Florida Agenda

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 job that would take him to Denver for 25 years.

Carpenter spent time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before going to Houston as Senior Vice President for BankOne. While living in Space City that Carpenter met his future life and business partner, Dale Russell, who was at the time living in Dallas. “We were one of the original ‘AOL Couples,’” Russell recalls. The two would move to Savannah, Georgia, where Carpenter became a senior manager for Pitney Bowes. That company would eventually bring him to Florida, as Director of Offshore Operations.

“It was the greatest time in his life,” says Russell, who came to South Florida with Carpenter in 2003. “He travelled around the world 36 times.” He retired in 2009, although retirement for him meant going to work full time with Russell, in their Dale Russell Network (DRN) real estate firm.

The successful brand enable Carpenter and Russell (a past President of the Pride Center at Equality Park) to participate in the joys and challenges of the LGBT community of which they became such an integral part, including serving on the boards of several not for- profit and philanthropic groups.

“He was always there, no matter the cause to further the LGBT community,” remembered Carl Marzola, President of Atlantic Properties International, which serves as the broker for DRN. “He has done so much as an activist. He once said to me, Carl, I believe in Wilton Manors, because it’s a community where I—you, any gay person—can feel comfortable, safe, and not be judged. He helped make this place that reality.”

Christopher Dunham, President of Dunham Insurance Services, said that Carpenter was “a beautiful and loving man, and such an asset to our community.” Russell, his partner of 16 years— their anniversary is tomorrow, October 11—said that Carpenter “was full of life. He could walk into a room and just become its centerpiece. He had that forceful of a personality.”

To honor Carpenter’s philanthropic history, Russell has established the Jan Carpenter Fund, to benefit the Bears of South Florida (BOSFL), a charitable organization that disseminates funds to local service and non-profit groups. Russell says that friends of Carpenter’s and others who would like to remember him in the spirit of generosity should make a contribution to BOSFL, 1170 N Federal Hwy, Suite 401, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. BOSFL is a 501 (c)(3) , and donations are tax deductible.

A private memorial event in Carpenter’s honor will be held at the end of October at the Pride Center at Equality Park in Wilton Manors

By Cliff Dunn

The Dale Russell Network, part of the Atlantic Properties International realty empire, is the exclusive listings agent for Forest Trace, the luxury senior living resort community in the Lauderhill subdivision of Inverrary (does the name Jackie Gleason ring a bell, or is Open for Business getting old? – don’t answer that). According to realtor Dale Russell, whose credentials as an LGBT business and community leader include past Presidency of The Pride Center at Equality Park, the adult retirement community offers “luxury resort-style amenities and services for active adults who want more out of life.” For a monthly rental fee, residents experience an active lifestyle with meals, activities – including access to the Inverrary Golf Club – and entertainment all converging to give every day an almost vacation-like feel. And Russell says that the owners, who have historic ties to the Catskills’ legendary Grossinger’s resort, are hoping to make inroads into the LGBT market, opening their amenities to a diverse community of residents.

Russell’s partner (and, you know, partner), Jan Carpenter, says the gay community isn’t the only group Forest Trace is friendly towards. “They are very Realtor® friendly,” says Carpenter, noting that the management of the senior living community is paying renewals to Realtors® in a very timely manner. “We are talking three year, five year renewals – a residual income that they are very consistent in paying.” Open for Business can’t help but think how pleasant it is that there is someone else with a vested interest in the good health and long life of Forest Trace’s residents: their real estate professional.

Feelin’ Groovy

From our Get Well Soon Department (and Don’t Gimme Any Lip About It): Sidelines Sports Bar co-owner Laurie Whittaker has been somewhat speechless of late. After recent episodes of recurring laryngitis, an ear, nose and throat specialist discovered that the Wilton Manors saloon owner and North Miami attorney had two large polyps growing on her vocal chords. Following surgery that went without incident, biopsies found no signs of cancer. Asked by Open for Business how she was feeling, Whittaker responded in her usual soft-spoken manner (and with tongue planted firmly in cheek): “Why does anybody care?” Laughs her partner (and Sidelines marketing director), Jennifer Morales: “I guess that’s the modesty that I fell in love with thirty-plus years ago,” then adds, impishly, “Imagine, a bar owner and an attorney with no voice!”

Everyone Knows its Wendy

The Depot Cabana Bar and Grill has secured the legendary DJ Wendy Hunt to spin poolside this Sunday, July 31, for their Sunday T Dance. Featured at LegendsofVinyl.com, Hunt is known as the Queen Mother of DJs, and is among the longest (and hardest) working of her profession, beginning her thirty-sixth year at the (electronic) tables, and a diverse music playlist featuring everything from Disco to Electronica. Hunt was also pivotal in turning Provincetown into a legendary gay party Mecca. Foregoing nursing school for the turntables in the 1970s, she had her first gig in Boston at Club 1270 (“known as the 12 to regulars,” she reminisces). “You have to have a passion for the music,” says Hunt. Depot co-owner Marc Scharphorn says “that passion will be on display for all to hear and enjoy this Sunday. We are VERY excited to have Wendy spin at The Depot.”

Bless Me, Father, for I have Sinned (Correction)
A photo caption appearing in this column three weeks ago (Open for Business, July 7, 2011: “Cross to Bear”) incorrectly identified Maroone Ford as having purchased a car for Father Bill Collins of Poverello Thrift Store and Food Bank as part of A.J. Cross’ 2010 fundraising event; the caption should have stated that the Ford Focus was purchased thanks to a sizable donation from City County Credit Union. We regret the factual error (but not as much as Florida Agenda creative director Dave Griffiths, who got taken out behind the wood shed by publisher Bobby Blair and editor-in-chief Alex Vaughn, but not in the way he prefers).

By the Numbers (Governor Rick Scott Edition)

According to estimates based upon American Community Survey data, among the states, Florida has the second highest population of LGBT residents, with a +/- 609,219 gay population (representing nearly 5%, or slightly less than 1-in-20, of statewide population), and the Miami/Fort Lauderdale metro area comes in at Number 8 among cities with the highest percentage of LGBT residents within city limits (representing +/- 183,346 person or, again, nearly 5% of total population statistics).
According to data collected by City-Data.com and the U.S. Census Bureau, total spending of LGBT individuals was $712 Billion in 2008.

That same data also revealed that average adjusted gross income for Florida’s LGBT population was $50,523 per annum; median household value was $218,699; median age was 38.7; and average household size was 2.5.

In Broward County’s predominantly gay zip codes (33301, 33304, 33305), those numbers are $87,812 per annum for average adjusted gross income; median household value was $522,158; median age was 40.0; and average household size was 1.9.

If you’re “Open for Business”, you can contact Business Writer and Director  of Sales, Cliff Dunn, with your story at Business@FloridaAgenda.com