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Building Tomorrow From Yesterday: Inside West Palm's Community Redevelopment Agency · Inside West Palm Beach

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  Welcome to the City Center podcast. I'm
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  Jerry Marcello. A city like West Palm
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  Beach is always changing, adding new
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  landmarks that help define who we are.
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  The city is also hard at work renewing
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  what is already here through the efforts
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  of the West Palm Beach Community
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  Redevelopment Agency. Today we'll look
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  at our nationally recognized CRA, what
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  they're all about, and how their efforts
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  are forming the West Palm Beach of
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  tomorrow. That's next on the City Center
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  podcast.
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  And welcome back. We have with us today
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  Executive Director of the West Palm
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  Beach Redevelopment Agency, Chris Root.
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  Chris, thank you for joining us today.
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  Hey, Jerry, how are you? I'm doing great.
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  Glad to have you here.
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  Yes, glad to be here.
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  Listen, what is the CRA and what is it
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  created to do? So CRA, the
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  acronym stands for Community
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  Redevelopment Agency. And this is a tool
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  that was created by the state of Florida
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  many years ago. I believe it's the, and
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  you may want to fact check that. I don't
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  know. So a lot of podcasts do a fact
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  check at the end, but I'm pretty sure I'm
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  accurate on this, is that it was the
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  Community Redevelopment Act of 1969.
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  That's when the state really sort of
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  passed the first enabling legislation.
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  Obviously, since then, there's been lots
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  of amendments to that law to sort of
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  steer and amend what CRAs and local
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  governments can do with CRAs. But
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  generally, that was kind of the point
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  where they said, "Okay, we have these
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  areas in the state of Florida that really
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  need help. They're what, no, they're slum
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  and blighted, and we need to
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  remove that. And the best way to do that
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  is we'll actually create these
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  agencies that can develop projects to
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  improve the value and quality of those.
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  And they'll be able to take the taxes
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  that generate from the increase in that
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  value and continue to reinvestment in
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  those areas. And so that's essentially
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  the premise behind it. And a lot of
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  states have sort of the same model, but
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  that's essentially the idea behind CRAs
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  is that as their work continues over the
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  years, the tax increment grows, they
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  continue to reinvest that in the
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  community.
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  Now, the city of West Palm Beach, by and
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  large, is not a really old city. We're
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  only about 130, 130, something that,
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  that, that, around that age. Is that, is
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  that a common thing for cities of our age
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  and size to have a CRA or is this
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  something unique for us?
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  I don't think it's unique in the state of
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  Florida. And I don't think it's that
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  unique, really, in other areas of the
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  United States. I mean, because you have
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  business improvement districts, downtime
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  development authorities, these are all
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  agencies that are, although they may have
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  a different sort of mission, you
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  know, they're generally there to continue
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  to ensure that the place thrives and
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  grows and becomes, you know, great for
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  overall economic development, which, you
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  know, can include a lot of different
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  things. But CRA specifically were meant
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  for that removal of slum and blight. But
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  I mean, you have over 200 in the state
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  of Florida.
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  Right.
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  So well, but what I would, what I would
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  brag about is that I would say that West
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  Palm Beach is best in class when it comes
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  to CRA's for lots of reasons, which I'm
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  happy to talk more about,
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  you know, I mean, that's,
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  Well, so, okay, so let's use a real world
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  example, give me an example of an area or
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  a landmark structure or whatever that we
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  have basically rehabilitated and turned
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  into a beautiful, profitable
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  or livable position, a place.
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  Sure. So hopefully some of our listeners
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  have been in West Palm, but even if you
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  haven't been in West Palm for some time,
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  it's good to, it's good to kind of know
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  some areas where the CRA has been
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  effective. So let me
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  back up and just kind
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  of lay out some boundaries for where the
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  CRA currently is working.
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  So the city of West Palm Beach has two
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  series. One is in the
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  downtown city center
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  area. And then there's another one that's
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  on the north end of the city.
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  That's around the Northwood village area
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  for folks. And if you're looking, you're
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  like, okay, well, what streets are we
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  talking about in the
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  downtown city center?
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  For all intents and purposes, you're
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  looking at Okeechobee Boulevard to Palm
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  Beach Lakes, north and south boundaries.
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  On the west boundary, you have the lakes,
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  right? Clear Lake, which provides the
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  water to the city of West Palm Beach, and
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  then the inter coastal on the east side.
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  So that square is essentially the
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  downtown city center CRA. And the larger
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  of the two based on budget and also just
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  general activity. On the north end,
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  equally important, but also a little bit
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  smaller geographically. And then maybe
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  also it doesn't have the sort of size of
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  budget, which I'll talk a little bit
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  about later. Right
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  around 25th Street, you have
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  Northwood village. And just to the south
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  of that, you have
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  Pleasant City. And then to
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  the east, you have Curry Park, the
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  industrial area. And
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  then the CRA controls,
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  or within our boundaries, I should say is
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  a strip of US one known as Broadway from
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  25th Street all the way up to the city
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  line, which is at 59th. Those are
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  essentially the two series. And within
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  those boundaries,
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  there's lots of projects that
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  are happening that sort of fall under
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  what series can be doing
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  to your question about,
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  okay, well, what are some maybe
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  structures or things like
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  that that we've worked on?
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  Going back, I think the most notable one
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  is probably the
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  ordination that we worked on
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  with related. And this was well before my
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  time, you're talking
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  about mid late 90s, is
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  City Place.
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  I was going to ask that.
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  Yeah, I mean, so there is a long term
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  agreement there, you have
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  the community, the CDD, the
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  Community Development District of City
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  Place, that's almost like a
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  CRA within a CRA, it's kind
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  of an oversimplification. But they
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  essentially keep the taxes in their
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  little area. And so the
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  CRA contributes to them through
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  agreements, you know, to help them pay
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  off a lot of the bonds that
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  went into that infrastructure to make it
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  what it is today. And
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  within that, you know, you have
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  historic structures like the Methodist
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  Church that now became
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  the Harriet Himmel theater.
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  Right.
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  So that's one real kind of, I think,
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  marquee one that that most
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  of our local listeners would
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  know about.
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  I was gonna ask you about City Place. And
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  I was wondering if it was
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  something that I know City
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  Place is what now 20 originally started
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  about 25, 30 years ago. So it's
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  interesting to see that it
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  went through the process of rejuvenation.
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  If I recall, back in the
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  80s, that was a pretty rough
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  part of town. There was some very, very
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  debilitated neighborhoods
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  through there. And it turned into
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  what became City Place. And now it's
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  going through yet another re reformation.
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  So when you when you think about it in
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  that sort of context of
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  time, right? And yes, I mean,
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  the downtown area was, was blighted, you
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  know, during those the the
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  80s. And 1984 is when the
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  city actually created the downtown city
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  center CRA. So I have a the
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  original plan that in my office,
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  which is really neat to look at, just
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  because you can see sort of
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  the evolution of the city and
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  everything. But you know, that's when it
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  was really created. And they had
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  calculated a lot of the what
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  the anticipated new tax increment was
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  going to be over time, which is really
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  kind of cool to look at.
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  But but yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on
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  the head, everybody was
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  like, we need to do something
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  about, you know, this larger downtown
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  area, which had fabulous
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  bones, right? I mean, the city has
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  from a planning purpose, from a planning
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  perspective. And, you
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  know, for a lot of my,
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  my planning, my fellow planning gurus out
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  there, you know, it, we
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  really are fortunate when you
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  think about the proximity of all of these
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  different assets within our
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  downtown and how it was laid out
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  in sort of that grid format, it really
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  sort of laid the success
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  for the city early, early on.
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  So we've talked a little bit about
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  downtown, let's take a
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  moment, look north, northwood.
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  Obviously, that was, I love going up to
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  Northwood and walking through
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  and seeing the older shops and
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  seeing, you know, the signs on top, the
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  old post office, you know,
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  that was started, you know,
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  sometime in the last century. Lots of
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  cool stuff down there. But now it's
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  there's an explosion of
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  activity in the area. Tell us a little
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  bit about that. So two
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  major projects in the Northwood
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  Village area, which yeah, it's, it's sort
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  of like a mini, you know,
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  it's own little mini downtown,
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  which is great. And the main one, which
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  is on the very west
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  end of Northwood Village,
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  right up against the railroad tracks, but
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  on the east side of the tracks, just
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  south of 25th street,
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  it's, it's affectionately been known as
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  the anchor site. And that's
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  because it was always meant to
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  anchor Northwood Village, much like a
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  traditional shopping center. You know,
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  you have these sort of
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  major anchors, and I think everybody
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  wanted it and still do
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  want to see some type of urban
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  grocer, which I'm happy to talk more
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  about some of the efforts to bring a
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  grocery store to the
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  north end, because that is something
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  that's been a priority for the CRA for
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  some time now. But we
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  called it the anchor site, we put out an
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  RFP, and that has been under
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  development for some time now
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  by a company known as Emocorp out of
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  Aventura Miami. Great
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  company, they're working really
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  hard. The developer really has a fabulous
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  project that he's putting
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  together that's mixed use,
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  you know, it has apartments, over 400
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  apartments, which will be a
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  good dollop of housing for that
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  area. And then a lot of over 60,000
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  square feet of ground floor retail that
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  is currently available
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  for small businesses. And then less than
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  a block away from that is
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  the Spruce. And that's very
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  exciting because it's another, in
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  addition to the 401 with the district at
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  Northwood Village. So
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  it's, that's the name of the project on
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  the anchor site is the
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  district at Northwood Village.
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  But the Spruce, which is right next to
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  it, is 270 units. And that is a
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  predominantly a workforce
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  housing project, but it does have market
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  rate units in it. So
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  that's a really exciting project
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  if folks out there are familiar with the
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  grand, which is in
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  downtown, done by affiliated
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  development, great developers, really
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  know how to deliver a quality
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  product to folks and sort of
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  meet that sweet spot of affordability
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  with quality. They they're doing that
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  project. And so that's
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  going to be another, I think 117, but
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  fact check that number to 117
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  numbers on units that are in
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  that 80 to 100% area median income that
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  will serve and then the other
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  units are our market rate. So
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  I think you're touching on something I
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  think is really important
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  to talk about. We are seeing
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  real giant leaps in development,
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  especially in downtown, a
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  very, very high end housing.
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  A lot of what CRA does is thinking about
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  affordable housing.
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  How important is it as
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  far as your overall philosophy for what
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  you guys do? It's baked into
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  the enabling legislation. So
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  going back to that Community
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  Redevelopment Act of 1969 and the law
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  that has kind of evolved over time,
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  it is spelled out explicitly that that is
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  one of the core missions of
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  CRA is to provide and work
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  towards that affordable housing. So much
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  so that we, when last
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  legislative cycle, there was a talk
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  about sort of looking at the roles and
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  responsibilities of
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  CRAs and CRAs were sort of
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  talked about as being one of the main
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  vehicles for providing affordable
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  housing, which is a bit of a
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  badge of honor, especially for the West
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  Palm Beach CRA going back to
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  that best in class that I was
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  mentioning. You know, the mayor made a
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  very clear vision about I
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  want as much affordable housing
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  as we can. And he set tangible goals that
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  we have met and he's just
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  continued to add to those goals.
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  And the CRA has been part of that. And
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  it's something that I think
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  the board is very proud of,
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  it's something the mayor is very proud
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  of. And we're going to
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  continue to work for looking at
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  all kinds of opportunities to continue to
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  provide that affordable
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  housing. So to your point,
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  being that it's baked into what we're
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  supposed to be doing, it is
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  core to our philosophy and what
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  we do on every single day. You mentioned
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  earlier that you were
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  hoping that you would see food
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  stores and those types of businesses
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  moving into certain areas. Is
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  that part of the scope of the
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  things that you do, saying we're looking
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  to break the food desert and
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  put a store here? Is that part
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  of what you're planning? For sure. I
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  mean, so think about true
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  city building, which it's such
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  an awesome time to be in the city of West
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  Palm Beach right now with
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  everything that's happening
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  and just what people are bringing the
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  businesses that are coming
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  here. I mean, just the business
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  growth alone has been just off the
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  charts. And that's not just the big
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  businesses, that's not
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  just the financial firms, which are
• 14:19:02
  awesome and all of those targeted
• 14:19:04
  industries, but it's also
• 14:19:05
  the small mom and pop. There's quite a
• 14:19:07
  bit. I think, I don't know
• 14:19:09
  if you're going to interview
• 14:19:10
  Robbie, but he's the economic development
• 14:19:13
  specialist for the
• 14:19:13
  city. But we've been looking
• 14:19:15
  at the business tax receipt data that the
• 14:19:18
  city collects annually
• 14:19:19
  because all businesses in the
• 14:19:20
  city of West Palm Beach have to renew
• 14:19:22
  this business tax every single year. And
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  we have seen it grow
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  almost double in about 10 years, I
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  believe. So it started
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  when we started looking at it
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  right around, I think 2012, we were right
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  around a little over 9,000
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  and now we're close to 18,000
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  registered businesses in the city of West
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  Palm Beach. And those are bona fide,
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  like they fill out the applications and
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  they put it in. And that's
• 14:19:49
  across the board. That's all
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  kinds of businesses, large and small and
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  predominantly small
• 14:19:54
  businesses. So when you
• 14:19:57
  think about what's needed for
• 14:19:58
  redevelopment, holistically, you need
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  those small businesses
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  as well as the big businesses and then
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  the residential. And all
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  of those folks have needs.
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  And grocery stores are one of those big
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  things. I mean, they can help with
• 14:20:11
  attracting additional
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  businesses, they help with home values
• 14:20:14
  and all of those things.
• 14:20:15
  So as we have continued with
• 14:20:17
  our infrastructure work and partnering
• 14:20:19
  with these developers,
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  identifying places where a
• 14:20:23
  grocery store makes sense has been very
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  much in our wheelhouse as a
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  goal of the CRA and on the
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  north end specifically. So we're happy to
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  see a very much a renewed
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  interest by grocery store
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  operators, so much so that they have been
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  taking tours of the north
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  end to really sort of identify
• 14:20:46
  potential sites. Most recently, we've
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  seen actual investment by folks like
• 14:20:50
  Tapatea Market. They just
• 14:20:52
  opened on 45th Street and Broadway, which
• 14:20:57
  is that US one corridor.
• 14:20:59
  And it's fabulous. I mean,
• 14:21:00
  it's been such a huge hit with the
• 14:21:02
  community and you can see it
• 14:21:03
  just by the traffic that people
• 14:21:05
  are really looking for those type of
• 14:21:07
  amenities in the north end
• 14:21:08
  of the city. Now, we've talked
• 14:21:09
  about Northwood, we've talked about
• 14:21:11
  downtown. Does Nora count
• 14:21:14
  as a district? So Nora is,
• 14:21:19
  yeah, so we're recording is just before
• 14:21:22
  the Labor Day weekend. And it's so
• 14:21:26
  exciting. It puts us out,
• 14:21:27
  hopefully all the listeners out there can
• 14:21:29
  see the smile on my face,
• 14:21:30
  but it's such a cool project
• 14:21:34
  because it is bonafide city building. I
• 14:21:36
  mean, if anybody out
• 14:21:38
  there has ever played SimCity,
• 14:21:41
  that's very much what it's like, but it's
• 14:21:44
  real time. A lot of hard
• 14:21:46
  work, a lot of great partners.
• 14:21:48
  Big shout out to my friends over there at
• 14:21:50
  the Nora Holdings, which is
• 14:21:53
  Ned, Damian, and Joe First
• 14:21:57
  with Place Projects. Great group of guys,
• 14:22:00
  visionaries, and very
• 14:22:01
  capable of getting the
• 14:22:02
  job done. But let's roll back and
• 14:22:05
  actually explain to
• 14:22:06
  people what exactly Nora is and
• 14:22:08
  what it was before it started. Okay, good
• 14:22:10
  point. Okay, so sorry.
• 14:22:13
  Nora stands is short for North
• 14:22:16
  Railroad Avenue. So N-O for North, R-A
• 14:22:20
  for Railroad Avenue. And Nora was a,
• 14:22:26
  essentially an industrial area. I think
• 14:22:28
  we zoned it industrial
• 14:22:29
  chic, but for all intents and
• 14:22:31
  purposes, it was old warehouses, very
• 14:22:34
  underutilized collection of
• 14:22:38
  properties and lots that was
• 14:22:39
  assembled by this group, those three
• 14:22:41
  gentlemen that I just
• 14:22:42
  mentioned, Ned, Damian, and Joe.
• 14:22:46
  And they put together these lots and then
• 14:22:49
  came to the city with sort
• 14:22:50
  of this vision and this plan
• 14:22:52
  for a renewed part of downtown with
• 14:22:56
  quality places, retail
• 14:22:59
  shops that they had planned to
• 14:23:01
  put there in a mixture of hotel and
• 14:23:04
  residential. So the whole
• 14:23:07
  combination of items that really
• 14:23:10
  when you go to any great city in America,
• 14:23:12
  you would find these
• 14:23:13
  things sort of all together.
• 14:23:14
  And then just layered a level of quality
• 14:23:19
  on it that is open to everybody, not
• 14:23:24
  exclusive to anyone,
• 14:23:26
  and just done in a way that I think is
• 14:23:28
  going to be one of these
• 14:23:29
  great places that you can come
• 14:23:32
  and just enjoy the space or you can go
• 14:23:35
  there and really enjoy
• 14:23:39
  quality restaurant dining or
• 14:23:41
  retail products if you're there to shop
• 14:23:43
  and things like that. So
• 14:23:45
  they approached the CRA
• 14:23:50
  back, I want to say it was 2001 on the
• 14:23:54
  streetscape and the actual street of
• 14:23:57
  North Railroad Avenue
• 14:23:58
  and said, "Look, we would really like, we
• 14:24:01
  want to make this a
• 14:24:01
  quality street very much like
• 14:24:03
  Clamatus and Rosemary, like what you see
• 14:24:05
  through city place and
• 14:24:06
  taking these principles that the
• 14:24:07
  city has applied to our streets and
• 14:24:10
  public open spaces, which is
• 14:24:11
  shade, ease of accessibility.
• 14:24:14
  When you look at a curbless street,
• 14:24:16
  people don't realize that
• 14:24:17
  without curbs, you make it so much
• 14:24:20
  easier for people in wheelchairs and just
• 14:24:22
  kids and folks. And it
• 14:24:25
  just has that very comfortable
• 14:24:27
  pedestrian feel, wide sidewalks, all of
• 14:24:30
  these things that are essentially
• 14:24:31
  human-centric designs
• 14:24:32
  that when you get there, you're like,
• 14:24:34
  "This place feels great."
• 14:24:35
  And then from there, they just
• 14:24:38
  matched, they lined the street with great
• 14:24:40
  tenants and great spaces and
• 14:24:42
  well-designed buildings
• 14:24:44
  that just, you know that when you get
• 14:24:46
  there, it's something
• 14:24:47
  special. So that project to
• 14:24:51
  underground the utility lines, which
• 14:24:53
  that's the other thing, these little
• 14:24:56
  details that when you
• 14:24:57
  go, you realize that you're at a special
• 14:24:58
  place, but you're not quite sure why,
• 14:25:01
  just go to a street.
• 14:25:01
  And if you see utility lines overhead,
• 14:25:04
  it's not that it's bad, it's
• 14:25:06
  just when they're not there,
• 14:25:07
  you notice when they're not there and it
• 14:25:08
  just, the space feels really nice.
• 14:25:11
  So they wanted to underground the
• 14:25:13
  utilities, which we did, and created the
• 14:25:17
  streetscape with all of
• 14:25:18
  those principles that I just outlined.
• 14:25:20
  And the whole project was
• 14:25:21
  right around $20 million.
• 14:25:24
  But the way that we partnered with it is
• 14:25:27
  that they were going
• 14:25:27
  to do the investment,
• 14:25:28
  but in order to get reimbursed for it,
• 14:25:31
  they had to meet specific
• 14:25:32
  benchmarks to show, to know that
• 14:25:35
  at the end of the day, the CRA will
• 14:25:37
  actually see the benefit of that tax
• 14:25:39
  increment that will come
• 14:25:41
  to our budgets and then we can continue
• 14:25:43
  to reinvest in the overall downtown. And
• 14:25:47
  they did it. Not only
• 14:25:48
  did they do it, but they did it ahead of
• 14:25:50
  schedule. And so now working with the
• 14:25:54
  business owners that
• 14:25:54
  are coming to Nora and looking at
• 14:25:57
  additional ways that we can
• 14:25:58
  just continue to enhance the
• 14:26:00
  redevelopment, the project is just so
• 14:26:02
  exciting. And it's beautiful
• 14:26:03
  in this hotel that is going
• 14:26:05
  to be coming online. So definitely check
• 14:26:08
  it out. It's right there at 7th and
• 14:26:11
  Dixie. You just then
• 14:26:13
  head due West when you get to that. So it
• 14:26:17
  is a little bit of a
• 14:26:18
  scavenger hunt, but that's okay.
• 14:26:19
  You'll see the signs. They've really
• 14:26:21
  outlined a good wayfinding so
• 14:26:24
  that when you go down Dixie,
• 14:26:26
  between Palm Beach Lakes and Quadrill,
• 14:26:28
  you can find the Nora
• 14:26:29
  District, but it's beautiful.
• 14:26:31
  What's the timeframe for
• 14:26:32
  that project to be completed?
• 14:26:35
  Well, that's probably a good question
• 14:26:37
  because I think Nora is
• 14:26:38
  going to be one of these things,
• 14:26:39
  very much like City Place, how it's going
• 14:26:41
  through another growth spur.
• 14:26:44
  I don't know that there's a
• 14:26:45
  bonafide or like a dedicated date when
• 14:26:49
  you can say Nora's done. But
• 14:26:52
  I think that if I had to put
• 14:26:55
  a pin on when you'll see new things
• 14:26:59
  really sort of completed,
• 14:27:01
  it's probably that 2027 timeline.
• 14:27:04
  But even like 2027, I think you'll still
• 14:27:08
  see a lot of new
• 14:27:08
  residential being under construction
• 14:27:10
  in the Nora area. The hotel will
• 14:27:13
  definitely be completed by
• 14:27:14
  then, if I remember correctly.
• 14:27:19
  And then from there, they're already
• 14:27:21
  looking at sort of additional phases.
• 14:27:24
  We're looking at the
• 14:27:24
  east-west streets. We did North Railroad
• 14:27:26
  Avenue, but you still have
• 14:27:28
  all these east-west streets,
• 14:27:29
  like 7th Street, 6th Street, and all the
• 14:27:32
  way up to Palm Beach Lakes
• 14:27:33
  that also need treatments.
• 14:27:35
  Absolutely. Now, you've described an
• 14:27:37
  amazingly complex process of
• 14:27:40
  imagining a change and all the
• 14:27:43
  fine details that go into actually
• 14:27:45
  creating that new look. What
• 14:27:49
  voice do the residents have in
• 14:27:51
  making choices or helping to either vote
• 14:27:55
  for or to speak out against an idea that
• 14:27:57
  you guys might have?
• 14:27:58
  Sure. So one of the things that the CRA
• 14:28:03
  board, the mayor and commissioners, which
• 14:28:06
  I hope people know how hard their elected
• 14:28:08
  officials work for
• 14:28:09
  them, because they work
• 14:28:11
  so hard every single day. And I know that
• 14:28:14
  because I talked to the
• 14:28:15
  commissioners and the mayor, and
• 14:28:18
  you know, there's not a day goes by that
• 14:28:22
  they're not getting an
• 14:28:23
  email or their phone call,
• 14:28:24
  and they know that. But they're extremely
• 14:28:27
  responsive, and they
• 14:28:29
  work really hard to ensure
• 14:28:30
  that they do a quality job for the
• 14:28:33
  residents and business
• 14:28:34
  owners. So everybody just,
• 14:28:35
  please know that your elected officials
• 14:28:37
  are working really hard
• 14:28:38
  for you, really hard. And
• 14:28:44
  at the core of everything that they do
• 14:28:47
  and the tough decisions
• 14:28:49
  that they have to make,
• 14:28:50
  they ensure that community engagement is
• 14:28:55
  part of that process and
• 14:28:56
  part of what they consider when
• 14:28:59
  those items come before them in a major
• 14:29:01
  way. So much so that the
• 14:29:04
  CRA, we on a quarterly basis,
• 14:29:06
  we meet with community members. We have
• 14:29:10
  quarterly outreach meetings
• 14:29:11
  with the historic Northwest
• 14:29:13
  residents. We meet quarterly with the
• 14:29:15
  residents of Pleasant City.
• 14:29:18
  And we're at the end of our
• 14:29:23
  budget and fiscal season where we adopt,
• 14:29:26
  and so on Monday, we're going to be
• 14:29:27
  adopting the budget.
• 14:29:30
  And when we were workshopping it, I
• 14:29:32
  really outlined three
• 14:29:32
  inputs on how the budget for
• 14:29:35
  the CRA gets set and how the strategic
• 14:29:38
  finance plan gets set. And
• 14:29:40
  one of those inputs is the
• 14:29:42
  community engagement. So as we meet with
• 14:29:44
  residents and even phone calls and
• 14:29:48
  regular outreach that we
• 14:29:49
  do, either it's project specific or just
• 14:29:53
  in general or the emails
• 14:29:54
  that we get, we collect that
• 14:29:56
  information and it very much steers the
• 14:29:59
  strategic finance plan and
• 14:30:00
  it steers future budget years
• 14:30:04
  to react and to respond to what the
• 14:30:07
  residents are telling us.
• 14:30:09
  So it's built in every single
• 14:30:12
  day in the work that we do. And it's one
• 14:30:15
  of the major inputs that
• 14:30:16
  guides the work plan for the CRA.
• 14:30:18
  So are we saying that one of the best
• 14:30:21
  ways to reach out and
• 14:30:23
  have your voice heard about
• 14:30:25
  a certain project or ask questions about
• 14:30:26
  a certain project is to
• 14:30:27
  reach out to your commissioner in
• 14:30:30
  your district or? You can reach out to
• 14:30:32
  your commissioner. I
• 14:30:33
  mean, they're always there,
• 14:30:35
  but it's also signing up for our
• 14:30:37
  newsletter. We have and
• 14:30:41
  sending notes if you have ideas.
• 14:30:44
  A good example is we've heard for a while
• 14:30:49
  that a lot of people would
• 14:30:51
  like to see more green space
• 14:30:53
  and things like that in the downtown
• 14:30:54
  core. So right now we're
• 14:30:57
  working with the planning
• 14:30:58
  department on a downtown master plan. And
• 14:31:00
  that is at that's part
• 14:31:03
  of the discussion with the
• 14:31:04
  consultant of Ziskovich, which is the
• 14:31:07
  company that the CRA is funding with the
• 14:31:10
  planning department,
• 14:31:11
  you know, working through the DMP update
• 14:31:13
  about how we can include, you
• 14:31:16
  know, and where it should be
• 14:31:17
  included, the additional green space and
• 14:31:19
  places like that that can people can
• 14:31:22
  enjoy because that's
• 14:31:23
  what folks are telling us. So that's a
• 14:31:24
  good example, but things
• 14:31:25
  like that. You mentioned
• 14:31:27
  a newsletter. How do I get on the list to
• 14:31:29
  get the newsletter? So
• 14:31:31
  you should be able to go to
• 14:31:32
  the website and sign up for it there.
• 14:31:35
  Okay. That would be wpb.org. Yes. And
• 14:31:39
  then we'll go through
• 14:31:40
  the menus and find CRA and there's
• 14:31:42
  information there. That is correct. Or
• 14:31:44
  you can send an email
• 14:31:45
  to CRA at wpb.org. And that goes to my
• 14:31:51
  entire staff. We all see
• 14:31:52
  it. And everybody knows,
• 14:31:54
  you know, what they need to be responding
• 14:31:56
  to and, you know,
• 14:31:57
  we'll get you signed up.
• 14:31:58
  That's fantastic. And so what other
• 14:31:59
  information can
• 14:32:00
  people find on the website?
• 14:32:04
  So we have our strategic finance plan.
• 14:32:06
  Okay. So, and we also have
• 14:32:08
  our budget that's required by
• 14:32:09
  state law. So all if you want to know
• 14:32:11
  what is the CRA working on, it's all
• 14:32:14
  right there, because
• 14:32:16
  we cannot fund or work on anything that
• 14:32:20
  is not within our plan. So we
• 14:32:22
  hold that. That's essentially
• 14:32:25
  our book of what we can do. So even if
• 14:32:29
  something is not necessarily funded, if
• 14:32:32
  it isn't in our plan,
• 14:32:33
  we really can't address it. So we try to
• 14:32:36
  pack all of our wants and
• 14:32:39
  hopes and dreams into that
• 14:32:40
  strategic plan. Obviously it falls within
• 14:32:43
  the state statute. So we
• 14:32:45
  abide by state law. But
• 14:32:47
  if for some reason there's a budget
• 14:32:50
  adjustment or there's something where,
• 14:32:52
  you know, a project for
• 14:32:53
  whatever reason gets delayed or something
• 14:32:55
  like that, and we have it
• 14:32:56
  in our plan, we can always
• 14:32:57
  shift those resources. But if it's not in
• 14:32:59
  that plan, then we can't shift the
• 14:33:01
  resources to something
• 14:33:02
  new. So we really do try to put all of
• 14:33:05
  our stuff there in that
• 14:33:07
  strategic finance plan. And then
• 14:33:09
  the budget reflects that. So you can look
• 14:33:12
  at our budget and then
• 14:33:13
  say, okay, you know, I can see
• 14:33:15
  where it lines up with the strategic
• 14:33:16
  finance plan. So let's take a look into
• 14:33:19
  the future. Obviously,
• 14:33:20
  you got a lot of stuff going on right
• 14:33:21
  now. Lots of really amazing projects
• 14:33:24
  underway. Give us a peek
• 14:33:26
  into the crystal ball. What kind of
• 14:33:27
  things can we look
• 14:33:28
  forward to in the next 10 years?
• 14:33:30
  So let's first talk about what we've
• 14:33:38
  accomplished, right? So we look at
• 14:33:42
  Klamata Street, which, you know, I view
• 14:33:45
  that as a success because
• 14:33:47
  it really is best in class,
• 14:33:49
  you know, streetscape. And when we did
• 14:33:52
  that project, that sent a
• 14:33:54
  very strong signal to the
• 14:33:55
  private sector who has embraced it
• 14:33:58
  wholeheartedly to the point where that's
• 14:34:01
  why you see it through
• 14:34:02
  City Place. That's why you see it through
• 14:34:04
  Nora. And you'll see it
• 14:34:08
  again here on Chase and Trinity.
• 14:34:11
  There's right next to Palm Beach Atlantic
• 14:34:14
  University where one
• 14:34:15
  Flagler was just completed.
• 14:34:18
  That's where Chase Street is. It
• 14:34:20
  intersects with Lakeview and Okeechobee
• 14:34:21
  Boulevard. That will be
• 14:34:22
  a streetscape project. We have seen
• 14:34:25
  tremendous success in
• 14:34:27
  investing in that infrastructure of
• 14:34:29
  those streetscapes with enhanced
• 14:34:31
  investment, which again is
• 14:34:34
  at the core of the CRA and the
• 14:34:40
  attractiveness of bringing more people to
• 14:34:42
  the area in a real
• 14:34:44
  redevelopment fashion. So you'll see
• 14:34:49
  a lot more streetscape projects that just
• 14:34:53
  continue to enhance
• 14:34:54
  walkability, encourage people to
• 14:34:57
  have those safe, comfortable connections
• 14:34:59
  through our downtown and
• 14:35:01
  even outside of our downtown.
• 14:35:03
  I mean, when we start looking at, you
• 14:35:06
  know, areas in Northwood
• 14:35:07
  Village and what we're doing in
• 14:35:09
  Curry Park and connecting Northwood
• 14:35:11
  Village to the $35 million
• 14:35:13
  investment of Curry Park,
• 14:35:15
  you know, we want that safe, comfortable
• 14:35:18
  connection to Curry
• 14:35:20
  Park. So, you know, it's
• 14:35:22
  not just in the downtown. It's really
• 14:35:25
  throughout the city where I think you'll
• 14:35:28
  see those principles
• 14:35:29
  applied. So in the foreseeable future,
• 14:35:33
  those streetscapes will
• 14:35:34
  continue if people are like,
• 14:35:36
  "Okay, well, give me something a little
• 14:35:37
  more specific. I think you
• 14:35:38
  can plan on seeing Rosemary
• 14:35:41
  Avenue from Avernia Street all the way up
• 14:35:47
  to 11th." So that's north
• 14:35:49
  of the Sunset Lounge, which
• 14:35:52
  if anybody hasn't heard of the Sunset
• 14:35:53
  Lounge, we'll have an open
• 14:35:55
  house November 7th, which is
• 14:35:57
  really exciting. Yes. And then Sola in
• 14:35:59
  the City will be there
• 14:36:00
  shortly after. So it'll actually be,
• 14:36:02
  people will go there and actually enjoy a
• 14:36:04
  show. But yeah, I mean,
• 14:36:06
  the streetscape for Rosemary
• 14:36:08
  will be done. And that'll be another big
• 14:36:13
  streetscape project.
• 14:36:15
  Tamron Avenue, finishing
• 14:36:17
  that from 7th Street to Palm Beach Lakes
• 14:36:20
  will also be part of it.
• 14:36:22
  And then we're starting,
• 14:36:23
  like I mentioned with Nora, the east-west
• 14:36:25
  streets throughout
• 14:36:28
  the historic northwest,
• 14:36:30
  looking at those as well. And that really
• 14:36:32
  will help the residents
• 14:36:34
  with wider sidewalks and more
• 14:36:36
  lighting and shade trees where we can
• 14:36:39
  plant them and things
• 14:36:40
  like that. So I would say the
• 14:36:43
  biggest one is really the streetscape
• 14:36:46
  program. In addition to that, affordable
• 14:36:50
  housing will just be
• 14:36:51
  at the forefront. And those are just two
• 14:36:54
  main bread and butter
• 14:36:56
  infrastructure projects.
• 14:36:58
  Yeah, I find a lot of people welcoming
• 14:36:59
  that. For sure. Yeah. And
• 14:37:01
  really getting creative with
• 14:37:04
  interesting places where you could put
• 14:37:05
  that affordable housing. I mean,
• 14:37:08
  that's what's so much fun about the
• 14:37:12
  planning aspect and
• 14:37:14
  looking at areas that maybe are
• 14:37:15
  publicly owned, where you can find these
• 14:37:18
  sort of nooks and crannies to
• 14:37:20
  do creative housing projects.
• 14:37:23
  And luckily, the CRA has the tools to do
• 14:37:26
  that. And right now, the
• 14:37:28
  need is so great that I think
• 14:37:30
  it allows for that innovative approach to
• 14:37:32
  affordable housing,
• 14:37:33
  which we are wholeheartedly
• 14:37:34
  embracing. So I think you'll see a lot of
• 14:37:36
  that as well. And then
• 14:37:38
  the last thing is just,
• 14:37:41
  I think looking at ways to make West Palm
• 14:37:45
  Beach more resilient and
• 14:37:47
  sustainable. And I don't mean
• 14:37:48
  that just from a climate standpoint. Of
• 14:37:50
  course, that's very, very
• 14:37:52
  important and something,
• 14:37:53
  but also from a financial standpoint. If
• 14:37:55
  you can get places and assets,
• 14:38:01
  a good one is 415 Klamadis, where the
• 14:38:03
  photographic center was.
• 14:38:05
  Having these places start having
• 14:38:07
  quality tenants and great amenities that
• 14:38:10
  the public can enjoy,
• 14:38:12
  they'll pay rent in that spot.
• 14:38:13
  And that rent then goes to the city to
• 14:38:15
  offset public costs. So finding
• 14:38:18
  opportunities like that,
• 14:38:20
  that can generate that non-taxable
• 14:38:22
  revenue for the city will only provide
• 14:38:26
  more ability to ensure
• 14:38:29
  that we're providing the services
• 14:38:30
  long-term for our residents and
• 14:38:32
  businesses. So that'll be another
• 14:38:35
  core part of, I think, the CRA sort of
• 14:38:37
  helping to make downtown and the city
• 14:38:40
  overall as much as we
• 14:38:41
  can. We have to focus on our boundaries
• 14:38:44
  or the areas within our
• 14:38:45
  boundaries, but really helping
• 14:38:46
  with these resiliency and sustainability
• 14:38:48
  efforts. You undoubtedly
• 14:38:50
  get a lot of feedback from
• 14:38:52
  residents, from everyone involved in
• 14:38:55
  these projects. If you
• 14:38:56
  could gather them all together
• 14:38:57
  in one spot and deliver a message, a
• 14:39:00
  message to them that you
• 14:39:01
  feel is most pertinent and
• 14:39:02
  most important to deliver
• 14:39:03
  about the CRA, what would it be?
• 14:39:11
  Well, I mean, to have them, it's such a
• 14:39:17
  diverse group. And they all have
• 14:39:21
  different priorities,
• 14:39:23
  but I think they all want to ensure that
• 14:39:26
  the city that they grew up
• 14:39:29
  in grows and becomes better,
• 14:39:33
  but also does not sort of lose what made
• 14:39:38
  it special to begin with.
• 14:39:40
  And so what I would probably say to them
• 14:39:43
  is we are trying to hit that spot,
• 14:39:49
  maintaining the character, the beauty of
• 14:39:51
  the city. I mean, I grew up
• 14:39:54
  here. My dad worked at the
• 14:39:55
  Bell South building growing up, so I was
• 14:39:58
  standing on the roof of that building
• 14:39:59
  when I was six years
• 14:40:00
  old. And that's before city place, so I
• 14:40:05
  know I'm dating myself
• 14:40:06
  here, but it's always been a
• 14:40:11
  beautiful place, and South Florida is my
• 14:40:13
  home. One thing that
• 14:40:18
  always made me sad is my friends
• 14:40:20
  would move away, and I'm like, "Man,
• 14:40:21
  wouldn't it be great if we just had a
• 14:40:23
  place that nobody ever
• 14:40:24
  wanted to leave?" I mean, of course, we
• 14:40:26
  want to travel and things
• 14:40:26
  like that, but just a really
• 14:40:28
  great place that was very much like what
• 14:40:31
  the mayor describes, right?
• 14:40:32
  A community of opportunity
• 14:40:33
  for all. I mean, that's it. And with that
• 14:40:36
  people first designs where
• 14:40:38
  it really sort of offers that
• 14:40:40
  extreme livability. And I think we even
• 14:40:42
  talked about that we're
• 14:40:44
  doing another project, and I know
• 14:40:46
  I'm kind of all over the place here with
• 14:40:47
  FAU and the Center for Smart
• 14:40:49
  Streetscapes, but there's
• 14:40:50
  all of these efforts to really ensure
• 14:40:53
  that anybody can live here no
• 14:40:58
  matter what your status is in
• 14:41:01
  life. And also that it just offers that
• 14:41:06
  great quality and ability
• 14:41:09
  to just live and work that
• 14:41:14
  is unmatched to any other spot, and
• 14:41:15
  almost becomes that model American city.
• 14:41:17
  We've even had some,
• 14:41:18
  I think even Mr. Ross was related, used
• 14:41:20
  that. He's striving for
• 14:41:22
  that best in class, that model
• 14:41:24
  American city, which if we're all aiming
• 14:41:27
  towards that same goal, you
• 14:41:28
  can kind of see it sort of
• 14:41:29
  manifesting with all of this. So that's
• 14:41:31
  probably what I would say to
• 14:41:32
  all of them. And I'm sure that
• 14:41:34
  would just erupt into a big debate about
• 14:41:35
  what that means because
• 14:41:36
  everybody has it. But I think
• 14:41:37
  ultimately, yeah, I mean, that's probably
• 14:41:40
  what I would say. At least
• 14:41:41
  that's our goal, and then
• 14:41:43
  we can discuss what that
• 14:41:44
  means throughout our meeting.
• 14:41:47
  Out of further meetings about that stuff.
• 14:41:49
  Yeah, sure.
• 14:41:49
  Sure. Chris, you guys are doing amazing
• 14:41:52
  things. It's a vision for
• 14:41:54
  the future that I think people
• 14:41:55
  are very satisfied with and very excited
• 14:41:57
  about. And thanks to you
• 14:41:59
  and to your staff for doing
• 14:42:01
  everything you're doing to basically
• 14:42:03
  create a new pathway for
• 14:42:05
  the city of West Palm Beach.
• 14:42:06
  Yeah. Again, happy to do it. Love it. And
• 14:42:13
  if anybody has any ideas
• 14:42:16
  or anything where you want
• 14:42:18
  to kind of learn more, I mean, we're very
• 14:42:20
  much an open book here at
• 14:42:22
  City Hall. We're happy to talk
• 14:42:26
  more and just, there's no bad ideas. We
• 14:42:29
  may not be able to do them
• 14:42:30
  all. In fact, we can do them all,
• 14:42:31
  I mean, as much as we would like to, but
• 14:42:33
  you never know what could
• 14:42:35
  gain traction to sort of
• 14:42:37
  make the city a better place. So thanks
• 14:42:39
  for having me. And thank you
• 14:42:41
  for joining us for the City
• 14:42:42
  Center podcast. If you're new to the
• 14:42:44
  show, you might not know that
• 14:42:46
  we've been in production for
• 14:42:47
  three years and we've got many past
• 14:42:49
  podcasts available for
• 14:42:51
  your listening pleasure. We're
• 14:42:53
  available on all major podcast outlets.
• 14:42:55
  Just look for the City of
• 14:42:56
  West Palm Beach and you'll find
• 14:42:58
  the City Center podcast. If you have
• 14:43:01
  comments or ideas for other topics,
• 14:43:03
  please feel free to write
• 14:43:04
  us at podcasts at wpb.org. This has been
• 14:43:09
  a production of the
• 14:43:10
  City of West Palm Beach
• 14:43:11
  Communications Department. I'm Jerry
• 14:43:13
  Marcello. We'll see you next time.