Related story: Senate seats changing as well

By Joel Engelhardt

For the past decade, coastal residents have had a single Florida House member representing them in Tallahassee. 
This year that’s going to change.
Somewhat mournfully, state Rep. Mike Caruso is saying goodbye to most of his long, narrow coastal district, which included voters from Boca Raton to South Palm Beach and beyond.
Those coastal communities instead will be covered by three House districts drawn horizontally, so that coastal residents will be competing for their representative’s attention with residents from as far west as Florida’s Turnpike in one district and Military Trail in another.
That’s not all bad, political observers say, pointing out that coastal residents will have three advocates in the state House where they now have one, as the House and Senate redraw the maps to account for population shifts identified in the decennial census.  
“Having three representatives giving you attention is probably a bonus,” said Boca-based County Commissioner Robert Weinroth, who for years has seen that play out with three House members representing the city of Boca Raton and west Boca.
The key is that coastal residents vote and contribute to campaigns, said longtime campaign consultant Matthew Isbell. They are an especially important voting bloc in districts that aren’t dominated by a single political party. 
“From a purely political perspective, both (Districts) 87 and 91 are going to be completely fine when it comes to beach issues because in those narrowly (split) districts every vote matters, whether it’s inland or on the beach,” Isbell said. 
The downside is the loss of expertise required to master issues unique to the coastal communities, said Highland Beach Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman, who is running as a Republican for the new House District 91 seat.
“That’s an advantage to have one person to affect the beach, intertributary canals and so forth,” she said. “Chopping it up will put a number of (representatives) in that same community so it would take the three working together to achieve what one person did previously.”
South County coastal residents will have three members in the state Senate as well, as the Senate maps approved by the Legislature in early February also cut horizontally, creating Senate districts for Boca Raton, Boynton-Delray and points north. 
For Caruso, a Republican who represents District 89, it’s bittersweet. He’ll be forced to establish a residence farther north to run in a Republican-leaning District 87 that starts at the Boynton Inlet and covers Hypoluxo, Lantana, Manalapan and South Palm Beach, as well as large swaths of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, before ending at Marcinski Road in Jupiter. 
The district went 49.8% for then-President Donald Trump and 49.5% for Joe Biden in 2020, but as of 2020 had a slight edge in Republican registration, figures provided on the Legislature’s redistricting website show.
His new district’s voting-age population would be 71.9% white, 7.5% black and 15.8% Hispanic, legislative calculations show, which is less white than the 2010 figures for his current district (80% white, 7.6% black and 9.5% Hispanic). 
“It saddens me the way that redistricting has come on forces me to have to move,” Caruso said.
Caruso has lived in the South County coastal area for 35 years, and he said he’s not ready to give up all his ties: He’ll hold on to his beachfront condo in Delray Beach.
Caruso has no plans to abandon the Republican Party after the county’s Republican Executive Committee censured him in February for his endorsement of a Democrat, Katherine Waldron, for a House seat in a predominantly Democratic district. The local party officials asked state party leadership to prohibit Caruso from running as a Republican ever again, a step he said the state party assured him it would not take. 
The Democratic leanings of the new District 90 covering Delray Beach and Boynton Beach didn’t work for him. “They turned that into a plus-22 (point) Democratic seat,” he said. “So I can’t stay there.”
Legislative calculations show 60.5% support in the new district for Biden in 2020 and 38.8% for Trump.
That seat is where incumbent Joe Casello, a Democrat, plans to run. Coastal representation is new territory for Casello, who points out that his old District 90 didn’t go east of Interstate 95.
That being said, he pointed to his long ties to the area and his time on the Boynton Beach City Commission. “I’m excited about it,” he said.
The district would go from the northern tip of Highland Beach to the Boynton Inlet and west to Military Trail. The Legislature calculated the voting-age population as 58.5% white, 24% black and 13.3% Hispanic.
As for having three members? “We all work as a team up here. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. This way you have three voices here,” Casello said.
Farther south, Boca Raton and Highland Beach fall into District 91, Emily Slosberg-King’s seat that used to run entirely inland. The new map has it encompassing all of Boca Raton and much of west Boca, as well as the coast to nearly the Delray Beach line.
Slosberg-King, a Democrat, has announced she will not run again, setting off a surge of interest in the district that voted 52% for Biden in 2020 and 47.5% for Trump and has a voting-age population of 71.5% white, 6% black and 14% Hispanic.
A day after Slosberg-King’s announcement, Boca Raton Councilman Andy Thomson said he would run in District 91 as a Democrat. Gossett-Seidman and west Boca resident Christina DuCasse moved quickly, too, saying they would seek the Republican nomination. 
A fourth South County seat, District 92, would be carved out of the area’s western fringe, running from the Broward line north to Hypoluxo Road. Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Democrat, would be seeking her second term in that district.
The state’s 120 House districts contain about 180,000 people each while the 40 Senate districts contain about 538,000 people each. Legislators are required to redraw the maps every 10 years to keep the districts uniform in population.

Related story: New map carves barrier island into three districts for state House

By Joel Engelhardt

Despite the larger size of Senate districts, the southernmost section of Boca Raton (south of Glades Road) would fall into a Senate District 30 dominated by Broward County residents. Voters in the district, which went 60-40 for Joe Biden in 2020, could be asked to pick between incumbent Democrats Gary Farmer and Tina Polsky.
Sen. Lori Berman, a Democrat, holds the Delray-Boynton District 31 now, which runs from Highland Beach to South Palm Beach along the coast. She would lose several coastal communities in a new District 26, which would extend along the beach from Glades Road to the Boynton Inlet. It would go farther west than her current district, spanning the whole county to take in Belle Glade and South Bay. 
The voting-age population would be 65% white, 15.8% black and 14.5% Hispanic.
District residents voted 58-41 for Biden.
Farther north, District 24 would start at the Boynton Inlet and stretch along the coast through Hypoluxo, Lantana, Manalapan and South Palm Beach all the way to PGA Boulevard, roughly approximating Sen. Bobby Powell’s current District 30. The district went 62-38 for Biden.
The new maps passed with bipartisan support in the Florida Senate and the Florida House.
Unlike congressional maps, the state House and Senate maps are not reviewable by the governor. The last stop before they become law is the Florida Supreme Court.

Tristen Willis, 10, studies the board as he competes with Deb Peters at the Delray Beach Pavilion. It’s part of James McCray’s effort to teach chess, mainly to young players. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

By 9 a.m. on a recent Saturday, well before the parking lots filled and beachgoers crowded State Road A1A and Atlantic Avenue, James McCray and Samuel Spear Jr. were busy preparing the Delray Beach Pavilion. They arranged a basket of bananas, apples and mandarin oranges. Filled a bucket with bottles of iced tea and purified water. Displayed the T-shirts neatly.
Then they positioned seven small folding tables and chairs along the Pavilion’s rail and placed a chessboard and hand sanitizer on each.
Finally, McCray hung the banner. “Community That Plays Together Stays Together/James Chess Club, Est. 2020.”
“The appeal of chess is love,” he said. “When you learn to love a game, you learn to love yourself.”
Since June 2020, James McCray has taught twice-weekly chess games for boys and girls at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum on Northwest Fifth Avenue. The children think they’re learning how to play a game.
McCray, 72, believes they’re learning how to live a life. “In both chess and life, the only opportunity for growth comes from experience,” he reasons. “With experience, you get better at both chess and life.”
On Dec. 29, McCray arranged to set up at the Pavilion, his first effort at spreading his love of chess, and life, to the larger community. This Feb. 19 event was his second downtown gathering.

James McCray plays chess with Samuel Spear Jr.

Chess vs. life decisions
Tables set, refreshments ready, McCray and Spear waited for players to appear.
“It’s all in the hand of God,” McCray said.
And they waited some more. James McCray’s fledgling effort to make chess a public pastime in Delray Beach has noble predecessors.
In 2017, a chess enthusiast in the Netherlands named Jesus Medina Molina set up three chess sets in a public park in the city of Utrecht, and “The Urban Chess Project” was born. To date, more than 40 cities throughout the Netherlands have followed Utrecht’s example and placed games in their public parks. New York City’s Washington Square Park is famous for its outdoor chess tables, where fabled master Bobby Fischer once played, and Chicago offers chess tables in four of its public parks.
The most famous outdoor chess game dates to 1454 in the northern Italian city of Marostica. Sept. 12, 1454, to be exact. According to the story, two noblemen fell in love with Lionora, a daughter of the local lord, Taddeo Parisio, and challenged each other to a duel for her hand.
However, Parisio was a peaceful man, so he decreed that they would play a game of chess rather than risking bloodshed, with the winner winning Lionora and the loser her younger sister, Oldrada. The moves of that game, and the winner, are lost to history, but on Sept. 12 in even-numbered years, thousands gather in Marostica’s town square to watch human chess pieces re-create that legendary game on a chessboard 58 feet long on each side.
McCray is happy if he can keep his Pavilion tables busy with his students and passersby enjoying a game he’s played for 50 years.
“Same old story,” he says. “We had neighborhood games, and chess was different from basketball and baseball. I went for chess because I don’t like to be hit.”
Eddie Rodgers, 69, a West Palm Beach native, has been playing chess with McCray for 40 years.
“James uses chess for his life decisions,” says Rodgers, whose father taught him the game. “To me, it’s a game first, but I realize its importance in making life decisions. Some pieces are more or less important in your life, just as some decisions you make are more or less important.” Samuel Spear Jr. is a relative newcomer, having played only 11 years.
“It brings people together,” he says, “and you can pause a minute. You can just sit there and study the board. It’s not like some games, where you have to go crazy.”

‘It’s a mindset game’
Shortly after 10 a.m., Mary McKinzy of Riviera Beach arrived with her grandchildren, Tristen Willis, 9, and Taya Willis, 6.
Tristen, a third-grader at Trinity Christian School, is the chess player. Taya nibbled an apple.
“I play golf, too,” he announced. “I like both. With golf, I get to play with people, and when I get bored I can play chess alone.”
This Saturday morning, he played chess with Deb Peters, a retired elementary school teacher from Long Island who taught computer chess to 500 kids. Chin in hand, he studied the board. He frowned. He moved. She frowned. She moved. They moved.
Does he smell victory?
“I sure do,” he said, and his sense of smell proved true. They shook hands. Peters was gracious in defeat.
“Did you let him win?” a cynical spectator asked.
“Absolutely not!” she exclaimed.
“It’s fun to win,” Tristen said in a postgame interview, “but even if I lose I’m happy because I got to play. And even if you lost, you can always win the next one.”
This is one of the life lessons McCray wants to impart.
“I try to teach the little ones you don’t have to always be successful to be happy,” he says. “And you will lose sometimes. But make sure you don’t give up.”
Now Thomas Norris arrived with his son, Ethan, 9, a third-grader at Boca Raton Elementary School.
“James taught me to play,” Ethan said. “It’s a mindset game, not like video games like Fortnite and Call of Duty. I play those games, but not as much. I get bored. I never get bored with chess.”
What he’s learned, Ethan said, is that chess has three kinds of moves: dumb moves, great moves and reasonable moves.
“Never make a dumb move or a bad move,” he said. “Don’t give your pieces away, and don’t rush. Take your time.”
Patience is another life lesson McCray teaches through chess.
“Be patient and appreciate every moment,” he tells young players, “both in life and in chess. And either way, you’re going to lose someday.”
Ethan played until his father returned with a burger and fries to interrupt the game. Ethan ate the burger and fries, then fell asleep on a bench.

William Horan and Matthew Heles play chess at the Delray Beach Pavilion. They walked up from the beach and found the chess event in progress.

As morning turned to afternoon, a few more players appeared, a few kids, and even more adults, passersby who stopped for a quick game in the Pavilion’s shade.
Among them was a large pink flamingo named Matthew Heles, 19.
Climbing the Pavilion steps from the beach, Heles wore one of those inflatable flamingo costumes, cleverly tricked out to make it appear he’s riding the giant flamingo. He was accompanied by his friend William Horan, 27, dressed like a normal human being.
“Chess is great for learning patience,” Heles said, “and learning to think ahead. I’m very impulsive — obviously, I’m wearing a pink flamingo costume — so it’s good for me to sit down.”
Heles and Horan sat down and played a game.
The flamingo won.

The James Chess Club meets Thursdays 5-7 p.m. and Saturdays noon-2 p.m. at the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, 170 NW Fifth Ave., Delray Beach. Lessons are for children, but all ages are welcome to play. For more information, call 561-352-7145.

Goodwill has long been the bedrock of our community newspaper. Yes, we provide news, information and entertainment for our readers, but our foundation is based on the goodwill we receive from the businesses and residents in our coastal communities.
Much of this approval and support has been developed by the newspaper’s commitment to providing quality on every single page, every single month.
As the years (almost 15!) have rolled along we’ve juggled and honed the paper to accommodate the needs of the community as best we can. For the most part, the feedback you’ve provided has been our guide as we’ve moved forward year-to-year.
This month, unfortunately, we find ourselves doing a little downsizing.
Our business has not bounced back from the pandemic as robustly as we anticipated. As a result, we are scaling back the range of calendar items offered each month in our print edition and will only list events that happen within the geographic boundaries of our distribution area: south of Lake Worth Beach, north of Deerfield Beach and east of Interstate 95.
The Palm Beach ArtsPaper in our Around Town section is a separate publication. It will continue to list a select number of events without geographic limitations.
As we reduce our costs by limiting the length of the calendars and the newsprint required to print them, we are expanding the free event listings on our website (www.thecoastalstar.com) and will be happy to show event organizers how to input their own online calendar listings. Just send an email to admin@thecoastalstar.com.
We are making this change to increase income and control expenses to ensure our ability to continue publishing.
We are making this adjustment in good faith and hope by doing so we continue to engender your goodwill.
To make a tax-deductible donation in support of our community journalism, visit https://fpf.column.us/the-coastal-star.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Sandy Sexton, a Fuller Center volunteer since 2018, has ensured that hundreds of children get ‘the treatments, interventions and education they need,’ Fuller CEO Ellyn Okrent says. Photo provided

By Jan Engoren

Working with children is a passion for Sandy Sexton, a retired speech pathologist for the Palm Beach County School District and resident of Carriage Hill in Boca Raton.
Once she retired in 2018, Sexton continued her work pro bono at the Fuller Center in Boca Raton to get children the services they need. Many of the children come from underserved homes, where parents may be working and/or not able to provide adequately for their children.
“I volunteer because the staff works so hard to do the best for the children,” Sexton says. “The parents want the best for their children but may have limited means.
“My work helps the kids get the step up that they need. When you see the expression on their faces when they’re learning and their eyes open up, they smile a wonderful smile and there’s a brightness in their faces.”
That’s the best part of her work, she says.
Sexton, 71, recalls a 4-year-old boy who had severe dental issues that sometimes hindered his ability to eat and speak. When she learned the parents did not have the resources to procure treatment, Sexton reached out to the Sunrise Rotary Club, where she is a member and past volunteer of the year, and located a colleague and pediatric dentist who provided some information and direction for when treatment woud be most appropriate.
Additionally, she encouraged her fellow Rotarians to help paint classrooms at the Fuller Center West site and to assemble more than 150 bikes for the children that were donated by Boca West Children’s Foundation.She participated in these activities which were initiated and coordinated through the Sunrise Rotary Club.
Her other volunteer activities have included Boca Helping Hands Family Feeding Night, Spirit of Giving, Global Volunteers (Cuba) and the Caridad Ball Committee (2020).
Another satisfying memory for Sexton was helping a 3-year-old child who fell from a tree. He was diagnosed with agenesis of the corpus callosum, a congenital brain abnormality that can cause intellectual deficiencies.
Sexton found services for him, allowing him to enter kindergarten with the language skills he needed to succeed.
“Do something to make someone else’s life better,” says Sexton. “That’s my motto. That’s why I volunteer.”
Ellyn Okrent, CEO of the Fuller Center, says that “we are so grateful for Sandy’s priceless gifts. Her most significant contribution was teaching us how to identify children with special needs and how to work with the school system to get them assessed and to access the services and interventions they need.
“Sandy’s gift of wisdom and expertise has ensured that hundreds of children are receiving the treatments, interventions and education they need,” Okrent says.
Sexton, a native of St. Louis, grew up in an era when women were supposed to be housewives, teachers or nurses, but she knew she wanted something else.
In retrospect, she credits her parents, both children of the Depression, with being the role models who shaped her.
“The strength they exhibited made me who I am today,” says Sexton, a Daughters of the American Revolution member whose family traces its roots back to England and Henry VIII. While studying her genealogy, she discovered one of her great-great-grandfathers was a stone mason who helped build the Anheuser-Busch plant in St. Louis.
An inveterate traveler, Sexton has been to 50 countries and says that Peru with its “mystical culture” is her favorite.
In 2015 she traveled to Cuba and was so enamored by the country and its people she returned the following year to teach English to children through a Global Volunteers program.
This year, she returned from a trip to Morocco, where she camped in the Sahara Desert and watched the sun set.
She has hiked to Machu Picchu via the Inca trail in Peru twice and hopes to hike it again. She has plans to hike in Bhutan. She planned to go to Easter Island this year, but the trip was canceled because of the coronavirus. Next year she hopes to visit Japan for cherry blossom season.
Closer to home, Sexton, a widow with one daughter (a tax attorney in Washington, D.C.), enjoys going to the beach, playing pickleball twice a week, riding her bike and swimming.
Sexton says she’s motivated by the joy she sees on kids’ faces when they learn something new.
“Seeing their eyes light up, seeing them be successful and feeling good about themselves is what makes me happy and keeps me going,” she says.

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or call 561-337-1553.

By Joe Capozzi

Residents in Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge can expect to see more police activity this year — and a greater chance police will stop them — because of a new program aimed at deterring potential criminals from “casing” those towns. 
“We want to create an environment ... where criminals don’t feel welcome to come here,’’ Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones told Briny’s Town Council on Feb. 24. 
“We want our presence to overwhelm them and every time they drive through the area we want them to see a police car with flashing lights on it with people pulled over.’’  
The proactive approach, launched Jan. 10 in response to a rash of car thefts and boat burglaries in Ocean Ridge and neighboring Briny Breezes, calls for officers to initiate action without being dispatched to a call, said Jones, whose department provides police services to Briny Breezes under a contract with the town.
That increases the likelihood drivers will be pulled over for seat-belt violations, broken taillights and rolling through stop signs.
At times “you may be more likely to be stopped because of a traffic infraction,’’ Jones said. “You’re probably not going to get a citation depending on your demeanor with the officer. You’re probably going to get a warning. However, if you are criminal in nature, if you’re here for the wrong reasons, you don’t belong, you will probably get a citation and you may go to jail.’’
From Jan. 10 to Feb. 1, police made 347 incident reports in Briny Breezes. In January 2021, that number was “well below 100,’’ Jones told the council. He didn’t offer specific numbers for Ocean Ridge, but said incident reports there jumped “about 600% in January.’’
It’s too early to declare the program a success, Jones said in an interview after the meeting, but he pointed out that there had been no car or boat thefts since the program took effect.
Jones said police always encounter people who complain about being stopped for what they perceive as minor infractions. But he said he believes residents in both towns will welcome the new program.
In a related matter, Briny Breezes will consider installing a license plate recognition camera at the south end of town later this year. 
There’s a camera on the north end, at Cordova Avenue and State Road A1A, but it can’t capture images on the south end of town, Jones told the council.
Ocean Ridge has four LPR cameras and plans to add four more. A camera on the south end of Briny Breezes would “completely encapsulate both Briny and Ocean Ridge into one single LPR system that really gives us the coverage we need,’’ the chief said.

In other Briny Breezes news:
• The council held a moment of silence to honor former Alderwoman Nancy Boczon, who died Feb. 15. She served on the council from 2008-14. “What I remember most about Nancy was how helpful she was. She knew everything,’’ council President Sue Thaler said. “And her cats, Trixie, Pixie, Dixie, I can’t remember how many she had. One after the other with ‘ixie’ names. Very clever.’’
• The council’s annual organizational meeting will be 3 p.m. March 15 at Town Hall.
• The council will consider appointments to the Planning and Zoning board on March 24. Interested residents should contact the town clerk.

Delray Beach is in a dire state of overcrowding and developers are in denial by ignoring its severity.
To borrow from the movie Don’t Look Up, why not “Look Around!”
What do you see?
There are buildings under construction now, at peak season, causing detours at every turn.
There’s the Atlantic Intracoastal bridge rising and closing while traffic builds up, resulting in a massive tie-up of cars. And to top it off, bike lanes are being added to narrow roads, leaving drivers to creep behind cyclists.
Then what happens? 
Road rage causes a driver to peel out and come close to hitting an oncoming vehicle.
Is this what you call progress? Turning our charming “village by the sea” into a nightmarish “metropolis by the sea”?
What does it matter that tourists have to spend a substantial part of their limited vacation time trapped in traffic?
Profits have been made and those who raked in the money now run to other potentially lucrative locations.
You don’t believe this is serious? What measures, if any, are being taken to address this volume of traffic?
Isn’t it obvious this problem will only get worse once the Atlantic Crossing project is completed? Who will be able to “cross” Atlantic Avenue anymore?
And have you considered the impact this will have on first responders en route to an emergency?
Are you aware of the decline in tourism coming once word gets out? What city dweller, eager for escape from the raucous urban life, wants to land in the same situation on vacation? And what becomes of the Delray residents simply wanting to maintain a peaceful environment?
Wake up!
Look around! Reality is here; it’s a done deal.

— Mary Licata
Highland Beach

It’s very simple. Andrews Avenue in Delray Beach is (together with its side streets) no longer a safe thoroughfare for anyone, due to overcrowded beach access and insufficient recreational parking zones.
Safety is a No. 1 priority regarding traffic mobility — from simple pedestrian passersby to extenuating circumstances that emergency vehicles must contend with to perform their services. The public welfare is at stake here and municipal taxes are paid by everyone to ensure it.
The lack of distinct signage along Andrews Avenue and where needed along the side streets illustrates this inevitable problem.
The south end of Delray Beach has three public parking lots assigned to it; the north end is at a loss for one. Perhaps the lot occupied by the Florida Inland Navigational District could be modified to accommodate both the beachgoer and the environment, similar to the parking facilities at MacArthur Park on Singer Island and Spanish River Park in Boca Raton.
Meanwhile, the pressure continues to build on Andrews Avenue and adjacent streets. It is a problem that all of Delray Beach, sooner or later, must solve.

— James Stonehouse
Delray Beach

In March, the Florida Coalition for Preservation will celebrate its 15th year of community service.
We began in response to a neighborhood crisis. In 2007, a Canadian firm had made a “too good to be true” offer to acquire the tiny town of Briny Breezes, replacing the historic trailer park with a high-rise development serving up to 5,000 residents, guests and staff.
Barrier island citizens rapidly galvanized state and local government support to defeat the proposed plan.
But it was apparent at the time that the “sleepy” oceanfront area from Delray to Ocean Ridge was ripe for radical change. The FCFP board decided to stay in business as long as external pressures threatened the lifestyle of folks living near the ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.
Since its inception, well over a thousand households have donated funds to the coalition as it expanded its reach to address a host of environmental and growth issues affecting stakeholder communities.
For example, we helped to establish a Rising Waters Task Force to cope with potential impact of change in sea levels — literally on a block-by-block basis in our area of Palm Beach County. Select findings of the task force are now being implemented throughout the state.
On the mainland, the coalition has worked closely with builders and residents to assure that major development projects respect the proximity to oceanfront neighborhoods, and that bridges and roads have the capacity to handle increased traffic when construction is completed.
The good news is that most major projects near the bridges have been toned down from initial plans. The bad news is that traffic on the barrier island is already growing exponentially, even before completion of larger projects.
As we enter our 15th year of service, FCFP recognizes that it must redouble efforts on issues relating to growth management, and dealing with multi-jurisdictional decisions involving public health, safety and well-being.
Everyone knows that The Coastal Star barrier island readership prevails among the coalition audience. Our members live and recreate in two cities (Delray Beach and Boynton Beach), three towns (Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge), and the county (Surf Pocket and beaches).
All of these entities are represented by members on the coalition board.
Together they will initiate longer term multi-jurisdictional projects to study such issues as: how best to deal with increased traffic; if and where to locate EMT capacity on the barrier island; how to manage impending state-mandated conversion from septic to sewer systems; when and how to manage height of sea walls; how best to deal with FEMA-required heightening of new-building elevations; and any other threats or opportunities that affect the value and enjoyment of living on or near our barrier island.
We have experience in dealing with complex issues. The community has people who can deal with challenge, and who are willing to fight for good solutions to tough problems. It is our shared obligation to look forward and get involved.
We look forward to many more years of productive service. Feel free to contact us at Community@PreservationFLA.org and take a minute to complete FCFP’s community service survey, so we know what is important to you.

— Bob Ganger, chairman,
Florida Coalition for Preservation

By Mary Thurwachter

The dune restoration project scheduled to begin on Feb. 28 has been delayed until later this year. Lantana Town Manager Brian Raducci said in a news release that “there is insufficient dry beach width at Lantana’s Municipal Beach” to proceed with the project.
Palm Beach town consultants will monitor the shoreline, anticipating a return in November 2022, after sea turtle nesting season, according to the release. “If at that time the proper conditions exist, dune sand will be placed in both the towns of Lantana and South Palm Beach, as planned.”
The undertaking is the result of an agreement among Lantana, South Palm Beach and Palm Beach. Sand will be transported by trucks to Lantana’s beach (and South Palm Beach) from an existing stockpile at Phipps Ocean Park.
The Lantana Town Council approved the agreement during a special meeting Feb. 9.
Mike Jenkins, engineering consultant for Palm Beach, told Lantana officials during a workshop last December that if dune projects are done in concert over a larger area, they tend to perform better.
He said Lantana’s presence in a program with repetitive dune projects means those projects would be eligible for FEMA funds if there’s a declared disaster after a hurricane.
South Palm Beach will pay for the sand in exchange for ocean access from Lantana.
The Barefoot Mailman Family Beach Day, scheduled for March 5, will be held as planned at the beach park.

By Joe Capozzi

A judge has rejected developer William Swaim’s request for an easement across land behind Ocean Ridge Town Hall so he can access two submerged lots his company owns in the Intracoastal Waterway. 
Swaim’s Waterfront ICW Properties Inc. has appealed the Jan. 3 ruling by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Donald Hafele, who cited several reasons for dismissing with prejudice the company’s request to access land owned by the town and Spanish Creek LLC.
For one, Hafele wrote, the access route sought in Swaim’s lawsuit “is not the ‘nearest practical route’ to” State Road A1A. The nearest route, the judge wrote, traverses land owned by Wellington Arms, which ICW Properties sued in 2015 before reaching a settlement with the condominium in 2020. 
The judge also cited “concerns over the validity” of old deeds submitted by ICW Properties in the company’s claim that the land was part of a right of way dedicated to the public in 1955.
The state law cited by Swaim in his claim requires that the land seeking access to the nearest road be used for a specific purpose. The land is submerged and surrounded by water in an environmentally sensitive lagoon. 
Residents and environmentalists have been horrified at the thought of someone ripping out mangroves and trucking in fill to turn the wildlife-rich lagoon into a construction site and another Florida development.
From the outset, Swaim has asserted that the lagoon is not a pristine natural wetland but rather a construction project by the Army Corps of Engineers, which dredged out the area decades ago for mosquito control. 
That argument was bolstered by Hafele in 2019 in a separate case, against the state of Florida, when the judge ruled that the mangrove-rich lagoon was largely man-made and not navigable in its original state some 180 years ago. That decision recognized Swaim’s lots as buildable land that isn’t protected as sovereign by state statutes.
But in ICW’s two-day trial last summer against Ocean Ridge and Spanish Creek, “there was little to no evidence supporting a present and good faith intent” that the company intended to build anything on the submerged land, Hafele wrote Jan. 3.  
“Mr. Swaim testified that he intends to ‘wait and see’ before ICW decides what to do with the property. Swaim further testified that ICW may sell the property to a developer or other commercial enterprise so they can develop the property as they wish. … ICW’s plan to ‘wait and see’ is not grounds for relief under state law.’’
The property sought by Swaim was acquired by the town in 1999 from a private landowner for the construction of Town Hall in 2008. 
“In sum the evidence presented clearly reflected that this proposed route is not the nearest practical route nor is it even reasonably practical, given that it would traverse submerged property including well-established conservation areas,’’ wrote Hafele, who heard arguments in a nonjury trial in August.
Swaim’s request was just one of several legal maneuvers attempted over the years by companies he owns, including lawsuits and claims against other property owners and agencies. He is also involved in at least six similar lawsuits in Broward County.
In 2021 a federal lawsuit filed by ICW against the town alleging a claim for inverse condemnation and damages in the amount of $10 million was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. That case is now closed.
In all cases, town officials have been careful to avoid making public comments, especially since Swaim on Jan. 28 filed an appeal to Hafele’s Jan. 3 ruling with the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
“A tremendous amount of work was put into this, and the judgment in our favor will help to protect the town’s investment in the Town Hall facility and drainage system, and help to maintain the environmentally sensitive lands located to the west of Town Hall, while also protecting the interests of our residents,’’ Town Manager Tracey Stevens told town commissioners Feb. 7 in rare public comments about Hafele’s most recent ruling, remarks that were part of her annual performance evaluation.
But an attorney for the law firm that successfully defended Ocean Ridge in the easement case held no punches in court papers requesting Swaim be ordered to pay the town’s legal fees. 
“Fatally flawed from the moment of its filing, this lawsuit was a brazen attempt to misuse section 704.04, Florida statutes for purposes outside its plain language and scope,’’ Lyman H. Reynolds of Roberts, Reynolds Bedard & Tuzzio wrote in a Jan. 31 filing.
“Worse than that, the plaintiff manufactured the ‘evidence’ supporting its claim, acquiring deeds from defunct corporations, baselessly fabricating property boundaries to suit its narrative and otherwise promoting imaginary property rights to drive its meritless legal theory for access rights through submerged environmentally protected property to the middle of a creek.’’

The side of the project at 6273 N. Ocean Blvd. that faces A1A appears to some as a parking garage, not a single-family residence. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

To the relief of dozens of residents, Ocean Ridge commissioners have issued a stop-work order on the so-called parking garage house, a property that has been under construction and a source of complaints for nearly seven years. 
Delays, noise, design changes and code violations at the property at 6273 N. Ocean Blvd. have made the project “the poster child” for several updates to the town’s buildings codes aimed at preventing similar situations, Mayor Kristine de Haseth said.
Residents living near the property have gotten the worst of it since the first building permit was issued in May 2015 — from changes allowing a roof deck and fronting with no windows or doors to noise from generators and trucks to a sluggish pace of construction. 
Changes to the building’s appearance from State Road A1A prompted frustrated residents over the years to coin nicknames such as “the parking garage house” and “the fort.’’
“The original plans were beautiful plans, in compliance with town rules. Then, it was not built accordingly,’’ town building official Durrani Guy told the commission on Feb. 7. 
“In 2019, it was halted. For some reason they were allowed to revise their plans and move forward,’’ he said. “The hope was they would be finished quickly, but it has not happened. … At the pace they are moving, we’re probably looking at another 24 months.’’
A construction manager for the property, speaking at the Feb. 7 meeting, blamed the slow progress on supply chain issues, labor problems and unspecified COVID-19 deaths. He said the work could be done in three more months, but residents and commissioners didn’t buy that.
“This is a site that has skipped (under) the radar too long and it’s time for the commission to act. The community is paying the price,’’ John Shibles, who lives directly south of it, told commissioners. 
When town commissioners voted 4-0 to issue a stop-work order and reject what would have been a sixth building-permit extension, concerned residents at the meeting erupted in applause. Commissioner Steve Coz was absent. 
The property is owned by Oceandell Holdings LLC, whose manager is listed in state records as Andrew Abony of Toronto. The project has been accruing daily fines of $250 since last summer. 
“Money is not a motivator here. If it was a motivator it would have been built and occupied a long time ago,’’ de Haseth said Feb. 7.
As a result of their action, town officials were able to get what they said was the first direct response from the owner in three years. On Feb. 16, town staff met with the owner and discussed the town’s concerns.
He plans to submit a request to renew the building permit at the March 7 commission meeting, Town Manager Tracey Stevens said. 

Chief reports on Old Ocean
Police Chief Richard Jones said he was preparing to issue citations to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists who disobey traffic rules while using Old Ocean Boulevard. 
Although commissioners plan to hold a workshop soon to address safety on the oceanfront road, Jones said something needs to be done now. 
“It is completely out of control,’’ he told commissioners Feb. 7, saying his initial plan is to educate the public first. 
If that doesn’t work, citations will have to be issued at some point, he said. 
“We will give it some time before we truly begin the enforcement process. The educational campaign has to start somewhere. We can’t wait for a solution that takes a year down the road for a problem that’s become a public safety issue,’’ the chief said. 
“I know it’s not going to be popular because people use that more as an exercise path than they do a roadway, but unfortunately it is a roadway. We need to address it before someone gets hurt or injured.’’
Commissioner Geoff Pugh, concerned about the reaction from residents, asked the chief to hold off on issuing citations and focus on education.
“If you start issuing warnings, this place at the next town meeting will be standing-room-only screaming at us,’’ he said, adding that the problem subsides in the off-season. 
Jones said he was worried about liability issues. 
“We continue to talk about the fact that we know it’s an issue, but nobody wants to address the issue including the Police Department because we didn’t want to create a negative situation with residents,’’ he said. “That’s not the intention. That’s why we want to start an educational campaign that leads to that, but we have to do something.’’ 
More than a dozen residents have volunteered to serve on a task force to come up with safety measures for Old Ocean Boulevard. But before going ahead with that, commissioners will host a workshop.

In other business:
• Repairs on three bridges, at Sabal Island, Inlet Cay and Island drives, are expected to start in March, town officials said. 
The repairs, recommended during routine inspections by the Florida Department of Transportation, include addressing cracks in the asphalt, chipped-away concrete and exposed steel under the bridges, cleaning and painting corrosion stains, and restriping. 
While the state says the repairs are minor and the bridges don’t pose any danger, the fixes are required to prevent further damage. The repairs will cost about $87,500, which is in the town budget. 
Residents will be notified about ingress and egress plans. The town wants to complete the work by September. 
• Stevens received a positive evaluation from commissioners, who voted to raise her salary to $132,500, from $125,000, retroactive to Jan. 4. “We’ve never had such a strong town manager at least in the 20 years I’ve been involved with this town,’’ de Haseth said.  
• Commissioners voted 3-1 to endorse an ordinance change that would raise to 8 feet the height on walls surrounding sewage treatment facilities in town. The current limit is 6 feet but town officials discovered several condominiums have 8-foot walls. Because of “what can emanate from these plants,’’ town officials agreed the easiest solution was to raise the limit to 8 feet. Pugh voted no because he wanted the Planning and Zoning Commission to review the issue. 
• The observation tower at Ocean Ridge Natural Area is closed to the public as it undergoes repairs by Palm Beach County, which is also repairing some of the area’s sidewalks. The work is expected to be done by early March.

By Joe Capozzi

South Palm Beach is basking in South Florida’s “extremely hot” real estate market, with robust condominium sales last year promising a significant boost in tax revenue in the coming budget year, Town Manager Robert Kellogg said.
A “whopping” 309 units, about one-sixth of the town’s condo inventory, were sold in 2021, with a combined sale value of $124 million, or more than $400,000 per unit, he told the Town Council on Feb. 8.
Kellogg’s figures were based on all sales in town, not just “qualified sales.” The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office uses qualified sales, which are sales between willing buyers and sellers, in its mass appraisals that determine market value.
In 2020, 194 condo units in town were sold for a combined sales total of about $43.3 million. Sales that contributed to a $78 million jump in the town’s taxable value that year included the just-completed $70 million luxury condo, 3550 South Ocean.
“As you know the real estate market in South Florida has been extremely hot for the past 12 months,’’ Kellogg said. “It’s going to continue to stay hot.’’ 
Early this year, one condo sold for more than $1 million, he said.
“The real question is what is this going to equate to in additional revenue when we get our new valuation in taxable value in June? I’m pretty optimistic you’re going to be happy with what you see,’’ he said. 
Last year, property values in South Palm Beach jumped 4.4% to $458.5 million from $439 million in 2020. That allowed the Town Council to lower the tax rate to $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value from the previous year’s rate of $3.54.
Preparations for the 2022-23 budget are expected to begin in May.
In other business:
• The town attorney plans to meet with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to review options for protecting pedestrians on sidewalks along State Road A1A. 
Councilman Bill LeRoy broached the issue because of concerns about pedestrians wandering onto the shoulder of the road when sidewalks are crowded with pedestrians and bicyclists or blocked by commercial vehicles.  
Among options mentioned at the Feb. 8 meeting were requiring commercial vehicle owners to provide flagmen and cones or to hire off-duty law enforcement to direct pedestrians, and posting signage in condo buildings reminding people to stay off the road.
At the suggestion of Councilman Mark Weissman, town attorney Aleksandr Boksner (who works with longtime town attorney Glen Torcivia) will discuss options with PBSO’s legal counsel.
In January 2019, a 75-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a car while walking north on the shoulder of State Road A1A between the Lantana Municipal Beach parking lot and the Imperial House condominium.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to protect everybody. We’ve got to get them off the road,’’ LeRoy said Feb. 8. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt or killed out there.’’
• Architects designing options for a new or renovated Town Hall are expected to present their renderings to the Town Council in March. Kellogg said the presentation will probably be given at a workshop a week or two after the March 8 election.
• At a special meeting Feb. 17, the Town Council directed the town manager to apply for a Florida Department of Transportation permit for the installation of up to 45 solar light posts along A1A and around Town Hall. The posts, technically called bollards, will cost the town $67,000 and complement existing street lights, Kellogg said. 
• An ice cream party celebrating the life of the late Lenny Cohen will be held at 2 p.m. March 20 outside Town Hall, 3577 S. Ocean Blvd. Treats for “Lenny Cohen’s A Life Well-Lived Ice Cream Social” will be supplied by the Ice Cream Club. Cohen died Dec. 7. A tribute scheduled for Jan. 2 was postponed because of the pandemic.

(l-r) Chamber president and moderator Dave Arm at the Feb. 24 forum with candidates John Raymer, Lynn Moorhouse, Joe Farrell, Media Beverly, Ed Schropshire and Kem Mason. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Six candidates square off in two races | Town bids farewell to Malcolm Balfour after nine years on council

By Mary Thurwachter

Six candidates for two seats on Lantana’s Town Council discussed several topics — agreeing on many of them — during a forum hosted by the Lantana Chamber of Commerce at the Palm Beach Maritime Academy on Feb. 24. They showed enthusiasm for the master plan, want beach restoration, and are interested in attracting good, taxpaying businesses.
But when moderator and Chamber President Dave Arm asked if any of them would be open to a public/private partnership for adding restaurants and a hotel at the public beach, the majority answered with a resounding “no.” Such a proposal has not been formally made, but rumors have swirled about it since early last year.
“I don’t want a hotel at the beach,” said Lynn Moorhouse, the only incumbent running. Moorhouse, a retired dentist, said that traffic flow is already bad over the bridge and if a hotel were built at the beach, traffic “would be nuts.”
Traffic was also a concern for Media Beverly, a longtime council watcher who successfully advocated to keep medical marijuana dispensaries out of town.
“Hotel? No,” she said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people during this campaign in all of Lantana and I’ve asked them and it’s a resounding ‘no.’ Our beach is only 750 feet; that’s all we have. For a lot of people in this town, that’s the only recreational source they have. To put a hotel up there, even with incorporated parking, you’re still talking about traffic. To add any traffic in that corridor would not be sustainable.”
Former council member Ed Shropshire, a retiree who lost his bid for reelection two years ago, said the beach is a treasure and should be treated as such. While not in favor of a hotel, he said the beach “could be utilized a little bit better, without crowding out the people.”
Kem Mason, a retired firefighter and former lifeguard and surfer, was also against the idea.
“No hotel, that’s one of our jewels,” he said of the beach. “I can speak for all the surf rats, and, no, no hotel.”
Newcomer John Raymer, an Army veteran who manages Ace Rental Place, and Joe Farrell, a flooring distributor who has run for office before, said they would be open to looking at it. Raymer said it would be “up to the residents to decide,” and Farrell said adding a hotel could be a way to bring in new revenue.
When candidates were asked about how they would bring more revenue to the town, Farrell said the town needs to “make things happen that we didn’t think about before.” He said that 10 years ago one of his neighbors suggested selling Bicentennial Park for condo development and having the town buy the Cenacle property for a waterside park.
“The Cenacle property’s gone so we don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “But we have to look at ideas like that.”
Beverly said the town needs to rein in some of its expenses and add businesses, “but we have to be careful, very prudent and we have to be strategical about it. There’s very limited commercial space here in Lantana.”
She said code revision and zoning need to be tackled to attract business and there is grant money the town hasn’t tapped into that could help with many projects.
Shropshire said he thinks the town needs to do a better job of vetting contractors.
“For example, the major contractor for the library bailed because he didn’t have the correct certification.” The library will “sit there another two months before they even start again. We’re losing money like that,” Shropshire said.
Mason said as someone who worked for the government as a lifeguard and firefighter for more than three decades, he has seen a lot of waste.
“We need to instill in our employees not to waste. And we need to work with businesses to come to town, we cannot discourage businesses from coming to the town — they pay taxes and help support us.”
Moorhouse said a lot of money would be coming in from Water Tower Commons, a retail and residential project on the site of the former A.G. Holley hospital, and from Aura Seaside, an apartment complex on the former Cenacle site.
Moorhouse and Raymer said they would look to the new master plan for guidance in bringing in revenue.
In a related matter, candidates learned that all campaign signs on Lantana Road had been removed in the middle of the night on Feb. 23. Police Chief Sean Scheller reported that a video captured by a camera outside of Arm’s gym showed a nondescript man putting signs in a pickup truck.
Scheller said the rightful owners of the signs, the candidates, had not filed any police reports yet, but several said they planned to do so.
The election is March 8.

Malcolm Balfour gets a smooch from Karen Lythgoe at Balfour’s last meeting. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Six candidates square off in two races | Candidates weigh in on possible hotel at beach

By Mary Thurwachter

There was no celebratory cake in sight, but fellow council members and residents gave Lantana Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour a standing ovation after the town meeting he presided over on Feb. 28. Balfour, 83, has served on the council since 2013 and is not seeking reelection.
“We want to thank you for your years of service,” said Police Chief Sean Scheller. “You’ve always been there for us.”
Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez said how much staff enjoyed working with him and that he would “always have a friend in the clerk’s office.”
Although the current mayor, Robert Hagerty, wasn’t present that evening, which is why Balfour presided over the meeting, former Mayor Dave Stewart — who like Balfour lives on Hypoluxo Island — said, “Mr. Balfour has served his community well for nine years. Before voting, he always looked at all aspects of an issue and was a very responsible councilman.”
Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm said Balfour has “served the town wonderfully” and thanked him for all his support.
Born in South Africa, Balfour and his wife, Ilona, have lived in Lantana since 1972, when he was hired as a journalist for the National Enquirer.
Three people are seeking Balfour’s spot: Media O. Beverly, Kem Mason and Edward P. Shropshire.

In other action, the town:
• Approved a special exception request to allow a tattoo shop at 508 W. Lantana Road.
• Approved a request from First Baptist Church of Lantana to hold Easter sunrise service at the Dune Deck Café at the beach from 5:30 to 7 a.m. on April 17.
• Waived rental fees to allow for tent installation at the Recreation Center for the Lantana Chamber of Commerce’s 27th annual Fishing Derby, May 12-15. For more details, visit www.lantanafishingderby.com/retreats.

Related stories: Candidates weigh in on possible hotel at beach | Town bids farewell to Malcolm Balfour after nine years on council

Lantana will hold a general election March 8 for Town Council members in Group 1 and Group 2. Both are for three-year terms. Council members get paid $600 per month, plus a $200 expense allowance. There are no term limits. To win, a candidate needs to get 50% of the vote plus one. If necessary, a run-off election will be March 22, using the same times and precincts as the general election. Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez confirmed that this election will have no ballot questions or amendments for voters.

— Steven J. Smith

Related Story: Four candidates compete for two seats |Video

Incumbent helps himself to opponent’s stash of chocolates

By Joe Capozzi

The pile of free chocolate bars would have been an enticing sight for most anyone passing through the lobby of the Dune Deck condominium in South Palm Beach that afternoon.
For one resident, Town Councilman Mark Weissman, the candy was particularly irresistible — and not because of a sweet tooth for Hershey’s, Krackel and Mr. Goodbar.
Each bite-size bar came with a custom-made red, white and blue wrapper with the words “Vote Cindy Furino” on one side and “A Vote For Me Is A Vote For Loyalty, Honesty and Integrity” on the other. 
Furino, who also lives at the Dune Deck, is Weissman’s opponent in the March 8 election, which begins to explain the sequence of events that sent Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies to the Dune Deck lobby on the afternoon of Feb. 4 to investigate, of all things, the alleged theft of a bowl of candy.
Some residents said it was just the latest example of problems under Weissman’s watch that prompted condo residents to vote on Feb. 25 to remove him from the board.
“This is petty behavior for someone who has fiduciary responsibility for the town’s budget,” said Jane Ruby, one of 65 condo owners. “It is grossly unbecoming to someone who wants to maintain his position as an elected official.”
The recall vote was to be reviewed by the board on March 3, but it might not be necessary because Weissman, at a special meeting on March 1, resigned as condo board president.
Weissman told The Coastal Star he stepped down because of “constant harassment” from Furino and about five other residents who have objected to condo repairs that he says are necessary for the structural integrity of the building.
Weissman said his opponents have also accused him of financial mismanagement, which he dismissed by saying he and board members “don’t touch money” because the condo’s management company handles the finances.
Ruby, Furino and others also accused Weissman of harassing residents and questioned his temperament. At the March 1 meeting, a deputy intervened when a shouting match ensued between Weissman and a board member seated next to him who claimed Weissman called him a curse word.
The candy caper was the last straw.
At 12:15 p.m. Feb. 4, not long after Furino set the candy in a bowl by the security guard’s desk on her way to lunch, Weissman entered the lobby and helped himself to not just one or two pieces but all of it. 
With both hands, Weissman emptied the bowl, deposited its contents into his pockets and walked toward the elevator. He paused, turned around and returned to fetch the clear plastic bowl, according to video of the incident reviewed by two deputies.
When Furino returned from lunch two hours later, she asked the doorman why the candy bowl was missing. The doorman said Weissman took it, according to the PBSO report. 
Furino called the cops. 
Reports of theft or vandalism of campaign signs are not uncommon before elections. But stolen campaign candy?  
Deputies showed up at the Dune Deck and, before reviewing security video, asked Weissman what happened. 
Weissman told them “he was aware of the bowl’s removal but would not state if he was involved in it,’’ a report said. 
But in an interview, he admitted he took the bowl of chocolate. He said he did so because the lobby is supposed to be a political-free zone where campaign literature, whether on a pamphlet, a mailer or candy wrapper, is prohibited. 
“We don’t allow politicking in the building. I’m the president. I removed them from the front desk,’’ said Weissman, who said he’d even removed his own campaign mailers from the lobby bulletin board, presumably posted by residents checking their mail. 
If that’s the case, Furino said, he should have removed the candy-filled bowl and taken it to her condo. “But he stole it. He put it in his pockets, and he has a big sweet tooth so we know he ate it,’’ she said.
Although Weissman confessed to having an occasional sweet tooth, he denied stealing or eating Furino’s candy. He said he put the campaign chocolates and bowl in the lobby’s kitchen where Furino kept a backup supply of her campaign candy.
“She had the whole kitchen tied up with bowls full of candy that she wanted the doorman, at the condominium owners’ expense, to continue replenishing for her,’’ he said. 
After a brief investigation, Sgt. Mark Garrison and Deputy David Hul declined to press charges. The incident was classified “a civil issue since the candy and bowl had been left in a common area with no instruction,’’ a PBSO report said. 
“Even though social convention would normally limit a person to one or a few pieces,’’ Hul wrote in his report, “we made it clear there was nothing to stop one person from taking the whole bowl.’’
Furino said she spent $600 on the candy, which she placed in plastic bowls in at least three other condo lobbies in South Palm Beach without incident.
While she was shocked to learn from the Dune Deck’s doorman that Weissman took the candy, more upsetting, she said, was PBSO’s decision not to charge Weissman with a crime. 
“They basically just blew me off, like I was being ridiculous because he took my candy,’’ she said. “It’s not petty. It just shows his character.’’
Weissman, a former state representative and former Parkland city commissioner, laughed when told about Furino’s response. 
“I’ve served in public office for 20 years,’’ he said. “I’ll survive with my character.’’

Related story: Council race turns bittersweet with charge of stolen campaign candy|Video

Four candidates are vying for two at-large seats on the Town Council, each with a four-year term. There are no term limits. The top two vote getters will each win a seat. Council members make $3,000 a year. Town Clerk Yude Davenport said the election will have no ballot questions or amendments for voters.

— Steven J. Smith

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel listens to Water Treatment Plant Manager James T. Lee at the Delray Beach plant. Photo provided

By Rich Pollack

When U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel and Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia toured the city’s water treatment plant Feb. 8, they took a stroll through a facility that was built before Petrolia was born and when Frankel was just 4 years old.
“It was like you’re walking back to the 1950s,” Petrolia said. “The interesting thing is that it still works.”
That said, both Petrolia and Frankel know that an upgrade is desperately needed and are looking forward to a new water treatment plant, currently in the planning process.
“It’s long overdue,” Petrolia said.
While the city has yet to identify funding sources for the new plant — which is estimated to cost between $60 million and $80 million — Frankel said that federal dollars could be available.
“In the bipartisan infrastructure bill there are two very-low-interest loan programs that the city may be able to take advantage of,” Frankel said.
The law, she said, allocated a total of $35 billion for infrastructure improvements nationwide, with $1.6 billion of that coming to Florida.
Delray Beach is in the process of receiving close to $11 million from the federal government thanks to the earlier-passed American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
About $4.6 million of that is being used as revenue replacement in the city’s 2021-2022 budget. How the city will use the rest will be discussed as the city begins its 2022-2023 budget.
Whether any of that money will be earmarked for a new water treatment plan is still undecided. City leaders are expected to discuss funding for the plant in the next few months.
In the interim, Petrolia said, federal dollars will be helping the city as it takes on as many as 75 capital improvement projects on the horizon. Those projects range from building a new fire station on Linton Boulevard to increasing the reliability of the water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.
While residents may see some of the projects become reality in the not-too-distant future, it will be several years before a new water treatment plant is working.
Construction isn’t expected to begin until the 2024-2025 fiscal year and the plant isn’t expected to be ready for use until 2026. Although the design phase of the project has not begun, a preliminary feasibility study calls for a nanofiltration and membrane softening plant.
That type of system is similar to reverse osmosis and filters out many types of pathogens but does not require healthy minerals — such as calcium and magnesium — to be added back into the water.
“We’re looking at making higher quality water all around,” Petrolia said, adding that improving the color of the water is also a priority.
She said enhancing Delray Beach’s drinking water has become a priority for the commission for several years and the new plant will make that happen.
“It will ensure a state-of-the-art water treatment process, advance the city’s monitoring and control systems and improve water pressure and serve the needs of the city for many years to come.”

Nongae Johnson, co-founder of the HERD Foundation, is surrounded by some of the horses used for equine-assisted healing at her ranch in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Nongae Johnson of Hypoluxo Island has taken a love of horses to a place where few have before. She uses them in recuperative healing while working with veterans, at-risk juveniles, people battling drug addiction, and others.
Johnson, 56, and co-founder Rhonda Fritzshall started the nonprofit HERD Foundation — for Horses Energy Reflection Direction — in 2018 as a follow-up to Fritzshall’s work in equine-assisted healing on Johnson’s suburban Delray Beach farm.
“The more we worked together, the more we realized we could develop a program that helps certain populations,” Johnson said. “Right now, we’re working with veterans groups and the Legal Aid Society. They bring out groups such as disabled adults who have aged out of the foster system, as well as kids who have difficulty getting adopted.
“It’s all kind of heartbreaking.”
Six horses are used in the program, four full-sized and two miniature. Sessions begin with observing how horses work in a herd and communicate, followed by interaction between the visitors and the horses.
Much of the work takes place inside a large, covered area at the center of the 8-acre property.
“We start talking about the language horses use,” Johnson said. “It’s a lot like our language, but they use body language rather than speech. Pressure and release is how they talk to each other.”
Horses tend to create and respect boundaries. They “move their feet around — they figure out where they fit in the hierarchy very fast.”
The horses have taught Johnson and her visitors “the importance of being in that herd, in that family, and more and more as we move forward and the program expands, the more we see how important that herd system is and how much we can learn from the horses to use in our relationships.”
One of the newest initiatives involves parents and couples seeking to strengthen their own relationships.
Some veterans have worked since day one in a 90-minute program on Fridays to establish relationships with the horses.
“You can just see their relationships growing,” Johnson said. “We have one veteran in particular who would come every session and cry and be isolated, and now you never see her not smiling.”
Another program, sponsored by GL Homes, brought out youngsters who had aged out of the foster care program and, in some cases, had disabilities.
“It was such a surprise. I mean, they made us laugh and cry,” Johnson said
She said one doctor working with the veterans saw improvements in them because of the HERD program and decided to visit the horses.
“We were showing him how to have a conversation with the horse, pressure and release, and Miss America came over and put her head over the stall and he jumped. He said, ‘I don’t know what I was expecting,’ so you have to be careful of what you ask for.”
Johnson and her husband, Michael Caruso, who works at the Delray Shooting Center, have four grown children. When she is not at the farm she enjoys “dinner with friends and a cocktail.”
The HERD program is funded by grants, private donors and fundraising and, like most nonprofits, has struggled in that regard during the pandemic.
For more information call 561-665-0083 or email info@herdfoundation.com.

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: We moved around a lot. We lived in Florida, Albuquerque and New York. My dad had a difficult time making his mind up what he wanted. I spent my sophomore year at Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach, but then we moved back to New York and I graduated from Flushing High School. I always made friends, but once I moved it was always more difficult. I became more guarded as far as making close friends.
After that I went to horsemanship school in West Virginia and the school went bankrupt in the first few months. From there I went into the workforce. But I left there with a horse, and that changed everything for me. When they closed down, people were scrambling on what to do with their horses; a girl asked an instructor if somebody would take her horse and I took it. I had to put it to sleep eventually with a leg injury, but then went to school to learn how to manage a horse facility.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I’ve driven carriages in Manhattan, hot-walked thoroughbreds, tended bar and waited on tables, and of course mucked horse stalls. I’m most proud of forming our not-for-profit with Rhonda. I wanted to grow the horse farm business to cover more of what horses have to offer.
It’s not just riding, it’s something deeper. And this part of the work is more fulfilling. Where we are has been around for 31 years. It was originally Johnson’s Folly but that was more about jumping and riding. I didn’t want to confuse that with what we’re doing so we started Tara Farms. I started working with drug rehab centers and went from there.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Keep moving forward, don’t get stagnant. Don’t overthink things. It’s a cliche but it’s true for me: Follow your dream.

Q: How did you choose to make your home on Hypoluxo Island?
A: My husband, Michael, and I rode our motorcycles up and down A1A for five or six years until we found our home. We were that annoying couple disturbing the peace. My husband has a fishing boat, and that’s what he loves. Before that I never left here and work for 20 years. I sold horses to buy a motorcycle, and ultimately sold the motorcycle to buy more horses.

Q: What is your favorite part about living on Hypoluxo?
A: We love our neighbors and the water. The view is serene and peaceful. The horse farm is both, but when we lived there I would never leave work. I loved being close to the horses, but it became too much. We originally bought the house for the weekends, but it became too much work to go back and forth. While we were at the farm, somebody knocked on the door late at night and that was it. We needed to live elsewhere.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I’m actually planning to read Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift because I want to learn about the Houyhnhnms. It’s a land where the horses talk and rule the Yahoos, who are like humans but not intelligent.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I enjoy listening to classics such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Washington. I also enjoy Rob Thomas.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father was my mentor, but his good friend Earl Hawkins would take me to Jamaica Bay and Brooklyn for horseback riding lessons, and that would take me to where I am today. The horses are my mentors now. They teach me patience, not to be judgmental, not to take things personally. Most of all, they teach good boundaries.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie who would play you?
A: Halle Barry and Lesley-Ann Brandt from Lucifer. I’ve been told I look like both of them. I used to have my hair in a pixie, which Halle Barry has had also.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My husband keeps me laughing. That’s the glue in our marriage, that we’re always laughing, sometimes at each other’s expense. I wake up laughing.