The royal wedding brings out plenty of styles and emotions. TOP: Elaine Walls enjoys a toast. ABOVE LEFT: Sara Wohlfarth sits with family and friends. ABOVE RIGHT: Blue Anchor owner Peggy Snyder juggles a bar full of reservations. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

You have to wonder.
What could make so many men and women get up, dress up and venture out to The Blue Anchor Pub so early, just to watch a wedding so far away?
The tradition? The romance? The “Royal Brekkie” of bangers and English bacon, baked beans and mushrooms, grilled tomato, black pudding, two eggs and toast? The alcohol?
And those fashions!
Consider that gentleman perched at a high table by the side door. He is friendly but politely declines to give his name — perhaps because at 6 a.m. on a Saturday he has appeared in public wearing a white T-shirt and black suit coat, a cummerbund embroidered with Felix the Cat, black Bermuda shorts and flip-flops.
“My formal black flip-flops,” he notes.
He is not alone. By 7 a.m. on May 19, the pub is nearly full, and all seven big-screen tellies are tuned to Windsor Castle, where it’s already noon and Prince Harry, sixth in the line to the British throne, will soon be wed to Ms. Meghan Markle, a commoner, an actress and American no less.
“I think we’re here because the invitation got lost in the mail,” Elaine Johnson says. “And The Blue Anchor is the next-best thing to being there.”
Indeed it is. Opened in 1864 on London’s fabled Chancery Lane, The Blue Anchor thrived there until 1996, when the building came down, a parking lot went up, and the pub’s exterior — huge oak doors, dark paneling and stained-glass windows — was dismantled and shipped across the pond to Delray Beach.

ABOVE: Those gathering at The Blue Anchor Pub in Delray Beach to enjoy the telecast of the wedding include (l-r) Trevor and Elona Andrews, Emily Logan and Robin Isaac.

LEFT: Dan Meister toasts people in his group, including (l-r) his wife, Mimi, Louise Glover and Mia Anderton. The Meisters met at the pub 20 years ago, and Mimi’s birthday was the same day as the royal wedding. ABOVE: British native Lucie Carney wipes away a tear.

“I’m not really sure why I’m doing this,” muses Lisette Molins, who’s from Venezuela. “I grew up hearing about the royal family. It’s not like I have feelings for them, but any excuse to celebrate life is good … and I’ve had a crush on Harry since I was a kid.”
It’s a joyful mix of the reverent and the ridiculous, with Union Jacks poking from black top hats, tuxedo T-shirts and top-heavy feathers, even a straw cowboy hat, perhaps in honor of the bride’s American roots.
When the bride arrives at St. George’s Chapel, a woman cries, “Oh, look! Oh, my God!”
Elaine Walls and her flowered hat are watching from a corner of the bar.
“My daughter bought me a present of four days in London in July,” she explains, “so I’m getting in the mood.”
Her friend Nelia Oiler is sporting a big black hat.
“I don’t know what you’d call it,” she admits. “Wide-brimmed?”
And she’s not really sure why so many Americans have gathered here to celebrate the latest incarnation of a monarchy they fought a bloody war to be rid of, either.
“Well, I like to see what they’re wearing,” Oiler begins, then falters. “I’m just interested in them,” she says. “I don’t know why, really.”
Suddenly an unmistakably British accent calls from down the bar.
“Jealousy!” Lucie Carney charges. “Jealousy!”
Carney lives in Delray Beach now but still summers back home in London.
“What is more constant than the royal family?” she asks. “Our queen’s been with us through thick and thin, so we feel they’re part of our family. They’re connecting our past and our future. People say the royal family won’t last, but it will. It will. As long as there’s an England, it will!”
And as long as there’s a United States, some of us will want to cheer when the archbishop of Canterbury intones, “I therefore proclaim that they are husband and wife” — if only from an ocean away, and only for a few hours on a Saturday morning.
Dan and Mimi Meister met in this pub 20 years ago, were proclaimed husband and wife 17 years ago, and today is Mimi’s birthday.
To honor both marriages, Dan Meister is wearing a black top hat, tails and bright red shorts.
“This is outstanding,” he says, eyes on the telly. “It’s a little levity, with everything that’s going on in the world, to see a nice couple celebrating in a nice way.
“And a little pomp and circumstance is always nice.”

By Dan Moffett

Dog owners who take their pets to South Palm Beach for a stroll in the surf should be prepared to pay up to $250 for repeat violations of a town ordinance.
The town doesn’t allow dogs on its public beach and last month approved levying some hefty fines on offenders.
For a first violation, police will issue a written warning. The second offense within a calendar year will cost $100. The third and all subsequent violations will draw $250 fines.
“The law has been on the books since 1983,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said of the prohibition against dogs on the beach. “But there’s been no teeth in it.”
The Town Council hopes that the specter of a $250 fine will deter what has become a growing problem in recent years. Until now, police were empowered only to give verbal warnings and hope violators complied.
During the May 8 town meeting, council members Elvadianne Culbertson and Bill LeRoy argued against keeping penalties too low.
Culbertson dismissed a proposal for $100 fines for serial offenders as “too trivial.” LeRoy said the fines had to sting enough to change behavior.
“We’re not trying to raise money,” he said. “You got to make it severe enough that you stop the action.”
The vote for the $250 fines was 4-1, with the mayor dissenting.
Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said that dog owners who believe they were unfairly fined can appeal to the town’s code enforcement board or to a magistrate. The next line of appeal is the circuit court.
Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said it’s important that police and town officials do their parts in educating the public about the change.
“I just want to make sure to get the information out there to people,” she said.
In other business:
• Town Manager Mo Thornton said construction on the 3550 South Ocean condominium project was advancing “fairly quickly” and workers were hoping for a topping out party — marking the completion of the building’s structural shell — on June 15.
• The council unanimously approved the hiring of Stormwater J Engineering of West Palm Beach to handle design and analysis duties for sewer repair work. The town’s aging drain system needs a significant overhaul, which could take much of the year to complete, officials say.

By Dan Moffett

 South Palm Beach Police Chief Carl Webb decided to retire from his position in early May, ending a 30-year career with the town.
Webb, 64, went on a medical leave of absence in January, and officials said he chose to take the retirement he was planning instead of returning to the job.
 The town appreciates his service,” said Town Manager Mo Thornton. “We wish him all the best in his retirement.”
 Webb grew up in the Pittsburgh area and earned his police certification at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He came to Palm Beach County in 1986 and took a job as a patrol officer with the Greenacres Police Department. Three years later, South Palm Beach hired him, and he worked for the town ever since.
 Webb first served under Chief Stanley Morse until his retirement in 1993 and then under Chief Roger Crane until 2013 when Webb took over as interim chief. The Town Council promoted him to chief and public safety director in April 2014. He became only the third chief in the town’s history.
 After taking command of the department, Webb made a priority of upgrading technology and obtaining military-grade weapons for his officers. He oversaw a security renovation of the Town Hall front office that included the installation of bullet-resistant glass and electronic locks.
 As safety director, Webb emphasized hurricane preparedness and the need for residents to heed evacuation notices. He worked to improve communications between the town and residents on crime prevention and emergency medical responses.
 Sgt. Mark Garrison, a 17-year veteran of the Police Department, took over Webb’s duties in February, and Thornton said he would continue as interim chief until the town finds a permanent replacement.
  She said the council would begin advertising for applicants and screening candidates soon, with the hope of naming Webb’s successor by summer.
 Webb’s annual salary was $98,515.

By Rich Pollack

South Palm Beach County’s five small coastal communities continued to have few serious crimes reported in 2017, according to statistics released last month by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
There were 154 total serious crimes, ranging from larceny to rape, in the five communities — Gulf Stream, Highland Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge and South Palm Beach — compared with 150 reported in 2016.
All of the communities, however, experienced slight increases in offenses, with the exception of Ocean Ridge, which saw a 42.5 percent decrease in crimes reported.
Also seeing decreases were south Palm Beach County’s larger cities of Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. Lantana experienced a slight increase in reported crimes.
Larcenies, often thefts from unlocked vehicles, increased from eight to 24 in Gulf Stream and from 22 to 27 in Highland Beach. They remained flat in Manalapan, which saw 14 larcenies, and increased from five to six in South Palm Beach.
Gulf Stream Police Chief Ed Allen said the larcenies ranged from tools being taken from job sites to valuables being taken from a handful of unlocked vehicles.
“It’s just a variety of things.” he said.
In Ocean Ridge, the number of larcenies dropped from 64 to 31, with a decrease in the number of reported thefts from unlocked vehicles accounting for a large portion of the decline.
Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said the decline in the number of larcenies could be attributed to several variables, including more awareness among residents of the need to remove valuables and lock cars as well as changes in the department’s patrol tactics.
“Everything together drove that number down,” he said. “Could that change overnight? Certainly.”
Hutchins is cautious about putting too much emphasis on the statistics, especially in small towns where the number of crimes are low and just a few crimes can have an impact on the percentage of increase or decrease in the numbers.
Still, he said, his department is doing its best to see the number of overall crimes in the community decline.
“We’re happy to see some decline in the crimes we typically encounter here,” he said. “We’d like to see these numbers go down every year, and our officers and residents have formed a partnership to do just that.”
Overall crime in Palm Beach County dropped by 5.6 percent, while the number of crimes statewide declined 4.5 percent compared to 2016.

Robert Gottlieb (right), vice mayor of South Palm Beach, receives the William ‘Bill’ Moss Memorial Award from Palm Beach County League of Cities President Keith James on May 23 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. The award is given to public servants who demonstrate ‘exemplary involvement, support and dedication’ to the league. Photo provided

By Jane Smith

The temporary location of the Boynton Beach City Library will stay east of the interstate, city staff decided in late May.
“We thought it would be better to have the temporary library location east of I-95 because that’s where most of the patrons live,” said Colin Groff, assistant city manager in charge of the 16-acre Town Square project, which will include a new library.
Rather than on High Ridge Road, the new temporary location for both adult and children will be at 115 N. Federal Highway in a former bank building that most recently housed the Congregational United Church of Christ. In mid-April, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed to pay $3 million for the church and its parking lot.
“The city owns a nearby parking lot, so there will be plenty of parking,” Groff said. As part of the deal, the congregation may still hold Sunday services through December, he said. The library will have only 20,000 square feet, roughly one-third of its current size. The library staff is trying to work out a circulation policy so that all materials can be borrowed, Groff said.
Under the revised schedule, which may change, the library will be closed from July 13 to Aug. 12. The library will reopen Aug. 13 in its temporary location.
Town Square is a public-private partnership that will create a downtown for Boynton Beach. It will have a combination library and city hall building, the renovated historic high school, which will offer recreation programs on the first floor and an auditorium/reception space on the second floor, the historic Schoolhouse Children’s Museum, a new fire station, two parking garages, open spaces and a public amphitheater.
The private development will include a hotel and apartment buildings.
The city also pushed back other dates in the project. The renovated old high school now is scheduled to open Feb. 28, not in January.
The city’s customer service unit — where residents go to buy beach passes, pay utility bills, pay parking tickets and request public records — will move to 209 N. Seacrest Blvd. It will open Oct. 1.
City Hall will move to 3301 Quantum Blvd. and open Sept. 24.
The Police Department headquarters staff will move to 2045 High Ridge Road effective Sept. 24.
The move of Fire Station 1 staff and vehicles was delayed by one month to mid-September.
All dates are subject to further changes, Groff said.

Daniel Hartwell resembles actor Owen Wilson so much that people often stop him to have their photos taken with him. But he’s not Owen Wilson. He’s a concert promoter and author of a book on the Beatles’ John Lennon. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

What once may have been taken as a quirky resemblance to a celebrity has turned into a full-fledged cottage industry for Ocean Ridge resident Daniel Hartwell.
For going on 20 years, people have mistaken Hartwell for actor Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Zoolander, Marley & Me), and the notice it’s brought has gone viral since the two were shown in side-by-side photos on Page 6 of The New York Post recently.
“My phone rang off the hook after that,” Hartwell said. “I had no idea what Page 6 was until then. Now People magazine wants me to do a photo shoot with Owen Wilson. I’m waiting to hear more on that.”
A concert promoter who has written a book on John Lennon, Hartwell said he was “shocked” at first by how many people would stop and ask about the resemblance.
“Now I have fun with it,” he said. “Why not? If it’s going to make somebody’s day to have a picture with me, I oblige them.
“It’s really picked up the last five years. I’ve traveled the world and have had people running up and asking for pictures in Japan and Russia and Colombia and all over the U.S.”
The two have never met, but Hartwell said they have conversed through a mutual friend.
Hartwell, 57, promoted a concert through his company, United We Rock, last year in the parking lot near the Fish Depot in Boynton Beach and is working toward putting together “a giant Beatles festival” in Delray Beach in 2019. “The idea is to take over a large part of the city for that,” he said.
While working toward that he keeps busy “promoting my book, Saint John Lennon, along with life coaching, health coaching, business coaching. I also consult for other concert producers and promoters.”
Hartwell is on the board of directors for Horses Healing Hearts (www.horseshealingheartsusa.org). “We provide equestrian therapy for children of alcoholics and addicts,” he said. “Kids in today’s world need all the positive reinforcement they can get.”

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in central New England in the Worcester/Boston area. It was a place where you had to be on top of your game and work hard — never a dull moment! The can-do vibe was a great influence because I had to make it without help from anyone. No such thing as luck. Prepare for opportunity is what I was taught.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I have been a drummer, a singer, a producer, a concert promoter and a life coach. Now I am an author, and my greatest accomplishment is the release of my new novel, Saint John Lennon. It’s becoming very popular around the world. The story is a time-travel adventure about John Lennon returning to our near-future world. He continues his mission of promoting peace and love and, of course, creating music. He has missed 40 years of culture, technology, family life and politics.  
Fans follow John on his adventures — he appears on Bill Maher’s Real Time, goes into space with Richard Branson, gets around in a driverless car, debates Hannity on Fox News, thwarts terrorism and meets with President Trump. It’s a fun romp fans can’t put down once they start reading. Can you say Beatles reunion? It’s on Amazon and available at saintjohnlennon.com.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Life doesn’t happen sitting on the sofa. Get off your butt, get off Netflix and off your iPhone and start meeting people face to face.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge? 
A: I stumbled upon this wonderful town while visiting a friend and I fell in love with its magical charm.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge? 
A: The ocean. It’s special here.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It’s a great love story that transcends time. Lots of surprises. 

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? 
A: I listen to rock when I am running at the beach, classical when writing and Liquid Mind when relaxing.

Q:  Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A: “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” — Napoleon Hill. I find this quote represents all that I have experienced. When we help others, it truly helps us in all walks of life. 

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A: Yes, John Lennon, Tony Robbins and my father. John Lennon, and the Beatles of course, were always inspiring with positive, happy songs that filled my life. John’s never-ending crusade for peace was legendary. I have been to some of Tony Robbins’ events and I feel he is a great inspiration to all who experience his mission of growth and positivity. And my father, Douglas Hartwell, who always taught me lessons of goodwill and to always “love each other.”

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you? 
A: Owen Wilson! I get stopped every day and asked if I am him.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach Plaza will get a full-line Whole Foods Market, not the 365 brand, the center’s developer told a city advisory board in early May.
“It will be a ‘grocerant’ where people go for lunch,” said Jeff Garrison, partner at S.J. Collins Enterprises, which owns the center formerly called Lavers International Plaza, just east of Interstate 95 on East Linton Boulevard. The developer wanted to add 10,000 square feet to the main building to make it a Whole Foods store.
The Site Plan Appearance and Review Board unanimously approved the change May 9.
Garrison called it a “change on the fly” and was able to persuade Whole Foods to stay because of the lease signed before Amazon bought the grocery store chain last year.
“The opportunity to open a Whole Foods Market store in Delray Beach means that we will be able to provide the community with a more complete shopping and food experience,” said Juan Nunez, president of Whole Foods Market’s Florida region.
The 365 store was supposed to open by the end of 2018. The change in plans will not provide enough time for the Whole Foods Market to open this year, said Heather McCready, Whole Foods spokeswoman.

Eight new lifeguard towers, costing $126,000 each, will replace the aging stationary towers in Delray Beach. The new towers have skids so they can be moved when safety conditions change at the municipal beach. All eight were scheduled to be in place by June 4, weather permitting. The towers were built in sections at a warehouse and brought to the Casuarina Road entrance, where they were assembled into a single unit. Once at their locations, the towers were painted, stairs attached and new roofing added to match that on the main pavilion. The towers have impact glass windows and louvered shutters to protect the windows from flying debris and vandalism. Solar panels on the roofs will power lifeguards’ police radios and operate fans in the hot summer months. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

The blaring horns from FEC freight trains and Brightline passenger trains will soon stop in most South County cities.
In Boca Raton, a quiet zone was scheduled to begin at 11:59 p.m. May 30. The city’s website explained: “Residents may still hear train horns in emergency situations or when the trains comply with other railroad rules. … A more appropriate description of a designated quiet zone would be a ‘reduced train horn area.’”
Boca Raton followed West Palm Beach and Lake Worth in their quiet zone designations along the Florida East Coast railroad tracks.
Quiet zone construction can include quad gates or a raised median between travel lanes to improve safety at the crossings. The county’s Transportation Planning Agency is paying for the construction. Individual cities will have to cover the maintenance costs.
When the county’s work is finished, cities then can petition the Federal Railroad Administration about their intent to install quiet zones. Federal officials need 21 days to review the plans and decide whether the safety upgrades are sufficient to allow train operators to stop blasting their horns at the crossings.
In Delray Beach, City Manager Mark Lauzier brought up the quiet zone application at the May 15 City Commission meeting. With commission consensus, he filed the city’s application the next day.
The application was quickly approved, and the city’s quiet zone should be in place by June 2.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia also wants cameras to be installed at the city’s heavily used crossings. She would like to know where else the city needs to install pedestrian and bicyclist barriers, similar to the aluminum rail fence between Atlantic Avenue and Northeast First Street. The city had it installed after a woman took a well-used shortcut across the tracks in 2016 and was killed by a southbound freight train.
On May 9, Lantana and Hypoluxo received their notices that the supplemental safety items were in place.
Lantana began work on the required traffic counts in late May with the hopes of submitting the quiet zone package by June, Town Manager Deborah Manzo said in an email. She hoped the trains along the FEC tracks would no longer blast their horns by late June.
Hypoluxo is teaming with Lantana to submit its quiet zone package, said Hypoluxo Mayor Michael Brown. Hypoluxo has only two FEC crossings and both are on county roads — Miner and Hypoluxo roads.
Boynton Beach will have to wait until midsummer to apply for its quiet zone after asking for four more crossings to receive the extra protection.
“Safety is most important,” Mayor Steven Grant said at Brightline’s new Miami station on a May 11 media trip from West Palm Beach. In January, two people were killed by Brightline trains in Boynton Beach.
Brightline started its West Palm Beach to Miami run the following weekend with low introductory fares. On May 21, the fares rose to $15 each way for regular seats and $25 for special seats that are wider and offer free beverages and snacks. The fares likely will increase in a few months, according to Brightline.
At Brightline’s inaugural stop in Miami, the emphasis was on jobs created and a cleaner environment with fewer cars on South Florida highways.
The express trains travel at twice the speed of freight trains. Since Brightline passenger service began in January, four Palm Beach County people have been killed by the trains, which travel at 79 mph.
“People need to use caution near the Brightline trains,” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said at the Miami station.
She said she wrote a letter of support for the passenger line’s federal grant request of $2  million to $3 million for safety upgrades in the three South Florida counties.

Delray Beach plans to have the sidewalk work along A1A finished by the Fourth of July. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Now that tourist season has ended, MBR Construction has returned to fine-tuning its work along the promenade on the west side of Delray Beach’s municipal beach.
“We wanted to wait until the tourists were gone,” said Missie Barletto, deputy director in Delray Beach’s Public Works Department. All of the work is scheduled to be done by the Fourth of July holiday.
Starting at Casuarina Road, about 160 linear feet of sidewalk was ripped out because the color didn’t match, she said. That area is fenced off until the sidewalk’s scheduled completion in early June.
The Fort Lauderdale-based firm will move its construction work zone from the south to the north end of the city’s beach. Walkers and runners will be diverted to the west side of A1A in the construction zones.
Also, the northbound bicycle lane will be narrowed during the construction. Bicyclists are urged to use caution when riding on A1A.
On-street parking in the work zone will not be allowed. Parking is available in nearby city-owned lots.
Concrete sidewalks at the north and south sides of the main pavilion at Atlantic Avenue also are being replaced.
In addition, 21 new backless benches will be placed along the promenade near the beach entrances between Casuarina and the north end where the knee wall starts, according to the city’s website. More benches will be placed in front of the main pavilion.
Memorial bricks, created as a substitute for those who paid for plaques on the old benches, will be installed at the base of the flagpole during this time.
For questions about the project, call city engineer Isaac Kovner at 243-7341.

Reclaimed water project
The final construction leg of the reclaimed water line is underway on the barrier island. Along with the reclaimed water lines, the city is installing new water, sewer and storm water lines from Lewis Cove south to Del Haven Boulevard.
For walkers and bicyclists, that means parts of the sidewalk and bike lanes along southbound A1A will be closed from Casuarina Road south to Linton Boulevard between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 31.

By Jane Smith

Midtown Delray received its second City Commission approval in mid-May, which the developers needed to proceed with the massive project.
Now, the Delray Beach planning director will ensure the development team, led by Hudson Holdings, follows the four conditions set in March. The mixed-use complex was approved then, subject to the approval of design changes of three buildings.
“We’re very excited,” said Steve Michael, head of Hudson Holdings. “The project meets everyone’s needs, reflected in the unanimous decision.”
The $140 million Midtown sits at the southwest corner of Swinton and Atlantic avenues, the gateway to the Northwest/Southwest neighborhoods. It will add offices, restaurants, shops, renovated historic houses, residential inns and an underground parking garage on 7 acres.
The complex also is part of the new nationally designated Old School Square Historic District.
In 2014, the southern side received a commercial overlay before Hudson Holdings and investor Rick Marshall bought the two Swinton Avenue blocks.
By the end of the year, Midtown will begin preparing the main block for the underground garage, Michael said.
At the May meeting, commissioners were limited to approving only the design style of three new buildings — the main building on Atlantic Avenue and two side buildings on Swinton Avenue.
Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who voted against the project in March, asked former Mayor Cary Glickstein to review the developer’s new sketches and computer drawings prior to the May 15 commission meeting. “He was adamant and emphatic that the drawings be more detailed,” she said.
In March, while still mayor, Glickstein asked for the team’s historic architect Rick Gonzalez to reduce the height of the Atlantic Avenue building to three stories and to make the buildings more aesthetically pleasing. Another Midtown architect, John Szerdi, created computer drawings from the sketches.
Glickstein appreciated that Petrolia reached out to him. Also in attendance were Petrolia, city senior planner Scott Pape, Michael, Midtown’s lead attorney Neil Schiller, Gonzalez and Szerdi.
“When I asked to see Rick’s design sketches, staff and I saw substantive differences between the sketches and the [computer] drawings submitted to staff,” Glickstein said. “Specifically, the [computer] drawings omitted important, authentic design features that made the buildings far more interesting.”
The changes agreed to include adding more balconies, using softer white paint colors to differentiate the three architectural styles on the Atlantic Avenue building and other revisions.
On May 23, Michael and Szerdi said the changes were made and they were trying to schedule a meeting with the city planning staff.
The revised drawings seem to give Midtown Delray slightly more space, but Schiller and city Planning Director Tim Stillings said that’s not necessarily true.
“Midtown’s site plan has not been certified,” Stillings said in a May 22 email. “There are some inconsistencies with the numbers represented, which need to be reconciled before the site plan will be certified.”

Concerns about historic elements
Even with the changes, Petrolia and new Commissioner Bill Bathurst had a hard time approving them.
“I was up on the dais and looking out to historic preservationists in the audience,” Petrolia said after the May 15 meeting. “But we were not approving the project, just the changes in the architecture of the three new buildings.”
Bathurst sat on the city’s Historic Preservation Board when it twice turned down Midtown Delray last year.
“How much do we have to compromise to have our historic structures renovated?” Bathurst asked at the May 15 meeting.
“We’re at odds with ourselves,” he said. “We have rules for the historic district and rules for the commercial overlay. In a historic district with contributing structures, visual compatibility standards should apply. But they don’t in this project.”
The new Swinton Avenue buildings sit to the north of some of the city’s most historic houses: the 1902 Cathcart House and the 1912 Rectory, which leases space to the Yaxche Tearoom. The 1902 home of the city’s first mayor, John Sundy, is in the next block.
New buildings in a historic district can have only one architectural style, according to city rules, John Miller said in December when Midtown Delray made its second appearance at the city’s Historic Preservation Board. Miller chairs that board.
But Midtown’s main new building on Atlantic has three styles: Mediterranean Revival, Anglo-Caribbean and Art Deco, allowed under rules for the commercial overlay.
“We need to take our historic districts seriously,” Bathurst said on May 15, “and decide what we want as a city.”
Plus, he said, “They are taking out 200 trees.”
Deputy Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson, who voted for the project in March, said, “The developer has bent over backwards and is meeting the city’s rules.” She likes that Midtown Delray has promised to hire local people for construction and other jobs.
In March, Midtown Delray agreed to four main conditions:
• Secure site plan approval that includes two alleys abandoned by the city.
• Establish a $100,000 historic preservation grant for Frog Alley, West Settlers and Old School Square Historic District prior to receiving its first building permit.
• Post a $1 million bond to guarantee vertical construction within two years on the main block.
• Create a jobs program prior to receiving its first building permit. The program includes requiring subcontractors to hire Delray Beach workers for bids, provide mentorship opportunities, provide bonding assistance to small local companies and establish job fairs for the Northwest/Southwest areas. The city manager must approve the program before it begins.

Hudson exits two other projects
Hudson Holdings walked away in April from the historic Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth and the Linton Towers office complex in Delray Beach. The new owner is a former partner in both projects, CDS International Realty. Vitamin kingpin Carl DeSantis and his chief assistant Bill Milmoe own CDS.
The two parties traded lawsuits in the past six months in state court and then in federal court when CDS filed a racketeering lawsuit against Hudson Holdings. The agreement settles the lawsuits.
Both parties were pleased with the outcome, according to an April 19 release on PRNewswire.
The Gulfstream renovation approvals expire in September 2019, according to Lake Worth staff.
Schiller, who represents Midtown Delray, expects it to be a catalyst project.
“It will inspire thoughtful, walkable development not just in that area,” he said at the May 15 meeting, “but throughout the city.”

A bulldozer breaks ground on the Atlantic Crossing project last month. Jane Smith/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Sophisticated saxophone sounds beckoned attendees under a tent at Northeast Seventh Avenue and First Street — the future home of Atlantic Crossing.
Fruit-infused water, along with bowls full of fresh fruits, individual blueberry and apple muffins, and slices of banana bread helped to create a fresh start for the early May groundbreaking.
The $300 million complex of residences, offices, stores and restaurants was at least a decade in the making — maybe two, said Jeff Edwards, president and CEO of the Edwards Cos., an Ohio-based development firm.
The original owner, real estate investor Carl DeSantis, brought in Edwards as its development partner in 2012 for the complex that sits at the prominent corner of Federal Highway and Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.
In 2015, the development team sued Delray Beach, Edwards said. The two sides reached a settlement last spring that resulted in an access road off Federal Highway into the project, traffic calming efforts for the Marina Historic District and Palm Trail neighborhoods, and other conditions.
The Palm Trail entrance at Northeast Seventh Avenue already is closed to vehicular traffic with a series of bollards and large planters. Pedestrians and cyclists can still make it through on the sidewalks.
“We’re ready to get started and be a good neighbor,” Edwards told the gathering. “We won’t let anyone down.”
Mayor Shelly Petrolia was cautious. “It’s exciting, but there still are concerns,” she said. “We fought long and hard to get to this point.”
DeSantis sold the project to Edwards in June 2016 for $38.5 million, but he remains involved in the nearly 9-acre project through a $16.5 million loan on the eastern half that houses Atlantic Plaza. He did not attend the groundbreaking ceremony. His right-hand man, Bill Milmoe, was there.
“We are re-imagining two city blocks,” said Don DeVere, Edwards vice president. “In the next few years, we will transform the area.”
Atlantic Crossing will have 82 luxury condos, 261 high-end apartments, 83,000 square feet of office space and 76,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The first thing passers-by will notice is the excavation of the underground parking garage on the northwest part of the project, DeVere said. The groundbreaking ceremony featured a bulldozer pushing loads of dirt, instead of officials digging into the soil.
DeVere said the water from the excavation will go through a highly regulated process before it is drained into the Intracoastal Waterway.
Edwards will begin the excavation by June, even though it still needs Florida Department of Transportation approval for the access road from Federal Highway and the driveways along Northeast Seventh Avenue, which is now a private road, DeVere said. He called the applications “formalities.”
Delray Beach Vice Mayor Adam Frankel, who is on his second go-round on the commission, told the 50-plus attendees at the groundbreaking what he said in 2009: “If Carl DeSantis wants to spend a quarter of a billion dollars in our downtown, then we should send a limousine for him to pull the building permits.”
According to its settlement with the city, Edwards is obligated to pay $125,000 for traffic calming efforts in the Marina Historic District. The money is not due until two buildings on the southeast corner are finished. That’s estimated to happen in summer 2019 at the earliest.
But district leaders don’t want to wait until then. They met with the city manager in late May to urge the city to find a way to pay for the improvements this year. The traffic calming items include medians, a traffic circle, sidewalk bump-outs and speed bumps.

Chris Evert’s estate on 5 acres in west Boca Raton is on the market for about the same amount she paid for her current home in Boca’s Sanctuary. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

Retired tennis champion Chris Evert’s house is for sale. Her 12,000-square-foot estate on 5 acres at 8563 Horseshoe Lane, in west Boca Raton, has a tennis court, of course. But it also has putting greens, a nine-car garage and two guesthouses. The asking price for the house with a championship pedigree is $4.99 million, and listing agents are Katia Reisler of Douglas Elliman and Rebecca Spooner of Siemens Group Realty.
Evert, 63, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, does own another home in Boca Raton. In 2016, she bought a 4-bedroom home in the Sanctuary on the Intracoastal Waterway for $4.9 million.

Michel Jacober, co-founder and co-owner of Allen Flavors Inc., paid $12 million for an estate at 750 Lake Drive, Boca Raton. The sale was recorded on May 3. The property was owned by Interchange Four Properties, a New Jersey limited liability company led by William T. Juliano of the real estate firm Delco Development. It last sold in 2006 for $8,738,915. Joseph Liguori, Carmen N. D’Angelo Jr. and Gerard Liguori of Premier Estate Properties represented the seller. Rosalind Friedland of RE/MAX Properties represented the buyer. It was last on the market for $12.95 million.

Tyco’s ex-chief financial officer, Mark H. Swartz and his wife, Karen, sold unit 101 at One Thousand Ocean, at 1000 S. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, for $5.4 million. The sale was recorded on May 7.
Mark Swartz and Tyco’s ex-CEO, Dennis Kozlowski, went to prison after being convicted in 2005 of defrauding the company’s shareholders of more than $400 million and giving themselves a chunk of change in illegal bonuses.
Records show Karen Swartz paid $5.156 million for the condo in March 2013, almost a year before Mark Swartz was released from prison.
Douglas Elliman agent Senada Adzem represented the seller and United Realty Group represented the buyers, Felix and Dianne DeHerrera. Felix DeHerrera is the chairman and majority owner of mortgage banking company Alterra Home Loans.

British millionaire Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and Education Endowment Foundation, sold his estate at 3545 N. Ocean Blvd., Gulf Stream, for $14.25 million to Gulf Stream Ocean Properties FL LLC, which lists a San Francisco address. The sale was recorded on May 3.
Lampl listed the 14,000-square-foot estate on 1.96 acres for nearly $21 million in April 2017. The asking price was reduced to $14.95 million in March. Nicholas Malinosky and Randy Ely, agents with Douglas Elliman, represented the seller, while Candace Friis of the Corcoran Group represented the buyer.
Records show Lampl’s Sutton Co. paid $5.145 million for the waterfront estate in October 1997. A notice of commencement filed in 1999 lists Lampl as the owner.

William Powers’ home at 901 S. Ocean Blvd. in Delray Beach sold for $26.75 million. Photo provided

Miami Worldcenter co-developer William Powers sold his 2.13-acre waterfront lot at 1020 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, for $14.475 million to Paul and Victoria Saunders in April. Powers bought the property in December 2017 for $13.5 million. Paul Saunders is the founder of the Richmond, Va.-based investment firm James River Capital Corp., and Victoria is a faculty member of the Chrysalis Institute cultural learning center in Richmond.
In an earlier transaction, on March 20, Powers sold a property at 901 S. Ocean in Delray Beach for $26.75 million to QCRE VII LCC. In this transaction, Powers was represented by Devin Kay of Douglas Elliman and the buyer was represented by Nicholas Malinosky, an agent with Douglas Elliman. Powers listed the property for nearly $29 million in October.

Following up last month’s announcement on the auction and sale of William “Tom” Gerrard’s house at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, on April 21, the deal did close on May 21, and the selling price was $13.5 million. Gerrard’s ocean-to-lake home had been most recently listed for $24.5 million by agents Robert Temelkoski of Bowen Realty and William McManus of the Fite Group. On and off the market since 2010, it was initially listed at $34.5 million. According to DeCaro Auctions International, bidding by approximately 10 bidders started at $10 million, and was over in 10 minutes. According to public records, the new owner is Jean Christine Thompson, listed with a Dallas mailing address. She was represented by Douglas Elliman agent Steven Solomon, who works out of the Boca Raton office. Last month, he told us: “She saw the value. Sometimes she keeps the properties she buys and rents them out. Others she picks up and sells. I believe she’s going to resell this house.”

Kaufman Lynn Construction celebrated the opening of its new Delray Beach headquarters at 3185 S. Congress Ave. in April. For almost 30 years, the firm has worked on structures that include the Mizner Park Cultural Center in Boca Raton and various buildings for Broward College, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach State College, Florida International University, Miami Dade College and Pine Crest. It recently topped out construction on Aloft Hotel and Condominiums in Delray Beach.

Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach is closed for business to accommodate a $135 million renovation. With architect Leo Daly and interior designer Martin Brudnizki, the renovation includes a remodeled pool deck, a second pool, redesigned guest rooms, first-floor guest rooms with extended balconies, and a new restaurant and renovation of the oceanfront restaurant and bar. New landscaping will be designed by Fernando Wong.
Property records show Acore Capital Mortgage provided the financing through refinancing an $80 million mortgage from Sachs FS Limited Partnership and Palm Beach Hotels LTD as well as an additional $55 million in financing.

John Tolbert, president and general manager of the Boca Raton Resort and Club, was named business leader of the year at the Boca Chamber’s annual business awards luncheon in May at the resort. Others recognized included Ami and Arnie Zak, owners of Unique Gifts and Premiums, small business leaders of the year; and Bluegreen Vacations, business of the year.

The Delray Beach Housing Authority recently honored two staff members. Rose Clay, who has worked with the authority since 1988, was presented with the Longest-Serving Award. She has served as account clerk and property manager and currently is a housing counselor to senior residents of Lake Delray Apartments and Village Square Apartments.
Jakeleen Fernandez received the Employee of the Year Award for her work in overseeing the construction, quality control and compliance reporting for the Lake Delray Apartments. 

Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee was ranked among the top 10 wildlife parks in the United States by USA Today’s “10Best” Reader’s Choice contest in May.
Lion Country Safari is home to the largest herd of zebras outside of Africa, one of the largest herds of giraffes in the United States and a large herd of rhinos with a long history of breeding success. Lion Country Safari is at 2003 Lion Country Safari Road.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

The law may affect local beaches in decades to come, if rising sea levels change the line between wet sand, which is public access, and dry sand. The latter is not open to the public along areas of private property. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Amid confusion about new law, beachgoers likely to see no sudden changes in enforcement

By Dan Moffett

As if separating public and private beach rights weren’t contentious and confusing enough, a new state law signed by the governor in March adds another layer of complexity to Florida’s long-running quandary.
What’s clear is that House Bill 631 is probably the most controversial and misunderstood measure to come out of the 2018 legislative session.
Champions of public beach access rights have called it a travesty. Some municipal officials have criticized it as an infringement on home rule. Some waterfront property owners have complained that it doesn’t go far enough.
“This law has caused a lot of confusion,” said South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “People aren’t sure what it means.”
What coastal residents in Palm Beach County should understand is that Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill that is narrowly focused, has limited impact and, most important, changes nothing about beach access as it exists today.
“We don’t see any substantive impact on the town of Ocean Ridge,” said Town Manager Jamie Titcomb. “Our beach areas are defined and determined.”
The same goes for coastal communities throughout the county, their officials say.
Some law enforcement authorities, however, believe HB 631 could have the unintended benefit of making it easier for them to enforce the line between public and private beach. The law specifically cites the mean high-water line as a standard, reaffirming an ambiguous and shifting boundary that over the decades has been routinely misunderstood and contested.

People at the Lantana public beach see a new sign in the dry sand at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. A new law addressing beach access takes effect July 1. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

The Florida Constitution says the wet sand area below the mean high-water line is considered public and state-owned. The dry sand above it is private. Roughly 60 percent of Florida’s beaches are adjacent to private ownership.
Manalapan has no public beaches and has struggled for years to keep interlopers from wandering off the wet sand onto private property. Police Chief Carmen Mattox says language in the new law affirms how his officers are patrolling the town’s beachfront.
“I believe the new law delineates what part of the beach is public and what part is private property,” Mattox said. “It confirms Manalapan’s beaches are private.”

Law built on ‘customary use’
The thrust of the new law, which goes into effect July 1, prevents county and municipal governments from enacting “customary use” ordinances that allow public access to private beach property without first getting approval from the courts.
The Florida Supreme Court has recognized the principle of “customary use” rights when the public has a tradition of use that “has been ancient, reasonable, without interruption, and free from dispute.” In other words, historical precedent can matter when it comes to determining access.
There have been only a few customary use beach ordinances passed in the state’s history, according to the Florida League of Cities, and those have been in three northern counties: Volusia, St. Johns and Walton. No South Florida government has made a serious attempt at passing one, league officials say.
Once the new statute goes into effect, it will require a judge’s sign-off on these relatively rare local laws that have sprung up along the Panhandle and the northeast coast.
It was an ordinance in Walton that prompted the legislature to act this year. Some prominent Panhandle property owners, among them former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Republican political adviser Karl Rove, complained about a local customary use ordinance and filed suit.
Rep. Katie Edwards-Walpole, D-Plantation, who sponsored HB 631, said the new law strikes a balance between public and private rights.
“The legislation does not privatize public beaches nor does it impact the public’s ability to enjoy public beaches,” she told legislators.
While the law abolishes Walton’s ordinance, it leaves intact all others, those passed before 2016.
The law mandates that, from now on, any city or county that wants to enact a customary use beach ordinance must first get a judge’s approval and make the case in court.

Future sea level rise could muddle interpretation
The Florida Wildlife Federation, the Florida Association of Counties and the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to beach preservation, vigorously opposed the bill, arguing it was an alarming precedent that was sure to cause confusion — which it surely did.
Here’s how the Surfriders put it: “This bill is bad. It makes it harder for local governments to protect beach access for the public, it’s confusing and damaging for local tourism economies, and it sets a bad precedent. That said, unless you are in Walton County, it should not cause immediate changes in beach access or your ability to utilize the beach.”
That last sentence is critical for towns such as Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and South Palm Beach, where beach access has been questioned. There are no immediate or foreseeable changes to any beach activity: From renourishment projects to sunbathing to morning walks, everything is as it was before HB 631.
The law’s most significant impact in Palm Beach County could come years or decades from now, if rising seas shift the demarcation lines between wet sand and dry sand, and muddle public-private access.
Future government councils and commissions will find it more difficult to invoke the customary use doctrine to sort out changing boundaries on the beaches, parties on all sides agree. The new law will shift some of the decision-making from municipal officials to judges.

Carol Myer takes classes at Beyond Fitness in an effort to slow the progression of Parkinson’s.Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

Carol Myer was never much for exercise, but now the petite blonde boxes three times a week, lifts weights, does yoga and walks.
She hasn’t become a health nut. She’s fighting for her life.
Two years ago, the Highland Beach snowbird was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, an incurable, progressive neuro-logical disorder characterized by tremors, limb rigidity and gait and balance loss.
Twenty years ago, the diagnosis was grim.
But not today.
Best known as the disease of Muhammad Ali and Michael J. Fox, Parkinson’s can be slowed by vigorous exercise, doctors have theorized. So, Parkinson’s patients everywhere are packing a punch.
“I’m not giving in to this disease,” said Myer, who participates regularly in the “Rock Steady” Parkinson’s boxing program at Beyond Fitness in Delray Beach. “You can’t turn back time, but you can hold off what is yet to come.”
Programs such as Rock Steady are giving Parkinson’s patients hope by improving their quality of life through a boxing-based fitness curriculum.
According to the national Parkinson’s Foundation, approximately 1 million people in the United States and 10 million worldwide have Parkinson’s. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates complications from Parkinson’s as the No. 14 cause of death in the U.S.
“We don’t have clinical evidence that [exercise] is associated with a slower progression, but there is a lot of evidence from studies that people have improvements of symptoms,” said Corneliu Luca, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Miami and director of the school’s brain stimulation program. “We think vigorous exercise is much better than something that is slow. Twenty years ago, people were not aware of the beneficial effect of exercise” for people with Parkinson’s.
According to the Rock Steady website, Parkinson’s patients lose physical skills that are best improved by boxing workouts. And boxing is one of the most physically demanding sports, the website states.
Inside Beyond Fitness, the finger-snapping beat of the song Macarena is punctuated by the “thump, thump, thump” of gloved fists as people in the gym connect with leather bags. A Rock Steady class is about to start, as a group of mostly older adults sidles into the brightly lit space. They place their gear bags on a bench and head for a row of speed bags.
“The way I see it, I struggle with some things every day, but I am a lot more ahead than I would be if I wasn’t doing Rock Steady and other exercise,” said Pompano Beach resident Jim Emmerich, 64, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2014. “You have got to have a positive outlook. You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”

Colleen Sturgess, owner of Beyond Fitness in Delray Beach, offers encouragement at the end of a Rock Steady class (above) and urges on Jim Emmerich (below), who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Emmerich combines workouts at different gyms with exercises at home to keep moving. It’s working. The 6-foot retiree’s trim, fit physique and spry movements are tributes to his hard work.
“I can ride the exercise bike and lift weights for 45 minutes. That is medicine. The whole idea is yeah, I got PD, so what?” he said. “I am lifting weights, boxing, lifting heavy bags. The residual effect of all this lingers 24 to 48 hours.”
Whack! The black, column-shaped boxing bag shook and twirled as Emmerich laid into it with a boxing glove. Whack! The bag swung and wobbled as he landed another punch. Smack! A nearby boxer pummeled another bag with the same focused fury.
“Fighting back is what the program is about,” said Colleen Sturgess, who owns Beyond Fitness and teaches the Rock Steady program. “I like this program because it gives people hope. If someone is having a down day or their medication might be off, everyone supports them and encourages them to do their best. They get to be their friends.”
Sturgess holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and health promotion. She got certified to teach Rock Steady in Indianapolis and hasn’t looked back.
During class, she includes memory exercises, balance exercises, stretching and small talk. Because the disease can cause some patients’ voices to soften, Sturgess occasionally has her students shout. It can also affect memory, so sometimes they count in a foreign language.
At the end of class, they do a cheer of solidarity, putting their hands in a circle, one on top of the other, and shout, “Rock Steady!”
“We’re a family,” Sturgess explained.
Delray Beach resident Richard Levine, 65, has been battling Parkinson’s for eight years. The working neuroradiologist is a regular at Beyond Fitness but he goes for more than just exercise.
“It’s a brotherhood and sisterhood. To have a roomful of people with Parkinson’s disease is good for me,” Levine said. “You make friends. It’s very nice to have a bunch of people walk into the room and say, ‘It’s good to see you.’”
Personal trainer and physical therapist Craig Marks trains Parkinson’s patients at his gym — the Parkinson’s Fitness Center of South Florida — and thinks the future is bright for those who once had little hope. His father — who died in 2005 — was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1994. Marks learned then how intense exercise could work magic and worked out vigorously with his dad to help make his life better.
Today, he applies those same principles to others with Parkinson’s disease.
“Movement is key. Does it work and help everybody with Parkinson’s? No. But it’s about 72 percent improvement with the people who come in on a regular basis and follow up with their exercises at home,” said Marks, whose gym is at 12565 Orange Drive in Davie.
Emmerich works out regularly with Marks. Together they do squats, dead lifts, lunges, step-ups, kickboxing and heavy bags.
“Craig put a picture of me up on Facebook and the caption was, ‘Jim says F-U to Parkinson’s,’” Emmerich chuckled. “I don’t have Parkinson’s. That’s my attitude.”
He admits he fell apart when he was first diagnosed. Then he found out about the value of intense exercise and began healing himself.
“I said, ‘Is this a death sentence for me?’ [My doctor] said Parkinson’s doesn’t kill, but there’s no cure,” Emmerich recalled. “Parkinson’s is all about the chemistry in the brain. There is not a good balance of dopamine being released; exercise can generate that dopamine.”
That’s where boxing came in.
But treating Parkinson’s also involves medication, which can be tricky to get right. Too much causes severe shaking. It’s trial and error to get the right balance, Emmerich said.
Angela Wensley, 70, of Delray Beach, has been battling the disease since 2007 and is fierce in her unwillingness to let it own her. She calls the right mix of meds and exercise the “Goldilocks zone.”
She relies on a movement disorder specialist to adjust her medications periodically, so she can get on with her life. And then of course she exercises. As much as she can.
“Ten years ago, people went from mild to severe in a decade, and that is the way it was until about 2010-2012 when people got the exercise craze,” Wensley said. “I had gotten on to this in 2007 and found I was able to slow the progression. Now the floodgates have opened and people with Parkinson’s disease are exercising like crazy.”
Wensley shares her journey with others in a Parkinson’s e-newsletter she writes.
Whack! Wensley’s punching bag spun and twirled. Sweat glistened on her skin.
“I am going to enjoy my life as long as I can. I know eventually it’s going to get me,” she said wryly.
Wensley attends Rock Steady in Delray Beach as much for the exercise as the moral support. She always leaves with a smile.
“We love each other. We understand each other. We have bonded with each other. It’s better than a support group because we are all in it together,” said Wensley, a retired materials engineer. “It’s like being part of a team, but a team we are really invested in. We are fighting for our lives and we are winning.”
Myer agreed wholeheartedly.
“I know people are really frightened of this, but I don’t look at it that way,” Myer said. “You can run away from a bad marriage, but Parkinson’s disease you have to face. And I don’t think you necessarily have to face it with fear, but rather the desire to do whatever it takes.”
She added, “I do know you have to live in the here and now. So it takes me a little longer to get out of the car — so what? I can still wear high heels and go dancing. I hope other people can look at it and say, ‘I can deal with that.’ ”

For information about the Rock Steady program or to find a class, go to www.rocksteadyboxing.org

For information about the Parkinson’s Fitness Center of South Florida, visit www.parkinsonsfitnesscenter.com. 

Uncertain months ahead as deposed mayor faces corruption charges

By Mary Hladky

Over a dizzying two weeks in April, Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie was reprimanded and fined for ethics violations, arrested on state corruption charges, withdrew from the District 4 Palm Beach County Commission race and was suspended from office by Gov. Rick Scott.
The sudden downfall of Haynie, a mainstay of city politics for 18 years who was aiming for higher office, threw the city into political turmoil and will have major repercussions.
The city moved swiftly to fill the mayoral void, elevating Deputy Mayor Scott Singer to the top job for now. City Council members expect to pass a resolution at their May 8 meeting to set Aug. 28 as the date of a special election to choose a mayor who will serve until the end of Haynie’s term of office in March 2020.
Singer has announced he will run for mayor, and he will have to resign from office at the time of the special election to do so. If he loses, Singer will be off the City Council.
Other mayoral candidates are lining up, including former Planning and Zoning Board member Glenn Gromann.
With Singer now mayor, his City Council seat is vacant. Other council members anticipate they will temporarily appoint someone to the council by late May or early June, with voters deciding a permanent replacement on Aug. 28.
Singer and council members Andrea O’Rourke and Monica Mayotte have called on Haynie to resign, but as of the end of April she had not. Even so, her April 27 suspension created a temporary vacancy.
City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said the city charter and state statute set out the steps the city is taking to fill it.

City carries on amid uproar
City officials have taken pains to assure residents that the political tumult is having no impact on city operations.
“The city is bigger than one person” and will continue to provide “world-class services,” Singer said after he assumed his new role.
Haynie was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on April 24 and released about 90 minutes later on $12,000 bail. She will be arraigned on May 24 and faces more than 20 years in prison. As of May 1 she had not spoken publicly since her arrest.
“Ms. Haynie wholeheartedly and completely denies the allegations, which we plan to fight in court to the fullest extent,” her attorney, Leonard Feuer, said in an email to The Coastal Star on the night of her arrest.
Stunned council members were in the midst of a regular meeting when word spread that Haynie was absent because she was at the jail.
“I find news of this as I sit up here as beyond upsetting,” O’Rourke said.
“We are all surprised, flabbergasted … ” Singer said.

Scott Singer is now mayor and plans to run for that position in August. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Haynie was charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office public corruption unit, including official misconduct, perjury in an official proceeding, misuse of public office, corrupt misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflict.
The investigation began in March 2017 when the State Attorney’s Office received complaints that Haynie used her position on the City Council to vote on matters that financially benefited James Batmasian, the city’s largest downtown commercial landowner, and failed to disclose income she received from him, the arrest affidavit states.
The investigation found that Haynie failed to report $335,000 in income on disclosure forms required by the state, including $84,000 from Batmasian or from his company Investments Limited, from 2014 through 2017.
Of that total, $45,000 came from rent paid to Haynie for a property she and her husband, Neil, own in Key Largo.
The Haynies formed Community Reliance, a property management company, in 2007. The company managed Tivoli Park, a 1,600-unit apartment complex in Deerfield Beach. Batmasian and his wife, Marta, own 80 percent of the Tivoli Park units, and five of six Tivoli board members work for Investments Limited, The Palm Beach Post has reported.
Community Reliance earned between $10,057 and $16,490 a year between 2014 and 2017 from Tivoli’s master association, according to the arrest affidavit.
“This amount is well below the expected income for managing a property of this size, which would normally command an income of nearly $150,000 to $200,000 a year,” the affidavit states.

Haynie denied company work
Haynie told investigators that she had no involvement in running Community Reliance and another company she and her husband started, Computer Golf Software of Nevada Inc., and derived no income from them.
But subpoenaed bank records revealed she wrote two checks to herself from the Community Reliance account totaling $5,300 and received $72,600 from Computer Golf Software.
During 2016 and 2017, Haynie cast four votes that benefited Batmasian, the affidavit states, although none of them were on significant matters.
Haynie left Community Reliance in 2016 and announced in December that her husband had ended his business relationship with the Tivoli Park master association.
Haynie was in the crosshairs of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics months before the State Attorney’s Office investigation came to light.
The ethics commission launched its investigation of Haynie on Nov. 2, one day before The Post reported that the Tivoli Park master association had paid Community Reliance.
That probe corroborated The Post’s key findings but also unearthed an additional, and more direct, financial link between the Haynies and Batmasian.
Community Reliance was paid at least $64,000 in 2016 and 2017 for installing security cameras at several properties owned by Batmasian, including Royal Palm Place in downtown Boca Raton, according to the commission’s investigative file. Investments Limited made the payments to Community Reliance.
Haynie did not disclose that before voting on matters involving the landowner.
Haynie has denied that she acted improperly and said she requested in 2013 an Ethics Commission opinion on whether she should recuse herself from voting. The opinion said she could vote.
But the opinion was narrowly written and was based on a specific instance in which Batmasian was neither the applicant nor the developer of a project coming to the City Council for approval. In other instances, he was the applicant or developer.
Mark Bannon, the ethics commission’s executive director, said Haynie should have understood the opinion to mean that she should not vote in such circumstances.
“The advisory opinion said [Batmasian] was not the developer or applicant, which tells you when he is the developer or applicant, you can’t do that [vote],” Bannon said.
In a settlement agreement reached on April 16, Haynie admitted to violating the county’s ethics code and agreed to pay a $500 fine — the stiffest fine the commission could levy — for failing to disclose a conflict of interest. The commission dismissed its second allegation that Haynie misused her public office.
The settlement states that Haynie “believes it to be in her best interest to resolve the issues contained in the complaint and avoid the expense and time of litigation in this matter. Accordingly, (Haynie) admits to participating in and voting on matters that gave a special financial benefit to a customer or client of her outside business and she accepts a letter of reprimand.”
The criminal charges against Haynie caught many unawares.
“It was shocking,” O’Rourke said. “No one had any idea this was coming down.”
But BocaWatch publisher Al Zucaro, a Haynie adversary whom she defeated in last year’s mayoral race and who has called on her to resign, knew an investigation was underway last spring.
He said the state attorney’s public corruption unit investigators interviewed him not long after he filed a complaint about Haynie with the county’s Ethics Commission. He also filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics, and that case may be ongoing.
Speculation about why Haynie has not resigned is rampant in the city, and Zucaro posited that her thinking is that she can enter into an agreement with prosecutors to plead no contest to the charges with a judge withholding adjudication. By avoiding a conviction, she could then return to office.
But Frieser seemed to squelch that possibility at an April 30 meeting held to discuss procedures to hold a special election.
A no contest plea with a withholding of adjudication or suspension of a sentence is deemed a conviction, she said, and if Haynie is convicted, Scott must remove her from office. If she is acquitted, Scott must reinstate her.

2016 anti-corruption law

The state’s case against Susan Haynie on official misconduct charges could be bolstered by an anti-corruption law passed by the Florida legislature in 2016.
The law removes the requirement that state prosecutors prove the accused acted “corruptly” or with “corrupt intent.” Instead, prosecutors only have to prove the suspects acted “knowingly and intentionally,” a lesser burden of proof.
Elected state attorneys across Florida endorsed the bill, saying they needed the change to better prosecute public corruption. It was unanimously approved by both the Florida House and Senate.
The bill was based on recommendations contained in a 2010 Statewide Grand Jury report titled “A Study of Public Corruption in Florida and Recommended Solutions.”
Haynie is charged with three counts of official misconduct, perjury, misuse of public office, corrupt misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflict.

Susan Haynie

Susan Haynie during a 2017 Boca Raton City Council meeting. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Haynie, 62, has long been a fixture in Boca Raton politics.
A 45-year city resident, she is a graduate of Lynn University and holds certifications in traffic engineering studies from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Northwestern University.
She began her career as an engineering analyst for the city and entered politics in 2000, when she was first elected to the Boca Raton City Council. She was forced out by term limits in 2006 and returned in 2008. Haynie became mayor in 2014 and was re-elected in 2017, when she defeated BocaWatch publisher Al Zucaro.
Setting her sights on higher office, Haynie announced her candidacy for the Palm Beach County Commission last year to fill the seat held by former Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams, who is term-limited. She withdrew from that race on April 24.
Haynie is a past president of the Florida League of Cities and Palm Beach County League of Cities.
Haynie has chaired the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (formerly known as the Metropolitan Planning Organization), the Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, the Southeast Florida Transportation Council and was appointed to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
Before her election to the City Council, she served on the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment and Planning and Zoning Board. Haynie has been a member of numerous civic and charity organizations.
Haynie is a licensed general contractor and community association manager.
She has two children of her own and three stepchildren with her husband, Neal Haynie, whom she married in 1995.

Lisa Rome Steiner practices yoga to help with her back pain. Here, she does the dancer’s pose under the eye of a Hindu deity. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Were it not for severe back pain, Lisa Rome Steiner might never have discovered yoga.
Now a well-known instructor who leads 13 classes a week as well as yoga fundraisers for local nonprofits, Rome Steiner remembers when she was in constant pain as the result of four herniated disks that came after three decades of running.
Fearful of surgery, Rome Steiner took the advice of a friend who suggested she give yoga a chance.
“I went in trying to heal my back and then I came to realize the emotional and spiritual benefits,” she said. “The nice part of yoga is that these benefits sneak in.”
After going to yoga classes for 10 years, much of that while working in a leadership role for a financially focused magazine, Rome Steiner, 53, quit her job and, a few years later, began leading yoga classes.
Certified to teach for the last three years, Rome Steiner trained under Jimmy Barkan, creator of the Barkan method of hot yoga, which is taught around the world.
In addition to teaching regularly scheduled classes, Rome Steiner leads yoga fundraisers and this month will help to recognize national Mental Health Awareness Month by hosting an event benefiting Boca Raton’s Faulk Center for Counseling.
Set for May 20 at the Barkan Method of Boca Raton, the event includes a yoga class, as well as vendors. There is a $25 fee with all proceeds going to the Faulk Center.
For Rome Steiner, supporting nonprofit organizations ties in well with yoga and specifically with the Faulk Center, which provides free and low-cost mental health services to children and families.
“Yoga is a tool that helps Faulk Center clients and others to better handle stress, anxiety and life’s challenges,” she said.
Over the past three years, Rome Steiner has helped raise more than $12,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association, Hope Gel Foundation, Girl Up and Best Foot Forward. 
“Helping others gives you a feeling that’s better than money,” she said. “It’s a feeling of having the chance to make people a little happier, and that makes the world a better place.”
Rome Steiner, who is from a small town in western Massachusetts, graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and landed a job with a British bank as a financial analyst specializing in utilities.
Following a chance meeting on a train, she was offered a job by the publisher of Institutional Investor magazine and soon began a 21-year career in the publishing industry. During that time, she and her husband, Barry, settled in Boca Raton, raising two boys who are now in college.
“It’s weird that I became a yoga teacher because I was always very goal-oriented,” she said.
One of the students in the Boca Raton class Rome Steiner teaches happened to be Vicki Katz, CEO of the Faulk Center, who knew about the fundraising events her instructor hosted.
“Lisa’s a great teacher and she’s been very supportive of her friends in the nonprofit world,” Katz said.
Recognizing the connection between yoga and the center’s mission, Katz asked Rome Steiner if she would host a fundraiser in May during Mental Health Awareness Month.
“The whole practice of yoga is very much a part of mental health and wellness,” Katz said.
Besides raising money, the May 20 event will help raise awareness for the Faulk Center and the mental health programs it provides.
The center will also bring attention to mental health programs in the community during a butterfly release set for 5:30 p.m. May 17 at the Faulk Center for Counseling, 22455 Boca Rio Road, Boca Raton. There is no charge for the event but donations are appreciated. 

For more information on the Faulk Center, call 483-5300 or visit www.faulkcenterforcounseling.org.

If You Go
What: Yoga Fundraiser for the Faulk Center for Counseling
When: 2:15 p.m. May 20
Where: Barkan Method of Boca Raton, 2240 NW 19th St.
Who: Lisa Rome Steiner will lead the yoga class.
Cost: $25 minimum donation
Info: BarkanMethod.com, 750-4400.

Mom loved animals. The first time I ever saw her cry was when the kitten she’d saved with every-three-hour eyedropper feedings was hit by a car as he strutted home from a week of tomcatting around the neighborhood.
I was a teenager.
One of the last times was when I stopped in Briny Breezes to pick her up for a doctor’s appointment and found her watching The Incredible Journey. The classic 1963 film follows three displaced pets finding their way home through the Canadian wilderness.
I was in my 50s, and by then Mom’s advancing dementia had her determined to return “home.”
The place locked into her memory wasn’t in Florida, so the kids all agreed to honor her wishes and help her move into assisted living near my sister back in Illinois.
We packed up her heavy, handmade china cabinet, her other sparse belongings, and a ceramic cat I had given her that lingered by her porch as a garden statue.
My sister’s rental van carted these items north as my husband and I helped Mom pack a small suitcase and get her large yellow cat, George, into a carrier.
Worried that the vast, busy Atlanta airport would confuse her, I flew the first leg of the trip with my mom — and then stood helplessly at the gate as she struggled to lug the cat carrier down the jetway. But my heart was lifted when a flight attendant engaged my tiny 80-year-old mom in conversation and carried George onto the plane for her.

She made it safely “home” and even in her decline was able to keep her buddy George as she moved from the ALF into a memory care facility. While she was able, she would carry George around
Mom’s cat has found its way back home.                 to visit the other residents.

I, too, love cats, and in this setting it was easy to see the comfort that animals bring, especially to those who are lonely.
Mom has been gone for several years now, and George, too, has died. My sister is retiring and moving to Florida.
When she texted to ask if I wanted her to bring me Mom’s ceramic garden cat, I had forgotten about that old statue. But there was no hesitation in my decision.
The heavy, oddly shaped cat-replica with a broken paw now holds court near the goldfish pond in my yard. He looks comfortable there — like he’s returned home.
I have a feeling that Mom approves.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

By Rich Pollack

Just weeks after praising Town Manager Valerie Oakes’ performance and giving her a raise, Highland Beach town commissioners voted at their meeting May 1 to fire her, effective immediately.
In a 3-2 vote, with Mayor Carl Feldman and Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman dissenting, commissioners agreed to terminate Oakes’ contract, which paid her a base of $139,000 a year plus benefits.
“I personally have lost confidence in our town manager,” Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker said. “I think it’s time for new leadership at the top.”
Vice Mayor Alysen Africano Nila, who was elected to the commission in March, agreed with Zelniker, as did Commissioner Elyse Riesa.
“We really need strong, experienced leadership,” Africano Nila said. “I feel it would be the best thing for the town.”
Riesa said she thinks the town needs a manager with more experience than Oakes, 32, a former town clerk, and pointed out that the past two town managers were appointed from the town’s workforce.
“This is about the town and doing what’s right,” she said.
Feldman, who has been on the losing side of several 4-1 votes since the March election, disagreed.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Feldman said. “Valerie is a well-respected employee. I’ve never heard a resident complain about her, I’ve never heard employees complain about her.”
Commissioners agreed to have Town Clerk Lanelda Gaskins serve as temporary town manager. Zelniker suggested the town look for a retired city manager who could serve as interim during a search for a new town manager.
The discussion of the town manager’s performance was added to the commission agenda during the opening minutes of the meeting. Few residents in attendance had any idea it would be brought up.
Many of the residents who were at the meeting said they were surprised and upset.
“What they want to do is micromanage the town, and they don’t know what they’re doing,” said Carol Stern, the wife of late Commissioner Lou Stern and a former chair of the town’s planning board. “They’re going to run the town into the toilet.”
Others praised Oakes, who has been popular with employees and with residents.
“She’s been one of the best town managers that I’ve seen,” said resident Tim Burnich, a former chair of the Code Enforcement Board. “We’re going to be looking into a possible recall for certain commissioners.”
Also critical of the commission’s vote was the Rev. D. Brian Horgan, pastor of St. Lucy Catholic Church, who said he received a half dozen calls from residents after news of Oakes’ termination spread.
“To lose Valerie is to lose a very important link in the chain in Highland Beach government,” he said. “She worked tirelessly to build bridges instead of building walls.”
Horgan praised Oakes for serving the town faithfully and admirably.
“It’s almost as if an air of sadness has crept upon us,” he said. “I don’t believe some commissioners are acting in the best interest of the town. There are some that don’t understand the concept of service.”
Horgan said that even before the recent meeting, residents had asked him questions about the commission.
“They see some commissioners acting on a personal agenda,” he said.
Oakes’ firing comes just a few weeks after another surprise personnel move in which commissioners asked that Town Attorney Glen Torcivia be replaced by another member of his law firm, Pam Ryan. Discussion of that issue was also added to the agenda at the beginning of a commission meeting without public notice.
Within minutes of the vote, Oakes had packed up her office and was surrounded by employees as she walked to the parking lot. Some were in tears.
An employee for nine years, Oakes started as a deputy clerk and has been town manager since February 2017, having served as interim town manager after the September 2016 forced departure of then-Town Manager Beverly Brown.
Oakes has a severance clause in her contract that says the town must pay her an estimated $55,000. Also, the town must pay for six months of health insurance and accrued and unused vacation and sick leave.
Oakes said she plans to spend time with her two children before returning to work.
“I’ve truly enjoyed serving the community of Highland Beach for the last nine years,” she said. “I’m proud of the work that’s been accomplished during my time as town manager.”