Palm Beach Post Editorial Board: Are incumbents best fit for Riviera Beach's continued progress?

For Riviera Beach City Council, The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board endorses incumbents KaShamba Miller-Anderson for District 2 and Julie Botel for District 4. We also urge residents to support the bond referendum to advance multiple much-needed building projects planned, to improve city facilities under the leadership of City Manager Jonathan Evans.

Miller-Anderson and Botel, both educators, have proved strong voices in moving Riviera Beach out from the depths of scandal and toward becoming the more livable and economically viable hub that its residents and the county as a whole need. They have put values, intelligence and common sense ahead of the games that others on the council and in the political background are susceptible to. We support the positive influence they bring to the board and we fear it still would only take the electoral loss of one of them for votes to tilt back to the old ways of doing things, in a city whose engaged populace deserves so much better.

Miller-Anderson for District 2

Miller-Anderson has lived in Riviera Beach for all of her 50 years, works as a middle school administrator and is in her third term as a city councilwoman. She earned re-election even during turbulent years when voters rightly swapped out the entire rest of the five-person board.

She has been a member of the Palm Tran Advisory Board, Palm Beach County League of Cities, National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials and Florida League of Cities Municipal Administration Legislative Policy Committee. Her council priorities include seeing work completed on the Marina Village development, which would bolster tourism, add housing and retail and help foster a relationship with the neighboring Port of Palm Beach. Among the other key projects on the council's plate are revitalizing the Broadway Corridor, replacing the city's aged water utility and building new police and fire stations and a new city hall, in addition to upgrading infrastructure such as roads and underground mains.

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She says she'd also push for programs to help small businesses, first-time homeowners, homesteaded property owners, youths and senior citizens, and to preserve city beaches.

Her opponent, Leroy Kelson, also an educator, is bright and enthusiastic but doesn't have anywhere near the experience and detailed programmatic knowledge to position him for this council job. He would, however, make a solid addition to some Riviera Beach appointed board, which would help him gain that experience.

Botel for District 4

Botel, whose district encompasses affluent Singer Island, has been a caring representative for residents of that area as well as the rest of the city. In addition to being one of the reform candidates who voted to re-hire City Manager Evans after his ignominious firing, she supports the projects to replace Riviera Beach's decades-old municipal buildings, water plant and other infrastructure. She also has stood up against projects that would fill and develop environmentally precious submerged land in the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Among her achievements on the council, she lists: having made the motion to eliminate stipends ($1,000 a month) for council members, who double as Utility District Board members. This motion passed and resulted in an annual savings of $110,000 including benefits; advocating successfully to end "excessive and unwarranted pay and benefit raises that senior management staff gave only to themselves"; voted to hire an economic development and business relations manager; started a Workforce Development Task Force to bring private companies together with educators to train high school students and young adults; and brought Palm Beach State College Courses to Riviera Beach, which graduated more than 40 students.

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Her opponent, Glen Spiritus, is an intelligent man with experience as a city manager on Long Island. Our concern is that, rather than direct policy as a council member, he would micromanage administrative decisions and unbalance the progress the council has managed.

As Botel puts it: "We are no longer a city in turmoil. We’re a city on the move and have to keep moving forward."

In that vein, we also recommend that voters approve the bond issues on the ballot March 19, as a sensible way to finance the projects that years of deferred maintenance left to be done.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Post Endorsement for Riviera Beach City Council