Rodney Mayo, A Man Of Compassion
Posted by Sandy on October 16, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Along with the City Commissioners, Mayor James, City Administrator Faye Johnson, Tony Doris of the PB Post and others I received the email below. The email is verbatim, and is a Public Record, so I’m comfortable including it with the story. Rodney Mayo & Maurice Costigan have organized MoonFest for 30 years. My comments below in italic.
“MOONFEST 2021 the TRUTH as to why it was cancelled.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise these days the lack of facts and the unwillingness to fact check in the media.
Moonfest was not approved by the City of West Palm Beach and here is why.
Moonfest’s permit application was submitted for the 400 and 500 blocks of Clematis. The reason we scaled back the event this year was two fold
1- the city changed the approval process for events on clematis and increased the number of businesses needed for consent to approve any event from 50% to 85%. After speaking with many of the businesses in the 200 and 300 blocks we felt we would not be able to reach the 85% consent for approval of Moonfest. The 400 and 500 blocks had 100% consent for approval.
2- we never wanted to produce an event where it might negatively affect any business or at the objection of any business owners. The event was created 30 years ago to do just the opposite, bring traffic to downtown!
This is why we submitted this year for only the 400 and 500 blocks of Clematis. This also would have enabled us to increase the production value , attract more artists and produce something we and the City would be proud of.
We were initially told by the special events department at the City that this proposal was ok and would be approved.
In August the City had a meeting to discuss Moonfest 2021. We were not only not invited to this meeting but were told we were not allowed to attend the meeting. Does this sound familiar to readers, remember CMUDD and invited guests only, and I was removed from City Hall due to my name not being on the “list”.
This was highly suspect as we , as the organizers of Moonfest, had always been an integral part of the planning process and attended all the City staff meetings.
We feel that as a gated event, where the capacity is limited to a maximum safe number, is not only safe but far safer than what is going to take place. An open, completely unregulated, un-gated free event with no age limits and no way to control alcohol consumption.
In addition, unauthorized Moonfest events, such as “Clematis Socials Moonfest”, are now popping up all over the place and are making it appear that they are now the organizers of Moonfest and that the event is still on.
This could really turn into a disaster unless the city is prepared for the influx of attendees that in the past have been regulated to over 21 years of age and also supplemented by an extra 50 private security personal in addition to the 40 City of West Palm Beach overtime police officers that were hired by Moonfest.
There will be no gates to control the crowd as well so how can this possibly make it a safer “event”. It will basically be a free for all.
We are pretty baffled as to the Cities rationale in making this decision, if there is one. We do know that we were ready willing and able to make this year’s Moonfest a safe, fun event and we’re willing to work with the City as we always have in the past to assure that.
Unfortunately we were not given that opportunity by the City.
Rodney and Maurice
Founders and organizers of Moonfest since 1993.”
Below is the PB Post story written by Mr.Washington on Moon Fest
So Who Is Rodney Mayo? Story below is written by Krista Martinelli and excerpts are from her story. Please take the time to read the entire article and listen to an emotional Mr. Mayo address the City Commissioners. My comments in italic.
“Rodney Mayo, Community Activist and Restaurant Owner. Rodney Mayo is known for the 17 restaurants/nightclubs that he owns in the area. But also he’s been a community activist, starting up an organization called Hospitality Helping Hands (as a response to COVID-19) and speaking out against racism.
I asked Mayo why he decided to start Hospitality Helping Hands. “As a result of COVID and the layoffs, we were initially going to set up a program to feed our staff (over 600 people, many of them as the sole providers for their families). We got so many other hospitality workers looking for a hot daily meal. And then we got a flood of requests from everyone who was laid off, not just hospitality workers.” Mayo seems to be an empathetic soul; he didn’t have the heart to say no, so they just stepped up to the plate, feeding everyone who needs a hot meal and continuing to do so.
Mayo put together a Barbecue for Peace, in response to the incident in West Palm Beach when peaceful protesters were met by police officers with tear gas and rubber bullets. “The Chief of Police denied the tear gas and rubber bullets.” But when faced with physical evidence of both, “they retracted all that,” says Mayo. “I suggested a coming together with a Barbecue for police officers and protesters.” Chief of Police Frank Adderley thought it was a good idea. The date was set for Sunday, June 7th and the location would be West Palm Beach. “We were granted a permit,” says Mayo.
“On that Friday at 6pm, WPB Mayor Keith James revoked the permit. With very little time on his hands, Mayo moved the BBQ for Peace, planned for about 1,000 people to Lake Worth.
In my opinion the incident with the police is the reason for the push back with Moon Fest. I have heard, from too many people, the Mayor can be very vindictive and when enough people make the statement I believe there is some truth to it.
In my opinion Mayor Keith James has absolutely no empathy, and if he can’t relate to someone’s pain he will have no qualms about causing it.
Read the entire story by Krista Martinelli below