Author: commtims

 

…….. Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley announced to his department today that he is leaving his post. He will be taking an administration job at BSO ( Broward’s Sheriffs Office) . Keep reading to find out why!

 

 

…. Adderley’s 8 years as Chief of Police followed a thirty some years climb up the ladder that started as a regular patrolman. The Chief grew up in NW Fort Lauderdale.  He lives there today,  in the house he grew up in, after a tumultuous divorce had him leave the Plantation home he lived in with his family ( the Plantation home happens to be next door to District III’s Commissioner Robert McKinzie’s home).

……Adderley’s years as Chief is widely considered to have been a successful run.  Crime plummeted during the Chief’s tenure.  The Chief was known  as a very accesible Chief, and was also popular with his men and women in blue. He joined in neighborhood crime marches, held fish frys to bring together neighbors in the NW, and even agreed to play the part of the first Fort Lauderdale resident in an historical play written  and directed by yours truly :-).

 

….   Adderley the actor !

…. The Chief’s most difficult time on the force occurred when his wife at the time, suspecting marital infidelity, burst into the bedroom, grabbed the Chief’s service revolver, and began firing. Adderley lept up in his underwear, and dodged the bullets and made it safely to his neighbor’s home (McKinzie).

 

…… His wife, pictured above, served some time for the offense, even though the Chief asked that she not be charged.

…….    The Chief tells me he is leaving as Chief due to an impasse with the City lawyers concerning his, and 20 other City employees’ pay.    Apparently, the City lawyers decided that the City  had been paying the Chief and the others too much, as an IRS regulation on former employees receiving pensions and being rehired went overlooked for three years, and were attempting a $60,000 clawback if the Chief stayed on.

…. (I think I got all this right, although I wasn’t taking notes), and legal action in the cases is also pending.

 

……….   the Chief will be missed.

…. You faithful long term readers will recall that every year we try and do something really  special for the most deserving little kids at Christmas time!

……..   I waited to at least  Thanksgiving to kick off this unusual toy drive ( take note Walmart:-), but now I need you all to jump into action….

 

 

…….. So here’s the deal ……   We’ve asked some of the poorest local elementary schools to pick 25 of their kids that are excelling, despite their challenging lives ….

 

 

………   so it’s our job to take the frown off these kids’  faces –

 

 

….and replace them with these !

 

 

…….. If you do your part, we can make it happen!    …..  So go buy a really nice toy, for either a boy or girl, ages 6 up to 11, (we’ll need about 300 toys!) ….. and don’t wrap them , and take them here –

 

 …. that’s the famous Christmas Palace that is located at 800 NE 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale     ….  from now until Dec. 17th …  tell them it’s for the Christmas Toy Drive ….

 

……We’ll pick up the toys on Dec. 17th, and on Sunday Dec. 18, we’ll hold a great big party for these wonderful, most deserving kids, and their parents,  at the Middle River Terrace Park – 1329 N. Dixie , from 1 until 4 pm   …. We’d like you to come to the party also, so you can see how happy your presents make these kids    …..

 

 

……………………….     thanks as usual  ……    Tim

…. I was beginning to wonder whether this 100 year old house, one of the very oldest remaining in the city, would ever get finished with its renovations.

 

…….  this is the house as it was in 1916, the home of the infamous second Judge of Broward, Judge Shippey   …. he was the “marrying Judge”, actually married Tarzan in the house ( no, not to Jane).

 

……  this is the house being relocated to the historic district, about 5 years ago ….it was in very bad shape!

 

… as it arrived to its new home, in very bad shape,  in the historic district ..

 

…. i hear there were hundreds of thousands of dollars, and boodles of volunteer hours, spent moving, renovating, landscaping, furnishing etc…. ( second photo  is Jessica, a social worker who moved here from New York,  just in time to help with the landscaping !)

 

…..  yes, that’s me on left  – chief landscaping volunteer, with house nearly complete

 

…..   and here is the ribbon cutting, all big-shots smiling, proving that the effort was a success!

…………… congrats to us all ! ( and thanks to Cal Deal,for all his photos)

 

 

 

 

 

…. it is the day after,the day after  ……

…. and many of us are feeling a tad sad, depressed, maybe even despondent ..  (see above)  …..

……. but  my sister in law just shared with me the following insightful Chinese Parable, and my mood may be changing!  …. I hope you get the same message I did!

 

    …………..   the Chinese Parable, ….. the Chinese farmer’s horse

 

………  one day , a chinese farmer’s horse ran away   ……  the farmer’s neighbors  came around to console the farmer and they all said to the farmer –

 

 your horse is gone,  ….”isn’t that terrible?  …..

 

   …… but  strangely,  the farmer said ” MAYBE” …….

 

 …….  the next morning, the farmer’s horse returned with a herd of wild horses … now, the farmer had lots of horses   …

 

……   another neighboring farmer saw all the bounty of the free herd  of horses arriving  and said to the farmer – “ isn’t that wonderful”  ?

 

 

   ….but strangely,   the farmer again said “MAYBE” 

 

……. the next morning, the farmer’s son went out to break the wild horses, but instead, one of the wild horses threw the son off the horse and broke his leg !

 

  … all the  concerned neighbors came by  to say… “isn’t that terrible?”

 

  … as you might now guess,……  and again, and surely most strangely, the farmer calmly said“MAYBE”……….

 

……  and just then, the Chinese army came by, looking for young recruits to conscript for war, but they couldn’t  take the Chinese farmer’s son due to the newly broken leg  !

 

      …….    the wise farmer

 

 

…………..   the renewal of this long ignored business district (13th Street- NE 4th Avenue) has begun   …. Soon you will be wishing you had invested near there !

……   The groundbreaking event was amazing   ….. One account has the attendance at nearly 300 people ……  The standard (some say boring) groundbreaking ceremony was had, but here are two pictures proving the event was anything but boring !

Transportation/Mobility Czar Diana Alarcon really was all wet at the event !

And here is yours truly proving that nothing is left on the table when it comes to getting things right ! …. Here I am getting properly dressed for my turn in the dunk tank !

 

 

Here’s three things that are happening in the City now , but seemed to take forever to accomplish – do you agree?

 ……… 

 

…………..    the ICON is the big Condo being built on Las Olas in front of the oldest house in the City, the Stranahan House  ….. It was first proposed in 1999, but was fought by the City’s politicians for years, then couldn’t be built after the economy collapsed…. The developers finally won the lawsuit, the economy rebounded, and it looks to be about 10 stories now and climbing ( I think to about 40 floors) ….

 

  

 

…….   the Shippey House is that early 1900’s  historic house, owned by infamous Broward Judge Fred Shippey, the Judge who married Tarzan (in this house!) …… The house  was saved from the wrecking ball by activists many years back, but the renovation was stalled in what has seemed like forever, but it is finally going strong ….here it is with front porch going on ….. Expect a ribbon cutting soon – I Think 🙂

 

 

………..   My favorite …..  My pet project ( that I should have accomplished a long time ago)  is finally happening !!!! …..  the road that is 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale is about to experience a $1.5 million dollar upgrade in it’s business district …..

……  The neighborhood groups are celebrating by hosting a Yee Ha  party and construction kickoff  shindig on Sept 14th at 6pm …..   Come to the intersection of 13th and Dixie for the fun  ….   Free food catered by Southport, live music by that cool local band Sunday’s at Five, ….   and because it took me so long ….

………….  I will be in the dunk tank   …. (joining me in the tank will be City traffic CZAR Diana Alarcon, because she took too long also 🙂   ….see you all there

 

The invitation arrived in the mail.

 

 

…. Pretty snazzy  …… A kick-off event ( billed as a friendraiser, not a fundraiser) at the wonderful, historic Bonnett House on the beach ……  I couldn’t stay away !

 

 

…. The Bonnett House is as cool as ever, and as I walked up the entrance, Charlotte’s sign guided me in to her soiree ! …

….. The event was a pleasant one, though not all that well attended. I’m guessing there were 30 or 40 people there, I expected more ….But I will say that those 30 or 40 seemed like pretty strong Charlotte supporters – people like –

 

…former Victoria Park President Thornie Jarrett (seen here chatting with Charlotte’s son and Charlotte’s new granddaughter!)… – and

 

Miranda Lopez (on the right), a big slow growth/open space advocate) …. and

 

 

Rob Larsen, Flagler Village President  ….

 

… …………………..  Main gadfly Charlie King was there, trashing Mayor Seiler, Commissioner Roberts etc.,  as was District I malcontent Mary Graham …. picture below with Charlotte’s husband John Rodstrom – 

 

 

Charlotte was introduced to speak by John   …..

 

 

….and she took to the microphone to give a short talk about why she was running for Mayor, how she intended to walk door to door and meet all the voters, and how she was disappointed with the City budget and overdevelopment  …..

 

………….  

 

……all in all a nice event…

 

…… Yes, it’s hard to fathom, but the Fort Lauderdale City Commission 2018 election season is off and running  …..

…….. This past Sunday, the Central City Alliance (formerly known as the 13th Street Alliance), hosted  a pleasant outdoor picnic at the lovely historic Annie Beck House, and invited the 5 filed candidates (so far) for the CC election that is about 22 months away , to come and talk with about 100 citizens about the issues of the City …… Most of the attendees were from the area, but a good handful were from all areas of the City…

 

…..   We started out by feeding the crowd with a tremendous Spanish buffet, and once we had everyone filled up, we got their juices flowing for the “thoughtful discussion” ahead  ..

 

….nothing like a few glasses of Sangria to get the juices flowing !

 

….Mayor Jack stared the event off, then sent it back to me to start what turned out to be a substantial discussion about many of the issues facing the City   …

 

…..  Mayoral candidate ( and current District I City Commissioner ) Bruce Roberts was first to speak, and said he looked forward to a robust and meaningful campaign   …

… Then it was former Commissioner and current mayoral candidate Charlotte Rodstroms’ turn at the microphone –

 

…. She surprised the attendees by saying she would not be participating in the discussion, as she didn’t intend on “sharing her vision (campaign strategy) with her competitors”… She added that she was “blond, but not stupid”!

…. Then, mayoral candidate Jim Lewis spoke, seemed very relaxed and appeared to be having a good time  …

 

 

 

….. The City was thoroughly represented, by Manager Feldman,  the Police,  and Feldman’s new assistant (pictured above with historic activist Steve Glassman)    ….

…… Next were the District 4 candidates  …. here are the two that have filed so far –

 

….. 56 year old Walter Duke, and 28 year old Hunter Altschul  … 

 

…….  I asked probing questions of some in the crowd, including this exchange with the developer of the empty lot across from Home Depot  … So, have you decided on what you are going to build?

 

 

……   his answer ? …… uh, well, hmm, uh ( well, you get the picture )  …

 

….anyhow, the afternoon ended with everyone feeling good about spending their Sunday afternoon with their fellow citizens  ….who was especially happy ?

 

…… my Board members !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…In a totally unexpected move, the Donald has filed papers to run for Mayor of Fort Lauderdale!

……….  The election for Mayor is not until February 2018, a few months after the Presidential election, and apparently Trump wants to hedge his bets and be really important at least  somewhere !

 

…. Trump was uncharacteristically stoic when asked about his motivation for the filing for the Mayor job- “Excuse me, Excuse me”, he said, “only I can do this, can you imagine some of these other losers running Fort Lauderdale?”

…… I tried to reach all three of the current candidates for the Mayor job, but only lawyer Jim Lewis took the bait –

 

…….. “I think this reefer initiative will really be needed now”, he quipped     …..

 

” I’ll crush this Lewis and all the other low energy fools”, Trump responded  …… “and if I am President then, I’ll change the law so I can do both jobs at the same time”  …… then added, “and I’ll make the damn Cubans pay for it” ….

 

April Fools !

…….  Another entry into the 2018 Fort Lauderdale Mayoral race  …….

………….   He is well known to the political watching class, as he has run for office (including Fort Lauderdale Mayor) on many occasions   ….. he is also an infamous attorney, represented many well known cases, including little Lionel Tate, who killed a little girl that his mother was babysitting ……

 

Mayoral candidate Jim Lewis

…..   Now if this pace keeps up, by election day 2018, we will have a field of 743 mayoral candidates to choose from !  ….

 ( remember, you can see all the  candidates in action this Sunday   …. 3pm until 6 pm ….. Annie Beck House 1329 N.Dixie Hwy)