“Just check out our Web site.”

No this isn’t a late-night ad for a new exercise product or a get-rich-quick scheme, but it could soon be a chorus heard throughout even the smallest neighborhood meetings.
More and more, neighborhoods are looking to the Web, e-mail, and other instant communications to let residents know about the latest news and controversies, while others are ditching traditional newsletters to cut down on costs. But the gradual move to the Internet is slow, and not every neighborhood is finding success in new technologies.

The Poinsettia Heights Neighborhood Association abandoned its monthly newsletter last February when costs exceeded the group’s budget. The cost of printing the newsletter and then mailing it simply became too expensive, said association president Mike Vonder Meulen.

Earlier this year, Vonder Meulen said, the group considered replacing the defunct newsletter with an “e-letter” that would keep people up to date on various city issues and neighborhood events. The monthly information would serve the same purpose, but without much of the cost.

Robert Alcock, president of the South Middle River Community Association, said running out of money has not concerned the neighborhood much. Despite the costs, the association still publishes a newsletter and maintains a Web site, www.smrca.com, which includes news updates and a calendar of events.

Each month, volunteers hand-deliver about 2,500 copies of the neighborhood’s newsletter.

Become a fan on Facebook. Just click.

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Each year, Fort Lauderdale reviews the pricing list for its burial services in order to stay competitive. And people should know that the city offers a 25 percent discount for residents.

Of the city's four cemeteries, only Woodlawn on Northwest 19th Avenue is currently closed to new burials. The other three are Lauderdale Memorial Park, Evergreen, and Sunset Memorial Gardens.

According to Julius Delisio, cemetery liaison for the city, there are no private cemeteries within the city's limits and since much of South Florida is close to sea level - particularly in areas where high-water tables make basements rare - most the city's cemeteries stand on properties that have been built up artificially.

While the city does offer discounted prices for city residents and veterans, the services list also contains separate prices for burial in each cemetery; as low as $896 in Lauderdale Memorial to as much as $1,646 in Evergreen.

Plot placement will also cost more, and peak times (after 3 p.m. and on Sundays) can nearly double the cost in some cases.

Additionally, in accordance with city code, 19 percent of the total sale of a city plot or lot goes into a trust created to help pay for the cost of maintaining the four cemeteries.

Burial service prices
(Weekdays/Sat. 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.)

Lauderdale Memorial Park, $896
Sunset Memorial Gardens, $896
Evergreen Cemetery, $1,046

Burial space prices
(Single plots)

Lauderdale Memorial Park, $1,496-$2,696
Sunset Memorial Gardens, $1,496-$2,696
Evergreen Cemetery, $3,596-$5,621

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Hours before the city was scheduled to determine the fate of a dilapidated home on Southwest Fourth Place in the Sailboat Bend neighborhood, commissioners learned of a new twist in the case: Its owner had filed for bankruptcy.

Now the city must wait until an automatic stay provision is lifted before it can rule on whether to demolition the home, which has sat untouched for months. Commissioners have deferred the issue several times since March, when the city’s Unsafe Structures Board first filed a demolition request

According to city documents, one of the property’s owners — Donna Jordan — filed a petition for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in federal court on June 23, prompting City Attorney Harry Stewart to recommend the commission defer the issue indefinitely.

The house at 716 Southwest Fourth Place in Sailboat Bend, owned by Donna and Charles Jordan, has been sitting atop concrete blocks since it was moved to Sailboat Bend in December 2005.

Charles Jordan had said he planned to add a three-car garage, a pool, and a second story to the home if commissioners voted not to demolish it.

“The city is interfering with a construction job,” Jordan said in March.

Some neighbors aren’t happy having a dilapidated home on their block.

“The problem is the house is sitting on an expensive piece of riverfront property,” said Charles Gillis, who lives across the street in a house fronted by a landscaped lawn and an iron fence. “Anybody who buys the property likely won’t want to be stuck with those little rooms and concrete walls. It will be hard to find someone who loves the architecture and has enough money to restore it.”

Juilian Seigel, who lives in a split-level home at the western end of Southwest Fourth Place, said he would like to see the old place restored.

“Demolition won’t do anything but grow more weeds,” he said. “It’s not hurting property values. Foreclosures and variable interest rates are doing that.”

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Not every neighborhood may be on board with the city’s Bahia Mar Park project.
Peter Henn, vice president of LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels, the project’s developer, has promised not to rest until the project has the support of all of Bahia Mar Park’s neighbors. But getting those endorsements may prove more difficult than anticipated.

Although the Central Beach Alliance, South Beach Alliance, Harbor Beach Property Homeowners Association Inc. and Harbour Inlet Association all approved the $500 million project, several groups have opposed the plan and others have refused to vote on it.

“We found that LXR’s drawings of the area didn’t quite match what’s there,” Idlewyld Association president Mary Fertig said in June. “The buildings are really much larger.”

Tamara Tennant, president of the Riviera Isles Homeowners Association, said her group walked out of an LXR presentation, contending the developer “has no intention of building anything.”

“They want to get the lease extended and the zoning laws changed, and then flip the property,” Tennant said. “They want to get control of Bahia Mar, then sell it. That’s what they’re trying to do.”

The boards for the Illini, Venetian and Marina Towers condominiums also withheld approval over the past few months.

Bahia Mar Park is becoming one of the largest projects confronting the city and is beginning to draw plenty of attention. After two years of enthusiastic presentations to neighborhood associations and condo boards, LXR’s presentation to the City Commission last week received mixed reviews. Mayor Jack Seiler said that while LXR’s proposal is not acceptable, neither is the current state of the Bahia Mar site. He urged city officials to continue negotiations.

However, full-on support from all the project’s neighbors may be just a pipe dream.

“Some people will never accept any new development – end of story,” said Central Beach Alliance president Steve Glassman.

“One hundred percent approval can never be obtained,” said Sadler James, a member of the Central Beach Alliance. “There are always those people who want to go on living in a peaceful little village.”

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The two neighborhoods of Middle River Terrace and South Middle River recently gave the OK to a developer who is seeking to convert an abandoned property into a boutique hotel on Progresso Drive.

During a Middle River Terrace Neighborhood Association meeting, developer Richard Boemerman — who has restored other properties in the eastern part of the city — presented plans to residents for an L-shaped hotel, which will have 15 rooms.

An empty eyeglass clinic currently sits on the property near the eastern edge of the area known as the “13th Street Strip,” said resident Tim Smith, a former city commissioner.

“[The developer] wants to turn it into a boutique hotel and restaurant,” Middle River president Mark Hensel said. “The building is a little too close to the residential properties behind it. ... But this could be the catalyst for the rebirth of 13th Street.”

Although Belgrave declined to talk specifically about the hotel’s design and decor, planners have made preliminary drawings, he said.

“We can only say it’s going to be a small hotel, [with] a bar and a small restaurant ... next to it,” Belgrave said.

The hotel will be called Trax, Belgrave said, a name derived from the property’s proximity to the railroad tracks. The proposal is scheduled for a city Board of Adjustment hearing this week.

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For all of light rail’s promised benefits, some Victoria Park residents still aren’t convinced.

Officials with Fort Lauderdale’s Downtown Development Authority, who are seeking to create a light rail project for the downtown area, appeared again at a meeting of the Victoria Park Civic Association last week.

DDA officials say the electric fixed-rail system — known as The Wave — will improve the city by bringing jobs, boosting property values and reducing carbon emissions. In April, the DDA proposed that properties along The Wave’s route pay assessments to help fund the project, an idea that received mixed reviews.

“The heart of the matter is funding,” said Chris Wren, the DDA’s executive director.

The entire project is likely to cost $124 million. Most of the money will come from federal and state transit funds, but there is a gap of about $20 million that would come from assessments. Properties along The Wave’s route would have about $99 added to their tax bill each year, Wren said.

“The [Downtown Development Authority’s] plan didn’t sit well with our members,” said association president Ted Fling. “We’ve got questions and we want valid answers.”

Making its second pitch to the neighborhood last week, Wren said a light rail system will boost the local economy, particularly from Northeast Sixth Street to Southeast 17th Street. But the reaction was as cool as ever.

“It’s a boondoggle,” said association member Thornie Jarrett. “To spend this kind of money in a recession while we’re talking about laying off cops and firemen is crazy. I’m not denying The Wave is a good thing. We just don’t have the money.”

Board member Bob Oelke said other large cities with similar systems have a much lower average cost per mile.

“This appears to be an amenity for the well-off rather than a necessity for the people,” he said. “It will benefit those in high-end neighborhoods, not people living on the west side [that] clean hotel rooms and wash dishes for minimum wage.”

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