For all of the rancor over the Delray Beach City Commission Seat 2 race, there’s another on the March 14 ballot. This post will examine the Seat 4 candidates trying to succeed term-limited Shirley Johnson.
Angeleta Gray is a former commissioner who now serves as one of two appointed members of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Gray is a Realtor.
Angela Burns was a teacher in the Palm Beach County School District for 34 years until she retired last May to focus on her current commission campaign. Burns ran unsuccessfully for this seat in 2020. She also served on the city’s education board.
Gray is aligned with the political faction that includes Mayor Shelly Petrolia and Commissioner Juli Casale. Petrolia engineered the choice of Gray to the CRA just after Petrolia had engineered the abolition of the appointed board. That came during the first meeting after Petrolia became mayor in 2018.
Burns has received endorsements from the police and firefighter unions. They also endorsed Rob Long in Seat 2. Long and Burns aren’t running officially as a slate, but they have the same campaign consultant, and Petrolia supports Gray in addition to Casale.
During candidate forums, Gray has said she would have joined Petrolia and Casale in 2021 when they ended the Old School Square lease. Burns would not have voted to do so.
In an interview, Gray told me that she is the better candidate because of “my experience.” Burns said she is better because of “my authenticity. I’m not trying to profit from anything that goes on.”
Though accusations about money and personal character are swirling in the Seat 2 race, similar accusations are part of the Seat 4 campaigns. During their interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Gray raised the issue of Burns’ finances. She talked about Burns’ “failed business.”
Because of those accusations—and because Burns and Gray are running to oversee a budget of nearly $300 million—I decided to examine the candidates’ financial backgrounds in detail. I plan to do the same for Long and Casale.
That “failed business” to which Gray referred was Studio 404 on West Atlantic Avenue. Alexius Burns, Angela Burns’ son, started a daiquiri bar that became, as Burns tells it, “a restaurant that served daiquiris.” Studio 404 received a $66,000 grant from the community redevelopment agency.
Burns invested $50,500 in Studio 404 and got a 20 percent stake as a “silent partner.” Studio 404 was her son’s “dream,” Burns said, “and I support him 100 percent.” Her son and another investor each owned 30 percent. An entity called SKN Holdings got the other 20 percent.
A year ago, following ongoing disputes with the city about noise, Studio 404 closed. After the corporation was dissolved—a process that included the sale of the liquor license— Burns said she and the other investors got back a small portion of their money. Last November, SKN sued, seeking to get back all of what the company said was its $70,000 investment.
According to the court filing, the defendants have not responded to the complaint. Burns said, “The attorney is handling that.”
Burns twice has had wages garnished because of unpaid taxes. After her husband was killed in a traffic crash, Burn said, “I inherited his debts. I’ve paid it all off.”
As for Gray, she also had a business that received money from the CRA—Top Notch Hair Dimensions of Palm Beach. In 2015, TD Bank sued the business, Gray and her husband and the CRA, seeking to foreclose on a roughly $200,000 loan.
Gray said she used that money to build a small commercial building on a lot that she bought from the CRA for $55,000. Though her salon was in the building, Gray said she later leased the space. The foreclosure litigation, Gray said, came after a tenant left with two years remaining on its lease.
TD Bank dismissed the lawsuit after two months. Gray said she resolved it by selling the building. It went for $850,000, roughly $200,000 over market value at the time. The buyer was Steve Michael, the original developer of what has become Sundy Village under Pebb Capital.
Gray said she has sold properties to Michael in her work for Reliant Realty. Top Notch Hair Dimensions, which got the CRA money, is no longer in business.
In 2007, Riverside National Bank sought to foreclose on Gray’s home. The Grays had missed payments on their $187,000 mortgage. Yet Gray insisted, “There was no foreclosure.” She also disputed that the house was sold at auction to resolve the litigation.
In fact, a legal notice from 2008 says that “pursuant to a Final Judgment of Foreclosure” the house would “sell to the highest bidder for cash” in the county courthouse.
Speaking to the Sun Sentinel, Gray referred to Top Notch Hair Dimensions as a “successful business.” She called Grayco Construction & Related Services, which records show she started in 2019, “a major business.”
Despite the name, however, Gray has no contractor’s license. The firm provides “handyman work,” Gray said, and has annual revenues of about $20,000.
A Sun Sentinel staffer pointed out that Gray had replied “No” to the paper’s questionnaire that asked if she had been charged with a crime. In fact, Gray had been charged with a misdemeanor related to her time on the commission.
Speaking with me, she again claimed, “I wasn’t charged.” The probable cause affidavit was filed on April 22, 2014. Gray pleaded not guilty on May 22. A jury found her not guilty.
Gray’s dubious crypto advice
Most recently, and most notably, Gray got deeply involved with the cryptocurrency industry. She promoted herself as “First Lady Crypto” and sought investors, bragging, “My CRYPTO LIFE IS GOOD.”
Among other things, Gray suggested that Delray Beach create its own cryptocurrency coin, as Miami and some other cities have done. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez kept promoting MiamiCoin up until its value dropped 95 percent last fall. Critics claim that cryptocurrency amounted to massive fraud.
Gray’s involvement, which includes Petrolia, has not been previously reported. In a later post, I will examine it in detail.
An update on Long’s defamation lawsuit
I wrote Tuesday about the defamation lawsuit Long filed against Chris Davey, Petrolia’s political ally. The lawsuit came in response to what Long claims are Davey’s false accusations against him on social media.
Davey didn’t respond to my request for comment in time for that post. He did respond Tuesday morning.
Davey noted that Alexandria Ayala, a member of the Palm Beach County School Board and Long’s girlfriend, was hired in 2021 by the firm that filed the lawsuit. Davey called the lawsuit “a waste of time and dangerous.”
To make his point, Davey cited the 2018 defamation suit against Cornerstone Solutions—Long’s consultant—by a West Palm Beach city commissioner seeking reelection. Shannon Materio alleged that a campaign flyer falsely accused her of having an illegal homestead exemption.
Materio lost and also had to pay $100,000 to Cornerstone for legal fees and other expenses. The defamation standards, though, are different for appointed officials. Davey’s comments concern Long’s time on the planning and zoning board.
Davey contends, “Everything I have put out there on Mr. Long is factual.”
Renaming Mizner Park road proves difficult
Boy, was I wrong.
On Tuesday, I wrote about the item on Tuesday’s Boca Raton City Council meeting to rename part of a road in Mizner Park after Charles Siemon. He was the land-use lawyer whose work for the city made Mizner Park possible.
Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke, however, pulled the item. At Monday’s community redevelopment agency meeting, she complained that it had been on the consent agenda—which usually generates no public comment—and said, “I don’t remember direction” from the council to rename the road.
She wasn’t alone. Yvette Drucker said she preferred O’Rourke’s suggestion—Avenue of the Arts. Others wondered why the honor wouldn’t include Wendy Larsen, Siemon’s fellow lawyer who helped on Mizner Park and, with him, founded Festival for the Arts at Mizner Park.
Mayor Scott Singer said Larsen supported the renaming. He also noted that such renaming has recognized only people who have died. It all became a very long discussion.
I’m told that supporters will begin an email campaign to educate council members about Siemon’s unique contributions. O’Rourke goes off the council in March because of term limits.
During Tuesday’s regular meeting, O’Rourke asked that city staff develop “a process” for street renaming. None of her colleagues agreed.
