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20 April, 2015 1 Comment

A Curious Mind

April 20, 2015 By Jeff Perlman 1 Comment

Don’t let the hair fool you Brian Grazer has an eye for talent.

We take a break from the usual today to talk about a new book written by Hollywood producer Brian Grazer entitled “A Curious Mind.”
Grazer is the hip looking guy with the spiky hair who has teamed Ron Howard to make hit films ranging from “Splash” and “Apollo 13” to TV’s latest sensation “Empire.”

To call him successful is an understatement.

One of the keys to Grazer’s success is his quirky and charming habit of seeking people out for what he calls “Curiosity Conversations.”
Essentially, Grazer cold calls people he admires or is curious about and asks for a brief meeting; a meeting, no food. He feels that food intrudes on conversation and changes blood sugar and therefore thought patterns. He wants unfettered access to his subject’s mind for an hour or so and then he moves on.

Sometimes the “curiosity conversations” lead to friendships and business opportunities, but that’s not the objective. The goal is simply to learn from somebody who intrigues him.

Sometimes the conversations go well and sometimes they are disastrous, for example a conversation with author Kurt Vonnegut was cut short when the writer felt that Grazer didn’t know enough about his work to have a meaningful dialogue. Ouch!

Other times, serendipity strikes. For instance, Grazer’s relationship with Ron Howard blossomed after a particularly meaningful conversation.

Now you must be thinking that it’s easy for a high-powered producer like Grazer to meet with the likes of Oprah, Beyonce and Richard Branson and it is, but Grazer insists he began meeting intriguing people long before he became successful. He says most people like to talk, especially about their lives and work.

So who would you like to meet for a “curiosity conversation” in Boca Raton, Delray Beach or somewhere nearby?

Perhaps an FAU professor or a Scripps researcher? Maybe a retired entrepreneur or an active business leader? Remember, this isn’t about networking it’s about knowledge and connection and satisfying your curiosity.

Think about it and let us know who you’d like to meet. Leave a comment at the end of this blog, who knows maybe we can make it happen for you.

6 April, 2015 0 Comments

Random Thoughts on a Monday

April 6, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Pet Parade also raised funds for Dezzy’s Second Chance Rescue

Random thoughts on a Monday…

Happy 10^th anniversary to the Delray Beach Miracle League

It’s hard to believe that a decade has passed. I still remember the first presentation that Julia and Jeff Kadel did at City Hall.

Their passion, commitment and ability to deliver are simply remarkable. They got it done and our kids have benefitted immensely.

Sure, it takes a village, but the village has to include some amazing people and the Kadel’s certainly qualify.

Congratulations on a truly remarkable achievement.

Blaze Pizza

My day job requires that I keep up on some trade publications and so I have been reading a whole lot lately about a new franchise—Blaze Pizza.

Blaze Pizza is being billed as the Chipotle of the pizza business.

Explosive growth is being predicted for this concept, which is a build your own pizza and then watch it cook in 180 seconds.

Blaze recently opened on US 1 in Boca and we tried it last week.

The review: wonderful.

Fresh ingredients, gluten free, plenty of veggies available and a friendly staff.

Keep an eye on this concept.

Easter Bonnet Dog Parade

Every year I wait anxiously for the phone to ring, praying for the offer.

It came this year while sitting at the Solita Table at the Savor the Avenue event.

“Would you be a judge at the Easter Bonnet Dog Parade?” said CRA Green Market Director Lori Nolan.

Are you kidding? Of course!

There is no more fun under the sun than to watch the parade of dogs and sometimes cats, birds, goats and chickens that show up in their finest Easter wear.

The people are pretty interesting too.

This year, was no different. And the cat, 18 years old and brave, got a special award.

It was also interesting to note that most of the pets who participated were rescues; fitting since the parade highlighted the great work being done by Dezzy’s Second Chance Rescue, a fixture at the market.

Kudos to the Pineapple

Our friends at The Pineapple Newspaper did it again with a very cool April Fool’s prank outlining a new TV series featuring Delray politics.

There was some inspired casting including Ed Harris as Mayor Glickstein and Eva Longoria as Commissioner Jordana Jarjura.

Last year, The Pineapple created a stir when they reported that Boca Raton was purchasing Delray Beach. The report went viral on social media.

Kudos to Jeffrey Dias, Ryan Boylston and the team for their good work.

1 April, 2015 0 Comments

The Future Is Now And It’s Exponential

April 1, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

A few years ago, I had a chance to see Salim Ismail give a rock em sock em talk to Leadership Florida.

Ismail, a co-founder of Singularity University, blew the audience away with a presentation on the future.

It was the first time we saw drones delivering packages and he concluded his talk by printing a belt on a 3-D printer.

It was science fiction come to life. We were in awe. And probably a little skeptical too.

Would we see these things on a mass scale in our lifetimes?

Well, a few years later drones are the talk of the media (and one flew over our table during Savor the Avenue this week), 3-D printing has come down in price to the point where China worries about its role as a manufacturing hub and self-driving cars are being talked about by Google and Tesla as being only a few years away.

I had a chance to see Salim Ismail again a few weeks ago at a workshop at Miami Dade College’s Idea Center. We were at an event sponsored by Rokk3r Labs, a magnificent technology accelerator in Miami and the Knight Foundation which is increasingly doing more and more important work in the areas of community building, the arts and technology in our region.

I first met the Rokk3r team about a year ago through a friend in Delray. They have gone from a handful of employees to over 85 in a short period of time. They are taking a leading role in building Miami’s tech scene, so when they invited me to see Ismail, I jumped at the opportunity.

Ismail is an evangelist for what he calls Exponential Organizations or E0s. The philosophy stems from his work at Singularity University, a unique school in Silicon Valley that taps into the latest thinking on technology from the best minds in the world including Tesla founder Elon Musk and the Google founder Larry Page and futurist/technologist Ray Kurzweil who has been called among the smartest men in the world.

Their basic belief is technological change is so rapid these days that you can’t have a fixed curriculum; it must always be evolving to keep pace with the world.

Ismail sees technology “disrupting” just about every industry you can imagine from health care and education to politics and land use.

For example, he opened his presentation with this showstopper: “ I have a three year old son. He will never have a driver’s license.”
What? Why?
Because Ismail believes that within 10 years and maybe sooner, we won’t be driving. Instead, we will use Uber like services to summon driverless cars. That means an end to accidents (the Google car has driven over 1 million miles without a fender bender), no need for auto insurance and an end to traffic.

That will enable cities to reclaim infrastructure and land now used for exclusively for cars. Ismail says it will provide the biggest real estate opportunity of our lifetimes.

Cars that we actually drive will be like horses; used for primarily for recreational purposes.

Of course, all this change and disruption will mean a loss of traditional jobs and industries, with incumbents who don’t adjust being wiped out, just like Blockbuster Video (by Netflix) and Polaroid (by the rise of digital cameras on smartphones).

The regulatory and political framework does not exist to accommodate this rapid change. Ismail says our politics are “light years” behind our technological prowess. (That’s not a revelation.)

Some in the audience of innovators and entrepreneurs were thrilled and others frightened by his vision. But he says the technology is already here and spreading– you guessed it–exponentially.

Organizations in every walk of life will either become E0s or be disrupted.

There’s no turning back, but there is a way to become an Exponential thinker and to turn your business and organization into an EO.

For a glimpse into the near future read Salim’s new book Exponential Organizations and visit his website: https://www.salimismail.com/

25 March, 2015 0 Comments

Vision

March 25, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Vision is imperative

Over the past few weeks, I have been meeting with a friend who is hard at work on a book about mayors.

The book is focused on mayoral leadership and the author’s premise is that successful mayors articulate or champion a vision, involve the public, put a team in place to implement the vision and exercise political will to ensure that the vision is accomplished when the inevitable opposition to change arises.

It’s all good stuff. But what intrigues me is the author’s premise that cities need to create a new vision every 25 years or they will run into trouble.

I agree with that. And doing the math, I’d say that Delray is due a new or renewed vision.

The best visions are community building exercises in which all major stakeholders are engaged and asked to participate.

Delray’s revitalization began in the late 80s, when a group of committed citizens working alongside city staff developed Visions 2000.

Visions 2000 served as a blueprint for the next decade of policymaking and informed spending for the next ten years. It also enabled the passing of the landmark $21.5 million Decade of Excellence Bond, in which citizens voted to go into debt in order to improve the community.

Why? Because they not only believed in the vision, they helped to craft it. They also had faith in local government to deliver.

The Decade of Excellence helped to usher in a lot of private investment; business owners, homeowners, restauranteurs and developers began to risk capital because they believed in Delray and were excited by the vision. I can think of no more valuable economic development tool than to have an exciting vision.

But you can’t stop at a vision, you have to implement and Delray did so–remarkably well.

When the Decade of Excellence wrapped up and the projects were completed, a new vision for the downtown was formed –again with an inclusive process. While Visions 2000 brought a representative sample of citizens together, the Downtown Master Plan invited everybody willing to show up to the table.

In all, over 500 people participated in the charrette, plus several hundred who visited temporary design studios set up on Swinton Avenue.

Immediately upon completion, a steering committee in charge of the plan, morphed into an implementation committee which prioritized projects and worked with staff and related agencies to get projects designed, funded and under way. The process worked and unlike other cities that let plans sit on a shelf, Delray delivered.

But like everything else in a fast-changing world, visions need to change to meet current needs and aspirations.

As a result of past good work, Delray has a ton of options and possibilities that it didn’t have when the journey started 30 years ago.

We dreamt of creating a place attractive to the creative class and now they are here.

We dreamt of creating a vibrant food and beverage scene and it happened. Now the challenge is to move beyond food and beverage.

We dreamt of creating a walkable community with downtown residential options and mixed use projects and saw it happen.

We dreamt of becoming a cultural beacon for the region and it happened with the redevelopment of Delray Center for the Arts, The Arts Garage and now Artist’s Alley and other efforts.

Parts of the vision are incomplete and or didn’t quite happen, but a great deal of it did. And it should be a source of enormous civic pride.

But complacency is a killer and cities should never rest on their laurels. Downtown is never done, we used to say. Success is never permanent and hopefully failure is never fatal.

Cities are not a zero sum game, you can concentrate on downtown and the neighborhoods. You can promote West Atlantic Avenue and Congress Avenue.

And you should.

23 March, 2015 0 Comments

FAU & Lynn: Driving Local Innovation

March 23, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

President John Kelly has energized not only FAU but the broader community as well.

We pride ourselves on being local trend spotters here at YourDelrayBoca.com.

So we are proud to announce that we are seeing a positive trend taking shape in Boca Raton, which will impact the entire region.

Our two local universities FAU and Lynn are making major strides to deepen their excellence, expand their influence and increase their relevance to our local economy.

This is important because both FAU and Lynn are major drivers of intellectual capital and leaders in how our region is viewed by the world. If the Boca area is seen as an intellectual hub and a magnet for young talent, it virtually guarantees economic sustainability and quality of life for the entire community.

FAU has clearly been invigorated by the leadership of President John Kelly. Great leaders engage with the world and bring energy to institutions. In his first year, Dr. Kelly’s drive and ambition for FAU has clearly penetrated not only the university community but the outside world as well.

A recent agreement to partner with Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Institute is just one of many partnerships fostered as a result of his energetic leadership. It seems that wherever we travel these days, the topic of FAU comes up in conversation and usually in terms of collaboration and external outreach. In Delray alone, the university is working with Delray Students First, Dare 2 Be Great and the Achievement Centers for Children and Families.

VP of Public Service Jorge Calzadilla and his team have been making the rounds and turning heads in the community with their zeal to make an impact and to turn FAU into a university of national significance.

Calzadilla came with President Kelly from Clemson where he served 27 years and did remarkable work impacting children in South Carolina. If you meet Jorge, you can’t help but be swept up by his enthusiasm and vision for FAU.

On the research front, we recently had a chance to hear new VP of Research Dan Flynn discuss his plans to turn FAU into a major research institution complete with patents, start-ups, commercialization efforts, student research opportunities, faculty initiatives and major grants. Flynn has done it before at other institutions and sees no barriers to FAU becoming a world class research center utilizing the amazing natural resources provided by the ocean and the Everglades.

All of this is good news for students, our region, Boca and Delray, alumni and the general community. Not only will a reinvigorated FAU attract talent, it will help our region retain its young minds. Already in some of our work with young students in Delray and Boca we are beginning to hear a desire to stay home and attend FAU or come back home for graduate work. And keep an eye on FAU’s Tech Runway and Research Park because within a decade or even sooner you will see the first superstar company launched right here in our backyard. All of the elements are in place.

This is great news for those of us who value economic development and it provides our region with an opportunity to go beyond food, beverage, services, construction, tourism and retirees to fuel our economy.

At Lynn University, President Kevin Ross and his leadership team are innovating on multiple fronts.

From a curriculum that is high on relevance and providing hands on experience in an increasingly global society to a very impactful partnership with a little company in Cupertino called Apple, Lynn’s campus crackles with excitement.

Dr. Ross has attracted a top-notch faculty attracted by the opportunity to innovate and a diverse student body that is placing a premium on making an impact on the world.

Whenever I visit with President Ross I’m reminded of a saying: “Normal” is what the majority does, which is why “different” is so much more interesting.

Indeed.

And Lynn has transformed its model to be both different and compelling.

To have both Boca universities performing at high levels at the same time is a unique and happy circumstance.

Switched on cities, progressive non-profits, schools and businesses will find ways to tap into the innovation and excellence happening at Lynn and FAU.

And that’s good news for Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

18 March, 2015 4 4 Comments

A Job Well Done; A Mission That Continues

March 18, 2015 By Jeff Perlman 4 Comments

Nancy K. Hurd on the campus that bears her name.

We used to say if we could clone the Achievement Centers for Children & Families, we’d have a better world.

Whenever I’m asked for an example of a model non-profit, I immediately think of the Achievement Center.

For over 40 years, starting in a church classroom and growing into a major campus on Lake Ida Road, the Achievement Center has changed lives by striving to break the cycle of poverty in our community.

Yesterday, the center’s longtime– but now retired –executive director Nancy Hurd was honored when the campus was named after her. It was a small but joyous ceremony which was fitting for those of us who know Nancy. After all, she declined a big gala when she retired preferring to be surrounded by friends, family, longtime supporters of the mission and of course the children she dedicated her life to.

For generations of children in Delray, Nancy Hurd and her staff were angels. They provided love, care, education and a range of services to our most vulnerable children and their families. And they did it as well as it can be done. To see that work continue is heartwarming beyond words.

Under Nancy’s smart and strategic leadership, the Achievement Centers (which started out as the Delray Community Child Care Center) set the bar for excellence in service delivery, financial stewardship and real and lasting impact.

In life, you don’t meet too many people who impact generations, but Nancy Hurd is one of those few who have done it. Her passion for children, her pursuit of excellence and her big heart not only impacted our most needy families, but they inspired staff members, volunteers and board members to dig deeper, try harder and care more.

I am one of those she influenced. I first met Nancy when I was young reporter, new to Delray and anxious to write about interesting people. We hit it off right away and I returned to do many stories over the years for the old Delray Times.

When Gov. Lawton Chiles paid the newly expanded center a visit, the governor’s staff arranged for a private tour just before the big public event. Gov. Chiles was like that, a rare politician who really wanted to dig in and learn why this organization was so special. He also wanted to interact with the kids away from the press. Nancy made sure that I was included on that exclusive tour and it give me a chance to meet and talk with the governor. Nancy knew the experience would be meaningful to me and it was. We never talked about it, but the visit made an impression and showed me that politicians could have hearts.

Later, I would spend many years on Nancy’s board and I must admit it was easy work. The organization was so well-run that most meetings were spent just smiling at the results we were seeing.

Trust me, that’s not always the case when you serve on non-profit boards.

My term on the board allowed me to observe Nancy’s leadership style and I was especially impressed with her ability to spot and nurture talent. The best leaders develop other leaders.

Nancy and the board did a great job finding and developing the super talented Stephanie Seibel, who took the reins when Nancy retired.

The organization continues to thrive, which is the mark of a championship team; when superstars retire the success continues.

Nancy and I have become friends over the years. She was a great source of strength for me during the tough times that I experienced in public office. I knew I could drop by unannounced and get hugs from the cutest children on the planet and then get solid advice from someone I knew, loved, respected and trusted. I always left feeling better. Always.

Now when I drive by the campus every morning on my way to work, I will be able to see Nancy’s name on the Achievement Center’s sign. And I will remember her life’s work, her impact on generations and her influence on one young reporter.

Nancy didn’t say much at the ceremony. She was happy and clearly touched. But she did say that she couldn’t have imagined having a better life. And for the thousands and thousands of lives she has touched; we can’t imagine anyone living a better life.

Well done, Nancy. Your work and your impact will live on forever.

12 March, 2015 0 Comments

Seeding Entrepreneurs in Delray & Boca

March 12, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Loic at work.

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Delray Beach and Boca Raton.

And the business activity is not just tech related, its food, fashion and social entrepreneurship as well.

Sometimes, entrepreneurial activity comes from sources that you least expect: a chamber program for youth, a reality TV show and the Delray CRA’s Green Market in the Park are only some examples of places that have given rise to new local businesses.

About a year or so ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of 12-17 year old entrepreneurs participating in the Boca Chamber’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy.

I have stayed in touch with a few of the bright minds and met last week with Jake Artzi, the CEO of BoVault, which is a cool startup that provides solar powered “vaults” that allows people to store their valuables while they go to the beach, the pool, the gym or exercise in the park. BoVault is a next generation locker that uses biometrics and the sun to provide airtight security. Jake, a high school senior, has all the traits of a great entrepreneur. He’s passionate about his work, is constantly studying and improving his model and is out there knocking on doors to make it happen. He has a dream. And he will not be denied.

BoVault would be a smart solution for people who want a secure environment for wallets, keys, cell phones and other valuables while visiting Delray’s municipal beach or any one of Boca’s incredible parks.

I’m hoping that a smart city manager or elected official will give this young business a chance. Vaults are provided free to cities or hotels and can become a moneymaker because the model includes a revenue share for clients.

The local food scene is also teeming with entrepreneurs. Even this old blogger is in the game (shameless plug: Tabanero Hot Sauce and Bloody Mary mix, with more extensions on the way www.tabanero.com) some other examples are Celsius a Boca-based beverage company (full disclosure I’m a former COO of the company, a shareholder and still involved with the team), Amy’s Cookies (the wonderful Amy Robinson) and a soon to open French Bakery which first gained traction at Delray’s Green Market.

On Saturday morning at 9 a.m. fans of Loic Autret French Artisan Bakery can take an exclusive tour of the new business located 814 N.E. Sixth Ave. directly south of Plastridge Insurance. A grand opening is imminent. Tours will be offered until 1 p.m.

I recently took an impromptu tour of the bakery which is just wonderful.

Loic Autret became such a popular vendor at the market that lines form before it opens and often every baked good is sold out.

So Loic, sensing opportunity, decided to open a permanent location. I think he will be a smashing success. Kudos to property owner Connor Lynch for recognizing talent and helping to make it all work.

We often don’t think of the Delray Green Market as a business incubator, but it is. It gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to showcase their goods, test the market and if successful think about expansion. That’s really cool and very powerful.

So are the personal stories behind the businesses.

Loïc Autret’s first career was in the military. He was a Paratrooper in the French Army. As he tells it; one day, he met a beautiful American woman and fell deeply in love. As he was considering leaving the army to follow her to Florida, he thought: “What would a Frenchman who doesn’t speak English do in the United States? What do Frenchmen know best? Romance? Naturally! Fine Cuisine? Of Course! Baking? YES!”

So Loïc enrolled in “Ecole de Gregoire Ferrandi”, an exclusive French Baking and Pastry School in Paris to learn his new trade before moving to Florida and eventually marrying his dream girl.

In the last ten years, Loïc shared his new found passion for baking with South Floridians at the Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach, the Barton G restaurant in Miami and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2013, Loïc started to make plans to open his own bakery one day. He has been honing his skills and perfecting his recipes while appearing at local green markets. And now his dream is coming true, with a built in fan base, courtesy of the Green Market.

Amanda Perna, also has a cool entrepreneurial story. Thanks to Karen Granger and the Delray Chamber I had a chance to meet Amanda at 50 Ocean recently for an event.

Amanda gained national fame on the hit show “Project Runway” and recently relocated her “House of Perna” fashion line from New York to Delray’s Artist’s Alley neighborhood. Take that Big Apple, Delray is cool too and we have better weather.

Amanda is a passionate entrepreneur who takes pride in her design skills and the fact that her clothing is sewn here in the United States, an important value for her.

Something very positive is happening. We are only at the beginning and the future is very bright.

2 March, 2015 1 Comment

Creating Livable Cities

March 2, 2015 By Jeff Perlman 1 Comment

Building Livable and Engaged Cities is the goal of the Knight Foundation.

I’m a huge fan of the Knight Foundation.

I wish we had more foundations that invested in our local communities.

Way back in 2001, when we were embarking on the downtown master plan, we were able to attract the support of the MacArthur Foundation. They not only paid for the creation of the plan, but they provided intellectual resources and connections that were invaluable.

Their local program leader, David Harris, was a big a fan of Delray Beach, and he encouraged us to expand our thinking by including the West Atlantic community and our northwest and southwest neighborhoods in our vision for a sustainable downtown. MacArthur invested in some of our community leaders and as a result we travelled to conferences and events where we were able to connect with other communities and learn from their successes and their missteps.

Around this time, we had conversations with the Ford Foundation and a few other large and small groups who were intrigued by what they were seeing in Delray Beach. Our diversity, our ambition, our ability to work together impressed foundation leaders coast to coast. We were America in 16 square miles, with conditions that ranged from third world poverty to the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

While we stayed close with MacArthur we never quite closed the deal with some of the others and that’s a regret, because a great foundation would have a field day with the promise and the potential that is Delray Beach.

Still, when we were building and visioning we made some connections that proved to be invaluable to our progress. One of those connections was an urban thinker by the name of Carol Coletta.

I discovered Carol through her radio show “Smart City” which was a weekly talk show on NPR that spotlighted the best of what was happening in cities around the country. One of my greatest thrills was appearing on Smart City where I was able to tell a national audience about what we were working on as a team here in Delray.

When we decided to do a Cultural Plan, we engaged Carol whose firm had done landmark work in cities across the country. Carol and her team didn’t disappoint, the cultural plan was a great vision because it articulated Delray’s strengths and our place in South Florida’s cultural landscape.

Our brand was authentic and intimate—and Carol urged us not to compete with the Broward Center’s and Kravis’ of the world but to create experiences that people could not find in larger cities or larger venues. Her work, which was adopted by the City Commission a decade ago, inspired the Arts Garage and also influenced the evolution of the Delray Center for the Arts and one could argue the CRA’s decision to purchase the Arts Warehouse which has helped to grow “Artist’s Alley”, an amazing nook in our city near Third Street and Third Avenue.

That’s what visions do…they inspire, but they also take you in directions you never thought possible.

Last week, the Knight Foundation, where Carol now serves as Vice President for Community and National Initiatives, released a report on “Livable Cities”. It ought to be required reading for policymakers, city staff and all those who care about making their communities better.

Knight lists Four Pillars for Livable Cities. They are:

WALKABILITY: To design streets for everybody, design for pedestrians first – slow speeds, raised crosswalks. Next, make streets interesting for walkers.

BIKEABILITY: Success isn’t more Spandex; it’s a woman biking to a business meeting dressed exactly as if she were driving. First step: Make bikers feel safe.

PUBLIC SPACES: Parks, walkable streets and other public places are great equalizers; they bring people together, and they can energize people through recreation.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: High-speed buses with dedicated lanes are the most cost-effective way to move people, though offering choices to commuters is best of all.

It’s a great list, isn’t it?

And all of the pillars come with suggestions and rationales for implementation.

For example, walkability:

Key Points

Lowering the speed of cars is essential. An accident at 20 mph has a 5 percent mortality rate; at 40 mph the mortality rate climbs to 85 percent.
Adding medians to streets lowers accidents by 56 percent.
Giving pedestrians the walk signal six to seven seconds before the light turns green makes them visible to turning cars.
Encouraging each block to have multiple establishments instead of long facades makes the streetscape friendly and interesting.
It’s possible to prioritize pedestrians and still allow cars, but prioritizing cars rarely works well for pedestrians.

The report concludes with a calculator that enables you to type in your city and receive a walkability and transit score on a scale of 0-100. Delray scores a 91 on walkability, Boca rates a 53, Boynton a score of 57 and West Palm leads the pack with a score of 95. All four cities score 0 on transit.

It’s a worthy read and we suggest you dive in by visiting: https://www.knightfoundation.org/features/livable-cities/?mc_cid=b611e6d9fb&mc_eid=c683592e53

Kudos to the Knight Foundation for their work.

23 February, 2015 1 Comment

Raising The Bar on Quality of Place

February 23, 2015 By Jeff Perlman 1 Comment

Millennium Park in Chicago is an example of how placemaking can elevate a city.

“Cities are full of overlapping memories; overlapping stories. The city is not just bricks and mortar. It’s about love; of the people for their place. It’s not possible for the master plan to answer all the questions, but we can create a robust framework that allows life to take place. Invitations to walk. To sit. To stay. A better way to cross the street. A better way to live your life.” ~David Sim, Gehl Architects

With Boca and Delray experiencing angst about development it seems that we have reached a crossroads.

We have some choices to make.

We can reach for the Xanax, give up, or begin a communitywide conversation on how this all works or doesn’t work.

In Boca, there is a major debate about tall buildings in the downtown. In Delray Beach, the debate rages over height, density, traffic and whether or not there should incentives for certain uses.

Nothing is going to change until March 10 when both cities hold municipal elections. But as soon as the dust clears, the conversation should begin. In fact, the conversation about the future growth of development of our community should never end.

So even though Delray has just adopted new LDR’s which contain some good things (preserving the scale of Atlantic Avenue, introducing green building principles etc.) and some bad things (hard density caps and a raft of technical issues raised by planners, architects and engineers and no incentives for desired uses) it doesn’t mean that this issue is settled or that the dialogue should end.

Plans and rules are not sacrosanct, the best plans live and breathe and change with the desires of the community and or the evolving realities of the marketplace. As such, switched on leaders should be keeping the conversation going, educating, elevating, measuring and engaging all the way.

The beauty of cities is that you are never done and the best led communities understand that complacency is a killer.

That’s why it’s great news that the legendary Fred Kent, founder of the Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org) will be hosting a discussion on placemaking Wednesday, Feb. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Arts Garage in downtown Delray Beach.

Kent, who happens to live part time in Delray, is arguably the world’s foremost expert on placemaking or the art of creating wonderful public spaces. He’s also an authority on public markets and is a regular at Delray’s Green Market, a terrific program run by Delray’s CRA.

Mayor Cary Glickstein wants to focus on making the most of Delray’s public assets, a laudable goal and something that cities worldwide are doing. Whether it’s known as “urban acupuncture”, tactical urbanism, placemaking or leveraging so-called “lazy assets”, cities large and small are taking a fresh look at what they own and trying to imagine how these places can look and feel better.

Last week, the Knight Foundation published a report called “Livable Cities” which called for communities to invest in building places for people not cars; a simple concept to understand but one that has eluded many cities for years as we promote car oriented sprawl through our zoning policies.

Human Powered Delray, a grassroots organization, gets that and is doing terrific work to raise awareness about the importance of these issues.

When we talk about building places for people, we are really about design.

Urban Land Institute Scholar Ed McMahon gives a wonderful TED Talk on the importance of design for cities.

“The image of a community is fundamentally important to its economic well -being,” says McMahon. “Decisions such as where to invest, where to work, where to retire, and where to vacation are all made based on what a community looks like.”

In today’s economy, the quality of place matters the most. “In a world where capital is footloose, if you can’t differentiate [your town] from any other, you have no competitive advantage,” he says.

Amen.

Urbanist Peter Kageyama has the same message. His wonderful book “For the Love of Cities” talks about the importance of creating places and experiences that make people fall in love with their cities.

When you fall in love, you commit, you invest and you spread the word which attracts more commitment, investment and positive buzz. The “extras” are how cities differentiate themselves from the pack and it is how places become invaluable.

A good place to start is to look at what you already own; your town squares, right of ways, parks, beaches, cultural institutions, libraries etc.

Placemaking doesn’t have to be expensive or grand, but it does have to put people first and it has to be different and authentic.

Boca and Delray have unique assets and incredible potential. The potential is literally boundless.

Mizner Park is a nationally recognized lifestyle center anchored by a stage that hosts cultural events. Boca also has incredible parks and Palmetto Park Road in east Boca has tremendous upside.

Delray, of course, has great bones; a grid system, human scale, vibrancy and a main street that empties into an ocean. It also has some “lazy” assets that can be so much more including a tennis stadium, a downtown park and municipal parking lots that can be used to create more parking and a mix of uses.

Here’s hoping that when the dust settles on the municipal elections, we stop the pandering and get back to a serious discussion on design and how our cities can work better for people.

16 February, 2015 0 Comments

Breaking From the Competitive Herd

February 16, 2015 By Jeff Perlman Leave a Comment

Harvard Professor Youngme Moon visited Lynn U. last week. Her book is a seminal study of how companies can break from the competitive herd.

Harvard Business School Professor Youngme Moon wrote one of the best business books in recent times. The kind of book you keep going back to because it contains amazing insights and information.

“Different” is an elegantly written treatise on how to break away from the competitive herd and build a company that is different and meaningful.

Last week, thanks to President Dr. Kevin Ross of Lynn University I had a chance to meet Professor Moon and listen to her wow the crowd at the “Dively Lecture Series” at the magnificent Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn.

In an engaging talk that covered “different” companies such as Ikea, Twitter, Google and “the Mini” Cooper, Dr. Moon laid out a compelling case for why we long for brands and experiences that are different and meaningful not stale and boring.

Too many brands are of the “me too” variety touting qualities such as “new and improved” or “cheaper and faster”; for the consumer it’s all a blur.

But the outliers, the companies that truly stick out, have an attitude that makes them stand out and break away from the herd.

Can you imagine pitching an idea for a furniture store that would only feature one type of design (Scandinavian), would offer stores with virtually no sales associates and force you to build the furniture yourself?

On top of that, the furniture would be the opposite of durable; in fact, it would be borderline flimsy. It would be like opening a restaurant without waiters and asking customers to cook their own food.

But that model describes IKEA which has become a global brand and an immensely popular destination for shoppers.

Ikea is different.

Dr. Moon says brands that are different say yes to things that nobody else says yes to and no to things that nobody else before them said no to. They flip conventional wisdom on its head.

At first, many of these ideas seem crazy and or wrong. A social network limited to 140 characters? A car that is so small that it can fit inside an SUV? How about an internet portal with a lot of white space that offers nothing but search? No ads, no sports scores, no weather, no news. And by the way, what is a Google?

Often times, different brands focus on the negative characteristics of their products. Remember the first Mini ads…a bill board that said this: XL, X, M, S and Mini…smaller than small. The car, with no brand awareness in the states and a limited ad budget in a crowded field of trucks and SUVs sold like hot cakes.

As CEO of a hot sauce company (Tabanero) and as someone involved with a beverage brand (Celsius) –both ridiculously crowded categories– Dr. Moon provides both inspiration and a challenge: how to be different?

But it’s really more than a challenge isn’t it? It’s more of a mandate. It’s be different or fail.

And so I thought a lot about Dr. Moon’s theories and I’ve concluded hat her thinking is apropos for a whole lot of endeavors.

Lynn University gets “different”. Dr. Ross and his team have innovated with curriculum, campus design and technology and they’ve created value and an experience for students and faculty that is different and constantly improving.

Cities too have to be “different” or succumb to the mind numbing sameness of the 21^st Century landscape.

Dr. Ross introduced me to Professor Moon and in our conversation he described Delray as a different kind of place, an innovative city. He’s right, of course.

And being “different” is a journey not a defined destination, you have to constantly iterate and evolve. You have to think and not allow success, fear, change or complacency stop you from being different.

Different stands out. Different create value. Different is what we are looking for.