More than 330 members of the community helped Families First of Palm Beach County raise $50,000 for its programs that help clients learn parenting and child-development skills. The seventh annual event showcased the agency’s work over the past year and honored advocates for children. ‘We are overwhelmed by the support this year,’ said Julie Swindler, the agency’s CEO. ABOVE LEFT: Kristina Ermers and Raul Mercader. ABOVE RIGHT: Ted Swindler and Jim Nau. Photos provided

The Spirit of Giving Network kicked off its 12th annual Holiday Gift Drive with an evening of cocktails, appetizers and the opportunity to shop for jewelry. Proceeds will help the Spirit of Giving Network fulfill the wishes of more than 4,000 local children this season. Photo: Karen Krumholtz, Doug Paton and Barbara Schmidt. Photo provided

The Allegro Society, a volunteer support auxiliary of The Symphonia Boca Raton, celebrated one of its most successful fundraising events with more than 100 guests in attendance and more than $13,000 raised, including a $7,500 pledge by Robert Greene. The money will benefit educational-outreach initiatives. Photo: Barbara O’Daly, Linda Sorenson, Kathy Contantini and Nancy Flinn. Photo by Janis Bucher

Award winners and contest directors celebrate a great day on Delray’s beach. More than 200 participants and volunteers enjoyed family-oriented competition in surfing, paddleboard and tug-of-war events. All proceeds were donated to benefit Delray Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguards. Photo provided by Tom Warnke

Proceeds from the 24th annual charity event totaled $600,000, and the funds will be distributed through nonprofit partner The Ounce of Prevention Fund. The popular event included a Pro-Celebrity Gala with dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions, and The Jake and Elwood Blues Revue. Photo: David Cook, Brenda Shultz-McCarthy, Scott Foley, Chris Evert, Gavin Rossdale, Rennae Stubbs, Pam Shriver, Jon Lovitz and Maeve Quinlan at the check-presentation ceremony. Photo by Cameraworks

Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula watched as grandson Paul LaNoce Jr. caught two touchdown passes to help elevate the Unity School Mustangs to their third straight Gold Coast League football championship over crosstown rival St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School. The 19-13 triumph saw the Mustangs finish 10-0 for the season, with a 6-0 record in league play and a 28-1 finish over the three-year title run. After the game, Coach Shula addressed the awestruck 11- to 14-year-olds in an impromptu gathering on the football field. Photo by Janet Goldman

A Coastal Star Special Report:

Rising Water: New signs of rising sea levels cause concern

Adapting to change: First the probable, then the practical when it comes to building | Deeper waters: Fights over sea rise just beginning | Maps: Estimates of local water rise

The psychology of change: Dialogue beats denial when dealing with upheaval | Author John Englander envisioned the NYC storm disaster | Quotes: What they are saying

Sea Level Rise: A lexicon

By Jane Smith

    When John Englander visited Greenland in 2007, the oceanographer looked out along the rocky coast. The idea for his High Tide on Main Street book became clear. He knew he could clearly tell a tale of rising sea level and its catastrophic effects.
“Among all the confusing aspects of climate change, the reality of sea level rise alone might get the public’s attention enough that they recognize what is at stake,” the Boca Raton explorer wrote in his book.
    In Greenland, he saw the melting ice sheet and glaciers, along with some members of the International SeaKeepers Society and their scientist guide. He was then CEO of SeaKeepers, comprised of yacht owners who equip their yachts with instruments to record ocean and atmospheric measurements and transmit them via satellite to scientists.
    That data, along with a clear writing style, helped him create his book. In it, he attributes sea level rise to five factors: floating sea ice and the melting of the polar ice cap; melting of 170,000 glaciers on land, including those in Glacier National Park; melting ice sheets on Greenland and in West Antarctica; and the expansion of warming sea water. The greatest effects will come from the melting of the ice sheets, he said.
    His book was released last fall, one week before Superstorm Sandy struck the Mid-Atlantic states. The devastation to New York City from the storm surge was one of 10 sea level rise scenarios he had described.
    “I didn’t feel good about it,” he said. “It was eerie, one of those moments when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I didn’t predict it, but it lends credibility to what I described.”
    A few days later, he became a media celebrity, starting with the BBC and then agreeing to requests from MSNBC, NPR and others.
    The book also caught the attention of the Explorers Club, dedicated to field research and scientific exploration. He had joined as a member in 1984. The next year, he dove under the polar ice cap and planted the club’s flag. In January, the club made him a fellow, recognizing his scientific contribution from High Tide.
    This past year has been a whirlwind of presentations to local groups, including the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation’s July sea-level rise symposium in West Palm Beach to the October Subtropical Cities Summit in Fort Lauderdale, and internationally with presentations in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
    He also has a consulting business, the Sea Level Institute, where he advises businesses, governments and communities about the effects of sea level rise.
    Englander, 63, tailors his talks to the scientific level of his audience. When he is talking before a community group, he gives simplified explanations. To a group at the New England Aquarium in September, he said, “I see myself as a translator that can take facts and make them understandable.”
    One audience member there asked about the effects of sea level rise in Florida — whether it would be from salt-water intrusion into the water table or from the shoreline moving inland. His response: both.
    The salt-water intrusion will occur first, he said. Eight inches of sea level rise will introduce salt water into the water table because of the porous limestone rock underneath. That drinking water problem will occur in the next two or three decades, certainly by the 2050, he said. Then the shoreline moving inland will happen in the latter half of the century.
For coastal communities such as Briny Breezes and Highland Beach that see standing water after rainstorms or tidal events, he suggests they assess their vulnerability now. “It will happen more and more often,” he said.
    The limestone rock underneath South Florida also makes sea walls unlikely to hold back the surf, he said. But you can elevate the houses or commercial buildings.
    Englander just finished updating High Tide. Among the revisions, it will contain an updated chapter on the sources of confusion that includes the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That report, he thinks, underestimates sea level rise by the end of the century. The update was to be released on the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.
    The good news, he likes to say, compared to other disasters, such as Category 4 hurricanes, is that “we have decades of warning. … What other generation has the opportunity to re-engineer the world?”

“We know we’re going to have sea rise. This is literally a one-way street now. The only thing we’re discussing now is how fast, it’s not whether anymore, and then eventually how much.”                
— Dr. Harold Wanless, chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Miami

“You’ll need to think about buying a home the way you think about buying a car. You purchase it, use it for a while, and as time goes on, it stops being an asset. The idea of legacy and the idea of investment — those won’t apply here anymore.”                
—  Nancy Gassman, Ph.D., Natural Resources Administrator, Energy and Sustainability Program, Broward County Natural Resources Planning and Management Division

“It’s not just a matter of real estate. And it’s not just a matter of enjoying the land. It’s a matter of sustaining the whole economy in the area. We obviously have to plan on building with great land use. However, building is still possible.”                
— Bonnie Lazar, real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty Services in Boca Raton and past president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches

“That sea level rise will be 3 to 7 inches by 2030 is not an issue of dispute among experts.”                
— Keren Bolter, Research Assistant at the Center for Environmental Studies and Ph.D. Student at Florida Atlantic University

This home on a bluff in Nantucket, Mass., will most likely fall into the ocean at some point because of accelerating erosion. Photo by Richard Gelpke

By Cheryl Blackerby

    A pattern of discussion among homeowners and academics is emerging at  meetings about sea level rise. First are the lectures and panel discussions focusing on scientific projections of sea rise levels measured in inches and timetables calculated in years: 20, 30, 50 and 100 years.
    Then come the hard questions about specifics and exactly how it will change our lives.
    “The insurance industry will dictate a lot of this because they will stop writing policies or they will become too expensive,” said Florida International University marine geologist Pete Harlem.
    “And we’re going to have external influences. There will be zoning changes such as they’re discussing in New Jersey, where they pull the most vulnerable properties and set people up somewhere else.”
    Keren Bolter, research assistant in geosciences at Florida Atlantic University, has asked focus groups of homeowners about the prospects of losing insurance. “Some of them say their insurance went up and they are dropping it.”
    Last year, Congress passed a law called the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which will require the National Flood Insurance Program to raise rates to reflect true flood risk.  On Oct. 1, about 20 percent of property owners with federal flood insurance were notified their insurance would rise, some policies as much as tenfold. Other notices of rate increases will follow.
    “Florida has 40 percent of the nation’s policies, approximately 2 million,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has sponsored a bill to delay the law. “But many homeowners in Florida are concerned that the insurance rate increases scheduled to go into effect this year will make it impossible for them to sell their homes or pay the premiums.”
    And at what point will there be “managed retreat,” where areas will be allowed to flood and homeowners will be forced to relocate? Will local and federal  governments subsidize relocation? And what about rolling easements, which allow homeowners to stay on their property as long as it’s livable?
    These are questions being asked now in other places. Indonesia is in the process of moving 3 million people in its capital city, Jakarta, which is sinking 12 inches per year. Forty percent of the city is below sea level.
    Closer to home, in Nantucket, Mass., houses have already fallen into the sea and others are being moved farther away from a disappearing coast. The Conservation Commission in Nantucket is coming up with a plan to decide which roads to save and where to build new ones, and which homes need to be vacated. Many houses are perched precariously on high bluffs that are losing 4 to 10 feet each year to erosion that has greatly accelerated in the last two decades.  
    Sarah Oktay, chemical oceanographer and director of the University of Massachusetts Boston Nantucket Field Station, said some of the town’s homeowners are moving their homes away from the sea, farther back on their lots, trying to buy time.  “They said that would give them four or five more years to enjoy their houses and they seemed happy with that,” she said.
    After discussion of probabilities and possibilities, meetings about sea level rise invariably turn to the practical. What can be done to protect homes, towns, roads and utilities?
    It’s a given that Floridians want to stay in Florida. Is it possible to build surge gates such as Maeslant Barrier, the largest storm surge barrier in the world, in Rotterdam, Netherlands?
    No, it isn’t possible in Florida, say experts. But floating cities like those planned in the Netherlands, and floating bridges and docks are possibilities.
    Cities can raise the heights of roads, barrier islands and utility plants, say experts. Some of these efforts may not last forever, but what if they last 50 years?
    “What I think, in terms of how you get something done, is that every time an engineer starts to work on a plan for a road, or a land use planner starts to look at a land use change in a vulnerable area, that they’re thinking about climate change and what that’s going to look like in the future,” Jon Van Arnam, assistant Palm Beach County administrator, told a workshop at the Sea Level Rise Symposium at Oxbridge Academy in July.
    “It becomes the standard way of doing business. It doesn’t become a plan that sits on the shelf somewhere,” Van Arnam  said.
    And as far as insurance? “If I don’t have insurance I’ll be OK,” says FAU’s Bolter. “My mom lives on the beach and she understands risk. It’s worth it to her to walk on the beach in the mornings. I have faith that our children can figure it out.”

By Paula Detwiller
    
South Floridians are accustomed to sudden change wrought by nature: hurricane damage, flooded streets — danger and destruction in intermittent doses.
What’s harder to wrap our minds around is the slow, gradual change that sea-level rise may bring. It’s not something we can see happening, like a multicolored blob on the weather map heading toward us. The prospect of seawater eventually covering the places we call home, the roads we navigate and the businesses we rely on simply changes everything.
    For instance: That Intracoastal estate you plan to leave to your children? It may be uninhabitable in their lifetimes. That flood insurance you buy for peace of mind? It will become wildly expensive, and eventually unobtainable, say the experts. With rising seas, coastal real estate could become a liability, not an asset — and there goes your retirement nest egg.
When the consequences of sea-level rise sink in (pun intended), it’s a mind-bender, to say the least. Which is why scientists, educators and policy makers are holding sea level rise summits like the one hosted in mid-October by FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies. The title: “Resilience in the Face of Change.”
One of the speakers at the summit was Nancy Gassman, administrator of Broward County’s Natural Resources Planning and Management Division.
She’s a point person for the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, a collaborative effort between Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties to “coordinate mitigation and adaptation activities across county lines.”
    One of those adaptation activities for coastal homeowners and investors will be to adjust their mindsets, Gassman says.
    “People will need to think differently about real estate. You’ll need to think about buying a home the way you think about buying a car. You purchase it, use it for a while, and as time goes on, it stops being an asset. The idea of legacy and the idea of investment — those won’t apply here anymore.”
    Accepting the new realities will be difficult for many people, says Delray Beach psychologist Cynthia Reynolds, who helps clients adapt to major life changes such as divorce, death of a loved one or financial loss.
    “A sense of denial and shock is pretty universal, and there’s also the wish to pretend it’s not true: ‘Oh, the politicians got it wrong,’ or ‘Gee, who’s getting rich off this?’ ” Reynolds says.
    That’s why she says it’s important from a mental health standpoint that government involve citizens now in sea-level rise planning, before water laps at their doorsteps.
    “Information is an antidote for anxiety,” Reynolds says. “It helps reduce fear of the unknown. Letting people have a role in gathering and discussing information that’s going to impact them will help them accept some of the difficult things coming their way.”
    To that end, the Regional Climate Change Compact has drawn up an action plan that calls for (among other things) a coordinated multidisciplinary outreach and education program.
    “This type of education can happen one-on-one, at the school or university level, through the news media, and through tweets and Facebook,” says Gassman.
    At FAU, a new online course developed with data and funding from NASA is helping to create “climate literacy,” according to Camille Coley, the university’s assistant vice president for research. She says the course, called Climate Science Investigations, will educate both students and teachers and help combat some of the denial that exists about the inevitability of widespread seawater intrusion.
    “Being a climate specialist, I can tell you this: It’s a continuous dialogue. We’re going to have to keep this thing moving,” Coley says. 

Elevation: How high your house is above sea level, which can vary from low tide to high tide to high autumnal tide.
Limestone: Porous rock that is the foundation of South Florida and allows sea water to penetrate inland.
Managed retreat: When populations are moved in advance of sea level rise that will destroy homes, and the planned abandonment of threatened areas near the shoreline.
Rolling easements: Arrangements, usually through state statutes, under which homeowners are required to yield the right of way to their properties when shores and wetlands migrate inland as sea levels rise. The homeowner may be allowed to  live on a property until it becomes unlivable, but the owner is not allowed to put up protection against flooding.
Saltwater intrusion: The infiltration of seawater into freshwater aquifers.
Self-insurance: A risk management method in which the property owner sets aside a calculated amount of money to compensate for potential future loss.
Subsidence: The gradual caving in or sinking of an area of land, particularly porous limestone areas in Florida.

SOURCES: Maps: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Category 1 Storm Surge Height Estimates: Florida Division of Emergency Management

GRAPHICS: Bonnie Lallky-Seibert and Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Graphic by Bonnie Lallky-Seibert/The Coastal Star

By Cheryl Blackerby
    
The battles over sea level rise have already started, and more are looming.
    Environmental groups are suing local governments, skeptics argue with believers and scientists dispute politicians.
    A court case in Miami is gaining nationwide attention because it may become a precedent for many more lawsuits over sea rise. Miami-Dade County plans to spend $1.5 billion to repair its sewage system, including overhauling three sewage plants. But the massive project does not take rising seas into account.
    The environmental group Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper is suing the county, claiming sea rise will jeopardize the sewage plants long before their 50-year lifespan ends.
    Pete Harlem, a Florida International University marine geologist who uses mapping technology to show sea rise projections, is an expert witness for the environmental group. Harlem predicts more lawsuits against government agencies that don’t plan for rising seas.
    “You could hypothesize that county agencies could be sued after the fact because they haven’t done enough proactively to deal with problems caused by sea rise,” he said.
    Lawyers should be preparing to deal with the battles over sea rise that are sure to come, but Harlem says they aren’t.
    “When you go to (sea rise) meetings around here, there are certain professions that ought to be at them, and the legal profession is not there,” he said. “There’s a law in the state of Florida, for instance, that says if a property is under water a certain number of days a year, it belongs to the state. Lawyers are going to be needed to look at laws tied to boundaries and eminent domain laws that are going to be needed to pull people off the beaches that are in danger.”
    And there will be the people in the Midwest who won’t have much sympathy for Floridians, he said.
“The cost of sea rise will have federal dollars involved, and eventually folks in Oklahoma are going to notice how much they’re spending on a beach they never go to. At that point it becomes a political hot potato.”
    And there are the battles between doubters and believers among voters — and within the Florida Legislature.
    State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, has been a rare and vociferous voice in the capital about sea level rise. He says there hasn’t been a single meeting in Tallahassee about it, other than the one he held for delegations from Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Broward counties last year.
    “There is utterly no leadership on the state level. You’ve got people who are either completely ignorant or they’re guided by the principles of corporate greed and wealth,” Pafford said. “As we speak, sea rise is happening. There’s salt water on the streets in Palm Beach County and today on Las Olas Boulevard in Broward. This is not typical, these things are not normal.”
    It’s up to voters to elect officials who will address sea rise problems now and those waiting in the state’s future, he said.

Can’t wait until crisis
    “The first thing we should be doing is protecting the fresh water we need for 7 million people (in southeast Florida) from saltwater intrusion,” Pafford said. “Over the last century, development and agriculture had an impact on a finite resource, and when we flush it out to sea and don’t bother conserving water like we should, we have a crisis. We can’t wait until our water supply is at a critical stage. Then it is too late.”
    At community meetings such as the Sea Level Rise Symposium, held at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach in July, Pafford had strong words for voters: “At the end of the day, it’s not the corporate dollars that walk into the poll, it’s us. If you’re not doing your homework, then shame on you. We’re all controlling our own destiny.”
    Bonnie Lazar, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty Services in Boca Raton and past president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, told the symposium audience that all county residents should keep in mind the importance of coastal homes and businesses.
    “Many commercial hotels are on the beaches. They employ thousands of people in South Florida. They bring in thousands of tourists every year,” she said. “So, we need to find a way to make it economically sound and sustainable to maintain beachfront residences and commercial uses.”
    Beachfront residents support restaurants, medical facilities and other businesses, Lazar said. “It’s not just a matter of real estate. And it’s not just a matter of enjoying the land. It’s a matter of sustaining the whole economy in the area. We obviously have to plan on building with great land use. However, building is still possible.”

Dozens of concerned neighbors meet Oct. 19 along Marine Way in Delray Beach to see the effects of high tides along the Intracoastal Waterway. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Cheryl Blackerby

    It was a home tour no homeowner wants to be on.
    The lovely two-story, 1920s-era homes along Marine Way in Delray Beach could have been the highlights  on a holiday tour, but on this sunny Saturday morning in October the houses served as cautionary tales.
    During an autumnal high tide, seawater lapped over the edge of the lane on the other side of the houses. Sand bags were stacked next to a house.
    C.J. Johnson stood barefoot on his thick green lawn — the grass and dirt as water-saturated as a sponge. “This is salt water. My grass will die,” he said matter-of-factly.
    He and his wife, Margery, have lived in their home for 21 years. The house was built by Addison Mizner in 1922 at the Boca Raton Resort and Club for the construction manager and floated to its present site in 1928. The high tides have gotten higher in recent years, often flooding their dining room, which faces the Intracoastal. Last year, the air conditioning compressor was underwater and they had to raise it 2½ feet.
    When asked about the future of the house, Margery Johnson laughed uneasily. “We’re not too worried about selling it. We’re going to die here.” Meanwhile, their flood insurance has risen to $4,000 a year and is sure to go higher.
    Next-door neighbor Genie DePonte’s gracious home, which has a veranda overlooking the Intracoastal, is higher off the ground than the Johnsons’ house, but she also had to replace her air-conditioning unit, and she had car damage from flooding. “It shows you how the situation could get really bad,” she said.

Genie DePonte gestures across the high tide-flooded street during a neighborhood tour of the Marina Historic District in Delray Beach on Oct. 19.

    About 40 Delray Beach residents took this unusual home tour on Oct. 19 and walked down the narrow lane, one of the prettiest in the county, to see firsthand how high the water was rising.
    Speaker for the event, Dr. Ana Puszkin-Chevlin, a Delray Beach resident and consultant on environmental land use planning and coastal hazard resiliency, told the residents the community needs to be making plans for the next 20 years — “retrofitting pumping stations, acquiring coastal land, creating berms, raising roads, raising houses and moving houses.”
    And septic tanks, which are common on the barrier islands?  “Septic tanks are a disaster,” she said.

Delray Beach residents wade through floodwaters after Hurricane Sandy. 2012 file photo/Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Sea rise is hot topic
    The concern about sea level rise, particularly since Hurricane Sandy, has led coastal residents to form organizations like the South Florida Action Partners. Long-standing groups such as the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County are getting behind the sea-rise issues. Both groups were sponsors of the event, along with Organizing for Action and MoveOn.
    Floridians are suddenly talking about a subject they didn’t want to contemplate even a few years ago.
    In July, it was standing-room-only at a one-day sea level rise symposium held at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach. In October, Florida Atlantic University hosted the “Sea Level Rise Summit: Resilience in the Face of Change,” with expert speakers and panel discussions.
    On Nov. 7 and 8, the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, formed in 2009 by Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, will host speakers and meetings on sea rise at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. The partnership, they said, was created “to tackle one of, if not the, most important issue facing our generation.”
    The group developed an action plan to protect a vulnerable water supply and coastal infrastructure, among other sea rise and climate issues; but while Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties embraced the plan, the Palm Beach County Commission has yet to sign it.

Seasonal high tides were amplified by the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, flooding many streets along the Intracoastal including these in Briny Breezes. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

 Meanwhile, sea rise is causing problems now.
On Oct. 11, the National Weather Service announced that the dry season had officially started. Six days later, after a week of sunny days, there was a foot of seawater in the streets and low elevations of Fort Lauderdale. In Miami Beach, salt water pushed up through the drains on Alton Road, standing 2 feet deep.
    In Palm Beach County, the Intracoastal sent water over several roads in Briny Breezes. In Lantana, rising water washed up to the edge of A1A, and the parking lot on the west side of the Lantana Bridge was toe-dipping distance from the water. All along the Intracoastal boats seemed to float on an even level with docks and parking lots.

What scientists say
    No matter what people might think of global warming or climate change — a topic more seriously discussed in public forums since Hurricane Sandy — sea level rise is a certainty, and one that can be measured.
    Since about 1930, the global average of sea level has risen about 9 or 10 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
    “It’s running at about 3.2 millimeters per year, but that is accelerating every year,” said Dr. Harold Wanless, chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Miami. That’s one-eighth inch — an inch of sea level rise every eight years — and a low-ball estimate for the future, he said.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, and the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact all agree on sea level rise time frames: from 3 to 7 inches by 2030; 9 to 24 inches by 2060; and 3 to 5 feet by 2100.
    But Wanless says there are newer NOAA projections: “The higher projection is 2 feet by 2048; 3 feet by 2063; and 4.1 to 6.6 feet by 2100. We’re running ahead of lower projections so it would be silly to only look at lower projections.”
    The major cause of sea level rise, say scientists, is global warming, which contributes in two ways: thermal expansion — when seawater warms, its volume increases — and melting ice on land, primarily glaciers and ice sheets, which adds more water.
    What does that mean for South Florida in the next 20 years?
    • Lower elevations on barrier islands, particular on the Intracoastal side, will flood. But beach houses at higher elevations will get higher ocean surges.
    • It will be very difficult to keep sand on beaches.
    • The water table will rise, and is rising, in western communities from Hialeah up to Wellington, which will be prone to flooding.
    • It will be difficult to keep saltwater intrusion from freshwater supplies since Florida is built on limestone as porous as Swiss cheese.
    • It will be difficult or impossible to get homeowner’s insurance in flood zones.
    “We have to start planning for this. This is not something that may happen, this is something that is happening now and will happen,” Wanless said. “Every citizen needs to understand this problem and the seriousness of it, and once they do they will put in an electorate that will be responsive for the long-term needs of global warming.”
    Keren Bolter, research assistant and Ph.D. candidate in geosciences at Florida Atlantic University, has researched and created sea-rise vulnerability maps for Palm Beach County communities, which will be used to plan for the future.
    “There are two opposing messages when talking about sea level rise — a camp that says it’s a hoax and a camp that says we’re doomed,” Bolter said. “But you can’t ignore the problem. It’s still going to happen, and we need to prepare for it.”
    There’s good news about climate change and sea level rise: It won’t hit Florida suddenly like a hurricane. There’s time to research and prepare, and there’s time for what Puszkin-Chevlin calls “the real visionary stuff,” when teams of academics, real estate experts and local governments get together and plan.
    Another good thing for Palm Beach County: Monroe and Miami-Dade counties have relatively lower elevations and will be on the front lines for sea level rise. Palm Beach County can watch and learn. 

Patricia “Pat” Brown-Paytee is known for tireless service to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. Brown-Paytee, of West Palm Beach,  has been involved with the agency for 13 years, starting as a grant-funded recruiter and coordinator. When the grant expired in 2005, she stayed on the job — as a volunteer.
Co-workers say she has an exceptional leedership style, a generous heart and always allows others to shine. Volunteer participation at the nonprofit has tripled under her leadership, and she initiated the first volunteer recognition celebration. She also facilitates educational activities for volunteers, staff members and the community.

Susan Duane has served as a volunteer in the local community for decades, giving time and energy with grace and sincerity. Duane and her husband, Marshall, stepped up in 2005 as chairs of the Bethesda Hospital Foundation’s 50th-anniversary ball, helping to raise money for the most ambitious capital campaign in the hospital’s history.
The Village of Golf resident makes a difference with every organization she touches, whether it is Saint Andrew’s or Gulf Stream schools, First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach or other causes including the Delray Beach Historical Society, the Lupus Foundation of America Southeast Florida Chapter and Impact 100 Palm Beach County.

Sandra Greenblatt, of coastal Boca Raton, has been a Cornerstone Contributor to the Tri-County Humane Society for more than 16 years. Amazing animal stories involving Greenblatt abound, as she dedicates more than 15 hours a week to the organization. She is smiling and cheerful to the staff and the volunteers, often becoming part of the solution when an issue arises.
Recognizing a downward shift in the health of pets being abandoned, she established an emergency medical fund to help shelter those pets and others that are abused and injured. She gets them ready for adoption, and many of these dogs have graduated into pet-therapy programs.

Michelle Rubin, of Boca Raton, has belonged to the Junior League of Boca Raton for 24 years, serving as president from 1998 to 1999. Rubin helped the organization provide financial support and trained volunteers to In The Pines, Dixie Manor, the Children’s Place South, Sandoway House Nature Center and the Family Visitation Center.
Moreover, she has become a leader in the autism community, raising funds and awareness for the cause since the late 1990s. Two years ago, she founded an organization to help young adults with autism transition into the community. She also gives her time to Equine-Assisted Therapies of South Florida.

Bettina Young is a passionate volunteer who dedicates time each day to charitable organizations. A board member of the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, Young has been an invaluable asset as ambassador for Read Together Palm Beach County and as co-chairwoman of the Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee. She also served as a committee member of the Love of Literacy Luncheon and was an integral part of the coalition’s effort to build the Literacy Center for Education, Training and Outreach.
The Gulf Stream resident has been an active supporter of the Bethesda Hospital Foundation as a member of the board of directors, and she co-chaired the Women of Grace luncheon in 2008.

    Biographical information provided by Bethesda Hospital Foundation.

Bethesda Hospital Foundation Women of Grace honorees and their guests react to the unveiling of  personalized windows at Saks Fifth Avenue in Palm Beach. Each honoree had a window decorated representing her own style.

Meet the Women of Grace | See more photos from Palm Beach Saks Fifth Avenue event

By Amy Woods

The Bethesda Hospital Foundation’s Women of Grace benefit not only will turn 14 this year, it also will turn a corner.
The annual luncheon that honors the female rock stars of volunteer service has moved to a new venue — the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach — and will emerge Nov. 13 with an added element of elegance.
“There’s quite a buzz about the event,” said Kristin Calder, the foundation’s director of communications and special events. “It’s really going to be amazing and over the top in a way that’s never been done before. Everybody is going to leave there really feeling loved.”
The fundraiser will debut with a poolside fashion show for VIP ticket holders in the Mar-a-Lago Club’s stately courtyard, featuring resort wear from event partner Saks Fifth Avenue in Palm Beach. Guests can sip a welcome mimosa or glass of wine while admiring the couture.
A luncheon and awards presentation will follow the fashion show, and a guest list that numbers 500 is expected to raise more than $200,000.
“It’s grown every year, and we actually have outgrown the [former] Ritz-Carlton,” Calder said of the Manalapan resort that housed the luncheon for five years. “Moving to a new venue like Mar-a-Lago adds an exciting historical element to an already special event.”
The foundation’s partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue led to a clever and creative kickoff event in October, at which fashions inspired by Chairwoman Jacqueline Moroco Maloney and each of the five honorees were featured in individual windows in the Worth Avenue department store. The women selected special outfits to be displayed in the windows based on their personal styles, and attended a window unveiling reception with friends, family and the luncheon committee, posing for pictures with their windows.

Dr. Jacqueline Moroco Maloney, luncheon chair, poses for a photo in front of her window.
Tim Stepien/
The Coastal Star

The public can view the displays through the day of the luncheon Nov. 13.
“The pre-luncheon event [was] our special way to salute the five honorees and chairwoman of the Bethesda Foundation’s 2013 Women of Grace luncheon, by recognizing their individual contributions to the community in our historic windows on iconic Worth Avenue,” said Peter Schuette, the store’s general manager.
The surprise of the evening was not only the unveiling of the varied vignettes, but also the presence of aesthetics queen Tammy Fender. The holistic skin guru of the rich and famous mingled with guests, who got a preview of the Tammy Fender line of organic products, which will be part of the luncheon favors  for each guest. Fender also will attend the luncheon.
“Kristin Calder and Tammy Fender both reached out to Saks Fifth Avenue Palm Beach for our partnership and support,” Schuette said. “Our specific role is to provide important in-kind service and elevate the experience of the luncheon attendees.” 

If You Go
What: Women of Grace Luncheon to benefit the Bethesda Hospital Foundation
When: 10 a.m. Nov. 13
Where: The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach
Cost: $150 for general admission; $200 for VIP admission
Information: Call 737-7734 or visit bethesdahospital
foundation.org/events

The Plate: Pepperoni Pizza
The Place: Pizzeria Oceano, 201 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana. No phone; pizzeriaoceano.com. Typically opens around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Meatless Monday event is Nov. 4.
The Price: $19; cash only.
The Skinny: It is rare that one can boast that something is the best of its genre, but that may be the case of the pies at Pizzeria Oceano.
Each day, chef/owner Dak Kerprich fires up his wood-fired oven and cooks until he runs out of dough. He bases his menu on what ingredients are fresh, good and available.
We had been there before for Our Basic, with house-made mozzarella, tomato sauce, a generous grind of pecorino and bits of basil atop a wondrously light, decadently crispy crust courtesy of that wood-fired oven.
So we decided to stray to one of the specials — that evening it was a pepperoni that had thin-sliced pepperoni, olives, chili oil and onion atop more of that amazing sauce and a wonderfully charred crust.
We washed it down with Okocim, a pale Polish beer that had a crisp, lager flavor with just the right amount of foam.
It was perfect for a fall evening under the stars of Lantana.
— Scott Simmons

By Thom Smith

The virtual parking lot of NFL stars is crammed with some sweet machinery — Clinton Portis’ Maserati, Reggie Bush’s Ferrari, Frank Gore’s Rolls Royce. With all their millions, one of their first acts as professionals is to buy an impressive car.
    But FAU grad Alfred Morris, now in his second year as a running back for the Washington Redskins, already had his “Bentley.” He’s just lucky it hasn’t been towed away.
    No problem for Morris, however. The adjective often used to describe the Pensacola native is “grounded.” Even though he was on full scholarship at FAU and setting all kinds of records, he made good grades — student athlete of the year — and held a part-time job at Sears in Boca’s Town Center mall. When he couldn’t hitch a ride, he walked to work … until his local minister proposed a deal.
    Knowing that the NCAA might look warily at a freebie, the Rev. Gregory Fashaw of Delray Beach, who played football at Boca High and Florida A&M, offered to sell  Morris his 1991 Mazda 626 with 100,000 miles and almost as many dings on it… for two bucks.
    To Morris it was a “gift from God.”
    Even though Morris signed a contract after his rookie season worth $2.25 million and could have bought any car, he held on to the “Bentley.” When a D.C.-area Mazda dealership offered to fix up the car, he was at first reluctant. He finally relented and took a 2013 Mazda as a loaner.
    Like a NASCAR pit crew setting up for the next race, they took the car down to the bare metal. More than 450 parts, some specially manufactured in Japan, were replaced; the engine was overhauled; new brakes and exhaust were installed, the air-conditioner repaired. As a bonus, they added  some features not available on the original 1991 model — leather interior, digital sound system and back-up camera.  
    “She looks different, but it’s still the same car,” Morris told Sarah Kogod of The Washington Post. “It’s a feel thing. Sometimes when something changes, you’re like, ‘Oh man, I want it the old way.’ But when I sat in her, I still got that feeling. She’s still ‘The Bentley.’ ”
    Player and car made the network news after the ’Skins dusted off the Chicago Bears, but as usual Morris was his low-key self.
    “I didn’t grow up with a lot. This helps me remember where I come from and where I’m going,” he said, aware of his good fortune to date yet aware that it could all end with one hard tackle. “I’ll never be a star. Other people may think I’m a star, but I’m just Alfred.”
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James Mischka, Suzi Goldsmith, Amanda Chussler and Mark Badgley.

    “It’s a risk… But we’re confident that we’re headed in the right direction,” Bonnie Brooks said as she watched crowds pour into Lord & Taylor’s new Mizner Park store preview party on Oct. 9. Hors d’oeuvres, wine and Champagne, lots of photographers, lots of purchases and lots of handshakes for Brooks, now vice chairman at the parent Hudson’s Bay Co.
    In the crowd: Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel, her predecessor and now county Mayor Steven Abrams, local socialites, fashion designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka, Project Runway judge and Marie Claire Creative Director Nina Garcia, the Cole twins — Timolin and Casey — who no doubt wouldn’t mind support from Lord & Taylor for their next Nat King Cole Generation Hope Foundation benefit that funds school music programs.

Timolin and Casey Cole with Marie Claire Creative Director Nina Garcia (center).
Courtesy photos

    After an 11-year hiatus, it was a delightful sight for the L&T brass. In 2002, slipping against its competition, the chic retailer had closed its store in Boca’s Town Center. Eventually every store in Florida closed.
    But five years ago, L&T was bought by Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay, which brought in Brooks to apply CPR. Mizner Park is the first shot in Florida, indeed the first in the entire Southeast, and Hudson’s Bay has even bigger plans. In July it bought Saks Fifth Avenue.
    With Christmas just around the corner, Brooks and company should know soon enough if Boca shoppers prefer the relative intimacy of Mizner Park to Town Center’s vastness.       
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Heard through the grapevine: On Nov. 5, the American Fine Wine Competition brings its tasting for charity — more than 40 wines plus hors d’oeuvres — to Terra Fiamma, way out west at the Delray Marketplace. Tickets are $45 in advance, $50 at the door and proceeds benefit Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. (www.american finewinecompetition.com)
    The next weekend, both Delray and Boca will host wine and food events.  
Boca’s fourth annual Wine & Food Festival opens its three-day run at the Boca Corporate Center on Nov. 8 with a Vineyard Party that includes a wine sensory garden, spirits region, farmer’s market and live entertainment and a Dinner Under the Stars.  From 6 to 10 p.m. Nov. 9, Braman Motorcars presents the Palm Beach Grand Tasting, A Culinary Affair, featuring chefs from more than 70 restaurants, accompanying wines and spirits and more entertainment. The event closes out at noon Nov. 10 with Jazz Bubbles & Brunch.  For pricing including numerous pre-event discounts, go to www.bocaratonwine andfoodfestival.com.
Admission is free to Delray’s second annual Wine & Seafood Festival, which will be staged Nov. 9 (11 a.m.-10 p.m.) and Nov. 10 (11 a.m.-7 p.m.) on Atlantic Avenue east of the Intracoastal Bridge. Patrons can buy any of the more than 60 seafood dishes or beverages from such local favorites as Boston’s, Ceviche, Caffe Luna Rosa and 50 Ocean. Plus live music on two stages and 160 artists and craft exhibitors, special wine and food pairing seminars ($30), and hand-crafted ornaments made from wine corks by students at Plumosa School of the Arts.
    From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 9, the  Greater Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce will host its Harvest Hoedown at Intracoastal Park. Activities, games, entertainment, food and a Due South beer garden.
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    Those wondering what the Max Group plans to do with its brand-new Sonoma House, in Boca just north of Mizner Park, may get some answers Nov. 15 at its first public event. Whisky Bent Hootenanny is billed as a Palm Beach-style hoedown party featuring culinary creations from Max’s Harvest and Max’s Grille, paired with hand-crafted whiskey cocktails and craft beers, plus music by Uproot Hootenanny, barnyard-style games, art displays, themed attire competitions, cigar rollers and plenty of dancing. (For tickets, $65, $55 each for a pair, go to thesonomahouse.com.)
    If you want to learn how to pair wine and cheese, check out the next event in the Boca Museum of Art’s monthly “The Art of Wine” Series, Nov. 20, led by certified sommelier and wine educator Stephanie Miskew. Next up (Dec. 18): Picasso and the wines of Spain. (392-2500, ext. 208).
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    From blue water to pink ice. Only in Boca where pink is perfect, the Boca Raton Resort & Club, which already conducts surfing classes, now is offering guests  a chance to skate … on pink ice. The 85-by-40-foot ice rink opened Nov. 1 and will close New Year’s Day. Offering assistance and encouragement will be world pro pairs champs Frank Sweiding and Anita Hartshorn. (Reservations: www.bocaresort.com or 888-495-BOCA)
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    Since its start in 1989, the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic has raised more than $20.6 million to combat drug abuse and child neglect. To add to that total this year, Evert has rounded up a show biz crowd that includes Alan Thicke, Kevin McKidd from Grey’s Anatomy,  actress and former pro tennis player Maeve Quinlan; American Idol David Cook, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, actor-comedian Jon Lovitz and tennis greats Patrick McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Pam Shriver, Brad Gilbert and Martina Navratilova.
    Play begins Nov. 15 with a pro-am and a cocktail reception at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Tennis will be played Nov. 16 and 17 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, and the Pro-Celebrity Gala featuring a silent auction and a Blues Brothers tribute by the Jake and Elwood Blues Revue will be Nov. 16 at the Resort & Club. (chrisevert.org).
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The effort some people will make: Boca Raton is the second-best-dressed small city in the nation, according to Movoto, a real estate website, topped only by Santa Monica, Calif. Miami Beach is 10th. California claims six of the top 10 cities based on the number of high-end fashion stores, high-end shoe stores, high-end jewelry stores, tailors and dry cleaners per capita.
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Restaurant news: Legal Seafood is gone. After 13 years in Boca’s Town Center, the southernmost restaurant in the Boston-based chain has turned off the stove. Management cited problems with quality control associated with flying in seafood from New England and a desire to move from malls.
Those who miss dancing on the tables since Taverna Opa’s CityPlace eatery closed in July, can begin practicing. A new Taverna is set to opa, er, open by year’s end on Atlantic Avenue in the old 75 Main spot.
Farther south in Boca, another new spot has already gone to the dogs. Darbster (6299 N. Federal Highway) has 60 seats outside for customers and their dogs and another 55 inside for the non-canine inclined.
The international menu ranges from Cordon Bleu to fried green tomatoes and even some vegan delights. But no Alpo.
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Saltwater Brewery’s hoped-for pre-Halloween opening has been delayed to mid-November. As with many first-time ventures, its owner-management team ran into a few snags and needs a little more time to get the kettles up and brewing just right.

Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.