MARTY bus service shuts down after the county's operator walks away
Free ride options after the bus shutdown, plus new plant jobs, a stalled riverfront permit and a beach rescue.
Joe is 67, a veteran who can't feel his feet, and MARTY is how he gets to work some days and to the church that feeds him. Last Thursday he waited at his stop, and no bus ever came.
Twenty-nine MARTY workers lost their jobs along with the buses. Martin County Transit, which ran the system under contract, quit last Thursday, two weeks after giving notice it would leave in 180 days, the county said. The company blamed rising operating costs. County leaders said the two sides were negotiating after it asked for a much bigger contract. Public Works Director Jim Gordon said the county got no heads-up. Riders didn't either. "No warning at all, nothing, zero," Joe said.
For now, the local United Way is leaning on Ride United, which books free Lyft rides in advance for eligible residents headed to work, the grocery store, the doctor or other essential errands. Call United Way at 772-283-4800. Paratransit riders can call 772-463-2822.
The charity is candid about the limits. Ride United can't fully replace fixed routes or paratransit, and it lasts only as long as the money does. Rising demand and other funding cuts were already straining it. Ashley Capital has pledged an initial $2,500, and a second donor has given too. "When a critical service like this disappears, the need doesn't disappear with it," said Carol G. Houwaart-Diez, who runs the local United Way.
Ikonick adds an Indiantown primer plant to its Stuart ammo operation
At full capacity, the new Indiantown plant could turn out a billion primers a year, said Richard Rhatigan, an Ikonick USA vice president. A primer is the small piece that ignites the powder inside a round. At the company's Stuart plant, workers fit primers together with brass casings and projectiles to make finished ammunition, and with Indiantown running, Ikonick Energetics says about 75% of every round is now made in Martin County. The company plans to hire more than 100 people across both sites, from entry-level work to skilled manufacturing jobs. That matters here: the latest figures put jobless rates in Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie counties above Florida's average.
Surfer helps pull three girls from a rip current off Bob Graham Beach
The girl Amy Offenbach paddled to shore told her she had blacked out underwater, inhaled water and had a severe headache. Offenbach, an avid surfer who works in the county's growth and development office, reached the beach near Jensen Beach around 2 p.m. last Thursday and spotted the girls about 25 yards out. Once they started waving, she and a friend paddled out. Two girls took her surfboard and kicked for shore, and she brought the third in on her soft-top. The beach has no lifeguards, so she took the girl by car to a lifeguard station nearby, and an ambulance was called from there. She still hasn't learned how the girl is doing. Her advice: swim at guarded beaches when you can, check the rip current forecast, and bring a board or flotation device when it makes sense.
County board sends Loxahatchee River home permit back to staff, 3-2
Cory Beaton keeps bees on his lot on Southeast Loxahatchee River Road, but he still can't build a house there. The Palm Beach County firefighter's survey, title and tax records all show more than two acres. County Administrator Don Donaldson and growth management chief Paul Schilling say the agriculturally zoned lot misses the two-acre minimum for a home because part of it sits underwater. Beaton says the rule excludes only submerged land past the boundary his survey describes, and he cites three nearby properties where underwater acreage counted. Staff now call those mistakes. The county wants him to rezone to Residential Estate District and has offered to waive the fees.
Commissioners granted the permit 3-2 in August. Commissioner Eileen Vargas of District 1 then got the board to reconsider, 5-0, after an engineer turned up conflicting information, County Attorney Elysse Elder said. At the rehearing two weeks ago, Commissioner Stacey Hetherington moved to approve. Commissioner Ed Ciampi, who had noted that Beaton bought after seeing someone build on a dry 1.6-acre lot, seconded. That failed 2-3. Chairwoman Sarah Heard then handed off the gavel to second Commissioner Blake Capps' motion sending the permit back to staff, which passed despite Beaton's warning that Schilling would only repeat the rezoning demand. As of late last week, it wasn't clear whether Schilling had met with Beaton yet.
The stakes reach past one lot: homes already sit on similar-size parcels along Beaton's street, and that could set a legal precedent.