May heralds summer and the newspaper office starts to heat up during the long afternoons. My husband calls it the “sweat pit.” He’s dead set on replacing the
aging, noisy AC units above our doors. He’s only asking for cool and quiet
after all. So, after much discussion, I agreed to part with hard-earned cash
and get the wretched things replaced.

Then, the doves arrived. We didn’t notice the nest-building atop the main door unit until it was too late and two
perfect, small white eggs had been maternally installed. So much for the new AC
— at least until the fledglings find their way out into the world.

Watching our little dove parents take turns incubating the eggs and then feeding the two tiny hatchlings has been better than a National Geographic production. Knowing
doves are monogamous gives us reason to ascribe them with anthropomorphic
characteristics — although we’ve refrained from giving them human names. I
spent time on a farm as a teenager. I know better.

Friends have been less than kind: calling our dove parents nothing more than fancy pigeons and suggesting they would taste good grilled, with a little garlic and
olive oil. Brutal.

I scold that there’s nothing wrong with being a pigeon — or cousin of a pigeon. Consider Cher Ami (Dear Friend in French) — the most famous of the avian Allied
Forces in World War I.

As the story goes, during the battle of Argonne, late in the Great War, 200 American soldiers found themselves surrounded by Germans and under fire from
confused American air support. With no working radios, they determined a last
chance at rescue was to dispatch their sole remaining homing pigeon, Cher Ami.
They attached a message to the bird’s leg and sent it aloft. Although the bird
was wounded by enemy fire, it flew 25 miles in 25 minutes to its base; the
shelling was stopped and the Americans were saved. Cher Ami was hailed as a
hero by the U.S. troops and by the French, who awarded it the Croix de Guerre with palm leaf.

It’s a good tale told on Memorial Day. Who doesn’t love a brave little bird?

Our hatchlings will be leaving the nest soon. I’ve read that they’ll stay close to their father for the first couple of weeks before heading out on their own.

It’s a good tale told on Father’s Day. Who doesn’t love a Dad taking time to explain the workings of the world to their little ones?

For now, we watch the hatchlings grow bigger each day and know that it won’t be long before our air-conditioning plans can resume. My husband is eager for
cool, quiet air while he works.

I’m in no rush. I fear survival is not going to be easy for our little, feathered friends.

I hope they have brave hearts.

— Mary Kate Leming, editor

By Mary Thurwachter

On a sunny afternoon in May, Jestena Boughton and Hilary Roche converse in a long narrow office at the Colony Hotel. Lucy, the beagle-corgi mix Jestena recently
adopted, keeps an eye on things between snoozes.

The women are planning projects for the Colony and its sister hotel with the same name in Kennebunkport, Maine. There’s always a future project, says Jestena,
owner and manager of both properties. At the sunny golden yellow hotel with its
eye-catching maroon- and white-striped awnings, the finishing touches are being
made on the handsome dark wood lobby bar. The cabana pool is due for
renovations and an in-house laundry is in the works so that sheets and towels
no longer will be sent out for cleaning.

“We’re putting in energy-efficient machines,” Jestena explains, “and we’ll save gas because the linens won’t have to be driven somewhere else.”

Hilary, the hotel’s managing director, is Jestena’s right hand and her cousin. After all, running the hotels has been a family affair for 75 years. Jestena’s
father, George, and granddad, Charlie, bought the Delray Beach hotel in 1935
and ran it until they died — Charlie in 1942, George in 1986. Hilary’s
granddad, John S. Banta, worked at The Colony from 1939 to 1990, starting out
in the kitchen and working his way up to hotel manager of both hotels, a
position he held for more than 35 years. Another cousin, Jestena’s godson John Martin, is the
director of sales.

The honeymooners’ discovery

Jestena’s parents, George and Agnes Boughton, were newlyweds 75 years ago when they drove to Key West and took a ferry to Havana. When they reached the Cuban capital,
people were shooting in the streets during Batista-era protests. So the
honeymooners turned around and began their journey north to Atlantic City,
N.J., where George’s dad, Charlie, was in the hotel business.

During a stop in Delray Beach, then a quaint beach town and a colony for writers, artists and cartoonists escaping the bitter cold winters of the northeast, George
Boughton saw something magnificent. It was the stunning twin-domed, three-story
stucco hotel on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and U. S. 1. The Mediterranean
Revival structure, designed and built in 1926 by Addison Mizner associate
Martin Luther Hampton, was then called The Alterap — and it was in bankruptcy.
After George conferred with his father, the Boughton men bought the property
and changed its name to the Colony Hotel.

“Guests coming down from the North would arrive by train with trunks of clothes for the season,” says Hilary. The hotel, like others in the area, was open from January
to the beginning of April. Seasonal hotels were common in Florida in the 1930s
and ’40s. Guests did a lot of strolling on Atlantic Avenue and sitting on the
front porch.

Rates in the late 1930s were $50 a week and included meals for two.

“I remember, from my childhood in the ’50s, a lot of guests were my parents age and they’d have cocktail parties,” Jestena says. “People were more social with
each other. There were women with long red fingernails and cigarettes. They had
fun.”

In 1948, Jestena’s father established the Kennebunkport Colony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the Kennebunk River. That hotel was (and still
is) open from mid-May through late October. For years, staff, including
Hilary’s grandfather John Banta, would travel to work at each property.

In 2001, after air conditioning was installed in the halls (the guest rooms were already air-conditioned), the Delray Beach hotel began staying open all year.

Early on, guests stayed for the season, but that’s changed, says Hilary. Guests are younger now and stay for shorter periods and weekend stays are popular. “People
come and try a different restaurant each night. They like strolling the
(Atlantic) avenue.”

Unlike years ago, when the dining room was open for meals, today’s guests have a hot complimentary breakfast in the lobby.

Everything old is new again

Bold and colorful spaces highlight the interior architecture at the 70-room hotel, which still has the original staff-operated elevator and telephone switchboard.
There’s even some of the original 1926 Ficks Reed wicker furniture in the lobby
lit by skylights. An original piano has been restored as the player piano it
once was, only now it plays CDs.

The original floors are a point of pride, too, with terrazzo in the lobby, red oak in the music and dining rooms, and Cuban tile on the front porch. Dade County pine
floors in guest rooms and stairs are in pristine condition.

Much of the furniture inside the rooms are original pieces from the 1920s bought from the John Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia. But there are modern elements,
too, like the large flat-screen TVs and the “Simply Dreamy Beds” with organic
cotton sheets and white all cotton matelassé bedspreads added in recent years.

Recognized by the city as a historical landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Colony brought home another honor last month. The Historic
Preservation Board presented Jestena and the hotel with a Preserve Delray
Award, which honors property owners who continually preserve their significant
piece of Delray Beach history.

Growing up in Delray

occasionally getting into mischief.
She would drop bags of water from the roof onto the heads of people
walking by. Girls just wanna have fun, after all.

But she had various chores to tackle, as well.

“During summers in Maine, I ran the elevator,” Jestena recalls.” And when I was 14, I was the relish girl (in the dining room). I worked the front desk, but never in
the kitchen or housekeeping.”

While she knew the business well, it was not where she dreamed of working as a grown-up. She wanted to be, and was, a landscape architect.

“I did work in the hotel for six years when I was married,” she explains. “I was the purchasing agent and I was very bored.”

Jestena, now single, acquired a masters in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and worked for the city of Seattle for five years. Later, she
taught landscape architecture and urban design at the University of
Massachusetts.

“I really enjoyed teaching,” she remembers. But when her father died in 1986, she returned to work in the hotels. Then when her mother, Agnes, died in 1994,
Jestena officially managed both
hotels, becoming general manager in 1996.

“Until I did it myself, nothing got better,” Boughton says. Business was faltering in Delray, forcing her to make some tough decisions, like closing the liquor store
her father had opened adjacent to the hotel. It was losing money, having fallen
victim to the Walgreens and Costcos that buy in bulk and sell for less.

She lived in the hotel for a while to keep expenses down.

“It was very stressful for me to have all this debt,” she says.

Her father taught her to be financially conservative. “I sign all the checks,” she says. “I try to watch every
penny.”

All her design and planning background turned out to be good preparation for running the hotels, she says. “My experience made it so much better. You do so
much planning and big designs. That’s what I do here.”

Charlie, the friendly ghost

The dining room walls are lined with old photos of people who owned, worked at or visited the hotel since it opened. One of them shows a handsome, tall, nattily
dressed gentleman with a crisp white shirt and dark blazer. That’s Charlie
Boughton, Jestena’s grandfather.

He died in 1942, but it seems he never totally left the hotel: Workmen and sometimes guests have seen the man in that old black-and-white photo, Jestena
says. They know he’s a ghost because he walks right through the doors without
opening them.

There’s nothing to be frightened about. Charlie, she says, appears to be happy to be there.

He’s just part of the charm of this lovely old hotel.

Mary Thurwachter is a West Palm Beach freelance writer and founder/producer of the travel e-zine INNsideFlorida.com (www.innsideflorida.com).

Living Green

Two years ago, the Colony Hotel became the third facility in Palm Beach County to be awarded a Florida Green Lodging Certification from the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection. Other
examples of its environmentally conscious practices: Cabanas at the hotel’s
beach club are made mainly of pressed-recycled newspapers rather than wood, and
pet blankets are crafted from old linens. (Dogs are welcome here and are
greeted with treats at the front desk, as well as biodegradable sacks for
scooped dog waste.)

Living green is a deeply ingrained way of doing business for Boughton. “We’ve been doing these kind of things for many, many years,” she says.

The Cabana Club

One of the things that makes this landmark hotel so attractive is its Cabana Club. George Boughton bought the 250-foot strip of land along the Atlantic Ocean at
the east end of Linton Boulevard in 1950. He turned it into a private club
complete with sea grapes, coconut palms and native flora.

The club, complimentary to hotel guests who can ride a van over, has a saltwater pool heated by environmentally sensitive geothermal technology, a private
beach, and complimentary cabanas, chaises and beach umbrellas.

Guests can have lunch there and charge it to their room. And members are welcome to bring their own food and drinks and store it there during their visit. It’s
like having your own little room at the beach.

Winners of the Delray Beach Historic Preservation Board Fourth Annual Award and Recognition Program:

New Signage

353 N. Swinton Ave.

Chaya Sharon Heller, business owner

Residential Additions, Renovations and Restoration

1026 Nassau St.

Jennifer Lee, property owner

and

220 Dixie Blvd.

Katie and John Murphy, property owners

Adaptive Reuse

114 NE First Ave.

Roger Cope and Tom McMurrain, property owners

Pat Cayce Achievement Award for Excellence in Preservation

114 NE First Ave.

Roger Cope and Tom McMurrain, property owners

Preserve Delray Award

Residential: The Turner House

145 NE Sixth Ave.

Allison Turner and Nancy Turner, property owners

Nonresidential: The Colony Hotel

525 E. Atlantic Ave.

Jestena Boughton, property owner

By Tim O’Meilia

Palm Beach County officials are pushing ahead with plans for a breakwater-and-groin project along a 1.3-mile stretch of largely South Palm Beach shoreline despite critical reviews by federal agencies of a similar project along Singer Island in Riviera Beach.

“We’re simply seeking a method to protect our residences here,” said South Palm Beach Councilman Brian Merbler.

But the South Palm Beach project won’t go forward without opposition from environmentalists, surfers and even lifeguards.

More than 50 people from Palm Beach to Manalapan attended a May 27 meeting at the South Palm Beach Town Hall to voice their concerns. Most of the dozen people who spoke argued the breakwaters and groins would do more harm than good.

Their worries will be included in an environmental impact statement drafted by consultants for the Army Corps of Engineers. A preliminary report is due January 2011.

South Palm Beach has long sought a beach project to protect its 13 oceanfront condominiums and a hotel from increasing erosion. In recent years, two buildings were temporarily evacuated during strong nor’easters until boulders could be carted in to protect building foundations from strong surf.

Eighteen limestone breakwaters would form dashes in the ocean about 200 to 250 feet off shore, 200 feet apart — reaching from southern Palm Beach to the south boundary of the Ritz-Carlton resort in Manalapan.

Four groins of concrete or sheet pile would poke 100 feet off shore from the Lantana public beach. In addition, sand would be placed to add about 105 feet to the present beach.

The project, which likely would not begin until the fall of 2012, would cost $10 million to $20 million. The state would pay half, the county 30 percent and South Palm Beach 20 percent. None of the money has been set aside yet.

Several speakers feared the groins and breakwaters would only intensify rip currents like the one that caused the drowning of a Georgia couple May 15 in South Palm Beach.

“The worst thing to do is to put groins in a swimming area,” said Chris Redgate, chief of the Lantana lifeguards. “It creates rip currents and blind spots.”

A Lantana resident worried about strong eddies being formed between the breakwaters. “Breakwaters are targets to swim to for kids. If there are currents between these breakwaters, that may cause problems,” said Al Young.

Others said the project would cause environmental harm to protected sea turtles, smalltooth sawfish and coral.

“Breakwaters will be very damaging to the sea turtles,” said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club. “Hatchlings will be attacked as they come out of the breakwaters.”

The breakwaters and groins will discourage surfing at the Lantana beach, a popular spot. “The purpose of the breakwater is to break up the surf. Effectively the surf will be gone,” said David Olsen.

Another speaker said the groins would block the natural southerly drift of sand, eventually starving Manalapan beaches of sand.

Manalapan Town Manager Thomas Heck said he would wait for the environmental statement before taking a position on the project.

The county asked the corps to suspend its view of the Singer Island project so it could consider alternatives. Federal agencies said the breakwaters would block the southerly flow of sand, harm sea turtles and other marine life and hamper surfers and swimmers.

Anticipating criticism, South Palm Beach Mayor Martin Millar and Councilwoman Stella Jordan suggested the corps consider submerged breakwaters rather than those proposed, which would protrude from the ocean by a foot and a half, on average.

“Above-water breakwaters are a problem. Maybe a below-water breakwater would work better,” Millar said.

Merbler said he expected opposition to the project. “I didn’t hear anything that was factual, just fear tactics,” he said.

“We have to protect the real estate as well as the environment,” he said. “There has to be a balance there.”

By Kelly Wolfe

You need an arsenal of adjectives to describe the Dub City Roller Girls.

At first glance, they are a combination of the family tomboy playing dress-up in their cross-dressing uncle’s closet; an action movie where an army of renegade strippers have to fight off an evil band of
aliens and save the Earth; or a sisterhood of grown-up Goths who shook teen
angst a long time ago and are now just really pissed off.

But it doesn’t take long to realize that beyond the sparkle, fishnets and battle cries such as “Bling it on,” they are ravenous athletes with eyes set on a horizon many
people might find unrealistic: the 2016 Olympic games.

“What I really like is that it’s a game of thinking and strategy,” said Heidi Colucci, a founding member of the Dub City Derby Girls. (Dub City is slang for
West Palm Beach). “You never know what to expect. It takes physical and mental
strength.”

The Dub City Derby Girls were formed in February and are seeking new members. More than two dozen women are here at this Monday night practice at the Atlantis
Skateway Roller Rink in Greenacres. But roughly half of those are new, or what
they call “fresh meat.” Not all of them will make it past a grueling 90-day
probation period.

Plus, this is a real-life commitment. Dub City practices three times a week, and members have to pony up $40 a month in dues.

University. She’s Maxim-magazine hot — gym-rat fit,
wearing thimble-sized, black bootie shorts and fishnets.

“Her sister-in-law, S.J. Farley, goes by Snow Bite. She’s a colorist at a hair salon. Farley is intimidatingly tall on her skates, with long limbs
covered in a tapestry of colorful tattoos. She also has a smile so big and warm
you could toast marshmallows over it.

“I like that it’s a team sport,” Farley, 35, said of roller derby. “It’s also a way to get women together. And it’s an adrenaline rush.”

But what’s with the getup?

“You can be aggressive as a girl,” Farley said. “You can be fashionable and aggressive.”

More interesting than the outfits is the history of roller derby itself. Frank Deford, a contributor to National Public Radio, said in a recent broadcast that
the sport dreamed up in the 1930s as a Depression-era diversion is experiencing
a renaissance. It’s growing in popularity, and drawing crowds in the thousands
with ticket prices at $10 to $20. According to Deford, there are 500 women’s
leagues in 16 countries, from North America, to Europe, to Australia, to Brazil
to Abu Dhabi.

Colucci and Dub City’s coach, Robert Hutchinson, hope that popularity will buoy the sport to the world stage, the big show, the Olympic Games.

“According to the Olympic committee, it has to be on three continents,” said Hutchinson, who goes by Sensai. “Which it is
now.”

Colucci shares her coach’s single-minded goal, despite the fact that their first bout is still seven months away.

“The sport is definitely making a comeback,” she said. “And our coach is our secret weapon.”

Making the rounds, chatting with women who have shown up for practice, you hear the same story over and over. These are moms, entrepreneurs, students and cubicle
jockeys who are pleased as punch they’ve found a place where they can be scary
as hell.

“It was something I always wanted to try,” said Kerry Tichernor, who was wearing a fuschia bob and a pink mini skirt. Tichernor goes by Sugar Slinger, because she
owns a candy store in Boca Raton.

“Once I practiced with the girls I knew it was for me,” she said. “Plus, it’s a work out. My body loves it.”

Hollie Littlefield, 36, of Boynton Beach, was trying roller derby for the very first time this night. She
heard about Dub City on meetup.com.
(http://www.meetup.com/Dub-City-Derby-Girls/)

“I’m a scuba diver and a sky diver,” she said. “I’m an extremist. I hope this will be rough and tough, a way to get my aggressions out.”

Believe it or not, roller derby is a fairly complex game. The long list of rules has appendixes and everything. To summarize for purposes here, let's just say five
women on a team skate around an oval track wearing fishnets, bootie shorts,
mini skirts and helmets and try to knock members of the opposing team down.

Anyone truly curious may check out official rules here: http://rules.wftda.com/

By Margie Plunkett

The Municipal Beach in Delray Beach would get a new name, pavilion and a sinuous sidewalk under a Beach Property Owners Association master plan that reflects community input from a November workshop.

The BPOA asked Delray Beach commissioners to accept the proposal at a workshop meeting May 18. Commissioners are not able to take action at workshops, but Mayor Woodie McDuffie did guide the project to its next step. “It’s time right now to start it through planning and zoning to get it made something official so we can get started on it,” he said.

The master plan included short-, moderate-, and long-term projects that commissioners can elect to undertake depending on budget considerations, according to Andy Katz, who stood in for Bob Currie to present to the panel. The costs started at nothing and ranged upward. The plan, however, doesn’t propose the changes immediately, but over time as need and as budget permits.

Now officially called just the municipal beach, the area could gain a new name under the master plan, one that commissioners suggested should result from community input, possibly from a contest. Bob Ganger of the Preservation Board suggested it be called the Delray Gleason Beach, according to Katz. Nearby Sarah Gleason Park is named for the landowner who in 1871 sold the property along the beach with deed restrictions for what is now the municipal beach, according to the town’s website.

The plan would replace the pavilion with one designed to pick up historically significant elements harkening back to the 1930s and that would also be echoed in gazebos. Two pergolas would be added. The plan would open the intersection of Atlantic and A1A to the beach as much as possible, “turtle lighting permitting, or not permitting, as the case may be,” Katz said.

Street furniture — such as benches, trash cans and showers — would be replaced to unify the current variety of styles. And Katz said meters should be replaced with a centralized pay station that greatly reduces the number of mechanisms in the walkway.

Some of the less costly items on the wish list included tasks such as enforcement of rules already in place.

“Thank you for being very sensitive to our budget,” said Commissioner Angelita Gray. “Staff has already started working on some of these items.”

Currie, who couldn’t make it to the meeting, drew praise from several commissioners as well as Katz, who noted that Currie had a hand in just about every aspect of the plan, including sketching the proposed features.

For two decades, Florida Stage has brightened the cultural landscape far beyond its little corner in Manalapan. Inevitably, the magnitude of the little company has
grown, so its orbit had to expand.

On June 20, the last lines of the fittingly titled When the Sun Shone Brighter will be delivered from the stage in Plaza Del Mar. Four weeks later, the actors will be singing and dancing the Low Down Dirty Blues at the Kravis
Center’s Rinker Playhouse. But Florida Stage is making the move with style.

Opening night of When the Sun Shone Brighter was a family reunion, the house filled with dozens who have lent something to
the place over the years, as patrons, actors, contributors and even critics. On
either side of the performance, they enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and
champagne, a jazz trio and good memories.

Producing Director Lou Tyrrell and Managing Director Nan Barnett took a few minutes before the show to salute the old hands and thank some new faces including
Miami-based lawyer/playwright Christopher Demos-Brown, whose play was seeing
its first production, and photographer Barry Seidman, whose work adorned the
walls outside the auditorium.

Demos-Brown even brought along a cheering section, headed by his sister-in-law, Cynthia Demos, familiar to some as a former reporter at WPTV-Channel 5 in West Palm
Beach. Recently married, Cynthia now anchors morning and midday news shows at
Miami’s WFOR-Channel 4.

The play is filled with political intrigue with a distinctive Florida touch, as the main character is a charismatic Cuban-American Miami mayor who wants to be a
U.S. senator, but must deal with a few skeletons in his closet. Meanwhile, the
audience is transported from the Castro revolution to the Bay of Pigs to the
Mariel boatlift to the Elian Gonzalez saga.

The stellar cast offers a mix of Broadway and local talent — Tony nominee John Herrera as the candidate’s uncle and political advisor, Dreyfoos School of the
Arts grad Natasha Sherritt as the candidate’s wife and Bill Schwartz as the
candidate’s ghostly father.

For Schwartz, the play especially hits home. As is often the case with actors, he had a day job: for 15 years he was
the spokesman for the Miami Police Department. When federal agents, with help
from Miami cops, removed Elian Gonzalez from his uncle’s home in Miami,
Schwartz found himself trying to reason with an angry mob.

“I had a big crowd that wasn’t too happy with the Miami Police Department that day,” he told a Miami TV station when he retired in 2008. “I was the face (of the Miami Police
Department.), and I took a few lumps. … But it was exciting,
too.”

Fellow officers rescued the beaten and bruised Schwartz, who lived to act another day.

Just across the bridge, the crew at Old Key Lime House in Lantana is still feeling good vibrations after a visit from the Beach Boys, and they’ve put the pictures
on the wall to prove it.

While in town in April for their show at the Kravis Center, original keyboardist Bruce Johnson, actor-musician John Stamos, whose association with the band goes
back to 1988, and members of the backup band took a boat ride and stopped by
the restaurant for lunch.

“They were great,” Assistant General Manager Kristine Sullivan said. “They gave everyone hugs and posed for pictures. I got a picture of me with John Stamos.
… He’s a cutie!”

Half a block east of U.S. 1 on Ocean Avenue at Pizzeria Oceano, Dak Kerprich has set aside June 8 for a “5 percent party.”

A what? Kerprich opened his little gourmet pizza joint a year ago with half a dozen stools inside and a few umbrellaed tables on the front deck. Business has
been good, so good on some nights that he runs out of food and closes early. A
veteran in the South Florida restaurants wars, he couldn’t be happier, because
he knows survival is risky.

“Ninety-five percent of restaurants fail in the first year,” he said. “We’ve made it this far, so we’re having a ‘5 percent party’ to celebrate.”

Fans are advised to arrive early.

Falcon House down in Delray is one of those 5 percenters, but its fortunes were looking bleak until another veteran came to the rescue. Karl
Alterman,previously associated with Gigi’s, MoQuila and City Limits in Boca,
was planning to head back home to the summery breezes of Nantucket, but “this
literally fell into my lap,” he said.

Falcon House founders Tim Bauer and Ted Keer had left late last year to convert Monterey Cantina at the corner of Northeast Third Street and Third Avenue into
Two Thirds Tavern.

Meanwhile the third partner, who remained at Falcon House, wasn’t thrilled with his situation and decided to get out, Alterman said, the result being an offer he couldn’t resist.

So the menu reverts to affordable snacks and entrees with a renewed emphasis on the bar scene … with a twist: The Triple 8 Lounge at Falcon House.

No 8-balls, but 8s are everywhere, as Alterman has formed an alliance with Cisco Brewers in Nantucket, which among other things, operates the Triple 8
Distillery which produces 888 Vodka. It’s premium vodka, perfect for the
current infusion rage, as it’s bottled pure or blended with Nantucket
cranberries, New Guinea and Madagascar vanilla beans, Maine blueberries and
Florida honey belle oranges. Cisco also markets rum, gin, bourbon, wines from
Oregon and an assortment of crafted brewed beers.

Add a menu with items priced at $8.88 (lobster mac and cheese, grilled Asian barbecue shrimp, grilled ribeye quesadilla), a “$6.66 Satanic Section”
(Hellfire spicy jerk chicken lollipops with mango cilantro dipping sauce, truffle
deviled eggs).

Entertainment has returned and promotions will abound. “I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Alterman said. “This is what Falcon House was meant to be.”

Some restaurants managed to hang on for a while and then go boom. Such was the case with Busch’s Seafood. It had the history of the old Busch’s in Ocean Ridge and
the location as one of only two Delray restaurants on the Intracoastal. Wasn’t
enough. Closed last fall.

But hope springs eternal, especially since the new operator is Burt Rapoport. In West Delray he has Henry’s and in Boca he has Bogart’s at the Cinemark Palace
20 movie complex and Max’s Grille in Mizner Park.

“It couldn’t have a better location,” said Rapoport who will put $1 million into renovations before he opens Burt’s at the Bridge in October, and he quickly
pointed out that he isn’t the namesake. That distinction goes to the building’s
owner, Burt Handelsman, who also owns much of Worth Avenue in Palm Beach.

But no Palm Beach prices at Burt’s. Rapoport plans to attract boaters to his 150-foot dock with live music inside and out, a large array of appetizers and
an entrée list heavy on fresh seafood.

Across the bridge, Old Vines Wine & Spirits isn’t quite a year old but word is already getting out, and not just in Delray. In a recent viewer poll by
WFLX-Channel 29, it was voted the No. 1 wine shop in the Palm Beaches and
Treasure Coast. Owner Dave Spitzer will celebrate the vote and the birthday
this month with discounts, special tastings and raffles.

It’s quiet in Boynton but not dead. In fact, two buyers have even closed on apartments in the Promenade. So what if construction wrapped up nine months
ago. Prices aren’t bad in the 14-story, 318-unit condominium: One-bedroom with
a water view start in the mid-$200,000s. If you prefer a sunset, you can get in
for $150,000.

On the ground floor, facing the marina, Susan Mandell has opened what she calls “the first cardio soup kitchen.” Mandell wants everyone to be healthy but she
especially wants to attract teenagers to her spin center “Thank You for Your
Ride” (561-398-5280) because obesity is rampant in the schools. Furthermore,
the veteran schoolteacher runs the center primarily on donations. If you have
the money, leave something; if you don’t, that’s OK, too.

By Margie Plunkett

Ocean Ridge town commissioners were the arbiters of nature last month, ruling down with the no-see-um, and up with the bird (the feathered variety, that is).

In two separate issues at their May meeting, commissioners voted to start a new spraying regimen to battle no-see-ums and moved toward designating the town a
bird sanctuary.

The audience applauded when town commissioners approved a short-term contract to spray for no-see-ums, a coastal issue as reliable as the ebb and flow of the
tides. One resident group showed up wearing their hearts on their sleeves — as
well as the rest of their T-shirts, which were printed with the sentiment “Stop
Bug’n Me.”

“We should do this so the town doesn’t become known as bug town,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Pugh, pointing out that Ocean Ridge loses home sales and value to
no-see-ums.

Doug Wilson of Fleming Pest Management Inc. said the company will spray weekly to combat the tiny insects, whose bite is big enough to drive many Ocean Ridge
inhabitants indoors. Fleming will spray yards adjacent to mangroves via hand
and backpack through the end of the fiscal year for a price of up to $21,000.

If the town deems the results acceptable, it could contract the company for a longer term. The previous pest control company cost about $10,000 more than Fleming, Town Manager Ken Schenck
said.

Terry Brown was the lone dissenter among commissioners, voicing concerns about the environment and about using public funds for what he contends is a private
purpose.

Mayor Ken Kaleel countered, “There’s no question that this benefits the public at large. It does not benefit a private party.” Commissioner Lynn Allison pointed
out that public projects don’t always benefit all residents, noting she hasn’t
benefited from publicly funded drainage work. Nor is she under siege by
no-see-ums. Spectators applauded when Allison said the environment was
certainly a consideration, but that she had to put the residents’ quality of life
first.

Residents who supported spraying maintain that the invisible biting insects make it impossible to enjoy their outdoor spaces. Resident Amy Mostafavi, a surgeon,
also said the insects are a health threat, inviting secondary infection in
patients who scratch itchy or welted skin.

Others, however, didn’t want spraying. Elizabeth Ackerly, who feared the threat to beneficial insects including butterflies and honeybees, said, “If it’s going to
keep no-see-ums dead, it’s going to keep everything dead.”

The town planned to send letters and authorization forms to residents affected by the spraying, which is in the area on the west side of A1A between Inlet Cay Drive and Woolbright Road. Residents
should call Town Hall, 561-732-2635, or Fleming Pest Management, 561-371-5643,
with questions or concerns.

Later in the meeting, commissioners briefly discussed an ordinance tabled at an earlier meeting that would make Ocean Ridge a bird sanctuary, a proposal
championed by resident Jeff Lee. The proposal would protect birds in the area
and possibly provide residents with bird-watching activities, all for little to
no cost, Lee has said.

Commissioners expect to take up the bird sanctuary ordinance on first reading at their June 7 meeting.

By Antigone Barton

As the black cloud of oil from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform neared the loop current that brings the Gulf Stream up the Atlantic coast, town managers,
administrators and rescue officials here began meeting in mid-May to plan
responses to a range of scenarios the disaster could bring. All, according to
federal, state and county environmental officials, could threaten wildlife,
spoil beaches and contaminate waters the length of Palm Beach County.

The impact locally of the April 20 explosion of the BP drill site in the Gulf of Mexico near Louisiana remained unknown a week after the May 17 meeting. In the
meantime, marine patrols from South Palm Beach to Delray Beach — the area
designated Zone 3 by county emergency planners — are reporting and monitoring
areas in their jurisdictions where debris accumulates, where tar balls would
arrive. And in the time since the initial meeting, town officials have updated
maps and lists of resources to assist plans to address damage from the spill.

But, Town Manager Ken Schenck notes, “Nobody really knows what is going to happen.”

The unknowns are stymieing even plans to train volunteers, county officials said, with estimates of the amount of training needed to assist in different
scenarios ranging from four hours to 40.

More than a month after the explosion, as its catastrophic impact on nature and commerce in the Gulf area continues to worsen, residents of this coast are anxious
to help, but county officials are asking them to keep a watchful distance.

While residents may survey shorelines for changes, county officials are asking them to report any tar balls that may arrive on beaches here, but to keep their
hands off them.

“It’s just like any other evidence,” according to county Environmental Resources Management coordinator Dan Bates. Residents spotting tar balls should call the
county’s emergency operations center, Bates said. A team to gather and
“fingerprint” tar balls to track their origins will arrive within an hour,
treating the spot, he said, “pretty much as it would a crime scene.”

Expert efforts to track contamination on beaches have been critical, he added, to showing that tar balls found on Keys beaches in mid-May had come from another
source.

It seems likely, he said, that ships have seized possible camouflage provided by the explosion as an opportunity to empty bilges at sea without being detected.

In the meantime, with currents at different depths running at varying speeds and direction, the path of the spill remained impossible to predict in the last
week of May, he said.

Ed Tichenor, director of Palm Beach County Reef Rescue, says the effects of deeper currents on the reef that divers have called the area’s “hidden treasure” could
be drastic.

“We have a concern about the plumes they’ve created by using dispersants,” he said, pointing out that while measures to disperse oil slicks may make them disappear
from the surface of the water, they won’t make them go away.

In the wake of a long-running and successful battle to end the practice of discharging partly treated sewage into the ocean, Tichenor said the current
condition of the reefs has recently been well-documented. With that
documentation, Tichenor has asked local divers familiar with the reef system to
be alert for unusual events there.

Tichenor agrees with a policy of watchful waiting, citing reports of anxious beachcombers scooping up apparent debris, which turned out to be birds’ nests,
as well as reports of tar balls in the Keys that prompted a frenzy of hotel
cancellations but proved unrelated to the spill.

“The best thing to do is nothing, unless there’s something to do,” Tichenor said. “Because people seem to have the capacity to do more harm than good, when they
don’t know what they’re doing.”

Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center

Palm Beach County has links to continually updated information on the spill, preparations in the event of its arrival in Palm Beach County, volunteer options and more on its website at:
http://www.pbcgov.com/publicsafety/emergencymanagement/DeepWaterHorizon/

To report tar balls, call the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center at: (561) 712-6400

While no volunteers are being accepted in this area at this time, those who wish to volunteer in the event that volunteers are called can sign up now at:
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/publicsafety/emergencymanagement/deepwaterhorizon/feedbackapp/

In addition, information on volunteer training and opportunities throughout the state can be found at: http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/publicsafety/emergencymanagement/deepwaterhorizon/volunteer.htm

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

To report oiled wildlife, call the Palm Beach County EOC at (561) 712-6400, or (866) 557-1401.

To register to volunteer for efforts to rehabilitate oiled wildlife go online to www.DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com or call 866-448-5816.

Palm Beach County Reef Rescue

The first site to track the proximity of the loop current to the spill, Palm Beach County Reef Rescue (http://www.reef-rescue.org/) continues to update a blog tracking the spill and
its consequences at
http://reefrescue.wordpress.com/

Reef Rescue Director Ed Tichenor is asking divers familiar with the reef that runs along Palm Beach County to note unusual occurrences, and contact Reef Rescue at: etichscuba@aol.com

And …

To read the governor’s executive order declaring a state of emergency to Charlotte, Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, go to:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/files/authorizations/052010_eo_10_106.pdf

By Margie Plunkett

The official word on estimated property values in Palm Beach County that came out in late May confirmed what many already anticipated as another down year for taxable
property values — and for municipal coffers.

Taxable values fell in a range from 6.8 percent in Briny Breezes to 18.1 percent in Lantana in coastal cities here, compared with a drop of 12.3 percent for all
cities, according to the Palm Beach County Appraiser. Lake Clark Shores saw the
smallest percentage decline in the county at 5.2 percent and Lake Worth, the
largest at 24.9 percent.

The declining tax rolls illustrate another year in which municipalities struggle with budget cuts and possible tax increases to cope with declining revenues
from property values. Taxable property values fell sharply last year as well.

The silver lining for some: the estimated declines dated June 1 and corresponding tax revenues weren’t as steep as earlier projections.

“It’s all degrees of hell,” said Lantana Town Manager Mike Bornstein.

Lantana, for instance, in February was calculating about a 20 percent decline and a subsequent county projection came in at a drop of 23 percent, Bornstein said.
The latest estimate “was better by a little bit, with a net result of about
$70,000 in general fund revenue,” he said.

Mayor David Stewart has reminded Lantana Town Council members and residents constantly of the evident continuing decline in property values, routinely
opening meetings with a report of the latest home that’s sold for half its
previous value.

The town has been taking cuts to its budget as part of a fiscally conservative approach, Bornstein said. Lantana most recently has pushed for a budget savings
of as much as $125,000 with a proposed change that would allow its police chief
to retire six months earlier.

While various municipalities will consider tax increases as they prepare next year’s budget, Briny Breezes won’t have that luxury.

Last year, the small town was the only one in the county to see an increase in values. It still upped its tax millage rate to 10.0 in the face of
unpredictable rising costs of police protection and water services.

“We can’t go any higher,” Mayor Roger Bennett said, explaining Briny Breezes is at the maximum allowable millage rate and can’t raise taxes again.

The 6.8 percent estimated decline in taxable values for Briny Breezes translates into roughly $34,000 less in the budget, Bennett said, whose municipal
government shares leadership with a board that runs the corporation that owns
the Briny Breezes mobile home park.

“We have to tighten up a little bit, and that’s tough,” Bennett said. “We’re thankful we have the corporation that bails us out.”

2010 Estimates of Taxable Values

Estimates of total taxable value as of June 1, 2010, by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office compared with preliminary taxable value in 2009.

City Estimated 2010 (june 1) 2009 (July 1)

Total % Change %
Change

Taxable Value From 2009 From 2008

Boynton Beach $3.8 billion -18.1 -18.2

Briny Breezes $36.3 million -6.8 +2.3

Delray Beach $6.1 billion -13.4 -14.4

Gulf Stream $655.7 million -7.1 -5.9

Lantana $710.9 million -18.4 -13.8

Manalapan $858.2 million -8.9 -5.3

Ocean Ridge $672.7 million -8.1 -13.3

All PBC Cities $85.8 billion -12.3 -12.2

Palm Beach County $124.5 billion -11.8 -12.9

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Property Appraiser

By Thomas R. Collins

Since Boynton Beach brought up the idea of annexing pieces of unincorporated barrier island land, several residents have made it known that they’d prefer to be part of Gulf Stream instead.

As a result, Gulf Stream town officials have asked Boynton Beach to cancel a 6-year-old agreement with the town, an action that would pave the way for the town to usher an incorporated pocket into its borders.

But the town is getting some resistance from Boynton Beach.

In 2004, Gulf Stream agreed to allow Boynton Beach to annex the land as long as the city kept new development to six units per acre and about three stories in height.

After receiving letters from residents who say they want to be part of Gulf Stream, the town became interested in considering annexation, Gulf Stream Town Manager Bill Thrasher said.

“It would be inappropriate for any real conversation to take place about annexation without first rescinding this agreement,” Thrasher said, cautioning that whether actually to seek annexation still hasn’t been decided by the Town Commission.

Interest from the county in divesting itself of the pockets was heightened after a barrier island resident died following a slow county emergency response. Boynton Beach then considered making the barrier island part of an annexation study now under way, although it eventually dropped the island land from its current review.

Boynton Beach Commissioner Steven Holzman said the city should not simply sign away its rights to annex the barrier island property, saying oceanside land would improve the city’s image.

“I would like for Boynton Beach at some point to look at the viability of annexing the properties on the other side of the Intracoastal,” he said. “I think it is a growth area of the city.”

At his suggestion, Boynton commissioners asked for a written report from Gulf Stream on its plans for the property before they consider doing away with the 2004 agreement.

Boynton Mayor Jose Rodriguez said at Boynton’s last commission meeting that he wasn’t inclined to put up much of a fight. “Ultimately, I don’t know if the legal battle is worth the gain.”

Annexation would have to be approved by the residents in the pocket.

Gulf Stream resident Bob Ganger, of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, said the group would feel more comfortable with the land in Gulf Stream’s hands because of the town’s tendency toward low-rise development. He said the coalition prompted residents in the pocket to make their wishes known.

With Gulf Stream Town Hall so close by, many residents already thought they were Gulf Stream-ers, he said.

“It never occurred to them that they don’t live in Gulf Stream.”

By Margie Plunkett

Mayor Roger Bennett is asking the two police agencies bidding to provide Briny Breezes protection to forego annual 4 percent increases, a move that delayed a vote at the Town Council’s May meeting.

The town now plans to choose a proposal at the June 24 meeting, pending responses from police departments in Boynton Beach, which currently patrols Briny Breezes, and Ocean Ridge. The current police contract expires at the end of September.

Briny Breezes spends most of its limited tax base on police and fire protection, according to Bennett, who added that the 4 percent increases would “put Briny Breezes out of business” over time. If the town can’t reach agreement on the increase, it will ask the police agencies for a one-year contract, the mayor said.

Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi questioned a calculation indicating that Ocean Ridge’s cost per hour equaled $71, while Boynton Beach’s was $37. Yannuzzi contended the police agencies should be compared equally, calculating each at providing coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ocean Ridge would be less expensive, he said.

Mayor Bennett said the per-hour figures take in that Boynton Beach includes an eight-hour shift, marine patrol and patrols from an adjacent zone, essentially several more trips a day.

A letter that accompanied an earlier survey of Briny Breezes residents on their police preferences said the Boynton Beach police contract would cost $220,000 a year, compared to $185,000 for Ocean Ridge, but the two departments offered differing levels of service. The difference in prices would equal $2.22 per each share in the Briny Breezes corporation. Briny Breezes shareholders would pay on average $71 more for Boynton Beach police than Ocean Ridge, the document said.

Council also tweaked Boynton Beach police summer hours to provide coverage during the day on weekends. The dedicated shifts will be 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 8 p.m. on weekends.

Separately, Briny Breezes is still looking to fill an alderman’s position on the council after former Alderman Karen Wiggins left the panel to join the corporate board. The council is also searching for a resident to serve as an alternate on the Planning and Zoning Board.

By Kelly Wolfe

Loyal WXEL listeners said they were not pleased to learn their favorite public radio station was sold in April to a Miami classical music station.

“I just think it would be a tremendous loss,” said Marna Hirshhorn of Delray Beach. “I love classical music to death, but I don’t want it to monopolize the station.”

WXEL’s community advisory board hosted a forum in May, where volunteers and listeners came to speak out against the station’s sale to Classical South Florida and the drastic change in programming.

“Think of the scope (offered now),” said Hirshhorn. “We have classical to jazz to medical to Car Talk to local and community issues.”

WXEL has been operated by Barry University since 1997, when the university stepped in to keep the beleaguered station from closing. Barry put the station on the market in 2004. In April, nonprofit Classical South Florida said it would buy the radio station for $3.85 million in cash.

Before money changes hands, the license transfer has to get the approval of the Florida Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission. So far, the sale isn’t on the board’s agenda.

Pablo Del Real, chair of WXEL’s Community Advisory Board, said the board does not support the license transfer.

“They are trying to squeeze money out of a community asset,” Del Real said of Barry. “But the community wouldn’t be compensated by the transaction.”

Technically, Del Real said, the radio station is public and therefore can’t be sold. The money is for the building, towers, transmitters and other assets, he said.

Because the station is owned by the community, the community should have a voice in the license transfer. He said the Board of Education and the FCC will hear public comment before approving the measure.

“We support local owners and a local board,” Del Real said.

Jason Hughes, spokesman for Classical South Florida, was not available for comment by press time. Classical South Florida is owned by American Public Media, which also owns Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio. Classical South Florida has been broadcasting since 2007.

Despite its radio street cred, listeners said they don’t want Classical South Florida playing from the speakers once occupied by WXEL.

“I’m afraid if they go ahead with this sale, (WXEL) will disappear,” said listener Robin Swan of West Boca. “Once something goes away, it’s gone.”

By Tim O’Meilia

Conflicting locations given by scores of 911 callers to emergency dispatchers sent rescuers to the wrong location, at first, of what became the accidental drowning of a Georgia couple in a strong rip current behind a South Palm Beach condominium on May 15.

Lantana police dispatchers, who handle South Palm Beach emergency calls, were told people were struggling in the water anywhere from the Lantana public beach to just south of the Lake Worth pier.

Despite the confusion, police arrived three minutes and fire-rescue trucks five minutes after being dispatched.

“From what I can see, the response time for us, Lantana and fire rescue were good,” said South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane.

As a result of the confusion, though, town officials are considering affixing the addresses of each condominium in 12-inch vinyl numbers on the concrete cap of seawalls or on the beach stairs behind each condo so emergency callers and swimmers can identify their location.

The first emergency call, from a woman on a cell phone, was answered by Manalapan dispatch and then re-routed to Lantana. 911 calls from cell phones, unlike from land lines, do not pinpoint the location of the caller, so dispatchers must ask. They were told “on the beach.”

A South Palm Beach patrol car was dispatched at 9:32 a.m., according to Lantana dispatch records, and first stopped at the Dune Deck, near the Lantana beach, before being re-routed to the Mayfair House at 3590 S. Ocean Blvd., where the drowning actually occurred.

Despite the delay, the police arrived at 9:35 a.m. and parked at the neighboring Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn for easier access to the beach. Police at first brought water rescue equipment to the beach, then returned for oxygen and a defibrillator after they found that a man and a Lantana lifeguard where already administering CPR.

In addition, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a boat collision with three people in the water. That erroneous report might have been prompted by an explosion in an FPL transformer just minutes before the drownings.

Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue dispatched a rescue truck and an engine at 9:39 a.m. to a vague location “between Ocean Avenue and Lake Worth Road.” That was later changed to 3700 S. Ocean Blvd., also an incorrect address, according to a fire-rescue report of the incident.

Fire-rescue arrived at the Mayfair at 9:44 a.m. and took over rescue operations. Although South Palm Beach condos have private, unguarded beaches, lifeguards from the Lantana public beach sprinted a quarter mile up the beach to give assistance.

“It’s amazing they actually got where they were supposed to go,” South Palm Beach Mayor Martin Millar said. “There was so much confusion about the location.”

Eventually, numerous units from South Palm Beach, Lantana, the Sheriff’s Office, fire-rescue and the town of Palm Beach responded to the calls.

The South Palm Beach Town Council discussed the drownings during its May 25 meeting and asked Town Manager Rex Taylor to discuss with Palm Beach County and Lantana the use of signs advising that the beaches are unguarded and larger warning flags that could be seen north of the public beach.

In other action, the council:
* approved, by a 3-2 vote, moving the mayor and council comments from early in the agenda to just before the closing comments from the public and limiting the mayor and council to five minutes, unless the council approves more time. Millar said the time limit was an infringement on freedom of speech. The council approved more time for both Millar and Councilman Brian Merbler, who also opposed the change.
* abolished unanimously the Board of Adjustment and transferred its only power, to grant zoning variances, to the Planning Board. The Board of Adjustment seldom met. .

By Tim O’Meilia

A week later, Harvey Kertzman is second-guessing himself.

“What if I had gone downstairs a minute earlier? What if I had turned her on her side? Should I have spun her around so her head was lower than her body? What should I have done different?

“It’ll be with me forever,” said Kertzman, 61, one of two men who pulled a drowning middle-aged Georgia couple from the surf behind the Mayfair House in South Palm Beach. Despite the men’s efforts to administer CPR, the couple died in the May 15 incident.

Not even efforts by Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue paramedics could revive the couple. Denis Agelatos, 70, and his wife, Barbara, 57, were pronounced dead at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis. From Albany, Ga., they were visiting relatives.

The Agelatos were among the few on the beach that Saturday morning. A stiff east wind, strong surf and a hidden rip current kept most out of the water. Except Barbara Agelatos.

Kertzman saw her several times from the eighth-floor kitchen window in his father’s condominium. He owns a trucking company and a gasoline station in Quincy, Mass. He has been staying with his 90-year-old father since his mother died recently.

“It’s not a swimming day,” he said he thought as he ate breakfast. “Then I saw her with a second person, a man. They looked like they were having fun.”

He went on: “I saw her doing a side stroke with her head under water. That didn’t look right.”

Quickly her companion is holding her in his arms outstretched. Kertzman guesses they are 65 feet off shore, in six to eight feet of water, just beyond the submerged, rocky remnants of old A1A, long reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean.

Kertzman ran for the elevator and told his dad to call 911. He called the emergency number himself, giving the Mayfair House address. The Lantana police dispatcher, which handles 911 calls for South Palm Beach, received dozens of calls on the drowning, but many gave conflicting addresses, sending emergency responders to several wrong locations initially, said South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane.

By the time Kertzman reached the beach, another man was already in the water. Both bodies were limp. Kertzman took Agelatos. The other man, identified only as David from Boynton Beach, tried to pull the woman ashore.

“It’s very hard to pull a lifeless person out of the water,” Kertzman said. David joined him and they pulled Agelatos onto the beach, then his wife.

They did chest compressions on the bodies until a Lantana lifeguard arrived from the public beach about a quarter-mile south. Then paramedics arrived with a vacuum pump and a portable defibrillator. Nothing helped.

“In my heart of hearts, I thought she was going to come back to life,” he said. “It’s really hard. I’ve always been successful. If you want something to happen, I was the guy to make it happen. This time I failed. This time I couldn’t make it happen.”

Kertzman later met with the three adult sons of the Agelatos.

He proposed that columns be driven into the beach behind each condominium with foot-high numbers street address numbers affixed to each.

And rip out old A1A from beneath the sea, he said. It’s a large drop-off into deep water beyond the road.

By Margie Plunkett

Manalapan commissioners welcomed new Town Manager Tom Heck with relief and a rapidly growing to-do list. Heck’s first meeting opened with the mayor’s response to accusations that he proposed a turtle protection ordinance for personal gain.

Among Heck’s first responsibilities is drafting policy that governs how commissioners initiate ordinances — a policy Commissioner Howard Roder called for at the April meeting. At the same time, Roder accused Mayor Tom Gerrard of misconduct, claiming that the mayor acted out of self interest when he proposed a recent ordinance on turtle lighting.

“People, I did nothing wrong,” said Gerrard at the May 18 meeting, defending himself against the allegations. “I’m acting in my best faith in the interest of the town. I hope the facts represent that.”

The proposed ordinance would give Manalapan control of regulation of lighting that protects sea turtles, taking it out of Palm Beach County’s hands. Roder contends the impetus for the ordinance was work on Gerrard’s oceanfront property, which included lighting and a fire pit. The proposed ordinance has not been put to a second reading, but passed on first reading with one dissenting vote, from Commissioner William Bernstein.

The mayor responded to the multiple issues concerning the work on his property that Roder raised, pointing out that the town has never “established a formal procedure for initiating ordinances” and that the town was absent a manager at the time he proposed the turtle lighting ordinance.

He also said in his written response that it was while his personal work was under way that he learned of a “new draconian county regulation” that amended previous turtle protections and asked the town attorney to review whether Manalapan could opt out of it. The mayor said his property improvements have obtained all the necessary permits and approvals, awaiting only a final electrical inspection. Gerrard said he submitted exhibits toTown Hall in his defense and invited concerned residents to review them.

In the statement sent to commissioners, the mayor said, “I deeply resent having been accused of misconduct for merely recommending the town consider expanding its home rule authority to include town regulation of coastal lighting. This is something that I believe is in the best interests of the town.”

After Gerrard’s comments, Bernstein said that while he opposed the turtle protection ordinance, “I thought the way the response to your proposal spun out of control was most unfortunate and embarrassing.” It suggested a political agenda, he said, and “created a level of animosity that will be hard to get over. There are very few people in here with such a pristine record that they could be throwing stones at people for purported malfeasance.”

Vice Mayor Kelly Gottlieb called for a public apology to the mayor.

Roder, however, said he stood by his facts — there would be no public apology.

Later in the meeting, commissioners voted to have Heck and attorney Trela White draft policy governing how ordinances are initiated. During the meeting, commissioners discussed the town manager as central to originating ordinances, with emergency and policy issues possible exceptions to the process.

Heck began work as town manager the week of May 17, a vacancy left when Greg Dunham stepped down late last year. A retired military officer, Heck hails from Reno, Nev., and has previously worked for El-Dorado County, Calif., as director of general services; the Interwest Consulting Group in Northern California; city of Reno as deputy director operations; and University of Southern California as director of building and grounds. His educational credentials include a masters of business administration, education specialist degree in human resource development and a masters in public administration.

Separately, commissioners learned that total contributions for library renovations reached $100,945.

The George Bush Boulevard Bridge will close to motorists and pedestrians sometime late in July for four months while the county makes repairs, according to Palm Beach County Bridge Superintendent Barry Meve. The bridge closing isn’t expected to interrupt boat traffic.

An exact closing date, the cost and other details will be available later, closer to when the county will repair some of the bridge’s pilings, add pilings and install a sidewalk railing, Meve said.

Motorists will be detoured eight blocks south to the Atlantic Avenue Bridge during the George Bush Boulevard Bridge’s closing. Meve said he expected the bridge would remain closed in the event of a hurricane during that time.

— Margie Plunkett

By Linda Haase

The Boynton Harbor Marina should be a waterfront destination, city officials contend.

And renovations designed to bring more people to the facility, which was purchased by the Community Redevelopment Agency in 2006, have begun.

Submerged pilings damaged in previous hurricanes have been repaired and the slips have been reconfigured: There are 19 slips now instead of 24, but they are larger, said CRA Executive Director Lisa Bright.

“We have several new boat captains who want to put bigger commercial fishing vessels in and this will allow boats up to about 50 feet to come here. We couldn’t handle boats that large before. Most of them were in the 32- to 35-foot range,” she said, adding that all of the slips have been rented and should be filled by the end of July.

The plan, she said, is for the facility to continue to be a “working marina,” with a 75 percent commercial and 25 percent private mix. Marina businesses include boats that offer fishing (including the landmark Sea Mist III charter), diving and snorkeling excursions. There’s also a dive shop, a boat rental facility and Two Georges, a popular waterfront restaurant. A website will be created for the businesses this summer to help them market their services, Bright said.

Boynton Beach Commissioner Steven Holzman said, “The goal of the marina project is to make the marina a more pedestrian-friendly location, to draw more visitors to the businesses located within the marina,” considered the east-end anchor for the city’s downtown.

Boynton Beach Mayor and CRA Board Chair Jose Rodriguez agrees, but he emphasizes, people have to know that the marina exists.

“It would be nice to drive down the street and see the marina and the restaurants. We lost that opportunity when the [Marina Village] towers were constructed. The marina hides behind those buildings,” he lamented. “We have to get signage up to let people know that it is there.”

“I think the new entryway will enhance the curb appeal and help draw visitors who may not have visited the marina previously,” Holzman said.

“The plans are incredible. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together,” said Jeannette Garnsey, part owner of the Sea Mist III, drift fishing operation located at the marina. “Anything that can increase business is a good thing.”

The $250,000 project could be completed by the end of the year, Bright estimated.

Future plans for the marina‘s $6 million renovation include a water taxi stop, reconfigured parking, relocation of fuel dock operations, construction of a dock office with a public restroom, a signature art feature and tropical landscaping. The project will take at least three years, Bright said.

By Christine Davis

What goes around comes around, and, when it comes to coastal real estate, it looks like it might be coming around again, observes Judi Lukens, a Realtor with Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach.

“Across the board, we are getting busier,” she said. “I see a definite uptick in showings and pending contracts in the last few weeks. And more and more clients aren’t getting their first choice; I haven’t seen that in a while.”

For the first quarter of 2010, Premier Estate Properties — a boutique real estate company that lists properties of more than $1 million — was involved in 13 closed transactions in the eastern corridor from Delray Beach north to Manalapan. It now has 19 listings worth a total of $58 million, along with three pending contracts.

Lukens, who sees herself as “the eternal optimist,” points out that her sales record so far this year shows one sale a month. “That’s not bad if that keeps up.

“I think people are getting their confidence back, and that will translate to more transactions for more agents.”

Another signpost that predicts sunnier days: Lukens sees builders entering the market again.

“Right now, four land parcels are under contract in Delray’s Seagate area — secured by builders, with homes coming on the market in 12 to18 months. This is huge — a cool statistic that speaks volumes.”

Marc Julian, owner of Marc Julian Homes, has a spec house at 1001 Harbor Drive under contract, two 6,000-square-foot Intracoastal homes underway in Gulf Stream and Delray Beach, and is about to start on two spec homes in the Seagate area in Delray Beach.

“2010 offers enormous opportunity for developers with the ability to start new projects,” he said. “Land costs are at 2004 levels, construction costs are down 25 percent and the availability of large crews can drastically shorten the delivery time of new homes.

“Also, many developers’ inability to secure financing for new projects means new inventory levels will be become very limited over the next 18 to 24 months. None of this guarantees a profitable project; however it does provide a great opportunity for those prepared to take the risk.”

Bunny Hiatt and Jack Elkins, a Realtor team with Engle and Volker in Manalapan, have closed five properties since October 2009 for a total of $36 million.

“It hasn’t been as busy as years past, but it is much stronger this year as compared to last year,” notes Hiatt.

Their ball got rolling with a $1.9 million land deal in Delray Beach on the ocean. Then, in 2010, they closed two houses in Delray Beach in the $5 million range and two in Manalapan — including the late Generoso Pope’s mansion at 1370 S. Ocean Blvd. on Feb. 25 for $12 million.

“Overall, we had a good season. We are showing properties and there’s a definite possibility that we’ll close on a few properties very soon,” Elkins said.

Steven Presson of the Corcoran Group specializes in east Delray Beach through Manalapan real estate.

“Look at the real statistics,” he says. In the last six months, there were 36 sales transactions from east Delray Beach through Manalapan priced at $1 million plus.

“Go to the same period in 2005 — the height of the market — and there were 39. Of those 39 sales, there was only one transaction over $10 million.

“In the last six months, three sales were $10 million plus — the most recent closed April 5 for $12.65 million. It has 150 feet on the ocean on two acres and has been elegantly restored.”

On Hypoluxo Island, a custom-built home on half an acre sold for $1.3 million in late April, he said. “That’s the highest price per-square-foot ever off the water on the island.

“These are very significant statistics right off the MLS, and how many were distressed? Not one of those 36 sales was a short sale. That’s a strong statement.”