On Tuesday, Center for Arts & Innovation President Andrea Virgin posted a YouTube video summarizing her take on the previous day’s Boca Raton City Council meeting.
Virgin said that all had gone well. Council members had approved early plans for TCAI’s proposed performing arts center in Mizner Park. The action, Virgin said, “affirms” the center’s status as a “vital project.” She and other TCAI officials soon would meet with council members as part of an “open dialogue” on the project’s future.
In politics, they call that spin.
In fact, council members—acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency—could have killed the project Monday. That’s because TCAI failed to meet its second fundraising goal as defined in the 2022 agreement for the group to lease city-owned land next to the Mizner Park Amphitheater.
Under the agreement, TCAI by this week was supposed to have $50 million in pledges and $25 million cash on hand. The actual numbers are $32 million and $8.5 million. TCAI actually has less cash on hand than it did a year ago, when the group met the first fundraising goal.
On Sept. 23, Virgin told the council that TCAI was on track to meet that second goal. Five days before Monday’s meeting, though, Virgin emailed the council and city staff to say that the group would fall short. Virgin blamed the 2022 agreement for setting too arbitrary a schedule and called for a “brief pause to explore a potential amendment” to the deal.
Council members did give TCAI a “brief pause,” but the mood was hardly upbeat. TCAI has until Jan. 7 to show more promising fundraising numbers. If not, council members then could kill the lease. Or they could give Virgin the March deadline she wants and consider reworking the agreement.
In an interview Tuesday, Virgin defended the late notice. On Sept. 23, TCAI was “cautiously optimistic” about fundraising. But “in the next month,” the group received “feedback. It’s not anyone’s fault. Donors cannot be rushed, and we have to respect that. I can only be the messenger.”
Though TCAI said approval of the lease would energize fundraising, Virgin now says that the agreement’s deadlines “aren’t in keeping with industry best practices.” She soon will seek to have “a longer conversation” with council members “to explain” why TCAI wants a new fundraising schedule “aligned with project milestones.”
To set such a schedule, Virgin said, TCAI needs until March to study such items as the proposed underground garage and set a construction budget. The first estimate was $100 million, but that number is likely outdated. She would provide fundraising updates in December and March.
“All of our supporters are optimistic,” Virgin said, adding that the changes still could allow for groundbreaking in 2028. As for TCAI’s relationship with the council, “I look forward to being more forthright.”
From a political standpoint, Monday’s meeting hardly could have gone worse. City Manager George Brown ripped TCAI for its lack of “accountability.” Council members who already were mad about hearing unpleasant surprises on fundraising then heard uninformed TCAI supporters seem to blame the city for stalling a wonderful project.
Councilwoman Francine Nachlas ran the meeting as CRA chair. Speaking cautiously Wednesday, Nachlas said she didn’t sense that TCAI and the speakers were attributing “blame” to the city. Nachlas would say only that she had been “disappointed.” Nachlas made clear her belief, though, that the city “has held up our end of the bargain.”
Another late surprise was TCAI’s claim that Boca Raton’s limit on downtown development could stymie construction of the center. But that limit, which the city has not reached, is based on traffic that new residential and commercial projects generate. Nachlas noted that Mizner Park already holds events that attract thousands of people. Nachlas said of the issue, “I really don’t believe that it’s significant.”
Nachlas also stressed that council members have “all been committed” to the project in concept. During Monday’s meeting, she made a direct appeal to potential donors. Though Virgin said her group “got what we needed” Monday, Nachlas said the burden is on TCAI. “They have to gain some trust back.”
Joshua Koehler promoted to Boca Raton city attorney
Not surprisingly, council members on Tuesday unanimously chose Joshua Koehler to be Boca Raton’s next city attorney.
The search firm received just 20 applicants, an unimpressive number for such a job in a city that council members regularly tout as “world-class.” Koehler has been deputy city attorney since 2011, giving him what Mayor Scott Singer called “an innate advantage.” Previously, Koehler spent five years as an assistant city attorney in West Palm Beach. He got his law degree from the University of Florida.
Though Nachlas expressed a preference for “continuity,” she and others also said they expect change after 25 years of Diana Frieser. During interviews, Singer said Koehler “articulated a different approach.” Nachlas said Koehler has “his own ideas. Very innovative ideas.”
The council named Koehler as acting city attorney effective Nov. 1, the day after Frieser leaves and begins collecting her $437,000 severance. Singer will negotiate a contract with Koehler for the council’s approval.
Boca Raton hosting meeting on traffic fatalities, injuries
Boca Raton will hold a community meeting tonight on the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan.
That effort seeks to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries from collisions within the city. According to a news release, attendees will hear from the city’s consultant about the plan and will have a chance to comment.
The meeting will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the community center at 260 Crawford Blvd., near City Hall. Attendees can RSVP here and a transportation safety survey here.
Local election fundraising updates
The Democrat who represents Boca Raton in Congress has a huge fundraising lead over his Republican opponent.
Through Sept. 30, Jared Moskowitz had received $2.1 million, compared with $166,000 for Joe Kaufman. He defeated several better-financed candidates in the GOP primary, including former Boca Raton City Councilman Robert Weinroth. The district also includes West Boca and parts of Broward County.
Meanwhile, six-term Democratic incumbent Lois Frankel, whose district includes Delray Beach and West Delray, had raised $1.7 million through Sept. 30. Like Moskowitz, Frankel continues to rely most on ActBlue, the party’s fundraising arm, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Frankel’s opponent, Republican Dan Franzese, is self-financing his campaign to an unprecedented degree for South Florida congressional races. Franzese, who has spent his career in the financial services industry, had loaned his campaign $1.2 million through Oct. 16. He had received about $400,000 from other sources. Franzese got 45 percent of the vote against Frankel two years ago.
