2 Editor’s Note/Coastal Star
The COASTAL STAR
March 2017
Coastal Star Publisher Jerry Lower publisher@thecoastalstar.com
Advertising Executives Mike Mastropietro Jay Nuszer
Executive Editor Mary Kate Leming editor@thecoastalstar.com
News Operations Tracy Allerton Chad Armstrong Brad Betker Chris Felker Steve Plunkett Victoria Preuss Michelle Quigley Clare Shore Scott Simmons Michele Smith Margot Street Tom Warnke Amy Woods
Advertising Manager Chris Bellard sales@thecoastalstar.com Managing Editors Henry Fitzgerald henry@thecoastalstar.com Mary Thurwachter maryt@thecoastalstar.com Founding Partners Carolyn & Price Patton
www.thecoastalstar.com
The Coastal Star is a monthly newspaper with two editions serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and coastal Delray Beach; Highland Beach and coastal Boca Raton. ©2008-2017
Send letters, opinions and news tips to news@thecoastalstar.com The Coastal Star 5114 N Ocean Blvd. Ocean Ridge, FL 33435 561-337-1553
Editor’s Note
Why municipal elections can have huge impact
T
hree votes is all it takes to change the course of history in most of our coastal towns. Think about it: Riverwalk Plaza in Boynton Beach, iPic and Atlantic Crossing in Delray Beach, the termination of a police chief in Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes’ switch from Ocean Ridge to Boynton Beach police service. These all happened on a 3-2 vote. I’m thinking a lot about this vote count as we gear up for the March 14 municipal elections. With the exception of Manalapan, which has seven commissioners, it takes only three votes to change (or protect) our way of life on the island. Granted, cities like Boca Raton seem to be keen on unanimous votes and towns like Gulf Stream and Highland Beach rarely split their votes. Still, all it takes is one election to change things. And not just on the national stage. One election can force extremely local changes as well. Keep this in mind as you attend candidate forums and talk with your neighbors this month. What issues are at the heart of why you love
where you live? Maybe it’s the beach and maintaining our shoreline. Maybe it’s assuring levels of emergency service to the island. Maybe it’s making sure house sizes don’t destroy the ambiance of our neighborhoods. Or maybe it’s overdevelopment or traffic or sober homes in residential neighborhoods. All of these things — and more — will be on the ballot March 14. How candidates stand on these issues matters far more than which clubs they belong to or with whom they are friends or how they look. It’s not a popularity contest. We are voting for people who will represent our concerns. Ask hard questions. Educate yourself on the impact of zoning issues and comprehensive plans and changes to town charters. These are at the heart of preserving, creating or destroying the way we want to live along the coast. And keep in mind that all it takes is a 3-2 vote. — Mary Kate Leming, Editor
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Dublin, Waterford, Killarney, Limerick, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Blarney Castle and more!
Linda Geller-Schwartz, shown here in her office, was recognized by the county chapter of the National Organization for Women for her community service. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Boca woman recognized as advocate for human rights
By Rich Pollack Linda Geller-Schwartz has made standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves her life’s work. An advocate of causes ranging from protecting victims of human trafficking to the push for equal pay for men and women, Geller-Schwartz tirelessly fights against injustice. “If I see something that upsets me, I have to do something about it,” she says. For her work in the community, including her efforts as the Florida state policy advocate for the National Council of Jewish Women, Geller-Schwartz, of Boca Raton, last month was named the recipient of the 44th annual Susan B. Anthony Feminist of the Year Award by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the National Organization for Women. “Linda is an advocate against every injustice — social or political — in our state,” says Arlene Ustin, president of the local NOW chapter. “She is a role model of advocacy and activism and she’s my hero.” Geller-Schwartz’s volunteer work on behalf of the nonprofit National Council of Jewish Women focuses on advocating for women, children and families and often overlaps with the core issues identified by NOW nationally. “Everyone knows that she’s at the forefront of all the issues we
NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR Send a note to news@thecoastalstar. com or call 337-1553. advocate,” Ustin said of GellerSchwartz, who’s a member of the local NOW chapter. “You name any issue of urgency or importance and she’s not only a voice, she’s a leader.” That leadership, Ustin said, played a big part in GellerSchwartz’s selection for the award, presented during the NOW chapter’s Susan B. Anthony Luncheon last month. As state policy advocate for the NCJW, Geller-Schwartz often teams with leaders of other organizations to persuade lawmakers to support certain issues and not support others. “We’re working with legislators trying to get good legislation passed and bad legislation stopped,” she says. Geller-Schwartz, who is married and has one son, has frequently reached out to the staffs of state lawmakers — and to lawmakers themselves — to speak in favor of voting rights and against legislation that treads on women’s reproductive rights. Her efforts have had the most visible impact in the arena of supporting efforts to stop human trafficking in Florida,
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raise awareness and improve advocacy for the issue. As the former leader of Partner Organizations Against Sex Trafficking, and as an advisory board member for 1HTC, a Southeast Florida antihuman trafficking consortium, Geller-Schwartz has worked to get legislation passed that requires the posting of the human trafficking hotline number in public places. That number is 888-373-7888. Geller-Schwartz, who did not wish to share her age, has advocated for education in schools about the human trafficking problem in the state. While contacting legislators is a big part of GellerSchwartz’s advocacy efforts, so is communicating with others and encouraging them to write letters or otherwise show their support of causes. She writes an electronic newsletter, distributed to other members of the National Council of Jewish Women in Florida, keeping them informed on important issues in Tallahassee and Washington. For Geller-Schwartz, who has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto, working on behalf of the rights of women and children has been an important part of her life. Before moving to Florida two decades ago, she was director general of the Women’s Bureau in the federal Department of Labor in Canada, and a senior policy adviser in the government. In Palm Beach County, she served as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University in the Women’s Studies Center and the Department of Sociology until her retirement. “It’s been in different roles, but the issue of equality has always been central in my life,” she says. “We’ll all be better off in a society where equal rights are available to everyone.” Ú