Belle Glade is a small outpost nestled among the cane fields near the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. "Muck City," as it's also called, houses a large number of the low-wage workers who tend the fields and produce America's largest supply of sugar cane.
Some of those workers live in deplorable conditions. Now Belle Glade Commissioner William Grear says that "the people deserve better" than what he describes as "slum living conditions."
He identified 28 buildings that have communal bathrooms for the
residents -- many of which are meant for migrant workers and are not
supposed to house children, according to a Palm Beach County Health
Department spokesman.
WPTV went to visit some of the worker-housing units and found filthy
bathrooms -- always dependable for evening news footage -- as well as a
little girl doing homework in a nearby corridor. The girl's mother,
Lelee McCauley, told reporters that she's scared to let her daughter go
to the communal restroom, so "I let her use the bucket," rinsing it out
in a sink that's also shared among all the residents.
Grear says that around 2,000 people live in buildings with communal bathrooms, and nearly a third of them are children.
Migrant, immigrant, and other low-wage workers are a key part of the
sugar-cane business, which is one of the most important but most hidden
economies in South Florida. Grear says the city has formed committees
to figure out how to build newer, cleaner worker housing -- and he urges
the landlords to provide better conditions. It's unclear whether the
city will back that up with possible legal action.
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