Fact-checking Boca Watch and other news of note

Boca Watch fact-checking

On the last weekend before polls open, the BocaWatch website continued its misleading election “coverage.”

A Saturday post stated that both major parties had endorsed a vote in favor of the waterfront ordinance that is designed to prevent Boca Raton from leasing the Wildflower property for a restaurant. In fact, Palm Beach County Republican Party Chairman Michael Barnett said in an email Monday that the local GOP had taken “no position” regarding the ordinance.  BocaWatch consistently has supported the ordinance.

The controversy didn’t stop there. Craig Ehrnst emailed BocaWatch Publisher Al Zucaro to complain that the same post wrongly stated—citing a handout being distributed at early voting sites—that the county GOP had endorsed Ehrnst’s opponent, Dennis Frisch, for Seat 1 on the board of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District. BocaWatch has consistently supported Frisch and the Seat 3 incumbent, Earl Starkoff.

In his email to Zucaro, Ehrnst said the party took no position on the race. Barnett confirmed Monday that there had been no endorsement in either beach and park district race. Ehrnst had asked Zucaro to correct the post.

Zucaro responded that BocaWatch “is simply reporting that (the handout) is being distributed at the polling site. . .” Zucaro offered only to post Ehrnst’s email in the BocaWatch comment section. “In the meantime, someone is distributing (the flyer)…I suggest whoever that is be identified and asked to stop/retract the flyer’s content.”

This exchange shows why no one should confuse a political blog like BocaWatch for a media blog like this one. Legitimate news organizations accept responsibility for their content and correct factual errors. Zucaro isn’t disputing Ehrnst’s contention that the post is inaccurate; he’s accepting no responsibility for the inaccuracy and thus no responsibility for correcting or removing it.

Barnett said the Republican Party of Palm Beach County asked BocaWatch to “make a retraction.” As of Monday afternoon, it hadn’t happened.

Misleading content

To show that BocaWatch is bipartisan when it comes to misleading content, Boca Raton City Councilman Robert Weinroth said he had confirmed that the supposed endorsement of the waterfront ordinance by the Democratic Party of Palm Beach County is “a fake.”

In the BocaWatch comment section, Zucaro said “the Democratic Executive Committee may not have endorsed the position taken in the flyer, but the flyer has been handed out all week at the downtown Boca Raton library polling location.”

Again, Zucaro blames his failure to verify information on someone else. This from someone who has ripped off the respected PolitiFact website—which the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times operate—to make his case for the deceptive waterfront ordinance. As noted, however, people should understand the difference between a political blog with an agenda and a news blog.

Zucaro said he could not discuss the misleading post on Monday. He emailed a copy of a polling place flyer made by a Republican committeewoman, saying that I might find it “interesting.” The flyer includes recommendations for Frisch and Starkoff and for the waterfront ordinance. A committeewoman, however, does not speak for the party. Nothing changes the fact that the endorsements Zucaro implied do not exist.

Did the city ignore the park idea?

Among those who support the waterfront ordinance, the narrative is that the Boca Raton City Council ignored overwhelming public sentiment for a passive park on the Wildflower property. Zucaro’s BocaWatch website especially has fed this narrative.

The real story is different. This becomes clear after watching the video of the council’s October 2011 workshop meeting on options for the property.

To review, the council had bought the 2.2-acre site in December 2009 for $7.5 million, with the intent of maximizing its potential for the city. Because of the recession, the city got no immediate offers from developers and made no plans of its own for the land.

But at that meeting, the city council heard seven presentations. The city also had sought public comment on its website, receiving what officials said were 13 comments favoring “passive recreation” and 45 seeking a “restaurant” and/or “active destination.”

One presentation was for an outdoor sports rental center possibly paired with a restaurant. Hillstone Restaurant Group proposed a full-service restaurant. Another presenter, after saying he was “getting goosebumps,” proposed an “implosion” in the form of a four-story marketplace like Seattle’s Pike Place with a “nautical flair” that would “bring people from Delray.”

A fourth proposal was for more of an open-air restaurant with music. The Tennessee company called BrickTop’s pitched its own restaurant. James Comparato of Boca-based Compson Associates pitched a mixed-used project that incorporated Silver Palm Park to the south. An architect proposed a park.

Nearly two dozen residents commented. More favored a park than a restaurant, but almost every speaker stressed the need for public access.

One of the speakers was Al Zucaro, who acknowledged that he was relatively new to Boca Raton. Zucaro had moved from West Palm Beach, where he had been a city commissioner. His comments then are noteworthy, considering his recent position.

The Al Zucaro of 2011 supported a “public place,” but he cautioned against “just having public space.” He noted, correctly, that West Palm Beach had spent $30 million on a downtown waterfront park/dock that was “struggling” because it had nothing to draw people. He suggested that Boca Raton consider “the idea of food, retail, things that people could use the water for.”

These days, however, Zucaro’s BocaWatch website champions those who support the ordinance that would block a restaurant and any other private use of the site for food and retail. Those residents would use for the site for what one speaker at Monday’s city council workshop called “little tables and benches” that would attract almost no one and waste that $7.5 million investment.

And what did the council say at that 2011 workshop? Then-Mayor Susan Whelchel said she had heard some nice ideas for a park but nothing about costs to the city.

Councilwoman Susan Haynie, now mayor, had questions about whether the city could acquire the neighboring parcel once home to Maxwell’s Chop House – the owners still want too much money—and about currents in that section of the Intracoastal Waterway—they would make adding docks difficult.

Councilman Anthony Majhess said a restaurant would require too much parking; he favored open space. Constance Scott did not participate because of a potential conflict. Mike Mullaugh favored something “not totally passive” that would generate money for the city.

Which is pretty much what happened. At the council’s direction, the city drew up a Request for Proposal seeking a restaurant—revenue from lease payments—with a public promenade – park-like. There was discussion about involving Silver Palm Park, but council members promised not to mess with parking and the boat ramp. Hillstone was the lone respondent, and the company and city had been negotiating for two-plus years when the petitioners got the ordinance on the ballot and the talks went on hold.

The Wildflower became divisive only when nearby residents organized the petition drive. Ordinance supporters since have revived the Wildflower-Silver Palm option as a way to create a downtown gathering spot. Ironically, if the ordinance passes, that option won’t be possible.

BRRH urgent care center

Boca Raton Regional Hospital received a favorable recommendation last week from the planning and zoning board for the urgent care center the hospital wants to open at Palmetto Park Road and Dixie Highway. The board attached no conditions to the approval. Council approval could come by the end of the year.

Amendment 2

Elected officials and administrators in Boca Raton and Delray Beach will be very interested in the outcome of the state constitutional amendment on medical marijuana.

Since 2014, both cities have approved and extended bans on the operation of medical marijuana treatment centers and dispensing operations. (The latest extension is on tonight’s Boca Raton City Council agenda.) Two years ago, a previous version of an amendment to allow medical marijuana failed. Also in 2014, the Legislature allowed the use of non-hallucinogenic marijuana for medical use.

The cities’ caution is less a statement on the issue than a concern about practical effects. Delray Beach especially wants to avoid creating a marijuana-shop district in a city overrun with people in recovery who are subject to abuses of bad sober house operators.

If Amendment 2 fails, the cities probably will remain cautious. There’s a lot of money behind the amendment, and backers could try a third time. If it passes, the amendment may bring relief to people with terrible illness but cause a big headache for local governments.

Arts Garage update

It has been a turbulent nine months for Arts Garage. After criticism from the Delray Beach City Commission and Community Redevelopment Agency, the group has a new CEO and a new lease for the city-owned space it uses in Pineapple Grove.

Some of the criticism jolted Arts Garage. Many residents spoke favorably of the group’s programming, but commissioners and CRA board members pointed to a critical management audit, poor communication and the lack of diversity in that programming. Without the cheap lease and regular reimbursements from the CRA, Arts Garage likely could not survive.

Yet none of the criticism was meant to drive off Arts Garage, which over five years has become such a complement to Delray Beach’s downtown entertainment scene. So it’s appropriate that, with things having settled, Arts Garage on Friday is throwing its first Tribute Gala, which will honor Chuck and Pam Halberg and Bob and Linda Schmier and support the organization. Chuck Halberg is founder and president of Stuart & Shelby Development in Delray Beach. Bob Schmier is co-founder and president of Schmier & Fuerring Properties in Boca Raton. Both are Delray Beach residents.

In an email, Mayor Cary Glickstein said, “Bob and Chuck have been there from Day One. The Arts Garage would not be the Arts Garage without their considerable financial support and the significant time and effort they both contributed willing this thing to succeed.”

Tickets for the benefit are $125. For reservations, call 561-450-6357.

Serious as a heart attack

There’s been plenty of stress during this drawn-out campaign season that seems to get more drawn-out every election cycle. There likely will be more after tonight, when all the results are in.

On that note, the new survey from Gallup Healthways finds that South Florida ranks 95th out of 190 metropolitan areas in the rate of adults who have had a heart attack in their lifetime. We rank just behind Akron, Ohio, and just ahead of Reno, Nev. The numbers are from 2014-15.

Not surprisingly, the five top-ranked areas are college towns: Boulder, Col.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Tallahassee; Provo-Orem, Utah; and Austin, Tex. But take heart, pardon the pun. The rate of depression here is among the lowest in the country. Even if your candidate loses, you still will live in a great place when you wake up Wednesday.