Happy Halloween!

It’s that time of year when ghouls and goblins take to the streets in search of sweet treats and what passes for fall in Central Florida begins to usher in some less humid air and heat indexes somewhere south of the high 90’s (we hope).

Unfortunately, the political atmosphere here on Florida’s fabled Fun Coast has ruined the spirit of the season for us long-suffering locals.

After watching the spooky machinations of our local elected officials – and the macabre half-truths and eerie sense of utter dysfunction that routinely flutter from the dark belfry of Volusia County government – contrived haunted houses and creepy costumes just don’t scare us much anymore. . .

I wanted to take a moment to tell you a parable I experienced the other day – a mark in time which, in my view, serves as a perfect metaphor for these weird, upside-down, topsy-turvy times we live in on this salty piece of land we call home – a message I hope you seriously contemplate as our election season begins to heat up.

Last weekend, a dear old friend and I took a drive to the lovely Lake County community of Mount Dora to attend the 35th Annual Craft Fair, a wildly popular event that brings some 400 vendors – and tens-of-thousands of visitors – to the city’s quaint downtown each fall.

Due to the extraordinary attendance on Sunday, we were required to park in a distant church lot which was renting spaces at a premium as a fundraiser for their youth programs – then hike the interminable distance to the event on a blistering Central Florida autumn morning.

As we approached an intersection, I noticed a young towheaded boy – perhaps 9-years old – standing fixed in the middle of the narrow sidewalk, irritatingly blocking the arduous progress of those making their way down the hill toward the festival.

At first, I thought he was just another self-absorbed “Generation Z” lost in his own weird world – then, when he snickered with his friends, I realized what he was doing. . .

The child’s father was very animatedly spinning a tattered sign nearby, attempting to lure traffic into another private parking lot – totally unaware that his son was making sport of impeding foot traffic – a game that required the elderly and infirm (like me) to leave the sidewalk, guide through the unstable grass or step off the curb to get around the rickety little turd.

I remarked to my friend that my gut reaction was to horse-kick the kid out of my path – landing him on his ass in the middle of East 5th Avenue – but immediately realized, in that scenario, I would be considered the bad guy. . . 

That’s right.

Because that is the world we live in now. 

In my view, booting the recalcitrant child into next Tuesday would have imparted a temporarily painful, yet infinitely valuable, life-long lesson on the importance of good manners.

After all, I don’t have the time or inclination to teach some ungovernable urchin the inviolate rules of the road – like the social imperative of stepping aside when old people are attempting to navigate an uneven sidewalk – yet, it’s me who would have been seen as an abusive shitheel for applying a well-earned, and highly educational, swift kick to the ass. . .

This little vignette reminded me of how special interests and the perennial politicians they control continue to obstruct progress throughout Volusia County.

From beach driving, to economic development, malignant sprawl, water quality issues, downtown Daytona and beyond – those we elect to serve our interests – officials who have the power to kick these insidious insiders and do-nothing bureaucrats to the curb, have become so horribly compromised by our warped campaign finance system that now we are all at the mercy of a few uber-wealthy overseers and their dull tools on the dais of power.

And, it seems our watchdogs have all been neutered. . .

The newsroom at our local paper is hemorrhaging talent while the number of government “public information” mouthpieces continue to multiply – and true local journalism is becoming a thing of the past as news-gathering organizations continue the push toward regionalization and a reliance on homogenized “feelgood” pap – creating a slanted playing field that allows outsize influences to affect public policy with little challenge.

We now find ourselves in a sick scenario where our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, and others like him, routinely fumble and bumble their way through important public meetings – rubber-stamping  what passes for ill-informed public policy cobbled together by an entrenched senior staff – with all the poise and statesmanship of diseased rats maneuvering through an electrified maze. . .

And none of this frightens us anymore.

Then, some half-bright like me tries to voice an alternative opinion on the seemingly intractable issues that impede progress here on Florida’s fabled Fun Coast – to point out the faults in this oligarchical “system” that controls our lives and livelihoods and expose corrosive issues that should be clear as gin to any elected or appointed official who actually pays attention – and I’m called a demented asshole by our ‘powers that be’?   

Strange times, indeed. 

I hope come election time, you’ll remember the twisted moral of this simpleminded folktale – and vote for those candidates who promise to figuratively kick these political roadblocks off our collective sidewalk – and return a sense of honor, transparency and values-based service to Volusia County government.

Trick or Treat, y’all. . .

Hi, Kids!

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Asshole           Team Volusia

Go figure. . .

Earlier this week Barker’s View advanced even higher on the “Halifax Area Civic Shit List” when I penned my goofy opinion on Team Volusia, and our other hyper-redundant “economic development” maharishis, following a solid piece by The Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Business Reporter Clayton Park which explored the not-so-mysterious demise of Blue Coast Bakers in Ormond Beach.

Apparently, I succeeded in personally offending everyone in the Volusia County economic development apparatus.

Oh, well.  Can’t please everyone, right?

Besides, in this case, I have purchased the right to an opinion.

As a resident of Ormond Beach, I’m an honorary Executive Level “investor” in Team Volusia – which means $25,000 in public funds that originated from my neighbors and I go to underwrite this hayride each year. . .

Whatever.

At the risk of paraphrasing Clayton Park’s excellent reportage, when Blue Coast purchased an aging distribution center circa 2014, Team Volusia announced the company had the potential to create 300 jobs with an average annual wage of $38,000 – resulting in a potential financial impact to Volusia’s gross domestic product of $46,000,000.

That’s one helluva bakery, dudes and dudettes.  Heady stuff.

The problem is – it was all bullshit.

Now, many question if we can believe anything Team Volusia says. . .

Landing Blue Coast Bakers was held out as a testament to the power of expensive direct mailings, and, by association, evidence of a return on our investment for the thousands of dollars in national and international travel for Team Volusia execs, the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK,  the auspicious Hannover Messe Industrial/Technology Show in Germany, extravagant meetings in Tokyo, the full-color annual reports that look like a travelogue, the VIP Rolex 24 soirees and other expensive perks, spiffs and bait offered for other potential “Big Wins.”

Everyone in the crapshoot that is the “economic development” game hung their hat on it.

Blue Coast was the toast of regional business journals, annual reports and cocktail parties.

Even the illustrious up-and-coming civic honchos at the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce proudly listed Blue Coast Bakers in it’s 2019 Membership Directory and Buyers Guide as one of Volusia County’s “Top Employers” at 300 jobs.  (Source: Team Volusia – July 2017 latest data – Page 49)

One small problem:  Blue Coast Bakers ceased operations in 2018 and everyone associated with the venture – including the measly “15 to 20” jobs it produced – has been MIA since. . .

“I’m not sure what happened,” said Team Volusia CEO Keith Norden, whose group played a key role in bringing Blue Coast Bakers here. “It took so much time for him to get set up, but his equipment was there.”

Well, Mr. Norden may have been poleaxed by the news – but I think I know what happened:

Team Volusia and others used Blue Coast Bakers as a cheap marketing tool to further their own self-interests – then promptly forgot about the poor rube when it unceremoniously folded.

They flogged the shit out it as the next big thing in glossy annual reports – touted a struggling start-up commercial bakery in a building which required $12 million in upgrades as the best thing since sliced bread (pun intended), promised hundreds of “high paying” jobs, then screamed and preened in various business journals and our local newspaper “Look at what we did, assholes!” as an ostentatious means of keeping their publicly funded do-nothing gigs – then, crickets, when the whole shebang folded and vaporized.

Now, the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce claims they weren’t intentionally duped by their “partners” at Team Volusia as I suggested earlier in the week – nor did they deliberately puff the 300 nonexistent jobs in their glossy magazine without any concern for the validity of the information.

According to Nancy Keefer, president and CEO of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, the erroneous information was the result of timing – the buyer’s guide goes for design and layout well in advance, so the information was dated, at best, when the publication went to press.

At worst, the job data was fabricated by Team Volusia – who either knew, or should have known, that Blue Coast Baker never employed more than “15 to 20” on their best day.

But I’m not supposed to concern myself with those things. . .

Neither are you.  Because it upsets the apple cart.

Enough with the rude questions and innuendo, Barker.

You’re just pissing very important people off and making others terribly uncomfortable.

Besides, nay-saying assholes like me don’t attract “high paying” jobs to our area – however, spewing positive gibberish regardless of circumstance, publishing false narratives about our economic situation and going along to get along does. . .

So, screw it.  Keep doing what you’re doing guys!

Enjoy the international VIP treatment in Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and beyond – just keep flyin’ high, Mr. Norden – and maybe you’ll luck into a couple hundred of those highly coveted warehouse jobs we’re all dreamy-eyed over.

Hell, even a blind hog gets an acorn every now and again, right? 

All it takes is pulling wild estimates of job creation potential out of your collective ass and giving false hope to the thousands of Volusia County families who struggle to meet basic living expenses each month that Easy Street is just around the corner – but who cares? 

That rabble doesn’t build distribution centers.

Besides, you can clean it all up by handing out awards to all the right last names at the next glitzy annual gala. . .

I’m wrong.  You’re right.  Everything’s great.  Eat the poor.

GO TEAM!

Angel              The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia

With little fanfare and even less civic drama, The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia is well on its way to providing a first-rate homeless assistance center.

The come-as-you-are shelter and “day center” will provide services for nearly the same number of clients as the languishing First Step Shelter – for less than half the annual cost. . .

According to the City of DeLand:

“The proposed 6,300 square foot facility, called “The Bridge” will include 30 crisis center beds, a communal dining area and commercial kitchen, showers, offices and space to provide coordinated entry and case management, mental health and drug abuse counseling, job counseling, medical care, haircuts, showers and laundry.  The goal of this coordinated and comprehensive approach is to transition people to housing within 30-90 days.”

One thing I admire about the West Volusia shelter is how some 50 local volunteers have come on-board – and the City of DeLand has donated several surplus vehicles to assist the community effort.

I also appreciate how DeLand City Manager Michael Pleus is intent on ensuring that The Bridge is a safe and comfortable environment for those it serves.

The differences between The Bridge and First Step are striking, both in its funding strategy and administration, and proves that a community-oriented focus is always better than the competing interests of petty politicians – and profiteers.

Asshole           County of Volusia

Like The Dude said, “New shit has come to light, man. . .”

Here’s an update to another controversial piece I wrote earlier in the week – but given the grave ramifications of this latest revelation of gross resource mismanagement in Volusia County government – it bears repeating:

On Monday, reporter Dustin Wyatt (we’re gonna miss you, buddy) wrote a revealing piece on the growing “mystery” surrounding Volusia County’s previous sponsorship and transportation assistance to the suddenly controversial North Turn Beach Parade.

For the past eight-years, as part of a still puzzling “sponsorship agreement,” Volusia County has used Votran buses to transport visitors to and from the parade in Ponce Inlet.

Only now – after County Attorney Dan “Cujo” Eckert’s sketchy attempt to kill the popular event was begrudgingly overturned on a 5-2 vote – is the always arrogant Councilwoman Deb Denys calling foul.

In fact, she labeled the parade’s use of the county transportation service “discrimination” – and acted for all the world like this was the first time she was ever made aware of Votran’s involvement.   

 Is it possible that Volusia County – a massive taxing authority with an annual budget approaching $1 Billion – could have committed public funds to assist a community event for nearly a decade with absolutely no official allocation (or even knowledge) of the recurring expenditure?

You bet your ass it is. . .

Look, in my view, Volusia County should assist with logistics for the parade – just as it should accommodate other communities who host successful cultural events that draw thousands of visitors to our area each year.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?   

 I mean, isn’t that why publicly funded organizations like the Convention & Visitors Bureau exist?

In my view, the darker issue is that absolutely no one in a position to do so has any memory of just how the county came to subsidize the parade – who authorized the expenditure of resources – or even a true accounting of the amount of public funds spent.

According to the News-Journal, “Last year, the Legends event cost taxpayers $9,732, with nearly half of that ($4,464) going to Votran and the rest going to county staffing and marketing for the event. Since 2013, the county has spent $16,500 on Votran for the event. But the total of the other costs remains unknown.”

Marketing?

The total of the other costs remains unknown?

Jesus. . .

According to Kevin Captain, Volusia County’s “Interim Director of Community Information”:

“There’s not anyone on staff who seems to know. There’s no record of it.”

No record of it?

Even former County Manager Jim Dinneen – who, I’m convinced, was aware of every backroom deal and shoot-it-through-the-grease public policy legerdemain in recent memory – has no conscious recollection of the matter.

Weird. 

Only former County Councilman Josh Wagner accepted responsibility for the baffling sponsorship agreement.

According to Mr. Wagner, he brought the issue up in one of those famous “off the agenda” public policy by ambush sessions during his comments at the end of a Volusia County Council meeting.

Naturally, there is no official record of the authorization – and former council members Pat Northey and Doug Daniels both dispute Wagner’s self-assured recollections.

“It was discussed,” said Wagner. “There wasn’t any kind of hidden agenda. There was nothing hidden at all.”

Interestingly, research conducted by parade organizer Rhonda Glasnak finds that, while the origin of the sponsorship agreement remains an enigma – our current elected officials were all keenly aware of the event in 2018.

How?  Because it was placed on their community event update in February 2018. . .

A check of the February 6, 2018, County Council agenda packet finds the following:

“The seventh annual Historic North Turn Legends Beach Parade will be held at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 10 in Ponce Inlet, running down Atlantic Avenue making the south turn onto the world’s most famous beach. The event is a cooperative effort among Volusia County Government, the Town of Ponce Inlet and Racing’s North Turn restaurant. These are the sites of the original north and south turns of the early beach and road course.

This was the 4.1-mile course where the Grand National Race ran from 1948 until 1958, when it was relocated to the new Super Speedway, today known as Daytona International Speedway.

Spectators should park at Toronita Avenue Park, 4200 S. Atlantic Ave., Wilbur-by-the-Sea. Votran will provide free shuttle service to and from the north and south turn beach ramps from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. At 9 a.m. at Winter Haven Park, there will be a historic marker unveiling of a bronze marker honoring the only original NASCAR strip of beach/road course left in Volusia County.”

Wow.  Sounds pretty clear to me. . .

The update was prepared and presented to each council member as an agenda item four days before the 2018 parade by former Community Information Director Joanne Magley, who earlier this month was anointed director of marketing and customer service at Daytona “International” Airport. . .

So, why didn’t Councilwoman Denys get her knickers in a twist when she was informed of Votran’s direct involvement last year?

Why the selective amnesia, Deb?

Is this massive financial oversight and subsequent bureaucratic tap dance the real reason Mr. Eckert attempted to put the kibosh on the Legend’s parade after eight years of routine approvals?

And how can We, The People have any confidence that there aren’t other torrential leaks of our hard-earned tax dollars that absolutely no one with the fiduciary responsibility to steward public funds has any knowledge of?

My God. . .

Exactly how much of our money has to go missing – with no official record of lawful requisition, allocation or proper accounting – before someone, anyone, with a badge steps up, issues subpoenas, and begins a competent criminal investigation of Volusia County government?

Don’t those of us who, for years, have been asked to pay the bills and suffer in silence have a right to demand answers?

Damned right we do.

Quote of the Week

 “There is, of course, a faster way to settle this. That’s to invite an outside entity, perhaps the St. Johns River Water Management District, to provide independent testing proving that collectively, septic tanks in the north peninsula are a problem. The city should pursue that testing.”

–The Daytona Beach News-Journal Editorial, “Test claims about septic,” Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The controversial push by Ormond Beach City Councilman Dwight Selby and other local “movers & shakers” (who aren’t generally seen as tree-hugging dirt worshipers) to convert thousands of existing septic systems in Ormond-by-the-Sea to municipal sewer over environmental concerns continues.

I’ve sat down with Mr. Selby and listened to his reasoning and I’ve talked to representatives of grassroots organizations and private citizens who oppose the measure.

Mr. Selby makes a cogent argument for why this is the time – and the north peninsula is the place – to begin the massive undertaking of cleaning up the Halifax River and Tomoka Basin.

Conversely, residents of Ormond-by-the-Sea have an equally convincing narrative why they are suspicious of Mr. Selby’s motives – and aren’t ready to bend over for an aggressive conversion program foisted on them by a neighboring municipality – unless and until someone without a chip in the game provides scientific evidence of need.

For instance, septic-to-sewer proponents have long stood on the findings of a 2013 Florida Department of Health report which indicates soil conditions on the north peninsula aren’t conducive to septic systems.

Now, a senior administrator for the Department of Health in Volusia County claims the report was merely a recommendation and shouldn’t be used to determine whether Ormond-by-the-Sea should hook into Ormond Beach’s sewer system.

I found that quavering side-step by a senior state bureaucrat troubling – and a far cry from the Burning Bush relevance Mr. Selby and others have put on the report as the foundational argument for the conversion. . .

Caused me to take a step back, anyway.

In my view – like most hot button issues in Volusia County – the septic-to-sewer wars all boil down to a simple matter of trust.

The unfortunate reality is that many citizens no longer trust their elected and appointed officials to represent their best interests.

To his credit, civic activist Jeff Brower, an able candidate for Volusia County Council Chair, stepped up and did what many have been demanding since this debate started – he took it upon himself to take soil samples and sent them to an independent laboratory for analysis.

For his trouble, our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, took a cheap shot at Mr. Brower’s efforts, labeling him “just another person who thinks he knows more than the experts.”

The difference being that Jeff Brower actually took definitive steps to seek an independent scientific study into the question of whether or not septic systems have contributed to nutrient contamination of area estuaries – while, predictably, Old Ed sat on his ass, sniping from the clown quarters. . .

Recently, Clifford Gold of Ormond Beach, a civil sanitary engineer with over 70 years’ experience, suggested in a letter to the editor of the News-Journal, “a careful study of the number of failing systems before adopting the major expense of subsurface piping systems (and possibly pumping stations).”

According to Mr. Gold, the most efficient means of conducting this study may be spectrographic analysis using infrared aerial photography to identify compromised systems.

“It appears that more advance study is needed before resorting to the construction nuisance and expense of public sewers.”

 I agree.

Next Tuesday, The Daytona Beach News-Journal is hosting a coffee klatch from 7:30am to 9:00am at Alfie’s Restaurant, 1666 Ocean Shore Boulevard, to further discussion of this thorny issue.

“In the spirit of creating dialog,” the News-Journal hopes to bring city and county officials together with area residents to share information and “answer questions regarding septic and sewer.”

It’s a noble effort – and a civil discussion of the issue certainly can’t hurt – but, in my view, until testing conclusively confirms that north peninsula septic systems represent a significant contributor to groundwater contamination and pollutants in the Halifax River – I’m not sure Ormond Beach and Volusia County “leaders” have any hard answers to provide. . .

Trust me.  More official speculation by bureaucrats and politicians isn’t going to help matters.

In my view, it is time for the City of Ormond Beach to work with their concerned neighbors to agree on an independent engineering firm – one which residents have confidence in – who can conduct an impartial study with a focus on identifying answers to the myriad questions surrounding this incredibly controversial initiative.

Only then can both sides begin substantive negotiations to either proceed – or nix the idea altogether – with all the facts at hand.

And Another Thing!

Last week, Volusia County School Board Chairman Carl Persis appeared on the public affairs radio forum Govstuff Live! with Big John to discuss topical issues facing our embattled school district.

I appreciate Chairman Persis’ willingness to accept hard questions regarding the seemingly intractable problems that continue to plague the district – and I was most impressed by the depth of his clearly well-thought answers and explanations.

In the aftermath of the security breech at Spruce Creek High School earlier this month – wherein an ambulatory drunk armed with a pocketknife penetrated every layer of security at a slow stagger before taking a seat in an occupied classroom – I asked the Volusia County School District for a list of qualifications for the individual who has been appointed our “Emergency Management and School Safety Coordinator.” 

I’m not going to identify the person by name – it’s not important, and its not his fault – he’s a veteran educator, not a security expert – a fish out of water.

Besides, I understand that legitimate journalists are actively looking into this issue and I’ll leave it to them to tell the full story. . .

To my surprise, the public records custodian responded to my simple request by announcing that the district had no current resume or listing of credentials for the individual upon who’s shoulders rests the most sensitive, gravely important responsibility of all – the physical safety and security of our children. 

In turn, I was provided with perhaps the worst written, ill-conceived job description I’ve ever read – a cobbled together hodgepodge of grammatically erroneous horseshit that culminates in a “Position Goal” of:

“To provide supervision and oversight for all school safety and security personnel, policies and procedures as well as to school social services to students of Volusia County Schools.”

Yeah.

When I expressed my utter shock that the district’s human resources department didn’t have a list of qualifications for the person performing this extraordinarily important function – someone scrounged around the musty files and produced a resume for the individual – circa 1993.

You read that right:  The latest vetted credentials available for the senior district executive with personal responsibility for the physical safety and security of thousands of students and staff is at least 26-years stale. . .

Look, I don’t know about where you work – but during my professional life, we used personnel action forms to document academic achievements, certifications, advanced training, unique abilities, credentials and experience attained by our employees during the course of their career  as a way of determining who possessed the requisite skills and qualifications before we promoted them to sensitive positions of great responsibility within the agency.

What a wacky concept, right?   

So, based upon our “Emergency Management and School Safety Coordinator’s” resume, I was able to determine that – once again – we have a security coordinator who does not possess the statutorily defined qualifications to serve as an armed School Guardian – the very position he is charged with supervising. 

During Chairman Persis’ radio appearance, I had the opportunity to ask him if – given the current environment and the findings of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas report – Volusia County Schools would consider recruiting a credentialed and experienced physical security expert to develop and oversee competent protocols for our clearly vulnerable schools.

To his credit, Mr. Persis committed to exploring that possibility.

And I intend to hold him to it.

You see, I don’t have the luxury of taking an impartial and unbiased stance on this incredibly disturbing district-wide practice of promoting and utilizing wholly unqualified individuals in sensitive roles  – because I have young members of my own family who are placed in the district’s charge each and every day.

In an emergency, their lives, and hundreds of other innocents, will depend upon the dedication, leadership and knowhow of the district’s security specialist.

It is my sincere hope that Chairman Persis holds firm to his word, and encourages the other members of the Volusia County School Board to develop sound public policy that raises the security function from a catchall afterthought to the professional standing it deserves.

______________________

As always, thanks so much for taking the time to read and further a greater discussion of the issues facing us here on Florida’s fabled Fun Coast!

If you’re looking for something extra special to do this weekend, the Glenn Ring Memorial Concert will be held at the historic Daytona Beach Bandshell tomorrow afternoon from 2:00pm to 6:00pm.

Area musicians will join to remember Glenn’s storied life and legacy – and honor his important contributions to the Daytona Beach music scene.  Beer and wine will be available for purchase and you will be able to rent chairs on-site.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Sunday, October 27, 2019, at 2:00pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 56 N. Halifax Drive, Ormond Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an inherent dishonesty in politics.

Perhaps that’s the reason I never had the stomach for it.

Not that I’m some stalwart of ethical purity – God knows, I’m not.  Just another sinner lost in the wilderness – so maybe it’s the lack of clarity that bothers me most.

I think this institutionalized deceit comes from the need to be everything to everyone – and when the first duty of a politician is to get elected – the ability to quickly spin a narrative and paint circumstances in a positive light becomes second nature.

It’s why television news organizations now have things like “Truth-o-Meters” and other visual tchotchkes to check the facts and tell us the degree to which our elected officials – and those who want to be – are lying to appease some segment of their constituency.

It’s not healthy to our participatory democracy, but We, The People have come to expect it.

Unfortunately, in Volusia County there is another, infinitely more important, consideration for both prospective and perennial politicians – our “Rich & Powerful” overseers who control the playing field with massive campaign contributions that ensure their personal and professional wants and whims take priority.

This division of loyalties results in an ‘us vs. them’ mentality that seems to have infected every level of county government – a culture that seeks to serve the “system” rather than the needs of citizens.

And this overweening desire to serve their political masters and protect the bureaucracy has resulted in a deep divide – and a complete loss of the public’s trust in their government.

Recently, I learned that some of my postings on this blogsite have angered several of our self-important “movers & shakers” in the economic development game and their compatriots in the Chamber of Commerce set.

Sorry.  But I’m not sorry. . .

When I retired from municipal government, I didn’t set out to become the political conscience of Volusia County.

“Not my job,” as bureaucrats like to say.

Besides, I’m not exactly the poster boy for good governance.

During over 31-years of public service, I made my share of mistakes that cost the taxpayers money, stood by in cowardly silence as senior executives misused their position or openly lied to city commissioners to drive their personal agenda, and I clawed and fumbled my way to a management position then held on by my fingernails – a living example of the Peter Principle in action. . .

This blog is, in many ways, a personal catharsis.

And, like any good magician, I know how the sleight-of-hand is performed. . .

So, if my musings and observations on the news and newsmakers from the local political swamp makes certain very important people uncomfortable – that’s okay – they’re all veterans of the internecine wars and intergovernmental squabbles, smart men and women with hard bark who are well capable of taking care of themselves and protecting their ‘turf.’

And if some fool banging out hyper-critical screeds in his tattered boxer shorts can raise the hackles of our social and political elite – perhaps we do have bigger problems than even my gin-soaked, conspiratorial mind can conjure?

Clearly, the long-suffering residents of Volusia County are desperate for an alternative opinion on the issues of the day – a point of view that either validates their own observations or provides food for thought – and I enjoy the lively debate of competing ideas that always elevates my understanding.

In my experience, good politicians and career public servants – those who are called to serve a cause greater than their own self-interests – use criticism to their personal and political advantage.

By taking the pulse of their constituents and exploring the varied fears and aspirations of those they serve, elected officials can craft public policy from an informed position that considers the real needs of those whose lives and livelihoods are most affected.

And those in the Ivory Tower of Power who get personally offended by critical opinions that are counter to their own sense of infallibility – to hell with them.  That’s the arrogance of ego.

One day I’ll tire of being a blowhard critic, pointing out how, as Roosevelt said, the strongman stumbled, or the doer of deeds could have done them better – but it won’t be today.

If the thousands of readers that access Barker’s View each month continue to find a chuckle, an insight, a weird facet to a complex civic issue or a kernel of truth they may have been searching for – then I’ll consider this exercise a twisted public service.

Look, at the end of the day, I’m getting a little long in the tooth for self-therapy – and I long ago stopped caring what others think of me – so if some goofy opinion of mine causes heartburn around the political fishing camps that have reduced many government offices and organizations to paranoid, clock-watching mediocrity – too damn bad.

 

Once again, Volusia County taxpayers were greeted with yet another highly touted “big win” for area economic development types that quietly fell flat.

A recent front page piece by News-Journal Business Reporter Clayton Park entitled “Where did Blue Coast Bakers go?” told the familiar story of how a business that promised some 300 jobs and was once hyped as a major “victory” by Team Volusia – a “public/private” partnership which utilizes corporate welfare schemes to lure businesses to Volusia County – seemingly vanished into thin air sometime last year. . .

In 2014, Blue Coast Bakers purchased the former US Foods distribution center on North US-1 in Ormond Beach, but never “got off the ground” – citing the cost of renovating the 30-year old building it purchased for some $3.8 million – an undertaking which took 2 ½ years and a reported $12 million to complete.

According to reports, the company never employed more than 15-20 people. . .

Although we are being told that the wholesale bakery did not receive any public funds or tax incentives from Team Volusia – the organization was quick to claim the company as “. . .one of its first successful efforts to bring a significant employer here.”

And the “good times are here again, again” publicity campaign didn’t stop there.

At first, the venture was given the super-secret cover “Project Baker” – least our gravy train be stolen by a competing “economic development corporation.”  (Sound familiar?)

In fact, a simple Google search finds evidence that everyone who is anyone in the local “economic development” apparatus – from government “leaders” to the Volusia Manufacturers Association and especially Team Volusia – touted Blue Coast as a virtual tsunami of prosperity and “high paying” jobs.

It was the ultimate fodder for shameless self-promotion at a time when Team Volusia – and the other hyper-redundant “economic development” shills really needed some positive publicity.

It was billed as a testament to the power of expensive direct mailings, and, finally, evidence of a return on our investment for the thousands of dollars in national and international travel for Team Volusia execs, VIP Rolex 24 soirees and other expensive perks and bait offered for other potential “Big Wins.”

Even the illustrious civic honchos at the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce proudly listed Blue Coast Bakers in it’s 2019 Membership Directory and Buyers Guide as one of Volusia County’s “Top Employers” at 300 jobs.  (Source: Team Volusia – July 2017 latest data – Page 49)

One small problem:  Blue Coast Bakers ceased operations in 2018 and everyone associated with the venture – including the measly “15 to 20” jobs it produced – has been MIA since. . .

I don’t make this shit up, folks.

“I’m not sure what happened,” said Team Volusia CEO Keith Norden, whose group played a key role in bringing Blue Coast Bakers here. “It took so much time for him to get set up, but his equipment was there.”

Well, Mr. Norden may have been poleaxed by the news – but I think I know what happened:

Team Volusia and others used Blue Coast Bakers as a cheap marketing tool to further their own self-interests – then promptly forgot about the poor rube when it unceremoniously folded.

They flogged the shit out it as the next big thing – touted a struggling start-up commercial bakery in an aging building as the best thing since sliced bread (pun intended), promised us all “high paying” jobs, then screamed and preened in various business journals and our local newspaper “Look at what we did, assholes!” as an ostentatious means of keeping their publicly funded do-nothing gigs – then, crickets, when the whole shebang folded and vaporized.

If you’re not pissed off – you should be. . .

Either the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce was intentionally duped by their “partners” at Team Volusia – or they deliberately puffed the 300 nonexistent jobs in their glossy magazine without any concern for the validity of the information.

And our civic “leadership” has the balls to claim we don’t have a public trust issue in Volusia County?

My ass.

In my view, this constitutes another malicious sham perpetrated against those of us who pay the bills – one that results in continuing distrust of our local governments – and the parasitic insiders who are always found lurking around these pernicious “public/private” partnerships which use public funds to further private interests. . .

I’m sick and tired of being blatantly lied to by these half-bright carnival barkers who burn through our hard-earned tax dollars under the dubious guise of “economic development” – using corporate welfare strategies that allow entrenched insiders to pick winners-and-losers and skew the natural balance of a competitive marketplace.

In my view, it is wrong.  It is dishonest.  And it needs to stop.

I hate to say I told you so. . .

It does my beat-up old heart good when our newspaper of record professionally validates literally everything I’ve written in this space over the past three years. . .

Last Sunday, we learned that in just the past six-years, you and I have spent almost $100 million on overtime due to an out-of-control management strategy that works existing county employees to the point of exhaustion rather than fill current vacancies – which are estimated at between 249 and 400 depending upon who you listen to.

You read that right: $100 million.

Can you imagine operating your business without a firm handle on how many current openings the company you rely upon to feed your family has – or who is doing what, and when?

That’s only possible in a bloated bureaucracy – one essentially set on autopilot – where money is no object because it’s simply a matter of raising taxes when you need more coal for the furnace. . .

Then, on Monday, reporter Dustin Wyatt wrote a revealing piece on the growing “mystery” surrounding Volusia County’s previous sponsorship and transportation assistance to the suddenly controversial North Turn Beach Parade.

For the past eight-years, as part of a still puzzling “sponsorship agreement,” Volusia County has used Votran buses to transport visitors to and from the parade in Ponce Inlet.

Only now – after County Attorney Dan “Cujo” Eckert’s sketchy attempt to kill the popular event was begrudgingly overturned on a 5-2 vote – is the always arrogant Councilwoman Deb Denys calling foul.

In fact, she’s labeled the parade’s use of the county transportation service “discrimination.” 

Is it possible that Volusia County – a massive taxing authority with an annual budget approaching $1 Billion – could have committed public funds to assist a community event for nearly a decade with absolutely no official allocation (or even knowledge) of the recurring expenditure?

You bet your ass it is. . .

Look, in my view, Volusia County should assist with logistics for the parade – just as it should accommodate other communities who host successful cultural events that draw thousands of visitors to our area each year.

Isn’t that what it’s all about?   

I mean, isn’t that why publicly funded organizations like the Convention & Visitors Bureau exist?

Besides, the quaint nature of Ponce Inlet makes parking virtually impossible, and effectively utilizing public transportation to help alleviate congestion and provide a safe alternative to grid-locking A-1-A makes sense.

And this has nothing to do with the noble efforts of parade organizers and sponsors who have fought hard to keep this event alive.

In my view, the darker issue is that absolutely no one in a position to do so in DeLand has any memory of just how the county came to subsidize the parade – who authorized the expenditure of resources – or even a true accounting of the amount of public funds spent.

According to the News-Journal, “Last year, the Legends event cost taxpayers $9,732, with nearly half of that ($4,464) going to Votran and the rest going to county staffing and marketing for the event. Since 2013, the county has spent $16,500 on Votran for the event. But the total of the other costs remains unknown.”

Marketing?

The total of the other costs remains unknown?

Jesus. . .

According to a Kevin Captain, apparently Volusia County’s “Interim Director of Community Misinformation”:

“There’s not anyone on staff who seems to know. There’s no record of it.”

No record of it?

Even former County Manager Jim Dinneen – who, I’m convinced, knew every backroom deal and shoot-it-through-the-grease public policy legerdemain in recent memory – has no conscious recollection of the matter.

Weird. 

Only former County Councilman Josh Wagner – who is best remembered for his backstabbing flip-flop on beach driving policy – accepts responsibility for the baffling sponsorship agreement.

According to Wagner, he brought the issue up in one of those famous “off the agenda” public policy by ambush sessions during his comments at the end of a Volusia County Council meeting.

Naturally, there is no official record of the authorization – and former council members Pat Northey and Doug Daniels both dispute Wagner’s self-assured recollections.

“It was discussed,” said Wagner. “There wasn’t any kind of hidden agenda. There was nothing hidden at all.”

Wow.

I seem to recall in the recesses of my fading memory that – nearly a year ago – the Volusia County Council approved an internal auditor position in an attempt to return a modicum of trust and transparency to this dysfunctional shit-chute that passes for a county government.

Remember? 

What happened to the much anticipated, and desperately needed, internal oversight that our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, called a waste of taxpayers’ money?

“Personally, I think it’s an unnecessary creation of a department,” Kelley said. “We are as transparent as anybody. Everything is open. I don’t know how (approving this new position) is going to make a department operate more efficiently.”

Now, Old Ed is forced to eat his own gibberish.  What a dipshit. . .

Look, if this latest five alarm foul-up doesn’t prove the fact that Volusia County is in desperate need of a top-to-bottom audit and overhaul, I don’t know what does.

Now, how can We, The People have any confidence that there aren’t other gushing leaks of our hard-earned tax dollars that absolutely no one with the personal and fiduciary responsibility to steward public funds has any knowledge of?

Is this massive oversight and subsequent bureaucratic tap dance the real reason Mr. Eckert attempted to put the kibosh on the Legend’s parade?

My God. . .

Exactly how much of our money has to go missing – with no official record of its statutorily required allocation or proper accounting – before someone, anyone, with a badge steps up, issues subpoenas, and begins a competent criminal investigation of Volusia County government’s accounting and oversight practices?

Don’t those of us who have been asked to pay the bills and suffer in silence have a right to demand answers?

You’re damned right we do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Absurd”

Ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous; having no rational or orderly relationship to human life, meaningless, silliness or foolishness  

I enjoy the art of using words to paint a picture.

I’ve never been very good at it; but those who are have the ability to craft an image that can transport us to another time and place – or compare our current situation with what could be – in a way that can transform our understanding and inform our opinion.

The great philosopher Aristotle was of the view that the way we use words to define an issue sets the tone for how we approach the problem – and make no mistake – we have a serious problem. . .

Last week, during what should have been a relatively benign discussion of the circumstances surrounding a canceled beach parade, the Volusia County Council, under the direction of our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, proved once and for all the depth of dysfunction that is destroying any hope for civic, social or economic progress.

As The Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Dustin Wyatt described it, “There was a lot to unpack Tuesday.”

Look, I’m not going to rehash the debacle – by now, everyone is painfully aware of how our county attorney, Dan “Cujo” Eckert, was caught mischaracterizing the federal environmental permit issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as a means of unilaterally cancelling a very popular parade honoring the history of racing on the old beach course in Ponce Inlet.

In my view, the long-suffering citizens of Volusia County should learn from the ugliness that so embarrassingly played out on the dais last week – a public meeting run amok, the will of the people ignored in favor of self-promotion and arrogant grandstanding, a lockstep fealty to an entrenched system that has traded independent thought for hegemonic opinions of deep-rooted bureaucrats and political insiders.

It would be a comedy of errors if it wasn’t so damnably tragic in both form and function – another one of Old Ed’s utterly confusing hootenanny’s that will long serve as the very antithesis of a functioning participatory democracy.

Because so much of what I write about the machinations of local government seems almost supernaturally incongruous to the precepts of good governance, I’m often fond of saying – “Don’t take my word for it,” or “I don’t make this shit up, folks.”

I encourage everyone to access the Volusia County website and listen to the “discussion” of the beach parade farce for yourself. . .  Please.  (As I recall, it starts around 4:38:30 on the archived audio.)

The fact is, I don’t possess the eloquence to compose a work of fiction that could possibly top our current reality – and you owe it to yourself, as a taxpayer, to see firsthand just how far afield things have gotten.

And the hits just keep on coming. . .

This morning, the News-Journal exposed that in just the past six-years, you and I have paid nearly $100 million in overtime, ostensibly due to under-staffing and a management theory that believes its better to work existing employees to the point of exhaustion, rather than attract and retain quality public employees.

Look, I understand better than most the use of overtime in meeting operational needs – I also know that the practice can be effectively managed to limit an incredibly expensive burden on the agency and the taxpayer.

I know that Sheriff Mike Chitwood is doing his level best to recruit, train and field deputies and emergency communications personnel in a nationwide environment that is no longer attractive.

That’s a difficult reality – one I believe will have serious social ramifications in the next decade.

I also understand that there are inherent inefficiencies in government that can only be identified by comprehensive management audits, honest introspective reviews and a focus on constantly evaluating and redefining goals, objectives and service delivery.

Unfortunately, if history has proved anything, it is that Volusia County isn’t big on internal reflection and self-examination. . .

Trust me.  This issue isn’t limited to one errant sheriff’s deputy “sitting on his ass” in Oak Hill for 12-hours – it’s institutional – and it predates Sheriff Chitwood and much of what passes as the county’s senior leadership.

It is a crisis of culture in a government that believes astronomical tax increases, sales tax referendums and a budget approaching $1 billion is an acceptable alternative to effective management strategies.

According to our “new” County Manager George Recktenwald – who was raised in the “piss good money after bad” school of public finance, “In his 20-year career in Volusia County, Recktenwald said he’s heard requests for overtime more often than he’s listened to complaints about it.  “It’s been my experience that people enjoy the opportunity for overtime.”

 Really?  That’s the basis for why $99 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent on overtime since 2013?

One might have thought – “as managers and supervisors” – senior leadership would consider right-sizing this bureaucratic behemoth, or at least do the math, and come to the sobering realization that by filing the 249 current vacancies, (400 openings were announced this summer?) even with the cost of employment benefits, taxpayers would have saved nearly $3 million over what was paid out in overtime just last year.

Whenever these inefficiencies are shockingly exposed, it always astounds me that our local newspaper can make a quick calculation and determine savings – yet, those senior executives, budget analysts, human resource “experts” and financial wizards who receive hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to serve in the public interest can’t seem to figure it out?

What gives? 

 In my view, Patrick Gavin, executive director for U. S. Congressman William Posey, was right when he described the pigheaded, irrational and totally counterproductive shit show that passed for a Volusia County Council meeting as “absurd,” later exclaiming it was the single most confusing meeting he had witnessed in 23-years in government service.

My hat’s off to Mr. Gavin.  Well said.

In my view, his excellent descriptor aptly applies to the breadth of county “leadership.”

It is horribly absurd.

As Volusia County residents awaken to the abject dysfunction that continues to obstruct substantive change, restrains true economic development in favor of funneling tax dollars to political insiders and continues to ignore the needs of thousands of disadvantaged residents – this election cycle will be critical to returning fiscal, operational and administrative sanity to our county government.

Those of us who ultimately pay the bills deserve better than this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, kids!

Getting away from the familiar has a way of changing our perspective through comparison.

My wife and I traveled to one of our favorite getaways this week – the quaint community of Thomasville in the Red Hills region of South Georgia – a place where creatives have discovered the civic magic in historic preservation and true community involvement.

I happen to like old places with a rich history; that feeling of continuity and the strength and stability of things that last.

For the second time since discovering Thomasville, we stayed at the Alexander House, a beautifully restored 1930’s home offered on Airbnb – with burnished hardwood floors, tongue-and-grove ceilings, a formal dining room that hearkens back to a more genteel era and one of the best home library’s in existence.

To me, there’s something special about sipping 12-year old whiskey on an old screen porch while the peal of a nearby church carillon announces the 5 o’clock hour. . .

The home is located just steps from the city’s picturesque downtown, which offers an eclectic selection of upscale boutiques, specialty gifts, coffee shops, craft cocktails and a variety of excellent restaurant experiences, all tied together by a vibrant arts scene.

By adopting sense-of-place initiatives into the regeneration of the community’s downtown, entrepreneurs are working closely with visionary city planners to develop mixed-use infill projects which incorporate living space in upper-levels of historic buildings to encourage a more walkable city center.

The plan is drawing people back to living downtown in beautifully renovated second and third floor housing spaces – bolstered by a complementary creative district that is repurposing existing facades to house artists, ceramicists, a yarn and fiber shop, galleries and other businesses with artistic leanings.

The citizens of Thomasville understand that for every dollar spent on historic preservation, five are returned to the local economy – the natural result when an eight-hour street transitions to an 18-hour street.

The comparative experience between the economic, civic and social progress of Thomasville and the stagnation of much of the Halifax area was palpable – and proved the benefit of evaluating the success of others and how those ideas might translate here at home.

For instance, residents of Thomasville have embraced the concept of the community “Charrette,” defined as “an intensive planning session where citizens, designers and others collaborate on a vision for development. It provides a forum for ideas and offers the unique advantage of giving immediate feedback to the designers.”

Rather than hiding projects behind cryptograms like “Project X” – they utilize whole community decision making to bring people together and seek innovative ideas and input during the planning phase – a process that builds a true sense of place and encourages early buy-in from all stakeholders.

Thomasville has shown that modern infrastructure can be placed below brick streets to honor the past while building a place where creativity and innovation can thrive, and by keeping things presentable, the community attracts people who can appreciate it.

Another difference I noted is that Thomasville has seen the intrinsic benefits of incorporating quality short-term vacation rentals into their tourism strategy, then use art and a festive event calendar to draw return visitors year-round.

Most of all, each time we visit, I am taken by the pride residents feel for their community.

As Michele Arwood, Executive Director of the Thomasville Center for the Arts recently wrote, “I love our town and our people, and the beautiful new streetscape that lies ahead.  With its new sidewalks and budding trees, it seems to wave and say, “Hey, look at me.  Look what I’ve become.” 

Collaborative.  Innovative.  Visionary.

The power of a new way of thinking.

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

This installment of our dubious weekly awards show is dedicated to those intrepid citizens who fought hard to see the Historic North Turn Beach Parade become a reality in 2020 – a hard-fought battle against forces that seek to remove beach driving through a variety of guises – and one that has opened the eyes of a shocked community.

Angel               Paul Zimmerman, Sons of the Beach

Persistence is defined as continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

In my book, it means ‘never quit.’

That ethos is embodied in civic activist Paul Zimmerman.

As president of Florida’s premiere beach driving advocacy, Sons of the Beach, Paul continues to fight against government overreach and the pernicious actions of political insiders who seek to monetize our most precious natural and economic resource.

Last week, Mr. Zimmerman wrote a cogent response to a recent upbraiding by The Daytona Beach News-Journal’s editorial board.

For reasons known only to the newspaper, locals who have worked hard to preserve our century old heritage of beach driving were publicly reprimanded for questioning the motives of our weaponized County Attorney, Dan “Cujo” Eckert, and his mysterious efforts to crush the incredibly popular North Turn Beach Parade.

In Sunday’s ‘Community Voices’ column, Mr. Zimmerman rightfully pointed out that Volusia County officials have strategically employed an overly restrictive interpretation of the Incidental Take Permit that protects sea turtles and other wildlife while permitting beach driving.

For years, the oligarchical insiders who control our elected officials have openly pushed for the removal of cars from the beach as a means of essentially privatizing sections of the shore as a cheap marketing tool for hoteliers who contribute heavily to the campaigns of sitting politicians.

Thanks in no small part to the efforts of Paul Zimmerman, Councilwoman Billie Wheeler, Walt and Rhonda Glasnak and, my new hero, Congressman Bill Posey – earlier this week, after an interminable back-and-forth, the parade was begrudgingly approved by majority vote of the Volusia County Council.

If this ugly imbroglio over the fate of a two-hour beach parade did anything, it proved, once and for all, who this massive bureaucracy exists to serve – and exemplified the depth of dysfunction that is destroying any hope for substantive progress.

Angel               Councilwoman Billie Wheeler & Walt and Rhonda Glasnak

Kudos to Walt and Rhonda Glasnak for proving that when your cause is righteous – it is possible to fight the dark forces of a government gone off the rails.

Many in our community were impressed by the Glasnak’s perseverance in standing against powerful forces who sought to eliminate this community event celebrating the heritage of racing on the original beach course in Ponce Inlet.

When Walt and Rhonda ran into a brick wall in the form of a suspicious legal opinion issued by the county attorney’s office – they enlisted the help of Volusia County Councilwoman Billie Wheeler – who began asking all the right questions and working hard to find the truth.

In my view, Councilwoman Wheeler well-earned the respect of her constituents – and proved how statesmanship and community-focused representation can expose bureaucratic impediments and foster substantive change.

On Tuesday, the Glasnak’s and parade supporters refused to capitulate to external pressure – in the form of Chairman Ed Kelley’s near-constant push to compromise their worthy goals for cheap political expediency.

In turn, residents of Volusia County got an interesting view of how county government has used the federal Incidental Take Permit (ITP) to limit beach access – and a new perspective on the abhorrent dysfunction that has become status quo in DeLand.

Thank you for your efforts to preserve the storied history of our community.

Asshole           County Attorney Dan “Cujo” Eckert

I spent the bulk of my adult life working and surviving in the politically charged environment of local government.

Time and again, I watched as long-time public servants overstayed their welcome, hanging onto a self-identity (and a paycheck) by their fingernails, as the environment around them went toxic and their opinions became worthless.

By all accounts, Dan Eckert is a good man.  I don’t doubt that.

He has served the citizens of Volusia County for more than 40-years in an important role that isn’t known for its longevity.

In my opinion, somewhere Dan got off the boat and began serving the implied wants, whims and personal ambitions of the uber-wealthy insiders who control his bosses on the dais of power to the exclusion of any logical or legal alternative.

For the most part, that unspoken pact was okay for everyone who is anyone.

He kept things subtle, defensible and within the often-malleable boundaries of the charter – and the not-so-flexible margins of the law – while routinely meeting the selfish needs of those who use our campaign finance system to purchase the loyalties of hand-select politicians to ensure a clear conduit between public funds and for-profit projects.

No one really questioned the arrangement.

In my view, several years ago, at the direction of a wholly compromised council, Mr. Eckert went over-the-top when he sued his own constituents – stomping a grassroots advocacy who wanted nothing more than to have a modicum of public input in beach management decisions – then mounted a no-holds-barred appeal when Sons of the Beach attempted to stop the pernicious practice of removing beach driving from large sections of the strand as a cheap giveaway to speculative developers.

It was ugly and divisive.

But, like any good attorney, Mr. Eckert was a zealous advocate for his client – the Volusia County Council – even when the rest of us felt he was using our own money to fight against us.

(Don’t take my word for it, just ask the citizens of Daytona Beach Shores how it feels when Mr. Eckert is allowed off the leash. . .)

Mr. Eckert received a council mandate to mount a vigorous challenge to the voter approved Amendment 10 – a constitutional amendment which will return constitutional sovereignty to several elected county officials, including the Sheriff’s Office – and many began to sense he fought like a rabid badger when called to suppress the will of the people – yet transformed into a toothless lapdog whenever the issue was counter to that of our political overseers.

Then, things took a more sinister turn. . .

In July, Mr. Eckert sent a letter to the parade’s sponsors, Walt and Rhonda Glasnak, claiming that Volusia County had allowed the event for the past eight years by “mistake,” and that permitting vehicles on that section of the beach constituted a violation of the county’s Incidental Take Permit (ITP) issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

There was little ambiguity in the risk involved:  The complete removal of beach driving.

A subsequent investigation by Congressman Bill Posey’s staff directly contradicted Mr. Eckert’s dire prediction and proved conclusively that the United States Fish & Wildlife Service has essentially ceded decision-making authority for special event beach access to Volusia County.

When Mr. Eckert’s weird view of the ITP and subsequent maneuvering was publicly disputed by the official Congressional inquiry – Councilwoman Billie Wheeler felt she had been given misinformation.

Because she was.

On Tuesday, Mr. Eckert’s opinion became the basis of a theater of the absurd at the Volusia County Council meeting, where the findings and authorizations of the Fish & Wildlife Service were purposefully ignored, and any semblance of reason thrown out the bureaucratic window.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Mr. Eckert pitifully yammered and stammered through his clarification, holding firm to his blatant mischaracterization of the take permit like a soggy life preserver.

At the end of the day, Mr. Eckert’s “legal advice” was definitively ignored on a 5-2 vote when common sense, and the will of the people, was upheld when the community event was allowed to continue.

In my view, now it is time for Mr. Eckert to retire – quickly and honorably – from government and enjoy the financial rewards and well-deserved salutations that come from a life of public service – because his effectiveness as our county attorney has officially come to an end.

From this point forward, our elected and appointed officials – and the citizens they serve – will forever question Mr. Eckert’s motives and clarity.

Now, taking his professional advice will become the equivalent of drinking from a contaminated well.

It is time.

Quote of the Week

“I’ve never seen a meeting held like that before in all of my days.  Typically, you take one vote at a time.  It seemed to me like most of the council members up there had no idea what they were actually voting on.”

–Patrick Gavin, Executive Director for U. S. Congressman Bill Posey, aptly describing the utter dysfunction he witnessed during discussions regarding the fate of the Historic Legends North Turn Beach Parade at the Volusia County Council meeting, Tuesday, October 15, 2019.

Sometimes it takes the eyes of an outsider to call attention to the familiar things we long-suffering citizens of Volusia County have simply become accustomed to.

What happened at Tuesday’s Volusia County Council meeting was a damnable embarrassment and an affront to good governance everywhere.

Some will take me to task for not writing a glowing accolade to the five elected officials who ultimately voted to continue the beach parade.  The fact is, this shouldn’t have been an issue to start with.

Besides, I’m not in the habit of congratulating a shit-show that happened to have a positive outcome.

In actuality, the vote to approve this popular event should have been no more than a perfunctory nod on a consent agenda – not an hours long descent into bureaucratic madness that gave onlookers a very public glimpse into the invalidity and sense of chaos that continues to afflict county government.

Personally, I blame our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, for what happened.

After nearly two-decades of masquerading as a public official, one would think that, over time, Old Ed would have (through osmosis, if nothing else) developed the ability to run a cogent, deliberative, organized meeting that results in strong, goal-oriented public policy.

Instead, he disrespectfully interrupts citizens and talks over his “colleagues” who are trying desperately to make a point, find clarity or question staff – then insinuates his own cockamamie, ill-informed views – and confuses the orderly discussion by mucking up established procedure in favor of his egotistical desire to serve his own convenience.

Unfortunately, far too often discussions on the dais are hijacked and turned into weird, disjointed self-promotions by the always arrogant Councilwoman Deb Denys – or used like a club to bash Council member Heather Post for actually questioning the why of an issue – while protecting do-nothing bureaucrats from even a modicum of external oversight.

All with a frightening degree of regularity that has become so familiar we have come to accept it.

As a result, public input into the issues of the day is considered an inconvenience – and the shadowy machinations and hegemonic opinions of entrenched influencers, like County Attorney Eckert, are considered sacrosanct – regardless of material evidence to the contrary.

But this “meeting” was something different – amending bullshit amendments to amendments in some terribly confusing tragicomedy of errors – an awkward and excruciatingly humiliating exercise that bears no semblance to the work of any legitimate governmental body.

Disgusting.  And wholly disrespectful to the citizens of Volusia County.

As a taxpaying denizen of Florida’s fabled Fun Coast, I would like to issue a personal apology to Mr. Galvin – who has spent the past 23-years working in federal government and appropriately described these idiotic proceedings as “absurd” – for any post traumatic effects he may experience after being subjected to our unique form of “participatory democracy.”

My only hope is that he will go home and tell his boss just what we’re up against down here in Bizarro World. . .

Folks, this hopeless dysfunction simply cannot continue.

And Another Thing!

Now that so many have fought so hard to accomplish this important victory – let’s make sure we show our support by attending the 9^th Annual North Turn Beach Parade on Saturday, February 8, 2020, sponsored by the Town of Ponce Inlet and (for the moment) Volusia County!

For more information, please go to: www.historicnorthturnbeachparade.com

That’s all for me!  Have a happy and safe Biketoberfest everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught falsehoods in school. And the person that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool.”

–Plato

We live in strange times, indeed.

Look, I’m just a blowhard with internet access who pontificates on the issues of the day – railing against the perennial politicians and bureaucratic do-nothings that are actively destroying our quality of life.

Admittedly, I spend an inordinate amount of time brooding on our collective situation, then putting my jumbled thoughts into words.  In a weird way, venting my spleen in this space is cathartic for a local boy who has lived in the Halifax area for over a half century.

Try as I might, I’ll be damned if I can figure out solutions to the myriad questions surrounding the ‘why’ of how a once vibrant tourist destination has been allowed to crumble into a quagmire of blight, dilapidation and economic stagnation.

I’m normally not a maudlin guy – but sometimes it really bothers me.

Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that our illustrious elected and appointed officials who accept public funds to serve in the public interest seem utterly clueless – and our “visionaries” in high places, like the mysterious CEO Business Alliance who seem to control everything but the ebb and flow of the Atlantic tide on the Fun Coast – can’t develop workable solutions either.

They’ve simply thrown in the towel. . .

Tragically, those who should be holding our wholly ineffectual “leaders” to task – the Chamber of Commerce set who represent struggling businesses in this artificial economy – seem comfortable accepting the tired rhetoric of mediocrity seeping from city and county government.

And if I hear another real estate broker or economic development shill tell me how – as occupancy and daily rates are plummeting at area hotels, airport passenger traffic continues its drastic decline, malignant blight spreads on the beachside, Midtown and our Ridgewood Avenue commercial corridor and beyond –  “Amazing things are happening in our community,” I’m going to vomit.

Why?  Because it’s bullshit, that’s why.

I’m not talking about “New Daytona” that’s being built on Boomtown Boulevard – I’m talking about our horribly challenged beachside – a “real” beach community, not some faux purpose-built theme subdivision – that has almost purposely been allowed to wither and die.

Anyone who lives in these neglected neighborhoods – or visits our area on vacation – can see it up close and personal.

On Friday morning, Daytona Beach city officials joined concerned residents, business owners and civic activists in a walking tour of the smoldering ruins of our core tourist area.

Unfortunately – despite the exuberant pap and fluff of those with a vested interest in telling us what they think we want to hear – it became apparent that city officials still don’t have a comprehensive strategy for the physical and economic revitalization of the beachside.

According to an excellent report by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, City Manager Jim Chisholm admitted, “It takes private investors to be part of the solution.  We can have the greatest plan, but an investor has to see they can make a wise investment.”

I agree.  But what plan is he talking about?

In order for entrepreneurial investment to be attractive and financially practical in Daytona Beach, investors must be free of the bureaucratic formalities, exorbitant fees, mind-numbing applications, processes and approvals that continue to force small businesses to close or relocate to more “business friendly” areas.

For instance, in a recent News-Journal piece on the condemnation and demolition of dilapidated properties which often trades one form of blight for another, Tom Huger, a contractor and former City of Daytona Beach facilities manager, described an investor seeking to put an $85,000 beauty salon project on distressed George Engram Boulevard  – an opportunity that would require $25,000 in municipal permits.

My God.

Sadly, rather than taking people like Daytona Beach Economic Development Director Reed Berger by the short hairs and demanding something – anything – that can explain how, with $120 million over the transom, the area between Oakridge Boulevard and International Speedway Boulevard continues to struggle for its very survival – the Chamber of Commerce has seemingly rolled over and acquiesced to the city’s fatalistic view.

According to reports, Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Nancy Keefer admitted during the tour that it may take “30-40 years” to turn things around.

Sorry, Nancy.  I’m not sure your members who struggle to keep the doors open on beachside businesses have that much time. . .

Fortunately, there are bright spots – glowing pilot lights of inspiration that continue to flicker amidst the darkness of economic futility – and give hope for the future of the Main Street Redevelopment Area and beyond.

For instance, bold entrepreneurs like Krista Goodrich and Tom Caffrey – who renovated a vacant store front on Main Street, jumped through the bureaucratic hoops, and formed two highly successful endeavors, Pallet Pub and Hopcycles – and the intrepid Phaedra Lee at Main Street Station – and the tireless community activist Amy Pyle, to name a few.

These are young, energetic investors with new and innovative ideas for the future who continue to give their blood, sweat, tears – and money – to help revitalize one of our beachside’s most important commercial corridors with little, if any, assistance from city or county government.

Perhaps it’s time our uninspired city officials get the hell out of their way?

In my view, the City of Daytona Beach – and the Regional Chamber of Commerce – simply cannot continue to do nothing and expect a different result.

This almost suicidal inaction – and Mr. Chisholm’s odd strategy of waiting for the entrepreneurial Knight in Shinning Armor to appear and solve all of our civic, social and economic challenges – is less than inspiring to businesses and homeowners who are hanging on by their financial fingernails.

It is painfully clear to anyone paying attention that those who pass for “economic development” gurus in the Halifax area have become tired, visionless, sloth-like sluggards more content with maintaining whatever status quo ensures their continued place at the public tit – rather than fostering a free, open and level marketplace that supports and encourages the very private investment they so desperately seek.

____________________________

Barker’s View will be taking a few days to rest, relax and recharge – please enjoy past postings at your leisure – and I’ll return with our usual mishmash of rants, raves and alternative opinions on the issues of the day next week.

As always, thanks so much for reading.

 

 

Hi, Kids!

It’s a well-known fact, I’m not a ‘joiner.’  Never have been.

I’ve always subscribed to the old Groucho Marx adage, “I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have me as a member.”

Call it social anxiety, or a well-founded feeling of inferiority, I just never felt comfortable in stilted situations.

But I’ve always been curious about those “political clubs,” not dull party organizations where like-types meet to reinforce each other’s myopic views, but places where people much smarter than me pay annual dues to have lunch – listen to congressmen, ambassadors and other “movers & shakers” bloviate on the issues of the day – then chat about “public affairs” over linen tablecloths.

Somehow, I don’t think I’d fit in – and I’m sure I don’t have the $500 to find out. . .

Instead, I get my take on our local political climate from a barstool.

I have a favorite watering hole where I talk politics over shots and beers with an eclectic group who actually experience the effect of public policy up close and personal.

Working folks and retirees who feel every dime of a tax increase, see the effect of unchecked growth, fear for the quantity and quality of their family’s drinking water, experience the adverse impact of development on our environment, worry about the fate of downtown Daytona businesses, live with the malignant blight and dilapidation on our beachside and lament the fact that they have been outbid by our “Rich & Powerful,” whose wants and whims bear no resemblance to their own.

I don’t know what the feeling is around the fancy luncheon tables of our local Bilderberg – but by my barroom barometer – those of us here in the “Real World” are ready for substantive change in local and county governance.

And, for good or for ill, it appears things are starting to heat up on the political front.

For reasons known only to him and the uber-wealthy masters he serves, this week our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, decided to continue his destructive path that has ruined the public’s trust in our massive county government, and skyrocketed taxes and fees into the stratosphere, when he filed for reelection.

In a recent interview with his able challenger, Jeff Brower, a long-time civic activist and community servant who, in my view, embodies the sense of honor, ethics and service above self that is sorely lacking on the Volusia County Council, expressed the hopes of many when he said “He (Kelley) served for a long time. I thought he might just retire.”

In addition, Mr. Brower cited a health scare that saw Chairman Kelley “rushed to the hospital” last year as another reason he might want to take up the rocking chair.

Apparently, Old Ed is in fighting trim, and responded to Mr. Brower’s legitimate concerns with a cheap shot hearkening back to the last election, “I was surprised that a person who finished third out of four people in a district race would want to run for County Chair,” Kelley quipped, before addressing his health. “If my health was an issue I wouldn’t be running.” 

I think it’s clear to anyone paying attention that Chairman Kelley’s political wit and acumen aren’t what they used to be when he first entered the local political arena way back in 1993.  In fact, it’s become something of a pastime of mine to watch as both his “colleagues” and fed-up citizens run mental laps around Mr. Kelley time and again.

Sad, really. . .

Besides, after Chairman Kelley’s over two-decades enabling the self-serving wants of his political benefactors from a dais, Mr. Brower could spend the rest of the campaign exposing this quack – who hasn’t had an original thought since he accepted his first campaign contribution – without once turning to his mental or physical limitations.

In other campaign news, this week, Councilwoman Heather Post picked up a very important endorsement from the incredibly popular Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

When giving his seal of approval, Sheriff Chitwood described Ms. Post as “. . .a change agent and that doesn’t go over really well in a county full of good ol’ boys.” 

I agree.  But she’s going to need all the help she can get.

A check of campaign finance records finds that Ms. Post has accumulated just $7,000 as compared to her opponent – Barbara Bonarrigo, the darling of the Big Money set – who has already amassed over $24,000 from many of the right last names who historically sway our elections with artificial infusions of cash to the campaigns of those candidates they control.

In my view, if we learned anything from the insanely expensive special election that was foisted on us in an attempt to ramrod a half-cent sales tax earlier this year, it is that We, The People can change the status quo in Volusia County politics and break the oligarchical grip of those who sway elections with massive campaign contributions by voting our conscious.

Keep your eyes and ears open, kids.  This election season is going to be one to watch. . .

Now, pull up a barstool, enjoy the beverage of your choice, and let’s shoot the breeze after a soggy week on the Fun Coast.

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s look at who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Asshole           Flagler County Administrator Jerry Cameron

I once worked for a wise old chief who would facetiously exclaim, “Managing people would be a great job, if it weren’t for people. . .”

It’s true.

Anyone can steer the ship when the seas are calm – or be the best strategist and leader since General George S. Patton when everyone is pulling in the same direction.  It’s during times of turmoil and crisis – when circumstances, and the imperfect people we rely on to mitigate and manage them – are at their worst that test the mettle of a chief executive.

Recently, a rift was exposed between Flagler County Fire/Rescue Chief Don Petito and Chief Information Officer Jarrod Shupe – a high-level “blowup” that manifested in a heated turf war during preparations for Hurricane Dorian at the county’s Emergency Operations Center.

According to reports, for some reason, Shupe found it necessary to stick his nose in Chief Petito’s operational planning by arbitrarily changing radio frequencies that established interoperative communications between Palm Coast and Flagler County fire departments – a plan that had been developed by Fire/Rescue staff and signed off by Petito in his role as incident commander.

Under the National Incident Management System, the Incident Commander is just that – responsible for all aspects of the emergency response – to include managing operations, assigning tasks, the allocation of resources, and maintaining personal responsibility for all personnel involved in the incident.

To add insult, Shupe apparently mentioned in an email that Flagler County Administrator Jerry Cameron and Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord told him he could, “do what he wants” in the leadup to a potential catastrophic hurricane.

That’s disturbing.  

If true – and one should need to look no further than the email’s paper trail to prove it – then Cameron and Lord were wrong in allowing Shupe carte blanche to run roughshod over the incident commander.

Especially when it comes to emergency communications.  That’s dangerous.

Apparently, the internecine grudge match began under former county administrator Craig Coffee and continued to smolder on Cameron’s watch. The spat has resulted in a barrage of finger-pointing internal memorandum’s to Cameron by Shupe and Petito.

According to an informative article in The Daytona Beach News-Journal:

“Petito, in his Sept. 6 memo, describes their head-butting during Dorian as part of a pattern of Shupe continually making key changes to county firefighting operations without notifying top department officials. He blasted Shupe as a “control freak” with a “complete inability to be a team player” whose “Machiavellian leadership style” he feared would hamstring the fire department’s operations and jeopardize someone’s life during an emergency.”

In turn, Mr. Shupe fired back in a tit-for-tat memorandum to Cameron – which was accompanied by a 253-page binder crammed with information to prove his side of the story.

Jesus.  This is what Flagler County taxpayers are paying for?

“Shupe blamed the rift with Petito on a lack of communication and claimed the longtime fire chief was “regularly working to discredit him.” He also accused Petito of harassing him and his team for the past year, noting they “regularly witness vulgarity-ridden outbursts” from Petito.”

Whatever.

Now, rather than take the bull by the balls and settle this squabble firmly and equitably between his direct reports – Jerry Cameron has decided to turn a petty squabble into a tumultuous front-and-center shit show by commissioning something he calls a “Board of Inquiry” – comprised of Cameron, County Attorney Al Hadeed and Finance Director John Bower. . .

Really?

According to Cameron, the board is designed to be an “informal administrative review aimed at determining the validity of Shupe and Petito’s claims.” 

 Trust me, nothing destroys the morale of senior staff like when the chief executive spinelessly delegates his or her responsibility for sound disciplinary control of senior department heads to subordinates. . .

And which of the inquisitors will verify Chief Petito’s allegation that Cameron gave Shupe free rein to do whatever he wanted contrary to the incident management protocol? 

In an organization with an established hierarchy of control, fellow department heads should not be expected to pass judgement on each other – especially the Finance Director, who must work in a cooperative and collegial manner with all department’s – and nothing assures the necessity of expensive outside legal counsel like inappropriately involving the County Attorney in what should be a routine personnel matter. . .

Where the hell is Flagler County’s Human Resources department?

Where the hell is the Flagler County Commission?

Look, when I was in my prime, I was passionate about my service to the community – and I can admit it now – I often had sharp elbows when standing on some bullshit principle.

Invariably, my “opponent” and I found a way to hammer out an amicable, often innovative resolution to competing ideas – and became fast friends and colleagues as a result – proving that conflict in the workplace isn’t always a bad thing.

Strong leadership effectively manages disagreements before they fester – and the Shupe/Petito Feud has gone on far too long.

Chief executives who seek to develop strong employee relations don’t rely on some cobbled together kangaroo court to determine blame in what amounts to a mutual personality conflict.

In my view, if Mr. Cameron is unwilling or unable to effectively resolve an interpersonal pissing contest without resorting to some political insulation committee, perhaps Flagler County has bigger problems that two recalcitrant department heads. . .

Angel               DSC Law Enforcement Academy Class 86

Kudos to Daytona State College’s Basic Law Enforcement Class 86 for demonstrating their strong commitment to the best traditions of the police service by seeing a need and working hard to see it met.

Recently, academy participants collected school supplies for less fortunate children in our community.  In turn, Daytona Beach Police Department school resource officers will distribute the supplies to those in need.

According to reports, each Basic Law Enforcement Academy class selects a service project to demonstrate the practical application of community policing concepts.  What a wonderful way to go beyond teaching the tactical and legal aspects of the job to instill a true sense of value-based service in our next generation of law enforcement officers.

Congratulations to DSC’s Law Enforcement Academy Assistant Chair Jim Jabluszewski (who I had the pleasure of attending ‘Rookie School’ with many, many moons ago) and the entire leadership and staff of the DSC School of Emergency Services for this innovative program that will pay dividends in our community for a long time to come.

Asshole           First Step Shelter Board

I’ve got to hand it to the First Step Shelter’s new Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg, who, in just one week, turned a $60,000 base salary into a very comfortable $75,000 annual gig with the addition of several lucrative benefits – to include mileage reimbursement and an unprecedented 24 vacation days each year.

Director Fahlberg is going to need every ounce of those impressive powers of persuasion as she begins the superhuman 24/7 scramble to find $500,000 in annual contributions to make up the deficit between government contributions and what this overgrown personal development course spends.

Make no mistake, this behemoth no longer bears any semblance of the homeless shelter we were promised. . .

We are also learning that the project’s brain trust, those Titans of Industry and Government that remain on the First Step Board, somehow allowed their greedy landlord – the City of Daytona Beach – to wheedle out of paving the entire parking lot before they signed the lease. . .

My God.

Come on, P$S Paving – pave the frigging parking lot.

Do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Do it because you can.

Do it to salve your scabbed-over conscience after hauling load-upon-load of incredibly lucrative, publicly owned fill dirt off municipal property in City Manager Jim Chisholm’s horribly lopsided deal to “add value” to the site without any request for proposals or outside bids.

Do it even if it wasn’t part of your backhanded arrangement.

Ah, screw it. . .at this point, who cares? 

Angel               City of Deltona

Congratulations to the long-suffering citizens of Deltona. . .I guess.

This week, the Deltona City Commission tweaked the zoning on some 85-acres of commercial property at the request of a developer who represents a mysterious company seeking to build a one-million square foot “distribution center” in West Volusia.

Look, I don’t want to pour cold water on what may well be an economic shot in the arm for an area that could really use one, but the secret squirrel shit bothers me.

The developer, Seefried Industrial Properties, won’t publicly identify the company that will operate the warehouse citing a “non-disclosure agreement” – that by some quirk of law supersedes the public’s right to know and make informed decisions on land use issues.

Some are speculating that the rezoning marks the return of the much-anticipated Amazon fulfillment center that was ultimately built in the Tampa area – but nobody’s talking.

All we know with certainty is the company’s representative has previously developed distribution sites for Amazon, Home Depot and Pet Smart.

Of course, local economic development types and elected officials have been struck dumb by the dollar signs dancing in their heads – they aren’t saying squat – because, according to reports, once completed the project could generate some $950,000 in ad velorem revenue for the City of Deltona.

So, citizens of Deltona are left to trust their ‘powers that be’ to do the right thing – and suffer in silence as their elected officials continue to sell past the close with soliloquies about how warehouse work is the cure-all we’ve all been waiting for, yammering about “quality of life,” “shifting the financial burden,” etc.

Bullshit.  It is what it is – they know it and we know it.

Officials estimate that the distribution center will create “several hundred” jobs – and, according to a traffic impact analysis, some 2,596 trips per day with 336 of them being made by 18-wheelers. . .

According to reports, to lessen the impact to area motorists, the enigmatic retailer will make some $6 million in “improvements” to area roadways.

In my view, Deltona, and its east side sister Daytona Beach, seem to get really excited by warehouse jobs – which are hyper-dependent on a strong retail economy and increasingly susceptible to replacement by advanced technology and robotics.

There will be a time in the not-to-distant future when having humans in the loop – with their salaries, benefits, pensions and personality quirks – no longer makes financial sense.  Not with hyper-spectral sorters that can pick up, identify and sort thousands of packages in a nanosecond and never call out sick, file workman’s comp claims or hire labor attorneys. . .

While other communities in Central Florida continue to infill established neighborhoods with upscale shopping and entertainment venues, lure high-paying job in the science/information/tech sectors and develop innovative tourism strategies that build upon our areas environmental amenities – it seems Volusia County remains content to be a regional logistics hub for large companies that don’t believe we have the “demographics” to support an actual retail outlet – just lump their freight.

Look, I get it.

Changes in the way people shop has increased demand for warehouse and distribution space; and communities like Deltona and Daytona Beach would be crazy not to reap the economic benefits of partnering with an Amazon or Pet Smart.

However, despite the giddy enthusiasm of easily wooed politicians, just remember that these “too good to be true” panacea projects are not without risk.

Anyone ever see what one-million square feet of vacant industrial warehouse space looks like when a retailer is economically forced to consolidate distribution networks closer to major population centers?

That’s just one reason it would be nice for taxpayers to know who they are getting in bed with before the deal is consummated under a cloak of secrecy.

Good luck, Deltona.

I wish you all the best on your new partnership with, well, whomever. . .

Quote of the Week

“Those were the days, ladies and gentlemen, that were fun.  It was mom-and-pop and people stayed for two or three weeks. There was no Disney World.  It was hot dog and hamburger nights. It was fun on the pool deck. It was all about families.”

 –Bob Davis, president and CEO of the Lodging and Hospitality Association of Volusia County, speaking during an event honoring two-dozen “legends” of the Halifax area tourism industry, Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Those were the days, my friend. . .

Listening to lodging and hospitality cheerleader Bob Davis wax nostalgic for the ‘good ol’ days’ left me feeling slightly confused.

Why would anyone stand at a podium and compare idyllic days gone by – when we enjoyed a vibrant tourist-based economy with a unique brand that drew visitors from around the globe – to the current oceanfront wasteland, pockmarked with overpriced “theme” hotels, fleabag flophouses and a monstrous, half-assed “condotel” that stands like a monument to the economic stagnation that has crushed the spirit of a once proud attraction?

Apparently, we’re in the annual awards season – when various local social climbers, do-gooders and civic organizations give each other plaques and accolades at rubber chicken galas while Rome burns.

And the Lodging and Hospitality Association was not to be outdone.

At a breakfast event this week, president-for-life Bob Davis bestowed “legend” status on area “tourism pioneers” – such as Evelyn Fine of Mid-Florida Marketing & Research.

In my view, Ms. Fine’s illustrious accomplishments include perpetually renewing her contract with the Halifax Area Advertising Authority – for decades – by telling our tourism and marketing gurus exactly what they want to hear.

Other honorees included various developers, hoteliers, convention bureau types and other celebrated ‘movers and shakers’ in our horribly crippled tourism industry – many of whom continue to sit idle as the real money moves west and occupancy rates plummet. . .

Look, I don’t particularly care if people want to congratulate their own performance as their cash cow suffocates in mediocrity – history is filled with the smoldering ruins of once great industries that were allowed to crumble as visionless “experts” refused to adapt to a changing marketplace.

Perhaps it’s good that Mr. Davis and his cronies in the local hotel/motel alliance continue to live comfortably in the “good ol’ days” – blaming the best economy in decades and “Abnb” for the continuing slide – because the frightening reality of what our tourism product has become is anything but fun. . .

And Another Thing!

This week, a dear friend and I had the pleasure of attending Mediums Night at the Southern Spiritualists Camp at Cassadaga, which is held the first Monday of each month at the Andrew Jackson Davis Educational Building & Bookstore.

For a nominal fee, guests have the opportunity to sit for a spiritual reading with either a student or certified camp medium and I highly recommend you make the short drive to one of the most beautiful settings in Central Florida.

According to the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, a spiritual reading occurs “when a medium receives, processes and delivers messages from the spirit plane.”

On Monday, I enjoyed a reading from a student medium named Darlene, who extended a warm welcome and immediately made me feel at ease.

The experience was profound and insightful – with a very personal and recognizable connection with someone very special to me who long ago passed on to the Higher Spirit Plane.  It reaffirmed what I have always hoped – that our loved ones are still looking on, loving and supporting us on the path of life.

During our session, there was a noticeable hum of energy in the room – something hard to explain but immediately recognizable, like a high frequency vibration – and when our time together ended, I was touched emotionally, and left with a wonderful feeling of well-being and deep inner peace.

The experience was unexpectedly energizing.

Look, I admit that receiving the benefits of a spiritual reading requires an open mind – but if you are receptive to it – the time spent can bring a true sense of enlightenment.

Take some time and avail yourself of an evening in beautiful Cassadaga.

Enjoy a stroll through the historic Cassadaga Hotel and spend some time in the eclectic bookstore and gift shop where the names and contact information of available mediums is posted.

The staff is very friendly and can explain the process of meeting with a camp medium or healer.

The quaint community of Cassadaga is located just off I-4 in Wild West Volusia near the Town of Lake Helen.

Anyhow, thanks for reading.  Have a great weekend, friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this week, I ripped News-Journal editor Pat Rice a new bunghole in response to the editorial board’s misinformed, finger-wagging lecture to beach driving advocates on the ongoing ruckus over the Volusia County legal department’s mysterious attempt to crush a long-time historic parade on the old beach racing circuit at Ponce Inlet.

In my view, he deserved it. . .

However, juxtaposed with the hot button beach driving piece was a cogent editorial written by Mr. Rice entitled, “Beachside committee report languishes in silence,” wherein he made the spot-on assessment that more than a year has passed since the gilded Beachside Redevelopment Committee issued suggestions for the revitalization of our core tourist area.

As many will recall, the committee – lead by former Brown & Brown executive Tony Grippa, and populated by everyone who is anyone in the social, business and civic stratosphere of our Halifax area beau monde – was chartered by the Volusia County Council to identify the corrosive issues that have led to the economic stagnation and abject blight that has crippled the beachside and develop strategies for improvement.

I didn’t hold out much hope from the beginning – in fact, I was openly mocked as a fool for dismissing the effort as a sham – but, in reality, if any group of people could make a positive difference in the life of our community, it was this one.

Unfortunately, when it came time to formulate the report that would serve as a blueprint for the resurrection of the beachside and beyond – Volusia County’s Director of Growth & Resource Management, Clay Ervin, took control and proceeded to neuter the committee’s vision with a liberal dose of bureaucratese – crafting the final recommendations in a manner that avoided any possible responsibility and sidestepped all accountability for the elected and appointed officials who provide what passes for oversight in Volusia County government.

When the report was finally issued in 2018, I wrote, “. . .our fervent hope for substantive change has been replaced with another worthless “See, we did something” political insulation report that will collect dust in County Manager Jim Dinneen’s already groaning library of consultant reports, master plans and “recommendations.”

“Perhaps the Grippa Report can bookend the 2011 tourism study wherein the Volusia County Council paid $100,000 to an out-of-state consultant to conduct a review which concluded that our beachside “tourism product” was a serious impediment to attracting visitors and economic development, “…there is no “plan” for who is leading the effort and how these challenges can be improved.”

Clearly, there still isn’t. . .

In his well-thought editorial, Mr. Rice acknowledged that the hard work of the Beachside Redevelopment Committee resulted in a list of “tangible ways” our core beachside could be improved – and given the depth of the problem no one expected change overnight.

But we had a right to expect that something would happen.

Then, like many expensive and time-consuming reports, studies and findings of a hundred other time-buying committees – absolutely nothing happened. . .

According to Mr. Rice:

“It takes time to remedy the decades of neglect and problems that have allowed the beachside to become decrepit and crime ridden. Raggedy rental housing doesn’t improve overnight. Shops and restaurants don’t just sprout up because people wish for them. Everyone gets that.

But there is such a thing as not trying hard enough. There is such a thing as flying too below the public’s radar. There is such a thing as not banging the drum loudly.”

Indeed.

Perhaps now that the News-Journal has formally called them out, our ‘powers that be’ will realize that some of us are still paying attention out here in the political wilderness – waiting patiently for action on the findings of serious people with serious ideas for reanimating the corpse of a once vibrant tourist destination.

 

Photo Credit: The Daytona Beach News-Journal