Tom Driscoll, the man in charge of building the $600 million Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, told the news media two months ago that he would wait until after the February election “when [Commissioner] John Coleman is out of office” to bring back a controversial proposal for a 600-room hotel. The…
Call it the Thai wars. The slogan of the newest restaurant coming to downtown Hollywood has some folks there hotter than a dish of Penang curry. “Time to Change Your Thai,” reads the huge sign posted outside the soon-to-open eatery. “Get Excited! Authentic Thai Food is Coming to Hollywood,” claims…
When challenging one of the most successful fundraisers in the Republican party, a Democratic candidate for the United States Congress must devise unique strategies. Incumbent congressman Mark Foley of South Florida’s 16th District has already raised a half-million dollars in six months. So what does upstart Democratic citizen-candidate Jean Elliott…
And the winner is… Alberto “the Cuban Crusher” Milian! The hotshot prosecutor, who has a portrait of Rocky Marciano hanging in his office (see “A Pugilist in PinstripesNew Times, May 20, Paul Demko), walked away the clear winner over defense attorney Ty “Punching Bag” Terrell in their much-publicized bout in…
A Broward school board meeting is a superior setting for learning. One can study modern management practices regarding personnel and ponder human sexual response in one room. A student last week could also witness the media-horde approach to journalism. We, of course, prefer a lesson in how politics is the…
The Fort Lauderdale police have spoken: No intrusive video camera shall videotape the type of harassment the homeless receive. And of course the so-called Broward Coalition For the Homeless caved in and agreed. Well, if cameras were out there on the streets and in the parks, the videotape would undoubtedly…
Mara, Mara, Mara. We have grown increasingly concerned about the mayor of Hollywood and her grasp of reality. Or at the very least her ability to read a newspaper and a calendar. Writers from this paper have called Mara Giulianti regarding stories, and she rarely deigns to return phone calls…
Without even knowing it, Broward boosters and baseball enthusiasts were given a reprieve with the failure of Miami-Dade’s proposed sales tax increase last week. Those hoping for a new baseball stadium built in Broward didn’t know that millions set aside in the tax hike for “civic improvements” would have gone…
You shouldn’t wave a gun at police and expect anything good to happen. But citizens should expect police will do everything they can to prevent a tragedy such as the one that put Jimmy Lee Thompson in a grave last week. The obviously distraught man brandished an unloaded pistol and…
-as told to Tom Walsh Here’s a new theme song for downtown Fort Lauderdale: “Where have all the homeless gone? Gone to the bushes, every one. When will the cops everlearn?” We hear that harassment, in the form of rousting, is continuing, and the police are confronting the homeless with…
Forget the supposed midsummer South Florida exodus. Last week’s Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting was packed. Crowds spilled onto the sidewalk, others were sequestered on the eighth floor to watch via TV. The reason for this sudden upsurge in civic engagement? Free money. Got your attention, didn’t it? It seems…
The owner of the Marlins got to first base with us last year when he said he’d keep the team here and, in order to do it, build a new baseball stadium himself. No sales tax or tourist room tax needed for this self-made gazzillionaire who thrived in the free-enterprise…
South Florida needs another sports talk radio station like the Marlins need another rookie who couldn’t hit a basketball with a two-by-four. But that’s exactly what listeners are going to get. As the Miami Herald reported ad nauseam last week, WAFN-AM (1700) will be offering yet more around-the-clock sports talk…
They called themselves names like Shai and Kel and Shia and Chen. These weren’t their real names. They were Zendik names. Maybe you ran into these strangeoids hawking newsprint zines or audiotapes along Himmarshie or at the Las Olas Riverfront. Twentysomething societal dropouts with an eerie glint in their eyes,…
Jean-Francois Buslik, the fugitive from European justice whose arrest in North Palm Beach two months ago was sparked by a New Times investigation, seems desperate to stall the extradition process. In an odd twist Dave Bogenschutz, Buslik’s high profile Fort Lauderdale lawyer, has put our story at the center of…
“Fuck Off New Times.” The headline in the June 4 edition of HOTspots! magazine is not only succinct, it perfectly sets up the name-calling that follows. In two different columns, the gay magazine, which tends to write positive things about its advertisers, went negative and unleashed a barrage of adolescent…
We’re usually just amazed when people contort information from this paper, take it out of context, and use it for their own devices. Now we’re angry. The afterlife of “Hooray For Hollywood!” (Harris Meyer, April 29) continues to evolve in mysterious ways. A reprinted passage has been circulating around Hollywood…
Goodbye, grouchy observations about suburban fortresses and misguided drivers. Hello, invigorating world of pesticide-free produce and weed warriors. After six years at the Sun-Sentinel as a columnist, John Grogan is departing for greener pastures, literally. He’ll leave in June to become managing editor at Organic Gardening magazine. Huh? Was it…
If we were working for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and we were a black sergeant about to take the test for lieutenant, we would be studying like a compulsive gambler who just got his hands on a racing form. Some lucky soul working for Sheriff Ken Jenne may not…
For a man who was invited to offer spiritual advice to local Roman Catholic attorneys, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech in Fort Lauderdale last week that was surprisingly full of bile and self-pity. His talk followed a special mass organized by the St. Thomas More Society of…
If Rodney Kay has his way, Broward County politicos (especially ones with balls) will have a new constituency to cater to — pornographers. Standing beneath a disco ball in the dimly lit swingers’ club Trapeze II last week, Kay implored Broward County’s purveyors of porn to come out from behind…
