You know what I always say?

If you can’t do it for $847 million, you can’t do it.

Anyone who needs a remedial class in the inefficient inner-workings of Volusia County government – in all its multiple forms and functions – need look no further than our long-suffering school district.

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Volusia County School Board recently heard some scary stories from district officials regarding the back-log of infrastructure projects, some of which have been languishing on the ‘ol “to-do” list for over a decade.

Really?

In 2001, and again in 2014, the district pushed for and received a voter approved half-cent sales tax to fund specific infrastructure projects and new school construction.

According to the News-Journal, “The next round of the tax, which began in January, is expected to bring in more than $480 million over 15-years and will help improve technology, build new schools, improve sports facilities and more.”    

That’s the cherry on top of a current annual operating budget of some $847 million dollars.

Now, we learn that district officials have bonded some $40 million this year – and anticipate taking loans over $100 million next year – essentially borrowing money, with interest, to meet “critical capital projects.”

These bonds come at a time when the half-penny sales tax is expected to generate some $40 million annually, well more than the school districts initial expectations.

What gives?

It looks to me like the Volusia County School Board is taking cues from the Daytona Beach Main Street CRA – load yourself up with so much paralytic debt that any additional revenue simply covers principal and interest payments on the sins of the past.

It takes the thought and finesse out of it, I guess.

Why is it no one in county government can live within their means? 

We’re told by school officials that – because the district must snack on sales tax funds monthly – rather than receiving one lump sum to gorge on – it lacks the “up-front” cash to move forward with even routine maintenance projects, like repairing and replacing heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units.

Bizarre.

You know, I’m not an expert in education administration and finance – hell, the toughest three years of my life was the 8^th grade – but I have a goofy opinion on everything (obviously) and that includes the manner and means by which our school district specifically – and county government generally – manages its voracious appetite for tax dollars.

Barker’s View HQ is located a stone’s throw from the now razed and renovated Ormond Beach Middle School – so close that when the wind is right, the peace and dignity of my early afternoon cocktail hour(s) is interrupted by the squeals and screams emanating from the PE field.

During the renovation, I got a first-hand view of just how our school district spends huge money on construction projects – thousands of square feet of individual bricks over reinforced cinderblock – two stories – with supporting infrastructure, furnishings, parking and athletic amenities.

Oddly, the school is built like a brick shithouse (literally), yet it isn’t listed as an evacuation shelter?

In my view, district administrators might consider multi-use options and co-located neighborhood amenities when spending millions of public funds building and renovating these gigantic facilities.

Just a thought.

The other bee in my Easter bonnet is that, occasionally, every light in the building burns all night long – lighting up the campus like some glowing Taj Mahal – on others, only a few interior security lights can be seen.

(Yes.  I realize I sound like your father.) 

Look, I don’t want to nit-pick – but if this happens at every school and county-owned building in Volusia County – that adds up.

Besides, it’s poor optics when you’re beseeching taxpayers like a tattered roadside bindlestiff to pony up good money after bad to cover the cost of building, heating, cooling, furnishing and lighting these massive single-use monuments to government inefficiency.

For years, we’ve heard how Volusia gets screwed to the wall by a convoluted state funding formula – a wacky scheme based on the price of goods and average salaries.

It’s a difficult situation that our state representatives never seem to have the political influence to make right.

In a very informative January 2016 article by Dustin Wyatt, writing for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, entitled: “Push to narrow Volusia school funding gap faces uphill slog,” we learned:

“The formula was introduced in 1973, but it was a 2004 amendment adding a wage index as a way of equalizing school funding around the state that really hurt Volusia. The change was based on a University of Florida study and recognition that more than 80 percent of the typical school district budget is spent on employees’ salaries and benefits. The economists who did the study included wage comparisons, saying people “willingly work for less” in low-cost areas with “amenities” such as beaches and cultural activities.”

 “The model has helped some counties, like Broward, gain up to $425 million in funding since its inception, while Volusia County has been the biggest loser — $120 million in the hole. Flagler County has lost $27 million.”

So that’s why we willingly scrounge for dirt-level take-home pay here on the Fun Coast?

The cultural activities. . .

Damn.  Who knew?

I just thought it was because we long-ago became a place of “haves-and-have-nots” – a down-at-the-heels beach community with a rapidly disappearing middle-class.

A beleaguered tribe of service workers trapped in an artificial economy where the winners and losers are hand-selected by uber-wealthy political insiders, you know, the five or six people in Volusia County who pass the same nickel around?

One would think that our school officials would find a way to cut the fat at the top of the organization – pay our teachers a competitive wage – and use the hundreds-of-millions in public funds and sales tax revenues earmarked for education to full effect – in the classroom, where it matters.

Regardless of how much money we inject into the process, and despite all the standardization and testing, we are still graduating a large percentage of children without basic life skills – or the ability to think critically or communicate effectively.

They are victims of a terribly ineffective – and inefficient – system.

If money is truly the issue, then let’s ask the difficult questions – right size the organization and determine our actual needs – but something tells me it’s not as simple as that.

At the very least, let’s turn our highly-paid Tallahassee lobbyist loose on the formulaic funding conundrum.

Trust me, there are very few things a fist-full of hundreds can’t take care of in those hallowed halls of our state capitol.

I don’t have the answers.

If I did, I would be up to my ears in the public trough myself.

But I think the solution starts by properly managing the resources at hand – before begging for more.

Following a contentious election season, I always wonder what happened to those independent, creative thinkers who made so many wonderful promises during their campaigns?

Remember them?

Those brash and bold candidates who separated themselves from the pack with their imaginative solutions to the problems and issues of the day?

In our system of local governance, representatives are elected to high office by their fellow citizens to exercise legitimate authority and provide effective leadership in furtherance of the community’s collective needs.

In my view, quality local government is marked by oversight, accountability, an individual – and institutional – respect for the rules, efficient stewardship of resources and effective collaboration with the governed.

It ensures that political and economic goals are based on consensus – which requires that all available information and views be heard and weighed equally during the decision-making process.

During this process, our individual representatives can bring their unique perspectives and innovative ideas to the table – concepts that are often developed by experiential learning – like, serving on various boards, interacting with experts and constituents, volunteering their time and talents to organizations and working to find solutions, seeing what works – and what doesn’t.

In fact, getting outside the opaque bubble of government administration buildings is truly the only way for an elected official to gain an educated understanding of difficult situations.

Trust me.  It’s easy to tell the difference between the politician who got down in the dirt and experienced the nuts-and-bolts of an issue from those who merely took the city/county manager’s word for it.

Unfortunately, in Volusia County, the “do as I say, not as I do” hypocrisy of the system molds and confines our elected officials into a homogenized clique – and there is no place for individuality or creative thinking.

A prime example of this is the on-going reeducation of freshman District 4 Councilwoman Heather Post.

It’s like watching the victim of a Khmer Rouge indoctrination camp, where individuality, creativity and independence are quickly eradicated with undiluted hostility.

Slowly, but surely, newly elected officials are beaten until they submit and become instruments of the elite – lockstep followers of the regime – lest they be publicly humiliated by senior members of the council who have no use for fresh eyes.

For Ms. Post, her programming began when she had the impudence to attend meetings and discussions with Daytona Beach officials and others working hard to find a compassionate solution to chronic homelessness in the Halifax area.

Apparently, Ms. Post was so eager to assist that she was – either voluntarily, or involuntarily – appointed to the First Step Shelter’s board of directors – an eclectic group which includes elected and appointed government officials, business leaders and private citizens.

In my view, it was refreshing to see a sitting county official become so personally involved with this entrenched local problem – a humanitarian crisis that has hampered legitimate economic development and contributed to the widespread blight and dilapidation for decades.

But in Volusia County government, no good deed goes unpunished.

When the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on Post’s involvement with the issue, during an open county council meeting, Chairman Ed Kelley joined Council members Deb Denys, Billie Wheeler and “Sleepy” Pat Patterson in taking Post to the woodshed where they publicly flogged her like a recalcitrant child.

“If people think you’re (serving on a board) as a county council member, that’s bad policy,” Kelley said. “(Post) doesn’t understand politics.”

 I guess not.

Unfortunately, Ms. Post lacked the courage of her convictions and began to unravel like a cheap ball of yarn when called on the carpet by her cowardly “colleagues.”

Then, in an unusual turn of events, on March 27, Ms. Post, Councilwoman Joyce Cusack and the hapless Billie Wheeler told a crowd of 1,500 at the FAITH Action Assembly that they would vote in favor of Volusia County appropriating $4-million for a homeless shelter – which included funds for both construction and operating costs.

The “operating costs” aspect was the shocker, as that has always been the bugaboo for the county council.

In fact, during the April 6^th County Council meeting, The Very Reverend Fred Lowry virtually radiated pastoral care and concern for those less fortunate when he turned the lash on Cusack, Post and Wheeler for speaking out-of-school at the FAITH assembly.

“I was flabbergasted that some are going to allocate funds for operating costs, which is totally contrary to the position this county has taken up to this point,” Lowry said. “I thought we were crystal on that.”

It got uglier when Rev. Lowry told a bizarre story to a News-Journal reporter that the promises of support were causing cities – specifically Deltona – to reconsider their financial commitment to the homeless solution.

Unfortunately, the Right Reverend’s statement was exposed as complete and utter bullshit.

In a weird double-step, Fast Freddy suddenly succumbed to convenient amnesia when questioned about who, exactly, he was referring to.

You know what flabbergasts me?  Elected officials who make shit up when the truth would serve them – and us – better.

It’s high time our county council comes to the collective realization that they have lost all credibility on the important issue of homelessness – and their resolute obstructionism and pandering to the mean-spirited policies of county manager Jim Dinneen have doomed them to the backseat.

Then, in another obstinate act of individuality, Ms. Post took a quick trip to Tallahassee – spending less than $1,000 to educate herself on pending legislation effecting Volusia County.

According to the News-Journal, “The three-day jaunt cost the county $766.02, which included two nights at the Governors Inn, gas mileage and six meals, records show.”

Once again, Ms. Post was set upon by her fellow elected officials and openly chastised from the dais by Ed Kelley and Deb Denys for not coming before the full council – hat in hand – and asking permission from the elected body and Jim Dinneen if she could travel on county business.

Pretty please? 

It was also reported that Post isn’t the only one who’s been traveling on the public dime.

It seems Councilwoman Denys recently traveled to Washington D.C. with Daytona Beach International Airport Director Rick Karl to attend the annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation conference – an excursion which cost taxpayers a collective $5,192.83 in airfare, hotel and 14 meals.

The publicly funded junket was billed as an opportunity for county officials to meet with aerospace industry giants to attract prospects to the research park at Embry-Riddle.

Unfortunately, Ms. Denys permission slip from the council apparently got lost in the shuffle.

My ass.

To my knowledge, Ms. Denys doesn’t work for Embry-Riddle – at least not directly anyway.

So why in the hell are you and I paying for her lobbying efforts on their behalf?

Perhaps the worst example of this weird double-standard hypocrisy by our county council came during Jim Dinneen’s terribly staged “grand reveal” that Summit Hospitality Group was changing the flag of the languishing Desert Inn/Westin project to a Hard Rock – and requesting a nearly eight-month extension of the hard completion date.

In the ensuing orgy of adulation, fawning and cooing over the Hard Rock unveiling – Chairman Kelley, Deb Denys and the others openly and ebulliently voiced their overwhelming support – with Little Jimmy assuring the assembled council members that, based upon all he has seen, he will be wholeheartedly recommending the name change and extension request.

As if by magic, the alternative legislation changing the original ordinance, which provided a hard deadline for completion – along with other specific performance metrics – will be placed on the very next council agenda.

All this incredible support – before anyone has heard the first shred of testimony, statement of need, or even a valid reason for changing from a promised “4-star” Westin to a Hard Rock honky-tonk.

That’s mighty quick work for an elected body not known for its efficiency.

Unless the right people ask for expediency.

Isn’t this talking-out-of-school exactly what The Very Reverend Fred Lowry ripped Ms. Post a new asshole over?

Is there a double-standard or “unwritten protocol” for showing overweening support for every private development that will remove driving from our beach, while withholding encouragement for funding a homeless solution in the public interest?

You bet your sweet bippy there is. . .

Whenever my wife finishes reading the latest installment of Barker’s View, she looks up at me and says:

“Your name is shit in this town.”

And she’s right.

But the more I read of Eileen Zaffiro-Kean’s excellent exposé in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Tarnished Jewel – Daytona’s Troubled Beachside,” I realize that I’m in very distinguished company.

Yep.  I suspect there will be more than a few once proud and powerful people in the Halifax area whose family name will be mud for the next hundred years after this histoire tragique plays out in the paper.

The public unmasking of local greed, mismanagement, and ineptitude – you know, the dirty underbelly of things – can have that effect.

When pondering the myriad problems of Daytona’s dilapidated beachside, it is important to remember that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

And that, my friends, is the Curse of the Fun Coast.

For over 400-years, every pirate in the world has plundered and pillaged Florida – first at the business end of a cold steel Cutlass – and in modern times, at the sharp point of a speculative developers pen.

Trust me.  Daytona Beach has seen its share of greedy bandits, treacherous rogues and thieving scalawags.  Our boardrooms, government daises and bankruptcy courts are literally bunged with them.

I think a large part of the problem is our communal inability to remember the sins of the past or learn from history and avoid repeating the same terrible mistakes.

This weird form of convenient amnesia is most prevalent in our Ruling Class – the elected and appointed officials that we elevate to high public office, always with the naive expectation that they will protect our collective interests.

Then, We, The People, stand slack-jawed, watching in utter horror as our representatives ignore their lofty promises and grab for the same red-hot stove, over-and-over-and-over again.

Doing the same thing, time-and-again, hoping against hope for a different outcome.

Look, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer – obviously – but this strategic forgetfulness tells me that perhaps the problem goes deeper than ineffectual politicians and ‘darn-the-luck’ justifications from overpaid redevelopment flunkies.

I just can’t shake the feeling that something more ominous is at play.

In late 2014, the News-Journal ran a piece on the destruction of a building at the northwest corner of North Atlantic Avenue and Oakridge Boulevard.

The newspaper reported that crews were demolishing the former corporate offices of the once exalted, now-defunct Bray & Gillespie, Inc. – which for a time did business as Ocean Waters Development – and owned and operated numerous beachfront hotels in the Halifax area.

Why?

To make room for the just completed parking garage for the new Daytona Beach Hotel & Condominium, a massive beachfront convention center now under construction by Protogroup (don’t call them Russians), Inc.

You could cut the irony with a knife.

In typical fashion, our powers-that-be are hailing yet another Knight in Shining Armor with a grand panacea project which they hope will be the nostrum that finally saves us bumpkins from ourselves.

For several years, Bray & Gillespie were the undisputed “Big Dogs” on the strip – flying high and exuding success like sweat from a fat tourist’s brow.

With holdings representing almost a mile of oceanfront, the company was perhaps the largest real estate development and management firm in the region.

Principals Chuck Bray and Joe Gillespie, former investment bankers who moved to the Halifax area from Atlanta in 1998, were, at the time, near the top of the uber-wealthy donor class that regularly injected vast sums of money into local political campaigns.

The company’s top echelon rubbed elbows with our local ‘movers and shakers’ and counted themselves among Volusia’s exclusive coterie of influential political insiders – the “rich and powerful” to quote the News-Journal’s fitting descriptor.

Many speculate that these contributions and connections resulted in liberal zoning designations and other economic incentives which often allowed Bray & Gillespie to ‘flip’ beachfront properties at huge profits without ever breaking ground.

Then, one dark morning in the fall of 2008, Bray & Gillespie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. District Court at Jacksonville.

The action involved numerous local properties and $415-million in debt.

It also signaled the death knell for a lot of local jobs.

Some speculated that Bray & Gillespie’s insolvency was the result of hurricane damage and expensive fights with insurance carriers, the foundering Florida real estate market, and other internal and external financial pressures.

Still others believed that unchecked hubris and open greed played a role as well.

In a prescient editorial on the news reports of the day, an anonymous contributor wrote:

“About time!  These people had taken too much advantage of the low morals and predisposition for corruption of Daytona Beach public officials. A great business strategy, but it hurt Daytona’s future. The raping of Daytona Beach by a handful of tycoons with the very willing help a group of corrupt officials has just gone on for too long.”

Hummmm.

Whether you put credence in the ravings of a nameless victim or not, given what we know now, it sure has an interesting ring to it, eh?

Add to that the curious case of California “businessman” and journeyman grifter, Bill Geary, who from the 1980’s invested in various Boardwalk properties, the Daytona Beach Pier and ultimately the Ocean Walk development.

In keeping with tradition, those who should have known better bought into Geary’s polished line of bullshit without performing the due diligence one expects from ostensibly bright redevelopment officials, or savvy investors.

Had Geary’s victims – and that includes you and I – bothered to look, they would have found all the tell-tale signs of an old timey confidence artist.

The late Daytona Beach businessman and long-time resident, Paul Politis, was quoted in a September 2014 News-Journal article, “There was a sales pitch from Geary, and locals bought into it without checking his financials and credibility,” said Politis.

“They just handed him the keys to the redevelopment area.”

Ultimately, Geary plead guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with federal charges that he looted nearly $900,000 from an investors fund for Ocean Walk Shoppes, then used the money for his personal benefit, according to court records.

I think it’s important to remember this historical perspective when reading the News-Journal’s informative revelations on our troubled beachside.

Something tells me these aren’t the only examples of the ugly, behind-the-scenes machinations that continue to hamper progress on the beachside and elsewhere.

As I’ve said, this very dark story stinks like overripe Limburger.

But when is someone – anyone – with the authority to act going to do something about it?

In my view, it’s high time that those responsible for the gross negligence and mismanagement of these dubious and fruitless renewal efforts – including the incomprehensible ‘buy high, sell low’ strategies employed by both the city and county – be held personally accountable for violating their fiduciary responsibility to the public they serve.

And while we’re at it, perhaps we could give a second-effort at finding the $16.7 million that no one in a position of responsibility can adequately account for.  How bow dah?

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of watching highly compensated “revitalization experts,” like Daytona Beach Redevelopment Director Reed Berger and others – people who accept public funds to serve in the public interest – tap dancing on the front page of the newspaper and giving cockamamie explanations for the inexplicable.

I normally begin these screeds with a droll story, or some plagiarized fable to illustrate a point.

It adds a bit of levity and helps the reader better digest the serious issues of the day.

But sometimes you find a topic – such as chronic homelessness, or the wholesale misuse of public funds – that are far too serious for cheeky anecdotes.

Like many of you, I am enjoying the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s illuminating series, “Tarnished Jewel – Daytona’s Troubled Beachside.”

In fact, I read Sunday’s initial installment several times.

I had to.

Try as I might, I simply couldn’t grasp the enormity and byzantine nature of the problem – it was like entering a huge maze, going around-and-around, but never finding the cheese.

Don’t get me wrong, Eileen Zaffiro-Kean has done honest work.

The quality of her research and impeccable writing style have brought depth and life to one of the tragic local stories of our time.  In fact, I can’t wait to read the remainder of what I am sure will be a very enlightening series on the wasteland that is Daytona beachside – our core “tourist area” and most important economic engine.

I don’t know about you, but just trying to follow the money was migraine-inducing.

What we know is that over the past three-decades, some $120-million in public funds (I say “some” because the exact amount is apparently in doubt) have been injected into various areas extending from Oak Ridge Boulevard south to East International Speedway Boulevard.

Primarily east of A-1-A.

With that as a rough starting point, Ms. Zaffiro-Kean takes us on a wild ride through the mean streets of the “Main Street Community Redevelopment Area” – a place that has come to epitomize the historical lack of vision, poor leadership and ineffective representation of a cavalcade of local elected and appointed officials.

It also showcases the greed of some prominent business and property owners who still believe throwing more tax dollars and incentives at developers is the answer to the problem – despite the lessons of the past.

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

History teaches that when vast sums of money are placed in the hands of Halifax area politicians, a sizable portion will always find its way into the pockets of their cronies and political allies – and the rest will be used for huge “panacea projects” and even bigger debt.

In fact, the bigger the better.

When you have a lot of moving parts, money seems to fall through the cracks like sand through a sieve, and it becomes infinitely more difficult to follow.

In the case of the Main Street CRA, Daytona Beach officials are unable to adequately account for millions of dollars the city borrowed – and according to reports, the bulk of remaining CRA revenues will go to paying off bonds for 20-year old “improvements” related to the Ocean Walk/Hilton “e-zone” and other projects east of A-1-A.

Developments which have done absolutely nothing to improve long-suffering residential and commercial areas to the west.

Rather than learn from the mistakes of the past, city officials appear hell-bent on spending what little funds remain on a convoluted scheme to transform East ISB – taking out yet another multi-million-dollar bond for “property acquisition” (cough-cough, excuse me) and road construction, with the money eventually being reimbursed by the Florida Department of Transportation, yada, yada, yada.

Add the insanity of Daytona Beach officials purchasing residential and commercial properties in the CRA for hundreds of thousands over appraised value – then selling the lots for pennies on the dollar, or grossly mismanaging the assets – and you get the idea that there really is no one minding the switch.

Or is something more sinister at play?

For instance, late last year the city moved to purchase two beachside lots for the exorbitant price of $862,000.  I say “exorbitant” because the assessed value of the parcels was just $125,000.

It’s shit like that I don’t understand?

In my view, Linda Smiley – an extremely bright observer of local government and lifelong resident of the beachside – got it right when she said, “it’s a joke that never worked out.”

 “It sounds good in theory, but to me it’s a legal way for them to steal money and give it to their friends.  The $67.7 million in bond debt was a joke for what we got.  How about cleaning up the roads?”

That’s a bold statement – and an unfortunate truth.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for someone – anyone – to figure out where the money went, or why ostensibly smart people would willingly embarrass and expose themselves by massively overpaying for private real estate using public funds.

Let’s just say what everyone is thinking – something stinks here.  Bad.

As the News-Journal pointed out, “When Glenn Ritchey became mayor a decade ago, one of his first acts was to call for an outside audit of CRA money. When the probe concluded about a year or two later, no scandal emerged. The auditors did point out concerns with some police costs billed to the CRA and the purchase of oceanfront land for more than fair market value. The city was given a tip sheet on how to spend CRA money along with a list of things to correct.”

Nothing to see here, folks.  Move along. . .  We gave them a tip sheet.  Everything’s cool.

In my view, using CRA funds for dedicated police and code enforcement initiatives designed to take back crime-ridden areas is one of the few things the Main Street CRA did right.

With 35-years and $120-million dollars over the transom, it appears our “movers-and-shakers” (who are still wholly controlled by the Old Guard) are simply turning their backs to the east and are now looking west – developing thousands of new homes, investing in up-scale shopping areas, and building associated amenities – while seemingly ignoring the devastation (and potential) of the beachside.

Sometimes it’s easier just to start over from pine scrub, I guess.

What they forget is that our identity – our draw – will always remain “The World’s Most Famous Beach,” and we ignore that reality at our collective peril.

I guess it’s why I get so pissed-off and demoralized whenever I listen to our Chamber of Commerce and “Economic Development” types crow ad nauseum about their highfalutin accomplishments.

It’s all bullshit.  Smoke and mirrors designed to deflect attention from the rotting core of our most important economic engine.

And while Ms. Zaffiro-Kean has done her level best to avoid openly embarrassing the guilty, trust me, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Whenever I criticize former Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Richey for being as equally ineffective as his predecessors in bringing substantive change to the beachside, I receive angry notes from his supporters telling me what a great guy Glenn is – and how my harsh assessment is unfair, mean-spirited, etc., etc.

Look, I’m sure Mr. Richey is a nice guy – they all are.  And don’t get me wrong, Mayor Richey is not solely to blame – not by a long-shot.

In my view, the list is long and distinguished.

But with the beachside literally crumbling under unrestrained blight, the plague of homelessness and abject dilapidation, the august “Richey Plaza” – an unfortunate self-congratulatory shrine pushed to reality by our out-of-touch local royalty – will, in my view, forever serve as a fitting monument to the lack of strategic vision, mismanagement, and abandonment which remains so visibly, and economically, evident to residents and visitors alike.

How embarrassing.  How utterly tragic.

How do you define courage?

Is it in the soldier who saves the lives of his comrades, exposing himself to withering hostile fire while fighting valiantly against all odds?

Is it in the seamstress who defied racial injustice by refusing to sit at the back of the bus, and in doing so, took a brave stand against social oppression everywhere?

Or do we find it in the firefighter who rushes into a burning building to save a life, or the law enforcement officer who willingly goes into harm’s way to protect and serve?

Make no mistake – those actions epitomize personal courage.

Fortunately, for most of us, we will never have our mettle tested to that degree.  However, during everyday life, our moral and ethical courage is tested in countless small ways.

How we respond to those challenges when no one is looking defines our character.

This is especially true for those who hold themselves up for high office.  The people we elect and appoint to positions of great power and influence over others.

In my professional life, I was often called upon to impart whatever wisdom I accumulated over a long career to young and impressionable police officers who were just starting out in an occupation that requires great physical, mental and ethical strength.

I always tried to explain the importance of making principled decisions – even in the face of crushing criticism or pressure.  And I always reinforced the sacrosanct rule of never compromising our oath or sacred honor for anyone.

I also explained to them the importance of their personal appearance and professional bearing.

You see, the uniform will convey command and control just by your physical presence – and everything you do and say will come with the power and authority of your significant role.

And that’s important.

Officers can use their respected position in the community to influence situations in a positive way, to deescalate, lend strength and relevance to the voice of the weak, and resolve issues.

Elected officials can do the same thing.

It’s when we allow our authoritative presence, or a sense of entitlement, to control and feed our ego that things go wrong – when we stop serving others and start indulging the myth of our own self-importance that we become part of the problem.

I think County Councilwoman Heather Post recently got a lesson in the importance personal courage.

In a telling article by the respected reporter Dustin Wyatt in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “After lecture, Post backs off,” we learned the depth to which our elected officials will go to protect the self-serving image of the pack.

It is a classic example of form and appearance over substance – the epitome of all that’s wrong in government and politics.

Self over service, power over progress.

Earlier this month, the City of Daytona Beach approved the expenditure of $400,000 annually for the next four years to support the worthy goal of a homeless shelter in Volusia County.

In furtherance of the city’s admirable leadership in finding solutions to the devastating social, economic, and humanitarian issues of chronic homelessness in the Halifax area, last year Daytona Beach officials established First Step Shelter, Inc. – which includes a diverse board serving as the nonprofit’s voting body.

The board is comprised of several prominent elected and appointed officials, business leaders and others determined to find a compassionate solution to a problem that affects us all.

According to reports, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry said Councilwoman Post, “expressed to him a ‘passion for homelessness’ and told him she ‘wanted to be a part of the solution.”

This led City officials to the unmistakable conclusion that Post wanted to serve outside her position on the county council, and they ultimately appointed her to the board.

Frankly, at the time, I thought Ms. Post’s willingness to breach the divide, drop the arrogance and pretense of county government, and actually work collaboratively with others was admirable.

The fact that a sitting member of the Volusia County Council – a body who has been the single biggest obstruction to substantive progress on the homeless issue – was a refreshing sign of headway.

Unfortunately, in Volusia County politics, no good deed goes unpunished.

At the March 16^th county council meeting, Councilwoman Post was set upon by her ‘colleagues’ – taken to the woodshed and publicly flogged like a recalcitrant child for having the temerity to actually see a problem and try to help.

How beneath the haughty, officious place of a majestic member of the Volusia County Council.

After all, these dirty piss-ants at First Step will be crawling before them soon, begging crumbs for their “homeless problem” – how could Post possibly get down on that common level?

According to the News-Journal, “Post said recently she was surprised by the way her fellow council members reacted to the news.  But the councilwoman didn’t let her peers know of her March 15 appointment beforehand and County Chair Ed Kelley called that a breach of “unwritten protocol” – especially considering the city’s board will soon ask the county for financial support.”

My ass.

The attack on Post was joined by the always vicious Deb Denys, the hapless Billie Wheeler, and the unfortunate, “Sleepy” Pat Patterson.  Not exactly a phalanx of political courage.

Apparently, Ed Kelley thinks it’s “bad policy” for an elected public servant to step outside their traditional role and lend their experience, passion, leadership and expertise to a problem that has dominated our local landscape, hampered economic development efforts, and contributed to the overall appearance of blight and dilapidation in Volusia County for years.

Frankly, I wouldn’t expect anything less from these cowardly shitheels.

Unfortunately, rather than find the strength of character to stand-up to the contemptuous bullies sitting with her on the dais, Post began this weird dance between the truth and a lie, prevaricating about her involvement, and denying that she had been appointed to the First Step board at all.

“I am not on the board.  They can’t put me on the board,” Post yammered – sounding like something out of a bad Gilligan’s Island farce.

Then, when pressed for an explanation for her bizarre dithering, Post said: “I really don’t want to discuss any of that anymore.  We just need to set all this ridiculousness aside.”

I guess not.

Looks like Heather Post learned one thing from her unfortunate attempt to break the obstructionist mold and get down in the grassroots to help resolve an intractable local problem – how to tap dance and quibble your way out of a sticky political wicket when personal courage and strength of character would have served her better.

How tragic.  How typical.

In my view, we should all applaud the efforts of Daytona Beach City Commissioner Aaron Delgado, who has shown the strength, leadership and representation we expect from a first year elected official with a fresh set of eyes, who said:

“The last thing I want to do is see political maneuvering endangering what is really a great project,” he said.

“This is the kind of thing I feared would happen: people will make a stand on something silly like this instead of seeing the project through. We need to leave our personalities and egos out of this and just get the job done.”

Now there’s a truth Heather Post should take to heart.

It is time Ms. Post understands that she was elected to serve the community – exactly like the rest – and she puts her proverbial pants on just like they do.

And screw her doe-eyed idolatry for that doddering fool, Ed Kelley – the number of debacles flaring on his watch is becoming a public embarrassment.

If Councilwoman Post doesn’t have the personal resolve and moral courage to face down those pathetic political cowards and work for substantive change – then she should resign her high office and make way for someone who can.

I guess it’s the fact that I spent my entire adult life in law enforcement – or maybe I’m just God’s own misanthrope – but I am always suspicious of the underdog.

I know – most folks cheer for the little guy and love a good Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story.  Rooting for the perennial loser who finally gets a shot at the big time is the American Way.

Perhaps it’s an unfortunate side effect of working 31-years in a business where people lie to you all day, every day – and dropping your guard, even a little, can get you killed.

No.  I’m always skeptical of the “feel good” story – wary of the latest tear jerking on-line donation campaign – always telling myself there must be more to the story.

After all, I know in my heart that sooner rather than later the wheel will come off the cart, the “rest of the story” will emerge, and things will go tragically sideways.

Friends and family send me those hyper-emotional fairy tales on social media – a squirrel who becomes a hometown hero when he saves the residents from a fire, a wolf who nursed a child in the wild, or an improbable sports clip where a pint-size team from Lickskillet, Indiana overcomes all odds to win the championship.

I always screw-up my face and say, “Bullshit!  Didn’t happen.”

Then I rush off to Snopes to debunk the story so I can throw it back in the face of my 83-year old mother who had the temerity to try and boost my spirits by sharing a simple, uplifting tale of adversity overcome.

“Mom.  Maybe the old man was lonely because he’s an asshole and nobody wants to be around him.  Did you ever think of that?” 

“No, son.  I just thought it was nice that the community rallied around an elderly widower.  How could I have raised such a bitter human being?”

“Well, somethings up with that old bastard.  Trust me.”

That said, I’ll tell you what I can’t abide – bullying by government and the “rich and powerful” (the News-Journal’s descriptor, not mine) who use their incredible influence to push a self-serving corporate and personal agenda over the will of the people.

Look, I realize that most of the time I’m the ultimate loser/underdog – the small titmouse giving the finger to the powerful elephant – but some wrongs just can’t be ignored.

Why?  Because in my heart-of-hearts I know that despite the wants, needs and passion of the people – when government and big money interests intersect – the result is a foregone conclusion.

And, in my view, that’s wrong.

For instance, take the unfolding drama in Wild West Volusia which pits the small Victoria Park community near the interchange of I-4 and Orange Camp Road, against a well-heeled Deland Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler dealer intent on imposing his idea of economic progress.

Brendan Hurley and his I4 Automall, LLC, have big plans to build a mega “Auto Mall” on property abutting the neighborhood – which appears to be the latest craze in automobile sales – wherein five or six different dealerships all co-locate near a major interstate highway and peddle their wares to gridlocked commuters from a perch on the frontage road.

Mr. Hurley’s plans include automotive sales and service, and outparcels with gas pumps, retail space, restaurants, etc.

So, what’s the problem, Barker – dude wants to use his property for a car lot – what’s your beef?

The problem is that the people who live there – folks like you and me – have a vested interest in preserving their quality of life.

Besides, the property isn’t zoned for car lots – and the residents of Victoria Park – a “master planned development,” which generally means unique amenities and specific zoning regulations that enhance and protect the aesthetics and overall lifestyle of the community – are pissed.

And they should be.

When Victoria Park was developed and marketed, the adjoining land use zoning did not permit auto sales.

After all, I’m not sure anyone would have bought property in Victoria Park if the original Master Plan included the amenity of listening to an amplified loudspeaker screaming, “Service, Line Two!” – twelve to fourteen hours-a-day.  Everyday.

Earlier this year, over 250 residents packed into a standing room only meeting of the Volusia County Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission (a group whose effectiveness I’ll leave to your interpretation) expecting an opportunity to vehemently oppose the rezoning which would permit the giant car lot to be developed, literally in their backyards.

Screw the ‘Will of the People’ – Volusia County staff had already recommended approval.

In fact, of the 3,400 residential lots in Victoria Park, county staff only saw fit to send formal notice of the proposed rezoning – you know, an action that could usher in a sprawling 9.6 acre development with a lot of moving parts –  to just 14 “parties.”

Why?

Well, I suspect that was all they were legally required to do – and besides – why get the yokels riled up when it’s easier to follow county manager Jim Dinneen’s proven modus operandi of stealth and subterfuge when ramrodding controversial issues, eh?

According to a recent editorial in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Tough sell on automall,” it was reported that the panel cautiously, “…voted to delay a vote until June to allow the developer and the residents to work out their differences.” 

Actually, the matter was tabled for six-months at the request of Hurley’s high-priced mouthpiece, Mark Watts, an attorney with the venerable Cobb & Cole.

He made that request just one day before the previously noticed planning meeting.

Let’s face it, when you see the flames and pitchforks on the horizon, the best strategy is to fallback and re-package the steaming turd in a different box – camouflage it as anything other than a gigantic car lot.

 According to reports, Mr. Watts wanted the opportunity to hold “community meetings” and gently salve over the villagers concerns with extravagant promises and pretty pictures by renowned architects of just how charming a massive concentration of concrete and steel five-story automotive dealerships can be.

I can hear it now:

“Folks, trust us on this.  It’s called desensitization.  After a while, you just get used to the scream of air wrenches, the 24/7 glow of the giant LED lights, the toot-toot-toot of car haulers, and sales managers bellowing, “Spot that Durango under the lights!” Look here, we’ve got oodles of studies which show that in a few short years you won’t even know it’s there!”     

Yep.  Mr. Watts and that crack team of good hair and expensive suits at Cobb & Cole will make it sound almost pastoral.

Unfortunately, for the good people of Victoria Park, it will be anything but.

Ultimately, it will be like acquiescing and allowing the Jolly Green Giant to stay at your house until he gets back on his feet after the divorce.

He’ll sell you on it by saying, “Dude.  You’ll barely know I’m there.”

But once ol’ Jolly arrives, unpacks and gets comfortable – you’re going to find he takes up a LOT of room.  It’s just his nature.

And despite the smooth assurances, once a giant moves in, he’s damn near impossible to get rid of.  Trust me.

In my view, with a couple of glowing exceptions, communities in West Volusia are doing everything right.

They understand the intrinsic value of a quaint, Old Florida, small town feel – an atmosphere that many cities are struggling – and spending – to recapture.

With so much positive in play on the Westside, is this mega-development in the literal backyard of an established, up-scale community the highest and best use in the long term?

Does it contribute in a significant way to the quality of life for the majority of nearby citizens who have a vested interest in the value and prosperity of the area?  And what about the wasteland left on Woodland Boulevard when everybody up and moves to their new digs on I-4?

I don’t have the answers.

What I do know is that big money interests have a chip in the game – and you don’t – despite what those who stand to profit most might tell you.

Frankly, folks – this is one underdog I can get behind.  But it doesn’t look good.

They are going to need more than our cheers.

In my view, it’s high time we stand with the residents of Victoria Park and let our elected officials know that there is some shit we won’t eat.

Photo Credit:  Daytona Beach News-Journal