Sandoway House Nature Center Gala committee members Carolyn Patton (l) and Elaine Morris meet with Honorary Chair Coach Howard Schnellenberger to plan the April 14 event. The gala features live music by The Valerie Tyson Band and lots of dancing under the stars along with a traditional lobster bake. Tickets are $200. For reservations and location, contact 274-7263 or www.sandowayhouse.org. Photo provided

Gulf Stream School Underwriting Party will be held April 21 at the Delray Beach Marriott. The event is open to the community, supporters and GSS families. Experience the bohemian spectacular that was Old Havana — cocktails, dinner and dancing, blackjack, a silent and live auction and more at our interpretation of the famous Tropicana Night Club. Event starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $175 per person. Contact 276-5225 for more information. Above: GSS supporters Maureen and Thomas Reutter. Photo provided

The Historical Society of Palm Beach County and the Delray Beach Historical Society host a collaborative event as part of a Public Program Initiative for local families. Held from 11:00 am-2:00 pm, April 29 at Sandoway House Nature Center, 142 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. The event features Michael Bornstein as the Barefoot Mailman, arts and crafts such as shark tooth necklaces, shell frames and a message in a bottle, as well as treasure hunt along the beach, live reggae music, a Historic Barefoot Mailman walk and more. Food and drinks available. $10. Free/children 3 and under. Information: 832-4164, Ext. 103, or www.historicalsocietypbc.org.
Archive photo

By Tim O’Meilia

    Five years ago, a developer figured the homey oceanfront mobile home park of Briny Breezes was worth half a billion dollars if it were decorated with high rise condominium towers, a pricey hotel and several hundred time-shares.
    He was wrong. Ocean Land Investments, the Boca Raton developer, couldn’t convince anyone beyond the town limits of that vision and the deal crashed, leaving unhappy residents, strained friendships and relieved municipal neighbors.
    Now the jilted runner-up in the Briny courtship is back in town, but without a glittering $500 million offer to dangle in front of mobile home residents.
    This time, New York-based Kean Development Co. wants to see what the Briny dowry will be worth in two or three years before the price is settled. Kean wants to spend several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own getting all the zoning and development approvals in place before an array of appraisals determine the sale price.

 Developer John C. Kean answers questions during a March 16 presentation in the Briny Breezes auditorium.  Watching is Joe Aronica of Duane Morris, the law firm retained by the mobile home park to pursue a sale of the property.  
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

   “That might not be what it was five years ago but it will be more than it is today,” John  C. Kean told a March 16 gathering of 100 or so residents eager to hear his plan.
    Judging from the reaction of many, a proposal without a firm price tag attached may be a tough sell.
    “You’re not giving us anything financially. We’re in limbo,” said resident Lee Moran.
    “Why the heck, if someone’s sniffing around here, why don’t they take the risk themselves of getting the zoning (later),” said Sue Alter.
“The concept has merit — to see what the value of the place is,” said Steve French. “But what if we don’t like the average of the appraisals?”
    Kean made it clear he isn’t going to take Ocean Land’s approach of making an offer then trying to obtain the zoning to make it profitable.
    “We’re not going to get involved in this if Briny can turn around and say no,” Kean said. The appraisals would come from firms agreed to by both sides. “Ultimately, you’re deciding that Briny is eventually going to sell.”
    Of the four developers who made serious proposals six years ago, Kean and Ocean Land were the finalists. After the lengthy interview process, Kean said he told his development team he thought they had hit a home run.
    But Ocean Land bumped up their offer by several million and won the day. “Basically, we won the hearts of the people of Briny Breezes but not their pocketbooks,” he said.
    The loss turned out to be in Kean’s favor.
Not only was it difficult for Ocean Land to obtain development approvals, but the bottom fell out of the real estate market. “It was very fortunate for us that we didn’t get involved in Briny Breezes,” he said.

Proposal a first for Kean
    Kean Development has built residential and commercial buildings in New York, Long Island and some in Florida, but “nothing like this,” Kean admitted.
    He showed renderings of what he proposed six years ago, saying the climate is better for obtaining permits now because politicians are eager to kick-start new construction.
    On the Intracoastal Waterway side of State Road A1A, Kean planned several sets of three-story townhomes, offices, some stores and a parking garage. On the ocean side, the plan called for residential towers going from seven stories near the street to higher near the beach. A hotel with underground parking would be the centerpiece.
    He didn’t want the renderings of the towers photographed. “The towers are going to scare the heck out of your neighbors,” he said.
    Some residents said that decision is all the more difficult because the corporation that owns the park (residents are shareholders in the corporation) is only now determining what road, seawall, sewage and recreational improvements need to be made to the park if it isn’t sold.
    “How can we decide without knowing what we have to do to Briny?” said Eileen Duffy. “By hiring you to do the zoning, we’re also saying yes to selling Briny.”
    And some are no more interested in selling now than they were six years ago. “Take one step now and Briny is gone forever,” said Lee Godby. “I do not believe Briny is a relic of the past. Briny is the future.”
    Longtime sale opponent Tom Byrne agreed. “This is an exciting proposal. But it’s just as exciting to me to sit on my porch and watch the sun go down.”       

Proposal details
    • If approved by the board of directors, shareholders would vote whether to negotiate with Kean Development.
    • The proposal would call for Kean to pay the cost of obtaining zoning and development approvals, a two- to three-year process.
    • To be negotiated:  how three or more appraisals would be obtained and a method agreed upon to determine fair market value of Briny. Kean would buy Briny.
    • To be negotiated: whether Briny could cancel the sale after the appraisals and repay Kean for rezoning costs.
    • Shareholders would vote on the negotiated agreement (67 percent approval needed).

Correction
Because of a reporting error, The Coastal Star incorrectly reported that Greenacres has a contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for police services. The error appeared in the April edition in a story about a Sheriff’s Office proposal to Ocean Ridge.

By Tim O’Meilia

    Ocean Ridge taxpayers could save nearly $700,000 next year by replacing their own police force with Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies, based on a proposal made by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
    Ten road patrol deputies would replace the 13 on-the-street Ocean Ridge police officers (the town added a position last month) but maintain the minimum of two officers in each of the town’s two patrol zones at all times, according to the sheriff’s offer.
    The town’s chief of police and lieutenant would be replaced by a sheriff’s lieutenant in command around the clock. The sheriff’s communications office would take the place of the town’s six dispatch positions, one of which is currently vacant.
    “Looking strictly at the dollars, it’s attractive,” said Town Manager Ken Schenck. “But there’s more than just dollars involved. All we’re trying to do is point out the pros and cons. It’s really up to the town residents and the Town Commission to decide.”
    The 10-year contract would cost the town $1,145,450 for each of the first two years, an even lower price than the sheriff offered neighboring Manalapan last month.
    Asked if he thought the sheriff was low-balling the town with the intent of hiking the cost substantially beginning in the third year, Schenck said, “They made the price so low you would really have to think about it.”
    This year’s police budget is $1,714,395. But Schenck anticipates a $122,000 budget increase next year to cover two new police cars and increases in health insurance and pension costs.
    The sheriff’s contract would shave this year’s budget by $569,000 if it were in effect now and cut next year’s anticipated costs by $691,000.
    “I think we need to look at this with an open mind. We need to make sure the level of service is not diminished,” said Commissioner Zoanne Hennigan, who has begun her own analysis of the finances.
    Even if the sheriff’s offer is unrealistically low the first two years and was increased later at twice the rate of Ocean Ridge’s current police budget increases, Hennigan calculated that it take 11 years before the cost of the sheriff’s office would match Ocean Ridge’s.
    “It’s the same officers, for the most part, just wearing a different uniform,” she said. She wants to interview officials in other towns who have switched to the sheriff’s office — such as Lake Worth, Wellington, Mangonia Park — to see if they are satisfied.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi was skeptical of the proposed numbers, wondering how a proposal for eight deputies and a lieutenant in Manalapan costs $20,000 more than 10 deputies and a lieutenant in Ocean Ridge.
    He also noted there was no guarantee the town’s officers could shift to the sheriff’s office. Town officers who meet the sheriff’s standards would remain on duty in the town as sheriff’s deputies and operate from the town’s Police Department offices.  But no arrangements were made for the police chief, lieutenant or dispatchers.
    Most of the officers would earn more money if they were shifted to the sheriff’s office.
    The commission recently approved a 13th police position to move closer to having three officers on the street during every shift. The sheriff’s offer guarantees two.
    The town’s deputies would not answer calls at nearby county parks or county pockets, under the contract, except in “exigent circumstances.”
    But, Yannuzzi said, it seemed impractical for a deputy to drive from a Military Trail office to answer a call at Ocean Inlet Park when an Ocean Ridge deputy is much closer. He also said the cost of hiring deputies for special events and meetings would likely be higher than shuffling officers as Ocean Ridge does.
    “I think it’s premature and perhaps a little irresponsible to form an opinion now before we’ve even heard the proposal or asked any questions,” Commissioner Ed Brookes said. “The cart is way before the horse.”
    Town residents would lose the immediate response by town police to home alarms because the sheriff’s office does not offer that service.
    Schenck said that deputies would continue to make “dark house” checks, but that is not spelled out in the proposal and details of code enforcement would have to be worked out.
    During last summer’s budget hearings, former Mayor Ken Kaleel asked the sheriff’s office to make a proposal for commissioners to consider.
    Either party could cancel the contract by giving notice by June 30 for termination effective Oct. 1. The town would pay a $250,000 penalty for cancelling in the first year.
    As part of the fallout of Ocean Ridge hiring the sheriff’s department, nearby Briny Breezes would lose its $185,000 annual contract for police services from Ocean Ridge.                                   

PBSO presentations scheduled
Town of Manalapan
• 406 residents, 2.4 square miles
Manalapan commissioners scheduled a workshop session to discuss the sheriff’s $1.17 million proposal to provide police services for 10 a.m. April 23.

Town of Ocean Ridge
• 1,786 residents, 2 square miles
Ocean Ridge commissioners set a workshop session  for 6 p.m. May 8 to hear a presentation from the sheriff’s office and discuss the $1.15 million proposal.

                  The most popular Florida building may be in our neighborhood.

                  Results of an online poll of the state’s top 100 architectural buildings in the “Florida Architecture: 100 Years, 100 Places” competition will be revealed in mid-April, says Deborah L. Nichols, chapter director for the Palm Beach Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and coordinator of the contest in this region.

                  The competition identifies 100 buildings (actually 109, narrowed down from 250 entries) and places across the state that represent the best in architectural achievement. They range from the Wentworth Museum in Pensacola to the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami.

                  The list includes four buildings in Coastal Star territory — Boca Raton Town Hall, Gulf Stream Golf Club in Gulf Stream, the Colony Hotel and Virginia Courteney’s house in Delray Beach.

                  It’s all is part of AIA Florida’s 100th anniversary celebration.

                  “We’re hoping to open a dialogue on the architecture in our community,” said Nichols, a West Palm Beach architect.

                  Anyone can vote at www.aiafltop100.org through April 6. People can vote for as many buildings as they choose and as often as they like.

— Mary Thurwachter

By Tim O’Meilia

Five years after a half-billion dollar sale collapsed, Briny Breezes’ 43 acres of ocean-to-Intracoastal mobile homes is on a land developer’s shopping list.
An unnamed development firm has pitched the idea of erecting twin 20-story towers and a 350-room hotel on the beach and constructing a row of three-story condos on the west side of State Road A1A — totaling more than 1,200 units — where rows of mobile homes now sit.
Briny Breezes Inc. directors outlined the plan to homeowners at a Feb. 20 board meeting five days after they attended a closed-door session at a Boynton Beach hotel with the developer, the Duane Morris law firm that represents the mobile home park and a handful of other residents.
“At this point, you can’t even call it a proposal. It’s certainly not an offer,” said past board member Ray Oldis. “It’s more of a concept.”
It was a concrete enough idea that the developer brought renderings of his concept to the behind-the-scenes meeting. “He’s spent a considerable sum of money to this point,” said board member Art LeBlanc.
The board decided to ask the developer to make a public presentation to Briny shareholders. Briny is both a town and a corporation. The corporation owns the property. Homeowners hold shares based on the size of their lots.
Board President Mike Gut said he relayed the request to the corporation’s law firm but has yet to receive a response.
”We want to find out if there’s any interest on the part of our shareholders,” LeBlanc said.
The developer’s approach differs from that of Boca Raton-based Ocean Land that made the $510 million offer in 2006 that shareholders accepted. But government regulators concluded the project was too big for the property and coastal neighbors Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream threatened to sue.
When the corporation wouldn’t accept a lower price for a scaled-back project, Ocean Land pulled out days before losing a $5 million deposit in 2007.
This time, as Gut and others explained, the developer is making no up-front offer but will pay the cost of seeking the land use and zoning changes necessary. The developer would have the right of first refusal on the land.
The sale price would be contingent on a series of appraisals based on the land use approvals. If the shareholders didn’t like the offer, they could cancel the deal but would have to pay the developer’s cost of obtaining the land use changes. The entire process could take three to five years, the developer said.
The latest concept is certain to pique the interest of Briny’s neighbors worried about the impact of 1,200 units where less than 500 stand today. Several said they would let the story play out further before taking a position.
The lack of a firm price likely will unsettle some Briny residents. “To ask Briny to do that would be a leap of faith without adequate knowledge of what the numbers would be,” Oldis said.
Town Alderman and former board member Pete Fingerhut said selling is the best approach. “The best Briny Breezes can do is let a developer come in and develop Briny,” he said. “People who want to stay can take half the money and stay, and put the other half in their pockets.”
Others say the process hurts the town.  “This time frame — three to five years — keeps us in limbo again,” said Tom Byrne, an outspoken opponent of the 2007 sale. “No one buys here, People are reluctant to keep up their property. It’s not good for the day-to-day health of Briny Breezes.”
Those who attended the closed-door meeting agreed to keep the developer’s identity confidential but several said he was involved in the previous offer, which could point to The Related Company, which is involved in major developments in Florida and across the country.
Board treasurer Scott Benedict wants everything out in the open. “The shareholders should know everything that’s going on. And they will if I have anything to say about it,” he said.
Board president Gut did characterize the proposal as a step in the process. “It’s a step in a direction. Everything has to go through the process. It’s not a board of directors’ decision. It’s a shareholders’ decision,” he said.
 “A lot of people may want to do this and a lot may not,” he
said.      
One of the leaders of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, which was formed to fight the original Briny Breezes development plans, urged caution.
“All of us owe (Briny Breezes) the respect to wait to react to the facts and not to rumors,” said the Coalition’s Bob Ganger. “We’ll deal with the facts as they present themselves. Sooner or later, Briny will get a proposal they’ll have to take seriously.”
Ganger said he thought it unlikely Briny residents would take any deal without knowing much more about the buyer.
“The density issue concerns everyone on the barrier island,” said Helen Burns, president of the St. Andrew’s Club, which partly abuts Briny Breezes. “The issue is so undefined now that it would be hard to take a position on anything.”
She said re-development is probable for Briny’s future “and St. Andrew’s members have been very amenable but the question is ‘what can we all live with?’”                                      
Antigone Barton contributed to this story.

Briny voices

“It’s kind of a pie-in-the-sky thing, not going into figures. I hope we don’t get into something we later regret.”
— Mayor Roger Bennett

“I think it’s worth listening to. The board and, eventually, the shareholders will make the decision. Mike Gut has exhibited outstanding leadership in this regard.”
— Joe Bruce, legal adviser
and ad hoc member of the board

“It’s very indefinite. It involves making a promise to sell without knowing the real price.”
— Ray Oldis
(Oldis was on the board the last time
the corporation faced an offer.)

“They talked about how we will love the way Briny Breezes will be developed, but that won’t affect any of us because chances are we won’t be here. Chances are we won’t be able to afford it.”  
— Marie Solis
 
“A lot of people think they’re going to get a windfall of money. That’s not going to be the case.”
The options should be explored by Briny Breezes, “not an outside developer. We should do our own due diligence.”
— Jerry Gross


“I stood up at the meeting and said I do love Briny Breezes. It’s such a unique community. If any development is done it could be done within the Briny community. Many small towns have done that.”
— Shirley Jeter
 
“I was one of the poster boys for not wanting to sell back in 2006. I love Briny Breezes, and wasn’t looking, at my age to make a killing.”
— Tom Byrne

“Twenty-story buildings — it’s just not something people will want.”
— Ira Friedman
 
“We at Briny can’t develop Briny. It’s impossible; we don’t have the money.”
— Pete Fingerhut
(Fingerhut was on the board the last time
the corporation faced an offer.)

 I’m interested in knowing what it’s all about. I’m not overly excited. I’m interested in knowing what they’re willing to offer.”
— Jack Zerull
 
“Briny Breezes can do any development (on its own); it’s a remarkable community with many resourceful people.”
— Joe Coyner

The 1950 Lantana Bridge will be replaced with a taller, wider span. The first bridge on the site was built in 1911. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Inconvenience ahead; might as well throw a party | Towns join forces to patrol Hypoluxo Island | Optimism, worry mark merchant's view of bridge closing

By Tim O’Meilia

Back in the early 1900s, Lantana Point jutted into Lake Worth, just as it does today. Neatly, in the shallows of the lake, the point separated oyster beds on the north from oyster beds on the south.
A drive down Lantana Avenue (now East Ocean Avenue) ended at the point, a dock leading to the fish house to the north and another pier leading to a store to the south.     

It was the logical spot for a bridge to the barrier island, especially since Hypoluxo Island was so close. But there really was no need, unlike that faced by neighbors to the north and south.
    The bridge built in 1911 over Ocean Avenue in Boynton was spurred by Maj. Nathan Boynton’s desire for visitors to reach the resort hotel he had built on the ocean. The need to reach the newly built Lake Worth casino made the 1919 bridge to the north a commercial necessity.
    But a raft and chain pulley across the inland canal was all Lantana residents needed. Even after the first wooden bridge was finished in 1925, the main use for land east of Hypoluxo Island — not far from where the Ritz-Carlton Resort stands today — was as a garbage dump.
    Now, Lantana is the last of the three to get a third rendition of a bridge. Demolition of the second version, built in 1950, begins March 19. A taller, wider, more dependable replacement will take at least 19 months to build and cost $33.2 million. Compare that with the $500,000 cost of the 1950 concrete drawbridge.
    The Lymans, Lantana’s pioneer family, had dreams of their own beyond shipping oysters from the fertile beds of the lake. They built their homes near the point, opened stores, founded schools and had plans drawn for a hotel on the west side of the bridge.
    That first bridge was a wooden swing bridge, opened by inserting a large bent iron pipe, or “key,” into a center device and pushing the key in a circle until the bridge swung open, a task that took 15 minutes, according to Mary Collar Linehan in her town history Early Lantana, Her Neighbors — And More. The bridge was opened three times a day for boat traffic.
    A bridge tender’s house was built on the south side of the bridge, at the west end.
    It was no cramped toll collector’s booth, but a genuine house with living and dining rooms, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a water closet that apparently emptied directly into the lake below, according to Lantana Historical Society historian Kathy Elaine Clark-Tilson, who interviewed tenders and their descendants in compiling a history of the bridge tender’s house.
    The first bridge tender, Pete Nelson, left shortly after the 1928 hurricane, which ripped off the wooden slats of the bridge but left the house undamaged. The Sept. 16, 1928, storm, with winds of 150 mph, killed more than 2,500 people, mostly in the Glades.
    According to The Palm Beach Post, “the bridge toppled into the channel in the hurricane.”
Repairs by Palm Beach County took months.
    Perhaps the best-known bridge tender was Will Easton from Michigan, who gave up his Dad’s Place restaurant to take on the job from 1929-1937. He hunted deer and bear in the wilds of Hypoluxo Island to supplement his income, Clark-Tilson was told.
    But the biggest tale grew up around a photo of Easton hooking a 300-pound goliath grouper. Clark-Tilson wrote, “The story is that he caught the fish by fishing with a chain that was baited. After the fish took the bait, he managed to bring the fish up next to the bridge and then he shot it.”
    With no way to keep the huge catch fresh, Easton invited everyone from Boynton, Ocean Ridge, Manalapan, Lantana and Lake Worth to a giant fish fry. “At that time, circa 1930, you could invite all the residents from Lake Worth to Boynton Beach to ‘dinner’ and serve all of them on this fish,” Clark-Tilson wrote in her history.
    When the half-million-dollar, modern, concrete drawbridge was finished in 1950, the tender’s house was moved ashore and became a bait and tackle shop. Later the Lantana Women’s Club moved in and, finally, the town library.
    When the house was slated for demolition in 1990, Jack Carpenter, a founder of the historical society, and others had it moved to Yesteryear Village on the South Florida Fairgrounds. Clark-Tilson oversees its operation with volunteers from the families of bridge tender descendants.
    The 1950 bridge opened July 4 with a ribbon cutting by the twin 4-year-old daughters of the girlfriend of Palm Beach County Commissioner John Prince.
The county saved money by using the draw from the old Royal Park Bridge in Palm Beach, which had just been rebuilt.
    The 62-year-old bridge is a dozen years past its design life and numerous closings for repairs convinced inspectors that a new bridge is needed.
    It will be 11 feet higher in the center, cutting openings by 40 percent. The two-lane replacement will have pedestrian and bicycle lanes on both sides and a $650,000 fishing pier under the west end.
    Not all of the 1950s bridge will disappear. The town of Lantana will salvage the roof of the bridge tender’s house, the gear box the raises the spans, several lights from the span, and plaques from the 1950 dedication.             

                    A July 4 parade crosses the Lantana Bridge during its dedication in 1950. Courtesy of the town of Lantana

Croquet players take to the courts at St. Andrews Club, near Gulf Stream. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Photos: St. Andrew's Club - Yesterday and Today

By Mary Thurwachter

You could easily drive down A1A just south of Briny Breezes and not have inkling about the existence of the St. Andrews Club. There is a small sign, if you look closely, but well-manicured ficus hedges and swaying palm trees mostly hide the 27-acre club on both sides of the road.
Members say the seaside gem is the best-kept secret around.
The bonanza of amenities is something to boast about, after all. The club has a challenging par-three 18-hole golf course designed by Pete and Alice Dye; three Har-Tru tennis courts; a world class croquet lawn; a modern fitness center with fetching views of the golf course; a geothermal heated pool; an herb garden and nursery; and a private beach equipped with lounge chairs and cabanas. A gazebo along the Intracoastal Waterway is perfect for weddings or watching the holiday boat parade.
Oh, and that golf course is also a designated Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, one of 800 in the world.
The two-story clubhouse, renovated and expanded in 2006-2007, provides a sunny atmosphere for members to dine, dance, hold fashions shows and club meetings, hear lectures, play bridge or backgammon, or take classes like Pilates or water aerobics (in the pool outside the dining room). There’s no shortage of comfy chairs where members can curl up with a book and a quaint lending library.
Seven men of means, most Scottish-Canadians who had made their mark in the business world, founded the private club at 4475 N. Ocean Blvd., 40 years ago. Their names: Charles F.W. Burns, J.M. Richard Corbet, Stewart B. Iglehart, Leonard  G. Lumbers, George E. Mara, Karl E. Scott and Donald G. Willmot.
Members pay tribute to the founders’ Scottish roots during an annual Founders Day celebration, when bagpipers march from the beach to the clubhouse for a celebration.

The book on St. Andrews
Bob Hopkins, a Connecticut resident who, with his wife, Joan, has a condo at St. Andrews, wrote a book (A History of The St. Andrews Club) about the club, a process that took him about 3½ years.
“The challenge was trying to get the correct stories,” Hopkins said. “All of the seven founders had died by the time I started to write. You had to piece it together. If I could get two or three people who said the same thing, that seemed right.”
He supplemented the oral reports with a few old newspaper clippings and early newsletters from the club.
According to Hopkins, Mara, Willmot and Scott were key founders. They were, he wrote, “closely associated in both their business and social lives.” Mara brought up the idea of developing land in Florida by creating a top-notch club and found the beachfront property, then owned by Iglehart.
Construction began in 1972. Club cars were sent to meet early members as they arrived by trains or planes, and helicopter service was available from the airports. The landing pad was where the croquet lawn is now.
Scott, an American who had worked in Canada and lived in the Country Club of Florida when the club was being built, became the club’s first president. He wrote the following in a welcome letter to new members:
“We have sought to build a community of congenial people and provide them with the facilities and services that ensure full opportunity for happy and enjoyable days of carefree living.”

Relaxed atmosphere
Tennis and croquet pro David Bent, who has been at St. Andrews since 1980, knew the founders well.
“They were fantastic people,” he said.  
A highly ranked croquet player who competes on the international level  (and makes and sells mallets), Bent was on hand when the croquet lawn was built in 1998. “I didn’t know how serious a game it was,” he said. “It’s very serious. You think of croquet as a backyard game with wire hoops, but the equipment is very different.”
Asked how St. Andrews had changed over the years, Bent said, “fortunately, not much. It’s an easy-going group of people. It’s more of a social club than a golf club or a tennis club. There’s a much more relaxed atmosphere. It’s a small, really friendly crowd. They are through climbing the ladder, so to speak, and at the stage where they can come an relax here.”
Karl Scott, son of the founder with the same name and an associate member, said that after his dad retired and moved to Florida his father became “the man on the spot” for the founders, most of whom lived in Canada.
“It took seven or eight years to build and it was not a money-making venture,” he said, due largely to the troubled economy at the time. But the project did turn out to be “a gem on the beach,” he said.
A Realtor with an office on club property, Scott said he has nine listings currently for the club, which is typical. Current listings range from $295,000 for a 1,400-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath condo to $775,000 for a 1,600-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath unit. The condos become available when owners die or move to a retirement home. The club has five condo associations, 136 homeowners and 268 members (some live off campus).

Fans of service
Members have great appreciation for staff, from waitresses and valet parkers to golf and tennis pros.
Take lifeguard Connie Case, for example. She encouraged the club to add lounge chairs and cabanas at the beach, and started a popular bonfire on the beach program, complete with marshmallow toastings. Another Case proposal, adding food and beverage service on the beach, has become a big hit.
“What other club has that?” asks resident member Nancy Barlow.
“She (Case) plays guitar at the bonfires,” said Barlow. “She plans a lot of the kids activities, too. Our granddaughter likes the swimming lessons.”
Sheila McDevitt, a member who lives off campus in Delray Beach, met Barlow when they both lived at St. Andrews. They became fast friends and enjoy meeting at the club for lunch, bridge, and other social events.
“Its’ such a fun and friendly place,” Barlow said. “The food is great and so are the people. We’re very inclusive. Everybody knows everybody.”
McDevitt agrees. “Of all the clubs we’ve been to, this is the friendliest.”
Then, of course, there’s the service. Who wouldn’t, for example, enjoy having his car washed once a week (twice for those who live on the ocean side of the road), or having his apartment checked regularly when owners are gone for the summer months?
But it’s the people (members, their families and staff) that make this club special, said Geoffrey Hume, the club’s general manager for seven years. “There is genuine care by all who call St. Andrews home and a place of work. Having the opportunity to work in this slice of paradise is something I look forward to everyday.”
Sounds like the founding fathers accomplished their
goal.                                 

Neighbors of the home Caron purchased stand in front of portraits of former Delray Beach mayors and wear white to protest the rehabilitation center’s request to turn its property into a sober house during a meeting at City Hall. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Tim Pallesen

The Caron Foundation has sued Delray Beach after the city denied its request to operate a sober house for seven recovering alcoholics and drug addicts at 1232 Seaspray Ave.
    City commissioners also had responded to outrage over sober houses near the ocean on Feb. 21 by approving three ordinances to make it more difficult and restrictive for treatment providers to operate in the city.
    “The city might not like it, but our rights are well settled by federal laws,” Caron vice president Andrew Rothermel responded, calling the city’s actions discriminatory. “I don’t think the commissioners had the will to do the right thing in light of the public outcry.”
    The denial to operate the Seaspray house came in a Feb. 22 letter from planning and zoning director Paul Dorling, who said Caron had failed to show why seven residents were necessary for the house to be “therapeutically successful” and “financially viable.”
      A parade of upset residents had implored commissioners at a Feb. 21 public hearing to protect their single-family neighborhoods.
      “Your taxpayers are angry,” resident Louise Kornfeld said. “We expect you to fight this battle with us.”
      “I’m sick and tired of bumping into every junkie who lives in Delray Beach,” Anita Casey agreed. “Let’s kick Caron out.”
     Caron’s Rothermel has asked residents to give them the chance to show they can be good neighbors. He has stressed the house is intended for wealthy executives in recovery who will be paying some $50,000 a month to live in the house. They will receive their treatment in Caron’s facility in Boca Raton.
The most significant new ordinance reduces the turnover of bedrooms rented to alcoholics and drug addicts from six to three times per year. City commissioners also passed ordinances to beef up the application process to operate a sober house and to obtain a landlord permit.
      “We designed our program to follow the city’s rules and they decided to change the rules midstream,” Rothermel complained after the three ordinances were approved. “If they use these ordinances to restrict us, they’re going to have a fight on their hands.”     
 The suit, filed Feb. 24 in federal court in West Palm Beach, seeks an injunction to prevent the city from enforcing the new rules. Caron also seeks attorney fees and damages, which it says could be in the millions.
      Residents had urged commissioners on Feb. 21 to hang tough despite repeated threats of such a lawsuit.
      “This is a big fight that you’re signing up for,” resident Jack Barrette said at the public hearing. “But the neighborhoods are behind you.”
      The ordinance to limit rental turnovers would restrict treatment providers by forcing sober houses to operate at half their capacity, Rothermel said.
      Recovering alcoholics and drug addicts typically stay in a sober house for two months. With only three turnovers allowed per year, each bedroom could only be used for six months per year.
      “It’s really detrimental to have patients living in a house that’s half-empty,” Rothermel said. “They don’t get the benefit of a sober living environment.”
      The right for treatment providers to house up to seven patients in residential neighborhoods was established in 2007 when Boca Raton attempted to limit sober housing. A federal judge struck down Boca Raton’s limit of only three patients per house after the American Civil Liberties Union argued that patients have a greater chance of recovery with more patients in a sober house.
      The judge reaffirmed that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are protected from discrimination under the federal Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.
      Delray Beach, anticipating Caron’s lawsuit, had hired outside attorneys to advise how the city could fight sober housing by other means.
      The new application procedure for sober house approvals requires that treatment providers provide an address for proposed sober houses so neighbors have time to object.
   Most neighbors of the Seaspray Avenue house have posted signs in their yards declaring “Just Say No” to Caron’s housing plan and another neighbor installed a motion-sensitive webcam for surveillance on Caron’s house. They claim that the treatment provider already has been serving meals to clients who live elsewhere.
    They also started a Facebook page, TakeBackDelrayBeach, where they update developments in the case and chronicle comings and goings at the house, such as a time police were called there. The page points out that police protection and trash removal are essentially free services, since Caron, as a nonprofit operation, pays no property taxes.
Neighbor Ray Jones said residents also considered an electronic protest sign outside the Caron Foundation’s gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach on Feb. 25, but were discouraged by Palm Beach police.
    “The residents have created an environment where we were unable to find a win-win solution to this,” Rothermel said. “The silver lining for us is that we’re entitled in court to several million dollars per year in damages if this drags out.”

     Since 1909, Florida’s residents have had the right to see documents created by public agencies and since 1967 a basic right of access to most meetings of governing bodies of state and local governments.
    This access constitutes the  “Sunshine Law” regulating the open access for citizens to their government’s actions. It does not directly cover private cooperatives, condominiums or mobile home parks, but other Florida laws do direct the operations of these private groups and provide for the rights of their residents to have access to meetings and records.
    In both instances the state provides recourse for filing grievances and sets out penalties for failure to comply with the law.
 In Palm Beach County, the Office of the Inspector General has been established to answer questions and field complaints regarding public trust in government. This was established by the voters in direct response to a series of local public corruption indictments.
    Still, the most frequent complaint I hear from elected officials and co-op/condominium board members is how difficult it is to operate within the “sunshine law.”  I do my best to explain that the public’s right to know outweighs the inconvenience or awkwardness of keeping decision-making done in public.
    In the month-to-month course of our news gathering, we perceive what could be violations, though typically minor and unlikely to cause harm to the public good.
    Still, there are issues brewing in our coastal towns in which only citizens with access to all the facts can make informed choices. Such issues warrant a close inspection and our readers will want to know how any sunshine violation might be shielding such information from public view.  
    This newspaper will make every effort to pursue violations  (as should individual residents) — not because we have any ax to grind, but because we — and our readers — have a right to know.
    Full disclosure is, after all, a key ingredient in self-governance.
And trust is a key ingredient in our relationship with readers.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Angela Moore is moving her corporate headquarters to Plaza del Mar. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Allen Whittemore
    
Angela Moore is moving her corporate headquarters to Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar shopping center, next to her newly opened retail store. “We are thrilled to be in Florida, and the reception from the local people has just been awesome,” says Moore.  “It is just too cold in Rhode Island this time of year.”
    Moore, who now lives in Ocean Ridge, started her company in 1998 after five years of designing hand-painted jewelry as a hobby.  She was working for a large German crystal design and manufacturing company in Munich when local women began to notice her bracelets and wanted to know where they could buy them.  
Her husband, Gary, suggested that she quit the corporate world abroad and become an entrepreneur in the United States.
    “The original intent was to design pieces that were fun and a reflection of the resort community,” Moore said, adding, “We wanted to go from colorful to sophisticated.”  
    Thus began colorful new themes — Bon Appetit, By the Sea, Set Sail, Teacher’s Pet and the Stars and Stripes — in women’s accessories.
    Moore’s career with large retailers was a plus. “My prior experience with Tiffany and Ralph Lauren showed me the value of great price points and a great design. I also learned a lot about merchandising.”
    Moore is also passionate about giving back to her community. Her favorite charities are those that are involved with women’s issues, children and education. Early on she began working with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and designing patterns with the group’s objectives in mind.      

    “When we design a new bracelet for a charity, we want to know what the objectives are to come up with a piece that is important for them.”
    Moore is also involved with Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, R.I., where Hasbro Happy Kids bracelets were conceived.
To date, more than $75,000 has been donated to the hospital.
    The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., is another favorite. Moore created the Tennis Memories Classic Bracelet and sponsors an annual fashion show to coincide with the Hall of Fame induction ceremony every summer.
    “We have raised over $125,000 for tennis so far, and have had Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and the Bryan brothers (Bob and Mike) as fashion models.
    There are many other affiliations as well, such as the Autism Society of America, the Sierra Club, Juvenile Diabetes, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, the Pink Dragon (Canada), PBS and Kent Hospital. Angela Moore Inc. gives 15 percent of the net proceeds of each charitable item back to the organization.
    Moore said she receives many emails from customers, but one stands out.
    “I got an email from a woman who said that holding her ovarian cancer bracelet helped her as she prayed every day, and she is now a cancer survivor. It is a great reminder for why we do what we do.”  

By Steve Plunkett

The green uniforms and patrol cars of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office may one day replace the Manalapan Police Department’s familiar blue trappings.
The Sheriff’s Office is offering to provide law enforcement to Manalapan for $1.17 million a year the first two years, an almost 17 percent savings from the $1.4 million the town plans to spend this year.
Commissioner Donald Brennan, who asked his colleagues to hear the proposal Feb. 28 while Manalapan’s winter residents are still in town, said personal security should be the goal of any discussions of law enforcement.
“I’m one of the few people in this community that had a very major burglary,” said Brennan, who was not in house at the time, “I don’t want to have that experience at 3 o’clock in the morning. I don’t want to live in what has been described as an upscale community... and have a loaded gun at my head.”
Sheriff’s Maj. Dan Smith said the town’s acting police chief, Carmen Mattox, would become a sheriff’s lieutenant and his eight officers would become deputies.
“The uniforms change, but the law enforcement staff is going to stay the same,” he said.
Manalapan’s one part-time and three full-time dispatchers would be “encouraged” to apply for vacant positions with the Sheriff’s Office, Smith said.
The possible merger would give Manalapan residents “greatly enhanced” security and safety and use human, financial and capital resources more efficiently, the proposal said.
“Citizens want to feel connected with their community and its services,” the proposal said. “The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office prides itself on our ability to partner with citizens to resolve issues.”
The Sheriff’s Office would provide many services the town police do not, including marine enforcement, forensic biology and its SWAT team.
But deputies would not perform code enforcement, the proposal notes. Mayor Basil Diamond said the town would also have to spend $61,000 to $182,000 a year for a security guard at the Point’s gatehouse if dispatchers were no longer there.
Manalapan would keep its “sense of ownership” over the force because the same officers would patrol the town, the sheriff’s proposal says. “No local control is lost because the Sheriff’s Office staff understands the concept of customer service,” it says.
Police Officer Paul Williams, who is also the department’s union representative, said his colleagues would be rewarded with pay raises, a more generous pension plan and take -home squad cars. A sheriff’s deputy with three years’ experience earns $63,000 a year, Williams said, while the average Manalapan police salary is $43,000.
The Sheriff’s Office currently contracts services to Lake Worth, Mangonia Park, Lake Park, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay, Pahokee and Belle Glade.
Manalapan residents who reacted to the Feb. 28 presentation mostly opposed any switch.
“The proposal says we’re not giving up any local control. We certainly are giving up local control... I don’t buy that for a minute,” resident Bill Gerrish said.
“A $200,000 difference does not affect this community,” said Sylvia Rogers. “Financially we can afford it.”
Town commissioners agreed more meetings are needed.
“I see this as the beginning of a dialog,” Brennan said.
“I think there are a lot of questions that weren’t totally anticipated beforehand,” Diamond said.
Commissioners decided to hold a workshop in April to discuss the idea further. The Sheriff’s proposal will be posted on Manalapan’s website for residents to study.      

By Tim O’Meilia
    
Whaddaya do when the danged guvmint closes the bridge to the beach for 19 months and promises to build a nice, new, tall shiny replacement?
    Why, ya throw a party of course.
    The East Ocean Avenue bridge in Lantana officially closes to automobile traffic sometime after midnight March 19.
    But the town of Lantana will close it a day early — March 18 — and throw a Demolition Day party at Bicentennial Park on the west bank of the Intracoastal Waterway.
    The highlight of the day will be the 2 p.m. parade of The Last _____ Over the Bridge. People have been signing up with their fantasies about being the last whatever to cross the span: the last Cub Scout troop, the last unicycle, the last man carrying his wife, maybe even the last hearse over the bridge.
    Emcee Greg Rice will offer his unique commentary of the Last Parade.
    Town Manager Mike Bornstein said, “We just wanted to remind people that our downtown will still be open for business after the bridge closes.”
    Partying begins at noon with music by the Mighty Quinn band and food provided by the town’s best restaurants. Kids can take their first and last hayride across the bridge, enter a chalk art contest or play on the tire swing in the park.
    Free parking is available at Kmart Plaza at Dixie Highway and Hypoluxo Road with an old-fashioned trolley shuttling revelers to the park and back. The shuttle begins at 11:30 a.m. The fun lasts until 5 p.m.     

By Tim O’Meilia

Three coastal communities signed a mutual aid agreement last month that will guarantee quick police response to calls on Hypoluxo Island during the 19 months the new East Ocean Avenue bridge is under construction in Lantana.
The agreement was ratified first by the Lantana town council, then, separately, by the South Palm Beach council members and Manalapan commissioners.
 Although written in very general terms, the pact gives officers in each of the towns the power to make arrests, give assistance and react to calls in the other two towns as if it were their own.
The practical effect is that Manalapan and South Palm Beach can respond to calls in Lantana’s area of Hypoluxo Island without waiting, if a Lantana police cruiser isn’t on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway.
“Technically, we already have a mutual aid agreement but this will allow police to act and not just to respond and wait for us to get there,” said Lantana Mayor David Stewart.
Police will be guided by the rules and regulations of their own departments when answering a call in another town.
“We have a strong relationship with both departments,” Lantana Police Chief Jeff Tyson said of police and Manalapan and South Palm Beach. “This will be much more efficient especially if we’re on the other side of the bridge and it’s going to take us 15 minutes to get there.”
The agreement can be canceled by any of the partners by simply notifying the others. Not wishing to take any chances the bridge won’t be opened by October 2013 as scheduled, the pact doesn’t expire until July 31, 2014.

A1A in Manalapan will be closed to all but emergency vehicles and local traffic March 5-9 as a private tunnel is constructed.  Expect delays.

By Angie Francalancia

Residents in Ocean Ridge have gotten vigilant about calling police and city officials when they see too many different cars and faces coming and going from homes in town. And it’s resulting in an active code enforcement season for residents renting their homes for short-term vacations, said Town Manager Ken Schenck.
    “On our books, we have a regulation that says you can’t rent for less than 30 days. As we find people that don’t follow that, then we go through code enforcement.”
    In a recent week, the city rounded up about a half-dozen violators, based on neighbors’ tips and complaints, Schenck said.
    “Only a couple have gone before the board. Most stop before that point,” he said.
    While its an issue every winter season, Schenck said he believes the short-term renters are getting more attention this year because of the rehabilitation houses drawing complaints from coastal Delray Beach neighbors. A neighbor who sees too many cars or too many unfamiliar faces wouldn’t know whether its people renting a vacation home or people in rehabilitation, Schenck said.
    “What we have on the books now with certain restrictions allows transient housing. What we need to do is tighten up these restrictions, and our attorney’s looking at that now,” Schenck said, adding that it’s against the law to outlaw rehab houses completely, because people undergoing treatment for substance abuse are a protected class. Schenck said he’s aware of only one rehab house in Ocean Ridge now.
    “We know what we have now. We’re trying to figure out how to tighten it up.”
    That’s a move that pleases Kristine de Haseth, an Ocean Ridge resident and executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation — a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the quality of life on the barrier islands.
 “I think from a municipal point of view, everybody is looking to Delray because they’ve already begun the investigation of what is legally possible.”
    But whether it’s short-term vacation rentals or stays for rehabilitation, the effect would be the same to a neighborhood, she said.  “If you’ve got 52 different neighbors on a yearly basis, that’s as transient as it  comes.”                                

John Davidson serenades Susan Pincus of West Palm Beach at Atlantis Country Club on Valentine’s Day. Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal Star

By Thom Smith

     The last time Jose Carreras performed in Palm Beach County, in March 2009, a persistent cough forced him to cut short a concert at the Kravis Center. He apologized to the audience and said he would like to return when he was in better health. That eventually became March 7, the opening of the Festival of the Arts Boca, part of a five-concert U.S. tour.
    It’s off. With no reason given, the Spanish tenor, 65, canceled the tour, including a March 2 date in Tampa. The only hint, a notice published Feb. 13 on an unofficial Carreras website, (http://josepcarreras-tenor-breakingnews.blogspot.com): “The US tour, based on five dates has been cancelled due to organizational problems.”
    Nevertheless, the festival will press ahead.
    With this crazy primary season, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is all over TV these days, but on March 18 she’ll be in the flesh talking about presidents past and present under the big tent at Mizner Park Amphitheatre. A winter resident of Boca, Goodwin serves as the festival’s Distinguished Writer in Residence.
    Another face familiar to political TV junkies is Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC and daughter of former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. She’ll speak March 12.
    The festival offers a broad spectrum, with jazz by Patti Austin and Tony DeSare (March 15), a screening of Casablanca with live accompaniment provided by the Boca Raton Symphonia conducted by festival music director Constantine Kitsopoulos (March 9), and pianist Valentina Lisitsa performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Lynn University Philharmonia (March 14). For information, www.fesitvaloftheartsboca.org or 866-571-2787.
                                          ***
    Whoa! Double take! Is that who I think it is, Senada Adzem asked herself early on the Sunday afternoon of Feb. 19 as she was leaving the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Indeed, it was former President Bill Clinton, natty in light gray suit and surrounded by Secret Service.
    “The security detail was incredible,” said Adzem, a local Realtor, noting that she was not allowed to snap a photo. “But the buzz was incredible! People love him. He looked terrific.”
    A few hours later, the Prez, had changed clothes and joined Carnival CEO and Miami Heat owner Micky Arison at the Heat’s stomping of the Orlando Magic. No problems with photos at the game, and afterward Clinton met the players and the game officials, whom he told, “No one in this building, other than me, has been second-guessed more than you guys.”
    Clinton’s visit to the Boca Resort, however, was so low-key that some members of management didn’t even know he was there, much less why. A spokesperson at Clinton Foundation offices in New York had no comment.
                                          ***
    Leola Bell is African-American, she’s 27 and her dad is a Seventh-Day Adventist minister.
Nevertheless, she’s Playboy’s “Miss February. The Boynton Beach-based beauty is proud of her heritage, her age and her family support, saying the magazine has become more representative and she is especially proud to be one of the “older girls.” As for her parents, the Maryland-born Bell, who’s studied psychology at Florida Atlantic University, told Bustedcoverage.com. “I don’t think that this is the career choice he (her father) would have chosen for me, but he’s happy for me. My mom loves it! She wants to wear my (Playboy) necklace.”
    Bell, who has been modeling for years, hooked up first with Playboy’s Girls of Golf, entertaining golfers at Playboy golf events. That earned her a trip to the Playboy Mansion, where she played dominoes with Hef.   
                                          ***
    It’s hard to believe John Davidson turned 70 in December. He may feel it once in a while after a bad game of golf, but the star of stage, screen, TV and records doesn’t look it as he continues his second season of cabaret at Atlantis Country Club west of Lake Worth.
    “I’m not a song stylist, Davidson said. “I use music to move people to either laugh or cry or be inspired about something. I’m an entertainer.”   
    And the show is entertaining for audiences and for Davidson, who moved with his wife, Rhonda, to Atlantis to be near his daughter Jennifer. His ex-wife also lives in Atlantis. Show and dinner (Thursday-Saturday) are a steal at $48. (965-5788)
                                          ***
    Easy come, easy go.  No decision yet as to who or what will replace the destination restaurant Michelle Bernstein at The Omphoy. Now just The Restaurant at The Omphoy, hot, hot, hot Miami chef Michelle Bernstein is gone.
    “The menu is the same,” a restaurant employee said, “and we’re currently interviewing. We’ve had applicants from all over, but management is taking their time with it to get the best possible chef.”
    Bernstein hasn’t commented on her departure, nor executive chef Lindsay Autray, a Bernstein protégé, who was on leave competing on Bravo TV’s latest edition of Top Chef.  Autray should have little problem finding work, and Bernstein stays busy with her Miami restaurants plus Check, Please!, her popular restaurant review show on WPBT-Channel 2. Plus, think how much she’ll save in gas.
    Also gone after only a few months on the job: Glen Manfra at SpoonFed in Delray and Roy Villacrusis at Kapow! Noodle Bar in Boca’s Mizner Park.     
    For the peripatetic Manfra, who made his name two decades ago in Palm Beach and later returned at Vic and Angelo’s in Delray, the arrangement with AMG Restaurants just didn’t work out. He had a good staff and he liked the three meals a day concept — although that can be tiring.  
    Villacrusis, he of the two-toned hair and the multi-toned palate, has checked out of Kapow! Noodle Bar in Boca’s Mizner Park after only a few weeks. Apparently his Asian fusion menu ideas didn’t coincide with those of the somewhat more conservative patrons, so he took a hike.
    Meanwhile, Villacrusis has teamed with The Traveling Plate, a Fort Lauderdale-based movable feast that raises money for charity. On April 5, he’ll create the menu and oversee the festivities at Girls’ Club Collection, a gallery dedicated to and for women.
             ***                            
    Wonder what congressional candidate Adam Hasner was discussing with former Delray City Council candidate Nick Loeb one recent afternoon at Coffee District on Second Ave? A donation perhaps? Loeb does have some deep pockets. Or possibly a campaign appearance by Loeb’s squeeze Sofia Vergara for Republican Hasner who would face a tough fight with former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel?
                                          ***
    Mixed media. First to shut down was Florida Stage. Now the Caldwell Theatre Company is facing, at minimum, bankruptcy, or worse, curtains. Artistic Director Clive Cholerton says South Florida’s longest-running regional theater is trying to restructure its debt and doesn’t intend to shut down.
    No doubt the builders of Broadstone at North Boca Village wonder what will happen. Alliance Residential Co. LLC of Phoenix, Ariz., had planned to make the Caldwell an integral part of its new 384-unit townhouse and apartment complex rising just to the south, even providing 126 parking spaces for the theater. A fitness center, putting green, yoga studio, business center, video game room, demonstration kitchen, cyber café, personal massage salon, wine and cigar room, and resort-style swimming pool area already are planned. Why not a theater, too!
                                          ***
    But you win some and you lose some. In Florida Stage’s old space at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar, Alan Jacobson, who ran Florida Jewish Theatre in West Palm, brought in A Chorus Line legend Donna McKechnie to inaugurate his Plaza Theatre Company. Next up, the songs of Neil Sedaka with Breaking Up Is Hard To Do from March 8-25. It’s light and isn’t going to challenge patrons like Waiting for Godot or A Streetcar Named Desire, but any show is better than no show.
    After shutting down Florida Stage, which had made its ill-fated move to West Palm Beach, Lou Tyrrell promises to continue challenging audiences in Delray’s Arts Garage. February was dedicated to a master playwright series of readings with the writers themselves — Israel Horovitz, John Pielmeier, John Guare and William Mastrosimone, followed March 1-4 by a New Play Fest with readings of new plays by Mastrosimone, Horovitz, Lauren Gunderson, Jessica Goldberg, Marsha Norman and Bruce Graham.
    The first actual production will run March 16 to April 8. Woody Sez opens just in time for the centennial of the birth of the show’s namesake, folk music icon Woody Guthrie.
    Of course, theatrical productions are just one facet in the Arts Garage diamond. On March 4 it offers One Opera in One Hour, an abridged version of Daniel Catan’s  Florencia en el Amazonas, that will be performed by Young Artists from the Palm Beach Opera.
    Some of the whackiest movies of the ’70s and ’80s are on tap for the Garage’s Icon Film Series including Blazing Saddles (March 8), Harold and Maude (March 23), Pink Flamingos (April 6) and The Big Lebowski  (April 20); The Jazz Project offers Rose Max (March 9) and Davis & Dow (March 24). (artsgarage.org or 450-6357.)
                                          ***
    Those who turn up their noses at South County culture could learn a lesson from the 2012 Muse Awards presented at the Kravis Center Feb. 9 by the Palm Beach County Cultural Council as five of eight awards will be displayed in Boca and Delray.
    Stephen Backhus, outreach program manager at the Milagro Center in Delray Beach, was named outstanding arts educator; Palm Beach Poetry Festival, outstanding organization with budget less than $500,000; the Morikami’s annual Bon Festival, outstanding art or cultural program; and Carol Prusa, artist and art professor at FAU, received the Hector Ubertalli Award for Visual Arts.
    “I read in Art in America that Palm Beach was the next hot place, and I asked myself could that be?,” Prusa said. “So I packed my bags and moved down here. And I haven’t regretted it.”
    The Boca Raton Museum of Art was named the county’s outstanding arts and cultural organization for programs with budgets more than $500,000. 
    These are heady days for the Cultural Council, which moved into its new digs in Lake Worth in January and now has mounted its first show.  Foundations, which includes works by Prusa and such veteran local artists at Paul Aho, Bruce Helander, Kathleen Holmes and Katie Deits, runs through April 14. The exhibition is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
             ***                            
    Party on … and on … and on … annnnnd  …
    St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, which is good, since celebrants will have all of Sunday to recover. Delray’s 44th annual salute to the International Fire Fighters will include firefighters from 13 states plus a contingent from Australia. Parade starts on Atlantic at 2 p.m, March 17; after-party at 3:30.
    Stressing more green — and a smaller carbon footprint — Boca will inaugurate the “Off the Green” Downtown Golf Cart Parade, starting at noon from Mizner Park to Royal Palm Place and back. Families, neighborhoods, country clubs and golf courses, schools, community organizations and visitors are urged to decorate golf carts. Entry fee is $25. (Call 393-7827.) Parade will be followed by Irish festivities all afternoon and a free concert by Celtic band Seven Nations at 6.

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

Featured comedian Sebastian Maniscalco brings the house down during the Laugh with the Library Chapter 6 event at the Delray Beach Marriott on Feb. 3. The event, attended by about 400 people, raised more than $50,000 to enhance the Delray Beach Public Library’s outreach programs for children and teens.  Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star









 

By Thomas R. Collins
    
Behind the signs of protest, the prospect of an expensive legal fight and contentious city commission meetings, there is something that’s even more desperate: people trying to figure out how to kick a crippling habit.
    The patients targeted by Caron Treatment Center’s Ocean Drive program — in which they would live in million dollar houses near the beach and receive treatment at another location in Boca Raton — would include high-level executives with big money to spend on treatment. But a big bank account doesn’t mean their addiction problems are any less serious, people in the recovery business say.
    “Regardless of the level of your education or the type of car you drive, or where you reside, or how much money you make, no one is exempt,” said Lori Kearse, clinical director at The Palm Beach Institute, a treatment center in West Palm Beach.
    Having money, in fact, can sometimes makes matters more complicated, she said, since it just makes it that much easier for an addict to pay for whatever it is he’s addicted to.
    “Having tangible luxury does not support recovery at all,” she said. “I don’t believe it’s counter to it, but it certainly doesn’t support it.”
    The treatment process — and the specific approach for the patients that Caron is hoping to treat in the Ocean Drive program — has been largely overlooked as the struggle among Caron, homeowners and city commissioners has become more and more heated and political.  
    People in the program would be participating in much the same kind of treatment as addicts everywhere: an intensive review to identify the specific problems that need to be overcome; a large family component with regular meetings with loved ones either in person or over the phone to repair broken relationships; individual and group therapy sessions; doctor visits; and recreation.
    The program will also include a “step-down” phase that’s less intense but meant to give patients the structure they need to stay clean — which ordinarily might involve living in one of the many halfway houses in the Delray Beach area, but, in Ocean Drive’s case, will usually happen back in the patient’s hometown.
    Staying connected with a treatment program is key to long-term success, experts say.
    “It’s just a fact that people who have continuous treatment care, the greater the chance of staying clean,” said Laura Lee Chapman, who runs several halfway houses in Palm Beach County.
    And the decision to seek treatment, while a major hurdle cleared, is no magic bullet  for recovery.
    “We know  the first go-round the number is small,” Kearse said. “However, most people will go back through a second time. The second time going through treatment increases the chances of long-term recovery.”
    In late February, the city denied Caron’s “reasonable accommodation” request to house up to seven people in a house on Sea Breeze Avenue. Unless Caron provides evidence of the therapeutic value of having that many recovering people living together, Caron will be limited to no more than three clients in the house.
    But group sessions of between seven and 30 or 40 people, treatment experts say, is often where the bulk of the recovery work is done. A peer might be much more likely to drive a point home than a treatment professional.
    And at home, having a significant number of people around can be an important ingredient in staying social and focused on keeping clean, they say.
    “There’s a lot of recovery going on 24 hours a day,” Kearse said.
    A Webcam operator — who provides, to interested area residents, a live feed of the exterior of the Ocean Drive program home on SeasprayAvenue — writes on the site that “rehab should not be a vacation.”
    Treatment center directors counter that relaxing and having fun is a big part of any treatment process.
    “The recreation component is huge,” Kearse said. “They’ve got to get back to finding things that bring them joy.”
    The Florida and California sunshine has long been a key ingredient in getting people to give treatment a try, said Adi Jaffe, a Los Angeles-based addiction psychologist who runs allaboutaddiction.com.
    “It’s hard to sell people on luxury when you’re frozen under half of the year,” he said.  
    In the Ocean Drive program, patients would participate in kayaking, yoga, tai chi and meditative walks along the beach. If the components are largely the same for the high-end Ocean Drive client as they are for poorer clients, why do the wealthy need their own program at all?
    One reason is pretty simple, said Drew Rothermel, Caron’s president of Florida operations. Clients won’t seek treatment without a residential environment similar to the one they’re used to, he said.
    Patients in Ocean Drive would have their own bedroom-bathroom suite, and eat meals, including lunch, at the home-like facility. Transportation to the treatment center would be provided.
    Rothermel said a typical comment from the high-level client is, “I’m not eating in a cafeteria and sleeping with a roommate for a month. I’m just not doing it.”
    For the same reason, he said, the Ocean Drive program isn’t interested in attracting celebrities.
    “If you put a train-wreck celebrity in with a bunch of CEO-level executives, it will take apart the group,” he said.
    He said another way in which the Ocean Drive program would be different is that more work will have to be done to repair family ties, which, he said, often involve much more complex dynamics among the wealthy.
    Also, time would be set aside for participation in business activities, such as participating in meetings by phone, Rothermel said.
    Patients would not have access to credit cards and bank cards while in treatment, he said.
    Ocean Drive would cost at least $55,000 a month, with the average stay two to three months, Caron officials say.
    If a patient relapses, they may not be immediately kicked out of the program; it would depend on the circumstances, especially the patient’s overall attitude, he said.
    Kearse said a stay of 90 to 120 days is ideal “even longer if the individual has the resources.”
 Kearse said that, in the end, it is neither easier nor more difficult for the affluent to get clean.
    “It really is the internal drive,” she said. “The internal willingness of the addict to follow the recommendations from the experts on how do you treat this addiction.”               

Parking specialist Scott Aronson was directed to put together a fee-based parking program that will give Delray Beach commissioners a solid starting point on how downtown parking will be managed and funded.
    The plan comes after two parking charrettes to solicit merchants’ thoughts were held in late January on the $94,000 parking study.
 The discussion on a fee-based program has included metering for Atlantic Avenue and an employee parking program, possibly in garage lots.
    The Parking Management Advisory board expected to separately discuss valet parking late in February and the topic will come before the City Commission in March, according to Aronson.
    — Margie Plunkett