This year, events will be held at six private homes, the Boca Raton Resort & Club and Mizner Park Amphitheater.  
ABOVE: Previous years’ events were held at the Boca Raton Airport. BELOW: As usual, fine wines, including sangria, will be in abundant supply. Photos provided

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

This year’s Boca Bacchanal, sporting some innovations, is expected to attract more than 1,500 people. The 14th Boca Bacchanal food and wine fest will be held April 8 and 9 as a fundraiser for the Boca Raton Historical Society.
    As in previous years, Friday is time for the Bacchanalia. It’s a food and wine extravaganza to be held at Mizner Park Amphitheater. Partygoers will be treated to sips of fine wines and menu samples from more than 30 restaurants.
    Saturday night, those who are lucky enough to have reserved seats will be hosted at one of six vintner dinners held in private homes as well as at the Boca Raton Resort and Club.
    During these, the attendees will learn about the wines they’ll be drinking from the vintners themselves. And each dinner menu will be the work of a nationally acclaimed chef imported for the evening.
    But for those who want to see what’s new this year, look no further than Friday night starting with the Bacchanalia VIP pre-party. At this exclusive kickoff event, you’ll get up close and personal with the six visiting vintners, including Janet Pouchot of Craggy Range winery, from New Zealand; Justin King of the King Estate Winery, in Eugene, Ore.; and William Barnes of Vins de Bordeaux, France.
    Of course, an auction is a big part of Bacchanalia. But for the first time this year, tech-savvy attendees will be able to take advantage of BidPal. It’s an app you can download onto your smartphone or tablet and use to preview auction items as well as keep track of and place bids from any place in the room.
    “That way you don’t have to interrupt your sipping and eating to keep up with the action on your favorite auction packages,” says Sarah Caro, communications representative for the event.
    But don’t worry. There’s no cutting-edge technology that is capable of keeping count of your restaurant and winery station visits throughout this special evening. Ú
    Ticket prices: Bacchanalia, $125 per person; VIP pre-party, $50 with purchase of Bacchanalia ticket; vintner dinner, $325, limited availability; Bacchanal package, $450.
    For more information and tickets, visit www.bocabacchanal.com.

By Steve Plunkett
    
The intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue may get one, two or three changes to improve traffic flow.
    Eric Czerniejewski, a project manager for consultant Calvin, Giordano and Associates, suggests restoring a left-turn lane for eastbound vehicles on Palmetto Park, taking property on the northeast corner through eminent domain, and adding a left-turn lane for northbound Fifth Avenue drivers who want to go west.
    If the city were to choose all three possibilities, Czerniejewski said at a public hearing March 23, average wait times at the sometimes-clogged intersection would drop by a cumulative 37.5 seconds.
    The consultant based his analysis on traffic figures the city collected in September and also got peak-season numbers through observations on March 11.
    “We also had aerial drones flown,” he said.
    Czerniejewski analyzed the traffic flow based on current demands as well as anticipated demands from projects that have been approved but not built, including Palmetto Promenade (Archstone), Boca Lofts, Chabad of East Boca, Hyatt Place Hotel, Tower One Fifty Five and a restaurant at the Wildflower site. He also added projections for 1.2 million square feet of space remaining in the downtown Development of Regional Impact area.
    By 2040, he said, drivers at the Palmetto Park/Fifth Avenue intersection will wait an average of 57.7 seconds. Not building a restaurant at the Wildflower site would cut the wait only one-tenth of a second, he said.
    By comparison, the current average wait at Palmetto Park Road and A1A is 19.4 seconds; at Palmetto Park Road and Federal Highway it’s 131.2 seconds.
    Residents at a hearing in November gave their highest priorities to having wider sidewalks and more, safer bicycle lanes at Palmetto Park and Fifth, examining the valet operation at the Trattoria Romano restaurant on the northwest corner, and taking some land on the northeast corner by eminent domain to make right turns from westbound Palmetto easier.
    Czerniejewski recommended that Boca Raton enforce the valet parking agreement it has with Trattoria Romano. He said he observed the valet parkers putting cones on the public sidewalk on the west side of Northeast Fifth and also saw “conflicts” at its southernmost driveway.
    Restoring the left-turn lane from eastbound Palmetto to northbound Fifth Avenue saved the most money — $3.8 million a year — as calculated by drivers’ time spent waiting, Czerniejewski said. The option would also cut the queue of vehicles at the intersection from almost 21 to nine for through traffic and 11 for those turning left.
    An option many neighborhood residents favored, adding a right-turn lane from southbound Fifth Avenue onto westbound Palmetto Park, would save only $89,435 in drivers’ time spent waiting, he said.
    Czerniejewski plans to bring a final report to the City Council sometime in May.

By Sallie James

    Boca Raton is spending about $3.5 million to replace, install and maintain a state-of-the-art public safety radio system.
    City Council members in March voted to contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. for the system. Both the city and county are replacing their radio systems with hi-tech wireless communications systems.
    Boca is piggybacking on a county proposal for the radio system’s installation. The contract includes 15 years of maintenance and other costs.
    The new system is “P25 compliant,” a standard for the manufacturing of wireless communication systems that can work with other systems.
    “The new P25 radio system will afford us total interoperability throughout the county,” said Boca Raton Police spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg. “The current system, although 16 years old, is and has been extremely reliable, but the new system will give us better coordination with the other agencies, which in turn will enable us to be more efficient and effective.”
    According to the city, the “public radio system provided by Motorola through this contract is a turnkey project that includes equipment, services, software and installation.”
    A breakdown of the costs follows:
    • $1.7 million for equipment, software, services and installation;
    • $1.5 million for annual maintenance for years two through 16 of the contract;
    • $300,000 for lifecycle costs, including software upgrades and technology updates. Ú

By Sallie James

When it rains, it pours, which it did late in March inside City Hall when heavy storms blew through southern Palm Beach County and a clogged roof drain caused a huge leak.
During a driving rainstorm on March 24, rainwater pooled on a second-floor flat roof, sending water pouring through the second-floor ceiling and then onto the first floor at City Hall, at 201 W. Palmetto Park Road, said city spokeswoman Chrissy Biagiotti.
The result? A watery mess that caused more than 2 inches of water to pool on the first and second floors of City Hall. The soggy deluge displaced recreation services and risk management employees from their offices and temporarily shut down the one-stop customer service center.
“Thankfully we didn’t have computer and electrical damage,” Biagiotti said. “Restoration crews came in immediately and began their process of blowing fans, etc. There is no estimate on damages yet.”
“It’s crazy,” said City Council member Jeremy Rodgers, who was out of town and missed the flood. “I heard it happened because leaves gummed up the downspout. It just shows how maintenance is important.”
The storm kept Boca Raton Fire Rescue hopping. All 16 units from the city’s eight stations were busy all night answering calls, said Fire Department spokesman Aaron Oatley.
Buildings in other parts of the city also had flooding problems.
At the Town Center at Boca Raton mall at 6000 Glades Road, the heavy storms sent rain pouring through rear doors and into several stores, causing unwanted rivulets and puddles spread throughout.
Employees at Marciano women’s clothing store said their shop in the mall flooded when water poured in through a back room during the height of the storm.
“We had to evacuate customers out of the store. It [was so deep] it covered my foot. The floors were completely soaked. Water got under the tile,” said Marciano’s assistant manager Bea Lopez. Fortunately, no merchandise was damaged, she said.
Yankee Candle assistant manager Sandy Alvarez said the front of her store got wet but everything was fine.
“People were walking through puddles, especially near the food court,” Alvarez said. “In some areas there was enough water to cover your shoes.”
Business was back to normal the next day.
Flooding was also reported at Florida Atlantic University in the library area.

Highland Beach residents will have a chance to register their pets with the town’s Police Department, shred old documents and also enjoy hotdogs and sodas during the town’s Spring Fling Community Event from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 16.
    Highland Beach’s version of a community block party, the Spring Fling will be held in the Town Hall parking lot.
    “This is a chance for our residents to get together for a fun and informational event,” said Town Clerk Valerie Oakes.
    The event is, in part, a response to requests from residents who were hoping the town would sponsor an event where documents could be shredded. Commissioners and town staff decided to take it to the next level and add other activities, including arts and crafts and face painting for children as well as blood pressure checks for adults.
    In addition, residents can also have their pets photographed by the Police Department, with the photos then entered into a database to make recovery of lost — or found — pets easier. Organizers also hope to have a few pets, available for adoption, on hand.
    For more information, visit the town’s website, www.highlandbeach.us or call Town Hall at 278-4548.   
— Rich Pollack

Dredging operations to renourish the central beach area of Boca Raton were set to begin March 29, the city said.
Contractor Weeks Marine Inc. will dredge approximately 530,000 cubic yards of sand from two borrow areas about 2,500 feet offshore and place it on the beach immediately south of Red Reef Park and continuing south to the Boca Raton Inlet. The project area is about 1.45 miles long. Construction operations will occur on a 24/7 basis until the project is completed.
The city is posting updates on its website, www.myboca.us. Click on “Central Beach Renourishment Project.”
— Steve Plunkett

A marine turtle specialist extracts eggs from the nest in South Beach Park. The eggs were relocated to Red Reef Park so a beach renourishment project would not disturb them. Photos courtesy of city of Boca Raton

By Steve Plunkett

    A leatherback sea turtle has made it official: Nesting season has begun.
Marine turtle specialists from the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center discovered Boca Raton’s first sea turtle nest of the season just after sunrise March 24 in South Beach Park. Due to the beach renourishment project in that area, the leatherback nest was relocated outside of the project zone to Red Reef Park. A total of 96 eggs and 23 “spacers,” or yolkless eggs, were found in the egg chamber. The mother leatherback also left two spacers in the center of her track on the way back to the ocean.
A second leatherback nest was discovered March 28.
    Turtle eggs take about two months to hatch.

ABOVE: Children climb on the leatherback exhibit at Gumbo Limbo during Sea Turtle Day. BELOW: Photo enthusiasts check out one of the many festival exhibits. Photos by Tim ­Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Gumbo Limbo marked the start of the season March 5 with its annual Sea Turtle Day, which drew 6,000 people, said Jim Miller, president of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo, which organizes the festival.
“Some long lines, but I think everybody was enjoying themselves. The weather was good. It was a really good day,” Miller said.
    Nesting season for sea turtles in South Florida is March 1 to Oct. 31. Boca Raton’s daily count is posted at www.gumbolimbo.org/nesting. Last year there were 718 loggerhead nests, 298 green turtle nests and 25 leatherback nests.
    The Green Turtle Gallop, a 10K run benefiting Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle rehabilitation facility, will be at 7:15 a.m. April 3 at Spanish River Park. A 1-mile fun run will be at 7:20.
    Much-needed medical equipment bought with proceeds from previous races includes two blood centrifuges, Doppler heart monitors, electrocautery scalpel units, and an endoscope and endoscope biopsy tool.

By Steven J. Smith

HIGHLAND BEACH — Walter Janke remembered his wife, Maria, as a kind and thoughtful woman who constantly placed the needs of others above her own.
“That’s just the type of person she was,” Mr. Janke said. “She was a caring person. Helping people in need. That was her calling.”
Mrs. Janke, of Highland Beach, passed away March 14 after a bout with pancreatic cancer. She was 72.
Maria Dougherty was born May 25, 1943, in Orange, N.J. She attended Our Lady of the Valley High School and graduated in the class of 1960. She went on to Katharine Gibbs College, a secretarial school, and Boston College.
Mr. Janke said he met his wife through work.
“We both worked for companies owned by Litton Industries and we met at a Christmas party,” he said. “She was a very pretty gal. Our first date was on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. We went to McGovern’s, an Irish bar and restaurant in Newark, N.J. I called her the next day and took her to the St. Patrick’s Day parade. We dated three years and were married on January 16, 1965. We were married for 51 years.”
The couple moved to Highland Beach in 2005 after Mr. Janke retired.
“We liked it there,” he said. “Highland Beach has wonderful people. We spent seven months out of the year in Florida and five in New Jersey. We came here for the warm weather and we like the people. Maria enjoyed going to the Highland Beach Library. She and I also took on the coordination of social activities in our community. Early on, Maria volunteered at the Boca Raton Hospital, where she worked in their prenatal area. She would also take care of newborn babies.”
Mrs. Janke’s volunteerism evolved from her work as assistant vice president of the Crum & Forester Organization, a subsidiary of the Xerox Corporation.
“She ran their foundation,” Mr. Janke said. “At the time, it was a million-dollar foundation that donated money to the community and community-served organizations such as Goodwill and the American Cancer Society. She would choose the organization and how much they would get.”
Mr. Janke added his wife served as co-chairwoman of the United Way’s professional and employee campaign and worked with the Saint Clare’s Hospital Development Committee, the American Heart Association, St. Elizabeth College, the County College of Morris, the Morris County Chamber of Commerce and the 200 Club of Morris County, N.J.
“She was on so many boards and had so much good will that the Zonta Club of Morristown, N.J., picked her as 1992 Woman of the Year,” he said.
Known as “Mimi” to her grandchildren, Mrs. Janke also loved making her home and her family the center of her world.
“She was not just a professional person,” Mr. Janke said. “She loved entertaining, cooking, planting flowers, making the house look nice. She was a fun-loving person who always had a great smile.”
Mr. Janke said his wife would be remembered most for her selflessness and friendliness.
“She always greeted you with a smile,” he said. “She was so good to people. Didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She was a wonderful person.”
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Janke is survived by their three children, Thomas, Laura and David; her sister, Cathy Crisafulli; and 10 grandchildren.
The funeral was held on March 18. She was interred at Restland Memorial Park in East Hanover, N.J. Instead of flowers, the family has asked that donations go to local hospice organizations and/or the American Cancer Society.

Thirty-four people join hands in a show of unity against the threat a proposed four-story house at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. poses to the marine ecosystem and wildlife that depend on beach and dune habitats. Photo provided
Yolanda and Lou Uzel, residents of 2519 N. Ocean Blvd., look over  plans for the designated construction site at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. The sign was posted by  the organization Boca Save Our Beaches, which is urging the city to purchase the property to prevent anything from being built on it. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

More than 1,000 attendees welcomed celebrity emcee Goldie Hawn to the 54th annual Boca Raton Regional Hospital black-tie gala, which raised $1 million to benefit the new Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute, opening later this year. Honorary Chairwoman Elaine Wold was recognized for gifting the institute. LEFT: Wold with Dr. Randy Scheen. Photo provided by Downtown Photo

More than 600 turned out for the first Kravis event of the season. The crowd enjoyed banter by ArtSmart Co-Chairman Lee Wolf and special guest Julie Gilbert, who spoke about the life and wit of screenwriter Nora Ephron, of ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ fame. ABOVE: (seated, l-r) Carolyne Levy, Susan Kaskel, Marjorie Goldbaum, Iris Weingarten, (standing) Renee Ball and Marilyn Davimos. Photo provided by Corby Kaye’s Studio

More than 260 people attended the inaugural My Israel Center — Bringing Israel Home gala. Defender of Israel award recipient Alan Dershowitz delivered an impassioned defense of Israel in his keynote address, as well as an unequivocal pledge to defend Chabad of East Boca Raton’s right to build the MIC at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road. Ocean Ridge resident Ken Lebersfeld with his family received the MIC L’Dor V’Dor Award (From Generation to Generation). ABOVE: (L-r) Ahuva New, Rabbi Ruvi New, Ken Lebersfeld, Joan (Lebersfeld) Silver, Dershowitz, Adele Lebersfeld, Eric Lebersfeld, Herman Lebersfeld. Photo provided by Gina Fontana​

Breeze Ocean Kitchen, a restaurant concept led by Executive Chef Josh Thomsen, welcomed more than 200 guests to sample the fare. On the menu were The Hound and Bahama Mama, both hand-crafted cocktails, and ceviche, mahi-mahi and paella. ABOVE: (l-r) Michael and Kelly Gottlieb with Nick Gold, the resort’s director of public relations. Photo provided by Capehart

Seasonal Ocean Ridge resident Karen Hudgin (left) placed first in the juried Ocean Ridge Art Show. Twenty-seven professional and emerging artists participated in the event. With a passion for wildlife art, it is no surprise Hudgin’s work, titled ‘The Great Egret’, sold the night of the exhibit opening. Photo provided

The Learning Experience, one of the nation’s fastest-growing early-education academies for children up to age 6, opened its global headquarters and fifth location in Palm Beach County. LEFT: Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie and The Learning Experience CEO and Chairman Richard Weissman. Photo provided

Business, community and healthcare leaders gathered to pay tribute to Dr. Michael Dennis, who was honored by Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. Dennis is founding chairman of the college’s advisory board. RIGHT: (l-r) Bonnie Halperin, June Gelb, Larry and Robin Nagle and Dr. Ira Gelb. Photo provided

A vibrant celebration honored architect Roy Simon, who was responsible for restoring the club’s historic building. More than 150 guests watched as Simon received a plaque of appreciation. ‘Roy has always been there to help us, and we thank him for everything he did for us,’ says Lillian Ostiguy, gala committee member. ABOVE: (l-r) Club President Michele Walter, Ostiguy, Simon and gala Chairwoman Stephanie Steiner. Photo provided

Wayside House’s annual fundraiser broke all previous attendance records with more than 3,000 attendees during the three-day event. The preview party also broke records with some 250 attendees who were able to shop and enjoy hors d’oeuvres prior to the public opening. Money raised helps Wayside provide addiction-treatment services to women. ABOVE: (l-r) Betsy Ortlip, Lisa Jankowski and Tina Jemison. Photo provided

Place of Hope’s families and supporters — men and women alike — celebrated the Super Bowl at an elite training facility for athletes. A nutritious meal and energizing auction benefited the children and young adults in the organization’s care. ABOVE: (l-r) Tiel Villani, Laura Campbell, Lisa McDulin, Andrea Reid, Denise Day, Leticia Butkevits, Jennifer Lentoski and Karen Baker. Photo provided