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…

Impact Fees – “Extraordinary Circumstances” Require Action

One thing I’ve never understood is the phenomena of governments who pay handsomely for an expert opinion – involving exhaustive (and expensive) studies and analysis by consultants, then openly ignore the conclusions – the resultant voluminous report relegated to a dead records morgue where it collects dust on a shelf groaning with other “out of sight/out of mind” findings…    

In Volusia County, I call it ‘paralysis by analysis’ – a strategic procrastination that allows the bureaucracy to say, “See, rube, we’re studying the problem,” while putting time and distance between the clamor of angry residents and substantive solutions to the myriad problems of overdevelopment.

That calculated foot-dragging allows influential insiders in the real estate development community to haul more, more, more money out of ravaged greenspace rather than helping fund projects that protect existing residents – stalling that becomes especially evident whenever impact fee increases are mentioned… 

Impact fees are one-time charges imposed on new development to help recover costs of new infrastructure, services, and equipment required to meet the demands of new growth.

This week, despite studies which proved the City of Palm Coast’s transportation, fire service, and parks/recreation needs qualify it for the “extraordinary circumstances” provision needed to bypass Florida’s statutory cap on increasing impact fees, the elected officials took an approach obviously more palatable for development concerns.

According to an informative article by Sierra Williams writing in the Palm Coast Observer this week:

“The transportation study found that the city’s transportation fees – which include specific rates for different types of developments – should be increased by 137% per dwelling unit for single family residential homes and 162% for multi-family developments.

Fire service impact fees are recommended to be increased from $434.51 per dwelling unit to $859 per unit for residential developments, a 97.7% increase. For non-residential developments, the fee similarly increases 94.9%, from the current rate of $700 per 1,000 square feet to $1,364. These fees do not include replacing current equipment, but instead the costing of adding facilities, equipment and firefighters to maintain the city’s current service level as it grows.

Parks and recreation impact fees, which are calculated based on a minimum ratio of eight-acres of recreational land per 1,000 people and the city’s 10-year capital improvement projects, were recommended to increase 98% to $3,620 per dwelling unit from the current rate of $1,828.01.”

In March, the Palm Coast City Council saddled residents with a 31% water and sewer rate increase to be phased in through October 2028.  The increase is necessary to finance needed upgrades to the city’s outdated and grossly overcapacity utility infrastructure that is now under a consent decree issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction.

In Florida, the biggest whorehouse in the world – a fiefdom controlled by the real estate development bund through their rental representatives – impact fees can only be spent on expansion, not improvements or maintenance of existing infrastructure, so the bulk of the upgrades will be borne by existing ratepayers, which further proves growth doesn’t pay for itself…

On Tuesday, the Palm Coast City Council (with beleaguered Mayor Mike Norris absent) agreed to ignore the massive increase proposed by its experts, proposing instead a toned-down version calling for a 70-90% increase to avoid a “shock to the system.”

Which, I think, means limiting the needed increase in the face of overwhelming need to appease their political puppeteers in the real estate development community…although the reason given was “balancing interests,” so as not to price essential members of the workforce, like police officers, firefighters, and teachers, from buying homes in Palm Coast.

Earlier this year, the Daytona Beach City Commission voted to approve “linkage fees” on new construction to fund affordable housing and are considering a second revenue source taken from a portion of property taxes generated from rising property values.

In addition, the City of Daytona Beach recently announced it was considering increasing impact fees – something it hasn’t done since 2006 – as the malignant sprawl continues.  Mysteriously, earlier this month public workshops to discuss the proposed 45.4% increase were postponed with “new dates to be announced once established…”  

According to the Observer, in Palm Coast “All four council members present – Mayor Mike Norris was absent – agreed to enact the fire services impact fees as recommended by the study. The parks and recreation fees, however, were cut by around 20% by removing projects from the 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.

The projects removed from the list were a recreation center, an event center and clubhouse and a cultural arts center.

For the transportation fees, the council decided to remove Highway U.S. 1 from the list of major roadways in the study that would need improvements on Palm Coast’s dime to keep up with growth. That road, they argued, is managed by the state. As well, the council asked the amount of anticipated state funding in the equation be doubled from $25 million to $50 million over the next 25 years.”

For the uninitiated, “state funding” is not a guarantee. 

Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed some $10 million appropriated for much needed Palm Coast utilities infrastructure, drainage improvements for flood-prone areas, and wastewater projects – while authorizing funds for road construction to facilitate the city’s asinine “westward expansion” (at a time when Palm Coast utilities are under a state mandate due to overcapacity for current needs?)

The Palm Coast City Council will vote on impact fees at their June 3 and June 17 business meetings.

Halifax Area Homelessness – Putting All the Eggs in One Basket

Last week, The Daytona Beach News-Journal published a piece by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean touting the personal accomplishments of 21 alumni of the First Step Shelter housing program.  According to the report, the former participants have transitioned from the shelter to the WM at the River, a subsidized riverfront apartment complex in Daytona Beach.  

In my jaded view, the luncheon had the appearance of another choreographed attempt to rehabilitate the tarnished image of the program and its beleaguered executive director, Victoria Fahlberg…

However, I must admit, it was nice to finally see the tangible results of our sizeable collective investment in First Step, nearly a decade after the homeless occupation of the county administration building on Beach Street…

According to the News-Journal, as residents dined on a catered meal that included “hors d’oeuvres and fancy mini cupcakes,” they were treated to the accolades of Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, who serves as president of the First Step governing board, and the self-appreciating remarks of Director Fahlberg.

“You are worth every minute of every day that we spend, all the challenges that we face as a staff, you are worth it,” said Fahlberg, who got choked up as she spoke. “Seeing you sitting here today, it means everything.”

Fahlberg said when she’s old and looking back on what she accomplished in her life, she will think of every First Step Shelter resident who rebuilt their lives and got a roof of their own over their head.

“You are my legacy,” she said. “I know when all of you do well, you give my life meaning.”

Great.  Glad we could help affirm the Fahlberg legacy…    

And by “We” I mean you and me. 

The thankless Volusia County taxpayers who underwrite the enigmatic First Step program with our hard-earned tax dollars but have yet to receive adequate answers to the serious allegations of mismanagement (and worse) lodged by whistleblowers last year.

Serious claims that are now the subject of expanding lawsuits naming both First Step and the City of Daytona Beach… 

According to First Step, the “housing program” has helped 822 people go from the streets to housing (the News-Journal reported the number at 940) which the News-Journal reports is about half of all participants who have come to the program since it started in 2019.

I assume “permanent housing” means successful program participants are being placed in publicly subsidized apartments where residents pay a percentage of their meager income under voucher programs?  

According to the News-Journal, the newly renovated Windsor and Maley Apartments, now known as WM at the River, are “privately run and owned,” with the Daytona Beach Housing Authority maintaining 1% ownership interest.

“The new ownership charges market-rate rent, but utilities are included and residents only pay 30% of their income, which for many residents is just Social Security checks. Housing vouchers provided by the Housing Authority cover the rest of the rent.

Monthly rent for studio apartments is $787-1,295; one-bedroom units are $1,544; and two-bedroom apartments are $1,889.”

In my view, the work of Louisiana based Knight Development at WM at the River is an excellent example of what private entities with the expertise in renovating and revitalizing distressed affordable housing can accomplish – especially in a region where the need far exceeds limited resources as evidenced by the perennially closed “waiting lists” at area housing authorities.

Given the market rate price of a two-bedroom apartment with a guaranteed subsidy, looks quite lucrative too… 

Which brings me to “Barker’s uncomfortable question of the week.”

Is First Step little more than an expensive conduit between one publicly subsidized program and another?  An unnecessary “middleman” that temporarily houses participants who meet specific admittance criteria until they transition to privately operated public housing? 

In my previous professional experience with the chronic homeless, I find it remarkable that First Step can take someone from the depths of destitution, debilitation, addiction, and homelessness to productive rehabilitation and a sustainable “roof of their own” with an average stay of 60-days?

And what happens to those low-income families with children who are forced to wait for space to come available on a “first come/first served” public housing and Section 8 list?

While the demand continues to grow…     

In addition to the enigmatic First Step “transitional housing” program, there are several faith-based organizations – such as the wonderful efforts of Halifax Urban Ministries – who are working tirelessly to provide food, shelter, and basic services to homeless persons and low-income households that remain dependent on private donations.   

Which raises the question – what are the benefits of area governments putting the bulk of limited homeless assistance funds into one basket?  A mysterious “low barrier housing program” that clearly falls short in meeting the needs of Volusia County’s increasingly visible homeless population.  

I’m asking…

Where I live, the brain trust at the City of Ormond Beach contributes a reported $85,000 to First Step annually.  As taxpayers, my neighbors and I are wondering if we are getting the best bang for our buck?   

Recently, the Ormond Beach City Commission started one its tempests in a teapot when Mayor Jason Leslie publicly asked if the city’s substantial contribution to First Step was paying dividends on the street? 

For asking the obvious, Mayor Leslie was beaten like a borrowed mule for his temerity – while his “colleagues” unabashedly toasted the First Step Shelter to embarrass him – clearly oblivious to the wretched refuse shuffling along the sidewalk outside the Commission chambers… 

For the edification of my elected representatives Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru here in what the late, great civic sage Big John referred to as the “fingerbowl district,” last week, a dear friend reported driving north on busy Ridgewood Avenue in Ormond Beach when she observed two homeless gentlemen building an open cookfire just off the sidewalk near the intersection of Granada Boulevard.   

An odd scene in a place that considers itself one of the poshest communities in the eclectic mosaic that is the Halifax area…

Recently, my wife and I drove past a zombie at Hand Avenue and Nova Road. 

He was notable for the tufts of hair and bald patches that gave the appearance someone had made a half-try at scalping him – all his possessions in a dirty backpack – catatonically ambling down the sidewalk, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. 

Driving east on Granada Boulevard, my wife and I looked for the two obviously homeless women who regularly range from Orchard Street to the beachside, always seen together, perhaps taking care of one another on the mean streets.

Last weekend, on my way home from the grocery, I came upon two “urban outdoorsmen” – straight out of a Steinbeck novella – loitering with their bedrolls and plastic garbage sack luggage on a very tony section of John Anderson Drive. 

Perhaps the most exclusive neighborhood in all of “Old Or-mond.” 

I could keep going, but you get the idea…

Despite the fact Volusia County’s clueless ‘powers that be’ seem fine throwing good money after bad, the sight of homeless bindlestiffs wandering the streets and neighborhoods in Ormond Beach (and beyond) has become a frequent occurrence.

This isn’t a law enforcement problem.  You can’t “arrest” your way out of it with ordinances or official harassment of the lame, sick, and crazy – those living their lives under difficult (often self-created) circumstances – an intractable civic and social ill that requires a multidisciplinary approach.

That takes money – and vision.  

In my view, it is time for Volusia County governments to push past the distraction, self-aggrandizement, and questions at the First Step Shelter and begin a serious discussion of how best to allocate increasingly scarce funds to better meet an omnipresent problem with serious civic, social, and economic consequences for the Halifax area.  

Quote of the Week  

According to the (Florida) chamber, more than 730,000 children live in poverty statewide, including many in Volusia County.

“32114 (in Daytona Beach) is one of the poorest ZIP codes in the state of Florida,” said Forough Hosseini, the founder and chair of Food Brings Hope, a local nonprofit that provides food for families with children struggling to make ends meet. Hosseini is also the chair of this year’s Florida Prosperity & Economic Opportunity summit.

–Business Editor Clayton Park, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Casey DeSantis to speak at Daytona economic summit on reducing childhood poverty,” Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Last week, I took some well-deserved ribbing in the News-Journal for pooh-poohing the obvious renaissance we’re experiencing here on the “Fun Coast” – a virtual rebirth – as foretold by the celestial “signs and wonders” in the form of a Trader Joe’s grocery and Tesla dealership…

I guess the positive economic “puzzle pieces” former Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Ritchey spoke about, the “compounding momentum” former Daytona Beach City Commissioner/Realtor Carl Lentz mentioned, and the “rising median income that brings us nice things” cited by J. Hyatt Brown can’t get here quick enough, eh? 

Don’t take my word for it. 

Because when I try and say it, for some reason the words come out, “That’s not a gamechanger.  It’s just another insurance office,” or “Using our tax dollars to underwrite risk for all the right last names isn’t revitalization, it’s an artificial economy,” or, well, you’ve heard them all… 

But you better damn well listen to the sage wisdom of Prosperity Summit Chair Forough Hosseini – the penultimate civic influencer next to her husband, our High Panjandrum of Political Power Mori Hosseini, which is why everyone who is anyone is attending the summit today.

Whatever it takes to get them around the table I say…  

To her credit, Mrs. Hosseini – who genuinely cares about the plight of underprivileged families in our region as evidenced by her generous philanthropic efforts like Food Brings Hope, Homes Bring Hope, and Hope Place – announced this week that the City of Daytona Beach is one of the poorest zip codes in Florida…

Hey, she said it.  I didn’t.

Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to Daytona Beach.  Not by a longshot.   

Two years ago, the United Way noted that some 47% of Volusia County families are living below the ALICE threshold – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.  Households that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than required to meet the essentials of housing, childcare, food, transportation, health care, technology, and taxes.   

Which also means nearly half of Volusia County families could give two-shits about a Trader Joe’s…

In a shocking op/ed in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week, Mark Wilson, President and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, described the stark neighborhood-to-neighborhood disparity in the Halifax area when he pointed out that 2,787 children are living in poverty in zip code 32114 (Daytona Beach) when compared to just 270 in 32128 (Port Orange). 

(Find Mr. Wilson’s disturbing essay here: https://tinyurl.com/bd9p2sd5 )  

In my view, the prevalence and entrenched nature of the problem in Florida tells me that most elected and appointed officials only care about childhood poverty when there is an election on the horizon – or a scandal brewing that desperately needs virtue signaling…   

Here’s hoping this year’s Florida Chamber Prosperity & Economic Opportunity Solution Summit is a rousing success – something more than an opportunity for the capos of local business, industry, and education to polish the apple.  More substantive than a photo-op, another social media pose, or a cheap attempt to clean up the abject shit-show that is First Lady DeSantis’ Hope Florida debacle, which has now resulted in bipartisan calls for an expanded criminal investigation.

Call me a jaundiced asshole, but I won’t hold my breath…

According to the News-Journal, “Casey DeSantis and Dr. Audrey Gregory of AdventHealth will give a presentation on “Hope Florida: Building Pathways to Prosperity Through Community Partnerships across Florida.”

Great.  

Let’s hope our best and brightest find actionable solutions this time and make good on their promise to find workable answers to the root causes of generational poverty.  Then develop neighborhood strategies to end to the economic, civic, and social drain that ensues when the cost of life’s basic necessities exceeds the area’s median wage. 

The summit will be held today from 9:00am to 4:00pm at Daytona International Speedway.  According to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, in-person registration is $385.  Each.

Interesting.

For the record, according to the USDA, in April the average per-person food cost for a child was $234.40 a month…

And Another Thing!

“At the request of District 4 Councilman Troy Kent, the Volusia County Council plans to talk about the possibility of creating another inlet along the coast, specifically, one near Highbridge Road in the area of Ormond-by-the-Sea.

Kent floated the idea to discuss the topic during closing comments at Tuesday’s meeting. He received unanimous support to have staff bring back information on what that would entail and have a discussion at another meeting.

“Recreationally, it would be incredible. But it would also clean up the Halifax River, the Intracoastal in that area as well,” Kent said.”

–District 4 Volusia County Councilman Troy Kent, as quoted by reporter Sheldon Gardner, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Troy Kent wants to discuss making a new inlet in Volusia County,” Wednesday, May 21, 2025

I consider myself reasonably well-informed.

No smarter than the next tax-strapped rube – just a blowhard with too much time on my hands – who keeps a critical eye on current events, parses the “news” and spin, then speculates on the weird machinations of what passes for governance here on Florida’s “Fun Coast.”  

To be honest, it’s like watching a trainwreck.  You can’t turn away.

Scientists say there is a physiological reason we are paradoxically drawn to rubbernecking at the scene of a disaster.  Something about how the brain evaluates our perceptions, determines if what we are witnessing is a threat, then evokes the ‘fight or flight’ response. 

I suppose it’s that same morbid curiosity (and a whole lot of Pepto-Bismol) that allows me to watch the petty melodramas that we call public meetings, ruminate on what I’ve just subjected myself to, then write down my shambolic opinions and pass them around in this space. 

I don’t recommend it as a hobby. 

Playing the role of community curmudgeon doesn’t make me many friends among our dull-normal “decision-makers” and those uber-wealthy insiders who influence them – our “movers and shakers” who would prefer We, The Little People simply pay the bills and keep our pieholes (and prying eyes) shut… 

Regardless, this sense of civic vigilance causes me to question how those we elect and appoint to govern – ostensibly sentient beings who are literally in the eye of the political storm – can be so completely out of touch with Volusia County’s growing hierarchy of needs?

Gotta admit – a multi-million-dollar motorcross facility paid for with public funds to facilitate the recreational pursuit of Councilman Don Dempsey, dredging a new inlet north of High Bridge, and studying the feasibility of horses on the beach wasn’t on my triage of urgent problems requiring the immediate attention of Volusia County’s senior staff… 

Look, I get it. 

I’m just not sure when the house is on fire the priority should be raking the lawn and erecting a swing set in the backyard… 

Councilman Troy Kent’s exuberance for improving the quality of life of his constituents exceeds that of an overstimulated puppy – a good instinct which brought us the highly successful dog-friendly beach in Ormond Beach and freed Volusia County residents from the yoke of beach access tolls and parking fees – but on Sunday, we’re going to hear a whole lot about the ominous start of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

A time when many Volusia County residents are reminded of the inundation heavy rains, tropical systems, and afternoon thunderstorms will bring to their waterlogged neighborhoods – while those overcompensated incompetents in Volusia County’s growth management and engineering departments continue to dream-up ways to waste time and deflect from what residents from Edgewater to Deleon Springs already know:

Unchecked sprawl, slash-and-burn land clearing, the environmental impacts of fill-and-build construction, and overwhelmed stormwater systems have resulted in widespread flooding across the width and breadth of Volusia County. 

In my view, trying to distract flood victims with tales of horses frolicking on the beach – and the astronomical expense, environmental destruction, and physical disruption that would come with dredging a manmade inlet on the North Peninsula, installing a bridge on A-1-A, etc. – is like trying to satiate starving children with stories of cookies and pictures of cake.

That’s not helping.  It’s cruel.

While I have no doubt Mr. Kent’s motives are pure, the notion of looking beyond immediate needs – pending disasters that frightened families routinely remind the Volusia County Council of each meeting – with pie-in-the-sky horseshit (literally) seems as detached from our collective reality as a motorcross facility being purchased with tax dollars earmarked for conservation and passive outdoor recreation.

Yet here we are…

In my view, now is the time for our elected and appointed officials to remain focused on those pressing issues they promised us were important to them – like improving infrastructure, retroactive “concurrency,” and reversing the engineering failures that have contributed to development-induced flooding and civic claustrophobia that is destroying our quality of life.  

Especially at a time when none of the various taxing schemes and scams coming out of Tallahassee bode well for funding the exponentially expanding needs of local governments that have allowed malignant growth to far exceed our ability to pay for it.

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