Florida Agenda

Commission agrees changes “can’t wait”

The Wilton Manors City Commission voted 4 to 1 to rescind an ordinance that would put to a public vote in November a plan for the city to obtain control of Wilton Drive from the Florida Department of Transportation. Wilton Drive is officially known as S.R. 811. The commission felt that they could not wait until November to address the problems of safety, parking and beautification.

Obtaining control of Wilton Drive is the first of several steps to decrease speed, reduce the number of lanes from two to one in each direction, increase parking and landscape the main road through the city as proposed by Wilton Manors Main Street. This will be the first major renovation to The Drive since 2000 when it was widened and the landscaped median strips were added. At that time, trees were added to the medians which were removed shortly afterwards by order of the FDOT who declared the trees a safety hazard.

WMMS’ plans call for the renovation of Wilton Drive to take place in three distinct phases, the first of which would be the restriping of the road and rearranging the parking from the current parallel to head-in configuration. Before any changes can be made, the city must have control of the road.

The city will now study the feasibility of obtaining the road from the FDOT and the costs involved including road maintenance. The state had already planned to resurface Wilton Drive in 2013. Wilton Manors is currently operating under a $1-million budget deficit.

Instead of a public vote, a town meeting will be held on June 15 to discuss the plans with the public and get their opinions. —BK

Fair Coverage?

Dear Mr. Maillis -

In regard to the article about Jayson Gehri – it is a great thing that he is doing, but the coverage he and his group is receiving is a bit much!! We have a ride here in Florida for the Tuesday’s Angels. This year there were six cyclists that made $40,000. This compared to 2,150 cyclists in 2009 that raised $10.5 million (in a state that already provides incredible benefits from the state, county, and city levels).

I have issues with this!! Here, Tuesday’s Angels is run by volunteers which means basically all the donations go to the source – can you say the same of these organization in California? Do the agencies in California have paid staff ? I also have to wonder how many cyclists from California come here to help our community – well none participated in the last Tuesday’s Angels bike ride.

This just disgusts me to no end!! I would hope that you and your publications would cater to our own communities.

Sincerely,

C. JASON CIDEKO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – G FOUNDATION

Let Them Bake

Dear Letters to the Editor:

The members of the Main Street program in Wilton Manors could better serve their time joisting with windmills rather than wasting it attempting to get Empress Mayor Resnick and her court of Commissioner Jesters to lower themselves to the level of the common people and provide any sort of comfort in the form of shade trees on Wilton Drive.

The Main Street Program has been in existence for years and submitted various plans to each succeeding Emperor and Empress who have lorded it over the business owners and residents of Wilton Manors and not engaged the City in planting a single shade tree along Wilton Drive between the Drive the sidewalk to give shelter to shoppers and pedestrians from the unrelenting Florida summer sun.

Empress Resnick made sure that when she was one of the Commissioner Jesters that a new building would be constructed for her to rule from and that no shade providing trees would be planted along the front of the building, most likely as to not ruin the sport of watching speeding vehicles running over pedestrians on the Drive while no marked police vehicle is ever stationed on the Drive during busy business nights to slow down those speeding vehicles.

Empress Resnick and her Jesters know putting a vote about taking over Wilton Drive from the State and landscaping it with shade trees to the cash strapped voters of Wilton Manors will end up in defeat as only about 14% of the voters will most likely turn out as they did during the last election as the majority of registered voters seem more interested in dialing for Dick on the Internet rather than voting.

Marie Antoinette was quoted as saying, “Let Them Eat Cake,” in regard to her subjects starving with no bread to eat. While Empress Resnick sits in her newly built airconditioned City Hall office, the motto of devoid of shade Wilton Manors seems to be, “Let Them Bake.”

RICHARD CLAYCOMB

FORT LAUDERDALE

Mr. President wake up

When you delivered your State of the Union address in January, you eloquently spoke the following words to Congress and the nation: “We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it…”

“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”

At the time, we seemed to be making progress. You committed to finally end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy once and for all, this year. Then in February, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a congressional hearing that “we have received our orders from the Commander-in- Chief and we are moving out accordingly.” Both announcements were heartening.

However, as you know, Secretary Gates sent a letter to House Armed Services Chair Ike Skelton on April 30 which appears to indefinitely delay the possibility of moving forward with the repeal of DADT until the Pentagon completes a review of the policy.

GOV. HOWARD DEAN, MD

FOUNDER, DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA