1. health and fitness

November 19 - December 18, 2013
UP & OUT
WishYouWere Here
UPCOMINGS
Activities & Happenings
UPFRONT
New, Now & Noteworthy
HowTo
Stay Fit
During the
Holidays
Aventura • Bal Harbour • Bay Harbor Islands • Biscayne Park • Eastern Shores • Golden Beach
Highland Lakes • Miami Shores • North Miami • North Miami Beach • Ojus
Skylake • Sunny Isles Beach • Surfside + Hallandale Beach (special Uptown neighbor)
• November 19 - December 18, 2013
8
Managing Director
Alan Rifkin
Editor
Martha Sternberg
Art Director
Joanna Gazzaneo
Historian
Seth H. Bramson
Photographer
DeJean Dessous
Distribution
Baron Express, Inc.
954.297.0731
DEPARTMENTS
4 UPFRONT
Men and women are dealing with the
Affordable Health Care Act in distinctly
different ways.
18
6
UPCOMING
Dr. Trini Vega and his team at Biotech Wellness
Center strive to find a balance between health
and beauty.
18
UPTOWN SOUTH FLORIDA MEDIA
UP & OUT
Miami International Language Academy
celebrated its opening in November with a ribbon
cutting and cocktail reception. MILA is located at
2191 NE 163 St., Suite 13 in North Miami Beach.
22
14
UPDATE
Cover photo: Carolina Lorusso
Model: Trainer Addison Espinosa
North Miami Beach: A History by Seth Bramson.
When North Miami Beach was first discovered it
was fertile hunting grounds for both the Calusa
and Tequesta tribes of Native Americans. Today it
is one of the most progressive cities in Florida.
20295 NE 29th Place, Suite 200
Aventura, FL 33180
305.788.0823
© 2013 UPTOWN SOUTH FLORIDA
MEDIA, not-for-profit. UPTOWN SOUTH
FLORIDA magazine is published monthly.
All rights reserved.
The entire content of UPTOWN SOUTH
FLORIDA magazine may not be
reproduced without the written consent
of the publisher. UPTOWN SOUTH
FLORIDA magazine reserves the right to
edit, rewrite or refuse material.
UPTOWN is comprised of Northeast Miami-Dade County: Aventura • Bal Harbour • Bay Harbor Islands • Biscayne Park
Eastern Shores • Golden Beach • Highland Lakes • Miami Shores • North Miami • North Miami Beach • Ojus • Skylake
Sunny Isles Beach • Surfside + Hallandale Beach (special Uptown neighbor)
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
3
UPfront
new, now & noteworthy
The Man’s/Woman’s Guide to Obamacare
By Louis Berlin
M
Louis Berlin
is a licensed
Affordable
Health Care
agent.
en and women are dealing with
Obamacare in distinctly different ways.
Men will go to a random Obamacare Web site or
wait on hold on a call center hotline. They muddle
through the confusing directions, get frustrated,
make a bad decision, fill out everything wrong,
yell at their significant other and then go out for
a beer. This places them in danger of losing their
rights to affordable insurance.
Women, on the other hand, recognize
that Obamacare is confusing, even
to seasoned insurance professionals.
The rules keep changing, the Web sites
are confusing (and often wrong) and if
you make a mistake it could be costly.
They generally seek the advice of a
licensed insurance agent who specializes
in health.
As one such agent, I have been dealing
with this issue for many months, attending seminars,
and meeting with care providers. Here’s what is
important to know to avoid frustration:
1. The focus of insurance companies is to bring
down the cost of care to you and them. Since 80
percent of your premium gets dispersed back to
you and your doctors, in order for each company to
remain competitive, they have to figure out how to
deliver care more effectively. The thrust of the new
plans, therefore, is to keep you within a group of
providers who communicate with each other, don’t
run duplicate tests and who do a lot of preventive work
so you don’t become ill. The best priced plans offer you a financial
incentive to stay within this model. If you deviate, it will cost you
more.
2. The best approach to figuring out which of the hundreds
of plans make most sense for you (and there are hundreds to
choose from), is to analyze your current and projected use of
medical services. Some plans are designed for those who rarely
get ill, some are for the chronically ill, but all offer a trade off: pay
more now but be charged less for ongoing use of services, or pay
less now and take the chance that you will need minimal care, but
be sure that there will be an absolute maximum that you can spend
if you need more care than you project.
3. The reason there are so many plans is that there are
gradations of risk of how much you will be out of pocket. Your
current use of medical services, plus the amount you will be willing to
spend should you become ill, will direct you to the best
plan for you.
4. Unlike in the past, everyone is guaranteed
coverage and premiums are not higher if you have
a pre-existing condition. Your pre-existing condition
will be treated at the same cost should new problems
develop. Naturally, this means that folks who were
denied coverage in the past or charged more for
insurance will now get insurance, or get
it at a better price. This is funded
in part by an overall increase in
premiums. So if you were previously
healthy and insured, you can expect
your premiums to go up. To alleviate
the cost, the government is offering
subsidies to people in certain income
ranges. There are many calculators
on the internet that can help you
estimate your subsidy, but the only
final determinate is the CMS Web site,
which is hard to navigate on your own.
There are also adjustments to your
net income to add and remove some
items when calculating the subsidy, so
you’ll need to have a copy of a recent
tax return handy to get all the info you
need for the site. Some plans offer additional cost savings to people
in certain income levels.
Confused much? I hope you are less confused than you were
before, but by now it should be obvious that you don’t want to tackle
this on your own. Respond intelligently and act responsibly to this
change in the way you will be compelled to buy, pay for, and use
medical services. The old way of doing this is no longer an option.
Talk to a good, trained, licensed Obamacare certified agent.
Louis Berlin can be reached at 305.778.7971 or at www.newhealthinsurancerules.com.
4
UPTOWN south florida magazine
UPfront
new, now & noteworthy
Miami Book Fair International 30th Anniversary Edition
The Weekend Street Fair is Must-See
T
he books are here. And the readers and writers have followed,
as they do by the hundreds of thousands every year for Miami
Book Fair International, now taking place at the downtown
campus of Miami Dade College through Nov. 24.
The Book Fair, now in its 30th year and still the largest and
finest book fair of its kind in the nation, encompasses author
presentations, national and international book exhibitors,
educational programming, children’s activities, music, dance, visual
arts, theatre, creative writing workshops, and a three-day street fair
that kicks off Friday, Nov. 22.
The highlight of the Street Fair
is the Festival of Authors where
more than 350 authors read and
discuss their work. Thousands
of South Florida schoolchildren
will help kick off the Street Fair,
making the trip downtown Friday
to hear authors and participate in
Children’s Alley activities, including
theater, arts-and-crafts, storytelling
and readings by children’s book
authors. Comics and graphic
novels are featured, with the school
of comics on Friday and a new
section just for kids and teens.
The 30th anniversary edition of Miami Book Fair International is presented
by The Center for Literature and Theatre @ MDC will take place at
Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Wolfson Campus.
The always-popular Street Fair runs Friday through Sunday, Nov. 22-24.
For more information, visit www.miamibookfair.com.
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
5
UPCOMING
BIOTECH Wellness Center:
Finding A Balance Between Health And Beauty
A
comprehensive center for regenerative
medicine, beauty and wellness, Biotech
Wellness Center strives to complement
advanced medical equipment with current
and safe medical and aesthetics therapies.
Whether it’s through
regenerative medicine,
anti-aging or aesthetic
medicine, the goal is to
find a balance between
health and beauty,
attaining the true secret
of youth.
Through personalized counseling and
specialized medical guidance with the latest
technology, patients are accurately assessed.
Personal treatment plans are then designed
to achieve the individual’s desired result.
The center offers
services such as:
skin care and facial
rejuvenation including
botox®, dermal
fillers, platelets
rich plasma, acne
therapies, chemicalpeels, hydrafacials
and tanning services. Body contouring
and cellulite treatments include the Venus
Freeze and mesotherapy treatments.
All services are overseen by Dr. Trini Vega,
a board certified specialist in internal
medicine and practicing throughout MiamiDade County. Medically supervised weight
loss HCG therapies are available using antiaging and regenerative medicine including:
bioidentical hormone therapies and nutritional
intravenous supplementation therapies. Leg,
activities & happenings
vein and hair removal treatments include
state of the art cosmetic laser treatments and
advanced pulsated light (IPL) to dramatically
improve the appearance of your skin.
Treatments include laser permanent hair
reduction, vessel and pigment clearance, and
leg vein clearance.
The center seeks to find
innovative yet practical
solutions to the most
common health issues
in the sustainment of
beauty and wellness.
They emphasizes
patient safety,
nutritional education,
maintenance and preventive medicine by
offering individuals the most current, safe
and effective available treatments in general
medicine, aesthetics and wellness.
Biotech Wellness Center is located in Aventura at 3575 NE 207th St., Unit B3.
For more information, call 305.989.8115, or visit www.biotechwellnesscenter.com.
6
UPTOWN south florida magazine
UPCOMING
activities & happenings
Turtles on the Move!
STYLISH SETTING
Elle Air Blowdry and
Makeup bar is the
newest affordable
addiction in Surfside,
and can be found at
9480 Harding Ave.
call 305.763.8385 for
an appointment or visit
ellairbeautybar.com.
The area
surrounding
Surfside Town
Hall has suddenly
become a hot spot
for turtle viewing! With the current
landscaping and refurbishment
project underway in the Harding
Avenue business district, 10 of the
Tales of Surfside Turtles have been
moved to 93rd Street between
Collins and Harding Avenuesl. Stop
by for a look, many are available for
“adoption.” For more information,
contact Duncan Tavares
at dtavares@townofsurfsidefl.gov.
DMV to Return on December 4
Community Outreach Specialists from the Department of Highway
Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be setting up a mobile DMV
at Town Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the 2nd
floor Police Training Room. Plan now to get your DMV services here
in Surfside, including driver’s license renewals. Contact Dina Goldstein
at 305.861.4862 or dgoldstein@townofsurfsidefl.gov.
Bloomingdale’s Kitchen Happenings
Culinary Demonstrations at The Main Course Kitchen on 3.
Chef Nuri Perez
Saturday, November 23, 1 pm
Chef Nuri Perez from Novecento,
Aventura’s newest eating
establishment presents a
culinary demonstration of
Bistro Argentino cuisine.
Whole lotta Latkes!
Saturday, November 30, 1 pm
Join Chef Lauretta for a festive
Hanukkah celebration with a
culinary demonstration and tasting of
traditional savory potato latkes!
Chef Michael Maltese
Saturday, December 7, 1 pm
Chef and Owner of Luca Bella in
Aventura prepares a delectable taste
of his Family Style Italian Cuisine for
you to sample and enjoy.
Xavier Bonnafous
Saturday, December 14, 1 pm
Associate Prepared Foods Chef at Whole
Foods Market shares the secrets of
his “Culinarymania” during a culinary
demonstration and tasting.
Tuscany al Verano Book Signing
Saturday, December 21, 1 pm
Come meet Verano Petri for a Tuscany
al Verano book signing, culinary
demonstration and tasting and to hear his
amazing saga of growing up in war torn
Italy and then making his way across the
Atlantic to find the American Dream.
Hilda Lopez
Saturday, December 28, 1 pm
Watch Hilda Lopez create her delectable
cupcakes from scratch just for you! You
crave it, she bakes it… and makes your
day sweeter one bite at a time!
Bloomingdale’s Aventura Mall, 19555 Biscayne Boulevard,
Aventura. For more information call 305.792.1288.
Expires 12/31/13
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
7
UPCOMING
activities & happenings
How to Stay Fit
During the Holidays
By Michele Lapierre
M
Michele Lapierre
is the studio
manager at
Orange Theory
Fitness in
Aventura.
y grandmother used to make the most
amazing homemade stuffing for our big
Thanksgiving dinners in Rhode Island. Dozens of
us would pile into her little kitchen hours before
dinner just to sneak a little nosh of the savory
combination of sourdough bread, mushrooms,
celery and other ingredients, which I promised
to keep secret. When the holidays take over our
lives every year, noisy family dinners and eating
my grandmother’s legendary stuffing bring me
comfort and total satisfaction.
I generally live a healthy and fit lifestyle but even I don’t deny myself
the pleasure of eating high-calorie side dishes and sugary fat-laden
desserts during the holiday season. Or ever. The good news is you
don’t have to. You can have your stuffing and eat it too if you follow
these simple rules on how to stay fit during the holidays:
Indulge a little
When you commit to a
healthy lifestyle, you have
not locked yourself in a
chocolate-free zone for
the rest of your life. It’s
all about balance and,
that cliché, moderation.
It’s just as important to
try that delicious looking
cherry pie as it is to
have
consistency
in
your exercise and eating
habits. Just refrain from eating five slices and you can skip the guilt
trip. Also keep in mind that when you serve yourself, you should be
able to see your plate. You can always go back for seconds. Most
importantly, eat slowly. Taking time to digest and enjoying your food
is healthy and you’ll be surprised how less full you will feel.
Work out time is essential
Actually, I would argue gym time is more essential during the holiday
times than ever. We see ourselves exponentially expand during the
holidays and you can lose up to 20 percent of your cardiovascular
strength by stopping a workout plan from Thanksgiving to New
Years. Your heart is a muscle like any other and it needs to work out
to be healthy. Besides the fear of your sweatpants not fitting, we all
know the holiday season can be, gently put, stressful. Exercising
releases feel-good brain chemicals like endorphins and keeps your
stress levels in check. Trust me, you’ll need it.
Pencil yourself in
Your schedule is jam packed
with family members, shopping
expeditions, company holiday
parties and you’re supposed
to make time to work out?
YES. Working out during the
holidays is possible with an
organized schedule. It might
feel like you have no time but
you’d be surprised how much
you can get done when you’re
a stickler with your schedule.
If you’re really crunched for
time, try a high interval cardio workout program like Orange Theory
Fitness. Designed to make the most out of a 60 minute workout
session, you’re burning more calories by speeding up and slowing
down your heart rate multiple times during the hour. An hour at the
gym is enough if you do the right workout.
Don’t drink your calories
If you enjoy drinking alcoholic beverages at your holiday parties,
balance is the name of the healthy game and having a drink at a
party won’t deter your healthy goals. A helpful tip is to follow up
every alcoholic drink with a glass of water. You’ll feel fuller and less
likely to drink. Also, not having a drink in your hand can be a social
obstacle for some, so choose water, iced tea and drinks low in sugar
and calories. Stay away from daiquiris and eggnog.
Start ASAP
Instead of binging on holiday food with a constant self-reassurance
that, “It’s okay – I’ll start fresh on Jan. 1 –” get used to adapting a
fit life as a lifestyle that begins today and never ends. Start your
journey towards your fitness goals as soon as possible, like in the
beginning of November, and beat the rush for the gym in January.
Once you’ve invested weeks into your goals, you’re less likely to
give them up during the holidays. On Jan. 1, you’ll be glad you
already have a head start.
Remember, the holiday season tests our limits. If you can control
yourself during the holidays, you can do anything.
Michele Lapierre can be reached at Orange Theory Fitness, call 305.400.0544 or email at studio0015@orangetheoryfitness.com.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
9
UPCOMING
ASIB Events
Join the Aventura/Sunny
Isles Beach Chamber of
Commerce for its Monthly
Breakfast at Mo’s Bagels
& Deli. The next breakfast meeting will
take place on Dec. 3 from 8 a.m. to
9:30 a.m. Mo’s is located at 2780 NE
187th Street in Aventura. Meet other
local professionals, self introductions
and networking. Enjoy bagels, assorted
cream cheeses, danish and coffee. Bring
plenty of business cards! For more
information, contact Jon Rogoff at
305.332.5989.
And don’t forget ASIB’s Monthly
Chamber Lunch at Novecento on Dec.
11 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Novecento
is located at 18801 Biscayne Blvd.
in Aventura. For more information,
contact Jon Rogoff at 305.332.5989.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
activities & happenings
The Greater
North Miami
Chamber of Commerce
Join The Greater North Miami
Chamber of Commerce at their
Monthly Membership Lunch, Nov.
27, noon, at the Miami Shores
Country Club, 10000 Biscayne
Boulevard. The program is Vision
2017, The Chamber’s Road to the
Future with Barry Vogel.
The December meeting will take
place on Dec. 18 and the speaker is
Miami-Dade County Appraiser Carlos
Lopez Cantera.
To reserve a seat and get more
information, call 305.891.7811.
UPTOWN South
Florida is a
proud supporter
of Small Business
Saturday. Shop
Nov. 30 and support small
businesses in your community.
The Greater
North Miami Beach
Chamber of Commerce
The Greater North Miami Beach
Chamber of Commerce will hold its
General Membership Luncheon on
Nov. 21 from noon to 2 p.m. at Area
Code 55, 16375 Biscayne Blvd. in North
Miami Beach. The program includes the
installation of the new board and the
speaker is State Sen. Gwen Margolis.
UPCOMING
activities & happenings
MAKE THE CONNECTION
Uptown Networking
UPTOWN Business Monthly Networker.
Come network and promote your
Uptown business.
Next meetings:
Nov. 20, Dec. 4 and 18.
Be prepared to give a one-minute
introduction of your company. Don’t
forget to bring plenty of business cards.
Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. at
Lexus of North Miami, 14100 Biscayne
Blvd. Parking is available in the rear on
the second floor employee-parking area.
Uptown Networking attendees heard Priscilla Dames speak about workplace conflict
resolution at the November event.
Cost: FREE for members of ANY
Chambers of Commerce.
$10 for non-Chamber members.
For more information, send email to
Uptown business network coordinator
Adam Weizer, adam@servistree.com
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
11
UPDATE
then & now
Advice for Entrepreneurs
with Visions of Start Ups
By Roberta Rousseau
S
Roberta Rousseau
is a Certified
Quickbook Advisor
and experienced IT
professional.
tarting one’s own business is a dream of many.
The current economic climate has created an
unprecedented opportunity in this space. Whether you
own a “new startup” or are the CEO of a recently formed
and flourishing company, you are faced, or will be, with
a certain reality rearing its head too soon and sometimes
too late.
As a visionary, most entrepreneurs must be equipped
with maximum armor for survival. This includes a vigilant
and ongoing oversight of the business finances. This
stands in sharp contrast to an all too common practice of keeping “receipts
in a shoe box” and then delivering to the Company CPA a “cannon shot” of
mixed invoices, statements and unrelated scraps of financial papyrus-like
material just before tax time.
There is a natural tendency on the part of entrepreneurs to “glaze” over
any discussion addressing this situation. The large number of occupants in
the cemetery of “small business failures” is often attributed to a “too-late”
understanding of the business financial picture. The natural focus on the
products or services offered by the business often overshadows efforts to
get the finances in order. In better times, a business could hobble along for
some time; in today’s climate that is not possible!
A needed solution is some method of automating the on-going finances
while at the same time being able to read the financial pulse of the business.
Quickbooks is a recommended solution, a system which has successfully
supported a majority of small and mid size businesses. It is an invaluable tool
which not only provides the owner with the necessary tools to record financial
information, it allows the owner to send “reminders” of unpaid bills, provides a
suite of reports revealing current profit and loss information, balance sheet status
among others, all indispensable to allow proper management of any company.
Information at the finger tips of every business owner should include the
company’s liabilities, sales, fixed costs and costs needed to produce
products or services. How does an owner know what part of the business
is actually making money? Quickbooks and Quickbooks OnLine provide
this information and much more. It is relatively easy to install but requires
someone knowledgeable to customize it for the specific business type.
Quickbooks producer, Intuit, provides certified (ProAdvisor) consultants who
can assist.
Roberta Rousseau consults for small and medium size companies
with financial management and has taught database development for
numerous platforms. She can be reached by email at
rar@symboley.com. For more information, visit www.symboley.com.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
UPfront
new, now & noteworthy
Teach Our Children Well By Barbra Greenspan Shaiman
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You have to be carefully taught.
—Oscar Hammerstein, playwright
For over thirty
years, Barbara
Greenspan
Shaiman has
been an educator,
entrepreneur,
and social
entrepreneur.
T
hese lyrics powerfully demonstrate the
importance of how we as a society raise
our children, and the impact of the values we
teach them. Now, more than ever, whatever your
religion or culture, there can be no more valuable
legacy than to raise the next generation of young
people to become caring, compassionate,
responsible citizens.
Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher,
mentor, or just someone who cares about youth, teaching children
to care is both a privilege and responsibility. In this day and age,
nothing is business-as-usual— not even parenting. We have seen
too much violence and hatred in our schools and communities. Our
children are being victimized by cyber bullying. Too many precious
lives have been lost.
In some parts of the world, children fulfill the legacy of their parents
by sacrificing their own lives in missions of hate disguised as
justice. If people are actively teaching children hatred, the response
must be raising an army of compassionate people. We must equip
them with the skills and tools to combat injustice wherever they
see it — in the classroom, on the streets — anywhere people are
powerless to defend themselves.
My mother, who survived the Holocaust and was the sole survivor
of a family of 65 people, always said that the best defense is love.
Once liberated from the death camps, my parents didn’t seek
revenge. They rebuilt their lives and had children. They would not
give their tormentors the satisfaction of ruining their futures, as well.
Fighting hate with love is a powerful tool. We have an incredible
opportunity to teach our youth to care, to be kind and
compassionate. To become engaged in meaningful projects that
make a difference locally or globally. We can inspire them to make
the world a better place. In doing this we will live richer more
meaningful lives.
Barbara Greenspan Shaiman is the founder of the nonprofit
Champions of Caring, which has empowered over 10,000
youth in the Philadelphia area to become social activists, and
the author of Live Your Legacy Now!: Ten Simple Steps to Find
Your Passion and Change the World. For more information, visit
www.embraceyourlegacynow.com.
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
13
UPCOMING
activities & happenings
Thanksgiving + Hanukkah =
Thanksgivukkah, 2013
by Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service
I
t last happened in 1888 and,
according to one calculation,
won’t happen again for another
77,798 years: the convergence of
Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.
This year, Nov. 28 is Thanksgiving
and the first full day of the eightday Jewish festival of lights,
which begins at sundown the
previous night.
For many Jewish Americans, this
is no trivial convergence, but a
once-in-an-eternity opportunity
to simultaneously celebrate
two favorite holidays, one
quintessentially American, the other
quintessentially Jewish.
Earlier this year, when the rarity
of the synergy began to dawn on
American Jews, they began concocting “Thanksgivukkah” mashups, such as a “menurky,” a turkey-shaped menorah; and Jewish
cooks have created recipes for everything from pumpkin latkes to
turkey brined in Manischewitz.
“It’s fun, and let me go on record on saying that ‘fun’ is a good
thing,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the congregational arm of
Reform Judaism in North America, said of the hybrid holiday.
Jacobs isn’t the only Jewish American to note that Hanukkah and
Thanksgiving align not just in time, but thematically. They both
celebrate religious liberty: The Pilgrims sought religious freedom
in the New World, and the ancient Jews’ triumphed over Greek
oppressors who had banned the practice of Judaism.
“To me, that is such a beautiful and powerful linkage of the two
holidays and I hope we get to celebrate that as well as cranberries
on our latkes,” Jacobs said.
Or, as Rabbi Tzvi Freeman wrote on the Web site Chabad.org:
Thanksgiving is “a narrative about an arduous journey to escape
religious persecution for freedom in a new land, the establishment
of a democratic charter and the sense of Divine providence that
carried those refugees through their plight.”
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
The miracle of Hanukkah is set in the
2nd century B.C., when a small band of
Jews, the Maccabees, triumphed over
the forces of King Antiochus IV.
As the Maccabees rededicated the
desecrated Temple in Jerusalem, a
small quantity of oil, enough to last
for only one day, miraculously burned
for eight, which is why Jews light the
candles on the menorah for eight nights.
The quirk of Thanksgivukkah is that the
Hebrew calendar, which follows the
sun and the moon, and the Gregorian
calendar, where Thanksgiving sits on
the fourth Thursday of November,
has aligned this year so that the two
holidays are on the same day for the
first time since 1888, 25 years after
President Abraham Lincoln declared
Thanksgiving a holiday.
As for the long stretch before this will happen again, credit for the
calculation goes to Jewish American physicist Jonathan Mizrahi,
who explained the Jewish and Gregorian calendars are drifting
apart in such a way as to separate Thanksgiving and Hanukkah for
more than 70 millennia. (Others who have also done the math note
that the first night of Hanukkah — remember the holiday begins at
sundown — will converge with Thanksgiving as early as 2070.)
For many Jews, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are a much better fit
than the holiday Hanukkah often coincides with: Christmas. The
somewhat tongue-in-cheek term “Chrismukkah,” a celebration
that invokes both traditions, can be fun for college roommates of
different faiths or Jewish-Christian families.
But for Jews who feel that the Christmas season overwhelms
Hanukkah or even that the relatively minor holiday of Hanukkah
gets over-hyped to compete with Christmas, the idea of a
Christmas-Hanukkah hybrid doesn’t always sit well.
But Thanksgivukkah? It’s not going to outlive Chrismukkah, but
while it’s here, Jewish Americans are going to make the most of it.
UPfront
new, now & noteworthy
Poolside Finance Tips: Save Your Portfolio from High Fees By Owen T. Carhart
S
Owen Carhart
is a Registered
Investment
Advisor
located in
South Florida.
ince creating my first investment strategy
as a teenager I have immersed myself in
the investment and financial planning world, and
have seen clients with some pretty mangled and
haphazard portfolios. What follows are four tips that
may bring your investment portfolio(s) into harmony
with your everyday life and the markets alike.
Utilize Low Cost Investment
Managers and Vehicles.
I often find that many retail investors are simply
paying too much for their investment management.
High fees are the leash of investment portfolios.
Utilizing exchange traded funds rather than a
managed mutual fund is an excellent start.
Ensure you are not paying an advisor and a
manager.
Many times I meet with prospects that have the “best money
manager in the world,” meanwhile this manager is more of a
salesperson than a wealth manager. For instance I had one client who
was paying a 1.3 percent management fee for her advisor to pick
managed mutual funds which tend to have higher internal expense
ratios. Furthermore, after designing the portfolio it was not rebalanced
or managed to maintain a particular asset allocation or strategy. A 1.3
percent management fee with an internal expense ratio of 1 percent
means that you are paying 2.3 percent for this particular investment.
Compare that to paying a 1 percent management fee for an active
investment advisor and a .3 percent internal expense ratio and you
have decreased your year-to-year fee by 1 percent. You can and
should try and keep as much of your money as possible.
Ensure that you advisor knows how to spell
FIDUCIARY.
In the investment world there are two standards of care that advisors
are held to. The first and most flexible for the advisor is a suitability
standard of care. The suitability standard only details that the brokerdealer has to reasonably believe that any recommendations made
are suitable for clients, rather than having to place his or her interests
below that of the client. The fiduciary standard stipulates that an
advisor must place his or her interests below that of the client.
Consider Paying for Advice Only
Many retail investors believe they can manage their own investment
portfolios, and in some cases this is true. If you are in this camp,
avoid problems in your portfolio by hiring an investment advisor to
perform an analysis on your portfolio for a one-time fee. You can pick
the securities for your underlying portfolio and have them researched
by the advisor. A second set of eyes on an investment portfolio can
uncover possible risks that you may overlook.
No opinion expressed by Owen Carhart should be treated as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy.
NORTH MIAMI
BEACH
• MON - $.65 WINGS (4-CLOSE)
• WED - KIDS EAT FREE (4-9PM)
& ON WED - TRIVIA (8-10PM)
DELIVERY: CALL 305.819.8500
OR ONLINE AT
WWW.DELIVERYWOW.COM
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
15
Hello Everyone,
Here is what we are currently working on at the ASIB
Chamber of Commerce:
Annual Memberships for Condominium and
Homeowner Associations are now available
from the Chamber for $450.00. The membership
benefits include:
• 10 free enrollments in the Condo College Course,
including certification for service on boards as
required by the State of Florida.
• Or On Site Condo College Course training.
This training is a must for current and future board
members who want to learn about:
THE LAWS, ACCOUNTING, RISK MANAGEMENT
AND INSURANCE, ENGINEERING AND
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
The membership and the Condo College were
recently introduced at the CONDO COLLEGE
STREET PARTY held on November 14th at the
Town Center Aventura. We had a great turnout and
we are preparing to hold another Street Party in the
next few weeks.
Also,
For the past several months I have had the
pleasure of corresponding with Ms. Silvia Mariani,
Founder and CEO of Make Business Happen.
I have discussed with Silvia the idea of linking
our Chamber of Commerce and our Regional
Market (Uptown South Florida comprising over
twenty additional cities, towns and villages) with
the Florence Chamber of Commerce and the
Tuscany Region.
I have received a tentative approval from the
Mayor of Florence, the Honourable Matteo Renzi,
that we will establish a Commercial Protocol, for
the purpose of building the commerce between
our Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Chamber of
Commerce / Uptown Region of South Florida and
The Florence Chamber of Commerce / Tuscany
Region of Italy... more to come.
Also,
The ASIB Chamber of Commerce is launching a
new community-building service called Chamber
for Good which allows local charities to raise their
visibility within the community and also provides
businesses and philanthropic individuals an easy
way to become aware of local charitable needs,
causes and events. It is the ultimate community
building tool!
Bringing individuals, organizations and businesses
together to achieve great things is a key focus
of the chamber. The Chamber for Good system
provides a clearinghouse that serves to connect all
local charitable organizations and causes with the
individuals and organizations within our community
that are eager to support local needs. Chamber for
Good makes it EASY to Give Local.
This tool allows us to harness the goodness of
our residents and businesses and really strengthen
our community in a way that we haven’t been able
to before.
Also,
The ASIB Chamber has created a new membership
category, The Good Citizen... Please see the full
page information on the Good Citizen Membership
and join today. The ASIB Chamber and other
Chambers are essential to the success of all our
communities.
Les Winston
aventurasunnyislesbeachchamber.org
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
UP& OUT
wish you were here
NORTH MIAMI BEACH’S GRAND OPENINGS
Miami International Language Academy celebrated its
opening in November with a ribbon cutting and cocktail
reception. MILA is located at 2191 NE 163 St., Suite 13 in North
Miami Beach.
Clean Smoke Electronic Cigarettes
& Liquids recently celebrated its grand
opening with a ribbon cutting. North
Miami Beach Mayor George Vallejo
was on hand and guests were treated
to hors d’oeuvres and specially created
cocktails by Chef Michael Blum. Clean
Smoke offers a variety of e cig products;
including starter kits, USA made e liquids,
atomizers, batteries and accessories.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
UP& OUT
wish you were here
Chrysalis Health Services, which recently celebrated the opening of its North Miami Beach location with
a ribbon cutting, provides behavioral healthcare services for children, adolescents, adults and families.
Chrysalis is located at 1848 NE 164th St. in North Miami Beach.
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
19
UP& OUT
wish you were here
STREET FAIR
The Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Chamber of Commerce, Floridian Management and Condo College
jointly hosted a Street Fair at Town Center Aventura. Guests strolled from table to table, meeting with
representatives from companies that specialized in areas of interest to condo and HOA board members,
such as property management, landscaping , security , furniture and design, remediation, banking and
loans, and real estate attorneys.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine
UP& OUT
wish you were here
FLAVORS OF NORTH MIAMI
The Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce’s Flavors of North Miami was held on the MOCA Plaza
on November 10. Twenty of the areas finest food establishments provided samples and wine tastings for the
attendees. The crowd also enjoyed live entertainment and a DJ.
UPTOWN south florida magazine • Nov. 19 - Dec. 18, 2013
21
UPDATE
then & now
North Miami Beach
From Farms and Fields to the Future
By Seth H. Bramson
I
Seth H. Bramson
is Adjunct
Professor of
History at Barry
University,
FIU and Nova
Southeastern
University’s
Lifelong
Learning
Institute.
t was 1890, when coastal ship captain William
Fulford arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay.
The area was known to be fertile hunting grounds
for both the Calusa and Tequesta tribes of native
Americans and some form of human habitation
existed there for more than 2000 years.
Appointed keeper of the Biscayne Bay House of
Refuge, Fulford was stationed between what are
now Seventy-Second and Seventy-Third streets,
Oceanside, in Miami Beach, by the U.S. Lifesaving
Service, predecessor of the Coast Guard. Fulford
would eventually move to the area that would bear
his name, and carefully selected the location for his
own residence. He built it on the highest spot in
what would become his namesake town.
Soon, Fulford was
followed by Judge
Pleasant Woodson
White and James
L. Nugent, early
leaders in the
community of what
would
become
Fulford in 1926
and then North
Miami Beach in Bagels Gone Bye: An advertising card from the long gone
1931. Other family and barely remembered Bagel Fare Restaurant, once upon
names, some still a time at 1990 NE 163rd St.
familiar
today,
include R. L. McDonald, the Frohocks, the Hanfords, the Laurenzos,
George Slick, Dan Diefenbach, Harry Cohen, Jule Littman, Wally
Pesetsky, Jeffrey Mishcon and Ray Marin. All have become part and
parcel of NMB’s local lore and legend.
The town of Fulford was incorporated in 1926, but wanting to capitalize
on the growing national fame of Miami Beach, the community voted to
change the name of their city to North Miami Beach (NMB) in 1931.
At that time, the city included large swaths of near-wilderness areas
known today as Ojus, Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach.
In the nearly 83 years since changing its name, NMB has become home
to a branch of a major university (Nova Southeastern), several private
From NMB’s
glorious past:
The fabled Hotel
Alabama on the
west side of the
FEC tracks, just
north of today’s NE
163rd Street.
and public schools, churches and synagogues, a wide range and
variety of businesses providing needs and services, a major shopping
center, a major hospital — Jackson North, formerly Parkway General
— and a diverse crossection of residents active in the city’s growth,
well-being and politics.
It is worth mentioning city founders William Fulford, Lafe Allen, his
daughter Lenore Allen Hanford and her husband, William C. Hanford
built what is today one of the most progressive cities in Florida.
In recognition their contribution to the city’s history and heritage,
community leaders have memorialized Lafe Allen by naming the city’s
library after him and for the Hanfords by re-naming the tree-lined,
pedestrian-friendly Northeast 164th Street as Hanford Boulevard.
North Miami Beach is today a cosmopolitan city with small town
values, thriving and vibrant with an unlimited future. Indeed, the city,
its residents, employees, shopkeepers, business people, medical and
other professionals as well as its institutions of medical care, secondary
and higher learning are working together to continue to make NMB an
even better place to live, work and raise a family than ever before.
Big Shipment: The
Ancient Spanish
Monastery as it arrived
in crates on the docks,
waiting to be brought
to its present site and
reassembled to the
treasure that still exists
today. The Monastery
is the single oldest
structure known
standing in North
America.
Seth H. Bramson is nationally known as the foremost authority on the history of transportation to, from, and within Florida.
He is company historian of the Florida East Coast Railway and author of 17 books, all relating to South Florida local and Florida transportation history.
For more information or to reach the author, visit www.sethbramsonbooks.com.
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UPTOWN south florida magazine