Hi, kids!

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

Volusia County Council

Let’s start this week’s vituperations on a positive note!

Kudos to the majority of our elected representatives on the Volusia County Council who, for one brief shining moment, put petty politics aside and voted to allow long-suffering taxpayers to access our beach without paying a separate onerous charge for the privilege. 

I’ll get to the callous minority who thought it best to keep sticking it to strapped Volusia County families in favor of protecting the conveyor-like cash flow to that massive and insatiable bureaucracy in Deland – that ravenous machine they serve like the indentured handmaidens they are – in a minute… 

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Councilman Troy Kent and Chairman Jeff Brower – both of whom made it a firm campaign promise to reduce or eliminate beach access fees – on Tuesday, the Volusia County Council voted 5-2 to eliminate beach driving tolls for residents, while increasing the fees for non-residents, effective October 1. 

In a social media post, Councilman Kent said, “The taxpayers spend millions of dollars to fund our great local beaches, and by a 5-2 vote of the council, Volusia residents will soon have the ability to drive on it, park on it, and enjoy it the same way generations prior to us did for nearly 100 years, without having to pay for a pass to do so.”

As I understand it, to take advantage of the program Volusia County residents, and full-time students at area universities, will be required to register their vehicles through an “online portal” that has yet to be established – while non-residents will be required to pay $30 per day for vehicular beach access or $150 for an annual pass. 

Whoa. 

According to an excellent report by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer this week, “The beach toll changes came as the council approved a new five-year almost $4.2 million contract with PCI Municipal Services, LLC.  On July 16, the council previously awarded a $1.5 million contract to the Michigan-based company for off-beach automated paid parking services.”

Unfortunately, some are calling the fee elimination a “pilot program.  Free beach access for residents will expire on January 31, 2026, unless extended by the next council. 

According to the Observer, although Councilman Don Dempsey voted to waive fees, “I’m seeing this as a pilot program.  I would probably be against this if it wasn’t going to sunset … I’m hoping that this new structuring of fees will not result in an increased tax burden on the Volusia County taxpayers who don’t even use the beach.”

I found that interesting. 

Apparently, Councilman Dempsey doesn’t have the same reservations about using taxpayer dollars to build “Dempsey’s Folly” – a ludicrous “state-of-the-art” motocross facility to be constructed on public land that a consulting firm has estimated will cost a cool $10.2 million – something, I guarantee, most Volusia County residents will never use…  

In addition, Councilmembers Danny Robins and Matt Reinhart – both of whom represent beachside areas of Volusia County – inexplicably voted “No” to giving your family and mine a break on beach tolls, apparently fearing the budgetary impact to the bureaucracy. 

“Robins wanted to wait until after the elections to make a decision, citing unknowns in the economy. He also suggested waiting until the county has data on how much revenue the off-beach parking fees are bringing in after they’re implemented in January.

“I don’t think anyone of us, fiscally conservative as we are would risk our paychecks or our salaries to take that kind of gamble with our money, so my thought process is, ‘Why do it with the taxpayers?'” Robins said.”

(Sorry.  I just shot my fortified Café Bustelo out of my nose…  “Fiscally conservative”?  That’s a hoot!  Whew, got me with that one…)

According to the report, Mr. Reinhart played both sides of the field when saying he “wants the program to succeed.” 

Wait.  After he voted to quash the measure? 

Excuse me?

Whatever. 

I get it.  It’s a tough election cycle for Mr. Reinhart as he faces challenger Steve Miller for the District 2 seat.   

I’m not sure Mr. Robins – or Mr. Reinhart – understand the concept of residents being charged twice – once in our property taxes and again at the beach toll kiosk – or the importance of bringing much-needed relief to struggling Volusia County families in the form of reduced taxes and fees.

However, both Robins and Reinhart clearly understand their primal political instincts that tell them not to give their nemesis Chairman Brower a “win” when he’s facing re-election… 

Fortunately for the rest of us, Chairman Brower and Councilman Kent both champion the cause of giving our greatest natural resource back to the people of Volusia County:

“People are hurting and anything that we can do to make sure that they don’t get double-taxed and pay twice for the same service, I’m going to be for and support,” said Brower, who has been advocating for residents to drive on the beach at no extra cost since 2021.

During his closing comments at the meeting, Kent thanked the council to “take a leap” on eliminating beach toll fees for residents.

“I think that it’s going to pay dividends in the future and we did a wonderful thing for our residents,” Kent said.”

Me too. 

ReGrow the Loop

I hate to be the bearer of this tragic news, but the once majestic Ormond Scenic Loop – east Volusia’s pristine environmental treasure – is gone.  Now reduced to a paper-thin veneer of vegetation – a cheap façade buffering Old Dixie Highway from the perverse ecological atrocity that is sprawling development stretching west to I-95 and beyond.    

The damage is done, and it is not coming back in our lifetimes – sadly, not in our grandchildren’s lifetimes…  

To insinuate anything else is disingenuous and cheapens the damage that was done here.   

In my view, we can thank those “visionaries” at Volusia County, the City of Ormond Beach, and various greed-crazed developers who saw dollar signs where virgin forests, old growth canopy, and a vibrant and varied ecosystem stood for millennia for what has happened along the western edge of what was once the Ormond Scenic Loop. 

We also have our own collective apathy – whatever lethargy or indifference calls us to re-elect those useful idiots who reside in the deep pockets of developers who finance their political campaigns – to thank for the crushing demise of these special places we once held dear.   

Perversely, once the damage is forever done, real estate developers, the sutlers who eke out a living on the crumbs left behind, and their fixers in government have found a way of living with themselves. 

After slashing, burning, clear-cutting, and denuding the land of old growth trees and native vegetation, they host well-crafted public manipulation campaigns, complete with colorful PowerPoint presentations to “educate” residents – shamelessly touting how many trees have been replanted in the aftermath of the for-profit environmental destruction that churned thousands of historic hardwoods into splinters – essentially putting a cheap Band-Aid on the gaping wound they left on the land. 

In my jaded view, a prime example of this syndrome is ReGrow the Loop – “a 12-month pilot program aimed at enhancing environmental sustainability within the community” – which reported its “significant milestones” earlier this week:

“…123 trees were generously distributed to community members, symbolizing a tangible step towards fostering a greener landscape and regenerating plant coverage.

Complementing this effort were 21 educational programs, ranging from formal workshops to informal walk and talks, which collectively engaged 332 individuals. These programs served as vital platforms for raising environmental awareness and empowering residents to take action.

As a result, an impressive 221 pledges were secured from participants, reflecting a resounding commitment to adopting sustainable practices and nurturing the local ecosystem. The success of the “ReGrow the Loop” initiative underscores the power of community-driven initiatives in effecting positive change and lays a strong foundation for ongoing environmental stewardship within the region.”

That’s sick.

It’s also complete bullshit.

“Take the pledge, you rubes!” 

“Commit to adopting ‘sustainable practices’ in your own yard – while we continue to rape the land for massive profit!  Do as we say, not as we do, suckers!”

“But what about the torrent of water flowing across Old Dixie every time it rains?  What caused the flooding and standing water east of the massive subdivisions, the slaughter of wildlife on the roadway, traffic congestion, and the billowing clouds of dust blowing off the moonscape where virgin forest once stood?

“Shut your pieholes, you ungrateful assholes… 

“This is progress!  Bend over and accept it!  We ‘generously distributed’ replacement trees, walked and talked, served as a ‘vital platform, ‘underscored the power of community-driven initiatives,’ and ‘empowered residents to take action’ didn’t we?” 

“Just say ‘thank you’ for our “wildly successful” eyewash, you ungrateful schlubs…”

Screw it. 

Look, my hat is off to those intrepid environmentalists who partnered in this process and have worked hard to expand what they see as “success” to a larger countywide program designed to clean up the ecological nightmare left in the wake of unchecked development across the region.

You can label whatever “new” program that will expand the best efforts of some local environmentalist countywide whatever you want, but please don’t call it “ReGrow the Loop.”  In my view, that is a vicious kick in the teeth to everyone who remembers what “The Loop” once represented before the circus came to town…   

The next time a developer “partners” with government and attempts to hoodwink shellshocked existing residents into believing they are “here to help” – consider the source – follow the money and look beyond the thinly camouflaged whoopla and puffery that would have us ignore the insatiable greed that has irreparably destroyed much of our quality of life.

Volusia’s Transform386 Program

Cue the eerie intro music…

(Recite in your best Rod Serling voice.)

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone…”

Imagine a bizarre episode where Volusia County government receives nearly $329 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development specifically to assist residents with repair and recovery expenses from Hurricane Ian, develops a program to distribute the funds, and gives the relief program the metamorphic name Transform386.

Then, in something that could only happen in the shadowy Twilight Zone of county government – bureaucrats refuse to assist a local condominium owner with much-needed repairs for damage to his single-family condominium caused by Hurricane Ian – the exact community need the public funds were intended to meet.

Why? 

Well, that’s intentionally complicated… 

Apparently, county officials say HUD guidelines exclude residential complexes having more than four units – of course, HUD officials say the exact opposite – assuring that Volusia County can use the funds to assist condo owners. 

Get it?  Me neither… 

In the meantime, a resident of a hurricane damaged condo at the Daytona Beach Golf & Country Club Condominiums is suffering the severe health effects of stress and mold due to unfinished repairs – along with the type of anxiety that only comes when dealing with a Catch-22 created by a faceless and indifferent bureaucracy that, one can assume, has already earmarked the millions in public funds for something (or someone?) else.

Is there another explanation? 

According to a disturbing article by reporter Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week, Daytona Beach resident Robert Arnold reports:

“I get some respiratory stuff that is just a lot of congestion stuff from it,” he said. “Main thing really is it brings on depression, depression and anxiety and stuff …. from the not knowing. But I looked up symptoms of the black mold and depression is one of the symptoms of living in that.”

According to the report, Mr. Arnold “… turned to the Volusia County government for help through its Transform386 Hurricane Ian recovery effort but was denied. The reason? He lives in a condo complex with more than four units, so his property isn’t considered a single-family home.

The Transform386 program is intended to help people recover from the storm, but the way it is set up has left Arnold out and could leave other condo owners out as well.”

Although federal officials confirmed that the funds are authorized for condominium complexes, a Volusia County mouthpiece spun the news that Transform386 “…was developed with a comprehensive approach to address the community’s most critical unmet needs.  The plan’s primary objective is to ensure that the resources are allocated in a manner that maximizes the impact on those most severely affected by the disaster.”

Is it?   

According to the report, single-family homes and duplexes made up 79% of FEMA registrants (27,061) following Hurricane Ian, while condominium owners made up 6% (2,080).

Now, as explained by a Volusia County spinmeister to the News-Journal, “here’s the rest of the story…” 

“The $200 million for housing in the Transform386 program is divided into the Single-Family Repair and Replacement Program ($145 million), the Rental Repair Program ($5 million) and the Multi-Family New Construction Program ($50 million).

Each program has eligibility requirements, and all programs focus on benefiting people with low-to-moderate incomes.

The Multi-family New Construction Program is for public housing authorities and both nonprofit and for-profit housing developers. It’s intended to provide funding that can be matched with other money to build new affordable multi-family housing such as apartments. It is not a rehab program for existing apartments or other multi-family units.”

Bingo!   

Welp.  There you have it, folks.   

It always amazes me the creativity and resourcefulness of our elected officials and appointed bureaucrats when turning a federal relief program into a sleazy pass-through to facilitate the smooth transfer of money from our pockets to the real estate development industry…

Something told me if we waited long enough there would be a provision in Transform386 to assist “for-profit housing developers,” using public funds appropriated for storm repair and stabilization to subsidize another sticks-and-glue apartment complex.

Sorry, Mr. Arnold – there are 50 million reasons you don’t qualify for this relief program – and none of them have to do with restoring your home after the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian…

Breeze Airways and Daytona Beach “International” Airport

“It’s nice to be nice…to the nice.”

–Maj. Frank Burns, M*A*S*H

This week, Volusia County elected officials – flanked by our always hyper-enthusiastic tourism and hospitality gurus – were falling all over themselves announcing another “big catch” for DAB – this time its discount carrier Breeze Airways – who announced non-stop service to four destinations beginning in November. 

According to a report by Clayton Park writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Bob Davis, president for life and CEO of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Volusia County gushed “Four new destinations? My god.”

Exactly.  My God… 

In keeping with the theme, Lori Campbell-Baker, executive director of the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, labeled the arrival of the no-frills flights as nothing short of a “historic occasion.” 

According to the News-Journal report:

“The Utah-based low-cost airline will launch its service to Westchester County (White Plains), New York, on Thursdays and Sundays, beginning Nov. 14.

It will add flights on Thursdays and Sundays beginning Feb. 13, 2025, to and from Hartford, Connecticut, and to and from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Then it will add flights on Mondays and Fridays beginning Feb. 14, 2025, to and from Providence, Rhode Island.”

As I understand it, Breeze Airways operates on a sliding fare system, ranging from a “No Flex” cattle call, to their ‘Nice,’ ‘Nicer,’ or ‘Nicest’ fares, which offer various combinations of carry-ons, checked bags, extra leg room, priority boarding, in-flight snacks, etc.

As Brian McCormick, director of airport properties for Breeze explained in the News-Journal, “Our purpose at Breeze is simple: we’re nice people, flying nice people to nice places and we’re bringing our seriously nice form of air travel right here to Daytona Beach.”

How nice…

So, how did those nice folks at Daytona “International” Airport sweeten the pot? 

According to the report, Airport Director Karen Feaster said landing Breeze was “…the culmination of years of talks with the airline’s route planners to try to convince them to give Daytona Beach a shot.” 

Considering Breeze Airways launched in May 2021, it hasn’t been that many years, but if county officials can’t embroider things to puff-up a big roll out, when can they embellish the message, eh? 

(Don’t answer that…)

“The airport has agreed to provide Breeze with the standard incentives it offers to all airlines new to Daytona Beach: a two-year waiver of fees such as for landing and baggage handling as well as for rent.

In addition the airport and Convention & Visitors Bureau have both pledged to assist Breeze in marketing its new routes.”

Calm down, calm down…be nice.  It was just the “standard incentives…”    

I’m sure it’s the same incentives Volusia County offers your small business whenever you have trouble making payroll, paying rent on your building, or have nothing left to market your services… 

Besides, airport officials will be quick to point out that DAB operates as an “enterprise fund” with expenses covered by the revenue it generates “and from state and federal grants” – which apparently originate in fairytale places like Tallahassee and Washington – where raindrops are gumdrops, money grows on trees, and geese lay golden eggs to underwrite for-profit discount airlines… 

In addition, Campbell-Baker announced that the CVB will offer up a cool $150,000 from its budget to help market Breeze’s new routes… 

How nice. 

Even Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower got caught up in the excitement, pulling the number “$21 million” out of his backside before the first Breeze flight has landed when swooning over the possible annual economic impact of the four routes, “It’s a win-win all the way around, he said.”

That’s nice… 

Quote of the Week

“Volusia County Schools had to return almost $5 million in state funds due to decreased enrollment numbers for the 2023-2024 school year.

As the district proceeds with planning its $1.2 billion budget for the upcoming academic year, School Board Chair Jamie Haynes said those funds could have helped with teacher and faculty salary increases.

“There are consequences sometimes to the actions that we choose to have,” Haynes said at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, July 30. “There is not a single state, district, county, area … in this entire United States that is perfect, just as there’s not a business out there that’s perfect. Every day, there are great teachers here in Volusia County Schools teaching our kids.”

The pandemic brought about “keyboard warriors,” she said — people that are using social media to bash the district and administration. Haynes said she believes this has contributed to the student enrollment decline.

“What you’re doing is you’re actually saying to parents that are watching and listening, ‘That’s not where I should keep my child,'” Haynes said.

The school district ended the 2023-2024 school year with an enrollment of 57,172 students. Pre-pandemic, VCS had an enrollment county of about 64,000 students.

“Every child we lose to one of the other choices impacts our budget,” Haynes said.”

–Volusia County School Board Chair Jamie Haynes, as quoted by reporter Jarleene Almenas, Ormond Beach Observer, “Volusia County Schools returns almost $5 million in state funds due to decreased enrollment,” Thursday, August 1, 2024

As a longtime watcher of all-things government and an insufferable blowhard – I have seen the best of elected officials and career public servants who give freely of their time and talents in service to the greater good.  Those who work diligently despite withering criticism, using constituent concerns as a civic barometer rather than a personal insult, always accepting responsibility for their personal and organizational shortcomings, learning from mistakes.   

Unfortunately, I’ve also seen the worst instincts of petty politicians who defect blame, project their own inadequacies, shift guilt, gaslight, disparage others, vilify, avoid accountability, and engage in other egocentric defense mechanisms from their lofty perch on the dais of power.   

Sound familiar? 

I don’t know about you, but count me in the growing number of Volusia County taxpayers, parents, students, teachers, and staff and who are sick and tired of being condescendingly lectured by (insert Volusia County School Board member here) who refuse to take a long and introspective look at the district’s abysmal lack of leadership, effective communication, or strategic vision as they fritter away a massive $1.2 billion annual budget.

In my view, Chairwoman Haynes should realize those “keyboard warriors” she blames are citizens and taxpayers – many with growing concerns about the competency and direction of our elected officials and senior leadership in the Ivory Tower of Power in Deland – frightened by the disastrous unaddressed maladministration and angered by their arrogant refusal to listen to the needs of those in the classroom. 

Perhaps that is why students, teachers, and staff continue their disturbing exodus? 

Just once, I wish an elected representative on the Volusia County School Board would admonish Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and her coterie of incompetents in senior administration with the same ferocity and verve she musters when blasting those of us who pay the bills and are expected to suffer in silence. 

And Another Thing!

When I say my military service was nothing special – you can take that to the bank…

During the summer of 1979, after horribly failing every course I had enrolled in at Daytona Beach Community College, my best friend and I stopped throwing a Frisbee on the beach long enough to join the U. S. Army Reserve. A few long and hot months later we completed Basic Training and Military Police School at Fort McClellan, Alabama.   

It was some of the best law enforcement instruction I ever received.  It also turned a wayward boy into a reasonably self-reliant man and taught me to work cooperatively with a diverse group of people under difficult circumstances. 

I served the next six-years with the 345^th MP Company (Escort Guard) 81^st ARCOM, based in Melbourne, Florida, with first platoon located in Daytona Beach, a unit trained to transport prisoners of war by various modes.      

While I never deployed – and didn’t earn one ribbon (especially not the Good Conduct medal) – I drank a lot of beer, was reduced in rank twice, and served with many great individuals, some of whom became lifelong friends and great colleagues in law enforcement. 

After completing my enlistment obligation, the worst soldier the Army ever produced was incredibly proud to receive an Honorable Discharge.

As a Private E-2… 

Yeah.  I know.

I tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly of what passed for my military service in light of serious allegations that U.S. Representative Cory Mills may have fudged details of his military career as he runs for re-election in Florida’s 7th District that covers southern Volusia County and all of Seminole County.

According to an in-depth article by reporter Mark Harper in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week, we learned:

“Mills, a first-term congressman representing Florida’s 7th District, is facing an Aug. 20 Republican primary challenge from Michael Johnson, a retired Department of Defense employee and Vietnam-era Army veteran from Altamonte Springs.

While campaigning, Johnson is handing voters flyers that ask: “Why does Mills lie about his military service? … He is committing Stolen Valor.”    

If true, those are serious allegations against a sitting United States Congressman.  (See Rep. Mills’ official biography here: https://mills.house.gov/about )

According to the report, Rep. Mills’ accusers have posted their “evidence” online at www.corymillswatch.com

(Find the rest of Harper’s disturbing exposé here: https://tinyurl.com/2kxyjey9 )

At issue is Rep. Mills’ claim to have been awarded the Bronze Star medal for heroism during combat in Iraq.  His detractors believe he may have conflated his military service with time spent as a security contractor in Iraq, which apparently occurred after his discharge from the Army.   

The Army recently completed a review of Rep. Mills’ awards and confirmed he received the Bronze Star and several other service-related medals in a July memorandum.

Then Mills provided the News-Journal with a Form 638 – the official written recommendation for the Bronze Star – signed by retired Brigadier General Arnold Gordon-Bray, who corroborated to the News-Journal that he signed the recommendation. 

“Bray himself told The News-Journal that he did sign a recommendation for Mills, but neither he nor Mills answered the question of when it was signed.” 

In the article, Mills detractors point out the form was dated 2021 – and Gen. Gordon-Bray retired in 2012… 

In his defense, Rep. Mills was quoted in the News-Journal report, “I’m tired of the slander and the defamation,” Mills said. “I ran for office to be able to serve the American people, not to defend something I did 20 years ago over and over and over.”

I’ll bet he’s tired of these grievous smears.      

Because if Rep. Mills is in fact a combat wounded veteran who was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in Iraq – he deserves an immediate apology from the Johnson campaign – right before Mr. Johnson removes himself from the race.

However, if the insinuations brought by Mr. Johnson and others are true – then Rep. Mills owes his constituents – and anyone who served honorably in the Global War on Terror – an immediate apology, right before he resigns from Congress, closes his campaign, and steps aside… 

In my view, it is that serious.

In my view, claiming false service accomplishments and unearned awards for valor steals from those brave souls who earned the respect they so richly deserve with blood, sweat, and tears – or made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Having read the timeline and assorted items of “evidence” as posted by Mr. Johnson and his supporters, I must admit, some things in Rep. Mills’ official military records (as presented in the article and on the website) don’t add up to me.  

As a military veteran and Congressman, Rep. Mills must know how to file the proper form to correct his original DD-214 – something that would serve to quell the many questions swirling around these shocking claims and counterclaims.

If you live in Florida’s 7^th Congressional District – or are simply concerned about good governance, honesty, and personal integrity in high public office – I encourage you to peruse both sides of this disturbing debate then form your own conclusions. 

Because if this is a case of mudslinging gone horribly outside the bounds of ethical campaigning (a wide-open space in the scorched earth bloodbath that is modern politics) then it should be Exhibit A in the case to stop the personal destruction by and between candidates for elective office – something that has a chilling effect on good people considering a run for public service.  

While members of Congress – on both sides of the aisle – have set an extraordinarily low bar for what passes for “statesmanship” and elective service, in my view, sitting representatives like Mr. Mills have a moral and ethical obligation to tell the truth and conduct themselves in a manner that reflects creditably on the House of Representatives, their sworn office, and the district they serve. 

That means speaking the unvarnished truth to voters about their background and service.

In my view, these are moral imperatives for holding a position of public trust – and they should not be subject to quibbling, obfuscation, or false witness for cheap political gain on either side of a campaign. 

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