Boca Raton, "mouth of the mouse", is my current home town. A unique community in the South Florida metropolitan area, midway between West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale.
With a population of 50,000, strict development codes, lots of parks and green space, relatively little traffic, beautiful beaches and no bad neighborhoods, Boca Raton is an island sanctuary, in a vast sea of urban and suburban concrete and congestion.
Wonderfully located on a gorgeous, sub-tropical beach, 20 minutes from Ft. Lauderdale, 30 minutes from West Palm Beach, 50 minutes from Miami and bordered on the west by the incomparable Everglades. Boca Raton offers all the convenience of a major metropolitan area, with a small town feel. No other city in South Florida is so well located and so well kept.
I used to frequently meet people who said "My grandmother lives in Boca Raton". Now I meet people who say "My mother lives in Boca Raton". Jerry Seinfeld's mother does. I never meet people who say "My cute sister lives in Boca Raton".
Which brings us to some interesting demographics, especially if you are single, about Boca Raton and Delray Beach, also known as the South Palm Beach County area.
Boca Raton has the highest percentage Jewish population in the country, about 40%. Not the most Jews total, but the largest percent. So if you are single and Jewish and you happen to meet someone in Publix, our grocery store, there is a good chance the person is Jewish. Good news for single Jews looking for a mate? Do not move to Boca yet. Read on.
In South Palm Beach County there are more people over 80, over 80 mind you, than in their 20s and 30s combined. There are more people 75-80 than over 80, and more people 70-75 than 75-80, and so on down to about 55 or 60. Of course there is a seasonal aspect to this, but be warned, do not go to dinner or a movie before 8pm. And remember, all the restaurants close by 9pm, except for Denny's.
South Palm Beach County has the highest percentage of married couples in the country, around 80%.
In South Florida, the single Jews live in three places that form a triangle around Broward County. They live in Aventura, in north Miami-Dade County, by the beach. Aventura is beautiful, but congested. They live in Plantation, in Broward County, west of Ft. Lauderdale. Plantation is very nice, Broward's version of Boca Raton, but way too far west. If you are going to live in South Florida you need to be no more than 10 minutes from the beach and no more than 5 minutes from I-95. Lastly they live in Boca Raton. And they all know each other.
Yes, Boca Raton is the scene of the crime of the butterfly ballot. Yes, I almost voted for Pat Buchanan by mistake.
A friend of my sister's was interviewed by a reporter. The reporter asked, "Well the ballot couldn't have been too hard could it? After all, it's not rocket science."
My sister's friend answered, "Well I work for Pratt-Whitney and I am a rocket scientist, and I voted for Pat Buchanan by mistake".
Based on exit polls - how people thought they voted - the TV pollsters called Florida for Gore very early. Believe Gore would have won Florida easily if all the votes were counted the way in which people intended to vote.