Serving Coastal Boca Raton and Highland Beach
January 2012
Volume 5 Issue 1
Peter Leonard and Jacqui Wyatt
Boca Raton Why all ears perk up when Peter and Jacqui chat it up By Ron Hayes The talk of the town is “The Talk of The Town.” But don’t expect it to be all happy talk. On July 17, 2010, Jacqui Wyatt and Peter Leonard welcomed listeners of radio station WBZT-1230 AM to a new show — from Boca Raton, about Boca Raton, hosted by residents of Boca Raton. She was the director of marketing for Investments Limited, owner of Royal Palm Place, where the show originates. He was a longtime radio personality, as edgy as she is smooth. From 1-3 p.m. each Saturday, they would talk to the town about food and wine, entertainment, the arts, sports and all things Bocan. “The concept was to make the show feel like you were sitting in somebody’s living room,” says Wyatt, “just having a conversation with friends.” See TALK on page 32
Plans to replace the 1939 Camino Real Bridge were thwarted after engineers discovered the structure is protected as a historic treasure. Photo by Tim Stepien
73-year-old bridge is Boca’s Camino reality Historic designation puts damper on bridge replacement By Tim Pallesen Plans to replace the Camino Real Bridge have been canceled after county engineers discovered the bridge is protected as a historic treasure. State inspections have repeatedly rated the drawbridge built in 1939 as structurally deficient. County engineers were ready to tear it down and build a new $43.8 million bridge. “A new bridge was the preferred
alternative but then this historical issue popped up,” said Omelio Fernandez, the county’s director of roadway production. County engineers didn’t know that county commissioners in 1997 had established the Camino Real Road and Bridge Historic District, protecting the bridge they wanted to tear down. “The problem at this point is that we cannot justify replacement because of the bridge’s historical status,” Fernandez said. “We would not be permitted to do it.” Camino Real from the east side of the bridge to Dixie Highway is eligible to be listed on the National Registry of Historic Places because of the county’s historic designation.
The wide street designed by Addison Mizner in 1925 is significant to understanding Boca Raton’s history. Unlike most communities with humble beginnings, Boca Raton was born from Mizner’s grand conceptual plan for “the world’s most architecturally beautiful playground.” “This was a very radical idea in the 1920s,” county preservation officer Chris Carpenter said. “Mizner’s grand vision for Boca Raton was our county’s first planned community.” Winter guests would arrive at Henry Flagler’s railroad depot and be escorted down Camino Real (the royal highway) to See BRIDGE on page 13
Along the Coast
Delray Beach: ‘Village’ or ‘Drug Rehab Capital’ by the Sea?
By Margie Plunkett and Tim Pallesen
Delray Beach coastal residents rallied in December in protest of planned luxury beach-side sober houses, filling commission chambers at two meetings and spurring city leaders to scour law in search of changes that will protect
Island residents rally against recovery business in neighborhood
single-family residential neighborhoods. The controversy is a familiar one in Boca Raton, which, following an outcry from residents, passed ordinances in 2002 restricting sober houses to areas of the city zoned for hospitals or motels. The city
was sued by the owners of the sober houses and in 2007 a federal judge struck down the ordinances, saying they were discriminatory. In Delray Beach last month, neighbors protested laws that allow houses in residential neighborhoods to be rented
Inside House of the Month
At this Highland Beach condo, it’s all about the view. Page 30
Highland Beach piano man Reggie Asbury plays the tunes that set toes tapping at the Holiday Inn. Page 10
in such a way that dozens of unrelated people can reside there during the course of a year. Residents argued that the safety and security of their neighborhoods were compromised by allowing sober houses, which they claimed
is a big business contrary to residential use. “We’re asking for support for preserving single-family neighborhoods,” said Mary Renaud, president of the Beach Property Owners’ Association. The outcry in Delray Beach was sparked when word leaked out that Caron Foundation, a See SOBER on page 12
Remembering
Gloria Drummond. Page 23 n Hospital ball to honor DebbieRand Memorial Service League, page 2