February 4, 2026 • 19 mins
The Seat B incumbent wants another term and faces two challengers on March 10th.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Joel Malkin for WJ and O dot com. My
(00:02):
election spotlight on the City of Boca ratone going to
be a busy March tenth. There remember no early in
person voting, but you can do mail by vote and
we'll get into the tails on that a little bit later.
And because the deadline is coming, I believe Monday, February ninth,
to get your mail mail by ballot, vote by mail
(00:27):
ballot mail to you. But right now we are focusing
on one of four races in the City of Boca
on March tenth, the seat B election, and this is
the one where we do have an incumbent. The other
two races no incumbents because they're both running for mayor.
In this case, Mark Wigder has two challengers. Thank you for.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Joining me, Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So let's talk about you know, it is kind of
interesting because we've got three races that are up. Actually
one wouldn't have been d would not have come to
rise right now because Andy Thompson in that seat still
has one more year, but he decided he wanted to
run for the mayor mayoral seat. Seat a fran Nachlis.
(01:21):
She has served a term. Uh so she would either,
you know, have stayed and run as an incumbent like
you're doing for another seat or another term, but she
decided to run for mayor. I guess I would ask,
what made you decide you didn't want to run for
mayor and or that you wanted to stay in this seat?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, listen, it's been very busy and fulfilling three years.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
On city council so far.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And you know, one of the things that I really
saw when I looked at this selection and the potential
of four seats changing, is in terms of the you know,
the best, in terms of the best things for the city,
to really appreciate some continuity.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so you know, I.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Am friends with friend and Andy. I wish them both
luck and whatever they want to do in the future.
But for me, I thought that the best thing for
the city was to run for re election and to
be a stable voice with some knowledge and some experience
to continue on as opposed to four fresh people tron
(02:29):
to figure it out if they get elected.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So this would should you win re election, it would
be just you and one other council member. Correct, That
would that would be returning on the actual council.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
This trucker is not up for election this year, so yeah,
she would she remains uncounseuled.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
She'd remain uncounseled with me. That's right, all right.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So give us some background. You know, we always have
we always have people moving to the area and maybe
folks have not you know, engaged to vote, or you know,
really don't know a lot about you. So for those folks,
let them know who you are, what you do, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I'm a real estate attorney by trade, an investor originally
from New York. We're down here twenty one years now
in South Florida and about seventeen years in Boca itself.
So I raised three children here. I got two children
in college and one in high school, so you know,
(03:37):
obviously growing up raising your family here. You know, we're
a huge proponent of the park, huge you know, with
soccer and Little League and sugar stane at park and
all the things that are just.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Great about Boca.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I started a business here that's sixteen years ago, called
the Greenhouse, which focuses on infusing sustainability to commercial real
estate assets and helping small businesses. And what I came
to find through all my clients and my customers was
(04:11):
the issues that were important to them were not like
your typical issues of oh, the taxes are too high
and things like that. The main issues that the businesses
spoke to me about were, we can't find people to
come to work. We can't find people that we give
anywhere near Boca because it's too extensive. And as a result,
(04:34):
our corporate attraction, you know, our corporate talent acquisition.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Has been lacking.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And so I saw some clients move out of the city,
move their corporations out of the city so they could
mask the labor pool. And I thought that was a
serious concern that was more structural in nature than just
something that I could solve, you know. And of course
now we see this all the time. Affordable housing is
an issue, and you know, so I started to get involved.
(05:03):
I you know, I said, how can I get involved?
And they appointed me to a board at first, the
Community Advisory Panel. Unfortunately, I was appointed to the Community
Advisory Panel. This is twenty seventeen or so. I was
appointed to the Community Advisory Panel a few months before
the Parkland shooting and the Parkland tragedy. And what happened
(05:27):
is that this advisory board role got very real, very
very quickly, as public safety became super important and our
youth advisory our youth of the advisory committee got very
very important, and we really started hearing all these stories
(05:48):
that it wasn't just about this terrible shooting and how
important it is to have a police officered every school,
but it started evolving into more structural things about bullying
and loneliness and stuff like that. And you know, the
culture that created you know this this person you know
(06:09):
and uh and so with that you subcommittee, you know,
they started things like lunch punch to make sure people
to make sure kids at school didn't need alone. And obviously,
you know, our police officers were you know, were staged
at every school for a time period. And of course
security got much more important. So you know, very quickly
I learned the benefits of public safety, public engagement, community engagement,
(06:33):
working with other stakeholders like the schools, the school district.
Frank Barbieri was the superintendent at the time, was very
very active and and again so it got real. And
then I joined another board. I joined the Bike and
Pedestrian board because I'm a biker and a runner and
I see the shared these trails, uh, the Alredo Trail
and Boca the shared trail network. It needs it still
(06:55):
needs work. Obviously we work on funding all the time.
But uh, it's something that's important to me and it's
important to the future of Boca and transit. So I
got involved in that and then obviously then that led
him too, getting elected about about three years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So you've been busy. Yeah, let's talk about one Boca.
And this is a big project, and every time I
bring it up, I feel like, oh, maybe I need
to talk all about what it is. But I think
if you're a voter in Boca ratone, you're probably well
aware of what it is. And if you're not, you
need to be a quick study. March tenth will be
(07:35):
right around the corner, and you also, of course have
a referendum on the ballot regarding it. Is this is
a Is it safe to say this is a polarizing
topic in Boca, Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think it is. It's one of the reasons why
the city council decided unanimously that it should be put
to the public.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
For a vote.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Uh, because it has been polarizing. There's there's people of
of every you know, of every aspect and every part
of the city. Uh, business leaders, residential leaders east to
West Boca, that that all have different opinions on this,
and it's certainly, you know, it's certainly been a challenging issue.
(08:21):
But again, I do believe that the economic benefits from
creating a small transit oriented development next to the bright
line is better for the city financially, better for the
better for the city economically, can do a lot of
job creation and can offset a lot of the expenses
(08:45):
that we need to rebuild the Memorial Park and the
city Hall and the community center there and instead of
the city just paying for itself. So again, you know,
we're weighing all those challenges out, weighing all those issues out.
You know, I see it as a significant benefit to
the city and uh, you know, as a result, you know,
(09:06):
I was excited that the plant evolved to protect Memorial Park,
and likewise, I was excited that the plan involved to
create a transit oriented district right now off the train
station and frontline. And if you go there right now,
you know, there's not much there, and there's you know,
there's there's a couple just traditional industrial stores there and
(09:30):
you know, there's no reason to get off the train.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And I often say that in the meetings. Is you know,
we want.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
To give people a reason not only to get on
the train and go to Miami and watch the Heat
game and things like that, we want to give people
a reason to get off the train and visit downtown
Boca Ratone, especially if I'm nighting a park across the
street and potentially this tod here, you have an opportunity,
you know, for for a for a small but vibrant downtown,
(09:57):
and I think that's worth investing in. I'm happy that
the business community considers it as well.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Now I'm picking up on your use of the words small,
because this was initially much larger, or at least larger
to an extent project that the city leadership has kind
of pared down. Correct.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, this initially as an unsolicited proposal. Right, So in
the very beginning of this process, which is twenty twenty four,
the you know, a few developers came in with unsolicited proposals.
One was very office intensive and one was more residential intensive,
(10:39):
more neighborhoody ultimately, and there were some other ones that
came in after that were you know that that were
not really in line with the downtown visions, and so
ultimately what happened is that the city Council chose the
least dents of those and then throughout the public engagement process, obviously,
(11:02):
you know, we learned about the history of Memorial Park,
we learned about how you know, how important that green
space was to the community there, and really it's the developer.
The developer pivoted and uh and acknowledged those concerns from
the people, and so they came up with reiterations that
(11:24):
left the government campus side the side west of Second
Avenue alone, and that they moved the moved the to
d just to the east side, adjacent to the train station.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You do have a candidate in this race that U
says she's running. She she doesn't like your the way
you vote on on things. I wanted, you know, you
to address that, and I'm sure you've heard the claims
you know that are out there. She also claims that
John Pearlman, who we have not been able to get
hold of, left him a couple of voicemails, kind of
(12:03):
took over the Save Boca group and made it his own. Obviously,
I don't expect you to answer to that. But talking
about of course Meredith Mad's and the other one of
the other challengers of yours.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, no, I'm friends with Meredith. I think she's a
good person. I respect her, I respect her positions on
some of these issues, but you know, respectfully, I don't
agree with all of them. You know, balancing the city's needs,
the city's economic needs.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What's going on in Tallahassee.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now everyone has to tell you, you know, and everybody
knows what's going on with property tax reform here, and
what's happening in property tax reform is really eye opening
to the cities because almost any of those initiatives, if
they go.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Through, are are going to.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Require significant budget cuts. So I balance those initiatives and
our needs to maintain public safety, maintain the fire department,
maintain the pipes, man maintain the very parks that we're
trying to protect. Creating a small new revenue source. Remember,
this is not just the situation where the developer is
going to be paying property taxes on this land. They
(13:19):
are going to be paying a city a ground these
This is exactly the structural format financially that Meisner Park,
uh that Meisner Park employees, right So Meisner Park is
on a ground lease that pays the city about five
million dollars a year just to be there, and obviously
(13:39):
that helps pay for cops, helps pay for security, helps
pay for the roads, helps pay for the life, helps
stay for events, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And things and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So you know, here, of course, we're weighing the balance
between doing some uh you know, doing some development on
about seven acres of land next to the tod and
significant financial benefits to the city, uh and the tune
of billions of dollars over the term. But you know,
just just the intax seed, the fact that they're paying
(14:11):
for their own infrastructure that they're proffering part of the
pedestrian bridge that we need to build to connect the
transtation to the Meisner to Mousing Park. There's significant benefits
there that you know, that I think are really important
to the community and again help us stave off tax
increases and budget and balances that could happen, especially with
(14:32):
what's going on in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I also want to ask you, since you do serve
on the council currently and uh the outgoing uh mayor
had I'm sure a lot a lot to do with this, Uh,
we have a quantum computing company, one of the one
of the leading ones d Wave coming out of you
(14:55):
with Palo Alto, California and moving their headquarters to Boca Ratona,
US within the next year or by the end of
this year. One hundred jobs minimum one twenty five thousand
annually for those workers. And we obviously have efforts from
Boca from Palm Beach County to get financial firms out
(15:19):
of New York City after the election of Mayor mum
Donnie there to relocate as well. So I wanted to
get your thoughts on all of that.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Well, you know, in terms of structurally, I think Florida
has been a great place to move to. Like I said,
moving here twenty one years ago, I kind of feel
like I followed my clients. I followed the business down here,
and I think many you know, obviously one hundreds of
thousands of people have done the same, and so many
businesses have done the same. So you know, I think
(15:52):
what I see happening, and you know, places like California
and New York is in many respects similar to what
I did twenty years ago, which is they're also following
their clients and following, you know, a real push to
be in South Florida. I always say that. You know,
people's like, oh my god, Boca's you know, Bocu's booming
and all these other things. You know, if you look
(16:14):
at it statistically, Boca's growth rate is zero point nine percent, right,
it's less than one percent a year, less than the
national average, less than two thirds of Florida cities.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
They are growing crazy. And the reason why I say
that is Boca.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Is popular, it's not booming because there's no space, right,
you know, there's not a lot of space left to build.
So once you have is some redevelopment that's happening throughout
certain sectors of the city, but you don't have a
lot of true growth here because there's just not a
lot of space for residential housing. It's another reason why
affordable housing is important and why we fought why we
(16:51):
pass the first, the city's first.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Affordable housing ordinance.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
But likewise, to your point about the companies, these companies
are seen in South Florida as this attractive package, not
just that you know, it's a great place to have
a company. You know, with fourteen million square feet of
potential office space, you know in the city, we have
great universities. And of course one of the other things
(17:18):
you know, with the D wave coming here, is that
they're installing one of their quantum computers and they're working
also with a partnership with FAU. So what you have
here is what I call the package. The package is
not just housing, it's not just companies moving here. It's
the package of everything. And let's call that quality of life.
(17:39):
You've got great housing, right, you have an opportunity for
some more affordable housing for your workforce to live close
to where they work. You have great university system, you
have great schools and school choice, and you have great parks.
Of course, you have a beautiful you have a beautiful beach,
and you have amazing you know, commercial and retail and
(18:01):
restaurant opportunities. And I think all those things put together,
you know, kind of give this wonderful kind of package
of you.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That's the quality of life that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And I think other companies, I think they get it
that they're not just moving for office space or one thing.
They are moving here for the package. All right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And then finally, three candidates running in this race, you're
the incumbent, what makes you the best option here for voters.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Well, thanks for the question and thanks for the interviewer.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I really appreciate it obviously.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
As I said, over the last three years and even
more serving on boards for almost ten years now, I've
come to learn the issues, not just raising my family here,
but really learn the issues that are important to the
people of book of its own, that keep it vibrant,
that keep the people safe, I keep it strong. That's
why I'm so honored to in the endorsement of the
(18:56):
Police Department Union, the Fire Department Union, and the Business
Community Blue Pack. Again, my experience here is something that
I'm running for reelection to continue the good work that
we're doing. And I believe for those reasons, I'm the
best candidates in job.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And I mentioned early on, no early voting in person
for this race. But if you want to vote by mail,
you want to have one of those ballots mailed to
you February ninth, by five pm. I believe that is
the deadline for that, correct.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Thank you, That's what I thank you, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Well, appreciate you joining us and speaking to the listeners.
The voters of Boca ratone incumbent and C. B. Candidate
Boca Ratone City Council Mark Wigder here on WJNO dot com.
Thanks again, thanks so
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Much for having me appreciate it.
Hey, Joel Malkin for WJ and O dot com. My
(00:02):
election spotlight on the City of Boca ratone going to
be a busy March tenth. There remember no early in
person voting, but you can do mail by vote and
we'll get into the tails on that a little bit later.
And because the deadline is coming, I believe Monday, February ninth,
to get your mail mail by ballot, vote by mail
(00:27):
ballot mail to you. But right now we are focusing
on one of four races in the City of Boca
on March tenth, the seat B election, and this is
the one where we do have an incumbent. The other
two races no incumbents because they're both running for mayor.
In this case, Mark Wigder has two challengers. Thank you for.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Joining me, Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So let's talk about you know, it is kind of
interesting because we've got three races that are up. Actually
one wouldn't have been d would not have come to
rise right now because Andy Thompson in that seat still
has one more year, but he decided he wanted to
run for the mayor mayoral seat. Seat a fran Nachlis.
(01:21):
She has served a term. Uh so she would either,
you know, have stayed and run as an incumbent like
you're doing for another seat or another term, but she
decided to run for mayor. I guess I would ask,
what made you decide you didn't want to run for
mayor and or that you wanted to stay in this seat?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, listen, it's been very busy and fulfilling three years.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
On city council so far.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And you know, one of the things that I really
saw when I looked at this selection and the potential
of four seats changing, is in terms of the you know,
the best, in terms of the best things for the city,
to really appreciate some continuity.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so you know, I.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Am friends with friend and Andy. I wish them both
luck and whatever they want to do in the future.
But for me, I thought that the best thing for
the city was to run for re election and to
be a stable voice with some knowledge and some experience
to continue on as opposed to four fresh people tron
(02:29):
to figure it out if they get elected.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So this would should you win re election, it would
be just you and one other council member. Correct, That
would that would be returning on the actual council.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
This trucker is not up for election this year, so yeah,
she would she remains uncounseuled.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
She'd remain uncounseled with me. That's right, all right.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So give us some background. You know, we always have
we always have people moving to the area and maybe
folks have not you know, engaged to vote, or you know,
really don't know a lot about you. So for those folks,
let them know who you are, what you do, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I'm a real estate attorney by trade, an investor originally
from New York. We're down here twenty one years now
in South Florida and about seventeen years in Boca itself.
So I raised three children here. I got two children
in college and one in high school, so you know,
(03:37):
obviously growing up raising your family here. You know, we're
a huge proponent of the park, huge you know, with
soccer and Little League and sugar stane at park and
all the things that are just.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Great about Boca.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I started a business here that's sixteen years ago, called
the Greenhouse, which focuses on infusing sustainability to commercial real
estate assets and helping small businesses. And what I came
to find through all my clients and my customers was
(04:11):
the issues that were important to them were not like
your typical issues of oh, the taxes are too high
and things like that. The main issues that the businesses
spoke to me about were, we can't find people to
come to work. We can't find people that we give
anywhere near Boca because it's too extensive. And as a result,
(04:34):
our corporate attraction, you know, our corporate talent acquisition.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Has been lacking.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
And so I saw some clients move out of the city,
move their corporations out of the city so they could
mask the labor pool. And I thought that was a
serious concern that was more structural in nature than just
something that I could solve, you know. And of course
now we see this all the time. Affordable housing is
an issue, and you know, so I started to get involved.
(05:03):
I you know, I said, how can I get involved?
And they appointed me to a board at first, the
Community Advisory Panel. Unfortunately, I was appointed to the Community
Advisory Panel. This is twenty seventeen or so. I was
appointed to the Community Advisory Panel a few months before
the Parkland shooting and the Parkland tragedy. And what happened
(05:27):
is that this advisory board role got very real, very
very quickly, as public safety became super important and our
youth advisory our youth of the advisory committee got very
very important, and we really started hearing all these stories
(05:48):
that it wasn't just about this terrible shooting and how
important it is to have a police officered every school,
but it started evolving into more structural things about bullying
and loneliness and stuff like that. And you know, the
culture that created you know this this person you know
(06:09):
and uh and so with that you subcommittee, you know,
they started things like lunch punch to make sure people
to make sure kids at school didn't need alone. And obviously,
you know, our police officers were you know, were staged
at every school for a time period. And of course
security got much more important. So you know, very quickly
I learned the benefits of public safety, public engagement, community engagement,
(06:33):
working with other stakeholders like the schools, the school district.
Frank Barbieri was the superintendent at the time, was very
very active and and again so it got real. And
then I joined another board. I joined the Bike and
Pedestrian board because I'm a biker and a runner and
I see the shared these trails, uh, the Alredo Trail
and Boca the shared trail network. It needs it still
(06:55):
needs work. Obviously we work on funding all the time.
But uh, it's something that's important to me and it's
important to the future of Boca and transit. So I
got involved in that and then obviously then that led
him too, getting elected about about three years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
So you've been busy. Yeah, let's talk about one Boca.
And this is a big project, and every time I
bring it up, I feel like, oh, maybe I need
to talk all about what it is. But I think
if you're a voter in Boca ratone, you're probably well
aware of what it is. And if you're not, you
need to be a quick study. March tenth will be
(07:35):
right around the corner, and you also, of course have
a referendum on the ballot regarding it. Is this is
a Is it safe to say this is a polarizing
topic in Boca, Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think it is. It's one of the reasons why
the city council decided unanimously that it should be put
to the public.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
For a vote.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Uh, because it has been polarizing. There's there's people of
of every you know, of every aspect and every part
of the city. Uh, business leaders, residential leaders east to
West Boca, that that all have different opinions on this,
and it's certainly, you know, it's certainly been a challenging issue.
(08:21):
But again, I do believe that the economic benefits from
creating a small transit oriented development next to the bright
line is better for the city financially, better for the
better for the city economically, can do a lot of
job creation and can offset a lot of the expenses
(08:45):
that we need to rebuild the Memorial Park and the
city Hall and the community center there and instead of
the city just paying for itself. So again, you know,
we're weighing all those challenges out, weighing all those issues out.
You know, I see it as a significant benefit to
the city and uh, you know, as a result, you know,
(09:06):
I was excited that the plant evolved to protect Memorial Park,
and likewise, I was excited that the plan involved to
create a transit oriented district right now off the train
station and frontline. And if you go there right now,
you know, there's not much there, and there's you know,
there's there's a couple just traditional industrial stores there and
(09:30):
you know, there's no reason to get off the train.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And I often say that in the meetings. Is you know,
we want.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
To give people a reason not only to get on
the train and go to Miami and watch the Heat
game and things like that, we want to give people
a reason to get off the train and visit downtown
Boca Ratone, especially if I'm nighting a park across the
street and potentially this tod here, you have an opportunity,
you know, for for a for a small but vibrant downtown,
(09:57):
and I think that's worth investing in. I'm happy that
the business community considers it as well.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Now I'm picking up on your use of the words small,
because this was initially much larger, or at least larger
to an extent project that the city leadership has kind
of pared down. Correct.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, this initially as an unsolicited proposal. Right, So in
the very beginning of this process, which is twenty twenty four,
the you know, a few developers came in with unsolicited proposals.
One was very office intensive and one was more residential intensive,
(10:39):
more neighborhoody ultimately, and there were some other ones that
came in after that were you know that that were
not really in line with the downtown visions, and so
ultimately what happened is that the city Council chose the
least dents of those and then throughout the public engagement process, obviously,
(11:02):
you know, we learned about the history of Memorial Park,
we learned about how you know, how important that green
space was to the community there, and really it's the developer.
The developer pivoted and uh and acknowledged those concerns from
the people, and so they came up with reiterations that
(11:24):
left the government campus side the side west of Second
Avenue alone, and that they moved the moved the to
d just to the east side, adjacent to the train station.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You do have a candidate in this race that U
says she's running. She she doesn't like your the way
you vote on on things. I wanted, you know, you
to address that, and I'm sure you've heard the claims
you know that are out there. She also claims that
John Pearlman, who we have not been able to get
hold of, left him a couple of voicemails, kind of
(12:03):
took over the Save Boca group and made it his own. Obviously,
I don't expect you to answer to that. But talking
about of course Meredith Mad's and the other one of
the other challengers of yours.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, no, I'm friends with Meredith. I think she's a
good person. I respect her, I respect her positions on
some of these issues, but you know, respectfully, I don't
agree with all of them. You know, balancing the city's needs,
the city's economic needs.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What's going on in Tallahassee.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now everyone has to tell you, you know, and everybody
knows what's going on with property tax reform here, and
what's happening in property tax reform is really eye opening
to the cities because almost any of those initiatives, if
they go.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Through, are are going to.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Require significant budget cuts. So I balance those initiatives and
our needs to maintain public safety, maintain the fire department,
maintain the pipes, man maintain the very parks that we're
trying to protect. Creating a small new revenue source. Remember,
this is not just the situation where the developer is
going to be paying property taxes on this land. They
(13:19):
are going to be paying a city a ground these
This is exactly the structural format financially that Meisner Park,
uh that Meisner Park employees, right So Meisner Park is
on a ground lease that pays the city about five
million dollars a year just to be there, and obviously
(13:39):
that helps pay for cops, helps pay for security, helps
pay for the roads, helps pay for the life, helps
stay for events, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And things and things of that nature.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So you know, here, of course, we're weighing the balance
between doing some uh you know, doing some development on
about seven acres of land next to the tod and
significant financial benefits to the city, uh and the tune
of billions of dollars over the term. But you know,
just just the intax seed, the fact that they're paying
(14:11):
for their own infrastructure that they're proffering part of the
pedestrian bridge that we need to build to connect the
transtation to the Meisner to Mousing Park. There's significant benefits
there that you know, that I think are really important
to the community and again help us stave off tax
increases and budget and balances that could happen, especially with
(14:32):
what's going on in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I also want to ask you, since you do serve
on the council currently and uh the outgoing uh mayor
had I'm sure a lot a lot to do with this, Uh,
we have a quantum computing company, one of the one
of the leading ones d Wave coming out of you
(14:55):
with Palo Alto, California and moving their headquarters to Boca Ratona,
US within the next year or by the end of
this year. One hundred jobs minimum one twenty five thousand
annually for those workers. And we obviously have efforts from
Boca from Palm Beach County to get financial firms out
(15:19):
of New York City after the election of Mayor mum
Donnie there to relocate as well. So I wanted to
get your thoughts on all of that.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Well, you know, in terms of structurally, I think Florida
has been a great place to move to. Like I said,
moving here twenty one years ago, I kind of feel
like I followed my clients. I followed the business down here,
and I think many you know, obviously one hundreds of
thousands of people have done the same, and so many
businesses have done the same. So you know, I think
(15:52):
what I see happening, and you know, places like California
and New York is in many respects similar to what
I did twenty years ago, which is they're also following
their clients and following, you know, a real push to
be in South Florida. I always say that. You know,
people's like, oh my god, Boca's you know, Bocu's booming
and all these other things. You know, if you look
(16:14):
at it statistically, Boca's growth rate is zero point nine percent, right,
it's less than one percent a year, less than the
national average, less than two thirds of Florida cities.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
They are growing crazy. And the reason why I say
that is Boca.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Is popular, it's not booming because there's no space, right,
you know, there's not a lot of space left to build.
So once you have is some redevelopment that's happening throughout
certain sectors of the city, but you don't have a
lot of true growth here because there's just not a
lot of space for residential housing. It's another reason why
affordable housing is important and why we fought why we
(16:51):
pass the first, the city's first.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Affordable housing ordinance.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
But likewise, to your point about the companies, these companies
are seen in South Florida as this attractive package, not
just that you know, it's a great place to have
a company. You know, with fourteen million square feet of
potential office space, you know in the city, we have
great universities. And of course one of the other things
(17:18):
you know, with the D wave coming here, is that
they're installing one of their quantum computers and they're working
also with a partnership with FAU. So what you have
here is what I call the package. The package is
not just housing, it's not just companies moving here. It's
the package of everything. And let's call that quality of life.
(17:39):
You've got great housing, right, you have an opportunity for
some more affordable housing for your workforce to live close
to where they work. You have great university system, you
have great schools and school choice, and you have great parks.
Of course, you have a beautiful you have a beautiful beach,
and you have amazing you know, commercial and retail and
(18:01):
restaurant opportunities. And I think all those things put together,
you know, kind of give this wonderful kind of package
of you.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
That's the quality of life that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And I think other companies, I think they get it
that they're not just moving for office space or one thing.
They are moving here for the package. All right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And then finally, three candidates running in this race, you're
the incumbent, what makes you the best option here for voters.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Well, thanks for the question and thanks for the interviewer.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I really appreciate it obviously.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
As I said, over the last three years and even
more serving on boards for almost ten years now, I've
come to learn the issues, not just raising my family here,
but really learn the issues that are important to the
people of book of its own, that keep it vibrant,
that keep the people safe, I keep it strong. That's
why I'm so honored to in the endorsement of the
(18:56):
Police Department Union, the Fire Department Union, and the Business
Community Blue Pack. Again, my experience here is something that
I'm running for reelection to continue the good work that
we're doing. And I believe for those reasons, I'm the
best candidates in job.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And I mentioned early on, no early voting in person
for this race. But if you want to vote by mail,
you want to have one of those ballots mailed to
you February ninth, by five pm. I believe that is
the deadline for that, correct.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Thank you, That's what I thank you, all right.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Well, appreciate you joining us and speaking to the listeners.
The voters of Boca ratone incumbent and C. B. Candidate
Boca Ratone City Council Mark Wigder here on WJNO dot com.
Thanks again, thanks so
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Much for having me appreciate it.
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