People are living in parks,

woods near city’s downtown

Billy Palmieri shows off a “Boca” tattoo on the inside of his arm.  He is part of a group

of homeless people who camp in the woods in Boca Raton.

A homeless person sleeps under a blanket beneath the bridge at Silver Palm Park in Boca Raton.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

    Their makeshift camp was tucked carefully out of sight, nestled amid the sea grapes, just north of the entrance to South Beach Park.
    The homeless group — five strong — had pitched three tattered tents together, but the tangle of clothes, coolers and grubby shoes drew attention.
    A park ranger warned them to leave, or else.
    “They told us if they catch us camping on the beach again, they are going to call the cops,” sighed Kara Hine, 20, who was eight weeks pregnant and has said she has camped at three different beach locations in Boca Raton. “We went back to our tent and packed up.”
    Within 20 minutes, the group had moved on. Rousted again.
    In a city where property values rank first out of 38 municipalities across Palm Beach County, Boca Raton ranks fourth in the county for the number of homeless, estimated at 69 people within its city limits, according to the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County.
    Only West Palm Beach (332), Lake Worth (142) and Riviera Beach (80) had higher estimated numbers, according to the coalition’s August census.
    Homeless numbers are rising, said the coalition’s executive director, Marilyn Munoz. Even in what some call “ritzy” Boca Raton.
    “Some people are surprised by how many individuals and families are homeless in the Boca Raton area. The last official count revealed high numbers in the southern part of Palm Beach County,” Munoz said. “That’s why we held ‘Project Homeless’ in Boca Raton in August. That day we helped more than 100 people get connected with services.”

Theresa Rouse sits with her daughter, Aaliyah, at a bus stop in Boca Raton. With them is Rodney Miera,

who, like Rouse, is homeless. Miera lost his leg after unsuccessful surgery to remove a tumor.

David Bartolino was shot during a fight in which his benefactor was killed by another man. Bartolino is back on the streets.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Among Boca Raton’s homeless were the five camped on the beach: Hine and her boyfriend, Chris Dawson, 19, Pittsburgh transplants who headed south after their own families fell on hard times; Theresa Rouse, 29, and Gus Byam, 33, a streetwise couple who joined forces to survive; and Billy Palmieri, 32, a chronically homeless Boca Raton native with a mischievous smile and a checkered past.
    They are the not-so-invisible street people who live in the shadows of this community, where the median annual household income is $71,867, U.S. Census figures show.
    By contrast, the median income in Delray Beach is $51,833, according to the U.S. Census.

Homeless people vs. property values
    At times the two worlds clash in Boca Raton.
    During a January 2016 City Council meeting, residents of the Mizner Court condominium on the south side of Silver Palm Park accused homeless people of setting smoky fires in the park’s grills, defecating in the grass, fighting and urinating near the boat dock. The park, at 600 E. Palmetto Park Road, is open to the public 24 hours a day so boaters can access the water.
    “The park is owned by the homeless right now. I feel bad for them, but at the same time it is depreciating the value of the property,” resident Paul Cohen fumed to the council. “Some way, somehow something’s got to be done about the homeless in Boca Raton, especially in this park. So before anything really bad happens, maybe we can put up a sign that says this boating ramp is for boaters only?”
    Boca Raton police spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg acknowledged the presence of homeless people in some city parks, but said they generally cause few real problems.
    “Silver Palm Park is unique in the fact that it is open 24/7, 365 days a year and people are more likely to see them there. They are just more visible,” Boonenberg said. “We let the facts speak. We don’t have a lot of incidents at Silver Palm Park.”

A fatal incident
    David Bartolino, 47, once a regular among Silver Palm Park’s homeless population, said condo residents have called the Boca Raton Fire Department repeatedly to report homeless people’s cooking fires.
    “We became an eyesore. The people didn’t want to see us,” he said.
    In late March, Bartolino made headlines when a Silver Palm Park fisherman who had taken him in was fatally shot.
    Thang Nguyen, 62, was gunned down outside his house in the 2800 block of Northeast Second Avenue after Bartolino got into an altercation with a man down the block. Police said Nguyen was killed when he confronted Dylan Cirillo, 24, with a gun. Bartolino was shot in the shoulder.
    Bartolino was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon because he picked up Nguyen’s gun and shot it into the air several times to attract help, police said. Cirillo told police he shot Nguyen in self-defense.
    Cirillo has been charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a license and is free on $3,000 bail.
    A teary-eyed Bartolino said later that Nguyen had generously given him a home, arranged for him to work as a janitor at a relative’s nail salon, and watched over him. Since Nguyen’s death, Bartolino has been back on the street.
    “Thang was my blessing,” Bartolino said sadly. “People couldn’t stand that Thang stood up for me. He treated me like a human, not a homeless person.”
    Bartolino is now staying somewhere in Lake Worth because of fallout related to the shooting.
    James Gavrilos, who runs the nonprofit agency Boca Helping Hands, said the existence of homeless people in Boca Raton is well known. His agency provides free lunches to the working poor six times a week at its facility at 1500 NW First Court. Lately, more homeless people are showing up to eat.
    “We are not technically [an agency for the homeless]. Our goal is to help people break the cycle of dependence,” Gavrilos said. “But when the homeless come, we will feed them. There seems to be an increase in the number of homeless people who are living in our area.”
    Hine and her tent-mates are usually among Gavrilos’ lunch guests.
    On a recent night, Hine’s group gathered on park benches outside Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in the 200 block of Northeast 12th Street to socialize. The site is familiar to local homeless people because Love Boca Outreach Ministries holds Thursday night dinners at the church for those in need.

Life on the streets
    Hine said she and her boyfriend stayed in Fort Lauderdale when they first arrived in Florida, but headed north to find a safer place after she was almost attacked.
    “Everybody kept telling us about Boca Raton, that you can get fed every day at the same place,” Hine said. “I’m scared. I don’t want my baby to be homeless.”
    Rouse, the mother of three young children, said she knows firsthand that bad things can happen in the streets because she’s been on them 10 years. Her own children are being cared for by others.
    On her own since 18, Rouse turned to prostitution to survive and eventually got pregnant. Her daughter, Aaliyah, 10, has a guardian and lives in Boca Raton. Rouse sees her regularly. She has two other young children, 6 and 4, with whom she keeps in close contact.
    Rouse relies on her partner of seven years, Gus Byam, to help keep her safe. Six months ago, she learned she is HIV-positive and has struggled with the diagnosis since.
    It is Aaliyah who brings brief flashes of light back into Rouse’s grim life.
    “My daughter is in church programs and ballet,” Rouse said proudly. “She has lots of ties to the community.”
    Suddenly the 10-year-old is in her mother’s lap. She lives just down the block from Ebenezer Baptist. Aaliyah knows everyone in her mother’s homeless cluster, and goes from person to person, getting hugs and kisses. They are her extended family.
    She worries about her mother’s homelessness.
    “She lives in the woods where there are snakes and stuff. But she tells me everything is going to be OK. ‘Think happy things,’ she says. She said she found a great spot where everything is going to be OK,” Aaliyah said.
    The group pools the little money it collects from asking passers-by and detailing cars so Rouse can take Aaliyah bowling, to Boomers! or the movies.
    “My mom is my personal favorite parent,” Aaliyah said smiling, her arm again around her mother as they sat. “The best thing about my mom is that I have her.”
    Palmieri mugs wickedly at Aaliyah, trying to make her smile. Aaliyah calls him “the funniest guy I have ever met.”
    Palmieri, who said he is also HIV-positive, is a Boca Raton native who’s been in and out of jail most of his adult life. He’s been a street dweller for 10 years. Palmieri’s life fell to chaos after his mother threw herself in front of a train. His stability comes from his friends.
    He and Byam have been close since elementary school.
The childhood friends — Palmieri has a tattoo of the name “Gus” — detail cars to survive, carrying their cleaning supplies on bicycles and stashing them in their tents at night.
    When Palmieri looks at Aaliyah, he sees hope.
    “What do I want to see happen for this kid? College,” Palmieri said. “Me, Gus and [another friend, Bubba] will make sure she has the money to go to college, even if we have to panhandle.”
    Aaliyah’s mother agrees.
    “I want her to be better than what I am,” Rouse said softly.
    Anne Cann, executive director of Love Boca Outreach Ministries, provides food, clothing and showers to homeless people through her program. She worries constantly for her “guys” because she knows how hard it is to live on the street.
    “I love these guys. I wake up in the middle of the night if it’s pouring rain and say a prayer because I know the majority of my guys are soaking wet,” Cann said. “We don’t know what events have occurred in any of our homeless people’s lives as to why they are in the situation they are in. These are just individuals and everyone has a story. It’s better to be part of a community.”

By Steve Plunkett

    After a five-year hiatus, Boca Raton, Palm Beach County and the Florida Inland Navigation District are talking again about restoring Lake Wyman and its neighboring parks.
    Officials with FIND, the taxing body that maintains the Intracoastal Waterway, are “very excited that this has come back to life,” said Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager.
    Bistyga updated City Council members at their April 25 workshop on recent discussions she has had with the county and FIND and gave a short history of the Lake Wyman project for the three members who were not on the dais in 2011.
    She also listed several simpler alternatives that might garner more support from neighbors, such as making a walkway through the parks unpaved instead of using asphalt. The first time around, neighbors scuttled the proposal over concerns about whether it would create a mosquito nuisance, whether a paved path would cause erosion, and whether manatees drawn to the enhanced park would be maimed or killed by weekend boat traffic, Bistyga said. They also feared new amenities at the south end of the project would be too far away from the restrooms in Rutherford Park.
    The original plan called for the removal of invasive, non-native plants in the northern part of Rutherford Park; restoration of the mangrove habitat; and restoring tidal flushing by dredging one mile of the canoe system, which is “pretty much unnavigable at this point,” Bistyga said.  The proposal also would have connected paths and boardwalks to create a 1-mile walkway, built a six-slip day dock and submerged 4 acres of land to create seagrass habitat and a coastal hammock.
    At the southern end of the project this time, Bistyga said, the city could decide to follow the 2011 plan or make Lake Wyman more like the county’s Ocean Ridge Natural Area with an unpaved trail. It could also choose to do nothing, which would not enhance the park, she said. The day dock could be moved to the north end, she said, and the north end could also become a more passive project.
    County and FIND officials “are still very interested in working with the city and developing and constructing a Lake Wyman project, whether it be the original or a hybrid project,” Bistyga said.
    In 2011, the estimated cost of the restoration was just more than $3 million, with FIND contributing $2.1 million and the county and city $450,000 each. Coincidentally, Bistyga said, a “third party” has volunteered to pay for the construction of a mangrove ecosystem at the north end of the project as well as its continued maintenance. Mayor Susan Haynie said the third party is a developer from Highland Beach that needs mitigation credits for mangroves.
    As part of the deal, FIND wants permanent access to a storage site for dredged material at the northwest end of Spanish River Park.
    Council member Scott Singer asked whether a boat launch could be put in the north end of Rutherford Park. Bistyga said it would be more difficult to get the necessary permits but not impossible.
    Real estate agent Gary Youngman, who lives in Boca Towers on the barrier island facing Lake Wyman, said it’s no place for a boat launch.
    “The potential for environmental disaster by putting a dock in there is tremendous,” he said.
    Deputy Mayor Michael Mullaugh, who supported the restoration the first time, was still in favor.
    “Everything you’ve said that I’m hearing today tells me that what we really ought to do is implement the 2011 plan,” he said.
    There’s a narrow timeframe for getting a deal done. FIND would want all permits in hand by September 2017. Boca Raton needs to reapply for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which will take a year if there are no big changes to the original plan and more time if new options are chosen, Bistyga said.
    “We certainly hope that out of this is going to come something that we can really make happen,” said Jim Miller, president of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo, which operates canoe trips from the nature center across the lake to Rutherford Park twice a month.

By Mary Hladky

    After raising concerns that the city may have mistakenly allowed developers to skimp on providing required open space in downtown development projects, city officials now have reached this conclusion: Never mind.
    An exhaustive four-month review of projects approved since 1988 found that rather than providing too little open space, developers have delivered 26.3 percent more than required under city ordinance.
    Of 59 projects examined, the city found open space miscalculations in 11. But after recalculating, overages and shortages canceled out, and only one project failed to meet compliance.
    The outlier was Townsend Place condominium, at 500 SE Mizner Blvd., which fell short by 21 percent, or 14,826 square feet. The mistake, counting a pool area as open space even though it is above ground, was made because of confusion caused by several changes to project plans rather than using wrong standards, officials said.
    Since the purpose of the review was to prevent errors in the future, no action will be taken against the condo.
    After officials delivered their report at the April 11 Community Redevelopment Agency board meeting, city resident Norman Waxman criticized them for raising the potential problem, spending four months on a study, and then concluding the concerns were unfounded.
    “Is this the way to run a city?” he said.
    City Council member Scott Singer, speaking as CRA chairman, defended the review in light of the fact that downtown activists distrust how the city is handling development.
    “I think it was necessary to restore our public trust,” Singer said. “I regret it took as long as it did, but I thought given the climate it was essential.”
    Other council members agreed that the effort was worthwhile.
    “I think this has been a very informative exercise …,” Deputy Mayor Michael Mullaugh said. “I don’t think it has been a waste. It has given each of us … a better understanding of the policy decisions that were made.”
    “I applaud staff for going through this exercise,” said Mayor Susan Haynie, adding they had support of council members to undertake it.
    The controversy erupted in December, when city officials discovered a 2003 memo of which they were unaware. It was written by a city employee and was used to guide planning staff on what developers can and cannot count as open space in their projects.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell and City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said the memo misinterpreted rules dating back to 1988 and were included in a 1992 ordinance that set out open space requirements. City Council members, sitting as the CRA board, directed them to find out if the memo had caused city staff to make mistakes in open space calculations.
    Downtown activists pounced on the issue, brandishing allegations of “corruption” and “conspiracy” that likely robbed residents of open space that would have made downtown projects more appealing. Al Zucaro, chairman of the watchdog organization BocaWatch, called for Ahnell’s resignation.
    The city review, however, found no problems with two parts of the memo. But the third part wrongly termed the open space provisions of the ordinance as a guideline rather than a requirement and said a developer could request a “deviation” from open space requirements even though the ordinance does not state that.
    Even so, no harm was done. The ordinance makes clear that open space is required and no developer has asked for or been allowed a deviation, according to the report.
    City officials now plan to add the first two parts of the memo into the ordinance to clarify how it should be implemented.
    When the memo was discovered, attention turned to former CRA director Jorge Camejo, who reviewed the memo before it was given to staff. Camejo, now executive director of the Hollywood CRA, has previously said the memo was distributed openly and intended to formalize how staff should adhere to open space requirements.
    Camejo was in the audience for the April 11 meeting but did not speak.  
    “The process came to the right conclusion,” he said in a telephone interview afterward.
    “Someone said it appeared someone was gaming the system,” Camejo said of suspicions that the memo was intended to help developers get around the rules. “If you are going to game the system, the last thing you would do is put something in writing.”
    While all but one downtown building met the open space requirements, recent projects criticized by activists for being too massive barely squeaked by the rules.
    The much-derided Mark at CityScape mixed-use project on Palmetto Park Road exceeds the requirements by 333 square feet, while the nearby Hyatt hotel exceed them by just 12 square feet. Palmetto Promenade, a mixed-use project also on Palmetto Park Road, exactly meets the requirements. The large Via Mizner development on Camino Real exceeds the requirements by 150 square feet.
    In comparison, Mizner Park, extolled by downtown residents for its appearance, exceeds requirements by more than 175,000 square feet.
    Downtown activists were more tempered in their criticisms of city officials than at previous meetings after staff delivered the report. Only a few stood to speak, saying that they remain concerned that new downtown buildings are not attractive and that not enough is being done to decrease traffic.
    Frequent critic John Gore, president of BocaBeautiful, offered a bit of praise.
    “I do want to congratulate you on enforcing the law,” he said.
    While the review was under way, developers could submit new project proposals to the city, but no approvals were granted.
    Now, the city is back to “business as usual,” said city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson.

By Steven J. Smith

    Boca Raton police arrested five people, handed out seven citations and issued numerous warnings during the April 24 Boca Bash at Lake Boca, said Public Information Officer Sandra Boonenberg.
    “There were two boating under the influence arrests and no reported crashes,” Boonenberg said. “The number of juvenile referrals for underage drinking are not yet available, but there were many. We called parents to pick up their kids.”
    Boonenberg said the other arrests were one for disorderly conduct, one for assault and one for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
    “Not unlike other large gatherings such as football games, concerts, etc., we had to respond to fights and disturbances,” she said. “Things like this happen, but we’re not considering shutting down the Boca Bash. Given the thousands of people in attendance, the event went very well and the public safety strategy was effectively implemented.”

By Steve Plunkett

    The long-awaited construction of Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s boardwalk loop may begin by the middle of May.
    The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District awarded a contract for $581,680 to low-bidder Close Construction LLC of Okeechobee at its April 4 meeting. The contract was subject to the district’s engineering consultant approving the use of a substitute composite material for the boardwalk and subject to city approval of the contract language.
    Both conditions were met by the district’s April 18 meeting.
    “As soon as we can get all the forms and the insurance together, we’ll be ready to roll,” Arthur Koski, the district’s interim executive director, said.
    Koski said the city promised to expedite issuing a building permit. “We should be under construction shortly,” he said.
    The project covers the first phase of repairing the boardwalk, from the nature center building to the observation tower. The high bid was nearly $1.2 million. Construction is expected to take four months.
    Gumbo Limbo’s boardwalk has been closed since February 2015 when engineers warned it was near collapse.
    The city, which owns the property, asked the beach and park district, which pays the nature center’s operating and maintenance costs, for money to replace the boardwalk.
    The district decided to take a leading role, yielded to the city when it said it could handle the project as quickly as an outside consultant could, then reassumed control when the city changed its mind.
    Additional phases to cover the boardwalk portion through some mangroves and the observation tower will be put out to bid in the future.

    If you’re planning to be on Interstate 95 through Boca Raton after midnight in early May, check with the Florida Department of Transportation first.
    The department, which is building a new I-95 interchange, planned to close northbound lanes from May 8 to 12 from midnight to 5 a.m. while it demolishes the Spanish River Boulevard bridge. Traffic will be detoured at Palmetto Park Road, then north to Yamato Road via Military Trail, the FDOT said. The schedule may change due to inclement weather or other unexpected conditions, it said.
    Southbound I-95 traffic was scheduled for similar detours the first week of May.
    Motorists can visit www.d4fdot.com or call the FDOT at 954-777-4090 or 561-214-3358 for more information.

By Sallie James

    Height is hot. At least talking about it is in Boca Raton.
    That’s why council members plan to discuss later this month an ordinance that would limit building heights in areas zoned local business and multifamily residential.
    Council members scrapped plans to review the height-related ordinance on April 26 and voted to continue the matter until May 24 because so few residents were in attendance.
    The proposed ordinance would limit building heights in the B-1 business-zoning district to 30 feet and accessory buildings in the R-2 multifamily zoning district to 25 feet.
    Both zoning categories currently allow building heights up to 50 feet with City Council approval.
    The issue rose to new heights in May 2015 when City Council members approved Chabad of East Boca’s plans to build an 18,000-square-foot synagogue and high-tech Israel museum at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road in a B-1 zoning district.
    The city gave Chabad permission to exceed the permitted 30-foot height limit by about 10 feet, touching off a furor among local home and business owners.
    Opponents of the project protested loudly, claiming the increased height would be intrusive.
    Many homeowners said the city’s approval of the project’s increased height would set a precedent for even taller developments, which could ruin the ambiance of the area.
    Two residents also sued the city in federal court, claiming their rights to equal protection and due process were violated when the city created a special zoning classification that paved the way for the controversial synagogue.
    A trial date was recently set for April 17, 2017, in the case.
    Deputy Mayor Mike Mullaugh said the city wants to proceed sensibly, so waiting until more residents were in attendance seemed logical.
    “The basic idea was: Let’s just figure out how we can make as formal rules as we can about height so we don’t get into so much of this controversy,” Mullaugh said. “Everyone who is planning [to build] will know exactly what the rules are and what height they are allowed to build to.”
    On the other hand, he acknowledged, such height restrictions could be limiting.
    “You take away the flexibility if something different were to come along,” Mullaugh said. “Because of that, we obviously need a lot of public comment.”
    City Council member Scott Singer said the proposed ordinance wasn’t the result of neighbors’ concerns but rather an acknowledgement by the council that existing height standards might not be appropriate.

By Sallie James

    If someone was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Boca Raton City Council, that person could serve up to two years without voter approval.
    It’s a dynamic that council member Scott Singer thinks is just too long.
    Singer has proposed a charter amendment that would require council vacancies to be filled by special election. Singer introduced the proposed charter change at the April 26 council meeting, saying the amendment would put control back into voters’ hands.
    “When the city switched to the three-year term and election cycle, it left open the possibility that voters would have an appointed member who served nearly two-thirds of the term before an election,” Singer said. A deputy mayor who fills a mayoral vacancy could also serve nearly two years, he noted.
    “Shouldn’t residents have the greatest say?” Singer said.
    The measure would come before voters on the Aug. 30 ballot if council members approve the amendment.
    According to the proposed change, a special election to fill a council vacancy would be held no more than 60 days after the day the vacancy occurred, or as soon as possible. But if the vacancy occurred within 150 days of a previously scheduled federal, state, countywide or regular city election, the special election could be held concurrently with the previously scheduled election.
    The charter change does allow for a temporary council appointment to serve until the office is filled by election.
    The same parameters would apply for mayoral vacancies.
    “Giving residents the right to choose their elected officials, rather than by appointment, is much more representative of democracy,” Singer said. “While this issue comes up rarely, when it does, I think people should have their say.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Boca Raton’s deputy fire chief has moved two towns north to take the reins as chief of Boynton Beach’s Fire Rescue Department.
    “I know about the passion of the firefighters that work here (and) bring to the job every day, the passion about the city, the commitment,” new Chief Glenn Joseph said. “I want to be a part of that passion.”
    Joseph, who took command May 2, worked for the city of Boca Raton for 29 years, the past nine as deputy fire chief. “He must have started when he was 10,” City Manager Lori LaVerriere joked as she introduced Joseph to the city commission April 5.
    Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes both contract with Boynton Beach for fire services.
    LaVerriere said she, the city’s HR chief and Ray Carter, the now-retired fire chief Joseph replaces, interviewed nine or 10 people for the job. “He rose to the top of a very competitive candidate pool,” she said.
    Joseph, who lives in Delray Beach, also is an instructor at the National Fire Academy in Maryland and develops and coordinates class courses for Jupiter-based Advanced Technical and Educational Consultants Inc., which trains federal, state and local emergency services providers.
    The new chief has a wide range of experience, including coordinating and managing emergency and administrative functions, the city said. Prior to his position as Boca Raton’s deputy fire chief, Joseph served as its acting division chief of safety and training, captain of the training and safety division, EMS captain, station captain, paramedic, fire safety inspector and hazardous materials technician.
    Joseph has a bachelor’s in organizational management at Palm Beach Atlantic University and a master’s in emergency planning and administration at Lynn University. He holds eight state licenses: paramedic, firefighter, safety inspector, fire-fighting instructor, fire officer 1, fire instructor III, hazardous materials technician and fire investigator 1.
    In addition, he is licensed as a registered professional nurse; he worked at Delray Medical Center from 1996 to 2004.
    “I am confident that working together we can continue the city of Boynton Beach’s long-standing tradition of excellence and grow the department well into the future,” Joseph said in a statement.
    Carter resigned Jan. 31 after 11½ years with Boynton Beach and 32 years as a firefighter and fire chief in West Palm Beach. The Boynton Beach fire union presented him with a hunting rifle at a retirement party in February.
    Deputy Chief Greg Hoggatt served as interim fire chief until Joseph took over.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Boca Raton officials are reviewing plans for a second, four-story residence on the ocean east of A1A.
    Vero Beach-based civil engineers Schulke, Bittle & Stoddard LLC designed a 14,270-square-foot duplex for the 0.42-acre parcel at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd.
    The city’s Planning Advisory Review was notified of the oceanfront development proposal at its April 5 meeting. The Planning Advisory Review consists of representatives from city departments and noncity agencies who meet regularly to discuss proposals for development.
    The plans for 2600 N. Ocean were sent to the city just as the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District was deciding not to pursue buying undeveloped parcels on the beach. It had developed a list of possible purchases, with 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. seeming to be the most available, after being asked to do so by Mayor Susan Haynie.
    Her request followed a public outcry after the City Council approved variances for a 10,432-square-foot mega-mansion at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. Residents said the four-story structure would change the face of the beach, disorient sea turtles and set an unwelcome precedent for development.
    “If sellers know that you are in the market for property and this is your goal, trying to acquire property for market value is going to be extremely difficult. You’re going to be paying somewhat of a very unknown premium,” Arthur Koski, the district’s interim executive director, said at the district’s April 4 meeting.
    “I have little interest in using tax dollars to buy noncontiguous pieces,” Commissioner Dennis Frisch said. “Public property that people can’t access and use in my opinion would be a waste of the funds that we have.”
    Details of the larger structure proposed for 2600 N. Ocean have not been discussed in public. The parcel is owned by Grand Bank National Association. The submission is considered “preliminary” and was done to obtain general comments about whether the proposal meets the city’s development requirements or can be supported by city staff.
    Janet Graham, part-owner along with other residents of Northeast 24th Street of a beach access corridor east of A1A, told the beach and park district in February that she is not interested in selling her portion for public use.
    Al Petruzzelli, her uncle, who owns a duplex next to the pathway and just north of the district’s Ocean Strand parcel, also is not willing to sell, Graham said.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Arthur Koski’s job at the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District seems secure if district commissioners, his bosses, have any say.
    Or perhaps, because they have very little to say.
    Only one has responded to City Council member Robert Weinroth’s demand that they hire a full-time executive director instead of Koski, who also has a private law practice downtown.
    “I would like to go on the record,” Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang said at the April 4 meeting. “Mr. Koski, I owe you an apology for not speaking up at our last meeting when someone thought you should be ousted as the interim executive director. I think you do a fine job.”
    It wasn’t the first time the city has angled for Koski’s being replaced. City officials last year inserted a clause in a proposed agreement requiring the district to have a full-time executive director.
    Vogelgesang also said she thinks Koski, as a lawyer, would recuse himself from a legal case if there ever was a conflict.
    “I appreciate the work that you do,” she said.
    Weinroth, at the time Boca Raton’s deputy mayor, complained at the district’s March 14 meeting that Koski is representing two residents in a lawsuit against the city challenging its approval of the development of the Chabad of East Boca Raton on the barrier island portion of Palmetto Park Road.
    Koski has said he sees no conflict.

By Mary Hladky

    Hoping to mollify residents who oppose their plans for a 384-unit luxury condominium, the developer and architect of the proposed $500 million Mizner 200 have redrawn their plans once again.
    Unveiling them to residents attending a May 3 meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations, architect Peter Stromberg, of Garcia Stromberg/GS4Studios in West Palm Beach, said he and developer Elad National Properties have listened to residents’ concerns and made substantial adjustments to the project. It would replace the Mizner on the Green rental townhomes — which will be demolished — on Southeast Mizner Boulevard.
    The square footage has been reduced by 10 percent and, in turn, the size of the units decreased to an average of 2,000 square feet, setbacks have been increased by 30 to 60 feet, and more green space has been added.
    In response to residents’ main complaint that, at more than 900 feet in length, the nine-story building is too massive, Stromberg said it has, in effect, been divided into three sections connected only on the first and second floors. A portion adjacent to the neighboring Townsend Place condo has been redesigned so that condo’s ocean views are not impeded.
    Traffic generated by the development would not be significantly more than that created by residents of the 246-unit, Mizner on the Green, he said.
    “[Mizner 200] is a great project for Boca Raton,” Stromberg said.
    The revisions follow an outcry from BocaWatch and BocaBeautiful, two organizations that have said Mizner 200 is not compatible with the city’s signature Addison Mizner architecture.
    Several residents who spoke at the meeting heralded the changes.
    “I must admit what I have seen here is impressive,” said James Hendrey. “They have made significant changes.”
    But those who live near the proposed Mizner 200 are not yet won over.
    One Townsend Place resident said her property value would decrease if the project is built because the building will block the sun and her ocean views.
    “We implore you to rethink the south side of your design,” Eileen Sweeney said.  “We won’t be able to see anything from our property.”
    Financial and economic consultant Ann Witte, a Townsend Place resident and vice president of BocaBeautiful, said after the meeting that Mizner 200 would be detrimental to most of her condo’s 195 units and seriously so to about 50.
    She also has concerns that, given the high cost of the project, the units will be priced too high to attract buyers.
    “Developers and commercial real estate brokers have concerns about the economic viability of the project and if Elad will be putting money into the project,” she said. “If it’s not economically viable, what are their intentions?”
    Bonnie Miskel, a Boca Raton attorney who represents Elad, said the cost is not as high as some residents have calculated, and that for Elad to get a construction loan, banks will require it to put up 20-25 percent equity.
    Elad officials “are talking to banks now,” Miskel said. “They wouldn’t even be talking if [Elad] didn’t have the financial wherewithal.”
    The latest proposal marks the fourth time Elad has floated plans for the nearly 9-acre site. When first proposed, it included four towers designed by prominent “starchitect” Daniel Libeskind that rose as high as 30 stories and greatly exceeded the city’s height limits for that part of downtown.
    When that proposal stirred outrage and proved to be a non-starter, Elad returned with the proposed Sol-A-Mar, but four of its seven buildings exceeded height limits.
    In January, Elad submitted plans for Mizner 200 — this time right in line with what the city allows.
    Plans for the latest iteration of Mizner 200 have not yet been submitted to the city. Additional changes may be made before that happens.

Jellybean, a Lhasa apso-shih tzu mix, was kicked

into the Intracoastal after having speaker wire

wrapped around its neck and a hind leg.

Photo provided

By Sallie James

    A dog bound with speaker wire and then kicked into the Intracoastal Waterway has been returned to its original owner: the son of the woman who is accused of leaving the animal to drown.
    Jellybean, as police named the dog, was returned to Richard Ostrovski on April 22, 11 days after his mother, Eva Klein, was accused of kicking the bound animal into the water off a boat ramp at Silver Palm Park.
    Bystanders rescued the struggling dog, a Lhasa apso-shih tzu mix.
    Klein, 60, is charged with felony cruelty to animals and was issued a “no contact” order to stay away from the dog. Bystanders told police the dog had speaker wire wrapped tightly around its neck and also tied to one of its back legs when they pulled it out of the water.
    David Walesky, operations manager for Palm Beach Animal Care and Control, said the dog was returned to Ostrovski under a settlement agreement that bars Klein from ever being near the dog.
    “The woman has a no-contact order. She is not allowed around the dog,” Walesky said. “The legal owner is the son, and there was no legal reason why we could justify not giving it back to him.”
    Klein’s attorney, Craig Blinderman, said Ostrovski gave the dog to his mother a few years ago because he lived in an apartment and couldn’t keep the animal there. But Ostrovski now lives in a house and was able to take back the dog, Blinderman said.
    Blinderman declined to discuss further details of the case, but said Klein does not admit to any wrongdoing.
    According to a police report, Klein had the dog with her about 9:30 p.m. on April 11 at the Silver Palm Park boat ramp, at 600 E. Palmetto Park Road, when she wrapped black speaker wire several times around the dog’s neck, tied the wire to one of its back legs and then kicked it into the water.
    Klein, who called the dog “Chappy,” told fisherman Greg Bunch, 53, that her dog liked to swim from one side of the Intracoastal Waterway to the other. Bunch questioned Klein about the perils of rough water and predators such as sharks, but walked off when she changed the subject to dancing, according to the report.
    A short time later, Bunch told police he saw Klein leave the park without the dog. Then he heard a whimper.
    “Bunch observed Klein’s dog in the water near the north corner of the dock that is connected to the drawbridge,” the police report states.
    Bunch summoned two others, who used a boat to help pluck the struggling animal from the rough water. Bunch used his fishing knife to cut the speaker wire from around the dog’s neck and rear leg, according to the police report.
    “It should be noted that Klein’s method of tightly wrapping a wire around the dog’s neck, tying it to one back leg, and then pushing it into the Intracoastal is a premeditated action that will surely cause the death of the animal if it had not been rescued,” an officer wrote in the report. “When the dog swam, the wire would tighten around the neck, eventually causing the dog to strangle himself due to the lack of oxygen . . . in a short period of time the dog would have drowned.

By Ron Hayes

    City Manager Don Cooper has named Neal de Jesus, a veteran fire chief of two South Florida departments, to replace Chief Danielle Connor, who retires May 31 after a 23-year career with Delray Beach.
    De Jesus, 54, retired from Coral Gables Fire-Rescue in 2002 after a 20-year career with that city. In 2010, he resigned after two years as a city commissioner of Cooper City to join the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue and Emergency Services, which he left in 2013 after the election of Sheriff Scott Israel.
    In announcing de Jesus’ selection, Cooper said he would begin work in early May to provide a smooth transition by working with Connor.
    “I am excited for the opportunity to serve alongside Fire Chief Connor during the transition as I begin to lead the men and women of this great organization,” de Jesus said in a statement.
     “I am confident that by committing to working collaboratively with the community, all fire rescue personnel, the union leadership and city staff, we will build a team that delivers an extremely high level of service that sets the standard for best practice and which is second to none.”
    Connor introduced de Jesus at the April 12 Delray Beach City Commission meeting.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein thanked Connor for her professionalism and dignified manner in running the department, particularly in the past few years when two consolidations with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue were considered.

Jane Smith contributed to this story.

Dredging equipment fills the central beach of Boca Raton in late April.

The pipes and bulldozers were removed after work was halted.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The city’s dredge contractor has left Boca Raton after completing about 20 percent of a beach renourishment project between Red Reef Park and the Boca Raton Inlet. It will return in December to finish.
    The city’s permit to dredge was set to expire on April 30.
    Palm Beach County Reef Rescue, a group of scuba-diving conservationists who were monitoring the project, announced the suspension of the work on April 25, less than an hour after the dredge vessel operated by New Jersey-based Weeks Marine Inc. left the site.
    The city hired Weeks Marine to move approximately 530,000 cubic yards of sand from borrow areas offshore onto the area it calls its central beach. The sand was to make approximately 1.45 miles of beach 170 feet wider.
    Work was originally scheduled to begin in February but did not start until the end of March because of bad weather.
    The city had planned to post updates of the project online as well as photo submissions from the public. But it made only three entries:
    • “Weeks Marine Dredge arrived offshore of the project site on 3/29.”
    • “The Contractor began pumping sand onto the beach on March 30, 2016.”
    • “As of April 13, 2016, the Contractor is currently placing sand between Life guard towers 3 and 4 and will continue working south.”
    The renourishment contract is for $11.3 million, with the state and county paying about $4 million.
    The city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District agreed to split the remainder, with each entity paying $3.7 million. The city considers the project to be routine maintenance; the central beach was last renourished in 2006.
    The project caused Gumbo Limbo Nature Center specialists to move the first sea turtle nest of the season, a leatherback’s that was found March 24 in South Beach Park. It and a second leatherback nest were relocated outside the project zone to Red Reef Park.

By Rich Pollack

    Responding to safety concerns expressed by town commissioners, Florida Department of Transportation officials have come up with a nearly $200,000 plan to address flooding issues on State Road A1A through Highland Beach.
    “It’s a safety issue and our main priority is to ensure the safety of people using A1A,” said Town Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker.
    During an April commission meeting, James Poole, FDOT’s district drainage engineer, and Jorge Corrales, FDOT’s district drainage designer, from FDOT’s Fort Lauderdale office, unveiled a plan to alleviate major flooding issues in the town.
    The work could begin in several months, probably before the end of the year.
The first remedy residents are likely to see would be maintenance work being done where the roadway meets the swales.
    Corrales said that in some areas water can’t drain because the grass roots are higher than the edge of the road, forming what is essentially a grass curb.
    Under the proposed plan, maintenance contractors hired by the state would go in and remove grass from the shoulder of the road and dig up grass next to the pavement edge, making it easier for water to flow off the road.
    Poole said that before work could begin, crews must look at permits to ensure there are no irrigation systems or other equipment that would be impacted.
In some areas, Corrales and Poole said, crews would have to install concrete flumes through the rights of way and create new swales to absorb water.
Other areas, especially on the west side of A1A, could see sidewalks raised and sand bases installed that could more easily absorb water.
    Another solution would be for engineers to install permeable pavement accompanied by underground drainage.
    Poole said the total cost of the project would be about $199,424 but that could go higher if design elements are necessary.
    “We have a couple of funding strategies in mind,” Poole said.
He and Corrales told town officials a survey had been done to determine where flooding occurred during rainstorms, to identify causes of the drainage issues and suggest possible solutions.
    The study identified nine sites in the town where there is flooding on the road and on the sidewalks, 37 sites where there is flooding on the shoulder and 10 sites where there is flooding in driveways.
    According to Corrales, existing landscaping along A1A and modifications to driveways along the roadway are among the biggest problems.
He said grass and hedges have elevated root beds that block the swales from absorbing water.
    Another problem, he said, is that driveways along the state road slope toward the road, dumping runoff onto the shoulder.

Tia Jenkins pitches her idea for Switchy Shoes, which earned her the largest cash prize

at Florida Atlantic University’s Tech Runway.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lucy Lazarony

    Eighteen entrepreneurial youths, members of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, made their final pitches to a panel of investors at Florida Atlantic University’s Tech Runway on April 6.  
    The ideas were innovative: online gourmet home-baked goods, silk shirts scented with essential oils, packaged organic crockpot meals for busy moms, a website that connects students with performing arts teachers, a website that connects interns with businesses, a backpack organizer, a solar panel for backpacks and bracelets called “Moody Buddhi.”
    The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a program of the Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation.
    Student entrepreneurs had been working on their businesses for six months. Each had five minutes to make a pitch for funding from the investor panel made up of Palm Beach County business leaders.
    “These students represent the future innovators and job creators in Boca Raton,” said Jenna Reed, development director for the Golden Bell Education Foundation & YEA!
    With a slogan of “Where there is sweetness for everyone,” Indira Fields of Boca Raton Community High School pitched “Sweeter Things,” her online gourmet baked goods company, which she launched in March.
    Fields started baking about four years ago and shared samples of her products — homemade coconut macaroons, chocolate chip cheesecake and white chocolate blondies — with investors.
    Pine Crest School’s Adrian Abedon of Adrian’s Kitchen promoted “healthy, organic, great-tasting slow cooker meals” that take less than five minutes to prepare. He plans to sell the prepackaged crockpot meals to 4th Generation Organic Market in Boca Raton.  
    And Arianna Staton of Spanish River High pitched her Applause website. “Applause connects aspiring students with teachers of the arts,” she explained to investors.
    But the big winners of the night were the home-schooled Tia Jenkins of Boca Raton, who received first place for “Switchy Shoes,” and North Broward Prep School’s Bryan Edwards for “Baby Go-Go,” a small backpack with baby essentials, including two diapers, for on-the-go parents.  
    With Jenkins’ Switchy Shoes, “one pair of shoes, tons of possibilities,” you are able to switch the color of ballet shoes with ease from black to white, tan or pink, the colors used often in the performing arts.  
    Jenkins demonstrated her prototype to investors, changing the color of her ballet shoes by slipping Switchy Shoes covers over the shoes she was wearing. She earned a prize of  $2,300 from investors.
Edwards as first runner-up was awarded $1,474.96.   
Student entrepreneurs requested different dollar amounts from investors, with each student receiving $100 minimum for his or her efforts.
    Other big-dollar investments for student businesses went to Abedon’s Adrian’s Kitchen, $1,250, and Staton’s Applause, $1,750.  
    Young entrepreneurs participating in the Investor Panel Competition were Adrian Abedon, Pine Crest School; David Benjamin, Miramar High School; Bryan Edwards, North Broward Prep School; Indira Fields, Boca Raton High; Regina Howson, Boca Raton High; Tia Jenkins, home school; Cody Katari, Pine Crest; Ori Leibovici, Dreyfoos High School of the Arts; Skylar Mandell, St. Andrew’s School; Tarini Padmanabhan, Pine Crest; Maxwell Peck, St. Andrew’s; Nicole Rafferty, St. Joan of Arc; Nicholas Schauer, Boca Raton High; Leah Serrano, Westglades Middle School; Charlot Silien, West Boca Raton Community High School; Arianna Staton, Spanish River High; Landon Tice, North Broward Prep; and Jordan Zakka, Pope John Paul II High. 

By Lona O'Connor

    Someone near you suffers from a mental illness. That’s the first thing mental health professionals want you to know during May, Mental Health Month.
    According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1 in 4 American adults suffers from some form of mental illness.
    About 1 in 5 children experiences severe mental disorders, according to NAMI, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mood disorders and major depression.
    “Mental illness is a really loaded term,” says Terri Mortensen, child and family program manager at the Faulk Center for Counseling in Boca Raton. The center offers low-cost treatment for children and adults and runs a number of support groups in Palm Beach County.
    “People have thoughts automatically coming into their heads, images from movies and television,” Mortensen says. “Therapy is often a mystery to people. If you have diabetes, you go to the doctor and take the medicine, but depression and anxiety are just as valid and their physical impact has been shown to be significant.”
    Everyone looks at mental health in a different way, depending on background and culture.
    “In Haiti, there is no concept of mental health,” says Sarah Selznick, senior director of programming at the Achievement Centers for Children and Families, which serves the Haitian-American and African-American communities in Delray Beach. “They don’t know that support is available, or that they can reach out to someone who could help.”
    The solution, says Selznick’s colleague Joanna Reid, takes time and patience. “When I say I can help you, there is skepticism, so first I have to build trust.” Several staff members at the center speak Creole; other staff members visit families at home to explain services to them and listen to their concerns.
    Besides depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other illnesses, there are also mental illnesses triggered by tragedies like the death of a spouse or major life changes like aging, divorce, physical illness — even seemingly happy events like retirement or having a baby.
    “Everybody has difficult times, things they’re dealing with,” says Mortensen. “Not every one of those rises to the level of needing outside intervention. Sometimes you just have to have coping skills in place.” Individual and group therapy usually occurs in a definite time frame, says Mortensen. “The goal is for people to not have to continue in therapy forever, but to find the tools to manage life issues that come up,” says Mortensen.
    Support groups, by contrast, can go on for years and may produce friendships.
    For those who have lost a spouse, for example, the time quickly arrives when the condolence cards have stopped coming and even the most sympathetic friends have gone back to their own lives.
    “People are starting to tell them to get over it,” says Mortensen.
That’s the time when a group of people in a similar situation is the best tonic.  
    “People say they can talk in our group about things that are bothering them, they can talk about their lost spouses,” says Fran Rosenheck of Boca Raton, who is a volunteer with a widow/widowers group at the Faulk Center. Rosenheck joined a bereavement group after losing her husband as a young woman. She liked the idea of being able to help others in a similar support group.
    “One member of the group said, ‘I don’t know what I would have done without this group,’ ” said Rosenheck. “They really get close to each other.”
    Merle Krimsky of Boca Raton and Philadelphia works with a Faulk Center support group of about 25 people who are divorced or separated.
“This group is so tight. There is such a strong bond,” says Krimsky. “You need that when you’re separated or divorced. They watch out for each other.”
    Lisa Stebbins, a psychology student at Florida Atlantic University, works with a group of people in their 80s and 90s.
    “They could feel lonely because their wife or someone else is not even with them anymore,” says Stebbins. “My purpose is for them to have someone to hear them.”
    Many people do not know what to say when they encounter a friend who is struggling. They may feel awkward or even frightened by seeing someone else’s anguish.
    “If a person seems kind of off, you could say, how’s everything with you?” suggests Mortensen. “That’s different from, what’s the matter with you today? Instead, you keep it open, you ask with some care and concern.”
    If the friend confides that he or she is feeling anxious or depressed, says Mortensen, “you can respond with something like, I imagine that’s really hard for you, an empathetic statement. You don’t have to solve the problem. People just want someone to listen. You might also ask, have you been able to talk to somebody about it?”
    If your feelings are having a negative effect on your life or work, that’s the time to consider talking to a mental health professional, says Mortensen.
    This year’s theme for Mental Health Month is “Life With a Mental Illness.” To share insights into what  a mental illness feels like, participants are tagging social media posts, pictures and video with #mentalillnessfeelslike.
    In recognition of Mental Health Month, the Faulk Center for Counseling, at 22455 Boca Rio Road, Boca Raton, is hosting a butterfly release at 5:30 p.m. on May 12. Suggested donation is $15. For more information call 483-5300 or visit www.faulkcenterforcounseling.org

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

The north end of Delray’s municipal beach
 has been a hangout for catamaran sailors
and their friends for more than 35 years.
Delray Beach resident Bob Kubin sails his catamaran, North East,

from the north end of Delray’s municipal beach.

This part of the beach is often called the Catsailors Yacht Club.

Delray resident Jack Indekeu takes a nap on his catamaran.

An appropriately named catamaran is prepped for launching.

The masts of the catamarans stand above the vegetation on the dunes along A1A in northern Delray Beach.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

VIDEO: Watch a sailing encounter with dolphins

Catamaran owners say communal feel
makes area a special place to hang out

By Willie Howard

    The north end of Delray Beach’s municipal beach is easy walking distance from the more crowded sections of public beach near Atlantic Avenue.
    But culturally speaking, Delray’s sailboat beach — marked by dozens of aluminum masts jutting into the sky east of the dune — is a far cry from a typical public beach.
    Populated by veteran sailors and their friends who often gather around the row of sailboats parked on the sand, Delray’s sailing beach boasts a welcoming, club-like atmosphere featuring impromptu parties, visiting dogs, lounging beach readers and oceanfront nappers.  
    “With the boats here, it makes it more communal,” said Bob Kubin, who can create a shaded gathering spot around his Nacra 17 catamaran in a minutes with the help of a few bungee cords and a tarp. “It’s not a bad man cave,” he said.
    Elias Reynolds has been storing a catamaran and sailing from the north end of Delray Beach for 17 years.  
    Reynolds said Delray’s north beach catamaran owners share parts and help each other, in addition to sailing and sometimes racing together. He’s watched kids grow up sailing at the north beach.  
    “I’ve met some great friends here,” Reynolds said while relaxing in a beach chair with friend Barbara Myer. “You can go from Key West past Palm Beach and you won’t find a place like this.”
    There’s almost always somebody to talk to at the sailing beach. Sometimes, the sailors bring food and drinks and make it a beach party.

    Yoga classes, Easter sunrise services, weddings — they all happen on the sailing beach, regulars say.
    “It’s a club without being a club,” Myer said. And, in fact, the area is informally known as the Catsailors Yacht Club.
    When wind conditions are favorable, shoving a boat from the sand and heading out into the open ocean for a few minutes or a few hours of sailing is always an option.  
    Maneuvering boats out beyond the breakers can be tricky, but once sails fill with wind and hulls slice through the blue waves, the cat sailors watch the beach grow smaller behind them as they focus on wind, tacks and leaning back to keep their boats from heeling over too far.
    Some north beach sailors troll for fish while they’re out on the ocean. Others enjoy sailing alongside curious bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles that surface for air or schools of flying fish that burst out from the ocean’s surface and glide over the waves.
     Andrew and Fran Montague of Delray Beach enjoy snorkeling and hunting for shells when they’re not sailing. (They search for shark’s teeth when newly dredged sand hits the beach during beach renourishment projects.)
    Unlike stretches of the municipal beach to the south, the north-end sailing beach is not protected by lifeguards. Andrew Montague, a former lifeguard, said he has saved swimmers who have gotten into trouble off the sailing beach.
    Reaching the beach and parking with bags full of sailing gear can be a challenge. Parallel parking costs $1.50 an hour — if you have plenty of quarters and can find a space.  
    On the other hand, limited parking keeps the sailing beach from becoming too crowded, as does the lack of a restroom.

    Beach sailors often rely on friends to drop them off or devise other means of reaching the beach. Jack and Terri Indekeu come by bicycle on weekends and use a trailer to lug their gear.
    The sailing beach was created by city officials around 1980. Before then, sailboats could be kept anywhere along Delray’s municipal beach, said Rich Connell, a former Delray Beach lifeguard and Ocean Rescue superintendent who retired in 2005 after 30 years with the city.
    Connell said the designated sailboat beach was established after sailboats began to collide with swimmers.
    A common sight on the north beach is someone wandering over to ask how much it costs to rent a sailboat.

    For the record, sailboat rentals are available at the south end of Delray Beach near Casuarina Road and Anchor Park. (Call 279-0008 or go to www.delraybeachwatersports.com.)

    Even though the north-end sailing beach is generally laid-back, there are rules.  
    Boat owners must buy $265 annual permits sand affix the sticker permits to the hulls of their boats to secure their places on the sand. (Sixty permits are available, and they were not sold out as of mid-April.)

    Sailors must steer clear of swimmers in guarded sections of beach to the south. Boats must be inspected, maintained in usable condition, stored east of the dune and secured so they don’t blow around.
    When a hurricane warning is issued, sailboats must be removed from the beach. That’s when the north-beach sailors come together to move boats in a hurry and lash them down in their owners’ yards.
    Mat Urrutia keeps his kayak chained to a friend’s catamaran on the north beach and enjoys spending his afternoons hanging out with the sailors.
    “This is local,” Urrutia said. “There’s no place I’d rather be.
    “This scene ties me to this place.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The meeting pitted City Council member Robert Weinroth against a roomful of unhappy Boca Raton residents mostly from the barrier island and downtown.
    The adversarial nature was apparent from the start, when Weinroth noted he brought Mayor Susan Haynie and a deputy city clerk with him and had issued a public notice of the meeting so he and Haynie would not stumble over the Sunshine Laws.
    “This is our meeting, and I appreciate your thoughts, and it’s nice the mayor’s here, but this meeting is for your opportunity to speak with the residents, so we’ll just keep it with you,” said James Hendrey, a member of the board of the Riviera Homeowners Association who organized the April 18 get-together and acted as emcee.
     First question: Would Weinroth be in favor of putting a question on the ballot as to whether voters want a restaurant on the Wildflower property or open green space?
     Before he could answer, Hendrey asked how many in the room preferred a restaurant. Five or six hands went up in the crowd of perhaps 80.
     “There has been a lot of conversation before and during the process getting us to where we are today,” Weinroth began, noting he was not on the council when the city acquired the $7.5 million property.
     Weinroth said video from the Oct. 18, 2011, workshop is still available on the city’s website.
     “The decision was made at that time to go forward with something like what has now been proposed, which would be a restaurant with space so that people could enjoy the waterfront, that they would have free access to the waterfront,” he said.
     “If I could interrupt you for a second,” Hendrey said, “the question is, sir, would you honor and allow the residents of this city to vote their heart on the March election if they wanted a park or if they wanted a restaurant? It’s a real simple question. Please answer.”
     “Well, the answer to that is no, I don’t think so,” Weinroth replied.
     “You would prefer that the citizens don’t vote for what they want?” Hendrey continued.
     “No, what I’m saying is, it’s my feeling that we’ve gone much further down the road on this timeline, and I think that that decision was made many years ago,” Weinroth said.
     “I disagree, because I think most of us have watched that video, sir, and we can tell you that in the video we were promised a park,” Hendrey said.
     And so the evening went. Next question: Do you think that traffic is a growing problem in Boca Raton and in downtown? And if you think it’s a growing problem, what are you going to do about it?
     “Yes, there’s traffic,” Weinroth said. “And yes, every one of us who gets on the road every day probably curses, especially if we get there at 5 o’clock or rush hour and there’s a lot of traffic.”
     But Weinroth blamed the congested roads on “background traffic,” not a lack of planning.
    “We have a lot of traffic coming from outside the city passing through the city,” he said. “It’s like water – if you leave something open the water’s going to find a way in.”
     Next question: Can you name certain projects that you voted for that benefited the public versus the developers in the community?
     Weinroth said he did not keep track of his votes that way and that “we have to accept the fact that developers are not nasty people.” Anyone who wants to see his votes can go to the city’s website, he said, adding that he looks at each decision case by case.
     “The five of us [on the City Council] really are in place not to plan the future but to respond to the things that are brought before us and be able to deal with them logically and legally,” Weinroth said.
     In all, Weinroth fielded questions at the Boca Raton Community Center for almost two hours, including why he grants variances and whether the council would “show some backbone” and “stick with the city codes” the next time a developer threatens a lawsuit.
     Hendrey said council members Scott Singer and Jeremy Rodgers have appeared before the group, which also draws residents from Golden Triangle and Golden Harbour.