Most of us who have lived in West Boca for any length of time have heard of the West Boca Community Council, but not as many have a clear idea of what it is and does.
Its origins can be traced to Flushing, New York, where a retired secretary and her lawyer husband decided in 1978 to live full time in the villa they purchased six years before in a brand new community on Glades and Lyons.
The wife became involved in her new community almost immediately and, as a Board member in Boca Lakes, took on a losing effort to stop the building of a shopping center that we know today as Boca Lyons.
Her husband suggested that if she wanted to win such battles in the future, she needed more allies.
She took his advice and rounded up four other fledgling HOAs to join forces with the one in Boca Lakes. They decided to call themselves the West Boca Community Council (WBCC) and elected the grandmother from Flushing as their first president. She served in that capacity for eight years, during which time the WBCC grew to 60 community homeowner associations representing over 50,000 people. She served as Chairperson for many years after stepping down as President, in which capacity she was succeeded by Milton Brenner, then the Honorable Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Winikoff and, since 2003, incumbent President Sheri Scarborough.
The late Fran Reich went on to win many battles as the organization she founded and built became a powerful force in Palm Beach County with politicians and bureaucrats alike. Her WBCC concept was adopted in West Boynton and West Delray, and to this day the three organizations combine forces on common causes on behalf of hundreds of thousands of South Floridians.
She became a legendary figure in the development of the area we call home – West Boca today would undoubtedly be a less desirable place to live were it not for her and her WBCC colleagues.
Here’s one of my favorite Fran Reich stories. Her concern about the growing traffic problem in West Boca led her to summon then County Commissioner Dennis Koehler to her home in the early 1980s. She sat him down in her kitchen and, Koehler later told the Sun-Sentinel, “was beating up on me for growth and development. She was griping about the traffic conditions on Glades Road.”
Reich proposed that a bridge be built over the Florida Turnpike so that Palmetto Park Road could be expanded all the way west to 441 and thereby relieve the congestion on Glades. She even presented Koehler with a financial plan to come up with the $6 million the project would cost. Within 28 hours, it was in the county’s road budget. “It was lightning speed”, he said, and “certainly would not have happened without Fran Reich and the WBCC.”
Next time you go over that bridge on Palmetto, take note of who it is named for. Now you know why.
More recently, Palm Beach County also named a 1,660-acre preserve just west of Waters Edge Elementary for Fran Reich, who for decades was an ardent campaigner for the restoration of the Everglades.
The land we now call the Fran Reich Preserve very nearly became a Solid Waste Authority dump and incinerator in the 1980s, similar to what you drive by on the east side of the Turnpike bordering Deerfield and Pompano Beach. Reich and the WBCC waged a 12-year campaign against this project, which included a boisterous meeting of 4,000 West Bocans that helped usher in a great victory. Imagine what that dump would have done for our property values – especially if you live in Boca Falls or Boca Winds!
Fran Reich and her successors were also on the front line to stop a planned airport and the construction of an expressway in West Boca. They helped foil plans for a bullet train that would have run just west of communities like The Shores, Saturnia and Boca Falls. Most recently, they were instrumental in stopping the expansion of a Broward thoroughfare through the heart of West Boca. Over the years they have fought for great schools, better traffic control and worked closely with law enforcement to make West Boca a safer place for all.
Throughout its history, the WBCC has followed the vision of its founder, which she described as working for “quality of life” issues. The Council has long been known for doing its homework, keeping its cool, and remaining non-partisan, which traits were modus operandi for Fran Reich.
The WBCC is now made up of some 115 community associations and represents the interests of more than 200,000 residents, who are always welcome to attend the monthly meetings of the West Boca Community Council.
What issues would you like to see the WBCC take on next?
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