By Al Zucaro
3-11-13, a date that will go down in Boca Raton’s history for it characteristic of being made up by three prime numbers. A prime number is a number that can only be divided by itself and by the number one. This numerical axiom is a reflection of what seems to be the city council’s collective prime directive of disrespect, disinterest, and dismissal towards the very citizens the body politic is elected to represent.
Sitting through almost 5 hours of testimony at the Community Redevelopment Agency’s afternoon meeting, this observer cannot help but face the reality that the elected officials of this city simply do not like the citizens they are elected to represent. The body language, the non-attentive attitude, the bias afforded the project’s proponent and the general antagonistic mood towards the citizens was so very evident to be nothing short of disgraceful, a political embarrassment.
Over the last year now, the Archstone Palmetto Park apartment development project on East Palmetto Park road between Mizner Blvd and NE 5th Ave on the north side of the street has been the subject of great controversy. The project consists of a building mass over three football fields in length and 100 feet in height, a behemoth not matched by any other project within the downtown and one that will forever change the face of Boca Raton.
Archstone Palmetto Park has caused much controversy over the last year. It has been challenged by surrounding neighborhood groups representing hundreds, if not thousands of individual Boca Raton citizens; it has been the subject of a referendum petition, a circuit court action, a pending appeal in the appellate court, and now, with the cooperation of the majority of the city council, an end run around the citizens’ court victory allowing for a referendum vote of the people by approving an amended petition with the full cooperation and concurrence of the city’s staff and the majority of the elected body.
The voice of the people be damned.
Archstone Palmetto Park has also instigated funding by the city council of taxpayer dollars to engage lobbyists at the state level in an effort to pass legislation designed to prevent citizens in the future from having any voice in a city’s development issues through the petition process; to wit: a process reserved to the citizens by the city’s own charter. These efforts again demonstrate the council’s prime directive to support another end run around the will of the people by those entrusted with the obligation to govern the people.
The Archstone project is being offered by a multi-billion dollar development company represented by a cadre of lawyers and lobbyists beholden to the notion of profitability and disguised as an economic development opportunity for the city. The opposing voice, arguably, is a citizens’ group who have diligently objected to
this project, hired counsel, incurred costs and acted appropriately in an effort to have their arguments heard at an impartial hearing by those elected to provide such a forum, the city council. Well, I suggest to the reader take the time and watch Channel 20’s rerun of what was anything but an impartial hearing. (www.ci.bocaraton.fl.us/city/agendas.aspx)
The true opponents in this argument are not the citizens versus Archstone Palmetto Park but rather the collective city council versus its own citizens. Archstone Palmetto Park is the catalyst. The antagonist is our governing body, a collective group of elected officials that has lost patience with its citizens and is now attempting to overpower the citizens by the use of political, legal, financial and coercive force.
Incredible….you need to watch the video and decide for yourself.
Citizens deserve to be heard. Their collective voice is heart and soul of what makes Boca Raton this special place worth fighting for. Elected officials cannot afford to lose patience with the citizens in favor of the developer. Increasing revenue be damned; process be damned. Representative city government is charged with the obligation of listening with an open mind when the citizens’ speak. That was not the case on this one day, 3/11/13.
P.S.: As symbolism should not be overlooked. Tuesday, 3/12/13, marks 365 days from the next date for the citizens to speak…the next date when this city council can be replaced. Election Day 2014 is expected to allow the citizens to vote for as many as four seats on the city council including the seat of mayor. A moment in time when the citizens can take back their government, take back the opportunity to be heard by a government willing to listen and effectuate the will of the people not simply their own individual will.
A mere one year from now…..the citizens’ prime directive
AZ