Update on Lawsuit

Tim Smith /

       The Central Beach Alliance, the civic group that represents folks on the Fort Lauderdale Beach, got word early yesterday that the lawsuit against them by the developer of an approved condo would be dropped.

                                   
                                             site of approved condo

       The developer of the approved condo, the Grand Birch, ( 115 feet tall, 22 – units starting at over a million dollars), was suing the CBA for $7000 for interfering with their approval to build the condo by joining a lawsuit filed by neighbors of the approved building trying to halt the start of construction.

      In the end, the developer needed more time to build the condo, and agreed to halt their lawsuit in hopes of an extension of time to build from the Fort Lauderdale City Commission.

      The vote to grant the extension was approved by the Commission 4-1, Commissioner Trantalis  voting no.

      The lawsuit went away with the extension!

Will the Beach Lawsuit Go Forward ?

commtims /

This is an update to a post we did some months back about a lawsuit against a civic group, ( the Central Beach Alliance)  that represents the residents of the Fort Lauderdale Beach.

The CBA is being sued by a developer that is trying to build a condo on the beach, but is being thwarted by some beach residents that don’t want it to be built.

The odd thing is –  the group that is trying to stop the new condo is not the CBA, but a condo adjacent to the proposed condo that fears losing views, having  heavy traffic, etc.,  – the RRG.

That group, that named itself the  RRG, (residents for responsible growth), is represented by Roth Davies, LLC, and has been reported to say that they can sue and hold up the new proposed condo for 3 to 5 years just by filing a lawsuit.


Schiller

So, the CBA has been brought into the suit,  and is crying foul, because although they initially joined the suit as a complainant, dropped their involvement just days after joining the suit.

Their President, John Weaver, has asked the City Commission to hold up a request by the developer, to deny an extension to the developers approvals at this Tuesday’s CC meeting,  unless the lawsuit against the CBA is dropped  ….

…… lots of drama, and confusion  – I’ll keep you informed   ….  Tim

 

 

Dog Poo Contest

Tim Smith /

        We single-family homeowners just hate the rare doggie owner that lets their pooch do their business on our swales and moves on without picking it up !!!

         So here is the contest

                 …. send me a picture of the best sign you’ve seen  –  here’s mine !

                      

                                          …. send your entry directly to me at

                                                  tim@timsmith.com

Michael the Farmer

Tim Smith /


      Did you know that there is a vegetable farm at NE 3rd Avenue and NE 6th Street (yes Charlie, that is also Sistrunk Boulevard) ?

                         

       It’s called Flagler Village Farm, and it is possible due to the City’s new Urban Farming ordinance, but the credit, and the success of this effort falls squarely on this man –

                                

                         Architect, civic planner, and now farmer – Michael Madfis.

      Madfis got involved in this new latest craze when the bottom dropped out of the development industry during the last crash. And he is quite good at it!

                                 
                                             worker Miguel cleans some greens

     
                                    
                                                            super food !

  
       Madfis says the trick is in the soil mix, but don’t expect him to give you the recipe! He says he has little problems with insects so far, though he did catch some green worms on his Bok Choy.

         Go see Michael and buy some veggies……  tell him Tim sent you !

The Aftermath

commtims /

       The Howard Johnson’s restaurant had been on the Fort Lauderdale Beach for decades, but had closed some years back and began to deteriorate.

     Beach residents were apoplectic. They demanded it be torn down, and yesterday, it finally was.

                                       Here is the aftermath

                 

         If you missed the implosion (and my post yesterday), or if you just can’t get enough, click on the link below !

                                                
Watch HoJo’s Go Boom Boom!

HoJo’s Goes BOOM BOOM !

commtims /


     Finally  …. Hojo’s goes boom boom at the beach !!!

           (If a picture with YouTube arrow doesn’t appear below, click on this link instead – blog.timsmith.com – and turn up your speakers!)

                                ……. it’s worth it !

                             

  

     
            

Florida House Race Gay Important

commtims /

      ………. The race is on for the Florida House of Representatives District 94.

      The seat is currently held by Perry Thurston, but he is term limited, and running for Attorney General.

                                                        
                                                                  Thurston 

        I live in that District, and have made some noise about possibly running for the seat, but for now, I’m just blogging about it!

       It is an interesting race. The District runs from Lauderdale Lakes down through Fort Lauderdale, up into Wilton Manors, and finishes in Oakland Park. Currently, these two men are running.

                             
                                         Bobby Dubose and Levoyd Williams

        Dubose is a Commissioner in Fort Lauderdale, Levoyd a Commissioner in Lauderdale Lakes.

        The District is almost 60% black, and nearly 90% democrat ! So, the winner will be decided in the primary in August, as no republican has a chance of winning in the November General election.

       But here’s the rub – whichever candidate can capture the white (and considerably gay) Wilton Manors and Oakland Park vote, could win.

        They had a debate at last week’s gay Dolphin Democrat meeting, and here are the highlights –

                         

         Dubose says he is in favor of gay marriage, as does Williams. That is significant, as the black community has long opposed it.

                     

           And Williams is in favor of medical marijuana, as is Dubose!

          Both men also state that they will be there to fight for the gay issues, but Dubose admitted to a somewhat strained relationship with his colleague, famous gay politician Dean Trantalis.

                                   

           Williams tried to separate himself from Dubose by saying that the difference between he and Dubose was that he “was a fighter”, grew up in North Florida, and “knew how to talk to them”. He told the group he grew up in the civil rights era and “felt their pain”.

           Dubose said the Pledge of Allegiance called for justice for all, and said he was committed to that. He pointed to support for “family recognition”, and “hospital visits”, and said he would be “championing those issues”.

          The men differed somewhat on juvenile crime. Dubose favors a “holistic” approach, concentrating on the “front end”., but Williams, pointing to the current problem with juvenile burglaries, said “there has to be a limit”, and that you can’t “placate and pamper them”.

               I’ll keep you informed …. Tim
 
      

Seiler’s Thorn(s)

Tim Smith /

     Mayor Jack Seiler’s  most virulent critic, Charlie King, sent an e-mail out to dozens of bigwigs today to say he and some “rebels” were forming a group to oppose Seiler.  

             

     King (second from left) sent out this photo of his “rebels” (Earl Rynerson on left, Ray Dettman on right, and Vicki Eckels  with caption added  …. see below –

     Ready to Roll:

  Rebels of the regime are gathering to put their petty differences aside to take on the 3 man un-Holy Alliance of Seiler, Roberts and Rogers and their nonresident police and fire union henchmen.  Don’t be surprised if you hear more from these coalescing Concerned Citizens Against Jack Seiler.  Special thanks to Cal Deal for making us look so good despite the backlighting.

       The e-mail drew a strong response from the picture taker King references – Cal Deal.

                                                     
       

      There you go again, Charlie.

      When I want to make my opinions known, I’ll do so myself and, as always, I will sign my name to them. You should know better than to imply that I do or do not hold certain positions, that I do or do not like certain members of the City Commission, and that I do or do not like the state of our Police Department.

      Further, I want to make it abundantly clear that there is no “coalescing Concerned Citizens Against Jack Seiler” or anything like it. There is no budding conspiracy, and those who ate and talked yesterday evening were people of differing views who were there to eat and talk. Period. 

      This is precisely why I have a filter on my email program that sends everything from you  directly to my TRASH — unread. You don’t know when to shut up. 

Cal 

                         Dettman, on the other hand, said this about the group – 

      Intentions good government , No recall, and I  Already told Charlie I would Vote for Him if He ran for Mayor.

                        And Eckels:

     While we are a group of concerned citizen activists, we have long convened to socialize over food and drink, converse about the local political and civic scene with a lovely diversity of opinion; we do not always agree but we certainly let opinions flow freely. We arrive as friends and leave as friends. Charles claims he was trying to be humorous, he does have a sense of humor though it wasn’t particualrly evident in his morning posting about forming an alliance to rebel against incumbents. No matter, I still like him.