Warren Redlich – Page 210

Biden & Crist Jam Traffic In West Boca

We heard from many readers today complaining about horrendous traffic and an overwhelming police presence. This was apparently caused by Vice President Biden’s visit to Century Village on Lyons Road.
Readers reported that Yamato Road was blocked westbound from Jog. Other readers reported problems all the way from I-95 to Lyons. We also saw a traffic jam on Glades Road approaching the Turnpike, and heard reports of problems at Glades and Lyons, as well as on Lyons itself.
One of our readers sent us several photos of the police. There were plenty on motorcycles:

There were plenty of cars:

And they were on the roadway, here at Lyons and Kimberly in front of Century Village:

Readers told us that Biden and Governor candidate Charlie Crist were accompanied by other local Democrat officials including Congressman Ted Deutch, State Senator Joe Abruzzo and others. We wonder if the votes this helps them get in Century Village are offset by the thousands of drivers who were inconvenienced.
But the truth is this kind of over-the-top treatment of government officials is a bipartisan affair. For voters who are really bothered by it, we would suggest voting for third-party candidates.

Rise Asian Sushi on SW 18th

People kept telling us about Rise Asian Sushi so we had to try it. The restaurant is in Village Tower Shoppes with Howard’s Market, on the north side of SW 18th between Powerline and Military Trail – across from Outback and Coldstone Creamery. In the image below it’s in the corner maybe 1/3 in from the left. We recently wrote about Fabien’s Bistro in the same plaza.

We heard this was the best sushi in Boca Raton. We liked it, but it’s hard for us to say it’s better than other places we like.
It’s nothing special on the outside though certainly not bad:

On the inside there’s a sushi bar but no one sat there. And there are plenty of tables.

One thing I did like is that they have udon noodle soups on the menu. I had one of those as a starter and did like it. It was not quite authentic – true udon noodles are fatter, and should be served with togarashi, a spicy Japanese red pepper powder. But that’s really picky. The soup tasted good and the shrimp were nice.
Please note that my food photos did not come out well for some reason, possibly lighting or camera problems. All the food items looked just fine.

My companion had salmon teriyaki with white rice. Being picky again, the rice was not a true Japanese rice. But the rice was okay and the salmon dish was good – my companion ate it up.

I had the sushi and sashimi lunch. It was good but not great. Sashimi is the true test of a sushi place. You can hide lower quality fish in a roll with cream cheese, avocado and other things. It’s very hard to hide it in sashimi. Three of the four types of sashimi were very good. The fourth had a hint of not being fresh. It wasn’t bad, but just not as good as the rest.
The lunch came with a spicy tuna roll. This was better quality than most spicy tuna rolls – the chunks of fish were larger and that suggests better quality maguro to me.

Both lunches came with salads and they were larger than what we usually see from sushi places.
We liked it and certainly would say it’s worth a try for any of our readers who like sushi. But it’s at the southeast corner of West Boca and we live far west. It’s not any better than Boon’s in Boca Greens, which is a lot closer for us. We’re still hooked on Jidai Kaiten Sushi’s lunch deal, and Rise isn’t going to take us away from that.

Panhandlers: Asking Our Elected Officials

Update: County Attorney Denise Nieman responded. See bottom of this article.

Having received numerous complaints from readers about panhandlers, we decided to contact our elected officials to see if they have anything meaningful to say on the subject. Here’s our letter to the County Commissioners Steven Abrams and Mary Lou Berger, along with County Attorney Denise Nieman and a few others.

Commissioners Abrams and Berger,
West Boca News receives frequent complaints from our readers about panhandlers, mainly at intersections.
I see them often myself at major intersections. Complaints relate to most major intersections on 441, Glades Road, Palmetto Park Road and more.
Since you are the county elected officials for West Boca, I’d like to ask you some questions on behalf of our readers regarding panhandlers and panhandling.
Do you consider panhandling to be a problem?
What, if anything, should the county do about it?
What, if anything, have you done about it?
I’ve included others as cc’s on this message, including the County Attorney, West Boca Community Council, and a few people in PBSO.
If you prefer, I would be happy to meet with you in person in or near West Boca. Or maybe Ms. Scarborough could make this a topic for a Community Council meeting and you could attend.
Warren Redlich
West Boca News

We will wait to see if we get any response from them and will, of course, inform our readers what we hear.

The response from the County Attorney follows:
This is a difficult issue that comes up regularly. The County has investigated and discussed panhandling many times throughout the years, including the possibility of enacting an ordinance. However, due to current laws and court cases, the County has not adopted an ordinance banning or regulating panhandling due to the difficulty of doing so within the parameters of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Marlene Everitt, a senior attorney in my office, is an expert on this topic, and has prepared a summary of the law that she recently shared with some concerned constituents. I hope this overview is helpful to you:

Streets, medians and sidewalks, hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Right-of-Ways’ are traditional public forums and as such are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This protection limits, but does not eliminate, a government’s ability to restrict the time, place and manner of activities in the Rights-of-Ways. However, the regulation must be the least restrictive means necessary to promote the health, safety and welfare of the public and apply equally to all individuals and groups attempting to use a public Rights of Way.
Under this analysis, it is impossible to allow some people or groups to use the Right-of-Ways and deny that right to others; irrespective of whether it is called loitering or vagrancy or whether it benefits the individual or group to which an individual belongs. Under current law, we cannot ban panhandlers from using the medians without banning firefighters and the Police Benevolent Association as well.

Notwithstanding the difficulty in prohibiting panhandling, the Board of County Commissioners has not given up on the issue. At the Commissioners’ request, staff will continue to keep abreast of what’s happening on the local, state and federal level and advise the Board of any updates or changes in the law.

Accident on Yamato Near Jog?

A reader called us to report lanes blocked on Yamato west of Jog Road with substantial police presence. We don’t see anything on Google Maps Traffic. However we did see these items on the county scanner from shortly after noon:

Stations 52, 53 and 57 are all in West Boca. Station 53 indicates a traumatic injury, and that station is the closest to Yamato and Jog.
So far we do not have more information.

Car Wreck Photos

A reader sent us photos of a nasty car wreck from today.

Bad accident palmetto west into loggers run ! Poor kid glad I could be a good Samaritan until the paramedics got there.