mayor cary glickstein - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T13:20:59Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/mayor+cary+glicksteinBusiness Spotlight: Douglas Elliman lands prolific Realtors Ely, Malinoskyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/business-spotlight-douglas-elliman-lands-prolific-realtors-ely-ma2017-05-31T14:57:44.000Z2017-05-31T14:57:44.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722882,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722882,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960722882?profile=original" /></a><em>Randy Ely (left) and Nicholas Malinosky have joined Douglas Elliman to take advantage</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>of the brokerage’s international exposure. Their office is in Delray Beach.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Christine Davis</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"> <strong>Randy Ely</strong> and <strong>Nicholas Malinosky</strong> joined <strong>Douglas Elliman</strong> in April. A top team in South Florida, the two Realtors accumulated more than $75 million in sales in the first quarter of 2017. <br /> “Their successful track record and stellar reputation in Palm Beach County’s luxury real estate market, combined with their extensive experience and passion, will further the strength and support of the expertise and services we offer our clients,” said Jay Phillip Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida Brokerage.<br /> Ely and Malinosky’s office is now at 900 E. Atlantic Ave., Suite 1, adjacent to the Douglas Elliman Delray Beach office. <br /> Previously with the Corcoran Group, Malinosky and Ely have “nothing but praise to say for Corcoran,” Malinosky said, adding that his team’s business model will stay the same. “We are going to remain in the high-end markets of Manalapan through Highland Beach on the barrier island.<br /> “Our markets are no longer small beach towns. Our clients are from all over the United States and we are dealing with international buyers and sellers, and that’s our main reason for changing. Douglas Elliman has 19 offices in Florida. The firm also has international exposure through its partnership with Knight Frank, which has many offices throughout the world.”<br /> More news from the team: Ely and Malinosky have just listed a new five-bedroom, six-bathroom and three half-bath home at 6161 N. Ocean Blvd., Ocean Ridge, which is expected to be completed in September. With 158 feet on the ocean, the 13,542-square-foot home is listed for $24.95 million. The residence is offered furnished with the exception of secondary bedrooms. Ely and Malinosky’s office number is 278-5570.<br /> <br /> <strong>Gemini</strong>, the Ziff family’s 15.65-acre compound at 2000 S. Ocean, Manalapan, hit the market in mid-2015 for $195 million. In January 2016, the property was listed on the MLS, by Premier Estate Properties agents Carmen D’Angelo, Gerald Liguori and Joseph Liguori. As of May 19, Gemini is now listed by <strong>Sotheby’s International Realty</strong> agents <strong>Cristina Condon</strong> and <strong>Todd Peter</strong> for $165 million. Peter, quoted in <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, said that the Ziff family hopes the price cut will “attract more buyers,” and that “they feel like it’s an excellent value at this price.” <br /> With 1,200 feet on the ocean and 1,300 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway, the estate offers a 12-bedroom main residence, two four-bedroom beachside cottages, the seven-bedroom Mango house and a guest or staff house with four studios and apartments. Site details include botanical gardens with 1,500 species of tropical trees and plants, a PGA-standard golf practice area, dock and pier on the Intracoastal, freshwater pond and bird sanctuary, and sports complex with a regulation tennis court, half basketball court, playground, miniature golf course and butterfly garden with a large-scale model train.<br /> <br /> Developer <strong>Frank McKinney</strong> has dropped the price of his 4,087-square-foot micromansion at 19 Tropical Drive, Ocean Ridge, from $3.9 million to $3.43 million. He listed the house in February. It has also been reported that McKinney hopes to start construction by July 1 on a 7,000-square-foot micromansion at 3492 S. Ocean Blvd., South Palm Beach, which will be in the $20 million price range.<br /> <br /> <strong>NAI/Merin Hunter Codman</strong> was recognized by the <em>South Florida Business Journal</em>’s 2017 Book of Lists as the No. 1 property management firm and No. 4 commercial real estate firm in Palm Beach County. Also, the CoStar Group Inc., a commercial real estate analytic service organization, recognized NAI/Merin Hunter Codman with its 12th Top Leasing and 10th Top Sales Brokerage Firm awards. The firm’s chairman, <strong>Neil E. Merin</strong>, received his 13th consecutive Top Leasing Broker award; <strong>Jason L. Sundook</strong>, principal, was recognized as a top leasing broker and director; and <strong>Bruce Corn</strong> was named a top retail leasing broker. <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722500,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722500,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="100" alt="7960722500?profile=original" /></a>NAI/Merin Hunter Codman is headquartered in West Palm Beach and has a regional office in Boca Raton.<br /> <br /> <strong>Sabine Robertson</strong> has joined the sales team of <strong>Silver International Realty</strong> as a real estate agent. Silver is at 55 SE Second Ave., Delray Beach. <br /> <br /> Urban retail consultant <strong>Robert Gibbs</strong> named <strong>Atlantic Avenue</strong> in Delray Beach one of the top 10 American Shopping Streets in a story for the May 5 edition of <em>USA Today</em>. “Once derisively known as Dull-Ray, this Atlantic Coast town has had a remarkable turnaround in the last 30 years,” the list read. “With literally hundreds of shops and restaurants, 20,000 people can visit in a day,” Gibbs said. <br /> Also, at the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority’s town hall in April, Gibbs presented “New Trends in Urban Retail Planning and Development,” offering his insight to property owners and developers to help them attract new tenants.<br /> <br /> More kudos for the city of Delray Beach: The national nonprofit <strong>Kaboom</strong> honored the city with a 2017 Playful City USA designation for the second time, as a place that puts the needs of families first so kids can learn, grow and develop important life skills. <br /> Delray Beach was one of 258 communities recognized. In total, these communities have more than 14,000 play spaces that serve more than 4 million children. <br /> “The city values the recreational and leisure pursuits of our residents and visitors and currently has 24 playgrounds located within our wonderful park system,” Mayor <strong>Cary Glickstein</strong> said. “In addition to our current play spaces, the city is working together with community partners to expand our play space inventory and will install a fitness park and new boundless playground before the end of the year.”<br /> <br /> A team of four engineering students took home the top prize at this year’s <strong>Florida Atlantic University Business Plan Competition</strong> with a system that helps prevent the theft of printed classified or proprietary documents. <br /> <strong>Alyssa Harris, Kris Stewart, Quintin Warren</strong> and <strong>Wesley Klemas</strong> founded Protection Against Physical Element Removal, or PAPER, in their senior engineering design class. <br /> Harris, previously a defense-industry intern, had read articles on how to prevent people walking out with pages containing proprietary or classified information, and came up with the idea of tracking pages by printing a radio-frequency identification onto classified documents. Using a nanoparticle ink as a tag, their system can detect documents being removed from the premises. <br /> While classified information is well secured and encrypted, government and large businesses haven’t had a way to secure their printed classified documents, which has led to online leaking.<br /> The PAPER team won a $10,000 first-place prize in the competition, with an additional $1,000 for being named best interdisciplinary team. <br /> <br /> The <strong>Golden Bell Education Foundation</strong>’s inaugural teen fashion show, hosted by Town Center at Boca Raton, attracted more than 100 attendees. The models were high school students from Boca Raton’s public schools. <br /> “This event was all about spreading the message that the Golden Bell Education Foundation exists to provide funding for local public schools, and it felt great to have our efforts recognized,” said <strong>Christie Workman</strong>, foundation manager for Golden Bell.<br /> <br /> Among <strong>Palm Beach Poetry Festival</strong> winners of the Fish Tales Poetry Contest was <strong>Sarah Brown Weitzman</strong> of Delray Beach, who was awarded $25 for her poem, Catch of the Day. To participate, writers submitted up to 30 lines of original poetry inspired by photography in the Delray Beach Historical Society’s Fish Tales exhibit, which featured stories, memorabilia, artwork, writing and history on fishing in Delray Beach. All winning poems can be read at <a href="http://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org">www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org</a>.<br /> <br /> The <strong>League of Women Voters Palm Beach County, ACLU Palm Beach County</strong> and the <strong>National Council of Jewish Women Palm Beach County Section</strong> are co-hosting “Why Courts Matter 2017.” <br /> <strong>Jacqueline Delgado</strong> will be the main speaker in “The Role of the Courts in Immigration,” the first event of the three-part series, which is June 13. Delgado, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, is an active immigration lawyer. The free event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at <em>The Palm Beach Post</em> auditorium, 2751 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. The series is made possible by a grant from the Progress Florida Education Institute.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722895,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960722895,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960722895?profile=original" /></a><em>Max’s Grille co-owner Patti Max holds a plaque from Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie (left).</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>At right is Max’s friend Maria Salvaggio.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo provided</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> <strong>Patti Max</strong>, co-owner of Max’s Grille, was named an Ambassador for the City of Boca Raton by Mayor Susan Haynie. The mayor presented Max with a plaque representing a key to the city during a luncheon at Max’s Grille in April. The restaurant recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is at 404 Plaza Real in Mizner Park.<br /> <br /> <strong>Bark Avenue Hotel and Spa</strong>, which until April had offered grooming and retail services only, has added an indoor, climate-controlled dog day-care and hotel.<br /> <strong>Beth Chulock</strong> of Boynton Beach, one of the original owners, restructured and formed a partnership with <strong>Eileen Fleming</strong>, a native New Yorker who lives in Ocean Ridge. Fleming previously owned a dog hotel, day-care and spa in Westchester County, N.Y., for 12 years. <br /> Bark Avenue has a custom-built dog play house and cabana-style suites. There’s a senior center with comfy couches, chairs and dog beds.<br /> Dogs are supervised 24/7. For more information on the hotel and spa, at 640 E. Ocean Ave. in Boynton Beach, call 739-8663. <br /> <br /> <strong>Meridian Art Experience,</strong> 170 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach, has a new exhibit, new summer hours and a new gallery manager, <strong>Kimberly Ross</strong>. The exhibit features the work of photographer <strong>George Dern</strong>, painter <strong>Carin Wagner</strong> and others. Summer hours are noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; or by appointment Monday and Tuesday.<br /> <em>Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.</em></p></div>Delray Beach: City grapples with costs, regulation of recovery industryhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-city-grapples-with-costs-regulation-of-recovery-indu2017-05-03T17:17:09.000Z2017-05-03T17:17:09.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /><br /> Nearly 10 years after Delray Beach was dubbed “the recovery capital of America” by <em>The New York Times</em>, that branding still irritates some elected officials. <br /> “This leadership is not sitting idly by. We want to see that reputation diminish very quickly,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the April 18 City Commission meeting. <br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960723064,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960723064,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="102" alt="7960723064?profile=original" /></a> He was referring to an email blast sent a day earlier by treatment center lawyer Jeffrey Lynne. Trying to create interest in a Recovery Business Council, Lynne wrote: “Making Delray Beach the ‘Recovery’ Capital once again.” <br /> The interim city manager had asked the commission to take a position on promoting that industry. The mayor said he was not interested and recognized the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce for moving quickly to cancel the kickoff meeting. <br /> “We are demonstrating that we are part of the solution by shining a bright light on what is largely a sham industry, in my opinion,” the mayor said. <br /> The city recorded 65 fatal drug overdoses in 2016, making its per capita overdose death rate more than double that of Palm Beach County and triple the rate of Broward County. <br /> For the first quarter of this year, fatal overdoses slipped by one from the same period last year, according to Police Department data. <br /> To combat the opioid epidemic, the city is banking on getting updated and new state legislation and new city ordinances. <br /> The state laws, proposed by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Sober Homes Task Force, would tighten rules on treatment center marketing and patient brokering. <br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;" class="font-size-3">Delray detective plays lead role</span><br /> Delray Beach Detective Nicole Lucas plays a leading role in the law enforcement arm of the task force. Her investigations have resulted in the arrests of more than 12 treatment center and sober home operators. <br /> She worked with sober home operators who went undercover and recorded treatment center managers when they talked about paying the sober home operators to bring clients to them. The illegal practice is called patient brokering. <br /> In late March, Lucas received a plaque for her efforts from the South County Recovery Residence Association. The group is a grass-roots coalition of sober homes in Delray Beach. It began 15 years ago as way to compile a list of ethical recovery residences, said Jim Tichy, president and co-owner of The Lodge. <br /> “There was too much crap going on in our industry,” Tichy said. “We work with the Delray police and code departments.” <br /> To craft its own rules, Delray Beach is relying on a joint statement procured by U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel. The statement contains language that allows cities to regulate recovery residences so that they don’t overwhelm one neighborhood, creating an institutional-like setting.</p>
<p> “The city of Delray Beach is NOT at war with recovering addicts or people with disabilities,” Max Lohman, the city attorney, wrote in an email. <br /> The city is battling unscrupulous operators who use federal housing and disability laws “to perpetuate the slavery of addiction at the expense of those among us who are most in need of our protection,” Lohman wrote. “By protecting recovering addicts from further victimization, we will also protect our community.” <br /> To study the location of its group homes, the city hired Daniel Lauber, an expert planner who is also a lawyer from the Chicago area. Frankel had recommended Lauber for his knowledge of the Fair Housing Act. The city attorney expects Lauber to deliver his study in early May. <br /> Depending on the completeness of the study, Lohman predicted an ordinance would come before the City Commission in late July or early August. <br /> Earlier this year, the city began requiring group home operators to register annually for a medical accommodation that allows more than three unrelated people to live together. <br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia, palatino;" class="font-size-3">Public safety budget affected</span> <br /> Meanwhile, the city’s public safety departments will ask for money in next year’s budget to battle the plague of overdose calls. <br /> “Currently we are working on collecting better data for our upcoming presentation to the commissioners,” said Dani Moschella, Delray Beach police spokeswoman. “That should give them a better understanding of percentage of time that the recovery community demands of our resources.” <br /> The Police Department will request five additional officers in next year’s budget, Moschella said. <br /> “That is not all because of the recovery industry,” she said, “but because the entire service population continues to grow and tax our force.” <br /> The Fire-Rescue Department will seek $60,000 to handle the overdose calls, up from $30,000 in the current budget, according to Kevin Green, assistant chief of operations. <br /> City paramedics administered 1,935 doses of Narcan last year, Green replied via email. Narcan stops a user’s high. <br /> “We do have patients who receive multiple doses,” Green wrote. “Now, each dose is 4 mg. Some patients may need 12-20 mg.” <br /> Meanwhile, Lynne and the mayor are engaged in a war of words. At the April 18 commission meeting, the mayor said Lynne had “co-opted and used without authorization the Chamber’s logos” for the Recovery Business Council. <br /> As proof that he was working jointly with the chamber, Lynne said it has a page on its website dedicated to the Recovery Business Council. <br /> Lynne sent two emails requesting an apology. On April 25, his law partner, Adam Beighley, wrote in support of Lynne to the mayor and city commissioners. Beighley wrote that Lynne wanted a public apology at the next City Commission meeting. <br /> The mayor did not apologize despite Beighley’s request at the May 2 meeting.</p></div>Delray Beach: Commission OKs settlement with Atlantic Crossing developerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-commission-oks-settlement-with-atlantic-crossing-dev2017-05-03T16:33:26.000Z2017-05-03T16:33:26.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br /> After city commissioners insisted the two-way road be placed back into the Atlantic Crossing development, they were ready to settle the lawsuit with the project’s developer. <br /> “I do not think we can get a much better project without considerable risk,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at a specially called April 12 commission meeting. “The time has come to move forward.”<br /> The Delray Beach City Commission unanimously approved settling the lawsuit. The city spent $471,788 on the litigation as of March 31.<br /> “Reaching settlement has been challenging,” said Dean Kissos, chief operating officer of the Ohio-based Edwards Cos. “We’re eager to work with the city to get Atlantic Crossing underway, and finally bring the east end of Atlantic Avenue to life.” <br /> The project must go through two city review boards and come back to the commission for final approval, a process that will take another four to six months. <br /> “We look forward to having the settlement become final,” Kissos said, “enabling us to dismiss the state and federal lawsuits, assuming there are no third-party challenges to the agreement.”<br /> If someone challenges the settlement, then Edwards would continue its lawsuit against the city, according to the settlement’s terms.<br /> When complete, Atlantic Crossing will have 82 luxury condos, 261 apartments, 83,462 square feet of office space, 39,394 square feet of restaurants and 37,642 square feet of shops, at the northeast corner of Federal Highway and Atlantic Avenue. <br /> Edwards’ development order expires Sept. 9, 2021, unless the governor declares an emergency, such as for Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The declaration would give extra time to all developments in the state.<br /> The project’s developers sued the city in state court in June 2015 for not approving the project’s amended site plan. When the case was transferred to federal court that fall, the developers wanted at least $25 million in damages. The federal claims were dismissed in July 2016 and the case returned to state court last fall.<br /> In March, the Atlantic Crossing developer agreed to these terms: <br /> • Create a two-way road into the project from Federal Highway.<br /> • Move the underground garage entrance into the project’s interior.<br /> • Contribute $175,000 to a shuttle bus. <br /> • Pay for the design, permit and construction costs of a mast arm traffic signal at the intersection of Northeast First Street and northbound Federal Highway and the intersection of Atlantic Northeast Seventh avenues. <br /> • Temporarily close Northeast Seventh Avenue at the project’s north end during construction to keep traffic out of the Palm Trail neighborhood.<br /> Edwards then submitted additional changes that capped the amount spent on traffic calming efforts in the Marina Historic District. The $125,000 worth of changes would include landscape bump-outs, a traffic circle and landscaped medians. <br /> The current and former presidents of the district’s homeowners association questioned the basis for that amount at the April 12 commission meeting.<br /> Glickstein said the amount came from the city’s engineering staff, which said the total cost was under $100,000. <br /> Sandy Zeller, former district president, recalled a 2013 meeting with Randal Krejcarek, then the city’s environmental services chief, to review the traffic calming efforts. The changes would have to be re-cost at today’s prices, said John Morgan, who now heads the department. <br /> The Atlantic Crossing developer also wanted to tie state approvals for traffic signals to a time frame. It gave the city 210 days to obtain the approvals. Some residents questioned why the time frame was not for applying for the approvals, because the city has no control over state staff.<br /> The wording was “hotly debated” by the developer’s attorney, who refused to change it, said Jamie Cole, from the city’s outside counsel Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman of Fort Lauderdale. If the state does not give the approvals in that time, the developer doesn’t have to pay for the traffic signals at two intersections, Cole said. He is confident the approvals can be obtained in that time frame.<br /> His law firm colleague Kathryn Mehaffey handed out a revised document at the start of the April 12 meeting. The revision clarified that the state approval request was for the traffic signals on city land, outside of the project. The two-way road, on land inside the project, is not part of the change, Cole said.<br /> Jestena Boughton, who lives near the Atlantic Crossing site and owns the Colony Hotel, questioned whether the design and layout of restaurants and stores has changed over the years. The project was approved in 2014, although it was designed years earlier. More purchases are made online these days, she said. <br /> “I wish (Atlantic Crossing’s) footprint were smaller and that you could see the open space from the street,” Boughton said.<br /> In his closing comments, the mayor said, “Jestena really hit it. Many of us in the community would have liked to see a much different project. … The market will speak to the developer about the size of the stores and restaurants.”<br /> Edwards Vice President Don DeVere said in an email, “Decisions regarding the sizes of the retail spaces will be market driven.”<br /> Glickstein also thanked Cole and his team for their perseverance in getting the lawsuit settled.<br /> “There will never be a perfect project,” said Robert Ganger, chairman emeritus of the Florida Coalition for Preservation. <br />The coalition, a grass-roots group dedicated to responsible development, was involved in raising money to pay for a private traffic study surrounding Atlantic Crossing. <br /> “We at the coalition want to commend you, Mayor Glickstein. You got as much as you could. We are truly grateful to you,” Ganger said.</p></div>Delray Beach: City’s planning review to cast a wide nethttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-city-s-planning-review-to-cast-a-wide-net2015-12-30T16:02:24.000Z2015-12-30T16:02:24.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br /> Delray Beach is starting an ambitious review of its comprehensive plan, Planning and Zoning Director Tim Stillings told commissioners at their second December meeting. The revision will take nearly two years to complete, he said. <br /> The plan, required by Florida law, must be evaluated every seven years, he said. The last evaluation was finished in 2008.<br /> Since then, in 2011 the state Legislature repealed part of the law that required new development to be able to handle the impacts it made on various public services, such as roads and schools. But the city wants to consider these potential impacts as it reviews a revised plan.<br /> “The main emphasis is on the community plans and to make sure the comp plan reflects them,” Stillings said.<br /> Since 2011, the economy and real estate market have picked up, he said. The city also has completed the Federal Highway improvements and is assessing the Congress Avenue corridor.<br /> The state requires nine elements in comp plans: future land use, transportation, housing, public facilities, coastal management, conservation, open space and recreation, intergovernmental coordination, and capital improvement. <br /> Delray Beach wants to add five others: economic development, historic preservation, healthy communities, sustainability and public education.<br /> The city planning staff has identified other influencing factors that also will be addressed, including sea level rise and climate change, beach protection and access, workforce housing, rehab and sober homes, parking management, and service levels.<br /> Early this year, Stillings expects to hire a consultant to help his staff work on the plan.<br /> “The goal is to have a community-generated plan that looks out 10-plus years,” he told commissioners. The plan would be integrated with the city’s operating and capital improvement budgets and the redevelopment plans that Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council staffers are updating for the city.<br /> Mayor Cary Glickstein said he’d prefer to see the plan finished in 18 months. “Two years represents 20 percent of the plan’s life — theoretically,” he noted.</p></div>Delray Beach: City poised to take new directionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-city-poised-to-take-new-direction2014-10-01T17:30:00.000Z2014-10-01T17:30:00.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Tim Pallesen<em><br /> <br /></em></strong> City Hall has undergone a transformation in the 18 months since Mayor Cary Glickstein and Commissioner Shelly Petrolia were elected.<br /> New top administrators are in place.The addition of Jordana Jarjura to the commission last March gives Glickstein and Petrolia a frequent third vote on key issues.<br /> “I’m happy to say we’ve turned the Titanic,” Glickstein said.<br /> The new regime was voted into office on a wave of public concern over Atlantic Avenue development and how the previous administration had handled city finances.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960531665,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="200" class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960531665,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960531665?profile=original" /></a> “The commission is now more aligned to move the city forward with a new progressive, businesslike way of thinking, which is to say there is a majority completely untethered to past practices that were often governed by ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it,’ ” Glickstein said.<br /> Glickstein and Petrolia struggled their first year as the minority on the commission. But then Jarjura got elected by pledging fiscal responsibility and preserving Delray’s unique village-by-the-sea character, too.<br /> “It’s given us a great ability to paint our own picture,” Petrolia said. “This is a great opportunity, and we’ve grasped it.<br /> “It’s all going to depend on the operating majority and how strongly we stick together,” she added.<br /> Jarjura calls it “simplistic” to say the three commissioners vote as a bloc. “I view my colleagues and myself as independent thinkers who approach problems from our unique perspectives and do the best we can to build consensus,” she clarified. <br /> The mayor also clarified that the women are “independent-thinking professionals.”<br /> But the three agree on key issues such as new downtown development regulations, police and fire pension reform and whether interim city manager Terry Stewart has proven himself for the permanent job. <br /> Glickstein said city government required “deconstruction” before it could move forward. Several department heads retired, and the former city manager was fired.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960532072,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960532072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="524" alt="7960532072?profile=original" /></a><em>Commissioner Shelly Petrolia (left), Mayor Cary Glickstein and Commissioner Jordana Jarjura</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>discuss budgets during a Delray Beach City Commission meeting.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
<p><br /> A nationwide search is underway now for a new manager, but Stewart is the front-runner to be the city’s chief operating officer. “It’s his job to lose,” Glickstein said.<br /> New hires with strong backgrounds such as City Attorney Noel Pffeffer, Planning and Zoning Director Dana Little, Parks and Recreation Director Suzanne Davis and Chief Financial Officer Jack Warner already are in place.<br /> The new land development regulations to be approved later this year will eliminate the height and density incentives that developers got to build downtown.<br /> “We have seen projects approved in the past that fell far short of what we should demand for our city,” Jarjura said. “We must ensure going forward that we do better.”<br /> Glickstein said new rules will relieve the anxiety that became a campaign issue for residents seeking to preserve the city’s village-by-the-sea character.<br /> “I’m hopeful that the new LDRs [land development regulations] will take the development debate off the table,” Glickstein said. “People won’t feel fear over what might be slipping away.”<br /> With a new team at City Hall and the city’s character secure, the mayor can dream about Delray’s future.<br /> One idea is to build a business incubator next to the city library that would attract robotics engineers, software designers and other young entrepreneurs. “I want to harness a very creative class,” the mayor said.<br /> “We as a city now need to focus on our strength, which is the unique vibe our town has,” he said. “We can have it all on our terms. But don’t mess up the vibe in this town, which at the end of the day is a small town."<em><br /></em></p></div>