Cultural Attractions in Delray Beach and Boca Raton

Boca Raton and Delray Beach punch well above their weight class when it comes to culture. Both cities are home to museums, world class libraries, art exhibits, concerts, dance, theater and more.

Most of the time you won’t have to leave home, but if you do the greater South Florida area features some of the best cultural venues and opportunities in the world.

8 July, 2020 2 2 Comments

Special Places Lift Our Spirits

July 8, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 2 Comments

Old School Square in patriotic splendor. Let’s start with the obvious.

This has been one horrendous year.

Let’s be honest, if years were things, 2020 would be a smoldering dumpster fire.

I don’t have to or want to recount the craziness and tragedy, we know it all too well. We are engulfed by it.

What I do want to write about is what can soothe us during troubled times.

So here’s something to try— inspired by Yankee magazine—one of my favorite publications because it celebrates the best of New England.

Yankee’s basic premise is that places are special because they tell stories, have distinctive styles and personalities and that we ought to explore as much as we possibly can.

When I scanned the most recent issue it got me a little down because I know that at least this year, there’s no way to see any of the amazing places described in the magazine.

But then I had a thought, what are the local places that make me happy either because they are beautiful or trigger positive memories.

So I decided to take inventory of those places— first in my mind and then via a car ride—which is still possible even during this time of Covid.

I visited old homes and neighborhoods, cruised Atlantic Avenue, took a walk on Banker’s Row, went to Papas Tapas (love that place), cruised around the West Settlers District, swung by the Catherine Strong Splash Park, went north then south on A1A, visited Lake Ida Park where I have walked all of my dogs over the years and parked across the street from Old School Square where so many of my “Delray memories” were launched.

I dropped by Knowles Park to visit the Intracoastal and took a drive west to the Morikami.

I drove the bridges at George Bush, Atlantic, Linton and Spanish River—for some reason I’ve always loved bridges. Maybe that stems from childhood when crossing the Whitestone Bridge meant we were visiting my grandparents.

Anyway, it did my soul some good.

It’s not the same as discovering a new place or going to Maine but somehow it was soothing.

I think it’s because the act of thinking about which places mean something to you triggers endorphins, memories and positive feelings.

I thought of the people I’ve met over the years at Old School Square, the photo shoot we did with my now 30 year old daughter at Morikami, great neighbors we’ve had, friends who live in certain neighborhoods and votes we took on the City Commission that led to new places and exciting things—-Bexley Park, Coral Trace, CityWalk, Ocean City Lofts, the public art program etc etc.

For a moment, I forgot about 2020 the nightmare and focused on the sense of place we enjoy.

This summer I had dreamed of going to New England, there’s something about the region that speaks to me. That dream has been dashed.

We’ve been grounded. At least for now.

So my visions of weather beaten cottages along the Maine coast will be replaced with drives around Palm Beach County.

Things could be worse.

And I promise they will get better.

6 July, 2020 5 5 Comments

Hello Old Friends

July 6, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 5 Comments

Sorry for the poor pic. Best I can do.

When you get to be my age you find yourself having lived a few lives.

There’s childhood. The teen years. College. Early adulthood. The parenting years and now the (mostly) empty nester years.

It flies by in an instant.

But the blur of years leaves you with perspective, a few scars and several buckets of friends from the various eras and roles we play in life.

I have friends from my years in the newspaper business, and friends from my time spent volunteering in Delray. I have friends at the office, business friends, college friends and friends from my time in Leadership Florida.

I cherish them all and feel extremely fortunate to have had good friends at every step of the journey.

I am so grateful.

This pandemic has made me even more appreciative because I miss seeing my friends and being able to make plans to get together.

I’m sure you do too.

For me, it’s one of the worst things about this miserable, exhausting and scary year.

But every two weeks at 9 pm I pour a drink and pull up a chair and tap into a cross section of friends that span my childhood, teen, college, early adult and now middle age years.

As we log onto Zoom, I see all these old, familiar faces populate my screen and for an hour or so, I’m transported to a better world. It’s a world of jokes and conversation, a world of memories and future plans, a world that’s familiar and not as uncertain.

I’m on the Zoom with guys I’ve known since I was 6 and 8. We know each other’s parents and siblings, we played Little League together, took the Long Island Rail Road to “the city” to explore and fondly remember each other’s first cars.

I knew their teenage crushes and heartbreaks, what teams they root for and which teachers they loved. We can complete each other’s sentences.

Together, we fill gaps in our collective memories but there are some sacred stories that none of us will ever forget.

Over the months we’ve been doing these calls we’ve added some guys who drifted away—never gone—because the bond is too strong —but drifted nonetheless.

As I mentioned, time flies. And our once daily connection slipped as we moved, married, had kids, went into business, changed jobs and lost our hair while also losing the ability to see each other regularly. But we never let go of the basic friendship we shared. And now that we are comfortably in our 50s, I believe we will be friends for the rest of the ride.

Still, time is an interesting thing we grapple with.

I can still see the young men in the visages of middle age guys who populate my screen.

I can still see their youthful essence.

There’s Dave’s curiosity, Dewey’s kindness, Joe’s enthusiasm, Steve’s quick wit, Scott’s ever present grin and Brian’s ability to frame an issue. Ben’s still a rascal and Howie has the same laugh he had as a kid. Greg is still the broad shouldered body builder he became as a teenager.

I’m proud of these guys. Every last one has been successful in their careers. They all have nice families and good lives.

We are spread out now—from California and Arizona to North Carolina, Virginia, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey.

Combined we have seen a lot of the world and covered a whole lot of ground—kids, grandkids, businesses, hobbies, marriage, love, loss and adventure.

Some of the guys have been there every step of the way. Others drifted for periods, but were always there in our memories.

But thanks to the pandemic and the efforts of my friend Dave, we are all together again every other Wednesday on a screen for 90 minutes of laughs and friendship during a hard, hard time.

I’m over this miserable year. But when we get past this—and we will most certainly will—I will remember this as the year that my oldest friends came together to help each other through the storm.

I always knew I could count on these guys—for a lifetime.

I hope this inspires you to reach out to an old friend.

1 July, 2020 2 2 Comments

Ya Gotta Believe

July 1, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 2 Comments

I was young in ‘93. We all were.

I stumbled across a memory last week and it stayed with me.

I have this app called Time Hop and each day it reminds you of events and photos from your past.

It’s pretty cool.

Well last week, an old column I had written for the Delray Beach Times resurfaced. It was from 1993 and it was in the immediate aftermath of Delray winning its first All America City Award in Tampa.

I wrote about how the city planned to capitalize on the win with a marketing blitz that would hopefully capture the eyes of investors looking to build in Delray and companies that may want to move to Delray.

What followed were All America city buttons, bumper stickers, license plates, key chains etc.

The effort may have seemed hokey but it was effective and the results produced positive press and civic pride.

Let’s spend a minute on those two things: positive press and civic pride. They are often linked together—and it makes sense. Positive press creates civic pride.

So in 1993, when residents saw their city make the cover of Florida Trend, they felt good about their city. The headline on the magazine: Florida’s Best Run City.

It doesn’t get better than that.

Only it did—for awhile at least.

Delray in the 90s and early 2000s seemed to to be a magical place. Every year seemed to be better than the last.

There was a confidence about the town, a sense that by working together the community could accomplish anything it set its mind too.

Want to lower the crime rate?

Ok, let’s commit to community policing.

Want to create a vibrant downtown?

Let’s invest in a streetscape (Decade of Excellence) and innovative policy (Downtown Master Plan) and events and sure enough—with a ton of hard work— we have the “it” downtown in the region and beyond.

There were some amazing civic projects too: Old School Square, the Sandoway House, the Cason Cottage and the Spady Museum.

There were true collaborations with the Achievement Center for Children and Families, the Beach Property Owners Association, the formation of the West Settlers Historic District, the opening of the Youth Enrichment Vocational Center, successful bids for the Davis and Fed Cups, model beach renourishment projects, the founding of the county’s first land trust, the introduction of public art, dozens of citizen engagement initiatives and landmark programs designed to help Delray Beach schools.

Looking back, civic pride and confidence may be the key factor in success.

As Tug McGraw, the great reliever for the Mets once said: “Ya gotta believe.”

And we did.

We believed.

We acted.

We experimented.

We were entrepreneurial and we took calculated risks. We didn’t fear precedents; we wanted to set them.

I recently watched an ESPN documentary that examined last year’s Wimbledon match up between Delray’s Coco Gauff and Venus Williams, who also played a lot of tennis over the years in Delray.

Two things struck me.

One was Coco’s confidence that she could play with Venus. She believed that she belonged.

You don’t win without that belief.

Second, as ESPN’s Chris Fowler interviewed Coco at our downtown tennis center, I recalled the decision made to keep the center downtown and add a stadium court. That took confidence. It was a prescient decision.

And because of it, a young champion was able to walk to the courts and dream. A generation later, she’s talking from the veranda of the pro shop with ESPN about what it was like to beat a legend on centre court at Wimbledon. Very cool.

Anyway, this is a riff on confidence, civic pride, dreams, aspiration and accomplishment.

Wouldn’t it be nice to do/have all of those things again?

As we sit home enduring this awful pandemic, we ought to spend some of our time dreaming about a better future and taking some steps to make those dreams come true.
We are going to need bold new ideas to survive the post coronavirus world, which will surely be different.
The first order of business is to survive. The second is to recover and thrive. The cities that dream and act will be the ones that thrive.
The ones that wallow in despair and enable dysfunction will sink.
Let’s be the former.
Ya gotta believe.

29 June, 2020 11 11 Comments

Culture is Everything

June 29, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 11 Comments

Something is wrong in Delray Beach.

I’ve been saying this for awhile now. Sometimes I’ve been vilified by the usual suspects for pointing out the obvious but we’ve had eight city managers in eight years and that’s not good. We’ve also had a slew of department heads and City Attorney’s come and go too.

It’s not a sign of health. It’s a sign of sickness.

And if you don’t think this affects you—well with all due respect, you’re mistaken because it does.

Turnover costs money. Tax money.

Lawsuits cost money too.

It’s hard to deliver efficient services with an ever changing cast of characters.

It’s also hard if you work for the city or are trying to do business in town.

Dysfunction chases away investment and when you are known as a hard place to work it’s no surprise when you can’t attract or retain talent.

I’m writing this in the wake of the firing of George Gretsas, the latest in a long line of City Managers who have come here with high hopes only to leave beaten and battered. Every time that happens, we drive the price up for the next contestant brave or crazy enough to apply for the job.

So far, none of the previous eight contestants have left here with their reputations entirely intact.

We seem to have factions not only on the City Commission but also on the staff level with a few bad actors sowing division. That’s a relatively new and troubling development.

The next round of head hunting ought to be fascinating. The commission has already been told that Delray has a toxic reputation. Before they go out to the market again there needs to be some serious soul searching or we will pay another premium price for a CM who also won’t last.

One glaring deficiency is a lack of vision. Successful Mayors and commission’s strive to create a unified vision and shared goals. This way if there is division at least you have your common goals to fall back on. This helps City Manager’s and staff because they have a North Star to guide them. The most recent Comp Plan exercise was lacking because it largely cut out the public. Plus, Comp Plan updates typically happen after a visioning process not in lieu of one.

From the outside, I don’t see any goals or vision. So I asked a few prominent citizens to tell me if they knew the city’s goals. Nobody could name one goal. Now they may exist, but if nobody knows what they are or can see progress on those goals you’ve got a problem.

The absence of common goals leads to ala Carte policymaking and a whole lot of 3-2 votes.

That leads to hard feelings and a lack of progress.

Cities (and nations) go off the rails when it starts to become about personalities and factions rather than community driven goals and plans.

That’s where we are my friends.

Does this get fixed?

Only if we demand it does and to date we haven’t. Major institutions in town have been silent. Where are the associations? Where is the business community?
Granted, we are in a pandemic and preoccupied. But dysfunction in City Hall in a pandemic, during hurricane season with a projected budget shortfall of $10 million won’t make it easier to recover. We need to be paying attention and we need to demand better results and offer our help.

We stand for what we tolerate.

And right now we are standing for a whole lot of dysfunction.

24 June, 2020 0 Comments

Random Thoughts

June 24, 2020 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Delray’s Mighty Max Weinberg shares stories and insights on Instagram and YouTube. Shows are archived.

Pandemic Blues

To see the numbers spike—again.

To see masks become political.

To see 13.3 percent unemployment.

To not be able to plan a summer vacation.

To worry every time you leave the house.

To worry about your loved ones getting sick.

This virus is tough stuff.

Wake up in the middle of the night tough….

Streaming and dreaming

One positive—I suppose—of life in 2020 is we are staying home more and catching up on quality content. Which is pretty much anything but 90 Day Fiancé (Diane).

A good example of quality is a documentary on the amazing Avett Brothers on Amazon Prime.

The Avett Brothers are a North Carolina based band known for their “Americana” songs featuring banjos, fiddles, stand up bass, cello and deeply personal lyrics.

The Judd Apatow documentary “May it Last” is a fabulous look at the band’s creative process and the unique relationship between band members. A must see.

We also just completed “This Much is True” a miniseries starring the incredible Mark Ruffalo.

The series covers family ties, brotherly love, mental health and the struggle to overcome family curses. Which kind of describes 90 Day Fiancé.

A tour de force for Ruffalo.

We are also addicted to E Street Band drummer, Rock Hall of Famer and Delray resident Max Weinberg’s Instagram and YouTube show “Mighty Max’s Monday Memories.”

Max has become a friend and I can listen to him tell stories for days on end.

Now he’s sharing those stories with fans every Monday at 6 pm.

Shows are archived so you can go back and hear a treasure trove of rock and roll tales.

Highly recommended. The shows are archived on YouTube and Instagram.

Speaking of documentaries

Don’t miss the ESPN documentary on Delray’s own Coco Gauff.

There’s also a great article in “The Undefeated” on Coco’s activism and passion for community.

Thanks to Coco’s wonderful grandmother Yvonne Odom for sharing.

My favorite quote from the piece from Kyla Copeland-Muse a former player:

“At 16, she’s more gutsy than Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods will ever be,” Copeland-Muse said. “I just love to see it with Coco. There’s a fearlessness with Coco and some of these younger athletes that puts out the message, ‘We’re not gonna be polite. We’re going to tell you exactly what’s happening in this world .’

Yes it is time we tell it like it is.

Coco is a generational talent but perhaps more important she’s a leader. Just like her grandmother. 😊

22 June, 2020 6 6 Comments

Planning Is Great; Action Is Better

June 22, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 6 Comments

Don’t let your plans gather dust. If you do, you burn public trust which is the most valuable currency.

It happened a long time ago, so I guess it’s safe to tell the story.

It was the early 2000s and Delray Beach was still reeling from a bruising battle over Worthing Place—the apartment building that also houses Park Tavern and Salt 7.

The city commission agreed to a Downtown Master Plan process and we got some funding from the MacArthur Foundation to hire a slew of planning and design consultants.

A large cross section of the community turned out for meetings that surfaced a bunch of cool ideas.

It was a true community building experience.

We felt a lot of civic pride, it was exciting and we felt as if we could do anything we set our minds too. It was a special time.

Then the plan was sent to the commission for adoption with a list of priority projects.

But despite the enthusiasm and effort, the commission never adopted the plan. They ignored years of advocacy from residents pleading for the plan to be adopted. And nothing happened.

The gateway wasn’t built. None of the downtown garages were ever built, and we never got Old School Square Park.

All of the innovative policy ideas that enabled restaurants to thrive, the grid system to flow and events to take root vanished along with our hopes.

Northwest/Southwest Fifth Avenue which we had hoped would include public art, small businesses and interesting streetscapes never happened.

Downtown housing, which we had wanted so that we could add vibrancy and support for local businesses didn’t happen either. The plan was placed on a shelf where it gathered dust.

And all of the participants who gave their time and energy to our town went back home disappointed. Some moved away. Many never participated in anything “civic” related ever again.

Instead, we watched neighboring towns flower and attract investment and entrepreneurial energy.

Eventually, our talented staff began to send their resumes out hoping to catch on in a place where they could make something happen and feel that their careers were meaningful.

Property values stagnated. The momentum we started to feel in the late 80s and 90s faded away like so many other things we hoped to do.

At this point in the story, I can share that all of this is bunk.

The plan was not only adopted it was largely implemented in a blizzard of civic projects and investment that helped our town blossom.

Oh some people didn’t like what happened. One guy referred to our vibrant downtown as a “concrete jungle.” I’m not sure what he was referring to, it is a downtown of course. We have concrete. We also have open space, art, culture, sports,

music. restaurants and nightlife that cities all over the country envy.

But hey, you can’t please them all.

The downtown master plan was the first to expand the boundaries of our downtown from the ocean to I-95, an important symbolic step.

But it wasn’t just symbolism.

We added an attractive “gateway” feature just East of 95 because the citizens who participated in the process felt it was important to send the world a message. When you exited the Interstate at Atlantic Avenue you were entering a special place. We wanted people to know it.

Some criticized the art work and lighting that decorated our gateway. It was too expensive they said. They always say that by the way. And they are always wrong.

My friends cities work when you invest in them.

You get a return on that investment in the form of increased property values and civic pride. If you fail to invest, you fail your citizens in ways that you can measure and in ways that you cannot.

Atlantic Grove got built—“they” said it couldn’t be done. Nobody would build market rate housing in “that neighborhood.”

Once again, they were wrong. The market rate and the affordable housing sold.

So did the commercial portion of the project and for the first time in a long time—maybe ever—we saw people from all parts of Delray mingling at places like Ziree, a wonderful Thai restaurant.

The streetscape that made East Atlantic so trendy was extended all the way out to 95, a new library was built where it was needed —again despite some people coming up to the microphone and saying you can’t put the library “out there” because people will be afraid to go. Once again they were wrong. Lots of people use the library.

There were other plans that were implemented too.

The southwest plan called for infrastructure upgrades that were funded and done. The plan called for an expansion of The Village Academy and that was done too.

The parks plan added a splash park named after our first female mayor Catherine Strong, becoming the first park in the long neglected Southwest neighborhood.

A community land trust was formed, I think it was the first in the county, and they built some adorable homes for first time buyers.

We had an independent CRA back then, and by the way it was independent in name only because it worked collaboratively with the City Commission. The agency won a ton of awards and was recognized as one of the very best in the state before a mayor came along a few years back and used it as a punching bag.

That was shameful. Truly was.

How smart is it to take your best economic development tool and put cheese in the engine? Answer: not very.

Oh well, thankfully so much got done before the dysfunction set in.

Which is a good segue I suppose.

Last week, after four years of trying, a neighborhood calling itself “The Set” finally got their plan on the Commission agenda thanks to Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston. The neighborhood, which used to be called the southwest and northwest sections of the city, came together to work on “The Set Transformation Plan.”

Of course, you might not know that because when it hit the agenda the word “Set” was removed. Kind of like when the Egyptians removed the name Moses from their history books when they discovered he was Jewish.

It struck me as odd, petty, political, small and disrespectful.

It struck others that way too.

Anyway, it’s a good plan. I’ve read a bunch over the years and this is solid. But it needs to be adopted, funded and implemented. Otherwise, it’s just platitudes on paper.

Unfortunately last week, after four years and after many a campaign promise to get moving, the adoption of the plan was postponed so it can be workshopped.

Interesting.

The decision or lack thereof, smells.

It just does. And it smells worse considering where we are as a nation right now wrestling with issues of equity and racism.

There are some players tied to the plan who are controversial.

So what?

One of the guys spews a lot on social media as is his right. He gets some things right and he is way way way off on other things. For example, he’s wrong when he says nothing has ever been accomplished by the city or CRA in or for his community. A whole lot has been done. And nobody has ever said that things were finished.

But it’s really not about him or his friends. Or at least it shouldn’t be.

Is the plan worthy? Is it supported by the neighborhood it aspires to help? Is it good for Delray?

If the answer is yes, it ought to be adopted and put into action not put on a shelf.

If the answer is no, well then we need another plan and leadership ought to make that happen. But they better be able to explain why the plan falls short. And the answer can’t be because a few people who run their mouths on Facebook are behind it.

We are at an inflection point in this City and this country.

I don’t watch city meetings but my phone sure blew up when the plan’s adoption was postponed.

I’m not a bellwether. I’m just a middle aged white guy sitting at home watching Netflix riding out the pandemic.

But I’m feeling something and it ain’t COVID. People want change. They want progress. They want to be heard and respected. Those are not unreasonable demands.

Many are not feeling like they are being heard.

That’s not healthy.

It’s time for the plan to be adopted, funded and implemented.

It’s past time really.

As Sam Cooke sang, “a change is gonna come.”

Even in sleepy ole Delray.

17 June, 2020 2 2 Comments

Father & Sons

June 17, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 2 Comments

My dad celebrates his birthday June 15 with Riley his great grand retriever.

My father and I have a lot in common.

We love to talk politics, like to follow current events, enjoy sports —especially tennis —and love dogs. We never run out of things to talk about, enjoy each other’s company and I feel incredibly grateful to have had a father who has been nothing short of remarkable for 55 plus years.

Even today, at an age where I carry an AARP card and have had a fair amount of life experience, I wouldn’t make a major move without seeking his advice and counsel.

I’m lucky he’s still here to give it. And because he’s smart and caring, I’d be foolish not to seek out his counsel. And my dad and mom didn’t raise a fool. (Wink wink).

I’m writing about my dad, because this is his birthday week and we are fast approaching Father’s Day.

It’s a wonderful holiday; a chance to celebrate fatherhood and the important roles dad’s play in our lives and in our society.

My dad set an early and consistent example. He just seemed to always be doing the right things—taking care of our family, working hard and making my mother very happy.

He never sought the spotlight but just quietly provided for his family and served his community by running the local pharmacy.

He instilled in me and my sister a great love of Jewish culture, made sure we listened to the wonderful stories our grandparents told us and also gave us a deep appreciation for where we lived by taking on us on nice vacations where we mixed fun with history by visiting places like Gettysburg and Plymouth Rock.

He went to my Little League games, played tennis with me and took me to my first baseball game, Mets versus Pirates in 1973.

He never pushed me—like other dad’s did in sports. He wanted me to be a good sport and to enjoy the game.

That’s good advice for life by the way.

I may have rebelled a time or two (hundred) but I was listening. I paid attention. I tried to absorb what he was teaching me not through lectures but by living the right way.

I can’t speak for daughters but sons really want to earn their father’s attention and praise. My drive comes from wanting to get my father’s attention. It took me years to figure that out. I’ve been grateful for his inspiration.

I’ve lived my life way outside of my natural comfort zone as a result. Again, he never pushed. I just wanted him to be proud of me.

So much of what is wrong in our world today can be traced to poor parenting and it’s my hunch that a whole lot of dysfunction can be traced to bad fathers or absentee ones.

So I was lucky. I had a great father and a great mother.

What an advantage.

But I’m very conscious that others weren’t as fortunate as I was.

Which is why as we approach Father’s Day I’d like to ask your indulgence to consider reaching out and helping three local non-profits—the Achievement Center for Children and Families, 4Kids and the EJS Project.

There are a slew of other great non-profits that focus on children and I don’t mean to slight any of them.

But I’ve been taken by the three I’ve mentioned because of their emphasis on helping children from homes that struggle financially or spiritually or emotionally. Or sometimes all three.

The Achievement Center started in a church basement in Delray more than 50 years ago. I became involved because I became spellbound by the talent, passion and skill of founder Nancy Hurd. I served on the board for many years and saw firsthand how the lives of the most vulnerable children in our community were transformed by the nurturing they received from a talented and committed staff. That legacy of excellence continued after Nancy retired and passed the baton to the equally amazing Stephanie Siebel. Visit www.achievementcentersfl.org.Take a deeper look, you’ll be amazed.

I’ve also been impressed by the passion and commitment of Emanuel “Dupree” Jackson whose EJS Project is working wonders in Delray. The organization is mentoring a generation of young leaders, something our community and our country sorely needs.

Check out the EJS project at www.ejsproject.org.

Readers of this blog know how we feel about 4 Kids, which does wonders with foster children.

This is an organization addressing a critical need in our community with compassion, competence and love.

Visit www.4kids.us for more information.

Meanwhile, we wish wish you all a Happy Father’s Day. I will be spending mine with my dad and the kids who live locally. It’s a day to treasure.

15 June, 2020 6 6 Comments

The Dream Is Local

June 15, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 6 Comments

Local government can play a big role in improving race relations. It’s a choice.

Local government can play a big role in race relations. It’s a choice.

We got a nice email from the Delray Beach Historical Society last week.

The Historical Society is planning to take a deep dive into the history of race relations in Delray Beach. Working with the Spady Museum, the Historical Society plans to review a study they did with FAU in 2004.

At that time, more than 100 people gave oral histories on their experiences in our town.

The effort was part of a race relations effort that the City of Delray Beach was doing at the time.

I was Mayor back then and along with Conmissioner Alberta McCarthy, we spearheaded an effort to explore race relations with a goal of building community unity and talking about some thorny issues that have impacted our city for decades.

Delray Beach is a diverse city but we are also a segregated one, with a line —Swinton Avenue—separating East from West, black from white.

As a native New Yorker, it was the first thing I noticed when I discovered Delray in 1987.

I rarely saw African American people “downtown” or at the beach. And I rarely saw people who looked like me on West Atlantic Avenue. I always found that odd. And while people mostly got along, there would be periodic flashpoints that would remind everyone that race was very much an issue in Delray Beach as it is throughout America.

As a young journalist assigned to cover Delray, I caught the eye of C. Spencer Pompey and his wife H. Ruth Pompey.

They were community giants; civil rights leaders, educators and held in immense esteem by everyone in town.

They invited me into their home adjacent to Pompey Park, a place named in their honor.

I felt at home with the Pompey’s and visited on many occasions. We would sit in the living room of their comfy home and they would tell me stories about Delray for hours.
I couldn’t get enough.

The Pompey’s generosity helped my reporting at the time and later would inform my tenure on the City Commission.

Soon after, I met Elizabeth Wesley, another community icon who founded the Roots Cultural Festival. There is a plaza named in Libby’s honor on West Atlantic. She would go on to play a big role in my life as she did for countless others. Around this time, I also got to know and cover the career of Commissioner David Randolph, who to this day as known as “the commissioner”.

In later years, I would be invited to breakfasts hosted by community elders where I would listen to people like Yvonne Odom, who integrated Atlantic High School, neighborhood leader Ernestine Holliday and Alfred “Zack” Straghn, a civil rights, civic and business leader. And there were more special people that I would come to know and cherish.

Every relationship was a learning experience. Every interaction helped me to understand Delray Beach.

I mention these experiences because I think it’s important for aspiring leaders to spend time learning from people who have given back to the community.

There’s just no substitute for listening to the stories and experiences of those who came before us.

It also important to spend time with people who bring a different perspective as a result of their unique experiences.

I’m not sure this is happening as much anymore.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but I still talk to a wide range of people in our community and one of their complaints is that they don’t feel as connected to leadership as they once did.

That’s a mistake but also an opportunity because the answers to many complicated issues can be found by reaching out to the community.

Back in 2001, when we announced our intent to make improved race relations

a central piece of our goals and aspirations as a city government we got mostly positive feedback.
Many people appreciated the effort. Because we had relationships the effort was viewed by most—as sincere and needed. Others thought we were rocking the boat.

“Why bring up these sensitive issues” they would ask?

Because we need too. If we aspire to being a close knit community we need to be able to talk about everything—especially the uncomfortable subjects.

And we did. For awhile at least, we moved the needle. Not enough but we moved it. But times change. Commissioners and mayors come and go and so did our race relations effort.

Today, the protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd has got many of us thinking anew about all of these issues.

Racism. Social justice. Policing. Inequality. And for me anti-semitism which is also on the rise.

I’ll end this piece with a short story.

It was 2000 and I was campaigning for a seat on the City Commission, my first bid for public office.

I held a candidate ‘meet and greet’ at the Marriott on A1A.

It was a nice event, your typical have a drink and a bite while you mingle.

I remember saying hello to a pleasant looking elderly woman I had never seen before.

We talked for a few seconds while she ate chicken wings and drank wine.

When I said that I hoped I could count on her vote, she smiled and said.

“Oh, I won’t be voting for you,” she said. “We already have one of you on the commission.”

She smiled and walked away.

It took me a minute, but then I got it. I was Jewish and so was Commissioner Bill Schwartz who was serving at the time.

And so it goes…I suppose.

As a realist, if I let myself go there I can get pretty down on our flawed human condition. There’s so much hatred in our world.

But as an idealistic optimist, I remain hopeful that the pain we are experiencing will lead us to a better outcome for all…someday.

A world of love, compassion and understanding.

That world can start right here at home. But it won’t happen magically. We need to want it and we need to work for it.

It begins with getting to know and love thy neighbors. All of them.

10 June, 2020 7 7 Comments

The Future of Policing: Relationships

June 10, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 7 Comments

Our national dialogue is fraught.

It’s like a game of gotcha.

And it leads absolutely nowhere.

Endless circular arguments that leave us angry and frustrated.

The latest example is the so-called debate over the term “Defund The Police.”

We don’t need too. Nor should we.

But we do need to invest in neglected communities. It’s not a zero sum game. We can have good police departments and we can set aside money for communities that need our help. This is not an either or choice. We can do both. And we can help our police departments by re-imagining their role in society.

Perhaps, we are asking our police departments to do too much.

A few years ago, the Dallas Police Chief touched on this notion in a now famous video in which he lamented that every single societal issue ended up at his doorstep.

If you have a stray dog problem, ask the cops to deal with it.

Homelessness, opioid addiction, mental health issues ,domestic violence—-just put the cops on it.

Well, perhaps that’s not the best approach.

First, we never do get at the root cause of these problems and secondly when things escalate it can get end badly for everyone.

Instead, we can invest in mental health professionals, case workers, counselors and others who can assist the police in keeping our communities from descending into places of hopelessness and despair.

A few years back, the Delray Beach Police Department hired a social worker to help with a raging opioid crisis among other issues. I would argue we need more of that.

We don’t have to look far to see an example of how a department can reform and make a lasting difference. We can look to our very own police department.

Thirty years ago, the biggest issue in town was the poor relationship between citizens of neglected neighborhoods and their police department.

Things began to turn around with the introduction of community policing first introduced by interim Police Chief Rick Lincoln and taken to an amazing level by Chief Rick Overman who was hired in 1991 and given the mandate to turn things around.

Chief Overman came from Orlando and he was a change agent.

He was also a charismatic visionary who talked a good game, but played a better one.

He rolled out a blizzard of programs: Citizen Police Academies, outreach to the large Haitian community, problem oriented policing projects to get at the root of issues and a volunteer program that at its zenith numbered over 1,000 residents who acted as the departments eyes and ears.

He broke the city into zones and tasked officers to get out of their cars and into the neighborhoods where they could develop relationships and trust.

The department worked with MAD DADS, a grassroots organization that walked the streets to reclaim neighborhoods from drug dealers.

Chief Overman initiated bike patrols, opened police substations and invited citizens into the department to see how it worked.

There were efforts to have officers mentor local kids, there were midnight basketball leagues, barbecues, self defense classes, toy drives, DARE classes in local schools to keep kids away from drugs and much more.

Some of it lasted. Some of it went away.

But all of it was good.

Because the focus was relationship and community building.

The emphasis was on communication and building trust.

Chief Overman knew that in his line of work it wasn’t a matter of if something would go wrong during one of the thousands of police/community interactions that occur every year in a complex city such as Delray ,it was a matter of when.

He wanted his city and his department to be ready. He built capital. He built relationships.

He built a reservoir of good will.

He also raised standards for hiring officers insisting on a college degree, controversial at the time. But he believed that the more education an officer had, the less likely he or she was to make mistakes—especially violent ones. It was a position backed by research.

Within a relatively short amount of time, the police department went from being perceived as a huge liability to being arguably the city’s biggest strength.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. The Delray Beach Police Department made it possible for our city to have a renaissance.

People won’t invest—their time or their money—unless they feel safe.

The example set by the police flowed to every department in the city.

The whole city became oriented toward community building. That meant town hall meetings, visioning exercises, resident academies, youth councils, community dinners, summer programs, after school “Beacon” programs, partnerships with non-profits and much more.

And guess what? It worked.

It’s expensive and time consuming. But…failing to engage your community is a lot more expensive.

A few years back, it became fashionable to trash the past history of this town.

It was a foolish decision driven by petty personal feuds and ego.

But that ruinous mindset has sure done a lot of damage. It has led to the dysfunction and turnover at City Hall, which ought to alarm and concern us all because it leaves this community weaker and vulnerable.

We stopped doing many of the things mentioned above. We abandoned strategies that built a city and could have done a lot more had that ethos continued.

We even had senior city staff question the investment in some of the programs mentioned above. That’s their right.

But their conclusions were so wrong.

Those investments were not wasted, they enriched lives, created opportunities and built something of value—a community.

I am grateful that our Police Department has maintained good relations with our community.

Chief Javaro Sims has led admirably during this difficult time. We have some very special officers.

Personally, I’d like to see a recommitment to community policing complete with a plan and a budget. It’s money well spent.

Officers need to know the people they protect and serve. Our city’s children need to know and trust officers.

I’d also like to see efforts made to grow the capacity of local leaders and organizations. We need more leaders and we need to support those we have.

Local government can play an important role in these efforts.

Bring back visioning. Bring back Charettes. Bring back community dinners. Bring back the effort to improve race relations.

Get serious about economic development and capacity building so when development occurs—locals benefit.

We had the playbook. Then we tossed it. For what?

But my friends that play book—well it still works. Dust it off, freshen it up and you’ll see magic happen.

8 June, 2020 16 16 Comments

A Change Is Going to Come

June 8, 2020 By Jeff Perlman 16 Comments

George Floyd’s murder will spark change.

I had (a socially distant) lunch last week with a small group of special men.

We met to discuss the day’s events particularly the murder of George Floyd and America’s continuing struggle with racism.

We talked about policing reform, our fears for our children and our hopes that this time things will be different. Oh how I hope it’s true.

I sat a few feet away from Anquan Boldin, a former NFL superstar, and a founder of the Players Coalition which was formed to advocate for social justice. Mr. Boldin’s cousin, Corey Jones, was murdered on a Florida highway by a police officer.

Football seemed small after that tragedy so Boldin decided to devote the rest of his life to the cause of equal justice.

He’s a serious man on a serious mission. I admire him.

A few feet away from Anquan sat Abram Elam, another former NFL player. Mr. Elam has lost three siblings to gunfire. Think about that for a moment. Three siblings. You might say he yearns for change.

Across from me sat Corey Gauff, tennis star’s Coco’s father and coach.

I first met Corey when he was a standout high school basketball player for Boca High.

He’s grown into a smart and serious man, someone who wants better for his kids and the next generation.

Also at the table were my

dear friend, Michael Coleman, a former Delray police captain, Jameal Stewart, who grew up on the streets of Delray, Atlantic High football coach TJ Jackson, attorney Lee Cohen, youth mentor C. Ron Allen and a few others all with their own stories of tragedy and hope.

It was a powerful afternoon: a group of men sharing ideas, experiences and strategies.

I felt privileged to be there as a former mayor whose community was visited by violence; the shooting death of Jerrod Miller by an off-duty police officer who was working a security detail at a school dance.

Truth be told, while I learned a lot from the experience, I felt humbled by my company.

Their experiences, their losses, their time spent on the streets and with youth far, far, far exceed what I’ve seen.

So I listened.

And what I saw was a group of men, most of them fathers, determined that the future will be better than the present and the past.

They want and will demand police reforms: from getting rid of qualified immunity to ensuring that standards for becoming police officers are raised and made uniform nationwide.

It was a far ranging discussion. I mostly listened and was deeply impressed.

It’s one of those afternoons you don’t recover from. You listen to these men and you change—for the better.

I think this is the moment. The moment those of us who desperately want a more perfect union have been longing for.

I think we will see needed reforms. I think we will see positive change.

And I think it will happen because of leaders like Anquan Boldin and the others I was privileged to meet.

I’m going to see them again today. We are going to talk and more importantly act.

It’s time.

In fact, it’s long overdue.