WMG 09/03/20 V7iss14

WMG Volume 7 • Issue 17 September 3, 2020

Wilton Manors Gazette FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/WMGAZETTE

COMMUNITY

WICKED MANORS CANCELED ‘Breaking this tradition is truly breaking our hearts’ The revelry may be gone but the Pride Center still needs your support

By Sallie James

What’s been dubbed the largest The ongoing pandemic killed the crazy, fun-filled, costumed debauchery Halloween Party on Halloween night in of Wicked Manors this year but devotees the Southeast United States has been of the popular Halloween bash can still rescheduled to Halloween 2021.

It put Wilton Manors and Fort support Pride Center programs through Lauderdale on the map, Roa said. The donations.

Your donations will go further than cancellation is a big gut-punch to the Pride Center as far as funding. you think: An anonymous That’s why the donation donor has agreed to match drive is so important. all donations up to $10,000.

MONEY FROM More than 30,000 Money from Wicked WICKED MANORS WAS people attend the event Manors was used annually annually, which pumps to support everything from USED ANNUALLY TO money into the local HIV outreach to active SUPPORT EVERYTHING economy and provides aging activities.

“We have a gracious FROM HIV OUTREACH support for businesses, Pride programs and more, donor who has provided TO ACTIVE AGING Roa said. a matching opportunity The decision to cancel up to $10,000 and we are ACTIVITIES. didn’t come easily. asking everyone to please Organizers reviewed help us in this endeavor by donating any amount to the Wicked the changing COVID-19 regulations, Manors Fundraiser,” said Roger Roa, increasing cases, and current CDC and Director of Development for the Pride Florida Department of Health guidelines Center. “We will be accepting donations and recommendations before deciding to and have set a goal of $25,000 that will go cancel. The decision didn’t come easily: the event has been held for more than 12 back to our community,”

Some creative outfits at Wicked Manors in 2019. WMG file photo.

years and the Pride Center has produced it for the last eight years.

Before Wicked Manors was officially canceled, would-be festival-goers flooded the Pride Center with emails, phonecalls and social media messages inquiring about the popular event. Many participants travel from other states to participate, and would have had to plan far in advance due to travel restrictions, Roa noted.

“We could not provide a safe, socially

distant event to over 40k attendees,” Roa said.

While Event Co-Founder and Chairperson Doug Cureton added: “No one is more upset about this decision than the Wicked Manors event planning team. Since this requires months of planning, we have to go with today’s information and projections.

Breaking this tradition is truly breaking our hearts. Rest assured, we will be back stronger than ever in 2021!” WMG

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OPINION

Trump’s Profane-nation

By Sal Torre  Photo credit: Pete Linforth, via Pixabay.

Most of us growing up were taught that American democracy, our institutions, and our shared values had somewhat of a sacred character. Americans, no matter if you were Conservative, Liberal, Republican, Democrat, Catholic, Protestant, White, Black, Hispanic, Male, Female, no matter your background, we were all still part of a special place called the United States of America.

Two weeks ago, watching the Democratic National Convention, that message of optimism, of shared sacrifice, of community, of working together for a more just society rang out across the four nights.

Unfortunately as we witnessed Trump’s roadshow in Charlotte, their message could not be shockingly more different.

Profanation, the desecration of our sacred values. This is what Donald Trump’s Republican Party stands for today. Division, lies, needless suffering, unemployment, pandemic, voter suppression, collusion with foreign powers, blame game, narcissism, and hatred are the new norms.

This is not America. This is not what makes America great. We simply cannot survive four more years of Donald Trump.

Profanation, the endless disrespect and violation of American values.

Values and aspirations guided by fairness and respected leadership throughout the world.

The Republican Party will cast away their soul this week as they coronate Trump and his band of thieves.

The carpetbagger Steve Bannon arrested for defrauding millions of dollars from American citizens.

Jerry Falwell Jr. exposed for his hypocrisy. Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and Roger Stone — all convicted criminals. They say you can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep. Donald Trump is not the person this great nation deserves to have as our president. That we are even discussing the possibility of this national mistake being elected to four more years should be a wake-up call that we all have much work to do as a nation and as a community.

WMG September 3, 2020 • Volume 7 • 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 Associate publisher / Executive Editor • Jason Parsley jason.parsley@sfgn.com Copyeditor • Kimberly Swan

Editorial

Art Director • Brendon Lies artwork@sfgn.com News Editor • Sallie James

Correspondents

Christiana Lilly• Sal Torre • James Oaksun

Staff Photographers

J.R. Davis • Carina Mask • Steven Shires

Sales & Marketing For ad placement in the Wilton Manors Gazette, contact 954-530-4970

Turning attention back to more local concerns comes Election Day, residents of our great Island City will have a very talented pool of candidates to choose from. Tough choice for Mayor between Scott Newton and Julie Carson, both veteran public servants deserving to lead our city. Third candidate in that race, Josie Smith-Malave, is a very energetic newcomer to city politics and hopefully will stay involved once the election is over. The field for City Commission seats has a crowd of six candidates. Looks like it will be a three-way race for the two seats between Mike Bracchi, Doug Blevins and Chris Caputo. The other three candidates, like Chef Josie, hopefully will remain involved in the city after the election.

Looking to serve on city boards, to participate in local organizations, and getting involved serving one’s community, is something one might do before running for election to public office. Just to be clear, showing up for Public Comments at a City Commission meeting for just a few minutes is not really being involved in local politics, just as owning a uninhabitable house in Wilton Manors does not satisfy the city’s residence requirements to run for elected office. I guess what is good for Trump is good for local candidates as they create their own delusional reality.

Our current City Commission returned this week from their summer break and had a

THIS IS NOT AMERICA. THIS IS NOT WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT. WE SIMPLY CANNOT SURVIVE FOUR MORE YEARS OF DONALD TRUMP.

long commission meeting on Tuesday night.

Code rewrite and changes usually bring lengthy tedious discussions on signage, right of ways, non-conforming usage, enforcement and so much more stimulating topics.

However, serving in public office is more about dealing with such issues than basking in the spotlight.

Unfortunately for me, the one item of interest for me on the evening’s agenda was under New Business and toward the end of a long night. That item brought up by Acting Mayor Tom Green, had to do with the renaming of Jaycee Park. Many residents would like to see this park renamed to honor our late Mayor, Justin Flippen. Unfortunately the Recreation Advisory Board recommended naming the park, ‘The People’s Park” using Justin’s tagline, “The People’s Mayor.” Justin deserves to have this park named for him and not, in my opinion, some catchy phrase that many in town poked fun at Justin for.

Justin Flippen was a unique individual who enriched this city in extraordinary ways during his short time with us. What better way to honor his memory, his love of parks, and his commitment to our Island City than to rename the park located across from City Hall, Justin Flippen Park. This topic will be discussed further at two City Commission meetings, allowing for public comments before Commissioners will make their final decision. Help make Justin Flippen Park the choice to memorialize our own great public servant, a vibrant community leader and a special friend — Justin Flippen.

Commitment, leadership, and empathy are values we need in a president for the next four years. Justin Flippen lived by such values and is what makes life just better here… WMG

Sales Manager • Justin Wyse justin.wyse@sfgn.com Advertising Sales Associate • Edwin Neimann edwin.neimann@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.

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September 3, 2020

REAL ESTATE

WilMa Real Estate: Sales and Inventory

By James Oaksun When last I joined you, I took a look at Island City single family home pricing trends. In this segment, we will see what’s been happening with overall sales and inventory levels over time.

Take a look at Chart One, where I have shown the changes in overall Wilton Manors sales going back to the fourth quarter of 2013. When I look at sales, I look at them on a rolling 12-month or four-quarter basis. Because sales here have a pronounced seasonality (sales from March through mid-summer are usually higher than in the rest of the year), it can be misleading to do otherwise.

For the 12 months (four quarters) ended June 30, there were 173 single family home sales in Wilton Manors. That’s a decrease of four percent from the same period last year. You can see from the chart that sales have been gradually slowing from a peak of 201 sales in the 12 months ended March 31, 2018.

Now, you may ask, are sales abnormally low? I would have to say, no – not at this point. Over the six-plus year period covered here, aggregate sales have fluctuated and were as low as 168 in the third quarter of 2014.

Still, the average over the period has been 187 sales per 12 months. In other words, sales have softened a bit, but are still

within normal expectations through the second quarter of 2020.

Finally, a word on inventory. The seasonality in sales plays havoc with the traditional inventory calculation. Sales are not constant throughout the year (at least not in WilMa), but the traditional inventory calculation used in Official Realtor World implicitly assumes that they are. As a result, the traditional measure is usually too high at the beginning of high season, and too low toward the end.

For years I’ve been experimenting to find a statistic that treats the level of inventory at each interval as a leading indicator of expected sales. I still don’t have a measure with which I’m totally comfortable. The best I have come up with so far is shown in the second chart. Even this method generally shows inventory peaks in the first quarter and troughs in the third quarter.

(Consider the scale as an index, not precisely “months.”

I would consider a reading between 6 and 9 as meaning “inventory is balanced.”)

In my opinion, the long-term trendline is most important.

That shows inventory in Wilton Manors to be relatively balanced over the study period, perhaps trending up in the most recent timeframe.

IN MY OPINION, THE LONG-TERM TRENDLINE IS MOST IMPORTANT.

James Oaksun, Florida’s Real Estate Geek(SM), is BrokerOwner of New Realty Concepts in Fort Lauderdale. In addition to having degrees from Dartmouth and Cornell, he is a Graduate of the Realtor Institute (GRI).

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