By CLIFF DUNN
A Bully Pulpit You Can Bank On
Since the operating company which owns Northwest Savings Bank announced plans in January to close its three Broward County locations, there has been a lot of wait-and-see concerning which area financial institutions will benefit from the coming vacuum. A number of smaller, community-style banks and credit unions are hoping to benefit from Northwest’s leave-taking, an exit which has $59 Million in combined deposits and $106.1 Million in loan paper up for grabs. For some, the trick seems to be letting customers know they’re waiting with open arms. “We would love to show those soon-to-be-orphaned customers that they have a soft landing here,” says Brenda Hartley, Wilton Manors Branch VP for BankUnited.
Directing traffic to her front door isn’t a recently-learned behavior for Hartley. “I’ve been based in our Wilton Manors branch for over seven years,” she explains. “I still need to remind people that we’re open for business just a few doors down from Five Points Publix. For our customers, though, we’re like a great restaurant: once they find us, they never leave.” Recently, Hartley and BankUnited took a stand against bullying and its often tragic consequences, especially among LGBT youth. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center teamed up with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Hate Crimes and Anti-Bias Task Force to produce the documentary “Bullied,” which chronicles the real-life struggles of then-teen Jamie Nabozny, who stood up to his tormentors with a Federal lawsuit while still a kid in Wisconsin. That suit led to a landmark court decision which held that school officials are accountable for anti-gay bullying that occurs on their campuses. The groups agreed to hold the film’s premier as a benefit for the Pride Center at Equality Park, and Hartley jumped on board to help bring the film to South Florida for its premier at Fort Lauderdale’s Cinema Paradiso.
Poker in the Front, Liquor in the Rear
Although Texas Hold ‘Em poker has been around for years, and entered into the zeitgeist nearly a decade ago on cable broadcasts such as “Celebrity Poker Showdown” (who even knew Gabe Kaplan was still alive?), the game – much like a number of local bartenders – has found a new life and following at several Wilton Manors venues. Both The Manor Restaurant and Complex and Sidelines Sports Bar have poker tables set up near their front entrances on certain nights as an enticement for patrons to stop in and play. Sidelines offers Texas Hold ‘Em daily through their interactive video games, as well
as a tournament on Tuesday evenings, and a game night on Mondays that includes poker upon request. Jennifer Morales, the club’s Director of Marketing, says that the tournaments and any other games of chance are played within the State’s closely enforced gambling laws. Laurie Whittaker, Morales’ partner and Sidelines’ co-owner, agrees (although she insists with the merest suggestion of a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth smile that “what happens in the smokers’ patio, stays…”).
The Wax Man Cometh
With the April 15 deadline for filing Federal income taxes fast approaching, Bliss Spa at the W Hotel in Fort Lauderdale is offering patrons some “wax relief” with a 15% discount on its body wax services. The “wax day” “wax break” (these puns almost write themselves) runs through the 22nd, with in-spa de-fuzzing demos starting on the 15th.
Court-Ordered Sessions
One of the most startling workplace statistics in recent years is the increase in the number of cases of reported sexual harassment of men by other men. According to Newsweek, “Between 1992 and 2008, the percentage of sexual-harassment charges filed by men with the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] doubled from 8 percent to 16 percent.” Although these stats concern Steven Rowe of Multidemen-sional Wealth Management, he says with confidence they don’t bear any measure on his recent decision to hire an intern. Of the runway model-looking Moscow-transplant he recently brought on board to learn the financial services business, Rowe acknowledges: “I hired him because he kicks my butt at tennis.” While there were other factors contributing to the hire, Rowe says that employers are always looking for that unquantifiable unknown. “The office gets a dedicated staffer who wants to cut his teeth in a professional environment, and I get someone who ranked in the Top 50 on the pro circuit. It’s win-win.” Behold the X-Factor.
