Author: commtims

     I stayed up late, Louisville slugger at the ready!

     The helicopters overhead, Police in every intersection – intercoms telling us to stay inside our homes!
 
           
                     “bad boys, bad boys, what you going do???

     Well I just heard from the Fort Lauderdale Police Spokesman Detective Travis Mandell, and here’s what all the serious commotion was about!
                 …………………………………………………………………

     Two homicide suspects, from another County, were in the neighborhood, and barricaded themselves in a house just up the street from me.

     The spokesman says when the Department’s fully equipped, specially trained SWAT vehicle ( they call the BEAR) arrived on the scene- 

                           

      …… the bad guys gave up  …. in custody!

                 ….. Louisville slugger, back in the closet!~

    

     The Police Chopper has been overhead our houses for an hour, shining the massive spotlight all around! 

             

     All intersections around my house are blocked. I went out and asked what was going on, should we be worried?

     The Officer said ” have you been inside your house?” I said “yes” .

      He said “go back inside!”  ….. I did!

      I e-mailed the Police, asked for them to let me know, when they could, who they were after, what did they do, did they get ’em?….


     I’m closing the door, getting out the baseball bat! 

     I’ll keep you informed ……

                                 Tim

     Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler opposed the Stand Your Ground gun use law, while he was a Legislator in Tallahassee.


               

     That’s Seiler in the back ( you might not recognize him!), behind former Governor Crist. Just to the right of Crist, is possible Republican Vice Presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

     Seiler was aghast this week when he heard of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

                          

     Seiler remembered fighting the Stand Your Ground law that some blame for the shooting of the innocent Martin.

    Here are some of the minutes of the Florida House battle that decided the law

          Representative Seiler –
    “I am concerned that the bill, as written, completely eliminates the duty to retreat in all public places outside of a home or occupied vehicle, and allows Floridians to engage someone with a deadly weapon in the public arena.

     This provision would create a number of potential loopholes for criminals, and would make it far more difficult for the Police and State Attorney to prosecute violent criminals, and even more difficult for innocent victims to recover damages from these violent criminals” 

     Seiler also tried to ammend the bill, but to no avail.

     

    

     This case troubles me. How about you?



     A 17 year-old kid is dead, my son is just 22, alive . The dead boy is black.
 
     He was shot in the chest by an older white guy, during a scuffle – unclear circumstances. Just minutes earlier, the boy had been walking down a street, minding his own business.

     Any more to the story?

     What happened?

      Here’s what I’ve been able to glean from the somewhat confusing and jumbled facts in all the news stories.

      The white guy is described as a self appointed neighborhood watch guy,

                    

     twenty seven year old George Zimmerman, somewhat checkered background.
 
     Zimmerman was making his crime watching rounds as he often did, looking for criminals. He spotted teen Martin, considered him suspicious, in the wrong neighborhood, dressed like a gangsta! Must be up to no good!

                         



     He follows the kid, who, by all accounts, wasn’t up to no good, just getting some candy at the local store.  Zimmerman calls Police. Police tell him not to follow Martin, but Zimmerman follows him anyhow.


     Here’s where it gets murky.

     Somehow, the two began to scuffle. Did Trayvon feel threatened/ intimidated,  and turn around and confront Zimmerman, punch him in the nose, knock him down? Or did Zimmerman chase down Trayvon, start a fight, begin the deadly battle?

     The initial police report said Zimmerman had a bloody nose and blood on the back of his head.

        “I could observe that [Zimmerman’s] back appeared to be wet and was covered in grass, as if he had been laying on his back on the ground. Zimmerman was also bleeding from the nose and back of his head.” 

     But the parents hear the 911 call and say it was Trayvon calling for help during the struggle, not Zimmerman.

     One thing’s for sure….. A sad day in America.

                      What say you?
     
     

     


     

     



 



    



    

    The long awaited – Citizen’s tour – of the Sewage Plant, technically called the

  George T. Lohmeyer Wastewater Treatment Plant, happened yesterday.

The Citizen’s tours are a series of tours around the City (any resident can attend), to facilities and places that are seldom toured!

The Sewage tour ( the Sewage plant is on the edge of Port Everglades, off SE 17th street Causeway) was a sold-out event. Fourteen citizens, ( we were only supposed to bring ten) was mostly made up of neighborhood Presidents and the like. The local bigshots spent over an hour yesterday exploring the billion dollar plant.

former Sun-Sentinel reporter Buddy Nevins joined in the fun

The Fort Lauderdale facility treats sewage from all of Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, parts of Tamarac, even parts of Davie. It can treat upwards of 80 million gallons a day ( now that’s a lot of flushing!)

First thing you notice is   …….   the smell !

Even though lots of attention ( and money) has been spent over the years on odor control, the odor is not totally under control! Attendee Jay Holloway, President of Victoria Park, told me he thought it would be tough for me to capture “the whole essence” of the tour in print – he was right!

We brought masks!

The plant is fascinating, though it was evident that it is in need of major repairs. There were numerous temporary pipes and fixes waiting for major overhauls ( and probably funding!)

local neighborhood President views some of the temporarily fixed incoming pipes

      The plant has emergency devices built in like this emergency generator ready for when the big storms come and the power goes out!

Sustainability committee member Vicki Eckels with the generator

The tour, led by Facility Manager Pat Long, was quite thorough. We went through the Pretreatment Plant, the Oxygen mixing areas, the Clarifiers, even the Scum Pond! Good thing we’d gotten a face mask for sale before arriving to this facility.

Tour guide ( and Plant Manager Pat Long) …thanks Pat

This million dollar contraption ( the squeezer or presser or patty cake maker) was near the end of the tour. After this, the mostly cleaned sewage water is forced deep in the ground (deep well injection) to eventually become tomorrow’s drinking water!

&nb
sp;                                                          A fun time was had by all !

 

     We’ve been following the little troubled neighborhood called…..  

                                      Progresso Village

                         
                                      sign letters still stolen – no respect !

      It’s that mixed neighborhood over by the RR Tracks and Andrews Ave. , just south of Sunrise Boulevard.

     A year back, it was consumed with controversy when it’s President, Doug Sterner, and a few of its board members, backed a City plan to move the troubled homeless souls out of Stranahan Park and into their neighborhood.

                                                   
                                                      Sterner

     The neighborhood revolted, and the plan was stopped, but the blood had turned bad. At their next election meeting, a new President was elected.

                               
                                     new Prez Bradford Cohen


     Today, the following e-mail came out from Cohen, replacing Sterner as the neighborhoods’ representative to the Council of Civic Associations. Sterner just happens to be the President of the Council, and their by-laws say the President must be an appointed rep from a neighborhood !

                Here’s Cohen’s e-mail


      Please be advised by way of this written communication, that as of last night March 20th, 2012, Doug Sterner is no longer the appointed representative of Progresso Village to the Council of Civic Associations.

     The members relayed to me that it is not in the best interest of Progresso Village to have a representative that does not live in Progresso Village or even in the City of Fort Lauderdale.

     I whole heartedly agreed with the sentiment. As such, I have removed him from his appointed position as the representative, and appointed JJ Hankerson as his replacement. I would have liked to tell him personally at our monthly meeting last night, but he failed to appear.

     I put this in the “Pay backs are a …… ” column… I’ll keep you apprised 

                                               Tim

     Just in case you are a new reader here, let me explain the Tim Tours, and tell you what’s next – see if you want to come!

     See, there are a lot of really neat things in the City that most residents could never see. I know that, because as a City Commissioner, I got a “back stage pass” to see them. You should get one too!

     So I asked the City Administration, the Hospital, Bonnet House, FPL etc. if they would open up their “secret” areas to you – 

                       And they said yes!

                
                                     last month at the Crime Lab !
     

     So here’s the scoop on this month’s fab tour!  A clue – it’s a real stinker !    

     
     The one that you’ve been waiting for – 

                                  

                   The Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour
                        
                               Wednesday, March, 21st – 4 p.m.

     The plant is on SE 17th Street and Eisenhower Blvd.. It’s a fascinating place…
 
     ….. you’ll be amazed at this billion dollar, state of the art facility…..

                    ……..  space on the tour is very limited, so to reserve a spot,  either place a comment here on the blog ( like  “it’s Bobby, I’ll be there!”) or send me a private e-mail to 

                            Tim@TimSmith.com

     …..  you can park around back, be prompt 4 pm  …call me if you need to 
                                         954-822-4727

    

     Some Gotta Win …….

         
                        Roberts wins with a record setting 83.9% …. with Fire Chief Justinak and Mayor Seiler

                              
                                         Former Commissioner Aurelius and wife Dori celebrate with Roberts


                         
                                              County Commissioner Chip LaMarca joins the Roberts shin dig



     Some Gotta Lose ……


                         
                              Jackie Scott loses to Commissioner Romney Rogers 65/35 … with Rodstrom



                           
                                         Ray Dettman and Vicki Eckels dance out of Scott soiree




                             
                                           Cal Deal pulled out all the stops  … but his candidate lost

     It’s been quite awhile since Chief Frank Adderley  …….

               made an actual arrest …. all by himself , that is!

     Adderley says he was heading for home the other evening in his private car, when a neighborhood activist reached him on his cell phone with a prostitution complaint. The complainant, Torren Poole, was a good source, and the action was only a few blocks away, so Adderley decided to go over and check it out himself! …. 

     He pulled up to the given intersection, and …..  well …. let’s let Adderley’s filed report take it from here –



                                   

     the Police Report –
              
               And here are the ladies of the evening themselves!

                              

                              

             … Good work Chief!

             

    To endorse or not to endorse – that is the question!

    Two Commissioners will be elected on Tuesday to round out the Fort Lauderdale City Commission for the next three years.

    The remaining races are in District I, where I’ve heartily endorsed the incumbent, Bruce Roberts, and District IV, which gives me heartburn!

      
            
                                           Scott                                     Rogers

      Now, I don’t think my endorsement is any big deal (at least not in District IV), but some of you loyal readers have been tweaking me, nudging me, daring me, questioning why I haven’t endorsed in the District IV race. 

      And one of you just questioned my political courage, and you know I can’t let that stand!

                               So here goes

     Romney Rogers is a gentle man. He (and his family) are important people in the District. He is a leader in his church. He is a solid team player for Mayor Seiler and the current Commission. He is analytical, often delves down into the weeds in issues. He has impeccable manners – (his parents should be proud!)

     But Rogers lacks passion. He appears to think all is good in the City, and where he lives and works, that’s probably about right. Therefore, Rogers hasn’t initiated much in the way of improvements in his first term.
 
     There is still no Riverwalk connection at the Stranahan House, the Riverfront is still dead, and the Bryan Homes (River House, Chart House) is dark.

      He hasn’t been successful in dealing with the homeless/vagrants that torture the downtown (his district), and to make those matters worse, he continues to try and relocate them up near my house !


     Jackie Scott is Roger’s opposite. Unlike the reserved Romney, Scott is outspoken and direct. Scott doesn’t like the term, but most that know her and have dealt with her refer to her as a bulldog.

     Scott has a long active history of civic accomplishments. She served as President of the Council of Civic Associations and has fought many battles for her neighborhood of Coolee Hammock. Scott has also been involved in numerous citywide efforts, historic preservation and the like. She generally accomplishes what she sets out to.

     But Scott is unpredictable. It’s often unclear if she is a proponent of redevelopment, or the leader of the slow growth movements.

     Scott can be sharp, pushy, lacking in the good manners that her opponent Rogers so excels in.

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

     So, in regards to my endorsement in the District IV race on Tuesday – 


                                 you’re on your own !