Thanksgiving is behind us as we continue forging ahead in this downtrodden economy. One of the painful lessons we have learned from Washington is that government can't buy its way out of this mess. The same holds true at the state, county and local levels of government.
Here in New Smyrna Beach, our mayor, Adam Barringer, boasts of his economic development successes. Of not handing out raises and having among the lowest tax rates in the county. But the mayor can't offer up one private-sector job created in his two-plus years in office.
His CRA director, Tony Otte, received a $10,000 increase in his pay for the added title of economic development director. The tax rate is the result of reducing payroll, but not at the top end and because of huge surpluses built up before the economy went south.
The much-hyped Hampton Inn project that community and business leaders were so desperate to have approved, is nothing more than a barren sand lot with butchered trees, surrounded by a chain link fence covered with ugly black tarp. The mayor gave an impassioned rally speech at the opening of the Walmart supercenter, blaming the state for its delayed opening of six months when it was two of his high-priced city planners who sat on as many as 40 large- and small-scale projects.
The city's nearly century-old weekly newspaper left Canal for Flagler and then in April, the city altogether, for the owners' home in Edgewater. The paper stopped publishing two weeks ago, having received thousands of dollars in advertising directly or indirectly over the past three-plus years since they purchased it. Now the Edgewater residence, that was the new home of the Observer, and owned by Michele and Robert Lott is in foreclosure.
The Lotts are also being sued by an 82-year-old widow who claims they defrauded her of $60,000. Robert Lott is a former president of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce and past member of the Southeast Volusia Hospital Board. Lott and his wife are represented in the fraud-allegation suit by current chamber President Kenneth Bohannon, who also is a member of the city planning board.
The mayor was highlighted on the front page of the Observer last month in a banner photo showing him raising clenched fists in the air like he was Rocky Balboa because a couple of dilapidated buildings on the beachside had finally been torn down.
Barringer, however, stopped talking to NSBNews.net in late September, having pulled his advertising for his restaurant and construction company as well as his occasional blog. The mayor has been silent on a $20,000 grant that CRA Commission member Chad Schilsky had received for his own restaurant with the mayor's construction company hired by Schilsky as a contractor to be paid from that grant. But earlier this month, that grant was rescinded.
Schilsky initially complained to NSBNews.net that the grant was taken from him. The CRA's Otte countered Schilsky rescinded by submitting a letter with his signature. Schilsky then explained to NSBNews.net that he didn't even write the letter addressed to Otte, but was asked to sign it which he did. And there's another issue, other CRA commissioners, past and present, have received CRA grants, though none involving the mayor. Now nobody is talking.
And speaking of the silent treatment, a beachside resident, Deb Dugas, expressed her concerns at the last city commission meeting about bar patrons on Flagler Avenue drinking on the public sidewalks during the CRA-financed "Halloween Creepy Crawl." While she was speaking, Elaine Stathakis, head of the Flagler hospitality group covered her face when we pointed our video camera at her. Oh, and by the way, neither the mayor nor the other officials on the dais responded to Dugas' complaint.
But tonight, the mayor will light the CRA-financed artificial Christmas tree on Canal to "spark the spirit" there with even more CRA financing to pay for it, while the new Walmart on the outskirts of the city will be packed with shoppers as it has been every day since it opened. The CRA holiday money train will continue on Flagler with a year-end street party, including fireworks and 300 reindeer T-shirts.
NSBNews.net, the only actual newspaper of any kind left in the city, will cover all of these events as has been typical since our April 2007 launch. So how much have we received in advertising from the city or its CRA to "promote" its community events? Nothing not one cent.
Even after three city commissioners pleaded with a representative of the hospitality group on Flagler to include local media when they voted unanimously as a group to give them $64,000 in CRA funding.
And since that meeting, nothing has changed.
And as for the chamber headed by Bohannon, its board rejected NSBNews.net's offer of a media sponsorship to bring us in line with what's left of area media. This was our second rejection since April, the latter coming after we renewed our annual membership for $225.
The chamber rejection letter stated in part: "The mission of the organization (NSBNews.net) does not match the mission of the Chamber of Commerce." However, the Observer, whose owners are being sued on allegations of defrauding an 80-year-old widow out of tens of thousands of dollars, has a media sponsorship with the chamber. It gets better.
The CRA spent even more money purchasing a billboard on I-95 for its "loop" branding. The contract was done with an out-of-town billboard company. Handling the contract for that company was Bohannon's wife. When NSBNews.net questioned it with the city commission, we got a terse response from Vice Mayor Judy Reiker, saying this is a small town.
Having seen that our queries were CC'd to all of the elected officials, Reiker responded in an e-mail as follows: It appears you enjoy a good fight and that's seems to be what you are after. Can't support it and tired of it. Not very encouraging either to glean advertising. You don't "deserve", Henry, you "earn". Out until monday. J Reiker At least she responded. The other elected officials stayed silent.
Since that Sept. 27 commission meeting, NSBNews.net has had to deal with its advertisers being contacted by a CRA consultant paid to write press releases about reconsidering doing business with us. And neither the city nor Otte will explain to us its guidelines which have private groups receiving CRA funds to give to whatever media outlets they like; primarily over the last two years to an out-of-town radio station group that earlier this year emerged from bankruptcy proceedings, and of course, the now-defunct Observer, which matches its mission. But Otte did ask us for our analytics last week saying there might be opportunities to advertise its meetings.
Neither he nor anyone in the city asked the Observer for verification of its readership. We sent them to Otte. But what the CRA and the city have to understand, which the chamber executives fail to understand is our mission is to report the news. The chamber's analytics show less than 10 unique visitors a day. We average more than a thousand and we have the largest network in Volusia County on Facebook with more than 10,000 contacts.
Maybe the billboard the CRA put money into will turn prove to be its nirvana, much like the justification for the artificial Christmas tree was described to us two years ago by the city manager when it was purchased as an economic generator for the merchants. In the meantime, though, the CRA has benefited from "stories" on the loop in two out-of town print media outlets, which quoted Adelle Aletti, of the Flagler merchants, and Cindy Jones, of the Canal Street Historic District merchants.
After all, these two print mediums, like the former Observer, receive CRA funding from these community associations. The Daytona Beach News-Journal has a story on the loop in today's online edition, along with advertising for "Christmas on Canal.". NSBNews.net will outline the intricacies of the CRA in a series of investigative stories called "Show Me the Money."
Our stories will not only define the issues outlined in this blog, but also tens of thousands of dollars in CRA expenditures without receipts to support those taxpayer monies being paid out. NSBNews.net has covered virtually every public event in New Smyrna Beach in the past three-plus years and will be there tonight for yet another tree-lighting within the CRA's new branding that is the loop.