Best Politicians Who Should Take a Long Walk off a Short Pier


Important: This article was last updated on September 21, 2005. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.

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Readers' picks

Best Bartender
 Cat, The Poor House, Fort Lauderdale

Best Club DJ
 DJ Kid Fresh

Best Radio Personalities
 Paul Castronovo and Young Ron Brewer, Big 105.9

Best Athlete
 Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat

Best TV Personality
 Jade Alexander, WFOR-TV (Channel 4)
 
The Pompano Beach City Commission
www.mypompanobeach.org/commish

 The pier in this case is the one that extends out the back door of Fisherman's Wharf, the dressed-down oceanside haunt in Pompano Beach that hosts the Grateful Dead tribute band Crazy Fingers every Thursday night. In their mission to remove tie-dye and the ghost of Jerry Garcia from their beach, the City Commission announced in May that the Wharf should go the way of the Dead and be put to rest. Commissioner Lamar Fisher complained that Deadhead nights were "uncomfortable" for families, specifically his. He failed to explain why he took his kids to a bar at 10 p.m. on a Thursday, which is when Crazy Fingers begins playing. Commissioner Kay McGinn said, "I've gone to Deadhead night, and it's a tough crowd." Not as tough as the commissioners, apparently. Deadheads proved they weren't as inert as their name implies. They organized a response by writing an album's worth of letters to the Sun-Sentinel that extolled their virtues as intelligent, peaceful and groovy people. In a case of the righteous '60s spirit winning out, the city backed off its effort to replace the Wharf, at least for now. Instead, it will remain open while commissioners go about courting franchise restaurants and high-rise hotels that are anything but groovy.