Mary Kate Leming's Blog (1,853)

By Tim O’Meilia

Crosswalks and pedestrian signals will be installed at A1A and Woolbright Road despite the objection of neighborhood residents and the Ocean Ridge Town Commission.

Five days after commissioners voted 3-1 to oppose the state-funded project, the Florida Department of Transportation notified the town by letter May 7 that the work would begin May 28, the day after Memorial Day.

The letter cited safety concerns because of increased pedestrian…

By Tim O’Meilia

Bowing to the pleas of two dozen nearby residents, Ocean Ridge town commissioners took a stand against the installation of crosswalks at the Woolbright Road and A1A intersection but that opposition may not be enough to stop the project.

The Florida Department of Transportation will wait until next week to receive a letter from the town before a decision on the $44,500 project is made. But a DOT official who attended the…

The Coquimbo stands grounded on a reef in this 1909 image.

Photo courtesy of the Boynton Beach City Library

See …

The Broadway Entertainers perform at Flossy Keesely’s Pathway to the Stars show April 21 at Mizner Park in Boca Raton.…

A high-rise would fill the former Bank of America land at Federal Highway and Ocean Avenue. Rendering provided

By Thomas R. Collins



    Towers of offices, rental apartments, shops, restaurants…

I sprayed and soaked and bleached, but nothing would remove the big, green blob from the front of my favorite white, rip-stop cotton Bermuda shorts. Wouldn’t you know it? Right when the temperatures are inching upward and the snowbirds are gone. This is shorts season, darn it, and I hope this isn’t an indicator of the summer to come.

    We don’t hit hurricane season until June, but already I’m watching weather patterns and fretting about evacuations. Water spouts in Briny Breezes and…

May is one of my favorite months. It marks the end of the busy season here. Even though we have to say goodbye to friends for a few months while they travel north, or to the islands, or maybe overseas, there are some perks for those of us who stay put. The highways, restaurants, shops and beaches are a little less crowded and the pace is a little less hectic.

    My mom was fan of the less hectic, but so much of her life was just the opposite. She tended to the needs of eight children…

Tom Lynch and Marc De Baptiste started the Delray Beach chapter of the Boys and Girls Club in 1997 and have helped it grow ever since.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Emily J.…

By Tim Pallesen



    The waterfront restaurant chosen for downtown Boca Raton must compete in a popularity contest.

    The city will ask restaurant developers this month to submit proposals to build on two acres of city-owned land immediately north of the Palmetto Park Road Bridge.

    “It will be very exciting to have a waterfront restaurant, like all the other cities along the Intracoastal Waterway do,” Mayor Susan Whelchel said.

    Boaters will…

ABOVE: Fifteen entrepreneurs ages 12-18 wait their turn to present to the judges.

By Emily J. Minor

    

If you think kids today are lazy — holed up in their rooms, Googling cheat codes for video games,…

By Ron Hayes

    

A gay teenager appointed to the Boca Raton Community Relations Board after he made an impassioned plea for the city to add sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy has resigned.

In an April 3 letter to the board, Tyler Morrison acknowledges…

Linda Kaplan and her husband, Steve, below, adopted Linda’s younger sister and brother when the two were 26 and had three children of their own.…

By Tim Pallesen

    

Residents have filed a second lawsuit to overturn city approval of the controversial Archstone project on East Palmetto Park Road.

    The lawsuit halts construction of the 378-unit project that was set for this fall after the City Council gave approval on March 11.

The council scheduled executive sessions after its regular meeting to discuss the litigation.

    Three neighbors named as plaintiffs — George O’Rourke, James Wood and Al…

By Steve Plunkett



    An entrenched politician and a newcomer have declared their candidacies for elections more than 10 months away.

    Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie filed her intent to run for mayor. Mayor Susan Whelchel will be term-limited out.

    “We are going to be running a strong grass-roots campaign, and I look forward to sharing my message of fiscal responsibility, public safety, lower taxes and ethical representation with the residents of Boca…

Varvara Levchenko (left) and Venus Williams share a laugh during a pre-tournament news conference at the Federation Cup tennis matches in Delray Beach. With them are Sloane Stephens, Serena Williams, Mary Jo Fernandez. The Williams sisters led the U.S. to a 3-2…

By Rich Pollack



Although Congress restored funding to the Federal Aviation Administration late last month to pay for air traffic controllers at major airports and avoid furloughs there, the fate of the tower at Boca Raton Airport — and 148 towers at small airports across the country — remains up in the air.

While the FAA now has enough money to cover the costs of tower operations at the small airports, it has not made it clear how those funds will be applied. …

By Cheryl Blackerby



    Delray Beach and Boca Raton are likely to receive long-awaited money for damage to beaches by Hurricane Sandy, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

    The two cities’ beach projects were among 16 projects around the state that the Corps considered for emergency assistance in response to Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Debby.

After the Corps’ damage reports were completed, 12 projects were approved to receive the…

Residents of the Sabal Point Condominium on State Road A1A in Boca Raton gathered April 16 at a ‘Meet the Artist’ reception for the 10 fellow condo owners who submitted works for the Ninth Annual Art Show held at the seaside venue. Holding samples of their work are, from left, Tony Baratta,…

Sponsors, board members and trustees of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County were welcomed to the penthouse for a reception that preceded the organization’s March 8 prayer breakfast. The event featured entertainment, refreshments and networking for the cause. Photo: Gary…

Highland Beach residents gathered to clean up the beach on April 8. Ben and Mayra Stern (above) were among the volunteers who spent several hours hours combing the beach, finding many plastic bottles and caps, broken flip-flops, plastic bags, balloons, plastic forks and knives, empty sunscreen bottles,…