By Jane Smith
    
    She is part of the glue that holds Delray Beach together.
    After nearly 13 years as the city clerk, Chevelle Nubin is leaving to take a similar position with the village of Wellington.
    Nubin will make more money. The Wellington city clerk offers an hourly rate between $42.31 and $74.04. Even if Delray could match the salary, interim City Manager Neal de Jesus said it couldn’t compete with the nearness to her Greenacres family that the Wellington job provides.
    “This one is going to hurt,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the Jan. 24 City Commission meeting. In addition to describing her as part of the glue, he praised her professionalism and being neutral to personalities.
    “It’s about doing your job in the best way possible,” he said.
    Other commissioners echoed his compliments about Nubin’s professionalism and dedication to the city. Commissioner Mitch Katz described how she sat down with him before his election campaign to explain “from A to Z what needed to be done.”
    He also said that when City Commission meetings extended into the wee hours, just looking at Nubin’s smiling face gave him the ability to stay focused.
    Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura said someone had sent a text that morning that said: “Heard Chevelle is leaving. Get out. Run.”
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said Nubin’s last day is Feb. 28. Nubin promised that the municipal elections work would be on autopilot so the deputy city clerk could finish it after she is gone, Petrolia said. “And I believe that,” she said. “Nubin is such an asset to our town that it’s crushing to lose her.”
    In addition to being the supervisor for municipal elections, the city clerk’s office maintains and retrieves official records for the city, prepares the agendas and transcribes the minutes of commission meetings, processes ordinances and resolutions for signing and generally allows citizens to participate in city government.
    At the end of the Jan. 24 commission meeting, De Jesus started his remarks by giving each commissioner a printout of public records requests for December.
    The 345 listed were unusually high for the size of Delray Beach, he said. Some were duplicate requests sent to five department heads, asking for the same records. Other requesters became aggressive when the records were not produced in a timely fashion.
    He wants the City Clerk’s office to be the central repository for records requests.
    The next day, the mayor said via email, “I suspect these frivolous requests did motivate one of our most capable employees and department heads to seek employment closer to home.”
    Nubin respectfully declined to be interviewed for this story.
   Active in the Florida Association of City Clerks, Nubin was sworn in as its president in June. She has earned the designations of certified municipal clerk in 2003 and master municipal clerk in 2011.
    If the city hadn’t switched its phone system on Jan. 20, callers to her city extension would be treated to a custom voice-mail greeting recorded by Nubin.
    “She thanked people for calling the All-America city of Delray Beach,” Petrolia said. “By the time you were asked to leave a message, you felt proud and smiled.”

By Jane Smith

    Some wore white T-shirts with “WHO’S LISTENING?” written in black across the top. Others wore white tops, each with a black crêpe-paper ribbon tied around the upper arm.
    Dozens of residents protested outside Boynton Beach’s City Hall before the Jan. 17 commission meeting. They were accusing elected officials of ignoring their complaints and concerns about the increased height and traffic problems the proposed Riverwalk project would create.
    For more than two years, waterway residents have said they don’t want to live in a concrete canyon. Yet, new plans were adopted recently to allow large-scale development in the city’s eastern half.
    Commissioners approved the proposed 10-story Riverwalk project by a 3-2 vote in mid-January. Its owners want to build an apartment complex at the southwest corner of the Woolbright Road bridge at the Intracoastal Waterway.
    Mayor Steven Grant and Commissioner Christina Romelus, both new to the commission, sided with the residents.
    “We’re fighting for our way of life because you guys are trying to take it away from us,” said Harry Woodworth, former head of the Inlet Communities Association, which represents 10 waterfront communities in the city. “We came here for a small-town environment … not to be like every town from here to Miami.”
    Mary Nagle, acting president of the Boynton Intracoastal Group, handed out the white T-shirts at the protest. Her group represents six communities with 2,500 residents.
    “We didn’t feel like we were being heard,” Nagle said.
    Resident Ed Tedtman suggested Vice Mayor Mack McCray should not vote on the project because he received $3,000 in campaign contributions from Riverwalk’s owners. Shaul Rikman, Riverwalk chairman; his wife, Jean, a residential real estate broker; and son, Mati, Riverwalk CEO, each donated $1,000 to McCray’s March re-election campaign.
    “It’s a way to hide a bribe,” Tedtman said.
    While the developers’ campaign donations may appear improper to some, they are permitted on all levels of government.
    McCray defended himself, saying he is not being bought. He said he would vote for the Riverwalk project because the developer promised to hire workers without college educations from his district. However, the commitment was not written into the developer agreement.
    Commissioner Joe Casello said the project had been vetted for the past two years.
    “Through this whole debate, we have voted for [higher density in the CRA district],” he said.
    Isram Realty, the company owned by the Rikmans, is “not a flipper of properties. [Rikman] is community-oriented and will be an asset to Boynton Beach,” Casello said.
    Boynton Beach lost its innocence in the late 1960s, he said. “Boynton Beach is not going to be a quaint fishing village,” Casello said. “We are growing, people.”
    Commissioner Justin Katz explained that he was voting for the Riverwalk proposal because he wanted to generate money to save the old high school in the Town Square project. It’s always about money that helps the town, he said.
    He said the abandoned Winn-Dixie grocery store on the Intracoastal Waterway was an eyesore and blight on the community with homeless people living there.
    “It’s a desolate, dangerous area,” he said. “Nobody gets everything they want.”
    The 10-story, U-shaped apartment complex will replace the Winn-Dixie.
    Residents on its upper floors will have views of the Atlantic Ocean along with the adjacent Intracoastal. That will allow the project to charge as much as $2,200 in monthly rent for some of its 326 units.
    The developer received approval for an additional 5 feet above the 10 stories for parapets and other architectural embellishments to help hide pipes and air-conditioning units.
    Construction will be done in phases, with the apartment complex starting by the end of the year.
    A 4,666-square-foot building will be constructed along Federal Highway in the second phase. The Walgreen’s drug store/Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts building, also along Federal, will be renovated in the third phase.

By Jane Smith
    
    Three development teams were picked to present their conceptual plans for the 16.5-acre Town Square in Boynton Beach.
    The two local teams are: Boynton Beach Town Square LLC and Boynton Vision LLC. The other team, based in Washington, D.C., is Municipal Consolidation and Construction.
    The city is seeking a partner to help jump-start the development in Town Square, bordered by Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north and Seacrest Avenue on the west. The area houses City Hall, police headquarters, fire station No. 1, Civic Center, Madsen Center and Arts Center.  
    According to the city proposal, the development can include residential, office and retail space.
    The City Commission unanimously approved the development team rankings presented Jan. 17. A fourth team, Town Square Partners, consisting of Davis Camalier and William Morris, who are involved in the Ocean One project, was not selected.
    Assistant City Manager Colin Groff gave this ambitious timetable to commissioners: final team selection on March 21 and final contract approval April 4. He said the estimated dates were tentative.
    During the review process, each team will be invited to give a presentation to the selection committee. The public can attend, but state law and county rules forbid people from commenting, Groff said.
    The two local teams chosen are well known in Palm Beach County.
    Historic preservation architect Rick Gonzalez, working on the Swinton Commons project in Delray Beach, is part of the Boynton Beach Town Square bid. He also worked on the restoration of the Mar-a-Lago estate for President Donald J. Trump and is involved in Trump’s quest to build a helipad on the estate in Palm Beach. Another participant in this proposal is John Markey, whose firm developed two multifamily projects in the western part of Boynton Beach.
    Bill Branning, former Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency board member and board president of the Old School Square in Delray Beach, and his BSA Construction firm teamed with Atlantic Realty Partners and Kaplan Residential as part of the Boynton Vision bid. Lawyer Michael Weiner, who owns the Post Office building at Seacrest Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard, also is participating.
    Frank Haney, president of Municipal Consolidation and Construction, has committed to hiring local firms for design, engineering, surveying and legal work.
    Once the final contract is approved, “there will be a lot of public meetings on the open space — landscaping, playground equipment and lighting — and the design of City Hall and the old high school,” Groff said.
    The historic high school, Public Library and the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum must remain at their current locations, according to the city proposal document.
    A potential stumbling block to reusing the high school appeared again in early January.
    On Jan. 6, Juan Contin, the architect who formed the Boynton Old School Partnership, appealed the dismissal of his claims against the city.
    The partnership sued the city in 2013 after its plan to create an events center was denied on second reading. Since the suit was first filed, it was amended three times. In December, the circuit court judge dismissed it with prejudice, meaning the only avenue for the partnership was an appeal.

By Jane Smith

    A corporate executive search firm will be used to recruit Delray Beach’s next city manager.
    “I’m not looking for someone on the learning curve or on their last stop,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “But someone with demonstrated measurable outcome where they were and who still has a lot of gas left.”
    City commissioners unanimously agreed in mid-January when they gave interim City Manager Neal de Jesus the authority to advertise for a recruiting firm and bring the selections back to the commission in early March. Then after the election, with the full commission of five members, the search process would begin, de Jesus said on Jan. 17.
    The commissioners also agreed to increase the salary range for the city manager by about $75,000. The current range is $127,000 to $203,000. The new range will be $200,000 to $275,000.
    “You get what you pay for,” Glickstein said. “The citizens of this town have paid dearly for having ineffective management for years.”
    He said the previous city manager, Don Cooper, was effective in doing triage, which the city needed. But he was not the change agent the city now needs, Glickstein said, adding “I hate having this conversation in public.”
    Other commissioners said they wanted the new city manager to be a leader.
    “The city needs a leader who can enhance the team of leaders we have,” Commissioner Mitch Katz said. “We need someone to hold them accountable and bring everyone up with them.”
    Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura agreed. “I want someone who knows how to find the right people, put together a succession plan and rebuild a city that has had some changes and growing pains,” she said.
    “If the person has additional expertise in the finance world or the grant world or ran a capital improvements program, that’s all gravy to me.”
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia pointed out that providing stability is a crucial attribute.
    “We were basically going around in circles, like a ship without a rudder,” she said. “Cooper righted the ship and set us in the right direction.”
    While interim city manager, de Jesus receives an annual salary of $159,000 with a $2,000 monthly housing allowance.
    In other city news, the Delray Beach Visitor Information Center, managed by the Downtown Development Authority and sitting at the corner of A1A and East Atlantic Avenue, will be closed until late March for renovations. During construction, a temporary center will be open at the Sandoway Discovery Center, 142 S. Ocean Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
    When the center reopens, it will be tripled in size. Wi-Fi will be available for visitors to learn about shops, attractions, dining, entertainment and hotels. In addition, the renovated center will become Visit Florida’s Official South Palm Beach County Visitor Center.

By Willie Howard

    Manalapan is offering Hypoluxo water customers a 35 percent rate cut and a five-year rate freeze in exchange for a 30-year contract extension as the tiny waterfront town competes with Boynton Beach to retain its Hypoluxo water customers.
    The proposed rate cut would apply to about 550 Hypoluxo water customers served by Manalapan through a contract that expires in 2020.
    Hypoluxo council members heard the rate-cut offer during a Jan. 18 presentation by Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf and Kevin O’Donnell of Nova Energy Consultants.
    Under the proposed rates, Hypoluxo customers with a 5/8-inch water meter using 8,000 gallons would pay $48.02 a month — a savings of $25.86 from the current rate. A similar 35 percent rate reduction would apply to Hypoluxo customers with larger water meters.
    To further sweeten the offer, Manalapan officials offered to pay for $1.64 million in needed upgrades to water distribution lines in Hypoluxo.
    Hypoluxo officials also are considering a water-supply offer from Boynton Beach Utilities, and their decision could come as early as this year.
    Even though the town’s water contract with Manalapan doesn’t expire until 2020, the contract requires 18 months’ notice if Hypoluxo plans to switch to a new supplier.
    Meanwhile, much larger Boynton Beach Utilities, which already supplies water to Hypoluxo customers west of U.S. 1 and handles all of its sewage, has offered even lower water rates to the Hypoluxo customers served by Manalapan.
    Under Boynton Beach Utilities rates, presented to the Hypoluxo Town Council in August, single-family residential customers with a 5/8-inch meter using 8,000 gallons a month would pay $25.55 to Boynton Beach Utilities.
    That’s $22.47 a month less than the discounted rate offered by Manalapan.
    Hypoluxo interim Mayor Michael Brown said he liked the quick service provided by Manalapan following water main breaks and other problems. But, he said, “that’s only worth so much.”
    Stumpf told Hypoluxo officials that Manalapan would keep its water plant and remain in the water production business even without the Hypoluxo customers it has served since 1960.
    “I find that very interesting,” Brown said.
    Meanwhile, Boynton Beach Assistant City Manager Colin Groff told council members that Boynton Beach Utilities needs to upgrade water meters for the 550 Hypoluxo water customers served by Manalapan, or charge them maximum sewer rates based on 7,000 gallons of water use. Sewer bills for those Hypoluxo customers are based on water consumption measured by Manalapan. Boynton Beach Utilities employees manually enter the Manalapan water-use numbers every month to generate sewer bills, which often leads to errors, Groff said.
    For its customers, Boynton Beach Utilities uses smart meters that read water usage every 10 minutes.
    “We have to move to an automated system to get accurate sewer bills,” Groff said. “We’re not trying to be mean. We just want it to be fair to everybody.”
    Brown said the Hypoluxo Town Council would review the water rates presented by Manalapan and Boynton Beach, along with service and other factors, before making a decision on whether to end the Manalapan water-supply contract or extend it for another 30 years.
 Manalapan Vice Mayor Peter Isaac said he hopes Hypoluxo is swayed by the immediate savings water customers would enjoy.
 “If they accepted, Hypoluxo residents would save $30,000 a month,” Isaac said at Manalapan’s Jan. 24 meeting.     “That’s a lot. If they don’t make a decision, that $30,000 doesn’t get to be retroactive. If they take two months [to decide], that’s $60,000 that’s lost.”
 Town Manager Stumpf, who is leading the negotiations for Manalapan, said Hypoluxo officials have asked her why this proposed deal wasn’t put on the table months or years ago. She said Manalapan couldn’t offer it until now because the town had to complete a study of its utility and make some management changes.
 “The answer is that we were not in a position to make the offer back then,” Stumpf said. “Now we are.”

Dan Moffett contributed to this story.

By Jane Smith

    The Ocean One developer wants a sliver of Boynton Beach public land for a nominal fee and a part of taxpayer dollars generated by the proposed residential and hotel complex.
    The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency owns the .47-acre lot Davis Camalier needs to square off his 3.1-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Boynton Beach Boulevard. The CRA land was appraised in December 2015 at $460,000. Camalier’s group wants it for $10.
    The eight-story, U-shaped apartment complex will have 231 units. A nearby seven-story parking garage will have 463 spaces, with 50 reserved for the public. That will be built in the first phase.
    The second phase, basically the bottom half of the parcel that borders Ocean Avenue, will have a hotel with an estimated 100 rooms and a 118-unit condo tower that is taller than eight stories.
    Camalier’s consultant, Chris Brown, who formerly ran the Delray Beach CRA and now has a company that provides those services to cities, made the pitch for the taxpayer dollars.
    Brown’s tally for anticipated development costs to meet city requirements include $1 million for the 50 parking spaces; $700,000 for wide sidewalks, streetlights and buried utility lines; $500,000 to move Florida Power & Light wires; $500,000 to cover the city’s request to make the project eco-friendly; $500,000 in building permit fees, and $240,000 to cover the city’s request to add retail along Federal Highway.
    For the first phase, Camalier’s group wants $4.2 million spread over eight to 10 years, Brown said. For the second phase, the group is seeking $3.6 million spread over eight to 10 years.
    “It’s based on our calculations that the buildings would add to the CRA, but you will pay out what the buildings actually add [in value],” Brown said.
    That request annoyed Linda Cross, who chairs the CRA’s advisory board and is a retired accountant.
    “The money the developer is asking for is the costs that any developer would have to pay,” Cross told the CRA board on Jan. 10. “They all have to pay for landscaping, moving utilities and putting utilities in. I don’t see that they are giving the CRA any more value.”
    Plus, she said, the money generated is for future projects in the CRA district.
    She also questioned whether the parking would be sufficient. She lives in the nearby Marina Village condominium, which has 349 units, equal to the number that Ocean One would have when both phases are built. The Marina Village garage has 660 spaces with an additional 120 spaces for public use.
    “The concept that millennials don’t drive is not true. They often have more than one car,” Cross said. “We are packed.”
    Waterway resident Harry Woodworth, who’s a past president of the Inlet Communities Associations, said the CRA board needs to attach performance standards to the taxpayer-dollar request. “Otherwise they won’t get done,” he said.
    The CRA board members, who also sit as city commissioners, directed their staff to negotiate a contract with Ocean One consultants. They want five areas accounted for in the deal: parking plan, workforce housing, start of hotel construction, percent of the retail space filled and a community benefits agreement that would cover local hiring.  CRA staff will bring the agreement back to the board for approval.
    CRA member Justin Katz wanted to make sure the hotel was built soon after the first phase. He did not want to see a two- to four-year lag between the two phases.
    The project’s land use attorney, Bonnie Miskel, said the market would dictate when a hotel would be built.
    “It all depends on the availability of money,” she said. “I don’t have a crystal ball.”

The La Coquille Club, built in 1954, was one of the most significant mid-century modern buildings

in the area. The architect was Byron F.  Simonson.

In 1934, Jacques  and Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan bought land on the south end

of Hypoluxo Island, which they named Casa Alva. In 1957, William Benjamin II

bought the estate and turned it into The Manalapan Club.

Photos provided by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County

By Mary Thurwachter

    Social clubs formed by Standard Oil scions Spelman Prentice and William Benjamin II were an important part of Manalapan’s history, according to local historian and author Augustus Mayhew. Mayhew addressed residents Jan. 19 as part of the town’s annual lecture series at the J. Turner Moore Memorial Library.
    The La Coquille Club, now at Eau Palm Beach (formerly the Ritz-Carlton), was developed by Prentice, one of John D. Rockefeller’s grandsons.
    “The original 1954 building, designed by architect Byron F. Simonson, was one of the most significant mid-century modern buildings in the area,” Mayhew said.
    Club members were captains of industry, congressmen and people with names like Hutton, Ford, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. It was a place to see and be seen. Guests lounged by the pool, sipped cocktails and danced the night away.
    After the building was torn down, the Ritz-Carlton was built in its place and the club was housed there from 1991 to 2013, when the hotel became Eau Palm Beach.
    Manalpan’s other social club, The Manalapan Club, was founded in 1957 in a home once owned by Jacques and Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan.
    During the height of the Great Depression in 1934, the Balsans bought the south end of Hypoluxo Island and three nearby islands for $75,000. There already was a home on the 50-acre property, which had belonged to the John Demarest family, and it was called La Linda.
    The Balsans added on to the house and renamed it Casa Alva, with designs by Treanor & Fatio architects. Sir Winston Churchill, a family friend and cousin of Consuelo’s first husband, visited Casa Alva several times and often spent his time painting scenes around the grounds. One of his paintings is hanging on a wall at the town library.
    Benjamin bought Casa Alva in 1957, added 50 acres and filled in the islands to develop Point Manalapan. He also added rooms to the house.
    In 1958, Benjamin unsuccessfully lobbied for a bridge between Point Manalapan and A1A.
    The Manalapan Club had its home in Casa Alva from 1957 to 1976. The club included a nine-hole, par-3 golf course, game room, cocktail lounge, dining room, and suites for members during the season. Gala balls, fashion shows, lectures and bridge tournaments were among the club’s social activities.
    After the club closed, Benjamin and his wife, Maura, lived at Casa Alva until 2013, when they sold the property to its present owner, investment banker and New York preservationist Gary W. Parr.

•

    Future speakers in the library series include Manalapan gardener and author Jack Staub, who will discuss the private gardens of South Florida on Feb. 16; international cellist Yehuda Hanani, who will talk about the narrative power of music on March 2; Hippocrates Health Institute health educator Philip Nicozisis, who will discuss the philosophy of food, a vegan perspective, on March 9; and musician and writer Juliette de Marcellus, who will give her lighthearted guide to why classical music is on the decline for the March 30 lecture.
    Lectures are free to library members and $5 for others. For more information, see www.manalapan.org.

By Jane Smith

    The days are numbered for people taking shortcuts across the FEC train tracks in downtown Delray Beach. The city plans to install pedestrian barriers by the end of the summer.
    In mid-January, the City Commission approved a pedestrian barrier of aluminum rail fencing with occasional landscaping along both sides of the track for one block — from Atlantic Avenue north to Northeast First Street.
    The trespassing problem became a focus last August when a Boca Raton woman was killed by a passing freight train. She was taking a well-used shortcut across the tracks after leaving Johnny Brown’s on Atlantic Avenue when she was struck by a southbound freight train.
    “I think someone else is going to get killed. We have to do something,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the workshop.
    Citing mature bougainvillea as a good deterrent along the Florida East Coast tracks in West Palm Beach, Glickstein said later, “it is both colorful and thrives in harsh conditions and has an added feature of thorns, which in this context is useful to keep people from jumping over the fence.”
    Later this year, Brightline passenger rail service will start on the FEC tracks, offering express travel between Miami and West Palm Beach. The estimated 32 daily trains will have only one stop per county — Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. By 2019, plans call for extending the service to Orlando.
    That’s why John Morgan, who runs the city’s Environmental Services Department, is rushing to bring better cost estimates back to the commission. He presented four options in mid-January. Commissioners combined parts of two into one — aluminum fence with intermittent landscaping.
    After better costs are determined, he then will meet with FEC Railway staff to get approval to construct the barriers. Some part, if not all, of the barriers will sit on FEC-owned land.
    Morgan then will ask railway officials to help cover the costs of the barriers.
    “FEC is responsible to make it safe, but not pretty,” Glickstein said. The city will look for help with the remaining cost from the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization.
    The city also is losing 15 parking spaces in the block just north of Atlantic after the second set of railroad tracks was installed last year, Morgan said. He will use that as an opportunity to reconfigure parking in the lot behind Johnny Brown’s.
    At a Community Redevelopment Agency board meeting earlier in January, police Sgt. Darrell Hunter told the board about a parking problem that occurred along the railroad tracks.
    In November, when FEC subcontractors were installing the second set of tracks, they removed the “No Parking” signs just north of Atlantic Avenue. People were parking their cars close to the tracks, which prompted the freight trains to slow down and some even stopped, Hunter said. Trains extend at least three feet beyond the tracks on both sides.
    Vehicles were ticketed, but the number couldn’t be determined, according to a police spokeswoman. The Police Department uses paper parking tickets that are not tracked.
    For the next step in the barrier process, Morgan would take the plan to the Downtown Development Authority, which serves merchants and restaurants along Atlantic Avenue. His goal is to have commission approval by early June and the barriers in place before Brightline trains begin zipping through downtown.
    For a finishing touch, Morgan wants to install a pedestrian promenade on each side of the tracks along the barriers. He will seek financial help from the city’s CRA to build promenades between Atlantic and Northeast First.
    All this barrier talk pleases Delray Beach safety advocate Patrick Halliday, vice chairman of Human Powered Delray. He pressed for the barriers at the first City Commission meeting after the August tragedy.
    “It’s a message to people who don’t want to get involved that change can occur if you speak up,” he said.

By Rich Pollack

    HIGHLAND BEACH — On Highland Beach’s Intracoastal Drive in the town’s tight-knit Bel Lido community, Erin Kane Rodriguez was known as a fun-loving neighbor, a rising young tennis star and an athlete full of energy, who always took her studies seriously.
    So it came as a shock to the whole community — especially the group of 14 young adults with whom she grew up — when neighbors learned that she died at home on Jan. 10, apparently as a result of an underlying medical condition. She was 20.
    “The whole neighborhood was in shock,” said Peggy Gossett-Seidman, a neighbor and close friend of the Rodriguez family. “We’re all still in shock.”
    A junior at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and co-captain of her school’s tennis team, Miss Rodriguez was home for the holidays and staying with her family an extra week in preparation for her team’s match with Florida Atlantic University.
    Members of the team, including those who made the trip for the match, were among more than 300 people from across the country who attended a Jan. 18 memorial service for Miss Rodriguez.
    “She reached a lot of people,” Gossett-Seidman said.
    A natural athlete, Miss Rodriguez started playing tennis competitively at 11 and was a fixture in national tournaments prior to receiving a full athletic scholarship to play for the Miami University RedHawks.
    “Erin was the sunshine of our team,” coach Yana Carollo told the Dayton Daily News. “She was funny, intelligent, compassionate and a very kind girl.”
    At one point in her playing career, Miss Rodriguez ranked sixth in the state and 27th in the nation in her age group.
    Although she had considered the possibility of playing tennis for a living, according to Gossett-Seidman, Miss Rodriguez was focused on academics, with a dual major in political science and business legal studies.
    A dean’s list student who was chosen to serve as an ambassador for the university’s College of Arts and Science, Miss Rodriguez planned to attend law school following her graduation, with a goal of becoming a prosecutor.
    “She was quiet and serious in her studies but with the other kids in the neighborhood she was just a bundle of energy,” Gossett-Seidman said. “She was always upbeat and smiling.”
    Miss Rodriguez is survived by her parents, Jorge and Judi; her younger brother, Matthew; grandparents Tom and Dorothy Kane; grandmother Miriam Rodriguez; uncle and aunt John and Suzanne Kane; godparents Jose and Rita Mendez, and many cousins.
    A scholarship fund has been established at Miami University in her memory. Make contributions payable to the Erin Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship, and mail to Miami University, 725 E.  Chestnut St., Oxford, OH 45056. To contribute online, visit www.forloveandhonor.org/givetomu.

By Emily J. Minor

    MANALAPAN — Fred R. Marcon, the son of Italian immigrants who grew to great success in business, faith and family, died Jan. 19 in the Manalapan home he’d built for his wife, who died five years ago. He was 79.
    Mr. Marcon was more of a Northern guy, said his daughter Alison Conti. He loved the family’s other home in Fish Creek, Wis., and followed Chicago sports teams like the Bears and the Cubs.
    But once his wife, Natalie, fell in love with Florida — something she first did as a girl growing up in Miami and then again as her husband inched toward retirement and they started coming south — he obliged her love for the ocean and palm trees with a beautiful house on a beautiful lot, Conti said.
    “He really built this house for my mom,” she said.
    When Natalie Marcon died in the spring of 2012, the two had been married 49 years. And while Mr. Marcon was in fairly good health at the time, still enjoying golf and travel, he lost more than her companionship when their mother died, Conti said.
    He kind of lost the will to live.
    “When you lose your life partner, it’s hard to keep going,” Conti said. “He was just sad.”
    Born Feb. 22, 1937, on the South Side of Chicago, Mr. Marcon was the second-youngest of seven children, and the only boy.
    His family calls his life “a true American success story” and he came by hard work honestly. Mr. Marcon’s father spent 43 years with the George M. Pullman Co., and never took a sick day.
    After graduating from Chicago’s all-boys Mount Carmel High School, Mr. Marcon attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and joined the Illinois Inspection and Rating Bureau as a junior inspector.
    Various promotions eventually took the family to Flossmoor, a pretty Chicago suburb, where Mr. Marcon was very involved with the Infant Jesus of Prague parish as a lector and coach for the school’s baseball, football and basketball teams. His coaching had an effect on hundreds of young people’s lives.
    In 1977, another promotion took the family to Ridgewood, N.J., where he climbed the corporate ranks with Insurance Services Office, a risk-management firm. When Mr. Marcon retired in 2002, he was chairman and CEO of that company.
    Through the years, Mr. Marcon found great joy in philanthropy, said family members. He is survived by his five children and their families: Michael, of Alamo, Calif.; Tony, of San Francisco; Michelle, of Chicago; Alison, of Madison, N.H.; and Mark, of Loxahatchee. Ten grandchildren also survive him.
    Services were in Flossmoor, where Mr. Marcon was buried in the family plot. Memorial donations may be sent to the Men of Carmel Fund, Mount Carmel High School, 6410 S. Dante Ave., Chicago, IL 60637.
    In retirement, Mr. Marcon enjoyed his kids, his grandkids, church work — and armchair sports.
    Alison Conti said the family was happy he’d lived to see his beloved Cubs win the World Series. Indeed, Mr. Marcon was buried with his Cubs cap, she said.

By Emily J. Minor

    GULF STREAM — Linda Ann Grantham Bryan, a Memphis-born adventurer who moved to the Philadelphia area with her parents as a child and kept a home there all her life, died unexpectedly Dec. 23. She was 78.
    Mrs. Bryan’s daughter Sally L. Willis said her mother fell while visiting a daughter and grandchildren in London. She never regained consciousness.
    “She fell down the stairs and hit her head,” Willis said.
    Mrs. Bryan’s death was particularly jarring because of the good health and active lifestyle she enjoyed, Willis said. An avid traveler, Mrs. Bryan had taken a trip around the world last year and was scheduled for a trip to Colombia this month.
    In the last 10 years, she had traveled with the National Geographic Society, focusing largely on environmental and cultural locations, her daughter said.
    With homes in Philadelphia, Minturn, Colo., and Gulf Stream, Mrs. Bryan also enjoyed golf and hiking. And she loved a party, said her daughter.
    “She was social,” Willis said. “She absolutely loved to have parties and go to parties.”
    Mrs. Bryan was an accomplished pianist who often played when she entertained. And she loved dogs. Her Gulf Stream home was long “a haven for many of man’s best friends,” said her family.
    While she enjoyed traveling and had three homes, it was the Florida home that she really loved, Willis said. At the time of her death, Mrs. Bryan was a member of The Little Club, Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club, and the Gulf Stream Golf Club.
    Married several times, Mrs. Bryan leaves two children from her second marriage, to David P. Willis: Sally, of Frisco, Colo., and Anne S. Willis, the daughter she was visiting in London.
    She leaves two sons from her first marriage, to Stanley Malin (who died in 1960): Geoffrey Malin Willis, of Downingtown, Pa., and Brian Malin Willis, of Coatesville, Pa.
    Most recently, Mrs. Bryan was married to Anthony J.A. Bryan, who died in 2010.
    Seven grandchildren, a sister, Kate Grantham Taylor, of Boulder, Colo., and a brother, Jesse Grantham III, of Ojai, Calif., also survive Mrs. Bryan.
    Memorials for Mrs. Bryan can be made to McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary in West Palm Beach; the St. Augustine Historical Society, or the Waukeenah United Methodist Church Cemetery in Monticello, Fla., where she is buried in the family plot next to her father, who died in 2007.
    The family is planning a celebration of life 5-7 p.m. March 5 at the Gulf Stream Golf Club, 2401 N. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach.

By Ron Hayes

    OCEAN RIDGE — Bill Finley died while putting the finishing touches on a science fiction novel called Saving the Moon.
     He’d already made his mark on Earth.
     At his death from congestive heart failure on Jan. 25, Mr. Finley left behind 93 years filled with innovation and adventure. He had been a warrior, a scholar, a planner, a builder, a writer, a husband, a father, a dreamer and a doer.
    In Palm Beach County, the Community Partners exists because he did, and so does SunFest.
    “Bill was a genius in many ways,” said his wife, Anita Finley. “Creative, but such a kind, loving soul. He thought in big terms, and whatever he did had to be good for the community.”
    A resident of Ocean Ridge for 28 years, Mr. Finley was born in Chicago on Oct. 29, 1923.
    After graduating from high school, Mr. Finley enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and flew 35 bombing missions over Germany, for which he was awarded five Air Medals, three Battle Stars and two unit commendations.
    He earned an A.B. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949 and, two years later, that school’s first master’s degree in city and regional planning.
    In 1958, he arrived in Washington, D.C., to serve as director of the National Capital Planning Commission under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.
    Leaving government in 1962, he made one of his most lasting contributions by joining the Rouse Co. to develop a new city in Maryland. In June, Columbia, Maryland, pop. 100,000, will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
    Mr. Finley came to Miami in 1972 to help create INTERAMA, the Inter-American Trade and Cultural Center, scheduled to open in 1976 to mark the American Bicentennial. However, the bond market collapsed, and the $200 million project was never completed. Today, it is the site of Florida International University.
    In Florida, Mr. Finley lost INTERAMA, but found a wife who would share his life for the next 43 years.
    “I saw her from a distance,” he told The Coastal Star last year. “She was tall and gorgeous with a big smile and waving to everyone.”
    The couple were married in 1974, and for the next four decades, Florida would benefit from Bill Finley’s presence.
    In 1980, he went to work for the Banker’s Land Co., a subsidiary of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to develop the city of Palm Beach Gardens.
    He helped turn the Royal Palm Festival into SunFest and a 1939 armory building into the Armory Art Center. With his wife, he co-founded Boomer Times and Senior Life, a multimedia company.
    Mr. Finley’s greatest service to the area came in 1986 when, as chairman of the county’s Affordable Housing Task Force, he led the effort to create and fund the Housing Partnership. In 2001, the partnership took over management of the struggling Parent-Child Center, providing mental health services to families. Today, both agencies operate as Community Partners.
    In 2012, he received the agency’s first William E. Finley Founder’s Award for his “courageous and visionary leadership.”
    In his later years, Mr. Finley turned to writing, publishing both light fiction, Killing in BocaLand (2012), and serious studies, A Bold Proposal for American Cities (2015).
    And then, as his own time on Earth drew to a close, he turned his attention to Saving the Moon.
    “I’m so privileged to have had him in my life,” Anita Finley said. “He was just a brilliant guy who was also kind and loving. And now he’s on a new adventure.”
    In addition to his wife, Mr. Finley is survived by his sons, Kelly Cuthbertson, of California, and Chandler Finley (Stefania) and Joey Richards, both of Miami; a daughter, Kim Finley, of Oregon; and three grandchildren, Colette, Lawrence and Jasmine Finley, of Miami.
    A memorial service will be held at a later date.

Acklen Dunning of Delray Beach displays jewelry from her new line of collar necklaces.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Eight years ago, when Acklen Dunning fell in love with a beautiful gemstone necklace that she saw in a fashion magazine, she had a problem — the exorbitant price tag. So she came up with a plan.
    She went to a bead show and found a way to duplicate the necklace using much less expensive materials. Her interest in jewelry-making blossomed, and she made more necklaces, one of which caught the eye of someone from a local boutique, who offered to sell them for her. Eventually she began exhibiting her jewelry in shows and selling it on her own website.
    “It’s a wonderful hobby that’s turned into a very fun small business,” said Dunning, a resident of coastal Delray Beach since 1998.
    Although jewelry designing is not a full-time job for Dunning, she creates hundreds of pieces a year, including necklaces, earrings and bracelets, using materials such as semi-precious stones, baroque pearls, turquoise, coral, rock crystal, agate and jade. Her new line features a series of collar necklaces made of printed neoprene and big, chunky acrylic beads.
    “I’m really excited about it. It’s just totally different from what I’ve been doing before,” said Dunning. “It’s very glamorous, I think.”
    This month, Dunning will be selling her latest creations at the Wayside House Spring Boutique and Trunk Show, Feb. 21-23 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The annual event is the main fundraiser of Wayside House in Delray Beach, which has been providing addiction treatment services to women since 1974.
    Now in its 27th year, the trunk show will feature more than 40 vendors from around the country selling home décor, jewelry, high-end adult and children’s clothing and accessories, with a portion of the sales going to Wayside House.
    The show also features the highly popular Trifles and Treasures section, which sells donated gently used items, such as designer handbags, vintage clothing, costume jewelry and artwork.
    A preview party will take place Feb. 20. Last year, the preview party drew some 250 people, while more than 3,000 people attended the trunk show.
    Dunning has participated as a vendor in the Wayside House fundraising event for the past four years, and before that she served as a volunteer.
    “A lot of people come to the show specifically for her jewelry items,” said Ann Weinwurm, director of development for Wayside House. “She has a following.”
    Before designing jewelry, Dunning was known for creating the Nuri evening bag, which she launched in 1995. These gilded, hand-lacquered oval bags with flowing tassels were inspired by the miniature inrō cases traditionally carried by Japanese samurai as early as the 15th century.
    “I’ve always been fascinated with the Asian cultural arts, and that’s how that started,” Dunning said.
    The meticulously crafted bags incorporated lacquer finishes that Dunning had learned at the Isabel O’Neil Studio Workshop in New York City, where for five years she studied under O’Neil, a renowned authority on the art of the painted finish. Dunning later became a teacher at the studio.
    Her Nuri bag was selected for the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, where it won first prize. It was also exhibited at the Smithsonian Craft Show and the American Craft Museum.
    Each Nuri bag was different, and took about 60 hours to make, with up to 60 layers of lacquer applied, and sanding required every five coats.
    “It was a very intensive labor of love,” said Dunning.
    The bags were very successful, and are the creation Dunning is most proud of; but after about 12 years, she stopped making them.
    Today her creative focus is on her jewelry, which she exhibits at several charity fundraisers in Florida each year, preferring those to the big shows she used to do in New York.
    In addition to her jewelry, Dunning has time for something she is equally passionate about: bridge, which she has been playing for 10 years.
    “My life is full,” said Dunning, who is retired. “I have lots of things to do, and jewelry is my creative side, which I love.”
—  Marie Puleo

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school?
    A. I grew up near Boston and went to the Holton-Arms School in Washington, D.C.; Briarcliffe College in New York, and the Sorbonne University in Paris.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. After college, I worked in New York at the Ford Foundation in the public education department for five years, and at the Wenner-Gren Foundation for anthropological research, then married and moved to Connecticut.
    I then became involved in taking classes, then teaching at the Isabel O’Neil Studio for 10-12 years. She taught and perpetuated the art of the painted finish from its origin in the Renaissance using 21st-century materials she formulated.
I believe that Isabel O’Neil was a great influence in my involvement in the arts.
    I left the studio to start my own career designing evening bags, the Nuri bag, that incorporated her lacquer finishes. After moving to Delray Beach, I then started to design jewelry and opened a website to display them.
    
    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. Selecting a career today must be a tedious step-by-step process that takes years of investigating. You will probably have several jobs before finding the right one. Be positive and become a person of vision, because nothing is impossible.
    
    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
    A. My husband and I had family from this area.
    
    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray Beach?
    A. We love this area and are very happy because there is so much to do; lots of wonderful choices from dining, cultural events, performing arts, museums and most importantly, the people who choose to live here.
    
    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I love historical novels and I am reading The Spy, by Paulo Coelho, about Mata Hari.
    
    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. Classical music for relaxing; guitar music (Ottmar Liebert, Gipsy Kings) for inspiration; and ’60s music, including the Grateful Dead, for fun.
    
    Q. Do you have a favorite quote or book that inspires your decisions?
    A. Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking.
    
    Q. If a movie were made of your life, who would you like to play you?
    A. Helen Mirren.
    
    Q. Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry?
    A. My favorite piece of jewelry is a bracelet that my grandmother gave my mother, who in turn gave it to me. My grandmother had it engraved with a special greeting to my mother that I cherish.

    For more information about Acklen Dunning and her jewelry, visit www.acklendunning.com.

If You Go

What: Spring Boutique and Trunk Show. The annual event is the main fundraiser of Wayside House in Delray Beach, which has been providing addiction treatment services to women since 1974.
When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 21–23 at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

Cost:  $5 per person for a wristband that allows multiple entries for all three days.
A preview party will take place 6-8 p.m. Feb. 20. Tickets cost $100 per person, which includes valet parking, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and nonstop shopping.
Info: www.waysidehouse.net.

Marcela Carneiro Millett, of Palm Beach County Human Services, speaks with a homeless man

at The Caring Kitchen in Delray Beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    One woman at The Caring Kitchen said she was to blame for her homelessness.
    A man there blamed his stint in prison for his not finding a job and living on the streets.
    Others complained they lost their jobs when people were willing to work for less.
    Their stories were among the more than 1,700 collected in a 24-hour period ending Jan. 27.
    The homeless count, mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was coordinated by Palm Beach County’s Human Services Division. Its staff got help from volunteers and police escorts.
    When the tally is released, it will provide breakdowns by city with information on age, gender and race. Detailed information on the annual count will be released March 1, said Wendy Tippett, Human Services director.
    Two teams worked in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and the Lake Worth/Lantana area, said Keianna Williams, program coordinator for Human Services. One team counted in Boca Raton, she said.
    In return for the survey responses, homeless people received $5 gift cards to Publix or Walgreen’s, or a toiletry kit put together by the county Homeless Coalition, Tippett said.
    The county will use the information collected to determine how best to assist homeless people, make cities realize they have a homeless problem inside their borders and determine where pockets of need exist. The data also will be used in federal grant applications to help support the requests, according to Tippett.
    Delray Beach Police Sgt. Darrell Hunter, supervisor of the Clean and Safe program in the downtown area, said his officers often encounter homeless people in Veterans Park and on the grounds of the historic Old School Square.
    He told the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board in early January about the extra patrols that have been done in both places. The agency pays for the Clean and Safe program.
    “Sixty-eight extra patrols were conducted in November in Veterans Park,” he said. The extra patrols are in addition to the 45 “walk-and-talks” and Segway patrols of Veterans Park.
A “walk-and-talk” meeting happens when officers chat with a homeless person to determine his or her needs.
    On the Old School Square grounds, because of “vagrant complaints, as well as in anticipation of the holiday-area opening,” 27 extra patrols and four “walk-and-talks” were conducted, Hunter’s November report said.
    He also told the CRA board about a spike in the homeless population police witnessed in November. Hunter mentioned Veterans Park, Libby Wesley Park and the Public Library as places homeless people frequent.
    “We go into an area and ask certain information — where are you from and how did you get here,” he said. “A lot of these individuals said they were given vouchers from up North to come down to Delray.”
    The mention of vouchers prompted CRA board member Paul Zacks to ask, “Who is handing out the vouchers?”
    Hunter said at the meeting that the police chief was checking on that.
    Two weeks later via email, he said, “the individuals did not provide our officers with the city or who actually gave them the voucher, which makes it hard to follow up.”
    The January homeless counters in Delray Beach started at The Caring Kitchen on Northwest Eighth Avenue just off Atlantic Avenue, which runs a hot meal program for homeless people and others on limited incomes.
    On Jan. 26, Tippett spent lunchtime in Boca Raton at the Boca Helping Hands center on Northwest First Court near Dixie Manor, where the team interviewed 64 homeless people in one hour.
    “Last year, 25 surveys were done. There’s definitely an increase,” she said.
    She said homeless people sleep on the streets and “other places not fit for human habitation.” Her list included stairwells, public bathrooms, alleys and park benches.
    People are homeless for a variety of reasons, Tippett said. They might lack a living wage in Palm Beach County, where apartment rental rates are rising more quickly than wages; have criminal backgrounds that make it difficult to assimilate; be Vietnam-era veterans who never moved back to their hometowns; have behavioral health issues that include addictions; or be teen runaways.
    This year, “We’ve seen an increase of seniors and teens who are homeless,” she said.
    Tim Stepien contributed to this story.

The Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club’s 14th holiday vendor sale helped support

programming for more than 400 children in South County. Two hundred-plus guests attended

the opening night reception, and more shoppers stopped by the next two days to buy gifts

for their families and friends, raising more than $100,000.

ABOVE: (l-r) Walker, Kari and Matt Shipley.

BELOW: Susan Mullin and a few of the children in the Boys and Girls Club.

Photos provided by Leonard Bryant Photography

By Rich Pollack

    A war of words between a candidate for Highland Beach Town Commission and the leader of the church that is the town’s only polling location prompted town leaders to move the March 14 election to Town Hall.  
    In a 3-2 vote late last month, commissioners agreed to move the polling place to the town’s public library despite being informed that leaders of St. Lucy Catholic Church had a change of heart and rethought their reluctance to continue serving as a polling place.
    Last month, the Rev. D. Brian Horgan, of St. Lucy Catholic Church, told the town the church would no longer be a polling place unless he received an apology from Town Commission candidate Carl Gehman.  
    Gehman, who had scheduled a meeting with Horgan to ask for equal time after hearing from a third party that the church had voiced support for another candidate — a claim Horgan denies — was asked to leave the church office several times.  
    Church leaders say Gehman became “very agitated” when he and his wife arrived at the church for a meeting that was canceled at the last minute because of a scheduling conflict.
    “This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he had just sat down with me,” Gehman said.
    Horgan’s memos revoking permission to use the church as a polling place sent town officials scrambling to find a new location.  
    During a special meeting late last month, however, former Vice Mayor Ron Brown — who is running for mayor — told commissioners he was bringing a message from Horgan that the church would be more than happy to host the election.
    That decision brought a sharp response from Vice Mayor Bill Weitz, who said he thinks the church reconsidered to provide an advantage to a few candidates in the election.
    “This is simply a political stunt to support certain candidates,” Weitz said. “I think it’s time we go on record to say we can have the election on a neutral site.”
    Weitz said he thinks the initial actions of the church, in revoking permission to hold the election on its property and to not allow election parking on the site unless it received an apology from Gehman, were unfair to the town, which was an uninvolved third party in the dispute.
    “It should be clear that there was an inappropriate ultimatum on this commission,” Weitz said. “We were being coerced.”
    Weitz’s motion to move the election drew support from Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker and Mayor Bernard Featherman and opposition from Commissioners Carl Feldman and Lou Stern.
    “I think it’s part of the charm of a small town to hold an election in the Town Hall,” Zelniker said.
    Feldman, who is running for mayor against Brown, said he had no problem with holding the election at the church, but said because there are eight candidates running for three seats, it would be best to have a “candidate-free zone” to make sure candidates didn’t get in the way of church members going to Mass.
    Stern said he thinks moving the election to town facilities would be an inconvenience to residents since the library would have to be closed for the day and other facilities could be impacted.
    Because of limited parking, Highland Beach Town Hall and the adjacent library have not been considered as a polling place in the past, especially with the availability of the church, which has many more available parking spots.
    Interim Town Manager Valerie Oakes told commissioners she is planning to close administrative offices in Town Hall and the library on election day in order to free up additional parking spots.
    Horgan said that the church would open its parking lot — which is just a short walk from Town Hall — to the town on election day.
    Oakes said the town has 57 spaces available, including five handicapped spots, and that the Police Department will be available to assist with traffic control and parking if needed.
    She also pointed out that many residents walked to the polling place or rode their bicycles.
    Resident Barry Donaldson, who is running against Zelniker for a three-year term, said he was concerned that the change in polling places could confuse some voters who have been voting at the church for years.
    Oakes, however, said the town will be conducting a communication campaign, including letters to registered voters, to ensure residents know of the change.  
    In addition to Gehman, those running for the two-year seat Feldman is vacating are Melissa Ebbs, Elyse Riesa and Peter Rodis.

Las Ventanas has been sold to Pollack Shores Real Estate Group

Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    Las Ventanas, a mixed-use development on 15 acres in Boynton Beach, sold for $109.31 million in mid-December. Prudential Insurance Company of America, a New Jersey corporation, and Epoch Properties sold to Pollack Shores Real Estate Group of Atlanta. ARA, a Newmark Co., represented the seller.
    The development, which was built in 2009 at Woolbright Road and Federal Highway, includes 42,000 square feet of retail space, as well as 494 housing units, which were more than 90 percent occupied at the time of sale, according to ARA.
                                
    For sale: 7,892-square-foot, single-story building on North Federal in Boca Raton; built in 1981, renovated in 2009, barrel tile roof, lush landscaping, parking for 36 vehicles; asking $3 million.
    If and when someone pays the price, the American Red Cross will vacate its Boca Raton office and employees will work at home, at the West Palm Beach office, and, of course, at local swimming pools, condo clubhouses — any place where swimming lessons and CPR classes are needed.
    Real estate is far less important than work done in the community, says Robin Hicks Nunley, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter. The Red Cross doesn’t need its own building to carry out its work. And, as always, it can use more volunteers.
                                
    The Morton Group Inc. plans to commission two sculptures for the sculpture garden of its new condominium, Metropolitan. Michael and Brad Morton, a father-son team, have invited South Florida artists to present their portfolios for consideration.
    Artists should submit portfolios to info@MetropolitanDelray.com.
    “Our vision for the Metropolitan is to become the epicenter of the flourishing Delray Beach art scene,” said Michael Morton. “The Sculpture Garden and the Metropolitan reflect our founding principles of creating contemporary, art-inspired living with the highest level of design, architecture and quality finishes.”
    The Metropolitan, a luxury residential project to be completed in 2018, is at 33 SE Third Ave., Delray Beach. Designed by Delray Beach architect Richard Jones, the five-story building will include one- and two-bedroom units up to 1,600 square feet, and priced from the $600,000s. It will also have retail shops, office space, a rooftop deck and a public plaza.
                                
    Premier Listings, at Royal Palm Place, 310 S. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, recently launched its luxury division, Premier Listings Luxury, which focuses on properties of more than $1 million. Veteran agent Jennifer Govberg heads the new division. For information, call 844-521-SOLD.
                                
    Gar Finnvold has joined Douglas Elliman’s Delray Beach office, at 900 E. Atlantic Ave., in its Sports & Entertainment Division. Finnvold has more than 16 years of real estate experience and specializes in East Delray Beach, Boca Raton and south Palm Beach County properties.
    Finnvold was a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 1994, making eight starts.
                                
    Bowen Realty has opened a new office at 851 SE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach. Agents are Katy Moraskie, Robert Temelkoski and Kathy Hoynoski, and the broker owner is Darell Bowen. For information, visit www.DarellBowenRealty.com.
                                
    Hypoluxo Island resident/Realtor Patricia “Patti” Towle, who moved her license from Illustrated Properties, Manalapan, to Sotheby’s International, Palm Beach, in October, listed two non-waterfront properties on Hypoluxo Island in January. Neither property has been on the market for more than 20 years.
They are: 434 Beach Curve Road, a two-bedroom home priced at $639,999; and 205 SE Atlantic Drive, a two-bedroom home close to the beach, priced at $614,995.
                                
    At RE/MAX Complete Solutions, 17 of its 18 agents received company awards in 2016.
    Of that number, during 2016, eight achieved the Executive Club status for earning $50,000-$100,000 in commissions, eight achieved the 100 percent Club status for earning $100,000-$250,000 in commissions, and one achieved the Platinum Club status for earning $250,000-$500,000 in commissions.
    Also, one agent received Hall of Fame status, a RE/MAX career award for agents who have  earned at least $1 million in commissions during their careers with RE/MAX. The broker/owner of RE/MAX Complete Solutions is Jenniffer Lee. Its two locations are 199 SE 12th Ave., Deerfield Beach, and 21301 Powerline Road, Suite 106, Boca Raton.
                                
    Douglas Elliman released its fourth-quarter South Florida reports in mid-January. Overall, for Boca Raton, the report noted that the condo market outperformed the single-family market this quarter, and it noted a sharp decline in luxury condo inventory.
    Among luxury condos (starting at $610,000), compared to this time last year median sales price surged 69.2 percent to $1.1 million; days-on-market was 76 days, down from 121 days; and listing inventory fell 29.8 percent to 275.
    For luxury single-family homes (starting at $869,900), median sales price fell 23.5 percent to $1.31 million; days-on-market was 159 days, up from 117; and listing inventory jumped 36.5 percent to 565.
    For the Delray Beach market, the report noted that prices closer to the beach were soft, and in general, the luxury market price trends did not keep pace with overall market. Compared to last year, metrics for luxury single-family homes (starting at $1.2 million) showed that median sales price increased 2.4 percent to $1.7 million; and days-on-market was 143, up from 115.
    Trends for luxury condos (starting at $285,000) showed that median sales price fell 12.1 percent to $450,000; and days-on-market was 110, up from 84.
                                
    Club President David Dweck will speak on real estate trends at the 23rd anniversary meeting of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club at 7 p.m. Feb. 9. He will offer tips for investing in the real estate market. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. The meeting, which costs $20, will be held at the Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel, 2000 NW 19 St., Boca Raton. For information, call 391-7325.
                                
    The Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches with the City of Boynton Beach will host their fifth Annual Barrier Free 5K Charity Run, Walk & Roll at Congress Avenue Barrier Free Park, 3111 S. Congress Ave., on Feb. 11. The 5K starts at 7:30 a.m. and the registration fee is $35. For information, contact Wally Majors at 742-6255 or majorsw@bbfl.us or visit www.boyntonfoundation.org.
                                
    Celebrating the completion of extensive renovations, the YMCA of South Palm Beach County will host a ribbon- cutting ceremony from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 14 at its DeVos-Blum Family YMCA branch, 9600 S. Military Trail, Boynton Beach. Renovations include a new performance training area, a wellness center with new cardio and free weight equipment, updated locker rooms, an outside patio area, and new tile and paint. The event is open to the public and there will be door prizes, refreshments, demos and tours.
                                
    In support of Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club, more than 200 guests attended the Holiday Trunk Show Preview Party in November and even more shoppers bought holiday gifts during the following two days. The trunk show raised more than $100,000 for the club.
    Sponsors included The Seagate Hotel & Spa; Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart and Shipley PA; Lang Realty; and the Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament.
    Co-chairwomen of the Trunk Show were Susan Mullin, Kari Shipley and Lynn Wilkins.  
    The Naoma Donnelly Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach is located at 1451 SW Seventh St.
                                
    At their fifth annual Toy Giveaway in December, Abe Ovadia and his team at the Ovadia Law Group in Boca Raton gave a holiday toy to each of more than 300 members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. The children were bused to the event, where they received toys from Santa Claus their parents had selected from a catalog.
    Ten Publix locations donated food, which was distributed to the participating families. Ovadia Law Group is at 4800 N. Federal Highway, Suite D204, Boca Raton.
                                
    The Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy CEO Round Table and Elevator Pitch Contest is 5:30-8 p.m.  Feb. 8, in Parrish Hall at Saint Andrew’s School, 3900 Jog Road, Boca Raton, The event is free and open to the public.
    At this event, 17 students, who have been working for four months on their projects, will each do a 60-second pitch for his or her business. The top three performances will be awarded by judges Michelle Adams from CenterState Bank, Tara Auclair from Modernizing Medicine, Michael Orr from Minuteman Press, and Emily Santos from IBM.
    Also, a panel of Palm Beach County executives will answer questions from the audience and discuss their paths to professional success. Scheduled to participate are: Daniel Cane, CEO and co-founder of Modernizing Medicine; Andrew Duffel, president and CEO of the Research Park at FAU; John Duffy, founder and CEO of 3Cinteractive; Patricia Maczko, Florida market president at Comerica Bank; and Ira Bornstein, COO of TouchSuite.
                                
    In early January, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County’s second conversation of this season’s Culture & Cocktails, “Heritage Values,” attracted more than 140 people. Two star appraisers from Antiques Roadshow on PBS, Kathleen Guzman, managing director of New York from Heritage Auctions, and Nicholas Dawes, Heritage’s vice president of special collections, were interviewed by Scott Simmons.
                                
    FloridaEscape.com has rated a food tour that stops at emerging art districts in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach as one of the “Best Food Tours” in town.
    “The best rating from FloridaEscape.com is humbling, which motivates us to keep on striving to make the Taste History Culinary Tour one of the best authentic experiences providing locals and visitors with a fun and insightful cultural food, art and history tour,” said Lori Durante, the nonprofit operation’s executive director.
    Each tour includes tastings at four family-owned eateries, juice bars, teahouses and pastry shops and showcases art galleries and historic buildings. For information, call 638-8277 or visit www.tastehistoryculinarytours.org.
                                
    Locals enjoying staycations at the Boca Raton Resort & Club can now try out a new attraction that pairs bocce with booze.
The resort’s new Mizner’s Monkey Bar & Bocce Garden offers complimentary play during the day and requires a $30 rental fee in the evening (or free with a $100 bar tab).
The  garden is just adjacent to the croquet lawn. Hotel guests can wander over to the new Har-Tru bocce court, and after 6 p.m. they can take a seat at the adjacent Mizner’s Monkey Bar to enjoy cocktails.
    For information or to make a reservation at the resort, visit www.bocaresort.com.

    Thom Smith and Amy Woods contributed to this report.


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

Emmanuel Tinebra and Donniel Busey (right), owners of Posh for Hair in Manalapan,

bought the salon in January 2016 and recently oversaw its makeover.

The salon has been in business for more than 30 years.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Amy Woods

    Posh for Hair in Manalapan has been making customers beautiful for more than three decades. The salon finally did the same for itself.
    Between cuts and color, manicures and pedicures and a full complement of aesthetic services, the 2,000-square-foot space in Plaza del Mar underwent a remodeling. White walls received a welcome coat of grayish-plum paint, glass and laminate made way for taupe-stained wood, and outdated tile with worn grout lines was torn up and replaced.
    “We totally changed the floor,” said Donniel Busey, who bought the business in January 2016 with co-owner Emmanuel Tinebra. “We don’t have popcorn ceilings anymore. Everything is really relaxing.”
    The remodeling took five weeks to complete and was finished in time for the partners to celebrate their first year at Posh for Hair.
    “We’ve been getting so much amazing feedback from snowbirds who haven’t seen the change, and they are loving it,” Busey said. “The look of our salon now is really plush. You feel like you’re getting pampered instead of shuffled around, and that’s what I want for my clients.”
    In addition to the cosmetic improvement, Posh for Hair received a new computer system that creates personal profiles, sets appointments and accepts credit cards.
    “It was very old-school in here,” Busey said. “It was cash and carry, fast-paced and not relaxing.”
    Clients who have come to the salon since the remodeling can enjoy a spa-like experience instead of a rudimentary shampoo, trim and blow-dry.
    “I like being able to set the culture, and I like being part of a team,” Busey said.
    The 47-year-old hairstylist always knew she wanted to enter the beauty industry and found an opportunity to capitalize on her trade by investing in a well-established company. Posh for Hair originally was owned by Edith Burlison, who died in July at age 92.
    “She was still doing hair up until the end,” Busey said. “For me, I saw a connection with her. I wanted to get approval from her. I felt like she was an excellent professional businesswoman because the salon is still here 35 years later.”
When Busey took over with Tinebra, Burlison became an employee and, eventually, a legacy.
“She made a name for Posh,” Busey said.
    Fourteen employees work among eight cutting stations, four color areas, three manicure tables, three pedicure chairs and a skin-care room. Tinebra manages it all.
    “It’s not easy,” said the 54-year-old concierge of sorts, who regularly drives 10 or so clients to and from the salon to get their hair done. “My job is to make everyone happy. The most important thing is the service we give.”
Posh for Hair, Plaza del Mar, 271 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan; 582-4447; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; facebook.com/posh4hair

By Steve Plunkett
    
    A group led by a former Chamber of Commerce president wants a judge to overturn Boca Raton’s new ordinance reserving city-owned land along the Intracoastal Waterway for public uses only.
    ForBoca.org Inc., which in a lawsuit said it is committed “to social welfare and protecting private property rights,” claims the ordinance limits the use of such city land — and the Wildflower property in particular — in a way that is “wholly and patently inconsistent” with Boca Raton’s comprehensive plan.
    The group also says the ordinance violates a state law that prohibits using an initiative or referendum process to change zoning.
    The litigation stopped in its tracks a City Council discussion of the ordinance planned for Jan. 9.
    “I was informed … we got served [notice of the lawsuit] regarding this issue so I suggest that maybe we delay this discussion until you’ve had an opportunity to talk to your legal counsel,” City Manager Leif Ahnell said.
    The next day City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser asked council members to talk about what legal strategy they wanted her to take in an executive session closed to the public on Jan. 17.
    “The essence of the lawsuit is to challenge that ordinance, to say that that ordinance ... procedurally was not a proper subject for an initiative,” Frieser said.
    ForBoca.org was created in March and is headed by Mike Arts, who led the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce for two decades and sat on the City Council from 2006 to 2009.
    “We will strive to promote real solutions that keep our community prosperous and appealing,” Arts says on the not-for-profit group’s website.
    The group’s address is the Tallahassee office of lawyer Mark Herron, who is also listed as a ForBoca.org director. Herron successfully represented City Council member Robert Weinroth and Deputy City Manager George Brown last year in an ethics complaint about their appointments to the Airport Authority Board. The city paid Herron’s $10,000 legal bill.
    ForBoca.org’s other director is former City Council member Al Travasos.
    The city bought the 2.3-acre Wildflower parcel, on Palmetto Park Road at the northwest corner of the bridge over the Intracoastal, for $7.5 million in 2009. It had been negotiating for several years with the Hillstone Restaurant Group to put a restaurant there along with a waterside walkway open to the public.
    A citizen-launched petition drive to overrule the plan gathered over 1,700 valid signatures, far more than the 1,030 required, and put the referendum question on the November ballot. It won by a 2-1 margin.
    James Hendrey, who chaired the initiative effort, called the ForBoca.org lawsuit “ridiculous.”
    “I’m totally amazed,” said Hendrey, who with his wife, Nancy, hired an attorney to review the pertinent case law and forward his findings to Frieser.
    “We aren’t sure that the City Council, which tells the city attorney what to do, will represent the will of the people,” Hendrey said.
    The council in July changed the land-use designation of the northern part of the site from residential to commercial and rezoned it from single-family residential to local business district. The southern portion was already zoned local business.
    The former Wildflower nightclub got special permission to put a parking lot on the then-residential portion, something that would not be allowed today, city officials said.
    The city has not removed fences surrounding the property.

By Rich Pollack

    Highland Beach Town Commissioner Carl Feldman wants to make sure a large chunk of county-owned property at the south end of town known as Milani Park doesn’t become Milani parking lot.
    Feldman, who is running for mayor in March, has been working with residents of the Boca Highland community — adjacent to the 5.4-acre parcel the county purchased nearly 30 years ago — to come up with a proposal that he thinks would be in the best interest of the town and its residents.
    For decades, Palm Beach County has wanted to turn the property, near Spanish River Boulevard and bisected by State Road A1A, into a park.
    Last last month, Feldman and Boca Highland residents brought a proposal to the Town Commission that would do just that on the west side of A1A — but not quite the way the county envisioned.
    “We’re proposing that the town and Boca Highland landscape and maintain the property as a public park,” Feldman said.
    The plan for the passive park, Feldman said, might not include any parking spots and it would also require the county to agree not to develop the parcel on the east side of A1A as a beach park.
    During discussions of the issue at the commission meeting last month, Vice Mayor Bill Weitz suggested the town propose the parcel be left as green space rather than calling it a park.
“I’d be cautious about calling it a park,” he said. “If you call it a park, you’ll need to have parking spaces.”
For years Palm Beach County leaders have wanted to transform the parcel, purchased from Cam D. Milani in 1987 for about $4 million, into a beachfront park open to the public. Highland Beach and its residents, however, have resisted that effort.
    Following a series of legal battles, the town and the county came to an agreement in 2010 in which the county agreed not to develop the property until 2020 and possibly another 10 years after that.
    The agreement requires the county to alert the town in 2019 whether it plans to develop the property as a park or opt to defer development for another five years.
    Feldman said one reason he’s bringing the proposal up now is that residents saw as many as 30 cars parked on the west side parcel one night last month and were told by county parks department officials that a nearby community received permission to allow cars to park there.
    Last summer, the town and the county worked together to put up “No Trespassing” signs on the property east of A1A, as well as a fence, after reports of trespassers’ building bonfires and drinking on the beach, disturbing turtle nests and painting graffiti on a seawall.
    Feldman brought the proposal to the Town Commission to gauge support from both the elected officials and residents.
    “The main thing is to beautify the area for the town,” he said.  
    Commissioners expressed support for the proposal and said they will discuss it further after receiving additional information.