Gazette Wilton Manors
Volume 2 • Issue 17 September 2, 2015
Twice-Monthly Neighborhood Outlook
Page 1 Rental Fee Raise
Page 2 Christmas Is Here
Page 2 Chlorinated Water
Page 3 Real Estate Geek
Page 4 Murder Mystery Dinner
Community Business
Northeast 16 Avenue Slated for Improvements By Michael d’Oliveira Short of the cost of the submitted bids, city staff will ask commissioners to increase funding for planned improvements on Northeast 16 Avenue between Northeast 26 Street and the Middle River. The project includes installing bike lanes, widening the road, installing speed bumps, adding a sidewalk on the western portion of the street, re-grading the swales and adding more safety signage and pavement markings. The goal, according to a press release by the city, is “to reduce vehicular speeds along this roadway, and to enhance pedestrian safety in the area.”
“A couple areas have sidewalks but they’re not continuous,” said Assistant City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson. If the commission approves the additional funding, city staff will bring the bids back at a future meeting to choose which firm will be given the contract. If approved, Henderson estimates the improvements will take about 90 days to complete once construction starts.WMG
Rental Fees May Be Raised
Business
By Michael d’Oliveira
The cost for landlords to rent to tenants may go up soon. Commissioners are considering an increase to the $20 fee the city charges per tenant. The raise could be as low as $5 and as high as $80. At a recent commission meeting, Robert Moore, director of Community Services, said other cities charge between $50 and $100. “I like the idea of raising the rental fee,” Mayor Gary Resnick said.
Commissioners Tom Green and Justin Flippen said the increase should be no more than $5. “They’re going to pass it on [to their tenants],” Vice Mayor Scott Newton said. Resident Tim Ross said a $5 increase would be OK but a larger one might make his landlord “cut back in other areas and raise rent on new people.” But, he said, a $5 increase isn’t something he’s worried about. WMG
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Gazette OMG, Christmas Wilton Manors
Opinion
Is Here….
By Sal Torre
Last week’s regular city commission meeting was cancelled due to our commissioners having previously voted to utilize the second commission date in August as a summer break. Now it’s the beginning of September, Labor Day weekend is approaching, and I am talking Christmas. That’s right friends, once September begins, Christmas is just around the corner. Most of you cannot bear such a thought and will curse me for stating the unavoidable truth. We have entered the last quarter of 2015, another year racing toward the finish line, the Christmas Holiday season, New Year’s Eve, right into 2016, a whole new year. Summer has ended, kids are back in school, Halloween decorations are making their way onto store shelves, and we will quickly be consuming pumpkin spice coffee, lattes, muffins, teas, breads, ice cream, and many more items turned into seasonal favorites by the magic of pumpkin spice marketing. For me, I stick to my usual dark roast coffee and wait until the madness reaches a saturation point and things get back to normal. But enough about pumpkin spice, and back to Christmas. Before those plastic Jack O’ Lanterns at Lowe’s have a chance to gather dust, Christmas decorations will push them out of the way and take over the Gardening Section, and another year will have gone by. So where am I going with this? For me, the beginning of September is a wake-up call, a time to pause and realize that another year will soon be ending, a time to check my list of items I set out to accomplish sometime this year, items seemly planned just a few months ago at the beginning of the year. I realize that it’s time to get cracking, because if I do not get those items done soon, they will not get done any time this year. As we take stock and realize that the year is quickly coming to an end, we hope that our city government and community organizations are doing the same. Will we see the beginning of that new crosswalk on Wilton Drive? Will the Andrews Avenue Redevelopment Initiative be moved ahead with the final release of the Zoning Study? Will we see the first meeting of the newlyselected Business Improvement District Board? Will the city budget for the coming fiscal year be passed with a higher millage rate? Will our city finally take some action on unregulated vacation home rentals now that the City of Fort Lauderdale has led the way? Will our city government finally have an IT Manager in place? Or
Announcement
SEPTEMBER 2, 2015 • VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 17 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
CHRISTIANA LILLY • DENISE ROYAL • NATALYA JONES • JOHN MCDONALD • JAMES OAKSUN
Staff Photographers
J.R. DAVIS • POMPANO BILL • STEVEN SHIRES
Sales & Marketing
perhaps a fully-staffed Police Department? Will residents feel safe enough to begin utilizing Colahatchee Park once again? Time is running out to see these very important goals for 2015 happen before they get pushed off to another year. What makes matters worse is that the Fall season is packed with so many activities and holidays that make it go by even faster than earlier parts of the year. In the blink of an eye, September will be December, and we will be singing Auld Lang Syne before we know it. Here in Wilton Manors, we have a very busy Fall season. On Saturday, September 16, our Library will host a mini-musical at the new Mickel Park, with songs, comedy and puppetry for all ages. On Thursday, September 24, Friends of the Wilton Manors Library will host a fundraiser murder mystery dinner theater. October brings the annual Spooktacular hosted by Leisure Services for our city’s children, followed by the Halloween event along Wilton Drive, Wicked Manors, sponsored by the Pride Center. November brings the Tenth Annual Taste of the Island, on Monday, November 2nd. Then it’s quickly on to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, my birthday, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, New Years’ Eve – like I said earlier, the end of another year. But on the bright side, it’s the beginning of a whole new year, a better year, another year to plan and accomplish plenty. Why? ‘Cause life is just better here. WMG
DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING • MIKE TROTTIER MIKE.TROTTIER@SFGN.COM
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
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Water Chlorination Continues The City of Fort Lauderdale will continue its water chlorination until Sept. 15. This impacts the water service of residents in Wilton Manors and Oakland Park. Fire hydrant flushing will be taking place in conjunction with the water chlorination to ensure that the chlorine is distributed throughout the water system. For more information, call 954390-2190. WMG
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September 2, 2015
When You Can’t Afford A House in WilMa...
Real Estate Geek
By James Oaksun As you may recall from past columns, the median sales price of a single family home in Wilton Manors (arms length transactions only) is now in the $360,000 range. That’s well beyond the affordability of the typical person (or even couple). However, there are other nearby options. Last time I wrote about the North Andrews Gardens neighborhood of Oakland Park. Another alternative is the South Middle
River neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. Geographically, that’s south of the river from WilMa, and bounded by Powerline Road, Sunrise and NE 4th Avenue. Restoration activities are evident as you drive through this neighborhood of about 2,000 homes. Generally the area east of Andrews and north of 15th Street has the strongest price points; homes north of 13th Street have also seen brisk price improvements. Much like North Andrews Gardens, South Middle River has seen a great deal of “fix n flip” activity. The neighborhood was hit hard in the real estate bust of 2006-2011. Homes that sold at the peak for $300,000 could be bought as bank-owned for under $100,000 – sometimes much under. The graph here shows what has happened since 2010. As recently as early 2014 you could still get the occasional home in South Middle River for under $100,000. And just like you see on popular reality TV shows like “Flipping Vegas,” such homes could be gutted, rebuilt to more contemporary standards, and then sold in the 180-200k range. Or occasionally even higher, especially if a pool was installed. As with North Andrews Gardens, pricing in
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South Middle River runs half of pricing in the Island City, despite being maybe seven minutes drive from the heart of Wilton Drive. Price increases in South Middle River have not been as dramatic as in North Andrews Gardens, but appreciation over the last three years has run about 20 percent annually. Not too shabby. Perhaps understandably, inventories of available homes in both neighborhoods are the tightest of any of the neighborhoods I follow. Shop accordingly. 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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Community
Announcing the
Friends of Library Donations Save Taxpayers Money
Marriage of ...
By Michael d'Oliveira
You!
Let everyone know about your nuptuals by placing an announcement in South Florida Gay News.
A murder mystery dinner will help the Wilton Manors Library solve the problem of where to find funding for computers, DVDs, CDs and other items. On Thursday, Sept, 24 at 7 p.m., the Friends of the Wilton Manors Library will host Murder on the High Seas at Galuppi’s Restaurant, 1103 N. Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. “We fund all the children’s programs, buy all the computers, underwrite the contract for the eBooks, DVDs, audio books and large print books,” said Paul Kuta, first vice president of Friends of the Library. “We put aside each year $2,000 for computer replacement. The city hasn’t ever bought a computer in the public library.” Besides fundraisers, which include the silent auction at the Taste of the Island event in November, the money is generated through memberships, books sale events and donations. “They do quite a lot . . . quite a bit for the community,” said Rick Sterling, library
director. “Without them, either the city would have to pay for these items or the library users would have to do without.” Produced by Standing Room Only Productions, the murder mystery dinner enlists the audience and includes professional actors, props, raffle prizes and award certificates at the end of the night. “I like to call it a ‘fun-raiser,’” said Ellen Ferrelli, Friends of the Library board member. “You have to guess who killed whom.” The cost of tickets is $45 per person. Tickets are available at the Library, 500 NE 26 St., or About Town Lock & Safe, 2404 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. Call 954566-8957 or email murdermystery924@yahoo.com. Pirate costumes are encouraged but not required. Space is limited. WMG
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The person depicted here is a model. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.
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