Author: commtims

     …….  to come to the aid of their City !!!

                  

                                 Your help is needed

     This Saturday, June 15th, starting at first light, lots of citizens in good standing will come together to paint and otherwise begin to fix up the historic Shippey House.

     The Dade County Pine home is one of the oldest structures in the city – 1913 – and has a really interesting story behind it. It was moved last year to the historic district, just days before being demolished by the wrecking ball.

      But,  it is a mess ! Here’s what it used to look like in its’ hay day, and will look like again – God willing –

                                   

     Besides the fact that the house is so very old, their is another great reason to restore and save it. The house was owned by Browards’ very colorful, second-ever Judge, Fred Shippey.

                                             
                                                             Shippey

      Shippey was quite a character. First off, he was appointed to be the County’s second Judge after the first one expired, even though he wasn’t even a lawyer, but a farmer! Apparently Shippey had a few good contacts ! (After Shippey, Boyd Anderson was appointed – he was a lawyer!)

     Shippey made a distinct  mark for himself as the County Judge.

      In one infamous ruling, he declared that the Pompano Race Track wasn’t really gambling, and didn’t have to close. He decreed, creatively,  that the wagers at the track were really just “donations to the horse owners “! In another ruling, Shippey declared that “fines for drunkenness would be discontinued” and replaced with “hard labor on the County road crew”!

     But Shippey had a softer side as well, chairing an organization that helped crippled children. One thing he was most proud of is that he presided over 1000 juvenile cases, and never had a re- offender ( they were probably afraid of the road crew!)

     And as Judge, Shippey was also in charge of probate, misdemeanors, and marriages. He opened his home for marriage ceremonies of the rich and famous of the times for their nuptials. Probably the most famous  being the wedding of Tarzan!

                                 

     So, will you come and help on Saturday?  Just show up in painty clothes, the brushes ( and lunch) will be provided.

     If you don’t think you can paint, or plant and mulch, just come by and pour the workers some lemonade, or just chat up the non-profit that is spearheading the restoration. Maybe you can help in other ways! You will also be able to chew the ears of some of today’s big shots ( and City Commissioners), they will be there painting with us.

                                               Saturday, June 15
                                                   8 am – until
                                               220 SW 3rd Avenue

                        ( call me if you have questions – 954-822-4727) …Tim
    
      


    

    

     It seems so to me.

     At the last Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting, Sistrunk Boulevard, the Main Street of the historically black community in the center of Fort Lauderdale, was again the topic of discussion.

                                           
                                                         Dubose

     Commissioner for the area, Bobby Dubose,  tried for a second time to extend the street name –Sistrunk- from its’ current terminus on the west side of the RR tracks, a few more blocks down to Federal Highway.

    [ As late as the 1960’s, blacks in Fort Lauderdale had to stay on the west side of the tracks after dark, were not allowed to swim in the ocean with whites, and had no say in the City Government.]

                                

                                             
     Now, you might remember that at the end of the Sistrunk road improvement project a few years back, the road contractor mistakenly installed the Sistrunk name on street signs all the way down to Federal, instead of stopping the name a few blocks short – on the west side of the RR tracks. Opposition was swift and the contractor had to remove the signs like this one.

                                              

                                            
     At the time, the opposition was led by Charlie King, (a Victoria Park resident and City Commission gadfly), and some local neighborhood leaders also piled on and cried foul at the renaming.

      King is  known for his outlandish statements like –

      “I always thought Confederate Highway instead of Federal Highway had a nice ring to it”,

      and “from my point of view, Sistrunk is probably the scariest street in Broward County, and

      Sistrunk is “choked with drunken criminals and hooligans, and

      “people associate it (Sistrunk) with drugs, murder, and prostitution“.

                                               
                                                      King

      At last Tuesday’s meeting, King had a little help on his mission to stop the street renaming from, surprisingly, Commissioner Dean Trantalis.

     Trantalis is known for his work on human rights! 

                                        

     Trantalis was apprehensive. He said renaming the road Sistrunk, to Federal,  “was a touchy subject”.

     Mayor Seiler countered “it’s a touchy subject on the other side too!”.  Trantalis then offered another idea – why don’t we name it “Alcee Hastings Street”. That fell flat.

     Seiler said naming the road Sistrunk was the “right thing to do”. and the other Commissioners agreed.. Seiler added that Dr. James Sistrunk had delivered 6000 children in the community before hospitals were segregated in the 60’s. He said that Sistrunk was “a prominent individual, that deserved to be recognized”. He added that the NE 6th Street name could also be displayed on the sign…

     Trantalis asked for time to talk to the neighborhoods in the vicinity to try and get their buy-in. Chances are he won’t get Kings’!

                                              Stay Tuned …. Tim

     .

    

 

     One thing I learned well, as a Commissioner,  is that the topic of traffic changes – ie road closures, speed humps, diversions, even stop signs etc.,  bring the people out – but they don’t always bring out the best in the people !

                                                    
                                                              Commish Tim

     Now, there’s plan brewing to change Dixie Highway, ( in my own neighborhood), from NE 13th Street to the city line – sides have been drawn, and a probably tense meeting is set for this Thursday to try and figure it all out.

                          Here’s the story

    Last summer, the residents of Middle River Terrace worked up a plan for a new and  improved Dixie Highway. It included a “shared path” (part sidewalk / part bike path), removed from the roadway – something like this …..

                                     

     All was good – there was universal support for the plan – until …..

                  ……..   City Hall said, on second thought, you can’t have your shared path after all. You will have to accept a plan that widens Dixie Highway by eight feet, adding bike lanes to the roadway, essentially making this small neighborhood road, wide, like a three lane highway ! Yikes !

      City officials said they were looking for “connectivity” to the cities to the north.

             ……  the neighborhood was not happy  ….. so the City said, OK, never mind that, we’ll just squeeze the road down to  “ten foot lanes ” from “twelve foot lanes”, and then we’ll just have to widen Dixie by four foot!

     [ The City has never reduced lanes to ten feet on a collector street  like Dixie. They have only done it on small side streets like this one in Flagler Heights.] Middle River Terrace would be the proverbial guinea pig.

                                                    

      Many residents were quite shocked.  This tweaking seemed to worsen the plan even more! Dixie would be made to look like the road above, but without the median separating the opposing lane, and a bike lane added where the curbing is, with curbing after that!

     Kind of like an extreme traffic roller-dome!

     A group of the Middle River Terrace residents, including most all of the former presidents ( me included), think this plan is misguided and dangerous, and should be scrapped. They say the original neighborhood plan with the shared path was far better, and should be built.

     They point to these facts –

     1.) ….. too many cars use Dixie everyday to make it a skinnier roadway, with go fast bikes in the single-lane roadway also.

                  

     The group is afraid if the city plan is built, we’ll soon see headlines like these –
                      

                          

    
     Here is a standard Uhaul truck –

                    

     With the mirrors, it measures almost ten feet! Two trucks, like this one, (UPS, FEDEX, big pick-ups etc.) won’t be able to pass one another comfortably on Dixie without veering into the bike lanes – where the bikers are !

     Now the other side of the debate is led by the current neighborhood President Laura Croscenco, who is pushing hard to accept the city plan. She is afraid if we don’t, we’ll end up with no improvements at all.

                                                                    
                                                                      Croscenco

     Croscenco is quite angry. She sent an e-mail out to all the neighborhood residents yesterday dismissing the neighborhood’s original plan, telling everyone to vote for the City plan only. Word has it that she has been giving Commissioner Dean Trantali
s  hell for having the City offer both the City plan, and the neighborhood’s original plan as alternatives at the meeting.

        I hope the poorly thought out city plan fails – and I hope the meeting set for this Thursday to discuss the multiple options finds the participants ruly, and on their best behavior –

              ……..  and I hope I’m one of them!

    

     

    

    

     When we last spoke, I had made my first bus ride from Fort Lauderdale to our Cabin business in the Georgia Mountains.

                                      
                                          Treehouse Cabin at Bear Creek Lodge and Cabins !

     Anyhow, you might remember that my problem was getting back home!

      How can I get back home to Fort Lauderdale? …. Didn’t want to take the bus again…… Not enough time to book a cheap airline ticket!

    I took a little walk along the river to think it over –

                   

     What the hell ? …..

     I waded over the Chattahoochee River to get a better look…

                    

     Holy Crap ! ….. Divine intervention !! …. My ride home !!! ….

     But which to choose?

                                  

     This looked like a good fit for a ride to Florida, but he said his destination was Key West, and that he would “drop me off” in Fort Lauderdale –  I didn’t like the sound of that!  ….

                        

 
     I thought this one would should stay in Georgia!

                                  

     And this puppy was on fire for God’s sake !!

     But there he was  … said his name was Nick. ….  real pleasant guy   ….

                    

     Just as we were about to lift off, he mentioned something about having to make a quick stop….  at the “North Pole”  …..

         …. I’m on the noon flight out of Atlanta – Delta – see you soon!

     I had to get up to Georgia, quickly!

     You see, Cindy and I have a mountain cabins business in Helen, Georgia and business got pretty brisk this past weekend.

                                
                                     www. BearCreekLodgeandCabins.com

     Cindy called and said, “get yer ….” …. “and make it snappy!”

     It was too late to grab a reasonable airplane ticket, so I thought I’d just jump in the truck and bear the 12 hour ride up. But there was a problem. The only other vehicle home in Fort Lauderdale was a big, ugly, dirty, hot truck, that didn’t run so great. Cindy was coming back to Fort Lauderdale first, and was not too happy.

     I thought a minute and typed in Greyhound  !  Damn, I can take a bus up for only $99. !

                 

     So there I was at the bus terminal on NE 3rd Street downtown. Just before 8a.m. and all looked good. No scary people, everything smelled normal!

     I was pleasantly surprised. The seats were big, clean, and reclined back way further than airplane seats. I was on the Express Bus, so only three stops on the way up. I took this picture of myself to prove to you I was on the bus –

                            

     I had picked up a slew of newspapers at the station, and slept a lot, but I did meet a friend in the seat beside me. She liked me a lot because she had forgot her phone charger! Mine worked in her phone just fine!

                        

     The only rap I could put on Greyhound was their station in Tifton, Georgia. They should pay me not to add this photo of that stop. We pulled up to the back of a Church’s Chicken and debarked.

                             

     Here is the waiting room! (see bus outside!)

     I had some fried chicken, didn’t sit on the chairs, went back to sleep next to my friend that still had my phone charger.

     About five hours later, I got to Helen – on time. Now the only problem – how the hell do I get home?

    

               

     You’ve heard the ol’ saying “you can’t fight City Hall”, and that may, or may not be true, but – God knows –

      ….. you can’t fight the I.R.S. ….  but that’s not stopping former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Rob Dressler.

     Dressler is the moderator of an informative, early morning discussion group called the Forum. 

     It meets once a month at FAU downtown at 7:30 am, and has lots of interesting speakers and topics.
 
                      
    
      This week’s main topic is ……. 

            ……. why did the IRS deny non-profit status to the clearly non-political group? Sure, they have politicians talk (see above), but they don’t take sides.

     Dressler figures they were caught up in the current IRS scandal and he is having none of it. Below he draws a line in the sand  …


                                              
        
     WARNING: THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE HAS DETERMINED THAT THE FORUM IS “NOT EDUCATIONAL”.

         LETTER FROM THE MODERATOR 
    
     Dear Members of the Forum Community,


     This letter and the revised logo represent my personal opinion and are not an “official” statement of The Fort Lauderdale Forum, Inc.

     As indicated in the recent Forum Update, the Forum appears to have been illegally targeted by the Internal Revenue Service and our application for tax-exempt status wrongfully denied.

     Personally, I am convinced this happened, as the bizarre treatment matches or exceeds that to which other groups were subjected (except for tax audits of the groups and their contributors – at least not yet.)

     As a result, the Forum has been permanently tainted, in that the IRS has determined that we are “not educational” and requires us to pay income taxes on contributions received, and has apparently linked the Forum (and myself and our Sponsors) with “right-wing” political groups, with which we have nothing in common.

     Following founder Jack Latona’s example, I have spent six years working to live up to our goal to “provide a place for reasoned discussion of current issues affecting the lives of citizens in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County” by being “non-profit, non-partisan and open to the public at no cost or obligation”.

     Those efforts have been officially contradicted by our government.

     Unfortunately, at this point, despite expressions of “outrage” and “apologies”, no commitment has been made to rectify the damage done to the “innocent” groups and to delete all information improperly obtained from IRS databases.

     If the “outrage” expressed by the President and Congressal leaders is real, they should immediately order an independent review of the applications improperly denied and assure the leaders of those groups that their reputations have been cleared, and all information improperly collected will be deleted from IRS databases.

     Until this is done, there is no reason to believe that anything has changed, and the Forum will continue to be under a cloud, forced to pay improper taxes, and possibly be subject to retaliation for complaining.

     Therefore, unless the Forum’s application is removed from the target list and receives a fair and independent review by year-end, I intend to resign as Moderator and President of the Forum, and our tainted, taxable organization be dissolved, with all remaining donations returned to contributors. 

     … I’ll let you know what happens   …. Tim

       
          News from the ….. 

                

            Miami-Dade County 

                     ROCKY RELATIONSHIP  


             
                   Seiler with former Ft. Laud. Mgr. Gretsas


     The relationship between Homestead City Manager George Gretsas and Mayor Steve Bateman is, well, let’s just say, not a friendly one.

     City Hall sources say Gretsas and his team, which includes several senior staff he hired from Fort Lauderdale, are at odds with some City Council members. There is also concern that Gretsas has hired few locals to serve in his administration.
 
     As the November election nears, don’t be surprised to see Team Gretsas become a campaign issue.

     ……  About 2 dozen citizens turned up to the ……

              
 
                        Fort Lauderdale Fire Museum tour

     … this past Wednesday, for a fun and informative tour led by museum co-founder, former City Commissioner John Aurelius.

     All the participants found the tour enlightening.

             

     The exhibits are very interesting, did you know that the water lines in this City were once made of  …..


            


        After the tour, we got to eat and drink as promised by the tour director –


          


     And then we found out what they meant when they said come and watch the pole dancing!!!


             


                                ……… should’ve figured !!

     Just got an update from the Fort Lauderdale Fire Museum about the upcoming tour!

                      

     They’re very excited that we are coming, and have decided to “add a few logs to the fire”!

                                            Food and Booze ! ( two of my favorites !)

     Come ready to eat, drink, see the wonderful displays, look for the resident ghost ….and something about   ……….

                                                
                                                          pole dancing?

                      See you Wednesday at 5:30 pm at 1022 W. Las Olas

    Our town is the butt of a warped joke in the online satirical newspaper The Onion.

     The front page article is entitled “Obama speechwriters unsure how they’d praise Fort Lauderdale in event of tragedy”.

     First off, these so-called speechwriters for a suspected  Kenyan/ Communist have some nerve! And can anyone name even one speech they wrote that hit the charts? ..OK, but can you name two?

                             

     The article basically calls our City a big lump of nothin, devoid of soul, overrun by yachts!

     It’s apparent that they just don’t get us.

     The writers live in D.C., and granted, they have a lot of cool things there, but they also a lot of murders! Sure, if you grow up in D.C., you get bored with all the field trips to the Smithsonians, the Congress, and the White House.

     But do they have Butterfly World?

                                            

     They go on to ridicule us for having Fireworks stands, strip malls, retirement homes, sunburned tourists, and drunk spring breakers. So what’s your point guys?

     And we have a lot of things that D.C. doesn’t – try motoring down Pennsylvania Ave. in this Mr. Big Shot writers –

                                             

     Got ’em there huh?

     Add to that our Everglades tours, horse racing, dog racing, car racing,  jai alai, Flamingo Gardens and the Funderdome, and I think they get the picture!

     Most ridiculously, they accuse Fort Lauderdale of not having a “unique identity”.

     Are you kidding me? We’ve been trying to get rid of our “unique identity” for years! Ever heard of Connie Francis!

                                    

     
     Lastly, the know-it-all writers say we lack “inspiring local figures” I don’t know about inspiring figures, but we certainly don’t lack in “colorful local figures”!

                                        
                                            resident Nick Nolte

     Do the names Naugle, the late Rev. Kennedy, Kathy Willets, Bob Cox, Earl Rynerson ring a bell?

      Enough of this defending ourselves. The old adage – a picture paints a thousands words – will suffice –