Answer city hall critics with some new candor

West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel insists that she is committed -- no matter what -- to building a city hall and library on the D&D Centre block downtown, and she dismisses all critics as political enemies. But people who ask legitimate questions shouldn't receive such a cavalier brush-off, and the biggest obstacles the mayor faces to pulling off the ambitious project are a lack of candor about its cost and the radical overhaul from what was originally proposed.

Two years ago, Mayor Frankel sold the public and the city commission on a $50 million deal, with as much as 45 percent for commercial use to help offset the cost and justify the city's spending more than $18 million to buy one of downtown's most expensive parcels. Estimates are now $100 million, and no significant commercial component is planned. The mayor says the public will have to wait until the end of September for developers to calculate what the cost will be.

Last week, Peter Armato, the city's new Downtown Development Authority executive director, told commissioners that the project needs to have significant commercial use to be successful and to comply with the downtown master plan that requires retail business on Clematis Street ground floors. The consequences of losing an entire block to municipal facilities with nothing to draw shoppers and diners threatens the long-term economic viability of an already troubled district. The actual building costs of a city hall, library and photo museum may be the same no matter what piece of land they're put on. But packing them onto this site and creating an economic dead zone has damage potential that isn't calculated, either.

Mayor Frankel has argued that when her administration surveyed residents, respondents said they wanted an all-public complex. But the surveys never asked people if they were willing to spend any amount to get it, and whether the city had better places to spend its new millions from development. The mayor points out that some of the estimated cost increase is the result of higher construction prices in general. Her argument would be more persuasive if the concept of the project hadn't changed. A bigger reason for the $100 million is that this is a new project. Complicating things is that the architect is a close friend of the mayor.

Mayor Frankel says she is building a public realm and "the city hall's going to cost what it costs." That wasn't the deal commissioners agreed to. The mayor knows better. The city deserves better.