Stet NewsWelcome back. For you today, indoor golf league in Gardens goes global, north county to get an ice rink, new trial for sober home doctor, Riviera Beach candidates off March ballot and literary nirvana in west Boynton Beach.
🌟 Palm Beach State College takes a bow
The first match at the Tiger Woods-backed indoor golf arena went off without a hitch last week, drawing nearly 1 million television viewers and 1,500 live fans to the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens.
The college campus along PGA Boulevard sports a fresh look with murals, fence linings to cloak equipment areas and repaved and brighter parking lots, marked by upright lighted boxes branded with the college logo.
- The money came from the Foundation for Palm Beach State College and golf league founder TMRW Sports.
What they’re saying: “It was a priority from a timing standpoint to seize the opportunity for the launch of TGL to put the campus in the best possible light,” foundation CEO David Rutherford said. “The idea is ‘Wow, this really has elevated our sense of pride and our feeling about the college and the campus.’”
Traffic flowed smoothly into color-coded parking lots, which filled long before the 9 pm Jan. 7 tee-off, carried live in 113 countries.
Yes, but: ESPN introduced its broadcast with the words, “From Palm Beach Gardens, Florida,” without mentioning the host college.
Other benefits to the state-financed college:
- Internships and training opportunities for eight students so far, with one landing a job with the league and another close, college President Ava Parker said at a ribbon-cutting last week.
- The college is moving forward with an 18-hour sports management operations certificate and working with a private company on an artificial intelligence program tailored to area employment needs, Parker said.
- The college will get $200,000 this year in lease payments rising to $440,000 annually through 2029 with three, five-year options beyond that.
One more benefit: The college’s foundation has received pledges of $1 million from TMRW Sports, which is led by golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and broadcast executive Mike McCarley, and $300,000 from Next League, a tech company that sponsors league events.
Of note: The league, called TGL for TMRW Golf League, lost a year after its plan for an air-inflated dome fell apart in November 2023.
What’s next? The next match is 7 tonight. Woods’ Jupiter Links team makes its debut. Tickets starting at $160 are sold out. Resales start at $700. Matches continue into March, with some sites pricing tickets at more than $1,300.
For the rest of the story from Joel, click here.
— By Joel Engelhardt
🏒 Hockey’s big win in north county
Palm Beach County has three indoor ice-skating rinks, all south of Okeechobee Boulevard (and one temporary outdoor rink in downtown West Palm Beach).
That’s about to change.
Catch up quick: The Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation, a nonprofit group headed by financial analyst Mike Winter, has cleared its final hurdle to build a $40 million two-rink complex in Palm Beach Gardens.
Other obstacles cleared:
- In April 2024, the City Council agreed to a 40-year lease to the foundation of the 8-acre Plant Drive Park. The park’s skateboard park and basketball court would be demolished. A softball field dedicated to slain high school athlete Amanda Buckley would be moved.
- In October, the foundation submitted a $10 million pledge from hockey fan and billionaire hedge fund manager Larry Robbins to meet a threshold to raise $6.5 million. The foundation says it now has pledges of $12 million and will finance whatever it can’t raise before breaking ground in June.
- On Jan. 9, the City Council withstood withering neighborhood opposition to approve the site plan that called for two regulation-size ice rinks, a 154-seat restaurant and 311 parking spaces.
What they’re saying Part 1: “The proposal feels like an imposition on our community,” said Helen Brown, who lives across the street. “I am deeply disappointed that the voices of those who live there seem to be overlooked — a feeling that we just don’t matter.”
What they’re saying Part 2: “We understand that this facility must not just serve the narrow interests of a few people who love hockey or a few people who love figure skating,” Robbins said. “It must serve the greater community.”
The move continues the city’s efforts to reshape its parks. By giving up a park it saw as a trouble spot, it can focus on Lilac Park across the street, which features 24 pickleball courts, two playgrounds, a dog park and walking trails that connect to the Burns Road Community Center.
Yes, but: Two City Council members asked the city to find a way to rebuild the skateboard park elsewhere.
- The city also is building an $18 million fieldhouse at the Gardens North County District Park, the site originally proposed for the ice rink.
Of note: The Tiger Woods high-tech, indoor golf arena, which opened last week (see Stet story here) is on the Palm Beach State College campus less than 2 miles from Plant Drive Park but the city had no oversight over it because it is on college land.
See the full coverage of the ice hockey decision here.
— By Joel Engelhardt
⏰ Second chance for ex-sober home doctor
Nearly three years after Dr. Mark Agresti was handed an eight-year prison sentenceafter being convicted of 12 counts of health care fraud, the Palm Beach psychiatrist is poised to get a second chance to prove he did nothing wrong.
In a two-page order last month, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II said he was prepared to wipe Agresti’s criminal slate clean and order a new trial.
Catch up quick: The decision came roughly two years after Agresti insisted he was framed by notorious sober home operator Kenneth Bailynson. The hot-headed accountant lied to jurors about Agresti’s role in the $31 million insurance scam to win a light sentence, Agresti’s attorneys claimed in court papers.
- Ruiz didn’t explain why he took the unusual step of granting Agresti a new trial. But he has repeatedly said he didn’t trust Bailynson, the star witness against Agresti.
What the judge said: “Mr. Bailynson has almost zero credibility as a human being,” Ruiz said during a hearing in June to consider Agresti’s claims. “The reality is, he (Bailynson) was torched at trial, as a liar, multiple times. He hasn’t gotten any better; he’s gotten worse.”
How did the case unravel? After Agresti was sent to prison in May 2022, federal prosecutors learned that Bailynson was telling friends and fellow inmates that he lied about Agresti’s role as medical director of Good Decisions Sober Living in West Palm Beach.
“I had good lawyers and had to lie on the stand to go against the doctor,” Bailynson texted a high school friend, one of scores of messages prosecutors uncovered.
Later, Bailynson bragged about how he would serve far less time in prison than Agresti even though he pocketed the lion’s share of the cash.
“So dr makes 100K. Getting 20 years,” Bailynson wrote before Agresti was handed an eight-year sentence. “I make 15 mill. 36 months +”
- Agresti was released from prison in August 2022 while prosecutors investigated.
Did Bailynson admit he lied? No. While testifying in June, he claimed he “lied about lying” because snitches are reviled in prison. Also, he said, he didn’t want his few remaining friends to know he had bilked insurance companies.
“I preferred they believed that I was a liar and a perjurer … it’s just beyond horrible to be known as a fraudster,” he testified.
The conviction made Agresti a former doctor. His medical license was revoked Jan. 3.
What’s next? Agresti appealed his conviction to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ruiz said he would officially order a new trial if the appellate court relinquishes the case.
— Jane Musgrave
🗳 Voters won’t decide mayor in Riviera Beach
In the days before Christmas, the Fourth District Court of Appeal lined up all the arguments it needed to rule with one word on whether to remove five candidates from the Riviera Beach March ballot.
The word came down on Dec 26: “Affirmed.”
The court stood by the Dec. 9 decision of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Reid Scott. He ruled that state law says candidates can’t pay qualifying fees with debit cards. They must write a check from a campaign account.
The repercussions:
- No one is running for mayor. The two challengers to Mayor Ronnie Felder are out. And in a twist, Felder, who helped bring the lawsuit that ousted them, is out, too, because he paid his filing fee with a check drawn from the wrong bank account.
- Fercella Davis-Panier wins the District 5 seat. Incumbent Douglas Lawson is out.
- Two races are left: Incumbent Tradrick McCoy vs. Bruce Guyton in District 1; and incumbent Shirley Lanier against Cedrick Thomas in District 3.
What’s next: Once a new council is elected, it will appoint a mayor, City Clerk Deborah Hall said. The charter says that appointee serves until the next “general election,” scheduled for March 2027.
Applications for mayor are being accepted. Look for a Felder-Lawson faceoff.
Catch up quick: The five who paid by debit card and were ruled out by the courts are: Lawson and Madelene Irving-Mills in District 5, Joseph Bedford Sr. in District 1 and Kendrick Wyly and Kendra Wester for mayor.
- The three who sued to block them are Felder, McCoy and Davis-Panier.
— Joel Engelhardt
🍊 The Juice
Carter Viss has been a man on a mission since he lost his arm and severely injured his legs when struck by a boat while snorkeling off of Palm Beach in 2019. His Carter Viss Foundation, a non-profit that promotes safe boating and diving practices and offers financial support to people with limb trauma from boating incidents, plans its first gala fundraising dinner Feb. 7 at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
Riviera Beach hosts its 41st Martin Luther King Jr. parade at 10 am Saturday. Marching bands from Florida A&M University and Florida Memorial University will perform. The parade starts at Congress Avenue and MLK Boulevard and ends at MLK and Avenue O.
Brightline plans to restore commuter rail discounts with the infusion of a $33.8 million federal grant. To accommodate more riders, Brightline needs longer trains. The money will go toward providing seven cars on each train between Miami and Orlando instead of five. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
Power Poll, a Nashville, Tenn., civic engagement platform founded in 2019 by Bruce Dobie, has experienced financial difficulties and shut down its monthly survey here and in 12 other cities. There’s no certainty that it will return. In an email to correspondents — including Palm Beach County Power Poll contractor Joe Capozzi, an independent freelance journalist and publisher of ByJoeCapozzi.com, Dobie wrote that until he can raise more money Power Poll is down to three cities: Chattanooga, Tenn.; Knoxville, Ky., and Nashville. (About Power Poll)
In case you missed it: The Palm Beach County Commission agreed last week to contribute $10 million toward a $60 million centralized receiving center for mental health and substance abuse disorders to be built and operated by the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. (StetNews.org)
📚 561NSIDER: 5 reasons to love the newest Palm Beach County library branch
Palm Beach County’s Canyon Branch is a glimpse into the next generation of public libraries and worth a visit even if you don’t live west of Boynton Beach.
Here are five reasons to love the $30 million library, the county’s newest Third Place.
1. Its bright, inviting design
- Planning for the library began in 2019, and the results are striking. An expansive entry plaza leads to a 32,000-square-foot interior bathed in sunlight. The 14-foot-tall glass windows are the largest in the library system.
- The design palette evokes blue Florida skies and tropical foliage, and the comfortable seating everywhere encourages patrons to linger with one of the 130,000 items housed in the Canyon Branch.
2. There are standout features for patrons
- The drive-up window is the only one in the county system where a patron can drop off and pick up library materials.
- Canyon Branch is home to the county system’s only makerspace. The room will host artists, designers and crafters with workshops starting right away.
- The branch is anchored on the west side by a community meeting room that accommodates up to 300 people,the largest in the library system.
3. It’s in a one-of-a kind location
- Canyon Branch is the only library in the county system in a retail center, featuring a Publix and a Starbucks. And next door is a county park. Library Director Douglas Crane told Stet News he envisions coordinated events with Canyon Branch’s neighbors.
- There is a preschool, elementary and middle school on the same block. Library staff have prepared to serve students. Think: chess club and game days.
- It’s west of Florida’s Turnpike off Boynton Beach Boulevard, in the county’s Agricultural Reserve.
4. It has aspirational public art
- “Opening Minds” covers six pillars at the library’s east entrance in Carnelian Granite. The granite plates have book titles, literary passages and binary code sand-blasted into their surface. All of the books can be found in the library.
- The artwork’s Texas-based artist, Brad Goldberg, had a $371,500 budget. He told visitors at Saturday’s grand opening that the words and numbers reflect the analog and digital experience.
5. It demonstrates that civic engagement can get results
- The library would not have happened without the persistence of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations, County Commissioner Maria Sachs said Saturday.
- In honor of that drive, the makerspace is named for former COBWRA President Myrna Rosoff, who championed the branch to serve the western reaches. About Rosoff, Sachs said, “It takes one person to make a difference for everybody.”
Stunning stat: Palm Beach County Library cardholders can check out up to 50 items. Director Crane urged patrons to “max out your card.”
There’s more to the story: Find out what’s next for the county library system here.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
The campaign for West Palm Beach mayor is on, more than two years before election day. West Palm Beach Commissioner Christina Lambert filed Monday to run for the seat held by term-limited Mayor Keith James. Lambert has scheduled a public announcement for this morning. County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, whose county term ends in 2026, is putting out word today of his intent to oppose her, setting up a slow-motion showdown: Election day is March 9, 2027
