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Never wanting to slow down: Joe
Fontana |
Back in New York, Joe Fontana
represented entertainers. When he retired with his wife
Flora to Miami Beach in the late 1980s, he became
a political animal. Fontana ran for a seat on the
Miami Beach City Commission several times since 1991
— most recently in 2005. He also led the Beach
Republican Club, hosted a radio show, campaigned for
other candidates, formed the Miami Beach Condominium
and Homeowners Alliance, fought for causes he
believed in and fought against legislation he didn’t.
It was only
natural that the political animal would cross paths with
SunPost and Murmurs writers. Fontana promoted himself
much like the entertainers he promoted in his New York days.
He wasn’t shy about asking a reporter to quote him, and he
got steamed when he wasn’t mentioned in an article
describing a meeting at which he spoke. Never mind that
plenty of other people spoke at same said forum — if Fontana
wasn’t in the article, he saw it as a personal insult.
But Fontana
tirelessly promoted causes he believed in, too. For example,
he pursued the idea of constructing a youth center in North
Beach since 1992. When the city’s funding faltered, Fontana
raised money for the project on his own. Finally, in 2005,
the North Shore Park and Youth Center opened at 501
72nd St.
“He just
had a whole take-no-prisoners, full-speed-ahead
personality,” said Commissioner Michael Gongora. “He
was a person who got things done.”
So, it
hardly was any wonder that, at the peak of a landmark
election, Fontana was not willing to slow down —
even when his health faltered. Gongora said Fontana called
him and complained of chest pains last Wednesday morning. “I
arranged for him to be taken to a hospital,” he said.
Fontana, who volunteered in Gongora’s re-election campaign,
was reluctant to go. “He didn’t want to go to the hospital
and didn’t want to go in an ambulance.”
When
Fontana awoke from triple-bypass surgery at Mount
Sinai Hospital, the election was foremost on his mind. “The
man lives for local politics,” Gongora said. “The last
conversation was on Friday.” He wanted to delay an item
banning street banners on Collins Avenue. The reason:
Fontana, who proposed the item, wanted to speak before the
City Commission. Fontana also offered Gongora some campaign
advice: “You need to go out there … do some walking.”
But
“apparently his lungs filled with fluid,” Gongora said, and
Fontana underwent surgery again. He died early Labor Day
morning. He was 82. He is survived by his sister, Lee
Bobrow.
“It’s an
end of an era,” Fontana’s longtime friend and political
consultant Charlie Safdie said. “Joe’s very vocal
there in Miami Beach. In two decades on the beach, he was
able to accomplish a lot.”
Safdie said
he has known Fontana since 1992, when he had a show on WMBM.
“Joe is a good friend,” he said. “He used to call me five or
six times a day.”
When his
wife Flora died eight years ago, Fontana faithfully flew to
New York on the sixth of every month to visit her grave. “He
would call me to make reservations,” Safdie said. “I would
say, ‘Joe, when are you getting a computer?’” Fontana’s
reply: “‘What do I need a computer for when I have you?’”
A service
for Fontana will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Joseph’s
Parish Hall at 8635 Byron Ave.,
Miami Beach. He will be
buried alongside of Flora in a family mausoleum in New York.
“This is
his last trip to New York,” Safdie said. He paused, then
added, “Just now I figured it out.… He’s going back to Flora
on the sixth.”
Hey, Isn’t
That …?
The
SunPost editorial staff figured Irish cuisine and
Guinness were a fitting way to wish departing Managing
Editor Robin Shear good luck at her new gig at
South Florida CEO. So, they claimed a back table at
Clarke’s in South Beach and conversed about old
times. Coincidentally, the subject of Miami Police Chief
John Timoney came up when, through the front door,
walked … John Timoney.
“Oh shit,”
one staffer exclaimed as she instinctively crouched.
Timoney was
wearing neither his formal dark blue police uniform nor the
white bike helmet he often wears while conducting his own
bicycle patrols. Instead, Timoney wore a yellow shirt and
Teva-like sandals. The color of the beer he ordered matched
the shirt he was wearing. It was then that Murmurs wondered
if Timoney would recognize anyone at the table. The
SunPost has already been on the receiving end of
Timoney’s wrath. On the eve of a March 22 copy meeting,
Timoney called the SunPost to express his displeasure
— via four-letter words and a loud hang-up — with the
headline, “The Land of Rape and Murder,” in that day’s
issue. And then there was the Aug. 22 front-page Rebecca
Wakefield column, “Free Ride,” which called for
Timoney’s head after he drove around a free Lexus SUV
provided by Lexus of Kendall for more than a year without
bothering to report it. The table was discussing those
stories when the police chief suddenly stepped out — just as
Wakefield walked in. Timoney, not recognizing her, smiled
and politely nodded. Wakefield nodded back and headed for
the table. He returned a few minutes later with former
Miami Beach Police Chief Don DeLucca, who is now
part of the managing team for Verasys LLC, a private
“securities options” firm. Though Murmurs was shy about
talking to Timoney, he had no qualms about saying hello to
the always-friendly, though media-shy, DeLucca when the
ex-Miami Beach chief was heading to the restroom. “Can I ask
you what you and Timoney are talking about?” Murmurs asked.
In response, DeLucca smiled, shook his head and went on
to the bathroom. For the rest of the evening, Murmurs
focused his attention on his giant medium-rare hamburger,
looking up only to notice that former Miami Beach
Assistant City Manager Christina Cuervo, now an
executive with the Related Group of Florida, had joined
Timoney and DeLucca.
Recovering
After being
shot twice by robbers last week and left for dead floating
in Biscayne Bay, 35-year-old Alejandro “Alex” Gonzalez,
who helps run two David’s Cafes on South Beach with his
family, is “slowly improving.”
“He’s still
in a trauma ICU [intensive care unit] in critical, but
stable condition.… He is improving,”
his brother Alfredo Gonzalez said.
Murmurs
hopes Alex continues on the path of recovery.
Got a murmur?
E-mail editorial@miamisunpost
