Photo by Tim Stepien
Photo by Tim Stepien
Mary Kate Leming's Posts (4824)
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Photo by Tim Stepien
Our Savior Lutheran Easter Sunrise Service is held at 6:30 am at R.G. Kruesler Park at the Lake Worth Beach, 10 S. Ocean Blvd., Lake Worth. All are welcome. Following service, public is invited to the traditional Easter Breakfast at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 1615 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. 8 am. Free will offering. 582-4430.
Boynton Beach Easter Sunrise Community Worship Service is presented by the Boynton Beach Ministerial Association at Oceanfront Park, 6415 N. Ocean Boulevard, Ocean Ridge. Bring a folding chair. A free will offering will be taken to benefit the Boynton Beach Community Caring Center. Open to the public. 6:30 am Free parking is provided. 732-3774.
Briny Breezes Easter Sunrise Service is held starting at 6:30 am at the beach clubhouse, Old Ocean Ave., Briny Breezes. Briny Breezes Community Church hosts this event for residents, but public is welcome. 276-7405.
Delray Beach Easter Sunrise Service is held at the Beach Pavilion located at Atlantic Avenue and A1A, Delray Beach. Presented by the Delray Beach Clergy Association. Music by the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Jazz Ensemble. All are welcome. 6:30 am. 276-4541
St. Jude Easter Sunrise Service is held at South Boca Inlet, 1298 S. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Each year Father Michael celebrates an Easter Sunrise Mass on the beach. People of all faiths and parishes gather for this event. 6:30 am. 392-8172 or www.stjudeboca.org.
It’s been said that the past holds the key to the future. If that’s true, Boynton Beach is propelling itself forward — while safeguarding its past.
Historic preservation efforts have taken center stage since the City Commission unanimously passed a historic preservation ordinance in January. “This ordinance is the city’s statement that it will protect and preserve part of our history which is slowly being lost and hopefully not being forgotten,” said City Commissioner Bill Orlove.
The ordinance, crafted by the city’s seven-member Historical Preservation Ad Hoc Committee, includes an agreement with the county to offer tax breaks to property owners who fix up their historic homes or buildings (the value added to a property by restoring it would be exempted from taxes for 10 years). “We want to use the ordinance to preserve the past and rejuvenate parts of the city,” explained Orlove.
It also allows the city to take steps to be eligible for certain grants — and could protect historic buildings from being demolished. “Over the years, historical buildings have been torn down and if we would have had this in place that wouldn’t have happened,’’ said Vice Mayor Marlene Ross. “The historic train station is gone, along with some other historic buildings and that is really sad. I think this commission would have saved them. … It’s an example of the losses we have had, and I am happy we are putting a stop to that.”
Orlove agreed. “A sense of history was being lost. I think past commissions had not taken the idea of preserving our history seriously.”
The ad hoc committee also suggested the city hire a full-time historic preservation planner — and the commission agreed. However, it’s a new position. So although it will be part of the 2011-2012 budget, which the commission will have to approve and money will have to be located for the $45,000 to $75,000 salary, said Mike Rumpf, the city’s director of planning and zoning. “We need to find a way to program the money into the upcoming budget, which will be challenging given the anticipated budget deficit.”
In addition, he said, the commission indicated it wanted to hire someone before that budget is adopted.
The planner would, among other things, find and apply for grants and update a 1996 inventory of possible historical buildings in the city. The 15-year-old document lists about 130 buildings, said Rumpf. But he added, “that doesn’t mean they are all worthy of being on a historical places list. They were put on the list in 1996 if they were 50 years or older, but the list didn’t note other criteria necessary, like architectural style.”
Although the ad hoc committee isn’t directly involved with saving the old high school, built in 1927, its members support saving it, said committee member Barbara Ready.
The Boynton Woman’s Club and the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center are on the National Register of Historic Places. But there are others that might qualify for historic status, including the 92-year-old, 1,500-square-foot, two-story Oscar Magnuson House, expected to open as an upscale restaurant in the fall, and the 1,000-square-foot Ruth Jones Cottage, built in 1940, planned as 201 Trading Post, a combo restaurant/market with to-go meals and catering service.
Passing the ordinance was a giant step forward, but much work remains, Ready said, including identifying and adopting possible historic districts.
Yet, she says, “things are finally clicking and I am so optimistic.”
Others agree. “I think we are starting to define our city … who and what is the city of Boynton Beach. This is an aspect of the city’s identity that is
important,” said Ross.
For four and a half hours on Saturday, March 26, about 40 men and women who could have been enjoying the breezy spring weekend gathered at the Boynton Beach library to give their city a brighter future in sync with its past.
On paper, they were “The Boynton Beach Historic High School Redevelopment Project Public Planning Workshop & Design Charette.”
In fact, they were democracy in action.
Youngish, older and in-between, they would conjure ways to make a relic from the 20th century vital in the 21st.
Just across Ocean Avenue that morning, the former Old Mangrove High School, built in 1927, empty since 1997, waited silently for their wisdom.
To provide a bit of guidance, they had Kevin Greiner of the IBI Group, the project’s design consultant, and Rick Gonzalez of REG Inc., its architects.
They were also assisted by complimentary bagels and cream cheese, coffee, orange juice and a deli lunch.
City staff was not invited, on purpose. Today was for the public to be heard.
“Now, this is not a debate,” Greiner told them, “and it’s not about politics. We want to be open and candid, but not contentious. And every idea is a good idea today.”
Let the brainstorming begin.
At individual tables, six groups of residents armed with big sheets of drawing paper and a large aerial photo of the site started listing potential uses for the school’s 28,000 square feet.
At one table, Robyn Lorenz’s felt pen scribbled ideas as fast as they came: A youth center, a stage theater, a horticultural society or civic center. A dance hall or police station, cooking school or boat-building shop.
When Greiner called time, they’d tallied 27 suggestions. All from only one of six teams.
Now they shaped those ideas into themed packages, mixing and matching the proposals that seemed to harmonize: A cultural center, a jobs training site, a civic center, retail space, a youth-oriented center.
They listed the benefits of each idea, and the prospects for revenue. Common themes emerged quickly. Retail space on the first floor could help pay for cultural and recreational offerings on the second. How about a nautical theme, linking the school to the marina at the other end of the avenue? What about grants and naming rights?
Finally, after 3½ hours of solid work, each team rose to present its conclusions, and each was enthusiastically applauded.
With slight variations, a casual observer could not miss a common pattern, echoing the results of an online survey conducted earlier.
The groups seemed to favor a public/private blend of leased retail space on the first floor and cultural offerings on the second.
“We’ve cast a very wide net today,” Gonzalez said. “Now we’ll take those ideas, narrow them down to six really good ideas and develop two options with design and cost.” Those plans will be presented to the City Commission at its April 19 meeting.
“Hopefully, we can get the green light this summer to go forward,” Gonzalez added.
City Commissioner Bill Orlove was equally optimistic.
“We now have a City Commission all of whom support this renovation,” he said, “and I know we can do something really special now that we have full city support.”
Both the results of the online survey and the charette’s proposals will be post on the city’s website at
www.boynton-beach.org.
DELRAY BEACH — Elizabeth Lacewell Armstrong, a native Texan who loved to golf, loved to read, and could trace her heritage back to the Alamo, died March 10.
She was 86.
A self-proclaimed Southern girl who attended Louisiana State University, Mrs. Armstrong moved to Evansville, Ind., where she kept her home for 38 years. After raising three children there and getting them off on their own, Mrs. Armstrong began a midlife banking career and rose to be named the first woman in Evansville to be a branch manager of a bank. She eventually became a senior vice president at Old National Bank, before retiring in 1982 and moving to Highland Beach.
It was then that Mrs. Armstrong threw herself into her next project, volunteering with the Friends of the Library in Boynton Beach. A past president and board member, she gave countless hours.
Longtime library director Virginia Farace, who is now retired, said Mrs.Armstrong was someone you could always count on. From raising money for children’s computers to coming up with the idea that the volunteers should wear cute aprons to set them apart from patrons, her savvy business mind also made her great at fundraising.
“You’d say you needed something, and she’d run with it,” Farace said.
Besides books, there was another love in her life: Golf. And it was at Pine Tree Golf Club where Mrs. Armstrong met Jack Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong said they’d both been widowed when they began socializing, mostly going out to dinner or golfing. “I had a home on the fifth green and hers was on the 18th tee,” he said.
The couple would have been married 18 years on March 27.
Mrs. Armstrong was also a member of The Little Club, and was active in the women’s golf association of Pine Tree Golf Club.
But it was the library that commanded most of her retirement time. “Just about every program they have there, she had a hand in,” said Jack Armstrong.
She was also a member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Besides her husband, Jack, she is survived by a daughter, Barbara Trow, of Ocala; and twin sons, Robert and Richard, of Evansville. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and eight-grandchildren.
In her memory, the family asks that any contributions may be made to the Friends of the Boynton Beach Library, 208 Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33435, or the First Presbyterian Church, 33 Gleason St., Delray Beach, FL 33483.
It’s not every day you meet someone who competed against tennis ace Arthur Ashe, owned a corporate monopoly and custom-ordered a painting from Salvador Dali.
Today is the day.
Meet 77-year-old Don Thompson — athlete, entrepreneur, musician — whose success in business has enabled him to share his love for the arts. Thompson, of coastal Delray Beach, is known locally as the man who brought a world-class string quartet to the Village by the Sea, providing enjoyment to fans and employment to two exceptional laid-off violinists.
Thompson’s résumé is especially impressive when you consider he’s endured tinnitus (ringing in the ears) almost his entire life. His love of music grew out of the pleasing audible distraction it provided him, and his love for classical sacred music deepened after he embraced Christianity as a teenager.
A native of Pennsylvania, Thompson had a career in sales that led him to New York City. While working for Foster Forbes Glass Co., he had an idea for a new type of packaging.
“Foster Forbes made beer bottles that held 90 PSI (pounds per square inch) of pressure,” Thompson said. “My reasoning was, an 18 PSI aerosol bottle would be totally safe.” At the time (late 1950s), perfumes and other liquid products were packaged in tin cans or coated glass bottles. Thompson designed an uncoated glass bottle with an aerosol delivery system and opened his own manufacturing business.
“Virtually every cosmetic company in the world bought my bottles,” Thompson said. “I literally had a monopoly.” He operated the business for 25 years before selling it to Heinz-Glas of Germany.
Thompson became an art collector and commissioned a painting from one of his favorite painters, surrealist Salvador Dali. Thompson met with Dali and asked him to portray the Second Coming of Christ from the Bible’s book of Revelations.
“My sales pitch was, you’ve already painted the Last Supper and the Crucifixion of St. John. How about painting the Second Coming?” said Thompson. “He loved the idea, and a year later I got my painting, which has been all over the world at art exhibitions.”
Thompson was a bachelor until, at age 69, he met his wife, Mary, on a tennis court. “When she told me she’d studied nursing, I figured I’d have to marry her,” Thompson says with a wink.
Don and Mary both enjoy art, tennis, travel, tango dancing and both serve as deacons at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach.
— Paula Detwiller
10 Questions
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I went to the Hill School in Pottstown, Pa., and then to the University of North Carolina, where I got a business degree. I’ve always had a love for the arts, and I’ve been a promoter all my life. I started a dance band at Hill School and I had a rock ’n’ roll band at UNC called the Banana Bunch, “the band with a peel.” I played the piano.
Q. How and when did the Delray String Quartet begin?
A. When I moved to Florida and understood that the Florida Philharmonic under James Judd was going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, I approached the principal violinists and suggested we start a quartet with their choice of viola player and cello player. That was the birth of the Delray String Quartet seven years ago. I’m one of the major underwriters, but we do have support from other music lovers in South Florida. I made a deal with Jestena Boughton, proprietor of the Colony Hotel, to play five concerts a year there. We’ve now got other venues and do a total of 16 concerts a year.
Q. What other hobbies have you had, and what were the highlights?
A. I grew up playing tennis. I won a boys national championship when I was 15. I played the U.S. tennis circuit in my 20s and beat Arthur Ashe in doubles once. My doubles partner for that match was Paul Cranis, who lives here in Delray. I also won a Florida state senior championship (65 and over).
I still play regularly at the Delray Tennis Center, the Delray Beach Club and Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club, but only three times a week now because my knees are wearing out.
Q. Why is music important to you?
A. I’ve had ringing in my ears since I was 10 years old. I developed tinnitus from an ear infection. Music has always provided a good soothing background against the tinnitus. I have almost perfect pitch, so I learned to play the piano by ear. I also composed some classical music when I was 18 or 19.
Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
A. After checking out the entire east coast of Florida, I found Delray had the best beaches and the people gave me a warm feeling.
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray?
A. All the great restaurants and all the many tennis facilities. Seems like most of the retired tennis players I’ve known through the years have moved to Delray.
Q. What book are you reading now?
A. Two books: Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis, and The Language of God, by Francis Collins, a former atheist who was head of the Human Genome Project.
Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A. Franz Lehar’s operetta waltzes when I want to relax, and when I need inspiration, Wagner’s Ring.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. I figure Paul Newman. He was a great competitor, he gave to charities, plus I’ve got the blue eyes.
IF YOU GO
Delray String Quartet
Remaining seasonal concerts:
April Program:
Robert Schumann, Quartet No. 3 in A Major
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 22
Sunday, April 3 — The Colony Hotel, Delray Beach
3:30 p.m. Pre-concert informal discussion
4 p.m. concert
Friday, April 8 — All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Lauderdale
7 p.m. Pre-concert informal discussion
7:30 p.m. concert
Sunday, April 10 — St. David’s-in-the-Pines Episcopal Church, Wellington
3:30 p.m. Pre-concert informal discussion
4 p.m. concert
Sunday, April 17 — St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Coconut Grove
4 p.m. concert
For ticket information and availability, call (561) 213-4138 or e-mail: Tickets@DelrayStringQuartet.com.
PALM BEACH — Walter Richard Donahue, who moved to Florida in 1982 after a prosperous business career with several major U.S. corporations, died Feb. 24, nine weeks shy of his 91st birthday.
His second wife, Mary Sloneker Donahue, said he was one of the most wonderful men she’d ever met.
“He loved his family and he loved the Catholic Church,” she said.
Born April 30, 1920, in Pittsburgh, Pa., Mr. Donahue attended Swarthmore College until the beginning of World War II, when he joined the U.S. Army as a member of the fighter training system. During the war, at the onset of the Army’s first large daylight raid on Berlin, Mr. Donahue’s B-17 Bomber was shot down by enemy fire.
He bailed, but was captured and held as a prisoner of war for 14 months.
Following the war, Mr. Donahue returned from his overseas service and resumed his college education, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University.
Mr. Donahue worked for United States Steel Corp. in Pittsburgh, followed by Esso Standard Oil Co. in Linden, N.J., He then worked for the McGraw-Hill Co. in New York, Boston and Philadelphia for the next 26 years. He closed his career as vice president of sales for Business Week.
It was then, 29 years ago, that Mr. Donahue began spending his retirement years in both South Florida and Rhode Island with his first wife, the former Beverly Winslow.
When she died in January 2004, the couple had been married 53 years, many of them spent enjoying the South Florida lifestyle in locations including coastal Delray Beach.
Kevin Bauer, general manager of the Gulf Stream Golf Club, said Mr. Donahue was a long-time member who served as president of their board from 1993-95.
During their long and loving marriage, Mr. Donahue and his first wife had four children, who survive him. They are Alston Geer of Charleston, S.C.; Deirdre D. London of East Greenwich, R.I., Carol A. Donahue of Gwymedd Valley, Pa., and Walter Richard Donahue Jr. of Saunderstown, R.I
Mary Sloneker Donahue said she married into the Donahue family five years ago.
“He was such a loving guy and his sense of humor was wonderful,” she said.
Mr. Donahue was an active member St. Edward’s Catholic Church, where a memorial service was held for him on Feb. 26.
Mrs. Murray’s husband, A. Harold Murray, preceded her in death.
Raised by immigrant parents in New York, Mrs. Murray moved to Wyckoff, N.J., where she and her husband started their family, eventually moving to Miami and then north, to coastal Delray Beach.
In Florida, Mrs. Murray further developed her love for art, and devoted much of her spare time teaching art therapy to handicapped children. For her, everything was a canvas.
Mrs. Murray is survived by her children, Dr. Alan Horowitz and daughter-in-law, Linda Hubay; Susan Murray; Debbie Glickstein and son-in-law, Cary Glickstein; and grandchildren, Madison Rothman, Lily Glickstein and Jack Glickstein.
A memorial service was held Feb. 25.
Family members ask that donations be made in Florence Murray’s name to Hospice of Palm Beach County.
— Emily J. Minor
LANTANA — Robert “Bob” Long might have known a lot about real estate and what it took to sell a luxurious home, but the legacy he left behind to those who knew him wasn’t just that he was a fantastic Realtor.
Mr. Long’s legacy was that he was a good man.
After battling an illness, Mr. Long died on March 8. He was 56.
Besides being a father of four and a husband of almost 17 years, Mr. Long had an outstanding reputation in Palm Beach County as a Realtor.
He sold more properties on Hypoluxo Island and Manalapan than any other real estate company in more than 20 years, according to his wife, Susan.
What made him so good at his job was that he was, simply, nice.
Ask anyone, his friends have said, and they’ll tell you the same thing.
When people pass away, one of the most common things loved ones say is that the person never said a harsh word about anyone — and sure, sometimes you might wonder if that’s really true. But in Bob Long’s case, it was true.
And that’s why people loved him.
“You were completely comfortable with him,” said longtime friend and co-worker Diane Duffy of Lantana. “He took time with people. He listened. He always made you feel you were the most important thing happening in that moment.”
Mr. Long owned Palermo-Long Realty on Ocean Avenue in Lantana and if you were a client of Mr. Long’s, you knew you were taken care of. They came to rely on him, his wife said, and word of mouth spread quickly of Mr. Long’s reliability and dedication.
Duffy remembered meeting Mr. Long for the first time when she was trying to find a company to work for. Back then, she was a new agent and had many doors slammed in her face. But when she met Mr. Long, his door was wide open.
“You could tell he was busy, but he sat with me for an hour,” Duffy said. “He was so inviting and he put me at ease.”
The two became friends and worked together for 11 years.
Originally from Ohio, Mr. Long moved to Lantana when he was a teenager with his family as they pursued their love of water skiing, something Mr. Long took a liking to as well. But what he loved even more was boat driving. And for a few years, Mr. Long spent his weeks selling real estate and the weekends were dedicated to driving boats in professional water ski tournaments. He traveled to places like France, California and Texas.
In Palm Beach County, he spent time on his boat, named the Suzabel (a combination of his wife’s name and his daughter, Isabel). Sometimes he would surprise his staff and tell them they were spending the day on the boat and, over sandwiches and cocktails, they would take pictures of waterfront homes and jokingly say they were “working.”
Longtime friend and business associate Bob Sorgini of Lake Worth spoke at Mr. Long’s funeral and described him as a generous, kind soul. During the string of hurricanes a few years ago, Sorgini said Mr. Long delivered plywood to people on the island and even helped his priest board up his home.
His wife laughed when she recalled this as well, because she said their house always seemed to be the last house prepared for a storm.
“He was so busy putting up shutters for others that we didn’t have shutters up,” Susan Long said. “That was so him, very unselfish.”
“He approached his life, his business and everything with the upmost integrity,” she added. “He was just good beyond belief.”
Mr. Long’s family asks that memorial contributions be made to Gulf Stream School, 3600 Gulf Stream Road, Gulf Stream, FL 33483; Unity of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St., Delray Beach, FL 33444; or the American Water Ski Educational Foundation, 1251 Holy Cow Road, Polk City, FL 33868.
Real estate sales for both new and old construction seem to be picking up in the coastal areas, and local Realtors and developers say they expect the uptick to only get stronger as hesitant buyers and sellers decide it’s time to move.
“The last two weeks — literally, 14 days ago — I can tell you, it exploded,” Realtor Val Coz said March 23. “I have buyers coming out of the woodwork. The fence sitters are off the fence.”
In February statistics, released last month by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, overall home sales in Palm Beach County were up 32 percent over the previous February.
Statewide, the number was less impressive at a 13 percent increase.
But local numbers for Highland Beach, Ocean Ridge and South Palm Beach show some upward movement, especially in Highland Beach where sales moved from 13 closings in February 2010, to 18 in February 2011 — or a 38.5 percent increase.
These days, even an increase in the number of new listings is good news, said Realtor Sue Tauriello, whose office — Tauriello & Company Real Estate Inc. — is on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.
Tauriello says they’ve seen a definite spike in phone inquiries, showings and foot traffic.
While anecdotal foot traffic isn’t an exact science, Tauriello says it definitely shows that buyers — especially the premier, high-end buyers interested in Palm Beach County’s coastal properties — are feeling more comfortable.
Indeed, she said her office just closed on a $7 million oceanfront home. The buyer was local, and upgrading to a grander property, she said.
“In general, there’s a more upbeat mood,” Tauriello said. “California buyers think we’re on clearance.”
According to the Realtors’ report, South Palm Beach’s February closings were the same as last year, while closings in Ocean Ridge were down slightly. Of course, when examining activity in such a small market, even one less closing can force a steep percentage drop in those monthly numbers.
Still, Tauriello is a bit giddy with how busy they are at her office.
“A lot of CEOs weren’t running out and buying $10 million homes when they were laying off people,” Tauriello said. “The fear is lessening.”
Mark Anthony Mollica, the sales director for the first new development to be built in Gulf Stream in about 30 years, says interest at their 4001 North Ocean project has been impressive.
The “4001 project” — in the part of Gulf Stream just incorporated in the March election — is being built by Kolter Tower LLC. Mollica said they have deposits on 11 of the 34 oceanfront units, or about $21 million in sales if all those closings go through.
“Our highest expectations have been met,” Mollica said. “We’re hoping this will launch further development.”
Coz, a Realtor with Fite Shavell who’s been selling in this market for eight years, said she’s encouraged with the recent movement — although home prices are still down as much as 30 percent.
But those good list prices are part of what’s stoking interest.
Many of Coz’s high-end buyers are investment bankers and hedge fund professionals, who make a living on Wall Street.
“To see these guys stepping up to the plate, that’s a good thing,” she said. “They watch that stuff. They’re smart.
“And I think the smart money is saying we’re at the bottom, and it’s time to
move.”
An ordinance that would ban fishing for sharks from Ocean Ridge’s shores was delayed last month to allow research on whether the high water line that marks the town’s boundary would impede enforcement of the law.
“If they’re in the water, they’re outside of Ocean Ridge,” said Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi.
Officers would face a challenge because they’d have to determine where the high water line is to ascertain whether they were in Ocean Ridge’s jurisdiction before they could make an arrest.
The law the commission is considering would prohibit chumming (using cut-up bait to attract sharks), fishing for sharks and using shark-fishing equipment from the town’s beaches.
The ordinance was drafted following similar moves in other towns, including Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
“I don’t see how it’s going to be enforceable,” said Commissioner Geoff Pugh, who said perhaps the law could prevent shark fishermen from bringing their catch over Ocean Ridge’s portion of the beach.
Mayor Ken Kaleel offered another suggestion — that all sharks caught while fishing on Ocean Ridge’s beach be cut loose.
But later he and attorney Ken Spillias talked about exploring whether a cooperative enforcement arrangement would be possible with the state.
The commissioners questioned how Delray Beach and Boca Raton would enforce their laws. “They have yet to enforce it for the first time,” Yannuzzi said.
Delray Beach’s ordinance, which was approved in July 2009, prohibits shark fishing within 300 feet of the city’s public beaches.
In approving the measure, Delray Beach commissioners said the ban helps ensure a safe beach for swimming by preventing chumming, which lures sharks.
Boca Raton approved a proposed ban in December 2010, then passed the ordinance on to their Marine Advisory Board for review.
The board met Feb. 2 and plans to forward its comments to City Council for further action.
A volunteer checks vehicles for expired meters along Ocean Boulevard in Delray Beach. City officials say they hope meters bring in $1.2 million per year. Photo by Jerry Lower
By Tim Norris
Delray Beach’s parking checkers do not hide their light. It’s bright yellow, it flashes, and —somewhere ahead on a weekday drive down Atlantic Avenue to the parking spots along Ocean Avenue and the beach — it’s going to shine. Or glare.
The spots are full, at the moment. Hey! Past Third Avenue on Atlantic, there’s one!
Park for show. Dawdle for dough. A ticket runs $25, and Delray Beach needs the money.
In the words of the city’s June 2010, 97-page Parking Management Plan (you can pick up a copy at City Hall or find it online), the city is “a major destination” with a “vibrant retail district.”
And parking can be a headache.
The yellow flashers on the parking check carts are meant partly as a warning. City officials want you to have all the fun and spend all the money in the time allotted and then, please, move along.
Turnover is key and is encouraged with time limits, user fees and ticketing.
Most prime spots along Atlantic and Ocean allow two hours. One, in front of a convenience store just east of Gleason, allows five minutes. And don’t even think about parking in that Armored Vehicle Parking Only space at SunTrust Bank, or those disabled slots along the library (that ticket runs you $250) or that Lifeguard Parking Only spot along the beach.
Of course, valets and parking garages will be happy to welcome you — for a fee. And there is free parking available on side streets.
There are two, right there, on Southeast Third.
Even on a Saturday night, most can find spaces a short walk away. But, in the Age of Convenience, many seem unwilling or unable to seek them out or to walk the extra few blocks, judging from the crush.
From the Library lot to the northernmost beach meter, open spaces on this sunny afternoon number exactly one.
Oops! Silver VW bug got it!
Cities and towns across Palm Beach County benefit enormously, of course, from parking fees. When Boca Raton installed meters last year, it expected to bring in more than $600,000 per year. Delray hopes to bring in more than $1.2 million per year once its latest plan unfolds.
Many merchants share the feelings of David Cook, owner of Hands Art Supply on Atlantic in downtown Delray. Meters, he has said, discourage customers.
Regardless, municipalities face an onslaught. The Federal Department of Transportation reports more than twice as many motor vehicles as households. To welcome people and keep their vehicles at bay, Delray Beach officials use all their ingenuity, trumpet every alternative. And still they come, especially in tourist and snowbird season.
A lot of them seem to be sitting in these rectangular slots. On this day, well past 3 p.m., every street space is taken. And the real crunch time, 6 to 8 p.m. weekdays (Saturdays it’s 10 to midnight), is still ahead.
So far, the parking checker lamp has not been lit. No tickets on windshields, no volunteer officers putting chalk sticks to tires or slipping tickets under wiper blades.
Maybe they’re hoping more drivers have heeded the city’s Business District Map and Parking Guide signs, enumerating shops, eateries and attractions and pinpointing parking lots and garages.
Maybe more people are trying the Downtown Roundabout free shuttle bus, from the Tri-Rail station along Atlantic to the beach.
The shuttle has some riders, and city lots with free parking do get plenty of action. The hottest parking spots, though, still stretch up both sides of Atlantic and along the surf side of Ocean Avenue. And some are valet-only.
Try nipping into private spots, behind businesses, and you’re just begging for immobility. Risk the tow truck, if you dare!
Some do. Everyone wants to be near the action, and summer heat, even with awnings and misting nozzles, can wither a walker.
On this afternoon, along the line of vehicles filling ocean-side slots along Ocean Boulevard, 17 meters show the fateful zeroes of time expired.
Ah, and here comes a cart, now, silver-haired man in uniform at the wheel, police insignia on the side, yellow light flashing. Better run to feed that meter!
Or just walk. Building and maintaining sidewalks cost money. Using them is still free.
In Coasting Along, our writers occasionally stop to reflect on life along the shore.
Whether you’re a seasoned South Florida beachcomber or a relative newcomer to coastal Palm Beach County, consider this either a timely reminder or a heads-up to one of the marvels Mother Nature is kind enough to let us witness every year.
Sea turtle nesting season officially began March 1. Those endangered prehistoric creatures will make their way out of the Atlantic and onto our beaches to lay their eggs.
Staff and volunteers from Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton patrol five beachfront miles from Highland Beach to the Broward County line. By Feb. 28, two nests had already been identified, according to Kirt Rusenko, who heads the center’s sea turtle program.
The average female will lay at least 100 eggs per nest, A dedicated female can create up to seven nests per season, laying approximately 1,000 eggs total, said Rusenko.
Sadly, only one of those eggs will see adulthood.
This is due partly to natural predators such as foxes and raccoons, which feast on the eggs.
Once the hatchlings emerge, starting in late May, they encounter hungry birds as they make their way to the ocean. The ones lucky enough to reach the water encounter more predators.
But the largest threat to these babies is the result of human activity, and most of it is preventable.
“Do not feed wild animals,” said Rusenko. And do not build bonfires on the beach. “The hatchlings will actually go into the fire because they are looking for the lightest horizon.”
Sea turtles are protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, Florida Statute Chapter 370, and the Palm Beach County Sea Turtle Protection Ordinance. Laws also are in place requiring beachfront property owners to alter their outdoor lighting to be sea turtle friendly.
At Boca Raton Resort and Club, sea turtle season marks a change in not only beachfront lighting, but also in the arrangement of the beach furniture, said Karrol-Jo Foster, executive office manager at the resort’s Boca Beach Club.
“We definitely set our beach up differently during turtle season,” said Foster. “We gear our activities around what we can and can’t do during the turtle season and we work in coordination with Gumbo Limbo.”
Signs are posted on the beach and staff offers information about sea turtle season to their guests.
The same goes at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach in Manalapan, where they work closely with Lantana lifeguards who are certified to inspect and identify sea turtle nests, according to Mike Bigerton, the resort’s director of engineering.
“(Our) duty is to inform our guests, as we set up their beach lounges, to stay 10 feet from the posted nest. Plus, we tell guests that digging in the sand is not permitted. This information is also noted in our in-room newsletter,” he said.
Additionally, all of the hotel’s windows are tinted to an approved color level. While they are permitted to clean and hand rake the restricted part of the beach, mechanical raking of the beach is permitted in certain areas only after the beach has been inspected and nests are clearly marked.
Rusenko applauds the cooperation he sees among beachfront property owners.
“Ninety nine percent of the time, once (people) what know the right thing to do is, they
do it,” he said.
Dos and don’ts for nesting season
Here’s a list of dos and don’ts for nesting season, according to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s Kirt Rusenko and the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management:
• Do not carry a flashlight on the beach or build a fire;
• If you see a nesting sea turtle, do not run up to it. Watch from a safe distance behind the turtle and let nature run its course;
• If you dig a large hole in the sand, fill it up before you leave. Mother sea turtles have become trapped and died in unfilled holes;
• Pedestrians and drivers should look out for disoriented hatchlings on trails and roads near the beach. If a hatchling seems weak and confused, call Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission toll-free at 888-404-FWCC.
By Ron Hayes
GULF STREAM — Aloha Krueger, a resident of Gulf Stream for more than 40 years, died March 17 after a short illness. She was 97 and lived in Place Au Soleil.
Born in Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 24, 1914, Mrs. Krueger moved to New York City after high school and enjoyed an early career as a fashion model. She worked in high fashion retail stores in Westchester County, N.Y., after her marriage and also sold real estate in Greenwich and Stamford, Conn., until 1970, when she retired to Gulf Steam with her husband, Jackson Hancock.
An avid golfer since the 1940s, Mrs. Krueger once belonged to five area country clubs, including The Little Club and The Ocean Club.
She played bridge and wrote poetry.
“She was an amateur poetess and entertained her friends by composing poems for birthdays and anniversaries,” recalled her daughter, Sharon Osmolovsky, of Kensington, Md. “Her friends would request some verse and she enjoyed doing that.”
She will be buried beside her late husband in Hillcrest Cemetery in Holly Springs, Miss.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any charity in her memory.
Slideshow: St. Patrick's Day Parade in Delray Beach
By Jan Norris
Patrick is 200 pounds of pork on the hoof — but he’s no ham.
“Petunia really was a ham. She loved the parade,” said Kimberly Vislocky, Patrick’s human “mom.”
Patrick, a brown and dark gray pot-bellied pig, is the new four-footed mascot of Delray Beach’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. For the second year, the 2-year-old porker rode the length of Atlantic Avenue, displayed in the back of Vislocky’s slow-moving SUV, which was open to the back so everyone could see him.
“Someone complained to the parade organizers that it was cruel to make a pig walk down the road. So now he rides,” Vislocky said.
As Patrick sniffed and snorted around in the back of the trunk, looking to nibble whatever he could find, she tied a huge homemade green bandana with gold fringe around his neck, and put a green beribboned bowler on his head. He was now officially in his parade costume.
This year’s annual parade, held on March 12, was bittersweet for Vislocky, whose Petunia, a 17-year-old pot-belly and wild boar mix, died in her sleep in December. Petunia had graced the St. Pat’s parade with her porcine presence, dressed in fancy ruffles and crowned with a green glittery tiara, since 1995. Her parade career ended in 2009 when arthritis and old age slowed her down.
“She got excited when I got the costumes ready every year,” Vislocky said. “I make them myself. She knew the parade was coming and she’d be the center of attention. She really was a ham for it.
“She was so smart — she’d cross the streets at the crosswalks, and if she got hot, she’d walk into the stores where there was air-conditioning. When we got to the VFW hall at the end, she’d go right to the ladies’ room where it was coolest and lay down. Pigs are intelligent. People don’t know that about them, but they’re very smart animals.”
They’re also not as dirty as people believe, she said. “They’re actually very clean animals. They only get in the mud to cool themselves off because they have no sweat glands.” She takes care of Patrick’s coat by showering him off.
Still, she wonders at all the parade-watchers who run up to the pig to give it a kiss. “I don’t know what they’re thinking,” she said. “But they do it, for luck, I guess. They have their picture taken with him and scratch his ears, then kiss him on the nose.” She wrinkled hers, and shook her head.
Vislocky owns Kimberly’s Pet Grooming in Delray Beach, and cares for her other “celebrity” pets — a billy goat named Bunny who competes in the Easter bonnet contest every year and a younger pig named Patty — Patrick’s parade backup.
Vislocky fretted over the group of motorcycles revving their motors behind her in the parade line. “He doesn’t like loud noises. We were in front of a semi truck last year and they kept pulling their air horn. He didn’t like that — so we’re toward the end of the parade this year.”
At that time, the motorcycles were waved on ahead, leaving a quieter firetruck behind her. Patrick raised his snout and sniffed the air, then went back to rooting in the back of the truck. He was looking for a grape — the treat he gets along the parade route till he lands at the end — the VFW hall.
“I don’t know where we’ll go next year; they’re moving the VFW to Federal Highway,” Vislocky said.
Back when Petunia first marched, the parade ended at Powers Lounge, she said.
Powers was Maury Powers, the man credited with starting the parade 43 years ago. He marched with a green-painted pig named Petunia down the avenue on St. Patrick’s Day to attract guests to Powers Lounge at the railway tracks, now the site of the new Buddha Sky Bar.
The parade became an annual tradition, and participants wound up at his lounge for the party of free-flowing beer and tall tales, according to Pat Robinson, an original parade participant.
“I was friends with Maury. And I had the ‘fortunate’ job of cleaning the carpets in the lounge,” he said. Robinson owns Man of Steam carpet-cleaning business in Delray.
Powers died in 1996, only a year after Vislocky’s Petunia began marching. The family closed the lounge, and parade marchers began gathering, as they would today, at the VFW hall on Second Avenue for the after-party.
He remembers his “kind and funny” friend every year by marching in a top hat, as Powers did, and trailing his own float: a green, glittery shrine to Powers, whose photo is in the center of the handmade sign towering over all. Robinson’s float signals the end of the parade.
Robinson’s trailer was only a few vehicles separated from Patrick near the beach as they lined up.
After waiting in line more than an hour, the parade finally moved forward. Vislocky walked along behind the SUV, holding the green leash that served only as a limp pointer to Patrick, now sitting on his haunches in the back.
Parade-goers squealed and got out their phones and cameras when they spotted him: “It’s Petunia!”
She doesn’t always correct them. “Everyone loved her,” Vislocky said.
Patrick duly sniffed and snorted, his ivory tusk making him look more menacing than he is.
“He’s a sweetie,” she said. “He’s just not a ham.”
A land use ordinance that would allow Segway sales and tours was preliminarily approved at Delray Beach commissioners’ March meeting, with the discussion of safety issues a dominant theme at the first public hearing.
A second public hearing is scheduled for April 5. Representatives of tour operators who spoke at the public hearing March 15 said they were largely satisfied with the ordinance, which would allow tours to operate on the west side of A1A, except for a block north and south of Atlantic Avenue. Delray Beach staff recommended against allowing tours on the east side because an already congested beach area would create safety problems.
The beachside sidewalk is populated with bicycles, skateboards, motorized skateboards, roller blades, racing strollers, unicycles — and even a bagpipe player, Andy Katz of the Beach Property Owners Association pointed out.
The BPOA’s membership is mixed on the proposition. “As with all public matters, people are different. We have to allow for many things. It’s all part of city life — as long as it doesn’t become a problem.”
Katz suggested safety precautions including a reasonable speed limit and that Segways be restricted to the areas of the sidewalk/roadway that bicycles use. The BPOA also want the Segways to operate in single file rather than two or more abreast.
Other safety suggestions for tour operators, which include Segway Tours and The Electric Experience, included requiring operators to wear helmets and easily seen vests, drive facing traffic and to undergo a set amount of training.
“It’s something new, something different, but safety still trumps everything,” said Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos.
Two out of three coastal Delray Beach residents would rather switch to curbside garbage pickup, according to results of a city survey obtained by The Coastal Star.
The city in late November mailed surveys to 830 coastal homeowners asking if they wanted to continue to pay $22.24 a month for back-door pickup or switch to curbside, a monthly savings of $9.52.
Of the nearly 540 homeowners who responded, 348, or nearly 65 percent, said they would prefer the curbside pickup, and subsequent savings.
According to a memo from Lula Butler, the city’s director of Community Improvement, the survey was sparked by a complaint from a resident that many coastal homeowners were bringing their garbage curbside even though they were being charged extra for back-door service.
“We believe that since they must bring their recycling and bulk trash to the curb, it makes it fairly convenient to do the garbage at the same time,” Butler wrote in her March 15 memo to City Manager Harden.
Butler noted that the city monitored the contracted waste hauler, Waste Management, for two days in January 2009 and found that of the nearly 450 residents who did not take their garbage to the curb, Waste Management workers went to the back door to retrieve it.
The November survey did not solicit comments from residents, yet a few on both sides spoke up.
The most prevalent comment from those who voted to switch to curbside was that they did so because Waste Management had not picked up garbage they left at back doors.
“I have lived here for three years,” wrote a South Ocean Boulevard resident, “and have yet to have garbage picked up at the rear door.”
Added another South Ocean Boulevard resident who said he has carried his garbage curbside for 19 years: “I have been overcharged $9.52 a month — a total of $2,170. I should be entitled to a refund.”
Residents who voted in favor of keeping rear-door pickup said they did so because they either were too old to bring it curbside or snowbirds who let friends use their property and the friends didn’t know the pickup days.
A Melaleuca Road resident wrote that it is important to keep refuse from building up and dropping the back-door option would increase the “risk of rodent infestation.”
Added a Mirimar Drive resident: “I am 92 years old, so please continue.”
Delray Beach is talking with trash hauler Waste Management in hopes of granting the wishes of residents who want their trash picked up at the curb rather than their back door, but it still could be a couple years before they see a change.
“We’d like to be able to offer it (curbside trash pickup) to them,” said City Manager David Harden, adding that at worst it could become available when the trash contract is rebid in two years.
Harden said in the discussions with Waste Management, the company has said different equipment is necessary for the curbside pickups. In addition, according to Butler’s report, the city will have the cost of supplying the standardized carts as an upfront cost, estimated at about $60,000.
The issue will be brought to commissioners for consideration likely during their April workshop. Ú
The transition of power over the county pocket was peaceful and without incident.
At 12:01 a.m. March 15 the unincorporated area just north of town, and its roughly 150 residents, became part of Gulf Stream.
Pocket residents left no doubt of their wish to be annexed by the town: All 71 voters cast ‘’yes’’ ballots.
“It’s a remarkable result, I will have to say,’’ said Bob Ganger, president of the Gulf Stream Civic Association, which mailed a fact-filled flier to pocket and town residents and held an informational meeting on the proposal.
In town, the vote was 231 in favor of bringing the pocket into Gulf Stream, 27 against.
“That’s overwhelming support for annexation. That’s amazing,’’ Commissioner Chris Wheeler said when Town Clerk Rita Taylor announced the totals.
Gulf Stream wasted no time assuming control. At the appointed hour, fire-rescue services were transferred from the county to Delray Beach, which contracts with the town, and 911 calls were rerouted. Town police took over from the Sheriff’s Office.
“The police have been making door-to-door visits to get acquainted,’’ Taylor said.
The town also sent its new residents a welcome letter signed by the mayor and town manager, complete with a gold Gulf Stream seal.
The letter noted that former pocket residents will have to abide by the town’s design guidelines if they want to change the exterior appearance of their home and also alerted them about getting a resident decal for their automobile.
Town commissioners also passed a ‘‘zoning in progress’’ resolution to notify developers that zoning requirements would be changing from county standards to Gulf Stream’s.
But while police and fire-rescue services were planned beforehand, splitting property tax revenues with the county in the middle of the budget year was not.
“It’s reasonable to expect that the county would not deserve 100 percent of that tax revenue,’’ Town Manager William Thrasher said, adding that county officials were trying to decide what share is appropriate.
The 16.6-acre pocket, bordered by Sea Road on the south, County Road on the west, the St. Andrews Club on the north and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, will add an estimated $69 million to Gulf Stream’s tax base. That would have meant about $150,000 in added tax revenue if the area had been part of the town for the full budget year, Thrasher said.
Also on the to-do list is building a stone column to mark the new town limits at Little Club Road and State Road A1A. “We want one that would mirror the south entrance,’’ Thrasher said.
Those letters were special- ordered in 1999, he said.
