At a modest memorial and celebration of the late Jon Netts in March it became clear, as speaker after speaker spoke of what he’d done for Palm Coast–and what his successor had only improved on–that the city’s future would face forking paths, but not until 2024. Holland’s resignation just moved that up to July 27.
Holland says it’s a family matter. She has a long record of anguish to prove it. But it’s precisely that record that makes me think it’s not the whole story. Not when she heroically managed to meet her responsibilities at the city, at her job and at her coma-induced daughter’s side for months in South Florida in 2019. She navigated nightmares, facing what a parent should never face and contending with a byzantine health care system. She still pulled off a series of achievements for the city neither of her predecessors could claim.
She’s done this once before–she resigned her County Commission seat two years into her second term, but to run for a Florida House seat, very nearly beating Travis Hutson. Holland doesn’t just walk away. The cynical in me fears something else is afoot.
There’s also the obvious. Holland faced what can only be characterized as assaults on the dais, and not just the shock of that meeting earlier this month that put the whole council in fear. It’s been a parade of boors at meetings since their post-lockdown resumption at the city and to some extent at the county. Some of our own elected officials–Victor Barbosa, Joe Mullins–are fueling the vileness. It’s been targeting Holland since last year. And there’s no question that Alan Lowe, who ran his very nearly successful campaign against Holland last November, did so on similar innuendoes, slanders and outright falsehoods that never got corrected. There was no absence of malice. Maybe the wonder isn’t why Holland resigned, but why she waited this long.
The way Palm Coast and county governments have gone, with goons in elected seats and zealots for audiences, it’s amazing to realize that Bunnell and Flagler Beach governments are now the county’s poles of civility, with a circus in between. The 67-day election we face for mayor promises to give the circus its third ring.
Because of the council’s frayed make-up–a loose canon, an ideologue and two conservatives in the strictest sense of the term: they want to conserve Palm Coast as we know it–the new mayor will play an oversize role in setting the city’s direction, just as Holland did. So it can go either way.
Realtor David Alfin has all the goods to be a mayor in the Netts tradition and still be his own man: intelligence, thick resume, copious civic involvements, current leadership of the Flagler County Education Foundation (the non-profit arm of the school district that gilds anyone who gets involved, its president especially). But there was that hesitant run for the council seat Barbosa took in a special election last August. Alfin got almost 21 percent of the vote in a four-way race, barely more than Dennis McDonald, which doesn’t say much for his campaign. Barbosa easily out-hustled him. Still: he lost to Victor Barbosa, a nobody then, a less than zero now. Maybe the result would have been different had Democrats rallied behind him instead of running their own Alfin-like candidate (in Bob Coffman). Alfin assumed too much, coming off more scripted than seasoned, and too rehearsed. Intelligence doesn’t win elections. Inspiration does. He also never addressed existing residents’ nervousness about growth, or about voting for realtors in high-growth periods, other than to sound like a booster for more growth–which isn’t what voters want to hear.
He is, however, a changed man. He couldn’t have gone through what he did last year and not be (see below). I sensed that in a couple of recent conversations, the first one before Holland’s announcement. I’d called him again less than a week ago after getting his text that he’d be running for the mayor’s seat. He’d texted at 6 a.m. I called him right away. It wasn’t too early. He told me he’d been shoveling horse shit since 4:40 a.m., as he does daily (he and his wife keep eight horses). Keeps him grounded, he said. It’s the kind of unscripted Alfin I much preferred to hear. He exists. The question is whether he can convey that to the electorate, as he did not last year. And the worst thing he could do now is to assume again that people should vote for him blindly, given the opposition.
Based on last November’s result, Lowe appears to be the frontrunner. But he starts at a disadvantage, at least compared to last year. First, he ran an emotional, impulsive campaign last year tailored to the emotional, impulsive one-off Trump voter. He’ll still have those voters this time, but not nearly as many. Off-year and special elections draw on a harder-core, more involved, more demanding voter. (Turnout was so low in the 2011 mayoral election–11 percent–that Netts ended up winning with what amounted to a little over 5 percent of the registered vote.)
Second, Lowe won’t have Holland–or anyone–as punching bag. Alfin is just coming off a memorial ceremony where his son, an FBI special agent murdered last year as he served a warrant in South Florida, was honored alongside other fallen officers. If Lowe tries anything tawdry against Alfin, it’ll only stain Lowe, badly and deservedly. That will force him to come up with fewer libels (“the city is corrupt”) and more substance. He hasn’t shown substance or a familiarity with facts to be a strength so far, letting the apocalyptic rhetoric dominate his previous run. It’s not for nothing that the Observer’s Brian McMillan asked him on WNZF last Friday, alluding to the recent intemperance at council: “Are you more likely to be someone who could fuel some of that kind of contention?” Lowe handled the question deftly, as he usually does in a non-ideological setting: he’s poised, likable, measured. He can come across as serious and sincere. You want to believe this guy with the wizened beard and humanitarian streak.
But he’s going to have to convince us that what we see is what we get, considering the unseemliness of what we also learned last year–the thefts of intellectual property, the easy slanders, the scorched-earth promises if he gained office, and of course the “sovereign citizen” period, which is no small matter even by way of youthful indiscretions: signed and documented treason wrapped in religious zealotry isn’t mere indiscretion–especially when running against the father of a fallen hero. In an ordinary election in an ordinary society, it’s an immediate disqualifier. Of course, there’s been nothing ordinary about our politics anymore. The outrageous is just another way to build a brand.
Lowe calls himself a “conservative.” But when I hear Councilman Ed Danko say “I need Alan Lowe,” I hear the guillotine’s blade getting sharpened. Danko wouldn’t need anyone if he saw eye to eye with Nick Klufas and Eddie Branquinho. There’s nothing wrong with that. We need diversity of ideas on local boards, not just of skins and ethnicities (lost cause though that is in our whitening red county). Of course Klufas and Branquinho represent Palm Coast as it is, as we’ve known it in Holland’s years: they’re the actual conservatives, and they’re glumming onto David Alfin to be the third in line after Netts and Holland. Danko and Lowe are the radicals. They want a change in course.
Not that they haven’t fair points: the city’s ban on commercial-vehicle signage in residential driveways is absurd–Palm Coast isn’t an homeowner association–and the tennis center expansion is a bit more Versailles than Town Center-worthy, to say nothing of the way it was slammed through. There was arrogance and defensiveness there, not community consensus and transparency. But beyond that, Lowe and Danko seem more intent on countering than constructing, as when Danko dogmatically says, reading the first Bush lips, “no new taxes,” a meaningless appeal to outworn ideological base instincts, not to governance. Meanwhile Democrats may be running around trying to throw candidates like spaghetti on the wall, hoping one of them will catch on. They’re delusional and short-sighted, considering what happened in the Barbosa election, and especially in what ought to be a non-partisan election.
Sure nobody buys the non-partisanship. But that was one of Holland’s secrets. She did not govern as a Democrat or a Republican. She found ideology distasteful and meaningless locally. That’s what made her effective. And if there’s one thing ripping the heart out of local government and letting primitive instincts take over, it’s ideology. The July election may come down to this: do you want governance, or do you want ideology? You’ll certainly have a choice, and it’ll define Palm Coast’s future.
Luckily, neither Alfin nor Lowe sounded ideological when they appeared jointly on WNZF’s Free For All Fridays last week. They sounded more alike than dissimilar. The mere fact that they appeared together was itself encouraging: this election may get serious for the right reasons after all. They talked issues, respectfully and interestingly. Ideology may get kicked to the side. The question is whether what we see is what we’ll get. Lowe last year revealed himself differently in different mediums. He’d be Jekyll on a forum or in person only to go Hyde on Facebook. Alfin was not visible enough behind his ivy. Friday’s template could be their model. It was no Lincoln-Douglas debate, but it was real. Here’s to more of that reality and less, much less Facebook.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. Reach him by email here. A version of this piece aired on WNZF.
Peaches McGee says
Sigh…
Instead of progressing into the next century, Palm Coast will take the path of Bunnell and regress another 20 years.
If you think that Palm Coast’s state of affairs are bad now, just wait.
James M. Mejuto says
I have many regrets that a major party will not represent the people of Palm Coast. As usual
our community is controlled by one party. Our failure to come up with a candidate tells a
lot how we have devolved into a non-representative gov’t.
Whites, blacks, Asians and others have to gather round to replace all the Republicans who are
now contaminating our community.
James M.Mejuto
Paul Pritchard says
Thank you for the excellent analysis of the two candidates. It will be useful to see some side-by-side response from the two and others to key questions.
America needs more articulate expressions of journalism
Paul Pritchard
Pogo says
@Rename pc trumpville
Truth in advertising — (advertising) pc’s only product.
“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. …
“It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. … Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Fredrick says
“nearly successful campaign against Holland last November, did so on similar innuendoes, slanders and outright falsehoods that never got corrected”…. Since when is that a rule in politics? You have heard comments from our illustrious (yes sarcasm) VP when asked about her comments during the campaign about our even more illustrious (yes, even more sarcasm) President. If politicians had to go back and correct all the lies they made during their campaigns their term would be up before they finished.
Had enough of the lies says
Really? After the thousands of lies and broken promises by the previous administration? I don’t recall the VP or the President promising a healthcare plan, 6% GDP, or saying they would balance the budget or pay down the national debt or fix the immigration problem or negotiate lower prescription drug prices…do I really need to go on with the list?
Steve says
Mexico will pay for the Wall right?? Tariff Wars are easy to win, right? Rounding the Corner on C19, It will disappear correct??? Its only seven mo9re Years get over it
Steve says
Never has PC needed Governance more in all my experience with that County. Ideology is like talk and its cheap.You nailed that Pierre. I couldnt consider Lowe for a second even with what little information I am Privy to. Good Luck Vote Accordingly.
Edith Campins says
Although I usually agree with Mr. Tristam on most things, his comment about the ban on commercial vehicles on driveways comes as an unpleasant shock. No, I don’t want Pizza delivery vehicles, plumbing vans or any other kind of commercial vehicle in myneighborhood. I did my due diligence before purchasing a home here and although it is not a homeowners association there is a lot to be said for restritions that ensure neighborhoods remain just that, neighborhoods, not commercial parking lots.
BillyBatts says
Can’t afford a gated community, thinks work vehicles are offensive. Desires to live in a safe space bubble but doesn’t want to pay for it. Typical Democrat.
Mary Fusco says
Thank you Billy Batts. My daughter lives in a gated community in Jax. It sits right on the St. John’s River and homes start at around $1 million. Amazingly, there are work vehicles in driveways. People actually own businesses in order to be able to afford these homes. She just sold her home for $975,000 because the kids are grown and they no longer need 5,000 square feet of space. Those that think that PC is elite are going to be surprised because it is on the way to being a ghetto and it is NOT because of work vehicles.
DennisC Rathsam says
Sorry Pierre, but I must disagree. I think the way this city got this way was long before Ms Holland, but she helped grow this place out of control… Houses are poping up like mushrooms, after a summer rain, our streets cant accomidate all this new influx of people and thier cars.Traffics a nightmare and it gets worse every day. We need a mayor with with the wisdom to put a hault to this out of control growth. Until we a solve the movement of the currant amount people living here now! STOP THE GREED, Inhance our quality of life, we seniors are the ones to suffer the most with all this traffic.
Steve says
Folks own the lots or property are free to sell the Deed and do what they shall with it within Building Code. NOT gonna happen
Lowe Lies says
Does anyone in Palm Coast love America? Respect those who have served ?
How about the men and women who have fought for this great nation ? Even made the ultimate sacrifice?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then vote for anybody not name Alan “Sovereign Citizen” Lowe. He declared bankruptcy, how is he expected to lead our city into the future ?
He went on the recorded claiming the FBI was investigating Mayor Holland.
He is full of shit !
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Is it too late for anyone else to file for the Mayor’s seat? I sure hope not. Unfortunately this article kind of gives the impression that the qualifying door is just about slammed shut….not very encouraging for anyone else to have the guts to throw their hat into the ring.. Just my thoughts.
Concerned Voter says
Check their financial and criminal backgrounds for liens, bankruptcies and criminal charges
Ramone says
Pierre,
I doubt Holland’s resignation is related, but I’d love to see you do a piece on this secret list put together by Morton’s administration. Tax paying citizens that get placed on a list with no due process. This is scary stuff.
Pierre Tristam says
It is, and Frank Fernandez at the News-Journal did an excellent job exposing it. The caveats: private companies have been doing this for years, and police agencies keep similar notes tied to dangerous individuals. There’s no question that the list, which I acquired, points to a virulence against government employees that can’t be ignored. One of the city’s errors is to have never disclosed to individuals or the community at large that the list exists. Another, very grave, is to have linked addresses to names, which should never be on there. An address can be tagged with something like “use caution,” but to make a mini-dossier about named individual residents, turning incidents into hectoring biographies, stinks of Stasi instincts.
Mary Fusco says
Thank you Mr. Tristam. What a mess this once lovely City is becoming with a bunch of goons governing it. So sad. I wonder if people busting to move here would do so if they knew what was really going on.
Ramone says
I agree. I’ve worked in local government for many years and I understand wanting to make sure governmental employees are safe. At the same time, you can’t defame citizens without giving them notice. Each person placed on this list should have been notified. They should have been given an administrative remedy to appeal the decision that caused them to be placed on this list. They should be entitled to face their accusers in an appellate hearing where they could be cross examined. They also should be a path for getting removed from the list. I agree Mr. Fernandez did an excellent job exposing this. At the same time, I think there’s much more to the story and would have loved to see your talents applied to this story. Thanks Pierre.