May 2021
Serving Hypoluxo Island, South Palm Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
Delray Beach
Volume 14 Issue 5
Delray Beach
New plans for Carver won’t dim grads’ memories
Commission calls new water plant a high priority
By Larry Keller
By Rich Pollack
It’s been more than a half century since the final bell sounded at Carver High School. Chain-link fencing encircles the beige and boxy two-story buildings now, but to former students, the dowdy appearance belies the profound impact the school had on their lives and their community. Before Palm Beach County schools integrated, Carver was the only place where Black students from Delray Beach and beyond — most from lowincome households — could attend high school. It offered the prospect of a better future, but it was much more than a school. “It was the only place for us as a people to gather,” says Paula Rocker, Class of 1966. “That was the center, not just for education, but for all the things that impacted the Black community,” such as neighborhood meetings and talent shows. As buildings on the campus deteriorated, the county School District announced plans to
Faced with persistent concerns from residents about drinking water quality, Delray Beach city commissioners are considering replacing the aging water plant built almost seven decades ago. During a meeting last month, interim City Manager Jennifer Alvarez and Inside Utilities Highland Director Hassan Hadjimiry Beach to outlined the steps end contract that the city will with Delray, take as it prepares start to replace or own fire extensively department improve its Page 19 water treatment plant, built in 1952 when Delray had only 6,500 residents and Harry S. Truman was president. With the green light from the commission, city staff members will begin assessing current and future needs and costs, a process that could mean it will be six years before a new plant is working — if commissioners continue to support that option. See WATER on page 14
School opened doors to progress
ABOVE: C. Spencer Pompey, a teacher and coach, and Frank T. Hearst carry the Carver Eagles mascot in front of the school. LEFT: Students take a typing class. Photos provided by Spady Cultural Heritage Museum
See CARVER on page 16
South Palm Beach
Joy, relief greet long-awaited dune restoration on beach By Dan Moffett
Hundreds of truckloads of dredged sand arrived from Palm Beach in April, bolstering South Palm Beach’s dune line and buffering condo buildings from the relentless seas. For Mayor Bonnie Fischer, it has been an often excruciating and frustrating journey that at times seemed impossible to complete. Fischer has spent more than 10 years pushing the project. She attended dozens of meetings and environmental conferences, made hundreds of phone calls and
twisted more arms than an army of chiropractors to get the work done. But the most important thing she did was make a friend — former Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio. “An engineer told us, ‘If it wasn’t for the relationship between their mayor and your mayor, all this would never have happened,’” Fischer says. “That touched my heart.” Coniglio and her council allowed Palmsea condo residents Carmine (foreground) and Bob Scalia watch a dump truck South Palm Beach to purchase as and bulldozer work on a project that calls for delivery of up to 1,000 truckloads of many as 1,000 truckloads of sand sand to the dune line of South Palm Beach. As the project progressed in the cousins’ that Palm Beach dredged as part backyard on April 21, Carmine said, ‘I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us.’ See BEACH on page 11 Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID WEST PALM BCH FL PERMIT NO 4595
Delivery of this month’s edition is sponsored by our friends at
Happy Mother’s Day Celebrate Mom in the great outdoors. Page AT1
I-95 logjam Ramp upgrades stuck in slow lane. Page 20 Outsider art at Boca Museum Page AT7