Culture Is The Killer App

I don’t have a lot of interest in revisiting the recent Delray Beach municipal elections.

You probably need a break from the negativity. I know I do.

Out of all the analyses I’ve seen, I recommend you take a look at Randy Schultz’s take. I think it’s a pretty accurate analysis. Here’s a link:  https://www.bocamag.com/boca-delray-election-results-ruminations/

 

Still, I do think it’s worth taking a deeper dive into the topic of culture which was hotly debated during the last cycle and has been an issue for a very long time.

The fact that culture and civility continue to be debated indicates that it’s lacking. After all, if things were humming, we wouldn’t be talking about it. (We’d be humming. We’re not.)

It’s hard to remember, but there was a time when Delray Beach had a remarkable culture; remarkable not perfect. There’s a difference.

There’s always been strife, friction and some level of toxicity in local politics and community life. That comes with the territory. But it was largely manageable and what rancor existed was overwhelmed by the positive relationships that had formed throughout the city. Those relationships formed because major efforts were made to create initiatives that brought people together and asked them to work closely on topics of importance to the community.

Evidence of this dynamic is all around us.

Cities don’t succeed without a coordinated and concerted effort. The vibrancy we enjoy is not an accident, it’s a result of planning, tons of citizen input, relentless execution and investment–both public and private. The reward is our quality of life.

Over the years, these engagement efforts were acknowledged in the form of  a few All America City Awards which honors a city’s ability to identity its problems and create solutions that bring people together. It was nice validation, but the creation of a special sense of community was the real prize.

Another example of Delray’s strong culture was how we were able to navigate some really sticky situations and tragedies over the years.

From severe hurricanes and divisive development projects to a tragic shooting and the controversial move of Atlantic High School, we’ve had our fair share of challenges. But we survived them all with our civic fabric sometimes strained but largely intact.

Thankfully, we haven’t had any natural or man-made disasters to navigate of late, but yet we seem to be at each other’s throats a whole lot. Which begs a question.

Why?

Why are sea grapes such a fraught issue? Why is every CRA RFP (request for proposal) a bloodletting or a lawsuit?

Why has there been so much turnover at City Hall?

We can blame social media —and Facebook surely has served as an accelerant for political strife— but it’s more than that. It goes deeper.

Delray’s secret sauce is/was its culture. If we lose that, we lose everything.

Close watchers of all things Delray worry about the divisions they are seeing. They know these breaches don’t heal themselves and they long for leaders who work on the issues that drive us apart.

I long for the days when leadership was defined by people who could rise above the noise and inject much needed calm and common sense into the day’s heated debates. Today, we seem to laud the bomb throwers, grandstanders and loud mouths who launch missiles but never seem to get a darn thing done.

They start problems, but they don’t solve them.

They add to gas to fires, but never seem to think about how things might change if they took a deep breath and offered up a few words of conciliation. They are, however, always equipped with a barb.

Oh yes, these charmers are quick with a sound bite, quick to label and even quicker to condemn.

Here come the “special interests”—be very afraid.

Here come the “power brokers” —lock up your loved ones because they are plotting to pillage the village.

Malarkey—to quote my grizzled former city editor who once told me that malarkey was an Irish term that was three degrees worse than blarney. He was a colorful character but that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, we can do better.

Because despite the great weather, the fact that we live in a place desired by just about everyone, we don’t seem to be very happy with how we choose our elected officials or how we handle difficult issues.

Rampant turnover, nasty elections and Facebook bullies are just symptoms. The disease is a poor civic culture.

Luckily, the disease is curable even though it won’t be easy.

It will require every stakeholder who cares to do their part and it will require us to raise our standards of behavior.

We need a reckoning.

Now I happen to think we’ve had many—Covid was a wake-up call, the nastiest mayoral race in memory was another, the Jan. 6 insurrection was yet another. Reckonings come in all shapes and sizes. They are international, national and local.

But reckonings can be healthy if we see them as teachable moments. To quote therapist and best-selling author Esther Perel, “reckonings require us to invest in the core facets of relational health: empathy, dialogue, commitment, responsibility, the sharing of power and resources.”

We have been through some traumas. Trauma requires healing and collective trauma requires collective healing.

It looks like we will eventually move beyond Covid-19 although the emotional scars will be with us forever. Our national divisions need to be addressed. We the people need to insist on that happening. So far, we haven’t.

As for our local divisions, we have a real opportunity if we choose to see it and seize it.

We can insist on better debates about community issues and more stakeholder input. We can insist on substance, performance, accountability and civility. Those words are not unreachable ideals; they are the basic table stakes of community.

If you lack of any these traits, you just cannot sustain success.

We have substantive issues to address, we have big time opportunities too but we won’t get to any of that if we don’t develop a winning culture.

So here’s what I’m suggesting:

We should develop a “Geneva Convention” for our elections and how we treat each other.

Post-Covid we need to go back to the old playbook and revive initiatives and programs that built community such as:

Community Dinners in which associations are invited to pot luck get togethers where they can meet their neighbors across the city.

Charrettes to discuss community issues and opportunities that are open to all stakeholders. We absolutely have to get away from a resident vs. business dynamic. Building a quality culture is not a zero sum game, it’s a win-win endeavor.

We need to facilitate intelligent discussions about development, gentrification, affordable housing, climate change and how it affects Delray, infrastructure, crime, education, culture, historic preservation, race relations and more.

It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it because these issues don’t go away if we ignore them, they just fester. But before we can address anything we have to focus on how we treat each other.

I believe, strongly, that if we create a more civil and professional culture in Delray Beach, we will end the turnover issues that have plagued our city and dinged our reputation .

And guess what?

We will end up getting a whole lot done. You can’t address problems or seize opportunities if you’re a divided community spending precious time settling scores and finding ways to be vindictive.

We can and must do better.