Candidates talk schools, Boca growth, city spending

BOCA RATON — A candidate forum ahead of the March election aimed attention at pressing issues those elected will tackle: crowding at local schools, parking and traffic and how to spend $65 million the city pocketed from a recent land sale.

With little tension, five candidates for two seats on the March 13 ballot introduced themselves to the audience and shared similar goals for undertaking Boca Raton’s problems.

For Council Seat D, incumbent Jeremy Rodgers faces political novice Kim Do, an accountant.

Do said she chose to run for the council after realizing Rodgers, a Navy veteran who works in the technology industry, was unchallenged for the seat.

“He’s done a great job, but no one should win by default ...,” Do said.

Do, originally from Vietnam and a mother of two, said she would use her budgeting experience to help bring money to Boca Raton schools and plan a new governmental campus, a plan underway by the current council.

Rodgers, a father of four, wants to continue his work on the council advocating for schools, improving parks and guiding smart growth, he said.

“I think we’ve made some great progress,” Rodgers said.

On the ever-present parking problems, Rodgers said the council should continue to look for suitable space for a downtown parking garage, and build it so it can be converted easily into office space or other uses if and when autonomous cars make parking obsolete.

Do said the city should partner with private businesses to offer their existing parking, typically unused after business hours, to the public.

In a three-way race for Council Seat D are Armand Grossman, a retired education administrator and former member of Palm Beach County Planning Commission; Monica Mayotte, a sustainability consultant and mother of two; and Paul Preste, a doctor of internal medicine.

The three agreed that crowding at Boca Raton schools is the city’s largest issue.

Mayotte blamed “overdevelopment” in part for crowded schools, saying developers should be held responsible for paying impact fees to the school district when they add homes to the area. Those fees go to the school district and currently are voluntary — and there’s no guarantee the money goes back into Boca schools.

“There needs to be a mechanism so the school district can account for the dollars the Boca developers pay in,” Mayotte said.

Grossman said changing demographics have brought an influx of students. Empty nesters are leaving their homes, and families with children are moving in. The school district has said the same.

Grossman, who sat on Florida Atlantic University’s board of trustees, would partner with local universities to grow medical and nursing programs to fit workforce needs, he said.

Preste, a political newcomer who hasn’t raised any money in the race, said schools should “add on” space, without going into detail.

With Boca Raton expected to pocket $65 million from the sale of its western golf course to developer GL Homes, the candidates offered differing plans for the money.

Grossman said the money should go toward redoing the City Hall campus. The campus should include a performing arts center, community pool and other recreation.

Mayotte said the city should put the money in the bank, at least temporarily.

“Let’s do some sessions with residents,” she said.

Preste said he would turn the $65 million into $100 million and “see what residents want to see happen,” without going into detail.