GREEN CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK IN WPB SEE STORY, PAGE 3
REP. ABRUZZO DISCUSSES THE SESSION SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN - CR IER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Volume 32, Number 19 May 13 - May 19, 2011
STUDENTS FIGHT BREAST CANCER
Cultural Diversity Day
Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement (CAFCI) and the Village of Royal Palm Beach hosted the annual Cultural Diversity Day on Saturday, May 7 at Veterans Park in Royal Palm Beach. Page 3
RPB Council Hears Report From Water Plant Task Force
The Royal Palm Beach Village Council voted unanimously last week to accept the report by its Wastewater Treatment Plant Task Force regarding a pr oposed land use designation for the 151-acre parcel. However, the council deferred further action on the site. Page 4
PBCHS Awarded Pizza For Taking Part In ‘Cell Phones For Soldiers’
As a prize for winning second place in the “Cell Phones for Soldiers” program, Palm Beach Central High School students were treated to free pizza May 4 and 5. Page 5
ACS Relay For Life Returns To Wellington
ThinkPINKkids held its annual 5k “Walk to Win the Battle Against Breast Cancer” on Friday, May 6 at Wellington High School. Students walked to raise funds while enjoying food and drink as well as live performances and raffle prizes. All proceeds go to Scripps Florida and Your Bosom Buddies II. Pictured above are thinkPINKkids committee members. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 13 PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER
By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Work began Tuesday on the new state-of-the-art dressage facility that will soon be the home of the Global Dressage Festival set to debut for the 2011-12 equestrian season. Members of Wellington Equestrian Partners, along with prominent dressage riders and members of the equestrian community, broke ground Tuesday on the future multimillion-dollar facility at the 57-acre site of the former Palm Beach Polo stadium at the northeast corner of South Shore Blvd.
and Pierson Road in Wellington. The new facility will be an expansion of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, where competitors from around the world come for high-level hunter and show jumping events during the winter months. The expansion will allow for the same level of competition for the sport of dressage, which is rapidly growing in popularity. “There’s a great following in Wellington,” Equestrian Sport Productions CEO Mark Bellissimo said. “It’s probably the fastest-growing discipline in equestri-
OPINION On the f inal day of its recent session, the Florida Legislature finally pulled the trigger on the long-awaited “pill mill bill” aimed at cracking down on how pain clinics operate throughout the state. The bill is not perfect, but make no mistake: it is a necessar y first step to break Florida’s reputation as the nation’s primary source of illegal pharmaceuticals. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 3 - 15 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 NEWS BRIEFS ....................... 8 SCHOOLS ..................... 16 - 17 PEOPLE........................ 18 - 19 COLUMNS .................... 27 - 28 SUMMER CAMPS ........ 29 - 32 ENTERTAINMENT ................33 BUSINESS ................... 35 - 37 SPORTS ....................... 41 - 44 CALENDAR...................46 - 47 CLASSIFIEDS ...............48 - 53 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Wellington Council Favors Rebuilding Community Center By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Plans to knock down and rebuild the Wellington Community Center are underway after the Wellington Village Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to pursue the $5.1 million project. The Wellington Community Center, known once as the Wellington Club East, was built more than 30 years ago as a country club. In October 1998, the village inked a deal to purchase the club and turn it into the community center. In its time as a civic building, the Wellington Community Center has been home not only to the council but also to many popular activities for children, adults and
seniors. Over the years, it has been remodeled to suit the needs of the community. The building was not designed to be a community center, however, and has several design flaws. The most critical is a steep hill at the entrance of the center, which poses a problem for elderly residents. Because the building was built before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was in effect, better access wasn’t required. However, senior services are among the key functions the building is eyed to serve now that the council has moved to the new municipal complex. Director of Operations Jim Barnes noted that to continue using See REBUILD, page 7
Show Promoters Break Ground Park Project, Roads On Large New Dressage Facility Loom Large In Next Year’s ITID Budget
The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life will return to Wellington this weekend. The overnight event will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 14-15, at Village Park on Pierson Road. The cancer-fighting event will star t at 2 p.m. Saturday and last 18 hours to raise money for cancer-fighting programs. Page 7
‘Pill Mill Bill’ Is Not Perfect, But It Is A Necessary First Step
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Wellington Councilwoman Anne Gerwig, Wellington Mayor Darell Bowen, Equestrian Sport Productions CEO Mark Bellissimo and Olympian Robert Dover at the groundbreaking. PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/T OWN-CRIER
an sports. We always had a longterm goal to have it, but we just didn’t do it well in its current incarnation. We decided that we wanted to work on something on an international scale.” And to do that, Bellissimo partnered with six-time Olympic dressage rider Robert Dover, dressage enthusiast Kim Boyer and prominent dressage journalist Ken Braddick. “We decided to craft a vision of what dressage could look like in Wellington in a dedicated facility,” Bellissimo said, “and really change the world market.” Recently, Equestrian Sport Productions received a special use permit to hold dressage competitions on the property, as well as a land development permit to begin construction on the iconic site, which is considered by many to be the birthplace of equestrian sports in Wellington. The new facility will feature plenty of amenities to attract dressage riders and enthusiasts alike, including an exhibition area with several arenas, a covered arena and lighted practice space, as well as permanent stables and bridle trails. Also planned for future phases are a hotel/condominiums on site, See DRESSAGE, page 22
Supervisor Darlene Crawford Drops Out Of LGWCD Election By Lauren Miró LGWCD Attorney Mary Viator Town-Crier Staff Report told the Town-Crier that because Loxahatchee Groves Water the filing date for new candidates Control District Supervisor Dar- had passed, the seats would autolene Crawford announced Mon- matically go to Widing and Schiday, May 9 that she is abandon- ola. “They’re considered elected,” ing her bid for reshe said. election to a seat on LGWCD Referendum However, Viator the LGWCD Board On Voting Change noted that Crawford of Supervisors. Could Be Expensive, would have to subAt the board’s mit in writing her PAGE 4 meeting Monday, resignation from the Crawford said she made the deci- election to the Palm Beach Counsion for personal reasons. ty Supervisor of Elections. Crawford was one of three canIn other business, the supervididates running for two seats on sors voted unanimously to desigthe board in a proxy vote by acre- nate a portion of the E Road canal age election scheduled for June maintenance road as a pedestrian 27. Supervisor Don Widing is also and equestrian greenway trail. up for re-election, while commuThe pathway runs along the canity activist Frank Schiola was nal easement on E Road north of hoping to secure a seat on the Okeechobee Blvd. to North Road. board. It now is blocked by several gates,
which were put up by property owners. Crawford originally broached the subject with the board, suggesting that the pathway would be a great area for pedestrians or equestrians. LGWCD Administrator Clete Saunier said that the district contacted the two property owners who had put the gates up. He said they were amiable to removing the gates but had some concerns. One asked to place a gate across the bridge on his property. Both were concerned about unauthorized vehicles, such as all-terrain vehicles, being used on the property and the liability incurred with it. Supervisor John Ryan worried that the staff’s recommendation to See LGWCD, page 22
By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report The Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors discussed its proposed 2011-12 budget on Wednesday, May 11. The budget, which is expected to slightly lower assessments for most units, will be dominated by road projects and the Acreage Community Park expansion. ITID Financial Director Emily Poundstone told the supervisors that the proposed budget is the lowest in five years, with assessments approximately 4 percent less on average than the current year, and 19 percent less than in 2007. Among the major budget goals expressed by the board at its budget workshop were to keep assessments low while maintaining the current level of services, road maintenance, “Welcome” signs at The Acreage’s borders and progress on the southern expansion of Acreage Community Park. The largest portion of the budget, about 31 percent, will be focused on road maintenance, Poundstone said. That includes a budgeted $1.4 million reserved for
road improvements. “And there are no assessment dollars related to these projects,” she said. Poundstone noted that there are approximately 41 road projects either completed or set to be completed by September as part of last year’s budget. About 24 percent of the budget will consist of utility sale funds, which includes the park expansion. Poundstone said that $4 million is reserved for the park expansion. “The board stressed this as a priority in the budget workshop,” she said. Because of the use of the utility sale funds, the district reserves would be down about $4.3 million, she said. The parks budget is down 30 percent, Poundstone said, due to the number of capital improvements completed last year. “Most of these were one-time projects approved by the board last year,” she said. “There isn’t as much in the plans for this year.” Another area with a slight decrease is the maintenance and operations department. Supervisor Carol Jacobs said See ITID BUDGET, page 22
TEACHER APPRECIATION
The Palms West Chamber of Commerce held its 14th annual Teacher Appreciation Social on Thursday, May 5 cent er court at the original Wellington Mall. Shown here are Pierce Hammock Elementary School’s Marie Zarecki, Kristen King, Natalie Garcia and Rogaya Miller. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
P.W. Chamber Members Try Their Hand At Budgeting By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Members of the Palms West Chamber of Commerce got the opportunity to put their budgeting skills to the test at a luncheon Monday, May 9 as they tried to balance Wellington’s municipal budget for the upcoming year. Held at the Wanderers Club at Wellington, the program was sponsored by the village and posed four budgetary questions to the attendees and asked them to vote on how they’d spend Wellington’s limited funds. Wellington Director of Financial Management & Budget Mireya McIlveen told chamber
members that the village is facing another tough year, with tax revenue falling about 10 percent. “That’s our budget challenge this year,” she said. “We’re facing a $650,000 to $1.5 million deficit.” To help residents better understand the budget process, Wellington has put together an interactive budget challenge available at www.wellingtonfl.gov, where anyone can try to balance Wellington’s finances by choosing which programs to cut and how much. “It guides the participant through a series of budget questions that our council and staff are
actually dealing with,” McIlveen said, and they include, “how are we going to deliver the services, and what level of service are we going to deliver to our residents.” Wellington will be hosting similar presentations with other groups, hoping to get the word out about budget cuts early, long before the budget must be approved. For the chamber luncheon, participants were given four areas to either finance with the same amount of money, cut money from or provide more: law enforcement, parks and recreation, the Safe Neighborhoods initiative and landscaping. Each table had to come to a con-
sensus on what to do about each area, lock in their vote, and then the results were instantly tabulated and put into a graph on an interactive screen at the front of the room. McIlveen noted that about $3 million in cuts have already been made and that the numbers in the exercise reflect those cuts. “We’ve cut the budget,” she said. “We’ve flipped our service delivery model. We’ve gone to all of the department heads to find out in what areas we can reduce. After that, we still have [a deficit].” Deputy Village Manager John Bonde explained that Wellington has contracted with the Palm
Beach County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement in the village, at a lower cost than running its own department. “We spent this year $7.8 million on law enforcement,” he said. “Law enforcement is our biggestticket item. It’s 60 percent of the taxes that we collect.” That total includes the cost for 59 core deputies, five civilian staff members and 53 crossing guards. Chamber members could vote to keep the law enforcement budget the same, increase it by 2 percent, which would add two deputies or 10 crossing guards, cut it by 2 percent, which would lose See CHAMBER, page 22