Community Relations Board Meeting tonight at 6pm

Comment Up

Sounds like a parrot to me.

When the Community Relations Board was first proposed I did not think it was necessary and believed that it was just one more waste of time and resources. I still do. Commissioner Jennings thought otherwise and she wanted to ensure that our citizens were not harassed by the police and that they got a fair shake at the table when they had other grievances…that they would be heard by a body of citizens and that Body would be there for them and their interests-- to help solve problems.

Ok then, the premise was good and idealistic. The Board was formed last July and since then not one thing of which I am aware has been accomplished. They don’t even have By-Laws yet, 11 months later. Perhaps this could have been a worthwhile Board but we will never know. Any Board is as good as its leadership--the Chair.

What has happened through the course of this year is a mystery until the last several months when Lake Worth's political scene roared into early action. A few candidates declared. This is about the same time that the Chair, Mark Parrilla, started to make personal attacks against Commissioner Jennings. I answered one of his comments on a Blog and suggested that he step down. Then the series of personal attacks started against me and even Katie McGiveron, Vice Chair of her neighborhood association and a person fighting for her neighborhood for nearly 5 years now on an up-zoning issue. The attacks were almost obsessive and got more bizarre.

These attacks are highly unethical; they are highly inappropriate for a member of the Community Relations Board, especially its Chair. This Board should be working with people to solve their problems, not against them. Political opinions of Board members need to be held in check.

Commissioner Jennings is the one commissioner who has fought for the rights of the people and has championed their causes. She supports improving the plight of the poor and the immigrant under human rights. I may not support illegal immigration. I am, however, not a member of a City Board. The CRB should not be involved in politics and personal opinions but rather to support the residents of this city in every respect regardless of their personal bias.

Chair Parrilla should apologize to Commissioner Jennings. He doesn’t have to apologize to me but as a citizen here, he needs and must understand that interjecting his personal opinion as a member of this Board is just divisive, unprofessional, unethical and highly inappropriate and opposite of why this Board was formed. An apology to the residents of this City is in order. His attitude is detrimental to all that this Board could achieve. The very fact that Ms. Blockson, a member of the CRB, is running against the very commissioner he is attacking, only hurts Ms. Blockson in the democratic process of fair elections.

Parrilla should step down now.

A couple of excerpts from the suggested Code of Ethics for the CRB:

9.1.2.1> Each Member shall be dedicated to the concepts of effective and democratic local government, respecting the principals and spirit of representative democracy, and setting a positive example of good citizenship by scrupulously observing the letter and spirit of applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

9.1.2.3>Each Member shall be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships and shall conduct themselves in a manner which maintains and promotes public confidence in city government.