April 2012 Blog Posts (84)

By Angie Francalancia



    Renovations at Sunshine Square are more than halfway complete, with several new tenants, including a Panera Bread and TD Bank, anticipated for the shopping center at the southwest corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway.

    The enlarged Publix is expected to open in September with 14,000 more square feet than the old building and a more accessible design, according to spokesperson at Edens, the Columbia, S.C.-based, owners of the…

Gail Adams Aaskov (right) shakes hands with Ocean Ridge Town Clerk Karen Hancsak after being sworn in as town commissioner on April 2.  Aaskov and incumbent Commissioner Geoff Pugh (rear) were elected to fill two open commission seats. 719 residents cast votes in the March 13…

This year, voters in the sixth biennial Read Together campaign sponsored by the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition have chosen Last Train To Paradise, by Les Standiford, as the book they hope everyone will read.

The book, available in local libraries and…

By Mary Thurwachter

    

A week before Lake Worth commissioners unanimously chose Lantana Town Manager Mike Bornstein as the new city manager, colleagues in Lantana braced themselves for his probable departure.   

    Mayor Dave Stewart said he knew the day would come when Bornstein, town manager for 12 years, would move on.

    “Don’t get a big head over this, Mike, but over the past four or five years, our town was not of the size to have the tax base to…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

With plans for a $15 million to $25 million breakwater project to protect South Palm Beach’s eroding beaches dead in the water, town officials are trying an old-fashioned political method to resuscitate the plan — lobbying.

    When Palm Beach County commissioners killed the plans in February for a Singer Island jetty and breakwater project, a proposal to install breakwaters and groins along a 1.3-mile stretch from Palm Beach through South…

Al Jacquet, a legislative aide for state Rep. Mack Bernard (D-West Palm Beach) is sworn into Delray Beach Commission Seat 2 as fellow commissioners (standing l-r) Tom Carney, Angeleta Gray and Adam Frankel along with Mayor Woodie McDuffie observe. Jacquet won the…

Delray Beach Mayor Nelson “Woodie” McDuffie is running for the seat of Palm Beach County supervisor of elections.

    McDuffie filed March 22 to run against current supervisor Susan Bucher of Boynton Beach for the next four-year term.

    On Delray Beach’s City Commission since 2007, McDuffie became mayor in 2009. He is currently manager of information technologies for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and has 42 years of experience in IT.

    McDuffie’s announcement…

Construction crews install sections of a concrete pedestrian tunnel under A1A at the Manalapan residence of G. John Krediet on March 6. Closed for five days to all but emergency vehicles and local traffic, the road reopened March 9. Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal…

Manalapan officials scheduled a “special presentation” for outgoing librarian Mary Ann Kunkle, but the guest of honor was a no-show at the March 27 commission meeting.

“Even though she’s not here, we do have a certificate of appreciation for her,” Mayor Basil Diamond said.

    The town also chose a Kindle Fire e-book reader as a going-away present.

    A substitute went to fill in at the library but Kunkle sent her back, saying she would not be attending, Town Manager Linda…

Residents could catch a parking break at the beach if Delray Beach follows through on a suggestion by Commissioner Tom Carney.

Carney’s recommendation would push back the start of metering of beach-area parking about an hour and a half on Monday through Thursday mornings, effectively giving residents a break.

    Currently, motorists must start feeding the meters at 8 a.m., but under Carney’s recommendation that would move to 9:30 a.m.

While anyone parking in the area would…

By Emily J. Minor

    

MANALAPAN — Natalie C. Marcon, a devoted wife and mother whose bright disposition and strong faith carried her through recent years of medical tribulations, died March 1. She was 69.

    Although it was cancer that claimed her life, Mrs. Marcon’s husband, Fred, said his wife…

By Antigone Barton



    If the rewards of life by the sea are immeasurable, a report released last month showed the risks, at least, are calculable.

    Global warming, rising sea levels and storms all add up to odds of flooding that will redraw the map of Florida from the bottom…

By Margie Plunkett

    

Delray Beach’s valet parking system will escape a comprehensive overhaul, but will be tweaked to address issues raised by commissioners and staff.        

     “As far as I’m concerned, from what I understand with the stakeholders downtown, they’re happy with the way it works,” said Mayor Woodie McDuffie at a March workshop meeting.

Commissioners voted to modify some of the requirements of valet licensing at their April 3 meeting, including…

By Emily J. Minor

    

MANALAPAN — Miriam H. Knapp, a renowned sculptor who adored her family, old-school manners and the magic of stage ballet, died March 20 after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer over the summer. She was 77.

Born in Paris to the late Selma and Maxime Levy Hermanos,…

DELRAY BEACH — Barbara Banta Gracey, 89, a long-time Delray Beach resident, devoted mother and grandmother and volunteer for many local causes, died March 9 in Delray Beach.

    Her death came four years to the day after the death of her husband of 59 years, Matthew Gracey.      Born in…

Ken Kaleel, 51, served as mayor of Ocean Ridge from 1998 to 2012. He and his wife, Rema, have three children, Jacqueline, Nicholas and Alexandra.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

You could say that Ken Kaleel was following a path…

With the closing of the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana on March 19, residents along the coast will likely find themselves turning more to the businesses along A1A.

    They will neither go hungry nor be underdressed, nor will they need to cross the water for gas or to pick up a surfboard, have their hair done, get Fifi groomed or work out.

    Here are the businesses that have indicated they will remain open along A1A. The bridge is expected to be closed for at least 22…

Budget cuts put the kibosh on Fourth of July fireworks in Lantana last year, but that won’t be the case this year. Last month, the Town Council approved a $25,000 contract with Zambelli Fireworks Manufacturing to put on a 22-minute display set to music.

    The fireworks, set to go off at 9 p.m. July 4, will be launched on the Intracoastal Waterway from a barge supplied by GLF Construction of Miami. GLF, the contractor working on the $33.2 million Ocean Avenue bridge project, agreed to…

St. Mark Catholic School seventh-grader India Roehrich-Hill speaks about what Coach Barulic means to her during the ‘Loving Locks/Bald For Barulic’ event held in honor of CoachChristopher Barulic, who is being treated…

57th Annual Bethesda Ball Chairmen Harry and Deborah Sargeant with Phantom of the Opera stars Davis Gaines and Teri Bibb. More than 500 guests attended the event at The Breakers, which raised $1 million for the Bethesda Hospital Foundation.…