Ormond Beach Observer
Opinion

Explanation of Granada Pointe was right on

Dear Editor:

What do chamber of commerce members think?

The Government Affairs Committee, formed in September 2017 at the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce, recently conducted a survey among chamber members. Chamber President and CEO Debbie Cotton said the results show that although there are “slight concerns” about traffic on Granada Boulevard, the city is business friendly and growing in a responsible way.

”I feel we are fortunate that businesses want to invest, expand or open in Ormond Beach,” she said.

With 86 members responding to most questions, here are the results of the poll:

1. Ormond Beach has been growing in a responsible way.

76.7% agree

15.1% disagree

8.1% no opinion

2. Ormond Beach is a business-friendly community.

88.4% agree

2.3% disagree

9.3% no opinion

3. OB Life series is an effective way to improve communication with residents.

58.3% agree

4.8% disagree

36.9% no opinion

4. Amendment 1

34.5% support

65.5% oppose

5. Amendment 2

73.2% support

26.8% oppose

6. Amendment 3

59.3% support

40.7% oppose

7. Amendment 5

69.1% support

30.9% oppose

Your opinion page in the Oct. 18 edition of the Ormond Beach Observer struck all the right notes. You explained both sides of the CANDO argument in detail and why the City Commission did the right thing in approving Granada Pointe. In addition you went beyond borders to endorse highly qualified candidates for national offices. Great work.

Ed Connor

Ormond Beach

Why no campaign signs on Granada Pointe?

Dear Editor:

Open letter to Ormond Beach City Commission incumbents and Mrs. Susan Persis: Why no campaign signs on your pride and joy Granada Pointe, the clear-cut monument to your successful administration? A very prominent visual location, as we all know.

Ashamed, guilty afraid? So, let's hear it — always vocal on every other inconsequential facet of the OB Life.

Mike Young

Ormond Beach

Those in power need to repent

Dear Editor:

This time around it is very different. There are qualified challengers for each of the City Commission seats.

For those of you just starting out, pay heed. For those of you currently in power, it is time to repent (and we all know who you are).

You must take care who you step on as you ascend the so-called political ladder of success. It is a long way down, and you never recover your stature in the political arena.

Ed Kolaska

Ormond Beach

Get to know Mayor Bill Partington

Dear Editor:

Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington once told me, “Being the mayor of this city is the best job in show business.” With all the challenges and opportunities he “juggles,” he finds personal and professional fulfillment in his mayoral position.

Pay attention to who's on the attack

Dear Editor:

I wrote an opinion article that was published by the Ormond Beach Observer on Oct. 11. It was intended to be a positive reflection on my experience with the city. It touted Ormond Beach’s great quality of life. Based on my personal knowledge of the incumbents, I endorsed them.

Based on her letter to the editor, Ms. Sandy Kauffman either misread my opinion article or has distorted the facts.

On Oct. 11, I said, "I do not know nor have I been involved with any of the people running against my fellow commissioners. They have not been on the city commission, have not served on city advisory boards nor were they or are they active in civic organizations and youth sports organizations to which I have belonged.”

I have belonged to many organizations during my 32 years in Ormond Beach. Until she filed to run, I had never met Ms. Kauffman. I have no knowledge of what she has done with other civic organizations. I only know that I have never worked with her in any of those to which I have belonged. She may be a great volunteer. She just hasn’t been a great volunteer in the organizations of which I am familiar.

If Ms. Kauffman knew anything about me, she would have learned that I was awarded the Volusia League of Cities Citizen of the Year Award in 2008 in recognition of my decades of commitment to volunteering. I have thousands of hours working with hundreds of volunteers, none of whom were Ms. Kauffman.

If she uses an article that doesn’t mention her to launch an all out attack on someone who has never individually attacked her, what does that say about the type of person she would be on the City Commission? Consider that fact when you go to vote.

Rick Boehm

Ormond Beach City Commission

One major opportunity that Mr. Partington continually promotes is maintaining a policy of “smart growth” for Ormond Beach, “so that Ormond Beach retains its unique 'Southern moderate' pristine and people-friendly ambience and not become another blight-ridden, overcrowded South Florida,” he said. He pointed to Ormond Beach's gradualism in growth, diversified local economy “without the overdependence on the feast-and-famine tourism of surrounding cities,” and the town having one of the lowest tax rates in the 16 cities comprising Volusia County.

As a civic leader and environmental protectionist, Mayor Partington has helped push creation of the Ormond Beach Environmental Discovery Center, as well as water quality improvements and flood control facilities via interconnection of the Central Park Lake System.

In civic and community affairs, he has, among other honors, won the Home Rule Hero Award twice in a row (2015 and 2016) while serving as city commissioner from 2003 to 2016, and he is a regular participant in the Teacher of the Quarter award program sponsored by the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce.

A major motivating factor in Mayor Partington's determination to maintain and preserve Ormond Beach's unique quality of life is that he is a third-generation resident of the city (his grandfather moved here in 1948 and opened the downtown ACE Hardware Store) and wants to pass the same quality of life to the fourth generation of the Partington clan.

As a longtime Halifax area resident and former Ormond Beach resident (my first newspaper job was with the old Halifax Reporter in the 1970s), it is my hope that, come Election Day, the people of Ormond Beach retain Bill Partington.

Emmet Kelley

Ormond Beach

Vote for environmentally conscious candidates

Dear Editor:

How could it be, the devastation that has already taken place all over the planet, that we could let acres of trees be destroyed?

How could it be that we ourselves can turn on ourselves in a time when we already know what is happening to our wetlands, to our seafood industry, regardless of how people want to frame it?

Time for us to wake up from the dream of childhood, and take care of ourselves. Don’t complain and act like victims, and expect “them” to do it.

Wake up! Before there are no bees left, no oysters to harvest, and the oceans and rivers can’t be cleared of our plastics and poisonous run-off.

It is time to wake up and go to the polls for what you love.

I live in Zone 2 and am voting for Joe Dugan, and I’m supporting my good friend, Kathy Johnson in Zone 1 for city commissioners, both backed by the Sierra Club. Vote! Vote for the candidates in your zone who are environmentally conscious, Sandy Kauffman in Zone 3, Barry du Moulin in Zone 4, and Rob Bridger for mayor.

Linda Williams

Ormond Beach

Rules for development can be adapted

Dear Editor:

Much has been written about the undisputed value of urban public forests. Not much literature is written about the destruction of over-mature, declining, rotting and otherwise deteriorating trees.

The planners and elected officials who encourage development of public land with well-designed and maintained wooded sanctuaries and the cities who hire landscape architects and urban arborists are to be commended. There is a lot to maintaining healthy trees — disease and insect control are iffy at best — and it is worth every penny.

Much has been written about how much say a city's citizens should have about the use of someone's private property. We feel like we should enjoy and control certain things in our urban environment. Thus the thick book of ordinances and the onerous rules of the land development code.

These rules are constantly in flux. By that, I mean that minor changes can be adopted if the rules are followed. There are rules about public notice, transparency, and professional planning staff review it before any legislative action can happen. The point is, a lot happens before the news story comes out.

Accepting personal responsibility for knowing some of the rules and following what is going on requires some effort. It can be made easier to understand. Some of the developers have suggestions that they think would be good for them and good for the environment.

Our development review boards would like to have more public participation. Working together, there is room for some movement on the issue of how can we do a better job of infill development and still preserve the nature of our community.

Bill Partington Sr.

(Mayor Partington's father)

Ormond Beach