City Still Refusing To Discuss Inspections, Citations, Safety. Is That Killing Residents, Visitors?
BY: ANDREW COLTON | EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
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BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — The City of Boca Raton continues to refuse to discuss what safety measures it is implementing as COVID spreads throughout the area, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind. Photos provided to BocaNewsNow.com over the past month, including from Biergarten, Aloha Restaurant, and Diamonds by Raymond Lee, show patrons congregating in crowds, unmasked. The City of Boca Raton, apparently, couldn’t care less.
Thousands of COVID infections have been logged in Palm Beach County over the past two weeks with scores of deaths, but Boca Raton won’t discuss what it is doing to mitigate the spread. (If these photos are not appearing in your news app, click here for our full report).
In potential violation of Florida Statute 119, City of Boca Raton Spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson has refused to provide a list of citations issued by the Boca Raton Division of Code Enforcement. It’s a list that could be generated with the push of a few buttons on a computer. However, after ignoring a request that she received — and opened — on Wednesday, Gibson took no action until BocaNewsNow.com asked again on Friday. At that point, the public employee referred the request to a private, outsourced company.
Gibson’s actions, while deplorable and potentially actionable, represent what BocaNewsNow.com has learned to be an ongoing issue in the city. Police are not charged with enforcing COVID rules and regulations. That’s Boca Raton’s Code Enforcement Division. And that division is apparently doing nothing.
Gibson won’t provide a list of citations, inspections, or case resolutions involving code enforcement, so there is no way to determine what actions the City of Boca Raton is taking — if any. There are no reports of citations or even warnings being issued in businesses when citizens complain or media runs photos.
Neither Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, nor City Manager Leif Ahnell — both aware of the communication with Gibson — have provided details, either.
With winter tourism season in high gear, there are concerns that the City of Boca Raton has decided to place sales over safety — encouraging people to eat, drink and be merry even if it means some may get sick or die.
What are you seeing in the City of Boca Raton? Send us your photos by using the form below. We remind our readers that Boca Raton Police are not accused of wrongdoing or looking the other way — they are professionals. Business COVID enforcement in the City of Boca Raton falls under the jurisdiction of Code Enforcement. If you have been cited in Boca Raton, we’d like to hear your story, too.
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