Dear Friends and Supporters:

As you all have likely heard, we at Old School Square Center for the Arts, Inc., recently asked our Commissioners by way of a request for mediation through litigation, as well as through settlement communications, to come to the table to negotiate to resolution of our issues, and create a solution that is of greatest benefit to the City and the residents of Delray Beach. This was the very last remaining possibility to reconcile before we are forced to proceed with full-blown litigation against the City- and the remaining defendants- to protect our rights.

Since presenting them with our preliminary offer, our Commissioners have been inundated with letters of advocacy from Delray community members, urging them to please strongly consider this opportunity to find a way to mediate with OSS, or in the very least, sit down and discuss potential resolutions regarding this issue. But it seems both our requests and your letters have fallen on deaf ears. After originally scheduling a meeting with their attorneys to discuss our offer to mediate, at the eleventh hour, Mayor Petrolia and Commissioners Johnson and Casale unilaterally cancelled the meeting, citing a lack of interest in moving forward with any discussions concerning OSS. This meeting, mind you, was simply to discuss OSS settlement proposal. This was not in any way an acceptance of the offer, or an admittance or wrongdoing or regret of their decision in this process. The meeting they refused to have on this issue, which a tremendous amount of their constituents implored them to simply sit though, was about listening and considering. Why is it that our elected officials aren’t willing to even listen to the requests for a resolution of the organization that 32 years ago founded the grounds that have become the heart and soul of Delray Beach? And why does your voice on this issue continue to mean absolutely nothing to them? Why are our Commissioners more concerned with proving a point and protecting their egos, than with humbling themselves- at the requests of their constituents- to have a conversation that could benefit their community? Sadly, these questions will remain unanswered, and we will be forced to continue this fight. 

If you want to continue to support Old School Square, please help us by doing the following:

1. Email the City Commissioners (Links to emails below; pre-drafted letter here) 

2. Attend the next commission meeting on February 1, 2022 at 4:00PM at Delray Beach City Hall (100 NW First Avenue, Delray Beach)

Your voice will ALWAYS matter.

Commissioner emails: 
Petrolia@mydelraybeach.com, Johnsons@mydelraybeach.com, Frankel@mydelraybeach.com, Boylston@mydelraybeach.com, Casale@mydelraybeach.com