By Jane Smith

The Riverwalk Plaza redevelopment is on hold at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach.
The owner of Josie’s Ristorante in the plaza is jubilant that the owner, Isram Realty, will let the restaurant stay in its place at the northern edge of the 9.8-acre complex. Riverwalk sits south and west of the Woolbright Road Bridge.
“I met with him last week,” owner Stephanie Setticasi said in mid-February. “He will build around us.” The Boynton Beach restaurant has about 10 years remaining on its lease.
Isram Realty Chairman Shaul Rikman could not be reached for comment. Isram had planned to demolish the main building in the shopping plaza and build a 10-story apartment project in its place.
Luke Therien, the Prime Catch restaurant owner, confirmed the developer’s deal with the neighboring restaurant.
Therien was negotiating with Isram to trade .25 acre of mangroves along the Intracoastal Waterway for 50 guaranteed parking spaces for his diners. Therien’s family owns the land under the waterfront restaurant and adjacent property.
“Josie’s wanting to stay means a different parking agreement will have to be worked out,” Therien said. “Josie’s will get some of the parking spaces that we were supposed to get.”
New plans for the apartment building will have to be submitted to Boynton Beach’s planning and zoning division for review.
“A revised site plan — for either minor or major review — would be required only if the plan details actually changed,” said Michael Rumpf, planning and zoning director. “A simple change like moving internal square footage around, or even entrances can require at least a minor — administrative only — review. Multiple, minor modifications would be common for this size of project.”
He said one criterion for determining whether a change is minor or major is if the change presents a 5 percent increase in the project’s square footage. Such major changes would need approval from the city’s planning and development advisory board, which makes recommendations to the City Commission, according to Rumpf.
It’s unclear at this time how substantial a change the new plans would entail.
The approved plans include a 10-story, U-shaped apartment building with 326 units, along with 41,970 square feet of retail space. A 2020 completion date was anticipated when plans were submitted to the city in December 2015.
Harry Woodworth, a former president of the Inlet Communities Association, hopes the public can be part of the review process “in a meaningful way.” As president of the homeowners association, he attended many Boynton Beach meetings where he felt residents’ input was ignored.

It’s election season. Learn about your candidates and be sure to vote.
I wish it were that simple. It never is. This year the battles are already heating up and the mud of misinformation is getting thick. As a result, I’d like to clarify a few things about The Coastal Star:
• We don’t do candidate endorsements. Never have. Never will.
• This month there are campaign signs in front of our office. We didn’t put them there. Our landlord has allowed them and we made it clear all Ocean Ridge candidates are welcome to place their signs in the easement.
• Although a lot of information is passed along to the newspaper, we don’t write about it without verification. We use news judgment to decide what to pursue, but are less likely to chase anonymous tips.
• We have an editorial policy of not publishing articles that might be detrimental to a candidate in the month of the election, because it’s impossible for a candidate to respond in our pages if he or she believes we’ve made a mistake. Stories first reported in the daily news media, however, we will follow— if we think the information is of value to voters.
• We do our own public records requests. No one does these for us. We also pay our own legal bills.
• There are three principal owner/partners of The Coastal Star: myself, publisher Jerry Lower and sales manager Chris Bellard. Lower and I live and vote in Ocean Ridge. Bellard lives and votes in Delray Beach. We do not contribute to local candidates, nor do we campaign for them. You won’t see us at “meet the candidate” events. We take salaries from the newspaper and believe the integrity of our publication is at stake if we allow our personal preferences to show.
We do vote, of course; that’s our constitutional right.
• The other owners of The Coastal Star, Delray Beach residents Price and Carolyn Patton, are minority investors in our newspaper. They have long been politically active in Delray Beach and contribute to local campaigns. They do not draw salaries and are not involved in story selection or placement and do not play a role in our day-to-day operation.
• The other people who work with us are independent contractors, not employees. They do not make editorial decisions at the newspaper. If they want to work on campaigns, put yard signs up or have bumper stickers on their cars, they have the right to do that.
We do our best to cover elections fairly and accurately. Nothing in our approach has changed since The Coastal Star began.
Unfortunately, this year our newspaper is being misrepresented around town and on social media. Some of these uninformed postings can be written off as the general blood sport of local election politics; others are blatant attempts to undermine our reporting.
We stand by our reporting. That’s the bottom line. In light of today’s “fake news” environment, I believe we must not only be accurate and fair in our reporting, but we must also be transparent in how we conduct our business. I hope this helps explain how our newspaper approaches local elections.
If you have questions, email me at news@thecoastalstar.com.
You’ll find candidate profiles and related stories here: South Palm Beach, Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, Highland Beach and Boca Raton.
Get to know your candidates and on March 13, go out and vote.

— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

By Dan Moffett

After 12 years of planning, lobbying and debate, South Palm Beach Town Council members say they’re now having second thoughts about staying in a county project to install concrete groins in the hope of stabilizing the town’s eroding beaches.
“This is turning out to be a long project to the answer ‘no,’ ” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “We’re just being realistic here. I think it’s about time we looked into something else.”
Until expressing her doubts during a Feb. 27 workshop on the project, Fischer had been a vocal supporter of the groin plan since joining the council seven years ago.
Other council members concurred with her changing viewpoint.
“I seem to get a feeling from the crowd that the current plan isn’t acceptable to our constituents,” said Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan after listening to a steady stream of residents’ complaints for nearly two hours. “They elected us to do their bidding.”
Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb said the town should take a step back and reassess alternatives: “Let’s look at the options.”
The project, which was first conceived after Hurricane Wilma ravaged the town’s beaches in 2005, calls for installing a network of groins from South Palm’s northern boundary to the southern end of Lantana Municipal Beach. The plan’s $5 million price tag is to be split among the state (50 percent), Palm Beach County (30 percent) and South Palm (20 percent).
The reversal in the town comes after a rising tide of opposition and negative developments in recent months. Among them:
• Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters has said his town is opposed the groin plan over concerns it will interrupt the natural southward flow of sand and damage the town’s beaches. Manalapan’s commissioners have said they’re willing to take legal action to stop the project.
“The county does not want to pit municipality against municipality,” Fischer said. “I understand that.”
• The Concordia East condominium in South Palm continues to refuse to sign an easement agreement with the county to allow workers on its beach, fearing legal liability or opening the door to public access.
• The Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa has joined Manalapan in opposing the use of groins.
• County environmental managers are still trying to obtain all the necessary permitting from state and federal officials and may not be able to meet the intended November start date to complete work before turtle nesting season. If managers miss the deadline, the project would be pushed back another year.
• Increasing complaints from residents about the appearance of concrete structures on the beach and the cost to the town.
Joseph Chaison, a county engineer, told residents during the workshop that installing structures is “the least preferred” option for fighting beach erosion, but South Palm Beach has no good choices. Because the town’s shoreline has a hard bottom and the water already reaches some condos’ seawalls, a traditional renourishment plan would be difficult. The sand might wash away as soon as it’s dumped.
Julie Mitchell, the county’s environmental program supervisor, told the council the county would “continue to work with you to develop a feasible alternative” if the town decides to pull out of the groin plan and try something else.
“At some point a decision has to be made as to whether to go forward with this project,” Mitchell said.
Fischer said the council will consider its options and get back to the county.
In other business, Police Chief Carl Webb is taking a medical leave of absence and will be away from the department “for weeks,” a spokesman for the town said.
Sgt. Mark Garrison, a 17-year veteran with the town, will fill in as chief until Webb returns.
“Chief Webb wants to thank all the residents and friends who have wished him well and offered their support,” the spokesman said.

By Dan Moffett

After receiving the results of an inspector general’s audit in February, Manalapan is moving forward with 21 recommended changes to tighten billing procedures and improve the internal controls of the town’s water utility department.
Palm Beach County’s Inspector General Office examined the utility’s operation during the 2016 fiscal year and cited seven findings that could use corrective action from the town.
The draft audit found no serious problems, but rather housekeeping and enforcement issues that were hurting the utility’s performance or preventing the town from technically “complying with its ordinances and resolutions.”
Town Attorney Keith Davis, in a written response to the Inspector General’s Office, said the town already has implemented most of the proposed changes — even though the town’s “current system is working properly.”
Manalapan has satisfied some of the report’s concerns, he said, by retraining personnel.
Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town is taking a more aggressive approach to deal with homeowners who aren’t complying with the utility’s rules, one of the complaints in the audit. Out of 253 residences, about 20 water customers still haven’t had backflows inspected and approved. Backflow valves prevent waste water from reversing direction and contaminating drinking water.
“They’ll all get letters saying they have between a 60- and 90-day time frame to get their backflows repaired or inspected, otherwise their water will be turned off,” Stumpf told the Town Commission during its meeting Feb. 27. “That’s the only option I have at this point.”
Davis said in his response that most of the issues cited were commonly seen, minor and easily remedied.
“The findings in the draft report are not outside the realm of normal or typical findings when this type of audit is conducted,” the attorney wrote, “and they are meant to make a good process even better.”
In other business:
• As part of its plan to expand its Police Department, Manalapan is considering partnering with the town of Palm Beach for dispatching and crime scene investigation services.
Police Chief Carmen Mattox said that, because of similar demographics, Palm Beach and Manalapan share many of the same crime problems and it makes sense for them to work together.
“I think Palm Beach is a very professional agency,” Mattox said. “And they have a very outstanding dispatch center.”
The chief said the Palm Beach department has crime scene specialists on hand who could come in quickly and help Manalapan with investigations.
“The other advantage is the information sharing that would be instantaneous,” Mattox said. “We’d be on their radio.”
The chief also said he’s making progress toward screening applicants to fill four new police officer positions. Mayor Keith Waters announced a roughly $420,000 expansion for the department in January after a spate of car thefts.
Stumpf said Stewart Satter, a resident on Manalapan’s ocean side, had sent the town a check for just over $51,000 to the cover the cost of a new Ford Explorer for police. Satter promised to buy the SUV after hearing Waters’ plan.
• Because of inquiries from Point Manalapan, the town will begin surveying residents informally on the possibility of bringing in natural gas service. Three years ago, a straw poll of the 144 residents on the point voted against adding the utility by roughly a 2-1 margin.

By Jane Smith

As Brightline runs its express passenger rail service between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, safety problems recur at grade crossings.
To improve safety, coastal South County cities continue to add quad-crossing gates that meet in the middle to most of the train crossings along the FEC tracks. Once that work is complete, elected bodies could petition the Federal Railroad Administration to have FEC and Brightline trains not blow horns in their cities, creating quiet zones.
In Delray Beach, eight of 11 crossings will get that treatment by the end of April, City Manager Mark Lauzier said. Those crossings are: Northeast Eighth, Second and First streets; Atlantic Avenue; Southeast Second, Fourth and 10th streets; and Linton Boulevard.
The county Transportation Planning Agency (formerly called the Metropolitan Planning Organization) is paying for the upgrades.
In addition to the crossing gates, Delray Beach installed a 4-foot-high aluminum rail fence between Atlantic Avenue and Northeast First Street. The installation followed the August 2016 death of a woman who cut across the tracks and was hit by a freight train.
City Commissioner Shelly Petrolia has asked Lauzier to let the commission know of any other areas where people are cutting across the tracks and a fence is needed.
The $30,644 fence cost could be reimbursed by the agency through its annual grant process, Nick Uhren, its executive director, said at the Feb. 6 Delray Beach commission meeting.
He also asked the commissioners to remind pedestrians and bicyclists to obey the crossing arms when they are down.
“Before the commission meeting, I was at the Northeast Second Street crossing,” Uhren said. “A Brightline train was approaching from the north and another Brightline train was coming from the south. The crossing arms were down and a bicyclist rode around them. Please don’t go around them and try to beat the train.”
Brightline safety issues were raised at a roundtable of mayors and their representatives hosted by U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel in late January. Mayors asked for a meeting with federal officials on the technicalities of quiet zones.
Frankel contacted the Federal Railroad Administration and followed with a reminder letter in mid-February. She was seeking a meeting in the next few weeks.
In mid-February, a Highland Beach man was injured when he stopped his vehicle on the FEC tracks for a red light at Camino Real in Boca Raton when the crossing gates came down. Benjamin Morelli, 90, was unable to get out of his car before it was struck by a northbound Brightline train, said Jessica Desir, spokeswoman for the Boca Raton police.
In Boynton Beach, which had two fatalities involving Brightline trains in January, four more intersections will be getting the quad-crossing gates, said Jeff Livergood, public works director.
The additional intersections are: Boynton Beach Boulevard and East Ocean, Southeast Fifth and Southeast 12th avenues.
The upgrades should be finished in April, he said, and will be paid for by the Transportation Planning Agency using state Department of Transportation money.
Martin Luther King Boulevard, Woolbright Road and Southeast 36th Avenue already have the quad gates, he said.
“I wish that motorists and pedestrians would use good judgment when using our roadways and crosswalks,” Livergood said.
Two lawmakers have submitted bills in the state Legislature that would require train lines that operate at speeds over 80 mph to pay to install fencing along both sides of the track, install crossing arms and pay to maintain what was installed.
Brightline argues that more regulations are unnecessary.
“Brightline has been running PSAs [public service announcements] on local radio and broadcast stations since early last year reminding the public that when you see tracks, think train! And to stay off train tracks,” its spokeswoman said.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach has a thriving downtown that is the envy of cities nationwide. With some changes, the city could create “a world-class shopping district” that is sustainable through recessions, said Robert Gibbs, an urban design consultant.
Hired by the city’s Downtown Development Authority, Gibbs gave city commissioners the draft results of what he called a “Shopability Analysis” on Feb. 20.
He focused on Atlantic Avenue between the interstate and the ocean. He talked about parking management, retail mix, sidewalks and crosswalks, store signs, parking signs and street furniture such as garbage cans and benches.
Mayor Cary Glickstein asked the overarching question: “How do we protect that which makes us valuable?”
First, Gibbs recommended the city study its parking capacity to determine the number of spaces in the downtown and whether it needs to add more, in terms of a public garage. Then the city should consider a pilot parking meter program for Atlantic Avenue west of the Intracoastal Waterway.
Gibbs likes individual meters because he thinks visitors find them easier to use. The city has purchased parking kiosks for use in the downtown between the waterway and Swinton Avenue.
As to parking fees, he recommended the first two or three hours be free. In the public garages, the lower floors should be reserved for visitors, not valet use, he said.
Parking tickets should be given on a sliding scale. “The first ticket should come with a thank-you card,” telling the visitor that no fine is levied but thanking the person for visiting Delray Beach, Gibbs said.
He also recommends installing unified signs for public parking lots and garages and private valet services to make it easier for visitors to find their way around the downtown.
Another goal suggested by Gibbs would be to enforce the sidewalk clearance of 6 feet west of the waterway. Gibbs said restaurateurs like to encroach on the space, forcing families pushing strollers into the street.
He also advised the city to trim landscaping that encroaches on the sidewalks. Repairing or replacing buckled brick pavers on the sidewalks would allow for a smooth walking surface for pedestrians, he said.
Gibbs said cleaning sidewalks, parking garages and city parking lots weekly would make visitors think downtown Delray Beach is world class.
Three years ago, former City Manager Don Cooper wowed the commission with a similar vision of creating Disney-like levels of cleanliness and safety in the downtown. In February, Commissioner Shelly Petrolia told Gibbs, “you are speaking our language … You know who we are.”
Gibbs wants the city to ban anything that cheapens the downtown and makes it look like a shopping center, such as dark-tinted windows.
Vice Mayor Jim Chard asked about a digital sign for Old School Square, which often has a few events taking place simultaneously in different buildings.
“That sign will downgrade you to a strip shopping center,” Gibbs said. “Plus, if you allow that organization to have an animated sign, you have to allow it for all.”
Gibbs will present a final version of his analysis March 29 at Old School Square.

Two commissioners square off to be mayor | RESULTS

Five candidates compete for two commission seats:

Seat 1 | RESULTS

Seat 3 | RESULTS

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Former Delray Beach Mayor Jeff Perlman contributed to Adam Frankel’s campaign. He did not. Frankel raised $3,000 from five donors associated with Delray Beach real estate investor Carl DeSantis. Perlman was not one of these contributors.

By Jane Smith and Michelle Quigley

Delray Beach voters will select candidates for three commission seats on March 13.
A fourth seat will be taken by residential Realtor Bill Bathurst. Bathurst had no challengers for the position vacated by Jim Chard, who stepped down to run for the mayor’s seat when Mayor Cary Glickstein decided not to pursue re-election.
The new commissioners will be sworn in March 29.
The mayor’s race pits two current commissioners: Shelly Petrolia, who has served five years, and relative newcomer Chard, elected to the commission in March 2017. Both have assembled sizable campaign contributions through Feb. 9, the last period reported before publication.
Chard, who filed for the mayor’s race in late October, has collected $79,200 in donations with no self-loans. Petrolia, who announced her run in August, has reported $106,232 in contributions, including $36,000 in self-loans and matching contributions.
Their supporters often spar on social media.
Some testiness spilled over Feb. 7 at the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce candidates forum at the Arts Garage.
When Petrolia was allowed to go first in the mayoral portion of the forum, she announced that she wanted to talk about a “housekeeping matter.”
She had received copies of an email exchange indicating Chard had seen three questions ahead of time.
Chard sits on the Chamber’s Advocacy Committee, which put together the questions for the forum. As a member, he was part of an initial email string that asked for possible questions. Chard acknowledged receiving three questions from fellow committee member Chuck Halberg, a contractor who has donated $1,000 to Chard’s campaign.
Halberg proposed three topics: addressing the turnover of city staff, finding city tax dollars to support nonprofits if state legislators cramp spending by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, and redeveloping Congress Avenue.
Chard replied: “Great question my friend” in copies of the emails supplied to the media by the Petrolia campaign.
The email exchange flies counter to the Chamber’s secrecy policy over the candidate questions. At the debate, the group sequesters candidates so that they can’t hear the same questions asked in other races. It also takes away their smartphones so no one in the audience can text the questions to them.
The Chamber called Chard’s inclusion on the email string a mistake, but said the three questions would still be asked. Petrolia agreed to continue, saying, “I don’t need the extra time or energy or help.”
In addition to Halberg, Chamber Advocacy Committee members Bill Branning, Jay Alperin, Rick Caster, Jeff Perlman, Cathy Balestriere and Scott Porten have donated a total of $6,250 to Chard’s campaign.

Chard’s support
Chard, a retired business executive, has collected about half of his contributions from developers, their attorneys, architects and commercial brokers.
Campaign contributions are limited to $1,000 by individuals and corporations, under state law.
The developers of the iPic theater project — known as the 4th and 5th Delray project — now under construction in downtown, have given Chard $7,000. When contributions from the project’s attorneys are included, the total rises to $10,500.
Chard has raised $250 from two Old School Square donors, but when some of the Chamber Advocacy Committee donors — who also are Old School Square board members — are included, the total reaches $6,250.
Chard has also amassed $6,000 from Ocean Properties, a Delray Beach hotel owner.
He touts support from public safety groups, with three political action committees donating a total of $2,500.

Petrolia’s support
Petrolia, a residential Realtor, has received $1,000 contributions from both Allen Zeller and his wife, JoAnn Mower. Last summer, Petrolia nominated Zeller, a semi-retired attorney, to the city’s CRA board. His nomination was approved unanimously. Mower is a retired hospital administrator. Petrolia also received $1,000 each from Price Patton and his wife, Carolyn. Price Patton sits on the city’s Historic Preservation Board. Carolyn Patton belongs to the nonprofit Delray Beach Preservation Trust. The Pattons also own a minority stake in The Coastal Star.
Steve Plamann, husband of Coastal Star researcher Michelle Quigley, donated $100 to Petrolia in January.
Other Petrolia contributors include four home builders who donated $1,000 each, four auto-related companies that gave a total of $3,000, and two downtown retailers: Mark Denkler and David Cook gave $1,000 each.
She also received $1,000 from Waste Management Inc., the city’s trash hauler.
Josh Smith, the retired educator whom Petrolia supported last March in his failed run for a commission seat, donated $1,000 to her campaign, as did Ken MacNamee, a retired auditor who often combs the city’s spending practices and notifies the commission of his findings.

Seat 3 incumbent Katz
The Seat 3 commission race pits incumbent Mitch Katz against Ryan Boylston. Both have raised nearly equal amounts of money: $54,956 for Katz and $52,235 for Boylston.
Katz lent his campaign $500, while Boylston lent his campaign $5,000. In addition, when Boylston — founder of Woo Creative — designed his campaign website and provided design services, he set those in-kind donations at $2,500 and $750 respectively.
Katz began campaigning in June, scoring a $1,000 donation from Menin Development Inc., through Rosebud Capital Investment. Menin has made significant investments in downtown Delray Beach, including where the Capital One bank branch replaced the Green Owl restaurant.
For Katz, the largest contributors were restaurateurs; five donated a total of $4,200. Three downtown retailers donated a total of $1,350, with an in-kind donation of $991.20 from the Silverball Museum.
Katz also received $1,000 from Josh Smith, whom he backed last year in a failed commission race. The Pattons donated $1,000 each to Katz.

Seat 3 challenger Boylston
Boylston donors appear to be a carbon-copy of Chard’s. Ten attorneys donated to Boylston for a total of $7,500. That group includes former City Attorney Noel Pfeffer and former City Commissioner Jordana Jarjura, who both clashed with Katz during his first term.
Six Chamber members and a former staff member donated a total of $5,600 to Boylston. Five executives at Ocean Properties, owner of the Residence Inn and the Marriott on the beach, each gave him $1,000.
Match Point, which operates tennis tournaments, donated $1,000 to his campaign. Delray Beach is suing Match Point to get out of a no-bid contract that obligates the city to pay Match Point about $2 million annually.
Boylston’s former Delray Newspaper partners, Jeff Perlman and Fran Marincola, together donated $1,500. Boylston gave up his stake in the newspaper in January when he filed to run for the City Commission.
At the Chamber forum, Boylston and Katz clashed over lawsuits the city was involved in while Katz has been on the commission. One suit involved the Atlantic Crossing developers who wanted their site plan approved. The city won both cases, Katz said.

Three vie for Seat 1
The race for Seat 1 features three men: Richard Alteus, who has a background in public safety; tech worker Eric Camacho, who is running for the first time, and former City Commissioner and criminal-defense lawyer Adam Frankel.
Frankel, who raised $53,550, leads his challengers in donations. Alteus raised $1,500 and Camacho raised $200. Camacho had not yet filed a contribution report detailing donors.
Alteus had four health care-related donors for a total of $500. He lent his campaign $370.
Frankel’s war chest includes $12,700 in legal contributions, including from Joe White, who owns property near the Arts Warehouse. Frankel also raised $3,500 from six donors associated with Delray Beach real estate investor Carl DeSantis. 
In addition, Frankel received $500 from four public safety political action committees for a total of $2,000. The tennis tournament operator Match Point also donated $1,000 to Frankel.

Candidate forum planned
The South County Recovery Residence Association and The Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition are planning a Meet the Candidates Forum for 7 p.m. March 7 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.

Six candidate running to fill three council seats: Gottlieb, Hall and Hall | Jordan, LeRoy and McMillan | RESULTS

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach voters must fill three Town Council seats in the March 13 election, and the winning candidates are likely to play a major role in determining the fate of two ambitious projects that have languished for months.
Veteran incumbents Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb and Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan are challenged by four political newcomers: Kevin Hall and Mary Alessandra “Aless” Hall, a married couple; C.W. “Bill” LeRoy, and Raymond McMillan.
The two top vote-getters win full two-year terms. The third-place finisher will serve out the remaining year on the seat occupied by Lucille Flagello, who is stepping down. The council appointed Flagello last year to take over for her son, Joseph Flagello, who died suddenly days after winning in the March election.
The stakes are high in South Palm Beach. The town is trying to decide whether to jump-start or abandon a joint project with Palm Beach County to install groins and stabilize the town’s eroding beachfront — a plan that is facing vehement opposition from southern neighbor Manalapan.
Also, the council must decide what to do about the deteriorating Town Hall building. Last year, council members rejected a plan to demolish it and build a new multilevel structure. But how to renovate the old building remains an open question.

The incumbents
Gottlieb first joined the council in 2005 and has, in part or in full, served six terms. A property owner since the early 1970s, Gottlieb believes his long association with the community gives him an edge.
“I know the town well,” he said. “The beaches are the issue here. I would hope we can work things out with Manalapan and get the beach project moving.”
Gottlieb has pushed for lower tax rates as real estate values have slowly risen from recession lows a decade ago. He supports expanding the Police Department and using social media to improve connections with residents.
Jordan is seeking her fifth term in office. During the last two years, she played a leading role in the ousters of Town Manager Bob Vitas and longtime Town Attorney Brad Biggs — and hiring their replacements, Mo Thornton and Glen Torcivia.
She believes the administrative overhaul is working, and that Thornton already has succeeded in tightening financial oversight. During the town’s January meeting, Jordan praised the new manager for “implementing internal controls in just two days” on the job.
“We’re finally in the position of obtaining full transparency in finances,” she said. “That has been my goal since 2010 when I came on the council.”
Jordan, a vocal beach project supporter, says she’s “optimistic” Mayor Bonnie Fischer can get the plan done.

The challengers
Kevin Hall is the property manager of Palmsea Condominiums. Hall has expressed concern about the “mass exodus of employees” over the past year and thinks the council needs to cultivate a more stable workforce. He also thinks the town needs to do more to control the misbehavior of some short-term renters.
Aless Hall is president of the Palmsea Condominiums Association and has served as its treasurer. Like most Palmsea residents, the Halls are ardent supporters of the beach plan. Aless Hall believes people on both sides of the issue have to engage each other.
“Communication is the key to anything,” she said. “Discussions need to take place and work out differences.”
LeRoy left a real estate consulting career in Peoria, Ill., to settle in South Palm Beach two and a half years ago. He says, if elected, his goal will be to “keep the town as nice as it is” and work closely with the mayor on the beach project.
“The only thing in South Palm Beach that’s not wonderful is the beach,” LeRoy said. “I think Manalapan is against the project because of a misunderstanding. It’s not like other projects they’ve compared it to, and won’t hurt their beaches.”
He favors renovating the existing Town Hall.
McMillan, a 30-year resident of the town, serves on the cultural affairs advisory board and the Code Enforcement Board.
“One of my primary focus points would be continued momentum in regards to shore stabilization and revitalization,” he said. “I also want to be sure that our wonderful Police Department and its dedicated officers will continue to receive the necessary funding to keep our town and its citizens safe.” Council members receive a $300 monthly salary and the mayor $500.

By Steve Plunkett

Standing outside the courtroom, former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella could not hide his disappointment at having to wait 10 more weeks for his felony trial to begin.
He and defense attorney Heidi Perlet appeared for a calendar call Feb. 20 before Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser, who set a “date certain” of April 30 for the proceedings.
“We were going to get bumped anyway,” Perlet told her client, who is accused of felony battery on a law enforcement officer and two other charges.
“I know that. I was just hoping we could do it in March,” Lucibella responded.
The case of a burglary suspect who sought a speedy trial knocked Lucibella’s original date off the judge’s calendar. Rafael Llovera’s trial took the rest of the week, with a jury finding him guilty of a lesser charge, trespassing, along with battery of the occupant and resisting arrest without violence.
Lucibella’s new trial date is a year and three weeks past the original schedule, which called for the proceedings to begin April 10, 2017.
Lucibella, who also faces charges of resisting arrest with violence, another felony, and firing a weapon while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, waived his right to a speedy trial when the lawyers needed more time to question witnesses.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Perlet, a law partner of defense attorney Marc Shiner, said the trial will feature testimony from more than 20 witnesses.
Lucibella was arrested Oct. 22, 2016, after Ocean Ridge police went to his oceanfront home to answer neighbors’ reports of hearing gunfire. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
He and a police supervisor, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, were both on the patio and “obviously intoxicated,” the officers said. They later determined the seized gun was Wohlfiel’s.
Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions Dec. 7, 2016.
His trial was postponed first to July 2017, then October, then February and now April.

By Mary Hladky

Ocean Ridge resident Edward Siedle, the president of Benchmark Financial Services Inc., is in line to receive a second major whistleblower award.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission informed him in February that he will receive $30 million for helping it make the case that JPMorgan Chase failed to disclose to wealthy clients that it was steering them into investments that would be most profitable for the bank.
JPMorgan Chase agreed in 2015 to pay $367 million to settle accusations that it improperly guided clients into its in-house mutual funds and hedge funds.
The CFTC award follows a Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision in July to award Siedle $48 million, also for providing information on JPMorgan Chase.
The SEC’s whistleblower award is its largest to date, eclipsing a $30 million award in 2014. The CFTC’s award also is its largest so far, exceeding a $10 million award in 2016.
Siedle has been called the “Sam Spade of money management” and “pension detective” for his work in investigating more than $1 trillion in retirement plan assets, uncovering flawed investment strategies and excessive fees paid to Wall Street firms hired to manage the funds, and plan mismanagement.
“This is great news for consumers and investors,” Siedle said of the awards. “A lot of people were concerned that under the [Donald Trump] administration that our federal regulatory agencies would not vigorously enforce the laws and whistleblower awards may be in jeopardy. These awards make it clear these agencies are open for business and are not backing away from their mission. ...
“That is great news for me and other whistleblowers and great news for the public, too.”
Siedle has filed about 120 whistleblower claims with financial regulators, most with the SEC, he has said. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directed the SEC and CFTC to reward whistleblowers who provide information that leads to successful enforcement actions resulting in sanctions of over $1 million. Awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of recoveries.
The Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice also have whistleblower programs.
Siedle, a former SEC attorney who founded Benchmark in 1999, said he has no big plans for the money.
“I certainly feel very fortunate,” he said. “However, I don’t anticipate it is going to change my lifestyle any.”

Three candidates vie for two commission seats | RESULTS

By Dan Moffett

Three candidates for two Ocean Ridge Town Commission seats made their cases to voters during a 90-minute forum Feb. 21 sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
Incumbent Gail Adams Aaskov, a former mayor who is running for her sixth term in the past two decades, offered the steady hand of experience as grounds for re-election on March 13, not only as a commissioner but as a longtime resident and small-business owner.
“I think there’s a lot of things we all agree on about what’s coming and what we should be doing ahead of time,” Aaskov said. “I love Ocean Ridge. I’ve lived here for 25 years. It’s a great place.”
Phil Besler, a political newcomer, told the audience of 125 in Town Hall that his expertise as a certified public accountant for 40 years in New Jersey would serve Ocean Ridge well and benefit taxpayers with budgeting aimed at the long term.
“I know I can increase the reserves of this place,” he said.
Kristine de Haseth said she would bring “new energy” to the commission and also regional connections after 12 years of working with local governments on growth issues as director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation.
“I’m not only uniquely qualified, but those who know me know that I’m pretty passionate,” de Haseth said. “I work hard and I work smart.”
The three candidates agreed that rapid growth in Boynton Beach poses a threat to the small-town quality of life in Ocean Ridge. But the commission is still searching for a comprehensive strategy to deal with it.
“I think all of us want to keep Ocean Ridge a small town but to do that we have to have security,” Besler said.
There was unanimous support for installing license plate recognition cameras. Aaskov said she’s “been pushing for it for years” and will continue to do so. Besler said, besides an LPR system, he supports using private security cameras of willing residents to augment the town’s network.
De Haseth said to maintain quality of life, it’s essential “to make sure our Police Department has the right tools.” LPR cameras are “a good tool but nothing more than a tool.” Going forward, police will need more than cameras, she said.
When it comes to managing beach access and the increasing number of beachgoers from the mainland, the candidates generally want improved signage and steady police enforcement.
Besler favors developing a 20-year strategic plan that takes a proactive approach to pressures from the outside, from Boynton Beach and Tallahassee as well.
“I think our biggest enemy — and I hate to say this — is the state of Florida,” he said. “If we want to maintain a small town, if you look at the regulations they’re trying to pass in the state of Florida, who’s controlling that? It’s the lobbyists, and they’re getting paid by developers and they’re getting paid by big hotel chains.”
De Haseth said the town “made a critical error” in losing the police contract with Briny Breezes to Boynton Beach. She argued that, because Boynton now provides all services (police, fire-rescue and water utilities) to Briny, it opens the door to the community’s annexation and possible development.
Besler and de Haseth are open to imposing term limits on commissioners. “Every town needs fresh blood every once in a while,” de Haseth said.
Aaskov opposes the change, citing the difficulty of finding people willing to serve in a small town and the value of experience and institutional knowledge.
Commissioners serve three-year terms and are paid $1,200 a year.

In the days after the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, students from south Palm Beach County schools, including Boca High, West Boca High and Atlantic High in Delray Beach, conducted walkouts and marches in solemn solidarity with Stoneman Douglas students. Seventeen students and teachers were killed at Stoneman Douglas.

ABOVE: Students pause for 17 seconds of silence outside Boca Raton City Hall during a rally against gun violence.Students pause for 17 seconds of silence outside Boca Raton City Hall during a rally against gun violence. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

RIGHT: (l-r) Elena Gaucher and Olivia Wojtecki, both Boca High seniors, and Carah Phillips, a Palm Beach State College student, show support at the ‘Rally to End Gun Violence in America’ outside Delray Beach City Hall.

BELOW: High school and middle school students gather outside Boca Raton City Hall in a rally against gun violence.

County officials hail ninth straight year of record numbers

Visitors fill the lobby of the 200-room Hyatt Place in downtown Boca Raton in February. The hotel reported a strong first year; it opened in December 2016. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arlene Satchell

Palm Beach County clocked another year of record tourism in 2017, welcoming 7.89 million visitors, a 7.3 percent increase from 2016, the county’s official tourism marketing corporation announced.
Discover The Palm Beaches attributed the increase in visitation to more domestic visitors, growth in groups and meetings and innovative destination marketing campaigns that helped bolster community engagement.
“A successful tourism community equates to a thriving local economy, which is why we’re so proud of nine consecutive years of visitation growth in the Palm Beaches,” Jorge Pesquera, Discover’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “This sustained increase reaffirms the area’s continued ability to compete for global visitors, while supporting nearly 70,000 jobs.”
In 2016, Palm Beach County had a record 7.35 million visitors, up about 6 percent from the 6.9 million who visited in 2015, Discover’s records show. By contrast, the county had 4.12 million visitors in 2009.
The repeat record tourism results augur well for job creation and employment prospects for the region’s future hospitality workers, industry specialists say.
“Decreased visitation means decreased jobs,” said Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality & tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University. “For now, our students continue to get hired at outstanding rates surpassing 90 percent. Most are already employed by junior year and simply stay in roles in the industry upon graduation.”
Last year, the Palm Beaches, as the county is dubbed for tourism marketing purposes, welcomed nearly 8 percent more U.S. visitors than in 2016. The destination’s top domestic markets for increased visitation included New York, with 11 percent, or 1.1 million visitors; Fort Lauderdale/Miami with 8 percent, or 808,700 travelers; Tampa/St. Petersburg, with an 11 percent increase, and Orlando, which jumped 4 percent to 516,800 visitors.
Another top growth market was Washington, D.C., which increased 13 percent to 310,400 visitors. Discover attributed those gains in part to the opening of The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches, the new spring training home of the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.
In 2017, international visitation to the Palm Beaches rose 0.9 percent to 745,000 travelers overall. However, a handful of key markets saw improvements despite lingering economic and currency exchange pressures, namely Canada, at 2 percent; Argentina, 8 percent; and Brazil, 2 percent.
Canada accounted for 321,270 visitors, while Argentina and Brazil accounted for 36,620 and 28,100, respectively.
County hotels were also fuller in 2017 as travelers booked 4.6 million room nights across the destination, an increase of 4.9 percent from the previous year, Discover noted.
The tourism marketing agency said joint partnerships with the Palm Beach County Convention Center and local hoteliers were instrumental in boosting room night bookings for groups, meetings and conventions.
“We are seeing a significant shift in our ability to attract meetings and conventions throughout the Palm Beaches, and particularly citywide events in West Palm Beach,” Pesquera said. “The demand is likely to support additional room inventory in key cities.”
Management at the Hyatt Place Boca Raton/Downtown also heralded 2017 for capping off a solid first year of operations. The 200-room Hyatt Place at 100 E. Palmetto Park Road opened in December 2016 as Boca’s first downtown hotel.
“Hyatt Place Boca Raton/ Downtown had a great finish to our year one,” said Audra Durham, director of sales. “[We’ve seen] strong demand in this market with a combination of robust corporate, extended stay, group and leisure business.”

By Jane Smith

Hudson Holdings was so confident that the City Commission would postpone reviewing its Midtown Delray project that it printed fliers with the new date: March 6.
“In mutual agreement with the City and in the best interest of Midtown Delray Beach, tonight’s hearing has been rescheduled,” the flier copy read, referring to Feb. 6, the date of the regularly scheduled commission meeting. The flier was found on the chamber floor about 6:20 that evening.
“The flier was made ahead of time and was intended to be handed out if we were granted the postponement,” said Steve Michael, a principal of Hudson Holdings. “Someone from our team must have dropped it.”
The agenda item did come up for discussion about 8 p.m., with city commissioners voting 4-1 to postpone the project review to give planning staff time to evaluate three proposed changes and an update to the landscape plan.
Hudson Holdings appealed to the commission after the city’s Historic Preservation Board rejected Midtown Delray’s plans twice last year.
Commissioner Shelly Petrolia was the dissenting vote. She looked out into the chamber and saw it filled with residents who had hoped to speak on the project. “It’s not right,” she said of the delay.
The attorney and expert witness for the Historic Preservation Trust drove up for the meeting from Miami, said JoAnn Peart, the trust president. “They are costing us a fortune,” she said.
Mayor Cary Glickstein said the project had created a wedge in the community.
“If we have somebody that is proffering positive changes, I think it’s incumbent on the commission to give them the opportunity to do that,” he said.
Michael said his team made changes based on input from two community meetings about the size of the new buildings in Midtown Delray. The latest meeting was held Feb. 1 at the Sundy House, a historic building and home to the first mayor of Delray Beach.
The developer is proposing to drop three of five prior waiver requests, said Neil Schiller, an attorney recently hired by Hudson Holdings. Two waivers are for buildings that exceed the city’s building width of 60 feet.
Building 9, on Southwest First Avenue, now will be split into two buildings; Building 8, on Southwest First Street, will be broken into three buildings; and the building facing Atlantic Avenue will now meet the city’s requirement of 30 feet for the fourth-floor setback, Schiller said.
The changes will result in modest square-foot losses for Midtown Delray, according to revised plans submitted to the city.
• Meeting the setback requirements for the fourth floor will result in 1,675 square feet less of office space in the Atlantic Avenue building.
• Splitting Building 9 in half will give the project 800 square feet less of retail space on the first floors of the two buildings. The top two floors of the split buildings will be dedicated to office space instead of residential. That will result in a combined loss of 1,530 square feet.
• Creating three buildings from Building 8 will give Midtown Delray nine residential inn units with a total of 17,832 square feet. Previously, the development had 12 units with a total of 28,057 square feet.
Midtown Delray sits at the southwest corner of Swinton and Atlantic Avenues in the southern half of the Old School Square Historic Arts District. The area is designated a local historic district. It recently was nominated to be on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Historic Preservation Board rejected Midtown Delray primarily because the new buildings at three and four stories would be massive compared with the one- and two-story historic structures. Board members also did not like that the historic homes would be moved twice: once to make way for an underground garage and the second time to move back to their original locations on new foundations.
In addition, the lush landscaping would be stripped off the western side of a South Swinton Avenue block while the underground garage is built. The developer would pay the city $124,050 to compensate for tree removal, down from $139,800 in December when the Historic Board reviewed the project.
Before reviewing the Midtown Delray agenda items on Feb. 6, city commissioners declared the individuals they had communicated with about the project in a process called ex-parte communication.
The usual names popped up: Hudson Holdings, Schiller, Michael, the project’s land-use attorney Bonnie Miskel, Historic Preservation Board Chairman John Miller and board member Price Patton, and Historic Preservation Trust President Peart.
Then, Commissioner Mitch Katz mentioned Blake MacDiarmid, a campaign strategist whom Vice Mayor Jim Chard is using for his mayoral run. Katz said MacDiarmid called to talk about all things Delray Beach and then asked what was controversial. Katz mentioned Midtown Delray.
Chard didn’t mention MacDiarmid in his ex-parte report.
“We don’t talk about commission business,” Chard said. “We talk about meet-and-greets, polling and things like that.”

Price Patton is a founding partner of The Coastal Star.

By Dan Moffett

Early findings from an engineering consultant are helping to explain why the Inlet Cay neighborhood in Ocean Ridge is prone to street flooding.
After studying the drainage system on the 16-acre island, Robert Higgins told town commissioners on Feb. 12 that the 60-year-old network of pipes does not have the capacity to meet today’s standards.
Higgins said current requirements would call for a system of 18-inch and 24-inch pipes. The island network is made up of 8-inch and 24-inch pipes.
Inlet Cay’s capacity to move water off streets is only a fraction of what it should be, he said. “The limitation on the drainage is the pipe size.”
The deficiency all but guarantees that the neighborhood will have a street flooding event during every rainy season.
Higgins said he reviewed four reports from boring samples from recent years, which found significant concentrations of muck and peat in the island’s soil that are compressing slowly over time.
“The structures are not settling because they’re built on pilings,” Higgins said. “But everything else is settling.”
Higgins is expected to make recommendations on improving the system after completing his study this spring.
In other business:
• During budget workshops last summer, the commission decided to add two patrol officers and a dispatcher to the Police Department to help deal with growing numbers of visitors from across the bridge.
Chief Hal Hutchins told commissioners that the expansion was warranted: “The activity levels we’re seeing on the law enforcement side are increasing every day, based upon outside forces that we can’t control.”
Hutchins moved closer to fully staffing the department when the commission approved his hiring of Officers Lequandra Beckford and Aaron Choban, and dispatcher/clerk Brittney Good.
Beckford is a graduate of Glades Central High School and holds an associate’s degree from Palm Beach State College. She was employed as a corrections officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and previously worked for the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office.
Choban graduated from Forest Hill High School and Palm Beach State College Criminal Justice Institute. Good graduated from Santaluces High School and is a Florida-certified EMT.
In January, the town hired Wendy Ghamary of Boynton Beach to fill another dispatcher opening.
Hutchins has two more patrol officer positions to fill to reach the full complement of 24 full-time employees the commission approved. The expanded department’s salaries amount to about $1.4 million annually.
• At Vice Mayor James Bonfiglio’s urging, commissioners approved designating Commissioner Don MaGruder to be the town’s point person on issues related to the sand transfer plant at Boynton Inlet.
MaGruder’s task is to monitor a deepening dispute between Manalapan and Palm Beach County over a plan to install seven beach groins in South Palm Beach to slow erosion. Manalapan officials believe the groins would steal sand heading south and damage the town’s beaches.
Manalapan commissioners have suggested they might not continue to cooperate with the sand transfer plant’s operation if the county goes through with the groin plan.
Without the transfer plant, sand can’t move south around the jetty to nourish Ocean Ridge’s beaches.
• Town Manager Jamie Titcomb says residents should plan on sticking around after the next commission meeting on March 5.
The town is planning to honor Mayor Geoff Pugh with a reception marking his 18 years of government service to Ocean Ridge. Pugh decided not to run for another term in the March 13 election.

LANTANA — Edith “Edie” Hamm Ruh died on Jan. 29. She was 89 years old.
Edie Ryan entered the world Dec. 12, 1928, the daughter of Bertie and Arthur Ryan, in Washington’s Crossing, N.J. She spent a seemingly idyllic childhood chasing her two older brothers, Sensor and Jack, along Jacob’s Creek and summers camping on a family island along the Delaware River.
Always popular, quietly adventurous, painfully humble, tomboyishly athletic and naturally beautiful, the young Miss Ryan was well-liked and highly respected.
As a young teenager, she helped the WWII effort by packing parachutes for the Civil Air Patrol and climbing aboard small aircraft to help pilots spot U-boats off the coast of the Jersey shore.
She and her childhood friend Ruthie Dowdell built a tandem bicycle and took biking trips, camping along the way, as far away as to the Delaware Water Gap on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by themselves.
After her mother and father died (far too young), Miss Ryan married Joe Hamm.
Together they built an Airstream-like trailer and took off to tour the United States. They made it as far as Briny Breezes, where they lived for several years.
Kids arrived on the scene (John “Eric” in 1951 and Tom in 1954), which meant moving the trailer to the F1 spot each summer so that the boys could live directly across from the ocean and spend their days with toes in the sand.
They eventually moved into a home made of concrete block with a pool in Boynton Beach, which provided more room for more kids (Cathie in 1960 and Karen in 1961).
The Hamms divorced, forcing Edie into the workforce full-time to raise four kids on her own. She excelled at her job starting at the recently opened Bethesda Memorial Hospital, where she studied to become one of the first intensive care specialty trained nurses in Palm Beach County. She eventually managed the critical care units.
Life took a pleasant turn when she met dentist Frank Ruh while on a cruise to Alaska with her best friend and nursing colleague, Mickey Gragg. Edie and Frank fell in love. Being that Frank was a native Californian, they moved to LaQuinta, Calif., to begin a 30-year span of love, travel, laughs and more family to embrace.
The couple resettled in The Villages for approximately 15 years before Frank’s death.
For the past several months, Mrs. Ruh had been a resident of Arbor Oaks in Lake Worth. While there, she forged friendships with ladies like herself — all independent, capable, humble and kind.
Mrs. Ruh will always be remembered for her radiant smile, natural beauty, quiet determination, kind caring and sense of personal responsibility to do what is right. She will be missed by all those who were blessed to have known her.
Mrs. Ruh is survived by her sons Eric and Tom, daughters Cathie and Karen, sons-in-law Mark Calvert and John “Zeke” Czekanski, and grandchildren Britt Calvert, Leigh Calvert, Wilson Calvert, Quinn Lowry and Kate Lowry.
Mrs. Ruh’s extended family includes the Ruhs of California and Washington, where she was known as “Lala” and “Grandma Edie” to grandchildren Emily Davenport and family, Julia Phillips and family, and Taylor Vail. Additional family includes numerous nieces and nephews in the Ryan, Davis, Hamm and VanSelous families.
Friends are too numerous to count but include fellow volunteers at The Living Desert, Cornerstone Hospice of The Villages, Operation Homebound, Operation Shoebox and members of The Villages Croquet Club.
Lastly, her dog Lilly remains behind, sad to have lost her very best friend.
Celebrations of Edie’s life will be held March 10 in Lantana and June 9 in Doylestown, Pa.
— Obituary submitted by the family

By Ron Hayes

DELRAY BEACH — Back in the late 1980s, when Canning Shoes had already been a landmark on East Atlantic Avenue for nearly four decades, Vince Canning introduced a new policy.
Bring in a pair of old shoes and he would give you $10 off your new pair.
And then he donated those old shoes to the South County Migrant Association.
“Your Sole Mate” is the shoe store’s slogan, but to those who knew him, Mr. Canning was the whole community’s soul mate, an always jovial gentleman with an infectious smile, a weakness for Mickey Mouse and Buster Brown wristwatches, and a seemingly tireless need to serve others.
Mr. Canning died on Feb. 18 after several years of failing health. He was 88.
“He was just one of those caring people,” said his nephew Mark Denkler, who has owned the store since Mr. Canning’s retirement in 1994. “When we first came here, homeless people would come in and he would give them money to go to Publix.”
On his first Valentine’s Day as the store’s new owner, Denkler recalled, Mr. Canning handed him $100 and told him to go to the bank, get 50 $2 bills and give one to any customer who came in wearing red — even if the customer didn’t buy any shoes.
“So I had homeless people in here scaring off the customers, plus I’m giving all this money away,” Denkler said, laughing warmly at the memory. “But that’s just the way he was.”
Mr. Canning’s fondness for Valentine’s Day was not a coincidence.
Vincent Valentine Canning Jr. was born on Christmas Day 1929 in Indianapolis, the youngest of 11 children. After earning a business degree from the University of Missouri in 1951, he served in the U.S. Marines for two years, then worked for the Brown Shoe Co. in St. Louis, where he met his wife, Patricia Lyng Canning, who survives him.
The couple’s daughter, Karen, died in infancy.
In 1957, Mr. Canning arrived in Delray Beach to take over Warren’s Better Shoes, the family shoe store his father, Vincent Sr., had owned since 1952, and for the next 37 years he somehow found time to run the business while volunteering for any public or private organization whose mission he admired. By 1993, the old shoe trade-in policy had become Open Your Heart/Open Your Closet, a joint project with the city’s Downtown Development Authority, whose executive director was Marjorie Ferrer.
“For me, he was the volunteer,” Ferrer said. “If I needed anybody to do anything, I could call Vince. He was a wonderful, sweet, beautiful person.”
In time, Mr. Canning expanded the business to stores in Boynton Beach, Boca Raton and Pompano Beach. Those outlets were sold as retirement neared, but his devotion to the community never flagged.
In 1967, he became a founding member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society where, as a board member, he helped buy the migrant association’s first trailers.
He was also a board member of the Delray Library and Delray Playhouse, Old School Square, the Achievement Centers, CROS Ministries and the Boca Raton and Boynton Beach Chambers.As a past president of the Delray Chamber, he was awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award, and was also honored by the Exchange Club, Rotary International, the Kiwanis Club and St. Vincent Ferrer Church.
“He was the family shoe store in town,” Denkler said. “Everybody knew this man who was always nice and had a loud voice and always smiled who fit a whole generation of kids in their shoes.”
When Mr. Canning died, his nephew added, he was wearing a Buster Brown wristwatch.
In addition to his wife and nephew, he is survived by a sister-in-law, Jane Coose; nieces and nephews Shawn, Keith, Tom, John and Ann Denkler, as well as Cynthia Epperson Coleman, Donald, Mark and Eric Epperson; and Jane Thompson, Anne Marie Epperson Leung and Emily Coose Weber; and 30 great-nieces and great-nephews.
In honor of his Irish heritage, a memorial service will be held at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 840 George Bush Blvd., in Delray Beach on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, at 10 a.m.
Donations may be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society at the church address.

By Steve Plunkett

Town commissioners in February continued a new crusade against approving “discouraged” elements in house plans, sending a proposal that already had been rejected once by the Architectural Review and Planning Board back to the architect for further tweaking.
Mayor Scott Morgan, who first challenged the town’s list of “discouraged” elements in December, said requests for higher eaves and second-story ceilings at 2929 N. Ocean Blvd. were problems.
“It’s a home that employs the maximum of two discouraged elements, and that is eave height and the second-story height, which serves to create a huge middle mass of the house,” Morgan said at the commission’s Feb. 9 meeting. “The second-story eave height’s way too high; you’ve got a box in the middle.”
Carlos Linares, with Randall Stofft Architects, said ceilings on the second floor would be 10 feet, 6 inches, making the eaves reach up 26 feet, the high end of the discouraged range. The preferred height for a second story in Gulf Stream is no more than 24 feet.
“The master [bedroom], the lounge, the views are on the second floor for this particular home,” Linares said.
Commissioner Paul Lyons was not impressed with a proposed gatehouse and 8-foot-tall wall along State Road A1A. The house just to the south has a gatehouse that’s grandfathered in, he said.
“I have a reference point which is that house. I can look at it and see what this might look like, and I don’t think I’d want to replicate it,” Lyons said.
Commissioners also objected to the number, size and style of windows planned for the home.
Lyons said Gulf Stream’s definition of Bermuda-style architecture places emphasis on “simple, straightforward” design.
“It’s clear to me what that means. This design, in the context of that general description, I think is 180 degrees from that,” Lyons said.
At the commission’s suggestion, Linares withdrew his application and will confer with Town Manager Greg Dunham before returning to the ARPB. He previously removed a chimney after the review board objected to its being taller than 35 feet. The home will now have a ventless fireplace, Linares said.
Morgan first chafed about discouraged elements when a homeowner on Palm Way asked to have black garage doors and shutters. The town discourages any color except white.
In other business:
• Dunham said crews started connecting customers in the north part of town to underground power: “to date, 11 homes on Polo, nine on Gulfstream, three on Golfview.” He said some streetlights come on during the day while others do not come on at all and will have to be adjusted. The brightness also will be fine-tuned, he said.
• Commissioners approved an ordinance limiting the use of temporary storm shutters to two weeks before a hurricane is expected to strike and two weeks after.
• The mayor mailed residents a report saying, among other things, the town “is in excellent financial shape, and town operations are functioning smoothly and well.”

By Steve Plunkett

State transportation officials planned to open two more ramps on Interstate 95’s new interchange at Spanish River Boulevard.
The Florida Department of Transportation scheduled a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the interchange on Feb. 28 — Day 1,676 on the construction calendar. Opening that day were the I-95 southbound exit ramp to Spanish River Boulevard (Exit 48A) and the I-95 northbound entrance ramp from Spanish River Boulevard.
Still under construction are new ramps from eastbound Yamato Road to Spanish River Boulevard and north from Spanish River to Yamato Road.
“Please note that this is an expedited ramp opening schedule; there is still contract work left to be done on this project, and contract time currently runs through March,” project spokeswoman Andi Pacini said.
The state DOT and contractor Astaldi Construction Corp. invited dignitaries from the county Transportation Planning Agency, Boca Raton, Florida Atlantic University, Palm Beach State College and Boca Raton Airport to the ceremony.
Mayor Susan Haynie, who also chairs the governing board of the Transportation Planning Agency, was looking forward to the grand opening of the interchange. The Spanish River connection is Boca Raton’s fifth entrance/exit on I-95.
“Even though it’s only half-open, it’s already diverting traffic,” Haynie said.
Pacini said “fantastic weather” combined with the contractor’s moving resources from “previously critical areas” enabled Astaldi to compress the construction schedule.
The existing northbound and southbound I-95 lanes from the Yamato Road Bridge to slightly south of Spanish River Boulevard will be repaved with a single layer “to ensure that the lanes that were shifted to build the bridges over I-95 are clearly marked with new pavement and new striping,” Pacini said.
Construction crews started work on the interchange in January 2014.
The $69 million project meant widening Spanish River Boulevard west of FAU Boulevard and constructing 13 bridges between Spanish River Boulevard and Yamato Road.
It also included signalized intersection improvements and the addition of auxiliary lanes on Yamato Road, and sound wall construction along Yamato Road and on the east side of I-95 north of Yamato Road.

The home Tom Ambrose and his wife built in 1990 is inspired by the seven years they spent living in Indonesia, where Ambrose worked as a geologist. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

A desk job in New York City was never going to sit right with Tom Ambrose.
A native of Oklahoma who got his master’s degree in geology from nearby Rutgers University in New Jersey, Ambrose was doing geological studies on the Permian Basin of west Texas from a Manhattan office building when he heard about an oil discovery in Cuba in 1956.
Off he went, heading into a life as rich as the oil preserves he would discover, taking him to destinations as exotic as Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago and other South American locales, including lengthy stays in Colombia and Ecuador.
Ambrose thought he was heading into a stable political situation in Cuba, but six months after he arrived, Fidel Castro arrived from exile in Mexico and the revolution began. He stuck it out until 1959 when his company was nationalized, and he headed back to the U.S. with his wife, Thora, and daughter, Natalie.
Ambrose, 91, and his wife bought property in Ocean Ridge in 1974, as he put it, “when the town had plenty of open spaces, land crabs and other wildlife.” They built a house in 1990 inspired by their seven years in Indonesia, with the sense they can feel like they live in Bali without making the 22,000-mile round trip there.
Ambrose is a member of both the Palm Beach chapter of the Circumnavigators Club (www.circumnavigators.org/chapters/palm-beach-florida/), for those who have been around the world in one direction, and the more exclusive Explorers Club (www.southfloridaexplorers.org), for those with an interest in exploration and who have conducted scientific flag expeditions around the world.

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born and grew up in Oklahoma City when it was surrounded by oil wells, so I had a strong interest in natural resources. I later attended the University of Oklahoma, the oldest petroleum geology school in the U.S., where I earned a B.S. in geology. For a change of scenery, I went east to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., where I was awarded an M.S. after doing geological field trips to the Catskills and the famous Palisades of the Hudson River.
The geology department was one of the oldest in our country. Geology Hall was built in 1869, the same year the first collegiate football game in the U.S. was played just up the street on College Avenue between Rutgers and Princeton (Rutgers won).
I would say where I grew up, around oil, influenced me more than my education did.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: The day I turned 18 I received a notice from my draft board to report for field artillery training at Fort Sill, Okla., in the summer of 1944. By the time training ended World War II was winding down, so I missed the last troop ship to Europe. How lucky I was, though I did spend two years in the service during the war.
After the war, and with two degrees, I got my first professional job as a geologist with a major American oil company based at 70 Pine St. (the third-highest skyscraper in New York) in the financial district.
In the 1950s, New York was the financial center of the oil industry, most of which has since moved to Texas.
I spent a total of 40 years in international oil exploration before retiring to Florida.
The professional accomplishment I am most proud of is finding oil. I found oil in Cuba, on the deepest well ever drilled there. It wasn’t commercial, but it was oil. Found oil in Colombia; that was a huge operation.
Worked and found oil in Ecuador. Found oil in Indonesia, offshore, and finally went to Trinidad, where we didn’t find any because it had been pumped out by then.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
A: Choose STEM. That’s science, tech, engineering and math studies, and stay with them into the future. The U.S. needs you. The Asians are running ahead of us, so we do need technical people.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
A: Everything I do has maybe a geological slant. I like “the Ridge” with an elevation to 22 feet — the highest coastal ridge between Key West and Martin County. It should give some protection from flooding during an ocean surge, especially with rising sea levels.
Also, the big houses they’re building by the beach now could act as a sort of Chinese wall against flooding. If any water comes in I’d expect it to come from the Intracoastal.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
A: In addition to the friendly neighbors, everything is so close, convenient and available just across the Intracoastal. We once lived at the very north end of the town of Palm Beach and it was a 6-mile round trip to shopping, banking, etc., and even farther to the nearest gas station. Very inconvenient. We also like the natural areas within Ocean Ridge, which preserve the mangroves and beach foliage along A1A. The Inlet Park is also great for boating.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: One Man’s View of the World, 2013, by Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore. The world statesman turned Singapore into a world-class city-state since independence in 1965. Today it has the fourth-highest GDP in the world, 2 percent unemployment, top education, builds more offshore oil rigs than any other country, and has a government-funded health care system. Our son, Serge, graduated from high school in Singapore when we lived there in the late 1980s.

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A: I don’t really get inspira-tion from music; to relax I like mostly tropical Latin music, which I learned during my 15 years living in Latin America, where both my children were born. I love Latin music, especially the Buena Vista Social Club music from Cuba.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A: “The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.” — Louis L’Amour. People go on a cruise and don’t know anything about the countries they visit. You’ve got to appreciate these other places.

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A: Gene Hackman, who I met personally. He’s about my age. We were in Tangier, Morocco, once while Gene was in town and a reporter came to me and wanted an interview, thinking I was Gene. Later I met him along with the reporter, who took my picture with him, and I still have it.

Q: What makes you laugh?
A: This is old time, but the Three Stooges and old-time movies. They were so funny. Slapstick comedy. I don’t have a big sense of humor but I like that.