"This is a real David and Goliath situation"

Not all of Lake Worth Beach loves WMODA

Developer spends $6,000 to counter opposition's 'disinformation campaign'

"SINCE ITS PUBLIC unveiling in February 2024, the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts proposal for a mixed-use “cultural arts campus” in the heart of downtown Lake Worth Beach has basked in a virtual love fest from a camp of ardent supporters.

Made up of many of the same influential residents, power brokers and elected officials who supported the Gulfstream Hotel renovation and other pro-business city projects, they want WMODA NOW — a rallying cry amplified online, at public meetings, and on yard and shop window signs.

But over the past two months, a much less enthusiastic message has slowly gained traction, a rallying cry sounding an urgent alarm: STOP WMODA.

Made up of many of the same residents known for raising questions about how city leaders spend public money, the STOP WMODA movement is dubious of Brooklyn-based developer Arthur Wiener’s promise of a 33,000-square-foot “world class” museum on Lake Avenue, with a rear “arts alley” connecting a 110-unit apartment building and 265-space public parking garage.

The WMODA development team has spent about $1.1 million so far on architects, attorneys and consultants to usher the project through the city’s planning review process, said project representative Renee Miller.

Separate from that, WMODA spent about $6,000 earlier this year to hire two marketing consultants to counter what Miller described as “a professional disinformation campaign” being waged by the STOP movement.

Read article by Joe Capozzi