Critics complained that the plaque erected in March appears to say that some departing council members had created Memorial Park, rather than its 1947 founders. Photo provided
By Mary Hladky
In its first meetings since the pivotal March 10 election, the newly constituted Boca Raton City Council decided to nullify one of former Mayor Scott Singer’s last actions.
In a hurry-up maneuver on March 24 just one week before his last day as mayor, Singer took the lead in holding a ceremony to unveil a new plaque for Memorial Park in the city’s downtown campus, dedicating it to those who gave their lives for the nation, all veterans and service members.
He was joined by the four other council members and City Manager Mark Sohaney, a Navy veteran.
The city did not notify residents of the ceremony and it was not open to the public. Only veterans and veterans organizations were invited.
Singer told residents about the event at that night’s council meeting, saying the council had pledged to dedicate Memorial Park regardless of whether or not voters approved the city’s plan to redevelop the downtown campus. Voters overwhelmingly rejected that project.
The next day, he elaborated on Facebook.
“It was an honor to be joined by so many veterans as our city commemorated a special day with the dedication of Memorial Park,” he wrote. “The ceremony marks the beginning of a long-held vision — to create a meaningful place that honors our veterans, including those who served here in Boca Raton during World War II.”
Whatever Singer intended, the ceremony and new plaque sparked a backlash.
Critics said the plaque contained inaccuracies, was unveiled at an invitation-only ceremony and did not make clear that the original plaque, which disappeared many years ago, specifically honored WW II veterans.
They also said the new plaque erases from history that the first one was placed by Town Council members in 1947 and included their names. The new plaque includes the names of City Council members in place before the March 10 election.
“As a military veteran who stood alongside many of you in Save Boca for months last summer to protect Memorial Park from a massive private development and a City Council that showed no respect for it, I find it both absurd and unconscionable that this outgoing City Council, in 2026, would try to put their names on a sign taking credit for a World War II Memorial that was created by a completely different council in April, 1947,” Navy veteran Frank Paton III wrote on Facebook.
“Every single member of this group (Save Boca) needs to get together and make sure that our new city council takes down that horrible plaque and gets the names changed to the original city council members from 1947,” wrote Roxanna Trinka.
The current City Council, which includes three new members, and Sohaney rapidly changed course during the council’s April 13 and 14 meetings.
The March 24 plaque will be scrapped. A new one will contain language drafted after “significant input” from veterans, Sohaney said. It credits the 1947 Town Council. And a public ceremony will be held.
Although the council did not immediately set a date, Memorial Day has been suggested.
The changes, said Deputy Mayor Michelle Grau, are not about a plaque. Rather, it is about “historical integrity and respect for the past and our residents. I believe correcting this is an opportunity to restore public trust.”
“It does take a step toward helping heal the community,” said Mayor Andy Thomson.
The attention Memorial Park has received obscures the fact that many residents were unaware it exists.
It is home to recreation facilities they use, including tennis courts and ballfields. And yet few have known it by that name.
The exception is veterans, who are well aware and want to ensure that it is preserved.
“It is important that we retain the status of the park as being a living memorial,” Paton said. “The park was dedicated to the World War II veterans specifically.”
Paton credits Save Boca for stressing the need to save the park. “Save Boca and citizens who stepped up to the plate saved the park from being bulldozed (by developers),” he said.
His wife, Kimberly, the owner of Boca Print, and daughter Haylee joined the effort, printing signs, T-shirts and literature at cost for Save Boca.
Paton was among the veterans who were consulted by city officials and the developers Terra and Frisbie Group, which rebranded as One Boca and would have redeveloped the downtown campus if voters had approved the project.
While One Boca developed plans for Memorial Park, Paton wasn’t impressed.
“Nothing signifying a living memorial,” he said.
Another of the group of veterans brought in to advise was Andrew Reese, a retired U.S. Army sergeant who works with the veterans community.
From the start, he said he made clear he did not want to take a political position. “I just wanted to make sure anything that was done was in a dignified and respectful manner” and that veterans should have a voice, he said.
Current city residents have little idea of the importance of the Boca Raton Army Air Field during World War II, he said.
Possibly as many as 100,000 trained or studied there, including the men now known as the Tuskegee Airmen and the crew of the atomic bomb-dropping Enola Gay.
“Now it is kind of sad there is not more knowledge about this and recognition of how important that base was,” he said.
Reese didn’t pass judgment on One Boca’s plans for Memorial Park, but he said One Boca’s representatives were very receptive to veterans’ input.
“They very much seemed to do this in the appropriate way,” as did Singer, he said.
The Town Council in 1947 wanted to include a veterans building, Reese said, and he endorses that idea now as a home for organizations providing services to veterans.
His advice to the city: “If you are going to do something, it needs to be sincere.”
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