Month: December 2023

‘This isn’t us against you’ — Gardens puts annexation on ballot

‘You didn’t tell us you were coming. You didn’t ask if we wanted you to come and now that we’ve told you ‘no,’ you’ve refused to leave.’

Dozens of Palm Beach Gardens neighbors picketed Wednesday outside City Hall and lined up to tell the City Council they do not want their homes to be part of the city.

They object to being part of an annexation of 1,300 acres east of Interstate 95 containing an estimated 8,300 residents.

The City Council told the opponents their messages were heard before voting against them, taking the final steps to place annexation on the March 19 ballot. 

“I respect your passion, and I appreciate every one of you and what you had to say and delivered to us,” Council Member Carl Woods said. “You guys are my neighbors. This isn’t us against you, by no means. If you don’t want it, don’t vote for it.”

Continue reading “‘This isn’t us against you’ — Gardens puts annexation on ballot”

A $35 million brain center was closed for four months. We may never know why.

If you care, call FAU Vice President of Public Affairs Peter Hull at 561-297-1352 and let him know that the public would appreciate a public university that promptly replies to public record requests.

Florida Atlantic University doesn’t want you to know how it spent $35 million of taxpayers money on a building that doesn’t work. 

After the university opened the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute in Jupiter with great fanfare in January it shut it down with no fanfare on July 30.

Little is known about the reasons behind the shutdown, the cost to reopen the building, the loss of experiments caused by the shutdown and who is going to pay for it all. 

On Monday, the university said the building reopened — sort of. Research and lab animals cannot return until other thresholds are met and that could take up to eight and a half months, an internal email provided by the university said.

The state put up the money to construct the three-story, 58,000-square-foot building. A foundation headed by David J.S. Nicholson gave FAU $10 million to help run innovative programs within it.

In a state often credited with the best public records laws in the nation, FAU has gone to great lengths to keep you in the dark on why the building closed and who’s paying to fix it. 

OnGardens.org made numerous attempts to get more information but the university as the sole keeper of records that could have answered basic public questions stonewalled. 

Here’s how:

Continue reading “A $35 million brain center was closed for four months. We may never know why.”