Homeless 'advocates' threaten the little City of Lake Worth and why it has nothing to do with the homeless

[A look back: The 3rd most viewed post on my blog this year. Enjoy. And a special treat! JoAnn Golden, a former Lake Worth commissioner praises West Palm Beach for their outstanding efforts to aid the homeless (see end of this blog post). And, as always, Thank You for visiting my blog, Wes.]

At a Lake Worth city commission meeting on 8/18 the City was given a warning, or some might take as a threat, to make our Bryant Park ground zero in the continuing debate about homelessness in south Florida. A reference was made to what happened in Ft. Lauderdale as you can see for yourself at the 50 second mark to 1:15 in this video:
The target of the protests in Ft. Lauderdale was Mayor Jack Seiler who was up for re-election. So how did he do up against the wave of protests and 'bad press'?

Here is an excerpt from the Broward New Times on Mayor Seiler's re-election:

     [Mayor] Seiler had appeared vulnerable entering Tuesday night's election, following a public relations beating over his handling of the city's homeless feeding ordinance.
     The ordinance passed by the city last October put restrictions, such as requiring hand-washing stations and port-o-potties, on groups that serve the homeless food. But the restrictions severely limited groups from feeding the homeless, and breaking the ordinance came with a citation and possible jail time.
     Since the ordinance was passed late last year, Seiler had become the face of homeless discrimination across the U.S. when news broke that 90-year-old homeless advocate Arnold Abbott had been cited several times for feeding homeless people on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

It would appear that when politicians stand up for city residents and families being able to use their parks in peace they get beat up by the press but end up doing quite well at the polls. Interesting.

There are many resources throughout the county but the 'advocates' would prefer to drain the already limited coffers of the City instead. If money were the issue why not take their efforts across the bridge to the Town of Palm Beach (33480) where they would get more attention? Because this had nothing to do with homelessness; this is all about politics and the homeless are just being used as pawns.

If the 'advocates' really cared for the homeless they should organize their own community efforts in their own neighborhoods instead of saving all their energy to complain at city commission meetings. What former-Commissioner JoAnn Golden says about the citizens of the City at the 1:20 mark in the video below says it all: they're the ones with the skewed view of the homeless, not the vast majority of residents in the City.

At the 40 second mark in the video note that JoAnn Golden praises the efforts of officials in West Palm Beach to aid the homeless. Unfortunately, only 40 seconds later she goes off the rails. However, the officials in West Palm Beach must be beaming with pride for the recognition of their efforts.