Podcast Summary: The Interview with Leslie Heaney

Episode: Building a City That Thrives: A Conversation with Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer

Date: August 28, 2025
Host: Leslie Heaney
Guest: Mayor Scott Singer, City of Boca Raton

Episode Overview

This episode features a deep-dive conversation between host Leslie Heaney and Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, exploring what it takes to make a city thrive. While the discussion covers the recent attention Boca Raton has attracted due to proactive business recruitment—especially from New York—much of the conversation delves into the philosophy of local leadership, infrastructure choices, public safety investment, and fostering an innovative local economy. Singer, a long-time friend of the Heaney family and a seasoned legal and policy mind, shares lessons learned in his mayoral career and offers a blueprint for building resilient, appealing municipalities.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Mayor Singer’s Path to Public Service

• Background: Moved from New York to Florida in 2011 to raise a family, started a law practice, then entered city politics in 2014.
• Motivation:
  • Concerned Boca Raton might not offer the career opportunities for his children that he lacked as a high schooler.
  • Attended city council meetings, got inspired to accelerate economic and social vibrancy.
  • “I looked at my one-year-old son…What’s he going to do when he grows up? Is he going to have the same feeling I had in high school, which is he has to go elsewhere to find job opportunities?” (06:07 – Scott Singer)

2. Boca Raton’s Economic Strength and Positioning

• City Snapshot:
  • 100,000 residents, part of the massive Miami metro (over 7 million population).
  • High business density: 14,000 businesses, over 40 public corporate HQs, more office space than the county seat.
  • Three universities anchor knowledge economy.
  • Youthful demographics contradict “sleepy” stereotypes.
• Quote: “We punch above our weight when it comes to business… I don’t think there’s a city in America with our size that has that sort of corporate representation.” (07:25 – Scott Singer)

3. Policy Innovations and Economic Development

• Established Office of Economic Development—proactive, not just reactive recruitment of business.
• Created Office of Communications to keep community informed and cohesive.
• Streamlined government with 20 efficiency initiatives in the past six years.
• Invested heavily in public safety, achieving top national recognition in fire rescue and high police officer entry salaries.
  • “We have the lowest property tax rate of any full service city in Florida.” (10:07 – Scott Singer)
  • “We’re able to attract and retain the best talent…our crime levels, which were at 40-year lows, are even lower. They’ve dropped significantly over the last seven years.” (11:23 – Scott Singer)
• Business Attraction: Aggressive pitch to companies, leveraging Florida’s zero state income tax and a business-friendly environment. The pandemic accelerated relocation trends.
  • “I am relentless and probably annoying to many people out of how hard I’m targeting their businesses, even friends including your husband.” (12:38 – Scott Singer)

4. Infrastructure and Urban Planning

• Brightline High-Speed Rail: Mayor Singer personally lobbied executives to secure a Boca Raton stop, opening up commuter and business opportunities.
  • “I convinced the executives… you’re missing an entire market here… it’s a game changer for our city.” (15:18 – Scott Singer)
  • Forward-thinking approach contrasts with cities overwhelmed by growth but lacking plans (e.g., Nashville, Austin).
• Expanded office space to meet demand, integrating mixed-use development.

5. Recipe for Revitalizing Struggling Cities

• Singer’s “Three-Level Pyramid”:
  1. Public safety as the foundation.
  2. Business base to provide jobs and philanthropy.
  3. Quality of life (parks, schools, libraries, culture).
  • Prescribes constant reinvestment and vigilance against complacency.
  • “The cities that have struggled have let public safety go. Their tax base eroded…and it’s not through their fault of their own… you need to constantly be thinking this way and trying to attract more opportunities.” (22:23 – Scott Singer)

6. NY to Boca Campaign and Critique of Trends in Other Cities

• Extensively discussed Boca Raton’s campaign to attract NYC businesses post-primary win of Zoran Mandani, whose policy proposals (on policing and business) Singer sees as potentially disastrous.
  • Ran a digital billboard in Times Square: “Declare your independence from higher taxes, congestion, winter weather.”
  • “We launched our own campaign, NY to Boca… our traffic is up fourfold… more calls from different states.” (26:36 – Scott Singer)
• Critiques policies like rent control, proposals to socialize business as likely to backfire, citing examples of business flight from heavily regulated, high-tax regions.

7. Younger Generation, Education, and Political Trends

• Concerned about rise of socialist ideas, especially among the young, potentially driven by a lack of perceived economic opportunity and education bias.
  • “The free market’s not perfect. It is the best system, but it’s not perfect. But I think there’s no reason for people to lose hope about opportunity in America because if you work hard, you can achieve here. And this is the first country in the world where you could always say that.” (29:31 – Scott Singer)
• Advocates for renewed focus on opportunity, education, and optimism.

8. Mayoral Leadership, Collaboration, and Ideas Exchange

• Mayors’ roles often nonpartisan and pragmatic—emphasis on direct accountability, public service delivery, and collaborative idea-sharing.
  • Stole/borrowed ideas from other cities, e.g., COVID relief sites (bocacares.com) modeled after Sioux Falls, SD.
  • “You have to be there to rally your community forward in times of struggle and also in times of triumph.” (33:33 – Scott Singer)

9. Downtown Redevelopment “Moonshot”

• Spearheading a $1B+ public-private partnership to reinvent city’s downtown: mixed-use hub, green space, transit-oriented development linked to Brightline.
  • “We’re working on a billion dollar plus public private partnership for 30 acres of land… It’ll be transformative.” (36:34 – Scott Singer)

10. Future Plans and Advice for Civic Engagement

• Singer is term-limited, open to future public service but no immediate plans for higher office—“not ruling it out.”
• Urges listeners to learn who their local representatives are and get involved, even outside elected office.
  • “You can really make an impact in your city. I didn’t have experience…There’s no school for mayors yet. It doesn’t work this way.” (46:16 – Scott Singer)

Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• On City Leadership:

  • “Government, by and large, does not create jobs. Government is there to facilitate the private sector responding well, to create the right low tax, low regulation environment…” (18:44 – Scott Singer)

• On Urban Revitalization:

  • “Histories written by the cities that were part of major transportation networks… and those that became ghost towns because they got passed over.” (16:28 – Scott Singer)

• On Policy Borrowing:

  • “Good mayors borrow from others, and great mayors steal outright.” (27:57 – Scott Singer)

• On Partisan Divides:

  • “I’m sorry to say, I’ve lost some friendships… because people disagreed with my stance on a particular issue. When you vote for a candidate, you’re not saying you adopt everything… you’re choosing from a limited menu.” (43:21 – Scott Singer)

• On Public Service:

  • “It’s a labor of love. It must be. And I feel lucky to work with others and learn from others, too. We have a chance to make this country even greater. We have a chance to make our world even greater. And it starts with our community.” (47:00 – Scott Singer)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:48 – Singer describes the move to Florida, decision to run for office
• 07:17 – Overview of Boca Raton’s demographics and economy
• 10:07 – Discussion of low property tax rates and public safety investment
• 15:10 – Securing Brightline station, infrastructure impacts
• 22:16 – Singer’s pyramid for city revitalization
• 25:23 – Media attention after NYC mayoral primary, NY to Boca ad campaign
• 29:31 – Views on the appeal of socialist ideas among the young
• 32:07 – Takeaways from national mayors groups, response to COVID
• 36:34 – Plans for downtown redevelopment, public-private partnerships
• 43:21 – Reflection on partisanship and tribalism in politics
• 46:00 – Final pitch for civic engagement and the impact of local leadership

Overall Tone & Takeaways

The tone is accessible, candid, and pragmatic, with a subtle but constant throughline: effective local government is less about grandstanding and more about the daily work of building communities—with vision, sound policy, clear communication, and relentless energy. Leslie Heaney and Scott Singer’s rapport keeps things lively, and Singer’s blend of optimism and realism offers actionable lessons for citizens and leaders alike.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a compelling case study in how civic leadership and policy choices shape city destinies. Drawing on Boca Raton’s story and broader insights from the national mayoral landscape, listeners come away with a strong sense of the stakes—and the possibilities—at the local level.