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…

Before we start this week’s hayride to the dark side of local politics and governance, I want to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by Hurricane Helene. 

Godspeed and good luck.  

Sodden Citizens of Edgewater

There are dark skies gathering in Edgewater.

Across the width and breadth of Volusia County, waterlogged residents are demanding answers and accountability from elected and appointed officials at all levels of government who have sacrificed our health, safety, and quality of life on the altar of greed.

Adding to the growing instability in Southeast Volusia, last week, City Manager Glenn Irby was abruptly fired just minutes into a standing room only special meeting of the Edgewater City Council, one dominated by angry residents voicing their concerns over development-induced flooding that has left the Florida Shores area inundated in recent weeks. 

Within the first five-minutes of the meeting, Edgewater’s man-child Mayor Diezel “I Need Alcohol!” Depew and his colleagues on the dais moved to terminate Irby – with Mayor Depew attempting to cobble together a list of grievances he felt would amount to the legal definition of “with cause.”

Ultimately, the majority opted to sever the manager’s contract without cause, allowing Irby to collect 20-weeks of severance.

I couldn’t help but snicker and giggle listening to Mayor Depew recite a laundry list of “violations” against Mr. Irby, some of which referenced professionalism and ethics, rudeness toward a member of the public who wished to speak, and acting inappropriately in social media posts.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure if Mayor Depew was reading his allegations – or looking in a mirror…   

Some felt Irby’s demise was well-deserved – others are convinced he was scapegoated by a troubled Mayor and confused Council who lack a comprehensive vision – or mitigation strategy – for dealing with development and the resultant stormwater issues that have many worried for their future.

To assuage the growing fears of his soggy constituents, Mayor Depew claimed that someone in city government is finally getting off their duff to address problems, with water still standing in some areas: 

“We’re creating a plan, we hear you.  I didn’t sleep at all on Saturday. I was up until 5 am. I see it, I went through it during Hurricane Ian.”

(For the record, Hurricane Ian hit two years ago…)           

Mayor Depew’s propensity for staying up until late aside, in my view, this civic disorientation during an emergency is the classic symptom of a local government in crisis…   

Some residents cite poorly maintain drainage swales as contributing to the problem (that was Irby’s department…) while most agree new development permitted above the elevation of existing subdivisions has allowed water to do, well, what water does – find the lowest geographical place to pool – turning surrounding neighborhoods into drainage basins. 

Look, I’m not an expert in fluid dynamics, but I can turn a bowl upside-down, pour water on it, and watch the force of gravity do its thing on an impervious surface. 

That’s what makes this ongoing disaster so maddening. 

In the view of many threatened property owners throughout Volusia County, this expanding catastrophe was so predictable – and preventable – yet, elected officials, growth managers, and public engineers at all levels of government (those who either knew or should have known the ultimate outcome) practiced career preservation, kept their mouth shut, and did the bidding of those on the dais of power who are beholden to the real estate development industry for their campaign war chests. 

And that pernicious cycle has repeated, time and time again throughout Volusia County and beyond.      

Now, the Edgewater City Council has directed staff to draft two building moratoriums – one covering Florida Shores, the other city-wide – except for the Park Town Industrial Center. 

City officials are also exploring a possible stop work order for ongoing development.

Trust me.  This problem isn’t limited to the City of Edgewater – and it will not be an easy or inexpensive fix.  

For now, let’s keep our fingers crossed that Edgewater officials made the right move with the impetuous termination of Glenn Irby and can find the much-needed leadership and stability residents deserve. 

Most important, let’s hope that Mayor Depew has learned a valuable lesson about the importance of credibility during a crisis… 

Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago

There was a time when personal and professional credibility mattered – especially in governance.

An expectation that those in positions of power who make laws, ordinances, and allocations that affect our lives and livelihoods will humble themselves to the responsibilities of public service, listen to their constituents, share our collective values, and conduct themselves in a manner worthy of our trust. 

After four years on the Deltona City Commission, from 2012 to 2020, David Santiago served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 27 (and Florida’s powerful insurance industry) for two terms. 

In 2016, he was briefly a candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives in Florida’s Sixth Congressional District but bailed when incumbent Ron DeSantis entered the race.

According to an October 2020 report in Florida Politics, we learned of Mr. Santiago’s efforts in the Florida legislature to further the interests of insurance companies:

“Among his contributions were bills related to workers compensation, travel insurance, surplus lines insurance, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, pharmacy benefits managers, motor vehicle insurance, reinsurance, civil remedies against insurers, consumer finance loans, blockchain technologies, construction defects, insurance rate making and forms, and condominium loss assessments.

Concurrent with his legislative service, Santiago was a four-year member of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, a nonprofit organization that helps legislators make informed decisions on federal and state insurance regulation.”

Interesting… 

In keeping with Florida’s “one hand washes the other” environment, where former lawmakers are welcomed into the inner sanctum of lobbying firms who helped them gain and maintain office, when Santiago was term limited out of state office, he deftly squeaked past the influence peddling loophole of Amendment 12 (which didn’t take effect until 2022) and accepted a job with Colodny Fass, described as “one of the premier mid-size lobbying firms in the state,” who represents a “litany of insurance interests.” 

Hummm… 

In 2020, keeping with his propensity for hopscotching from one elected paycheck to another – Mr. Santiago lost to Will Roberts in a bid to become Volusia County’s first elected tax collector in 50-years. 

At the time, The Daytona Beach News-Journal listed his occupation as “financial manager” (?), and reported that, while most of Roberts’ political contributions originated from local individuals and businesses, “…Santiago’s $43,300 in campaign contributions is more than double that of Roberts’ $19,420 war chest.

Approximately $33,000 of Santiago’s funding comes from political action committees and auto tag agencies, and about 80% of contributions come from outside Volusia County.”

Guess it’s nice to have friends in high places, eh?

Although we are never quite sure how (or if) these things end, reports indicate Santiago later became executive director of Floridians for Lawsuit Reform, a group pushing tort reform measures in the Florida Legislature, and he is currently listed as “strategic director” for The LIBRE Initiative of Americans for Prosperity – Florida. 

In 2022, during his run for the Volusia County Council, Santiago made headlines when he was sued, then countersued, for alleged defamation. 

According to a report by Mark Harper writing in the News-Journal:

“Family Health Source and its CEO, Laurie Asbury, are asking a Volusia Circuit Court for damages in excess of $30,000, in addition to attorney’s fees and other costs because, they argue, Santiago made false and defamatory statements about them in three emails he sent to the organization’s board and “third parties.”

Apparently, things got heated when Mr. Santiago was terminated by Family Health Source – a federally qualified nonprofit healthcare center in West Volusia – where he served as “chief operations development officer” with a salary of $150,000 annually (really?) – while still earning some $120,000 working for Colodny Fass…   

Yeah.  Hummm… 

According to the Volusia County Clerk of the Court’s website, the lawsuits were dismissed by joint stipulation in January 2024, with each party agreeing to pay their own attorney fees… 

Following his election to the District 5 (Deltona) Volusia County Council seat in 2022 – in June 2023, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that Mr. Santiago missed four out of eleven meetings at that time. 

During the recent August primary, Councilman Santiago’s wife, Emma, made the public teat a family affair when she was elected to the District 2 City Commission seat in Deltona… 

I found Mr. Santigo’s history in and around government interesting, especially in the context of his most recent lobbying efforts – this time from the dais of power in DeLand – when he literally strongarmed Volusia County advertising authorities to underwrite marketing efforts for the low-cost, limited route, “airlines” that Daytona Beach “International” Airport keeps attracting with exorbitant publicly funded incentives and revenue guarantees, then calling it “progress.”

Last week, there was a testy exchange between Mr. Santiago and Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Lori Campbell Baker, when she (like everyone else watching) thought Santiago was manipulating changes to the model the various advertising authorities use to fund airport marketing efforts without the courtesy of notifying the boards in advance. 

Because he was… 

During the meeting, Santiago made a longwinded motion changing the airline marketing scheme to one where funds would initially come from the county’s Economic Development fund, then be reimbursed by the authorities during the 2024-25 fiscal year. 

In my view, it was a thuggish ‘powerplay’ – a subtle suggestion of what can happen when one raises their head against Santiago – or dares question his motivations (which are always instinctively political…)

According to a report in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“We, in good faith, came back with what we thought you needed us to do for this fiscal year,” Baker said.

Santiago said there seemed to be resentment among some of the authorities’ board members during their recent special meeting to discuss the budget amendments.

“I left with the impression that, ‘How dare us tell them how to spend their money?'” Santiago said. “And I think a forgetting, if that makes sense, that that board, all of these boards, serve at our pleasure, because we each appoint folks in there to do these jobs.”

Baker told Santiago that the groups are advertising authorities, not advisory committees. The council, she said, has done a “stellar job” in appointing the 11-member Halifax Area Advertising Authority, all of whom are heavily involved in the budget process.

“They use those dollars and approve those dollars as if they were their very own,” Baker said. “So, there’s accountability like you wouldn’t believe, and so that’s where I’m trying to get … and you heard them, they’re very passionate.”

“Some might say a little too passionate in some of their commentary,” Santiago replied from the dais.”

Later, the petite King David said he didn’t have anything against the board members.

Bullshit.   

“I don’t want to make it personal, but I couldn’t even point out any of your members on a lineup,” Santiago said.

In essence, Councilman Santiago made a point to ridicule and marginalize the efforts of the nameless little people – those appointees with the knowledge, expertise, and fiduciary responsibility to fund the comprehensive needs of our areas tourism and hospitality industry – not just the marketing efforts of the latest here today/gone tomorrow ‘airline du jour’ at DAB. 

I could be wrong (I’m not), but I think “resentment” is what naturally results when dedicated board members set their respective budgets pursuant to real needs, only to have the rug pulled out from under them by a perennial politician like David Santiago – a petty dictatorial tyrant with no visible means of support outside the public trough – who now singlehandedly decrees the allocation of bed tax dollars as he sees fit… 

In my view, Abraham Lincoln was wrong.  In Deltona, it appears you can fool all the people, all the time… 

Quote of the Week

“I’m from South Florida, and in my 15 years here, I’ve never met one person, not one in Bunnell, Palm Coast, Flagler County, especially Flagler Beach that I said, You know what, Matt, I wish Flagler Beach was more like Orlando.”

–Flagler Beach resident Matt Hathaway speaking to the Flagler Beach City Commission, as quoted by FlaglerLive!, “Flagler Beach Hears Substantial Opposition to Veranda Bay Annexation as Developer Counters: ‘I Have Agreed to a Lot Here’,” Wednesday, September 25, 2024

And Another Thing!

I’m a sucker for a ‘David and Goliath’ story.

Always cheering for the underdog, hoping for the triumph of that which is good and equitable, empathizing with the disadvantaged, pulling for We, The Little People who band together in a cause greater than our own self-interests, those intrepid souls with the passion and grit to overcome against impossible odds. 

Unfortunately, in Florida, that doesn’t happen often.   Power prevails. 

Money talks and bullshit (like your quality of life) walks… 

Here in the biggest whorehouse in the world, those with the gold make the rules – the weak are trampled (or worse) – and anyone with the temerity to stand against common threats like environmental destruction, malignant overdevelopment, the omnipotent influence of the “Rich & Powerful,” and the greed that fuels it all, are crushed.      

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 shut down their long-established food pantries.

At the time, we were told the enforcement action came following a complaint from someone who objected to people gathering to wait for sustenance near the church.

That came as a surprise for both houses of worship – and the hungry residents they serve – as the food pantries had been providing for the very real needs of the community long before an ordinance was passed prohibiting food distribution programs in designated redevelopment areas.

This phenomenon isn’t limited to the City of Daytona Beach.   

Despite the conscience or character of their community, some government officials put their vision of “economic development” – and the comfort of those who prefer not to cast their eyes on the Great Unwashed waiting for alms – over the needs of hungry families at a time when a trip to the grocery store represents a crushing financial burden for many. 

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

Fortunately, Seventh Day Baptist found a true superhero in Daytona Beach Attorney Chobee Ebbetts, who valiantly took up the church’s plight, providing his expert services pro bono during the year-long legal fight – one that was ultimately joined by Texas nonprofit First Liberty Institute and Chicago based law firm Sidley Austin LLP, who would file a motion in federal court seeking an injunction to end Daytona Beach’s ban on food distribution to those in need.

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

“After 12 months of legal wrangling, the church is dropping its lawsuit against the city, and the city will enter into a formal settlement agreement.

That settlement agreement will include the city repealing its ordinance that bans food pantries and food banks in redevelopment areas, said Daytona Beach attorney Chobee Ebbets, who has represented the church free of charge. Seventh Day Baptist Church is located in the city’s Downtown Community Redevelopment Area.”

In my view, Seventh Day Baptist Senior Pastor Ben Figueroa said it best, “This little David defeated Goliath,” Figueroa said. “God is the one who did it. He used Chobee.”

Good stuff…

Another minor miracle occurred in Flagler County last week, when Circuit Judge Chris France ruled in favor of Preserve Flagler Beach and Bulow Creek – ending an intimidating lawsuit filed by developer Palm Coast Intracoastal (a subsidiary of SunBelt Land Management) challenging the right of the environmental group to challenge the massive Veranda Bay – a sprawling mixed-use development with thousands of residential units and commercial space proposed for pristine riverfront greenspace along both sides of John Anderson Highway south of S.R. 100. 

According to an informative article in FlaglerLive!, we learned:               

“France termed PCI’s action a SLAPP suit impermissible under state law, handing the grass-roots group a major victory against the chilling effect of such lawsuits on speech and participation in matters of public concern. But it’s likely not over. “I would expect they intend to appeal. That’s what we’ve been told,” John Tanner, the attorney who was named among the defendants and argued on their behalf, said today.

“Since 2000, Florida law has prohibited the filing of ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation,’ or so-called ‘SLAPP’ suits against individuals or entities for exercising their constitutional right to seek redress for grievances before a governmental entity,” France wrote, granting summary judgment in favor of the group. The Legislature strengthened anti-SLAP suit provisions in 2015.”

According to the report, Mr. Tanner said, “We’re pleased with the result and pleased with the judge’s order,” he said. “This is a landmark decision and it’s a major victory for citizen’s rights.”

(Please find the FlaglerLive! article here: https://flaglerlive.com/slapp-rejected/ )

I don’t know about you, but I needed a little good news. 

Kudos to Chobee Ebbetts and John Tanner for standing tall and fighting the good fight to protect the powerless.  Superheroes indeed…

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

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

Last year, the Volusia County Council and the City of Ormond Beach were caught flatfooted after their respective staffs had preliminary meetings with Belvedere Terminals, a bulk fuel supplier owned by Grupo México, who has announced plans to place an industrial petroleum farm and distribution facility in an unincorporated area adjacent to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. 

As the City of Ormond Beach would provide utilities for the terminal, the city would be required to annex the 60-acre property, putting it dangerously close to residential areas, light industry, the city’s airport, and a public sports complex.

Some of us learned about the terminal when an obscure Department of Environmental Protection air permit was published in the Hometown News, other residents weren’t made aware until a shocking story appeared in The Daytona Beach News-Journal – and none of us were informed by embarrassed Volusia County or Ormond Beach officials – leaving our elected dullards looking like the out-of-the-loop know-nothings they are…

The ensuing shitstorm of controversy has proven to wary Volusia County taxpayers that when the chips are down, there are precious few elected and appointed “representatives” looking out for our interests in the cloistered Halls of Power in DeLand, or elsewhere.    

When their physical safety, property values, and quality of life are at stake, concerned citizens will always take a stand, band together, and find ways to protect their families despite the blunders and omissions of an unresponsive, out of touch, and fumble fingered bureaucracy. 

Recently, concerned residents and environmental advocates proposed a charter amendment to address what the Volusia County Council and some municipal governments continue to ignore – namely development-induced flooding, a complete disregard of concurrency requirements, and the claustrophobic effects of sprawl, increased density, and explosive growth.

According to a petition proposed by civic activist Cathrine Pante and others, “…a Rural Boundary Charter Amendment to the Volusia County Charter is a potential solution to this issue. The Amendment will act as a tool to control development within our rural areas, allowing the County Council to better manage and restrict expansions that pose a threat to our homes, our livelihoods, and our natural surroundings.”

“We urge the Volusia County Council and Staff to create and put forward this amendment for a vote on the 2026 Ballot. No longer can we stand by and accept the excuse that the County cannot stop city annexations. Let’s protect Volusia County’s rural areas and the people who call it home.”    

Naturally, the very notion of requiring a rural margin between malignant urbanized sprawl and more of the same – typically by requiring a majority vote to approve development in those areas or before a city can annex unincorporated areas – caused a panic among those developer finger-puppets on the Volusia County Council intent on protecting the very lucrative status quo for their campaign contributors. 

On Tuesday, we got another nauseating peek at just how far some on the Volusia County Council will go when At-Large Councilman Jake Johansson attempted to tee-up the issue and kick it soundly down the dusty political trail by moving to postpone discussion of the issue until March 2025 and requiring the measure be taken up by the Charter Review Commission next year.

In effect, Mr. Johansson put time and distance (and what his cronies hope will be the defeat of Chairman Jeff Brower) between starting the lengthy process many disenfranchised residents are praying will result in the charter amendment being placed on the ballot in 2026.

Another example of the Volusia County Council’s pernicious practice of off-the-agenda “public policy by ambush.”  

Per usual, when Chairman Brower pushed back, describing the rural boundary amendment as an effective way of preventing what he described as “hostile annexations,” announcing that he was setting a discussion of the matter on the October Volusia County Council agenda – he was badgered by the likes of Councilman David “No Show” Santiago, accused of making “inaccurate statements,” and “rewriting the dictionary” – in one of Santiago’s hyper-theatrical displays of legislative time-wasting.

The ensuing wriggling and squirming turned downright ugly when Chairman Brower sought clarification from County Attorney Michael Dyer regarding his rights as Chair under the County Charter to place items on the council agenda.

In perhaps the worst display of civic insubordination I’ve ever witnessed, Dyer chirped that while the Chair can place items on the agenda – the majority can merely override it and control the timing of the item through obstructionism and procrastination – a politically risky ploy, especially when We, The Little People who pay for all this sabotage and stalling turn up to speak on the item.

It went deeper…

When Mr. Dyer raised his voice and openly quibbled whether the October agenda has yet been “published” – then accused Brower of putting “staff” between himself and the majority of the council – in my view, he crossed a very bright line between legal advice and political strategy – presented by an argumentative asshole clearly trying to publicly knee-cap Brower while preening for his protectors…

Ultimately, Councilman Johansson’s motion was approved on a 4-3 vote – with Councilmen Troy Kent and Don Dempsey siding with Brower – and the completely confused Councilman Matt Reinhart initially voting with the majority (as he undoubtedly intended), then somehow claimed he “misunderstood” what he was voting for? 

Really?

I don’t make this shit up, folks… 

Before we move on, let’s talk about Councilman Danny Robins’ – that ventriloquist dummy with the disingenuous ability to speak out of both sides of his mouth – on the growing issue of development-induced flooding, downplayed by his constant self-congratulatory gaslighting.

Unbelievably, on Tuesday, Robins directed failed senior staff to look sopping wet residents throughout Volusia County in the eye and tell them all the wonderful things they are doing to mitigate flooding while the water continues to rise – and the bulldozers continue to roar…

Sick.   

When Robins advised he attended a meeting in Edgewater where inundated residents (who are literally mad as wet hens) were passionate about flooding threatening their homes and accused Volusia County of not doing enough to help struggling property owners (because they haven’t) – he proceeded to parade his clique of senior department heads to the podium in what we are to believe was an unrehearsed defense of the bureaucracy’s ineptitude.   

Bullshit.

To show the behind-the-scenes nature of these well-choreographed productions that pass for “public meetings,” Councilman “No Show” Santiago pivoted the narrative, somehow assuming that Robins was speaking of Chairman Brower as being the one who disparaged county flood control efforts at the Edgewater meeting (he was) insinuating that Brower made “false statements” to the public – something Robins readily agreed with.  

It was clumsy, weird, and incredibly telling…

In my view, this coordinated campaigning from the dais – coupled with the near-constant marginalization of Chairman Brower in an internal and external attempt to gain a rubber stamp majority on the council to do the unfettered bidding of their “friends” and political benefactors – is inexcusable. 

It’s probably criminal in the context of Florida’s public meeting law… 

Trust me.  These shameless shills do not represent your interests. 

In fact, Danny Robins and “No Show” Santiagos view you as little more than an inconvenient impediment to the wants and whims of those influential insiders who own the paper on their political souls.

This is why we have elections. 

Vote like your lives and livelihoods depend upon it…

First Step Shelter Board

The concept of fiduciary responsibility is a legal duty that ensures elected and appointed members of boards, councils, and commissions hold themselves to the ethical obligations that come with the oversight and direction of public and private organizations.

A solemn bond of trust between decisionmakers and stakeholders.

Does any of this sound remotely familiar to the conduct of the tumultuous First Step Shelter and its disheveled, disorganized, and wholly unaccountable “leadership” and governance? 

As things deteriorate – with public confidence in the enigmatic publicly funded program at an all-time low – rather than commission a comprehensive investigation into credible allegations of malfeasance and misconduct brought by three former senior staff members against executive director Victoria Fahlberg, the First Step Board intentionally fumbled and completely ignored their fiduciary responsibly to Volusia County taxpayers. 

Look, bad things happen in the best organizations.  It is how leadership responds to controversy and scandal that speaks to their values and internal character.

To that end, at First Step, some board members went so far as to openly besmirch the honor and reputation of the whistleblowers – painting the allegations as a “scam” – and voting to end their incomplete investigation in what many see as a blatant cover-up that marks the beginning of the end for a program that was never fully explained or understood by those asked to pay the bills.

To their credit, last week, we learned that Volusia County is taking a cautionary pause before considering throwing another $2 million of our tax dollars to First Step over the next five-years – a program wracked by controversy and unresolved questions of financial improprieties, personnel issues, and safety concerns.

Now caught between a rock and hard place, the Daytona Beach City Commission and Mayor Derrick Henry – who also serves as president of the First Step board – recently voted to renew the “shelter’s” lease and continue funding the troubled program with $400,000 in public funds annually. 

What else where they going to do?

My hope is that this signals a pending change in leadership at First Step. 

During pointed comments at a recent board meeting, Mayor Henry remarked “There are things at the shelter that rise to a deep level of concern,” Henry said. “The situation we’re in is because of leadership.”

He’s right. 

However, in my view, the “leadership” issues plaguing First Step go far deeper than Victoria Fahlberg.  Recently, there were murmurs that the board wanted to take the program private as a way of exempting their meetings and governance from the public eye.

Why is that? 

What’s the big secret that no one is talking about at First Step?

Trust me.  Nothing would make Daytona Beach and Volusia County taxpayers happier than to get First Step off the public teat – but that’s not going to happen.   Not now.

In the view of many weary taxpayers, the program needs a fresh start.  Open the windows and let the disinfecting sunlight in, then establish some basic ground rules for the management and independent oversight of First Step. 

That process begins by accepting the resignation of Director Fahlberg and the current board members, then establish a governing apparatus with volunteers more concerned about the organization’s mission than in listening to themselves spew hot air. 

According to reports, the County of Volusia can revisit First Step funding after the start of the fiscal year in November or December.   

Let’s hope our elected representatives on the County Council have the courage to demand answers to these lingering questions before allocating one more dime of our hard-earned tax dollars to this growing civic quagmire.

New Smyrna Beach City Commission

“Before casting his vote to approve, Cleveland said he was “delighted with the public participation tonight, and the passion with which I see our concerned citizens.”

“There are some that just say ‘no,’ a group that just says, ‘I want us to be like we used to be and don’t want anything to change,’” the mayor said. “To you, I’m very sorry — the clock will tick, and we will change.

“I want to protect our coastal community, the environment, I want to protect what we have today. But the genie is out of the bottle, it does not go back, and I know that. So caution, and math, logic and science when we make decisions like that is important, just as much as transparency and getting everybody’s opinion on it,” he added.”

–New Smyrna Beach Mayor Fred Cleveland, as quoted by reporter Brenno Carillo writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “NSB approves rezoning of 1,618-acre land where Deering Park is proposed,” Thursday, September 12, 2024

“I’m very sorry – The clock will tick, and we will change…”

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of the quaint beach community of New Smyrna Beach – a sad epitaph engraved in asphalt and concrete – by spineless politicians who pay arrogant lip service to passionate citizens seeking substantive participation in decisions that will drastically and forever effect their quality of life… 

I don’t know Mayor Fred Cleveland – but I know many shortsighted political hacks like him. 

Bobbleheads who know what’s best for the rest of us, and prefer the soothing tone of a polished land use attorney selling them a pig in a poke, over the impassioned pleas of their frightened constituents, then have the chutzpah to claim their decisions are based on “…caution, and math, logic and science…” 

My ass.  

Let’s call this latest insult to the worried citizens of New Smyrna Beach what it is – abject greed in a growth at all cost environment – facilitated by mealy-mouth politicians who lack the vision and will to protect what made their once quaint community unique.  

Before his reelection in the August primary, Mayor Cleveland promised existing residents on his campaign website:

“As your Mayor, I am focused on safeguarding all that makes our city wonderfully unique as well as our city’s challenges and opportunities.”

So, what happened? 

I guess a comprehensive plan amendment rezoning 1,618 acres of property once set aside as agriculture, forestry resources, and conservation (a/k/a flood control, aquifer recharge, wildlife habitat, conservation, etc.) to accommodate a developer’s desire for 2,150 houses, apartments – millions of square feet of pavement – in a mishmash “planned unit development” incorporating mixed-use/commercial/residential called the Deering Innovation Park must be one of those “opportunities” Mayor Cleveland crowed about…

Of course, land use attorney Glen Storch reassured everyone that his client isn’t looking to build anything right now. 

Of course not.  This is all just fun-n-games.  

“This is a planning exercise.  “This is not a development exercise,” Storch told The News-Journal last week.”

Sure…

While other NSB Commissioners puled and mewled over their weighty decision – always coming back to their rock-solid confidence in the developer’s mouthpiece to do the right thing and assuage the very real fears of existing residents buy claiming their every concern will be addressed in the master development agreement and planned unit development.

You know, real fears – like widespread flooding, increased density, additional traffic on already overwhelmed streets – and the rapid demise of greenspace and wildlife habitat in western reaches of their community. 

To her credit, Commissioner Lisa Martin cast the lone “No” vote on the comp plan amendment – rightfully describing the proposed development as “massive” – and voicing her opinion that city officials need “to have more citizen input.”

“This will definitely impact the city of New Smyrna Beach,” Martin said. “Shouldn’t the stakeholders have more of a say?”

Not according to Mayor Fred Cleveland. 

That greedy genie is out of the bottle, and he doesn’t give two-shits what existing residents forced to live with the lasting impacts have to say…

Quote of the Week

“The libertarian principle holds that government’s legitimate role is minimal, focusing on protecting individual rights and property. This principle extends to ensuring that any development does not infringe upon the rights of current residents to safely and securely enjoy their properties. It is neither anti-development nor anti-growth to demand that infrastructure issues be resolved before further burdens are placed on it. Indeed, it is a demand for responsible, sustainable growth that respects the rights and safety of all citizens.”

–Matt Johnson, DeLand, as excerpted from his Letter to the Editor in the West Volusia Beacon, “No to Rezoning,” Tuesday, September 17, 2024  

What he said…

And Another Thing!

Share a secret?

I can’t do long division or figure a tip in a restaurant without counting on my fingers, and those things they call the “multiplication tables” remain an abstract mathematical mystery to me.  They call it dyscalculia, an inability to comprehend basic arithmetic. 

I can tell you from experience; it can be exasperating – and embarrassing.  Afterall, a grown man who can’t calculate basic addition and subtraction… 

Perhaps in exchange for accepting this disability, I was gifted with the almost paranormal ability to detect political bullshit in all its forms. 

A finely-honed sixth sense originating in the parietal lobe of my gin-soaked brain – a supernatural sagacity, carefully cultivated after years of repeatedly touching the hot stove, sharpened by repeat victimization, an extrasensory insight that allows me to perceive political chicanery before I step in it… 

A blessing and a curse, I suppose.  

Which brings me to this week’s jumbled musings on why some local political candidates receive fawning special treatment (and astronomical campaign donations from all the right last names) while others receive a swift kick in the crotch by paternalistic insiders with a chip in the game…   

As a dilettante opinionist and concerned taxpayer, I’ve become a champion for solid local journalism. 

In fact, our civic, political, economic, and social wellbeing depend upon strong oversight, advocacy, and unvarnished facts from trusted area media sources as reported by those of, by, and for the community they cover.   

Unfortunately, what remains of The Daytona Beach News-Journal is increasingly a hodge-podge of homogenized stories from Gannett properties with precious few investigative digs – in a place desperately in need of a major excavation. 

That’s unfortunate.  Because the News-Journal has some of the best investigative journalists in the business. 

Admittedly, I’m far from objective when it comes to the absurdity of politics here on Florida’s “Fun Coast,” a dark warren inhabited by self-serving marionettes, hand-selected by extremely wealthy insiders, to protect the stagnant status quo.

Shameless tax-and-spend shills masquerading as “fiscal conservatives” who marginalize anyone who stands against the growth at all costs overdevelopment that has made the few insanely rich at the expense of our quality of life.

I could be wrong (I’m not), but earlier this week I got the discomforting impression The Daytona Beach News-Journal was playing favorites in the Volusia County Chair race…   

For at least the second time this election cycle, the News-Journal gave special treatment to a 2023 speech County Council Chair Jeff Brower gave to something called the Republican Liberty Caucus of West Volusia which contained references to God and his deep faith.

During the speech, Brower expressed his personal thoughts on the religious guidance and values of our nation’s founding fathers in the context of what he believes is today’s “…corrupt national and local government that cares nothing about the rule of law or the Constitution.”

The article, which appeared on Constitution Day, was not an op/ed – and it wasn’t the first time the speech has been publicly dissected by the newspaper. 

Curiously, the first mention was just days before the August primary when a clip of Brower’s speech appeared in the News-Journal – and was subsequently posted to social media by the Democratic Club of Southwest Volusia with the hashtag #weird…  

This week’s News-Journal piece was published under the header “politics” – entitled, “Brower responds to criticisms regarding his views on the role of religion in government” – couched in the context of the separation of church and state on the 237th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution.

According to the report, “Brower retold that story as part of his 41-minute speech to the Republican Liberty Caucus of West Volusia in June 2023. He veered off the history in describing a nation about to erupt into civil war over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, public education under “Satan’s deception,” “inaccurate” voting booths, Democrat-controlled cities as cesspools, politicians and press trying to destroy the republic, and a gay pride flag flying over the White House was giving “the finger” to God.”

That set the stage for some Tallahassee mouthpiece for what remains of the fossilized American Civil Liberties Union to accuse Brower of “indoctrinating” his constituents and “evangelizing” instead of serving the public in his elected role.   

Then, Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, the Atlantic Coast president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, put the boots to Brower, opining that “…Brower’s comments belie his oath to “support, protect and defend the Constitution” of both the United States and Florida.”

“In both those constitutions, We the People have agreed not to permit an ‘establishment of religion’ by our government. Yet, Brower clearly seems to desire to establish his brand of Christianity in Volusia County,” said Shapiro, of Palm Coast.”

Say what? 

Did I mention that Chairman Brower was speaking within the confines of the ultra-conservative Republican Liberty Caucus of West Volusia, not pontificating from the dais of power in DeLand?

Of course, the News-Journal then invited Mr. Brower’s opponent in the upcoming general election, “Car Guy” Randy Dye – the darling of the donor class – an opportunity to provide his thoughts. 

Apparently, during his speech Mr. Brower, a longtime proponent of smart growth initiatives – suggested that Dye (whose campaign has been widely funded by real estate development interests) supports increased growth for his own self-enrichment, “If our population doubles, his (Dye’s) personal wealth doubles.”

According to the report, Mr. Dye responded:

“Dye said he anticipates his business “will do well,” but he’s not planning on working for the business for the rest of his life.

“First off, I don’t want to see our population double,” Dye said. “Our quality of life in our community is what’s most important to me.”

Dye said he’s an elder at his church of 25 years, City Sanctuary in DeLand, and that he aims to give grace when he has received much of it.

“I’ve probably learned more over the years from people I started out disagreeing with more than the ones I agreed with,” Dye said. “This election is really about trying to unite a community and not trying to decide who doesn’t fit in a community. (It’s about) erasing lines that separate us and building bridges that will bring us together.”

Although Chairman Brower declined an interview request, to their credit, the News-Journal included his emailed statement:

“I am a follower of Christ. Christ offers an invitation, not an imposition. Our Constitution guarantees there will never be an imposition of a state religion, and I support that. I encourage everyone to embrace their faith on a personal level in both good times and bad.”

Believe me, Brower’s fellow self-described “Conservative Republican” colleagues – some of whom have openly endorsed his opponent – weren’t falling all over themselves to defend the Chairman’s right to express his personal religious beliefs to a partisan political club.

(Find the News-Journal’s full report here: https://tinyurl.com/3jr32her )

My third eye tells me the News-Journal’s multiple reporting on a 15-month-old speech was designed to hurt Mr. Brower by painting his religious beliefs as extreme or a violation of their view of civic secularism.

In addition, earlier this week those stodgy curmudgeons who comprise Volusia’s stagnant Old Guard over at the Volusia Republican Executive Committee (a group even veteran area Republicans call divisive and angry) voted to endorse Randy Dye over Chairman Brower – even though Brower won the primary election with 42% of the vote? 

Things that make you go Humm…

I was equally disappointed by a disturbing article in the Ormond Beach Observer this week reporting the recent vandalism of political signs displayed by Carl and Susan Persis – who are running for Volusia County School Board and Ormond Beach Mayor, respectively. 

According to the report, earlier this month, someone defaced several Persis signs by placing stickers over the candidates photographs which said, “Be Yourself, You Suck!” and “You Suck!” with at least one sign damaged with spray paint.   

That’s unacceptable.   

But what followed was essentially a 900-word campaign advertisement in the Observer detailing what dandies Susan and Carl are – complete with not-so-veiled accusations that Mr. Persis’ opponent in the School Board Race – Donna Brosemer – could somehow put a stop to the criminal mischief if she wanted to…   

“The hate that’s out there is very unsettling to me,” she said. “I don’t feel like Carl and I have ever done anything to anyone to deserve such hateful behavior, ever.”

Who would vandalize or remove their signs?

“That’s a good question, ‘Who’s going to benefit?” she said. “Well, the answer is quite obvious.”

Carl, the incumbent School Board member, is running against former lobbyist Donna Brosemer, who has the governor’s endorsement for the race. In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis identified 14 school board members he wished to remove from office in a meeting with House Speaker Paul Renner, Moms for Liberty and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz. Carl was among the 14.”

Adding to the “Hate Crime of the Century” sensationalism was an inset announcing Mr. Persis is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible with directions to contact the Ormond Beach Police Department…

Whatever.

Strikingly lacking from the Observer’s Persis campaign promotion was an opportunity for Ms. Brosmer to defend herself from the pretentious power couple’s baseless allegations…

In my view, that was also unacceptable.

On Tuesday, five-days after the original Persis sign article appeared, Ms. Brosmer was quoted by the Observer in a follow-up article, rightfully calling the tempest in a teapot what it was. 

“Brosemer told the Observer that Carl Persis has made “a mountain out of a molehill” as he still has plenty of signs around the district, especially in Ormond Beach. Despite having her own signs damaged, Brosemer said, she feels it’s a trivial issue compared to what needs to be discussed in the school district.”

In addition, Ms. Brosemer described similar issues with vandalism and the theft of her campaign signs but doesn’t plan to file a police report. 

According to the report, “The Persis name is very well known,” Brosemer said. “And he, Carl in particular, has quite a following, a very dedicated following. Sometimes passions get carried away. If any of that has happened on my side, I’m not aware of it.”

Look, I may lack basic math skills – but I can spot the exact second the exalted “Movers & Shakers” of Volusia’s oligarchy get nervous as election day approaches. 

And I know why…    

You do too. Vote your conscience.    

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

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…

First Step Shelter Board

Once again, the “Fun Coast” resonated this week with the exasperated groans of Volusia County taxpayers expressing their utter disgust with the wholly compromised First Step Shelter Board.

On Monday, board members pulled the old distracted-referee trope – flagrantly ignoring offers of cooperation by a whistleblower and clear indicators of a toxic internal environment, before shutting down its woefully incomplete “investigation,” seemingly intent on sweeping serious allegations at the publicly funded “shelter” under the rug. 

In another alarming exposé by investigative journalist Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week, we learned:

“First Step Shelter Board members voted unanimously Monday night to end their probe into whistleblower complaints brought by former shelter employee Patrick Smith.

The two-month investigation looked into allegations that ranged from financial mismanagement to residents being endangered. Shelter Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg, who has said very little publicly about the investigation to date, read a statement during Monday night’s meeting.

“While some people want to focus on their personal agendas, we would like to get back to focusing on our clients and our mission,” she said in the statement. “I’m glad we are moving on from this very sad and despicable waste of time and money that diverted us from our mission of transforming the lives of Volusia County’s most vulnerable.”

Seriously? 

Their official response is, “Move along, folks.  Nothing to see here.  We’ve done a half-assed “investigation” – now, slop the trough with $800,000 more of your hard-earned tax dollars and keep your nose out of our important “mission“?

I’ll just bet Director Fahlberg is glad her bosses are “moving on.” 

Because most fiduciarily responsible members of boards, councils, and commissions charged with financial and administrative oversight in the public and private sectors would never countenance this cheap charade – especially when our tax dollars are at stake.  

As Fahlberg rushes to put this “waste of time” behind her – those of us who pay the bills are increasingly cynical of the mysterious inner-workings of the enigmatic First Step program – a chronic source of civic controversy that has given the City of Daytona Beach a perpetual blackeye – due, in part, to the complete lack of transparency, abject arrogance of certain board members, and the program’s historic inability to effectively impact the very visible “homeless problem” in many areas of Volusia County.

To his credit, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, who serves as the First Step board’s president, said publicly what anxious taxpayers have been thinking all along:

“There are things at the shelter that rise to a deep level of concern,” Henry said. “The situation we’re in is because of leadership.”

Of course, the Mayor’s painfully obvious observation didn’t seem to hold water with the rest of the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” board members who prefer to deal with allegations and improprieties by ignoring them…

According to the News-Journal, “Board member Joan Campanaro also expressed concerns, but most of the nine First Step board members said they wanted to move on and stop spending shelter dollars on the probe.

“I think we’re making a big deal over nothing,” said board member Rose Ann Tornatore.

Board member Mike Panaggio charged that Smith’s accusations were baseless, and arose from an employee in trouble for poor performance retaliating against his boss.

“I think we’ve been scammed,” Panaggio said.”

You read that right.  I’m sure the whistleblower’s attorney did too…   

According to previous reports detailing the First Step debacle, the three employees who brought serious allegations of maleficence, fraudulent activities, discriminatory bias, ongoing harassment, retaliation, breaches of confidentiality, unethical behavior, and fostering a toxic work environment to light include Mr. Smith, the shelter’s former director of philanthropy and engagement, Kim Kelly, a former shelter nurse, and Pamela Alexander, the shelter’s former housing coordinator.

In her disturbing report, Zaffiro-Kean confirmed:

“Shortly after the whistleblower complaint was filed in June, Smith and Alexander were fired, and Kelly resigned on July 18.

Kelly gave a sworn statement to Scott Simpson, the Ormond Beach attorney who was paid $5,000 to investigate the complaints. Simpson said he spoke with Fahlberg and the shelter’s accountant, but not Smith or Alexander.

Simpson offered to conduct more interviews for another $3,000, but at their Aug. 12 meeting board members declined, with three of them saying they didn’t want to spend any more money on the probe.”

Board members said part of the reason they stopped looking into Smith’s allegations was because he didn’t talk to Simpson. But Smith’s attorney, Kelly Chanfrau, said both she and Smith told Simpson that Smith wanted to talk to him.”

Ah, the old “You can’t cooperate in the investigation of your complaint, because we’ve already shut down the investigation into your complaint” dodge, eh?     

I don’t make this shit up, folks…

Adding to the wildfire of suspicion and conjecture is the concerted bureaucratic effort to keep Scott Simpson’s investigative report – something our tax dollars paid for – a secret. 

According to reports, Daytona Beach City Attorney Ben Gross is working overtime to keep the Simpson report far away from the prying eyes of citizens and decisionmakers by using a weird slight-of-hand that opines, “…because the complaints brought by Kelly and Alexander were not formally closed out, the report will remain in the hands of only Fahlberg and the board members.”

How convenient. 

Now, inquiring minds want to know what Attorney Gross and the First Step Board are so desperately trying to hide?

According to the News-Journal:

“Gross summarized portions of the report at Monday’s meeting, saying Simpson focused mainly on allegations of financial impropriety. Gross said Simpson found “a glitch” in the way a $50 donation had been recorded, and there was a concern with a $1,700 grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families, but the DCF money was accounted for.

Gross said many of the things in the complaint were “dramatic,” but most did not apply to a whistleblower complaint under the law.  (Say’s who?)

Board member Don Burnette said it was hard to take some of the allegations seriously when the main complainant didn’t talk to the investigator.

“A prosecuting attorney with no witness doesn’t have a case,” Burnette said.”

Now we know that the “main complainant” – Mr. Smith – notified Investigator Simpson through his attorney that he wanted to assist in the inquiry and his offer was ignored.    

Instead, based on their incomplete “investigation,” the board saw fit to shut things down, besmirch Smith’s personal and professional reputation, categorize his complaints as a “scam,” and ensure that other potential whistleblowers are aware of the life-altering fate that awaits any First Step employee who dares come forward with allegations of fraud or maladministration.  

There are many reasons Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette’s political career has fizzled, and his piss-poor judgement, lack of leadership, and lemming-like commitment to groupthink are a few of them…

If history repeats (and it always does around here), what will come next is the nonsensical nattering of Board Member Mike Panaggio as we await another of his weird late-night screeds on social media. 

Another self-aggrandizing harangue bashing the complainants’ motivations, crowing about First Step’s “accomplishments,” while attempting to deflect our attention from the serious accusations that continue to plague the tax supported program.  

We’re wise to that ploy, Pinocchio… 

My hope is that someone (like Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the First Amendment Foundation, The Brennan Center for Justice, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Gannett, et.al.) will demand the lawful and immediate release of the Simpson report – then seek proper accountability under the law for anyone found complicit in shielding this publicly funded report from taxpayers and decisionmakers who are now being asked to allocate even more of our hard-earned dollars to this troubled program.  

Kudos to News-Journal reporter Eileen Zaffiro-Kean for her journalistic diligence in seeking answers and peeling the myriad layers of this rotten onion.  If you pay taxes in Volusia County, you owe it to yourself to read this informative article here: https://tinyurl.com/4yzxe6dt

Port Orange Councilman-Elect Lance Green

Unfortunately, abhorrent, even criminal, personal conduct by politicians and those holding high public office is nothing new, or particularly shocking, to a weary constituency inured to the lies, proclivities, and abject arrogance of those we elect and appoint to “represent” our interests. 

In times past, the antidote for self-inflicted personal and political humiliation was to quietly apologize then step aside.  Because admitting a mistake, then having the moral courage to accept responsibility and do what is necessary to preserve the dignity of the office, is important to restoring the public’s trust in our system of governance. 

Not anymore.

Last week, Port Orange Councilman-Elect Lance Green and his wife, Susan, entered the Barker’s View Hall of Shame following a traffic accident near Williamson Boulevard and Taylor Road when Green’s truck allegedly collided with the rear of another vehicle.

In a disturbing turn, a recent report by Frank Fernandez writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal confirmed the age-old adage that the coverup is always worse than the crime:

“A traffic camera video released after his arrest for DUI appears to show newly elected Port Orange Councilman Lance Green getting out of the driver’s seat of his pickup after it rear-ended another pickup, then walking around and getting in the passenger seat.

Green, who was with his wife, then claimed to police that she was driving.

The crash led to Green’s arrest 10 days after he won a seat on the Port Orange City Council, on which he would begin serving in December.”

Then, things went from bad to worse… 

According to reports, while being questioned at the scene, Mrs. Green was captured on an officer’s body worn camera uttering the six words guaranteed to expose any tiny town pseudo-celebrity politician/spouse as the arrogant and egomaniacal assholes they are:

“Do you know who we are?”

Yeah.  I know.

That haughty rhetorical question tells us everything we need to know about what Mr. and Mrs. Green are.       

Things deteriorated from there…   

Following his arrest, Councilman-Elect Green was transported to the Port Orange Police Department where he asked arresting officers to contact the Chief of Police (why?) before being admonished by a supervisor for disrespecting officers after Green allegedly used what the News-Journal described as “The “B” word” – whatever the hell that is – something the police supervisor rightly described as “completely out of line.” 

Of course, Green denied everything… 

To compound the problem, following her husband’s arrest Susan Green is reported to have contacted the police department to reiterate that she was driving at the time of the accident.

“While Green was in the cell, his wife called the police department and said she was not sure why her husband had been arrested and again said he had not been driving.”

Which, in my jaded view, proves there is a difference between the congenitally dumb and the criminally stupid.  In Florida, it is a criminal offense to knowingly give false information to a law enforcement officer.  In fact, it is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

Inexplicably, Susan Green made matters worse by describing her husband’s arrest as a “vendetta” – claiming the victim of the accident had a reason to lie about Lance Green driving, “Because he would like to see my husband out of office and sue us.”

Say what?

I guarantee you that 99.999% of Port Orange residents couldn’t pick Lance or Susan Green out of a line-up (unless, of course, they crashed into the ass-end of their vehicle at a major intersection, then played musical chairs…) 

Don’t take my word for it. 

Perform your own non-scientific study:  Simply ask the next person you meet to name their mayor, members of the City Commission, or the County Council… 

You’ll be surprised at the number of catatonic stares you receive.

Look, I get it.  People make mistakes. 

Including powerful politicians who hold themselves out for high office and ask to make decisions that affect our lives and livelihoods; ostensibly good citizens with a willingness to serve their community. 

In my view, it is how they respond to those errors in judgement that exposes their true character. 

I suspect at 59-years-old Lance Green knows that – especially now that he has become an embarrassment to his family, his constituents, and his community.   

More to the point, if probable cause exists that Councilman-Elect Green and his wife knowingly lied to Port Orange police during a lawful investigation as the current evidence suggests – he should put his enormous ego aside and immediately resign his important office – rather than put his constituents through the time-consuming and intentionally confusing process of recalling him.    

Then, both should be publicly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – held out as an example to others who would seek the public trust then shit on it for personal and political convenience.

County of Volusia & FDOT

Did you ever know someone who was overly confident in everything they do, boasts ad nauseum about their perceived “accomplishments,” acts haughtily superior to others, always controlling and manipulative in their dealings, lies blatantly to themselves and others, overly confident despite results, dismissive of suggestions or criticism, with no real relationships, a complete lack of empathy, and an unrealistic sense of their own self-importance? 

Yeah.  Me neither…   

Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that those same narcissistic traits can be found in certain government organizations; especially those who have cloistered themselves, turned insular, and forgotten who and why they serve. 

Sound familiar?

When it comes to bureaucratic blunders (and I’ve made some whoppers during my days in local government), in my experience, most people can forgive what they see themselves doing. 

In most cases, the admission “I made a mistake,” coupled with an explanation, a sincere apology, and a genuine effort to correct an oversight or error in judgement, will go a long way toward building trusting relationships, resolving conflict, and gaining valuable experience. 

They call that a ‘learning opportunity’ – an organizational or personal commitment to self-accountability – the concept of taking ownership of actions and outcomes.

That’s why the ongoing travesty that is the horribly neglected East International Speedway Boulevard – that perennially dilapidated ‘gateway’ to the “World’s Most Famous Beach” and the busiest beach access point in Volusia County – is so damnably frustrating to anyone who lives here, operates a business, relies on our area’s hospitality industry, or promotes the Daytona Beach Resort Area as a vacation destination.   

Think about it:  If you had the omnipotent power to wave a bureaucratic wand and completely shut down a major roadway on the beachside – one that allows access to several family-owned small businesses – would you blockade the busiest ramp in the region during the height of the summer tourism season?

What if business owners affected by the extended closure voiced concerns?  

Would you lie to them – cruelly assuaging their fears with fabrications and falsehoods? 

Would you tell frightened businesses that you were leaving a traffic lane open to allow customer access – then callously pull the rug out from under them – knowing full well that was never an option in the first place?      

Do you see yourself doing something that hurtful just to protect your own ass?

Me Neither…

This week, Sam Tadros, the beleaguered owner of a small business near the East ISB beach ramp was quoted in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, lamenting how the project has caused him to temporarily shut his doors – and put plans for another desperately needed beachside business on hold:

“It’s just been horrible,” Tadros said on Friday morning, as a construction crew toiled away.

Tadros said that before he signed his lease, Volusia County Coastal Division Director Jessica Fentress told him that half of the road would remain open during the project, but Public Works Director Ben Bartlett said that wasn’t the county’s intent due to safety considerations.

“Unfortunately this project needs to be done and it’s going to cause a disruption, and we’re working hard to minimize this disruption,” Bartlett said.”

Let’s face it, it is increasingly apparent that the interminable roadwork on East International Speedway Boulevard is being completed by two hobbyists having fun in their spare time… 

For most of the summer, the worksite has had been an uninviting eyesore with no end in sight. 

Now, we are being told that Volusia County officials “coordinated” (I seriously doubt they know the definition of the word) with the Florida Department of Transportation to conduct “improvements” to the ramp simultaneous to the East ISB project. 

I guess if one logistical nightmare of a high-impact road project disrupting a major thoroughfare is good, two must be better, right?

Right…

Unfortunately, it appears this Confederacy of Dunces couldn’t be bothered to “coordinate” with area businessowners who have been isolated, blocked off, and left to suffer the catastrophic consequences of another ill-thought and poorly executed fiasco that absolutely no one in government will ever accept responsibility for.

So much for that whole “admitting a mistake and making things right again” horseshit I prattled on about, eh?

In a recent interview with Fox 35 Orlando, Zoltan Kerekes, who owns a small gift shop effected by the closure said:

“This has caused a significant drop in foot traffic and visibility, resulting in an 80% to 100% decline in our business,” Kerekes said.

Despite the construction slamming their businesses, Kerekes said they still had obligations to their landlords and others.

Volusia County staff released this statement about the construction:

“Renovation of the ISB Ramp is a much-needed upgrade that will benefit the entire community, and we’re expediting construction as much as possible. As with any project, our goal is to ensure minimal disruption to businesses and residents while delivering a high-quality result in the most efficient timeline. To further reduce construction time, we coordinated with the adjacent FDOT road improvement project, and we’re pleased to report that our project remains on schedule.”

Bullshit.

Do you see your small business keeping its doors open with an 80-100% decline in business?

Me neither…

Trust me.  For their expert use of the “dueling bureaucrats” ploy, a malicious scam which created the perfect bait-and-switch/he said-she said to distract these hamstrung businessowners, you can bet the enormous salaries, benefits, and pay raises of Director Fentress and Director Bartlette will continue like clockwork…

What say you, Volusia County Council members? 

Do you see anyone in the Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand being held accountable for the East ISB beach ramp debacle?

Me neither… 

As evidence of that, last week, Tadros and Kerekes approached their elected representatives on the Volusia County Council rightfully seeking assistance to help keep their businesses afloat during the blockade. 

After all, Volusia County and our various “economic development” shills routinely provide multi-million-dollar tax breaks, infrastructure improvements, cash handouts, backroom no-bid deals, land development code waivers, minimum revenue guarantees, expansive publicly funded marketing budgets, etc., etc. – all generously gifted to massive corporations on a mere promise of relocating to Daytona Beach.   

Then why not help a couple of struggling mom-and-pops who are tanking due to no fault of their own?

Set’s a bad precedence, huh? 

So does corporate welfare….     

According to Fox 35, “I am asking if there’s any kind of funding the county can provide at least to help cover our utilities and rent, just to get us through this,” Tadros said.

The business owners didn’t get a response from county officials at the meeting. County staff said the project was still set to wrap up in February.”

Yeah.  County staff says a lot of things… 

Do you believe them? 

Me neither… 

Quote of the Week

“The approved Volusia County School District budget is $1.4 billion, although that may be revised down because there are fewer enrolled students than were originally projected. Either way, that’s a lot of money.

I got curious recently and decided to look at where we were 10 years ago, especially given all the very loud chest-pounding over population growth. To my surprise, while our general population may be growing, our student population is not. We can’t say the same for the school district budget.

In 2014, we had approximately 61,000 students. Our budget was $777 million.

In 2024, we have approximately 61,000 students. Our budget is $1.4 billion.

My math says that’s a budget increase of approximately 80% in 10 years, with no increase in students.”

–Donna Brosemer, candidate for Volusia County School Board District 4, writing in the Ormond Beach Observer’s “My View” column, “Volusia County Schools’ budget doesn’t add up,” Monday, September 9, 2024 (Find it here: https://tinyurl.com/2xekraht )

It’s no secret. 

If you live or struggle to do business in Volusia County, Florida – and aren’t one of a handful of influential insiders with a chip in the game – you are paying exorbitant taxes and fees for diminishing or non-existent services and virtually no access, without any logical explanation from those self-described “fiscal conservatives” on the dais of power.

Those bald-faced liars who looked us in the eye and promised to protect our interests (and hard-earned money) when they groveled for our sacred vote and now refuse to even acknowledge our physical presence when we genuflect at the podium…

I’m certainly not a learned economist, but in my jaded view, Ms. Brosmer’s disturbing calculations prove Wilde’s assertion, “The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.”

What I found most disturbing was the District’s hyper-defensive reaction to Candidate Brosmer’s request for basic data regarding recently added district positions and the number of employees who have no student contact – reports and personnel analysis that should be readily available to administrators at the touch of a button: 

“Months ago, as new district positions were added at nearly every board meeting, I sent a public records request to the district, asking how many district employees, with no student contact, were employed five years ago, and how many were employed this year. I received an email, saying that my request required five hours of a supervisor’s time at $50/hour, and my bill would be in excess of $250. At $50/hour for that supervisor, my clerical request was being assigned to a $100,000/year unnamed employee.

Of course, the best way to discourage such requests, and make sure the public can’t get answers to simple questions, is to charge more than they will pay. It worked, so I still don’t know.

And the board doesn’t ask.”

Frightening.  And infinitely telling…  

In my view, the open fleecing of strapped Volusia County taxpayers is even worse across town at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Building.

In that bottomless money pit, our do-nothing elected officials have adopted the “fox in the henhouse” theory of revenue allocations, where elected officials charged with acting in the public interest simply accept the suggestions (and contrived “fiscal emergencies”) of entrenched bureaucrats intent on protecting, benefitting, and expanding their own interests…

I hope you will take a minute to read Ms. Brosmer’s examination of Volusia District School’s rapidly expanding budget, now exceeding $1.4 billion, with a current enrollment of 61,000 (in a county with an estimated population of 601,049).

A horribly lopsided system where Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and her extensive (and expensive) coterie of senior administrators are allowed by our wholly ineffective School Board to repeatedly blunder from one official embarrassment to the next without question, oversight, or restraint.    

In my view, we live in a time when “consent of the governed” has been replaced with a mercenary shim-sham in which compromised elected “representatives” stifle public input, disband citizen advisory boards, protect the for-profit interests of influential insiders, and insulate the status quo by any means necessary – totally convinced their malleable senior staff will cover their asses with bureaucratic bullshit carefully packaged in a PowerPoint, while “We, The Little People” are expected to keep quiet and pay for it all.   

Vote like your quality of life depends upon it.  Because it does.

And Another Thing!

“Fellow genuine candidates who invest in their communities by dedicating time to citizen advisory boards, charter review committees, and local nonprofits now risk their reputations being damaged by Flemm’s stunt.

For tomorrow’s young leaders, we cannot allow this circus act to dissuade anyone from becoming involved in the community, or voters from trusting that the younger generations have good intentions. We need the next generation of civic leaders to start learning community involvement and civil political skills and processes today — and it takes time!

As an elected official, I leave you with this charge: Check out your local government’s openings on advisory boards; some cities have many! Join organizations like Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, or young professionals’ groups. Attend council meetings and candidate hob nobs. Run local 5Ks, socialize widely at these events, and talk to candidates.

Participation at this level along with voting goes a long way, and it helps officeholders develop their strategies and goals. Most of all, it restores faith between generations. We need to run campaigns on sincere platforms that can reassure the older generations that they can pass the torch because we are ready to lead.”

–DeBary City Council Member Jim Pappalardo, as excerpted from The West Volusia Beacon, Letters to the Editor, “Flemm strategy undermines tomorrow’s young civic leaders,” Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Let’s face it, dirty politics, shit-slinging character assassination, vicious mailers, ugly accusations, and intentionally skewing the playing field with coordinated donations to hand-select candidates are now sine qua non even for local political campaigns.

In his well-thought piece in The West Volusia Beacon, DeBary Councilman Jim Pappalardo opines that the mysterious John Flemm’s dubious tactics during the Volusia County Clerk of the Court primary resulted in “generational-reputation tarnishing” – personal or political conduct that paints other aspiring twentysomething candidates with a broad brush – making it infinitely more difficult for young politicians to gain the trust of voters, colleagues, and constituents.

That’s true.

As a prime example of Mr. Pappalardo’s concerns, look no further than the abysmal behavior caught on camera and broadcast to the masses on social media this week allegedly showing Edgewater Mayor Diezel “I Need Alcohol!” Depew, 20, acting, well, like all the reasons our Federal Government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act… 

Cringeworthy, indeed.

I know, let he who is without sin cast the first stone – and I readily admit to underage drinking in my day (the drinking age was 18 when I was committing those embarrassing youthful indiscretions, well-before the immediate, worldwide, and lasting theater of social media). 

Now, as an elderly drunk, I remain the poster boy for the copious consumption of adult beverages, someone who has embraced the cocktail culture as a devout way of life.  But, like my father before me, (and because my hypocrisy knows no bounds) I have little tolerance for sloppy drunks of any age who can’t hold their liquor and act out irresponsibly… 

Poor form.     

That said, in my view, Mr. Depew, who was elected in 2022 at just 18-years-old (making him the youngest Mayor to ever hold office in Florida), as the ceremonial head of the City of Edgewater, has a sacred obligation to his 23,000 constituents to conduct himself with integrity, maturity, and self-restraint.    

Them’s the rules, young man… 

Having served the bulk of my life in municipal government, I was taught that conducting oneself in a manner that does not bring discredit upon your office and community, being honest in thought and deed, exercising discretion, maintaining personal integrity, and obeying the law are the moral imperatives of public service.

And they are nonnegotiable. 

In my view, Mayor Depew is old enough to know better and he should step aside.

Now is the time for Mr. Depew to do the right thing and resign his prominent position, leave quietly (preferably hand-in-hand with disgraced Port Orange Councilman-Elect Lance Green), get this childish self-indulgence out of his system, and come back to the arena when he can demonstrate the personal maturity to serve. 

There.  Another “Boomer” heard from…         

That said, I find it heartening to hear a young civic leader like Mr. Pappalardo defending unfashionable concepts like returning honor, dignity, and egalitarian ethics to the political landscape.

Although hobnobbing, socializing with the “Chamber” set, and ingratiating oneself with those stodgy partisan political camps are important strategies for first-time office seekers; in my view, keeping ones public and private life unsullied, speaking the truth, honoring the office, maintaining transparency, serving with dignity, and gaining the respect of others through personal and professional example are essential to earning and keeping the public trust.

Those attributes are not dependent on age, position, or experience. It is a factor of one’s individual values – a person’s core moral character. 

Those qualities that define who they are and how they conduct themselves when no one is looking – personal attributes that steel their ability to make ethical choices in a political pressure cooker – important traits that seem to be increasingly lost to the pernicious process of political evolution… 

I’m not talking about honest mistakes and personal failures.  Human faults and foibles will always be an integral part of the political process. 

However, in my view, We, The Little People should no longer accept these shameless assholes who intentionally violate our trust – those at all levels of government who erode public confidence – the arrogant “Do you know who I am?” set who see themselves as superior beings as they succumb to the trappings and honorifics of elective office. 

The fact is, there are good men and women – elected officials, senior administrators, and career civil servants – working inside local governments, and others considering elective service.  

Including a new generation with a fire in the belly – aspiring servant-leaders without lockstep loyalties who are willing to seek and consider public input on prominent issues – and view public service as a sacred privilege rather than an egotistic power trip.   

Age and experience come to all of us, but not all grow wiser.  It is character that counts. 

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

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…

“S.R. A-1-A Resiliency Strike Team”

Before we start this hayride, please know I didn’t conjure up that name.   

I couldn’t pull something like that out of my backside if I tried… 

Last week, the Ormond Beach Observer reported that construction on the second of two “buried seawalls” is set to begin disrupting traffic, destroying the natural dune line, and displacing beach walkovers along A-1-A in Ormond-by-the-Sea this week.   

The cost: $82.5 million… 

According to the report, the sections will span some 2.6 miles of oceanfront, apparently to provide “long-term protection against future storms and erosion.”  

(Sorry, I’m always overcome with incredulous chortles and snorts when some state agency says that…) 

The project is the brainchild of something called the “S.R. A-1-A Resiliency Strike Team” (I’ll just bet you and I paid for polo shirts with that embroidered on the tit…) an imperious sounding “interagency effort” involving those Mensa members at Flagler County, City of Flagler Beach, Volusia County, FDOT, the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers… 

Look, I’m not an expert – just a rheumy-eyed observer who has lived around these parts for over six-decades now. 

In that time, I’ve seen what works – and what doesn’t – and I found it interesting that “…the next steps in construction will be clearing vegetation from the dune and adding sand to create a wide platform,” apparently to accommodate the drilling rig that will drive pilings in the ground.

Wait.

What about the $109,543 sand fence installation that brought 1.75 miles of slatted wood barrier to collect sand along the same dunes in 2020 (something that appeared to be working)?

Or the $500,000 dune stabilization project the Florida Department of Transportation completed on the exact same section of beach just two-years ago?

Remember?  I do.

At the time, we were lectured by state “experts” that we shouldn’t even think about parking east of A-1-A (even as more permits were issued for oceanfront condo/hotels a few miles south?), while FDOT replanted a half-million-dollars in native vegetation on the natural dune line from Ormond-by-the-Sea to Beverly Beach in an effort to “support the existing dune ecosystem,” anchor sand in place, and reduce erosion.    

Now another state agency is telling us they’ve got to kill the natural barriers and vegetation that organically control beach erosion in order to save them.  Really?

Seriously.  I don’t make this shit up, folks.     

In the meantime, motorists along the two-lane stretch should expect “rolling daytime lane closures” while crews install what will ultimately become an extremely expensive 2.6-mile artificial reef system when Mother Nature decides to rightfully reclaim her dunes…

Friends of Tomoka State Park & Dream Green Volusia

Speaking of disastrous ideas, poorly executed… 

For those paying attention, there are certain expenditures that epitomize government’s bureaucratic inability to prioritize, adapt, and change course.   

Recently, the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction announced plans to pave 1.5 miles of roads inside Tomoka State Park at a cost of $1.5 million.  I can assure you this decision required meticulous planning and analysis by multiple strata of state agencies and officials.   

In fact, this project represents weeks/months/years of meetings, high-level confabs, developing working strategies, engaging engineering consultants, conducting topographical surveys, producing reams of reports, graphics, and schematics; pouring over design plans, issuing bid solicitations, hours/days/weeks of staff time, more meetings, briefings, press releases, status updates, etc., etc.

Unfortunately, the one thing missing from the state’s decision-making process – a method firmly based on the concept of plan continuation bias – which means blundering along the same ill-fated course regardless of changing conditions, experience, or public outcry – was the fact no one in state government thought it important to ask those who visit, maintain, and serve Tomoka State Park if paving interior roads represents the best use of limited maintenance funds at this time.   

In an excellent article by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer last week, we learned that the paving project is part of a “Unit Management Plan for Tomoka State Park” – based on an FDEP led “public workshop” and “advisory group” meeting held to develop the strategy which was later summarized in perfect bureaucratese. 

The management plan, “…identifies the goals, objectives, actions and criteria or standards that guide each aspect of park administration, and sets forth the specific measures that will be implemented to meet management objectives and provide balanced public utilization.”

How did you miss the opportunity to provide input and voice concerns at the public workshop?

It happened in 2012… 

According to the Observer, “The Tomoka Basin State Park Unit Management Plan was due to be updated in 2022. This was not completed.”

So, twelve-years later, in February 2024, completed design plans were finally submitted, and the project went out for bid in April.

“This took place mostly unbeknownst to the park’s many volunteers and engaged community members, including the Friends of Tomoka Basin State Parks, the citizen support organization specifically formed to advocate for the local state parks. Most found out about it last week.”

In the same disturbing article, we learned “That’s one of the most frustrating aspects of the project,” said Suzanne Scheiber, founder of environmental advocacy organization Dream Green Volusia.

“I don’t think anyone would know if some of the park rangers [hadn’t] talked about it amongst themselves and to a handful of people,” Scheiber said. “It’s frustrating that the members of the Friends of Tomoka didn’t find out before now. I think that the lack of transparency to date has just been troubling.”

With $1.5 million allocated for road paving that no one seems to want – a project with the potential to disturb an important archeological site on the National Register of Historic Places, while ruining the unspoiled dirt road natural experience one seeks when visiting a state park – volunteers have been doing their level best to meet ongoing needs and expenses, including repairing pavilions, benches, and picnic tables; even replacing the transmission on the park ranger’s truck. 

Unpaid (and largely unappreciated) helpers and environmentalists augmenting what should be normal repair and replacement expenses the Florida Department of Environmental Protection should be budgeting for annually. 

According to the Observer’s report, “The recreational hall’s air conditioning unit has been broken since the spring, though that will be repaired in the coming days. The Friends stopped meeting in the hall because the temperatures were so hot. The hall also needs a new roof, and 19 septic systems for the park’s bathrooms are in need of maintenance.”

Regular readers of these jeremiads know that I use this space to poke fun at the absurdity of government and those who practice it. 

My fervent hope is that those in the arena will catch a glimpse of how those of us who stand outside the closed portcullis, peering through the translucent pane that separate the decision makers from those who pay for it all, view this bureaucratic intransigence, then recognize the need to change course and embrace timely public input when necessary. 

Instead, even when times or circumstances change, and the costs (and potential damage) clearly outweigh the perceived benefit, its full-speed ahead – current needs and future consequences be damned – a convoluted and insular process that can only happen in government. 

In the private sector, these expensive defense mechanisms that protect ensconced senior bureaucrats from external criticism would put any commercial entity out of business in a heartbeat…  

Kudos to Friends of Tomoka State Park and Dream Green Volusia for shining a bright light on the challenges faced by this beautiful state park, and for their continuing efforts to protect our natural environment. 

Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago

In my view, District 5 Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago personifies the arrogance and insolence of the modern political puppet – and stands as a noxious example of all that is wrong with Volusia County government.

Elected marionettes like Santiago “serve” solely at their own convenience – answering only to those influential insiders who own the paper on their political souls and use them like dull tools – and they don’t give a tinker’s damn what We, The Little People have to say. 

In fact, Mr. Santiago and his ilk believe the power and might of government is all-important – convinced the administrative illuminati who wander the cloistered halls of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Building hold the collective knowledge of the age – the all-knowing, all-seeing clerisy who deftly manipulate a system where elected policymakers meld with the whims of the omniscient bureaucracy and the tail always wags the dog.

Don’t take my word for it. 

Ask Chairman Jeff Brower the tragic fate that befalls any elected official who refuses to take the solemn Vow of Conformity, pledging their strict obedience to the “system,” dedicating themselves to stagnation and mediocrity and a devotion to groupthink, promising to crush creativity, insulate senior administrators, and abjure individual responsibility.     

For instance, on Tuesday, during one of Mr. Santiago’s rare appearances in the District 5 chair, we witnessed an infuriating example of his brash snobbery during discussion of a public hearing for a proposed Planned Unit Development which would place a 90-unit duplex subdivision near DeLand.

Before the hearing, Mark Watts of the Cobb Cole law firm representing the applicant, respectfully advised the council that in recent weeks his staff has monitored social media platforms and decerned negative reactions from surrounding property owners. 

In turn, Mr. Watts requested a 90-day continuance to allow time for a neighborhood meeting which would allow him to “listen to what the concerns are” and possibly develop a compromise that would address the issues.

In a shocking display – after snootily reminding Mr. Watts who held the power to approve his request – Mr. Santiago vented his disgust over the very idea of taxpayers, citizens who struggle to find a way to provide substantive input on issues that will directly and forever effect their lives in the vacuum of Volusia County government, would be heard on every person’s soapbox that is social media:

“I have to make this public announcement, it concerns me, um, that social media is driving your narrative. I hope that this is not the case, I hope you are working with our staff. Certainly we want to address the neighboring residence concerns, I don’t want to diminish that, but social media has become such a poisoned well lately of the keyboard warriors, normally there’s a small handful of people who try to dictate the future of half a million people or more in this County.”

Let that sink in… 

To his credit, Councilman Matt Reinhart astutely countered that social media is a public outlet, explaining that he has received several emails regarding the proposed development, and made a motion to approve Mr. Watts’ request for a continuance. 

At the risk of rising above my status as a member of the great unwashed hoi polloi – a caste whose role is to pay the bills and keep our pieholes shut – I’d like to provide my thoughts on what happened next:

In another not-so-shocking development, during what passed for a public meeting, Mr. Santiago took another swipe at eliminating citizen input – this time on the emergent issue of stormwater management and areawide flooding – when he moved to effectively silence and disband the Environment and Natural Resources Advisory Board.

The board, which was recommissioned in 2022 to provide policy guidance on minimum standards for environmental protection, was earlier this year charged with advising on flooding and stormwater issues – items of grave concern to many waterlogged Volusia County residents. 

But not ‘ole “No Show.” 

This dictatorial martinet assured his vassals that he doesn’t “govern by committee” (unless, of course, he needs the political insulation…)    

Instead, “No Show” does exactly what he is told by those influential insiders with a chip in the game, especially when it comes to developing smart growth policies:

“I think the intent of the council, at least the majority of the council at that time, was to bring this board into a closure, and I think we’re there.  I’m prepared to let the terms expire until we need to reactivate them to anything specific. I say, ‘Mission accomplished.'”

I say bullshit…

Not surprisingly, the wholly compromised Councilman Danny Robins – another developer sock puppet who couldn’t care less what you have to say – agreed with Santiago.

According to a report in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“I know for me, as long as we are reducing some of these layers of bureaucracy and not having as much overlap, I think we’re heading in a better direction,” Robins said.

Just because the county has minimum standards regarding development, doesn’t mean they are “minimal,” he said, citing higher standards compared to the state and federal regulations, an argument he would later raise to Council Chair Jeff Brower during his closing comment, as the chair had said the county needed to change how it developed.

Brower, and Councilmen Matt Reinhart and Don Dempsey were against disbanding ENRAC. Councilman Troy Kent was absent from the meeting.”

Trust me.  Councilmen Robins and Santiago aren’t “reducing” that morbidly bloated bureaucracy in DeLand – rather, they are trying desperately to eliminate a citizen advisory board comprised of independent experts in the field of environmental sustainability.

Why? 

Because their puppet-masters are scared shitless of what the board will have to say on the issue of development induced flooding…    

According to the report, Councilman Don Dempsey and Chairman Brower saw the value in keeping these experts together:

“Dempsey said the board had “heavy hitters” in terms of expertise and pointed out they were all volunteers.

“We need these people to maybe offer better ideas later on and just to sit here and say, “We don’t need you, we’re smart, we’ll take care of it,’ I think is wrong,” Dempsey said.

Brower agreed and said he didn’t believe disbanding ENRAC and handing its duties to the PLDRC and county staff would make the county more efficient.

“I think the information we’re getting from these professionals is really beneficial and flooding and LID — Low-Impact Development — are two of the most important things we face for our future,” Brower said.”

It is amazing the flexibility Messrs. Santiago and Robins exhibit when they bend over backwards to smooch the sizeable asses of their political benefactors in the real estate development community – yet intractably scoff at any reasonable efforts to develop low-impact development standards that may help protect your home and mine from the devastating effects of regional flooding.  

Why is that?

As ludicrous as this sounds – the vote to disband the ENRAC stalled on a 3-3 tie – with Councilmen Jake Johannson, Danny Robins, and “No Show” Santiago opting to further limit citizen input in our county government. 

The fix is in, folks.  Never more evident than when the Volusia County Council is in session… 

The I-95/Pioneer Trail Interchange

“There are so many improprieties associated with this interchange.  So many.  So many legal improprieties, it seems like this thing has just been greased through…” 

–Attorney Lesley Blackner, as quoted by reporter Mark Harper in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Spruce Creek supporters raise roadblocks for FDOT’s Pioneer Trail interchange at I-95,” Friday, August 30, 2024

Last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction’s “Great Outdoors Initiative” went through the Sunshine State like an ice water enema. 

The mysterious “plan” (if it could be called that) would have seen golf courses, pickleball courts, disc golf, and a 350 room “lodge” constructed in state parks from South Florida to the panhandle – something Gov. Ron DeSantis later called “half baked” and “not ready for primetime” – immediately after he and his friends were caught with their hands firmly wedged in the cookie jar.   

Turns out, the Great Outdoors Initiative was a little further along than the Guv would have us believe. 

Earlier this week, the courageous FDEP whistleblower who exposed the inner-workings of this clandestine “plan” that would have traded pristine wildlife habitat for commercial development, has been summarily fired – a stark warning to others inside state government of the horrible fate that awaits those who bring public corruption and malfeasance to light.   

In my view, this still simmering debacle proved to weary Floridians just how things work here in the biggest whorehouse in the world – a place where shadowy figures and influential insiders manipulate a legal quid pro quo system to their very lucrative advantage – and political patronage, favors, and outright graft seem to be the grease that lubricates the wheels of government and commerce.

In fact, the enigmatic FDEP “initiative” confirmed to many shocked Floridian’s just how quickly environmentally sensitive areas we were promised would be held, conserved, and protected in perpetuity can fall to greed and political favors…

Which brings us, once again, to the controversial $120 million interchange proposed for I-95 at Pioneer Trail – a project many believe was shuffled to the top of the deck in Tallahassee to the advantage of our own High Panjandrum of Political Power Mori Hosseini – whose sprawling ICI Homes Woodhaven development would gain the most from the interchange.

According to reports, Mr. Hosseini denies receiving any “favors” from Tallahassee… 

What most assuredly won’t benefit from the interchange is the environmentally sensitive Spruce Creek – a designated Outstanding Florida Waterway – or the threatened flora and fauna who call Doris Leeper Spruce Creek preserve their natural habitat.  

Unfortunately, fish and wildlife don’t buy 3/2 zero lot line cracker boxes in gated communities – and those critters damn sure don’t give massive campaign contributions to hand-select candidates for high office – which means, in Florida, they don’t have a say.  In anything.

Neither do you.

In a previous News-Journal story, one that could only have originated in the abject lunacy of this anything goes world of Florida’s environmental regulatory agencies, we learned:

“More than a year ago, the St. Johns River Water Management District first granted the Pioneer Trail project a permit to allow stormwater runoff from the interchange into an unnamed canal that connects to Spruce Creek. FDOT engineers presented the district with findings showing their plans would actually reduce phosphorus and other harmful runoff to Spruce Creek and will not impact wetlands, fish and wildlife because of a mitigation plan.”

Yeah.  I know.  Read it again… 

Fortunately, there are resolute environmentalists working hard to challenge the state’s specious sign off for the interchange – ensuring those federal authorities charged with protecting our environment understand what the St. Johns River Management District apparently does not: 

Foul runoff from the ramps, traffic lanes, and bridge will pollute the watershed and threaten animals, plant life, and “the sanctity of the 2,513 conservation acres.”

According to the News-Journal’s latest report:

“Bear Warriors United, Inc., the Sweetwater Coalition of Volusia County, its founder Derek LaMontagne, and New Smyrna Beach resident Bryon White petitioned the state 5th District Court of Appeal to overrule an environmental resource permit granted to FDOT by the St. Johns River Water Management District in April. Arguments are proceeding. 

Meanwhile, Lesley Blackner, a Tallahassee attorney, has sent letters this month to the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation alerting them to what she believes is proof of the state skirting federal laws to streamline the process for getting the interchange built.”

In addition, Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower has worked tirelessly to oppose the interchange.  In fact, he was the only member of the council with the backbone to speak on behalf of wildlife, water quality, and the existing residents of Pioneer Trail and Turnbull Bay Road. 

Look, I freely admit to giving Chairman Brower and his “colleagues” on the dais of power in DeLand a hard way to go.  Most of it is well-deserved. 

However, I commend Chairman Brower for his commitment to water quality and environmental conservation.

For his vehement opposition to the Pioneer Trail interchange, Mr. Brower has been marginalized, maligned, and had his every idea and initiative crushed under the boot of Volusia’s stodgy Old Guard – those slavish loyalists who are passionately committed to the stagnant status quo and ensuring the profit motives of their well-heeled political overseers.  

According to the News-Journal, “Brower argued that the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act requires the Pioneer Trail project to have an Environmental Impact Study.

“I take exception to these claims finding the I-95 Pioneer Interchange has no significant impacts and thus categorially excluded from NEPA review when absolutely no honest investigation was made,” Brower wrote, adding the categorical exclusion “is completely inappropriate and unlawful.”

I stand with Chairman Brower and those intrepid environmentalists with the courage to speak truth to powerful forces intent on ramrodding this environmental disaster in the Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve. 

Find Mark Harper’s outstanding exposé here: https://tinyurl.com/y4m3sudb

Pay attention, folks.

Here in the Sunshine State, our demoralizing motto should be “Money Talks and Bullshit Walks” – and it is going to be interesting to see how our ‘powers that be’ march this odoriferous turd past an increasingly suspicious constituency…

Quote of the Week

“It is disconcerting just for this project to have gotten to this point in the process,” Gunter said. “I say ‘no’ to changing our comprehensive plan and our zoning. No to the Deering Park project.”

Steve Gunter also spoke out against the project, highlighting the magnitude of the 6 million square feet of the proposed development and the potential impacts he said it could have on stormwater drainage.

“Now what you’re trying to do is have Deering Park say that, ‘We’re going to conserve 400 acres for conservation,’ which really means 1,200 acres are going to be elevated, covered in concrete, and you’re going to push that stormwater somewhere,” he said.

The city’s west side resident said he is worried that the stormwater from the development will be “pushed down on homes in Corbin Park, Ellison Acres, Quail Hollow, Hidden Pines — all these mature neighborhoods. We’re going to receive that stormwater.”

–Concerned New Smyrna Beach residents speaking against the proposed 1,618-acre Deering Park Innovation Center at their August 27 City Commission meeting, as quoted by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Concerns raised over Deering Park project,” Tuesday, September 3, 2024

I find it heartening that citizens in New Smyrna Beach and beyond are awakening to the “hurt here, help there” legerdemain of those ‘growth at all costs’ shills inside government and out, as existing residents begin to question the who, what, when, where, why, and how of things, before their homes are inundated with fetid standing water. 

Or worse…  

To me, these passionate three-minute testimonies presented at public meetings by those who see the unique characteristics of their community being threatened, speak to the concept that small local government is infinitely more receptive, efficient, accessible, transparent, and fiscally responsible than unwieldy state and county government, who have proven that the needs, wants, and necessities of individual neighborhoods are of little concern in the scheme of things.    

Unfortunately, those we elect to the state legislature (and the lobbyist who keep them informed of what’s important to their future campaign funding) remain one step ahead of those of us who pay the bills.    

Each legislative session brings more limitations on a local government’s ability to control the character of their communities – forbidding them to pass moratoriums that preserve water quality (while refusing to tap the brakes on development), dictating local comprehensive plans, pre-empting local government rules on zoning, density, and building heights; ensuring concessions for commercial and industrial development or face the threat of gargantuan “affordable housing” complexes sprouting in inappropriate locations, etc., etc.  

Essentially blocking the ability of We, The Little People to envision, plan, and control our civic future.

Although the New Smyrna Beach City Commission has agreed to put the Deering Park project on hold while they seek more answers – if the developer, Farmton North LLC, choses to push the issue – they will get everything they demand and more.

And there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it. 

I suspect the NSB City Commission – and the city attorney – are aware of that…  

Perhaps this election season it might be prudent to ask those seeking our vote for state office where they stand on the concept of Home Rule.

In my view, the ballot box is the best place to send a message to “Big Government” bullies in Tallahassee and prevent them from preempting local control with “one-size-fits-all” mandates.

In fact, now might be the right time to demand that our ‘powers that be’ do something to change lopsided laws and overreaching mandates that usurp local control of neighborhood issues and permit the concept of self-determination – a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” – to ensure that decisions guiding our destiny (and density) remain local.      

And Another Thing!

That acrid odor of sulfurous vapors you’ve noticed of late marks the ethereal departure of what some in local politics have called a ‘ghost candidate’ – a wraithlike and eerily mysterious entry in the Volusia County Clerk of the Court race who was known only as “Mackenzie Quinn.”

According to reports, last week the Democratic candidate withdrew from the Clerk’s race as inexplicably as he or she arrived – a move that limited the primary to Republican voters only –something many believed was strategically designed to provide an advantage to the equally weird John Flemm in his off-the-wall run against incumbent Laura Roth. 

Fortunately, Ms. Roth handily defeated Flemm in primary with 79% of the vote, and with “Quinn’s” departure from the general election, rightfully returns to the important office she serves so well.   

According to a report by Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week:

“Quinn didn’t respond to calls and messages from the News-Journal during her campaign. But she told The West Volusia Beacon, before quickly ending the interview, that she ran because there aren’t enough Democrats and young people in elected roles in the county.

Quinn, 22, launched no campaign website or social media pages that could be found. The qualifying fee for the race was more than $10,300.”

In my view, the primary results prove that Volusia County voters are becoming increasingly savvy to the shady machinations of those who seek to manipulate the system.

But significant questions remain.

I don’t know which law enforcement agency, gelded ethics apparatus, or state/federal authority responsible for ensuring fair and accurate elections need to hear this – but the manner and means by which the Volusia County Clerk’s race unfolded stinks like the steaming pile of excrement it is.

In my jaded view, someone with a badge in their wallet should get to the bottom of who (or what) may or may not have supplied the money for qualifying fees, political signage, glossy mailers, and other expenses behind what has all the earmarks of political collusion between Ms. Roth’s opponents. 

More importantly, why?  

Of all the races for offices that have infinitely more direct influence over our lives and livelihoods, why would these weird intrigues surface in a rather innocuous Clerks’ race? 

I don’t know.  But it has a destabilizing effect on our democratic system. 

While all of this may sound inconsequential now that “Quinn” is out, in my view, Volusia County voters deserve to know that our local/county elections will, to extent possible, remain free of the manure-slinging, conspiracies, and schemes that have undermined confidence in other elections around Florida and nation. 

In other headshaking happenings, last week, after perennial politician “Dishonest Deb” Denys was beaten like a gong (for the second time) by incumbent Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower in the primary, she tried to get the last word in her own obvious attempt to draw votes away from Brower by “endorsing” his opponent, “Car Guy” Randy Dye. 

Who cares? 

In my view, Ms. Denys is yesterday’s news.  No longer relevant to the discussion.

When it comes to Deb Denys, the only thing that continues to resonate with Volusia County voters was her ill-fated attempt to besmirch Chairman Brower during their 2020 matchup when she linked him to then and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, using a nasty mailer to paint Brower as “A radical, rightwing puppet publicly supporting President Trump & his radical agenda!”

Yeah.  That didn’t end well… 

After shitting on everything her fellow Republicans hold dear in some self-serving gambit to be all things to all people – why anyone in the local party apparatus allowed “Dishonest Deb” anywhere near a second bite at the apple defies reasoning – other than prove Volusia’s stodgy Old Guard will stop at nothing to defeat Brower and return lockstep conformity across the dais of power in DeLand.   

Perhaps Mr. Dye would be best served to send Ms. Deny’s “endorsement” back to ash heap of political has-beens from whence it came…

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