Author: commtims

     As we travel down the road of life, we learn lessons, some the hard way.

  One Certainty!

And one of the most painful lessons we learn, is that you can’t always trust what some tell you!

Most of us learned early on when we tried the “my dog ate the homework” excuse, and the teacher gave us an “F” anyhow!  Then we learned that when the dentist said “It’ll be just a little prick”,  we should steel ourselves for pain!. And when we started buying our automobiles from the car dealership, we learned that the used car salesman only sold cars that were “only driven on Sunday’s by little old ladies”!

Yesterday, a new life lesson was learned by a group of  Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods and a Business Association trying to find a solution to the problems surrounding NE/NW 13th Street.

They were at the County Commission meeting, pushing for an extension of Fort Lauderdale’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The agency’s borders stopped at Sunrise Boulevard, and they knew if they could get it pushed north to 13th Street, help could be on the way.

Enter the area’s County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion.

                                                                               
Eggelletion

     In the weeks prior to the meeting, the area reps had started a discussion with Eggelletion, as he was their Commissioner. He had told them “not to worry”, he would shepherd it through. So imagine the shock when Eggelletion started the conversation at the County meeting by opposing the effort!

Lucky for the neighborhoods, County Vice Mayor Ken Keechl and County Commissioner John Rodstrom jumped in to help. They spoke strongly against Eggelettion’s contrary position, and all but Eggelletion postured in favor and the neighborhood and business group left victorious, and thrilled, but understandably angry with Eggelletion.

Life lesson for Josephus: For your next campaign, don’t wait for the check to be in the mail!
                           

     It’s the campaign support that most candidates could only dream about !

     The Heavenly Father’s !

     And it’s happening right here in Fort Lauderdale’s District IV, the southern portion of the City, according to a memo sent out by the Romney Rogers campaign prayer team coordinator! 

     The memo follows:

 Romney Rogers Campaign Prayer
 Written by Barbara Moody

Date: February 16, 2009

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your prayers. God lifted His mighty hand and allowed Romney to receive the majority of the vote. However, we are still not finished with this election. Please take action and vote in the run-off election on March 10th. God will always do His part, but we must do ours. The best plan of action: (1) Tell you neighbors to vote! (2) Volunteer to take one street and distribute flyers. (3) Write a personal letter endorsing Romney and leave it at your neighbor’s door. PLEASE BECOME INVOLVED!

” The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases. All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (A portion of this prayer is taken from the Presidential Prayer Team Website.)

Heavenly Father, You have laid out the oceans and rivers, the mountains and the valleys; You set the planets on their paths and You know the name of every star in the universe. Please Lord, give us elected officials here in Broward County whose hearts are attuned to You. Let them be men and women whose hunger to serve You and do Your will above all else. Protect us, O God, from trusting in our own ways and keep our hearts turned to You so that we will be acceptable to You in all things and in all our ways.

Lord, Your Word says that God will always give what is right to His people who cry out to Him night and day. He will not be slow to answer them (Luke 18:7.) Oh Lord, we are crying out to you and asking for Your mercy. Give us godly leaders who will rule with Your heart and Your laws. Protect us from those who choose to depart from Your love, Your mercy, and Your protection.

Oh Lord, You said that there is not anything that is too difficult for you. Please stir the hearts of Your people to become involved in these next few weeks so that  Your will shall be spoken loud and clear. Lord, you said that for those of us who fear your name the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. Oh Lord, heal our nation, our state, our county and our community. We are totally relying on Your power and Your wisdom.

Protect Romney and his family in these coming weeks. Give us wisdom. We thank You and praise Your name for what You have already accomplished. We give You all the glory, In Jesus mighty and powerful name we pray these things…. AMEN

Barbara Moody

Prayer Team Coordinator

     Any thoughts? …. Tim

     Somehow, I got that last blog post a little wrong…….   Roberts is to be released tomorrow or Saturday……..  

     All the rest is correct ! … sorry about the screw-up ! ….   reporter in training! …… Tim

     Former Police Chief Bruce Roberts, who is in a run-off for the District I Commissioner seat with incumbent Commissioner Christine Teel, has been released from the hospital.
                                   
                                                       
                                       Roberts                              Teel
   
     His campaign spokesman, former Victoria Park President Mark Ketcham, says that Roberts is “doing fine” after a gastrointestinal procedure that had to be performed in the hospital. Ketchum stressed that the condition Roberts suffered from was “not life threatening”, and that he expected Roberts to pick up limited campaign duties immediately.

     Commissioner Teel could not be reached for comment!

     Note to Candidates: ……..  There really are good reasons to take those campaign signs down soon after the election is over!……..See below!

         #1

                                 
                                                                 Horny Dean!

     Now, I’m wondering like you are; did they get up on the roof and paint the horns upside down, or did they actually set up a ladder  on a public sidewalk on North Federal Hwy. in plain sight for their artistic graffiti art?

    And then there is this:

               #2     
                                               
                                
                                                                  Cooper Crew

     Property magnate Caldwell Cooper sent in this picture of his own crews removing the Glassman signs. He was not too happy about it! … but the one question I have…   how many guys does it take to remove one sign?
 
      

    

     I just received this message from the Bruce Roberts campaign:

                                                                                                 
                                                                        
                                                                     Roberts

      “Bruce is in the hospital, admitted for a procedure that will keep him from campaigning personally for a few days. He knows his Team will be out in full force, and looks forward to being back out on the campaign trail this weekend.

     Bruce’s condition is not life threatening , and he does not have a serious illness, so if those rumors start, please feel free to correct them”    


     The campaign said that Roberts will not be on the Galt for the Governor’s visit tomorrow and wanted to explain why.

     They have Commissioner Christine Teel  in their sites, and it looks like they are playing hardball.

     Here’s one of their latest mailings that found it’s way into District I mailboxes in the last few days.

                                      

                                    
                                                    the “Oscar Meyer ” mailing



     The group that is targeting Teel is a “PAC” , or Political Action Committee. It’s called the  “Integrity Counts Committee”. The Pac is addressed to 1314 Las Olas, and was registered by long time political operative Russ Oster. 

     The City of Fort Lauderdale has  very strict campaign finance laws, and Pacs, Unions, and Corporations are forbidden from contributing to campaigns, but PACS can spend their own resources as long as they are not connected to any campaign.

     The Bruce Roberts campaign said they were “shocked” to see the pieces, and had absolutely “nothing to do with them”.

     Oster, who has been stirring the political pot for some years, said this morning that although others in his organization were leading the anti-Teel re-election effort, the reason for the efforts were, “obviously, the problem with the exploding budget”.

      Here is another piece they sent:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                           the “dracula mailer”


     Commissioner Teel could not be reached for comment.

     Other local names that contributed to “Integrity Counts Committee” include local attorneys Jon Krupnick, Scott Lieberman, and Russ Adler, lobbyist Ron Book, and local developer Ron Mastriana.

     It’s the scourge of the leftover campaign signs.

                                                                                         
                                      
                                      

     It happens after every election, in every city. The hard fought battle is over, the victor victorious, the losers lament and crawl off to lick their wounds. The signs remain!

       
  And we’re left to gaze over the scarred battlefields, empty lot after empty lot, until Mother Nature, or the recycler, cleans up the dead!

                                       Even the poor trees can be a casualty!

                                                                                     
                                    

     It seems better than usual here in Fort Lauderdale after last Tuesday’s election, some signs have already disappeared, but some not! …… Some still survive from Elections Past!
                                                                                                                    
                                         

    But there are a few solutions! ……

    One solution is to e-mail the local recycling group Trash to Treasures ….  they say schools like to use the  signs for art projects, and if they get too many, they recycle the plastic. Their e-mail is veckels@gmail.com

     Or, you could do like I did,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                             …………………………. use them for wall art!


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            &nbsp
;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

     Well, for all you political punditers, Fort Lauderdale’s Municipal Primary on Tuesday held few surprises, but the run-off might be getting much more exciting! 

     It went down Tuesday pretty much as many had expected, though Seiler won the Mayorship with a much greater margin, and Rodstrom kept her seat in the primary while most thought there would be a run-off.

     Pundits were divided over the District III race between Adams and Dubose, but Dubose won a resounding victory of 49%, just one point under the threshold for an outright win ( I bet he wished he had made a few more phone calls!!)  …… No word yet on who the third and fourth place finishers will back in the run-off. 

     In District IV, the battle,( as expected), is being waged between the ‘Old Guard’, represented by Romney Rogers (and Naugle and Shaw) and the new kid on the block, Coleman Prewitt. Again, no word yet on who the third and fourth place finishers will back.

     That’s not the case in District I.  Incumbent Teel won the Primary, but with only 47% over Roberts 44%. The third place fininsher, Garcia, who grabbed only 8 % of the tally, could be an important voice in the run-off.

                                                                               
                                                   
                                                               outspoken Garcia


       Garcia backed Roberts right after the results came in Tuesday night, and in an interview with me this morning, says that a “majority of the voters voted against Teel”. She says she will happily do whatever she can to see to it that Roberts beats Teel in the General Election on March 10th. She says she has lost “total respect” for Teel.

      Garcia added that Teel didn’t give “any respect to anyone that challenged her”,  that she “shakes hands like a wet fish”, and is too uppity for politics – “isn’t her boat named Ms. Priss ?”.

     Looks like I’ll still be in the blog business for awhile!

  
    

     It’s Election day in Fort Lauderdale.
 
     It’s a very important day, but sadly, a day when only one out of ten voters will take the time to pick the City’s leaders.

     The average voter doesn’t see the importance. They figure the “fix is in” ….. or their vote  “can’t make a difference” ….. or  “they didn’t even know it was happening”, or “they had a dentist appointment” !

     But,  it was nice to see our City try to drive out a bigger turnout though! …… See picture below!

                                                                                                                                                                                                    
             
                                   oops …. never mind…. that is the City of Wilton Manors !!


                ………. but we do have our engaged Citizens, and some were out in the intersections this morning trying to help their candidates win! ….. (scroll down!)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                     

                                                      

                      
                                …………. and the candidates themselves were out working hard ……… (see below!)


                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
                             Steve Glassman working the phones at Art Serve Polling location


                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
                       &nbsp
;        Charlotte Rodstrom races across traffic for sign holding duty


               ………..  the results should be rolling in about 8pm this evening……..remember, all candidates will need at least 50% to win outright tonight, or the top two vote getters go into a run-off on March 10th ….

              ……….. Lastly, we asked all the candidates where they would be tonight, and here is all I was able to find out……..

              ……….. Seiler will be at the World Famous Parrot Lounge
              ……….. Rynerson will be a Mcguires Pub
              ……….. Roberts says he will be walking neighborhoods until the last minute
              ……….. Glassman will be at the Pelican Beach Resort
              ……….. Rodstrom will be at Smith and Jones Grill on Las Olas
              ……….. Prewitt will be home watching results
              ……….. Dubose will be at his fraternity house
              ……….. Elfman will be at his restaurant, Island City Bistro