Stet News🗓️ Welcome to our second monthly roundup. Our top stories from February plus a peek behind the scenes.
🗳️ Gardens and Jupiter voters will choose
Voters in 12 Palm Beach County cities and towns will participate in the March 11 election.
In February, Stet previewed the races in Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter.
A top issue in Jupiter is the town’s controversial 2023 decision to start its own fire-rescue service.
Why it’s important: A judge blocked a lawsuit seeking to force a referendum on the issue so the election offers voters the chance to weigh in.
- Even candidates who don’t want a town fire department acknowledged at a recent forum that the decision would be hard to unravel.
Go deeper: Click here to see what the candidates had to say about Jupiter’s top campaign issues.
In Palm Beach Gardens, Group 2 incumbent Marcie Tinsley and Group 4 challenger Chuck Millar are government wonks, intimately familiar with site plans and zoning disputes after spending most of their professional careers navigating the intricacies of local government.
- Millar’s opponent, veteran county firefighter John Kemp, is a fourth generation Floridian who said he grew up attending Hialeah Gardens city meetings with his father and uncle.
- Tinsley’s Group 2 opponent is Scott Gilow, an outsider, whose interests as both an ice-skater growing up in Green Bay, Wis., and a bike rider who co-owns an Abacoa bike shop.
Stet has looked into the court records of all four candidates, publishing findings about Millar here and Gilow here.
This month Stet went deeper, talking to Palm Beach Gardens candidates about what they like about the city, what they want to change and why they are running. Click here for the story.
– Joel Engelhardt
🏗 Look up: North Flagler condo boom
Feb. 11, 2025
One night last month, developers celebrated the formal start of sales for one newly approved North Flagler Drive condo project, the Ritz-Carlton Residences, and pitched plans for another, a 32-story tower by Toronto-based Great Gulf.
Why it matters: There’s a waterfront high-rise boom in the once-sleepy north end of West Palm Beach.
Catch up quick: If developers have their way, 1,200 condos and apartments will rise along Flagler from 17th Street to 54th by 2031. And that’s not counting the long-stagnant properties owned by billionaire Palm Beach investor Jeff Greene.
What they’re saying: “Other than having the county’s largest sundial across the street from my home, I do like the footprint,” neighbor Steve Fleming said of the Great Gulf tower proposed for 5400 N. Flagler.
– Joel Engelhardt
⭐️ Top local chefs step out of Miami’s shadow
Feb. 18, 2025
With Michelin stars now hanging overhead in Palm Beach County, the emerging dining scene is about to become brighter.
Catch up quick: Officials from the internationally recognized Michelin Guide recently announced its expansion into Palm Beach County.
- The ratings will be unveiled April 17 at Walt Disney World.
What they’re saying: “It’s very good for Florida,” Daniel Boulud told Stet News’ Jan Norris. His Cafe Boulud Palm Beach has consistently been named a top restaurant since its opening in 2003. “There is a lot of talent in Palm Beach County.”
Why it matters: Restaurants here no longer are playing it safe and deserve attention, a point made by Lindsay Autry, the chef behind Honeybelle at PGA National Resort.
– Jan Norris
🚦 Green light for Jupiter Lighthouse
Congress threw a $2.5 million lifeline last fall to start the long-planned effort to save Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area from erosion.
Catch up quick: The $16 million project, aimed at halting extensive erosion that is threatening the 165-year-old lighthouse, began on Jan. 6 and is expected to be completed by August 2026.
Why it matters: If Congress had not granted the additional money through the Great American Outdoors Act, officials would have had to cut the project to $14 million and put it out for new construction bids, causing delays.
- The contractor is Dickerson Infrastructure of Fort Pierce. Bulldozers are expected in March.
Once completed, the project will transform the sea’s edge into a living shoreline, using native plants and riprap to reduce erosion. Plans also include a public boardwalk, a water taxi dock, terraced walls and creation of a 2-acre salt marsh.
Zoom in: Some boat anchorages will be blocked intermittently during construction. Ultimately, the project will eliminate all but five mooring spots along the Indian River on the naural area’s eastern side.
- A 500-foot segment of the mile-long hiking trail in the 120-area will be disrupted.
Of note: The plan calls for planting 10,000 mangroves.
What’s next? Before the bulldozers roll in, workers are moving gopher tortoises and native plants to safety.
Go deeper: Read the full story here.
— Laurie Mermet
🕵🏼 Stet behind the scenes
This week, Stet co-founder Joel Engelhardt moderated the League of Women Votersof Palm Beach County’s annual fundraising luncheon featuring MSNBC anchor Katie Phang and Lynn University author and historian Robert Watson.
Key message: With legislative gridlock in Washington, the action is shifting to city and county government. That makes strong local news coverage even more important.
Phang, a lawyer who practices in South Florida, spoke days after MSNBC announced that her Saturday afternoon show would end April 19. She will continue as a correspondent and fill-in anchor but said the news took her by surprise.
What she’s saying: “If you don’t want to educate yourself, I can’t save you.” Phang sees willful ignorance on both sides of the aisle.
Watson described how he took his Lynn University class to a farm off of U.S. 441 to pick strawberries. Students said they had never been to a farm. Thirty minutes in, they had had enough. Such exercises build empathy for farmworkers, he said.
What he’s saying: “I’m always teaching critical thinking.”
