Hi, kids!

“There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind…”

–C.S. Lewis

As we say goodbye to what was and prepare for the excitement and uncertainty of another statewide election year, let’s remember that our democratic processes work best when vigorous political discussion produces a variety of views and opinions.

This is why the United States Constitution places such emphasis on protecting our inalienable right to free speech, the ability to peaceably assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances – allowing the vigorous competition of ideas debated with the knowledge and consent of the governed – resulting in informed and inclusive public policy.

That important process begins with an aware and engaged electorate. 

If you are reading Barker’s View, I naturally assume you are educated voter who cares about the future of our region – something politicians fear the most…

I appreciate your important contributions.   

Those who read, contribute, opine, comment, argue, develop solutions, moderate social media sites, participate in politics, attend civic meetings, educate our children, speak out, campaign for public office, serve on advisory boards, operate a business, seek justice, plan for our future, offer criticism, demand accountability, serve their community, care for the sick, risk their lives in service to others, raise the bar, give generously, provide encouragement, and anyone who can still be my friend when the heated debate is over.

Thank you.

Most of all, I sincerely appreciate the faithful readers of Barker’s View.  The independent thinkers who contemplate and interpret my warped thoughts on the issues of the day – and those who further a larger discussion in the community – an important exercise that can lead to innovative ideas and solutions to the myriad problems we face.

Thank you.

For good or ill, in the new year I will be here, spectating from the cheap seats – cocktail and smoldering Marlboro at hand – a rheumy-eyed witness to the machinations of our local players, “power brokers,” and perennial politicians – providing you, the devoted members of the Barker’s View Tribe, with one man’s jaded thoughts on the important issues that affect our lives and livelihoods.

Thank you all.

May God bless each of you and this beautiful place we call home.

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

Now, let’s welcome 2026 by turning 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:

Shameless Mayor Makes Mockery of Charitable Giving This Holiday Season

In the days before Christmas, Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila, Jr. – in my view, a shameless grifter and congenital liar with the political ethics of a broke-back snake – issued an open letter to his constituents (on letterhead cloaked with the backdrop of Deltona City Hall) trying desperately to explain away the raging controversy surrounding his calculated shim-sham known as the “Mayor’s Winter Ball.”

Unfortunately, Avila’s desperate attempt to “set the record straight” artfully dodged the swirling question of Cui Bono – who benefitted – and why he and something called the Volusia County Hispanic Association used the imprimatur of both the City of Deltona and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler Counties to solicit funds, knowing that the BGCVFC was totally unaware that their organization’s good name was being used to lure donors.

Now Mayor Avila would have us believe that the City of Deltona was totally disconnected from the event – claiming the ball was not a city function, rather a “…collaborative fundraiser between my office and the Volusia County Hispanic Association not a campaign event as falsely suggested” – explaining that using city resources and social media to promote the event was “consistent with city practice.” 

Bullshit.

In marketing material for the “Mayor’s Winter Ball,” (which was prominently displayed on Avila’s campaign website) the city was inextricably linked to the event with the self-created badge of Avila’s “Office of the Deltona Mayor,” which was prominently exhibited on event solicitations. 

In addition, Mayor Avila unequivocally stated in advertising videos, “for the first time ever the City of Deltona will host the Mayors winter ball.” 

So, let’s really attempt to set the skeevy record straight: When Mayor Avila was soliciting money for his ball, the City of Deltona was named as the “host.”  After being caught in flagrante delicto by the Boys & Girls Club misappropriating their good name, Avila now claims the city was never associated with the event.

That’s called a bald-faced lie.

Seriously, does anyone see any ambiguity in that?

In an op/ed published in the West Volusia Beacon earlier this month, former Deltona City Commissioner David Sosa gave his thoughts on one possible motivation for the “Mayors Winter Ball”: 

“The Mayor’s Winter Ball notably featured an out-of-town contingent from the residential building industry — developers, properties, financial investors and real estate agents from firms based outside Volusia County, including Miami and Orlando.

The event seemed less like a community gathering and more like a celebration of potential profits, with attendees envisioning deals worth millions that could turn Deltona into the next hot spot for real estate speculation. Cassie Landron of the Volusia County Hispanic Association expressed her enthusiasm about partnering with these builders, highlighting the promising prospects for economic development.

From the outset, the event was clouded by questionable actions, including displays of half-truths and unclear financial responsibilities. It was unclear whether it was officially endorsed as a city-sponsored event, as claimed by the mayor, or if it was a private fundraising affair aimed at supporting his political ambitions.”

Interesting.

The fact is, Mayor Avila has no one to blame for this unmitigated shit-show but himself and those who work him like a sock puppet.   

Despite what Mayor Avila would have us believe, the righteous pushback by concerned Deltona residents isn’t a conspiracy concocted by his political opponents.  Now, Mayor Avila is trying desperately to rehabilitate his horribly stained image after being publicly called out by the victim of his ruse.

Expect that purely political hogwash to continue into the new year.   

Despite Mr. Avila’s furious backpedaling, many believe this imbroglio is the result of a sleaze-glazed plan – secretly devised in the shadows by a small cabal of political hacks – designed to misdirect charitable donations for personal/political gain under the guise of a self-promoting soiree, fronted by an egotistical mayor with a dubious history, who routinely plays fast-and-loose with public funds for his political benefit… 

In my view, nothing about this continuing shit-show should be acceptable to Deltona voters.

FDOT:  Brace Yourselves, Ormond Beach – Here It Comes Again…

Just when Halifax area motorists didn’t think it could get worse, the Florida Department of Transportation has announced plans to inflict another traffic nightmare on unsuspecting drivers, this time on the increasingly congested Nova Road in Ormond Beach.

After reducing east/west Granada Boulevard and A-1-A to a series of nonsensical obstructions, medians, chicanes, twists, turns, humps, bumps, and moguls – all specifically designed to impede the flow of traffic on major thoroughfares – area residents will now be treated to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride on a four-mile stretch of Nova Road between Flomich Avenue in Holly Hill and U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach.

Last week, following massive public outcry, FDOT completed “reconstruction” of their five-alarm foul-up on South Atlantic Avenue, including the modification of a senseless raised median that blocked access to Steve’s Famous Diner and created hazardous driving conditions along the busy stretch near Bellaire Plaza.  

The $20 million road project impeded access to area businesses and residences fronting A-1-A using a series of dangerous swerves, “lane narrowing features,” (you read that right) and other obstacles that FDOT claimed were designed to encourage safer driving speeds.

It didn’t. 

In addition, on certain sections of A-1-A north of Granada Boulevard, residents have experienced diminished driveway access requiring lawn companies and other service providers to park in the street – on a painted median between traffic lanes in the middle of the narrow roadway – to access beachfront homes.  The configuration creates an extremely unsafe condition that requires motorists navigate around parked commercial vehicles.

In an article reporting on FDOT’s decision to reverse course on altered sections of Atlantic Avenue, Spectrum News 13’s Jerry Hume reports:

“Up the road from the diner at the Bellair Condos, though, condo association president Joann Cappella said the changes actually made things worse.

“These lane swerves are not slowing anybody down,” she said. “They are increasing the danger. They make it much more dangerous.”

As part of the overall goal of slowing down drivers, lane narrowing features like bulb-outs and curb extensions were added.

After they were installed in front of Cappella’s condo complex, the building’s security camera caught a truck driving off the roadway and onto the new bulb-out.”

“Shock. Absolute utter shock at the idiocy of it,” Cappella said. “It makes no sense at all.”

According to the report, FDOT District 5 deputy mouthpiece Matthew Richardson claimed state transportation mavens know what’s best for those of us who live here – and the changes were “…made to ensure the final project reflects the community’s needs, while still meeting safety and operational goals.”

I found it interesting that after modifications on both Granada Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, FDOT still cannot estimate how much the changes will cost taxpayers… 

Last week, in the wake of the asinine debacle that has affected traffic throughout the city, state transportation officials held a workshop with Ormond Beach elected officials to explain changes to the Nova Road project, claiming the original plan was based on traffic counts that were “several years old.” 

You read that right.

According to a report in the Ormond Beach Observer, “Ultimately, when we first did our study and our design, the counts that we performed were several years old,” said Jim Stroz, FDOT District 5 director of transportation development. “We were encouraged to get some new counts. There’s been some increase in traffic, and so we did that.”

Seriously?   

Where were these so-called “traffic engineers” the day they taught traffic engineering at the Rocco-Clubbo School of Highway Gridlock?

Area taxpayers deserve better from those who hold themselves out as experts – and we have a right to know how many millions-of-dollars in public funds were wasted during the project design phase when FDOT knew their plan was based on antiquated numbers? 

(Hey, CFO Ingoglia. How about DOGEing FDOT’s design and development process? With knobs on it…)

In my view, based upon our collective experience on area roadways, those we have elected and appointed to represent our interests in Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, and beyond should put an immediate stop to this absurdity before one shovel of dirt is turned at the misdirection of those infernal dullards at FDOT.

In my view, city officials should demand that the revised plans be carefully reviewed by an independent traffic engineering firm – with a focus on current and future traffic infrastructure needs – in the face of explosive overdevelopment that has reduced many main thoroughfares to a parking lot at various times of the day.   

Frankly, those of us who pay the bills and are forced to navigate the slalom course that FDOT has created on major thoroughfares are tired of hearing our local elected officials shrug their stooped shoulders and mewl “Aw, shucks.  It’s a state road – our hands are tied, y’all…”  

Look, I get it.  The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker holding office on local councils and commissions, and their dilettante liaisons to the Transportation Planning Organization, aren’t traffic analysts – and they should not be expected to understand the geometry of intersections, signals, controls, or the minutia of intelligent traffic management solutions.

That’s why we rely on the so-called “professionals” at the Florida Department of Transportation – especially during this critical time in our state’s history – when those same state and local elected officials have allowed the unchecked sprawl of their political benefactors in the real estate development industry to outpace essential infrastructure.

Now that millions-of-dollars in scarce traffic infrastructure funds have been wasted on piss-poor planning and expensive reversals to “improvements” on Granada Boulevard, A-1-A, and elsewhere, in my view, ignorance and gross maladministration are no longer valid excuses for FDOT – or those local officials and claustrophobic motorists who are forced to take their word for it…

Quote of the Week

“After taking a battering from hurricanes and other storms in recent years, about 27 of 37 miles of Volusia County-managed coastline is considered critically eroded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Hurricanes Ian and Nicole wiped out over 6 million cubic yards of sand in Volusia County, said Jessica Fentress, director of the county’s Coastal Division. That drastically changed the shoreline. Now the county is in a “sand-starved” state, she said.

“We went from being in a ‘monitoring, probably should do something’ (state), to ‘We are on life support,'” Fentress said.”

–Director Jessica Fentress, Volusia County Coastal Division, as quoted by reporter Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Volusia County crafting long-term plan for ‘sand-starved’ coastline,” Monday, December 22, 2025

From the Army Corps of Engineers essentially telling the waterlogged residents of Daytona Beach Midtown there’s “Nuttin’ we can do” regarding disastrous recurrent flooding, to Volusia County’s Coastal Division wringing their hands about all the things they probably should, could, would have done (but didn’t) to control erosion on the coastline as eight horizontal feet of sand wave bye-bye each year, it is increasingly apparent existing residents are on our own… 

When I read these articles about clearly clueless government officials desperately searching for solutions to the manmade problems we face – with many of the impacts exacerbated by their unwillingness to stop overdevelopment and the resultant environmental atrocities that are destroying our quality of life – I am reminded of an old Three Stooges episode.

Remember the one where the boys took a rented boat to the middle of a lake?   

When they reached open water Moe noticed that their vessel was leaking.  Bad. 

Thinking fast, Curly Joe took out an auger and began feverishly boring holes in the bottom of the boat to allow the water to run out.  As more water flooded the boat, the more holes he drilled, and the usual hysterics ensued. 

I loved those guys…

Of course, the moral of the story was (and is) – when your ship is sinking – stop drilling holes.

Unfortunately, political arrogance prohibits reason.  Now Volusia County is acting as if they give two-shits about citizen input on beach management by creating a “long-term vision” in the form of a beach management plan. 

According to the News-Journal’s report:

“Volusia County received about $82 million in grant funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to help the coastline after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, Fentress said.

As part of that funding, the county has to create a Beach Management Plan, Fentress said. That plan has to identify the risk areas within the county and review options for placing sand on the beach and reducing erosion.”

In addition to a “plan,” I’m sure the cash grab also requires that senior county officials’ pantomime being interested in what John & Jane Q. Public have to say on the abject disaster that is Volusia County’s shoddy excuse for beach management.

Hell, I recall when Gov. Ron DeSantis showed up one sunny January day in Daytona Beach Shores in 2023 carrying one of those goofy oversize cardboard checks for $37.6 million earmarked for restoring Volusia County beaches in the aftermath of Hurricane’s Ian and Nicole.

Remember?

Oh well, here in Volusia County money comes and money goes but things always stay the same… 

Unlike “government guesstimation,” in any legitimate decision-making process there should be the option of doing nothing.  Simply letting nature take her course.  

I’m not talking about more bureaucratic indecision and foot-dragging. 

I mean putting a stop to expensive and experimental artificial methods in favor of permitting ecological processes to correct previous mistakes, erase manmade insults, organically rebuild environmental barriers, and return a symbiotic balance to our shoreline.   

By getting jacklegs like Jessica Fentress and greed-crazed beachfront developers out of the mix – then prohibiting any additional development or rebuilding east of the Coastal Construction Control Line – we can allow natural dunes and coastal vegetation to return and stabilize the beach, prevent erosion, and stop further loss of sand. 

Naturally.

The one constant in government is that senior bureaucrats will continue to busy themselves boring holes in our collective boat – spending what they see as an unending supply of our tax dollars commissioning expensive engineering studies, regurgitating paralytic analysis on PowerPoints, and desperately trying to imitate environmental processes – all to accomplish what nature got right in the first place.

What?  You think letting nature take its course sounds crazy? 

Maybe it is.  But my suggestion is no more ludicrous than throwing another $82 million in taxpayer dollars fighting against the inexorable effects of time and tide…

Don’t worry, none of it matters, and I don’t know why I take Volusia County’s “we want your grassroots input” bait time-after-time.   

Trust me.  My silly submission won’t gain any more traction with those deaf ears at the Coastal Division than yours will.  Like everything else, expect the stagnant status quo to continue driving Volusia County’s incomprehensible “beach management” strategy as history repeats in 2026…

And Another Thing!

“In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”

–Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

On Christmas Day, Politico published an excellent piece penned by veteran Florida government and politics reporter Gary Fineout, detailing a telling kerfuffle in Tallahassee that saw House members receiving some embossed swag from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. 

The goodie bag apparently contained a “Bluetooth speaker, a “Go Outdoors Florida” branded Yeti tumbler and a small blanket also featuring some Florida branding.”

According to the report, “…by the end of the day, employees with the House sergeant-at-arms went office to office to collect the bags after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission “rescinded” its distribution of Go Outdoors Florida “marketing materials” to House members.”

It seems the “generosity” of the FFWCC may have violated Florida’s 20-year-old law barring legislators and other senior government decision-makers from receiving “anything of value,” especially from lobbyists and those entities who procure their influential services.

(Not so) shockingly, Politico reports, “The law’s passage followed a series of incidents detailed in news reports at the time, including a state senator leaning on lobbyists to pay for a trip to South Africa, reports of legislators routinely calling up lobbyists to get their credit card numbers to pay for meals and a gambling company paying to jet four legislators to Canada to visit a casino.

In fact, after the ban went into effect, some Tallahassee restaurants complained that the law was substantially hurting their business, even causing some establishments to close permanently.

My God…

The article is eye-opening.  Please find it here:  https://tinyurl.com/5cbmv6zk

I found it interesting that a Tallahassee-based attorney specializing in ethics and elections issues who was quoted in the article attempted to make the argument that things went a lot smoother when lobbyists could have “social interactions” with lawmakers over dinner and drinks; claiming things became more “transactional” after the ban went into effect, with “relationships” now “…based on contributions to a members political committee and campaign.”

Sound familiar?

Others believe the recent “swag bag” fiasco proves that knowledge of the so-called “gift ban” has largely been forgotten by many current elected and appointed officials. 

Whatever.

I would argue the fact that Florida Senate Bill 180 – which granted real estate developers carte blanche to build when, what, and where they want, while gutting the Home Rule authority of local governments – was unanimously approved by the Senate, with only one dissenting vote in the House, is prima facie evidence that our legislature has been bought-and-paid-for by special interests…

The fact local governments are openly afraid of thuggish retaliation from Volusia’s legislative delegation if they dare stand up for their right to self-determination, defend their ability to control growth at the local level, and protect the character of their communities proves how compromised those pompous shitheels in Tallahassee truly are.

Is there another explanation?

Frighteningly, this is what we have come to expect at that shadowy nexus of private wealth and political power – a bizarre time when some believe we should just go back to the bad old days, when unscrupulous influence peddlers could buy the loyalty  of shady politicians outright – rather than go through the flimsy charade of funneling cash through campaign contributions and political donations. 

The obvious question is why We, The Little People have acquiesced to this corruption in plain sight? 

When did bribery, graft, abusing one’s public office for private gain become the accepted norm? 

Why do we simply accept the fact we can no longer trust our elected representatives to respect the sanctity of their office and refuse to take “gifts,” favors, gratuitous advantages, or anything of value for themselves or others associated with them?

Perhaps returning the public’s trust in the process could begin with strong campaign finance reforms that limit or remove undue influence in the form of massive infusions of special interest cash into the war chests of hand-select marionettes? 

Look, I may be a rube, but I am not naïve, and neither are you. 

Here in Florida, the Biggest Whorehouse in the World, all levels of governance have been fouled by the stain of transactional politics. 

In my view, it’s vile presence is self-evident every time malignant sprawl is allowed to encroach on environmentally sensitive land, the idea of sustainable or low-impact development is kicked down the dusty political trail, the concept of Home Rule is further trampled, or an influential donor is allowed to circumvent the rules or gifted greater access to the public teat.  

This election year let’s send a message that quid pro quo politics will no longer be tolerated.

It is time we demand good governance based upon transparency, a loyalty to one’s oath, and the competition of ideas, rather than the mercenary wants of the donor class, where those who can pay to play are handsomely rewarded, and the needs of those of us who can’t are quickly forgotten…   

That’s all for me.  See you next year, y’all!