Related: Highland Beach: Rains show A1A flooding has worsened

By Rich Pollack

After years of stops and starts, hurdles and hindrances and delays and disruptions, a long-awaited sewer lining project in Highland Beach could begin in the next few months.

After yet another delay.

Town leaders say crews are poised to begin the massive undertaking of lining 18,000 feet of sewer pipes beginning once the State Road A1A improvement project is completed.

The work will cost about $1.5 million, and the town will tap into reserves in its sewer fund to cover the cost.

Town officials had hoped to be able to start the sewer lining in September, but their timeline had to be pushed back again in August after state transportation officials said they would not be able to finish their road project by the Sept. 16 date they had previously announced.

The good news for residents and motorists who are weary from enduring months of lane closures on the main thoroughfare is that there will be minimal disruption during the pipe-lining project.

Rather than having to tear up the newly repaved road, crews doing the sewer lining will be working essentially from “manhole to manhole” using cameras to inspect the lines underground, then cleaning them before a liner of resin is inserted.

On the side streets, which have mostly single-family homes or smaller multifamily units, residents will be asked to be a bit more conservative in water use while crews are working outside.

The town will notify residents when work is being done in their area to let them know there will be minor disruptions.

When crews are working on sewer pipes along A1A, which has many multistory buildings alongside it, workers will reroute wastewater flows to prevent disruptions.

Town Manager Marshall Labadie said that an inspection of the lines several years ago showed that some of the sewer pipes that were more than 50 years old were in need of repair.

Crews discovered that there were areas where the pipes were leaking and areas where they were subject to water from the outside getting in, meaning the town was paying to treat wastewater it didn’t need to treat.

With the lining project, Labadie said, the town should be able to go another 50 to 75 years without having to rehabilitate the pipes.

“We’re shoring up our infrastructure,” Labadie said.

For the town, getting the project started has been a challenge.

“This was a very difficult project to get off center,” Labadie said.

He said the town started working on the project six years ago and found that the design process for the work took longer than expected.

Once the project went out for bid, the town received bids that came in too high, so the project was then modified and sent out for bid again.

This time there were no bidders.

Last year, the town went to residents and received voter approval to spend up to $3.5 million on the sewer lining project. 

Highland Beach firefighters extinguished a fire started by a downed high-voltage transmission line in front of the condo at 3525 S. Ocean Blvd. on Aug. 20. The call was one of six spanning less than 90 minutes that evening. Larry Barszewski/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

For Highland Beach firefighters and paramedics, Aug. 20 was one of those days that they won’t soon forget.

The shift had been quiet, except for when power went out as generators were tested throughout the Town Hall complex.

Then power went out again around 5:45 p.m. and, a short time later, the crew assigned to the ladder truck was dispatched to an alarm call at a building just a short distance away.

So began a crazy early evening in which firefighters responded to six calls in less than 90 minutes and used a mutual aid agreement with Boca Raton Fire Rescue for the first time since the town’s department started up a little more than a year ago.

When the department was being created, skeptics wondered if a small-town department in a coastal community could handle multiple calls at once.

The actions of the firefighters and paramedics on shift that Wednesday provided the answer.

“That tested the scope of our response,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “It worked the way it was supposed to. It worked the way it was designed.”

All hands on deck
As the ladder truck was pulling out of the station to respond to the first alarm call, the team saw smoke in the opposite direction and was flagged down by a resident who said a live power line was down and landscaping in front of a home was on fire.

While the ladder truck headed to the fire, the rescue truck at the station was sent to the original call, which turned out to be a false alarm.

As the firefighters at the downed power line waited for Florida Power & Light to arrive and cut off its electricity, the first call of people stuck in elevators — due to power failures — came in to dispatch. The rescue truck at the false alarm was able to respond and free the stuck resident, but within minutes three more calls came in.

One was about another downed wire. The ladder truck responded, and it turned out the line was not electrified. Another call was about a person stuck in an elevator — close to where the first person was trapped. The rescue unit responded to that.

At the same time, another call came in for a resident who had just gotten out of the hospital and needed help getting into his home.

That’s when Driver/Engineer Daniel Stearns called for help from Boca Raton Fire Rescue, which sent a rescue unit.

“You don’t want to make someone wait,” he said.

“It was controlled chaos but it’s what we’re trained to do,” said Stearns. “We’re trained to manage situations like this.”

While this was not an ordinary day in Highland Beach, it wasn’t a totally unexpected one, either.

“When the power goes out, everything is possible,” said Capt. Robert Kruse, the shift captain that day.

Although larger departments are used to handling multiple calls at the same time, the simultaneous events of that day were a first for Highland Beach Fire Rescue.

“For a department of this scope and size, this is highly abnormal,” Assistant Chief of Operations Tom McCarthy said.

Boca Raton residents — mostly those who live in Tower 155 adjacent to a proposed 12-story hotel — are voicing their displeasure about this project. This latest uproar comes on the heels of a clamor about the proposed redevelopment of the downtown campus where City Hall and the Community Center now sit. Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

Another protest over downtown redevelopment has erupted, this time over a proposal to build a 12-story hotel and retail project along Northeast Second Street to the north of the Tower 155 condo.

James and Marta Batmasian, the largest commercial property owners in the downtown, first proposed Mizner Plaza in 2023 but didn’t move forward with it.

They now are seeking city approvals and won the first round on Aug. 21, when the Planning and Zoning Board recommended by a vote of 5-1 that the City Council approve it and a related land sale despite strong objections — mostly from Tower 155 residents.

The nearly 2-acre project would replace retail buildings, the downtown U.S. Post Office and a small city-owned parcel that now is a public parking lot.

Mizner Plaza would have two towers with retail and restaurants on the first two floors and the 242-room hotel above them. A 56-foot-wide and 20-foot-tall staircase would separate the towers and would align with the plaza in Mizner Park. Parking would be on two levels underground.

The staircase is intended to be a “destination and experience for all,” according to the project application, but elevators and a pedestrian ramp also would be available. The project would be nearly identical to the one proposed two years ago, except that plan featured nine-story hotel towers and 266 rooms.

The nearly 0.3-acre city-owned lot that the Batmasians want to buy would become a pocket park. The couple already owns the rest of the land.

A 10-foot alley on the south side of the project site would be expanded to 20 feet to accommodate two-way traffic.

But just like the city’s plans to redevelop its downtown campus where City Hall and the Community Center now sit, the project is decried by nearby residents and some members of Save Boca, the residents’ group opposing the campus redevelopment that would include the addition of residential, retail, office and hotel to the 30-acre property.

Wearing red shirts and carrying signs that said, “Too Big, Too Close, All Wrong,” they and their lawyers voiced a host of objections at the Aug. 21 meeting. They said Mizner Plaza is too large and tall, the same objections lodged against Tower 155 when it was proposed.

Tower 155 residents also said the buildings are too close together, creating a cramped, canyon-like effect.

Ele Zachariades, the Batmasians’ attorney, said they were aware of the close proximity and pushed back the plaza so the two buildings will be 54 feet apart, far more than the city requires.

Other residents lamented the loss of small businesses that now sit on one parcel and said the downtown is in no need of additional restaurants. And while the alley width has been doubled, they said it will be too small a street to accommodate traffic, and delivery and sanitation vehicles.

None, however, voiced objections to the loss of the post office. Residents, including the Batmasians, strongly objected to its potential loss in 2018.

At the time, postal officials planned to relocate it because their lease was about to expire and they could not get another one from the Batmasians. James Batmasian said he had no idea the postal service wanted a new, long-term lease and offered to provide one. That lease now expires in 2028.

But a post office might remain, even though that was not mentioned at the meeting. At the City Council’s Aug. 26 meeting, City Manager George Brown said, without elaborating, that he believes “there is an intention” by the Batmasians to have a post office substation. Since the property is privately owned, the city cannot mandate that, he said.

Tower 155 attorney Richard DeWitt said there were legal problems with how the city has handled the matter. But he focused on the sale of the city-owned parcel to the Batmasians.

City staff recommended that the planning board authorize that sale. A staff memo states that the property was appraised at $2.4 million in April. But the Batmasians wanted to pay nothing, saying they should get credit for replacing 17 public parking spaces now on the lot and for park construction and maintenance costs.

Staff disagreed that they should get the land for free. After giving credits for construction and maintenance, they recommended a purchase price of $883,558.

But DeWitt said there was an earlier appraisal in 2024 that pegged the market value of the property at $3.3 million. The developer, apparently James Batmasian, balked at that amount and asked for a new appraisal. Even so, he indicated the city was only asking for $10 — essentially a giveaway. That’s when the city requested the second appraisal.

DeWitt asked the planning board to either deny approval of the property sale or table the matter so the board could fully evaluate the sale. That would include whether only the Batmasians would be entitled to buy the parcel.

Several residents questioned how the sale was being handled, with one saying it “seems like a very shady backroom deal.”

The Batmasians’ son, Armen, who is involved with acquisition and development for their company Investments Limited, pushed back against the criticisms.

“It is kind of disheartening hearing all this negative feedback from one building regarding the most important development in our city,” he said. “You try to do the right thing … and try to build a very amenable development and here we are getting bashed for it and it is just shocking.

“Our downtown depends on some retail. … There’s 100,000 other citizens that need a downtown and we don’t have one.”

Board members did not respond to DeWitt. They praised the project, with four describing it as “beautiful.”

As for the complaints, Board member Timothy Dornblaser said, “These are the same complaints I hear from residents about new projects.”

Lot clearing has begun on a vacant State Road A1A parcel east of Boca Raton’s Coastal Construction Control Line. It is the site of a future oceanfront home and one of only two vacant beachfront parcels remaining in the city. Delray Beach-based Azure Development LLC, which owns the property, applied for a building permit in April and the clearing is so that engineering crews can complete required tests. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

A vacant parcel scheduled to become an oceanfront home on the east side of State Road A1A in Boca Raton has been partially cleared so that engineering crews can complete required tests.

Delray Beach-based Azure Development LLC, which owns the .42-acre property at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd., applied for a building permit on April 30 after the City Council in October granted a variance to build a single-family home on the sand east of the city’s Coastal Construction Control Line.

The application values the four-story, 6,931-square-foot structure, across A1A from the Blue Water Townhouses, at almost $3.2 million.

As of Sept. 1, the owner still faced questions from the city’s Development Services Department on the property’s engineering, environmental, structural, utilities and zoning plans. The parcel now features a rocky circular driveway sloping down toward the sea.

Development Services had recommended that the variance be approved last October after attaching 17 conditions for Azure to meet, including that the building’s windows transmit no more than 31% of any interior lighting onto the beach, which is nesting habitat for protected sea turtles.

Azure first sought permission to build on the dune in February 2019, was rejected by the council and sued. The developer and the City Council agreed to settle two pending lawsuits over the property in September 2024 as a prelude to the variance vote. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office says the vacant land is worth almost $3.4 million.

The property is one of two remaining undeveloped parcels on the beach. A federal judge in March 2024 ruled that the owner of 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. two lots south of 2600 has a “vested right” to build on its property.

Boca Raton Fire Rescue responded to this boat fire in the Hillsboro Canal west of Dixie Highway near Southwest 22nd Street shortly after 11 p.m. on Aug. 3. No one was aboard any of the three boats. Photo provided by Boca Raton Fire Rescue

By Rich Pollack

An unattended barbecue grill may have been responsible for a boat fire on the Hillsboro Canal at the south end of Boca Raton that resulted in two vessels being destroyed and a third suffering significant damage, city fire-rescue officials said.

The fire, which occurred shortly after 11 p.m. on Aug. 3, came at the end of a busy day on the water for Boca Raton Fire Rescue. Earlier in the day, firefighters and paramedics pulled three people from the Intracoastal Waterway after the boat they were in overturned.

While Boca Raton Fire Rescue has a fully equipped fire boat, that vessel was unable to respond to the Hillsboro Canal fire due to access issues and as a result, firefighters battled the blaze from the shore, west of Dixie Highway near Southwest 22nd Street.

Six units were dispatched to attack the fire and firefighters utilized a master stream device — a high-volume system used to deliver a significant amount of water over a long distance — to suppress the boat fires.

No one was on board any of the boats and the fire was contained in less than 30 minutes. Further investigation of the fire was turned over to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Fire Department, which also responded.

Earlier in the day, Boca Raton Fire Rescue used the fire boat to pull three people out of the water in the 1200 block of the Intracoastal Waterway. Fire Rescue Lt. Karl Richards said five people were on the boat when it capsized in rough water but only three were in the water when firefighters arrived. One person suffered minor injuries and was taken to Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

Boca Raton Fire Rescue recommends these boating safety tips:

Wear a life jacket: 80% of drowning victims weren’t wearing one.
Boat sober: Alcohol is the leading contributor to fatal boating accidents.
Make a checklist: Inspect fuel systems and electrical wiring regularly.
Have a fire plan: Know where to find extinguishers and exits (for larger vessels).
Take a boating safety course: Certified knowledge can make all the difference.
Communicate a float plan: Let people know where you’re going, how many people are onboard, what you will do in case of an incident, and when you’ll return.

From Delray Beach kitchen, feeding multitudes in need

Parker Forman of Delray Beach helps fight food insecurity one lasagna at a time by cooking the Italian staple and donating the 9-pound trays to local churches that give them to needy people. Photos by Tim Stepien

By Faran Fagen

On Sunday mornings at 9:30, while many of his friends are sleeping in, 17-year-old Parker Forman begins a four-hour culinary regimen in his Delray Beach kitchen. He bakes lasagna — sometimes more than 140 pounds — for hungry families.

After cooking the lasagna for about 1.5 hours at 350 degrees — topped off by 20 minutes outside the oven for it to cool — Forman takes in the zesty aroma of hot meats and cheeses lined up in 9-by-13-inch tin trays.

“Every time I cook the lasagnas, I want to take a bite,” Forman said. “Every time I cook for people, I’m having an impact on my community.”

Once the lasagnas have cooled, Forman piles the thick tins into his parents’ van and drives — slowly — to two Delray Beach churches: St. Matthew’s Episcopal and Restoration House Empowerment Ministries International, known as RHEMI. After his weekly operation is complete, church volunteers then deliver the lasagnas to families in their community.

Forman says he has always loved lasagna and it was a good meal to mass produce. He can make up to 12 trays at a time and sometimes does two batches of eight trays each.

“To me, lasagna means getting together with a lot of people and eating together,” said Forman, a senior at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. “To me, it’s about helping as many people as I can and feeding as many people as possible.” 

Forman starts by seasoning the ground beef and Italian sausage, above, then adding the pasta and spreading the ricotta cheese in layers, below.

Each 9-pound tray of Forman’s homemade lasagna can feed up to eight people, and with his team of five student volunteers, he has already served more than 1,000 people throughout South Florida.

What started as Forman’s simple gesture — bringing his signature lasagna to St. Matthew’s — has grown into a Florida-registered nonprofit organization called Food4Need Inc. (food4needinc.com)

The student-run nonprofit operates multiple days a week, partners with three churches (First Baptist Church in Pompano Beach is the third) and regularly distributes 300-plus pounds of food.

Forman has loved cooking since he was a child. When he was younger, he enjoyed chopping food in the kitchen with his parents, Jennifer and Brett.

At the end of 2022, as the pandemic waned, the then Pine Crest freshman wanted to give back. The family often participated in Thanksgiving food drives and Christmas toy drives but he wanted to do something himself.

After reaching out to charities, he developed a relationship with St. Matthew’s and started cooking and delivering six or seven lasagnas each Sunday. He realized that he could do more.

In his junior year, the nonprofit was formed, and Forman brought on people and more deliveries.

“I had to bring on more people because so many relied on me and my lasagna,” Forman said. “We rarely miss a week. We try to deliver every week.”

All meals are cooked fresh by Forman and his friends, who all attend Pine Crest School. 

Meals are funded by community donations and supported in part by Sprouts Farmers Market, but Food4Need is trying to get more from grants and foundations. All donations go straight to ingredients; none of the team members is paid.

Besides Forman, who serves as president, the Food4Need team includes co-founder/Vice President Max Hazleton, 17, Pompano Beach; Ryan Kelly del Valle, 17,Boca Raton; Hudson Schwartz, 17, Boca Raton; Zach Moss, 17, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea; and Blake Grossman, 17, Boca Raton.

“When Parker first came to me with his idea and asked for help, I was excited to have the opportunity to give back and help my community,” Kelly del Valle said.

Another key component of the operation is Cynthia Ridley, a 50-year volunteer of St. Matthew’s Church. 

“My focus is to make sure we reach the families who need these lasagnas the most,” Ridley said. "This lasagna relieves stress for a mother of six kids to know how they’re going to feed their family.”

Ridley said the church families love it because the lasagna stretches a long way.

Over the last two years, the program has been so successful that deliveries have expanded to senior citizens.

Parker Forman drops off tins of lasagna in August at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach. The Rev. Lloyd Newton and Yolanda Spells accept on behalf of the church, which then delivered the food to people in the St. Matthew’s community.

“I think it means a lot and I’m surprised he’s able to keep it up,” Ridley said. “It’s been a blessing to the community. It’s homemade, so it’s very good. People are so grateful that we drop it off at their house.” 

Forman, a straight-A student  and varsity lacrosse player, has a strict formula for success. He prioritized his life in this order: school and studying, Food4Need, lacrosse, and friends.

“I study hard so I have time for my nonprofit,” Forman said. “Every time I cook for people, I’m having a bigger impact on my community. It’s nice to know I’m having a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Ridley said she can tell Forman has been raised by good parents.

“He’s got amazing kindness,” she said. “I’m quite sure he’ll do  something great. His influence won’t end here.”

Forman plans to attend college out of state for business school or hospitality/food management. His top five choices are Penn State, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin. 

But for his senior year of high school, Forman says he’s going to continue cooking as much as he can.

His long-term goal is for an underclassman at Pine Crest to take over the nonprofit when he goes away to college. Someone is already shadowing as a possibility.

“I’ll still be involved even if I can’t do the physical cooking,” Forman said.

Over the summer, in addition to cooking lasagna, he worked 30 hours a week at Peter’s Pizzeria in East Boca Raton. Once school started, the job ended.

But his real passion is cooking lasagna for Food4Need. He found a recipe on Pinterest, but substituted a few ingredients to make the recipe his own. 

“It’s the typical ingredients,” he said. “Ground beef and Italian sausage, lots of seasoning, tomato sauce, meat sauce, pasta noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, and eggs. And in the end, I sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top.

“I put hard work into each lasagna so it tastes great,” he said. “I think they really love the meat I cook myself — that’s what gets them.” 

Donations can be made at food4needinc.com

By Amy Woods

"Christmas in July” took place at the Milagro Center when seven families were surprised with $7,000 checks courtesy of a $49,000 grant from the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation.

The funds provided meaningful support during a time of year when community needs often go unmet.

“It’s with tremendous gratitude to the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation that we were able to assist these families, all of whom are in dire need of assistance,” said Barbara Stark, president and CEO of the center. “They truly make a difference for the underserved and economically challenged communities throughout Palm Beach County.”

Here are a few examples of how the donations helped local families:

• A mother recovering from surgery and unable to work could afford to get her children back-to-school supplies and uniforms.

• A mother without a car was able to purchase new transportation for her family.

• A mother trying to finish pharmacy school, who did not have enough saved for the final tuition, will be able to complete her coursework.

For more information about the Milagro Center, call 561-279-2970 or visit milagrocenter.org.

Seven nonprofits awarded donations to help families 

The Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller’s Palm Beaches Commandery has given $128,000 to seven nonprofits serving children and families facing hardship.

The gifts reflect the order’s centuries-old humanitarian role.

“Philanthropy is our sacred mission,” Grand Dame Isabelle Paul said. “We are proud to support these incredible organizations that uplift, protect and empower   members of our community in greatest need.”

Beneficiaries include:

• Fuller Center

• Gateway Community Outreach

• Promise Fund

• Samaritan’s Purse

• Spirit of Giving Network

• The Crossroads Club

• The Lord’s Place

For more information about the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller’s Palm Beaches Commandery, visit osjflorida.org.

Newest class of scholars welcomed to Snow family

The George Snow Scholarship Fund has awarded more than $5.5 million to 374 scholars in South Florida.

When members of the Class of 2025 received the news about their scholarships, they became part of the Snow family, which will walk alongside each student throughout the college journey.

“Awards season is the highlight of our year as we get a chance to celebrate the deserving local students our community has been working so hard to raise funds for and send to school,” said Channon Ellwood, director of communications.

To prepare the class, the nonprofit organized a transition orientation where local professionals volunteered their time to speak on such topics as financial literacy, career development and adjusting to campus life. Participants went home with a Scholar Pack filled with dorm essentials, supplies and either a new laptop or a stipend.

For more information, call 561-347-6799 or visit scholarship.org.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net

History, architecture and community spirit came together when the Boca Raton Historical Society honored the notable Addison Mizner and the city’s centennial. Guests gathered in the landmark building, originally Mizner’s office, for an evening filled with delectable hors d’oeuvres, specialty cocktails and exclusive behind-the-scenes tours. Visitors were treated to rarely seen spaces, including Mizner’s private quarters where his credenza, signed documents and other treasured artifacts were on display. ‘This was truly a one-of-a-kind celebration,’ said Mary Csar, executive director of the society. ‘You could feel the pride and connection in the room.’ ABOVE: (l-r) Csar, Ryan Alman, Maria Liguori and LeAnn Berman. Photo provided

Boca Helping Hands commemorated its 27th anniversary with a celebration by the Heart & Spirit Society honoring Pattie Damron and Peggy Jones. The annual event brings together current and former board, staff and volunteer members for service activities including cooking hot meals and distributing pantry bags. ‘We were so pleased to celebrate our 27th birthday by honoring two key volunteers who helped us in the early days of the organization,’ said Andrew Hagen, executive director of Boca Helping Hands. ‘The first volunteers at our original soup kitchen would be amazed to see where we are now, providing not only food but financial assistance and job training to nearly 35,000 of our neighbors every year.’ ABOVE: (l-r) Jones, Gary Peters and Damron. Photo provided

Benny’s on the Beach in Lake Worth Beach offers deals for lunch or dinner featuring its Palm Beach shrimp tacos, famous Key lime pie and other choices. Photos provided 

By Jan Norris

September is a great month to be a local if you’re dining out. Deals abound, both from individual restaurants and the special area-wide Flavor South Florida.

Formerly Flavor Palm Beach, the program of affordable prix fixe menus extends from Boca Raton through the Treasure Coast.

More than 100 restaurants are participating. Menus range from $25 to $65 for multicourse meals — lunch, brunch and dinner.

Many dishes represent foods restaurants want to showcase or try out before season, and both casual and upscale restaurants are in the program. 

It’s also a chance for diners to try a new restaurant, or revisit a forgotten favorite. 

In Boca Raton, look for a rack of lamb, or double cut pork chops at Abe & Louie’s (2200 Glades Road; 561-447-0024; abeandlouies.com). At the upscale Chicago Italian at Mia Rosebud (150 E. Palmetto Park Road; 561-462-3000; rosebudrestaurants.com), diners can choose from dishes such as vitello Marsala, or cavatelli rapini. 

Choose from seafood such as Norwegian salmon or upgrade to Chilean sea bass at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood (201 Plaza Real, Mizner Park; 561-237-0067; m.eddiev.com) in Boca Raton.

Go French at Chez Marie (5030 Champion Blvd., Boca Raton; 561-997-0027; chezmariefrenchbistro.com), where escargot, French onion soup, and pate de campagne are among the first courses. Coq au vin or duck a l’orange is the entree, and a lavender crème brûlée, lemon tartlette or chocolate mousse is served for dessert.

At The Melting Pot in Boca Raton (5455 N. Federal Highway; 561-997-7472; meltingpot.com), a four-course dinner is $49. Start with a raclette dip, then a salad, then choose from a number of meat, seafood and vegetable mixtures before moving to a dessert fondue.

Also in Boca Raton, try the new restaurant Stage Kitchen and Bar (5377 Town Center Road; 561-409-2376; stagekitchenandbar.com), an elevated Mediterranean experience and Michelin-recommended restaurant, for its lunch prix fixe. A bang-bang cauliflower, the C.A.B. burger, and trendy banoffee pie are part of the menu.

Chef Daniel Dore serves up American favorites for a $39 dinner at Dada (52 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach; 561-330-3232, sub-culture.org/dada). Bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese, chorizo and almonds is one of the appetizer choices; pork schnitzel is an entree choice. 

Delray Beach’s Wine & Spirits Kitchen (411 E. Atlantic Ave.; 561-243-9463; wineandspiritskitchen.com) has tiered pricing for its Flavor prix fixe. A number of soups, salads and small plates are on the first course list. Entrees are broken into $45, $55 and $65 plates. Faroese salmon and mushroom orecchiette are on the $45 menu; barbecue roasted cod, and a Prime Denver steak, are on the $55 list. Choose from crab-crusted snapper or surf & turf for the $65 meal. A $15 wine card comes with all meals where an entree is ordered.

Driftwood in Boynton Beach has a deal for a multicourse dinner with several vegan and gluten-free dishes offered. Sweet and sour cauliflower and a roasted cabbage red curry are on the menu.

Driftwood (2005 Federal Highway, Boynton Beach; 561-733-4782; driftwoodboynton.com) has a deal for a multicourse dinner with several vegan and gluten-free dishes offered. Sweet and sour cauliflower and a roasted cabbage red curry are on Chef Jimmy Everett’s menu.

Boynton Beach’s award-winning Nicholson Muir (480 E. Ocean Ave.; 561-336-3977, nicholsonmuir.com) features a wagyu carpaccio and marinated pork tenderloin with crepes among its prix fixe choices.

Want to take visitors to a Flavor deal? Try Benny’s on the Beach (10 S. Ocean Blvd. on the pier; 561-582-9001; bennysonthebeach.com) in Lake Worth Beach for lunch or dinner. Palm Beach shrimp tacos, and Benny’s famous Key lime pie are choices.

Oceano (512 Lucerne Blvd., Lake Worth Beach; 561-400-7418; oceanolwb.com) is also participating with special dinners. Sophisticated flair is evident on these menus, with dishes such as a white gazpacho, Long Island duck with farro verde, and the Oceano version of Boston cream pie.

The full list of restaurants and their menus are on the Flavor South Florida website, flavorsouthflorida.com. Diners are encouraged to make reservations for the promotional Flavor menus at each restaurant.

The promotion runs through Sept. 30.

Delray’s Restaurant Month

More than 50 restaurants in Delray Beach are participating in the 10th annual Downtown Delray Beach Restaurant Month, which started Sept. 1.

At the restaurants and cafes, special prix fixe menus and dining deals are available for lunch and dinner, happy hours, specials and unique culinary experiences.

Diners must sign up for the Downtown Delray Restaurant Month pass through the website DowntownDelrayBeach.com/LoveDelray.

The pass is free and gives access to all the dining deals listed. Diners can check in to the restaurants or experiences on the pass to get points and win prizes. Visit five restaurants or cafes and win a $10 restaurant gift card, or go to 15 and get a $50 card, or visit 25 and redeem points for a $100 gift card.

With all deals, reservations are suggested.

Some participating restaurants offering prix fixe menus include Amar Mediterranean Bistro, Avalon Beach House, Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina, Brule Bistro, Caffe Luna Rosa, City Oyster and more.

Happy Hour specials are at Cut 432, El Camino, Johnnie Brown’s, Rosewater Rooftop by Akira Back and others.

Cafe deals and quick bites are offered by 3Natives, Colombian Coffee House, Death by Pizza downtown, Gary Rack’s Farmhouse Kitchen, Jimmy’s Bistro, Tin Roof, Two Fat Cookies and several more.

For culinary experiences, visit Akira Back, Craft Food Tours, Ramen Lab Eatery and Table 165.

For more information, visit DowntownDelrayBeach.com/RestaurantMonth.

Boca/Boynton promotion

A restaurant promotion that encompasses eateries in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach is sponsored by the Boca Raton/Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Restaurants that participate hand out a Restaurant Road Show Passport. A code is added to the passport each time a diner visits or takes out from one of the restaurants.

At the end of the summer promotion (Sept. 30), diners who collect the most codes will be entered in a raffle to win a free one- or two-night stay at a Chamber member hotel.

For more information visit https://web.bocaratonchamber.com/events/2025-Summer-Restaurant-Road-Show-11773/details

Shake-up at SubCulture 

Rodney Mayo of SubCulture Restaurants is changing up some restaurants in South County and bringing back an area favorite. Penelope’s, a New-Orleans-themed restaurant in Mizner Park that opened last year, will change into Tryst by the beginning of season, Mayo said. 

Tryst is the old gastropub on Atlantic Avenue that lost its lease and closed.

Still in progress: Man Ray on Lucerne Avenue in the old KWS spot in Lake Worth Beach. “It’s similar to Dada, chef-driven. We’re looking for a chef for it now,” Mayo said. He’s hoping to open by year’s end.

In brief

Troy’s Bar-be-cue on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach has shut its doors. Fans were informed on its Facebook page where owners wrote: “After years of serving up smoked meats, Southern comfort, and good vibes — we’ve officially closed the doors at Boynton Troy’s BBQ. But don’t hang your apron just yet ... this isn’t goodbye. It’s a transition. A reset. A chance to reimagine what’s next. And trust us — it’s gonna be worth it!” No word on what that looks like. …

Also closed: Gary Rack’s Fish + Oyster House on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Rack cited “crazy” rent increases as the cause. He’s expanding, however, and putting a Farmhouse Kitchen in Coral Springs in spring of 2026…. 

Shaker & Pie is still under construction in Mizner Park. It may undergo rebranding before it opens, Mayo said. ...

Benny’s on the Beach in the Oceanwalk plaza at Lake Worth Beach has been granted a two-month waiver on its rent. The City Council granted the rent abatement to cover lost revenue expected as Benny’s closes beginning on Labor Day to fix air-conditioning problems in the city-owned casino building. The restaurant is expected to reopen in November. The Benny’s on the Beach pier location remains open for business.

 Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com.

Delray Medical Center vascular surgeon Dr. Joseph Ricotta recently used the Spur Peripheral Retrievable Stent System to treat narrowed arteries below the knee. The device is a temporary support tube that helps keep arteries open after they’ve been widened with a balloon. 

Unlike a regular stent, it can be removed once the artery is stabilized. Ricotta is the national medical director of vascular surgery and endovascular therapy for Tenet Healthcare, a professor at Florida Atlantic University’s School of Medicine, and founder of the Prime Vascular Institute.

Hospital receives Center of Excellence recognition

HCA Florida JFK Hospital was recently recognized as a Comprehensive Resuscitation Center of Excellence, a statewide initiative launched in 2022. The program was created by the Florida Resuscitation Center Committee, which aims to improve survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest. 

Each year, about 350,000 individuals die from cardiac arrest in Florida, and it remains the third-leading cause of death in the United States as survival rates remain low despite advances in health care technology and in medical care. 

“We bring together a multidisciplinary team, collaborate with the American Heart Association, and engage community partners to increase CPR training and awareness,” said Ken West, CEO of HCA Florida JFK Hospital. “Working hand-in-hand with local EMS agencies, we’ve built an aggressive, coordinated system of care that extends from the moment of cardiac arrest through recovery.” 

New assistant chief nursing officer on leadership team

Lisisbell Melendrez, RN, BSN, has joined HCA Florida JFK Hospital’s leadership team as assistant chief nursing officer. Previously she worked at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where she served as director of telemetry, the central monitoring unit, and the medical specialty unit. 

She earned her bachelor of science in nursing from Grand Canyon University and is pursuing her master of science in nursing from Walden University. 

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

Major sits in an ample dog cage. The best recommendation is one pet per cage during an evacuation. Photo provided 

By Arden Moore

The first hurricane I experienced in South Florida was a whopper. Hurricane Andrew pummeled South Florida with a Category 5 strength. The year was 1992. 

My two cats and I hunkered down in my bathtub. Since then, Florida has experienced more than a dozen hurricanes with strengths of Category 3 or higher.

I try to tell myself that the only so-called benefit about hurricanes is that unlike tornadoes and wildfires, people have time to prepare and execute a safety plan. 

That plan definitely needs to include your pets.

Palm Beach County residents are in the heart of this year’s hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30. Many pet champions are stepping up to protect companion animals. 

One of them is Courtney Delfs. Since 2016, she has volunteered to be what’s called a “storm rider” at Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League in West Palm Beach, where she serves as its animal care manager.

“I feel motivated to stay at the shelter to do everything I can to help the animals maintain a sense of calm throughout the storm,” says Courtney. “While I can’t control the weather outside, I can make sure that the animals in our care have new bones, toys, comfortable blankets and continued care throughout the duration of the storm.”

About 20 staffers make up the storm rider team trained to protect about 500 animals. But everyone on the staff undergoes emergency planning each year just before hurricane season kicks off in June. Disaster preparedness training is also offered to foster volunteers.

“The earlier you can prepare, the better it is to avoid last-minute confusion and chaos,” says Courtney. “We maintain a supply stock sufficient for the duration of the storm and after. We ensure the building is secured and that the outdoor areas are cleared to avoid them becoming hazardous.”

When hurricanes strike other parts of Florida, Peggy Adams is ready to lend assistance.

Dr. Alyssa Comroe, director of veterinary medicine at Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League, says Florida’s strong disaster response network links shelters, allowing pets to get temporary housing, supplies and skilled care. Photo provided 

“While we hope Palm Beach County is spared from the worst of hurricane season, experience has shown the importance of having a strong, statewide disaster response network,” says Alyssa Comroe, director of veterinary medicine at Peggy Adams. “When one shelter is hit by a storm, others across Florida can step in, providing temporary housing for displaced animals, delivering supplies and offering skilled hands to help with rescue and recovery.”

Fortunately, disaster preparations to protect pets have come a long way since the days of Hurricane Andrew. Professional pet sitting and pet boarding businesses recognize the lifesaving importance of training their staff.  

“I hope we don’t get any hurricanes,” says Tony Maturo Jr., who works at the family-owned Barkingham Palace in Delray Beach. “We haven’t had to evacuate yet. We do have a generator on the premises, and all of our dog runs are inside runs, not outside runs. 

“Our employees are on site seven days a week and there is an overnight team to provide emergency monitoring of our facility.”

Right now, if you haven’t already, identify pet-friendly hotels as well as friends’ homes outside the hurricane evacuation zone. Hurricanes can change course, so locate these welcoming places in different areas. 

Make sure that your pet is:

• Sporting an identification tag or collar with a microchipped ID with leash;

• Current on vaccinations; 

• Able to fit inside a carrier, one per pet in the household;

• Participating in practice hurricane drills at home and is given treats to encourage this as a positive experience.

Your pet to-go bag should include:

• Your pet’s medications and medical records inside a waterproof bag;

• Lightweight food and water dishes;

• About two weeks’ supply of pet food;

• A favorite toy and a blanket;

• Litter and litter box for cats;

• Cleaning materials. 

Do not leave your pets at home if you live in an evacuation area. The storm could trap them inside without food or water, or scare them enough so they flee and become lost.

You could also be convicted of a felony because of a new bill called Trooper’s Law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.  

The law was inspired after a highway patrol officer discovered an abandoned, chained dog standing in water outside his home in the path of Hurricane Milton last October.

It makes it a third-degree felony to restrain and abandon a dog outdoors during a declared natural disaster. Those convicted of this felony can face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

Final tip: Pack a virtual bag. Download your pet’s medical records, photos of your pet for identification, your pet’s microchip information as well as your personal documents —that may include your passport, insurance policies, medical records and bank information — onto Google Drive, Dropbox or other online backup. 

I can’t believe it’s been 33 years since Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida. Memories are still vivid to me today. I vowed to always have a safety plan for my family and that includes my pets. I hope you do, too. 

Arden Moore writes about pets and can be reached at fourleggedlife@gmail.com.

Rabbi Leibel Stolik plans to make several stops with his shofar to usher in the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

This Rosh Hashanah is Rabbi Leibel Stolik’s 20th year leading High Holidays services in coastal Palm Beach County. At Chabad of South Palm Beach in Manalapan, there are no fees or tickets, Rabbi Stolik says, because “I believe that everyone should be able to celebrate the Days of Awe irrespective of their background, affiliation, or ability to pay.”

Part of Chabad of SPB’s program includes Shofar on the Avenue, a service beginning at the Lantana Nature Preserve, 440 E. Ocean Ave., on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. After the Kiddush at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 23, the uplifting blowing of the shofar and the Tashlich ceremony are planned. 

Then the rabbi will travel up A1A with the shofar, making scheduled stops at The Carlisle at 4, The Mayfair at 4:15, The Barclay at 4:30, The Patrician at 4:45, The Atriums at 5:05, and the east end of the Lake Worth Beach bridge at 5:40 p.m. The finale will take place in Lake Worth Beach Cultural Plaza, 414 Lake Ave., under the banyan tree at 6. 

The rabbi explained the importance of the shofar this way: 

“The ram’s horn shofar is the symbol of Rosh Hashanah,” he wrote. “The shofar blasts are not a single, clear note but a series of straight and broken sounds that represent simplicity and the fractured heart. On Rosh Hashanah, we stand before God not as perfect beings, but with humility and brokenness. Our self-reflection and vulnerability open the door to sincere repentance and divine mercy. Our brokenness is not a weakness but a source of strength.

“The broken heart is not meant to stay broken. The shofar’s final long blast is a complete sound that follows the broken notes, symbolizing the possibility of renewal and restoration. 

“I pray that we acknowledge our vulnerability and that after, we experience the strength and wholeness inside ourselves. Shana Tovah (Good Year) to all.”

HIGH HOLY DAYS CALENDAR

TEMPLE SINAI OF PALM BEACH COUNTY

2475 W Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach 561-276-6161; templesinaipbc.org

Tickets are required for some events. 

7:30 pm - 9/13 - Selichot 

Rosh Hashanah

7:30 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah; dinner follows; reservations required. 

10 am - 9/23 - Morning service

1:30 pm - 9/23 - Family service 

10 am - 9/24 - Morning service

Yom Kippur

7:30 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidre Service   

10 am - 10/2 - Morning service

1:30 pm - 10/2 -  Family service 

3:30 pm - 10/2 - Afternoon service

4:30 pm - 10/2 - Community Yizkor service

5:15 pm - 10/2 - Neilah & Concluding Service

BOCA BEACH CHABAD JEWISH CENTER

490 E. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton

561-394-9770; chabadbocabeaches.com

Rosh Hashanah

7 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah/Candle Lighting 

8 pm - 9/22 - Mincha/Maariv; followed by a community dinner and a talk by Rabbi Barber;  reservations required. 

9 am - 9/23 - Morning Services

10 am-1 pm - 9/23 - Children’s Program 

10-11 am - 9/23 - Family Style Power Hour with Rabbi Yosef New 

11 am - 9/23 - Sermon (Main Sanctuary)

11:20 am - 9/23 - Shofar Blowing

11:30 am - 9/23 - Musaf

1:30 pm - 9/23 - Community lunch and talk by Rabbi Barber; reservations required. 

5:45 pm - 9/23 - Mincha

6:30 pm - 9/23 - Tashlich and second shofar blowing at Wildflower Park on the NE corner of 5th Ave and Palmetto Park Road 

7 pm - 9/23 - Maariv

7:49 pm - 9/23 - Light candles from a pre-existing flame after 8 pm, followed by a community dinner and talk by Rabbi Barber; reservations required. 

9 am - 9/24 - Morning services

10 am-1 pm - 9/24 - Children’s Program 

10-11 am - 9/24 - Family power hour with Rabbi Yosef New. 

11 am - 9/24 - Sermon in the main sanctuary. 

11:20 am - 9/24 - Shofar blowing

11:30 am - 9/24 - Musaf

1:30 pm - 9/24 -Community lunch; reservations required.

6:45 pm - 9/24 -  Mincha followed by a talk by Rabbi Barber: The Kabbalah of Men and Women: Different but Equal

Yom Kippur 

7:30 am - 10/1 -  Morning Services

3:30 pm - 10/1 - Mincha

6:48 pm - 10/1 - Candle Lighting (available at Chabad)

6:48 pm - 10/1 - Fast begins

7 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidrei

7 pm - 10/1 - Children’s Program 

9 am - 10/2 - Morning services

10-11 am - 10/2 - Family power hour with Rabbi Yosef New. 

10:30 am-2 pm - 10/2 - Children’s Program 

11:45 am - 10/2 - Sermon in the main sanctuary. 

12:15 pm - 10/2 - Yizkor

12:40 pm - 10/2 - Musaf

5:15 pm - 10/2 - Mincha

6:20 pm - 10/2 - Neila and Shofar Blowing

7:40 pm - 10/2 - Fast and Holiday ends

B’NAI TORAH CONGREGATION 

6261 SW 18th St., Boca Raton

561-392-8566; btcboca.org

8:15 pm - 9/13 - Selichot; refreshments followed by a service at 9 pm; registration requested at shulcloud.com/form/selichot2025

Rosh Hashanah

6 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah;  Mincha/Ma’ariv in the Main Sanctuary

8:30 am - 9/23 - Main Sanctuary service

9 am - 9/23 - Weiner Cultural Center service

9 am - 9/23 - Young children’s service

10:30 am - 9/23 - Youth Service

6 pm - 9/23 - Mincha/Ma’ariv in the Main Sanctuary

8:30 am - 9/24 - Main Sanctuary service

9 am - 9/24 - Weiner Cultural Center service

9 am - 9/24 - Young children’s service

10:30 am - 9/24 - Youth service

5:45 pm - 9/24 - Mincha/Ma’ariv 

Yom Kippur 

6:15 pm - 10/1 -  Mincha/Kol Nidre in the main sanctuary

6:30 pm - 10/1 - Mincha/Kol Nidre in Weiner Cultural Center

6:45 pm - 10/1 - Teen Discussion 

9 am - 10/2 - Main sanctuary service 

9 am - 10/2 - Weiner Cultural Center service

9 am - 10/2 - Young children’s service

10:30 am - 10/2 - Youth service

4:45 pm - 10/2 - Mincha/Ne’ilah 

7:29 pm - 10/2 - Break the Fast

BETH AMI CONGREGATION

1401 NW 4th Ave., Boca Raton 

561-347-0031; bethamicongregationboca.com

7-9 pm - 9/13 - Selichot: Changing the Mantles  

Rosh Hashanah

6:30-8:30 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah 

9 am-noon - 9/23 - Day 1 

9 am-noon - 9/24 - Day 2

Yom Kippur 

7-9 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidre  

9 am-noon - 10/2 - Morning service 

5:30-6:30 pm - 10/2 - Mincha

7:30-8 pm - 10/2 - Shofar sounding 

8-9:30 pm - 10/2 - Congregational Break the Fast 

CHABAD OF SOUTH PALM BEACH

224 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan

561-889-3499; chabadspb.org

There is no fee or membership required, but RSVP is recommended.

Rosh Hashanah 

7 pm - 9/22 - Erev evening service; dinner follows the service; reservations required. 

9:30 am - 9/23 - Morning service

11:45 am - 9/23 - Shofar sounding

7:50 pm - 9/23 - Light candles 

9:30 am - 9/24 - Morning service

11:45 am - 9/24 - Shofar sounding

Yom Kippur 

6:50 pm - 10/1 - Kol-Nidrei Service 

9:30 am - 10/2 - Morning service

Noon - 10/2 - Yizkor service 

5:30 pm - 10/2 - Mincha and Ne’eilah; A break-fast follows the service. 

CONGREGATION B’NAI ISRAEL

2200 Yamato Road, Boca Raton

561-241-8118; cbiboca.org

Reservations and tickets are available for select events at cbiboca.org/hhd/hhd-tickets

7:30 pm - 9/13 - Selichot 

Rosh Hashanah

7 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah Service

8:30 am - 9/23 - Children’s service 

10:30 am - 9/23 - Sanctuary Service

10:30 am - 9/23 - Junior congregation

2 pm - 9/23 - Family prayer experience 

3:30 pm - 9/23 - Tashlich

10:30 am - 9/24 - Sanctuary service 

Yom Kippur 

7 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidre Sanctuary service

8:30 am - 10/2 - Sanctuary service

8:30 am - 10/2 - Junior congregation

Noon - 10/2 - Sanctuary service

Noon - 10/2 - Junior congregation

3:30 pm - 10/2 - Children’s service

4:45 pm - 10/2 - Afternoon Minchah followed by Yizkor, Neilah, Havdalah and sounding of Shofar. 

TEMPLE BETH EL

Schaefer Family Campus, 333 SW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton

561-391-8900; tbeboca.org

7 pm - 9/13 - Selichot; registration requested 

Rosh Hashanah

7:30 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah service

10 am - 9/23 - Morning service

1:30 pm - 9/23 - Family participation service for families with children 8-12; tickets required. 

4 pm - 9/23 - Young children’s service for families with children younger than 8; registration requested; no tickets required. 

10 am - 9/24 - Morning service 

Yom Kippur 

7:30 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidre Service in the sanctuary; tickets required. 

7:30 pm - 10/1 - A candlelight Kol Nidre Service takes place in the chapel; tickets required; space is limited. 

9 am - 10/2 - Young children’s service for families with children younger than 8;  registration requested. 

10:30 am - 10/2 - Morning service; tickets required. 

10:30 am - 10/2 - A second Morning Service in a Garden of Reflection; tickets required;  space is limited. 

1:45 pm - 10/2 - Family participation service for families with children 8-12; tickets required. 

2:30 pm - 10/2 - Service of Healing and Renewal 

4 pm - 10/2 - Yizkor & Afternoon Service 

CHABAD OF EAST DELRAY 

101 SE Second Ave., Delray Beach

954-283-7261; jewisheastdelray.com

Rosh Hashanah 

10 am - 9/23 and 9/24 - Services; reserved seating, $75. Open seating by donation.

11 am - 9/23 and 9/24 - Shofar

Yom Kippur 

7-8 pm - 10/1 - Kol Nidrei

10 am - 10/2 - Services; reserved seating, $75. Open seating by donation. 

11 am - 10/2 - Yizkor 

7 pm - 10/2 - Neilah

SHALOM BOCA MESSIANIC SYNAGOGUE

1300 NW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton 

561-487-3839; shalomboca.com

Rosh Hashanah 

7:30-9:30 pm - 9/22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah 

10:30 am - 9/23 - Rosh Hashanah service

Yom Kippur

7:30-9:30 pm - 10/1 - Erev Yom Kippur service 

10:30 am-12:30 pm - 10/2 - Yom Kippur service 

Former opera singer Shir Rozzen, whose first name means ‘song,’ has joined Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County in Delray Beach as its cantorial soloist. Photo provided 

By Janis Fontaine

When Shir Rozzen sings at Rosh Hashanah services this month, it will be her first High Holy Days at her first cantorial job. 

As a transplant from the opera world, she’s up to the singing challenge. As for the rest, she says, “I’m excited and I’m happy and I’ve got a lot to learn!” 

Rozzen joined Temple Sinai of Palm Beach County in Delray Beach as its cantorial soloist on July 1. Sitting at her desk at the synagogue, which is covered with papers and books and sheet music, Rozzen says she never dreamed of being a cantor, but “I was always more spiritual than everybody else. I read Bible stories at bedtime.”

Born in Israel 35 years ago, she was raised on an Israeli Air Force base (her father was a fighter pilot and later base commander). Her love of music wasn’t encouraged by her mother, who once had dreams of singing, too. 

But Rozzen knew her voice was special. “I would sing, and the neighbors would come with chairs to listen.”

At age 8, she took singing lessons behind her parents’ backs. At age 11 (and two years too young), Rozzen auditioned at a performing arts high school without her parents’ permission. The school made an exception and admitted her. 

Rozzen’s chutzpah didn’t falter. She told her father she was using her bat mitzvah money to go to New York to audition at Juilliard, and rather than argue, he took her there. “My father and I were the closest of souls.” 

With only the name and a photograph of the woman who would decide her future, Rozzen entered Juilliard’s lobby and began to sing. She performed for 45 minutes before the woman she needed to impress came down the elevator. Juilliard found a place for Rozzen. 

Later, she transferred to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which brought her to Palm Beach for a performance when she was 20 years old. She says she knew from that first visit that she would live here some day. 

No surprise, she did. Rozzen moved to Boca Raton eight years ago, and when COVID hit and performances were canceled, she reinvented herself. 

She opened the Rozzen School of the Arts, a hybrid online and in-person private teaching program that is home to the American College Agency for Young Artists, a program that helps young musicians pursue admission to the best performing arts institutions. Student enrollment exploded and Rozzen felt blessed for her success. 

Still an Israeli citizen, Rozzen qualified for a green card to stay in the United States because of her extraordinary ability in the arts. She will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship in three years, she said.

About 18 months ago, her father got sick and Rozzen returned to Israel to care for him. While she was there, she met David Yanas, an Israeli Air Force mechanic. He offered his support as she nursed then grieved for her father. They were engaged after three months, and they married five months ago. 

Now the newlyweds have a new home together and Rozzen has a new job. Yanas is pursuing a college degree that will let him continue his aviation career in the United States.

When you ask how she plans to balance all her responsibilities, she says, “On two feet,” with a wide smile, proof a sense of humor always helps. “I’ve come to the confident realization that there is so much I don’t know, and I’ve found peace with that.”

Shir means ‘song’ 

Performing an aria on stage and singing in the house of the Lord are similar but different, Rozzen says. “I get joy from both, but it’s a different kind of joy. In both cases, I’m singing from the heart. When I am singing at services, I get love from the first row. I feel the souls in the audience responding to me. It’s intimate. 

“In opera, when I sing, I’m performing a character. The audience is there to escape and forget. At services, you deal with your problems, you confront the deepest scars on your soul. My goal with my singing is always to make them feel something.” 

Rozzen felt a connection to Temple Sinai Rabbi Steven Moss the first time they met. “He opened the door for me. I saw his eyes and I knew he saw me.” 

Rabbi Moss felt it too. “I’m appreciative of genuine and authentic people and she is one,” he says. He said one of the congregants asked Rozzen to sing at her birthday and requested “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis. “I saw their souls connecting. When she is singing, she’s interacting deeply with people.” 

Moss has worked with many cantors in more than four decades as a rabbi. “I know what to look for,” he says. “I think her close relationship with her father gave her a determination to succeed that has served her. She needs that because she has so much to learn.”

And what a time to begin! Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are intertwined days of reflection and repentance. Rosh Hashanah has lots of beautiful songs, Rozzen says, and she and Rabbi Moss worked together to choose the music. “Our goal is to keep tradition but bring color.” 

Each day of Rosh Hashanah, prayers ask for help correcting mistakes from the past year. Jews ask for assistance to become better Jews and better people.  

“These are not holidays,” Rabbi Moss says. “These are Holy Days. They begin a period of self-reflection, followed by asking oneself, ‘What do you do going forward?’ Our spiritual life should follow us all year long.”

These are also days of hope, Rabbi Moss says. 

“I’m very concerned about the future and our place in it. But I believe one of the core values of Judaism is hope for the future. We have to believe God has given us the ability to make the world better. We are a people of hope.”

L’shana tovah u’metukah! (“For a good and sweet year.”)

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com

By Janis Fontaine

St. Lucy Catholic Church honors the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sept. 8 on this feast and day of prayer from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church at 3510 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach. 

The day begins with Mass at 8:30 followed by a presentation, “The Role of Mary in the New Testament,” at 9:30, a Q&A at 10:30 when the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available, and lunch in the parish hall at 11:30 catered by The Grille on Congress. Lunch is $30. That includes a donation to Caritas Jerusalem, which provides essential relief to those in impoverished communities in the war-torn Holy Land.

Call 561-278-1280 or visit stlucy.net/events/birthday-celebration-for-the-blessed-virgin-mary-1.

Special prayer service at Unity of Delray Beach

Unity of Delray Beach will host a prayer service, “Be Still and Know,” at 7 p.m. Sept. 10. The Rev. Jeanmarie Eck will speak, with music by D. Shawn Berry and Bree Gordon. Unity of Delray Beach is at 101 NW 22nd St. Call 561-276-5796 or visit unityofdelraybeach.org/events.

Interfaith Vigil to support immigrants at St. Gregory's

The Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association, a group of community members from a variety of religious traditions, hosts an Interfaith Vigil supporting the immigrants at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd. 

The public is invited to stand in solidarity for the dignity, honor and humane treatment of all immigrants and refugees.

Rabbi Greg Weisman (Temple Beth El), Pastor Andrew Sherman (St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church) and Rabbi Hector Epelbaum (B’nai Torah Congregation) will be joined by members of the Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association, Boca Raton community and civic leaders for this event. 

Call 561-395-8285 or visit tbeboca.org/vigil-2025.

Rabbi Jack Moline joins B’nai Torah Congregation 

B’nai Torah Congregation has announced the appointment of Rabbi Jack Moline as interim senior rabbi following the retirement in July of Rabbi David Steinhardt, the congregation’s spiritual leader for 31 years. 

Rabbi Moline is a nationally respected pulpit rabbi, teacher and interfaith leader with more than 35 years’ experience. 

A native of Chicago, he was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1982 and holds a degree from Northwestern University. 

Rabbi Moline served as the rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, for 27 years. He is president emeritus of Interfaith Alliance, a national organization dedicated to safeguarding religious freedom and the First Amendment. He and his wife, Ann, have three children and are grandparents to five. 

In August, he joined B’nai Torah Congregation, the largest conservative synagogue in Southeast Florida, at 6261 SW 18th St., Boca Raton. Call 561-392-8566 or visit btcboca.org.

CityLead Boca to meet at Boca Raton Community

Boca Raton Community Church hosts CityLead Boca from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 2 at the church at 470 NW Fourth Ave. This monthly event for the business community is designed to inspire leaders to use their influence to serve others. Reservations are recommended. $20 includes lunch. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. Call 561-395-2400 or visit citylead.com/boca.

Churches to celebrate Blessing of the Animals

A few local churches are celebrating St. Francis with blessings of the animals. 

St. Lucy Catholic Church: Oct. 4, time to be announced. 3510 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach. 561-278-1280; stlucy.net.

St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church: 3 p.m. Oct. 5, 3300 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach. 561-732-3060; stjoesweb.org.

Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea: Oct. 26, time to be announced. 141 South County Road, Palm Beach. 561-655-4554; bbts.org.

Improvement plans moving forward for Jewish center

Now that an appeal that would have prevented Boca Beach Chabad Jewish Center from securing its new home in an office building on East Palmetto Park Road has been dropped, plans are moving to complete the “mostly cosmetic” modifications to the property. 

The building, which was purchased by Boca Beach Jewish Educational Center Inc. for $13 million a year ago, has three floors, each about 10,000 square feet, Rabbi Ruvi New said. 

The plan is to upgrade the synagogue and religious center on the first floor where it is now and convert the second floor into meeting and administrative space, with a place for the active and growing young professionals group (CYP DoBo, aka Downtown Boca). The third floor will be converted to office suites that Chabad will lease. 

Plans to convert the empty space are under review by the city, but Rabbi New says there will be five or six office suites available in the building at 490 E. Palmetto Park Road.

The rabbi says participation has increased dramatically since Chabad acquired the new space. 

“It’s nothing short of a miracle,” he says, referring to the acquisition. His congregation loves that they can walk to services, and the location is ideal for visitors from out of town who want to attend.

The campaign to raise money for the improvements continues. Rabbi New invites the public to tour the facility and to commemorate the High Holy Days at Boca Beach Chabad. Visit chabadbocabeaches.com.

Send religion news to Janis Fontaine at fontaine423@outlook.com.

Capt. Steve Anderson holds a nice snook he caught on a recent fishing trip in the Jupiter Inlet. September is a good time to catch snook in local inlets. Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star

By Steve Waters

Tom Greene used to look forward to September like most people look forward to Christmas, because the first day of this month was when the snook season opened.

The snook is Florida’s favorite inshore gamefish. It fights hard and often jumps, it hits all types of lures and baits, you can catch one from land or from a boat, and for many anglers a snook is their favorite fish to eat.

South Florida’s guru of snook fishing, Greene used to freely dispense information on where, when and how to catch snook when he owned Custom Rod & Reel, a Lighthouse Point store that he sold after 60 years in the fishing tackle business. He got his start at Boca Tackle when he was 12 years old.

Greene also practiced what he preached in September, fishing around inlets, spillways and beaches — wherever he thought the snook fishing would be best based on the scouting reports provided to him by his customers and a network of trusted sources from Jupiter to Miami Beach.

The snook season is closed from June 1 to Aug. 31 on the Atlantic coast of Florida because that’s when the fish gather at inlets as they prepare to spawn, which makes them easy to target. The fall season runs through Dec. 14. Anglers can keep one snook a day measuring 28 to 32 inches long with the tail squeezed.

The majority of snook are finished spawning by September, but some remain in local inlets and off beaches and around fishing piers. With a full moon on Sept. 7, Greene said the snook fishing at inlets should be especially good because the fish spawn on the full moon.

“The fish will still be around the inlets and off the beach,” Greene said. “The No. 1 time to fish them is early morning daylight and sunset.”

Because of heavy rains this time of year, snook also hang around spillways, where excess fresh water is released into the Intracoastal Waterway. When the spillways are opened, snook will be there to eat bluegills, shiners, shad and other small fish swept through the spillways with the moving water.

Tom Greene, considered South Florida's guru of snook fishing, holds the book he wrote about his fishing exploits, A Net Full of Tails.

Greene said swimming plugs, crankbait and jigs that get down to where the fish are will all catch snook at spillways, including those in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach. He recommended using tackle with 20- to 50-pound main line and 30- to 50-pound fluorocarbon leaders.

Greene, who wrote a book about his fishing exploits titled A Net Full of Tails, said that the hour before and after tide changes is usually the best time to catch snook in inlets and from bridges, especially at night and first thing in the morning.

One of my most memorable snook tales was a night trip with Greene and Capt. Steve Anderson. Trolling Rapala X-Rap swimming plugs through Jupiter Inlet, we caught and released more than a dozen snook up to about 25 pounds.

I had fun because I had never tried that technique. I had even more fun listening to the two old buddies tell stories about fishing from South Florida piers, beaches and bridges. Greene was so addicted to snook fishing as a young man, he missed his sister’s wedding ceremony because the snook were biting so good that day.

As Anderson slowly drove his boat in the inlet, Greene and I stood on opposite sides at the back of the boat with the lures swimming in the water behind us. The results were immediate, as Greene hooked a snook on our first three passes through the inlet.

My lure got hit when I started reeling so it didn’t get tangled in Greene’s line. After Greene landed his 11-pounder, I landed my 20-pounder for a successful doubleheader release.

Anderson and I then took great pleasure in giving Greene a hard time for catching such small fish. The old pro quickly got even by catching eight snook in a row, including several over 20 pounds.

Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.

By Mary Hladky

The Boca Raton City Council has selected Mark Sohaney, who has an impressive resume but no experience running a city, to succeed George Brown as city manager.

In so doing at an Aug. 12 special meeting, the council rejected two highly qualified in-house candidates — Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer James Zervis and Deputy City Manager Jorge Camejo whose focus is on the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Sohaney is the former chief executive officer of Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. Before that, he was chief executive officer of Naval Air Station Key West and has held other positions with the U.S. military.

The vote for Sohaney was unanimous. Before the vote only council member Andy Thomson voiced support for Zervis, and said Camejo was his second choice.

The others praised both Zervis, the former chief administrative officer for Kern County, California, before he joined the city in 2024, and Camejo, who rejoined the city earlier this year after serving as executive director of Hollywood’s CRA.

But council members said Sohaney would provide a fresh perspective and brings experience with complex infrastructure projects at a time when the city is planning redevelopment of its downtown government campus.

They expect to finalize an employment contract with Sohaney in September.

Brown, who is retiring in January, is a 43-year city employee who served as deputy city manager for 21 years until he was promoted on Jan. 1, 2024, replacing longtime City Manager Leif Ahnell.

Sheriff’s office announces arrest of serial shooter who took aim at homes in Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and elsewhere

The Glock 9mm handgun that officials say was used in 16 separate shooting incidents around Palm Beach County in recent months. Photo provided

By Rich Pollack and Larry Barszewski

Smart detective work by the Ocean Ridge Police Department helped lead to the arrest Thursday of a man described as a serial shooter who is charged with firing bullets into 16 residences and businesses throughout the county in a spree that began in February.

While some of the homes 29-year-old Sterling Maloney is accused of shooting up were occupied at the time, there were no reported injuries.

“We’re very lucky that no one was hit, killed or injured with these shootings,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Col. Talal Masri, who said that Maloney kept a ledger detailing the locations he shot up and a list of 10 more places he was planning to target.

“This arrest today potentially saved lives even though we were lucky no one got hurt," Masri said. "We don’t know what was going to happen the next time.” 

PBSO had not previously reported that police were investigating such a string of shootings involving the same handgun.

Sheriff’s investigators began looking into the shootings more than five months ago after buildings in Royal Palm Beach were struck by bullets. There were more shootings in the months that followed, including six in Delray Beach and four in Boynton Beach.

One of those shootings in Boynton Beach in May occurred at a home where four people, including children, were sleeping. Delray Beach police said that at least one of the homes struck by bullets in their city was occupied at the time of the shooting.

Most, if not all of the shootings, appeared to occur in the early morning hours before daylight.

A case in Ocean Ridge

PBSO and the other police agencies had used a central database and found the shell casings in all the shootings matched and appeared to come from the same Glock 9mm handgun. Who was firing that gun remained a mystery until the shooter took aim at a vacant home in Ocean Ridge in the early morning hours of July 11.

“They had so many shootings, but they didn’t know who was doing it,” Ocean Ridge Police Chief Scott McClure said.

In Ocean Ridge that morning, at least a dozen shots were fired at an unoccupied home on Thompson Street. One of the bullets went through a window.

Ocean Ridge Police Sgt. Keith Ramirez investigates the scene July 15 outside a home near Thompson Street and Old Ocean Boulevard where the shooting took place days earlier. The orange cones mark the location of three of the bullet casings found on Thompson. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

The shooting was noticed the next day when a passerby saw bullet holes and contacted a police officer who was in the area on another call, McClure said.

McClure said that through the use of technology, including license plate recognition cameras, static cameras and video taken from home-security cameras in the area, his officers were able to identify a vehicle they suspected was involved.

Ocean Ridge police put out an alert July 17 to all the police departments in the area to be on the lookout for the vehicle. Six hours later that same day, Boynton Beach police officers pulled over the vehicle, a blue Hyundai Sonata driven by Sterling Maloney.

McClure said Ocean Ridge police were called to the scene and met with Maloney.

“Our detectives interviewed Sterling the day of the traffic stop,” McClure said, adding that Maloney was released for lack of probable cause to hold him.  

But the car was impounded because of its tie to the Ocean Ridge shooting, and after obtaining a warrant, investigators found the gun — later linked to multiple shootings of businesses and homes — ammunition and the ledger with past targets and a list of potential targets.

“It was good on our part that we got these breaks to stop them in their tracks,” McClure said. “They’d been looking for him since February.”

McClure said the investigation in Ocean Ridge was a team effort.

“Everybody had a hand in this,” he said. “It’s good detective work and I’m proud of them.”

Masri, of the sheriff’s office, said that Maloney was surprised when he was arrested Thursday morning.

A diagram provided by police points out the timeline and location for the various shootings being investigated. The diagram indicates there was also a shooting in Broward County. Diagram provided

He said that sheriff’s detectives, who took the lead in building the case against Maloney, are now looking to determine a motive and are following up to see if there are any commonalities connecting all of the victims. 

Maloney is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail on a dozen charges of firing a missile into a dwelling. He is also charged with two counts each of discharging a firearm from a vehicle and criminal mischief damage to property.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified when Ocean Ridge police learned of the shooting in town. Officers found out about it the next day.

Coral outcropping at proposed Milani Park — an out-of-the-way lure for snorkelers — once  attracted Japanese settlers, indigenous tribes Japanese settlers of Yamato Colony shown circa 1922 at Yamato Rock, once known as ’Jap Rock.’ It was a hub for the colony’s social gatherings and fishing. Photos provided by Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

By Rich Pollack

For the Japanese farmers who settled the Yamato Colony in Boca Raton during the early 1900s, the area surrounding what is now known as Yamato Rock was an oasis of sorts.  

With their village centered near the railroad tracks and present-day Yamato Road, colony members often trekked by foot or by boat, by horse-drawn wagon or car or motorcycle, to fish from the coral outcropping or for community gatherings, picnics and celebrations. 

“It was the primary recreational community space,” said Larry Rosensweig, founding director of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. 

The area that had been described as remote — sprinkled with saw palmettos and pine trees amid its sugar sand during the early part of the 20th century — is now known for its near-shore snorkeling and fishing opportunities. It has been placed in the spotlight as Palm Beach County continues its plans to develop Milani Park there, which would make the area more accessible to visitors. 

The controversial park, which has drawn opposition from Highland Beach residents for decades, would envelop the beach and dune areas adjacent to Yamato Rock — named “Jap Rock” until 2006 — as well as a parcel on the west side of State Road A1A at the south end of the town. 

Oscar Kobayashi circa the 1920s. The Yamato Roack area is being considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Historical significance

The county is hoping to add the proposed site to the National Register of Historic Places because of its link to the Yamato Colony and its inclusion of a Native American burial ground believed to be more than 1,000 years old. The county has submitted a nomination that is being considered. 

Rosensweig and others who have studied the Yamato Colony say the site is the last undeveloped parcel that can be linked to the Japanese farmers. 

The area near the railroad tracks that was known as Yamato Village, the hub of the community, is now the site of office buildings, retail shops and condominiums. 

Photos of the colony members on the beach and recollections from the farmers and their families help provide the documentation of the parcel’s historic significance. 

“It’s one of the few pieces of concrete evidence we have left,” says Carla Stansifer, curator of Japanese art at the Morikami. “It’s an important part of history.” 

Through diaries and interviews with descendants of colony members, historians and researchers have been able to understand the important role the area played in life there. 

“The Yamato Colony’s roots can best be traced back to Jo Sakai, a U.S.-educated Japanese entrepreneur who was looking to establish an agricultural community in Florida,” said Susan Gillis, the curator at the Boca Raton Historical Society. “He came to Boca Raton in 1903 and liked what he saw.”

The colony's roots go back to 1905 and it had its heyday in the 1920s. Stansifer thinks the colony members may have been attracted to the coastal area because of its appearance. 

“It’s very much like the coastline of Japan,” she said of the coral outcropping. “They may have thought ‘this looks familiar, it looks very homey.’”

Men celebrate a good harvest at the mound, circa 1916. The mound, as the early Yamato colonists called it, is the Native American burial mound near Yamato Rock.   

Source of sustenance

Yamato Rock became a prime fishing ground that served as a food source for sharing among members of the colony.

“Some of the men would go and fish and what they caught they brought back for dinner with the whole community,” Stansifer said. 

In his book The Amazing Story of Highland Beach, author Sandy Simon includes a description from Tomiko Kobayashi, who was a member of the colony, of what it was like during the Great Depression and how important fishing at the rock was at the time.

“Nobody had any money and nobody could get a job,” Simon quoted Kobayashi as saying. “All we could do was work in the fields and since it was too hot to grow anything during the summer we would go over to Yamato Rocks to the beach and fish for food. There were lots of fish there and it was much cooler.”

During a presentation at the Delray Beach Historical Society in July, Bryan Davis, a principal planner with Palm Beach County, said that fishing is discussed prominently in diaries and oral histories. Among the fish caught from the rock or surrounding area were bluefish, pompano and cubera snapper, he said. 

Oscar Kobayashi with a large snook he caught near Yamato Rock.

Place for celebrations

Besides fishing, the beach area near Yamato Rock was important for weekend picnics and special occasions, including a New Year’s celebration. 

Photos from members of the colony show gatherings on the Native American mound, and Simon, in his book, quotes locals as recalling groups of Japanese families getting together there on the weekends.

“It was an important place for the community to gather,” Stansifer said. 

Rosensweig said the area's preservation is important due to the evidence there of Native Americans and the history of the Yamato Colony members. 

“It’s one of the last remaining examples on the South Florida coast of the continuum of human existence,” he said. 

Residents put the mic in their own hands to take leaders to task via social media sites

By John Pacenti

Elected leaders routinely reach out to Delray Beach resident Ingrid Lee through text or social media. The mayor has met her for coffee to discuss issues.

Lee, administrator of the Facebook group Delray Matters, said it used to be that you had to be a white, wealthy landowner to have access to elected officials to have power and influence. “Now with social media, anybody can have discourse within the community and with leadership and be anybody,” Lee said.

In places as politically active as Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Lantana, officials may control the microphone at government meetings, but residents have found other ways to have their say and influence decisions. 

They are frequently turning to social media and its kissing cousins — newsletters, blogs, etc. — to influence, interact and participate in their local government. The flip side of this free-for-all marketplace is that these vehicles can be agenda-driven, censoring opposing viewpoints and allowing personal attacks and proliferating misinformation.

In one case involving Lantana elected officials, violence was endorsed, the vice mayor says.

The proliferation of social media sites focused on municipal government is so profound that it’s hard to track them all down. Whether they influence the government is a matter of debate that reflects the polarizing politics of the day.

In other words, you either love it or loathe it.

Besides Delray Matters on Facebook, there are Delray Raw and the Delray Beach Community Forum. Then there is the anonymously published Delray Gazette, which often has incendiary articles that are picked up by Delray Matters and other groups.

Into the mouth of the rat

In Boca Raton, there are the websites BocaFirst.org and 4Boca.com. The Nextdoor app for Boca Raton can get into the municipal weeds. Right now, the hot topic is the redevelopment of the city’s 30-acre downtown campus — and the “Save Boca” opposition movement.

Former Boca Raton City Council candidate Brian Stenberg posted on Nextdoor on July 23: “Hearing the constant ‘Government Campus/Memorial Park’ drumbeat is tiring, but it’s an important point in Boca Raton’s history. It’s about the difference between cost and value. It’s about our relationship with our local government.”

Boca Raton resident Holli Sutton says she has used Nextdoor to organize the resident opposition that killed the construction of an assisted living facility next to her home in Palmetto Park Terrace — a proposal rejected by the City Council. 

“Nextdoor was essential in helping us spread the word,” said Sutton, who is now building opposition to a proposed condominium complex for the same space by the same developer.

Digital marketer Jason Pelish, who publishes 4Boca.com, says he knows more than he would like about social media influencing local government. Pelish worked with Al Zucaro when the politician produced BocaWatch before running for Boca Raton mayor.

However, the BocaWatch that Pelish first encountered gave true meaning to Boca’s translated name: rat’s mouth. A schism occurred when Pelish, as he tells it, tried to clean up BocaWatch from “nasty and really just mean people hurting genuine political dialogue.” 

Zucaro shuttered BocaWatch after he lost his second mayoral bid in 2018 — then tried to start it up again a half-year later — while Pelish eventually started 4Boca. That site aggregates links to relevant content from other publications that focus on Boca Raton.

Meanwhile, BocaFirst.org publishes original content and addresses the issues of the city head-on. In July, the site addressed such in-the-weeds topics as the city losing its director of mobility and coverage of the Citizens’ Pedestrian and Bikeway Advisory Board meeting,

Pelish relishes his role as government watchdog, saying that he is good at knowing the inside scoop at City Hall. “When they see me coming, they run, basically,” he laughs.

But Pelish says this intersection between social media and local government is the Wild West, especially where people are using Facebook groups, blogs and other matters to post anonymously.

“There are a number of anonymous people on social media — Facebook, particularly, not so anonymous on Nextdoor — who really control, for the most part, what gets exposed, what doesn’t get exposed, what gets discussed and what doesn’t get discussed online.”

Anonymous potshots

Anonymously run Facebook groups, websites and newsletters allow certain candidates to get their messages across while censoring others, Pelish said.

 “I think it is textbook campaign fraud,” he said.

Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney said he also has a problem with anonymous social media posts and newsletters.

“I like to know who is writing it so I can understand the context of the comment, because you can have a political objective and post something anonymously,” he said.

The administrators who allow anonymous posts, Carney said, are taking a risk. “Freedom of speech does not protect you from a defamation lawsuit,” he said.

Zucaro, now years away from making waves with Boca Watch, said his site was nothing like the social media free-for-all that is present today.

“I think we simply were attempting to provide an information vehicle and provide a thesis for people to have their voice heard,” he said. “It was very effective, but it clearly wasn’t used in the manner that social media is being used in today’s world.”

A post on Nextdoor by this reporter asking what residents of Boca Raton think in regards to social media’s influence on municipal government got diverse responses.

“Nextdoor is full of mostly naysayers who don’t know all of the facts and jump to very lopsided conclusions. Then the misinformation spreads and spreads,” said one resident.

Another said, “It definitely changes municipal gov’t. It can be used by the gov’t to sway the public. A savvy citizen can do the same thing.” This was disputed by a woman who said, “I don’t believe it influences gov’t in the least.”

The Delray scoop

In his protracted ongoing contract battle with Delray Beach’s police union, Carney wanted to get an opinion on the reach of the city’s health center.

Did he call a doctor, a patient, or a director at City Hall? No, Carney called Lee of Delray Matters. The mayor said he didn’t call Lee as the administrator of the Facebook group, but she says, “He has called for other reasons and met for coffee” on different topics.

When it comes to scoops, Delray Matters posted in June a redacted portion of a whistleblower complaint filed by Jeri Pryor, the city’s director of neighborhood and community services, before any television or newspaper did. Pryor’s complaint against City Manager Terrence Moore and Vice Mayor Rob Long was found “unsubstantiated” by an independent investigator.

Pryor has told the city attorney that the publication of the whistleblower complaint in Delray Matters, as well as The Coastal Star and the Sun Sentinel, has led to public attacks that have contributed to a hostile work environment.

Rodney Mayo, a well-known restaurateur who claims Pryor’s code division has targeted him, sent another screed to the media in July titled, “The City of Delray Beach has Lost Its Mind!” Delray Matters ran it all.

Lee weighed in: “Why would a brand new Code Mgr target a business when she is new to the City?”

The latest edition of the Delray Gazette was also posted in Lee’s Facebook group. The publication is anonymously written and has the motto, “Because you CAN handle the truth.” Identifying the person or persons behind the newsletter is like playing a local game of Clue, and everyone is sure who has a firm grip on the pen — the name just changes depending on to whom you speak.

“Buckle up, because if the mayor has his way with the budget cuts, Delray Beach is about to get a whole lot less fun,” said one op-ed piece in the Gazette on Carney’s proposed budget cuts that would include some signature events.

Instant interaction

Gregg Weiss, who runs the Delray Beach Community Forum, said the blogs, Facebook groups, and newsletters give residents something that traditional media failed to deliver.

“Reporters were always really good about talking about government issues, in other words, issues within the cities. But where I feel they fell short, and this is just my opinion, was engaging citizens,” Weiss said.

Social media, especially hyperlocal groups, interact with people in the moment, whether it’s a lost dog or wallet, or municipal issues.

“Somebody has an issue with code enforcement? You know, they get solutions and answers,” Weiss said. “It’s very communal.”

Vice Mayor Long said he was one of the first to get into the newsletter game to reach his constituents. But he also sued former Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Chris Davey over a post on social media.

“I stay deliberately out of the groups because they are so overwhelmingly negative,” Long said. “And unfortunately, I think it creates these silos, and it creates these factions. These factions may already exist, but I think they actually end up getting strengthened, oftentimes by these Facebook groups that share a lot of disinformation.”

Filling a void

Former Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia has battled the social media horde and won. Petrolia ousted the nonprofit that ran Old School Square, which split the hoi polloi in the city right down the middle, earning her all kinds of shade and vitriol on social media.

“I think social media has been around for a long time, and what it has done is, I hate to say this, but it has somewhat started to fill the gap that we’ve lost with a lot of our news coverage,” she said.

Zucaro echoed that sentiment: “Boca Raton is in the middle of nowhere. I mean The Post barely covers it and the Sun Sentinel, I don’t think they even think it exists.”

Seasoned journalist Randy Schultz has been filling the gap with his City Watch items in Boca Magazine, but he can tiptoe the line between commentary and news. He was not a fan of Petrolia’s ousting the nonprofit that ran Old School Square.

Petrolia said she started a newsletter when she was in office “that was very popular” to address issues in City Hall that were not being covered by television stations and newspapers.

Carney has a newsletter and tries to use it not only to sway public sentiment but also the commissioners. He torched them not once but twice in July for not suggesting cuts to the budget. It didn’t work; they voted against him.

In June, Carney blasted the Police Benevolent Association in his newsletter — which is sent out via email — for wanting an increase in retirement benefits, saying the money would go only to the upper echelon and not the rank-and-file troops.

The Lantana threat

Lantana Mayor Karen Lythgoe and Vice Mayor Kem Mason take a different approach. They want as little to do with social media as possible, finding it toxic.

It’s hard to blame them.

Mason said that, in 2021, a comment on a Facebook group endorsed throwing sulfuric acid on some elected officials. Mason, first elected in 2022, said the group administrator endorsed the post.

The former firefighter called out the post at a council meeting during public comments. “Bullies are only stopped if you stand up to them,” he said.

Mason said he feels people lose their civility on social media, emboldened to attack their government and elected officials.

“[They] feel as though they’re protected behind their screen or their keyboard,” he said. “If people had to face the person that they’re criticizing, they probably would be more civilized.”

Lythgoe in February addressed misinformation on social media during a council meeting. She says social media is a bad method for residents to interact with their government.

“The people who seem to have the most negative things to say are not people who interact with any of us,” she told The Coastal Star. “We do not see them at the meetings.”

Lythgoe says she gets frustrated when seeing the misinformation online about the town she loves and her initial reaction is like a lot of people’s — to respond with equal venom.  

“I was on Nextdoor and there was this guy who said Lantana was so disappointing. And I was like, ‘Whoa, Karen. Don’t. Don’t.’ And then I politely and nicely said, ‘You need to get your facts straight.’”

Mason said he stays off social media altogether — so anybody using it to criticize him is usually wasting time, though some comments trickle back to him. “I’ve been called a liar, a bully and a cheat on there,” he said.

His campaign staff had to beg him to use social media when he ran for office.

“I don’t do Facebook. I don’t do Twitter, or X. I don’t do Tinder,” he said, laughing.