Republicans Ritchey, Hukill, Escudero, Santiago and Davis racing hard for checkered flag
Headline Surfer graphic / Former Daytona Beach Mayor Glenn Ritchey, State Senator Dorothy Hukill, former Volusia County Republican Executive Commitee Chair Stan Escudero of Daytona Beach Shores, State Rep. David Santiago of Deltona and Volusia County Chair Jason Davis of Edgewater, have two major common denominators: They are Republicans and they're leading the political charge to help secure passage of state legislation for a 21st-century Daytona International Speedway. DIS' parent company would invest $250 milliuon before the state would allow for $2 million a year in sales tax reductions for 30 years, and making for a modernized facility.
"This could very well be the biggest and most important economic development project in the history of Volusia County," Ritchey said without hesitation.
You won't get an argument from Daytona Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce Chair Phil Maroney who can't say enough about the adrenaline boost the speedway has provided for public and private business sectors over the past five-plus decades.
This is big, really big," Maroney said after the press conference where Chitwood held court before 300 journalists.
You won't get an argument from Daytona Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce Chair Phil Maroney who can't say enough about the adrenaline boost the speedway has provided for public and private business sectors over the past five-plus decades: "This is big, really big," Maroney said after the press conference."
And not to be outdone, Volusia County Chair Jason Davis, new to politics with his big win in November, doesn't hesitate in identifying the speedway and the World's Most Famous Beach as the two economic engines that without question drive our economy.
And look at the significance of which political party is out front in driving the proposed Florida legislation that would give the speedway $2 million a year in sales tax rebates for 30 years once International Speedway Corp. puts its money where its mouth is and plunks down the $250 million for a state-of-the-art 21st century facility?
Ritchey and Davis are Republicans. The house bill sponsor is rookie State Rep. David Santiago of Deltona and State Sen. Dorothy Hukill, of Port Orange, Again, Republicans. And while Ritchey is no longer running city hall, he's quite visible. In fact, he was at the speedway when the project plans were officially uneiled on the eve of the Daytona 500 by Joie Chitwood, president of Daytona International Speedway.
And look who drove all the way up to Tallahassee earlier this month to testify in favor of the speedway legislation? Stan Escudero, the 2012 chairman of the executive committee for the Republican Party of Volusia County.
And as you'll see here on Headline Surfer, Dana Dougherty Swanson of DeBary, a state Republican committee alternate for Volusia County, has followed Escudero in writing her viewpoint on the importance of the speedway.
And as you'll see in our lead local story on this Sunday night, perhaps overnight or early Monday, you'll see from our story that 2013 Daytona 500 champion Jimmie Johnson is going to Tallahassee Tuesday morning not just because he won "The Great American Race," that had Danica Patrick on the pole, but because of this modernization of the speedway.
While politicians and business leaders in this feudalistic political landscape that exists in Volusia County bicker about who controls advertising authority money and the Ocean Center, whether two towering hotel complexes by Russians will really make a difference, and how municipal officials will try to con the county into keeping their CRA public drinking festivals, the real lifeline for greater Daytona Beach is the speedway.
Period. End of story.