Florida Atlantic University celebrated “Match Day” with its Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine’s class of 2025. Match Day occurs nationally on the third Friday of March when the results of the National Resident Matching Program are announced. 

Along with thousands of other fourth-year medical students around the country, members of the class of 2025 opened their sealed envelopes at noon to learn where they will receive their medical residency training. In addition, FAU’s post-graduate residency programs accepted 48 graduating medical students from across the country.

Delray Medical Center performs milestone surgery

Delray Medical Center completed its 1,000th bariatric surgery since launching the program in 2015. The program is led by Dr. Erica Podolsky, a board-certified surgeon specializing in minimally invasive techniques and robotic surgery.

For more info, visit www.palmbeachhealthnetwork.com/services/general-surgery-care/bariatric-surgery/delray or call 561-495-3022. 

Couple opens concierge clinic in Boca Raton

Imran Siddiqui and his wife, Dr. Abeer Aziz-Siddiqui, have opened their members-only clinic, Palm Beach Concierge Medicine, at 825 Meadows Road, No. 111, Boca Raton. 

The clinic provides round-the-clock medical services to patients for a monthly fee. Dr. Abeer Aziz-Siddiqui is an internist who has held positions at the HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Palm Beach County. Imram Siddiqui previously was the executive director of Tech Equity Miami. 

Palm Beach Health has new chief medical officer

Dr. Eric Lieberman is Palm Beach Health Network’s new chief medical officer. He will lead quality improvement initiatives, guide strategic planning, and support the growth of the company’s cardiovascular services.  Lieberman will continue to see patients at Delray Medical Center. 

Hospital opens kosher pantry for Jewish patients

During Passover, Baptist Health Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach celebrated the opening of its new kosher pantry to meet the dietary needs of its Jewish patients and their families. The pantry is on the fourth floor of the Heart Hospital and is a collaborative effort between the hospital’s pastoral care team and volunteers from Bikkur Cholim of Boynton Beach and the Florida Chesed Network.

Addiction, mental health center expands services

Caron Treatment Centers, a nonprofit specializing in addiction and mental health care, has expanded its South Florida services with new in-network programs for adults. 

These include residential, partial hospitalization, outpatient options and detox services at Caron’s Keele Medical Center in Delray Beach. Insurance coverage includes Lucet, Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO, and United Healthcare/Optum.

Baptist Health Cancer Care gets second proton system

Baptist Health South Florida recently expanded its proton therapy capabilities at the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute in Boca Raton. The cyclotron, which delivers precise and targeted cancer treatment, was delivered to the institute. The gantry, another component of the proton therapy system, arrived shortly after. This marks the second proton therapy system within Baptist Health Cancer Care. 

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

Julie Knichel is an ICU nurse with Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. She suffered a stroke early last year and credits her colleague Dr. Brian Snelling with saving her life. Photo provided

By Jan Engoren

What happened to Wonder Woman could happen to you.

In December 2024, actress Gal Gadot, known for her roles as Wonder Woman in the film franchise, underwent emergency surgery after suffering a massive blood clot to the brain — a cerebral venous thrombosis, which is a rare form of stroke.

Eight months’ pregnant with her fourth child, Gadot was bedridden with excruciating headaches before an MRI showed the clot and she was rushed into surgery.

Symptoms of CVT include headache, blurred vision, fainting or loss of consciousness, loss of control over body movement, seizures and coma, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Fortunately, the actress had a healthy baby girl, made a full recovery and is appearing in the recently released film Disney’s Snow White.

While nobody hopes for a stroke, if you’re going to have one, it’s good to be on a first-name basis with Dr. Brian Snelling, director of the stroke program at Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. 

Fortunately for Delray Beach resident Julie Knichel, she is.

Knichel, 58, is an ICU nurse at the institute, working alongside Snelling, who earned his M.D. degree in 2011 from West Virginia University School of Medicine. Snelling had a fellowship in endovascular neurological surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital & University at the Miami Miller School of Medicine from 2014 to 2016, and he is dual trained in neurosurgery and neuroradiology.

Knichel came under Snelling’s care in February 2024, when the Missouri native was awakened at 3 a.m. with a pounding headache she couldn’t ignore.

Feeling nausea and pain, she knew to call 911 and was rushed to the emergency room at the hospital and admitted to the same unit where she works.

She had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, where bleeding occurs in the space between the brain and the membrane that covers it.

“I was lucky to be taken care of by Dr. Snelling and my coworkers,” she says. “It was wonderful — as much as having a stroke can be wonderful.”

Snelling, who was going off-duty at the time, realized the just-admitted patient was Knichel, and stayed on several hours to perform the surgery.

“I had total confidence in Dr. Snelling,” says Knichel. “I knew his work and level of expertise and of my colleagues’ abilities to care for me.”

Knichel wasn’t completely surprised when she learned of the stroke, because her mother had died from the same thing at the age of 47.

For Snelling, this was all in a day’s work.

“And, while it can be tough to treat a colleague,” says Snelling, “we’re a big family and have a good working relationship. I was happy I could be there for her and thrilled that she had a great outcome.” 

To stem the bleeding in Knichel’s brain, Snelling inserted a “coil,” by threading a catheter through her groin up to the brain, while watching the image on a computer screen.

Knichel was in the hospital for three weeks and out of work for three months, taking nimodipine, a calcium channel blocker used to treat aneurysms, every four hours for 14 weeks.

She had severe head pain for several weeks, which she managed with Tylenol and other medication.

Stroke is an umbrella term for a set of conditions characterized by loss of blood flow to the brain. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, either due to a clot blocking a vessel (ischemic stroke) or because of bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). 

Snelling suggests that anyone with a genetic predisposition or with two close relatives with a history of brain aneurysms go for a magnetic resonance angiogram screening.

Like the arteries to your heart, the arteries to your brain can clog from smoking, high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

“Don’t ignore the warning signs,” he says.  

According to the American Stroke Association, someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 seconds, and someone dies from a stroke every four minutes. 

Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability, with more than 6.5 million stroke survivors currently living in the country.

Once the brain is deprived of blood and oxygen, brain cells begin to die within minutes. This can lead to permanent brain damage, disability or death.

That was not the case for Knichel, who returned to work full-time, resumed her beloved gardening and DIY projects, and incurred no lasting effects of the stroke. She can credit her quick action in calling 911 and the trained medics who treated her even before all the help she received since then.

Snelling says that only 10% of patients have a complete recovery, 25% have minor impairment and almost half of people are left with moderate impairment.

A nurse for more than 26 years, Knichel says the experience has given her more insight and a new ability to empathize with her patients and to give them hope.

“It’s a surreal experience,” she says. “I’m grateful to Dr. Snelling for saving my life.”

Recognizing the warning signs of stroke is crucial in getting prompt medical attention and preventing long-term damage. 

The American Stroke Association suggests using the acronym “FAST” to remember the signs of stroke:

• Face drooping: Does one side of the face droop or feel numb?

• Arm weakness: Is one arm weak or numb? Raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

• Speech difficulty: Is speech slurred or hard to understand? Try repeating a simple sentence like, “The sky is blue.”

• Time to call 911: If someone shows any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.

Visit stroke.org for more information.

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.

St. Andrew’s High senior Alexander Dartnell, a two-time national champion and the top-ranked U.S. junior player in squash, is preparing for the World Junior Championships in Cairo, Egypt. The sport was added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where he hopes to compete. Photo provided 

By Faran Fagen

Alexander Dartnell admits that many in the United States don’t know about the sport of squash. But thanks to his recent national championship, the St. Andrew’s High School senior is serving up volleys of fame at his school and around his home in eastern Delray Beach.

“Squash is very underrated,” said Dartnell, 18. “Many people in Florida haven’t even heard of it. It’s been proven that an hour of squash burns more calories than an hour of any other sport, and I believe many people would start playing because of this fact alone.

“The sport combines strength, cardio, mental fortitude and strategy, like no other sport out there.”

During his senior year, Dartnell has performed like no other squash player out there.

He claimed his second national title at the U.S. Junior Squash Championships on March 16 in Philadelphia.

A standout on St. Andrew’s squash team — which recently secured a third-place finish at the 2025 high school nationals — Dartnell dominated the boys under-19 division as the top seed in Philadelphia, winning every match.

This victory cemented his position as the No. 1-ranked U.S. junior player and built momentum as he prepares to compete at the World Junior Championships this summer in Cairo, Egypt.

“It felt extremely deserved and satisfying to see my hard work pay off,” said Dartnell. “Throughout the weekend, I was physically and emotionally disciplined, not dropping a game throughout the entire event.”

In squash, players alternate hitting a rubber ball against the front wall of a four-walled court, with the goal of making the opponent miss or hit the ball out of bounds. A valid serve must hit the front wall between the out line, and then land in the opposite quarter of the court.

Players can hit the ball before it bounces (a volley) or after it bounces, and the ball can hit other walls before or after hitting the front wall. A game is typically played to 11 points, with a two-point lead required to win.

Dartnell grew up in Connecticut, where squash is popular, and tagged along with friends who played. He previously played soccer and tennis, but quickly fell in love with squash and pursued it over other sports.

He trains at the Kinetic Indoor Racquet Club in Boynton Beach under Coach Wael El Hindi. Almost all of his events are played in other states and countries, which leaves his circle of friends at St. Andrew’s in Boca Raton watching his matches on livestream video.

The travel takes its toll, but that is worth the price to Dartnell.

“It’s difficult because of the number of events and activities I have in and out of school, especially in the second semester,” Dartnell said. “Nevertheless, I try my best to stay disciplined academically and attend as many school events as possible.”

Dartnell enjoys math and economics, and his hobbies include scuba diving, fishing and hanging out with friends.

At the beginning of his junior year, he committed to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In the fall, he will begin his next chapter studying finance and entrepreneurship. He’s drawn to investment banking — assuming professional squash is not an option.

Squash recently was added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, and he views himself as a serious contender.

Should he make it to L.A., his parents will be there to continue their support.

“Alexander has been obsessed with any ball, large and small, since he started walking at 9 months old,” said his mom, Sabine Dartnell. “His innate focus and discipline combined with an extraordinary sense of spatial relations has helped him develop into this outstanding athlete. We could not be prouder.”

As for Alexander, he’s happy that more sports fans are finding out about him — and squash.

“It’s such a great combination of everything you want in a sport,” he said. “The most challenging aspect of squash is mental consistency. Squash requires a lot of cardio and maintaining mental composure; to follow your strategy when you’re tired can be incredibly challenging. It’s just an amazing workout.” 

With four outdoor terraces and courtyards, this industrial-modern home on Gleason Street has incredible outdoor space in which to relax or entertain. In the ground-level walled courtyard, the loggia is adjacent to a heated pool and spa counterbalanced by a dramatic waterfall, while an outdoor shower is convenient when you return from the beach a block away. The second-floor balcony connects to the primary suite and has a summer kitchen fitted with a grill. The third-floor gathering room opens to a large lanai for entertaining. The 1,500 +/- square-foot rooftop terrace, featuring Ipe-wood decking and a gas firepit, is the crown jewel of the residence with panoramic ocean and city vistas.

This trophy estate, built in 2022, has five bedrooms and 6,065 +/- total square feet. A focal point is a glass-shaft elevator, wrapped by a floating staircase fabricated by View Rail and inspired by the cylindrical glass lift that graces the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid. It presents as a beautiful statement of functionality and artistic design.

 Epitomizing modern elegance, this house harmoniously blends bespoke commercial elements within a sophisticated and refined contemporary design. Offered at $6,995,000. 

Contact the Pascal Liguori Estate Group, 561-414-4849. PLEG@premierestateproperties.com 

Delray Beach firefighter David Wyatt, who was driving a city aerial ladder fire truck when it was struck by a Brightline passenger train downtown on Dec. 28, is being fired, the city said Thursday following an investigation. Wyatt had been on paid administrative leave since the crash. At the time of the crash, a Brightline video showed the fire truck maneuvering around a lowered railroad crossing gate.  Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

Delray Beach on Thursday said it is firing David Wyatt, the firefighter who was at the wheel of the aerial fire truck struck by a Brightline train. Video released by Brightline showed the large fire truck maneuvering around a lowered railroad crossing gate as the train approached.

“The train collision on December 28 was more than a traffic incident,” said City Manager Terrence Moore in an email announcing Wyatt’s employment termination. “It was a moment that tested the integrity of our public safety system and shook the confidence of the community we serve.”

Wyatt has 10 days to request in writing a conference with Moore to discuss why he should not be fired. If a conference is not requested, his termination will be effective on April 28.  Wyatt, who has been on paid administrative leave while the city investigated, will remain on paid leave pending the resolution of the disciplinary process, officials said. 

The crash left about a dozen train passengers injured — as well as Wyatt and fire truck passengers Capt. Brian Fiorey and firefighter Joseph Fiumara III. The fire truck was en route to a reported kitchen fire at a condo building at 365 SE Sixth Ave. However, according to dispatch recordings, another unit on scene had called in to say the fire was contained around the same time as the crash was reported.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office found Wyatt failed to use “due care” as he drove the ladder truck into the path of the passenger train.

In announcing Wyatt’s termination on Thursday, Moore said the Brightline crash “revealed a pattern of carelessness and poor judgment that went beyond an isolated error.”

The Coastal Star in January reported about an earlier, off-duty crash involving Wyatt. In that June 2023 crash, he drove his car into a tree in downtown Delray Beach. Police investigated Wyatt for a possible DUI but said in a report that obtaining a breathalyzer or a blood test was unfeasible because the firefighter had been transported to a hospital. He was charged with careless driving. There was no DUI charge.

Court records showed that Wyatt didn’t initially go to traffic school to resolve the careless driving citation, resulting in his license being suspended. An independent investigation discovered he had driven Delray Beach fire trucks during the time his license was suspended in late 2023.

The report by the labor firm Johnson Jackson, released Feb. 25, said Wyatt should have taken leave to address the license suspension. The city discovered that 10 fire department employees had driven fire trucks with suspended licenses in the recent past.

Wyatt told the investigator that he was unaware of the license suspension until this year. The investigator wrote that Wyatt’s response “raises question(s) as to his credibility on this issue,” the report stated. 

A call to Mayor Tom Carney for comment was not immediately returned. A call to a telephone number associated with Wyatt went unanswered.

Update: The city followed up its announcement of Wyatt's termination with a release indicating the firing would not take effect until Wyatt has a chance to exercise his rights under the firefigher union's collective bargaining agreement with the city. This story has been updated to reflect that information.

A Palm Beach woman is dead after being struck by a truck on April 1 in the parking lot of Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

Janice Stein, 74, was walking across from Publix just before 8 a.m. when she “inadvertently entered the path” of a 2020 Isuzu NRR truck, according to the sheriff’s report.

The truck’s front right side hit Stein, knocking her to the ground, and then the vehicle ran over her before coming to a stop a short distance away.

Stein had “improperly” traveled into the path of the truck, according to the report. 

– John Pacenti

By John Pacenti

Lynn Ladner, Ocean Ridge’s sometimes embattled town manager, resigned after commissioners gave her poor evaluations, particularly hammering her on budget and fiscal responsibility, as well as leadership.

Ladner, in her resignation letter dated Thursday, said her last day will be Monday, putting the town in a jam as to who will guide it during the upcoming months of hammering out the budget for the next fiscal year and setting the property tax rate. The commission meets at 6 p.m. Monday at Town Hall.

“Having accomplished many of the goals I set for this role, I feel it is the right time to step aside and allow new leadership to guide the town forward,” Ladner wrote in her April 3 letter.

“It has been a privilege to serve the residents and work alongside the dedicated staff and leadership of Ocean Ridge.”

A call and text to Mayor Geoff Pugh and Vice Mayor Steve Coz seeking comment were not returned.  Pugh did not write comments on his evaluation of Ladner, but he gave her an “unsatisfactory” score for community relations and a “needs improvement” for leadership.

The Coastal Star obtained the commission evaluations of the town manager after a public records request. All were filled out in February and included evaluation score sheets for Ladner’s performance.

Commission’s budget concerns

Over the last six months, Ladner had been criticized by commissioners for her lack of organization, failing to provide pertinent information for meetings, and making critical errors when calculating the budget. She was a controversial hire, first serving as interim manager starting in August 2022, then rejected for the permanent position by one commission but hired by another after the March 2023 election.

“The last two budget sessions have been an exasperating struggle of missing information and incorrect numbers,” Coz wrote in his evaluation of Ladner. “Lynn has not embraced the fact that she is CEO of the town.”

The commission had to correct a mathematical mistake in the 2023-24 budget after the state called out the town for the error. It resulted in a $58,000 windfall — but commissioners said it could have gone the other way and affected projects in the town. 

Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said Ladner made the same mistake in an early version of the current fiscal year’s budget, using net values of property rather than gross values as the state requires, that would have overtaxed residents by more than $56,000. Ladner bristled at the criticism.

“I’m worried about the mistakes and the errors and the defensiveness,” Cassidy said at the Aug. 5 meeting. “So it’s just a great frustration.”

Ladner did not return a phone call or email seeking comment.

Low evaluation scores

The evaluations of Ladner scored her on a scale from 1 for unsatisfactory to 5 for outstanding on leadership, planning and organization, budget and fiscal responsibility, commissioner interaction, community relations, priorities, operations, staff development and compliance. 

A perfect score would be 45. Pugh gave a score of 21, Coz 24, and Cassidy 19. Commissioners David Hutchins and Ainar Aijala Jr. gave her scores of 23 and 19, respectively.

Coz gave Ladner a low score of 1.5 for budget responsibility and a 2 for priorities. He gave her 2.5 or 3 for other categories — which is a satisfactory mark — and a 4 for exceeding expectations for compliance with regulatory standards.

Coz said in his evaluation of Ladner last year that a new manager should be given two years to meet the challenge of facing “headwinds of institutional knowledge.” “Unfortunately, in my opinion, this excellence has not occurred during this period,” he wrote in his recent evaluation.

Coz said Ladner failed to admonish staff when needed, thus “amplifying perceived grievances.” Ladner was a fierce defender of her staff and fought for equal compensation for administrative employees, clashing with commissioners.

Cassidy, though sometimes critical of Ladner, also worked closely with the town manager on issues of securing a lobbyist and on planning a kayak trail for land recently purchased behind Town Hall.

She gave her a score of 1 for budget and fiscal responsibility. Cassidy’s comments were extensive and detailed, praising Ladner for partnering up on finding a lobbyist but then saying, “However, when asked to obtain bids from lobbying firms, her efforts were minimal.”

Cassidy indicated she was still willing to work with Ladner, offering several suggestions for improvement, such as being more receptive to suggestions. 

In conclusion, Cassidy wrote, “Please be more communicative about absences. Lynne is frequently not in the office. Health issues are understandable, but the absences seem to be excessive.”

Hutchins gave Ladner “needs improvement” scores of 2 in four categories. “Overall, her performance has been satisfactory, but occasionally she is less than prepared for the commission meetings,” he wrote, noting Ladner has failed to show up at Town Hall for work without explanation several times.

Aijala gave Ladner a score of 1 under the category of leadership and provided some of the most critical comments. “Lynn demonstrated a complete lack of understanding that she works for the commissioners and residents,” he wrote. “Her approach is combative and defensive rather than supportive and helpful.”

A rocky relationship

Ladner might have seen the writing on the wall, applying for the town manager position in Juno Beach in January, according to public documents. She used Pugh and Coz as references for the Juno Beach position.

Ladner has had similar positions in the small towns of Pahokee, Kenneth City in Pinellas County and in Michigan and Kansas.

Yet, her stay in Ocean Ridge has always been rocky. She was hired as a temporary town manager in August 2022. 

Commissioners voted to make her position permanent in January 2023 but reversed themselves the next month over concerns that Ladner had acted at the urging of a minority of commissioners in asking departing Police Chief Richard Jones, who was resigning to take the same position in Gulf Stream, to leave quickly. 

After an election the next month that put a new commissioner on the dais and shifted the commission’s balance of power, the majority gave her the job in April 2023.

Ladner, in her resignation letter, said she was proud of several accomplishments, including overseeing the implementation of new computer software, managing the bidding for the $2.9 million project to replace town water mains, and the $1.5 million purchase of land behind Town Hall for mangrove preservation.

Considering her last day is Monday, Ladner told commissioners in her resignation letter that she was “committed to ensuring a smooth seamless transition,” continuing to work on ongoing projects. It is unclear if Ladner is staying on in some capacity until her replacement is found.

“I leave this role with immense pride in what we have accomplished and with confidence in the Town’s bright future,” she concluded.

Stores had a feel for the fabric of a community 

Fran Prescott buys fabric at Joann’s in Riverwalk Plaza in Boynton Beach. ‘It’s a disaster,’  she says of the impending closings. ‘There are no other stores like this.’ Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

Fran Prescott pushed her cart past bolts of fabric on a recent Thursday afternoon, noting the yellow paper signs taped to shelves announcing deep discounts on Joann’s fabrics, buttons and trim.

Prescott, of Boynton Beach, is a microbiologist who has been sewing for 70 years — “since I was 4”— and who has shopped regularly at Joann for decades to create costumes, pillows and blankets for her grandchildren.

“I’ve made everything for them, from snowsuits to wedding dresses,” Prescott said. “I like coming to Joann’s to look at the fabric and get a feel for it. Sometimes I don’t have a project in mind, but I’ll come in here and look around and get ideas. I don’t like ordering online.”

Prescott has a highly developed sense of whimsy. She made a surgical mask and surgical gown for herself peppered with images of COVID molecules, for example, and once spent five years making a hockey-themed quilt for her grandson.

“I work the night shift for a commercial microbiology lab, and when I get home, I like to work on my projects,” she said.

But on this day, she was navigating the aisles with a heavy heart. The Boynton Beach store — and the 800 or so other Joann fabric and craft stores across the country, including ones in Pompano Beach, Wellington and West Palm Beach — will close their doors forever in the coming weeks.

“It’s a disaster,” Prescott said. “There are no other stores like this.”

Other shoppers share Prescott’s dismay.

Rosemary Mouring, of Lantana, is a community volunteer and a Joann’s regular. 

Mouring said that although people can buy fabric at big box stores like Hobby Lobby and Walmart, the fabric is sold in pre-cut packages and the staff, for the most part, does not have the level of expertise that Joann’s staff offers.

“I’m going to have to rethink the Christmas bags we make for the children at St. Mary’s Hospital,” said Mouring.

She explained that she and other volunteers discovered about 10 years ago that the patients at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center — the only dedicated children’s hospital between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando — had been keeping their belongings in trash bags. 

The volunteers replaced the plastic bags with big, fluffy fleece pillowcases sporting red, holiday trim to hold the kids’ toys and clothes. 

The project was so popular with the children that volunteers serving in the West Palm Beach hospital now make those gift bags every year — but with Joann’s going under, the fleece will be hard to find, Mouring said.

“Most crafters are a little upset with Joann’s corporate office for shooting themselves in the foot,” Mouring said. “And the company that bought it and paid off all the debt, cares only about the bottom line.”

Joann, which is based in Hudson, Ohio, filed for bankruptcy in January after operating for more than 80 years. The Boynton Beach store, at 1632 S. Federal Highway in the Riverwalk Plaza, was previously located on the west side of Federal in the Publix plaza. It has had a presence in Boynton Beach for decades, including since 2007 at its current location.

“The last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, forced us to take this step,” Michael Prendergast, interim chief executive of Joann’s, said when announcing the second bankruptcy filing in a year.

Prendergast said he was hoping the struggling company could find a path that would enable Joann’s to “continue operating as a going concern.” But in February, the company was put on the auction block, and GA Group, a financial services firm, was the winning bidder.

Amanda Hayes, spokeswoman for Joann’s corporate office, said the company does not yet have a closing date for the Boynton Beach store. She did not respond to a question about whether the company could emerge from bankruptcy.

A website dedicated to the company’s restructuring says closeout “sales will be held for 12 weeks, until the end of May, until supplies last.”

The website also says: “We have been proud to serve as a destination for creativity for more than 80 years and thank our dedicated Team Members, customers and communities across the nation for their decades of support.”

Christine Burtch, of Lantana, has been a manager at the Boynton Beach store for nine years. She’s also the executive vice president of the Lake Worth Beach-based Hibiscus Quilt Guild of South Florida, which has some 50 quilting enthusiasts around Palm Beach County.

Before the coronavirus sent everyone home in 2020, Burtch taught sewing and quilting classes to Joann customers. 

The classes never resumed at the Boynton Beach store, she said, so she got involved with community outreach. She is among the volunteers who make fleece bags for the children at St. Mary’s and, along with her colleagues, has been stocking up on fleece from several South Florida Joann stores.

Like a toy store for crafters

Customers say they love the stores’ selection of fabrics, art supplies, home decor, yarn, sewing supplies, buttons, beads, baskets, paper goods, and artificial leaves and flowers for making wreaths and centerpieces.

“It was like being in a toy store for me,” Burtch said.

Lisa Ritota, a longtime Ocean Ridge resident, agreed that perusing the store’s notions was as much fun as choosing fabrics.

“They had a little bit of everything. It was a great, great store for last-minute thread, needles, buttons, zippers, holiday decor and seasonal stuff,” Ritota said. “I’m incredibly sad. There’s nothing else out there like it in this country.”

Ritota is a member of the American Sewing Guild who has owned an upholstery business for 30 years. She said she is switching now to the less physically demanding practice of creating handbags.

“I hope Michael’s will pick up the slack,” Ritota said, speaking of other stores and online sources for fabrics and fasteners. “I try not to use Amazon. Etsy is better.”

Debbie Sprague, president of the Hibiscus Quilt Guild and Lake Worth Beach resident, said quilters have options that other crafters and seamstresses will forfeit when Joann’s closes.

Smaller quilt shows, quilting stores, and big area quilting expos offer fabrics for sale, she said, and quilting clubs like Hibsicus can also offer community, expertise and inspiration. 

“If you’re a quilter, we’re here for you,” Sprague said. “If you’re a dressmaker or a home decorator, we can’t help you.”

Faith Thelwell, of Delray Beach, unaware that Joann’s days are numbered, cruised a well-searched row of fabrics hunting for light green tulle and satin to make a skirt.

Beneath her cap of silver sequins, Thelwell’s face crumpled when she heard the news. 

“I’m going to miss this store,” she said quietly. “I have been shopping here for 40 years. I am very sad.” 

Purchases in tens of millions of dollars aren’t immune from the wrecker’s ball

David MacNeil paid $38.5 million for an oceanfront house in Manalapan only to raze it, leaving the empty lot to the left. Now, he plans to buy the partially completed house on the right and raze it, too, to make way for a single home on a combined lot. Both lots are ocean to Intracoastal. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Musgrave

Those looking for evidence that the luxury real estate market is hot in coastal Palm Beach County should start their search in Manalapan.

A year after car accessories magnate David MacNeil paid $38.5 million for an oceanfront house south of Town Hall only to tear it down, he’s poised to do the same thing on the lot next door.

This stunned builder Robert Farrell, who has spent a year rebuilding the 14,000-square-foot house with plans to expand it and put it on the market for $95 million. But MacNeil made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

If all goes as planned, MacNeil in late May will pay Farrell’s company $55.5 million for the house that is basically a shell and the adjacent guest quarters and level them.

The combined $94 million land buy will give MacNeil, founder of Chicago-based WeatherTech, roughly 340 feet of beachfront on a nearly four-acre parcel that extends from the ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway.

To builders and real estate agents who have watched the stratospheric rise in coastal home prices, MacNeil’s buy-and-bulldoze approach was greeted with yawns.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Christian Prakas, who specializes in high-end real estate as founding agent of Serhant in Delray Beach.

“It’s where everybody wants to be,” agreed Dorian Hayes, a luxury home specialist with Coldwell Banker Realty in Delray Beach. “Palm Beach County is on fire.”

Hayes said some of her wealthy clients have paid top dollar for adjacent lots just to have bigger yards or to protect their privacy.

Prakas said one of his clients recently scored a record for the most ever paid for a vacant lot in Florida.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s $173 million purchase of the 16-acre former Ziff estate at the south end of Manalapan in 2022 still holds the record for most ever paid for residential real estate in Florida. But, Prakas said, his client’s purchase was noteworthy as well.

While he declined to divulge the exact amount that was paid, Prakas said a company plunked down somewhat less than Ellison’s eye-popping price for roughly two acres in Palm Beach that was once home to a 36,000-square-foot mansion owned by Estée Lauder heir William Lauder.

When the French Normandy-style house that Lauder paid $110 million for in 2021 was reduced to rubble in 2022, it was the most expensive teardown in town history.

Since then, teardowns of multimillion-dollar mansions have become ubiquitous.

Gulf Stream demolition

In Gulf Stream for instance, billionaire Robert Sands and his wife, Pamela, recently got the go-ahead to demolish a 30-year-old, 17,000-square-foot house to build a new home.

When the couple, through RSPS 3223 North Ocean LLC (presumably their initials), spent $39 million last year for the home, it was the most expensive residential sale in Gulf Stream history.

Sands is executive chair and former CEO of Constellation Brands, a beer, wine and spirits company founded by his father in upstate New York.

Like MacNeil, Sands also owns the house next door. In 2016, he paid $16.34 million for the 11,000-square-foot, four-bedroom house on roughly an acre.

But, unlike MacNeil, he doesn’t plan to tear down both houses to build an even bigger one. Only the house the couple purchased last year will be demolished. And, according to plans approved by the Gulf Stream Town Commission in February, at 14,642 square feet the new house will be about 2,400 square feet smaller and have one fewer story than the existing one.

How high will prices go?

Former Manalapan Mayor Stewart Satter, who surprised the real estate world in January by announcing he was asking $285 million for a 55,000-square-foot home that could be built on the four acres he owns next to Ellison’s estate, acknowledged that the recent price tags shock many.

But, having spent 20 years developing real estate in Manalapan, a pursuit he laughingly describes as a hobby, he said he has learned a few lessons.

While the thought of buying a $40 million house to tear it down sounds crazy, many home buyers make similar decisions.

He likened it to people who buy an average priced house and immediately renovate the kitchen. People have specific expectations of what they want when they buy a home. If a house doesn’t meet them, they act.

Like homes in other coastal areas and beyond, many of the homes in Manalapan are old.

“They’re OK houses but they aren’t up to the standards most people expect today,” Satter said.

Take the house MacNeil tore down. Built in 1955, it was dated. At 10,000 square feet with six bedrooms, it was relatively small. It had low ceilings. It didn’t have a palatial entryway, a master bedroom suite or other features that have become must-haves in estate homes.

“It was not a house you would have on a $30 million piece of dirt,” Satter said.

MacNeil’s plans to buy the lot next door, tear down the half-built house and combine it with his existing holdings is wise from both a personal and business standpoint, Satter said.

MacNeil can build the house he wants. And the two lots, once combined, will be worth far more than what he paid for them individually, Satter said.

“It’s hard to find a lot with more than 150 feet of oceanfront,” he said. “It’s a rarity.”

And as with all things rare, that means the value skyrockets.

Satter noted that New Jersey lawyer and real estate investor Nathan Silverstein is asking $200 million for two acres of vacant land he has owned for decades along Sloan’s Curve in Palm Beach. The ocean-to-Intracoastal lot includes 155 feet of beachfront, but it’s across South Ocean Boulevard from the main property.

MacNeil’s soon-to-be new homesite, which also extends from the ocean to the Intracoastal, is directly on the ocean and will have more than double the amount of oceanfront footage.

“I thought it was a great acquisition,” Satter said. “I thought it was very smart.”

Limited supply of lots

Satter and Prakas said there are various reasons the luxury home market has exploded in recent years.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are well known. Tired of lockdowns and mask-wearing mandates, wealthy people from New York to California flocked to the state where Gov. Ron DeSantis eschewed such health restrictions. 

With no income tax and relatively low property and sales taxes, it became a magnet. The state’s weather didn’t hurt.

“There was a huge migration of wealth,” Prakas said, noting that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was one of them when he moved in 2023 from Seattle to his hometown of Miami. At the time, he said the move would save him $600 million in taxes.

Scarcity is also a factor, Prakas said. There’s a limited number of oceanfront lots, so when one becomes available it commands a very high price.

“There are no comps for these houses,” Prakas said. “It becomes a matter of how much do you want it and how much are you willing to pay.”

Satter agreed. “It’s simple,” he said. “Demand is high, supply is low, so prices go up.”

The Ellison effect

Satter said another force contributed to rising prices in Manalapan: the Ellison effect.

When the man who is the fourth-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, bought the Ziff estate in 2022, people took notice. Ellison doubled down last year by paying $277 million for the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa at the north end of Manalapan.

Long in the shadow of Palm Beach, Manalapan was suddenly on the map, Satter said. People who had never heard of the tiny town began looking into it and liked what they found, he said.

How long the boom will last is unknown.

Both Satter and Prakas said they suspect luxury housing prices are at or very near their peak and will begin leveling off.

But Satter, who hopes they stay strong enough long enough for him to sell his proposed $285 million spec house — with its 350 feet along both the ocean and Intracoastal — for close to his asking price, said crystal balls are hard to come by in the real estate business.

When he began buying lots in Manalapan in 2005, he said people thought he was crazy.

“If I had known what the marketplace was going to do, I would have bought the whole town,” he said. 

Leneita Fix, executive director at The Reef Institute in West Palm Beach, with a miniature version of the Atlantic Ocean. The institute is advising Delray Beach on which coral to use to restore its reef. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star  

By John Pacenti

In a cramped office space in West Palm Beach’s Northwood neighborhood, in a room bathed in blue light, the ocean not only lives, it thrives.

“So everything that you see here mimics the healthiest version of the ocean that we can have,” said Leneita Fix,  executive director of The Reef Institute, whose topaz eyes are literally the color of the Caribbean ocean. 

“These lights follow sunrise and sunset every day and the seasons. So this coral thinks it is 12:35 on March 4th in Palm Beach County.”

The baby coral will end up offshore of Delray Beach under plans hatched by a little-known committee on reef restoration. Delray Beach Sustainability Officer Kent Edwards asked the City Commission at its March 11 meeting for $117,000 annually to fund the effort.

But this is Delray Beach, right? Nothing is so simple and the request ran straight into the teeth of Mayor Tom Carney — who insisted the amount initially requested was $40,000, not $117,000.

Carney claimed at one point that he felt it was a “bait and switch,” and that he didn’t expect a request for $117,000.

“I love reefs. Seriously. I fish the reefs all the time. So to the extent that we can improve marine life, I’m 100% for,” he told The Coastal Star.  

“I clearly understand the importance. It was just something different than I expected.”

Still, the $40,000 eventually approved is enough to get started. “The hope is that this only will be the start of the funding,” Fix said. “Their fiscal year starts in [October] and so we will seek to put in the budget for that year and there will be additional fundraising, as well.”

Fix and her team planned to assess sites on April 2. “The focus is going to be on getting coral in the water,” she said.

Staghorn coral grown at The Reef Institute in West Palm Beach. Staghorn and elkhorn are often called the divas of the coral world because of their fast growth, importance in reef building, and role as a vital habitat for marine life, making them a cornerstone of Caribbean reefs. 

Living creatures

A quick background on coral.

Coral is an animal and it’s not doing great due to pollution, ocean acidification, ocean temperature increases (last summer was devastating off South Florida’s coastline) and disease. 

Marine biologist Sylvia Earle “has a statement. She says, ‘We don’t even know what will happen when all the coral is gone,’” Fix said.

Florida’s coral reef is 350 miles long, extending from the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County.

Some corals have nearly gone extinct in the wild, like pillar coral; however, they live in Fix’s lab. Fix explained that certain corals in her lab are not out-planted, referring to them as a “living biobank” that will act as a baby factory to continuously produce new offspring.

The restoration effort

Enter Delray Beach’s little committee that could.  Organized by Jim Chard, a former commissioner and chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, the committee also includes Vice Mayor Juli Casale, Edwards, Fix and stakeholders such as the Sandoway Discovery Center.

“I am excited to be moving the reef restoration initiative forward,” Casale said. “This is truly a cutting-edge conservation effort with long-term benefits.”

Another member of the committee — Chard likes to call it a consortium — is Jason Bregman of Delray Beach’s Singer Studio, which has invented a substrate that looks to revolutionize artificial reefs. 

“The artificial reef, once it’s placed and populated with life and corals, will start to help replenish the beach naturally,” Chard said. “The main thing it would do is prevent the beach from being washed away.”

Bregman wanted to place a test off Delray Beach and see if Fix’s corals would spawn and land on his substrate, but Palm Beach County ended up being too much of an impediment. 

“As of right now, we’re more likely to deploy in the Caribbean than in Delray,” he said. “The county right now has the permitted sites.”

The benefits of coral

Corals provide vital ecosystem services like food security through fisheries, coastal protection from storms and erosion, and a significant source of income through tourism related to diving and snorkeling activities.

Singer Studio’s substrate hopes to save beaches — and thus millions of dollars spent to replenish them. It is full of nooks and crannies to attract coral, but the individual pieces fit together to create a spine that not only fosters coral growth but stops beach erosion, Bregman said.

Delray Beach is looking at spending $29 million to keep its world-renowned beach and dunes pristine through a renourishment project. Renourishment projects dump sand — either dredged up or trucked in — on beaches.

Some municipalities have embraced artificial reefs, such as Hollywood, which has sunken concrete mermaids and Greek gods. 

“It’s going to be a tourist attraction,” Bregman said of that city’s efforts. “The thing that’s interesting about it is, they don’t even see it as coastal protection at all. They barely see it as an environmental thing. They see it as a tourism project.”

Delray Beach isn’t going to be a diver’s destination. The current is too swift. Fix is looking to save corals and hopes — prays — the city is a willing partner.

Various types of coral in the coral nursery. 

A growing process

Back at The Reef Institute, the staffers know when certain types of corals spawn. They scoop up the eggs and the sperm and place them in what Fix calls the “cradle.” At this point, they are no more than mere specks, but those specks grow on little pieces of tile and eventually get to the point of being ready to be placed in the ocean.

“Up until now, it has been two years. But now we are playing around with the idea, ‘Could we put them in at a smaller size?’” she explained.

New tanks await coral inside the institute’s future home, which is much larger. The institute and Delray Beach planned to assess sites for coral starting this month.

The Reef Institute is preparing to move into a ginormous new facility in West Palm Beach — at 23,000 square feet, the size of almost half a football field. The mammoth project of moving corals will soon be underway. By the way, staghorn and elkhorn are the divas of the coral world, Fix informs, and need to be moved last. Another fun fact is that brain coral gets its coloring from the symbiotic relationship it has with algae.

Fix says the importance of a partnership with Delray Beach and The Reef Institute cannot be understated.

“Delray backing us opens the eyes of the rest of the county. They’re pioneering. They’re paving the way,” she said. “And I’ve thought that for a long time. Local cities can go, ‘OK, we get it. We’re going back to do it as a city.’ It just opens the gates.” 

Women relax under the buttonwood tree in this 1928 photo. The tree still stands at the center of the park in Boca Raton’s Por La Mar. Photo provided by Boca Raton Historical Society BELOW: Sherry, Joshua and Ken Lerner (l-r) with the tree during the annual neighborhood picnic in March. They live in the adjoining Riviera section. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Neighborhood is ‘last vestige of Boca’s beach town ambience’

By Ron Hayes

Por La Mar’s royalty was already present and waiting in dignified silence when members of the Riviera Civic Association began arriving March 8 for their annual picnic in the neighborhood park.

Truly, if this little enclave — “By the Sea” in Spanish — can claim any royalty at all, it’s that tall green buttonwood tree at the center of the park.

The venerable Conocarpus erectus was there before the neighborhood was born a century ago, and it shows no sign of abdicating anytime soon.

“The City Council passed an ordinance declaring it a historic tree on Jan. 14, 1992,” said Keith Nelson, a member of the association’s board of directors and the city’s parks and recreation advisory board.

A Por La Mar resident since 2003, he pointed up Park Drive toward Spanish Trail.

“Capt. Tom Rickards built the first house in Boca Raton right about there in 1897. He wasn’t a real captain, but he was a civil engineer who’d come down to do surveying for Flagler’s railroad extension,” Nelson said. “Everybody talks about Addison Mizner, but Capt. Rickards was Boca’s true founding father.

“I love history,” he added.

Nelson had positioned a couple of easels by the picnic check-in table. One bore a 1928 photograph of ladies relaxing under that same buttonwood tree. The other offered the original platting map for Por La Mar, filed on April 7, 1925, a hundred years ago this month.

The street layout is unchanged today. Park Drive is still Park Drive, Spanish Trail still Spanish Trail, and the little piece of land in the center designated “Park” was still there to welcome the picnickers.

A Boston fern grows from the bark of the buttonwood tree that is the central point of the park. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

“We’re a small town with a beach flavor,” said Katie MacDougall, the Riviera Civic Association president, “yet just across the bridge you’ve got the downtown. This is the last vestige of Boca’s beach town ambience.”

The RCA represents about 400 homes in three adjacent neighborhoods. Sun and Surf, arriving in the 1950s, stretches south from Red Reef Park to Northeast Sixth Street, where the Riviera neighborhood was established in 1945, turning into little Por La Mar south of Palmetto Park Road.

On this afternoon, about 100 residents of all three neighborhoods converged in the park to meet and mingle, dine on chicken, seafood, or veggie paella, and tell a curious visitor how much they love where they live.

“I’ve lived in Sun and Surf since 1971, when I was 9 years old,” boasted Dan Schauer.

Dan and Mary Schauer love the neighborhood so much that two years ago they had their house on Coquina Way torn down to have another built on the same lot.

“We just moved back in after two years in Boynton Beach while the house was being built,” he said. “We wouldn’t have been here so long if not for all the nice people. There’s been a lot of building and reconstruction, but there’s still a lot of old community members, and I’m so happy to be back. It’s nice to get up and walk down the street and put your toes in the sand.”

William Sun was vacationing from Santa Cruz, California, in 2015, when housing was still affordable at the tail end of the recession. He looked up some Realtors on a whim, and wound up buying in Riviera.

“California is very left leaning,” he said, “but here we have a common goal of keeping our neighborhoods development free, so we get in on the ground floor with the City Council.”

Residents enjoy food and friendship at the Riviera Civic Association’s annual picnic for the Por La Mar, Riviera and Sun and Surf neighborhoods at Por La Mar’s park. Por La Mar turns 100 years old on April 7. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

As the afternoon slipped toward evening and more picnickers arrived, you couldn’t help noticing a shortage of younger picnickers, which is why the Lerner family stood out.

Ken and Sherry Lerner had planned to move from west Boca to someplace nearer the ocean once they’d become empty nesters. Their youngest, Joshua, was still in school and living at home.

But then they happened on a fixer-upper in Riviera, one of the modest homes built in 1945, when Boca Raton Army Air Field brought 15,000 service members to a town of 700, along with a huge housing shortage.

Two years ago, they bought the house and had a new nest, not yet empty.

Joshua Lerner is 17 now, and a junior at FAU High School.

“I like it,” he said of his new neighborhood. “It’s definitely different.” He paused. “It’s definitely quiet.” He paused again. “I’ve seen a couple young people around.”

But his father had enough enthusiasm for both.

“The people here are wonderful,” Ken Lerner enthused, “and the vibe is very different. Very chill. This is where we’re going to be.”

By the end of the day, the tables would be gone, the paella eaten, and all the easels and historic photos removed. But the old green buttonwood tree would remain, a hundred years on, still reigning in dignified silence over the little neighborhood park.

“Plans are still not complete, but we’re going to rededicate the tree sometime this year as part of the city’s centennial celebrations,” Keith Nelson promised.

“We’ll sing Happy Birthday to it and maybe have some cupcakes.”

Spring is the season of comings and goings. Winter visitors will soon be leaving South County as they do every year. Even the moon left us, hiding in Earth’s shadow for about an hour on March 14 in the only lunar eclipse we could see here in 2025. 

And many manatees have returned to North Florida and South Georgia in search of less tropical water. Congratulations if you’re among the lucky ones who glimpsed the sea cows either in the wild or in the warm waters of FPL’s Manatee Lagoon at its Riviera Beach power plant, where the gentle marine mammals congregated during our comparatively few cold days this winter. 

But while boaters may see fewer manatees, they now have to look out for our treasured spring arrivals — sea turtles coming here to lay eggs on the same beaches where they themselves were born.

While sea turtle season is usually March 1 to Oct. 31, the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton happily reported finding its first turtle visitor on Feb. 22.

“Exciting news!” its biologists posted on Facebook. “Today our team marked the first leatherback nest of the 2025 season in Boca Raton. … How many do you think we’ll get this year?”

Highland Beach wasn’t far behind.

“This morning we marked our first Leatherback nest,” the Highland Beach Sea Turtle Team said on Facebook on March 6.

Joanne Ryan, who leads the team, said false crawls by mama turtles, when they climb up on the sand but return to the ocean without laying eggs, have been consistently higher in South County the past couple of years.

“This is how everyone can help the sea turtles have a successful nesting season,” she said. “Lights out, leave nothing on the beach, maintain your distance.”

Another threat to sea turtles is plastic pollution in the ocean. Those party cups we drink from won’t disintegrate in our lifetimes; they just break down into smaller and smaller pieces. Scientists first called these bits “microplastics” and now realize there are even smaller pieces: “nanoplastics.”

Something to think about: While plastic bits are increasing everywhere and can fatally clog a sea turtle’s digestive system, nanoplastics are now showing up in larger concentrations in people’s organs. 

In a recent article in Nature Medicine, “researchers examined micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) contamination in brain, liver, and kidney tissue samples collected between 2016 and 2024. In short: People with dementia had up to ten times the amount of microplastics in their brain tissue than those without dementia. Both liver and brain tissues collected in 2024 had significantly higher concentrations of MNPs than those collected in 2016, with the concentration of plastics in brains increasing by about 50% over the past 8 years.”

So please, pick up any plastics when you leave the beach. Reuse or recycle them.

And one last “going,” for those of you who get The Coastal Star thrown in your driveway: This issue is the last to be delivered that way. Coming next month, if you live in a single-family home, you’ll get your copy in your mailbox, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. It will be a welcome change if you’ve ever had your newspaper drenched by a summer rainstorm.

— Steve Plunkett, Managing Editor

Carol Besler is president of the StarBright Civic Collective, a nonprofit that has funded emergency medical training for Ocean Ridge police and classes for residents. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Kathleen Kernicky

Carol Besler was always mindful of her health. After retiring from teaching, she moved to Florida, studied acupuncture and earned a degree in Chinese medicine. She stayed fit, walked daily and ran in races. There was no warning when she collapsed at a friend’s home in 2022, changing her life in unexpected ways. 

Ocean Ridge police officers gave Besler emergency treatment until neighboring Boynton Beach fire rescue arrived. At the hospital, Besler was told she’d had a stroke. 

She later learned that only three Ocean Ridge officers were trained in emergency medical services.  

“If none of those three officers were working that day, the outcome could have been very different,” said Besler, 70, a resident of Ocean Ridge since 2005. “I just collapsed. There was no warning at all.”

 Besler and a small group of neighbors created the StarBright Civic Collective, a nonprofit corporation that would support community programs in need and organize social events. 

One of its first projects was to donate about $45,000 to the Ocean Ridge Police Department to train all officers as certified emergency medical technicians. The funding covered updated equipment for police vehicles, including new defibrillators, fire suppression equipment and Narcan, used to treat overdoses. The department’s existing defibrillators were donated to condo associations. 

“It was a win-win for the whole town,” said Besler, who believes the training will save lives.

“Our concern was that the town and surrounding communities are getting bigger, and the traffic was getting worse,” she said. “If the bridge is up or a train is going by, it could be several minutes before Boynton Beach arrives. Our Police Department arrives first, provides whatever services they can, and stays with the patient until fire rescue arrives.”

Ocean Ridge contracts with Boynton Beach to provide fire rescue services to the barrier island community of about 1,800 people. Ocean Ridge police officers are dispatched to emergency medical calls and arrive more quickly, usually in two or three minutes. 

Boynton Beach borders Ocean Ridge to the west, across the Intracoastal Waterway’s Woolbright Road and Ocean Avenue bridges. 

While residents had talked about forming a social group, Besler’s medical emergency helped push an idea into action. 

“Historically, the only organization around had been the garden club,” Besler said. “Over the years, the makeup of the community changed. We had more younger people, people with children. There had been talk about, ‘Let’s have a group that has more social activities as well as more services.’ Before it was just talk, there were no formal plans.”

Now president and former chairwoman, Besler works with eight board members who manage the collective. Events take place from fall through spring when the seasonal residents are in town.

“A big part of the mission is to promote socialization,” she said. “We want people to feel connected and involved in the community. We take our cues from what residents want.”

They’ve organized ice cream socials, a popular Bingo Night and seminars on requested topics. They installed a water station for dogs and people outside Town Hall. Their first big fundraising gala was in February at the Eau Palm Beach Resort, organized in just six weeks and selling 120 tickets.

In January, the group donated $48,000 to the Police Department to buy a thermal-equipped drone and three surveillance cameras. The drone will be used for missing persons searches, storm-related mapping during hurricane season, and responding more quickly to swimmers in distress. The live cameras will help monitor foot and bike traffic at the town’s Intracoastal bridges. 

Besler moved to Florida from Princeton Junction, New Jersey, where she spent 25 years as a teacher who later owned and operated state-contracted child-care centers.

“My real love is teaching,” she said. “I started out teaching middle school and did that for two years. But I loved teaching kindergarten. I opened my first nursery school teaching 3- to 5-year-olds. By the time I retired, I had six child-care centers with very young children from 6 months through kindergarten.”  

After retiring and moving with her husband, Philip, to Ocean Ridge, the mother of three and grandmother of five found a way to give back to the community.  “Being in education, part of my personality has always been to be a giver,” she said. “I feel blessed to have good people around me. And this has been a good way to give back to the community. I’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this, and every minute has been worth it.” 

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR 

Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com 

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The Coastal Star is converting all of its delivery to single-family homes, going from newspapers in plastic bags thrown in driveways to having U.S. Postal Service delivery in mailboxes.

We are doing this to improve service to our readers and advertisers. Between sprinkler systems and summer rains, we know we have delivered a few wet papers over the years; hopefully this will bring that to an end.

Beginning with our May 2025 edition, readers in single-family homes should look for their papers in the mail.

Delivery to condos, businesses and other public locations will continue to be handled in bundles as usual.

Those who receive the paper by mail should not expect to see the next edition before Saturday, May 3.

— Jerry Lower
Publisher

I’ve lived in Highland Beach for 26 years. In spite of all the new and improved infrastructure put in place to deter it — the latest of which is pedestrian-activated warning lights installed at no small expense — vehicles continue to fly through crosswalks with pedestrians present. 

Part of the problem, I believe, is that the authorities don’t enforce the law, or not often enough. I’ve witnessed police cars ignore such scofflaws on numerous occasions. It almost seems like policy to do so and that’s a scary thought.

I’m no expert on human behavior, but I think it’s intuitive to conclude that if tickets were given, diligently and consistently, even if with only small fines attached, negligent driving habits would change spontaneously.

—James Sherman
Highland Beach

Firefighter Jesse Rivero was sworn in March 24 by Town Attorney Max Lohman. Rivero’s wife, Kerri, held the Bible. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

Newcomer Jesse Rivero, a 50-year-old firefighter, defeated veteran Town Council member Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse for Lantana’s Group 1 Council seat.

Moorhouse, 81, a retired dentist, has been on the council for 21 years and was endorsed by the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County — a surprise and disappointment to Rivero, who has served 20 years with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

But Rivero said at a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce eight days before the vote, “He may have the endorsement of the union, but I have the endorsement of the community.”

Rivero collected more than 58% of the vote compared to Moorhouse’s 41%. Only 733 of Lantana’s 6,131 registered voters cast ballots in the March 11 election.

Reached by phone election night, Rivero, celebrating with family and a few friends at El Bohio Cuban Restaurant, said Moorhouse had already called to concede and extend congratulations. Mayor Karen Lythgoe and Police Chief Sean Scheller also called with best wishes.

“Like I said at the debate, I didn’t get the endorsements Doc got, but the people were behind me and whatever the people decide will happen,” Rivero said.

Rivero said he thought the election would be close because Moorhouse had history in the town and knew a lot of people. “But I know a lot of people, too.”

Moorhouse did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Asked to comment about the election and what Moorhouse’s departure would mean, Lythgoe said: “Doc possessed a deep understanding of the council’s history and provided institutional knowledge to the council. I look forward to what Jesse may bring.”

With Moorhouse gone, the longest serving council members are Lythgoe and Mark Zeitler, both of whom were first elected in March 2020.

Kem Mason, who holds the Group 2 spot, was elected automatically when no one else filed to run for the position during the election qualifying period that ended Nov. 15.

Mason, 66, is a retired firefighter and is completing his first term.

Rivero and Mason were sworn in during the March 24 Town Council meeting.

Council terms are for three years.

By Steve Plunkett

Briny Breezes Town Manager Bill Thrasher is preparing a budget for fiscal year 2026 that will raise town property taxes to $6.75 per $1,000 of taxable value, up 80% from the current $3.75 rate.

“Its purpose is for covering debt service with a possible loan,” he told town aldermen at their March 27 meeting.

Thrasher said he was developing different budget packages to respond to possible changes in local funding by state lawmakers in Tallahassee, including their potentially doing away with property taxes entirely.

“As far as I know, that hasn’t been picked up,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really going to happen.”

But proposals to increase the homestead exemption by $25,000 or even $50,000 might, he said, so he was preparing budgets to take each scenario into account. The next fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

Briny Breezes has 156 properties that claim a homestead exemption, he said.

Alderman Bill Birch said a $6.75 tax rate would have a small effect on residents’ total property tax bills, which include levies from Palm Beach County, the county School District and other taxing authorities.

He held out his own property tax bill as proof.

“If it went from $3.75 to $6.75 my tax bill would change by $133 a year total coming back to Briny. I would only wind up paying an increase of $11 a month. So it’s not doubling your tax bill by any means,” Birch said.

Fiscal year 2024 was the first time since 2009 that Briny Breezes did not levy $10 per $1,000 of taxable value, the maximum allowed by state law, and levied only $3.75 per $1,000. The maneuver was said to give the town room to raise taxes, perhaps back to the $10 rate, to repay loans it might take out to finance sea walls, drainage improvements and new streets to fight sea-level rise.

Meanwhile, Briny Breezes Inc. paid 70% of the cost of police and fire rescue services in town, which it offset by charging residents of the mobile home park higher annual assessments.

In prior years, the town used the maximum $10 tax rate to enable residents to take a higher deduction on their federal tax returns. 

It took this southbound driver more than six minutes to clear State Road A1A tunnel construction about 5 p.m. March 26, even with signal timing adjustments made for the heavier southbound traffic flow. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Larry Barszewski

Manalapan town commis-sioners say there should be a time for homeowners of lots stretching from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean to build tunnel passageways under State Road A1A — just not during tourist season when traffic on the road is at its peak.

A traffic nightmare surfaced in late February and March with the simultaneous construction of two tunnels next door to each other, causing heavy traffic backups on A1A on weekends and during weekday rush hours. The work isn’t expected to be completed until the middle of May, Town Manager Eric Marmer said on March 27.

It’s not as if officials couldn’t see the problem coming. Town residents Mary and Ralph Gesualdo asked commissioners in January to force a delay in their neighbors’ efforts to build the tunnels for properties at 1890 and 1900 S. Ocean Blvd. because of the crush of traffic on the road this time of year.

However, at that meeting, Town Attorney Keith Davis said the property owners, Jagbir and Sarla Singh, had permits approved in July for the work and that the town had no authority to stop a valid permit.

The tunnels originally were to be completed in November, but the owners ran into delays with Florida Department of Transportation permitting for the project and then the town requested work be postponed so it wouldn’t cause traffic problems around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Marmer told commissioners at their March 11 meeting that at least three or four more tunnels are being planned for under A1A, which allows property owners to connect the houses where they live on the west side of A1A with the beach and their beach houses to the east — without the owners’ having to cross the roadway.

Marmer asked commissioners what they want to see done.

“We do have somebody over there part time that monitors the traffic and has dealt with some road rage incidents over there,” Marmer said.

Commissioners are interested in creating an ordinance that only allows the tunnel work from April 15 through October, possibly limiting construction to one tunnel at a time.

Typically, in the past, the affected two-lane section of road was closed for a week while crews worked near nonstop to put in a tunnel. It was also possible to close down one lane of traffic at a time to build a tunnel, adding another week to the timeline.

In the recent situation, the state required the homeowners to build a “bypass road” on their property to allow a lane of traffic to continue during construction. The new requirements can create a bigger nightmare, affecting traffic for six weeks or more, town officials said.

“If they close the road down it takes five days. If they do half the road (at a time) it takes two weeks. So now it’s taking six weeks (or longer). I don’t understand,” Commissioner Cindy McMackin said.

Marmer said the town is checking with FDOT to see if it would allow homeowners to go back to the previous ways of building the tunnels.

The recent traffic problems have been exacerbated by portable street signals that have been giving equal time for northbound and southbound traffic to access the single-lane bypass — no matter the difference in the length of the car lines.

“My experience is almost always a one-way problem. Like, we’re coming up and there are 10 cars going north and 125 going south, things like that,” Commissioner Dwight Kulwin said. “They’re during predictable times and I think if you had somebody there to readjust things and move things along, I think that would go a great way.”

Marmer said it should not be police handling the timing of the signals, but construction crews. “We’re not looking for the police to be flagmen, though. We’re looking for them to be present at the site,” Marmer said. The cost of providing police should be picked up by the applicant, officials said.

Police Chief Jeff Rasor, who had implied a traffic-oriented role for the police earlier in the meeting, backed what Marmer said.

“Obviously, anytime you have a traffic congestion problem, people’s patience becomes very thin, for lack of better words,” Rasor said. “A police presence there obviously has a calming effect on everybody.”

And Vice Mayor Simone Bonutti said there were safety concerns as well. “I even had a runner coming at me this morning, going through that bypass. It’s like a death wish,” she said. “I just want to prevent an accident from happening.”

By Steve Plunkett

Town residents, acting as shareholders of Briny Breezes Inc., strongly endorsed allowing the town government to proceed with its plan to make “material alteration” of Briny Breezes, meaning its drainage and sea wall project.

The Feb. 26 vote was 65% in favor and 12% against, with 23% of shares not voting. The measure needed 51% to pass.

“I’m so thrilled that we were allowed to go forward with this project,” Council President Liz Loper said at the council’s regular meeting the next day.

But a month later, at their March 27 meeting, the aldermen were dismayed by news of the status of the town’s $1.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Our federal grant is paused,” Town Manager Bill Thrasher said. “I’ve received a letter from the Treasury Department that our grant is in pause. Our grant has not been denied or pulled back as of this moment.”

Thrasher did not consider the federal action to be a setback.

“We’re not quite ready to move forward anyway,” he said. “The Resilient Florida grant, we’re trying to modify it to achieve some of our purposes. … But there is a pause on the federal side. I’ve not been given any notices whatsoever from the state side.” 

Briny Breezes qualified for a $7.2 million grant from the Resilient Florida program. The town hopes to build a comprehensive, townwide drainage system and raise its sea walls to fight perennial flooding and expected sea-level rise. The total project cost is $14.4 million.

In February, Palm Beach County rejected the town’s request for a $5 million grant to help pay for the project.

But County Commissioner Marci Woodward “was very impressed with your dedication and efforts, and asked our resilience team to continue exploring other potential options for the town moving forward,” Caitlin Joyce, Woodward’s chief of staff, wrote in an email to Thrasher. 

By Brian Biggane

The South Palm Beach Town Council heard 30-minute presentations March 13 from a pair of engineering firms regarding the long-awaited construction of a new lift station.

As Mayor Bonnie Fischer put it after the vote at the special meeting, “I was impressed with both.” The tally reflected that statement as Mock Roos of West Palm Beach edged out Holtz Consulting Engineers of Jupiter in a 435-433 vote.

Each of the five council members received a scoresheet and awarded points — up to a maximum of 100 for either applicant — covering different criteria. The two most significant were “ability and experience” and “successful past performance,” with each of those criteria eligible for up to 35 points from each member.

Replacing the aging lift station has been a priority for several months. Earlier this year, the council approved a measure authorizing a payment of more than $7,000 to address the latest emergency repairs. 

The lift station receives sewage from the town’s condos and sends it to the Lake Worth Beach treatment plant. The station is between the Brittany and Concordia West condominiums.

Town Manager Jamie Titcomb issued a request for bids in late 2024, but failed to receive the required three bids. After a reissue of the request still left the town with only two bids, the council decided to go ahead and choose between those two.

Holtz Engineers, led by Vice President Christine Miranda, went first, pointing out that while it is on the small side, with just 22 employees, 13 of those are professional engineers. Miranda said she has 25 years of experience in the field dating back to working with the Loxahatchee River District, which is the wastewater entity for the town of Jupiter.

Next up for the team was Steve Fowler, who would serve as project manager. He described constructing lift stations as “our day-in, day-out business.” Fowler said he has 20 years of experience and has worked extensively for Palm Beach County, as well as for Lake Worth Beach, the Loxahatchee River District and Palm Beach Gardens.

The third and final member of the group was Kristin Feko, whose expertise is in the area of grant management and grant application. She expressed confidence she could find ways to mitigate the town’s expenses.

Titcomb said while many factors play into the cost of the project, he expects it to come in between $500,000 and $1 million. 

Next up was Mock Roos, whose four-man contingent came with the expectation it would be participating in an ask-and-answer session rather than a presentation, but regrouped quickly.

Senior Vice President Garry Gruber introduced the quartet and stressed the experience they would bring to the project.

Prospective project manager John Cairnes, whose 17 years with the firm was the shortest tenure of the four, said he has become “one of the most experienced, top-notch lift station engineers in Palm Beach County,” having designed more than 100 such rehab projects. He said he has evaluated more than 1,000 lift stations for the county Water Utilities Department and more than 100 for the village of Wellington.

Cairnes said the significant change his team would make from the existing lift station would be to put in a slope rather than a flat bottom.

That would mean all the refuse and debris “goes right into the pump and it gets sucked out, so there’s less maintenance there,” he said. “So, if a storm came through … you’d be able to just continue normal operation.

“You really wouldn’t have to do anything, kind of a ‘set it and forget it.’”

Cairnes added that with the improvements, materials and technology, “you wouldn’t have to touch it, hopefully, for another 50 years.”

Cairnes said the firm is contracted to build new lift stations for Manalapan and the town of Palm Beach, with those being the two closest pump stations to South Palm Beach.

Council member Elva Culbertson said that proximity was a factor in her giving the edge to Mock Roos.

Cairnes said a delay in the availability of materials means the Manalapan project won’t begin construction until early next year. South Palm Beach would face similar delays.

Town Attorney Ben Saver met with the quartet from Mock Roos immediately after the meeting to start negotiations toward a contract. The council said if no deal can be struck it would turn to Holtz next.