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Today was the hearing, brought by two residents of District III, asking to deny Robert McKinzie the Fort Lauderdale Commission seat.

 

 

    McKinzie

The lawsuit for an injunction, stating that McKinzie didn’t live in the District,  was denied by the Judge –

 

 

tell it to the Judge

The Judge said, basically, that there was not an emergency, as the City had already sworn McKinzie in, but that the Plaintiff Attorney could come back to the Court and file a motion for a full hearing ( on whether or not McKinzie met the qualifications for the seat – residing in the District).

The Plaintiff’s attorney thinks they can prove that McKinzie actually lives in Plantation.

 

 

Plaintiff  Attorney Bob Nichols

 Interestingly, after the hearing ended, McKinzie’s lawyer Greg Durden,  told me that McKinzie had just petitioned the Property Appraiser to delete the Homestead designation from his house in Plantation.

 

McKinzie attorney Greg Durden, (on left!)

 

No word yet if the plaintiffs will file for the full hearing.

 

 

You are all volunteers, that’s my bet.

So if you have a few hours available this Saturday morning ( 8am until noon), here’s another opportunity to shore up your place in line in heaven!

 

The Judge Fred Shippey home –  (Broward’s second Judge that lived in Sailboat Bend in the early 20th century, married hundreds of couples, including Tarzan) was saved from the wrecking ball by historic activists and trucked down to a City owned lot in the historic district a few years back…..

Here’s what the century old  house once looked like –

 

 

Then look below at what the house looked like after the move, and years of neglect, and after the hoodlums got a hold of it-

 

 

But here is how the great volunteers cleaned, painted, and otherwise shaped up the Shippey House last year!

 

 

So, this Saturday you wonderful citizens ( are you one of those?) will be back at it, mostly doing yard work type things, while the historic preservationists finish their plans for the final use of this City treasure….

At least let’s get the house looking something like this again!

 

 

…..See you Saturday morning, bring clippers, gloves, rakes etc….

Tim  … 954-822-4727

 

 

Robert McKinzie is slated to be sworn in as a Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner on Monday.

 

 

Or maybe not! …. A lawsuit has been filed to stop that, saying that McKinzie does not live in the District, and therefore does not qualify to be a Fort Lauderdale District III Commissioner. The emergency hearing will most probably be heard prior to the swearing in time on Monday.

So, I decided to play detective this rainy Sunday morning and go try to find out if McKinzie lives in District III, or not –

First, I had to have some breakfast, so I headed out to the best soul food restaurant in the city for some breakfast!

 

Betty’s Soul Food restaurant  on Sistrunk …. Scrambled eggs, polish sausage, and collards ! ….. yummm!

Then it was over to 505 NW 19th Avenue  …… That address is in the District, and is the address that McKinzie put on his application to be appointed the temporary District III Commissioner seat ( to fill the Commissioner Bobby Dubose seat, since he got elected to a State Representative spot on Nov. 4th) . The race to fill the District III seat permanently, will take place  at the regularly scheduled City Elections in March.

The lawsuit says McKinzie does not really live at 505, and  the Property Appraiser lists McKinzie and wife Deberina as homesteaders on a $444,000 house in Plantation in Plantation Golf Estates.

The house McKinzie  claims to be living in at 505 is valued at $68,000. Here it is –

 

After my collards, I knocked on this door. No one was home .Truthfully, it was a tidy little house, but didn’t look very lived in. All the blinds were closed shut, so you couldn’t see if it was properly furnished etc. In the front were these old signs –

 

The signs say McKinzie for County Commission, which McKinzie ran for years ago ….  So I couldn’t tell definitively  if he lives there or not, …..  but either way, he should probably be disqualified for this next picture – the yard art in the front yard-

 

 

Now that’s tacky!  …. But maybe I’ll go back later today, maybe first thing in the morning, all inquiring minds want to know-

 

 Where does Robert McKinzie really live ??

Letter to the Editor and Michael Mayo

 

It’s easy to criticize Fort Lauderdale’s new law that controls the feeding of its homeless in its City.

After all, citing, and maybe even eventually jailing a feisty 90 year old man, a longtime advocate of the weak and downtrodden, for just providing three squares a day seems untenable, almost mean.

 

But it’s not, let me explain.

Most of the homeless folks that Arnold Abbott feeds are not the homeless that are temporarily without a roof due to a sudden hardship, loss of a job, or serious illness that left them penniless and living on the streets.

No, we, as a community in Broward County, have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours of personal efforts to provide for those unfortunate, fellow human beings. We built, maintain, and fund programs like the the Homeless Assistance Center (HAC), and other County and City programs that provide temporary housing, job placement and training for those.

The new Fort Lauderdale law, addresses another group of human beings that find themselves homeless and in trouble in our fair City. They are the mentally ill, the chronic drug or alcohol abusers, or the smaller group of adults that simply choose to abandon responsibility and live off the fat of the land.

Arnold Abbott, and maybe you, feel that feeding folks a meal – even to this group of the most needy must be a good thing to do, but in reality IT is the mean thing, or at the very least, the  irresponsible thing to do.

If we just feed these unfortunate folks with serious problems, and then send them off to find a bush or bench to sleep, we might go back to our safe home and  feel better, but those sad afflicted fellow human being are really no better off for the temporary help.

So let’s support the new laws, and really help. Let’s now find a way to fund programs that deal with our weaker fellow humans problems with drugs, alcohol, and mental instabilities. Let’s find a way to house them, treat them, monitor and mentor them. Let’s decide as a City that living on the streets is not good enough for Fort Lauderdale, let’s start a trend!

Then Arnold Abbotts’ life mission might have a true chance of making a real difference.

 

. …   I’m a Democrat, and if you read yesterday’s post (always available at TimSmith.com !)   you’ll know I, in particular, am in deep doo-doo ! (Go back one post if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

…..  You see, not only did my party take a serious shellacking in Florida, and nationally, but my local pick didn’t make it either!  And then there is that issue about the bird deposits!

 

……There was only one thing to do –

 

 

 

 

 

……… The Indignity !

 

My wife Cindy and I spent an hour this morning, standing at the infamous 5 points intersection in Wilton Manors,  stumping for Wilton Manors Mayoral candidate Doug Blevins.

 

me and the candidate Doug ! 

…….  Now, going back to the title of this post, there’s certainly no indignity in stumping for Doug! ……  Blevins is an old friend or ours. Over a decade ago, Doug was President of the South Middle River neighborhood, and gets much of the credit for starting to turn that neighborhood around…. He is a real go-getter.

 

…… No, the indignity came from this –

 

Yup, see those BIG damn birds up on the wires above…. well, I was just below them and  they made a deposit right on my arm that was waving the Blevins sign!

 

….Now a little mea culpa – I had to think quick…I had a job to do and the bird’s offering was starting to dry-  quick… I looked behind me, thinking I needed something in a hurry to wipe this indignity off  … and there it was  …

 

………..  So, sorry Governor  ….. But if Crist wins tonight, I don’t have anything to worry about  ….  And if Doug does win, the first thing I’ll ask him to do? ….Do something about those overhead power  wires at 5 points!!

 

 

 

We’ve been following the dope dealing escapades at the biggest entertainment venue on the beach –

 

………. Beach Place

 

If you haven’t been there in awhile,  …. here’s a refresher –

…… you can get a tasty pile of  Hooters wings, swing into Lula’s Bait Shack, get your ticket for a Duck Tour, buy a pair of crocs,

………. or,   buy a bag of pot ???

 

 

Yup   …there’s been a lot of arrests there, even one of the bartenders was arrested for selling a pound of weed to an undercover agent. And you might remember that one of the security company’s guards ( Navarro) was implicated in the sale too ! (Beach Place has since replaced Navarro).

So now, the City is playing hardball, threatening to take away the complex’s Entertainment District license.

 

 

……..  A strongly worded letter sent from City Manager Feldman to the operators at Beach Place,  says they are in default of the conditions of their license, and are in jeopardy of losing their lucrative ability to keep operating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…..    It was  Make a Difference Day in Fort Lauderdale, and we did!

 

There were a few dozen projects around the City today, but here is my story…..

 

….. In my neighborhood, Middle River Terrace, there is a little store on Dixie Highway that we painted a mural on the side of,  20 years ago, and we decided it was time to go back and finish the front!!

 

!

 

About 25 neighbors showed up, starting at 8 a.m. We had the same artist from 20 years ago, Louise Birmingham, sketch out the fishes, and the rest of us filled in ….

 

     …..        

 

…………

 

………….   We took a group shot about half way through the morning ….

 

…….

 

 

…………..  We had our City leaders come out a lend a hand  –

 

 

……..   or just look amazed!   …..

 

……………   Even the neighborhood kids had a blast …

 

 

…….. And, in the end ……

 

……………………………………….

 

We Made a Difference !!!

 

…….. 

………   I just voted, and it was easy as pie!

 

…… You can early vote right now. I was reminded of that when I drove past the Wilton Manors City Hall this morning and saw this sign.

……  And I was impressed. It took me all of 8 minutes, from parking at the free meters, walking in ( they only want to see your Drivers License) voting, and gone.

……. There were voting workers every 3 feet, you couldn’t screw up if you tried. I told the ladies out front how impressed I was and took one of their pictures …..

 

 

…..well, kind of !

 

……As I was leaving, one of the advocates asked me if I voted their way –

 

 

…….   hell yea 🙂