Tim Smith's Fort Lauderdale

     This week, it’s the Downtown Development Authority complaining about the chronically homeless. 

     Last week, the downtown residents and the downtown merchants were crying foul about the homeless feeding camps taking place in downtown parks. They say the feedings are creating all sorts of problems, and they petitioned the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to move the chronic homeless out of the downtown, by designating feeding camps somewhere on the outskirts.

                                                     
                                                            The City Commission

    At this week’s meeting of the DDA, they talked about the heavy – handed panhandling that has been unnerving customers throughout the downtown streets.( To hear Brittany Wallmans’ report of the discussions, go here http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/ .)

     So everyone’s looking for solutions to this age old problem –  how about this for a start ? 

     1.) First, we need to stop the cash flow!  Develop a City Wide Program that attempts to stop folks from giving to the panhandlers. Other cities do that by locating donation meters on city streets. This way, folks can give, but the money goes towards helping the homeless, not fueling their substance problems.
 
              These converted “parking meters” dot many city’s downtown sidewalks with explanations that they are for homeless programs. Other signs ask pedestrians  “please don’t give to panhandlers”, but to feed the homeless meters instead.

     2.) Get more Homeless Social Service professionals on the streets. A portion of the homeless, even the chronically homeless, can be helped and persuaded back into society. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department  has been recognized nationally for their programs that deal with the homeless, but their resources are very limited – beef them up!

                                                                      
                                                               Cops and the Homeless

      3.) Get creative ! Start a new program that hires and trains Downtown Authority Ambassadors that can cover the streets of downtown, dressed in an official looking capacity, equipped with cell phones that merchants can call to report aggressive panhandlers. The Ambassadors can be trained to find beds for the homeless, gently encourage them to move along, or get Police to the scene quickly – if necessary.

     4.) Think comprehensively. Just pushing them off here or there will not solve the problem. Let’s become the model that other cities follow!

     5.) Remember that soon it will be warm again up north, and the problem will slow to a trickle, until next winter!

      

    

     Fort Lauderdale’s very own infamous ponzi-schemer Scott Rothstein’s expensive stuff will soon be available, to you!

                                        
                           how about a poster with Rothstein’s slogan of Passion, Integrity, Commitment! 

     Rothstein is in jail for a long time, most suspect. His investors are decimated, his partners in flux, and his stuff in storage – at AMC Liquidators, a furniture liquidator owned by  Fort Lauderdale citizen Mike Grimme. 

     Grimme, a mover-shaker who once owned hotels on the Fort Lauderdale beach, started his furniture liquidation business a few years back. He has already liquidated another famous ponzi schemer’s goods, Alan Stanford of Standford Financial. 

     So when Rothstein fell, Grimme says he already “knew the drill”, and swooped in and proposed the deal to auction off Rothstein’s holdings.

      Grimme says Rothstein’s 35,000 square foot offices were “pretty elaborate”, with classy office furniture, fancy accessories, and loads of technology ( Grimme says the computers have “swapped out hard drives “, so don’t expect any juicy leftovers!)

     The Auction, run by Fisher Auction will take place on Saturday, January 23rd, at 10:00 am at AMC Liquidators. You can preview the bounty on Thursday the 21st and Friday the 22nd, but here’s an early preview !

                                      
                                                                       fancy leather

                                       
                                                                       stocked bar

                                        
                                                                even the fish tank!


     Grimme says the best stuff, Rothstein’s personal office and the memorabilia ( pictures of Rothstein and Charlie Crist, Rothstein and Governor Bush, Rothstein and Sarah Palin etc. ), will be on display for all to see at his store next week. 

     You can call Mike for more details at 954-735-5777.

     

     It was a very well attended anti-crime march in the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of Progresso Village Friday night.

                                           
                                                  Neighborhood President Doug Sterner


        The neighborhood, on the edge of the Northwest part of Fort Lauderdale, butting up against Sunrise Boulevard, looked like it was going to be redeveloped during the last land boom, but only a few blocks of pretty townhouses got built before the boom went bust.

     Today, crime is the issue. Police Department statistics show the relatively small neighborhood bursting with crime in 2009. It ended the year with a 6% uptick over 2008 and logged 211 major crimes  (29 robberies, 34 burglaries, 93 car break-ins, 16 cars stolen, and 39 business burglaries).

     Compare those stats to similarly sized safe neighborhoods like Riviera Isles with 2 total crimes (both car break-ins) and the beaches’ Dolphin Isles with 5 total crimes (all burglaries).
[ Ironically, Progresso Village is on a list of possible locations to move the Downtown Vagrant Feeding Camps to.]

     Impressively, four of the five City Commissioners attended, only missing a full quorum with the absence of Commissioner Romney Rogers.

                   Here’s some of last night’s action! 

                                               
                                         Commissioner Rodstrom and Chief Adderley – still friends


                                               
                                Commissioner Bobby Dubose and Housing Authority Scott Strawbridge


                                               
                      Townhouse builder Rene Lepine with Mayor Seiler and Commissioner Roberts    


                                                     

     The local residents sent out an e-mail last week saying they were “mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore. Looks like the powers -that- be might have heard them.                                     

                                                                      Stay Tuned!

     Just a few weeks before Christmas, in the Smith House, not a creature was stirring, especially the dog that tried to bite his lips off!

     In a horrific case of pound dog-gone crazy, former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Tim Smith,  (that’s me), rushed himself to the Broward General Medical Center holding most of his upper lip in his left hand and driving with his right.

     Smith had been trying to help leash a bull terrier/german shepard mixed mutt that his son Tim ( not junior) had rescued from the Humane Society. The dog had apparently been beaten by a former owner and was very neurotic, bordering on psychotic. When Smith tried to leash the mutt, he leapt toward Smith’s lips and carnage ensued.



                                        
                                                Smith’s lips hours after leaving Broward General’s specialist surgeons

     
     Only minutes after arriving in the Emergency Room, I was taken to an observation room. The attending physician took one look at my kisser and exclaimed “Yikes, let’s get the specialists  (Maxillofacial) called in on this one”. 

     After a rather lengthy wait in the observation room, a most dedicated and efficient surgeon got to the scene. He took a look at my chewed up lips and called the nurses for supplies – “lets see if we can make these look like lips again” he chirped. “Give it your best shot”, I mumbled incoherently.

     I’ve been pretty miserable the last few weeks, but amazingly, the stitches (tons of them) are out and I’m looking almost handsome again ( maybe I should have asked for a full face lift while lying there!)  

     With my catastrophic, worthless Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical insurance, we expect an astronomic bill will arrive in the mail any day now, but my lips are worth it!

     I know you’re asking, so I’ll tell you, the dog no longer resides at the Smith house.

     
     

    

I just got off the phone with Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley.

Adderley in happier times

     Adderley is agitated. He is known as a smooth character, but not today. The blogs have been merciless. His association with Scott Rothstein threatens to bring him down, and he wants his side of the story out.

I asked Adderley if he missed any clues that Rothstein was a bum, somebody he shouldn’t have  associated with. “Am I the only guy that got fooled by this guy”, he asks, “is Frank Adderley the only one that knew Rothstein?” Adderley is perplexed why he is the only one on the hot seat.

Adderley says the who’s who of Fort Lauderdale knew Rothstein, wined and dined with him, helped with Rothstein’s charities, got fooled by him. Adderley says that by the time he met Rothstein (July 2008), the mega-rich attorney was already super successful, already deeply ingrained in the community, his firm employing over 150 people.

But how did Frank Adderley, who worked his way up from a street patrolman to become the Police Chief, and who grew up in a modest home in one of the  poorest sections of town, end up on a private jet with arguably the most infamous and richest lawyer in Fort Lauderdale’s history, the owner of a Cadillac dealership, and other high society types?

Here’s how Adderley tells it:

“You gotta realize Tim, I had been married for 17 years, and all the sudden I’m single”.  [Adderley was estranged from his wife, who had been arrested for firing a gun at Adderley over issues of Adderley’s infidelity]. Adderley had initially hired an attorney from the Rothstein firm to represent his wife in the matter, until Adderley’s wife’s brother moved her case to another firm. He says that was how he began to know Rothstein. ( Ironically, Adderley says he also got ripped off by Rothstein, when the $5000 retainer/estimate he paid for his wife’s bond hearing unexpectedly ballooned in the end to $14,000.!)

” I had to eat somewhere”. Adderley says.  He says he started hanging out at Bova Restaurant ( a Rothstein business venture)  with a group of buddies. He says he liked the restaurant “especially for the happy hour”. He says he could “get two appetizers for the price of one”, and just got kind of comfortable there. Adderley says it was a place to network, to hobnob with the city’s professionals. He says “judges, politicians, all kinds of notable names went there regularly” . Rothstein was there often, always the star, bigger than life.

Adderley’s friend Moe Sohail, owner of Ultimate Cigars, and Bayview Cadillac owner Ted Morse were part of Adderleys “group of buddies” that hung at the restaurant. On Saturdays, the group would hang at Moe’s Cigar shop  “to watch college football”. He says he believes Morse owned the jet, not Rothstein, and Morse invited him to go along to New York.” I looked at it like [an expensive] car ride to the game”, Adderley explained. He says he was offered the tickets to the game for free, but declined. “It was understood that I would pay “, he says. ” I am not a mooch”, Adderley barked.

Then there’s the now famous car accident.

      Adderley, with Rothstein, at accident scene

Adderley says he was heading out ” to ride around the community” ( as he is known to do) in the late afternoon when he got a call from Rothstein about their mutual friend Moe’s accident. He say he was just blocks away and went there “just because a friend of mine was seriously hurt”. He says he didn’t participate in the accident investigation ” in any way”, other than asking the reporting Officer if he ” had everything he needed”. He said the investigation will bear that out. There is an attorney for defending you against a DWI cases who will help you in any cases of false accusations that are filed against you.

Adderley says the FBI and he have an understanding that he is a witness in Rothstein investigation and that there are some things he should not talk about, but he thinks the story is getting out of hand and he had to try and set some things straight. He says he believes the FBI has all the phone records of his calls with Rothstein.

I asked him, in retrospect, if he should have passed on that jet to New York, maybe passed on the whole relationship with Rothstein.  No, he responded quickly, but then added, I guess that’s yet to be determined.

Adderley finished by saying he’s confident that, “in the long run , people will see that I did nothing wrong”.

          ………. a  “holiday song” 

                   

                                                ….. from Tim, and the
                                             
                                                    political overtones

                                   
                                    sing to – Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

                                      Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, lean your ear this way
                                             don’t you tell a single soul, what I’m about to say
                                        Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man
                                           Whisper what you’ll bring to them, tell me if you can

                                      Mayor Jack wants peace and calm, Charlotte wants a change
                                      Romney’s on the learning curve, Bruce’s about the same
                                         Bobby’s got the hardest job, trying to fix the hood,
                                       I’m hoping that you’ll lend a hand, tell me if you could

                                       The condo folks want ocean views, others want no crime
                                      We all know what GG wants, a contract with more time
                                      For Genia and her syndicate, neighborhoods their cause,
                                  Pack your bag with lots of grants, dump ’em on their lawns

                                      Don’t forget the Cops and Fire, try and  make their day,
                                     please be special, very good, but short of Harry’s pay,
                                     And for the pundits like myself, Brittany, Earl and Deal,
                                     Help us keep the discourse fair, help our City heal!

              
                                               May your holidays be merry !  …….       Tim
                                     
                                    
                                     
                 
                                    
              &n
bsp;                      
                                     
                                     
                                      

                                     
  
                              

                           

     City Manager George Gretsas draws fanatical fans and furious foes.

     Seems many either love him or hate him !  His fans turned out in big numbers at the last Commission meeting, extolling his many talents and city management prowess! 
     
     Many in the opposition, on the other hand, generally stay in the shadows, grumble behind his back, whisper about his ouster.

     One detractor is the exception.  And his smoldering anger might be bordering on Gretsas Ouster Obsession, hereafter known by the acronym GOO !
    
     See what I mean below – 


                                                                        
     
     Seventy-eight pictures of Gretsas. Activist Cal Deal digitized the tape of the meeting showing Gretsas every 5 seconds during Gretsas’s attempt to save his job. He posted them today on his new web site, built with the express purpose of seeing that the Gretsas contract isn’t ever renewed.

     Here’s a sample of that web site.


                                           

     If you have GOO, or are just curious, Deal’s site is at FortLauderdaleObserver.com 

     No action is expected on the Gretsas contract at tomorrow’s Commission meeting.
     
     

    

      You’ll remember that disgraced former County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion 
 
    was removed from office by Governor Charlie Crist for all sorts of devilish behavior. 
   297184732
   
       Crist’s gubernatorial duties then called for him to appoint a replacement to fill the empty seat, and community activists have been quite angry that Crist was stalling in choosing the Broward County District 9 fill- in Commissioner.  

     Crist had a problem. In a nearly all black, democratic district, Crist needed to find a black republican! 

     Crist got creative. He chose a black republican that lived elsewhere, even though the law called for the seat to be filled with a resident of District 9. Crist chose Dania Beach Commissioner Al Jones.

                                                                            
                                                                         black republican
                                                                                             ( who lived elsewhere)
     
     That action set off an unbelievable chain reaction over the Thanksgiving Holiday. Seeing that the residency rules had apparently been suspended by the Governor, pols began to move!

      Former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Dean Trantalis announced his candidacy for Mayor of Wilton Manors, even though he lives in Fort Lauderdale.

      On the heels of the Trantalis announcement, former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson,  not to be outdone, and looking for a new opportunity, threw her hat in the ring for Mayor of Tallahassee. Hutchinson says she will move there “soon”!. 

     
     And in the oddest of announcements,  City Manager George Gretsas, still smarting from last week’s Fort Lauderdale City Commision decision, threw himself a fundraiser for the position of Mayor of White Plains, New York, “just to hedge my bets”,. he opined ! 

     ….  Some suggest that Governor Crist should run for Governor of Alaska!  … and move there today!    ……   Tim

    

     So what happens now with City Manager George Gretsas?

                              
                                Mayor Jack Seiler and City Manager George Gretsas

     Rumors have been running wild.
 
     A published rumor,at the end of last week , on the blog of former Sun-Sentinel political reporter Buddy Nevins, seemed to have the scoop! It quoted unnamed “sources” as saying Gretsas could be out of town as early as “next week”.

  
Nevins

         The story went on to say that Commissioners were working the phones “overtime” to find a 
replacement. It even named possible replacements! And in a tone reminiscent of Nevins style while at the Sun-Sentinel, warned the City Commission against making “back room deals”. He ended his blog telling the Commission that it ” only takes hitting the send button to file an ethics complaint”.

     The only problem with all the tough talk is both Seiler and Gretsas say it’s all incorrect.

     This evening, Seiler and Gretsas called the reporting bunk and Gretsas sent me the following statement, along with Seiler’s comment to Buddy Nevins.