- February 25, 2025
Dear Editor:
Personal Cities consultant Sandra Baer placed “Arts, Culture and History” at the top of her list outlining the most important ingredients of a “Smart City” during her presentation at a recent Tiger Bay luncheon meeting. As past president of the Palm Coast Historical Society and supporter of local arts initiatives, this was welcome and surprising news.
Surprising because the title of her talk was “The Smart City Global Revolution: How Technology and Data Are Transforming Life In Our Cities For The Better.”
Although there doesn’t appear to be a commonly accepted definition of “smart city,” according to Baer it includes “rebuilding trust” while working through the challenges every community faces. She encourages cities to “reimagine their future” and establish “enduring collaborative relationships.”
Rebuilding trust would include prioritizing meaningful funding to hire qualified professionals to find innovative ways to promote and preserve local history. For too many years the city and county have relied on dedicated volunteers to imagine a future that would include an emphasis on history tourism. We have valuable resources beyond the Flagler beaches, golf, tennis and pickleball that could be enhanced and promoted to draw visitors to our community.
My question to Ms. Baer was, “How do we get stakeholders to pay attention to this important matter?” Her answer was “Do a better of job of communicating what’s up. You just have to keep it up.”
It’s important to emphasize that I am a volunteer. I do not get paid for the work I do. The majority of people dedicated to preservation in this county do not get paid for the work they do. So I need to ask, “How many people would continue to do the work they do if they didn’t get paid to do it?” Yet people devoted to arts and culture, which includes history, are repeatedly told to “Do a better job … Keep it up.”
Having spent the last six years volunteering with PCHS I’m here to tell everyone, once again, that YES there is history in Palm Coast. With the right funding it could be enhanced and promoted. Perhaps digital innovation is the answer to telling the story of Old Kings Road, the Old Brick Road, Hernandez Landing, St. Joseph’s Plantation, International Telephone &Telegraph’s early development of Palm Coast, the significance of Fire Station No. 22 and more.
We will only succeed when our elected officials, paid staff and other community stakeholders recognize and appreciate the uniqueness of our past and find ways to promote it. Palm Coast must become part of the global revolution and commit to collecting the necessary data about art, culture and history and transform our city for the better. If we plan to shape a vibrant future we must get “smart.”
Kathy Reichard-Ellavsky
Palm Coast Historical Society past president
