek other areas like Sullivan Park or the Publix plaza instead of paying to walk a half-mile to the beach.

Conversely, if business owners (who do not currently pay maintenance costs for the lot – an unusual arrangement compared to most plazas) carry the day, we’ll likely have valet parking and large, threatening tow-away signs for unwanted beach-parking-fee fugitives.

What to do? Let’s take a middle course. The city should not own and operate a parking lot that exists primarily to service private businesses.

Its parking lot ownership should be restricted to public areas like beaches, parks, and City Hall.

Also, business and property owners should not get a free and well-maintained parking lot on the city’s dime.

The city should sell the lot to a newly-created Cove Property Owners’ Association, which would charge business owners to maintain common areas; a common arrangement for most plazas.

This way, the city earns income while business owners can manage the lot in their best interest.

The city attorney must negotiate a property release from the heirs of the original owner to get around the issue where the deed reverts to the original owner if the city relinquishes the property.

This is the only viable option that benefits all parties and allows the commission to focus on more pressing matters than car parking.

Anthony Dispenziere

Deerfield Beach