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. "
Showing posts with label Meeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meeting. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Commissioners meeting 10.03.11 + Events to follow
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Andrew Abramson,
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William McCray
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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.

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
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.
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
Labels:
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WPBTV
Thursday, August 25, 2011
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.
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
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Racism in West Palm is alive and thriving ...
UNBELIEVABLE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Lois frankel vs. William McCray
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Jeri Muoio,
Lois Frankel,
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William McCray
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Don't Come Back..
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Lois frankel hates black and poor people.
This blog is dedicated towards telling the truth about Lois Frankels disgusting, filthy and shameful political career. Also exposing earthquake Frankels destruction towards West Palm Beach, politically, socially, and economically.
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