THE
GAZETTE VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 20 OCTOBER 20, 2022
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WILTON MANORS
VAL DEMINGS VISITS WILTON MANORS URGING PEOPLE TO ‘GET OUT THE VOTE’ By John Hayden The new Get Out the Vote Center (GOTV) election season matters.” in the heart of Wilton Manors held its grand The goal of her speech was to fire up the opening and welcomed a VIP candidate to “true believers” of the party and motivate kick off the final push to election day. them to get out the vote. Congresswoman Val Demings (FL-10 She stressed that LGBT community issues Orlando) is running to oust incumbent Sen. will be a top priority if she wins. Marco Rubio, and brought her campaign to “To make sure we hold America to its the party. promise. To make sure every Despite it being a gloomy, man, woman, boy, every rainy day on The Drive, girl, every person regardless people stood outside and of who they are, the color gave a rock star welcome to of their skin, where they Demings as she stepped off live, how much money her bus. Inside she waded they may have, their sexual through the crowd who orientation, their sexual look at her as one of Florida identity, or religion, will have Democrats’ best chances to an opportunity to succeed break Republicans’ near-lock and live up to their full on winning statewide races. potential. That’s the America Once she got to the we were created to be and microphone Demings made that’s the America we will the political event feel like be.” Sunday morning church. The GOTV Center is a “I came today to tell you place for candidates to something you already know come and directly speak to VAL DEMINGS so let me just reinforce it,” LGBT voters, and more VIP she told the crowd. “When candidates are expected to we show up ... we win!” That was her mantra visit leading up to election day. People can throughout her nine-minute speech. also go and pick up campaign materials. Demings is a former police chief in The GOTV Center is located at 2348 Wilton Orlando, and cheers of “Chief! Chief! Chief!” Drive, and is open 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondayrose from the crowd several times. Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and noon “This is a critical time and a critical until 7 p.m. Sundays through election day. moment in our nation. It matters. This
“I came today to tell you something you already know so let me just reinforce it, when we show up ... we win!”
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Val Demings. Photo via Facebook.
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NEWS
WILTON MANORS
WILTON MANORS OFFICERS GET 7% PAY INCREASE
BROWARD COUNTY PBA SECRETARY
• 10 . 20.2022
2520 N. Dixie Highway • Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Phone: 954-530-4970 Fax: 954-530-7943
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agencies because the money is better. As mentioned, this only modifies the existing contract. The city and the PBA will start negotiations on a new, long-term contract in early 2023.
CITY OF THE ARTS Commissioner Chris Caputo introduced plans for a public arts program, which is one of the city’s strategic goals. “One of the goals is to come up with a public art master plan and could be a living document we could work through.” He points out a lot goes into that type of program, including funding, administration, site selection, how to evaluate and maintain the art. His presentation was well received by fellow commissioners and the idea was referred
to the City Manager’s office to work with Caputo.
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Associated Press MEMBER
PROPERTY TAXES Broward County Property Appraiser, Marty Kiar, came in to give people a breakdown of how much revenue property taxes give to the city and how much they can expect going forward. Like much of Broward County, housing prices in Wilton Manors are skyrocketing, up 19% in a year. However, thanks to the Homestead Exemption, increases in assessed value are capped at 3% annually no matter how much the value may increase. Since that covers most of the homes in Wilton, increased revenue will come from new development. New sales will be taxed at x the real value.
www.WMGAZETTE.com 18
October 20, 2022 • Volume 9 • Issue 20
Editorial
One of the most underpaid police forces in Broward County is getting a raise. At their meeting on Oct. 11, city commissioners voted a 7% across the board raise for Wilton Manors officers. The vote was 4-0, with Commissioner Gary Resnick declining to attend the meeting in person or by phone. Commissioners came under pressure to increase police pay after voting themselves a raise. That required reopening their contract with the Broward County PBA to adjust the last year of the contract. The original deal called for a .5% raise for everyone and a 3% merit-based raise for those deemed worthy. This essentially doubles the scheduled raise and gives it to all officers. The negotiation took a while. “The officers in Wilton Manors are grossly and substantially underpaid,” Don Huneke, Broward County PBA Secretary, said. “We try to retain these officers who know your community, who work in your community, embrace your community and are part of it in many aspects. We don’t want the residents to lose them.” Retention is key, as many experienced officers will go to other law enforcement
DON HUNEKE
GAZETTE
Assistant to the Editor • Kimberly Swan webmaster@sfgn.com
By John Hayden
“The officers in Wilton Manors are grossly and substantially underpaid. We try to retain these officers who know your community, who work in your community, embrace your community and are part of it in many aspects. We don’t want the residents to lose them.”
THE
OCTOBER 20, 2022
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WILTON MANORS
NEWS
WATER COSTS CALLED INTO QUESTION IN WILTON MANORS By John McDonald Paul Rolli wants answers. The Wilton Manors Vice Mayor is calling for a representative from the City of Fort Lauderdale to enter the Island City and explain the rising costs of supplying water. “On the water privatization,” Rolli asked City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson near the end of the Oct. 11 regular commission meeting. “If we could have someone from Fort Lauderdale come and address us so we can have a better understanding of what they’re doing and we can ask the questions we want to ask.” Henderson said a request would be made and Mayor Scott Newton threw his support behind uniting all small cities that purchase water from Fort Lauderdale. “I don’t know why all cities that are getting water from Fort Lauderdale aren’t asking the same questions,” Newton said. “We are stronger as a big group than each individual city doing that.” During the public comments portion of the meeting, resident Paul Kuta encouraged sensible revisions to water fees due to continual rate increases from Fort Lauderdale.
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Mayoral candidate Boyd Corbin was less diplomatic, accusing the commission of using a utility fund to increase salaries. “Our water bills are not some kind of piggy bank for you to give yourself fat raises with,” Corbin said. Corbin also warned if Fort Lauderdale privatizes its tap water, rates will skyrocket. City Finance Director Pennie Zuercher said Fort Lauderdale increased its water rates by 3.5% this year bringing the overall increase to 8.5%. The next commission meeting is scheduled for Oct. 25.
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10 . 20 . 20 22 •
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COMMUNITY
WILTON MANORS
WILTON MANORS HOLDS CIRCUIT PARTY By John Hayden They’re lean, green, electric machines, and they’re cruising the streets from one end of Wilton Manors to the other. Circuit has officially launched in the Island City. City employees and commissioners held a ribboncutting ceremony at city hall on Oct. 11 and then went on some brief rides to celebrate the moment. A fleet of three electric vehicles cruise the city and take people from any point in Wilton Manors to any other point in the city. You can only take the rides by using their app, Ride Circuit, and it costs $2 per person, each way. They’ve already been on the roads for about a month for a “soft launch.” Earlier this year, city commissioners approved a $250,000 subsidy to get the program rolling in Wilton Manors. Karen Jernigan, Circuit’s head of business development in Florida, said the rides help build community. “People learn their drivers’ names, they share rides with friends. It encourages pooling
rides together and bringing people together.” Drivers are local and give recommendations to riders if they have questions about the area, such as where to go for dinner or shopping.
TIME OF DAY Given the social nature of Wilton Manors, it’s no surprise that ridership picks up around happy hour. Add in the fact that it’s a new service that many residents aren’t aware of and it’s very slow during the day. Penny Zuercher, Finance Director for Wilton Manors, said the next goal is to encourage people to use Circuit to do errands. “We want to encourage people to take it during the day. It’s very busy at night. This is available for your Publix run. Maybe go get a prescription at CVS, do some shopping and have lunch on The Drive.” Jernigan said analytics will help them maximize the rides. “We have a robust data algorithm on our
Ribbon-cutting ceremony for ride service Circuit on October 11. Image by John Hayden.
platform. We see maps and ridership and follow regular patterns of the busy hours and they get adjusted from time to time.”
ON THE ROAD Wilton Manors isn’t Circuit’s only foray into the area. The rides are also underway in parts of Fort Lauderdale as well as Oakland Park as part of a pilot program. Since short rides
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are a mile or two, these types of vehicles are perfect for a city the size of Wilton Manors, which is about two square miles. That makes integration with the other cities a challenge. But Zuercher said it’s possible. “Where we can work with the other cities we certainly will.” She sums up the endeavor saying, “Be green, leave the car at home, save on gas and enjoy the city.”