Stet NewsGood morning, Stet Nation. Early voting is underway. In this issue: Shoreline erosion endangers the Jupiter Lighthouse, censorship of public comments at issue in Juno Beach, petition aims for clean water and the Armory expands its annual arts bash.
🌊 Stabilizing history
The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Areais at risk from erosion.
Yes, but: Federal managers at the park on the Jupiter Inlet have a $16 million plan that could hold erosion at bay for the next 75 years.
Why it’s important: The lighthouse and its surrounding property are a national treasure with history reaching back 5,000 years.
What’s happening: Portions of the shoreline are losing up to 20 feet a year to erosion. Overall, the 120 acres surrounding the historic Jupiter Lighthouse has shrunk by 5 acres, Peter DeWitt, site manager for the federal Bureau of Land Management, told Stet News.
- But the BLM has lined up only $14 million for the job: $7 million from Congress and $7 million from the Florida Inland Navigation District.
- If the money can’t be found by year’s end, the project gets delayed.
What they’re saying: “We’re shaking down all of the couches in the government and everywhere else looking for spare change,” DeWitt said.
When first proposed more than a decade ago, the project would have blocked recreational boaters from anchoring along popular points in the Jupiter Inlet, which forms the park’s southern boundary, and along the banks of the Indian River on the east.
The new plan adds 21 breakwaters, mangroves and other native plants, a water taxi dock and an 800-foot boardwalk.
A wall and terrace above the waterline along the east side overlooking the Indian River aims to stabilize the slope. The sandy stretch across from Jupiter Inlet Colony is popular with boaters mooring for an afternoon of sun, but the project will eliminate all but five mooring spots.
- A BLM study found a daily average of 17 boats docked along the shoreline. On holidays, though, that number rises to 60.
Stet’s Laurie Mermet toured the park and dug into efforts to save its trails, Florida scrub and 800 species of plants, animals and fungi.
Click here to read the story.
— Laurie Mermet
🗣 A question of decorum
A recent U.S. Appeals Court ruling cast light on the question of how far a public agency can go to restrict speech during a public meeting.
- City councils and school boards can limit what residents say when they get their three minutes to speak.
- But the government cannot impose rules arbitrarily and they must clearly define inappropriate speech.
Why it matters: Juno Beach introduced “rules of decorum” that prompted a clash at the small oceanfront town’s last meeting and is on the agenda for Wednesday. After the Sept. 17 sentencing of Council Member Marianne Hosta on a misdemeanor battery charge, Mayor Peggy Wheeler announced that she would not allow attacks on council members.
But what constitutes an attack?
“It is ‘firmly settled’ under our Constitution that ‘the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers,’” the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said Oct. 8 in Moms for Liberty vs. the Brevard County School Board.
- “No one likes to be called evil, but it is not ‘abusive’ to use that term,” Judge Britt Grant wrote for the majority. “Restrictions that bar offensive or otherwise unwelcome speech are impermissible, regardless of the forum in which the government seeks to impose them.”
- “In sum, in a First Amendment case like this one — involving a limited public forum — the government’s rules must be viewpoint neutral and reasonable,” Grant wrote.
Catch up quick: On Sept. 27, Juno resident Andy Spilos tried to express his displeasure with Hosta during public comment. Wheeler interrupted.
“I don’t appreciate you stepping on my First Amendment rights,” Spilos told her. “You’re not a dictator. You’re an elected official. I have a right to speak.”
“You do have a right to speak. But not to be disrespectful to any council member,” she replied.
Read more on the clash and how Florida’s preeminent expert on public meetings viewed the town’s actions here.
— Joel Engelhardt
🐟 Thinking of the next election
If Joseph Bonasia has his way, every voter who goes to the polls in the next two weeks will meet a volunteer seeking support for a clean water amendment to Florida’s constitution.
Why it matters: Florida Right to Clean Water’s goal is to gather 900,000 signatures by the end of 2025 to put the question on the 2026 statewide ballot.
- If his group is successful, Florida would join Pennsylvania, Montana and New York, which have similar amendments.
The goal of the amendment is to give Floridians more power to hold the government accountable for clean water.
“Our big push for this year is to have a sizable force of volunteers at the polling stations on Election Day and for early voting,” Bonasia, the director of operations and communications for Right to Clean Water, told Stet News.
It’s the second try. Florida Right to Clean Water captured just over 100,000 verified petitions last year, he said. Organizers started over on Earth Day with revised amendment language and a new push for signatures.
- It is part of the Florida Rights of Nature Network, which aimed to pass local laws to give rights to nature and to give citizens a right to clean water.
Here’s the clean water amendment’s ballot summary: This amendment creates an enforceable, fundamental right to clean and healthy waters, authorizing a person to sue for equitable relief when a State executive agency, by action or inaction, allows harm or threat of harm to Florida waters. This amendment provides for strict judicial scrutiny of such action or inaction; adds to available remedies; identifies affected constitutional provisions; provides for enforcement; defines terms; and requires attorney’s fees and costs to prevailing plaintiffs.
With state and federal laws that govern the environment, a voter may wonder why the amendment is necessary.
- Algal blooms, red tide and fish kills that damage people, wildlife and property are becoming more routine, Bonasia notes.
- “We have lots of good quality laws and regulations,” he said. “They are not being enforced.”
The other side: There has not been public opposition to the proposed amendment.
“It is really up to Floridians to make this work,” he said. “In the end, it comes down to volunteers who are going to make it happen.”
What about the six amendments on this year’s ballot? The League of Women Voters voter guide has information on them here.
What’s next? Don’t forget to vote. Early, in-person voting is now open at 29 sites in Palm Beach County.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🍊 The Juice
💵 Accounts linked to Gov. Ron DeSantis recently funneled $40,000 to Michael Barnett, the former local Republican Party chair seeking election to the Palm Beach County Commission against Democrat Joel Flores. The contributions came from three political action committees. (Seeking Rents)
🚓 West Palm Beach has referred its investigation into police department pay to the state attorney, Terri Parker reports. (WPBF)
🥬 Legalized recreational marijuana could bring in $430 million per year in local and state tax revenues. Racial justice advocates are pushing to spend some of the money to remedy harm suffered by people of color under what they call discriminatory enforcement of drug laws. (WLRN)
💰 Related and BH Group pay $34 million for a North Flagler Drive site north of their planned Ritz-Carlton Residences condominium in West Palm Beach. (The Real Deal)
🏨 Developer BD Hotels secures a $75 million loan to build a 200-room hotel in the NORA district of West Palm Beach. (YIMBY)
👨🍳 Chef Todd English’s downtown Lake Worth Beach restaurant plans a soft opening this week. (ByJoeCapozzi)
🎨 561NSIDER: More to see at annual Armory art show
The Armory Art Center’s signature event — the annual juried art festival held the first weekend in December — has been elevated to The Art + Craft + Design Creative Market and the date has been moved to Nov. 9-10.
Why it matters: The Armory’s mission is to inspire the creation and experience of art.
What they’re saying: “We hope the event will be seen as the kickoff of the season,” CEO Jill Brown said. Five thousand fans of the juried art festival, now in its eighth year, recognize the Armory Art Center’s decades-long connection to the arts community.
- Dozens of artists enter its juried contest each year, with a more diverse field this year. Alongside paintings and sculpture, fans will find fine crafters and artisans who produce unique art forms and wares.
- The Armory’s dedication to “supporting creatives in a more significant way” extends to other arts, and guests will find performing artists as well as culinary artists and purveyors of craft food and beverages at the festival.
“We’re surrounded by the arts in West Palm Beach,” Brown said, so there’s tremendous competition for eyeballs and foot traffic. But the Armory offers something distinctive. Brown says the Armory recognizes the holistic and therapeutic benefits of the arts offering opportunities like the BraveHeARTS program that promotes the rehabilitation of military service veterans through artistic expression.
“You don’t have to be an artist to come enjoy a class.”
If you go: The Art + Craft + Design Creative Market
- 9:30 am-5 pm Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 9-10.
- The Armory Art Center, 811 Park Place, West Palm Beach.
- www.armoryart.org or 561-832-1776.
— Janis Fontaine
Stet News news
And finally, we are thrilled to share that your Stet News is one of 29 newsrooms that have been accepted by the GNI Fundamentals Lab for INN Members. The lab will begin training this month in audience development, reader revenue and sponsor advertising thanks to a partnership between the Institute for Nonprofit News and the Google News Initiative.
- Stet is a member of INN, an organization that screens applicants for financial transparency, editorial excellence and independence.
- Just 48% of nonprofit newsrooms that applied for INN membership in 2023 were accepted.
