Lois Frankel
West Palm Beach Mayor, www.cityofwpb.com/mayor
It's bad enough that the bar, nightclub and restaurant owners on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach have to deal with never-ending road construction and competition from CityPlace, but they aren't getting any help from Mayor Lois Frankel, either. During her two-year tenure, the imperious Frankel has played no small part in turning Clematis from a thriving urban hotspot into a dead zone in need of a revival. In her crusade to fix something that wasn't broken, she helped turn all-ages clubs into 21-and-older venues, imposed fees to pay for additional police and added parking meters that further dissuaded downtown traffic. Spanky's was closed down and Rooney's Pour House simply closed, as did a number of retail outlets, including Banana Republic and The Gap. Help is on the way, though not in terms of the nightlife. The city has hired Peter Armato to resuscitate Clematis as a shopping destination instead of a party street.
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