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     It was high drama.

     At the very start of a public hearing last night for a new proposed hotel at the beach, (the Vintro Hotel), Commissioner Dean Trantalis was blindsided by a very public accusation that he was guilty of ethical violations concerning the beach project.

                                

     The accusation was made by infamous Fort Lauderdale attorney Bill Scherer.

                                            
                                                              Scherer

     In a well planned out attack, Scherer basically said that a former partner of Trantalis, Rick Smith, a local realtor, had clients that were trying to buy the land away from the proposed hoteliers, and that Trantalis had to know and shouldn’t be hearing the development request.

                                          
                                                       Rick Smith

      Scherer is no stranger to local drama, having successfully sued the City of Fort Lauderdale when another development he was associated with was denied approvals.

    Scherer also sued Broward County, (he tried to overturn County term limit laws) and headed a team that represented President Bush in the 2000 vote recount.

     After Scherer made the accusations against Trantalis, and declaring that he was filing a State ethical action, Mayor Jack Seiler called for a 10 minute break to calm the room.

                                       

     When the hearing restarted, Trantalis said he would indeed recuse himself, so there could be no hint of impropriety. He said he was unaware of any wrong doing by his former partner,  and called the effort “ambush politics”.  He added that the City should not stand for it.

     He looked at Scherer and said “nice try”.

     Commissioners Roberts and Rogers agreed with Trantalis, and called out Scherer for making the public accusations.

                                        
                                              rendering of proposed hotel

    
     In the end, it didn’t matter. The Commission voted down the project 3-0, saying the building was attractive, but way too big for the proposed quarter acre lot.

     I’m sure there will be a follow-up !

                                                             Tim

                                               
                                                         

    

    

     There are some Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods with little -to- no home burglaries.

     (A burglary is where some criminal climbs in your window or door and steals your things. Hopefully, you are not home when that happens.)

                                     

     Our City Managers’ neighborhood, (Bal Harbor), has had one burglary so far this year, Galt Mile has had one, Idlewyld one, Sunrise Key and Sunrise Intracoastal,  none.

     Then there is my neighborhood ! ……  The list below is the long list of my neighbors who had burglars climb in their windows (or doors) so far this year. There have been more burglaries in my neighborhood so far this year than any year on record. (The list is entitled South Middle River, but that is the PD’s mistake, it is actually a list of the burglaries in Middle River Terrace...)

                                    …………   Just not right !

      Today was a very good day for 13th Street in Fort Lauderdale.  It is $1.5 million dollars better !  ……..  I’ll tell you how in a moment.

            

       The 13th Street area comprises about 15,000 Fort Lauderdalians in four neighborhoods and a substandard business district.

     It has been fighting for years to bring itself back to the splendor it once was before crime, crack, and County traffic “fixes” nearly killed it off in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

                                          
                                                           crack cocaine

     The area has a strong alliance of volunteers that has painted murals, marched against crime, pestered the City leaders, installed fancy sculptures in the medians –

                              

                         ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

                           

                        ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                          

      But today the area hit the jackpot – $1.5 million in County Redevelopment money, intended to bring the business district back to a “Complete Street”.

     In a year or so, the roadway will be converted back to what it used to be – a user friendly road for businesses that includes nice sidewalks, lighting, parking, and a whole array of niceties.

     Boy that feels good !

    

    
    

     Just got a call from Blue Cross Blue Shield.

    

     They had to decide if they were going to refund my $31.99 that I paid for a flu shot.

     Turns out, flu shots are preventative, and therefore covered under the Affordable Care Act ( with no deductible or co-pay!)

                                       

     They said the “check is in the mail”, should be in my mailbox in a couple of weeks!

                                         Yea !

    

      I had a brief chat with a guy in the elevator at City Hall last night who asked “So, did you ever get that refund for your flu shot from BCBS?”.

     It dawned on me that I should let you know the outcomes of some of the things I write about so here goes  ………………….

    #1
           

      Remember that Yrral and others in the ritzy Harbor Beach neighborhood were fed up that illegal parking on residential front yards was taking place every year at the Boat Show.

                                                         Not this year!

     I couldn’t find out who should get the credit for the correction, but after we exposed it here, and somewhere between the Police and Code Enforcement officer Dick Eaton looking into the issue, things straightened out and no illegal parking was seen. I think Commissioner Romney Rogers got involved.

       ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
   #2
     The City went ahead with the extension of Sistrunk Boulevard to Federal Highway.

                                           

     It was surely the right thing to do, and I was glad that Commissioner Dean Trantalis finally went along to make the vote unanimous, 5-0.

                                               

     Mayor Jack Seiler deserves a lot of credit for passionately supporting the name extension from day one and working the issue behind the scenes, and I give the Mayor lots of extra credit for standing up to city- nitwit Charlie (Confederate Highway) King, along the way.

                     …………………………………………………………………………………………

      #3
    And finally, to that guy in the elevator at City Hall –  …. BCBS has called me six times to tell me they are “working” on my request for the $31.99 refund for my flu shot.
 

     Maybe we will know by my next update! 

     

     I decided that this year I was going to get a flu shot.

    I’m 57, and I’ve gotten  the flu the last couple of years and didn’t want it back this year! And as an added bonus, I realized that ObamaCare makes the insurance companies cover preventive care, and what’s more preventative than a flu shot?

     Now I’ve told you that being self employed makes health insurance expensive, and that I looked into changing to a different insurance carrier through Healthcare.gov, ( yes,I got through) when ObamaCare officially opens in January. Turns out I’ll save a lot of money, but for now I’m still with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

                                 

     So I went over to CVS in Wilton Manors, because as you see they have “pharmacists who care”.……..  Not so much!

     I presented my Blue Cross Blue Shield card to the um … caring pharmacist, who said, nope, not covered. I said “but preventative care is covered in ObamaCare without a deductible, and that part of ObamaCare started last year”.”. They said “work it out with your insurer”. Next in line!

                                       

    So I called BCBS ….. six times!

    They’ve said many things like “oh yes, it’s covered, but only at the pharmacy”, and “oh yes, it’s covered, but only at your doctor’s office, and “oh no, not covered”, and oh yes, covered, but we have to escalate to a supervisor”.

                         

      …..so, I didn’t want to spend the night at CVS, so I paid the $31.99 to the caring pharmacist, got the shot and went home ……..   no flu this year!

     I called again later that night and applied for a refund. They said they were taking it under consideration.

     I think ObamaCare will work, but it ain’t yet!

    

                                                       

      I could never find Waldo when reading those books to my child years ago, and I had no more luck finding Commissioner Bobby Dubose at an important meeting last night in Wilton Manors.

     For some background, Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bobby Dubose has announced that he is resigning his City Commission seat to run for the Florida House of Representatives – District 94.

     Last nights’ meeting that Dubose missed was held by Rep. Perry Thurston ( who is term limited out of District 94  and running for Attorney General). Thurston organized this first LGBT town hall meeting in Wilton Manors – discussing State issues important to the gay community., which make up a large voting bloc.

                                        

     District 94 (in yellow) is unofficially seen as the House seat created so an African American would more or less be guaranteed a seat in Tallahassee, but the District also includes a part of Plantation, a sizable chunk of Fort Lauderdale (where I live), most of Wilton Manors, and an important swath of Oakland Park.

      The race for the House seat already has four African Americans in the race, so I expected Dubose would be at this meeting……. so I searched!

                 ….Was he here on stage with the other bigshots?

                              
                              Nan Rich (running for Gov.), Senator Maria Sachs, Rep. Sobel, Rep. Thurston,
                                       Wilton Manors Vice Mayor Carson and Comm. Green, activist Michael Rajner

                                                         Nope not there!

        I did find the back of the head of county Commissioner Tim Ryan and the only Republican in the room, County Commissioner Chip LaMarca.

                           

                                                        But no Dubose!

     Two other of the announced candidates for District 94 were there. Lauderdale Lakes Commission Levoyd Williams, and Eric Alexander Fowler II.

                          
                                                       Levoyd Williams

      Maybe Dubose had a good reason for the no show, I haven’t heard.  Another candidate for the seat, Jimmy (O’Glory) Witherspoon, wasn’t in attendance either.

      But any candidate that can convince the voters in Plantation, Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, (and the neighborhoods where I live), that they will also be represented in Tallahassee could win the day!

     Maybe even a candidate from that area could win the day!

    

                              
                                                 Witherspoon and Dubose ( elsewhere)

                                         
                                                                             
                                                                                            Tim Smith

    

     

    


    

    

      Yrrral is dreading next weekends Boat Show.

                                         

      Our boat show is arguably the best in the world.

     But Yrral and some of his neighbors in their posh Harbor Beach neighborhood (just up the road from the show) are fed up with the illegal parking lots that spring open in their neighborhood every year for “illegal boat show parking”.

     They fully expect the same this year.

           
       Yrral says the illegal parking lots make their busy stretch  of A1A dangerous. He says he and his neighbors have “grown accustomed to screeching brakes and mangled metal”.

     He says they have called everyone, Police, Code Enforcement, and City Commissioner Romney Rogers. He says promises get made, but there is never any enforcement.
     
            I think they should try calling the Mayor or the City Manager directly (954-828-5003, or 954-828-5013.)

        ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

There are less guns on our city streets this weekend!

                           

      The Fort Lauderdale Police held their second gun buy-back program on Sistrunk Boulevard yesterday. They bought over 50 guns at their first buy a few months back, and they were on target to meet that goal when I stopped by yesterday.

           

     
                                        

     I expected little, but was pleasantly surprised! …..Read On!

           ……………………………………………………………………………………..
      It was a bit dicey and confusing at first.  Late Saturday night, after about an hour of personal questions, the process said I was ineligible for a subsidy, that I could appeal if I wanted, but it wouldn’t let me go any further and shop for ObamaCare. 

      I was bummed.
 
     I let it go until tonight, but being one that doesn’t let much go,  I persevered and finally got through the application process.

                            

                               

    Of course it wanted my Social Security number, my income, my wife’s info and my sons, but  figured this was the government and they had all my info already!

     It told me it already knew that I opened a Home Equity loan in 2005, that I had a landscaping business called TLC’s Greenery, and  that I had an eight and a half shoe size (OK, I made that last one up).
 
     It really did ask if Cindy was pregnant ( I asked her that out-  loud just for fun),and if any of the applicants were incarcerated!



                                    Anyhow, here’s what finally happened 

      I currently have a Blue Cross/ Blue Shield policy for the family (me, Cindy, and 23year-old Timmy), and pay $600 a month for a policy with a $2500. yearly deductible ( and we have to pay for Doctor’s visits until I reach my deductible.)

     My new ObamaCare policy will cost me only $300 a month, but will have a $6000. yearly deductible….. ( but Doctor’s visits are free, if you go to the Doctors in the plan). 


                                    What do you think? …..Tim 




    

You might still remember that the Fort Lauderdale District II Commission race last March was a doozy. Former Commissioner Dean Trantalis beat  former Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom by just 19 votes.

Most of the big guns supported Rodstrom in that race, but that picture might be changing. It’s not clear if Rodstrom will mount a challenge to Trantalis in a few years, and pundits are not sure what would happen.

But last week, Trantalis threw himself a big 60th birthday party, and it was telling who showed up! He contacted this company can deliver drinks to Pimlico, London whenever you need to your door.

Now most of the giant names that were with Rodstrom during the last election were not at the bash – Stiles, Formans, Gaddis, Blosser, McTigue, Maroone, Book, Falkanger, Loos, Eagon – but some other big names have apparently jumped onto the Trantalis team  .

Local celebrity lawyer Bradford Cohen and pal Charlie King were there. Former Victoria Park President Thornie Jarrett, former Middle River Terrace President Laura Croscenco, Chamber President Dan Lindblade …….

Lobbyist giant George Platt, big name development lawyers Robert Lochrie and Courtney Crush, ( they donate to multiple candidates), developer Jim Ellis, …..even Marina Lofts developer

Asi Cymbal.

Rounding out the converts were travel titan Ina Lee (she supported Chuck Black) and longtime activist Catherine Maus.

And of course the first major convert that switched from Rodstrom to Trantalis during the big political battle last year –

Judy Stern