The Palm Coast City Council on Wednesday got warning from a developer that the city may soon face a lawsuit to make up for over $12 million in estimated losses from a council decision to limit a development to less than half the housing units applied for at the Cascades, the Seminole Woods development the council approved earlier this year. The applicant had asked for 850 housing units, including apartments. The council limited the development to 416.
Local Media
Touch-and-Go Noise Around Flagler County Airport: Residents Hear Facts, and Contempt
A group of residents surrounding the Flagler County airport in Palm Coast have for years complained about the constant stream of touch-and-go student flights, about noise, about pollution, and about the county’s own dismissive attitude toward them. On Monday, the group got more of the same, with at times overt contempt from Airport Director Roy Sieger.
Miller’s Ale House Preps Opening Aug. 5 Ahead of BJ’s Warehouse, With Luring Appetizer for First Guests
Miller’s Ale House is opening its 113th restaurant in Palm Coast on Aug. 5, in one of the five satellite businesses in front of BJ’s Wholesale Club, which opens a few weeks later. Miller’s Ale will host a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and offer recurring goodies to the first 100 guests that day.
10 Years and 520 Shows Later, Toby Tobin and WNZF Cross a Milestone of Real Estate Matters in Flagler
WNZF and Don Tobin, better known to Flagler County and the world as Toby Tobin, today marked the 10th anniversary and the 520th show of Tobin’s Real Estate Matters, on the air weekly since 2014. The occasion was marked with a cake, vodka, a mini-reunion of past co-hosts and the introduction of Tobin’s latest co-host, Annamaria Long, executive officer of the Flagler Home Builders Association.
Law Still Blurry as Supreme Court Punts on Florida’s Social Media Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated appeals court decisions involving Florida and Texas laws designed to restrict the power of social media companies to curb content that those platforms consider objectionable, sending Florida’s case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Texas case to the Fifth Circuit.
Flagler County’s Unemployment Rate Declines to 3.6%, But Growth in Working-Age Labor Force Stalls
Flagler County’s May unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.9 percent in April, as the rate continues to oscillate within the same narrow band it has for a year and a half. Previously steady growth in the labor force, however, has stalled. After rising earlier this year, it declined for the second month in a row, to 51,383, almost exactly where it stood a year ago. The labor force reflects working-age adults with families as opposed to children or retirees, who account for 60 percent of the county’s population.
Flagler County’s Beach Protection Tax: Right Idea. Wrong Execution.
The county has the right idea: we need a new tax to pay for expensive beach protection, or we’ll lose the beach. But the county’s execution is hurried, the plan is poorly thought-out, it is riddled with holes and inconsistencies, and it has included zero public participation and zero preparatory discussions with other governments. That’s a recipe for failure, deservedly so: the county is taking the public and its sister governments for granted, if not punting to the cities to do the heavy lifting.
Reporters Without Borders Condemns Wave of Arrests and Violence Against Journalists Covering Campus Protests
Four journalists have been arrested by police and four others attacked in the course of covering university campus protests in the past week. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this wave of arrests, criminal charges, and violence against journalists and urges law enforcement agencies and school administrators to protect and respect the rights of all journalists, including student media.
Veranda Bay Says It’s Ready to Annex Into Flagler Beach; Its 2,700 Future Homes Will Double City’s Size
Ken Belshe, who represents Veranda Bay, the planned 2700-home development along John Anderson Highway, told Flagler Beach’s city attorney in an email that voluntary annexation is a go. The city had been assiduously pursuing Veranda Bay to annex, amending its annexation ordinance to make it possible, courting Belshe with what amounted to a love letter, and with not a little bit of anticipatory drool, sharply increasing its development impact fees that would disproportionately be generated from Veranda Bay.
Tucker Carlson, Propaganda and Journalism
Tucker Carlson’s work provides an opportunity for public education in distinguishing between propaganda and journalism. Some Americans, primarily Carlson’s fans, will view the videos as accurate reportage. Others, primarily Carlson’s detractors, will reject them as mendacious propaganda.