get the real scoop
/I’ve caught some flack for not keeping you up on things, as of late.
My apologies for not blogging much lately, but the wife and I took some time off, played hooky, a little down time, some much needed VAKAY!
It was great, but I have so much important City stuff to talk to you about….
And God knows I need to take off a little of that weight that I put on – while goofing off!
Talk to you tomorrow!
/…. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is returning to Community Policing …… (I’ll take an amen to that!)
………….but they need you, the community, to join them –
…. I’m going to sign up for this forum, and I hope you will too ……
…. The Forum will take place on 6 consecutive Wednesday evenings, from 6:30 until 9:30 pm, from Oct. 15 to Nov. 19 …. It looks to be interesting, with topics covering all things Police! And the Police are coming into the community for these series of forums, so no need to hassle going downtown to the Police Department.
….. Now we’ve come along way baby – Here is a picture of our Police Dept. at work back in the 60’s –
…… Thankfully, our police racial issues seem to be solved, with an integrated department, where nearly all the top brass are black. (Chief Adderley is Bahamian, but I think he still qualifies 🙂
…. To understand how far we’ve come, in 1994, amazingly, Fort Lauderdale had the highest crime rate in the whole United States ( last year it was East St. Louis), and now Fort Lauderdale no longer even makes the worst 100 list.
….. Even those stubborn crime areas like South Middle River, and Lauderdale Manors, are seeing steep drops in their crime rate.
….. But we still have way too much crime, and the FLPD, led by Chief Frank Adderley, is working it, but says we all need to climb aboard to help!!
So go to flpd.org, and sign up, and I’ll see you on Oct. 15th !
Tim
/….. This will be a double header about two types of poison ….
…. First, the non-political kind, arsenic –
…. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection swooped into the Middle River Terrace Park last week, with their poison finding digging machine (above).
…… The State came to see if arsenic, discovered on the property next door, had leached underground into the park.
It’s still unclear of any dangers the underground arsenic could cause, but the City is advising residents not to eat the mangoes, just in case !
…… Here is a bowl of samples collected during the two day poison investigation. The State says it will take about 45 days until we know the outcome …. I’ll let you know …
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…. The second poison is political ….. do you know the latin root for politics? ….. poli (meaning many) … and tics (meaning blood sucking insects)!
…. Never has latin seemed to make as much sense to me as in the actions of the giant political lawyer – Bill Scherer.
…. Scherer is arguably the most connected lawyer in the County, and has a penchant for suing the system when it benefits his political friends.
… Fortunately, this week, he was overruled, (once again), by a Court outside of his territory – ( Broward County). This time, Scherer had sued to open the August Democratic County Commission primary to Republicans, which insiders said could help his longtime friend, Charlotte Rodstrom, in her second attempt to get on the County Commission. [ The Rodstroms, though registered Democrats, have long held ties to the Republican party.]
…. Scherer also unsuccessfully sued to overturn term limits ( a few years back), which would have allowed his friend John Rodstrom tostay on the County Commission.
….. This latest Scherer defeat could mean another expensive special election, with we taxpayers holding the bag (once again) …..
shameful !
/….. So I went down to the Middle River Terrace Park this morning to let the FDEP ( Florida Department of Environmental Protection) into the historic Annie Beck House, as we are letting them set up their base as they check to see if the park has unacceptable limits of arsenic in the soil ….
.
But when I got there, a bigger story emerged ! …. ( I’ll get to the arsenic story in the next post) …..
………… Turns out, somebody tried to set the historic Annie Beck House on fire !!!
….. The arsenic investigators saw the arson evidence first – “hey guy,”, they yelled to me shortly after arriving to begin their arsenic investigation …. ” looks like somebody tried to burn this place down out here!” ….. They were out at the back steps of the house, and this is what they saw –
The rag was shoved in the hole and set on fire. ….It looked like it started to burn pretty good, a rather large black charred step as the evidence…. Acting Fire Marshall Jeff Lucas and Fire Inspector Ray Cicero arrived quickly to begin the investigation.
Cicero spotted this crack baggie just under the burnt step – and Lucas said it looked like it started to burn but “maybe it started raining” and that put out the fire.
They put the rag/etc. in evidence cans and took them for analysis. The Police Officer took a report and they all drove away.
……Sheesh, what a morning!
/It’s still a slow news period for us – still steamy summer – but here are a few tidbits ……
…… A rumor floats that perennial Seiler thorn Earl Rynerson’s moving billboard received a traffic ticket as it circled the Mayor’s State of the City address this past Thursday. I haven’t heard back from Rynerson for verification, and the Police are mum.
……… Rynerson
They should at least give Rynerson a ticket for using that old, heavier photo of Seiler if nothing else!
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Crime stats for July came out this week, and the news is almost all good. Out of the nearly 100 neighborhoods in the City, only a handful saw any appreciable increases in crime over this time last year – But if you live in any of the neighborhoods below, you now have a better chance of a burglar invading your home or car – (and you should complain!)
Colee Hammock- CityView Townhomes- Chula Vista- Harbordale- Coral Ridge- Flager Heights- LakeRidge- Landings- Nurmi Isles – Victoria Park …….
call Adderley
……….. Thankfully, the South Middle River neighborhood continues its’ remarkable recovery, with the home burglary rate down another 25%, with only 97 burglaries so far this year ….. In comparison, Nurmi Isles ( the Las Olas neighborhood where the Rodstroms must no longer live in as Charlotte Rodstrom is running to be a County Commissioner for the Coconut Creek area) has seen an explosion of burglaries from their historical NONE, to SIX, so far this year.
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………. A few nut-jobs continue to make a mockery of the City Commission meetings. One in particular signs up to speak on every item, and then rambles off topic until the Mayor eventually stops him. Something needs to be done –
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……….. And lastly, the upcoming Funky Fun Run, a really fun 5K road race that will take place along 13th Street on Feb. 21, 2015, officially opened it’s enrollment at this last Commission meeting (go to FunkyFunRun.org) …. You may think it is too early, but with the prizes mounting, you should put on those running shoes ( or even buy some new ones).
……. As you can see from the unabashedly self- promoting selfie below, I have been running 5Ks to get in shape, and got second place for my age category in one already ( and yes, there were more than two people in the race!).
//
…….. See recent picture below –
……. Mayor Seiler, First Baptist Pastor Larry Thompson, Commissioner Trantalis, Commissioner Rogers …
……. Below, an excerpt from a Thompson sermon on gay marriage –
“We have been told by the opposition that we are not to engage in the conflict…we are merely to observe. However, in the life of every true follower of Christ, there must be a sense of personal, biblical and moral accountability to act when we see an opponent dedicated to destroying a God-directed biblical pattern for marriage. A failure to engage rejects everything we know about TRUTH from the spoken word. Make no mistake, the family unit is under attack; the definition of biblical marriage is under attack. As a result there must be a biblical response; a response that deals only in defense of biblical truth and not in the personal attacks of others who would disagree with a biblical position.”
……. Your thoughts?
/In case you are not one of the 10.76 % that voted yesterday (and pay attention to such things), here is just a little news of what happened.
………….. meaningless election picture
….. First off, it was a primary election, where each party picks their candidate who will run against the other despicable party’s despicable candidate in November!
…. Second off, though it’s always a bit unnerving, I am generally pretty good at my endorsements, and I hit 100% last night (maybe I should quit while I’m ahead?)
….. Like 75% of Florida Dems, I chose Charlie Crist.
Now most of us probably feel that Crist is an opportunistic, wobbly kind of fellow, but he had a pretty good run as Governor last time around, and…… has a chance of beating this guy in November –
the other parties guy
…. I also chose Dem winner George Sheldon over Thurston in the Attorney General race, because Perry Thurston was soft on crime, and that’s not a good thing if you want to be the Attorney General!
Sheldon will run against the incumbent AG Pam Bondi in November ( Bondi’s platform includes fighting gay marriage and medical marijuana!)
………………. Go Sheldon !
Alcee Hastings goes back one more time (he won by80%) and ….
….. my pick Bobby Dubose heads off to the State House, with no competition in the general election in November …..
…… hmm, now I guess I’ll have to back a candidate to fill Dubose’s seat on the Fort Lauderdale City Commisssion !
… more politics – Yikes !
/I can’t say enough about civic pride ! I think it’s what separates us from the animals !
Yesterday, that pride was very evident, when the Middle River Terrace Improvement Club painted the Dixie Highway Bridge (separates Fort Lauderdale from Wilton Manors), and refreshed the signage and landscape that surrounds it.
The rain held out as about 20 volunteers sweated and painted the worn out bridge.
Well, most sweated and painted, some just pointed, and some just stood there 🙂
Whatever you think of our effort, you’ll have to admit that we had the most prestigious traffic control –
Yes, that’s the Mayor telling people to “slow it up” , volunteers ahead !
And in the end, the neighborhood looks better, and the people have a new dose of civic pride!
/I’ve told you a few weeks back that our Police Chief is on a mission. This week he is still going strong.
Thursday evening, he brought a small contingent of his Officers and met up with members of the Middle River Terrace Improvement Club to hand out more Smartwater kits in the neighborhood that seems to be solving its’ burglary epidemic.
Despite it being an off/on rainy evening, the Police and Citizens managed to hand out another 32 kits before calling it a (wet) night. To date, nearly half the homes in Middle River Terrace now have the anti-crime forensic Smartwater.
As we all returned to the park to turn in our lists and go home, the Chief and one Officer were still not back.
“Don’t worry”, said the Detective ” the Chief brought his umbrella” !
