- April 23, 2024
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Island Walk shows promise; let’s get it done right
Dear Editor:
It has been clear for some time that our beloved shopping center has been declining and is now in need of redevelopment. This is something we can all agree on. For many years, it has been the symbol of the original planned design of Palm Coast, and how commercial development can be enhanced by green canopy. It is the reason many of us moved here; it was our first impression of Palm Coast.
It has also been clear in the past 10 to 15 years that the owners had no interest in maintaining it, not even with a fresh paint job. Instead, they’ve chosen to raise rents there, forcing most of its tenants out. Talk to the remaining tenants, and they’ll tell you that rents there are among the highest in Palm Coast. And now, it is becoming home to the homeless. At the City Council meeting Feb. 4, we were told it is the owners’ responsibility to keep it up, yet it’s clear that hasn’t happened here. Why not? It’s been years since it’s been painted, and the drainage ponds are full of trash. Why hasn’t the city been after the owners to clean it up? When our neighborhoods are being patrolled, and owners cited, why has that not been done here? Shouldn’t we have the right to expect that?
Now we have the opportunity to redevelop the crown jewel of Palm Coast, and most of us agree it must be done. However, many nagging problems remain before this must be allowed to continue. Traffic is going to be a nightmare, especially for those who live on Florida Park Drive. At the council meeting, a resident showed us a video of the heavy traffic on Florida Park Drive, much of it trucks. This is not going to improve with a new, larger center.
The site plan is increasing the square footage, yet no improvements are planned for additional water runoff. Why not? If you increase the capacity, you must plan for the increased runoff.
And other than the tenants who are going to be moved to the new site, we have yet to hear of a tenant who has agreed to move in. Not one. How many shopping center developments do you know who put the cart before the horse? “We’re working on it,” we hear.
The same people are still working on Town Center development. For years now, we have been looking at acres of empty space. We were promised a new development for Walmart. Didn’t happen. City Marketplace is going to be in real trouble when the city offices move out. I think we can all agree that the amount of empty commercial and retail space here is troubling. We don’t need any more drive-thru fast-food places; we don’t need any more banks, any more real estate offices, any more dollar stores. We need higher-end retail. And they won’t come if the rent continues to be excessive.
Palm Coast is becoming a monument to failed development. What guarantees do we have this won’t follow suit? It is becoming clear that money is being taken out and very little is left here to improve our tax base. That’s troubling.
Do this center right, with plenty of green space, and prove me wrong — please. At least then, if it fails, we won’t have to look at it every day, here in the middle of our neighborhood.
Linda Hansen
Palm Coast
Sheriff got some things wrong in his ‘business’ editorial
Dear Editor:
The Flagler sheriff seems to have left a few thing out when he proposed that government be run like a business.
First of all, he would have to pay women less than he pays his male employees because that's what business does, right?
Then, he'd have to pay the rest of his employees so little that workers would have to chip in to buy turkeys for the neediest among them. Of course, he'd want to fight to the death rather than let employees have a say at the bargaining table for wages, benefits and working conditions. They should be grateful they have a job. This is the Big Daddy form of corporate enlightenment.
Then there's the one where corporations buy up other businesses, sell off their assets, get them into debt and then dump them, taking home crates full of cash for the stockholders and leaving a town full of unemployed behind.
Finally, unlike government, corporate employees don't have the right to vote their leaders out, no matter how badly they're treated.
But there is one rule in business that seems to elude government: They don't let their employees drive the company car on vacations, claiming they're still on company time.
Victor Washkevich
Palm Coast
Don’t be shortsighted about jail diversion; it’s necessary
Dear Editor:
An article published last month in the Palm Coast Observer — “Jail diversion? Yes, but ‘not in my backyard’” — gave a brief overview of a city of Bunnell workshop conducted Jan. 15 on a proposed recovery-home ordinance.
The article highlighted that the 15 attending residents opposing a potential faith-based recovery home in their neighborhood supported the ministry mission and felt it would work but did not want the ministry in their specific neighborhood. It is noteworthy that the Bunnell area for the proposed recovery home is a high drug-related crime area.
I believe the Observer overlooked the comments of a local attendee that attended the workshop as a result of the Channel 13 news story. Robert Kennedy, executive director of AMI Kids, a program for troubled youth, former parole and probation officer and former member of the governor’s Red Ribbon council on sentencing guidelines, advised attending workshop participants that a huge wave of state offenders will be released over the next several months.
This release is unprecedented and will likely be 10 times the normal release ratios. Mr. Kennedy noted that it is critical that communities embrace residential recovery and transitional facilities. They are proven tools that enable successful transition from corrections into our local communities. He addressed those objecting residents with these questions: “If not here, where? If not now, when? If not resident recovery, how?”
Mr. Kennedy noted that NIMBY (not in my back yard) is a short-term view to a pressing, near-term issue that will affect every local Florida community in the coming months. Mr. Kennedy noted to the workshop participants that those objecting may win this battle, but the war being raged by drug-regulated offenses will demand that our communities embrace recovery/alternative solutions versus an incarceration model that is unaffordable and has proven to be totally ineffective.
I believe Mr. Kennedy’s comments need to be highlighted, and our community’s local elected officials and staff need to assess the realities of non-violent drug-related offenses confronting our communities and apply leadership where a critical need demands solutions and new thinking. With a majority of offenses being nonviolent and drug related, incarceration has not worked. It is producing a culture of recidivism that is simply unsustainable.
Jim McBrayer
Flagler Beach
Rude man at café needs his own teaching moment
Dear Editor:
"Intrigued" may be one way to describe how I reacted to the Jan. 30 piece by Shanna Fortier. It seems that an unknown "rude man" (kind of like the one-armed man in "The Fugitive") stood up and pitched a fit at Friends Cafe in Flagler Beach — get this — because an autistic child was having an episode!
I guess the fellow took offense that his bacon and eggs were disturbed by Kaylee, a 3-year-old girl with a neurological disorder over which she has no control.
In the article, Fortier never says any more about this wonderful gentleman, other than "he stood up and started yelling at the child." Ed Quesenberry, Friends owner, as well as other patrons, came to the child and her mother, Sheryl Perham, to offer comfort and support. Sheryl said that this created "a nice teaching moment." I guess I'm glad that I was not present for all of this, because I'm pretty sure that I would have engaged in yet another "teaching moment" — with Rude Man.
Frank Zedar
Palm Coast
Citations for running red lights should be increased to $300
Dear Editor:
It's time for drivers to stop complaining about tickets. Yellow means get ready to stop, not get ready to speed up. Red means stop. Cameras or not, you stop. That's the law. It's sad to see all these drivers in Palm Coast that complain that they have to follow the law.
What if criminals start to complain that they should not be punished when they break the law? But when you are a driver that breaks the law, it's OK?
Do not say accidents are because of cameras. It's your own fault if you don't keep distance between yourself and the car in front of you.
Tickets should be higher — at least $300. Maybe drivers will stop.
Stop this stupid argument about the cameras. Follow the law like all the other laws in our society.
Frode Nilsen
Palm Coast
