GOP Sen. Jeff Brandes blames red-light cameras “as backdoor tax increases,” but the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday reasserted its commitment to its 43 cameras even as they siphon out more than $3 million a year from the local economy–in taxes to state government, and in revenue to ATS, the Arizona-based company that runs the system.
Palm Coast City Council
Palm Coast Quietly Plans Community Center Expansion For Bridge Club, Raising Questions
The Palm Coast Bridge Club and the Palm Coast city administration have agreed in principle on a plan that would have the bridge club writing a $250,000 check and the city building a facility it would lease to the Bridge Club as an expansion of the Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway.
Memo to Palm Coast Council: Don’t Let an Unelected Manager Dictate Democracy in the City
By letting Jim Landon’s feud with Supervisor of Elections Kim Weeks drag on at voters’ expense, the Palm Coast City Council is improperly letting its unelected city manager set early voting policy while reminding us why it bears a big share of the blame for sending election turnouts in Palm Coast tumbling to record lows for the past several cycles.
Palm Coast Tax Holds Even, But Council Tiring of Deficit-Ridden Golf and Tennis Operations
The Palm Coast golf course had a $50,000 deficit this year, the tennis center a $100,000 deficit, both covered by taxpayers, with more deficits expected ahead. Palm Coast City Council members are wearying of carrying both centers. But they’re not ready to end the subsidies, either.
Majority of Palm Coast Council Would Forego Early Voting Fees, But Weeks Hardens Over Space
The clash between Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks and Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon is not nearing resolution even as a majority of the city council would extend free use of a room at the community center for early voting, because Weeks is insisting on using a larger room, which the council won’t concede.
Supreme Court to Hear Red-Light Camera Challenge in Case That Will Affect Palm Coast
The $1.7 million Palm Cast reaped in red-light camera fines between 2008 and 2010 may be at stake if the Florida Supreme Court rules such systems illegal after it hears the much-anticipated case on Oct. 8, with ramifications for numerous cities and counties across the state.
Palm Coast’s Landon Digs In Heels Against Elections Supervisor “Demands” For Early Voting Arrangement
The Palm Coast City Council is backing City Manager Jim Landon’s decision to charge the elections supervisor for early voting use of the Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway, while the supervisor shows equal intransigeance as she refuses to accept a smaller room Landon is ready to make available for the 13 days of early voting at the center.
Battle of the Trees: Palm Coast Slams Lawsuit’s “Inaccuracies” By Citing Inaccuracies of Its Own
In an unusually long and defensive press release, Palm Coast counters an attempted injunction by Dennis McDonald–to stop the cutting of trees around Palm Harbor–by calling his claims “inaccurate” and “misleading,” even as the city itself makes flatly inaccurate claims about the age of trees it is about to remove, among other issues.
Elections Supervisor Wants to Expand Early Voting to Palm Coast Community Center. City’s Response: Pay Up
Even though Palm Coast City Council candidates will be on the ballot, the city is charging the Supervisor of Elections for use of the Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway as a second early voting location in the city, raising questions about cooperation from a city that has seen its voter turnouts fall drastically over the years.
Court Injunction Sought to Stop Palm Coast’s Tree Removal Around Palm Harbor Center
Calling Palm Coast’s tree removal illegal, resident Dennis McDonald filed an injunction in circuit court Thursday seeking to halt removals planned for road-widening and as part of a redevelopment of the Palm Harbor shopping center that may significantly alter the character of the area.