By Dan Moffett

    It could take at least another month before six barrier island communities learn the results of a feasibility study on a plan to create a special fire district.
    Robert Finn, a consultant with Matrix Consulting Group, told members of the towns’ exploratory group in March that he was still gathering information. After Matrix collects the data it needs, Finn says, he can go forward with an analysis and then make recommendations.
    “It could take another month or two” to get the completed report, said Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf.
    Along with Manalapan, Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes, Ocean Ridge, South Palm Beach and Highland Beach are trying to determine whether it makes sense to create their own tax district to provide fire-rescue services for themselves, rather than relying on mainland providers — Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County.
    The Group of Six had hoped to have the findings by now, but town schedules and problems getting data from the county have delayed progress.
    Finn sent the group a preliminary draft that reflects how the towns currently obtain services for their residents and what the costs are.
    “This serves as our factual understanding and assumptions as we move forward with developing the alternatives for providing fire/EMS services on the barrier island,” Finn said. “There are no findings or recommendations at this point in the process, just facts as we understand them.”
    Among the many things the group hopes to learn from the study are what it would cost to start the proposed district, how much it would cost to run it and what the impact might be on response times.
    William Thrasher, the Gulf Stream town manager who organized the group, says the study results will go to the towns’ commissions and councils to determine whether the plan moves forward.

Under the proposal, seven concrete groins will run perpendicular to the shor

stretching up to 75 feet out into the ocean. This conceptual drawing shows the groins uncovered,

but they will be buried under 7 feet of sand. The sand will gradually wash away and the beach will need

renourishment every two or three years.

Conceptual drawing provided by Palm Beach County

By Dan Moffett

    Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Town Manager Bob Vitas are going door-to-door along the South Palm Beach oceanfront, selling the town’s beach restoration plan to residents.
    Much of their campaign is spent debunking rumors and distortions. But their main focus is getting 16 easements from the 16 property owners on the 5/8-mile coastline.
    “If one says no, then we don’t have a project,” Vitas said.
    The easements will allow engineers and surveyors to begin setting the stage for the installation of seven groins that officials hope will restore the town’s shrinking beaches and slow erosion for maybe — just maybe — the next 50 years.
    The $5 million restoration plan for South Palm Beach is nearly 10 years in the making and is built on a partnership between governments that have committed to split the bill: The federal government will pay 50 percent of the project, the county will pay 30 percent from its tourism bed tax coffers, and the town will have to cover the remaining 20 percent.
    South Palm Beach has been putting money away for years, even during the Great Recession, and has $1.5 million in reserves earmarked for restoration.
    But nothing happens unless Fischer and Vitas sell the 16 property owners — mostly condominium association boards — on allowing the easements.
    “Things have been going well so far,” Fischer said. “But there are so many rumors and so much false information out there.”
    Much of the confusion stems from a poor understanding of groins. What are they and how will they work?
    Groins are concrete panels that are mounted on concrete support piles. Think of them as similar in structure to the concrete sound walls that are erected along Interstate 95 to shield neighborhoods from noise.
    The seven groins will run perpendicular to the shoreline, some of them stretching as far as 75 feet into the ocean.  Once the groins are installed, you won’t know they’re there, engineers promise, because they will be buried under 7 feet of sand and planted deep into the ocean’s hard bottom. The groins will not be attached to the condo seawalls.
    Over time, the ocean will take its toll, gradually carrying the sand away from the groins. Engineers expect that every two or three years more sand will have to be brought in to keep the groins covered. The cost of this replenishment is expected to average about $200,000 a year and is the town’s responsibility to pay.
    The goal of the project is to stabilize the town’s shoreline and maintain about 75 feet of beach from one end of South Palm Beach to the other.
    Fischer and Vitas say they hope to have the 16 property owners committed to allowing the easements by the end of April. The county then could sign off in June on beginning the survey work.
    But the heavy construction is still many months away. The target date for beginning installation of the groins is somewhere between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018, Fischer said.

By Dan Moffett

    By comfortable margins, South Palm Beach voters rejected a call for change from political newcomer Robert Gargano on March 15 and returned incumbents Robert Gottlieb and Stella Gaddy Jordan to the Town Council.
    Gottlieb received 337 votes, roughly 43 percent of those cast, Jordan followed with 285 (37 percent) and Gargano got 156 (20 percent). The top two finishers were elected to two-year terms.
    Gottlieb, 75, first joined the Town Council in 2005 and has served five terms, in part or in full, since. While all council members have cited beach restoration as their No. 1 priority, Gottlieb also has said that the town has to improve its long-range planning, upgrade its technology and lower the tax rate now that property values have risen.
    “At some point, we have to give some relief back to our residents, our taxpayers,” he said.
    Jordan, 75, is beginning her fourth term since first winning election to the council in 2010. She told voters the council has to focus on setting a five-year plan for the town’s recently hired administrative team.
    “We have a new town manager and a new town clerk,” Jordan said. “Now the council has to give them our priorities so they can work together and know what’s expected of them. Until now, we haven’t done as much planning as we should have.”
    Gargano, 68, a semi-retired chemical engineer and technology consultant, characterized council members as “nice people” who were unqualified to lead the town, especially in financial matters. During a town meeting late last year, Gargano told the council it was making a mistake in approving a 10-year contract with Waste Management.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes Town Council members have put the brakes on passing an ordinance to restrict truck traffic after hearing concerns about safety from their police chief.
    Hal Hutchins, Ocean Ridge police chief and the town marshal, told the council that too many restricted streets can have the unintended consequence of forcing trucks into risky situations.
    “I am concerned with the enforceability of this ordinance,” Hutchins said, telling council members that the final draft of the proposed law went further than the proposals discussed by the town’s Planning and Zoning Board.
    “I think we have to be reasonable in where we place restrictions on roadways and not dead-end people and cause them to have to violate an ordinance in order to try and get out of the area,” Hutchins told the council during its March 24 meeting.
    The chief said if the town forces large trucks off too many streets, then drivers might have no choice but to back up or make dangerous turns trying to get through Briny Breezes. That’s not what the town wants, Hutchins said, and he told the council that proposed restrictions to Briny Breezes Boulevard could be particularly problematic.
    Council members originally focused on restricting truck traffic on Old Ocean Boulevard because the town was receiving legal transfer of the road from the state Department of Transportation. But the scope of proposed restrictions broadened as residents called for more limits on heavy trucks.
    “One of the things I learned a long time ago is that we don’t dead-end people and then expect them to figure a way to get out,” Hutchins said.
    Town Attorney John Skrandel, who is drafting the ordinance, said he would do more research on enforcement issues and bring a revised version of the law for a first reading at the council’s April 28 meeting.
    Three provisions that appear likely to remain in the ordinance are descriptions of the trucks that would be restricted: those with three or more axles, including trailers; those that weigh more than 8,000 pounds; and those with a load capacity greater than 1 ton. Violators would be subject to fines under the town’s municipal code.
    Skrandel said that trucks making deliveries to Briny Breezes — vehicles that have the town as their destination — would not be restricted. Utility trucks, such and those used by Florida Power & Light, and emergency vehicles also would be exempted.
    The town has received the deed transfer paperwork for Old Ocean Boulevard from state officials, Skrandel said, and also a letter from Palm Beach County saying it wants no ownership of the road. So, Old Ocean now is officially Briny Breezes’.
    In other business, Council President Sue Thaler said Alderman Ira Friedman has resigned his seat in order to return to the Planning and Zoning board, where he served many years.
    Thaler said Karen Wiggins, a former alderman whom Friedman replaced in 2015, has volunteered to return to the council. Wiggins is expected to be sworn in at the town’s April meeting.

By Jane Smith

    The city recently agreed to pay more than $221,000 for work done to clean and sanitize two fire stations, including one that serves Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
    At station No. 1, which serves the coastal communities, the mold-removal work cost Boynton Beach $69,673. The station, on Boynton Beach Boulevard near City Hall, closed in early December after mold was found. It reopened Jan. 18. Crews worked out of station No. 4 on South Federal Highway.
    “I hope we don’t have to go down this road again,” said Commissioner Mack McCray at the March 16 meeting. “That was $221,569 that I wished we could have saved.”
    An additional $20,575 was paid to send 46 employees who claimed they suffered from air quality problems in station Nos. 1 and 3 for chest X-rays and for 28 of them to see a pulmonologist.
    Only five are still in the process of being verified, Tim McPherson, risk management director, told the City Commission. Employees floated between station Nos. 1 and 3, making it impossible to identify at which station they contracted the problem, he said.
    Parts of a sleep apnea machine used by an employee also became contaminated, not the entire machine, McPherson told commissioners.
    Interim Fire Chief Greg Hoggatt explained what his staff is doing to stop the air-quality problems:
    • Conducting annual inspections of the stations by senior staff,
    • Reminding captains at the stations that they are responsible for cleanliness at the stations and that housekeeping needs to be improved,
    • Reporting any leaks that need to be fixed,
    • Reviewing standard operating guidelines on cleanliness and determining whether they are the most efficient ways to do them, and
    • Reminding firefighters to consider the stations as their homes and to treat them as such.
    Semi-annual deep cleanings are once again done by an outside firm. When budget cuts were made citywide in 2008, the cleanings were done in-house, Hoggatt said.
    At fire station No. 1, the flaps didn’t seal properly, allowing engine exhaust and other airborne particles to enter the bunk rooms where firefighters sleep, risk management workers found.
    HVAC rooms at both stations were found to be dirty and littered with garbage. The units need to be cleaned at least monthly, according to the risk management report.
    The City Commission approved the expenditure unanimously by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner David Merker was absent.
    Commissioner McCray asked, “Who dropped the ball?”
    “The team dropped the ball,” Hoggatt said. “No one place was the weak link.”

The eight-story Ocean One proposal might be joined later by a hotel and a larger, 15-story condo to the south.

Rendering courtesy of Cohen, Freedman, Encinosa & Associates

By Jane Smith

    In a surprise move for area waterfront residents, the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and investor Davis Camalier are working to make an eight-story apartment complex planned for the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Boynton Beach Boulevard a reality.
    The day before the agency’s March meeting, its attorney gave the go-ahead to add the Ocean One project and adjacent CRA-owned land to the agenda. Camalier’s team wants the CRA land, a .47-acre parcel recently appraised at $460,000, for $10. The board accepted his letter of intent by a 4-1 vote.
    Then-Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick objected.
    “I am not in favor of doing such a deal early on; [if so], the weaker the city’s bargaining position will be,” he said. “We should not be flying off and giving something away without understanding the whole project.”
    Fitzpatrick was defeated in the March 15 municipal election.
    CRA Executive Director Vivian Brooks said the agency bought the parcel as part of a land deal in 2002 for $900,000. “We lost a lot of it to the improvements” of Boynton Beach Boulevard, she said. She recommends transferring the CRA property at the time Ocean One gets its construction loan. Including the CRA’s land, the the project is 1.98 acres.
    Brooks told the CRA board that the Ocean One development team did not ask for other incentives. Brooks also said the developer agreement would be ready to review at the May 10 meeting.
    Mayor Jerry Taylor, who also sits as the CRA chairman, revealed he had met with Camalier and his partner, Bill Morris, to discuss Ocean One. Morris also is involved in Hudson Holding’s project, Swinton Commons, in Delray Beach. Plans there call for demolishing eight houses and buildings and moving eight historic houses.
    Camalier teamed with Morris, a real estate developer who built the Worthing Place apartments in Delray Beach. They have been friends for 10 years, Morris said. He described Camalier as more of a real estate investor who needed help with the development side. No other investors are involved, he said.
    “The piece of [CRA] property is critical to our moving forward,” Morris said.
    “Camalier bought at the height of the market that was followed by a steep market correction,” Brooks said. Values still have not returned, his attorney, Bonnie Miskel, wrote in a March 8 letter explaining why her client wants the land for nearly nothing.
    Ocean One plans, submitted a few days before the CRA meeting, call for 237 apartments, varying in size from a 560-square-foot studio to a 1,600-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment.
    A six-story garage would sit behind the horseshoe-shaped complex. The garage’s first floor would have 36 spaces for visitors and guests. The remaining floors are for apartment residents and would have a security gate that can be accessed by a key fob, Morris said.
    “We want to do as high-quality, upscale project as we can afford,” Morris said. Doing so would require incentives from the CRA to help offset the lower apartment rental rates in Boynton Beach, similar to what the nearby 500 Ocean apartment complex received.
    The Boynton Beach submarket, east of Interstate 95, commands rental rates that are 50 cents to 70 cents a square foot lower than in Delray Beach, Morris said. As an example, he said, Worthing Place gets $2.60 a square foot, while starting rental rates at Ocean One would be $1.90 a square foot.
    “It may increase, but that’s where we are starting out,” Morris said. “Without incentives, we could not finance the project and get it going.”
    Camalier still owns the southern part of the former Bank of America parcel. The second phase calls for a hotel in the southwest corner of the parcel, Morris said. The CRA told him to talk with Guy Harvey Resorts as a possible hotelier when they are ready to tackle that phase.
    The third phase would be a 15-story condo on the southeast, according to Morris. “It’s not as important for the hotel guests to have waterfront views as it is for the condo owners,” he said.
    The new coalition of Intracoastal residents will monitor the project, said Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, which created the Boynton Coalition for Responsible Development. The height, density, traffic and parking will be scrutinized.
    Both groups promote responsible development.
    “We want to see the whole picture of that site, that’s how they would get everyone to buy into it,” de Haseth said.
    If the developers seek incentives in addition to the CRA’s half-acre, she said, “Citizens will want to know: What is the give-back to the city? What are we getting?”

Members of the New Hampshire Police Association pipe and drum corps provided some of the entertainment.

Britt Usher of Boca Raton was decked out in her finest green.

Delray Beach celebrated its annual  St. Patrick’s Day Parade along Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach on March 12.

This year, parade organizers created a partnership with Honor Flight, and more than 60 WWII veterans led the parade.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    Over the past 30 years, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has spent the most in the West Atlantic neighborhood, according to an analysis released in late March.
    In that area, its biggest expense, $24.1 million, went to buy land, according to the CRA draft expense list pulled from the Munilytics Inc. report. The firm was hired last fall to analyze the taxable values in the CRA’s eight subareas. The agency contains about 20 percent of the city’s land.  
    For much of 2015, the City Commission and CRA board members were at loggerheads over the perceived richness of the CRA coffers when the city didn’t have enough money to provide services outside of the district.
    Much of the dispute can be attributed to lack of communication, the Munilytics report said. The two groups met twice last year.
    “Here we again emphasize that everyone believed that meeting quarterly or monthly would help all parties work together and communicate better,” Chris Wallace, Munilytics president, wrote in the report.
    On April 12, the CRA board members and the city commissioners will have a joint workshop. The CRA wants to present the complete Munilytics report to the City Commission at that time.
    CRA board members agreed to extend Munilytics’ contract to April 14 to ensure they have all of the economic impact data.
    On March 24, Wallace told the CRA board members that the agency’s economic impact over 30 years was “substantial. … Thousands of permanent jobs were created.”
    He explained how his firm calculates economic impacts. First, debt service costs for principal and interest are subtracted from the total invested. For the CRA, the agency had invested $213.1 million over 30 years, less $39.5 million for debt service to arrive at an initial impact of $173.6 million. Using multipliers, his firm estimated that the direct impact was $374.3 million over 30 years and 3,600 jobs were created.
    He also gave impacts for select projects in the CRA area:
    • Atlantic Grove, mixed-use project on Atlantic Avenue and sitting just west of Swinton Avenue, is valued at $9.9 million, created an estimated 169 jobs during construction and will have 66 permanent, onsite jobs when fully occupied.
    • Pineapple Grove Village, just north of Atlantic Avenue with two condo buildings and six townhomes, is valued at $35.6 million and created 838 jobs during construction.
    • Hyatt Place Delray Beach, a hotel with 134 rooms on Northeast Second Avenue, is valued at $13.7 million, created 291 jobs during construction and provides an estimated 87 jobs.
    • Seagate Hotel and Spa, a full-service resort with 154 rooms at 1000 E. Atlantic Ave., is valued at $25.5 million, created 492 jobs during construction and provides an estimated 140 jobs.  
    “It is very important for the City Commission to respect the efforts of the (CRA) board and to consider their recommendations and interim decisions that are offered or executed,” Wallace wrote in the report. “It is also very important for the CRA board to be consistently in lock step with the policies of the City Commission.”
    In other action at the CRA meeting:
    • Board members agreed to allow staff to hire its own engineers for the first time in an effort to speed up the development process of CRA projects.
    • Executive Director Jeff Costello received a 5 percent raise over his current salary of $132,893, on a 4-2 vote. Herman Stevens had left the meeting.
    CRA Chairman Reggie Cox and board member Joseph Bernadel voted no. They wanted Costello to do a self-evaluation, submit it to the board in two weeks and then the board would determine the amount of the increase.
    Bill Branning persuaded fellow board members to agree to the 5 percent raise that was based on their evaluations of Costello. Five marked his performance as outstanding, while two said he met expectations.

Annie Davis, owner of Palm Beach Travel.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Some people count sheep at night, but Annie Davis, owner of Palm Beach Travel in Manalapan, goes to bed thinking about the logistics and routing of her clients’ trips.
    “It helps me sleep,” said Davis.
    Whether someone wants to rent out an entire private island in the Caribbean, visit Antarctica, take a private tour through Italy on a Harley-Davidson or organize a multi-generational family vacation, Davis can make it happen.
    “The majority of our business is luxury travel,” Davis said, “but we also book flights to New York on JetBlue.”
    Palm Beach Travel was recently named the “agent of record” for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, which means it can make bookings on the airline’s new luxury airliner that flies out of New York.
    The upper deck of the wide-body Airbus A380 features eight private “apartments,” including The Residence, an exclusive three-room suite with a living area and shower. The cost of The Residence between New York and Abu Dhabi is $32,000 each way.
    “It’s not for everybody,” said Davis, “but it’s an exciting part of our business, because it’s unique.”
    There’s only one Residence per aircraft, and there are only three in the world.
    The destinations most requested by Palm Beach Travel clients lately are Iceland, New Zealand, Seychelles, Dubai and Hawaii, Davis said.
    Palm Beach Travel opened just three years ago, and Davis plans to expand its square footage in the Plaza del Mar shopping center by almost double early next year. The boutique agency, which is part of the Altour division of American Express and specializes in Platinum and Centurion travel, also has a new cruise department that has “taken off,” Davis said.
    Davis travels about 120 days a year doing research and looking for ways to improve the travel experience of her clientele.
    “I don’t think any other travel agency in this area can say that they’re on top of the travel trends like we are,” Davis said. “We can tell you the pitch level in a lie-flat seat of every airline.”
    When Emirates started its new nonstop flights from Orlando to Dubai, Davis asked for complimentary round-trip limousine transportation from Palm Beach County to Orlando for her clients flying in business class and first class. And she got it.
    Davis, 45, who resides with her husband and two sons in Hypoluxo Island, is the world’s only American Express Travel Insider for the British Virgin Islands, and one of two for Dubai. She was a finalist for the 2016 Women of Worth, Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was recently nominated for the 2016 Executive Women of the Palm Beaches Women in Leadership Award.
    She is a donor and volunteer of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the organization that sent her family on a trip to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Isles—chosen as a destination by her brother after he was diagnosed with leukemia as a child.
    “It’s my favorite place in the world,” Davis said. “That was something that I always feel I need to give back to people so they can have that same experience.”
    Along with her coworkers, Davis is also a donor and volunteer of Give Kids the World, which created a hotel in Orlando with its own nursing care and amusement park, specifically for kids visiting Disney World through the Make-A-Wish program.
    When it comes to travel, Davis said, “I have what we call ‘jet fuel in the blood.’ This is not a job. It really is a way of life.”
    — Marie Puleo

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and lived there until I was 12. I went to All Saints Catholic School. We lived in a great family neighborhood filled with kids. I was blessed to have had an early childhood spent playing with friends from the neighborhood, going to summer camp and our local amusement park.
    I had two younger brothers, Michael and David, with whom I was very close. Tragedy struck our family just after we moved to California when I was 12. My brother Michael was diagnosed with leukemia. My loving parents worked tirelessly to help my little brother. Sadly, he passed away at age 19, just after we moved to Michigan.
    Because of this, I grew up quickly. I had a lot of responsibility, as the oldest sibling. This has influenced my life greatly. I have an incredible amount of emotional strength, I hold my husband and children more closely and I live every day to its fullest.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. I have always been in the travel industry. I was a founding member of two airlines, Jet U.S. in Detroit, Michigan, and Midway Airlines in Chicago. I was an inflight supervisor and oversaw our flight attendant division. As an inflight supervisor, I also had the opportunity to fly as a flight attendant. On one of these flights, I met my future husband.
    The tragic events of Sept. 11 changed my career path. Midways Airlines closed its doors on the very next day. I found myself six months pregnant, with no job and an uncertain career path. I took this opportunity to complete my college degree and start a vacation rental company in the Florida Keys.
    It was difficult to balance school, work and care for my family. I could not have done this without the support of my fabulous mom and supportive family.
    Once my children were established in school, I joined American Express as an exclusive Centurion travel agent. Our team planned travel and lifestyle experiences for the top 10 percent of the wealthiest Centurion cardholders.
    American Express announced in 2013 that it was closing its storefront travel agencies. I saw a need for a boutique storefront travel agency in Manalapan. With the blessing of American Express, I opened Palm Beach Travel, a division of Altour Travel, American Express in Plaza del Mar. I also brought with me the top agents from American Express.
    
    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. Don’t let failure stop you. Use it to inspire you to work harder. The first airline I started at lasted only a few days. From that experience, I had two choices. The first was to choose another career path, the second was to try again. I am very happy I tried again.
    When 9/11 happened, I didn’t let that stop me. I tried again. When American Express said they were closing their storefront travel agencies, I didn’t see that as failure but as an opportunity to open Palm Beach Travel.
    Failure is only an opportunity to do something you love over again, only better.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Hypoluxo Island? 
    A. Almost 20 years ago, I was filming a documentary for PBS about flight attendants on a flight from Palm Beach. There was a good-looking passenger on that flight who did everything he could to make me look good on camera and did a bit of flirting. That passenger ended up being my future husband, Brent.
    Brent, a lawyer, was a longtime resident of Hypoluxo Island. We married in 2000 and I moved from North Carolina to the island. We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary!

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Hypoluxo Island?  
    A. I can walk or ride my bike to work. I also think it is a wonderful place to raise a family.

    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I am an avid reader. The book I am currently reading is The Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough. My family and I are traveling to the Panama Canal and we all are reading this book. I highly recommend it.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. When I need inspiration, I listen to Jimmy Buffett. He is a great storyteller. When I need to relax, I listen to the music played at Hot Yoga of Delray during my yoga class. I have practiced hot yoga regularly for eight years.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. My father, Mike Heglin. My dad is the humblest person I know. He was an early pioneer in the laser industry and is a published author. His career and family values have shaped my life.
    He began his career as an engineer working with lasers at University of Cincinnati developing laser eye surgery. He then went on to develop lasers for GE in their aircraft division. He also worked with NASA and many other notable companies. He still works in a small corner of his garage developing laser technology that shapes the future of our society.
    He and my beautiful mom, Suzanne, have been married for nearly half a century.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
    A. Elizabeth Banks.  She is funny, charming and blonde.

    Q.  Is there something about you people don’t know, but should?
    A. I am a good matchmaker. One of my best friends is Emi Ebben from Jewelry Artisans. My husband’s best friend is a great guy named Tim. We set them up on a date many years ago. They just celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary!

By Willie Howard

    OCEAN RIDGE — Flip Traylor made a living on the water around Boynton Beach most of his life. The Ocean Ridge resident loved fishing, music and his two West Highland white terriers, Dobbie and Duff.
    The former pilot, boat captain, real estate broker and commercial fisherman died March 1 at the VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach following a long battle with skin cancer. He was 86.
    Philip Bryan Traylor was born in a bridge tender’s house in July 1929 — three months before the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression — in Deerfield Beach, where his father, Burt, was working.
    While growing up in Boynton Beach, Mr. Traylor fished for food and sold fish to help his family make ends meet. He fashioned a fishing rod from a piece of bamboo, its wire line stripped from the windings of an electric motor.
    He and other boys dug clams from a small island on the north side of the Boynton Inlet, now known as Audubon Island. During the winter, his father gathered oysters from the west side of the Lake Worth Lagoon where the Palm Beach Yacht Center is located today.
    “We had no money, but we had fish, oysters, clams and sea turtles,” Mr. Traylor said in a 2014 interview.
    Mr. Traylor attended high school in Key West, where he learned to play the drums and began to peddle his musical talents in bars. Seeing her son working in bars didn’t please his mother, who sent Mr. Traylor away to Brewton-Parker College in Georgia.
    He attended the University of Florida in the 1950s but ran out of money and returned home to work on the many charter fishing boats that ran out of the Boynton Inlet. He met his wife, Barbara, in the mid-1950s at the South Ocean Club, a live-music club near Lake Worth Beach. “He liked to jitterbug,” Barbara Traylor said, recalling the many nights they went dancing at the Boynton Woman’s Club.
    Fishing became a thread that connected many parts of Mr. Traylor’s life.
    After a wealthy man asked Mr. Traylor to run his boat one summer, he spent 20 years working as a private boat captain — a job that led him to billfish tournaments in the Bahamas and inspired him to become a pilot.
    After his employer’s death in the 1970s, Traylor became a real estate broker, selling resort property in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
    Mr. Traylor worked as a commercial fisherman. He headed out the Boynton Inlet before sunrise on his 24-foot boat, MLB (My Little Boat), in pursuit of kingfish as often as the weather permitted, even after his body had withered from the effects of skin cancer.
    “There’s a hell of a lot of kingfish off Boynton Inlet that are breathing a sigh of relief,” friend and fellow boat captain Dr. Charles “Buddy” Moore said following Mr. Traylor’s death.
    “People will remember him with his straw hat and his Levis and suspenders, as a fisherman,” Moore said. “He was a philosopher, a well-read, kind, intelligent man.”
    Friend Arnold Stroshein said he and Mr. Traylor were both in their early 20s when they served as escorts for women from Chicago who were visiting The Breakers hotel. They eventually learned the ladies were in a club for exceptionally tall women.
    “They were all a foot taller than we were,” Stroshein said.
    Friend and fellow commercial fisherman Kim Morrison said he was impressed with Mr. Traylor’s ability to keep fishing after treatments for skin cancer left him rail thin and nourished with a feeding tube.
    “He fought the best fight I’ve ever seen,” Morrison said. “He needed a rest.”
    Mr. Traylor’s fishing buddies planned to spread his ashes on the Atlantic — along with the remains of his two dogs — in March.
    Mr. Traylor is survived by his wife, Barbara; sister Mary Ann Wilson of Lakeland; daughter Pam Anwyll of McLean, Va.; son Greg of Boynton Beach; granddaughter Ashton Krauss of Ocean Ridge; a great-grandson; and several nieces and nephews.
    A memorial gathering for Mr. Traylor is scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. June 5 at the Boynton Woman’s Club, 1010 S. Federal Highway. Those planning to attend have been asked to RSVP by sending an email to panwyll@verizon.net.

By Emily J. Minor

    BOCA RATON — Dr. Herbert Leonard Wachtel, a military cardiologist who left the service in 1969 to join Bethesda Memorial Hospital’s burgeoning heart ward, died Feb. 12 in his sleep at home. He was 81.
    After joining Bethesda, Dr. Wachtel would eventually serve as both the hospital’s chief of cardiology and chief of staff. He was also instrumental in helping start Delray Medical Center, said his wife, Lenore.
    Dr. Wachtel was born in 1934 in the New York borough of Queens, son of the late Jacob and Sally Wachtel. He married Lenore Ackerman in 1958. A year later, Dr. Wachtel graduated from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, and began serving in the U.S. Army.
    While in the service, he served as chief of cardiology at William Beaumont Hospital in El Paso, Texas. But when Dr. Wachtel was ready to leave the Army, he, his wife, and their four children wanted to live someplace close to the ocean, said Lenore Wachtel. They considered Southern California, but the need for medical doctors there wasn’t that great, she said.
    “Florida at the time was calling for doctors,” she remembered.
    When the family arrived in 1969, Lenore Wachtel said her husband, also a founding member of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, was the only Jewish physician on staff at Bethesda.
    In those days, it created a bit of talk about town, she said.
    Dr. Wachtel’s intelligence and bedside manner quickly won over the hearts of patients and colleagues alike. The cardiology field was changing rapidly in those years, his wife remembers, and Dr. Wachtel was quick to absorb new procedures and studies.
    On many occasions, he visited nursing homes and recommended pacemakers for patients who seemed too ill to move about, she remembered.
    “He would put in pacemakers and they would get up, walk around, and go home,” she said.
    After helping establish Bethesda’s widely recognized cardiac program, Dr. Wachtel retired about 15 years ago. It was then that he and his wife were able to enjoy traveling, eventually visiting all the continents except Antarctica. The doctor also loved to play golf and bridge, and enjoyed both classical and operatic music.
    “He was dedicated to his work and his family,” said his wife, “and he was very well loved.”
    In addition to his wife, the couple’s four married children survive their father: Mitchell Wachtel, of Lubbock, Texas; Stacy Wachtel, of Tulsa, Okla.; Edward Wachtel, of New York City; and Janice Wachtel Walton, of Jacksonville. The children’s spouses and six grandchildren also survive him.
    Make memorial donations to the Florence Fuller Child Development Centers, 200 NE 14th St., Boca Raton, FL 33432, or the Herbert Wachtel Temple Beth El Memorial Fund, 333 SW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton, FL 33432

By Rich Pollack

    Efforts to educate motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians in parts of coastal Palm Beach County about the importance of sharing the road appear to be paying off.
    During a weeklong, stepped-up enforcement effort along State Road A1A in southern Palm Beach County last month, law enforcement officers from six agencies wrote only one moving-violation citation to a bicyclist and did not issue any warnings or citations to pedestrians.
    “We’re seeing a lot more compliance than we had in the past,” said Highland Beach police Lt. Eric Lundberg, who founded the South Florida Safe Roads Task Force two years ago and who helps lead the group of law enforcement officers and traffic safety advocates. “Motorists and bicyclists are actively working toward the goal of sharing the road.”
    During the most recent coordinated education and enforcement effort from March 7 to 13, law enforcement officers wrote motorists 38 citations and issued drivers 28 written warnings.
    Nine of the citations were for speeding, 12 were for red-light violations and seven were nonmoving violations, such as an expired tag or faulty equipment. There were also 10 moving violations for a variety of other traffic infractions.
    In addition to the one violation for the bicyclist, law enforcement officers issued 120 verbal warnings to bicyclists, with a large number of the them the result of officers pulling over groups of riders and reminding them of the law.
    “Our goal is education and it appears that we’re making progress,” said Lundberg, who thinks increased awareness played a role in reducing the number of citations issued.
    For at least one bicycle club, which hosts two weekend rides on State Road A1A, constant efforts to ensure riders remain safe and follow the law may be playing a role in the reduced citations.
    “We do everything we can to be as safe as possible and ride within the rules,” says Tony Whittaker, a ride leader with the zMotion Bicycle Club, which hosts group rides for club members on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
    Whittaker and another ride leader, Dean Budney, said before each ride the team leaders go over safety measures and laws.
    For each ride, which can have as many as 30 bicyclists, team leaders remind riders to stay as far to the right as possible.
    Budney said often there will be some riders who join the group and don’t always follow the law. Ride leaders encourage those bicyclists to leave the group.
    “I ask people to ride somewhere else fairly regularly,” Budney said. “Our role as team leaders is to bring everyone home safe and in one piece.”
    While law enforcement officers acknowledge there are other groups where rides on A1A can evolve into impromptu races, Budney and Whittaker say zMotion does not permit racing. The group rides about 20 to 22 miles per hour, they say.
    The team leaders say they usually let others in the group know when there is a car behind them, shouting out “car back,” so riders can move over even farther.
    Whittaker says he frequently signals to the car when it is safe to cross over the yellow line, passing the bicyclists by more than three feet, the legal requirement.
    While zMotion disagrees with a Highland Beach Police Department interpretation of the state law that officers say requires bicyclists to ride single file except when passing, club members comply and ride in a single line when going through the town. Lundberg has requested a clarification of the law from the state Attorney General’s Office.
    “Our goal is to represent the cycling community well,” Budney said.

    More than 200 bicyclists are expected in Delray Beach’s Ride of Silence, part of an annual event to honor cyclists killed or injured while riding.
    The worldwide event, scheduled for May 18 this year, will begin at 6 p.m. It will include a 10-mile ride starting and ending at Old School Square in Delray Beach.
    “This is a slow, casual ride not to exceed 9 miles per hour,” said Patrick Halliday, president of the Delray Beach Bicycle Club.
    There is no charge to participate, but it is limited to riders at least 16 years old. Riders should  arrive prior to 5:45 and must wear a helmet.
    For more information visit www.meetup.com/delraybeachbikeclub/ or contact Halliday at info@delraybeachbikeclub.com.

    Lantana Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour won 69 percent of the votes on March 15 to defeat newcomer Anthony Arsali, with 31 percent. Balfour, who has served on the Town Council since 2013, received 1,116 votes to his opponent’s 512.
    Lynn Moorhouse, who has been a council member since 2004, retained his seat with no opposition.
    Balfour, 78, has been a Lantana resident for 44 years. Arsali, 29, an attorney, lives on Hypoluxo Island.
— Mary Thurwachter

By Mary Thurwachter

    Natasha Deonath, a former sales director at the Carlisle senior living community in Lantana, was sentenced on March 7 to 18 months in prison for charging the business more than $100,000 for phony resident referrals and taking kickbacks.
    The sentence was handed down by Circuit Judge Dina Keever after Deonath, 39, pleaded guilty to one count each of organized scheme to defraud and money laundering.
    According to an October 2014 Lantana police report, officials at the senior living facility at 450 E. Ocean Ave. noticed that one real estate agent was being paid for an unusually high number of referrals.
    Carlisle officials suspected Deonath of receiving kickbacks for referrals. Many referrals came from Realtor Glenn Gatti of Royal Palm Beach, according to the police report. Fourteen people listed as being referred by Gatti said they did not know him, according to the report.
    Investigators determined that Gatti would receive checks for referrals, but that some of the apartments were never rented and some were already occupied. Police said that Gatti would, in turn, send checks to Deonath. Some of them were endorsed by Deonath’s husband, Rodney Jagessar, a Lake Worth Realtor.
    Jagessar, 41, was sentenced to five years’ probation and Gatti, 64, was given two years’ probation.

By Mary Thurwachter

    The final vote on whether to dissolve the Lantana Nature Preserve Commission, which had been scheduled for the March 14 Town Council meeting, has been postponed until April 25.
    The town made its first vote to disband the commission at its Feb. 22 meeting.
    Town Attorney R. Max Lohman recommended the move, saying the commission, to which the town appoints members, and the Friends of the Lantana Nature Preserve, a nonprofit organization, frequently duplicate efforts and that only one of the groups was necessary. There are some common members to both groups and only one is covered by the Sunshine Laws regarding open meetings.
    Lohman said the town was trying to protect itself and members of the two groups from getting into trouble with the Sunshine Laws.
    But at the town’s March 14 meeting, past and present members of the Nature Preserve Commission, who opposed the move, said that insufficient notice was given to them about the plan to dissolve the group.
    “We only meet twice a year,” said Nature Preserve Commission Chairman Paul Arena. “Our next meeting is April 5. Let us meet to discuss this.”
    Former nature preserve commission member Richard Schlosberg said that “insufficient notice was given” and “the Lantana Nature Preserve Commission had stood in good service for protecting the Lantana Nature Preserve.”
    Schlosberg added the commission and the Friends were “not overlapping functions but dovetailing them.”
    Some residents worried that the preserve could one day disappear without proper vigilance. But council member Phil Aridas said that “the Nature Preserve will always be there.”
    Lohman agreed. “When the property (former home to a town dump) was sold, there was a deed restriction that it always has to be a passive park,” he said.
    “Early on, it wasn’t the same people on both so it wasn’t a problem, but as time went on, with fewer people interested (in serving on the committees), it became one,” Lohman said.
    A coastal hammock between the Carlisle senior living facility on East Ocean Avenue and the Intracoastal Waterway, the Lantana Nature Preserve was created by a 1997 ordinance and came out of a lawsuit. The Carlisle pays the town $40,000 a year to maintain the park. No money comes from the town’s general fund to pay for its maintenance.
    In other action, the council:
    • Voted 3-1 (with Lynn Moorhouse dissenting and Tom Deringer absent) to support an effort by the County Commission to put the 1-cent infrastructure surcharge proposal on the ballot in November. The sales tax increase would yield about $220 million annually countywide, of which Lantana would receive $650,000 a year for projects such as renovating the library or Town Hall and for paving roads.

    • Denied a request by Nicholas Arsali of 505 S. Atlantic Drive for a code variance to allow him to build a 6-foot-high wall along the front of his property.

Helen Bass puts the hammer into the project as soon-to-be-homeowner Gethro Phaitus

keeps watch during a roof-raising at 421 SW Fifth Ave. in Delray Beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Phaitus family — mom Yvescar; daughter Geica, 4; son Liam, 2; and dad Gethro —

stands at the homesite. It takes Habitat for Humanity four to six months to finish a house.

Photo provided

By Lucy Lazarony

    For 25 years, Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County has been building homes for families and changing lives.
    “We’ve built 124 homes,” says Mike Campbell, executive director. “They are complete and have families living in them and we currently have three homes under construction. We’re bringing people together to build homes, community and hope.”
    A group of retired IBM executives hatched the idea for Habitat for Humanity in south Palm Beach County in 1989.
    They had traveled up to West Palm Beach to help Habitat build a home in the Westgate community, and when they found out there wasn’t a program for South County, they said, “We can fix that.”
    And they started the process to do just that, finishing on April 29, 1991, Habitat of Humanity of South Palm Beach County’s official anniversary date.  
    The first house was built at 164 NE 11th St. in Boca Raton. The gross cost of the house was $10,425 and the gross cost of a house today is $120,000.
    The house was started on Sept. 7, 1991, and completed on June 24, 1992.
     “We do much better than that now,” Campbell says.
    Now Habitat homes are completed in four to six months. Habitat does it with a staff of 42 and 1,700 volunteers.
    “Last year, we had just over 1,700 different individuals participate in 46,000 hours of service,” Campbell says. “Seventy percent of every Habitat house is built by volunteers and 30 percent is contracted labor.”  
    There’s no building experience required to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
    “You don’t need any experience at all. We have paid staff and volunteer crew leaders that will show you everything you need to know,” Campbell says.  
    To volunteer, visit the Habitat for South Palm Beach County website, www.habitatsouthpalmbeach.org, and click on the volunteer button.
    Volunteer John Shelly of Boynton Beach has helped to build 98 houses.  
    “It’s fun,” Shelly says. “It’s rewarding seeing a house go together and see the family move into the house, how excited they are. It’s just an American dream come true.”
    There was a roof-raising for the future home of the Phaitus family — Gethro and Yvescar Phaitus and their daughter, Geica, 4, and their son, Liam, 2 — in Delray Beach on March 19.    
    “It’s a good experience,” says Gethro Phaitus. “It’s like you are working with your family.”  
    Like every family helped by Habitat, Phaitus is pitching in to help build other Habitat houses as well as his own.  
    Jermain Fashaw and his wife, Meshell, and their two children, India, 14, and Jermain II, 12, having been living six years in a Habitat house that they helped to build in Boynton Beach.
    “I can’t say enough about Habitat. It was just a total blessing,” Fashaw says. “It was a step up for us.”  
    There is a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County celebrating its 25th anniversary planned for April 21 at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach.
    Swing for Habitat, featuring live music by The Garrison Elliott Band, includes dinner, dancing, an open bar, silent auction and raffle prizes. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person. To purchase tickets, visit www.swingforhabitat.com.
    Habitat also is looking to raise money through a Women’s Build Week in May. Volunteers are required to make a minimum, tax-deductible donation of $50 to register.
    “We’re going to do a weeklong women’s build,” Campbell says. “They are going to put roofs on a couple of homes if we raise enough money. You’ve never seen a house straighter or more square than when women build.”
    Another way to support Habitat’s mission is with donations to and purchases from its three thrift stores. Habitat ReStores are at 1900 N. Federal Highway in Delray, 272 S. Dixie Highway in Boca Raton and 10055 Yamato Road in west Boca Raton.

By Dan Moffett

    Town Attorney Ken Spillias retired in March after 17 years on the job in Ocean Ridge and 41 years practicing law.
    “I’ve seen good government and I’ve seen very bad government,” Spillias told the commission. “I want you to know that from my perspective, working here has been an absolute pleasure.”
    Spillias’ last couple of years were stormy ones for the town, with the forced resignation of Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi, a failed recall attempt, personnel changes and no shortage of political infighting.
    “This is a small town and there are a lot of systemic changes that need to be made,” he said. “Small towns tend to resist that. They have their way of doing things and it works. And it has worked here, and it has worked very, very well.”
    Spillias suggested that recent disputes should be kept in perspective.
    “You are lucky people,” he said. “You live in a really nice town, and for the most part, people are nice to each other. You have your dust-ups and you have your battles. But I’m going to tell you something — compared to other cities, and you read about them right here in Palm Beach County — you have a great group of people, both citizens and commissioners and staff, who are all working, sometimes at odds with each other but with the right attitude, to make this stay a wonderful place to live.”
    Mayor Geoff Pugh said Spillias had been “almost like a mentor” to him. Pugh said he’d miss the sound from the end of the dais of Spillias’ clearing his throat when commissioners considered actions that might have legal risks.
    Spillias’ successor, Glen Torcivia, gave him Greek candy and vintage Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cards as parting gifts.
In other action:
    • Town Manager Jamie Titcomb told the commission that public records requests “are up exponentially” and his staff is overwhelmed. Titcomb won the commission’s approval for the extraordinary step of closing Town Hall for a day (on March 25) to allow staff to catch up with requests and purge unneeded documents.
    Titcomb said the town should make the transition to electronic record-keeping and a more modern archival system. Commissioners agreed and told Titcomb to investigate alternatives.
    • The commission gave unanimous approval to Police Chief Hal Hutchins’ plans for overhauling his department’s administrative structure and for updating its radio system.
    Under the restructuring, the department would add an administrative lieutenant position, at a cost of about $7,400 in salary and benefits. Hutchins also said he would promote two officers to fill vacant sergeant and investigator positions.
    The first phase of a two-part upgrade for the town’s 10-year-old radio system will cost about $84,000, with an additional $62,000 expected in next year’s budget to complete the overhaul. The new radios enable the town’s police to communicate more efficiently with neighboring agencies.

Albert Richwagen III and his mother, Bertha, in their shop in Delray Beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

55 years ago, Robert Richwagen posed at the entrance of their first store, and framed the first dollar they made (below).

Photos provided

By Ron Hayes

    On April 22, 1961, Robert and Bertha Richwagen put a dollar bill in a picture frame and hung it on the wall of their newly opened scooter shop in Delray Beach.
    Now, 55 years and five addresses later, that first dollar Richwagen’s Cycle Center earned is still on a wall in Delray Beach, and Richwagens still run the business.
    “In 1960, my dad was a tool and die maker at Pratt & Whitney,” his son Albert Richwagen III recalled. “My older brothers were GoKart racers and they needed a place to work on their GoKarts, so he opened a GoKart and Vespa scooter store at the corner of Southeast First Avenue and First Street.”
    The GoKarts and scooters took off, and after a couple of years Richwagen moved the business to 205 E. Atlantic Ave., where Starbucks stands today.
    “My mom would run the store during the day and Dad would come in at night to do repairs,” his son explained.
    Another few years and business was so good that Richwagen left Pratt & Whitney, able at last to make a living off the store. They moved again, to 217 E. Atlantic Ave., home to the Buddha Sky Bar now, and stayed for the next 25 years.
    Bob Richwagen’s success was not surprising. A native of Boston, he had learned machine work in high school, then labored as a welder in the Boston Shipyard during World War II. At Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, Conn., where he turned engineers’ designs into working models that could then be manufactured, he was part of the team that built a periscope used in America’s first nuclear submarine.
    Now he brought that same ingenuity to his bike shop.
    In the early 1960s, the Beach Boys sang “Let’s go surfing now, everybody’s learning how.” Delray’s teenagers were among those learning how, so Richwagen designed the “Richie,” a handmade surfboard he made at the shop and sold along with Raleigh bicycles. (You can see a rare surviving Richie at the Delray Beach Surfing Museum, 255 N. Federal Highway.)
    When the surfing fad faded, Richwagen noted the area’s growing number of retirees and designed a three-wheeled bicycle for adults.
    Bob Richwagen died of a heart attack on July 8, 1988, at 59. His widow, Bertha, took over the business with sons Paul and Albert, and Richwagen’s Cycle Center was renamed Richwagen’s Bike & Sport a year later.
    “When I took over, we were the only Raleigh dealer around,” Albert Richwagen says. “I still have my Raleigh Chopper from when I was a kid, hanging on my living room wall.”
    The business moved to 32 SE Second Ave. for a couple of years, then to 401 NE Second Ave., by the railroad tracks, for two more. In 2007, it came to the current location, 298 NE Sixth Ave., at the corner of Third Street.
    Addresses are not the only thing that’s changed in the 55 years since Bob Richwagen framed that first dollar.
    The GoKarts, Vespas and Raleighs are gone. Today, Richwagen’s sells mainly the Electra line, along with a few Schwinns, as well as powerboards.
    The cost of a good bike has gone way up, with prices ranging from $249 to $5,000.
    And the number of kids who ride bikes has gone way down.
    “To be honest,” Richwagen says, “bike riding for kids has been on the decline for several years.”
In August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the good news that bicycle deaths among children 15 and under had plummeted 92 percent since 1975.
Safety helmets helped, of course, but more significant, the number of children who rode bikes to school dropped from 48 percent in 1969 to a mere 13 percent 40 years later, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School.
    And those kids’ good old American bikes aren’t even American anymore.
    “Every bike under $1,000 is made in Japan, China or Taiwan,” Richwagen says.
    But some things remain.
    At 79, Bertha Richwagen still shows up for work on Saturdays and holidays, and the Richwagens take pride in giving back to the community that’s supported them for 55 years.
    The store participates in bike safety rodeos at Spady and Pine Grove elementary schools and the Bike Valet service at the city’s weekly green market.
    Working with Human Powered Delray, a local nonprofit, Richwagen’s rehabilitates bicycles confiscated by the Delray Beach Police Department, after which they’re given to needy and deserving students at Toussaint L’Ouverture High School for Arts and Social Justice.
    In addition, Sandoway House Nature Center, St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School and Unity School have had Richwagen bikes donated for fundraising raffles.
    “It’s the give-back,” Albert Richwagen says, “the paying forward.”
    And now, the looking forward.
    “I don’t plan on moving,” he says. “I want to expand.”
    Even with a store boasting 3,000 square feet, Richwagen feels cramped.
    “The only way to get a good deal on bikes is to buy 75 or 100 at a time,” he says, “so I have off-site storage I’m paying for.” And about 100 rental bikes live in the fenced yard behind the store.
    “I’d like to build another building back there, with a mezzanine for storage, move the repair shop back in there and make this all one showroom,” he says.
    The bike business, and bikes themselves, have come a long way since a tool and die maker from Boston started selling GoKarts in 1961, and his son is pedaling right along with the changes.
    “Nowadays, the guys who are selling a lot of really high-priced road bikes, they have an espresso machine, a bar, leather couches and a computerized fit station to customize the bike to your body,” Richwagen reports. “I’d love to add that addition and then create a fit station and relaxing area for our customers.”
    But that’s not what he loves about the business.
    “Bikes are the breeze in your face,” he says. “When you’re in a car, you’re in a capsule. On a bike, you take it all in. You’re smelling it, hearing it, feeling it. It’s all green.
    “I could get to the beach faster on a bike than you can in your car.”

Correction

    A story in the April Coastal Star misstated the reason the town of Ocean Ridge paid $50,000 in legal fees to Commissioner Richard Lucibella’s attorney. The payment was reimbursement for Lucibella’s legal defense of a failed recall effort against him last year. The fees were not due to his lawsuit against the recall’s organizers, which also named the town clerk as a defendant because of her ministerial role in certifying elections.

By Dan Moffett

    Political newcomer Steve Coz pulled off an upset in the March 15 election when he ousted Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Lynn Allison, who held a seat on the Town Commission since 2004.
    Coz, 58, a 31-year resident of Ocean Ridge who has served on town zoning and adjustment boards, captured 55 percent of the vote in defeating Allison, 445-358, a strong turnout of 54 percent of registered voters.
    “It’s disappointing. We worked very hard,” said Allison. “But I’m hopeful the new commissioner will keep some of the promises he’s made and work for the good of the town.”
    Coz, the president of a publishing company, won the endorsements of the four other commission members and campaigned on a commitment to work toward preparing the town for projected development and population growth across the bridge.
    “It’s not Ocean Ridge residents causing the trespass problems at McCormick Mile Beach Club,” he told voters. “It’s not Ocean Ridge residents robbing our children at gunpoint in the center of town. It’s not Ocean Ridge gangs breaking into cars at the south end of town. We have serious problems past our town limits. Outside population pressure will define our town in the years to come.”
    Allison was sympathetic last year toward the failed recall efforts against Commissioner Richard Lucibella, a movement that grew out of the forced resignation of Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi.
    Defending itself against Lucibella’s suit over the recall cost the town some $50,000 in legal fees and also a toll in political acrimony within the commission.
    Mayor Geoff Pugh believes neither the recall dispute nor the commissioners’ support for Coz dictated the outcome.
    “Those issues are relegated to a small volume of the population,” Pugh said. “The large volume of voters gets direction on who to vote for from their neighbors. Petty backbiting is relegated to just a very few. I think most people just believed that maybe, after 12 years, it was time for someone else.” Pugh credited Coz with running a forward-looking campaign that did not revisit the town’s political turmoil.
    “Mr. Coz got out there and was more upbeat than Lynn,” Pugh said. “Lynn Allison gave 12 years of her life to the town of Ocean Ridge and was an excellent commissioner. One reason she lost was that people want to see change.” Pugh said he’s hopeful that the newly formed commission will work for Ocean Ridge’s best interests.
    “We don’t have a lot of big issues. But in a small town, issues are created — especially in a paradise, they’re created,” he said. “My biggest concern is when people come (onto the commission) that they do it for the town and don’t do it for their ego.”