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The 'Palms at Atlantic' Living with Filth
• City says get the trash picked up or we will
Thursday,
September 17, 2009
With just a slight breeze blowing north, you can smell the garbage heap when pulling into the complex from Atlantic Boulevard. A smell similar to passing the dump on Powerline Road. Although garbage collection is all but halted in the neighborhood, residents of the ‘Palms at Atlantic’ keep piling it high.
Condo fees collected from ‘Palms’ residents are barely enough to keep the water running and electric on, said the condominium association's one and only board member. Everyone else quit the board, she said, during an emergency hearing at City Hall Wednesday held to address the health hazard in this 76-unit condo complex.
Instead of garbage pick-up twice weekly as required by law, residents of the Palms pass the hat whenever it’s convenient and pay a private individual to remove portions of the waste. This doesn’t pass muster with Margate Code, so the city has intervened to rectify the problem: garbage will be picked up twice weekly and liens will be placed on condo units if services go unpaid.
Residents testifying at the hearing expressed frustration with neighbors. Aside from numerous abandonments and foreclosures at the Palms, some residents don’t pay association fees, creating hardship for others. One resident blamed predatory lenders for financing the homes of people who weren’t able to afford them in the first place – a problem common to South Florida and one sweeping the nation.
Public health issues posed by rotting garbage can make Swine Flu look like a walk in the park. The potential for viral transmission is overwhelming and the growth of microscopic bacteria such as salmonella, E-coli and shigella pose a serious health threat to children, seniors and those with suppressed immune systems – not to mention the attraction of rodents, flies and cockroaches.
There’s no fast, easy solution to problems caused by the foreclosure crisis, but as Americans we need to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, especially when kids are playing near dumpsters like witnessed at the Palms of Atlantic.
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