In the 12 years since its creation, the Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit A Child Is Missing has helped locate more than 600 missing people around the country, and the number keeps growing. The group announced its 600th successful assisted recovery last month.

The missing persons recovery group, with only 12 full-time and 19 part-time staffers, has been operating out of the 2,500-square-foot building on Southeast 17th Street for six years, while working off an annual budget of $900,000 provided mostly by donations and grants.

Founder Sherry Friedlander said the idea for the nonprofit came to her in 1996, when a project for an advertising and marketing firm she owned fell through.

“I was sitting there with four high-speed computers,” she said. “Suddenly the thought came: look for missing children. Like a lightning bolt.”

From the beginning, Friedlander had national ambitions, and the timing was right. She traveled to Tallahassee and met with former Sen. Howard Forman, who guided her through the creation process.

Within minutes of a missing persons report, the group can begin sending out a description to residents of the search area. They can also make dozens of alert calls from a database of 130 million phone numbers, according to Vice President Claudia Corrigan.

By utilizing geomapping and satellite systems, workers can then use maps to develop a better search area, said Ron Bannis.

Friedlander said she is pushing the Legislature to pass U.S. House Bill 1933, known as A Child Is Missing Alert and Recovery Act. Introduced by Rep. Ron Klein, the bill passed the House of Representatives in July and if it passes the Senate, would provide annual federal grants to the group.

Even with additional funding, Friedlander said, the organization would likely open 10 smaller offices around the country and hire 95 additional workers.

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How can downtown Fort Lauderdale residents enjoy the Super Bowl experience without alcohol? They may not have to.

City commissioners are considering whether to relax local ordinances banning open containers of alcohol near the beach in anticipation of city-organized events celebrating Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 in Miami. One idea under consideration would allow alcohol to be carried in plastic cups near the beach.

Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom commented on the city’s open-container ban during a City Hall meeting Monday, saying she favored loosening the alcohol ordinances in an effort to boost city revenue.

“Bring in alcohol, and you bring in more money,” she said. “We’re doing these events for economic development.”

During a meeting in the Middle River Terrace neighborhood in September, Rodstrom said the current commission is “a new City Commission. We’re way into partying at the beach.”

At Monday’s meeting, Rodstrom echoed comments she made in September in support of city events that could bring residents and visitors downtown and create revenue for the city.

“If you’re having fun, you might spend a few dollars at a restaurant you like,” she said at the September meeting.

Mayor Jack Seiler told the Sun Sentinel in May that he, too, wants to loosen the city’s strict ban on open containers around the beach in anticipation of four major events on the calendar: the Super Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Pro Bowl and the Boat Show.

Rodstrom mentioned the Boat Show as a major event, and said she was eager to move forward.

“We’d better hurry up and approve the Super Bowl party,” she said. “It’s a precedent.”

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The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida is moving from its rented home on North Andrews Avenue to a new site at 2204 N. Dixie Highway, and some in the South Middle River neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale are wondering what opportunities the void will bring.

Bruce Tanner, a former secretary for the neighborhood’s civic association, said he is concerned the abandoned area might attract crime.

“When the GLCC moves, we’ll have a significant stretch of dark avenue,” said Tanner, who lives in a condo on the top floor of Drake Tower, across Andrews Avenue from the Gay and Lesbian Community Center.

The issue is the latest in a long battle to clean up the South Middle River neighborhood. The North Andrews Avenue site is a low white building with worn gray trim, edged with grass and shrubbery, fronted by a half-acre parking lot, and is owned by the Tarragon Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.

Rick Gibson, a former president of the civic association and a former vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center, described the area where the center currently sits as a stable neighborhood in the process of improving.

But residents such as Tanner are still worried about what might happen after the community center is gone.

“Will Tarragon turn out the lights?” he said. “Also, there are five trees on one side of the building with branches reaching down to the ground. If someone is up to no good — like a drug dealer or a mugger — the trees will provide a perfect place to hide.”

Tanner said he is merely being proactive and trying to avoid creating an environment in which crime could occur.

In addressing the other association members, Tanner suggested they begin “working with people to suggest types of perimeter lighting, making sure that after the Gay and Lesbian Community Center is gone, there will be enough light to discourage the criminal element.”

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Following a fiery meeting last week, the city’s Planning and Zoning Board recommended granting approval to LXR Luxury Resorts & Hotels for a requested zoning change involving the $500 million Bahia Mar Park project. The approval brought the developer closer to what LXR Vice President Peter Henn called “shovel time.”

Much of the crowd at the meeting was divided into two opposing camps. Some residents said the new project, which will include luxury condos, a hotel, a hidden parking garage and retail stores and restaurants, will bring increased revenue to the city and attract larger events. Others said the new buildings will negatively impact the beach skyline and surrounding environment and cause major traffic problems. Henn said the enterprise has taken “two and a half years of my life.”

This time, Henn and his team reconfigured the buildings to create a “wow” effect. LXR had previously offered to shrink two residential building by three stories. Fort Lauderdale’s Central Beach Alliance, on whose turf the project sits, voted in its favor in May.

The recent Planning and Zoning Board meeting was to consider LXR’s request for a Planned Unit Development zoning change that would let the developer build taller buildings than current law allows.

The meeting lasted several hours. Some residents voiced concerns that the project would block their views and disfigure the beach, while others praised its scope and potential to help revitalize the city.

The fate of the Bahia Mar project is now in the hands of the City Commission. Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom, who has opposed the project, appeared to suggest the board might postpone its vote, leading Central Beach Alliance member Sadler James to call out, “I strongly protest a city commissioner standing in front of this board.”

Kathleen Ginestra, a Harbour Inlet Association board member, said she was disappointed that developers continue to build in ways that impact traffic.

Mike Ferber, a longtime Fort Lauderdale resident, said the Bahia Mar issue is a replay of a clash nearly four decades ago, when developers built the present Bahia Mar Beach Resort.

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City officials may be looking to reignite the fire that made Fort Lauderdale the nation’s spring break capital.

Commissioners are working to organize a “Where the Boys Are” reunion weekend, Mayor Jack Seiler told a crowd of about 50 residents of the Middle River Terrace Association.

“We’ve got Connie Francis on board, [and] we’re working to get George Hamilton,” Seiler said. “We’re actually going to celebrate 50 years of that movie.”

“Where the Boys Are” was a 1960 film directed by Henry Levin that followed four college students who spend their spring break in Fort Lauderdale, which helped put the city on the Spring Break destination map.

The reunion idea is part of an effort to bring a more mature crowd down to the beach.

“This is a new city commission,” said Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom. “We’re way into partying at the beach. People are watching the dollars now, so beach events are going to happen for free. We want you out of your homes and down there. If you’re having fun, you might spend a few dollars at a restaurant you like.”

Seiler told the Sun Sentinel that such festivities often draw tourists and dollars. The city has suffered $17 million in losses plus mandated obligations, he said during the meeting.

“We have a $30 million hole to plug,” Seiler said. “We’ve tentatively put in some of the reserve funds.”

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Although the market was bustling on a recent Sunday, Mike Rybak said the crowds come when the Florida produce season begins this month. Citrus fruits ripen first, followed by eggplant and squash and November’s strawberries.

“By the middle of October, Florida is really cranked up,” Rybak said.

Sherry and Mike Rybak run a large produce booth, which is affiliated with By Their Fruits. The Rybak’s have manned their booth on Las Olas Bouelvard since the Las Olas Outdoor Green Market began more than four years ago.

“We’re like the missionaries of the store; we go out in the field,” Sherry Rybak said.

The open-air market runs every Sunday on Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast 12th Avenue, and features locally grown fruits and vegetables, and a few specialties like homemade soap and herb grinders and fresh quesadillas and dried chili peppers.

The market was founded by Las Olas Chemist Shop owner Marc Leach after he wanted to make use of one of the only parking lots on busy Las Olas. After commissioners noticed the success of the market, they allowed Leach to host the market each week.

“I wanted to develop a weekly event here,” he said. “You can go to the farmers’ market, walk up the street to get a pastry for later and maybe grab lunch.”

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Many of the city’s Riverside Park residents were far from happy when the Southwest 11th Avenue swing bridge closed down on Aug. 11 for repairs that would take a full year to complete. For them, the closing means two things: more traffic and more hassles.

Mark Hill, president of Riverside Park Residents’ Association, said the closing means that he and his neighbors can’t get downtown and back so easily now.

The bridge is expected to reopen in August 2010 after a complete overhaul is completed. City commissioners were told in April that the swing bridge needed repairs more urgently than any bridge in the state, including significant structural and mechanical work, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. The structure is a movable bridge with a center ring that allows the span to pivot horizontally. It is one of only three swing bridges in the state, according to Merrilyn Rathbun, research director of the Fort Lauderdale History Center.

Last year, the bridge was scheduled for a $3.4 million restoration, said city spokeswoman Shannon Vezina. About $300,000, Vezina said, is being funded by a historic preservation grant from the state, while the rest will be picked up from city funds.

With the bridge sitting closed for a year, drivers to the south of the New River may find it harder to get downtown. City officials suggest drivers use Southwest 18th Avenue and Broward Boulevard, or Southwest Fourth Avenue and Davie Boulevard.

A series of commissions from city officials culminated in the construction of the 11th Avenue swing bridge, originally named the Snow/Reed Bridge in honor of two of Fort Lauderdale’s mayors. The bridge was operated by a hand crank until the 1950s, when an electric motor was installed.

But the steel trusses are corroded and cracked, and retaining walls at the north and south are deteriorating, according to Historical Society documents. The wooden walkways are also rotting and unsafe.

Last month, Florida Department of Transportation officials also announced it wanted to replace four other bridges along Las Olas Boulevard, including bridges that lead to Isle of Venice, Fiesta Way, Nurmi Drive and Royal Palm Drive. The department has classified all the four bridges as “structurally deficient.”

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Fort Lauderdale officials are considering borrowing millions of dollars from the city’s abundant reserve fund to cover a budget shortfall caused by falling property taxes, shrinking franchise fees and low revenue citywide.

Property taxes in the city are down about 8 percent, while franchise fees, which allow utilities to operate within right-of-ways, have also fallen significantly.

But hope now lies in the city’s $85 million reserve fund that City Auditor John Herbst called the “rainy day fund,” which consists mainly of funds set aside for budgeted items that were never purchased.

“We can meet the budget shortfall by taking $10 million out of the reserve fund,” Herbst said, “and that’s OK, because the balance is too high.”

Dipping into reserve funds is nothing new. Last year, the city used $25 million from reserves, City Manager George Gretas told the Sun Sentinel in July [Click here for that story].

Reserve funds, though, are a one-time source for a one-time situation, Herbst said.

“We don’t take the money out unless we’re pretty certain we can put it back,” he said. “We could spend another $30 million as long as we have a plan for next year. We don’t, [and] we’re continuing to drop. We can’t go another year mandated not to raise taxes and reduce staff.”

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Chuck Hansen has lived in his Illini condo on Seabreeze Avenue for more than a decade and calls it a “little corner of paradise.” He opposed the $500 million Bahia Mar hotel and condo project, and he doesn’t plan to change his position just yet. Nor do many of his neighbors.

"We don’t need another monolith down here,” Hansen said. “Let them go to Miami.”

Hansen and other unit owners were encouraged in mid-July when Fort Lauderdale city commissioners stalled the approval process because the terms didn’t include enough money for the city. The city’s Planning and Zoning Board will consider the project at a meeting on Sept. 16. Hansen had already contacted the board’s offices and said he was told residents could express opinions via e-mail or letter.

But last month, board members complained that the large volume of e-mails they had received regarding Bahia Mar was “intrusive.” Board member Fred Stresau was deleting his Bahia Mar e-mails unread. Hansen said he wonders whether his letter was ever read.

Whether their e-mails are read or not, groups such as the Illini association are not letting go of their opposition.

“We’ll be at the hearings,” said Tamara Tennant, president of the Riviera Isles Homeowners Association. “We don’t object to the buildings; we don’t believe they’re going to happen. LXR will simply sell the lease. We’ll object. It would just mean more expensive lawsuits.”

Mary Fertig, president of the Idlewyld Improvement Association, said that she and her neighborhood, which sits right across the Intracoastal from the project, are not convinced that the redevelopment is inevitable.

“A major concern is the current lease, which we understand prohibits residences,” she said. “We need to know more.”

Hansen said he will also be at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting, taking the opportunity to tell board members that supporters of the project often live miles away from the impact area.

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Poinsettia Heights residents are just looking for a little power, but no one is sure where the problem is.

For the time being, about 55 homes and residents have been experiencing plenty of trouble with outages, according to Mike Vonder Meulen, president of the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood's community association.

“We have residents who’ve been experiencing outages almost on a weekly basis,” Vonder Meulen said. “On a nice day, the power will all of a sudden go out for hours.”

And with it goes a neighborhood full of appliances, computers, and maybe worst of all in the South Florida summer, air conditioning.

For resident Joyce Reynolds, who operates a management consultant business out of her home, her power outage problems began in August 2008.

“The power goes out – [I] call FPL on their automated line and somebody says, ‘We’ll be there,’” Reynolds explained. “So the power comes back on. Then, in an hour or so, it’s out again and the whole thing starts over.”

FPL spokeswoman Sharon Bennett acknowledged the irregularities in the Poinsettia neighborhood and said the utility’s representatives have visited with Vonder Meulen and others. Bennett also said FPL representatives have arranged to attend another homeowners association meeting in September or October.

“The people in charge of the system’s reliability will talk about how best to make this work,” Bennett said.

Vonder Meulen said the problem stems from residents’ efforts to conceal power lines using landscaping, and others that refuse to let FPL onto their property to trim tree limbs that could interfere with power flow.

“There are people here who are trying to hide the ugly power lines by planting trees, and they put in invasive, fast-growing types like bamboo,” he said. “The branches put weight on the lines and short them out. Then we have residents who won’t allow FPL to come onto their property and trim their trees.”

Vonder Meulen said the community association is preparing to put pressure on owners who deny FPL the access it needs to trim tree branches.

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