A Show With A New Take: Audiences Will Experience And Judge In Real Time Fri Mar 22 2024 16:16:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Seasonal Residents: Stay Involved With Your Owners Associations By Christopher Carter - Real Estate Broker Associate June 29, 2023 Share Seasonal residents of Florida have long been referred to as "Snowbirds" because they come here during the winter months to enjoy our warm weather, beaches, and tropical lifestyle, then around this time of year they head back "up north" until next winter. For this article, we are talking about owners of Florida properties in Association - Governed buildings or communities who only occupy their residences during winter months. This can be either a Condominium Owners Association (COA) building or a Homeowners Association (HOA) Community. Staying informed while you are away is just as important as making sure the A/C is set properly, the water is turned off, lighting timers are in place, and all the other things you do when you won't be in your Florida residence for the summertime off-season. One of the main reasons people buy properties in COA’s and HOA’s is so they can be away for extended periods while built-in security and shared common area maintenance continue during the time they are gone. This provides great peace of mind when owners will be away from their Florida residences for part of the year. Property owners automatically become Association members when they buy into a Condominium Building or HOA Community. Each Association elects a Board of Directors to oversee the business of the Association, representing and protecting the owners' collective interests. It is VERY important for seasonal residents of Florida Condo Buildings and organized communities to stay well-informed and current about what is going on year-round, not just during the time they spend here. Maintenance projects, administrative matters, and planning sessions come up in the summertime while things are slower than the busy winter season when more owners are living in their properties. Some winter-only residents may not be aware that during July and August, parts of South Florida receive torrential rains just about every afternoon. Summer rains can cause water intrusion to houses and condos, along with localized flooding of yards, streets, common areas, community ponds and lakes. On top of that, Florida's Hurricane Season runs from June through November, the months when most Snowbirds are not occupying their Florida residences. Storms can hit anywhere in Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, so it is very important to know how your Association prepares for (and cleans up after) rainy season and summertime storms. You have a sizable investment in your Association-Governed building or community, so be aware of what happens when you are not there. Here are a few ways seasonal residents can stay engaged with their Associations while away from their Florida houses or condos: • Request that your Board and Manager communicate Association business with you via email in addition to any statutory notification requirements. This will include dates and times for periodic meetings. You will have to opt-in to electronic notices. • Attend Board and member (owner) meetings remotely via Zoom or other live video platform • Speak with your individual Board members regularly, asking questions and commenting on Association operations, your Board of Directors needs owner feedback • Become relatively familiar with your Association's Governing Documents, especially the Rules for Residents • Read the online edition of a local newspaper to follow what happens in your Florida town or city • Open and read every Association newsletter you receive • Communicate regularly with other owners to discuss Association and property issues • Understand the difference between a ballot and a proxy when voting on Association matters, and how each one is used Condominium and Homeowners Association Boards have the ability to make certain decisions on their own without an owner vote. On the other hand, some decisions do require an owner vote, and just about ALL topics that come before the Board benefit from owner input and viewpoint. Here is one of the most important reasons for seasonal residents to stay well-informed and participate in Association business: For some topics that require an owner vote, COA’s and HOA’s are allowed to only count the number of ballots cast and proxies returned ("members present and voting") when calculating voting results. For other topics, the Association must use the total number of owners eligible to vote ("total voting interests") when calculating the number of owners in favor of that topic. Depending on the matter being decided, it could take either a simple majority (51+%), or a 2/3 (66+%) majority for approval, two common standards for measuring voting results in Florida Associations. Those percentages can result in very different outcomes when they are applied to either all eligible owners or just the ones who felt like voting. By not voting at all because you are a seasonal resident, you could be indirectly approving of something with which you strongly disagree. Here are some hypothetical scenarios for seasonal residents to consider: • What if your Board wants to spend Association money (owners' money) on something that you feel may not be in the best interest of all owners? Will you express a viewpoint or wait to find out the money has already been spent when you return next winter? • Do you feel that some maintenance or repair needs of the building or community are being overlooked or postponed? Rainy summer weather in Florida can magnify all sorts of maintenance issues. • Would you want to know that the possibility of a Special Assessment is being discussed because there may not be enough money in a Reserve account to pay for a large maintenance or replacement item? • What if your Board is starting to discuss amending the Association's Governing Documents or changing some Rules for Residents? You will want to express your viewpoint and have as much time as possible to research the issues before a vote is scheduled. Seasonal residents own their individual condo units or single-family houses just as much as full-timers own theirs. They have the same rights and are required to pay their Association's scheduled Assessments (dues or fees) whether or not they happen to be in Florida when the payment is due. The main takeaway today is for seasonal residents to do everything they can to stay well-informed and participate in the operation of their Owners Associations, even in the off-season. You are the year-round owner of your Florida Condo or HOA residence. Don't think of it as just a vacation timeshare. Stay involved with your Owners Associations. Editor's Note: Christopher Carter is NOT an attorney. He does not give legal advice. For interpretation and application to specific circumstances of anything you read in this article, you must speak with a Florida-Licensed attorney. < Previous News Next News >

If You're 65, There Is One Piece Of Mail You Shouldn't Ignore Thu Oct 19 2023 16:08:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Teachers From 5 States Join Jewish Foundation For The Righteous Intensive European Holocaust Education Program Jewish Connection News Aug 27, 2026 The Jewish Foundation For The Righteous (JFR) Has Selected 14 Middle And High School Teachers And Holocaust Center Personnel From Five U.S. States To Participate In Its 2026 European Study Program In Poland. Through Lectures And Visits To Actual Holocaust Sites, These Educators Gain A More Profound Understanding Of The Complex And Tragic History Of The Holocaust. The program is a high-level, intensive and immersive educational experience that includes visits to concentration camps, ghetto sites and Holocaust memorials. Noted historian Robert Jan van Pelt, one of the world’s leading experts on the Holocaust, served as the accompanying scholar for the program. The immersive program began in Warsaw, where the group toured the Jewish Historical Institute (Zydowski Instytut Historyczny, ZIH), met with Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Dr. Wladysław Teofil Bartoszewski, hosted a luncheon with the Polish Society of the Righteous Chairman Emeritus Dr. Anna Bando and Polish Society of the Righteous President Andrzej Mikolaklpw and visited both the Jewish and Catholic cemeteries, including the gravesite of Irena Sendler. They also visited the Footbridge of Memory memorial, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Rapoport Monument and the Zegota and Jan Karski memorials. They walked through the former Warsaw Ghetto, touring Mila 18, the Umschlagplatz. The group then traveled to Tykocin, home to one of Poland's few remaining intact shtetls, before visiting nearby Lopuchowo Forest, the site of the mass grave of Tykocin's Jewish community and continuing to Treblinka. The trip also included visits to Chelmno nad Nerem, the Kulmhof extermination camp, Rzuchow Forest, Lodz, the Radegast Station Museum, the Marek Edelman Dialogue Center, and Survivor's Park, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Additional stops included Harmeze, home to Marian Kolodziej's Labyrinth; Budy, the site where SS female guards massacred French Jewish women; Himmler's carp ponds; and Krakow, where the group toured the Kazimierz neighborhood, the Galicia Jewish Museum's and the Podgorze neighborhood, the site of the former ghetto and its chair memorial. Throughout the program, participants connected and reflected on how to bring their experiences back to their students. “As we continue to move further away from the Holocaust, it is more important to empower our educators to better teach their students about the Holocaust,” said JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl. “By visiting the places where these complex events occurred, educators are better able to connect to what they are teaching, making them more effective teachers.” “The program is designed to help educators learn the Holocaust experientially so they can present it in a more meaningful and insightful way to their students and colleagues when they return to their schools,” she added. The 2026 European Study Lerner Fellows include: Angie Thompson of Alma Bryant High School in Irvington, Alabama Maureen Carter a veteran high school educator who resides in Sanford, Florida Mary Ellen Richichi of Independence Middle School in Jupiter, Florida Krystal Lamb of Dr. Joaquin Garcia High School in Lake Worth, Florida Charles Hagy, Jr. of The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach, Florida Kelly Warsaw of inSIGHT Through Education in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Julie Gates of Logger's Run Middle School in Boca Raton, Florida Sheri Crowley of Polo Park Middle School in Wellington, Florida Bradd Weinberg of School District of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Florida Micaela McNiff of School District of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Florida Charles Dickens of The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida Julie Klein of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois Nicole Kepner of Branchburg Central Middle School in Branchburg, New Jersey Stacy Steele of York Comprehensive High School in York, South Carolina The JFR continues its work of providing monthly financial assistance to aged and needy Righteous Gentiles living in 10 countries. Since its founding, the JFR has provided more than $46.5 Million to aged and needy rescuers. Its Holocaust teacher education program has become a standard for teaching the history of the Holocaust and educating teachers and students about the significance of the Righteous as moral and ethical exemplars. For more information, visit: https://www.jfr.org/ . Previous Next

Pedaling For a Purpose: Son Honors The Memory of His Mother Thu Feb 08 2024 17:11:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The Anne Frank Exhibition: A Powerful Journey Into History Jewish Connection News Apr 1, 2025 The Holocaust Documentation And Education Center Is Honored To Present The Anne Frank Exhibition, Now On Display Until June 30th, 2025. This Powerful And Moving Exhibition Offers A Unique Opportunity To Engage With The Story Of Anne Frank, A Young Girl Whose Words Have Transcended Time, Educating And Inspiring Generations. The Life of Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was born on June 12th, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. At just four and a half years old, she and her family fled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, seeking refuge from the rising tide of Nazi persecution. For a time, they lived in relative peace, but everything changed with the Nazi Invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. As anti-Jewish laws intensified, Anne and her family—father Otto, mother Edith and sister Margot—went into hiding in 1942. Their sanctuary, known today as the "Secret Annex," was a concealed space behind a bookcase in the building where Otto Frank worked. Over the next two years, Anne chronicled her experiences, fears, hopes and reflections in a diary given to her for her 13th birthday. Her writing provides an intimate, poignant and often surprisingly optimistic view of life in hiding, reflecting her resilience, humor and unwavering dreams. On August 4th, 1944, the Frank family’s hiding place was discovered. They were arrested by the Gestapo and eventually deported to Auschwitz. Later, in November 1944, Anne and her sister Margot were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, where both tragically perished just months before the war ended. Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war. There, he discovered that Anne’s diary had been safeguarded by two of his former employees, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl. Recognizing the power of Anne’s words and her desire to be a writer, he took the extraordinary step of publishing her diary in 1947. First released in Dutch, it was translated into English in 1952 under the title The Diary of a Young Girl. The book has since been translated into over 70 languages, making Anne’s story a cornerstone of Holocaust education and a universal symbol of the human spirit. Inside the Exhibition The Anne Frank Exhibition at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center offers an immersive experience, bringing visitors closer to Anne's world. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a detailed model of the Secret Annex, providing an intimate look at the confined space where Anne and her family lived in hiding. This visual representation allows visitors to grasp the daily challenges faced by those in hiding—the lack of privacy, the constant fear of discovery and the small joys that sustained them. A centerpiece of the exhibition is a Limited Edition copy of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Only 350 of these numbered copies exist in the world. The Holocaust Documentation and Education Center is privileged to display one of them, generously donated by Paul Hart. This rare edition is signed by both the renowned artist Joseph Goldyne and the book’s designer, Barry Mosner, making it a valuable and deeply symbolic artifact. Why Anne Frank’s Story Still Matters The impact of Anne Frank’s diary cannot be overstated. More than just a historical document, it is a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit, a reminder of the horrors of prejudice and intolerance and a call for compassion and understanding. Anne’s words resonate with readers of all ages, as she speaks not only of fear and suffering but also of hope, dreams and the unbreakable belief in human goodness. In today’s world, where discrimination and persecution still exist, Anne’s diary continues to serve as a beacon of awareness and education. The exhibition challenges visitors to reflect on history and to consider how they can contribute to a more just and tolerant society. Plan Your Visit Visitors are encouraged to experience this moving exhibition firsthand. Tickets are available through: www.Eventbrite.com , allowing guests to reserve their spot for this extraordinary journey through history. Exhibition Location: Holocaust Documentation and Education Center 303 North Federal Highway, Dania Beach, Florida 33004 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-anne-frank-exhibition-tour-tickets-1007810808257?aff=oddtdtcreator The Anne Frank Exhibition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with one of history’s most compelling voices. By visiting, you not only honor Anne’s legacy but also contribute to the ongoing mission of Holocaust education and remembrance. Don’t miss this chance to witness history up close and to be inspired by a young girl whose words continue to change the world. For more information, call: (954) 929-5690. Previous Next

Gospel Music Legend, Bill Gaither Kicks Off 2025 Love Like I’m Leaving Tour In Florida Thu Feb 20 2025 18:15:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Top Of The March To You: The Irish Tenors & Dermot Kennedy Celebrate Thu Feb 23 2023 17:03:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The Puppy Timeline: How To Socialize Your Furry Friend Wed May 31 2023 16:01:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

It Takes a Village: The First CommUnity Family Field Day and Resource Fair Was a Huge Success Thu Feb 15 2024 17:04:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Stay Cool at Gulfstream Park Village this Summer: South Florida’s favorite entertainment and restaurant destination invites guests to experience its diverse offerings May 19, 2023 Share With summer just around the corner, things are heating up at Gulfstream Park Village! Situated in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Gulfstream Park Village’s convenient location is the perfect spot to meet with friends, family or coworkers this summer. Whether it’s weekend brunch and horse racing, or a happy hour meetup after a long day at the office, South Florida’s favorite entertainment destination has something for everyone. There are dining choices for every taste and budget. Yard House, home to the world’s largest selection of tap beers and irresistible bar bites, has the best classic rock playlist in town. Christine Lee’s is a top pick for mouthwatering Asian-inspired dishes, including heavenly cuts of sirloin and unparalleled sushi. Bissaleh steakhouse is a Kosher dream with an assortment of steaks, chops and imaginative vegetarian options as well. For those looking for a multi-faceted dining experience, Texas de Brazil is an authentic churrascaria with dynamic tableside service and an unparalleled salad bar. Looking for something sweet? Häagen-Dazs offers an endless assortment of ice cream and other frozen treats. For the best of both worlds, Ten Palms at the Gulfstream Park Clubhouse offers views overlooking the racetrack and an elegant menu to match. Take in the excitement of live horse racing from the comfort of this beautifully appointed room. Outside of the restaurant, admission to races viewed from the stands is free and features the industry’s top jockeys and horses in high stakes races. The racetrack is just steps from the Gulfstream Park Casino, that offers plenty of thrills for those looking to try their luck. With school almost out and vacation season in full swing, both kids and adults can enjoy a variety of entertainment options in Gulfstream Park Village’s open-air environment. Kids can enjoy the simple pleasures of the Village Green play area, a perfect place to run free and enjoy some fun in the sun. For the action-seeking crowd, Strike 10 Bowling offers bowling, billiards and arcade fun for groups or families with delicious dining options. Color Me Mine pottery painting is a hit for kids of all ages as well as a date-night favorite where everyone can try their hand at painting the perfect piece of art to call their own. For those looking to let loose, PlugIN Karaoke offers endless fun with private rooms that are great for happy hour, a night out, or a birthday party. Don’t forget Music in the Park, Gulfstream Park Village’s favorite live entertainment series, as it continues its weekly performances with the area’s favorite musical talent. Taking place Wednesday through Sunday nights from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Music in the Park is sure to get audiences dancing. These open-air performances take place on the center stage and feature rotating bands on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights. Saturdays are DJ/Family Nights with DJ David, so bring the kids to dance and have fun. Free to attend, Music in the Park has proven to be one of Gulfstream’s most popular ongoing events. For additional live music, the Casino Stage features a DJ on Friday nights from 7-11 p.m. and a live band on Saturday nights from 7-11 p.m. The Breezeway Stage features rotating DJs on Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. and the Carousel Club features live music Friday-Sunday during all open hours. “Gulfstream Park Village welcomes guests to a summer full of exciting options and entertainment,” said Alex Schreer, Director of Experiential Marketing for Gulfstream Park Village. “From dining to horse racing to shopping, the Village offers endless experiences for everyone.” About Gulfstream Park 
Gulfstream Park is South Florida’s premier entertainment, dining and restaurant destination, located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, anchored by the legendary Gulfstream Park racetrack. Gulfstream Park not only offers world-class Thoroughbred horse racing but is also home to a casino and family-friendly venues including over 15 restaurants, outdoor cafes, art galleries, fashion retailers, state-of-the-art bowling alley, and a renowned selection of signature home stores. Gulfstream Park, voted a 2020 Top Travelers' Choice Winner by TripAdvisor, is located at 901 South Federal Highway in Hallandale Beach, Florida, just two miles east of I-95. Valet service and complimentary self-parking are available. Gulfstream Park is open seven days a week. For hours, schedules, upcoming events and additional information, visit: https://www.gulfstreampark.com/ - Or call: 954-454-7000. < Previous News Next News >

Subs For Safety: Hollywood Fire Rescue Unveils New Lifesaving Equipment August 11, 2022 Share Last week, the City of Hollywood Fire Rescue and Beach Safety unveiled its newest lifesaving extrication equipment, made possible thanks to a $36,175 Grant from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. Proceeds from purchases made at U.S. Firehouse Subs Restaurants provided the funding for this Grant Award. The tools will assist first responders by dramatically reducing the time it takes them to safely extricate victims involved in motor vehicle accidents above ground and underwater. The equipment will also give the department the capability to respond to complex incidents involving heavy trucks, as well as cut and spread ultra-hardened steels found in newer vehicles. To celebrate the receipt of the awarded equipment, City of Hollywood Fire Rescue Division Chief James Russo joined local Firehouse Subs Franchisee Ulises Lacentre in acknowledging the Grant award and demonstrating the new equipment during an In-Person Event. Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Firehouse Subs Founders, Chris Sorensen and Robin Sorensen, traveled to Mississippi where they fed first responders as well as survivors. As they traveled back to Florida exhausted and exhilarated, they knew we could do more and the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation was born. To date, Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation has Granted over $639,000 to first responder organizations in Greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale and $10.5 Million across Florida. < Previous News Next News >