Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Sally SwartzJanuary 18, 2016

Some bad ideas don’t die. They lie dormant until a politician tries to resurrect them. So it is with the controversial $1.6 million customs facility at Witham Field, Martin County’s Airport. Martin commissioners considered the proposal eight times before they finally rejected it last March by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Doug Smith and John […]

Guest AuthorDecember 30, 2015

The good news about Martin County’s new $275,000 website: It displays nicely on mobile phones and tablet computers. There’s also a lot of bad news: No staff directory. No easy way to locate agendas, minutes, documents or just about anything else. And so many complaints and disgruntled users the county could use another website just […]

Sally SwartzDecember 29, 2015

The good news about Martin County’s new $275,000 website: It displays nicely on mobile phones and tablet computers. There’s also a lot of bad news: No staff directory. No easy way to locate agendas, minutes, documents or just about anything else. And so many complaints and disgruntled users the county could use another website just […]

Sally SwartzDecember 13, 2015

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It’s a measure of just how much interest Martin County elections generate that – even though the first local primary isn’t until Aug. 30 — challengers already are lined up to run for sheriff, tax collector and for three county commission seats. Retired Martin County Sheriff’s Office major Robert Pryor, 57, an independent from Jensen […]

Sally SwartzDecember 2, 2015

The fight to stop All Aboard Florida from ruining Treasure Coast downtowns and neighborhoods, slowing ambulances and endangering pedestrians at railway crossings is far from over. In fact, a spokesman for Citizens Against Rail Expansion (CARE FL) said his group of 15,000 already has raised and spent $1.4 million and is working to raise another […]

Sally SwartzDecember 1, 2015

The fight to stop All Aboard Florida from ruining Treasure Coast downtowns and neighborhoods, slowing ambulances and endangering pedestrians at railway crossings is far from over. In fact, a spokesman for Citizens Against Rail Expansion (CARE FL) said his group of 15,000 already has raised and spent $1.4 million and is working to raise another […]

Sally SwartzNovember 2, 2015

You could call Jeff Wittman an eternal optimist. The Hobe Sound resident never has stopped believing that a 46-acre chunk of Florida scrub wilderness between U.S. 1 and Alternate A1A, south of Bridge Road, should belong to the people forever. For almost a decade, the land has been the prize in a tug of war […]

Sally SwartzOctober 20, 2015

About 150 of James Hutchinson’s friends braved a stormy night in Stuart last week to hear their favorite celebrated artist talk about living with the Seminoles and Miccosukees half a century ago. Hutchinson’s paintings from those six years, well known statewide and nationally, capture not only a gone-forever way of life, but also the disappearing […]

Sally SwartzOctober 7, 2015

A proposed new gated community of 92 upscale “row houses,” priced from the high $200s to the middle $300,000s, has south Martin County residents talking. The townhouses would be built between U.S. 1 and the predominately African-American neighborhood of Banner Lake, in Hobe Sound’s Community Redevelopment Area. Some wonder whether expensive row houses belong in […]

Sally SwartzSeptember 28, 2015

Two members of Martin County’s legislative delegation listened for hours last week while more than 30 residents buttered them up, begged for money, griped about the Florida Legislature’s recent bad decisions and brought wish lists for 2016. Republican Rep. Gayle Harrell of Stuart turned the annual event, held at the Martin Commission headquarters in Stuart, […]

Tag: Martin County

Sally Swartz: Customs facility was a bad idea – and it still is

Sally Swartz: New public website looks good, has little to say

Sally Swartz: New public website looks good, has little to say

Sally Swartz: Local Martin County races generating heat 8 months out

Sally Swartz: All Aboard Florida needs to take new route

Sally Swartz: All Aboard Florida needs to take new route

Sally Swartz: Long-delayed land buy now turns to Joe Negron, Amendment 1

Sally Swartz: Accomplished artist recalls life with Seminoles, Miccosukees

Sally Swartz: Gated community could set precedent

Sally Swartz: Constituents still want environmental action