Stet NewsGood morning! We’ve got another newsletter packed with must-read stories. For you today: How many cars does a county commissioner need? Plus, one commissioner sets her sights on Congress; Riviera Beach regroups on its parking rules; Related Ross tries to reassure its neighbors; Tequesta park takeover; and a door opens to a century of local news and information.
💵 Public pays twice
While Palm Beach County taxpayers are spending at least $211,000 a month for sheriff’s deputies to provide security and ferry county commissioners to meetings and other events, the elected officials are still pocketing taxpayer-funded subsidies for their personal cars.
Why it matters: All but Commissioner Marci Woodward and Mayor Sara Baxter cash in on the stipend that adds $6,600 to their roughly $114,000 annual salaries. Instead of the stipend, Baxter gets a car. Woodward accepts neither the car nor the stipend.
Dive deeper: For security reasons, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and county administrators won’t talk about tactics and also refuse to spell out exactly how the security money is being spent.
Zoom in: Baxter, who announced Monday she would drop her reelection bid to run for Congress, had a private security detail for at least two years before the program was expanded in November to all of the commissioners and the county administrator.
- Two years ago, Baxter opted to have the use of a county-owned Chevy Tahoe instead of a car allowance. The SUV’s retail price starts at about $70,000.
The sheriff’s office declined to release any detailed financial information about the security detail that is to cost taxpayers $3.3 million this year. By April 30, the office had billed the county $1.55 million, it said.
One invoice called for the county to pay $770,000 for vehicles. The invoice doesn’t detail how many cars were purchased or their make and model.
- In a column marked quantity, the invoice says “1.”
- Invoices for overtime pay are equally vague.
What they’re saying: “Disclosing how much public money was spent, and when, does not reveal a surveillance technique, a tactical plan or any deployment information that a future adversary could exploit,” said Michael Barfield, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability.
Read more about how taxpayers can’t see what they’re paying for when it comes to County Commission security details at StetNews.org.
— Jane Musgrave
🇺🇸 Baxter to run for Congress
Stet News reported first Monday that first-term County Commissioner Sara Baxter, a Republican, would drop her run for reelection and instead enter the crowded field for the newly drawn U.S. House District 22 race.
The district includes western regions of Palm Beach and Broward counties, continues west through rural Hendry and Collier counties, and ends in Marco Island on the state’s Gulf Coast.
The district is Republican leaning, with 55% of voters supporting President Donald Trump in 2024. Already, 12 GOP candidates, two Democrats and one independent have announced plans to run. Candidates have until noon Friday to qualify.
Why it matters: Baxter won her District 6 County Commission seat, previously held by a Democrat, on the coattails of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 reelection. Her decision to abandon her campaign, for which she had raised nearly $146,000, indicates a belief that she would not win.
Zoom in: Baxter faced pushback in the west-central district over the failure of a plan to reduce a massive proposed GL Homes development and to replace a closed auto racing track before encountering more headwinds over the county’s approach to rezoning for the massive hyperscale AI data center Project Tango.
- When she declared she would vote against Project Tango, the county attorney advised that she would have to recuse herself because she would appear biased against the project.
While she received Trump’s endorsement for County Commission in January, she is not guaranteed to get his support in the congressional race.
Read the full story at StetNews.org.
— Jane Musgrave
🅿️ Parking fee rollback
Driving the news: Eight months after the city started charging for beach parking for the first time, City Council members voted unanimously Wednesday night to call a timeout.
Why it matters: The dramatic move follows complaints to council members and the mayor from residents who say they received parking tickets issued on days they weren’t at the beach, were there only briefly or were legally parked in handicapped spots.
- The city expected to generate up to $500,000 a year in hourly fees charged at Ocean Walk on Singer Island and the Marina Village on Broadway.
Catch up quick: Riviera Beach spent years studying best practices, including how Lake Worth Beach and Delray Beach manage their beach parking.
- The city started charging for parking in October and hired West Palm Beach-based One Parking to manage the automated operation.
- For most spaces, the first two hours are free.
The breaking point: The system nailed a City Council member.
“Lo and behold, I received a ticket,” Council Vice Chair Glen Spiritis said Wednesday. He reported the May 17 citation came after he rolled through the Ocean Walk lot to wave at police officers without parking.
The latest: When Stet visited the Ocean Walk lot Sunday afternoon, all the parking fee signs were unchanged and the system was accepting payment. We did not pay for our short visit but are confident we won’t get a ticket.
What’s next: The council ordered city staff to report on progress in solving the parking glitches at each City Council meeting until the ticketing system is restored.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🏨 Convention center hotel pitch
Even though the deal is not yet inked, Related Ross is moving forward as if it will break ground on a second convention center hotel this summer.
Neighbors are worried about traffic, height and density.
Why it matters: Tourism officials say the 400-room hotel is critical to bringing more conventions to Palm Beach County and expanding the county’s 20-year-old convention center.
About 60 residents gathered June 2 at the first convention center hotel, a Hilton also built by Related, to see the plans and air their grievances.
What they’re saying: “We don’t support the site plan,” said Bruce Barber, who lives in the historic Grandview Heights community just south of the site of the proposed $310 million, 20-story Curio Collection by Hilton hotel. “As designed, it constitutes a nuisance that will interfere with the safety, privacy and the enjoyment of our neighborhood.”
- Jamie Linen, who lives in Grandview Heights, captured a common perception among city residents when he said it appears that West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James and city commissioners will approve anything Related wants.
Zoom in: County commissioners will soon consider a deal that would reap $1 billion in lease payments from Related over 99 years if the county pays Related $26 million for the 2-acre site, freeing the hotel from annual property tax bills.
- In addition, Related would pay the county $1.8 million a year, including $100 per space monthly to rent 590 spaces in the county-owned convention center parking garage. Related could use the spaces for both convention center hotels.
The other side:
- Alex O’Connor, a Related Ross vice president, said studies show traffic from the new hotel will add less than three seconds to wait times for motorists trying to turn onto Okeechobee Boulevard. But, he offered to seek state approval for a traffic light that residents said would help.
- To address noise concerns, he promised a 10 pm curfew.
- Related would build a second pedestrian cut-through to make it easier for Grandview Heights residents to get to downtown.
What’s next: The West Palm Beach Planning and Zoning Board considers the site plan on June 16. County commissioners also must approve the lease with Related Ross.
Read more about what residents said about the hotel plans at StetNews.org.
— Jane Musgrave
🛝 Revamping Tequesta Park
As tiny Tequesta in north county evolves from mostly gray to families at play, the village is determined to rebuild a long-neglected community park.
The 41-acre Tequesta Park, part of Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County, has long been run by Tequesta but owned by the state. On June 1, the state transferred ownership to the village.
Why it matters: The village is matching a state grant to generate about $500,000 to design improvements in the park but has not yet identified money for construction.
Zoom in: The park’s three baseball fields are not in good enough condition for games and are used only for practice. The walking trails are dirt paths lined with scrub. The landscaping is tired. The tennis and pickleball courts and dog park are the only features that have seen improvements in years.
What’s next: The village wants to provide more recreational options for young families. It has a vision for new batting cages, lighted baseball fields, sand volleyball courts, a shaded playground, a multiuse field and a splash pad.
- Cost estimates range from $8 million to $12 million, a big lift for a village of about 6,000 residents with an annual general fund of about $20 million.
What they’re saying: “I hear from so many people from the community that they just can’t wait until these fields are improved,” Mayor Molly Young said. “Yes, funding is going to be a challenge but I think we owe it to our community to focus on this and figure out how we get it done.”
Yes, but: Council Member Rick Sartory voiced concerns about the tiny village’s ability to raise the millions needed for the work.
- “If the state had wanted to invest the time and the resources, they would have done that,” Sartory said. “Now this is going to fall on us. I don’t see that money being available. I think we are developing a plan that we can’t execute and that concerns me.”
Read more about plans for Tequesta Park at StetNews.org.
— Valerie Staggs
🍊 The Juice
📈 While the state is putting a measure to reduce property taxes on the November ballot, Palm Beach County commissioners will consider asking voters to pay more in property taxes. The commission will consider on Tuesday asking voters to borrow up to $175 million to upgrade the library system and $275 million to upgrade parks. Repayment would come from property taxes. (Library item, parks item)
💰 Florida’s bill to pay for immigrant detention centers is nearing $1 billion, including $824 million on the soon-to-close Alligator Alcatraz. The amount is enough to give every public school teacher in the state about a $6,000 bonus. (Miami Herald $$$)
🚔 Two notes from last week’s Riviera Beach City Council meeting:
- Council members unanimously cleared the way for the new police headquarters planned at the old Barracuda Bay property on Blue Heron Boulevard. The city could break ground as soon as July.
- The council also unanimously agreed to spend up to $50,000 on a national search for a city manager. (Watch the meeting)
🚨 Former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, who oversaw the 2005 investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, has been reluctant to let the case dominate his life, but he opened up in this overview of the Epstein investigation from its origins in Palm Beach. (Miami Herald $$$)
🚙 Lake Worth Beach city commissioners could decide to end free parking downtown when they consider building a $9.8 million parking garage for a “cultural arts campus” anchored by the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts and a 110-unit apartment complex. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
✏️ The private Pine Crest School from Fort Lauderdale is expanding to West Palm Beach to create its third South Florida campus after getting a substantial contribution from real estate developer Stephen Ross. The school’s proposed location and the amount of the gift have not been announced. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🤖 Florida Atlantic University received a $1 million donation to launch an artificial intelligence lab to prepare students for careers working with AI. The donation came from the Levine Family Foundation. (Sun-Sentinel $$$)
📜 Long before Atlantic Avenue became the heart of Delray Beach, the Colony Hotel was already creating a history that now spans 100 years. (The Coastal Star)
Dr. Carmine Priore, a retired dentist and longtime member of the Wellington Village Council starting in 1996, died May 26 at age 86. (Palms West Funeral Home)
🧑🍳 Pomona in downtown Lake Worth Beach is hosting nationally recognized chef Hannah Flora for a one-night chef takeover on June 13. The evening will feature a $95 four-course tasting menu and a guest meet and greet. (Boca Magazine)
🐦⬛ The Perch, a viewing platform, is open in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Created through a partnership between the Friends of JDSP and the University of Miami, this covered overlook offers hikers a new vantage point to take in the wild and peaceful scenery along Kitching Creek. (Audubon of Martin County)
🆓 Admission to the Norton Museum of Art is free on Saturdays through Sept. 5 for Palm Beach County residents. Bring your ID. (Norton.org)
🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, hears from Victoria Doyle, the Democratic challenger to U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel in the newly drawn House District 23 primary. Doyle, a retired federal intellectual property attorney from Lake Worth Beach, argues Frankel has been largely ineffective in her nearly 14 years in office. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today.)
561NSIDER: 📖 The county library just unlocked a century of local news
More than 100 years of local news and information is now available to anyone with a Palm Beach County Public Library card.
Driving the news: In April, the library system secured perpetual access to electronic copies of The Palm Beach Post from its first issue in 1916 to 2019.
- County commissioners approved the $886,000 purchase of the searchable files without discussion.
Why it matters: Love it or hate it, the newspaper has documented everything from a reporter’s postwar visit to Morrison Field Army base in October 1945 before it became Palm Beach International Airport to the Jan. 1, 1986, front-page confirmation of Donald Trump’s long-rumored purchase of Mar-a-Lago.
Yes, but: The seller wasn’t USA Today Co., which owns The Post. It was NewsBank, the Naples, Fla., company that owns the rights to thousands of news archives, including The Post.
The library system already has access to Post files since 2019, which are continually updated. The complete archives give library patrons an incredible research tool, James Larson, the library’s director of intellectual resources, told Stet News.
What they’re saying: “When we tell people it’s there, they’re really pleased and astounded and impressed,” Canyon Branch Librarian Michelle Quigley told Stet News. “The big picture is that we, as the library system for Palm Beach County, should have access to the archive of the newspaper of record for Palm Beach County.”
The bottom line: The acquisition is the culmination of years of effort to ensure reliable and dedicated access to an unmatched historical record.
Keep reading to find out how to view the library’s Palm Beach Post archives.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
💐 Say hello to Valerie
A Stet salute to Valerie Staggs, who joins the Stet family with this week’s story about a park in Tequesta. Valerie earned her writing chops in the advertising business as a creative director at the agency she founded in 2002. She sold the agency and launched her busy freelance writing career.
Valerie lives in Palm Beach Gardens, where she can be found strumming the guitar, playing golf or pickleball or on the go with her adopted mutts Axxi and Ozzy.
Welcome, Valerie!
