February 2019
Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
Briny Breezes
Volume 12 Issue 2
Along the Coast
ROGER BENNETT 1933-2019
Eight-term mayor navigated ‘crazy time’ By Dan Moffett Roger Bennett was sworn in as the mayor of Briny Breezes right when the town needed him most. “I’m so pleased the people had enough faith in this old loon to elect me,” he told a reporter in 2007 after easily defeating two opponents in what was then only the second contested election in Briny’s history. Mr. Bennett died Jan. 12 at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach after a short Bennett illness. He was 85 and serving his eighth oneyear term as mayor. Mr. Bennett would become the right mayor at the right time when a condo developer offered $510 million to buy the mobile home community and build condos — lots of them. Things were about to get crazy in Briny. The prospect of becoming instant millionaires turned some neighbors against each other. Council meetings got raucous. Residents in surrounding communities hurled sanctimonious complaints about excessive growth — and greed. Reporters from across the country came to tell an often unhappy story. Neighbors had persuaded Mr. Bennett to run for office, believing his long career as a journalist and educator equipped him to articulate the town’s case to the public, and perhaps more important, to Briny’s corporate board. “It was a crazy time,” said Barbara Bennett, his wife of 58 See BENNETT on page 14
Bike lanes and improved crosswalks may be on the horizon along some stretches of A1A. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Changes likely to be slow along A1A FDOT leader sees future as growing partnership with communities By Rich Pollack It is a main street unlike any other in South Florida, connecting coastal communities and serving as a major thoroughfare for people wanting a leisurely drive, a pleasant walk or a beachside bicycle ride. For more than 90 years, State Road A1A has served as a peaceful pathway stretching almost 340 miles along the Florida coastline from Key West to just south of the Georgia line. During much of that time, A1A has seen little
Delray Beach
Residents rally to preserve trees on historic Swinton
By Jane Smith The fear that Swinton Avenue could lose scores of shade trees to make way for bike lanes and sidewalks rekindled the spirit of community activism in Delray Beach resident Annette Annechild. It began last November when she saw a “big truck on my front
Inside Lucibella trial begins Proceedings expected to last a week. Page 7
Updates at thecoastalstar.com
significant change, especially through the coastal portions of Palm Beach County. It has always been a two-lane highway, traffic has always moved mostly at about 35 miles per hour or slower, and it has always been popular with pedestrians, bicyclists and motoring tourists. That’s not likely to change — at least not in the next 10 years — according to at least one local leader at the Florida Department of Transportation, which is responsible for maintaining A1A and has ownership and oversight of the road and swaths of See A1A on page 26
The ‘new’ Norton We take a look inside the expanded museum. Page AT1
lawn that busted my bushes.” She soon learned workers were marking the location of underground utility lines to prepare for a $2.2 million makeover of Swinton Avenue. Annechild got angry. She urged her neighbors to attend a gathering at the city library, where an early version See TREES on page 18
Residents tied black ribbons on about 50 trees along Swinton Avenue to protest proposed changes to the street. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Golden anniversary Delray Beach Club marks a 50-year milestone. Page H1
‘Funny Girl’
Wick musical explores the life of actress Fanny Brice. Page AT11