Hate comes to town
Today, white supremacists are taunting our neighbors and there is not an easy way to stop it. Also: Sunset Lounge, more houses on farmland, FAU! FAU! Fun with Walt Disney and birds in paradise.
Today’s newsletter is a 6-minute read.
First up: The neo-Nazi next door
In the last two months, streets in Palm Beach and Atlantis and historic neighborhoods in West Palm Beach have been showered with anti-Semitic flyers.
Police and homeowners who confronted the crew behind them faced a barrage of racist, homophobic and obscene insults, as revealed in videos the neo-Nazis posted online to raise money.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood tweeted this video of West Palm Beach police downtown during an encounter with neo-Nazis.
Zoom in: Palm Beach County is becoming a target for anti-Semitic outbursts, even as the Anti-Defamation League reported Thursday that harassment, vandalism and assaults targeting Jewish people and communities in the United States are at an all-time high.
But police and prosecutors working to punish the people behind the crimes are running up against First Amendment protections, and the Nazi sympathizers know it.
Tossing “unpopular trash” is constitutionally protected speech.
“It’s our right,” Jon Minadeo Jr., 40, yelled at West Palm Beach police when confronted on March 18 as he and others were throwing flyers from a rented truck in Flamingo Park, a historic neighborhood near downtown. “We’re going to see you in court about you stopping us in our rights.”
Minadeo, who heads Goyim Defense League, and others have been issued littering and traffic citations, such as obstructing traffic. In Wisconsin, similar charges had to be dropped.
“We can’t yet prosecute individuals for distributing hateful messages until legislation is passed that can survive constitutional challenges,” said State Attorney Dave Aronberg.
A deeper dive: Read reporter Jane Musgrave’s story on our community’s struggle to balance rights, provide protection and face down growing hate speech here.
🌅 New twist on West Palm’s Sunset Lounge saga
West Palm Beach lost its court fight last week to disqualify the winning bidder seeking to operate the newly renovated, historic Sunset Lounge.
And the judge ordered the city to open negotiations with the locally led group, Vita Lounge, to run the restaurant and ballroom that once hosted Black luminaries Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald.
As we ponder the judge’s decision, it seems apparent that losing benefits the city, which would have been otherwise forced to start all over again. And with the foul-ups that marred the first selection, that might have been a long, hard road.
The city-run Community Redevelopment Agency decided in August 2015 to buy the Sunset Lounge site about nine blocks north of Clematis Street in the predominantly Black Northwest neighborhood. It spent $2.6 million on the dilapidated building and enough neighboring properties to control two blocks and build the Heart & Soul Park on the block immediately south of the lounge.
It added only a small parking lot behind the renovated building, with perhaps space for 30 cars.
It blew past a guaranteed construction price of $12.5 million, spending at least $17.7 million to rebuild the 12,308-square-foot main building and add a 7,200-square-foot structure with elevators, a kitchen, dressing rooms and office space. It still had money to spend on internal furnishings but wanted the operator to have a say.
After selecting Vita on June 27, the city put it all on hold in July by disqualifying first Vita and then the only other bidder, Mad Room Hospitality. Vita sued. And won on March 23.
To see how the city’s courtroom loss could prove to be a win, check out the rest of the story here.
🚜 Farmland at stake
Green is on the agenda at a Palm Beach County Commission workshop today on the future of the 22,000 acres in the Agricultural Reserve.
It’s a warmup session before the big decision on whether to allow GL Homes to give the county 1,600 acres outside the reserve for conservation. In exchange, it wants permission to build 1,000 luxury homes and more than 277 affordable townhouses on protected land west of Boca Raton.
That would “significantly compromise” basic concepts of the county’s growth plan, county staff said in August.
Why it matters: After years of ignoring a growing crisis, the county desperately needs affordable housing. But it’s not just houses at stake.
Ag Reserve-grown crops feed into $1.3 billion in annual agricultural sales in Palm Beach County, the most of any county east of the Mississippi. And the Ag Reserve has long been a major contributor to the county’s renown as the winter vegetable capital of the United States.
Then there’s the promise. Voters just said no to dense development 23 years ago, agreeing to pay $100 million to buy and keep as much of the reserve as possible used for farmland.
Today, nearly as much land is used for housing as is set aside for agriculture — 6,039 acres to 6,059 acres.
GL’s proposed swap means the developer would lose out on building an already approved 1,285 homes on the property west of Royal Palm Beach that it would give the county for preservation. But homes built in the reserve in west Boca would sell for more. A lot more.
Who to watch: You’ll hear from Maria Sachs, whose district includes the Ag Reserve. But also watch for a sense of direction from newcomer Commissioners Michael Barnett, Marci Woodward and Sara Baxter, whose district includes GL’s western property.
When: 9:30 am today
Where to watch: PBC Channel 20, livestream.
In person: Palm Beach County Commission chambers, 6th Floor, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach.
🎢 Quiz answer: Walt, we hardly knew ye
Last week, we asked quiz-meisters what hijinks Walt Disney and millionaire developer John D. MacArthur got up to when no one was watching.
Dining in disguise with truckers at a local beer & BBQ joint?
Barreling through fields until MacArthur’s big-fin Caddy sprung undercarriage leaks?
Skinny dipping?
Did all of it happen?
Or none?
And the answer is: All of it.
No one was more surprised than us to learn that the Caddy-shredding jaunt, the trucker lunch and the invite to a cool dip on a hot day all took place when Disney was considering building Disney World on MacArthur land in Palm Beach Gardens.
⛹🏽♂️ Stet Sports: South Florida finals
Last week we called it a long, long shot. But now the odds have shrunk. After a raucous weekend of winning, there’s just one victory apiece separating Florida Atlantic University and the University of Miami from facing off in an all-South Florida men’s college basketball national championship game Monday in Houston.
The gutsy FAU squad won twice during the weekend to go from Sweet 16 Cinderella to Final Four newbie. Miami had made the Sweet 16 four times before but never advanced to the Final Four. The team did Sunday with an 88-81 victory over Texas.
What happens next? FAU plays San Diego State and Miami plays the University of Connecticut. Both games are Saturday.
If they win, and we’re certainly not going to suggest they won’t, they meet for bragging rights to South Florida, as well as college basketball’s Naismith Trophy.
Even still, neither team would be South Florida’s sole champion. The Nova Southeastern Sharks men’s team went unbeaten this year, taking the Division II crown on Saturday night. Nova is a Fort Lauderdale-based school with a campus in Palm Beach Gardens.
On the women’s side, Miami’s Sweet 16 run ended with a 54-42 loss Sunday night to LSU in the Elite Eight.
Read more in The Athletic: How Nova Southeastern sharpened the Owls’ game. (Some readers may encounter a paywall.)
🪺 561 insider: Spring is the time to soar
Celebrate the circle of life without driving two hours to Everglades National Park. Here are three of our favorite Palm Beach County birding spots:
1. Pelican Lake: The 12-acre pond in Juno Beach is surrounded by a meandering sidewalk with benches and a fishing dock that make a relaxing one-mile stroll in the 3,600-resident town.
What you’ll see: Laughing gulls, royal terns, anhingas and sanderlings visit the shallow glistening area known as “the heart of Juno Beach.”
Originally marshland, the property was turned into a lake to attract residents when Juno Beach was incorporated in 1953. Native plant and fish restoration projects are expected to attract even more birds.
Free parking at nearby Kagan Park, Juno Beach Town Hall and both sides of Mercury Road.
340 Ocean Drive. Open sunrise to sunset daily.
2. Wakodahatchee Wetlands: This is the Times Square of wetland preserves, and now it’s like Christmas.
What you’ll see: An overwhelming number and variety of birds. Get up close to nesting wood storks, blue herons and egrets. Plus, purple martins, purple gallinule, yellow-rumped warblers, and a variety of hawks.
The three-quarter-mile boardwalk has benches and is accessible for strollers and wheelchairs.
Pro tip: This park is a gem, but not a hidden one. The parking lot fills up fast on weekends. We counted 20 cars waiting for a spot at 10:30 am on a recent Saturday. The best time to be there is early or at dusk.
13026 Jog Road. Open from 6 am until 7 pm daily.
3. Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands: Wander the boardwalks of this 100-acre park off Hagen Ranch Road west of Boynton Beach and five minutes from Wakodahatchee.
What you’ll see: Ibis, herons, swallows and ducks are regulars. Some painted buntings visited last week. The vibe is more peaceful than Wakodahatchee’s circus.
Birds move through towering cypress trees, flat pine forests and slow-moving wetlands.
12800 Hagen Ranch Road. Open sunrise to sunset daily.
Nature center is open 9 am to 3 pm Wednesday to Saturday.
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