Litt, Klug, McCray best picks in today’s runoffs
Today’s three municipal runoff elections have one thing in common: issues that come with the next phase of growth management.
For Boynton Beach, it’s reinvigorating and redeveloping a problem area that is the “heart” of the city. For Palm Beach Gardens, it is bringing proposed far-flung communities smoothly into the city. For Jupiter, it’s finding a compromise for the future of a beloved waterfront.
Voters must decide who will help lead them in finding answers to these issues, and more.
With that in mind, The Post Editorial Board is reiterating our endorsements in today’s races.
PALM BEACH GARDENS: LITT
For the Group 5 seat, the Post endorses Rachelle Litt, 61, a pharmacist at Jupiter Medical Center. Litt believes there is a need to actively seek a regional solution to traffic pressures. She places a heavier emphasis on preserving green space and improving recreation facilities than does her opponent. A 30-year resident, she and her physician husband raised three children in the city. We believe that her life experience — as well as her close knowledge of the health care sector, a growing part of the town’s economy — give her an edge.
JUPITER: KLUG
Ben Klug, a 38-year-old custom metal fabricator, like Councilman Wayne Posner, brings a practical approach to managing growth and avoiding “overdevelopment.” Like Posner, Klug is fine with a final Love Street plan that is smaller than the original and eliminates the troublesome land swap between the town and Modica. But it’s Klug’s desire to “represent everything Jupiter” that gives him an edge for the District 2 seat — from finding a way to improve critical police and fire-rescue radio communications on the beach to supporting the work at El Sol to helping businesses work with the town’s workforce housing ordinance.
BOYNTON BEACH: MCCRAY
Vice Mayor Mack McCray says he has momentum to continue tackling stubborn issues in the Heart of Boynton neighborhood, and The Post is endorsing him for another term in District 2 to do just that. The Riverwalk Plaza and 500 Ocean projects show that downtown Boynton is starting to move, says McCray, who adds that he is finally working with a cohesive commission whose members are not focused solely on their own agendas. The commission’s new control of the Community Redevelopment Agency, which many saw as a power grab, leaves them little excuse to not make clear progress.