Gazette Wilton Manors
Volume 2 • Issue 20 October 21, 2015
Twice-Monthly Neighborhood Outlook
Page 2 Oktoberfest Wilton Manors
Page 2 Tri-Rail Station
Page 3 Real Estate Geek
Page 4 Open Letter To Mayor
Page 4 Focus On Westside
Community Business
Wicked Manors Organizers Anticipate 25,000 to 30,000 Attendees By Michael d’Oliveira Wilton Manors’ annual Wilton Drive-closing Halloween event is expected by organizers to be more packed than usual. In their third year in charge of Wicked Manors, Oct. 31 from 7 p.m. to midnight, Pride Center executives expect attendance to reach between 25,000 and 30,000 – an increase from the estimated 18,000 to 20,000 who attended last year. “It’s on a Saturday. No one works on a Sunday. There’s nothing stopping people from coming out this year,” said Roger Roa, director of development for Pride Center. “This year’s theme is Once Upon A Drive. Fairy tales both good and bad and whatever you’re feeling for that night.” Miss Misty Eyez will serve as the “Dragtastic” emcee on the mainstage along with The HITS 97.3 FM morning show. Adult costume contests, a pet costume contest, kids costume contest and competitions amongst “South Florida’s Fiercest Drag Queens” will be part of the night’s festivities. Thousands in cash prizes are up for grabs. But, added Roa, it will be very much like Wicked Manors’ events of the past.
“Nothing will be extraordinarily different than the last two years.” Roa said the hope is that proceeds from the event will increase as well. “Last year we raised more than $30,000 after all expenses. We’re hoping to double that this year with the ten bars that are going to be on Wilton Drive,” Roa said. That money is reinvested in the Pride Center, located in Wilton Manors. Besides funding Pride Center’s programs and services, “We do it because it brings awareness to the entire South Florida community for who we are and what we do.” Wilton Drive will be closed from Five Points to Northeast 21 Court from 1 p.m. on Oct. 31 to 3 a.m. on Nov. 1. Parking is $10 and available at Hagen Park, 2020 Wilton Drive; Richardson Park, 1937 Wilton Drive; Municipal Complex, 2100 N Dixie Hwy.; the Center for Spiritual Living, 1550 NE 26 St. and the city owned lot at Northeast 26 Street and Northeast 8 Terrace across from Kids In Distress . WMG
Photo: Facebook.
For more information, visit WickedManors.org.
Business
Kiwanis Pumpkin Patch WMG Staff The Kiwanis Club of Wilton Manors has opened its annual Pumpkin Patch at Iberia Bank, 2465 Wilton Drive. The Patch is open Monday to Friday from 12 to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The last day of operation will be Oct. 31 or when all pumpkins are sold. Traditional orange pumpkins are available as well as red, white, blue and yellow pumpkins. Gords,
hay bales and corn stalks are also available for sale. Pets are welcome and photographs are encouraged. Money raised from the sale of pumpkins is used to fund programs that benefit the children of Wilton Manors. “All the proceeds go right back into the community,” said Kate Donohue, Kiwanis secretary. WMG
Photo: Facebook.
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Opinion
Oktoberfest Wilton Manors By Sal Torre
Gazette Wilton Manors
OCTOBER 21, 2015 • VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 20
Photo: Oakland Park Facebook.
2520 N. DIXIE HIGHWAY • WILTON MANORS, FL 33305
Oktoberfest is an annual autumn festival that communities celebrate with plenty of beer drinking and merriment. One can say that sounds like any given Friday night, or most nights, here in Wilton Manors. However, this October has been reason to celebrate here in our Island City. Beginning on Oct. 1, we welcomed in our new City Manager, Leigh Ann Henderson. This new leadership extends to the recent hiring of our new Assistant City Manager, Pam Landi. We welcome Leigh Ann’s many years of experience serving our city, and equally welcome the breath of fresh air blowing in with newcomer Pam Landi, who brings a very impressive track record and experience to our city. Best wishes to both of you in moving our city forward with new energy and renewed focus on what we need to address here in Wilton Manors. More good news followed with the Special City Commission meeting on Oct. 6. This special meeting was for the purpose of appointing the first board members of the recently approved Business Improvement District. This long awaited and long sort after designation creates a special taxing district mainly along Wilton Drive, to bring together property owners and business owners to make improvements and to provide services needed throughout our Arts and Entertainment District. Many outstanding community leaders were appointed to the board and we look forward to the BID‘s first meeting and many wonderful changes to the Drive. Moving ahead to the regularly scheduled City Commission meeting a week after, on Oct. 13, we were tantalized with the presentation by Keith & Associates on what the future might look like for the Andrews Avenue and Oakland Park Blvd corridor. This zoning study was commissioned by our city over a year ago, in large part due to the urging of the Westside Association of Wilton Manors requesting that our city make proactive zoning changes to encourage future redevelopment along this vital and underutilized corridor of our city. We will see the wonderful and energetic Michael Vonder Meulen, Senior Planner of Keith & Associates, make his rounds all month long making presentations of the zoning study to neighborhood associations, Planning and Zoning board, and the Economic Development Task Force. This study lays out a road map to revitalize a major part of our city, to create an environment for future redevelopment through zoning and land use changes. Our small Island City needs to capitalize not only
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Editorial
on the success of Wilton Drive and the Dixie corridor, but expand that success westward to Andrews Avenue to help secure the future financial stability of our city. The creation of new housing stock, new businesses that serve the surrounding community and the redevelopment of existing properties must be a priority of our new city leadership moving forward in the coming year. We created the ‘Drive’ now it’s time to create the ‘ Avenue.’ Also announced by the city are the public safety improvements that the Florida Department of Transportation has planned for Wilton Drive. Finally a crosswalk will be placed at NE 20th Street, flashing beacon signs and possibly new pedestrian lighting along the length of the Drive. Great news from FDOT. October is not all business and no play here in Wilton Manors. Our Leisure Services Department will host the annual Spooktacular event for our local children to enjoy. This event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 22, beginning 6 p.m. at the Wilton Manors Elementary School. Then it’s on to the Halloween extravaganza for children of adult ages, the annual Wicked Manors Halloween Street Party along Wilton Drive hosted by the Pride Center. This year’s theme is, ‘Once upon a Drive,’ and with All Hallow’s Eve falling on a Saturday night, I am sure the Trick or Treating will go on to the early morning hours. Looking to see Kim Davis dress ups walking the Drive with all the other ghouls and demons that come out on this special night. These are only the highlights. There are many other community meetings, social events, and happening every month. All this positive news and community activity reminds us all why we love Wilton Manors, cause life is just better here. WMG
Community
Wilton Manors May Still Get a Tri-Rail Station By Michael d’Oliveira The battle with Oakland Park isn’t over yet
State officials are promising one Tri-Rail station to serve passengers in Wilton Manors and Oakland Park. But with only one station for both cities, the question still remains: what city will it be built in? That’s an answer the Florida Department of Transportation [FDOT] said it hopes to have answered in the Spring of 2016. In total, 25 stations, from Miami-Dade to Jupiter, will be built as part of an eastern extension of Tri-Rail along the FEC Railway. Choosing the site will depend on the residential and/or commercial density of the potential surrounding area and the potential ridership. FDOT officials said maximizing ridership will help the project obtain federal funding. In Tier 1, stations will be built three to four miles apart. If Wilton Manors doesn’t get a station the first time, Amie Goddeau, FDOT Dist. 4 project manager, said there’s a chance it could be chosen in Tier 2. “You’ve got to be cost effective with the key destinations and high ridership. If the system is very successful, you’d have opportunities for
more of a local station. As the system grows, there’s more opportunity,” Goddeau said. If Wilton Manors is chosen, the station could be built somewhere south of the corner of Northeast 26 Street and Dixie Highway. If in Oakland Park, it could be built north of the corner of Oakland Park Boulevard and Dixie Highway. To help Wilton Manors’ chances, in addition to lobbying FDOT directly at a public meeting in 2012, city officials have taken steps to make the area around the railway more attractive. The Transit Oriented Corridor [TOC], which encompasses Dixie Highway was approved by commissioners to allow for more commercial and residential mixeduse. City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said allowing mixed-use will increase the area’s “destination value.” Developers have also played a role by increasing the number of residents who live nearby the train tracks. Built in 2006, Wilton Station,
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located on Northeast 26 Street just east of Dixie Highway, has 272 condo units and 18,000 square feet of retail space. The Metropolitan, currently under construction and located on Northeast 24 Street near Dixie Highway, has 179 apartment units. WMG
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Flipping Broward On Sunday nights, my partner and I enjoy watching “Flipping Vegas.” It’s entertaining (it’s on cable after all) but the implication is that it is easy for a relatively experienced person to make a lot of money by buying distressed properties, spending $30-50,000 bringing them to contemporary standards, and selling at a big profit. Well, as an old MBA, I can tell you the Iron Laws of Finance have not been suspended when it comes to real estate. Much as is the case with gamblers, you always hear
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By James Oaksun
Real Estate Geek
about the wins; never the losses. High reward does not come without high risk. (Of course Reality TV shows don’t highlight the failed deals.) In the property bust of 2006-2011, distressed sales dominated the market here. Not so much within WilMa and Poinsettia Heights (speaking of nearby neighborhoods). However, some of the surrounding areas were really hit hard. With crisis can come opportunity. Investors were able to buy properties almost by the handful in certain neighborhoods – often for 70 percent less than their price at the market high. And yes, many people profited. The lower price at which you can buy, the better the chances of selling for a profit, regardless of what you do to the property. For the largely first time buyers looking at these renovated properties, quality of the work varied widely. Some were done by conscious investors; some by people who cut corners at every juncture. Careful assessment was, and remains, a critical aspect of evaluating these sorts of properties. But what about now, for the investor? Are there still opportunities for these sorts of fix and flip deals in our area? Consider the chart here. While distressed sales
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comprise a smaller part of the market, they are still out there in South Middle River, North Andrews Gardens and other select areas. For WilMa and Poinsettia Heights, I’d have to say the fix and flip ship has sailed. If you’re inclined to give this a try, you have to do your homework to a much greater degree than just a few years back. And you also have to bear in mind that you won’t be the only person seeking such opportunities. And you need a little bit of luck. Do you feel lucky?WMG 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
Letter to the Editor
Demands for New Focus An Open Letter to the Honorable Mayor Resnick on Westside By Michael d’Oliveira
With all due respect, your recent email about updates to the plan for improving pedestrian safety on Wilton Drive are more of the same, idle words. Not once did you address the problem of dangerous drivers. You continue to pursue band-aid type fixes which may or may not get implemented. Changing the timing of the crosswalk outside city hall was done YEARS ago! Changing the timing of that light again will have NO effectiveness whatsoever. If you were really committed to making Wilton Drive safer, here is what you would do: Enforce basic traffic laws. This means speeding, illegal turns, illegal u-turns, illegal lane changes, running lights and stop signs, failing to yield right-of-way to pedestrians especially during right and left hand turns, etc. The car that hit me several years ago did so while I was legally walking across the entrance to CVS. He was making an illegal right turn from the left lane. You continue to FAIL to address the traffic lawlessness. Demand reduction of Wilton Drive to one lane each direction through the business district. Lauderdale-by-theSea did this on A1A. Wilton Manors should do this on Wilton Drive. Nothing fancy, just plastic posts shutting off traffic in the outer two lanes. That will prompt through traffic to take a different route.
Business
Red light cameras along Wilton Drive. I have seen so many times when cars completely ran red lights without even slowing down. Text messaging is the most likely cause of this. Drivers will not change unless they face repeated tickets and hefty fines. Lower the speed limit further. 20 mph would be much better than the current 30 mph speed limit when people are typically driving 40 or 50 mph down Wilton Drive. It is a travesty that you did NOTHING until someone well-known in the community was killed by a car. You FAILED your job for years and years. Now you are finally doing some talk, but not nearly enough action. I will educate everyone I know who is a voter in Wilton Manors what a FAILURE Wilton Manors city government has been. Only after we replace you and the rest of the city commission with responsible people who will actually do something will Wilton Manors ever have a chance of being safer for pedestrians. WMG Sincerely, George Hampton Wilton Manors, FL
The release of a land use study for Oakland Park Boulevard and Andrews Avenue has Westside residents demanding commissioners go beyond research. “Andrews Avenue is an enormously important corridor,” said Sal Torre, president of the Westside Association of Wilton Manors. Resident Jake Valentine praised the city’s recent efforts to redevelop Mickel Park, located in the Westside on Powerline Road, but said the Westside has been “sorely overlooked for many years.” He called Andrews Avenue a “mishmash of code violations and blighted properties.” The study, he added, is a second chance for commissioners to address the needs of the neighborhood. “The Westside will no longer accept the status as a second thought.” Valentine isn’t the first to criticize the commission for neglecting other parts of the city. At various times over the last few years, some commissioners have also said Wilton Drive gets an inordinate amount of attention compared to other areas. “Too much attention is spent on one area of the city. Let’s not neglect the balance of the city,” said Commissioner Julie Carson in 2012. Mayor Gary Resnick said it most recently when the study was presented at the Oct. 13 commission meeting. “It seems we’ve forgotten Andrews and Oakland Park.” He called the study the “first step to improving” the roadways. It won’t be a quick fix though, the mayor added. “Andrews Avenue doesn’t lend itself to becoming more attractive. There’s so much concrete and so little landscaping. These things take a long time.” In recent years, city officials have been able to make improvements or begun the process of improving other areas. Officials
Wilton Drive BID Board Chosen
Wilton Manors’ attempt to generate funding for improvements to Wilton Drive now has a board to oversee the efforts. On Oct. 6, commissioners approved the appointment of seven people to the Wilton Drive Business Improvement District [BID]. The board is made up of a mix of three property owners, three business owners and one resident. Doug Blevins (property owner), James Govin (property owner), Robert Katz (property owner), Paul Hugo (business owner), Greg Phelps (business owner), Danny Scarfone (business owner) and Daniel Keester (resident) are the appointees. The first meeting of the BID will be held on Monday, Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the commission chambers, 2020 Wilton Drive. “We’re finally bringing this to where it needs to be,” Hugo said.
tried to develop an Andrews Avenue Business Improvement District [BID] like the one established for Wilton Drive. “We did explore a BID but the property owners were not generally interested,” Resnick said. The Wilton Drive BID will increase taxes on property owners on that street and use the extra money to make improvements. Recently, the city received $1 million in state funds to improve Dixie Highway from the New River to Five Points. The money will be used for pedestrian, lighting and landscape improvements. The city has also applied for a similar grant for Northeast 26 Street and is working with Fort Lauderdale to try and make Powerline Road safer. Pedestrian, landscaping, bike lane improvements and the addition of medians are some of the improvements Keith & Associates, the engineering firm that performed the land use study, suggested for Andrews Avenue and Oakland Park Boulevard. Complete Streets, a system where pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and buses share the road, could also be implemented Commissioner Tom Green said the addition of medians are important to make Andrews Avenue more like “a city [street] and not a runway.” Adding trees was part of the suggested landscaping improvements. If and when the city were to add them, resident Bob Cassidy said they should be planted along the sidewalks, not the medians. “There’s no shade in the summer,” said Cassidy about Andrews Avenue. The study also suggested attracting more residential development but also warned of the increased demand on resources and roadways that would bring. “We don’t want an 18-story building but there’s got to be more density,” said Green. WMG
By Michael d’Oliveira
The BID, approved by the majority of street’s property owners, is a special taxing district established to raise money to improve the street. It could also be used to help fund the Two Lane Initiative which would reduce the number of lanes on Wilton Drive from four lanes to two. The goal of the initiative is to improve pedestrian safety and add more landscaping and parking. Property owners will be assessed additional millage. The board will have the authority to set the assessment but has to have its budget approved by the commission The goal is to raise $1 million over the next 10 years; a cap of $100,000 per year has been set. Properties would be assessed starting in 2016. The bill for each property owner will be based on square footage. “This is one of the most important boards,” said Commissioner Julie Carson. WMG
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