Charles Rinek, president of the Flagler Home Builders Association, outlines the many reasons why Amendment 4 — the so-called “Hometown Democracy” amendment — will undermine the state’s economy and democratic process.
Economy
September Unemployment Almost Unchanged: 16.3% in Flagler, 11.9% in Florida
With 1.1 million people out of work, unemployment in Florida inched up by a decimal point, and down by a decimal point in Flagler. Some 11,100 jobs were lost in the state in September.
John Mica’s Politbureau: How the Chamber Endorses While Pretending Not to Endorse
Flagler County’s Whigs and wigged coupled and clapped at the Palm Coast Yacht Club as John Mica accepted tributes and dispensed charismatic prepositions on his way to a 10th term in Congress.
Health Care Deformed: Florida’s Incoming House Speaker Defies Federal Law
With no apparent authority from the Legislature or the courts, incoming Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon is aiming to scuttle state agencies’ enactment of federal health care reform laws and regulations.
Bold and Bolder: County Commission Bashes Landon and Coffey Over Annexation Proposal
County administrator Craig Coffey and City Manager Jim Landon worked out an annexation deal for the 55 acres to be filled by a National Guard center near the airport. That was news to the county commission.
In Palm Coast, Another Dud Turnout At School Tax Town Hall
School officials had thought (and feared) that the tea party throngs would turn up at Monday’s town hall on the proposed $0.25 mill school tax referendum. They didn’t. What those tea leaves say is not clear.
County Raises Bed Tax to 4%, a Victory for Milissa Holland’s Tourism Marketing Thrust
The higher tax, Milissa Holland argued, will broaden Flagler County’s marketing power, drawing more visitors and creating more jobs for local, small businesses.
The Live Wire, Oct. 18: Mica’s Night Terrors, the Davidsons’ Park and Tea Party Writ
The ex-News-Journal’s Davidsons get a pasturage, John Mica wants you to be scared of Heather Beaven, tea partiers think the Constitution is a biblical excerpt, and Facebook is betraying your privacy.
It’s Drescher’s Tower Now: Year-Long Quest Ends With Town’s Name in Its Place
The job was finished Sunday, but it took Stan Drescher, a newcomer to Flagler Beach, almost a year and perseverance through slamming doors to have the town’s water tower named after it.
Governing Divide: Nurses Are for Sink, Doctors Are for Scott, Voters Still on Mars
The GOP’s Rick Scott snubbed the Florida Nurses Association, Democrat Sink visited in person. For doctors, Scott would take a hatchet to malpractice lawsuits–doctors’ overriding wish.
Election Primer: Amendment 2 Loop-Holes a Tax Exemption for Soldiers in War Zones
Amendment 2 would give soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan (or future war zones) a property tax exemption but only if they own homesteaded property. The amendment is more controversial than you’d expect.
Superintendent Janet Valentine: Why You Should Vote For the .25 Mill School Tax Levy
School Superintendent Janet Valentine makes the case for the 25-cent-per-$1,000 property tax levy on November’s ballot, the continuation of a tax homeowners have been paying all along.
School Board Members Talking to Empty Benches at Town Halls on Tax Levy
School officials think most people have already made up their minds about Flagler’s .25 mills school tax levy. They just can’t tell which way they’ll vote.
Dry, Cool Creekside Festival Packs Them In Under the Pines, With Sunday To Go
In a matter of a few years (this is its sixth) the Creekside Festival has grown into the county’s largest attraction of its kind. It’s benefiting from good weather and more recognition this year.
Color and Provocation Surf Through Hollingsworth Gallery’s Latest Show
The new show features eight local artists whose sensibilities range from explorations of the darkest human impulses to the brightest harmonies, with creative chaos in between.
Losses Accelerating As Economy Drops 95,000 Jobs Overall; Private Sector Adds 64,000
Economists had expected a loss of only a few thousand jobs. The September figures, led by government job declines, are in line with a continuing trend downward in Florida.
The City of Palm Coast’s Problem With Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Not Regulation.
Lenny Grocki, a Palm Coast utilities employee, was told to go home and take off his pink steel-toed boots. When he switched to pink laces and pink socks, he was told he’d face disciplinary action for those, too.
Leery of Landowners and Litigation, Palm Coast Council Kills Latest Stormwater Proposal
Property owners of large and vacant lands objected to paying a stormwater drainage fee in exchange for no discernible benefit. The two-year old attempt to rewrite the ordinance continues.
Why You Won’t Have to Leave Your Foreclosed House (If You have a Good Lawyer)
Some banks are still insisting that their errors are minor and foreclosures will continue, but what they say publicly and do privately are two different things.
“They Don’t Give a Damn”: Flagler Beach Wants Pier Restaurant Owners Who Do
A consultant’s report was as if tailor-made for Raymond Barshay, owner of River Grille on the Tomoka in Ormond Beach, to take over and remake the dilapidated Flagler Beach Pier Restaurant.
Flagler Harvests Poverty Warriors To Stalk Rising Hunger and Its Stigmas
Jacksonville’s Second Harvest and a local coalition of social and business agencies want to reach thousands of Flagler residents who need help but aren’t seeking it for various reasons.
Defeated Without a Vote, Economic Tax Talk Shifts Back Uncertainly to the County
A sales tax increase to fund economic development may still be discussed, but its chances of being enacted any time soon are slim to none. Governments want to talk.
The Live Wire, Oct. 4: Sink, Scott and Shuttle Layoffs, Plus the Long Liberal List
Enterprise Flagler begs off, the book on Sink and Scott, space shuttle layoffs begin, your elections for sale, the end of foreclosure (for now), media mistrust, famous liberals, and more.
Palm Coast Hispanic Festival Ramps It Up From Puerto Rican Power to Colombian Folklore
The fourth annual Hispanic festival, held at Town Center over three days, aimed to exceed last year’s attendance of 10,000 despite an eventful weekend in Flagler County.
Flagler Beach’s Great Bed Race: The Nuttiness, The Bed-Hopping, The Photo Gallery
Flagler Beach’s second annual Great Bed Race featured 14 contesting beds with five contestants each, and plenty of bed hopping. The full photo gallery.
All Maya All the Time: How the Government Building in Bunnell Became Archeology Central
The four-day Maya at the Playa Conference at the county and school building gathered the leading experts in Maya archeology and history from nine countries and 29 states, drawing some 160 participants.
Remember: 3 pm Today, The Great Bed Race in Flagler Beach
The bed race will be preceded by a parade of the beds, all part of Flagler Beach’s fall celebration. The event raises money for Flagler County’s neediest children.
Palm Coast Data’s Invitation-Only Picnic: Hot Dogs, Flattery and Suspended Disbelief
Half Palm Coast and the county’s elected officials and top administrators were invited to Palm Coast Data’s picnic. The public wasn’t. That’s not the main problem.
“Economic Development” Tax Dies: Enterprise Flagler Wants It Removed from the Ballot
Enterprise Flagler will ask the county commission to ensure that the voting on the troubled tax not be counted. Plan B: a sales tax proposal.
Blogger and South Florida Health Care Firm Battle Over Workers Compensation Drug Costs
Automated HealthCare Solutions, a growing and politically powerful private firm in Miramar, is suing a solo blogger who accused the company of being part of a workers’ compensation system that benefits from “rampant greed.”
Census: Flagler’s Population Stalls at 91,600; 28% of Housing Units Vacant; Poverty Rising
The 2009 population figures mean that Flagler will almost certainly not cross into six-figure territory when decennial census figures are announced. Figures on housing, income, poverty and insurance were also released.
Income, Employment and Labor Data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 Census Bureau Community Survey
Detailed, charted table of the Census Bureau’s employment, income and labor data for Flagler County and Palm Coast, 2009 American Community Survey.
From Beirut to Bulldog Drive: Palm Coast’s Uncivil War Over Gus Ajram’s Property Rights
From escaping Lebanon’s civil war to building automotive businesses in New York and Edgewater, Gus Ajram never expected his biggest battle to be over his property rights in Palm Coast.
Palm Coast Consistently Beating Florida As Taxable Sales Indicators Continue to Improve
Tourism and retail sales, and fewer people traveling elsewhere to buy goods, are keeping Palm Coast’s taxable sales among the most-improved in the state, compared with 2009.
Palm Coast Redraws Its Stormwater Tax, Benefiting Some Big Landowners
Vacant properties of 25 acres or more will pay less than considerably less than the $8 a month stormwater tax assessed on the typical residential property in Palm Coast.
The Live Wire, Sept. 28: War Crimes, Pill Mills, Confederates and God
US soldiers as murderers, Florida pill mills poisoning the South, Bertrand Russell on God, tales from Fatland, folding up the Confederacy, and more.
Daytona Postmark Vanishing, Postal Service Says Palm Coast Deliveries Won’t Slow
To save $5.7 million and cut 109 jobs, the USPS is planning to close the Daytona Beach mail processing facility, where most of Palm Coast and Flagler’s mail goes, and merge it with Lake Mary, doubling the distance the mail will travel.
Backgrounder: Why the U.S. Postal Service Is In Trouble
All the facts, figures and projections about the US Postal Services financial troubles and means of escaping them as the USPS prepares to consolidate its Daytona Beach processing facility with Lake Mary’s.
County’s $3.5 Million Gamble on Pellicer Flats Raids Credibility of Land Program
Tobin, an expert on the Ginn Co.’s shredding history in the county, outlines three reasons why the county commission’s $3.5 million Pellicer Flats land buy was risky, reckless gamble.
From “Wall Street” to Sequel, a Sentimental Oliver Stone Manages a Ménage à Trois
Oliver Stone’s new “Wall Street” is worth the ride, but it’s less caffeinated than the original, and Stone gives in to sentimentalism and nostalgia where polemic serves him better.
Existing Home Sales Edge Up 5.2% in South, But Still at 15-Year Low
Existing home sales rebounded as expected from a severe plunge in July, but not by much, and the large housing supply will keep prices falling.
Inaccurately and Incoherently, Fischer Opposes School Tax Measure; Sword Favors It
The two school board candidates differ sharply in their awareness and understanding of a proposed school tax referendum on the November 2 ballot, with Fischer calling himself “confused” about it.
The Other Tax Referendum: School District Battles Misperceptions to Preserve Levy
What looks like a new school tax on the Nov. 2 ballot is, in fact, the continuation of a tax property owners have been paying all along. The school district still has a battle on its hand to convince voters.
Pastor Jim Raley to Strip Club: Not In Our Midst
“Cheaters”‘ presence would be “a moral and ethical blow” to the region and should not be allowed to prosper locally, argues Jim Raley, senior pastor at Calvary Christian Center in Ormond Beach.
Enterprise Flagler’s Tax-and-Build Plan Bombs as Tea Party Wags a Big No
Not unexpectedly, a tea party crowd of about 250 clearly rejected the proposal, appearing on November’s ballot, to raise taxes to build industrial structures in hopes of getting new jobs.
Palm Coast Will Condemn Private Properties, Muscling Through Bulldog Drive Beautification
Invoking eminent domain is Palm Coast’s latest plan of attack against an immigrant business owner who refuses to sell his parcels at the city’s price.
City OKs Hospital Growth—and Exceptions to Height, Density But Not Sign Rules
In risky allowances by the Palm Coast City Council, Florida Hospital Flagler got almost everything it asked for, opening the way for other businesses to demand the same sort of land-use exceptions.
The Live Wire, September 21: You Call This a Recovery?
False economic recovery, changing the rules of comp plan amendments, dead voters still active in Florida, how Florida wasted taxdollars in the stock-market, and more.
Town Center CRA: How Palm Coast Invented “Blightness” to Capture and Hoard Tax Revenue
In 2004, Palm Coast declared 3,000 acres of scrub and pine forest “blighted” and in need of “redevelopment.” The Town Center “Community Redevelopment Agency” was born.
Joining Palm Coast, County Administration Disputes Arts Foundation’s Conference Center
The tourism council recommends spending up to $50,000 on a marketing study for the center. The county administration disagrees. It’ll be up to county commissioners to decide Monday evening.