BOCA RATON, Fla. — Boca Raton city leaders voted Tuesday to remove and replace a controversial plaque at Memorial Park to better recognize veterans and the park's history.
The current plaque, installed in March, was meant to honor veterans but included the names of the former city council. This sparked pushback from some residents and members of the Save Boca group, who previously fought against the scrapped One Boca project.
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"While the existing plaque rightly honors our veterans — it fails to tell the whole story. It omits the 1947 dedication of the land, overlooks community advocates who fought to preserve it," resident Joe Kaufman said. "This is not about erasing history — it’s about correcting it."
City Manager Mark Sohaney said council members want the new plaque to better reflect history, including the original 1947 council that established the park. The resolution also calls for a public dedication ceremony when the new plaque is installed. There is no timeline yet for the new plaque, and according to city documents — will not have significant fiscal impact.
Also on Tuesday, the council passed a resolution to create a Downtown Civic Engagement Task Force, brought forth by Mayor Andy Thomson The task force will consist of nine members appointed by the council to collect input on the future of Memorial Park.
“I do think this is an immensely important function for our community,” said Mayor Thomson “One of the biggest complaints or concerns that have been raised about the government campus was that it wasn’t resident driven, it was something other than that, so I wanted to help push the city towards the process of having decisions like that, decisions of such significance be resident driven.”
The group will meet at the community center at least once a month for six months around July 2026. The resolution passed with a 3-1 vote, as Council Member Yvette Drucker had to excuse herself through the meeting. The task force will have no significant fiscal impact.
Also discussed during the meeting was future softball field improvements and the need for tennis courts.
“In talking about Memorial Park I’m here talking about softball,” said Cooper “ I am very grateful that everybody, including, Mr. Pearlman agrees there is inequity in the girls vs. the boys — I'm interested to see what comes of the Memorial Park development plans.”
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