Florida Agenda

By Dmitry Rashnitsov

The Broward County Health Department is planning on hosting a community meeting regarding the recently implemented waiting list for the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP).

The state Department of Health starting a waiting list for the program on June 1, and also will reduce the number of covered drugs in the program on Aug. 1, and will study other cuts, said Tom Liberti, chief of the department’s HIV/AIDS bureau.

“This is terrible news,” said Michael Rajner, a Fort Lauderdale AIDS activist and member of a department advisory panel. “We rely on the program for help with the drugs that keep us alive.

Without it, I don’t know what people would do.”

The community forum is a place where people who are on the waiting list can get all of their questions answered from Tom Liberti, the HIV/AIDS Bureau Director for the Broward County Health Department.

The forum will take place on Thursday June 17 from 9-11 a.m. at the Broward County Health Department Main Auditorium, 780 SW 24th Street, Fort Lauderdale.

The purpose of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program is to ensure that underserved and uninsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS have access to life-saving medications. Those who live in Florida and have low-income at 400% or less of the Federal Poverty Level, are uninsured or do not have adequate prescription coverage and are not confined to a hospital, nursing home, hospice, or correctional facility qualify for the program.

Florida has never had a waiting list for these services before, but a lack of funding from the federal government and a record number of people applying for the ADAP has forced both Dade and Broward County to go to the waiting list.

Commission agrees changes “can’t wait”

The Wilton Manors City Commission voted 4 to 1 to rescind an ordinance that would put to a public vote in November a plan for the city to obtain control of Wilton Drive from the Florida Department of Transportation. Wilton Drive is officially known as S.R. 811. The commission felt that they could not wait until November to address the problems of safety, parking and beautification.

Obtaining control of Wilton Drive is the first of several steps to decrease speed, reduce the number of lanes from two to one in each direction, increase parking and landscape the main road through the city as proposed by Wilton Manors Main Street. This will be the first major renovation to The Drive since 2000 when it was widened and the landscaped median strips were added. At that time, trees were added to the medians which were removed shortly afterwards by order of the FDOT who declared the trees a safety hazard.

WMMS’ plans call for the renovation of Wilton Drive to take place in three distinct phases, the first of which would be the restriping of the road and rearranging the parking from the current parallel to head-in configuration. Before any changes can be made, the city must have control of the road.

The city will now study the feasibility of obtaining the road from the FDOT and the costs involved including road maintenance. The state had already planned to resurface Wilton Drive in 2013.

Wilton Manors is currently operating under a $1-million budget deficit.

Instead of a public vote, a town meeting will be held on June 15 to discuss the plans with the public and get their opinions.

—BK