Warren Redlich – Page 298

Accident on Palmetto: Photos

Reader Liz Ruotolo sent us these photos from an accident scene on Palmetto Park Road this morning.

We hope to get more information on this incident, but it’s possible we will strike out.

If any of our other readers know more, please let us know in the comments here or on the West Boca News Facebook page.

Brooklyn Water Bagel Open: Photos

Update: We reviewed the West Boca Brooklyn Water Bagel.

Brooklyn Water Bagel opened today. We previously wrote about their opening here.
Today we stopped by and took some pictures. We hope to visit soon for lunch and a review.
They have some outdoor seating, a big plus for dog owners.

They’re in the plaza on the southwest corner of Palmetto and Powerline, behind Olive Garden. Hours are from 6 am to 3 pm – no dinner hours.
And here are some interior shots:

How Bad is Crime in West Boca?

After hearing concerns that our arrest reports were making West Boca look bad, we decided to do some research. We have good news.
We’re doing a three-part series on crime statistics in West Boca, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach County. In this first part of the series, we compare West Boca to East Boca, and both to the county as a whole.

Update: In Part 2 we look at arrest rates by zip code in all of Boca Raton.

We requested data on every person booked by the Palm Beach County Sheriff in the first quarter of 2014. That data includes the zip code of the arrested person’s residence. Boca Raton has nine zip codes. There are various ways to break down east vs. west. For this exercise (and for other purposes) we define West Boca as being the following five zip codes: 33428, 33498, 33496, 33434 and 33433, with a total population of roughly 135,000 people.

East Boca is then the remaining four zip codes, 33431, 33432, 33486 and 33487, with 75,000 people.
The breakdown isn’t perfect. The city’s own data shows the municipal population at 84,000.
Here’s what the city lines look like:

There is no perfect division of east and west, but the zip codes are very helpful here because each arrest has a zip code associated with it.
It’s also important to note here that the Sheriff’s data includes every count someone’s arrested for as a separate line. In other words, if someone is arrested for battery and for resisting, that’s two counts. In January a man in West Boca was arrested for 36 counts of sexual assault on a minor. That kind of data could really skew the numbers.
So does it make sense to compare crime by number of counts, or by number of arrests? Again there’s no perfect answer. However within Boca, both east and west were close to 1.8 counts per arrest so it shouldn’t matter within Boca. And for county-wide numbers, it would be a lot of work to reduce to just arrests so we’re just going with counts.
West Boca Has Low Crime
The two biggest results we have to report are first that West Boca has a lower crime rate than East Boca, and that Boca as a whole has a much lower crime rate than the county as a whole.
In West Boca there were 1.7 arrests and 2.9 counts per thousand people in the first quarter. East Boca had significantly higher numbers with 2.9 arrests and 5.4 counts per 1000 people. While this might make East Boca seem bad, their numbers are actually much better than the county as a whole.
Palm Beach County has a population of about 1.35 million, and there were almost 15,000 counts county-wide, which means the county crime rate of 11 counts per 1000 people. Taking Boca out of the data gets it to over 12 counts per 1000 people in the rest of the county (i.e. north of Boca). So crime rates in the rest of the county are twice as high as East Boca and almost four times as high as West Boca
We’re still working on the data. In the next part we will go through Boca Raton to see which zip codes have the most arrests and which have the least.

Please keep in mind that there are all kinds of potential problems with our analysis. We did not look at the type or severity of the crimes people were arrested for – at least not yet. Counts can be felonies, misdemeanors, non-criminal infractions, probation violations, recommits and others. We did not (and could not) look at crimes by where they happened, instead relying on the address of the person arrested. Of course, people are innocent until proven guilty and the numbers cannot account for guilt. And there are other problems we haven’t even thought of. Comparing and contrasting our analysis and data with Crime Statistics Australia might aid us in deepening our future analysis, increasing the data range that we can draw on to better judge the local crime trends.

The Use of Alternative Groundcovers

Alternative groundcovers may provide a sustainable and cost-effective method of promoting water conservation. Presently, the most common groundcover in south Florida’s urban and residential areas is St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum). St. Augustinegrass (yes it can be written that way) requires regular irrigation (either rain or watering).

Update: Part 2 of our series on alternatives to regular grass is now available: Alternative groundcovers in South Florida – Part 2.

Since many residential communities can only water with municipally treated water, the use of a drought-tolerant groundcover is imperative. This concern is especially pronounced in West Boca because most of the soil consists of well-drained sands with minimal moisture retention. For a St. Augustine lawn, this generally requires at least two irrigation events (either watering the lawn or rain) per week. To prevent drought, each irrigation event should provide at least 1/3 inch of coverage.
Generally, watering is not required during the rainy season (May-October). During the dry season (November-April), it often necessary to water a St. Augustine lawn. Failure to do so can result in drought, leading to unhealthy and unsightly leaf tissue as well as susceptibility to weed infestation. Bear in mind that each lawn has different requirements, so it may be worth reaching out to a company like trugreen california if you want the best advice on how to take of your lawn at home, or how to resurrect it if it has gone brown.

It would appear that expensive and environmentally costly watering is inevitable considering the limited access to irrigation from impoundments and reclaimed water resources. However, there are several alternative groundcovers available that require less watering.
Bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) is a common subtropical groundcover that is often utilized in pastureland. If it is planted on a level surface, it does not require any watering. Bahiagrass can be propagated by seed or with sod. Seed propagation is relatively cheap, but germination can take time, which may be unacceptable to the homeowner. If so, sod propagation may be preferable as it can provide an “instant lawn,” albeit at a higher cost.
Bahiagrass can be easily identified in the landscape by the characteristic V-shaped inflorescence (see below). Despite its common use in agriculture, bahiagrass is rarely utilized in residential or urban settings. One disadvantage of bahiagrass is lower tolerance to alkaline soils (this becomes a greater concern nearer the coast). Also, bahiagrass has tall seed stems, which can be unsightly and require frequent mowing.
By most standards, Bashiagrass is aesthetically desirable if mowed regularly and only becomes unsightly if allowed to grow too long. By contrast, St. Augustinegrass does not appear unsightly, even at high length. Another disadvantage of bahiagrass is the tough seed stems, which can wear out mower blades, but with the likes of these Reel Rollers where they don’t overcharge silly prices for their different mower components for repair, plus their length of life makes them the suitable mower for extended grass mowing use. Despite a few shortcomings, bahiagrass is an attractive and viable alternative to St. Augustinegrass.

Bahiagrass Infloresence — The “V-shaped” bahiagrass inflorescence

Another alternative is perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata). Perennial peanut requires virtually no mowing at all, which sets it apart from other groundcovers. Perennial peanut requires far less irrigation than St. Augustinegrass, but some watering may be required during the dry season. Establishment is labor intensive and it is more expensive relative to St. Augustinegrass. However, there is a general consensus that perennial peanut is cost-effective as the establishment costs will be quickly offset by less watering and mowing. Perennial peanut also produces yellow blooms throughout the summer, which many find aesthetically pleasing. However, the blooms will not provide visual uniformity with other lawns.

It should be noted that drought-tolerant plants are exactly as their name describes: tolerant of drought. In other words, these plants can grow and survive with very little water input. All plants grow better if irrigated regularly, and no plant prefers xeric conditions. Even plants that are famous for drought tolerance (e.g. desert rose) grow better if irrigated regularly.
Some homeowner associations require St. Augustinegrass, as uniformity within the neighborhood is considered aesthetically desirable. However, many of these HOA’s may be unaware of alternatives. The same could be said of homeowners. Anyone interested in establishing an alternative groundcover can call local nurseries and inquire whether they stock bahiagrass or perennial peanut. As water scarcity becomes a growing concern, stakeholders will hopefully explore alternative groundcovers.

Arrest Week – Part 2

Erika Hankammer (left, 30) was booked early Wednesday for battery. Her reported address is in Countrypark off SW 18th between Boca Rio and Lyons. She’s a Patriots fan and was released after half a day in custody. The case is being treated as domestic violence. We see no criminal history for her, with a couple old traffic tickets.
Terrell Newson (center, 27) was arrested Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. The Boca Rio Banyan resident has not been released yet, and might not be helping himself with the nickname “Cut Throat” though we’re not sure that’s him. We see multiple felony and misdemeanor cases for him dating back to 2007, most of which seem to be domestic incidents and court records indicate that for this case as well.

On the right, Destiny Griffin (18, Sandalfoot Cove) was arrested Monday for battery. The courts are treating it as a domestic incident. In 2013 she had a few traffic tickets and a retail theft case in the courts. This incident might cut into her babysitting business.

See more arrests from this week: Arrest Week Part 1.

Arrested early Wednesday was David Ellis (left, 28) from the Sandalfoot trailers on four larceny counts including one felony grand theft. He has not been released yet. The case looks a little quirk as the offenses allegedly occurred in late February but he wasn’t arrested until 2 1/2 months later. He has a few prior incidents in the county from back in 2007 or before, and a few more in Broward.
Raymond Colletto (center, 41) was arrested for cruelty toward a child and/or child abuse. The Sun-Sentinel reports he was drunk and bit his nephew in the face. His reported address is in Colonnade near off Jog south of Yamato. Court records show what look like a couple DUI cases (1995 and 2008) and a couple previous violent domestic incidents (2008 and 2013) as well.
Cristian Norena-Lopez (right, 26) was arrested Monday for burglary. He was released the next evening. We see no court history for him. Boca PD alleges he “attempted to enter an occupied vehicle” in a bank drive-through lane.

His reported address is in the Boca Gardens townhomes south of Clint Moore between 441 and Lyons. Incidentally we’ve had recent reader reports of misbehaving skateboarders in and near that neighborhood.
See more arrests from this week: Arrest Week Part 1.