The City of West Palm Beach has declared itself a “Welcoming City”.

Joel Malkin at WJNO with the news below about “Welcoming City” status in WPB.

Please remember. This is very important:

The City of Lake Worth is and has been a “Welcoming City” for a very long time.

However, our City IS NOT and NEVER WAS
a so-called ‘sanctuary city’.

The stark difference between “Welcoming” and the divisive term ‘sanctuary’ is explained at the end of this blog post.

Not to be outdone or left behind in Palm Beach County history, West Palm Beach has declared itself a “Welcoming City” too following in the footsteps of the Lake Worth City Commission and Mayor Pam Triolo. But is West Palm truly “Welcoming”? West Palm likes to claim a lot of things. Time will tell. By the way, as long as one is not breaking the law, PBSO District 14 in the City of Lake Worth has strict rules about when and where not to inquire of someones immigration status. So if you happen to be undocumented just follow the law.

West Palm quietly took their first “Welcoming” step by sending out their police chief to break the news. From the news by Joel Malkin at WJNO (AM1290), Chief Sarah Mooney said,


Our municipal law enforcement agencies don’t really deal much with immigration and status of people and we don’t even really have an occasion to check on anybody’s status unless they’re involved in criminal activity. So, if you’re involved in criminal activity and there’s a reason to be checking documentation that’s related to a person that may be taken into custody [emphasis added] . . . She points out that anybody arrested in any Palm Beach County municipality gets processed at the county jail, which is operated by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.


At the conclusion of Malkin’s news report is an all-too-common error in press and media reports:


[W]hen the city [West Palm] first passed the resolution which declared West Palm a “Welcoming City,” there was controversy over some thinking that meant it was a “Sanctuary City,” [sic] but city officials say that is not the case.


The term ‘sanctuary city’ must never be capitalized!

It’s worth noting that according to newly-adopted standard uniform English-speaking accepted style guideline the mythical term ‘sanctuary city’ should always be lowercase within a sentence and in public speaking the speaker should always raise both hands in the air, above the shoulders, pause momentarily and wiggle the index and middle fingers of each hand prior to saying the word ‘sanctuary’.

Air quotes are, as explained in Wikipedia:


Air quotes, also called finger quotes, are virtual quotation marks formed in the air with one’s fingers when speaking. This is typically done with hands held shoulder-width apart and at the eye level of the speaker, with the index and middle fingers on each hand flexing at the beginning and end of the phrase being quoted. 


Now let’s proceed to the topic at hand, the news in The Lake Worth Herald about the City of Lake Worth being a “Welcoming City” and not a ‘sanctuary’.

To see the latest front page of the
Herald click on this link.

Have LOCAL community news you want to share, want more information on subscription and advertising rates? To contact the editor call 561-585-9387 or send an email to: Editor@lwherald.com

Here are two excerpts from the Herald about our “Welcoming City” of Lake Worth:

The City of Lake Worth has named April 17, 2018 as Welcoming City Day, celebrating all residents of the City. The proclamation, read by Commissioner Omari Hardy declares Lake Worth fosters a welcoming environment for all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity or place of origin, enhances Lake Worth’s cultural fabric, economic growth, global competitiveness and overall prosperity for current and future generations.

and. . .

[T]he City encourages the business leadership, civic groups, other governmental agencies and community institutions to undertake their own initiatives, beyond this resolution, to make Lake Worth not only a welcoming place for new residents from other countries but also a center of world commerce.


As always, Thank You for visiting today and hope you found this information helpful.