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Vero Heritage Inc. is finalist for historic preservation grant and needs your vote Local News Theatre Guildâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Genie Awards recognize talents, efforts of casts and crews Arts | Entertainment

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Rip currents, heat pose danger Water is deepest concern for Commissioner Solari News

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Lifeguards urge caution this summer News

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presence locally as it expands its business nationally and internationally,” said company president Mark Feurer. “Our office, along with county staff, have been working with company representatives the past several months,” Caseltine said. “This is a perfect example of how our business retention and expansion efforts can benefit the county and its residents.” The recent success of the jobs grant program is another example of how the county has worked to improve on an image it had once developed of not being business friendly and more interested in maintaining the status quo than expanding its economic base.

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initiative to change it and make it much more user friendly. As a result we have seen a number of local companies and new companies that we have recruited use the program.” The latest company to take advantage of the program was Communications International, Inc., a telecommunications ﬁrm providing technology and management services, which announced plans this month to add 12 new positions at its Vero Beach headquarters, at an average annual wage of $55,000. “Communications International has enjoyed growing its business in Indian River County for over 35 years and looks forward to continue growing its

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After undergoing a facelift a few years ago the moribund Jobs Grant Program has started to work for Indian River County. The program provides cash payments to companies that either expand or locate their businesses in the county and create a minimum of ﬁve jobs that pay at least 75 percent of the county average annual wage of $34,730. Over the last two years the program is expected to have generated 291 current or future jobs for a $1.6 million payout. The companies that have participated thus far are SpectorSoft, OcuCue, eMindful, INEOS/

New Planet BioEnergy, AlgaGen, NetBoss Technologies and Communications International. Due to the economic downturn some of these companies have not met all their hiring targets. However, much of the hiring is done in phases and the employers can still make up for a missed target with more hiring in a diﬀerent phase of the program. “The jobs grant program has been in existence for a number of years,” said Helene Caseltine, the Chamber’s Economic Development Director. “It wasn’t as user friendly as it is now. There was a lot of if this, then that and a lot of caveats, so it really didn’t get much use. Commissioner Peter O’Bryan took the

BY IAN LOVE VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

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County jobs program proving a boon to business

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COUNTY JOBS FROM PAGE 3

“Economist Bill Fruth recently told community leaders of the importance of not only attracting new businesses, but to make sure that you support existing businesses,” OBryan said. “I believe that this shows the county is committed to supporting local businesses and helping them grow in a business friendly environment. So whether it’s a new business re-locating, or an existing business looking to expand, Indian River County stands ready to help make your business a success.” Caseltine said that before the O’Bryan changes to simplify the requirements and streamline the payments, almost no businesses even bothered to sign up for the grant. “There was a whole list of options and it just became very burdensome for a company to apply and to meet the criteria and parameters of the program.” she said. “That is why most companies didn’t apply, because it

was so burdensome to walk through.” The money is paid out of the county’s general fund and is an actual check written back to the company. For jobs that pay 75 percent of the county’s average $34,730 annual wage, the company will receive payment of $3,000 per employee. For matching the average salary the company receives $5,000 per employee and for salaries over 150 percent the county pays $7,000 per employee. The payments are stretched out over a three-year period. There has been criticism in some quarters that the county should not be paying for companies to hire employees. Peter Robinson, who is on the Board of Directors of the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce, says that is simply being short-sighted. “My great grandfather opened a paper plant in North Carolina in 1907,” he said. “When he did he asked for an abeyance for real estate taxes for 20 years. That plant is still open and

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2010-2011 JOB GRANT APPROVALS NEW JOBS ANTICIPATED/CREATED

AMOUNT

INEOS/New Planet

$310,000

AlgaGen (expansion)

$36,000

NetBoss Technologies

$363,000

Communications Int’l (expansion)

$68,000

134

$777,000

COMPANY

TOTAL

Source: Indian River County Chamber of Commerce

employs 1,200 people. In the long run it has paid back that tax break by ten fold. Overall it will help us reduce the residential taxes if we can build up a broad base from business taxes.” The program is also centered on targeted industries to build the county’s economic base. Among those industries are clean energy; life sciences; information technology; aviation/ aerospace; emerging technologies; financial/professional services; arts, entertainment, Recreation; and manufacturing/warehouse/distribution. Indian River budget director Jason Brown said the county is just beginning to start to cut checks to the new wave of companies that have qualified for the program. “The grants are approved (by the County Commission) up front based on a certain number of jobs, but then they must document that those jobs were filled and approved,” Brown said. Companies must file quarterly unemployment insurance reports that the county uses to verify that the anticipated hiring has taken place and at the wage the company specified on its application. Caseltine said that is an important feature of the program -- the fact it is performance based. The companies must prove the jobs have been filled at the promised wages before any money changes hand from the county to private industry. “The money is paid out over a period of time and is phased in as the company does the hiring,” she said. “The county looks at it by phase and each phase of their hiring gets paid

out over three years.” She also mentioned that the jobs program serves as a matching grant the county would likely have to pay anyways for a state program that offers the same benefits. “Our program actually mirrors a program the state has called the “Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program,” she said. “The state program typically requires a 20 percent match from local government. Our program can be used as that local match.” Stuart Woodward, President of OcuCue, an Internet based technology company involved with visual analytics, said his company has not filled all the positions it had anticipated when applying for the grant due to the economic slowdown. “If you don’t hit your numbers you can’t take all the money off the table,” he said. “We will receive some payments under the program.” Nonetheless, he says it is a nice incentive for start-up businesses. “It is an attractive boost to a company in the early stage of its development,” he said. “I think it is also good that it is available to companies that are here and want to grow and to companies thinking about moving here.” And it is just that type of businessfriendly relationship that the Jobs Grant Program helps to engender. “Businesses can go anywhere they like,” Peter Robinson said. “Part of what the program does is keep us competitive and it does not cost a lot of money. It helps us get the message out that we appreciate their business and we want them here.”

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Bob Solari knows ‘River’ is our middle name

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STAFF PHOTOS

Indian River County Commission Chairman Bob Solari.

BY MICHAEL CROOK VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

Bob Solari will tell you bluntly that he just can’t be an expert on every issue that faces the people of Indian River County. In his office at the County Administration Building, the chairman of the County Commission wonders if he can put his hand on an organization chart to demonstrate his point. Of course he can; in a small library of identical loose-leaf binders, he spins his chair and finds the right one. And he shows a chart of 53 parts. “Fifty-three,” he says emphatically. “There is no possible way I can be an expert on all these areas.” He’s chosen water – all things water, from your kitchen tap to the sewer plants to the Indian River Lagoon and even the ocean strand – for his most intensive study, influence and stewardship.

In a mere hour with Vero Beach Newsweekly, Solari showed a farreaching and detailed grasp of the challenges we face in guarding our water supply, our beloved Indian River and the gorgeous beaches for which we are best known. “Water’s probably, that single topic, is the one I spend the most time on,” Solar said. “And it’s one of the reasons I wanted to get on the County Commission. Water is obviously a crucial resource not only for Indian River County but for everybody in the world. There are some incredibly interesting issues in that. My initial focus was the Indian River Lagoon.” INDIAN RIVER LAGOON What does Solari want? “I want the Lagoon cleaned up,” he said, simple and declarative. CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

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Vero Heritage Inc. needs votes in‘This Place Matters’challenge

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PROVIDED BY VERO HERITAGE

Sailors from the Naval Air Station came to dances at the center in wartime. VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

The sum of $25,000 may not seem like much when you stack it up against 76 years of Vero Beach heritage. To the Heritage Center, though, it could mean new windows, electrical

and plumbing replacements, kitchen updates. In short, the kind of work any decades-old house might need. Fortunately, Vero Heritage, Inc. has been chosen as one of 100 ﬁnalists in the National Trust for Historic Pres-

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STAFF / VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

Vero Heritage Center in historic downtown Vero Beach. ervation’s 2011 “This Place Matters Community Challenge.” Should Vero Heritage Inc., which operates and cares for the Heritage Center, receive the highest number of votes from individual supporters, it would receive a ﬁrst-place $25,000 cash prize to be used to fund maintenance and upkeep of the Heritage Center and the Indian River Citrus Museum. Built in 1935 as the original Community Building, the Heritage Center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a vital link to the history of our community. It continues to be a center of activity for the community, hosting lots of public and private events including weddings, meetings and dances as well as the Hibiscus Festival and other public events. The original Community Building, now the Heritage Center in Pocahontas Park, was ﬁrst begun in 1925. The park was deeded to the city in 1921 by the Indian River Farms Corp., which developed the downtown and outlying areas. The park had a small zoo, a circular wading pool and playground equipment for children. The park was an important part of the early downtown, an area where everyone came to meet. By 1934 the town’s growth made a meeting place for tourists and local clubs a necessity. The design became a reality in 1935 and with the aid of

federal funds the Community Building was completed in April of that year. World War II brought a Naval Air Station to Vero Beach and service personnel needed a place to meet. The north wing was added in 1943 to provide a lounge and service center for the base. Today that wing is the Indian River Citrus Museum. It’s open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. To 4 p.m., showcasing art and artifacts from the industry so closely identified with Indian River County since its first homesteads were planted. In 1991, when officials starting talking about demolishing the building, Vero Heritage, Inc. was formed to restore and maintain this historic structure for community use. It was renovated and put back into use in 1992 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Voting started June 1 and concludes on June 30. Votes can be cast by going to www.preservationnation.org/take-action/this-placematters/community-challenge/. You can also vote via the Vero Heritage webpage at www.veroheritage.org or on Facebook at Vero Heritage, Inc. Vero Heritage operates through memberships, fundraising, building rentals and grants. For more information, please call 772-770-2263 or e-mail at veroheritage@bellsouth.net.

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Here’s how to spot them: • Change in water color from surrounding water (either murkier from sediments, seaweed, and ﬂotsam, or darker because of the depth of the underwater channel where the rip ﬂows) • Gap in the breaking waves, where the rip is forcing its way seaward through the surf zone • Agitated (choppy) surface that extends beyond the breaker zone.

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The most prolific predator stalking the shoals along Indian River County beaches has no teeth, no fins, no venom, and wears a clever disguise: water. “Rip currents are what’s killing us,” said Rory Hanna, a lifeguard and emergency medical technician with Indian River County Ocean Rescue, stationed last week at Golden Sands Beach Park. The Indian River County Recreation Department, and its counterpart in the city of Vero Beach, provide trained, certified water safety personnel at certain city and county beaches. “Just last week I pulled an 8-yearold kid out of a rip current right over there,” he said, gesturing northward where, from the lifeguard tower, a rip current was still in place, sucking sea water away from the beach, roiling the sand and giving it a distinct brownish color in contrast to the small waves and calm blue water around it. “Lots of people out there just don’t get it,” Hanna said. “It should be a state law that you learn how to swim.” The last known fatal shark attack in Vero Beach started with a rip current and a little boy near the pier at Jaycee Beach in 1999. The boy was sucked into a rip current and pulled into deeper water where, tragically, a tiger shark killed him. “We think the shark went for him because he was panicking, thrashing,” Hanna said. Local beaches aren’t notorious for shark sightings or attacks – not like New Smyrna Beach, for example – though April was an active month as the ancient eating machines followed schools of baitfish. Lifeguards will order everyone out of the water for 30 minutes after spotting a shark. There’s another silent killer stalking

the Atlantic beaches of Indian River County from Sebastian Inlet to the southern county line: The sun. Heat exhaustion, dehydration, even heart attacks have been documented on the barrier island, all due to overexposure to the summer sun and scorching heat, lifeguards said. If you think about it, the beach is more like a desert than a playground. If we lived on the edge of the Mojave Desert, would we consider putting on a swimsuit and taking a big towel to lay in the sun for four to six hours, surrounded by cacti? No shade, no fresh water? That’d be crazy. Yet thousands of denizens of airconditioned homes and oﬃces – and northern climates – come to the beach and do just that, lulled into complacency by so much water. Their skin burns, their respiratory systems are taxed, and sometimes their hearts fail. “Drink lots of ﬂuids, put on lots of sunscreen and swim near a lifeguard,” advised John Frazier, county Ocean Rescue’s head captain. But by far, rip currents are the most consistent problem faced by area beach-goers. Rip currents are powerful currents of water moving away from shore, capable of sweeping even the strongest swimmers out to sea and are often called “killer currents” for a good reason. Although estimates vary, rip currents are responsible for approximately 150 deaths every year and probably thousands worldwide.

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BY MICHAEL CROOK VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

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Silent predators stalk Indian River County beachgoers

STAFF / VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

• Floating objects moving steadily seaward • Temperature of water--water in the rip may be colder than surrounding water. Rip current speeds vary. Average speeds are 1-2 feet per second, but they have been measured as fast as 8 feet per second—faster than an Olympic swimmer. Rip currents can be very narrow or more than 50 yards wide. Sometimes rip currents end just beyond the line of breaking waves; however, they may continue to pull hundreds of yards oﬀshore. Rip currents do not pull people under the water— they pull people away from shore.

Safety tips • Know how to swim.

• Never swim alone. • For maximum safety, swim near a lifeguard. • Obey all instructions and orders from lifeguards. • Be cautious at all times. • If in doubt, don’t go out!

For more information about rip currents: • Before you leave for the beach, check the latest National Weather Service forecast for local beach conditions. Many oﬃces issue a Surf Zone Forecast. • When you arrive at the beach, ask on-duty lifeguards about rip currents and any other hazards that may be present. • More information about rip currents can be found at www. ripcurrents.com.

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Community Forum Families use Community Foundation to manage charity gifts BY BECKY ALLEN INDIAN RIVER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

It was the cocktail chatter heard round the world last year. Twelve of the nation’s leading billionaires invited to dinner by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. The question: will each of their guests sign The Giving Pledge? Devised by Buffett and Gates, The Giving Pledge is an effort to invite America’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. They started with 40 billionaires and as of April, the number has grown to 69. “At its core, the Giving Pledge is about asking wealthy families to have important conversations about their wealth and how it will be used,” said Warren Buffett. Good advice for everyone, not just the wealthy. Philanthropy is an American tradition, rooted in our individual freedom to support the causes we care about most deeply and passionately. However, you don’t have to be a billionaire, or even a millionaire, to experience the joy of giving. Not long after the infamous dinner party, a New York foundation took out a full page ad in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal asking the

question, “Why let the billionaires have all the fun?” Anyone with the desire to make our community stronger, to impact societal problems or to leave a legacy after can accomplish their goals BECKY ALLEN through the Indian River Community Foundation. While the mega-rich are signing The Giving Pledge, locally 43 individuals and families are using donor advised funds at the Indian River Community Foundation to support their favorite charitable causes at their own pace. In many ways, a donor advised fund is like a private foundation, but without the IRS regulations, requirements and expense. The Indian River Community Foundation is an established 501c3 public charity, so all contributions are fully tax deductible at the time of the gift. Once established, the donor may make charitable contributions from the fund with no annual requirement and anonymously if they choose. Recently, eight local philanthropists who utilize the Indian River Community Foundation joined together to

“Doing good by doing right.” Vero Beach Newsweekly is distributed throughout Vero Beach and the barrier island.

fund a competitive grant process for local programs that address the root causes of time-sensitive community issues. Although each contributor is an established philanthropist in their own right, they all expressed a desire for stronger reporting on the impact of their philanthropy. One philanthropist, who previously used a family foundation, said the comprehensive grant reports provided by the Community Foundation staff gave him an effective tool to measure the value of his charitable investment. For those looking beyond immediate charitable giving, earlier this year, the Indian River Community Foundation launched the Alma Lee Loy Legacy Society, named after one of the community’s most cherished leaders. The society is made up of people, like Ms. Loy, who are relying on the Community Foundation to execute their charitable wishes after their death, no matter how specific or general those wishes may be. There are now more than 770 community foundations throughout the United States, which administer approximately $31 billion dollars in charitable funds. The Indian River Community Foundation is proud to be among this stellar group of nonprofit organi-

zations, representing one of the fastestgrowing forms of philanthropy in the United States. So if your last name is Buﬀet or Gates, please sign The Giving Pledge… our world needs more philanthropists like you. For everyone else, consider the Indian River Community Foundation, where The Giving Pledge is welcome but not necessary to reap the joy of philanthropic giving. Becky Allen is the Chairman of the Indian River Community Foundation and a former banking executive. She may be contacted through the Indian River Community Foundation by calling (772) 492-1407.

LETTERS WELCOME Vero Beach Newsweekly invites you to send Letters to the Editor on topics of interest pertaining to Indian River County. Letters should be 250-300 words and may be edited for length. We encourage an open dialogue, but reserve the right to refuse publication of letters that do not meet our editorial standards. E-mails may be sent to verobeachnewsweekly@gmail.com or by regular mail to Letter to the Editor, Vero Beach Newsweekly, 1801 U.S. 1, Vero Beach, FL 32960.

Mark Schumann Publisher 978-2246 mark.schumann@scripps.com

Martine Fecteau Account Executive 696-2004 martine.vbnewsweekly@gmail.com

Michael Crook Managing Editor 978-2238 michael.crook@scripps.com

Carrie Scent Graphic Designer 978-2238 verobeachnewsweekly@gmail.com

Ian Love Lead Writer 978-2251 ian.love@scripps.com

Marsha Damerow Graphic Designer 978-2238 verobeachnewsweekly@gmail.com

Mail may be sent to Vero Beach Newsweekly, 1801 U.S. Highway 1, Vero Beach, Florida, 32960 To advertise call Martine Fecteau at 772-696-2004, or Mark Schumann at 772-696-5233.

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COMMUNITY FORUM

day, I will gaze up at the puffy, welcoming clouds overhead, and marvel at their infinite patterns and colors. And early evening commutes home on my bicycle often allow me to study the sky at sunset, as the whole Florida landscape is wrapped in wild hues of pink, orange and red. Yes, I know, we do not have a lot of varied or dramatic or soaring landscape here in Florida. But we sure do have skies…glorious skies which fill the eyes with magic. If you are not regularly looking up, and paying attention to the skies, you are missing one of the unique joys of living in this part of the world.

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experienced since moving here. Yes, we may not have a lot of mountains and rolling hills to titillate and please our eyes, but we sure have wonderful skies around these parts, made rich and fascinating by the ever-changeable clouds that are usually in motion overhead. One of my everyday mindfulness practices -- since moving here -- is pausing outdoors several times during the day and just study the changeable skies. Early in the morning, I love watching the sun rise out of the Atlantic (usually hot red, interspersed with dark clouds) as I nurse my ﬁrst cup of coﬀee. Often during the mid-

“Mount Trashmore,” which soars a towering 143 feet above sea level! While some might ﬁnd this local lack of geographic elevation regrettable and boring, I have come to ap- REVERAND preciate that this SCOTT ALEXANDER ﬂatness highlights the wonderful and varied skies and clouds we have here in the Sunshine State. I have never seen more beautiful skies – including remarkable sunrises -- and sunsets than I have

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As a relative newcomer to Florida – I moved here from Washington last August -- one of the things that has struck me as a newcomer is how profoundly flat the landscape is! In fact, when I did a Google search about points of elevation here in Florida, I discovered that the highest point in the entire state is a state park place called Britton Hill up in the Panhandle, which achieves an elevation of 345 feet above sea level. Down here in Southern Florida it seems that the highest point is a landfill site in southern Dade County, affectionately called by the locals

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REV. SCOTT W. ALEXANDER

Here we go again: ready, fire, aim MARK SCHUMANN VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

Wanting a break from the monotonous view of the Interstate, a lone traveler chose as an alternate route, a country road that wound through beautiful farm country. About twenty miles after leaving the main highway, he noticed a sign that read, “Country Store Dead Ahead.” Thirsty for coﬀee and low on gas, he stopped. Pulling into the parking lot, he noticed that on each fence post in front of the store was a small sign, and on each sign was painted a target, and in the center of each target was a bullet hole. Near the store stood a dilapidated barn, its old, rotting wood bare except for several dozen bright red circles, each about six inches in diameter, and each with a bullet hole in the center. “Someone around here is a pretty good shot,” the traveler said as he stepped into the store. The man standing behind the counter identiﬁed himself as the marksman. “Yes sir, that’s my shooting,” the clerk said proudly. “How do you get a bull’s-eye every time you shoot,” the traveler asked?

Smiling ever so slightly, the clerk leaned forward and said, almost in a whisper, “It’s easy. First I shoot, and then I draw the target.” I was remembering this story as Vero Beach’s water and sewer director presented his report projecting that the city can reasonably expect to operate more profitably with a smaller customer base. This may be a convenient target to draw, if one first concludes that the city’s priority should be to maintain its utility franchises. And this might be a tempting argument to make if one’s job depends on preserving the city’s ownership of a utility that has for decades subsidized the city’s operating budget, but is now only be able to do so by charging artificially high rates. At the same time, some activists seem dead set on getting the city out of the water and sewer businesses, and are impatient to see the city accept the county’s initial offer. In their minds all competing arguments melt before the searing heat of their fiery logic. They, too, are shooting first and then drawing their target. Richard Winger’s presentation at

last week’s marathon city council meeting raised a number of questions the council would do well to consider carefully before they agree to accept the county’s offer of simply assuming the city’s debt, and paying the cost to connect the city’s system to the county’s system. Winger, vice chairman of the Vero Beach City Council’s Finance Committee, carefully and methodically laid out a compelling rationale for slowing down the process long enough to more fully consider the value of the city’s water and sewer system. In Winger’s view, the county’s initial offer is “a very bad deal.” Clearly there is a growing consensus the city would be wise to sell its electric utility to FPL, so long as FPL does not insist on acquiring the assets at a fire-sale price. Such a consensus to sell the city’s water and sewer system does not yet exist. As a preface to “The Big Short,” Michael Lewis offers this quote from Leo Tolstoy: “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the sim-

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Our flat terrain accentuates soaring skies

plest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.” If consensus is to be built, if reason is to prevail, it is time to stop shooting down arguments before they have at least been given due consideration. It is time to engage in less advocacy and more inquiry. Everyone involved in the debate, elected officials, activists, staff, and consultants, would do well to remember that the human mind is much like a parachute, in that it works best when it is open.

THOUGHT TO CONSIDER “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” George Bernard Shaw

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r:=KDO== Developer turning U.S. 1 corridor into entertainment hot spot BY IAN LOVE VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

Michael Rechter’s vision is starting to take shape to turn the Majestic and Indian River plazas into the entertainment place to be in Vero Beach. Rechter has been hard at work on the U.S. 1 properties he purchased for a total of $18 million after the 2005 hurricanes all but left the once valuable real estate an unattractive, lifeless collection of businesses. He has just completed the first phase of his plans, turning the Majestic Movie Theatre into an upscale attraction with offerings from new Hollywood releases to video performances from New York City’s Metropolitan Opera and plays from The National Theatre in Washington, D.C. He has also turned the Vero Bowl into a state-of-the art bowling center with a $2.5 million upgrade he undertook himself when he could not get the previous owner to do what Rechter considered the right thing. The Vero Bowl renovation earned Rechter a front page spread in the trade magazine International Bowling Industry. The story by Robin Breuner starts out: “Vero Bowl is a Cinderella story. The rundown, neglected, diamond-in-the-rough bowling center meets Prince Charming and is magically transformed.” The bowling center has become Rechter’s vision of an entertainment center that attracts leagues and families, but also appeals to a wider crowd with a bustling sports bar and restaurant quality food that you would never find in the bowling alleys you frequented as a child. Rechter will cap his Vero Bowl

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The future home of Izzyban, an Asian fusion restaurant that developer Michael Rechter says will be “like nothing Vero has ever seen.” renovation with the opening soon of a video arcade connected with the bowling alley that will attract young and old alike. “It is going to be gorgeous,” Rechter said. “It will have all the state of the art games, but it will also have things like skeeball. It will appeal to kids of all ages.” With much of phase one of his development plan complete with the very successful launches of the bowling alley and theatre, Rechter is turning his attention to the development of the side-by-side properties as the date night entertainment hot spot in Indian River County. “What I see is a place that is welllit and secure at night and safe and has different options for people to choose from so you can take your wife out or your children and there are a variety of things to do that are quality destinations,” he said. “If you have the horizon of a year or

two, someone will be able to turn into that parking lot, park their car and do many different things, whether it be to play pool, go see a movie, go bowling, have a cocktail, or have a nice dinner with a choice of multiple locations. That to me is the beginning of a great entertainment destination for Vero Beach.” Work is underway for an upscale billiards club expected to open by the third quarter and Rechter said he has held initial talks for bringing in a family-fun indoor inflatable party play center. What really has Rechter excited at the moment is the planned opening by Labor Day of the Asian fusion restaurant Izziban in a strip just to the south of the bowling alley. Chef Diane Lee owns another Izziban in Orlando which former Orlando Sentinel food critic Scott Joseph has called his favorite sushi restaurant in central Florida. “I am so pumped up about this

place,” Rechter said. “It is going to be a state of the art sushi bar, like nothing Vero has ever seen. There will be a very trendy interior with a very modern floor plan. There will be a section for booths and between them will be these panels and there will be water flowing and LED lights. It creates a very cool, modern feel.” Owner-Chef Diane Lee said the Vero Beach location came to her in a dream. Her brother lives in Sebastian and was helping her scout places to open another Izziban in Indian River County. She awoke from a dream one night and had a vision of a place next to a movie theatre and told her brother to go find it. As he was more familiar with Sebastian he was unable to locate the spot until a few weeks later when he happened by the Majestic Theatre and saw the work being done on the Plaza. Rechter had been plan-

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ning for a restaurant in that spot and said once Diane Lee visited the location it was the easiest lease he has ever negotiated. Izziban will feature an extensive Sake list and a unique menu of Asian inspired dishes mixed with other types of cuisine. They will also offer a tabletop barbecue menu where customers order their meat and other dishes and cook the food themselves. “It is a very social thing, people can share whatever meat or vegetable they want,” said Izziban general manager Daniel Moon. “The server will show them how if they have never done it before.” For Rechter, attracting such a high-quality tenant is vindication of his vision and another step in his ultimate plan. He so firmly believed his plan, he was ready to take on the restaurant himself if he couldn’t find the right tenant. “I said to myself this location is getting better, it is by itself not great, but then we started getting success with the Majestic and the Vero Bowl,” he said. “Since I was doing all the work myself anyways, I had it all set to go regardless if a tenant stepped into the picture or not. I didn’t realize acquiring a tenant would happen just as I was starting to pound my first nail. “In terms of timing, Game Zone is set to open mid-June. Izziban we expect to open no later than Labor Day and the billiard club will be right behind that, so by October 1st this whole corner will be rocking.” Rechter is also working on plans to spruce up the Indian River Plaza, also known as the K-Mart Center. He is considering a mix of tenants that will include upper-end and casual restaurants. “We intend to raze the old Denny’s and replace it with a new building. It will be broken into four spaces facing U.S. 1 and four facing inward,” he said. “I am talking with a concept called Jimmy John’s, a gourmet sub place, they have about 3,000 locations. Chipotle Mexican

PHOTO BY M. JAMES NORTHEN

Vero Bowl has recently undergone a $2.5 million facelift into a state-of-the-art facility.

Grill is looking to come to Vero and that corner would be perfect for them. We are just in talks, nothing is signed yet. We also haven’t gotten

a yea or nay yet from P.F. Chang’s, they have a casual dining concept called Pei Way. “In the next three or four years,

you will see all this. You will see great restaurants, upscale, downscale casual dining, a full range of dining options.”

Casual seafood restaurant to open at former Stax location VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

A July 15 opening is planned for the Fishack, a casual seafood restaurant at 1931 Old Dixie Highway, which most recently was the home of Stax. The business is owned by Ethan Weiss, who along with his father, Mitchell, will operate the restaurant. The Weiss family also owns Pizzooddle’s, which will continue under the direction of Jo Ann Weiss and chil-

dren Alex and Alissa. Work is still underway at the Fishack adding a nautical décor to the premises with a strong emphasis on casual. Jo Ann Weiss said the place will have a “beachy,” tiki bar feel to it. The menu will feature fried fish platters, fish tacos, fish sandwiches, New England fried clams, lobster and lobster salads.

When it is fully operational, the Fishack will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and will host a Sunday brunch as well. For those looking for late night entertainment there will be oﬀerings of beach and reggae music. “It will be the kind of place where people can come and hang out,” Jo Anne Weiss said. “This will be the casual spot to eat seafood.”

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Active Life

Keeping that resolution to keep going to the gym STAFF PHOTO

Varying your exercise routine can help in maintaining your commitment to the gym once the motivation begins to wear off. SIOBHAN FITZPATRICK FOR VERO BEACH NEWSWEEKLY

This past January, Margaret Reynolds made her New Year’s resolution a goal that many of us share -- to get in shape. At 47, Reynolds wanted to do more cardiovascular and weight training exercises to build her upper body and arms. But unlike many of us, Reynolds actually kept her resolution. “I always keep my goals,” said Reynolds, who has been a regular the last eight years at the mainland gym, the Jungle Club. Since we all know the importance of a healthy lifestyle, why do so many of us end up not keeping our New Year’s resolutions to stay ﬁt? “The main reason people give up is either they don’t get results fast enough to stay motivated or they do something wrong and hurt themselves, “ said Phil Raschko, a personal

trainer at the Jungle Club. The best way to stick to your New Year’s resolution is to hire a personal trainer because they’re “more likely to help you get results fast enough and will keep you motivated – safely,” said Raschko. Yet there are those people, like Margaret Reynolds who works out on her own, and has kept her New Year’s quest to get in shape. On a typical day, Reynolds does approximately 50 minutes of cardio on an elliptical exercise machine and then about a half hour of work focusing on her abdominal, waist, legs and upper body using mats and free weights. Reynolds, a sales rep for a wholesale gift company, must maintain erratic work hours and says she joined the Jungle Club because of its ﬂexible schedule. “Other gyms close earlier,” she said. “At the Jungle Club I can come any-

time. And the gym is always nice and clean, including the locker room, which is very important to me.” Reynolds’ work schedule requires that she travel and because she is sticking to her get-in-shape resolution, she has developed the mindset that she is missing out when she can’t make it to the gym. “When I’m on location and cannot work out, I am miserable. I feel a zillion times better when I workout,” she said. As is the case with Reynolds, exercise is extremely important to Kathleen McLaughlin, who moved to Vero Beach in November. At the recommendation of her sister, who has lived in Vero for over 40 years, McLaughlin joined Longevity Fitness Club and Spa. McLaughlin was a caretaker for her ailing mother in New Jersey who suﬀered from Alzheimer’s disease.

When McLaughlin’s mother passed away, she decided to take a leap of faith and move to Vero and look for a new house, job, and gym. She too used New Year’s to help focus on her desire to get in better shape. ”My goal was to try and become healthy and lose weight now. So far, I’ve lost 31 pounds,” said the 65-year– old McLaughlin. McLaughlin, who arrived in Vero Beach eight months ago, loves her newly adopted home. She has already found a new house and job (as a health assistant) and has also become a colossal fan of Longevity and its coaches. “One instructor, Maria, taught me that I should not workout my entire body all at once,” she said. “Instead, she recommends that I work on my upper body one day, and lower body the next to give my muscles a rest. This has made working out so much more enjoyable, and more eﬀective.”

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Ellen Deschatres, a self-employed artist, is another fitness enthusiast. She moved to the area from St. Louis nearly a year ago. At the suggestion of a friend, she joined the Jungle Club to accommodate her goal of staying in shape. “When I visited the Jungle Club I felt it had everything I had wanted, including a full range of activities, classes, resistance-weight machines and free weights,” Deschatres said. She has recently become a faithful follower of the Jungle Club’s aquatics program, which is spearheaded by a relatively new instructor, Greg Sarbak. “Greg is not only a phenomenal instructor but a coach in the most profound sense of word,” she said. “He can have six different people in the pool and from the time you go from one end of the pool to the other he would have discovered six different things for these six different people that need to be corrected. “People don’t think of swimming as a big workout, but it’s challenging. I was a spinner for years and even it taught it, but aquatics gives workout a that I wouldn’t have gotten from spinning.” Having the flexibility to choose from aquatic classes to Zumba to the StairMaster is precisely the kind of diversity that makes the Jungle Club so great, says Katie Smith, General Manager of the Jungle Club. “It’s important to change your routine up a bit to get variety and keep it interesting,” Smith said, noting that exercise is not merely for the body, but for keeping a positive state of mind. Deschatres agrees that staying positive is an important factor in getting in shaping and sticking to those promises we make to ourselves to live a healthier lifestyle. “Mentally and physically. I think exercise brings all those physiological benefits that we are aware of,” she said. “It’s a personal thing for each one of us. For me, it’s physiological, emotional and takes the edge off of everything. It relieves stress, and sets me right away for the rest of the day. The myth that as you get older that you have to take it easy, well that is bunk.”

Jungle Club trainer Dede Snipes works with Lisa Smith.

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Indian River Galley MT’S Chop House is best‘special occasion’restaurant NICK THOMAS

On June 3, the evening before my daughter graduated from Vero High, I took her on a “date” to MT’s Chop House on Vero’s South NICK THOMAS Beach. Good choice. MT’s, to my mind, is the best “Special Occasion” restaurant in town. It has all the elements of a “fancy” American restaurant – an attractive young hostess greets you at the door and, menus in hand, shows you to your table, through a dimly lit, quiet dining room done up in leather and wood and hues of tobacco brown. Then you’re seated in a private booth with upholstered, highbacked benches and a high side wall, the table dressed with crisp linen and sparkling stemware. Being the silly people we are, Grace and I enjoyed opening the menus to ﬁnd that they are self-illuminating. Before we even began to read, and before our server arrived, we played around with the menus – open, close, open, close; wear it like a hat; compete to see who could open their menu the least and still have it light up. By the time our server showed and I ordered a Manhattan (rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters), my standard fancy-restaurant cocktail, we were settled in and having fun, talking about our upcoming summer trip to, well, Manhattan. Turning to the menu, we cooked up our plan. Knowing dad would order steak, Grace settled on the Colossal Diver Scallops, with “Comfort

Sides” of Sautéed Forest Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic Whipped Potato. Not exactly a combination a chef might come up with, but the girl likes what she likes. For my part, I figured if I was going to eat a steak, I might as well go for the gold -- the 22-ounce Prime Cowboy Bone-In Ribeye, with sides of Mac and Four Cheeses with Truffle Oil and Grilled Asparagus with Béarnaise sauce (cleverly reasoning I could use some of the sauce on my steak). Regarding my date’s meal, her scallops were large and flawless, lightly seared on the outside and the perfect warm opalescent on the inside. Tender in the extreme, they were made that much better by the orange/ginger buerre blanc. Her sides were just fine as well, with the mushrooms sautéed down to a correct meaty texture, and the whipped potatoes warm and smooth. While I doubt any of the mushrooms had ever seen a “forest,” I don’t mind a bit of puffery if I don’t feel I’m being purposefully misled. As for my meal, the asparagus was very nice -- lightly grilled, perhaps even pre-blanched to achieve a perfect texture to my taste. The Béarnaise was authentic, eggy, yummy. The Mac and Cheese, however, was served at near room temperature, and while I could see what they were going for, it didn’t really hit the mark. As a pasta purist, I don’t really consider “penne” to be the best choice for this application. It’s too firm to meld into a dish that, ideally, has a unified casserole texture. Finally, my Cowboy Ribeye. Served on a warmed white rectangular plate, it was a vision of perfection – an even char, an ideal medium pink inside, and perfumed with wood

smoke made all the more appealing by the fact that you could not otherwise smell the smoke in the restaurant. My only gripe is that, at $52, the steak itself wasn’t all I was hoping for. It wasn’t dry aged, so it didn’t have that unctuous, concentrated, almost-round-the-bend ﬂavor of the very best steaks. And even considering that it was wet aged, I didn’t get that “Prime” vibe oﬀ of it. It wasn’t as “marbled” as I might have hoped for; and after all, that’s why you order

a rib steak. You want that delicious fat. So as long as you understand going in that MT’s Chop House is not a “steak house” in the manner of Peter Lugar’s of New York, The Capital Grille in DC, or Bern’s in Tampa, every time you visit will be a special occasion. Nick Thomas is a lawyer and certified family mediator. Reach him at nthomaslaw@comcast.net.

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Barrier Island Real Estate Sales – June 2-June 8 Address: Subdivision: List Date: List Price: Sell Date: Sell Price: Listing Broker: Selling Broker:

470 Arrowhead Trail Indian Trails 11/12/2010 $725,000 6/3/2011 $650,000 Coldwell Banker Ed Schlitt Coldwell Banker Ed Schlitt