Author: commtims

     Yes, you read the title right!

     I thought I had seen it all.  Here’s how it went down:
                                   
                                             …………………………………….

   ……..  It’s the most insidious drug there is – crack cocaine. It makes people insane, violent, destroys them. The dealers often hide it in there mouths, so they can swallow it should the Cops take them down.

                                                         
                                                         care for some crack?        

     So, today I’m up on NE 13th street in Fort Lauderdale, working at my plant nursery. Though there has been massive efforts to clear the area of drugs,  it’s hung on for decades, like a bad rash!

     I spot a charcoal gray Honda  slowing down and pulling into the median on 13th. It’s got smoky windows and I think to myself ” undercover cop, checking out the scene”. I give a nod of appreciation and walk toward my truck.

     The gray Honda spins around and pulls up beside me, and rolls the window down half way. ” Yo,  how do I find 1842 N.Dixie Highway“?   It was an FPL employee, replete in their recognizable blue shirt with FPL emblazoned on the front.

     As I start to give him directions, he motions me closer to his car. ” Yo man, do you need some“? I thought I was hearing things! This FPL guy is trying to sell me drugs ! I think quick, tell him I’ll have to get money. He scribbles his name and number on a scrap of paper and shoves it out the window. “call me” , he says, and pulls off.

     I call the Chief of Police (sometimes it’s real nice being a former City commissioner!).


                                                                  
                                                                   Chief Adderley 

     In minutes, a top level Narcotics Officer is on the phone. “I’m on the way over”. He picks me up and we drive around the corner where some rather seedy characters are parked under a tree in the shade. They get out and the Top Cop introduces them as “his team“! ….. I give them the 411.

     “Damn, this is just like the movies”, I muse. 

     Before I know it, they are in action. They call Mr. FPL /dopedealer and one of the Cops  (as he pretends to be a dope head) , tells the doper that I am too afraid to come, but he’s going to pick up the crack for me. The doper buys the story. 

     I get back in the car with the Top Cop and before we know it he gets the call – “We got him”, the undercover agent tells his boss,

                                  

     “he’s got $1100. in cash, but only the $20 worth of crack he bought for the sale.”

     Just another day in the war on drugs –  but we expect FPL is hiring!

     It didn’t look good.

     Big storm clouds were gathering. …. Fort Lauderdale’s  Middle River Terrace Neighborhood Association was scheduled to meet …4 pm sharp…Sunday, September 13th …… 2009
             
                
                          ……..  oooooo ………

     But civic responsibility was the call of the day! 
   
     Would the incoming monsoon stop the neighbors from showing up ? …. after all, the meeting was to be held in an outside Park Pavilion! ….  You’d be excused !  


                            
                                              neighbors eat their B.B.Q. ….  under cover ! 

      The rain was torrential ! … a reminder of summer in Fort Lauderdale!   …..but the masses still came …huddled together …. ate the soggy beans….. hoped for the best !

                                                             and then !!!

                                          


                                                              the skies cleared……….

                                                           politicians pontificated……..
 
                                                       serious issues were discussed ! 




                                 
                                            

                                                            Awards were bestowed!                      


                                           Fort Lauderdale Civic Spirit Lives On !! 
                                                        

       He’s a British citizen ( by birth),  but more often than not, you’ll find him soaking up the sun in his ocean – front condo on the famous Fort Lauderdale Beach!

     If he’s back in England, chances are, he’ll be seeing his personal Doctor for some troubling ailment…..free of charge!

He is C.J. Beck, ….. internationally famous author, ….. dual citizen,…..  taker of Free British Health Care.


C.J. Beck at a signing for his new best selling book “Sixteen stories, no pets”


     “the British Health Care System is a National Treasure” …. says C.J.  …he calls it a ” mark of a civilized society” …..

          …………………………………………………..

…….C.J. has an English National Health Care “number”, which guarantees him Free Health Care at any urgent center like the urgent care Carle Place and so on. Here are some of C.J.’s more recent experiences with the English Health Care System:

   ” I had a sudden surge of extra floaters and flashes in the right eye, warning symptoms of a retinal tear and imminent retinal detachment.  I was seen quickly by two consultants and they claim it’s posterior vitreous detachment, which one can get as the vitreous dries over time.  Whew. So far so good.  No charge.

…..   But of course there are trade offs, no system is perfect! ….

   “Ingrowing toe nail:  National Health Service will cover some chiropody but it’s been six weeks and I’m still waiting.  Tolerate the discomfort or go private is the unspoken rule.  No charge for waiting…”

……  But then, ….

“Mystery soreness in palm of hand:  Referral to a great physio within two weeks and an astute diagnosis of compressed ulna nerve or “handlebar palsy” that foxed two GPs.   Seems to be improving.  No charge. ”

…….  But I had to ask Chris about those reported long waits for care ….. He says ….

      ” If you have something like a cancer scare, they have a guaranteed two-week turnaround. If you’re prepared to wait at the end of the day, and claim to have an urgent problem, the GP will se you the same day, and you can avoid a three day wait”

……………………………………………………………………………..

…….. So there is an actual Brit, with real – life British Health Care experiences ! …. He likes his system. But I bet we could do even better here in the 

United States of America….. Let’s try !

     I  made it just under the wire!

     In the closing minutes of the government’s Cash For Clunkers program, I Clunked!

                                                   

     It made perfect sense for me to Clunk, Afterall, behind my back ( and sometimes right up front) my best friends and family whisper things like “geesh, Tim has a lot of Clunkers“, and “has Tim bought a car that was built in this century?”, and ” I sure hope Tim has Triple A” !

     So, after procrastinating until the very last second, I pulled the trigger. It was hard to decide which Clunker I could part with from my fleet of Clunkers, but I did the eeny,meeny,miny,moe thing and it was done!

     Here is our car salesman “Rusty” ,  (he introduced himself as “Rusty, like a nail”), tagging my old Ford Ranger with it’s death sentence – “Cash for Clunker”, do not resuscitate!

                                                 

     The deal was not to be believed. The MSRP for our new Nissan was close to $17,000. We were ready to leave the dealership, as due to our frugal nature we had decided to spend about $10,000, after the Clunking. The Clunk only brought us down to $12,500, but Rusty wanted a deal. We settled on $10,400!

     We’re now down one Clunker, with this in it’s place:

                                       

                               So, gracious thanks to whoever made this possible:  the Taxpayers, the Congress, the White House?

                                                           We promise to hang on to this until it becomes a Clunker!

     I couldn’t start a blog entitled “Random Summer Thoughts” without this comment – damn it’s been a hot summer in Fort Lauderdale. Is it global warming, a cyclical occurrence, or am I just getting old and cranky? The wife votes #3!

     There’s not too much local news to report. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission is on vacation, and most Fort Lauderdalians are either holed up in their air conditioned home, office, and car – keeping a low profile, or are off to some exotic cool locale themselves (can we say hello Rodstroms!).
                                                             
                                                        hello Rodstroms!

     But the most fevered part of this summer hasn’t included meteorology at all. It’s the steamy Health Care / Health Insurance Reform controversy.  Like many of you, I’ve been glued to the screen, captive of the car radio, reading all the papers I can find. I am fascinated. Here are some of the more common comments we’ve witnessed:

               …………   we’re losing our liberty
               …………   the country is going communist/socialist
               …………   no government control of health insurance/ keep your hands off my Medicare!
               …………   Obama  doesn’t care about you, only about control
               …………   They want to pull the plug on Grandma!
     
     But I think much of the opposition to reform is rooted in a deeper psychological place than those superficial sound bites would portray. Here’s what I mean:

 The bulk of the people yelling at the town hall meetings look quite alike – kinda like me – older,  quite white, and basically crabby!

                                                                      
                                                                older mad white guy

     Yes, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of the angst and consternation we are witnessing is because the country is changing it’s flavor, it’s complexion, it’s make-up, and there might lie the rub.
      As I was growing up pure WASP, it was pretty clear to me that I would have a leg up when I reached my current ripe old age of 53 years-old. I would be in charge, on the top, competition restricted.

     After all, woman weren’t equal to us guys just a decade or two ago. Hell, back in the day, woman stayed home, had babies, cooked dinner! Now they are running corporations, demanding equal pay!

     And  blacks, hispanics, asians, foreign borners, homosexuals, even the disabled knew their place.

     Soon, if I live long enough, I’ll be the minority!  And yes, there just might lie the rub.     

        

     The Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief, James Eddy, has resigned.

    Though no official word has yet come from City Hall, insiders report that Eddy offered his letter of resignation to City Manger George Gretsas, and is expected to leave officially in October.

                                       Update… the City has confirmed Eddy’s departure !

  Chief Eddy

     Eddy has been on the job for only three and a half years, and much of that has been mired in controversy. 

     From the start, critics pointed to his lack big city Fire Chief experience ( he had last been a Fire Chief in 1990, in a considerably smaller city than Fort Lauderdale). Also, detractors bemoaned the fact that Eddy had been running a business identifying causes of fires for the last 15 years.

     After arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Eddy was thrust into overseeing the City’s plans for ten new fire stations, paid for with a voter approved bond referendum of $40 million dollars. The plans turned out to be faulty, cost estimates for construction were way low, and major adjustments have had to be made. 

     Conjecture about Eddy’s replacement has already begun.

     Will Gretsas try and hire from within and escape the criticism he received when he hired Eddy? Recently retired Assistant Fire Chief Steve McInerny was a top contender for the job when Eddy was picked, but has recently become the Fire Chief in Naples.

       
    Naples Fire Chief McInerny

     Current Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Justinak, once head of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Fighters Union, is surely a possible candidate.

              
       Assistant Chief Justinak

     Stayed Tuned !  ………….Tim

     My friend Peter Feldman is dead at the young age of 54 years old –  far too young to die, especially for someone like Pete.

     I’m sad, but for some odd reason,  pleasantly reflective.
 
     I’ve been  thinking about PT Boy all day (that’s what my wife Cindy and I , and our son Timmy affectionately called him) .

     He had been a good friend of our family for  20 and some years.  I had met him through our mutual interest in a rough part of Fort Lauderdale called Flagler Heights. Flagler Heights is a neighborhood  just north of Downtown, but far enough north, and far enough west,  to not to really matter, or so everyone thought!

     But it mattered to Peter Feldman.. .. and that turned out to be enough! 

     Peter put his head down and forged ahead. He bought house after house, slum after slum. The years passed, the decades passed,. It looked like it may be a false dream…  the kind you just wake up from….
 
     But miraculously,  Peter prevailed. Just this past year, in the middle of the worst economic tsunami in decades, Peter’s dream happened.   

     ….Flagler Village, all eight stories and block after block of redevelopment splendor came alive. In the worst economic downturn in nearly a century, only Peter Feldman was building. His developer buddies were finally envious of Petey. He deserved that moment.

     ….. I’ll remember you fondly Peter, and Cindy and Timmy say hi, … you were a bright spot in our lives, and we hope to see you on the other side…… Tim   

     We do have history in Fort Lauderdale! As a matter of fact, we will be 99 years old next March!

     I just received this great photo from my buddy Rob. …..  Check it out!

                    

     The Picture was taken by the Navy during World War II, – 1943

     Fort Lauderdale played an important role during the war, though our beaches were cordoned off with barb wire, and the German U- boats were often spotted just off the coast…. Many of the servicemen that were stationed here during the war came back after the war and settled here.

   The plane is an SB2C Helldiver, and the bridge behind it’s tail is the old flat Las Olas bridge. That’s the future Bahia Mar Yacht Basin under the plane. You can barely make out the Sunrise blvd. bridge up the Intracoastal, and you can see the Federal Highway running north near the top left of the picture. That’s the Middle River just to the right of the highway. 

     With a magnifying glass, you can see Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom’s house on Nurmi Isle! 
   ( yes Charlotte, I know you weren’t even born yet!)

     The planning for the City’s 100th  birthday party is getting into full swing. Why don’t you get involved! …   ….e-mail Mayor Jack Seiler at JSeiler@fortlauderdale.gov if you can help……..

     I’m a fan of Jack Seiler.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                

      Seiler
   
      He’s one of those rare public servants that truly believes in serving the public, and he’s been doing it quite capably for many years. And I’ve been impressed with his service as Mayor of Fort Lauderdale these last couple of months.

     But last week he screwed up.

      Here’s what happened.

     Earl Rynerson, who most of you will remember ran for the Mayor’s seat against Seiler, received a letter to his business last week.
It was from Seiler’s office, Seiler himself, ( on City stationary ) and it encouraged Rynerson, and other local businesses to advertise in a private business venture.

     Now Rynerson has been on the war  path against Jack for months, after coming in a distant third in the Mayor’s race. His web site often seems bitter, and, in my opinion, flaky on many issues. But Seiler’s letter gave Earl some valid ammunition to criticize him with this time.
     Here’s a link to Rynerson’s site that included Rynerson’s criticism of the letter, and the actual letter.
   http://abetterftlauderdale.com/?p=246

     Rynerson

    Here’s the problem.

     The venture Seiler touts is being done by Dolph Map, a  private company, but Seiler’s letter glosses over that. The letter states that the City was “working” with Dolph to produce it. It says important City numbers and programs will be on the map. It explains that businesses could sponsor it, and that they should “not delay”. It’s called the official sounding Fort Lauderdale City Mapping Project.

     The problem is, it is not a City endeavor, was not brought before the City Commission for public review and discussion, not competitively bid, not really associated with the City at all.

     And to make matters worse, Rynerson ties the Dolph Map Company with contributions to Seiler’s political campaign, and campaign signs that Dolph erected on their coveted Federal Highway location during the Mayor’s race. Apparently, former  Mayor Jim Naugle did the same thing for Dolph, which should have sent up a red flag for Seiler right there!

     I don’t believe there was anything sinister or nefarious in Seiler’s actions, just a mistake he should admit to and move on.

     Now that’s the way I see it. But if I’m wrong, I have a back-up plan.

     It’s the Fort Lauderdale City Landscaping Guide.  The publication, free to the public, will answers all questions about our local Fort Lauderdale landscapes. Since I’m a recognized expert in the field, it’s a natural. The Guide will explain how to plant for droughts, what trees to plant, what City departments can help and how.

     And of course, it will be quite profitable for me, having that introductory letter from the Mayor’s office!

    

    

    

    Sometimes, all it takes is a little common sense to solve a problem. This week, Mayor Jack Seiler offered some up.

    
                        
                                                                    
                                                                           old what’s his name  and Mayor Jack Seiler! 

     There has been a technical glitch at City Hall for the past few weeks. Generally, if you want to know what’s coming up on the City Commission’s agenda, you could just log on to the City’s web site at www.fortlauderdale.gov and check it out.

     Now, most of us don’t.

     But thankfully, there are a few dozens watchdogs ( some City Staffers use other names for them!) that always pay attention. They wait for the information to be posted and go through it line by line. And if they find something troubling, look out!

     So when they signed on as usual a few weeks back, and the screen read sorry sucker, (not in those words of course), they were incensed. Conspiracy theories began to boil!. What were they hiding? What happened to transparency?

     Enter Seiler.

     Seiler ran on a platform of transparency, open government, power to the people!

      The fouled up agenda information was a legitimate technical matter, no intrigue. The City had gone to a new format, and it was having problems. So Seiler needed a stop-gap.

     The Mayor put out the word that all the back-up materials for the upcoming agendas would be open for inspection, any time, in his office!   He had the Mayor’s staff call all the “watchdogs”  he could think of to tell them to come on in,  sit a spell, put your feet up!  And asked me to put out the word – Mayor’s office open to the public.

     Now that’s service  !