Horse Sense
All great cities have a Police Mounted Unit ....... We do!
Fort Lauderdale's four legged finest !
They are unique in the things they do....... The problem is - they ain't cheap!
Nearly every budget season, the Unit is on the chopping block, only to be saved by the bell at the last minute. Some year, sooner or later,they won't make the cut. But what if the Unit could pay for itself?
Here's what I'm thinking
We have a wonderful Mounted facility in Holiday Park, an 80 acre park right in the middle of Fort Lauderdale.
the horsey facility in Holiday park
The Unit does what it can to cut costs - here's amazing proof !
Fort Lauderedale Cop with plunkards ( that's what the stuff in the pitchfork is called!)
How about we try and find a horse stabling/riding business that would like to locate next to the Cops in the Park.
They could offer rides all around the giant park on the weekends, board horses for our citizens. They could even take over the plunkard digging duties!
There's plenty of horse businesses out in Davie, and I'll bet one of them would pay real money for the opportunity to go east to the big city Fort Lauderdale!
picture yourself here
Fort Lauderdale's four legged finest !
They are unique in the things they do....... The problem is - they ain't cheap!
Nearly every budget season, the Unit is on the chopping block, only to be saved by the bell at the last minute. Some year, sooner or later,they won't make the cut. But what if the Unit could pay for itself?
Here's what I'm thinking
We have a wonderful Mounted facility in Holiday Park, an 80 acre park right in the middle of Fort Lauderdale.
the horsey facility in Holiday park
The Unit does what it can to cut costs - here's amazing proof !
Fort Lauderedale Cop with plunkards ( that's what the stuff in the pitchfork is called!)
How about we try and find a horse stabling/riding business that would like to locate next to the Cops in the Park.
They could offer rides all around the giant park on the weekends, board horses for our citizens. They could even take over the plunkard digging duties!
There's plenty of horse businesses out in Davie, and I'll bet one of them would pay real money for the opportunity to go east to the big city Fort Lauderdale!
picture yourself here
Tim-
I like your ideas here! Why can't our elected officials have this kind of pro-active thought process going on?? What will it take to make this happen??
Earl
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..... great idea !
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Wow Tim ANOTHER great idea- Sadly,because it makes sense,and will take some doing to initiate,the current politicos will say it can"t be done-if only you were still on the dais...well...
I have been following your blog stories for quite some time now,and find them informative,enjoyable,and sometimes shocking-one can tell a lot of thought process goes into each and every one, which makes me wonder why in the hell hasn't someone offered you a job??!! You are a rare talent! Thanks for getting us thinking with your insightful pieces,and entertaining us as well-I look forward to the next one!
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Tim,
Totally agree with you! I absolutely agree that you've hit on a good idea here that makes sense. Will be interesting to see if anything is ever done to try to make something like this happen! I love the 'Mounties' here...they're great ambassadors of good will for the city and they do some SERIOUSLY EFFECTIVE police work throughout the city that we'd be missing badly if they had to go away because of budget constraints. I'm all in for seeing what we can do to help make this happen!
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This idea makes a lot of "horse sense". Yes I went there!
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I support the horse patrol. Kevin Finn (I appologize, I'm not sure of his "rank") who is in charge of the horse patrol, probably has more experience with horses than anyone in any PD in the country. He's excellent. Two issues with the "private" horse barn. What is the policy about public park space being used for a private entity? Second, I wonder if this would make enough money to support it. Seems like if this was a "money maker" the private sector would have thought of it. There was a stable with riding some years ago in Margate or North Lauderdale near 441. I'm pretty sure it's been gone for years. I never get out that way anymore. It seems like something that would be cool at first and then wear off and we would be left with a building to maintain. I'm not saying I'm against it, just so far no one has stated anything con about the proposal, and there are some "cons".
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