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:

(Barker’s View is publishing this edition of Angels & Assholes a day early this week as your intrepid scribe departs for opening day of Spring turkey season in Northern Virginia this weekend.  Please don’t fret for the safety of those big Old Dominion tom’s – the only Wild Turkey I’m likely to see is in my après hunt whiskey glass – and that’s okay by me.  I enjoy the tradition, spending time in the woods, and the companionship of great friends.  Thanks for your understanding.  A&A will return later this month.) 

Asshole           Volusia County Council

Something interesting happened last week at the Volusia County Council meeting, one of those rare moments of enlightenment when We, The Little People get a glimpse of how our decision-makers think, reason, and rationalize.

What we witnessed should send a shudder through everyone who lives and pays taxes here on the “Fun Coast.”

I find it amazing that when faced with a crisis, those chameleons on the dais of power have the fantastic ability to transmogrify into something completely different – a lycanthropic shapeshift that has elected officials who previously refused to even acknowledge the possibility that explosive growth and the resultant change in topography and hydrology of the land has contributed to widespread flooding – now present themselves as idealistic environmentalists who share our fear as a means of driving the revenue increase they hope will alleviate the threat.

Bullshit.

It is this théâtre de l’absurde that I find so fascinating about local politics and governance – that well-choreographed kabuki where everyone plays their designated role – alternately telling us what they think we want to hear while subliminally setting the stage for “what comes next.”   

Since day one of his tumultuous term, Chairman Jeff Brower has been openly and repeatedly gaslighted by his “colleagues” – castigated, marginalized, painted as an irresponsible and ineffective dirt-worshiping buffoon – for having the courage to speak out on the environmental issues that most Volusia County residents see as important to our future. 

Not the least of which is the disastrous problem of stormwater showing up in Volusia County homes and businesses every time we have a rain event – while their new neighbors in recently built subdivisions sit high-and-dry atop a fresh mound of fill dirt… 

Floodwater is one of those things that won’t be ignored. 

It can’t be swept under the rug, camouflaged as something it is not, or, given its recurring nature, explained away as another “once in a lifetime” event.  Stormwater is intrusive, it moves and flows with the simplicity of gravity then stands its ground, and when the natural processes that allow rain to make its way back to the aquifer are blocked by impermeable surfaces and quickly overwhelm retention systems, the foul water, polluted by chemicals and nutrients, flows into rivers, estuaries, and watersheds.       

Unlike cowardly past councils – kicking the stormwater can down the dusty political trail is no longer an option in 2024 – nor is dismissing flooding as a historically common occurrence (it isn’t).  Now it is glaringly evident that our ‘powers that be’ have painted themselves into a tight corner, caught without a plan, or the money to effectively address the problem if they did. 

Expenditures in Volusia County’s stormwater utility are estimated to be 114% over the programs operating revenue in 2026-2027 – something alternately explained as increases in personnel costs and an insane operational reliance on federal coronavirus funds. 

Wow.                          

Look, I’m not a budget analyst, but that doesn’t sound sustainable (or responsible) to me…

In an informative article by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer last week, we got a peek at the weird mental gymnastics on the dais, such as when Councilman Jake Johansson metamorphosed into a hand-wringing tree-hugger – openly acknowledging sea level rise, climate change, density, and development-induced flooding – right before our eyes – then dumbed it down to terms us uneducated bumpkins could understand:

“Councilman Jake Johansson said the most common complaint he hears from residents, other than taxes, is flooding. He was supportive of a “stair step approach” to increase the program’s level of service.

“I think people will give up a six-pack or three of beer a month to help put a dent in the flooding issues that we’re seeing, regardless of the reason — sea level rise, climate change, development,” Johansson said. “It’s all probably coming anyhow, right? We have a flood of water. We have a flood of sea level rise and we have a flood of people coming. We have to balance all those.”

It turn, Councilman Troy Kent rightfully called out the spinelessness of previous iterations of the Volusia County Council:

“Fee increases tend to hurt the most needy, said County Councilman Troy Kent, who voted against the increase.

“That doesn’t escape me when we’re making heavy decisions like this,” Kent said. “But it also doesn’t escape me that prior elected bodies will sometimes go years or decades without making small incremental increases, and then you’re hit with, ‘Hey we’re in a crisis situation and we’re going to increase everybody’s rate to an astronomical number.’ That doesn’t feel good.”

According to the Observer’s report:

“Councilman David Santiago, who voted against an increase to $7.50, thought $8 was too small of an increase to address issues, but that it was a start.

“Let’s tell Volusia that we’re serious about flooding and it costs money to do the projects,” Santiago said.

Councilman Danny Robins brought up a sales tax as another funding mechanism. Santiago asked if he was suggested exploring a referendum for a stormwater sales tax.

“Is it better for our visitors to pay for a portion of it to alleviate this, instead of putting 100% of the burden on our residents?” Robin (sic) said.

Santiago said he was open to the conversation.

“If we go there, it has to be very narrowly defined because of the failures in the past to do things like that,” Santiago said.”

In response to my views on the issue in last week’s A&A, Councilman Robins responded in an open post on Facebook’s popular local political forum “Volusia Issues”:

“Nothing for nothing, I never said I supported a sales tax, I actually denounced it 2x, once in that agenda item and once when John Nickleson came up to speak promoting it.

I made the argument what is the difference between this increased stormwater tax and a sales tax targeting stormwater and infrastructure projects? This was Political Tomato / Tomaato in my opinion. Neither one keeps up with the hyper inflation and honestly don’t know how much it would help. And I left it with “Something doesn’t feel right about this.”

These community related blogs used be capturing, factual and educational. The last few years they morphed into the same cherry picking, creative writing articles just like CNN.”

Apparently, Councilman Robins is falling back on the old “I didn’t say what you think I meant” dodge – and it’s the messenger’s fault that we are staring down the barrel of a triple-digit deficit in the county’s historically inadequate stormwater program…

I wasn’t the only one who was ‘misinformed’ as to Mr. Robins’ intentions.    

On Monday, the West Volusia Beacon published an article entitled “Are you ready for a new sales tax?”

“Council Member Danny Robins suggested the possibility of a referendum on a “stormwater tax.” The debate came after Public Works Director Benjamin Bartlett warned about a lack of cash to keep up with the problems the county now faces.”

Please watch for yourself and form your own conclusions on whether a “stormwater sales tax” is a distinct possibility:  https://tinyurl.com/3ypmshw8  (Mr. Robins’ conundrum begins at approximately 8:15:25)

I suspect time will tell exactly what Robins and Santiago were getting at when they bandied about a sales tax increase when discussing revenue shortfalls… 

The fact is, in many parts of Volusia County, Joe & Jane Six Pack are standing knee-deep in stagnant stormwater – rightfully worried about the exponential impacts of permitting more, more, more growth with this asinine cart before the horse strategy without a viable plan to improve our transportation and utilities infrastructure – or a reasonable means of paying for it beyond taxing the eyeballs out of residents and visitors alike.     

Angel               Attorney Chobee Ebbets & Seventh Day Baptist Church

This week, the venerated Daytona Beach attorney Chobee Ebbets filed a pro bono action on behalf of Seventh Day Baptist Church.

The church doesn’t want money. 

They want to help those less fortunate… 

Last fall, Daytona Beach officials visited First Christian Church on South Palmetto Avenue and Seventh Day Baptist Church on Live Oak Avenue – both located within the vast food desert that is the Downtown Redevelopment Area – and ordered them to cease their food drives.

The code enforcement action came following a complaint from an area resident who objected to people waiting for sustenance near the church.  It came as a surprise for both houses of worship as the food pantries have been serving the community long before an ordinance was passed prohibiting food distribution programs in designated redevelopment areas.

Although First Christian Church was later found to have been “grandfathered” in and was allowed to reopen their food pantry – officials could find no record that Seventh Day Baptist had registered their operation with the City of Daytona Beach. 

Apparently, there’s no record that they were ever told they needed to register either…

According to an excellent report by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week:

“Ebbets has said he doesn’t see the food pantry causing problems. He maintains in the lawsuit that the city’s code prohibiting food pantries in redevelopment areas is “overbroad, arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory, and selective,” and was used against Seventh Day Baptist Church in a way that amounted to “an unlawful exercise of the city’s police powers.”

A special magistrate hearing on the food pantry code violation that has been delayed repeatedly since November was scheduled for Tuesday, but was continued again because of the new lawsuit.”

(Find the News-Journal’s informative article here: https://tinyurl.com/vutnz567 )

Rather than seeking damages, the lawsuit asks for declaratory judgment and an injunction stopping the enforcement action to allow the Seventh Day Baptist food pantry to continue serving needy people in the community. 

According to a November 2023 News-Journal report, Mr. Ebbets felt called to help when he witnessed hungry people being turned away.

“Today I saw people with carts turned away,” said Ebbets, whose law office is in a 113-year-old coquina house next door to Seventh Day Baptist Church.

Ebbets doesn’t want to see anyone else sadly walking back home with an empty cart or bag.  He said he’ll sue the city if it doesn’t allow the Seventh Day Baptist Church pantry to reopen soon — and without penalty.”

Mr. Ebbets is a man of his word – and clearly someone who cares. 

The fact is food pantries throughout the region provide nourishment to those experiencing food insecurity.  For instance, the venerated Jerry Doliner Food Bank in Ormond Beach helps feed hundreds of families in Volusia and Flagler Counties each year.

Look, I don’t believe city officials are indifferent to the suffering of its less fortunate citizens – and they are dutybound to respond to citizen complaints – but it appears that Seventh Day Baptist may have been caught in an unfortunate bureaucratic snafu.   

In my view, one characteristic of a healthy community is a sensitivity to the needs of the “least among us” – or at least a willingness to get the hell out of the way while others provide for the welfare of those who desperately need help.

As community compassion declines, so do our civic values, like respect for human dignity, a willingness to confront injustice, kindness, empathy, generosity, and acceptance – the moral imperatives of living together as a society.

Renovation and revitalization in blighted areas of our community is important.  So is how we deal with the interminable problems of hunger and homelessness. 

Here’s hoping Mr. Ebbets and the Seventh Day Baptist Church find a quick resolution in the court – one that allows a return to their important work providing the most basic human need – life-sustaining sustenance – to those who need it most. 

God’s work.

Asshole           Volusia’s Educational literati

It must be nice to be part of the “in-crowd” – those fashionable and influential few who make the difficult decisions that affect our lives and livelihoods here on the “Fun Coast” – a magic often performed in effective darkness so us rubes aren’t bothered with the complex conjuring that we couldn’t begin to comprehend…   

Thank God we have these mystical visionaries looking out for us, eh?  

For instance, I remember a few years back when our elected elite on the Volusia County Council were caught flatfooted – without a viable transportation infrastructure plan while simultaneously refusing to ask their friends and benefactors in the real estate development industry to help pay for the impacts of the sprawl they created – and were instead clamoring for a sales tax increase to pay for it all.

Sound familiar?

At that time, they made it perfectly clear that any of us rubes who rejected the tax increase on grounds our elected officials had failed to address impact fees was comparing “apples and oranges.”

Then, when We, The Little People asked for clarification, our elected prestidigitators gazed down from their lofty perch on the dais and told us not to worry our pretty little heads about it – condescendingly explaining that the chaunts and incantations for calculating impact fees were far too complicated for us hapless dupes to possibly understand.

Remember?  I do. 

Volusia County has a long history of political cliques, coteries, and camps – all supported by those uber-wealthy insiders who underwrite the campaigns of hand select candidates that know exactly what’s best for the rest of us.

That includes thaumaturgists like Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and her all-seeing Coven of Mystics on the Volusia County School Board… 

This week, the fallout from what should have been anticipated funding reductions landed the School Board back in the news when students and stakeholders passionately defended a long-established arts program at Deltona High School – a popular choir that is being cut and its well-respected teacher lost to “displacement” – due to the district’s inability to effectively plan for the end of federal Coronavirus relief funds.

You read that right.

Last month, I asked the question many anxious Volusia County students, parents, teachers, and staff are increasingly worried about, “What do you think the first casualties of the Balgobin administration’s unconscionable lack of planning will be – music, art, physical education, sports, enrichment programs, electives?”

Now we know…

Oddly, those of us who pay the bills never hear about these critical cuts from Superintendent Balgobin herself. 

Why is that? 

Instead, her often draconian diktats are sprung on us – such as the disastrous transfer of Riverview Learning Center to the former Osceola Elementary, a controversial move that has left Ormond Beach residents and officials stunned – or, we learn about them in mass emails and canned press releases handed down from the Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand. 

As a result, members of Balgobin’s ‘clueless cognoscenti’ never need explain themselves to us rabble who pay the bills…

I found it disturbing that rather than study the issue, provide for stakeholder input, then develop a strategic plan for the expected loss of some $200 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds – district principals were simply made sacrificial lambs – handed a small pile of horseshit and ordered to make apple pan dowdy – all while board members and senior administrators shrug their shoulders and sigh from on high…

As the school year winds down – grinding toward an uncertain future – watch for the district’s fangshi to continue conjuring ways to replace certified educators with contrived “assistant teachers” (apparently charged with everything from classroom instruction to performing minor surgery…) and “administrative deans” so, as Volusia United Educator’s president Elizabeth Albert put it, the Balgobin administration can “stack ‘em deep and teach ‘em cheap” next year.   

Or, as School Board Member Ruben Colón ominously put it, expect “larger than usual” class sizes next year…

During Tuesday’s board meeting, some 38 speakers submitted forms requesting their three-minute audience – many of them students who were infinitely more articulate, emotionally invested, and better prepared than those expressionless gargoyles on the dais – who received a valuable lesson in what passes for strategic planning and priorities in Volusia County Schools. 

Before they were allowed to address our elected elite – Board Chair Jamie Haynes gave the assembled a warning on the grim fate that awaited anyone who would dare violate Volusia’s Supreme Law of Lèse-majesté while presenting before the Monarchy – including having the Chair subjectively “terminate your privilege” to speak on topics of civic concern in a representative democracy… 

My God.

In my view, the curtain has been pulled and Volusia County’s educational literati – those omniscient elected and appointed Mystics of Magical Methods – have now been exposed for what they truly are: Irresponsible phonies who were caught out when the chips were down. 

Sadly, it is the students and educators of Volusia County who will now pay the price for their gross and inexcusable negligence… 

Quote of the Week

“The rush is on to save the Florida Wildlife Corridor — a ribbon of land and water that runs the length and breadth of Florida. It’s supposed to set aside some space for Florida’s non-human 99% to survive once the state is completely paved over. In 2021, the Florida legislature unanimously agreed to put the corridor into statute and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is a gold rush too. Florida is spending billions to put conservation easements over corridor lands and also buy corridor land outright. There is not a moment to lose.

Let’s be blunt — Florida is on autopilot to pave over the entire state. It has been for a long time, at least a hundred years. During the past century, Florida has been organized politically, legally, economically, and socially around the goal of converting wildland into money. It is a Florida truth universally acknowledged that every scrap of land (wetlands too) is always on the table for development. No government could/would/should “just say NO.” This socio-economic model implemented and sustained by what I like to call “government of, by and for the developer,” has been fabulously successful, at least from the perspective of real estate development and profit seeking.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor signals official confirmation that the State of Florida will be entirely paved over, and nothing can/will/should stop it but buying land and development rights to ensure conservation.”

–Attorney Leslie Blackner, as excerpted from her guest column, “Florida is on auto-pilot to pave over the entire state,” The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Sunday, April 7, 2024

And Another Thing!

I am a firm believer in the sage adage, “You can’t pick up a turd by the clean end…” 

But come December, that is exactly what Volusia County taxpayers will be asked to do vis-à-vis SunRail.

That said, I suppose it helps if you have some sway with the committee that decides when, where, and how that steaming lump of excreta will be hoisted, eh?    

This week, we learned that Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower has been elevated to head the Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, SunRail’s governing body, comprised of elected officials representing the five local “partners” from the counties of Volusia, Seminole, Orange, Osceola, and the City of Orlando.

For the uninitiated (read: Most taxpayers here in Weedpatch Camp), over the past decade, the Florida Department of Transportation has paid for the operation of the Orlando-centered commuter rail system currently serving 16 stations from Poinciana to DeLand and will begin phasing expenses and operations to the CFCRC by the end of the year. 

According to reports, sometime this spring, the new DeLand SunRail depot will begin offering service to points south.  Unfortunately, if you live and work in Volusia County during the week you won’t get much use from it because, at present, the train still only runs on weekdays.

Given the ever-expanding cost of operation, maintenance, and necessary service expansions – don’t expect that schedule to change anytime soon – at least here in Volusia County.    

Last month, in a report by Al Everson writing in the West Volusia Beacon, we learned of the massive financial burden ahead:

“SunRail has a budget of $81.6 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year that began July 1, 2023 and ends June 30, 2024.

SunRail’s projected revenues, according to the system’s website, will amount to almost $31.4 million. Thus, SunRail has an annual deficit of approximately $50.2 million.

Currently, the Florida Department of Transportation is covering the deficit, but that agency’s handoff of SunRail to the future owners, meaning the local funding partners, means Volusia County and the four other local governments, will become responsible for paying the debt.

As for Volusia County’s possible share of the deficit, County Manager George Recktenwald estimated it would be about $6 million-$7 million per year under the current operating routine. That expense for the county could increase to approximately $10 million annually, “if nights and weekends are added,” he said.

The fares paid by SunRail’s riders total about $2.2 million, or only about 2.6 percent of the system’s cost. Other sources of cash for SunRail come from other trains, mainly Amtrak and CSX, who pay to use the state-owned rails, advertising, train charters, and federal and state grants.”

Whoa. 

Add that to Volusia County’s growing budgetary deficit in various essential services, programs, and utilities – as the vice slowly tightens on our already overwhelmed transportation and stormwater infrastructure – and you begin to see the utter quagmire we’ve been placed in… 

(“Nothing to see here, folks!  Go back to sleep.  Tomato/Tomaato.  Cherry-picking.  CNN, and all.  Just ‘Barker the Bitcher’ spouting from his frothy blowhole again.  There, there, you keep dreaming about motocross tracks, happy talk, six-packs, and Big Rock Candy Mountains…)

Fortunately (for us), a revised agreement between SunRail’s stakeholders now gives individual members the right to opt out of paying for future service expansions they can’t afford (guess which member that is?)  

According to the Beacon’s report, “At the insistence of Volusia County officials, the revised agreements contain safeguards against charging local partners for expansions or extensions of SunRail’s service that one or more members oppose because of costs.”

The downside is that members who can’t/won’t help with costs for expanded services – such as nights and weekends, or a useful extension to Orlando International Airport – would not see that service offered in their area.    

The fact we can’t be forced to pony up for niceties we cannot afford is a positive for us church mice here in Volusia County – the pariah of Central Florida – a social, civic, and economic cautionary tale among our more successful “partners” along the I-4 corridor… 

Needless to say, Chairman Brower has his hands full going forward.

In my experience, when “partners” – defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “…individuals with interests and investments in a business or enterprise, among whom expenses, profits, and losses are shared,” continuously wail the Poormouth Blues and refuse to share liabilities or help fund increased services – frustration and animosity ensue.

Regardless of how you cut it, this is going to be interesting for already strapped Volusia County taxpayers, especially when you consider that SunRail has now accumulated costs of $1.5 billion, well beyond the $79 million anticipated when the commuter line was proposed in 2000. 

Now that our fellow SunRail partners have elected Volusia’s own Tom Joad to chair the governing body – let’s hope this experiment in rail transportation brings all the economic benefits we were promised, and then some. 

This one bears watching. 

Because many fear if the CFCRC fails to put the right hand on the switch going forward – a public and/or private entity with experience running a successful railroad – SunRail could prove a terribly expensive boondoggle for us poor cousins up here on the “Fun Coast.”      

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

Note: On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, beginning at 6:00pm, the Ormond Beach City Commission will consider the highly controversial rezoning of the Tomoka Oaks golf course.

If you care about the threat of increased density, shoehorning more, more, more onto every square inch of greenspace, and the rapid erosion of our quality of life in Volusia County, I encourage you to attend this important meeting and let your feelings be heard.

According to reports, overflow seating will be provided for the large crowd expected…   

The meeting will be held at the Ormond Beach City Hall Commission Chamber, 22 South Beach Street, Ormond Beach.