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      Speaking of discrimination …..

     I’m up in Helen, Georgia, taking care of our mountain cabin business –

                                
                                      BearCreekLodgeandCabins.com

     It’s a very busy time here, as the town has the longest Octoberfest in the country ( we laughingly call it the September/October/Novemberfest).

     There are tens of thousands of young people here, partying down, drinking lots of beer, so last night, some others decided to crash the party and teach the youngsters a thing or two!

                         

     The protesters were telling the young set that they should stop accepting the abomination of homosexuality, or they would burn in hell  –

                               

     It did not go well for the protesters. The young people engaged them. They strongly disagreed with the message. It was not pretty.

      The young shall inherit the earth – Matthew 5:5 ?
   

       Commissioner Dean Trantalis doesn’t think the City should add the name Sistrunk Boulevard to NE 6th Street signs – from Sistrunks’ current terminus at Andrews Avenue-  down a few blocks east to Federal Highway – but he is just plain wrong !

                                             

      The controversy to further the Sistrunk name a few more blocks east  has played out over the last few months. A final decision is expected soon.

     Dr. Sistrunk was the areas’ Doctor, as black people were not allowed to be treated at Broward General Hospital.  The Sistrunk name is revered in that community.

     The final renaming would complete the multi-million dollar street project that enhanced the deteriorating boulevard in the Citys’ poorest area. The road project went  from Federal Highway out to the City limits.

     Sistrunk Boulevard is the heart of the “black district”, where blacks make up about 95% of the population. It has remained this way since Fort Lauderdale laws in the past kept blacks west of the RR tracks at night, and forbid them to swim in the ocean where the white people swam.

                                      

     Trantalis says that “when he mentions the name” [Sistrunk}, to people around the city, “they cringe”. He says that the Sistrunk name has to “earn” enough respect to traverse through the Flagler Village neighborhood he represents. He says his constituents worry about property values dropping if the Sistrunk name is added ( they won’t).

                                                 

     
     Trantalis also says that “statistics show that the [Sistrunk area] is riddled with crime”, but Flagler Village has had 91 Part I Crimes so far this year, and the similarly sized neighborhood of Durrs (off Sistrunk) has had only a few more at 107.

     So Trantalis asks “what’s in a name”, in a letter released to the press yesterday, but it appears he has forgotten his own lifetime struggle to be respected, as a gay person.

                                       
                                                             cringing?
     

     Trantalis has been  the main official  demanding respect for the gay and lesbian population in Fort Lauderdale for many years.

    Just a few years ago, the Stonewall Library, a collection of gay literature that took the name of a New York bar that had been raided due to its’ gay clientele, was a very controversial issue, when a proposal to place it in a public library building on Sunrise Boulevard was announced.  Trantalis and other gay leaders fought that battle and won.

                                           
                                                   Stonewall Library at Art Serve

     So I’m hoping that Trantalis changes his mind and supports the renaming. I hope he finds it in his heart to demand respect for our poorer neighbors living around Sistrunk Boulevard.  I hope he sees that bringing the revered Sistrunk name down to Federal Highway will symbolically  connect an area that has always been segregated from the rest of the City.

     Trantalis said in his letter that “you cannot force love onto others”. but I bet he knows –  you can demand respect..
    

 ….The rest of the story …….  They got him   ….

        ….. Citizens stood up   ……  Cops took ’em down!

                                         
                                                           busted and awaiting trial                 

     Kudos to Middle River Terrace residents John Cox and Tim Smith ( yes I’m the proud Dad) for getting involved and helping get this suspected criminal off the streets …..  (read the last couple of blog posts for the details) 

           Here are his pending charges –

                                        

     Tim Smith ( 23 years-old),  was thrilled that this menace was apprehended and that he played a part – ” I guess a citizen can make a difference”, he said …. then added,…

     “But I hope we don’t always have to get the criminals name, address, phone number, and film them with the stolen booty” !

                                                     

     This is an important addition to our last post. 

     All the comments have been positive. Even Mayor Seiler and the Chief of Police were inspired by a couple of citizens that got involved to try and catch a burglar!  (Of course there was that one snarky Captain, but you can’t please everyone!)

                                                   
                                                       Adderley and Seiler

     So, here is a very brief review, and an amazing update!

     1.) ……  resident sees stranger in neighbors’ back yard trying to break into home  …….  resident takes strangers’ picture as he speeds away on Moped …..  puts picture and burglar warning on neighborhood interactive website …..

                                              

          2.)  ……  a Thrift Store just blocks up the street has customer looking for Moped parts only minutes after store owner finishes reading the neighborhood warning!  …..   Store owner thinks it is the burglary suspect! Suspect leaves phone number in case store got any moped parts.. ( you can’t make this stuff up!)

          3.)  …….. Thrift Store owner plays P.I. and follows possible burglar until suspect goes into house….  Now sleuths have the possible burglars’ picture,  phone number and  address ! … Police are given the important information.

           Then,

    4.)  …. the next day the suspect returns to the Thrift Store and   ……ready for this? .... tries to sell a camera! .. ( camera is one item listed as taken in burglary).

     5.)   ….. Thrift store owner is amazed, but has the presence of mind to film the action !

 

                             

      6.) Now the Police might just have the suspects’ picture, phone number, address, and a video of him trying to sell a suspected stolen camera!

              ……….  No word yet if an arrest has been made …..

     John Cox was home, gazing out at the Middle River in his Middle River Terrace home in Fort Lauderdale, when a stranger jumped over the fence into his back yard.

                                       

     Middle River Terrace has a burglary problem, with a burglary rate 78% higher than it was in 2005. So when someone jumped the fence into Johns’ backyard, he flew into action.

      John hurried out back, and the stranger, startled, jumped back over the fence into the neighbors’ yard. John grabbed his camera and was lucky enough to snap this picture of the stranger getting onto his moped.

  
                                              

    Now John didn’t think the burglar had gotten into his neighbor’s house, so he didn’t call the Police, but sat down to warn the neighbors on the neighborhoods’ interactive web site.

     A few minutes later,  the stranger on his moped pulled up to the neighborhood thrift store, Oddballs Nifty Thrift, looking for some parts for his moped. The store didn’t have any, but the stranger left his phone number in case they got some.

                                           
                                                               Oddballs

     The owner of the shop, Tim Smith,  just happened to be checking out the neighborhoods’ interactive web site as the stranger was leaving!

                                                     
                                                              Tim Smith

     “OMG“, Tim said out loud. “That’s the burglar! “.

     Tim lept outside, jumped in his truck and called John Cox. “I just followed the burglar and know where he lives. Meet me at the store and we’ll call the Cops!”

     So the cops arrived, and as it turned out, the stranger had gotten into the neighbors’ house. He had looted it of the owners’ laptop, camera, etc. all stuffed into the owners’ own backpack that the burglar wore as he sped away on the moped.

      The Cops took over the investigation, John went home, Tim went back to work.

     Citizen Crime Fighters – got to love ’em !

       Residents and Activists at the Beach proved last night that they do not oppose all building at the beach.

     At last night’s City Commission meeting, former Beach President Steve Glassman spoke in favor of the Tiffany House/Escape Hotel project, located at Birch Road and  Riomar Street. The development will save and restore the historic building, built in 1949 ( with the beaches’ first swimming pool), and add a twelve story condo beside it.

                                       

     Though the Central Beach Alliance spoke in favor, District Commissioner Dean Trantalis had some heartburn about the project, but ultimately voted for it. Word has it that his appointment to the Beach Redevelopment Board, Mel Rubenstein, who lives in a high-rise building adjacent to the project, was fiercely opposed. The development was approved 5-0.

Some controversial seat shuffling took place on the Citys’ newest CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Advisory Board, when City Commissioner Trantalis proposed that the Commission reappoint all the members except member Laura Croscenco.

      Croscenco presided for a rocky year as President of  the Middle River Terrace neighborhood, which has a part of the new CRA in its’ boundaries. Croscenco was almost  removed as President of MRT, half way through her term by the neighborhood membership, after a 29 to 20 vote didn’t quite meet the two-thirds requirement for removal in the neighborhoods’ by-laws.

     Croscenco fought hard to keep her seat on the CRA Board, but was replaced on the Advisory Board by Middle River Terraces’ new President Domingo “El” Cid.

                                                            In the “just cause I can” category, a reminder that the coolest thrift store in town, Oddballs Nifty Thrift, located at 530 NE 13th Street and run by 23 year – old Tim ( formerly Timmy) Smith, is offering at least a 10% discount on top of their already ridiculously low prices if you come in and say – “the old man suggested I come give you a look”
 
          

       We went, we saw, ….. but we only saw one turtle hatched and sprinting to the ocean.

             

     See the little tiny turtle sprinting to the ocean?

     Well, that is a tiny little turtle sprinting to the ocean, but it’s not the tiny little turtle we saw! We went out at night, and our tour guide, Richard Whitecloud, asked us not to take any pictures. That turtle above was seen by Cal Deal last year.

                                 

     There is a big controversy about the sea turtle nests. Activists like Whitecloud want the lights turned off ( or severly restricted) at the beach during the hatching season, but the folks that live at the beach say the dark conditions are unsafe, and that people have been mugged in the shadows.

     Anyhow it was an interesting night. The one nest that hatched held 58 turtles – 
thank God there was a slowpoke still making his way to the ocean by the
time we got to the nest!

                     Got any comments?

    

     Sea Turtles …..

              

     ….a majestic animal that can live to be over 100 years old will be hatching on the Fort Lauderdale Beach on Friday Night   ……

                        …………  wanna be there?

         What: another City tour by Tim

              Where: Fort Lauderdale Beach (park at Fort Lauderdale South Beach Parking)

              When: Friday night at 10 pm

              Questions: call Tim @ 954-822-4727

                                  

     The tour will be conducted by Richard Whitecloud, a half Cherokee/Blackfoot, half Irish turtle saver that runs a group called S.T.O.P.  (Sea Turtle Oversight Protection). He says his group has saved some 60,000 sea turtles.

     Whitecloud says it is peak hatch ling season and we’re pretty sure to see a nest hatch.

     …   We can only have 15 people, so please  RSVP to me by e-mailing me at tim@timsmith.com or just post a comment on this blog post saying  ….see you friday night

                                                                  Tim

     Maybe you can help ….

     Yesterday, I came across this important mail from State Attorney Michael J. Satz.

     The official letter was under the door of the historic 1914 Annie Beck House, that is located in Fort Lauderdale’s Middle River Terrace Park.

                                              
    
     The State attorney was sending  a notice to a witness in a drug dealer case. The notice gives lots of important information to the witness, such as calling the Police if they are intimidated in any way!

     The witness? – Middle River Terrace Park!

   
                  If anyone sees Mr. Park, please give me or Mike a call !

      He is Popeye, probably Fort Lauderdale’s most long lasting homeless panhandler.

       Here he is yesterday. In his left hand is his protection spear,  he says the Cops say he has to keep the sock pulled over it.


                     

      When I first met Popeye, years back,  he was living at Home Depot in the elevator, the outdoor one, and only after closing!

     But HD finally evicted him,  and he lived for awhile in a fleabag motel just south of Searstown. He told me yesterday the motel threw him out, and he’s back out on the street fending for himself….

      He wanted me to take a picture of his head.

                       

     And he needs a new shoe, only the one, as he only has one good foot, the right one, that he uses to shuffle himself along from panhandling median to median.

     Size 11.