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 THIS MONTH SunTrust Sunday Jazz Brunch
SUNDAY - JANUARY 8, 2012 - From 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on the first Sunday of every month, the SunTrust Sunday Jazz Brunch fills the air with jazz music performed on four stages along the historic New River. Each month, bands perform a wide range of jazz in downtown Fort Lauderdale along the Riverwalk. Picnic baskets, blankets, chairs, dogs, children and people of all age groups blend into one large Jazz Appreciation Fest. On JANUARY 8, 2012, Gold Coast Jazz Society Band will be at the Esplanade, Porcelain Quartet at the Broward Center Peck Courtyard and Lynne Meryl Band will appear at the Connie Hoffman Gazebo. For additional information or to have the 2012 informational brochure mailed to you, Click Here to e-mail your name and address to Debbie Bylica or call 954-396-3622 and leave it on the responding voice mail.
CLICK HERE for Details (CLICK HERE to download 2012 Brochure)2012 Fort Lauderdale Orchid Show
Fort Lauderdale Orchid Show will be held at the WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM at 800 NE 8th STREET in FORT LAUDERDALE. The 3-day event is scheduled for FRIDAY, JANUARY 20 from 10 AM to 7 PM, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 from 10 AM to 7 PM and SUNDAY, JANUARY 22 from 10 AM to 6 PM. The 2012 Fort Lauderdale Orchid Show will be held at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium and be better than ever! The Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society appropriately ascribed the theme, “Celebrating Orchids” to the 2012 International Orchid Show. Come and enjoy raffles, artwork, competitions, plant and supply vendors, exhibits, and displays. Judges award prizes for best displays and best plants. Want first shot at the amazing plants that will be available during the show? For $55, attend the PRESHOW PARTY from 7 PM to 10 PM on Thursday, January 19, 2012 - before the show opens to the public! While enjoying a full buffet with free champagne, hors d’oeuvres, beverages and dessert with live entertainment, attendees will get first chance to buy the freshest orchids that may be in limited quantities.
For more information, call Chris Crepage at (954) 563-3548 (CLICK HERE to email), or John Wrench at (954) 564-9594 (CLICK HERE to email) or Click Here to web site. Congressman Allen West Town Hall Meeting
On WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2012, from 5:30 PM to 7 PM, the Galt Mile Community Association will host a Town Hall Meeting with Congressman Allen West. The event will be held at the BEACH COMMUNITY CENTER at 3351 NE 33rd AVE in FORT LAUDERDALE. Meet and Greet your United States Congressman. Local Municipal & County Representatives will also be in attendance. Arrive early space is limited. Free On-Site Parking.
For more information, call GMCA President Pio R. Ieraci at (954) 489-9430 or Click Here to email or Click Here . Coral Ridge Towers South White Elephant Yard Sale
On SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2012, Coral Ridge Towers South is holding a huge all-encompassing ANNUAL INDOOR YARD SALE from 10 AM to 2 PM! Located at 3333 NE 34th Street in FORT LAUDERDALE (on the corner of State Road A1A), the event is open to ALL! The sale will feature thousands of items - including jewelry, antiques, household items, electronics, art, furniture, and more ...
For more information about Coral Ridge Towers South Indoor Yard Sale, call Coral Ridge Towers South at (954) 563-6467 or CLICK HERE to email. Chabad Events
"Step Up For Israel" is a five part mini-course held at Chabad Lubavitch at 3500 N. Ocean Blvd, Fort Lauderdale. Scheduled on five consecutive Mondays at 7:30 PM, on JANUARY 9, "Crossing the Line" will be moderated by Dr Jon Kotler. On JANUARY 16, Eli Bartov will moderate "Creation of a State". On JANUARY 23, Dr E. Bookman will host "Israel & the West". On JANUARY 30, Heshy Lipszyc will host "Israel Inside" and on FEBRUARY 6, Dror Ben Yosef will moderate "Speak up for Israel".
For additional information, call Gitty Levin at 954-568-1190 or CLICK HERE to Email.Community Association Institute (CAI) 2012 Education & Trade Expo
Please join us from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2012 at the Signature Grand (6900 State Road 84 in Davie, Florida) for this free event featuring speakers recognized Statewide and over 100 exhibitors demonstrating goods and services for community associations. 2012 Legal Update by Legal Update by Russell Robbins. Steven Lesser, Esq., Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. will present "Hurricane Preparedness During A Restoration Project". Also, board members can attend a State-Approved Certification Class by Michael Bender of Kaye & Bender P.L. Carl Kuhn of Suprema Roofing presents "What Is Your Warranty Really Worth?". TOPS Software presents Keynote, ‘Social Media & Mobility- Develop a Strategy to Better Leverage Technology in your Day-to Day Business Practices.’ Raffle prizes will be drawn all day! Grand Prize is iPAD-2 (2)!
For additional information, call Jill Prioetti, CED, at 954-816-0661 or CLICK HERE to more 2012 CAI Education & Trade Expo Info.North Ocean Beach Art Walk
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2012 - In the wake of SUNSET BLUE, the Galt Ocean Mile Shoppes neighborhood (AKA North Beach) has replaced the regular concert-driven street fair with a far more civilized - if not quieter - venue. Not to be outdone by Las Olas, North Beach or NOBE is exploiting a flood of new Galleries that aggregated to North Beach by sponsoring a FREE Art Walk on the first Saturday of each month. If you haven't strolled across the street recently, you may not have visited Paul’s Art Gallery, the Barry Gross Gallery, Mac Fine Art, Gallery 101, Art of Alex or Rachel Henriques Art Studio. Some of them migrated here from the FAT (Flagler Arts and Technology) Village Arts District near downtown Fort Lauderdale, others from Miami. The area's redesignation as an Art's District has also drawn the Broward Arts Guild. New shops like Home Suite Home/Roberto Sanchez Design, La Dolce Vita Restaurant, the VIP Room and Salon Mantra bloomed while you were napping. Well, now you're awake. Get over there and see what you've missed. Better yet, Go there at 6 PM on Saturday, have dinner in one of the boutiquey restaurants and join the crowd for the Art Walk at 7 PM. BY THE WAY - On January 20, 2012, a new venue called the North Beach Art Gallery (3334 NE 34th Street) is hosting a Grand Opening at 6 PM, when Mayor Jack Seiler and Commissioner Bruce Roberts will cut the ribbon.
For additional information, CLICK HERE to check out their Facebook Link.
To see the new shops in the area, CLICK HERE and click one of the categorey buttons on the right.“Winter Open-Theme Exhibit” Broward Art Guild
The Broward Art Guild is hosting a Show entitled “Winter Open-Theme Exhibit”. Featuring open theme, open medium, 2-D , 3-D and Jewelry, the event will be held at the BROWARD ART GUILD at 3280 N.E. 32nd Street in FORT LAUDERDALE. The Show is scheduled for SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2011, from 6:30 PM to 9 PM. A longtime Fort Lauderdale institution, the Broward Art Guild recently moved from downtown Fort Lauderdale to the flaming hot North Beach - Galt Ocean Village neighborhood. See you at the Art Walk!
For more information, call ReGina Skane at 954-537-3370 or Click Here to email or Click Here to WEB PAGE. 18th Annual Fort Lauderdale Beach Collector Car Auction
- The 3-day weekend will attract car enthusiasts from all parts of the country - and the world. The event is scheduled for JANUARY 6 to 8, 2012. On FRIDAY (JANUARY 6), SATURDAY (JANUARY 7) and SUNDAY (JANUARY 8). On Friday, the auction runs from Noon to 6:00 PM. On Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. On Sunday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It will take place at the WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM at 800 NE 8th STREET, Fort Lauderdale. Check-in is on THURSDAY. JANUARY 5th from 8 AM to 6 PM. Dave Rupp presents this spectacular 350 car auction. Historically, one of the nation’s highest selling percentages. There is no reserve!
For more information, call Dave Rupp at 561-533-7945, Toll Free: 1 (800) 237-8954 or Click Here to e-mail. CLICK HERE to the Fort Lauderdale Beach Collector Car Auction Web PageHousehold Hazardous Waste Collection & Medication Take Back Events
City of Fort Lauderdale and all Broward County residents are invited to safely dispose of their household hazardous waste and electronics at the “Household Hazardous Waste Collection & Medication Take Back Event” on SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 from 8 AM to 3 PM located at 101 N. ANDREWS AVENUE. With proof of residency, residents can drop off hazardous household items and electronics at no charge. Acceptable materials include paint, pesticides, used motor oil, lawn chemicals, pool chemicals, propane tanks, fire extinguishers, household cleaners, automobile batteries, televisions, computers and accessories, fax machines, printers and cell phones. Do not bring microwaves, stereos, explosive materials, biohazardous (medical) waste or business-generated waste. For the second consecutive year, the City is also sponsoring its Medication Take Back Event. In addition to collecting HHW, the City will also be accepting unused, unlabeled, unwanted or expired over-the-counter or prescription medications, syrups, liquids, ointments, creams, shampoos, and lotions.
For more information, please call the City of Fort Lauderdale’s 24-hour Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 or Broward County’s hotline at 954-765-4999.
Check web page by CLICKING HERE for DetailsGalt Mile Bingo!
Throughout the year, various Galt Mile Associations sponsor weekly BINGO nights.
On TUESDAYS - GALT TOWERS invites their Galt Mile neighbors to 4250 GALT OCEAN DRIVE at 7:30 PM in the Galt Towers Social Room. For information about TUESDAY Bingo at Galt Towers, call Cyndi Songer at (954) 563-7268 or CLICK HERE to email
On WEDNESDAYS, head to REGENCY SOUTH at 3750 GALT OCEAN DRIVE for a fun-filled BINGO night beginning at 7 PM. For information, call Bob Pearlman at 954-547-4063.
On THURSDAYS, check out SOUTHPOINT CONDOMINIUM at 3400 GALT OCEAN DRIVE at 7:00 PM in the North Lounge, where you can make money, make new friends, and have fun. Refreshments served during the break and the cost is $5.00 per person for three boards. For more information about Southpoint Bingo, call Southpoint at (954) 563-6353 or CLICK HERE to email OR Click Here to web page. Galt Mile Reading Center - January Events
Every month, the Galt Mile Reading Center offers a schedule of engaging events tailored to the needs and interests of Galt Mile residents. Located at 3403 Galt Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale (directly across from Playa del Sol, Commodore and Southpoint), the library sponsors Book Reviews, Biographies, discussion groups and special sales. Computer Classes equip local residents with the online and office skills critical to keeping abreast with our digital planet. In JANUARY 2012, the sole Computer Class is scheduled for TUESDAY, JANUARY 9 from Noon to 2 PM (Meet the Computer). CLICK HERE for more info about the JANUARY 2012 COMPUTER CLASSES. CLICK HERE for the schedule of OTHER JANUARY OFFERINGS at the Center. All events are scheduled for 2 PM. Refreshments and admission are FREE.
For more information about the Galt Mile Reading Center, call (954) 537-2877 or CLICK HERE to web site. 35th Miami National Antiques Show & Sale
The Miami National Antiques Show & Sale is a 3-day event at the Miami Airport Convention Center (MACC) formerly Doubletree Miami Mart Center (777 NW 72nd Avenue, Miami). The show runs from FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 from Noon to 8 PM; SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 from Noon to 7 PM; and SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2012, from Noon to 5 PM. 250 Outstanding Dealers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America offer a wide range of quality antique fine furniture, crystal, silver, Art Glass, Orientalia, Art Nouveau, Deco, porcelains, paintings, prints, lamps, jewelry, pottery, Judaica, Tribal Art, textiles, folk art, weaponry, new reference books, Militaria, Antiquarian books, pewter, copper and more! Crystal repair, silver & gold re-plating, and doll restoration available on-site. Admission: $15 - good for return entry for all 3 days.
For additional information, call 954-563-6747 or CLICK HERE to email. CLICK HERE to the Miami National Antiques Show & Sale web site.Art Walk Las Olas
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012 - Save the day for a stroll along Las Olas Blvd from Museum of Art to SE 16th Ave, Fort Lauderdale! Art Walk Las Olas is an experiential, energetic, and first-of-its kind event coming each third Thursday monthly. This reoccurring activity is a new and unique way to ignite interest and introduce the community to Las Olas Boulevard and downtown Fort Lauderdale’s cultural & arts scene. Attendees leisurely stroll up and down the sidewalks of Las Olas Boulevard on a self-guided tour of gallery openings & exhibits, boutique trunk shows, shopping specials and restaurants all while enjoying outdoor artist demonstrations, live music, & refreshments.
For additional information, call Randi Karmin at 954-258-8382 or Click Here to e-mail.
CLICK HERE to the Art Walk Las Olas web site.CanadaFest 2012
On SATURDAY, JANUARY 21st from 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM and SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012, from 10:30 AM to 9:00 PM, CanadaFest will take place on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, newly renovated. For the 150,000 visitors who attend this event every year, this is the occasion to applause many artists from Quebec (singers Richard Huet and Robert Doyon will again take care of the animation) and to visit the 100 merchants that will be in their kiosks providing the sites, sounds, gastronomy, and the general ambiance of this festival. The Biggest French festival in the United States, CanadaFest is a non profit organization that aims to entertain the residents and tourists of Florida, in the hopes of providing cultural diversity to the residents of Florida by showing the French Canadian culture. It also aims to make known of the multitude of products offered to the French Canadians in this region.
For more information, please call 954-924-9705, Click to E-mail or CLICK HERE to check web page for Details23rd Annual Downtown Delray Beach Festival of the Arts
The 23rd Annual Downtown Delray Beach Festival of the Arts will be held on SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 and SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. (rain or shine) at ATLANTIC AVENUE (1111 East Atlantic Avenue) in DOWNTOWN DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA. Take I-95 or Federal Highway to Atlantic Avenue in Delray. (There is an Atlantic Blvd. in Pompano Beach just south of Delray - do not get these confused.) Go East on Atlantic Avenue and follow signs to show site along street. It doesn’t get any better than this! The sand...the sea...and one of the top fine art festivals in the country. The Downtown Delray Beach Festival of the Arts, consistently ranked as one of the best art affairs in the U.S. by Sunshine Artist Magazine, blends long-time favorites with the most buzz-worthy names on the contemporary arts scene. This much anticipated outdoor event spans one mile of Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Delray Beach, starting at US! East over the Intracoastal Waterway all the way to A1A on the Atlantic Ocean. This event is FREE - there is NO GATE!
For more information, call (954) 472-3755, Click Here to email or Click Here to the 23rd Annual Downtown Delray Beach Festival of the Arts web site. 24th Annual Las Olas Art Fair - Part I
The the 24th Annual Las Olas Art Fair - Part I will be held on SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 7 & 8, 2012 from 10 AM - 5 PM on LAS OLAS BOULEVARD between SE 6th Avenue and SE 11th Avenue. A South Florida tradition, the show is regarded as one of the top events in America. Part II of this high-caliber event is also held during the first weekend of March. Take a stroll along Las Olas Boulevard, just minutes from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, amidst life-size sculptures, spectacular paintings, one-of-a-kind jewels, photography, ceramics and much more. Adding to the artful ambiance will be live music and tasty treats. And, look out for the new collector poster commemorating this much anticipated annual art affair! The show that put Howard Alan Events on the map celebrates its 22nd year! It is FREE - there is no gate.
For more information, call 954-472-3755, Click Here to email or CLICK HERE to see web site. 25th Annual Boca Fest
will be held on SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 & 15, 2012 from 10 AM - 5 PM at The SHOPS OF BOCA CENTER (formerly the Crocker Center) on MILITARY TRAIL in BOCA RATON. Boca Fest is back for the 25th year with the nation’s top artists, blending a balance of long-time favorites with the latest names in the contemporary art scene. Centrally located at The Shops of Boca Center on Military Trail, Boca Fest is a sure “best” of Boca. Life-size sculptures, spectacular paintings, one-of-a-kind jewels, photography, ceramics, and much more make for one fabulous weekend. The event is FREE, NO GATE!
For info, call (954) 472-3755, Click to E-mail or Click Here to web site. Fort Lauderdale International Gem & Jewelry Show
The weekend-long 2011 - 2012 Fort Lauderdale International Gem & Jewelry Show is scheduled for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30th from NOON to 6 PM, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2011 from 10 AM to 6 PM and SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012 from 11 AM to 5 PM. The event will take place at the WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM (800 NE 8th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304). Whether you are looking for a diamond engagement ring, beautiful colored gemstones or a one-of-a-kind gift, you will find it at the International Gem & Jewelry Show. Exhibitors from around the World offer a huge selection of quality jewelry of all kinds including loose colored gemstones, fine finished jewelry, fashion jewelry, beads and more. If the huge selection is not enough incentive to visit our shows, how about incredible savings?! At the International Gem & Jewelry Shows, you will enjoy discounts of 20% to 40% off of the regular retail price. Nearly one million people attend our shows each year! Admission is $8, good gor all three days. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
For more information, call (301) 294-1640 or or Click to E-mail. CLICK HERE for to Website.Buckler's 22nd Annual Craft Fair
From SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18th through SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012, Buckler's 22nd Annual Craft Fair will be held at the South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33422. The times are SATURDAY: 10 AM - 5 PM and SUNDAY: 10 AM - 4 PM. Professional, award winning craftspeople from across the country exhibiting and selling items such as Country, Victorian, Folk Art, Primitive, Southwestern, furniture, wood items, toys, dolls, bears, clothing and accessories, jewelry, gourmet delights, homemade fudge, Christmas items and much more. Directions From I-95, take exit 68 (old exit 50) to Southern Blvd. - West 7 miles. From Turnpike, take exit 97, West on Southern Blvd. and South on Sansbury. Admission is $8.00 per person ($6 admission + $2 surcharge by South Florida Fairgrounds), Children 12 & under free and one paid admission good both days with handstamp. FREE PARKING.
For more information, call (386) 860-0092, Fax: (386) 860-6157 or Click Here to email. Click Here to Buckler's 22nd Annual Craft Fair web site. Fort Lauderdale Gun & Knife Show
The Sun Coast Gun Show will be held at the WAR MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM at 800 NE 8th STREET in FORT LAUDERDALE. The Fair is scheduled for SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 from 9 AM to 5 PM and SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2012 from 10 AM to 5 PM. The Ft Lauderdale Gun Show is a favorite for local gun collectors, hunters, and enthusiast. Dealers and private collectors from across the state of Florida exhibit at this show. You'll find a huge selection of guns, accessories, and many hard to find items. Make sure you do not miss the next Suncoast Gun Show coming to the War Memorial Auditorium. The charge for admission is $8 per person - Kids Free (12 & under). Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
For more information, call (954) 828-5380 or Click Here to web site. The Fort Lauderdale Bus Loop
On FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012, for only $25 ($20 Prepaid), you can ride the Sun Trolley on the 17th Street Causeway Fort Lauderdale Bus Loop Route and receive a free drink at each participating venue! No need to drive if you live within walking distance of either the Las Olas Route or the 17th St Causeway Route ! Free trolley service for both routes to get you to one of the check-in locations. Check-in at Bimini Boatyard, Grumpy Gators or LuLu's. The buses begin the Loop at 6:00pm. After checking in anytime between 5:30 PM and 10:00 PM and receiving a 4" X 6" drink card and a wristband, you can ride the Sun Trolley buses all night long for free - getting on and off as you choose. On the back of the drink card, there will be a box for each participating bar/restaurant . The bartender will mark off that box when you receive a complimentary drink from that establishment. The drink cards should be honored up until 11:00 PM. At 10:00 PM there is a post-party at a designated location indicated on the card where attendees enjoy appetizers, dancing, prizes, etc. The exact type of drink will be indicated on the drink card. This may be beer, wine or a specialty drink. The 17th Street Causeway route begins at Cordova and 17th Street Causeway and heads east on 17th Street Causeway to the beaches where it will turn around at Beach Place.
For more information, call 954-260-6194 or 954-468-1541 or Click Here to email or Click Here to web site. The Quadrantid Meteor Shower
This is one of the strongest meteor showers of the year, but observers can be disappointed if conditions are not just right. The point from where the Quadrantid meteors appear to radiate is located within the extinct constellation Quadrans Muralis. On modern star charts, this radiant is located where the constellations Hercules, Boötes, and Draco meet in the sky. The shower can appear almost nonexistent until about 11 p.m. Unfortunately, the radiant does not attain a very high altitude for most Northern Hemisphere observers before morning twilight puts an end to the show. The best observations are actually possible from countries with high northern latitudes, such as Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The display is virtually nonexistent for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. The Quadrantids generally begin on DECEMBER 28 and end on JANUARY 7, with maximum generally occurring during the morning hours of JANUARY 3/4. The Quadrantids are barely detectable on the beginning and ending dates, but observers in the Northern Hemisphere can see from 10 to around 60 meteors per hour at maximum. The maximum only lasts for a few hours. There are other, weaker meteor showers going on around the same time as the Quadrantids. The Quadrantids are medium-paced when compared to meteors from other meteor showers. When you see a meteor, mentally trace it backwards. If you end up where Hercules, Boötes, and Draco meet in the sky then you have probably seen a Quadrantid meteor! First mention that early January activity might be annual came in 1839, when Adolphe Quetelet (Brussels Observatory, Belgium) and Edward C. Herrick (Connecticut) independently made the suggestion. The meteor shower became known as the Quadrantids because of its emanation from a now obsolete constellation called Quadrans Muralis (the Mural Quadrant) located on some 19th-century star atlases near the point of meeting between Hercules, Boötes and Draco. The long-term effect of Jupiter on the Quadrantid stream was first investigated by S. E. Hamid and M. N. Youssef in 1963. They took the orbits of six Quadrantid meteors that were photographed in 1954 and applied perturbations by Jupiter for the past 5000 years. While the Quadrantid orbit passes as close as 92 million miles from the sun now, they noted the orbit was significantly different 1500 years ago, when the orbit passed as close as 10 million miles from the sun. The authors speculated that the stream's parent comet was captured by Jupiter about 4000 years ago and shortly thereafter it developed meteors along its path. "Because an appreciable number of these meteors, which now form the Quadrantids, did not suffer another close approach to Jupiter, the shower is observed to be compact."
For more information, CLICK HERE to Meteor Shower Web Site. St. Lawrence Gallery January Events
The St. Lawrence Gallery will be hosting many evenings of art and socializing at at 3556 N. Ocean Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Wine and Cheese will be served and raffles will be held as you mingle. Be sure to join us to celebrate local artists and charitable giving. On FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012 - 6 to 8 PM - Enjoy a show featuring artist Robert Dorman & Jewelry Artist Nina Liebig. The Reception will benefit 4 Children's S.A.K.E. On FRIDAY JANUARY 13, 2012 - 6 to 8 PM - The St. Lawrence Gallery will host a show featuring artist Marilyn Johansen. The Reception will benefit Common Unity. On FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012 - 6 to 8:30 PM - a show featuring artist John Bowen. Enjoy complimentary Wine & Hors d'oeuvres & Door Prizes! Fund-Raiser Reception to benefit the Disability Network. On FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012 - 6 to 8 PM - Enjoy a show featuring artist Thomas Rebek. The Reception will benefit the Gold Coast Watercolor Society.
For more information about St. Lawrence Gallery, CLICK HERE call 954-566-8011 or Click Here to email. Mid Winter Sun Celebration (Imbolc)
The public is invited to attend the Mid Winter/Imbolc Sun Celebration on SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2012 at 7:00 pm! It will take place at the UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF FORT LAUDERDALE at 3970 NW 21st AVENUE (between COMMERCIAL BOULEVARD and OAKLAND PARK BOULEVARD) in Fort Lauderdale. It will conform to, and celebrate, the Ancient Tradition. Ritual garb and/or costume is encouraged. There will be drumming, dancing, chanting, and feasting. Bring your drums and percussion instruments, as well as food and drink to share for the feast to follow the Celebration. Bring non-perishable food items and clothing, to be donated to the Cooperative Feeding Program of Broward County (or Cash Donation) Anyone interested in participating is welcome. Mid Winter is a festival of spiritual purification and dedication; with cleansing and purification rites conducted for each room in preparation for the birth of spring. This is the origin of 'Spring Cleaning'. It's the appropriate time for new beginning and re-dedications. Mid Winter is the time considered by some to be the start of spring. The quickening of the seeds of spring within the earth. Though in early February the days are growing noticeably longer, this is still a dark time. The full moon in the month of February is called the Quickening Moon which falls on February 07, 2012, 21:54 Universal Time. Imbolc is a Gaelic word meaning 'in the belly' (of the Mother) and thought to be derived from the word Oimelc meaning ‘ewe’s milk’ and is normally celebrated on February 2nd. It is considered by some to be the start of spring. We associate Ground hog Day, in early February, with practicing the old tradition of weather divination. Midwinter observences, fesitvals, and/or celebrations in February are: Feast to celebrate the Birhtday of Nut (Egyptian), Festa di Lupercus (Strega), Ground Hog's Day (USA), Aztec New Year, Chinese New Year(new moon), Roman Lupercalia, Valentine's Day (USA Feb 14), Armenian Candlemas, Oimelc, Brigit's Day, Saint Brighids's Day, Feast of Pan, Snowdrop Festival, Feast of the Waxing Light, Imbolic Brigantia (Caledonni), Imbolic (Celtic), Disting (Teutonic), St. Bridget's Day (Christian), Candlemas (Christian), Candlelaria (Mexican), the Snowdrop Festival, the Festival of Lights, and The Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.
For more information, call 954-484-6734 or Click Here to email or Click Here to web site. Jazz On The Square - JANUARY 6, 13, 20 and 27 - Join us every Friday night from 7 PM - 10 PM for an outdoor festival of music and merriment sponsored by The Chamber of Commerce and THE VILLAGE GRILLE & VILLAGE PUMP! Commercial Boulevard and the Beach at Pelican Square. Phone 954-776-5092 for details or Click to Web Site. Additional information is available by contacting the L-B-T-S Chamber of Commerce at (954) 776-1000 or CLICK HERE to email. GMCA Presidents Council - The GMCA Presidents Council Meeting will be held on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2012 from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM at the FOUNTAINHEAD CONDOMINIUM at 3900 NORTH OCEAN DRIVE in LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA. Many Thanks to FOUNTAINHEAD President RONALD ERTLEY for graciously hosting this important meeting. Pio Ieraci will chair the monthly Presidents Council meeting. Check GMCA CALENDAR for important meeting information.GMCA Advisory Board
The next regular meeting will be on THURSDAY JANUARY 19, 2012 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at NICK’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT - 35th Street & NORTH OCEAN DRIVE (A1A) in FORT LAUDERDALE. President Pio Ieraci will chair the monthly Advisory Board meeting. Check GMCA CALENDAR for important meeting information.Commissioner Bruce Roberts’ Pre-Agenda Meeting MONDAY - At 6 PM on JANUARY 16, 2012 at the Beach Community Center (3351 NE 33rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale). Two or more City Commissioners and/or Advisory Board members may be present at this meeting. All are welcome to attend.
CLICK HERE for Details or Check GMCA CALENDAR for Commissioner Roberts’ bi-weekly Pre-Agenda MeetingsFort Lauderdale City Commission Meeting THURSDAY, JANUARY 5 & TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012 CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL, 100 N ANDREWS AVE, FORT LAUDERDALE. Conference Agenda - 1:30 PM, Regular Agenda - 6:00 PM. The City Commission meetings are generally held on the first and third Tuesday of the Month - aberrations due to holiday conflicts, etc. are posted. All are welcome to attend.
CLICK HERE for Details or Check the GMCA CALENDAR for meeting dates and times of Fort Lauderdale's City Commission. Fort Lauderdale Planning & Zoning Board Meeting WEDNESDAY - JANUARY 18, 2012 CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL, 100 N ANDREWS AVE, FORT LAUDERDALE at 6:30 PM. The Fort Lauderdale Planning & Zoning Board Meetings are generally held on the third Wednesday of the Month - aberrations due to holiday conflicts, etc. are posted. All are welcome to attend.
CLICK HERE for Details or Check the GMCA CALENDAR for meeting dates and times of Fort Lauderdale's City CommissionCouncil of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations General Meeting TUESDAY - JANUARY 10, 2012 (7:00 PM - MEET & GREET, 7:30 PM - MEETING) at City Hall, 100 ANDREWS AVENUE. President Genia Ellis convenes the monthly general meeting of the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations. The meeting will be held in the 8th Floor Commission Conference Room.
CLICK HERE for Details or Check GMCA CALENDAR for information about the monthly meetings Ask Lori!
Read the JANUARY 2012 question asked of Lori Parrish by a Broward resident - Broward County Property Appraiser LORI PARRISH answers questions posed about property appraisals (of course), Save Our Homes amendment ramifications and the ubiquitous “Homestead Exemption”. Located in the Broward County Property Appraiser page on the Galt Mile Community Association web site, Lori Parrish clarifies confusion surrounding the appraisal process and explains our rights in simple Q & A format.
CLICK HERE for Details!
CLICK HERE For Details!
MARKETS
There are many wonderful markets available to Galt Mile residents on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. CHECK THEM OUT!CORAL RIDGE GREEN MARKET - Every Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM at Plaza 3000 at 3000 N. Federal Highway for Produce, gourmet items, flowers, etc. For information call Brian O'Neill at 954-426-8436 or Click Here to email RIVERWALK URBAN MARKET - Every Saturday from 8 AM to 2 PM at Riverwalk Historic District for Fresh produce, teas, coffees, preserves, and lots of other goodies! For information call Riverwalk Trust Office at 954-468-1541 or Click Here to email LAS OLAS GOURMET MARKET - Every Sunday from 8 AM to 4 PM at Las Olas Chemist (East Las Olas at SE 12 Avenue) for Produce, flowers, gourmet goodies. For information call Brian O'Neill at 954-426-8436 or Click Here to email .
 VOTE EASY VOTE EARLY
JANUARY 31, 2012 - You do not have to wait until Election Day to vote. You do not need an absentee ballot or some special dispensation. Early voters can make known their will at a variety of different Broward sites. Nearby locations include the Main Library at 100 S. Andrews Avenue, the North Regional Library/Broward College at 1100 Coconut Creek Boulevard in Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach City Hall at 100 West Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach as well as the Northwest Regional Library at 3151 University Drive in Coral Springs. Early Voting dates for the JANUARY 31, 2012 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY Election are JANUARY 21 to JANUARY 28, 2012. Early voting hours of operations are SATURDAY - SATURDAY 10 AM - 6 PM. Registered voters can avoid the traffic and the lines that plague overcrowded polling places. If you bring a signature-bearing photo id (preferably a Drivers License, although Photo Credit and Debit Cards are also OK) and a previously marked sample ballot, you'll whiz through the experience. VOTE EARLY! TRAFFIC PLUGS JANUARY 2012 - STREET CLOSURES - US 1 from SE 17th Street to Broward Boulevard & Henry E. Kinney Tunnel in Fort Lauderdale - One left lane will be closed in either direction between SE 17 Street and Broward Boulevard MONDAY, JANUARY 23, through FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. 17th Street Causeway Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale - One westbound will be closed WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. for gate repairs. State Road 7/Riverland Road Intersection north of I-595 in Fort Lauderdale - Beginning JANUARY 23, one northbound and one southbound lane will be closed on State Road 7 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
CLICK HERE for full details - YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
CLICK HERE TO READ GMCA PRESIDENT PIO IERACI'S PRESIDENTS COLUMN!
PEACE ON EARTH
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GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS RELEVANT TO OUR COMMUNITY! READ THE GMCA'S CURRENT POLITICAL UPDATES FROM:
CITY COMMISSIONER BRUCE ROBERTS DECEMBER 22, 2011 - In his last newsletter of 2011, District 1 Commissioner Bruce Roberts reviews the many neighborhood initiatives brought to fruition in 2011, highlights the City’s budgetary achievements, offers a defense against a recent crime trend, describes a city ordinance enacted to clamp down on Pill Mills that fuel the street drug trade, welcomes residents to share their concerns at his twice monthly pre-agenda meetings and thanks constituents for their input and his opportunity to serve the District - and the city. Roberts also brings focus to a long-awaited breakthrough in Emergency 911 dispatch service. Finally complying with a 2002 voter mandate to consolidate a dozen disjointed call centers into a unified system will shave precious minutes from emergency response times. The county-wide initiative will enable many more of our family, friends and neighbors to survive heart attacks, sudden cardiac arrest, deadly force assaults, fires, and a wide range of other time-critical emergencies. Its about time...
STATEHOUSE REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE MORAITIS DECEMBER 13, 2011 - The 2012 Omnibus Association bill is House Bill 319 (HB 319) – filed by District 91 Statehouse Representative George R. Moraitis. Building on the legislative momentum initiated by then Representative (now Senator) Ellyn Bogdanoff in 2010 (SB 1196) and Representative Moraitis last year (HB 1195), this year’s incarnation impacts Condominiums, Cooperatives and Homeowner Associations. Its sister bill in the Senate was filed by our District 25 Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff. Although their work product delivers relief to associations across the state, members of Galt Mile associations vote in the districts that sent them to the Statehouse and Senate in Tallahassee. After meeting with the GMCA Advisory Board to solicit their legislative wish list, Moraitis incorporated into his bill a list of statutory glitch repairs, the retrofit deadline for elevators, foreclosure fixes, and an amendment conforming laws governing cooperative associations more closely to those governing condominiums.
SENATOR ELLYN BOGDANOFF JULY 26, 2011 - In keeping with her longstanding policy of notifying constituents about projects and decisions that directly impact their lives, Florida Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff launched a campaign to engage her District 25 residents in a redistricting process that will heavily influence how political power is distributed both locally and across the state. Redistricting is the process by which district boundaries of congressional and state legislative electoral districts are redrawn to adjust for evolving demographics in different parts of the state. The process of determining which voters participate in the election of representatives to the U.S. House, State Senate, and State House has historically been the sole province of politicians who most stand to benefit from manipulating electoral results. Bogdanoff celebrates new technology that enables every Florida citizen to move from the nosebleed seats to the playing field. By using "District Builder", a free online version of the redistricting software used by legislators, any Galt Mile resident can author a redistricting plan that’s eligible for legislative approval!
CITY MANAGER LEE FELDMAN MAY 30, 2011 - And then there was one. On May 17, 2011, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission identified Lee Feldman as the winner of Fort Lauderdale’s City Manager lotto. The 48-year-old former Palm Bay City Manager was the last man standing in a field of 90 prospective applicants. Affirmed by Commissioners Bobby Dubose, Romney Rogers and Bruce Roberts, nixed by Mayor Jack Seiler and hammered by Commissioner Charlotte "NO" Rodstrom, the Florida League of Cities 2006 “City Manager of the Year” will oversee 3 times the staff and 6 times the operational budget he managed in his former municipality. Commissioners were encouraged when Feldman announced that he dislikes using reserves to balance the budget. If he can streamline City Hall by comprehensively restructuring the existing table of organization, Feldman may stave off the impending pain. First - they will have to trust Feldman with unfettered operational control.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER CHIP LAMARCA MAY 6, 2011 - On April 28th, residents from every Galt Mile association ignored the mid-afternoon soup-like humidity and streamed to the Galt Mile Reading Center. They ostensibly went to celebrate a successful campaign to bolster membership for Herman Gardner's "Friends of the Galt Ocean Mile Library" support group. In fact, it was a strategy meeting called to prevent the county from closing the popular mini-Library. Following brief addresses by Plaza South's Terry Claire and Commodore's Leann Barber, District 4 County Commissioner Chip LaMarca stepped to an apprehensive audience. When LaMarca informed attendees that he planned to forego collecting thousands of petition signatures, eliciting dozens of association and civic resolutions and/or flooding the commission Chamber with Galt Mile residents at the final budget meeting, the audience was stunned. In contrast with former Commissioner Ken Keechl's convulsive strategy, LaMarca said he would implement a political solution. Herman Gardner commented "I'm delighted - do you think it will work?"
What's New?
ASSOCIATIONS
All of the members of the Galt Mile Community Association are entitled to maintain a website that reflects the relevant features and qualities of their residences. This is the link to the websites of the individual Associations. Recently added sites include Caribé, L’Hermitage II, the current L’Hermitage Link Newsletter, Coral Ridge Towers South, and The Galt Merchants Association! In addition, 90% of the existing Association Sites have been recently upgraded. Check yours out! We’re delighted to see that the PLAYA DEL MAR website is BACK UP and RUNNING. The PLAYA DEL MAR web site offers the entire association newsletter. It also houses past newsletters in the Newsletter Archives! THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS! ANOTHER SURPRISE! The CORAL RIDGE TOWERS EAST Web Site has also been reincarnated. CORAL RIDGE TOWERS EAST resident and Webmaster Warren Eisenberg has done a wonderful job in bringing an online presence back for one of the first GMCA member Associations to create a web site! In April 2005, CORAL RIDGE TOWERS ORIGINAL and RIVIERA both established web sites. PLAZA EAST and the GALLEON set up independent web sites and REGENCY TOWER'S web site was up and running again after an unexpected hiatus. In August, 2006, Director Jack Zink took the initiative to set up an independent web site for FOUNTAINHEAD. Also, PLAZA SOUTH has joined the club, kicking of its web site in June of 2008... congratulations! More good news! COMMODORE CONDOMINIUM and The Royal Ambassador have also created their own fully self-maintained web site.
Click to CONDOS
DIRECTORS
The Galt Mile Community Association is administered by a Board of Directors, an Advisory Board, and the Presidents Council (an assembly of the Presidents of each member Association). They are depicted and briefly biographied in this section.
Who Are They?
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| AERIAL VIEW OF THE GALT OCEAN MILE SHORELINE |
 January 28, 2012 - In his February 2012 newsletter, District 1 City Commissioner Bruce Roberts courageously flouted a long observed political taboo when he addressed municipal pension benefits. For politicians with a functional survival instinct, exploring the netherworld of public employee pensions is ordinarily a recipe for disaster. Nearby municipalities like Miami, Pembroke Pines, St. Petersburg and Hollywood, where employee retirement plans account for more than half of the total payroll, are struggling to avoid the pension-driven fiscal black hole that sucked the life out of Vallejo, California in 2008, Prichard, Alabama in 2009 and Central Falls, Rhode Island last month. A few years ago, Fort Lauderdale began taking steps to rein in the growth of annual pension obligations that skyrocketed from $10.6 million a decade ago to $52.2 million last year. Roberts also celebrates the city's economic turnaround as substantiated by the latest data from Realtor.Com and the Global Business Travel Association.
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Citizens to Dump Beachfront Assns
 January 20, 2012 - In December, Florida Insurance Agents launched a campaign to inform some beachfront condo and cooperative clients that their rates are about to explode (quadruple). The Agents were compelled to warn their customers about the unavoidable impact of an item on the December 14, 2011 meeting agenda of the Citizens board. It addressed capping coverage at $1 million for buildings where more than 25 percent of units are rentals. Currently little more than an informal guideline that has been arbitrarily applied for the past few months, its official enactment would force a difficult choice on beachfront associations peppered with short-term rentals. They can harden their building shells and pray that it passes muster with some sympathetic admitted carrier, retool their Governing documents to limit rentals or get mugged in the seedy world of surplus lines. However, since the disastrous plan is actively supported by our Governor, there’s still a good chance that it will implode.
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Dammit... Where’s the Water?
 January 7, 2012 - By 8 PM on Christmas Eve, board members in Galt Mile associations began fielding complaints from neighbors asking why their water was off. Along with the understandable blend of panic and anger were recriminations by the usual suspects - every building’s small but vocal group of goofballs who blamed their downstairs neighbor, the building manager, global warming, NAFTA or the United Nations. Since the City switchboard was seemingly on a prolonged lunch break, local residents without water spent Christmas Eve in the dark about their predicament. While City Manager Lee Feldman plans to cure the worrisome communications lapse, the City recommends that residents take advantage of a service that reliably provides emergency notifications. Also, if your curiosity was piqued by the City's near-magical two-hour recovery from a 42-inch water main rupture, read on...
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A Tale of Two Bad Bills
 December 30, 2011 - Association bills that abound at the outset of the legislative session are soon identified as productive for or damaging to Condos, Co-ops and their members. Anti-association bills are generally propelled by one of three motivations; money, political capital or ignorance. In 2012, Bradenton Senator Michael Bennett filed a bill on behalf of some extremely generous construction industry trade organizations. Senate Bill 1196 seeks to protect developers who sell properties afflicted with critical common element construction defects by squelching their common law exposure to implied warranties. In short, the bill would severely limit homeowner rights and remedies for substandard construction or outright negligence. In contrast, another bill that was not motivated by greed threatens to cripple associations plagued with foreclosures. The bill is one of dozens filed annually by misguided lawmakers who wreak havoc when trying to address problems they don't understand.
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Roberts: Neighborhoods, E-911, Budget
 December 22, 2011 - In his last newsletter of 2011, District 1 Commissioner Bruce Roberts reviews the many neighborhood initiatives brought to fruition in 2011, highlights the City’s budgetary achievements, offers a defense against a recent crime trend, describes a city ordinance enacted to clamp down on Pill Mills that fuel the street drug trade, welcomes residents to share their concerns at his twice monthly pre-agenda meetings and thanks constituents for their input and his opportunity to serve the District - and the city. Roberts also brings focus to a long-awaited breakthrough in Emergency 911 dispatch service. Finally complying with a 2002 voter mandate to consolidate a dozen disjointed call centers into a unified system will shave precious minutes from emergency response times. The county-wide initiative will enable many more of our family, friends and neighbors to survive heart attacks, sudden cardiac arrest, deadly force assaults, fires, and a wide range of other time-critical emergencies. It's about time...
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The 2012 Omnibus Association Bill
 December 13, 2011 - The 2012 Omnibus Association bill is House Bill 319 (HB 319) – filed by District 91 Statehouse Representative George R. Moraitis. Building on the legislative momentum initiated by then Representative (now Senator) Ellyn Bogdanoff in 2010 (SB 1196) and Representative Moraitis last year (HB 1195), this year’s incarnation impacts Condominiums, Cooperatives and Homeowner Associations. Its sister bill in the Senate was filed by our District 25 Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff. Although their work product delivers relief to associations across the state, members of Galt Mile associations vote in the districts that sent them to the Statehouse and Senate in Tallahassee. After meeting with the GMCA Advisory Board to solicit their legislative wish list, Moraitis incorporated into his bill a list of statutory glitch repairs, the retrofit deadline for elevators, foreclosure fixes, and an amendment conforming laws governing cooperative associations more closely to those governing condominiums. See next year's law today ...
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Marcy Kravit: Association Fiscal Options
 December 1, 2011 - Welcome to Budget Season on the Galt Mile! In November, most Galt Mile Associations offer budget presentations to their membership. While some boards vote to enact the newly crafted budget immediately after its revelation, most reconvene in December for an approval vote. Because the economic downturn pummeled associations with unprecedented financial pitfalls, this year’s budgets are permeated with new or rare line items, unfamiliar legal and/or fiscal terminology and planning choices that are clear as mud to many association members. To help her Galt Mile neighbors better understand how the evolving legal and legislative landscape affects their association's projected 2012 spending plan, Galleon Manager Marcy Kravit collaborated with association attorney Lisa Magill in drafting a Q & A roadmap through the new legal and fiscal paradigms. Read on...
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Major Diaz: Spare Change Sours Galt Mile
 November 23, 2011 - In 1993, the City of Fort Lauderdale passed an law prohibiting panhandling (soliciting) in the public beach area. A recently proposed ordinance will soon close the downtown business area to the quest for spare change. At the November 17, 2011 Galt Mile Advisory Board meeting, District 1 Police Commander Major Raul Diaz explained how the Galt Mile could be the third municipal community free of beggars, squatters and panhandlers. It will cost nothing and we won't have to wait for our public officials to pass any law. Major Diaz just returned from Iraq, where he served three tours as a Captain in the United States Air Force. Having won enough medals to fill a truck, he is a serious man. While not novel, his solution is elegant. Interested? Read on...
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New Flood Maps Could Soak Associations
 November 14, 2011 - For the first time in 14 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is preparing a comprehensive review of Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) flood zones throughout Broward County. To enable consistent comparisons of land and water elevations across the nation, the agency is using a more accurate mathematical constant, or “vertical datum” to calculate floodplain elevations. Federally regulated mortgage lenders require homeowners who live in high risk FEMA-designated flood areas to carry expensive flood insurance, which is erratically provided by the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program. Depending on the zone that FEMA assigns to an association property, its members could see their insurance costs skyrocket and a fat new assessment in next December's budget.
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Annual Condo Crunch by Housing Feds
 November 8, 2011 - Our Federal Housing agencies are experiencing their annual break with reality. Every year, the FHA, HUD or congressional stepchildren Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac pass seemingly well-intentioned rules that wreak havoc on the housing market. It’s no accident that their favorite fiscal piñatas are community associations, preferably in South Florida. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently revised eligibility standards for Associations in which buyers and sellers hope to qualify for favorable FHA-insured financing. Enigmatically, thousands of associations that meet the tightened fiscal requirements for condo budgets, insurance levels, occupancy ratios, reserve funds, etc. are being systematically rejected for "technical" reasons or because volunteer board members are hesitant to risk 30 years imprisonment for incorrectly guessing future delinquency rates. Simultaneously, HUD is prosecuting discrimination cases against "no-pet" associations that inadequately accommodate requests for companion animals... or service animals... or assistance animals... or therapeutic pets... or emotional support animals, etc. Associations that capriciously neglect to consult with their attorneys about this hot-button issue could be inviting a 600-pound gorilla to dinner.
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The Monster in the Elevator
 October 30, 2011 - After sweating out an eight-year assessment threat from a statutory fire sprinkler retrofit requirement, Ellyn Bogdanoff's 2010 Omnibus Association bill gifted relief to unit owners in thousands of Florida associations. One of the lesser known provisions in Senator Bogdanoff’s landmark bill delayed the need to comply with a law requiring associations to upgrade their existing elevators by adding “Phase II Firefighters’ Service”, a questionable safety measure with no historical justification and an Olympic-size price tag. The “upgrade” was considered so fiscally egregious that similar provisions in three different 2010 bills - postponing its implementation until 2015 - were simultaneously enacted into law. At the October 3, 2011 GMCA Presidents Council meeting, District 91 Statehouse Representative George Moraitis and association attorney Donna Berger discussed the funding burden that the measure would place on unit owners. When Berger announced, “estimates run from hundreds of thousands of dollars into the millions,” you could hear a pin drop.
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Roberts: Projects, Pilot Law & Prop. Code
 October 20, 2011 - Along with the issue updates in his October 2011 Newsletter, District 1 City Commissioner Bruce Roberts reviews a number of key local projects in various stages of comprehensive, often contentious, long-term negotiations. If successfully concluded, several promise to ply the local economy with tax dollars and jobs while providing quality of life dividends to both visitors and residents. How the city finalizes plans for Bahia Mar, Lockhart Stadium, the Aquatic Center and the Sun Trolley could either alleviate - or inflame - the regional economic instability. In addition to commenting on the City Budget, assorted venues for expanding the Visioning Process, a plan to regulate street people who dodge traffic while adorned in sandwich boards and a home-grown source of money-saving coupons, our City Commissioner describes a proposed ordinance that will force lenders to maintain properties frozen in foreclosure while dumping dollars into city coffers.
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The National Delegate Dump
 October 5, 2011 - In 2008, Florida lawmakers sought to heighten their state’s influence over the Presidential election. To grab the national spotlight, they enacted a statute moving Florida's Presidential Primary from March to late January. Having violated National Party rules against presidential primaries held before February, unless its January 31, 2012 primary is rescheduled, Florida will lose half of its 99 delegates - a prospect that has enraged grass-roots Republican and Democrat activists. Infuriated by Florida's attempt to usurp their historical status, the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina leapfrogged Florida, moving their primaries from February to January. Ironically, while state and local party leaders struggle to heal the rift between their national counterparts and Florida's intransigent lawmakers, the events set in motion by Florida could reduce the state's nominating contest to little more than a predictive ripple.
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Roadmap to a Port Everglades Windfall
 September 20, 2011 - In his September 2011 Newsletter, District 91 Statehouse Representative George Moraitis brings focus to a critically important financial opportunity that, if managed properly, will inject $billions into the local economy, funnel truckloads of tax revenue into state and regional coffers, and pluck thousands of local residents from the unemployment rolls. When the Panama Canal is reconfigured to accommodate supersized transports, tankers and cruise ships in less than three years, plummeting shipping costs will significantly pump up international patterns of commerce. If Port Everglades successfully competes with other East Coast and Gulf ports for an impending trade windfall, it could deliver a steroidal jerk to the State and local economic recovery. Moraitis intends to bag the financing required for implementing a County “Master Plan” to prepare the Port for this bonanza.
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Galt Mile Winn-Dixie Ups its Game
 September 11, 2011 - Notwithstanding divergent opinions about the neighborhood Winn-Dixie’s service and product lines, raw convenience prompts almost every Galt Mile resident to cruise the aisles on a regular basis. When Winn-Dixie corporate sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 years ago, the Galt Ocean Mile store appeared as if it was conducting a garage sale. Products were left in boxes strewn about the premises. Shelves were half empty and employees behaved as if they were nervously awaiting severance checks. Although unlikely to soon breach any supermarket "A" list, they have made a remarkable transformation. This year, corporate invested in a cart containment system that will insure availability while clearing the carts from our sidewalks, new high speed IBM checkout technology and a system for sanitizing equipment handled by shoppers. If they overcome the supernatural force responsible for their being out of whatever anyone needs at the time that they need it, we may soon be able to forego those bi-monthly "fill in" trips to Publix.
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Roberts: New Blood, Pill Mills, New Tech
 August 20, 2011 - To enhance their tenures, effective municipal administrators will build management teams by blending their predecessors’ residual talent with new blood. Commissioner Bruce Roberts’ kicks off his August 2011 newsletter with mini-bios of City Manager Lee Feldman's new right and left management arms, Assistant City Managers Stanley Hawthorne from Lakeland and Susanne Torriente from Miami-Dade. The two additions to his management team collectively bring 45 years of experience to Feldman's table. Roberts updates progress by Feldman and the City Commission with the toughest budget since the 2002 municipal fiscal implosion. Drawing on a perspective shaped by his years in law enforcement, Roberts revels in Governor Scott's decision to finally allow local governments to clamp down on pain clinics that supply the $billion street trade and kill an average 7 Floridians each day. The District 1 Commissioner also reviews a newly implemented technology called Lauderserv that facilitates access to city services from your android cell phone. Actually, its very cool and user-friendly. Check it out!
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Next Stop: Port Everglades Sand Bypass
 August 9, 2011 - When the Broward Shore Preservation Project was threatened by vested political interests in 2002, public officials from Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania Beach pleaded with neighboring beach communities for help convincing Tallahassee of the beach plan's critical importance. Grateful for substantial support received from the Galt Mile Community Association, south county officials pledged to return the favor when the north county beaches were scheduled for renourishment. When south county officials and business leaders instead tried to hijack the sand meant for the Segment II beaches (from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano) in 2008, enraged north county municipalities refused to authorize any project element that would benefit the south county beaches. The beach project subsequently slipped into limbo. By hammering home that the project's survival depends on cooperation by all of the municipal stakeholders, new Broward Beach Administrator Eric Myers has since revived the embattled beach plan. His strategy - convince participants that the timetable for each of the various project elements should be based on science, not politics.
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Senator Bogdanoff on Redistricting
 July 26, 2011 - In keeping with her longstanding policy of notifying constituents about projects and decisions that directly impact their lives, Florida Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff launched a campaign to engage her District 25 residents in a redistricting process that will heavily influence how political power is distributed both locally and across the state. Redistricting is the process by which district boundaries of congressional and state legislative electoral districts are redrawn to adjust for evolving demographics in different parts of the state. The process of determining which voters participate in the election of representatives to the U.S. House, State Senate, and State House has historically been the sole province of politicians who most stand to benefit from manipulating electoral results. Bogdanoff celebrates new technology that enables every Florida citizen to move from the nosebleed seats to the playing field. By using "District Builder", a free online version of the redistricting software used by legislators, any Galt Mile resident can author a redistricting plan that’s eligible for legislative approval!
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Air Show About to Take Off
 July 18, 2011 - “Look… up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No it’s... Bryan Lilley and Ramola Motwani!” The Fort Lauderdale City Commission intends to breathe life into a 2012 variation of the devolved Air & Sea Show. Until a few years ago, the annual mega-event drew record breaking crowds to the Fort Lauderdale beach, delighted a nationwide television audience and tickled millions of viewers in 144 countries around the planet. The talented whack job that ran the show for 13 years self-destructed in 2008. Since then, would be impressarios have over-promised and under-delivered on commitments to restore the long-missed extravaganza. Finally, a group has stepped up that's competent, experienced and adequately flush with cash to revive the City's signature event. You might want to dig out those old ear plugs. On July 12th, the City Commission gave promoter Bryan Lilley and real estate magnate Ramola Motwani the green light for the 2012 Lauderdale Air Show!
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Homestead Express - 2011
  July 4, 2011 - The Florida Constitution provides all legal Florida residents with a tax-saving exemption on the first and third $25,000 of the assessed value of their owner/occupied homes, condominiums, co-op apartments, and certain mobile home lots if they qualify. The exemption is contingent on the property being a permanent residence of the owner or a dependent (legal or natural) as of January 1st. Homesteaded properties are eligible for the protective “Save Our Homes” tax cap. Also available are host of traditional and new exemptions for seniors, veterans, widows/widowers, active military, the blind, disabled persons and properties with build-outs for Mom, Dad, Grandma and/or Grandpa. BCPA sponsors an outreach program (Beach Community Center), online applications, re-assessment requests and even a “homesteads-on-wheels” for house-bound applicants. Learn about the 2011 incarnation of the Homestead Express!
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CAN Convenes Legislative Round Table
 June 24, 2011 - On June 16, 2011, the three name partners of association law firm Katzman Garfinkel & Berger cleared their schedules and arrived early at their sprawling Fort Lauderdale campus in Margate. The firm's Community Advocacy Network (CAN) just helped rookie District 91 Statehouse Representative George Moraitis successfully shepherd his Omnibus Association bill (HB 1195) to fruition, duplicating last year's achievement with then Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff's landmark legislation. To celebrate Moraitis' unique first-year accomplishment, CAN convened a discussion forum for roughly 200 South Florida association activists that supported the bill and their lawmakers. Prior to the forum's hour long Q & A, several lawmakers assured audience members that they "had nothing to lose by giving non-partisan answers to political questions" - since they would soon lose their jobs to term limits.
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Roberts: Feldman, Recycling, Hurricanes
 June 15, 2011 - In his early Summer Newsletter, City Commissioner Bruce Roberts blends data tidbits with event reminders. After backgrounding the new City Manager, Roberts outlines preparations for a new budget-friendly process for collecting recyclables, issues a warning he annually repeats at the onset of Hurricane Season and runs down City events planned for the summer, concluding with the Commission's seasonal recess. After summarizing new City Manager Lee Feldman's sterling resume, Roberts depicts progress in the City's move to a single stream collection process for recyclables. Why commingle trashed recyclables that must be separated later in processing - and how will it help the budget? In a nutshell, processing recyclables in preparation for commodity recapture or landfill is less expensive than rounding them up. The ongoing savings far exceeds the initial transitional capital outlay, including the small bump in processing costs. The real question is, will the benefits accrue to customers or the hungry budget?
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Richter Rocks Rates
 June 7, 2011 - Senator Garrett Richter, a Naples banker elected in 2008, was the Florida Insurance Council’s Legislator of the Year in 2009 and snagged their Special Leadership Award in 2010. That same year, he successfully steered Senate Bill 2044 through the Florida Legislature before former Governor Charlie Crist signed its death warrant. With Rick Scott in the Governor’s mansion, the insurance industry’s personal lawmaker cloned and refiled last year’s vetoed legislation as Senate Bill 408. This year would be different. No longer threatened by a prospective gubernatorial veto, dozens of lobbyists retained by property insurance trade associations shared nearly $800,000 to actualize Senator Richter’s insurance piñata. As Sine Die approached, pro-consumer amendments softened the bill's impact as constituent input convinced lawmakers to better balance the needs of policyholders with those of their carriers. To see how the final product affects you... Read on...
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Lee Feldman Wins City Manager Lotto
 May 30, 2011 - And then there was one. On May 17, 2011, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission identified Lee Feldman as the winner of Fort Lauderdale’s City Manager lotto. The 48-year-old former Palm Bay City Manager was the last man standing in a field of 90 prospective applicants. Affirmed by Commissioners Bobby Dubose, Romney Rogers and Bruce Roberts, nixed by Mayor Jack Seiler and hammered by Commissioner Charlotte "NO" Rodstrom, the Florida League of Cities 2006 “City Manager of the Year” will oversee 3 times the staff and 6 times the operational budget he managed in his former municipality. Commissioners were encouraged when Feldman announced that he dislikes using reserves to balance the budget. If he can streamline City Hall by comprehensively restructuring the existing table of organization, Feldman may stave off the impending pain. First - they will have to trust Feldman with unfettered operational control.
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2011 Omnibus Association Bill
 May 21, 2011 - While nursing last year's landmark Omnibus Association Bill through the House and Senate, then Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff was forced to navigate an intimidating array of political land mines. When some of it's more controversial provisions threatened to weaken support for the bill, by leaving them open to broad interpretation instead of removing them, Bogdanoff insured the bill's survival while providing the impetus for their future clarification. To that end, two association advocacy organizations, each parented by a powerful association law firm, supported respective "glitch" bills this year. Since neither could survive alone, their sponsors were forced to merge the bills. The differing objectives sought by the two law firms resulted in the hybrid legislation assuming a decidedly schizophrenic tone. Although a double edged sword, Representative George Moraitis' House Bill 1195 - this year's Omnibus Association Bill - fixed more problems than it created. Curious? Read on...
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Lessons from a Galt Mile Tragedy
 May 13, 2011 - Last year, veteran Building Manager Jim Beard of the Ocean Riviera called Private Investigator Jim Rigney, a retired New York City Detective who lives in The Regency Tower. Rigney’s agency, Pelican Group International, does background checks of prospective buyers or tenants for several Galt Mile associations. Rigney headed south to Beard’s building and picked up a file containing a screening application for the Ocean Riviera Condominium Association. Making the most of the $100 maximum mandated by the State for background checks, the bad news uncovered by Rigney was off the charts. Since it also confirmed the savvy manager’s instincts, the association rejected the prospective tenant - and a boatload of trouble. Undeterred, a highly medicated Brian Krebs moved into an alternative building on Galt Ocean Drive and wrecked the unit during a tantrum. Days later, he was arrested for murdering a musician and stabbing four people in a bar across the street. Stunned Galt Mile association boards and managers scrambled to firm up historically lax tenant screening procedures; their best opportunity to keep wolves out of the henhouse.
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Chip LaMarca’s Galt Library Rescue Plan
 May 6, 2011 - On April 28th, residents from every Galt Mile association ignored the mid-afternoon soup-like humidity and streamed to the Galt Mile Reading Center. They ostensibly went to celebrate a successful campaign to bolster membership for Herman Gardner's "Friends of the Galt Ocean Mile Library" support group. In fact, it was a strategy meeting called to prevent the county from closing the popular mini-Library. Following brief addresses by Plaza South's Terry Claire and Commodore's Leann Barber, District 4 County Commissioner Chip LaMarca stepped to an apprehensive audience. When LaMarca informed attendees that he planned to forego collecting thousands of petition signatures, eliciting dozens of association and civic resolutions and/or flooding the commission Chamber with Galt Mile residents at the final budget meeting, the audience was stunned. In contrast with former Commissioner Ken Keechl's convulsive strategy, LaMarca said he would implement a political solution. Herman Gardner commented "I'm delighted - do you think it will work?"
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Roberts: Bus Hop, Website, Jog with Jack
 April 28, 2011 - In Commissioner Bruce Roberts’ May 2011 Newsletter, he updates the rapidly narrowing field of City Manager candidates, summarizes a new Sun Trolley “Hop On Hop Off” excursion service, announces the City’s new website, invites District 1 residents to trot along with Mayor Seiler and seeks to fill vacancies in four undermanned Advisory Boards/Committees. Among the three remaining City Manager candidates is Michael Levinson, the award-winning former Coral Springs City Manager who mysteriously left a post where he was both successful and popular, a rare dual achievement for a City Manager. Talk in Coral Springs City Hall suggests that Levinson left to avoid retaliation by two mudslinging Coral Springs Commissioners who blamed him when they were caught and prosecuted for violating the Government in the Sunshine Law. If so, Fort Lauderdale may have lucked out!
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2011 Galt Mile Food Drive Final Results
  April 20, 2011 - The food drive was over. In celebration of another successful effort, Executive Director Scott Woodburn of the Cooperative Feeding Program sponsored an April 12th awards event at the St Lawrence Gallery on A1A. Earlier in the day, he sent email reminders to team captains, Association volunteers and other local program supporters that were instrumental in delivering the most impressive result in the Galt Mile Food Drive's 5-year history. Through the Food Drive's final week, donations were lagging behind last year's record collections. In the last few days, competing associations pulled out all the stops, blazing to a statistically unprecedented finish. Curious about your Association's competitive standing? The final statistics are chock full of surprises!
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Utility Graffiti Removal: Step 1
 April 11, 2011 - For more than a decade, the Galt Mile Community Association struggled to enforce a City promise to maintain in a “Disney-like manner” the self-funded landscape and hardscape features included in the 1993 Galt Mile Improvement Project. Enter: Chepo! Since late 2008, the Commodore resident has successfully overseen a series of mini-improvement projects - until he encountered "Utility Graffiti". The cryptic multicolored ciphers aren’t random insults to the neighborhood’s aesthetic integrity. They are the functional by-product of a company parented by the State Legislature, Sunshine State One-Call of Florida, Inc. Since they protect underground utilities from excavation damage, the markings prevent inadvertent loss of our telephone, water, cable, gas and electrical services. Until now, angry residents in jurisdictions across the state were forced to tolerate the failure of these utilities to remove the offensive markings once the related construction was completed. If a novel solution negotiated by the GMCA last month is successful, it will likely be duplicated in neighborhoods across Florida.
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Overmedicated or Certifiable?
 April 3, 2011 - Last February, City Commissioner Bruce Roberts informed the GMCA Advisory Board that the number of local pain clinics exploded from 4 to a staggering 176. Since Roberts knew that the vast majority of drugs dispensed at these clinics wind up on the street, he submerged himself in Fort Lauderdale’s effort to curb the weed-like growth of these pill mills - until Tallahassee pulled the plug. Governor Rick Scott refused to approve Department of Health drug enforcement rules that he previously requested from the State Medical Board. Ignoring pleas to reconsider by the DEA, top State and local law enforcement officials, scores of legislators and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear (since drugs from Florida annually kill thousands of his constituents), our Governor decided that tracking the drug pipeline would invade the privacy of drug mules and the new pill mill rules would discourage the industry’s budding entrepreneurs. On the bright side, since the State is likely to continue generating an average of seven daily overdosed corpses, he won’t have to deregulate funeral parlors.
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Roberts: Vision, Beach Fix, Fund Balance
 March 27, 2011 - In Commissioner Bruce Roberts’ mid-March 2011 Newsletter, he updates the enigmatic Visioning Committee’s progress, the status of the City Manager search, beachside construction, bids for curbside recycling collection services and a Finance Department estimate supporting a currently healthy reserve. Notwithstanding whether or not they met their somewhat convoluted mandate to implement "a citywide vision that reflects the hopes and viewpoints of all residents in the City of Fort Lauderdale," the Visioning Committee took a strong step forward by hiring award-winning city planners Wallace Roberts & Todd LLC. Renovation of the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park parking lot is underway and the City Commission plans to narrow the field of City Manager candidates in April. Roberts reports that the Curbside Recycling Collection Services bid winner will continue gathering separated materials for one year before converting to single stream cart service. Read on for more municipal tidbits...
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Association Bills at the Opening Bell
 March 20, 2011 - The 2011 Legislative Session kicked off on March 8th. Screaming “It’s the economy, stupid,” voters closed their eyes last November and clicked their heels three times before replacing public officials with anyone who promised a brighter future. Among the opening day legislation impacting associations are bills drafted by lobbyists that promise a fairy tale recovery as soon as we repeal consumer protections, glitch bills designed to fix the unintended consequences of earlier legislation and bills that target specific constituencies. Mixed in with the initial bills was a 281-page monstrosity filed by the House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee. It seeks to deregulate dozens of businesses and industries to ostensibly revitalize the State's snake-bit economy. Among the laws slated for repeal are the provisions that established the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes and the law that set competence standards for Community Association Managers. Unit owners could soon return to an era when condos, cooperatives and HOAs were run like Dodge City.
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CAI Picks the Lock
 March 14, 2011 - On August 13, 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) proposed a regulation to ban the use of deed-based or covenant-based transfer fees. The real target of the FHFA’s new rule was an investment vehicle devised by Freehold Capital Partners of New York. After participating developers record long-term covenants for their properties, a 1% fee is paid by the seller at every closing over a 99-year period, violating FHFA regulations by artificially raising the cost of homeownership. Unfortunately, many condos and HOAs use deed based transfer fees to fund screening and document handling costs for prospective members when they close on an association unit. Unless associations were exempted from the FHFA action, they would lose Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage eligibility, rendering their units marginally marketable. The Community Association Institute (CAI) conducted a massive survey that forced FHFA to distinguish between between legitimate association transfer fees and those that serve as ethically dubious income streams for developers or undisclosed third parties. Thanks to CAI, it appears that we dodged a mortgage lockout!
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Eric Myers to the Rescue
 March 6, 2011 - Since 2002, Galt Mile residents have staunchly supported Broward County's plan to renourish its shrinking shoreline. Whether participating in a multi-bus caravan to a public hearing in Hollywood or jetting up to Tallahassee and testifying before the Florida Cabinet, local condo and co-op owners insured the project's continued survival. Last year, Broward Beach officials dropped the ball and allowed the project's Federal and State Permits to lapse. To revive the County’s coastal rescue plan, Deputy Director Eric Myers of Broward's Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department took the reins from retiring Broward Beach Administrator Stephen Higgins. At the February 7th Presidents Council meeting at Coral Ridge Towers, Myers detailed plans to rebuild the Agency's credibility with straight talk and trackable progress. Unfortunately, the update concluded with the aggravating supposition that repairs to the Galt Mile Beach will take place in late 2013!
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West & Bogdanoff: Big Oil & Insurance?
 February 26, 2011 - When the November elections triggered wholesale changes to the Galt Mile's political voice box, the neighborhood association organized a February 3rd Town Hall style meeting to introduce the neighborhood’s newly elected representatives in the Florida Senate and the U.S. Congress. While District 25 Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff is no stranger to the Galt Mile Community, Congressman Allen West’s credentials as a largely unknown “war hero” fueled an abiding curiosity in both supporters and opponents of his successful campaign. After penetrating a squad of sign-wielding demonstrators from a local Democratic Club, West and Bogdanoff revealed an admittedly painful political roadmap to attending Galt Mile residents. As the initially friendly audience envisioned their beach covered in oil-soaked seabird carcasses and their insurance burden intensify, curiosity was soon replaced by concern.
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Galt Mile Preps for 5th Annual Food Drive
February 14, 2011 - On February 4th, Cooperative Feeding Program (CFP) Executive Director Scott Woodburn notified the Galt Mile Community Association about plans for the annual Galt Mile Food Drive. While the message could be timely posted on the Galt Mile web site, it missed the February edition of the Galt Mile News by 4 days. Woodburn represents Broward County’s lead agency for the provision of services to the hungry and homeless. For 25 years, the Cooperative Feeding Program has provided counseling and support to help economically besieged families out of the throes of difficult times. This is the 5th annual Galt Mile Food Drive since Woodburn teamed with Fort Lauderdale Real Estate proprietor Domenic Faro (a past president of the Cooperative Feeding Program) and Marc Hamelsky in 2007 and convinced the neighborhood association to sponsor a friendly contribution competition among its member associations. This year's goal - exceed last year's collection totals of 20,000 points - or ten tons of food!
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Berger Bashes Bad Bills
 February 7, 2011 - Last year, powerful special interests racked up significant financial losses when lawmakers passed long-awaited relief bills. Highly paid lobbyists, hoping to rehabilitate their credibility, promised angry clients a measure of recovery. Most association members know that the Sprinkler Associations lost $billions when Senate Bill 1196 made sprinkler installations optional. Fewer know that the Fire Services Industry, the Banking Industry, the Insurance Industry and the Elevator Industry collectively lost 100's of $millions as well. Community Advocacy Network (CAN) Executive Director Donna Berger is concerned about the upcoming session in Tallahassee regressing into a forum for payback. She also fears that several exploitive bills vetoed by Governor Crist could pass this year unless associations pull together and use newly available communication networks to avoid losing their hard-earned gains and suffer the sizable maintenance increase that would follow.
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Roberts: Countdown, Clinics & Centennial
 January 30, 2011 - In his opening newsletter for 2011, Commissioner Bruce Roberts reviews the annual Downtown Countdown New Year kickoff event, summarizes some 2010 achievements by the current municipal administration, updates the ongoing City Manager search and laments the stalled effort to close local pill mills. The newsletter also offers a comprehensive schedule of impending Centennial Celebration events. In closing, Roberts appeals to District 1 residents for dated photos of local landmarks, people and events for use in the Centennial Celebration’s signature slideshow. Commentary prompted by some of the issues covered in Roberts' newsletter includes the City's pension dilemma and Governor Rick Scott's enigmatic assistance to local Pain Clinics that fuel the black market drug trade. Check it out...
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Yellow Bulb Season on the Galt Mile
 January 22, 2011 - For decades, Galt Mile residents nurtured a love affair with the Sea Turtles that share their beach. When the City implemented a 2003 turtle-safe lighting ordinance in 2007, ill-conceived initial enforcement attempts precipitated a near melt-down in the City Manager's office and, by proxy, the Building Department. To defuse neighborhood concerns, Code Enforcement personnel met with GMCA officials to formulate an implementation roadmap that protected both turtles and residents. Despite destabilizing efforts by radical elements on opposite sides of this issue, they successfully balanced hatchling survival with resident safety and enacted a compliance plan that wouldn't cripple strained association budgets. Many associations have since replaced the screens and shields initially jury-rigged to achieve compliance with professional lighting plans that brighten their seaward decks without illuminating the beach. Unfortunately, some irate beachfront residents still ply local blogs with ghoulish recipes for hatchling sandwiches and turtle soup!
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A Grand Jury’s Dream World
 January 14, 2011 - In October 2009, Hollywood ophthalmologist Alan Mendelsohn was indicted for operating a $2 million influence-peddling operation. He also served on Governor Crist’s transition team. The former Governor panicked; being painted as a cohort of this suddenly unsavory character would further destabilize his deteriorating Senatorial campaign. To distance himself from Florida’s seedy political underbelly, he asked the Supreme Court to empanel a statewide Grand Jury on Corruption. When they declined, Crist lucked out - the Feds bagged Attorney Scott Rothstein for operating a $1.2 billion ponzi scheme, focusing nationwide attention on the State’s runaway corruption. The Supreme Court relented and gave Crist his Grand Jury. After suffering through eleven months of taking testimony from thieves, fraudsters and sleazeballs (the people that run our government), they released an "Interim Report" on December 30th. Underscoring that Florida is the Nation’s ethics cesspool, by blending depressing data with a hopeless outlook, the report borders on humor. Actually, it would make a great Woody Allen script!
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A Supreme Court Bearing Gifts
 January 3, 2011 - The lending industry has refined foreclosure foot-dragging into an art. Early on, foreclosing banks realized that they could sidestep any statutory obligations to associations by not taking title to defaulted properties. Threatening Florida’s legislative leadership with sharp cuts to available mortgage financing successfully thwarted lawmaker attempts to plug this elephantine loophole. When associations turned to the courts for relief, lenders traded on their superior recorded mortgage liens to control scheduling for every stage of the foreclosure process, further enabling strategic delays. With no legislative or judicial relief in sight, desperate associations joined with abused borrowers and appealed to the Florida Supreme Court for a Hail Mary. To everyone’s amazement, rather than squeezing out some convoluted treatise on judicial regulatory impotence, the Supreme Court delivered!
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FHA Reminder could Boost Unit Values
 December 26, 2010 - When mortgage lenders were passing out loans to inanimate objects and packaging free trips to the Bahamas with every toxic mortgage, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing was anathematic. It was burdened with – heaven forbid – eligibility requirements. In their race to close bankable real estate transactions at light speed, mortgage brokers couldn’t afford to use funds with strings attached. Any terms that slowed the lending steamroller were excised from the process. The loans didn’t have to be adequately collateralized by the property or acceptable to the secondary market. Customers were eligible if they were breathing. Today, the number of viable bidders for a property heavily impacts its value. Applying for FHA/Fannie Mae project eligibility can boost an association's pool of available buyers. Enhancing the marketability of an association’s units consequently increases their value. If your home is already approved, its time to renew. If it’s not - why not?
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LaMarca & Roberts: A Tale of 2 Comms.
 December 19, 2010 - At the December 16, 2010 GMCA Advisory Board meeting, the Galt Mile’s two local Commissioners reviewed neighborhood concerns with association officials. City Commissioner Bruce Roberts, nursing his right arm after undergoing shoulder surgery, gave brief updates about progress toward next year’s budget, neighborhood landscaping improvements, selection of a new City Manager and the Centennial Celebration before fleshing out a report about the Sun Trolley’s Galt Ocean route. Newly elected County Commissioner Charles “Chip” LaMarca, returning to the Galt Mile for the first time since making a campaign stop at the September 16th Advisory Board meeting, clarified some of his initial performance priorities as our District 4 Representative to the County Board. More importantly, LaMarca began addressing Beach Renourishment, preservation of our Library, economic development and the other issues meaningful to the Galt Mile neighborhood.
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The Phantom Water Services Magic Trick
 December 11, 2010 - In July of 2009, when the City of Fort Lauderdale announced a new set of water and sewer rates for municipal residents, City officials assured constituents that “The rate changes will result in an increase of approximately $3.15 per month for 72 percent of single family residential customers.” Unfortunately grouped with the other 28%, when associations received water & sewer invoices that shot through the roof, the neighborhood asociation launched an inquiry. Attempts to learn why the City approved an inequitable disparity in how the block usage rates were applied to single family homes and associations were met with a frustrating dog and pony show. While most Galt Mile condos and co-ops have since stretched association budgets to cover the phantom water & sewer charges, some have discovered innovative ways to tweak their systems, somewhat reducing the sting to unit owners. Having recently identified and exploited one such opportunity, Galleon General Manager Marcy Kravit agreed to share her money saving strategy with neighboring associations. Check it out!
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Sprinkler Confusion - It’s Time to Act
 November 28, 2010 - After eight years of sweating out a dreaded $million plus statutory assessment (2 or 3 times that for larger associations) for retrofitting association hallways and unit foyers with sprinkler heads, the Governor finally signed the recently passed opt-out bill (SB 1196) into law. Although delighted and relieved, few Galt Mile unit owners actually read the few paragraphs that house the statute’s flagship sprinkler provision, fueling confusion over how to best use the new law’s tools to protect their rights - and wallets. If an association doesn’t carefully follow the legislation’s statutory road map, it could inadvertently actualize its unit owners’ long-feared assessment for standpipes and sprinkler heads. Considering an additional threat by motivated Tallahassee lobbyists, how associations respond over the next few months could determine survival or meltdown for future association budgets!
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The Chepo Files
 November 21, 2010 - Since his April campaign to force the removal of Utility Graffiti from Galt Mile streets and sidewalks, our volunteer landscape ombudsman has been quietly running through an expanded maintenance punch list he developed with Parks and Public Works officials. Trees along the block have been bound and their grates repaired, broken and displaced bricks from our pavered crosswalks have been replaced and sidewalk tripping hazards have been ground flat. Contractors considering black asphalt instead of matching aggregate for street repairs catch hell from Commodore resident José “Chepo” Vega. Navigating the maintenance bureaucracies in City Hall and Broward Government Center, Chepo engineered the repainting of severely eroded street lines and stop lines on Galt Ocean Drive and intersecting side streets. For the first time in two decades, landscaping on the Galt Mile is thriving and the hard scape elements are being rehabilitated. How Chepo pulled this off? See for yourself...
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Enter: The Chipster
 | | LaMARCA |
November 14, 2010 - Broward's District 4 is a political wild card. Unlike the 2:1 Democrat majority in the rest of Broward County, District 4 Democrats and Republicans maintain a slippery numerical equilibrium that varies annually by 3 to 4 points. The registered Independents, about one third of the District's voters, enhance local Election Day volatility. Ironically, the two County Commissioners seated by this unpredictable electoral configuration prior to newly elected Charles John “Chip” LaMarca - Republican Jim Scott and Democrat Ken Keechl - were deposed for almost identical reasons. As an experienced Republican insider, LaMarca knows that while reactionary blowback from Washington and/or Tallahassee can temporarily tilt the political landscape, it has little impact on the District’s problems. With the campaign rhetoric fading, LaMarca’s first task will be to mend fences and reassure constituents that he represents all the District’s residents. For more on the new commish, Read On...
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Roberts: Late October Update
November 5, 2010 - In his late October Newsletter, District 1 City Commissioner Bruce Roberts updates the City Commission’s search for a new City Manager, promotes the Centennial celebration, offers a history of the embattled Sun Trolley, explains how city staff intends to maximize use of diminished Gas Tax revenues for street repairs and runs through the October events schedule. While the City Commission is providing for layers of input in selecting a new City Manager, Acting City Manager Allyson Love continues to fill the bill. Along with the budget, the Commissioners unanimously agree that this is one of the two most important tasks they are charged with accomplishing. Roberts announces what may be the Sun Trolley's funding salvation, connecting the Galt to the Galleria. Reduced gas tax revenues brought focus to the archaic methodology around which City street maintenance is structured. Having upgraded the City's maintenance tracking software, Roberts list the first steps taken to input the data that will ultimately save us a bundle. Roll on...
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Love Steers Budget to Soft Landing
 October 25, 2010 - When the Fort Lauderdale City Commission addressed the FY 2010 - 2011 municipal budget at the August 17, 2010 Commission meeting, they took misdirected criticism for partially plugging the $611.7 million municipal spending plan's $31 million deficit with $17 million from the City's overstuffed reserves. The Commission ordered Interim City Manager Allyson Love to clip another 5% from city expenditures in expectation of eliminating the deficit - and complaints from the Budget Advisory Board. Since Budget staffers, the Commission and residents at public sessions had already surgically skinned the spending plan, Love’s options seemed largely limited to sacrificing infrastructure, forcing furloughs or reversing employee benefit concessions. In a testament to her fiscal skills, at the September 21st final Budget Meeting, Love offered a viable alternative to plucking the entire $17 million from the Reserve Fund – without raising the fire assessment fees or the millage rate, laying off employees or cutting important services. What's more, she whittled the hit taken by the Reserve Fund to $6.9 million. Not bad for a few weeks work!
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Fiscal Fraud Freezes Foreclosures
 October 16, 2010 - On June 7, 2010, team leader Jeffrey B. Stephan of GMAC’s document execution team opened Pandora’s Box while being deposed in Palm Beach County for a Maine foreclosure case. After establishing that he personally signed between 8,000 and 12,000 mortgage assignments and affidavits (in support of Summary Judgment) every month that were used by GMAC, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in over 100,000 foreclosure cases, he admitted that the only thing he ever saw was the name of the mortgagee before applying his notarized signature, despite the absence of any notary. While similarly testifying in October, former employee of the David Stern law firm (and foreclosure mill), paralegal Tammie Lou Kapusta, described a foreclosure factory where the lack of legal records was compensated for with forged, pre-notarized and backdated affidavits and assignments. Since crooked lawyers have been illegally ripping off homeowners for crooked bankers for centuries, it initially didn't seem to warrant freezing the real estate market in most of the country. In fact, the underlying problem could bury the market for decades unless Federal and State regulators expeditiously craft a resolution to the dilemma.
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Galt Reading Room Rescue - Part II
 October 5, 2010 - Last year, when Broward budgetary convulsions verged on closing the popular Galt Mile Library, residents from every Galt Mile Association joined to prevent Broward budget politics from gobbling up the only County resource uniquely dedicated to Galt Mile taxpayers. The past year's declining property values have intensified the strain on County tax revenues, reviving a political threat to the Reading Center's negligible funding. A survival plan formulated by Broward Commissioner Ken Keechl and implemented by the Galt Mile Community Association, "Friends of the Galt Mile Library" and City Commissioner Bruce Roberts elicited roughly 4000 petition signatures, 800 letters to Commissioners and Resolutions passed by Associations confirming the Library's community significance. On September 28th, when more than 100 local library supporters dramatically punctuated the documentation at the final Broward budget meeting, Mayor Keechl announced "The Galt Library is fully funded in the current budget." However, the night was still young...
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FHFA Threatens Assn Mortgage Lockout
 September 25, 2010 - Since the onset of the recession, members of Common Interest Communities have good reason to feel like rats on a shock plate. Thanks to last year’s legislative footwork by Statehouse Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff, State Senator Mike Fasano, a sympathetic legislature and a Governor who gratefully took his hand off the veto switch, association members dodged big-time retrofit assessments for a half dozen special interest-driven projects. As the celebratory reaction to this long-awaited financial relief waned, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) pumped out another prospective ulcer for Community Association members. Some confused federal bureaucrats stumbled on a way to render half the association units in the country unmarketable. Unable to pass up the opportunity to wreak havoc in the lives of 30 million association residents, they kicked the process into gear on August 13th. NOT TO WORRY! We have about a month to convince them to reconsider.
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Keechl Summarizes New Ethics Code
 September 14, 2010 - Ken Keechl is pleased with the recent approval of an ethics code for Broward County Commissioners. Unlike many of his peers on the County Board, the Broward Mayor never viewed compliance with the 2002 and 2008 electoral mandates as a blot on the Commission's integrity. Instead, he believed that their eight-year delay in passing a viable ethics code further fueled a public perception of impropriety, unnecessarily postponing a remission of the County's scarred reputation. Although Keechl opposed the County Commission's adulteration of the version created by the Ethics Commission, he believes that the amended code approved by his peers contains enough of the original version to provide an effective deterrent to corruption. A longtime supporter of ethics reform, Mayor Keechl's September 2010 Newsletter summarizes the new code's major elements and optimistically envisions a prospect for future improvements. On the whole, he's right!
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Roberts: Late Summer City Update
September 7, 2010 - In his late Summer Newsletter, District 1 City Commissioner Bruce Roberts offers a snapshot of City programs in various stages of development. The August 17th Commission Meeting marked the end of the City Commission’s mid-Summer hiatus. Convinced by the Budget Advisory Board that using $17 million in Reserve funds to partially plug the projected FY 2011 budget’s $31 million shortfall was inherently evil, Commissioners charged Interim City Manager Allyson Love with locating additional spending cuts to squelch the deficit. Roberts reviews the Thor Guard lightning prediction system recently installed in 13 Municipal Parks, the red light camera enforcement system installed at 9 City intersections, progress with the City's evolving noise ordinance and a new regional partnership created to access Federal HUD Funding. Wrapping up, Roberts reminds constituents about several free upcoming Citizens Crime Alert meetings hosted by authoritative law enforcement icons and his own twice monthly pre-agenda meetings. Check it out!
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Broward Ethics: Bait and Switch
 August 30, 2010 - After the FBI spent two decades filling Miami and Palm Beach jail cells with corrupt politicians, Broward County emerged as "Rat's Nest Central". With the Feds breathing down their necks, Broward Commissioners who twice ignored voter mandates for an ethics code finally cobbled together the Broward County Ethics Commission. Despite repeated attempts by County Commissioners to undermine their efforts, the Ethics Board finalized a credible Ethics Code on February 19, 2010. On August 10, 2010, the Broward Commission met to either endorse the Ethics panel's handiwork or reject the voters' will for a third time. When the Commission eviscerated the code's enforcement component and approved a hollow shell, the electorate went ballistic. A few days later, they voted to return some of the code's extracted teeth, claiming it was all a big mistake! Residents watching the proceedings kept looking for a cartoon car filled with cops in big hats and funny costumes.
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It's MY Money... and I Want it NOW!
 August 22, 2010 - Time is running out... with a bullet. Five years ago, Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma blew through the Galt Mile, tearing out windows, shutters, and exterior doors as if they were Kleenex. Cars were tossed around Association parking decks like toys along with interior furnishings that were evacuated from units that lost balcony doors. The damage to Galt Mile Associations ran in the $tens of millions. State insurance statistics indicate that less than half of the damage was reimbursed. While deductibles account for about half of the shortfall, the balance of the repair costs were never paid. Since many insurance carriers repeatedly postponed consideration of submitted claims, frustrated associations either agreed to a substantially smaller benefit settlement or simply threw in the towel. Over the past year, many South Florida associations and individual unit owners have been made whole by previously uncooperative insurers. How about you! If you file your claim now, you will beat the upcoming deadline...
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Take a Number and Get on Line
 August 15, 2010 - When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill spread through the Florida Straits and threatened Florida's East Coast, Governor Crist added Broward to a list of 25 other counties he identified in Executive Orders as eligible for financial assistance. BP has been reimbursing local government remediation costs and commercial losses attributable to the spill. Property Appraisers in several of the threatened counties informed the Governor that local property owners were spill victims, as post-event property values understandably plummeted. To supply property owners with proof of value diminishment (and a basis for legal action against British Petroleum and other culpable parties), the Governor issued an Executive Order authorizing Property Appraisers in the affected counties to provide interim assessments of any real property that may have suffered a loss in value as a result of BP’s Gulf Oil Spill. Until they are exhausted, funds set aside by BP to address these suits will be allocated on a first come-first serve basis - perhaps its time for Galt Mile Associations to take a number and get on line!
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The $ummer of $cam
 August 8, 2010 - Florida has always been a fertile environment for motivated scam artists. Every year, dozens of Galt Mile residents report a broad range of hoaxes, frauds, and stings to the Galt Mile Community Association. While some of these pan out as local "misunderstandings", most of the reported rip-offs are wide ranging scams whose victims number in the thousands. This summer brought a palpable jump in screwball schemes that victimized Galt Mile residents and merchants. Some tricky doggie managed to scam the Postal Service into sending him all the Citizens Property Insurance premium checks addressed to the company's Jacksonville headquarters. Masquerading as the State's Division of Corporations, another slime ball charged victims a fee for the privilege of being scammed. By far, the dirtiest and deepest cutting frauds exploited concerns about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill! See for yourself...
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Keechl Wants to Wax the Tax
 July 31, 2010 - In his July 2010 newsletter, Broward Mayor Ken Keechl harkens back to statements he made shortly after winning his District 4 County Commission seat. In his March 2007 Newsletter - “It’s All About Property Taxes” - Keechl warns his fellow Commissioners that an era of wine and roses County spending is over, admonishing that they wake up and smell the recession. Since then, Keechl has evolved into the Commission's primary advocate for spending restraint and rolling back the tax burden. As the September budget deadline approaches each year, some of his commission peers try to lay the political groundwork for a millage hike by focusing on an intimidating litany of potentially painful service cuts. Having led the charge that trimmed the bloated $3.7 billion County budget to $3.3 billion, Keechl notes, "the world didn’t end, did it?" Read on...
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Bungled Beach Project Back on Track
 July 24, 2010 - For the past decade, increasingly frustrated Galt Mile residents have been anxiously awaiting promised repairs to what the Florida Department of Environmental Protection characterized as “severely eroded beach.” Although the project was temporarily derailed by events blending elements of “Waiting for Godot” with “The Three Stooges Meet Alice in Wonderland,” County Administrator Bertha Henry assures us that our sand is on the way. During the past decade of dilatory progress, sections of beach suffered additional tidal erosion not accounted for in the original renourishment plans. To offset this incremental coastal loss, an interim project will pump sand onto the displaced beach north of Anglin's Pier. The Army Corps of Engineers projects a serendipitous benefit to the Galt Mile Beach. How? Read on...
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Galt Ocean Mile Library Under the Gun
 July 17, 2010 - On July 1st, the meeting room in the Galt Library was filled with local residents concerned about the Reading Room's fate. Their common purpose was to rescue the library from the budget axe. The Galt Mile Reading Center, arguably the most popular local asset on Galt Ocean Drive, is a critical resource for hundreds of mostly elderly local residents. Broward Mayor Ken Keechl and Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bruce Roberts joined Library supporters to formulate a strategy to salvage the embattled Reading Center. Although the County Commission is theoretically obligated to balancing the sacrifices required of each District’s residents, some Commissioners target resources and programs located in neighboring districts, freeing their own constituents from adverse fiscal impacts. When asked, Keechl informed the anxious patrons that the only defense against such tactics is “a formidable demonstration of community support.” Volunteers agreed to generate supportive petitions, association resolutions, and emails to County Commissioners to insure their Library's survival. You can help! Please sign the petition and send an email... we've made it easy! Read on...
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Lori Parrish: June 2010 Update
 July 9, 2010 - On June 17, 2010, Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish addressed the Galt Mile Community Association Advisory Board. Within months of becoming Property Appraiser in 2005, Parrish introduced a County Constitutional Office mired in the 60s to post Millenium technology while cleaning out a rat's nest of nepots and no-shows. A no-nonsense, straight talking public servant, Parrish opened her presentation with a "grabber", exclaiming that sales trending from late 2009 and the first five months of 2010 strongly support the conclusion that “we may have finally seen the end of this catastrophic real estate crash.” After reviewing the stats supporting her statement, the Broward Property Appraiser revealed how to rent a Homesteaded unit, research foreclosures and save $8000. Winding up, Parrish and GMCA President Pio Ieraci explored the moral exigencies of ratting out association members up to their necks in fraud.
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Roberts: Disasters, Drugs and Dial-a-Park
July 2, 2010 - In addition to some timely reminders, Vice Mayor Bruce G. Roberts’ June 2010 Newsletter reviews some innovative solutions to difficult problems. Our District 1 Commissioner blends a Hurricane Season preparation heads-up, progress with busting up a commercial engine for the South Florida drug trade and a new parking venue that will enable drivers to feed the meter without interrupting their dinner. A prospective salvation for Fort Lauderdale Stadium bodes a new Sports Village and Water Park that might evolve into one of the City's most magnetic attractions. This alternative is certainly preferable to hosting local Little League games and watching the stadium rust into oblivion.
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Galt Mile News ONLINE 
 The “Galt Mile News”, the official newsletter of the Galt Mile Community Association, IS NOW ONLINE! The print issues of the monthly newsletter, distributed directly to each of the GMCA member Associations, are available in the “Newsletters” section of GMCA’s web site. Although each Condo or Coop independently determines how the thousands of monthly print issues will be internally distributed, as well as those distributed to the Galt Merchants, there is a chronic shortage of print copies! Snow birds also miss issues distributed while “out of town”. The Galt Mile News will be republished on the GMCA web site, every article and ad, one month after its initial print publication. If you miss an issue, you can find it here!
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 Galt Sun Trolley Meeting - On THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012 - Galt Mile residents are invited to attend a meeting at the Beach Community Center at 3351 NE 33rd Ave to formulate a strategy to expand the Sun Trolley's Galt Mile Route. Sun Trolley needs your input! They plan to add days of service to your current Galt route to include Saturday and Sunday. Please join the Sun Trolley staff for at the Galt Mile Beach Community Center. For information, call Patricia Zeiler at Sun Trolley - 954-761-3543 - or pzeiler@suntrolley.com.
 New FEMA Flood Maps Threaten to Skyrocket Galt Rates After 14 years, FEMA redrew Broward County Flood Insurance Rate Maps "FIRMs" that determine whether or not Galt Mile associations will have to pay $hundreds of thousands in future Flood Insurance premiums. This will cost every Galt Mile unit owner thousands of dollars. On NOVEMBER 16, 2011, those residents who attend a FEMA-sponsored meeting at the HERB SKOLNICK CENTER at 800 SW 36 Avenue in Pompano Beach from 4 PM to 8 PM will have a chance to prevent the impending assessments. Click Here to the Broward County FLOOD MAP Web page.
Galt Mile Reading Center Beats the Heat - On MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011, County Commissioner CHIP LAMARCA addressed a Galt Mile Community Association Presidents Council meeting in the Commodore Condominium. After reviewing County progress in Beach Renourishment and Public Safety, he informed attendees that the Galt Mile Reading Center survived the County Budget process. THroughout Broward County's two September final Budget hearings, LAMARCA nursed the Library passed deep spending cuts that threatened its survival. Although the District 4 County Commissioner earlier advised Library supporters that he would find a political solution to salvaging the Galt Reading Center, he expressed gratitude for the support provided by the huge contingent of Galt Mile residents attending the hearings. Click Here to the Galt Library web page.
 Galt Mile Reading Center Meeting / Celebration - On THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011, from 2 PM to 4 PM, a combination meeting and celebration will take place at the GALT MILE READING CENTER / LIBRARY. Refreshments will be provided by Friends of the Galt Mile Library in celebration of reaching their recruitment target of 200 new mwembers. County Commissioner CHIP LAMARCA will adddress the Library's survival, a mission he adopted shortly after being elected to the District 4 County Commission seat. Click Here for more information.
 Sprinkler Retrofit Relief Bill Becomes Law - On June 1, 2010, Governor Crist surprised and delighted the 2 million proponents of Senate Bill 1196 - the omnibus association bill - by signing the bill into law. After all, the bill intensified an agenda that had already prompted two gubernatorial vetoes. The legislation’s passage has all the trappings of a Hollywood feel-good epic. To survive, the Bill had to circumvent significant obstacles erected by many of the State’s most formidable lobbies. For the first time in over a decade, controversial Association legislation didn’t self-destruct in deference to directives handed down by special interests. Since the legislative dynamic in Tallahassee hasn’t undergone some cathartic sea change and lobbyists still command enormous resources, HOW DID LEGISLATION WITH SO MANY POWERFUL ENEMIES SURVIVE A PROCESS ORDINARILY CONTROLLED BY THE HIGHEST BIDDER?
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 The Sprinkler Retrofit Money Pit - When Governor Crist vetoed Senate Bill 714 in 2009, he chose big campaign dollars over the 2 million voting association members burdened with spending $billions on retrofitting their UNIT FOYERS with sprinklers. Projected assessments to every unit owner are between $8000 and $24,000. Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff filed House Bill 561 to return the decision about Fire Sprinkler retrofits to the homeowners that would have to pay for and live with that decision. To insure that the Governor doesn't thwart the people's will AGAIN in order to curry favor with the deep pocketed Sprinkler Associations, please CLICK HERE AND ASK THE GOVERNOR TO SUPPORT HB 561 AND SB 1196. You can also call him at (850) 488-7146 or send a Fax to (850) 487-0801. His mailing address is The Capitol, 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399. Please take 30 seconds to help STOP THIS FINANCIAL NIGHTMARE!
Galt Mile Reading Center - On TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2009, Broward County Commission meeting was flooded with Galt Mile residents seeking to rescue the Galt Mile Reading Center from political machinations surrounding the FY 2010 County Budget. The Galt Mile Reading Center, arguably the most popular community asset for Galt Mile residents, was threatened with closure. To salvage the unique neighborhood resource, Commissioner Ken Keechl advised demonstrating support for the Galt Mile Reading Center to the nine County Commissioners. IT WORKED! CLICK HERE for background info and details about the final outcome. THANKS! WE DID IT - TOGETHER!
The Challenge - A Pre-Budget Meeting Galt Mile Reading Center Report
The Victory - Why the Galt Library Survived
 Calypso - A Deepwater Port and pipeline is planned for installation directly of the Galt Mile Beach. Its purpose is to offload liquid natural gas (LNG) from tankers into the Calypso Pipeline which will make landfall at Port Everglades. Past incidents in Cleveland and Algeria in which the gas ignited destroyed entire city blocks and killed everyone within the heat flux perimeter. Only Governor Crist can VETO this potential holocaust. The articles about the Calypso Project on the GMCA web site divulge the catastrophic safety hazards, damage to the maritime environment and the mandated cost to Broward taxpayers.
CLICK HERE to when Commissioner Teel first revealed project in December 2007
CLICK HERE for what happened at an April 2008 Presidents Council Calyposo presentation in Plaza South
CLICK HERE for how the City passed an ANTI-Calypso Resolution in May 2008
CLICK HERE to learn what happened at the Dania Calypso Meeting
CLICK HERE to see what happened at the Broward Legislative Delegation Calypso Workshop in August 2008
CLICK HERE to review the world-wide damage done by SUEZ, the Calypso parent company
CLICK HERE to read the environmental concerns of authoritative conservationist Michael Leech
CLICK HERE to read about huge new domestic shale gas deposits
CLICK HERE to read how the Governor stopped Calypso
CLICK HERE to informative LNG Links
CLICK HERE for more extensive LNG Links
CLICK HERE to see Resolutions and Letters opposing the Calypso Project
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 2011 Galt Mile Food Drive - In celebration of another successful effort, Executive Director Scott Woodburn of the Cooperative Feeding Program sponsored an April 9, 2010 awards event at the St Lawrence Gallery on A1A. Association volunteers and other local program supporters that were instrumental in delivering the most impressive result in the Galt Mile Food Drive's 5-year history. After calculating the final results, Woodburn exclaimed that this year's effort yeilded a record of 25,723.0 points - surpassing last year total by almost 6,000 points. A point represents one pound of food (or sundries) or one dollar. Galt Ocean Club is Grand Champion for total points (6,096 points and 28 pts per unit). Edgewater Arms Cooperative Association recorded the best statistics for total points per unit (5,863.5 points and 69 pts per unit). Following the trophy-winning Grand Champion was Edgewater Arms, CRT South, CRT Original, Commodore, Ocean Summit, Galt Towers, Playa del Sol, L'Hermitage II, CRT East and Regency Tower. The equivalent of almost 26 tons of collected food will help feed the recession-swollen ranks of hungry Broward families.
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 Please! - When you take your pet for a stroll down the Drive - please clean up afterwards. Its nothing less than inhumane to expect Fido to do all the work! Lets keep the Galt Mile clean!
 Free Turtle-Safe Lighting Review - MAY 2007 - On TUESDAY, MAY 22, Turtle-Safe Lighting experts from Florida Fish and Game will be offering FREE lighting reviews for Galt Mile Associations. They will make INEXPENSIVE suggestions and recommendations that will insure compliance with the City Ordinance WITHOUT sacrificing safety and security. Participation is voluntary. CALL MARIO SOTOLONGO at 954-828-6326 or CLICK HERE to email.
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 Ocean Rescue - Over the years, the Galt Mile has suffered its share of beach fatalities from Rip Currents! CLICK HERE to read about an unfortunate example. The CITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE OCEAN RESCUE now maintains a web page that offers the current beach hazards, including Rip Currents, Marine Pests, Intracoastal conditions and the Beach Warning Flag daily designation. CHECK HERE before you - or the kids - go to the beach!
CHECK OCEAN RESCUE DAILY HAZARD REPORT or
Read Recent Incident Report
 CODE RED - The City of Fort Lauderdale has instituted the CodeRED® Emergency Notification System -- a high-speed phone communication service for emergency notifications. This system allows the City to telephone either all subscribers or geographically-targeted areas of the City in case of an emergency situation that requires immediate action (such as a boil-water notice, missing child, evacuation notice, utility outage, fires or floods, bomb threat, hostage situation, chemical spill or gas leak). It then delivers a recorded message to either a live person or an answering machine, making three attempts to connect to any number. ITS FREE!!!
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 Bus to Holy Cross - Car being fixed? Stuck in the house? You don’t have to hang about, waiting for someone to take you to Targets, the Beach Community Center or the Fort Lauderdale Beach area. For a quarter, you can comfortably travel to these locations all day during the week and on the weekend you can go downtown - for free - day and night! Now you can also ride to HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL in comfort and safety - FOR 25 CENTS! Starting APRIL 9, 2007, the Galt Ocean Mile Sun Trolley route will be extended to HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL all day Monday through Friday.
Read New Galt Mile Route Info
New Galt Route Map
New Galt Mile Timetable
 Sun Trolley Cut Backs - On April 16, 2009, Sun Trolley Executive Director Les Hollingsworth updated the Galt Mile Community Association Advisory Board about an ongoing struggle to rescue the Galt Ocean Mile Sun Trolley route from budget-based funding shortages. Despite the implementation of an aggressive marketing campaign, recruitment of corporate sponsors, cultivation of alternative revenue streams from advertizing and renting the Sun Trolley’s 14 flashy vehicles for birthdays, weddings and other private events - flat ridership plagued the neighborhood bus. Thanks to Hollingsworth and City Commissioner Bruce Roberts, the Galt Mile route survived, although in a less robust format.
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 Flu Shots - Influenza Season has arrived - time to protect yourself! CLICK HERE to Locate Flu Shot Clinics.
Click for Flu Shot Locators
 Hurricane Claims Deadline - The Statute of Limitations to pursue a claim for property damage resulting from HURRICANE KATRINA will expire midnight, AUGUST 25, 2010 and for HURRICANE WILMA on OCTOBER 24, 2010. For Hurricane information, go to the HURRICANE PAGE. Available are up to the minute HURRICANE ADVISORIES and a huge section of useful HURRICANE LINKS.
For Additional Info
 CONDO - COOP BILL
House and Senate Bills affecting condo owners, coop owners and members of Homeowner Associations are navigating the legislative vetting process and converging into an omnibus association bill. Many of the bills affecting Associations are merging into SB 1196 by Senator Mike Fasano. The Statehouse correlative of SB 1196 was HB 561 - sponsored by Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff. Until late April, scores of corrections and improvements will continue being made to the bill until it is finally deemed acceptable for passage. Information about its dozens of changes to the CONDOMINIUM ACT and the COOPERATIVE ACT are available here with links to source data. SEE HOW THESE NEW LAWS AFFECT YOU!!!
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 Early Foreclosure Relief Bills
Community Associations anticipating legislative relief may be surprised this year. When tens of thousands of mortgages simultaneously turned terminally toxic, droves of homeowners abandoned their suddenly unaffordable properties to bank foreclosure. Since the mortgage debt in these foreclosures exceeds the property value, every foreclosed home means more red ink in the foreclosing bank’s portfolio. The banks developed a “foot-dragging” strategy to delay taking title, further depriving associations of the minimal statutory relief. Cash-strapped associations must incrementally assess the shortfall to the full membership. The banking lobby, after forestalling legislative relief for years, has realized that their dilatory strategy is costing them $billions, and may allow passage of a bill to expedite foreclosures! Then again, they may not...
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 IMPACT RATED WINDOWS - The recent intensification of HURRICANE SEASON presents a new threat to Galt Mile residents and Associations. Protecting ourselves and our homes from this threat has become an urgent priority. The Florida Division of Emergency Management admonishes, “The most important precaution you can take to reduce damage to your home and property is to protect the areas where wind can enter. According to recent wind technology research, it’s important to strengthen the exterior of your house so wind and debris do not tear large openings in it. You can do this by protecting and reinforcing these five critical areas: ROOF | STRAPS | WINDOWS | DOORS | GARAGE DOORS” The Galt Mile Community Association, in an effort to assist residents and Associations to better protect themselves, published a series of articles about IMPACT WINDOWS, the only glazing able to effectively withstand hurricane force winds and the associated debris. “Through a Glass Darkly” gives scope to the issue. “The Regency Tower Window Project” describes how a member Association successfully tackled the problem. A forum hosted by the Presidents Council about IMPACT WINDOWS is reviewed in the “GMCA Presidents Council Windows Forum”. An explanation of the Code and associated nomenclature is offered in “The Miami Protocols”. CLICK HERE to check out various links to WINDOW INFO. PLEASE TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THIS CRITICAL ISSUE!
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TALLAHASSEE ARCHIVES - Any legislation oozing out of Tallahassee that impacts our homes, rights or lifestyles is reviewed in the Tallahassee page. Each year, the info is placed in the Tallahassee Archives. To see what happened in 2009, Click Here. To see what happened in 2008, Click Here. To see what happened in 2007, Click Here. To see what happened in 2006, Click Here. For 2005, Click Here. For 2004, Click Here. Same with 2003, simply Click Here. To go to the Tallahassee Archive Index, Click Here.
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2011 POLITICS - TALLAHASSEE - Every year, we send an assortment of well-educated men and women to Florida’s State Capitol to represent us. They speak for us, act on our behalf, educate themselves about importatnt issues, learn how to work together and try to execute productive resolutions. Sometimes, their reasons for being there differ from those given to their constituents prior to Election Day; when this occurs, its usually a good time to consider “changing the guard”. Legislation affecting Galt Mile residents oozes out of Tallahassee annually, often unnoticed. The issues surrounding that legislation will be explained in this new TALLAHASSEE POLITICS SECTION. Before next year's legislative session, the articles will be relegated to the site's archives, setting the stage for the new session.
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 HURRICANE SEASON - BONNIE, CHARLEY, FRANCES, IVAN, JEANNE, KATRINA, WILMA! - We are in the midst of the GALT MILE's most active series of HURRICANE SEASONs. PLEASE go to the new HURRICANE PAGE. Available are up to the minute HURRICANE ADVISORIES and a huge section of useful HURRICANE LINKS. MOST IMPORTANT - GARY A. POLIAKOFF, a pioneer in the field of Condominium Law, has executed a DISASTER PLAN tailored to the needs of GALT MILE ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR RESIDENTS! BEFORE THE STORM speaks to the preparation necessary to avoid being victimized by unfortunate oversights - to the tune of $$$ MILLIONS. AFTER THE STORM addresses the steps necessary to successfully recover from disaster. DON'T PROCRASTINATE - READ IT! - DO IT!
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 ENTRY PASS - Armed with the knowledge that many domiciles are vacant during an evacuation, certain human insects will attempt to gain unobstructed access to the temporarily “easy pickings”. In response, police stationed at entrance checkpoints carefully scrutinize the identification of anyone attempting to return to the island, verifying credentials as either a resident or an owner/operator of a barrier island concern. If you can’t prove that you either live or work here, you won’t get in! CLICK HERE to learn how to get an ENTRY PASS!
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 HURRICANE FRAUD - Hurricane season, an annual source of emotional distress, brings out the best and the worst in us. There are several species of VAMPIRE that feed on the misery of the season’s victims. Two popular scams – “cleanup” and “emergency repair” - have developed into a cottage industry. FEMA and SBA impersonators are reviving old fashioned confidence schemes that have attracted the attention of Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist. These VULTURES are preying on people who've lost everything, towns desperately trying to right themselves and, quite possibly, YOU!
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 INSURANCE CYCLONE - Public concern about the season’s insurance impacts has sent bureaucrats scrambling from city hall to Tallahassee. Insurance lobbyists are gearing up for both overt and “under the radar” attacks on premiums, regionally and statewide. Carriers may threaten to abandon certain Florida insurance markets as part of their effort to force the Office of Insurance Regulation to float rates. Tallahassee wants to roll back the “Double Deductible” that Tom Gallagher terms “fundamentally unfair.”
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 WHEN THE BUDGET BURST - The City of Fort Lauderdale, despite benefitting from the highest per capita tax contributions ($570 per person) as compared to other large Florida municipalities, suffered a budget disaster. On December 16, 2003, the City Commission approved a financial package of cutbacks, layoffs, and program freezes designed by Acting City Manager Alan A. Silva as part of a two-year effort to help the City find its financial feet. How we were immersed in this mess is easy to follow but difficult to fathom. Mr. Silva put it succinctly, "We had been living beyond our means." Surprisingly, our elected representatives elected to ignore the wealth of danger signals that heralded our fiscal demise. Gulping down a bottle of aspirin, we documented the unfortunate experience. Check it out
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 A CHRONOLOGY - A 3 year period of gross mismanagement has transformed a city with an $18.3 billion tax base into a municipal basket case. Despite protests of surprise and shock by municipal representatives, the budget disaster we now face did not ambush Fort Lauderdale. City officials have had a ringside seat to a three year fiscal mismanagement spectacle. They were not, however, spectators. They were participants. The City's finance officials consistently warned of impending budget troubles. Memoranda went to Commissioners, the Mayor and their staff personnel. This is what happened...
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 GRETSAS Chosen New City Manager - At the MAY 17, 2004 City Commission meeting, Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson moved to select Gretsas for the point position in the war to reestablish Fort Lauderdale’s fiscal credibility. Characterizing Gretsas as “a person who has fire in his belly”, Commissioner Christine Teel seconded Hutchinson’s motion. The former Executive Officer of White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino, Mr. Gretsas was never a City Manager...until now. City Commissioners are banking on his integrity and intensity, not his resumé.
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 Love Hits Treasury - In June 2004, City Auditor Renee Foley released a report concerning serious deficiencies in the City's Treasury Department. Her report concludes that, “No reliance could be placed on the systems to safeguard the city’s assets.” The City maintains no record of personnel who possess keys or the combinations to its safes. The current audit focuses on “severe deficiencies” in the way the Treasury Department tracks and handles money. City Auditor Allyson Love has been an extremely active part of the City's budgetary housecleaning effort. Her audits of the Parks Department and some questionable practices ascribed to a contractor doing business with the City have affirmed the City Commission's commitment to tightening fiscal controls.
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Sprinkler Controversy - The residents of the Galt Mile community are currently tolerating an exasperating and expensive ordeal that accompanies the massive renovation efforts required to bring their 20-30 year old buildings into the 21st century. The specter of another million-dollar project unceremoniously dumped on the top of this construction quagmire would have to be, at the very least, a clear and uncontested necessity.
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GMCA Fires Back - One of the country's premier legal condominium specialists, the well-known firm of Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., has offered to spearhead a lobbying effort to correct the critically flawed legislation that will result in your Association having to pony up over a million dollars to install a questionable "Fire Safety" system. Their success is contingent upon our willingness to help ourselves. Find out HOW!
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CHIEFS OFFER HELP - On October 30, 2003, Fort Lauderdale Fire Marshal Steve Kastner, Division Chief of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Prevention Bureau, and Chief Robert Edgar of the Emergency Medical Services Bureau met with GMCA Presidents Council Chairman Pio Ieraci and Advisory Board Member Eric Berkowitz to improve communications among the Fire Marshal’s office, the E.M.S. Division and the community. Marshal Kastner has invited the Galt Mile Community Association to request his official or unofficial input on any fire-related issue. He offered to provide timely advice to help any Association cope with the legislative confusion or the upgrading of their fire safety systems. He also agreed to suspend enforcement of the dogmatic provisions in the Fire Safety Legislation until the Legislation is claified in Tallahassee!
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TWO FIRE BILLS - While the opt-out provisions inherent in the Fire Safety Amendment are definitely a step in the right direction, they contain several irrational obstacles whose only discernible purpose is to increase our maintenance assessments in exchange for nothing. Two bills, Senate Bill 1938 and House Bill 747, have been drafted which will allow you to exercise your opt-out rights granted last session in an easier and more streamlined process. The deep-pockets lobbyists for the National Fire Sprinkler Association and the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union have launched a well-funded campaign to reverse last year’s achievements. A battle to defend that progress and retrieve control of our Fire Safety Standards is again underway!
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Broward Beach Coalition - The threat to our beaches has united concerned citizens, government, business, workers, and the environmental community in a partnership designed to alert our representatives to the disquiet precipitated by this impending disaster. The Broward Beach Coalition is a grass roots cross section of community interests that have conjoined to convey our concerns and the pertinent facts to the Governor, the Cabinet,and the community at large.
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Beach Victory - After over two contentious years of disappointments, delays, and deferrals, the Governor and the Cabinet finally issued the permit sought by the Broward County Department of Planning and Environmental Protection to proceed with the Beach Renourishment Project.
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Final Environmental Impact Statement - The FEIS addresses all of the concerns expressed by an assortment of official environmental watchdog agencies in response to the original Draft EIS drawn in March, 2002. It finally establishes a timeline for the project's implementation.
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Final Record of Decision - That’s it - its official - the plan has the blessing of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, all of the environmental watchdogs with authoritative standing and the people that live on the beach. Broward County now carries the ball. They will implement the southern segment of the project first, monitor the effects for 18 months, and complete the northern portion when the southern portion receives a clean bill of health.
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County Celebrates Beach Renourishment Kickoff - On May 6, 2005, a long-awaited celebration took place in Hollywood. The immediate beneficiaries of the Broward County Shore Protection Project, the municipalities of Hollywood, Hallandale Beach and Dania Beach, joined Broward County in throwing a party to highlight the project’s commencement. Joining Broward County and local municipal officials, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Army Corps of Engineers, many civic and environmental groups (including the Galt Mile Community Association) that spent the past 5 years locked in a frustrating struggle to save Broward’s beaches were grateful to witness the project start.
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Cleveland Clinic - And then there were none. The Cleveland Clinic, along with the only emergency room on the Barrier Island, was gone. The Cleveland Clinic moved here via the acquisition of the old North Beach Hospital. Their stated intention was to "grow with the Barrier Island". They did. What happened?
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The 32nd Street Alley - STILL A MESS Despite repeated attempts by City Commissioner Christine Teel and others to bring the concerned merchants to the table to initiate a voluntary "clean-up" of the unsanitary state that persists, the lack of response has precipitated enforcement action by the City.
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AEDs - Sudden Cardiac Arrest - It happens quickly. Without warning. It can affect anyone - healthy adults, even teenagers. It cannot be prevented. There is no vaccine. Most do not survive. It's called Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) and there's only one way to treat it. DEFIBRILLATION. An untrained eleven year old child recently saved someone's life using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). ANYONE CAN USE IT, SAFELY...and with no LEGAL LIABILITY!
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GMCA GRADUATES ITS FIRST CPR/AED CLASS The Galt Mile Community Association, having partnered with the Fort Lauderdale Department of Fire-Rescue to bestow certification training in CPR/AED for residents and employees of Associations that purchased defibrillators, graduated 15 students from REGENCY TOWER and SOUTHPOINT condominiums. Having several residents and/or employees certified in CPR/AED from each AED-equipped Association is not required but is recommended as part of a well-rounded AED implementation program. The free training is a LIMITED RESOURCE that is available on a first come, first serve basis to Associations that have already purchased and AED.
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Race with the Clock For years, the specter of a lawsuit delayed the acceptance of defibrillators by litigation-leery Associations. During the 2004 legislative session in Tallahassee, laws protecting Condo Associations, Cooperatives and Homeowner Associations from civil liability were enacted. The question confronting condo residents and their Boards is no longer, “What will happen to us if we purchase and install a defibrillator?” It is now, “What will happen if we don’t?”
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FLPD Crime Statistics - The Fort Lauderdale Police Department (FLPD) Crime Analysis Unit produces reports which depict our crime and service statistics. The reports are avaiable here.
Get FLPD Statistics
FLPD Crime Update - On November 17, 2004, Major Mary Negrey of Police District 1 sent a crime update for the Galt Mile neighborhood to Commissioner Christine Teel. She forwarded it to us.
Get FLPD Crime Report
 FLORIDA Crime Statistics - FDLE's (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) Uniform Crime Report (UCR) system provides standardized reports on crime statistics based on data gathered from across the state. Reports that provide both summary and detail information are issued yearly. You can find data from 1994 up to the most recently released reports.
Get Florida Crime Statistics
THE HOMELESS - Fort Lauderdale Police Assistant Chief Chuck Drago suggests that the best way to contend with the recent infusion of homeless people permanently occupying the benches along Galt Ocean Drive is to stop giving them money.
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 ASK LORI! - Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish responds to questions posed by residents about the value of their homes. Inqueries about the "SAVE OUR HOMES" amendent, the SENIOR EXEMPTION and the ubiquitous HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION are answered by the County's Property Appraiser.
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HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS - The Broward County Property Appraiser's Office will conduct special taxpayer sign-up sessions for the 2011 Homestead Exemption and Senior Exemption at City Hall, the Beach Community Center, and various Homeowners and Civic Associations this September, October, November, January, February, March and April. The Beach Community Center (3351 NE 33rd Street) sign-up dates are Friday 10:00 AM on July 29, August 26, September 30, October 28.
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GALT MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION - The Galt Merchants Association (GMA), an active member of the Galt Mile Community Association, was created to accomplish and promote a harmonious relationship between our residents and the businesses that service them. The GMA defines our residents' commercial needs and promotes those merchants who successfully satisfy them. The result is a highly diversified, competitive, and responsive collection of competent, helpful, and friendly vendors and service personnel. SEE WHO THEY ARE!
Go to Galt Merchants Association Website
NEW GALT SHOPPES DEVELOPMENT! - The Galt Merchants Association has shepherded its project to transform the Galt Ocean Shoppes into a unique tourist and shopping mecca through all the preliminary governmental and engineering hurdles. We now have a viable Master Plan designed to bring us the rest of the way!
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