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:

Sen. “Terrible Tommy” Wright Has Heard Enough From You Pissants…

While I was taking a break in the hinterlands of Northern Virginia last week, getting a different perspective, refueling the soul in the deeply healing environment of nature at the autumnal peak of fall colors, a wonderfully rejuvenating time enjoyed with lifelong friends; here on the “Fun Coast” our state legislative delegation was granting their annual audience to local elected peons who grovel for crumbs of the tax dollars we send to Tallahassee.

A sick kabuki where the legislators sit ensconced on a dais, literally and figuratively above our local representatives, civic activists, and concerned citizens who approach, hat-in-hand, to plead with those we have sent to Tallahassee for our rightful share of state funds, all while being admonished as compulsive wastrels by the pompous intelligentsia.      

It reminds me just how far from a government “…of the people, by the people, and for the people” we’ve strayed…

Rightfully, the most pressing issue of our time – malignant overdevelopment and its devastating effect on widespread flooding – was at the forefront. 

One-after-another, various community council members and commissioners dutifully approached, reverently genuflected, and explained how Senate Bill 180 (which each legislator on the dais voted to approve) has eliminated local control of planning and development while granting developer’s carte blanche to build when, where, and what they want.

That is before Senator “Terrible Tommy” Wright issued an arrogant edict – “Enough!”

According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Before the end of the more than four-hour hearing, state Sen. Tom Wright said he had heard enough, asking one speaker if she planned to speak against Senate Bill 180.” 

“We’ve heard it enough times. We know that there’s issues with 180 and we’re working hard to try to correct them,” Wright said. “To save everyone’s time, if there’s anything else you’d like to talk about, we’re well aware of 180 being a problem.”

Save everyone’s time? 

What in the hell else does Senator Wright have to do on a Wednesday other than listen to the fervent concerns of his anxious constituents – including many of the same local elected officials who have run interference for the delegation’s kowtowing to their political benefactors – by refusing to join a lawsuit challenging SB 180? 

Where is the gratitude for those obsequious elected local yokels who bowed down and knuckled to their threats and legislative bullying – hoping for “amendments” to the horribly flawed law during the next legislative session?   

Look, I get it.  Sen. Wright has a history of intimidation and harassing behavior toward those who cannot fight back – like the ugly incident two-years ago when Wright angrily put his hands on a female employee of a domestic violence shelter when she rightfully ordered him off a bus full of residents, then charged at her screaming “‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’”   

Sound familiar?

In my view, given “Terrible Tommy’s” reported history of “flirty and grooming” behavior toward vulnerable young women, the shelter employee had damn good reasons to protect the victims under her care.

According to a 2023 report in the News-Journal, another domestic violence survivor recounted “…an experience she had in 2017 with Wright during a bus evacuation ahead of Hurricane Irma.”

The victim said “…Wright rode on the bus with shelter residents, adding that she believes he paid for the trip. At one point, she told the News-Journal, he talked about prostitutes in Cuba, topless women on a boat and offered to fly her to Las Vegas.

Nothing else untoward happened, she said, but she found the situation “kind of embarrassing,” and “now I realize, you know, he was a creep.”

The young victim was reportedly “…around 20 years old at the time. Wright was in his mid-60s.”

A “creep” indeed…

It appears when things get politically uncomfortable for Sen. Wright – he simply demands that members of the servile class who pay the bills and suffer in silence “‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’”  

Fortunately, “Terrible Tommy” won’t have to listen to us much longer as he is termed out in November 2026. 

Let’s hope whoever is elected to the seat understands the importance of listening to “We, The Little People,” rather than focusing solely on the mercenary wants and whims of their political benefactors in the development industry. 

Vote like your lives and livelihoods depend on it…

NSB Mayor Fred “Captain Queeg” Cleveland is Watching You

While New Smyrna Beach Mayor Fred Cleveland may tremble in his boots at the mere thought of what those bullies on the Volusia County legislative delegation may do to any community who stands their ground, defends the right to home rule, and challenges the overreach of SB 180 – it appears he has no problem using the iron boot of government to police your right to free expression of your views and opinions on the ‘everyman’s soapbox’ of social media.

Like the mad Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, somewhere along the way Fred Cleveland has cracked under the pressure, obsessing over carping social media posts and mean memes, while the much more serious flooding problems aboard the good ship New Smyrna go haywire…

During a public meeting last month, Mayor Cleveland’s cheese publicly slipped off his cracker on the dais as he fumed over social media posts he found offensive, which resulted in City Attorney Carrie Avallone dutifully (if not unconstitutionally) sending a letter on official letterhead to Volusia County Council District 3 candidate Bryon White – an outspoken opponent of overdevelopment and its effects on our natural places – demanding that he “correct or remove” statements critical of NSB officials from social media.

You read that right…

In my view it was an abject abuse of power, a heavy-handed attempt to silence a political critic, and it does not appear the New Smyrna Beach City Commission is stopping its crusade to champion the “Truth According to City Hall” with Mr. White. 

In addition, during his rambling diatribe against anyone who expresses a viewpoint different from those espoused by the NSB spinmeisters – Mayor Cleveland ominously asked if one of the city’s two Public Information Officers (they have two?) could “monitor” the social media posts of residents and “set the record straight” with anyone who “berates” city officials or tries to “further an agenda.”

Wow.

I suspect Mayor Cleveland’s rampant paranoia and willingness to silence critics with the full force of government is just one reason New Smyrna Beach residents approved just two of the seven city charter amendments during Tuesday’s election.  That included righteously rejecting extending the mayor’s term from two to four years and increasing the salaries of the mayor and city commissioners.

No wonder the elected officials don’t like what their constituents have to say, eh?

In turn, the residents voted to prioritize cultural arts and mandate city charter reviews every ten years.

Interesting.

In my view, social media surveillance by the City of New Smyrna Beach or any other government entity raises serious concerns for the civil rights and liberties of citizens – and has a chilling effect on our right to free and unfettered expression. 

Our right to speak our minds on matters of public concern is not subject to the filter of Attorney Avallone, some highly compensated public mouthpiece, or anyone else – and Mayor Cleveland should know that.

If Mayor Cleveland and his Milquetoast “colleagues” can’t stand the heat of public opinion, then they should get out of the kitchen.

Quote of the Week

“Now, with reelection on the horizon, Councilman David Santiago is attempting to rebrand himself as compassionate. His latest proposal would divert those same arts funds to food banks, citing the federal shutdown and temporary suspension of SNAP benefits.

At first glance, this sounds benevolent. Don’t be fooled, this is not compassion, it’s political grandstanding.  By framing this as a moral choice, Santiago is playing a cynical game: pitting the arts against hunger.

Feeding people matters, no one disputes that. Only, this is calculated optics, the devils bargain disguised as virtue.  With a 1.4 billion county budget, Volusia can feed struggling families and fund the arts.

If the Council truly cared about priorities, or core government responsibilities it could start by cutting Councilman Don Dempsey’s 10.2 million motocross facility.”

–Intrepid Civic/Environmental Activist Cathrine Pante, as excerpted from her Facebook Post on Slow the Growth Volusia, Tuesday, November 4, 2025

You can tell election season is nigh when you hear sitting politicians – and those vying to be – puff and preen, “I will put my constituents first and serve all people of (insert local, state, federal jurisdiction here).”   

Squawking about inclusiveness and feigning interest the kitchen table concerns of struggling residents.

Horseshit…

The fact is, as anyone paying attention knows, the Volusia County Council – in toto – don’t give a tinker’s dam about the myriad issues facing “Fun Coast” families, and even less about finding effective long-term solutions to the multifaceted problem of hunger, poverty, homelessness, and basic household survival. 

On Tuesday, during what should have been a routine approval of the recommendations of the Children and Families Advisory Board, which helps fund things like Boys and Girls Clubs, Easter Seals, Council on Aging, swim lessons for children, and basic needs services, Chairman Jeff Brower took a cue from Councilman Danny “Gaslight” Robins and used it as an inappropriate opportunity to showboat.

According to an article in the West Volusia Beacon this week:  

“Although the storm over the Volusia County Council’s defunding of several arts and cultural organizations has not subsided, the governing body Nov. 4 waded into another budget controversy: appropriations for programs aiding the elderly and people with special needs.

“We spend far beyond our core government responsibilities,” County Chair Jeff Brower said, reading from a prepared statement. “Today we are being asked to spend the money we have taken from one family to help with the needs another family faces. We are a generous people, and our constituents are always willing to help those in need. But it should be their decision, not ours.”

This time, the “core responsibilities” argument didn’t go over well.

Per usual, Chairman Brower was alone and adrift – as none of his hard-shelled “colleagues” would consider voting against children’s programs and elderly assistance…

Later in the meeting, in a contrived twist Councilman David “No Show” Santiago, an unconvincing liar with the political morals of a broke back snake, tried to convince us he has conjured up a compassionate means of feeding the hungry (while further humiliating Volusia’s arts community).

In another of Santigo’s clearly choreographed sideshows, “No Show” all but held a cartoon lightbulb over his head when he announced he had suddenly found a way to use the $611,000 budgeted for arts funding – that just two-weeks ago was reallocated for an in-name-only “road and sidewalk maintenance program” – to underwrite the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the US Government shutdown stretches into its sixth week.

In doing so, Councilman Santiago (who feeds greedily at the public trough) telegraphed to anyone watching that he doesn’t have a clue how many families in Volusia County (or his district) suffer from food insecurity – or even the number of food banks and pantries Volusia County “partners” with. 

Which makes it convenient for me to say – I’ll just bet Mr. Santiago has never met a hungry person (unless he was laughing at them on the sidewalk).  In my view, that makes his whopper “Feeding people is important to me” seem that much more cruel, calculated, and disingenuous.

In doing so, the demonstrably meanspirited Santiago exposed that he has no qualms using the anxiety and suffering of others to paint arts organizations as taking food from the mouths of hungry children should they continue to complain about the council’s bait-and-switch deception.  

That is Santiago’s brand of petty politics – quick on self-serving solutions – while dragging his tiny little feet, demanding more time and information, and throwing up inane roadblocks on issues of critical concern for Volusia County residents. 

Meanwhile, as Ms. Pante so eloquently points out, $10.2 million in taxpayer funds wait to pay for Councilman Don Dempsey’s family folly – a publicly funded motorcross facility…

Make no mistake, “No Show” Santiago and his “colleagues” on the dais are hoping against hope the shutdown resolves before they are forced to make good on their chaotic virtue signaling and reallocate funds from transportation infrastructure (originally earmarked for culture and arts funding) and provide $611K in unbudgeted and nonrefundable public assistance to area food banks – something that sticks in their collective craw like a fishbone.

Volusia County residents deserve better.

And Another Thing!

“The Florida Department of Transportation will host an open house next week to discuss a project that will resurface almost 4 miles of Nova Road, from Flomich Street in Holly Hill north to U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach.

The open house will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at The Casements, 25 Riverside Drive. According to a city notice, the project will include a raised median that will replace portions of the center two-way left-turn lane on Nova Road between Granada Boulevard and Willmette Avenue.

The project will also add a new traffic signal at Old Kings Road and a directional median at Arroyo Parkway, which FDOT states will allow left turns onto Arroyo Parkway from Nova Road; traffic turning from Arroyo Parkway to Nova Road, however, will only be able to turn right.

Other improvements include upgraded traffic and pedestrian signals, enhanced lighting at signalized intersections and the reconstruction of pedestrian curb ramps to comply with ADA standards.

The design phase of the project is estimated to cost $2.6 million. The total construction cost is $16.8 million and construction is slated to start in summer 2026.”

–The Ormond Beach Observer, “FDOT to host open house for Nova Road improvements,” Tuesday, October 28, 2025

FDOT: “You rube’s like the “improvements” we gave you on Granada Boulevard and A-1-A?  You ain’t seen nothing like what we got planned for Nova Road!  

Please.  Say it isn’t so… 

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