July 2015
Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
Volume 8 Issue 7
Boca Raton
Different agencies, same complaint: Lack of communication ‘Free flow’ is focus of airport board By Rich Pollack
One of two newly appointed members to the Boca Raton Airport Authority has proposed changes to the rules governing the organization, which he says are designed to improve communication between board members and their constituents — including the Boca Raton City Council.
Last month, in his first meeting as a member of the airport authority, Boca Raton Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth presented fellow board members with several proposed revisions to the board’s bylaws. “The goal is to remove all impediments to the free flow of information between board members See AIRPORT on page 9
Council, parks district see progress By Rich Pollack
It took a little under two hours for the Boca Raton City Council and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District to resolve several lingering issues during a joint meeting last month which was four years in the making. What was clear at the outset was
that both City Council members and district commissioners were frustrated by the inability of the two groups to resolve outstanding issues. “Everyone expressed frustration over the lack of communication,” said Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie. By the end of the meeting, however, several items — including See parks on page 8
Along the Coast
Along the Coast
Stranded hatchlings helped to sea By Ron Hayes If you spy a baby turtle aimlessly wandering the beach some sunny morning this summer, please be aware that it is not drunk, on drugs or running away from home. “It’s disoriented,” says Dr. Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. “If a hatchling isn’t running straight toward the water, that’s because it’s exhausted from the night before. And people need to bring it in to us.” Every turtle nesting season since 1995, the Gumbo Limbo “Turtle Hatchling Dropoff Box” has helped disoriented newborns find their way safely home to the sea. The box, which looks suspiciously like your basic partysized beer cooler with a layer of sand in the bottom, is waiting just to the right of the center’s front door. Now, here’s how baby turtles wind up in a beer cooler: Turtle eggs hatch at night and the newborns — weighing about an ounce and no more than 3 inches long — head for the sea, guided by the moonlight on the water. Then they begin swimming toward their permanent habitat, the weedline of the Sargasso Sea, 20 miles out. That’s how nature planned it, anyway. But in the presence of artificial light from passing cars, condo windows or the “sky-
Caryn Foltz has sketched images of the area and paired them with her thoughts that day in a book she calls SandScript. Bruce Borich/ The Coastal Star
Memories ...
Gulf Stream woman’s sketchbook records a rapidly changing area By Ron Hayes The first sketch in her book was done on Nov. 16, 2008, at 8:30 a.m., when the temperature in Gulf Stream’s public park was 68 degrees. The last one arrived on April 5, 2015, at 9:15 a.m., a drawing of the sign outside Dock Square Clothiers on East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. The temperature that morning was 73. In between, the simple blue sketchbook that Caryn Foltz bought at Hand’s Stationers to reunite with her love of art became a weapon, too. See SKETCH on page 14
See TURTLES on page 8
Inside
Swim lessons
The shuttle has landed
Boca’s Downtowner moves people, pets, things. Page 4
Atlantic Crossing builder sues Suit claims city is delaying construction on $200 million project. Page 13
Interesting mix Cultural Council Biennial exhibition showcases range of styles. Page AT7
Drowning prevention is the focus of summer programs at local pools. Page H1