WATER RATE HIKE COMING TO BOCA RATON RESIDENTS IN NOVEMBER

Water consumption in Boca Raton has been cut back about 15% since drought-related water restrictions started in April. However the City Manager, Leif Ahnell told City Council this is NOT related to the increase coming soon.

AUGUST BRINGS BOCA FESTIVAL DAYS

Organized by the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, special activities include: Saturday, August 4: 22nd ANNUAL OPEN JURIED ART EXHIBITION. Open Mon/Fri 9 am – 5 pm. The Artist Guild of the Boca Raton Museum of Art has opened this show to all South Florida artists and sales of the artwork will benefit the Museum. Exhibit is open through September 7th at the Courtyard Building, 5301 North Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call 561-738-4842 or 561-487-3362 for more information... August 4, 11, 18, 25, 2-3:30 pm, GUIDED TOUR OF HISTORIC BOCA RATON RESORT AND CLUB. Here is an opportunity to see a famous area in Boca Raton with historic significance. 90 minute tours of this beautiful historic property built in 1926 by Addison Mizner will be conducted by the Boca Raton Historical Society docents. $12 per person ($10 for BRHS members). $9 for valet parking. See www.bocahistory.org or call 561-395-6766 Ext 100 for more information... Friday, August 10, 7-9 PM, SUMMER MUSIC IN THE PARK will feature the Hal Roland Band – a free concert at Sanborn Square on Federal Highway, a half-block north of Palmetto Park Road. Bring a blanket or chair. Parking available nearby. For information call 561-393-7827... Friday, August 24th, 7-9 PM SUMMER MUSIC IN THE PARK will feature the Applause Band with Joel Lawrence. A featured Las Vegas entertainer and lead singer in a “Doo-Wop” group. See Sanborn Square directions above... Tuesday, August 14th, 9 am, BIRD WATCHING BASICS at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 North Ocean Boulevard, Boca Raton – learn about birds in your backyard. Binoculars recommended. All ages – children must be accompanied by adults. $15 each, reservations required. 561-338-1473. Info: 561-338-1483.

WHERE NOT TO BE WHEN LIGHTENING STRIKES

According to the Palm Beach Post, the advice is to stay inside when lightening strikes. A National Weather Service meteorologist said that during the summer it’s almost a daily occurrence. Thunder is the first warning, and lightening can repeatedly strike in the same place. If you are out on the golf course, the advice is to use “the lightening crouch,” by putting your feet together, squatting low, tucking in your head and covering your ears, if possible in a low spot like a ditch, and not near trees. Tall objects can result in a deadly charge traveling more than 100’ along the ground. If you are in a car, be sure not to touch metal. Metal roofs and sides will protect you; fiberglass or plastic shells offer no protection from lightening. If it’s possible to get to a building with four walls and a roof, you will be safe, but not in open garages or carports. Inside, don’t pick up corded phones, electrical appliances or wires. You can safely give aid to a lightening victim.

THIS COULD BE A BREAK FOR HOMEOWNERS…

The Florida Board of Administration is meeting to discuss options to be sure that, in case of a hurricane, there will be funds to cover losses, and are considering a $5-BB loan for the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which currently has about $5-BB on hand from private insurers paid premiums and money borrowed last year still left over. Members of the Board include Governor Charlie Crist and the Attorney General and CFO. CFO Alex Sink liked the borrowing option and said that interest income might cover interest that would be paid. They are developing a proposal to allow their staff to negotiate to borrow funds.

The Catastrophe Fund pays claims above what private insurance companies must pay in the event a further need develops. To reduce the cost of private wind coverage for Florida homeowners, lawmakers expanded the “Cat Fund” this year so the state would pay the difference.

PLAN AHEAD FOR EARLY 2008 KRAVIS CENTER EVENTS

Joffrey Ballet (Dreyfoos Hall, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m., $25 to $75): Here's a program, billed as "Cool Vibrations," that will appeal to ballet buffs and pop fans alike. The famed American dance company, which fuses modern, classical and jazz idioms, performs works set to music by the Beach Boys, Prince and Motown greats.

Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour (Dreyfoos Hall, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m., $15 to $100): This legendary jazz event is celebrated with a program featuring some of the top artists associated with it, including trumpeter Terence Blanchard (composer of numerous film scores), reed master James Moody (a veteran of Dizzy Gillespie's band) and vocalist Nnenna Freelon (a six-time Grammy nominee).

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Tribute to Leonard Bernstein (Dreyfoos Hall, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m., $25 to $130). The great American composer and conductor is remembered with a program featuring selections from his Broadway musicals "Candide," "On the Town" and "Wonderful Town." Jamie Bernstein (Leonard's daughter) weaves the evening together with personal commentary. Michael Barrett conducts.

k.d. lang (Dreyfoos Hall, March 1 at 8 p.m., $25 to 100). She's sung it all — country, pop, torch songs. Now, the Canadian crooner makes her Kravis debut.
Martin Short (Dreyfoos Hall, March 18 at 8 p.m., $15 to $100): You may know him as Ed Grimley, the ultimate geek. Or as Jiminy Glick, the clueless boob of a talk-show host. Or as songman Irving Cohen ("Give me a C?a bouncing C"). But whatever character comic Martin Short plays, he's sure to make you laugh.

For information and ordering tickets: http://www.kravis.org/

FAR “PUTS MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS” RE PROPERTY TAX REFORM BALLOT

The Florida Association of Realtors, the largest trade group in the state, with 150,000 members, has pledged up to $1-MM to support passage of the Save Our Homes Amendment to allow homeowners to continue the 1992 Amendment for a 3% tax cap or to choose a new “super-homestead” exemption, taking up to $195,000 off their home’s taxable value. Passage of this amendment will provide meaningful tax relief for thousands of families including 1^st time homebuyers, and will equalize neighbor’s property taxes, says the FAR President Nancy Riley. She stated that then nurses, police officers, teachers and emergency first responders can afford to live in the communities they serve.

YAMATO TO BE WIDENED

One lane in each direction will be widened from west of Cain Boulevard to SR 7 (441), up to the eastern point where there is a median with work beginning in November and will take 5 months. Cost will be $1.1-MM.

BREAST CANCER SCREENINGS AVAILABLE AT BRCH

BRCH has opened a satellite location of the Diagnostic Center of Boca Raton BRCH on the Clint Moore campus, Suite 114, at 1905 Clint Moore Road, offering state-of-the-art digital technology for breast screenings with hours from Monday-Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. Other locations are at the Women’s Center at BRCH, 690 Meadows Road and Women’s Center at Deerfield, 1979 W Hillsboro Boulevard, Suite 3, Deerfield Beach.. Screening appointments are now available – call 561-955-5000.

From the BOCA NEWS, Friday-Saturday, July 13-14

Girls 12 and under national clay court tournament starts Sunday at Boca Polo Club. For 20 years, girls from all over the country have descended on the Polo Club at Boca Raton for the USTA Girls National 12 and under Clay Court Championships. This year’s tournament begins Sunday with singles matches at 8 a.m. Doubles follow at 2 p.m. Opening ceremonies are Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on Court 11.

“We’re very excited,” Polo Club Tennis Director Jean Mills said. “You’ll see the future Chris Everts and Lindsay Davenports at the event.” Madison Keys, Jennifer E. Brady and Julia O'Loughlin are he only competitors from Boca Raton.

The format is a compass draw, which assures each participant a minimum of four matches before the knockout stage begins Wednesday.The finals are scheduled to start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 21.

Mills said the reason the USTA has had such a long and continuous relationship with the Polo Club is easy to pinpoint. “We both have in common that we want to help our future stars and players of tomorrow,” she said.

BIDS WILL BE SOUGHT FOR NOISE-DEADENING INSULATION

With no cost to homeowners, the Boca Raton Airport Authority will seek bids in August through advertising, according to the Sound Insulation Land Use Committee, “to provide acoustic treatments to residential structures located adjacent to the airport,” at no cost to the homeowners, included will be new windows, doors, insulation and air conditioning.

Opening of bids for the Boca Raton Airport QuieterHome Program is scheduled for September 12^th. The contract should be awarded in October or November. The Program will begin with 10 homes and then another 35 homes which experience the highest aircraft noise, by reducing the noise level at least 5 decibels. Other areas using the QuieterHome Program include Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg, Tulsa, San Diego, Buffalo and Anchorage.

BOCA MUSEUM PLANS EXHIBIT OF DEGAS SCULPTURES

While a Jacksonville art gallery owner claims the 74 sculptures are “fakes,” made after Degas’ death in 1917, the Museum’s Board of Trustees discounts the art gallery owner’s opinion, noting the goal might be “to get his name in the newspaper.” Museums currently displaying all or portions of the Degas bronzes include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Chicago Institute of Art in Chicago. The National Endowment for the Humanities has underwritten some of the insurance expenses for the upcoming show. The museum’s website says that the exhibit, DEGAS IN BRONZE, “offers an extremely rate opportunity to view 74 sculptures, posthumously cast in bronze from Degas’ original composite and wax models.”

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION…

With reports just in that New York City and Salt Lake City are avoiding “the [real estate] bust,” can Palm Beach County be far behind? Some investors tell me they are “sitting on the sidelines” waiting for prices to keep dropping… other investors want to “sell and get out now,” but in many cases sellers are “standing pat.” Expired listings number near or over 500 properties each day. Some sellers cancel listings after getting low low bids. Remember that June and July are usually “slow months” with so many residents and part-timers out of town. August has been an outstanding month for sales in past years as folks come down to purchase residences for this coming winter… perhaps that will happen in 2007 as well. As a Realtor, I can tell you that every day in this career is exciting… new faces… new properties… no two ever alike. Like the stock market, real estate is cyclical… and what goes down will go up… just a matter of time. Stay cool. Hang in there.

Marilyn Farber Jacobs, Realtor, ePRO

GREEN IS THE BUZZWORD TODAY

An Environmentally Certified “Green” $25-MM mansion is being built in Manalapan.

Frank McKinney has been building one-of-a-kind mansions in the area for the last 20 years, and is now creating an oceanfront estate that is approved by the standards of the US Green Building Council and the Florida Green Building Council. The entire project will be the subject of a documentary series. Groundbreaking is being filmed as part of this program. A scale model has been made.

The 15,000 sq ft 3-story mansion will be rooted in nature, and will feature

• thatched roofs
• water gardens
• floating sun terraces
• a waterfall spa with fire feature
• interior acrylic main floor with moving water below
• a 24’ sheer water wall with fog/smoke screen on which moving images are projected
• suspended double-helix main glass staircase
• hand-blown chandelier that mixes electricity with water
• arched aquarium wet bar to be able to walk below and view the fish above
• guesthouse made of palm and bamboo that is partially submerged in a lagoon.

“Green” features will include

• solar panels that could cover a regulation-size basketball court to generate enough energy for two average-size homes
• water system that collects enough “gray” runoff water to fill the average swimming pool every 2 weeks
• reclaimied wood amounting to saving 7 ½ acres of Brazilian rain forest
• renewable woods that regenerate every 3 years vs. every 50 years for other hardwoods
• pools, reflecting ponds, water gardens, misters and more to drop the site temperature 3-5 degrees over neighboring properties
• recycling 340,000 lbs of debris during construction
• air-conditioning and air purification systems four times better than an operating room in the Mayo Clinic.

MacKinney has written two best-selling books, and raises millions of dollars for his Caring House Project Foundation to build housing for the poor in the United States, Haiti, South America, and the Caribbean.

Governor Charlie Crist plans to reenergize the state with a mixture of solar, wind and nuclear fuel. He is expected to emphasize using renewable fuels and include mandates for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Friday afternoon, after two days of workshops and speeches at the Florida Climate Change Summit, Crist will sign executive orders and put his plan into law. Crist has signed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt IV to the bill along with various Hollywood personalities and scientists, renewable-energy advocates and environmentalists who will talk about how Florida can become more energy-efficient and use alternative fuels.

California Governor Schwarzenegger has committing his state to reducing its carbon emissions by 25% by 2020, calling for 1 million solar roofs by 2018, tightening car-emission standards and creating a multi-state global warming group and it is speculated that this will happen also in Florida.

Florida Power & Light Co., the state's largest utility, maintains that using renewable fuels and more stringent energy-conservation steps won't be able to support all of Florida's future growth.

According to an FPL spokesman, "What you have heard from the environmental movement is that we can get there through renewables or we can get there through offsetting the energy that we are demanding today. And what we're saying is that (it) will not get you there. You will still need to build power plants." Crist has praised FPL for exploring a wind power project in St. Lucie County and is ecstatic about utility regulators denying the utility's plan to build a "clean coal" power plant in Glades County.

IF YOU "FLIP" HOMES, THIS MAY BE OF INTEREST

A nationwide search is being done for the new cast of characters who will be featured on the upcoming season of Flip This House! The producers are searching for confident, charismatic, motivated and opinionated people who "flip" residential properties for a living. They want real-estate adrenaline junkies who love the high risk, high reward nature of their jobs and who are devoted to doing a great job! If you would like your team featured on the upcoming season send me an email and I’ll have them contact you. marilynfjacobs@gmail.com

SPANISH RIVER LIBRARY DEBUT SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 2008

After more than a year’s hiatus, construction has restarted. Once completed it will have a café, two terraces, computer lab, teen meeting room and story area for children. Computers have been purchased. The planned downtown library on the NW 2^nd Avenue site is in the pre-design state, and it’s future depends on how tax reform impacts the city. This library will be adjacent to a new development, Library Commons.

MIZNER PARK LEASEHOLDER SUING PROPERTY APPRAISER

Accusing Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits of using different appraisal practices to set a value for the retail/office/residential shopping center in downtown Boca Raton, rather than for “comparable properties within the same class in Palm Beach County,” the lawsuit says Nikolits assessment “is in excess of the value of the property”… and that Nicolits “failed and refused to consider all the factors set forth” in the applicable state statutes. Nicolitis said, “Highest and best use is one of 8 criteria considered for appraising property.” Nicolitis set a value on the property of $44-MM. The land is owned by Boca Raton and the current 99-year leaseholder and management company is General Growth Properties, who, along with Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency have filed the lawsuit.

“Human Rights in Turbulent Times” Topic at Boca Raton Museum of Art

On Wednesday, July 18^th at 6:30 pm, Dr. Mark Frezzo, assistant professor of sociology at Florida Atrlantic University’s Dorothy F Schmidt College of Arts and letters will speak on “Human Rights in Turbulent Times, coinciding with the museum’s current exhibition, “Thy Brothers’ Keeper”, a photography exhibition on display through August 26th. It is free to the public and will be held in the museum’s Wolfin Auditorium. Global issues of justice and the media’s reporting and the American public’s reaction will be discussed.