Tim Smith's Fort Lauderdale

                                    

                    So you’re guessing that this is another post about crime in the hood?

                                           NOPE

     This time, it’s cocaine dealing … on the beach!

                                              
                                                    At Beach Place !!!

     Last Thursday, Fort Lauderdale’s Nuisance Abatement Board took the beaches’ number one entertainment spot under control for continuing drug problems.

     Here are some colorful excerpts from the undercover cops reports as they bought cocaine and marijuana at Beach Place……

                                  
        …….  I carried $40 obtained from investigative funds for the purpose of purchasing illegal narcotics …. being sold in the area of Beach Place  …. a heavy set black male wearing a black shirt and an orange hat ….. heavy set white male with blonde hair ….. carrying a black back pack ….. wearing a black t-Shirt and blue jean shorts  ….. white female wearing a pink tank top …. said, I got snowflakes ….after examining the substance  … I knew this white substance to be cocaine.

     Beach Place admitted to the ongoing drug problems at their establishment and agreed to multiple corrective actions.

     The Nuisance Abatement Board has State sanctioned authority to place controls on nuisance properties including closing them down …….

                               I’ll keep you informed ….. Tim

     You are probably out right now buying gifts!

                        

     Would you be willing to
buy an additional gift, when you’re at the mall, online, or at the Flea
Market, for our Fort Lauderdale kids that really earned ’em ( and might not get them).

                                    Here’s the deal

     The 13th Street Alliance, a group of multiple neighborhoods and businesses just north of Sunrise Boulevard,  has teamed up with the famous Christmas Palace ( at 800 NE 13th Street), to bring some joy to deserving kids, just like we did last year.

                               
                                                                 +

                                
                                      the wonderful Christmas Palace

                    =
       
                                         
                                                       Goodness

     The group has met again this year with area elementary and middle school officials to collect the names of kids who are doing real good in school but come from modest homes.

                                           Here’s exactly what to do to participate

       Buy ….a really cool gift for a boy or girl, aged 5 -years old to 14 -years old. Put a note on the gift saying what age kid you think should get it …… for example…..

                    [  boy – 8-10 years old – or – girl – 5 years old  ]

                                   
 
   ….  (also put on your e-mail address on the gift if you want, so
we can send you an invitation for the Christmas party where we will be
giving the gifts out)…..

     Take …. the gift (unwrapped), to the Christmas Palace, at 800 NE 13th Street, – Monday thru Saturday – 10 am until 9 pm, or Sunday from 11 am until 6 pm…. from now until December 22nd……

    Then …..we will be having the super fun party on December 22, from 1pm until 6 pm, in Middle River Terrace Park (1329 N. Dixie Highway),

                                 

   
…….where Santa will be giving out the presents to the kids,
munching holiday fare, singing Christmas Carols ….etc…etc….etc….

     Can we count on you?   …….

     (If you have questions, you can call Shannon Harmeling at 954-7900169, or e-mail me at tim@timsmith.com)

                                               

     Our City has a serious teen crime problem,

    ….  but Public Defender  Howard Finklestein and Representative Perry Thurston think we are being too hard on the young-uns !

                                                           

     Now for total transparency, when I was 15, I was caught outside the school’s teen club drinking a beer (with the Police Chief’s daughter none the less!)

     Let’s just say that Dad and I had a serious talk when he brought me home!

               
                    delinquent Tim

     But let’s fast forward to today and compare yesterday’s teen mischief to the teen criminal  in Fort Lauderdale  today !

 

                        unnamed 16 year- old teen
     ……..   Battery  …7/20/2010
     ……..   Strong Armed Robbery  ….   7/29/10
     ……..   Grand Theft    …..  7/29/10
     …….    Strong Armed Robbery …..   10/25 10
    ……..    Burglary 6/26 11
    …….     Armed Burglary …..  11/29/11
    …….     Sale of Cocaine  …….  6/21/12
    …….     Violation of conditional release ….. 10/5/13
    …….     Sale of Cocaine 10/10/13
                    ( juvenile is out on conditional release)

        
            
         
                            unnamed 16 year-old teen
     …….   Burglary …..   6/14/13
    …….   Burglary Vehicle …. 8/3/13
    …….   Burglary ….. 9/18/13
   ……..    Burglary ….. 9/25/13
   ……..    Vandalism to church ….  11/6/13
   ……..    Beat up his teacher  ….   11/22/13

          No Howard and Perry, we are not being too tough on the young-uns!
 

        

     Burglaries are a real problem citywide, but the area I live in is inundated!

    …………. So far this year, there has been over 600 burglaries in just the five neighborhoods that run along 13th Street! Amazingly, that accounts for about a third of the burglaries in the whole city.

     ………  So, we decided that we should try and help the Fort Lauderdale Police however we could . We arranged for an anti-crime walk this Friday, Dec. 6th at 6 pm ( meet up with the Mayor and the police at 530 NE 13th Street).

     The irony of the effort? As I was handing out flyers today for the upcoming walk, the police stopped  me (see below). Couldn’t go down numerous streets to hand out the flyers –

                           …………… burglary in process !

     
                 

                                                       See you Friday?

      It’s a miracle!

                              

     I just went on the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) website, and it worked!

    Today was the day that they said the website would work, but I was not at all confident. I had gone on the site many times, for months, only to be hung up at one point or another in the site.

     I told you last month that I was trying to get a more affordable health plan for my family than the catastrophic plan I have with Blue Cross Blue Shield. We currently pay over $600 for a plan that only covers us if we meet up with a bus!

                                             

     I did find out last month ( by phone) that there was a plan that would cut our premiums in half on the ACA website, but until I saw it with my own eyes, I was not going to believe it.

     So this morning I fired up the ACA site and low and behold, there it was, working! The site had no glitches, sailed right through all the possible choices, asked me if I was read to enroll.

     I’m guessing this is what President Obama is feeling like this morning –

                                      

     Anyhow, I’ve been hearing by the detractors of the ACA, about sticker shock.

    They’ve been saying  that I would have it when I saw what would happen with my premiums, and I was, but in a very good way!

     The $600 + we now pay will be reduced by 50%, if we take the plan with a higher deductible, or $458 if we take a plan with a lower deductible than we now have. The company offering those is called Coventry Health Care, and both plans offer free Doctors visits (now I pay for all those).

     Maybe I ought to hit this enroll button now, before the site goes down !

I’ve been looking into the ethics charges hurled at Commissioner Dean Trantalis by pit-bull lawyer Bill Scherer at last Tuesday’s City Commission meeting.

Scherer in action

Here’s the background

A developer, Enrique Colmenares, bought a parcel on the Fort Lauderdale beach to build a hi-rise hotel …….

………   he wanted to build this

..where this is……

So if you’re thinking that would be a rather tight fit, you would not be alone.

Even the traffic experts that looked at the proposal said silly things like “the bartenders might have to ride their bicycles to work”, and “the valet parkers will have to keep pocket change on hand” to put cars in City meters in a crunch”.

So the developers’ lawyer met with Commissioner Trantalis to gauge his opinion, and Trantalis reportedly told him it was too tight a fit, and the developer needed more land to accommodate the parking, etc.

here comes the ethics charge – follow closely !

     ……. Scherer says in the complaint  (filed with the State Ethics Board), that on the day the developer met with Trantalis, Trantalis’s former domestic partner, Richard G. Smith, called the developer’s attorney, Scott Backman. The complaint says Smith called to try and  buy the property away from the developer for one of his clients that was looking for a site on the beach for a restaurant from eXp Realty.

Smith

The complaint says Smith told Backman that he had been referred by Trantalis, that the Vintro would be denied, and asked if Colmenares would be interested in selling the property.

Trantalis calls it all poppycock, says he never referred Smith to Backman, says he doesn’t even believe the call by Smith to Backman was made on the same day he met with Backman.  He says if  the call was made on the same day that “it was at best a coincidence”. Trantalis says he knows that” sounds odd, but it is the truth”.

He says he remembers Smith telling him about his client’s interest in the beach property, but says after that he had no knowledge what happened with the deal until he saw his name on a LOI (letter of interest) as the attorney for Smith, and told Smith that “he could not be a part of it” and that his name “needed to come off”.

Smith says that what Trantalis says is all true, and that he never told Backman he was referred by Trantalis, that his actions were totally independent of Trantalis.

Just another chapter in ugly politics, they say.

     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 !