Top stories of 2016 in West Palm
Downtown West Palm Beach is growing up, in every sense of the word. Many projec ts are on the drawing board — more than $2 billion worth — from million-dollar condos to micro-apartments, top-tier offices and hotels and even a train station, as All Aboard Florida prepares for high-speed service from Miami to Orlando.
On South Dixie Highway, the Norton Museum of Art is torn open amid a $100 million renovation, billionaire developer Jeff Greene opened a private school, the old Carefree Theatre was razed to make way for an art house cinema and apartments, a proposed fivetower Prospect Place condo project is trying to overcome opposition and plans are progressing for a remake of the highway itself, into a narrower, tree-shaded and more peopleand bike-friendly road.
Not all projects will come to fruition, and public pushback led the City Commission to kill a plan to allow 30-story office towers near the Flagler Drive waterfront, but traffic already has officials struggling for ways to revitalize the city without choking it. gation prompted the private high school’s chairman — Palm Beach billionaire Bill Koch — to investigate the school he founded.
The Post’s probe centered on allegations of a toxic work environment, high faculty turnover, an overemphasis on football at the expense of academics and allegations of sexual harassment by President and CEO Robert Parsons.
The administration pressed efforts for alternative transportation such as bikes and trolleys, in an effort to make the c it y more livable and walkable, while also adopting ener- gy-saving programs aimed at sustainability. At the urging of human rights advocates, the City Commission banned conversion therapy, a disputed approach that seeks to convert gay minors to heterosexuality. The mayor and other city officials also joined news conferences at City Hall urging support for Planned Parenthood and gun regulation.
Look around the cit y and you’ll see examples of public art, in particular near new real estate projects. The city’s Art in Public Places program has brought sculptures, musical swings, out-sized spinning tops and a corner park with a curving sculptural bench and walkway, all efforts to infuse art in daily public life, much of it funded by requirements placed on new developments.
November’s Canvas Outdoor Museum Show, organized by downtown art dealer Nicole Henry, left the city with murals and interactive artwork scattered from Okeechobee Boulevard to downtown, the North Flagler Drive waterfront and Northwood.