Commissioners meeting 10.03.11 + Events to follow

What a great meeting we had. Thank you for everyone who came down and showed your support. Please join us on the 17th. Please enjoy the videos below and share the poster of loisfrankel " Dark Lord of Politics. "

Lois Frankel " Dark Lord of Politics" Artist: Unknown

Please watch and share the video below. We need to bring the cites corruption to the attention of all the Hard working Citizens. Lets this be known.. Justice will be served.

Delsa Bush resigns as West Palm Beach police chief

    

WEST PALM BEACH— 

A day after criticizing the mayor to The Palm Beach Post, Police Chief Delsa Bush has submitted her resignation.
Bush submitted the letter Tuesday morning, effective Jan. 1.

Mayor Jeri Muoio had planned to meet with Bush today after The Post reported yesterday that Bush told a reporter, "Who's the mayor? What does she know?" regarding a police radio system on which the city has paid millions of dollars to set up -- at Bush's urging -- but which the mayor plans to end. The mayor told The Post this week that the system wouldn't work and that she would urge the city commission not to spend the money required to make it operational.


In a news release Tuesday, Bush said, "Please know that the West Palm Beach Police department is one of the most highly regarded in the nation. This fact can only be attributed to the fine men and women who work within the organization, both sworn and civilian."


Muoio, in her own release, said: "Chief Bush has served this community for many years. Her dedication to the people of West Palm Beach and to her officers has earned the admiration and respect from those she serves. I thank her for her many years of hard work."


Bush and the mayor have disagreed about the OpenSky radio system since Muoio took office in March, and Bush has had a tenuous relationship with Muoio in general.


During the mayoral election campaign, Muoio was one of three candidates who said they would replace Bush as police chief, with Muoio blaming Bush for low morale in the police department.


Bush, who was named chief by Mayor Lois Frankel in 2003, submitted a resignation letter to Muoio on July 29, but took it back on Aug. 1.


Bush has been one of the biggest advocates of the police radio system, removing the city's technical team from the consortium of municipal representatives organizing it in 2009, after the team wrote an internal report critical of OpenSky. It and another critical report written in 2010 were not made public or even available to commissioners until after The Post reported the contents of the reports for the first time in May.

By Andrew Abramson, The Palm Beach Post  ( ORIGIN PAGE )11:29 a.m. EDT, October 4, 2011 
    

Commissioners Meeting 9.19.11 Clips

Palm Beach Post Grossly Unfair and Unbalanced!

September 7, 2011 Post Rebuttal I would like to address and give a different perspective on an article written by Andrew Marra on August 31, 2011. The headline of the article read, “Gadfly right, Muoio wrong”.

African Americans have, for many years, felt they have been treated differently by the press, government, police department and other institutions that govern this great country. Whenever someone from our community is portrayed so differently and the article is so grossly unfair and unbalanced, this gives credence to their beliefs.

The headline from the onset refers to me as a gadfly but addresses Mayor Muoio by her name. The heading should have read, “McCray right, Muoio wrong”, thus giving me the same respect as Muoio. If you felt the need to refer to me as a gadfly, in this narrative, that would have been fine but the heading should give both of the objects the same respect. If you called me a gadfly at the beginning, then you should have called Muoio a First Amendment rights violator or something similar.

In the article, I was called goading but gave no evidence to prove that I am goading? I was called litigious. I have only filed one lawsuit in my entire life and it was against the city of West Palm Beach and I won that lawsuit. How does that make me a litigious person? Mr. Marra then said I was a haranguer. If you listen to my speeches, they are not rants; they are intellectual and appear to be very professional and truthful.

I have watched many other people speak, criticizing the city and they were allowed to go on and on and also praise the city and they were allowed to go on and on. I correctly pointed out that these people were Caucasians. I then explained, it is racist for them to be treated differently because I and other African Americans have been shut off. Due to the fact that this is true, that Caucasians are not interrupted but African Americans are, this is discrimination and racism. If there’s another explanation, please give it to us.

The article said, Mr. McCray is probably right and the city should probably not interpret the First Amendment the way they do. The city should not be given any room on this issue, either I am right and they are wrong or the city is right and I am wrong. There should be no wiggle room or misunderstanding about what the First Amendment means.

The Supreme Court recently ruled, with an 8-1 decision, Westboro Baptist Church, who truly says outlandish, demeaning and very irresponsible words, had a right to do so. The First Amendment is not needed to protect speech that is complimentary or pleasing because no one objects. That Amendment is to defend speech that may be offensive or hurtful to the masses. This is what the founding fathers wrote the First Amendment for and this is the foundation for the rest of the Constitution of the United States.

The Post writer, Mr. Marra, continues to say there’s nothing wrong with setting minimum standards for civilized discourse. Who decides what civilized discourse is? Surely Mr. Marra understands if there’s no profanity, threats, or violence, it must be civilized, even if you don’t like the contents of the speech.

The city will soon be telling this writer what is appropriate for him to write about the city or anything else. The city has shown a propensity to make its own laws and when another government body says something that is in disagreement with this governing body, they have a major problem with that. The city has a problem with Palm Beach County widening roads. The city has a problem with the State Legislatures decision on Second Amendment rights. The city has also decided to make its own laws regarding Second Amendment rights, which is also contrary to the Constitution of the United States.

The Palm Beach Post has written about the incompetence of the city dais. The Post have also written how this dais does not follow the will of the voters by building city center and other abuses of the previous, Mayor Lois Frankel. Mayor Muoio has the same political DNA and continues the same political abuse of power and authority of her predecessor and mentor, Lois Frankel.

The Palm Beach Post has written about how this dais appears to be incapable of properly governing this city and that is why the city is politically, culturally and economically dysfunctional. Lastly, the writer, Mr. Marra spoke of me having a checkered past. My checkered past, in large part, is due to the retaliation of the city of West Palm Beach, once they learned I was suing the city, due to their discrimination and racism against me and other officers at the West Palm Beach Police Department.

There is much more that can be said by me about this dais dysfunctional governance of the city of West Palm Beach, much of which has already been reported on by the Palm Beach Post but this should suffice for now as these captions in the article have been addressed. Thank you for you accommodation.


William McCray

West Palm dilemma: Does shutting off a complainer's microphone at a public hearing violate his right

by andrew abramson

                                             
WEST PALM BEACH — William McCray has argued for months that the city is restricting his First Amendment rights - first when former Mayor Lois Frankel cut off his criticisms at city commission meetings and now, when Mayor Jeri Muoio turns off his microphone and the city's TV cameras.
The state's First Amendment Foundation sides with McCray.
McCray is a former city cop who won a racial discrimination suit against the city, but who also was fired for what the city says was the worst disciplinary record in the police department's history. He is fighting for his job back and for more than $230,000 that a jury awarded and he appears frequently at city meetings to criticize city officials and employees.
Monday's commission meeting was no exception. And when he launched into negative commentary against the former mayor, he apparently pushed the buttons of the current one, who pushed a few buttons of her own and turned off the public broadcast of the discussion.
McCray had been quoting negative comments about Frankel said by several members of Muoio's transition team in a recent Palm Beach Post article. He also referred to the ex-mayor, currently a candidate for Congress, as "Earthquake Frankel."
"You cannot come up here and say negative things about people," Muoio shouted several times at McCray. She briefly let McCray read a few comments. Then he was escorted from the podium by Police Chief Delsa Bush, while he shouted that Muoio was "out of order."
McCray left city hall without a police escort.
Frankel, Muoio and City Attorney Claudia McKenna have repeatedly pointed out that the city's civility code states that "all remarks shall be addressed to the commission as a body and not to any one member or to the audience."
The problem arises, when officials allow positive comments about individual commissioners or members of the public, has Muoio has, but not criticism, said Barbara A. Petersen, president of the Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundation.
"If they invoke the code only when comments are negative, then they have a huge problem," Petersen said. "Reasonable rules are allowed and those rules can require orderly behavior and prohibit shouting or profanity, but a government agency can't limit our speech to only that speech that they like. If they allow public comment, they must allow all public comment, both negative and positive."
City spokesman Chase Scott said that while Muoio told McCray at Monday's meeting that he couldn't "say negative things about people," negative speech is allowed - just not personal attacks.
"You can tell the commission, 'I hate my taxes. I think you're not working hard enough for me,' " Scott said. "But it says that you are supposed to address the commission as a whole. We're talking about an individual who came in here and slandered people who were private citizens."
McCray was referring to Frankel and city administrator Ed Mitchell at Monday's meeting.
Petersen said Frankel is still a public figure, though. Even Mitchell, who is not elected to office, is a public-private figure by Petersen's definition - someone who might be public for some purposes and private for others.
"I would argue that the former mayor, who was also a former (state) House member and is now running for Congress, is a public figure," Petersen said. "But even a public-private figure, the standard for proving slander for remarks made is much higher than the standard for the purely private figure."
Regardless, the city is still allowing positive comments directed at individuals, which Petersen said goes against its own civility code.
"People come up all the time and say, 'mayor, you're the greatest,' or '(Commissioner) Bill Moss is the greatest.' They love it, and they say 'thank you very much,' " McCray said Wednesday. "The minute you give dissension, you're a problem and they make special rules for you."
Scott argued that positive comments are allowable because they don't harm an individual.
"I don't think it causes harm to another individual to say something positive," Scott said. "But it obviously can cause harm if you start slandering."
Petersen says Scott's explanation doesn't meet First Amendment muster. As for turning off McCray's microphone, Petersen said, that raises questions.
"There's nothing in the Sunshine Law that requires that meetings be audio- or videotaped," Petersen said. "But, if the mayor cut off the audio and/or video of a particular speaker but allowed others to be taped, that could raise First Amendment questions."

Origin site : Here
Palm Beach Post

Racial tensions rise at city hall as new district lines created

by Andrew Abramson

Some prominent black residents, and others in West Palm Beach, are not happy with the city’s current district configuration, and they’re becoming increasingly vocal about it.
The argument has intensified as the commission prepares to set the new district boundary lines. The city has seen a big shift in the last decade, with the western communities exploding in population and the south end losing residents.

West Palm NAACP director Gaines

Former City Commissioner Littles

After the commission proposed splitting the historic black neighborhoods, with the Northwest shifting to Kimberly Mitchell’s coast-hugging District 3, the outcry from black leaders prompted Mayor Jeri Muoio and commissioners to table redistricting for two weeks and allow additional maps to be created by residents that keeps the Northwest with Coleman Park and Northwood. The commission will have final say on boundary lines.
But that’s just a start for many black leaders in the city, who feel elections are being dominated by voters from western, gated communities who have little in common with their values and don’t understand their needs.

“If we had single member districts that would conceivably give us fair representation because people on the dais would actually represent the communities they live in, and the dais would be significantly different,” resident Elvin Dowling said at Monday’s commission meeting. “Commissioner (Bill) Moss would probably be Raphael Torres because there’s 50 percent Hispanic representation in his district. Commissioner (Sylvia) Moffett would almost certainly look different because there’s a huge minority population in her district.”
Commissioner Keith James, who is black and represents the affluent District 4, was quiet at Monday’s commission meeting. But in an interview last week, he said single-member districts would only hurt minority representation. Currently, there are two black commissioners in West Palm Beach, including James and Ike Robinson of District 2.
James said he doubts he would have been elected if only District 4 members could have voted for him.
“With the way its structured with single member districts, there would never be, in my lifetime, more than one African American commissioner up there,” James said. “I don’t want to see West Palm move toward that, a designated black commissioner.  I think that’s ridiculous. I’m living, walking proof that this structure can work because you get the best people to run, and they understand that their task is to appeal to all four corners and not just a particular ethnic group.”
There could have been three black commissioners in West Palm Beach. After Molly Douglas resigned her District 1 commission seat to run for mayor, the four remaining commissioners, including James, had to appoint Douglas’ replacement. Robinson voted for former City Commissioner and Northwest resident Robbie Littles, who is black. James voted, along with Moss, to appoint Moffett, who was the favorite of former Mayor Lois Frankel. Muoio was also believed to have favored Moffett.
Had James selected Littles, West Palm would have had a majority black commission for just the second time in the city’s history.
Last week, West Palm NAACP executive director Lia Gaines criticized James for not appointing Littles. She said it wasn’t about Littles’ race, but about his history in the community.
“The community (James) has worked on has had some issues in which Commissioner Littles has championed,” Gaines said. “One of them, which we were doing during the time leading up to the appointment, was the largest contract to a minority contractor.”
James’ own former wife, Gaines said, lost out on the city attorney position with West Palm Beach in the 1990s.
“The community at that time was very upset because one of the candidates we felt was much more qualified was attorney Elaine James who had extensive municipal law experience,” Gaines said. “There were two other African Americans with similar credentials.”
But James said race wasn’t going to play in factor in the appointment decision.
“I had to pick who I thought would be best, and I followed my judgment,” James said last week.
At Monday’s commission meeting, Littles suggested expanding to six districts, along with single-member districts, to accommodate the city’s growth.
“(The western communities), through its prosperity, has grown from 16,000 to roughly 34,000 and it would have what it is justly due,” Littles said. “The rest of city, and more specifically the African American community, would not be split up and essentially politically destroyed.”
Littles said commissioners shouldn’t be concerned with the potential of split votes if the city were to expand to six commissioners. He said other cities with six commissioners rarely have split votes, and the mayor is allowed to vote in the event of a tie.
Any potential changes would have to be approved by the commission and then the voters, unless the court system was to get involved.
Black residents aren’t the only ones concerned about the influence of the western communities. I’ve spoken to several white downtown and south end residents who said they’d prefer single member districts.
Two residents at Monday’s meeting spoke against single member districts and in favor of continuing citywide elections.
“I live in District 1, and I’m a huge minority,” said Mary Margaret Mahon, a north end resident who is white. “We’re much more black than white, and I’m sure there are plenty of Hispanics. As neighbors we face the same issues. Why does it have to be about race? Why can’t it be just be about the person who will represent the ideals of that neighborhood no matter what? I supported Mr. James in his election. I supported Kimberly Mitchell. And it didn’t have anything to do with race. You hear a lot of  complaints about how the west controls elections. It’s because they vote.”
Sean Jackson, a District 1 resident who is black, said Littles doesn’t speak for all of the black community.
“There is no way single member districts in any way, shape or form will benefit any African American resident in this city,” Jackson said. “This is not the past. Single member districts worked then, but it will not work now. There are far more African Americans in this city and this county that if any of them wanted to get up and run for office, if they’re strong enough to run for office, and they’re taken seriously enough to run for office, the community at large will take them seriously.”

Origin site: Here
PALM BEACH POST BLOG

Mayor silences critic at commission meeting

by Andrew Abramson ( Palm Beach Post Reporter )

It was a flashback to the Lois Frankel days at Monday’s commission meeting when former city cop William McCray pushed Mayor Jeri Muoio over the top and the mayor responded by silencing the critic.

Muoio

McCray

McCray, now a PBSO officer, won a racial discrimination suit against the city during Frankel’s term and continuously battled Frankel on the dais during her last year in office.

Frankel would point to the city’s civility code which says that speakers cannot direct public comment at specific individuals or commissioners. It’s a clause that even the League of Cities wouldn’t include in its push for a statewide civility code.

In Muoio’s early months in office, she often ignored the clause and let McCray rage against commissioners and herself. But in recent months, Muoio has become less patient with McCray.

Monday was already a tense meeting, with black residents storming out of the commission chambers and flipping over a portrait of Commissioner Keith James.

McCray opened his three minutes of public comment by blasting Frankel’s time in office, and Muoio shut off his mic and turned off the video feed.

Viewers were confused and curious, asking on Twitter and by e-mail what was being said between McCray and Muoio. It wasn’t much — Once the cameras were off, Muoio repeatedly told McCray, “You cannot come up here and say negative things about people,” while McCray shouted at Muoio several times, “You are out of order!”, saying he had a constitutional right to speak his mind at meetings. (Check out the Post’s May 1 story on this very subject).

Muoio eventually let McCray finish his speech, but without sound or video (and thereof no official public record of it). Once the three minutes were up, McCray complained that he was owed two minutes during the back-and-forth between he and Muoio. Police Chief Delsa Bush and another West Palm officer stood by McCray, and according to McCray, Bush told him he had to leave.

While Muoio was technically right that McCray was violating the city’s civility code (although he has said he shouldn’t have to abide by a civility code because it’s unconstitutional), he believes Muoio’s repeated suggestion that he can’t come up and “say negative things,” isn’t even what the civility code says. According to the code, a resident shouldn’t be able to direct any comment at an individual, negative or positive.

Origin page : Here

 Palm Beach Post