Detectives’ Dream


     This is an important addition to our last post. 

     All the comments have been positive. Even Mayor Seiler and the Chief of Police were inspired by a couple of citizens that got involved to try and catch a burglar!  (Of course there was that one snarky Captain, but you can’t please everyone!)

                                                   
                                                       Adderley and Seiler

     So, here is a very brief review, and an amazing update!

     1.) ……  resident sees stranger in neighbors’ back yard trying to break into home  …….  resident takes strangers’ picture as he speeds away on Moped …..  puts picture and burglar warning on neighborhood interactive website …..

                                              

          2.)  ……  a Thrift Store just blocks up the street has customer looking for Moped parts only minutes after store owner finishes reading the neighborhood warning!  …..   Store owner thinks it is the burglary suspect! Suspect leaves phone number in case store got any moped parts.. ( you can’t make this stuff up!)

          3.)  …….. Thrift Store owner plays P.I. and follows possible burglar until suspect goes into house….  Now sleuths have the possible burglars’ picture,  phone number and  address ! … Police are given the important information.

           Then,

    4.)  …. the next day the suspect returns to the Thrift Store and   ……ready for this? .... tries to sell a camera! .. ( camera is one item listed as taken in burglary).

     5.)   ….. Thrift store owner is amazed, but has the presence of mind to film the action !

 

                             

      6.) Now the Police might just have the suspects’ picture, phone number, address, and a video of him trying to sell a suspected stolen camera!

              ……….  No word yet if an arrest has been made …..

Citizen Crime Fighters

     John Cox was home, gazing out at the Middle River in his Middle River Terrace home in Fort Lauderdale, when a stranger jumped over the fence into his back yard.

                                       

     Middle River Terrace has a burglary problem, with a burglary rate 78% higher than it was in 2005. So when someone jumped the fence into Johns’ backyard, he flew into action.

      John hurried out back, and the stranger, startled, jumped back over the fence into the neighbors’ yard. John grabbed his camera and was lucky enough to snap this picture of the stranger getting onto his moped.

  
                                              

    Now John didn’t think the burglar had gotten into his neighbor’s house, so he didn’t call the Police, but sat down to warn the neighbors on the neighborhoods’ interactive web site.

     A few minutes later,  the stranger on his moped pulled up to the neighborhood thrift store, Oddballs Nifty Thrift, looking for some parts for his moped. The store didn’t have any, but the stranger left his phone number in case they got some.

                                           
                                                               Oddballs

     The owner of the shop, Tim Smith,  just happened to be checking out the neighborhoods’ interactive web site as the stranger was leaving!

                                                     
                                                              Tim Smith

     “OMG“, Tim said out loud. “That’s the burglar! “.

     Tim lept outside, jumped in his truck and called John Cox. “I just followed the burglar and know where he lives. Meet me at the store and we’ll call the Cops!”

     So the cops arrived, and as it turned out, the stranger had gotten into the neighbors’ house. He had looted it of the owners’ laptop, camera, etc. all stuffed into the owners’ own backpack that the burglar wore as he sped away on the moped.

      The Cops took over the investigation, John went home, Tim went back to work.

     Citizen Crime Fighters – got to love ’em !

Some News

       Residents and Activists at the Beach proved last night that they do not oppose all building at the beach.

     At last night’s City Commission meeting, former Beach President Steve Glassman spoke in favor of the Tiffany House/Escape Hotel project, located at Birch Road and  Riomar Street. The development will save and restore the historic building, built in 1949 ( with the beaches’ first swimming pool), and add a twelve story condo beside it.

                                       

     Though the Central Beach Alliance spoke in favor, District Commissioner Dean Trantalis had some heartburn about the project, but ultimately voted for it. Word has it that his appointment to the Beach Redevelopment Board, Mel Rubenstein, who lives in a high-rise building adjacent to the project, was fiercely opposed. The development was approved 5-0.

Some controversial seat shuffling took place on the Citys’ newest CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Advisory Board, when City Commissioner Trantalis proposed that the Commission reappoint all the members except member Laura Croscenco.

      Croscenco presided for a rocky year as President of  the Middle River Terrace neighborhood, which has a part of the new CRA in its’ boundaries. Croscenco was almost  removed as President of MRT, half way through her term by the neighborhood membership, after a 29 to 20 vote didn’t quite meet the two-thirds requirement for removal in the neighborhoods’ by-laws.

     Croscenco fought hard to keep her seat on the CRA Board, but was replaced on the Advisory Board by Middle River Terraces’ new President Domingo “El” Cid.


                                                            In the “just cause I can” category, a reminder that the coolest thrift store in town, Oddballs Nifty Thrift, located at 530 NE 13th Street and run by 23 year – old Tim ( formerly Timmy) Smith, is offering at least a 10% discount on top of their already ridiculously low prices if you come in and say – “the old man suggested I come give you a look”
 
          

Turtle Watch Report


       We went, we saw, ….. but we only saw one turtle hatched and sprinting to the ocean.

             

     See the little tiny turtle sprinting to the ocean?

     Well, that is a tiny little turtle sprinting to the ocean, but it’s not the tiny little turtle we saw! We went out at night, and our tour guide, Richard Whitecloud, asked us not to take any pictures. That turtle above was seen by Cal Deal last year.

                                 

     There is a big controversy about the sea turtle nests. Activists like Whitecloud want the lights turned off ( or severly restricted) at the beach during the hatching season, but the folks that live at the beach say the dark conditions are unsafe, and that people have been mugged in the shadows.

     Anyhow it was an interesting night. The one nest that hatched held 58 turtles – 
thank God there was a slowpoke still making his way to the ocean by the
time we got to the nest!

                     Got any comments?

    

Tims’ Tours ….. #8

     Sea Turtles …..

              

     ….a majestic animal that can live to be over 100 years old will be hatching on the Fort Lauderdale Beach on Friday Night   ……

                        …………  wanna be there?

         What: another City tour by Tim

              Where: Fort Lauderdale Beach (park at Fort Lauderdale South Beach Parking)

              When: Friday night at 10 pm

              Questions: call Tim @ 954-822-4727

                                  

     The tour will be conducted by Richard Whitecloud, a half Cherokee/Blackfoot, half Irish turtle saver that runs a group called S.T.O.P.  (Sea Turtle Oversight Protection). He says his group has saved some 60,000 sea turtles.

     Whitecloud says it is peak hatch ling season and we’re pretty sure to see a nest hatch.

     …   We can only have 15 people, so please  RSVP to me by e-mailing me at tim@timsmith.com or just post a comment on this blog post saying  ….see you friday night

                                                                  Tim

Find This Witness ?


     Maybe you can help ….

     Yesterday, I came across this important mail from State Attorney Michael J. Satz.

     The official letter was under the door of the historic 1914 Annie Beck House, that is located in Fort Lauderdale’s Middle River Terrace Park.

                                              
    
     The State attorney was sending  a notice to a witness in a drug dealer case. The notice gives lots of important information to the witness, such as calling the Police if they are intimidated in any way!

     The witness? – Middle River Terrace Park!

   
                  If anyone sees Mr. Park, please give me or Mike a call !

Popeye Update

      He is Popeye, probably Fort Lauderdale’s most long lasting homeless panhandler.

       
Here he is yesterday. In his left hand is his protection spear,  he says the Cops say he has to keep the sock pulled over it.


                     

     
When I first met Popeye, years back,  he was living at Home Depot in the elevator, the outdoor one, and only after closing!

     But HD finally evicted him,  and he lived for awhile in a fleabag motel just south of Searstown. He told me yesterday the motel threw him out, and he’s back out on the street fending for himself….

      He wanted me to take a picture of his head.

                       

     And he needs a new shoe, only the one, as he only has one good foot, the right one, that he uses to shuffle himself along from panhandling median to median.

     Size 11.

Gay Marriage

      ….. one of the beaches’ top activists, Steve Glassman,  has run off to New York and gotten married –  to another man! 

                           
     

      
Steve sent me this e-mail (below) to share with me the notice he sent out about his nuptials – 

       Tim,  
I posted this on Facebook yesterday and have just read the 79 comments thus far from friends, family, and HS students that I taught from 1977-1994 in Buffalo. So very touched by these and makes me realize how much work we have to do in our state. 

   ….  As I am in a sharing mood, I want to forward an email I just sent to LGBT
leaders in Broward County, Florida. It is also meant for leaders nationwide
and supporters of marriage equality.
     Please indulge me:
 
     I am not in the habit of writing these kinds of emails, but I felt it was
important to thank each and every one of you for the work you have done,
still do, and will do in the future for our LGBT community.
 
     You see, I truly believe that people like you are a major reason why I was able to
marry my partner of 40+ years this past Wednesday, August 28, in Buffalo,
New York.

     Rande and I were visiting family in Buffalo and the Niagara region of
Ontario, Canada and decided in advance that the time was right to do this. After all, Rande was born in Buffalo, we met in Buffalo and shared a beautiful life there together for 21 years before moving to Florida.

     We were both born in New York State, and now we were going back to visit for the
first time in 19 years. The fact that our marriage was scheduled by City
Hall on the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
was icing on the cake.
   
     Surrounded by the love of our family that day and listening to the poignant
words of the marriage officer, this was, on many levels, just so right. Our
family even recited a Jewish LGBT marriage blessing as part of the ceremony.

 
     I did not think that I would feel any different getting married – after all,
after 40 years together, feelings are solidified and there are not that many
surprises. But, I was wrong. I do feel different and the solemnization of
the day and that piece of paper affirming our marriage is definitely
life-changing.


So, I won’t go on and on, just know that I do so appreciate what all of you
do each and every day to make a positive difference for our community. Our
civil rights struggle continues and, hopefully, one day Florida will wake
up.
Again, thank you.
Steven 

                 Congratulations Steve   …..  Tim