Everyone agrees that a Delray Beach police car was at Old School Square last Thursday morning. There’s less agreement on why the car had to be there and who sent it.
Pati Maguire, who serves on the Old School Square for the Arts board, had come to help oversee removal of equipment from the complex. Founder Frances Bourque and another board member, Debra Dowd, also were there. The lease termination, which a majority of the city commission approved last August, had taken effect on Wednesday.
Old School Square believes that the group had another 11 days to remove its property. Old School Square’s attorney, Marko Cerenko, said language in the lease allows that.
But a video shows the police officer saying, “He’s telling me that you guys aren’t allowed in there.” The “he” is Mike Karali, deputy director of the city’s public works department. The department is in charge of facilities. Delray Beach owns the buildings that make up Old School Square.
This is the second encounter between city police and Old School Square. Last fall, after the termination vote, City Attorney Lynn Gelin sent police to check on removal of equipment. Gelin said Old School Square had violated the lease, thus voiding many of the terms allowing access and what the group could take away. Old School Square continues to deny that accusation. “The city,” Cerenko said Monday, “has not followed legal procedure.”
Whatever the dispute over the lease, the police car seemed needlessly confrontational. Old School Square for the Arts held the lease for 32 years. Old School Square for the Arts created Old School Square. Its board members live in Delray Beach. What problem could the city have been expecting?
I spoke Friday with City Manager Terrence Moore. After checking with the police department, he said the car had gone as part of “standard security.” The city also had changed the locks. Moore said he didn’t know who sent the officer.
On Monday, a city spokeswoman said the officer had gone to Old School Square to “assist and oversee the locksmith.” In a video, Maguire explains to Karali that some artists have not removed all their material. She asks who sent him. Karali says, “I follow the chain of command.” He adds, “I can’t say who started the order.”
Mayor Shelly Petrolia and commissioners Juli Casale and Shirley Johnson, who voted to terminate the lease, claim that Old School Square has made the departure adversarial. They cite the group’s lawsuit for wrongful termination. The litigation names Petrolia and Johnson as individual defendants along with the city. “For the time being,” Cerenko said, Old School Square has removed Casale as an individual defendant.
The roughly 11,000 people who have signed a petition seeking resolution of the dispute see it differently. So do the eight former mayors who want the city to treat Old School Square as it has other non-profits when disagreements arose: Hold a meeting and work things out.
Petrolia, Casale and Johnson have shown no willingness even to consider it. Perhaps that intransigence as a clue; the city seems intent not only on going through with the divorce but on making the divorce as messy as possible.
And another thing…
One other point on Old School Square:
When Maguire and I spoke on Friday, she correctly noted that Petrolia, Casale and Johnson regularly claim that they were looking out for the public’s money when they voted to end the lease. Roughly 25 percent of Old Square’s operating budget came from the community redevelopment agency.
But the rest came from donors. Donations paid for decades worth of privately financed improvements to city property. Last summer, a donation was to have paid for upgrades inside the Crest Theater. But the city stopped the work, claiming that Old School Square hadn’t obtained a permit. Old School Square also disputes that allegation.
Either way, the work remains unfinished. The donor has withdrawn the balance of her money. If the city has to finish the project with the public paying for what a private donor had been financing, Maguire asks, how does that square with the defense of their action by Petrolia, Casale and Johnson?
Thomson to run for Florida House
Boca Raton City Councilman Andy Thomson is resigning to run for the Florida House.
Thomson filed for District 91 last week, as incumbent Emily Slosberg-King was announcing that she would not seek another term after six years. Like Slosberg-King, Thomson is a Democrat. Slosberg-King has endorsed Thomson. No other Democrat has filed.
When we spoke on Monday, Thomson said he had been following redistricting in Tallahassee. According to Thomson, the latest House map would put 80 percent of Boca Raton into one seat. Currently, Republican Mike Caruso (District 89), Slosberg-King and Democrat Kelly Skidmore (District 81) divide Boca Raton and West Boca. Caruso has most areas of the city east of Interstate 95 while Slosberg-King represents most neighborhoods west of the interstate. Skidmore’s district includes neighborhoods farther west.
Thomson has been on the council since 2018. That service and his name recognition, Thomson said, make it worth “taking my shot.” He said Caruso, who lives in Delray Beach, would not run for the Boca-centric seat. Two Republicans have filed. One is Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a Highland Beach commissioner. Thomson said the new district would include the town.
Thomson and his wife have five young children. Serving in the Legislature means being in Tallahassee not just for the annual 60-day session but also for one week of committee hearings each month. “It would be a sacrifice,” Thomson said, adding that he and wife talked “at length,” and she supports the run.
Qualifying for legislative races begins June 13. Thomson must send the city a non-revocable resignation letter at least 10 days before then. The resignation, though, will not take effect at least until when Thomson would take office—late November.
Thomson’s seat is on the ballot in March 2023. After he leaves, the council could choose an interim or leave the seat vacant until the election. Mayor Scott Singer is also on the ballot. With Andrea O’Rourke term-limited, there could be two new council members next spring.
Second plea for Jerich
A second plea conference is scheduled for the man accused of defacing Delray Beach’s LGBTQ Pride streetscape.
Last week, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott Suskauer scheduled the conference for March 1. Alexander Jerich faces two charges—one felony and one misdemeanor—for allegedly revving his truck to leave tire marks on the Pineapple Grove streetscape. It will be the second attempt at resolving the case before trial.
State of the City address
Singer will deliver Boca Raton’s State of the City Address at 7:15 p.m. tonight from the Downtown Library. Residents can attend in person or watch a livestream at myboca.us/soc. Singer will take questions afterward.
