It is common knowledge that churches and non-profit organizations are exempt from paying all sorts of taxes. This accepted reality is due to the vital services such institutions provide in our society, community, and daily lives. Here in Wilton Manors, we all benefit from the work and programs of our regional non-profit organizations such as Poverello, Pride Center, Pace School, Kids in Distress, and numerous religious institutions. Non-profit landowners are removed from our property tax rolls. We accept this tax-exempt status not just locally, but also on a national level.

As you likely read this, the 101st annual Florida Realtors convention is in progress up to Orlando. Three days of workshops, presentations, and a trade show, followed by two days of committee and governance meetings. Realtors getting a little party on, with some professional components.

Summer 2017 is over, schools are back in session, the Fall holidays are fast approaching, and life here in Wilton Manors has just kicked it up a notch. Yes folks, it’s time for my annual warning that Christmas is just around the corner. Think I am crazy? Well, the next few months are jammed packed with activity; and if you think 2017 has been racing by, hold on to your hat because the ride is about to get a lot faster.
As our city government, along with local non-profits, schools, and others swing back into action from a slower summer pace, calendars have been filling up fast. After September, we have the Jewish Holidays, then Halloween, Thanksgiving, and right into the Christmas holiday season and the end of the year. Before you know it, we will be singing Old Lang Syne and 2018 will be well on its way.

As my household gets ready to celebrate my birthday, another year older, passing the mid fifty range and getting ever so close to sixty, I let my mind wander back over the past year. My thoughts keep going back to the opening words of a speech that Queen Elizabeth II gave in 1992, dubbed the “Annus Horribilis” speech. Replacing 1992 with 2017, I will take the liberty of plagiarizing Her Majesty’s words:

This past Friday, July 31, I sat outside looking for the rare Blue Moon, the second full moon this month. Unfortunately, the cloudy and rainy night hampered my viewing, but gave me the opportunity to relax after a very busy week here in Wilton Manors.

We hear the chanting. We hear the rhetoric. We are beginning to realize the need and the importance. We are beginning to understand that to do nothing is no longer an option. The problem is on the rise. The invaders are causing havoc and destruction. The chanting is growing louder and louder, Build the Wall, Build the Wall. 

So, what’s the hold up? 

As we all begin to get caught up in the holiday spirit here in Wilton Manors, my attention keeps going back to the song playing on the radio, “Do they know it’s Christmas?” Originally produced back in 1984 in response to the tragic draught and starvation in Africa, the words have a much different meaning for me today.

Today ends a tumultuous week for me here in Wilton Manors. However, as I sit down to write this article, my faith in our community and our wonderful city remains resilient, confident and stronger than ever.

Commissioner Tom Green was definitely the star of the show at our City Commission meeting last Tuesday night. The agenda included ordinances creating a Green Building Code and regulations for vacation home rentals, two items long championed by Commissioner Green.

After all the stress and hard work of dealing with Hurricane Irma, I escaped South Florida for a few days to visit my father in New Jersey. My first day here was spent enjoying a summer-like day in Cape May, with the refreshing ocean breeze and some great seafood. Back at my dad’s place, the autumn evenings mean great sleeping weather, a real treat after all the heat and humidity of South Florida.

As we celebrate our nation’s birthday this July Fourth, many here in Wilton Manors are faced with a very uncertain future. As Senate Leader Mitch McConnell tries to get away with dumping millions of Americans off of their healthcare insurance, wheeling and dealing in the back rooms of the Senate, many here in our Island City are bracing for the worst.

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

Just a few months ago, most of us would have never expected to wake up on the morning of Nov. 9 to find Donald Trump as the new President-elect.

Last week our City Commission adopted the new city tagline, “Life’s just better here.” Frequent readers of this column will know that I have been advocating this tagline throughout the past year by ending each article with some form of this phrase. I was very happy to see the Mayor and City Commissioners decide to keep the word, ‘just,’ in the tagline, especially after the presenters from Conceptual Communications thought the word “just” was too braggadocious. Wow, you have to love it when someone pulls a word like braggadocious out of our dusty vocabulary chest. As my mind tried to register what the gentleman had just said, I suddenly heard Julie Andrews singing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, um diddle, diddle diddle, um diddle aye.” Snapping back to reality, I listened to the discussion of the word “just” and the tagline as a whole. Conceptual Communications claimed that the word ‘just’ implied bragging in a cocky or arrogant way, thus their use of braggadocious. Commissioner Green stated that Wilton Manors has a lot to truly brag about as a city, and that keeping the word ‘just’ was a good thing. Commissioners agreed and voted unanimously to adopt the tagline as it was originally chosen by focus groups and others –“Life’s Just Better here….”   Bravo, well done!!

Looking for the handsome gentleman playing darts at GYM Bar ….

Dr. Martin Luther King Day catches me by surprise each year. Having just made it through the usual holiday madness and finally having a moment to catch my breath, I realize it’s already MLK Day weekend. For most of us, it is a welcome three-day weekend to relax.

Hello residents of Wilton Manors. This is your beloved city, here to discuss our resolutions for the New Year and to mention some of the wonderful gifts I received this past holiday season. Unfortunately, Santa did not read the wish list I mailed to the North Pole, because the new IT Director and the fully-staffed Police Department I wished for was not to be found under the tree on Christmas morning.

Heading into the city’s budget process, members of the Budget Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) were happy to see a proposed city budget with the millage rate remaining the same. As in the previous year, we once again see rising property values over 8 percent, which automatically brings in a sizeable amount of additional revenue into the city’s General Fund.

Does Wilton Manors really need a train station? It looks as if the almighty city commission is preparing to submit a grant application of $205,000 to study and develop a plan on building a train station in the Island City.

Last week’s regular city commission meeting was cancelled due to our commissioners having previously voted to utilize the second commission date in August as a summer break. Now it’s the beginning of September, Labor Day weekend is approaching, and I am talking Christmas.

Have you ever wondered if you were born in the wrong era? That somehow you would have been a better fit in some other time? The Roaring Twenties, the social activism of the 60’s, perhaps the Age of Invention around the turn of the Twentieth Century? For most of my teenage years into adulthood, I felt like I was out of step with the times, listening to the beat of a different drummer.

Recently I spent my Saturday afternoon at the Veterans Day event hosted by the City of Wilton Manors, a fitting tribute to the many men and women who have served in the military of our great nation and deserve our unequivocal gratitude and respect. No one should ever overlook, minimize, or forget their bravery, sacrifices, and service to protect our essential American values, freedom, and way of life.

Senate Republicans are not the only ones operating behind closed doors these days. Here in Wilton Manors, Pride Center CEO Robert Boo and his self-appointed board also like doing business back in the closet, away from watchful eyes of the community.

With my housemates away for two weeks, my plan was to rest and relax then perhaps do some projects around the house. My anticipated quiet time came up against a Category 5 hurricane named Irma, and Irma definitely had center stage.

This past week in Wilton Manors was the usual summer break for our City Commission, with the first commission meeting of August cancelled by vote of our Mayor and City Commissioners. While this was undoubtedly good news to city staff who also enjoyed a break from the usual build-up to a regularly scheduled commission meeting, it might be bad news for Robert Boo, CEO of the Pride Center.

Last time I said I would be continuing my theme of community by expanding my Real Estate Yearbook into some new areas, outside of WilMa and Broward, that may prove to be attractive community candidates.

Seems incredible that we have already reached the last full week of March. You would think that springtime would be in full bloom. Unfortunately, for our northern brethren, nobody informed Old Man Winter. We here in South Florida have the pleasure of enjoying the cool evenings and warm days a bit longer before the heat and humidity settle in. With the springtime holidays of Easter and Passover fast approaching, we should take time to enjoy this delightful weather while it lasts.

In keeping with the Island City tradition, our City Commissioners voted to cancel the first scheduled City Commission meeting in August for summer break.

Resiliency is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties, being able to spring back into shape.