MEETING ON MARINAS APPARENTLY WAS LEGAL

March 26, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

A recent meeting North Bay Village Mayor Joe Geller held to discuss debris clean-up and code enforcement fines for two marinas does not appear to have violated the state’s Sunshine Law, said Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Joe Centorino.

Geller held the meeting March 9 at City Hall with some owners of floating homes, attorneys, marina representatives and city staff to discuss debris cleanup and code enforcement fines for two marinas. Also at the meeting: City Manager Charity Good and City Attorney Bob Switkes.

At a recent City Commission meeting, activist Fane Lozman, who owns a floating home but was not invited to the meeting, accused the mayor of violating the Sunshine Law.

”I was not there, I only heard second-hand about the meeting, but according to Sunshine Law, if you have a meeting with governmental employees, you have to make those meetings available to the public,” Lozman’s attorney, David Avellar Neblett, said later in an interview with The Miami Herald.

On Wednesday, Centorino said it did not appear the Sunshine Law was violated, as it applies to meetings between two or more members of a ”public board” — meaning elected officials — or if the public board had asked one of its members to look into a specific matter. Individually, he said, ”public officials can meet to discuss what they want with whomever they want,” Centorino said.

Neblett, who could not be reached for comment, also contended the meeting was a violation of the Sunshine Law because the mayor cut a deal with the marina representatives to eliminate code enforcement fines that accrued to about $700,000.

But Geller said he never made such a deal, which would require approval of the City Commission, and did not violate the law.

”The city wants to see the problem solved and I thought it would show some leadership to call this meeting,” Geller said Wednesday.

Geller said he suggested at the meeting that the city mitigate the fines.

‘The reason I used the word `mitigating’ is because it could mean eliminating, but it could also mean reducing it.”

Lozman said he is still filing a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

”My attorney thinks he’s committed a Sunshine violation,” Lozman said. “If he didn’t, he didn’t deal with the situation properly. There should have been a special meeting where the public could participate.”

MEETING HAS ACTIVIST UP IN ARMS

March 19, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

A North Bay Village activist accused the mayor and city officials of violating the state’s Sunshine Law by holding a meeting with floating home marina owners and their attorneys that was not publicized.

At the City Commission’s meeting Tuesday, Fane Lozman, who lives in a floating home, accused officials of not notifying other commissioners, the public or his attorney about the meeting, held March 9 at City Hall.

Representatives of the Gator Harbor West and Bayshore Yacht & Tennis Club marinas, City Manager Charity Good, City Attorney Bob Switkes, attorney John Dellagloria and Mayor Joe Geller were all said to be at the meeting to discuss a cleanup of the marinas. No records were kept of what occurred and Lozman is calling for an investigation.

Switkes maintained the meeting was legal because it was held to discuss debris cleanup.

Attorney David Avellar Neblett, who is representing Lozman and other floating home residents in a dispute over responsibility for the cleanup, said the mayor and marina representatives cut a deal.

”I was not there, I only heard second-hand about the meeting, but according to Sunshine Law, if you have a meeting with governmental employees, you have to make those meetings available to the public,” Neblett said.

Geller denied the charge. ”I didn’t take any unilateral action. I was acting as a facilitator,” Geller said. “I said that any action that could be taken would be taken from the dais.”

Hurricane Wilma destroyed 19 floating homes at the two marinas. The debris continues to litter Biscayne Bay more than four months later. The marinas were closed after they were declared unsafe by the city.

Fines of the floating home owners and the property manager of the marinas over the damages and cleanup haven’t been paid, and continue to accrue. According to Lozman, whose floating home survived the hurricane and is now anchored in Biscayne Bay, the fines faced by the other floating home owners now total about $700,000.

Switkes said Tuesday the marina owners were told to clean up the debris within the next two months or their state land lease would be revoked, and they have accepted those terms.

Also at the meeting:

Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance that eliminates the need for City Commission approval of any seawall construction, including repairs.

The commission agreed to hold a charrette June 2-4. At the charrette, residents, officials and planners would meet and discuss visions for the city.

SALON HAS DEEP ROOTS

February 12, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

Once a month, Tom Docherty comes to Lore’s Hairstyling salon in North Bay Village to get a trim and a snippet of the city’s history.

Docherty has lived in North Bay Village for four years, but what fascinates him is the city’s past, especially the ’60s and ’70s, when mobsters and a lively nightlife were the staple of the “Three Islands Paradise.”

”The reason I come here is for information,” Docherty said. “I’m a big fan. Every time I get a cut I get a little more.”

The cut and lesson come courtesy of Lore Bisch, salon owner, hairstylist and unofficial city historian.

Bisch, 64, started as a manicurist at the salon 43 years ago, and is nostalgic about the old days of North Bay Village when local nightclubs attracted the famous and the infamous. Her unisex beauty salon was the place where the elite went to get pampered with a haircut, manicure, pedicure and a shave.

”It was a great village. Everybody knew everybody then,” Bisch said, noting that her customer base ranged from local business owners to Mafia members.

“I had everybody here.”

She took over the shop at 7904 West Dr. from Frank Diaz in 1976, after working for him as a manicurist for 13 years. It used to be called Harbor Tower’s Barbershop.

Now her hairstyling salon, the oldest running business in the city is a sort of landmark of North Bay Village’s heyday. Other than minor renovations, not much has changed, and the walls remain lined with framed and signed pictures of Joe DiMaggio, Hedy Lamar, Burt Reynolds and the Bee Gees — all former customers.

The seats in the waiting area are original Art Deco style. The barber chairs are equipped with ashtrays — a nod to the smoke-anywhere past. Even the cash register hasn’t changed since the shop first opened 43 years ago.

But Bisch, who was born in Germany and lives in North Miami Beach, has made some changes. Last year she hired a Spanish-speaking assistant to help her communicate with newer residents.

A haircut and blow-dry now costs $20. It used to cost $12.50, ”and I still get the same $2 dollar tip,” Bisch laments.

Among her most loyal customers is Ed Herder, who has been coming to the shop for 40 years.

”Everything was going up when I first moved here, they were putting up all the two-story buildings, now they are taking them down,” said Herder, who lived in North Bay Village from 1954 to 1962, and now lives in Miami Beach.

Herder said he keeps coming back to Lore’s because she knows his hair and because he likes to reminisce with Bisch about the days when North Bay Village’s bars and clubs were open until sunrise. Then, stars like Dean Martin, who owned a restaurant and bar called Dino’s, and Frank Sinatra spent time in the city.

Together, Bisch and Herder recall parties at nightclubs like the Bonfire, Harbor Lounge, Black Magic Room, Nick and Arthur’s, and Vanity Fair.

There was also an all-night ”beauty parlor” called Head Hunter, where hookers and showgirls were the main attraction, said Herder.

Customers with checkered pasts also came to Bisch’s salon, she says including ”El Traficante” Santo, Jack ”Murph the Surf” Murphy, Charlie ”The Blade” Torino. They recount an instance when on Halloween night in 1967, Anthony ”Big Tony” Esperti walked into Place for Steak restaurant (now the All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet) and mowed down Thomas ”The Enforcer” Altamura.

They were all big tippers, she recalls.

Business is down since those days, and the number of customers who come in on an average day is between 10 to 20, down from 60 a day, she said. Her loyal customers have died off, she says, while others have moved away because they couldn’t afford to pay rent on a fixed income.

”I must have had 500 customers,” Bisch said. “Now, forget it.”

But Bisch remains hopeful that business will pick up soon. Her salon, nestled between a convenience store and a travel agency, is located across from many future developments, including the 360 Condominium, which will bring three buildings and a total of 414 units to the city.

”Everyone tells me that business will return to North Bay Village,” Bisch said. “I hope they are right.”

PROMINENT SURGEON AND AVID CYCLIST

February 9, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED, anahed@MiamiHerald.com

Services will be held this morning for Dr. Everett Van Dyke Sugarbaker, a prominent cancer surgeon and accomplished long-distance cyclist, who died Sunday of a heart attack at his Miami home. He was 65.

Sugarbaker retired on Dec. 31 to pursue volunteer work in Africa.

During his medical career, he helped thousands of cancer victims. Outside the hospital, Sugarbaker relaxed by collecting Persian rugs, antique furniture and grandfather clocks. He also enjoyed fishing and hiking, including Pikes Peak in Colorado.

But he was passionate about cycling — often for six hours or more at a time. One of his greatest accomplishments was riding in the grueling, 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris cycling race in 1995.

Daughter Katy Caliguiri, 33, of Pittsburgh, said her father loved his hobbies as much as his patients.

”He loved biking and the biking community; he gave 180 percent all the time,” she said.

Born in 1940 in New York, Sugarbaker was the oldest of nine brothers and sisters. His father was a surgeon and a major figure in his children’s lives. The family moved to Jefferson City, Mo., where they worked their 16-acre apple farm.

KEEPING BUSY

”My father believed in keeping us busy,” said his brother, Dr. Paul Sugarbaker, a surgeon in Washington, D.C. “It was extremely hard work.”

In 1962, Everett Sugarbaker graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois, where he majored in chemistry. In 1966, he received his medical degree from New York’s Cornell University Medical College, where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. His five years of general and thoracic surgical training took place at the Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard University affiliate.

In 1968, he married Catherine Mongiello, whom he met working at the hospital. The two were married for 28 years, divorcing in the mid-1990s.

Two years after completing his surgical residency program in 1973, he moved to Miami to work at the University of Miami medical school, where he taught future surgeons. In 1980, he founded the Miami Cancer Institute, which offered a multi-disciplinary team approach to treating patients. He also opened a private practice, Surgical Oncology, Inc.

”He was one of the finest cancer surgeons in this country,” said Catherine Sugarbaker.

VOLUNTEER WORK

In addition to his work in Miami, Sugarbaker also volunteered in Ipiales, Colombia, where he traveled several times a year to help doctors treat cancer cases and to start cancer programs. After the 1999 earthquake in Armenia, Colombia, he went there to help rebuild hospitals and nursing homes.

”He always had a meaningful connection with South America and he spoke fluent Spanish,” said his brother.

Sugarbaker also had to cope with personal tragedy. In January 2000, his son Everett M. died of melanoma while studying to become a physician.

After his son died, Sugarbaker cut back on fishing and continued his cycling. He was a member of the Everglades Bicycle Club, and would participate in annual rides from Miami to Key West. While most cyclists would car-pool home from Key West, Sugaraker would ride his bike back to Miami — in one day.

In November 2000, Sugarbaker married Myriam Rodriguez, whom he met through a mutual friend.

”He saved so many people; it’s hard to say how many,” said Myriam Sugarbaker.

In addition to his wife and ex-wife, daughter and brother, Sugarbaker is survived by his mother Geneva; brothers David and Steven; and sisters Rena Pedersen, Geneva Sugarbaker, Eve Tolley, Deborah Digges, Constance Moore and Elizabeth Akre.

Services will be held 11 a.m. today at St. Phillip Episcopal Church, 1142 Coral Way, Coral Gables. A graveside service will follow immediately at Woodlawn Park Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the St. Phillip Memorial fund in memory of Everett M. Sugarbaker, St. Phillips Episcopal Church, 1142 Coral Way, Coral Gables, FL 33134.

KENDALL DRIVER KILLE, GRANDSON INJURED IN TURNPIKE ACCIDENT

February 8, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

A Kendall man was killed and a his grandson passenger was severely injured after their pick-up truck lost control Tuesday evening on a curve exiting Florida’s Turnpike onto the Dolphin Expressway.

Ricardo Martinez, 65, the driver of the F-150 pick-up, died on the scene at around 6 p.m., Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said. Jorge Rigo, 17, also of Kendall, was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center where was listed in critical condition.

According to the FHP, the pick-up was traveling north on Florida’s Turnpike heading to the East Dolphin Expressway entrance ramp, a construction zone.

Martinez, who was not wearing a seat belt, apparently lost control of the vehicle on the curvy ramp and drifted off the roadway, hitting a large pile of sand on the right shoulder.

The pick-up went airborne to a two-story drop, about 100 feet, in the construction zone and landed on its right front wheel, then striking a large boulder.

The vehicle flipped and landed on its roof.

The ramp was closed for several hours after the accident.

”We’re investigating the speed part of it,” Santangelo said.

SHOWROOM RAMMED, BURNED

February 6, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED AND CARLI TEPROFF

Gerald Georgettis apparently thought he got a raw deal on a new car.

So he plowed the Ford Escape he didn’t want through the glass showroom, poured gasoline on it and set the North Dade Metro Ford dealership ablaze, Miami-Dade police said Sunday.

He caused nearly a million dollars in damage, scorching around a dozen cars, including a rare Ford GT Heritage, fire officials said.

Georgettis, 56, a supervisor with the city of North Miami Beach, walked away from the dealership Saturday afternoon as if nothing had happened, witnesses said.

Police caught up with him a few blocks away from the dealership at 9000 NW Seventh Ave. He was arrested without incident. Police charged him with first-degree arson, a felony, and with felony criminal mischief. He posted a $1,500 bond on Sunday.

Georgettis could not be reached for comment. The dealership manager declined to comment.

But those who know Georgettis were shocked at his apparent act of buyer’s rage.

North Miami Beach Mayor Raymond F. Marin was stunned to hear Georgettis, whose duties include managing the city’s Jules Littman Performing Arts Theater, could do such a thing.

”He’s a nice guy. I didn’t know him to be malicious or anything,” Marin said. “He’s always been nice to me and to people he knows.”

It’s unclear what Georgettis’ status with the city will be due to his arrest.

The incident played out on a busy Saturday afternoon at the dealership. According to Miami-Dade Police, Georgettis was fuming over the price he paid, a new one goes for about $20,000 and it’s unknown what price he paid for a new beige Ford Escape SUV. On Saturday he went back to the dealership. It’s unclear what he was told, but he was angered with the final agreement.

He calmly got into the car and drove it through the windows, sending glass shattering everywhere. He then doused gasoline or a flammable fluid on the Escape and other cars and struck a match.

Denise Cruz, another customer, witnessed the jaw-dropping incident. She had brought her car to be serviced and said she was in line when she saw Georgettis careen into the showroom.

”At first I thought someone had pushed the accelerator instead of the brakes by accident,” she said. “But this dude drove through the showroom on purpose.”

Cruz, described the scene as ”pure panic,” with people screaming ”he’s got a bomb!” She said that once the man was in the showroom, she saw him reach over into the passenger side for something, then heard a loud “boom.”

”Flames were everywhere,” she said.

But to her surprise, Georgettis, wearing a bright orange shirt and khaki shorts, was calm and strolled away.

The fire spread throughout the dealership and destroyed cars, computers and paperwork. Among the cars damaged was a rare baby blue 2006 Ford GT ”Heritage,” a limited edition model of only 250 made that sells for $150,000.

A similar rage incident happened in 1994 when Stephanie Elaine Harden, angered at Pep Boys mechanics, walked into the store’s showroom at 3388 N. State Road 7 and poured gasoline on the floor, then lit a match. She was arrested on charges of arson.

Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4 contributed to this report.

FORMER EXEC OF KNIGHT RIDDER LOVED MUSIC

January 23, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

Robert ”Bob” Franklin Singleton, a former Knight Ridder senior vice president and chief financial officer, died Saturday at Baptist Hospital from complications of pneumonia. He was 75.

Singleton, who worked for Knight Ridder for 23 years, retired in 1993. He joined Knight Newspapers Inc. in the fall of 1970 as a corporate controller. In 1974, he guided the merger with Ridder Publications Inc.

”His sense of ethics and professionalism evoked the highest confidence in Knight Ridder’s financial statements,” said Alvah H. Chapman Jr., then chairman of Knight Ridder, The Miami Herald’s parent company.

Although he was known for his accuracy with numbers, Singleton’s passion was music. Before becoming ill 16 months ago, he played his jazz trumpet around the house, composed new material and performed at church, daughter Jan Ayerst said.

”He played his jazz trumpet every day,” she said. “His dream was to be a musician.”

Born March 20, 1930, in Tampa, Singleton graduated from Henry B. Plant High School in 1948. He moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida.

Soon after, the Korean War began, and Singleton enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he was stationed in Roswell, N.M.

He was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant when a cease-fire was established in 1953.

Later that year, Singleton and Dolores Frances Holt were married.

The newlyweds set out to make Singleton’s dream of becoming a musician a reality.

But Singleton soon changed his mind. ”He said this is not the life for a married person,” Ayerst said.

In 1956, he earned his degree in accounting. After the birth of their two daughters in Tampa, the family moved back to Roswell.

Singleton launched his CPA career as a partner in the accounting firm of Deason, Crocker, Singleton and Peters, now Ernst and Young.

In 1970, the family moved to Miami so Singleton could work for Knight Newspapers Inc.

Daughter Lin Singleton described him as a people person, “a fun-loving guy.”

In addition to his wife of 52 years and two daughters, Singleton is survived by his brother, Paul Gibson Singleton Jr. of Tampa.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Old Cutler Presbyterian Church, 14401 Old Cutler Rd. A Dixieland band is will perform.

”He told us he wanted a Dixie band playing When the Saints Go Marching In at his funeral,” Ayerst said.

BEGAN MAYER’S JEWELRY FIRM

January 16, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

Mayer Ziefer, who was involved in local and Israeli charities and founded Mayer’s Jewelry Company in New York and Florida, died Friday at his home in Hollywood from kidney-tumor complications.

He was 93.

Ziefer, who in the late 1940s founded his jewelry company in New York, got into the business by chance when a friend asked if he wanted to join him in his uncle’s business.

”He learned as he went along,” daughter Zina Sherman said.

“He was such a people person that he got people to trust him and teach him. That is how he moved along.”

Born in the Polish town of Krasnystaw in 1912, Ziefer had wanted to travel to Israel. In his early 20s he attempted to make the trip but was turned back.

He was walking through a Polish market square that day, and encountered Hilda, a New Yorker who was visiting her Polish family.

They fell in love and were married two weeks later.

While living in New York with his wife, he received news that his two brothers, two sisters, mother, father and nieces had been killed in the Holocaust.

”He was the only surviving member of his immediate family,” Sherman said.

Prior to delving into the jewelry business, Ziefer, who fathered two children, worked as a foreman at a New York Navy shipyard.

The family moved to Miami in the early 1970s and lived in Golden Beach prior to moving to Hollywood. In 1992, Hilda, his wife of 55 years, died. At 85 years of age, he found love again and married Frances Calig, who he met through a mutual friend.

”He was charming, sophisticated and got along with people,” said his son, Sam. “He was respected by all.”

Services were held Sunday in Davie.

CREOLE CELEBRATION

January 15, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

When Chef Creole throws a party, it’s sure to be a spectacle.

Take a recent block party to celebrate the 13th anniversary of Chef Creole Seafood & Catering at the Little Haiti restaurant, 200 NW 54th St. The occasion brought dancers, local radio DJs and musicians, and was attended by more than 350 people, who enjoyed free food, refreshments and entertainment.

In addition to the block party, more than 200 toys were collected for a local outreach shelter and all of the 150 children who attended the event received a gift to take home, organizers said.

”We made it our business to cater to the community,” said Wilkinson ”Ken” Sejour, who also runs another Chef Creole restaurant in North Miami and is known affectionately by customers, friends, family and the community at large as “Chef Creole.”

”Everyone calls me Chef,” Sejour said. “Even good friends feel confident calling me Chef Creole. It’s an honor. They are telling me that I’m doing a good job at what I do.”

In the 13 years that Sejour, 35, has run his take-out seafood restaurants, he’s been host to countless celebrations for Miami’s Haitian and Caribbean communities, and counts community leaders and celebrities among his loyal customers.

Sejour opened the first Chef Creole in December 1992 at Northeast Second Avenue and 77th Street. His idea was to offer American food, but with a Creole flavor.

The kitchen was unfamiliar territory at the time. ”I started off as a businessman, not interested in becoming a chef,” Sejour said. “I became a chef out of necessity.”

Sejour learned how to cook by trial and error, and within four years, he understood how spices can manifest at different temperatures, he said.

Sejour says that when he first opened Chef Creole he would go to different organizations that were holding events and he would offer to cater for free. All he asked for was “a certificate for the appreciation of our services.”

He says he began to notice a pattern.

”Every time we gave, we made more money,” he said.

Born in Nassau to Haitian parents, Sejour’s family moved to Miami in the early 1970s when he was 3. He considers himself Haitian because his parents’ discipline “was all Haitian.”

He also credits the stern upbringing by his father, Wilson Sejour, with the success of his catering business.

”My dad would have me do things more than once,” he said. “When you are in business, that is one of the things that you want to develop.”

His father, who ran a seafood market for a few years on Northeast 54th Street, now oversees the Chef Creole offices.

Sejour married his high school sweetheart, Nazarena, and has raised eight children in Miami.

The North Miami Chef Creole location, at 13105 W. Dixie Hwy., opened in 1999.

There have been a handful of personal obstacles and set backs. In 2000, a fire destroyed his first restaurant. Three years earlier, in 1997, he was faced with the death of Jude Pierre, his business partner and best friend.

Sejour says he keeps a positive attitude, which he credits as the key to the success of his two restaurants.

Sejour says his plate is full. He shot a television pilot called Chef Creole’s Season Kitchen, which highlights his spicy seafood recipes and his signature dish — grilled conch.

He’s also writing a book on how to run a successful business and is preparing to offer franchise opportunities. So far, he’s got people who want to open Chef Creoles in New York and North Florida.

”Everyone knows that Chef Creole is looking forward to being more successful,” Sejour said.

“There needs to be an example to the community. I hope we can become an icon, not just in Little Haiti and North Miami, but all over Florida.”

MARINAS ARE ‘ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE’

January 15, 2006

BYLINE: ALDO NAHED

Debris from 16 sunken North Bay Village houseboats lay scattered in the waters of Biscayne Bay more than two months after Hurricane Wilma wreaked havoc on two adjacent marinas, leading city officials to deem them “unsafe.”

The two marinas on West Harbor Drive still have not been cleaned up. And most residents — either those who’ve abandoned their sunken vessels or those who still reside in homes that still float — have accumulated fines of $250 a day since an eviction order in November.

At Tuesday’s North Bay Village City Commission meeting, the issue was raised when former marina resident Fane Lozman criticized City Manager Charity Good for not enforcing clean-up or the fines.

”She’s clueless as to how to enforce the fine,” said Lozman, whose own calculations place the total amount of marina fines at $242,500, as of Tuesday.

Lozman, who left following the eviction order, has not been fined.

Lozman wants the marina rebuilt to current code so he can move his houseboat, now floating on Biscayne Bay outside city jurisdiction, back to a safe marina slot.

Good did not have a dollar amount for the fines when contacted Wednesday, but said she has been in contact with the Department of Environmental Resources Management and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to enforce state clean-up.

”But they haven’t taken any action,” she said.

She added that Big Tuna Salvage contacted the city building official on Wednesday, “saying they will begin clean-up this week.”

The city is still trying to collect $44,000 from Gator Harbor West Marina for clean-up related to two vessels sunk during Hurricane Katrina in August.

”We have an environmental nightmare and a possible environmental disaster,” City Commissioner Tzvi Bogomilsky said. ”It’s not our goal of foreclosing the property. We want the compliance.” Other commissioners and Mayor Joe Geller agreed that the clean-up is taking too long.

The houseboats are a ”part of our community,” Geller said. “We need to allow them back here.”