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:

The Debacle at Daytona: Welcome to the Twilight Zone

“This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality: you’re on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable…Go as far as you like on this road. Its limits are only those of mind itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re entering the wondrous dimension of imagination.

Next stop…The Twilight Zone.”

a/k/a The City of Daytona Beach… 

During a bizarre episode of the Twilight Zone last week – that “fifth dimension” beyond right and reason – the Daytona Beach City Commission defied logic (which isn’t a new concept) when they voted 4-3 to retain embattled City Manager Deric Feacher.

The inexplicable move restarted the clock and extended Mr. Feacher’s contract for three more years. 

In my view, the simple (and cost effective) alternative would have been to allow Feacher’s current five-year contract to expire at the end of this month allowing him to depart amicably – no severance, no drama, and a distinct demarcation between what has been, and what comes next. 

A clean break at a time when the City of Daytona Beach desperately needs to find transformative leadership.

Instead, the commission opted for a ham-handed “performance evaluation,” a past due administrative requirement they had previously neglected, a ludicrous process tantamount to scoring the captain of a foundering ship while his vessel is on fire and being dashed against the rocks… 

It wasn’t fair. To Daytona Beach taxpayers, that is.

According to a report by Sierra Williams writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, on a scoring system of one to five, “(Commissioners) Cantu and May gave Feacher overall scores of 2.18 and 2.94. Mayor Derrick Henry and Monica Paris gave him overall scores of 3.05 and 3.27, while Reed and Commissioners Ken Strickland and Danielle Henry gave him overall a 4.86, 4.82 and 4.27.”

Based upon an aggregate score of 3.63, Commissioner Paula Reed gushed that Mr. Feacher has “…met the expectations of the commission.” 

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

Despite the escalating controversy at City Hall that is dominating media coverage across the region, Commissioners Reed and Ken Strickland rated City Manager Feacher nearly perfect in ten performance areas. 

To their credit, for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with the concepts of leadership and accountability, Commissioners Stacy Cantu, Quanita May, and Monica Paris all voted against renewing Feacher’s contract.  

In my view, it was clear to anyone watching that the results of the evaluation – and the outcome of the internal and external maneuvering (complete with an overexuberant cheering section) that kept Feacher in place for the time being – had been carefully orchestrated off-the-dais. 

A painfully obvious attempt at self-preservation by embattled elected and appointed officials who are desperately embroiled in a state financial audit turned criminal investigation led by Florida’s recently formed Public Integrity Unit… 

That became painfully evident during comments from the dais when every trope and dodge was knitted together and trotted out, to include ridiculous allegations that the multilayered crisis facing Daytona Beach was conjured up by a “certain television station” and Commissioner Cantu, a civic watchdog who has been openly critical of the city’s stewardship of public funds since before multiple internal audits and media scrutiny proved her right.   

Adding to the abject absurdity, Commissioner Ken Strickland, a political chameleon who has become everything he hated when he first ran for office, went on a weird rant, claiming the pitiful fact that no city official is currently in jail somehow justifies retaining the City Manager (?).

Really?

According to the Observer’s report, Mayor Derrick Henry “…said that the recent allegations against the city have not been shown to be Feacher’s fault. Mayor Henry said he has seen nothing that shows the commission should terminate Feacher’s employment.

If anything were to happen in the future that shows he should be, Henry said, the commission can always return to this.

“His evaluation does not reflect an evaluation that says that you need to be terminated,” Henry said.”  

In addition, Mayor Henry droned on in one of his patented rambling and nonsensical diatribes – flippantly explaining away questionable expenditures with broad strokes – minimizing the misuse of purchasing cards, blaming former City Manager Jim “The Chisler” Chisholm for causing problems with JLAC, and accusing the state of failing to give direction (besides state statutes?) as to how they could spend $14 million in improperly amassed permit fees…

Shockingly, Mayor Henry looked his constituents in the eye and said “I haven’t seen anything.  And I haven’t seen anything that says we should terminate him,” essentially asking bewildered Daytona Beach residents to believe that – just because there’s smoke, heat, and raging flames in every corner of City Hall – the circumstances don’t necessarily indicate there’s a fire… 

One symptom of toxicity in government is the delusional self-denial that always comes before the fall – that phase of a civic crisis when elected and appointed officials convince themselves of a false reality, point fingers, brand their detractors, and abdicate their sworn responsibility – all while ignoring the facts in order to preserve their contrived narrative.

A strange organizational psychosis based on political self-preservation that results in a growing distrust among those of us on the outside looking in. Citizens who recognize the grave threat posed by the dysfunction and distraction who cannot understand why those in a position to affect positive change, won’t?

Good question.

Kudos to Commissioners Stacy Cantu, Quanita May, and Monica Paris for having the courage to lead during this disastrous period in Daytona Beach’s history…     

City of Ormond Beach: Let the People Vote, Dammit  

You can always tell when a “grassroots” initiative is unpopular with an entrenched bureaucracy.    

The opposition becomes evident during what they refer to as the “education” phase.  That’s when the “experts” are brought in – typically other bureaucrats with a cottage industry selling one position or another to elected officials.  Self-appointed “specialists” who stand in front of a mind-numbing PowerPoint, droning on, ad nauseum, manufacturing political insulation until the original point is lost in the ether.

In this case, the question surrounded whether We, The Little People of Ormond Beach deserve the opportunity to vote on a charter amendment banning potable reuse in our community.

Often called ‘Toilet to Tap,’ the practice permits development beyond the natural carrying capacity of our finite water resources by injecting treated sewage into the aquifer for “storage,” or sending treated wastewater directly to consumers via the water distribution system.

The practice isn’t just gross, it’s potentially harmful to the aquifer and public health. 

In the estimation of many, the real reason it is being promoted is to allow developers to blanket more of the land with 3/2 wood frame cracker boxes, half-empty strip centers, and impervious pavement by “augmenting” our limited natural water supplies with treated sewage… 

In my view, given the claustrophobic density already foisted on us, the concept is obscene.

When water quality activists and environmentalists sound the alarm, compromised politicians claim that the process is akin to Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist communicator – technology years in the future and far from practical implementation – tut-tutting that demonstrating initiative or taking proactive measures is a timewasting exercise in protecting their anxious constituents from a nonexistent threat. 

Bullshit.

Potable reuse pilot programs are currently underway in thirteen communities around the state (with more on the way) as officials in Tallahassee (read: developer shills) tout Florida as a “national leader” in the use of treated wastewater for drinking purposes.

In recent years, experimental reuse programs have been permitted in the City of Daytona Beach (thankfully, the process was never foisted on unsuspecting consumers) and test wells have been allowed by state regulators in Deltona that would permit water from Lake Monroe and reclaimed water to be injected and “stored” underground (read: in our source aquifer).

According to a report by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, during last week’s water supply and reuse workshop, development maven (and current mayoral candidate) Commissioner Lori Tolland said “…the initiative needs to be accompanied by an education piece as the “toilet to tap” label is “misleading.”

“It wants you to believe that all reuse water directly goes to your spigot,” Tolland said. “It does not want you to know that reuse undergoes advanced multi-barrier treatment designs and meets strict safety standards.”

With some $96,200 in her campaign war chest (for an Ormond Beach mayoral race?) much of it from development interests, per usual, Ms. Tolland strategically misses the point…

The clean water advocacy Let Volusia Vote is simply asking the Ormond Beach City Commission to place a charter amendment on the ballot to allow residents the opportunity to vote their conscience on the issue. 

A chance to determine the future of our community through the democratic process, rather than sit helplessly in the gallery watching Ms. Tolland and other elected officials sell out to their political benefactor’s time-and-time again.

The chance to cast our ballot without the rah-rah agitprop of those with a profit motive or being subjected to expensive “public indoctrination” programs presented by hand-select “experts” who tell us exactly what the bureaucracy wants us to hear.

In my experience, the vast majority of citizens are capable of gathering information, enlightening themselves on the issues from a variety of sources both for and against, then casting an educated vote absent the static and obstructionism that comes whenever an initiative threatens the lucrative status quo.

To their credit, Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie and Commissioner Harold Briley are on record supporting our right to vote. 

According to the Observer’s report, Commissioner Briley explained:

“Any commission can undo what a previous commission has done, but the voters can also undo what previous voters did,” Briley said. “But I think if you put in the charter and you give the residents the ability to vote on it.”

Mayor Jason Leslie agreed.

“They’re educated people and they’ll make their own choice,” he said.”

Why wouldn’t our elected officials want their constituents to have a say on potable reuse (or any other issue effecting their children’s future) in this era of explosive growth that is straining public infrastructure and threatening our natural resources across Florida? 

What’s the harm in letting the people decide this controversial issue for themselves? 

This election season, I encourage you to follow the money – educate yourself on who is funding the campaigns and political ambitions of certain candidates – then ask the $96,200 question:

Why would an elected official deny your right to vote? 

Find all you need to know here: https://tinyurl.com/3dbnd7hw

I encourage everyone in Volusia County to sign the Let Volusia Vote petition and reinforce our collective opposition to drinking our own reclaimed sewage simply to facilitate the insatiable appetite of development interests.  

Please find the petition and further instructions here:  https://tinyurl.com/3b2f8cej

While we’re on the topic, if you live in beautiful Ormond Beach, please take a new survey hosted by our friends at the civic advocacy Protect Ormond Beach. 

“The purpose of this survey is to listen to the community, gather real data, and help ensure resident voices are part of the conversation moving forward.

The survey is ANONYMOUS and takes less than 3 minutes to complete. Aggregate results and updates will be shared in our Facebook groups Protect Volusia and Ormond Beach Citizens: Protect Ormond Beach.

Thank you for making your voice heard!”

Your community.  Your voice.

Find the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/4pvbwr2p

Quote of the Week

“Kim Barrett, who works on the boardwalk, said, “We used to have a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, bumper car, cars. We have nothing here on the boardwalk. So they’re going to extend the boardwalk. Hopefully, they have some entertainment for children.”

The city purchased a half-acre piece of beachfront land for over $2 million in June to facilitate the project. Final renderings are still being completed, and city leaders hope the new addition will be finished by the fall of 2027.

Residents are hopeful the extension will bring new life to the area. “It’s 12:00, and they got the rock concert in town and the Daytona Speedway. This place should be jumping. And it’s not,” said Daytona Beach resident Michael Daly.

When completed, the new extension will match the existing boardwalk designs, including the pavers and width. It will also connect to a beach access point near Harvey Avenue.

The final construction cost has not yet been determined, as the project remains in its design and permitting phase.”

–Reporter Pamela Comme, WESH-2 News, residents react to a possible extension of the Daytona Beach Boardwalk on city owned beachfront land, “Daytona Beach’s iconic boardwalk could get a lot bigger,” Friday, May 8, 2026

In my view, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, and the majority of his “colleagues” on the City Commission, have become their own worst enemy; allowing mishandled finances, bungled purchasing, and policy failures to suppurate into a civic inferno of state financial audits and public integrity investigations.

As a result, the public’s trust in this wobbly and unpredictable city administration is at an all-time low.

And falling fast…

Unfortunately, the swirling controversy at City Hall has exposed an entrenched instability and gross dysfunction that is overshadowing every other aspect of the municipal government.  Now, residents are coming to the daunting realization that they are faced with a political problem that requires a political solution, as the subpoenas continue to fly.

This week beleaguered residents of the long-languishing beachside learned that work has begun to expand the city’s historic boardwalk.  The new section will extend south along a 245-foot stretch from the southern end of Breakers Oceanfront Park to the north side of Harvey Avenue to incorporate the beach approach.

According to reports, seawall construction is underway with the Boardwalk portion of the project still in the preliminary “design and permitting” phase.

Construction is expected to be complete in “Fall 2027.”

The cost of construction – and how to pay for it all – has yet to be determined… 

In the summer of 2023, Halifax area residents were told that the Mexican restaurant consortium Grupo Anderson was bringing a Señor Frog’s to a publicly owned beachfront lot in the city’s core tourist area.  

Remember?  I do.

It was all the rage…until it wasn’t.

According to a July 2023 report in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Señor Frog’s has agreed to lease the city-owned property just north of Harvey Avenue for the next 50 years, and the city will give the project a boost by covering $500,000 of its construction costs. The city will also pay a broker’s commission subsidy of $61,625.”

As I understood it (and I’m not sure I ever did), the return on investment for Daytona Beach taxpayers who were suddenly thrust into the restaurant business was that the city would serve as the eatery’s landlord – collecting monthly rent of $10,000 – which would double to $20,000 per month by the sixth year of operation with a 3% annual increase beginning in year seven.

According to the News-Journal, “The city will also charge Señor Frog’s percentage rent, collecting 3% of annual restaurant revenue that exceeds $5 million. The 3% payment on all sales over $5 million can provide an additional $30,000 per $1 million in sales.

The city is also getting a $9 million development on the .75-acre parcel between the beach and Ocean Avenue that’s been empty for decades and only used for parking in recent years.”

Even with a guaranteed half-million buildout spiff and code waivers, nearly three-years later, we haven’t heard a croak out of Señor Frog… 

Despite my longstanding aversion to offering lucrative public subsidies (“corporate welfare”) to for-profit interests, in my view, an attraction like Señor Frog’s would be a wonderful addition to our beleaguered beachside, one that has the potential to serve as a catalyst for more good things in our down-at-the-heels core tourist area.

In my view, this is an excellent opportunity to change the face of our core tourist area, something Daytona Beach and Volusia County officials should not take lightly. 

However, before blundering forward without any reasonable idea what a taxpayer investment in the extension will look like, those who accept public funds to plan economic development opportunities should determine why the “iconic” Daytona Beach Boardwalk has been a colossal failure for decades before tacking on 245-feet of ‘more of the same.’

Let’s determine why similarly situated communities around Florida and elsewhere enjoy successful boardwalks – scientifically and aesthetically designed places that offer a consistent draw – while ours languishes amid vacant lots and bad headlines…    

Let’s ask what others are doing/not doing that produces active public spaces where people want to be, then build something that reflects Daytona Beach’s unique history, beach culture, and civic identity.  

Sorry, I forgot.  Thanks to those dullards at the Halifax Area Advertising Authority, we don’t have a defined identity – forever stuck somewhere between a “family destination” and the debauched “Wide. Open. Fun.” of bikes, boobs, and beer.  

I’m cool with either civic personality – just pick one…

Once we’ve determined what works, what hasn’t, and why – city/county officials can form a strategic plan (hopefully not one that molders on a groaning shelf in a dusty dead records morgue) – taking lessons learned from other beachfront attractions and emulating those best practices here. 

(Or just dust off the 2013 Volusia County Tourism Marketing Analysis that was wholly ignored…)

I’ve said this before, but the future of our beachside should start by partnering with private “placemaking” experts.  Bringing together professional planners, engineers, and designers who can collaborate with residents and stakeholders to craft a vision that incorporates our unique oceanfront environment into the experience, increase entrepreneurial investment, and change the tragic trajectory of the most neglected stretch of dilapidated oceanfront on the Eastern Seaboard.  

In my view, a “build it and they will come” more of the same strategy, led by a horribly dysfunctional municipal government in the throes of a civic meltdown, is an incredibly expensive gamble for Volusia County taxpayers during these uncertain times.

And Another Thing!

“What has happened down here is the wind have changed,

Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain,

It rained real hard and it rained for a real long time,

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline…

They’re trying to wash us away,

They’re trying to wash us away…”

—Louisiana 1927, Randy Newman

That old song came to mind last week when I read the heartbreaking news from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who, after a two-year multidisciplinary analysis of flooding in Daytona’s historic Midtown neighborhood, have determined that there’s nothing they can do to stop the inundation…

The winds have changed, alright.  All across the width and breadth of Volusia County.

So have political loyalties.

No one who should gives two-shits about Midtown – or your established neighborhood, for that matter.  As the “Big Money” moves west, so does the focus and attention of our movers-and-shakers.  Now, complications from inadequate infrastructure are meant to be marginalized or covered up – not openly discussed – especially when they become intractable problems with no viable solution.

Trust me, those who stand to profit most from malignant growth wish people like me would stop mentioning the unpleasant side effects in public.  But if you think this problem is limited to Midtown, just look at the fill-and-build construction happening next to your neighborhood, then think again…    

During last week’s City Commission meeting, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representatives explained the area of Midtown and Fairway Estates is, topographically speaking, a “bowl.” 

When storms come, rainwater and “unmanageable runoff” quickly fills the low-lying area and is devastatingly slow to recede.  The problem is worsened by a number of factors, to include inadequate drainage infrastructure, the antiquated 100-year-old Nova Canal that was never designed for current demands, and the challenges of draining water east to the Halifax River due to tidal influences.

The situation has resulted in extensive repeat flooding in an area that can least afford to rebuild due to generational poverty, civic neglect, and other economic constraints.   

According to the experts, there are no practicable solutions to the problem.   

In an article by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week, she explained “The Army Corps engineers were tasked with finding a feasible solution, and they concluded anything that would help would be prohibitively expensive.

They suggested the city pursue federal funds to buy out about 40 of the most flood-prone properties in Midtown.

“I know it’s bad news, and it’s going to take time to process,” Jim LaGrone, a project manager with the Army Corp’s Jacksonville District, told city commissioners.”

If it’s any solace to residents soon to be displaced from their homes, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry is apparently unconsolable, “You have brought to us the worst news. Our biggest dream was we’d have a solution. If I said I was anything less than heartbroken now, I’d be lying.”

Whatever.

Look, historically speaking, there’s enough blame to go around – and few answers as to why a neighborhood was allowed to be built at the bottom of a natural retention pond – or why more wasn’t done to upgrade drainage infrastructure once these problems were identified years ago?

Unfortunately, that same question could be asked in most places across the “Fun Coast” where development-induced flooding repeatedly inundates homes and property, as the bulldozers continue to roar… 

According to the News-Journal, “There’s also very little green space in Midtown and Fairway Estates to absorb rainwater, and many of the buildings there are older and have their first floors at or below street level.”

Sound familiar?

The Corps of Engineers representatives explained that each of the proposed solutions – to include building storm surge barriers, raising canal berms, and even turning the municipal golf course into a large drainage area using 15-foot levies – were prohibitively expensive, costing much more than the structures they would be saving. 

That means competing for federal funds with other jurisdictions having more “feasible and economically justified projects” puts Daytona Beach at the bottom of the list…

Apparently, the only feasible alternative is for the City of Daytona Beach to partner with the federal government and mitigate future expenses by purchasing the most flood prone properties, something that will leave hundreds of other homes and commercial properties subject to continued inundation.

Unfortunately, it appears Midtown is literally being washed away – culturally, economically, and physically – and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it. 

I have no doubt some soulless developer will exploit this tragedy to their advantage – slash, burn, fill, and build around the perimeter of what was once historic Midtown – then market their new wood frame cracker boxes as “waterfront property from the $400’s.”

Sad, but infinitely possible, in an era of abject corruption in Tallahassee where anything goes.

As our region continues to be paved over with little (if any) consideration of expanding public utilities and infrastructure – a perfect storm (as it were) of a bought-and-pain-for state legislature intent on preempting local control of growth management – expect to see more of these “Nuttin’ we can do, y’all” explanations coming to more areas across Volusia County and beyond…  

Is your neighborhood next?

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