Stet NewsThe year is still new! For you today, centralizing mental health crisis care, what’s next for the departing Photographic Centre, a fallen star, remembering the father of Phillips Point and better bicycling.
🏥 County commits $10 million toward centralized mental health facility
This story, first published Jan. 6, has been updated with coverage of Tuesday morning’s County Commission discussion.
Palm Beach County commissioners committed Tuesday to contributing $10 million in federal COVID relief money to the construction of a $60 million crisis care center, a potential first step in transforming mental health care in Palm Beach County.
After hearing emotional testimony supporting the first-stop mental health site, commissioners shortened the contractual timeline to five years for the Health Care District of Palm Beach County to buy land, design the facility and build it.
The district is studying two potential sites, one a Health Care District-owned site in Riviera Beach, the other a 6-8 acre privately owned site north of Southern Boulevard, Health Care District CEO Darcy Davis said.
The goal is to open the building by spring 2028, Davis said.
The county contribution, initially promised in 2021 after mental health services suffered a blow with the 2019 closure of the Jerome Golden Center for Behavioral Health, would pay for land, design or construction.
Commissioners heard from Ladi March Goldwire, whose son Donel Elam had been a standout high school football player but now is turning 30 in the St. Lucie County Jail. After a diagnosis of mental illness and 87 hospitalizations during his 20s, Goldwire said, he ran out of mental health options and she knew jail would be the safest place for him over the holidays.
“Local hospitals have labeled him a drain on their resources,” she said in emphatically supporting the crisis stabilization center. “There just is nothing here.”
The new public defender, Daniel Eisinger, attended on his first morning on the job “to underscore how important this topic is.” Chief Assistant State Attorney Al Johnson also rang in with support.
The center would be a place police could bring people in need of help instead of taking them to jail or private hospitals that may not be able to treat them.
“Every chief in Palm Beach County supports the Health Care District initiative to move forward with a program like this,” said Richard Jones, the police chief in Gulf Stream and head of the county’s Association of Police Chiefs. “This is the only plan we’ve seen that actually incorporates all care from homeless services to mental health services to food services to housing services.”
Added Tony Spatara, an assistant West Palm Beach police chief, “The revolving door is heartbreaking.”
State Rep. Mike Caruso, R-West Palm Beach, told the harrowing tale of his son’s yearslong mental health breakdown and said, even now, after years of recovery, his son’s condition is precarious.
“My son is in crisis. Today, Palm Beach County is in crisis. 911 is not the answer. Baker Act treatment is not the answer. The answer is a long-term answer. The answer is this Palm Beach County Health Care District receiving facility.”
The Health Care District, which is supported by taxpayers, pledged to pay the rest of the building costs and to cover its $30 million annual operating expenses. Caruso’s wife, Tracy, serves on the Health Care District board.
The center would serve all patients, regardless of ability to pay, providing 24/7 intensive, short-term stabilization care “in a warm and welcoming environment.”
It would add mental health beds and assessment options, centralize services and replace the county jail as a key health-care provider. It would ease the load on the court system and provide an alternative to emergency rooms that may or may not have ready access to psychiatric services.
It would augment or replace work now done by the county’s four hospitals that admit patients involuntarily under the Baker Act: Delray Medical Center’s Fair Oaks Pavilion, South County Mental Health Center, HCA Florida JFK North Hospital and NeuroBehavioral Hospitals at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
There’s more to this story here.
— Joel Engelhardt
📸 Photo Centre reinvented
Forced to leave its downtown West Palm Beach location by month’s end, the Palm Beach Photographic Centre is announcing its first move in reinventing itself: the creation of a master’s-degree film program.
What’s happening: The Feature Film Conservatory at Palm Beach Photographic Centre will offer an accelerated degree program that requires five eight-hour days per week for four semesters over one year with four breaks.
- Tuition will be $25,000 per semester, or $100,000.
What they’re saying: “This is going to bring to the Palm Beach County community … even more international recognition than we already have,” President and CEO Fatima NeJame said.
Film schools typically offer a three-year program but these students will work full-time producing a movie or attending lectures. Students will learn all the roles in filmmaking, from writer and director to stage hand and costume designer.
Catch up quick: The photo centre is leaving downtown because the city sued in June 2022 to force it out of its 30-year Clematis Street lease, saying the centre didn’t do enough to bring visitors downtown and the city could lease the 26,000-square-foot space at market rates.
- The city and the nonprofit settled in June 2023, with the city agreeing to pay the group $1.09 million and the county agreeing to release the centre from repayment of $500,000 remaining on a grant.
The photo centre is making the announcement now, before it lines up a new location, to let potential students know applications are open through May 15. Classes would begin in September.
“The whole idea of the film school is the better mousetrap and I think we’ve come up with a better mousetrap,” said film industry veteran Andy “A.P.” Ferullo, who conceived the idea and has been tapped to head the school.
Of note: The centre’s annual Foto Fusion event will not be held this year. But a replacement that the “entire photo community will be really thrilled about” is coming, NeJame said.
- After 38 years, NeJame is retiring from her executive duties but will remain on the board.
- The clearance sale at the centre’s downtown photo store ends Wednesday.
For the rest of the story, click here.
— Joel Engelhardt
⛳️ ‘Caddyshack’ star’s final turn
A year ago, actress Cindy Morgan, known for playing memorable roles in two of the 1980s biggest films, was found dead in her Lake Worth Beach apartment. She may have died days earlier.
Her passing made minor news across the country but reporter Joe Capozzi, who lives a mile away, set out to write a tribute to the actress considered by many a pop culture icon for her roles as Judge Smail’s sultry niece Lacey Underall in “Caddyshack” and the computer heroine Yori in “Tron.”
What he found: His reporting led him to ultimately tell the tragic story of the lonely death of the one-time starlet who fell on hard times, living off the uncertain income from signing autographs at fan conventions. In the end, she had no contact with family and her final months were marred by rancor with landlords and neighbors.
Her rise and fall embodied the tragedy of “Sunset Boulevard,” the 1950 film about a one-time star, forgotten and down-and-out, who dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Except in Morgan’s case, she wasn’t entirely forgotten as she continued to ply the fan circuit until shortly before her death at age 72.
What they’re saying: “What I found to be sad, it was very clear that she just didn’t have any friends,’’ one business partner said. “She just seemed to have kind of an empty, very independent life.”
She may have become a Hollywood superstar if not for a fateful decision she made early in her career.
Find out more by checking out the full story at ByJoeCapozzi.com.
— Joe Capozzi
In memoriam: Builder who ushered in downtown high rise
Murray Goodman, the developer whose Phillips Point office towers forever changed the face of West Palm Beach, died Dec. 21 at age 99.
In the early 1980s, Goodman had just opened The Esplanade on Palm Beach, the high-end fashion retail center anchored by Saks 5th Avenue at the east end of Worth Avenue, when he began buying land on Flagler Drive at the foot of the bridge leading to the island.
Catch up quick: The city, still smarting over its much-maligned approval of the residential Waterview Towers in 1979, had an aversion to high rises when Goodman, backed by his top lieutenant, Bob Sanders, went to work. They countered neighborhood opposition with a coalition of business support and the Black community to eke out a 3-2 City Commission approval in October 1982.
Goodman also built Okee Square on Okeechobee Boulevard and regional malls in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. He teamed with developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone Jr. in 1996 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the city’s support to develop the land that became CityPlace.
Phillips Point’s towers of 19 stories and 13 stories with expansive water views ushered in the waterfront building boom that still looms today. Barnett Centre, Northbridge Center, The Plaza (formerly Trump Plaza) and Flagler Center soon followed.
- Phillips Point never lost its luster. It sold several times over the years, most recently for $282 million in 2021.
And Goodman maintained his office there, continuing to go to work as recently as a few weeks ago, Sanders said.
To read more about Murray Goodman, here’s his paid obituary that appeared in The Palm Beach Post. And here’s a tribute to him placed by Lehigh University, where he graduated in 1948 and became a formidable donor.
— Joel Engelhardt
🍊 The Juice
💡 A yearlong hurricane restoration charge kicks in this month for FPL’s 6 million customer accounts, the company said in a message to ratepayers. The Juno Beach-based utility is tacking on an additional $12.02 to the typical 1,000 kilowatt hour residential bill each month through December. The charge will cover costs from 2024 Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton and replenish money spent on Hurricane Idalia in 2023.
- Meanwhile, residential power rates would rise about 2.5% from 2026 through 2029 under a new rate plan FPL said it intends to file with the Florida Public Service Commission. (News Service of Florida via WUSF)
🔌 A company founded by a CityPlace co-founder, the late Jeremiah O’Connor, has bought the 3.4-acre Salvation Army site at 655 N. Military Trail to build an electric-vehicle repair facility, potentially for Tesla. The buyer, OC WPB Volt LLC, part of New York-based O’Connor Capital Partners, paid $6.5 million. It submitted plans in July to the county for a 36,926-square-foot advanced EV repair facility that would staff 50 employees per shift and focus on collision repair. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
Artissua Paulk, 44, the former bridge tender who pleaded guilty to raising the Royal Park Bridge while a woman crossed it on her bike leading to the February 2022 death of West Palm Beach resident Carol Wright, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating probation. (Sun-Sentinel $$$) (For a detailed account of Wright’s life and death, see ByJoeCapozzi.com)
💵 The year-old Silver Beach Road warehouse complex in Lake Park sold for $91.2 million. The buyer of the four warehouses with a combined 371,834 square feet is an entity linked to Boston-based Cabot Properties. The seller was part of Los Angeles-based American Realty Advisors. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🔎 A report containing findings by the Office of Congressional Ethics provides details of multiple campaign transactions and official government office activities by U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick that investigators said may have violated House rules and federal law. “The fact that the allegations were referred for further review does not indicate any violation has occurred,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
561NSIDER: Easy streets: making bikes fit
West Palm Beach is updating its bicycle master plan and it’s inviting residents to help.
Why it matters: Planners say that without an expanding network of low-stress routes, riding a bike will remain a small part of daily travel and recreation in the city. Opening more avenues for biking is a key to making life in the city more affordable.
- But bicycle-involved crashes are on the rise. There were 64 crashes in 2019. After a dip during the pandemic, 81 crashes were reported in 2023.
- Not surprisingly, most of the crashes occur along major roadways including U.S. 1, Okeechobee Boulevard, Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and 45th Street.
The big picture: Today, 68% of the street network is low stress and easy for biking, according to a November staff presentation to the city’s Bike Master Plan Steering Committee.
Stunning stat: Those streets are cut off from each other in 398 isolated “islands.”
- Barriers include wide, busy streets and intersections.
The goal for the plan is to connect those islands to daily destinations.
Context: Since the master plan was created in 2018, there are 48% more marked bikeways, according to the presentation.
What’s next: The city wants to hear from residents at neighborhood meetings starting next week:.
- 6 to 8 pm Wednesday, Jan. 15, City Hall.
- 6 to 8 pm Thursday, Jan. 16, South Olive Community Center.
- 6 to 8 pm Wednesday, Jan. 29, Fire Station No. 7, 8007 Okeechobee Blvd.
- 6 to 8 pm Thursday, Jan. 30, Center for Creative Education, 2400 MetroCentre Blvd.
- 6 to 8 pm Thursday, Feb. 13, Gaines Park.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
Tonight is the night for golfers to see the new Palm Beach Gardens-based indoor league premier at Palm Beach State College off of PGA Boulevard. A year later than originally planned after the collapse of the original air-inflated dome, six golfers will tee off in a metal-clad building in the newly formed TMRW Golf League led by greats Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Up to 1,500 fans will be invited to the arena on the college’s campus but others can turn to ESPN at 9 pm to see the inaugural match between the New York Club of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler go up against The Bay Club of Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark. Matches continue weekly into March with tickets starting at $160 on sale here.
