Save Boca Founder Jonathan Pearlman ran for Boca Raton City Council on a platform of transparency and accountability. At Tuesday’s workshop meeting, he displayed neither.
Before each city council meeting, an agenda review is delivered by staff to council members so they can prepare ahead of meetings. Last Thursday’s agenda review consisted of details on a plan for a new police station. The new proposed station would cost $120 million and be 94,000 square feet—down from the $190 million and 160,000-square-foot station proposal that was rejected on the March ballot.
But the day after that agenda review, an email was sent out from the Save Boca political organization with the subject “CITY PUSHES ON WITH $190 MILLION TAJ MAHAL POLICE STATION.”
The Boca Raton City Council has made no indication of moving forward with the “Taj Mahal” station since the measure was defeated at the ballot. It was decided two weeks ago that the council would continue discussing a new station at this week’s workshop meeting. Mayor Andy Thomson asked the council at Tuesday’s workshop meeting if they were given the agenda review. All of them said yes. Except Pearlman.
“What was conveyed to me was that [City] staff was revisiting the $190 million, 190,000 [sic] square foot station and initiating discussions with ADG to revisit that size and scope,” said Pearlman. ADG was the consultant for the previous proposed station.
Why, then, did a Save Boca email go out saying the City was moving forward with the “Taj Mahal” station when he was made aware the day before—if not by the agenda review that the entire council apparently except for him received, then by city staff—that was not the case?
“Save Boca is a political organization,” Pearlman said. “We’re not privy to private meetings with staff and so forth.”
But as a city council member, he is. He is also the president and chairman of Save Boca. The address that sends the Save Boca emails—including last Friday’s—and the email contact on the Save Boca website is Jon@SaveBoca.org. Fellow Save Boca-endorsed council members Stacy Sipple and Michelle Grau were likewise disturbed by the email, with Sipple calling it “unacceptable.”
When Pearlman was asked directly if he sent the email, he dodged the question. “Any emails coming from Save Boca are sent by the political organization, Save Boca, Inc.,” he said.
Thomson asked, “Does the chairman of the Save Boca political committee approve of those emails before they’re sent out?”
“The answer is that the political committee sends them out,” Pearlman replied.
When pressed, Pearlman repeatedly gave non-answers. Thomson asked a final time if Pearlman would acknowledge that he either sends or approves the emails.
“Those are emails sent by Save Boca,” Pearlman said.
Whether Pearlman—or whoever sent or approved the email—lied or was misinformed, the consequences for the council were real.
Council members—including Save Boca-endorsed Sipple—said they received threatening emails after Save Boca’s newsletter went out. At no point did Pearlman, as chairman and president of Save Boca, denounce these threats. Thomson at one point requested an apology for the council and for residents for the misinformation. Pearlman didn’t give one.
This isn’t first instance of misinformation coming from Save Boca. Ahead of the March election, the organization sent an email that stated the Terra/Frisbie proposal would displace the downtown police station—a false statement echoed by Pearlman himself as a city council member. Police leadership had actually suggested moving the station to a more central location before the city even began taking bids for the downtown campus.
More emails, more deception
Another Save Boca email was sent out on Thursday, May 28. This one quoted Sipple—whom the group endorsed—out of context.
The email reads: “Regarding the hundreds of emails that came through from Save Boca supporters, council member Sipple stated ‘it’s a waste of our time’ and complained that they were ‘jamming up an email box with 600 emails so that we can’t actually do the work that we’ve been hired to do because we’re being swamped with emails.’”
The emails that Sipple called a “waste of time” during the meeting were the hundreds of emails that poured in based on misinformation pushed out by Save Boca. Sipple even apologized to the people that were duped into sending them. The complete quote from Sipple is below.
“Jamming up an email box with 600 emails so that we can’t actually do the work that we’ve been hired to do because we’re being swamped with emails, some threatening, and all of them based on false information, it’s a waste of our time, and it’s a waste of yours. And I’m sorry that was done to you.”
The new proposed police station
Pearlman, unsurprisingly, was not a fan of the new proposed police headquarters, despite the price reduction.
He first criticized the timeline. The new station—if constructed on the corner of Spanish River Boulevard and Broken Sound Boulevard like the police department would prefer—wouldn’t be completed until early 2030. If the station is constructed downtown, it wouldn’t be completed until mid-2031. In each case, the time would be mostly evenly split between designing and construction, with a six-month procurement process for a builder.
Pearlman argued that the delay would cost the city a substantial amount, and he may be right given the ever-increasing cost of material and construction. But the timeline has to account for voters approving a bond measure that would be on the March 2027 ballot that would fund the project. Between then and now, the city would get feedback from residents on what they would want out of the new station—a step that Pearlman argues is unnecessary.
Holding a stack of alleged emails from supporters, Pearlman said, “You’re looking for an answer that’s really right here in these hundreds of emails.”
But Pearlman doesn’t just represent the senders of those emails, he represents all of Boca.
Pearlman also criticized the cost of the new station, which is down to $120 million from the $190 million “Taj Mahal” that he previously railed against. One could argue that Pearlman’s objections played a significant role in a cost reduction of more than 30% for the project—a feat that would be a feather in the cap of any politician who positions themselves as a bulwark against wasting taxpayer money. But it seems Pearlman doesn’t know how to win.
“You’re talking like we’re dealing with Monopoly money here,” Pearlman said. “You can’t put $190 million on the table and then cut it down to $120 [million] and say ‘this is reasonable.’ You’re still gouging the taxpayer for something they didn’t ask for.”
Whether taxpayers asked for a new police station or not, the police need a new station. During the workshop meeting, Acting Chief Seth Dubinsky said that officers currently have to conduct briefings outdoors because they don’t have a large enough briefing room. Coat closets have been converted into offices that house as many as three employees and their desks. The current building also hasn’t been renovated in nearly 30 years and isn’t rated to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.
Despite the clear need, Pearlman was the lone dissenter in putting before voters in March the approval of $125 million in bonds to finance the new station.
Fundraising for Marci Woodward’s PBC Commissioner seat race
Marci Woodward has raised more than $213,000 in her bid to retain her seat on the county commission representing Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Much of that came in the last quarter of 2025.
In the first quarter for 2026—which ended on March 31—Woodward brought in more than $18,000. Again, the real estate sector made up the bulk of donations. Her opponent, Curtis Calabrese, has raised nearly $64,000. Many of his contributions come from retirees or from people who did not list an occupation.
Tina Polsky won’t seek re-election
Tina Polsky, who represents Boca Raton in the State Senate, announced she will not seek another term. In a statement from her office reported on by Florida Politics, she did not express interest in running for any other elected office at this time.
Per the report, “In the months between now and November, she intends to focus on electing a Democratic Governor and supporting Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.”
Nonprofit leader and former State Sen. Lauren Book will run for Polsky’s seat this November.
