Martina Navratilova (with racket) is a regular at Chris Evert’s charity event and is among those set to be part of the festivities again Nov. 9-11. 2017 photo provided by Camerawork, USA

By Christine Davis

Tennis stars John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe and Martina Navratilova and actors Chris Noth and Jon Lovitz are scheduled to be among the celebrities on hand when Chris Evert hosts the 29th annual Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic Nov. 9-11 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
A staple on the south Palm Beach County sports calendar, the event has raised more than $24 million for charity while featuring luminaries such as former President George H.W. Bush, Chevy Chase, Matthew Perry and Olivia Newton-John.
Sports celebrities featured over the years have included tennis stars Jimmy Connors, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Other sports luminaries involved have been Don Shula, Pat Riley, Jim Palmer, Sugar Ray Leonard and Keith Hernandez.
Festivities begin with Tennis With Chrissie and Friends, an exclusive pro-am from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that Friday at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, and continue with the Classic Cocktail Reception from 7 to 9 p.m. at the club’s garden pool.
Action moves to the Delray Beach Tennis Center beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, where tennis legends will be paired with an array of celebrities from the entertainment and sports worlds.
Saturday evening will feature the 29th annual Pro Celebrity Gala starting at 6, featuring Blood, Sweat and Tears back at the Boca Raton Resort. The event concludes with more matches at the Tennis Center on Sunday.
Tickets start at $20 general admission, with a wide range of ticket packages available at www.chrisevert.org or by calling 394-2400.

While Evert prepares for her Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic, she’s also trying to sell her west Boca Raton estate and she’s offering an unusual incentive: a private tennis lesson.
Evert, who retired from professional tennis in 1989, listed her property at 8563 Horseshoe Lane last spring for $4.99 million. Built in 1995, the house and two guesthouses are sited on more than 5 acres. Evert bought it for $2.8 million in 2003, when she was married to Olympic skier Andy Mill. Katia Reisler of Douglas Elliman and Rebecca Spooner of Siemens Group Realty are the listing agents.

A Hillsboro Beach mansion at 935 Hillsboro Mile, known as Le Palais Royal and Playa Vista, will sell to the highest bidder in November, forgoing its previous asking price of $159 million and without a reserve price. Mayi de la Vega, owner of One Sotheby’s International Realty, is the listing agent. Concierge Auctions will handle the auction, which begins Nov. 12 and ends Nov. 15.
The 60,000-square-foot estate has 11 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, an IMAX home theater, six waterfalls and two deep-water docks. Robert Pereira, president of the Middlesex Corp., a contracting firm based in Massachusetts, owns the property, which was first listed on the market in 2014 for $139 million, going up in price the following year. It was taken off the market in 2016.

Andrew Robins sold a new home, designed by Jag Design and Development, on a half-acre at 3833 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach, to software entrepreneur Michael J. Rothberg and his wife, Judith, for $21.5 million. Robins bought the property for $3.675 million in 2014. The recent sale was recorded on Oct. 10. Michael Rothberg was previously the head of Boca Raton-based Sengent, which is now owned by New York-based Clarifi.

National Hockey League star Max Pacioretty sold his five-bedroom and 41/2-acre estate at 434 Areca Palm Road, Boca Raton, after it spent only five days on the market in mid-October. The property sold for $3.1 million and was listed with Devin Kay, an agent with Douglas Elliman, for $3.45 million. Features include smart house technology, safe room and indoor/outdoor basketball and sports court. Pacioretty plays for the Vegas Golden Knights after spending 10 years with Montreal.

The Fite Group Luxury Homes, a real estate firm headquartered in Palm Beach with offices in Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington, has partnered with William Raveis Real Estate.
“This partnership with Raveis expands our network for our clientele, gives our agents access to cutting-edge technology and combines the high levels of service and luxury market positions for which both companies are known,” said David Fite, founder and principal of the Fite Group.
This partnership presented an opportunity for both companies. Since many Palm Beach County home buyers come from the Northeast, the Fite Group offers Raveis local expertise in Palm Beach County. “We have great respect for the Fite Group’s expertise and commitment to the discerning communities of Palm Beach County, demonstrated by David and Nadine Fite’s strong leadership,” said chairman and CEO Bill Raveis, who founded William Raveis Real Estate 44 years ago.
According to its websites, the Fite Group, founded 10 years ago, has 100 agents and has completed more than $5 billion in sales.
Over four decades, Raveis has grown from a single office over a grocery store in Connecticut to a family enterprise with more than 4,000 professionals in 130 offices across nine states, resulting in $10.2 billion in real estate sales in 2017.

Delray Beach was selected by Expedia as one of the best honeymoon destinations in America.
The honor was based on four sweet spots: Delray Beach got four out of five “bicycle” icons for action, four out of four “cityscape” icons for scenery, three out of four “roses” for vibes and two out of four “dollar signs” for affordability. In other words, Delray Beach scored well in three out of the four criteria. Delray Beach is so great, the article reads, that “you might want to tie the knot all over again.”

Planning the perfect day in Delray Beach just got a whole lot easier. The Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative recently launched an app on visitdelraybeach.org that provides an interactive way to map out things to do in the city.
Users can explore everything from events to popular restaurants to points of interest, as well as hotels and attractions — all with driving directions.
“See a beach activity you don’t want to miss?” asked Stephanie Immelman, the cooperative’s executive director. “Click ‘Join’ and the event will be added to your plan. Want to invite some friends? Share your plan with them directly or via social media, email or SMS.”

The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority’s Delray Beach Fashion Week received a Silver Award in the special event category from Visit Florida’s 2018 Flagler Awards at the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Orlando.

On Small Business Day, Nov. 24 in downtown Delray Beach, shoppers can enjoy a holiday stroll and avail themselves of in-store and outdoor promotions, entertainment, festive decorations and light bites.
For this event, the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority partnered with the City of Delray Beach, CRA and the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Recent additions to the downtown area include Biba, Doughnut Works, JuiceBuzz Mrkt & Juicery, Ramen Lab Eatery, Beachfront Properties, Wine House Social, Nada’s Italy, Style de Vie and Jennifer on the Avenue.
They join longtime local businesses Vince Canning Shoes, Avalon Gallery, Murder on the Beach Bookstore, Hand’s, Snappy Turtle, Delray Camera Shop, Huber’s Pharmacy, Periwinkle, Richwagen’s Delray Bike & Sport, and many more. 
At the Shop Small hospitality booths, customers who spend $50 at a downtown Delray Beach small business can receive complimentary gifts and Shop Small giveaways. 
The booths will be in Pineapple Grove by the banyan tree in front of Addison Gallery, 206 NE Second St., Delray Beach, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in front of Hand’s Office & Art Supply, 325 E. Atlantic Ave., from 2 to 4 p.m.
Visit DowntownDelrayBeach.com/ShopSmall for a list of participating merchants.

Event-goers can have fun playing cards while raising money to feed local seniors in need at Viva Las Vegas, an event that benefits the Community Caring Center of Palm Beach County. It will be from 6 to 11 p.m. Nov. 10 at Mercedes-Benz of Delray, 1001 Linton Blvd. After a cocktail reception, gaming will open with blackjack, Texas hold ’em, slot machines, roulette and craps. There will also be music by the Sound Proof, a silent auction, a carving station, heavy hors d’oeuvres, dessert buffet, coffee and tea. Tickets are $100. For tickets, go to cccgbb.org/2018-viva-las-vegas.

Through Dec. 7, the 13th annual Project Holiday will accept donated items for deployed members of the U.S. military.
For this initiative, the City of Delray Beach is partnering with two local organizations: You Are Not Alone and One Soldier at a Time.
You Are Not Alone provides encouragement and emotional support to family members and friends of troops, while One Soldier at a Time sends care packages and words of encouragement to deployed military members.
For a list of requested items and drop-off locations, visit mydelraybeach.com. 
If you are a resident of Delray Beach or Boca Raton and have a family member serving overseas in the military, request a care package by contacting Delores Rangel at 243-7010 or rangel@mydelraybeach.com. You can also contact Rangel if you want to volunteer to pack items to be shipped.

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business has announced a partnership with the Dow Jones Barron’s in Education program. Students and faculty will receive a digital subscription to Barron’s, a weekly review, an email newsletter summarizing business and investment stories, and Barron’s MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange interactive game.
The program includes an invitation for a small group of faculty and students to visit Dow Jones headquarters and tour the newsrooms at Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch. Also, students will have free access to Dow Jones’ online recruitment for internship and job opportunities.
The program, funded by Barron’s magazine, is sponsored by the wealth management firm PagnatoKarp, whose founder and CEO Paul A. Pagnato earned his bachelor’s degree from the Florida Atlantic University’s College of Science in 1986. PagnatoKarp is based in Reston, Va.

Local high school poets have until Dec. 1 to enter the Palm Beach Poetry Festival contest. Photo provided

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival launched its 15th annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest in October in partnership with Old School Square in Delray Beach. Through Dec. 1, Palm Beach County high school students can submit one original poem (30 lines maximum) for consideration. Original poems should be submitted by email before midnight on Dec. 1 to PBPF1@aol.com. For contest rules, visit palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/event/2018-high-school-poetry-contest.
The winning poet will receive $200, and the four runners-up will each receive $100. All five poets will read their poems at the festival’s award ceremony on Jan. 21. The judge for the contest will once again be Dr. Jeff Morgan of Lynn University’s Department of English.

The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County with the School District of Palm Beach County coordinated a successful voter registration effort at 23 local high schools on National Voter Registration day, Sept. 25.
More than 250 volunteers participated in this campaign, which happened over the lunch hour in public schools from Boca Raton to Jupiter. Now, many of the 1,940 high school students who registered can vote on Nov. 6.
“Our aim was to motivate young people to take the first step toward participating in the democratic process by registering to vote,” said Pam Maldonado, chairwoman of the Voting Service Committee for the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County.

The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County will host a Hot Topic Luncheon Nov. 21 to analyze election results. The Palm Beach Post editorial writer Howard Goodman will discuss “Where do we go from here?”
The luncheon is at the Atlantis Country Club, 190 Atlantis Blvd., Lake Worth. Doors open at 11 a.m., and lunch will be served at 11:30. The cost is $25 in advance or $35 at the door. RSVPs are requested at lwvpbc.org or by calling Estelle Friedman at 968-4123.

Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards has recognized six resorts in our area. They include The Boca Raton Resort and Club, No. 10; Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, No. 11; Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa in Riviera Beach, No. 14; Boca Beach Club in Boca Raton, No. 18; The Breakers in Palm Beach, No. 24; and Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, No. 29.

Brian Biggane, Amy Woods and Mary Thurwachter contributed to this column.

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

By Jane Smith

Oceanfront Park will soon have upgraded playground equipment and a fitness area for adults after Boynton Beach city commissioners approved the $150,000 project in early October.
Kompan Inc., a Texas-based playground equipment maker, awarded a $50,000 grant to Boynton Beach, said Andrew Mack, the city’s public works director. “We were one of five nationally this year to receive the grant,” he told commissioners on Oct. 2.
Assembly of the playground will start in November and finish in January.
The playground site will be moved closer to the parking lot to allow two “megatowers” to be built. One unit will have climb-up ropes and slides, while the larger one will have a walking deck, Mack said.
The adult fitness area will have stair-climbers, pushup bars and stretching equipment, according to the drawings. Commissioner Mack McCray asked about shade coverings over the slides so that the equipment would not be too hot to use by kids wearing bathing suits.
Shade sails will not be installed, but the equipment will be placed close to the trees to provide some shade, Mack said.
The playground equipment should last 10 years, Mack said. It uses galvanized steel fittings and recyclable plastic that can “withstand the salt air.”

Lantana will be 100 years old in 2021, and town officials are seeking residents and business folks to join town staffers to form a centennial planning committee.
Once formed, the committee will meet quarterly to plan festivities, says Town Manager Deborah Manzo. “We’ll be brainstorming for creative and unique ideas for the town’s celebration of this historic event.”
Those interested in applying for the volunteer committee are asked to visit Lantana’s website, lantana.org, to complete an application, or email Town Clerk Nicole Dritz at ndritz@lantana.org.
— Mary Thurwachter

By Rich Pollack

Attorneys for David Del Rio, the financial adviser accused of siphoning nearly $900,000 from the accounts of a Highland Beach widow who was later found slain, will be in court this month hoping to get him released on bail.
Del Rio, who served as the financial adviser to Elizabeth Cabral, 85, has been in custody since mid-September after being charged with 27 counts of grand theft and financial fraud stemming from what detectives say were unauthorized withdrawals from the woman’s bank accounts.
“It’s very clear that he’s entitled to bond,” defense attorney Michael Salnick said. “He’s never been in trouble before.”
Although bail was originally set for $27,000 soon after his arrest, Del Rio remains in jail following contentions by prosecutors that any money used to post bail would be from ill-gotten gains. Prosecutors also contended that Del Rio was a flight risk, something Salnick says is not the case.
In court documents, prosecutors argued that “to allow the defendant to use funds and collateral that were obtained by his participation in an organized criminal scheme to defraud in order to secure his release is contrary to the purpose and intent of the statues.”

Salnick said he will argue that the money Del Rio, 35, will use to post bail is not connected to the charges. He also said Del Rio knew for months that he was under investigation by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives but did not flee.
The attorney pointed out that law enforcement has seized Del Rio’s passport. He said that if Del Rio is released on bail, he would return to his home in Lee County and to his family.
“My client is going to do the right thing and show up for court when required,” Salnick said.
While in Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office custody, Del Rio has frequently been visited by his wife, his parents and other family members.
“He has a very strong support base,” Salnick said.
While investigators have been tight-lipped about their investigation into Cabral’s death — she was found in her apartment in late April — Salnick denied any link between his client and the homicide.
“He’s unequivocally not involved in the homicide,” Salnick said.

By Steve Plunkett

Starting next spring, homeowners will be able to hold only two weekend garage sales a year, or four days in all, and must get a free permit beforehand from the city.
Brandon Schaad, Boca Raton’s development services director, said issuing permits would let the city keep track of how many times a particular resident holds a garage sale.
“There’s been some complaints received by the city regarding excessive numbers of garage sales held on some properties, to the extent that on some properties they essentially constitute a business operation,” Schaad told City Council members at their Oct. 10 meeting.
The frequent sales cause parking problems and noise for neighbors, Schaad said. Council members unanimously approved an enabling ordinance.
Schaad said his department would spend the next six months educating residents on the new requirements. After the outreach program ends, violators will receive one warning and face a $150 fine for a second occurrence. Permits will be available online and at City Hall.
“The whole point is not to make it difficult for regular residents,” Mayor Scott Singer said.
Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers asked if Development Services could publish the list of garage sale permits so shoppers could plan their trips.
“It gives a way to publicly advertise for free in the city what yard sales are going on. … In that way we’re adding value I think,” Rodgers said.
In other business, council members authorized the sale of $36.7 million in capital improvement bonds to be paid back with proceeds from the county’s 1-cent sales tax. The bond money will finance projects that include Lake Wyman Park, Wildflower Park and Silver Palm Park.

Robert Patek left two poles but was forced to remove ropes he put behind his home to block tractors that bury beach debris. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Robert Patek had seen enough.
A Highland Beach resident with a home on the east side of State Road A1A, Patek has been complaining for years about tractors that rake the beach behind his home.
He has stood before town commissioners several times, complaining that the tractors leave deep tracks in the sand and bury garbage on private beaches.
“It’s like a tractor highway behind my house,” he said.
So several weeks ago, Patek put up poles and ropes on his beach to keep the tractors away. In doing so, he ran afoul of state law. Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials made him take the ropes down but allowed him to keep up two of the four poles.
However, those poles may be coming down soon, either as a result of an ordinance the town is considering or because Patek voluntarily removes them.
Although Patek may be losing a battle, it appears he’s getting closer to winning the war over how beaches are cleaned.
The Town Commission is discussing beach raking and considering ordinances to license and regulate the companies that homeowners hire to clean beaches. Two city advisory boards and town staff are also considering action.
“There is no consistency on how the beach raking is done on the beach,” said Commissioner Elyse Riesa. “The first step in protecting our beaches is to have the right rules in place.”
A proposed ordinance for mechanical beach raking would in essence mirror rules established by the state DEP, which Town Attorney Pamala Ryan says are difficult to enforce because of limited state resources.
With an ordinance in place and permits required, the town would be in a better position to enforce rules designed to preserve the beach, she said.

ABOVE: Fresh tracks from beach cleaning equipment are a common sight in Highland Beach. How deep the tracks can be may come under new regulations. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
BELOW: Robert Patek’s home lies between a house to the south and condo to the north that use different companies for beach cleanup. The tractor drivers use Patek’s property to turn around, and he installed poles in an attempt to block them. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

At least two other small coastal towns, Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream, have no specific rules about beach cleaning, but Manalapan does have restrictions.
“We don’t regulate cleaning of the beaches specifically,” said Ocean Ridge Town Manager Jamie Titcomb. “We defer to the DEP and work closely with them.”
Gulf Stream Town Clerk Rita Taylor said the town requires any company working there to be registered but does not have any specific regulations for beach cleaners.
“We haven’t had any complaints,” she said.
In Manalapan, however, those who clean beaches mechanically are required to have permits and are required to comply with conditions set forth by the state. Manalapan also requires that mechanical beach cleaning be done between sunrise and 11:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
Among the provisions of the draft ordinance are requirements that all debris collected from the beach be removed, not buried, and that tracks from equipment not be more than 2 inches deep.
Clayton Peart, president of Universal Beach Services — one of two beach cleaning companies serving Highland Beach property owners — said his firm most likely would be able to comply with the proposed ordinance.
“We don’t think we’ll have a problem following nearly the same conditions of the ordinance, which are nearly the same as those required by DEP,” he said. “We’ve been working in Highland Beach since the 1970s and we want to do the best job we can for the town and all the residents.”
Commissioners are also considering including provisions to regulate manual beach cleaning on private beaches.
While there is agreement that rules are needed, town leaders are wrestling with whether private beach property owners should continue to be responsible for cleaning their beaches or whether the town should take on that role.
Who should be financially responsible for beach cleaning, should the town take over the task, is complicated by the fact that all of the beaches above the mean high-water mark in Highland Beach are privately owned.
During a meeting last month, the town’s Natural Resources Preservation Advisory Board agreed to recommend that the town hire one company to take over the beach raking. The board recommended having the cost shared by all residents in the town.
In addition to the draft ordinance regulating beach cleaning, town leaders discussed an ordinance drafted as a direct result of the barrier Patek put up on the beach.
Several commissioners said they heard from residents who complained that the poles and ropes Patek put up constituted a safety hazard to those walking on the beach.
To address that concern, the town attorney’s office drafted an ordinance that would prohibit any structures on dune or beach areas with sand. The ordinance does, however, allow for temporary recreational amenities, including volleyball nets or beach chairs. It also excludes seawalls and steps needed to access the beach.
In addition, commissioners are considering allowing property owners to post Private Property or similar signs near the foot of the dune.
For his part, Patek said he understands why the town and the state wanted his yellow rope and his poles removed. He said he plans to remove the two remaining poles soon.
But he said he’s going to be watching to see if the town can prevent tracks that he says are as deep as 2 feet and what he claims is trash being buried on private beaches.
If the town can’t control the rakers, he said, the poles and ropes might go up again.
“I just don’t want the tractors damaging the dune,” he said.

From left, the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel and its adjacent condos will join the existing 101 Via Mizner luxury apartments on Federal Highway north of Camino Real. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

Construction will begin soon on the downtown 164-room Mandarin Oriental hotel and 92 luxury and ultra-luxury branded condominiums.
The Boca Raton City Council, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, unanimously approved redesigned parking garages and 24/7 valet parking plans on Oct. 22, clearing the way for the five-star hotel and The Residences at Mandarin Oriental to be built on Federal Highway north of Camino Real.
Buildings on the site have been demolished, and crews are readying the ground for construction.
Al Piazza, senior vice president for development for developer Penn-Florida Companies, expects construction to begin in late January, with both buildings completed by the end of 2020.
The hotel and condos are phases 2 and 3 of Via Mizner, a $1 billion project that is the biggest development in the downtown’s building boom.
Phase 1 is 101 Via Mizner, a 366-unit luxury apartment building with the most expensive rentals in the city. The building, completed in 2016, is almost fully leased, Piazza said.
Monthly rents for one-bedroom, one-bath units range from about $1,900 to $3,700, and three-bedroom, two-bath units range from about $4,700 to $5,700, according to listings.
The hotel will be the 32nd Mandarin Oriental and the condos will be the ninth branded residences in the world.
The hotel and condos are “going to be a major contribution to our community,” CRA chair Andrea O’Rourke said at the meeting. “I am counting on the brand to meet our expectations.”
The project includes 52,000 square feet of restaurants and luxury shops and a private club. An 18-hole golf course will be located about three miles away just west of Military Trail.
The CRA approved the project in 2015, but Penn-Florida recently sought approval for redesigned parking garages and the addition of valet parking.
The Planning and Zoning Board voted 4-3 against both changes on Sept. 20 after members voiced concerns that the parking garages would be difficult to navigate and that valet parking spaces would inconvenience residents.
Piazza said the objections were the result of misunderstandings, and Penn-Florida officials clarified their planned parking and valet operations in a five-page response given to city staff.
Senior planner Susan Lesser told the CRA commissioners that the developer had “successfully addressed” the issues.

Suspended mayor to fight probable cause finding
from Florida Ethics Commission advocate

By Mary Hladky

The Florida Commission on Ethics has found probable cause that suspended Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie violated state ethics laws in eight instances.
The examination of Haynie’s financial links to downtown landowners James and Marta Batmasian and their company Investments Limited found that she failed to disclose income, acted to financially benefit herself and her husband, and improperly voted on matters that benefited the Batmasians without declaring a conflict of interest.
Commission advocate Elizabeth A. Miller, an assistant attorney general, minced no words in a stinging report to the commission.
Haynie “consistently voted on measures benefiting the Batmasians and/or their affiliates between 2012 and 2016 while surreptitiously reaping the financial rewards of their business association,” Miller wrote.
“When confronted with the possibility of impropriety, [Haynie] consistently denied any association, involvement or knowledge. The bank account records revealed her deception. These acts and omissions indicate a corrupt intent,” Miller stated in her recommendation that the commission find probable cause.
In her concluding analysis, Miller said that Haynie knew her ties to the Batmasians created a conflict of interest “because, for years, she concealed her private interest to the public and, even more recently, to the commission’s investigator.”
Haynie could not properly discharge her duties as a public official concerning the Batmasians “when a source of her livelihood was dependent upon their continued business relationship and the success of the Batmasians’ companies,” she wrote.
The Oct. 19 probable cause findings are not a determination that Haynie violated state laws, but a conclusion that enough evidence of violations exists to allow the investigation to proceed. Haynie now has the option of trying to reach a settlement with the commission. If not, a full evidentiary hearing will be held on the allegations.
Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s criminal defense attorney, said after a brief case status hearing on Oct. 26 that she will seek an evidentiary hearing.
Haynie’s ethics attorney, Mark Herron, did not comment.
Haynie was suspended from office in April by Gov. Rick Scott after the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office lodged seven public corruption charges against her, but she has not resigned. The state Ethics Commission has the power to seek her removal from office.
But that rarely happens. It’s more typical that a public official is fined up to a maximum of $10,000 per violation.
The state Ethics Commission followed the same investigatory path blazed by the State Attorney’s Office and the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, which settled with Haynie after she admitted to violating the county’s ethics code and agreed to pay a $500 fine for failing to disclose a conflict of interest.
Investigators examined her financial disclosure reports, business dealings, bank records and the votes she cast as a Boca Raton City Council member and Community Redevelopment Agency commissioner.
The evidence gathered against her by the three agencies is similar. One key difference is that while state prosecutors determined that Haynie voted on four matters that financially benefited James Batmasian from 2014 through 2017, state ethics investigators found 17 votes between 2012 and 2016.
State ethics investigators found that Haynie did not list on financial disclosure forms income she derived from two companies she and her husband, Neil, had formed — Community Reliance and Computer Golf Software of Nevada.
Bank records show that she wrote checks to herself from 2014 through 2016 totaling $72,000 from the Computer Golf Software of Nevada bank account.
She also wrote checks to herself totaling at least $5,600 from the Community Reliance bank account.
And while Haynie has said she was not involved with Community Reliance or Computer Golf Software, bank records show she signed Community Reliance checks that were made out to businesses including Allstate, AT&T and Office Depot.
She also did not report rental income deposited in the couple’s joint bank account from two properties they own in Key Largo and Boca Raton that totaled $182,307.
Community Reliance, a property management company, was paid by the master association of Tivoli Park, a 1,600-unit apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, where 80 percent of the units were owned by James and Marta Batmasian and most of the board members worked for Investments Limited.
Haynie “intentionally concealed several years’ worth of business and financial dealings with James and Marta Batmasian and/or their companies,” Miller wrote. “She failed to disclose any common interest even though Community Reliance did tens of thousands of dollars in business with the Batmasians while [Haynie] cast votes benefiting their companies.”
The criminal charges against Haynie, 63, include official misconduct, perjury, misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflicts.
She has pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a speedy trial.
The state investigation found that Haynie failed to report $335,000 in income in disclosure forms required by the state, including $84,000 from Batmasian or Investments Limited, from 2014 through 2017.
Former BocaWatch publisher Al Zucaro, a Haynie adversary whom she defeated in the 2017 mayoral race, filed complaints against her with both the county and state ethics commissions after The Palm Beach Post published an investigation that detailed financial links between Haynie and the Batmasians.
“These things were uncovered during the course of the race and they have proven to be accurate,” said Zucaro, who added that he was sure the probable cause finding “is not welcome news to Ms. Haynie and her criminal defense team.”
Mark Bannon, the county Ethics Commission’s executive director, has said he did not act on Zucaro’s complaint because he received it after his office had launched an investigation.
In the county ethics case, Haynie denied she acted improperly and said she had requested in 2013 an opinion from the county Ethics Commission on whether she should recuse herself from voting on matters involving Batmasian. The opinion said she could vote.
But the opinion was narrowly written, and Bannon has said Haynie should have understood the opinion to mean she should not vote when Batmasian was a developer or applicant of a project coming to the City Council for approval.

By Steve Plunkett

A long-anticipated review of controversial plans to build a four-story duplex on Boca Raton’s beach has been delayed indefinitely.
The city’s Environmental Advisory Board was scheduled to review the proposal for 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. on Oct. 18, but its meeting was canceled Oct. 12.
“The applicant for 2600 submitted last-minute revisions to the plans that required review by staff and the consultant,” city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said. “I don’t have an estimate on how long that might take, but the item will be rescheduled for EAB when staff and consultants have had time to review the changes.”
Property owner Grand Bank N.A. proposes building each side of its 14,270-square-foot duplex with four bedrooms, five and one-half baths, a glass elevator and a four-car garage, according to Delray Beach-based Azure Development, which is marketing the site. The duplex would also have a 40-foot boardwalk and a rooftop swimming pool.
The site needs the Boca Raton City Council to grant a variance for building seaward of Florida’s restrictive Coastal Construction Control Line. The City Charter directs the Environmental Advisory Board to advise council members “on the environmental impact of proposed developments which contain environmentally sensitive lands, listed species, or wetlands … and to recommend ways in which adverse environmental impact might be minimized.”
The idea of building on the beach erupted into public view in 2015 when the council approved a variance for the owner of 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. two lots south to build a four-story, 10,432-square-foot “mini-mansion.”
Both lots are east of State Road A1A between Spanish River Park and the undeveloped Ocean Strand parcel.
“2500 is under review and has not been scheduled,” Gibson said.
The council’s newest member, Andy Thomson, reported Oct. 23 that a lawyer for 2600 N. Ocean told him the owner is still willing to sell the lot. The council told city staff to ask if the price has come down.

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton City Council members are clearly impressed by a cultural group’s ambitious proposal to build a performing arts complex on city-owned land east of the Spanish River Library.
“Very, very compelling,” Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers said at an Oct. 9 workshop meeting where the proposal was unveiled to the council.
“I love the concept,” said council member Andy Thomson.
Even so, council members did not immediately support the newly formed Boca Raton Arts District Association’s request that the city essentially donate the 21-acre site by agreeing to a long-term ground lease with a token lease payment of $1 a year.
While council members did not close the door to the idea, they wanted more assurances that the association, an outgrowth of 15-member Boca Raton Cultural Consortium, has a financially sound plan to build the complex and keep it running without city subsidies.
“This is a bold vision, but fortune favors the bold,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “You are off to a good start, but you have a lot of work left to do.”
The association’s vision includes building four performing arts buildings that would house a main theater with up to 1,200 seats, music complex, music recital hall, dance complex and a black box/flex theater totaling 162,000 square feet on the lakeside land.
Surrounding those venues would likely be a 240-room hotel and convention center, restaurants, an open-air gathering and performing space and parking garage. The hotel, restaurants and other tenants would pay fees to help support the cultural venues.
The entire project could cost as much as $140 million, said Boca Ballet Theatre treasurer David Hammond, chief executive of CSI International.
The association modeled the performing arts complex on Liberty Station in San Diego, a mixed-use development on city-owned land focused on the arts.
The venues would provide new homes to existing cultural groups including the Boca Ballet Theatre and the Symphonia chamber orchestra, which now stage productions at borrowed school and Florida Atlantic University auditoriums.
The school venues lack lobbies, locations for receptions, concessions and will call, adequate restrooms and valet parking, said Boca Ballet Theatre board member Andrea Virgin, president of Boca Raton-based Virgin Design, a planning and engineering firm.
“I believe it has become incumbent on us and the other arts leaders, as well as the City Council, to create a legacy of culture for our current citizens and our children of tomorrow,” said Dan Guin, executive director and co-artistic director of Boca Ballet Theatre.
Virgin said the group scoured the city and concluded that the land along Spanish River Boulevard is the best location because it is big enough, undeveloped, on a lake, has easy access to and from Interstate 95, is near Florida Atlantic University and close to downtown.
The proposal has FAU’s support. Michael Horswell, dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, said the university has outgrown its performing arts spaces. It makes sense, he said, to collaborate with city cultural groups and share space rather than build new facilities on campus.
City approval of a ground lease would spur the interest of potential donors who would be more likely to contribute if they see the cultural arts complex has city support and therefore is more certain of becoming reality, presenters said.
The ground lease also would allow the association to solicit a developer who, in addition to finalizing plans for the complex, would be asked to invest in an endowment fund that would support the project, Hammond said. Money also will be solicited from the state, county and corporations.
Association speakers stressed that the complex would be an economic boon to the city.
“The arts are really a big economic engine for a city,” said Jay Dick, senior director of state and local government affairs for Americans for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Nonprofit arts organizations employ 17,000 people in Palm Beach County, and cultural patrons spend a lot of money on things such as dining before a show on top of what they spend on tickets.
While lauding the concept, council members were cautious.
Singer said the city needs the 21 acres, and suggested philanthropists might be willing to donate other land. Rodgers questioned if a land donation is in the city’s best interest.
They wanted to know more details about project financing and whether the cultural community will provide adequate financial support.
Council member Andrea O’Rourke, a big proponent of the arts, said she thinks the organization’s financial plans are sound, but wants to see a “buy-in” from the cultural community.
“You have done incredible work,” she said. “Is it big? Yes, it is huge. We are all concerned about the financial side of it.”
The association has launched a capital campaign. Guin said he is certain Boca Raton residents will support the project now that they know what is proposed.
“The last thing we want to do is become a white elephant and dump it back on the city,” he said.
“Our job is to make sure your plan is viable enough for us to consider it,” Singer said.
After the meeting, Guin was upbeat about his prospects. He said his group will be able to demonstrate that it can raise enough money.
“We got what we were looking for,” he said. “We didn’t expect to walk in and walk out with the ground lease. It doesn’t work that way.
“There wasn’t one question from the council that I didn’t think was valid, and nothing we were discouraged about at all,” he added. “We know we have a heavy lift. But we also think we have the best plan to do that.”
The group, he said, popped open a bottle of champagne after the meeting.

By Steve Plunkett

The lawyer seeking repayment of a $406,000 business loan from two-time Boca Raton mayoral candidate Al Zucaro subpoenaed Zucaro’s wife, philanthropist Yvonne Boice, for a deposition in October.
Bernard Lebedeker represents hotel owner Joseph Della Ratta’s DR Palm Beach Inc., which lent Zucaro the money in 2003. The attorney asked Boice, who married Zucaro in 2009, to come to his office in West Palm Beach with “any and all documents” that reflect “the transfer of any money or any property from you to Alfred Zucaro,” “any gifts you have given” and “the transfer of any funds from any trust for which you are a trustee or beneficiary.”
Lebedeker also wanted “any and all bank statements” for any accounts titled in Boice and Zucaro’s name “or in which both you and Alfred Zucaro have signing authority.”
Lebedeker has said Zucaro’s debt with interest now tops $700,000.
Zucaro did not return a phone call seeking comment before deadline.
Lebedeker similarly did not reply to emails asking about the deposition.
Zucaro, 69, lost to Scott Singer in the Aug. 28 special election for mayor. He or his law firm loaned and gave his campaign $15,500; others contributed $44,133.
He was more generous in his 2017 mayoral race, lending or giving his campaign $62,750. Other supporters gave him $48,267 then.
On his 2018 campaign Statement of Financial Interests, Zucaro, an immigration lawyer who also started the now-dormant BocaWatch.org blog, listed his law practice, his International Council of Advisors LLC consultancy and Social Security benefits as his primary sources of income.
He reported secondary income from his World Trade Management LLC, his Palm Beach Investment and Finance LLC and in legal fees from Shoppes on 18th Street Inc., a holding company owned by his wife. That business sold Boice’s Shoppes at Village Point shopping center west of the city in 2014 for $12.25 million.
Zucaro, who lives with Boice in a house she owns on Golden Harbour Drive, also reported that he owns no real property. The only liability he listed was his debt to DR Palm Beach.
Della Ratta’s company lent Zucaro and World Trade Management $240,000 in 2003 and sued four years later after not being repaid. In 2009, Palm Beach Circuit Judge Donald Hafele said the evidence showed Zucaro used much of the money for personal expenses instead of spending it as intended to lure international business to the county. He entered a judgment requiring Zucaro to repay the money with 8 percent interest, making the total then $406,000.
Zucaro, who had come under fire in West Palm Beach for how he managed his struggling World Trade Center, appealed and lost.
Della Ratta’s company owns the Best Western Palm Beach Lakes Inn and the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham hotel in West Palm Beach.

By Mary Hladky

The developer of the luxury condo now rebranded as Alina Residences Boca Raton has cleared two hurdles in its effort to build the 384-unit downtown project in two phases.
The Community Appearance Board recommended that the Community Redevelopment Agency approve the phasing request by a 4-2 vote on Oct. 16, and the Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval without debate two days later.
Those votes set the stage for the CRA commissioners, who double as Boca Raton City Council members, to make a final decision on Nov. 26.
“We are very disappointed, and we don’t believe there was enough attention paid to the community at large and the impact of extending the building process as a result of phasing,” Norman Waxman, an opponent to the proposal who is a condo board member at Townsend Place, said after the planning board meeting.
Opponents of the phasing plan now will meet to “develop our game plan” to convince CRA commissioners to reject developer El-Ad National Properties’ request, he said.
Alina Residences, formerly known as Mizner 200, is one of the most contentious projects in the city’s history. Downtown residents complained that it was too massive and a symbol of downtown overdevelopment.
El-Ad made concessions on building design, landscaping and setbacks that eventually won over critics, and the project was approved after a flurry of last-minute deal making in 2017.
But tensions flared again earlier this year when El-Ad asked to build the project in two phases, add valet parking and to not fully complete a pedestrian promenade until the second phase was finished.
Critics cried foul. They said they had a firm deal with El-Ad, and now the developer is reneging.
The most vocal objectors are Townsend Place residents who live next to the project site, but they have an important ally in Investments Limited, a major downtown landowner which was among those who negotiated with El-Ad.
Their main complaint is building the three-tower project in phases.
“If phasing is adopted for the Mizner 200 project, we cannot find this acceptable,” Waxman told the planning board. El-Ad’s proposal is “a bait and switch,” he said, and “we believe in the adage a deal is a deal.”
City records and El-Ad’s submissions to the city state that it was to be built all at once. But Noam Ziv, El-Ad’s executive director of development, told The Coastal Star in September that El-Ad never intended to do that.
“It would saturate the market,” he said.
Waxman and other critics argued at the planning board meeting that the change would benefit the developer, but not city residents.
They fear that if the condos don’t sell well, the second phase will never be built. That would result in one condo tower next to the run-down Mizner on the Green townhomes that Alina Residences was to replace.
If El-Ad decides to sell the second phase property, Townsend Place residents won’t know what the new owner would do with the property.
“That is one of the reasons we are against phasing,” Waxman said after the meeting. “If they decide not to build phase two, we have no control over what would happen next.”
Robert Eisen of Investments Limited said in an email that the company “stands with the good citizens of Townsend Place and Boca Beautiful and does not support the revised plan.”
El-Ad’s request calls for 140 condos in one tower built on the northern portion of the nearly 9-acre site on Southeast Mizner Boulevard. Phase 2 would be 244 units in two towers on the southern portion adjacent to Townsend Place.
El-Ad attorney Bonnie Miskel told planning board members that the developer wants to build both phases but has the right to build only one.
“It is unfair to say we are changing the deal,” she said.
El-Ad agreed to changes to satisfy critics, and those changes stand, she said.

By Rich Pollack

New York has one. Toronto has one. Even Fort Lauderdale has one.
Now Highland Beach is about to have a film festival of its own. Kind of.
This month, the Highland Beach Library, a hidden gem tucked between the Intracoastal Waterway and State Road A1A, will host a one-day film festival featuring movies set in Florida, including some that were also shot here.
Showcasing four films spanning five decades, the Nov. 14 “Scenes From the Sunshine State” kicks off at 10:30 a.m. and goes until 8 p.m., with visitors welcome to stay for as many films as they wish.
The film festival, says Library Director Lois Albertson, is an extension of the library’s always well-attended Friday film series.
“Movies are always popular,” she said. “We thought it would be fun to try something new and have an all-day event with movies centered around a theme.”
The event opens with a showing of Key Largo, the 1948 classic directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
There will be a break for lunch and then three more movies set in Florida will be offered.
At 1 p.m., the library will show Where the Boys Are, the 1960s look at spring break in Fort Lauderdale with Connie Francis and George Hamilton. Next up at 3 p.m. will be Cocoon from 1985, set in St. Petersburg and directed by Ron Howard, followed by The Birdcage, a 1996 film starring Nathan Lane and Robin Williams with Miami’s South Beach as its backdrop.
There will be discussions between the films led by local resident Peter Rodis, who hosts the Friday afternoon film discussions at the library and who contributed footage to the Oscar-nominated film What Happened, Miss Simone?
“This is exciting and we’re hoping people love it,” Rodis said.

The film festival is free and open to the public. Friends of the Library will provide popcorn and door prizes. For more information, contact the Highland Beach Library at 278-5455. The library is at 3618 S. Ocean Blvd.

By Rich Pollack

The holidays in Highland Beach are about to get a lot brighter with nearly $25,000 worth of lights and displays, including a 25-foot artificial pine Christmas tree and a 12-foot menorah decorating Town Hall.
Residents will also be treated to a two-hour “Light Up the Holidays” celebration officials hope will top those of years past.
New this year will be trolleys making about a dozen stops along the west side of State Road A1A, bringing people to and from the celebration, which takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 29. The trolleys will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The expanded “Light Up the Holidays” event at Town Hall and the additional decorations are part of an effort to upgrade the celebration.
“We want to make it beautiful for our town and for our residents,” said Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker. “People really like the idea of coming together for the holidays.”
This year’s celebration will include the return of the Dimensional Harmony chorus from Boynton Beach High School, interfaith holiday wishes and children’s activities such as ornament and dreidel decorations. There will also be a countdown to the tree lighting.
“Our goal is to make the holiday celebration reflect our community,” said Vice Mayor Alysen Africano Nila. Commissioners selected her and Zelniker to work with town staff on the holiday events.
Perhaps the biggest change residents will notice will be in the Town Hall decorations, provided and installed by Brandano Displays of Margate.
“This is something much bigger and much grander than residents have seen in the past,” said Town Manager Marshall Labadie.
Under a four-year, nearly $100,000 lease-to-own agreement, with the town paying about $25,000 per year, Brandano will provide and install thousands of lights and other decorations around the municipal complex, including at the entrances of the Police Department, Fire Department and Town Hall.
In addition, Brandano will install a 25-foot artificial Southern pine Christmas tree as well as a 12-foot-tall menorah and 7-foot-tall dreidel. There will also be a seven-piece nativity scene that will be 6 feet tall.
Commissioners said the new tree and lights will replace a smaller tree, that along with the lights, was old and in disrepair.
The trolleys are new because parking is unavailable at St. Lucy Catholic Church this year. The trolleys will cost the town about $750 each for the four hours.
In the past, residents could park in the church parking lot. But the town and the church could not agree over a request by church leaders to have police officers help with traffic control during major holidays and certain Masses in exchange for using the large lot during the “Light Up the Holidays” celebration.
Labadie, who started as town manager last month, said safety is a priority and the Police Department will coordinate with the trolleys as they make their way along the town’s 3-mile stretch of A1A.
Commissioner Elyse Riesa said the additional decorations as well as the enhanced “Light Up the Holidays” celebration will be something residents will enjoy.
“We’re making ‘Light Up the Holidays’ a totally different event than we’ve ever had before,” she said. “It will be a fun event that renews the energy surrounding the holidays.”

By Mary Hladky

Developer and landowner Crocker Partners filed its promised lawsuit against Boca Raton, seeking $137.6 million in damages on grounds the city failed to adopt regulations that would allow it to build its proposed Midtown project.
Cypress Realty of Florida, a landowner that partnered with Crocker Partners on Midtown planning, also has sued, saying in its lawsuit that the city has been “stonewalling” its efforts to develop 10.2 acres.
Crocker Partners, which wants to redevelop 67 acres it owns east of the Town Center mall, informed the city in April it planned to file the Bert Harris Act lawsuit. Such a lawsuit gives both sides 150 days to resolve their differences outside of court.
But Crocker Partners heard nothing from the city until September, when the city sent a letter denying Crocker Partners’ claims and declining to enter into settlement negotiations, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 23 in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
“Due to the fact that the city has taken an obstructionist, non-cooperative approach, we are left with no choice but to move forward” with the lawsuit, Crocker Partners managing partner Angelo Bianco said in a release. “We are saddened that the city has forced our hand in this matter and is endangering the financial health of our community. …”
The city, Crocker Partners and other property owners in the Midtown area worked together over several years to write land development regulations that would allow the property owners to move ahead with their ambitious plan to redevelop 300 acres into a transit-oriented development where people would live in as many as 2,500 new residential units and walk or take shuttles to their jobs, shopping and restaurants.
Boca Raton City Council members torpedoed that plan Jan. 23 when they postponed a vote on the land development regulations that set a framework for how Midtown could be built. Instead, they voted to have staff develop a “small area plan” for Midtown.
That “small area plan” has not yet been completed and no decisions have been made on whether residential units will be allowed in the Midtown area.
Bianco contended the delay created an impermissible building moratorium that took away his property rights.
In calculating the economic damage to Crocker Partners, the lawsuit said the three properties it owns in Midtown — Boca Center, The Plaza, and One Town Center — are worth $59.9 million.
If the company could build about 1,200 apartments on that land, as would be allowed under the planned mobility district designation the city had given the area, the properties would be worth $197.5 million, the lawsuit states. The difference is the $137.6 million in damages Crocker Partners is seeking.
Crocker filed a separate legal action in May, seeking to have a judge compel the city to write land development regulations for Midtown, and to rule that the City Council’s January delay in adopting them, and instead develop the “small area plan,” are illegal.
The lack of land development regulations also is at the heart of Cypress Realty’s Oct. 12 lawsuit.
The landowner has sought city approval to develop its property since 2015, and most recently filed an amended development application in August following the city council’s delay in adopting the regulations. It wants to build 204 high-end rentals and 64,000 square feet of retail space.
But the city has not acted, and has said it can not do so because the land development regulations have not been approved.
On Sept. 24, City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser informed Cypress Realty that the city does not intend to process the development application, the lawsuit states.
Cypress Realty is asking the court to require that the city process it.
On Oct. 29, Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Gillen ordered an expedited hearing be held during which the city must demonstrate why it should not be ordered to process the application.
“The city’s inaction is unconscionable. It seems the only way you can do business with Boca Raton these days is to file a lawsuit. That’s not the way it should be,” Cypress Realty principal Nader Salour said in a release.
“We now find ourselves in an untenable situation and a classic Catch-22. The city won’t schedule our site plan application for review without regulations in place. Yet, they refuse to put the regulations in place.”
City spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson said Oct. 30 that the city had not yet been served with the Crocker Partners lawsuit. The city attorney’s office will review that lawsuit when it sees it and the Cypress Realty lawsuit “and prepare an appropriate and timely response.”
The city faces another development-related legal problem. In August, landowner Robert Buehl announced he also plans to file a Bert Harris Act lawsuit against the city, seeking as much as $100 million in damages, over the city council’s July rejection of a proposal to build the $75 million Concierge, a luxury adult living facility, in the downtown.
Group P6, the developer of Concierge, headed to court in August in an effort to quash the city’s denial of the project.
The city annexed the Midtown area in 2003. On Oct. 23, the City Council voted unanimously to replace the area’s county zoning districts with city zoning districts. The ordinances also change some permitted uses in the area that would, in part, help the city control excessive noise from bars and restaurants.

By Steve Plunkett

In a rare rebuke, the Boca Raton City Council overrode its Community Appearance Board and will allow the 16-story Carlton condominium tower to paint beige accent stripes around the outside edge of its balconies.
The CAB wanted the horizontal accent bands under windows and between balconies to be painted beige on the top, bottom and vertical faces — what it calls wrapping the color — and the top, bottom and vertical edges of balconies to be white.
The Carlton, between the Camino Real and A1A bridges, wanted to paint only the vertical face of the accent bands and to continue the beige color across the vertical edge of the balconies.
“This is a matter of a difference of opinion and style,” the Carlton’s lawyer, former state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, told council members Oct. 10. “I don’t think that most people who travel around Boca say, ‘Wow, you know, that balcony’s wrapped and that one’s not wrapped.’”
Mark Jacobsen, chairman of the CAB, said his board strives to be consistent in its decisions.
“Maybe in this case it shouldn’t apply as it did apply in other cases. But unfortunately we apply the same rule to everybody, fortunately or unfortunately,” he said.
But Nickie Siegel, an interior designer and member of the Carlton’s design committee, said the color scheme was picked on purpose.
“We really wanted to emphasize the architectural value of this building, and to do so, we wanted to carry that line straight across, not hopscotch it but carry it straight across,” Siegel said. “Now the CAB wants us to stop that, which makes it look silly, in my opinion.”
Council member Monica Mayotte said she supported overriding the CAB mostly because she did not want to force the Carlton to go back to its 63 unit owners and get approval for a different paint scheme.
Council member Andrea O’Rourke weighed in for the volunteers on the CAB.
“I try to do what is best for the residents here, [but] I also respect the Community Appearance Board and the amount of hours [members put in] and their professional abilities,” said O’Rourke, the only dissenter in the 4-1 vote.
The Carlton’s new paint job is about 15 months away and will come at the tail end of a $5 million-plus project to repair and upgrade the condo tower.
Immediately afterward, VCA Spanish River Animal Hospital on Spanish River Boulevard lost its appeal of a CAB decision. The veterinary office wanted to replace a 5-foot-6-inch-tall sign with one 10 feet high. The community appearance board voted 5-0 to deny the application, and the City Council upheld the decision 5-0.

By Sallie James

BOCA RATON — Carmella L. Gesner, a devoted Catholic and tireless philanthropist known by her friends as “Mel,” died Oct 3. She was 92.
A longtime Boca Raton resident, Mrs. Gesner was an active member of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, where she volunteered for many years helping in the office with administrative tasks. She also participated in several of the church ministries, including the Women of Grace and the Council of Catholic Women, said Mary Jane Sullivan, who works in the church’s accounting office. Mrs. Gesner joined the church in 1969.
“She was a lovely lady, a beautiful woman, inside and out,” Sullivan said. “She would come to church to attend many of the daily Masses when she was well. Her character was wonderful. She was a great Catholic role model, a smart lady and she was generous with her time and her money.”
Mrs. Gesner participated in a Friday prayer group with Sullivan and the two would often pray the rosary together.
“She was very devout. I am sure she had a rosary in her purse,” Sullivan said. “I will miss her. She was a wonderful person.”
Mrs. Gesner, who had no children, devoted herself to community service, said those who knew her.
Bill T. Smith Jr., her attorney and friend of 30 years, said Mrs. Gesner left behind a lasting legacy. “She was a wonderful lady,” said Smith, who was also her neighbor.
Mrs. Gesner for 23 years was a board member and president of the Camiccia-Arnautou Charitable Foundation, which helped send students to college and made contributions to local food banks and hospitals, he noted.
He said the foundation donated “well over a million dollars” to various causes during her tenure there. “She cared about everyone she met. She was always friendly and willing to help people if she saw they had a need,” Smith said.
Her loss was also felt at the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton, which she had joined more than 20 years ago with her husband, Walter.
“She was a very sweet lady,” recalled Marla Johnson, social and catering director for the country club. “She frequented the dining hall and would come for dinner with her friends from the condo. I would see her at events and dining.”
Her next-door neighbor, Jo-Ann Odierna, recalled how thrilled Mrs. Gesner was years ago when she and her husband bought the long-vacant condo next door. “She was so excited,” Odierna said. “She was a very pleasant lady.”
Mrs. Gesner was a world traveler in addition to being very philanthropic. She also volunteered at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and the Mae Volen Senior Center.
Born on Jan. 14, 1926, Mrs. Gesner is survived by her sister, Antoinette Seminario, numerous nieces and nephews and many close friends. She was preceded in death by her husband on Oct. 2, 2000.
Services were held on Oct. 23 at Babione-Kraeer Funeral Home in Boca Raton.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Camiccia-Arnautou Charitable Foundation, 980 N. Federal Highway, Suite 402, Boca Raton, FL 33432, or St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church and School, 370 SW Third St., Boca Raton, FL 33432.

By Henry Fitzgerald

BOCA RATON — Sylvia Robinson was always polite and considerate of others. After all, it was the only way for a proper lady to act. She made sure to dress impeccably and always, always put her best face forward.
Being a lady was important to her right up until her death of natural causes on Oct. 11. The Pittsburgh native, philanthropist and longtime Boca Raton resident was 89.
“Lots of people remember her as a lady in the best sense of the word,” said her daughter, Carol Robinson.
Mrs. Robinson thought it was important to give back to the community, most notably early on in the Pittsburgh area, and she and her husband, Donald, pursued their philanthropic interests “together and individually,” Carol Robinson said.
Mrs. Robinson in 1975 founded the American Friends of Israel War Disabled, which brings disabled Israeli war veterans to the United States for two weeks to show appreciation for their sacrifices, Carol Robinson said.
Mrs. Robinson, in a recorded interview in 1996 stored with the ULS Digital Collections at the University of Pittsburgh, detailed how she started the program after a trip to Geneva, Switzerland. There, she heard about a group that sponsored trips to Geneva for Israeli war veterans.
“I said to Don, ‘You know, if they can do it in Geneva with 5,000 Jews — we have 40,000 here in Pittsburgh — why can’t we do it here in Pittsburgh?’
“I think this is the thing that I’m proudest of because this is something that I thought up, that I started in the United States,” Mrs. Robinson said of the program, which initially expanded to other cities such as Chicago and Washington.
“When she passed away, we received so many cards and letters telling me about her relationships with families and veterans,” Carol Robinson said. “That’s one of her legacies. Right up until the end she was thinking about how she could help others.”
Donald and Sylvia Robinson, who with their two children had always enjoyed South Florida during their many vacations, bought a condo in the Stratford Arms in 1981, Carol Robinson said.
The Robinsons then donated to Boca Helping Hands, Boca Raton Regional Hospital and the Wick Theatre, where Mrs. Robinson also scratched a long-existing itch for drama.
Greg Hazle, Boca Helping Hands executive director, said that “she and her husband were significant contributors to our feeding program over the last eight years.”
Despite her appreciation for Boca Raton, Mrs. Robinson maintained her passion for Pittsburgh. She and a friend about a decade ago started the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, a group of Pittsburgh natives who met every week for lunch, said Carol Robinson.
“Those lunches sometimes lasted for hours,” she said. “That camaraderie was very special to my mother and to the others.”
Donald Robinson, her husband of 69 years, preceded Mrs. Robinson in death in 2017. They met in 1947 when Mr. Robinson, on leave from the U.S. Navy, crashed a wedding where Mrs. Robinson was a guest.
“That uniform swept my mother off her feet,” Carol Robinson said.
In 1961 he was a founder and president of White Cross discount drug stores, which grew to 163 locations before later merging into Revco Drug stores in 1972.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Robinson is survived by a son, Stephen Robinson; three grandchildren, Abigail Foster, Leslie Markel and Richard Markel, and three great-grandchildren, Beatrice, William and Finnley.
A funeral service was held at Temple Beth El Mausoleum in Boca Raton on Oct. 14.
Contributions may be made to The Jewish Association on Aging at jaapgh.networkforgood.com or Jewish Family and Community Services at jfcspgh.org.

Crime-scene tape still seals the door to Betty Cabral’s condominium (middle right) at the Penthouse Highlands, 3100 S. Ocean Blvd., where the 85-year-old woman was found slain in April. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

It is a whodunit that could be the plot of an Agatha Christie murder mystery.
An elderly widow is discovered dead inside her fifth-floor condo in a quiet beachside community. Her financial adviser is charged with siphoning away almost $900,000 from her savings.
Yet, as of now, the late April slaying of 85-year-old Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral remains unsolved.
“This truly is a bizarre set of circumstances,” says Robert Cabral, nephew of William Cabral, Betty’s husband of more than 50 years who died in April 2017.
Though five months have passed since Betty Cabral’s car was found abandoned in Pompano Beach and Highland Beach police discovered the woman’s body in her Penthouse Highlands condo, crime scene tape still covers part of the front door and fingerprint dust is visible on the windows.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old David Del Rio of Lehigh Acres on the state’s west coast, who until his arrest on fraud charges last month had been working for a car dealer in Naples, remains in jail.
While sheriff’s detectives, who have been meticulously working the homicide case, even scouring Del Rio’s home and his vehicles for evidence, have remained close-mouthed, Del Rio’s attorney has strongly denied any link between his client and Betty Cabral’s knife-related death.
“He’s unequivocally not involved in the homicide,” says Michael Salnick, a well-known Palm Beach County defense attorney.
In court documents, Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives have laid out what they think is strong evidence that Del Rio, a credentialed investment adviser, took money from the Cabrals’ accounts without their knowledge.
Investigators also claim that Del Rio had a hand in being named the sole beneficiary of the Cabrals’ will, signed in 2015 after William Cabral was diagnosed with dementia. In the months prior to the creation of the will, William Cabral was unable to pick out his own clothes, identify his own address or perform daily tasks, according to statements in court documents from Betty Cabral’s niece Gabrielle Cyrus, who lived with the family for a short time in 2014.
Now back in New England, Cyrus declined to comment for this story, saying she was advised not to discuss the case. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Detective Robert Drake, who has taken the lead on the case, said in an affidavit that investigators checked bank records and found evidence that $893,673 was withdrawn from a SunTrust account belonging to the Cabrals between Sept. 16, 2016, and March 12, 2018. The withdrawals were made via 16 checks that were deposited into a bank account that only Del Rio had access to, the affidavit states.
In one court filing, prosecutors wrote: “The investigation reveals no evidence that these withdrawals benefitted William or Elizabeth Cabral but in fact benefitted Del Rio. Del Rio further utilized the transfer of monies between multiple accounts owned and operated by him in an attempt to conceal the exploitation and theft from the Cabrals.”
Detectives said in court documents they think Del Rio used some of the money from the Cabrals’ accounts to purchase a car as well as firearms, firearms equipment, home improvements and a cruise.
Armed with what they thought was sufficient evidence to charge him on more than two dozen financial fraud counts, Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies joined forces with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, arresting Del Rio on Sept. 13 after a traffic stop a short distance from his home. They returned to the home to conduct a search and were joined by the local bomb squad and fire rescue personnel, in part because they suspected the home might have a large number of weapons.
Salnick, Del Rio’s attorney, said the arrest did not surprise him and his client. He said Del Rio retained him more than a month before the traffic stop, and Salnick offered to surrender him to law enforcement officials but they turned down the offer.
During a first appearance court hearing on Sept. 17, Del Rio’s bond was set at $27,000, but he remains in jail after prosecutors contended that any money used to post bail would be from ill-gotten gains. A bond hearing has been set for early November.

Family tried to help
While investigators have charged Del Rio with taking just shy of $900,000 from the Cabrals, Robert Cabral said his aunt may have actually had more money at some point. He also thinks his aunt, who didn’t have any children or relatives living close by, was an easy target for someone wanting to access her money. “She was pretty naïve when it came to financial matters,” he said, adding that his uncle had handled all the finances before becoming ill.
Cabral, who lives on Florida’s west coast, said he came to visit his aunt and uncle several years ago after William’s decline became obvious and Betty was concerned that some of the checks she was writing were bouncing.
As he looked through papers his uncle kept in a desk drawer, he discovered what he says was close to $2 million worth of investments and bank accounts.
He took Betty to a nearby bank, set up an account so that money from savings would automatically go into her checking account if she was overdrawn and gave her the name of his financial planner in the Tampa area.
Instead of reaching out to him, it appears that she put her trust — and finances — in the hands of Del Rio.

Neighbors worried
While some neighbors said Betty Cabral loved Del Rio like a son, others were worried that he was taking advantage of the elderly widow. Some even confronted him, according to residents, after earlier this year he moved furniture out of her unit while she was visiting a niece in Massachusetts and replaced it with new furniture.
He told neighbors he was going to surprise her, but when she returned, Betty told others in the building that she didn’t really like it.
According to court records, Betty Cabral had also become worried about her dwindling savings and had expressed concerns to her caretaker as well as family members.
A neighbor told CBS 12 news that a few months before the killing, she saw Betty crying and complaining that she had no money left.
While legal proceedings are taking place in criminal courts, lawyers for families of both William Cabral and Betty Cabral are trying to sort out what will become of the remainder of the Cabrals’ estate, including the Highland Beach condo.
Preliminary probate files have been created in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Robert Cabral says he has hired an attorney on behalf of his two sisters and himself and thinks Betty Cabral’s relatives have also hired an attorney.
“If there’s a legitimate will out there, I would think the Cabrals would be in it and Betty’s family too,” he said.

Researcher Michelle Quigley contributed to this story.

Miss Boca 1953 recalls town in its infancy,
world at her fingertips as longtime travel agent

ABOVE: Alberta Schultz’s half century as a travel agent has taken her to 139 countries. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star BELOW RIGHT: Schultz worked for Southern Bell in 1953 when she reigned as Miss Boca Raton. Photo provided

By Ron Hayes

On Monday evening, Dec. 15, 1952, Alberta Domeyer was crowned Miss Boca Raton 1953 at the local Lions Club.
She was 19 and new in town, and Boca Raton was pretty new, too. The town, incorporated in 1925, was only 27 itself.
“Well, I didn’t have a lot of competition,” she says now. “The population was only about 1,000.”
In fact, 200 citizens had voted for Alberta Domeyer, The Delray Beach Journal reported at the time, which means about a fifth of the population wanted her to reign.
“My cousin, Dorothy Steiner, had been Miss Boca Raton 1952, so we kept it in the family,” she remembers.
Dorothy Steiner went on to be crowned the Delray Beach Gladioli Queen on Valentine’s Day 1953, then Miss Florida 1956 and fourth runner-up in the Miss America pageant in 1957.
Alberta Domeyer got married, became Alberta Schultz, had four children before she was 30, got divorced, became a travel agent — and went around the world several times.
She’s 85 now, and in November her four children, along with assorted grandchildren, great-grandchildren and about 100 friends and colleagues, will gather to celebrate both her birthday, Aug. 15, and her 50-plus years as a local travel agent.
Last year, Schultz and her daughter Cynthia sat down and drew up a list of the places she’s been.
Of 195 countries and continents recognized by the United Nations, Schultz has visited 139, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe, with Antigua and Yemen, Argentina and Vietnam, etc., etc., etc., in between.
It’s been a long, lovely trip for a girl who already thought she was going to the end of the world when her family moved to Boca Raton from Detroit.
Her parents had arrived at Ellis Island from Germany in November 1923, on different ships in the same month. Neither spoke English, but they learned, and in time her father owned five bakeries in Detroit.
“At high school graduation, I wanted to do two things,” Schultz says. “I wanted to do makeup or something in the theater, and I wanted to travel. But my father didn’t believe in college for girls.”

ABOVE: When Alberta Schultz posed for the cover of a 1953 city map, a Boca real estate company was offering two-bedroom retirement homes for $6,250 and three-bedroom homes for $7,650. BELOW: A  newspaper clipping from Schultz's scrapbook. Photos provided

She was working as a mail clerk at Michigan Bell, the phone company, when the Steiners persuaded her parents to join them in the sunny joys of Boca Raton.
“There was one church, the Methodist,” Schultz recalls. “I’m not Methodist, but I was Methodist then. There was nothing west of Dixie Highway, just the Air Force barracks on Spanish River.”
When she posed — in a tasteful one-piece bathing suit — for the cover of a 1953 city map, P.L. Weeks’ Realty was offering two-bedroom retirement homes for $6,250 — $7,650 if you wanted a third bedroom.
The town had no theater then, so the Boca Raton Club showed free movies.
The end of the world, she discovered, could be a delightful place.
“You could sleep on the beach all night, and you never locked your doors. Everybody knew everybody. Everybody was friendly. I loved it right away.”
It was a lovely place to live, if you were white.
“Black people had to be off the streets by 7 o’clock,” she says.
Her father opened Domeyer’s Bakery next to Love’s Drug Store on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, and she found work at the Southern Bell office.
“I was a sales rep and took orders over the phone for people who were moving here.”
And people were moving to Boca Raton. By 1955, the year she got married, the population had nearly tripled to 2,872.
She worked for a time at the Boca Raton Club, serving cocktails off a tray suspended from a strap around her neck, like a cigarette girl. She sold tickets to the chimpanzee show at Africa USA, a 300-acre “Authentic Reproduction of the African Veldt” just south of Palmetto Park Road.
“Oh, boy, those chimpanzees were cute,” she says.
On Dec. 17, 1957, the “town” of Boca Raton officially became a “city” with more than 4,000 residents, and Schultz’s personal population was growing, too. By 1967, she had given birth to four children — Frank, Christopher, Cynthia and Felicia — and divorced a husband. She was a 34-year-old woman with four young children to support.
“I was a waitress at the Captain’s Table on Deerfield Boulevard,” she says, “and I didn’t want to be 50 and hauling trays around.”
She went to the maitre d’ and told him, “I need two nights off a week to go to school to be a travel agent.”
The night school class was at a high school in Fort Lauderdale, and later that year she went to work at the Dugan Travel Agency.
“At 75 S. Federal Highway in Boca,” she remembers. “I made $45 a week.”
Aruba, Australia, Austria, the Bahamas.
The adventure began.
When Mr. Cherry, the owner, went to Chicago for the summer, he asked her to manage the business while he was gone.
“I can’t do that,” Schultz protested. “I’ve got four kids.”
“You can do it,” he assured her.
She did it.
Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize …
In 1979 the new owner, Richard Hart, died and left her the business. She ran it until 1984, sold it to an employee and stayed on another five years to help out.
Canada, Chile, China, Colombia …
In 1989, she moved on to Red Carpet Travel in Delray Beach, stayed there six years, then came to Reid Travel in Boca Raton. She’s been there ever since.
“I haven’t stopped working since I was 14 years old,” she says, “except to have four babies.”
This is not a complaint.
Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary …
Fifty-one years a travel agent, 23 at Reid.
“When people ask me what country I like best, I say nothing’s the same,” she says. “Every culture is different, but if you keep your mind open, you find that people are basically good in their heart all over the world.
“But if I could only go back to one, I’d go to Germany, because my parents were from Germany.”
Nowadays, she’s an independent contractor, going to the agency a couple of days a week to set up appointments while otherwise working out of her home office.
“I take groups on tours. We go to Israel, Greece, Italy, the Amazon …”
Two years ago, she went horseback riding on a beach in Uruguay.
Last year, she went whitewater rafting in Washington state.
This year, she and her daughter Cynthia went on a six-week cruise to Japan, Korea and Alaska.
“Sailing from Japan to Alaska,” she says, “we crossed the International Date Line and lived May 7 twice!” Her eyes twinkle at the memory. Next April, she’ll lead 28 members of Advent Lutheran Church to Ireland.
“But no matter where I went in the world,” she says, “when I came back home to Boca, it was home.”
Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia …
Thailand, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey …
Next year, she’ll retire.
“It’s time,” she says, without regret. “It’s long enough. The party’s over, let’s call it a day. I’ve always loved the work, but keeping up with all this new technology, the airline maps — everything’s changed.”
The town she came to 66 years ago has changed, too. The population is nearing 100,000, and what Boca Raton has gained in people and prestige, she fears it has lost in simplicity.
“I’m disappointed with all the high-rises,” she says. “They’re too high, cutting off the air we need, and the sunsets. And the growth!
“I used to go to the grocery store and know everybody.”
And she used to be Miss Boca Raton, elected by nearly a fifth of the town. It’s all there in her scrapbook, the 8-by-10 black and white photos, the newspaper clippings. The memories.
Does she still have the tiara?
No, she laughs. No tiara.
For winning the title, Miss Boca Raton 1953 was awarded an orchid corsage, dinner for two at Brown’s Restaurant, an oil change and grease job from the local Sunoco station, and a load of topsoil.
“I gave the muck to my father for our yard,” she says.