Takeaways from Boca Mayor’s Talk

By Marci Shatzman

This wasn’t Mayor Scott Singer’s official State of the City address. That came at an earlier city Centennial event. But his talk at the May Boca Chamber breakfast was upbeat about the city’s future prospects.

Singer cited the lowest property tax rate, 3.67%, among nine local cities, and Triple AAA bond rating “of only two Florida cities from all three credit rating agencies.” He called the downtown campus redevelopment Boca’s “signature project,” with continued community feedback and “working on a master plan and partnership agreement with Terra & Frisbee Group” by October.

Here’s excerpts from Singer’s remarks shown with photos on a Jumbotron in the Marriott Boca Raton ballroom to 200+ people at Boca Chamber’s monthly breakfast meeting:

• Reduced the city’s permitting time more than 60%.
• Using state grants to implement AI-based technology to increase timing on 140 traffic signals.
• Crime at a 40-year low.
• Pilot program for speed cameras in school zones.
• Over 1,7000 passengers (Singer said it’s now 2,000) and over 1,100 rides a month on BocaConnect free or low-cost circuit shuttle https://myboca.us/2460/BocaConnect—Circuit-Shuttle
• PADL self-service kayak and paddleboard rental kiosk and renovations at James A. Rutherford Park.
• Expansion of pickleball at Patch Reef Park and upcoming groundbreaking there for an accessible playground.
• ClickFix on the MyBoca app so residents and businesses can report concerns by sending photos. https://myboca.us/2061/Report-a-Concern-or-Compliment
• Centennial events, merchandise and updates at https://boca100.com/?v=0b3b97fa6688

Singer cited each generation’s innovations, from the city’s first architect/developer Addison Mizner, to the WWII Army Airfield here, to IBM’s invention of the personal computer. “We need to remain at the forefront,” he said. “It’s in our ethos.”