Lake Worth City Manager Michael Bornstein was mystified to learn this month that his city has been labeled a sanctuary city.Below is a post from last week where I explained how this 'sanctuary city' nonsense got started:]
“It caught us all by surprise,” he said. “I asked if there was any ordinance or proclamation in the past, and there was nothing. I think we just got roped up with a bunch of other cities.”
If memory serves me correctly, and I have checked with others who were around at the time the discussion was taking place, Lake Worth never officially became a sanctuary city. It was long a hope of former commissioners Cara Jennings, JoAnn Golden and Suzanne Mulvehill that it would be (all candidates supported by The Other Blogger [TOB]). Former City Manager Stanton was here while the Day Labor Center was operating. It was also under her direction that the city hired day laborers without any identification for odd tasks here and there around the City. Then-Commissioner Jennings told of how the Labor Center served the "entire city" and that we should be glad that we have it due to the state of the economy at the time.
I lived within the city limits of Lake Worth back then, as I still do, so I went to the Labor Center to prove their claims were false, vis-à-vis the Labor Center "was serving the whole city". I signed up to be eligible for work through the center. The director at the time, her name escapes me now, didn't quite know what to do with me. They even gave me paperwork asking me for certain information which I protested since I didn't think that was the policy of the center. I never was called in for a temporary job. I was told that since I had registered I was eligible to come and eat lunch there and wait with the other people for a job should an employer come in looking for people.
Here is a video I took during my visit. You can see the 'hustle and bustle' of activity:
The Labor Center lasted about a year while those three previously mentioned commissioners were in office. Then the city had to address repairs to the building upon the center's departure. There were also expenses incurred in preparing for a Labor Center that the city never recouped. Other than the city commission not extending a lease for the center, former City Manager Stanton did little to thwart the efforts of her friendly commissioners.