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12345030670?profile=RESIZE_710xLongtime Boca Raton City Manager Leif Ahnell, who retired Dec. 31, shares a light moment with his deputy and successor George Brown during an event for city staff. Photo provided

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton has profoundly changed over the last 24 years. But there was one constant: City Manager Leif Ahnell.

Ahnell’s long tenure, described by his longtime deputy George Brown as “unprecedented,” ended on Dec. 31 when he retired three months earlier than expected and Brown took over the reins.

Brown and City Council members paid tribute to Ahnell on Dec. 12, their last meeting of the year, highlighting what council member Marc Wigder said was his “financial wizardry.”

Council members past and present have lauded his financial acumen and credited him with maintaining the city’s strong financial position, finding creative ways to save the city money, and balancing the cost of the city’s growth with the council’s emphasis on keeping a low tax rate.

He tightened procedures in the budget office and helped establish long-range financial planning and dedicated reserves to meet future financial needs, Brown said.

City staff members recognized Ahnell’s work by creating a special cover for this fiscal year’s budget report.

“His 33-year commitment to financial stewardship not only influenced the advancement of Boca Raton as a beautiful, safe, and vibrant coastal community, but it also laid a strong foundation for the city’s prosperous future,” they wrote.

Ahnell joined the city as an accountant in 1990. He then served as controller/treasurer, director of the Office of Management and Budget and assistant city manager before becoming city manager in 1999.

In that job, he oversaw seven departments, 70 divisions, nearly 2,000 employees and a $1.1 billion annual budget.

He is a certified public accountant, certified public finance officer and certified government finance officer. He has two bachelor degrees, in accounting and finance, from Florida Atlantic University.

Ahnell’s final salary was $318,000 a year, compared to $291,000 for the city manager of larger West Palm Beach and $230,000 in smaller Delray Beach.

During his time in the top job, the city’s population grew from 73,000 to nearly 100,000, the roster of corporate headquarters in the city increased to 75 and the city’s demographics changed as young families moved to the city and children jam-packed its schools.

The city’s downtown was transformed by new condos, rentals and retail, a Brightline train station was built on the edge of downtown and a performing arts complex, the Center for Arts and Innovation, will invigorate Mizner Park when it is completed as early as 2028.

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Leif Ahnell shunned publicity as manager but got consistently high marks. ‘So much of what he does is behind the scenes ... and in many instances never appreciated,’ says council member Fran Nachlas. Photo provided

Ahnell shied away from publicity and kept reporters at a distance. He did not respond to requests by The Coastal Star to interview him about his years with the city and future plans.

But that reticence did not extend to his dealings with council members, who praised him over the years for making himself available to answer questions and responding quickly to their calls or emails.

During performance evaluations, council members consistently gave him high marks.

“I struggle to find an area of improvement to even suggest,” then-council member and now Mayor Scott Singer said in 2017. “Mr. Ahnell succeeds in areas that I can’t even fathom.”

“We’re on worldwide lists of best places to live, work, go to school, all those things,” said then-council member Jeremy Rodgers the same year. “It’s a testament to you and a testament to your hiring and our great staff that you’ve brought here.”

Ahnell’s most recent evaluations, on May 9, came as council members knew he would be stepping down because his retirement plan required him to leave by March 31.

He once again was lauded.

“Financially, you are a genius,” said Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte. “You always make sure our city is in great financial shape.”

Yet they suggested ways he could improve his performance. Several focused on the need for more proactive communication with them, citing a few instances when they felt blindsided by learning about issues or problems from people outside City Hall.

But in offering their tributes on Dec. 12, council members were only positive.

Ahnell was not present in person to hear them because he was taking earned time off during the holidays. Since the council decided in May that Brown should take over because of his experience and historical knowledge of the city, Ahnell has taken a less visible role in city governance.

“So much of what he does is behind the scenes, never recognized, never rewarded and in many instances never appreciated,” said Fran Nachlas.

“He leaves a lasting legacy,” Singer said. “It goes beyond the incredible financial position we have been in over the last quarter century, reflected in budgets, long-range planning, capital planning, the way we have maintained excellence in all departments.”

And Brown, who joined the city’s building inspection division in 1977 and has served as deputy city manager since 2004, offered his own praise.

“I think few people understand the complexity of the position of city manager,” he said. “Leif did a wonderful job. … It has been my honor to work with him for the past 24 years.

“And I want to express my appreciation to him for his support of me during my position at the time and letting me work on … complex, interesting things that we have managed to accomplish for the city under his leadership.”

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By Rich Pollack

The 122-unit Dalton Place condominium completed Highland Beach’s strict recertification process in April 2022 — just six months after the town enacted new rules — thanks in large part to a $1.75 million renovation project that began prior to the collapse of Champlain Towers South.

“We were well under way with construction,” said Dalton Place’s board president, Ron Reame. “After what happened in Surfside, we just said, ‘Hey, we’re almost done, let’s get certified.’”

None of the 52 other buildings in Highland Beach that must be certified has completed the process, according to Building Official Jeff Remas.

Reame said that Dalton Place, a Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina building that began its renovation in March 2021, three months before the June 24 collapse of the 12-story condominium in Miami-Dade County, has been keeping up with major repairs, helping to minimize the work needed to receive the certification.

“We have everything tested every couple of years,” he said.

Remas said so far, 18 buildings have submitted paperwork for review. Two buildings are currently undergoing renovations but have not filed paperwork, and 15 buildings have not reached the deadline given by the town to file reports. The remainder are in the process of having their buildings inspected, he said.

Highland Beach has its own ordinance, which is stricter than the state requirements. The town requires an electrical inspection in addition to a structural inspection by certified engineers

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12345004287?profile=RESIZE_710xThe barricades to protect people from traffic on Federal Highway could be staggered to soften their appearance and be painted or covered with murals. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

The city has started work to improve the appearance and safety of Sanborn Square, making modest fixes until a major renovation project is launched in three or four years.

Council members have pressed staff to make changes, and increased the current fiscal year’s budget by $350,000 to get some immediate action at the downtown focal point where residents gather for weekend yoga classes, special events or simply to relax.

The 40-year-old square drew their attention when city crews installed temporary barricades along Federal Highway about two years ago to prevent drivers — by accident or intentionally — from jumping the curb and injuring people.

Those barricades were widely criticized as unsightly and a poor look for the heart of downtown, so city staffers said they would look for temporary alternatives.

The pavilion has been repainted, Assistant City Manager Chrissy Gibson said at a Dec. 11 council workshop meeting.

City staff proposed replacing the current barricades with concrete Jersey barricades that can be painted or covered with murals.

Instead of being lined up along the roadway, the barricades can be staggered in ways that soften the massing and appearance.

“Aesthetically, we think they are more pleasing to the eye than what we have there now,” Gibson said.

Once a full renovation takes place, at a cost of about $4 million, the Jersey barricades can be used elsewhere in the city, Gibson said.

But at a City Council meeting the next night, council member Yvette Drucker said she was strongly opposed to the Jersey barricades even if they were painted. She proposed discussing this further at an upcoming council meeting.

City staff has not yet made recommendations about whether to remove the square’s defunct fountain, replacing it temporarily with public art or an activities space, or how to improve the park’s landscaping.

The city will receive a $285,000 matching federal grant that will defray part of the project cost.

“Make it safe,” Mayor Scott Singer said about the square. “Make it look good.”

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By Steve Plunkett

The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District will spend up to $10,000 to get copies of public records from the city for its fight to stop sending millions of dollars each year to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Briann Harms, the district’s executive director, asked district commissioners to authorize her to spend more than $5,000 on the records request at their Dec. 4 meeting.

“Originally the bill was close to $9,000 so I’m looking for a ballpark around there,” she said.

Commissioners settled on $10,000 and Harms said she would ask for more if need be.

The Boca Raton City Council unanimously voted in November to extend the district’s obligation to make annual tax increment funding payments until 2042. Harms said the decision would divert $60 million from the district to the CRA that could be used for recreation needs.

The district is asking for, among other things, a copy of all the requests the CRA made in the last 10 years seeking recommendations from the district on how to spend the tax increment funding, as required by the interlocal agreement between the district and the CRA.

Commissioner Craig Ehrnst asked whether the board should hire an outside attorney to make the records request, but Sam Goren, the district’s contracted legal counsel, said his firm could handle it for now.

The city has already tasked outside lawyer Jamie Cole as a special counsel on the issue, and Cole has already contacted Goren, he said.

“This board has made no public decision to sue anybody for anything,” Goren pointed out.

But, he said, “The city’s obviously paying attention to what you do on this dais.”

The district’s tax increment financing payments to the Community Redevelopment Agency have grown from about $70,000 in 1986 to $2.6 million this year. Harms pleaded with the City Council for an exemption from the TIF payments before the CRA’s lifespan was extended.

The TIF payments amount to the taxes owed to the beach and park district from increased property values in the CRA district, taxes which under state law are then paid to the CRA.Harms said the law would allow the CRA to reduce or eliminate the district’s payments.

The district thought the TIF payments would end in 2019 when the bond for building Mizner Park was paid off. That didn’t happen.

Then the district thought the payments would end in 2025 when the Community Redevelopment Agency was scheduled to sunset.

But in June, then-City Manager Leif Ahnell proposed extending the CRA to 2042, and with it the district’s obligation to make payments.

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Boca Raton News briefs

City hopes to improve streets for all — The City Council on Nov. 28 adopted a Complete Streets policy that will guide planning, design, operation and maintenance of streets so that they will meet the needs of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.
Complete Streets has been adopted by other cities and is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The city will make changes that include improving its engineering design standards and developing a new bicycle and pedestrian master plan.
The council has made improving the city’s mobility and connectivity a priority as residents press for improvements to existing streets, sidewalks, bike lanes and crosswalks.

Fines for polyfoam and balloon use enacted — The council established fines that people must pay if they sell or distribute polystyrene foam products or use balloons or confetti in outdoor areas on city property. Both activities were prohibited some time ago, but fines were not established at the time.
Violators will be warned after the first infraction. They then can be fined a minimum of $50 but have the right to appeal the fine.

Trash fines considered —Still under review are potential fines for construction activity occurring outside specified times of the day, and for bulk and vegetative waste being placed for pickup outside of required collection times or not in required areas.


— Mary Hladky

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12344970061?profile=RESIZE_710xABOVE: A private jet taxis past part of the 135-foot-long mural that shows air traffic control and a burrowing owl. BELOW: The toothy expression on the front of a fighter plane pays homage to the years the airfield was a military training ground. It opened as a general aviation airport 75 years ago, and the Boca Raton Airport Authority is celebrating that anniversary this year. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

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By Rich Pollack

Before there was the thriving Boca Raton Airport, and even before there was the secretive Boca Raton Army Airfield, there was the small grass airstrip that helped bring tourists to a luxurious hotel in the town that was less than 20 years old at the time.

Built in the mid-1930s, when commercial air flight was still in its infancy, the airstrip served as a magnet to attract guests from far away to the Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn, now known as The Boca Raton.

“Aviation in Boca Raton predates the war effort,” said Clara Bennett, executive director of the Boca Raton Airport Authority, which operates the airport.

For the past year, the history of flight in Boca Raton and the role the airport has played in it have been front and center as the Airport Authority celebrates the 75th anniversary of the day that a huge chunk of what had been the air base was turned over to the city to operate as a public airport.

The celebration, highlighted last month with the reveal of a 135-foot-long mural illustrating the airport’s past, present and future as well as a proclamation presented by the Boca Raton City Council, will continue Jan. 19 with a 75th anniversary reception and dinner.

“I hope this mural brings people joy and also that some of the story of the airport comes across,” said Craig McInnis, the artist who created the mural, which he painted along with several other artists. “You see it when you take off and land.”

12344973261?profile=RESIZE_710xMural artist Craig McInnis

Throughout a yearlong celebration of the Dec. 28, 1948, transition of the air base to a public general aviation airport, a focus has been on the impact the facility has had over the years as well as on how the airport will be a vital part of the region in years to come.

“Any anniversary is an opportunity to reflect, and this campaign focuses on the airport’s role in the development of the local community,” Bennett said.

Much of that impact is depicted in the mural, which captures a series of snippets portraying the airport’s evolution while highlighting current successes and illustrating the use of technology that will be integrated into airport operations down the road.

Planned for over a year and painted in just 12 days, the $30,000 mural may be the start of a much bigger work of art that will stretch farther north on the concrete security wall that separates the airfield from entertainment venues including Boomers.

McInnis’ mural artistry also adorns a beach tunnel at the city’s Spanish River Park and a wall at Red Reef Park.

Today the airport handles more than 83,000 aviation operations a year, bringing in visitors from across the country as well as from South America, the Caribbean and as far away as Europe thanks to a U.S. Customs facility that opened in May 2018.

The airport is estimated to have an economic impact of about $693 million and is credited with creating 4,800 jobs directly or indirectly that are related to airport activity.

It also had a major economic impact on Boca Raton during the war years with an estimated 16,000 troops and 1,200 civilians on the Army Airfield every year from 1942 to 1947, and hundreds of jobs being created outside the field to support the population.

At its peak, the airfield included about 800 buildings on about 6,000 acres where Army Air crews were trained to use the recently developed radar technology. The mission was so secretive at the time that the airfield never appeared on aerial photographs.

A large portion of the airfield was turned over to the city for the airport and to the state for educational purposes and led to the creation of Florida Atlantic University.

Education is also a focus of the Airport Authority’s community outreach, which in conjunction with Lynn University helped West Boca High School create an Aviation Academy that helps students learn about careers in aviation. The airport also provides scholarships to students in the program.

Understanding that general aviation is constantly evolving with technology, the leadership of the Airport Authority created a master plan that addresses the demand the airport will face in the future and how to meet it.

The airport has earmarked $80 million in its long-term capital improvement plan to address the changing industry.

“We’ll be revitalizing and modernizing to better address the aviation needs of the community,” Bennett said.

At the same time, the airport is looking for ways to continue building connections that will benefit the overall community.

“Our role in the future is to continue serving as a catalyst for innovation and education,” Bennett said.

 

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By Rich Pollack

With a Feb. 1 meeting hosted by county leaders just weeks away, Highland Beach condo presidents from nearly two dozen buildings gathered last month to brainstorm a strategy aimed at stopping the county’s long-delayed development of Milani Park on the beach at the south end of town.

When it was over, the solution — accented with a few nuances — boiled down to a plan from a much-used playbook: Show strength in numbers by getting residents to show up en masse.

“Just the fact that there are massive amounts of people there will send a message that we don’t want a park,” said Evalyn David, a town commissioner who lives in the Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina, which borders the future park site.

Set for 6 p.m. at the town’s library, the public meeting will include presentations by county officials including Commissioner Marci Woodward, whose district includes Highland Beach, and Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Cirillo.

It will be followed by public comments, and the county leaders can expect an earful, with the bottom line being that Highland Beach residents don’t want the park.

“There is probably no one in Highland Beach in favor of a park,” said Ron Reame, president of Dalton Place, a Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina building. “Our goal is to get residents to the meeting and convince county commissioners we don’t want this park.”

Purchased from the Milani family in 1987 for $4 million, the 5.6-acre property straddling State Road A1A has remained vacant for decades, first tied up in a legal battle that ended with a settlement agreement and then allowed to remain dormant as county leaders kept deferring decisions on development.

That changed over the summer when county commissioners agreed to move forward with the project, which includes about 40 parking spaces on the west side of A1A and a boardwalk leading to the beach through a largely preserved natural area.

During the meeting of condo presidents, leaders from buildings in the northern portion of town said their residents weren’t as familiar with the Milani Park issue and needed to be better informed.

The group is looking at several suggestions aimed at getting the word out, including coming up with a letter that the presidents can share with their residents.

In addition to developing strategies to pack the meeting, the group discussed how to deliver key messages that include reasons why the park shouldn’t be built. One suggestion is to identify residents who will each research one of several key points and serve as point-people to deliver those messages to county leaders.

“We need to have people at the Feb. 1 meeting who are assigned to discuss specific issues,” said Eve Rosen, a Boca Highland resident.

Among the issues the presidents want to address are environmental concerns, with the beach area of the park a prime sea turtle nesting area, and safety and security issues.

To get from the parking lot to the beach, visitors will have to cross A1A, which raises concerns about pedestrian safety.

“I think it’s going to be extremely dangerous,” Reame said.

Concerns that the park would be used by vagrants and drug users also surfaced, as did discussion about the small amount of beach available during high tide and the inclusion of Yamato Rock on the property, which could present safety issues when exposed at low tide.

The condo presidents also endorsed a strategy discussed by the Highland Beach Town Commission to reach out to individual county commissioners and let them know that the county could be better off selling the property and putting the money to better use.

The town has hired a lobbyist and the presidents are hoping to coordinate with the town and the lobbyist on consistent messaging.

Reame said that he has also reached out to Lucia Milani to see if she would be amenable to using the property for something other than a park but said that if asked, she would continue advocating for a park.

The future park would be named after her late husband, Cam Milani.

In response to an email from The Coastal Star, Milani said she would prefer not to speak publicly given the ongoing public processes.

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By Mary Hladky

Fed up with car thefts in their neighborhoods and what they claim is insufficient police action to stop them, Golden Triangle and Golden Harbour residents have mounted a campaign to press the Boca Raton Police Department to ramp up enforcement.

The residents turned out in force at the Dec. 11 and 12 council meetings to make their case that more needs to be done to stop the thefts in their neighborhoods along the Intracoastal Waterway north of Palmetto Park Road.

“We are sitting ducks,” said Golden Triangle resident Joe Majhess. “In the last week, $1 million of cars were stolen out of our neighborhood. We told (police) it would escalate. It has.”

Residents said the thieves aren’t simply looking for unlocked cars in driveways. They now are entering garages, which prompts fears that their homes could be invaded. They also think that the thieves are armed, because a stolen Bentley and Rolls-Royce had guns in them, and the Bentley also had $10,000 inside.

“It is a scary time to be a resident in our neighborhood,” said one woman. “It is not a good quality of life when you are at home and scared.”

The residents want the Police Department to discard a long-standing policy that officers cannot chase suspected criminals unless they committed a forcible felony, or crimes such as murder, manslaughter, sexual battery, carjacking and robbery. Car theft is not a forcible felony.

Officers can make arrests if they catch thieves in the act and they do not flee.

“With a no-chase policy, there is no way to stop them,” said Mike Majhess, Joe’s uncle.

The policy results in few arrests, which emboldens the thieves, they said.

“I don’t have a great deal of optimism about there being a great deal of change unless this issue is pressed,” Joe Majhess said when contacted after the meeting. “The ultimate responsibility falls on the police chief to enforce the laws and make us feel safe. Unless crime is effectively deterred, it is only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.”

However, Police Department statistics do not support the residents’ contention that more cars are being stolen and that few arrests are made.

As of mid-December, 213 cars had been stolen citywide. Totals of 218 were stolen in 2022, 168 in 2021 and 220 in 2020.

At the end of 2023, 20 arrests had been made, and 33 cases remained under investigation. Thirty-eight arrests were made in 2022.

Police Chief Michele Miuccio denied ignoring the problem at the Dec. 11 meeting, saying that more officers are patrolling the neighborhoods at night and conducting surveillance in unmarked vehicles.

While declining to discuss investigative techniques “so the bad guys know what we are doing,” she said, “we are throwing as much assets at it as we can.”

Thefts aren’t an issue just for Boca Raton, she said, noting that car thieves are operating throughout southern Palm Beach County.

To safeguard themselves, she urged residents not to keep cars unlocked with keys or key fobs inside. According to department statistics as of mid-December, 57% of the stolen cars were unlocked and 58% had keys or fobs in the car.

Many police departments in Florida and in other states have no-pursuit policies similar to Boca Raton’s for crimes other than forcible felonies. High-speed chases have drawn scrutiny across the country because they often result in death and injury.

The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2022 that a 2015 USA Today analysis showed more than 5,000 people had been killed in police car chases between 1979 and 2013. Most were not involved in the chases and were killed in their own cars by a fleeing driver, and tens of thousands more were injured, the analysis showed.

From 2016 to 2020, an additional 1,903 people were killed in crashes involving police pursuits, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 1990 called pursuits “the most dangerous of all ordinary police activities” and urged police departments to adopt policies listing when officers can and cannot pursue someone, the Times report said.

A Florida Supreme Court ruling in 1992 also prompted police departments to revise their pursuit policies after the court held that cities and their police officers involved in pursuits resulting in death or injuries are liable for damages.

Boca Raton City Council members voiced support for more police patrols in the neighborhoods and an enhanced public education program so people know they need to keep their cars locked.

George Brown, who was elevated to city manager on Dec. 31, said police will meet with residents to share information.

But as of now, the Police Department is not considering changing its no-pursuit policy, police Public Information Manager Mark Economou wrote in an email after the meeting.

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The completion date to replace the El Rio Canal bridge on West Palmetto Park Road has been pushed back once again.

The project, which started in 2021 and was to be completed in the fall of 2022, is now expected to be finished sometime in the spring, according to the county’s Engineering and Public Works Department.

That’s later than the expected completion date of January announced about a month ago, which replaced an expected completion in December.

The most recent reason for the delay is the installation of piles on the west end of the canal, “where unexpected underground debris prompted the use of additional equipment and extended the process beyond the initial estimate. Despite the setback, all piles were eventually installed,” the county said.

Upcoming work includes concrete placement for pile caps and continued pile driving.

Since the project has been underway, drivers have experienced lane closures and detours affecting both eastbound and westbound traffic.

Palmetto Park Road is a county road, so this is a county project.

When the project was announced, it was expected to cost $4.3 million, funded by gas taxes and impact fees.


— Mary Hladky

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Participants’ stories of 1964 polio preventive show parallels to COVID-19

By Joyce Reingold

Walter and Jean Dutch left New York in 1946 to settle in Briny Breezes with their two young children, Karen and Wayne. Karen Dutch Steinke was just 6 months old then, but she would later learn that on the trip south, her parents bypassed an area of the country where they had heard poliomyelitis was present.
In the 1940s, polio outbreaks were becoming more frequent, and millions of parents like the Dutches became fierce sentinels protecting vulnerable children from the highly contagious virus that too often resulted in muscle weakness, paralysis and sometimes death. In summer, when cases of the virus spiked, parents kept children indoors. Families social-distanced, self-isolated and quarantined.
The virus is transmitted through contact with fecal matter or via droplets from coughs or sneezes. But then, there were many theories — perhaps flies, car exhaust or even cats were to blame. In the absence of scientific evidence, fear festered.
“Few diseases frightened parents more in the early part of the 20th century than did polio,” the College of Physicians of Philadelphia says. In 1952, said to be the polio epidemic’s most virulent year in America, there were almost 58,000 reported cases; 3,000 of those stricken died. By then, Dr. Jonas Salk was working on an injectable, “killed virus” vaccine. Three years later, on April 12, 1955, the U.S. government gave him the green light. In some cities, church bells rang to celebrate the announcement.
The parallels to today’s COVID-19 pandemic are striking: death and disability, fear and disruption — and hope. COVID vaccines developed at “warp speed” are making their way into eager communities, most of which are also eager for speedier, easier and more equitable distribution. President Joe Biden proposes deploying mobile vaccination units, expanding distribution points to include stadiums and other large venues, and adding more drive-thru options, so people can get vaccinated in their cars.
It’s a convenience modeled here 57 years ago, when the Delray Beach Drive-In served as one of 52 locations for Palm Beach County’s mass polio vaccination effort. The Palm Beach County Medical Society’s goal was to immunize every person in the county — all 280,000 of them — starting on Jan. 19, 1964.
That was the first of three Sabin Oral Sundays, on which residents could receive doses of Albert Sabin’s polio vaccine. It was developed using a live but weakened form of the virus and could be delivered in a sugar cube or small swallow of fruit-flavored syrup. First licensed for use in 1960, it was a successor to Salk’s groundbreaking vaccine.
The Palm Beach County Medical Society and the Jaycees organized the distribution effort, choosing sites from the coast to Canal Point, and from Jupiter to Boca Raton. Nurses, doctors, pharmacists and hundreds of volunteers staffed these locations on Jan. 19 and the remaining Sabin Oral Sundays, Feb. 23 and April 5.
Adults and children 6 weeks and older were eligible to receive vaccines to prevent the three types of the polio virus, one dose for each visit. Each dose cost a quarter, the price of five first-class postage stamps then, but no people were turned away if they couldn’t afford to pay.

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The doctor behind drive-in
The Jaycees and medical society selected mostly schools as dosing stations, but the Delray Drive-In theater on Federal Highway just north of where Sande’s Restaurant stands today was a notable and novel exception.
By the end of Jan. 19, 161,400 county residents had taken their medicine. Delray Beach’s tally was 12,100 people, 7,800 of whom had received it at the drive-in, before the evening’s first film, Secret Passions, would start to flicker across the screen.
Local historian Tom Warnke remembers getting the vaccine at the Delray Drive-In.
“In 1962, we lived on Northeast 20th Street in Delray Beach, next to Plumosa Elementary School,” Warnke said. “The polio vaccine was being given at the Delray Drive-In theater, so it was the closest location for us. We drove there as a family to get the vaccine. I believe all six of us Warnke kids got it — Bill, Tom, Terry, Randy, Wendy and Ann. It was an oral vaccine so we received it in a small plastic cup.  None of us were very concerned, since we didn’t know anyone who had polio, but we were happy not to get a needle in the arm like we did with the chickenpox or measles vaccine.”
The idea of using the drive-in to distribute the vaccine originated with Dr. Robert “Bob” E. Raborn, a cardiologist and public health physician. He was an innovator whom a friend remembered in his 1999 obituary in The Palm Beach Post as “part of everything that came along.” 
Raborn and his wife, Lenore, a medical social worker who died in November 2020, were among the founders of Bethesda Hospital in the 1950s and were deeply woven into the fabric of Boynton Beach civic life. The hospital took root in the 1950s on a mango grove, land given by Mrs. Raborn’s father, Fred Benson.
“Twelve acres of mangoes and two houses,” remembers the Raborns’ daughter, Robin, who lives in Hillsborough, California. “Where the high-rise parking lot is — that’s where we lived.” 
“Dad had a way of making things fun and getting them done,” says son Dr. Richard Raborn, of Blairsville, Georgia. “What I remember is, when he came up with the idea of using drive-in movie theaters to distribute the oral polio vaccine, that it was a new idea that nobody else had come up with. The pharmacist would be in the little food distribution building, and they would put the drops of oral vaccine on sugar cubes.”
Robin and Richard, both now in their 60s, remember racing trays of squat-bottomed cups of sugar cubes to waiting drivers and passengers.
“We would just run them out to the window of the car,” Richard says, “and then they would just grab the number of Dixie cups that they needed for everybody in the car. And everybody had their sugar cube and moved on.”
The Post detailed this efficiency the next day: “Dr. Raborn said that 7,800 people were handled there on a speedy mass production basis. Once inside the theater, cars were divided into 10 lanes, one down each aisle. A Jaycee volunteer on the left of the car registered its occupants as a volunteer on the right side of the car gave out the doses. More than 3,000 were given the vaccine there in the first hour and Dr. Raborn said that 30,000 dosages could have been given out there, so efficient was the system. Each car was processed in a matter of 30 seconds.”
Raborn told the Fort Lauderdale News he was “delighted” by this “successful public health program at a drive-in theater.”

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An ‘ingenious’ idea
Janet DeVries Naughton, who chronicled Palm Beach County’s vaccine campaign in an article on the Boynton Beach Historical Society website, called Raborn’s idea “ingenious.”
“How else to give mass immunity in such a short period of time? Today they could use the South Florida Fairgrounds, the Boynton Beach Mall, the FAU parking lot, etc.,” says Naughton, a historian, author and Palm Beach State College librarian and history professor.
Dr. Nicholas S. Petkas, co-chair of the county effort, deemed it “fairly successful” in an interview with the News. Bill Plum, then chairman of the Boynton Beach Jaycees, told the newspaper his city had “a fine showing,” with 8,000 doses distributed.
Although the campaign’s goal remained elusive throughout the Sabin Oral Sundays — 161,285 total doses in February and 149,308 in April — the Delray Drive-In operation continued to be popular and effective. “Delray Leads Dosing,” read a headline in the News after the Feb. 23 SOS.
“The city’s drive-in Sabin vaccine dosing center was apparently a contributing factor in the success of the program here,” the story read. “Delray Beach led the county percentage-wise in doses. Nearly 12,000 persons showed … most of these stopping at the center located in the drive-in theater.”
With Feb. 23 numbers lower in Boynton Beach than on the first SOS, Plum posited that many residents may have drifted to Delray for the drive-thru convenience. In Boca Raton, 4,534 doses were termed a “disappointing” result, according to the News article.
Patricia Fiorillo, assistant curator for the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum, said Boca and the surrounding areas were still “pretty rural” well into the 1950s, and the town didn’t get its own hospital until the mid- to late 1960s. “Most people traveled to Delray Beach or Fort Lauderdale for medical care,” she says.
The drive-in registered its highest dosing numbers on April 5, distributing the final dose of vaccine to 8,150 people. According to the News, Boynton’s Plum motored down to Delray to observe the operation, which he termed “fantastic.” In 90 minutes, he said, the dosing station served approximately 4,000 people.
After the final SOS tally, Petkas told the Post he was disappointed that less than 60% of the county’s population had turned up for the final dose. But, the county Health Department still had 8,000 doses available that needed to be used within a week, since they’d already been thawed and would spoil.
“Isn’t it ironic that just a few years ago we were crying for a polio vaccine and now we are throwing it away because the people don’t want it?” Petkas told the Post. “They are flying vaccine to Nassau on an emergency basis, but those who can get it here just can’t seem to be bothered.”
Some people shunned the doses out of fear or suspicion. During the first Sabin Oral Sunday, police arrested a West Palm Beach man outside a dosing station for distributing anti-vaccine leaflets without a required permit.

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A miracle for some
But for parents who fearfully kept their children indoors; for people who’d been paralyzed, required leg braces, or relied on iron lungs to breathe; and for those who’d lost loved ones to polio, the vaccines were a miracle.
“When my mother was young, her father, at 27, had polio from the neck down. Iron lungs had not been invented. My Grandpa Bill lived to 80 and walked with a cane all the days I knew and loved him,” says Karen Dutch Steinke, who now lives in Roseland, Florida.
She was in the third grade at Boynton Beach Elementary in 1954-55 when she became a Polio Pioneer. This meant she was one of the more than 1.3 million U.S. children who participated in a Salk vaccine clinical trial in which neither the children, parents nor health officials knew who had received the vaccine or a placebo, according to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
A Polio Pioneer card and metal pin were her rewards for taking part, yet millions owe their escape from polio to Steinke and all the other children whose participation helped bring the Salk vaccine to the marketplace.

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Optimism for COVID vaccine
Today, Palm Beach County has almost 1.5 million year-round residents, an untold number of whom are anxiously awaiting their chances for a COVID-19 vaccine. In news stories, Facebook posts, telephone calls, texts and socially distanced conversations, people are talking: Who can get it? How’d you get it? Where can I get it? Pfizer or Moderna? How is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine coming along?
Dr. Michael Dennis, founding chair of the advisory board for the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, is optimistic about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and thinks with a ramped-up vaccination effort, it’s possible “we’ll be back to a relatively normal social environment again” by fall. But, he said, measures such as mask-wearing and hand-washing will continue to be important.
“Politics has really had more of a voice in how people should handle themselves than has the CDC or other medical influences, which is really disappointing because the medical advice is something that’s solid,” Dennis says.
Robin Raborn says that is one of the lessons she learned from her father: “Throughout my life, my father always stressed that disease was not political, and it should be treated as public health. So, I know that he would be very upset with the political nature of how this virus has been treated, both in the prevention and distribution of all the vaccine and everything. It shouldn’t be political. It should be all about health and prevention.”
The United States has been “polio-free” since 1979, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, children get four doses of polio vaccine at prescribed intervals. Since 2000, the U.S. has used only inactivated polio, given as a shot in the leg or arm. Gone are the sugar cubes and sweet elixirs.
But in December 2020, Jeffrey Sherman, a writer, producer and director living in Los Angeles, revealed in a tweet that those old vaccines live on in a familiar song written by his father, the late Robert B. Sherman, and his uncle Richard Sherman:
“When I was a kid we got the polio vaccine. My dad, working on Mary Poppins, asked how my day was. I told him about the vaccine. ‘Didn’t it hurt?’ I said they put it on a sugar cube and you ate it. He called my uncle Dick and the next day they wrote A Spoonful of Sugar.” 
He continues: “My little corner of film music history. When the COVID vaccine arrives, get it. We’re codependent in this small world. Trust science and doctors. We will beat this enemy if we listen to those who know. Be safe. Wear a mask. Be considerate to your fellow man.”

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State concludes city committed ‘willful’ violations

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach officials have known for more than 12 years what was required to implement a safe reclaimed water project, according to July 2008 letters between the city’s Utilities Department and Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County.
In fact, the city’s water rules remain part of its code of ordinances today. These rules explain how the city will protect its public water supply while offering reclaimed water for irrigation.
This knowledge and failure to implement its own plan may end up costing Delray Beach nearly $3 million in fines for not inspecting, maintaining and keeping records of its reclaimed water installations.
The Department of Health called the violations “willful or intentional in nature” in its draft Jan. 7 letter to the Delray Beach interim city manager.
The year 2008 was five city managers ago, when none of the current commissioners sat on the dais.
The proposed fines couldn’t come at a worse time. Delray Beach had been plugging holes in its budget for nearly a year when the pandemic shut restaurants, bars and hotels in mid-March 2020.
In September, the city balanced this financial year’s $151.4 million budget by taking $5.2 million from reserves to pay for one-time expenses, leaving about $38.5 million in reserves. At the same time, Delray Beach spent slightly more than $1 million from its Utilities Department budget to fix the reclaimed water program.
The Health Department is expected to complete its review and determine the fine amount in another month or so, which the city can appeal to an administrative judge.
In the draft Jan. 7 letter, called a Civil Penalty Authorization Memo, the county director for the state Health Department said that Delray Beach had adopted a “Cross Connection/Backflow Prevention Program” on July 2, 2008.
“The City then failed to follow its plan,” wrote Dr. Alina Alonso, the director.
The letter also noted Delray Beach benefited financially by not implementing its plan to the detriment of its “residents’ health and welfare.”
“The City benefited from saving money through the years by avoiding or delaying the costs of compliance,” Alexander Shaw, Health Department spokesman, said in a Jan. 28 email to The Coastal Star.
The letter covers 11 potential violations.

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Potential fines add up
The worst one of the 11: failure to provide adequate backflow prevention at 581 locations. Delray Beach will be fined $5,000 for each site or a total of $2.9 million, the Health Department proposes. To ensure the drinking water is safe, backflow preventers must be installed on each connection to stop reclaimed water from flowing back into the drinking water.
Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is suitable only for lawn irrigation.
Eight other potential fines total $34,599.
The letter states the city may be fined for not implementing its cross connection control program, failing to create a public education program about reclaimed water and failing to keep records on each reclaimed water installation.
Two more violations covered failures to notify the public within 24 hours of a cross connection and to report the cross connection to the Health Department within 24 hours. 
The remaining three fines would be for failing to evaluate a customer’s property for cross connections and backflow preventers, failing to conduct periodic inspections of its reclaimed water sites and not color-coding the potable and reclaimed water pipes and fixtures.
The letter also proposes fining the city $20,000 for four cross connection problems in the past three years. Cross connections happen when the drinking water supply lines are connected to the reclaimed water lines, and are considered major violations by state health officials.
The city may also be fined $5,000 for lying or making misrepresentations to Health Department regulators about the reclaimed water system. The violation is not part of the Health Department guidelines, but it is included in the state Department of Environmental Protection rules and is considered major, according to the letter.
When the Health Department was asked if the city could use its slightly more than $1 million spent so far on fixing the reclaimed water problems to offset the fines, the department’s Shaw wrote: “The city can accurately state that it spent a lot of money to fix the problems, but the city’s expenditures were not spent to reduce the fines, they were spent to bring the reclaimed water program into compliance.”
If the Department of Health insists on the hefty fines, “the city will research its options at that time,” Laurie Menekou, founder and president of Conceptual Communications, wrote in a Jan. 27 email as she answered a question about whether the city would seek to be reimbursed from contractors hired to install the reclaimed water system or to inspect the installations.
Delray Beach hired Menekou’s firm for a flat fee of $59,995 on Dec. 21 to do crisis management public relations. All media questions about reclaimed water go to her.

A notice for customers
In mid-January, the Health Department leaders sent the draft letter of the proposed violations and a consent order to their Environmental Protection counterparts in West Palm Beach and Tallahassee for review.
The consent order is an agreement between the Health Department and Delray Beach over its reclaimed water program. The order still has to be reviewed by a judge.
As part of the proposed consent order, Delray Beach would be required to issue this public notice: “The City of Delray Beach cannot assure utility customers that the drinking water produced and distributed met the standards of the Safe Water Drinking Act for the period from inception of the reclaimed water service beginning in 2007 to the time reclaimed water was deactivated on February 4, 2020.”
On Aug. 10, the city emailed its residents saying Delray Beach potable water is safe to drink and meets all quality standards set by the state Health and Environmental Protection departments and the U.S. EPA.
The city and the state health officials have been in discussions all along.
Jennifer Alvarez, the interim city manager, told commissioners at their Jan. 19 meeting that Health Department leaders would talk again with the city before the violations are made final and that she promised to meet individually with the commissioners.
“The Department, as a courtesy, will notify the city prior to emailing the consent order,” wrote Shaw, the department spokesman.

‘Unable to refute’ charges
On Jan. 2, 2020, a South Ocean Boulevard homeowner called the department to say she was not adequately informed about a cross connection found at her house in December 2018.
The complaint triggered a Health Department investigation into the city’s reclaimed water program that has lasted more than a year.
On Feb. 4, 2020, the city was forced to turn off its reclaimed water system to avoid a citywide boil-water order triggered by the resident’s complaint. The system was turned back on in phases, with 90% of the service restored by the end of June.
Delray Beach’s Utilities Department hired inspectors to review each reclaimed water location for cross connections.
Then the city examined each site for backflow preventers. It found that 194 backflow devices had not been installed on the barrier island.
Delray Beach has used outside contractors to design, build and inspect the reclaimed water system. In the last area of the barrier island where reclaimed water was installed, 21 of 156 locations did not have backflow preventers.
Most of the city’s contracts called for the city to provide the backflow preventers and have a dedicated staff member inspect their installations. That employee, called a cross connection specialist, was supposed to work alongside a representative of the firm hired to do the final inspections.
Various utilities employees had this inspection work as part of their job duties, but no one was hired solely to do the inspections.
In early May, then-City Manager George Gretsas said the program was botched from its start in 2007. Eight weeks later, in late June, the City Commission suspended Gretsas for allegedly bullying an employee over the reclaimed water problems.
The commission fired him in November over other misconduct charges. Gretsas has received more than $150,000 in salary and benefits since he was suspended in June.
On July 1, the Health Department sent a warning letter to the city, listing 13 possible water violations. During a July 22 meeting between the Health Department and city leaders to discuss the regulatory concerns, “the city staff stated that while they were not at the city when all of the violations occurred, they were unable to refute any of the allegations in the warning letter,” according to the draft penalty letter.
In April, the city hired a firm to do a forensic study of its reclaimed water system. The city paid $20,000 for a report that was supposed to include determining responsibility for installing and inspecting the backflow devices.  
The investigator, Fred Bloetscher, president of Public Utility Management & Planning Services Inc., did not find a culprit because of the limited records the city gave him. Instead, according to his Oct. 23 report, Bloetscher found that Delray Beach did not have a point person in charge and lacked “institutional control” over the reclaimed water system.
“To complicate the problem, the City cannot test the majority of the current backflow devices because they … are buried,” Bloetscher wrote in a Jan. 27 email to The Coastal Star. “Backflow devices should be located above ground to prevent cross connections with stormwater/flooding.” 
Meanwhile, in the summer months of July through September, the Utilities Department paid a vendor $2,945 to remove reclaimed water meters from four oceanfront properties, including one Ocean Boulevard property where a cross connection was found in April.
The city passed an ordinance in 2007 making it mandatory to connect to reclaimed water if lines are laid nearby. It was unclear why these meters were removed.
The city also has hired outside counsel as it goes through the Health Department investigation process. The Lewis, Longman & Walker law firm was hired in mid-December to advise and represent the city in the reclaimed water investigation and pending enforcement action by the Health Department and by the state DEP regarding alleged potable water system violations. The firm’s governmental rate is $325 an hour. Alfred Malefatto, an environmental law attorney in the firm’s West Palm Beach office, and Frederick Aschauer in the Tallahassee office will represent Delray Beach. Aschauer specializes in environmental regulation and agency enforcement of permits.

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By Larry Barszewski

Stealing luxury is easier than you might think when it comes to cars in South Palm Beach County’s coastal communities.
While the U.S. top-10 list of stolen vehicles includes a number of Hondas, Toyotas and pickup trucks, most of the 11 cars ripped off in Gulf Stream last year had more panache: three Porsches, two Land Rovers, two Mercedes-Benzes, two BMWs, an Audi and a Dodge (a rental, of course). Thieves found 10 of them unlocked with the keys or key fobs inside.
The seven cars taken in Ocean Ridge in 2020 were also left unlocked with the key/key fobs inside. It was the same story in Highland Beach, where a Mercedes and a Cadillac were stolen, and for the lone auto theft in Manalapan — a Rolls-Royce.
Despite years of police messages advising people to do more to keep their cars secure, the warnings often fail to register with residents who have been lulled into a false sense of complacency by the barrier island’s low crime rates and small-town ambience.
“I think that sense of security and well-being in where you live, that’s why we have to hammer away at ‘please lock your car; don’t leave valuables inside your car; take your keys with you,’” Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said. “I don’t want you to build a fortress around yourself, but take simple precautions and avoid giving someone else the opportunity.”
Car thefts are a problem nationwide and the keyless ignition systems haven’t helped as careless owners like the convenience of leaving their key fobs in center console cupholders. Still, there’s no denying the barrier island’s upscale reputation is a magnet for thieves looking for pricier models.
The good news? Many of the automobiles are recovered, generally very quickly, with little or no damage done. They’re often found abandoned in Broward County or northern Miami-Dade County, possibly taken by teens out for joyrides or used in other crimes.
But some of the priciest autos are still missing. The two Land Rovers and two of three Porsches stolen in Gulf Stream remain missing, raising concern that organized crime may play a role in at least some of the thefts. One of the Land Rovers, valued at $217,000, was taken from a billionaire’s gated estate that has its own security team.
Police won’t get a better idea of what’s happening until they’re able to nab more thieves.
“I firmly believe that it is organized crime that is doing this,” Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox said of the auto thefts in his town and other coastal communities over the past year. “Our investigations have not concluded anything other than recovery of the vehicle. We have yet to make an arrest for anything.”

No hour of day is safe
The thefts happen both at night and in broad daylight — even when a driver steps away from a car for just a few minutes. Videos from license-plate reading cameras have recorded stolen vehicles heading to the mainland before anyone knew they’d been taken. Sometimes they are followed by another vehicle stolen from somewhere else, likely driven by an accomplice who brought the car thief into town.
“It’s been very unpredictable,” Gulf Stream Police Chief Ed Allen said. “It’s not like a lot of crimes, where they develop a pattern. Here it’s been all hours of the day or night.”
After Gulf Stream police responded to the report of a late-afternoon theft of a Mercedes on Polo Drive a year ago, they found an Infiniti stolen from Boca Raton parked in a driveway just a few doors away, probably driven by a thief who switched rides to the Mercedes.
There was more to the story that day. A rented Dodge Charger parked next door disappeared the next morning. The people renting the Charger were going out to dinner at around the same time the Mercedes was stolen. They couldn’t find the Charger’s keys, which they thought had been left in the vehicle, so they took another car instead and planned to look for the missing keys later. The Charger was still there when they came home that night, but was gone by morning.
Police recovered the Dodge the next day in Sunrise and the Mercedes a week after that in North Miami.
At a Gulf Stream home on Ocean Boulevard in June, a Porsche owner left the car unlocked with the keys inside and proceeded to get dinner through a food delivery service that night. The car was gone the following morning, apparently stolen by thieves who knew it was unlocked with the keys inside.
Ocean Ridge license-plate reading cameras showed a stolen Lexus coming onto the island at 6:40 that morning and heading back over the bridge — following the now-stolen Porsche — five minutes later. The Porsche has not been recovered.

8511628267?profile=RESIZE_710xThieves targeted unlocked cars that had keys or key fobs left inside. The Coastal Star

 

Why fancy cars are marks
Police say all the fancy doo-dads cars have these days can make a thief’s job easier.
“The invention of keyless start technology reduces vehicle security when the key fob is left inside an unattended vehicle. Groups of juveniles are targeting these vehicles to steal or burglarize,” Mattox said in a memo to Manalapan commissioners in January.
Some newer model cars have telltale exterior signs that show they are unlocked, making them an easier mark for would-be thieves, he said. The thieves will either search the car for valuables, or if they’re luckier and a key fob has been left inside, they’ll just drive off with the car and its contents, he said.
Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann says residents shouldn’t let their guard down — no matter what kind of car they own — when it comes to these thieves.
“They’re not fussy. Obviously, they’ll take any car that has the keys in it, so it doesn’t have to be the top-echelon cars,” Hartmann said.
Additional police staffing, more patrols, camera surveillance and other measures have been an increased deterrent against auto thefts and other crimes, but it’s hard to protect against owners who leave an open invitation to would-be thieves, police said.
“I remember one of the folks where the car was stolen, said, ‘Where I grew up, we never locked our doors,’” Hutchins said. “That’s not a prudent thing to do in this day and age, no matter where you are.”

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You may see campaign signs for the March election in front of our office.
They were approved by our landlord, not by us.
We are doing our best to stay away from the toxicity of certain Facebook pages — unless we feel a need to correct a lie concerning our business.
We haven’t spoken to one of our original business partners since he filed to run for office. We’ve built a wall between our journalism and his candidacy.
None of this has been difficult to do. It’s who we are. Our readers know that.
Still … in all of our 11 years of publishing, I’ve never wanted so badly to do candidate recommendations.
But we don’t, we won’t and, in fact, we can’t afford to.
The economics are simple: We’ve never had enough staff to sit down with every candidate and ask questions that ferret out his or her platform and purpose for running for office. That takes time and resources far beyond our small-newspaper capabilities.
And this year, as we struggle with the economic fallout of a global pandemic, we find we can no longer afford to give free space to letters drafted by candidates or by anyone endorsing — or criticizing — a candidate for office.
Every inch of newsprint we use must be supported by paid advertising. That’s how we are able to keep our distribution free and focused on the readers in our small communities. It’s a business model our advertisers embrace, since we deliver their messages directly into the hands of a highly desirable audience.
We have continued our practice of running candidate profiles for all contested races. We ask each candidate the same questions and hope the side-by-side comparison of their answers is helpful.
But with the fog of politics so thick and nasty this year, I fear voters in our municipalities may get lost and lose confidence in local government — with unintended consequences as a harsh result. A simple majority vote, after all, can decide the character and well-being of our coastal communities.
So, in lieu of recommendations from your trusted local newspaper, you will all need to educate yourselves on the candidates.
It may feel unsavory to step into the miasma of politics in 2021, but be bold. Ask your candidates about their motivations for seeking office, research who supports them (and why), learn what you can about their backgrounds. And, importantly, do your best to sort the truth from the lies and hyperbole.
In other words, know your candidates. And vote.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

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8511573655?profile=RESIZE_710xAustin Rigal, 14, an eighth-grader at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, got more than 200 sponsors to fund wreaths for veterans at Palm Beach Memorial Park Cemetery in Lantana, with help from his father, Robert Rigal. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

 

By Larry Keller

Doing good was never so hard for Austin Rigal. Every year around the holidays, the 14-year-old picks a charity or two to support. In December, he settled on Wreaths Across America, an organization that coordinates annual wreath-laying ceremonies at veterans’ graves nationwide, including Arlington National Cemetery. In doing so, Austin discovered that Palm Beach Memorial Park Cemetery in Lantana had sponsors for only 19 wreaths, although 200 veterans are buried there.
An eighth-grader at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Austin hoped to persuade friends and others to sponsor wreaths at $15 each. But he had barely begun when he learned the deadline had passed. So he told his parents, Robert and Ingrid Rigal, that he would like to sponsor the 181 wreaths that the cemetery’s general manager needed to reach her goal.
Robert made sure his son understood what that entailed and offered to split the tab. Austin’s share was about $1,350.
It was doable, however, because although Austin doesn’t get an allowance, he sets aside money he receives from gifts and so forth. His dad pays him a generous amount of interest to encourage him to save. He does the same for Austin’s 10-year-old sister, Lauren, whose most recent charities were Operation Smile and the ASPCA.
After the deadline passed, the website at Saint Andrew’s posted an item about Austin’s efforts. Teachers and parents then sponsored wreaths, and some volunteered at the ceremony. The cemetery not only received 200 wreaths for veterans’ graves, but also sponsors for 45 more that will be applied to next year’s event.
But first, another hurdle arose. On the eve of the Dec. 23 ceremony, logistical issues prevented all the wreaths from being delivered on time.
“The staff from the funeral home and my family drove around and bought wreaths the night before to fill the gap. Ultimately, we got enough wreaths,” Robert Rigal says.
In the end, all turned out well. Some of Austin’s friends showed up to volunteer at the ceremony. So did his sister and a few of her friends. A school security guard who is a Marine Corps veteran came. A few wounded veterans were there. There were Boy Scouts, and fire department personnel did a presentation of the colors. A priest spoke.
And something else happened that was unexpected. Cemetery officials presented Austin with a display case containing emblems from all the service branches and the Pledge of Allegiance.
“He really appreciated it and now it holds a prominent place for him in his room,” his dad says. “It ended up being a great event.”
“It was much better than I thought it would be,” Austin says. “I didn’t expect that many people to come.”
Wreaths Across America wasn’t a surprising choice for Austin to support. “I’ve been interested in military history and the Marine Corps ever since I can remember,” he says. “My dad is a former Marine. I’ve always loved the Marine Corps and interesting battles. I plan on going to the Naval Academy and becoming an officer.”
Other charities he has supported include the Wounded Warrior Project, Shriners Hospitals for Children and an organization that builds houses for veterans with disabilities.
Charity work is a pleasure, Austin says. It wasn’t the gift from the cemetery or compliments from friends and teachers — even the woman who cuts his hair — that meant the most in the aftermath of his effort at the Lantana cemetery.
“It’s an amazing feeling to know that you’re helping somebody, and people who sacrificed for their country for people like us,” Austin says.
“So being able to give back to them, even after they have passed away, feels great. It doesn’t matter if it’s a veteran or not, it feels great to help people in need, people who deserve better.”

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The mayor, elected every three years, presides over a commission of four other members who are elected to three-year alternating terms by the community at large. The mayor and two commissioners up for re-election March 9 each have a challenger.

Related Stories: Two vie to be mayor | Mayoral race attracts outside money, mainly to challenger's campaign | Three candidate forums can be viewed virtually

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Candidate profiles were compiled via telephone interviews. Candidates were asked to supply personal information regarding their age, education, marital status and number of years residing in their municipalities. They were also asked to provide a brief history of their professional life and experience, if any, in holding public office. Finally, they were asked about their positions on issues facing their communities and to provide an overarching quote detailing the reasons they believe they should be elected (or re-elected) along with a current photograph.

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Delray Beach will hold four virtual candidate forums. They are:
Feb. 10, 6-9 p.m., streamed live from the Arts Garage stage to the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/delraybeach/).
Candidates will receive questions from the Chamber Advocacy Committee and the public. Candidates will pick the questions randomly and they each will have two minutes for opening and closing statements.
Feb. 11, 6 p.m., When We All Vote Palm Beach County hosts a virtual candidate forum. Register at bit.ly/pbcdelraywestpalm. For more information email whenweallvotepalmbeachco@gmail.com. Space is limited.

Feb.18, 6:30 p.m., Hosted by League of Women Voters and St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church at 46 SW 10th Avenue. Candidates answer written questions from the moderator and real-time questions live-streamed via St. Paul virtual platform. Observers allowed by invitation only; all documented CDC guidelines observed. For invitation or live-stream information: 243-1004; saintpaulmbc.org
Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Beach Property Owners’ Association virtual candidates forum will feature pre-recorded interviews of the candidates focusing on barrier island issues. Viewers will not be allowed to ask questions.
BPOA members will receive the Zoom link; non-members can request the link by sending their name and address to admin@bpoa-drb.com.

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8511462880?profile=RESIZE_710xPalm Beach County sheriff’s deputies said they were looking for the man who held up the popular Seaside Deli & Market in the County Pocket on State Road A1A just south of Briny Breezes.
The suspect, captured on camera wearing a jacket with the word ‘Navy’ on the front and back, entered the store shortly before 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday and pointed a gun at the employees, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the suspect, who made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, to call 561-688-4717 or to call Crime Stoppers at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Information may also be emailed to GrobT@pbso.org. ABOVE: Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star BELOW: Photo from PBSO

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By Rich Pollack

The number of crimes in most towns and cities in coastal south Palm Beach County fell during the first six months of 2020, according to state statistics. Coronavirus restrictions early in the pandemic are getting some of the credit.
In Highland Beach, the number of reported crimes dropped by more than 70%, from 28 to eight, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Uniform Crime Report. In Manalapan the number dropped from 12 to four and in South Palm Beach from six to two, similar to Highland Beach in terms of percentage.
Ocean Ridge, which includes crimes in Briny Breezes, had one fewer reported crime (11) in the first six months of 2020 than it did during the same period the previous year. Of the smaller area coastal towns, only Gulf Stream reported an increase — with the number of crimes doubling due to a rash of auto thefts.
Still, the number of overall crimes in the coastal communities remained low, with Gulf Stream’s 14 total ranking as the most in any one small town.
Of the larger cities only Delray Beach experienced an increase — a small one at that — while Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Lantana all witnessed declines.
The drop in crime locally during the first six months of 2020 mirrors statewide numbers that show close to a 12% drop, and county numbers that show a drop of close to 5%.
Although there is no way to know for certain, police chiefs in Highland Beach and Ocean Ridge say that restrictions early in the pandemic — which shuttered businesses, parks and beaches — may have kept would-be criminals away.
“During a short period of time when more severe restrictions were in place, the number of certain types of crimes went down a little,” said Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins.
Those types — burglaries and thefts from unlocked vehicles, which Hutchins calls opportunity crimes — were down as more people stayed home during spring lockdowns and fewer people visited the area.
“The fact that we had less people and less traffic, that did help us to a limited extent,” he said.
Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann said that more people at home translates to better vigilance. “There are more eyes and ears out there when people aren’t traveling,” he said.
For Highland Beach, as well as other towns, a focus on prevention — with the help of enhanced technology — could also have been a factor driving the drop in crime during the first six months of 2020.
Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox says that the addition of four police officers, bringing the department’s staff to 12, has played a role in keeping crime down.
“Increasing our visibility, improving our technology and improving communication has been a big help,” he said.
One tool in the technology kit, the installation of license plate readers throughout the area, has played a role in reducing crime, according to Hartmann, especially as their usage continues to increase.
“License plate readers are so important because they give you a level of alert,” he said.
He pointed to a recent incident in which a license plate reader picked up a suspected stolen car passing through Highland Beach. When officers located the vehicle, they discovered that the two people inside were wanted in connection with armed robberies.
Hartmann had a feeling the suspects — who had a loaded gun in the car — planned more crimes, but said there’s no way to know for sure.
How much crime was deterred by license plate readers, the increased awareness and vigilance of residents, and actions by law enforcement are not reflected in the statewide crime report, he pointed out.
“There’s no statistic for what was prevented,” Hartmann said.

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By Charles Elmore

Health agencies in Palm Beach County will receive 9,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses during the first week of February, an agency chief said, a sign of change after outcry about overwhelming reliance on Publix to distribute doses locally.
If the vaccine supply keeps growing, that could open the door to inoculating the general public by late spring or summer, said Alina Alonso, director of the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County.
“We need to keep those expectations realistic and continue to realize that it’s a matter of supply and demand,” Alonso said.
Her comments Feb. 2 to the County Commission came after state officials said they expected an increase of about 40,000 weekly doses from the federal government, up from around 266,000 arriving in the state each week. That allows more vaccine to flow to counties.
By Feb. 1, nearly 11% of Palm Beach County’s residents, or more than 160,000, had received at least one shot, with more than 20,000 receiving both shots. That vaccination percentage topped peer counties including Broward and Miami-Dade.
Still, there remains a considerable way to go in a county of 1.5 million people, including more than 360,000 people 65 or older, according to census data. And exactly how doses get distributed has remained a hot topic.
For week after week, scarce supplies have made a vaccine jab seem like a long shot.
“I feel like I won the lottery,” said Debbie Miglis, 65, one of 50 people to get shots in Highland Beach in January after appointments through town government there filled up in 97 seconds.
For others, the quest has involved rising before dawn on selected days when Publix offers appointments online, only to find spots quickly taken in most cases. That has meant starting over the next available day.

8511455487?profile=RESIZE_710xTOP: During a Jan. 15 vaccination event at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach, police direct traffic and answer questions.
ABOVE: Resident Debbie Miglis receives a shot. LEFT: A Delray Beach paramedic gets ready to give a shot to one of the 50 people who received first doses.
Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star


County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who raised concerns about vaccine access for residents in the Glades and other communities not near a Publix pharmacy, also pressed Alonso about creating better ways for people to sign up for appointments.
On Jan. 29, the state launched myvaccine.fl.gov, a website that was supposed to let people 65 and older and other eligible individuals get preregistered so they can be contacted later when appointments are available.
But within hours, Alonso said her agency would discourage residents from using the new system because no appointments were available. She said the focus would be on clearing a backlog of appointment requests on her department’s own system that previously led local health agencies to stop accepting new inquiries.
Palm Beach County residents can still use the new state site, Alonso’s agency said, “but at this time, appointments are not available in Palm Beach County for those registering in this system.”
At the Feb. 2 meeting, McKinlay said Alonso’s position on the new system’s use “is pushing people to other counties.”
Alonso said she did not like waiting lists, which can leave people “frustrated” if they don’t deliver quickly.
Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth, whose district covers portions of the county’s southeastern communities, has noted the county’s Health Care District released a preregistration website at vaccine.hcdpbc.org.
The health district “advised they are still working with the existing state reservation list with the Florida Department of Health,” Weinroth told constituents by email. “New sign-ups will go into a virtual waiting room until they complete the list and begin accepting new reservations.”
Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer said he has advocated for a more integrated and accessible system to register for vaccines.
“Like many of you, I’ve been frustrated at the many different places to sign up,” Singer told residents by email. “For weeks, I’ve called upon the state to centralize sign-ups.”
He said he made repeated requests to the governor’s office and state agencies for “equitable access,” such as offering telephone as well as web options, which the state’s new system does include.
The flow of new doses to local health agencies as well as to Publix signals a change of course for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earlier defended making the supermarket chain the primary conduit for vaccine distribution in Palm Beach County.
County Mayor Dave Kerner said he received a call from the governor after commissioners and others made their concerns clear: “He said message received.”
Currently eligible for vaccinations in Florida are state residents 65 and older, residents of long-term care facilities, health workers with direct patient contact and others deemed “extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19.
Controversy has attended the distribution of vaccines since they began arriving more than a month ago.
“It’s the hottest subject for all,” Highland Beach Mayor Doug Hillman said.
Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie noted in a Jan. 5 meeting: The town of Palm Beach “miraculously pulled a rabbit out and came up with some vaccines” when they were not widely available across Palm Beach County.
After an initial explanation that Palm Beach was uniquely prepared to start delivering 1,000 doses, Alonso later blamed “miscommunication.”

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Staff writers Rich Pollack, Jane Smith and Mary Hladky contributed to this story.

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