Stet NewsFor you today: a County Commission meeting like no other, a new storm forecast view, downtown West Palm Beach’s new boss and emerging power players.
Addiction hits home
The recommendation on spending nearly $150 million in opioid settlement money over 20 years received a warm — and sympathetic — reaction last week from the Palm Beach County Commission.
“I just want to say that I’ve never been to a County Commission meeting, ever, that was so heartfelt,” Mayor Maria Sachs said at the end of nearly three hours of presentations and testimony that featured personal comments from commissioners, as well as the public.
“I don’t think there’s a family that has not been affected by this scourge.”
Why it’s important: While comedian John Oliver last week lambasted local governments for spending settlement money on police wish lists or budget gaps, in Palm Beach County an advisory committee led by the recovery community spent two years developing a person-centered approach, as Stet News reported last week here.
At the May 21 meeting, commissioners shared their own tragic stories as they supported the plan.
“Thank you to Rebel Recovery,” Commissioner Michael Barnett told a representative of the addiction recovery center that runs a syringe-exchange program.
“I had a family member, my brother, who benefited from your services. Unfortunately, like a lot of family members here, he did pass away. Overdosed last year.
“I was very skeptical when I first learned years ago about the syringe-exchange program but I’ve learned that it does save lives.”
Advocating support for families left behind by loss, Commissioner Sara Baxter said: “I hate saying this. It’s like ripping a Band-Aid off, but most people know by now. I have lost two sisters from this. … They (families) need support. I’m telling you, if we forget that part of this, the rest fails.”
Commissioner Gregg Weiss added, “Like Commissioner Barnett, I also lost a brother,” he said before a long pause. “I can’t remember, actually, who said it first, about ‘the blood money.’ But that’s what this is. This is money because how the medical community in conjunction with the pharmaceutical community has put this poison out there.”
County Administrator Verdenia Baker pointed out that addiction services are not limited to those caught up in the opioid epidemic.
“I’ve lived this and I still live it,” Baker said. “My brother left high school — one of my mother’s brightest kids. He went to the military. Two years later he was dishonored, put out, because he was hooked on crack cocaine.
“And so, for 40-plus years, he gets clean, we work with him and something triggers. He goes back. So it’s a little different. He didn’t die but we had other cousins that did. Whole generations of them.”
🌀 Our 2024 hurricane guide
As we hurtle into what is forecast to be a busy storm season, we at Stet News are … getting out of town. Just kidding. We’re restocking our hurricane kit and bookmarking the National Hurricane Center website.
New this year: The center is rolling out an experimental cone graphic in mid-August designed to better communicate the greatest storm threats.
The map will show the hurricane and tropical storm warning zones.
The experimental map, announced in February, is expected to be available within 30 minutes of each storm forecast.
The public will have an opportunity to give feedback on the new map.
What they’re saying: “The focus is getting away from that exact forecast track,” Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service told Palm Beach County commissioners last week. “And we are trying to de-emphasize the cone a little bit because it’s misinterpreted. The cone doesn’t take into account the size of the storm.”
🤞🏽 Of note: Molleda advised county residents not to let close calls in the recent past with hurricanes Irma, Matthew or Dorian lull us into complacency.
“There’s no meteorological explanation,” for those near misses, he said. “It’s just good luck.”
☂️ Rainy day reading:
The state sales tax holiday is Saturday through June 14 and from Aug. 24 to Sept. 6. What’s exempt?
Throwback to last year’s Stet News report on why the Hurricane Center says you should rely on their storm forecast model, here.
Palm Beach County has a helpful storm prep guide.
Check your storm evacuation zone.
Much more at readypbc.com, where you can sign up for emergency text alerts. Or download the PBC Dart app.
We want to know: With the “cone of terror” on its way out, what name would you give the new cone? Hit reply to this email and tell us.
🌆 Downtown makeover
A taxing body that fills a critical role between city government and retailers in downtown West Palm Beach is undergoing a change in leadership.
The board of the Downtown Development Authority accepted the resignation last week of longtime Executive Director Raphael Clemente. The board appointed Clemente’s top lieutenant, Teneka James-Feaman, to take over, effective June 18.
Former board members Bruce Lewis, Howard Pinkus and Upendo Shabazz and former Executive Director Melissa Wohlust urged the board at the May 21 meeting to appoint James-Feaman.
Clemente, who has worked at the DDA for 18 years and held the top post for nearly 14, is moving into philanthropy, taking a position with the not-for-profit Quantum Foundation. He’ll head venture philanthropy for the nearly 30-year-old organization formed from the proceeds of the sale of JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.
Coming next week, The Exit Interview: Stet’s Joel Engelhardt sits down with Clemente for an interview, in which he discusses downtown parking, Related and CityPlace, his passion for solving urban problems and more.
🌴 The juice
➡️ Drury Development submitted plans in 2021 to redevelop Loehmann’s Plaza in Palm Beach Gardens with a hotel and apartments but the plans have gone nowhere. Now, building code issues are forcing the St. Louis hotelier to raze the lightly used plaza. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🏗️ Five financial firms are among the latest tenants who signed up for office space in the Related Cos.’ One Flagler, the 25-story tower under construction in downtown West Palm Beach.
Greek restaurant Estiatorio Milos will occupy 10,000 square feet on the ground floor. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
Crusading personal injury attorney Edward M. Ricci died May 20 at age 78 from Parkinson’s disease. As a major benefactor to the Catholic Church, Ricci withheld contributions in the early 2000s over the church’s failure to act against abusive priests. His wife, retired Circuit Court Judge Mary Lupo, is among his survivors. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
Edmund J. Duhy Jr., a Palm Beach County native who served as the first principal of the county’s arts high school, died May 10 at age 78. He led the school, now known as the Dreyfoos School of the Arts, in its first home at the former North Shore High School and in its initial years in downtown West Palm Beach. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
💥 Historic outcry
Supporters of preserving The Harriet in CityPlace are planning to pack the West Palm Beach City Commission meeting tonight and a city Historic Preservation Board meeting Wednesday.
Why it’s important: Fresh off last year’s victory to force the city to back down from plans to commercialize the Flagler Drive waterfront, many of the same organizers are pushing back against a plan submitted by Related Cos. to forever alter the appearance of the nearly 100-year-old church by removing the stairway and original entry point, as first reported by Stet News here.
How we got here: Related touted the preservation of the church as a centerpiece of CityPlace when it opened in 2000. Its renovation at the time retained the building’s historic integrity even as it combined cultural uses with retailing, including a Starbucks.
Related hasn’t announced the building’s new intended use. But in plans submitted in April, Related proposed a second renovation that would remove the stairs, move the entry to the ground floor and rip out the center to create an atrium.
The building, called the Harriet Himmel Theater, or The Harriet for short, would retain about the same amount of commercial space, 25,000 square feet, with a third devoted to dining, a third to kitchen space and 15 percent for retail.
The proposal led Margie Yansura, who attended church there in the 1980s, to ask the city’s Historic Preservation Board last month to consider the building for historic designation. The board agreed.
The subject is not on the agenda for either meeting but public comment is allowed at both.
Organizers are distributing green “Preserve WPB Now!” T-shirts.
What they’re saying: “You don’t even have to say anything; you’ll be seen and your message will be seen.”
Among supporters is the Downtown Neighborhood Association, which spearheaded opposition to the marina plan. A survey it conducted on The Harriet got 922 responses. Ninety-three percent said yes to historic preservation.
Among 317 anonymous comments:
“I think it is important to preserve the charm of the city, even as we build. Part of what attracts people, and therefore developers, is (the) character of a place. We don’t want our city to be overly generic.”
“It’s not just a building made of concrete. It is a building that somehow brings a sense of calm and serenity when you walk by. … It must be preserved because it is irreplaceable.”
Survey results are available here.
Rick Rose, vice president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, serves on the Stet News Advisory Board.
🐝 We send good wishes to all the contestants in this week’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. The semi-finals start Wednesday and will be on Ion.
