Author: commtims

      ………. The race is on for the Florida House of Representatives District 94.

      The seat is currently held by Perry Thurston, but he is term limited, and running for Attorney General.

                                                        
                                                                  Thurston 

        I live in that District, and have made some noise about possibly running for the seat, but for now, I’m just blogging about it!

       It is an interesting race. The District runs from Lauderdale Lakes down through Fort Lauderdale, up into Wilton Manors, and finishes in Oakland Park. Currently, these two men are running.

                             
                                         Bobby Dubose and Levoyd Williams

        Dubose is a Commissioner in Fort Lauderdale, Levoyd a Commissioner in Lauderdale Lakes.

        The District is almost 60% black, and nearly 90% democrat ! So, the winner will be decided in the primary in August, as no republican has a chance of winning in the November General election.

       But here’s the rub – whichever candidate can capture the white (and considerably gay) Wilton Manors and Oakland Park vote, could win.

        They had a debate at last week’s gay Dolphin Democrat meeting, and here are the highlights –

                         

         Dubose says he is in favor of gay marriage, as does Williams. That is significant, as the black community has long opposed it.

                     

           And Williams is in favor of medical marijuana, as is Dubose!

          Both men also state that they will be there to fight for the gay issues, but Dubose admitted to a somewhat strained relationship with his colleague, famous gay politician Dean Trantalis.

                                   

           Williams tried to separate himself from Dubose by saying that the difference between he and Dubose was that he “was a fighter”, grew up in North Florida, and “knew how to talk to them”. He told the group he grew up in the civil rights era and “felt their pain”.

           Dubose said the Pledge of Allegiance called for justice for all, and said he was committed to that. He pointed to support for “family recognition”, and “hospital visits”, and said he would be “championing those issues”.

          The men differed somewhat on juvenile crime. Dubose favors a “holistic” approach, concentrating on the “front end”., but Williams, pointing to the current problem with juvenile burglaries, said “there has to be a limit”, and that you can’t “placate and pamper them”.

               I’ll keep you informed …. Tim
 
      

                     

 
                                        CITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE
                                           POLICE DEPARTMENT

                                                PRESS RELEASE

February 5, 2014

HOMICIDE

                         

     The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is investigating a homicide that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th shortly before 8:00 A.M. The incident took place in the 1200 block of Northeast 4th Avenue in the City of Fort Lauderdale.

     The Fort Lauderdale Police Department received a report of shots fired at this location.
When the officers arrived, they discovered a male victim lying in the roadway.
The victim has been identified as Pierre Akeem Gustave, B/M, 04/11/90, a resident of the City of Margate.

     Gustave was recently released from Florida State Prison on August 13, 2013 and known to frequent the area.
This is an active and on-going investigation. Investigators are encouraging anyone who may have witnessed this shooting or who may have information about the incident to contact Detectives Mark Shotwell at 954-828-5517 or Jim Jaggers at 954-828-5970.

      I could tell it was something serious.

                          

     Just a few blocks north of Home Depot, on NE 4th Avenue, the Police vehicles were thick. Squad cars, Sergeant Cars, the Crime Scene Unit, an Ambulance and a Fire Truck.

     The yellow Police line was stretched around the perimeter, no way to see what was happening. I walked into my friend George Fortney’s appliance store and out to the back lot where George and his grandson, George, were standing. From there you could see all the carnage.

 
                   

     
          Right away it was apparent to me that another kid had been shot, gang style. The two bicycles littering the crime scene were the dead give-a-way. Another murder in South Middle River.

                      

       And there he was. Word has it that he was shot in the head while on his bike.

       Senseless…..

     There are some Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods with little -to- no home burglaries.

     (A burglary is where some criminal climbs in your window or door and steals your things. Hopefully, you are not home when that happens.)

                                     

     Our City Managers’ neighborhood, (Bal Harbor), has had one burglary so far this year, Galt Mile has had one, Idlewyld one, Sunrise Key and Sunrise Intracoastal,  none.

     Then there is my neighborhood ! ……  The list below is the long list of my neighbors who had burglars climb in their windows (or doors) so far this year. There have been more burglaries in my neighborhood so far this year than any year on record. (The list is entitled South Middle River, but that is the PD’s mistake, it is actually a list of the burglaries in Middle River Terrace...)

                                    …………   Just not right !

      Today was a very good day for 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale.  It is $1.5 million dollars better !  ……..  I’ll tell you how in a moment.

            

       The 13th Street area comprises about 15,000 Fort Lauderdalians in four neighborhoods and a substandard business district.

     It has been fighting for years to bring itself back to the splendor it once was before crime, crack, and County traffic “fixes” nearly killed it off in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

                                          
                                                           crack cocaine

     The area has a strong alliance of volunteers that has painted murals, marched against crime, pestered the City leaders, installed fancy sculptures in the medians –

                              

                         ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

                           

                        ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                          

      But today the area hit the jackpot – $1.5 million in County Redevelopment money, intended to bring the business district back to a “Complete Street”.

     In a year or so, the roadway will be converted back to what it used to be – a user friendly road for businesses that includes nice sidewalks, lighting, parking, and a whole array of niceties.

     Boy that feels good !

    

    
    

     Just got a call from Blue Cross Blue Shield.

    

     They had to decide if they were going to refund my $31.99 that I paid for a flu shot.

     Turns out, flu shots are preventative, and therefore covered under the Affordable Care Act ( with no deductible or co-pay!)

                                       

     They said the “check is in the mail”, should be in my mailbox in a couple of weeks!

                                         Yea !

    

      I had a brief chat with a guy in the elevator at City Hall last night who asked “So, did you ever get that refund for your flu shot from BCBS?”.

     It dawned on me that I should let you know the outcomes of some of the things I write about so here goes  ………………….

    #1
           

      Remember that Yrral and others in the ritzy Harbor Beach neighborhood were fed up that illegal parking on residential front yards was taking place every year at the Boat Show.

                                                         Not this year!

     I couldn’t find out who should get the credit for the correction, but after we exposed it here, and somewhere between the Police and Code Enforcement officer Dick Eaton looking into the issue, things straightened out and no illegal parking was seen. I think Commissioner Romney Rogers got involved.

       ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
   #2
     The City went ahead with the extension of Sistrunk Boulevard to Federal Highway.

                                           

     It was surely the right thing to do, and I was glad that Commissioner Dean Trantalis finally went along to make the vote unanimous, 5-0.

                                               

     Mayor Jack Seiler deserves a lot of credit for passionately supporting the name extension from day one and working the issue behind the scenes, and I give the Mayor lots of extra credit for standing up to city- nitwit Charlie (Confederate Highway) King, along the way.

                     …………………………………………………………………………………………

      #3
    And finally, to that guy in the elevator at City Hall –  …. BCBS has called me six times to tell me they are “working” on my request for the $31.99 refund for my flu shot.
 

     Maybe we will know by my next update! 

     

     I decided that this year I was going to get a flu shot.

    I’m 57, and I’ve gotten  the flu the last couple of years and didn’t want it back this year! And as an added bonus, I realized that ObamaCare makes the insurance companies cover preventive care, and what’s more preventative than a flu shot?

     Now I’ve told you that being self employed makes health insurance expensive, and that I looked into changing to a different insurance carrier through Healthcare.gov, ( yes,I got through) when ObamaCare officially opens in January. Turns out I’ll save a lot of money, but for now I’m still with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

                                 

     So I went over to CVS in Wilton Manors, because as you see they have “pharmacists who care”.……..  Not so much!

     I presented my Blue Cross Blue Shield card to the um … caring pharmacist, who said, nope, not covered. I said “but preventative care is covered in ObamaCare without a deductible, and that part of ObamaCare started last year”.”. They said “work it out with your insurer”. Next in line!

                                       

    So I called BCBS ….. six times!

    They’ve said many things like “oh yes, it’s covered, but only at the pharmacy”, and “oh yes, it’s covered, but only at your doctor’s office, and “oh no, not covered”, and oh yes, covered, but we have to escalate to a supervisor”.

                         

      …..so, I didn’t want to spend the night at CVS, so I paid the $31.99 to the caring pharmacist, got the shot and went home ……..   no flu this year!

     I called again later that night and applied for a refund. They said they were taking it under consideration.

     I think ObamaCare will work, but it ain’t yet!

    

                                                       

      I could never find Waldo when reading those books to my child years ago, and I had no more luck finding Commissioner Bobby Dubose at an important meeting last night in Wilton Manors.

     For some background, Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bobby Dubose has announced that he is resigning his City Commission seat to run for the Florida House of Representatives – District 94.

     Last nights’ meeting that Dubose missed was held by Rep. Perry Thurston ( who is term limited out of District 94  and running for Attorney General). Thurston organized this first LGBT town hall meeting in Wilton Manors – discussing State issues important to the gay community., which make up a large voting bloc.

                                        

     District 94 (in yellow) is unofficially seen as the House seat created so an African American would more or less be guaranteed a seat in Tallahassee, but the District also includes a part of Plantation, a sizable chunk of Fort Lauderdale (where I live), most of Wilton Manors, and an important swath of Oakland Park.

      The race for the House seat already has four African Americans in the race, so I expected Dubose would be at this meeting……. so I searched!

                 ….Was he here on stage with the other bigshots?

                              
                              Nan Rich (running for Gov.), Senator Maria Sachs, Rep. Sobel, Rep. Thurston,
                                       Wilton Manors Vice Mayor Carson and Comm. Green, activist Michael Rajner

                                                         Nope not there!

        I did find the back of the head of county Commissioner Tim Ryan and the only Republican in the room, County Commissioner Chip LaMarca.

                           

                                                        But no Dubose!

     Two other of the announced candidates for District 94 were there. Lauderdale Lakes Commission Levoyd Williams, and Eric Alexander Fowler II.

                          
                                                       Levoyd Williams

      Maybe Dubose had a good reason for the no show, I haven’t heard.  Another candidate for the seat, Jimmy (O’Glory) Witherspoon, wasn’t in attendance either.

      But any candidate that can convince the voters in Plantation, Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, (and the neighborhoods where I live), that they will also be represented in Tallahassee could win the day!

     Maybe even a candidate from that area could win the day!

    

                              
                                                 Witherspoon and Dubose ( elsewhere)

                                         
                                                                             
                                                                                            Tim Smith