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:

Angel               Daytona Beach City Commission & Salary Review Committee

Without any of the wailing and gnashing of teeth that normally accompanies pay increases for elected bodies, this week the Daytona Beach City Commission approved a well-thought ordinance that sets the mayor’s salary at 75% of that paid to the Volusia County Council Chair while commissioners will earn 75% of the mayor’s salary. 

The measure also allows for an annual review. 

According to the new salary, the mayor will receive $41,059.00 while commissioners will be compensated $23,650.00 annually.    

The salary increase will take effect November 20, 2024, after the city elections. 

The move represents the City Commission’s first pay increase in 18-years.

At the city’s Salary Review Committee’s November 2023 meeting, the citizen board discussed several relevant factors, including:

“The Committee wanted to set a pay rate that would encourage citizens that might not otherwise run for an elected office to pursue the endeavor. There is a significant time commitment and personal costs associated with representing the citizens of the City while serving on the City of Daytona Beach Commission.”

In my view, the Daytona Beach City Commission managed this increase in a thoughtful, civically responsible, and politically tactful way – and few could argue that a raise wasn’t needed or deserved after nearly two-decades.

For reasons I don’t completely understand, Mayor Derrick Henry cast the lone dissenting vote, issuing a deadpan “congratulations” to his colleagues following the 6-1 vote…

My personal belief is that local elected officials at the county and municipal level of government should be reimbursed for actual expenses – made whole for business-related travel and out-of-pocket incidentals – rather than receive a salary for their part-time elective service. 

I know, some perennial politicians – the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker who hold themselves out for public office then moan the Poormouth Blues – will blubber and bawl that holding political office is a full-time, all-encompassing, bone-crushing burden that requires their undivided attention 24/7/365, above and to the exclusion of everything else in their lives…

It doesn’t.  

Let’s face it, McDonaldland isn’t going to fall apart if Mayor McCheese happens to miss some gilded soiree or takes a weekend off from his appointed rounds shaking hands and kissing babies. By charter, day-to-day operations of government are administrated by a professional manager and a staff of career civil servants – subject matter experts who carry out the policies and vision set by the elected officials. 

While I make light of political pomposity, holding elective office is a hard dollar – a position of great civic, social, and fiduciary responsibility to the lives and livelihoods of their neighbors – and if done right, public service requires a high degree of preparation, homework, situational awareness – and hard bark…    

After nearly two-decades, those willing to serve the citizens of Daytona Beach deserve adequate renumeration for the effort.   

Angel               Florida Supreme Court

During my productive life, for many years of my career I was assigned to investigate and enforce narcotics laws – including the importation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana. 

Difficult and often dangerous work that I hope made a difference. 

But with the explosive proliferation of deadly chemicals that can kill with a single grain – I’m not sure I did…

Based upon my training and experience, for a time, I instructed law enforcement recruits in drug identification to help prepare them for the various substances – and those under their influence – they would encounter daily.

Now, after all that energy and effort, I’m an old man – and pot is all but legal…

For personal and professional reasons, I’ve never been a pot smoker, but with the advent of medicinal marijuana in Florida and elsewhere, I know people who regularly consume cannabis for its therapeutic (and recreational) effect.    

You do too.

I don’t judge. 

As a degenerate with a pack+ a day Marlboro habit and a copious consumer of blended whiskey – I understand the toll these “legal” (read: heavily taxed) substances take on what’s left of my body, mind, and spirit (and my meager budget…)

This may sound strange coming from someone who spent their life in law enforcement, but I also understand the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over-and-over again while expecting a different result – and for that reason, I support the legalization of recreational (and responsible) marijuana use.    

On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court ruled it will permit a ballot initiative allowing voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults here in the Sunshine State.  The 5-2 decision came in response to a request by Attorney General Ashley Moody seeking to reject the ballot language on grounds the measure fails to explain the continuing federal ban on marijuana among other legal arguments.

More than one-million Floridians signed petitions in support of the initiative. 

To become law, the proposal will require support from 60 percent of voters to pass.  In 2016, 71% of Florida voters approved the state’s medical marijuana statute.   

If voters approve, the amendment will permit the use of recreational marijuana by persons 21 and over and remove criminal or civil penalties for adults who possess and use up to three ounces of cannabis products for personal use that are purchased through licensed distributors. 

Look, your opinion may vary – that’s why we will all have an opportunity to vote the measure up or down in this year’s general election. 

Before all you jokers, smokers, and midnight tokers get your hopes up and renew your High Times subscription (is that still a thing?), there is a long way to go before stopping off at your favorite local dispensary for a sacky of the sticky-icky becomes routine. 

If approved, it will be six-months before the law goes into effect – not including the legislative wrangling, rules, and legal challenges that are sure to come as state government determines how it can best squeeze every possible tax, fee, and surcharge out of the state’s new cash crop… 

But that’s as it should be.  Because opportunities also come with consequences that will require reasonable and responsible regulation.   

The times they are a-changin’, y’all…    

Asshole           Volusia County Council

Newsflash:  Growth doesn’t pay for itself and existing residents of Volusia County – and our fragile environment – are in real trouble…   

In fact, now that our elected and appointed dullards on the dais of power in DeLand are coming up short on how to pay for necessary stormwater and utility upgrades – it appears they are finally ready to admit that malignant sprawl creates exponentially more problems for existing residents – flooding, congestion, utilities, and the civic claustrophobia that results from increased density, among others – requiring more, more, more money (read: increased taxes and fees) to pay for current and future needs.

And to remediate the sins of weak-minded politician’s past…

Don’t get me wrong – the looming issues of infrastructure, stormwater runoff, environmental impacts, utilities upgrades, and other overdue projects, repairs, studies, and renovations that are causing concern among Volusia County public works and budget “experts” – doesn’t stop the Volusia County Council from approving zoning changes that (literally) pave the way for more development. 

In my view, that defies reason. 

For years, existing residents have sounded the klaxon on countywide flooding – the natural result of using slash, burn, and fill to change the topography and hydrology of the land to accommodate massive residential developments – coupled with an asinine hurt here/help there environmental mitigation strategy that results in sensitive wetlands being paved over to the detriment of essential natural processes.   

Unfortunately, those previous political cowards that we have historically elevated to public office have procrastinated on reasonable and incremental fee increases, refused to rein in spending, or control the exorbitant salaries and benefits gifted to senior administrators who agree to look the other way and maintain the stagnant status quo.

On Tuesday, during a convoluted discussion of increasing stormwater utility rates to keep up with ever-increasing demands – Councilman Danny Robins exhumed the rotting corpse of the twice defeated “sales tax” bailout and placed it on the catafalque of governmental greed – casually suggesting that a sales tax increase would help spread the cost among residents and visitors – something Councilman David Santiago (who never saw a tax or fee increase he didn’t like) found “interesting.”

Bullshit.

How about a short moratorium on permitting and building massive “city within a city” developments on our sensitive wetlands and wildlife habitats – or at least a pause until a comprehensive study of countywide flooding can be completed? 

Of course not.

A move to reduce spending as a means of funding critical infrastructure repair or transportation improvements beyond taxing the eyeballs out of Volusia County residents?

Hell no. 

Restoring transparency and beginning the arduous process of repairing trust in county government after years of suffering the continuing consequences of the “trust issue”?

Unheard of.

In my view, the only one who made sense during the discussion was Deltona City Commissioner Dana McCool – who used her three-minute audience to speak truth to power – reminding Councilmembers that the one revenue source they have conveniently ignored is the developers who have hauled untold millions out of Volusia County, leaving residents who can least afford to pay for it with the devastating fallout in the face of crippling insurance premiums, taxes, and fees.   

According to the agenda report, a recent study found:

“The study provided that the current assessment of $6.50 per ERU (“equivalent residential units”) per month is not sufficient to meet the funding needs anticipated to maintain the existing program over the next five years. The study further provided that an additional increase in the assessment would be required to improve the program’s current level of service for program management and capital improvements.”

Ultimately, in one of their well-choreographed political skits, our elected “leadership” first voted down a motion to increase stormwater fees to $7.50 (county beancounters say they need nearly double that) – then immediately voted to raise the fee to $8.00. 

Whatever.

I don’t make this shit up, folks.

When will ‘No’ finally mean ‘No’?

Is it possible our elected dullards on the dais still believe we are too stupid to understand that they desperately need the money for infrastructure improvements after painting themselves into a dark corner with overdevelopment, maladministration, and a historic lack of appropriate impact fees or substantive growth management?

Trust me.  We get it.

However, as clearly stated in the first and second failed attempts at the half-cent money grab, We, The Little People simply will not allow the same craven assholes who got us into the mess in the first place to piss good money after bad. 

That’s a recipe for disaster.

No one should expect us to forgive, forget and hand over more of our hard-earned money to those who have proven unworthy of our sacred trust.

Look, there is little doubt our elected and appointed officials will continue to punish us with exorbitant property taxes and ever-increasing fees – while allowing even more malignant sprawl to pressure our infrastructure until we cry out for mercy and submit to sending more of our hard-earned money to government.

Or we elect those with the political courage to tighten the bureaucratic belt and responsibly address the most pressing issues of our time. 

Quote of the Week

“Residents of Volusia County know full well how dangerous the roads and highways are in the area. Sometimes it seems that people are killed every week.

According to a study of national data, Volusia is the single deadliest county in the entire U.S. for traffic fatalities, per capita, for counties with over 500,000 residents.

There were 648 traffic fatalities between 2017 and 2021, according to an analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatalities Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reports by Convoy Car Shipping, That works out to a rate of 11.19 deaths killed per 10,000 people.

Of those fatalities, 82 happened on the East Coast’s U.S. 1, the report said. U.S 1 in Volusia County stretches from the small city of Oak Hill in the south more than 40 miles north through Ormond Beach to the Flagler County line.”

–Reporter C. A. Bridges, USA Today Network – Florida, “This Florida county ranked ‘deadliest’ for traffic fatalities. 10 others are also on this list,” Friday, March 29, 2024

Much of what I write in this space consists of hyper-political rants on the news and newsmakers of the day – rightfully dismissed by our civic cognoscenti as the ramblings of a cantankerous crank – of little consequence in the scheme of things. 

But this is serious.  Something that transcends the petty politics inherent to the “Fun Coast.”  

On Tuesday afternoon, a young woman from St. Augustine was killed in a three-vehicle collision on U.S. 17 in Pierson – and on Friday, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle on International Speedway Boulevard east of DeLand.

Last week, a child died in a traffic crash on congested LPGA Boulevard.   

A six-year-old child.  

Tragic.

Last year, area residents were shocked to learn in a report by Smart Growth America that the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metropolitan statistical area was named the most dangerous location in the nation by population for fatal pedestrian accidents – with 4.25 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people.

Now, Volusia County takes the statistical top spot in the nation for traffic fatalities… 

Many Volusia County residents are pointing to increasingly crowded roads and our horribly inadequate transportation infrastructure resulting from the “shove ten-pounds of shit in a five-pound bag” growth management strategy that has allowed malignant sprawl to far outpace the capabilities of existing streets and roadways.

I hate to fall back on that old melodramatic saw, but in this case it’s appropriate:

“How many people have to die” before our ‘powers that be’ awaken to the grave consequences of ignoring commonsense concurrency and smart growth strategies in favor of kowtowing to the insatiable greed of those shoehorning more, more, more development in a place without a viable transportation plan?

How many traffic deaths do our elected officials consider justifiable collateral damage? 

Frightened residents are increasingly suspicious that We, The Little People are being punished for our resistance to the highly touted half-cent sales tax initiative in 2019 – a craven money-grab orchestrated by the same elected and appointed lumps who got us into the mess in the first place. 

Because performing civic triage, changing tack, allocating resources to immediate needs, and remaining focused on the serious issues facing residents is an anathema in the cloistered “Halls of Power” at city and county administration buildings across Volusia County – where infrastructure is a rusty can best kicked down the dusty political trail… 

Meanwhile, back in Tallahassee, our state legislature is busy running interference for insatiable speculative developers – cutting local government off at the knees – sacrificing the concept of “Home Rule” on the exalted Altar of Greed…  

Please don’t get me started on what passes for our regional transportation planning apparatus – an empty exercise that always seems to roll immediate needs into long term “priorities” that take decades to receive state and federal funding (unless, of course, you happen to underwrite the right political campaign – then there always seems to be an extra hundred-million-dollars laying around for an interchange…) 

“Transportation planning” also serves as a stationary bicycle for local elected officials – who dutifully attend meetings and peddle like crazy but never go anywhere – politicians who desperately need to tell worried constituents that they are “doing something” about improving our increasingly dangerous roadways (usually in the form of some colorful study, analysis, program, or “long-term plan” written in confusing bureaucratese.)

Fortunately, there are signs of progress beginning to emerge from these hard lessons learned.

On Wednesday evening, Daytona Beach City Commissioner Stacy Cantu rightfully called for a formal resolution demanding that Volusia County officials take immediate steps to improve safety on LPGA Boulevard. 

In addition, last week the Florida Department of Transportation (no doubt in anticipation of NHTSA’s fatality analysis) held a “walk-and-talk” to educate residents on $4.1 million in recent safety enhancements that include eight lighted crosswalks on A1A from south of Milsap Road to East Granada Boulevard, including an “overhead hybrid beacon” at the Rockefeller Drive crosswalk with a corresponding speed limit reduction from 35 to 30. 

It’s a good start – but it does nothing to improve traffic flow or capacity – and is of little comfort for those mourning yet another loss of life on Volusia County’s increasingly congested roadways…   

And Another Thing!

A friend and I took a drive down A-1-A last week, traversing the Halifax areas perennially challenged “core tourist area” – a once vibrant “international destination” – now reduced to a slightly down-at-the-heels version of its former self. 

Heading south, we stopped at the virtually unmarked approach at Seminole Avenue in Ormond Beach, where Volusia County officials recently rejected an offer of an ADA compliant sidewalk that was to be paid for and constructed by the developer of a new five story hotel near the site, for reasons known only to those do-nothings at the county’s Coastal Division.  

We visited Andy Romano Park in Ormond Beach, a beachfront amenity with a splash pad, pavilions, a playground, restrooms, picnic tables, and grills, to check progress on the restoration of beach access ramps that have been closed (or missing altogether) since the last storms roared through in, oh, 2022…

It required navigating several “urban outdoorsmen” also enjoying the park – (one of whom appeared to be waxing the car he was living out of in the off-beach lot, his detailing ephemera of waxes, pastes, and sprays spread out in the parking space, while another vagabond repacked his worldly possessions into a tattered bindle at a picnic table).   

We even encountered a wandering minstrel complete with a guitar on his back, accompanied by another disheveled gentleman (his percussionist?) freshening up in a public foot shower – before making our way out to the east rail where we were met with a sign adorned with the City of Ormond Beach crest directing, “RAMP closed due to beach erosion – Please use county beach ramp” with an arrow pointing thataway…

Just beyond the steel barricade was a precipitous drop to the sand below (where yet another wandering nomad could be seen fast asleep on the strand using his satchel for a pillow). 

Farther down was a similar sign affixed to the ruins of yet another storm-demolished stairway. 

Fortunately, there was an open access located at the southern end of the park which appeared to be well-used by beachgoers (because it is the only option they have…).   

Continuing south on Atlantic Avenue, we drove past a vibrant Ocean Center – with brightly costumed members of various flag corps assembled for a competition, young people and chaperones walking in groups among gaggles of spring breakers and sunburnt families who appeared desperately in need of something to do…

Just south of the perpetually struggling Main Street (anyone know what happened to Andrew Baumgartner, the Knight in Shining Armor and owner of Savage Craft Ale Works of West Columbia, South Carolina, who was set to sink millions of his own money into the city-owned Corbin building on Main Street?) was a newly renovated and freshly painted storefront on the east side of A-1-A, each merchant clearly marked on the welcoming façade, a real sign of revitalization. 

Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed when, at the south end of the building facing Atlantic Avenue, we saw a homeless gentleman openly urinating in a graffiti-marred alcove…    

One step forward, two-steps back. 

An intractable problem that our incredibly expensive and deceptively named “First Step Shelter” is clearly incapable of addressing…   

Now, with the latest “vision” apparently being for Daytona Beach to transition from the “World’s Most Famous Beach” to a “sports destination” – rather than repair and revitalize our tourism product – it appears the publicly-owned property around the First Step Shelter on U.S. 92 is being considered for a state-of-the-art “commercial sports facility” which will include multiuse fields for soccer, football, baseball and softball, a swimming pool, waterskiing, horseback riding, and an “on-site hotel or two.” 

I guess one of our influential “movers-and-shakers” has an interest in a publicly subsidized “sports complex,” eh? 

Wonder who that could be…?    

Whatever.

While making our way south, I was struck by how poorly marked and maintained each of the county-controlled beach approaches are along A-1-A – shabby and uninviting, a mix of broken concrete, unsealed asphalt, faded parking lanes, and the inevitable gate prohibiting vehicular access affixed with the “County of Volusia” placard to let everyone know who is responsible for this mess.

Look, it doesn’t require a “hospitality expert” (God knows we’ve got enough of those) to explain the importance of making a great first impression with those from whom you accept money to access a public amenity. 

Clean, bright, uniform, and inviting access points establish the tone – their appearance is representative of the entire area – an advertisement for the “brand” and one that makes visitors want to return. 

Conversely, an unkempt gateway – especially one where a toll booth demands money, complete with a long list of “do this/don’t do that” rules, signage, and a forest of wooden poles – has the opposite effect on potential visitors.

Unfortunately, ‘It is what it is’ as they say…   

On Tuesday, during what passes for the Volusia County Council meeting, we learned that renovating the gateway to the International Speedway Boulevard beach ramp alone will cost taxpayers a staggering $2.2 million.  (I didn’t read the contractors entire proposal, but I thought $2,600 for “Ice/Water/Cups” was a little steep…)  

Instead, council members ultimately voted to remove the attractive color-tinted waveform concrete surface from the plans in a favor of (I guess) a drab sand-salted asphalt ramp on the most visible and active access point in Volusia County. 

The change will save $384,000 off the “guaranteed maximum price.”

Time will tell…

Call me a nitpicker, but it’s too damn bad nobody at Volusia County Beach Mismanagement thought to phase ramp renovations as part of a strategic plan for the revitalization of access gateways over time.

Sound familiar?

With a $1.1 Billion budget, is it negligence, institutional stupidity, or old-fashioned piss-poor planning that repeatedly puts Volusia County between a rock and hard place?   

You be the judge.  Because we damn sure aren’t getting the answers from those we elect to represent or interests…   

As my friend and I navigated the Lone Eagle west onto what remains of East International Speedway Boulevard – a lagging construction project that has progressed little beyond tearing up access to area merchants during the spring tourist season – we considered the fits, starts, and promises that seem to come and go on the Halifax area’s long-neglected beachside… 

Don’t get me wrong, there are signs of life everywhere you look.

With the Intracoastal Waterway to the west, and the perennial draw of the Atlantic Ocean – the most beautiful natural resource imaginable – all the civic Tinker Toys are in the box to make something truly special.

But for the life of me I can’t discern any “Grand Plan” between the cities and the county guiding the way forward – a unified public/private effort bringing together all facets of the hospitality industry, our planning apparatus, beach mismanagement, entrepreneurs, and area residents – those who benefit from a vibrant beachside (read: all of us) to revitalize, protect, and conserve our tourism product. 

As we drove through the good, the bad, and the ugly, my civically astute friend summed things up in the most observant, incisive, and completely accurate way:

“This is how you fuck it up…” 

Agreed.

I encourage everyone to take a leisurely drive along Atlantic Avenue sometime soon – come to your own conclusions about the condition of Volusia County beaches, approaches, and access points in our core tourist area and beyond. 

Then consider what is standing in the way of entrepreneurial investment in a place awash in highly compensated “Economic Development Directors,” “Redevelopment Directors,” “Economic and Strategic Opportunities Directors,” “E-Zone” Operations Managers,” “Team Volusia,” etc., etc.

Then, come election time, ask our elected officials why they allow the same failed policies and “visionaries” to keep their hand on the tiller of this foundering ship?

Ask them why they are even considering spending money on motocross tracks and other nice-to-haves when our essential infrastructure is in desperate need of upgrade and repair – as our streets and roadways quickly develop a grisly reputation as the deadliest in the nation?

Then remind them why we won’t rollover and acquiesce to a sales tax increase.

It’s your money – your community – and your life. 

You have a right to know.    

Just don’t ask those tough questions at the County Council’s upcoming “goal setting” workshop on April 30.  Because Councilman Jake Johansson believes that when the public is given unfettered input, it “…quickly evolves into something we don’t want…”

My God…

That’s all for me.  Have a great weekend, y’all!