No political rants or angry screeds on our dismal collective condition here on the Fun Coast today.

I just can’t muster it, kids – nor could I be responsible for what I might say in my current state.

I’m going to let you in on a secret.

The heat and humidity of “Florida’s Summer of 2017” is driving me loopy.

I’m losing it – and as Travis Tritt said, “The whiskey ain’t workin’ anymore.”

I have a weird sociological theory that refrigeration is the only thing that separates us from the Great Apes.

You remember the 1986 movie The Mosquito Coast?

It was an excellent drama about an increasingly insane inventor who set out with his family to build a utopia in the jungles of Central America.  In a pivotal scene, the mad man – expertly portrayed by actor Harrison Ford – screams, “Ice is civilization!”

Dude was right.

As you may have heard (after all, I’ve bitched about it to anyone who’ll listen for days), the air conditioner at Barker’s View HQ took a dump last week.

As my luck goes, even a $750 emergency after-hours diagnosis, complete with several refrigerant recharges by experienced service technicians, failed to resuscitate that beautiful water-to-air contraption that has run full-tilt and kept me in cold comfort for the past ten-years.

Look, I don’t have a clue what a ‘heat index’ is – but that sucker has been in the low 100’s for days.  Suffice it to say, it’s friggin’ hotter than the Hinges of Hell.

As my beloved air conditioner slowly died in my arms – I was frantic.

As any Floridian would be.

I began writing increasingly larger checks to different technicians, “doctor shopping” for one more fix of R-22 refrigerant (at $100 per pound?) that I hoped would forestall the inevitable.

Let’s face it – my motives were purely selfish.

When the unit quietly gave up the ghost during the overnight hours last Monday, her passing was marked by the internal temperature inside our home climbing to a steady 86-degrees – where it has stubbornly remained for over a week.

As is my habit during times of acute crisis – I immediately stripped to my boxer shorts and mixed a strong cocktail – then dug the fans out of our sweltering garage, wept openly and began drinking heavily.

After extensive training, and intense knowledge and practical testing, the Federal Aviation Administration has granted me certifications as an instrument rated commercial airplane pilot.  At one time in my life, I could expertly program sophisticated GPS systems and set up other navigation and communications radios all while orienting and operating an aircraft referencing only the flight instruments.

But I’ll be dipped if I could ever program my air conditioner’s thermostat.

As I went through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, etc. – sweat dripping from the moobs I’ve grown in retirement – I stabbed wildly with my index finger at the backlit plastic box on the wall – a technological advancement that looks like the flight deck of the Space Shuttle – insanely cussing and hoping against hope I would hit just the right button that would bring back the cool.

It’s called heat-induced psychosis – I think.

In the end, it was not to be.

She was not coming back.  I knew that.

Once reality hits, you would be surprised just how inventive even a tool like me can get.

Look, you can spend $175,000+ for an advanced degree in the physics of fluid dynamics – or you can simply watch a heat-crazed Floridian as he expertly daisy-chains a series of box fans to direct a tepid breeze into his bedroom when the A/C shits the bed.

Am I wrong?

The good news is it’s nothing a new $6,000.00, 3.5-ton unit with multi-position air handler and internal purifier in Architectural Gray powder-coat can’t take care of.

The bad news is they can’t put that sweet love machine in until Friday.

Could be worse.  Right?  (That’s been my mantra for the past few days. . .)

In the meantime, Patti and I are throwing elbows and jockeying for position around a couple of portable air conditioning units (God’s Love in a Box) that the installer mercifully loaned us.

It’s dropped the temperature in the main part of the house to a balmy – but doable – 79.

The dogs?

Well, they have their own portable unit going – it’s a cool 72-degrees in Patti’s home office where they idly lounge about in total comfort.

The moral?  Take nothing for granted, my friends.

I guess.

And stay cool. . . If you can.

 

 

 

I recently wrote a blog in anger – that happens from time-to-time.

Nearly 1,700 good folks like you read it in less than 48-hours – and more are tuning in by the hour.

I guess I’m not the only one who’s pissed off on the Fun Coast. . .

In a piece entitled “Adding Insult to Injury” I posted a photograph of a scene I happened upon quite by accident.

On Friday, I stopped by the ABC Fine Wine and Spirits in Ormond Beach to pick up a fresh handle of Tito’s vodka – “fun water” – as I like to call it.

As I was exiting the parking lot – I observed a patch of weed-strewn asphalt just off Northshore Drive that is being used by Volusia County officials to store beach traffic signs, a red lifeguard tower, and other county-owned equipment and detritus – all in plain view of residents and visitors alike.

Although you wouldn’t know it by looking at the dilapidated structure now, but the cracked parking lot surrounds what was once Florida’s first “shopping center” – serving the Ellinor Village subdivision.

After being vacated and languishing on the soft beachside real estate market, in 2015, the Volusia County Council purchased the property for $1.8 million tax dollars at the recommendation of County Manager Jim Dinneen, ostensibly for “off-beach” parking.

The building has been there a longtime. When I was kid, I used to ride my bike down to Black’s Pharmacy where I would buy a few packs of bottle rockets and some candy – and those of us who grew up here in the 70’s can (vaguely) remember partying hard at the Other Place, Ormond’s premiere Rock-n-Roll venue.

Now, just two-years after becoming county-owned property and vanishing from the city’s tax rolls, the lot has become a shabby, unkempt eyesore – complete with faded paint, unchecked weeds, ugly No Trespassing placards and brown wooden boards covering all doors and windows.

I defy anyone to tell me the difference in the general appearance of Cardinal Drive and A-1-A in Ormond Beach and any intersection in Ciudad Juarez.  Seriously.

It radiates a feeling of hopelessness.

After reading last week’s blog, a regular reader of Barker’s View dropped me a note to say that, until recently, he lived in a home directly behind the former shopping center.

He estimates suffering a 20% loss on the value of his property when it sold – something he directly attributes to the horrific conditions on the county’s property.

Another reader alerted me to serious issues at county facilities in DeLand as well.

Someone “in the know” wrote that conditions inside the “old jail” (I believe they were referring to the facility on New York Avenue, downtown) and former elections offices have become disorganized dumping grounds as well.

I don’t know – I’m just passing along what I was told.

Maybe one of our elected representatives could get off their ass and take a tour?

In a scene that could only come from a macabre Twilight Zone episode – or the pages of the Daytona Beach News-Journal – in February, it was reported that Volusia County and the City of DeLand were discussing swapping a municipal-owned building on West Rich Avenue for the county’s former jail property.

What’s weird about that, Mark?

Well, let me tell you:  A sticking point was the fact County Manager Jim Dinneen said he wanted a promise from the city that the property will be used for development.

“We don’t want to swap property and for them to turn it into a park,” Dinneen said.

“We are really interested in creating jobs. We want to know what kind of economic development plan they have.”

 You read that right.

The most historically dysfunctional shitheel to ever occupy a County Manager’s office had the abject temerity to give a dictating lecture to Mayor Bob Apgar, City Manager Michael Pleus and the outstanding team of city staff and residents who recently received national recognition as the best Main Street in America on how they should use a vacant jail that has stood out like a weeping syphilis chancre as the downtown area around it was beautifully redeveloped and revitalized.

How dare that chiseling shit presume to tell the City of DeLand – or any other progressive community – how to do anything?

Is it possible that Jim Dinneen has become so tragically delusional – so horribly bent by his virulent form of megalomania – that he actually believes anyone other than his highly-paid toadies and clueless elected officials care one whit about his kleptocratic thoughts on “economic development” – or anything else for that matter?

You may remember way back in 2015 when Dinneen was caught flatfooted after trying to push a $64-million plan to renovate and replace county-owned buildings and facilities that he and his staff had strategically allowed to deteriorate?

You remember the sights of weed-strewn storage lots, dilapidated metal buildings – the leaking ceilings, rodents, snakes and vermin in the Sheriff’s Office evidence facility – unkempt public works facilities and other scenes of utter dereliction – punctuated by astronomically expensive Taj Mahal construction projects for new buildings and facilities?

I do.

Apparently, Little Jimmy lives in a bizarre Fantasy Land where worker drones throw good money after bad to build replacement facilities – then allow the same government bureaucrats who trashed and neglected the former facilities to go to work on the new ones.

In one glimmer of hope – Dustin Wyatt, writing in the Daytona Beach News-Journal – reported today that our doddering fool of a County Chair, Ed Kelley, is urging his fellow elected officials to sell off some of the multi-million dollar “off beach” parking lots that are sitting vacant.

In my view, Ed’s either seen the light – or he has a friend in need of some cheap beachside property.

Look – I’ve said this before – it’s time for our elected officials to begin the process of removing Jim Dinneen and restoring confidence and organization to a government gone wacky.

This walking Napoleonic complex is a foul ball – a con artist who serves as a well-paid shill for influential power brokers – who could give two-shits about those of us who pay the bills.

Sheriff Chitwood was right when he said, “Either he (Dinneen) has Alzheimer’s disease, or he’s a pathological liar.” 

The fact is, the disgrace on Cardinal Drive – an eyesore foisted on residents and visitors alike – is not the first county-owned property that has served as a “blight generator” in neighborhoods where these facilities are located – and if Dinneen has his way – it damned sure won’t be the last.

And people ask why I drink. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, Mark has his knickers in a wad again.

Yep.  “Barker the Bitcher” is at it again.  It’s the little things that set me off like a Roman candle.

In my experience, you can tell the strength and quality of an organization by the way they handle the “small stuff.”

And it’s all small stuff.

In author Michael Levine’s excellent 2005 work, “Broken Windows, Broken Business,” he opined that organizational problems – large and small – often result from managements inattention to seemingly insignificant details.

You see, an organizations true priorities are exposed by the trivial.

According to Levine, “There’s a significant psychological impact to dingy surroundings—to stained carpets and broken toilets.”  He believes that you simply cannot convince those you serve (or your own employees) that you truly care about them if you are constantly sending subliminal signals that you don’t.

Smart guy.

Whenever I get away from Barker’s View HQ – even if it’s just to run a few errands – I use the time to consciously observe my surroundings.

Like anyone else, I can become desensitized to the contributors to blight – such as that zombie house in the neighborhood that hasn’t been inhabited since the Great Recession – or an overgrown, trash-filled vacant lot.

After a while, you tend to ignore these things and just drive right by – they become part of the everyday landscape of our lives.

But imagine being a visitor – someone new to the area who is looking to relocate a business or purchase a home – seeing our area in living color for the first time in their lives.

I mean, they’ve heard all the hype and splendor espoused by our redundant chamber of commerce/advertising authorities/visitor bureaus, and let’s say they bit on an expensive Danica Patrick ad.

Or maybe you’re a conventioneer – say, a member of the big Shriners International “mega” get-together – a group somewhere south of 10,000 that we threw some $400,000 in public funds at to coax them to Daytona Beach this year and next.

We got’em.  They’re here.

Now what?

I can assure you these folks aren’t blind to the blight, dilapidation and neglect that permeates many highly-visible areas of the Halifax area.

And I’m not talking about the archetypal, Snidely Whiplash-looking Daytona Beach slumlord here.

I’m talking about Volusia County government.

Late last week, I was (naturally) leaving a liquor store on South Atlantic Avenue in Ormond Beach when the blatant “do as I say, not as I do” arrogance of Volusia County government hit me like a ton of bricks once again.

If you happen to be a taxpaying citizen of Volusia County – I think you’ll feel the same way.

In 2015, at the direct recommendation of County Manager Jim Dinneen, the Volusia County Council approved the expenditure of general funds (and stolen ECHO dollars) for the purchase of 1.8 acres of property on the west side of State Road A-1-A in Ormond Beach for $1.8 million.

$1.8 million – of our tax dollars.

This dubious purchase was part of a frenetic land-grab – a spending spree spurred by Dinneen, as he encouraged our elected officials to piss away multi-millions of our hard-earned tax dollars on any and every available space where Little Jimmy felt he could shoehorn an “off beach” parking lot.

At the time – in perhaps his only cogent thought during a brutally uninspired term – our former cartoon character of a council chair, Jason Davis, doffed his goofy fedora and said, “We keep buying all this property, which is part of the prerogative of this council, but there’s still underlying costs that are going to come up for development,” he said, estimating costs of redevelopment could reach $50 million.”

“We’re buying all this land for parking lots, but where are we getting the money to build the parking lots?”

Well, apparently, “we” are getting at least some of it by openly ignoring even routine maintenance and upkeep on these incredibly expensive parcels – and blatantly violating city codes and ordinances in the process.

In the photograph above, you see that the rear of our despicably unkempt $1.8 million county-owned property at the northwest corner of Cardinal Drive and State Road A-1-A is now being used as an open storage yard for a lifeguard tower and various beach speed limit and directional signage – some carelessly toppled– all set on the cracked asphalt of a weed strewn parking lot of a faded, abandoned building that sits like a long-dead carcass in the epicenter of Ormond Beach’s tourist area.

To add insult to injury – it’s off the city’s tax rolls as well.

Tragically, this dumping ground is almost purposely exposed to public view – a neglected shithole set on the fringe of a residential neighborhood – an open eyesore for residents and visitors alike.

With millions being spent on dubious “economic development” incentives – and all of us being urged by the “powers that be” to use less water, clean up our lawns and properties, and pay more-and-more in taxes and fees – just who in the hell do these people think they are?

My God.

Still think Jim Dinneen and our historically arrogant and completely out-of-touch members of the Volusia County Council give two-shits about us and our quality of life?

Not if you live anywhere near a county-owned facility they don’t.

And if I hear one more insult from some stuffed shirt millionaire or politically active CEO about how beautiful things are here on the Fun Coast – I’m going to vomit.

When this latest debacle – this government-funded blight generator – makes it’s circuitous way back to DeLand, you can bet your bippy our responsibility-averse County Manager will once again publicly blame the “Coastal Division” for yet another five-alarm fuck-up and our $97,000 per year “All Things Beach” Director, Jessica Winterwerp, will make yet another public apology before cashing her paycheck.

Hey, Jessica – maybe you can use more of our money to hire another Miami-based consultant to tell you how to properly store your division’s equipment?  You know, so that it doesn’t contribute to the appearance of a Third-World pigsty?

Something else Mr. Levine proposed is the novel idea that senior leadership should eject poor performers from the organization as quickly as possible, letting everyone know that the issues have been effectively dealt with.

Not in Volusia County government – you go along, you get along – and your strategic ineptitude will be handsomely rewarded.

How much longer will we – the long-suffering taxpayers of Volusia County –  be subjected to this level of gross mismanagement, embarrassment and abject neglect of every reasonable expectation of community standards and aesthetics?

As I’ve said, ad nauseum, in government, as in most progressive organization, accountability exists when a responsible individual – and the services they provide – are subject to oversight.

This occurs when the person with the paid responsibility is required to provide articulable justification for their actions, omissions, expenditures and performance.

Despite the obscene amount of corroborating evidence proving that Mr. Dinneen is physically incapable of holding his senior staff responsible for this continuing pattern of gross mismanagement – rather than demand accountability – our elected officials continue to praise Dinneen’s performance and reinforce his arrogance with staggering salary and benefit increases that have reached the point of absurdity.

The most visible symptom of the abject dysfunction at the top of the county’s organizational chart is consistently the bureaucracy’s inability to properly manage and maintain county-owned facilities.

Look at the photograph again – or better yet, load up the family and check it out for yourself.

Maybe snap a few pics for your elected representative.

Then consider the ramifications of openly storing a bunch of faded wooden sign frames and a big red wooden tower in your backyard – you know – in plain view of your neighbors?

See what happens.

I guess what pisses me off most is the fact that County Chairman Ed Kelley sold us a bill of goods.

He claimed to be a responsible “everyman” who served Ormond Beach for many years.  So why does he allow the very government he oversees to foist this irresponsible and highly-visible dumping ground on his most loyal constituents?

Why?

Because Ed Kelley and Jim Dinneen don’t give a damn about you – we were outbid during the election – and they prove it every day.

Pay the bills and shut up, John Q.

We dump publicly-owned property and equipment when and where we want to.

We misplace traffic cones and inexplicably prohibit parking on a section of beach during the busiest season of the year – with no explanation or accountability.

We bully and trash the municipalities with impunity.

We engage in an on-going series of missteps, foul-ups, administrative gaffes, bureaucratic bloopers, weird “oversights” and outright errors in sound judgment with absolutely no reasonable oversight or professional accountability.

We pay incompetent shitheels hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in salary and benefits each year while expecting nothing – nothing – in return.

In short – we do what we want, when we want – and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

Am I wrong?

In my view, Ormond Beach City Manager Joyce Shannahan – a true bright spot in the fetid wasteland of local government – should direct code enforcement officers to take immediate and decisive action against Volusia County until this blatant eyesore at Cardinal Drive is remediated.

I can assure you they would do the same for you or me.

 

 

 

I recently saw a meme depicting an infant child and a small dog which said, “If you have to be told we’ll die in a hot car, you’re too stupid to have either of us.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting fed up with the number of innocent children and dogs that suffer and die each year after being left or forgotten in hot cars – a grim occurrence that naturally peaks during the sweltering summer months.

Last Sunday, Gloria Daniels – a homeless person from Illinois who was apparently living from her automobile – suffered chest pain and drove to Halifax Hospital for medical assistance.  Unfortunately, she left her small pug in the car, apparently thinking that merely cracking a window and leaving food and water would allow the dog to survive the hellish heat of a Florida July afternoon.

A security officer found the dog in the car.  Thank God, right?

Wrong.

Rather than immediately act to rescue the animal from almost certain heat injury or death – this mental midget opts to leave him put and “check” on the pup a couple of times before finding it dead in the car – cooked to an internal temperature of 109.9.

Come on.  He literally watched the animal die.

For her failure to report the dog’s presence in the car, Daniels has been rightfully charged with a felony crime for her cruelty.  But in all honesty, when did her responsibility and criminal liability end – and the security officers begin?

She was admitted for a medical emergency and left her pet behind in the hospital parking lot – Daniels should have alerted someone, if she was physically able.

The security guard was just an irresponsible dipshit.

Mid-afternoon on a July 9^th?

Really?

Look, no one stands-up for cops, firefighters, security personnel and other first responders as vehemently and consistently as I do.  Even when they’re wrong – because I know first-hand the no-win situations they face daily.

But this case is patently indefensible – knowingly leaving a dog trapped in a 115-degree oven for hours on a summer afternoon is beyond my comprehension.

To my mind, this represents willful and wanton negligence and deserves to be dealt with in the harshest of terms.

I happen to know Halifax Health Security Chief Mark Jones personally.  He is a good man, dedicated to public protection, and a proven asset to Halifax Medical Center.  I have every confidence that he will take appropriate action to see that the offending officer is held personally accountable for this sickening inattention to their ethical responsibility as a security professional to protect life and property – in all its forms.

Far be it from me to tell Chief Jones how to do his job, but this asshole should be launched like a Saturn 5.

Now.

The security of a medical facility is a difficult and incredibly important job – due, in part, to the vulnerability of patients, professionals and others who visit and work in the relatively open environment of a hospital.

In my view, this level of abject stupidity and gross carelessness simply cannot be foisted on those who depend on professional security services.

Folks – I’m begging you – if you have pets or small children, please develop a system to double-check the interior of your vehicle and ensure that no one is left behind, even for a minute, every time you exit the car.

Every time. 

And if you come upon an animal or child trapped inside a hot vehicle, take rapid and decisive action to ventilate the interior, remove the victim as rapidly as possible, then contact law enforcement and emergency medical personnel immediately.

I keep a window-shattering spike in my vehicle’s “go bag” for just such an emergency.

Trust me.  Seconds matter.

 

I enjoy reading the news.

It’s how I learn.

In days gone by, I used to like the feel of newsprint in my hands – the smell of the ink and shiny black residue that would appear on your fingers gave the feeling you were part of things.

The consumer.  The last link in the chain.

Back in the day, it took a symphony of professionals – reporters, editors, layout specialists, typesetters, pressmen, distribution and delivery folks – everyone coordinating against the clock to get it right and get it to your door.

Those who grew up in the Halifax area might recall getting both a morning, and an evening, newspaper.  We even had a “society column” known as “Chatterbox” written by the inimitable Margie Schlageter.

How things have changed.

Today I take my news almost exclusively online.  I can read an aggregate of trending articles from around the world, three or four national newspapers, a few digital opinion sites and finish up with our local paper in the time it takes me to finish a couple-cups of coffee.

I read it all.

A check of my browser bookmarks finds an eclectic list of hard news, editorial, national politics and alternative opinion blog sites that I frequent – everything from The Economist to obscure New Orleans street-sheets.

But I always return to my favorite – The Daytona Beach News-Journal – the paper that first fueled my obsession with current events, gave my father and I a point to connect, helped teach me to read analytically and think critically, and brought the latest news of the day to our doorstep every morning.

It still fascinates me – and the newspaper continues to provide for my on-going education.

For instance, just last week I learned that an Osteen man found a human skull in a bag while mowing his lawn.

Oddly, I wasn’t surprised by that.  You probably weren’t either.

After all, this is Florida – the sight of an alligator walking through a crowded parking lot with a corpse clamped firmly in his jaws is almost commonplace – and dinner table conversations often start with, “Honey, I heard the neighbor found a set of human feet in a Publix bag on the side lawn.  I wish people were more considerate. . . How was work?”

No, I just took another sip of coffee and moved on – reading the latest How Great Thou Art piece on yet another member of Daytona’s uber-elite – then perused the most recent installment of the Who Bought the France Manse? series.

I also learned that a recent study of financial hardship conducted by the United Way found that 89,476 Volusia County households are considered impoverished or “asset-limited, income constrained.” 

It goes by the cute acronym – ALICE.      

The term represents those among us who are working, but due to child care costs, “transportation challenges,” high cost of living, food, fuel, taxes, etc. are living paycheck-to-paycheck – just above the poverty threshold.

You read that right.  42% of our families are impoverished.

The study also found that Volusia – the second highest taxed county in Florida – has an average household income that is a dismal $7,000 less than the state average.

Go figure.

Over the weekend, I also learned of a plea agreement with a convicted felon who was in possession of a firearm and shot a young man in the chest – killing him in the street – as the two argued over some frivolous issue on Garden Street last year.

Page C-3.

Apparently, the State of Florida and the accused killer’s defense attorney reached an agreement which will have him serve just 15-years in prison.

The victim was 25-years old.

Life gets cheaper everyday here on the Fun Coast.

Not a lot of outcry from that ugly news either.

I guess we’ve become desensitized – comfortably numb – to violent crime, political corruption, neglect and abject poverty in the Halifax area.

I mean, we’ve had so much smoke pumped up our ass by the chamber of commerce set and our local elected and appointed officials that our basic human emotions of shock and empathy have developed a thick mahogany bark.

To assist our collective anesthetization, local media outlets on the Fun Coast put great emphasis on the frivolous.

Meaningless, empty issues become “big news” – such as making a pulp fiction mystery series out of the identity of a recent homebuyer – someone who paid less than $5-million dollars for a home real estate experts say would have brought $20-million anywhere in South Florida (you know, a place where the newspaper of record doesn’t waste a good reporters time trying to publicly identify a buyer who wishes to remain anonymous. . .)

Perhaps you’ve enjoyed the fourth or fifth installment of the News-Journal’s in-depth exposé on a carnival vendor erecting transitory midway rides in that ugly scar on the City’s boardwalk – a temporary spackling to cover that gaping hole – at least until the Shriner’s mega-convention is over, anyway.

Or the fact that the ‘powers that be’ in Port Orange are still hung-up on who they should name the old police department building after.

Man, that civic conundrum has provided weeks of diversion for the masses, eh?

Apparently, the number of residents who submitted facetious names to point out how ludicrous these things become – such as “Building McBuilding Face,” “Little Trump” and “The Forgotten One” – was lost on their elected officials, folks who take these things very seriously.

After all, what good is public service without getting your name on one of those ubiquitous bronze plaques that prominently grace every public works project in every city in the world – a goofy monument listing the name of every politician and appointed official associated with the thing except those who paid for it?

I’m often taken to task for being negative about everything – nothing ever seems to measure up in my world – and well-intentioned people say that Barker’s View should spend more time looking at the positives, you know, “building up” our areas “renaissance” instead of constantly pointing out our faults and blemishes.

Perhaps.

But my legendary hypocrisy only goes so far.

In my view, contributing to this smokescreen of positivity is a disservice to those intrepid citizens who have taken the blinders off and are working diligently to bring attention to the serious social, economic and civic issues that face communities throughout the Halifax area.

Grassroots efforts that are gaining true momentum in stimulating those in City Hall and beyond to begin the arduous and expensive process of tackling blight, dilapidation and the feeling of hopelessness that has hampered true revitalization for years.

Apparently, regular readers of this forum feel the same way.

I’m extremely pleased to report that this experiment in alternative opinion continues to post impressive numbers, with thousands of readers seeking out these amateurish screeds monthly.

Maybe our local media could take a hint?

Look, we are hungry for hard news – we need the good, the bad and ugly – and the incredible response to solid, in-depth reportage, such as the News-Journal’s “Tarnished Jewel” series, demonstrates that.

If our politicians and the “Power Brokers” who control them need their ego stroked – let them join a Country Club.  The rest of us need objective reporting to form solid opinions – and develop our situational awareness on the important issues of the day.

Perhaps it’s time for the Daytona Beach News-Journal to resurrect Chatterbox and get the society gossip – and self-important blathering’s of enthusiastic millionaires telling us how wonderful we all have it – off the front page.

What do you think?

By the way – please join Barker’s View this afternoon beginning at 4:00pm on GovStuff Live! with Big John on WELE 1380am, or online at http://www.govstuff.org (listen live button) as we discuss the topics important to our lives and livelihoods in the Halifax area.

 

 

 

 

Hi, Kids!

Here we are on the cusp of the big Shriners International mega-convention at the Ocean Center and things in and around our core tourist areas are looking up!

If you haven’t driven down Atlantic Avenue in the last week I encourage you to have a look-see at what a fresh coat of paint and a few pallets of sod can do for the overall aesthetic of the place.

Look, you and I both know it’s a thin veneer – a façade, really – and that if history repeats as it is wont to do, we will plunge right back into the squalor, blight and destitution that we experience when we don’t have guests over.

But what the hell – enjoy it while it lasts, right?

For now, just sit back and appreciate all the self-important accolades by and for everyone who has a personal need to take individual credit for the convention.

I mean, everyone who is anyone is writing their version of history in the pages of the Daytona Beach News-Journal – recounting old memories of meetings gone by, and hyper-inflating their contributions and “leadership” in tales that get taller with each telling.

But what the hell – what good is a mega-convention if you can’t attach your name to it?

Plus, I enjoy poking fun at these blowhards.  (It’s why people hate me.  It’s why I hate me. . .)

Frankly, I don’t give a damn whose idea it was – after all the yammering, political posturing and money spent – let’s just be glad the Shriners are arriving – en masse – with their fezzes at a jaunty tilt and their clown cars and motorcycle squads polished and ready for the big parade.

The organization does tremendous work through the famous Shriners Hospitals for Children – charitable work that has earned Shriners International a Four Star (97%) rating for accountability and transparency.

Good work, gentlemen.

Let’s wish the nobles well as they enjoy what we all hope will be a great week on the “World’s Most Famous Beach.”    

Now, it’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the newsmakers of the day – the winners and losers – who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life, or detracted from it, in some significant way.

Let’s see who tried to screw us – and who tried to save us – during the week that was:

Asshole:          The County of Volusia

There are certain pivot points where we get an opportunity to see just how bloated and out-of-control County Manager Jim Dinneen’s shit-train of an administration truly is.

Several recent high-profile screw-ups on the beach introduced us to numerous directors, deputy directors, supervisors, consultants, contractors, and a host of other high-paid chieftains and hangers-on who make up this sprawling bureaucracy that has grown like a malignant wart fed on tax dollars.

For instance, last week’s no-parking debacle behind the languishing Desert Inn/Westin/Hard Rock project bought us a lecture by Beach Safety Director Ray Manchester – then Mr. Dinneen deflected blame on something called the “Coastal Division,” which, according to Volusia County, is responsible for “managing, maintaining and improving coastal parks, beach access and coastal recreational facilities for the quality-of-life benefit of residents and visitors.”

 We were also introduced to the culprit responsible for the parking cone issue, Jessica Winterwerp, the Director of the Coastal Division – who, by-the-by, reports to a completely different Director than Director Manchester.

Director Winterwerp has been busy of late trying to figure out how to speed things up at beach access kiosks after Council Chairman Ed Kelley had to wait a few minutes for the common peons ahead of him to settle their bill, listen to the litany of rules, roll their windows down and turn on their lights, before driving onto the strand.

How many overlapping layers does it take to manage a public beach?  I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.

But perhaps it explains why it costs $10 bucks to get on the beach. . .

Now, we learn that Volusia County will reach down and dictate the manner and means by which beach concessionaires can earn their livelihood and feed their families in the future.

In typical fashion, the county is raising fees, enacting onerous regulations, and doing everything in their considerable power to price the independent operator out of the business.

That includes the asinine requirement that everything from hot dog carts to ice cream trucks be painted a homogenized white.

Why?

Well, our tyrannical elected and appointed officials couch this gross overreach, and open suppression of the free market, in the tired promise that they’re doing it all in our best interest.

In her latest contribution to any issue of the day – something we can expect week-in-and-week-out until the 2018 election – the always self-important Councilwoman Deb Denys commented, “This is a discussion council has to (have).  However, I do know part of the goal is to bring the vendors up to a better quality visually. We want a better product.”

 No, you don’t.  You want more money, Deb.

You want to continue propagating ridiculous rules, regulations, fees, “do this, don’t do that” decrees, erecting more signage, and doing anything possible to make the “beach experience” so burdensome on families and visitors that we simply give up and allow you to exploit what’s left as cheap incentives for speculative developers.

Why won’t you simply admit it?  I, for one, would respect you if you did.

I encourage everyone who cares about the future of our beach to take a minute and join Sons of the Beach – Florida’s premiere grassroots beach advocacy group.

If you are fed up with overpaid county bureaucrats telling you and your family what you can and cannot do on your public beach – or believe that our heritage of beach driving deserves protection from the arbitrary whims of the uber-rich – please visit http://www.sonsofthebeach.org and sign-up.

Maybe even toss a few bucks to your new civic organization to help with legal fees and other programs to protect our most important economic engine.

You’ll be glad you did.

Angels:            Citizens 4 Responsible Development

How could anyone in the Halifax Area not be totally impressed with the consistently good work of Amy Pyle, Linda Smiley, Anne Ruby, Sandy Murphy, Ken Strickland and the members of Citizens 4 Responsible Development?

Not content to stand back and accept more of the same, C4RD boldly steps into the breach and develops workable solutions to problems that have plagued Daytona’s beachside and beyond for decades.

Now, the group is pushing forward with plans to bring colorful artwork to the desolation and dreariness of Main Street.

By partnering with ArtHaus, a local artist supply dealer, C4RD members obtained a ready source of student artwork for display in the empty windows and dingy storefronts of Main Street.  This simple, but highly effective project promises to bring life, charm and a true sense of community back to this historically challenged area.

Thank you C4RD – and the other grassroots organizations that are working hard for effective and lasting change.

Asshole:          Lambda Legal

In some weird attempt to bring attention to themselves, Lambda Legal, the self-described “oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work,” is attempting to defend the indefensible.

Earlier this week, the organization publicly criticized Sheriff Mike Chitwood and his deputies for the arrests of 18 degenerates who were observed by law enforcement officers engaging in open sex acts in public parks throughout Volusia County.

According to Susan Sommer, Lambdas Director of Constitutional Litigation, “It’s very disturbing, the effort to publicly shame and humiliate gay men.  It puts men at risk of harassment, of even vigilante behavior against them, and generally these kinds of law enforcement techniques are more draconian than any alleged transgression would warrant.”

What? 

Susan, I strongly suggest that you get out of your New York City office and see for yourself what the good people of Volusia County – gay and straight – have been dealing with for years.

During a long career in law enforcement, I both participated in and supervised hundreds of vice suppression operations.  In my experience, most of these perverts aren’t gay men at all – they are warped assholes with a compulsion to anonymously seek out like-types and openly expose themselves and masturbate in public spaces and restrooms.  Period.

This isn’t about developing meaningful, long-term relationships – in fact, many times words aren’t even exchanged.

It is disturbing, unsanitary and dangerous.

Unfortunately, this conduct is so widespread that I cannot think of one local jurisdiction that is not adversely affected by it – which is why I would never go to any public park – and I damn sure wouldn’t take small children to one.

And members of our community who are gay find this behavior just as offensive as any heterosexual citizen does.

The reasons why we are even having this bizarre conversation speaks volumes about how disjointed and completely out-of-touch our society has truly become in 2017.  I mean, there are obviously more pressing civil rights and sexual orientation issues that organizations like Lambda Legal can focus their efforts on?

Attempting to justify open sexual conduct in public parks – places where young children go to play – is the height of irresponsibility and, in my view, irreparably damages the cause and reputation of the LGBT community by associating law abiding gay and transgender people with a criminal sex offense.

As Sheriff Chitwood said:

“What group stands up for the people that want to use the park and should not be subject to a man masturbating or a man walking up to them soliciting sex and rubbing their groin and grabbing their ass?  So, their argument holds no water with me.”  

 It doesn’t hold water with me either, Sheriff.

 Good Job, sir.    

 Angel:             City of Daytona Beach

Kudos to the Daytona Beach City Commission for considering permitting food trucks to have a bigger impact on our limited local dining scene.

Anyone who has been outside the cultural wasteland of Volusia County can attest to the popularity of food trucks.

Of course, some are worried that the presence of these movable food vendors will somehow “erode the economic health” of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants – but in all honesty – I don’t see that happening in communities where food trucks have been embraced for the convenience and alternative they provide.

Look, it seems that restaurants in the Halifax area have a life expectancy of about 18-months – regardless if it’s a chain or a mom-and-pop.  Sadly, they come and they go.

I recently attended a party at Ormond Brewery and had a chance to sample the delicious food produced by “Southern State of Mind” – an insanely popular food truck operated by my old friend Lee Buckner – a local family man with a phenomenal talent in the culinary arts.

Trust me – If you haven’t tried the slow smoked pulled pork, you’re doing it wrong.

In my view, food trucks add a festive atmosphere wherever they set up – and its high time the citizens of Daytona Beach have the opportunity to enjoy the eclectic offerings these unique venues provide.

Quote of the Week:

“There was not an inch of the beach not covered with garbage, it’s everybody’s cups, food, plates, alcohol, you name it. There are cigarettes, diapers, pads, tampons, needles — it’s pretty disgusting.”

Kary Ford, CFB Outdoors, speaking in the Daytona Beach News-Journal regarding post-July 4^th beach cleanup efforts

 

Over the trajectory of a long career in law enforcement, I have seen both sides of the labor/management divide.

The good, the bad and the ugly of organized representation in public service – and the ever-changing bounty and abuses by elected and appointed officials who alternately curry favor with – or openly punish – unions depending upon which way the political wind blows.

When I was first hired, my department had only recently organized with the Police Benevolent Association and feelings on all sides of the equation were still raw.  And throughout my career I was in-and-out of the union due to various internecine squabbles or promotions.

Trust me when I say that 35-years ago a small-town police officer made substantially less than they do now – and city policy prohibited us from working a second job or off-duty details.  I was 22-years old, just a kid, really, and I didn’t make as much as my friends in the private sector.  I was also required to pay into the pension fund, union dues, etc. (my friends did not) which left very little at the end of the month.

I was ridiculed, laughed at, told by friends and family to go to college, get into business, start making money and build a comfortable life.

My first wife and I divorced my rookie year.

I think the instability, changing hours, call-outs, low pay, and the natural uncertainty that police families face every time their loved one leaves for work all conspired against us.  Plus, we were young and couldn’t see beyond tomorrow.  Those anxieties are still a reality for law enforcement families and they always will be.  It’s not for everyone.

When I came on the department I found a family.

Like all families, my fellow officers and I could argue and fistfight (but nobody else better get involved or you fought all of us) and we forged strong bonds that transcended working hours.  In fact, for a period, I don’t recall having more than a handful of friends who weren’t cops.

We worked together, drank together, celebrated births, weddings and deaths together, laughed together, cried together, got thrown out of bars together, and, in some cases, we lived together.

Regardless of how problematic life became, I always knew that if I could just make it back to the police department there were people in that building who truly cared about me – and that no matter what – I would always have a couch to sleep on, a hot meal, a cold beer and someone who could help me work through the issue.

For instance, one time I really needed three-hundred dollars.

I mean, I really needed three-hundred bucks.

I made some stupid financial mistakes and overextended – bought a used Nissan 280ZX, a sportscar that was just on the cusp of what I could afford, applied for my first American Express card, spent a few too many nights picking up bar tabs and ran up a few unexpected bills.

Twenty-three years old, recently divorced, and dead broke.

They were coming for my car – my only means of transportation to and from work – and my rent was due.  My roommate is now the insanely successful owner of a major Daytona Beach automobile dealership – but at the time – he didn’t have the cash to meet both halves of the rent either.

I was between a rock and a hard place, as they say.

Just when I thought I was about to suffer the embarrassment and inconvenience of having to turn my car back into the dealership – my sergeant pulled me aside in the locker room, quietly handed me three one-hundred dollar bills, and said, “Pay me back when you can.”

I scrimped and saved until I repaid the debt – but I will never forget that unexpected act of kindness by a brother officer.  I didn’t ask for the money – and he really didn’t have it to give – but he knew I had a problem and did what he could to help.

That’s what being part of this incredible brotherhood and sisterhood is all about.

We’re both retired now – but I recently reminded that wonderful man how much his generosity meant to me.

He jokingly asked when I was going to pay him back. . .

I’ve noticed that law enforcement officers today have lost some of that collegial closeness, amity and camaraderie that us “old school” cops knew “back in the day.”  We tended to remain with the same agency for 30-years – enjoying the good times and suffering the bad times together.

Times change, and the new breed of young men and women called to the police service tend to be more career oriented, less focused on custom and tradition, and much better educated than my generation of officers.

They question the “why” of things.  We rarely did.

For good or for ill, this “new generation” are more self-aware – and infinitely more mindful of better opportunities elsewhere.

Law enforcement has become less of the lifestyle it was when I was young – and more of a technical career path where practitioners hopscotch departments and disciplines depending upon how green the grass may be compared to where they currently serve.

They have in-demand skills – and they want, and deserve, to be adequately compensated for their contribution.

Most of the people that I came up with in local law enforcement are either retired or serving in senior leadership positions – and when we get together these days the tales get taller and we commiserate over health insurance, lament the latest knee replacement, share pictures of the grand kids – and invariably tell the young cops how it was “back in our day.”

Knowing full-well that this generation is facing some of the most difficult social circumstances to ever confront the police service in the United States.

Now, the Volusia Deputies Association find themselves in a pitched battle with County Manager Jim Dinneen’s administration over an antiquated pay and benefits package that has resulted in an exodus from the Sheriff’s Office in recent years.

Add to that the current culture war within the agency that naturally occurs when a very popular and charismatic long-term sheriff like Ben Johnson is replaced by a very popular and charismatic outsider like Mike Chitwood, and you have some serious organizational stressors at play.

The deputy’s union has been roundly criticized for their recent public awareness effort utilizing a large truck sign announcing, “Volusia Deputies are Understaffed and Underpaid – Enjoy the races at your own risk,” which they paraded up-and-down International Speedway Boulevard during the big Coke 400.

Good on them.  Bold move.

This stark message might embarrass the ‘powers that be’ – and you may not agree with it – but it’s damn sure true.

Some have complained that the union appears to be crying poor-mouth in an environment where the average per capita income is in the toilet (whose fault is that?) – even Sheriff Chitwood belittled the effort as a “juvenile prank” and encouraged members to take the 3% retroactive deal the union leadership recently rejected.

Granted, I’m supernaturally biased when it comes to the issue of law enforcement pay and benefits – and, I’ve been on the management side of the bargaining table, trying hard to keep compensation and expensive benefits in line with my bosses demands – but the fact remains, if we paid these brave men and women what they are worth we couldn’t afford them.

Imagine actually living the biblical verse, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Here I am.  Send me.”

Willingly and repeatedly putting your life, and your family’s future, on the line for people you don’t even know – even people who hate you – day in and day out – in a furnace-like environment where the vitriol, hatred of established authority, and the open slaughter of members of your service is increasing exponentially throughout the nation.

That takes pluck.

The fact is, these deputies do a remarkably dangerous and dirty job with a high-degree of pride, honor and professionalism in an era where those increasingly quaint attributes are snickered at.

Going into harm’s way and facing the horrors of the worst-of-the-worst of our society – protecting and serving under extremely difficult circumstances – with their every word and movement recorded for later criticism by those who could have, would have, done it better.

Given the abject greed, mismanagement and fiscal waste that is the hallmark of the Dinneen administration – the gross executive salaries, multiple retirements, deferred compensation plans, allowances and insurance packages – hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual pay and benefits to a county manager and senior bureaucrats who continue to accept bloated pay raises while proving daily that their personal and professional loyalties lay exclusively with a handful of power brokers with a profit motive.

While Sheriff Chitwood may disagree with the method of getting the message out – he ran a wildly successful campaign on the very foundation of securing a better wage for his deputies.

Given the wide margin by which the Sheriff was swept into office – it appears a sizable majority of the good people of Volusia County agree.

I also hope that union leadership will avoid putting their membership in the middle of a clash of the titans.  Reasonableness and compromise is all important to the collective bargaining process.

In my view, we simply cannot allow our sheriff’s office to become a training ground, a steppingstone to Orange County, Seminole County, the Orlando Police Department and beyond.

Reasonable compensation and benefits strategies that reduce pay compression, restore regional competitiveness and encourage a progressive, career-oriented environment at VCSO will pay dividends in increased service delivery and better institutional knowledge for years to come.

We need that now, more than ever.

I hope you will join me in supporting the Volusia Deputies Association Local 6035 in their effort to secure a better future for the courageous men and women of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office – and their families – who sacrifice so much for our security and protection.

 

Photo Credit:  The Daytona Beach News-Journal

 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effe  ct their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

When we first came to live together in groups, and later tribes then communities, our society developed certain moral imperatives – a concept described by 18^th Century German philosopher Immanuel Kant as a strongly-held principle that compels a person to act from a place of pure reason.

For instance, stopping at a red light is a modern moral imperative.

Conversely, making a promise that you do not intend to keep is a great example of not following a moral imperative.  According to Kant’s thinking, violations of “moral law” are ultimately self-defeating and contrary to sound reasoning.

Let’s carry this concept out a bit further.

Imagine a dystopian nightmare where drivers may or may not obey the rules of the road.

Have their vehicles properly insured – or not.

A place of complete uncertainty where we elect our neighbors to high political office with the reasonable expectation that they will serve honorably, in our communal interest, and follow the basic rules of ethics and morality – or perhaps they will simply ignore us – and use their important positions for self-enrichment, personal aggrandizement, or to profit their friends and political benefactors.

An environment where greedy slumlords openly market horribly dilapidated and sub-standard residential properties to the working poor, foregoing preventive maintenance and basic upkeep for years in favor of enhanced profits.  Perpetuating the exploitative Catch-22 inherent to “affordable” housing.

A world where a few officials with the moral responsibility to set community standards and affect positive change openly and arrogantly oppose reasonable efforts to provide the homeless even basic shelter from the elements.

Can you imagine what that society would look like?

Of course you can.

We live it daily here on the Fun Coast.  Am I wrong?

I recently read a letter to the editor in the Daytona Beach News-Journal entitled, “The other side of aggressive code enforcement,” authored by an absentee Daytona Beach property owner.

While lauding the News-Journal’s “Tarnished Jewel” series, and “…subsequent steps city officials are taking to address exposed issues,” the lady, who listed her place of residence as Texas, went on to say, “In the endeavor to guarantee that code enforcement is empowered to pursue true negligence, unhindered city commissioners must guarantee that International Property Maintenance Code provisions ensure fines and other punitive actions are tempered with judgment — allowing owners to address issues while keeping penalties proportional to violations.”

Apparently, the City of Daytona Beach slapped a $15,000 code enforcement lean on the absentee landlord’s rental after a tenant repeatedly parked a vehicle on the grass in violation of city ordinance.

Ultimately, she felt the frequency of the violations were exaggerated by city officials as the fines total almost as much as those placed on a decrepit nearby home which officials have condemned as unfit for human habitation.

“The result of such disparities is an agency that can be manipulated into a tax-funded intimidation mechanism by feuding neighbors with personal grievances.”

In the opinion of the writer, “Code enforcement officials must be empowered with the means to this end (keeping neighborhoods attractive), but it is imperative that checks and balances assure vigilance so waste and abuse are avoided. 

 Otherwise, a tool of our community becomes a contrivance for harassment and revenge.”

 I agree.

But it is also a clear imperative that those earning income from apartments and rental homes maintain their properties in accordance with housing codes, life-safety regulations and the aesthetic standards of the community.

Frankly, I’ve only read the owner’s side of the story – but I find it difficult to believe that her property racked up $15K in code enforcement fines because a tenant occasionally parked on the lawn – or because a disgruntled neighbor “manipulated” the system.

I could be wrong.

In my opinion, the landlord’s views on complaint driven code enforcement efforts – and allowing even the appearance of political involvement in this important quasi-judicial process – ultimately leads us back to the filthy, dilapidated place we are working and spending to escape.

I am not unsympathetic to the writer’s plight – but there are legal avenues and processes already available to remedy the situation she described without compromising the system.

From the vantage point of over 30-years in policing – to include the enforcement of municipal codes and ordinances – elected officials shouldn’t be within a country mile of these efforts, let alone have the “unhindered” ability to influence the administration or prosecution of violations – or impose their politically motivated “judgement” on the compliance process.

In my experience, any code official worth his or her salt knows when the process is being weaponized by feuding neighbors or commercial interests – and the due process requirements and consistency of documentary evidence needed to prove a violation leaves little room for a “set up.”

Look, the City of Daytona Beach is at a crossroads.

One path leads to a renaissance – a rebirth of our beachside and the revitalization of long-neglected core tourist areas and attractions, which, despite what the power brokers would have us believe, is the true economic engine of the Daytona Beach Resort Area.

The other dark and slippery road returns to more of the same – malignant blight, stagnation, an artificial economy based on government hand-outs and the creeping despair and squalor that is destroying any sense of community – and the quality of life for residents throughout the Halifax area.

By all metrics, there are extremely encouraging signs of progress.

The code enforcement process in the City of Daytona Beach is based upon the rule of law – grounded in the important concepts of fairness and due process which protect the Constitutional and property rights of all citizens.

The system contains ample provisions for direct oversight and discretion at all levels, from the officer on the street, to the legal decisions of the fair but firm Special Master, David Vukelja.

History evidences that a “complaint driven” process is a toothless method that takes self-initiation away from officials charged with uncovering violations in favor of waiting for someone to reach the point of exasperation and make a formal complaint.

This impotent process has left large swaths of the city in virtual ruin – and has kept compliance officers playing catch-up citywide.

It has also allowed the continued proliferation of slumlords who routinely – as an established business practice – blatantly skirt codes and ordinances.

In my view, when you allow any viable avenue for elected officials to meddle in the process, use their political power to advocate for constituents outside the Special Master’s purview, or exert personal influence over the actions (or inaction) of subordinate code officers, you are ultimately left with an incredibly frustrating, completely illegitimate system that is ripe for abuse.

The City of Daytona Beach continues to take heat for the perceived lack of attention and years of neglect that have left sections of the beachside looking like a Third-world shithole.

Fortunately, most signs are positive, and for the first time in a long time, city officials are listening to the complaints and suggestions of residents and civic organizations with a vested interest in revitalization.

In my experience, when you have a situation where there is open political and administrative support for fair but aggressive code compliance efforts – good things can happen.

The ultimate key to success is a consistent process – one where the rules and regulations are equally applied to everyone without favor or bias – focusing on improving safety and ensuring compliance over punitive fines and foreclosures.

I believe hope and redevelopment can be just as contagious as blight and dilapidation.

With luck, the fledgling efforts of the City of Daytona Beach to clean up the beachside will spread to other challenged areas and foster the restoration and economic resurgence of east Volusia County.

City officials working hard on these and other issues need our support.

Frankly, it’s now – or never.

 

Photo Credit: The Daytona Beach News-Journal

 

 

 

Last year, Barker’s View cut its teeth as an opinion blog on what would become known as “The Debacle in DeBary” – a squalid tale of treachery, abject greed and the base arrogance of political power run amok in Tiny Town.

As I came to understand it, over the course of months, the City of DeBary devolved into a crystal example of what can happen when a small-town government becomes hopelessly enmeshed in the intrigues of property developers and those who – for a healthy fee – navigate the fast and loose Turkish bazaar that passes for environmental protection and permitting in the Sunshine State.

The city’s surreptitious scheme to develop some 102-acres of environmentally sensitive land adjacent to the DeBary SunRail station was first exposed by the incredible investigative journalism of the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s Dinah Voyles Pulver.

Her outstanding reportage peeled the onion on the St. John’s River Water Management District governing board’s permitting process – to include the fact public officials transferred public funds to Chairman John Miklos and his Orlando-based “environmental consultancy” for his personal assistance in securing SJRWMD permissions for the transit oriented development.

For those joining the fun late – you read that right:  The Chairman of the SJRWMD Governing Board received money from public and private clients to lobby for their interests in front of the very state regulatory board he oversees.   

Perhaps more disturbing, in Florida – arguably the most openly corrupt state in the union – that level of quid pro quo sleaze is perfectly acceptable – even encouraged by our reptilian governor.

Yep.  When pressed, the Florida Commission on Ethics – you know, the people who are charged with protecting the public’s trust in government – called no harm, no foul.

It got better.

We later learned that DeBary’s city attorney, A. Kurt Ardaman, had a business relationship with Chairman Miklos – something he conveniently failed to disclose to his clients.

Then – as if things couldn’t get more bizarre – last summer, disgraced former City Manager Dan Parrott fled the building with a sack full of “severance” money just ahead of gross sexual discrimination allegations – but not before he and Ardaman cobbled together some curious “charter violations” against the community’s chief whistleblower, and duly elected mayor, Clint Johnson.

The charges essentially involved a series of goofy tweets and opinionated social media posts Mayor Johnson made voicing his frustrations with an increasingly out-of-control municipal government.

Once everything was in place, a Kangaroo Court was convened and the will of the people – the sacred majority vote of DeBary residents – was arbitrarily overturned by the city’s four remaining thin-skinned, mean-spirited elected officials in the most blatant act of political vengeance ever witnessed in the history of local governance.

They were embarrassed.  They didn’t like him.  So, they took him out with extreme prejudice.

Somewhere along the line a local residential developer took heavy equipment and brazenly churned acres of sensitive natural lands near Konomac Lake into a primordial ooze of black muck – right under the nose of seemingly clueless municipal regulators.

Locals reported observing endangered tortoises and other creatures fleeing for their lives – but state officials were later unable to confirm the presence of protected wildlife on the parcel.

A bulldozer blade can have that effect.

Add to that the fact the Office of the State Attorney and Florida Department of Law Enforcement developed probable cause that a public records crime had been committed and obtained a search warrant which was served during a highly-publicized law enforcement raid on City Hall.

The story goes on-and-on – you can read all about it in the News-Journal archives – or review my convoluted views on the sordid mess elsewhere on this site.

For a while, it was fascinating to watch.  I mean, it had all the elements of a good Carl Hiaasen novel.

Then, things just turned sad.  For me, anyway.

It was like watching the hapless victim of a strongarm robbery being pummeled into submission while thugs in expensive suits rummaged through the wounded dupe’s pockets.

Frankly, I quit opining on the fiasco when the current city commission agreed to provide interim City Manager Ron McLemore – a veteran bureaucrat with an incredibly checkered past – an open-ended contract paying full-time wages for part-time service. 

 (I wasn’t surprised.  In my view, the consistent characteristics of McLemore’s career involve negotiating maximum compensation for half-assed performance, documented instances of conducting personal business while receiving public funds, unresolved allegations of sexual harassment and preternaturally creepy personal conduct in the workplace.  Those types always seem to land on their feet in places in crisis – especially when the options are limited.)

In truth, what turned me off was the fact that, during each phase of this unfolding Greek tragedy, city officials – those who were elected and appointed to protect the public’s interest – kept hiring a long parade of highly-paid Winter Park lawyers to explain and aggressively defend the increasingly over-the-top shenanigans at City Hall.

Everyone who was anyone in the politically entrenched ivy-covered law firms near Park Avenue got a piece of the public pie – served up a la mode by A. Kurt Ardaman, Esquire.  The legal fees foisted on DeBary taxpayers piled up so fast and furious that even seasoned local attorneys – real sharks accustomed to fleecing the lame and the stupid – became outright queasy.

Look, I’ve seen a lot of brutal shit in my day, but can anyone with a conscience not avert their eyes from the metaphorical scene of a baby seal being repeatedly bludgeoned with a spiked mattock?

So, eventually, I took the cowards way out and simply ignored it all.

Not my monkeys.  Not my circus.

This week we learned that the Office of the State Attorney concluded their investigation of the City of DeBary when prosecutors publicly announced they were unable to develop sufficient evidence of civil or criminal violations of Florida’s public records law.

Perhaps by design, too much time has passed for anyone other than those directly affected to have any real emotional response to the news.  It is what it is.

Naturally, the subjects of the inquiry were “tickled and thrilled” by the outcome.

Something else we learned was that DeBary taxpayers once again picked up the bill – nearly $14,000 – for an extremely skillful defense attorney who was hired to represent the personal interests of elected and appointed officials who were under criminal investigation.

Those same public officials refused to sit for interviews with investigators on the good advice of their tax-funded attorney after he reviewed the search warrant affidavit – then made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain “use immunity” for his clients, a legal procedure which protects a witness against the governments use of his or her immunized testimony in the prosecution of a criminal act.

When asked by the Daytona Beach News-Journal if the inability to formally interview council members and staff impacted the outcome of the investigation, a state attorney spokesperson cryptically responded, “Obviously we made our decision on the evidence available.”

 So, another chapter in this sordid story ends.

Hopefully, the final chapter.

While those who wandered off into the festering quagmire of the Gemini Springs Annex deal may consider this some weird victory, I can’t help but feel that the true victims of this shit-storm of mismanagement, ineptitude, and petty political arrogance – the long-suffering citizens of DeBary – have been left holding the bag that was once a quaint riverside community of great promise.

Oddly, at the end of the day, I feel terribly sorry for everyone involved.

Perhaps now those members of the community who still care will see the benefit of strong, ethical management and representation to the future fiscal, social and civic health of DeBary.

It’s not too late to change course, clean house and start fresh.

Correct the sins of the past and learn from painful mistakes.

Please don’t let the tragedy of the “Debacle in DeBary” be the legacy of this beautiful, but horribly tarnished, community.