From The Palm Beach Post: "West Palm removes Clematis Street benches; cites homeless problem"

Reporter Kevin Thompson has this article about West Palm Beach's steps to control a problem caused by the homeless on their iconic Clematis Street in the downtown. What is particularly encouraging about this is a former Lake Worth commissioner, as will be demonstrated in a video below, has praised West Palm on how they've dealt with the homeless and, possibly, Lake Worth can follow the lead of our good municipal neighbor to the north. Here is an excerpt from the article:

      Murphy [Alan Murphy, Jr., the general manager of Pioneer Linens] estimates that up to 20 percent of potential customers avoid his store and from venturing downtown to shop because of unwanted activity.
      “It does effect our business negatively,” he said. “We’re a destination store. People who are downtown don’t just happen to pop in. People from Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach make it point to come to our store.”
      In an attempt to curb the problem, the city on Monday removed four public benches on Clematis Street.
      “We’ve been getting a lot of complaints from business owners and visitors about people loitering on those benches and harassing people,” said Mayor Jeri Muoio. “Our city is like any other city, but we don’t want West Palm Beach to be known for that.”

If you weren't aware, the Anarchist candidate running against Lake Worth Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell is encouraging the homeless to take over Bryant Park in Lake Worth. Should the benches be removed from Bryant Park? That will make things very inconvenient for families and visitors but if that is what it takes to make the park safe then that might be necessary due to the efforts of people like former city commissioners Joann Golden and Cara Jennings.

West Palm Mayor Jeri Muoio will catch a lot of flack from what seems like a lot of people and groups with impressive names but know this: Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler experienced much worse than anything Mayor Muoio will and he had the full wrath and ire directed at him from the pro-homeless coalition leading up to elections there. So how did Mayor Seiler do in that election?

The lesson is this: Mayor Muoio and her staff will catch hell from the editors at The Palm Beach Post, CBS12, the New Times, and maybe a few state-wide news outlets but in the end it won't matter a nickel at the polls. You see, the public, the vast majority of people you don't hear about in the media appreciate it when their leaders make the hard decisions when push comes to shove—making communities safe and those public spaces like sidewalks open for enjoyment and business.

The almost unfathomable irony is that a former commissioner here in Lake Worth, Joann Golden, praised to the hilt WPB Mayor Muoio recently at a City Commission meeting; you can watch that here: 

The end-game, it's suspected, is that some Palm Beach County communities are targets for a real large lawsuit over the issue of the homeless. Remember though, none of this has a thing to do with helping the homeless and everything to do with political objectives.