November 2011 Blog Posts (132)

By Jan Norris

See recipes

   

The holidays are a whirlwind and everybody’s seemingly busy — too busy, generally, for dinner parties.

Cocktail or wine parties have become the way to entertain large numbers and do it with ease — with the right foods on hand. Set out a dip or two,…

By Angie Francalancia



The best place for Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Station No. 1 might be in Ocean Ridge.

    Boynton Beach’s City Commission agreed during a workshop late last month to talk about the potential of moving Station No. 1 into Ocean Ridge’s Town Hall and garage.

Ocean Ridge, along with Briny Breezes, contracts for fire rescue service from Boynton Beach.

    Earlier in the month, Ocean Ridge Mayor Ken Kaleel sent a letter to Boynton Beach Mayor Jose…

By Thomas R. Collins



Across the state and the country, cities are going to back to a principle that was taught in kindergarten: Sharing is good.

For everything from police officers to roadwork to water pipes, cities are teaming up with other governments to provide services to their residents.

The idea of cities sharing services isn’t new, but it’s happening more and more in this tight economic climate, with plummeting tax bases that have brought budgets to…

By Allen Whittemore



    If anyone knows this pleasant little stretch of A1A well, it’s Tom Hill.

    He has been working here since 1973 and in the Delray Beach/Gulf Stream area since 1970.  He is the first and only manager of the Ballantrae Condominiums, a 40-unit condo…

By Margie Plunkett



The recent retirement of Ocean Ridge police officers Doc Darville and Dan Tinfina renewed a debate among commissioners in November that was reliably divisive: What, if anything, will the longtime employees be given for their departure?

    Commissioners lined up behind two basic concepts: the town’s traditional retirement bonus for longtime employees of $100 for each year employed; and a noncash symbolic gift to be determined — whether a watch, plaque or other…

Commissioners neither accepted nor rejected Town Manager Ken Schenck’s action plan to address shortcomings described in his evaluation in October. Instead, at the November meeting, they directed him to talk with Commissioner Zoanne Hennigan and revise his plan to be more specific and measurable.

    Hennigan, who said she was “sorely disappointed” with Schenck’s plan, moved to reject it, but received no supporting second motion from the others. The commissioner also had said that while…

By Steve Plunkett



    Manalapan officials are continuing to work with Ocean Ridge to fine-tune their neighbor’s proposal to take over police dispatching and also have asked the Sheriff’s Office for a quote.

    Town Manager Linda Stumpf told commissioners that Police Chief Clay Walker has met four times with Ocean Ridge Chief Chris Yannuzzi and that she also has asked sheriff’s officials to develop a price.

She said she expects to have dollar amounts to report in…

Chris Evert…

By Tim O’Meilia



    Be warned:  the three-minute rule is now in effect at Briny Breezes meetings. And no cheers or jeers.

    The Town Council unanimously enacted a set of five procedural rules Nov. 17 for public comment at Town Council and board meetings.

    Among them: one three-minute comment per agenda item, no rebuttals. One three-minute comment during the public comment portion at the end of the meeting, so cram all your thoughts into one carefully…

An elderly South Palm Beach couple killed in the crash of a small airplane was moving back to their longtime Chicago-area home so the husband could be near family while he was being treated for an illness.

John W. Bialek, 80, his wife, Ilomae, 75, and the pilot died when the plane crashed in a Chicago suburb late Nov. 28. Two others aboard the twin-engine Navajo survived.

The couple owned units at the Le Chateau Royale condominium in South Palm Beach and in the Golden Lakes…

By Steve Plunkett



The Spence estate is no more.

A demolition crew razed the 74-year-old house in late November, keeping the property on track to become Gulf Stream’s first subdivision in recent memory.        Seaside Builders LLC won approval Nov. 10 to replat the 6-acre-plus estate into six roughly…

By Steve Plunkett

   

Townsfolk apparently don’t like paying the interest that comes with installment plans.

    Gulf Stream took in $3.2 million in prepayments of the special assessment for the underground utilities project by the Nov. 1 deadline, Town Manager William Thrasher said.

    “The money was coming in so quickly at times that we thought we were desperately understaffed,” Thrasher said.

    The remaining $1.8 million will be paid over the years on property tax…

By Angie Francalancia



    It started this summer with a string of annoying vandalisms to cars. Over Labor Day weekend, a neighbor was cleaned out in what police described as a professional burglary. In October, a neighbor scared off a would-be robber who had entered his home.

    Then last month, the neighbors in Delray Beach’s Seagate area got another shock — another home burglarized in the middle of the day in a neighborhood where lots of residents are home.

    Residents…

By Margie Plunkett



    The Fontaine Fox property is losing a 50-foot swath of land to a garden owned by the daughter of Miracle-Gro’s founder.

    Now owned by developer Frank McKinney, that slice of Fontaine Fox history will become the property of Kate Littlefield, whose father, Horace Hagedorn, started Miracle-Gro, but it will still retain its historic designation and be subject to Historic Preservation Board regulations. 

    “It’s all about her garden,” architect Gary…

By Mary Jane Fine

   

A generous offer from Seaside Builders to provide services, labor and material at cost has potentially moved Delray’s back-to-the-future beachfront pavilion one hurdle closer to realization.

    “It is very encouraging,” says Bob Currie, the architect who has donated his own…

By Steve Plunkett



Will Palm Beach County’s renewed emphasis on ethics become the Grinch who stole Christmas gifts from municipal employees?

    The Commission on Ethics was set to discuss gift-giving guidelines for town workers and other government employees at its Nov. 30 meeting. A proposed opinion said a holiday gift of cash from someone besides a vendor or lobbyist “is not prohibited provided it is not given in exchange for the past, present or future…

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley



When it comes to food shopping, you probably have a favorite store you regularly visit. You are familiar with the layout, have a preferred day to shop and know the cashiers who will speed you through the line.

    So when that store closes, if only temporarily, it can upset routine.

    And that’s what’s happened to the customers of the Publix Super Market in Sunshine Square. Closed for renovations in October, the store in…

A rendering for the proposed 7-Eleven shows 8-foot-wide

sidewalks and enlarged window panels.

Rendering provided by Mummaw & Associates

By Margie…

Junior League past presidents at a Junior League of Boca Raton president’s luncheon in 2008: Seated, from left: Mary Csar (1990), Carole Putman (1989), Dorothy MacDiarmid (2005), Kristin Calder (2007), Kathy Adkins (2006), Lisa Mulhall (1997), Lisa Bariso (2004);…

The Giles House, home for 31 years to the restaurant

La Vieille Maison, deteriorated as it sat vacant.

Photo courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

By Tim Pallesen

 The 1927 house fondly…