A battle for the soul of downtown West Palm Beach over who gets a seat at the city’s development table ended Monday night.
Despite massive public pushback from residents and activists, West Palm Beach commissioners voted 4-1 to appoint a Related Ross affiliate to the Downtown Development Authority.
The city appointed Jordan Rathlev, an executive at Related Ross, the area's largest office landlord.
Supporters say it’s good for business. Critics say allowing the city's most powerful developer to replace a resident seat on the board silences actual residents.
Neighborhood advocates argue it's a glaring conflict of interest, loss of resident representation, and long-term tension over Flagler drive and waterfront development projects.
Resident Sam Collier, who spoke during public comments, called the decision "governance cancer that grows on our city at an increasing rate."
"The continued efforts to ensure representatives of Related Ross are seated as board members of the Downtown Development Authority are only the most obvious example, despite the DDA having statutory taxing authority and claiming to follow the State of Florida Code of Ethics."
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While the DDA doesn’t approve buildings, it does control a massive budget funded by local taxpayers. Residents are furious, worrying a developer-packed board will spend public money to boost corporate projects instead of neighborhood needs.
One nominee is employed directly by Related Ross, and an existing member Bernardo Neto, general manager of The Ben, a luxury boutique hotel owned by Related Ross, further fuels the controversy.
Resident Atima Fowler, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, said the mere " appearance of concentrated representation" can disrupt public confidence.
"Our concern is not about Related Ross. It is about the concentration of the representation," Fowler said.
" While both might be highly qualified, I respectfully ask you whether the overall composition of the board best reflects the balanced and independent representation of downtown taxpayers that we are expecting," she said.
The commission largely shot down cries of potential "conflict of interest," including the lone dissenting board, Commissioner Shalonda Warren. But Warren expressed similar concerns of the possibility of it in the future.
"Mr. Rathlev working for Related does not in and of itself present a conflict of interest. It is not a conflict of interest," Warren said. " But the question then is what happens if there is? Because I don't know if the bylaws have that type of specificity that states that they would abstain."
She said she doesn't feel "comfortable" with the decision unless another logistical step was made to clear all skepticism.
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James shot back at her concerns, saying "The DDA has their own board, they have their own counsel, and they take the advice of their counsel."
The other three unanimously approved board members bring local community and financial expertise to the DDA. Craig Glover represents a local neighborhood nonprofit, Kasia Marczyk is a downtown wealth management executive, and Daryl K. Houston is an experienced area philanthropy leader.
The DDA heavily influences city leaders on major zoning and traffic decisions. Local residents fear developers will use that leverage to fast-track corporate, real-estate related expansion. The commission pushed back against those concerns.
