Barbara Revels, the Flagler County commissioner, was chiefly instrumental in reviving Carver Gym’s fortunes, and setting it on course toward a sustainable future as a youth and community center. She sums up what’s been achieved and where to go from here.
Flagler County Commission
County Property Values Fall Another 14%; Palm Coast: -12%; Tax Rates Heading Up
The declines, for the fourth year in a row, will define to what extent local governments must either raise taxes or cut services as they prepare next year’s budgets. Governments have little room to cut anymore, short of vitals services.
Auction On: Carver Foundation Leads Gym’s Rebirth As Revels Steers Ideas and Dollars
Carver Gym is back, brighter and shinier. But its future depends on sustained public support. An auction, immediately and electronically accessible to the public, is one of the ways the newly formed George Washington Carver Foundation hopes to tap into that support.
Flagler Power: From Bunnell By-Pass to Weigh Station to A1A Seawall, FDOT Retreats
Three times in the past 12 months, Florida Department of Transportation projects in Flagler County have foundered on the well-organized shoals of local opposition across government boundaries and fiefdoms.
Flagler Beach Against DOT’s Seawall: County Joins City’s Opposition, With Conditions
Flagler County doesn’t want a seawall in Flagler Beach either, but the county doesn’t want to lose $6 million in highway funding–earmarked for SR A1A’s protection–that it hopes to shift either toward a study or toward an alternative to the seawall.
Campaign Crumbs: Flagler Commissioner Nate McLaughlin Facing “Probable” Ethics Violation
The ethics complaint relates to an incomplete financial disclosure form McLaughlin filed during his campaign for the county commission last August. The complaint was filed by then0-incumbent Bob Abbott’s campaign manager, Ed Caroe.
Flagler Commissioners Endorse SunRail As Gov. Scott Prepares to Derail Commuter Line
SunRail would have connected DeBary and Tampa as a commuter rail line, which the Legislature approved in December 2009. Gov. Rick Scott is likely to kill the project by summer, ending Central Florida’s brief flirtation with alternative transportation.
Timely Boost: Feed Flagler Nets 2 Pantries $7,680, Enough to Buy 40 Tons of Food
The money is what’s left, after expenses, of Feed Flagler’s fund-raising that provided 2,000 free meals at 10 locations the day before Thanksgiving. It’s timely help as pantries begin to run dry.
Mystery Scarring Unsolved, Malacompra Trail Policing Is Turned Over to Biking Group
The Malacompra mountain bike trail, for years a somewhat anarchic free-for-all recently torn up by bikers, will now, in an unusual arrangement, be policed by a mountain biking group and supervised by county authorities in cooperation with Hammock conservationists.
Economic Development Set Punts Again to More Meetings, Postponing Hard Questions
The same five “strategic goals” were hashed over again in the third day of an economic development summit, and a fourth was scheduled in May, for yet another $7,000 for “facilitator” Don Upton, bringing his tax-funded total to $30,000.