Letters

The recent article, “City/CRA shared-goals meeting takes a turn toward showdown” was more gossip-like than the journalistic quality your readers have come to expect.
    First, a made-up “rift” (between city and CRA) that does not exist cannot “continue to widen.” The recent joint workshop referenced in your article was to discuss important current and future goals and to provide guidance where both organizations are intently focused.
    These are not perfunctory, social gatherings, but rather outcome-based workshops, and, in that regard, our meeting was highly productive.
    Moreover, quotes clearly intended as levity and humor were presented completely out of context, making them appear as substantive statements rather than initial meeting banter obvious to everyone in attendance.
    Focusing on storylines rather than reporting accuracy, the writer missed the fundamental points discussed during and, again, after the meeting: specifically, that our CRA has done a remarkable job fulfilling its primary mission of eliminating slum and blight within its boundary. But in the 30 years since its inception, the city has changed significantly such that revisiting the CRA boundary is both timely and responsible.
    Further, while our county’s $4.6 million (boundary-based) contribution of tax increment financing to our CRA should not be taken lightly nor for granted, citywide service deliverables and the funding they require exceed our budgetary constraints, despite what would appear to be fungible tax revenues.  
    As most of the ad-valorem tax revenue generated from the CRA’s large boundary (nearly 20 percent of the city), and the relative high property values within it, inures to the CRA, it has become increasingly difficult to reconcile the CRA’s statutory funding limitations with citywide funding needs.
    Balancing our budgets by merely getting by when viewed through a fiscally proactive lens really means falling behind, as we have been doing for years. These factors, coupled with a lack of blight along the CRA’s eastern boundary, direct us toward more substantive analysis, which is ongoing.
    Mischaracterizing, however, what has been and remains an incredibly dynamic and successful city-agency partnership for over three decades as anything else was unfortunate and disappointing.
Cary Glickstein
Mayor, Delray Beach