Tim's Pick - District II
District II .... !
I was the Commissioner for this District from 1997 through 2003!
It's the oddest of all the Political Districts. It is so diverse, that it is split between the City's wealthiest and the City's poorest. It runs from the beach to Powerline Road, and includes the powerful beach lobby, the largest gay population, the Las Olas elite, some of Downtown, and most of the City's Haitians.
Some of the old-timers tell me that when Districting began in the City, all the power brokers were located in the other areas, so they just picked what they wanted and called the left-overs District II.
When I was a Commissioner, I often joked that it was the "Bermuda Triangle" of political districts, because politicians often flew in and were never heard of again! (at least not in a good way!)
This go round, I'm supporting Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom.
And I realize that as Ricky Ricardo often said to Lucy .... I got some 'splainin to do!"
So here goes:
It's surely been quite the bizarre race.
Steve Glassman, one of the biggest beach Kahunas, was instrumental in successfully organizing beach voters for Rodstrom's election in 2006. Now he says he was wrong, and is running hard to replace her. He has run a very effective campaign, and is Rodstrom's only real threat. The beach vote will probably swing soundly Glassman's way this time around.
So Rodstrom needs to capture a sizable part of the rest of the district, Victoria Park, and the important 13th Street corridor vote to keep her seat. But Glassman knows that too, and he has been spending a good deal of effort trying to prove to those communities that he's not just a beach guy, and he's collected a substantial amount of support there.
Now, to Rodstrom's credit, she has been trying feverishly for the last three years to prove to the non-beach vote that they were wrong in not backing her in 2003. She has consistently moved their issues along, stayed in touch, attended their meetings, even furnished many of her constituents with her cell phone number. And in her most important issue yet, she has moved the CRA expansion to 13th Street effort to the County Commission next Tuesday for a vote. If it passes there, it will be a big win for her district.
But it's fair to say that otherwise, Rodstrom hasn't been all that successful in her first term. She hasn't seemed to get the hang of the necessity of political give and take. She was often the only vote against things, and in political reality, that gets your constituents nowhere!
She often casts blame on City Manager George Gretsas, or her dysfunctional Commission (which they were!). But there will be new Commission in March, and maybe Rodstrom will have more luck with a new team that plays well together. If she doesn't find the support to replace Gretsas among them, she'll have to find a way to make amends and work with him.
So, in the balance, and in my humble opinion, Rodstrom deserves three more years.
If Glassman wins, he will surely be an important part of the new Commission. If not, he should stay involved in the whole of District II and wait for another chance.
Tim Note:..... After this piece was published tonight, I got some feedback that I didn't give Howard Elfman, the third candidate in the race, a fair shake....... I do believe that Elfman has been gaining for the last few weeks, but just how much is yet to be known!
Wow! Once again, you show you're not afraid to speak your mind. We all know you consider everything carefully before speaking out.
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Tim, as a gay man, I am voting for Charlotte too, Steve Glassman just rubs me the wrong way. So with those choices, Charlotte is the only choice...Good choice!
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Tim,
I think you are totally wrong. You sold out to Commissioner No. No wonder you are no longer in the commission.
I am supporting Howard Elfman 100%. He is the only candidate in the district with a vision for our city. The other two are just bickering to each other about nothing.
I am very disappointed in your bizarre pick.
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Charlotte has been a very ineffective Commissioner for District II. She is unresponsive when you contact her with concerns, never answering your emails. One of the questions asked her at the forum the other night had to do with her constituents complaining that she was unresponsive. She sat up there acting dumb founded and said nobody had ever expressed that to her. I had that conversation via email with her (when she finally responded after I got irate). I told her that I had heard that complaint from many others in the neighborhood as well. To set up there in front of everyone and say she had never hear any complaints was a flat out lie!
Charlotte knows how to stroke peoples egos and for some that is all that it takes to get their support. She also made all kinds of promises to the gay community and the Dolphin Democrats to get their support and then turned her back when they needed her to take a stand; many of them feel betrayed. This go around, she has lost most of that support. When crime was on the rise and residents would be up in arms at district crime meetings all she could offer is "that's a police problem"....she never offered any creative leadership or ideas; no thinking outside the box. She prides herself on saying "NO" to development when in reality she has said NO to almost everything; unable to work with other Commissioners or the City Manager to get any real positive results for our district. Personally I am supporting Steve Glassman. As a former campaign worker for her, he too has seen how ineffective she has been and how she has broken one campaign promise after another. You can learn more about Steve by checking his website www.voteglassman.org.
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Glassman the want-to-be District 2 Fumbles as Condo President
Before you decide to vote Steven Glassman , perhaps, you should know about some of the screw-ups during his current tenure as Shore Club Dictator, oops President. In addition to paying maintenance, per the previous board decisions, he assessed each of the owners over $25,000. Glassman and his board reorganized the assessed money, deleted projects and generally spent the assessed money, as they saw fit without owner approval.
1. Front Driveway Remodeling Debacle—History repeats itself.
Immediately, after the long a waited opening of the Shore Club front drive, over ten weeks ago, Glassman’s luxury car turned on to the new driveway and immediately hit bottom. After buck passing, over who was going to pay, which Glassman was unable to sort out, over ten weeks have passed during which about half the residents and guests have been forced to use the normally one way back exit ramp to reach their parking spaces. Oh, I forgot, someone should have noticed, when they were designing, the new more attractive driveway, that the old front drive was scarred by the countless vehicles, that had hit bottom during the previous thirty years.
2. New Drive Past Entrance. At the top of the new pavers brick main drive are two new security swing gates, instead of being placed opposite the security office, which would force visitors to stop and be recognized by our security staff and be on close circuit security cameras -- both gates are located about twenty feet past west of the security office.
3. Twenty New CCTC’s But None At The Front Entrance. Here is another monument to Glassman’s unprofessional and poor leadership as Board President, after recently spending over $20,000. on about twenty Close Circuit TV Cameras and Technology—the Shore Club has yet to install, even one CCTV at the top of its front driveway—to document the arrival of cars, their license tags, the faces of drivers, and to observe and protect the Shore Club Security Staff at work.
4.
5. Blocked Signs. The good news is that the Shore Club has two new Industrial Modern Illuminated Shore Club Address signs out front—the bad news is a palm tree blocks the south bound side and the northbound sign is blocked by three pipes and poles.
6.
7. Donations Accepted. Glassman must be happy, as the landscape architect/front entrance designer donated, a three-figure sum, I didn’t use the word ” kickback,” to his 4th Quarter 2008 Election Campaign Fund.
8. If you lived at the Shore Club, you could have read about his campaign in the news letter, looked at his campaign “poop” and for weeks looked, at his fund raiser invitations in the locked bulletin boards in two mail rooms and six elevators.
7. Instead of doing something about the chronically noisy (think loud p.a. system and cranked up D.J. music as 1:00 a.m.) canvas party tent, at the Pelican Grand Beach Hotel, Glassman has done a deal and will be having a party there on the 10th
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Tim,
Of all the district races, this one seems to be, by far, the most acrimonious. As an 'arms length' observer with no dog in this hunt, I won't offer any opinion as to the relative merits of any of the candidates. It will be interesting, however, to see whether the sometimes overly fervent quarreling between some in the Rodstrom and Glassman camps may have gotten a bit too heated and 'turned off' a significant enough number of other, less passionately committed voters.
If so, might it cause some of those voters to opt for Elfman in the primaries due to a perception that he might be a less divisive choice for the district? Just a casual observation, but maybe that's some part of the reason, as you cited in your followup comments, Elfman may have been making some gains recently.
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Outstnading observations and frankly - Elfman is a very viable candidate - albeit late getting into the race.
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GOOD choice Tim and Rodstrom and Teel are the only ones who understand pension reform. Seems like the ladies are always better with the pocket book. Regarding this 13 corridor, not sure with every business going under on Federal Hwy. that anything would make it on 13th and we all know this economy will be here for a LONG time. Glassman and Roberts are good guys but we all know that thery are so tied in to the unions that we all would end up paying for these 10's of millions of dollars for union bosses.
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I saw Howard Elfman at my door last weekend. He was very nice and very informed about the needs of our community. But for her husband's name, I've never seen Charlotte Rodstrom. Is she in North Carolina all the time too?
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I too think you've given Howard Elfman far too little credit.
He's the only one who has run a positive, issues based campaign with definite idea and proposals on what's needed in this district and in the city.
He convinced me to cast my ballot for him.
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Dear “Glassman Fumbles”,
Everyone at the Shore Club condo knows that you are Art Seitz but are too cowardly to use your name because of the disgust people here and everywhere feel for you. Shame on you for printing these lies. First of all, Steve has guided the best three years at the Shore Club ever! Just look at the place. As for the assessments, except for $2,500 the balance of $22,500 was assessed by the prior Board led by your best friend Gary Sieger who was tossed from the Board for being a non-owner and other assorted bad deeds. The rest of your dribble is just rubbish. Is it any wonder that Art Seitz is known as the homophobic Moses? When he comes to the pool area, the people see him coming and part like the Red Sea. We can’t stand this guy.
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In response to Stevie wrote it, Nancy signed it. Attached is a list of the issues, I believe need to be addressed. Glassman, who has been busy lobbying for the developers and trying to get elected has done nada towards advancing the CBA 2008 top 10 priority items.
31Aug08
Dear City Manager George Gretsas:
Thank you for the teleconference meeting, during which, we discussed the need to create a master plan for the entire barrier island. As per your request, I am putting forth those issues which I see as most important in creating a world class pedestrian and bicycle friendly beach front.
• Establish a well marked pedestrian and bicycle friendly A1A/Barrier Island Greenway linked up with important destinations in Eastern Fort Lauderdale, connecting the beach to Riverwalk, Holiday Park and other Greenways via an urban network of clearly marked connectors using the ICW bridges
• Link down town to the arts, cultural, sports, entertainment, shopping areas and public buildings.
• Taking miles of lanes of traffic from cars, on the barrier island, and giving them over to bikes and pedestrians, replacing dangerous bike lanes with wider multi-use pathways or paths.
• Hiring Dan Burden of Walkable Communities to do a NSEW pedestrian and bicycle friendly plan. DBurden@aol.com.
• Funding should be acquired from MPO Budget through 2030 is for $6,100,000,000. .
• With our stretch of A1A almost certain to gain State of Florida Scenic Highway status, we should b e looking at opportunities for grant funds for beautification and signage. Strongly suggest making A1A a two lane scenic highway.
• Eliminate the unsightly, unnecessary signs along A1A..
• Consider having a showcase structure on the beach such as a fishing pier.
• Reallocating the existing 40 to 100 feet of FDOT right of way and city owned property to a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly layout.
• Discourage through traffic on the beach...directing beach-goer vehicles into parking lots or garages.
• Sidewalks should be widened, wherever possible, to a minimum of ten feet and designed to be multipurpose. .
• Create South Beach bicycle pathway from the Yankee Clipper Hotel to the Inlet to the Pier 66 Hotel, which will help keep bicycle riders off of S. A1A, per the A1A Greenway Conceptual Map.
• The beaches should be more attractive to families with destinations, more playground equipment, multi use sidewalks and wide spaces that can be used for air shows, boat races, art exhibits, etc.
• Bars, restaurants, vista parks and multi use facilities, that take advantage of elevated, vistas, should be built north and south of the E. Las Olas Bridge.
• Begin lobbying for our ICW bridges to be renovated/replaced.
• Bike lanes on the beach need to be replaced by wider sidewalks/multi-use pathways.
• Educational campaign aimed at pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers re bicycle and pedestrian safety.
Sincerely, Art Seitz
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Dear Artie wrote it and Artie signed it (because no one else would back up his baloney):
You were kicked off the CBA Board by unanimous vote for bad conduct, lack of ethics, and down right bullying. Ever since Steve Glassman supported the redevelopment of Ireland's Inn, all you've ever down was attack him and try to destroy the organization. Prior to that you always bad-mouthed Rodstrom and called her and her assistant derogatory names (having to do with the color of their hair). So, stop the madness - don't you realize how you hurt your candidate Rodstrom by continuing to blog all over? I am surprised that Judy Stern hasn't put a muzzle on you these last few days before the election. I've seen numerous emails around the beach just blasting you for the awful person you are.
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STEVEN GLASSMAN GOT HIS BUTT KICKED BY THE VICE MAYOR BY BETTER THAN 2:1. GLASSMAN DIDN'T CARRY THE BEACH OR HIS HOME PRECINCT. OUT OF THE HUNDREDS THAT RECEIVED MY E-MAILS, LESS THAN SIX PEOPLE CAME TO THE DEFENSE OF STEVEN GLASSMAN.
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Gotta love politics. For years, Art Seitz trashed Tim Smith and sued him over his book, now the two are best friends plugging for Rodstrom. Tim must be afraid of Seitz to allow the falsehoods about the Shore Club and Glassman to be printed. For the record, Steve and the Board have been excellent – the most transparent and ethical group we have ever had in more than 30 years. Residents came together in pride to host a party for Steve’s campaign; what is wrong with that? But Seitz wouldn’t know what it means to be a good neighbor – he just likes to sue. Regarding the Pelican Hotel – it’s interesting that when the former Shore Club president (Seitz’ silent partner in crime) was on the Pelican payroll while it was being built and blocking our views – that didn’t bother Seitz. But now, he doesn’t like the music? Come on, give me a break. The only complainer here about the hotel is – you guessed it – Art Seitz. Why go on, everyone gets the picture. I can’t wait to see Steve Glassman as our new Commissioner – the entire district can’t wait!
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Dear whoever you are.... if you knew me you'd know I am not afraid of Art Seitz (or anyone else for that matter).... and for sure Art Seitz and I are not "best friends"...as a matter of fact, we are not friends at all !... ciao, Tim
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Tim:
Wow... and to beleive Glassman cheered you on while you were bowling last week in Wilton Manors.
I speak for many when I say that only Steve Glassman can bring civility, reason, and good judgement to the commission. His campaign has been uplifting and positive. He has a flourishing Grassroots and Facebook campaign.
I am suprised at you. Oh well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
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Are you really saying that Glassman only cheered him on because he thought he might get an endorsement?
After reading all the petty and "sore loser" comments, I've decided to change my vote from Glassman to someone else- thanks for opening my eyes to the content of his character,and those that flock around him.
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Sorry Sam but where in the heck did you get the idea that Glassman only cheered Tim on for an endorsement??? Steve Glassman has attended many MRT events and has many supporters here. He hasn't let Tim's endorsement of Charlotte stop him from attending our events. In spite of what you may think, Steve has a lot of character and will be an excellent Commissioner, working hard for all of us....FOR A CHANGE! Something we haven't had in a while in this District.
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Boy Tim, these blogs sure do get interesting! I agree with the previous comments about Art Seitz, everyone knows what he is all about and he has no credibility. I've been extremely disappointed in Charlotte as my commissioner. I have spoken to all the candidates and I like Howard Elfman however I feel Steve Glassman is the best qualified candidate. Anyone who saw him at the candidates forum had to be impressed. While Charlotte stumbled, Steve was impressive with his grasp of the issues. He will work for all of us to bring real change. I do agree with you Tim on the mayor's race however. While I would never vote for Trantalis, I don't feel that Rynerson is up to the job at this time. Seiler has issues but I think he is our best choice.
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VOTE TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10th.
Vote for experience, vision and accountability
Vote again for
CHARLOTTE RODSTROM
That showed during her 3 year term:
--Fiscal responsibility
--Independence from developer’s lobbying
--Commitment to her campaign promises
--Straightforward behavior – No hidden agendas
--Involvement with neighborhoods and police to reduce and control crime
--Hard work, honesty, accessibility, positive attitude, vision
CHARLOTTE RODSTROM
Best Candidate for District II
On this new City Commission we will need excellent commissioners: they will address financial changes and the big redevelopment of
Bahia Mar, International Swimming Hall of Fame and River Front.
E.Miranda Lopez - Support Letter
Fort Lauderdale resident since 1976
Board Member of Beach Redevelopment Board
Central Beach Alliance Board Member and Treasurer for the 2008 term
One of the founders and ex president of Dolphin Island
Land Use Chairperson for ( now extinct) North Beach Island Alliance
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