Festival of the Arts

Dear Editor:

Thank you to the citizens of Deerfield Beach for coming out to the 32nd Annual Festival of the Arts last weekend. Your attendance makes all the hours of effort worthwhile. Our goal has always been to bring quality, affordable, family-oriented events to the city, and, by you coming to the Festival, it proves that we have done it right.

Thank you, also, to every single volunteer who helped to make this event a reality. The Festival of the Arts is completely orchestrated by volunteers, along with a small but dedicated group of Deerfield Beach city employees who supply their particular technical expertise. Unless you live it, you cannot imagine the hours of work, time and effort it takes to bring an event to reality, not to mention the bumps in the road and frustrations potentially at every turn. You also cannot realize the satisfaction at the end of the event ,when we know we have done a great service for enhancing the reputation of Deerfield Beach and bringing pleasure to the citizens of Deerfield Beach.

Care to volunteer and feel that warm and fuzzy feeling? Phone the Parks and Recreation Dept. at 954-480-4429.

Judi Stanich

Cultural Committee Chair

Deerfield Beach

Nuisance property demolition

Dear Editor:

Thank you [Keven Klopp] for all you have done to help us!  The balconies across the water are holding spectators. One of our daughters’ fiance texted me a photo that was sent to him by a friend who lives on the Boca side … not knowing that I was home to watch.

There have been sightseers from around Deerfield Beach and Boca. Our neighbors have gotten together to organize a BBQ in our driveway at 5:30 p.m. and another neighbor brought a bottle of champagne.

We truly appreciate all that you and Andy have done to help end these last 12 years of aggravation. We can feel our property values rise hour-by-hour!

Lynne Newberry

Deerfield Beach

Is CVE becoming a police state?

Dear Editor:

I have been banned from the CVE clubhouse for a month because I videoed my wife in a dance class.  I was escorted to the office by two big guys.  My ID was taken.  A week later, I went to the office of Lea Kennedy, the new boss, for a hearing. ”You broke the rules, so no club house.” What rules?

I have been taking video in CVE for years. She opened a drawer and removed a 2- in. thick stack of papers, each with an ID. “These are the people banned from the  clubhouse.” Hundreds. Unbelievable. What bad thing could 70-, 80-, 90-year-olds have done? Every day, I hear the ambulance. A heart attack? A death? We are old  people. Wake up CVE!  Before they turn this place into an “Auschwitz”!

William Garofalo

Cambridge G, Deerfield Beach

Repair of All My Children entranceway

Dear Editor:

When the group that was working on Rescinding the 10% utility tax was looking for a place where they could have their meetings after hours, the owners of All My Children Academy at 377 NW 3 Court offered the use of their facility. When the meetings took place, it was obvious that the driveway for the school’s entranceway was badly in need of repair.

Being a firm believer in Charity begins at Home, the following good Samaritans opened up their checkbooks to make the transformation a reality. They were Dr. Leo J. Robb III, Mike Robb, Tommy Hostetler, and Cove Bagel and Deli.

The muscle needed to do the manual labor was provided by Michael Hunter and Cliff Strowbridge, who earned every penny paid them.

What amazed us was those who like to stand in the spotlight and claim credit for the monies they raise chose not to donate one dime to this project. It’s time that Deerfield Beach support those pleas for money that benefit the residents of Deerfield Beach.

Jean M.Robb

Deerfield Beach

Dear Editor:

Where is the outrage?

Citizen’s Windstorm “requested” an inspection of my home in The Cove, so well-built in 1955 and maintained that there never was a claim for damages in all these years.

Their 26-page report basically said that my house was not up to the 2004 code and they could no longer allow me the discounts. Therefore, they would increase my $2,200 annual premium to $3,761!

Total insurance on my home, including flood and homeowners insurance, will increase to over $5,200 a year.

Now, I read in the paper that our Florida legislators want Citizens to increase their premiums by 10 percent and Gov. Scott is in agreement.

How can a widowed retiree on a fixed income continue to live here? This way, Citizens is chasing me out of my home with the help of the Florida legislature and governor.

Instead of fighting this injustice, several of my neighbors are dropping their insurance, taking their chances with the next hurricane or tornado.

Is this what our Florida government wants? Do we need to have our elderly citizens “occupy” Tallahassee, as the folks occupied Wall Street, in order to be heard?

Mrs. Cunera Voute

Deerfield Beach

Editor’s note: Citizens Insurance, or Citizens, is the popular name for government-established, not-for-profit insurers in Florida and Louisiana. In Florida, the insurer is Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. In Louisiana, the insurer is the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Both were established in their respective states as insurers of last resort.

Help the Salvation Army. Allow the Bins.

Dear Editor:

Jim and I are fans of the Salvation Army. We support them with donations and volunteering, and have taken their disaster response, first aid and CPR classes. Over Christmas, Jim and I uncrated, sorted and stacked hundreds of boxes of toys at the Salvation Army facility in Ft. Lauderdale. The Salvation Army is one of the few charities that uses most of their money for their clients, not administrative uses, advertising or begging letters. They do good work and a lot of it.

So, when one of the hard working volunteers showed up at the Deerfield Beach commission meeting and asked permission to place bins for clothing donations, I was all for it. I was shocked to hear the commission turn them down, citing a regulation against outdoor storage.

Look around the city. Not only will you find clothing donation bins, but many other instances of outside storage. Restaurants are allowed to have outside seating, but the regulations do not say they can have outside storage.

In fact, it is NOT allowed, but many have carts and bins for storing service items. I believe some have fully-stocked bars. What is a dumpster if not an outside storage container? How about vending machines, they certainly qualify as storage.

Once again we have Deerfield Beach using selective enforcement. I hear that the owners of the clothing storage bins that are in violation can’t be contacted to remove them. Well, DUH! Gather them up for scrap if they are such egregious violations. Want to know where they are? Ask the Salvation Army guy, he had pictures of them.

What’s the excuse for not allowing the bins? They might overflow and be unsightly. Really? Well, that would be the time to sanction them, not before it happens. I think regulations similar to those about garbage cans and dumpsters should do it.

Guess what I found while reading our codes; outside storage is allowed as a conditional use in some of our districts, nobody bothered to tell the Salvation Army man about that.

I think an ordinance allowing a legitimate charity to have donation bins on public property and, with permission, on private property should be enacted. Have a heart. These are very hard times and charities are suffering from reduced donations. Charity starts at home. Let’s give it a home in Deerfield Beach.

Bett Willet

Deerfield Beach

RE: The Cove neighborhood

Dear Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the men and women of the Deerfield Beach, Broward Sheriff’s Office, for their service and professionalism. This year has been a very eye-opening experience in learning what is happening to the city I grew up in.

My husband, Phil, and I were very excited to purchase a home in The Cove neighborhood, a few years ago, because, back when we were growing up, it was the premier place to live in Deerfield Beach. Sadly, now, it is mostly known as the neighborhood that leads the city in the most burglaries and thefts.

The good news is that we have a chief of police who wants to help us make our neighborhood safer. Chief Sudler and his team have committed to partner with us to reverse this trend.

On Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m., Phil and I will host a Neighborhood Watch Meeting at our house — 529 SE 13 Ave., Deerfield Beach, so we can meet and hear from Chief Sudler and the police officers who take care of our neighborhood on what we can do to stop the burglaries and thefts. We have also set up an e-mail address to distribute important information and happenings that occur in The Cove. If you would like to get on this distribution list, please e-mail me at DFBCove@gmail.com and we will put you on the list.

As the year ends, I ask you, my fellow neighbors, to join us on Jan. 5 to get informed on what is going on in the neighborhood and help us restore The Cove to the great place to live that it used to be.

Michelle Lane

Deerfield Beach

Holiday scam hits home

Dear Editor:

This is the time of year when we are busy with holiday preparations, looking forward to seeing family and friends. That is what I would like to be doing.

Instead of last-minute shopping and gift wrapping, I am cleaning fingerprint dust off nightstands, doors, jewelry boxes and filing cabinets.

On Sunday, Dec. 18, we were lured into our backyard on the pretense that a neighbor cutting his foliage was going to have it fall into our yard. We were kept in the backyard long enough for someone else to enter our house and steal our possessions.

I hope that everyone will remember: Do not open your doors to strangers and do not get lured away from your door for even a second. It’s not the first time this has happened in The Cove area.

We always feel safe in our own homes, which is the way it should be, but those days may be gone, which is really sad. My family has lived in this house since 1957.

My wish for everyone is to have a safe holiday, and a safe year.

Sallie E. Jenkinson

Deerfield Beach

Cove Parking Lot improvements

Dear Editor:       

I am writing this letter to give our appreciation to Pam Militello, the past commissioner of Deerfield Beach, who served four years in District 1. She worked hard to initiate the city involvement in planning renovations of The Cove Shopping Center.

At the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, Saturday night, Dec.10, held in The Cove Shopping Center, the results of Pam’s hard work shone brightly, with the tower at the entrance, Royal Palms and other tree plantings and the pavers on the sidewalks and new lighting fixtures.

The businesses have seen the improvements and are now starting to fix up their storefronts in the Key West style, voted on by citizens of the city at a number of workshops held by Pam.

We want to thank the citizens who participated in the workshops and worked so hard to help with the vision that is now a reality.We know that Pam does not expect accolades, but we think she deserves to be recognized for her accomplishments.

The Original “Save Our Beach” Group Membership

Marge Hilton – OSOB PAC Chairman

Deerfield Beach

Holiday Shopping Advisory

Dear Editor:

I was at Boca Town Center mall on Friday afternoon, 3 p.m., walking out to my car from Saks, right out the front door, just five cars down. As soon as I got in the car, there was a man pulling on my door handle and knocking on the window.  Fortunately for me, I always lock my doors as soon as I get in my car.  There was a woman in the car behind me, waiting for my parking space. The man walked over to her car, pulled on the door and knocked on the window.  I drove out of the parking area, called 911, told the security guard and later called Saks to tell them what was going on.  The only agency that was interested in what had happened was Saks.

So I posted the incident on my Facebook page and one of my friends said the exact same thing happened to her last week.  Then today, I was getting my hair done and talking to some ladies at the salon and warning them of what has been going on.  Another lady told me that two weeks ago, her friend got robbed outside Bloomingdale’s outside Boca Town Center!  The girl had reported it to mall security and Bloomingdale’s, and they just blew her off.

The public needs to be aware.

Colleen

Lighthouse Point

Editor’s note: Monday, Dec. 12, was the four-year anniversary of the still-unsolved shooting of a woman and her daughter in a black SUV parked at the Boca mall. Security measures have reportedly been increased and cameras installed since. Unfortunately, panhandlers and criminals prevail at holiday time. See Winter Frauds and Scams, pg 17. to better protect yourself.

Detox battle of rights

Dear Editor:

A storefront at 504 S. Federal Hwy. has become ground zero in a classic case of David vs. Goliath. In this case, David is a band of neighbors from The Cove neighborhood, whose homes are next to or near the property. Goliath is a business owner who owns Deerfield Florida House, Inc., a substance abuse treatment facility across the street from the storefront, formerly known as Reel Smokers World.

Even without a change of land-use approval from the city, the owner purchased the property for over $1 million and sank $100,000 in architectural fees for a 24- to 28-bed detoxification facility for drug and alcohol abusers with dual diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses. Patients will arrive at the facility while under the influence of substances with the goal of removing the substances from their bodies, so they may be admitted to the Florida House directly across Federal Highway for long-term drug rehabilitation. Florida statutes prevent the facility from retaining patients against their will, so they may leave treatment after six hours. Needless to say, neighbors became concerned and organized to fight the plan.

The business owner met with neighbors and denied that patients had committed crimes or were a threat to the surrounding community.

However, in February 2011, a Florida House patient fled the facility and stole a knife from Publix prior to burglarizing and vandalizing cars in The Cove parking lot and at homes on SE 17 Ave. and SE 17 Terr. The patient’s rampage didn’t stop there. He entered an occupied home on SE 5 Court then stumbled out onto the lawn. The resident recognized the patient was in distress and offered assistance, but the patient punched him in the face.

Prior to that, a Florida House resident robbed Papa John’s pizza on S. Federal Highway in 2009. Neighbors currently report being solicited for money and rides to the airport at local businesses from patients from the Florida House.

In September, the Planning and Zoning Board [recommended to the city commission] denial of the change of land use request, stating the proposed facility was not compatible with the residential zone next to it. In addition, city code states that a substance abuse treatment facility cannot be within 1,000 feet of another substance abuse treatment facility. The city rejected the application.

End of story? Not so fast. The owner has appealed the ruling, stating that the planned facility is merely an extension of the substance abuse facility across the street, even though different services will be provided there. He has also vowed to spend up to $6 million to defend his right to build the facility. He has retained counsel of an attorney who specializes in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That lawyer has already sent a threatening letter to city officials alleging “hostile and irrational community prejudice.” If his appeal to the Planning and Zoning Board special master is denied, it is expected he will turn to the ADA for ammunition against the city.

What’s at stake for the business owner? Millions of dollars in profit from the desperate families of addicts who will pay any amount for help for their loved ones. What’s at stake for the neighbors? At the very least, a drop in property values of their biggest investment — their homes. At worst, their safety and security. Who has already won this battle? The previous owner of the property, who purchased it for $600,000 in 1999 and sold it to Deerfield Florida House for $1.3 million in 2011.

Can Deerfield Beach afford to fight this battle? If we don’t, does that mean a dual diagnosis detoxification facility may be built anywhere in our city? Will the next one be built next to your house?

Donna Ihle

Deerfield Beach

RE: Paid Advertisement

Dear Editor:

Congrats to Frank “It’s all about me” Congemi. After his power play struggle failed, he felt it necessary to take out a full page ad in the Observer in an attempt to undermine those who still believe in the Chamber. Frank, get over yourself. In my opinion, you’re still a bull in a china shop. You challenge the integrity of people. As for your last line, “God bless,” who are you kidding? Live with yourself, you deserve you.

Steve Miller

Deerfield Beach

RE: Publisher’s Perspective

Dear Editor:

I always enjoy reading Op-Eds written by the publisher, because of their clarity and conciseness.  However, the Opinion piece in the Dec.1 issue is particularly worthy of praise.

Politicians frequently say that raising taxes will kill jobs. Rarely, if at all, do they explain why. The publisher does this with a logical, yet simple case and argument explaining why increased taxes and, therefore, increased costs decreases business and lessens the ability of a business owner to pay employees.

Don Kolb

Deerfield Beach

He needs to decrease taxes … for everyone!

The politicians used to say, “It’s the Economy stupid.” Now Business owners are saying, “It’s the high Taxes (stupid)!”

The formula is really quite simple:

Increased taxes = increased costs = increased prices = decreased business = decreased jobs

Decreased taxes = decreased costs = decreased prices = increased business = increased jobs

Therefore, it should be obvious to the President and his advisers that if they want more jobs, they need to decrease taxes on the people who produce the jobs.

He apparently is willing to consider that, but stubbornly wants to limit it to those making less than $1,000,000. That probably sounds reasonable to most people. However, what he and “they” don’t understand is that if a businessman is fortunate enough to “make” $1,000,000, very little may be left for him to live on after he pays his taxes and, typically, a bank loan from those funds.

For example, assume a businessman or woman borrows $5,000,000 for a business to employ 100 people. First, he would probably need to have saved at least $1,000,000 to invest in the business in order to get a $5,000,000 loan. So he has $6,000,000 invested in the business. But now, he must make enough money from the business to pay back the bank loan and interest. Assuming the loan is at 6 percent, and he has 10 years to pay back the bank, he has to make $300,000 just to pay the bank interest, plus another $500,000 to pay the bank loan principal. If he is successful and “makes” $1,300,000 from the business, he pays the bank $300,000 in interest leaving him $1,000,000 in taxable income. He pays income taxes to the U.S. government of approximately $330,000, leaving him $670,000. From that, he has to pay the bank $500,000 principal on the loan, leaving him $170,000 to live on. To some, he may look rich. However, in order to get that big loan, he probably had to sign away everything he owns, including his home. If business slows down and profits are squeezed, he may lose everything he owns to the bank, including his home. That actually happened to a good friend of mine recently.

However, under Obama’s current plan, it gets worse. If someone grows their business and hires more people, their tax rate will increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, for a 13.1 percent increase in tax rate, which equates to a $46,000 tax increase, reducing his net income to $124,000. The employer has taken a lot of risk to try to make that money, and the risk goes up as the tax rate increases, which also decreases the amount of money the employer can pay their employees.

Thus … increased taxes increase costs, which increases prices, which decreases business and decreases jobs.

Whereas … decreased taxes decrease costs, which decreases prices, which increases business and increases jobs.

Bottom line is you can’t increase, or threaten to increase, taxes on the people who create 90 percent of the jobs in America and then wonder why they don’t go out and hire more people. No wonder folks are worried. They ought to be.

Our political gurus need to study the effects of the Kennedy and Reagan Tax decreases. In both cases, the U.S. economy took off, the government income increased substantially, and we obtained essentially full employment for everyone who wanted to work.

David Eller, Publisher

RE: Day in Court — Sylvia Poitier

Dear Editor:

Yesterday [last Wednesday], in room 465 of the Broward County Courthouse, I witnessed a horrible miscarriage of justice. A jury voted and found the embattled ex-City of Deerfield Beach Commissioner Sylvia Poitier guilty on all 4 counts of falsifying a document.

Sylvia was charged with falsifying a document because she did not indicate that on the legal form 8B that her brother Lionel was a debtor of the WDBA [Westide Deerfield Businessmen Association] when matters came before the City Commission.

Somehow, the jury found that as a matter of fact, Sylvia should have completed the form 8B’s and publically declared she had a conflict of interest because her brother was a debtor of the group.

I have previously stated that this whole case was based on if Sylvia had a legal obligation to declare that Lionel Ferguson was a debtor. The law clearly states that she would have to declare only if she knew that a vote on a matter before the Commission would result in her brother receiving a direct and immediate special private gain.

I guess David Schulson, assistant state attorney, proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Lionel would have received a direct and immediate special private gain from the four measures in question and, therefore, the jury passed down a unanimous verdict of guilty on all four counts.

However, I am still waiting to see or hear what special private gain Lionel would receive from any of the measures before the Deerfield Beach City Commission concerning the WDBA, as all of the states’ witnesses, exhibits and testimonies clearly indicated that Lionel Ferguson did not stand to gain anything from any of the measures presented before the Deerfield Beach City Commission that were in question in this case.

Sylvia’s lawyer, Johnny McCray, indicated he would be filing a new motion and appeal.

Sylvia, herself, stated she would not shed a tear today because she knows she did not falsify any documents and she did not and still does not believe that she or her brother had a conflict of interest according to the law.

It may be too soon to celebrate, for those who are celebrating, as the past has shown us that many of the African-American politicians who were originally found guilty have had their verdicts overturned on appeal. Will that be the case here? I don’t know. Only time will tell.

Hopefully, everyone will go out and get the facts of this case and not listen to the rumor, conjecture and innuendo that has been circulating in the media for quite some time. It would seem, at least to me, that Sylvia Poitier was not convicted today on any merits of this court case but on past perceptions and the fact that we, as people, want to believe that all politicians are innately corrupt.

Are they? Well, yes, many are. That is the nature of politics.

I am sure we would all be hard-pressed to find one who isn’t, but in this particular case, this politician, Sylvia Poitier, was wrongly convicted and I am sure that this conviction will be overturned on appeal. The law is clear and, once that fact is clearly and accurately presented, Sylvia will be cleared of all charges and returned to her seat as the District 2 City Commissioner of Deerfield Beach.

David Cody

Deerfield Beach

Dear Editor:

I am happy to serve the citizens of Deerfield Beach. That is what I want to do. I wish the best for her [Sylvia]. Had the political process gone the other way, and I had to give my seat back to her, I would have done that gladly. In that case, I would have encouraged the rest of the community to get behind her, to make for a healthier Deerfield Beach.

Ben Preston, Commissioner, District 2

Deerfield Beach