Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Three for Hillsboro Beach: Andreano, Baldasarre, Crusco
The quiet, affluent beachside jewel of Hillsboro Beach is experiencing a building boom unparalleled in its 84-year history. It is no surprise that the subject would also drive the debate in local politics.
Founded in 1939, Hillsboro Beach is a three-mile-long peninsula between the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean with one way in and one road out — State Road A1A. In recent years, the town has had major sewer and water infrastructure upgrades, maintained a small but efficient police department and buried the hatchet in a years-long battle with its neighbor, Deerfield Beach, over beach erosion.
Much credit for that goes to Mayor Deb Tarrant, who must step down due to term limits, along with Commissioner Vicky Feaman. A third seat, held by Commissioner Barbara Baldasarre, is also up for a vote.
With so much turnover, town residents would be wise to retain Baldasarre. Retired for 11 years, she worked in county government in Union County, N.J. (and still has a Jersey accent). Baldasarre, 79, says the town needs to tackle undergrounding utility wires and preparing for sea level rise by elevating A1A, a project that has gone from a six-inch proposed elevation to two feet.
“I have done what I thought was best for the town, and I have received nothing in return other than satisfaction to know that I’m doing a good job for the people that I represent,” Baldasarre said in a Sun Sentinel editorial board interview.
Under Hillsboro Beach’s voting system, voters will see a list of four candidates and pick up to three. The three with the most votes will serve. Commissioners serve up to four two-year terms and are paid $7,500 a year, and the mayor receives $10,000 a year. The five commissioners decide after the election who will be mayor and vice mayor.
The biggest issue in town is a 145-foot condo tower, The Enclave, that the commission unanimously approved a year ago. It needed a special zoning variance as the 11-acre site was zoned for a building 35 feet high, not the 10 stories proposed by The Related Group. In Boca or Fort Lauderdale, 10 stories would rate a yawn — maybe. Here, it became a huge deal.
Crusco’s crusade
Candidate Richard Crusco has been on a crusade after the commission approved the condo tower just two lots down from where he lives, and he worries it will change the town’s character. Baldasarre voted for the variance, saying the land has been vacant for nearly a decade and wasn’t generating tax revenue. A third candidate, Vincent (Vinnie) Andreano, said the town has several other high-rise buildings.
Crusco, 60, has lived full-time in Hillsboro Beach for just under two years. He worked for American Express and at Panther Marketing, a promotional-item company that his mother and wife started 25 years ago from his Long Island home.
With the big new tower planned nearby,
Crusco and some neighbors opened their checkbooks and filed a lawsuit to block the project. The case is pending.
“Maybe we can sit down and have a conversation with the commission and the developer and get to a better point,” Crusco said. “It’s going to open the floodgates to other developers to potentially come in and do the same thing.”
Being a member of the commission he’s suing will put Crusco in an awkward position. But he represents a point of view that deserves a voice in town affairs, and we recommend voters add Crusco to give them that voice. (He said he would abstain on votes involving the town’s legal strategy to defend itself against his lawsuit.)
Crusco’s presence on the commission may cause some friction, but that’s not all bad. But a conciliatory member would help, and Andreano fits the bill.
The affable Andreano, 78, put in 30 years as a Miami Beach firefighter, retiring as a division chief 11 years ago. He said the current cast at Town Hall does “a fantastic job,” and he supports their decisions, including the condo variance. At the same time, he cites public safety and beach erosion on the town’s north end as concerns.
Odd man out
The fourth candidate, David Ravanesi, has lived here year-round for 15 years. He spent 25 years as an elected and appointed official in his hometown of Everett, Mass., a Boston suburb, and handled public relations for Nynex, which later became Verizon.
His background appears to make him a good fit, but Ravanesi’s ability to build consensus is open to serious question.
This is a nonpartisan race in a small town that largely avoids the slings and arrows of partisan politics. In a Facebook post Jan. 14, Ravanesi called President Joe Biden a “walking corpse,” and former President Barack Obama a “lowlife scum bag” and “the root of all evil.” In a Jan. 9 post, he called Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York a “pathetic, arrogant little useless piece of s—.”
It has gone on like that for years. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but beginning in the Trump years, this toxic rhetoric has seriously poisoned our national discourse, and it can’t happen at Town Hall, too.
For Hillsboro Beach Town Commission, the Sun Sentinel endorses Vincent (Vinnie) Andreano, Barbara Baldasarre and Richard Crusco.