By Sallie James

    If you use medical marijuana, you’ll have to shop outside this city to buy it.
    City Council members at their meeting Oct. 24 approved an ordinance that prohibits marijuana-dispensing facilities in every zoning district in the city after voicing frustration that the existing state law governing the issue is poorly written.
    A yearlong moratorium on the dispensaries expires Nov. 8.
    According to state statute, cities can either allow marijuana-dispensing facilities in every zoning district that allows pharmacies or ban them altogether. There’s no in between.
    Council members opted for the ban, saying they will revisit the issue in a year or so and share their concerns with the state Legislature as soon as possible.
    “The state really left us with a poor choice,” said council member Scott Singer. “Acting now when the law is so unsettled may prove problematic. It doesn’t allow us to use a scalpel instead of a chain saw.”
    Under the law, cities can ban dispensing facilities within their boundaries, but if they don’t, dispensing facilities can set up shop anywhere zoned to accommodate a regular pharmacy. The law does not set limits on the number of dispensaries that can open.
    The only limitation is a separation requirement that prevents dispensaries from operating within 500 feet of any public or private elementary, middle or secondary school.
    “We can’t limit the locations of dispensing facilities without limiting locations of pharmacies,” explained Brandon Schaad, Boca Raton development services director.
    Palm Beach County, Deerfield Beach, Lake Worth and Boynton Beach have voted to allow dispensaries within their boundaries. Delray Beach has banned them.
    Another concern is the large amount of cash the dispensaries may have on hand. Marijuana sales are still illegal on the federal level, meaning all dispensary sales must be cash-based, making dispensaries appealing targets for crime.
    “A marijuana dispensary is not a pharmacy. Large amounts of cash will be there,” Glenn Gromann, a former member of the Boca Planning and Zoning Board, told the council. “You’re talking about potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars cash for people to steal. You have to be sure they’re going to attempt to rob these places and break in.”
    Several council members initially voiced support for the issue, noting that a majority of voters in the state, county and Boca Raton all voted in favor of medical marijuana and the sale of it through medical marijuana dispensaries. But concern about the broadness of the law spurred a change of heart.
    The ban doesn’t prevent city residents from receiving or using medical marijuana within the city limits.
    Council member Robert Weinroth initially said he wanted to allow dispensaries, but embraced a wait-and-see attitude because of concerns over where they could locate.
    “What’s the rush?” asked Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers. “If we approve it we can’t undo it. We’re not talking about the use here. We’re talking about retail sales in the city. I’d say let’s look at this again in the future once the state figures this out.” Ú

By Sallie James

    A seven-story, 70-unit luxury condominium will soon rise on the southwest corner of South Ocean Drive and East Palmetto Park Road, with sprawling penthouses, 8-foot-wide sidewalks and a public park along Palmetto Park Road.
    The Ocean Palm project, reviewed and recommended for approval twice by the Planning and Zoning Board, got the green light at the Oct. 24 City Council meeting.
    “Public access to greenways [and] to the parks; very strong reduction in traffic to what could have been built there; breaks in the building,” noted Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers. “This is all stuff that will improve the area around the beach.”
    The project even got the stamp of approval from the often-critical Riviera Civic Association, which worked with the developer on various issues, including traffic. The association represents homeowners in the surrounding areas.
    “We’re in support of it,” said Mark Simmons, a board member of the association.
    The project is slated to be 75 feet high and include four penthouse units; 20 two-story, three-bedroom units of 2,000 square feet; 32 two-bedroom units of 1,855 square feet; and 14 three-bedroom end units of 4,400 square feet. Each unit will have a private enclosed garden or balcony area as well.
    Other amenities include nine parallel parking spots along East Palmetto Park Road, bicycle racks and benches, and a linear public park/walkway along Palmetto Park Road and Southwest Wavecrest Way, which Ocean Palm will maintain.
    “I think this will be a benefit to our entire community,” said Mayor Susan Haynie.
    But the vice president of the nearby Marbella condominium complained residents there were never consulted about the project.
    Carrie McGuirk said the seven-story building would cast shadows on their 20-story high rise, located south of East Palmetto Park Road on A1A, and block residents’ views to the northeast.
    Bonnie Miskel, attorney for the Ocean Palm developer, said she repeatedly tried to contact condo owners there but never received a response.
    Council member Andrea Levine O’Rourke reminded McGuirk that the property owner had a right to build the project based on the land use designation. Ú

By Steve Plunkett
    
Turning Federal and Dixie highways into a pair of one-way roads downtown could shave two minutes off each southbound trip and almost four minutes off northbound travel, consultants say.
    But such changes will not come quickly, consultants Jim Sumislaski and Chris Heggen told the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency last month. A typical timeline would show the project finishing in 2031, they said.
    “I’d still love to find the magic rabbit out of a hat that gets us some answers quicker and faster,” CRA Chairman and City Council member Scott Singer said. “When I look at this timeline and I see construction going to 2031 it doesn’t make me feel as warm and fuzzy as something that says at least ’20-something on it.”
    Sumislaski and Heggen, of Kimley-Horn and Associates, did a traffic count at peak morning and evening rush hours and midday in January, then forecast what traffic would be in the year 2040 at Federal/Dixie and Northeast Second Street, Palmetto Park Road, Camino Real and Southwest 18th Street.
    At each intersection except Palmetto Park, the level of service improved and wait times were shorter if the north-south roads were converted to one-way.
    At Palmetto Park Road, the changes would be “neutral to marginally improved,” Heggen said.
    Changing the highways to a one-way pair would also allow for a more efficient use of the right of way, the consultants said. Federal and Dixie today are divided roadways with four 12-foot-wide travel lanes, turn lanes, 6-foot-wide sidewalks and 4-foot-wide undesignated shoulders for bicyclists. Making them one-way would mean three 11-foot-wide travel lanes, a 5-foot-wide bike path with a 2-foot-wide buffer, and 10 feet on both sides of each road for sidewalks, green space and “sidewalk furniture.”
    The consultants estimated the construction cost at $48.8 million with money coming from the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization, the state and the federal government.
    CRA members liked one benefit in particular of going one-way: making the downtown more friendly to pedestrians who would walk on wider sidewalks and contend with only one direction of traffic.
    But member Andrea O’Rourke asked why she did not see more people walking on Delray Beach’s one-way pair of avenues making up U.S. 1.
    Heggen said Delray Beach’s downtown with its restaurants, shops and nightlife is oriented east-west along Atlantic Avenue. Boca Raton’s downtown is more north-south, he said.  
    CRA members told the consultants to formally request the MPO and the state to pay for a more in-depth study of downtown traffic.
    Mayor Susan Haynie, who also chairs the MPO, predicted a favorable response.
    “I’ll speak on behalf of the Palm Beach MPO that we will streamline it as quickly as we can,” Haynie said.

By Steve Plunkett
    
Grateful commissioners of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District started off the new budget year in October by giving their executive director a 33 percent raise.
    “I do think that he should be compensated for some of the extra time that he’s putting in —hours and hours and hours on our behalf,” Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang said in urging a $30,000-a-year pay hike for Arthur Koski.
    The increase, retroactive to July 1, pushes Koski’s pay as executive director from $90,000 annually to $120,000. He is also paid $150,000 a year as the district’s attorney.
The past year has been a busy one for the Beach & Park District. Among other projects, it is negotiating to buy the privately owned Ocean Breeze golf course, building a new community center at its Swim and Racquet Center and considering letting the School Board build a new school at the southeast corner of Sugar Sand Park.   
    Vogelgesang admired Koski’s around-the-clock availability to tackle problems.
    “Fellow commissioners, I don’t know if you send Art emails at 6 a.m. and get a reply at 6:05, but I certainly have,” she said.
    District Chairman Robert Rollins echoed her praise.
    “I probably have as much communication with Art as you times five because I’m talking with Art as early as 5:30 in the morning,” Rollins said. “We keep piling on, like discussions of eminent domain, discussions of Addison Mizner [elementary school] — it just goes on and on and on.”
    Vice Chairman Steve Engel said a recent business trip Koski took highlighted “a little-known fact” about his pay.  
    “When Mr. Koski goes up to New York on park district business, that expense comes out of his own pocket,” Engel said.
    Koski also absorbs the park district’s share of his downtown law office rent and secretarial salaries. He receives no benefits or pension contributions from the district.
“The more they pay me, the more my office expenses go up,” he said after the meeting.
    Commissioner Craig Ehrnst, who during his 2016 campaign said Koski’s pay was too high, joined the unanimous vote on the raise.  
“He’s put more than that time in it from what I’ve seen in this period,” Ehrnst said.
    During Ehrnst’s campaign, Koski earned $90,000 as executive director, $132,000 as legal counsel and $108,000 as contract administrator, for a total of $330,000 a year. He shed the contract administrator job in November.
    In December, commissioners raised his pay as legal counsel to $150,000 annually. With the latest raise he will be earning $270,000 a year.
    Beach & Park commissioners have also authorized a $25,000 retainer for extra legal work Koski undertakes while researching the use of eminent domain to take ownership of three beachfront parcels, two that are undeveloped and one that is occupied.

Jolie Lavaux (front, with pink flower) of Boca Raton leads the dance troupe during rehearsal for Cinderella at Organic Movements in Boca Raton.

By Janis Fontaine

Tiny dancers pool around Ekaterina Shchelkanova’s perfect feet like a dozen ducklings, their bright eyes glued to the lithe woman with the translucent skin and graceful posture.
They know they are in the presence of greatness, and Shchelkanova easily commands the room, her Russian-accented English as smooth as her plié.
A troupe of 80 South Florida dancers ages 7 to 13 auditioned for and won parts in the Open World Dance Foundation’s production of Cinderella, on stage at the Parker Playhouse on Nov. 25 and 26.
The group features more than a dozen boys and girls from Palm Beach County who will dance on a big stage with professional dancers from the American Ballet Theatre. It is a huge honor and a thrilling accomplishment for these budding ballerinas.  
One of the smallest dancers is Jolie Lavaux, 7, from Boca Raton. She has been dancing since she was 3. She’s gregarious and outspoken, her big personality belying her petite size.
Jolie naturally finds her way to front and center of the action during  a rehearsal at Organic Movements in Boca Raton. Tiny but not timid, she leads a line of dancers dressed as flowers across the stage on tiptoes. The slight smile on her fine-featured face draws your eye like a magnet.
The auditions were open to all girls and boys, regardless of prior dance training or experience. One of Open World’s missions is to find talented young dancers and provide opportunities for them to reach their full potential. This includes bringing ballet programs to orphanages in Russia as well as opening auditions to non-dancers.
Shchelkanova founded Open World with her partner, Anton Boytsov, in 2010. Both were born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and met as students at the  Vaganova Ballet Academy.
Founded in 1783 as the Imperial Theatre School, the first Russian school of theatrical dance, it is still considered one of the best in the world. Of the thousands of students who audition each year, about 350 are chosen for the intense program. In 1957, the school was renamed for Agrippina Vaganova, a graduate and professional dancer who became one of ballet’s most revered and accomplished teachers.
The school’s graduates are a who’s who of ballet: George Balanchine, Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who is also one of Open World’s supporters.
This will be the second time Open World has staged Prokofiev’s ballet with student performers. Last year, Misty Copeland danced the lead in the foundation’s production in Houston, which brought more than 130 kids to the stage.

Instructor Ekaterina Shchelkanova founded the Open World Dance Foundation to find and provide opportunities for young dancers. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Cinderella is a classic role that most ballerinas long to dance, and it’s a role Shchelkanova knows well. She sings the score as she demonstrates the steps, and at 47, she’s as strong and limber as any student.
Her precision and grace are mesmerizing, and those skills earned her top roles in ballets around the world and even took her to the big screen in the Academy Award-winning film Chicago.
Shchelkanova (credited as Ekaterina Chtchelkanova) danced alongside Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as the tragic, wrongly convicted Hunyak in the Cell Block Tango number.
Mikhaila Whiteman, 21, of Long Island, is Shchelkanova and Boytsov’s personal assistant and a gifted dancer. After studying at Vaganova, Whiteman danced the leads in both The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty at St. Petersburg’s famed Hermitage Theatre. She’s the oldest of the handful of students chosen to train with and represent Open World, and she helps fine-tune the girls’ performance.
It’s a bit like herding kittens, but some of them, like Cephanie Amelia Sanchez Cole, 10, of Delray Beach, are more easily coached than others. Tall and flexible, she hangs on Shchelkanova’s every word, and her attention to detail earned her a spot out front.
Cephanie goes to Plumosa School of the Arts; between school and private lessons, she dances six or seven days a week. She likes ballet, jazz and art.
“I would love to be a professional dancer, but I also really like art because I get to be both proper in ballet and messy in art,” she says.  

Cephanie Amelia Sanchez Cole of Delray Beach practices her poses during rehearsal.  The play is scheduled for Nov. 25-26 at Parker Playhouse. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Many of the dancers say they’re drawn to dance because of the music, and they love the combination of athleticism and artistry required to master ballet. Their mothers say dance builds strength — physical, mental and emotional — maturity and character.
“Learning steps,” Shchelkanova tells them, “is not the same as dancing. Everyone must pay attention. Everyone must count. We have amazing dancers coming and we have to be ready.”
Ballet is a work of minutiae. A minor change in the placement of the foot is like the difference between matte and gloss in painting. Turning the knee out even an inch can turn a dancer from mediocre to magnificent.
Jolie’s mother, Cheryl Lavaux, says she knows her daughter is learning more than dance steps: “Self-respect, discipline, problem-solving and perseverance, in addition to balance, coordination, strength and flexibility.”
To Jolie, it’s much simpler: “I like pointing my toes and stretching.”
Dancers from Palm Beach County include Angelina Aramouni (12), Jolie Lavaux (7), Chloe Rivet (13) and Brianna Salcedo (10), all of Boca Raton; Aaron Gomez (8) and Yacob Gomez (9), of Boynton Beach; Ana Baraldi (7), Cephanie Amelia Sanchez Cole (10), Alyssa Jin (9), Sophia A. Triminio (7), Mikayla L. Wieland (10) and Zariah Valentine (11), of Delray Beach; Savonya Haliburton (12), of Riviera Beach, and Jayla Jacobs (7), of West Palm Beach. 

If You Go
What: Cinderella, featuring Devon Teuscher and Cory Stearns, principals of American Ballet Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25 and 2 p.m. Nov. 26
Where: Parker Playhouse at the Broward Performing Arts Center, 707 NE Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale.
Tickets: $35-$175 at
www.browardcenter.org
Info: www.OpenWorldDanceFoundation.com

Michele Wright, former WPEC-TV news anchor and honorary chairwoman of last year’s Community Caring Center event, with Doreen Robinson, chairwoman of this year’s Dreams Come True Gala set for Nov. 16.   Photo provided

By Amy Woods

    Thirty years of creating a healthier community through services offered by the Community Caring Center of Greater Boynton Beach will be feted Nov. 16.
    The Dreams Come True Gala invites guests to an annual affair that supports feeding programs for children and families in need and shut-in seniors with food insecurities.
    Proceeds from the $125 ticket, as well as the raffle and silent auction, will help pay for a network of services such as affordable food packages, chronic disease menu plans and gardening and nutrition education.
    “Creating a healthier community is my dream actually coming true,” executive director Sherry Johnson said. “I can’t believe it.”
    The need for feeding programs runs far and wide. Pockets of Palm Beach County where poverty abounds have residents who wonder where their next meal is coming from — and if they do know, that meal might not be as healthy as it should.
    “Providing access to fresh food that is reasonably priced is the goal,” Johnson said. “That is why we are doing what we are doing.”
    Affordable food packages range from $14 to $26 and are offered monthly to help stretch grocery budgets. Each box includes locally grown produce, restaurant-quality meats and wild-caught salmon.
    Because the ingredients are organic and sustainable, those with serious illnesses can benefit from them, too.
    “We have this whole education component for another generation that will probably not fall into that pattern of eating unhealthy and perpetuating that chronic disease,” Johnson said, referring to gardening and nutrition education, which is aimed primarily at children.
    Chronic disease menu plans target those with arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes, gout, heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis.
    “We think we’re on the forefront of a really neat program,” Johnson said. “We’re now growing up.”
    The 30th-anniversary event will feature live music, ballroom-dancing performances, decorations and dinner. An estimated 150 are expected to attend.
    “It’s a wonderful event,” board member and gala Chairwoman Doreen Robinson said. “My mission is to raise the bar, to outreach, to get more sponsors and to bring in more revenue.”
    The agency touches 5,000 South County residents, of whom 260 are older adults who cannot leave their homes. The senior meals menu and senior veggie mobile programs enable them to age in place so they don’t have to enter a nursing home.
    “Over the years, we feel that our dreams are coming true,” Robinson said. “And we continue to dream about the future.” 

If You Go
What: Dreams Come True Gala
When: 6:30 to 10 p.m. Nov. 16
Where: Benvenuto, 1730 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach
Cost: $125
Information: Call 374-8536 or visit cccgbb.org

The Rotary Club of Delray Beach had Janet Meeks as guest speaker for its August meeting. Meeks, the city’s education coordinator, reported that students in public schools are receiving exceptional support, which is resulting in improved proficiency in reading. She also informed the club that her position was created to address the need for an instructional reading program in the community.
“It is in the best interests of all concerned that our students are served with quality, comprehensive instruction in quality schools, and that they perform well to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in school and in life,” Meeks said.

Palm Healthcare invests $2M in local nonprofits
Charities from Boca Raton to Jupiter received nearly $2 million to support their efforts to improve the health and well-being of Palm Beach County residents.
“Palm Healthcare Foundation has been committed to solving critical health care issues through creative and communitywide collaborations for the past 17 years,” said Patrick McNamara, the foundation’s president and CEO. The grants are aimed at behavioral health, diabetes, family caregiving, nursing advancement and special projects.

Community Foundation  supports nonprofits, scholarships
Impact funds from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties were granted in the amount of nearly $1.6 million this year to nonprofits. They also facilitated gifts of nearly $7 million to organizations and $1.3 million in scholarships. Locally, as part of the Forever Nonprofit Endowment Challenge, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, CROS Ministries and the Delray Beach Public Library each was awarded $25,000. Additionally, Sandoway Discovery Center was awarded $62,679.        

Florida agency beneficiary of challenge grant by NFL team owner Robert Kraft
JARC Florida, a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that provides programs and services to educate and empower individuals with intellectual and development disabilities, has debuted a $100,000 challenge grant in partnership with Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.
The grant will match every new donation until they reach  $100,000. Money raised will support the organization’s Community Works program, which provides clients with job training and employment opportunities, as well as its residential program, which provides group homes and apartments where clients can live independently.
“I learned about JARC through my sister, Elizabeth, a longtime supporter and leader at the organization,” Kraft said. “When she told me about the extent of discrimination and abuse that people with intellectual and development challenges continue to face, I was moved. In this day and age, to think that anyone is being denied basic rights is unconscionable. Seeing the impact on the individuals that JARC serves ­— people from all across the country — gives me hope for the future.”

YMCA nears fundraising goal
The YMCA of South Palm Beach County had its annual campaign event at Old School Square in Delray Beach, where it set a fundraising goal of $510,000. For this year’s “Change A Life” campaign, chairwoman Debbie Faris said the fundraising effort is off to a strong start with 33 percent already achieved through donations and pledges. The campaign runs through the end of the month. Last year, the financial support of donors raised $483,000. For information, visit www.ymcaspbc.org/give.

Project Holiday fundraiser planned
This year’s Best Bite For Vets restaurant competition, sponsored by Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas, will raise money for Project Holiday, which supports local families who have loved ones serving in the military, and the HOW Foundation of South Florida, which raises awareness and supplementary funds for hyperbaric-oxygen therapy. The event is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 15. Visitors will enjoy drinks and jazz music, as well as tasty food prepared by competing restaurants. Contenders will compete through votes by the event’s visitors and by celebrity judges, including former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Mark Duper. Cost is $20, with $15 from each admission split between the two Delray Beach-based nonprofits. The locations is 82 Gleason St. in Delray Beach. For information, call 278-1700.

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

Ralph Papa, in his Delray Beach studio, shows a rim and fender from the bike that will be sold to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Delray. 

By Lona O’Connor

    A bicycle is only a bicycle until Ralph Papa makes it a vehicle of art. Papa, a Delray Beach artist and teacher whose works adorn the walls of museums and private homes, usually works on canvas, so the bike presented a new challenge.
    The bike has the broad fenders and low-slung look of its 1950s vintage. It came from Jack Hairston, better known as Jack the Bike Man, who for 30 years has donated thousands of rehabilitated bicycles from his West Palm Beach workshop.
    Susan Mullin, a Delray Beach fundraiser for Jack the Bike Man and one of Papa’s many fans, asked the artist to turn the bike into a collector’s item, to then be raffled off as part of a three-day fundraiser, a Holiday Trunk Show for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County.
    “I’ve spent about 70 hours on it, and it’s been a fascinating experience,” said Papa, whose studio is itself a work of art. Every surface, including floors, is covered with paintings, sketches, works from years past and works in progress.
    Papa, well known for his paintings that preserve all the tropical light but none of the sweltering heat of local landscapes, has been working on something quite different recently: the interplay of colors to create a glowing effect.
    “It’s an optical illusion that doesn’t exist in nature,” he explained. “When you put a lighter value color on the inside and a darker one on the outside, it forms a halo. I’ve done 15 paintings on this theme, and I thought, what can I paint on a bike, on a small surface.”
    There are a few recognizable figures painted on the white base coat of the bicycle, including palm trees, cyclists and, of course, a portrait of Jack the Bike Man. The rest of it is covered with abstract shapes with the glowing interaction of colors.
    Mullin, through a mutual acquaintance, made the connection between the artist and the bike man.
    “I arranged to see Ralph’s studio, which is wonderful,” said Mullin, who has supported the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County for the last 15 years. “It will be fun to have it in our show.”
    Once reassembled by Jack the Bike Man, the bicycle will be reviewed by Papa, who might want to make a few last-minute changes. Then it will be clear-coated and made ready to be on display during the holiday fundraiser.
    Until then, no one, including Papa and Mullin, will have seen it in its entirety.
    The event at the Seagate Hotel begins with a cocktail party and preview from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 28 and features 40 vendors of clothing, jewelry and gifts, raffled items and the Ralph Papa one-of-a-kind bicycle.  The event continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30.

A detail of a waving bicyclist shows Papa’s whimsical style. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

    Proceeds from the trunk show will benefit the Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach, one of 13 clubs in the county, which is at 1451 SW Seventh St.

Pohjan Laulu, a 110-year-old all-male choir from a small town north of the Arctic Circle (Oulu, Finland), is visiting the United States as part of Finland’s 100th-anniversary celebration as an independent nation. The first local performance took place at the home of Robert and Anneli Ganger. The performance was sponsored by Kaarina Langeland, president of the Finlandia Foundation’s Florida chapter, and Anneli Ganger. The 33 choir members entertained about 50 local Finns with a repertoire of traditional Finnish music.  ABOVE: Pohjan Laulu singers flank Ganger and Langeland. Photo provided

Soroptimist International of Boca Raton/Deerfield Beach celebrated its 44th annual event, at which Barbara Gutin received the Soroptimist International Lifetime Achievement Award from honorary Chairwoman Terry Fedele. The award recognizes Gutin’s dedication and concern for the welfare of women and children. More than 300 attended and recognized 34 nominees for volunteerism. ABOVE: (l-r) Marybeth Keenan, Gutin and Jennifer Thomason.
Photo provided by Barbara McCormick

Joyce DeVita was named the 2017 Woman Volunteer of the Year at the Junior League of Boca Raton’s 30th annual luncheon and fashion show. DeVita was nominated by the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum. Forty-two women from nonprofits around Palm Beach County were recognized for their dedication as volunteers. ABOVE: The 2017 Woman Volunteer of the Year nominees. Photo provided by Munoz Photography

Seventeen high schools gathered in the Judith Rogers Gymnasium for the 13th annual event, which welcomes families to learn about the offerings from each school. Attendees met faculty members and sat in on a roundtable discussion, with the goal of obtaining knowledge from a student perspective. ABOVE: (l-r) Natalee Sama, Jenna DeFrances, Raymond Reiersen, Lucy Ream and Aiden Veccia represented Oxbridge Academy at the fair. They are speaking with parent Nicole Burns. Photo provided

As part of the celebration of its 2017-18 season, Palm Beach Opera had a private dinner sponsored by board member Florence Kaufman and attended by 60 supporters. The evening began in the ballroom with a cocktail reception featuring passed hors d’oeuvres. Prior to a recital by two of the company’s artists, general director Daniel Biaggi welcomed the guest of honor, Metropolitan Opera star and internationally beloved soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. ABOVE: (l-r) Katherine Brown, Nathan Leventhal, Lynn Joy and Meyer Sapoff. Photo provided by Frank Ammaccapane/Natural Expressions NY

Members of the Highland Beach chapter of UNICO National lent a helping hand to Aqua Gulf Transport by providing products needed in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. Erick Espino, son of chapter member Ana Cohen, started the initiative and reached out to company owner Robert Browne. ABOVE: Cleve Guy, treasurer / recording secretary, with acting district Gov. Frank LoRe. Photo provided

United Way of Palm Beach County had breakfast with 350 of its closest friends to kick off the annual fundraising campaign. The breakfast is a signature event attended by business representatives who run employee-giving programs, nonprofit leaders and community supporters. The theme this year, on education, is titled Achieve Palm Beach County. ABOVE: (l-r) Steve Craig, Jon Levinson, Dennis Gallon, Jon Van Arnam. Photo provided

In the early days, the building served as Town Hall and Fire Station.  Photo provided by Boca Raton Historical Society

By Thom Smith

With the Twenties roaring all around, Addison Mizner, who was as much entrepreneur as he was developer, turned his attention from Palm Beach to a little farming community an hour’s drive south.
    To develop Boca Raton, perfect for a world-class resort, he formed the Mizner Development Corp., a syndicate of investors that included T. Coleman du Pont as chairman, Rodman Wanamaker, Mizner’s close friend Paris Singer, Irving Berlin, William Kissam Vanderbilt II and Elizabeth Arden.
    The corporation bought more than 1,600 acres, including 2 miles of beachfront, and on April 15, 1925, announced plans for the “Venice of the Atlantic” — a thousand-room hotel, two golf courses, a polo field, parks and miles of paved and landscaped streets, with a 160-foot-wide boulevard called Camino Real from the train station to the hotel.
    Boca Raton was incorporated in May 1925, and on May 14 prospective buyers anted up $2 million in deposits for lots surrounding the Cloister resort hotel. By Thanksgiving, more than $25 million in lots had been sold, and on Feb. 26, 1926, guests began packing Mizner’s Cloister Inn.
    However, even as the corporation saw another $6 million in sales during the winter, the Boca juggernaut and the Florida land boom in general began to lose momentum. Du Pont resigned from the board; customers stopped making payments; Mizner was kicked out in July; the corporation declared bankruptcy in September.
    On Sept. 18, the 150-mph winds of what the Weather Bureau declared “probably the most destructive hurricane ever to strike the United States” applied the coup de grace.
    Mizner designed a few more homes before dying of a heart attack in Palm Beach in 1933 at age 60, but his legacy thrives: the Palm Beach estates, the smaller and much less ornate homes in Boca’s Old Floresta and the Cloister — now a small portion of the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
    And on Dec. 7, starting at 7 p.m., Mizner’s golden-domed Town Hall will celebrate its 90th anniversary. It’s home to the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum,  and Kathy Dickenson, the society’s former president, plans to speak of the restoration of the building that will begin next year.
    To expand exhibit space, staff offices will be moved to the second floor. Each exhibit room will focus on a key period in Boca history such as Mizner, or IBM’s presence with hands-on displays of pioneering PCs and other hardware.
    “It’ll be crowded,” Executive Director Mary Csar said, “but we’ll adjust.”
    Admission is $5, free for society members. RSVP (395-6766) required.
                                 ***
     Mizner’s dream for “the world’s most architecturally beautiful playground” still lives. The Boca Resort recently hosted the Go Pink luncheon, for the Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s breast cancer programs.
    TV personality Joan Lunden challenged upward of 1,300 guests at the resort’s Mizner Center with humor and reflections on her battle with breast cancer.
Lunden, who has a home with husband Jeff Konigsberg in suburban West Palm Beach, joked that “tan fat is better than white fat.” 
    “It’s great to be here,” Lunden said. “Actually, after years of fighting breast cancer, it’s great to be here … period.”
    As the daughter of an oncologist and a well-informed TV host, she admitted, “I didn’t think it would happen to me. I didn’t think I would be that one in eight women” who gets breast cancer.
    Her first mammogram was negative, but she decided to go across the hall for an ultrasound.
“That was the wake-up,” she said of learning she did have cancer. “We must be vigilant with our health … and honest.
“There are two great days in our lives. The day we’re born, and the day we discover why. … That’s what keeps me going on my warrior journey.”

***
                                  Six-year-old Anna Kuhn met and interviewed mermaids Angela O’Rourke (l) and Elizabeth Erra at the Boca Beach Club thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, WPTV-Channel 5 and the Mermaid Academy of Orlando. Tim Stepien/ The Coastal Star

    Like Lunden, Anna Kuhn is a warrior, but with somewhat different battles. The 6-year-old from York County, Pa., has been through five open heart surgeries, four on her hip and one on her spine. More lie ahead. But those thoughts were far away as Anna walked toward the jetty at Boca Inlet in early October as a guest of the Boca Resort’s Beach Club.
    “I see one … I see one … over there!” she yelled, pointing toward two women on the rocks, dressed as … mermaids.
    Anna wanted to meet a mermaid, learn to become one, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which provides amazing experiences to children with life-threatening conditions, made it happen.
    The chapter in western Pennsylvania coordinated with the South Florida chapter to book a flight for Anna and her parents, Laura and John,  reserve rooms and team up with the Mermaid Academy. The Orlando-based business actually teaches children and adults how to be mermaids, complete with tails and elastic mono-legs.
    Anna, however, wanted to share her experience, so Make-A-Wish arranged with WPTV-Channel 5 for her to interview the mermaids for a newscast, asking them about their favorite food and music and if they can dance with tails.
    During their visit, the Kuhns visited Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the Palm Beach Zoo. And one other plus: The trip marked the first vacation for the entire family.
                             ***
    So much for rust. When Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis pro Roger Ashcroft hired David McNamara four years ago, he took note of his new assis-tant’s people skills and teaching ability but noted he wasn’t fully fit. Thanks to Ashcroft’s intense fitness regimen and at his urging, McNamara decided to enter his first high-level tournament in more than five years, the USTA National Men’s 40 Clay Court Championships in Atlanta.
“I thought what the hell,” said McNamara, whose highest international ranking had been 431. “But because of who I am I didn’t want to just go play. I still have enough of a competitive ego that I thought I could win. I wanted to make sure I was ready.”
    McNamara dispatched the Nos. 5, 3, 1 and 2 seeds for the championship.
    But he wasn’t finished. In late August he traveled to Philadelphia for the USTA National 40 Grass Court Championships. After a first-round bye, he beat the top three seeds to win again.
    The national hard court championships begin Nov. 27 in La Jolla, Calif. McNamara is pumped.
    “The new national rankings came out today,” he wrote on Aug. 28, “and I am now No. 2 in the nation. Closing in on No. 1.”

                                 ***
    “It needed to be done,” Luke Therien said, so a couple of months ago the Boynton Beach restaurateur shut down the Banana Boat for renovations. “When you’re open 365 days a year, there’s a lot of wear and tear.”
    Therien opened Banana Boat in 1978 with a New England nautical look that was retained in do-overs in 1990 and 2000. Not this time, however.
    “We tried to sharpen our brand with a Florida Caribbean look,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re capturing all the people coming to South Florida.”
    He added sliding glass doors that bring in a lot more light and open up the place and a new boat-shaped bar. The expanded docks can handle eight boats. Florida and Caribbean artwork from local artists cover the walls, and live music continues every Friday through Sunday.
                                ***
Palm Beach County is among the most prosperous regions in the nation, yet almost 200,000 residents live in poverty. Every month the Palm Beach County Food Bank serves more than 100,000 individuals through food pantries, soup kitchens and other services. But that food doesn’t come for free and the money to buy it comes from a wide variety of activities and programs. One is Empty Bowls Delray Beach.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 3 at Old School Square, patrons will pay $25 for a specially decorated bowl they can fill with any or all of a variety of soups from at least 16 local restaurants and artisan bread from Old School Bakery. Soup providers, including Abe & Louie’s, Artsy Artichoke, Atlantis Golf Club, Bedner’s, Burt & Max’s, Cabana El Rey, Caffe Luna Rosa, The Colony Hotel, Deck 84, The Elks Club, Henry’s, Lucille’s BBQ, Purgreens, Salt 7, Sweetwater, and The Regional Kitchen will serve up a variety from chicken vegetable and potato bacon to red seafood chowder and split pea and coconut curry.
Barb Lentz, owner of the Art-Sea Living Studio in Boynton Beach, has hosted a series of “play and paint” events where guests have designed and painted bowls. For tickets or more information, visit www.oldschoolsquare.org/events/empty-bowls.
                                ***
    Hard to believe they’ve been performing for almost 50 years, but the Pointer Sisters are still jumpin’ for our love and they’ll no doubt be steppin’ out at the Nov. 4 gala for the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic at Boca Raton Resort & Club. Playing celebs at the 28th event include musician David Cook, Dr. Phil McGraw, Robin Givens and race driver Helio Castroneves. (www.chrisevert.org)
                                ***
    Alex Dreyfoos and George Elmore have been making their marks in business and culture for half a century. Dreyfoos is the former owner of WPEC-Channel 12, entrepreneur, inventor and the force behind the Kravis Center. Elmore, founder and president of Hardrives, served as chairman of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.
    Together they have moved and shaken the county into a cultural destination, and they’ll share behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 6 at “Putting It Together” for the council’s first “Culture & Cocktails” event of the season at The Colony Pavilion in Palm Beach.
    The Jan. 8 event will take a slightly different heading with “Heavy Perspectives: From Metallica to Modern Art” with former Metallica bassist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer-turned artist Jason Newsted. His paintings will be on display at the Cultural Council’s HQ in Lake Worth from Dec. 1 to Feb. 3. For reservations and ticket pricing, call 472-3330.
                                ***
    Jethro Tull … almost.  The classic rock band’s best-known member, Ian Anderson, plays Mizner Park Amphitheater Nov. 10.  Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra sets up at the Kravis Center on Dec. 5. At the podium: a promising young trumpeter out of New Orleans — Winton Marsalis. Ambrosia and Fly Amero (Orleans) perform at Boston’s Nov. 9.

                                ***

    Remember Liberace? Even on old black-and-white TVs, his costumes were outrageous. Now fans and those who are just curious can check out 15 of the flamboyant pianist’s outfits in all their sequin-tial splendor in “Bling: The Brilliant History of Glitz” at The Wick Theatre’s Costume Museum in Boca Raton. The exhibit, in collaboration with the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts, runs through May 20. (995-2333)
                                ***
    A familiar Palm Beach face has a hand in Forum Productions-Greenhouse Theater Center’s 2017-18 season opener at Mizner Park Cultural Center. Rose: The Untold Rose Kennedy Story was written by Kennedy family biographer Laurence Leamer, author of Madness Under the Royal Palms — Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach, and a winter resident. Performances are Nov. 29 through Dec. 23.
                                ***
    Speaking of Mizner Park, Festival of the Arts Boca is still more than two months off, but early bird tickets are only $39 and the lineup for Feb. 23-March 4 has something for everyone, opening with soprano Kathleen Battle (Feb. 23) and violinist Itzhak Perlman (Feb. 24). Other standouts include Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass (Feb. 26), X Prize founder Peter Diamandis (Feb. 28), a screening of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with live orchestra (March 4) and the multi-talented T Bone Burnett (March 1).
    If they can obtain clearance from the Trump administration, Grupo Compay Segundo, the Cuba-based band that tours the globe and still plays Saturday nights at Havana’s Hotel Nacional, will play the festival Feb. 25.
    And for something completely different on March 2: How about New Worlds, an evening of music, poetry and prose? The ensemble features German cellist Jan Vogler, Chinese violinist Mira Wang, Venezuelan-American pianist Vanessa Perez and Illinois actor Bill Murray. Classical composers, Broadway, poetry, prose, heaps of Americana. Rave reviews.

Thom Smith is a freelance writer who can be reached at thomsmith@ymail.com.

    

By Lucy Lazarony

    The Artists Guild of the Boca Raton Museum is moving to a new gallery at 2910 N. Federal Highway in Boca Raton. Part of Elegance Plaza, the new gallery is 3,000 square feet and almost double the size of its former home on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, where the gallery was based for the past nine years.
    The gallery’s grand opening is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 15, with a ribbon cutting by the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce at 6:30.
    Plans for the gallery, on the east side of Federal Highway and less than 2 miles from the Boca Raton Museum of Art, include workshops, art demonstrations and lectures as well as opening receptions for Artists Guild exhibitions.
    “This larger, light-filled space has inspired both the artists and art lovers with renewed enthusiasm,” says Jody Grass, chair of the board of trustees of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to support and strengthen our local arts community with a new facility.”
    The new gallery will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.
Regular openings for new exhibitions, which are always free and open to the public, will be announced via www.bocaguild.org. A portion of the proceeds from the Artists Guild Gallery art sales supports the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
    “In addition to creating a new, updated space for local artists to share their work, this move brings the Artists Guild closer to our organization’s other two campuses — the museum at 501 Plaza Real and the Art School at 801 W. Palmetto Park Road,” says Irvin Lippman, executive director of Boca Raton Museum of Art.
Rent was not a factor in the decision to move, said Kelsey Johnson, who handles public relations for the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
“The lease in Delray was up at the end of October and another larger space (3,000 square feet vs. 1,700 square feet) was available in Boca Raton (nearer the museum) at a comparable rate.”
    Founded in 1950, the Boca Raton Museum Artists Guild has long provided an association for artists to share their work.
Today, the membership-based group is an auxiliary of the museum and organizes more than 20 juried exhibitions of artworks created by guild members throughout the year, in various locations.
    Membership details are available at www.bocaguild.org/index.php/join or by calling 278-7877.

Time to pull out the reading glasses. The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County’s ninth annual “one book, one community” reading campaign is underway and runs through early December.
    The aim of the campaign, called “Read Together Palm Beach County,” is to get adults to read the same book at the same time and to discuss the book.
    The program entices those who like to read, but don’t do it often, to get reading again.
    This year’s book is Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove (pronounced Oh-Veh), a story of unexpected friendships and a reminder that life is sweeter when shared.
    The Literacy Coalition and Read Together are hosting more than 30 events at various venues, including libraries, restaurants, theaters and museums. For details, see www.literacypbc.org/event/read-together-2017.
    The book can be purchased for $10 at The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, 3651 Quantum Blvd., Boynton Beach, and at Starbucks stores.
— Staff report

The Plate: Blueberry pancakes
The Place: John G’s, Plaza del Mar, 264 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan; 585-9860 or www.johngs.com.
The Price: $6.85 (cash only)
The Skinny: I love John G’s. The gazpacho is some of the best anywhere, served on ice with elaborate pepper garnishes. The Greek salads are good, too. And I know folks who go there when they have a yen for fried fish.
But I like the place for breakfast.
My mom will tell you there’s nothing like their bacon — crisp and juicy and smoky all at once. And the cinnamon-nut French toast has its fan base.
But I’m partial to the blueberry pancakes.
The lighter-than-air pancakes are bursting with blueberries, and the batter is not too sweet, so the berries shine. A regular stack almost is too much for me, but I manage.
Now, about that bacon. …

— Scott Simmons

By Dan Moffett

  South Palm Beach Town Manager Bob Vitas returned from a vacation in Europe thinking he would resolve the last details of his new contract at the Oct. 24 council meeting.

 Instead it turned out to be his last council meeting.

 In a swift and surprising move, the Town Council unanimously voted to fire Vitas without explanation or stated cause. The vote for a resolution of “no confidence” was 4-0, with Councilwoman Lucille Flagello absent.

 The council gave Vitas 15 minutes to clean out his desk, and he left the building without comment, escorted by Police Chief Carl Webb.

 “What just happened?” a resident in the audience asked.

 “He was the best town manager we’ve ever had,” said one longtime town employee.

  Another employee left the room in tears. A police officer shook his head and muttered a vulgarity. Vitas recently negotiated a new contract for the department that won glowing reviews from officers — and for that matter, council members.

  “It’s been very difficult. We will move forward,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “Bob did a lot of fine things for our town. But we decided to move on, and we wish him well. This is business. It’s nothing personal.”

  Vitas said he thought he had the council’s support until the day before the meeting when he called Fischer and detected a change in tone. Then he received an email from Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan that said she intended to introduce the no-confidence motion.

 “That came out of the blue,” he said. “There are no grounds, no basis for this.”

 But Vitas conceded that relations with the council, Jordan in particular, have grown more contentious during the last year. Hired in October 2015, the former Key West  manager earned enthusiastic praise from the council during his first year in South Palm Beach before things began to sour in 2017.

 Vitas said most of problems have been about money. During budget talks, he told the council he believed he was entitled to consideration for a merit raise and cost of living adjustment to his $103,000-a-year salary. Led by Jordan’s opposition, the council balked and ignored his requests.

 Vitas, 60, said he believes the council violated the town charter and his contract by not giving him a performance evaluation, despite his repeated requests for one.

 “There’s no doubt they’re in violation,” Vitas said.

 In recent weeks, the council’s complaints fell on smaller issues. Councilwoman Elvadianne Culbertson criticized Vitas for preventing her from making editorial changes to a story in the town’s newsletter.

 Town attorney Glen Torcivia said the contract Vitas signed two years ago allows for no severance pay and no allowance for termination without notice. He leaves with nothing.

 “I believe that my efforts over the past two years have resulted in a local government that today is fiscally responsible, transparent, accountable and efficient in delivery of our services to the public,” Vitas said in a written statement to the town, prepared before the meeting — a statement that also said, “The Town Council has been supportive and complimentary of my efforts…”

 Fischer said the town will begin the search immediately for a new manager. It will be the third search in the last three years.

 In late 2014, the town hired Jim Pascale of Princeton, N.J., to fill the manager’s job. Six months later he resigned after disputes with the council. The town went five months without an administrative executive until Vitas was hired.

 In September, the council accepted the resignation of Town Attorney Brad Biggs, who had held the job for 11 years. Biggs was forced out of the position after months of testy relations with the council, including several public clashes with Jordan.