Boca Raton resident John Granath walks toward the 8th tee

at Red Reef Executive Golf Course.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related Story: Golf courses struggle as the sports' popularity wanes

By Cheryl Blackerby 

    This is a story of two public golf courses, both built on A1A in the early 1960s, and both on prime Palm Beach County real estate between the Intracoastal and the ocean. Both are city-run courses, and, surprisingly, both attract more nonresidents than residents. 

    But 50 years later, there’s one huge difference: One makes money and the other loses a quarter of a million tax dollars a year. And the one that makes money stands to make even more with the addition of an upscale restaurant. 

    The Red Reef Executive Golf Course in Boca Raton is the one that’s in the red. 

    The course was built in 1960 as part of the Sun ’N’ Surf development owned by J. Myer Schine, who had also owned the Boca Raton Hotel and Club until the mid-1950s. The city bought Schine’s beachfront property in 1974 and it became Red Reef Park, which included the golf course.

    In 1984, the Boca Raton Beach and Park District and the city agreed that the city would maintain and operate the park with money from the district. 

    The course has been a consistent money loser, and the bill keeps getting bigger. Ten years ago, the district paid $140,843 to cover the loss, and by 2011 the deficit had reached $267,588.

    City officials started taking a hard look at the course’s annual deficits as early as 1998, when the Office of Management and Budget put together a report that considered options for getting better performance or getting the city out of the golf business all together.

    The city owns two public golf courses, the Red Reef course and the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course, which is on Glades Road about two miles west of the city limits. The Municipal Course is a 197-acre property that features 18 holes of championship golf and a 9-hole executive layout. 

    The City Council looked at several privatization plans in which the city would lease its two courses to one or more contractors, who would manage them and handle maintenance. Officials also considered selling the Municipal Golf Course off Glades Road, which at the time was appraised at about $3.5 million. 

    In the end, the city essentially decided to continue operating the courses and to try to reduce costs and losses. 

    Today, the City Council doesn’t seem to mind Red Reef course’s yearly loss, in spite of the fact that two city councilwomen have spoken in favor of selling the Municipal Course, which makes money.

    “Red Reef Golf Course is a part of Red Reef Park and is such a special amenity for our community,” Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie said when asked about the deficits at Red Reef. “The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District assists the city in funding the maintenance and operation of the park.” 

    When City Councilwoman Constance Scott was asked about selling the Red Reef course, she said, “When I spoke of selling a golf course, it was only the Municipal Course on Glades Road not Red Reef. I still think we should keep options to sell the Municipal Course.” 

    Greg Jerolaman, Boca’s golf course manager, said that the Municipal Course is self-supporting, “and some years made up to $300,000 in profit. Last year, the municipal course made $110,000.” 

The district’s dismay 

    The district, on the other hand, is frustrated at paying a big bill for Red Reef every year, and commissioners voiced their concerns about the latest bill during a July 1 meeting. 

    Commissioner Steve Engel said, “It’s a beautiful property. It’s beautifully maintained and the several times that I’ve been there, there’s hardly anybody on, and I think probably of all the facilities in the Beach and Park District, this is the least used.” 

    Golf course statistics confirm that fewer people are playing the course. In 2009, 31,071 rounds were played, and in 2012 the number dropped to 27,086. 

    While Engel suggested raising fees and increasing the course’s visibility, Commissioner Dennis Frisch said “It’s an enterprise fund that’s supposed to break even and can’t because it would have to lower prices to be competitive.” 

    Commissioner Earl Starkoff said the commission should consider getting expert consultants for advice about the course’s potential profitability, an option that has been raised in years past. 

    “A year ago, I was concerned about what had been a $150,000 supplement and is now a $250,000 supplement,” he said. “I’m not convinced that we’re looking broadly enough at how to come up with ways to increase rounds or (increase) the fees for the rounds because we’re the same people looking at the same problem.” 

    The commission should find “a realistic view of what our expectations should be,” from golf experts, he said. 

    The bill for the course is “only going to get bigger next year,” Frisch said.

    Commission Chairman Robert Rollins, however, was more concerned about the “shaggy” state of the course. “In the budget, they’re asking for an additional $258,000. I support that, but I would like to have a little better job of the maintenance over there.” 

    Rollins described the losses as a “a sign of the times.” With a collective shrug of shoulders, the commissioners didn’t decide on a plan to help the course make more money. 

    Rollins concluded by saying, “There’s not a single golf course in this town, in this county, in this tri-county area that’s not suffering loss revenue.” 

    Except there is just such a course 19 miles north on A1A.

Head pro Tony Chateauvert says the Palm Beach Par 3 course is in the black and will soon have a new clubhouse.

File photo

The course that makes money 

    The public Palm Beach Par-3 Golf Course has consistently broken even or run a surplus, even through the economic downturns, according to Tony Chateauvert, the course general manager and head professional. 

    “We cover our expenses and operating costs and make a little bit of money,” he said. 

    Over the last five years, the Palm Beach course has accumulated about $373,000 in budget surpluses while Red Reef’s deficits rose 64 percent between 2008 and 2012. 

    Chateauvert is expecting the course to be deeper in the green with the addition of Palm Beach’s Renato’s restaurant, which will occupy the second floor of the clubhouse and offer ocean views. 

    The restaurant, which will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, will pay more than $100,000 in yearly rent. Construction is almost complete and Renato’s is expected to open in January. 

    “The new building was paid for by private donors and the city gave itself a loan that we’re paying back. The course and new building is in no way subsidized by tax dollars,” said Chateauvert. 

    The Palm Beach Par-3 is a very different course than the Red Reef course, and those differences may explain why one makes money and the other doesn’t. 

    The Palm Beach course is an 18-hole course; Red Reef is nine holes. The Palm Beach Par-3 makes most of its money on greens fees, the pro shop and driving range. Last year, the Palm Beach course made $20,000 in beer sales. 

    Red Reef doesn’t have a pro shop or driving range or beer. 

    The Palm Beach course’s green fees are generally a little more than twice Red Reef’s fees in summer — $23 for 18 holes in Palm Beach, $10.75 for nine holes at Red Reef — but nearly the same if you played Red Reef’s nine twice for 18 holes. The Palm Beach green fees double in winter. 

    Palm Beach had 30,000 18-hole rounds last year; Red Reef had 27,086 nine-hole rounds. About 80 percent of the Palm Beach course’s players are nonresidents, and about 60 percent of Red Reef course’s players are nonresidents. 

    The Palm Beach Par-3 offers panoramic Intracoastal and ocean views from every hole. Players often describe it as a “mini Pebble Beach,” and Golf Digest magazine called it “one of the best par-3’s you can play anywhere.” 

    Red Reef, on the other hand, has a course layout between the busy A1A and the backyards of houses on the Intracoastal. Ocean views are largely obscured by trees, leaving tourists playing the course disappointed at not experiencing an ocean course. 

    The Palm Beach Par-3 was redesigned with new challenges in 2009 by Masters and U.S. Open champion Raymond Floyd. PGA instructors conduct adult and junior clinics and offers private lessons. Red Reef does not offer lessons. 

    People who play the Palm Beach course include professional golfers Jesper Parnevik, Michelle McGann and Beth Daniels, along with singers Vic Damone and Rod Stewart, inspirational speaker Tony Robbins and funnyman Larry the Cable Guy. 

    Chateauvert has played the Red Reef course and offers his assessment. “It’s a sensational property that’s such a special place,” he said. “It’s a place to play in flip-flops and get a quick nine. It’s great for kids and retirees. It’s not for people who want to play championship golf.” 

    Going forward, the question for district commissioners and the city is how much should they ask taxpayers to spend to subsidize dwindling numbers of golfers in flip-flops?

By Rich Pollack 

    Highland Beach town commissioners last month gave tentative approval to a proposed revamping and streamlining of the way emergency calls are received and emergency vehicles dispatched. 

    If commissioners give formal approval to the plan in August, police and fire dispatch services for Highland Beach will be provided by the City of Delray Beach, rather than the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office. 

    In approving the change, commissioners said they believe the improvement in service will justify the annual cost of $54,000. 

    “It’s a two-sided coin, but safety has to be the winner,” said Commissioner Lou Stern. 

    During a recent presentation, Police Chief Craig Hartmann told commissioners that residents would be better served if the town contracted with Delray Beach for dispatch services, rather than continue with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office. 

    Under the current system, Hartmann said, 911 calls from Highland Beach are routed to the Sheriff’s Office dispatch center in West Palm Beach. Because Highland Beach police officers are on the Sheriff’s Office radio channel, police emergency calls can be dispatched directly to the officers. 

    The process for dispatching fire and medical emergency calls, however, is more complicated, since Delray Beach Fire-Rescue provides those services to Highland Beach residents. 

    Medical and fire emergency calls are received by the Sheriff’s Office dispatchers and then transferred to dispatchers in Delray Beach. In almost all cases, callers are asked to repeat information, which causes delays. 

    If dispatch services for Highland Beach are provided by Delray Beach, however, Hartmann and Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Chief Danielle Connor said callers would only have to provide information once and the need to transfer calls would be eliminated. 

    “At the end of the day, each of your residents will receive more timely care through the elimination of the middleman,” Connor told Highland Beach commissioners. 

    In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Delray Beach Fire-Rescue responded to 736 calls in Highland Beach, with 73 percent of those calls being for medical services. 

    Switching dispatch services to Delray Beach would come with a significant price increase, Hartmann said. 

    The town currently pays about $9,300 annually to the Sheriff’s Office for dispatch services. Hartmann and Connor told commissioners there would be several other benefits to using Delray Beach for dispatch services. 

    Under the current system, Highland Beach police officers and Delray Beach Fire-Rescue personnel are unable to communicate over the radio without dispatchers relaying information. 

    In addition, Hartmann said, his officers are unable to communicate with Delray Beach police officers via the radio in an emergency. They are also unable to monitor communications regarding emergency situations in Delray Beach that could spill over into Highland Beach.

    With the two departments on the same radio channel, Hartmann said, it would be easier for Delray Beach officers to assist Highland Beach in an emergency. 

    He said that Highland Beach is the only coastal town in Palm Beach County to contract with the Sheriff’s Office. Gulf Stream contracts with Delray Beach, while the Ocean Ridge and Manalapan police departments have their own dispatchers. “This proposal brings us in line with other coastal agencies,” Hartmann said.

By Steve Plunkett 

    The Lynn University student who played President Obama for a pre-debate rehearsal last fall, then traveled to the inauguration, is now a candidate for City Council. 

    “I‘ve always loved politics,” senior Eric Gooden (left) told university publicists as he left for Washington in January. 

    Gooden, a criminal justice major and president of the campus’ College Democrats, filed his declaration of candidacy July 16 for the council seat held by Michael Mullaugh. Mullaugh has not filed yet to run on the March 11 ballot. 

    Also declaring candidacy in July was Scott Singer (right), an attorney and member of the city’s education advisory board, who wants the council seat being vacated by Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie (below, at right). He will face Craig Ehrnst (below, at left), who chairs the city’s financial advisory board and is treasurer of NCCI Holdings Inc. at its Boca Raton headquarters. 

    Haynie, who will be term-limited out of her council seat, is running for mayor and so far is unopposed. Mayor Susan Whelchel also will be term-limited out. 

    Council members are elected at-large to designated seats for three-year terms. Members are not eligible to run for a third consecutive term.

By Steve Plunkett 

    One of the first things the Boca Raton City Council may consider when it returns from its summer break Aug. 26 is whether to offer health insurance and other benefits to same-sex partners of city employees. 

    Council member Constance Scott pushed for the city attorney to research that issue as well as the mechanics of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Boca Raton’s equal employment opportunity criteria. 

    “We have documentation … There are two cities in Palm Beach County that currently have these ordinances and resolutions in place, so we’re not reinventing the wheel,” Scott said at the July 9 meeting. 

    At the council’s workshop the day before, Rand Hoch of the nonprofit, nongovernmental Palm Beach County Human Rights Council gave Scott and her colleagues a list of governments in the county that give benefits to domestic partners. On the list were the county, the School Board, West Palm Beach and Wellington. 

    “You have taken steps to isolate the LGBT community,” Hoch said. “You are the only public officials in the United States this century to deny LGBT employees the right to redress in case they have been discriminated against in employment.” 

    The Human Rights Council started lobbying Boca Raton nine months ago after the city refused to sign a $1.2 million hazardous waste cleanup agreement because it included an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination clause. 

    Council member Anthony Majhess said he thought the issue should be taken up at the state or federal level or decided by referendum. 

    “This is more part of a social issue,” Majhess said he told Hoch after the workshop. “To go beyond what the state does and what the national government does, I feel would be personally using this seat for purposes of activism.” 

    Scott disagreed. “I don’t see this as a referendum issue. I see this as something that we as policy makers have the right and have the authority to move forward on,” she said. 

    Council member Michael Mullaugh joined Majhess in asking the city to seek an opinion from the state attorney general on the legality of domestic partners getting benefits following a 2008 constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. 

    In mid-August, employees of Florida Atlantic University will become eligible to participate in a domestic partner health insurance program, Hoch announced July 17. The University of Florida began offering benefits to domestic partners in 2006, he said. 

    The Palm Beach Town Council scheduled an Aug. 13 vote on whether to offer domestic partnership benefits to employees with same-sex partners, Hoch also said. 

    An insurance consultant recommended offering the benefits to make the town as competitive as possible for recruiting talented workers. But town staff recommended against it because it would cost $72,510 a year extra.

By Steve Plunkett

    Boca Raton property taxes will go up no more than 3.8 percent for the coming year and might come down.

    City Council members unanimously approved City Manager Leif Ahnell’s recommendation July 9 to set the maximum rate at $3.72 per $1,000 of taxable property, the same as this year. But property values rose an average of 3.8 percent over the past year, which means most property owners would pay 3.8 percent more. 

    “I believe that will support the goals and projects that the council supported at the goal-setting session,” Ahnell said.

    Council members can lower the tax rate but not raise it during budget hearings in September.

    If the rate stays at the maximum it would be roughly four times the increase in the region’s consumer price index. Ahnell told council members in June that prices rose 0.9 percent in the latest U.S. Department of Labor report.

    Ahnell did not elaborate on what the fiscal 2014 budget will fund, and council members adopted his recommendation with little comment. He will unveil his budget proposal at an Aug. 8 Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

    The city will spend $4,300 for the breakfast at the Via Mizner Golf and Country Club, which is expected to draw 250 to 300 chamber members. Council members declared the annual event serves a public purpose after the county’s inspector general office questioned the expense in an audit.

    The maximum tax rate includes $3.42 per $1,000 for operating expenses and 30 cents per $1,000 for debt service.

    Ahnell recommended not raising Boca Raton’s fire assessment fee, which is $85 per residence and a sliding scale for businesses.

    The first budget hearing is tentatively set for 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at City Hall.

    The property appraiser sends notices of proposed taxes in August. But Ahnell needed council consent early because under its abbreviated summer schedule the July 22-23 and Aug. 12-13 meetings were canceled. The council next meets on Aug. 26.

    Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners unanimously approved a rollback tax rate for the upcoming year of .9676 per $1,000 of taxable property value, down from last year’s .9986. 

    This rate will bring a slight decrease in the bill for those taxpayers whose property values have remained the same or declined since last year. 

    The commissioners decided at a July 15th meeting that the first public hearing on the district’s $19 million budget and proposed tax rate will be at 5:15 p.m. Sept. 17 in the commission’s meeting room at Sugar Sand Park. The second public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24. 

— Cheryl Blackerby

By Steve Plunkett 

    The city has bailed out the Boca Raton Children’s Museum with an emergency $127,000 grant. 

    The museum appealed to the city for help when it realized it was running out of money, Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said. 

    “The museum asserts that it will be unable to continue operation without a contribution from the city and/or another party,” said an agreement the City Council approved July 9. 

    In March 2012, the museum received a $75,000 bailout grant, also for operating expenses. 

    The nonprofit museum leases 0.8 acres at 498 Crawford Blvd. from the city for $1 a year. Boca Raton gave it $23,400 for the current budget year, along with money to other nonprofits, to help the museum’s efforts to expose children to history, sciences, art and the humanities. 

    But Boca Raton might not repeat the gift this budget cycle. 

    “It is anticipated that similar amounts will be requested in FY 2013-2014, but due to a drop in revenue and the overall economic slowdown, it is not known whether similar amounts can again be awarded,” City Manager Leif Ahnell warned in a July 9 report to the City Council. 

    The museum strives to develop creative and critical thinking skills in children through hands-on learning activities, interactive displays, diverse cultural events and unique programs. 

    It will have a “Celebrate Brazil” day Sept. 21 with a ZooMobile presentation from the Palm Beach Zoo, entertainment and Brazilian food. Cost is $5 per person.

In the July edition, one of the photographs was incorrectly identified in a story about Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander and Capt. Josh Mindick being honored for their work in ejecting a squatter from a $2.5 million Golden Harbour mansion. Both photos were of Alexander. The second photo should have been of Mindick (above). Each man was given a Knights of Justice award at the June 11 City Council meeting.

By Dan Moffett 

    Hardly anyone in Delray Beach thought the first test of the city’s new noise ordinance would come in the form of a Zen riddle.

    But city commissioners found themselves trying to unravel a decibel mystery that seemed every bit as perplexing as the sound of one hand clapping or a tree falling deep in the forest: Is a disc jockey without a microphone an entertainer, or merely a human extension of a recorded music system?

    Tom Graham, the general manager of the Sandbar tiki bar, argued the latter when he appeared before commissioners on July 25 and asked them to approve a conditional use permit to allow his business a DJ to select the music it plays outside.

    “The DJ has no equipment,” Graham told the commission. “I am ultimately responsible for the music. The DJ can’t turn it up.”

    Graham’s position was itself complicated, in that the DJ in question is his wife, Cheryl. She told commissioners she had “20 years” experience doing corporate events, but was not an entertainer and would not be trying to incite bar patrons into raucous behavior but rather “just give them the kind of music they want to hear.”

    As Alan Ciklin, the Sandbar’s lawyer put it, “She is not a performer. She is not a cheerleader. The DJ operates without a microphone and is not amplified. She maintains the music so if you had a Frank Sinatra crowd you don’t get the Beach Boys.”

    After two hours of debate, comment and reflection, commissioners voted 4-1 to approve the DJ permit for the bar, with Mayor Cary Glickstein dissenting.

    Glickstein said the request was “pushing the envelope of acceptability” for the noise ordinance and area residents’ desire for peace and quiet. “My job is protecting the reasonable expectations of people who were there first,” he said.

    Commissioner Al Jacquet said his vote for the DJ was predicated on conditions the commission also approved. If the city finds the bar guilty of three violations of the noise ordinance, then the permit can be repealed.

    “This is more of a noise concern than it is a DJ concern,” Jacquet said. “I do agree with the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule.”

    Also, the approval makes Ocean Properties, the owner of the bar, ultimately responsible for any noise problems and requires the owner to install an acoustic wall to deaden the sound. The music must cease at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

    More than a dozen nearby residents told the commission they opposed allowing the DJ. Dennis Rooney said the plan “was sure to make Delray Beach more of a party town” and that the bar’s request “serves no public benefit.”

    Genie DePonte questioned the bar’s motivations. Why was it going to the trouble to launch an advertising campaign to promote the DJ’s appearances, if in fact she was insignificant and had no role other than selecting music? “If the DJ’s just changing records, why advertise that?” she said.

    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said, “I believe a DJ is live entertainment,” and she worried that the city was “opening a can of worms” by allowing the exception. But in a fittingly perplexing end to the highly conceptual debate, she voted for approval anyway.

    In other business, the commission voted 5-0 to approve a proposed total tax rate of $7.79 per $1,000 of assessed value for the 2014 budget year. The city’s proposed operating millage is tentatively capped at $7.45 and the debt service is at $0.35.

    The proposed total tax rate is down 0.034 from last year, according to city Finance Director David Boyd, who said property values in Delray Beach had risen about 6 percent across the board. 

    Under the proposed 2014 tax rate, residents will pay about $779 in city taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or pennies less than last year. The 2014 budget totals about $49 million, compared with $47.4 million in 2013.

Phoebe Wiener attended Girls Nation.

Photo provided

    Phoebe Wiener of Highland Beach took two unforgettable trips, and chances are both will have a major influence on her future career path. 

    Wiener, 16, who will be a senior at Atlantic High School this fall, was one of about 300 girls from throughout Florida who were chosen to participate in Girls State, a program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. 

    While at the weeklong Girls State conference in Tallahassee in June, Wiener was selected for an even greater honor: the chance to be one of two“senators” from Florida at Girls Nation, a conference held in Washington, D.C., last month. 

    That trip included meetings with Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, as well as trips to Arlington National Cemetery, several monuments and, of course, the White House. 

    In Washington, Wiener was selected by members of her assigned “political party” to give the keynote speech at their convention and was also chosen to moderate a political debate.

— Rich Pollack

Rotary Club Downtown Boca Raton installed new officers to lead the organization

into its second year of community service. ‘This has been an extraordinary inaugural year

for this club,’ President Alan Kaye said. The inaugural year saw the club receive

recognition by Rotary International as one of the most successful start-ups in Rotary history.

ABOVE: Alan Kaye, Ingrid Fulmer, Ron Rubin, Robin Trompeter, Robert ‘Bob’ Hildreth, Jon Kaye,

Janice Williams, Gary Hickory, Joanne Williams and Frank Feiler.

Photo provided

By Rich Pollack 

    Highland Beach town commissioners, after their first look at a proposed $11.7 million budget, voted to keep the proposed tax rate for the coming fiscal year at $3.95 per $1,000 of assessed value, the same as the current tax rate. 

    Thanks in large part to a 4.1 percent increase in property values and the use of an estimated $920,000 in reserve funds for proposed one-time capital expenditures, the town will be able to increase its general fund budget by $1.3 million without having to raise the tax rate, said Town Manager Kathleen Weiser. 

    “This budget shows that the town is in good shape financially,” Weiser said. 

    The proposed budget includes a 6 percent increase in personnel expenses as well as a 7 percent increase in operating expenses. 

    Proposed changes in how the town’s emergency vehicles would be dispatched and in how fire and rescue equipment is maintained account for the bulk of the operating expense increase, according to Finance Director Cale Curtis. Town commissioners are still discussing both issues and have yet to give final approval. 

    Also still under discussion is a proposed $825,000 Police Department renovation, which makes up the bulk of the $983,000 in budgeted capital expenditures for the coming fiscal year. 

    To help fund the capital expenses, Weiser and Curtis are recommending commissioners allocate $920,000 from the town’s reserve fund, which is currently at $3.7 million. 

    Not included in the proposed budget is $3.5 million in expected revenue coming from the pending sale of two town-owned properties in Boca Raton. 

    “This budget is balanced without any major spending cuts to personnel and operations,” Weiser wrote in her letter presenting the budget to commissioners. “It includes some much-needed maintenance and capital improvements that were delayed in prior budgets. Most importantly, it does not call for a tax rate increase.” 

    A budget workshop is planned for 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7, and a second budget workshop, if needed, will be at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21. 

    Public hearings on the budget are scheduled for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 5 and Sept. 17.

By Mary Thurwachter 

    To make sure the new Ocean Avenue bridge is operational by the end of November, the construction company charged with the job sought — and received — permission to work evenings until 11 p.m. through Oct. 31. 

    GLF Construction project manager Andres N. Sosa appeared at the Lantana Town Council’s July 22 meeting to make the pitch to extend hours Monday through Saturday, a variance to the noise ordinance. At the next meeting, on Aug. 12, he’ll be asking for work on Sundays to be authorized, too. He asked for Sunday hours at the July meeting, but hadn’t mentioned it in his earlier letter and councilmen said the request needed to be advertised ahead of time on the next agenda. 

    Sosa said that when his company signed the contract with the county in 2010, it was given 705 calendar days to complete the project. But between a 90-day delay in the actual closing of the bridge and 48 rain days, the work needed to be finished in less than 600 days. 

    Sosa, in a letter to the council, said that “all activities creating loud noise, such as pile driving, has either already been done or will be performed before 6 p.m.” This was not the first time this year the town gave its consent to night work on the bridge. In January, the town approved a request for construction work to be done as late as 11 p.m. weekdays until May 31. 

    The old bridge, open for 62 years, closed in March 2012. Construction on the $32 million span is 11 feet higher than its predecessor. It is expected to reduce by about 40 percent the number of times the drawbridge opens for boats.

By Steve Pike 

    When most people think about golf, they think about what they see on TV — primarily Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour. But neither Woods nor the Tour lives in the real world of the golf industry — an industry that includes struggling equipment companies, struggling retailers and struggling golf courses. 

    “A Rubik’s Cube of problems,” said Tony Chateauvert, general manager and head professional of the Palm Beach Par 3 on South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach. 

    The industry’s most glaring problems are retention and rounds played. By most accounts, the industry loses as many as 3 million players per year — as many players as it gains. 

    Rounds played in the U.S. have consistently declined. A National Golf Foundation 2005 participation study showed the number of golfers in the U.S. at 30 million; the same study in 2011 put the number at 25.7 million. 

    The number of golf course openings, according to the NGF, reached a record 399 in 2000. In 2012, that number was 14; the number of closings in 2012 was 155. 

    So much for the “golf boom” of the late 1980s and ’90s. The boom — some industry observers say it never existed — was driven largely by master-planned communities in Sun Belt states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona. 

    “The ’80s and ’90s had a huge pipeline of golfers coming down and buying a house in a golf community and joining the club,” Chateauvert said. “That pipeline has been getting smaller every year. Older people are dying off and not being replaced as quickly by a new generation of golfers. The pie just keeps getting smaller.” 

    Basically, today’s golf course industry is playing a zero-sum game. According to Golf Datatech, a Kissimmee-based research company, rounds played in the U.S. through this past May were down 11.9 percent compared to the same period in 2012. In Palm Beach County, rounds played through this past May were down 2.6 percent. For comparison, rounds played in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, through this past May, according to Golf Datatech, increased 4.2 percent versus the same period a year ago. 

    “It’s all about how we can keep expenses down and rounds up,” Chateauvert said. “Everybody is working harder. The town (of Palm Beach, which owns the Palm Beach Par 3) is realizing there is not really that much money in golf. The only difference between us and others is the town of Palm Beach is behind this whole project.” 

    It appears to be paying off. Chateauvert said the Palm Beach Par 3, which will open a new clubhouse this fall, “had a better year in 2011 and again in 2012 and 2013.” 

    “I run a lot of promotions and shake a lot of hands and kiss a lot of babies,” Chateauvert said. “I give (customers) a face and voice they can recognize. A lot of clubs are doing same things, but I’m on the ocean and they aren’t. And I have the town of Palm Beach behind me. For whatever reason, it works.” 

    For the time being at least, Chateauvert seems to have solved the Rubik’s Cube.

Green turtles mate in the surf off Gulfstream Park. 

Photo provided by Joan Lorne

By Cheryl Blackerby 

    Halfway into sea turtle nesting season, the research is coming in, and the numbers are both surprisingly good and unexpectedly grim. 

    Green turtles are nesting in record high numbers. But many turtle hatchlings are being lost to disorientation from “urban glow.” Even on dark beaches, hatchlings are walking toward the western glow of cities, not east toward a star-lit ocean. 

    “We just broke a record for green turtles. The old record was 154 nests in Boca, and as of today it’s 155 and it’s only July,” said Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, on July 17. 

    Loggerhead turtle numbers were also up in Boca Raton. “Last year there were close to 1,000 nests, and so far this year there are 994,” he said. 

    Countywide, leatherback and loggerhead nesting is a little less than last year, but turtle experts were anticipating the lower numbers. 

    “We were expecting less because last year was a record-breaking year. It’s a pretty much average season for leatherbacks and loggerheads,” said Paul Davis, division director for the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management. 

    But green turtles are another, much more exciting, story. 

    “We’re getting reports of three times as many nests as last year, which will put us on pace to likely break a record by the time we’re done. The green turtle nesting numbers are surprising, shocking — whatever superlatives you want to throw in,” Davis said. 

    But there’s bad news, too, that also has taken scientists by surprise: Hatchlings are dying from disorientation caused by urban glow or “sky glow,” the light projected into the sky by cities at night, creating an illuminated horizon that causes hatchlings to walk toward the west instead of the ocean. 

    “In the last nest, we had 100 eggs, and 60 hatchlings scattered in all directions and probably didn’t make it into the water. Overall, we’re probably losing 30 percent of hatchlings to disorientation caused by sky glow,” said Rusenko. 

    He tracks sky glow with a computerized monitor that records the light every 15 minutes. In recent weeks, low clouds have amplified the light from urban areas, making a powerful amber glow than can be seen for miles and lights up the night sky. 

    “We’ve had pretty bad disorientation in Spanish River Park beach, and that beach has no lights,” Rusenko said. Even with the lights turned out on the beach, the glow from the city on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway is strong enough to confuse turtles. 

    “Sky glow is the primary concern for turtle disorientation in the county,” said Davis. “Sky glow is the result of light being reflected off clouds or haze in the atmosphere as we increase the amount of light. Much of city lighting is inefficient, and is being aimed skyward, not doing any of us any good. Our goal is to decrease unnecessary light that’s being lost upward.”

    It’s time to turn down the lights in the county’s coastal cities, he said, because the health and safety of the county’s nesting sea turtles are crucial to the rest of the state. 

    “When you add up all three turtle species, Palm Beach County has the highest number of nests per mile in the continental United States. What we do here in the county affects almost 25 percent of the nesting in the state, and has a direct affect on the success of sea turtle conservation in Florida.” 

    There are no real numbers on hatchling disorientation countywide, said Davis. “We have not gotten very many reports of disorientation. We speculate this has been a rainy season, and it’s harder for people to see hatchling crawls. It’s hard to see if they went in the right direction.” 

    Turning out the lights on the beaches may have been a reason for the comeback of green turtles, whose numbers dropped 50 percent from 1999 to 2009 and prompted scientists to consider changing the turtles’ designation from threatened to endangered. 

    “The green turtles started shooting back up to numbers we haven’t seen in the last 20 years. It could be that the turtles naturally have cycles like that — we’ve only been recording nesting since the 1970s,” said Rusenko. “But lighting ordinances began in the 1980s, so we may be seeing benefits of the conservation efforts including turning off lighting on beaches.” 

    Cities are becoming more aware of light pollution. Boca Raton installed full cut-off lighting — lighting that shines fully on the ground — at City Hall, the new library, and the city police building. 

    Individuals also can reduce urban glow. Davis and Rusenko offer these tips: 

• Use full cut-off lighting fixtures that project light on the ground and not into the sky. “These lights actually put more light down where you need it,” said Davis. 

• At Lowe’s and Home Depot, look for Dark-Sky approved light fixtures. 

• Use amber lights. 

    Stay informed about light pollution by attending International Dark-Sky Association (idapalmbeach.org) meetings held at 5:30 p.m. the first Friday of every month at the Florida Atlantic University observatory. The group has helped high-rise condos change their lighting and is involved in other projects such as retrofitting lighting in state parks and educating the public about light pollution and its effect on the health of people and wildlife. 

    Rusenko is a founding member, and he and Davis are board members.

Jane Rayner

By Jane Smith 

    HIGHLAND BEACH — Jane Householder Gehrett Rayner, 99, a chemist, college professor and “supermom,” died July 13. 

    She died at home from complications of a stroke, surrounded by family and friends. Mrs. Rayner graduated from Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., and went on to obtain a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University. She was the first female chemist in the market research department of Allied Chemical Co. in New York City. 

    “I was so proud of my mom,” said daughter Judith Rayner. “She had Ph.D. from Yale and taught at colleges; most of the kids’ moms stayed home.” 

    She taught chemistry at Rutgers Women’s College and Fairleigh Dickinson University, both in New Jersey, and Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. 

    Locally, she served as two-time chairwoman of the board at the Seagate of Highland condominiums in Highland Beach, as a member of the former Beaches and Shores Council of Palm Beach County, and as a board member and volunteer with the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. She loved volunteering there, and sometimes would hold a snake and show it to youngsters who came to the center, her daughter said. 

    Mrs. Rayner was born in Huntingdon on March 23, 1914, to Samuel and Ada Gehrett. Her first husband, William Degnan, died in 1943 in Connecticut from tuberculosis. She had one son from that marriage. In 1948, she married George C. Rayner of Greenport, N.Y., who died in 1987 in Boca Raton. From that marriage, she had one daughter. 

    “My father died when I was young,” said her son, John. “We lived in Brooklyn. She was a working mom long before it was popular. She was busy during the week. But on weekends, she took me ice skating, bike riding, to the park (Prospect Park) and to the Bronx Zoo.” 

    He didn’t like eating breakfast, but he was able to persuade his mom to give him pie for breakfast — just so he would eat something. She baked apple pies for her second husband and brownies for herself because she “was a chocoholic,” said daughter Judith. 

    “She was a loving, kind person, but a role model, too,” her daughter said. “My mom was a pioneer for women and gave me the confidence to do math and science.” 

    Mrs. Rayner’s survivors are son John Degnan Rayner, of Adelphi, Md.; daughter Judith Norris Rayner, of Derwood, Md.; grandson Shane Wellnitz, of Derwood, Md.; and brother John O. Gehrett, of Hilton Head, S.C. 

    A memorial service was scheduled for late July at the First Presbyterian Church in Delray Beach, followed by a reception at Seagate of Highland clubhouse in Highland Beach. 

    Instead of flowers, contributions in honor of Jane G. Rayner may be made to the Samuel M. and Ada H. Gehrett Memorial Scholarship at Juniata College, 1700 Moore St., Huntingdon, PA 16652-2196, or the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33432.

Lawrence O'Daly    

By Ron Hayes

    OCEAN RIDGE — Lawrence O’Daly made his living selling toys and laughter. 

    As a producer of television commercials, he promoted Duncan Yo-Yos and Silly Putty.

    In the early 1960s, he helped develop and promote G.I. Joe action figures, and in the 1980s he championed both famous and fledgling comedians as creator and producer of cable television’s Evening At The Improv and Comedy On The Road, for which he won an ACE Cable TV Award. 

    A resident of Ocean Ridge since 1999, Mr. O’Daly died at Bethesda Memorial Hospital on June 8 after a lengthy illness. He was 77. 

    “Larry was a really one-off personality,” remembers Barbara O’Daly, his wife of 31 years. “I’d never met anyone like him. He was charming, erudite, and a real go-getter and dealmaker. He loved the deal more than the results.” 

    Mr. O’Daly was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 6, 1936, the eldest of 10 children, which earned him the family nickname, “The Chief.” 

    “Larry used to joke that his mother had 10 Irish-American children, but none became cops, firefighters, priests or nuns, and none of them ever did time,” his wife said. 

    After service in the U.S. Army, Mr. O’Daly attended City College of New York.

    Early jobs as a copy boy and proofreader for The Brooklyn Eagle and Wall Street Journal led to advertising positions at food and automobile magazines, and then on to television advertising, where he worked for the Wham-O, Ideal and Hasbro companies, developing campaigns for their best-known toys. 

    After donating master copies of the comedy shows to the Museum of Television and to the University of California, the O’Dalys founded Entertainment Properties Ltd., to market DVD versions of the 3,000 acts featured during the two shows’ 14-year run. 

    “He never really retired,” Barbara O’Daly said. 

    In addition to his widow, Mr. O’Daly is survived by his daughter, Laura McCann; two sons, Mathew and Terence O’Daly; and a granddaughter, Sara Mary O’Daly. 

    A memorial service was held at his daughter’s home in Northport, N.Y.

By Emily J. Minor 

    DELRAY BEACH — Insiders often called him ‘‘the nicest guy in the room.” But Edward Ernesto Iacobucci was also known as the visionary who had the nerve to leave IBM in 1989 and develop computer technology that would lead to a collaboration with Microsoft — and turn his brainchild, Citrix Systems, into a $3.5 billion company. 

    Mr. Iacobucci, who had lived in coastal Delray Beach for many years with his wife, Nancy, — often an integral part of his business negotiations — died June 21 after a 16-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 59.

    Considered a free spirit in a regimented techie world, Mr. Iacobucci had the rare combination of incredible people skills and IT foresight, say those who knew him. One British writer wrote after Mr. Iacobucci’s death that the Citrix founder was “almost always” the smartest guy in the room but “always listened to what you had to say.” 

    After leaving IBM in 1989 over developmental differences, Mr. Iacobucci and his team of determined defectors threw $3 million in development money into OS/2, eventually developing a Windows multiuser version that finally drew the attention of the Bill Gates gang. 

    Mr. Iacobucci then negotiated collaboration with Microsoft that still exists. Today, Citrix operates in 50 locations worldwide.

    Vicky Harris, marketing director of a later Ed Iacobucci start-up company, VirtualWorks, was with Mr. Iacobucci during the early Citrix years. “He inspired people,” she said, simply. “I call it drinking the Kool-Aid, because — from an employee standpoint — when you came to work, you weren’t working. You were changing the world.”

    Harris said Mr. Iacobucci was always one to follow his instincts, even when they took him away from the mainstream. “If everyone’s zigging, he’s going to zag,” she said. As his 1989 resignation letter to IBM, he simply handed his bosses a copy of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” The boat he used to take to the Bahamas is called “Tenacity.” 

    Born Sept. 26, 1953, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mr. Iacobucci was the son of a biochemist who moved his family to the United States in 1960 to work for E.R. Squibb & Sons. Later, when his father began working for Coca-Cola, Mr. Iacobucci was mentored by former Coca-Cola Chairman Roberto Goizueta. Mr. Iacabucci said often that both men — his father and Goizueta — had strongly influenced his business acumen. 

    Mr. Iacobucci’s mother, Costantina, is still living. 

    Although Mr. Iacobucci left Citrix in 2000 to launch other companies, Citrix CEO Mark Templeton said the company would “carry his wondrous torch forward.”

    “Ed’s spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, passion and persistence will always remain at the core of Citrix,” Templeton said. 

    Besides his wife, Mr. Iacobucci’s three children and three grandchildren also survive him, in addition to his brother, Billy.

     BRINY BREEZES — After a lifetime career at IBM and many years helping to raise four children, Marcelino Solis Jr. found his final days of peace and quiet on a porch at the end of a road. 

    “My dad had reached a state of what he called contentfulness,” said Karolyn Baumgartner, Solis’ daughter. “Every day at about 4, he’d go down and sit on the Briny Breezes porch.” 

    He’d watch the sky, and the pelicans. (The beach was their airport runway, he said.) He’d chat with the neighbors. Baumgartner said her father and her mother, Marie, had discovered the small-town joys of Briny about 13 years go. 

    Mr. Solis was 80 when he died June 1 of complications of multiple myeloma at Bethesda East Hospital. 

    Born in New York City on Jan 12, 1933, Mr. Solis was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. An engineer, he spent 25 years with IBM at the East Fishkill, N.Y., operations until he retired in 1991. 

    A lover of small-town life, Mr. Solis and his family lived in the small New York hamlet of Hopewell Junction for more than 40 years. 

    In his later years, Mr. Solis loved giving more attention to the things that eluded him during the years of work and family. An avid history buff, Baumgartner said her father enjoyed woodworking, music, puttering around the house, drinking scotch and reading. He also enjoyed his seven grandchildren. 

    Mr. Solis was buried June 8 in Hopewell Junction. 

    Surviving him are Baumgartner, of Bethel, Conn.; his wife, Marie; and three other children: Christopher Solis, of Richfield, Ohio; Margaret Solis, of Kansas City, Mo.; and Jeanny Busacca, of Orlando, Fla. 

    The family asks that any memorial donations be made to the American Cancer Society.

Workers for Asplundh Tree Expert Co. use a bucket truck to safely position themselves while removing tree branches near power lines along A1A in Ocean Ridge. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Tim O’Meilia 

    Most coastal residents won’t have to flee to higher ground when a mere Category 1 hurricane approaches under the year-old evacuation rules — except, of course, those mobile home folks in Briny Breezes. 

    But, staying home during a Big Blow poses other concerns. Such as: How do you keep the lights? While more and more coastal towns are putting their power, telephone and cable TV lines underground, plenty haven’t found the cash to do it in these not-quite post-Great Recession times. 

    So the answer is: Keep your lush, shady gumbo limbo branches away from power lines so gale-force winds won’t collapse your vegetation onto the electric lines and force you into kerosene lamp mode. 

    Florida Power & Light, not to mention AT&T and Comcast, have further advice: Trim your trees now before the storm watches begin. 

    While FPL hires line-clearing contractors to keep their overheads clear, AT&T and Concast, not so much. 

    “We clear all our main distribution lines every three years and neighborhood lines every six years,” said FPL spokesman Greg Brostowicz. Main lines are the ones that run down A1A. Neighborhood lines run down your street. 

    But here’s the catch: “We will only prune or trim branches and limbs that can potentially cause safety hazards and power outages falling on power lines during bad weather,’’ Brostowicz said. 

    That means FPL will trim only trees very close to its lines. It isn’t going to be your tree-trimmer on retainer. If you really want peace of mind and you don’t want the cable to go out, you’ll have to trim your close-but-not-too-close vegetation yourself. 

    Or, better yet, as FPL suggests, hire a pro. FPL uses “utility-qualified” Asplundh Tree Expert Co. and Lewis Tree Service, but there are others. 

    “There’s two important points to remember. First, if you’re going to have your trees trimmed, do it prior to a hurricane warning because that’s when trash pickup is stopped and there will be no one to pick up the trimmings,” Brostowicz said. 

    “Second, don’t try to trim near power lines yourself. Hire a professional who is licensed and specially trained to trim near power lines.” 

    FPL has much more information, including videos and frequently asked questions, at its website, fpl.com/trees. 

    If you’re convinced a tree limb is posing an imminent threat to a power line, log on to your online FPL account and click “Tree Trimming” on the left. Or call 800-4OUTAGE (800-468-8243).