Lake Worth paying Panhandlers $75,000 to settle lawsuit

Panhandlers alledge their Civil Rights were infringed

So what now? We have beggars all over the city? Another clever liberal lawyer enters the fray

AGENDA DATE: February 7, 2023 DEPARTMENT: City Attorney TITLE: Proposed settlement of Civil Rights lawsuit with Craig Kersh, Roy Kersh, Michael Fields, and J.R. Soares

SUMMARY:
This is a request to settle a Civil Rights lawsuit filed by Craig Kersh, Roy Kersh, Michael Fields, and J.R. Soares in the USDC Southern District of Florida, Case No. 9:22-cv-80951, on June 29, 2022, for alleged violation of their First Amendment Rights. If approved, a general release will be executed in favor of the city.

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION: On June 29, 2022, the City was sued by Craig Kersh, Roy Kersh, Michael Fields, and J.R. Soares, in USDC Southern District of Florida, Case No. 9:22-cv-80951. The lawsuit alleged that their First Amendment Rights were violated by being arrested multiple times for panhandling.

Both Federal and Florida Courts have consistently been striking down these types of ordinances as unconstitutional. The resolution of this case is for less than it would cost the City to continue litigating. Outside counsel (Ben Bedard) and the City Attorney (Glen Torcivia) attended mediation and recommend approving this $75,000 settlement.

The settlement payment(s) fall within your deductible/ self-insured retention and will be issued by our office. As the settlement and costs currently are not in excess of your $100k retention, the insurance portion of your policy will not be applied.

MOTION:
Move to approve/disapprove settlement with Craig Kersh, Roy Kersh, Michael Fields, and J.R. Soares for $75,000 (inclusive of attorney’s fees and costs).

Panhandling

Palm Beach Sheriff Offers Advice On How To Deal With Panhandlers

Local panhandling ordinances continue to fall and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw explains why that's happening.

He says case law prohibits enforcement.

"In the courts it said people have the right to ask for help because they're homeless. Having said that, there's a difference between somebody coming up to you and saying 'Can I have a dollar?' and what we call aggressive panhandling where someone comes up and bangs on the window of your car."

The Lake Worth Beach City Commission this week voted to repeal its ban, while facing lawsuits. PBSO hadn't enforced the Lake Worth Beach ordinance since January.

Mayor Betty Resch, during that meeting, talked about the importance of coming up with a new ordinance that would withstand legal challenges." And I certainly agree to that.

Read about the Sheriff's advice

Panhandler Ordinance Repealed- Flood Gate Opened

On a 4/1 vote with Commissioner Malega dissenting, the commission voted to repeal the ordinance thus allowing panhandlers to roam wherever...bother you when you eat at a local restaurant, pitch their tent in Bryant Park and basically do what they want.

Our city attorney, Glen Torcivia was behind this repeal because of law suits. In late June, Southern Legal Counsel sued the city on behalf of four residents facing homelessness, claiming that these ordinances are a violation of the First Amendment right.

"They looked at what’s happening and said, ‘we could fight this, but we will almost certainly lose, and it will cost us a bunch of money,'" McVoy said.

Currently, it's illegal to solicit money within 15 feet of various public areas or canvas in the right-of-way at specific intersections and exits in the city." [WPBF]

They kept talking about the Homeless last night integrating them into the same group as panhandlers. Panhandlers are not always homeless. Also it was mentioned, and I am paraphrasing, that the governor agreed with them which is highly unbelievable. Maybe there is some law on the books. When DeSantis suspended a Florida prosecutor from his job for not prosecuting some misdemeanors including suspended licenses, disorderly conduct and panhandling, leads us all to believe how he stands on this subject.

A few items of interest on the Commission agenda of September 6

1.  Ordinance No. 2022-15 – First Reading - approval of a Mixed Use Urban Planned Development, Major Site Plan, Conditional Use Permit (CUP), and Sustainable Bonus Incentive Program (SBIP) requests for the project commonly referred to as “Lake Worth Station” located at 930 N G Street to construct a 5-story, 81 dwelling unit mixed use development with 39 multi-family units proposed to qualify as workforce housing and office space. The sustainable bonus request is for additional density and height. The property is zoned Transit Oriented Development – East (TOD-E)

2.  Ordinance No. 18-2022 – First Reading - Repeal of sections 15-91 “Definitions,” 15-91 “Prohibited acts regarding panhandling,” and 19-14 “Right-of-way solicitors and canvassers”

SUMMARY:
The proposed Ordinance will repeal sections 15-91 “Prohibited acts regarding panhandling” (including Section 15-90 “Definitions”) and 19-14 “Right-of-way solicitors and canvassers.”

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION: THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION
Section 15-91 of the City’s Code of Ordinances (the “Code”) makes it unlawful to solicit money or other things of value in certain public areas, including bus stops, public transportation facilities and vehicles, areas within 15 feet of a sidewalk café, automatic teller machines, and the entrance or exit of a commercial or governmental building, parking lots, parking garages, and parking pay stations owned or operated by the City and private property, unless the person panhandling has permission from the owner of such property. Section 19-14 of the Code makes it unlawful for any person to canvass or solicit in the right-of-way at certain designated intersections within the City.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office ceased enforcing sections 15-91 and 19-14 on January 14, 2022, and given the decision to cease enforcement, the City believes it is prudent to repeal sections 15-90, 15-91, and 19-14 of the Code.

We pay the Sheriff tons of money. We can't tell them to enforce our ordinance? Instead we will eliminate the ordinance because they won't enforce it and allow panhandlers to over-run our city? Brilliant. We might have to change our name to Manhattan South Florida.

3. Ordinance No. 19-2022
Adopting amendments to Chapter 7 "Beaches, Parks and Recreation" to prohibit smoking and vaping in City parks and on the City's beach.

Homeless Panhandlers suing Lake Worth Beach

The City of Lake Worth Beach is facing a lawsuit for two ordinances

panhandling and right-of-way

Southern Legal Counsel filed that lawsuit on behalf of four residents facing homelessness in Lake Worth Beach.

"They simply don't want individuals experiencing homelessness to be, you know, in the public eye in these spaces where they don't want them," Simone Chriss, an attorney with Southern Legal Counsel, told WPBF 25 News.

Officials said collectively, its clients have been arrested more than 200 times for violating the city's ordinances." [WPBF]

Read the lawsuit

Clinton Foundation’s 2020 haul represents a 93% drop in overall donations since 2009

Panhandler Hillary Clinton Begs For Money And It’s Humiliating

The Clinton Foundation appears in dire need of funds, as donations dried up following Hillary Clinton’s loss to President Donald Trump in 2016. As The Daily Wire’s Ben Zeisloft reported:

“According to the group’s most recent financial report, contributions fell from $29.6 million in 2019 to $16.3 million in 2020 — a 45% decline amid COVID-19 and the lockdown-induced recession. In 2016, when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran for President, the group raised $62.9 million, indicating an overall 74% donation decline in a four-year period.”

Oh, she also hosted a freaking masterclass about how to be a delusional loser where she cried to a bunch of students about her losses. She was busted bankrolling part of the Steele Dossier hoax, and her husband’s dirty sex-trafficking laundry is in the wind.

Read about our gal Hillary

The pizza is not free, man!

Lake Worth is trying to rid itself from the obnoxious, the panhandlers and the homeless but still get harassed by a few people. Lake Worth Pizza (rated one of the top pizza places in Lake Worth) had to handle a belligerent man who insisted he get a free slice of pizza. After denied, he started throwing rocks.

Read about it...

Anti-Panhandler Ordinance in Lake Worth

Tuesday night under New Business and under the guise of public safety, ordinance 2017-11 was introduced to prohibit panhandlers at certain intersections in the city. Most of the panhandlers I have seen stay on the sidewalk and do not block traffic or hold signs out to the roadway.

Always when I see one while exiting I-95 at 6th Avenue South, they are on the sidewalk or on the median strip. They slowly walk by as cars are stopped for the red light. It has been said that one-half of the panhandlers are homeless; the other half are just poor. Last month, a federal judge struck down a panhandling ordinance in Lowell, Massachusetts, ruling that panhandlers "may communicate important political or social messages in their appeals for money, explaining their conditions related to veteran status, homelessness, unemployment and disability."

But Lake Worth has an image problem and they are again, cracking down on the homeless and the poor at 5 intersections but not in the downtown. I truly wish they would concentrate on the slum, blight and the crime in our city.

With an initial vote of 5/0, this comes back for the Second Reading on June 6.

Last night's Commission Meeting

I only stayed at the city commission meeting for an hour and 20 minutes--there was a gorgeous sunset to capture.

Cpt. Baer gave a long presentation on crime. With 8,000 activities a year, he says that crime is down in Lake Worth. Vandalism is up by 41.7%, vehicle thefts up by 20% and heroin overdoes are out of control. And whatever you do, never pick up a used needle without proper protection. Cpt. Baer presentation

While I was there, everything passed on a 5/0 vote under Public Hearings and no one from the public spoke.  Millage was set. The budget was set (we're spending more money than we're making), and two ordinances were passed involving land development regulations and assigning fund balances from year 2016.

One item under New Business was pulled and will be on the October 4 agenda:  Ordinance 2016-28 which was to be the first reading adopting Palm Beach County's solicitation and distribution on public roads. City attorney, Glen Torcivia said something was wrong with it.

The ordinance prohibits a person from going upon a public road for the purpose of displaying information of any kind, distributing materials or goods or soliciting business or charitable contributions of any kind. PBSO may issue a notice to appear to persons who violate this ordinance. The notice to appear shall require the person to appear in court to respond to the municipal ordinance violation charge.

Sec. 19-87. - Peddlers, solicitors or canvassers prohibited in downtown area and major thoroughfares; exceptions.

(a) No peddler shall conduct or engage in any business activities in the downtown area or along the major thoroughfares.

(b) No solicitors or canvassers shall conduct or engage in any soliciting or canvassing activities in the downtown area or along the major thoroughfares.

(c) This section shall not apply to:
(1) Authorized peddlers at the city green market or arts market;
(2) Authorized peddlers acting as concessionaries at a special event with the express written approval of the city or special event organizers/sponsors;
(3) Authorized peddlers conducting business pursuant to a franchise, permit or other written agreement with the city; or
(4) Solicitors or canvassers who solicit or canvass exclusively for a non-profit or charitable cause in the downtown area or along major thoroughfares or are otherwise authorized by law in such
areas

We need security

Comment Up

We need security at our schools and we need it at city hall as well...too many nut cases walking around.

Read about the latest incident... where a creep walked onto the Lake Worth High School campus and what he did.

Lake Worth's anti-panhandling law

Comment Up

Although the ordinance prohibits "aggressive panhandling" which means when a business or a visitor to our downtown, etc. says "no" and the beggar continues to beg, it will be against Lake Worth laws. The ordinance, 2014-34, describes aggressive as begging and solicitation that usually includes approaching or following pedestrians, repetitive requests for money, use of abusive or profane language, unwanted physical contact and intentional blocking of pedestrian.

First of all, other than simply approaching someone, I have never seen any of the above happen. It might on occasion, but these people just want a buck or two and go on their miserable way. And when you do that, it encourages that person to come back the next day with all of his friends.

Protecting the health, safety and welfare of our residents and visitors in our downtown is the job of this commission. It is not Lake Worth's responsibility to address "the underlying reason for panhandling" as former commissioner Jennings suggested. The City is not into the mental health field. That is some government agency's job somewhere.  Lake Worth does the best it can under the circumstances and panhandlers have to follow our laws just like anyone else. If every city in Florida had to take even more responsibility for the homeless and panhandler, they all would have to file bankruptcy. The Homeless and panhandlers come to south Florida for the same reason as our tourists, the weather.

Let's make sure that this law is a deterrent.  I don't think it goes far enough.

Palm Beach Post gives some pot shots

Comment Up

Frank Cerabino condemned the Lake Worth Herald on its editorial of last week that was unsigned. Mark Easton is the President and Publisher and is the one who covers the news in Lake Worth. Cerabino gave all sorts of kudos to the illegal population giving them credit for our job growth in Florida, etc.--typical liberal propaganda, even going so far as to talk about the Chinese in 1886. It's what Frank didn't say about illegal immigration that disturbs me--Illegal is just that--ILLEGAL. There is no excuse under this sun that people should be allowed to break our laws.

The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Floridians found that taxpayers spend:

$3.4 billion a year to educate illegal immigrant children and the U.S. born children of illegal immigrants. $290 million a year on non-reimbursed health care for illegal aliens. $90 million a year to incarcerate criminal illegal aliens. The total represents an annual cost to each of Florida's native-born headed households of $678.

The cost study also determined that the illegal alien population in Florida is now 950,000 persons. This represents 7.3 percent of the national total illegal alien population, and it is the nation's fourth largest concentration of illegal aliens after California, Texas and New York. It is also about 5.2 percent of Florida's overall population. Here in Lake Worth, the illegal immigrant population is vast.

Also, the City of Lake Worth was taken to task by the Palm Beach Post editorial on its recent Panhandling Ordinance even mentioning the mayor's complaint about a panhandler. As I agree with giving credit where it's due, I am with the city on this and approve of the new ordinance that will come up for another vote.

Some Highlights from last night's Lake Worth City Commission meeting

It was raining so hard last night that I missed attending this meeting, one of the few in recent memory.  Instead, I watched on-line.  You always miss things when you stay at home. Some Highlights of last night's meeting:


INVOCATION:
Given by Elisa Stewart of the Religious Society of Friends...not a prayer but a short speech giving a message to the dais and to the people to listen to the opposition.  "We must get out of our safe forums and our seminars...sit down face to face with our opposition...We must listen to the truth in our opponent and we must acknowledge it....then we must listen; we must listen and listen and listen."

I thought this an excellent message and one that is very necessary at the moment.  This is two invocations in a row that had powerful messages. However, the mayor lashed out at Christopher McVoy for not appointing a board member quickly enough and John Szerdi wanted the question called on Ordinance 2014-32 on LDR's as McVoy was giving his opinion that did not coincide with his. Elisa Stewart's profound message was short-lived.


CONSENT AGENDA:
B
The roll-back  millage rate was corrected from $5.0197 mils per $1,000 of assessed valuation to 5.0731 which is 8.307% more.

F
Sam Goodstein was re-appointed to the Library Board by commissioner Amoroso--a very good thing. Also, Amoroso appointed Jason Robinson to the Finance Advisory Board.


NEW BUSINESS:

1)
Germaine English, Human Resource Director, is re-organizing her department and has requested adding one new employee to her department, an assistant human resource director. The creation of the Assistant Human Resource Director will provide various functions currently not or under addressed within the Department. This change is within the current budgeted amounts and will not exceed the current departmental budget. 5/0 vote.

2)
Code Enforcement Compliance Program was discussed in length (nearly 2 hours). About 14% of the properties are either abandoned or in foreclosure.  The city has 1,700 code cases with seven code officers.  They are close to being over-whelmed.  The Code Department's objectives and goals are (a) being efficient (b) being effective (c) being expeditious and (d) equitable.  The Code Compliance Division through the Community Sustainability Department undertook an exhaustive study of the City's current codes and initiated a series of changes including more than 40 ordinance changes. New or revamped programs include Nuisance Abatement, Chronic Nuisance and Vacant Property Registration.  This is to let people know the process. There is nothing in Florida law that will make people take care of their property but the city can eventually seize non-homesteaded property.  The city is divided into 7 zones and each code officer is assigned to one zone to work. 5/0 vote.

3)
The property owner of 2269 2nd Avenue North wants to voluntarily annex a 2.301 acre parcel of land. The request for annexation falls within the scope of a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment. The City’s Industrial (I) Future Land Use designation is compatible with the County’s existing Land Use designation of Industrial (IND). The City’s Industrial – Park of Commerce (I-POC) zoning category is the appropriate zoning category to implement the proposed underlying Land Use category of Industrial. 5/0 vote

4)
In 2013, the City Commission adopted Ordinance No. 2013-21 which created a new board appointment process to allow vacancies and appointments to be filled on an as needed basis throughout the year. The former process only allowed for appointments to be made during the month of June. Since that time, staff has had an opportunity to monitor the process and is suggesting the proposed ordinance be adopted. This Ordinance clarifies the appointment order hierarchy for elected officials, establishes a time-frame to appoint members within 30 days of notice from the City Clerk or her designee, and adds a provision to allow other elected officials to make appointments (if an elected official fails to timely appoint). McVoy stated for the record that he was against the current process and that it lacked transparency.  Szerdi said it was as transparent as you wanted it to be.  Motion passed on a 4/1 vote. I agree with Commissioner McVoy and Loretta Sharpe...go back to the old appointment process where everything was out in the open with the public invited to observe and all commissioners got to weigh in on the appointments.

5)
Ordinance 2014-34--This ordinance provides for a definition of panhandling and specifies the locations where panhandling is prohibited, which are primarily places where a person cannot readily escape from the unwanted solicitation, such as sidewalk cafes, ATMs, entrances/exits to buildings and parking areas. The ordinance also provides a definition of aggressive panhandling, which is primarily soliciting money in a threatening manner or after a negative response to an initial act of solicitation. This type of panhandling is banned throughout the city. If it is non-aggressive, panhandlers have first amendment rights per the city attorney.  Commissioner Amoroso admits that panhandlers have become very aggressive and asks about the penalties and what PBSO will be able to do. They will able to issue a notice to appear, fine of $500 or possible jail time of 60 days.  5/0 vote.  Several business owners spoke out about this deplorable situation. As far as I am concerned, any stranger who approaches me is "aggressive" by the very nature of his actions. They may have rights, as commissioner Amoroso stated, but I don't believe they have rights to hassle me for money or be in my face.

Lake Worth Homeless

Comment Up

At Tuesday night's commission meeting, Katie McGiveron spoke about her 80 something year old mother being accosted by a Homeless person while on her way into church.  People are approached by the Homeless every day in downtown Lake Worth.  You see them crossing the street to hit on someone.  They flock to the sidewalk cafes where people are easy marks. You see them sitting or laying on benches right in front of our city hall.

Ms. McGiveron made a statement that the Homeless is a growing problem...when she visits Palm Beach she doesn't see the homeless there. When she visits Delray, she doesn't see the Homeless there either.  We know that there is a big homeless population in Palm Beach County but the fact that she doesn't encounter them in other cities wasn't really her point. Her point was that in our downtown and in our Bryant Park, they are everywhere and people are being harassed and stores are being looted and Lake Worth does not seem to be taking any sort of pro-active approach to help eradicate the problem.

Just recently Delray decided to do something about the homeless as it was getting a lot of complaints from residents especially along Atlantic Avenue.  Their police are now passing out information that will assist them on groups that can help. They are off the hook on the first offense but if they are caught doing it again, they will be arrested. Their idea is to help people be brought back into society-- help them rather than to just remove them as chronic nuisances.

There are over 3,000 homeless people on any given day in Palm Beach County.  According to statistics, most of them are homeless because of no job and/or lack of affordable housing. You always have a percentage who don't want to work at all. Our weather entices them. People are always talking about wanting better paying jobs here in Lake Worth but these people just need a job, period, so that they can afford one of our many low-cost rentals that exist here with more soon to come.

We all know that the homeless have civil rights and that it's not illegal to be homeless as Commissioner Amoroso clearly stated, but those rights do not extend to accosting other citizens. He said that Lake Worth was moving forward in a way that he feels will help the City of Lake Worth but he did not get specific or give any examples as to what they are considering. We need ordinances that ban aggressive panhandling or soliciting of any kind in the downtown area and in or around Bryant Park. Solving this on-going problem is a worthy goal in order to help the homeless as well as to benefit all the visitors and residents to this city.

Fresno, California has an ordinance that says panhandlers now can be fined up to $1,000 or be sent to jail for 6 months if they ask for money or use aggressive tactics in places prohibited by their ordinance. The Palm Beach County Commission passed a law banning all activity on county medians. Here, they don't hang out on medians and we have such a liberal population that people would argue a law such as Fresno's would be unconstitutional as it would be targeting one group of people. I can see the demonstrations now.

Perhaps our legal eagle team can look into a solution (anti-loitering/panhandling law?) to help diminish this problem instead of getting lectures from the dais on the homeless' civil rights or spending taxpayer money in taking on the Supervisor of Elections.

The Welfare State of Affairs

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A record number of people are now on food stamps, social security disability, and long term unemployment assistance. Full time jobs are drying up faster than private sector health insurance plans, and the underemployment rate continues to climb. 

Read more... on the Incompetent Socialist, Barack Obama.

A woman approached me at the Home Depot parking lot--she had been renting a house with her two kids and, according to her, it was set ablaze by the Haitian landlords. I forget where she said this happened but it was somewhere south of here.  She is on Medicaid, food stamps, housing subsidies, you name it and she needed money. She has had a hard life, she says.

Whether her story is true or not, there are millions of people needing help in this country, the most prosperous country on Earth and she has become another panhandler. We all ask how did this happen--why do we have so much poverty in America?

As someone said an I don't remember where I read it, Ever so often they (the government) toss a scapegoat or an invisible monster to take blame for this societal and economic downward spiral of our American nation. Will it get harder? Probably. Is there hope? Hopefully. Since the end of the generation has brought prosperity in the '50's and social equality in the '60's down, down we go. I hope the next generation of kids wake up from their Xboxes, computers, cell phones and the rest of their mind-sucking gadgets and diversions and see that all is not well. Previous generations have failed you, don't follow in their footsteps........................Lunch is over back to the salt mines, good luck kid.
PS take IT in college, no one cares about anything else.

Of course you can see what Information Technology did to the Obamacare website. Another massive failure that has caused millions to lose their medical insurance and people forced to keep hitting the reset button.  What's next?

Homeless on a Lake Worth bench

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Instead of our commission worrying about "shiny objects" and the destruction of John Prince Park for the benefit of greed,  what about getting down to basics? What about eliminating and helping the homeless population that seems to love to hang out and is encouraged to come to  Lake Worth. What about the panhandlers bothering people in our downtown? The crime?

Taken last night in front of Callaro's

No one should have to live like this in America

and the rest of us should not have to put up with
the city looking like Skid Row.

Panhandlers and Homeless -- Downtown Lake Worth yesterday

Comment Up

Well, we might have oodles of ordinances in Lake Worth

 but this problem is not going away. This is happening at the entrance of our downtown, ignored by law enforcement.

Homeless and Hungry the sign says
On weekends, you can see her hanging out across from City Hall

Why can't the PBSO tell these people to move on?

In our Cultural Plaza.

 Can we tell these people they are not fitting in to our culture?

Lake Worth bends over backwards for downtown businesses

Comment Up

The downtown businesses say they are hurting. The merchants are trying everything within their power and persuasion to attract more business.  They even formed a new downtown merchant's association, the MOD Squad. They already have a political advocate on their side, Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who owns a downtown business. How much more clout can you ask for?  William Waters has already solved the ADA issue but now it's a city owned alley up for grabs. The city has had discussions about closing it in order to provide seating to adjacent restaurants by renting the space. I never see standing room only at CJ's or any restaurant for that matter.

One thing that we do know by this photograph is that this business is in violation of two city ordinances: Right Of Way Permit and Sidewalk Cafe. Before any business gets a special favor, can they at least prove they will  operate within our ordinances first?

Closing all the alleys in the world won't encourage more visitors to our downtown until we get rid of slum, blight and crime along with the homeless who are scattered about, panhandling downtown businesses and their customers.

Meet Larry, panhandler in Lake Worth

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Larry is a panhandler and he regularly works Lake Avenue dropping in on people while they dine at outdoor cafes or he just pops into a business asking for $$$. He has a tale of woe a mile long--cancer, AIDS, got poked in the face and blood all over. He is a sad sight.  There are many panhandlers in our city but Larry is one of the more aggressive ones. He has a mission--to get sympathy and get your money.

Although "aggressive panhandling" has been specifically prohibited by law in various jurisdictions in the United States and Canada, typically defined as persistent or intimidating begging, Lake Worth does not seem to have an ordinance on it because if it did, wouldn't it stop?