Dozens of juvenile reef fish seek cover among the rocks off Ocean Ridge.

By John Pacenti

It’s just before low tide at Gulfstream Park on the morning of Aug. 15, and a mere 30 yards from the beach is a snorkeler’s treat. On this day when the shimmering water is like glass, transparent and smooth, juvenile fish gather on rocky outcroppings within the short swim from shore.

Endangered queen conch have come back — and unfortunately so have the poachers. Some visitors have seen lobsters under rocks, and even spear fishermen have shown up to hunt.

This is a relatively recent occurrence, according to Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh, who said beach renourishment projects have covered up the patch reef for years at a time. The last renourishment in the vicinity occurred a decade ago.

“It’s almost like it was when I was a kid, that’s how neat it is,” he said. “There’s actually Gorgonian sea fans.”

On one sea fan, Pugh said he counted 34 flamingo tongue cowries with their oblong spotted shells. Pugh said it was his son who told him to get out there and snorkel.
“There’s all kinds of fish and there’s actually real live queen conch shells,” Pugh said.

 A 4-inch-tall sea fan has emerged since the rocks became exposed. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

This is not John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in the Florida Keys — or even Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach — but for the snorkeler seeking serenity and a quick jaunt among sea life, the area from around Ocean Ridge to the County Pocket fits the bill.

A recent outing produced no lobsters but did have a queen conch along with a Crayola-box variety of tiny reef fish, with yellow the predominant color. A school of silvery-blue bar jacks, sergeant majors, porkfish, the zebra markings of high hats along with grunts and wrasse were all visible. 

Imagine jumping into a saltwater aquarium — that is what snorkeling this area is like this summer. Most fish aren’t big — some are super tiny — but are spectacular nonetheless.

Still, this is Florida, and every ray of sunshine has opportunistic savagery trying to shade it. Witnesses saw men taking queen conch from the ocean to eat, Ocean Ridge police confirmed.

Florida law prohibits the commercial and recreational harvesting of queen conch in state waters, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

An anonymous posting on Facebook said three men in their 30s or 40s harvested “two beautiful large queen conch.”
“They said they intend to eat them and keep the shells,” the post said.

Ocean Ridge Police Chief Scott McClure said his department received a report of individuals taking three conch on Aug. 10. “Persons had left the area prior to the officer’s arrival,” he said.

Any good news is welcome on the reef front. The last two summers have been brutal on some prominent Florida reefs as record ocean temperatures have bleached out pristine underwater gardens in the Florida Keys and Biscayne Bay.

The civic group Friends of Delray pointed out in its newsletter that Delray Beach is home to several companies positioned to make the city a leader in artificial reef technology.

Capt. Steve Gordon holds a snook caught by Tom Greene in a Palm Beach County inlet.

By Steve Waters

The snook is one of the most sought-after saltwater gamefish in Florida, and there’s no better time to catch one in South Florida than after the season opened on Sept. 1.

The hard-fighting, good-tasting fish are congregated at Palm Beach County beaches, fishing piers and inlets, in the Intracoastal Waterway and at spillways this time of year. They can be caught on live bait and a variety of lures such as jigs and soft-plastic baitfish imitations.

“Swimbaits work great on the beaches and at the spillways,” said Tom Greene of Lighthouse Point, who grew up in Boca Raton, where he started fishing for snook 60 years ago.

In the old days, Greene and his fishing buddies used what he called chicken feather jigs to catch snook at inlets.

Those were replaced by Red Tail Hawk bucktail jigs, which offered more color combinations and are still used today. Lures also have replaced what once were popular baits.
“For 50 years we fished live shrimp,” Greene said. “Now we have fishing lures that look like a shrimp that are better, and they don’t die on you.”

Because snook are so popular, they are intensely managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Anglers are allowed to keep only one snook per day with a total length of 28 to 32 inches along the Atlantic coast.

The season is closed from June 1 to Aug. 31, which is when snook spawn in Atlantic waters.

The open season is Sept. 1-Dec. 14, then it closes Dec. 15-Jan. 31, when the potential for cold weather can make snook so lethargic that unethical anglers could simply scoop up the fish with a landing net.

The season reopens Feb. 1-May 31. (Visit myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/snook.)

A close-up of a snook caught on a soft plastic jig. Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star

To successfully catch snook in local waters, Greene said it is essential to match the weight of the lure you’re fishing to the depth of the water and the strength of the current.

If the lure is too light, it won’t get down to where the snook are lurking. If the lure is too heavy, it won’t swim naturally in the current and might simply plummet to the bottom.

Greene also said to match the lure’s color to the color of the baitfish that the snook are feeding on. Numerous tackle manufacturers offer swimbaits in colors that look like a croaker, a pilchard, a sardine, a sand perch or a mullet, which are all popular snook live baits in South Florida.

If South Florida has a lot of rain in September, Greene recommended fishing at the Boynton and Lake Worth spillways.

After a heavy rain, fresh water is often released at the spillways that flow into canals that connect to the Intracoastal so that water can eventually flow out the nearest inlet. When the spillways are open, snook will be there waiting for small freshwater fish such as bluegills, shad and shiners to be swept out into the canals.

Another of Greene’s favorite snook spots is in and around inlets starting at the end of the outgoing tide. As the tide starts to come in, it’ll bring baitfish with it, and the snook will gather in an inlet to ambush the bait as it swims past.

The start of the outgoing tide is also good because baitfish are being flushed out of an inlet.

Anglers fishing from boats can drift through an inlet while fishing lures or live bait just off the bottom or they can troll through the inlet with swimming lures such as jointed Rapalas.

Bridges across the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach County can be snook hot spots at the start of the outgoing and incoming tides. The fish will almost always be on the down-current side of the bridges, waiting behind pilings for the tide to carry baitfish to them.

Regardless of the tide and the location, Greene said a prime time to catch a snook is from an hour before daylight to 30 minutes afterwards.

If the tide is changing during that time period, you can almost guarantee yourself a September snook.

Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.

By Steve Plunkett

While some joggers, bicyclists and people walking along State Road A1A  may want to be able to take a bathroom break at Ocean Strand Park, they're going to have to keep taking care of business elsewhere.

The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District considered including money in its FY 2025 budget for restrooms at the park, which lies between other plumbing facilities at Spanish River Park and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but informally decided at its July 1 board meeting that such an addition wasn't a priority.

During her presentation, the district's executive director, Briann Harms, suggested an ADA accessible restroom trailer could be placed at the park similar to what has been done at Gumbo Limbo. But District Chair Erin Wright said she didn't think bathrooms at Ocean Strand were needed at all and said the park should be kept in as natural of a state as possible.

Also proposed is $6 million for building pickleball courts at Patch Reef Park, $3.5 million to build an accessible playground there, and $14 million to turn North Park­ — formerly known as the Ocean Breeze property — into a “major recreational hub” with new walking trails and bike paths.

The final list of projects will be decided at budget hearings in September.

Tax rate stays the same
Commissioners on July 15 tentatively adopted the same tax rate as this year, $1.08 per $1,000 of taxable value, for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. That rate would generate $45.3 million in tax revenue, up $3.5 million from the current year, Harms projected.

Under the tentative rate, the owner of a home with a taxable value of $1 million would pay $1,080 in taxes to the Beach and Park District. Property values in the district, which includes residences west of the city limits, rose 8.5% over the previous year. The taxable value of a homesteaded property rose up to 3%.

The rollback rate, which would have brought in the same amount of taxes as the previous year, not counting new construction, was $1.01 per $1,000.

The district will also give the city $2.7 million as its share of Community Redevelopment Agency tax increment funding.

Partly in return, and for the first time, residents of the district who live west of the city limits will get free Boca Raton library cards and will get to pay resident rates at the city’s Tennis Center and Community Center, both in the CRA, starting Oct. 1. They currently pay nonresident rates.

City Manager George Brown assured the City Council on July 23 that the additional users would have a “minimal impact” on city finances and “little to no” impact on rental facilities.

“We would probably, perhaps lose a potential revenue amount of $14,500, which is not significant,” Brown said.

Correction: An earlier online version of this story, as well as the version that appeared in the August 2024 print edition of The Coastal Star, incorrectly reported the status of restrooms proposed for Ocean Strand Park. District commissioners reviewed “proposed projects” including temporary restrooms at their July 1 meeting, but took no action to include them in the district's proposed budget, which will be finalized during September budget hearings.

July 16 marked the first day of heavy equipment and snarled traffic on A1A at the Delray/Highland Beach border. It clears out after 6 p.m. and on weekends. The project will cover all of Highland Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

No sweat! Machines stand in for flag people

By Rich Pollack

As crews on the State Road A1A repaving project head south from Delray Beach, they’re bringing two bright orange devices that replace vest-clad workers spinning octagonal “stop” and “slow” paddles to guide cars through the construction zone.

Complete with large red and yellow traffic lights and a gate arm that drops down across the roadway, the mechanical flaggers are designed to keep traffic flowing smoothly with minimal human intervention and to prevent cars from crashing into one another when traffic is forced into a single lane.

Touted as being safer and more efficient than traditional flagmen, the solar-powered “automated flagger assistance devices” are an important piece of the $8.3 million Florida Department of Transportation’s road project, which is scheduled to continue for more than a year.

Solar-powered arms open on a timed schedule, directing traffic to one lane. Rich Pollack/The Coastal Star

That project, which began on July 10 and will stretch from just south of Linton Boulevard to the Highland Beach border with Boca Raton, includes road resurfacing, the creation of 5-foot bike lanes on either side of A1A and drainage improvements on the swales.

The coastal traffic nightmare is just beginning. Once work is completed on the 3.3-mile stretch, it will soon be followed by a resurfacing project on another portion of Delray Beach’s stretch of A1A and then a similar project on Boca Raton’s portion.

The current project will come with frustrating delays caused by lane closures during weekday hours.

Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie hopes the mechanical flaggers will ease some of that frustration while saving walkie-talkie flagmen (and flagwomen) from baking in the hot sun.

“In a sense they make for a more controlled traffic environment that drivers are accustomed to,” he said.

For much of the project, the devices will be in Highland Beach and will be the sole red-light signals in town, although this is not the first time they have been used there. Similar automated flaggers were used by FDOT contractors for a short time during a drainage improvement project in fall 2022.

Although the machines aim to keep cars moving, A1A traffic did come to a standstill on July 17 when crews accidentally ruptured a gas line, forcing a complete closure that was fixed within a few hours.

Labadie and FDOT leaders are urging motorists to plan for delays on A1A between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Labadie acknowledges the frustrations but believes the end result will be a significant improvement for motorists and better drainage along the road.

One area where the improvement will be most noticeable will be at the intersection of A1A and Linton.

Included in the new project is an almost quadrupling of the length of the left-turn lane for northbound cars heading west over the bridge, from 75 feet to 275 feet.

The current turn lane accommodates only about three cars. That will expand to about 11 vehicles once the work at the intersection is complete, meaning that fewer cars will be blocking traffic heading north through the intersection, FDOT representatives say.

Cristina Lewis and Alejandra Lippolis at the Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute. The background is from last year’s fundraising luncheon; this year’s is Oct. 18.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

Although breast cancer has spared both their families, best friends Cristina Lewis and Alejandra Lippolis wanted to do something to help find a cure.

The two mothers recently combined forces to chair the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation’s Go Pink Challenge, a year-round initiative to raise money for research and to draw attention to prevention. The challenge culminates with the Go Pink Luncheon on Oct. 18 at The Boca Raton.

“Women who are in the highest age-range risk are between 45 and 55 years old, which is my age range,” said Lewis, who is 44. “I am starting to see a lot of friends being diagnosed, being treated and surviving. It’s hitting close to home.” She said they want to bring attention to the Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute, “where all the funds get funneled.”

For anyone who has had experience with the disease, the words “breast cancer” can evoke paralyzing fear. 

Take the case of Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty, whose death at age 53 on July 13 made national headlines. Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and went into remission in 2017. But the cancer recurred with a vengeance in 2020. 

“Cancer does not discriminate. It can affect anyone. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what (kind of cancer) you have, your health can be taken away,” said Lippolis, 47.

Lippolis’ interest in breast cancer prevention and research is a bit of a family affair. Her mother-in-law, Debbie Lindstrom, a Boca Raton philanthropist who has supported the hospital foundation for years, got her involved with the cause in 2011 when Lippolis attended her first Go Pink luncheon.

Lippolis began volunteering and quickly found herself involved in the luncheon committee, the fundraising ball and just about anything else the foundation needed help with. Then she enlisted the help of Lewis, and the two have volunteered together for years.

They agreed to chair the Go Pink Challenge for the next two years. 

The challenge has raised $192,000 this year as of July and more than $3.3 million since its inception in 2008.

The connections between the two women are extensive: Both are Latinas (Cristina’s family hails from Venezuela and Alejandra was born in Chile).

Their husbands, Tim Lewis Jr. and Bill Lippolis, are childhood friends who grew up in Boca. And both women have three children, who are almost the same ages: Cristina and Tim have three sons: Billy, 12; Sebastian, 9; and Brayden, 5. Alejandra and Bill have three daughters: Alessandra, 10; Lily, 8; and Isabella, 5. 

Bill Lippolis is the COO of Wietsma Lippolis, a Boca Raton-based construction, architecture and design company that builds luxury custom homes. Tim Lewis is a professional race car driver in International Motor Sports Association events.

Cristina Lewis is a lifelong Boca Raton resident who attended Florida Atlantic University. She has a background in human resources and has helped hospitals, clinics, private practices and other health care organizations recruit candidates to fill ophthalmic positions. She also serves on the executive board of the Parents’ Association of Pine Crest School in Boca Raton.

Lippolis grew up in Parkland and attended Lynn University, where she majored in fashion marketing. But her heart wasn’t in it and she ended up working for her father, a major distributor for Hewlett Packard in Central and South America. She held the job until she got pregnant with her first child in 2011.

The two families socialize and vacation together and even shared a vacation getaway in Central Florida for a time until their expanding families made it too crowded.

“We have different things we can bring” to the Go Pink Challenge, “so it just works out perfectly,” Lippolis said.

The Go Pink Luncheon is South Florida’s premier breast cancer awareness event; proceeds directly benefit the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute and Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute. Call Terrie Mooney at 561-955-6634 for more information.

By Mary Hladky

Beachside residents, who have long pressed the city to improve East Palmetto Park Road between the Intracoastal Waterway and State Road A1A, finally have scored a win.

Boca Raton officials have agreed to install a crosswalk midway between Olive Way and Wavecrest Way equipped with pedestrian-activated flashing yellow lights that are intended to make it safer to cross the road.

The new road features will be added this fall, but will be temporary. That will allow city officials to evaluate how well they are working and make any needed adjustments.

Because that section of the road is owned by the county, the city cannot make unilateral decisions on changes. The temporary status allows the city to move forward while also seeking county approval to make the changes permanent.

The Riviera Civic Association, which represents the Riviera, Por La Mar and Sun and Surf neighborhoods and has pressed for roadway improvements since 2018, supports the city’s crosswalk plan.

“It may not be the perfect solution, but it is a good solution,” said civic association board member Keith Nelson. “Maybe the city could make it better, but for now we are happy to have a crosswalk.”

City staffers have resisted adding crosswalks and a traffic light, concluding in 2022 that they weren’t needed and actually would create safety hazards.

They also said that crosswalks would not change the behavior of pedestrians who now cross the road wherever they want — and noted that in the previous five years, no pedestrians or bicyclists were injured crossing the road and there was only one vehicle and bicyclist collision.

Beachside residents vowed not to concede defeat and found an ally in Boca Raton resident and County Commissioner Marci Woodward, who in 2023 offered the county’s help to improve the road.

Woodward said the county was willing to add a crosswalk and remove parking spaces on the road’s south side so that bicycle lanes could be added.

Soon after, city staffers said they would again consider improvements.

Yet beachside residents aren’t getting all they hoped for.

The city is not heeding their call for a second crosswalk and a traffic light. They also wanted a more ambitious makeover of that section of road that would include wider sidewalks and bicycle lanes.

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton’s Spanish River Beach is in the running to receive the much-coveted Blue Flag Award that signifies it meets stringent environmental and safety standards.
Spanish River Beach has met initial requirements to become a Blue Flag candidate. The city hopes to know in May whether it has won the award which, coincidently, is when the city will celebrate its 100th birthday.

The award would be a “testament to the high standards and high amount of work that goes into getting that designation,” said Lindsey Roland Nieratka, the city’s sustainability manager.

While the award is well known in many other countries, only two U.S. beaches have won it since the program was expanded to this country three years ago. They are Delray Beach’s municipal beach and Westward Beach in Malibu, California, both honored in 2023. Delray received the award again this year.

Delray Beach’s success spurred Boca Raton to seek the designation, Nieratka said. But rather than being rivals, the two cities are in “neighborly collaboration,” with Delray Beach offering information and guidance. “They’re incredibly helpful,” she said.

Blue Flag, which also recognizes marinas and tourism boats, is administered by the Foundation for Environmental Education, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is one of its five environmental education programs.

In all, 5,121 beaches, marinas and tourism boats in 51 countries have received the award.

Blue Flag USA, operated by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, administers the award in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.

The city sought the award for Spanish River Beach because it is Boca’s flagship beach, already meets many of the Blue Flag’s 33 criteria and has substantial areas of ecological habitat, Nieratka said.

If the city wins the award and raises a blue flag that announces its status, visitors won’t see many changes, she said.

But a Blue Flag-required information board will be added that tells visitors about coastal zone ecosystems, wetland areas, unique habitats and sensitive natural areas. It also will show information about the beach’s bathing water quality and the Blue Flag program.

The beach must provide at least five environmental education activities to the public. Nieratka said that will be done in conjunction with the city-operated Gumbo Limbo Nature Center that already offers education programs. Her office also holds educational events throughout the year and can expand those efforts with “more creative ways to engage our visitors.”

The Blue Flag designation will benefit the city by signaling that it has a high-quality beach that is clean, well maintained and safe. International visitors already familiar with Blue Flag will know Spanish River Beach meets the standards they have experienced in other parts of the world, she said.

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton’s tax rate likely will remain virtually unchanged for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1.

The proposed FY 2025 tax rate, presented to the City Council on July 22 by Financial Services Director James Zervis, is essentially the same as the current rate, roughly $3.68 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

Under the proposal, the owner of a home with a taxable value of $450,000 will pay $1,655.19 in ad valorem city taxes.

The annual fire assessment fee for residential properties will remain unchanged at $155. The assessments for commercial and residential properties, which are based on the size of the buildings, also remain the same.

The tax rate will be finalized in September. Council members cannot raise the rate above what was presented, but they do have leeway to lower it.

The city has long prided itself on its low tax rate that has held steady for many years, made possible because Boca Raton has the highest taxable property value of any city in Palm Beach County.

Technically, the proposed tax rate is a lower than last year’s rate, $3.6782 vs. $3.6783 per $1,000 of taxable value, but at a .003% reduction, the amount is negligible.

Although the proposed rate is stable, property owners will see higher tax bills because the city’s average taxable value increased 8.5% this year.

Homeowners whose properties are homesteaded will not feel the brunt of that increase because state law caps the taxable value increase at 3%. Non-homesteaded properties are capped at 10%.

The city also has released information on the proposed FY 2025 general fund budget, showing a $20.9 million increase to $243.5 million. The majority of the increase, $13.5 million, will go toward higher employee salary, benefits and pension costs. Eleven new full-time positions are included in the general fund, including a park ranger, environmental officer and grant specialist.

The fund includes $1.5 million for new programs that City Council members have advocated. These include creating a new traffic, mobility and connectivity division — intended to make getting around easier for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians — and a public art program.

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach city commissioners positioned staff to begin programming at the Crest Theatre by allocating $118,000 for “rapid activation” of its Creative Arts School, intent on using the building’s classrooms that are ready even if the playhouse is not.

With classes anticipated to start in mid-October, the project will be overseen by Communications Director Gina Carter, who has a master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The measure was unanimously adopted at the commission’s July 9 meeting.

“We want to reduce the cost and we want to cut down on all the things that slow down the government, like hiring, contracts, all of these things. We want to move along as quickly as possible,” Carter told commissioners at the meeting.

The city will leverage available resources and key staff, such as Carter, her four-member staff, and some Parks and Recreation Department workers. Carter said the challenge is hiring a full-time program administrator at $80,000 annually and five art instructors who will work on a contractual basis. 

Advertisements looking for local talent who could teach art classes at various levels went online July 17.

It’s the latest chapter in the saga of Old School Square, which includes the Crest Theatre, the Cornell Art Museum, the Fieldhouse and the Pavilion. 

The smoke still lingers from the dispute between the city’s movers and shakers from when a commission majority — including then-Mayor Shelly Petrolia — in August 2021 voted to sever the lease of longtime operator Old School Square Center for the Arts, citing alleged financial mismanagement.

The commission eventually turned over the keys of the operation to the Downtown Development Authority, except for the Crest Theatre. The theater itself remains in much disrepair after the former operator pulled out lighting and other equipment on the way out the door — but the building’s classrooms have since been renovated. 

The Boca Raton Museum of Art this year expressed interest in moving its art classes north to the Crest Theatre before withdrawing the proposal.

Carter foresees about 17 classes per term with approximately 20 students each — and the city netting $85,000 a year after paying for the administrator, instructors and supplies.

Commissioner Rob Long — a supporter of the former leaseholder — expressed some misgivings.

“It’s crazy that we’re here. In my opinion, we’re out of choices,” he said. 

He said he had full faith in Carter and her staff but didn’t understand why there was such a rush. The plan seems “frenetic, and dare I say, desperate,” Long said.

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach agreed to pay Boca Raton $1,000 an hour should it need a backup fire engine and $2,000 an hour should a backup fireboat be needed to supplement the town’s new fire department — but only in an emergency.

The town will also pay Boca Raton $700 an hour per unit for a backup rescue unit, brush truck and command unit in an emergency.

“This collaboration aims to enhance the effectiveness of our emergency response capabilities, ensuring quicker and more comprehensive support to improve the overall safety and well-being of our residents,” Highland Beach Fire Rescue Chief Glenn Joseph wrote in a memo to the Town Commission.

The agreement, which still must be approved by the Boca Raton City Council, came to the Highland Beach Commission last month just short of three months since the town started its own fire department after severing its decades-long relationship with Delray Beach Fire Rescue.

“This is absolutely the right direction to be going in,” Highland Beach Commissioner Evalyn David said.

Efforts to hammer out a similar interlocal agreement with Delray Beach and even Boca Raton had previously failed due to several factors, including Highland Beach Fire Rescue’s unproven track record.

“There was a reluctance on the part of our neighbors, partially because of the politics of our breakup with Delray. But also because there was doubt about our ability to help them,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.

While previous discussions included possible mutual or automatic aid agreements, the pact with Boca Raton is strictly a fee-for-service contract, which does not require Highland Beach to provide any services to the much larger Boca Raton Fire Rescue.

But Joseph says he is hoping to strengthen the relationship with the neighboring city and maybe enter into a mutual aid agreement in the future, which could reduce costs.

“They don’t think we have enough resources to reciprocate,” he said.

Both the chief and the town manager say they are working hard to change that perception.

“We’re prepared to prove ourselves,” Labadie said.

Boca Raton Fire Rescue has more than 250 employees and eight fire stations while Highland Beach has just over 30 employees along with two ladder trucks and two rescue vehicles.

Joseph said the agreement with Boca Raton makes sense because both departments have the same medical protocols and same medical director, both have the same number of personnel on a truck and both transport patients to the same hospital.

The fee Boca Raton is charging of $1,000 per hour per truck, he said, is based on personnel costs and on state and national fee schedules.

Should Boca Raton need to run a hazardous materials call in Highland Beach, there would be no charge because there is a Regional Hazmat Response Team agreement between local departments.

Under terms of the proposed one-year agreement with Boca Raton, only Highland Beach’s fire captains or an incident commander can request the city’s assistance. The city then may decline to provide the assistance or determine how much help to provide.

The agreement is also very specific in determining under what circumstances Highland Beach can seek assistance from Boca.

“The town understands and agrees that it shall not seek the city’s assistance pursuant to this agreement in order to supplement or subsidize the town’s normal day-to-day operations or the town’s shortages in staffing and/or equipment,” the agreement states.

The agreement also spells out who will take the reins in the event of a major incident, with the Highland Beach incident commander directing all activities, but Boca Raton employees being under the command of their city leadership on scene.

While Joseph and town commissioners say they are grateful to Boca Raton for the partnership, they are hoping they’ll never need to take advantage of it.

“We’ve got it, we’ll likely never use it, but if we need it, it’s there,” Joseph said.

Highland Beach commissioners late last month agreed to set their maximum tax rate at $3.58 per $1,000 of taxable value, including operating and debt service funds, the same rate as in the previous two years.

While the commissioners can lower the tax rate between now and when the budget is finalized, they cannot increase the rate once they officially set it no later than early this month.

The town’s proposed $27 million FY 2025 budget, which begins Oct. 1, includes a slight increase of 18.5 cents per $1,000 of taxable value in the operating tax rate due largely to the increase in staffing associated with the town’s new fire department.

That is offset by a reduction in the town’s debt service tax rate due to the elimination of its water fund debt and a reduction in its fire service debt.

“Our ability to keep the tax rate low for a third consecutive year is a reflection of our commitment to making financial decisions strategically,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said.

If the tax rate remains unchanged, the owner of a home with a taxable value of $450,000 will pay about $1,611 in taxes to Highland Beach.

One factor enabling the town to maintain its low tax rate is an increase in taxable property value — now estimated at $317.4 million. The 9% increase is less than the 13% increase the previous tax year.

Property tax revenues account for about 76% of the town’s general fund revenues. They will increase about 7.7%, or just shy of $1 million.

While the town’s total tax rate will not be higher than the previous tax year, many property owners will still see a tax bump due to the increase in property values.

— Rich Pollack

Boca Raton has hired Kimley-Horn and Associates, an engineering and planning firm, to develop a Vision Zero action plan for the city.

The City Council previously approved a resolution that designates Boca Raton as a “Vision Zero city” and directed staff to create a plan to achieve that goal.

Vision Zero is a national program aimed at eliminating severe traffic injuries and deaths by making roadways safer, among other things.

The city received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation last year to create a plan. That will cover most of the $379,270 that the city will pay Kimley-Horn to develop it.
— Mary Hladky

ABOVE: Coastal Stewards staff members Dr. Shelby Loos (left) and Kara Portocarrero prepare to release juvenile green sea turtles that had been treated at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Loos, veterinarian and marine life conservation director, holds Terra. Portocarrero, rescue and rehabilitation coordinator, carries Marina. Terra was the first turtle to be rehabbed at Gumbo Limbo since March 2023. Terra arrived April 26 with fishhooks in a flipper and down its esophagus. Loos removed the hooks, and Terra received care to ensure it was eating and recovering before being released July 18. Marina arrived May 28 after being hooked in the mouth and flipper by a fisherman at the Deerfield Beach pier.
BELOW: Spectators record the release.
Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

Ever since the Brightline station opened in 2022, Boca Raton’s leaders have eagerly anticipated that developers would want to redevelop the area around it.

For that to happen, the city needed to create land development regulations for the area. But the city was slow to do so, and one developer became tired of waiting and withdrew its plans to build a 13-story luxury apartment project on a city block immediately south of the station.

Now, with word circulating that a developer will soon propose a public-private partnership to redevelop the area, city leaders are scrambling to make up for lost time. Without regulations in place, no project can be built.

Given a shove by anxious City Council members, city officials’ top priority now is to create transit-oriented community regulations for the station area as well as 30 city-owned acres south and west of the station, including land on which the City Hall and Police Department now sit.

The area would be bounded by the station and Downtown Library on the north, West Palmetto Park Road on the south, Dixie Highway on the east and Crawford Boulevard on the west.

City officials also propose creating a master redevelopment plan for the city’s current government campus.

City Manager George Brown termed the overall effort “priority one” in a June 28 memo to the mayor and City Council. “I emphasize this is a significant effort and we must act with urgency.”

City officials are working to select a major consulting firm with planning, engineering and architectural capabilities and expect to have one approved by the council by early October.

If that consultant can’t handle the entire project, the city can hire more that have specific areas of expertise.

The consultant must have significant experience with public-private partnerships, known as P3s. Such partnerships with the private sector are intended to save the city money by sharing redevelopment costs.

The consultant will create a master plan for the government complex and the transit-oriented community, or TOC.

The plan will allow for residential, retail, entertainment, recreation and city functions in the TOC.

The city also is allowing for the possibility that a developer will offer an unsolicited P3 proposal; the consultant would help the city evaluate it.

If the city accepts it, the consultant’s work could be at an end. But the city wants a consultant on board in case no such proposal materializes.

Revamping the government campus is not a new idea. The City Hall and police station are old, crumbling and have needed extensive repairs. The 30 acres also are in need of reimagining.

Consultant Song + Associates submitted two options for a new government hub in 2019. But the projected $200 million price tag stunned council members, who said they wanted to find ways to trim the cost. The start of the pandemic in 2020 brought the project to a halt.

By Mary Hladky

In a move orchestrated by Mayor Scott Singer, longtime City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser will be out of her job on Oct. 31, 10 months before her desired retirement date.

She will be paid for those months she now won’t be working, receiving a total payout of $437,046.

Frieser, hired as city attorney in 1999, was required to step down on Aug. 31, 2025, under terms of Boca Raton’s retirement program, and she had submitted a “separation of employment agreement” for that date.

Singer, however, wanted her out this month on Aug. 31 and asked that the matter be placed on the City Council’s July 23 agenda for a vote.

Eventually Singer asked Frieser at the meeting if she would agree to an Oct. 31 departure. She did, and the council voted 4-1 to go along, with Andy Thomson dissenting.

Singer’s only stated reason was that, since Frieser was due to retire, he wanted to begin a smooth transition to hiring a new city attorney. “I don’t feel it is necessary to talk about details or do anything to reflect on the city attorney’s service,” he said.

Singer offered no rebuke of her job performance and praised her service. “I have enjoyed working with the city attorney for more than a decade now,” he said. “I have great respect for your talents.”

He declined to answer questions from The Coastal Star about specific problems he has with the way she does her job. Frieser declined comment on her speeded-up departure.

The City Council’s discussion created an unseemly spectacle, as members haggled over the most appropriate departure date while Frieser sat next to them on the dais. At one point, Singer sought her advice, with Frieser asking if he actually wanted it. He said he did.

Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker and Council member Fran Nachlas expressed strong dismay about how the matter was being handled.

“I apologize for what we have put you through,” Drucker told Frieser at the end of the meeting. “I believe you were treated very poorly and unfairly today. Karma is a bitch. I wish you the best.”

While council members did not cite any shortcomings in how Frieser performed her job, there were signs in her June job evaluation that Singer and Thomson saw room for improvement, even as the council gave her a good evaluation consistent with those she had received in the past.

Thomson, a lawyer, said then that he had spoken with Frieser about ways to improve her office.

“You and I have been working through this in the last few months,” he said, adding that it might be possible to report details during the July 23 meeting.
“You have been open-minded to the suggestions I have made,” he said. “I appreciate the openness you have.”

Those suggestions included making the City Attorney’s Office practices consistent with those of other cities in becoming involved in matters at an early stage. He also cited process issues such as how quickly the office handled matters and reported back to city staff and the council, he said after that meeting.

Singer said he had communicated to Frieser “some points of departure this past year,” adding that “some areas of improvement” were needed, particularly with communication on litigation matters.

“We had the unfortunate news of litigation that came up this past year where we got an adverse opinion,” he said.

Singer did not cite the case, but it might have involved one brought by the owner of an undeveloped beachfront parcel.

On Feb. 1, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ruled that the city “unlawfully withheld and illegally delayed” turning over 42 documents that were damning to the city.

Hafele said he was not suggesting that the city purposely withheld records and said he had no issue with what he called the city’s “substantial efforts” to produce information.

“However, the court finds that whomever it was, be it the city attorney, be it the clerk, be it the elected officials themselves, that the production (of the records) was late, untimely, led to the filing of this lawsuit and the non-production was prejudicial to the plaintiff and its business pursuits,” he wrote in his 37-page opinion.

The main focus of the council’s discussion on July 23 was the separation agreement.

It was drafted by Frieser and reviewed by another in-house attorney and other city employees. It was essentially identical to the separation agreement she had drafted for former

City Manager Leif Ahnell, who retired on Dec. 31, 2023. At the time, no council member questioned that agreement.

Because Frieser had drafted the document for herself, Thomson said it should be reviewed by an outside, objective lawyer. “I think it is the prudent thing to do to have another set of eyes on it,” he said.

Only Council member Marc Wigder supported that. Others saw no need since it was a very simple document, and closely followed the Ahnell document template.

Nachlas said scrutiny of the document was “unfair” since a similar one had been scrutinized and approved by outside counsel in the past.

Frieser’s salary is $327,591. The separation agreement states that if she left on Aug. 31, she would be entitled to $547,995 in salary and benefits, including her pension, vacation time and sick leave that she would have received had she remained in her position until Aug. 31, 2025. If she leaves on Oct. 31, that will be reduced by about $110,000.

Ahnell, who retired three months earlier than he had to leave under the city’s retirement program, received $143,205.

While those amounts might seem generous, the payout parameters were set in a 2011 City Council resolution that subsequent councils have not revisited.

“If we want to change our practices going forward, we can do that,” Drucker said. “I don’t understand the urgency. I don’t understand why we are not doing what we did with Ahnell.”

None of the council members questioned the payout Frieser would receive.

Singer dismissed Thomson’s request, saying he saw no need for an outside review.

The motion Singer proposed and the council agreed to called for Frieser’s employment to end on Oct. 31 and directed City Manager George Brown to hire an executive search firm to help find her replacement.

“I sincerely regret that anyone might be disturbed or feel there is unfairness there,” Singer said. “I continue to value Ms. Frieser’s service to the city.”

Patrons at the Bounce restaurant and sports bar inside the redesigned Delray Beach Market. Photos by Tim Stepien/
The Coastal Star

As short season and demanding market topple dining spots, new ones arrive

By Jan Norris

Snowbirds returning in the fall will need to update their maps for their favorite dining spots. A plethora of restaurants have closed, moved or have refurbished their concepts.

New ones are opening as well, as a sort of tidal sweep of the dining scene takes place not just in South Palm Beach County, but all around South Florida.

Cabana El Rey thanked its customers after two decades of service on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.

Gone are Lionfish, and the decades-old Cabana El Rey on Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue. Salt 7, and the recent Delray Market food hall concept are out. In Boca Raton, Fries to Caviar was renamed and scaled back to Phil’s Place, but still couldn’t make it. Meanwhile in Boca Raton, Farmhouse Kitchen’s owner brought back Coal Mine Pizza’smenu to its restaurant, hoping diners who missed the pies will return.

To go with a more approachable flow, Avalon, one of the few white-tablecloth restaurants on the Avenue, will get a makeover of both decor and menu

Several new Asian spots, including Kapow!’s third outpost, in Delray Beach, and the expansion of Alleycat in Boca Raton, are incoming or already open. Upscale Italians are on the way from the Northeast: Gabriella’s Modern Italian from New Jersey is scheduled for a fall opening in Delray Beach.

Opinions differ on the reasons some long-timers have shuttered, or those newer to the area failed.

Lisabet Summa, chef/partner in the Elisabetta’s and Louie Bossi chains by Big Time Restaurant Group, has been involved in the county’s hospitality scene since 1983. She’s watched quite a few restaurants come and go.

She said it’s possible that the latest ones to close, several of which were corporate-owned eateries from the Northeast U.S., might have had too-high expectations in dealing with the South Florida season.

“I figure you have five good months, probably, January to May. Then a couple of transitional months,” said Summa, whose original Elisabetta’s is in Delray Beach. The season starts again in late fall, albeit slowly. But summer is typically very slow, she said.

Restaurant owners make most of their money in season, and squirrel away the profits to tide them over during the dead months. Some put staff on hiatus and abbreviate menus to cut costs.

Lease renewals are a big “aha” moment. Rents are up all over, but particularly on Atlantic Avenue as the Delray Beach downtown has been labeled a hot spot.

The city’s Downtown Development Authority spokeswoman, Melissa Perlman, says the DDA area has 160 restaurants with roughly 18,000 dining seats. It’s a lot of competition.
Chas Prakas, a restaurant real estate broker focusing on the area, says Delray Beach and Boca Raton remain hot entertainment spots.

“It wasn’t a dead area before, but it’s boomed post-COVID. This is the place to be. We had some of our strongest years before COVID. After the shutdown [ended], Palm Beach County just exploded,” he said.

Prakas and his staff have watched Wall Street companies relocating here swell the population as well, bringing diners with big cash to spend, he said. Steakhouses and sushi restaurants and high-end Italian have proliferated.

“There’s still a big influx from the Northeast, Texas and Georgia,” Prakas said. “In the big cities, there’s only a finite amount of property. Not a lot of choices in New York City.”
Bigger corporate owners with good concepts and who are well funded can afford the rents and are moving in.

But, “the small profit margins of restaurants make this a tough business,” he said.

For small owners, the skyrocketing rents, insurance and labor costs are crushing. Some restaurateurs, he said, must move out of Palm Beach County to have a chance. But Prakas says that isn’t always a bad thing. “I personally drive all over the place for good food and good bar programs.”

Gary Rack owns two Farmhouse Kitchens — one in Boca Raton and another on the busy East Atlantic Avenue/Second Street corner in Delray Beach. He sees rents going up as well.

“When I opened my first restaurant nine years ago, I was paying $125 a square foot. Everybody said I was crazy.”

It’s now close to the norm. Lowest base rents average $100 per square foot on Atlantic Avenue, Prakas said. That doesn’t figure in taxes or insurance or other fees.

Rack is staying. He says that the Delray Beach location is busy year-round, a big plus. Outdoor bar seating and bright neon signs make his wrap-around spot visible and with a ready-made vibe.

But in Boca Raton, at Royal Palm Place where dining is slower paced, he’s bringing back house favorites from a former menu, and working to entice diners who used to come in multiple times per week. A static menu gets boring, he said.

“I opened with Coal Mine Pizza, and we’re bringing it back. I won the No. 2 pizza in the worldwide contest in France with my truffle pie,” he said.

Guests have requested it, but it was a nudge from his spouse, Videl, that pushed him to fire up the pizza oven again when he contemplated a new menu.

“She said, ‘Why don’t you just bring back what you started with?’” Rack said.

The restaurant also has a new burrata bar, pizza sandwiches, three new pasta dishes, and more.

Rack’s former chef, Demetrio Zavala, came back two years ago as director of culinary for the restaurant. A whimsical redesign of the bar area spruced things up as well.

“The response has been amazing so far,” Rack said.

Another huge draw is the summer early bird: From 3 to 7 p.m. daily, diners take 50% off most of the menu, including alcohol. The only exceptions are pizza and the burrata bar.

The deal runs through September. Rack is expecting a swell in patronage as word gets around, boosting summer numbers for him. “We’ll take ’em,” he said.

Nicolas Kurban is owner of the Mediterranean Amar on Atlantic Avenue, another small venue, and agrees the seasonal dining crowd makes things tougher here, unlike in bigger cities that have year-round visitors.

But offering something unique and providing a satisfying dining experience can make a difference, he said. “You have to be consistent, with good food and service to back it up. It can’t be for just the season, but all year.”

His is a family-run restaurant, another plus for him, he said. “I’m here, my daughter works for me and my son-in-law. We are part of the community.”

Kurban is bullish on Delray Beach and after contemplating a move for expansion, decided to stay. He’s leased the former Bar 25 space (and former Mellow Mushroom) on Sixth Avenue, and will move Amar by the end of October. The new space will have 175 seats, an increase of 130.

“We’ll have a full bar, something that was missing before. Delray’s a drinking crowd — they love a happy hour, and craft cocktails,” he said. “I’ll get to open for breakfast and lunch, something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Kurban intends to keep the space on the Avenue, however, turning it into Gesto, a “cozy, wood-fired pizzeria,” something he says the street is missing.

Tired concepts with a lot of copycats are one of the reasons for failures, he thinks. “Italian, Mexican and steakhouses are all over,” he said. “I think that’s why Amar is successful.

The visitor from Idaho or New Jersey can get Italian or Mexican, but Lebanese food might not be accessible where they are.”

Another local, however, couldn’t make it. Philipp Hawkins changed the upscale Fries to Caviar bistro in Boca Raton on North Federal Highway into a casual Louisiana-themed restaurant, Phil’s Place. After failing to bring in the diners even on Father’s Day, he wrote on a local food blog that he was closing. “I just can’t afford the place anymore.”

Taking a chance
Several others from out of town are taking a chance.

Chicago chef Jonathan Fox and Michelin-starred restaurateur Takashi Yagihashi have teamed to open Kasumi in Boca Raton’s Waterstone Resort, they hope in September.
It will be a full-service Asian-themed restaurant based on the omotenashi service-focused art of hospitality from Japan. A completely new build-out for the 90-seat restaurant at the resort on the Intracoastal Waterway is underway.

“The ownership wanted to create a destination with Kasumi,” Fox said. He feels the resort and restaurant are the perfect match.

“This particular restaurant is refined but approachable,” he said. Noting the many other Asian restaurants in the market, Fox said this will be a refined experience, though “not fine dining.”

The menu will be structured for sharable food with sushi, raw dishes, and hot and cold appetizers.

The cuisine is authentic, Yagihashi said, and chef-created. “The menu is coming from the kitchen. In most sushi restaurants the chefs do the same things with imported fish, or from Toyosu from Japan. We want to have one more step.”

He plans to work with local fishermen to bring in fresh catches and provide seasonal fish on the menu. “Right from the water,” Yagihashi said.

The traditional items will be mixed with local ingredients, he said, but will “taste like Japan. We mix them with unusual ingredients, say, blood oranges, fennel, hyssop.”

“With the beautiful new dining room, and food-focused plate, it’s going to be an experiential restaurant,” said Manuel Bornia, founder of In House Creative, Kasumi’s management company.

Another Asian restaurant has reformatted and opened with fanfare on East Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton.

Alleycat, from chefs Eric Baker and David Bouhadana, is now an Izakaya bar with loads of sharable small plates. It is high energy as expected from Baker, creator of the Rebel House, with modern American takes on dishes such as handroll tacos. The nori taco shells are made in-house.

The food covers all bases: brisket noodles, tableside-grilled Wagu beef, unagi and foie gras sushi, and an omakase platter. Vegetarian dishes and more common sushi are on the menu as well.

Tuna Tuesdays are a big hit with the crowd. The chef breaks down a giant fresh tuna as a demo, serving up dishes made from the fresh fish. Reservations are a must for that one. Visit alleycatboca.com.

A worker is busy transforming the former BurgerFi in Delray Beach into Pura Vida, a health food cafe.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the restaurant Avalon is closed. Avalon will be closing for an interior redesign, according to owner Antonio Paganazzi. Currently, it is closed on Monday nights.

Coming and going in Delray Beach
Atlantic Avenue, a premier Palm Beach County dining destination, and its nearby side streets are seeing a gastronomical upheaval. Among the changes:
Pura Vida All Day Cafe, a Miami and NYC favorite for health food aficionados, is building out a space at 6 S. Ocean Blvd. — the old BurgerFi location. Opening early fall.
Boca Raton-based Kapow! Noodle Bar is taking the former Salt 7 space at 32 SE Second Ave. A fall opening is expected.
Geronimo Tequila Bar & Southwest Grill will move into Atlantic Avenue’s Cabana El Rey spot, which closed in July after a 20-year run. The new Southwest concept is from Connecticut. No opening date was set as of late July.
The Standard, an American restaurant and bar in Boca Raton's Mizner Park, opened a Delray Beach sibling at 166 SE Second Ave. in July in the former OG space.
Lefkes Greek opened inside the redesigned Delray Beach Market in July. It joins Bounce Sporting Club, a sports bar/club that has livened up the former food hall that never gained momentum. Owners have split the huge space at 33 SE Third Ave. into five spaces, focusing on “eatertainment,” with clubs and bars to come by 2025, including a 1970s-inspired disco, Good Night John Boy.
Roka Hula is a new modern Asian concept from the True Grit Hospitality Group (Voodoo Bayou, Calaveras Cantina). It’s changing up the former Taverna Opa space on Atlantic Avenue. Plans are to open by the end of the year.
Gabriella’s Modern Italian, a sibling of a New Jersey restaurant, is scheduled to debut in October in Atlantic Crossing.
Early fall, look for Jerk and Lime at Nicole’s House. The family-owned Jamaican fusion restaurant will be at 182 NW Fifth Ave.
Subculture Coffee opened a new location in July at 302 NE Sixth Ave. It has several other locations, including one in Mizner Park.
The Bridge Cafe expanded into a vacant spot next door this summer. It is at 814 E. Atlantic Ave.
Tony’s Market now has Johnny’s Deli inside, serving up sandwiches and more near the Delray Beach Tennis Center on West Atlantic Avenue.

In July, Subculture Coffee opened on northbound Federal Highway in Delray Beach.

Boca West Children’s Foundation leaders (l-r) Arthur Adler, Christina Irving, Pamela Weinroth, Richard Zenker. Photo provided

The 2023-24 fiscal year culminated in $1.7 million in donations from the Boca West Children’s Foundation to its more than 30 charity partners.

The grants will help fund projects ranging from providing cribs and diapers, to early childhood education and after-school care, to tutoring and counseling.

“All of this was made possible due to the hard work and dedication of our board of directors, members of Boca West Country Club and donors in our community,” said Pamela Weinroth, the foundation’s executive director. “We have raised a total of $19 million since the launch of Boca West Children’s Foundation in 2010.”

Added Richard Zenker, the foundation’s chairman, “The funds we grant to our charity partners directly help children and families in need, from providing backpacks with food, to diapers, beds, aftercare, tutoring, summer and sports camps, counseling, college scholarships and so much more.”

For more information, call 561-488-6980 or visit bocawestfoundation.org.

Boca twins’ cereal drive nets 8,000 boxes
Cereal4All, an annual drive organized by 16-year-old twins Jett and Luke Justin, of Boca Raton, will enable Boca Helping Hands to provide more than 8,000 boxes of cereal to its clients. The brothers aimed to gather 4,000 pounds of cereal for Boca Helping Hands and instead ended up with 10,619.

“We created Cereal4All to fight hunger around America’s breakfast tables because millions of American families suffer from food insecurity, which means they can’t always afford enough meals for everyone in their homes,” Luke Justin said. “Those families depend on food banks to help ease their hunger issues. Since breakfast food is one of the least donated items to food banks, that means pantry bags of meals distributed to families in need are often missing breakfast food.”

The drive’s impact has grown beyond Palm Beach County, with student ambassadors expanding its reach through more than 40 schools in Florida, 25 schools in other states and one in Canada.

“The other part of Cereal4All’s mission is to make students more aware of food insecurity in their communities,” Jett Justin said. “The happy connection young people have with cereal makes the sad facts of food insecurity more personal for them. Students can clearly imagine what it means to have an empty bowl.”

For more information about Cereal4All, call 561-289-1378 or visit cereal4all.org. For more information about Boca Helping Hands, call 561-417-0913 or visit bocahelpinghands.org.

JARC Florida names five new members to board
Three members and two honorary members have been added to the leadership of JARC Florida, a Boca Raton-based organization that educates and empowers people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Summer Faerman, Harry Posin and Jonathan Greenhut join honorary members Rabbi David Baum and Debra Hallow at JARC Florida.

Faerman is director of the Meryl and Ron Gallatin Tzedakah, Learning and Chesed program at B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton.

Posin is founder and president of Label & Co. home builders.

Greenhut is an entrepreneur who has started multiple businesses in the health, wellness and beauty industries.

For more information, call 561-558-2550 or visit jarcfl.org.

David Waldshan fund expands mission at FAU
When Ben and Liz Waldshan pledged a gift to the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education at Florida Atlantic University, the purpose was to deepen knowledge of the Holocaust and human rights.

The David Waldshan Educational Endowment Fund will amplify the mission of the center by providing learning opportunities to professional educators in South Florida to combat prejudice and indifference.

“The Florida Atlantic Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, championing education as our best hope against hatred, is a perfect fit for us to honor my father’s greatest wish — to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust never happen again,” said Ben Waldshan, noting that the gift was made in memory of David Waldshan, a Holocaust survivor. “In today’s current environment, where anti-semitism is troublingly on the rise, we feel it’s more important than ever to support the center for its hard work and to accelerate its impact.”

David Waldshan died in 2023.

For more information, call 561-297-3000 or visit www.fau.edu/artsandletters/pjhr/chhre.

Special fundraiser will benefit Spady Museum
A Spady Cultural Heritage Museum fundraiser has launched online as part of Give 8/28, a national day of philanthropy organized by the Young, Black & Giving Back Institute.

The museum in Delray Beach will use the funds for the Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch in January.

To donate, visit give828.org/donate/expanding-and-preserving-our-cultural-heritage.

“At a time when our state funding has been eliminated, it is support from our local donors, members, friends, representatives and partners that allow us to continue important work, like educating and empowering our young people and providing cultural and historical information to everyone,” museum director Charlene Farrington said. “Now more than ever, it is important for anyone who supports education, the arts and history to support the programs of the Spady Museum.”

The fundraiser comes as Black-led organizations across the country highlight the fact that they receive 2% of institutional dollars from foundations. Give 8/28 seeks to empower those organizations working in areas such as education and mentoring, health and wellness and more.

The Spady Museum specifically is employing Give 8/28 to make up for $27,244 cut from its operating budget due to the governor’s veto of arts-and-culture grants statewide for fiscal year 2025.

“The funding gap left by the state of Florida means we have to work extra hard and be super creative,” Farrington said. “We welcome the public’s support and invite them to come experience what the Spady has to offer.”

For more information, call 561-279-8883.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.

A benefit for Tri-County Animal Rescue ended up being an enchanting evening under the stars as supporters and their four-legged guests experienced an exquisite meal and live music at the indoor and outdoor affair. Highlights included shopping at pop-up boutiques, photos with pets, and a silent auction.
ABOVE: (l-r) Raul Pupo, Suzi Goldsmith and Nikki Pupo. Photo provided

HomeSafe welcomed 100 golfers (many from the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club) to work on their short games for a cause that goes a long way. The event — in its second year — raised a record-breaking $100,000 that will go toward preventing abuse and helping thousands of children and families who have endured trauma.

(l-r) Patty Larkin, Logan Shalmi, Fern Schmidt, Jim MacCutcheon, Brooke Qualk and Phil Engman.

(l-r) Jeanette Austin, Jayne Malfitano, Michelle Bernardo and Jori Farrell.

(l-r) Rochelle LeCavalier, Michele Desjardins, Kerrie Milligan and Kristine Miller.

(l-r) Genevieve Murphy, Aileen Farrell, HomeSafe CEO Matt Ladika, Kathleen Long and Lisa Addeo.

Kimberly and Joe Scaggs.

Photos provided by Tracey Benson Photography

By Arden Moore

In 1999, I left the newspaper and book publishing world to cover what’s happening in the pet world.

Back then, no one referred to themselves as pet parents. Cat daddies didn’t exist. The professional pet sitting industry was still in its infancy. Dogs competing in surfing events or celebrating “yappy hours” were unheard of.

You’ve come a long way, doggy and kitty. Today, pets are unapologetically regarded as beloved family members by many of us. This growing love for our four-leggers has unleashed innovative pet services. To find examples, you need to look no further than right here in Palm Beach County.

You may spot a state-of-the-art mobile grooming van parked on your street. Inside, dogs are being treated to a sugar cookie spritz.

The next wedding you attend may include the couple’s well-mannered dog sporting a canine tux and participating in the ceremony.

Or you may notice a French bulldog being escorted onto your plane by a professional pet concierge expert.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these specialized pet services:

A dog is ready to be beautified in a Woofie’s mobile grooming van. Photos provided

Mobile grooming
Amy Addington left the corporate world 20 years ago to cater to dogs. She and Leslie Barron launched Woofie’s, a premium mobile pet service company in Ashburn, Virginia, that offers grooming, pet sitting and dog walking. They eventually franchised, with Woofie’s operating in states across the country. One of the newest is here in Delray Beach, where Amy now resides.

“Back then when we quit our corporate jobs, people thought we were crazy,” Addington says. “But we saw this as a way to elevate the pet profession by offering the convenience of mobile services, including grooming, inside a state-of-the-art mobile van. Our grooming tables feature hydraulic lifts to easily raise and lower a dog.”

In some cases, pet parents get to come inside to witness their shaggy, dirty dogs transform into well-manicured, nice-smelling canines.

Liz Gibbs, who sports an animal science degree from Rutgers and worked for a decade at zoos and dog boarding facilities, is the general manager for the Woofie’s in Delray Beach. Woofie’s has partnered with Pet Vet Connection, a telehealth company that gives clients 24/7 access to veterinarians via video or phone chats.

“With our Pet Vet Connection, any pet under our care — be it for pet sitting or grooming — has 24/7 access to veterinary care,” Gibbs says. “In doing a snout-to-tail inspection on a dog, one of our groomers may find a hot spot or a tick or a lump or bump. Having immediate access to veterinary telehealth services gives our clients that much-needed peace of mind.”

Here comes the dog
These days, dogs, cats and other family pets are being invited to once no-pets-allowed events, like lavish weddings. Recognizing this trend motivated Jill Merjeski, owner of Jill’s

Next Door Dog Walking and Pet Services, to add wedding pet attendant services for her clients.

“We offer different wedding packages, from just doing the pet transport back and forth to the ceremony to getting the pet cleaned, brushed, time to arrive early to sniff and explore the wedding location and working with the wedding photographer to include the pet in the pictures,” Merjeski says.

“And, if they want their pet to stay through the reception, we are there for them and we also offer honeymoon pet care options.”
Merjeski, from Highland Beach, recognizes that everyone is dressed up for the ceremony. Being in charge of the pet ensures that the wedding becomes memorable and free of pet disruptions.

“One of our first pet wedding services was for a couple with a yellow Labrador named Cody,” she says. “I have walked Cody for years, so I knew him, and he knew me. He has a good temperament and wore a bow tie that made everyone’s day at the wedding.”

Word of Jill’s pet wedding services landed her an invitation to be a vendor at a major bridal and wedding expo held in West Palm Beach.

“This new generation getting married is really focusing on their pets as family members, so I see this being a pet service more people will want,” she says.

Matthew Darnall, owner of Totally Pawsome Pet Transport, with a client.

By air, ground or to the vet
Matthew Darnall, who is best known as Matty, is also a pet trend-setter. He spent about 25 years in the hospitality industry, mainly at country clubs and luxury resorts, but his prime passion has been pets. He has become a certified pet first aid/CPR instructor and volunteers about 500 hours a year helping animals at Tri- County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton.

This has led him to pivot his concierge talents to pets by starting the Totally Pawsome Pet Transport company based in Boca Raton. Playing off the feminine term nanny, he offers transport pet services on airplanes, by vehicle for family relocations and even trips to the veterinary clinic and groomers for his pet clients. He refers to his services as Air Manny, Ground Manny and Vet Manny.

“My niche is that I only do solo and VIP trips,” Darnall says. “My motto is safely delivering smiles, one pet at a time.”

He specializes in chaperoning cats and small dog breeds with door-to-door service to and from major airports within the continental United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. On a recent flight he accompanied a senior cat named Meeko, who needs daily thyroid medicine.

Her pet parent was moving from Boca Raton to the Philadelphia area and didn’t want Meeko stressed by the movers and from enduring a three-day car ride to Philly, Darnall says.

“I picked up Meeko from her house a day before the movers arrived.”

Matty also drove a parrot named Simon safely from Coral Springs to the owner’s new home in Orlando.

“I am able to transport beyond dogs and cats to include birds and reptiles,” he says. “I was expecting Simon to say some words on the drive, but he just made some bird noises, and the trip went smoothly for the both of us.”

Arden Moore is an author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Learn more by visiting www.ardenmoore.com.