The hometown commissioners (Our Century) (Karen Marcus) (PBP) 12-19-9950 OUR CENTURY The Palm Beach Post Sunday, December 19; 1999
Born Aug. 11, 1956
St. Lucie County
Commissioner,
1992 to present
Because he ran for office
as an environmentalist when
his friends said he could nev-
er win on that platform.
Eventually, more candidates
followed him down the path
of slower growth, changing
the course of St. Lucie Coun-
ty politics.
Because he helped win
the support of 67 percent of
the voters for higher taxes to
buy environmental lands
when others said voters
would never approve.
Because he challenged
supporters of an industrial
seaport and regional jetport
to look at other quality -of -life
issues.
Because he got fellow
commissioners to limit fu-
ture construction of high-
rises on Hutchinson Island.
Barnes at Spruce Bluff,
a nature preserve west of
Port St. Lucie that the
county purchased.
Because he thought
growing up on North Hutch-
inson Island was boring, but
he returned from college
with a new appreciation and
determination to preserve
the county's water, land and
blue skies.
— JIM REEDER
Karen Marcus on the
$2.5 million Juno
Beach Fishing Pier,
which opened in
January 1999, thanks
to the work of tackle
shop owner John Lott,
who gathered
signatures for a new
pier, then went to the
county commission.
Marcus and fellow
commissioners Warren
Newell and Carol
Roberts went to
Tallahassee to lobby
for the pier. The old
Juno pier was blown
down on 7kanksgiving
1984.
The hometown
commissioners
Because in a land of
transients, her managed -
growth political philosophy
is rooted in the fact that she
has lived 42 of her 47 years
in Palm Beach County.
Because after 15 years.
on the commission and the
previous eight years as a
commission aide, she has
become the commission's
institutional memory.
Because she has no in-
tention of going to Tallahas-
see or Washington or any-
where else.
Because as a 5-foot-91h
20-year-old with long legs
and blond hair, she spent
eight months modeling in
New York City — and the
next 20 years trying to live
down what she calls the
"modeling stigma."
Because she wore fake
Born April 15, 1952
Palm Beach County
Commissioner,
1984 to present
glasses for her first cam-
paign in 1984 to look less
like a model.
Because the modeling
stigma was erased in 1.992
when one of the most power-
ful figures in Palm Beach
County — megadeveloper E.
Llwyd Ecclestone Jr. —tried
to topple her and her slow -
growth views.
Because despite raising
the scarlet M of modeling
from Marcus' past, Eccle-
stone failed to oust her.
Because, four years lat-
er, nobody ran against her
and she got a $500 if -you -
can't -beat -them -join -them
contribution from Eccle-
stone.
Because her fingerprints
.are on virtually every signifi-
cant local growth -control
measure since the mid-
1980s, plus $250 million
worth of bond issues to buy,
environmentally sensitive
lands and limit development
in the Agricultural Reserve.
Because she was the
driving force behind the
Juno Pier and a key player in
keeping spring training
baseball in Palm Beach
County.
Because she also stays
determinedly close -to home
when venturing thoughts on
her own legacy: "I'm a local
girl who tried to make her
community a better place."
— GEORGE BENNETT