from the City

The City of Fort Lauderdale encourages residents and business owners to register for

CodeRED™, a high-speed telephone notification system that delivers emergency information

To see pictures of the winners and their artwork, please visit

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/dropsavers

Fort Lauderdale Civic Packet June 2 11 012

to registered phone numbers. In the event of a hurricane, utility outage, water main break,

or other life safety situation, the City will activate CodeRED™ to send emergency

notifications by phone, email, or text message to registered users.

Residents and business owners can sign up for CodeRED™ in one of two ways:

1. Visit the City of Fort Lauderdale’s website at http://www.fortlauderdale.gov, or

2. Contact the City of Fort Lauderdale 24-Hour Customer Service Center at (954) 828-

8000 or online at

Sign Up for CodeRED to Receive Emergency Notifications

from the City

The City of Fort Lauderdale encourages residents and business owners to register for

CodeRED™, a high-speed telephone notification system that delivers emergency information



To see pictures of the winners and their artwork, please visit

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/dropsavers



Fort Lauderdale Civic Packet June 2 11 012

to registered phone numbers. In the event of a hurricane, utility outage, water main break,

or other life safety situation, the City will activate CodeRED™ to send emergency

notifications by phone, email, or text message to registered users.

Residents and business owners can sign up for CodeRED™ in one of two ways:

1. Visit the City of Fort Lauderdale’s website at http://www.fortlauderdale.gov, or

2. Contact the City of Fort Lauderdale 24-Hour Customer Service Center at (954) 828-

8000 or online at http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/customerservice.

Telephone numbers for the CodeRED system are generated through mapping and utility

billing data files. Residents who do not have home phones, only cell phones, must register

their cell phone number in order to receive calls, as these phone numbers are not available

through the databases utilized.

Information provided is kept confidential. Individuals who have already registered for the

service but would like to update their phone number can do so by reregistering. There is no

fee to register for or to participate in the service.

When CodeRED™ distributes an emergency notification, the City’s Customer Service phone

number, (954) 828-8000, appears on the caller ID. The system then delivers a message to

the person answering the call or leaves a message on an answering machine or voicemail

service. The system makes three attempts to connect to a registered number.

CodeRED™ notifications cannot be delivered to phone numbers with a privacy lock feature.

To ensure messages are received, residents should either turn off the privacy lock feature

during emergencies, enter (954) 828-8000 on their “safe list” of phone numbers, or enter a

cell phone number when registering for the service.

For more information about registering for the City’s CodeRED™ notification system, please

contact the 24-hour Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 or online at

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/customerservice.

.

Telephone numbers for the CodeRED system are generated through mapping and utility

billing data files. Residents who do not have home phones, only cell phones, must register

their cell phone number in order to receive calls, as these phone numbers are not available

through the databases utilized.

Information provided is kept confidential. Individuals who have already registered for the

service but would like to update their phone number can do so by reregistering. There is no

fee to register for or to participate in the service.

When CodeRED™ distributes an emergency notification, the City’s Customer Service phone

number, (954) 828-8000, appears on the caller ID. The system then delivers a message to

the person answering the call or leaves a message on an answering machine or voicemail

service. The system makes three attempts to connect to a registered number.

CodeRED™ notifications cannot be delivered to phone numbers with a privacy lock feature.

To ensure messages are received, residents should either turn off the privacy lock feature

during emergencies, enter (954) 828-8000 on their “safe list” of phone numbers, or enter a

cell phone number when registering for the service.

For more information about registering for the City’s CodeRED™ notification system, please

contact the 24-hour Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 or online at

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/customerservice.

We have a few volunteer spaces available at the Great American Beach Party Saturday, May 26th, on our beach at A1A and Las Olas if you are interested.

From 1 pm to 4 pm: 1 space available. Working this shift are: Jackson, Jon (Poinsettia Heights) and Vicki (Harbordale)

From 4 to 7 pm: 2 spaces available. Working this shift are: Tom (Riverside) and Linda (Imperial Point)

From 7 to 10 pm: 2 spaces available. Working this shift are: Brian (Coral Ridge) and Westney (Melrose).

Please let me know if you would like to volunteer as soon as possible. We will have a place to store our items until around 8 pm - yay!

Janet Townsend

City of Fort Lauderdale Parks Recycling

954-828-5956

Let Hadny Fayyaz know if you can help.  mfayyaz915@aol.com , 954-829-9606

banks who has personal skills, is gentle and friendly, and enjoys good food and  cooking is a big plus...can put in some daytime hours and maybe night too,

helping her (had a stroke recently at 87) with daily functions and good company, etc..Could be a full time or part time, but definitely need somebody for weekends asap.

Very pleasant vacation-style environment w/pool, private room, all food included. If you are interested or know someone for this, please call me at 954-816-7150. Thank you.

Anne  

Answer: Larry, Supervisor of Environmental Services responded today.

He said that this type of flooding should not occur for another 25 years, with mother nature’s cooperation. During that 3 day Oct. rain period, the entire City System was compromised by the tremendous downpours. Rain water got into the sewer system and over taxed all the pipes. Thus the flooding out from the manholes for some 24 hours later. The treatment plants were hard pressed to handle the volume of water flowing its way. So, this is not a local problem  but a Citywide incident, which let’s  hope does not reoccur anytime soon.

South Florida cities target bad-neighbor banks with desperate tactics

PART 3 OF 3: BAD-NEIGHBOR BANKS — A SUN SENTINEL INVESTIGATION

Citizens and cities across South Florida are fighting back, using increasingly desperate methods against the banks they blame for letting foreclosed houses run down their neighborhoods.

One Fort Lauderdale man got a federal judge to order a bank to take possession of a deteriorating property.

Boynton Beach now cites banks for code violations even before they get title.

And Coral Springs has major U.S. lenders pressure-cleaning roofs and planting shade trees.

Though Florida has been especially hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, state lawmakers have been largely unable or unwilling to tackle the resulting blight — leaving individuals and towns to fend for themselves with piecemeal solutions and limited success.

"There needs to be state legislation to hold these banks accountable," said Oakland Park City Commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue.

Until now, municipal fines and the liens they generate have been the main levers used by Florida cities to force banks to care for abandoned, foreclosed properties. But most cities routinely bargain down fines and remove liens so banks can attract buyers.

"They know this," Boisvenue said of lenders. "The liens and the fines mean nothing."

Boisvenue was the lone dissenter when the Oakland Park Commission agreed in December to a request from Deutsche Bank to slash $184,275 in liens on one property to $4,675. As of a few weeks ago, the house, at 5432 NW Fifth Ave., was still vacant.

Housing advocates dealing with the fallout from the foreclosure crisis say lenders will start taking better care of properties only when they face millions of dollars in liabilities that can't be erased so easily.

"The banks are going to respond when they have to pay for it," said Linda Couch, vice president for policy for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington-based nonprofit organization.

Outside of Florida, community activists, lawmakers and city officials have taken bolder approaches, including filing major lawsuits against banks and staging public protests to bring them to the negotiating table.

Activists in Milwaukee traveled to Frankfurt, Germany — twice — to confront executives of Deutsche Bank, an owner of many distressed local properties, at annual shareholder meetings.

Their slogan: "The Germans built Milwaukee and now the Germans are destroying Milwaukee."

Other states act

One of the most frustrating issues for Florida cities has been getting banks to step in during foreclosures to care for properties when homeowners have abandoned them.

Banks can, and do, hire crews to maintain houses when they know that they are abandoned and when they have an economic incentive to protect their investment. But they don't want to be required to.

New Jersey in January 2010 became the first state to require lenders to correct code violations on vacant properties at any time during foreclosure. A few months later, New York followed: Lenders there now must maintain vacant properties in the period between winning a foreclosure judgment and taking title at an auction or sheriff's sale.

Florida, a pro-business state with a powerful banking lobby, is unlikely to adopt similar rules.

"I think you'd run into a lot of problems from a constitutional, property-law perspective," said state Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican and real estate attorney. "I just don't think it's good public policy to require people who aren't titled owners to a property to maintain it. I think the real issue is making sure these foreclosures go through in a timely process."

Steube sponsored an ultimately unsuccessful bill this year to expedite the foreclosure process, especially in cases in which a home has been abandoned. The legislation passed the House but stalled in the Senate amid strong consumer opposition.

In the absence of state government action, some South Florida municipalities have adopted their own regulations to use against the banks.

Boynton Beach in late 2009 changed an ordinance to require banks to perform routine maintenance on properties after a foreclosure action is filed — that is, before the bank has title. Not all — but most — banks are cooperating, said Diane Springer, code compliance coordinator.

"There are a lot of banks coming into compliance," she said.

In Palm Bay, in central Florida, the city adopted an ordinance that allows it to claim money in foreclosure suits to pay off its liens before the lender gets anything for the mortgage. The city reasoned that banks would maintain properties earlier, throughout the foreclosures, to avoid ballooning liens.

Wells Fargo has challenged the ordinance, which is now under review by the Florida Supreme Court.

In November, the Florida Bankers Association blasted Palm Bay's approach, calling the ordinance "imprudent public policy" that could make "mortgages less secure" and "cause home lending to shut down in Florida."

"Levy their assets"

In the face of such firm opposition, individual citizens and their lawyers have had to get creative.

Roy Rankin fought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to give Deutsche Bank National Trust the deed to his Fort Lauderdale duplex. The bank had moved to foreclose in 2008 but was not taking possession.

Rankin stated in court filings that the property was vacant and uninsured, he was no longer able to maintain it, and was "burdened" by letters and bills from the city and Broward County regarding upkeep of the lawn and uncollected trash.

The judge ordered Deutsche Bank to take ownership or be held in contempt — but still the bank failed to act, until Rankin's attorney went back to court.

The bank finally took title two years later, in September 2011.

In another instance, one enterprising attorney in Naples on the Gulf Coast hit upon an innovative way to get a bank's attention, one he said all Floridians could easily emulate.

Todd Allen showed up with a moving van outside a Bank of America branch last year, armed with a judge's order to seize the furniture after the bank failed to pay the legal expenses of a couple it wrongly foreclosed on. The bank wrote him a check on the spot for $5,773.

Any city could take similar action, Allen said in an interview. Sue a bank on an outstanding code violation lien, secure a judgment and, if it goes unpaid, appear on the doorstep of the bank's local branch with a moving truck.

"Levy their assets," Allen advised.

"Largest slumlords"

Across Florida, many local officials have looked to Cleveland for innovative solutions. The Ohio city was hit early and hard by the foreclosure crisis. There, Judge Raymond L. Pianka won national prominence for using its Municipal Housing Court in novel ways to address code enforcement violations involving absentee owners, including banks.

When owners failed to show up for hearings, he conducted trials in absentia. When the Ohio Supreme Court shot down that practice, Pianka issued summons for the missing lenders. Those who didn't appear were found in contempt and fined. The names of banks, and others who ignored the court's calls, were added to what's called a "warrant capias" list.

Banks on that list are denied court-ordered actions in other matters, such as evictions, until they respond to the code violations.

In Miami, the City Attorney's Office considered mimicking Ohio and issuing subpoenas to bank officers to force them to appear before the city's Code Enforcement Board, which hears code violation cases.

But the city put the idea on hold after four major banks — Chase, Bank of America, Sabadell United Bank and Wells Fargo — agreed to be more responsive to directives to demolish unsafe properties or make repairs.

Elected officials in Lake Worth would like to turn to the courts for help, by filing a class action suit against the banks. The city wants to force them to care for abandoned and foreclosed properties or pony up the money to demolish them, said William Waters, the city's director of code enforcement.

It can cost municipalities $5,000 to $20,000 to raze a house, depending on its size and whether it has a pool, septic tank, asbestos problems or other complicating factors.

But Waters said Lake Worth has only two attorneys on staff, and they don't have the time or resources to go after big banks, as larger cities do.

A year ago, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed civil suit against two Deutsche Bank subsidiaries "for allowing hundreds of foreclosed properties to fall into serious disrepair and for facilitating the illegal eviction of hundreds of low-income tenants. "

The lawsuit brands the bank's subsidiaries "two of the largest, if not the largest, slumlords in the city."

Deutsche Bank denies the allegations and the two sides are discussing a settlement. Los Angeles is investigating other banks as well, and meeting with them to come to mutually acceptable solutions.

"If those negotiations are unsuccessful, we will file suit against other banks," said Julia Figueira-McDonough, deputy city attorney.

David vs. Goliath

In Ohio, the nonprofit Cleveland Housing Renewal Project filed suit against Wells Fargo in 2010, dropping the case only after the bank agreed to donate distressed properties to the county "land bank," along with $7,500 per home to offset demolition costs. Land banks hold properties until they can be sold, developed or bulldozed into green space.

Another suit filed by the nonprofit group, against Deutsche Bank and eight other mortgage servicers, is still active.

The Ohio group has persisted in its court actions despite being outmatched financially by the banks. It has relied on the donated services of a law professor at Cleveland State University and a local attorney who offered a discounted rate. They were up against a platoon of bank lawyers likely making $500 an hour, said Frank Ford, Cleveland Housing Renewal Project president.

"Not every city has a nonprofit that would take on a David and Goliath situation," he said.

Milwaukee did.

In one of the greater success stories achieved against banks who have been bad neighbors, Wisconsin-based Common Ground compiled a list of decaying, foreclosed homes and took it to the lenders, including Deutsche Bank during its yearly shareholder meetings.

The grass-roots group persuaded the German bank and several U.S. lenders to commit to spending $4.9 million to clean and rehab foreclosed properties and to issuing $29 million in loans to help attract new buyers. Success, members of the group say, comes only with persistence.

"We'd take pictures and we'd bring them to all the meetings. We'd say, 'this is what you own in this neighborhood.' I don't think they even knew what they owned," said Kathleen Scott, the group's associate organizer. "I think the banks always thought we'd go away or we'd stop, and we just refused to."

Preventive Water System Maintenance Scheduled for May 1 – 22, 2012

Fort Lauderdale – The City of Fort Lauderdale will temporarily return to using free chlorine in its drinking water system. This preventive maintenance procedure will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 1, 2012 and will end at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 22, 2012.

Free chlorination is a common practice for water systems using combined chlorine disinfection.  The chlorination period is anticipated to be transparent to our customers; however, some may notice a slight change in the taste or smell of their tap water.

Customers with questions who receive a utility bill from the City of Fort Lauderdale should contact the 24-hour Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 or online at http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/customerservice.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Holiday Park Gym, 1200 G. Harold Martin Drive

Scroll down to register online NOW!

The City of Fort Lauderdale is pleased to present the second annual LauderScape Florida-Friendly Landscaping (FFL) Workshop. LauderScape is a well-rounded workshop designed to provide our neighbors with valuable tools and a good foundation to jump start their green thumbs so they may create beautiful, Florida-friendly LauderScapes. This event is free. The goal of LauderScape is to provide educational information on how to transform water-thirsty landscapes into beautiful, colorful, sustainable yards through the nine FFL principles below. Right Plant, Right Place Water Efficiently Fertilize Appropriately Mulch Attract Wildlife Manage Yard Pests Responsibly Recycle Reduce Stormwater Runoff Protect the Waterfront If you want to jump start your green thumb or give it an eco-friendly lift, plan to attend LauderScape and learn how to incorporate the FFL into your daily landscape practices to help conserve water, reduce pollution, and provide a protective habitat for native wildlife; all while saving time and money. New Location LauderScape will be held inside the Holiday Park Gym, located at 1200 G. Harold Martin Drive, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (The Holiday Park Gym is just east of the Holiday Park Social Center, which is where last year’s workshop was held). Get a map to the event