Author: commtims

     It’s started to get ugly.

     Now we all know that politics is a mean business. After all, the Latin root of the word tells it all … Poli (meaning many) and tics (blood sucking insects)!

     But up until a few weeks ago, it looked like the upcoming Fort Lauderdale Municipal Elections might just be different. The campaign trail was courteous, almost genteel.  But with just six weeks to go until the Primary Election, (scheduled for February 10th) , things have taken a turn for the worse. 

     Accusations of financial difficulties, lawsuits, disgruntled clients, even porn purchases! So far, the mud has only started it’s oozy slide in the Mayoral race, and only between some supporters of two of the four Mayoral candidates, former Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis, and former Lt. Colonel Earl Rynerson. 

     The Candidates themselves both say it’s all ridiculous, and they just want to be judged on their merits, but so far, they haven’t been able to keep rogue supporters in check.

     


                                                                                         
                            Earl Rynerson                                                                  Dean Trantalis


     

     For starters, both candidates are openly gay, and it appears that some of their fans think there’s just not enough room in this town for two “First Gay Mayors of Fort Lauderdale”. That brawl played out last week in the comment section of an unrelated post on this blog. To read all those comments,  click  here –  http://blog.timsmith.com/2008/12/21/picture-caption-contest-winners.aspx#Comment  .    

     Now it’s gotten even uglier. An e-mail is being circulated entitled “The Truth about Earl Rynerson” . Let’s just say it not so flattering! 

     It purports to be from an avowed Trantalis supporter and states that “I feel I can’t sit by and let a good man like Dean Trantalis be dragged through the mud”, and then does it’s own dragging of Rynerson.

     Let’s hope this is a momentary lapse, that it’s not just the tip of the iceberg, and things will soon get back to civility. But don’t hold your breath while waiting!

    

     There are WINNERS in the Picture Caption Contest !  …. And I must say, we do have some very witty readers! …..Quite the comedians!

     We had 20 readers submit 27 Captions. I had trouble figuring out how to pick the winners, so I went to a tried a true source, my wife Cindy.

     I read Cindy each caption entry as they came in and put the laugh meter on her. Cindy has a great sense of humor (after all, she’s stayed with me for the last 30 years!). Here are the pics again with the winning captions that made Cindy chuckle the best. You can read all the captions by scrolling down to the original post and clicking on “view comments”. See if you agree with our picks!
               
        #1
                        

                                   “I’ve pulled over, so it’s safe to talk now!”
                                                                               submitted by Vicki Eckels


            #2

                                   

                            HEH, HEH, I Gave Him the Love-Gretsas Potion!
                                                                             submitted by Marge Anderson     


     Winners will receive dinners for two, (at a cheap local restaurant of their choice !)…. Thanks for participating!  We’ll have to do that again !   …….. Tim         

     His name is George Trodella.

     Yesterday, he filed to run for the Fort Lauderdale District IV Commission seat. The City’s primary is in February 2009, and if no one wins 50% of the vote then, the top two vote getters will advance to the General Election in March 2009.  The District IV seat is currently held by Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson. Hutchinson is term limited and was running for Mayor until she dropped her bid a few months ago.

     Trodella is a Rio Vista resident and lives about half way between Mayor Jim Naugle and another District IV Commission candidate, Romney Rogers. The other candidates in the race so far are Coleman Prewitt and Jim Lewis.

     His entry into the fray is deemed significant by most insiders, who suspect that he might take votes from neighbor Romney, who many thought was pulling ahead in the District IV race. Trodella says his other neighbor Mayor Naugle was “initially supportive” of him running when he spoke to him in January, but that was “before Romney got into the race”. His doesn’t know who Naugle will back now, but Trodella says he will “take votes where he can find them”.

     Trodella is a 62 year old businessman (owner of Positive ID USA, an ID Card company on Miami Road), and has been a resident  for about 40 years. He also owned the Fort Lauderdale Hotel on the 17th Street Causeway, until he tore it down some years back.

     He has an extensive resume of service in the community. He was first appointed to the Beach Advisory Board by Mayor Rob Dressler, who served as Mayor before Mayor Bob Cox, who served as Mayor before Naugle. Since then, he has served on the Housing Authority, the Planning and Zoning Board, and currently serves on the Citizens Police Review Board, appointed by Naugle, but will step down to run.

     He says he reached out to the District’s Homeowners groups by letter earlier this year to see what they felt were the main problems in the City. He says they talked mostly about Code issues, slow Police Response Times, and the [proverbial] potholes issues.  He thinks the City “needs direction”, and says he understands the substantial challenge he is asking to take on.

     As for his chances to win, he seems to like them fine. He says the candidate field now consists of a perennial candidate (Lewis), a candidate that moved into the District to run (Prewitt), and a candidate that touts his “native born status” (Rogers). He says that while he can appreciate that, the status doesn’t provide Rogers “a birthright” to the City Commission.

     It’s a bit late for an entry into the political battle, but if he gets aggressive with his candidacy, Trodella  could have a big effect on the outcome.

    

     Sometimes a picture comes along that calls for that “special” caption! You know, one of those rare pictures that are worth over a thousand words!

     I recently took two such pictures that I think fall into that “special” category. So, I need some help. The pictures are below and this is your mission…… Look them over…… 

     Come up with the best caption …. and you win! ………..It’s as easy as that…… Just press “comment” at the end of the blog post and send in your witty caption…… Now, I know many of you are quite witty, but never comment  because you’d rather stay incognito, so just make up a fake – name, and don’t even add your e-mail address! Even I won’t know who you are!…….. have fun! ….Tim

     P.S. …..You ask “what will I win?”………  well let’s see the value of the contributions first !



 #1 – Car crash that happened today on North Dixie Highway. That’s the driver on his cell!



                 
                                        missing caption



 #2 – Fort Lauderdale Mayoral Candidate Jack Seiler and City Manager George Gretsas



                             
                                                                missing caption


                   …………    ok, send in those captions!

     The current Fort Lauderdale City Commission will be out of a job in March, 2009.

     Term Limits, that I first proposed over a decade ago when I was a City Commissioner, finally kick in. It’s sometimes hard to believe, but the era of Jim Naugle, with his nearly 25 years on the City Commission, will be over – (Yes Virginia, there is a Santa!)

     But lots of unfinished business will surely remain. Below is just a partial list of some of the important things that have not gotten done. Some have been languishing for a long time.
     In all fairness, some of the following issues are very difficult ones. Some are not. Regardless, they will all be waiting for the new City Commission, who will have at least three new members, a majority, that could conceivably get them done. They’re not listed in any particular order.

                                        

                                               #1                             

                                        The international Swimming Hall Of Fame
                              
   
                  ………..  It’s the City’s biggest and best Public Swimming Facility, world renowned, but old and  tired. It’s built like a fortress to keep the citizens out instead of inviting them in. It will take a lot of consensus and team work for the new City Commission to get this one right.


                               #2


                                                          The Northbeach Sunrise Lane Area
                                            

                                 ………….  It’s the area just south of Sunrise Boulevard and the beach. The latest motif is Tattoo Parlors and Sexy Lingerie. It could be a wonderful beach enclave if the City finds a way to help them bring in adequate parking, sidewalk cafe’s, and a new theme!


                            #3

                        City Owned Lots at NW 7th Avenue and Sistrunk boulevard
                                       

                             …………. The City bought the massive acreage decades ago, and a mixed-use development with a grocery store and affordable housing was supposed to have been built. Instead, it’s a shoddy lot with frequent homeless encampments.


                           #4

                              Durrs Neighborhood Environmental Problems
                          

                    ………….. The Federal Report said you could live safely in the impoverished Durr’s neighborhood just north of the old incinerator, as long as you didn’t walk outside barefoot, smoke in your yard, or grow vegetables (other than in raised planters!)……. anybody want in?


                 #5

                                           The Courthouse and Judicial Campus             
                             

                     …………….  It’s been talked about for decades. A Judicial Campus – with the County  and Federal Courthouses, and the State building all in the same area. It’s planned to be located near the current decrepit County Courthouse. The City will have to lead the way if this multi-jurisdictional effort has any chance of really happening.

                
                    #6

                           &nb
sp;                  The South Andrews Business District
                              

                   ………….  The business people along this corridor have been pushing for years to upgrade their area. They have developed plans that mostly just sit on a shelf in City Hall. A strong push could make this a dynamic area bordered by the Courthouse at one end and the Broward General County Hospital at the other.


                                #7
                  

                             Beachlot at the Las Olas Bridge and the Intracoastal
                                 


                             …………..  It was supposed to be a European style mixed use project but the developer got a little greedy and the anti-development forces at the beach got a lot crazy …. the rest of us got nothing but this trash strewn lot.


                          #8



                                                                                     Sand
                                                    


                             ……….    The State’s been promising it to us for years. Pompano got theirs. Hollywood got theirs! Where’s ours? The City will need to be vigilant or our sand will end up in the budget cut sand pail.


                        #9

                                              The 13th Street Corridor
                                 


                          ………..  The City dumps a bundle of money every year sending Cops to this one mile crime corridor to keep the criminals and dopers at bay. Redevelopment is the real answer. A commitment to make it happen is needed.


                 #10

                                                 Police Station
                                                

                                ………     The City has been talking about a new Police Station to replace the worn out one on Broward Boulevard for a least a decade. It was built about the time this picture was taken!There’s been talk of selling off the land the current one is on and building a new Station in a more appropriate location.                                     

                          …….. Here’s wishing our new leaders lots of luck in advance!
                  

     The Citizens who pay attention to what the Fort Lauderdale City Commission does, or doesn’t do, have had to pay close attention lately. 

     That’s because the meetings have been so short, that if those Citizens take a bathroom break, they’ll probably miss the whole meeting!
 

                                     
                                                         Ready to Jump and Run?

        Yesterday’s Conference Session, the twice monthly daytime meeting where Commissioners are supposed to discuss the City’s problems and bring forward new initiatives, lasted only 32 minutes, probably a City record. Most of the Commissioners spend more time commuting to the meetings than that.

     The evening meeting, a formal meeting called the Regular Meeting, where the Commissioners vote on Ordinances and Resolutions and hold Public Hearings, lasted only 47 minutes. The Regular meeting two weeks ago lasted only 45 minutes!

     At yesterdays rate, if they just attended the meetings, the Mayor and his Commissioner’s  salaries would work out to be about $1590.00 an hour.

     Some City watchdogs point to the brevity of the meetings as evidence that the Commissioners are not tending to the City’s needs, but just rushing in for a short meeting and leaving the City’s’ bureaucrats to take on all the heavy lifting. They say that there are multitudes of issues facing the City that need full-time attention from the Policy Makers, not dash-in,dash-out diplomacy. 

     Some others say the brief meetings are a political ploy to keep anything controversial from coming up until the next City election in the Spring, when three of the five on the City Commission will be term limited out .

     Still others say they are satisfied with the short meetings, and prefer the status quo until the new Commission is elected in the Spring.

     

     
    

     His name is Bruce Roberts. He is our former Police Chief.

                                                                  
                                                           Police Chief Roberts

     He was a Cop for a long time, some 35 years. Here is a picture of him in his early Cop days, with his Special Undercover Squad back in 1979.
                                                            
                                                                       
                                   

     If you can’t pick him out, he’s the guy in the middle, with the long hair and beard, (the last thirty years has not been especially kind to him, follicly speaking!)

     Now, after a successful career in law enforcement, starting as a Patrolman and ending up the Chief of Police, he’s got a new goal, Fort Lauderdale District I City Commissioner.

     I interviewed him recently, and here are the results. He was quite candid.
                                     …………………………………………………………..

Tim – So Chief, did you ever have to shoot anyone?

Bruce –  I did! My partner and I were tailing a couple of guys that  had just robbed someone at a night depository at a bank on Sunrise Boulevard. We made a felony stop, and before we could do much, they came out of the car with a blazing shotgun. One of their bullets went through my legs and flattened the tire on the squad car. Pretty scary!. We had to shoot them.

Tim – So now that I know you can shoot the bad guys, why have decided to try and replace Commissioner Christine Teel as Commissioner ?

Bruce – I think she’s abdicated her responsibility as Commissioner. She’s let the City Manager set policy, and hasn’t been listening to her constituents. Also, she was initially in favor of the grotesque pay raises at the City. Also, I think I will bring more energy to the position.

Tim – When you resigned as Police Chief, you were pretty pissed! You said some tough things about City Manager Gretsas. Do you think you will keep him on as Manager if you’re elected?

Bruce – I think you know me well enough to know I’m not going to make personnel decisions without all the information and without due process.

Tim – Ok, fair enough, but you said at the time that the Manager’s office had held back important Police Safety equipment, what was that about?

Bruce – Actually, that was Assistant City Manager David Hebert. We had new important AR-15 rifles scheduled for purchase and Hebert said if the Police Union wouldn’t bargain, “maybe the rifles don’t get ordered.”  …..   (Tim note – Hebert denies this claim)

Tim – So what are your plans if elected?

Bruce – It’s going to be a tough budget year, the first year, but I know what needs to be done and have done it. I’ll  fall back on the primary purpose of government;  Police, Fire, EMS, Water. Sewer, and Trash. And as a Commissioner, with my colleagues, and the citizens, I’ll set the direction and policy for the City to meet the challenges we’ll face together.

     Zip Code 33311.   ……    The Sistrunk Boulevard Area

     In the City of Fort Lauderdale, it’s more accurately known as District III. With a few exceptions, it borders Sistrunk Blvd. – south and north. It’s the historically black section of town. Until the 1960’s, blacks had to stay there all the time, at least after dark.

      It once was a thriving community. But after desegregation, the area began to get worse. Many of the educated and professional blacks moved away. Commerce dried up. It’s been a struggle since then. Lots of crime, slums, blight.  It’s currently over 80% black, mostly poor. In contrast, much of the east side of town is over 80% white.

     For the last twenty years, it’s elected official, and most important leader, was Carlton Moore. Over the years, he became powerful, but controversial. He fought ferociously for his area. He bickered with Mayor Jim Naugle. He made things happen, but also did silly things like driving on a suspended driver’s license, and being in arrears on taxes. There are now 4 candidates to fill his seat, but more may get in.

     His last day was last Tuesday, and in typical Carlton Moore fashion, he went out with a bang. One colleague, Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom, tried to cut his last day short by declaring his last day Monday. She had legal opinions she said, but he ignored her and stayed and voted and fought – right through his last day.

     Now he’s a private citizen and there’s a temporary replacement in his seat until the election in March. Change is coming to Sistrunk.

     I talked at length today with LaRhonda Ware, the President of Dorsey Riverbend, one of the major neighborhoods off Sistrunk. She’s considering jumping into the race for Commissioner also, says she is 98% certain, but is nagged by the “numbers”. She only wants to get in if she thinks she could win!

                                       

     Ware is quite outspoken, and has an interesting take on which of the candidates might win the seat. She thinks Nadine Hankerson, and Cameron Mizell have the best shot at the seat (if she doesn’t run). She says they are more traditional candidates, are grassroots, and “know the older people better”, the ones that vote.

     She says Bobby Dubose and Pam Adams chances are slim. She thinks one of them will get Moore’s endorsement. She says they will collect more money from the lawyers and such on the whiter side of town, but “it won’t matter”.

     She thinks our city has become a “joke”, and says her peeps are tired, and fed up. They want a grocery store, and banks. She says they want the “bad guys gone”.  She says the City isn’t totally responsible for District III’s troubles. She think’s the fault lies about 50/50, split between the City and the residents of the area. But she also said her community is changing, that new people are slowly moving in, lots of interracial couples.

     She knows she will have to decide if she will run by about Thanksgiving, and after that isn’t worried. She says the “people will speak”.

    

    

     Fort Lauderdale, for years, has been in the middle of the controversy surrounding the rights of gays. And Fort Lauderdale has a lot of gay citizens.

     In fact, some demographic studies, based on US Census information, have the Fort Lauderdale/Miami Metro area ranking 4th on the list of American cities/metro areas with the highest gay population. As a percentage of population, other studies show Fort Lauderdale’s ranking at 23rd, Key West at 7, Orlando at 95, and Wilton Manors at number 1.

     So when an issue comes around that affects the lives of gays and lesbians, it always affects our City!

                             
                                   giving a nutbucket a forum

     The latest such item came on November 4th with the ballot issue known as  Amendment 2. The Amendment said that in Florida, marriage could only be between a man and a woman, and that no other legal union that was the “substantial equivalent” of that would be valid. Critics say that language might also include civil unions or domestic partnerships.

     The constitutional amendment passed with 62 % of Floridians in favor and 38% opposing.
 
     In Broward, the results were much closer, 52 % in favor and 48% opposing…..Fort Lauderdale opposed the effort, with 46% in favor and 54% opposing ….(Wilton Manors weighed in at 25% in favor, 75% opposed.)

     This issue, and similar issues can have local consequences, so I asked the Candidates for the Fort Lauderdale Mayor and Commissioner jobs how they came down on the issue.

     Mayoral Candidates……
 
Steve Rossi ……. campaign has elected not to comment on any blogs for the duration of the campaign

Earl Rynerson ……. opposed – says “religious fundamentalists should stay out of peoples private affairs”

Jack Seiler ………opposed – says “my concern is the adverse impact it could have on domestic partnersips and civil unions”

Dean Trantalis …… opposed – says the amendment is a “slap in the face for anyone seeking equal rights”

District I

Inger Garcia ….. says her “personal vote is private”, but that she is the ” last to judge anyone in their personal relationships”

Bruce Roberts ….. opposed –  says gays should have “many of the benefits we straights take for granted”

Commissioner Teel  …… evaded giving an answer

    District II

Howard Elfman ….. opposed –  called it a “divisive and bigoted amendment”

Steve Glassman …. opposed  – says our City needs “new leadership to afford all our residents equal rights”

Commissioner Rodstrom – opposed – for personal reasons

     District III

Pam Adams …. opposed – says we should “treat everyone with respect” and that the amendment was “not just a gay issue”

Bobby Dubose …. opposed – says he believes “marriage is only between a man and a woman, but the amendment went further and was not clear” 

Cameron Mizell …. called too late to be included

Nadine Hankerson …. does she really exist?

    District IV

Jim Lewis …. opposed – says he is a strong family guy, but the amendment was “unnecessary, and government should stay out of people’s private lives”

Coleman Prewitt …. says he “strongly opposed it and voted against it”

Romney Rogers …. in favor – says he “voted in favor, with the majority,” but believes in domestic partnership contracts and the need for gays to “legitimize” . Doesn’t want to be labeled as homophobic (like his neighbor Jim Naugle).

     A dangerous situation in N.E. Fort Lauderdale last night! …..A domestic dispute turns into a stabbing…….

     The violent culprit leaves her bleeding and flees from the 1600 block of N.E. 3rd Avenue …….. F.L.P.D. chases him down to the Citgo Gas Station at the intersection of N.E. 13th St. and N.E. 4th Avenue. 

                         He goes to jail….. she goes to the hospital ….

                 
                   
                       ……….. and the car goes to impound

                 

                    violent crime……up 9% over last year in Fort Lauderdale