Pearl City neighborhood residents want national designation December 11, 2020 at 4:05 PM EST - Updated December 11 at 4:05 PM
Boca Ratonâs Pearl City neighborhood is seeing a resurgence of interest. In 2002, Bocaâs city council designated it a historic district but people who live there say thatâs not enough. On Friday, a growing coalition of community leaders and residents began the process to reach a national designation.
In 1915, Will Demery built a home on Lot 13 of what would become the Pearl City neighborhood in Boca Raton. In fact, Doris Marie Hester was born on the property.
âWe were the first Black family in Pearl City. It existed before the City of Boca Raton,â said Hester.
Thursday, December 10, 2020
3:00pm - 4:00pm EST
We have been amazed and grateful at the fierce dedication our writers displayed in responding to the unending tumult of this year. From the early days of COVID-19, they sought out the city dwellers determined to improve our health, housing, food access and more. But where do we go from here? In this time of fraught politics and an entrenched pandemic, with a new administration waiting in the wings, what stories should we watch in the coming year?
Join Next City for our first-ever journalists roundtable, with writers Oscar Perry Abello, Jared Brey and Emily Nonko, in a conversation moderated by Board Chair Eric Shaw. These three will discuss the people, programs and ideas that most inspired them this year the Philadelphia activists who organized encampments and pushed for surprising progress on housing; the activist bondholders pressuring investors to support racial justice; a program that places returning citizens in stable housin