West Palm Beach mayor didn't need to force a resignation to get his way
First, kudos to West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James for somehow convincing officials at Palm Beach Atlantic University to revise their campus expansion plans. The mayor was quite accurate in describing a proposed 11-story parking garage as a "monstrosity" that would have potentially brought more traffic into an already congested downtown.
Last month, PBAU officials won permission from city commissioners to build a 25-story tower and the massive garage along South Dixie Highway to boost campus enrollment by 2,000 students. James objected, contending that the massive garage would be an eyesore and disrupt hope of a pedestrian-friendly downtown. Fair point.
The question we're raising, though: Was it worth the loss of the city's building and planning director? Our answer is a resounding 'no,' but resignations like Rick Greene's are prone to happen when a strong mayor turns petulant.
'He (the mayor) wasn't happy with a presentation that one of my planners made,' Greene told Palm Beach Post reporter Andrew Marra. 'He basically gave me the option of letting that employee go or, if not, I would be fired.'
Having a mayor call for the firing of a city staffer over a presentation is petty and beyond the pale. The planner had told commissioners that the proposed garage had met city standards, which prompted planners to approve the project. That wasn't the explanation James had wanted. City planners in West Palm Beach may work for the mayor, but they aren't obliged to ignore objective recommendations to the city commission because of mayoral whim.
Editorial: Federal DEI threats are a tough lesson for Palm Beach County schools
Greene stepped in to elaborate, in part to complete the presentation and to protect his planner. The city commission approved the plan in a 4-0 vote, an apparent rebuke to the mayor. The order from James to fire the planner came later. Greene took the high road, standing up for a lower-level employee. In calling for the dismissal, James clearly did not.
West Palm Beach is going through a major growth spurt — from simply being the county seat to its higher "Wall Street South" aspirations. The affluence ranking in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach put the area among the fastest growing 'wealth hubs' worldwide, according to Henley & Partners World's Wealthiest Cities Report 2025.
With that wealth comes major commercial and residential investment that will change the face of West Palm Beach. Whether it's the ongoing changes at CityPlace, proposals to build high-rise condominiums and office towers along the Intracoastal Waterway, the restoration of historic homes in the city's El Cid to the recent rezoning that envisions Broadway Avenue on the city's northside as a grand boulevard, the need for credible municipal planning is key.
Letter: Three strikes and you're out – unless you're developing Palm Beach County
That can't happen under the leadership of a city leader who's thin-skinned enough to order a department head to fire a city employee who simply but accurately made a presentation during last month's city commission meeting.
According to Greene, the mayor had expected the planner to emphasize reservations about the garage's size during the meeting before the vote. The planner didn't, only saying that the project met city standards. At that point, Greene went to the podium and explained that the staff had tried but failed to get the school to lower the garage height. Still, Greene concluded that staff thought the garage had met city standards, thus warranting approval.
"He was expecting her to say certain things at the city presentation," Greene told the Post. "What she presented wasn't the exact wording that the mayor wanted."
Although all city staff ultimately are answerable to the mayor in West Palm Beach, the call for termination was unjustified, unwarranted and resulted in the resignation of a longtime city official whose experience in overseeing the city's growth and large-scale development in the planning and zoning process will be sorely missed.
Again, credit James with successfully obtaining a concession from the school and maintaining the city's long-term goal in addressing traffic and becoming more pedestrian-friendly. Now, he must renew confidence in that process and fill the void at planning and zoning with someone who will insist on objective analysis for projects coming to the commission. It's not a job for a yes-man.
Finding the right person should be an easy task for a strong mayor. It will be a challenge for a small one.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach's PBAU garage goes ahead – with a price | Editorial
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
7 hours ago
- Business Wire
Indeed Appoints James Whitemore as Chief Marketing Officer
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Indeed, the world's #1 job site and a leading job matching and hiring platform, announced the appointment of James Whitemore as Chief Marketing Officer, effective today. Whitemore will join Indeed's senior leadership team and report to Chief Revenue Officer Maggie Hulce. In his role as CMO, Whitemore will lead Indeed's global marketing organization, overseeing brand, industry, category, lifecycle, country and field marketing, in addition to global communications and the Indeed Hiring Lab. His focus will be on reaching and engaging with job seekers and employers around the world, and showcasing how Indeed is making the hiring process simpler, faster, and more human. 'James brings a strong track record of helping business customers thrive through innovative, customer-first marketing,' said Hulce. 'As we continue to deliver on our mission to help people get jobs and simplify hiring for employers, James will play a vital role in shaping how the world sees and experiences Indeed—and how we create value for the businesses we serve.' Whitemore brings over 25 years of strategic marketing and sales leadership experience to Indeed. He most recently served as Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Celigo, a leading cloud integration platform, where he oversaw the marketing and sales strategy to accelerate growth and expand the company's presence in a rapidly growing market. Prior to that, Whitemore was CMO and EVP at data storage provider NetApp, where he launched an award-winning integrated digital marketing strategy that resulted in rapid growth of its Public Cloud business. In addition to serving in executive leadership positions at IBM Europe and Intrado, Whitemore spent nearly a decade leading the marketing functions at Sun Microsystems Storage Products Group. 'I've long admired Indeed's commitment to connect people to opportunity and help employers find the right talent,' said Whitemore. 'As Indeed continues to lead with AI-powered innovation to transform hiring, I'm excited to help more job seekers and employers unlock the full value of Indeed — especially by harnessing our unmatched data, insights, and sister brands like Glassdoor and Indeed Flex to create smarter, more meaningful connections.' Learn more about Indeed's senior leadership team. About Indeed More people find jobs on Indeed than anywhere else. Indeed is the #1 job site in the world (Comscore, Total Visits, March 2024). With 610 million Job Seeker Profiles, people in more than 60 countries across 28 languages come to Indeed to search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies. Over 3.3 million employers use Indeed to find and hire new employees. Indeed is a subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, a global leader in HR technology and business solutions that is simplifying hiring and transforming the world of work.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
2026 races loom at Georgia Republican convention as Trump loyalty dominates
DALTON, Ga. — Steve Bannon took the stage Friday night at the Georgia Republican Convention to say it's too early to be talking about 2026. 'Don't even think about the midterms,' the Republican strategist told activists. 'Not right now. '26, we'll think about it later. It's backing President Trump right now.' But it didn't work. There was plenty of praise for Donald Trump. And while the party took care of other business like electing officers and adopting a platform, the 2026 races for governor and Senate were already on the minds of many on Friday and Saturday in the northwest Georgia city of Dalton. 'Everybody campaigns as quick as they can,' U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Associated Press Saturday. Lots of other people showed up sounding like candidates. Greene, after passing on a U.S. Senate bid against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, laid out a slate of state-level issues on Saturday that will likely fuel speculation that she might run for governor to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Echoing Trump's signature slogan, Greene told the convention to 'Make Georgia great again, for Georgia.' She called for abolishing the state income tax, infusing 'classical' principles into Georgia's public schools, reopening mental hospitals to take mentally ill people off the streets, and changing Georgia's economic incentive policy to de-emphasize tax breaks for foreign companies and television and moviemakers. 'Now these are state-level issues, but I want you to be talking about them,' Greene said. In her AP interview before the speech, Greene said running for governor is an 'option,' but also said she has a 'wonderful blessing' of serving her northwest Georgia district and exercising influence in Washington. 'Pretty much every single primary poll shows that I am the top leader easily, and that gives me the ability to think about it. But it's a choice. It's my own, that I will talk about with my family.' More likely to run for governor is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is expected to announce a bid later this summer. 'I promise you, I'm going to be involved in this upcoming election cycle,' Jones told delegates Friday. Like Greene, Jones is among the Georgia Republicans closest to Trump, and emphasized that 'the circle is small' of prominent Republicans who stood by the president after the 2020 election. Jones also took a veiled shot at state Attorney General Chris Carr, who declared his bid for governor in December and showed up Friday to work the crowd, but did not deliver a speech to the convention. 'Always remember who showed up for you,' Jones said. 'And always remember who delivers on their promises.' Carr told the AP that he didn't speak because he was instead attending a campaign event at a restaurant in Dalton on Friday, emphasizing the importance of building personal relationships. Although Trump targeted him for defeat in the 2022 primary, Carr said he's confident that Republicans will support him, calling himself a 'proud Kemp Republican,' and saying he would focus on bread-and-butter issues. 'This state's been built on agriculture, manufacturing, trade, the military, public safety,' Carr said. 'These are the issues that Georgians care about.' The easiest applause line all weekend was pledging to help beat Ossoff. 'Jon Ossoff should not be in office at all,' said U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who is spending heavily on television advertising to support his Senate run. 'Folks, President Trump needs backup, he needs backup in the Senate,' said state Insurance Commissioner John King, who is also running for the Senate. 'He's going to need a four-year majority to get the job done. And that starts right here in the state of Georgia.' Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who expressed interest Friday in running for Senate, did not address delegates. But one other potential candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, did. Collins told delegates that in 2026 it was a priority to defeat Ossoff and replace him with a 'solid conservative.' It's not clear, though, if Collins himself will run. 'We're going to see how this thing plays out,' Collins told the AP. 'I'm not burning to be a senator, but we've got to take this seat back.' Amy writes for the Associated Press.
2 days ago
2026 races loom at Georgia Republican convention as Trump loyalty dominates
DALTON, Ga. -- Steve Bannon took the stage Friday night at the Georgia Republican Convention to say it's too early to be talking about 2026. 'Don't even think about the midterms,' the Republican strategist told activists. 'Not right now. '26, we'll think about it later. It's backing President Trump right now.' But it didn't work. There was plenty of praise for Donald Trump. And while the party took care of other business like electing officers and adopting a platform, the 2026 races for governor and Senate were already on the minds of many on Friday and Saturday in the northwest Georgia city of Dalton. 'Everybody campaigns as quick as they can,' U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Associated Press Saturday. Lots of other people showed up sounding like candidates. Greene, after passing on a U.S. Senate bid against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, laid out a slate of state-level issues on Saturday that will likely fuel speculation that she might run for governor to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Echoing Trump's signature slogan, Greene told the convention to 'Make Georgia great again, for Georgia.' She called for abolishing the state income tax, infusing 'classical' principles into Georgia's public schools, reopening mental hospitals to take mentally ill people off the streets, and changing Georgia's economic incentive policy to de-emphasize tax breaks for foreign companies and television and moviemakers. 'Now these are state-level issues, but I want you to be talking about them,' Greene said. In her AP interview before the speech, Greene said running for governor is an 'option,' but also said she has a 'wonderful blessing' of serving her northwest Georgia district and exercising influence in Washington. 'Pretty much every single primary poll shows that I am the top leader easily, and that gives me the ability to think about it. But it's a choice. It's my own, that I will talk about with my family.' More likely to run for governor is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is expected to announce a bid later this summer. 'I promise you, I'm going to be involved in this upcoming election cycle,' Jones told delegates Friday. Like Greene, Jones is among the Georgia Republicans closest to Trump, and emphasized that 'the circle is small' of prominent Republicans who stood by the president after the 2020 election. Jones also took a veiled shot at state Attorney General Chris Carr, who declared his bid for governor in December and showed up Friday to work the crowd, but did not deliver a speech to the convention. 'Always remember who showed up for you,' Jones said. 'And always remember who delivers on their promises.' Carr told the AP that he didn't speak because he was instead attending a campaign event at a restaurant in Dalton on Friday, emphasizing the importance of building personal relationships. Although Trump targeted him for defeat in the 2022 primary, Carr said he's confident that Republicans will support him, calling himself a 'proud Kemp Republican," and saying he would focus on bread-and-butter issues. 'This state's been built on agriculture, manufacturing, trade, the military, public safety,' Carr said. 'These are the issues that Georgians care about.' The easiest applause line all weekend was pledging to help beat Ossoff. 'Jon Ossoff should not be in office at all," said U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who is spending heavily on television advertising to support his Senate run. 'Folks, President Trump needs backup, he needs backup in the Senate,' said state Insurance Commissioner John King, who is also running for the Senate. "He's going to need a four-year majority to get the job done. And that starts right here in the state of Georgia.' Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who expressed interest Friday in running for Senate, did not address delegates. But one other potential candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, did. Collins told delegates that in 2026 it was a priority to defeat Ossoff and replace him with a 'solid conservative.' It's not clear, though, if Collins himself will run. 'We're going to see how this thing plays out,' Collins told the AP. 'I'm not burning to be a senator, but we've got to take this seat back.'
