By Steven J. Smith

    DELRAY BEACH — If you want an example of a life fully lived, look no further than the life of Suzanne “Barbara” Hayward Carpenter.
    Born in New Orleans, La., on Nov. 16, 1922, Mrs. Carpenter and her family moved to New York when she was 10. When she grew up, she made her mark in the real estate business in Connecticut. A first marriage yielded two children, Kenny and Ashton. Her second marriage, to Frank Carpenter, lasted 57 years and produced two more children, Tim and Hilary.
    Tom Lynch, the former mayor of Delray Beach who is married to Hilary, said his mother-in-law’s union with Frank Carpenter, a vice president of Shulton Inc. (the owner of Old Spice), was a wonderful match.
    “Frank’s territory was international, so they traveled together all over the world and were very happy together,” he said. “Barbara was one of the most astute people I ever met. She had the tremendous ability to read people. She had a true Darwinistic type of philosophy. She adapted well to change and to adversity, which occurred a lot in her life. Her son Ashton was killed in Vietnam. She had back surgery several times, a shoulder replaced, two hips replaced. I never heard her complain. She smiled all the time — a very positive, uplifting, optimistic person.”
    Lynch said his mother-in-law was an accomplished athlete, excelling at tennis and golf. In her later years, she mastered bridge and developed into a talented painter, displaying many works at the Gulf Stream Golf Club in Gulf Stream.
    “She had all of her faculties and applied them to her many interests,” he said. “I used to buy her a book and bring it to her on a Saturday. She’d bring it back to me on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, ready to discuss it. When she was 88, I bought her a Kindle. She loved it and would read e-books voraciously on it. She was even capable of driving a car up to a year ago.”
    Mrs. Carpenter died peacefully on Dec. 28, at the age of 92 because of  complications of pulmonary disease. Local services were held on Jan. 4, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach and the funeral and internment took place on Jan. 7 at Christ Church in Greenwich, Conn. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to benefit Hospice of Palm Beach County, which aided Mrs. Carpenter significantly in her final days.
    “In the last week of her life, hospice was called in to take over,” Lynch said. “Before that, hospice was available whenever needed. They helped her while she stayed at home, as they had helped Frank about seven years earlier.”
    Lynch said his mother-in-law was feisty and energetic right up until the end of her life.
    “At one point she nearly went into a coma and was taken to the hospital,” he said. “We all rushed there to see her, only to discover her sitting up in bed, doing crossword puzzles. The doctor came in and said, ‘Barbara, I thought you’d be dead.’ She responded, ‘Doctor, where did you get your degree, anyway?’ She had a wonderful sense of humor.”

Catherine Jacobus is honorary chairwoman of the Circle of Hope gala.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Catherine Jacobus comes from a privileged background in New York City, but she learned early that being wealthy did not shield her from everything. Alcohol and drugs were part of her home life.
    That’s why she and her late husband, known as Jake, searched for basic-needs programs to support.
    “I love bootstrap programs. Money goes to help the poor, nothing frilly,” she said. “I grew up to give. Park Avenue was just my address, not my mindset.”
    In addition to the major donations they made over the years to local groups, they have helped about 40 kids go to college, she said. When asked how she found about the kids needing financial support for college, she simply says, “Just heard about them.”
    In March, Jacobus, 72, will be the honorary chairwoman of the Circle of Hope gala, held by the Women’s Circle Inc. at the Delray Dunes Golf and Country Club.
    Her involvement is monetary, but she likes how the staff stretches the dollars to give disadvantaged women a boost into the working world. The Circle provides free English, literacy and computer classes; support groups; one-on-one assistance with resumes and interview techniques; and a closet of clothes suitable for job interviews.
    In 2000 she was on the board of the Achievement Centers for Children and Families when she and her husband led a $4.1 million campaign to build the Community Child Care Center in Delray Beach. She named it after her stepfather (retired singer Morton Downey Sr.) because of the role he had played in her life, including sharing “the knowledge that we are all created equal, and some of us get bigger breaks than others.”
    Her mother was heir to the Newmont Mining Corp., started by Jacobus’ great-grandfather in 1921. Newmont, now based in Colorado, is a public company that mines gold and copper worldwide.
    Her beloved Jake was her second husband. She had a daughter with her first husband, whom she described as “stuffy.”
    Jake was not stuffy. When he showed her pictures of his two kids, she thought he would be a good family man. They had three children together.
— Jane Smith

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. New York City for grammar and high schools. I learned that being rich was not the answer to everything. It was wonderful, slowly learning to get to the point (of realizing it was not a shield). For college, I went to Manhattanville College, just outside New York City. It was all girls and run by nuns at the time. My major was English literature.

    Q. What professions have you worked in?
    A. At age 22 I was on the board of a Fortune 500 company that my great-grandfather had founded, Newmont Mining. I felt out of place, never talked at the meetings. But I had a list of questions that I would ask another director to answer over lunch before each meeting. I learned that the board members were deeply concerned and had strong family values. They were the best of America.
    Now I paint and write poems that people can identify with. After reading my poems, people tell me they were moved, that they can understand them. I plan to self-publish a book of my poems.
    Among her paintings is a 50-foot-wide by 5-foot-tall mural painted at the Community Child Care Center in Delray Beach.

    Q. What do you see as the toughest challenges the Women’s Circle will face this coming year?
    A. Maintaining a high level of service in rocky times.

    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?  
    A. Get absolutely the best education you can, get it in the mainstream of your life — 18 to 21 years old. Do a little exploring; take an odd course or trip. Follow your passion unless you can’t make a living. Don’t be afraid to take a risk and remember the world does not owe you anything.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream?
    A. We were living in Little Rock, when Jake realized he no longer had to be at the office each day to run his company. We were tired of the gray skies during winter. That meant California or Florida.
    When we left Arkansas, the year was 1976 and everyone in California was stoned and naked. That wasn’t for us. So, we came to Palm Beach, stayed with my dad (Downey) and drove down the coast.
    We found a house in Delray Beach near the ocean and lived there for about 15 years. Great place to raise children, funky older home with small rooms and rooms off of rooms. In early 2000, we found the house in Gulf Stream.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream?  
    A. I like the sun, the light and the ocean view, but the heat is too much in the summer. So I leave then.

    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I am reading three books. The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littell. It’s about the rise of Naziism and the Holocaust; Far from the Tree, by Andrew Solomon. About heredity and non-heredity in families and for escape fiction, a lighter novel called The Papers of Eastern Jewel, by Maureen Lindley. It’s based on a true story about a Chinese princess who became a spy.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?  
    A. Classical always plays in my car. It moves me. My favorite composers include Mozart, Schumann and Beethoven.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
    A. Glenn Close or Meryl Streep. I see them mentally as young, and see them now and know they’ve done beautifully all along.

    Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
    A. People’s quirks and Colby (her Labradoodle.) I don’t laugh alone, I laugh in communion with others. My late husband, Jake and I used to watch Seinfeld and laugh, but I can’t watch those shows since he’s gone.

If You Go
What: Circle of Hope gala
Where: Delray Dunes Golf and Country Club, 12005 Dunes Road, Boynton Beach 33436
When: March 2, 6 p.m., cocktails and silent auction, 7:30 p.m. dinner and dancing. Special guest is Jim Sackett, retired WPTV-Ch. 5 News anchor.
Cost: $100. Seating is limited, RSVP by Feb. 19.
Information: Call (561) 244-7627, Ext. 105, or visit WomensCircle.org

By Sallie James
    
    Recently submitted plans for a waterside restaurant on the old Wildflower property don’t include any dock space, raising concerns that boaters who patronize the proposed eatery will take up dock space at nearby Silver Palm Park.
    The Hillstone Restaurant Group Inc. has asked to build a Houston’s restaurant on the northeast corner of Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue and lease the land from the city.
    Silver Palm Park is on the southeast corner of Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue. The passive park is equipped with a boat ramp and caters largely to boaters, anglers and pedestrians.
    “The plans are currently being reviewed by staff,” Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie said. “The current plan that was submitted does not show docks. When the council approved it there was some discussion that the city could perhaps partner with (Hillstone) in the permitting and construction of a dock facility.”
    Issues concerning motor vehicle traffic, parking and dock space have plagued the project from inception.
    Haynie said the missing dock space on the plans was a bit of a surprise.
    “The City Council was very firm when we took the development to staff that that was the feature the restaurant would provide,” Haynie said. “The boat ramp/dockage and boat ramp parking (at Silver Palm Park) is off limits for Houston’s patrons.”
    Hillstone is asking to build a $5 million, 7,000-square-foot restaurant on the Wildflower property, with 3,500-square-feet earmarked for indoor customer service and 800 square feet of outdoor seating. The eatery would have 128 parking spaces.
    Under the proposal, Hillstone would lease the property from the city for $500,000 a year for 20 years with five, five-year optional extensions. The restaurant would be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. A key attraction is the waterfront location and its accessibility by boat.
    City activist Arleen Owens predicted dock space would become a problem and expressed concern and dismay that the current restaurant plans show none.
    “I said (before), if two 40-footers come and they want to have lunch, they are going to tie up over there at Silver Palm Park and walk under the bridge,” Owens said. “If you say there’s a place that’s accessible by water, it needs to have its own dockage.
    “The boat traffic problem and the boat parking problem are just as big a problem as that of the cars,” Owens said.
    “I feel very strongly that dock facilities must be included as part of Houston’s,” Haynie said.
    City Council member Scott Singer said he needed to see the whole proposal before he could decide if the lack of dock space was a “make or break” situation. He said there may be concerns about cost, the impact of the view and the ease by which restaurant-goers could dock.
    Singer said the plans are currently being reviewed by city staff.
    “I’m not jumping ahead that they didn’t produce that,” Singer said. “I am willing to review the proposal and we will see how the total package sums up.”

John and Sheldon Goldstein (in rainbow vests) participate in a group same-sex wedding

Jan. 6 in Delray Beach.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Marcie Hall and Chris Porter of Delray Beach, together more than 30 years, were married.

Financial planner Suze Orman visits with Karen Dominquez Oltz (left)

and Kandice Dominquez Oltz of Boynton Beach.

Court personnel stamp marriage licenses.

INSET BELOW: Bock

By Rich Pollack

    History was made in Delray Beach at exactly 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 6.
    It was at that moment when Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock told 81 couples — 162 people and dozens of their friends and family members — that the moment they had waited years for had finally arrived.
    “Now, by the authority vested in me as clerk and comptroller and under the laws of the great state of Florida, along with the eyes and hearts of your families and friends, I pronounce you legally married,” Bock said. “May you be blessed with a lifetime of health, wealth, love and time to share a long and happy life together.”
    With those words came cheers amidst the tears, and with those words came a recognition many had long sought.
    “On this day, Jan. 6, 2015, our world will change,” Bock said, as she began what might have been the first same-sex group wedding in the state of Florida. “It is my honor … to  officiate this ceremony where we celebrate for the first time in history true marriage equality in Florida. Marriage has now been recognized as a fundamental freedom and a basic civil right of humankind.”
    Before the first week in which same-sex marriage became legal in Florida was over, Bock’s office had issued 171 same-sex marriage licenses.
    Some of those who took out their licenses chose to celebrate in private ceremonies, but for those who had come to the South County Courthouse late that Monday night, it was a time to celebrate with others.
    “This is a historic event,” said Marcie Hall, 56, of Delray Beach who came to the courthouse to marry her partner of 33 years, Chris Porter. “To come here and after 33 years, you’re finally married, I can’t put it into words. It just made me cry.”
    Both Hall and Porter believe that the path they helped to clear will prevent others following behind from facing the struggles they endured.
    “Now, there is hope that it will be easier for the younger generations,” Porter said.
    While the politics and ideological tug-of-war over the issue of same-sex marriage had filled the news pages and airwaves, those issues took a back seat during the group ceremony and during the hour and a half before in which members of the clerk’s staff issued close to 100 licenses.
    Instead, what seemed to dominate was a sense of joy, a sense of celebration of changing times and an air of true commitment.  
    “The electricity that’s in this room tonight is something you’ll never get again in this courthouse,” said John Goldstein of Boca Raton, joined by his partner, Shel Goldstein. The two had been legally married previously in another state but wanted to have their partnership legally recognized in Florida.
    “This really is history in the making,” John Goldstein said.
    Along with balloons and flowers, there was also a celebrity appearance that helped make the event even more festive. Television show host Suze Orman had come to the courthouse — along with her partner — to support friends who were getting married. She posed several times with other couples, including Kandice Dominquez Oltz and Karen Dominquez Oltz of Boynton Beach.
    “Everyone here is so happy,” Kandice said. “There are just so many people smiling.”
    The group wedding drew couples from throughout South Florida, with several from Broward County making the trip to Delray Beach and couples from as far north as Port St. Lucie deciding to make the drive.
    Bock said her office chose the South County Courthouse for the group ceremony because it was easier to provide security and because of the convenience of a parking garage right across the street from the building.
    As they headed out after the ceremony, the couples were invited to have a piece of one of two wedding cakes provided by the Clerk’s Office. Fittingly, one cake was adorned with figurines of two grooms and the other with two brides.

By Jane Smith
    
    FEMA has opened the final round of public appeals and comments on proposed changes to its Palm Beach County flood maps.
    The 90-day period, which started Jan. 2, allows South County coastal communties to challenge the flood designations that affect their residents’ insurance rates.
    The flood zone rating is important for homeowners with a mortgage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency last updated its county maps nearly 30 years ago.
    In Ocean Ridge, town engineering staff is preparing documents to appeal the placement of 80 parcels in high-risk flood zones, according to Town Manager Ken Schenck.
    “We’ll include details on our drainage program,” he said.
    Last spring, Ocean Ridge had appealed proposed changes in the maps released in 2013 because they excluded only 140 properties from the high-risk flood zone when the town spent $10 million to improve drainage in its south end. Schenck thought another 50 to 100 properties should have been excluded. FEMA categorized a property as in a high-risk flood zone when only a corner of the parcel was in it, he said.
    “Appeals must be based on technical data that show proposed maps to be scientifically or technically incorrect,” said Danon Lucas, FEMA spokesman. “A comment is an objection to a base map feature change or any other non-appealable change such as correcting the spelling of a street name.”
    He did not want to speculate when FEMA would finish reviewing the appeals and when the maps would go into effect, but others say it could be December.
    Delray Beach condo owner Nancy Schneider learned that homeowners need to know their property’s flood zone and standards used to determine elevation.
    Under the old elevation standards from 1929, her Patio Beach condo building was not in a flood zone. But FEMA redid the elevation standards in 1988 to make them equitable for any property in the 48 contiguous states. As a result, Schneider’s condo is now in a flood zone.
    The proposed change forced her to find a surveyor who would note the elevation of her building. She had to put a stop order on the surveyor’s charge on her credit card because his company used a mix of elevation standards.
    She needed the survey to say the building was at least 6 feet above sea level, according to 1988 standards. It was 4.75 feet, she said after the survey was re-done. “We can’t raise it (the building) because it’s built on a slab,” Schneider said.
    Flood zones and insurance is an important topic for South County coastal homeowners, said Andy Katz, vice president of the Beach Property Owners Association in Delray Beach. That group will discuss flood insurance changes at its semi-annual membership meeting on March 25 at the Northern Trust Bank building.
    “We will discuss what to do if your property was downgraded from Zone X into Zone AE,” he said. “And what you can do if a corner of your property has the (higher risk) flood zone but not the house.”
    The association will send a newsletter to its membership in early February explaining flood map changes. In the meantime, he urged coastal property owners to go to this county website to determine their property’s flood zone: maps.co.palm-beach.fl.us/gis/floodzones.aspx?
    Flood insurance catapulted into the national arena after big payouts from Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy put the National Flood Insurance Program into $24 billion debt. Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Act in 2012 to help bring the flood insurance policies in line with the true risk. Homeowners living in high-risk zones would have seen policy premium increases as high as 25 percent until their policy premium reached full flood rates.
    Last spring, rate relief went into effect for primary homeowners. Increases for flood insurance premiums were capped at 18 percent, although second home and business owners can see as much as a 25 percent increase.
    FEMA has 7,730 flood insurance policies in six South County coastal communities that lie entirely on the barrier island. Of those policies, 77.3 percent are in a high-risk flood zone, according to the agency.
    The current changes are based on rain events, not tidal flooding, said Dan Grippo, Boca Raton’s municipal services director. His city is confident that the FEMA flood map changes for the barrier island and Intracoastal area residents are about 90 percent accurate. He encourages residents to find out their property’s flood zone and proposed flood zone on the county website. The homeowner will need a survey to show the first floor is above 6 feet, according to the 1988 standard.
    More worrisome for South County coastal homeowners is the FEMA coastal study that just started last fall to update the one done in 1996.
    The study, expected to be ready in four to five years, is analyzing wave heights and surges, topographic maps, effects of sea walls and previous hurricane information (landfalls, wind speeds, rain amounts, etc.) along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast.

La Florentia, aka the Birthday Cake Castle, is this year’s Red Cross Show House,

and is on the Intracoastal Waterway just south of downtown Lake Worth.

Photo provided

INSET BELOW: Elkins; Register; Sheen

By Christine Davis

    The 39th Red Cross Show House serves up a sweet confection this year, with its choice of Lake Worth’s historic La Florentia, also known as the Birthday Cake Castle.
    With rooms galore, and plenty of nooks and crannies, the house is a verifiable 7,000-square-foot feast, which will be open to visitors March 5 through April 4, with a special preview party on March 4.
    Recently bought by Scott Levine, the house was built by Sherman Childs in 1925, receiving its nickname when past owner Upton Close gave the house to his wife, Margaret Fretter Nye, as a birthday present in 1954. Cakey qualities include candle-ish pillars, icing-like swirls of thick plaster, and even a birthday cake stained glass window.
    Speaking about windows, the house has 52 of them; some are colorful, others are trefoil. It also has an impressive stairway, carved-wood and silver-inlaid doors, and more than 20 interior designers will decorate “slices,” both inside and outside to make sure the house lives up to its name.
    The turret, or top layer, will be embellished by Efua Ramdeen with Susan Wyatt. Ramdeen, a graduate of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, founded her Boca Raton company, Frocktail Décor & Design, LLC, a year and a half ago. For the show house, she’s collaborating with Wyatt, of SGW Design Studio, Los Angeles.
    “I’ve been visiting show houses for years in Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, and two years ago, I thought, this is so awesome. I think I can do one of these rooms,” she said, adding that this will be her first.
    “The Red Cross Show House a great way to contribute to a good cause, and it’s a fun way to design an intriguing space, so I told Red Cross I’d love to participate.”
    On the designer walk-through day, she was immediately attracted to the turret, she said. “It’s a very small quaint space, and I was drawn to the beauty of its architecture with Moroccan motifs and plaster carving and I decided I wanted to make the room even more interesting.”
    She’s chosen the theme, “Under the Night Sky,” and her pretend resident is a well-traveled astronomer. “He’s been to the Orient and has hunted,” she said, “so in the room’s vestibule, there will be a shag runner in a leopard print and a deer’s head mounted on the wall. The room itself will be whimsical, but also polished, sophisticated, and somewhat masculine in feel, with lots of gold and brass accents, and the ceiling will be covered with a starry blue fabric.”
    Other designers participating in the show house will be: Joseph Cortes and Kevin Marnell, HomeLife Interiors; Lisa Erdmann, Rhonda Grammer and Eden Tepper, Lisa Erdmann & Associates; Piper Gonzalez, Piper Gonzalez Designs; Melissa and Noe Guerra, NXG Studio; Todd Hase; Timothy Johnson and Fernando Wong, Fernando Wong Outdoor Living; Karen Kirk and Karen Brams, Island Living & Patio; Jeff Lincoln, Jeff Lincoln Interiors; Frank Maguire, Quigley Maguire Collections. Mimi Masri, MMDesigns LLC; Stephen Mooney, Stephen Mooney Interiors; Andrew Mormile and Nicholas Skidmore, Forte Interiors Design Build; Scott Robertson, Scott Robertson Interiors; Jill Shevlin, Jill Shevlin Design; Melody Smith, Melody Smith Interiors; William Bainbridge Steele, William Bainbridge Steele Design; Veronica Volani-Inza, Veronica Volani-Inza Interior Design; Keith Williams, Nievera Williams Designs.
    The Red Cross Show House’s Birthday Cake Castle is at 1 Fifth Ave S., Lake Worth. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
    Tickets to the preview party are $200 per person. General admission is $35 per person at the door. In addition to tours of the home, guests may also shop at an on-site boutique. For information, call 650-9133.
                                           
    Mid-October, the George family’s Abeleina Properties Inc., owner since 1915 of 326 and 400 East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, listed those two commercial buildings for sale for $21.5 million through Howard Bregman of Marcus & Millichap. The properties are currently under contract. “They won’t close until the beginning of April or late March,” Bregman said, who did not disclose price or the prospective buyer’s name. “There was a tremendous amount of interest, and we selected a buyer who has put down a substantial nonrefundable deposit.”
    The 326 building leases space to long-time businesses including the Green Owl Restaurant and George’s Shoe Repair. The 400 space includes Huber’s  Pharmacy and Kilwin’s. All have lease contracts.
                                           
    Three parcels of land adding up to 1.77 acres in Boca Raton on the Intracoastal Waterway are listed for sale for the first time since 1978 for $6.2 million.
    The actual address is 7901 NE Eighth Court, but it’s easier to locate if you know that it’s nestled between Walkers Isle and Boca Bay Colony, said the listing agent, Matt Thoren, president/broker of Landmark Appraisal & Realty Group.
    Its current owners, Mildred and Dick Olson, call it Banana Patch, he said. “It’s amazing and very tropical. It has specimen trees and 35 different varieties of bananas, as well as fruits and vegetables.
    “The Olsons built a stilt house on the property. It looks like Old Florida from a hundred years ago.”
    Dick Olson, who bought the property from the H. Kobayashi Company in 1978, researched the property, Thoren said, and Olson discovered its interesting history, naming Henry Flagler and George Morikami as previous owners.
    “The Olsons (who currently live in Martin County) want to let someone else enjoy the property,” he said. Concerning zoning, “it can be kept as three separate parcels, or we are confident that one of the three could be split in half. It could be built into four or five lots.”
    The Banana Patch can be bought in three parcels with listing prices of  $1.6 million for one of the pieces and $2.3 million for each of the other two. For information, call 373-2186.
                                           
    Fite Shavell & Associates Realtor Jack Elkins, a specialist in luxury waterfront properties with an expertise in Manalapan, Hypoluxo Island, Point Manalapan and Palm Beach, maintained his position as a top producer in 2014. Elkins and his team handled 25 transactions totaling $155 million. He also is responsible for an additional $55 million in sales nationally, in which he was a referring agent.
                                           
    Jessica Rosato, luxury residential specialist with Nestler Poletto Sotheby’s International Realty, recently was installed as the 2015 president-elect for the Greater Palm Beach Women’s Council of Realtors. She will serve alongside incoming President Christel Silver; Michaela Kennedy, vice president of membership; Joyce Crawford, treasurer; and Janelle Dowley, secretary. Rosato received the Rising Star Award from the Women’s Council last year and served as the organization’s secretary in 2014.   
                                           
    At its 2015 annual installation, the Realtors Commercial Alliance Palm Beaches announced Carol Bernton of Keyes Commercial as president. Other officers installed for a one-year term include: Alan Steinberg, Keyes Commercial, as president-elect; Robert Goldstein, Hospitality Consultants, as secretary; and Scott Field, Realty Associates, as treasurer. John Beall, Keller Williams; Mark Dreyer, Re/Max Advantage Plus; Michael Golieb, American Property Exchange; Christina Morrison, Carmel Real Estate Management; and John Schmidt, Cornerstone Realty, will serve as 2015 directors.
                                           
    In December, members of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches gathered at the Quantum House, a hospital hospitality house at St. Mary’s Medical Center for families whose children are receiving treatment for serious medical conditions.
To give holiday cheer to those families currently in residence, the realtors and affiliates provided a hearty holiday meal and delivered gifts through its “Chef for a Day” program.
                                           
    Brian Katz, president and COO of Katz & Associates Corp. announced that Roxanne Register has joined Katz & Associates as vice president of leasing and sales. Register, based in the company’s Boca Raton office, will focus on expanding the company’s South Florida retail leasing efforts.
    With more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience, Register was most recently vice president at CBRE and focused on providing representation to retail tenants, owners and landlords in South Florida. Prior to that, she founded ReCor Realty Advisors LLC in Boca Raton. She has also served as director of leasing with Schmier & Feurring Realty.
    Register joined Katz & Associates with a portfolio of Landlord representations that include Delray Village Shoppes on Linton Boulevard and Uptown Atlantic on Atlantic Avenue, as well as Addison Place on Jog Road.
                                           
    Bethesda Health recently named Mildreys Hereira, Ed.S, MSW, CIMI, as its oncology patient navigator. For patients and families who have a new cancer diagnosis or are diagnosed with recurrent cancer, she identifies patients’ potential barriers to care, such as psychological stressors, diverse cultural values, transportation, child care, financial problems and end-of-life issues.
Hereira earned a master’s degree in social work and a post-master’s degree in education from Florida Atlantic University. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and The Florida Coalition of Oncology Nurse Navigators. The services of the oncology patient navigator  are free. For information, call 292-4792.
                                           
    Boynton Beach resident Brian Sheen, founder of The Florida Institute of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Boca Raton, recently launched an online program that provides alternative choices to children and adults suffering from ADD, ADHD, anxiety and stress.  After 15 years of research and development, The 7 Keys for Attention Development is a product of Sheen’s work at his nonprofit alternative health school. “We are so pleased to continue to provide alternatives to help people get off these powerful toxic drugs like Ritalin, Strattera, Zoloft and other medications.” said Sheen, who has a PhD in hypnotherapy from Nova Southeastern University.
                                           
    In January, at an installation lunch at the Delray Beach Club, members of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce thanked 2014 Chairman of the Board Scott Porten and welcomed 2015 Chairman Dan Castrillon, as well as its four new board members: Noreen Payne, Northwestern Mutual/The Ruhl Financial Group; Lee Cohen, Carner, Newmark, & Cohen, LLP; Sean Hackner, Freedom Steel Building; and Stephen Murray, Delray Downtowner.
    Also, the Delray Beach Chamber recently installed its Ambassador Program’s new leadership team. Payne, director of recruiting for The Ruhl Financial Group of Northwestern Mutual, is the 2015 chair; Allison Turner, CEO and owner of Business Consultants of South Florida, is the 2016 chair; and Rich Pollack, owner of Pollack Communications, is the 2017 chair.
    The Ambassador Program consists of volunteers from the Delray Beach Chamber membership who assist the chamber in the promotion, volunteer support and development of various chamber sponsored events.
                                           
    Some Manhattan supermodels head south for sunshine, a chic setting, and a visit with Christy Chis — a former esthetician with Mario Badescu in New York, who’s now at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. As a long-time facial specialist at MB Salon, Chis cultivated a cult following from such beauties as Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell.
    “I am very honest with my clients and take time to learn their needs and wants,” Chis said, “and I only use the very best products. Once they follow my direction, my clients see results.”
    Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa recently received the 2015 AAA Five Diamond designation.

    Emily Serpico, a new graduate of Palm Beach State College’s Cosmetology program, is competing in Season 8 of Face Off, the Syfy cable network’s reality competition series that pits special-effects makeup artists against each other in creative battle.
Serpico is the youngest contestant in the history of the show; Face Off Season 8 premiered Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 9 p.m. on Syfy. While she is sworn to secrecy about the results, she will say the experience was “amazing.”

Christine Davis is a freelance writer. Send business items to her at cdavis9797@comcast.net.

By Steven J. Smith

    MANALAPAN — A “Renaissance man” has both wide interests and expertise in several areas. Yet such a description fails to capture the full scope of Christos Papatheodorou and the extraordinary life he lived.
    Mr. Papatheodorou’s wife, Noreen, described him as “a universal man” who was curious and interested in life’s myriad aspects. His daughter, Mara Berkeley, said he was “fascinated by cultures and politics.”
    Born in Greece in 1927, Mr. Papatheodorou graduated from Athens Medical School in the early 1950s. Following a stint in the Greek army, he came to New York in 1954 for his specialty training in neurosurgery. He did postgraduate work at the New York University School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Medical Center. He and Noreen married in 1959.
    “He had fellowships in England and Sweden in neurosurgery,” his wife said said. “When we returned to the United States, we lived in New York for six months before moving to Los Angeles, where he practiced neurosurgery for 20 years at UCLA Medical Center. He was a professor in the medical school and was chief of neurosurgery at St. Mary’s Hospital, one of the teaching hospitals there.”
    In 1980, Mr. Papatheodorou was hurt in a train accident, which forced him to change his career path. While recovering from his injuries, he got a degree in public health at the UCLA School of Public Health. From there he went into the field of international health planning and development.
    “He did a great deal of work in the Middle East and Egypt in the 1980s,” his wife said. “He worked with the World Health Organization, where he organized postgraduate training for overseas physicians. He also developed overseas health programs for Westinghouse Corporation’s employees, working in their overseas projects. In addition, he went to Harvard Medical School to coordinate special projects, focusing on the international sphere.”
    In 1986 the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Mr. Papatheodorou served as health science director for the U.S. Treasury Department in Saudi Arabia.
    “He was still an established surgeon and he had that knowledge,” his daughter said. “But now he had the public health administrative ability, which made him quite unique. He was a European, so he was able to deal with foreign cultures and their mentality, and helped to develop solid international hospital programs.”
    Drawn to Florida’s warm climate, the Papatheodorous bought a winter home in Manalapan, which became their permanent home by the mid-1990s.
    “We decided we would retire here, but actually we didn’t retire,” his wife said. “Chris continued doing planning and development consultant work for Westinghouse and the Treasury Department.”
    “He was helping countries that needed more modern hospital administration, technology and surgical procedures,” his daughter said. “He advised them on what they could do to set hospitals up and bring them into the 21st century.”
    An eloquent speaker, Mr. Papatheodorou was invited to give talks on topics such as health policy, the European Union, the World Health Organization and the Olympics.
    “He was a complete and utter Olympics nut,” his daughter laughed. “His dad took him from Greece to Berlin, Germany, in 1936 where he saw Jesse Owens compete. He loved track, and with his photographic memory, he knew all the records. He was a proud Greek when he came to the Olympics, because Greece always walked in first. In the course of his lifetime, he personally attended five or six Olympic games.”
    Mr. Papatheodorou died on Dec. 30 at age 87 from the complications of kidney failure. Noreen, Mara, his son Andreas, Mara’s husband, Jim Berkeley, and a grandson, Theo, survive him.
    “The world was a very small place to him and that’s his legacy that I hope to pass on,” his daughter said.
    “He was never boring,” his wife added. “And he was always kind. He loved people. He always had a twinkle in his eye.”

By Tao Woolfe

    Big league-style negative campaign messages have already reshaped the City Council race, sidelining one of four candidates seeking Vice Mayor Constance Scott’s seat.
     The non-partisan election will be held March 10.
     In the running are: Frank Chapman, 47, an attorney and businessman; Jeremy Rodgers, 36, a computer security engineer at IBM and a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve; and Jamie Sauer, 34, a Realtor and Junior League member.
     All three candidates have longstanding ties to Boca Raton. Rodgers, the newcomer of the group, has lived here since attending Florida Atlantic University in 1997. Chapman and Sauer grew up in Boca Raton.
     Armand Grossman, who also had been running for the seat, dropped out after a mass mailing and website raised questions about a real estate course he ran.
     The state Department of Business and Professional Regulation investigated Grossman’s business in 2000. The matter was closed after Grossman, a retired educator, paid $1,500 in fines and restitution.
    Grossman, 72, quit the race on Jan. 20, saying he did not want to be mired in politicking.
     According to published reports, the negative ad campaign was financed by candidate Frank Chapman’s wife. Chapman and Grossman are neighbors in the Royal Palm Beach Yacht Club.
     Sauer declared her candidacy on Jan. 12, the last day for qualifying.
     Vice Mayor Scott, who has held the Seat C spot for six years, is vacating her seat because she has reached the end of her two-term limit.
     Seat D was also open, but Councilman Robert Weinroth automatically won that race because no one challenged him. He has been serving out the term of City Councilman Anthony Majhess. Majhess vacated his council seat to launch an unsuccessful bid for mayor.
Because he is unopposed, Weinroth’s name will not appear on the ballot.

By Rich Pollack

    Highland Beach Town Manager Kathleen Weiser agreed last month to leave the position immediately in return for a severance package that includes 20 weeks of pay valued at close to $53,000.
    Commissioners, in a 4-1 vote, accepted the agreement, with Vice Mayor Ron Brown dissenting.
    “It’s a sad day when we see our town manager depart,” Brown said during the January meeting “When you look at her record, you have to say ‘Thank God we had her here for as long as we did.’”
    But other members of the commission, especially Commissioner Carl Feldman and Mayor Bernard Featherman, had been critical of Weiser, particularly in the handling of the recent renovation of Town Hall.
    Weiser, who had served as town manager since 2011, came under fire from some commissioners following a negative Palm Beach County Inspector General’s investigation into the funding of the Town Hall project.
    The report concluded the town didn’t follow its own charter when it approved funding for a close to $1 million renovation of the Town Hall without bringing the issue to voters.
    Following the inspector general’s report, Feldman called for the resignation of Weiser and of Town Attorney Glen Torcivia but did not have support from others on the commission.
    Both Torcivia and Weiser have said that the oversight was the result of an honest mistake made by the town clerk’s office during the researching of records related to the issue.
    Torcivia said his office had repeatedly asked for records from the town clerk’s office to be sure the spending cap could be increased by ordinance and had received nothing to indicate otherwise.
    In June, prior to the release of the inspector general’s report, the Town Commission had voted unanimously to renew Weiser’s contract and give her a 3 percent increase to her base salary.
    Support for Weiser evaporated, however, when a split on the Town Commission shifted following the December death of Dennis Sheridan, who had frequently voted with Ron Brown and Commissioner Lou Stern on funding and purchasing issues, which often left Feldman and Featherman in the minority.
    The announcement of Weiser’s agreement to step down came soon after commissioners appointed resident Rhoda Zelniker to the seat left vacant by Sheridan’s death. Zelniker, who had run against Sheridan unsuccessfully last year, will serve in the position until the March 10 municipal election.
    Weiser, who is pursuing different job opportunities, says political shifts can be one of the occupation hazards threatening the longevity of town managers.
    “In June, I received an exceptional evaluation and 5-0 vote to renew my contract,” she said. “But in January, after the change in the commission, I accepted the separation agreement because it was clear that the new commission and I had differences that were not reconcilable — it was better to part ways.”
    Zelniker and the other commissioners agreed to appoint Town Clerk Beverly Brown as interim town manager and plan to discuss a search for a new town manager following the March 10 municipal election.
    Commissioners later agreed to increase Beverly Brown’s salary from $91,780 to $115,000 plus a $600 a month car stipend while she serves as interim town manager. Deputy Town Clerk Valerie Oakes will serve as interim town clerk.
    In 2011, Highland Beach’s previous town manager, Dale Sugerman, was suspended and his contract was not renewed after commissioners learned he planned to put Beverly Brown on a one-month unpaid suspension for forwarding racist e-mails on the town’s computer system.

By Sallie James

    How much is that doggy in the window? And where-oh-where did that doggy come from?
    When it comes to finding the canine companion of your dreams, Boca Raton city officials are hoping you will take a pass on that pet store pup and join the move to curtail large-scale commercial breeders known as “puppy mills.”
     In a show of support, the City Council on Jan. 13 unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the adoption of enhanced federal and state regulation of large-scale commercial dog breeders and brokers. The resolution urges the Florida Legislature and U.S. Congress to pursue stricter measures regulating the wholesale pet trade.
     “I am thrilled,” said Susie Goldsmith, executive director and founder of Tri-County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton. “I couldn’t be happier in being a part of it. More attention has to be given to this. More rules and regulations must be enacted to stop puppy mills.”
     The city also included the measure in its 2015 federal and state legislative priorities.
      Investigations of wholesale “puppy mills” found dogs bred in dire conditions, their cages often stacked one on top of the other.  The breeding mothers live in confinement with the sole purpose of producing money-making puppies. Puppy mill raids frequently yield diseased, neglected and malnourished animals.
     Last June, Delray Beach commissioners considered, then shelved a proposed rule that would create a citywide ban on the sale of dogs from puppy mills due to questions related to its constitutionality.
     In August, Delray Beach commissioners OK’d a six-month moratorium on allowing any new pet stores that sell dogs and cats. The city is also waiting to see the outcome of several pending lawsuits about puppy mills.
     Boca Raton declined to pass a law banning the sale of dogs and cats obtained from commercial breeders after the city of Sunrise was served with a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an ordinance it passed.
     The Sunrise ordinance said pet stores may only sell animals from shelters, rescue groups and hobby breeders. The lawsuit seeks to prevent Sunrise from enforcing its ordinance.
     So Boca Raton officials are trying a different tactic.
     “Our goal is to go to each city to get legislation passed so that dogs or kittens will not be allowed to be sold in pet stores,” Goldsmith said. “The reason for that is that the majority of animals that come in are from puppy mills.”
     “Horrific” is how Goldsmith described most puppy mill conditions.
     “You would be screaming from the hills to stop it (if you saw one),” Goldsmith said. “The way they are kept in chicken coops and can hardly get up and walk around. It’s horrific. And the people are doing it for one reason: money.”
     The subject of puppy mills has received much national attention lately through social media and the efforts of devoted rescue groups. Last November, volunteers determined to rescue scores of dogs from a wholesale breeder that were scheduled to be sold at a Missouri auction raised thousands of dollars online. The volunteers purchased 108 dogs, most of them Cavalier King Charles spaniels, rescuing them from lives of confined breeding. The effort, dubbed “Operation Cavalier Rescue,” used social media to raise money quickly for the dogs’ purchase. Thousands of dollars funneled in from around the world.

By Sallie James
    
    Another small part of Boca Raton is going to the dogs — little dogs, to be exact — and city officials couldn’t be happier.
    A compact dog park, at 131 S. Federal Highway, has opened adjacent to Camden Boca Raton apartments under an agreement City Council members approved on Jan. 13.
    There is no canine size limit, but the gated and fenced park is tiny —  about 80 feet by 20 feet, and is on an unused portion of city-owned right-of-way, near Dixie Highway and adjacent to the western edge of Camden Boca.
    A requirement of the deal? A revocable license agreement with Camden Summit Partnership L.P. indemnifying the city from any liability that might occur during construction, maintenance or use of the dog park. The park creates no costs for the city.
    “It’s a great example of the city working together with private ownership,” Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie said.  “The park fits on an unused road right of way. (Camden) has improved it basically for their residents, but it is open to the public so anyone downtown can enjoy it with their dogs.”
    The miniature dog park is fenced and gated, with a litter bag dispenser and benches.
    The Camden dog park is the city’s latest offering for dogs. Boca Raton also has the Mizner Bark Dog Park at 751 Banyan Trail, and Bark Beach, at 301 N. Ocean Blvd., at Spanish River Park.
    The city obtained the parcel of land in 1964 for future widening of Dixie Highway but in 50 years, nothing was done. The Metropolitan Planning Organization also has no plans to widen Dixie Highway south of Palmetto Park Road, according to a memo from Boca Raton City Manager Leif Ahnell. He said in his memo that a landscaped dog park in the area would be a significant improvement and asset to the area.

Ann Witte at her desk

INSET BELOW: Glenn Gromann

By Mary Hladky

    The place was jammed.
    So many people attended the January meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations that city workers opened a partition to enlarge the Boca Raton Community Center meeting room.
    And the crowd included faces rarely seen at a federation meeting.
    “We usually don’t have developers and land use attorneys and architects at our meetings,” federation chair Andrea O’Rourke said after the meeting ended.
    What accounted for the big turnout? BocaWatch, a newly reinvigorated city watchdog website, was making its first presentation to a city group.
    While BocaWatch has taken stands on issues such as downtown drinking hours, it is best known for urging a conservative course on downtown development.
    Its board members insist they are not anti-development, but oppose the original proposal for the New Mizner on the Green high-end condo project that would have added four towers topping out at 30 stories to the city skyline. On Jan. 16, developer Elad National Properties said the project would be downsized but did not yet have specifics.
    The board members also want city officials to move carefully in implementing guidelines that allow for a maximum downtown building height of 12 stories rather than the longtime limit of nine stories.
    Both stances have caught the attention of members of the development community who favor loosened height restrictions, and they showed up to hear what the BocaWatch board would say.
    They heard nary a controversial word. BocaWatch’s presentation was measured and modest, lasting all of 10 minutes.
    Board member Ann Witte, a financial and economic consultant, told the audience that the BocaWatch website is a “one-stop center for most city issues” that helps keep residents informed.
    “It is a place for citizens to band together to get information on issues,” she said. “It is a forum for dialogue.”
    But it was clear that not everyone in the audience saw BocaWatch as a benign force for civic good.
    Glenn Gromann, a developer and attorney who chairs the Downtown Boca Raton Advisory Committee and is an unabashed BocaWatch critic, asked pointed questions. That eventually led one BocaWatch board member to say, “This is a positive organization. We are not against change. But it should happen in an orderly and participatory way.”
    Another audience member said she had gotten good results speaking directly with City Council members and staff, and was concerned that BocaWatch was inserting itself.
    “We don’t want to get in the way of citizens interacting with the city,” Witte said.
    After the Jan. 6 meeting, Gromann criticized the federation for inviting “a one-sided political organization” without also including someone with opposing views.
    O’Rourke said she originally had invited New Mizner’s developer, Elad National Properties, to also make a presentation. Elad declined at first, and then offered to come shortly before the meeting date when O’Rourke felt she could not change the program.
    O’Rourke and Elad both say Elad will appear at a future meeting.
    Gromann opposes very tall projects, but blasts BocaWatch for what he feels is opposition to slightly taller building heights that would create a better looking downtown with a stronger tax base. Downtown development “is finally moving in the right direction and these folks want to fight success,” he said.
    Witte and BocaWatch chairman Al Zucaro, an attorney and former West Palm Beach city commissioner, insist they are not roadblocks to progress. But they are concerned that the city has approved four 12-story projects before the first one — the Mark at CityScape apartment complex — is completed this spring and its impact evaluated.
    Boca Raton architect Derek Vander Ploeg, who attended the meeting, afterward questioned the appropriateness of BocaWatch being registered as a political action committee.
    “They used to be a group that had a website as an information item. That everyone can embrace. As soon as you go into the political arena, all that changes. I think … that is not as altruistic as it might be.”
    Zucaro said BocaWatch will not support or oppose political candidates. But it is a PAC so that it can raise money if needed to support or oppose an issue. BocaWatch contributor records would be public, “which makes us transparent,” he said.
    Witte and Zucaro have no intention of trimming their sails. Asked about the pushback, Witte said, “I consider that a compliment. They wouldn’t push back if we weren’t effective.”
    Echoing that, Zucaro said, “If you are not being criticized, you are not doing anything.”

By Mary Hladky

    Although many Boca Raton residents are passionate about keeping low building heights in the downtown, the City Council has opened the door a bit wider to allowing taller structures.
    The council voted 3-2 on Jan. 13 to allow owners of parcels of at least 1.2 acres to be eligible to build as high as 140 feet, or 12 stories, plus an additional 20 feet for decorative elements. Previously, a parcel had to be at least 2 acres to qualify.
    The change does not open the floodgates for taller buildings. City officials said it allows six additional downtown parcels to have 12-story buildings, and it is not yet known how many of the landowners would want to take advantage.
    But the change comes as three 12-story projects are moving ahead under building rules established in 2008, and more have been proposed.
    The city still does not allow super-tall buildings such as the originally proposed New Mizner on the Green condo towers, with up to 30 stories, that now are in the process of being downsized. And much of downtown is still governed by 1992 rules that limit building heights to 100 feet, or nine stories.
    Even so, residents turned out in force at a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting on Jan. 12 and the council meeting the next day to urge council members, who also preside over the CRA, not reduce the acreage requirement.
    “I moved here to get away from the sprawl and density (of Miami),” said resident Monica Mayotte, who chairs the city’s Green Living Advisory Board. “I hope we can preserve our small-town feel.”
    “What you heard on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 in your council chambers was ‘enough is enough’,” resident John Gore wrote on the BocaWatch website after the meetings. “I expect there will be political consequences unless our elected leaders put a brake on future high-rise development in the downtown.”
    The acreage change was the result of a request by the developer of Tower One Fifty Five condos to be allowed to exceed 100 feet even though the project is on 1.25 acres.
    Urban Design Associates, the city’s architectural design consultant, concluded that Tower One Fifty Five would be much more attractive if it was built under Interim Design Guidelines approved in 2008. It recommended the city scrap the two-acre requirement completely, saying it was wrong to recommend it in the first place.
    But after Mayor Susan Haynie warned of possible “unintended consequences” at the CRA meeting, commissioners compromised at 1.2 acres and cleared the way for a taller Tower One Fifty Five.
    The change stirred controversy in part because the City Council moved so quickly. Although plans for other 12-story buildings have been approved, none of the projects is complete yet. The council was supposed to re-evaluate after the Mark at CityScape apartment project is completed this spring to determine if the 2008 guidelines did in fact work as intended.
    The City Council’s vote allowed one more tall building and the prospect of more before that evaluation is done.
    The 100-foot rule dates to 1992, with the intent of preserving the city’s signature Addison Mizner-style low-rise architecture and preventing the city from becoming another West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale.
    The city made a significant change in 2008 after residents complained of monolithic and unattractive buildings going up downtown, even though they didn’t exceed 100 feet. Urban Design Associates was brought in to do a design overhaul after consulting with residents.
    The firm recommended the guidelines that allowed the 40 foot increase in height to 12 stories in an area roughly bounded on the west by Dixie Highway, on the north by Northeast Eighth Street, on the east by Mizner Boulevard and then South Federal Highway, and on the south by East Camino Real.
    The concept was to encourage more attractive buildings, pedestrian-oriented streets and public spaces. To avoid massive structures, the rules required that if a building rose above 100 feet, portions of it had to be shorter to create a varied skyline. The rules also called for setbacks that allowed for wide sidewalks, landscaping, and sidewalk cafes. The tops of buildings could have attractive architectural features. Buildings were to convey the sense that people were living and working in them. Tall buildings would not be allowed next to low-rise residential areas.
    Developers had to apply to build taller within the specified area, and the City Council had to bless their plans.
    Other 12-story projects that earlier got the go-ahead under the 2008 guidelines are the Mark at CityScape just east of the southeast corner of Palmetto Park Road and Federal Highway; Via Mizner, an apartment complex at the corner of East Camino Real and Federal Highway; and a Hyatt Hotel, on the corner just west of The Mark at CityScape.

    Sallie James contributed to this story.

By Rich Pollack

    Three seats on the Highland Beach Town Commission will be filled following the March 10 municipal election.
    The ballot will include a referendum seeking voter approval for two major water infrastructure improvement projects, with a maximum cost of $5 million.
    Seats to be decided by the election include the three-year term vice mayor seat, held by incumbent Ron Brown; a three-year term for the commission seat currently held by Lou Stern; and a two-year term for the commission seat that became open following the death of Commissioner Dennis Sheridan.
    In January, commissioners appointed Rhoda Zelniker to fill the empty seat until the March election.
    Stern, Brown and Zelniker have filed papers to run for the seats they currently hold. Bill Weitz has filed to run for the vice mayor seat. Filing closes Feb. 10.
    Voters will also see a ballot issue that, if approved, enable the town to move forward with the replacement of 6,700 linear feet of water mains serving the town’s side streets.
    The mains that would be replaced were installed in the late 1940s and are about at the end of their life expectancy, according to town officials.
    “This is a health and safety issue,” Commissioner Carl Feldman said. “We can’t do without it.”
    If passed, the ballot measure would also allow the town to go ahead with the installation of a lime slurry/carbon dioxide system at Highland Beach’s water treatment plant, which would improve the water’s aesthetic quality. While the exact cost of the two projects has still not been determined, town officials estimate the bill will not exceed $5 million.

    All’s square between the city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District for the first time in years.
    The district paid an unexpected almost $2 million for a beach renourishment project that Boca Raton thought the federal government would cover in 2010, when governments at all levels were battling the recession. The city found out last summer it would get the money from Washington after all.
    But the check to repay the district did not come immediately, prompting Commissioner Earl Starkoff to complain Jan. 20 that the district should withhold $2.4 million to Boca Raton for park operations and maintenance. Fellow commissioners approved the payment anyway.
    On Feb. 2, District Chairman Susan Vogelgesang announced the city had sent a check for $1,927,056.76 for the beach project.

— Steve Plunkett

By Sallie James

    Boca Raton police officers will receive annual 2 percent raises for the next three years under a three-year contract that also requires police personnel to contribute more to their pension plan.
    Similarly, city firefighters will also receive annual 2 percent raises for the next three years under their newly negotiated contract. The Boca Raton/International Association of Firefighters Local 1560 also agreed to changes in the pension plan that should make the plan actuarially sound, a fire official said.
    Together, the revisions are expected to save the city approximately $100 million over the next 30 years. The city has 184 police officers and 200 firefighters.
    According to Boca Raton Police Officer John Cagno, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, the numbers were reached after lengthy negotiations with the city.  “We are satisfied,” Cagno said. The resulting contract was a “happy medium,” he said.
    The annual 2 percent raises are an improvement over their last contract, which provided for zero percent, 1 percent and 2 percent raises over a three-year contract, he said. The newly negotiated contract was delayed a year, adding a fourth year — with no raise — to their last contract, Cagno said.
    Under the new contract provisions, police personnel will be upping their pension contributions from 10.3 percent to 11.5 percent, Cagno said. In addition, retirees will get a maximum of 77 percent of the average of their last three years’ pay before retirement. Previously, they could earn a maximum of 87.5 percent.
    The final contract has not yet been ratified by the union membership.
    The Fire Rescue contract includes two caps: Under the changes, firefighter pensions across the board will be capped at $100,000, said Matt Welhaf, vice president of the Local 1560.
    Firefighter pensions will also be capped at 90 percent of the last three years’ average salary before retirement. Previously, there was no cap.
    The changes will ensure the pension plan remains solvent, Welhaf said.
    “I think everybody believes it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “The plan will be healthy, it will be 100 percent funded and it is reasonable for the public. We negotiated to take the cost of this down by 60 percent. We tried to do a good thing with this contract and I think we did.”
    City activist Betty Grinnan, one of the founders of Boca Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, has made it her mission to inform the public about what she believes were unsustainable costs of firefighter pensions and salaries. She and Judith Teller Kaye sent email newsletters to alert 2,500 residents after the council turned a deaf ear to their warnings at its goal-setting financial summit last May. They got the city’s attention.
    Grinnan declined comment on the newly negotiated contracts, saying she had not been able to personally review them yet. Grinnan said city officials told her actuaries were examining the contracts.
    “You can say a lot of things in terms of saving, but I don’t know until I see the numbers what the savings to the city will be,” Grinnan said. “I think that our group — Boca Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility — has made the savings for the city greater than it would have been had we not called the public’s attention to the problem. The growth in the cost of public safety was unsustainable in the long run.”

The Rotary Club of Boca Raton’s 17th annual Outstanding People and Leader’s Gala, OPAL, was held on Jan. 10 at Boca West. Besides the honorees, Richard Young, a 50-year Rotary member, received the Rotary’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Photo: OPAL honorees Ron Gallatin, Jan Savarick, Jay and Marilyn Weinberg and Richard Young.

Photo provided

Built in the 1920s, The historic Luff House is one of the few remaining bungalows

that used coral rocks for the foundation, chimney and face.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steven J. Smith

    The immediate prospects of the Luff House, a historic home without a historic designation, appear as hazy today as they did when businessman James Batmasian purchased the home in September.
    Mary Csar, executive director of the Boca Raton Historical Society, said the two-story, 2,492-square-foot Luff House — named for pioneer residents Theodore and Harriet Luff — was built in the 1920s in a Florida interpretation of the bungalow style, employing coral rock on the porches and chimneys. Csar said the structure, at 390 E. Palmetto Park Road, is  “a rare survivor” in Florida and is unique to Boca Raton.
    “That coral rock was very common to houses in the 1920s, but there are hardly any left now,” Csar said. “It was a lovely home. It has been painted since, but it was a kind of tan color, quite beautiful and fairly large for an early house.”
    According to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s website, the property’s market value was set at $854,723 for the 2014 tax year. Batmasian is a Boca Raton real estate mogul and philanthropist who owns much property in downtown Boca, including Royal Palm Plaza. The website of his company, Investments Limited, says it “has become a cornerstone of the community and actively supports the numerous organizations that make South Florida a wonderful place in which to live, work and play.”
    Phone calls to Batmasian and his acquisitions manager Armen Batmasian were not returned, and Tim Setterlund, marketing manager for Investments Limited, declined to comment for this story.
    “I believe Mr. Batmasian is willing to let somebody lease the house, but they would have to do the interior improvements,” Csar said. “The site is zoned commercial, so its value is a commercial one. Our hope is a tenant will lease the house and use it for the time being. Our overall hope is that someone will come along and move it somewhere else, off the property.”
    That would be a costly venture. Csar said a former owner looked into moving the house to a different location, but a suitable plan was never put into place. Developer Greg Talbott offered the home to the Historical Society if it would pay the moving costs.
A 2006 bid revealed just a three-block move to the east to Silver Palm Park, along with accompanying foundation costs, would come to about $137,000.
    “Today it could go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Csar said. “And it depends on where you would move it. Finding a spot of land would be challenging and the farther away you move it the more expensive it is, because Florida Power & Light would have to take down light poles and move power lines. You have to pave the way, so to speak, and that would be the expensive part.”
    Csar said the Historical Society does not have sufficient funds to take on the expense of moving the Luff House. Instead, she sees its role as “an information source” to the public in the hopes that someone might step forward to save the house.
    “We want people to know the house is historic and does have value to both the history of Boca Raton and South Florida,” she said. “I don’t know what the Batmasians think about moving it right now. I don’t think Mr. Batmasian’s long term plan is to keep it.”

    It was a construction site accident with several critically injured patients and the quick actions of three Boca firefighter/paramedics saved all the patients’ lives. The trio, who were competing in the Fire Rescue East Conference in Daytona Beach, took home top honors for the actions in the staged scenario.
    For the third year in a row, Boca Raton’s EMS Competition Team won first place at the high-profile event on Jan. 22, where they competed with 20 teams from across the state.
    Members of Boca’s winning team included Jeff Lazzeri, James Haag and Shea Miller.
    “I think it tells you a little something about Boca that we placed first in the past three years,” said David Eddinger, Boca Raton Firefighters and Paramedics spokesman. “I think it shows that Boca is a world-class service, one of the top EMS departments in the state.”
— Sallie James

By Steven J. Smith

    BOCA RATON — Gus Centrone said if he had to sum up the life of his sister Elena in a brief sentence, it would be that she was a giver to others; one who always put another’s needs above her own.
    Born on Feb. 14, 1951, in Philadelphia, Ms. Centrone moved to Florida’s east coast in the early 1970s to pursue her studies and career. She lived a scholarly life, earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in education from Florida Atlantic University.
    Never married and with no children of her own, Ms. Centrone dedicated her life to teaching children. In her 37 years with the Broward County school system, she filled many roles as an educator — teacher, assistant principal, secondary reading supervisor and a trainer for the human resources department.
    “She spent most of her career working with elementary school and middle school kids,” Centrone said. “She always wanted to help children and teach them how to read.”
    Centrone added literacy was a passion with Ms. Centrone. In her free time, she worked as a volunteer with the Boca Raton Library. She also volunteered with the Tri-County Humane Society, another cause close her heart.
    “She always loved animals,” Centrone said. “I think what fueled that love was the fact that she lived in a condo that didn’t allow them. So volunteering with the Humane Society gave her a way to be around them. She wanted to play a part in rescuing abused animals.”
    Elena’s passions comprised more than teaching children and caring for animals, he added. She had a great many close friends and was an avid traveler, visiting at least 45 of the 50 states as well as Canada and many foreign countries as well including Sweden, Finland, England and Italy.
    Her life was cut short at age 63 when she succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Jan. 1 after a three-month battle with the disease.
    “I’ll always remember her warm heart,” Centrone said. “She was born on Valentine’s Day, which says a lot about her and truly fit her as a person. Elena loved her family, loved her nieces and great-nieces and nephews. She took care of both of our parents when they were going through health issues before they died. She was very professional and ethical, but loved to have fun. People loved to be around her. She was probably the most decent person I’ve ever known.”
    Memorials in Elena Centrone’s name can be offered to St. Jude Hospital or the Tri-County Humane Society in Boca Raton.