Jack Seiler

Best Of Broward - Palm Beach 2013: Best Politician

Great news, South Florida. This week, our latest Best Of Broward Palm Beach issue hits the stands, and it is a galactic-sized monster, packed with more than 180 picks for South Florida's greatest restaurants, bars, clubs, people, and places. The issue hits stands Thursday, but in the meantime, we're ... More >>

Our Annual Best Of Broward - Palm Beach Issue: It's Here!

You need to know where to find the best burger, the best beach, and the best place to pick up single men. Every year, we find the hottest new joints for you, check in on the old standbys, and spill the beans in our annual special issue, Best Of Broward - Palm Beach. This year's issue is going to ... More >>

Shady For-Profit College Welcomed With $350,000 in Tax Breaks

Anthem Education, Shady For-Profit College, Welcomed With $350,000 in Tax Breaks

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott's offices sent out a news release that declared, "Gov. Scott Announces Anthem Education Expansion in Fort Lauderdale, 70 New Jobs." It explained that the for-profit college will be locating its "North American headquarters" to Fort Lauderdale, spending $300,000 on a bui ... More >>

Fired Water Taxi Employee Leads "Rain Tree Parade" Against Marina Lofts Project (VIDEO)

Mid-day Sunday, about 75 people showed up near the Pirate Republic bar in Fort Lauderdale, then walked a block to the site of a now-famous rain tree. The six-story-tall, nearly hundred-year-old specimen will be moved if a developer is permitted to build a condominium complex called Marina Lofts on t ... More >>

Jack Seiler for Governor? Why He Shouldn't Run

Why Jack Seiler Should Pretty Pretty Please Not Run For Governor

Over the last few weeks, as the political yammering mercifully subsided and we sank into the off-season of national intrigue and drama, out of the quiet rose the name Jack Seiler. That's because Fort Lauderdale's mayor is mulling a run at governor. And though that 2014 election may seem as distant a ... More >>

Scott Israel Has Retweeted Our Interview With Him Hundreds of Times

One day in February, we sat down for a get-to-know-you interview with Scott Israel, who's running in the Democratic primary this August to challenge Al Lamberti in the Broward County sheriff's race. Since then, his campaign has retweeted our story dozens and dozens of times -- we can't count exactly ... More >>

It's True: Those Plants in Stranahan Park Are Definitely For Keeping Out Homeless People

A couple months ago, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler was on the radio one fine Saturday, after spending the morning on his hands and knees along with local volunteers planting gardens of tropical foliage in Stranahan Park. With Seiler's record of trying to get the homeless to disband from the park ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale's Anti-Panhandling Scheme Gets Attention From National Lawyers' Guild

There's a no-panhandling zone in downtown Miami, and Fort Lauderdale currently prohibits asking for change along the beach. But the Fort Lauderdale City Commission is considering some tough new regulations that would effectively ban panhandling in the entire downtown area. That's in addition to a pr ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale Considering Quintupling Red-Light Cameras: Where Does the Money Go?

​The Fort Lauderdale City Commission was receptive to a new proposal heard Tuesday about ramping up the city's red-light camera program from using six cameras to 36. While Mayor Jack Seiler said he was "not for something as massive as that," according to the Sun-Sentinel, he said he was open to ad ... More >>

Riverside Market Retains Parking Lot, for Now

At last night's City Commission meeting, the bid was reconsidered on the city-owned land adjacent to the Riverside Market that was awarded to taxi czar Jesse Gaddis for $15,500.Without access to the land or an amendment to the city's parking requirements, owner Julian Siegel argued in his state ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale to Blow Nearly $30K on Ads Urging Onlookers to Stop Giving to Homeless

​Officials in Fort Lauderdale apparently think the city needs signs and ads urging onlookers to stop feeding loose change to begging beasts homeless people.On Tuesday, the city approved a $26,350 campaign to plaster the slogan "Panhandling: Don't Contribute to the Problem. Contribute to ... More >>

Earl Rynerson Gets a Supporter to Run for Fort Lauderdale Mayor to Force a Primary

​Earl Rynerson, who's running for Fort Lauderdale mayor (again) against current Mayor Jack Seiler, deployed an interesting campaign strategy in his effort to get elected -- admittedly convincing someone else to run for mayor to force a primary election.Rynerson doesn't specifically use the word, b ... More >>

Earl Rynerson Announces He's Running for Fort Lauderdale Mayor (Again)

Earl Rynerson​Earl Rynerson -- a constant critic of Fort Lauderdale's current leadership under Mayor Jack Seiler -- announced on Veteran's Day that he'll be running for the mayor's spot again.Rynerson, who spent 20 years in the military, made the call "official" on his website -- abetterfortlauder ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale Asking Residents to "Get Lit" With Mayor Jack Seiler

corbisimages.comThis guy's lit.​Here's an opportunity you don't get every day -- "get lit" with the mayor of Fort Lauderdale.Unfortunately, the November 18 event appears to be related to turning on Christmas lights, not getting wasted with Mayor Jack Seiler -- which is sort of a letdown.Apparently ... More >>

Former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Tim Smith Meets a Black Male Hooker

Tim Smith"Here is a black male hooker working black hooker road tonight."​Tim Smith, the former city commissioner who once ran for mayor against Jim Naugle and is a frequent jogging buddy of Mayor Jack Seiler, runs a blog in which he sounds off on local issues. He blogged earlier this year about t ... More >>

Food Not Bombs: What the Mayor Thinks

​Last week, as we were talking to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler about sea turtles, we were also finishing up this week's cover story, Food Fight. The story chronicles the ongoing struggle of Food Not Bombs to pass out free food and attract attention to its political message.So, as the mayor wa ... More >>

Mayor Jack Seiler Responds to Sea Turtle Activists Clamoring for His Attention

Hmm, Quite.​Activists protesting the death of baby sea turtles because of Fort Lauderdale's flawed beach lighting know how to get Mayor Jack Seiler's attention: holding signs up against the windows of City Hall during a commission meeting, passing out his private cell phone number, calling him a m ... More >>

Mayor Jack Seiler's Curt Email Response to Sea-Turtle Activists: "Your Facts Are Wrong"

S.T.O.P.Roadkill baby turtles​"MAYOR SEILER HATES BABY TURTLES!" That's a popular refrain these days among advocates for sea turtles on Fort Lauderdale's beaches. Around this time of year, eggs buried by mother turtles on the beach hatch, releasing inch-long baby turtles who need to find their way ... More >>

Cops Suspected Narcotics Activity at Food Not Bombs House, Didn't Find Any

​Last Saturday night around 10 p.m., young activists, Buddhists, and fire-spinners gathered to talk and sing in the backyard of a house in Fort Lauderdale that rents for $650 a month, is missing a few windows, and is a sore subject for Fort Lauderdale law enforcement.The event was an all-afternoon ... More >>

Sip and Slide

Tonight: Slider Battle @ YOLO!

stevendepolo/ flickrA crabcake slider... White castle it ain't! ​Tonight, 17 Fort Lauderdale chefs and their teams are trucking over to YOLO for "Sips & Sliders at Sunset," a friendly competition that started when YOLO threw down the gauntlet, challenging its neighbors to do better than YOLO' ... More >>

New Times and YOLO Bring Slider Competition: Sips & Sliders at Sunset

facebook.com; YOLOYOLO's Meatball Sliders​On Thursday, April 21 the très trendy Las Olas restaurant YOLO (You Only Live Once) will host a slider competition -- Sips & Sliders at Sunset.The showdown will feature several of Fort Lauderdale's finest restaurants competing for the title of "Fort L ... More >>

Dear Fort Liquordale,

Vice Mayor's Brother Hits Up Lobbyists For Biz

Cal Deal Wild art: Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler with a friend (is that Judy Stern behind that mask?). And no, Seiler has nothing to do with the following blog post.​So what do you do when your brother is elected to the city commission? Why you go to political events -- like a meeting of the B ... More >>

Florida's Loss: Rick Scott's High-Speed Rail Shoot-Down

Art Seitz Wild Art: Congressman Allen West joins a motley collection of local politicians (including fellow Republican Chip LaMarca, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, Charlotte Rodstrom, and Romney Rogers) in Fort Lauderdale for yesterday's St. Patrick's Day festivities. (Photo by Art  ... More >>

Five Places Where You Can Start Drinking Early on Sundays

tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com​On February 18, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler signed an ordinance allowing restaurants and bars to serve alcohol as early at 7 a.m. on Sundays (the law does not apply to liquor or grocery stores). Business owners objected to the outdated law prohibiting alcohol sales ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale to Sell Booze on Sunday Mornings, All Your Dreams to Come True

Flickr: vissago​Ever wish you could have a mimosa before noon at Sunday brunch? Try to check out at Publix with a six-pack at 11:45 on Sunday, and be told you need to hang around and wait for 15 minutes? Fear not, problem drinker. The Fort Lauderdale city commission is on your side.Florida's citie ... More >>

What Should Fort Lauderdale Do for the Homeless?

Stranahan Park​Have you walked through Stranahan Park lately -- or ever? It's a nice place. But with throngs of homeless people living there, it's also a reminder that Broward County has a significant problem: About a quarter of the 3,225 homeless people in the county did not have a bed at a shelt ... More >>

Miami Dolphins Stadium Renovation: A Field of Schemes

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, left, with Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and Ron Book, second from right. To the left of Book is his daughter Lauren, and that's apparently Jimmy Buffett in the middle. ​I think it's safe to say that the Miami Dolphins' plan to soak Broward taxpaye ... More >>

Sheriff's Top Political Aide Defends Criminally Charged Krafts

You may not expect much drama and controversy out of a Coral Springs/Parkland Democratic Club meeting, but you got some last night. The night was meant for Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, who gave a very successful speech, but the drama arrived in the form of Sheriff Al Lamberti and his ... More >>

Invoke the Christmas Spirit

Want to Do Business with Fort Lauderdale? Be Brief, Cheap and Transparent

Hell, they should just use this thing.​Fort Lauderdale is looking for a new city manager, the person responsible for making sure the city commissioners' ideas translate into semi-legitimate business decisions. The most recent city manager, George Gretsas, left in July when the city decided not to ... More >>

Broward Historical Commisson Got New Home, Now Loses All its Funding

broward.orgThe commission's new old digs.​When Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler jogged through Sailboat Bend with his entourage last Monday, he made a point to stop at the newly renovated offices of the Broward County Historical Commission. But a couple weeks before, the Broward County Commission ... More >>

Seiler's Mobile Office Hours: Got a Complaint? Catch Him if You Can

timsmith.com​Imagine a society in which citizens must work to air their grievances, where every complaint to city hall requires a bit of physical effort. Would this weed out the gadflies? Apparently not.Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler's new "mobile office hours" involve a monthly jog/walk throug ... More >>

Earl Rynerson: Either a Citizen Journalist or Another Gadfly With a Website

Rynerson: the face of the new media.​Earl Rynerson knows a rumor circulating around Fort Lauderdale City Hall. It has to do with Mayor Jack Seiler supposedly pressuring the Sun-Sentinel into making a personnel change. It's almost certainly not true, but Rynerson wonders if people ought to know abo ... More >>

Jack Seiler Versus Chaz Stevens

Jack Seiler is having it out with Chaz Stevens after the mayor found the blogger in his law firm's Seiler​parking lot Sunday morning. Seiler chased Stevens off his property and said he called the cops to investigate, starting an exchange of heated words today from both of them.It began last week, ... More >>

Morning Juice: Day of Infamy for Merhige; for PBC School Chief, Another Angry Mob

​Your balanced breakfast of South Florida scoops:Turbulence for the transgendered city manager of Lake Worth, Susan Stanton, after she published on the city's website 40 unsigned emails by residents railing against the political associations of the city's census coordinator, who then resigned, not ... More >>

Morning Juice: Hopes Dashed in Manhunt for Merhige; Gardens Councilwoman in Trouble Over Background Checks

​The news this Thursday morning in Broward and Palm Beach:Responding to a tip that Jupiter killer Paul Merhige had been spotted at a Miami condo, police conducted a searched last night. But alas, no sign of him. [Miami Herald]New details about how Scott Rothstein used politicians as props in his e ... More >>

Morning Juice: Insider's View of the Rothstein Scam; Crist Given New Game Plan for Victory

​Today's news in Broward and Palm Beach:In a three-part series, a Rothstein investor describes to New Times' Bob Norman exactly how the attorney made his treacherous pitch. [Daily Pulp]Teachers in Palm Beach County say that a new academic program in the district demands much more work within the h ... More >>

Butterworth Looking for "Root Cause" of School Board Corruption: Maybe It's the Media?

At about the 2:40 mark of this Sun-Sentinel video, you'll hear Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler complain about the lack of positive media coverage of the Broward County School Board. Then former Attorney General Bob Butterworth plays editor, questioning why the dailies didn't give more coverage to ... More >>

Fort Lauderdale Has a Map Flap!

Earl RynersonFormer mayoral candidate and compulsive activist Earl Rynerson has been looking for dirt in the office of new Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. Who knew he'd find it in his own mailbox?Judging by his blog post yesterday, Rynerson can barely contain his excitement over having received a ... More >>

Seiler Wants to Revive Light Rail Plan

jackseiler.comSeilerIt looks like Fort Lauderdale Mayor Elect Jack Seiler is enjoying his honeymoon. Five days after routing three other candidates in the municipal elections, he paid a Sunday morning visit to This Week in South Florida on WPLG Local 10. An unpugnacious and downright avuncular Micha ... More >>

Gay Group Forgives Fort Lauderdale

Blue Dolphin HotelInternational gays: ready to frolicThe International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association is glad for the bloodless coup (term limits) that brought about the end of the reign of Mayor Jim Naugle, a foe to the gays. Also, it must be glad for the election of former Wilton Manors mayor ... More >>

Seiler on Gretsas: "He'll Be Given a Fair Shake"

jackseiler.comFrom the start of the campaign for Fort Lauderdale mayor, Jack Seiler had a residency problem. He lived in Wilton Manors. But in the context of campaign obstacles, this was a fairly easy, if expensive, fix. He put his Wilton Manors home(s) up for sale, and rented a place in Fort Lauder ... More >>

Will Seiler Be Slimed?

I got a robo-call yesterday afternoon from Jack Seiler's mayoral campaign instructing me to please ignore an 11th hour smear, or something like that. (I was driving when the call came so I couldn't jot notes.)Seiler's clearly the frontrunner, and so he's smart to keep his guard up, I suppose. It's j ... More >>

Coral Ridge Surrenders; Jack Seiler Explains

The church that D. James Kennedy built is waving the white flag in the culture war -- just in time for Barack Obama's inauguration. By hiring 36-year-old Tullian Tchividjian -- Billy Graham's grandson -- Coral Ridge Presbyterian has all but surrendered its right-wing, homop ... More >>

Mayor? May Not? An Interview With Jack Seiler

Considering Fort Lauderdale mayoral candidate Jack Seiler was a state legislator until this year (when he termed out), he seems like the most likely among the four contenders to know how a big Democratic city like this one can wring a few extra bucks out of those tight-fisted Republicans who run Ta ... More >>

Jenne's Last Monday?