Rochelle LeCavalier of Boca Raton is executive director of luxury sales, sports and entertainment for Douglas Elliman Florida. Now she’s chairing the Monopoly fundraiser for Boca Helping Hands. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Update: Boca Helping Hands cancels Monopoly fundraiser

By Margie Plunkett

Rochelle LeCavalier has spent years working to add skills and credentials to strengthen her career in real estate, including earning her MBA. In the latest twist in the real estate game, she’ll be chairing a benefit centered on Monopoly.
LeCavalier, 43, has been named chairwoman of the 14th annual Monopoly Event & Casino Night at 6 p.m. April 18 at the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton.
“Monopoly is a classic. It’ll always be fun,” she said.
To be clear, LeCavalier’s real estate career has progressed far beyond Boardwalk and Park Place. She is a broker and the executive director of luxury sales, sports and entertainment for Douglas Elliman Florida, which describes her as “consistently ranked in the top 1% of local agents with sales in excess of $100 million.”
Her high net-worth clients include industry leaders, celebrities, professional athletes and heads of state in the United States, Europe, Russia, China and the UAE, she said. She also leads sales at the Residences at Mandarin Oriental in Boca Raton.
As chairwoman of the Monopoly event, she works with a dozen staffers. “I make my living by inspiring people to take action by phone,” LeCavalier says, and the chair position seems to fit her well.
In her business she is big on client experience and can apply that to the Monopoly event by analyzing areas like what event participants enjoy and whether sponsors get what they want. “How can we make the event available to more people and how do we make it more profitable?” she said. “It all builds on itself.”
LeCavalier, who lives in a house in Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club that she had built about five years ago, grew up in Oildale, an agricultural and oil town outside of Bakersfield, California. Her parents today split their time between Washington state and Canada.
She pursued her bachelor’s in business administration and her MBA at schools including Cal State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Phoenix in Las Vegas.
Her real estate career began in Las Vegas, where LeCavalier worked in land development, construction management and new home sales. She then moved to residential real estate and mortgage lending.
She came to Florida in the early 2000s. “I fell in love with Boca Raton,” she said.
LeCavalier formed her company Pink Palm Properties here, and Douglas Elliman acquired it in 2018.
When she came to Boca Raton, LeCavalier didn’t know anyone. She decided to get involved with Boca Helping Hands because it is looking out for underserved children.
Because of Boca Raton’s affluence, people assume that the city does not have people in need, she said.
But “there are a number of people who struggle,” LeCavalier said, adding that Boca Helping Hands provides backpacks full of food for children who might not otherwise have meals at home. It also provides a pantry, classes such as English as a second language, computer training, and medical and dental clinics, among many other things.
Another charity favorite of LeCavalier is Impact 100, where she serves on the membership committee. The organization encourages women to get a group of at least 100 together, in which they each give $1,000 and then give grants of $100,000 to charities.
In LeCavalier’s spare time, she reads business books, plays golf and pursues fitness.
What’s most important to her right now? “If you measure in terms of what I spend time on, I’m very focused on my career at this point. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface in terms of my professional career.”
In both her business and charity interests, “it means a lot to me to connect with people in a real way.”
For people who might follow in her footsteps, she gives this advice: “It’s key to know yourself and be true to yourself. Professionally, personally, being civically involved, any of those things — if it’s not coming from a genuine place, it’s probably not going to be very satisfying. And what’s really the point?”

If You Go
What: 14th annual Monopoly Event & Casino Night
Benefits: Boca Helping Hands
When: 6 p.m. April 18
Where: Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton, 2425 W. Maya Palm Drive, Boca Raton
Tickets: Start at $200
Info: 561-417-0913, ext. 202, or www.bocahelpinghands.org/monopoly

Thirty firefighter units responded to the blaze at the vacant station near Atlantic Avenue and I-95. The force of the blaze knocked over and burned one firefighter. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The four Atlantic High School teens who confessed to starting the Feb. 25 fire at the Delray Beach historic train station are on house arrest, according to authorities.
The day before they had skipped school and bought a “kitchen lighter” at the Dollar Store, according to the Delray police arrest documents.
They made a cellphone video of the fire, which they shared among themselves in a group text message, according to the arrest documents.
The fire was discussed later that day at the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency meeting.
“The train station did not have sprinklers to prevent the fire from spreading,” said Bill Bathurst, a board member. “Our historic gems need to be protected.”
Board Chairwoman Shelly Petrolia said her heart hurts over the loss of the iconic building. Then she spoke as the mother of four boys and called for a “compassionate punishment for the teens. It can follow them forever and ruin the rest of their lives.”
On Feb. 25, a 911 caller alerted the Fire Department about 10:15 a.m. to heavy smoke coming from the vacant train station, just west of the interstate and north of Atlantic Avenue, said Dani Moschella, department spokeswoman.
At one point, the black smoke plumes were visible across the interstate and nearby parts of the city.
Thirty Delray Beach and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue units responded. The fire lasted several hours, Moschella said.
One Delray Beach firefighter was injured when he was thrown to the ground by the force of the fire. The firefighter suffered burns to his neck and ears. He was treated and released from a hospital, Moschella said.
While firefighters fought the blaze, city police detectives investigated a tip from the 911 caller who saw four boys running from the train station. The detectives obtained surveillance footage from a nearby business that showed the teens running toward Atlantic Avenue, Moschella said.
Delray Beach police were able to trace the teens to nearby Atlantic High School because one of them was wearing his ROTC uniform. The Atlantic High ROTC instructor identified three of the teens and the campus police officer identified the fourth.
“They confessed to starting the fire, which they said got out of hand,” said Ted White, spokesman for the Delray Beach Police Department.
Delray Beach police arrested the teens, between 14 and 17 years old, and drove them to the Juvenile Assessment Center. They had their first court appearance on Feb. 26 when the judge let them out on house arrest with conditions of no contact with each other and not to return to train station.
Their next court date is March 18, White said.
The county State Attorney will determine whether they are charged as adults.
In addition, the state fire marshal is investigating the fire, Moschella said.
A fire department official toured the site the day of the fire and determined the walls are structurally sound, said Roger Cope, a Delray Beach architect who was involved with restoring the train station.
“But the wooden structure supporting the roof was destroyed,” Cope said. The historic train station can be restored, he said.
The vacant station, built in 1927, is formally known as the Seaboard Air Line Railway Station. In 1986, the depot was added to National Register of Historic Places. Designed by architect Gustav Maass in the Mediterranean Revival style, the train station was last used by Amtrak, in 1995.
Delray Beach paid $1.58 million in 2005 for the historic train station on nearly one acre. At one time, commissioners discussed spending $325,000 to renovate it.
Lately, the city Public Works Department has stored lawn maintenance equipment and extra garbage containers at the vacant station.

By Steve Plunkett

March 7 is when early voting begins and is also the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot online for the presidential primary and local contests in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Briny Breezes, South Palm Beach and Lantana.
This year vote-by-mail, the fastest-growing way to cast a ballot in Palm Beach County, features prepaid postage, Supervisor of Elections Wendy Link said.
“We’re hoping that helps everybody, not just because of the money but because not many people have stamps anymore,” Link said at a Feb. 4 meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations. Also new this year, voters will fill in an oval next to a candidate’s name; X’s or check marks will not count. Before, voters connected a broken arrow to signify each choice.
Link, appearing the morning after Iowa’s Democratic caucus, said she was grateful not to be in that state, where results were disputed for weeks. “Our goal — we’ve talked about what a success looks like in our office … our goal is to not be in the news,” she said.
People who still want to vote by mail can visit one of Link’s offices to have a ballot printed out. The South County branch office is at 345 S. Congress Ave. in Room 110. Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, March 17.
Early voting will end on Sunday, March 15; the hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This year Boca Raton’s early voting site has moved — to the Spanish River Library, 1501 NW Spanish River Blvd.
Other South County early voting sites are west of Boca Raton at the West Boca Branch Library, 18685 U.S. 441; west of Delray Beach at the Hagen Ranch Road Branch Library, 14350 Hagen Ranch Road, and the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road; and in Boynton Beach at the Ezell Hester Community Center, 1901 N. Seacrest Blvd.
Link said her office’s website, pbcelections.org, gives wait times for early voting sites and on Election Day will show tallies of how many people cast ballots by mail, by early voting and in person.
More than 975,000 voters are registered to vote in Palm Beach County; 42% are Democrats, 30% are with minor parties or no party affiliation (NPA), 28% are Republicans. Link said few voters switch parties.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of people switching to NPA because they don’t want all the mail,” she said.
Scott Singer, who is running for a full term as Boca Raton mayor after winning a 19-month term in 2018, offered another way to avoid political postcards and phone calls.
“As someone who knows a little bit about campaigning, the best way to avoid mail and calls is to get a vote-by-mail ballot and return it immediately ’cause most campaigns are checking. So if you don’t want to get calls, turn your ballot in,” Singer said.

Each City Commission term is three years and commissioners may retain their seats for no longer than two full consecutive terms. Additionally, voters will be asked whether to eliminate a six-month waiting period before any ordinance proposing salary increases for the mayor and commissioners could be adopted. If the measure passes, increases would become effective “at the next organizational meeting held on or after the last Thursday in March.” — Steven J. Smith

Seat 2

Seat 4

The boat used to transport the four men and four women caught in Gulf Stream. Photo provided by Gulf Stream Police

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream police called in help from Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office after discovering a boat landed on the beach Feb. 13.
Four women and four men from Haiti were detained, ranging in age from 28 to 36. Police Chief Edward Allen spotted two of the women walking near the intersection of Sea Road and State Road A1A at about 6:38 a.m., a police report said.
“The females appeared wet and had sand covering their legs,” the report said.
While patrol officers took the women to the police station, Allen located a 25-foot Grady-White cuddy cabin boat grounded in the sand nearby. The chief notified Delray Beach police dispatch, which in turn alerted officers in the surrounding communities.
Neither of the two women spoke English.
“As I was trying to interview these two females, Officer McAllister of Ocean Ridge arrived at the Gulf Stream Police Department with another female in a similar condition,” Gulf Stream Police Officer Randall Wilson wrote in the report.
Delray Beach Police Officer Angelo Marseille also responded to act as an interpreter. The Sheriff’s Office sent a helicopter to check the ocean for anyone who might not have made it to shore. Gulf Stream Sgt. John Passeggiata canvassed the beach on an all-terrain vehicle.
“Shortly thereafter U.S. Customs agent Jack Creaig discovered two Haitian migrant males exiting the beach and golf club area in the 2000 block of N. Ocean Blvd.,” the report said.
Border Patrol agent Jorge Acosta also arrived and took control of the boat, confiscating a GPS unit and a kilogram of marijuana. Homeland Security agent Joshua Woodbury interviewed the detainees and prepared them for transport to the Homeland Security facilities in Riviera Beach, the report said.
Later, at about 11:26 a.m. a K-9 team from the Border Patrol “located three other illegal migrants, one female and two males, in the 2000 block of N. Ocean Blvd. hidden in the seagrapes adjacent to the beach,” the police report said.
The boat, which had a Florida registration, was towed away.
Allen told town commissioners the next day what had happened.
“It turned into a lot of manpower being absorbed in that time,” he said. “What I did find interesting, we had a Creole interpreter from Delray who came over … and a couple of the detainees admitted they’re paying between $2,000 to $5,000 a head to get to ride over here on a boat. That’s how desperate these people are to come here.”
In mid-January a boat captained by a Bahamian brought two Cuban and nine Chinese migrants ashore in the town of Palm Beach. The Cubans reportedly told federal agents they each paid $8,000 to make the trip.

By Dan Moffett

Don MaGruder’s last night as an Ocean Ridge commissioner appears likely to have a lasting impact on the town’s future. Or anyway, an impact on its lawns.
MaGruder cast the final and deciding vote that approved by a 3-2 margin an ordinance restricting the use of artificial turf — ending, at least for the moment, months of divisive debate that often pitted neighbor against neighbor.
“It’s not perfect, but it can be modified later on,” MaGruder said during the meeting on March 2. “We need to put it on the books now so we have some protection.”
The vice mayor argued that the town had to move expeditiously to get an artificial turf provision in its code, or risk giving state lawmakers an opening to dictate their own version of turf restrictions to the town.
MaGruder, who announced in November he was moving to North Carolina after more than three decades in Ocean Ridge, was joined in approving the second reading by Commissioners Kristine de Haseth and Susan Hurlburt. They said the ordinance puts the town in line with regulations in other communities and aligns with the recommendations of leading environmental scientists.
Mayor Steve Coz and Commissioner Phil Besler voted no. They argued the science was inconclusive and the commission was overreaching into residents’ property rights.
“If we pass this, what’s next?” Coz had asked, saying decisions about lawn materials should be left to the homeowner.
Unlike neighboring communities such as Lantana and Manalapan that have restricted synthetic grass with scarcely a public complaint or comment, Ocean Ridge has been tormented by the issue for much of the last year.
The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission wrestled with it for months, consulting other municipalities and officials, before recommending code changes. The Town Commission devoted four consecutive meetings to reviewing the new restrictions, including a joint session with P&Z in February.
Dozens of residents supporting plastic grass came forward during meetings and bombarded commissioners with petitions, fliers, emails and texts.
One resident called on MaGruder to recuse himself before the final vote because he was leaving town. Town Attorney Brian Shutt dismissed the idea, saying recusals are for financial conflicts of interest, personal gain or loss.
“To my knowledge, you don’t own a turf company,” Shutt said to MaGruder.
Supporters of synthetic turf made the case it was good for the environment because it needs no watering, fertilizers, pesticides or cutting with loud, pollutant-spewing mowers.
Hurlburt, however, countered by consulting with Marco Schiavon, a leading expert on turfgrass science at the University of Florida. Schiavon and other experts told her that UF does not consider artificial turf “Florida friendly” or environmentally acceptable. The experts said it holds in heat and raises the temperature of neighborhoods; it allows microscopic petroleum pollutants to seep into the soil and water table; it kills the beneficial bacteria and microorganisms underneath; it collects animal feces; and it is an awful substitute for conscientious natural xeriscaping.
MaGruder said the ordinance doesn’t impose an absolute ban, but rather a reasonable, measured limit on homeowners that protects the character of Ocean Ridge. While the new rule prohibits artificial turf use in front yards, it allows some use in backyards, side yards and pool areas.
“What we’ve done is a good compromise,” Hurlburt said.
In other business, during their meeting on Feb. 3, commissioners approved raising Town Manager Tracey Stevens’ pay from $102,500 to $125,000. The vote, based on a salary survey of other municipalities, was 4-1 with Besler dissenting. He said that while he joined other commissioners in praising Stevens, her raises should be more incremental.

The mayor is elected for a three-year term. A mayor who has served two full consecutive terms is not eligible to run for that office for the succeeding term. — Steven J. Smith

By Jane Smith

Developers continue to dominate Delray Beach election coffers with contributions to sitting city commissioners.
Voters will decide March 17 who sits in two City Commission seats. Two incumbents, running for re-election, have raised the most contributions for their respective seats.
Seat 2 incumbent Bill Bathurst raised $77,040 as of Feb. 14, the latest reporting date before press time. That amount is about 73% higher than the combined total of $44,464 raised by his three challengers.
Bathurst’s campaign contributions show 44 $1,000 donations. About two-thirds — 28 of the donors — have development business in Delray.
Nine of the 28 are from restaurant owners who donated $1,000 each in late October. The money was recorded after Bathurst voted with most of the other commissioners to move the valet decision to March.
The city’s public safety staffs had suggested moving the valet operations off Atlantic Avenue. The four-block stretch has just two lanes and is often clogged on weekend nights.
On March 3, the commission postponed the decision again until Oct. 1. City staffers are working with a consultant to create a downtown parking program that includes valets.
Bathurst has three challengers: Juli Casale, Jennifer Jones and Debra Tendrich.
Casale has raised $27,637, the highest amount among the Bathurst challengers. A neighborhood activist, Casale has received four $1,000 donations to date, with one donor having ties to real estate.
She is running a grass-roots campaign with contributions from fellow Historic Preservation Trust members and neighbors.
At the candidate debates and in her emails, she refers to Bathurst as “Dollar Bill” for his votes for more development and against the neighborhood feel of the city.
Jones, who is self-employed, raised a total of $4,180. One of her donors, a tax preparer, contributed $1,000.
At the Beach Property Owners Association forum on Feb. 19, Jones said, “There needs to be a change on the City Commission … to make our environment better and safer.”
Tendrich operates a nonprofit. She has raised $12,647 and has not collected any $1,000 donations. At the BPOA forum, after complaints were made that the sea grapes at the beach have not been trimmed in three years, she said, “I will go out and trim them myself.”
Speaking at the forum, Bathurst touted his family history, saying he wants to “retain and grow as much of the Village by the Sea as possible.”
For Seat 4, incumbent Shirley Johnson raised $53,234 as of Feb. 14. As with Bathurst, Johnson’s campaign coffers show she is closely aligned with developers and restaurant owners.
In early October, Johnson voted to extend the valet operations on Atlantic for six months. Later that month, she received eight $1,000 donations from restaurant owners.
She did not vote to review a city board decision that allowed the Delray Place developer to create a cut-through into Delray Place South. The cut-through is expected to create more traffic on the entrance road to the Intracoastal community of Tropic Isle.
Two months later, Joe Carosella — who owns the plazas requesting the cut-through — donated $2,000 from two different entities. His land use attorney, Bonnie Miskel, also donated $1,000 to Johnson’s campaign.
Two years ago, Johnson proposed the City Commission take over the Community Redevelopment Agency board. City commissioners now sit as the CRA board along with two residents, from the Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods.
“I saw the dysfunction of the CRA board,” she told attendees at the BPOA forum on Feb. 19. “Since taking it over in 2018, more of the funds are going to cure slum and blight.”
Challenger Chris Davey, a residential real estate consultant, agrees with that decision.
“Handling that amount of money” estimated to be $24 million for the current budget year, “an independent board would be a disservice to the taxpayer,” he said at the forum.
But former CRA board members, including ex-chairman Reggie Cox and community organizer Charles Ridley, who heads the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition, disagree.
They are supporting two challengers: Angela Burns, a schoolteacher who is vying to oust Johnson, and Jones, who is running for Bathurst’s seat. Burns and Jones said they want to have an independent CRA when asked at the BPOA forum.
Jones has received $250 from Cox. She also has received $100 from Kristyn Cox, a former CRA employee.
Of a total $7,363 in donations, Burns has received two donations from Reggie Cox totaling $750, and $250 from Ridley. In addition, her CRA-connected donors include $100 from Morris Carstarphen, an ex-CRA board member, and $100 from Kristyn Cox.
Davey also told the forum that the City Commission needs to protect its main asset — the beach. The city needs to stay on top of federal programs for beach renourishment.
Delray Beach has an estimated 3 million annual visitors to its municipal beach, which Davey said works out to be slightly more than 8,000 tourists daily.
“Our greatest attraction is a natural one,” he said.
Davey is mostly self-financing his campaign. He had loaned himself $20,000 of a total $26,000 collected through Feb. 14.

Voters will choose who sits in two council seats. Lantana has no term limits, and each term is three years.

Group 3

Group 4

Executive Director Charlene Farrington and the museum honored longtime board member Mark Reingold after he retired. The museum sits in the former home of the late Solomon D. Spady. Farrington is founder Vera Farrington’s daughter. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

Shortly after Mark Reingold and his wife, Susan, moved to Delray Beach in 1995, Susan attended a lecture by Vera Farrington, a longtime educator and one of the founders of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, also in Delray Beach.
“She came home and said it was a very interesting situation and they’ve got some important things they’re going to do,” Reingold recalled. “I had worked as an attorney for some big firms and was looking around and said, ‘This looks like something where I could be helpful.’”
Farrington gave Reingold, 77, a position on the advisory board in 2000, where he remained until last year. The museum honored him with a plaque at its Martin Luther King Jr. celebration breakfast for his 20 years of service.
“I said that day that it was my wife’s fault, she got me into this,” Reingold smiled. “And it’s true.”
Reingold remains an advocate for the museum, which was completed in 2001 and is located in the renovated house of Solomon David Spady, a student of George Washington Carver. The first premise of its mission statement is to “collect, preserve and share relevant black history, artifacts and buildings for the community.”
“People need to understand (the history) of both the black community and the entire community,” Reingold said. “The museum compiles it so people can go back and look at it, so it’s never forgotten.”
Farrington, who spent much of her teaching career at public schools in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, was joined in her efforts to take the museum from idea to completion by Spencer Pompey, after whom Pompey Park is named. Pompey was a civil rights activist, author and teacher who founded the Palm Beach County Teachers Association for black teachers.
The Spady Museum, at 170 NW Fifth Ave., boasts 3,200 items in its collection and hosts more than 100 meetings per year. The next major event on its calendar is the Juneteenth Celebration on June 19.
Resigning his board position (“It’s time for someone else to step in”) has given Reingold more time to fulfill his passion for pickleball. He plays two to three times a week at Pompey Park, the Delray Beach Tennis Center and the community center.

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born in Buffalo, New York, and was raised in a suburb of Buffalo. I went to the local public elementary and high schools. Yes, the winters were cold and snowy, but we walked to school and accepted the weather. I think that helped me to learn to push through issues that arise in life.
After high school, I wasn’t quite mature enough to attend college out of town, so I commuted to the University of Buffalo where I obtained a degree in business administration. During college, I worked summers at a local amusement park and steel mill. By my senior year in college, I had decided that I wanted to become an attorney; so, I matriculated to Albany Law School of Union University, where I obtained a Juris Doctor and wrote for the Law Review. My education taught me how to think logically, and I feel that has helped me tremendously in my life.
When the [Buffalo] Bills obtained their franchise in 1960, my parents were in the first group of season-ticket holders and our family has maintained those seats and attended games ever since. The family was recently awarded a game ball by the Bills in honor of its continuous support. Over the past 60 years every fall, I must admit, I have spent most Sundays watching the games in some venue wherever I was living.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: After law school, I practiced law in Rochester, New York, for a few years concentrating on real estate. I then became house counsel for over 20 years for a Fortune 500 company where, among other responsibilities, I handled real estate and managed litigation. I traveled to many states where I set up the legal function for the company and acted as general counsel.
I also did some part-time teaching of business law, paralegal studies and law and banking at Rochester Institute of Technology, American Institute of Banking and Monroe Community College.
 
Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: I have no advice at this point. I am too far removed from the days of starting a career to offer any help.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in coastal Delray Beach?
A: For a number of reasons including my travel schedule and Susan’s health issues at the time, we decided to move out of Rochester in 1995 and try something new. We explored many communities in warm weather areas. We knew Delray because we had made a few visits over the years when my parents vacationed here. We loved the “Village by the Sea” and especially the small-town feel. We sold our home in Rochester and purchased a small condo on Gleason Street on the barrier island.
I took and passed the Florida bar exam and continue to practice law. Susan chose to become involved in volunteer work in the community and was especially interested in working with Ms. Farrington, Mr. Pompey and others on development of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum.
We did love that quieter version of Delray, and I can remember often drinking coffee and reading the newspaper at a small coffee shop on the ocean that evolved over the years into the Caffe Luna Rosa.  

Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Delray Beach?
A: Although I do not like the traffic and congestion that has developed over the years, I do enjoy the many choices of restaurants and music venues and just walking around town and the barrier island. I have enjoyed tremendously working on the Spady Cultural Museum board and helping the organization to grow. 
I have become a pickleball player over the past six years. I usually play three days a week and take part in tournaments around the state. I find pickleball keeps me in pretty good shape. I joined the Delray Beach Pickleball Club that now has approximately 400 members who play at various indoor and outdoor venues around the area, including the Delray Beach Tennis Center, Pompey Park and the community center next to City Hall. I am proud to say that I have amassed loads of medals playing in tournaments in my age group, including in the State of Florida Senior Games, thanks to some good friends that serve as my partners in these events.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I like to read biographies and business-oriented books but do enjoy an occasional novel.  I recently read biographies on Steve Jobs, Paul McCartney and Ben Franklin.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired? 
A: I like early rock ’n’ roll. My favorite group growing up was the Everly Brothers and I still listen to their music. Susan and I had the opportunity to meet them on a couple occasions. Ever since I read a magazine article on some long-haired guys and watched them on Ed Sullivan, I have loved to listen to the Beatles. I saw them perform live but couldn’t hear them (because of the screaming) in 1966 in Toronto.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: My father. He was a small businessman who had a sense of honor in his business dealings and always tried to do what he thought was the right thing. I kind of think like that too.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you?
A: My life would not be made into a movie but if it was, I would play myself with a lot of makeup.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: I love Larry David’s humor. My wife, three adult children and four grandchildren all have great and clever senses of humor that I love.

Three incumbents and a political newcomer are running for three at-large Town Council seats March 17. The top three vote-getters win. A term lasts two years. — Steven J. Smith

Lynne Weiner, who qualified to run for the council in the March 17 election and whose name will appear on the ballot, announced in February she was withdrawing from the race.

Three candidates are on the March 17 ballot for two seats on the Town Council. The top two vote-getters will claim them. Town Clerk Yude Alvarez said the ballot also will ask voters whether council terms should be lengthened to four years instead of two. If that is approved, the winners this time will serve four years. Other ballot questions include granting the mayor the power to declare an emergency and amending the charter to reduce the required number of voter signatures on initiative petitions from 15% to 10%. — Steven J. Smith

By Dan Moffett

Briny Breezes council members asked their attorney, Keith Davis, to research election rules in the town charter, and he reported back with some intriguing news.
Briny doesn’t really have a charter.
“The town’s charter is basically the meeting minutes from when the town was incorporated,” Davis told the council during its meeting on Feb. 27.
For some 57 years, since March 1963, Briny has been running on an informal document, the rules and regulations outlined somewhat spontaneously during the incorporation meeting held during the Kennedy administration.
Council President Sue Thaler said officials have known about the deficiencies of the document and considered updating it for years.
“Clearly we’ve been talking about this for some time,” she said.
Davis said recent questions from the council about the possibility of appointing the town clerk position and changing how the mayor is elected suggest it could be the right time to review the entire charter.
“It might be an opportunity to look at the charter as a wholesale (project) and see if there are other things you’d like to do to clean it up or restate,” Davis said. “It’s an opportunity to rewrite it from scratch, so that it reads like an actual charter and not so much like meeting minutes.”
Council members liked the idea and voted 4-0 (with Bill Birch absent) to create a citizens charter review committee to explore changes.
The committee will be made up of seven members: one registered voter from each of the town’s four districts, one at-large spot for a resident who is not required to be a voter, and two at-large positions that are open to nonresidents who might offer specific expertise. Interested participants should contact Town Hall.
Charter changes are required to go through the ballot referendum process and go to the town’s voters for approval. The council hopes to have the committee’s work completed for the Nov. 3 presidential election, so the town avoids the cost of running a special election.
In other business:
• When Ocean Ridge took over Briny’s policing duties from Boynton Beach last year, the council told Chief Hal Hutchins that reining in illegal parking was a priority. He says his officers are making progress with that, and residents and visitors are getting the message.
“Looking at the statistics for the last three months,” Hutchins told the council, “it seems that we are trending down on parking violations.”
The chief said officers issued 13 parking tickets in January, a total that’s less than half that of months during tourist seasons in recent years.
• Results of a survey of Briny’s southern boundary are in, and they are predictably ambiguous.
Davis said Engenuity Group of West Palm Beach submitted a report that shows the town’s southern border doesn’t extend all the way across Briny Breezes Boulevard. The survey found the boundary line is not uniform and wanders east between the middle of the road and the southern edge.
Ownership of Briny Breezes Boulevard has become a significant issue because of the development of the Gulf Stream Views townhouse project in the County Pocket. A more definitive survey result might have enabled Briny to restrict parking and deal more effectively with potential drainage and street damage issues.

By Dan Moffett

For the third time in the last five years, South Palm Beach council members are taking a hard look at what can be done to repair, renovate or replace their aging Town Hall.
The council’s first attempt at dealing with the building’s problems came in 2016 with the hiring of Alexis Knight Architects of West Palm Beach. The firm spent months studying the building, and interviewing administrative staff and residents, leaving the town with a bill for about $50,000.
The architects’ report filed the next year uncovered numerous deficiencies and code violations, and concluded with a proposal that the town replace the hall with a five-story, $6 million multiuse building.
The council quickly and unanimously shot down the idea as far too extravagant.
Mayor Bonnie Fischer says that kind of misdirection won’t happen again.
“We are not going to do a Taj Mahal in South Palm Beach,” Fischer told about 75 residents who attended a workshop devoted to the issue on Feb. 26.
The council’s focus now is on a second report, filed in 2018 by North Palm Beach architect John Bellamy, that recommended “adaptive reuse” of the 54-year-old building. Bellamy cited many of the problems uncovered by Alexis Knight, but concluded that the structure can be upgraded and repaired.
“It would be reasonable to conclude that the building can be renovated and modified in a cost-effective manner to comply with current codes for all existing Town Hall occupancies,” his report said.
That conclusion was consistent with the opinions of nearly all the residents who offered comments during the workshop. It also is consistent with the views of the three candidates who are running for two council seats in the March 17 election.
Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb and Elvadianne Culbertson, who was on the council in 2017 and 2018, have supported renovation over replacement, and they voted against the $6 million proposal. Ray McMillan, the third challenger in the race, also supports a conservative approach, believing the existing building can be upgraded and repaired.
The Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association has endorsed Gottlieb and McMillan, fueling rumors among condo groups that Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw was pressuring the town to build a new public safety facility for his deputies on the site — one that might also include fire-rescue services.
Fischer and Town Manager Robert Kellogg categorically deny those rumors. They said talk of plans for a new multimillion-dollar structure are nothing more than election campaign fantasy.
Kellogg did say he told Bradshaw that eventually “something was going to be done to this facility,” though he didn’t know what. “He informed me,” Kellogg said, “that when the time comes, ‘I might be able to help you out.’ ”
Kellogg and Fischer say it’s in the town’s interest to collaborate with PBSO on whatever improvements the council decides to make to the building.
During the council’s regular meeting on Feb. 11, Sheriff’s Maj. Chris Keane told residents that PBSO would not interfere with the town’s decision-making.
“Whatever happens will be the town’s choice,” Keane said. “It’ll be what the town wants.”
Fischer said she wants to enlist Bellamy to make a presentation to the council on his report as soon as possible.
In other business:
Hopes of beginning a $700,000 dune restoration and beach renourishment project with the town of Palm Beach this spring have evaporated.
Palm Beach officials told Kellogg they won’t have a dredge available in time to bring sand to South Palm Beaches in April before turtle-nesting season begins. He said the dredging work is now postponed until November. Fischer said she has received assurances from Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio that the project will ultimately get done.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana’s Shoreline Green Market at Bicentennial Park opened to acclaim from vendors and residents but is struggling to find its footing, according to Hector Herrera, the event’s founder and manager.
During a town meeting on Feb. 10, Herrera said the market, in existence since November, was just starting to find its customer base. Customers want lots of vendors, he explained, and the market’s original 30 vendors have dwindled to 15.
One of the main reasons, Herrera said, was a lack of designated parking for vendors. Several had repeatedly been slapped with parking tickets with limited space in the Ocean Avenue area for both vendors and customers. “A lot of these vendors are mom-and-pop businesses who invest in bringing their produce, their wares and their arts and crafts to the market. The parking tickets they get add up week after week.”
Herrera asked that parking fees be waived at Bicentennial and Lyman Kayak parks from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on market Sundays. While the Town Council didn’t agree to that, it did grant 20 (out of 31) parking spaces at Lyman Kayak Park, just around the corner on North Lake Drive, for vendor parking.
Mayor Dave Stewart said he wouldn’t want to take away any street parking or parking at Sportsman’s Park, because Sunday was a day that many families take out their boats and would need parking spaces. Customers of restaurants on Ocean Avenue would also need parking spaces.
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said he really liked the green market and was in favor of allowing vendors to park at Kayak Park. He said it was the perfect place since “on Sundays, it’s empty.”
Council members suggested that other vendors could drop off their tents and wares and park free at the town’s tennis courts at Iris Avenue and South Lake Drive, just a few blocks south of Bicentennial Park.
With the vendors off the streets, more parking spaces would become available for the public, Herrera said.
In another attempt to draw customers, Herrera requested permission to sell bloody marys, as well as beer and wine, at the green market. Town Manager Deborah Manzo said the town would need to change its code to allow alcohol for bloody marys, so that request was denied. However, the council did approve the sale of beer and wine from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Moorhouse said beer and wine were allowed at other town events and he saw no problem with approving sales at the green market.
“No one’s going to get pukey from 10 to 2 in the afternoon unless they’re a really pukey person,” Moorhouse said.
Police Chief Sean Scheller promised to keep an eye on drinking at the green market. If it does become a problem, the town can rescind approval.

By Mary Thurwachter

The hunt for the best material to repave the walking trail at the Lantana Nature Preserve isn’t over yet.
Since September 2017 when Hurricane Irma left the 6.5-acre park in shambles, the town has been wrestling with how best to restore the pathway. Concrete, pressure-treated wood, pavers, asphalt and gunite sand — similar to the material originally used at the preserve — have all been considered.
Last year, the Town Council settled on asphalt — much to the dismay of Friends of the Lantana Nature Preserve, which urged the council to choose any other option.
During the Feb. 24 town meeting — before a scheduled vote on whether to approve a $71,690 contract with M&M Asphalt Maintenance to pave the trail with asphalt 1,800 linear feet by 6 feet wide — another option was brought forward: crushed concrete. Hypoluxo Island resident Media Beverly made the pitch during public comments.
“I have in hand an estimate quoting the entire pathway of 2,500 linear feet by 8 feet of finish-grade crushed concrete screenings for a total of $37,774,” Beverly said. “That’s a savings of $48,636” over the asphalt estimate. The original pathway is 2,500 linear feet.
The town had chosen asphalt because it is cheaper than other options and it’s ADA compliant.
Estimates for the asphalt work includes an additional $14,720 to convert the pathway before paving and leaving 700 linear feet unpaved and in its original condition, pushing the total to $86,410. The 700 feet is on the north end of the preserve in a wetland area and would require an additional permit to replace.
“I found no language in any of the documents in your package tonight that requires M&M to install the paving in compliance with ADA regulations and there is no guarantee it will outlast shell rock or another material,” Beverly said.
Beverly said that from what she had read, “as long as the surface is ‘firm and stable,’ packed crushed stone, gravel finely compacted with a roller, packed soil and other natural materials bonded with synthetic materials, can provide the required degree of stability and firmness for ADA compliance.”
A savings of $48,000 would go a long way toward replanting the overgrown and neglected preserve, Beverly said.
While council members said they were eager to have the Nature Preserve, at 440 E. Ocean Ave., renovated, they agreed to postpone a vote on asphalt until they had staff look into a crushed concrete option.
Council member Ed Shropshire, a proponent of asphalt, said “we need to entertain other possibilities again” because the price for asphalt “has gone up so much.”
Council member Phil Aridas agreed: “$37,000 compared to $80,000 — if you want to put a $37,000 path in a nature preserve, I have no problem with that.”
Council member Lynn Moorhouse agreed to looking into crushed concrete, but said he hoped it would be done expeditiously since the town had been struggling to resolve this issue for more than two years.
But Town Manager Deborah Manzo made it clear that if the town had to go back to the state Department of Environmental Protection for another permit if the surface is changed, it would take time.
The town has applied for a second extension for a $5,000 FEMA grant that was awarded toward repairing the path after the hurricane.
Manzo also said residents of the Carlisle, next door to the preserve, are unable to use the park as it is now and are eager for renovations to be completed.
As a result of a deal struck when the Carlisle was built on land the town owned at the time, the senior living facility pays Lantana for preserve expenses. The Carlisle contracts with the town to do the maintenance work.
Beverly thanked the council for considering her suggestion.
“Although restoring the Lantana Nature Preserve pathway has been an ongoing topic, I appreciate that the Town Council members gave thoughtful consideration to my presentation and directed our town manager to explore better-suited materials before a final vote to contract for asphalt,” she said.

By Steve Plunkett

A panel of three judges at the 4th District Court of Appeal peppered the lawyers on both sides of Richard Lucibella’s simple battery case with questions during oral arguments.
Neither Leonard Feuer, representing the Ocean Ridge resident and onetime town vice mayor, nor Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear, representing the state, escaped scrutiny.
Lucibella, 66, wants the appeals judges to vacate his February 2019 conviction of misdemeanor battery and tell Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss to enter instead a judgment of acquittal or give him a new trial.
Lucibella was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence and felony battery on a law enforcement officer but guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge. He was ordered to pay $675 in court costs.
The charges stemmed from an Oct. 22, 2016, altercation in the then-vice mayor’s backyard as town police investigated phoned-in reports of gunfire. During the confrontation Lucibella poked Officer Richard Ermeri through his chest vest.
Part of Feuer’s argument at the Feb. 25 hearing rested on whether Lucibella had a right to defend himself after Ermeri, Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan showed up.
“I’m not seeing this show of force” by the police, Judge Alan Forst said. “Clearly they weren’t invited in, but they didn’t come in with guns blazing.”
Feuer said the officers were “trying to control the scene” and kept “emphasizing their authority. You know, ‘Sit down, sit down, you can’t go inside the house,’” he said.
Presiding Judge Burton Conner was concerned that state law does not allow someone to resist a law enforcement officer who is engaged in the execution of a legal duty “if the law enforcement officer was acting in good faith.”
“Do you agree that the case law interpreting that statute basically says that you cannot use force against an officer if the officer is acting in good faith?” Burton asked. “The Legislature is basically saying to me … you can’t raise a self-defense argument to justify pushing an officer, poking an officer.”
Associate Judge Kenneth Gillespie zeroed in on whether the police were in the backyard “for a lawful purpose.”
“I agree they were trying to investigate shots fired,” Feuer said.
When Melear’s turn came, she emphasized that the record of Lucibella’s trial is “replete with evidence of good faith” by the officers.
But the three-judge panel wanted to know if or when the “exigency” or emergency conditions ended that might allow police to enter a yard without a warrant.
Conner said Ermeri didn’t pat down Lucibella or his companion, police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, and handed back Lucibella’s gun when he could not unload it.
“That doesn’t quite strike me as demonstrating exigency,” Conner said.
Melear argued that whether Ermeri’s actions were proper was a moot point.
“For simple battery, lawful execution of legal duty is not an element of the crime. For simple battery you simply have an unlawful touching,” she said.
Melear also said Lucibella “walked into” Ermeri’s extended arms before he was arrested.
“It was the defendant who provoked the aggression in the first place,” she said.
The 4th District Court of Appeal issues its opinions on Wednesdays. The panel of judges should render a decision within six months, the court’s website says.

The entrance to the public parking lot that services the walkway has been locked after the city and Catholic Diocese could not agree on lease details for the parcel behind St. Mark’s Catholic Church. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach residents and other nature lovers no longer have access to a 4.8-acre mangrove parcel that sits on the Intracoastal Waterway behind St. Mark’s Catholic Church.
The mangroves’ owner, the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach County, and the city of Boynton Beach could not agree to new terms after the lease expired on June 30.
In mid-October, the City Commission voted 5-0 to not renew the lease. At the time, Mayor Steven Grant said he had not received any complaints since the park closed in July.
“I used to go down there once a week,” said Steve Plaisance, who lives about two blocks away from the mangrove parcel. “It was a pretty neat walk.”
When Plaisance returned for another mangrove walk this year, the parcel was locked.
For 27 years, the city had leased the land from the diocese for $10 a year. The parcel sits south of St. Mark’s and behind the Casa Costa condominiums.
The diocese wanted to increase the rent to $12,000 annually, paid in advance, to have the city repair the metal walkway and fix the restrooms, and to increase its liability insurance to $3 million.
Diocesan attorney Thomas Courtney sent the city a letter on July 22 with these terms: a one-year lease with automatic renewals unless terminated by either party with a six-month advance notice.
But the diocese did not want to enter a long-term lease and never said why, Assistant City Manager Colin Groff said Feb. 18.
“They just said that’s the way they do it when leasing their properties,” Groff said.
To fix the walkway, make the restrooms handicapped-accessible and make other upgrades would cost more than $1 million, according to city estimates.
“We can’t spend that kind of (taxpayer) money if they won’t give us a long-term lease,” Public Works Director Andrew Mack said Feb. 18.
It will take the city a while to get the permits to remove the walkway, Mack said.
The diocese sent the city a reminder letter in mid-December that it would charge the city $1,000 a month rent until the property is returned.
The diocesan real estate manager, Daniel Lewis, recently declined to comment, saying the diocese was not in control of the mangrove parcel.
All is not lost, according to Groff.
“We still own a mangrove parcel to the south,” he said, and it’s of similar size.

By Jane Smith

Residents on Palm Trail were successful in getting Delray Beach City Commission support to help them reduce boat speeds on a nearly 1-mile section of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The commission unanimously passed a resolution Feb. 11 that calls for idle speeds with no wakes between the George Bush Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue bridges. It was modified at the meeting to include manatee protection.
“We should throw everything into this resolution that we can,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said.
During public comment, the Palm Trail Homeowners Association president thanked the commission and asked if the resolution could include manatee protection.
The mayor signed the updated resolution in late February. It will be sent to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which oversees speeds in Florida waterways.
Because the resolution includes manatee protection, it will have a lengthy review process. It includes a county review committee, a public comment period and public hearings.
In other Delray Beach news:
• On Feb. 4, fired City Manager Mark Lauzier appealed the loss of his whistleblower status in his lawsuit against Delray Beach to the 4th District Court of Appeal.
The city, in turn, is seeking to recover the cost of litigating the whistleblower portion of Lauzier’s wrongful dismissal lawsuit. That motion will be heard at 9 a.m. April 27.
The wrongful dismissal count remains open in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
• The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency agreed on Feb. 25 to extend the fixed-route transportation contract to June 30, 2021.
First Transit Inc. will supply the vehicles and drivers in the downtown; the hourly rate paid to the company by the CRA was reduced from $55.28 to $46.73. The CRA will pay fuel at cost and First Transit will provide a monthly fuel report with receipts.
Other costs the CRA agreed to pay include wrapping the two vehicles for $12,080 and reupholstering the seats for $10,000.

By Jane Smith

The Town Square project is about $2.5 million under budget, Boynton Beach city commissioners learned at their Feb. 18 meeting.
Colin Groff, assistant city manager in charge of the public-private partnership, said the city’s private partner, E2L Real Estate Solutions, invested the bond money and returned about $1.6 million of interest to the project.
In addition, Groff said the partnership was able to avoid paying sales taxes on large equipment purchases by setting up a nonprofit to do the buying. The partnership saved between $800,000 and $900,000 and put the savings back into Town Square.
The city hopes the $250 million project creates a downtown with a mix of municipal buildings, a cultural center with a banquet hall, a museum, apartment buildings, a hotel and parks. The city’s estimated share is $118 million.
The roughly 16-acre site is bounded by Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north, Northeast First Street on the east, Southeast Second Avenue on the south and Seacrest Boulevard on the west.
The new Fire Station No. 1, which also serves Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes, will have three bays and space for 10 employees. Its grand opening is scheduled for April 15.
The parking garages, though, are behind schedule by four to five months.
The south garage will be usable in December, said John Markey, managing principal of JKM Developers, another private partner.
The city will allow short-term parking on Ocean Avenue for people who need to do errands at City Hall, Groff said. Other surface parking will be available in the lot to the east of the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum.
JKM owns that lot. As part of its contract with the city, JKM must provide parking for the city staff and residents if the south garage is not finished in time.
In other news:
• The city’s renovated historic high school will open as the Cultural Arts Center on March 27. Reflections, a public artwork, will be installed during the first two weeks in May. Programs and classes will begin soon. For more information, call 561-742-6756.
• City commissioners approved a purchase order to R. George & Associates Inc. on March 3 for $77,800 to move city library materials from two temporary locations back to its permanent location in Town Square.
• Eleanor Krusell, public communications and marketing director, showed the 2020 city calendar based on historical postcards. Residents will receive copies of the calendar in the mail.
• Commissioners formed a centennial steering committee by recommending two residents each and plan to offer free entrance to the city’s Oceanfront Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 12, commemorating the day Boynton Beach bought that parcel, Krusell said. Krusell said parking is limited.
The Town of Boynton, named for Civil War Maj. Nathan S. Boynton of Michigan, was incorporated in 1920. In 1941 the Town of Boynton became Boynton Beach.
Residents who want to help plan centennial events should contact Krusell via email at kruselle@bbfl.us or call 561-742-6018.

Charles Elmore contributed to this story.