Author: commtims

     In my last musing, I shared some thoughts about the upcoming Tuesday election. I even had the audacity to do a little endorsing.

     Well, no good deed goes unpunished, and I heard from one of the candidate’s supporters that I did not endorse.

     The call was about local infamous lawyer and perpetual candidate Jim Lewis.

       Jim became famous when he represented    
                                                                                                             child, child killer Lionel Tate

     The caller asked me to consider the following strong points about Lewis,

     1.) Lewis doesn’t take any money from lobbyists, idealogue, partisans – actually no one! 

     2.) Lewis wants to reform the bloated, overwhelmed crime and punishment system by legalizing

                                                                                        
                                                                                                  

     3.) Lewis is the most fiscally conservative of the candidates. Some proof of that is made by the two pictures below.

                                 Lewis’s sign in a field of sign blight 

                      

                            Lewis proof that he knows how to save on sign lumber costs!

                           
                                    

           Note:  the sign buried underneath Lewis’s sign is for Judge Skolnik who won re-election last August   ……..

     Funny thing about being an elected official and even a former elected official. Come election time, lots of your friends and acquaintances will ask your opinion on the ballot choices.

                                                     

    
     Here’s my take ( sort of) :

                                                  … United States Senator
…… your real choice here is between a far left guy, a far right guy, and a guy who will be whatever you want him to be! ….some think Meeks will drop out and Crist will have a shot…I say no way that will happen….

     I’m not offering an opinion on this race, but one thing I am sure of … you should steer clear of this fringe U.S. Senate candidate pictured below.

                                                          
                                           U.S. Senate candidate Bobbie Bean

     Bean’s running on a kind of “fear the Muslims” platform, and says it’s reasonable to think that Christians will soon have to hide in the closet to read the bible.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
                                                              …….. Governor
……….between the Democrat Alex Sink and the Republican Rick Scott.

     Scott totally lost me when he had his mother attend one of the debates for him because “everybody was picking on him”  …..  Vote Sink
      ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
                       
                                                         Attorney General

…… not a lot of pizazz in this race, a Dem and a Repub, but third party candidate and hometown boy Jim Lewis is running for it…. Of course Jim’s run for about every elected position possible!
 
                                                              
                                                                    don’t vote Jim – again

     …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
 
                                                                Supreme Court Justices

……….  the ballot asks us ” if we’d like to retain them”  …. what kind of choice is that? ..I said NO

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

                                                                     Issues

     ………… should we repeal campaign financing reform  ……… No

    ………….  should we give our military serving overseas extra homestead exemptions …… hell Yes

    ………….  should we have to set a referendum every time a city wants to change a Land Use Reg? … No 

    …………  should we stop politicians from changing boundaries around so they can get reelected… hell Yes

    ………..  should we go back on our decision to keep classroom sizes small? ….. hell No 

    ………..  new Ethics laws for everyone?  …..hell Yes

   …………  should we review the County charter less often than we do now?  ….  a final hell No 

                             now you know what I think  ….. if you cared !  …..Tim

                                                                    

    Mayor Jack Seiler wants YOU ! 

    …… to join him in a workout ! ….  Seiler’s newest effort promotes a healthy Fort Lauderdale. He says he well knows that it is “easy to say, but not the easiest to do”. So he plans on “walking the walk”, literally, not just “talking the talk”. 

                     Here’s the deal !

      Jack invites you to come along on his new work-out plan. He figures he can get healthy, meet new citizens, and inspect the neighborhoods, all at the same time. His first jog/walk workout will be next Monday, Oct. 18th, at 7 P.M……  Meet at Huizenga Plaza at Las Olas and Andrews.

     Now, just in case you don’t think you can keep up, cut the mustard, here’s a picture Jack jogging! ( and this was back when he was in shape!)             
                                    
                                                         “Joggin” Jack
    
      And if you need more proof, I’ll be jogging along side Jack – and here’s what that tortured view looks like !

                                                          
                                                               barely jogging Tim

      Some of the areas health professionals will be there to warm us up with stretches first.   And to keep us all safe, Chief Frank Adderley will be jogging along with us.

     The Mayor will also have staff along, so if you tell him about a problem to fix, or you have a great idea that he’ll want to investigate, someone will be there to put it all down.  

     Here’s how Seiler’s staff will come along – 

                                     
                                       Oceanview Rickshaws will carry the secretary !   .. thanks Jay  

     And if your idea of exercise is by bicycle, or skates, or pogo stick, just come along as you like.

     And if you need more motivation, the 2 mile course will wind through the Historic neighborhood of Sailboat Bend and end here – 

                               

                           Tarpon Bend…..where a tall frosty one will await all who complete the course!

           ….. for more info, e-mail me at Tim@TimSmith.com , or call the Mayor’s office.

        
            
    
 

     All great cities have a Police Mounted Unit   …….  We do!
                                                 
                                                      Fort Lauderdale’s four legged finest !

     They are unique in the things they do…….  The problem is – they ain’t cheap!

                         

     Nearly every budget season, the Unit is on the chopping block, only to be saved by the bell at the last minute. Some year, sooner or later,they won’t make the cut. But what if the Unit could pay for itself? 

             Here’s what I’m thinking  

     We have a wonderful Mounted facility in Holiday Park, an 80 acre park right in the middle of Fort Lauderdale.

                              
                                                    the horsey facility in Holiday park

     The Unit does what it can to cut costs – here’s amazing proof !

                                  
                           Fort Lauderedale Cop with plunkards ( that’s what the stuff in the pitchfork is called!)

     How about we try and find a horse stabling/riding business that would like to locate next to the Cops in the Park.

     They could  offer rides all around the giant park on the weekends, board horses for our citizens. They could even take over the plunkard digging duties!
    
     There’s plenty of horse businesses out in Davie, and I’ll bet one of them would pay real money for the opportunity to go east to the big city Fort Lauderdale!

     
                                                                  
                                                                               picture yourself here
    
      

                                                      A cost cutting idea for the City of Fort Lauderdale ! 

                                       

                                                       Delray Beach Traffic Enforcement Division
                                   EZ Go Golf Cart – less than $5000. totally tricked out!

                     
                          Fort Lauderdale Traffic Enforcement Division
                                Ford Escape – totally tricked out $25,000 

     
                                     Savings per vehicle = $20,000

     Ron “Popeye” Gray

                              
                                                  age – 56
                                                  address – roof of the Home Depot
                                                  occupation – panhandler 

      If you drive Sunrise Boulevard, you’ll probably recognize Popeye. He spends at least some of each day panhandling,  perched on a small 3 foot median on the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and NE 4th Avenue. (just outside Home Depot.)

     According to Popeye, (nicknamed that due to a sleepy eye) his problems that lead to his current condition started just after New Year’s in 2005. 

       He was a carpenter, a good one he says. (” I can still hang a door”).  But after drinking too much one Friday after work, he fell out of a truck. His leg suffered permanent nerve damage, leaving him mostly wheelchair bound.

     He lost his job, his wife, his house. Now, he wheels the chair straight out into traffic to panhandle. “I always go backwards, so I can see the cars coming”.

                                          
                                                               badly sunburned, nerve damaged leg

     He’s a sad case for sure. He doesn’t appear to be mentally disabled. He’s smart, but talks incessantly, and says he is writing a book, though I can’t imagine how.

      He did want me to see his head. It’s a mess. He says he’s basically healthy, though he “may have cancer”.

                                          
                                                                     Popeye’s head

     He says he eats alright, mostly at McDonalds ( prefers bacon cheddar and cheese), reads the paper  there when someone gives him one, and when it rains, ducks into the elevator on the Home Depot roof. He says the employees there feel for him and help him out when they can.

     He says most of his panhandling goes for cigarettes (anything but menthol), beer, and food for a little kitten named Tiger that he has adopted.

     He has a criminal record (spent a year “in the County” for cocaine possession and fighting with the Cops), but says he now has a good relationship with them – “they mostly drive by and wave”. 

     I asked him what his future holds. He’s not sure. He says he’s too independent to stay in shelters for long, and can’t get a job due to his leg (and the criminal record). He says he’s been trying forever to get disability, but says he hasn’t had any luck. He says he’s thinking of putting his leg on the track when the train goes by. He figures that will get him disability quick.

     He says until he does that, he’d really like some shoes, as he currently only has two left footed flip-flops. He’s a size 11 and a half, and wants some with “good treads”, ones that will help him push his chair.

     Anybody make any sense of this ?   ………    Tim
 
     

    

     It’s been in the planning process for over ten years, but now it’s hit a snag.

     Passenger Service on the Florida East Coast rail line.

            We had it once, long ago. Henry Flagler saw to that.       

     
     It went away decades ago when the owners of the tracks decided to run freight only. Today, only the rumbling noise of the rock clogged trains move through Fort Lauderdale. But  the plans have been slowly working their way through the cumbersome public planning process for the new service. This passenger service line would run from Jupiter to Miami, with dozens of stops along the way.

     Unfortunately, this week, residents of Fort Lauderdale Downtown have thrown a wrinkle in the process.

     Here’s the problem.

     1.) – In order for the new service to be successful, it must run often, say every 15 minutes from each station.

     2.) – The trains must pass over the New River, and the marine interests say opening a draw bridge every     15 minutes over the river would be dangerous and unworkable. They say a very tall bridge ( maybe 90 foot) would have to be built over the river.

     3.) – The Downtown Residents are loudly saying “hold on, we don’t want a big, ugly, tall bridge dividing the downtown”. They want a tunnel.

                                     
                                        the bridge would have to run along this stretch – Broward and south

   4.) – The planners say a tunnel costs huge bucks, maybe 10 times the cost of a bridge, maybe a half a billion dollars. Probably a deal killer.

                                 Does anyone have a phone number for Henry Flagler ???

     It’s evident that former Sun-Sentinel political writer, Buddy Nevins, doesn’t think much of the current Fort Lauderdale City Commission.

     He no longer writes for the Sun-Sentinel, (more about that in a minute) but writes his own blog on local Broward politics.

     This week he blogged explosive news that “at least one Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner is being investigated by State Attorney Mike Satz’s office for corruption“. (More on that in a minute too!)

                                         
                                       Nevins the blogger

    Here’s a sampling of his latest rants on the Fort Lauderdale City Commission 

      …… this current Commission was elected with a lot of promise …. it is ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT ….

     …….  they are lap dogs of the development industry …..  deaf to the pleas of residents …

     ……. something is rotten in City Hall … not something, five somethings that call themselves the City Commission

     ……. Commission are damaging their (citizens) lives, not that they care 

     ……  They only see a far as the next election

     I asked all of the Commissioner’s if they’d like to comment on Buddy’s attacks, but got no response, except Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom, who told me that she heard that the States Attorney’s investigation was on a member of the last Commission, not the current one.

       Nevins was the political reporter for the Sun-Sentinel for many years. He was known for his acerbic style, and politicians often dreaded his Saturday morning column. His columns were often ruthless, and many of his victims say he was prone to print rumors, not necessarily born out by the facts. 

     Once, after reporting inaccurate information on me, Nevin’s told me that he didn’t have to check out his facts, that he was “ a columnist “, and that columnists weren’t restricted by hard facts. He said he would print a retraction, but never did. He recently wrote in his new blog that his blog was “his opinion”, not reporting. 

     Nevins left the Sun-Sentinel under a cloud. As a reporter, Nevins was supposed to be non-political, but after speaking at a Lauderdale Republican Club, in what was described as a “Nevins led G.O.P. rally”, Nevins resigned.

     Nevin’s is a slow growther. His latest slams on the Fort Lauderdale City Commission mostly revolve around planned development projects he disagrees with. Nevin’s lives out in West Broward, just a few miles from the Everglades.

                                      
                                               Nevin’s house down there where nature used to be

     After Nevin’s wrote last week that a Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner was being investigated for corruption, I tried to get confirmation of that from the State Attorney’s office. I didn’t have any luck. 

     Maybe it’s a good scoop, but maybe it’s just Buddy’s opinion again. 

     Maybe Buddy ought to keep his opinions to himself. 

    

     Todays’ Broward County Commission meeting was one for the record books.

     Commissioners crying, yelling, stomping their feet over the proposed Ethics Proposal. They even had to call a time out and send everyone to their corners for a cooling off period!

     But while Rome was burning, and Commissioner’s ethics was the topic, District 9 County Commissioner Al C. Jones was busy passing out goodies to the neighborhood Presidents in his District by e-mail!
                                                            
                                       Commissioner  Al C. Jones   …. formerly just Al Jones   

         Here is the first e-mail which arrived just before 1:30 this afternoon

Greetings District 9 Homeowner’s Association Presidents,

The Broward County Commission has been given tickets to the two pre-season Miami Dolphin Games listed below that will be presented to the constituents of each perspective District. Commissioner Jones wants to present each president with two tickets to one of the games for distribution to your members or yourself.

Miami Dolphins -vs- Tampa Bay Buccaneers Saturday, August 14th, 2010 @ 7:00PM

Miami Dolphins -vs- Atlanta Falcons Saturday August 27th, 2010 @ 7:00PM

Please note there is a limited amount of tickets and they will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. So please contact our office as soon as possible. Also, to ensure constituents of District 9 are served, we will need the name and address of the recipients. 

     But then,  the County Commission came back to the dias and finished thier business about the ethical behavior of Commissioners and this e-mail followed about 5:00 p.m. …..

Attention District 9 Homeowner Presidents!

In lieu of today’s vote by the Broward County Board of County Commission which approved Item No. 7, Motion to consider enactment of Ordinance creating Chapter 1, Article II, Section 1-19, relating to a Code of Ethics for the Broward County Board of County Commissioners on the August 10th Public Hearing Agenda, the former offer to present two tickets to the Miami Dolphins, August 14th – Tampa Bay Buccaneers and August 27th – Atlanta Falcons game has to been rescinded. 

     Maybe the new Ethics Law is working already !!

          

    

     Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas will only hold that special title for two more days.

As you may know, as of Saturday, July 31st, Manager Gretsas will just be another former Fort Lauderdale City Manager. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission decided not to renew his contract by a vote of 3-2.

One citizen activist, Cal Deal, who’s plenty happy to see him leave, just sent me this  …

  See it tick down to 5 p.m. Saturday at  <a” />www.fortlauderdaleobserver.com/countdown<a< />

I spoke to Gretsas today about his time here in Fort Lauderdale, about his admirers, and his detractors, and about his future plans.
………………………………………….
me   …  “So George, only two more days left …  how’s it feel ?”

     Gretsas … “it’s an interesting time … sad to leave people you care about …. I loved this job”

     me …  “when did you first see Fort Lauderdale, and what were your impressions?”

     Gretsas … “I came here for a couple of hours when I was in White Plains   ….. we were working on our downtown and I came to take some pictures of Las Olas  ….  magnificent …. natural resources …. quality of life…. a special city”
………………………………………….
Gretsas came to work here on August 1, 2004, so he’ll be leaving just at six years of employment. This was him back then …

                                    ………………………………………………………
me … “did you know when you signed on six years ago that this would be a temporary job?”

     Gretsas … “everything in life it temporary …. City Manager jobs are more volatile than most jobs….. political whims”

     me … let’s settle a few rumors !

     Gretsas … Oh no!      

me …  “Some say you’ll stay in town and run for the City Commission?”

     Gretsas … [chuckles] “I’ve never said that to anyone”

     me … “and some say you are getting married here in October, so you will be staying here”

     Gretsas … ” I am getting married in Miami on October 30th”  [location due to wife’s family] …. “and my preference is to keep my place on the Fort Lauderdale Beach, if I can” (regardless of his future employment)

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

     Gretsas has hardcore fans and bitter opponents….. He has been praised in the press, and beaten in the blogs…  This picture showed up after a difficult public discussion of his employment contract.

 ………………………………………………………………….

     me … ” Does Fort Lauderdale know what it wants to be when it grows up?”

     Gretsas … “there’s lots of conflicts, lots of different views …. I say our best customer is an educated consumer    …. but there are the malcontents  ….. only happy with dysfunction …. just a handful of people …. but they get as much traction as all the rest ….”. You can also find about our partners as it can help you to attain your goal.

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

     Gretsas ferociously defends his performance here in Fort Lauderdale. He points to ( and crows!) about the poor fiscal conditions he inherited when he arrived, and the solvency of the City today. He says no one person can take credit for that, but is proud of his accomplishments,  ” like a plant you nurture”.

     He says he worked hard, often until 10 or 11 at night, long days and weekends.

He scoffs at suggestions that the major increases in the budget during his tenure were avoidable…  ( He says he did exactly what his bosses wanted). I asked ” it’s not all new cars and fancy furniture?” ….   he yelped “absolutely not”.

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

     me … ” Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom doesn’t like you one bit…. what’s behind that?  … and are her criticisms fair?

     Gretsas … “I don’t know what’s behind it, you’ll have to ask her….. I tried really hard to try and please her…… I thought all along (spiritually) that our relationship was redeemable  …. Rodstrom just does her thing”

                                                                                        Rodstrom on the campaign trail

     me …  and Commissioner Bruce Roberts, did the bad blood just run too deep”

     Gretsas …. ” it didn’t for me, but we had significant philosophical disagreements”

                                                                                        Roberts as Chief of Police

me … “any advice for incoming Manager Love, and those that will come after her?”

    Gretsas … ” just do what the bosses want… within the law …. within your moral comfort”