Fort Lauderdale and Broward County

Florida Trend Staff | 5/1/2009

Why I Live Here: Tom Angelo

As someone who grew up in New York City, I always wanted to find a place to live that had the vibrancy and culture of New York without the hassles of a long commute and a four-hour drive during the summer to the Hamptons. I have found all of that and more in Fort Lauderdale. My commute to work down Las Olas Boulevard is just five minutes (10, if I stop by Gran Forno bakery for an espresso). We also have world-class shopping and restaurants like Cafe Martorano and Casa D’Angelo. Fort Lauderdale also has great cultural opportunities such as the Museum of Discovery and Science which offer exhibits that would rival other major cities.

Tom Angelo

Fort Lauderdale has a business-friendly environment which has attracted and retains some thriving businesses such as AutoNation, City Furniture and Cundy Insurance. We have an incoming Mayor, Jack Seiler, who I believe will make Fort Lauderdale an even better place to do business than it is today.

And while Fort Lauderdale is a thriving urban area, it also boasts some of the best parks and open spaces that allow my children to enjoy sports year round. We even have great educational institutions, such as Pine Crest preparatory school, which has been in existence since the 1930s.

Another positive about living in Fort Lauderdale is our airport, which is just 10 minutes from home and allows us to fly anywhere around the world. And when I do leave on a trip, whether for business or vacation, I always look forward to coming home.

Tom Angelo is founder and managing partner of Angelo & Banta, P.A.

Jody Moore

Growing up as a Navy brat and having lived in a number of coastal port cities including New Orleans, Charleston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Puerto Rico I have, I believe, a unique perspective and comparative of why as an adult I chose Fort Lauderdale/Broward County to be my home. Also, since I don't have family here and no real roots elsewhere I could have chosen any place in the U.S. to live, but my choice was Fort Lauderdale. I travel fairly frequently and enjoy visiting and vacationing elsewhere, but there has never been a place I have visited since moving to Fort Lauderdale where I felt the need or the desire to live other than Fort Lauderdale. For me Broward County offers so much in the way of outdoor activities because of it's year-round clement weather as well as access to world-class boating, fishing, diving and hunting activities both in Broward and to such places as the Keys, Bahamas and the Everglades given Broward's close proximity.

I find the business community in Broward to be vibrant and active if not unique and diverse. My business is in staffing industry and the placement of accounting and IT professionals both on a permanent as well as a consulting basis so my job is to be aware of businesses both emerging and established and networked with the leaders of those companies.

I have lived in Broward County for 25 years now, and my wife and I have four children in the school. I belong to a number of clubs, organizations and boards oriented toward business, leisure and the community, including the Broward Workshop.

Jody Moore is a partnter at MSI Consulting

Carl Schuster

In December 1939, my family and I became residents of Broward County. It was a sparsely populated county at that time, but I was only 2 years old so I was too young to really appreciate how wonderful it was as a place to live. I attended public school here and even lived here as I attended college and law school at the University of Miami. I have practiced law in Broward County for over 46 years.

I have not left Broward County to live elsewhere other than a short stint in the Army. It is still my home and that of my wife and two of my children. We moved here because it was a place for my father to earn a living and for us to exit the cold winters in Cincinnati. Little did we realize at the time that World War II would cause south Florida to be inhabited by a large crowd of U.S. armed services personnel who would come to the same conclusion we came to in a very short time here. The conclusion was that Broward County truly is "heaven on earth."

The result was many of those personnel decided to move here after the war and Broward County began to grow. Broward County has everything any resident could possibly want: Great diversity in population, fantastic weather, world-famous beaches, sports, music, art, stage plays, shopping, restaurants, casinos, hotels and much, much more. I have traveled to hundreds of other places, some of which were nice places to visit, but none were places I would want to call "home".

Carl Schuster is managing director at Ruden McClosky

Jan Douglas Atlas

I moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1976 from Manhattan. I enjoyed the practice of law and the sophistication of Manhattan immensely, however, I wanted to create a better lifestyle for myself and my children. They were infants at the time, and I was working a lot and not getting to spend enough time with them. I moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1976 to get a fresh start and spend more time with my family. When I moved here, it felt like a small town. I feel like I have grown up with the city.

Jan Douglas Atlas is partner-in-charge at Adorno & Yoss