MOFFETT NOT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN WEST PALM
Commissioner voted against Related plan for a 25-story tower.
WEST PALM BEACH — West Palm Beach City Commissioner Sylvia Moffett announced Tuesday that she will not seek re-election for the City Commission District 1 seat.
“After consulting with my family and close supporters, I believe this is the best decision for me both professionally and personally,” she wrote in a statement.
“I am planning to continue to be an activist and advocate for West Palm Beach residents and our issues by starting a non-profit organization.” The decision has a big potential impact on downtown development, as Moffett was one of three commissioners who voted against Related Cos.’ plan to rezone the Okeechobee Boulevard corridor and allow a 25-story office tower in a five-story waterfront zone. The most likely candidate to replace her, real estate executive Kelly Shoaf, has not said where she would stand if that issue came up again.
Also in the running is Pastor Martina Tate Walker, who previously ran for the seat and lost by a wide margin.
The deadline for qualifying for the March 13 race was Tuesday and that’s when Moffett instead withdrew.
The last-minute decision meant any potential candidate who’d been standing on the sidelines, not wanting to run against the incumbent, didn’t have time to jump into the void. Moffett wouldn’t say whether that was intentional.
“I decided quite a while ago I want to spend more time visiting family in Los Angeles, traveling and spending more time in depth on things I’m more passionate about, like the re-entry field, and I’d love to do more work with (the) homeless and The Lord’s Place and how we can get more housing that’s affordable,” she said. “Perhaps I can do better on the outside.”
She’s chairwoman of the Re-entry Task Force for Palm Beach County, which seeks to help the 1,200 people re-entering the county from prison each year overcome obstacles to employment. She was instrumental in getting West Palm Beach to be the first municipality in the county to “ban the box,” eliminating the check-off box that requires job candidates to state in initial applications whether they had criminal records.
Shoaf is vice president of purchasing for Chatham Lodging Trust, a hotel real estate investment trust. She’s secretary of the Old Northwood Neighborhood Associa- tion, a board member of West Palm 100 and on the planning committee for the Marathon of the Palm Beaches.
As of Nov. 30, she had collected $6,175 in contributions. Tate Walker hadn’t collected anything, according to her filings with the city clerk.
Walker, a 68-year-old pastor for the Omnipotent Outreach Ministry, unsuccessfully ran against Moffett in the March 2016 District 1 seat race. Walker, born in West Palm Beach, retired as a personnel technician for the health department, where she worked for 25 years.
Moffett has represented District 1 since 2011, and had raised $11,850. She said she planned to return the unspent portion, or, just over $10,000.