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…

City of Ormond Beach – Welcome to the Weirdness

I guess it’s the Ormond Beach City Commission’s turn in the barrel, eh? 

Unfortunately, it comes to all communities eventually.

Differences of opinion, outside influences, or simmering personality clashes between those huge egos that are drawn to politics finally boil over, factions form, and what was once a working elected body lycanthropically transforms into a snarling, dysfunctional shitshow.

Examples of this syndrome include the Lost City of Deltona, Palm Coast, or the decade old Debacle in DeBary, which ultimately saw the city’s demonstrably weird mayor cashiered following a Kangaroo Kourt that continues to serve as a cautionary tale for area municipalities.  

A better illustration is the continuous thuggery that County Chair Jeff Brower has suffered for the past six years at the hands of two iterations of the Volusia County Council – a near constant bullying, blocking, and marginalization as the “Old Guard” attempts to beat him into the round hole of lockstep conformity.

Most recently, there was an unfortunate incident where the Volusia County Council failed to respond to a racial slur uttered from the podium during public comments.  In the aftermath, each elected official present cited the fact they were distracted or did not hear the offensive term at the time it was uttered.

Except At-Large Councilman Jake the Snake Johansson…

Not one to miss a meanspirited opportunity to paint Chairman Brower in a bad light, Johansson – who heard the repulsive epithet and later admitted his own moral cowardice, stating “I should have said something” – turned the tables and slammed Brower for not “stopping it immediately.”

Incredibly, Johansson doubled down in an open letter read in his absence at last week’s Volusia County Council meeting, which read, in part: “I will be working with the chairman during meetings to ensure we respond appropriately in the future and will ensure to become more active in voicing my opinion when issues are not addressed in a timely manner.”

Shameless…

In February, the Ormond Beach City Commission fell victim to similar infighting when Vice Mayor Lori Tolland, Zone 3 Commissioner Kristin Deaton, and Zone 2 Commissioner Travis Sargent put the boots to Mayor Jason Leslie for his participation in the seemingly normal mayoral duty of escorting a reporter to highlight several community amenities.

The mayor’s unforgivable transgression of painting his community in a positive light without clearing it through an unelected staff member resulted in a sustained attack from Deaton and Tolland – who went as far as suggesting a city ordinance to quash the free and open exchange of information between elected officials and their constituents – prohibiting individual elected officials from speaking to residents without majority approval.

Bullshit.

This petty bruhaha resulted in embarrassing media coverage, a critical essay in RedTapeFlorida.com, a rebuttal by former Ormond Beach Commissioner Jeff Boyle, disturbing revelations about how the city’s “public information” apparatus operates and concerned murmurings by residents confused by the backbiting. 

Now, Mayor Leslie has apparently gone a step too far when he had the temerity to visit a valuable civic resource, Barracks of Hope – the successful transitional housing program of Halifax Urban Ministries serving homeless military veterans – which resulted in even more questions from his “colleagues” on the dais.

According to a report last week by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“On March 12, the Ormond Beach City Commission were all copied on an email from Halifax Urban Ministries’ interim executive director Donna Dooley.

Dooley thanked Mayor Jason Leslie for visiting the faith-based nonprofit’s Barracks of Hope, a homeless shelter for veterans in Daytona Beach. She also mentioned that the shelter’s program manager “noted the possibility of available funds from the city of Ormond.”

“Could you please advise us on the next steps? We are very interested in continuing our partnership with Ormond Beach,” Dooley wrote.

City Commissioner Travis Sargent brought the email up at the commission’s meeting on April 1, asking the mayor to elaborate on what was discussed during his tour.

“I don’t know that we have available funds to donate to anyone,” Sargent said.”

And so, it began…

Mayor Leslie explained he viewed Barracks of Hope as another potential resource to address homelessness, something the commission might want staff to research, so police officers and those performing outreach would have another tool. 

Apparently, there was confusion as to whether Mayor Leslie suggested to HUM administrators that there may be city funds available to assist Barracks of Hope.  Regardless, there is an established appropriation process in place for donations to non-profits (like the $85,000 Ormond Beach pisses away each year on the enigmatic First Step Shelter) – and not something Mr. Leslie could snap his fingers and authorize on his own.

Something tells me Commissioner Sargent knows that… 

One thing is certain, in Volusia County politics, you’re either part of the clubbish “in-crowd” or you aren’t.  

During last year’s election cycle, Mayor Leslie – a newcomer to local politics – took on popular perennial politician Commissioner Susan Persis.  The disparity in campaign contributions told observers all they needed to know about who our “movers and shakers” supported.

Before the general election, Persis collected contributions totaling $106,427.53 (for an Ormond Beach mayoral race?) more than double Mr. Leslie’s largely self-funded $42,797.  

All the right last names were represented in the Persis war chest, along with the various entities and LLCs under their control.  That included heavy hitters in the Halifax area’s aggressive development community, and everyone who is anyone in what passes for Volusia County’s social, civic, and political nobility…

But the harsh reality of politics is that votes beat money every time.

Last November, Mayor Leslie soundly defeated Susan Persis with nearly 54% of the vote, proving that many in Ormond Beach are seeking substantive change as we watch our beautiful community transmogrify into something unrecognizable, with looming threats to our quality of life now closing from all sides… 

Perhaps the loud and clear message behind Mayor Leslie’s victory over an entrenched insider is something the remainder of the commission should consider? 

In my view, it is time for Ormond Beach’s elected officials to learn the lessons of other local governments who have been derailed by distracting power struggles, stop the spiteful sniping on the dais, and get back to the pressing issues facing our community. 

Belvedere Terminal’s Palm Coast Project Withers in the Sunshine

Well, that didn’t take long…

Just days after Belvedere Terminals joined with Palm Coast and Flagler County officials to officially announce it was considering a 78-acre site off Peavy Grade for a planned 12.6-million-gallon fuel distribution site, residents let their elected officials know just how they feel about it, and any political support it appeared to have quickly faded.    

Last week, Flagler County officials pulled a proposed agenda item considering a $10 million grant agreement with the Florida Department of Commerce that would have been used to acquire the property and fund certain infrastructure improvements related to the fuel terminal while the City of Palm Coast sought a site analysis to determine suitability.

The Peavy Grade site is adjacent to a Palm Coast water treatment facility, several potable water wells, and two subdivisions, which prompted concerns similar to those expressed by Ormond Beach residents when their community was threatened.

According to a report in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Palm Coast resident Angela Dawson said, “It sounds as bad to me as a nuclear waste site. …homes will be devalued, and what about a mass casualty event? You’re putting our lives at risk, now and into the future.

Another resident, Wayne Bruce, said, “This is gallons of diesel fuel you’re talking about. …” we need to study the risks. I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen to our beautiful city.”

Diesel fuel would be just one of several products such as gasoline, ethanol, propane and other sources of energy that would go through the terminal.”

In an effort to protect the best interests of her constituents, Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri was quoted by FlaglerLive! last week expressing her valid fears:

“One of my concerns is, we’re going to pick this land and the county is going to buy it and own the land, and the company is going to go belly-up,” Pontieri said. (Belvedere’s CEO, Edwin Cothron, filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and 2012.) “If it does go belly up we certainly don’t want a wasteland, particularly next to residential development.”

According to the report, even Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris – who championed the project as an economic boon and strategic fuel supply in an emergency – acknowledged the site is not suitable, “Maybe they can try something further down in the county. I don’t know. If it’s safe in the county that’s a big bonus to the tax base, but I don’t think the citizens of Palm Coast have an appetite for it. But that’ll be between the county and Belvedere.”

In an all to familiar twist, Palm Coast and Flagler County residents also learned last week that their elected and appointed officials engaged in secret closed door meetings with Belvedere in late February and early March, keeping things quiet under a weird state provision that exempts certain economic development projects from public disclosure – which means you and I can be kept in the dark while the particulars are “worked out,” (wink, wink).   

In my view, regardless of the project, that’s not transparency – its collusion – and the reaction of vulnerable Palm Coast residents is what happens when people realize they’ve been kept in the dark and fed bullshit…

By last Friday, Mayor Norris, apparently sensitive to public pressure and the reluctance of his “colleagues” formally pulled his support for the fuel terminal. 

For now, it appears the brief discussion of the Peavy Grade location is over. 

So, the frightening saga of a massive bulk fuel terminal looking for a home continues – and the speculation is making residents in southern Flagler County nervous for the same reasons the citizens of Ormond Beach and Palm Coast roundly rejected the project in their backyard. 

In my view, if you live anywhere along the Florida East Coast Railroad in Flagler, Volusia, or Brevard Counties and value your quality of life, this one bears watching…

Volusia County District Schools – Financial Apocalypse?  Here we go again…

From the “what else is new?” column…

With an astronomical annual budget now north of $1.5 billion, on Tuesday, strapped taxpayers, students, and staff learned that Volusia County District Schools is facing yet another Financial Armageddon.      

You know, another chorus of the Poormouth Blues: “difficult decisions,” “program adjustments,” “closing schools,” “reevaluating staff ratios,” and the frightening refrain “gonna try and retain teachers.” 

Go figure…

During a workshop earlier this week, the Volusia County School Board got the annual bad news from Chief Financial Officer Todd Seis that the district currently has a $25.8 million deficit in its general operating fund. Per usual, the district’s senior staff is blaming the Florida Legislature/declining enrollment/school choice/etc. for its perpetual inability to live within its steadily escalating budget. 

During her 2024 campaign for the district 4 School Board seat, Donna Brosemer – whose fiscal conservatism and no-nonsense observations led her to victory over perennial politician Carl Persis last November – wrote in an essay published in the Ormond Beach Observer:

“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.”

(Current estimates show an enrollment of 57,100 for the 2024-25 academic year.)

She also discussed the various windfalls and COVID relief funds that have benefitted the district over the past few years and suggests anyone looking on would think Volusia County Schools are “rolling in dough.”

Read the remainder of Ms. Brosemer’s insightful op/ed here: https://tinyurl.com/mr3at849

During Tuesday’s discussion, District 2 School Board Member Krista Goodrich attempted to calm the waters, explaining “There’s no cause for panic or fear right now. We want to hear from the community, hear from our stakeholders about ways that we can increase our enrollments, ways that we can make our schools more efficient and optimize the size of them.” 

Which is unusual, because Superintendent Carmen Balgobin and her senior “cabinet” have historically been less than receptive to the concerns and suggestions of those most effected by “program adjustments,” school closings, and other broadbrush financial decisions to meet the latest economic catastrophe du jour that have a negative impact on the educational experience of students…   

Hell, don’t take my word for it. 

Ask the City of Ormond Beach how responsive the administration was to retain the now defunct Osceola Elementary rather than convert it to the Riverview Learning Center, an alternative education program for troubled students, that was sprung on residents.

During a 2021 community meeting to address mounting concerns, confused residents heard the same refrain from their neighbors: “I honestly am appalled that everybody was blindsided by the decision with zero input,” and “People living directly next to Osceola had zero idea that this was happening.”

Quickly followed by former School Board member Persis, staring at his shoes and blubbering – “Was it anyone’s intent to keep it from you?  No. Was it anything shady, underhanded? No, I guarantee you that…”

Right.

Confidence inspiring, eh?

In my experience, no one in the Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand has ever given two-shits about stakeholder input on “…ways we can make our schools more efficient;” and the Volusia County School Board has never been known for their stewardship of our hard-earned tax dollars.

For instance, in November 2023, taxpayers watched in stunned silence as Superintendent Balgobin dispatched her redundant deputy superintendent, and an equally unnecessary “Interim Chief Operating Officer,” to prostrate themselves before the Volusia County Council and beg the county to pay for school resource deputies at multiple middle schools. 

It was a pathetic example of how not to sell a funding proposal important to protecting the physical safety of children and staff…   

As you may recall, Balgobin’s hapless emissaries were horribly unprepared – equipped only with a slapdash slideshow and a misguided notion that the Volusia County Council would simply rubber stamp their ask. 

To their credit, the Volusia County Council did something they almost never do – stood on principle – and sent the district representatives away emptyhanded with an admonition to get their facts in order the next time they come grubbing for money.

Then, one year ago, Volusia County taxpayers, students, teachers, and staff learned (by email) that despite repeated concerns – the district had inexplicably continued to use temporary federal emergency relief funds for recurring personnel expenses – knowing well the federal teat would run dry on a date certain…

Why would anyone with a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers do that?

Again, in keeping with the worst traditions of what passes for fiscal stewardship, the finger pointing and obfuscation began with Superintendent Balgobin and Chief Bean Counter Seis claiming they “inherited” the problem and other financial issues from their predecessors…    

As the emergency relief revenue drew to a predictable close, we were told teachers were in danger of being “displaced,” popular electives eliminated, and core subjects diluted amidst growing fears of overcrowded classrooms.

I could go on. And on, and on…

It was “Armageddon” all over again.

Now, the shameless ‘budgeting by fearmongering’ continues…

But why? 

Cui Bono?

As President Elizabeth Albert of Volusia United Educators, the union representing teachers and instructional staff, explained on Tuesday “We understand that the legislature is not doing their part to fund public schools appropriately. However, as it was pointed out in the discussion today, every year we have an initial discussion about the budget where essentially the sky is falling and there’s no money. But we always end up in the black.”

I agree with Board Member Goodrich – with a budget now in excess of $1.5 billion – it is time for the Volusia County School Board to make the tough decisions required of them and stop this tiresome “Chicken Little” routine that marks each budget discussion.

In my view, a good start would be taking a hard look at Superintendent Balgobin’s top-heavy administration, hacking the thick rind of fat off that bloated bureaucracy, then reinvest those funds in the classroom where students learn.

Quote of the Week

“Palm Coast is down to two.

The only candidate with city manager experience has dropped out of contention to be the next city manager of Palm Coast. Sonia Alves-Viveiros informed the city, through a consultant, on April 7 that she had withdrawn.

Alves-Viveiros had been the No. 4-ranked choice out of five.

Less than a week ago, the top-ranked candidate dropped out of contention: William Lee Smith has been hired as the city manager in Nome, Alaska. (That’s about 4,218 miles away.)

The news was reported to the City of Palm Coast on April 1 by Doug Thomas, executive vice president over recruitment and leadership development for SGR, the firm the city has hired to guide its city manager search.

Thomas also reported that another candidate, Michael Reese, also dropped out “to focus his energies on another opportunity,” Thomas wrote. He had been ranked fifth at the City Council’s March 11 meeting.”

–Editor Brian McMillan, writing in the Palm Coast Observer, “Another candidate drops out of city manager search; Palm Coast has two remaining choices,” Monday, April 7, 2025  

It’s no secret. 

The City of Palm Coast has trouble attracting quality leadership – elected or appointed – and the unfortunate results are becoming too obvious to ignore…

According to reports, the top-rated applicant for the vacant Palm Coast city manager position, William “Lee” Smith, formerly of Port Wentworth, Georgia, announced last week that he was taking the job in Nome, Alaska – a community of approximately 3,700 located less than a 150 miles from the Arctic Circle on the Bering Sea – with a climate marked by “long, very cold winters, and short, cool summers…”

According to an article by Diane Haecker writing in the Nome Nugget last month, during his interview with the common council, “Smith also noted that Nome is at the precipice of major growth that may come with the Port of Nome expansion and stressed that his strength lies in preparation for changes of that nature and planning for increased housing needs and economic development strategies. He described his leadership style as “management by walking around,” knowing the departments and effectively communicating.”

Trust me, planning for change and preparation for growth is something the entirety of Florida’s “Fun Coast” could benefit from, and it appears Palm Coast may have lost a true asset in Mr. Smith.

As residents of The Lost City of Deltona and now Palm Coast can attest, instability and dysfunction have profound civic consequences.  According to the Observer’s report, “Thirty-eight candidates applied for the Palm Coast position.

Meanwhile, in similarly sized Palm Bay, 114 candidates applied for the position of city manager, which most recently paid about $260,000…” 

In an odd twist, Palm Bay recently hired former Palm Coast City Manager Matt Morton, who fled City Hall amidst political turmoil in 2021. Now, the tumultuous Palm Coast City Council are left with few (as in two) options.

By Monday, things deteriorated when Sonia Alves-Viveiros informed Palm Coast officials through their headhunter that she was withdrawing from consideration citing a “lack of stability” on the city council.  

She isn’t wrong…

According to reports, the remaining candidates are Paul Trombino and Richard Hough, neither of which have served as a city manager before.  

Unfortunately, it now appears any candidate worth their salt would rather work in a Bangladeshi coal mine than suffer through the external influence, self-serving agendas, and political intrigue that have so horribly compromised Palm Coast governance…

And Another Thing!

In July 2024, those self-described “fiscal conservatives” on the Volusia County Council once again dipped into voter approved ECHO funds – adding approximately $10 million in “direct county expenditures” (read: “It’s our piggybank and we take what we want”) – to include $3.5 million for Councilman Don Dempsey’s self-indulgent motocross facility…

In my view, shoehorning the pet projects of council members while supplanting recurring repair and replacement expenditures for existing infrastructure with funds earmarked for new grants by wrapping it in bureaucratese and shoving it down our throats is not a compliant use of these tax dollars.

It’s bait-and-switch sneak thievery…

Most responsible governments (without a slimy tax supported slush fund at their disposal) properly budget for asset repair and replacement obligations each year. In Volusia County, senior staff simply craft a narrative that fits within the ballot language that was used to convince voters to renew the ECHO and Forever programs.   

Rather than justify the expenditure in a competitive process with other public and non-profit applicants, the County of Volusia simply reaches into the pot of money using an obscure 2020 resolution passed by the Volusia County Council authorizing the ballot initiative and permitting the council to use ECHO funds for “direct county expenditure for County government projects or by grants-in-aid awards.”

I’ve said this before, but when I voted to extend the ECHO and Forever programs, I had no idea that those dollars would ultimately be used for “cultural and historic” amenities like repairing long neglected beach ramps, walkovers, and docks, renovating public restrooms and parking lots at county facilities, or building a multi-million-dollar motocross facility to eliminate overhead for a yet to be identified for-profit motorsports contractor.  

In my view, the premeditated shim-sham Director of Community Services Director Dr. Brad Burbaugh is pulling on unsuspecting Volusia County taxpayers to misappropriate Volusia Forever funds – tax dollars earmarked for the purchase of conservation land to protect Volusia County’s biodiversity – should be stopped. 

Now.

At their September 2024 meeting – without being told the site was being purchased for Dempsey’s motocross facility – the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee was merely asked to use suitability criteria to determine if wetlands located on the property being considered off State Road 44 made the parcel eligible for further consideration.  

According to a sparse application filed by the property owner, when asked to “Briefly explain why this parcel(s) should be considered as eligible for purchase in the Volusia Forever Land Acquisition Program,” the company simply responded:

“You called us to buy it.”

You read that right. 

It is now chillingly apparent that Dr. Burbaugh went property shopping with our money to find a suitable location for Councilman Dempsey’s motocross track – then used carefully crafted smoke-and-mirrors to sneak it past the appropriations requirements of Volusia Forever…   

That’s wrong.

Trust in government is essential in a functioning democracy, and public confidence in those we elect and appoint to represent our best interests forms the foundation of good governance.  

If this cheap deception is permitted, it will cement the “business as usual” skepticism that has destroyed public trust in county government, and it will become perfectly acceptable for senior staff to quibble resolutions, twist ballot language, and stretch programmatic intent to shoehorn anything and everything they wish.

Including the pet personal projects of sitting politicians or their influential cronies…

In my view, those machinations are what destroyed the credibility of the Volusia ECHO and Forever programs before – and why the Volusia County Council still suffers from the stigma of the “trust issue” that has left us the disheveled civic laughingstock for the remainder of Central Florida. 

The ECHO and Forever funding for the incongruous purchase of land for “conservation and outdoor motorized recreation” – along with the long-delayed discussion of permitting driving on the now closed section of the beach from International Speedway Boulevard to Auditorium Boulevard in Daytona Beach – will come before the Volusia County Council next Tuesday.

The fun begins at 4:00pm in the Volusia County Council Chambers in DeLand.

You might want to be there for this one… 

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…

Belvedere Terminals – A Case Study in Confusion and Incompetence

It’s someone else’s problem now. 

Great…

I hate to be a turd in the proverbial punchbowl – and the good people of Ormond Beach and beyond who fought hard against the Belvedere Terminals facility on Hull Road have every right to celebrate this rare and important win – but I believe if you seek good governance in your own hometown, you should want good governance everywhere.

When it comes to the fumbling machinations of government, sometimes I wonder if the right hand really knows what the left is doing – or if the disconnect between the bureaucracy and the elected officials is so wide that things happen in spite of our representatives, not because of them?

For instance, during the summer of 2023, Ormond Beach residents were stupefied by an article in The Daytona Beach News-Journal reporting plans to build a 20-million-gallon bulk fuel storage farm as part of a hub-and-spur distribution network that would have seen dangerous petroleum products delivered by rail, stored in massive above ground tanks, and distributed by a steady 24/7 stream of tanker trucks on two-lane Hull Road.

It was a massive blow to public confidence as the community was galvanized by the stark realization that our elected officials in Volusia County and Ormond Beach were just as clueless as the rest of us frightened rubes – made to look like flummoxed fools by their senior staff – without any repercussions or accountability. 

As the news swept the region, concerned residents appeared in the Volusia County Council chambers and packed Ormond Beach City Commission meetings as residents mobilized to express their growing outrage against what many rightfully saw as a direct threat to our environment, property values, physical safety, and quality of life.

Of course, our elected officials wrung their hands and fretted over what could be done to oppose the project as residents demanded to know why city and county officials failed to warn them of the clear and present danger. 

In the absence of a strategic response, stern letters were written, and fingers were pointed, but no one seemed to know how to extricate the community from the situation.

Then taxpayers learned the deck had been statutorily stacked against them in favor of a bulk fuel supplier with no experience building or operating terminals and Grupo México – the foreign company with a history of environmental concerns who owns the Florida East Coast Railroad.

What followed was a textbook example of how government reacts when it gets caught flatfooted – and we all knew it wouldn’t be long before some government entity started throwing our money at the problem…   

When the grim news came that there was little, if anything, anyone could do to stop the terminal if Belvedere pushed the issue, rather than find a way to legally prevent the facility in the most inappropriate place on the Eastern Seaboard – or stop corporate “property rights” from trumping public safety – in 2024, the Florida legislature allocated $10 million in public funds to “incentivize” the project, so long as it was located anywhere but Ormond Beach…

There was speculation that some of Volusia County’s heaviest political hitters were involved behind the scenes, and some suggested the facility would ultimately be moved to a location near Oak Hill.  Then came a plan for the citizens of Ormond Beach to share some $100,000 in legal expenses with a company located near the site – and the cowardly rejection of a moratorium by the Volusia County Council amid the specter of a Bert J. Harris Act suit.

Then, an eerie quiet as Belvedere Terminals went silent…  

Last week, news broke that the massive fuel depot will be built on a 78-acre site off Palm Coast’s Peavy Grade – immediately adjacent to the city’s Water Treatment Plant 3 on U.S. 1. – which, according to a city website, contains some twenty potable water wells… 

According to a report in FlaglerLive!:

“The $75 million to $80 million capital investment locally will result in a half dozen fuel tanks with a total capacity of 300,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel storage, or 12.6 million gallons–the equivalent of 17 water towers like Palm Coast’s off I-95.

A 125-car train will deliver the fuel to the facility, emptying the fuel into the storage tanks about once a week. (The locomotive will be run by CSX engineers on Florida East Coast’s rail line, but the train cars, designed at the latest safety standards, will be owned by the company). From there, tank truck will distribute the fuel to stations in Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns counties, leaving the plant at the rate of one every four hours, 24 hours a day. Not including the truck drivers, the plant is expected to employ 30 to 40 people, most of them engineers, at an average salary of $100,000.

Local property tax revenue is expected to reach $800,000 a year, according to Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito.”

Having learned something from the pushback in Ormond Beach, Flagler County officials appear to be taking a different tack – “We’re just giving you what you asked for…”

In a press release last week, Acting Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston said, “This land is already zoned industrial in Flagler County.  We’ve heard from our community that economic vitality is a top priority, as it will help us diversify our tax base. This project will help us start to balance our tax base more evenly and minimize the burden on residential homeowners.”

It appears that without any input from affected residents, Petito and Johnston have teamed to sprinkle sparkle dust on the project and get in front of any resistance – in the process sounding like enthusiastic mouthpieces for an untested fuel distribution company who seeks to put 12.6 million gallons of petroleum within a few thousand feet of a drinking water source.

In my view, that’s a risky position, especially given the mercurial nature of their elected bosses.

For instance, by Tuesday, Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri was questioning the proposed location of the fuel terminal – just 1.7 miles from the Sawmill Branch development and adjacent to KB Home’s Somerset subdivision – suggesting that Belvedere Terminals pay for a site selection survey to determine suitability.

That didn’t sit well with Mayor Mike Norris, who touted the tax revenue and strategic value of having a ready supply of fuel in the event of an emergency.  According to a piece in the Palm Coast Observer this week:

“…those developers knew full well that was an industrial site,” Norris said. In fact, the developers requested a zoning modification in 2020, enabling homes to be built closer to the industrial land.

Norris feels convinced that the fuel terminal will be safe.

“The technology and all the regulatory agencies that go into approving these sites are still in place,” he said, noting that, in Jacksonville, KB Home is also building homes next to a fuel storage site.

The good outweighs the bad, in Norris’ mind. “We have to diversify our tax base.”

Feel better?  Me neither…

According to the report, “The audience applauded Pontieri for challenging Belvedere and Norris.”

Interesting… 

After our elected officials in Volusia County and Ormond Beach finish patting themselves on the back for the “innovative” solution of throwing $10+ million of our tax dollars at the problem, let’s wait and see what they do to prevent anything like this from happening again.  

With those shameless development shills Volusia County Councilmen Danny “Gaslight” Robins and David “No Show” Santiago mysteriously intent on tapping the brakes before instituting protections for the Hull Road property – let’s see the urgency with which the bureaucracy moves to protect current and future residents in Ormond Beach and beyond now that the immediate threat has become someone else’s problem…

Dempsey’s Folly Hits the Fast Track  

Waterlogged residents across the width and breadth of Volusia County who have agonized over how to protect their homes from the devastating effects of recurrent flooding – citizens who repeatedly present themselves before the Volusia County Council, then watch helplessly as the strategic foot-dragging continues – have been frustrated by how painfully slow the gears grind in the hallowed halls of power in DeLand. 

That’s why many were shocked to learn earlier this week that District 1 Councilman Donnie “Braaap-Braaap” Dempsey is on the fast-track to get his shiny new play toy approved – a multi-million-dollar publicly funded motocross facility.

Councilman Dempsey’s pet project advanced at the speed of a Husqvarna FC450 and came to a funding vote just over a year after it was initially proposed…

In a weird hybrid misuse of both Volusia Forever and Volusia ECHO funds, Director of Community Services Brad Burbaugh tapped his top hat with a magic wand and pulled a plan out of his backside to use $4,628,000 from the tax supported programs to purchase 356-acres off State Road 44 to accommodate Dempsey’s motocross facility.

To grease the wheels, a portion of wetlands on the property were cleverly designated a “conservation area” – a convenient means of skirting the fine line of the Volusia Forever’s mission of protecting the county’s natural biodiversity – not facilitate a commercial motocross track…

According to this week’s Volusia County Council agenda item, on July 11, 2024, “…the ECHO advisory committee reviewed the ECHO direct county expenditure (DCE) plan inclusive of $3.5 million for a motocross facility.” 

According to the July 2024 ECHO Advisory Committee’s agenda, the motocross facility was listed on a PowerPoint presentation entitled “ECHO Direct County Expenditure Updated Plan” – but I couldn’t locate an application or score sheet attached…

The agenda item also stated that at their September 13, 2024, meeting the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee “…used the Site Ranking Criteria (attached) to determine this property was eligible for further consideration.”

Except the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee was never told that part of the property purchased would be used for a motocross facility… 

Why is that?

According to a sparse application filed by the seller, Volusia 44 Properties, LLC, when asked to “Briefly explain why this parcel(s) should be considered as eligible for purchase in the Volusia Forever Land Acquisition Program,” the company simply responded:

“You called us to buy it.”

That’s brief alright, but we’re buying it anyway.  Paying over $4 million for cattle pasture to accommodate Dempsey’s Folly…

Yeah.  I know. I wish they would call me, too…

What? 

You thought Volusia County officials would focus Volusia ECHO and Volusia Forever funds on a comprehensive conservation effort after earning the horrific distinction of being the most flood prone county in Florida? 

You thought our elected dullards should use ECHO/Forever funds for the synergistic purchase of wetlands, recharge areas, and ecologically sensitive locations to help control widespread development-induced flooding – or, at the very least – consider passive outdoor recreation activities that everyone who pays for them can enjoy? 

Nah. 

Councilman Dempsey needs a state-of-the-art motocross facility, and, by God, he’s going to get one, even if Dr. Quackenbush Burbaugh has to use every tool in his trick bag to make it happen…

Without much fanfare (or public input), last year, Volusia County officials authorized Hunden Strategic Partners to conduct a feasibility study for what Dempsey called “a top-notch facility,” or at least the best our money can buy. 

While hydrologic and stormwater management studies continue to drag on ad infinitum, the county’s motocross consultant was Johnny on the spot, completing the “feasibility” analysis in no time… 

According to a 2024 report in the News-Journal, “The feasibility study looked at a facility with two full-sized competitive motocross tracks, a minimum of 50 RV slips with electric and water hookups, 750 general parking spaces, concession and bathroom facilities and a training facility or pro shop.”

The consultant also reported that construction of the facility was estimated to cost about $10.2 million… 

Disturbingly, Volusia County has yet to specify where that money is coming from, if county personnel will operate the facility, or if there will be a “public/private” partnership with a private/for profit motorsports company. 

During the public comment portion of the meeting, I enjoyed local environmental activist Cat Pante’s forward thinking solution that Forever and ECHO funds now earmarked for Dempsey’s Folly be reallocated to purchase the Hull Road property once eyed by Belvedere Terminals and use it to turn the area into a park with unique public amenities.  

During Tuesday’s Volusia County Council meeting, Mr. Dempsey appeared to be calling in from the dark side of the moon when the County’s historically unreliable communications system in the council chamber – which has the pitch, tone, and consistency of Alexander Graham Bell’s harmonic telegraph – once again malfunctioned.  

After putting more wax on the frayed string between the rusty tomato cans (and the clerk serving as intermediary) the audience learned that Dempsey wanted the agenda item authorizing the expenditure postponed until the next meeting – no doubt so he can be present to wallow in the adoration of his small but influential motocross constituency… 

And that, friends and neighbors, is how efficiently things can be accomplished in Volusia County government; unless, of course, it involves development-induced flooding, limiting malignant sprawl, or reducing the size and scope of the morbidly bloated bureaucracy.    

Unfortunately, their concerns and priorities truly are different than ours…  

Quote of the Week  

“This is proof, council, that we can set up a common sense program with reasonable expectations for our community members to do, and it can work,” Kent said. “This was a 36-year ban. This is a big deal, and this is part of why I ran for this seat — to start to give the beach back to the residents of Volusia County, and this program is not only giving it back to the residents, but to our visitors as well.”

–District 4 Volusia County Councilman Troy Kent, as quoted by the Ormond Beach Observer, “Volusia County Council makes dog beach permanent in Ormond,” Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Look, “commonsense” and the “Volusia County Council” are not things I normally read in the same sentence, but after Tuesday’s vote to make Ormond’s dog beach a fixture, I have to agree with Councilman Troy Kent.

Kudos to Daytona Dog Beach, Inc., its intrepid president Nannette Petrella, and the organizations enthusiastic membership for proving the possibility of guiding a recalcitrant government to do the right thing – for the right reasons – by showing extraordinary leadership, stewardship, and perseverance.

In addition, a big thank you to Halifax area philanthropists Nancy and Lowell Lohman – pet-lovers and all-around good eggs – who early in the process eliminated the “cost argument” by pledging $100,000 to underwrite the pilot program. 

Due in no small part to Volusia County Councilman Kent’s efforts, this week five members of the Volusia County Council (with Johansson and Dempsey absent) voted to make Ormond Beach’s dog-friendly beach a permanent amenity for residents and visitors.

To their credit, the program was universally supported by those elected officials present, and during the discussion, Councilman Danny Robins graciously provided Ms. Petrella with a letter of support:

“Since day one yourself, volunteers, and the Daytona Dog Beach organization has shown tremendous dedication and have proven to be an exemplary model of how a true partnership should be,” Robins wrote. 

My hope is the Ormond Beach site will prove the value of expanding the popular program to other Volusia County beaches in the future.  According to a report by Jarleene Almenas writing in the Ormond Beach Observer this week, that may be a possibility:

“Council Chair Jeff Brower said the reason the pilot was a success was because of Daytona Dog Beach and the Lohmans. He’s recently received requests for expanding other areas of the beach to dogs.

“We’ll see what the future holds,” Brower said.”

Great news, and a shining example of Margret Meads promise that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can still change our small corner of the world for the better. 

And Another Thing!

As a veteran political voyeur and a dilletante editorialist, I always have more than enough material for these weekly screeds, and regular readers know that beating dead mules has become a perverse pastime of mine. 

In fact, flogging civic issues, repeatedly harping on civic missteps, tilting at windmills, and causing discomfiture in the various political fishing camps around these parts has become my purpose in retirement.   

But some weeks it can be hard to fit it all in…

For instance, this week, former Ormond Beach City Commissioner Jeff Boyle wrote a well-thought editorial in The Daytona Beach News-Journal rekindling the tempest in a teapot between Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie and his “colleagues,” something many in City Hall would prefer quietly went away.

I disagree with Mr. Boyle’s position – and I support Mayor Leslie’s right to speak to his constituents without washing his thoughts through the city’s public information apparatus – so, I wanted nothing more than to respond with a pithy quip (which, for me, takes between 800-1,200 words…) – but I didn’t.

Let it go, Barker.   I’ve said my piece.    

For now… 

Then, on Tuesday, I read an interesting article in the News-Journal that took us down the haunted memory lane that is the ongoing debacle at First Step Shelter – a shitshow of epic proportion that has now resulted in an expanding lawsuit against First Step and the City of Daytona Beach.   

My best/worst instinct was to take those members of the First Step’s governing board who still refuse to thoroughly investigate the whistleblower complaints (allegations that remain shrouded in secrecy) to the woodshed.  

Not going to rehash that sordid mess this week, either. 

But the uncomfortable facts uncovered in an exposé by reporter Zaffiro-Kean this week entitled “Daytona Beach’s Main Street hasn’t thrived for decades. That could finally be changing,” made it hard to keep my hyper-opinionated piehole shut, because this uncomfortable truth slaps me across the eyes with the same sting each time I read it:

 “Main Street has been in the middle of a community redevelopment area since 1982. That designation has provided the city nearly $150 million in property tax revenue over the past 43 years that has been available for revitalizing the core beachside area.

There are demands on that money throughout the redevelopment area, including bond debts that at one point tallied nearly $68 million. But some still question why the core tourist area of the beachside isn’t doing better by now.”

Read that again.

$150 million over the transom… 

Where?  For what?  How was the money spent? 

Qui bono?

In 2017, Eileen Zaffiro-Kean wrote the News-Journal’s infamous Tarnished Jewel series – a critical analysis that took us on a wild ride through the mean streets of the “Main Street Community Redevelopment Area” – a place that came to epitomize the historic lack of vision, poor leadership, and ineffective representation of a long and distinguished cavalcade of local elected and appointed officials throughout the Halifax area.

In my view, the work was worthy of the Pulitzer Prize.

Most important, the series brought into view the misjudgment of some prominent business and property owners who were convinced that throwing more tax dollars and lucrative “incentives” at developers was the answer to the myriad problems on the beachside, despite the lessons of the past.

Whenever public money is used to further private interests, regardless of the guise, that nexus is ripe for abuse. 

History teaches that when vast sums of money are entrusted to Halifax area politicians, a sizable portion will invariably find its way into the pockets of their cronies and political allies – and the rest will be used for “panacea projects” and even larger debt – that’s when money seems to fall through the cracks like beach sand through a sieve, making it infinitely more difficult to follow.

In the Tarnished Jewel series, we learned that former officials were unable to adequately account for millions of dollars the city borrowed relative to the Main Street CRA – and according to the report, much of the remaining revenues would go to paying off bonds for “improvements” related to the Ocean Walk, “e-zone,” and other projects east of A-1-A.

We also became aware that redevelopment officials purchased residential and commercial properties in the CRA for hundreds of thousands over appraised value – then sold the lots for pennies on the dollar – and taxpayers became convinced that there was no one minding the switch…

In this week’s article, we learned that the City of Daytona Beach plans to keep trying more of the same as it desperately tries to breathe life into Main Street.

“To improve Main Street, the city will try to buy more property it can help redevelop, encourage housing development, add lighting, install more security cameras, invest in new planters and pavers, continue offering facade improvement grants, and hold more events.”

I found that plan eerily similar to what was reported in 2017:

“Plans have come and gone to get a water taxi, marina and riverfront hotel on the west end of Main Street. On the east end, there have been failed efforts to create everything from a vastly expanded pier to an Olympic training village.

The “Take Part” studies of the 1980s, the second of which cost $380,000, were aimed at reviving the beachside core tourist area, and once again making Main Street a charming place to stroll from business to business.

The city spent $318,000 more for a 2011 plan to create a Main Street area entertainment zone, or “e-zone,” that has attracted more dust than developers.

The city has given out more than $713,000 in property improvement grants to dozens of businesses and homeowners in the Main Street area since 2006. Many of those grants went to absentee landlords or businesses that now stand empty.

The city paid for a Main Street overhaul complete with new sidewalks and planters about 25 years ago. Those sidewalks are now stained with the excesses of Bike Weeks past.”

In my view, perhaps it is time for Daytona Beach officials to come to the realization that there are some things the municipal government does extremely well.  Unfortunately, the difficult revitalization of a dying tourist area by artificially propping up a struggling commercial corridor isn’t one of them… 

Trust me.  I spent my adult life in municipal government, and the fits, starts, and difficulties of eliminating blight in established communities is not unique to Daytona Beach.

Look, I’m more of a complainer than a “doer” – it’s just my Wa. 

I figure my grumbles and gripes balance out the “happy talk” we hear from government mouthpieces who keep trying to pick up a turd by the clean end…

So, I bitch and moan about intractable problems rather than offer workable solutions.  But in my view, now is the time for city officials to consider hiring an outside professional with expertise in placemaking. 

Get the bureaucracy out of the mix and engage a comprehensive planning and design firm with the demonstrated ability to form a collective vision and develop a unique and attractive streetscape. 

An entity with a proven portfolio of developing vibrant public spaces that attract people – then implement the plan with input from those merchants who have already invested in Main Street to stimulate authentic economic development on our struggling beachside.   

Doing the same thing over-and-over while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, and civic improvements don’t happen by chance.  They begin with positive change.  

“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”

–Margaret Wheatley

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 of Cowards – Silence Implies Consent

Qui tacet consentire videtur

Acquiescence is defined as agreement or consent via silence or without objection, suggesting that when someone remains silent when they have the opportunity to protest, their silence implies concurrence.

During the public comment portion of the Volusia County Council meeting earlier this week, a bigoted and hate filled provocateur used his three minutes to utter a disgusting racial slur.   

It was gratuitous, goading, and reprehensible – in other words, it incited all the feelings of moral outrage that most feel when our most closely held principles are suddenly violated – and it was clearly orchestrated to push the limits of protected speech in a public forum.

In my view, it was a racist bully spouting hate speech while hiding behind the Constitution of the United States, adding nothing to the public discourse, and weakening the most fundamental element of a healthy and functioning democracy. 

So, why didn’t our elected officials exercise their own First Amendment right to free and unfettered speech to immediately and passionately renounce these vile comments, stand for that which is right, and reinforce that Volusia County does not condone, excuse, or ignore hateful and divisive epithets? 

That’s a question many in Volusia County are asking this week.  

In a disturbing article by Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, I wasn’t shocked to learn that the speaker’s reprehensible remarks “…took Volusia County Council members by surprise.”

Sure they did…

According to the report, Chairman Jeff Brower claimed he was “distracted” and wasn’t sure what was said, “I was writing something down when that guy was speaking because I tend to ignore him,” Brower said.”

Although Brower claimed the comment was “repulsive” and “clearly not relevant to county business,” he didn’t confront the speaker at the time.  Instead, Brower told the News-Journal he “…planned to meet with the county attorney to talk about what the council can do in the future.

“At the very least, I’m going to ask people, ‘Please don’t use racial epithets,'” Brower said.”

In addition, the News-Journal reported, “Councilman Jake Johansson said he regretted not speaking up.

“I should have said something,” Johansson said.

But he said the chairman is responsible for running the meeting.

He should have stopped that immediately,” Johansson said.

Some councilmen told the News-Journal they weren’t sure if they heard what they thought they heard.

“The sum total was I really didn’t quite hear it. … I was divided in my attention,” District 1 Councilman Don Dempsey said.

District 2 Councilman Matt Reinhart said he wasn’t sure that the man said a racial slur.

“I wish I would have heard it more clearly… I would have said something. I wasn’t certain,” he said.

Reinhart said he planned to ask about the comment later in the meeting but forgot to bring it up. He said he plans to bring it up at the next council meeting.

District 3 Councilman Danny Robins didn’t respond to messages from the News-Journal.”

Bullshit.

Shameless cowards…

According to the News-Journal’s report, Florida First Amendment Foundation’s executive director Bobby Block “…told the News-Journal that while the First Amendment protects hate speech, it also protects people’s right to counter and challenge hate speech.

“Racist remarks and hateful speech are always jarring no matter where they come from,” he said. “But I’m going to respond in the way that the Supreme Court has responded on issues when it comes to hate speech, and that is the best way to deal with hate speech is to counter it with good speech.”

In my view, countering evil with good and standing for the rights and dignity of everyone isn’t just a legal best practice – it is a moral imperative – especially for those holding high office and the public trust.

In my view, when their moral courage was put to the test, our elected officials instinctively quibbled and quavered – feigning ignorance and distraction (when the video clearly shows differently) – with Councilman “Jake the Snake” Johansson (who wants to be our next state senator?) deflecting his own craven spinelessness while lecturing what Chairman Brower coulda, shoulda, woulda, done…

Sickening.  

Now, we can expect a knee-jerk reaction from Chairman Brower and the others as they run to County Attorney Michael Dyer, asking him to erase the bright yellow stain down their backs, by further limiting legitimate public input at Volusia County Council meetings using “civility ordinances” and “rules for public participation.”

Some have suggested that the council’s failure to respond to this outrage is prima facie evidence they really don’t listen to citizen comments. 

Maybe so. 

But we’re not talking about ignoring the fervent pleas of a flood victim here, and everyone sees through their distracted ignorance routine for what it is…   

In my view, our elected officials were paralyzed with fear of breaking their own arbitrary rule that requires they sit like stone-faced gargoyles during public comments – never acknowledging or interacting with their constituents who take time out of their busy lives to approach the podium and participate in their government – a chilling lockstep conformity that maintains bureaucratic secrecy with silence, providing yet another layer of political insulation, even in the face of hateful epithets…  

Rather than reacting, they flinched.

That’s frightening.  And plays right into the hands of those who seek to destroy our way of life.

Moral courage is how we react to evil in the moment – taking a stand against injustice regardless of risk or reward, without the benefit of hindsight, a prepared response from a public affairs expert, or a political scapegoat.

Sadly, now Volusia County residents know all they need to about how those we have elected to represent our interests will respond when our most precious values are under attack by the forces of evil.

“Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

— John Stuart Mill, 1867

Halifax Area Tourism – Here We Go Again…

A sure sign that an elected official has been caught flat-footed is their mindless reaction to a random or unpredictable situation. 

A self-protective reflex, the instinctive need to “do something” – running around like Chicken Little trying to get ahead of “the narrative” – avoiding political backlash by quickly adopting a “we’re on top of it” posture before the sky falls…

A prime example emerged last week when Volusia County Councilman Matt Reinhart called on his “colleagues” to have staff research “options” for controlling large crowds on the beach after two men were shot during an “unsanctioned Beach Day event” earlier this month.

“I do not want activity like this to be welcomed (It’s not), and I do not want activity like this to hurt our tourist industry (That’s not what’s hurting our tourist industry), especially in that Daytona Beach area,” Reinhart said. “We’re trying to revitalize that (No, you’re not). These types of activities don’t revitalize it. These scare people.”

Sound familiar?  It should. 

After all, local law enforcement officials have already found workable solutions to invasion-style events.  

In 2022, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood and area police executives effectively dealt with “pop up” takeovers by supporting a law that allows the sheriff to designate a specific area where law enforcement shows zero tolerance for all violations, with fines doubled, and vehicles of offenders impounded for up to 72 hours.

Then, in April 2023, Sheriff Chitwood sent “cease-and-desist” letters to two promoters of “invasion” events citing the fact the parties put an “unreasonable strain on the already burdened law enforcement, medical, firefighter and beach safety resources of Volusia County,” and threatening to recoup costs of securing the events from organizers.

It worked.

The fact is, as long as citizens have the constitutional right to peaceably assemble and enjoy a day at the beach, all government agencies can do is plan accordingly, monitor the situation, and respond as necessary to keep the peace.

Something area law enforcement does very well. 

In my view, the Daytona Beach Police Department has proven to be one of the most effective crowd control and event management agencies in the nation.  Recognized experts in securing largescale regional events and a department that has set the gold standard for safety, courtesy, and hospitality.

Despite best efforts, sometimes things go awry – like the Bike Week melee that erupted between two rival motorcycle gangs at a New Smyrna Beach gas station where multiple gunshots wounded two and struck a passing vehicle. 

So, do we shut down Bike Week and Biketoberfest? 

Should we kill the golden goose of special events like we did Spring Break in the ‘90’s? 

Then what? 

Does the Volusia County Council, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Daytona Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce (or anyone else) have a viable plan for revitalizing our beachside and restoring its economic viability?  

With council members discussing “crowd-control options,” “curfews,” and “fines to incentivize better behavior (?),” some who depend upon throngs of visitors to our core tourist area are worried about what draconian “options” Volusia County has in mind.  As one beachside merchant put it in the wake of Councilman Reinhart’s “henny-penny” routine, the county is now “…trying to (use a) sledgehammer when a scalpel would suffice.  Volusia County is lost in the weeds of its own design.”

In an excellent article by Jim Abbott in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week entitled, “Daytona Beach spring break from beach blanket bingo and MTV to ‘Spring Family Beach Break’,” we received an interesting history lesson on the rise and fall of the once insanely popular annual event.  

The article quoted former News-Journal reporter Ron Hurtibise, the associate producer of the 2016 film “Spring Broke,” a documentary highlighting the evolution of spring break in Daytona Beach, who explained:

“It was an exciting time in the town, a time when many, many corporations came down to promote to the kids,” he said. “I’ve never seen any set up like that on the beach, before or since. I thought it was a good thing. It convinced me that the town was going to grow, along with Orlando and Tampa, to become a bigger city. I learned that was just an illusion.”

Read that again.

Perhaps there is a valuable lesson in Mr. Hurtibise’ unique perspective for our ossified ‘hospitality gurus’ who seem stuck on stupid when it comes to constantly “rebranding” the Halifax area while turning up their noses at events that have been traditional draws for the World’s Most Famous Beach.

Earlier this week, we learned that the Halifax Area Advertising Authority is underwriting one of our area’s premiere events, the annual National Cheerleaders Association and National Dance Alliance championships, to the tune of $135,000 in tourist tax dollars.

In addition, the HAAA has agreed to a $112,500 annual sponsorship (augmented by a lucrative assistance package) for Varsity Brands, which owns the NCA and NDA, as it “negotiates” with the cheerleading giant to keep the championships in Daytona Beach.

The Daytona Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau swung a wild-ass guesstimate of an areawide fiscal impact for the event of “$40-$60 million” for area businesses.

According to the News-Journal, a sticking point for Varsity Brands is an apparent lack of “an adequate number of hotel rooms to match the growth of the event” after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole (?).  

Those storms hit two years ago…

Something else I found interesting was the reported settlement of an $82.5 million class-action antitrust suit against Bain Capital and its cheerleading giant Varsity Brands.  According to a 2024 article in Cheer Daily, “The settlement also addresses Varsity’s “Stay Smart” policy, which required cheer teams to stay at specific hotels, allegedly allowing Varsity to receive kickbacks. Varsity agreed that at least 35% of its cheer competitions will not mandate participants to stay at Varsity-approved accommodations.”

Look, I have no idea if this “Stay Smart” policy included the annual Daytona Beach championships, but perhaps the CVB should check into that during their back-and-forth with Varsity for the 2027-2030 contract?

Regardless, why are our tourism officials always “negotiating” on the precipice of catastrophe? 

Instead of solving our decades-old civic identity crisis, they spend marketing funds on increasingly ludicrous (and expensive) slogans – like “Seize the Daytona,” “Wide. Open. Fun.,” and now “Spring Family Beach Break” – trying desperately to focus what Lori Campbell Baker, executive director of the CVB, described as “…attention on the families — however you define them — and the rich array of family-friendly activities that the destination has to offer.” 

“Rich array of family-friendly activities?” 

Wait, last week we were “Beer, Bikes, Tats, and Tits…”

So, which is it?

Whatever…

Perhaps Mr. Reinhart would better serve his constituents and make the beach a safer destination by venturing down into the moldering dead records morgue at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Building and dusting off the $100,000 suggestion of the Strategic Advisory Group, the consultant who performed a 2013 comprehensive tourism study and reported the grim facts to the Volusia County Council:

“Product Deterioration: . . .Without resources – leadership and economic – the overall tourism experience in Volusia County will decline.  An overall collaborative strategy is needed.”

On the same musty shelf as the SAG report, Mr. Reinhart will find the yellowing pages of what became known as the 2017 “Grippa Report” – the wholly ignored product of the gilded “Beachside Redevelopment Committee” – the result of 10-months of wasted time and motion by Volusia County’s best and brightest, whose primary suggestion for revitalizing our tourist economy was, “Expand the opportunities to make the beach a year-round destination for all visitors.”

Remember?  I do.

Then Councilman Reinhart should use his enthusiasm for fabricating “options” to get our tourism apparatus off their ass and focused on turning around a dying destination – rather than throwing Chanel No. 5 on the hog with another pithy catch phrase – or more unwelcoming “fines to incentivize behavior…”   

That process should begin by listening to the suggestions of residents, Main Street entrepreneurs, and others who have invested in our blighted beachside, opening closed sections of the beach to driving in keeping with tradition, getting the bureaucracy out of the redevelopment process, and doing something about the suppurating scab that is our former Boardwalk.

Then hire someone who knows what they’re doing to develop a comprehensive plan for revitalizing our core tourist area – rather than running in circles rehashing solutions and diverting attention every time something goes south in a crowd…    

City of Daytona Beach – “Must Haves” and “Nice to Haves”

Trust me.  I’m not one to tell others how to spend their money. 

Just ask my long-suffering wife…   

There is a psychological difference between “spenders” and “savers” – and Patti’s penny-pinching frugality is the yin to my extravagant yang – which means I spend money like shit through a dyspeptic goose.  

As you may recall, in recent years, the City of Daytona Beach collected millions in excess permitting and licensing fees, a windfall (of sorts) that left city officials scrambling to figure out how to spend the funds within statutory guidelines.

That decision-making process may have drug out a little too long…  

There was early talk of purchasing a Beach Street building – which was later found to be riddled with dangerous asbestos – and discussions of purchasing/constructing/renovating a building to house permitting and licensing offices, a now scrapped plan to purchase a $1 million “mobile command post,” vehicle purchases, and new employee salaries.   

Now, plans are afoot to use $11 million for a 35,000 square foot expansion of Daytona Beach City Hall.

According to a report by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week, “The addition could be built on either the south or east sides of the two-story building. The idea is to construct two floors on columns that would stand over a portion of the existing parking lot to maintain the spaces for vehicles. It’s been determined the existing building can’t support another floor or two on top of it.

One of the new 17,500-square-foot floors could house the permits and licensing department, and the other floor could be used by city government employees that would be most in need of new office space when the construction was complete.”

According to the report, the project is estimated to cost $20 million, with half coming from the excess permitting fees, the remainder from general government impact fee funds. 

Unfortunately, like most of Volusia County, Daytona Beach has a problem: Stormwater management and the resultant widespread flooding.

That recurring issue came to the forefront when city officials asked the Volusia County legislative delegation for state funding to cover some $2 million for backup generators “and millions more to construct a new public works building and for unspecified projects to reduce flooding.”

According to reports, the City of Daytona Beach allowed the mayor and city commissioners to spend federal COVID relief funds “as they saw fit within their districts” – with each commissioner receiving $500,000, and the mayor $750,000.   

Yeah.  I know…

That didn’t sit well with state Senator Tom Leek of Ormond Beach either, who took Daytona Beach to task – calling the allocation by individual commissioners “a remarkably bad process” – and questioning why the city would ask for state funding to cover needed upgrades.

Now, Senator Leek is about to take the T-Bird away…

In a bill filed this legislative session, Sen. Leek seeks to ensure that excess permits and licensing fees are spent for needed storm water management upgrades – and if it becomes law – the City Hall expansion would become a moot point.

According to the News-Journal, “The bill says excess permits and licensing fee revenue, and other money collected to enforce the Florida building code, should be used for stormwater system service and repairs if there’s a need for that — and Daytona Beach has a need. The measure could also make it very difficult for Daytona Beach to get new state funding until the $11 million is spent.

If the bill becomes law, Daytona Beach would most likely have to drop the City Hall expansion idea or find another source of funding.”

Here’s hoping the Daytona Beach City Commission (like the remainder of Volusia County) focuses on the “must haves” to alleviate recurrent flooding before considering “nice to haves” at City Hall… 

Quote of the Week

“Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris has said repeatedly, including in City Council meetings, that the appointment of Charles Gambaro to the City Council in 2024 was illegal. He doubled down on that stance during a March 16, 2025, interview with Flagler County Buzz, posted March 20 on YouTube, saying that anything Gambaro does on the council is “illegitimate.”

The comment further strains the council at a time when it’s already enduring a “heavy” atmosphere, as Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri observed. It’s a consequential time because the members must soon reach a consensus not only on an appointment of a new District 3 council member, after Ray Stevens resigned due to health reasons — but also on the hiring of a new city manager.”

–Editor Brian McMillan, Palm Coast Observer, as excerpted from “Palm Coast Mayor Norris claims that any votes by City Councilman Gambaro are ‘illegitimate,’” Friday, March 21, 2025  

Last week, a savvy political observer asked the rhetorical question, “Who has a more tumultuous political climate, Deltona or Palm Coast?”

Good question…

One thing is certain, two of the largest municipalities in the Metropolitan Statistical Area are ablaze with political dysfunction – and it is now painfully obvious to everyone watching that powerful outside influences are intent on shaping those communities in their own mercenary image. 

In Palm Coast, former Mayor/Realtor David Alfin appears still firmly in control of his appointed (read: unelected) mouthpiece Charles Gambaro as development interests push to further Alfin’s westward expansion of the city – continuing to cram ten-pounds of shit into a five-pound bag – at a time when residents are facing some of the highest utilities rates in the state to pay for infrastructure upgrades just to meet current needs with more upward corrections expected in the future…

Now, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris is under investigation by an outside law firm for being coarse with fragile senior staff after calling for a moratorium on additional development? 

Mayor Norris may well be an asshole with sharp elbows who needs a lesson on the Council/Manager form.  But the cheap coup d’état that is being orchestrated internally and externally to excise any anti-development impediments from the dais is nothing short of defying the will of Palm Coast voters and a direct insult to our democratic institutions.

And Another Thing!

“It’s such an amazing moment when the Mayor of Munchkin City makes the impromptu announcement on the public square that “the joyous news be spread” that the Wicked Witch is dead.

In Ormond Beach, he would have needed to clear that with the public information officer first.

In an alarming turn toward bullying and control, a faction of the Ormond City Commission wants to codify censorship over the mayor as he performs traditional and basic functions like touting the strength of our great community.

The criticism sprung from a ridealong puff piece the mayor did at the request of Channel 6 in Daytona Beach. His tour of Ormond beach best-kept secrets included some horrifically dangerous, controversial and incendiary language such as: “You guys are in for a real treat.” And “It’s really a lot of fun.” And “This is a great park.” And “Look how beautiful this is.” And “We’re just so happy to have something like this. And “It’s a great place to live.” Seriously?”

— Skip Foster, President of Hammerhead Communications and RedTapeFlorida.com, as excerpted from his op/ed in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Opinion: If the mayor of Ormond Beach wants to sing his city’s praises, let him,” Sunday, March 23, 2025

Please find the remainder of Mr. Foster’s essay here: https://redtapeflorida.com/

The hits just kept on coming this week for my beautiful hometown, Ormond Beach…

When Ormond Beach Deputy Mayor Lori Tolland and Commissioner Kristin Deaton sought to put recently elected Mayor Jason Leslie in his place by overzealously criticizing his appearance on a morning television show to tout the many amenities of his community, I doubt they thought past their own noses before stirring what is now a statewide embarrassment for the City of Ormond Beach.

Had Tolland and Deaton thought beyond their self-anointed status as “Keepers of the Only Truth,” I suspect they would have thought to pick their battles before attempting to publicly humiliate Mayor Leslie and place Ormond Beach at ground zero in the fight for government transparency.

In his well-thought piece published on his site Red Tape Florida this week, Mr. Foster puts Ormond Beach’s unfortunate bruhaha into perspective:

“According to Commissioner Kristin Deaton, the mayor should have cleared his tour through the city’s public information office before agreeing to the interview. When did that start? Elected officials report to THE PUBLIC, not bureaucrats. Deaton wants Ormond Beach to adopt an ordinance similar to one in Daytona Beach Shores. But that ordinance is so unserious that it doesn’t even include a section for penalties if it is violated. It also pins everything on the distinction of a commissioner speaking for him or herself as opposed to the entire commission.

So, let’s be clear on this:

Mayor Leslie, Commissioners Deaton and Tolland and anybody else on the Ormond City Beach Commission can say anything they want about any city matters to anybody they want and there is no ordinance that can, should, or will stop that. If they want to alert the public information office that’s great. If they don’t, that’s fine too.”

In my view, as an elected official and citizen of Ormond Beach, Mayor Leslie has a sacred and constitutionally protected right to voice his opinions – even viewpoints that might differ from those of his “colleagues” – without the onus of filtering his thoughts through a bureaucratic public information apparatus.

A pet peeve of mine is that some politicians develop the mindset that the elected body should be a clubbish, homogenized, and well-choreographed echo chamber, where senior staff create public policy behind closed doors and the role of elected officials is to merely rubberstamp it.

To enforce compliance, the compromised majority begin passing rules and ordinances to silence discussion and dissent on both sides of the dais, and that strictly enforced conformism ensures the outcome of votes when everyone starts thinking alike…or else. 

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…

“A thing that cannot grieve

has no right to poetry

a thing that cannot die has

no claim to the mouth of life—”

–Samuel Hurley, “AI vs. the Poet” An Anthem for the Dreaming Lost

Last week I received a note from a Barker’s View reader asking if these weekly screeds are “written” using Generative AI – “Artificial Intelligence.” 

Say what?

I took a long draught on my omnipresent dry Martini, pounded the desk, and screamed, “WTF?  You think any machine could conjure this lunacy I bloviate about week-after-week-after-week?

Incensed by the very suggestion, I thought, “Are my readers under the impression I push a button, sit on my idle ass, and wait while some dispassionate algorithm dispenses this righteous bile like a soft-serve ice cream machine from hell?” 

Then I thought “It’s not their fault.”  Sign of the times…

Let’s face it, no lucid machine that plumbs the depths of human knowledge – or an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters – could possibly create the improbable schemes and farcical scenarios that play out in various gilded council/commission chambers and the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Building each week. 

A bizarre “Théâtre de l’absurde” whose slapstick provides the fodder for these hyper-opinionated harrumphs – a surrealistic fever dream with so many marionettes, puppeteers, and supporting cast you need a program to keep up. 

Honestly, even in my most gin-addled state, I couldn’t make this shit up if I wanted to. 

Continuing storylines like Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago – who routinely misses meetings (or literally phones it in) – continuing to accept public funds while his “colleagues” on the dais of power refuse to address it.  Rather than say, “Hey, show up or step down you goldbricking schlub” they expect those who pay the bills to simply ignore the fact a potted plant would have more of a presence in the district 5 seat than David Santiago…

Or the hapless management of Tomoka State Park, who are now trotting out a fantastic story that the oaks and palm trees that were sawed into splinters to make way for an asinine paving project last week were “hurricane damaged” – hoping us rubes will believe the “damaged” trees just happen to line the roads being paved, and their removal was coincidental to the project? 

So, I just shake my head and calls ‘em like I sees ‘em…

The fact is, I write every long-winded paragraph – a cathartic exercise – served straight-up without those pithy “AI generated” summations you see in every article and essay today – a watery condensate for those pinheads who have lost the capacity to read critically – or think for themselves…  

Admittedly, I am at best a dilettante editorialist – at worst, a blowhard with internet access – a Quixotic irritator who still believes the authentic written word can provide, as Conrad assured, “…encouragement, consolation, fear, charm – all you demand; and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.”

So, I will keep trying to explain it all.  Jotting down my jaded observations, sounding the klaxon, and tilting at windmills, both real and imagined…  

Whether or not we agree on the myriad social, civic, and economic issues of the day, I hope we remain friends, grounded in the common purpose of seeking a better tomorrow for our children and grandchildren through the vigorous competition of ideas and a universal desire for honorable, accessible, and principled governance.

Leaving things better for those who come after is a purely human trait no machine could understand…

Here’s a special thanks to the loyal members of the Barker’s View tribe.  Your civic awareness and activism continue to make a difference in our community.

The Lost City of Deltona and the Curious Case of Mayor Santiago Avila Jr.

Just when you think things couldn’t get worse in The Lost City of Deltona, another sordid exposé unfolds in the news.  More of the drama and intrigue longsuffering residents (and rapt spectators up here in the cheap seats) have come to expect.  Another glaring blackeye for the community – and a regional embarrassment for Volusia County.

And that’s just what the media reports…

I could fill this page for months with the rumors, innuendo, and speculation I receive from increasingly angry Deltona residents – taxpayers who feel alienated by their elected representatives – and taken advantage of by a feckless mayor who seems to set his own rules, then dips into public funds to defend it all.

According to a report by Mark Harper writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, in December 2024, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. was under investigation by the State Attorney’s Office following allegations of a Sunshine Law violation.   

Apparently, without any formal approval or public notification, Mayor Avila simply hired what the News-Journal described as his “political ally,” attorney Anthony Sabatini, an influential former state lawmaker, paying Sabatini’s Mount Dora law firm a $5,000 retainer from public coffers…

According to the report, “Sabatini described the state attorney complaint as “completely unfounded” and thus dismissed. “I talked to the state attorney and it went away.”

Poof… “It went away.”   

Impressive skills, eh? 

In January, for reasons many believe were purely political, Mayor Avila and his wife travelled to Washington D.C. on the city’s dime without prior authorization as required by the city’s travel policy.

Using a city owned vehicle and public funds for fuel, lodging, and whatnots, Avila and his wife apparently attended the U. S. Conference of Mayors as the “guest” of a mysterious benefactor (Avila admitted he wasn’t a registered participant), along with several black-tie soirees surrounding the Presidential inauguration.    

At the time, Mayor Avila explained he was in meetings with senators and congressmen strategizing (no doubt) on matters important to the future of Deltona.  Unfortunately, a proper summation of those high-level confabs was never provided to the remainder of the City Commission or interested residents who felt taken advantage of…   

Given the “trust issue” that continues to cast a pall over the beleaguered community, many – including several of Avila’s fellow commissioners – believe the mayor’s junket violated the city’s established travel policy for elected officials which requires advanced approval by majority vote of the City Commission. 

Because it did.

To their credit, several Deltona elected officials sought to hold Mayor Avila accountable, and last month a ‘quasi-judicial’ hearing was held to allow a vetting of the facts and the opportunity for Avila to explain himself. 

Again, Anthony Sabatini represented Avila…

During the hearing, the mayor’s counterargument was, “Who knew the city had a travel policy?” 

Only in Deltona is ignorance of the law an affirmative defense – and while Mayor Avila was found to have violated the travel policy by a 4-3 vote of the City Commission – it failed the supermajority requirement that would have allowed the commission to levy sanctions.

In the end, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. and his patented “What travel policy?” defense won the day by one vote – his own…    

For his efforts, Mr. Sabatini was paid an additional $5,781.25 in Deltona taxpayer dollars…

According to the News-Journal, Catherine Barker (no relation), the Deltona city communications director, said “Sabatini’s $5,000 retainer went toward the quasi-judicial hearing costs, $10,781.25, with the balance reflected in the February payment.”

That came as a shock to many on both sides of the dais – flummoxed residents and commissioners who were blindsided to learn that the community was on the hook for Mayor Avila’s legal representation – especially after a simple majority vote found him guilty of violating city policy.  

In an interview with the News-Journal, Commissioner Dori Howington explained, “I have heard that our city attorneys justified providing the mayor with legal counsel by suggesting he could potentially lose something in the hearing,” Howington wrote. “However, it is my recollection they disregarded both an attorney general opinion and ethics statutes that supersede local ordinances and the city charter – clearly stating that the mayor could not vote if he had something to lose.”

“Yet at the hearing, their rationale shifted, claiming he could vote because he would not lose anything,” Howington wrote. “If that were the case, how then was he entitled to both legal representation at city expense and allowed to vote in the quasi-judicial hearing?

“Either he stood to lose something or he didn’t,” she said. “It can’t be both ways.”

I’m certainly not an attorney, but a long-held tenet of Florida law requires that public funds be spent for a public purpose.  In this case, the Commission found Mayor Avila violated city policy but was unable to issue sanctions due to the mayor’s vote to block a supermajority.

In my view, that’s hardly an undisputed exoneration…   

By that metric, Mayor Avila – or his facilitator, City Manager Dale “Doc” Dougherty – had an ethical and fiduciary obligation to seek authorization from the City Commission before spending nearly $11,000 in public funds to cover Avila’s legal bill.     

Sadly, in The Lost City of Deltona, influential elected officials with unfettered access to the public purse can have it both ways – while increasingly outraged residents are left holding the bag…  

Mike Poniatowski – Encouraging News in the Volusia County Council At-Large Race

I don’t endorse political candidates in this space.  Not my style. 

Besides, it would be presumptuous of me (or anyone else) to tell you who to vote for.  At best, the fetid slit trench that passes for Volusia County politics is very often a guessing game where imposters present themselves as something they are not, and my guess is no better or worse than yours. 

If you are reading Barker’s View, I naturally count you as an engaged and informed voter – someone interested in current events and the machinations of those who influence public policy on this sandy spit of land we call home (or you’re a sitting elected official waiting to see if I gored your sacred ox this week…)

In my view, there was some great news out of DeLand this week when Mike Poniatowski, a veteran Volusia County first responder, law enforcement officer, paramedic, and experienced emergency management professional – officially entered the Volusia County Council At-Large race. 

In a social media post, Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower described Mike as “…a friend, flood victim, first responder, and longtime resident that will help change Volusia politics!”

I agree.

If we are to reverse the power dynamic in Volusia County and disgorge the stagnation and constipation of the Robins, Johansson, Santiago bloc on the County Council – a lockstep clique that slavishly serves the wants of their influential political benefactors over the needs of residents – that important process begins by encouraging honorable people to run for office, then supporting their candidacy both financially and at the ballot box.

In my view, Mike Poniatowski is a proven servant-leader who has the interests of all Volusia County residents at heart.

As things stand right now (and they are bound to change), Mr. Poniatowski will face Daytona Beach Shores Mayor Nancy Miller in next year’s general election.  

The At-Large seat is currently held by Councilman Jake Johansson, who has announced plans to run for District 8 in the Florida Senate.  Former House member Elizabeth Fetterhoff of DeLand has also announced her candidacy.

Mercifully, current District 8 Senator “Terrible Tommy” Wright is prohibited from running again due to term limits. 

In my view, Mike Poniatowski’s candidacy represents a breath of fresh air for beleaguered Volusia County residents, and a crucial step forward in reclaiming the Volusia County Council from the grip of influential special interests with a chip in the game…   

For more information see: https://mike4volusia.com/

Home Rule – A Doomed Concept in the Free State of Florida?  

“Now, through two proposed legislative bills, SB 1118 and HB 1209, there is an unprecedented effort to consolidate control over Florida’s agricultural and rural lands in the hands of those same few in power in Tallahassee who do the bidding of the wealthiest of in-state, out-of-state, and even international huge corporate developers.

The proposed laws are designed to silence the voices of Florida citizens and local governments on matters of critical importance to those of us who live in areas which until recently were comprised in substantial part of agricultural and open space rural lands.

We chose to live here in great part because of the absence of high density development and preservation of our open spaces and conservation lands. We gave up the convenience of having huge shopping malls and big box stores and parking lots, instead opting for supporting local merchants and keeping our streets and highways free of the inevitable traffic gridlock we see all around us in ever-growing and uncontrolled so-called “smart growth” developments.

As reported by the civic organization 1000 Friends of Florida, the proposed legislation, which is quickly wending its way through both houses in Tallahassee, will override local planning authority by requiring local governments to automatically approve development in areas considered “agricultural enclaves” and so-called “infill residential development.” Infill residential projects can be up to 100 acres and agricultural enclaves could be thousands of acres in size.”

–Irwin Connelly, Flagler County, as excerpted from his essay in FlaglerLive!, “Florida Lawmakers Are About to Roll Back Rural Protections in Favor of Developers. Don’t Let Them.,” Sunday, March 16, 2025

According to the Florida League of Cities, “The most precious powers a city in Florida has are its Home Rule powers. The ability to establish its form of government through its charter, and to then enact ordinances, codes, plans and resolutions without prior state approval is a tremendous authority.”

Add SB 1118 and HB 1209 to more than fifty other bills seeking to preempt local government authority that are currently working their way through the legislature… 

It seems each legislative session brings more limitations on a local government’s ability to control the direction and character of their communities – forbidding them to pass legislation that preserves 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. 

Most would agree that the right to self-determination – the ability of counties and incorporated municipalities to govern themselves – free of outside interference from the state in the pursuit of their unique economic, social, and civic development, is critical to our representative form of governance where power is ultimately derived from, We, The Little People.

You want rural boundaries and protections for what remains of agricultural areas where people can live a pastoral life outside the bone crushing overdevelopment oozing across the width and breadth of Florida? 

Tough shit.  

Here, local governments have been subjected to a continuing series of dictatorial edicts handed down from Tallahassee that ensure influential real estate developers are given everything they want – when and where they want it…    

Now, Floridians are bracing for more of the same this legislative session.

According to a report by Jennifer Hunt Murty writing in the Ocala Gazette last week:

“In response to what some call an “attack” on home rule, local bipartisan opposition has formed against Senate Bill 1118 filed by State Sen. Stan McClain, R-Marion, and its identical House Bill 1209 filed by Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Pasco. The bills would wrest local control of development from cities and counties across the state and open up hundreds of thousands of agricultural acres to developers without review from local governments. If passed, the new laws would supersede any local overlay zones of protection, including Marion County’s revered Farmland Preservation Area.”

Recently, the Marion County Republican Executive Committee issued a bold statement opposing the proposed preemptions and championing local government as most responsive to the needs of the people:

“It is not clear what constituency is served by these overt draft policies to negate Comprehensive Plans and community input at the County level. Marion County is undergoing explosive growth and is now showing the “growing pains” of increased traffic/school overcrowding with projections of + $1B in future infrastructure costs and +$1B in school capital/maintenance expenditures.”

Sound familiar?

In my view, Floridian’s who are experiencing the dramatic effects of overdevelopment on their quality of life know exactly which “constituency” is served by these overreaching diktats that increase the pace of growth by gutting home rule oversight:  Those in the real estate development industry who have purchased the political souls of Florida legislators.    

If this doesn’t send a shiver through those living in what remain of “rural” areas in Volusia and Flagler Counties, it should…

Quote of the Week

“(Palm Coast) Mayor Mike Norris proposed a moratorium on residential home construction, at the March 18 City Council meeting. “The infrastructure is not in place to support residential growth at this time,” he said.

But no one on the City Council was willing to second his motion, so the motion died, and there will be no moratorium.

The action took place as Norris is also taking heat for potentially violating the City Charter by directing and intimidating staff. He received an outpouring of support from members of the audience at the March 18, both for his attempts to “clean up” City Hall, as well as support for his proposed moratorium.”

–Editor Brian McMillan, writing in the Palm Coast Observer, “Moratorium proposal fails, but residents show support for Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris,” Tuesday, March 18, 2025

In front of a raucous crowd at Palm Coast City Hall on Tuesday, the remaining members of the Palm Coast City Council caved to the influential forces of the development industry and refused to advance Mayor Mike Norris’ call for a moratorium on new building in the face of increasing utility bills for existing residents to pay for massive infrastructure upgrades just to keep pace with current demands.

The handwriting was on the wall when those representing home builders began telling scary stories about a moratorium having “devastating consequences for our local economy,” while still selling the baldfaced lie that “growth pays for itself…” 

Trying desperately to convince suffocating residents “why growth is actually good for our city and for you.”

According to a report in FlaglerLive! Tuesday afternoon, in an ominous show of force, the development community, “Mobilized like an army by the Flagler County Home Builders Association, the dump truck and trailers and semi cabs and pick-ups lined City Place and spilled onto Lake Avenue by City Hall this morning, their crews clustered in groups against the morning chill, a large “SAVE OUR CITY” banner stretched across the flank of a truck, with a red circle-backlash symbol painted over the head of Mayor Mike Norris.”

Who, in good conscience, could demand more, more, more knowing that current demands far exceed the capacity, funding, and capabilities of the city’s utilities infrastructure? 

How is that ethical, responsible, necessary, or sustainable?

Save our city? 

Said the bloated parasite to its nearly exsanguinated host…

And Another Thing!

“Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying?”

–Voltaire

A now familiar experience here on Florida’s “Fun Coast” is sitting through two cycles of a traffic light at (insert any intersection in Volusia County here) – that claustrophobic feeling in the pit of your stomach – a sickening sense of having been duped by elected and appointed development shills who lectured us on our “responsibility” to allow homes for future residents.

Remember?

We were told of our moral obligation to ignore the destruction of our wild places, accept insane density concessions, and learn to live with the traffic congestion that is a natural result of insatiable greed marketed as a developer’s sense of “progress,” because “…if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” with assurance the malignant sprawl will inevitably pay for itself.      

Bullshit.

For years, we put our true faith and allegiance in those who held themselves out for high office – and accepted the dubious recommendations of the “professionals” they appointed to highly compensated senior staff positions.    

We were told these “experts” in planning, growth, and resource management would undertake the complicated process of ensuring concurrency and protecting our environment, only to find those we elected to represent our interests in were in the pockets of those same developers all along – accepting massive campaign contributions each election cycle to fund their political aspirations.

Then kowtowing to the subliminal loyalty that came with the cash…

When it was too late, we discovered those planning and growth management doyens were little more than malleable mouthpieces, cheap facilitators with a rubber stamp “recommendation,” willing to kick the can down the dusty political trail anytime someone suggested low-impact development initiatives or, God forbid, the possibility of a temporary moratorium to allow infrastructure to catch up with growth.  

Now, the evidence of their handiwork is everywhere you look.

From the row upon row of sticks-and-glue apartments to the fill-and-build zero lot line cracker boxes “starting in the $300’s” that blanket water recharge areas, wetlands, and routinely flood their neighbors existing homes while those who got us into this mess conduct more, more, more timewasting studies… 

If you think it’s bad in Volusia County (and you have the guts) – I dare you to peel that rotten onion and determine who serves who inside the Hallowed Halls of state government in Tallahassee – the biggest whorehouse in the world… 

Now, nothing is off-limits.

Last year, many were shocked to learn of a plan, apparently orchestrated by outside development interests and ramrodded by the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction, sickeningly called “The Great Outdoors Initiative,” a mysterious collusion that would have allowed developers carte blanche to build hotels, lodges, and 18-hole golf courses in Florida State Parks.   

Areas we were told were sacrosanct – like Ormond’s Scenic Loop and Trail – have now fallen victim to massive subdivisions that have replaced once pristine natural forests, shedding a near constant stream of water over the canopied Old Dixie Highway, the houses now clearly visible through a thin veneer of trees we were told would serve as an environmental buffer…

This week, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris is being beaten into submission by forces inside City Hall – and their influential puppeteers in the local development industry – for having the temerity to suggest a moratorium on new construction until officials can determine how to fund the crippling debt required to upgrade overburdened utilities.

As the news from Palm Coast, Tallahassee, and beyond this week proves – the greed-hogs are fully in charge – they have seized the high ground, and their mercenary priorities are different than ours.

And the stench of obscene and deliberate lies wafts heavy over Florida’s “Fun Coast.”

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…

Tomoka State Park – Adding Insult to Injury

Like many of you, I find it infinitely frustrating – and perversely fascinating – to watch the decision-making process play out among government agencies.  A practice completely devoid of accountability or common sense, where highly compensated senior bureaucrats find problems to fit expensive solutions, then spend our hard-earned tax dollars on things that have no relationship to our actual needs.  

Sound familiar?

Earlier this week, I received a disturbing note from the avid environmentalist and founder of Dream Green Volusia, Suzanne Scheiber, who reported that an ill-conceived project to pave roads inside Tomoka State Park along the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail is now underway – a gross insult to a place of great historical and archeological significance – something that now involves the destruction of historic oaks that have majestically graced the landscape and delighted visitors for more than 80-years. 

The sad fact is nobody wanted this…

For years, volunteers have been doing their best to meet ongoing needs and expenses at the park, including repairing pavilions, benches, and picnic tables; even replacing the transmission on the park ranger’s truck.  Repair and replacement expenses the state should have allocated have been augmented from the pockets of unpaid (and largely unappreciated) helpers and environmentalists.

So why isn’t anyone who accepts public funds to serve in the public interest listening to them when it comes to actual needs in the park?

Last year, residents and park volunteers learned that the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction (the same dullards who brought us the disastrous “Great Outdoors Initiative” to develop hotels, cabins, and 18-hole golf courses in state parks…) was finalizing plans to pave 1.5 miles of roads inside Tomoka State Park at a cost of $1.5 million.

In an article in the Ormond Beach Observer last September, we learned that the paving project is part of a “Unit Management Plan for Tomoka State Park” – a plan based on a FDEP led “public workshop” and “advisory group” meeting. 

Those meetings took place in 2012…

According to the Observer’s 2024 report, “The Tomoka Basin State Park Unit Management Plan was due to be updated in 2022. This was not completed.”

Regardless, nowhere in the now outdated “plan” does it call for the removal of trees to facilitate road paving – a project with the potential to disturb an important site on the National Register of Historic Places – a significant change to the character of the park many believe will spoil the natural experience one seeks when visiting.

But when did it matter what We, The Little People want in Tallahassee?  

Unfortunately, the damage is done.

Earlier this week, a contractor removed several oaks and palms to prepare the once quaint dirt trails for asphalt – an important habitat now forever changed – with old growth hardwoods now reduced to sawdust and stumps.

Bullshit.

I don’t care what the “official” narrative will be in the aftermath of this nonsensical destruction, but what happened to those historic trees and wildlife habitat was wrong.

In my view, the Florida Department of Environmental Destruction once again failed in their tax funded mission to protect and preserve our natural places – especially state park lands.  Instead, we are forced to stand in silent witness while stately oaks are split into splinters to make way for a detached and ossified bureaucracy’s notion of progress…   

First Step Shelter – A Time for Change

One of the things I enjoy most about this blog is the broader discussion of the issues it fosters in the community. 

That includes the good, bad, and ugly messages I receive from thoughtful readers who take me to task, set me straight with their own opinions on a topic, and a few that actually agree with my jaded views on the collective issues we face. 

This week, several engaged citizens shared their thoughts on the First Step Shelter – to include the pros and cons of its executive director Victoria Fahlberg – and the continuing marginalization of those who seek answers from a board of directors with the fiduciary responsibility to steward public funds.

One thing is certain, the topic stirs deep emotions on all sides of the debate – from those who support Director Fahlberg – to others who seek a different direction for this essential social service.

While I appreciate the different perspectives, count me in the “It’s time for change” camp… 

Here on Florida’s “Fun Coast” the idea of transitioning our sizeable homeless population to safe and sustainable housing should be something residents can rally around. An outreach we can universally celebrate, something with positive civic, economic, and social benefits across our mosaic of communities in Volusia County.   

Instead, that enigmatic transitional housing program known as First Step “Shelter” has become a lightning rod of controversy.  A serial melodrama full of suspicion, intrigue, and perceived coverups that now pits concerned taxpayers against those charged with stewarding our public funds and ensuring oversight of something that has never been adequately explained.

Unfortunately, the First Step Shelter was born of controversy and there it remains – considered something unavoidable – no closer to standing on its own than it was when the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County made massive funding commitments to standup the program.

Then, things took an ominous turn last year when three whistleblowers came forward with allegations of fraud, fiduciary malfeasance, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, admission policy violations, and resident safety violations. 

For reasons never fully explored, the First Step board made certain that a formal inquiry into the accusations never went beyond a few cursory interviews.  Then, certain directors acting in their official capacity set about publicly destroying the personal and professional reputations of those who came forward, something that is now the subject of two active lawsuits naming both First Step and the City of Daytona Beach. 

Add to that the board’s persecution of any taxpayer who dares question their motivations – or the leadership and direction of the shelter – and you begin to understand why many in the community have growing concerns about the effectiveness of the program, the veracity of numbers coming out of First Step, and how our tax dollars are being spent.

For instance, this week the First Step website, which has numbers flipping like a weird slot machine, shows a consistent 1,540 “people sheltered” and 741 “people housed.” 

Then, in a social media post last week, Mr. Panaggio announced, “Since December 2019, your First Step Shelter has housed 1,779 people,” and “Nearly 50% of those sheltered (873 people) have successfully transitioned into housing.”

So, which is correct? 

Is a ballpark figure of +/- 132 souls close enough for government supported work?  

While we’re on the subject, what happened to those who weren’t “successfully transitioned to housing”? 

And where were those who received housing actually placed – and at what cost?

Regrettably, anyone who asks pointed questions is repeatedly gaslighted by Mr. Panaggio – accused of making assumptions, having a “warped perspective and destructive agenda,” a “vendetta” (against a homeless shelter?), “harming the cause,” even accusing The Daytona Beach News-Journal of printing untruths, all because we seek answers to mounting questions about Director Fahlberg’s management and oversight. 

Arrogant insinuations, counteraccusations, and deflection in emails and on social media while the board adamantly refuses to commission an independent investigation into the serious allegations that continue to erode the public trust in First Step Shelter.

Why is that?

As I mentioned last week, rather than move beyond the distraction and drama, the First Step board is now considering a three-year contract affording additional benefits and protections for Victoria Fahlberg – including a 20-week lump sum golden parachute – and indemnification against virtually any legal claim arising from acts or omissions in the performance of her duties.

That direct threat to publicly and privately donated funds may have been a step too far for those elected officials with the ultimate financial (and political) liability for the continuing controversies at First Step.

Last week, Daytona Beach City Commissioner Monica Paris said what many are thinking when she suggested it is time for City Attorney Ben Gross to pull back from his dual (and clearly conflicting) role as contracted legal counsel for the First Step board of directors.

Commissioner Ken Strickland echoed Ms. Paris’ concerns.

It appeared that both Paris and Strickland are justifiably concerned about Gross’ potential conflict of interest given that the whistleblower’s lawsuits name both First Step and the City of Daytona Beach…

For reasons I don’t completely understand, Director Fahlberg has some influential supporters in the community who seem willing to overlook the mounting questions at First Step, and ignore the concept of accountability, to keep her ensconced in a role commanding $133,000 annually.

In my view, that needs to change. 

In my view, it is time for board president Mayor Derrick Henry and the Daytona Beach City Commission to begin the hard discussion of reorganizing the First Step board of directors, an unelected, uncontrolled, and unaccountable group that continues to alienate concerned citizens, publicly embarrass the community on social media, and put the needs of its controversial executive director over their fiduciary responsibility to Volusia County taxpayers. 

Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris – A Cautionary Tale in the Making  

“Calling the current state of construction in the city a “Ponzi scheme for more development,” Palm Coast mayor Mike Norris said he will not support a utility rate increase — unless a moratorium on development is put in place.

“When I propose it, I’m going to say to a date uncertain,” Norris said during a special workshop on Friday, March 7. “Now, I know I’m going to get pushback because, ‘We can’t stop building, we can’t stop building.’ Well, if we don’t stop building, we’re going to be broke and we’re going to force lifetime residents of Florida and Flagler County to flee their homes because they cannot afford to live in the state anymore, plain and simple.”

Palm Coast is at an inflection point, he said. The city is over $155 million in debt from the original purchase of the wastewater and water treatment facilities, which require $701 million in upgrades and maintenance through 2029 to be able to serve its current population.

–Associate Editor Jarleene Almenas, writing in the Palm Coast Observer, “’We’re going to be broke’: Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris to propose moratorium as development puts pressure on city infrastructure,” Friday, March 7, 2025

Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris got a quick lesson in what happens when you attempt to upset the status quo and take emergency measures in the face of the largest utilities rate hike in the city’s history, as officials seek to finance a shocking $615 million capital improvement plan to upgrade utilities, just to keep pace with current needs.  

Within minutes of Mayor Norris saying the “M” word aloud last week, developer shills began circling the wagons, telling flashlight-under-the-chin scary stories about the apocalyptic ramifications of even suggesting a building moratorium in the face of hundreds-of-millions in utilities infrastructure shortfalls. 

(Sound familiar, Volusia County?)   

According to a report in FlaglerLive!: 

“Annamaria Long, executive officer of the Flagler County Home Builders Association, had no idea of this morning’s development until she started getting texts alerting her. “It’s not only the worst outcome for my industry, it’s the worst outcome for every citizen in Palm Coast, for every resident,” Long said of a moratorium. She said the utility rate study that preceded the proposal the city voted on Tuesday is predicated on coming impact fees and growth, which means new housing. “That’s about one-third of the formula,” Long said. Removing it from the equation will increase utility bills “exponentially.”

Then, Ms. Long turned the tables on Mayor Norris, who rightfully claimed “developers have been taking advantage of this city far too long.”

According to Ms. Long, “If you ask the developers, I believe the developers would say they’re regularly taken advantage of by the city in terms of regulatory fees, timelines that drag out their process, extensive review fees” forcing them to pay thousands of dollars for each plan review.”

During the meeting, beleaguered existing residents also learned that there are currently 19,000 housing units that have been permitted but not yet built in Palm Coast… 

You read that right.

Developers, who have hauled untold millions out of sensitive pine scrub, churning our natural places into a denuded black muck, scarring the land, paving over recharge areas, and forever changing both the topography and character of existing communities, feel “taken advantage of” because their projects required a modicum of review before being rubber stamped? 

Really?

According to the report, Mayor Norris’ proposal to pause approvals for new residential development in the face of needed utilities upgrades “…drew sharp resistance from Council members Charles Gambaro and Ty Miller…”

Just four days later, things got interesting for Mayor Mike Norris when the appointed ‘developer’s darling’ Councilman Gambaro turned the tables…   

According to a report in the Palm Coast Observer this week, late Tuesday evening “The Palm Coast City Council agreed to begin an investigation into the actions of Mayor Mike Norris, after he was accused of attempting to fire Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo behind closed doors — a violation of city charter.

Councilman Charles Gambaro reported the accusation during his closing comments of the March 11 City Council meeting.

I have a concern that was brought forward to me yesterday,” he said via phone, as he was absent physically from the workshop. “It has to do with your request for the resignation of our staff. I think it could be a major, major ethics violation.

“And it’s my understanding,” Gambaro continued, “that it’s not the first time that you’ve tried to directly intimidate, or tried to force the city manger, to fire not only the chief of staff but other members of our senior staff.”

Under examination by Gambaro playing the role of Perry Mason, Johnston confirmed from the dais that Norris had asked for the resignations of senior staff with one word: “Yes.”

(Cue the “Law and Order” theme – “Da-Dum!”)   

According to reports, when Mayor Norris was finally given the opportunity to defend himself:

“Norris said: “There’s three people that were in that room that we had our conversation yesterday, and — how can I put this — I said I was going to discuss with the council, you know, about this. And it’s a little bit of frustration, but we are under a lot of pressure, here. Me and Lauren, we had a good conversation today. … But I certainly didn’t do what’s being said.”

Now what remains of the Palm Coast City Commission will cross the Rubicon and hire an outside law firm to “investigate” what Mayor Norris may or may not have meant when he expressed his growing frustration to senior staff.  Another timewasting distraction in the face of withering debt heaped on the backs of existing residents to pay for more, more, more growth and a Florida Department of Environmental Destruction consent decree mandating improvements to the city’s overwhelmed wastewater system no later than 2028. 

In addition, this latest bureaucratic bruhaha comes when the City of Palm Coast is trying to recruit a new city manager.  Considering the often-tumultuous elected body has seen seven resignations, four mayors, 22 councilmembers, and four managers or interims in the last decade or so – I suspect any candidate worth their salt will likely give Palm Coast a wide berth…

As Palm Coast goes, so go other areas in Volusia and Flagler Counties that continue to see massive overdevelopment and the resultant infrastructure shortfalls that naturally result, and this one bears watching.

In my view, Mayor Norris is about to experience what happens when an elected official suggests pausing malignant growth until infrastructure requirements can catch up to current needs – a concept that makes those who stand to benefit extremely nervous…     

Quote of the Week

“Today I come before you with a heavy heart and an overwhelming sense of responsibility. As you may be aware, I was recently arrested for driving under the influence.

I want to begin by expressing my sincerest apologies for my actions and for the consequences they have brought upon myself and those around me. First and foremost, I owe an apology to the Port Orange Police Department.

I understand that by putting myself in this situation, I not only broke the law, but I also showed a lack of respect for the very people who work tirelessly to keep our community safe. I am deeply sorry for any disrespect that transpired during this incident. You deserve better from me, and I take full responsibility for my actions.

–Port Orange Councilman Lance Green, as excerpted from his formal apology before his constituents and colleagues at the Port Orange City Council meeting, Tuesday, March 4, 2025

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good…”

–John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Last year, I took newly elected Port Orange City Councilman Lance Green to the woodshed following his well-publicized arrest on charges of driving under the influence after quibbling with investigating officers following a minor traffic accident. 

It wasn’t because I like wallowing in the salacious mud or kicking powerful politicians when they’re down.

Trust me, I’m no better or worse than Mr. Green.

After 64 years of hard living, I realize that none of us are perfect – but as an elected official holding a position of solemn public trust – I thought Councilman Green’s neighbors deserved better…   

Now, the charges have been resolved according to law, and Councilman Green has made amends by courageously admitting his mistake – formally apologizing to the Port Orange Police Department, his family, colleagues, and constituents – accepting personal responsibility for his error in judgement in front of friends, family, fellow elected officials, and political rivals:

“…to the great citizens of Port Orange, I want to express my deepest apologies. I never intended to bring this negativity to the city I have called home for over sixty years. This community means everything to me, and I understand that my actions have cast a shadow on our shared values and pride.

I am truly sorry for any embarrassment or concern I have caused. I am only human, and I made a careless mistake that has cost me dearly in many ways. I want to assure you that moving forward, I am dedicated to becoming a better man. A better person. A better husband, father, and grandfather.

I am committed to learning from this experience and using it as a catalyst for positive change in my life. I promise you all that I will take proactive steps to ensure this never happens again. I have and will continue seeking help and engage in programs that promote responsible behavior. I owe it to myself, to my family, and to this wonderful community.”

Well said, Councilman Green. 

One man’s difficult recognition of his human faults, and an important reminder to all of the positive power of forgiveness.   

In my view, that makes Lance Green’s leadership by example deserving of our collective understanding and respect.  

Now, go do good things, sir.  

And Another Thing!

After individually approving unchecked sprawl from Deering Park to the Flagler County line, the Volusia County Knights of the Round Table – a weird political insulation committee comprised of city and county elected and appointed officials – met this week to brood over the obvious, show faux concern for waterlogged residents, and discuss “mitigation efforts” for the development-induced flooding that many believe is a direct result of their numerous zoning amendments and the malignant growth that followed.

Feel better? 

Me neither…

Apparently content to sit through more inane babbling from those who got us into this mess in the first place, fifty members of the Knights of the Round Table sat attentively as Volusia County Engineer Tadd Kasbeer blamed regional flooding on everything from storm intensity and high water tables to soil conditions – anything but the overdevelopment everyone knows is responsible – while Volusia County Public Works Director Benjamin Bartlett backed him up with pithy comments like, “We know storm water knows no municipal boundary.”   

At the end of the day, it all came down to another colossal waste of time, just as Volusia County officials intended.     

According to a disturbing article by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “There were no grand declarations or new developments announced at the meeting. There are 30 flooding studies underway among the local governments, four being led by the county and the remaining 26 going on in the cities.

The studies, including one the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting for Daytona Beach, will take time, so solutions will not be immediate.”

More expensive “studies” that will take months to complete before collecting dust in some dead records morgue in the bowels of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Building…

Frankly, had the fifty elected and appointed officials in attendance simply got off their numb asses and dug a drainage swale in Edgewater, they would have accomplished more toward mitigating flooding than sitting still for more of Volusia County’s “strategic procrastination.”

To add macabre insult, Bartlett went as far as to blame the limited environmental protections that remain on the books for delays, noting “…that once projects are in motion they take time to get through the necessary engineering work, permitting, bidding processes and efforts to determine if bald eagles or gopher tortoises are impacted.”

So, instead of demanding that developers take immediate steps to incorporate low-impact strategies in future fill-and-build projects – or consider the possibility of a temporary moratorium on more growth until solutions to flooding and infrastructure issues can be implemented – our elected dullards, upon recommendation of Volusia’s Growth and Resource Mismanagement shills – are implementing something called a “voluntary ordinance” which provides incentives (including density increases?) for builders who opt to do the right thing…  

According to the News-Journal’s report, “Incentives offered to developers could be flexible lot sizes, flexible building setbacks, additional density, increased floor area ratio, increased maximum building height, off-street parking flexibility, reduction in tree placement requirements, and reduced building permit and land development fees.”

What good does it do to make low-impact development techniques optional, especially if the “incentives” could have the cumulative effect of increasing flood risks?

I’m asking.

Because none of this make sense to anxious residents counting the days before it rains…   

Perhaps that’s the plan of influential developers and their chattel on the dais of power in Volusia County who could give two-shits if your house and mine flood – rather than enact commonsense measures to require low-impact best practices for all future growth.  

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…

Florida Senator “Terrible Tommy” Wright

Florida’s Legislative Session began this week (gird your loins…) and we recently learned details of what our own Sen. “Terrible Tommy” Wright has in store for gridlocked Floridians this year: 

Permitting the use of “Utility Terrain Vehicles” (UTVs) on already congested public roadways…

Ignoring the recommendations of manufacturers, industry advocates, emergency physicians, and safety professionals – and in spite of mounting deaths both locally and across the nation – Sen. Wright wants to allow retrofitted and registered buggies on city and county streets, even some state roadways that have speed limits of less than 55 mph, and he’s filed a bill to make it happen.  

According to a recent report by Mark Harper writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “A Florida Legislature bill would allow owners of UTVs to drive them on public roads, a practice safety experts and even the manufacturers themselves say is unsafe.

Sen. Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, the bill’s sponsor, represents a district that covers much of Volusia County and the northern part of Brevard County, both of which have off-road areas where UTVs — also called utility terrain vehicles or side-by-sides — are becoming more common.

Wright’s district was also the site of a one-vehicle rollover crash less than two months ago, when a 14-year-old UTV passenger was killed. A Yamaha Rhino 660 carrying four girls, all aged 13 or 14, left the roadway near a bend on Rasley Road, a paved, two-lane, country road near New Smyrna Beach, and rolled, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report that redacted the girl’s name. The driver and one passenger were uninjured, while a third passenger suffered minor injuries.

Wright’s Senate Bill 88, has a companion, House Bill 221, filed by Rep. Richard Gentry, R-Astor.”

An analysis conducted by the legislature in 2024 found that 20 states around the nation currently allow UTVs on roadways with certain modifications.  Some Florida residents have skirted the law by registering their carts in states that allow it and bringing them home with a license plate.

According to industry experts, even with additional add-ons to make the machines technically “street legal,” the practice is inherently unsafe as UTVs are not designed to be operated on improved roadways.

Simply put, the vehicles are specifically built for off-highway use, and the handling characteristics aren’t conducive to paved roads, putting operators and passengers at increased danger of loss of control accidents.

The News-Journal report explained that a lobbyist for the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association spoke against a similar bill Wright filed last year, which included input from the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, a nonprofit safety group.

Even UTV manufactures – those who earn their bread and butter designing, building, and selling these off-road vehicles – have opposed Wright’s bill on the grounds UTVs aren’t properly crash-tested like passenger vehicles, the tire pressures are inappropriate for travel on asphalt, along with concerns about “…a mixed message to the public: Despite warning labels and placards, plus dealer instruction at the time of sale that these vehicles are not intended for street use, legalizing their use on roadways suggests otherwise.”

Florida already permits modified golf carts on streets with a posted limit of 30 or less, so you already know the frustration of sharing the road with them – usually operated by a child far too young to be a licensed driver – trundling along with at least five additional unbelted souls onboard… 

So, why is “Terrible Tommy” intent on wasting valuable legislative time to put these things on traffic-clogged Florida roadways? 

Hell if I know…

And I’m not sure Sen. Wright knows, either. 

According to the News-Journal, “Wright, who did not return messages seeking comment, has compared UTVs to “mini-trucks.”

That’s not surprising. 

In my view, the arrogant Sen. Wright answers to no one – and he damn sure does not see the need to communicate the intent of his proposed law to those most affected – just as he has never explained his past boorish, bullying, and downright creepy behavior to anyone…

You can read all about that ugliness here: https://tinyurl.com/4v4bxub8 and here: https://tinyurl.com/cv736sr3

Whatever.

Look, I realize most hardworking Volusia County taxpayers are too busy eking out a living, educating their children in the abject shitshow that passes for public education, and sitting at their dining room table self-engineering flood control measures to protect their homes, to worry about Sen. Wright’s foolishness in Tallahassee.   

That said, perhaps the question is:  Why doesn’t “Terrible Tommy” and his enabling “colleagues” in the Florida legislature stop dawdling and find solutions to the issues important to the lives and livelihoods of their constituents?    

The “Truth” According to Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago  

Because they have yet to legislate a legal way to suppress political dissent and free speech on social media, our elected and appointed officials increasingly seek to “control the narrative” by attractively packaging their version of “public information,” then use trusted shills to push it across the various platforms.

Small and midsize communities that represent the most assessable and responsive level of government have long been known for openness and transparency.  Places where elected officials were willing to act on the concerns of their neighbors, rather than the backroom winks and nods of their political benefactors.

Not anymore. 

Now, many local governments find increasingly dictatorial ways to suppress citizen participation – ignoring those who speak at public meetings like stone-faced gargoyles based on some contrived rules of decorum.   

On rare occasion an elected official sensitive to the needs of their constituents will throw off the yoke of conformism and speak to the media, hold a “town hall,” or otherwise communicate with taxpayers, riling the tightlipped bureaucracy who manufactures the message to avoid any possibility of criticism.

Those who dare speak to residents face-to-face receive a public beatdown – during which their “colleagues” force the offending representative into the round hole of conformity – publicly castigating them for not “following protocol” and treating citizens like mushrooms: Keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit…

Don’t take my word for it, ask Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie what happens when you give the media a tour of your community’s amenities without first begging permission from some middle manager in the Public Information office.

More on that later…

As a result, many taxpayers have found the only way to effectively voice concerns is the “everyman’s soapbox” of social media.  The modern equivalent of street-corner oratory – a place where We, The Little People can make ourselves heard, discuss the issues of the day, argue political opinions, educate one another, and take our elected officials to the woodshed when necessary.  

Smart politicians – at least those with the ability to think beyond their own self-interests – know that social media can be used as an effective civic barometer to gauge public sentiment on the issues of the day.

Unfortunately, those thin-skinned hacks who hold the keys to the kingdom don’t like the unfettered exchange of information these platforms foster because the righteous criticism voiced by their disenfranchised constituents stings their fragile egos…  

Locally, that sensitivity (read: fear of an informed electorate) has given rise to the digital propagandist – usually a lockstep member of Volusia’s stodgy “Old Guard” – a trusted subordinate of those behind the curtain controlling the rods and strings of government who is anointed to serve as the face of the bureaucracy on social media.

Once they establish an online presence, the shill can appear to be “one of us,” claiming to spout the “truth,” touting their dubious “accomplishments,” while spoon-feeding the official narrative to the masses – a slick means of responding to the civic acrimony – hoping we believe their version of the “truth,” regardless of what we see with our own eyes…

These lightly cloaked governmental forays into the wild, wild world of social media never last.

Eventually, the chosen “influencer” runs out of fertilizer to spew, gets caught telling a whopper, or just grows tired of being publicly eviscerated by angry residents.  Then, concerned about their political viability, the whole embarrassing sham usually goes away as quickly as it starts.

That’s not transparency – its contrived political spin.

Last month, I got a chuckle out of Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago – the ultimate “insider” – a perennial politician with a murky political history and extremely high opinion of himself – began posting a series of attention seeking videos on Facebook. 

This isn’t a real exchange of information between an accessible representative and his constituents – it’s the “Friday Truth” according to “No Show” Santiago – a rah-rah session straight from the horse’s ass in a county-supplied polo shirt…  

I can only imagine the condemnations that would fly like a wind driven shit-rain had Chairman Jeff Brower announced he was filming “informational” videos and publishing them in his official capacity on social media.

In his first installment, Councilman Santiago opened with a stilted stroll through a Deltona neighborhood – clumsily speaking into his phone on the end of a stick while pretending we just bumped into each other on the street – touting how he set in motion a mysterious plan (apparently now supported by the Volusia County Council?) to eliminate property taxes in Florida… 

That shocking revelation set off a storm of questions on social media and beyond.

When? Where? What? Why? How?

By what means?   

Why is Santiago shifting focus away from the overdevelopment and flooding the council promised to address to the exclusion of everything else? 

Why is he announcing this before reliable alternative revenue sources have been identified? 

Outside of real estate investors, who stands to gain?

Why is the State of Florida dictating local taxing decisions?  

How will Floridians afford the highest state/local sales taxes in the known universe?

What about our local police and fire departments, public works, and other municipal departments that are such a big part of our civic identity and provide responsive services to our families?

Why is the concept of reducing the size, spending, and scope of Volusia County government – and eliminating the duplication of services for the bulk of residents who live, pay taxes, and receive essential services from their municipality – as a means of lowering property taxes never discussed?

Who will ultimately control the purse strings?

Most important: Qui bono?

According to Santiago, some obscure acronym of an agency in Tallahassee will hash out the particulars behind closed doors – no doubt so our elected “representatives” can spring the details on us just ahead of constitutional amendment referendum.      

That’s all ye know, and all ye need to know…  

Trust me.  Political hacks like David Santiago do not have our best interests at heart and they never will.  These cheap facilitators exist to hawk for the highest bidder with the endgame strategized well in advance; always part of a darker scheme that enriches the few to the detriment of many.   

In my view, when politicians crow about eliminating property taxes in the absence of an identified (and dependable) source of revenue, especially in the face of insurmountable statewide infrastructure and resiliency issues, citizens are left to speculate – Income tax?  Excise tax?  Estate tax? Higher fees? Service cuts? Massive sales tax increase?  All of the above?

That uncertainty results in growing anxiety among Florida residents and business interests.

Regardless, Councilman Santiago should understand that We, The Little People see his inane preening and yammering on Facebook for what it is – an embarrassing insult to our intelligence – and his deflection from the serious issues isn’t fooling anyone…

City of Ormond Beach – The Latest “Black Hole” of Public Information

A “black hole” of public information occurs where the bureaucratic vacuity is so great that absolutely nothing of substance can escape the intensity of its gravitational pull.

Sound familiar?   

The tempest in a teapot over Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie’s participation in a benign media segment continued this week, and with it came a startling revelation about how the city’s public information officer selectively responds to requests for information, and the pettiness of a couple of elected publicity hounds who feel snubbed…  

Last month, Mayor Leslie escorted a reporter from WKMG-6 to several prominent civic, commercial, and recreational amenities in his community – a seemingly normal mayoral duty that resulted in a withering attack from Commissioner Kristin Deaton and Deputy Mayor Lori Tolland – two meanspirited self-promoters who have gone as far as suggesting a city ordinance to prohibit individual elected officials from speaking to residents without majority approval. 

Bullshit.

This week, as Deaton and Tolland continued to bash Mayor Leslie (mainly because his last name isn’t Persis), the reasons behind their personal attack became increasingly tenuous as they lectured regarding the “long-standing institutional norms” of sanitizing all information released to Ormond Beach residents through the sieve of a professional mouthpiece at City Hall.

In a disturbing article by reporter Brenno Carillo writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal this week, Mayor Leslie rightfully defended himself, claiming he felt “blindsided” by the criticism (because he was), and called the proposed ordinance “ridiculous” (because it is).

According to the News-Journal, “In an email to The News-Journal Friday afternoon, the city’s public information officer, Jenn Elston, said “a reporter at News 6 did reach out to the city about interviewing the mayor, but mentioned a topic that is under current litigation, so we could not offer commentary as advised by our city’s legal department.”

Elston added that the city was already aware “of News 6 being in town for their live broadcast and were actively collaborating on story ideas through our partner, Ormond Mainstreet, on locations around the city that would best showcase the incredible beauty of our town.”

She said the city made a “strategic decision not to respond” to the mayor interview request “in order to ensure that Ormond Beach remained part of the broader coverage News 6 was already working on with Ormond Mainstreet.”

“Additionally, since we had not previously worked with the reporter who reached out, we took a more cautious approach.”

Interesting.

Now, residents of Ormond Beach are left to wonder what else the city’s official gatekeeper has chosen to “strategically ignore” – and why? 

Speaking of “rules,” what is being done to keep city staff out of petty political squabbles and demand they serve the needs of each elected official impartially, fairly, and with equal vigor?

As more questions arise from the Deaton/Tolland persecution, as my elected representatives, I’d like to know if these two are aware of the serious issues facing Ormond Beach residents – growth, environmental, and infrastructure problems that have nothing to do with a newly-elected mayor promoting his community in a positive light?

In my view, given the public’s right to a transparent municipal government, PIO Elston shouldn’t be choosing which members of the working press will be served and which will be “strategically” ignored.

In my view, intentionally failing to respond to a reporter’s call for an interview with Mayor Leslie smacks of favoritism.  That creates internal and external trust issues and is why this debacle should be the last official act Ms. Elston performs as a recipient of $118,450 in public funds annually…   

With everyone who is anyone at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting agreeing to play nice going forward, here’s hoping the lockstep Deaton/Tolland tag team get over themselves – remember that there is a fine line between a functioning elective body and an abject shitshow – then get back to serving those who elected them.

In my view, Mayor Leslie’s willingness to connect, and his obvious pride in the City of Ormond Beach are solid attributes for an elected official.  That independence of thought will ensure fair, free, and competitive decision-making on the dais of power.

Quote of the Week

“More than five years into her tenure as First Step Shelter’s executive director, Victoria Fahlberg is poised to get a new contract that would give her a few new benefits and protections.

If the board overseeing the homeless shelter for adults approves a proposed 10-page contract, Fahlberg’s annual base salary will continue to be $133,900. That’s more than double the $60,000 base salary she started at in October 2019.

The proposed agreement would also give Fahlberg a new $150 per month automobile allowance for in-county work travel, continued access to a 401-k plan, and the new option to carry over more unused paid time off days that she can cash out when she leaves First Step Shelter someday.

She would continue to receive a stipend of $1,000 per month in lieu of health insurance, and a $50 monthly cell phone stipend, bringing her total compensation to just under $135,000.”

–Journalist Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Daytona Beach’s First Step Shelter director contract to get vote soon,” Thursday, February 27, 2025

Remind me again who the First Step “Shelter” exists to serve? 

Amidst the still roiling controversies at First Step – an enigmatic transitional housing program underwritten by the taxpayers of Volusia County and Daytona Beach – it appears those cowards on First Step’s Board of Misdirection have decided to deal with the myriad issues at the facility by not dealing with them…

To make matters worse, in a surreal turn of events, rather than hold leadership accountable, demonstrate fiduciary responsibility, establish expectations, and build a healthy culture based on trust – the First Step board is considering additional benefits and protections for their demonstrably failed Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg. 

You read that right.

Look, I am familiar with the “Peter Principle” (I’m the poster boy), and I’ve seen the “Dilbert Principle” in action – the satirical concept that companies tend to promote incompetent employees to management as a means of minimizing their adverse effect on productivity – a strategy frequently used in government organizations.     

But what do you call it when a board – charged with the stewardship of public funds – allows controversy and mistrust to continue in the face of active lawsuits, the criminal prosecution and subsequent acquittal of a whistleblower, unresolved complaints of fraud, fiduciary malfeasance, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, admission policy violations, and resident safety violations, that have resulted in increased public suspicion about the direction and leadership at First Step? 

Perhaps most disturbing, the new three-year agreement – which has been cobbled together over the past six-months (?) by Daytona Beach City Attorney Ben Gross and Fahlberg’s chief apologist, board member Mike Panaggio – would grant Fahlberg a lump sum severance of 20-weeks pay at her current rate if she is terminated “without cause.”

According to the News-Journal’s report, “If she was fired for cause or voluntarily resigned, the shelter board would have no obligation to pay any sort of severance.

Termination for cause could mean a material breach of any provision of the agreement; a conviction of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude; neglect of duty; and conduct unbecoming of the position of executive director or likely to bring discredit or embarrassment to the organization.”

Any of that sound familiar?   

In addition, the board is considering indemnifying Fahlberg “…against any tort, professional liability claim or demand or other legal action, whether groundless or otherwise, arising out of an alleged act or omission occurring in the performance of employee’s duties” unless something was done in bad faith, with malicious purpose or in a wanton manner.

She could request for First Step Shelter to provide independent legal representation at the shelter’s expense.”

Frankly, given recent events, that level of financial liability should go through potential public and private donors like an ice water enema…  

In my view, with active lawsuits filed by whistleblowers, the bashing of citizens who seek information, and unresolved questions surrounding Fahlberg’s leadership still swirling, it is time for the Daytona Beach City Commission to determine how much fiscal (and political) liability they are willing to accept from an inept board of directors seemingly intent on saddling taxpayers with more drama at First Step.  

And Another Thing!

“Miami Corporation Management LLC (doing business as Farmton North LLC of Edgewater) plans to bring a mix of residential, commercial, industrial and conservation areas to the Deering Park development.

The first phase will take shape within a 725-acre area located south of State Road 442 in Edgewater, where the developer will bring approximately 6,600 homes, as well as trails, parks, retail and commerce centers by 2026.

In total, Deering Park could bring up to approximately 23,000 residential units.

The project’s New Smyrna Beach section consists of 6 million square feet of mixed-use land, including 2,150 residential units, retail space for “corporate headquarters, light industrial, research, hotels (150-room maximum), small non-retail business, and office uses,” a sports complex, a new police substation and the Deering Park Innovation Center, according to the city.”

–Reporter Brenno Carillo writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Deering Park to add another 4,000 acres for land conservation in 70,000-acre development,” Tuesday, February 18, 2025

“Nothing to see here, folks – “large-scale conservation, interconnected lakes and ponds, control structures, and low-impact development techniques” – keep moving…” 

Find the rest of the News-Journal’s informative article on Deering Park here: https://tinyurl.com/yeys237n

With thousands of Volusia County residents demanding solutions to recurrent development-induced flooding – and the quality-of-life issues faced by claustrophobic existing residents – our compromised elected officials continue to pay lip service to the issues of density and overdevelopment by kicking the can down the road, refusing to mandate low-impact techniques and smart growth initiatives with more massive subdivisions looming.    

If you haven’t figured it out, when real estate developers crow about their commitment to “conservation” you can bet they are stalling before the bulldozers roar anew, buying time before churning more greenspace into a foul black muck using obscene slash-and-burn deforestation to prepare the land for more, more, more…

The good people of Edgewater, New Smyrna, and the whole of Southeast Volusia should prepare for what’s coming, because here on the “Fun Coast,” history always repeats – and this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about “Smart Growth” initiatives that never took root.

For instance, anyone remember the sense of excitement we felt in the leadup to the “Smart Growth Summits” of 2003 and 2004?

And who can forget the Smart Growth PowerPoint of November 2008, with its ominous conclusion, “Where do we go next?”

Unfortunately, hindsight tells us the answer to that question was a “cram ten-pounds of shit in a five-pound bag” growth management strategy that continues to allow our elected dullards to ensure their political benefactors can squeeze every dollar out of our decimated natural places…

Here’s a few more “Smart Growth” teases that were ignored. 

Anyone remember this now tarnished jewel:

“The concept of Smart Growth emerged as communities have been increasingly impacted by “sprawling” development patterns and related infrastructure and service delivery costs. Locally, this pattern cannot be sustained without permanent destruction of vast ecosystems and wildlife corridors”?

I do.

How about that collective feeling of anticipation we all had ahead of the “Smart Growth Policy Review Committee of 2013-2014,” when a past iteration of the Volusia County Council commissioned a Blue-Ribbon political insulation committee charged with recommending a host of planning and zoning policy initiatives?

No?

Oh, I know!  How about the “Smart Growth Policy Review Committee of 2015-2016”?

Just me?  Okay.

Wait, I’m certain you’ll recall Director Ervin’s patented ‘Dog and Pony Show’ at the Knights of the Volusia Elected Officials Roundtable conclave in June 2019, to “…explore the idea of “smart growth” within the county, with the input from municipalities and other community stakeholders.”

Anyone see a pattern here?

If it sounds like “déjà vu all over again,” that’s because it is…

The same rehashed bullshit from Chef Clay Ervin, now served au gratin.

With the specter of 23,000 new homes set to blanket Southeast Volusia (for reference, the City of Ormond Beach has 21,295 residential units) rather than mandate protections, our elected dullards have established something called a “voluntary ordinance” that permits developers to follow smart growth and low-impact development practices in exchange for incentives – or not.

Why do you think that is?

That’s all for me.  Have a great final weekend of Bike Week 2025, 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…

Trader Joes – “Well, We’re Movin’ on Up!”

Come on everybody!  Clap along with me!

“Fish don’t fry in the kitchen;

Beans don’t burn on the grill.

Took a whole lotta tryin’

Just to get up that hill.

Now we’re up in the big leagues

Gettin’ our turn at bat.

As long as we live, it’s you and me baby

There ain’t nothin wrong with that… Well, we’re movin’ on up!”

–“The Jeffersons” Theme

Slap my ass and call me Sally! 

Just days after I made a snarky remark in The Daytona Beach News-Journal about a passel of celebrities opening an extravagant “Five Star” hotel in Daytona Beach – a place we were told doesn’t have the “demographics” to support a Trader Joe’s, let alone a South Beach luxury resort – old Barker ended up with free range, pasture-raised, organic egg on his funny face! 

Yep!

After years of speculation, and the mysterious cloak-and-dagger intrigue that is now de rigueur for any business opening a location here, this week we learned that our chaunts and prayers to the Grocery God’s have finally been answered.

It took some crack investigative work by both the News-Journal and Hometown News Volusia, but all indications suggests that a Trader Joe’s will one day grace the Tomoka Town Center off Boomtown Boulevard in Daytona Beach.    

According to reporter Charles Guarria writing in Hometown News, “At this time, I can share that we have plans to open a store in Daytona Beach,” Nakia Rohde, public relations manager for Trader Joe’s, replied via email. She continued, “However, I do not have a location or timeline to confirm.”

In addition, News-Journal Business editor Clayton Park confirmed:

“The City of Daytona Beach on Jan. 31 issued a building permit for a two-store retail project at Tomoka Town Center that will include a Trader Joe’s.

Construction plans for the project submitted to the city included several references to Trader Joe’s, confirmed city spokeswoman Susan Cerbone, who added other than that, “I have no insider knowledge of them coming.”

The website for real estate developer North American Development Group shows several planned new additions to its Tomoka Town Center retail complex in Daytona Beach.

While Trader Joe’s is not listed among the coming tenants, an updated site map and rendering of the shopping center include two side-by-side future stores between Dave & Buster’s and Academy Sports. The larger of the two future stores is labeled as a planned HomeSense home furnishings/decor store, while the smaller end-cap unit is not identified.

Plans submitted to the city show that the 13,432-square-foot end-cap unit will be a Trader Joe’s store.”

A tip o’ the cap to Detectives Park and Guarria for donning their deerstalkers and digging past the denials, obfuscation, and cryptograms that shroud the identities of everything from lemonade stands to Amazon fulfillment centers here on the “Fun Coast” and finally crack the case.

According to the Hometown News, they got the Sergeant Shultz treatment from just about everyone associated with the place: “Cobb Cole, the legal representative listed on paperwork filed with the City of Daytona Beach, offered no comment when asked to confirm Trader Joe’s would open in Tomoka Town Center. Attempts to reach the developer of Tomoka Town Center, North America Development Group, were unsuccessful.

Members of the Daytona Beach City Commission, including Dannette Henry, whose district the shopping center is in, have not heard which boutique grocer is opening at the location. When Mayor Derrick Henry was asked if he heard that Trader Joe’s was the tenant, he replied, “I have never been told that.”

No word yet if ol’ Trader Joe is holding out for some lucrative spiffs from the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County before tipping his hand… 

Wouldn’t be the first time.

I remember back in those heady days a decade ago when our economic gurus over at Team Volusia where crowing about bringing a Trader Joe’s distribution center to Daytona Beach. 

At the time, the chain added to our civic identity crisis when a spokesperson explained that – while we have the workforce to schlep goods and groceries around a commercial warehouse – the Halifax area didn’t have the “demographics” to support one of the tony “boutique” grocery stores.   

So, rather than request concessions (like locating a store here), our city and county “leaders” rolled over and peed all over themselves like an incontinent cur – gifting the company millions in tax breaks to locate their distribution center at the very nexus of I-95 and I-4 – with direct access to ports at Tampa, Jacksonville, Canaveral,  Everglades, and Miami, and a Class II regional railroad providing intermodal service to the eastern seaboard and immediately adjacent to an “international” airport capable of heavy cargo operations with room to expand in the fastest growing region in the universe…

I guess times they are a-changin,’ eh?

A January 2025 article in the online magazine Fast Company, which bills itself as the “…world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design,” described the Trader Joe “demographic” as:

“The average Trader Joe’s shopper is a white married college graduate between 25 and 44 who earns $80,000 a year, “over-indexes” on social media use, and considers themselves to be early adopters of new trends.”

You can find the rest of the story here: https://tinyurl.com/2p8tbv9f

As I reflect back on how far we’ve come, I recall way back in 2017 – when that glass-and-steel panacea known as the Brown & Brown headquarters heralded the “game-changing transformation” of Downtown Daytona – the News-Journal reported, “Local land investor and developer Mori Hosseini said Volusia County has been known as “a loser county,” but will soon be considered “progressive.”

Well, our High Panjandrum of Political Power was right after all.   

I mean, what says “we’ve arrived” like a Trader Joe’s sitting next to a Dave & Busters? 

Welcome to the top, y’all… 

The Lost City of Deltona and the Sad Saga of Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.”

–Thomas Jefferson

In George Orwell’s eerily prophetic novella, Animal Farm, the allegorical quote “All animals are equal.  Some animals are more equal than others,” speaks to the hypocrisy of those within systems of governance who rise to power then exploit their position for personal gain.

Petty politicians who hold themselves out as ‘of and for’ the residents of a community, then, upon elevation to public office, suddenly view government as a monarchical hierarchy rather than a sacred public service – now above the reach of rules – entitled, dictatorial, answering to no one.

Openly violating policies and regulations without consequence while ensuring We, The Little People understand that the rule of law controls us, not the governing elite.   

In my view, Orwell’s grim metaphor is embodied in Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. of the Lost City of Deltona – a raging dumpster fire with the persistence and intensity of the Centralia coal mine blaze – a Kubrickian Overlook Hotel, haunted by external forces and driven by personal agendas that seems to corrupt anyone and anything who enters its “service” – and a continuing civic embarrassment to the mosaic of municipalities in Volusia County.

Now, Deltona will also be known as a place where the basic legal concept of “Ignorance of the law excuses no one” not only forgives the elected elite for blatant violations of rules governing public expenditures – but now establishes the “Santiago-Avila Jr. Rule” – a ludicrous self-serving defense which allows politicians to escape blame merely by saying they were unaware of the existence of an accountability policy used in virtually every public and private organization on the face of the planet…

On Monday evening, the erosion of the public trust continued during a ridiculous ‘quasi-judicial’ hearing ostensibly to allow Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. the opportunity to explain why he and his wife used taxpayer dollars to travel to Washington D.C. in January to attend a series of elegant political soirees in tuxedo and gown.

Laissez-les manger du gâteau…

According to testimony provided during the quackery earlier this week, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. claimed he also attended the U. S. Conference of Mayors while in Washington – not as a paid attendee – but as the “guest” of a mysterious unidentified benefactor…

Really?

The mayor’s trip was thought to be in direct contradiction to the city’s established travel policy for elected officials which requires advanced approval by majority vote of the City Commission. 

Because it was.

Many Deltona taxpayers rightfully viewed it as Santiago-Avila Jr.’s attempt to use the “seek forgiveness not permission” strategy to obtain public funds for what appeared to be a purely political junket.  

Inconceivably, the Mayor’s only defense – as presented by his expensive mouthpiece, perennial politician, and attorney Anthony Sabatini – was “Huh.  Who knew the city had a travel policy?” 

Now, some are questioning how Hizzoner could afford a heavy hitter like Sabatini, or are taxpayers covering the cost of his defense as well?

I’m asking.  Because by his own admission (and court records), Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. has serious personal financial issues that have become a topic of civic concern in Deltona… 

During the farcical Kangaroo Kourt that ensued, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. stated he was unaware the municipal government had a written policy to approve official travel in advance of the expenditure.

In my view, watching Santiago-Avila Jr. quibble, split hairs, and mewl “I don’t recall” while still retaining the gavel of power – arrogantly demanding silent obedience from residents in the audience (“No more outbursts from the public!”) – while under direct examination for his flagrant disregard for city policy, epitomized all that is wrong with what passes for public accountability in Deltona.     

Even an attempt to hold an elected official responsible for circumventing established policy for publicly funded out-of-state travel turned into a non-sensical exercise that stretched the limits of commonsense and credibility – and ultimately failed to secure accountability, or proper sanction, after the 4-3 vote failed the supermajority requirement.

In the end, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. and his patented “Who knew?” defense won the day by one vote – his own… 

To show whose boss in Deltona, after being acquitted by the technicality, Mayor Santiago-Avila Jr. lorded over the room, directing Sheriff’s deputies expel a frustrated taxpayer from the chamber when he boisterously condemned the sham.   

Once again, the long-suffering taxpayers of the Lost City of Deltona lost to the self-serving forces of mediocrity that continue to plague this beleaguered community…

Quote of the Week

The ordinance proposal came after three commissioners, including (Commissioner Kristin) Deaton, voiced concerns from the dais regarding recent comments made by the mayor in recent news coverage. Deaton said she received multiple calls regarding a Channel 6 news broadcast where Leslie took reporters on a tour of the city to showcase the city’s “best-kept secrets.”

In the 4-minute broadcast, Leslie is seen taking reporters to the Magic Forest Playground at Rainbow Park — which he said would reopen in 2-4 weeks, but city staff Tuesday reported renovations would take longer — as well as Andy Romano Beachfront Park, Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center, the proposed Belvedere Terminals fuel farm site, the airport and the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.  

Deaton said that to her knowledge, city staff, including the public information officer, were not informed ahead of time about the news crew’s arrival.

“It is protocol for the commission and the mayor to contact the city PIO if approached by the media, and I want to ensure that is upheld,” Deaton said.”

–Managing Editor Jarleene Almenas, writing in the Ormond Beach Observer, “Ormond Beach officials condemn Mayor Jason Leslie’s representation of city in recent news reports,” Wednesday, February 19, 2025

As often happens among petty and ego-maniacal politicians, someone’s feewings got hurt this week on the Ormond Beach City Commission – and our right to independent representation will suffer because of it…

During a recent segment of WKMG’s “Hit the Road,” the City of Ormond Beach was highlighted as “…a city filled with charm, history, and surprises.”  The piece included a driving tour of the community hosted by newly-elected mayor, Jason Leslie.

To his credit, Mayor Leslie escorted the reporter to several prominent civic, commercial, and recreational amenities, explaining planned improvements and restoration efforts for some of the city’s “best kept secrets.”   In addition, the mayor provided viewers with a brief update on controversial plans for the Belvedere Fuel Terminal (which has been kept out of sight and out of mind for months…).

Watch the segment for yourself here: https://tinyurl.com/2nnfa2s2

In my view, it was a flattering exposé of this beautiful community – my hometown – appropriately presented by the city’s mayor, and his pride in place was clearly evident.  In addition, WKMG’s morning news team originated from Ormond Beach’s Grind Gastropub & Kona Tiki Bar this week, following up with a three-hour broadcast to further accentuate the community’s many attributes.

According to the Observer’s report, Mayor Leslie recently spearheaded an effort to seek authorization from Governor Ron DeSantis that flags be flown at half-mast in honor of former local resident Capt. Jonathan Campos, who lost his life in the tragic plane crash in Washington D.C. 

For his efforts to present the community in a favorable light, Mayor Leslie was taken to the woodshed by Zone Three Commissioner Kristin Deaton, who has proposed a cockamamie ordinance to ensure the mayor – and any other elected official who dares exercise independence of thought in service to their constituents – will be pounded into the round hole of conformity with the force of law… 

Piling on was Commissioner Lori Tolland – who complained Mayor Leslie gave “inaccurate information” during the WKMG segment and a recent interview with the Observer – along with Commissioner Travis Sargent, who made a not-so-veiled insinuation that “…someone on the dais,” (alluding to Leslie) was trying to get City Manager Joyce Shanahan fired.”

“That kills morale — kills employees’ morale and how they work, and it’s just uncalled for,” Sargent said. “If you have a problem, call that person, sit down with them or discuss it up here. Don’t do it behind closed doors and think something’s going to happen. It’s very unprofessional.”

According to the Observer, “Leslie said he never voiced any intent to fire Shanahan, saying he has a “great working relationship” with her.”

Most shocking, Commissioner Tolland lectured “…it was essential that they work together as a body “to uphold the principles of our commission, rather than acting independently in ways that do not reflect our collective governance.”

Say what? 

“Collective governance?”

In my view, Commissioners Deaton, Tolland, and Sargent should rethink their roles – or join a country club if they need constant validation from their peers…

The City of Ormond Beach operates under the Commission/Manager form of government – a representative democracy where We, The Little People elect representatives to set public policy, taxation, allocations, and establish ordinances as the city’s legislative body – civic responsibilities that require independence, public input from an informed constituency, and the honest debate of ideas.

Not lockstep conformity using the “If we’re all thinking alike, who can criticize us?” political insulation strategy…

In my view, this is what happens when elected officials stay too long at the party and get taken into the maw of the bureaucracy; more concerned about protecting the tenure of senior officials and ensuring any information that escapes from City Hall is sanitized and spun by an internal mouthpiece.   

Over time, some politicians develop the mindset that the elected body should be a clubbish, homogenized, and well-choreographed echo chamber, where senior staff create public policy behind closed doors, and the role of elected officials is merely to rubberstamp it.

To enforce compliance, the compromised majority begin passing rules and ordinances to silence dissent on both sides of the dais (See: The Volusia County Council of Cowards), and strictly enforced conformism ensures the outcome of votes when everyone starts thinking alike…

In his defense, Mayor Leslie explained:  

“I respect the feedback from my fellow commissioners, and I want to emphasize that I’m still relatively new to this role,” Leslie said. “I value open communication and believe that collaboration is key to serving our community effectively. I recognize that at times, my eagerness to provide information quickly may have come across as speaking off the cuff. Moving forward, I am committed to working more closely with our city staff to ensure that the information I share is accurate and fully aligned with the City’s official stance.”

Bullshit. Stand firm, Mr. Mayor.  

Here’s hoping Mayor Leslie maintains his independence and refuses to go to “staff” with his hat in hand to obtain the “official line” before releasing information to his constituents – or accept the bureaucracy’s myopic take on the issues of the day as gospel.   

That’s why Ormond Beach taxpayers elected him.

In my view, Mayor Leslie’s willingness to speak his mind, and his obvious pride in the City of Ormond Beach, are attributes that will ensure fair, free, and competitive decision-making on the dais of power.

And Another Thing!

I’ve always been curious about those political “clubs” and “civic leagues” you read about. 

Not dull partisan cliques where like-types meet to reinforce each other’s views, but those “discussion groups” where people much smarter (and wealthier) than me pay annual dues to have lunch – listen to congressmen, ambassadors and other “movers & shakers” bloviate on the issues of the day – then debate “public affairs” over linen tablecloths.

Somehow, I don’t think I’d fit in – and I’m sure I don’t have the $500 to find out…

Instead, I get my take on our local political climate from a barstool.

I have a favorite watering hole where I talk politics over shots and beers with an eclectic group who actually experience the effects of public policy decisions up close and personal.

Working folks, tradesmen, and retirees who feel every dime of tax increases and growing insurance premiums; claustrophobic longtime residents who experience the effect of unchecked growth, fear for the quantity and quality of their drinking water, worry about the fate of their small businesses, and lament the fact that elected officials ignore their concerns while catering to the “Rich & Powerful,” whose wants and whims bear no resemblance to their own.

I don’t know what the consensus is around those fancy luncheons of our local Bilderberg – but by my barroom barometer – those of us here in the “Real World” are ready for Volusia County government to meet taxpayers halfway and tighten its belt as well…  

We currently have seven self-described “staunch conservative Republicans” occupying every seat on the nonpartisan Volusia County Council. 

Trust me.  They don’t know the meaning of the word.

As I see it, our elected dullards in DeLand have confused the tenets of conservatism – limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free markets – with the clique of partisan politics.

They call themselves “Republicans” because it is the politically expedient thing to do, while ignoring the traditional values upon which the Grand Old Party once stood. 

(And don’t get me started on what passes for the foundering Democratic party, now wholly controlled by the lunatic fringe, and moderate minds need not apply…)

Is there another explanation?

According to Councilman Danny “Gaslight” Robins, speaking at a “Special Meeting” earlier this month, each of our current representatives ran on a commitment to “smaller government,” which everyone knows is more backhanded bullshit to camouflage why he opposed mandatory low-impact development regulations that could have helped prevent future widespread flooding that has devastated so many of his constituents. 

So, when is Gaslight Robins and his fellow “conservatives” going to live up to their campaign promise and begin whittling down the size and reach of Volusia County government?

In my view, independent reviews, and outside financial audits of essential (and not-so-essential) services is a necessity, especially in local, state, and federal government organizations that have forgotten where the money they spend originates. And why.

Earlier this month, the Volusia County Council – that bastion of “small government” conservatism – listened to the same crushingly dull staff presentation regarding the formulation of a voluntary low-impact development “ordinance” that I did.

The difference was that my jaw hit the floor when Environmental Middle Management Director Ginger Adair explained that the provisions of the proposed ordinance had been reviewed by 16 different divisions of county government before coming to the council.

Unfortunately, those we elected to represent our interests were either wholly disinterested or rendered comatose by the droning PowerPoint, because they seemed completely unfazed by Ms. Adair’s shocking glimpse inside the inner workings of this bloated bureaucracy.

In my experience, it is physically impossible for the average taxpayer to navigate the labyrinth of warrens that worm through Volusia County government with the complexity of a red ant mound.   

For instance, I recently counted some fifty departments and divisions (excluding law enforcement and public protection) and was still unable to account for all the various subdivisions, offices, and agencies – or the myriad directors, assistant directors, managers, coordinators, specialists, etc., etc., that populate the various managerial and supervisory roles…

In a 2022 glossy brochure produced by Volusia County, the behemoth described itself as “Similar to a large company, Volusia County government consists of more than 40 different, distinct parts, and interfaces…” with a compliment of “approximately” 2,000 employees. 

“Approximately”?   

Except, unlike any “large company” with a fiduciary responsibility to stockholders, Volusia County has an unlimited supply of cash and remains accountable to no one… 

When you break down the unknown number of personnel, senior staff, ancillary operations, and public assets large and small – it now takes a record $1.6 Billion annually (you read that right) to slop that insatiable hog.  And given the innumerable issues and infrastructure requirements we face, it’s only going up, up, up from here…

In attempting to defend the indefensible, Volusia County is quick to tell us they are everything to everyone. 

Yet, when the bureaucracy finds itself between a rock and a hard place – like when angry villagers turn out with pitchforks and torches demanding answers to recurrent flooding – senior bureaucrats revert to the dodge “We are only responsible for unincorporated areas and some infrastructure in the cities…not my yob, man.”  

While simultaneously cashing everyone’s annual ad velorem tax checks like clockwork… 

If you haven’t noticed, the concept of “government efficiency” has been making the news of late.

Which got me to thinking, “When are those champions of “small government” on the Volusia County Council going to prove their fiscal responsibility to taxpayers and begin the process of “right sizing” county government like Gaslight Robins said they would?”

Hacking the thick rind of fat off this bloated hog and ensuring maximum efficiencies, reducing the number of executive level positions, consolidating services where applicable, limiting spending, cutting red tape, demanding accountability, and identifying areas where taxpayers are being painted as the villain (as Chairman Brower recently divulged) then terminating anyone involved in the practice.  

For instance, if the word “Resilience” appears in more than one department or divisional name – one of them is redundant – especially in an age where environmental best practices are considered voluntary… 

It’s one thing for these posers to jump on the “small government” bandwagon when it is politically expedient to do so – it’s quite another to roll up their sleeves and begin the process of returning this ravenous monstrosity to something taxpayers can recognize – and trust.

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

Note to Readers:

Barker’s View will be on hiatus next week – a short ‘pause for the cause’ – as Patti and I celebrate our 30^th Wedding Anniversary (we’re nothing if not stubborn…)  During the break, please feel free to enjoy some past asides from the BV achieves at the bottom of this page.  It’s fun to take a look back with the clarity of hindsight and see what has changed, and what remains the same, here on Florida’s “Fun Coast.”   

See you next month! 

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 of Cowards

Best Practices

“A procedure that has been shown by research and experience to produce optimal results and that is established or proposed as a standard suitable for widespread adoption.”

Industry Standards

“A set of criteria within an industry relating to the standard functioning and carrying out of operations in their respective fields of production. In other words, it is the generally accepted requirements followed by the members of an industry. It provides an orderly and systematic formulation, adoption, or application of standards used in a particular industry or sector of the economy.”

Best Management Practices (BMP)

“Best management practices are methods that have been determined to be the most effective and practical means of preventing or reducing non-point source pollution to help achieve water quality goals.”

Political Prostitute

“Elected officials who accept campaign contributions and endorsements from special interest groups, corporations, and the wealthy individuals who control them in exchange for favorable legislation or policies that increase profit margins for the few to the detriment of many.”

For good or ill, my gift/curse remains the preternatural ability to unravel the inconsistencies and paradoxes that frequently occur in local governance and politics.  Those contradictory riddles of logic that challenge our conventional understanding of the “truth” – that we can see with our own eyes versus the bureaucratic artifice which seeks to deflect our attention.   

That said, I must admit, sometimes the abject absurdity of it all still baffles me… 

For instance, after reviewing the Volusia County Council’s agenda for Tuesday’s “Special Meeting” – the first in what will be a long series of tortuous memorandums and agonizingly boring PowerPoints, narrated in monotone by senior staff and played out over months, a strategy that will eventually crush the enthusiasm of even the most ardent supporter of flood control measures – something about a ludicrous plan to “incentivize” a voluntary low-impact development ordinance didn’t smell right.

By definition, an “Ordinance” is a law established by governmental authority, an official decree, an authoritative order.  It isn’t a mere suggestion, or an invitation to do the right thing – and it typically doesn’t come with financial inducements for following the rules…

To ensure I understood the contradictory concept of ‘voluntary best practices’ in the context of the council’s choreographed discussion, I took a minute to review the above definitions. 

The first three come from the United States Government, an organization not traditionally known for its clarity. 

The last one I made up. 

Just seemed appropriate under the circumstances…

Then I pondered the obvious: “If best practices are shown by research and experience to produce optimal results, and industry standards are generally accepted as integral to the optimal functioning and conduct of operations – why in the hell would our ‘powers that be’ not demand those basic standards from the local building industry – or take steps to ensure development practices in Volusia County conform to industry norms?”

Look, it doesn’t take the deductive reasoning of Lieutenant Columbo to see that the opposite of standards and practices is an intentional deviation from accepted principles, a complete disregard for established rules, ignoring potential risk, and creating unintended consequences for others who may be harmed by negligent or nonconforming practices.

Sound familiar?

It should. 

Especially if you are one of the thousands of Volusia County property owners suffering the devastating effects of development-induced flooding – repeat victims who are demanding substantive action from our elected officials on the Volusia County Council of Cowards.  

Inconceivably, in the face of unprecedented suffering, this week the foremost minds in the Ivory Tower of Power in DeLand concluded that not only should Volusia County government make industry standards and best practices voluntary – they should provide “…incentives for developers and design professionals to implement these best management practices during the design phase of a project.”

You read that right. 

Somewhere along the dusty political trail, local governments were sold on the idea that with the right application of public funds – or other lucrative “incentives,” tax breaks, and infrastructure improvements – they could compel impactful businesses and industries to ‘do the right thing’ by the taxpayers who supply the spiffs.

Several years ago, a business presented under a mysterious cryptogram that everyone knew was spelled “Amazon” – the most successful ecommerce company in the known universe – yet Daytona Beach granted millions in inducements to locate a robotic fulfillment center at the very nexus of I-4 and I-95…

One can only imagine the uproarious guffaws in Amazon’s site development offices when it was announced, “Not only are we getting the warehouse at the most advantageous access point to all of Central Florida – but rather than make us pay for the privilege – those rubes are going to give us $4 million!” 

I don’t make this shit up, folks.

Now, using the bureaucratic legerdemain they are famous for, the Volusia County Council has reached into their well-worn top hat and pulled out a way to appease and enrich their political benefactors in the development industry by incentivizing what should be mandatory practices while making it appear they are accomplishing something of substance to reduce (emphasis on “future”) regional flooding, using empty promises of revisiting the ordinance to ensure current victims won’t notice they are being cut adrift…

Abracadabra. 

Just like that, on Tuesday evening, during a clearly orchestrated farce, our elected dullards voted 6-1, with Chairman Jeff Brower dissenting (and Councilman David “No Show” Santiago literally phoning it in) to implement a series of toothless measures permitting developers to voluntarily incorporate low-impact best management practices into “conservation developments” within the Urban land use designation, or not.

If they choose to follow what should be mandatory LID best practices, developers will be eligible for a smorgasbord of lucrative “incentives,” to include increased density, increased building height, reduction in tree replacement requirements, and reduced building permit and land use development fees.

Bullshit.

I got a chuckle when Councilman Danny “Gaslight” Robins once again mewled his hollow denials, quibbling that – despite the fact Low-impact development has been discussed in Volusia County government for decades – he’s heard no “measurable data” that LID practices reduce flooding (?) – while laughably painting himself and his fellow shills as “small government” advocates:   

“Seven out of seven of us ran on less government, and making government larger by adopting mandatory regulations that still no one has been able to provide no measurable data to say that it will stop or prevent flooding to the people that we hear about — that’s the pickle I’m in,” Robins said.

In actuality, the “pickle” Mr. Robins finds himself in is that his neighbors are being financially ruined by repeat flooding – and instead of taking definitive measures to help them – he sold his political soul to development interests with a chip in a very lucrative game… 

Then, as evidence of the senseless mindset that has resulted in Volusia becoming the most flood prone county in Florida – seventh in the nation – Councilman Don Dempsey, who represents inundated areas of West Volusia, explained his daffy rationale to waterlogged constituents:

“We all want to see low impact development tested out and try to see if it works, but the mandate — all we may do with mandates is drive developers out of the county.  They may just pack up and say, ‘Heck with this, we’re going to go to Lake County and do a subdivision.'”

Yeah.  That would be a terrible thing. 

I mean, where would the $1,000 campaign contributions come from if speculative developers picked up and left Volusia County rather than adopt ethical practices to prevent the destruction of neighboring homes?    

City of Daytona Beach – Communication is Key

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.”

–Peter Drucker

I recently had an interesting discussion with a resident concerned about last week’s tempest in a teapot at Daytona Beach City Hall when Commissioner Stacy Cantu took exception to a proposed internal policy that would grant City Manager Deric Feacher and the city’s Information Technology director the authority to pull the plug on elected officials electronics if they violate cybersecurity protocols.

Last week, in an informative article by Eileen Zaffiro-Kean writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled “Daytona Beach city commissioner worried cybersecurity policy violates city charter,” we learned:

“Imagine a state government employee telling Gov. Ron DeSantis he wanted the power to remove the governor’s access to the state’s information technology network if he ever thought DeSantis violated state cybersecurity policy, or he didn’t think DeSantis was following cybersecurity best practices.

That’s how Daytona Beach City Commissioner Stacy Cantu sees a proposal to give City Manager Deric Feacher and the city’s information technology staff that kind of power over the six city commissioners and mayor if they violate a 77-point policy outlining requirements for use of the city’s information technology network.”

She’s right.

To her credit, the ever-vigilant Ms. Cantu believes the policy would upend the critical balance of power at City Hall which states the city manager works exclusively for the city commission, not the other way around.      

As City Manager, Mr. Feacher is granted extraordinary powers by city charter to fulfill his myriad responsibilities.  He denied the policy represents a “power grab,” explaining “It’s not a matter of me asserting any authority,” he said. “It’s me protecting the integrity of the system and the city’s $390 million budget.”

Mr. Feacher is also right.

Observers looking on from the outside can often see situations more three-dimensionally than those at the point of conflict.  It is the result of the natural loss of situational awareness that comes when well-meaning people become so caught up in conflict, they can no longer see the precipitating issue objectively.

Perspective dictates our response to situations and limits our view of the details.    

This is especially true during a “Clash of the Titans” – when senior leadership at the top of a public or private organization allow disputes to transcend the honest debate of competing views that makes for good policy, begin circling the wagons, and protecting their turf.   

More often than not, this results from poor communication. 

In the Council/Manager form of government, where the manager is permitted broad powers and permitted to perform their duties free of interference from individual elected officials, on occasion, there will be friction.   

Therein lies the headache for city/county managers who must keep five to seven big personalities informed and engaged – while overseeing the day-to-day operations of an organization with a lot of moving parts – or risk being tossed out on their ass by majority vote of the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker…  

It’s a hard dollar, and in my view, Mr. Feacher does an excellent job for the residents of Daytona Beach. 

That’s what makes this unfortunate miscommunication so disappointing.

According to the News-Journal’s report, “After a back and forth debate Wednesday night between Cantu and Feacher, and input from other commissioners and the city’s head of information technology, it appeared Cantu was mostly alone in her protest. By the end of the discussion, most commissioners seemed to see the proposed cyber policies as necessary protection for the city’s online systems.

City Attorney Ben Gross’ comments appeared to calm most worries that the cyber policy for the elected officials would violate the city charter.

“This would be a legal delegation of authority under our charter,” Gross said. “I’m not aware of any impediments that would prevent you from authorizing the manager to implement this. … You would not be violating the city charter.”

In my experience, when it becomes necessary for a governmental organization to place limits on those with the responsibility (and political liability) for its funding and oversight, it is important that everyone – including those in the cheap seats who pay the bills – understand the operational necessities for the action, and the checks-and-balances in place to prevent abuse.  

Far too often, elected bodies fall victim to the “tail wagging the dog” syndrome, a reversal of the power dynamic, where the bureaucracy controls duly elected representatives and sets public policy by proxy.

This is often accomplished using arbitrary rules and subjective edicts that neuter an elected officials sworn responsibilities to their constituents.

Don’t take my word for it, ask Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower what happens to those in his political fishing camp who dare to think independently and refuse to be beaten into the round hole of conformity…

To her credit, Commissioner Cantu has been sensitive to maintaining the elected body’s oversight authority – and her independent research and due diligence has uncovered potential problems and pitfalls before it was too late – most recently exposing serious issues with an asbestos-laden Beach Street building the city was considering for purchase.  

Unfortunately, for having the courage to ask the tough questions, Ms. Cantu is often accused of having sharp elbows, and her strained relationship with Mr. Feacher is well known to her colleagues and constituents.

Let’s hope they can find common ground, and mutual respect.

Effective internal and external communication between the elected officials, administrators, and those they exist to serve begins with trust – and a sensitivity to the roles and responsibilities established by charter that allow for the effective and efficient functions of government. 

In my view, it is a win-win for the City of Daytona Beach to have an effective watchdog looking out for potential threats to its IT infrastructure – and an elected representative with the strength and independence to ensure the safeguards established by the Commission’s oversight authority continue to protect tax dollars, ensure transparency, and promote accountability.

Quote of the Week

“The Palm Coast City Council is moving toward a plan to raise water and sewer rates 28 percent over the next four years and borrow $456 million over the next two years to finance some of the $700 million in repairs, expansions and new construction of a water and sewer infrastructure under strain from age and rapid growth.

The two bond issues would dwarf all previous city bond issues and its existing total debt, which stands at $134 million. The rate increases would, for a household using 4,000 gallons of water a month, result in bill increases of $40 a month by October 1, 2028, or an annual increase of nearly $500–more for households consuming more water.

Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris and Council member Ty Miller, over Council member Theresa Pontieri’s dissent, gave the administration direction to draft an ordinance that would sum up that approach and go before the council and the public at two public hearings, on March 4 and March 18, for approval. The hearings are likely to draw large and possibly angry crowds. If the council’s history is any guide, that kind of response may change the council’s direction, though Norris and Miller repeated a half dozen times Tuesday evening the metaphor of the can having been kicked down the road for too long. They are not willing to kick on.”

–Pierre Tristam of FlaglerLive, as excerpted from “Palm Coast Plans to Sharply Raise Water-Sewer Rates and Borrow $456 Million to Finance Needs, Dwarfing Previous Debt,” Wednesday, February 12, 2025

According to stressed Stormwater and Engineering officials in Palm Coast, the city has already tightened its belt to the breaking point to meet rapidly growing needs in its overcapacity wastewater utility – now, they’re down to boiling that belt and eating it…

That means existing residents will pay for Palm Coast’s exponential growth the development community said would pay for itself when they were clearcutting pine scrub to shoehorn more subdivisions. 

Now, city officials are up to their hips in shit (literally), under the yoke of a state consent decree, and prepared to take on massive debt to expand capacity while somehow funding mounting repair and replacement costs.  

This phenomenon isn’t limited to Flagler County.    

Now, at our time of need – when those of us who have lived on the “Fun Coast” for years are suffering the devastating impacts of overdevelopment – state officials who gifted developer’s carte blanche to build whenever and wherever they want under threat of crippling lawsuits – have indicated they are less inclined to return our tax dollars to fund utilities projects for individual cities going forward.

So, what’s the ultimate cost if the City of Palm Coast decides to kick the can even further down the political trail and violate the consent decree?

According to FlaglerLive:

“Miller asked about consequences if the city does not satisfy the consent decree. He only got half an answer: the city would face fines if it does not comply with the order by 2028 or complete projects that would invalidate the fines. The fines are not burdensome: What he wasn’t told is that if the city violates its consent order, bond-rating agencies would punish the city with a downgrade, which would substantially increase the city’s cost of borrowing and financing its needed capital improvements. Those cost increases would be measured in the millions, compared to the thousands, in fines from the Department of Environmental Protection. “Generally, the higher the credit rating assigned to the bonds, the lower the interest rate on the bonds due to a lower risk,” Hamilton said.

In the end, it’s not entirely the council members who are voting, but the bond-holders.”

I think they call that an “inescapable position” – with existing residents bent over and paralyzed, left without viable options – while out-of-state developers continue to haul untold millions out of the pine scrub as the bulldozers continue to roar…

And Another Thing!

“Basin studies can take 6-18 months depending on the size, Bartlett estimated. Getting stormwater projects done could take years.

“Unfortunately stormwater projects are some of the slowest moving projects there are,” Bartlett said.

The projects are complex and require careful planning and work. The process begins with studying how an area responds to storm events and looking for possible solutions. After officials decide on a project, it has to go through design and permitting. That can involve multiple agencies.

“Once all permits are obtained, the design is finalized, and land acquisition is complete, the project can proceed to construction. The entire process, from initial analysis to project completion, can take anywhere from 4 to 10 years, depending on the scope and complexity of the project,” according to county officials.”

–Volusia County Public Works Director Ben Bartlett, as excerpted from his interview with reporter Sheldon Gardner of The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Does development cause flooding? It depends on where you live, Volusia official says,” Monday, February 10, 2025

Having read Director Bartlett’s interview twice, I’m still not sure if it was an explanation, or a confession… 

The Q&A began with the typical detached bureaucratic empathy for repeat victims, “If you get water in your house, that is a catastrophic event, and I completely understand why the reaction is what it is. … And I completely understand it is a devastating experience,” he said.”

When asked “Is development the cause of flooding in Volusia County?” Bartlett immediately reverted to the vague generalities that form the “talking points” senior bureaucrats use when avoiding specifics:

“Bartlett said flooding issues in Volusia County are multifaceted.

“You have to look at each individual location, and each area that floods is different. It floods for a different reason. It might flood for multiple reasons,” Bartlett said.

The county is seeing issues with older subdivisions with limited infrastructure, he said.

An example that Bartlett pointed to is Daytona Park Estates in DeLand, an area with a history of flooding issues.

Road construction likely began in that area in the 1950s, according to an email to The News-Journal from county officials. Most were first built as dirt roads before modern stormwater regulations “and rely on shallow swales for drainage.”

Except, the recurring inundation is no longer limited to established subdivisions and low-lying areas with a history of flooding. 

Since our visionless ‘powers that be’ began ignoring density and concurrency requirements to facilitate the profit motives of their political benefactors in the development industry, the problem is now regional and spreading – affecting suburban and rural areas alike – recurrent devastation that has left many Volusia taxpayers financially destroyed and demanding solutions.

In response to the now undeniable problem of development induced flooding, Volusia County officials explained:  

“These swales have limited capacity and can become overwhelmed during heavy rainfall,” according to the county. “Additionally, many older homes were built before the current finished floor elevation requirements, making them lower in elevation than newer homes constructed to modern standards. When a new home is built at a higher elevation on an adjacent lot, it can potentially create drainage challenges for older properties.”

So, during the recent period of explosive growth, none of the pseudo-experts in Volusia County government were aware that massive sprawl, filling wetlands in a “help here/hurt there” mitigation strategy, and utilizing fill-and-build construction techniques would result in stormwater runoff destroying adjacent homes and properties?

Really?

In acknowledging the problem (sort of) Director Bartlett quibbled, “Large developments if they follow the rules generally should not impact offsite (nearby properties). That’s not 100% guaranteed, but that’s why those rules are in place,” Bartlett said.

The county has seen other issues with developments, such as pond failures during storms, Bartlett said.”

According to the report, Volusia County would prefer we place the blame on Mother Nature for contributing to the problem with more “major rainfall events” that quickly overwhelm stormwater systems, which has prompted more time-consuming “studies” in “top-priority” areas:

“Right now, four watershed studies are being developed: for Spruce Creek, Little Haw Creek, Deep Creek and DeLand Ridge. The county is also contributing funding to the city of Edgewater’s study because there are county assets there.

“We’re trying to focus on the areas where we’ve experienced issues and there’s infrastructure or development or folks that might be impacted by flooding,” Bartlett said.

Those studies will look at ways to protect properties from flooding in major storms and recommend possible solutions. The studies will also involve input from the public.

“The truth might be, ‘Hey, this structure in an 11-inch rain event, it’s OK. But in a 15-18 inch rain event, it’s going to flood.’ And then the question becomes, ‘What do we do? … Do we acquire that home and demolish it? Do we elevate it? Do we come up with a project that might fix it?’ That’s why these studies are important,” Bartlett said.”

Which brings us full circle… 

According to Bartlett, “studies” are time-consuming endeavors, taking between 6 and 14 months if everything goes as planned.

He’s right.

Once the findings are analyzed, solutions discussed, consultants hired, and preferred contractors selected and properly greased – it can take years to get a single stormwater, traffic infrastructure, or public utilities project shovel ready – and even longer to complete.  

When you add to that the constant procrastination and strategic foot-dragging that has been the modus operandi of the Volusia County Council of Cowards – allowing more time and distance between mandatory low-impact development regulations and additional growth – you begin to see the enormity of the problem our highly paid faux-experts should have seen coming a decade ago…    

Now, homes are being washed out by recurrent floodwater as the rhetoric turns from “100-year” storms to “500-year” storms (that come twice a year now) while the emphasis remains on how best to facilitate the destruction of more, more, more natural areas to accommodate more zero lot line cookie cutter subdivisions and half empty strip centers.

Greed-crazed madness…

In my view, this continued collusion, postponement, and abject negligence by those who accept public funds to serve in the public interest should be criminal. 

That’s all for me.  Happy Valentines Day!  Have a great Daytona 500 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…

Editorial Note:

Recently some readers have asked why I publish this blog on Thursday, when traditionally it comes out on Friday, and the unvarnished explanation is – I drink heavily on Thursday evenings (like most other days that end in “Y”) – and as I not-so-gracefully age, it gets harder to haul my slovenly ass out of bed early enough to get Barker’s View out on time.

Truth.

You asked, I answered. And now inquiring minds know the “Rest of the Story.”

Enjoy…a day early.

The Lost City of Deltona – Another Public Embarrassment

In October 2023, during a meeting of Volusia County’s Legislative Delegation – a time when local officials genuflect before state officials and grovel for funds – Rep. Tom Leek, then the powerful House appropriations chair, issued a stern warning for the City of Daytona Beach:

“This pains me because I have such respect for you and I know that the needs of the city of Daytona are so great. But I hear tales that the city is spending some taxpayer dollars on what is thinly veiled political events.”

“I’m the one who these requests come to, so when I say that the request for state dollars must be used for legitimate purposes, I mean that.  And I would hope that the city would not be using tax dollars on thinly veiled political events, which I understand is happening now.”

Last month, when reviewing Daytona’s multimillion dollar request during the delegation’s 2025 meeting, now Senator Tom Leek reiterated his concerns to Daytona’s government relations administrator Hardy Smith. 

According to a report by The Daytona Beach News-Journal:

“Why is your city manager not here?”

Smith said he could not answer.

Leek said he was asking because he said it’s important “the public become acutely aware of what’s going on,” then asked whether the city took COVID relief funds and allotted each city commissioner $500,000 and the mayor $750,000 to spend as they saw fit within their districts.

“There was a mix of how that allocation, if you will, of those funds was done and any expenditures of those funds whether it be from the city or individual commission member initiatives were in accordance to the guidelines, rules and policies of the program,” Smith responded.

“You’re coming to us and asking for money,” Leek said. “When each of the city commissioners, the mayor has control over this pot of money that they’re not using to spend on the very things that you’re asking the state to spend money. So how is it appropriate to ask the state to in essence prop up these, for lack of a better term, slush funds?”

He also called the provision of city dollars to each commissioner to spend “a remarkably bad process.”

A tip ‘o the cap to Sen. Leek for saying the quiet part out loud.  Let’s hope someone listens.

In the same vein, Gov. Ron DeSantis recently rolled out his 2025-26 state budget under the tag “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility” (because everything in politics needs a nickname these days…) Whether or not that sentiment is more than a catchy phrase in Tallahassee remains to be seen.

In my view, Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila, Jr. should have considered Sen. Leek’s admonition to a sister city – and the Governor’s theme of fiduciary responsibility – before embarking on an ill-advised and publicly funded political junket to Washington D.C. last month. 

You read that right.

According to a report by Mark Harper writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal – along with several Deltona residents who reached out to let me know they are righteously pissed off – last month Mayor Avila and his wife attended events surrounding the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C.

The problem is Mayor Avila failed to seek Commission approval before being given use of a city owned vehicle and gas reimbursement to get there…

According to receipts, the taxpayers of Deltona also covered Mayor Avila and his wife’s hotel bill at the Hyatt Place hotel for $1,687.30. 

Having spent my life in municipal government, I can attest that official travel is often necessary for local government officials.  In my experience, there are internal policies to ensure trips are made in the public interest – along with proper procedures to account for authorized expenditures.

But in the Lost City of Deltona, it’s nice to be king…    

During their stay in the nation’s capital, the Avilas attended the black tie “Florida Sunshine Ball,” the Latino Inaugural Ball, and an inaugural reception hosted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which (of course) provided the opportunity for D List politicians to rub shoulders with B List politicos, and have their picture taken doing it.   

Mayor Avila chronicled the trip on social media, including photos of the couple attending the formal soirées in tuxedo and gown.  Given the enormity of the challenges faced by Mayor Avila and the City of Deltona, the excursion rightfully angered some Deltona residents even before anyone realized they paid for the trip…   

Look, if Mayor Avila and his wife want to trip the light fantastic in Washington, more power to them – just so they go into their own pocket for the privilege – and therein lies the “appearance” problem for Hizzoner.   

Now that the party’s over, many see the trip for what it was, a taxpayer-financed vacation that served the Avilas’ needs rather than those of the longsuffering citizens of Deltona.  

More disturbing, last week, the irrepressible gadfly and resourceful Deltona taxpayer Richard Bellach made his neighbors aware on social media that Mayor Avila is currently the subject a lawsuit filed by a bill collector apparently seeking payment of credit debt in the amount of $1,452.35. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Mayor Avila has been dunned for a bad debt through Volusia County courts…  

In a disturbing follow up by Mark Harper in the News-Journal detailing Avila’s “troubled financial history,” we learned Avila’s past includes a 2012 bankruptcy, a misdemeanor worthless check charge, and a near-eviction in 2020.

In October 2023, the Mayor’s personal finances became an issue when he announced to local media outlets that he was struggling to find a rental home in Deltona priced within his means.  At the time, Avila said, “The mayor here of Deltona can’t afford to live in the city he’s the mayor of,” he said, “I have some interviews lined up already so I’m going to get myself another job and work multiple jobs.”

The Mayor used his situation to stress the need for more affordable housing in Deltona.

Three months later, Mayor Avila’s financial situation again raised alarms when then Deltona Vice Mayor Jody Lee Storozuk alleged the Mayor “…got a special deal on a rental home.”  In response, Avila questioned Storozuk’s motivations in the News-Journal, resulting in more bickering and bitchery from the dais.  

Ultimately, nothing came of any of it, except another ugly embarrassment for the beleaguered community…

In last Sunday’s News-Journal article headlined “Residents question Deltona mayor’s attendance at Trump inauguration on city’s dime,” former Commissioner Storozuk (who this week announced his candidacy for mayor) was quoted:

“Jody Lee Storozuk, the city’s former vice mayor who has tangled with Avila previously, said in a text message that while he was in office, until last November, commissioners were allowed one trip outside the state and three trips in the state per year for “city business.”

“If this was a trip that might turn into benefits for the city, then there would be no problem, but I do not believe that is the case,” Storozuk texted.”

Other concerned citizens rightfully questioned how the Avilas’ trip served the City of Deltona.

“Longtime resident Elbert Bryan, a registered Republican who has regularly attended City Commission meetings for about 10 years, said because the Hyatt invoice has Avila’s name and the address of City Hall on it, he believes the mayor has a city credit card. Also, Avila’s use of a city vehicle suggests he’s on the city’s insurance policy.

“If not, that’s one heck of a liability the manager is taking,” Bryan said in a message.

“Does any of that help the city or does it only help his political career? In my personal opinion I believe that the trip was nothing more than a way for him to try and be a part of the political landscape for his own agenda,” Bryan said, adding: “I believe the citizens need a full financial disclosure of this trip and an explanation of what the mayor actually thinks the benefits of the trip was other than political posturing.”

I agree.

In a weak defense this week, Mayor Avila told tall tales in the West Volusia Beacon that would have his constituents believe his trip to Washington was to single-handedly ensure a federal allocation for the City of Deltona: “We were able to secure $44 million in the House. I wanted to make sure that we have the support from Sen. [Rick] Scott to pass the Senate,” Avila told The Beacon.

“When we get the money from Cory Mills, I don’t expect any of those who attacked me to come and take photos of the check.” (Because that’s the most important part of any state/federal allocation, right?)

On Wednesday, Mayor Avila doubled down in a press release written in the third person which explained “Mayor Avila met with U.S. Senator Rick Scott and his staff regarding the crucial $44 million expenditure that passed the U.S. House last year for the benefit of the City of Deltona, in order to ensure his continued support when it arises this year in the U.S. Senate.”

Say what?

If I understand it (and I’m not sure I do), Mayor Avila is taking credit for the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, which includes $31.2 million for expanding wastewater systems in Deltona.  According to reports, the biennial and bipartisan WRDA “…will pave the way for expanding commercial development, especially along busier roads, and promise a brighter future for the city’s overall development.”

I guess Mayor Avila was unaware that the WRDA passed the U.S. Senate on December 18, 2024 – which would account for the strange looks he no doubt received when attempting to lobby Sen. Scott for a vote he had already cast…

Whatever.

To her credit, on Monday, Deltona Commissioner Dori Howington sought reimbursement of all public funds provided to Mayor Avila and his wife for their jaunt to Washington, D.C.  The move came after Howington reviewed the city’s travel policy which requires elected officials receive advance approval for out-of-state travel by majority vote of the City Commission.

Conveniently, Mayor Avila couldn’t be bothered to attend this week’s meeting of the Deltona City Commission as he had bigger fish to fry in Tallahassee – no doubt stopping speeding locomotives and bulldogging the Florida Legislature into submission – as confirmed by his travel agent, City Manager Dale “Doc” Dougherty, who explained “I believe he had a list of meetings today with senior elected officials,” Dougherty told the commission.”

What’s up, Doc?  Seriously, what the hell is going on over there?

According to reports, the City of Deltona already pays a lobbying firm $45,000 annually to influence things in Tallahassee – professionals who know what they are doing. One would think a municipality the size and complexity of Deltona would have representation in Washington as well.

(Here’s an idea!  Maybe Avila should consult with his “colleague” Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago.  Because No Show knows something about the practice of lobbying after elected service, and it appears Mayor Avila can use all the sources of income he can get…)

Regardless of his intentions, the remainder of the Deltona City Commission opted to clip Mayor Avila’s wings and took the T-Bird away. 

According to an article in the West Volusia Beacon this week, “The City Commission also voted 4-1 in favor of a motion to take away from Avila the use of a city vehicle and to restrict his use of credit cards belonging to the city. Commissioner Emma Santiago dissented (?). Commissioner Nick Lulli was also absent from the meeting.”

A motion to publicly censor Mayor Avila with a vote of “No Confidence” has been moved to a “quasi-judicial” hearing on February 17… 

Perhaps Mayor Santiago Avila, Jr. should consider whether now is the best time to undertake the demands of public service, put his political ambitions on hold, and focus his efforts on establishing a solid financial future for his family.   

In my view, public service should be about building trust with constituents – We, The Little People who pay the bills and are all too frequently silenced by the very system that exists to serve them – and most people can forgive what they see themselves doing. 

This isn’t one of them…  

Publicly funded political junkets are always hard to justify – especially in an environment where the residents of Deltona are facing serious civic and financial issues on numerous fronts – and Mayor Avila is sending the wrong message with this blatant political (and ethical) faux pas.

At best its poor optics. 

At worst, Mayor Avila was indulging his hubris – and underwriting his political aspirations – on the backs of strapped taxpayers…   

The good citizens of the Lost City of Deltona deserve better.

Commonsense Prevails in New Smyrna Beach

Last week, as proof a temporary moratorium on new construction won’t result in a tear in the space-time continuum, the New Smyrna Beach City Commission voted for a second extension of the pause on development in Venetian Bay.  

No apocalyptic plague of toe fungus.  No reversal of the geomagnetic poles.  No cataclysmic collapse of civilization. 

Just a tap of the brakes on the issuance of new building permits until the Venetian Bay Homeowners Association can address recurrent flooding issues. 

Like many areas of Volusia County, last year, Venetian Bay residents had their fill of destructive flooding and began discussing a temporary moratorium to prevent additional development that could further overwhelm the community’s stormwater system. 

The move came last year after field studies by the St. Johns River Water Management District found the stormwater system is not functioning as originally designed and permitted.

Last spring, to prevent additional strain on the system, the New Smyrna Beach City Commission rightfully approved a moratorium on new development in parts of Venetian Bay.  The initial freeze on new building was extended in June 2024 and will now be effective until June 22, 2025.

The pause can be terminated by SJRWM permit compliance or extended by additional legislative action.

Unfortunately, in January, the majority of the Volusia County Council got weak in the knees when Chairman Jeff Brower suggested a workshop to merely discuss a temporary halt on new construction at a time when Volusia is now listed as the most flood prone county in the state and seventh in the nation.

Instead, those compromised cowards in DeLand opted to kick the can down the political trail…

Rather than allow time for solutions, protect their constituents, and mitigate further damage – as the clock ticks and the bulldozers roar – our elected dullards on the Volusia County Council continue to drag their heels; considering simplistic measures that should already be in place like “Stop building on wetlands,” “Discuss retention ponds,” and “Start cleaning canals.”

Inconceivably, his baldfaced procrastination was hailed as a “huge step in the right direction” by the majority of those finger-puppets who long-ago sold their political souls to the real estate development industry…

Now, the fervent hopes and prayers of thousands of inundated residents rest in the hands of Councilman Jake Johannson and his time-wasting “resilience subcommittee” – an arm of that political insulation committee at the Volusia County Elected Officials Roundtable – whose motto should be, “If everyone is thinking in lockstep conformity, who can criticize us!”

Sadly, it has become obvious that no one who accepts public funds to serve in the public interest has a clue about how to solve the problem in our region.

In my view, these same inept administrators, pseudo “experts,” and senior staff who got us into this godforsaken mess should not be allowed to sop up more publicly funded salary and benefits while they stumble and fumble their way through “solutions” to the problems they helped create.

Quote of the Week

“Among the list of legislative proposals that the Hillsborough County Commission is asking their state lawmakers to enact this year is a request from one board member to eliminate sunshine laws for county commissioners.

Donna Cameron Cepeda, a Republican first elected in 2022, says her proposal is not about reducing transparency in local government, but instead is intended to improve the “functionality of the decision-making process for commissioners and specific boards.”

“Discussions under the current Sunshine law can hinder effective communication, particularly [for the] Commission on Human Trafficking where sensitive information needs to be handled cautiously,” Cameron Cepeda told the Phoenix in an email message.

“As a dedicated public servant, I value transparency, accountability, and the public’s trust in government operations. Florida’s Sunshine Law has been instrumental in ensuring openness and preventing corruption. However, certain circumstances call for thoughtful updates to improve efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining the integrity of the public process.”

–Mitch Perry, writing in the Florida Phoenix, “Hillsborough Commissioner wants Legislature to eliminate Sunshine law for county commissioners,” Thursday, January 30, 2025

Bullshit.

If you don’t think there is a determined effort by petty elected officials’ intent on removing the “people’s business” from public view, think again…  

Even though the efficacy of Florida’s Sunshine Law has been eroded by spotty enforcement – which has resulted in some elected scofflaws thumbing their nose at it – the protections, access, and visibility afforded by open meeting and public records statutes has served our state well.   

Increasingly, elected officials in Volusia County and elsewhere are seeking a return to the “bad old days” – when public policy, to include the allocation of our hard-earned tax dollars, was conducted behind closed doors and on midnight telephone calls – with decisions resulting from cloakroom collusions that quietly ensured all the right palms were greased with a choreographed vote…

Why is that?

In this latest attempt to end-run our ability to watch the sausage getting made, Hillsborough County Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda seeks to close the curtain on county government transparency across the state so her local human trafficking committee (which meets six times a year) can more “effectively communicate.”

About what? 

A check of the November 2024 meeting agenda found the most pressing issue was discussion of a mural project and membership update – not exactly the in-depth analysis of sources, methods, and actionable intelligence, directing active investigations of human trafficking, or a confidential review of investigative techniques and procedures – all of which are already exempt from Florida’s Sunshine Law…

(Maybe Hillsborough County should consider constructing a SCIF so Cameron Cepeda and her committee can discuss classified bake sale receipts in effective darkness?)

Trust me.  Taking legislative decision-making out of public view isn’t necessary to protect the integrity of human trafficking investigations, but it serves as a plausible excuse for dull tools like Donna Cameron Cepeda as she does the bidding of others who prefer to remain in the background.    

According to the Florida Phoenix, “Ben Wilcox is research director for Integrity Florida, a government watchdog group. He says that, since its inception, there have been attempts to weaken Florida sunshine laws by public officials who would like to operate more in the shadows than in the sunshine.

“More often than not, these public officials try to argue that allowing officials to discuss issues out of public scrutiny would ‘improve the functionality of the decision-making process,’” Wilcox said.

“This is code for actually saying, ‘Making deals would be easier if we didn’t have to do it at a public meeting.’”

If you believe as I do that all governmental power is vested in and derived from the will of the people, then I encourage you to stand against these incessant incursions on the concept of transparency, our right to be informed, and participate in official actions and deliberations that directly impact our lives and livelihoods. 

This one’s important.

And Another Thing!

Admittedly, I’m no David Patrick Columbia.    

I prefer faded jeans and a denim shirt over Armani, and I’m more at home on a barstool in my favorite watering hole than rubbing tuxedoed elbows at some high-society fête.

That said – and I hate to beat a dead horse (that’s not true, I relish it…) – but in an era when many non-profits are ditching the stodgy black tie evening in favor of events that more closely tie donors to the broader mission of the organization while conserving scarce funds for programmatic needs, I question the practice of First Step Shelter’s annual cocktail reception, elegant dinner, and entertainment, all held in a rented Grand Ballroom with “…a human ice sculpture, an aerialist, and a pixel poi performance!”

Whatever the hell that is…

While a formal soiree may be perfect for a state dinner or corporate gala, it may not be appropriate for a community fundraiser supporting a publicly funded “transitional housing” program whose participants are, at the very hour of the party, essentially without a permanent roof over their heads or the ability to feed themselves.  

In my view, gathering in one’s finery to feast on rubber chicken while being entertained by lavish performances and musical interludes reeks of a “let them eat cake” insensitivity to scarce funds and the unresolved issues in our region that contribute to homelessness.

While guests assemble at these “thinly veiled” political events known as “The Mayor’s Gala,” apparently in recognition of Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry’s role as titular head of the horribly challenged First Step Board of Directors, whose lack of oversight and outrageous conduct toward whistleblowers has resulted in massive lawsuits and left many potential donors leery about throwing good money after bad…   

Tomorrow evening, potential benefactors will gather at the Hilton Oceanside for a $125 per plate banquet to help underwrite this enigmatic program – currently listed as a “two star” rated charity (2023) by the online donor advocate Charity Navigator – due to “Accountability & Finance” issues. 

According to the site, the metrics “…provides an assessment of a charity’s financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.”

For a breakdown of First Step’s financial position, please review the shelter’s IRS filing for 2021 (the last year available) here: https://tinyurl.com/bdfa68fx

The site noted that First Step failed to list a “conflict of interest” policy or a “whistleblower” policy on the IRS Form 990 (2023) as an “accountability and transparency” measure in keeping with Charity Navigator’s criteria.  

In my view, it appears the First Step’s official “whistleblower” policy consists of deny, attack, reverse blame, and refuse to adequately investigate, while simultaneously destroying the personal and professional reputation of anyone who dares come forward with serious allegations of fraud, fiduciary malfeasance, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, admission policy violations, resident safety violations and allowing abusive residents to remain enrolled in the housing program…

Is there another policy I’m not aware of?

My hope is that the “Mayor’s Gala” is a rousing success, and that Victoria Fahlberg, Ph.D. and her shameless enablers on the First Step Board of Directors are able to maintain the façade just a little longer in order to gain much needed private donations to offset the increasing need for public funds.  

With luck (and private support) in time this mysterious “program” will become reasonably self-sufficient, and the long-suffering taxpayers of Daytona Beach and Volusia County might finally be off the hook…

Hey, stop laughing. Let this feeble old rube have my foolish dreams…

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 – More Disturbing Questions.  Few Answers.

Before I begin, let me reiterate to anyone joining us late that I am, in fact, an uneducated rube – a provincial bumpkin, totally devoid of any formal education, degrees, or academic credentials – a hillbilly Diogenes with a Mittyesque imagination, always tilting at windmills, real and perceived.

But I can read, and I’m reasonably coherent (at least until my afternoon forays to the liquor cabinet), and I know a few things they don’t teach in school…

As a lifelong experiential learner, I graduated summa cum laude from the prestigious L’école des Coups Durs – the most expensive education in the world – a painful process of acquiring knowledge that has left more than a few scars.

As a result, I have a horseshit detector seared into my prefrontal cortex – a finely tuned ability to spot petty machinations of from a mile away…

Like many, last week I was shocked when the majority of the Volusia County Council ignored the unanswered allegations against First Step Shelter’s Executive Director Victoria Fahlberg, Ph.D. overlooked the resultant lawsuits brought by two former employees of the enigmatic program, disregarded the ensuing shitstorm, and agreed to continue underwriting the program on a 4-3 vote using unbudgeted public funds doled out in decreasing increments over the next five years…

It was ill-advised, an odd precedent that will have negative consequences far beyond the First Step Shelter, a program that will now burn through more of our hard-earned tax dollars doing whatever it does until another infusion of public funds becomes necessary.  

To his credit, only Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower called for Fahlberg to be replaced before throwing good money after bad… 

Of course, his idea was ignored.

In my view, by disregarding the unresolved issues, the Volusia County Council sent a stark message to recipients of public funds that anyone who dares expose evidence of fraud, corruption, dysfunction, or mismanagement in tax supported services does so at great peril to their career and reputation.

What I found chilling were comments Dr. Fahlberg made during an interview with The Daytona Beach News-Journal following the January 21 meeting, arrogantly lecturing Chairman Jeff Brower to stop listening to “gossip” – clearly an intentional slight against the whistleblower’s allegations – adding that Brower should simply trust the horribly compromised First Step board to “do the right thing.”  

In my view, those aren’t the reasonable and rational comments of a professional administrator seeking to limit liability and bring stability to an organization.   

That’s when my fabled horseshit detector went into overdrive…

Earlier this week, I reviewed a January 2025 legal filing by Assistant Public Defender Kayla Grey, who represented former First Step housing director Pamela Alexander in a criminal prosecution for Petit Theft from First Step – reported by Victoria Fahlberg on or about June 25, 2024, two-weeks after the whistleblower allegations were brought.      

According to the defense motion, “On or about June 6, 2024, Pamela Alexander, along with others, provided whistleblower information alleging fraud, fiduciary malfeasance, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, admission policy violations, and resident safety violations to First Step Shelter Board Members, to Victoria Fahlberg, the Executive Director of the shelter, and to the City of Daytona Beach.”

“Shortly thereafter, Ms. Alexander was accused by the First Step Shelter of stealing 3 boxes of breakfast sandwiches from shelter (on or about June 16, 2024) and she was thereafter fired from her employment.”

Director Fahlberg reported the misdemeanor charge against Ms. Alexander to police on June 25, 2024.  On December 9, 2024, Ms. Alexander and another whistleblower filed a lawsuit against First Step Shelter and the City of Daytona Beach seeking a jury trial and in excess of $50,000 in damages.

According to the defense motion, in a disturbing twist, “On December 12, 2024, Assistant State Attorney Vanessa Lee informed the undersigned attorney (Grey) on a phone call that Victoria Fahlberg, the Executive Director of the First Step Shelter, had told her that she (as a representative of the shelter) would be willing to dismiss the criminal charges against Ms. Alexander if Ms. Alexander would drop her whistleblower lawsuit against the First Step Shelter and would agree not to speak any further publicly about the allegations underlying the whistleblower and wrongful termination case.”

When the undersigned Assistant Public Defender asked if this was a formal “offer” that needed to be conveyed to Ms. Alexander, Assistant State Attorney Lee paused for several seconds and then said, “No, I’m not comfortable doing that.”

Whoa…

On Wednesday, Ms. Alexander was found Not Guilty of the misdemeanor charge following an all-day jury trial in Daytona Beach. 

Now, those of us who pay the bulk of the bills at First Step are left with more disturbing questions…

When did the First Step Shelter Board authorize Executive Director Fahlberg to use what, in my view, appeared to be a strongarm tactic to muzzle Ms. Alexander – offering to drop a life altering criminal prosecution in exchange for abandoning an active lawsuit and keeping her mouth shut about serious issues at FSS?    

In light of these unresolved questions, why would the majority of the Volusia County Council – an elected body with a fiduciary responsibility for the allocation, expenditure, and protection of our tax dollars – simply accept data provided by First Step without independent corroboration before handing over $1.3 million in unbudgeted funds over the next five years?

And why would a highly educated administrator with experience managing non-profit agencies use such barefaced coercion to pressure a whistleblower into silence? 

More disturbing, why would anyone in a leadership role make light of these serious allegations in the newspaper? Especially regarding accusations that are now the subject of an active lawsuit by two former employees seeking in excess of $50,000 each… 

That didn’t make sense to me.

So, at the risk of going down a rabbit hole, I went to the First Step Shelter’s website (https://firststepshelter.org/staff/ ) and took a look at Dr. Fahlberg’s impressive credentials and background. 

According to the official site, “Dr. Fahlberg has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Public Health in Population and International Health from Harvard.”

Well, that’s sorta accurate…    

In actuality, a review of Dr. Fahlberg’s resume provided at the time of hire shows a “Master of Public Health in Population and International Health” from the prestigious “Harvard School of Public Health,” and a “Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology,” from the now defunct Union Institute and University of Cincinnati, Ohio… 

No dates were provided for Dr. Fahlberg’s academic degrees, and the First Step website is not the only place Dr. Fahlberg’s educational accomplishments appear online sans clarification that her Ph.D. is actually from the shuttered Union Institute and University.

In my view, the wording of Dr. Fahlberg’s First Step bio leaves anyone visiting the site to speculate if this represents a grammatical error – or an intentional omission to add Harvard’s “Ivy League” imprimatur to her Doctorate?

So, which is it?

Look, I’m certainly not a Harvard educated Doctor of Philosophy, but if I were, I would want that unfortunate oversight corrected.  Immediately.

As Einstein taught, in all matters, including curricula vitae, “Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either…”

In my view, given the accusations of serious dysfunction and mismanagement brought by three former employees – allegations the First Step Board of Directors mysteriously refuse to fully investigate – the Volusia County Council now has a duty to ensure the accuracy of the facts and figures used by FSS administrators to prove the program’s “success” before incumbering even more public funds to support the beleaguered shelter…

Given her education and experience, Dr. Fahlberg should possess the situational awareness and emotional intelligence to understand that her continued association with First Step has become a glaring distraction – one detrimental to the public’s continued trust – and the program’s viability. 

It is time for the First Step Board of Directors to do the right thing for the taxpayers of Daytona Beach and Volusia County.

“Five-Star” Beachfront Development? Happy Days are Here Again.  Again…   

On occasion, I come upon something in the news or on social media that makes me instinctively laugh out loud. 

A cockamamie story so completely absurd that it takes me by surprise – safe in the knowledge there is no way something so ridiculous, illogical, or incongruous with hard lessons learned could possibly be true – like a bad Three Stooges episode, watching a yokel touch a hot stove again, and again, and again until it goes from shocking to wacky slapstick…   

For instance, I recently came upon a story in The Daytona Beach News-Journal announcing one of those ominous “developer-initiated neighborhood meetings” – an opportunity for some out of town developer with little, if any, institutional knowledge of our area or market conditions to tell long-suffering beachside residents how another umpteen-story “condo-hotel” casting a deep shadow across the blighted peninsula is going to improve their lives immeasurably.

I chortled.  Then did an involuntary spit-take…

According to the informative report by News-Journal Business Editor Clayton Park, “Two years ago, the Daytona Beach City Commission approved a South Florida developer’s controversial plan to build a 25-story oceanfront condo-hotel at the east end of Silver Beach Avenue.

Now a second South Florida developer has stepped forward with plans for another oceanfront high-rise, just two doors over.

Miami developer Pablos Andres Penuela, doing business locally as “Daytona Beach 1299 LLC,” will hold a neighborhood meeting Monday night Jan. 27 to discuss his proposed 24-story, 260-room Pearl Beach Club hotel.

Penuela is seeking approval from the city that would allow him to build the project on the 2.2-acre vacant lot at 1299 S. Atlantic Ave.”  

According to reports, the developer-initiated meeting was staged at the Daytona Grande Oceanfront Hotel, where the developer’s team explained to a handful of “civil and subdued” locals how the next pearl in the sow’s ear will dramatically improve their lives. 

You read that right.

I don’t know about you, but I found it odd that the developer would host a meeting to sell a 25-story monstrosity to the masses on the site of what has become a cautionary tale for coastal high-rise construction in the Daytona Beach Resort Area?   

Which leads me to believe our new friends from South Florida haven’t completely finished their homework… 

For instance, when asked by the News-Journal why build in Daytona Beach, “Penuela said he bought the property for his Pearl Beach Club hotel because he believes the city has a bright future.

“Looking at the numbers of tourists Daytona brings per year, I believe it has a lot of potential. It’s the beachfront for Orlando. It also has a lot to offer and a lot of culture and character and history,” he said.”

(Really?  I thought our draw was “Bikes, Beer, and Boobs”?  “Beach On,” y’all!)

The News-Journal reports the Pearl Beach Club “..would also offer multiple pools including a large pool and a separate kids’ pool at the ground floor level, a pool at the eighth floor level, and one of the roof. It would also offer a kids playground and an outdoor restaurant and separate outdoor bar.

The building setbacks would be 25 feet in front (facing A1A), 25 feet on the north side, 60 feet on the south side, and 75 feet on the rear (facing the ocean).

Penuela said the hotel’s restaurant will be open to the public, “as long as they’re paying customers.”

Emphasis on the paying customers.

Gotta keep those ‘cultured characters’ who frequently haunt the Halifax area out of the ‘amenities’ I suppose…  

In a follow-up article in the News-Journal this week, we learned that talks are underway with several “top-tier” hotel chains to flag the hotel – with non-disclosure agreements apparently inked with two unnamed luxury brands – which would make the Pearl Beach Club our first “Five Star” hotel in the Daytona Beach Resort Area. 

According to the report, “The project’s architects designed two newly completed five-star Four Seasons hotels in South Florida: one in Surfside, the other in Fort Lauderdale.

“This (the Pearl Beach Club Hotel) at 260 keys (rooms and suites) is what we think, in speaking with the Four Seasons, that’s what they’re looking for volume-wise to be able to come here (to Daytona Beach),” said Mathieu Picard of Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design of Miami.

“It’s a mixture of the room count, the room sizes which are very important to be at the five-star level, and also all the facilities — the amount of restaurants (two), the pools, the pool bar, event spaces, and the gym. It’s really about providing the amenities … to get the level of service that makes it a five-star.”

Just for shits-n-giggles I checked nightly room rates for the Four Seasons in Orlando (Disney World) and Surfside, Florida. 

Rooms ranged from $1,840 to $4,280+ per night…

I’m not a real estate marketing expert – but Monsieur Picard might want to take a drive down the road of bones paved with the fiscal remains of developers who sought Palm Beach prices in a Hooterville market before getting his (and our) hopes up for a Four Seasons…   

As usual, the hype sounds nice, but what is yet to be explained is why anyone in their right mind would consider more construction east of the Coastal Construction Control Line – especially along a section of compromised shoreline that was listed in an August 2024 report by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as a “critically eroded beach.”

According to the FDEP report, “A 16.6-mile segment of beach (R51 – R143) along Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Wilbur By The Sea and the Town of Ponce Inlet is critically eroded, threatening development and recreational interests, as well as sea turtle nesting areas where the dry sand beach has become very narrow.”

Unfortunately, none of that seems to matter. 

South Florida developers who know nothing of the true “culture, character, and history” of the Halifax area seem intent on exploiting the cheapest beachfront real estate in the known universe and there’s not a whole hell of a lot you and I can do about it. 

Especially when our elected representatives repeatedly assure us their hands are tied due to legislative diktats – lopsided property rights that claim even clean water and flood prevention are “inordinate burdens” on speculative developers – in an environment where anything is possible with the right application of money and influence.  

So, developers in expensive suits go through the formality of neighborhood meetings to tell people who have lived here for decades how the next monstrous high-rise obliterating the sun and shoreline will be the panacea for all our problems – knowing well that our input will be ignored – and slowly but surely their next “controversial plan” will become a reality along the crumbling “Fun Coast.”  

Here’s a little unsolicited advice for our newest and bestest friends from Miami:

We’ve heard it all before.   

You will find that the citizens of Volusia County are grizzled veterans of the game.  Folks who have been screwed so many times by real estate developers, carpet-bagging thieves, and outright pirates that we walk with a collective limp. 

We’ve been bullshitted by the best in the business – for years – so please don’t insult us with more happy talk of pie-in-the-sky “five-star” resorts and how a beachfront high-rise will make us “safer.”  Just work through the formalities on the city/county checklist leading to the inevitable permit and save the horseshit “amenities” speech for our powers that be who need the political insulation…   

Circuit Court Judge A. Christian Miller  

In an incredibly fortunate decision for the citizens of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, Volusia County Judge Christian Miller was recently promoted by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Circuit Court seat vacated by the retirement of Judge Terrence Perkins. 

In my view, Judge Miller embodies the best attributes of a professional jurist – smart, impartial, courteous, respectful of all parties, a humble man of great dignity and compassion who possesses an expert grasp of the law and procedures.

His elevation is a true win-win for our region.

In my experience, Volusia County and the Seventh Circuit is blessed with excellent judges serving our civil and criminal courts – including Judge Miller’s wife, Volusia County Judge Katherine H. Miller, who currently presides over civil matters in Daytona Beach – outstanding professionals who play an important role upholding the rule of law, maintaining order, and ensuring that justice is served firmly but fairly.  

Congratulations to Judge Miller on this latest accomplishment in his impressive career of exceptional service to justice and our community.  

Quote of the Week

“The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved the final plat for the 182-home subdivision known as the Enclave at Seminole Palms, on 70 acres north of the Citation Boulevard extension, between Belle Terre Boulevard and Seminole Woods Boulevard, and just south of the county airport property. Platting is a legally required final regulatory step in a development, mapping out individual property boundaries, easements, roads and other infrastructure features.

In an indication of this new council’s leeriness regarding anything that could associate it with new development, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris wanted the public to be absolutely clear he and the council had nothing, or almost nothing, to do with the Enclave. “As one former council member used to say, for prosperity,” Norris said, referring to former Council member Nick Klufas (he meant to say “posterity”), “let it be noted that we’re just closing out this plat, and it was already in the work years and years ago.”

–Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris, as quoted in the FlaglerLive! article “Palm Coast Council Approves 182-House Development’s Final Step Near Airport in Seminole Woods, With a Disclaimer,” Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Earlier this month, the Volusia County Council put the kibosh on even the suggestion of a temporary moratorium on new development until stormwater changes and sustainable building practices can be implemented.

Trust me, it was never going to happen.  Not so long as influential insiders in the real estate development industry own the paper on our elected officials’ political souls…

Last week, the Palm Coast City Council proved that, at this point, it appears nothing can stop the aggressive malignancy of sprawl across Volusia and Flagler Counties. 

While existing residents were coming to terms with the early symptoms of overdevelopment, previous iterations of city and county councils (and the perennial senior staff who facilitate growth) had already approved massive developments that now lie dormant like latent cancer cells, waiting until conditions are right to begin multiplying.

Unfortunately, since the most prolific boom in our history began, developers have purchased property and began the process of amending zoning and density requirements, establishing “Planned Unit Developments” and “Developments of Regional Impact,” ramrodding projects past “planning” boards, ignoring environmental impacts, and obtaining final approvals at such a precipitous pace there was no way the average citizen was ever going to keep up with it all.

Besides, in the cloistered Halls of Power in local governments where the sausage gets made, the less We, The Little People know (or are allowed to participate), the better.

As a result, we watch helplessly while the tumors appear across the spine of Volusia and Flagler Counties… 

According to FlaglerLive!, “…the (Enclave) subdivision’s development has never been reported until now, because its previous regulatory steps were crossed either administratively or at the city’s planning board, drawing little attention. The planning board approved the development’s master plan in March 2023, and administration planners approved the preliminary plat last March, issuing a development permit for the site last May. Since then, 80 percent of the subdivision’s infrastructure has been built.”

Our elected officials know that silence is always the operative ethic at the nexus of growth management and the profit motives of their political benefactors…

Now, we’re left to wonder how many more “Enclaves” are waiting to ulcerate while current councils and commissions shrug their shoulders and hide behind the dodge, “Nuttin’ we can do about it, y’all.  Just closin’ it out – been in the works for years…”?

And Another Thing!

I recently read an article which referenced a little-known Office of Strategic Services manual from World War II entitled the Simple Sabotage Field Manual.  A “how-to” for using plausibly deniable measures to harass, wear down, and demoralize an enemy during time of war.

Over time, subtle acts of sabotage undermine effectiveness, discourages progress, subvert efficient operations, and, in the case of government administrators, interfere with the implementation of public policy in furtherance of a strategic goal, especially when used to effectively alienate and embarrasses an opponent.

The measures outlined sounded eerily familiar in the context of the Volusia County Council’s near-constant foot-dragging on solutions to development-induced flooding, smart growth initiatives, concurrency, and the idea of tapping the brakes on growth in the face of serious infrastructure issues – not to mention the “Old Guard’s” persistent attempts to marginalize Chairman Jeff Brower’s every initiative.

The OSS manual’s suggestions for simple sabotage include:

“Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”

“Make “speeches,” talk as frequently as possible and at great length.  Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.”

“When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.”  Attempt to make the committees as large as possible – never less than five.”

“Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”

“Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.”

“Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.”

“Advocate “caution.” Be unreasonable and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.”

Eerily familiar, indeed…

According to psychologists, “Gaslighting” is loosely defined as a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own reality or judgment, maintaining power through invalidation and disparagement.

In politics, this insidious form of domination and control is often facilitated by repeatedly presenting a skewed narrative, limiting the ability of those affected to have substantive input in the decision-making process, limiting criticism and dissent, then attacking the character and reputation of those who speak the truth and demonstrate the courage to think for themselves.

That should sound familiar too…

Trust me.  It shouldn’t be this way. 

In my view, political sabotage, gaslighting, and hidden motives should not be the defining character of an elected body.    

With candidates beginning to announce their intentions for the 2026 general election, now is the time for Volusia County voters to begin encouraging those with a fire in their belly for positive change and a rejection of the stagnant status quo. 

If enough like-minded citizens hold firm to the basic belief that we can control our destiny by electing strong, ethical, and visionary members of our community to high office, strong grassroots candidates not beholden to special interests and well-heeled donors, we can turn the balance political power and restore transparency, fairness, and the spirit of democracy in Volusia County government.

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