1/20/16 v3i2

Gazette

Volume 3 • Issue 2 January 20, 2016

Wilton Manors

Twice-Monthly Neighborhood Outlook

City To Give Away Trees

By Michael d’Oliveira The city’s Tree Giveaway will be held on Saturday, Jan. 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Mickel Park, 2675 NW 7 Ave. Funded through a grant from Waste Management, the city will be giving away up to two free trees per household: Oak, Gumbo Limbo, Fiddlewood, Avocado and Mango.

Helping residents pick out the right tree for their yard will be Karl Lentzer, professional landscaper and member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

“I’m going to be there to educating people on the trees. They’ll be getting education first and then onto the tree selection.” As an example,

Lentzer said residents don’t want to plant an Oak too close to their home. As the tree grows, its roots could come in contact with a home’s foundation and cause damage. Information on planting, watering and ongoing care will also be available.

Trees will be given out in three gallon containers for easy transport and planting. Proof of residency is required. WMG For more information, call Todd DeJesus, capital projects and grants manager, at 954-6303101.

Lane Closures Expected During Dixie Construction

By Michael d’Oliveira

The city’s planned improvements to Dixie Highway between Five Points and the Middle River will cause lane closures during construction.

City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said a schedule of lane closures isn’t ready yet but business owners on the street would be notified when more information is available. She said or both lanes would be closed at times. Henderson said work would be completed as soon as possible.

At the Jan. 12 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved hiring Weekley Asphalt

Paving for construction services.

Plans for the street, funded by a $997,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, include new pedestrian safety lighting, signage, sidewalks and safe pedestrian crossings, the addition of a bicycle lane, curbing and landscaping. The amount being paid to Weekley is $973,000. Henderson said $173,000, from two different budget years, was being set aside as contingency to cover any additional expenses that may occur. WMG

Business Expo

By Michael d’Oliveira

On Monday, March 14 at 6 p.m. the Wilton Manors Business Association [WMBA] will hold its annual Business Expo in the Hagen Park Community Center, 2020 Wilton Drive. There is no cost for booth space but the event is only open to WMBA members. Yearly membership dues start at $75. Businesses that attend are asked to bring a door prize.

“It’s basically to make the community aware of local business and for the businesses to showcase what they do

in the community and to make people aware that there is a business association,” said Karl Lentzer, president of WMBA. WMBA meetings are held the second Monday of each month and hosted by a different business owner.

A monthly networking lunch is also held. To join WMBA and be part of the Expo, call 954-385-4567, visit wiltonmanorsbusinessassociation.com or email info@ wiltonmanorsbusinessassociation.com. WMG

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Opinion

MLK – Looking Beyond The Dream

By Sal Torre

Gazette Wilton Manors

JANUARY 20, 2016 • VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 2

2520 N. DIXIE HIGHWAY • WILTON MANORS, FL 33305 PHONE: 954-530-4970 FAX: 954-530-7943

PUBLISHER • NORM KENT NORM.KENT@SFGN.COM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER • PIER ANGELO GUIDUGLI ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER / EXECUTIVE EDITOR • JASON PARSLEY JASON.PARSLEY@SFGN.COM

Editorial

ART DIRECTOR • BRENDON LIES ARTWORK@SFGN.COM ONLINE PRODUCER • DENNIS JOZEFOWICZ DENNIS.JOZEFOWICZ@SFGN.COM EDITORIAL ASSISTANT • JILLIAN MELERO JILLIANMELERO@GMAIL.COM NEWS EDITOR • MICHAEL D’OLIVEIRA

Correspondents

NATALYA JONES • JOHN MCDONALD • JAMES OAKSUN

Staff Photographers

J.R. DAVIS • POMPANO BILL • STEVEN SHIRES

Sales & Marketing

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING • MIKE TROTTIER MIKE.TROTTIER@SFGN.COM

Dr. Martin Luther King Day catches me by surprise each year. Having just made it through the usual holiday madness and finally having a moment to catch my breath, I realize it’s already MLK Day weekend. For most of us, it is a welcome three-day weekend to relax.

Unfortunately, unless you are African American, this holiday weekend is just about that, a day off from work. I wish all Americans would take a moment and listen to this great American hero, a man only in his thirties, leading our nation with words of love, peace, compassion, forgiveness, and hope. Positive uplifting words spoken truthfully would be a welcome relief today instead of the negative, media-driven lies we have become far too comfortable hearing from our political leaders.

Hard to imagine that King delivered the “I have a Dream” speech over 50 years ago. How far have we come? Why do we still see so much unemployment, inner city poverty, uneducated youth with no hope, low wage jobs that keep people trapped in poverty, and the wealthy one percent grabbing even greater riches for themselves?

Perhaps it is because we keep electing the same people to public office. We listen to the lies, the scare tactics, and the divisiveness. We keep voting for the status quo, and nothing changes. Unfortunately, our politicians need so much cash for campaigning that they sell their souls to Corporate America. This is true on both sides of the aisle. The Clintons have sold their souls just like the Bush brothers, the Rubios, and the like. Ted Cruz’s wife is a managing director for Goldman Sachs for heaven’s sake!

Do you really think he cares about the interests of average Americans when his campaign is so heavily funded by wealthy corporations?

So why are we so afraid to vote for someone like Bernie Sanders?

Sanders has been true to his beliefs his entire life, has raised millions in campaign funds through small donations from average Americans wanting change, and stands to fight for the policies that will finally break the cycle of social injustice that Dr. King preached about so many years ago.

We must start to vote for those who will actually fight for our needs and no longer keep us waiting. Waiting for better wages, for schools that educate our children, for job programs that lift people out of poverty

instead of putting them in prison, for true healthcare reform that recognizes all citizens’ right to healthcare, for the brutality of poverty to end in this wealthy country. America has been waiting for over 50 years for this dream of social justice to come true, we cannot wait any longer.

To bring this dream home to Wilton Manors, residents need to come together and protect this wonderful community we call home.

As more and more vacation rentals keep popping up throughout our neighborhoods, we must demand an end to those cashing in on our piece of paradise. We created an Arts and Entertainment District. We created areas for Bed & Breakfast businesses. We already have areas zoned for commercial and mixed use.

So leave our single-family neighborhoods alone!

Unfortunately, more and more homes in our city are being turned into money-making businesses with no regard for their neighbors’ quality of life or their property.

In the next few weeks, our City Commission will be voting on an ordinance similar to the one that the City of Fort Lauderdale recently passed.

Residents should voice their concerns and speak out at the next City Commission meeting scheduled for Jan. 25. Our community should not be turned into party city, allowing vacation home rentals to continue proliferating without any control. Do not fool yourself into thinking that this is someone else’s problem, a vacation home can open on your street or right next door and once the party begins, protecting our quality of life may be too late.

I started this article highlighting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., went on to discuss the whoring of our political leaders out to Corporate America due to their addiction to campaign cash, and ended with vacation rentals here in Wilton Manors. In my mind, it all connects. The common thread is achieving social justice by fighting greed, seeking truth, and strengthening our community.

Dr. King said it best, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” I will not be silent, and I hope residents of Wilton Manors will not be silent when it comes to protecting our city.

Why? Because our quality of life is just worth protecting here… WMG

I wish all Americans would take a moment and listen to this great American hero.

SALES MANAGER • JUSTIN WYSE JUSTIN.WYSE@SFGN.COM ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • EDWIN NEIMANN EDWIN.NEIMANN@SFGN.COM ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • CINDY CURTIS CINDY.CURTIS@SFGN.COM ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE • JIM ALBRIGHT JIM.ALBRIGHT@SFGN.COM ACCOUNTING SERVICES BY CG BOOKKEEPING South Florida Gay News is published weekly. The opinions expressed in columns, stories, and letters to the editor do not represent the opinions of SFGN, or the Publisher. You should not presume the sexual orientation of individuals based on their names or pictorial representations. Furthermore the word “gay” in SFGN should be interpreted to be inclusive of the entire LGBT community. All of the material/columns that appears in print and online, including articles used in conjunction with the AP, is protected under federal copyright and intellectual property laws, and is jealously guarded by the newspaper. Nothing published may be reprinted in whole or part without getting written consent from the Publisher, at his law office, at Norm@NormKent.com. SFGN, as a private corporation, reserves the right to enforce its own standards regarding the suitability of advertising copy, illustrations and photographs.

Associated Press

Copyright © 2014 South Florida Gay News.com, Inc.

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The Big Long

Real Estate Geek

By James Oaksun Recently Ryan and I went to see the movie, “The Big Short.” For those unaware, it's a story on the origins and mechanics of the 2002-2007 housing bubble and its aftermath. It is true that many lost a great deal of money.

But as the movie shows, some gained spectacularly.

There is an extensive section in the movie on the South Florida market, complete with “therapist” investors and a couple of mortgage brokers whose depiction I am certain horrified my friends in the Mortgage Professional Association.

I think it's helpful, especially as high season gets rolling, to remind ourselves of the backdrop of “The Big Short.” Courtesy of our friends at the Federal Housing Finance Administration, the chart here shows a very long term (40-year) view of Broward real estate prices.

From 1999 to the peak in 2006, prices here tripled!

Some neighborhoods and property types, of course, had even greater appreciation. Then the music stopped, and it all came crashing down.

But only to a point. Not to zero – just to roughly the 2002 level.

From the 2011 trough, prices (through 3Q15) are on average up about 30 percent, as I have shown in my Broward's Real Estate Yearbook (available online at issuu.com/jamesoaksun/docs/2015_yearbook). Again,

some neighborhoods (including most of the Island City) have seen even greater appreciation.

Why did I title this column, The Big Long? (Get your minds out of the gutter.) In investing, a “long” position is an ownership position that will increase in value if prices increase (as opposed to what was shown in the movie, where the investors made huge gains when prices collapsed).

Real estate turns out to be an outstanding investment in two, distinct situations as seen in this chart as well as in recent market activity among property sellers (as I mentioned in the last column).

First, those who had the wisdom (or good luck/timing) to buy in 2011 have made a very tidy return. Assuming 30 percent investor leverage, selling for a 30 percent profit after four years equates to a gross return before taxes and expenses of 100 percent. We see a lot of these people now selling.

Another group of sellers (also shown on the chart) would be people who bought as prices started to rise in 2002 up to maybe 2004, but before the absolute peak.

These people are now able to sell for about what they paid for their properties.

The final group of sellers are “really long longs” who have owned for 30 or more years. WMG

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James Oaksun, Broward's Real Estate GeekSM, is a Realtor with the Wilton Manors office of RE/MAX Preferred. In addition to having degrees from Dartmouth and Cornell, he is a graduate of the Realtors Institute (GRI).

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Business

I’m gay.

WilMa Goes Green

Commission approves new building program

I am the future of the LGBT community. And I read about that future every day on my work laptop. Because that’s where I want it to be.

By Michael d’Oliveira

The person depicted here is a model.Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

What started as just requiring electric car charging infrastructure in new homes has morphed into an entire program for green building design.

At their Jan. 12 meeting, commissioners approved a new green building program that provides incentives for those who build or remodel homes which are more environmentally friendly.

The program’s benefits include reduced permitting fees, a fast-track schedule for building permits, solar water heater incentives and cash renovation. The city also plans to promote homeowners who utilize the program and create a promotional package.

“I was just trying to get electric vehicle charging [stations] done. He expanded it,” said Commissioner Tom Green of Commissioner Justin Flippen.

Green first proposed the electrical car charger infrastructure on new homes a few months ago. “If you don’t tear down your house and rebuild it, you won’t ever have to pay [for this]. I had hoped we’d be a leader in this.”

At that previous meeting, Flippen compared the incentives to “dangling a carrot.”

City staff will still have to work out a fee scale to determine how much in incentives a homeowner can receive.

Originally, commissioners would have had to approve each green program applicant but they decided to leave the decision with staff. Flippen said that would have been “unnecessary bureaucracy.” Mayor Gary Resnick the process needs to be “transparent and non-arbitrary.” WMG

Community

Wilton Manors Music

By Michael d’Oliveira The Piatigorsky Foundation of New York City, in a partnership with the Leisure Services Department, will hold the Annual Classical Concert at the Hagen Park Community Center, 2020 Wilton Drive, on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

This year’s performance features Katharine Dain and Jeffrey Grossman. Dain is an internationally-recognized soprano.

Grossman, a pianist, is known for his “musicality in every style,” and co-leads the baroque ensemble “The Sebastians” and other groups. Admission is free.

The city will also hold a monthly Music at Mickel concert series on the third Friday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. at Mickel Park, 2675 NW 7 Ave. Feb. 19 is “Jam Port Authority,” Rock, Funk and Jazz; and March 18 is “Otis Cadellac and the El Dorados,” Classic R&B, Root Rock & Roll Blues. Admission is free and food trucks will be on hand to sell food and beverages.

“One of the goals of our city is to offer unique programing that encourages a

sense of community and the exploration of our public spaces,” Mayor Gary Resnick said. “This concert series will offer our residents an opportunity to enjoy this newly renovated park and concert pavilion while socializing with members of their community.” WMG

For more information, call 954-390-2130.

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Community

Equality In The Garden

By Olivia Sheets For the last five years Equality Park Garden Club, presided over by Chuck Nicholls, has been cultivating horticulture monthly in Wilton Manors with the help of Bromeliads, Orchids, and other USDA Zone 10 subtropical plants.

Nicholls founded the EPGC and took on introductory presidency in April 2010 after a previous club he was a member of disbanded as elderly members passed away. Since then EPGC and flora and fauna alike have flourished, club enrollment has surpassed 60 members, 15 times the four members it started with.

Hosted by the Pride Center and staying true to the Equality in its name, EPGC welcomes all community members and horticulturalists. Along with seasoned horticulturalists, those without gardens or textbook knowledge are welcome, and the group occasionally gives tips on container or plant box gardening for those interested that live in a high rise. The important thing, according to Nicholls, is the community involvement and enthusiasm.

“When you’re a plant enthusiast, it’s very contagious. It’s a passion. An obsession.”

At risk of a terrible pun, that obsession’s roots run pretty deep.

Not only has the community membership of the group swelled solely from word of mouth, according to Nicholls EPGC has yet to have any paid advertising, the club hosts monthly speakers on all things plant life.

Past presentations have ranged from Vermilion and Orchid care to landscape and waterfall design, and even featured logistical topics like irrigation.

At the Nov. 18 - Chuck meeting Patrick Huey of Fort Lauderdale’s Flowers and Found Objects spoke about decorating for the holidays and showcasing natural displays. October’s guests were Penny Sanfilippo and Jonny Altobell, sisters and dynamic duo behind the 11th Street Annex restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, with a presentation on cooking with plants and garden herbs and spices, and yes, the group got to try samples.

The club will host horticulturalists and nurserymen, but if a member specializes in

something then they are more than welcome to host a presentation too.

“We’re all dirt gardeners, but some are more sophisticated than others. Some have degrees in horticulture and so forth and most of them don’t,” said Nicholls. “It’s a learning process. People are there to learn.”

Like with a lot of learning processes, EPGC’s includes field trips. The club will have one or two bus rambles per year to specialists and gardens in the Homestead and Miami area.

“We can go to retail nurseries here but you don’t see the full array of plants. There are orchid specialists down there, there are landscapes with palm and the average nursery here may have a selection of palm, but they don’t have that wide variety,” Nicholls said. “Basically we go there to broaden Nicholls our horizons and see what is available.”

However EPGC has its own showcase to draw South Floridian horticulturalists in; their annual A Tropical Plant Fair.

The Fair was thought of by Nicholls with a co-chairman in 2013, the two wrote to vendors after realizing the Pride Center’s showcase potential and wanting a free showcase closer to home instead of at Palm Beach or Miami locations or waiting for entrance fee locations to open up.

"When you’re a plant enthusiast, it’s very contagious. It’s a passion. An obsession."

“In March there was little competition for vendors in this area,” Nicholls said. “People go out and spend all kinds of money on gas looking for these people, we thought we would bring them to the center.”

While the Fair was still a startup, Nicholls and his co-chairman wrote to vendors to gage community interest. It was the overcoming amount of feedback and response that caused the event to become such a successful annual event, reaching as many as 40 to 50 vendors just over the past three years.

“I think last year we had more vendors than we could possibly handle,” Nicholls said. “It’s been successful beyond expectation.”

Although it may seem overwhelming at

certain times, Nicholls still has plans for the club and will continue to aspire to more with new lessons as the club continues to grow.

“Our primary mission is to inform people,” Nicholls said. “And my mission is to continue the garden club. I’m very proud of being the first president of the Garden Club, and I want this legacy to continue on long after I leave this planet.”

In the meantime, Nicholls enjoys the club and gardening simply because of the organic outreach and network the community has found and gardening’s therapeutic and stress-relieving aspects. There’s that, and the fact that Nicholls says the group has great refreshments. WMG

EPGC meets the third Wednesday of the month at Pride Center at Equality Park, 2040 N. Dixie Highway Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Visit EPGCwm.com for more information.

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Community

City to Come up With Economic Development Strategic Plan

By Michael d’Oliveira

As the old saying goes, “you’ve got to spend money to make money” and Wilton Manors is attempting to do that by hiring consultants to create an Economic Development Strategic Plan.

At their Jan. 12 meeting, commissioners approved hiring Strategic Planning Group, based out of Ponte Vedra Beach, for $56,501.

The firm’s job now is to come up with a plan that will increase the city’s tax base, create new jobs, promote key redevelopment, enhance the business climate, facilitate growth, address the needs of businesses and attract new ones to the city.

All of that, if implemented successfully, would generate more revenue for the city and benefit businesses here. “The city’s ultimate goal is to sustain and expand its economic base in order to provide for a high quality of life for all residents,” wrote Roberta Moore, Community Development Services director.

Mayor Gary Resnick said he expects to see a plan that isn’t “cookie cutter”

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and directed city staff “to stay on top” of Strategic Planning Group to make sure they create something useful to the city. “It can’t be something that would work in Fort Lauderdale.”

In its proposal, Strategic Planning Group, which was founded in 1983, stated it had economic development experience in 45 cities across Florida, from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Pembroke Pines.

“Strategic Planning Group has a working knowledge of South Florida and Broward County. We understand its growth history and its politics and have a strong working relationship with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. We believe we have the unique talent and real world expertise to develop an Economic Development Action Plan that can truly impact the Quality of Life of the citizens of Wilton Manors and increase the City’s revenue stream,” wrote Robert Gray, president of Strategic Planning Group. WMG

Community

Residents Want Tougher Regulation of Vacation Rentals

By Michael d’Oliveira

There’s no big hotel in Wilton Manors.

But for some residents, there might as well be. And they aren’t too happy.

That’s because of the proliferation of vacation rentals, single-family homes and condos being rented out to tourists for short periods – weekends, a week or whatever length of time they choose. Jeffrey Hill, who owns some vacation rentals and manages 18 of them, estimates there at least 120 in the city.

Residents who live next to some of these vacation rentals say they are a nuisance, including a source of a lot of noise late at night. Father John Joseph Reid and Anne French say five of the homes in their 39home neighborhood are vacation rentals.

“That’s scary,” said French.

“Where am I living? What’s happening to my neighborhood?” Reid asked.

Resident Constance Ruppender said her neighborhood used to have one vacation rental. Now, there are three. “I’m watching my Mayberry morph into something I don’t recognize. I’m mad about no more quiet,” she said at a commission meeting a few months ago. “Can you do anything about that? Can you guys save my Mayberry?” she asked commissioners.

Now the commission has an answer: we’re working on it.

It’s an issue they have expressed empathy on.

Mayor Gary Resnick urged residents to contact their legislators and said it was a priority for the Broward League of Cities.

“Some of the [vacation rental] owners are fine but there are others who could care less.”

Resnick added that every neighborhood has at least one vacation rental, including his.

At their Jan. 12 meeting, commissioners directed City Attorney Kerry Ezrol to draft an ordinance dealing with the issue.

In a response to the city about regulating vacation rentals, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that municipalities could not restrict vacation rentals from operating in residential areas. She also advised the city that the state, not local governments,

is responsible for shutting down illegally operating rentals.

But new developments may alter Bondi’s opinion.

Last week, the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal supported an earlier ruling in favor of Flagler County’s vacation rental ordinance.

Also, two bills proposed by the legislature, HB 4045 and SB 1598, would “Authorize local laws, ordinances, and regulations to prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration and frequency of rentals.”

Commissioner Tom Green said he wants the city’s ordinance “to be as onerous as legally possible. This has gone on too long.”

At a previous meeting, Ezrol advised, “The more restrictive [the ordinance], the more likely it’s open to a lawsuit.”

But not all commissioners expressed as much eagerness to crack down on vacation rentals. “The Devil’s always in the details,” said Commissioner Justin Flippen, who pointed out some of the benefits vacation homes: renovation of dilapidated homes and the improvement of property values and the economic development that comes with that.

Hill, in an interview with The Gazette, echoed Flippen.

Hill said vacation rentals bring in tourists who patronize the bars, restaurants and other businesses in the city. “There’s a couple thousand people who come to the city each year [because of us]. We put millions into these places. These are not trashy places.”

Rather than pass new laws, Hill said he thinks the city should work more closely with the responsible owners to help root out the bad. He said he’s very stringent with who he rents his properties to, not allowing anyone under 25 or large groups, and has only had one incident – a renter who robbed one of the houses, stealing furniture, electronics and appliances.

He and some other owners have started the Wilton Manors Vacation Rental Homeowners Association to establish standards and police themselves. “Don’t throw out all the apples because there’s only a couple bad ones.” WMG

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Community

Through Art, 6 Hands Collaborative Hopes to Inspire Cancer Victims

By Michael d’Oliveira

When Janet Gold was looking for a way to keep fighting cancer, she found four more hands willing to help.

Gold, a breast cancer survivor, has partnered with fellow artists Deborah Gregg and Andrea Huffman and created the 6 Hands Collaborative – named after the six hands of the three artists.

“I knew I didn’t have the energy to go back to full time teaching,” said Gold about after she beat breast cancer. So she started 6 Hands 18 months ago to inspire others going through cancer.

“We’ve done so many things. We’ve move forward so fast,” Gold said. One of those accomplishments is a grant from Broward Cultural Council.

To help inspire cancer patients, survivors and caregivers, 6 Hands Collaborative will host an Affirmation Banner Workshop, funded by the grant and in partnership with Gilda’s Club of Fort Lauderdale, on Saturday, Jan. 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Art Gallery 21, 600 NE 21 Ct.

“We want to have [them create affirmation banners, similar in appearance to Tibetan prayer flags] that are upbeat and positive,” Huffman said.

“They’re going to work together to make affirmation banners,” Gold said. And it’s the collaboration between Gold, Gregg and Huffman, said Gold, that makes this project so special.

“Collaboration is the new black. The key is we all work on the same piece at the same time. We were very similar in tastes,” Gold said.

Those pieces, along with ones created by other artists as part of the exhibit, will be on display at Art Gallery 21 now through Jan. 29. Art Gallery 21 is open Fridays from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. WMG

For more information, email artgallery21wcwm@gmail.com or call 954-661-4740.

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