11.18.2015 • 23

Twice-Monthly Neighborhood Outlook

1 • November 18, 2015

GazetteWilton Manors Volume 2 • Issue 22November 18, 2015

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Business

In his quest to strengthen the wall between church and state, activist Chaz Stevens has asked South Florida cities to allow him to give an invocation in the name of Satan.

Stevens doesn’t actually worship the hooved dark lord of the underworld but he does use him to make a point: “It has nothing to do with this horned guy . . . this is about separation of church and state. Satanism is a vehicle. I don’t believe in Satan. I don’t believe in Jesus. I don’t believe in any of this stuff .”

Stevens has made his satanic prayer request to several cities, including Pompano Beach, Lake Worth and Dania Beach. At least two, Dania Beach and Lake Worth, according to the Sun-Sentinel, have recently changed their policies. He started his campaign in May of 2014 after the Supreme Court, in Greece v. Galloway, that the Town of Greece, New York may allow local clergy to open meetings with prayer as long as members of other faiths are also allowed to open with prayer.

But by the time he made his request in October of this year, Wilton Manors had long-since stopped giving local religious leaders a chance to give

an invocation before commission meetings – almost a year before Stevens contacted the city.

Mayor Gary Resnick said he stopped the practice because sometimes the city had trouble fi nding someone to give the invocation.

So Resnick, who said he had no idea of Stevens’ satanic invocations, said he started doing a moment of silence, usually to honor victims of gun violence or a resident who had recently died.

“I just decided to do it. People seemed to like it. It’s somewhat more meaningful.”

Father John Joseph Reid of Divine Mercy Chapel in Wilton Manors has given several invocations over the years. He said he’s disappointed he won’t be able to do any more but understands why the policy has changed. “If somebody’s going to get up and talk about the devil, maybe it’s best not to [have invocations].”

Ultimately, even a moment of silence isn’t ideal for Stevens but he said fi ghting to get that removed too is a battle he can’t win.

“Get right down to business. That’s the correct way to do it.” WMG

No Battle Over Invocations in Wilton Manors By Michael d’Oliveira

Community

Crime

By Michael d’Oliveira

Wilton Manors May Decriminalize Marijuana

When it comes to decriminalizing marijuana possession in Wilton Manors, Vice Mayor Scott Newton recently said the city should wait until the county takes action. “I think the county should do something fi rst . . . then we can move forward with it.”

That day has arrived.On Nov. 10, county commissioners approved a civil citation

program for those caught with 20 grams of marijuana or less. The fi rst violation will result in a $100 fi ne, the second a $250 fi ne and the third a $500 fi ne. When a third citation is issued, a mandatory drug assessment is initiated. A fourth violation will result in criminal charges. Violators would be subject to arrest if found driving under the infl uence of marijuana or if the substance is in connection with another crime.

But on Oct. 27, even before the county moved forward, commissioners directed City Attorney Kerry Ezrol to draft an ordinance and resolution that would create a civil citation program for those caught with 20 grams or less. They gave Ezrol up to two months to prepare the legislation but it could

be ready sooner. Only Commissioner Tom Green voted no. So far, Hallandale Beach is the only Broward city to

decriminalize marijuana.“I don’t think we need to be the second city to do this,” said

Green who said he would prefer to see the consequences of Hallandale’s actions fi rst. “We can learn from what’s happening there.”

But those in favor said action needs to be taken soon in order to prevent more arrests of non-violent drug off enders.

“What’s the detriment for being arrested for a joint to somebody who happens to be in our city?” asked Mayor Gary Resnick. “You’re giving somebody a criminal record. Why ruin somebody’s life for having two joints?” Resnick added that he was not faulting the police because they are only enforcing the current laws.

Commissioner Justin Flippen called it “good public policy” and said the city should be a leader.

“Our offi cers will be free to tend to a lot more important things . . . real crime,” said Commissioner Julie Carson.

One drawback to the citation program, said Commander Gary Blocker, is that offi cers here won’t be able to access records in other cities to see if a suspect has already been issued a citation.

The citation program also won’t save signifi cant time or money.

Blocker said there were 84 marijuana-related arrests in 2013, 122 in 2014 and 124 projected for 2015. Each arrest, he said, takes about 90 minutes for an offi cer to process.

On a related note, resident Paul Kuta urged commissioners to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in case a medical marijuana ballot initiative is approved by voters. “We don’t want to have another ‘pill mill’ situation develop,” he said, referring to the proliferation of unscrupulous clinics which prescribed vast amounts of prescription pills to drug dealers or patients with drug abuse problems. Many were located on Oakland Park Boulevard. WMG

Chaz Stevens, Facebook.

Activist wanted to open meeting with prayer to Satan

City may follow county’s lead

Crime

other cities to see if a suspect has already been issued a citation.

24 • 11.18.2015

Chatter around town and on social media last week reminded me of the folk tale, Henny Penny, with the chicken running around screaming, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” This uproar occurs every time the subject of possible future lane reduction along Wilton Drive pops up. This same response surfaced recently in a discussion of lane reduction and installation of bike lanes along Powerline Road.

I’m trying very hard to understand how relatively reasonable, intelligent people could make such hysterical, mistaken comments that disaster would occur if such changes actually took place. These are the changes that many in our community have been fi ghting now for many years, changes that should be embraced as transformative, necessary, and as common sense.

Perhaps their mindset is locked in the past, when planners designed roadways to move cars faster with little disruption and with little thought to other usage, such as bicycles and pedestrians. This is why we hear responses such as, “Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good road?” “Narrowing the Drive is a stupid idea,” and “You will ruin the traffi c fl ow simply to make room for a few bikes and scooters.”

This outmoded planning has given us nothing but suburban sprawl and an almost total dependency on the automobile. We need to reclaim our streets and begin to redesign their usage, so that we can start to build a new type of urban community where residents can walk to shops and entertainment, where bike lanes make it easier for residents to travel short distances from their homes, and where other modes of transportation coexist with automobiles.

Here in Wilton Manors, we consider Wilton Drive as our Main Street, our downtown, our central business area. We need to move ahead with a new roadway plan, one that embraces a more walkable, more attractive, and more bicycle friendly roadway rather than the existing four-lane freeway cutting through the center of our city.

The new planning model embraced by the Regional Planning Organization, the MPO, along with many cities here in South Florida, is known as “Complete Streets.” This new urban community planning movement looks to slow down vehicular traffi c and reorganize roadways and sidewalks to accommodate bicycle lanes and increased pedestrian

traffi c, while embracing other modes of transportation. Complete Streets is a perfect match not just for Wilton Drive, but also throughout our city. As a small urban city, we have begun to embrace this concept along Powerline Road, 26th Street, hopefully along NW 29th Street, and Andrews Avenue, as we look ahead to bicycle lane connectivity throughout our city and safer roadways not only for automobiles but for pedestrians and bike riders alike.

Our Mayor and City Commissioners recently voted to join the city of Fort Lauderdale in fi ling an application with the MPO and the Florida Department of Transportation for a lane reduction project along NE 4th Ave and Wilton Drive to Five Points. Bringing Complete Streets planning to Wilton Drive is a key factor in creating a thriving Arts & Entertainment District and urban center for our city. We should be hearing cheers and shouts of support, not the hysterical Henny Penny running around screaming that the sky is falling and that disaster will occur. Over the past ten years many in our community have fought to make the concept of Complete Streets a reality. If we are to move ahead and leave the past behind us, we must be ready to leave outdated concepts of urban planning based solely on the automobile behind as well.

Looking to embrace the future and shape it into a vibrant urban community here in Wilton Manors will only make us stronger and better, because ... life could be even better here … WMG

NOVEMBER 18, 2015 • VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 222520 N. DIXIE HIGHWAY • WILTON MANORS, FL 33305

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Associated Press

GazetteWilton ManorsOpinion

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Henny PennyBy Sal Torre

It’s been said that one’s man trash is another man’s treasure. That’s certainly been the case for OXXO Care Dry Cleaners at 2180 Wilton Drive. For the past few weeks, its customers have donated unwanted clothes to a non-profi t organization called Trash 2 Treasure. Its mission is to locate clean, re-usable materials and redistribute these items as valuable educational and artistic resources.

The donated clothes have been repurposed and turned into art by students from Fort Lauderdale’s Calvary Christian Academy, a few local high schools as well as adults.

“The money raised will be used to maintain the Trash 2 Treasure resource center facility also known as our store,” says Trash 2 Treasure Director Nanette Saylor. That’s where we collect and redistribute more than 300 pounds of repurposed material every week.”

On Nov. 21, the recycled clothing will go on display at OXXO from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as part of this year’s Art Expo. The suggested donation for the art on display will be shown on each item. All proceeds go to Trash to Treasure.

“The center is currently operated with no paid staff -- all Trash 2 Treasure representatives are volunteers. To ensure that creative materials are available to everyone across all socio-economic divides we have kept

the cost of those materials extremely low -- just $1 per pound,” Saylor said. “We are also off er individuals, schools and other non -profi ts a membership program that ranges from $75 - $200 per year for access to unlimited supplies for those who embrace our mission and use repurposed materials regularly in their creative work. We cannot survive on memberships and materials sales alone, however. Those revenue streams do not cover the expense of leasing space for the supplies, and to date, we have not uncovered a benefactor who would gift us space. Monies raised from community eff orts like this OXXO fundraiser fi ll the gap between the revenue we earn through our low-cost membership program and $1 per lb. materials price and our costs to operate.”

During the Art Expo, OXXO will also host a raffl e with prizes including some from Infi nity Lounge on Wilton Drive.

“Putting these two entities together is a great fi t,” said OXXO employee Terrence Smalley. “It’s a unique way this small business could do big things by giving back to the community and participating in this year’s Art Expo.”

You can fi nd out more about Trash 2 Treasure at Facebook.com/Trash2TreasureFL. See how OXXO Cleaners is helping to turning apparel to art at http://on.fb.me/1NswM6K. WMG

Creating Treasures from TrashPart of this year’s Art ExpoBy Denise Royal

Community

It’s time for us to embrace a two-lane future

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: OXXO Art – A recycledclothing art exhibit WHERE: OXXO Care Dry Cleanersat 2180 Wilton DriveDATE: Nov. 21TIME: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Read more Gazette after the Best Of Insert ►

11.18.2015 • 73 3 • November 18, 2015

It's political season, at least for Presidential candidates. You only need to tune to any of the news channels to get a full helping of the “conventional wisdom” (CW) of who's up, who's down, and who's likely to go the distance.

From my time in politics I learned the CW is usually wrong. As it is in certain aspects of the real estate business. Here are three examples.

1. “'Price Per Square Foot' is a Great Valuation Tool.”

Well, not so much. Even if you restrict its usage to specifi c neighborhoods, I have found the correlation between price per foot and ultimate sale price runs around 0.55. In GeekSpeak(SM), that means it's moderately good but not great. If you're only going to use one measure, it's the best one to use, sort of. But other methods are better.

2. “Pools Don't Add Much Value to a Property.”

The answer to this is, “it depends.” I have found that this really varies by neighborhood. In some neighborhoods having a pool doesn't add much; in other neighborhoods, it's critical. In Wilton Manors, having

a pool is a big selling point, especially for buyers with contemplation of doing occasional seasonal rental of their homes. But overall, folks looking in WilMa seem to appreciate the prospect of moving in and jumping in.

3. “Anybody in a Neighborhood is Just As Likely to Sell as Everybody Else.”

While never explicitly said, many Realtors I know behave this way. They use a Postal Service tool called “Every Door Direct Mail” (EDDM) to basically carpet bomb huge swaths of territory in hopes of getting a listing or two. Maybe someday. How that works is, you give a big pile of postcards to the post offi ce and they put them, unaddressed and unpersonalized, in every mailbox. You might call this “junk mail” that gets “fi led in the round fi le” when you sort your mail.

When I was in Orlando this past summer for the state Realtors convention, I learned of a service that claims the ability to pinpoint the people most likely to sell, based on neighborhood trends and other demographic factors. The service is very expensive – up to $10,000 a year for a relatively small territory. But as I've said before, all real estate is hyper-local. A little local knowledge, some research and some feel for the numbers can produce an even better result. WMG

Conventional Wisdom is Usually Wrong

Real Estate Geek

By James Oaksun

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

◄ Continued from before the Best Of Insert

74 • 11.18.2015

Business

Two-lane Wilton Drive May Happen Without High Cost to City

4 • November 18, 2015

By Michael d’OliveiraMore than a year after Broward instituted its

county-wide 911 dispatch system in October of 2014, problems persist.

Last month, at a Wilton Manors Commission meeting, Chief Paul O'Connell apologized for his department not responding quickly to a call from a resident.

The resident, who asked not to be named, lives behind Richardson Park and called about a man who was watching him and his partner through their fence. The man eventually left without causing harm. “They’re just concerned about why the police never showed up to their home,” said Mayor Gary Resnick.

Resnick said the man matches the description of someone seen checking front doors in the same neighborhood. “It could have been worse. When something like that occurs, police need to be able to respond,” Resnick said. The mayor brought up the issue at the meeting. “I don’t normally raise resident issues with our staff at commission meetings but this involves public safety.”

O’Connell said the delay was caused by two offi cers busy with another call and the third was in the middle of a shift change. O’Connell said police were unable to respond on time because they were busy dealing with another call. “We did respond but we responded too late. We could have reached out to Fort Lauderdale or Oakland Park [Wilton Manors has mutual aid agreements with both cities] but we didn’t.”

O’Connell also cited the county dispatch system as part of the problem.

“The phone number we received from dispatch was the wrong number so we had no

way of contacting him. Dispatch told us he did not want to be contacted.”

As for not checking on the issue sooner after it occurred, “All that being said, I should have followed-up with this guy myself. If the phone number was wrong I could basically walk across the street and knock on his front door. I should have done that and I didn’t. My apologies to the commission.”

“There’s a lot of incidents where dispatch has gotten things wrong,” Resnick said. “Believe me, it’s not just Wilton Manors. It’s county-wide,” responded O’Connell.

Also critical of the county system is County Commissioner Chip LaMarca. “I’m at a loss as to why we didn’t go out and fund the best operating system in the county, implement those best practices. We’re still having issues. I’m hoping it will come into line but I’m not expecting that,” LaMarca said.

Rick Carpani, the former director of Broward’s Offi ce of Regional Communications and Technology who resigned Nov. 13, said the main issues deal mainly with the operations as opposed to technology. Carpani said he resigned to take a job in the private sector.

“BSO is struggling with addressing [correctly identifying the right address in the right city].

They’re not used to taking calls county-wide,” he said. “I don’t think the operators realized that how big a problem that was going to be.”

O’Connell, president of the Broward County Chiefs of Police Association, recently sent a letter to the county to discuss concerns about the system. WMG

Community

Chief Apologizes for Police No Show911 call system under scrutiny

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A plan to reduce Northeast 4 Avenue in Fort Lauderdale has given hope to those who want to see Wilton Drive go from four lanes to two.

Commissioners voted on Nov. 10 to apply to the Florida Department of Transportation [FDOT] to extend the narrowing Fort Lauderdale wants to do with Northeast 4 Avenue.

At various times throughout the past decade, residents and business owners have called upon the city to take ownership, enact the Two Lane Initiative and reduce the number of lanes on Wilton Drive. The Two Lane Initiative would redesign the street to more closely resemble Las Olas Boulevard with landscaping and trees in the medians and only one dedicated travel lane each way.

Commissioners have resisted though, mainly because of the estimated cost – FDOT approximates it could cost as much as $500,000 to reconfi gure the street into two lanes and up to $85,000 to maintain it. But now, the street could be reduced without signifi cant cost to the city.

The possibility of not having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars has commissioners hopeful but cautions. At their meeting, they stressed the city was only applying to piggy back onto Fort Lauderdale’s project.

“It’s not going to get pushed through,” said Vice Mayor Scott Newton.

The real decision, they said, will come when they learn how much it will cost and after the public has had plenty of opportunity to review the project. Mayor Gary Resnick promised public hearings and suggested a referendum to ensure the public has a chance to speak out.

Even if approved tomorrow, city offi cials said the design phase wouldn’t start until 2016-2017 and it would be years before everything was fi nished. “Some of you who are young will live

to see this,” joked Commissioner Tom Green.

On a serious note, Green said the city would have to be very careful about how a change to the road would impact traffi c at the Five Points end. The change could create a bottleneck at the intersection. The problem could be even worse with the planned addition of commuter trains along the railroad tracks at Five Points.

City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said that if FDOT approves the request the Metropolitan Planning Organization would help the city apply for grants.

“Let’s get on with it,” said Father John Joseph Reid who compared Wilton Drive to a speedway. Paul Rolli, president of the Central Area Neighborhood Association, also supports the Two Lane Initiative. “The city will grow around it.”

Resident Doug Blevins, chair of the Wilton Drive Business Improvement District board, said narrowing the street would improve public safety.

But not everyone who spoke at the meeting was in favor.

Resident Boyd Corbin said the project would be extremely expensive and unrealistic.

Resident Paul Kuta called the city’s support for Fort Lauderdale a “back-door, secretive attempt to narrow Wilton Drive without even a public hearing.”

Whether two lanes or four, FDOT is already making changes to Wilton Drive.

Vice Mayor Scott Newton said the new pedestrian light signal at Northeast 20 Street would be fully functional by April.

But Green warned people they still need to exercise caution and make sure traffi c stops. “Push the button and be careful.”

When the crossing is fi nished, Resnick said there would be two pedestrian crossings in that area of Wilton Drive. “At city hall, they’re leaving the existing light up.” WMG

Concerned over the safety of residents and the aesthetic impact, commissioners approved a 180-day moratorium on new telecommunications towers and antennas.

Mayor Gary Resnick, an attorney who specializes in telecommunications issues and serves as the chair of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, said the city already has suffi cient coverage.

The moratorium, he said, was to prevent new towers and antennas while the commission has time to come up with permanent regulations on where they can be placed. He said that additional towers were already being built in other cities and that more could be built in Wilton Manors.

Towers are already permitted in rights of way but no rules exist to prevent them from being constructed in residential areas. “You may not want an antenna fi ve feet from your bedroom,” Resnick said.

City Attorney Kerry Ezrol will work on a permanent ordinance and present it to commissioners at a future meeting. “It really is in the nature of a zoning change,” Ezrol said. WMG

City Bans New Cell Towers For Now By Michael d’Oliveira

Government

By Michael d’Oliveira