Solution-oriented Scott Singer a better choice for Boca Raton mayor

Two years ago, Boca Raton City Councilman Scott Singer was a favorite of Al Zucaro, the publisher of BocaWatch, a community website that takes sides in city elections.

BocaWatch praised Singer for breaking with his council colleagues and opposing a waterfront restaurant on the Wildflower property. Zucaro wanted Singer to run for mayor in March 2017, and tried unsuccessfully to talk then-Mayor Susan Haynie out of running for reelection. How times have changed. In the Aug. 28 special election, Zucaro is running against Singer, who became mayor after Haynie was arrested in April on public corruption charges. The election is to fill Haynie’s term, which ends in March 2020.

Zucaro, who refused to attend the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board’s endorsement interview, portrays himself as the people’s candidate. He made the same argument during his unsucessful campaign against Haynie last year. Zucaro ran himself after failing to push her out of the race.

But Singer, though inconsistent, is the better choice.

School crowding emerged as an issue in Boca Raton last year. Seven months ago, when money for a new elementary school became available, Singer urged the council to donate 15 acres, thus securing for the city a school that otherwise would have gone elsewhere in Palm Beach County.

In addition, several neighborhoods have protested canal-clearing plans by the Lake Worth Drainage District. Their concerns seem justified. Singer and Councilwoman Monica Mayotte attended two district meetings, and the district has backed off for now. The elected officials’ presence likely made the difference.

Meanwhile, BocaWatch and Zucaro have continued their anti-council, anti-development diatribes. Though he’s running for mayor, Zucaro continues in his publisher’s role, using the nonprofit website as free media.

On Thursday, The Palm Beach Post reported that Singer has filed a lawsuit, claiming that Zucaro operates BocaWatch as a political committee and thus violates state law. The litigation may bring some needed scrutiny to the nonprofit.

For now, though, there’s ample evidence that Zucaro offers Boca Raton more discord than measured leadership.

In 2015, Zucaro ginned up a controversy over how much open space the city requires of downtown projects. He publicly accused administrators of a cover-up. When the council heard the results of an investigation that revealed only one minor violation, Zucaro was a no-show.

This year, the council blew up redevelopment of Midtown, urged on by BocaWatch. The action cost the city a needed remake of the area near Town Center Mall that would have had the owners paying for all public works improvements. It also led to a lawsuit seeking $137 million in damages.

Singer voted for the delay on Midtown. Last week, he also voted against an adult congregate living facility that had all the required approvals, joining Councilwomen Mayotte and Andrea O’Rourke. If Singer was seeking to please the anti-development faction, his moves were risky for the city.

Zucaro, though, seeks to mislead voters on the issue of development. A campaign mailer criticizes 13 Singer votes. By contrast, Zucaro says he “has led the fight against overdevelopment and its impact on our quality of life.”

Two of those 13 votes were for Mizner 200 and 1 South Ocean. In both cases, BocaWatch and Zucaro supported the final versions and praised the developers for working with residents.

Singer correctly attributes the city’s postrecession building surge to “15 years of pentup demand” and “financing markets turning to residential” and away from commercial development. He says it’s not about the council “being in the pockets of developers,” as some suggest.

Plus, Zucaro remains dogged by financial problems. He recently was deposed in a new effort to enforce a $406,000 court judgment against him for spending an investment in his business on personal expenses. With interest, the plaintiff says, the judgment is now at least $600,000.

With transparency being an issue in the wake of Haynie’s arrest, we note that Singer has proposed reforms in how city officials seek advisory ethics opinions.

In 2013, no one outside Haynie and the legal department knew that she had sought an opinion about voting on matters related to James and Marta Batmasian, downtown Boca Raton’s largest property owners. Under the changes the council approved, such requests are public and include all names.

Singer has a mixed record, but it includes advocacy of solutions. Zucaro offers only anger. The Sun Sentinel recommends Scott Singer for mayor of Boca Raton.

Singer