Delray Beach City Commissioner Ryan Boylston is running for mayor. Boylston announced his candidacy Wednesday. He is term-limited next year, as is Mayor Shelly Petrolia.
This decision seemed likely three years ago, after Boylston outpolled Petrolia when each ran for a second term. It seemed inevitable after the election last March, when Petrolia-backed candidates Juli Casale and Angie Gray lost, and candidates Boylston supported—Angela Burns and Rob Long—won.
“I look to see how each election goes for signs from residents,” Boylston told me Wednesday. The recent results told him that “Delray gets it. The people know what’s important.” He cited not just the commission results but approval of bond issues for public safety and parks.
Boylston and Petrolia have differed on most major issues. In 2021, the mayor and her allies attacked Boylston and Adam Frankel—who also was seeking a second term—as being too tight with developers. Casale and Gray used the same attack line, but voters cared more about the controversial decision by Casale, Petrolia and Shirley Johnson to end the lease of Old School Square with the group that created the cultural complex. Burns and Long disagreed with the decision.
If elected, Boylston said, he would return “to what made Delray Beach so successful. We need lots of community input. We can’t let small things distract us.” He noted that a minor dispute with Old School Square suddenly escalated to the eviction that he and Frankel voted against.
Boylston said many long-delayed projects—the new water plant, renovation of Pompey Park, the bond programs—are underway. He wants to hear from residents “what needs to get done next.” One benefit of a nearly nine-month campaign, Boylston said with a laugh, is that he can spend “a lot of time listening” to what people believe should be on that list.
I asked Boylston about education. Previous city commissioners have lobbied the Palm Beach County School Board for projects and programs. He prefers a different approach.
Boylston noted that the city’s new bus shelter program, which he encouraged, will raise $50,000 for Delray Beach schools. That money, principals told him, can finance after-care programs for at-risk students. Boylston soon will meet with executives of the city’s car dealers, who need workers. “We need to rely less on the school board.”
Having moved to Delray Beach 18 years ago, Boylston has amassed 15 years of community service while running his marketing/public relations firm. He already has endorsements from all the city’s unions and five former mayors. At this point, he is the only candidate. It will be interesting to see if the mayor uses her faction to run someone against him.
City commission and DDA at odds
For whatever reason, the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority keeps picking fights with the city commission. Take Tuesday’s commission meeting.
Four of the seven DDA board member seats were up for commission appointment. The terms run for three years. The city believes that term limits kick in after six years, as they do for commissioners and all members of city advisory boards.
Yet the DDA’s attorney, a former member of Delray Beach’s legal department, wrote in a letter to City Attorney Lynn Gelin that applying the term-limit role to the DDA was “arbitrary and capricious.” Frankel criticized that letter Tuesday.
Apparently, this campaign was on behalf of two DDA board members who had served six years and wanted to stay. Instead, the commission chose four newcomers: Rick Burgess, Cole Devitt, Thomas Hallyburton and Brian Rosen. Burgess owns an auto body shop. Devitt is a Realtor. Hallyburton is general manager of Cafe Luna Rosa. Rosen is a vice president of a commercial development company.
In addition, Frankel cited rumors of DDA officials asking city staff not to enforce code rules on certain properties. Frankel told me Wednesday that “numerous people” have told him that DDA “higher-ups have made specific requests.” He referred to “shenanigans” within the agency that levies a tax on downtown property owners to finance its operations.
Also recently, the DDA criticized the commission-approved parking plan. Frankel, who lives downtown and pays the DDA tax, said the agency “seems to be making decisions more for business owners than residents.”
For now, the DDA might mean more to Delray Beach than ever. The DDA has a contract to operate Old School Square through September 2024. Yet the DDA and the commission might be farther apart than ever. Clearly, though, the commission wants to make clear that the commission calls the shots on policy.
Boca council to discuss Glades billboard
On Monday, the Boca Raton City Council will discuss the city’s only billboard.
It’s at the intersection of Butts and Glades roads just east of Town Center Mall. Boca Raton prohibits billboards, but this one existed when the city annexed the area two decades ago and thus was able to stay.
Council members, though, must approve any changes to the billboard. The owner, Outfront Media, proposes to renovate the billboard and give the city revenue from the new structure. At the request of Councilwoman Monica Mayotte, the council will discuss the proposal at Monday’s workshop meeting.
In a letter to Mayotte, Outfront Vice President Chris Ashley said the new billboard would be the same size but with much better landscaping. Updated technology would allow a wider variety of ads facing eastbound and westbound on Glades Road.
Because of that added revenue, Ashley said, the city would get at least $8.2 million over the 40 years of the agreement. Ashley called the deal “a win/win.”
Mayotte brought the proposal, she told me, because the billboard “isn’t going anywhere.” So Mayotte wanted to see “what my colleagues think.” The proposal would allow digital ads using light emitting diode (LED) technology, which has been controversial in some areas. Boca Raton doesn’t allow it.
The current billboard, Mayotte said, “is very old. It might be good to have one that’s better looking, and we get stuff, too.” Still, she said, “This is not a sword I’m going to fall on.”
Plea conference for Delray officer Jacaria Stringer
A plea conference will take place June 27 in the case of Delray Beach police officer Jacaria Stringer. She faces two criminal charges for wrongly claiming to be on military leave.
According to prosecutors, Stringer filled out timesheets for 21 days in 2020 and 2021 falsely stating that she was on leave. The amount of salary in question is $6,500. Stringer was charged in March 2022. The conference was scheduled this week after a hearing before Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Sarah Willis.
Another Brightline-involved death
The latest death involving a Brightline train occurred Monday night in Delray Beach.
According to a news release, a 50-year-old man was walking on the tracks at 2200 North Old Dixie Highway when the train struck him. The man died instantly. No Brightline fatality has been linked to improper train operation or signal malfunction. The police department is investigating.
A tribute to Susan Whelchel
On the agenda for Tuesday’s Boca Raton City Council meeting is a proposal to name the community garden at Meadows Park for former Mayor Susan Whelchel.
The request comes from the Junior League, for which Whelchel began her long community service that ended with six years as mayor from 2008 to 2014. Whelchel, who died last August, is a former Junior League Volunteer of the Year. This would be a fitting tribute.
