Florida Agenda

By MICHAEL D’OLIVEIRA Dean Trantalis isn’t running in the Fort Lauderdale Commission race solely to represent the LGBT community, but he is running, in part, to give it representation on the commission. Trantalis, who served as a Fort Lauderdale commissioner from 2003 to 2006 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2009, is trying to get [...]

By Cliff Dunn Greater Fort Lauderdale lost a friend last week, as Jan D. Carpenter, respected business and community leader and loving partner of Dale Russell, passed away October 2. Carpenter, born January 17, 1949 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota (“Go Bears!”), attended Bemidji State University before accepting a management position with Target Corporation, a [...]

By Dale Madison For more than 70 years, United Way of Broward County has acted like a kind of community glue for local non-profit and service organizations, uniting resources, donors, and volunteers to identify the community’s most pressing needs, and creating the building blocks that lead to measurable results. Some of the efforts United Way [...]

By: Dale Madison   Canadian-born R&B singer/ songwriter and actress Deborah Cox left rehearsals for the national tour of “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical,” and flew from Manhattan to Fort Lauderdale last week as the special guest of the Break the Silence Campaign. The non-profit organization, founded by Logan Voxx’s Positive Young People (PYP) Foundation, [...]

By Dale Madison Although Ken Fontaine’s name may not leap out at you, as the Executive Director of Shadowood II—one of the specialized HIV/AIDS service organizations in Broward County—he is a man who leaps into action to help those in need. As its Web site notes, Shadowood II is a structured group home for homeless [...]

By Dale Madison When was the last time you heard a Realtor tell you, “It’s an amazing time in the real estate market”? Dale Russell— the man behind the Dale Russell Realty Network and the “face” of the Five Points intersection billboard— is “bullish” about local real estate, noting that lower inventory around town translates [...]

By DALE MADISON Gary Yamnitz knows his way around a credit union. The Wilton Manors branch manager at City County Credit Union (CCCU) began his career in financial services in 1984 with Sun Coast Schools Credit Union in Tampa. Fast forward 28 years and Yamnitz is bringing his vast depth and breadth of credit union [...]

By DALE MADISON Remind realtor Gary Lanham that the real estate market has changed and he will look at you and laugh. “No joke, Dale, where have you been?” he asks with mock astonishment. After Hurricane Wilma in 2005, things have not been good for most real estate professionals. Yet, some agents and realtors have [...]

2228 Wilton Drive Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-563-2499 chicoptique.net By PHOEBE MOSES You couldn’t tell at first glance, but the staff at Chic Optique combines over 100 of experience in the eyewear business. It must be all that clean living, with an ownership philosophy that’s as simple as it is meritorious. “Always give back to [...]

(Full Disclosure: I have had the pleasure of singing a “duet” of the Frank Sinatra classic “All the Way” with Philip Alexander, whose true “gift” in my estimation is the generosity of spirit and craft with which he makes his performing partners sound so damned good! But I digress…) By Cliff Dunn Philip Alexander is [...]