Stet NewsGood morning, Stetters! For you today, a deal for Pal-Mar, which hospital earned an A and which ones earned an F, ruling knocks out every Riviera Beach mayoral candidate, sun is setting on free parking in downtown Lake Worth Beach and a Stet humblebrag.
🌳 Exclusive: Pal-Mar cease fire
A deal has been struck to slow the rapid rise in private recreational activities that has threatened the wetlands in southern Martin County known as Pal-Mar.
What’s the deal: Martin County and the South Florida Water Management District agreed to pay $18.8 million and to swap hundreds of acres with Zach Gazza, whose Be A Man Buy Land turned a quiet backwater into a raucous wilderness. The transactions will settle a lawsuit over access.
- Gazza will stop buying and selling land in Martin County’s Pal-Mar although the deal won’t stop him from conducting business in Palm Beach County’s much smaller section of Pal-Mar, so-named because it straddles the Palm Beach-Martin County border.
- Gazza is giving up 2 acres for every acre he gets in return. He’ll get 559 acres for 1,118.
- Martin County and the water management district will pay him $19,000 an acre for his remaining 990 acres.
Why it’s important: Since Gazza started selling lots to outdoor recreation enthusiasts in 2021, the once-quiet wetlands have been overrun by all-terrain vehicles, indiscriminate shooting and construction of illegal structures. Government ownership of his lots is expected to limit the damage.
What they’re saying: “This has always been a priority for Martin County since the 1950s. It’s some of the finest Everglades habitat that remains in South Florida,” Martin Commission Chairperson Sarah Heard said.
What they’re saying II: “The settlement agreement is a good deal for all sides. SFWMD & MC (Martin County) get consolidated property ownership in Pal-Mar, which will make their properties easier to manage and maintain,” Gazza told Stet News.
“The private landowners who purchased lots from me now own more desirable and valuable property, as it will be surrounded by more protected land and will have less neighbors, resulting in a more finite and desirable product (for them to sell).
“The land itself and its natural habitats will benefit from consolidated ownership on my property and on the publicly owned property … and … I get my ranch.”
What ranch does Gazza get? And what’s happening on Palm Beach’s side of Pal-Mar? Click here to read the rest of the story.
— Joel Engelhardt
🏥 Tenet gets an F
Five of Palm Beach County’s largest medical centers — all owned by Tenet Healthcare — received F and D grades from a national nonprofit that rates hospitals across the country for patient safety.
Good Samaritan, Palm Beach Gardens and Delray medical centers received F grades in the fall biannual rating released Nov. 15 by The Leapfrog Group, which uses federal medical reports to rank roughly 3,000 hospitals nationwide.
Two other Tenet hospitals, St. Mary’s and West Boca medical centers, received D grades from the group that assesses injuries, infections, and medical and medication errors to spur hospitals to take steps to reduce preventable inpatient deaths.
Independently owned Jupiter Medical Center was the only hospital in the county to get an A grade.
Why it’s important? Preventable medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections in hospitals kill roughly 200,000 people a year, making it the third leading cause of death in the country, said Alex Campione, program analyst for Leapfrog.
What he said: “It is critical to monitor safety before choosing a hospital.”
Other hospitals rounding out the list:
- B grades: Baptist Health’s Bethesda Hospital East and HCA’s Palms West.
- C grades: HCA’s JFK and JFK North, Baptist Health’s Boca Raton Regional and Bethesda West and Universal Health Services’ Wellington Regional.
Of note: Universal Health is building a 300-bed hospital at Interstate 95 and Donald Ross Road in Palm Beach Gardens.
Click here to see what hospital officials had to say about the rankings.
Spoiler alert: Tenet did not reply to Stet’s questions.
— Jane Musgrave
🚫 Riviera Beach ballot shakeup
A ruling Monday from Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Reid Scott upended the Riviera Beach City Council race.
Scott’s ruling means that six of 11 candidates, including all three mayoral candidates, did not qualify properly. The names of the candidates identified in the lawsuit should not appear on the March 11 ballot, he said.
He anticipated an appeal but said he ruled on the basis of a clear and unambiguous state law.
“I don’t think there’s any ambiguity in the language,” Scott said at a Zoom hearing attended by about 50 people. “And it certainly is not my job as a circuit court judge to legislate from the bench.”
Why it matters: At stake is a city council immersed in personal squabbles while juggling construction projects worth hundreds of millions, proposals for massive new developments to reshape the skyline and a water system rife with failures.
- Additionally, lawyers said the question raises an unsettled matter of election law.
Six candidates used debit cards in November to pay their qualifying fees for the March election — $1,212 for mayor and $1,140 for council.
The judge agreed with Delray-based attorney Dedrick Straghn for plaintiffs Ronnie Felder, Tradrick McCoy and Fercella Davis-Panier. They argued that a debit card is not an acceptable form of payment under the law.
Removed from the ballot would be:
- The three candidates for mayor: Felder (who tried to fix his payment but used a check from the wrong campaign account apparently is disqualified even though he was not named in the lawsuit), Kendrick Wyly and Kendra Wester.
- District 5 incumbent Douglas Lawson and challenger Madelene Irving-Mills, handing the seat to Davis-Panier.
- District 1 challenger Joseph Bedford Sr. but not Bruce Guyton or McCoy, who would remain on the ballot.
Of note: Only the District 3 race pitting incumbent Shirley Lanier against Cedrick Thomas would be unaffected.
More behind the arguments and what’s next for the City Council here.
— Joel Engelhardt
🅿️ Lake Worth Beach poised to end free downtown parking
Free parking in downtown Lake Worth Beach, a transportation perk enjoyed by residents and visitors for decades, may soon come to a screeching halt, ByJoeCapozzi reports.
What’s happening: City commissioners have directed staff to draft a plan for paid parking that would improve the availability of street parking in and around downtown and add millions to the city’s coffers.
What they’re saying: “We know this is going to be sort of a jarring piece of news for our residents,’’ Mayor Betty Resch said Dec. 3, when the commission discussedrecommendations by consultant WGI.
But visitors and residents may not be the only ones reaching into their wallets to park on Lake and Lucerne avenues. There’s a chance residents living on streets close to downtown will have to pay for an annual residential permit to park in front of their homes — a strategy meant to prevent out-of-town motorists searching for free parking from leaving their cars in front of homes north and south of Lake and Lucerne.
Commissioners did not say when they’d like to launch the program or how much the city will charge to park.
- The report suggests hourly rates of $3 on Lake and Lucerne avenues with a limit of two or three hours, and $2.50 on side streets with longer time limits.
What’s next: The city will seek feedback from residents before finalizing the plan.
– Reported by Joe Capozzi
Read more about the proposal at ByJoeCapozzi.com.
🍊 The Juice
The Juno Beach Town Council, missing recently resigned member Jacob Rosengarten, deadlocked 2-2 Dec. 6 over its selection of a town manager and then deadlocked 2-2 over its approach to filling the vacant Town Council seat. The town manager finalists are Jay Boodheshwar, manager in Naples and former deputy manager in Palm Beach, and Darren Coldwell, manager in Page, Ariz. The council next meets on Dec. 17. (Rosengarten’s resignation speech in Stet News)
The town of Palm Beach held its election caucus Dec. 3. Mayor Danielle Moore and Council Members Julie Araskog in Group 1 and Ted Cooney in Group 2 were nominated. No one filed to run against them, meaning they were elected without any votes cast. (Stet News)
The Quantum Foundation has contributed $500,000 to the Black history museumand research center planned in West Palm Beach’s historic Coleman Park neighborhood. The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties is leading the fund-raising drive to transform the former Roosevelt High School site. (Stet News partner WLRN)
Palm Beach Gardens native Nadine Sierra, 36, sang the French National Anthem at the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Saturday. (The Palm Beach Post$$$)
Wellington snowbird Harry Benson recalls some of his most memorable moments photographing The Beatles in a new Martin Scorsese-produced documentary about the band’s first trip to the United States. (ByJoeCapozzi.com)
A review of the blockbuster exhibition on boxing at the Norton Museum of Art, which includes four drawings by Muhammad Ali. (The New York Times gift link)
😊 Stet humblebrag: Statewide
Stet News’ streak of accolades continues with the good news that our 2-year-old operation is a finalist four times in three categories in the annual Florida Press Clubawards.
- It is the second straight year Stet has been honored by judges of the club’s Excellence in Journalism competition.
Why it matters: The awards recognize exemplary work and draw attention to Stet News’ mission to provide accurate, fair and independent coverage that helps readers hold public officials accountable and encourages them to engage in civic life.
Of note: Stet competed in Class A, the largest circulation category of newsrooms.
The four finalist entries are:
Best newsletter, staff: Stet News exclusive coverage of the Margaritaville hotel planned in Riviera Beach; Vanderbilt University’s interest in a West Palm Beach campus; and a developer’s intention to build twin 25-foot condo towers on Broadway in Riviera Beach.
Best independent website, staff: Highlights include three exclusive news stories by Joel: Why West Palm Beach commission candidate Martina Tate-Walker dropped her run for office; county in bidding war for Pal-Mar preserves: and the 2-minute clash at Dreyfoos High School that ended Romen Phelps’ life.
Best community news, Joel Engelhardt: Joel’s West Palm Beach coverage, including the failed plan for a marina on the West Palm Beach waterfront and the Vanderbilt story; and Riviera Beach coverage, including the city’s $665 million redevelopment plan and the proposal to rezone a yacht repair yard, both placed among the top three.
Shoutouts are also in order for Stet News contributors Joe Capozzi, Jane Musgrave, Janis Fontaine and John Pacenti, all of whom are former Palm Beach Post reporters.
Read what they were nominated for here.
What’s next: First-, second- and third-place finishers will be announced in February.
