Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Ugly election in pretty Delray Beach
But Commissioners Bathurst and Johnson deserve reelection
Delray Beach is a South Florida gem, described by some as “South Beach for people over 50.”
Without question, the city’s Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods need more care and attention. But generally speaking, Delray Beach is an upscale, desirable place to live. It offers a sense of community, proximity to the beach and a walkable, dynamic downtown with good restaurants, unique shops and fun entertainment venues.
Some complain the city is overbuilt and that traffic on Atlantic Avenue is a nightmare. Discontent remains, too, about the failed iPic theater and the stalled Sundy Village development on West Atlantic.
That said, Delray has a number of interesting projects underway that will continue to need the city’s oversight. Delray Marketplace is sure to be a big draw. The Ray and Atlantic Crossing will be opening soon. And a major retail-and-residential project is planned at the site of the former Office Depot headquarters.
For a city on the move, there’s considerable controversy in the two city commission races facing voters on the March 17 ballot — an election over which Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who is not on the ballot, looms large.
The controversies involve the settling of a lawsuit with the promoter of the city’s famous tennis tournament, a new south entrance to the Delray Place Shopping Plaza, the proposed relocation of a downtown valet parking station, and how Petrolia inserted herself in contract negotiations with the city manager candidate whom her colleagues preferred, which ended with him walking away.
Petrolia, who’s been on the losing side of these issues, is using her influence to besmirch the two commissioners who are up for re-election and who deserve to be reelected: Bill Bathurst in Seat 2 and Shirley Johnson in Seat 4.
Seat 2: Bill Bathurst
Four people are running in this nonpartisan race, which voters citywide will decide. Whoever gets the most votes wins. Absent a tie, there is no runoff.
The incumbent is Bathurst, 59, a real estate broker with deep family ties in the city. He was first elected in 2017 to fill the seat of former Vice Mayor Jim Chard, who resigned to run for mayor against Petrolia. Bathurst said he ran to bring civility to the dais. “I was known as level-headed, a getthings-done kind of guy. I don’t talk the most, but I try to keep things civil and moving forward.”
Bathurst is considered the establishment candidate. He’s supported by the business community, the police and fire unions, and the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance. He’s also been endorsed by Palm Beach County Commissioners Mack Bernard and Robert Weinroth, and Tax Collector Anne Gannon.
Judging by her emails, Petrolia is not a fan. On at least three occasions, she’s sent email blasts criticizing Bathurst and fellow commissioners for their votes to approve the Delray Place parking lot entrance, to delay the relocation of an Atlantic Avenue valet parking stand and to settle the lawsuit with the tennis promoter.
Bathurst said the city will monitor the new parking lot entrance and make changes, if needed. He said the valet stand got a six-month reprieve, and he hopes the vendor relieves the congestion by hiring more people to more quickly park cars. And he said the settlement he helped negotiate with the tennis tournament will save the city $4.7 million over 10 years.
Bathurst’s toughest challenger appears to be Juli Casale, who also appears to be
Petrolia’s preferred candidate. During a joint candidate interview, Casale denied having an alliance with the mayor, but said, “I appreciate if she appreciates what I bring to the table.”
Casale, 51, is smart, engaged and a real dynamo. She first got involved with city while successfully fighting the Banyan Cove annexation application and a proposed 102-unit development.
Impressed by her doggedness and attention to detail, Bathurst appointed her to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board. Five months later, Casale decided to run for his commission seat. “I feel I’m more qualified at this point in time.” It reminded us of when Marco Rubio ran for president against his mentor, Jeb Bush.
“I worked on the comp plan, which is going to be implemented soon,” Casale said. “I created a 175-page document, comparing the old to the new one, and what the ramifications are.” She also serves on the board of the Delray Beach Preservation Trust.
From attending commission meetings for a year and a half, Casale says she’s discovered that “a lot of the votes don’t represent what the people want.” She wants to address the challenges of aging infrastructure and fire/police pensions. “Sea level rise is an issue that will cost $378 million. Citizens are also overwhelmed by the development and its resulting traffic.”
Like Petrolia, Casale is convinced that the city should have held out for a better deal with the tennis promoter, no matter that the trial was about to begin and the city risked winding up empty-handed. She stood with residents of Tropic Isle in opposing a second entrance to the congested Delray Place plaza. And she says the valet stand needs to move because it’s causing a back-up on Atlantic that risks public safety vehicles.
Casale is passionate, but also interrupts. She criticized Bathurst for accepting donations from people doing business in the city. She says her donations all come from residents and family. She’s not actively soliciting endorsements.
If elected, we got the sense that Casale would be a hard-working commissioner and nobody’s puppet. But she failed to make the case that Bathurst — whose votes appeared reasonable to us — deserves the boot. And there’s something about the way she’s running her campaign — mirroring the mayor’s emails — that made us feel she was less than forthright about her relationship with Petrolia.
The third candidate is Debra Tendrich, 33, who’s worked in health care since moving to Florida in 2012 and losing 70 pounds. In 2016, she started a business called Eat Better Live Better. She’s working to get its curriculum in Palm Beach County Schools. She’s been endorsed by school board member Erica Whitfield and state Sen. Lori Berman.
Tendrich is engaging, entrepreneurial and a calm but strong force. She says she’s faced personal attacks from Casale’s supporters. “I’m really good at bringing people together and coming up with a unified vision.”
Tendrich would like commission meetings to start at 6 p.m., not 4 p.m., so that more citizens could attend. She wants to focus on making sure all neighborhoods participate in the city’s success, make the redevelopment of the West Atlantic Avenue corridor a greater priority and push to make all Delray Beach schools A-rated. While a good candidate, Tendrich would be a better candidate if she were more involved in the city and perhaps served on a city board.
The fourth candidate is Jennifer Jones, 38, a self-employed tax preparer and Haitian Creole interpreter. Jones was unable to make our candidate interview, though she did complete our questionnaire and is running a strong campaign. However, we did see a campaign flyer that promotes her candidacy and failed to contain the required legal disclosure.
From her questionnaire we learned that Jones wants the commission to better reflect Delray’s diversity. She also wants to promote more affordable housing projects through the Community Redevelopment Agency, attract more jobs through apprenticeship programs and create a more civil environment at City Hall.
“There is a lack of civility and sense of community from the dais,” Jones wrote. She’s been endorsed by the Service Employees International Union and New Florida Majority.
Like Tendrich, Jones would be a better candidate if she had perhaps served on a city board.
In this race, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board endorses Bill Bathurst for re-election. He is smart, reasonable and appears unflappable. He understands the value of negotiation and compromise. He clearly cares about the city and about doing the right thing.
Seat 4: Shirley Johnson
Three people are running in this race, which again, will be decided by voters citywide.
It must be said that incumbent Commissioner
Shirley Johnson, 73, sometimes appears to be in over her head. But so far as we can tell, she’s voted the right way.
Judging by her emails, Mayor Petrolia would not agree with us.
Neither does Chris Davey, 54, who is running against Johnson and appears to be aligned with Petrolia.
“Commissioner Johnson, quite frankly, seems confused and has said so up there on dais, many many times.”
During a joint candidate interview, we asked Johnson about this perception.
“I often say I don’t understand because I’m putting myself out in the audience, and for those people who are listening via livestreaming. A lot of things are presented to us as if everybody knows what’s going on. And if I feel that if it’s something that needs to be explained, I’ll say that it’s not been explained and that I’m confused. I just like to have everyone on the same page.”
Davey: Well, just the other night, I heard you say, “I hope I’m voting the right way on this.”
Johnson: Well, I do that sometimes because of the language, the legal language. I don’t want to vote one way when I’m intending to vote the other way. And the legalese, sometimes it’s difficult to understand. And I always want to make sure that my vote is the way I wanted it to be.
Davey disagrees with Johnson’s votes on the valet stand and the shopping center entrance. Neither does he like the way she treated the former interim city manager, with whom she refused to meet following a shake-up in a city department. Davey’s criticism is legitimate. Even if you disagree with the city manager, you must still meet with him to do the public’s business.
Our concern about Davey is his lack of transparency. He denies that he’s aligned with the mayor, yet he was listed as the agent for a group called Progressives for a Better Delray that helped Petrolia win election two years ago.
It was never clear where the money came from, so we asked Davey about it during our interview. He said he doesn’t have to say where the money came from. He’s right. He’s not legally required to be transparent. But we place a higher standard on people who run for public office and want to manage public funds. And hiding the names of people who donated to his committee, which helped Petrolia, doesn’t sit right with us.
The third candidate in the race is Angela Burns, 64, a public school teacher. Burns was unable to attend our candidate interview, though she completed our questionnaire. She said she’s running for office because she’s tired of residents’ concerns being ignored. People are worried about affordable housing and earning a living wage, she wrote. “People just cannot afford to live here anymore, and development and responsible growth without displacing residents is vital.”
As with Jones, Burns’ was featured on a campaign flyer that failed to contain the required legal disclosure. The flyer made it appear the two women are running as a slate.
In this race, the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board endorses Shirley Johnson. We believe her to be a woman who cares about the city and in ensuring diversity on the commission. She is committed to doing the right thing. And we see no reason to unseat her.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Sergio Bustos, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.