Sportswriters refer often to “the X factor”—a player who can make the difference in big games. In the Delray Beach and Boca Raton elections, the X factor is not a person—it’s the Republican presidential primary.
There is no similar vote for Democrats. The state party chose to put only President Biden on the ballot. That gives the Republican Party of Palm Beach County and GOP-aligned consultants an open field to push local candidates by appealing to voters who normally would avoid local races. Even though all of former President Trump’s challengers have dropped out, his and all of their names are still on the ballot.
Those races—for the Delray Beach City Commission and Boca Raton City Council—are non-partisan. National partisan politics almost never come up during meetings or campaigns. But candidates are registered as Democrats or Republicans, and this year those affiliations are part of campaigns.
Rick Asnani is the consultant for Ryan Boylston, who is running for mayor of Delray Beach, and Andy Thomson, who is running for a Boca Raton council seat. Boylston and Thomson are Democrats. Boylston’s main opponent is Tom Carney, a Republican. Thomson’s opponent is Republican Brian Stenberg.
Asnani said the partisan involvement is “the biggest in a decade.” It’s happening especially in Delray Beach and Wellington, Asnani said. Both parties have compiled lists of candidates with their affiliations listed.
I’m told, however, that the Republican Party has been much more organized, despite dueling lawsuits over who will serve as the county chairman. Because of the presidential primary, voters can cast ballots by mail and vote early. The election comes amid turmoil among local Democrats. State Chair Nikki Fried last week suspended the head of the county party.
Republicans are especially targeting Boylston. One GOP mailer on behalf of Carney and Anneze Barthelemy—who is running for the Seat 3 commission seat—says, “The Democrats are counting on low turnout to elect their progressive candidates and advance their anti-America, radical agenda.
“We can’t let that happen!” The mailer, of course, cites no examples of this “radical agenda.”
Another mailer sought to link Boylston to Black Lives Matter, a familiar GOP foil. The mailer came from a committee called Progressives for a Better South Florida. Here’s the back story, which says so much about this year’s election.
The committee’s registered agent is Chris Davey, a former commission candidate and former member of the planning and zoning board. He is a longtime ally of Mayor Shelly Petrolia.
The mayor is a Democrat. But she supports Carney. She also worked to defeat Boylston when he ran for re-election three years ago. Davey’s committee doesn’t have to file a financial report until April, so residents won’t know where the money is coming from until after the election.
A year ago, Davey enlisted former County Commissioner Mary McCarty to drive Rob Long out of the city commission race in which he opposed then-incumbent Juli Casale. Petrolia worked for Casale. Though McCarty, who went to prison on public corruption charges, is a Republican, she and Petrolia have formed a bipartisan faction to oppose Boylston.
Carney ran twice before for mayor and lost in head-to-head races. This time, he hopes to win by appealing to partisanship in a non-partisan race. The third mayoral candidate, former Commissioner Shirley Johnson, also is a Democrat. She will finish third, and votes for her likely will be votes taken from Boylston.
Carney’s misleading “overdevelopment” claim
Boylston and Carney are criticizing each other over the issue of development. Boylston says Carney, a lawyer, has represented landowners. Carney responds that Boylston has approved “over 2,000 units” during his six years on the commission and calls Boylston “the overdevelopment king.”
Here’s some context.
Carney’s number is true, but it’s very misleading.
Roughly half of those units will be in Parks at Delray, the development on Congress Avenue where Office Depot had its headquarters before moving to Boca Raton. The site is large—43 acres—and the developer asked for barely half the units that rules would have allowed.
The other units are mostly in four projects —Alexan, Aura, Delray Central and The Linton. Like Parks at Delray, none are downtown, the area that candidates invoke when they speak of Delray Beach as “the village by the sea.” All have affordable housing components. None were controversial—until the campaign for mayor began.
Petrolia’s last city commission meeting
Speaking of Petrolia and Boylston, Petrolia tried to turn her final city commission meeting as mayor into a campaign ad against Boylston.
Several days earlier, Boylston had worked for a day as a city utility meter reader. It was his latest shadowing of employees to get a perspective on their work. Think Bob Graham’s “workdays” in his first run for governor 46 years ago.
At the end of last Tuesday’s meeting, Petrolia accused Boylston of recklessness by endangering himself and the city with the workday. For good measure, she accused City Manager Terrence Moore of aiding and abetting what she suggested was a political scheme.
In fact, as Boylston explained, he first explored the idea of shadowing employees before the pandemic. He finally obtained clearance, with the city deciding that he was already a part-time employee and liability wouldn’t be an issue. By the time that clearance came, the pandemic had hit. For obvious reasons, the shadowing had to wait.
In February 2022, however, Boylston and all his colleagues—including Petrolia—participated in a fire department training session. “We were in smoke, walking through buildings,” Boylston recalled Monday.
No one had to sign any waivers, Boylston said, because the staff already had done the legal review after Boylston’s earlier request. Petrolia, who said Moore “didn’t tell me the truth” about Boylston’s day as a meter reader seems more like the one who wasn’t being honest.
For even better measure, Petrolia accused Boylston of yelling at Moore. She based it on two anonymous communications. Boylston called the accusation “ridiculous. I don’t even yell at my kids.”
It was a fitting end to Petrolia’s six years as mayor.
Boca recognized for pedestrian safety
One of Boca Raton’s priorities is to make streets more accessible and safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. A regional group has recognized the city’s efforts.
The Safe Streets Summit, organized by the local transportation planning agencies of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, gave Boca Raton its Complete Streets Community Award. The award goes to cities that, according to the group, “have led by example.”
Those examples include safety improvements along A1A and downtown and the addition of bike lanes. According to the city’s municipal services director, Boca Raton has 84 miles of cycle-friendly lanes and trails.
In addition, the group recognized Councilwoman Yvette Drucker as a Complete Streets Champion. It’s a rare council meeting when Drucker does not talk about safe streets.
Those mobility discussions can get very ambitious.
In a recent conversation, Councilman Marc Wigder envisioned creation of a zone along the El Rio Trail—which runs for 2.5 miles from the northern edge of the city to near Florida Atlantic University—for transit-oriented development. Wigder cited the increased use of electric scooters, which people could use on the trail for their daily commutes.
Rutherford Park update
I wrote recently that Boca Raton expects to open the renovated Rutherford Park next month. According to a city spokeswoman, the project will cost roughly $9.6 million. Of that, about $2.7 million will come from the Florida Inland Navigation District, known as FIND.
That agency oversees the Intracoastal Waterway, along which Rutherford lies. The park is part of Lake Wyman Park, along Northeast Fifth Avenue near 20th Street. FIND made that contribution because one of the project’s ancillary benefits will be improved navigation for boaters on the Intracoastal.
Boca Regional receives another seven-figure donation
Boca Raton Regional Hospital has received a $5 million donation toward its Keeping The Promise campaign from Rocco and Mary Abessinio. Rocco Abessinio, a native of Wilmington, Del., founded Applied Bank and Roch Capital, which is based in Pennsylvania but has a regional office in Boca Raton. They have been city residents for nearly 25 years.
Another death at a Brightline crossing
The latest death from a Brightline train occurred last Tuesday in Delray Beach.
According to investigators, a woman was on the tracks at Atlantic Avenue when the gates were down. The incident took place at about 11:30 p.m. Through January, there had been 108 deaths since Brightline began service in July 2017. Investigators have linked no death to operator error or gate malfunction.
