DELRAY BEACH MAYOR’S PRIVATE MEETING GOES PUBLIC
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Recently, Mayor Carney ruffled some feathers when he held an “Invitation Only” private meeting on September 5th to discuss the proposed “Atlantic Avenue Historic District.” Among the chosen few attending the meeting were several Atlantic Ave property owners, a few members of the historic preservation community, and a selection of City Staff.
When word of the closed-door meeting began to leak out, interested parties asked to be included but were turned away. Commissioner Rob Long wrote an email calling out the Mayor’s actions, stating “Frankly, I find it disconcerting that the mayor would call a meeting about Atlantic Avenue with a substantial number of stakeholders and several members of City Staff but preclude the rest of the commission.” He went on to say: “Today’s meeting feels like an unproductive approach at best and a borderline charter violation at worst.” (See Long’s full email below).
However, according to our sources, Carney’s “hush-hush” meeting proved to be a bust. No new ideas about the proposed historic district were discussed and no one walked away with a changed perspective. Once again, the meeting seemed more like a stall tactic to push off making an actual decision regarding the new historic district.