Who needs $5 million more: LWR or West Bradenton?

Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore now wants to spend over $5 million in taxpayer dollars on buying a huge recreation complex for Lakewood Ranch. So, the richest area of the county, with the best streets, lighting and landscaping, will now get a gigantic recreation complex.

Normally I might say fine, but not when the long neglected and ignored has few sidewalks, sporadic streetlights, and local streets that are “exploding” due to not having been repaved in over 30 years!

Politicians are supposed to be qualified as managers, and as managers they use our tax dollars where they are needed the most. Not because they live there, their friends live there, or, they want to curry political favor. The west side, the older side of town, has been neglected too long. There is not even a sidewalk in front of Manatee High School; our children walk through the mud.

This story was originally published June 19, 2017 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Who needs $5 million more: LWR or West Bradenton?."