Why Jim Chard? Because Experience Matters

Jim Chard’s background, credentials and experience make him the most qualified candidate for Delray Beach City Commission Seat 1. Of all the candidates for Seat 1, Jim Chard is the only one with decades of experience, knowledge and training to serve on the City Commission. Jim brings nearly 20 years of experience dealing with challenges of governing Delray Beach, including planning, transportation, environment, economic development, arts and culture, and historic preservation. He also has a masters in City Planning, coupled with lived experience in making cities, especially Delray Beach, work for residents.

Jim has been fascinated by cities since a young age. He studied urban planning in college and graduate school, and even co-authored a book about cities. Jim Chard spent a large portion of his professional career working for municipal government and community-focused non-profit organizations. In addition, Jim has served on many City Boards, Task Forces, and Commissions. He continues to be a strong advocate for civic participation and has enlisted numerous Delray citizens to serve on City and not-for-profit boards. Below is a list of Jim’s accomplishments and participation follows:

  • Served as Commissioner and Vice Mayor of Delray Beach
  • Chair of the Delray Historic Preservation Board
  • Vice Chair of Chamber of Commerce for Advocacy and Economic Development
  • Member of Site Planning Review and Appearance Board (SPRAB)
  • Vice Chair of Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee
  • Member of Congress Avenue Task Force – Commission appointed group to design future of Congress
  • Chair of Human Powered Delray – advocacy for bicycling and walking
  • Founding board member of Community Greening planting thousands of trees in Delray
  • Co-founder of Friends of Delray – not for profit informing citizens regarding Delray Beach issues
  • Board member and Treasurer for Old School Square Center for the Arts
  • Head of the Mayor’s Project Management Staff in New York City responsible for managing major projects such as Yankee Stadium renovation, Roosevelt Island residential conversion, planting 10,000 trees city-wide, and many more
  • Author of Federal grants worth millions of dollars to Delray Beach

Delray has a well-deserved reputation for a City that feels comfortable, welcoming and safe. In order to maintain this reputation, our City must continue to invest in our public safety services to meet the citizens’ expectations and challenges of today. He strongly supports our Police, Fire, and First Responders and will continue to collaborate with them and our citizens to keep our community safe.

Fire Rescue and Police are an integral part of life in Delray. They participate in community affairs, respond in minutes when called, attend community meetings, provide youth engagement and social events to connect with our kids, and provide a comforting presence on our public streets. The men and women in both Police and Fire Rescue know and greet citizens by name. We have top rated, professional public service organizations and Jim intends to keep it that way. With Jim on the Commission, you can count on him to support Police and Fire so that we:

  • Keep our citizens and small businesses safe, secure, and prosperous
  • Maintain a low crime rate in our City relative to other cities. Maintain Police visibility, the most effective deterrent to crime
  • Preserve the attractiveness of downtown, parks and beaches to citizens and visitors
  • Show appreciation for law enforcement and first responders who work hard for our neighborhoods, commercial centers, and downtown every day
  • Ensure police and fire academies have a pipeline of young cadets training for safety services
  • Provide the tools, technology, training and facilities Fire and Police need to do their job

Delray Beach should be a best-in-class example of cost effectiveness. Maintaining cost control over our $186 Million dollar municipal budget requires continual vigilance. High quality City services are essential to the Delray lifestyle. The money entrusted to the City by taxpayers needs quarterly or annual auditing, implementation of best fiscal practices, and an ongoing search for cost reduction and efficiencies. Jim Chard holds a master’s degree in business administration and has experience in municipal budgeting that has prepared him to conduct strong fiscal oversight and maintain budgetary discipline in the years ahead. With over $300 Million dollars in tax-payer funded Bond money on the table, you can trust Jim to be a responsible steward with our tax dollars.

When elected, you can count on Jim Chard to:

  • Provide strong fiscal oversight of $184 million city operating budget
  • Ensure $300+ million taxpayer bond money is spent wisely, in order to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse
  • Not raise taxes, particularly as property values continue to increase
  • Require the City to establish a real audit function that searches for savings and efficient collection of monies owed rather than using the City Auditor for political purposes
  • Explore opportunities for Not for Profits and grants to provide services currently paid for by taxpayers
  • Install a system of performance measurement and require quarterly reports against goals; the performance goals should be tied to the staff appraisal process
  • Put unspent and “in lieu” City funds to work now, rather than sitting in a bank account (I.E. funds paid by developers who can’t meet the usual obligations for parking, workforce housing, trees, sidewalks, etc.)

Jim attended public school and then went on to one of the nation’s best Liberal Arts schools, Pomona College, before finally attending Harvard University and earning two Master’s Degrees. Jim will work with local schools to achieve the same opportunities for Delray students that he had. Jim will work with elected officials, City staff, and nonprofit leaders to improve educational outcomes in Delray, such as grade level reading, graduation rates, school ratings, and test scores. While responsibility for education rests with Palm Beach County, the school district needs a local partner on the Commission to achieve excellence. There is also a role for our outstanding not-for-profits in Delray Beach to make a positive impact in the lives of our youth. By working together, we can achieve positive outcomes for our students, schools, and future Delray leaders.

Education will be one of the municipal services Jim will focus on as Commissioner for Seat 1. Delray is fortunate to have good principals and teachers but the outcomes for our graduates are unacceptable. Grade level reading, graduation rates and test scores need to be significantly higher if our children and grandchildren are to lead successful personal lives and families.

We are fortunate to have excellent Not-for-Profits dedicated to educating Delray kids. They complement the work of our public schools by providing after school training, summer school classes to prevent the “summer slide”, test preparation, career planning, and college acceptance support.

Although the Palm Beach County School District has primary responsibility for school budgets and performance, an active City Commission can provide the incremental effort to improve our school ratings.

Here are some activities Jim Chard will encourage once elected:

  • Establish City wide goals for pre-school preparation, reading levels, graduation rates, and school ratings
  • Help sponsor art, music and culture in our schools
  • Increase parent participation in SAC (School Activity Committee) SAC and parent teacher organizations
  • Enhance the importance of the City’s education board by allowing input to policy, City Commission deliberations, master plans and coordination with the School District
  • Establish common goals with PBC Education Commission, including a written Inter Local Agreement (ILA) defining the responsibilities of both County and City
  • Support, promote and collaborate with not for profits
  • Support, promote and collaborate with public schools
  • Take advantage of local school facilities (such as auditoriums for concerts and celebrations) to increase on campus activities and perhaps generate revenues for schools
  • Require regular reports from the Education Board to the City Commission

Intense and frequent civic engagement is critical to a successful community. It’s been over 20 years since our last visioning effort and more than 5 years since we had regular Town Hall meetings. Prior Town Hall meetings set the stage for many of the policies we pursue today. Without active engagement and citizen participation it is hard to maintain the consent of the governed, and we have seen the result: angry confrontations at City Hall, decisions made with little public input, and City staff underappreciated and looking to the exits. Our technology provides for remote participation and with social and traditional media we can maximize participation. With improved government and citizen collaboration, we can build a consensus around the kind of Delray Beach that we want.

Visions 2020 is an example of what happens when the City encourages full blown citizen involvement. It resulted in the ‘Decade of Excellence’ that revitalized downtown, built a new high school, and supported the emergence of Delray Beach as a center of the arts. It is time we turn again to our citizens for inspiration, creativity and renewed direction, and take advantage of the changes we have gone through over the past 5 years. Let’s do a Visioning 2035.

Jim proposes a 6-month effort of structured visioning which engages individual citizens regarding their views on growth, housing, transportation, culture, education, and other issues. How big do we want to be? Do we want to promote job development to increase the tax base and what kind of local jobs do we want to attract? Do we want to top out height at 5 stories or 4 stories? What percentage of housing do we want for each income level? Do we want to promote mixed use in both old and new neighborhoods? The end result of the vision should be a brief, plain English document which defines where we want to go, what we want to be, and how we plan to get there. This document should provide the guidelines for more detailed documents such as the Comprehensive Plan, Local Development Regulations, and capital and operating budgets.

As Commissioner, Jim proposes:

  • Establishing a Visioning Task Force as a high priority of the Commission and staff and completing the effort by a set date
  • Writing a 5 year update of our Comprehensive Plan that incorporates guidance specified by the Visioning effort
  • Making Town Hall meetings a monthly event to explore issues of importance to the City
  • Writing a Strategic plan that informs the annual budgeting process
  • Designing an accountability system that sets and monitors key indicators of performance
  • Since we know that small businesses and the arts are the engine of our economy, begin now to build creative support strategies for both small companies and the arts

Delray’s downtown is one of a kind: bustling, walkable, with lots of people; a place to see and be seen. Our downtown is the primary reason Delray Beach is called the Village by the Sea. Tree lined streets, walkable sidewalks, attractive store windows designed to attract walkersby, all coming together to produce a village vibe. We can’t take our vital downtown for granted. Atlantic Avenue wasn’t always so appealing and a downtown can decline as we have seen in other South Florida downtowns. It must continue to evolve as a dynamic cultural center, and we can do other things that support that vision, like investing in parking and traffic efficiencies, and reducing price pressure by expanding along Federal Highway, West Atlantic, and 2nd and 4th and historic NW 5th avenues.

We are unique in that our Village stretches from downtown to the beach. With the restoration of West Atlantic our downtown will expand to I-95, bringing diversity, new businesses and jobs, and increased creativity and productivity.

As commissioner, I will work with city staff, Downtown Development Authority, Chamber of Commerce, small business owners, and other stakeholders to guarantee that downtown continues to thrive. I will also work with neighborhood commercial centers like Seacrest, east 23rd street, and commercial streets such as Linton Boulevard, and others, to ensure the success of retail businesses outside the urban core.

When elected, I will pay serious attention to

  • The critical importance played by the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development Authority, small businesses and property owners
  • Home Rule legislation from Tallahassee that threatens to remove the City’s authority over its own ordinances and management of downtown
  • Equitability for all businesses including small, family owned and minority owned businesses
  • Businesses that are active civic participants for the betterment of Delray
  • Sensitive growth which looks to the future but pays respect to past accomplishments that got us here
  • Expansion of downtown subdistricts like South Federal Highway and West 5th Avenue in The Set
  • Continuing improving parking solutions downtown for patrons and workers
  • Historical preservation where It contributes to the overall identity and success of downtown
  • New residential developments which cater to people who want to live, shop, dine and work in Delray Beach but represent challenges in parking and traffic
  • Using City resources such as social media to give a boost to small, startup businesses

Neighborhoods are the foundation of the Delray lifestyle. Each neighborhood has its own character, identity, and history. Our City has embarked on neighborhood upgrades that provide better street lighting, improved water and sewage lines, and upgraded streetscapes. Parks have been newly planted with trees, upgraded with modern playgrounds, and protected from the sun with colorful shade canvas. Beaches are cleaned and groomed daily. After-school and summer programs productively occupy children of working parents while continuing their education when schools are out.

Neighborhood engagement (reporting potholes, downed trees) is encouraged by a recently released My Delray Beach App that enables citizens to directly engage with City officials over their smartphones. The App cleverly engages “eyes and ears” on the street while showing citizens how responsive their civil servants can be.

As productive and friendly as Delray neighborhoods may be there is still more that we can do, including:

  • Preservation of open space and restoration of native areas, improve natural areas such as Delray Oaks Natural Area and Leon Weeks Environmental Preserve
  • More recreation opportunities to enhance quality of life for Delray families
  • Using City resources including social media, Smart App and website to promote neighborhood activities, such as 12 Days of Christmas and Mango Fest
  • Encourage historical preservation where It appropriate to preserve neighborhood character
  • Continue funding Community Greening to plant native trees that promote mental health and heat relief
  • Continue public safety initiatives such as neighborhood patrols, participation in public events, and opening fire stations to public participation
  • Enforce rules that prevent short term rentals such as AirBnB to overwhelm residential communities, drive up prices, and cause residents to flee
  • Continue and perhaps expand efforts to help the homeless with food and improved hygiene, but with a plan in place that helps get people into housing and off the streets.

Despite the threat of climate change, with the proper research and planning, Delray can maintain and even improve our sub-tropical paradise. Delray Beach has a Sustainability Officer, a Green Board (GIAB) and a Comprehensive Plan which outlines many environmental initiatives. Raising the priority of environmentalism and incorporating sustainability in decisions across the board (building materials, electric city owned vehicles, smart infrastructure such as traffic lights) can all make a significant impact over time. Our canopy of shade trees is still declining because we are removing trees faster than we are replacing them. The City is on the right track but more needs to be done.

Many people move to Delray Beach (or stay here) because of the environment. Polls consistently reflect the fact that voters are concerned with sustainability since 1,000 new Florida citizens arrive each day, open space is being replaced with roofs and concrete, our fresh water aquifers are suffering salt intrusion, and trees and shrubs are being rapidly removed. The City Commission is responsible to the voters and other shareholders to sustain the dunes, maintain the beach, recycle used water, and regrow the shade cover previously protecting Delray citizens.

I will work with my colleagues to implement plans to:

  • Work toward a tree canopy goal of greater than 30% coverage
  • Repair beach erosion caused by storm, using federal and state funds
  • Solidify growth of dunes by regular removal of invasive plants
  • Partner with the local garden club, Institute for Regional Conservation, foundations, Sierra Club and other environmentally focused not for profits
  • Experiment with restoration of reef of Delray’s beach in part by installing man made coral reefs
  • Restore natural historic environment where possible utilizing public land, median strips, out parcels in shopping centers, water retention areas, and formal approval of landscape plans in historic districts and parcels
  • Increase walkability and offer more mobility solutions in Delray Beach by improving sidewalks, implementing safety measures, and decreasing the urban heat island effect by expanding shady areas (largely through trees)
  • Continue and expand program of recycling waste water
  • Put Tree “In Lieu” funds to work expanding understory and canopy maintenance

The Community Redevelopment Agency is a powerful force for improving neighborhoods, placemaking and job creation. It was originally created to “remove blight”, but the CRA’s mission should be modified to “community building”, to preserve and build communities. In retrospect, some of the buildings on west Atlantic Avenue should have been preserved and restored for their historic buildings and for their meaning to neighborhood families.

Results produced by the CRA have been impressive both west and east of Swinton. There is no reason that both west and east Atlantic shouldn’t be thriving. But the speed to implement needs to be ratcheted up to address a serious housing situation in Delray Beach. We currently do not have sufficient volume of balanced housing, a program that would make it feasible for teachers, healthcare employees and workers in the tourist industry to both live and work in Delray Beach. Economic development efforts also need to be energized to support small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs.

As Commissioner I will work with my colleagues to:

  • Build out West Atlantic Avenue between 6th and 9th Avenues. Citizens have been promised results for nearly 20 years with only one redevelopment achieved
  • Expand affordable and workforce housing so families can both live and work in Delray
  • Encourage housing alternatives such as duplexes, ‘Mother in law” units, and so called “tiny houses” that provide individual housing on a modern and compact scale. This effort would be in compliance with our Comprehensive Plan.
  • Build on the deep history of the Set neighborhood going back approximately 140 years
  • Ensure that all publicly supported projects incorporate “green” policies such as tree canopy, managed water runoff, etc.
  • Encourage community building through the CRA. In addition, we can increase coordination with not for profits, encouraging local bank lending, providing technical help, and marketing extensively through multiple media and social media as well as partner agencies like the DDA, Chamber, and private marketing channels.
  • Provide support for local businesses to grow with rapid building approvals, notices of grant funding, affordable rental units and reforming City application of ordinances and policies.

Delray Beach has a long history of arts and culture going back many years. We have housed poets, painters, architects, and musicians.. With the Old School Square Center for the Arts, the Arts Warehouse, the Arts Garage, Pineapple Grove, and the Design, among others, Delray is a go-to destination for art and culture lovers.

Unfortunately, 3 of our 5 City Commissioners decided to terminate the lease with the non-profit that established and programmed the historic Old School Square for more than 30 years. The Crest Theatre has been dark for nearly three years. Gradually the City, DDA and the not for profit have been working toward a culture Center that is again thriving and attracting people into downtown.

As an Executive Board Member of the Olds School Square non-profit, Jim has been working for years to support the arts and return its previous prominence. He can accomplish more as a City Commissioner and commis to the following:

  • Expediting Crest Theater reopening and re-programming
  • Re-energize the Art School and its hundreds of students
  • Expand student inclusion in Delray arts. Due to budget limitations art, culture, and music are minimized in schools even though we recognize learning and reading is stimulated by art. There are many ways to include students in art and cultural activities offered by our City
  • Our schools are engines of activity which the City could publicize in schools, City Hall and various City owned or supported venues, including in the neighborhoods
  • Using City communication platforms and My Delray Beach App should highlight things to do around town as a partnership with service organizations, schools, and clubs
  • Many Delray neighborhoods have public facilities, parks, hiking paths, and outdoor stages which go underutilized much of the time. Something similar to “Jazz on the Avenue” should be offered in the neighborhoods, while highlighting the efforts of local musicians and artists

Economic development is necessary for creating local jobs, building a strong tax base, and enjoying a live-work-play lifestyle. The role of the economic development director has not been fully utilized in previous years; companies that might otherwise move here or start up here, end up moving to neighboring cities. Economic development must also work closely with the Education Director to ensure that students are being trained for good paying jobs of the future. Specific goals for economic development exist in the Comprehensive Plan and should be incorporated in annual operating and capital budgets.

Jim supports smart growth and reasonable development that keeps our city growing without negatively impacting the Delray lifestyle we all love. To beef up Delray’s economic development function, Jim will work with his colleagues and staff to:

  • Conform regulations, policies, and budgets to the Comprehensive Plan
  • Simplify the Local Development Regulations (LDRs), remove red tape, and provide incentives for organizations which encourage local job growth
  • Update and implement Congress Ave plan
  • Require written contract (Interlocal Agreement or ILA) to define relationship and joint goals between the Directors of Education and Economic Development
  • Launch a program with the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Development Authority to promote Delray as a center for new and growing businesses

Delray Beach is known as the Village by the Sea because we recognize and remember how we got here. The blight of look-alike buildings, cookie cutter houses, and unlandscaped streets has been held at bay in Delray. The results speak for themselves. And Delray is unlike any other small city in Florida. Old houses, schools, and stores are restored and repurposed, giving Delray a modern, but upbeat feel in many neighborhoods But historical charm and vitality come at a cost: historical preservation requires watchfulness, strong regulations, and careful preservation.

Delray has been blessed with an Historic Board, Garden Club, Historical Society, and Historic Trust that provides an identity that is unique, and allows us to remain an ever evolving Village by the Sea. But vigilance is required to prevent the historic stock and environment from disappearing. The City needs to continue supporting organizations to preserve our village atmosphere and remembrance of how we got here.

Delray’s uniqueness and attraction is in large part dependent on the efforts of Delray citizens over the last 70 years to conserve a recollection of the past while adapting to the future. When elected, Jim will use his experience as Chair of the Historic Preservation Board and will work from the dais to:

  • Provide some legal protection for downtown remembrance and memories while making creative reuse an expedited process of developers and investors
  • Strengthen and expand historic districts and parcels with community support
  • Preserve Village by the Sea atmosphere without overruling property rights
  • Implement preservation and architectural guideline as established by the City
  • Use restoration as a tool even though historic buildings are structurally unsound or fail to meet current requirements for EPA and other agencies
  • Continuously educate and inform the public of the benefits of historic preservation including decreased urban heat bubble, reduced waste water runoff, and increased property values, to name a few.
  • Explore alternatives to historic designation including conservation district , air rights, and federal grants
  • A key component in historic protection is the restoration of native environment as well as human made environment
  • Preserving legacy trees (often more than 100 years old), re-establishing a native, human-scaled understory, and taking advantage of public lands for reforestation are all necessary steps to build a sustainable environment
  • Establishing an Urban Forester position
  • Examining every public property/development for opportunities for Tiny Forests
  • Another strategy is to link new development with preservation of 100 year old buildings as is currently being done with Sundy Village
  • Every effort should be made to examine landscape plans for historic districts and parcels even on public property
  • Continuation of historic touches in new buildings
  • Many historic buildings or those being considered for historic designation are threatened by climate change. The City should work in partnership with these owners’ and support efforts to raise dwellings above current flood levels.

Homelessness is a problem in all cities, large and small. Addressing the needs of citizens and the less fortunate requires careful balance between residents’ rights and expectations against the rights of less fortunate individuals. Many homeless people come from our own community, have mental challenges or were exposed to highly addictive drugs by medical services. Delray Beach can protect its citizens from unacceptable behavior while at the same time providing services to return the homeless to their families, find jobs or helping them find low cost housing services.

Unlike most cities, Delray Beach has a small and declining homeless population. Many cities have seen an outbreak of homelessness, but Delray has not. The homeless population has declined year over year and the number of homeless deaths and drug overdoses has dropped substantially. Through a combination of grants to the City, a homeless task force and CARES (Community Advocacy Response Education Service) program in the Police Department, homelessness, while unacceptable, has been managed in a humane manner while resolving problems faced by small business owners and experienced by the public.

As Commissioner, Jim pledges to:

  • Work with the police department to fairly administer City ordinances to continue to decrease the amount of homelessness in our City and protect residents and businesses
  • Support Delray Police Homeless Coordinator’s office as they struggle to provide services to the homeless while making efforts to return them to their families, provide social services, coordinate the work of not for profits, and find housing for those that have some income
  • Continue supporting churches such as St. Matthews and Cason to provide food, clothing, and hygiene to those who are currently unhoused
  • Promote bold housing strategies and community building efforts such as micro housing units that make housing affordable to very low income residents
  • Provide social services that can return homeless to their families and find mental health services
  • Provide clean and safe services that minimizes the impact of irresponsible homeless
  • Continue to seek state and federal grants to enhance the City’s efforts to reduce the homeless population

Many of the people vital to a prosperous Delray Beach cannot find housing that is affordable and end up driving 1 hour or more for work. Successful cities endeavor to house all stakeholders including the underserved and very low income. Delray recognizes the need for housing for all. There is no silver bullet to balanced housing, but Delray Beach has several programs already underway that provide housing for teachers, health care workers, police and fire, trade workers, and hospitality workers. However, these programs need to be overhauled to reduce the production time and increase funding available, perhaps through a grants administrator.

As a newly elected City Commissioner, Jim will:

  • Encourage partnerships among builders, banks, not for profits and CRA to build new homes and restore legacy homes
  • Ensure that Fire Rescue maintains its rating which allows Delray Beach to reduce insurance rates
  • Work with our elected officials in Tallahassee to provide relief from skyrocketing insurance rates
  • Expedite implementation of Comprehensive Plan which advocates creative solutions to housing problems, including Mother-in-law suites, duplexes, town homes, and community living for urban lifestyles
  • Support service workers in Delray Beach hotels and restaurants
  • Advocate for a grants writer to generate revenue from state and federal grants to cover the cost of these initiatives and save taxpayers money.