Monday, July 12th, 2010
Mayor Ritchie Has College Ties To City Manager Chisolm...
We never really understood how Mayor Ritchie can be such a good business person yet do such a bad job of leading our city commission. He lets City Manager Chisolm dictate to the commission and does nothing about it. Then we found out the Mayor and Chislom went to the same college and played on the basketball team together. Now we know why Ritchie never does anything against Chisolm. They’re B-Ball buddies. Maybe Chisolm even has some pictures of Ritchey with farm animals or something. Regardless, it’s really a shame that ‘Big Glen’ never really became the type of Mayor our city really needed.
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Daytona Political Action Committee STAND Drops Petitions On City Commission...
Local political action committee STAND submitted 4,500 petitions during the City Commission meeting on Wednesday night. They requested the two ‘original signature’ petitions be forwarded to the Supervisor of Elections to be verified, then placed on the November ballot for voter consideration.
STAND Chairman Ron Bynum and Greg Gimbert say they have over 10,000 signed and verified petitions. They only need 10% of Daytona Beach registered voters (3,900) to get these city charter amendments on the ballot. Too bad it’s not as easy as they city charter makes it out to be. The city commission has fought STAND every step of the way and they’ve even received help from local judge Graham. Graham’s a Bush appointed judge who did everything he could to stop the STAND amendments from moving forward. In fact, Judge Graham didn’t even give a ruling on these amendments until he found out no one else was running against him in the upcoming election. He ruled against STAND and voters in every area. Judge Graham has four more years in office, then we need to send a message to him by voting him out. Bynum and Gimbert are holding the other 6,000 petitions in reserve while the continue the court battle and appeal. The city commission should place the two original signature amendments on the ballot after the signatures are verified. We’re betting that doesn’t happen. They’ll probably choose to spend more of our tax money to fight against voters desire to have more input in their government. We recommend voting against every commissioner that doesn’t support the STAND amendments in the upcoming elections.
February 16, 2010
The summary judgement hearing against the city of Daytona Beach and Volusia County Supervisor of Elections will be held on March 9th, at the Volusia County Courthouse, 125. E. Orange Ave., Room 307 in Daytona Beach at 10:00AM. The judge may choose to switch to an open court room if a number of spectators choose to attend. Everyone is welcome to come and observe the proceedings.
December 9, 2009
STAND’s motion for Summary Judgement will be on March 9, 2010. We were forced to litigate against Daytona Beach and the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections in order to overturn a number of illegalities in the City Charter and force counting of the carbon petitions. We anticipate winning most if not all of the legal issues and take the next step towards placing the STAND amendments on the ballot.
September 25, 2009
Under the legal rules of discovery city attorney Hartman reviewed STAND’s signed charter amendment petitions today, in her ongoing effort to save her job and keep them off the ballot.
Instead of continuing to betray the public’s trust regarding this issue, she should be investigating the malfeasance surrounding City Manager Chisolm’s suppression and misrepresentation of information on the pier buyout, the continued misuse of CRA funds and unauthorized spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire outside attorneys, without city commission approval.
We guess it’s a easier to fight voters using their own tax dollars than to investigate corruption in city hall.
September 15, 2009
STAND’s Board of Directors did a final recount in preparation for legal discovery and trial in the next few weeks and here’s the final number: Total: 67,487 signed petitions.11,247 Daytona Beach residents signed the petitions and 10, 979 of them were registered voters. Thank’s again for everyone involved!
June 15th, 2009-Update
We’ve finished the petitioning process and here’s the final results:
9,958 registered voters in Daytona Beach signed the STAND petition. Over 12,000 people in total signed our amendments.
City Attorney Marie Hartman admitted in a letter to STAND’s attorney last week, the 20% voter signature requirement for a petition is against state law. So now we only need 10% of registered voters or approximately 3,900 signatures. We’ve made the City Commission aware of our success and will be formally requesting a special election to place STAND’s Charter Amendments on the ballot. We’re also planning our legal strategy if litigation becomes necessary to force the City Commission to perform their duty as outlined in the State Constitution and City Charter.
Update 4-20-2009
We’re wrapping up our collection and data entry efforts and should be done by May 15th. It took longer than we expected due to almost 400 registered voters that had previously signed our petitions, moved out of Daytona Beach. State law says their petitions still count, however we thought it better to be safe and get 400 additional signatures. Thanks to all the volunteers that assisted as well as voters that signed the petitions.
UPDATE, 12-3-2008
Daytona Beach Zone 5 candidates Derrick Henry and Walter Fordham Jr. both signed our STAND petition amedments. We continue to sort and input all the petitions gathered during the election and hope to present them to the city by the end of December.
I was pleased to read your summary response about the STAND petitions which describes the fundamental liberties of citizens with approved voting rights. These are tough times in Daytona Beach and the County of Volusia. Changes in management plans and operation procedures will help to improve the Quality of Life in this City. I signed the petition because of my belief in the right of the people to petition the government for a redress of issues that impact on a lack of available funds to afford basic needs. A plan or system is "Top-Heavy" if more than 60% of benefits go to the administration, or the combined taxes from services exceeds the millage rate. The City Charter outlines the plan procedures, including official signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
You have my support.
Walter Fordham
Associate Dean Bethune Cookman University
________________________________
Dear STAND petitioners,
I am writing this letter to inform you that I personally support five of the six amendments with the land use amendment the possible exception. I will be in favor of allowing the residents of Daytona an open public discussion on the issues brought forth by STAND. Then, after the verification of signatures I would be in favor of allowing the vote on the amendments.
I also support lowering the required signatures of 20 percent of the registered votes for initiatives and referendums to 10 percent which is in line with the state of Florida.
I also want to commend STAND for investing the tremendous effort demanded to bring change in local government.
As your representative, I will encourage citizens to hold me accountable for representing the views of the residents.
Sincerely,
Derrick Henry
City Commissioner Zone 5 and Assistant Principal Mainland High School.
UPDATE, 11/17/2008
City Commissioner Sheila McKay-Vaughan signed the STAND petition amendments over the weekend. Thanks Sheila for supporting the voters right to choose and being the voice of reason on our City Commission!
Update 11-12-2008
Here’s a partial list of community leaders that signed the STAND petitions recently:
Daytona Beach Mayor Glen Ritchie
Frank Heckman-Chairman Main Street/So. Atlantic Redevelopment Board (CRA)
Founder and Chairman Beach Street Neighborhood Watch
Neil Harrington-Past member Daytona Beach So. Atlantic Redevelopment Board
Chairman-Daytona Beach Race Relations Board
Phinesse Demos-WPUL Radio Talk Show Host Of ‘Express Yourself’
STAND members thank you for your vision and support!
UPDATE 11-7-2008
Early voting and election day put STAND over the top. To date we’ve printed over 14,000 petitions and collected over 10,600! With the most recent voter registration drive we had to collect 9,800 in order to reach the 20% mark. We also had some community leaders and even a person on the city commission sign! We’re currently verifying signatures, names and address of the most recent petitions and should be able to submit them to the City shortly. Thanks to all the volunteers who’ve helped us take a STAND to change the way our government does business!
Update 8-15-2008
STAND is pleased to announce the choice in the race for the State Representative District 27 seat has become clearer. This seat is being vacated by Joyce Cusack due to term limits. She endorsed former Deland City Commissioner Terry Dilligard (one of STAND's first high profile supporters), as did the Daytona Beach News Journal.
Candidates running in the primary for this seat include: Terry Dilligard, Jake Ross and Duane Taylor. Maureen Monahan will face one of them in November, running as an independent. Earlier this week Ms. Monahan signed our petitions to support voter’s right to petition their government. Today, Jake Ross signed the STAND petitions as well. We salute Terry, Maureen, and Jake who STAND as a united front against City Commissioner Duane Taylor and the special interests he appears to have supported during his time as a City Commissioner. Taylor has consistently failed to side with the residents on most issues especially their right to petition their government. In fact, it is his record in part as a Daytona Beach's City Commissioner that made it necessary for STAND to create their amendments initially.
A few weeks ago we asked Taylor if there were any issues that he felt residents deserved to vote on besides just electing politicians. He was unable to come up with a single example where voters, not politicians should get to decide on at the polls.
While Taylor has more campaign contributions than all three of his challengers put together, so did Dave Hood when Joyce Cusack defeated him in the last District 27 Race.
Good luck to Terry Dilligard, Jake Ross and Maureen Monahan. Voters can clearly see whose side you are on.
8/8/08 Update
STAND petition signer and supporter Terry Dillegard Sr. was endorsed by the Daytona Beach News-Journal today
for the District 27 seat. Congratulations and good luck Terry!
6-22-2008 Update
Supervisor Of Elections Ann McFall, Changes Mind And Now Refuses To Verify All STAND City Charter Petitions
Weeks ago Ann McFall told STAND’s political consultant Kate Crockett she would verify signatures for six Daytona Beach City Charter Amendments if requested, by Daytona Beach City Clerk Jennifer Thomas. Recently on the ‘Big John’ radio show McFall recanted, stating she now would not. She also sent a letter to STAND Chairman Ron Bynum reversing her prior comments.
McFall’s refusal to verify is a blatant attempt to hide behind Florida state charter petition rules, the majority of which don’t apply to our Daytona Beach city petition drive. Daytona’s charter petition drive is governed primarily by our city charter and not state law as McFall claims. We believe this is an attempt to create yet another artificial barrier to prohibit citizens from petitioning their government and violating their civil right to do so.
Perhaps McFall was pressured by Daytona city management or land development interests that have profited so much at taxpayers expense. Regardless, STAND’s constitutional attorney Mark Herron will be preparing a lawsuit to file against McFall if she officially refuses to verify all signatures provided. It’s unfortunate that taxpayers will have to bear the brunt of the cost of this lawsuit.
As luck would have it, McFall has drawn Susan Pynchon as an opponent for her $119,000 job in the November elections. We suggest STAND supporters consider McFall’s past performance with faulty voting machine memory cards, refusal to accept hundreds of absentee ballots, resistance to offering paper ballots, harassment of petition collectors at polling places and now the refusal to support thousands of Daytona residents in the right to petition their government for change, when you vote in November.
6-20-2008 Update
STAND Petition Signers Stop Water Rate Increase
Our efforts to educate and persuade the Mayor and City Commission to not for the change in water utility rates was a success. The second reading vote was delayed for sixty days while more information is gathered.
Almost 1,000 STAND petition signers called elected officials at their homes and offices to state their dissatisfaction. The claimed rate decrease was actually a 27% increase, due to the drop in gallons a resident could use before they went to the next level increase of service charges. As we’ve stated previously it costs only $21 million to operate our public utility department, yet our government charges us $60 million and transfers the majority of it to other money losing programs such as the city golf course and tennis center.
This change would have really hurt local small business the most, yet the Daytona Beach Chamber Of Commerce did nothing to assist them. STAND will continue to urge it’s members to participate in government holding city management and elected officials responsible for truthful and accurate financial reporting.
6-17-2008 UPDATE
STAND To Mobilize Against Water Utilities Increase
Residents and business owners in Daytona Beach should
be made aware that city management’s new water rate increase is
based on lies and is just a continuance of over-spending, fraud and
budget abuse.
The new rate increase is supposed to lower costs for most residents
and place a greater financial burden on large volume commercial users.
That’s a lie. The claimed 5% first year savings are only for customers
who use less than 5,000 gallons per month and that’s only for
the first year. A family of two adults and one toddler use 5,000 gallons
per month taking daily showers, washing clothes and two cars once every
other week. They don’t water the grass or have a pool. The only
residents who use less than 5,000 gallons per month are single member
households. These new rates certainly won’t help families and
businesses we’re trying to keep or attract. These rates will also
be rising yearly to follow the 5% Consumer Price Index increase built
into the city budget.
We urge our charter amendment petition signers to come out in force
and tell our City Commission to vote no on the water utilities increase
on Wednesday night, June 17th at the City Commission meeting. Please
also call and email the Mayor, City Commissioner, City Manager and Utilities
Department Director to voice your opinion:
Mayor Glenn Ritchey, 386/671-8007, Mail to: ritcheyg@codb.us
Commissioner Richard W. Shiver, 386 671-8001, Mail to: Shiverr@codb.us
Commissioner Pam Woods, 386 671-8002, Mail to: Woodsp@codb.us
Commissioner Shiela K. McKay-Vaughan, 386 671-8003,
Mail to: McKays@codb.us
Commissioner Robert A. Gilliland, 386 671-8004, Mail to: GillilandR@codb.us
Commissioner Dwayne L. Taylor, 386 671-8005, Mail to: TaylorD@codb.us
Commissioner Cassandra G. Reynolds, 386 671-8006, Mail to: ReynoldsSC@codb.us
City Manager Jim Chisolm, 386/671-8010
Utilities Department Director Mitt Tidwell, 386/871-8000
City Manager Jim Chisolm, 871-6510
Update-May 29, 2008
Daytona Beach City Clerk Refuses To Notarize Circulator
Affidavit
Past City Commissioner/City Clerk Gwen Azama-Edwards stopped by city
hall today to have her Affidavit of Circulator for the STAND petitions
she collected, notarized by City Clerk Jennifer Thomas. To Gwen’s
surprise, Thomas refused to notarize her affidavit, stating. “Those
petitions are bad for the city and I won’t be involved.”
Problem is the Affidavit of Circulator is required by Daytona’s
City Charter. Thomas’s refusal to notarize the affidavit
is a refusal to do her job as City Clerk. She’s also presenting
another ‘artificial threshold’ Daytona voters have to overcome
in order to petition their government for change. Thomas will
eventually be responsible for certifying the total number of petitions
STAND turns in. If she refuses to notarize our affidavits how
can voters expect to trust her to accurately certify our petitions?
A complaint may be filed against Jennifer Thomas for her refusal to
notarize Gwen Azama-Edwards affidavit.
Past City Commissioner Gwen Azama-Edwards Invites Pelican Bay Residents To Drop Their Petitions At Her Home at 104 Water Turkey Court in the Palma Del Sol subdivision to sign and drop off their STAND petitions. She’ll add your name to her Affadavit of Circulator. Please call Gwen at 767-8847 to arrange a time to come by.
May 20, 2008
STAND’s first Town Hall Meeting will be at
Pelican Bay, Saturday morning, May 24th from 10am to 1pm. Past
Commissioner Gwen Azama-Edwards will speak in support of STAND’s
petition drive and Pelican Bay resident Rob Dubian will present an update
regarding zoning changes and the potential golf course sale in Pelican
Bay. Ron Bynum and Greg Gimber of STAND will present a brief overview
and answer questions related to the six city charter amendments they’re
proposing. Drinks will be served and petitions available for signing.
All are welcome to attend.
May 1, 2008
Greg Gimbert and I have spoken at a number of Community
Groups in the last two months. We’ve had almost 100% of
the group sign petitions after the presentation.
Our new petition gathering company was in town for a few days to ‘test
the waters’ and solidify our strategy for the final push to collect
the last 2,000 signatures. They’ve developed a method to
penetrate the ‘gated communities’ that appears to work well.
We should have all the signatures we need shortly. With the courts
finding the petition revocation law unconstitutional, it appears we’ll
have little to worry about from local businesses groups that had planned
to derail our efforts that way
It appears Volusia County Elections Supervisor Ann McFall will not contest
the ‘carbon signatures’ after evaluating case law provided
by legal counsel. The city may choose to litigate but we’re
not very concerned at this point.
April 26, 2008
Florida appellate court found the current charter
petition revocation process to be unconstitutional. This was great
news for STAND and Daytona voters that signed our city charter amendment
petitions. This means the business groups that were going to spend
a lot of money attempting to get petition signors to ‘unsign’
can no longer do so. The right to petition our government has
again been protected under the law!.
April 8, 2008
Our new petition collection company hit the streets
last weekend and should be finished in 2-3 weeks. We anticipate
submitting over 11,000 signed petitions to the Daytona Beach City Clerk
by the end of April. Congratulations to STAND Board Member Earl Lucas
who’s receiving the NAACP Branch Leadership Award. Earl
has been an outstanding volunteer for STAND and collected hundreds of
petitions in our behalf. Thanks again Earl!
March 25th, 2008
Thanks to new petition endorsers: Terry Dilligard
Sr. of Deland, running for the Florida state seat currently held by
Joyce Cusak and Clint Curtis-running for the Florida state seat currently
held by Tom Feeney. Our new petition company will hit the streets this
weekend to finish gathering signatures. Only 2,000 left before
we present the petitions to city officials.
January 31, 2008
Petition Update Our professional petition company PCI really shined
on Tuesday, collecting 2,646 petitions. Our election day total is now
over 3,500. We’ve now collected over 8,000 signatures, on our
way to at least 9,115. Thanks to our volunteers, PCI and Daytona Beach
voters for all their help and support.
Legal Update Earlier this week the city of Daytona Beach chose to drop
the charges against a STAND petition collector arrested at Walmart a
few weeks ago.
January 30, 2008
Thanks to all the poll volunteers that obtained petition signatures
for STAND. We collected over 1,000 petitions throughout the city yesterday!
At Schnebly Center we had 48% of people who voted, sign our petitions.
It certainly appears that residents want changes in local government
and see STAND petitions as a way to get it. We apologize to voters that
waited in line to sign petitions at some of the polling places. We didn’t
expect the demand to be so great. If you didn’t have time to wait
in line please email us on our website and we’ll deliver a petition
to you.
January 24, 2008
STAND now has over 5,000 signatures and is going strong. Look for volunteers
at your precinct polling place to sign city charter amendment petitions,
if you haven’t done so already.
Listen to STAND members Greg Gimbert and Ron Bynum on Gwen Azama-Edwards
talk radio show Thursday, February 7th at 6:30pm. (WELE 1380 AM). Thank’s
for having us back Gwen!
January 23, 2008
The LSO lawsuit was dismissed by judge Parson’s today but will
be corrected and re-filed within 30 days. The city has already made
changes to the way they will fund the LSO. Their ordinance says the
money will not come from ad-valorum taxes. So we forced some changes
but still believe LSO funding should be from private sources with no
money coming from the city at all. Will update as the lawsuit continues.
January 16, 2008
Thanks to the Seabreeze-University Community group for inviting STAND
representatives Greg Gimbert and Ron Bynum to speak at their meeting
Tuesday. 100% of the residents that attended signed the charter amendment
petitions including Chairman Brian Case. Sadly, City Commissioner Pam
Woods who also attended, elected not to sign the petitions.
January 7th, 2008
STAND Petitioner Arrested...
STAND petition gatherer Joseph Carter was arrested on Saturday, December
29th while obtaining signatures at the Belville Road, Walmart in Daytona
Beach. Though no complaints were filed by any of Walmart’s customers,
company management still requested Carter leave their property. When
he refused citing the Florida Constitution and a 1993 Appellate court
ruling which prohibits private owners of ‘quasi-public’
places from using state trespass laws to exclude peaceful political
activity, he was arrested.
While in the police car, he noted a memo from city attorney Anthony
Jackson to Daytona police, stating petition gatherers that refuse to
leave ‘quasi-public’ property’s should be arrested.
Mr. Carter plans to sue the city and Walmart for violation of his civil
rights.
City Management and the City Attorney’s key responsibility is
to protect taxpayers interests and avoid litigation. Instead they chose
to enforce a state law in conflict with another, that would probably
result in our city being sued again.
It’s great job security for the city attorney’s office.
Give bad legal advice and cause more litigation so they can justify
why their needed. It’s also a show of contempt by city management
with regard to the will of voters who want to petition their government
for change, which is part of the reason why we need so badly.
January 7th, 2008
Daytona Beach Municipal Golf Course Enterprise
Fund Fraud uncovered.
(See List of Shame page1.)
January 3, 2008
Greg Gimbert and Ron Bynum spent the
evening with Gwen-Azama Edwards on her radio show, discussing the STAND
charter amendments. Our thanks to Gwen for her support and unbiased
reporting. Please listen to her show on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm.
January 4, 2008
STAND is close to 4,000 signatures.
Thanks to everyone involved we're almost halfway to our goal.
Great Story on STAND in today's edition of the Hometown News! (www.myhometownnews.net)
Quote of the Week: From past Mayor Paul Carpanella to the Hometown News,
"Government leaders have lost their sense of judgement and show
no restraint." "Part of it is ego and part of it is trying
to be everything to everyone."
December 12, 2007
We now have over 3,000 signatures and
are going strong!
Thanks to all the volunteers and residents that decided to STAND up
and be counted!
December 1, 2007
Our Thanks To Community Leaders That Signed Charter Amendment Petitions & Support STAND...
Gwen Azama-Edwards, Past City Commissioner
and radio talk show host (Listen to Gwen’s show on 1380 WELE,
Thursday’s at 6:15pm or go to www.Gwen-Truth.com).
Paul Zimmerman, Past City Commissioner candidate & Chairperson of
the Environmental & Land Use Committee for Daytona Visioning.
Ed Dalton, retired Real-Estate Developer.
Terry Whalen, Past City Commissioner Candidate & Code Enforcement
Board Member.
Corragio Maglio, President Volusia-Flagler Surfrider Foundation
Paul Carpennella-Past Mayor, City of Daytona Beach
Peter Colt-Chairman of the Broadway/Silver Beach Neighborhood Association
and CRA activist
Weegie Kuendig-Save Our Neighborhoods VP and Chairperson-Daytona Beach
Education Action Team
Chris Daun-Chairman Uptown Neighborhood Association & Daytona Beach
Tree Board Member
Eddie Colisimo-Volusia County resident and Bikers For First Amendment
Rights President
Recent Additions To The List Of Shame
The News-Journal carried a story today
about Daytona using redevelopment money to purchase the Grandview Apartments
for $1.87 million. Problem is the city paid $175,000 above the appraised
value of the property in a depressed real estate market. The City Commission
used the consent agenda during their meeting to approve the purchase,
which eliminated any public comment or participation.
A past report on CRA spending by the Florida Auditor General noted how
Daytona city management had previously paid above the appraised value
for another property and didn’t even bother to get an appraisal
on a different one.
Our government should be protecting our money and paying fair market
value based on three appraisals, for buildings and property. This type
of spending is reckless and borders on malfeasance. It’s also
why we need to sign and adopt the charter amendment prohibiting use
of the consent agenda for non-budgeted items in excess of $1,000. It’s
our money they’re spending and we should get to provide input
to our elected officials in a public discussion on how we want it spent.