Updates found at the bottom of the article.

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DELRAY BEACH, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2025) — Delray Beach residents following local politics by email are now watching two newsletters battle for influence over how city issues are framed. One is The Delray Gazette. The other, closely named The Delray Guzzette. Each covers the same meetings and decisions. Each accuses the other of misleading readers.

The dispute centers on the West Atlantic Neighborhood Improvement District, or WANID, a dormant 236-acre taxing authority stretching from Swinton Avenue to I-95 and two blocks north and south of Atlantic Avenue. One newsletter says it represents a “new tax.” The other says that description is wrong.

In a recent edition titled “New Tax, Mayor’s Curveball & More,” The Delray Gazette questions whether reviving WANID and revisiting a commercial property near the Arts Warehouse could add financial pressure to homeowners. The email highlights a planned $7,000 to $10,000 analysis to determine whether the site has potential for workforce housing. It also notes earlier concerns raised when Mayor Tom Carney and then-Vice Mayor Rob Long first discussed the idea, pointing out past business connections and a political donation from a developer-affiliated LLC to Long’s committee. The Gazette says donations are legal but argues commissioners are responsible for recusals when conflicts appear. It also calls the site “the most expensive property the CRA has ever considered buying” and asks whether the agency is being used to help private interests.

The Delray Guzzette answers directly and at length. Its December 1 email — “Fact vs. Fiction: The Gazette’s Misleading Take on WANID Revival – No New Taxes, Just Resident Empowerment” — pushes back on the “new tax” label. It argues the plan discussed at the Nov. 18 meeting would shrink the Downtown Development Authority boundary so West Atlantic properties leave the DDA, preventing what it calls “double taxation.” WANID’s levy would remain capped at up to 2 mills or special assessments, but only if residents activate it by vote. The newsletter describes the change as local control, not higher costs.

The Guzzette also explains the CRA’s tax-increment financing, saying it does not create a separate tax but redirects the growth in revenue above a frozen 1985 base value toward housing, infrastructure, and blight-removal projects. According to the newsletter, West Atlantic already benefits from that structure “without extra homeowner costs,” and WANID would focus spending more locally.

The argument then shifts from policy to personalities. The Delray Gazette writes that Long’s early-December departure “leaves Mayor Carney without a wingman” and may change interaction on the dais. The email says Commissioner Juli Casale could have more opportunity to speak uninterrupted and flags the process to appoint an interim commissioner ahead of the March 10 election. Three candidates — Andrea Keiser, Judy Mollica, and Frances-Delores Rangel — have qualified for the ballot.

The Delray Guzzette responds that the “wingman” framing is exaggerated. It says votes shift issue by issue and calls the Gazette’s characterization “laugh-out-loud funny.” Its email claims Carney, Burns, and Markert are labeled a bloc only when they vote together, while similar alignments involving Casale are described as independence. It states the Guzzette “backs leaders like Mayor Carney and Long who vote yes on facts, not fear.”

Both newsletters also describe themselves as corrective voices. The Guzzette says it was created “to bring the truth to the false narratives you’ve been receiving,” quoting Paul Harvey’s “Now you know the rest of the story.” The Gazette urges readers to stay engaged, forward issues to neighbors, and watch for future candidate profiles.

With near-identical names, contrasting political framing, and conflicting explanations of the same policy actions, the two newsletters are offering Delray Beach subscribers very different views of what is happening inside City Hall.

Who are they, anyways?

Neither The Delray Gazette nor The Delray Guzzette lists an editor, publisher, or author in any of the emails reviewed. Both newsletters are distributed through third-party email platforms—Constant Contact and Mailchimp—and each uses only a PO Box as its public point of contact. No masthead, staff names, or organizational details appear anywhere in their publications. As a result, readers are left without a clear sense of who is writing the commentary, who funds the newsletters, or what groups or individuals may be behind their sharply differing political perspectives. Despite presenting strong opinions on city issues, both operate with a level of anonymity unusual for local civic reporting.

What Do You Make of This?

With both newsletters operating anonymously and presenting opposite versions of the same City Hall debates, Delray residents are now left to sort through competing “truths” without knowing who’s behind either publication. Have you received these newsletters? Do you trust them? Or does the anonymity raise questions about motive and influence?

We want to hear from you — share your thoughts, experiences, comments below.

UPDATES

12/17/25 – Another installment: Dueling Delray Newsletters Escalate Fight Over DDA, Vacant Seat 2, And City Hall Power