The Camino Real bridge, scheduled most recently to reopen June 20, is still closed to vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians while construction teams finish a functional inspection of the $8.9 million project.

Sandra Ospina, the project engineer for Palm Beach County, said on July 1 that no date was scheduled yet for when work would end.

“We do not have a definitive date as of today,” Ospina said. “We are hopeful that the opening will happen towards the end of July.”

The bridge closed to land traffic on April 12, 2018. Crews started working nights in mid-May to meet the anticipated June 20 reopening. 

— Steve Plunkett

By Mary Hladky

City Council members have rejected outsourcing residential garbage collection and recycling services.

City staff explored the option of contracting with Waste Pro because Boca Raton faces rising costs to provide the services, including the need to buy more garbage trucks and to build a larger garage to house them.

Another issue is that the city pays its sanitation workers less than a private company would, and as a result is having trouble hiring and retaining employees.

Waste Pro convinced city staff that the company would provide better service at less cost.

But residents, sanitation workers and union officials who spoke at the May 29 City Council meeting pleaded to keep city trash collection in-house.

“I love working for Boca and the residents love our service we give them. Going private is not the way,” said a 19-year sanitation veteran. His voice broke as he added, “I love this job, I do.”

“You will not get the same service,” said a 30-year employee. “Please keep Boca, Boca.”

“They do quality work,” said resident Steven Griffith. “I don’t see any reason why we should all of a sudden privatize. … We have a good thing. Let’s try to keep it going.”

Council members quickly made what Andrea O’Rourke said was the biggest decision to come before the council.

Mayor Scott Singer summed up their consensus: “Don’t mess with success.”

But he conceded that the city now will have to find a way to pay for rising collection costs and better sanitation worker pay.

“The city will rise to that challenge,” he said.

Council members agreed that the amount the city would save by privatizing was not enough to offset the loss of control over the quality of service provided to residents.

And they did not want to give up bragging rights that Boca Raton is a “full-service” city that does not outsource, even though most Florida cities have privatized trash collection.

The cost of the city providing the service over the next 15 years would total between $221.3 million and $233.2 million, while the cost of privatizing would range between $216.8 million and $220.4 million, city staff projected.

While the cost difference was not substantial, Waste Pro would have provided other benefits.

Garbage collection would be six days a week, rather than the city’s four. Waste Pro would collect on every holiday except Christmas and New Year’s, while the city has 11 holiday exceptions.

Residents can contact the sanitation department only by phone, while Waste Pro offers phone, website and app communications. The city would have to buy software costing as much as $1 million to match Waste Pro’s online service.

The city’s collection vehicles are up to 7 years old and break down frequently, while Waste Pro’s vehicles are 3 years old or less. Waste Pro would have paid the city $2 million for its vehicles.

City staff talked to many other cities that use Waste Pro, and got good reviews.

“Everybody we have talked to talks very well of the services provided by Waste Pro,” said Assistant City Manager Mike Woika.

City residents will pay more for trash collection and recycling whether or not the city contracted with Waste Pro.

But the higher cost, possibly about 3 percent per year, will start soon now that the city will continue to provide the service. Under Waste Pro, those increases would have been put off for four to seven years.

The council’s decision does not affect trash pickup for commercial businesses, which use private haulers, including Waste Pro. 

  The least tern, a migratory bird threatened with a loss of natural beach habitat, appears to be making a comeback in Boca Raton.

    This year, for the first time in many seasons, wildlife biologists have spotted at least six tern chicks on Boca Raton’s beach and are optimistic about the future of the local least tern beach colony, one of only two in South Florida.   

    ‘This is a big deal because the least tern is a state threatened species,’ said Natasha Warraich, assistant regional biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who has been monitoring the colony. ‘It’s exciting that their eggs are actually hatching.’

    Two years ago, wildlife biologists spotted a nesting pair of least terns with eggs, but those eggs did not hatch. Warraich said that this year the colony has grown to about 20 pairs and that could mean additional chicks.

    Survival of the chicks — which still face the threat of predation — could eventually lead to a strengthening of the colony, which appears to migrate to the same beach area in Boca Raton from its winter grounds in Central America.    — Rich Pollack

ABOVE: A chick pleads with an adult for food. BELOW: A few minutes later, its wish was granted.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Plan to build homes would include preserving 9 acres in Ocean Ridge as mitigation exchange

By Rich Pollack

If a tree falls on vacant, mangrove-filled property during a hurricane and local government requires the owner to remove it and others damaged by the storm, does the owner need a permit to restore the property?

In Highland Beach, town officials are saying the answer is yes and are blocking the landowner from doing any work on wetlands south of the Toscana condominium community.

Lawyers for the owner of what is known as the Golden City property say no, a permit isn’t necessary, because after Hurricane Irma in 2017 town officials knew what was being done with downed trees and had no problem with the removal of trees and the addition of fill.

The property recently came into the spotlight after town officials learned the landowner — Miami-based Golden City Highland Beach LLC — has filed a request with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a multifamily community on the property. 

The plans submitted in October show 38 residential units on the property. In addition, the landowner filed a mitigation plan in which it proposes preserving just more than 9 acres of mangroves in Ocean Ridge in exchange for removing close to 3 acres of mangroves and close to 2 acres of seagrass habitat in Highland Beach.

The Ocean Ridge property, known as the Priest property, borders the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway and is a short distance north of East Ocean Avenue. It is slightly over 8 miles north of the Golden City property.

“It just so happens the mitigation is not in the same town,” said Highland Beach town planner Mary McKinney, adding that most town governments prefer to have the mitigated property within its own boundaries.

McKinney and Town Manager Marshall Labadie say that in addition to meeting state and federal requirements, the property owner would be required to comply with Highland Beach codes and ordinances.

Currently, the property is zoned medium-density residential, which allows for up to six units per acre. Although the site is listed as 7.35 acres, with 5.35 acres of mangrove swamp and 2 acres of water, Golden City is seeking to have 2.36 acres are available for development.

Using the area available for development to calculate compliance with the zoning code, the maximum number of units allowed would be well under the 38 listed in the developer’s request to the Corps of Engineers.

Jamie Gavigan, an attorney representing the property owner, said his client is aware that it needs to meet a myriad of restrictions and is willing to do so.

“Golden City is planning to comply with local, state and federal regulations,” he said, preferring not to address specifics. “We’re not going to seek any variances.”

McKinney and Labadie say the town has not received any requests from Golden City and believe it will take two to three years of applications, permits and approvals before the project could start coming out of the ground.

On the separate issue of the removed trees, the town and the property owner are again at odds.

In September, the South Florida Water Management District and the property owner entered into a consent agreement in which Golden City agreed to pay $14,200 in civil penalties for filling the land where the trees were removed without a permit.

Golden City is also required by the Water Management District to remove fill at the small area of the mangroves and restore the area. Town officials say a permit is needed to do that and have issued a stop-work order.

“We’re very concerned about the loss of any mangrove wetland systems,” Labadie said.

Gavigan argues that a permit is not needed because the town knew the trees were being removed.

“We weren’t trying to do anything other than remove the damaged trees,” he said. “No one raised any issue at the time.”

For now, work on the area is on hold until an agreement is reached or a permit application is received. 

Billionaire Michael S. Dell acquired the Boca Raton Resort & Club, which will continue to be managed by Hilton under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand. Photo provided

By Mary Hladky

In the largest property deal in Palm Beach County history, billionaire Michael S. Dell has acquired the Boca Raton Resort & Club for nearly $900 million.

MSD Partners, Dell’s investment advisory firm, announced an agreement to buy the club from Blackstone Group on April 22. While the company did not disclose a sale price, deeds made public two days after the deal closed on June 4 totaled $461.6 million.

But a June 11 Fitch Ratings report pegged the purchase price at far more than that.

MSD Partners acquired the resort for $589.7 million, including furniture, fixtures and equipment. The company also paid $285.3 million for the resort’s Premier Club, whose 11,000 members have access to all the resort’s facilities and to the Boca Country Club, an extension of the resort located along Congress Avenue north of Clint Moore Road.

The total is $875 million, not including $22.9 million set aside for reserves and to pay closing costs.

The transaction was financed with a $600 million loan from Goldman Sachs and nearly $300 million of buyer equity, according to the Fitch report.

The sales price far eclipses the county’s previous top property deal: the 2014 sale of the Mall at Wellington Green for $341.1 million.

“The purchase of the Resort & Club for a strong price by an experienced operator, MSD Partners, is another sign of Boca Raton’s huge attractiveness as a place for investment,” Mayor Scott Singer said in an email. “MSD has invested great sums in other historic properties to enhance their traditional appeal and we look forward to their continued success in Boca Raton with this world-renowned asset.”

The resort will continue to be managed by Hilton under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand.

John Tolbert, the resort’s president and managing director, was not available after the closing for comment on MSD Partners’ plans for the resort.

But the Fitch report says that MSD Partners plans to invest $75 million over the first four years of the loan term. Improvements, still in the planning stages, will include room renovations and upgrades of public spaces and amenity packages.

Fitch assigned the resort a property quality grade of A-minus. It described the resort as well maintained, saying the spa and rooms in The Cloister are in “excellent condition.”

But the resort’s room revenues underperform those of its competitors, including Eau Palm Beach Resort in Manalapan, The Breakers in Palm Beach and PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens.

About 60 percent of the resort’s demand in 2018 came from meeting and group business, compared to 49 percent for the overall hotel market. Meeting and group bookings are at lower rates than leisure bookings.

That brought down overall room revenue. But the resort’s total revenue per available room in April was $620, “which is considered strong,” the report said.

An affiliate of Blackstone, a New York-based private equity firm, acquired the 337-acre resort in 2004 and invested more than $300 million in the property.

MSD Partners, based in New York with additional offices in Santa Monica and West Palm Beach, said in its April announcement that the purchase is “a natural extension of our portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts.”

Its real estate investments include the luxury Four Seasons Maui, Four Seasons Hualalai and Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica.

The Boca Raton Resort & Club dates to 1926, when architect Addison Mizner opened the Cloister Inn on the shore of Lake Boca Raton.

It has since grown to 1,047 hotel rooms, two 18-hole golf courses, a 50,000-square-foot spa, seven swimming pools, 30 tennis courts, a 32-slip marina, 13 restaurants and bars and 200,000 square feet of meeting space.

Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, is ranked by Forbes as the 25th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $35.4 billion as of June. He launched Dell Computer Corp. in 1984 and began selling personal computers online in 1996.

He founded MSD Capital in 1988 to manage his investments. MSD Partners was formed in 2009 to be an investment adviser using MSD Capital’s investment strategies. 

Boca Raton’s proposed government campus carried a $200 million price tag. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

Plans for a new downtown government campus will be scaled back now that City Council members have balked at a consultant’s proposal that would cost at least $200 million.

Song + Associates unveiled two options in December for a new campus that would replace the current city hall, police department and community center. The consultant had not calculated the cost at that time.

Now the number is in, and council members are stunned.

“Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. … The price tag gave me sticker shock,” council member Andy Thomson said at a May 28 workshop meeting.

“We probably took on more than we can chew…,” said council member Andrea O’Rourke. “$200 million is a very big number.”

“We need to figure how to cut it back to make it more palatable,” said council member Monica Mayotte.

Council members still see a need to replace buildings on the 30-acre, city-owned site that are old, outdated and far too small for the growing city. But they directed the consultant to pull back the reins and divide the project into phases.

Song + Associates has tweaked its proposal since December but not made major changes. Space in the new city hall, police department and community center would be about double what now exists, and two 600-space parking garages and a small retail or multipurpose building would be added to the site.

The Downtown Library and Boca Raton Children’s Museum would remain unchanged at their current locations.

City Hall, located on West Palmetto Park Road, would be moved to the western edge of the site and would face east, fronted by a public plaza. Green space would be preserved, giving the city the ability to expand again in the future.

The consultant’s proposal was based on what residents, who were surveyed in 2017, wanted included and excluded in the campus. For example, a majority wanted existing ballfields and a tennis center moved out of the site.

In all, the consultant’s proposal would cost $196.8 million, not including road changes that could cost another $20 million.

Council members first showed their discomfort in April when City Manager Leif Ahnell told them about the projected cost during their annual two-day retreat to discuss goals for the coming year. They agreed to discuss the matter further at the workshop meeting.

But much remains unresolved, including which buildings would be constructed first. Also undecided is whether two garages are needed, proposed road reconfigurations should be done and ballfields, playground and tennis center added to the campus. Ú

By Dan Moffett 

 After running its own police department for more than a half-century, the Town of South Palm Beach has decided to join forces with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

 The Town Council voted 4-1 on June 18 to approve a draft contract for services with the sheriff that would begin on Oct. 1 and run for 10 years. Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan voted against the merger agreement, saying she wanted to see the final version of the contract before considering approval.

 “I just hope everybody is happy with us moving forward in this town,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “It was a big step but I think it’s going to be good.”

 Interim Town Manager Robert Kellogg told the council the deal could save the town as much as $1 million over the first five years of the contract. The terms call for the town paying the Sheriff’s Office $1.05 million for the first year, with 2 percent increases the following two years. The agreement sets a 5 percent limit on increases for the last seven years.

 Council members credited Kellogg and Town Attorney Glen Torcivia, who oversaw Lake Worth Beach’s switch to the Sheriff’s Office a decade ago, with negotiating the 10-year commitment, an unusually long term for interlocal law enforcement agreements.

 For Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, taking over South Palm Beach is a significant inroad into the county’s barrier islands. The sheriff has service contracts with 10 other municipalities, and one in the works with the newly formed Westlake community, but currently has only a limited presence along the coast.

 The preliminary deal, which requires final approval from council likely at the July 23 town meeting, would cut South Palm Beach’s department from eight uniformed officers to seven deputies. Police Chief Mark Garrison would stay on as a sheriff’s sergeant with administrative duties, and six of the town’s officers would be considered for the remaining positions in the restructured force.

 “You’ll see the same people here,” said sheriff’s Col. Tony Araujo during a 90-minute presentation to the council. “They’ll just be wearing green uniforms instead of blue. The town doesn’t lose its identity.”

 The draft contract does not specify which officers would be retained in the town and which might be reassigned, however. Officers would have to satisfy PBSO standards to make the transition and remain in uniform.

 Compensation for the town’s officers became an issue earlier this year with the release of an analysis of starting police salaries that showed South Palm ranked last among 23 agencies surveyed in the county. Starting pay with the sheriff is about $54,200 a year, compared with the town’s current $43,500. Officers also cited the opportunity for advancement in an agency with some 4,300 full-time employees as well as better benefits as reasons for switching.

  “Every officer here is in favor of this,” said Councilman Mark Weissman. “It would be fiscally irresponsible for the town not to do this.”

 Weissman, who joined the council in March, championed the sheriff’s deal. Two decades ago when he was a city commissioner in Parkland he also persuaded the community to merge its department with the Broward County sheriff’s.

 Councilman Bill LeRoy also was an outspoken supporter of the move.

 “You don’t take care of your people, you're going to lose them,” LeRoy said, “They came to us and this is what they want.”

 Weissman and LeRoy also made the case that merging with the sheriff would limit the town’s liability issues. The size of the agency and its budget safeguards South Palm from possible legal issues if something goes wrong.

 “This is a no-brainer,” LeRoy said. “It’s definitely the way to go.”

ABOVE: Students of The Harid Conservatory perform a scene from the classical ballet, Raymonda, during a dress rehearsal at Countess de Hoernle Theatre at Spanish River High School. BELOW: Alexis Valdés and Lauren Leb practice the grand pas de deux from Don Quixote.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Seniors at The Harid Conservatory have practiced their grand jetés, pirouettes and other ballet steps each day since January.

By Memorial Day weekend, they were ready for the spring performances.

But they still were nervous. The three shows would be their last ones at Countess de Hoernle Theatre on the Spanish River High School campus in Boca Raton.

“Finally, we get to do it,” said Isabelle Morgan, 18, of Georgetown, Kentucky. She’s been dancing since she was 3 years old.

Morgan learned about the Boca Raton boarding school from her Kentucky dance teachers. After graduating from Harid, Morgan will take her next step with Cincinnati Ballet II, the junior company.

Rosemary Delorio, valedictorian of the Class of 2019, is carried through the air as Harid students perform the classical ballet, Raymonda, during a dress rehearsal at Countess de Hoernle Theatre at Spanish River High School. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Harid was founded in 1987 by Fred Lieberman, who made his money in the cable industry.

As a Philadelphia native, he knew about the city’s nearly 100-year-old Curtis Institute of Music. Impressed by that institution’s mission and history, he wanted to create a similar school focused on dance.

Just like at the Curtis, Harid admission is based on talent. And just like at the Curtis, academic and dance instruction are free, thanks to Lieberman’s foresight in setting up an endowment. The endowment money is invested, with the dividends paying for the Harid students’ dance and academic training.

Lieberman was known for 20 years simply as “the donor” to Harid students, employees, friends and supporters. He rarely set foot on campus. He named the dance school after his beloved parents, Harry and Ida — combining their names to create Harid. Fred Lieberman died in March 2008.

The students do have to pay for housing and meals, about $13,000 for an academic year. Financial assistance is available for those fees.

The Harid requires its students to maintain their academic grades and holds daily school classes, using Florida Virtual School. The online accredited program offers standard high school courses of language arts, math, science, social studies, world languages and technology classes.

Two teachers monitor the four-hour sessions on weekdays.

The Harid has four dance faculty members and nine adjunct faculty members who teach different types of dance, pilates and nutrition classes. In addition, the conservatory has an academic administrator, a principal pianist, a music instructor, three accompanists and an academic mentor.

Prize session

Each year, the school’s four dance faculty members judge national and international ballet competitions. The prize is a four-week summer session at he Harid, said Gordon Wright, Harid executive vice president and director.

“That way, we can see how well the students dance and practice,” he said. Sixty-six students are registered for the summer session. The best ones are invited to return as full-time students.

This year, Harid enrolled 42 students for grades 9 through 12. Fifteen are international students, from Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan.

A British Columbia native, Wright danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company in Canada. He joined the Harid as dance director in spring 1992.

The Harid also has a resident choreographer, Canadian Mark Godden. He and Wright met at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet where Godden was a soloist.

Godden spends two weeks in January and three weeks in March with the Harid students, Wright said.

The contemporary ballet Return, Return Again was choreographed by Godden. The ballet’s performance featured 14 Harid students, with Lauren Leb and Alexis Valdés in lead roles during the spring performances in May.

Morgan prefers dancing classical ballet pieces, the focus of Harid’s dance curriculum. “I feel like I’m living out of a storybook,” she said about the classical pieces, “with the encompassing feeling of elegance and sophistication.”

Even so, she enjoyed working with Godden. “He creates beautiful works,” she said, “unlike anything I have ever seen before.”

After the first run-through with costumes in mid-May, two seniors explained why they study ballet.

“I feel that I can express myself,” Morgan said.

Valdés, 18, said, “I like it because I can tell people a story.”

At the Harid, most of the ballet solos go to the students, Wright said. “Other schools bring in professional dancers for the solos,” he said.

The school does bring back its graduates for the spring performances.

This year, Harid alumna Itzel Hernandez (class of 2012) and her partner, Isaac Sharratt, had solo performances. Both dance with the Milwaukee Ballet.

Toe shoes

Wright explained that only woman dancers wear pointe shoes (often called toe shoes), which have a shank supporting the arch and padded toes. These special shoes allow ballet dancers to dance on the tips of their toes for extended periods of time.

“It gives them a more ethereal air,” he said.

Men dance in soft ballet shoes.

Leb, 18, a senior, said it took about six months for her to build up the muscles needed for the toe shoes. Originally from Dallas, Leb will be a trainee with Texas Ballet Theater in Fort Worth.

She danced the role of Kitri with Valdés as Basilio in the ballet Don Quixote, the opening number in the spring performance. The grand pas de deux is the final scene of that ballet.

“It looks easy,” Valdés said, “but the training is really hard.”

Growing up in Cuba, Valdés was teased for studying ballet. “It’s such a macho culture. I got a lot of flak,” said Valdés, who will be a trainee with the San Francisco Ballet after graduation. “Then I learned to not let the teasing bother me.”

Jaysan Stinnett, who is from Pembroke Pines, said he was not teased. At age 18, he is business savvy. His contract with the Orlando Ballet has a release clause should the American Ballet Theatre in New York City select him.

Graduating students (l-r) Lauren Leb, Alexis Valdés, Anne Medich, Catherine Doherty and Rosemary DeIorio receive applause after a dress rehearsal.

At the start of three Memorial Day weekend performances, the nine graduating seniors, including Morgan, Stinnett, Valdés and Leb, announced their names, where they are from and where they will go in the next phases in their dance careers.

Rosemary Delorio of Florida will join Dance Alive National Ballet in Gainesville and study at the University of Florida; Tyler Diggs of Philadelphia will dance with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago this summer with the hopes of joining its trainee program next year; Catherine Doherty of Kansas will dance with the Washington (D.C.) Ballet this summer with the hopes of becoming a company trainee; and Anne Medich of Pennsylvania and Ana Vega of Florida are both enrolled in the dance program at the University of Oklahoma.

On May 28, the Harid held its graduation ceremony and gave out awards for attendance, National Honor Society and the Fred Lieberman Award for Excellence. 

Residents in the area have given good reviews of the restored Camino Real bridge, which is set to reopen to land traffic on June 20 after more than 14 months of repairs. Photo provided

By Steve Plunkett

After 14 months of renovations, the Camino Real bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway is set to reopen to land traffic on June 20.

It could have opened in mid-April, its original schedule, but the city nixed a proposal to allow work at night for extra repairs deemed necessary after the $8.9 million project began.

In an Oct. 5 email to Palm Beach County, which is responsible for the project, city civil engineer Moe Morel said potential “long and loud” complaints from snowbirds and year-round residents about lights and generator noise outweighed the benefits of opening the bridge earlier.

“Many of the properties in the area are owned by part-time residents. They should start arriving in Boca next month and may be surprised that Camino Real is even closed, let alone with nighttime work occurring ‘in their backyards,’ ” Morel wrote.

“As November approaches, many residents with impact glass windows will be opening those windows at night to enjoy the cooler evening temperatures and ocean breeze,” he continued. “This, when combined with the lack of background noise in the late night, will probably be the first time residents will be aware of any noise from your project.”

Homeowner groups, which were not asked for input on Morel’s decision, said they looked eagerly toward the end of construction.

“Although it’s been an inconvenience to beach residents, overall we will be very excited for the June opening and the additional entrance and exit to the beach,” said Emily Gentile, president of the nearly 12,000-member Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton and Highland Beach.

Craig Fox, chairman of the Boca Raton Federation of Homeowner Associations, said he was thrilled with the bridge renovation and that Morel’s decision was “a tough one.”

The bridge’s closest neighbors are in the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club, the iconic Boca Raton Resort and Club and numerous condos on the barrier island.

“I can see that there would be some kind of backlash” if the city had allowed construction at night, Fox said. 

Morel said as much in his response to the county.

“Based upon my 21 years as city civil engineer for Boca Raton, I believe that the conditions that I have described will result in long and loud complaints, which would force the eventual shutdown of night activities,” he wrote. “I think that we agree that scheduling nighttime work and then canceling nighttime work would be worse than not approving it at all.”

The 80-year-old bridge was closed on April 12, 2018, for an anticipated 12 months to widen slightly the fixed and bascule bridge elements and move the bridge-tender house from the south to the north on the island side. 

Also in the plans were renovating and replacing the fender system, new mechanical equipment for the bridge, reconstruction of the roadway approaches and sidewalks and minor drainage improvements.

But in July and August, construction crews discovered heavy deterioration and severe loss of existing steel sections that required additional repairs. The county asked Boca Raton for permission to work nights Mondays through Thursdays starting in November to be able to open by April 12, 2019.

“The city opted to deny night construction in favor of extending the bridge closure by 70 days,” County Engineer David Ricks advised county commissioners while seeking additional money April 2 for construction engineering and inspection services.

Boca Raton did approve night work starting May 13 and continuing until the June 20 opening.

When deciding whether to allow such work, city staff tries to balance the contractor’s needs, the residents’ expectations to have the bridge open and the potential disruption to the neighbors, city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said.

“This latest request didn’t include loud work, like backup alarms, impact noises or riveting,” Gibson said. “Night work requires significant lighting as well, and in this case, the lights will be pointed in the opposite direction of the residents at all times.”

The renovated bridge has a similar architectural design, the same clearance height and a similar railing to the old span. The two-lane drawbridge handled about 7,600 vehicles a day before it was closed, about half the traffic on the four-lane Palmetto Park Road bridge, county figures show.

Architect Addison Mizner designed Camino Real in the 1920s to connect the railroad station to the Boca Raton Resort and Club. In 1929 developer Clarence Geist put a temporary swing bridge at the end of the road to cross the Intracoastal. 

The federal Public Works Administration built the permanent drawbridge 10 years later.

County engineers planned to demolish the bridge in 2012 and replace it with a $44 million span, but learned during the permitting process that it was protected as part of the county’s Camino Real Road and Bridge Historic District.

The bridge was deemed “structurally deficient” by the state even before the additional repair needs were discovered. 

By Steve Plunkett

The combined Wildflower-Silver Palm park won’t have access stairs on the north side of the Palmetto Park Road bridge after all.

A team from consultant EDSA Inc., which is designing the combined park, toured Deerfield Beach’s new Sullivan Park “and they have stairs. It seemed to make sense to us,” EDSA principal Kona Gray said.

“But Palm Beach County requested that we make it ADA-accessible, so that would mean either an elevator, very expensive elevator, or lots and lots of ramping.”

Boca Raton City Council members, who in November suggested adding stairs on the north side of the bridge similar to those on the south, quickly agreed that the gradual slope coming down the bridge provided enough access for  people with disabilities.

Council members approved the park’s concept in November with several changes, then grew worried that their ideas were being ignored and asked Gray to provide an update May 11.

Gray thanked them for their input before showing the solutions.

“It was very good for us to have this type of feedback because for us, design only works when you have many people involved in making the process seamless,” he said.

EDSA added more parking spaces to both sides of the park and moved restrooms on the Silver Palm side farther away from the Intracoastal Waterway.

“So now we have a clear line of sight along the waterfront promenade. It’s really beautiful,” Gray said.

Roadways for vehicles towing boats were widened from 24 feet to 30 feet to ease maneuverability, and an exercise path was added from the boat ramps clockwise around the Silver Palm portion and connecting to Wildflower side under the bridge.

The designers also enlarged the pedestrian entry area at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road.

“It will be a nice little plaza area in that space, which will incorporate seating as well as places for people to have lunch,” Gray said. “It’s very nice there; it’s extremely shaded so it’s a nice space.”

The Wildflower side now has a special play feature for children.

“This play area was not meant to be one that you would pick off the shelf. It was meant to be something more custom, more artistic,” Gray said.

The consultant said he will have final plans ready by September. The schedule then calls for obtaining permits by summer 2020 and beginning construction by fall 2020.

“Now some of you may know there’s a current project going on related to the seawall, so you will see dirt turning in early 2020,” Gray said. “That needs to happen before we can start construction on the park.”

Council members were reassured by his updates and urged Gray and city staff to do what they could to speed up construction.

“Let’s put our foot on the gas as much as we can,” Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said. 

By Rich Pollack

Weeks after Highland Beach officially canceled its consulting contract with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council following the defeat of a multimillion dollar bond referendum, the two organizations are still at odds over who owes money to whom and how much.

In an April letter to the planning council’s chair and executive director, Highland Beach officials said they were disappointed and not only did not want to pay $44,000 the town owes, but also wanted back some of the $103,000 it had already paid.

The town hired the planning council to help create conceptual plans for three Complete Streets projects that would have been done in conjunction with Florida Department of Transportation improvements on State Road A1A and to shepherd those projects through.

In a May letter, Thomas Lanahan, the council’s executive director, disagreed with Highland Beach’s assertion that it failed to meet expectations and asked the town to pay $23,000 for work the council did.

Late last month, Lanahan and Town Manager Marshall Labadie spoke and expressed hope that differences could be resolved amicably.

In the April letter, Highland Beach claimed that it was misinformed about a tight deadline for when the FDOT wanted a financial commitment for the Complete Streets projects.

For months town officials had been told they needed to have the conceptual plans for the projects — which included a stormwater improvement project, improvements to the Ocean Walk multiuse corridor and surrounding areas, and installation of underground utilities — to the agency by late March. They later learned that the up to $45 million project could be postponed for a year. 

Lanahan, in his response, said the planning council was not aware that the deadline had changed.

“We disagree that the council in any way failed to keep the town informed or misled the town about FDOT’s deadlines,” he wrote.

Lanahan said that during a meeting with FDOT officials in November, representatives from the town and the planning council raised the question of the deadline.

“Relief was sought from FDOT but they insisted on a March 31 deadline and also required a firm commitment for funding on the town improvements,” Lanahan wrote. “Our work took place on that basis.”

Lanahan said the FDOT on Jan. 25 again told council staff that there was no flexibility on the deadline. A few days later, however, agency officials agreed to a one-year extension.

“Council staff immediately informed the town manager of the new deadlines,” Lanahan wrote. “Any decisions on how to proceed at that point were up to the town.”

Town commissioners, in a controversial 3-2 vote, agreed to go ahead with the referendum.

In seeking additional money from the town, Lanahan pointed out that the council has not been paid for some work that was done before the referendum.

“It was never assumed that the project would move forward past the Town Commission and referendum and payment to the council was not contingent on final approvals,” he wrote. Ú

By Rich Pollack

Highland Beach Vice Mayor Greg Babij knows that some residents have good ideas, and he hopes a new process he is proposing will make it easier for those ideas to surface before town commissioners make important decisions.

Babij late last month asked his fellow commissioners to consider changing procedures at commission meetings to allow residents a chance to comment on each agenda item shortly after elected officials discuss it, but before they vote.

The goal, he says, is to make sure good ideas don’t get lost and surface only after decisions have been made. “No one is smarter than all of us collectively,” he said. 

Currently, residents each get five minutes to comment at the beginning of meetings and five minutes at the end of meetings.

“Residents either have to guess what commissioners are thinking and comment at the beginning of the meeting or have to watch suboptimal decisions being made and seek to correct them with comments at the end of the meeting,” he said.

Babij, who was appointed to the commission in late March following the resignation of Vice Mayor Alysen Africano Nila, proposes providing three minutes each to anyone wanting to speak on non-agenda items at the beginning of the meeting.

As agenda items come up in the meeting, he proposes letting commissioners have one round of comments and then asking for public comment. After each resident speaks for a maximum of five minutes, commissioners would have further discussion before making a decision. The public would then have a chance to speak on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting.

“Why would I not want to leverage the expertise in the room?” he said.

The process, Babij said, is similar to one Town Manager Marshall Labadie became familiar with while working in Michigan and is similar to one being used by other coastal towns in Palm Beach County.

The downside to the proposal, he said, is that often-long meetings get even longer. Babij acknowledges that, but says asking residents to stay on point, be concise and not repeat themselves could prevent discussions from dragging on.

“I’d rather have things moving forward slower and more methodically and with resident input,” he said. “I don’t understand why there has to be a rush to decision-making without gathering all the information first.”

Babij’s proposal received support from other commissioners, although there was discussion on how much time residents should be allowed to speak on both agenda and non-agenda items.

“I think this is a great idea as long as we keep a tight rein on it so it doesn’t get out of hand,” Commissioner Evalyn David said.

Following discussion, commissioners agreed to have Labadie and Town Attorney Glen Torcivia draft a resolution based on Babij’s proposal, but left room for the opportunity to change time limits. Ú

In the proposed ‘Boca Raton in World War II’ room, a one-fifth scale B-17 bomber protrudes from the ceiling. Boca Raton Army Air Field served as the Air Corps’ top-secret radar training facility during the war. Rendering provided

By Stephen Moore

To say the Boca Raton Historical Museum is preparing for a major face-lift would be a monumental understatement. What is now four rooms and a hallway in historic Old Town Hall will soon be flooded with interactive and educational exhibits designed to attract adults, children, educators, history buffs and Boca Raton residents old and new.

“We are transforming this building into a permanent, interactive, state-of-the art exhibit for families,” said Mary Csar, executive director of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Museum.

The title of the renovation project is History Alive!

“I think history will truly come alive for a lot of people,” Csar said. “They don’t identify with what has happened here. Boca has an amazing history — not very long, but amazing.”

Csar has been working on this modernization since the beginning of 2018 and seems to have all the pieces to this puzzle ready to go.

Most recently, a $650,000 grant from the city was secured on May 14. The money will be used to upgrade the electrical systems, the plumbing and air conditioning in the building, erected in 1927.

“We don’t have enough outlets for all these things,” Csar said, “and we want to redo the plumbing, it’s 90 years old. The city is putting on a new roof this year, so there are some good things happening.”

Creative Arts Unlimited was hired. The Pinellas Park design firm specializes in modernizing museums and “transforms ideas into inspiring destinations,” the company’s website says.

“The change is going to be significant, and the people of Boca are going to be surprised and pleased,” CEO Chuck Stanmore said.

Boca Raton architect Derek Vander Ploeg has been drawing designs for the project and working closely with Creative Arts Unlimited.

“I have been involved with the Historical Society for a long time,” Vander Ploeg said. “The biggest challenge we will have is to not disturb the original building and incorporate all the exhibits.”

“Derek has been with us for a long time,” Csar said. “I just started asking questions and he just started helping us. He has been great.”

A fundraising program to pay for the exhibits and cover other costs has been started. To donate, go to www.bocahistory.org/join-support.

“We are paying for the exhibits,” Csar said, “so we have money to raise. But it is hard to raise money before you get started, and now we are getting started.”

The changes in the museum will include an interactive timeline of Boca Raton’s history; a collection of IBM personal computers; a “Boca Raton in World War II” room complete with a B-17 bomber (one-fifth scale) protruding through the room’s ceiling; an educational center for children and adults; an Addison Mizner room that will showcase Mizner Industries memorabilia and architectural drawings, and a Council Chamber displaying changing exhibits and serving as a lecture hall, and a research library complete with workstations.

“What this redesigning will do is expand the age range of people who come here,” said museum volunteer Steve Bellanca.

“It’s called History Alive! because all the exhibits are interactive,” Csar said. “You will immerse yourselves into the exhibits. The main thing is the timeline from before 1900 to 2005 — in decades. We are going to have monitors and ways that you can learn more in each decade. The rooms will hold exhibits that we are highlighting. It’s going to be really great.”

The city owns the property, at 71 N. Federal Highway, and leases it to the Historical Society for $1 a year.

Csar estimates the building improvements should take about six months. After the building is ready, the exhibits will be delivered, installed and tested.

“We don’t really have an end date until we get all the permits approved,” said Stanmore, whose firm was the star of the History Channel’s 10-episode series Museum Men in 2014-15. “We are building the exhibits now.”

Csar said the project could end up costing $2 million. “That’s a lot of money,” she said. “This is a lot of change for us. It is going to be really nice for the community to absorb information, not just look at.”

For Stanmore, whose firm has been revamping museums for more than 20 years, the objective is to create a more intangible response from museum patrons.

“We want to accomplish the wow factor,” he said. “We want people who have been there before to say wow, this is cool. We don’t want them just walking around. You want to engage people, so when they leave they know more about Boca Raton.” 

By Steve Plunkett

An unnamed benefactor will pay a substantial part of the $450,000 cost to make Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s three-story observation tower ADA-compliant.

Michele Peel, president of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo, announced the gift at the May 6 meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District.

“We have a wonderful private donor who has offered to contribute a significant amount of money toward this ADA solution to honor the memory of a beloved family member from our Boca community,” Peel said.

The gift will not only make the tower accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but also ensure the tower itself is built. The city, which owns the nature center and surrounding Red Reef Park, had recommended scrapping the tower entirely and building an educational pavilion instead.

“It looks like a perfect solution to the ADA issue that we struggled with for so long,” Beach and Park District Commissioner Robert Rollins said.

In early May the tower was only six 40-foot-tall wooden posts embedded in 3-foot concrete bases. The contractor was scheduled to leave around June 7.

“We know there is positive support in our community for keeping the tower in the hammock at Gumbo Limbo,” Peel said.

The model for Peel’s solution is a funicular, or incline, built at the Patuxent River Park in Maryland, between Washington, D.C., and Chesapeake Bay. Built by Hill Hiker Inc., the incline won 2019 Project of the Year accolades from industry trade publisher Elevator World.

“Aesthetically, it seems to blend in well with the location,” Peel said. “This one happens to feature a good-looking, custom-etched plexiglass cab.”

The cab can withstand four hours of 200-mph winds and accommodate a wheelchair and one or two individuals, Peel said the manufacturer told her. It does not require an operator; access can be limited by a key code, she said.

She said the Friends will launch a “Save the Tower” campaign to raise additional funds and provide a total of $500,000 for the incline. She estimated the equipment and installation would cost $400,000 to $450,000 with the rest going to the district for future maintenance. The district will pay for the incline to be built and will be repaid by the Friends.

The hugely popular observation tower and boardwalk were closed to the public in early 2015 after engineers warned they were near collapse. The replacement tower is being built with composite wood decking rather than natural timber, but otherwise will be a replica of the original.

Work on the first phase of the boardwalk started in May 2016 and was finished the following December. It cost almost $631,000. Custom Marine Construction Inc. won the remaining $1.1 million contract, which included demolishing and rebuilding the south loop of the boardwalk.

The south loop has been rerouted to not intrude into the mangroves on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway. The original boardwalk never got environmental permits, officials have said.

While the city owns Red Reef Park, the Beach and Park District reimbursed it for buying the land and pays for all operations and capital improvements there. 

By Steve Plunkett

City Council members came expecting to be told how much it will cost to build the planned Boca National Golf Course.

Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners came hoping to secure council members’ blessing of the conceptual design.

Both sides left the May 28 joint meeting unfulfilled.

Beach and Park Commissioner Robert Rollins told council members the district would build the course in phases with the first phase — the actual 18 holes plus a driving range — to cost $10 million and be fully paid for by the district.

“We’re prepared to do this project without asking you for the $10 million. We’re going to manage to do that on our own,” Rollins said, pressing the council to simply approve the plan.

That was news to council members, who in early March were given documents predicting an overall cost of $28 million, and also news to Beach and Park Commissioner Erin Wright.

“I’m a little caught off guard by the fact that we’re not asking you for money because my whole plan today was to come here and ask for money,” Wright said. “I’m not willing to put the district in jeopardy over the course, I’m not willing to put the district into more debt over this course . . . because I think that’s what will happen if we end up paying for this ourselves.”

The disconnect between Wright and Rollins shook council members’ confidence.

“I can’t greenlight this project as is with the total price tag unknown and the total ask for the city unknown,” Mayor Scott Singer said.

Council member Andy Thomson said he had researched municipal golf courses and thought the recent renovation of a public 9-hole course in Winter Park for $1.2 million could be a model.

“The Winter Park golf course hired an up-and-coming, creative, talented architect to come in and design a course that was playable and inclusive,” Thomson said, in contrast to the well-established Nick Price/Tommy Fazio team that drew up Boca National.

But District Chairwoman Susan Vogelgesang said she had just gone to Winter Park the previous weekend.

“It was not a fun course to play,” she said. 

At the council’s May 13 workshop session, Council member Monica Mayotte used discussion of postponing the $65 million sale of the city’s municipal golf course to segue into talk about Boca National. 

“Everyone wants us to use the proceeds from this sale to cover the cost of the construction of the new course,” Mayotte said.

And at the council’s May 28 workshop immediately before the joint meeting, Singer tried to get a feel for how much money his colleagues might be willing to give the district.

“What if they come back to us and say, ‘We want to maintain this project, we’re going to spend X million, we want you to sign off on these plans and we want you to contribute Y million?’ Is our response, ‘No, we’re not interested?’ ” he asked. “What if they hypothetically come back with a more modest request, say . . . ‘We’re looking for $2 million, $3 million?’ ”

No one offered a number.

In the end, commissioners said they would refine the cost estimates at their June 3 regular meeting and send the revised figures to the City Council for its June 10 workshop.

Council members agreed in principle May 13 to postpone closing their sale of the municipal golf course to GL Homes until Oct. 31, 2020, with an option to extend it another six months. The delay is meant to give golfers continuity between the old course closing and the new one opening. 

Scott Koedel of Ocean Ridge models Electric Swingarm glasses with matte black frames and bronze green mirror lenses. $200.99.

By Brian Biggane 

Did you know that one sunglass lens is better for fishing in shallow water and another for deeper? Or that golfers should consider taking off their polarized glasses before putting?

As both Father’s Day and the start of the long Florida summer approach, many consumers might as well have their eyes closed when they head out looking for the right pair of sunglasses.

“It’s a blind purchase if you don’t know,” said Alan Ross, owner of Shades of Time in Lantana. “And so many people don’t know.”

We polled four shops — Shades of Time, Eye Catchers Optique in Boca Raton, Nomad Surf Shop in the County Pocket and Seaview Optical in Delray Beach — and learned that while most people see sunglasses as a fashion accessory, they also serve a more important role in South Florida: safety.

“One minute unprotected in the sun is like nine hours unprotected on your computer,” Seaview manager Chris Childress said. “You can get cataracts at a young age, glaucoma, macular degeneration. There’s a push toward eye health, and all you have to do is put sunglasses over your eyes and you’re going to take care of them.”

Otis Eyewear’s Casa Bay LIT polarized, O/S sunglasses in matte black gray. $250.

As for what brand to buy, two consistently stood above the rest in a very crowded field: Maui Jim and Costa del Mar. While prices fluctuate, their best models average in the $230-$260 range.

“Maui Jim probably has the best lens in the business, and Costa is right behind them,” said Nomad owner Ryan Heavyside. “Right now, they’re the best.”

In the market since 1947, polarized sunglasses have become the accepted norm, comprising 70 percent or more of sales and, in the case of Shades of Time, nearly 100 percent. Polarized glasses reduce glare and flatten contours, making driving safer and making it easier to see down into water.

“You can walk outside and see the difference,” Eye Catchers owner Lauri Saunders said of wearing those lenses. “People live around the water, so they want to see into the water.”

The feature of flattening contours, however, isn’t great for golfers or skiers, who need to read greens or see bumps. One option is removing the polarized glasses before putting, but Heavyside has another.

“Oakley has been good in that area because they’ve geared their Prizm lens toward golf,” he said.

Glare coming off the water makes sunglasses all but mandatory for boaters or anglers. Those who make their living out there — fishermen, boat captains and mates — typically switch between brown lenses for shallow water and gray or blue mirror for deeper.

Costa del Mar’s Rincon glasses in matte Atlantic blue with silver mirror lenses. $199. All at Nomad Surf Shop. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

“Most fishing guys wear blue mirror glasses,” Ross said. “The mirror as opposed to non-mirror, they buy for the look. But it isn’t just cosmetic. It reflects more light. So, with a mirror on it, it might come across as a shade darker.”

There’s science behind the idea that driving with polarized sunglasses is safer than the alternative. Studies have shown such a driver has an average stopping distance of 23 to 27 feet sooner than one wearing standard lenses. That’s about the length of an intersection.

“It makes a difference even on a day when it’s not sunny,” Childress said. “There’s glare coming off the road, coming off the grass, the bushes, everything.”

There was a time when beachgoers who enjoy reading would bring along a pair of reading glasses or prescription clip-ons to wear with sunglasses. The relatively recent arrival of bifocal sunglasses has made that unnecessary. Nomad carries the Costa C-Mates line that is clear at the top with a variety of lenses (1.5, 2.0, 2.5) on the bottom.

As with any glasses, the big concern with sunglasses is a scratched lens. Heavyside said a popular option at Nomad is the Australian brand Otis, which uses a mineral glass “that is really hard to scratch. They have a test where they drag a key across it to show how it’s scratch-resistant,” he said. “The price difference is probably $100, but you are getting better quality.”

So, with sunglasses having become almost a necessity, one question remains: Should you have one pair or two?

“You have a spare tire for your car in case you get a flat,” Eye Catchers optician Jaime Mirsky said. “Same thing goes for sunglasses: You need a backup. You can have an inexpensive pair, especially if you’re traveling.”

Ross said South Floridians should recognize that having high-quality sunglasses is a necessity.

“You’ve only got one set of eyes,” he said. “And when you say you don’t want to spend X for sunglasses, how many pairs of shoes do you have?

“If you buy the wrong pair, or spend $20 at Walgreens, they might not have the protection you need. You end up doing more damage trying to save a buck than it’s worth.” 

The Boca’s Ballroom Battle contestants will include (l-r) Jody Saffert, Fran Nachlas, Dr. Minelle Tendler, Jason Hagensick, Diana Riser and Margaret Blume. Photo provided

By Amy Woods

The competition has begun for Boca’s Ballroom Battle benefiting the George Snow Scholarship Fund.

   The eight community volunteers who will compete are philanthropist Margaret Blume; Jason Hagensick, president and CEO of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County; operating-room nurse Fran Nachlas; celebrity makeup artist Tim Quinn; Diana Riser, president of Pace Advertising; Jody Saffert, a Boca Raton Regional Hospital executive; orthodontist Dr. Minelle Tendler, and Eddie Ventrice, managing director of UBS Private Wealth Management.

Paired with professional dancers from the Fred Astaire studios in Boca Raton, the participants will get a series of lessons to perfect their routines and then compete for the Mirror Ball trophy Sept. 20 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.

“This is the do-not-miss event of the summer, as eight of our community’s most-recognizable personalities take to the dance floor for a good cause,” said Tim Snow, president of the nonprofit that helps send students to college.

For information about buying tickets or donating on behalf of one of the dancers, visit www.ballroombattle.com.

Grants to help students in Boca nonprofit’s classes

PROPEL (People Reaching Out to Provide Education & Leadership) recently earned an infusion of grant funding, allowing the Boca Raton-based nonprofit to continue preparing students for academic success.

The organization will receive $40,000 a year for two years from the Jim Moran Foundation and $34,000 from the Saul and Theresa Esman Foundation. Both are in addition to a $10,000 grant from Capital One.

PROPEL chief executive Gregg Francis said the money will support key programs for student education, including the literacy, library and SAT Prep programs. The SAT Prep program takes place from 3:30 to 7 p.m. four days a week at PROPEL’s offices.

“The majority of our students are studying to improve their reading comprehension and math to score well on exams and college-entrance tests,” Francis said. “We have a tremendous success rate among first-generation college students, many of whom join high school and middle school classrooms coming from other countries and not knowing how to speak English.”

In other news, PROPEL is partnering with Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine to offer reality-based training to the next generation of physicians.

Beginning in August, FAU medical students will conduct a Service Learning Project with the students at PROPEL, who range in age from 12 to 19. The medical students will learn what issues are affecting the health and well-being of the teens and pre-teens while they, in turn, will learn what it takes to become a doctor.

“This Service Learning Project benefits our kids by giving them access to other young people who are working just as hard as they are, if not harder, to make their goals a reality,” Francis said.

Impact donates $24,000 to Meals on Wheels

Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches has received a $24,000 grant from Impact the Palm Beaches. The money will be used to purchase new kitchen equipment for the nonprofit, which serves freshly prepared nutritious noontime meals to more than 200 homebound seniors five days a week.

“We are honored to have been named a finalist by Impact the Palm Beaches and to have our program recognized for the important work we do in the community,” said Pamela Calzadilla, president and CEO. “The Impact the Palm Beaches grant is especially important to our organization because we receive no government funding and depend largely on the generosity of our community.”

Lord’s Place gets $300,000 in grants to help homeless

CareerSource Palm Beach County has awarded an additional $100,000 in funding to The Lord’s Place to increase services to help homeless people. The funding complements $200,000 the agency awarded to the nonprofit earlier this year.

CareerSource Palm Beach County has provided a total of $2 million in funding to The Lord’s Place in the past decade to disrupt the cycle of homelessness and unemployment.

“The Lord’s Place has an outstanding track record of providing intensive services to CareerSource homeless participants, and we look forward to working with them to expand these efforts,” said Steve Craig, president and CEO. “These services include benefits navigation, peer support, individual therapy, literacy tutoring, financial coaching, referrals to stabilized housing and health-care coordination.”

The money will enable The Lord’s Place to dedicate more time and resources to participants who are 18 and older and are incarcerated or homeless or were previously incarcerated or homeless.

“We are grateful for this increased level of support from CareerSource,” The Lord’s Place CEO Diana Stanley said. “The services it will help us provide are life-changing to those we serve. Through the expanded training and counseling this grant funds, individuals who were once homeless or incarcerated will have increased access to meaningful and sustained employment, which is key to long-term stability in their lives.”

Beach Bash lets people with disabilities celebrate

They arrived in wheelchairs, on walkers, gripping canes, led by service dogs and holding onto the arm of a loved one or a caregiver for support. About 6,000 guests celebrating the 11th anniversary of the Boating & Beach Bash for People with Disabilities on March 10 found their way to Spanish River Park in Boca Raton for a day like no other.

Jay Van Vechten, the event’s director,  is already planning next year's event scheduled for March 1, 2020.

The bash brings together children, teens, adults, seniors and military veterans with disabilities for an event billed as the biggest of its kind in the country.

“For the thousands who participated in the 2019 bash and for the hundreds of volunteers there to help them, it was one of the most memorable days of their lives,” Van Vechten said.

To donate to or volunteer for next year’s event, visit www.boatingbeachbash.com.

Checks can also be made out to and sent to the event’s parent organization, the American Disabilities Foundation, P.O. Box 99, Boca Raton, FL 33429.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net

Il Circolo participated in its first such festival, which featured a spaghetti-eating contest without forks. Guests came to enjoy food, laughter and all things Italian. The organization is already gearing up for the next one. RIGHT: Marco Capoccia and Paul Finizio call to the crowd. Photo provided by Joan Nova

Schoolhouse Children’s Museum & Learning Center, a nonprofit that serves as a popular arts and culture destination, threw a party to honor its supporters. The evening program celebrated the power of play. Guests enjoyed food, drinks, dancing and a silent auction. The event grossed nearly $40,000. ABOVE: Dr. James and Monica DeVoursney. Photo provided by Alicia Donelan