Davenport Park Relocation To Aid Developer Makes Florida Tax Watch Turkey List

Florida Tax Watch has released its annual list of turkeys–questionable expenditures contained in the state budget–and wouldn’t you know it, a project related to another project mentioned in this space last year made the list.
That would be the $4 million proposed to relocate Lewis Matthews Park on the city’s east side. The park is named in honored of a former elected known for his support of youth sports facilities.
The reason city officials want to relocate the park is because the present location is in the way of a plan by The Cassidy Group, a Winter Haven development company. to extend Powerline Road northwesterly from its current terminus at South Boulevard to U.S. 17-92 near Bargain Barn Road.
That would allow for the development of some landlocked property Cassidy owns.
The road project which the Polk County Commission agreed last year to assist in funding in cooperation with three front corporations related to Cassidy, is already under construction.
The $4 million relocation project was discussed with Davenport officials in 2022. If the money in the budget remains, it would seemingly relieve Cassidy of having to front $2 million for the project costs and would be yet another subsidy for this whole development enterprise at taxpayer expense.
And some political leaders wonder why the public is skeptical of their performance.