By Jane Smith

    Forty-five residents, business owners, band members and festival organizers trotted before the Delray Beach City Commission on a Tuesday night in June. They gave two-minute pitches on special events.
    Most favored the events because they create a “vibe” for the city.
    In particular, they want to save the Garlic Festival. That event shares its carnival-ride income with area nonprofits and allows volunteers to receive credit for their hours that translates into cash for their organizations, said founder Nancy Stewart-Franczak.
    “I have to take my hat off to the event organizers with how this room was packed. I am impressed with the grassroots campaign that is a testament to how much the city appreciates and cherishes these events,” Commissioner Jordana Jarjura said.
    Even so, the four commissioners in attendance directed the city manager to continue with their plans to develop a special events policy.
    “You clearly articulated the direction we provided you at the goal-setting session,” Jarjura told Don Cooper, the city manager.
    No changes will be made for the upcoming season, but for the following season of 2016-17 the special events policy likely will be in place.
    It will be an 18-month process because of the number of special events, Cooper said. “We want to reinforce the city’s brand, not eliminate special events,” he said.
    The new policy would identify the so-called “hometown” events held during the season — Veterans Day, Holiday Parade, Christmas Tree Lighting, First Night and Tennis Tournament. The Delray Affair, privately produced, would be grandfathered in because it grew out of the Gladiolus Festival, held when the city was known as the Gladiolus Capital of the World.
    The policy defines the season as October through April and a major event as one with attendance over 5,000.
    Under the proposed policy, a major private event cannot take place in the same month as a “hometown” event, leaving only March and October with vacancies in the central business district.  The policy also defines the central business district as Atlantic Avenue between Swinton Avenue on the west and Federal Highway on the east, extending one block north and south.
    The new policy would limit road closures to four events: St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Veterans Day Parade, Holiday Parade and Delray Affair. Carnival rides would be prohibited in the central business district.
    The four commissioners — Mayor Cary Glickstein was absent — also agreed to direct festival sites to other areas that might need promotion. In addition, they want to make sure each private event covers the true cost of city services, including public safety and maintenance.
    The commissioners also talked about the declining quality of the events. “Not every event has to have hot dogs, kettle corn and booze,” said Deputy Vice Mayor Al Jacquet. He wants to diversify the types of events in the city.
    “Tonight is just the starting point,” said Vice Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who chaired the workshop in Glickstein’s absence. “We are heading in the right direction.” She would like to see the Delray Affair have fewer booths and situate them to face the retailers and restaurants.
    Commissioners also agreed with a resident who pointed out that the new special events office would add a layer of bureaucracy when the city is trying to centralize planning for the events.
    Petrolia hopes the city doesn’t have to wait until October 2017. She would like to see changes made by October 2016 so that residents and business owners could see the results in the following season.  
    The commissioners are trying to gain control over the events, but as one of the speakers pointed out, the title of the report, “Events are Great,” was a turnoff. Jarjura said the complaint was “nitpicking” and compared the title to an ad slogan, “we ‘heart’ small business.”

By Jane Smith

    The Downtown Development Authority will spend about $25,000 of its approximately $750,000 budget next year on a pilot parking plan for downtown Delray Beach restaurant workers. Starting in October, the agency will run its proposed parking plan at the South County Courthouse garage, its board decided in early June.
    The agency is estimating the six-month cost for security for the free-employee parking program to be $25,000. The agency plans to split that cost with the downtown restaurants. The cost for a shuttle service for employees will be extra.
    The garage has 343 spaces available between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m.
    But what incentive would employees have to park in the garage after meters were nixed recently for the downtown?
    “As a business owner, you tell your employees this is where you park,” board member Frank Frione said. “If your car gets parked somewhere else, you are out of a job … I don’t let my employees run my company.”
    The parking program will work if it is safe, easy and reliable, said associate director Laura Simon.
    Enforcement is essential to making this work, said board Chairman David Cook. “Right now, employees pull in at 4:15 p.m., they are there all night. If the city changed the hours to end at 7 p.m., the 4-o’clock crowd would find where they are supposed to park,” he said. “But there is no parking enforcement right now.”
    Executive Director Marjorie Ferrer said she would need to get a commitment from the restaurants to make the parking program work.
    The agency also will spend about $15,000 this budget year on cleaning sidewalks in its 340-acre district, based on a city request.
    The tax-supported agency has the money remaining (after it purchased twinkle lights and banners) that it could put toward pressure cleaning the sidewalks, Ferrer said. Restaurants are responsible for cleaning their own sidewalks, she added.
    But how many square feet is that? Right now, no one knows. The agency has estimates varying from 130,000 to 226,000 square feet in its area that starts at the interstate and goes east to the beach.
    Cost estimates came in at a range between 9 and 11 cents per square foot. Using the higher price and higher area, the total cost would be approximately $24,680.
    “The question is: Do we step up to the plate and help the city,” Ferrer said. “The city has asked us eight times to help.”
    Board member Frione offered to find a software program to determine the square feet, similar to one used by roofers.
    As to city’s 100-foot Christmas tree, the city manager suggested asking the supplier, Brandano Displays in Margate, whether it is willing to create an aluminum version with stainless steel screws and arms, and store it. Then, the city would lease it.
    The agency proposed spending $20,000 in next year’s budget for Christmas tree maintenance, basically removing rust from the current steel tree. If the city gets a new tree, that money can go toward meter maids, or another board priority, Ferrer said.
    “There are a lot of unknowns in the budget,” she said.
    The agency’s district has primarily small businesses, Ferrer said. About 93 percent have fewer than 30 employees. She would like to focus on customer service by engaging the 6,000 employees in an ambassador program. Each employee would wear a button that says: I love my downtown.
    The agency makes the bulk of its money from a tax of $1 per $1,000 of value on properties in its district. For the coming budget year, that revenue source is projected to grow by 10.9 percent to $689,869. Sponsorships will add another $62,000, and Ferrer says the agency is still soliciting more. Payroll expenses remain 30 percent of the total budget.
    At the end of the goal-setting/budget workshop, Ferrer talked about the ideal board member and misunderstanding of how the agency differs from others in the city.
    “Each one of you needs an elevator speech of who we are, what we do, why we are doing it,” she said. “Things are moving pretty fast in the city right now. The tree just happened, and the parking garage. We’ll keep you posted.”
    Next, she talked about her “working together notes.”
    “At some point there was a comment made that we do not work well with others,” Ferrer said. Her notes, presented to the city manager in February, contained a list of meetings attended, items collaborated on, data shared and financial support provided to the city and four organizations: Chamber of Commerce, the Community Redevelopment Agency, Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative and the Center for the Arts.
    “I want us to be the proactive ones,” said board member Frione. “And ask them: How are we doing for you?”
    The Delray Beach City Commission is surveying property tax payers (renters and owners) on the effectiveness and value of the DDA to the city.  The online survey is available on the city’s website or at www.surveymonkey.com/r/XVC72FG. Responses are due July 15.

INSET BELOW: Steve Cooper

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes solved one of its staffing problems in June with the hiring of Steve Cooper as the town’s new deputy clerk.
    Cooper, a Boston native, left his job as a health care consultant and retired to Delray Beach. He says, timing-wise, that was a mistake.
    “I retired too soon, as far as I’m concerned,” Cooper said. “I still could use some of my management and organizational skills. This job came up; I thought this is a strange thing for me because I’ve never done that. But it’s management/administrative so I applied and I got it.”
    The town received several dozen applications for the position that Carol Lang has filled since August. Briny redefined the deputy clerk’s job last year and designated the position as a town employee, rather than an independent contractor who works on a freelance basis.
    Cooper, whose hiring was approved unanimously by the council, said he expects to work 12 to 15 hours a week during the summer and perhaps 20 hours during the tourist season. Lang drew praise for her contributions in reorganizing town records over the last 10 months.
    “I would like to publicly thank Carol, who came in and did a terrific job of cleaning things up in such an efficient manner,” said Councilwoman Barbara Molina, the town clerk pro tem.
    Briny is still looking to replace Councilwoman Karen Wiggins, who gave up her seat in April and moved to California. The town also has an opening on its Planning and Zoning Board.
    In other business:
    • Town Council members have approved new rules for golf cart use but can’t start enforcing them until the town puts up signs and widens some sidewalks.
    Briny is looking for help in paying for that work. Council President Sue Thaler said she has applied for a $23,500 grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, and Mayor Mike Hill has applied for $1,500 from the Florida League of Mayors.
    Until the signs go up and the ordinance is enforceable, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins says his officers will use “common sense and discretion” in trying to ensure that people operate their carts safely.
    • With Councilman James McCormick absent for the June 25 meeting and the Wiggins seat open, the three remaining council members — Thaler, Molina and Robert Jurovaty — reached unanimous consensus on increases for some fees and fines.
    The council voted to approve a $100 charge for expedited building permits. Thaler said the town loses money when residents wait until the last minute before applying for permits on their projects, then ask for expedited service. However, the town will continue to give verbal permits with no extra fees for emergency work — for example, replacing a water heater or an air conditioner that dies on a weekend.
    The council also gave its blessing to fine increases for parking violations. A Briny parking ticket will go from $30 to $50, and illegally parking in a handicapped space will cost $250. Town Attorney John Skrandel advised the council that fines should be set at a high enough level to deter illegal parking, but not unreasonably high where people are so annoyed they fight the tickets in court.

By Dan Moffett

    The recall movement against Ocean Ridge Town Commissioner Richard Lucibella died in a Palm Beach County courtroom when a circuit judge ruled that petitions seeking his ouster were legally flawed.
    Judge Gregory Keyser found that the recall organizers had failed to follow state law in the way they articulated their complaint against Lucibella and how they collected hundreds of signatures.
    Keyser’s June 10 ruling said the group’s allegations against Lucibella were too vague — his “conduct on the board does not reflect the values of the town” — to support a malfeasance charge. Without a more specific statement of more substantial misconduct, it was impossible for Lucibella, or any other recall target, to defend himself.
    “Such generalized conduct does not meet the legal requirements to allege malfeasance or any other prescribed statutory grounds for recall,” the judge wrote in a 10-page opinion.
    For Lucibella, the decision is a victory that ends a five-month battle for his seat that began when he took a lead role in forcing Chris Yannuzzi to resign as police chief early in the year.
    “You don’t institute a recall proceeding because you don’t like the way somebody votes,” said Lucibella. “That turns the whole election process on its ear.” He said he never doubted the judge’s ruling because the petitions were obviously flawed and the recall group’s organizers should have known it: “If they’d have just done their homework, they would know this recall never would succeed.”
    Haley Joyce, leader of the recall group, said that recalling Lucibella was the only way for citizens to change the town’s course. She said the people who took part in the petition drive had the best interests of Ocean Ridge at heart.
    “There’s nothing personal against Mr. Lucibella,” she said. “We’re using the statute to object to his behavior as commissioner.”
    Keyser was somewhat sympathetic with Joyce’s complaint that the statute is vague about exactly how petitions should be constructed and filled out.
    “While the Court is aware of Defendant Joyce’s frustration at attempting to comply with (Florida Statutes), and the importance of our citizens participating in their government,” he wrote, “the Court has a duty to strictly follow the requirements of our Florida Statutes and the Florida case law interpreting those statutes.”
    But Keyser said Joyce erred by not following requirements that were clear in the law. She didn’t identify herself as chairwoman of the recall committee on the petitions, and each signature wasn’t individually witnessed.
    Lucibella said he hasn’t decided whether to try to recover — either from the town or his opponents — the tens of thousands of dollars he’s paid to fight the recall in court. His attorney, Sidney Calloway, told the town in April that he had run up $30,000 in fees — and that was before the five-hour trial before Keyser in May.
    “I haven’t thought about that,” Lucibella said of the cost. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. There have been more important things at stake here, including the integrity of the commission.”
    He criticized the recall proponents for damaging government in the town and deterring residents from getting involved in public service.
    “It serves no purpose,” Lucibella said. “What these attacks do is clear out the bench of people who might serve the town in the future … I think there are people who absolutely aren’t going to run for office now. I think it’s shameful.”
    In other business, Steven Cullen, executive director of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, sent Lucibella an advisory opinion in May, answering questions raised by the commissioner about taking town officials and staff on hunting trips.
    Cullen told Lucibella it would not be an ethical violation for the commissioner, a pilot, to fly officials or staff to his hunting leases in Florida, Mississippi or Texas — as long as there is “no official quid pro quo involved” and rules on gift reporting were followed.
    Also, Cullen reminded the commissioner that the Sunshine Law still applies.
    Lucibella declined to comment on the advisory opinion or hunting trips.

By Dan Moffett

    Manalapan’s Audubon Causeway bridge project is turning into a remake of the 1968 western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
    The good: Because of some unexpected windfalls into its general fund, the town won’t have to take money out of its cash reserves to pay for this year’s construction bill.
    The bad: Because of bureaucratic delays caused by permitting, disagreements with engineers and hand-wringing over assorted design issues, the project will be pushed back four months to an August start date.
    The ugly: Because construction is unlikely to begin not much before Aug. 18, the work will go on through the next tourist season, meaning more residents will be around to endure more construction inconveniences. Snowbirds and pile drivers are not a good mix. Things could definitely get ugly.
    Many little setbacks have taken a major toll. Mayor Pro Tem Peter Isaac likened the project to an airliner that got stalled at the gate over paperwork, then lost its place in line on the runway. “We’ve lost our takeoff slot,” Isaac said.
    Drawdy Construction of Lake Worth, the contractor for the $1 million project, had to move on to another job because Manalapan’s wasn’t ready to go in April as planned. Drawdy has told town officials it hopes to get started before August if it can complete its other scheduled work early.
    Isaac said the town finally has received a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the last approval needed to get started.
    The money picture for the bridge continues to look better.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said she expected to take about $163,000 from reserves to pay for construction this year, but won’t have to because of a construction boom that has brought in unexpected revenues from fees, and also because of a favorable settlement to a long-running court case.
    Stumpf said the town collected about $860,000 in building permit fees.
    “That is a huge number for us,” she said. “They’re building like crazy.”
    Also, the town took in $232,000 in accumulated code fines from Louis and Wendy Navellier, resolving a 10-year legal dispute over a pool cabana that eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Because most of the town’s legal expenses were covered by insurance, a substantial portion of that money can go toward the bridge project.
    “Not a penny from reserves will go for the bridge this year,” Stumpf said.
    During a June 22 budget workshop, Stumpf said she expects the town’s tax rate to stay at last year’s level, $3.03 per $1,000 of taxable value. Because of a 7.7 percent increase in property values, however, the rollback rate that would keep net taxes level is $2.86 per $1,000.
    Mayor David Cheifetz said the commission hopes that a year from now, after the bridge is built, the town will be able to reduce the tax rate and come closer to the rollback number.
    In other business, homeowners on Point Manalapan overwhelmingly rejected a plan to install natural gas service to their community, voting 75-35 against the idea.
    The ballots, which had been mailed to the 144 property owners on the Point and kept upon their return in the custody of Town Attorney Keith Davis during the 60-day voting period, were opened at a special public meeting on June 23. At least 60 percent of the respondents had to say yes for the proposal to go forward.

By Jane Smith

    The fate of the old Boynton Beach High School and the county possibly providing public safety services will be discussed at the Aug. 4 Boynton Beach City Commission meeting.
    The topics were named priorities at the city’s strategic planning sessions held in mid-June. Elected officials, working with city staff, developed action plans for the next year.
    Vice Mayor Joe Casello championed both actions. As to the old high school, he said, “Let’s find the funds and knock it down.” Mayor Jerry Taylor quickly agreed.
    But Woodrow Hay, a former mayor and current Community Redevelopment Agency board member, urged caution. “If we made a decision today (June 17), it would be perceived as being under-the-table,” he said.
    For the public safety contracts, Casello said, “Just for the record, we have the two finest and most professional leaders in our public safety chiefs. It’s not about confidence at all, but looking out for the taxpayer — how to get the highest level of services for the lowest cost.”
    Boynton Beach also provides fire-rescue service to Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
    The high school, built in 1927, occupies 28,240 square feet on two floors. “It can’t be secured for a hurricane,” said Jeff Livergood, the city’s public works director. The roof will not support [construction] people on it, he said, but its walls and the exterior can be saved.
    The city has eight reports on its condition. Livergood would do a ninth report compiling info from each of those reports.
    The building last housed elementary students in 1990. Three years later, the city bought the structure from the county School Board. Ever since, the fate of the high school surfaces every few years.
    Commissioner David Merkel also wants to know the status of a lawsuit filed by a Lake Worth architect whose event-center plan was not chosen.
    The high school could become a community building project to create a civic center, the same way as playgrounds are built, Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick said. “The walls are as strong as walls approved by the city for new houses. The wood is all Dade County pine,” he said.
    The City Commission will have to decide quickly. The fate of the high school also affects its Town Square plan, for which the city manager hopes to bring a proposal to an October commission meeting.
    The public safety contracts could take as much as a year to get information from the county fire-rescue and Sheriff’s Office, City Manager Lori LaVerriere told commissioners during the strategic planning sessions.
    The city has a copy of the report Delray Beach received from the county fire-rescue last year when it was considering switching to county service. Boynton Beach Fire Chief Ray Carter said the comparison would be apt because Delray Beach’s department is most similar to Boynton’s.
    Casello continued to hammer on the rising costs of the city public safety departments:  $21 million for fire-rescue and more than $28 million for police. “Payouts from multiple lawsuits (against the Police Department) have cost the city more than $2 million,” he said.
    “It’s not just dollars and cents,” Commissioner Merkel said, “but what is better for the citizens of Boynton Beach.” He wondered whether it was just a way to get out from under the burden of public safety pensions, which are weighing the city down. Commissioner Fitzpatrick spoke of philosophical problems of losing control. “Where does the buck stop if the Sheriff’s Office is here? Who is in charge?” he asked.
    In other action, the commission and the CRA board agreed to start a Clean and Safe Program in the city’s downtown. The community policing and code enforcement elements will be ready in January; the maintenance part could go into effect in October.

Workers prepare another burial site

on the south end of the cemetery.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach no longer has single plots to sell in its Boynton Memorial Park Cemetery, and only 300 plots remain at its Sara Sims Cemetery.
    That situation raised a policy question: Should Boynton Beach be in the burial business?
    The City Commission, led by Mayor Jerry Taylor, decided “no” when that issue was raised at its June 2 meeting.
    Taylor favored a staff recommendation to restrict the buyers to Boynton Beach residents or outsiders who have loved ones already buried there.
    “I would be for that,” he said, “so that we wouldn’t have people from Boca or Delray buying up our plots. I would say keep it to our residents.”
    The Memorial Park at the southwest corner of Seacrest Boulevard and Woolbright Road could be replatted so some internal roads, the maintenance building and the material storage area can be converted to burial space, Public Works Director Jeff Livergood said. After the roads and other spaces are replatted, the cemetery would gain an estimated 300 plots.
    After the replatted lots are sold, the city would transition to perpetual care.
    “I think it is a public service that is costly, particularly if you buy land, that will take resources from other services to the community,” Livergood said. “I think the private sector offers afterlife services for people and their families. There are alternatives.”
    The oldest legible headstone in the 12.3-acre memorial park is from 1903. “There likely are earlier burials there,” said Warren Adams, historic planner for Boynton Beach. “People didn’t mark graves or maybe used a wooden marker that would not have survived.”
    The piece of land remained in private hands until the 1950s when the city acquired the cemetery from the developer of High Point. The cemetery first ran out of space in 2004, but it was replatted twice since then.
    The City Commission also agreed to dissolve its Cemetery Board because the board has little to do, having “outlived its usefulness,” Taylor said.

Cemeteries pioneer roots
    Lantana, Delray Beach and Boca Raton still have publicly owned cemeteries, but Lantana’s Evergreen Cemetery was closed to burials in 1952, according to the town clerk.
    That was the year the town acquired the four-tenths-acre cemetery containing its pioneer graves. The town’s founder, M.B. Lyman, purchased the land as a final resting place for local families. Its earliest marker dates back to Jan. 22, 1886. The cemetery has 18 marked gravesites and a mass grave for victims of the 1928 hurricane.
    In Delray Beach, the city cemetery is three to five years away from being sold out, according to Tim Simmons, city parks superintendent. “We do 150 interments a year on average,” he said.
    Since the beginning of 2008, the city has sold 143 pre-need plots and 941 plots for burials, said Kim Wynn, assistant city clerk.
The Delray Beach cemetery was begun in 1903 by the Ladies Improvement Association, according to the Delray Beach Historical Society. The land where family lots sold for $5 was called the Pine Ridge Cemetery.
    In 1927 when Delray Beach was incorporated, the 5-acre burial grounds became the Delray Beach Cemetery.
    Years later, when the cemetery was expanded to 38.7 acres and a mausoleum, its name became the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens. The cemetery sits at the northwest corner of Southwest Eighth Avenue and Southwest 10th Street. Catherine Strong, the city’s first female mayor, is buried there.
    In Boca Raton, the city cemetery occupies 25 acres on Southwest Fourth Avenue, just north of West Camino Real. The cemetery is about 75 percent developed, with 8,400 plots defined and about 8,300 plots sold, according to Mike Woika, assistant city manager. The cemetery still has an additional 5 acres that can be developed.
    On the mausoleum side, 10,500 spaces were created and 9,900 have been sold, he said.
    The cemetery dates back to 1916 when landowner Frank Cheseboro allowed an infant to be buried on his property near Camino Real and the Intracoastal Waterway, in today’s Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, according to curator Sue Gillis of the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum.
    Cheseboro became president of the cemetery association that charged $5 per interment. Through 1928, 25 people were buried.
In 1928, the cemetery moved to Glades Road and Northwest Second Avenue on land given by Clarence Geist, Gillis said. Forty-one people were buried.
    During World War II, the U.S. Army commandeered that land for a base and the cemetery moved to its present location, on a site called “Sunset Hill” by the pioneers, Gillis said.
    In 1948, the city took over the cemetery. In the 1970s, additional land was acquired and mausoleums were added.
    “That means some people’s graves were moved twice,” said Woika of Boca Raton.

By Willie Howard

    Lake Worth officials want the right to regulate disposable plastic shopping bags — an avoidable convenience that can blow into waterways, harm marine life and clog recycling systems and storm drains.
    On June 16, Lake Worth city commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting state legislation that would allow coastal cities with fewer than 100,000 residents to regulate or ban disposable plastic bags.
    Bills introduced during the spring legislative session — Senate Bill 966 by Sen. Dwight Bullard and a companion bill in the House — would have authorized small coastal cities to regulate or ban plastic bags through a pilot program.
    The legislation didn’t pass but is expected to come up again during the 2016 session.
    Representatives from the Surfrider Foundation’s Palm Beach County chapter supported Lake Worth’s mid-June resolution calling for local regulation of plastic bags.
    The Surfrider chapter has been working to steer consumers away from disposable plastic products of many kinds, including bags, bottles and eating utensils, through its Rise Above Plastics campaign, partly because plastics can harm marine life.
    “It’s all about education,” said Tracy Conklin, Surfrider Foundation’s Palm Beach County chairwoman, adding that consumers can help by developing a habit of carrying reusable food, drink and shopping containers.
    A 2008 state law forbids state agencies and local governments from establishing regulations on plastic bags, containers or wrappers — at least until legislators adopt the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s recommendations on their regulation. So far, legislators have not acted on the DEP’s 2010 recommendations.
    The idea of giving some municipalities the home rule power to regulate or ban plastic bags within their boundaries seems to be gaining traction in Tallahassee after coming up several times in recent years, said Ryan Matthews, associate legislative director for the Florida League of Cities.
    “If a community believes it’s in their best interest to ban or regulate plastic bags, we believe they should have the right to do so,” Matthews said.
    The Florida Retail Federation, which represents retail stores, opposes giving local governments control over plastic bags.
    The retail group’s members prefer to keep disposable plastic bags as an option for their customers while looking for ways to offer them more recycling opportunities, spokesman James Miller said.
    Plastic bags can be recycled, but they shouldn’t be tossed into bins with recyclables such as aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Even with Lake Worth’s single-stream recycling system, which allows paper, plastic and other recyclables to be placed in the same container, plastic bags “clog up the recycling plant and blow away,” Public Services Director Jamie Brown said.
    Lake Worth City Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who operates a newsstand and gift shop on Lake Avenue, said he gives customers previously used plastic bags at his store. He said some customers complain if they’re not given a new plastic bag to carry their newspaper.
    The plastic bag debate has come up before in Lake Worth, where city commissioners voting in 2009 on zoning changes for the Publix on Dixie Highway tried, unsuccessfully, to ban the use of plastic bags at the grocery store.
    Amoroso sided with Publix at the time, adding that he does not favor a complete ban on plastic bags. He said a fee on disposable plastic bags could help raise awareness about the practice of carrying reusable bags for transporting groceries and other goods.
    State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, whose District 89 covers the coastline of southern and central Palm Beach County, said he would consider giving cities the right to regulate plastic bags if the legislation comes up again as expected during the 2016 legislative session.
    “I know it is important to a lot of our coastal community towns,” Hager said. “A lot of those bags end up on our beaches and in our waterways. “
    Plastic bags and other forms of plastic debris in the ocean contribute to the deaths of sea turtles, according to the Gainesville-based Sea Turtle Conservancy.
    Floating plastic bags (or pieces of plastic bags) resemble jellyfish, a food source for sea turtles. They are especially susceptible to the effects of consuming plastics because downward-facing spines in their throats trap the debris, preventing them from property swallowing food.
    “Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for a turtle to break down synthetic material once it’s ingested, and very often it will cause an intestinal blockage,” said Gary Appelson, policy coordinator for the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
    Appelson said the Sea Turtle Conservancy is working with the Surfrider Foundation to support the push to allow Florida municipalities to regulate plastic bags at the local level instead of waiting for legislators to adopt a statewide policy in Tallahassee.

Illustrations from the book include nurses in front of the Boca Raton Army Airfield hospital (above),

and Lt. Manny Chavez talking to his crew before a training mission in 1943 (below).

Chavez still lives in Palm Beach County.

Photos provided

By Steve Pike

    For today’s younger generations, having a front-row seat to war means sitting comfortably in front of the TV. The closest thing to combat is a Call of Duty video game.
    That wasn’t the case, however, for many residents of Palm Beach County during World War II.
    Particularly in the coastal communities, residents saw and lived the war firsthand. They saw the burning merchant ships torpedoed by German U-boats just off the coast of Palm Beach; smelled the oil slicks; and in the early light of too many mornings, gazed upon the dead bodies that washed onto the beaches.
    But for all that carnage, Palm Beach County wasn’t a shrinking violet. Just the opposite. The county’s airfields, training camps and hospitals served as key installations that helped the Allies win the defining conflict of the 20th century.
    It’s all chronicled in a 126-page book, Palm Beach County During World War II. The book, which contains 208 pictures of military life and leaders from more than 70 years ago, was co-written by Susan Gillis, curator of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum; Debi Murray, chief curator at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County; and Richard A. Marconi, education curator at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
    Most of the pictures in the book, published by Arcadia Publishing, are from the archives of each society and tell the stories of places such as Morrison Army Air Field (now Palm Beach International Airport) and the Boca Raton Army Air Field. The latter encompassed 5,820 acres of South Palm Beach County (some of which is now the campus of Florida Atlantic University) and served as the country’s only airborne radar training facility.
    “We’re blessed to have so many personal accounts, thanks to the veterans who were our donors over the years,’’ Gillis said. “It was a life we can’t imagine today — no air conditioning, no pest control. There were even rattlesnakes.
    “And there was a lot of stress on the young men who underwent the radar training. They couldn’t take notes. A lot of them were from faraway places and got tossed into new technology and were expected to learn it. It was quite challenging.’’
    Morrison Army Air Field was the Air Transport Command’s aerial port of embarkation. That was the last American soil crews saw before flying to theaters of war around the world.
    Closer to home, the book also tells the tale of the Civil Air Patrol’s fights with German U-boats as far north as Cape Canaveral. “Civilian pilots flying civilian planes carrying military bombs,’’ Marconi said. “That made an impact.’’
    The impact today is that World War II was not fought in the vacuum of the European and Pacific theaters. It was fought — and won — virtually on every piece of soil around the U.S., including Palm Beach County. Including Morrison Army Air Field and Boca Raton Army Air Field, the county was home to 14 military installations.
    “I think our generation still has an appreciation for what that generation did, but I want this to reach the younger generation,’’ said Marconi, a veteran of the U.S. Army. “I want them to know what happened here in World War II and how it impacted things nationally.’’
    Not only nationally, but around the world.

A book signing and lecture will be at 7 p.m. July 22 at Town Hall, 71 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton. Books will be available for $21.99 in the gift shop. For reservations, call 395-6766, ext. 305.

David Gensman, owner of the the Green Owl, posing

with his 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, said he has worked

in the Delray Green Owl since 1983. He took it over in 1995.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    Dave Gensman has heard the rumors.
    The owner of the iconic,  34-year-old Green Owl restaurant in downtown Delray Beach since 1995, Gensman has heard people say that the Green Owl will be gone by April of next year when its current lease expires.
    He’s also heard that the popular gathering place where you can still get a full breakfast and substantial lunch for reasonable prices would soon become a Victoria’s Secret store.
    The reality is that Gensman doesn’t really know what the future will hold for the Green Owl. But he knows that if he has something to say about it, there will be a Green Owl somewhere in Delray Beach.
    “Even if we have to move because we can’t afford the rents, we’ll do our best to be back in Delray Beach one way or another,” Gensman said.
    In April, after the building at the southwest corner of Southeast Fourth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue was sold, Gensman signed a one-year lease at a rent he says is significantly higher than the previous rate.
    He was offered a two-year lease but says he decided to just sign a one-year agreement to see if the restaurant could stay profitable at the new rent rate.
    Gensman said so far the restaurant is doing OK but that rising food costs, in addition to increased rent, are presenting challenges. He’s still uncertain whether he will be financially able to sign a new lease next April, even if the rent remains the same.
    Opened in 1981, the Green Owl has evolved over the years as a favorite for everyone from city leaders and business owners to families and out-of-town visitors.
    Stop in for breakfast and chances are you’ll run into someone you know sitting at the counter or at one of the small tables, maybe even completing a business deal.
    “We’re definitely a staple of downtown,” Gensman said. “We offer a good lunch and breakfast. But if you’re looking for parsley on your plate, you’re in the wrong place.”
    For now, Gensman continues to run the Green Owl on Atlantic Avenue as well as the Green Owl III, which opened last July on Le Chalet Boulevard west of Military Trail in Boynton Beach.
    Gensman opened a Green Owl restaurant on Woolbright Road in Boynton in 2008, but sold it in 2012.

Brenda Zappitell with her paintings at Baker Sponder Gallery.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Brenda Hope Zappitell definitely knows how to color her world.
    For this Delray Beach artist, no shade is off limits. Although the artist is drawn to tropical hues, her paintings reflect her intuitiveness and spontaneity.
    They are abstract expressionist and bold — and showcase her passion. Many will be on display at the Boca Raton Museum of Art during her A Journey of Gestures exhibit July 25-Aug. 23.
    This is her first solo museum exhibit, but the venue is one she’s quite fond of — her first art classes were at the museum’s art school. That experience, says the 51-year-old artist, provided an indispensable training ground during her early years.
    “I had no background in art and at first it was a little scary, but the teachers were so encouraging. It gave me a lot of confidence to move forward,” says Zappitell, a mother of three. “It’s an interesting turn of events that I am having my first solo museum exhibition here. It is interesting to have it come full circle.”
    She’ll tackle something new for the display — creating a painting just days before the show opens on a white wall about 107 inches high and 72 inches wide. “My intention is to paint the way I normally do. My paintings have many layers. I’ll start with a large gesture and go from there,” says Zappitell, whose works include ones hanging at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the St. Regis New York and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.
    “What I am trying to convey with that work is that the process is truly what my work is about. Although it is great to have a beautiful painting to hang on a wall, what excites me is just doing the work. I hope that people will take away that idea, that the process of painting — or life —can be as valuable as the outcome; in some ways even more so.”
    As for her unique creative process? “While growing up I danced. I continue to dance in my studio when I am working.  It is probably a funny sight to see for pedestrians walking by my studio, which is on a busy thoroughfare.”  
    After the Boca Raton exhibit closes, she’ll be co-curating (with Cornell Curator Melanie Johanson) A Female Voice, a display of women’s artwork, at the Cornell Museum of Art in Delray Beach on Sept. 17-Nov. 15. She’ll also be teaching a three-day painting workshop at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts, Feb. 5-7.    
— Linda Haase

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I grew up South Florida (in Miramar) and attended Florida State University where I attained a bachelor of social work and then attended the University of Miami for law school earning a juris doctor. My palette has always referenced the tropical colors of Florida and my mark-making oftentimes has a quality that seems similar to the palm fronds and long leaves of the South Florida flora.

Q. How/when did you become an artist?
A. After I began practicing as an attorney in 1990, I began taking classes at the Boca Raton Museum of Art School. I remember visiting a gallery in Mexico and looking at some very raw, child-like art. I thought to myself I really want to do that; when I returned from my trip I started taking classes. I was immediately hooked on the process of art making and would stay up late at night in a tiny room off my garage and paint. In 2009, I began my professional career by exhibiting in a gallery in Vail, Colo.

Q. What other careers have you had, what were the highlights?  
A. I was a lawyer for about five years before having children and working in the home. My law career was confining and not really who I am. As a  mother of three it was exciting to see the world through my children’s eyes.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person pursuing a career in the arts today?  
A. It is very hard to make a living in the arts. I think that staying focused on pursuing your truth, not what you think others want from you is necessary; people resonate with work that is honest. Hard work is important, too. Also, you must market the work in whatever way you can, no one is going to knock on your door and offer you representation or want to purchase your work, no matter how good you are at what you do. So not only doing the work is important but also marketing your work is extremely valuable in your success as an artist.

Q. Tell us about your art.
A. I am an abstract expressionist painter. My work is mostly intuitive and comes from a deep emotional place within me. I paint with acrylics and added flashe into my work in 2015, which is vinyl paint. Most of my work is very large on wood panels or linen.   

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
A. When we moved back to South Florida after living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for six years, my husband and I decided that Delray Beach was the type of community that appealed to us — a small, quaint, diverse and vibrant town near the beach.

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
A. I listen to all types of music in the studio for inspiration, including classical, new age, progressive, disco and top hits. It just depends on my mood, as I find music to be very helpful in my process. When I want to relax, I listen to meditation music or new age music.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?  
A. This is one of my favorite art quotes by an artist who has had a great deal of impact on my work: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” (Picasso)

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. I have had many mentors in my life. I have several artist friends who I check in with when I am not sure about something. As far as major life decisions, including pursuing art as a career, I would consider my husband the one who has inspired me in many of those decisions.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Wow, that is definitely not anything I have ever thought about. People have told me in the past I resemble Sandra Bullock, so I guess that could work.  

Zappitell will host BOCA Talks at the Museum to discuss her work from 6 to 7 p.m. July 30. This event is free for museum members and $12 for the public. For details or to RSVP, contact Bari Arango at barango@bocamuseum.org or 392-2500, Ext. 213. Or visit zappitellstudio.com.

Alice Meiners bought Gulfstream Travel in 1990

and loves the fact that it is a ‘neighborhood travel agency.’

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Linda Haase

    “People always tell me: You are always traveling,” quips Alice Meiners.
    And why not? She is a travel agent. But Meiners, who owns Gulfstream Travel in Delray Beach, began her globe-trotting at an early age.
    “As a child my parents packed us into a station wagon and we traveled to all four corners of the United States. I have fond memories of seeing our country that way,” she recalls.
    Since then, she’s visited places many dream about — and even walked up Mount Kilimanjaro. Since two of her three children — and her husband’s two children — live elsewhere, that means even more travel.
    “I read travel magazines and travel brochures every day. I never know what idea will pop into my mind. If it looks interesting, I can plan it,” she says.
    It’s no wonder the Ocean Ridge resident loves helping others design their vacations. That’s one of the reasons she bought Gulfstream Travel in 1990. “At that time it was the oldest travel agency in Delray Beach. It had been my ‘neighborhood travel agency’ since the early 1980s,” says the 66-year-old. “Julie Kessman, the office manager, did her internship at Gulfstream Travel 30 years ago.”
    It has a great locale. “We are the only storefront travel agency east of I-95 in Delray Beach or Boynton Beach. People find our location very convenient, at the Intracoastal bridge and George Bush Boulevard away from the congestion of Atlantic Avenue. We have plenty of easy, free parking.”
    Although the job is fun, it also has its challenges. Technology has taken away some business — but it has also made things much easier, says Meiners, who has lived in Ocean Ridge for 17 years and raised her kids in Highland Beach. “No more international phone calls and letters — we used to mail requests to hotels for room reservations,” says Meiners, who has a bachelor of arts from Vanderbilt. “Now you can find so much information on Google. But Julie and I have been arranging people’s travel much longer than Google, so we do have additional expertise.”
    And, despite what some may think, the company doesn’t charge for all of its services — although there is a $25 charge to issue an airline ticket (travel agents are not compensated by airlines but often have to help passengers with travel issues). “When a client books a cruise or tour through Gulfstream Travel, we are paid a commission by the cruise company or the tour operator. The client pays exactly the same, but we take care of all the details. If there is a problem, we fix it. Our job is to take away the stress of planning from the client and send them off to an enjoyable experience,” she says.      
    Travel, she contends, is an important part of life. “There is so much beauty and history and stimulation out there. I think travel has three parts: planning and anticipation, the travel itself, and the memories. Sometimes the travel itself isn’t the best part — particularly for older people — but the planning and memories are exciting and make you a more interesting person.”
    Who wouldn’t want that?

Gulfstream Travel is at 800 Palm Trail, Delray Beach. Open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call 276-3300 or email Alice@gulfstreamtravelagency.com or Julie@gulfstreamtravelagency.com.

By Jane Smith

    The Little House will become the Little Pizza Shack in October.
    The Boynton Beach City Commission unanimously approved selling the historic home at $10,000 below appraised value. The commission’s mid-June decision cleared the path for restaurateur Sal Campanile to open a pizza place at 480 E. Ocean Ave.
    Campanile’s Ocean Ridge Hospitality LLC had offered $325,000 for the historic home, known as the Ruth Jones Cottage. He was able to sway the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board in April with his passionate talk about pizza and creating a destination pizzeria, a place where people can meet and enjoy craft beer.
    For the Little House, the city spent $800,000 to buy, move, renovate and outfit the 786-square-foot cottage.
    Campanile also received the nod to buy the Oscar Magnuson House at 211 E. Ocean Ave. with an offer of $255,000. The city paid $850,000 in 2007 for the 1,736-square-foot home built in 1910 by Swedish immigrant and farmer Oscar Sten Magnuson. His wife, Eunice Benson Magnuson, was one of the first town clerks.
    At the 211 house, Campanile plans to open La Piazetta, which means little square. It would be a full-scale restaurant with outdoor and indoor dining, featuring an oak-fired grill for steaks and seafood, and artisanal pastas. The house needs a major renovation to become a restaurant and likely won’t be ready until the spring of 2016.
    In April, Campanile repeatedly said he has $1.5 million available to buy and renovate the homes. Paperwork given to the CRA lists his partner as Deborah Grazioso of Ocean Ridge. She had a Northern Trust bank branch manager write a letter saying she has “in excess of $1.5 million” to invest in the two properties.
    Grazioso is the widow of Timothy Grazioso, who was head of counter trading at Cantor Fitzgerald and working on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center when it was attacked on 9/11. His body never was found.
    Campanile said he and Deborah Grazioso “are friends from New Jersey” and also said he has other partners, but he declined to name them.
    That bank letter swayed CRA board member Joe Casello, who also is vice mayor of Boynton Beach. When voting for Campanile in April, Casello explained his preference by noting Campanile’s “proven track record and bank account, which is huge.”

Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa managers (l-r) Michael Oakes, Nick Gold,

Catherine Warren and Michelle Phillips take a break from hammering.

Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    On June 9, Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa managers traded their Manalapan oceanfront sanctuary for a no-frills Boynton Beach construction site when they installed the roof on a home being built by Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County. Wearing hard hats and work gloves (not part of their usual work wardrobe), they worked in teams of two and three, climbing scaffolding and ladders to place and secure roof trusses and apply wood sheeting. The home is expected to be completed by October.
    “It was a privilege to be able to help place a secure roof on this home for Lydana Fileus and her children,” said Nick Gold, director of public relations for Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. “We believe that our teamwork and community spirit are two of the core values that make our guests feel so welcome at Eau Palm Beach, and we wanted to share that commitment with this most deserving family.”
                                    
    Caffe Luna Rosa, Delray Beach, donated $1,000 to Steve Weagle’s Ride for the Red Cross. Weagle, WPTV’s weatherman, accepted the check from the restaurant’s partners, Bonnie Beer and John Gergen, on behalf of the restaurant’s owners and staff. They were joined at the event by Maria Melo and Laura Golden from the American Red Cross, South Florida Region. Funds raised by Weagle’s annual bicycle ride will be used to help educate local residents on preparing for hurricane season.
                                    
    Thanks to a grant and donations from Delray Medical Center and Regal Home Health & Care Management, the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce has a new automated external defibrillator installed in its lobby.
                                    
    Waterstone Resort & Marina, at 999 East Camino Real, Boca Raton, received TripAdvisor’s 2015 Certificate of Excellence Award for consistently achieving outstanding traveler reviews on the site. As a qualification for the award, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five.

INSET BELOW: Jordan Zietz

    Here’s the follow-up news on CEO Jordan Zietz, 13. For GameReef, his video game console rental company, he won the Boca Chamber Education Foundation’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy Golden Bell Award. Then he went on to represent Boca Raton at the regional competition in May competing for college scholarships. And he won third place, and a $20,000 scholarship. This fall, he’ll enter eighth grade at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton.
                                    
    The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University has earned full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Accreditation signifies that national standards for structure, function, and performance are met by a medical school’s education program leading to the M.D. degree.
    The liaison committee is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to a medical degree in U.S. and Canadian medical schools, and is a joint committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. 
                                    
    Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s expanded Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute building is ready to receive patients in early July, and recently the hospital broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot expansion of the 35,000-square-foot Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute.
    The hospital’s bondholders report showed that earnings more than doubled in its fiscal third quarter as it experienced double-digit patient growth. The nonprofit hospital earned $7.25 million on operating revenue of $115.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, up from earnings of $3.32 million on revenue of $102.1 million in the same period a year ago. In the fiscal third quarter, the 400-bed hospital has seen 11.5-percent growth in patient discharges and a 14-percent increase in emergency room visits, year-over-year.
    Among clinical developments reported to shareholders, the hospital’s Lynn Cancer Institute Morgan Pressel Center for Cancer Genetics is currently developing a specialized program for families at high risk of pancreatic cancer including a genetic test.

INSET BELOW: Virginia Snyder

                                  
    Virginia Snyder was named this year’s Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s  Lifetime Achievement Award winner. She and other award winners will be honored at the Chamber’s 25th Annual Luminary Gala on Oct. 9, at the Delray Beach Marriott. Jestena Boughton, Dr. John Conde and Terra Spero are Business Person of the Year finalists. Crane’s Beach House & Tiki Bar, Delray Medical Center and Delray Motors are Business of the Year finalists. Exhilaride Golf Carts, House of Perna and Saltwater Brewery are New Business of the Year finalists. Dare2BGreat, Milagro Center and Village Academy are Non-Profit Organization of the Year finalists. Two Fat Cookies, Unique Boutique and Vixity are Retailer of the Year finalists. Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, Caffe Luna Rosa and Salt 7 are Restaurant of the Year finalists. Jennifer Aracri, Chuck Halberg and Scott Porten are Ken Ellingsworth Community Service Award finalists.

The future development potential of this submerged land just north of the Boynton Inlet is unknown.

Photo from Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s website

                                    
    It sort of sounds like the early Florida “buy swampland” story, but it DID work once. Here’s the current version.
Bob Berman’s Egret Landing Realty Inc. now owns a piece of submersed land just north of the Boynton Beach Inlet. He bought it early May as part of a bundle of parcels from Jupiter Properties, which was going out of business, he said, and then he turned around and listed it for sale for $6 million. It IS waterfront …
    “I didn’t know what I was acquiring at the time,” he said. “But I do own the bottom land, while it’s wet on top.”
    What can be done with it? He’s researching. Currently, his listing reads: “Per recent Supreme Court decision, perfect for floating homes and/or private moorings area. Owner financing available with 30% down or 5% discount for cash.”
    He’s referring to a decision spurred by a lawsuit out of Riviera Beach. That 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door to floating homes by ruling they would not meet the definition of a “vessel.”
    Could the submerged land have a dock, anyway? That’s questionable, too. “From an aerial photograph, it looks like docks from adjacent properties might encroach, but I don’t know,” Berman said.
    According to the MLS listing, the size of the “parcel” is 1.42 acres. Its address is 000 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan.
    County records show that Jupiter Properties filed a tax sale certificate in 1989. It was the highest bidder and paid $2,000. Malcolm Dubois was the registered agent for Jupiter Properties, which listed a Loxahatchee Drive, Jupiter, principal address.
    “Hey, if you find out anything, let me know,” Berman said, which is pretty much what his neighbors say.
    So far, he hasn’t had any bites; “barely a nibble.”
                                    
    If an unwanted family of raccoons has taken up residence in your attic, the South Florida Wildlife Center’s Humane Wildlife Services can help remove them and keep them away. The center’s new service goes above and beyond, but it does not trap or euthanize wild animals, nor does it exterminate animals of any kind, including rats, mice or insects.
    The center’s wildlife service can humanely remove animals from structures using species-specific techniques, identify animal-caused damage and entry points using a site inspection, install custom animal-proofing for all entry and potential entry holes to avoid future intrusions, and even reunite wildlife offspring with their mothers when present and accessible.
    For pricing and information, visit www.HumaneWildlifeServices.com or call 866-SOS-WILD.
                                     
    The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County launched a million-dollar marketing campaign that aims to spread the word about cultural activities through the summer via radio, digital and billboard ads. Its HeadEastForTheArts.com website will give Gulf Coast travelers a way to take advantage of discounted hotel rates combined with vouchers to enjoy Palm Beach County’s art and culture at reduced prices.
    The funding for the advertising campaign comes from the county’s recently enacted  sixth-cent  hotel bed tax.
Also for this summer, the council coordinated the efforts of 15 arts organizations to donate more than $5,000 in summer camp scholarships to county children who cannot afford summer arts programs.
    Organizations that donated include the Boca Raton Museum of Art, FAU Pine Jog Environmental Center, Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.
    In May, the Flagler Museum was named the Arts and Culture Nonprofit of the Year Award winner by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches.

INSET BELOW: Dionna Brahs-Hall
                                    
   The Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches’ chief operating officer, Dionna Brahs-Hall of Lake Worth, has been appointed chief executive officer of its association and its BeachesMLS division.
    Jessica Rosato, with Nestler Poletto Sotheby’s International Realty, has received membership in the Million Dollar Guild and she has earned the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist designation in recognition of her experience, knowledge and expertise in the luxury home market.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

When sea turtles hatch in the dark, they make their way to the ocean

like these three little loggerheads.

File Photo

A cooler with instructions for leaving hatchlings

sits near the front door of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    If you spy a baby turtle aimlessly wandering the beach some sunny morning this summer, please be aware that it is not drunk, on drugs or running away from home.
    “It’s disoriented,” says Dr. Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. “If a hatchling isn’t running straight toward the water, that’s because it’s exhausted from the night before. And people need to bring it in to us.”
    Every turtle nesting season since 1995, the Gumbo Limbo “Turtle Hatchling Dropoff Box” has helped disoriented newborns find their way safely home to the sea.
    The box, which looks suspiciously like your basic party-sized beer cooler with a layer of sand in the bottom, is waiting just to the right of the center’s front door.
    Now, here’s how baby turtles wind up in a beer cooler:
    Turtle eggs hatch at night and the newborns — weighing about an ounce and no more than 3 inches long — head for the sea, guided by the moonlight on the water. Then they begin swimming toward their permanent habitat, the weedline of the Sargasso Sea, 20 miles out.
    That’s how nature planned it, anyway. But in the presence of artificial light from passing cars, condo windows or the “sky-glow” thrown by city lights, hatchlings are easily confused and head for the wrong lights.
    That hatchling you find on your morning walk has been wandering the sand all night.
    So why not just carry it gently down to the water yourself?
    “If you put a hatchling in the water when it’s exhausted,” Rusenko explains, “it will swim around close to shore until a fish eats it. It will not make it to the Sargasso Sea.”
    Bring the hatchling to the dropoff box and the Gumbo Limbo staff will evaluate it and release it the next night. Or try to.
“Some will just sit there,” Rusenko says, “so those we bring back and feed until we get 200 or 300 and our volunteers and the Coast Guard take them all out to the Sargasso Sea.”
    Yes, you read that correctly.
    “We get at least 6,000 hatchlings each year,” Rusenko reports. “Folks bring them here from around South Palm Beach down to Broward County. One year we got 12,000, about two-thirds of which came from the dropoff box.”
    The box is placed by the center’s door when the first hatchlings appear on the sand; but, Rusenko says, climate change is causing the season to commence earlier than normal.
    “The temperatures are getting warmer over our area, so again this year in the state we had a dozen nests laid in February, and the season doesn’t start until March. At our center, we had one nest in February.
    “We leave the box out until all the nests are gone. One nest waited until Thanksgiving to hatch.”

For more information, call the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center at 544-8605 or visit gumbolimbo.org.

Related story: Council, parks district see progress

‘Free flow’ is focus of airport board

By Rich Pollack

    One of two newly appointed members to the Boca Raton Airport Authority has proposed changes to the rules governing the organization, which he says are designed to improve communication between board members and their constituents — including the Boca Raton City Council.
    Last month, in his first meeting as a member of the airport authority, Boca Raton Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth presented fellow board members with several proposed revisions to the board’s bylaws.
    “The goal is to remove all impediments to the free flow of information between board members and their constituents,” Weinroth said.
    Weinroth, whose May appointment to the Airport Authority — along with that of Deputy City Manager George Brown — is the subject of a complaint filed with the state ethics commission, said the City Council’s focus in making the appointments was to improve communication between the two organizations and to align goals and objectives.
    Should the seven-member board approve the suggested bylaw changes, Weinroth believes that the exchange of information between the airport authority and the city council will improve.
    “Some board members have felt constrained by the bylaws,” he said.
    One section of the governing rules Weinroth would like to see removed requires board members to report to the authority’s executive director any conversations they have with a member of the public regarding an item that may come before them. Under existing bylaws, the executive director is required to maintain a log of public contact with board members regarding issues that may come before the organization.
    Other members of the authority supported Weinroth’s contention that bylaws make it difficult for them to speak freely to members of the public or community groups on behalf of the authority.
    “It’s been difficult for us to be ambassadors when there’s a perception that we can’t speak openly and freely,” said board Chair Gene Folden.
    Following Weinroth’s reading of what appeared to be a prepared statement, board member Cheryl Budd — one of two authority members appointed by the Palm Beach County Commission, not the City Council — questioned an apparent concern by city leaders that the goals and strategic objectives of the city and those of the authority are not aligned.
    “Would it be possible for you to summarize where our strategic plan is divergent or somehow not in keeping with the county’s and city’s overall goals?” Budd asked of Weinroth.
    In responding, Weinroth again pointed to an issue with communication.
    “We have, as a council, made appointments to this board and have tried to work through those appointments,” he said. “We didn’t feel like we were being heard or that we were hearing what was happening.”
    For his part, Brown said he felt that the goals of both the Airport Authority and the city are in sync.
    “I think the issue with the bylaws is not an alignment of strategy or goals but rather a lack of alignment in the policies of the board in terms of communication with constituents and communication with members of the City Council and city staff,” he said.
    The proposed bylaw revisions Weinroth presented will be discussed this month at the Airport Authority’s regularly schedule July 15 meeting.
    Budd said she believes there is a good chance the board will be able to reach a consensus on some revisions to the bylaw.
“I think there is plenty of optimism that we can get to a spot where everybody thinks we’ve balanced communication with transparency,” she said.
    Earlier in the June meeting, Folden’s election as the authority’s chair took three rounds of voting, with the first two split evenly, 3-3, between Folden and longtime board member Frank Feiler.
    On the third vote, Board Member Jack Fox — who has abstained from taking part in meetings while a possible conflict of interest complaint against him is being investigated by the state ethics commission — stepped out of the audience and volunteered to take part in the voting to break the tie. Feiler then dropped out of contention and Folden was elected.
    In other action, board members had a chance to see preliminary plans for a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection station that will be built on the west side of the airport. The $3 million 4,200-square-foot facility is expected to be completed within two to two and a half years.

Related story: ‘Free flow’ is focus of airport board

By Rich Pollack

    It took a little under two hours for the Boca Raton City Council and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District to resolve several lingering issues during a joint meeting last month which was four years in the making.  
    What was clear at the outset was that both City Council members and district commissioners were frustrated by the inability of the two groups to resolve outstanding issues.

    “Everyone expressed frustration over the lack of communication,” said Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie.  
    By the end of the meeting, however, several items — including the development of grass and artificial turf fields at two parks, funding for repairs and improvements at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and funding for future beach renourishment projects — had been addressed.  
    At the meeting, city officials pointed out that it had been four years since the two organizations — both comprised of elected officials — had met and that many major projects had stalled. For their part, leaders of the beach and parks district expressed concerns about the relationship between the two groups, saying they did not feel they were considered partners by the city.  
    Under existing agreements, the district — a special taxing district — helps fund beaches and parks within Boca Raton, while the city is charged with maintaining those recreational facilities.  To enhance communications, and in doing so resolve stalled issues more rapidly, both groups have agreed to meet again, possibly in the fall, and on a regular basis.  
    “I think we cleared the air, which was very important,” Haynie said.  
    Arthur Koski, legal counsel and interim executive director for the district, said the resolution of several lingering issues was a positive outcome.  
    “The board was very pleased that we had reached consensus and can move forward on several projects,” he said.  One of those projects is the replacement of the boardwalk loop at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which has been closed since February.
Bids for the design of the boardwalk loop replacement are being prepared jointly by the city and the beach and parks district; construction, which should begin later this year, is expected to take between four and five months.
    The boardwalk is in the process of being inspected and city officials hope to have the $1.75 million project completed before turtle season begins next March. The beaches and parks district will provide the funding for the repairs, as well as for repairs to pipes to improve the flow of seawater into tanks for sea turtles and other marine life at Gumbo Limbo.  
    During the joint meeting, beach and parks district commissioners also agreed to split the cost of beach renourishment projects evenly. In the past, the city paid two-thirds of the cost and the beach district paid one-third. “We decided it was more equitable to share the cost equally,” Koski said.  
    The most discussion at the joint meeting focused on rectangular fields at two major parks and debate on whether to use artificial turf or grass on those fields.  
    Following much discussion — and several years after the issue first surfaced — both the City Council members and district commissioners agreed to build four grass fields at deHoernle Park and convert three fields at Patch Reef Park to artificial turf.  
In addition, the meeting cleared the way for development of restrooms at the city’s dog park, construction of a maintenance facility at deHoernle Park and a road to connect the dog park with deHoernle Park.

By Rich Pollack

    A Boca Raton police officer who fired his gun at a fleeing car and then chased it along State Road A1A from Camino Real into Broward County at speeds of up 109 miles per hour has lost his job.
    Officer James Clark was fired following an extensive internal affairs investigation that concluded the officer used excessive force and violated more than a half-dozen other department policies during an October traffic stop involving a reportedly stolen Honda Accord.
    According to an internal affairs report, Clark pulled the Honda over on Camino Real near Federal Highway shortly before 9 p.m. on Oct. 16. With his gun drawn, recorded on dashboard camera footage, Clark approached the vehicle and attempted to open the passenger door. As he did, the driver — later identified as 27-year-old Mark Simmons — drove away.
    Clark, in foot pursuit, fired one shot at the vehicle with the bullet passing through the back of the driver’s headrest, according to the report.
    The officer then returned to his vehicle and began a high-speed chase down State Road A1A and into Deerfield Beach, where Clark lost sight of the Honda.
    The car was later found abandoned in Deerfield. Simmons was arrested several days later and eventually pleaded guilty to fleeing an officer. He was sentenced to the 98 days he had spent in jail while the charges were pending.
    The internal affairs report, submitted by Capt. Matthew Duggan, concluded that Clark violated as many as nine department policies, was not justified in firing into the fleeing vehicle or continuing a chase of the Honda.
    “Based on a preponderance of evidence, the allegation that Officer James Clark failed to terminate the pursuit when the risk to himself and others outweighed the suspect’s danger to the community is sustained,” Duggan wrote in the report.
    No charges were filed against the police officer and attorneys representing him are reportedly planning to appeal the termination.

Watch the dash-cam video at www.thecoastalstar.ning.com.

Chris Murray, 25, a computer science student at FAU, opens the doors of Downtowner

to load five teens and a skim board at the beach pavilion on Palmetto Park.

Then he drives them to Lake Wyman Park.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    On a recent Wednesday afternoon, a young man named Josh Bickley strolled through the sweltering heat from his home on Wavecrest Way, up Palmetto Park Road to his favorite bar, The Black Rose on South Federal Highway in Boca Raton.
    “The food’s very good there and the bartender’s very hot,” he explained.
    In the bar, Bickley, 34, enjoyed an order of jalapeño poppers, a cheeseburger and a Sprite.
    “Actually, I had two Sprites,” he said later, “because me and the bartender needed to catch up.”
    When Bickley stepped outside for the trek home, the afternoon heat was still sweltering, and he was full of jalapeño poppers, a cheeseburger and all that Sprite.
    Bickley took out his smartphone, called up an app, punched in where he was, punched in where he wanted to go, and pressed “Request Ride.”Moments later a message appeared: “Chris will pick you up in 5 minutes.”
    Five minutes later, Chris Murray, 25, a computer science student at FAU, pulled up in an open-air, completely electric, low-speed, eco-friendly cart adorned with advertisements for the Biergarten restaurant in Royal Palm Plaza.
    Downtowner Rides have arrived in Boca Raton.
    The concept is simple. Download the Downtowner app to your Android or iPhone, request a ride any time between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. seven days a week, and within minutes a friendly and sober young man, bonded and insured, will take you there.
    The passenger pays nothing—“no meter, no fare”— and the drivers are paid nothing. But a tip is appreciated and, let’s face it, rightfully expected.
    “We make our money from the advertising,” says Ryan Spaargaren, 28, who founded the company three years ago with childhood friends Stephen Murray, 28, and Travis Gleason, 27, all of whom grew up in the area.
    “Stephen was a psychology major at the University of Tampa,” Spaargaren explains, “and they had a shuttle over there that took students from bar to bar on weekends. That’s where we got the idea.”
    Before coming to Boca Raton, the idea was thoroughly tested in Delray Beach.
    The Delray Downtowner debuted on Feb. 11, 2012, with three electric carts. Three years later, the company has nine carts shuttling about 10,000 passengers around town each month.
    The Boca service, which began May 1 with six carts, is closing in on 2,000 rides and a seventh cart will be probably be added soon, Spargaaren said.
    “We carry everyone from middle-schoolers down here on break to retirees going out to dinner, as well as people barhopping on weekends,” he says.
    And not all their passengers are human beings. The Downtowner has also carried surfboards, boogie boards, beach chairs and a Hobie Cat sail. Bicycles can’t be accommodated, but dogs, cats, birds, etc., are welcome, as long as they’re well-behaved.
    Sometimes, Chris Murray concedes, the pets are better behaved than the people.
    “You get everything from people fighting to making out in the backseat to puking over the side of the cart,” says Murray, who notes that each driver is responsible for keeping his cart clean. “We get a few requests from bartenders or hostesses trying to get rid of a customer, but most riders are good. They’re stoked on life, stoked to be in the cart.”
    Among the Downtowner’s early enthusiasts is Andrea O’Rourke, president of the Golden Triangle Neighborhood Association, who shot an email praising the service to all her members.
    “We’re big walkers, but I had a stress fracture on my right foot so we called and they took us to the Royal Palm Plaza for dinner and when we were done we called and they took us home,” she recalls. “To get in a car and drive and then park is too much, and you’re not going to take a taxi for such a short distance. It was a really good experience, and the drivers are all young guys, very friendly and very nice. It ’s free, but you definitely don’t want to be too chintzy with the tip.”
    Cruising up Palmetto Park Road with reggae tunes playing softly on an iPod, Josh Bickley and Chris Murray were soon chatting like old pals, and when Bickley arrived home, he gave Murray $10 and praise.
    “I’ve seen the carts around my house going to the beach, but this is my first time using it,” he said. “Absolutely I’d use it again. Without a doubt.”
    No sooner had Murray deposited Bickley than another request came in. Five teenagers wanted a lift from the beach pavilion to Lake Wyman Park.
    Murray arrived to find three boys and two girls, ages 14 and 15. Nick Iamunno, 14, had made the call. “My neighbor uses it,” he said. “Today my mom couldn’t pick us up for 20 minutes and I didn’t want to wait. It’s really fun to ride. It’s a good experience.”
    At the park, he tipped Murray $6.
    Then another call came through. Brian Berka, 32, down from Chicago, wanted a ride home from the beach, as he does most days. He’s ridden with Murray so many times they’re like old friends.
    “I always use the Downtowner,” he said. “The service is great, and my man up there is the man!”
    A $5 tip.
    That’s average. Most folks tip between $5 and $10. Not too chintzy. And some go a long way to thank the driver for a very short ride.
    Parked in front of the Delray Beach Garlic Festival one year, Murray watched five older gentlemen walk in and, five minutes later, walk back out.
    “They asked me where to get something good to eat, so I took them three blocks down to 3rd & 3rd, this restaurant at Northeast Third Avenue and Third Street,” he recalled. “They each gave me $20, and the last guy gave me $40 to look better than the others. I made $120 in 10 minutes and about $320 for the night.
    “It was pretty epic.”
To download the Down-towner app and view maps of the areas served in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, visit www.ridedowntowner.com

By Jane Smith
and Tim Pallesen

    Just eight days after offering two road options inside the proposed Atlantic Crossing, its developer sued the city of Delray Beach for delaying the project.
    Edwards CDS LLC filed its lawsuit June 24 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court claiming the city has not issued a site-plan certification that was approved in November 2013 and affirmed by a previous City Commission in January 2014.
    The proposed $200 million development sits on 9.2 acres of East Atlantic Avenue in the city’s downtown. The project, developed by a partnership between Ohio-based Edwards Companies and Ocean Ridge resident Carl DeSantis, will contain 356 luxury condos and apartments plus 80,000 square feet of restaurants and shops and 79,000 square feet of office space.
    “We have an approved plan and after many months of costly, time-consuming delays, we strongly believe we are entitled to site-plan certification,” said Don DeVere, vice president of mixed-use development. “The city has inappropriately withheld certification of our site plan approved in November 2013.”
    Delray Beach City Attorney Noel Pfeffer said the city “has done nothing improperly in connection with the project.” He intends to file the city’s response well before the 20 required days.
    Despite the lawsuit, the developer “remains open to working with the city on refinements to the plan,” DeVere said.
    On June 16, Atlantic Crossing’s developer voluntarily presented two alternate designs for a surface road to city commissioners.
    The partnership spent thousands of dollars to study the concept, including hiring a traffic consultant and producing traffic-flow animations of the two options.
    One option would put a road similar to Atlantic Court back into Atlantic Crossing as an east-west surface road from North Federal Highway to relieve traffic congestion on East Atlantic Avenue.
    The other option, preferred by the developer, was an entrance directly into the underground garage that would be parallel to a one-way surface road and would exit the project from Northeast Seventh Avenue to North Federal.
    Neighbors have continued to oppose the traffic design for the mixed-use project after a previous commission approved a site plan in January 2014 without Atlantic Court as an access road from North Federal Highway.
    “I appreciate your willingness to come back to the table with a spirit of compromise,” Mayor Cary Glickstein told the developer. “In doing so, you will engender goodwill.”
    Even so, commissioners agreed to hire traffic experts Simmons & White from West Palm Beach to help city staff decide which of the two road designs is best. The contract is for $12,500 plus $1,000 for expenses.
    The revised site plan might still go to the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board for review. Commissioners still must approve a final development agreement with the developer. The final site plan will be an exhibit to that agreement