Stet NewsGood morning, Stet World! This week we have scientists taking aim at the brain, a question of ethics, goodbyes to two popular restaurants and a last chance to register to vote.
🧠 Think Brain Coast
To move into the next phase of recruiting scientists and building the region’s biotech industry, three institutions have come together with three key financial partners to proclaim a shared interest in the human brain.
Call it the Brain Coast of South Florida, they say, a brand to conjure the focus, enthusiasm and success of Florida’s Space Coast.
Why it’s important: In 20 years, the biotech engine envisioned when then-Gov. Jeb Bush wooed The Scripps Research Institute to Jupiter has not reached its potential. But the foundation is in place, organizers say, for something special.
Leading the charge: Three institutions attracting top researchers with many focused on the human brain. They are the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, the Max Planck Florida Institute of Neuroscience and the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.
Joining them will be organizations that hand out money: the Palm Health Foundation, the Stiles Nicholson Foundation and the Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network.
What they’re saying: “You have to have a goal, you have to have a challenge, you have to have a mission. And with those things, good things happen,” said Randy Blakely, executive director of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.
He paired with Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of the Palm Health Foundation, to press for the collaborative effort, which officially will be unveiled at 4 pm Oct. 24 at the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Institute in Jupiter.
Their aim:
— Deepening understanding of the brain and education through research.
— Expanding community engagement on brain health.
— Spurring innovation to improve brain health, mental health and personal and community resilience.
Why the brain and why now? See more from Joel Engelhardt here.
— Joel Engelhardt
💰 The $10,000 ethics cap
The price of selling out in Palm Beach County is $10,000.
So says the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics in its Sept. 26 decision to dismiss a complaint against Palm Beach Gardens City Council Member Dana Middleton over her company’s relationship with a developer of a proposed ice-rink complex at Plant Drive Park.
- The ethics code’s cap on how much a council member can be paid and still vote on a project is $10,000 over two years.
The evidence presented by an opponent of the ice-rink complex at the park found tax documents from more than two years ago showing that Middleton’s company may have been paid $5,410 over three years.
In dismissing the case without investigating further, the ethics commission staff said that amount is not enough.
“… Despite the fact that respondent’s business is involved with the relevant entity, they are not considered a prohibited entity under the code,” the staff wrote.
Why it’s important: Park neighbors upset that the city agreed to the lease without seeking neighborhood comments would like to see the lease revisited. Middleton was one of four council members to vote for it.
Middleton acknowledged that her company, Intelligent Office, rented virtual space to the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation.
Yes, but. She did not recuse herself in April from a vote to grant the foundation a 40-year lease at Plant Drive Park, she said, because the city attorney advised her that “due to the de minimis dollar value (of the business relationship), it did not constitute a conflict.”
- Middleton did not respond to an email seeking comment.
But Rebecca McKeich, the city resident who discovered the potential conflict and submitted the complaint first to the inspector general and then the ethics commission, said there’s no way to know without investigating if payments in the past two years have exceeded the cap.
What they’re saying: “For a council that likes to beat the drum about how transparent they are, I think the lack of disclosure and clear conflict of interest here contradict any notion of transparency on the part of both Mrs. Middleton as well as city attorney Max Lohman who advised her to keep quiet about her outside business relationship,” McKeich said in a statement.
— Joel Engelhardt
🍕 Another slice at CityPlace
City Pizza, a longtime CityPlace fixture, is closing Oct. 31.
Owner Frank Sen would like to stay in his restaurant on Hibiscus Street, but rents in the outdoor center where the restaurant began 23 years ago are no longer practical for a small restaurant like his, he said.
He points to new tenants, Adrienne’s Pizzabar and Harry’s from New York; more sophisticated eateries that attract a different customer than his mom-and-pop pizza and pasta shop.
Why it’s important: It’s the direction the landlord wants to take the multimillion-dollar CityPlace as it adds new office buildings, renovates its centerpiece church and moves The Cheesecake Factory to Okeechobee Boulevard to make way for a hotel.
What they’re saying: “They want higher-end restaurants. A more upscale clientele,” Sen said.
- His diners, loyal enough to hold three farewell dinners at the restaurant that catered to students from the nearby Dreyfoos School of the Arts, feel they’re being priced out of the plaza, too.
“I guarantee in a year — maybe less — you won’t be able to have dinner here (CityPlace) for $20 anymore,” said Bob VanNess, a resident of a nearby condo.
Sen will reopen mid-month in the Tanger Outlet mall with a new name, City Pizza Cucina Italiano, in a space half the size of his original.
For him, it won’t be the same. He’ll leave behind customers who have become like family.
“There are a lot of memories here.”
Read more from Jan Norris about what led to City Pizza’s departure here.
— Jan Norris
🌴 Harry and the Natives closing
Another longtime area fixture is closing: The iconic Hobe Sound tiki bar and restaurant, Harry and the Natives.
Owner Harry MacArthur posted a video of the announcement on Facebook. He said the recovery from COVID never happened at the sprawling casual eatery on the corner of Bridge Road and Federal Highway.
What they’re saying: “As of October 12, unless something happens, we will be closing Harry and the Natives.”
He blames the COVID shutdown for killing the business.
“We never came back,” he said. “I’ve put $400,000 of my own money in, and we can’t come close to doing it. I’m broke, so we’re at the end.”
His family opened the restaurant 72 years ago as the Farm. It underwent a renovation in 1989 when MacArthur returned home after years working internationally as a chef.
- He took over and gave the restaurant its present name, menu and decor.
- Over the years, the restaurant has been involved in several community activities, and has hosted numerous fundraisers, sponsorships and most notably, a toy drive at Christmas.
In recent years, the bar and grill’s owner has become well known for his upfront political views, supporting conservative candidates, displaying their literature and figural cut-outs to pose with.
Yes, but: MacArthur brushed off suggestions that politics may have played a role in a lagging clientele, saying that he should be able to have an opinion and voice it.
Loyal customers offered to hold fundraisers, but despite support, including that from the area politicos such as Congressman Brian Mast, MacArthur indicated it wouldn’t be enough to save the ailing restaurant.
While it’s a sad time, he said, it’s a happy time, too, “because obviously it’s time for something new because we just haven’t had the customers we had before.”
— Jan Norris
🍊 The Juice
🆕 A roundup of state laws that take effect today. (News Service of Florida)
🏡 After a marathon session Wednesday, the Juno Beach Town Council signed off on Pulte’s plans for 40 townhomes on the Christmas tree lot along Donald Ross Road west of U.S. 1. But council members extracted promises from Pulte of $100,000 toward Kagan Park and $250,000 to bury power lines, in addition to a minimum of $300,000 for town-owned right-of-way. (Stet’s Aug. 29 story is here.)
💲 Florida’s minimum wage is now $13 an hour, continuing a series of annual increases approved by voters in 2020. Tipped workers now earn a minimum of $9.98 an hour. Both wages increased by a dollar Monday. (WPBF)
🔐 The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum is closed until Oct. 8 while the gift shop is moved back to its original location. (Facebook)
🛞 Starting today, rides on downtown West Palm Beach’s on-demand transport will cost $1, $2 or $4 depending on the destination. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🎓 Vanderbilt University expands to New York City with the purchase of seminary property in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. (The Tennessean)
- The move comes weeks after West Palm Beach gave Vanderbilt 2 acres and as Palm Beach County is poised to give 5 acres to draw a downtown graduate school of the Nashville-based university.
🧢 Major League Baseball’s hit king, Pete Rose, who operated the Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe in Boca Raton for many years, died Monday at age 83. (Yahoo Sports)
🇺🇸 561NSIDER: Get ready to vote
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election is Monday.
You can register here online or in person at any of the five supervisor of election offices.
Not sure if you’re on the voter list? Check here to confirm you are registered to vote.
Vote by mail
If you want a vote-by-mail ballot for the November election, you can call the Supervisor of Elections Office at (561) 656-6208, visit an elections office in person or ask for one online at VotePalmBeach.gov.
Other key dates
- Early in-person voting in Palm Beach County begins Oct. 21.
- Deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is 5 pm Oct. 24.
- Election Day is Nov. 5.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
And finally, a Stet salute to the participants in Saturday’s Walk to Defeat ALS.
The event in Boynton Beach raised more than $150,000 to help pay for treatment and search for a cure for the disease.
John Wendel, whose wife, Palm Beach Post staff writer Susan-Spencer Wendel died of ALS in 2014, recalled their journey this month in a piece for The Post. He led a team Saturday, Stet’s Jane Musgrave joined it, and she shared this photo of the gang.
