ISSUE 2 · SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2026 · LIFE BY DESIGN, NOT DEFAULT
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH This Week |
A quiet week for votes, a big one for the calendar. GreenMarket opens its 32nd season Saturday. The Mayor and Commission meet Monday to talk, not vote. And the agenda for October 13 is already posted — with $5.1 million in state money to rebuild Parker Avenue.
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Liberty Watch |
Mon 10/5 work session 10 a.m. | $5.11M FDOT grant for Parker Ave | $9.06M total Parker Ave construction | Oct 13 next Commission meeting |
Monday, October 5, 10 a.m. — Mayor/Commission Work Session, City Hall Flagler Gallery, 401 Clematis St. Two updates: the Disparity Study recommendations (how the city spreads its contracts across small and minority-owned businesses) and the Evergreen Cemetery improvement project. No votes at a work session.
Looking ahead — Tuesday, October 13, 5 p.m.: the draft Commission agenda would re-appropriate $5,110,000 in FDOT grant money for rebuilding about 1.3 miles of Parker Avenue, from Forest Hill Boulevard to Nottingham Boulevard. Total construction is estimated at $9.06 million, with the city’s $3.95 million share from the one-cent sales surtax. Also on it: a new three-year SEIU contract. The Commission previews the agenda Thursday at 11 a.m. by Zoom.
From issue 1: the September 28 agenda carried the citywide mobility fee and the cap on commercial trash franchises. Minutes aren’t posted yet, so the outcome isn’t on the record. We’ll report it when it is.
| Your move: if you drive Parker Avenue, read item 8.5 on the October 13 agenda now — construction is planned to bid by November 2026 and finish by the end of 2028. |
Sources: Oct 5 work session agenda · Work session page · Oct 13 Commission draft agenda · Sept 28 Commission agenda
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Mapping Our Community: Who Pays for Getting Around |
Roads cost money, and West Palm is changing who pays. In 2025 the city set up a mobility fee for downtown — a one-time charge on new development, instead of county road impact fees. The September 28 agenda proposed taking it citywide, with four fee areas (Downtown, North, South, West). The fee isn’t charged on existing property and doesn’t go into the General Fund.
Parker Avenue shows the other side of the ledger: a $9 million rebuild paid by a state grant and the sales-tax surtax everyone pays at the register.
The lens worth keeping: new development paying for the roads it adds is fair. The question is whether the fee is set at what those roads actually cost — and who decides what gets built with it.
| GO DEEPER The West Palm Beach record is being built. The Council on Local Relations publishes sourced city records — see how it works at councilonlocalrelations.org. Start here — the Primers: 01 The Long Flat Line (how the family changed) · 02 The Documents We Live Under (the written rules that limit power) · 03 The Household (what a household buys, priced in years of work) · all primers → From the Council: Starting Monday, the Council’s seats introduce themselves, one each weekday, beginning with the Chairman’s Why I Built a Council. Get them by email → |
Sources: City mobility fee page · Sept 28 agenda (Ord. 5182-26) · Oct 13 draft agenda (item 8.5)
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Around the Block |
| Clematis by Night — 6–9 p.m., Centennial Square & the Great Lawn, with The Goodnicks. Free. | ||
| Art After Dark — 5–10 p.m., Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Hwy. Tours at 5:30 and 7; adults $10. | ||
| GreenMarket opens its 32nd season — 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 100 N. Clematis St. About 150 vendors; free parking in the City Center, Clematis and Sapodilla garages. |
Your move: GreenMarket runs every Saturday through May — opening day is the one to see. Run a West Palm event? Send it by Thursday.
Sources: Clematis by Night · Norton — Art After Dark · GreenMarket season opening (Hoodline)
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Prosperity Spotlight |
Pioneer Linens
Pioneer Linens began in 1912 as Pioneer Hardware on Dixie Highway in Lake Worth. Its founder, Max Greenberg, had come through Ellis Island alone as a teenager in 1905.
After the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane destroyed the store, the family moved north to West Palm Beach in 1930.
Today it's fourth-generation family owned, run on Clematis Street by Greenberg's granddaughter Penny Murphy and her daughters Marissa and Camille.
| Pioneer Linens · 210 Clematis St., West Palm Beach · 561-655-8553 Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. · pioneerlinens.com |
Sources: Pioneer Linens
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Food Scene |
Havana Restaurant
Havana has served Cuban food on South Dixie Highway since 1993. Roberto and Martha Reyes founded it with their daughter, Martha Reyes, and her husband, Rafael Perez, and the family has run it for more than three decades.
Roberto came to New York from Cuba with nothing and started as a dishwasher in a pizzeria. He worked his way up to manager and, years later, opened a small restaurant in Puerto Rico. His daughter Martha has said he wasn't a chef, but he always loved the kitchen.
The walk-up window never closes: it serves the full menu 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
| Havana Restaurant · 6801 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach · 561-547-9799 Walk-up window 24/7 · Dining room Mon–Tue 11–4, Wed–Sat 11–10, Sun 11–9 · havanacubanfood.com |
Sources: Havana · Eat Palm Beach, 2018
✦ Trivia Question |
Flagler’s 1893 town plan named downtown’s east–west streets Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia and Fern. What’s the pattern? (Answer at the bottom.)
✦ Quote of the Day |
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” — Jane Jacobs, 1961
✦ Secret Little Hack |
Have a Mandel Library card? You get one free notary stamp a day ($5 otherwise). Bring a valid ID, and call 561-868-7701 to make sure a notary is in. The library can’t notarize real estate or mortgage documents, powers of attorney, I-9s or apostilles (library notary services).
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Real Estate Pulse |
501 houses for sale (Sept) | 5.0 mo supply, houses | 1,073 condos & town- homes for sale | 7.8 mo supply, condos |
The clearest signal is supply: about five months of houses and nearly eight months of condos on the market — buyers have room to negotiate, especially on condos, where the median sold price ($210,000) fell 5.4% from a year ago. The September house median jumped to $625,000 on 101 sales; a month that small can swing, so read it as a single month, not a trend. Figures are a BeachesMLS sample published by a local brokerage.
Sources: PBP Real Estate — West Palm Beach statistics (BeachesMLS)
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Service Opportunities |
Shop the opening GreenMarket on Saturday — most vendors are small, local businesses. Or adopt: the county shelter on Belvedere Road has dogs and cats waiting.
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Adopt a Friend |
Meet Bean
6 years · Male (neutered)
“Bean is a 6-year-old male dog ready to add lots of love to your life! He gets along well with other dogs and has a medium energy level.” Brown and white, about 54 pounds. See Bean’s listing →
| Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control · 7100 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach · 561-233-1200 Mon–Fri 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–4 p.m. · adoption page |
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Growth & Learning |
Walk Clematis Street with your kids and read the cross-street signs in order. Can they spot the pattern Flagler’s surveyor built in 1893? Then ask: why would a new town name its streets alphabetically? More at unrivaledacademy.com.
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Local Theory & Remnant Radio |
 | Now playing: Sovereign Ground — the latest Local Theory album (April 3, 2026 · 15 tracks). Listen · vote on the mixes. Remnant Radio streams the whole catalog 24/7 at radio.thinkandactlocally.com · Spotify. Fourteen releases. Sovereignty through sound. |
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Weather Forecast |
Sun Mostly sunny 86° 81° | Mon Mostly sunny 86° 79° | Tue Storms likely 86° 77° | Wed Storms likely 85° 76° | Thu Storms likely 85° 78° | Fri Storms possible 86° 79° | Sat Storms possible 86° 80° |
Mostly sunny to start the week, then a wet stretch: storms are likely Tuesday through Thursday. The NWS has a rip current statement out for Palm Beach County beaches — swim near a lifeguard.
Sources: National Weather Service (MFL), retrieved Oct 4
✦ CrowdHealth |
 | David and his family left traditional health insurance for CrowdHealth — a community that funds each other’s medical bills. Bills get negotiated down first; no claims department, no denial letters. See how it works. Referral link. David is a paying member. |
✦ Unrivaled Travels |
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✦ Unrivaled Candles |
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✦ Unrivaled Marketing Solutions |
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✦ Sponsor Spot |
This spot is open. Sponsor this spot — reach West Palm Beach neighbors every Sunday, in the one inbox they actually read. Reply to book it.
✦ They Told Him He Was Crazy |
David sold his metals. Not trimmed — sold. He kept the receipts, every decision sourced, so you can decide for yourself: conviction, or crazy? Read the filing →
David’s own account; affiliate link. Support never touches coverage.
✦ Have a Question? Ask It Live |
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THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Community Voices |
Who in West Palm deserves a thank-you this week? The GreenMarket vendor who saves you the last loaf, the librarian who knows your kid’s name, the neighbor who checks on your street after a storm. Hit reply — one or two sentences — and we’ll run the best next Sunday.
✦ Take Action |
- Watch or attend the Mayor/Commission work session, Monday, Oct 5, 10 a.m., City Hall Flagler Gallery.
- Read the Oct 13 agenda before Thursday’s 11 a.m. agenda review.
- Go to GreenMarket Saturday, 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 100 N. Clematis St.
✦ Submit Your Content |
Events, business features, volunteer calls, letters from West Palm Beach: david@thinkandactlocally.com. Deadline: Thursday 5 PM for Sunday.
✦ Answer to Trivia |
They’re alphabetical. Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia, Fern — A through F, from north to south, in the town plan Flagler commissioned in 1893 (WPB Magazine).
THE HERALD ✦ WEST PALM BEACH Keep the Herald Free |
No advertiser sets our coverage — readers keep it alive. The best thing you can do costs nothing: forward this to one neighbor who drives Parker Avenue.
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The Herald is published by Think and Act Locally. Its facts come from the public record kept by the Council on Local Relations, which shares a founder with Think and Act Locally. Portions drafted with AI assistance and reviewed before publication. Reply anytime: david@thinkandactlocally.com
