Serving Highland Beach and Coastal Boca Raton
March 2018
Volume 11 Issue 3
Along the Coast
Vacation rental surge puts cities, state at odds By Mary Hladky
results augur well for job creation and employment prospects for the region’s future hospitality workers, industry specialists say. “Decreased visitation means decreased jobs,” said Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality & tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University. “For now, our students
Steve Homrich watched with growing unease over three nights as young people arriving for parties at his neighbor’s home left rubber on the road while doing doughnuts on his street. Then Friday night rolled around. “My wife said, ‘Oh my God, look out the window,’” he said. “Groups of 10 and 20 kids were walking down the street to the house. They kept coming. My wife stopped counting at 300.” That night’s party in June was big — with about 500 guests — and loud, complete with a DJ. When police arrived, the kids scattered, with some jumping over the fence into Homrich’s yard. Homrich learned that his neighbor, Thierry Chevrier, had rented out his Boynton Beach waterfront home on Northeast 15th Place through the vacation rental company HomeAway. Chevrier, who could not be reached for comment, told Homrich he thought he was renting to an 84-year-old writer.
See TOURISM on page 6
See RENTALS on page 32
Visitors fill the lobby of the new 200-room Hyatt Place in downtown Boca Raton in February. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Along the Coast
Tourists keep coming
County officials hail ninth straight year of record numbers By Arlene Satchell Palm Beach County clocked another year of record tourism in 2017, welcoming 7.89 million visitors, a 7.3 percent increase from 2016, the county’s official tourism marketing corporation announced. Discover The Palm Beaches attributed the increase in visitation to more domestic visitors, growth in groups
and meetings and innovative destination marketing campaigns that helped bolster community engagement. “A successful tourism community equates to a thriving local economy, which is why we’re so proud of nine consecutive years of visitation growth in the Palm Beaches,” Jorge Pesquera, Discover’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “This sustained
increase reaffirms the area’s continued ability to compete for global visitors, while supporting nearly 70,000 jobs.” In 2016, Palm Beach County had a record 7.35 million visitors, up about 6 percent from the 6.9 million who visited in 2015, Discover’s records show. By contrast, the county had 4.12 million visitors in 2009. The repeat record tourism
Delray Beach
St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrates 50 years By Mary Thurwachter This is the time of year when fans of the Delray Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade give a tip of the derby to Maury Power, the Irish saloonkeeper who founded the procession in 1968. A Chicago transplant, Power donned a tailcoat and top hat and carried a shillelagh to make an impromptu march down Atlantic Avenue in honor of the patron saint of Ireland.
“I’m Maury Power,” he would say to onlookers. “Come down to my bar and have a drink.” The farther he walked, the more people would join him. Since he died in 1996, people often bow in front of large photographs of Power that are carried in the parade, said Pat Robinson, a friend and business owner who has been in 33 parades. Local lore claims Power, who owned Power’s Lounge, carried a pig on his first march. Truth is the
tinted green porker became part of the tradition a few years later. No one is sure exactly why. “I think it was just something that, at the time, made perfect sense,” said Power’s nephew Terry. The first piglet, Porkchop, instantly became a crowd pleaser. Porkchop has had many successors, many of them predictably hefty — including the 200-pound Patrick, a star in the See PARADE on page 14
For the birds
Pulpy fashions
You can’t wear these costumes (they’re made of paper) — but you’d want to. Page AT13
Behind the scenes of Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count. Page AT1
Parade founder Maury Power, Dennis Gallagher and Porkchop, 1988. Delray Beach Historical Society
New rules for filming in Highland Beach
Vote March 13! Meet your candidates. Pages 16-19
Strict requirements enacted for movie, TV companies Page 22
Camino Real bridge to close for a year
79-year-old structure to get much-needed repairs Page 25