Lifestyle | Page 74 | Your Delray Boca

25 April, 2016 0 Comments

Here’s to the Rebels

April 25, 2016 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Prince was an original.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Apple “Think Different” advertising campaign.

I had a strange thought when I heard about the death of Prince over the weekend.

Where are the creative geniuses in politics?

Where are the round pegs, the innovators, the geniuses and rebels?

Could be it be that politics doesn’t lend itself to the archetypes that Apple’s ad described? You know, the Einstein’s, Earhart’s, Picasso’s, Edison’s and yes Bowie’s and Prince’s of the world–people whose sheer brilliance and creativity changed the way we see the world.

Sure we’ve had Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Lincoln, Churchill, King and FDR but it sure seems that the arts and entrepreneurship produce more game changers.

At the risk of alienating some friends, the overwhelming sentiment that seems to accompany this presidential election cycle is the strong feeling on both sides of “is this really the best we can do?”

That feeling runs the gamut from president to our legislature and city councils. Where are the visionaries, the healers, the uniters and the innovators?

Maybe our politics no longer lends itself to creativity and innovation. Democrats have to conform to certain beliefs and so do Republicans. Stray from the orthodoxy and you are toast. Try to evolve and you’re a flip flopper. Introduce an idea that bucks the status quo and you’ve lost your base.

We see it on a local level with elected officials afraid to cast votes that may upset the loud voices and yet doesn’t progress rely on taking chances, on saying yes sometimes.

If you study the list of Apple’s “Think Different” icons and the few others we’ve lost this year including Bowie and Prince it becomes clear what sets them apart. Sure they are talented and creative. Yes, some were extraordinarily smart but the common thread is they didn’t succumb to fear.

I can’t say that they were fearless–chances are they felt fear– but all of them decided to be themselves anyway, to pursue their art, vision or passion.

Maybe politics–which has been described as the art of compromise– (but now even compromise is viewed as weakness)–is no longer designed for the game changers in our society.

If that’s the case, we ought to mourn that as well. Or we ought to be hard at work to change that.

We need the rebels, the creatives, the originals to get to work on the most pressing challenges and opportunities of our time. At every level of our society.

20 April, 2016 1 Comment

Slow Down You Move Too Fast; Got to Make the Morning Last

April 20, 2016 By Jeff Perlman 1 Comment

I leave for work pretty early in the morning, usually just after 7 a.m.

My morning commute is probably less than 10 miles, but many times it’s a white knuckle experience of drivers drifting into lanes, bicyclists using everything but the bike lane, pedestrians looking at their phones as they cross the street despite the “do not walk signal” and cars running red lights. Fortunately, I don’t have to take I-95, but even local streets in Boca and Delray can resemble the cult movie “Death Race 2000.” It can be nuts out there: add School Zones, construction and speeding motorcycles and you end up needing therapy before you begin your day. It’s not traffic that bedevils drivers early in the morning; it’s speedy, erratic drivers who seem to be concentrating on everything but the road. As we first generation Floridians might say: “oy vey”!

Well, it turns out that there are disturbing statistics to back up our daily driving challenges.

More than 39,000 people were injured in Florida last year after being involved in distracted-driving crashes.

Distracted driving is claiming almost one life a day in the Sunshine State, according to numbers from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department.

There were more than 45,000 crashes caused by distracted drivers last year in Florida. At least 214 people died. Of the dead, 198 were drivers.

In Palm Beach County, there were 2,194 distracted driving crashes in 2015, resulting in 1,656 injuries and 7 deaths.

Since Florida’s ban on texting while driving went into effect a year and a half ago, police have issued just 3,400 citations, in part because texting is a secondary offense, which means that motorists must have be stopped for some other violation.

Police tell state legislators that the statistics don’t capture the entirety of the condition, because many crashes occur as a result of distracted driving that can’t be easily proven.

One in seven drivers admitted to Virginia Tech researchers that they text while driving. Forty-six percent of 16- and 17-year-olds said they text behind the wheel, while nearly half — 48 percent — of 18- to 24-year-olds admit to violating anti-texting laws.

Five texting bills, including primary enforcement, were introduced in the 2016 legislative session. None of them got a hearing.

So it doesn’t seem like legislative help is on the way any time soon. As many cities weigh the move to “complete streets” which calls for narrower lanes (hopefully to lower speeds and improve safety) and accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians, there’s going to be a need for significant behavioral changes.

We have a long way to go. Even when I take A1A, once considered a road where it was OK to drive a little slower and admire the scenery, I see speeding cars, impatient drivers and lots of texting while driving.

All of which begs the question: what’s the rush?

18 April, 2016 0 Comments

Making Room for the Middle

April 18, 2016 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

The lack of workforce housing has reached crisis levels in the Bay area.

The headline blared “Build, Baby, Build” in Sunday’s New York Times.
The story focused on the growing YIMBY (yes in my backyard) movement in the hyper expensive Bay Area of California.

The lack of work force housing in the San Francisco area is stoking a movement to pressure local governments to allow the construction of more housing. Led by young professionals, groups are forming to confront those who fight new development.
Several cities are now facing competing lawsuits. For example, Lafayette down zoned a parcel that was zoned for high density multi family housing. Now the city faces a lawsuit by a group that wants multi family on the site and another who thinks the new zoning -for single family housing–is also too much.
High profile technology executives are writing checks to fight those who oppose multi family housing fearful that their workforce will have no place to live. The lack of housing has also been blamed for traffic because workers are forced to drive long distances to their workplaces.
Several local elected officials have welcomed the YIMBY movement saying it is important for young professionals to feel they have a future in the region and that cities need to be thinking about ways they can plan to accommodate their needs.
It’s an interesting debate and one that may soon break out in the Sunshine state.
In case you haven’t noticed, housing is expensive around these parts and if you know your economics one way to lower prices is to increase the supply.
While that is a simplification of the issue, it’s hard not to include density in any serious argument about addressing the need to create workforce housing.
In Boca Raton and Delray Beach, the issue of housing affordability has been around for decades. We are not talking about low or very low income housing but rather middle and upper middle class housing–places where teachers, accountants, police officers and others in the workforce can afford to live.
There used to be a joke among public officials in Boca and Delray. When asked where their workforce could find attainable housing, Boca officials would often answer: “Delray”.
That might have been true in the 80s and 90s but these days housing prices have accelerated to rival that of Boca. In fact, many neighborhoods exceed Boca prices.
Delray was considered a leader in workforce housing strategies during the last boom in the early and mid 2000s forming one of the first Community Land Trusts and passing what was then considered a model workforce housing ordinance.
A major part of Delray’s strategy to revitalize its downtown was to increase densities–an effort in part to add residents downtown to support businesses and increase safety but also an attempt to create some measure of affordability. But recent changes to the land development regulations capped density downtown at 30 units to the acre and a promised “bonus” program seems to have been lost.

With land prices downtown sky high, it seems unlikely that a meaningful number of units for young professionals will be created. That’s a big loss, since millennials would tend to be year round residents who would enjoy downtown’s vibrancy and would support local merchants.
Cognizant of the high price of downtown living, the Congress Avenue Task Force emphasized the need for workforce housing and higher densities along the 4.1 mile corridor.
Another opportunity would be at the “four corners” of Atlantic and Military Trail where moribund shopping centers could be redeveloped into mixed use lifestyle centers.
While Boca and Delray don’t yet face the pressures of San Francisco, the best economic development strategies would include plans to make our cities appealing to young professionals. There are several legs to that stool: abundant job opportunities, good schools, low crime rates, amenities such as arts, culture, parks and recreation, good transportation and attainable housing.
Regardless, to ensure a positive future you have to plan for it. The operative word is plan. Perhaps, there would be less antagonism toward new development if it was tied to a long term vision or strategy. If that strategy is to make room for young families or to plan for our kids to come home it may resonate. Still, just about any plan for the future would require making room for those who may wish to live here. “I’m in the boat, pull up the ladder” is not a strategy for economic sustainability.

14 April, 2016 0 Comments

More Adventures…Book Excerpt

April 14, 2016 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.com

Some of you may know that I published a book last year. “Adventures in Local Politics” is available on Amazon. A portion of the proceeds are donated to local charities.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Instead of merely livable, I think we need to start thinking about how we make our cities more lovable. When we love something, we cherish it; we protect it; we do extraordinary things for it.”—author Peter Kageyama

Great cities find a way to invest and re-invest in the future.

They understand that even when success hits you can never rest. A great city knows that complacency is a killer.

My father and others taught me that in business you have to wake up a little scared each and every day, even when things—especially when things—are going well.

When you achieve some success, there is sure to be a chorus of those who will tell you that you are done—just declare victory and go home. Well… you are never done.

You must constantly innovate, experiment, iterate and scan the horizon for threats and opportunities.

In the public realm, it is important to invest and re-invest. It sends a signal to the private sector that you are serious about progress and growth.

We live in an era where public spending is considered wrong. While wasting taxpayer dollars is indeed wrong, not all public spending should be lumped together. Public investment should be treated as such—an investment that should yield returns.

Some of the returns can be directly measured. Were jobs created? Did the tax base grow? Did crime rates fall?

But sometimes ROI is intangible. Sometimes public investment is made to improve the quality of life in the community, a much tougher concept to measure. Sometimes investments are made with an eye on trying to make people fall in love with their city. Still, we all know that times have changed and spending needs to be prudent—dollars are not infinite.

After decades of abundance, we now live in an era of austerity.

Budgets have shrunk. Wages and benefits are flat or declining. Revenues are down and despite a prolonged funk we still face an awful lot of economic headwinds. In other words, this may be the new normal folks.

And yet, the challenge for cities is to somehow find a way to invest in things that make people love where they live.

Progressive hospitals learned a long time ago that amenities such as gardens; plants; brightly painted walls and murals play a helpful role in their patients’ recovery time and overall health outcomes.

But when it comes to cities, politicians are criticized every time they spend on something “frivolous”—whether it’s public art, a new park, a festival or culture.

Yet research shows that the very things that make cities fun and lovable also make a big difference economically by spurring private investment and increasing the value of homes and commercial properties.

This poses a dilemma because in a time of diminishing resources, politicians cannot be seen as spending unwisely and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean that spending on all the things that get residents emotionally involved in their cities has to stop.

It does mean that expenses such as festivals, sporting events, public art installations, cultural venues etc., have to be looked at carefully.

If special events are tired, then they either have to be revamped as to be valuable again or retired. If new events are to be added, they need to meet a very high threshold; therefore the return on investment must be clear and worthwhile. Still, to say cut it all and just fill the potholes is not the wisest strategy for a city.

Money must be still be set aside for the things that make your city different.

A good tactic might be to take a close look at “lazy assets” and see what can be done to activate them and make them valuable and vibrant.

Regardless, of where you stand on the sensitive issue of spending; one thing is certain—money still flows into city coffers.

Maybe not as much as before, but often times enough to run a great city as long as the spending is highly scrutinized, smartly prioritized and tied to a larger strategy—i.e. building toward a common vision.

In Delray Beach, the city’s renaissance started with public investment tied to community goals gathered through a detailed grassroots visioning process.

Once the public money was committed, the private sector stepped in because they knew the city was serious about getting things done.

As a result, while never formally quantified, it is safe to say that the public’s investment was leveraged many-fold by private dollars.

Simply put, businesses opened and residents flocked to the city as a direct result of public investment.

But that investment must be an ongoing commitment. Which is why it is important to not only just keep up on maintenance and filling pot holes but to keep planning and talking to your citizens about the future.

Your conversation with the community about the future should never cease.

Delray Beach came out of its decades-long funk by finding an inclusive way to invest in the community.

In the late 1980s, a cross-section of community leaders gathered for a community-wide visioning process that led to the successful passage of the 1989 Decade of Excellence Bond Issue.

The $21.5 million bond funded a variety of projects in the city’s blighted eastern core and sent a signal that the city was serious about redevelopment. As a reporter covering Delray at the time, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the diversity of the civic team assembled to pass the bond. Black and white, east and west, lifelong residents and newcomers all came together around a common vision of restoration.

Chief among the city’s reclamation projects was Old School Square, an abandoned school surrounded by a rusted chain link fence that sat smack dab in the middle of the city’s downtown.

A visionary leader named Frances Bourque sold the city’s leadership on restoring the old school rather than demolish the 1920s era buildings. She saw charm where others saw blight and that kind of vision and investment can’t help but make waves—in a positive way.

When I reflect back on Frances Bourque’s vision (her genius) really, I realized that in one catalytic project she hit upon a magic formula for cities.

In the 80s, I’m not sure that Delray was certain about what it would take to turn things around. Sure, we had to clean up neighborhoods, fight crime, improve schools and turn some lights on downtown. Every city with those problems knows you have to cover the basics. But even when most or all of those things happened, the city still needed an identity; a reason to fall in love with the place.

One of the most important factors that often get overlooked is the need for a narrative. People love stories; they fall in love with them. And cities that have narratives are often the ones that we remember and that thrive. Austin got a huge narrative boost when South by Southwest and the notion of being the live music capital of the world took root. Santa Cruz’ weirdness—as strange as it sounds—makes it a lovable place. Where there’s success, look for a narrative.

Frances managed to find a civic project that touched on Delray’s past, present and future. Old School Square whose buildings dated almost back to the founding of the city tugged on those who loved Delray’s rich history. It also perfectly matched the city’s appetite in the 80s for renewal and revitalization and it spoke to a bright future, i.e. a place for the town to gather. Absolutely, brilliant; a great narrative.

What emerged was a cultural arts center with a 300 seat theater, a restored gym for community events, and a museum and classroom space for arts classes. The grounds became the city’s gathering place for a diverse brew of festivals, performances and holiday festivities including a 100-foot Christmas tree that draws tens of thousands each season.

Old School Square became the catalyst for the first wave of investment downtown. It would take more than a decade for the downtown to fully flower, but an array of pioneering businesses were lured downtown by the city’s investment in streetscape, paver bricks, decorative lighting etc.

Public investment, coupled with political will and community unity sends a very strong message to entrepreneurs and developers. Consequently, political dysfunction or weakness coupled with community fragmentation sends a very bad message.

Fortunately for Delray Beach, the city was able to string together two solid decades of relative unity on all fronts. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t debate or dissension, only that on the big things—downtown redevelopment, beach re-nourishment, fixing blighted neighborhoods—there was remarkable unity and focus.

When this rare cohesion comes about you can really build traction, unlike communities that start and stop, progress takes off when leadership is aligned. The key is to keep it going because creating a great city takes years.

But progress in turn leads to trust in local government’s ability to deliver. And that is a very powerful intangible. When taxpayers trust their local government they are often willing to fund the things that make people feel in love with a place.

6 April, 2016 0 Comments

Random Thoughts…

April 6, 2016 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Dare 2 Be Great Scholars Believe in ‘paying it forward’

This is the time of year that the Dare 2 Be Great board pours over applications for scholarships.
It’s a humbling experience to read through the resumes and essays of these incredible young men and women.
Many of the essays are inspirational and more than a few are heartbreaking.
The common thread seems to be resilience. It just seems that some people are built by adversity. They succeed regardless of life’s circumstances and overcome hurdles. It’s almost as if they succeed because they are determined to live better lives.
These kids inspire me. I wish we could help them all. It breaks my heart that we can’t. We’ll keep you posted on the Class of ’16.

It’s a Miracle
Congratulations to the Miracle League of Palm Beach County which pulled off its first successful dinner on the diamond last week.
Julia and Jeff Kadel and their team of volunteers have done a remarkable job bringing the great game of baseball to kids who might not otherwise have an ability to play.
So good to see this wonderful non-profit grow and thrive. And I’m pleased to see Celsius, a company I’m involved with, step up and sponsor.

An Affair to Remember

We hope you’ll visit the Delray Affair this weekend.
The 54th annual event is a great chance to see friends and to adopt a rescue pet.
That’s right.
We’ve adopted two pets at the Affair over the years: Randy and Sophie.
Both little dogs enriched our families beyond words. We also hope the city doesn’t “fee” this event to death.

It’s Delray’s signature event, a tradition and helps our Chamber of Commerce stay healthy and more than ever this city needs a healthy chamber.

Hello Rhys, Goodbye Kim
We wish Tech Runway’s founding director Kim Gramm well on her new job in Texas.
Kim did a lot to put FAU’s ambitious project on the map.
She will be missed.

We are excited to see our Leadership Florida friend Rhys Williams step into the role of leading Tech Runway.

Thanks, Alyona

We’ll also miss Alyona Ushe well as she departs Delray’s innovative Arts Garage.
Alyona won’t be far away as she will continue to work her magic in Pompano Beach.
It’s not easy to start something and make it relevant. Alyona put the Arts Garage on the cultural map in South Florida creating buzz and staging lots of memorable shows and performances.
She made an impact.

4 April, 2016 0 Comments

Personal Touch Missing in Politics

April 4, 2016 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Means everything.

I don’t mean to pick on US Senator Bill Nelson.
He’s a nice man. I know this for a fact having dined with him a few times when I was an elected official. I enjoyed his stories about space and his insight about life in Washington.
But I’m going to use Sen. Nelson as an example because he’s one of the good guys and well he disappointed me last week with a canned response to a message left for him through his website.
We reached out to Florida’s senior senator on behalf of a Delray Beach resident who has over 50 years of experience at the bleeding edge of science and biotech. My friend is the real deal and he’s concerned about Zika. He believes the virus will ultimately be a bigger challenge to society than HIV. That’s a big statement. And it’s not being made lightly. My friend has given this a lot of thought.
His business works globally with governments, pharmaceutical companies, physicians and researchers. He saw an interview with Senator Nelson who talked about the need for research dollars to be applied to the Zika problem. He wants to help. Not because he’s seeking a government handout but because he fears this problem. He wants in the game because he thinks he can make a difference.
And we received a canned response.
Now I’m sure Senator Nelson receives a large volume of correspondence–too much to handle personally. But an effective system should sift through the mountain and separate the wheat from the chaff.
My friend should be able to contact his Senator on this terribly important issue and get more than a “thank you we value your input” response.
It’s why people feel disconnected from their representatives in Washington. If you take the time to craft a letter, outline your credentials and ask for consideration I would argue that you deserve more than a canned response.
I’m sure they all do it. But they shouldn’t.
There has to be a better way.

We will try another method to see if we can get a little more than a polite brush off.
One more try to see if someone will listen. We’ll see.
Congress is about as popular as Zika these days. Sadly, they have earned their low approval ratings with partisan bickering, grandstanding and a sense that if you don’t give or raise tons of cash your voice doesn’t matter.
Our politics are broken on so many levels. Problems go unsolved, constituents go unheard and voters are angry.
Again I’m fond of Senator Nelson. He’s a good man.
But when a Floridian reaches out and comes equipped with credentials and ideas somebody in Washington ought to listen.
It’s just that simple.

31 March, 2016 2 2 Comments

Remembering A Special Friend

March 31, 2016 By Jeff Perlman 2 Comments

Former Chief Overman, the late, great Officer Johnny Pun and Skip Brown.

“The most beautiful people I have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and a deep, loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” Elizabeth Kubler Ross.

That has to be one of my very favorite quotes.

If you consider those you love and admire, the beautiful people in your life, you will find that quote to be true. As much as we wish nothing but wine and roses for our loved ones, the reality is in every life there will be challenges and heartbreaks.

Those who manage to find their way out of the depths and look out for others are special indeed.

I know more than a few of these people and they have been a blessing to me and my family and a gift to our community.

About two weeks ago, one of the prime examples of the quote above reached out to me with a wonderful message of friendship. Skip Brown is a retired Delray Beach Police Officer who is living in Alabama these days with his lovely wife, Cheryl.

Skip was challenged by Cheryl to reach out to important people in his life and let them know how much they have meant to his life. The contents of that conversation are private and personal, but I wanted to share the concept of reaching out to five key people in your life while you still can and while they are still around. And I wanted to share some thoughts about Skip and his generation of police officers who meant so much to Delray Beach.

First, what a powerful idea it is to think about the key people in your life and how and why they made such an impact.

To share those feelings with those cherished people is a powerful act; it enriches both the messenger and the recipient. I got Skip’s call during a particularly stressful week, the funny part is I know longer remember what I was so stressed about, which is a lesson in itself. This too shall pass, they say; and most of the time that’s right. But Skip’s phone call instantly lifted my spirits and his “gift” (and that’s what it was) has stayed with me and will stay with me.

It’s nice to know you matter to people you care about. It’s nice to know that your friendship has made a difference in a great man’s life.

I met Skip when I was a kid in my early 20s. He was a big, very big and burly cop and I was a very young and naïve reporter. Skip was gruff, but always fair and honest and I appreciated his willingness to take some time and teach me about Delray and about life.

He had a world of experience when I met him. Years on road patrol and time in the jungles of Vietnam. I came from suburban Long Island from a very stable household and had seen very little, he had driven a truck before becoming a police officer and seen an awful lot, emphasis on awful.

On the surface we didn’t have much in common. But I was fascinated by Delray and Skip was a big part of an effort to make the city safer. The people who were involved at that time were in the midst of building something very special.

When I met him, Skip was a K-9 officer. He had a huge German Shepherd named Rambo who was a local legend. Later, he would have a wonderful K-9 named Olk, who died too soon, in front of Skip one day before work. Skip loved his dogs and his birds and my new puppy Magnum, a goofy golden retriever who reminded him of the dog on the Bush’s Baked Beans commercial.

I lived around the block from Skip and we spent time at each other’s homes—well driveways mostly– talking into the wee hours of the night about everything Delray.

Skip and several other K-9 officers at the time, including Phil Dorfman, Will McCollum and Geoff Williams, did a lot of community outreach in those days taking the dogs to schools and events. Those kind of efforts along with D.A.R.E. programs and community policing did much to change the perception of the Delray Beach Police Department.

I’ve said often and will continue to emphasize that Delray’s revitalization was made possible by the Delray Beach Police Department. Skip and many other officers are the unsung heroes of Delray and their efforts were tireless, authentic and in-depth.

Skip was at the forefront of many of these efforts, leaving K-9 and becoming the department’s Volunteer Coordinator which at the time had well over 1,000 volunteers –an astounding number for a city our size. The program won international recognition with news stories on CNN and other national outlets, chapters in scholarly books and even a visit from President Bush, Governor Bush and Rudy Guiliani after 9-11. Former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, who used to spend winters in Delray, became a huge fan of the department, riding along with officers and gathering information for courses he taught at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

I can go on. But the most important takeaways are the relationships that were built as a result of these efforts. They made the whole difference: instead of being fearful of police, people in troubled neighborhoods opened up about their problems and worked with officers to solve issues. On a personal level, I saw a lot of friendships develop. Skip was particularly good at this. Many of his volunteers were senior citizens, members of the “greatest generation” who fought in World War II. Skip respected them and they returned his loyalty with service and devotion to the department and the city. When they got sick, he was there by their side. He spent many a sleepless night in a hospital or hospice and always tended to family members in their time of need and beyond.

The department also reached out to the Haitian community, starting Citizens Police Academies for Creole speaking residents in a successful effort to break down barriers. Skip taught at the academy and recruited volunteers forming a nationally recognized Haitian Roving Patrol, which was part of an All America City effort.

The volunteer program served as the department’s eyes and ears and the volunteers were committed to the department and the city giving hours of their time to training and patrols.

The chief at the time, Rick Overman, was the architect and quite simply a transformational leader. But while Overman was a master strategist, his greatest strength was recognizing and empowering talented employees and letting them soar. Skip was one of those guys. And he soared. So did the city.

The officers I met during that era, the late 80s, were a very interesting group of characters. Some were larger than life personalities. There was talent at just about every position; magnificent detectives, experts on community policing, brave undercover officers, tough as nails Tact Team officers, a stellar K-9 unit and officers who specialized in what is called problem oriented policing; using a variety of resources to get at the root of issues.

But Chief Overman knew he could not tackle the city’s challenges on his own. His department and his officers needed the community and he became a magnet for involvement. Skip and many others were extensions of that philosophy—they challenged residents to get involved and to take ownership of their streets, neighborhood and city. What resulted was a partnership, relationships and trust.

Skip was a builder of those ideals. Every day he sought to partner, promote and build relationships.

They were special times and Skip was made for the job.

I’m pleased to see another product of that era, Chief Jeff Goldman, take a new generation of officers and have them focus on community and relationships. It works. It truly does.

With headlines all across America questioning the relationship between police and communities, it’s comforting to know that we have the right philosophy in place. Yes, it costs money to attract and retain talent, but it will cost you a whole lot more if you fail to build a department that protects and serves with integrity and distinction.

I hope you’ll “do like Skip” and call those special people in your life. It’s all about paying it forward. And I hope we invest in the men and women who protect and serve us. If we don’t, we risk it all.

28 March, 2016 2 2 Comments

Place Matters

March 28, 2016 By Jeff Perlman 2 Comments

A long time ago, I had a conversation with a close friend that has stuck with me over the years.
Like many great talks this one began with a question: “is place important to you?”
Could you be happy anywhere or do you have to live in a place that speaks to you in some way?
I’ve been thinking about that lately as I fantasize about a second home somewhere else…Asheville, Portland, Me., New York City (a pipe dream) or Laguna Beach (perhaps an even bigger pipe dream).
I usually have these thoughts a month or so before it begins to get hot and humid in Florida. It’s somehow comforting to imagine to a life where you can escape the humidity for more comfortable climes– at least for a few months.
While this is nowhere near a reality it’s ok for a guy to dream and plot just a little.
When I mention this to friends they say why don’t you just travel and visit different places? But while that’s definitely in the cards, I know in my bones that what I really want is a second home in a place where I care about happens.
Yes, place matters to me. Very much.
So when we travel I often think about what it would be like to live where we visit.
I adore St. Augustine. Would I be happy there?

It’s only four or so hours away, the beaches are beautiful, Jacksonville is close by and the history is amazing.
When we visited Portsmouth, New Hampshire I gobbled up every real estate publication. I thought the downtown was charming, alive and interesting. I loved it.
Asheville’s beauty, craft beer scene and live music is awfully appealing and Maine..well Maine defies description. I just felt happy there. Can’t explain it, but New England is just so comfortable. Like a favorite pair of jeans.
Closer to home I’m passionately in love with downtown Delray. I just love the rhythm, the scale, the energy and the sidewalk cafes. Pineapple Grove is a great street and the nooks and crannies off of Second Avenue are so appealing. Banker’s Row–gorgeous. Third Avenue and Third Street, gritty and cool.
Federal Highway looks and feels great.
In Boca, I enjoy Mizner Park.

Mizner is 25 years old this year and it gets better with age–sure its a “lifestyle center” but it’s a fun place to be. It just is.
Camino Real is a remarkable street and Old Floresta is just beautiful.
Places matter. They feed our soul, impact our mood and can make us think. The best places feel like home, they are warm and inviting. Shelter from the storm, so to speak.
It feels good to be home.

Whenever I’m inside the Crest Theater it just feels good. Memories abound. Same thing when I visit Lake Ida Park and watch the birds. Every great dog I’ve ever had has enjoyed that park so when I visit they are with me. And it feels right.
Yes, place matters. A whole lot.

24 March, 2016 4 4 Comments

They Dare 2 Be Great

March 24, 2016 By Jeff Perlman 4 Comments

Dare 2 Be Great supports promising Delray students with a goal of bringing them back home.

About six years ago, I met Morgan Russell for breakfast at Christina’s in Pineapple Grove.

I hadn’t seen Morgan for a while, he had done a lot of investing in the Grove when I was on the city commission but after I termed out he moved to Colorado and while we kept in sporadic touch, I wasn’t really sure what he was up to when we sat down.

Delray had been good to Morgan and in turn he was good to Delray. He owned and operated some great real estate including a corner of US 1 and Linton Boulevard and the Esplanade in Pineapple Grove, a district he helped to pioneer back when the hordes were heading to Atlantic Avenue.

His signature project–co-developed with Scott Porten — was CityWalk, a gorgeous mixed use project that we had worked closely on to make happen. Imagine that, working closely with a real estate investor, what a concept. But I digress.

Now Morgan was back and anxious to pay it forward as they say.

He wanted to do something cool for Delray. So after some brainstorming we sketched out an idea. I know it sounds clichéd but its true– on a napkin we created Dare 2 Be Great.

The non-profit, which has virtually no overhead, sends great Delray students to college and provides mentoring services as well. In six years, we have supported well over 40 students and we are about to interview candidates for our class of 2016.

Our kids have gone to just about every state school and to places like Stanford, NYU, George Washington, Northwestern and the Savannah College of Art and Design. We have Dare Scholars in medical school and in the White House (a White House fellow, my mentee Ian Mellul).

It has been a spectacular experience. And the students we have met along the way are amazing, inspiring and every other positive adjective you can dream up.

The “human capital” in this city is nothing short of eye opening and remarkable. And I wish everybody could see what we see; because if our citizens could see the potential and the drive and the adversity our kids—Delray’s kids—overcome we’d have a better conversation in Delray about our future.

I’m all in on creating opportunity and quality of life for not only our current residents but our children as well. We need to be a city, county, state, nation and world that thinks about our future and feels an obligation to leave a better place for those who come next. It’s not about any single person’s vision of a village or personal drive times; it is about creating good opportunities for the next generation.

I think it begins with education and ends with good jobs, community, family, friends, spiritual life and quality of life. In order for our community to thrive we need all of those things and a bunch more too—including housing, health care, a quality environment, cultural opportunities and safe neighborhoods.

You can’t scrimp on any of those things—we have an obligation and a duty to be thinking long term.

Dare 2 Be Great is a bet on our future. From the beginning it was designed as an investment in Delray Beach. We believe that if we mentor and provide an education to kids who we believe can be game changers that they will come back home to a place they love and make us an even better community.

While we focus on kids who are succeeding and overcoming adversity, organizations like the Achievement Center, Milagro Center, the Miracle League and Delray Students First are working with kids in the midst of the struggle to overcome a dizzying array of challenges. As a community, we need to take a holistic approach and we need to find a way to scale programs that work so that we can break the cycle of poverty and build a city that cares, loves, nurtures and protects people while providing opportunity. It is important to note that as we interview these kids about growing up in Delray they all mention one program or another that helped them turn it around: the Teen Center, Youth Council, tennis lessons, the Criminal Justice Academy at Atlantic High, a class at Old School Square or volunteering at the Caring Kitchen. These programs aren’t frills they are life savers and investments.

Dare to Be Great is but one effort—there is so much more to do. But in six short years since we left that restaurant with a napkin and an idea we have touched lots of lives. We have seen kids grow and thrive and honestly we have seen a few who have struggled. We have exacting standards; we demand good grades and engagement with mentors. We insist on stellar citizenship and on paying it forward.

We have had a few difficult conversations with bright students who underachieved, but we feel it is an important lesson to impart—we won’t abandon you as people but in life you have to live up to the terms of your obligations or there are consequences.

Fortunately, most of our students make it; they exceed even our lofty expectations.

Some of our students come from solid homes, with two parents and lots of love and support. But many, probably most, come from difficult situations. Parents have died or been murdered, there is poverty, foreclosure, homelessness, drug abuse, crime and violence and yet they have overcome and succeeded. They are succeeding– in an odd way –because of the adversity, we have had many a young man and woman look us square in the eye and say they will do whatever it takes because they cannot live the way they are living and want to escape the lives of desperation lived by their parents and siblings.

Many came in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and despite not having money or even speaking the language within a few years they excelled in high school, worked multiple jobs and found time to volunteer in our community. We feel honored and privileged to help them realize their dreams of a college education.

Last year, we interviewed a very polite young man who had been homeless. He told us of not sleeping at night because he wanted to watch over his younger sister, afraid that if he slept, something might happen to her. In the morning, he would walk to school, where he got all A’s and after school he would take care of siblings. He had never been out to dinner at a restaurant in Delray, something most of us take for granted. But he was a great student, with a drive to succeed and a strong desire to break the cycle of poverty that had engulfed his family.

We were pleased to offer him a scholarship, assign him a mentor and yes –take him out for a meal in his own hometown. P.S. He is doing great at college. We adore this young man.

In a few weeks we will be interviewing a new class of potential scholars. We are currently sifting through applications as we speak. Our volunteer board and a few folks from the community will sit in on interviews that are sure to change their lives—but the goal is to change the lives of our kids in a positive way.

We struggle with many problems here at home and across the country and world. The news has become a veritable nightmare to watch, but the solutions to our many challenges are always people based.

We are helping to educate and mentor the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, volunteers, philanthropists, scientists and researchers…it is a small but meaningful effort because every one of these students are very special and will make a positive impact on Delray Beach and on our world.

A friend of mine tells me that in church they call this “ministry”. I’m here to say we need a lot more ministry and a lot less complaining. Ministry solves problems, complaining only makes them worse.

In a few weeks, I’ll introduce you to our new crop of Dare 2 Be Great Scholars—they are our children and they are our future.

21 March, 2016 3 3 Comments

Greetings from Delray Beach, Fla

March 21, 2016 By Jeff Perlman 3 Comments

We live in a place where people like to vacation.
That’s far from a revelation, but sometimes I think we forget about that.

We live in a place so nice that others come here to spend their precious time off.
They are here now. It’s Spring Break and you can see families downtown and at the beaches.

We have a short season, a few hectic months where our streets become crowded. A few hectic months–maybe four–where it becomes a little harder to get a seat in a favorite restaurant or a parking spot. But not that hard if we’re honest.

A lot of people worked for a long time to bring traffic to our sidewalks and Main Street. It sure beats the alternative.

If you want to “fix” or eliminate traffic the answer is simple: create a place where nobody wants to go.
We chose the opposite path and we succeeded. Isn’t it marvelous? We live in a place where people vacation.

Those crowds some of us lament actually support a bunch of small businesses we love and jobs that are valuable to those who have them. It’s a small price to pay.
In the past few weeks, we have been fortunate to host friends and family visiting from other locales. All of them marveled at where we live. They love the beaches and the culture, the downtown and the restaurants. They envy the weather and the sheer amount of things to do–festivals included.
As locals we are lucky. We get to live here year round. April is around the corner. It will begin to slow down–just a little.
But isn’t this place just great?

A teacher of mine once said ‘appreciate what you have and you’ll always be happy but if you focus on what you don’t you will be miserable’.

He was right.
Words to live by. Gratitude and appreciation.