What is now the Wildflower Park at the Intracoastal and Palmetto Park Road was publicly owned land with a private deal, and a council member who fought residents every step of the way. If you’ve lived in Boca long enough, you remember the citizen led fight to protect all publicly owned waterfront land from private development. And if you’re new here, it’s one of the clearest examples of why residents need independent voices representing them on the City Council, not candidates who lean on PAC’s and developers.
The Wildflower wasn’t just a vacant lot. It was a rare piece of waterfront land purchased with our tax dollars in 2009 for $7.5 million. Residents always believed that land would become something for the community, a public space for all to enjoy.
A waterfront referendum was not where the 2013 city council was headed.
Instead, the City Council of 2013 began negotiating behind closed doors for an RFP on a long term lease with Hillstone Restaurant Group (Houston’s) to build a private waterfront restaurant. Sound familiar? One lobbyist called it “A Done Deal.” A taxpayer funded property was on the verge of becoming a business deal. A bad business deal. And residents were expected to accept it. Just like what we’re now seeing with the current city council Government Campus debacle (see “10 Reasons Why Boca’s Government Campus Proposal Is A Bad Deal.” for more).
In 2016, residents did not accept it. People like Jim and Trish Wood and James and Nancy Hendrey organized, mobilized, and fought back. And that’s how the Wildflower Waterfront Referendum was born. The referendum asked a simple question on the ballot: Should city owned waterfront land be protected for public use only? The community answered louder than anyone expected: 29,378 voted to protect the waterfront and 14,484 voted against it. The turnout was yes, protect public property at a 67% landslide.
Enter the role of PACs
A PAC was formed specifically to undermine Boca’s resident voices. A website (formerly ForBoca.org) funneled $60,000 into this effort and was run by a former City Council Member and former Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce member. And, a whopping $43,000 was spent on political mail pieces to confuse voters. Boca Magazine documented the details1.
This PAC used the Tallahassee office of lobbyist/lawyer Mark Herron, who was also listed as a ForBoca.org director. Herron successfully represented City Council member Robert Weinroth in an ethics complaint about an appointment to the Airport Authority Board, and the city paid the bill of $10,000 using our tax dollars to represent Mr. Weinroth.
Meanwhile residents were fighting to protect our public spaces, then Councilmember Robert Weinroth was actively opposing them. His quotes from that time matter, because they show a pattern … a consistent disconnect between where the residents stand and where he stands.
- To residents, broad protection meant security. To Weinroth, it was something to be concerned about. As residents pushed to protect their land, Weinroth repeatedly tried to undermine the referendum. He warned that protecting the waterfront was a “problem” Instead of acknowledging what residents were trying to achieve.2
- Instead of respecting the will of the people, he framed the residents’ victory like a complication the city needed to manage. After the referendum passed, he said: The citizen initiative carried “unintended consequences” for activities at parks along the Intracoastal.3 This happened right after voters overwhelmingly said, “Yes, keep it public.” Rather than support the community’s decision, he cast doubt on it.
- When discussing the Wildflower’s future as a public park, he warned: “This has the potential of becoming the most expensive park—on a per-capita basis.”4
- He defended the city’s push toward commercial use, even while backing the idea of a restaurant on public land, he said: “we’d be building a condominium on there.”5
Not support it. Not respect it. Just accept it, and reluctantly at that. Listen for yourself
Full 10 minute remarks here.
Summary
The Wildflower story is about more than a piece of land. It’s about whether the people of Boca or the political insiders decide the use of our public land and the resulting future of our city. This isn’t history, it’s a pattern. And it is exactly why I believe Boca deserves leaders who don’t need to be pushed, pressured, or corrected by the voters to stand with them. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that we want a city where our public land and neighborhoods stay protected from special interests and our elected officials stay accountable to the people.
REFERENCES:
- Boca Magazine on Wildflower ↩︎
- The Palm Beach Post on Waterfront Election Landslide ↩︎
- Coastal Star on Wildflower Fence Coming Down ↩︎
- Boca Magazine on Ideas for Wildflower Park ↩︎
- Coastal Star on Wildflower Park Zoning Changes ↩︎
