Sign of the times in DeLand

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary

How does your garden grow

With silver bells, and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row”

This old English poem came to mind when I saw this sign in DeLand.  The rhyme has been related as to its meaning to Queen Mary, or “Bloody Mary”, as she was called for he torture and execution of Protestants during her reign.  Some have also said that the line,”How does your garden grow”, to be mocking her for her potential lack of fertility due to her never giving birth to an heir; that her soil, so to speak, was barren. 

So as I saw this sign, and after researching the meaning of this rhyme which came to mind, I wondered, “Survival Gardens”, wow, “be ready!”, huh?, what’s this all about?  At the very least, its a great sign and definitely a sign of the times.  Survival, you bet, we all are “just trying to survive” as goes the familiar refrain along with “hang in there”, the title of this blog. 

Yet, “survival food gardens” speaks to something deeper, like an invasion of aliens or the end of the world.  It speaks to defeat and discouragement and fading hope; it doesn’t speak of “victory”, as in “Victory Gardens”.  It makes me wonder, is our “soil” , meaning our economy here in Volusia County, barren and unable to nurture itself back to productivity?  If so, why?, and what can we do to make things better? 

I called the number on the sign to find out just what this was all about.  Steven Behncke of Eco-Zone Landscape was who answered and is the mind behind this sign and rather innovative service.  Steven has moved back to DeLand after spending several years in Costa Rica as a project manager with Kopali Communities.  He trained people in Costa Rica in the maintenance of the grounds for this community of Americans and European who moved to this peaceful Central American country to retire.  Except, instead of maintaining a homeowners’ association’s common area grounds filled with ornamental plantings and expanses of sod, Steven trained workers to plant and maintain food gardens whereby the residents could find fresh produce year round just outside their doors.  Just how cool of an idea is that – very cool indeed.  Yet all was not well.

Steven Behncke stated that Costa Rica’s economy nearly collapsed in the last year making the growth of the development business halt; just like here in our area, so Steven’s job was lost and he headed back to DeLand.  What he left behind was at least the thought that the gardens he helped set up would provide a source of food for those who lived there in a country where food security became a big issue as the economy took a nose dive.  He was satisfied that they were ” ready” and would “survive”.   Hence, the idea for the bold signage placed on a pick-up truck on the side of the road in DeLand and the idea to help create food security gardens  right here at home.

Now, gardens are great, especially food gardens.  I have one myself and so do many local residents.  We live in an agricultural area and have favorable growing weather; better yet, there is nothing like fresh produce used right after it is picked in some good home cooking.  I also think Steven is on to something with planting food plots and he isn’t alone; think Whole Foods.  There is a growing  (pun definitely intended) idea that is tied to food security if it isn’t just for ‘”survival” but for the wholesome goodness of fresh from your garden nutrition.   But gardening tied to some other motive like survival seems distant and foreboding to me.  Look, we live in a time and place where food is plentiful and relatively affordable, although, fresh produce can be less accessible and affordable to many in poorer areas of our community.  So what are we supposed to be “ready” for, what are we supposed to “survive” from.

According to Behncke, we are in real danger of a sudden collapse of the value of the dollar to the point that it would take wheelbarrow loads of cash just to buy some veggies or bread, like an echo of Germany after WWI.  So why not get ready and take your yard and prepare a garden that can help sustain you and yours during this sudden economic shock that we may be in for? 

I for one do not share Steven’s dire view as I have a strong belief in American innovation and drive and that we will move beyond the current business cycle and begin to grow again.  Although, I must admit that the depth of the difficulties in these very down times has me worried and sometimes scared but then I regain my confidence in our ability to overcome and hang in there. 

So here we are, surviving from what has befallen us to date; joblessness, lack of credit, loss of equity, higher property taxes and fees, and what seems to be an incredible lack of leadership at the local and state levels coupled with stridently divided political parties at the national level driven by irrational rhetoric and fear-mongering demagogues.  How can we cultivate a bounty in soil like this?  Just what are the solutions beyond survival food plots. 

We can all begin to ammend the soil with better ideas for governing our communities bringing together public interests with private innovation and innovators and then till the soil together at the voting booth.  Clearly, at least here in Florida and certainly here in Volusia County, we suffer through a system that raises taxes on property that has lost substantial value during times of capital contraction and high unemployment all seemingly to maintain the status quo of the current bureaucracy. I feel like I am working very hard, but for the company store. 

All this work requires nutrition, and some fresh veggies sound like just the plan.  As I write this I saw a commercial on the TV for a program starring Jamie, the “Naked Chef” called the food revolution.  He also wants to change America by focusing on good fresh nutrition based on wholesome foods and simple cooking.  He sees the problem in food itself and want to change the American diet.  Steven Behncke sees the problem in a devalued currency and planting food plots.  I see it in stale ideas driving dysfunctional governance.  Either case, time to get busy; time to get ready for the revolution.  Will you survive.  Hang in there and find out.

So what, right.  What are we all to do about it?  We’ve watched Congress and the President sell out.  Why? Why?, when we are all so angry about it; when we all need it so bad.  Why?, when so many other countries have single payer health care and their people don’t have to be burdened with the weight of worry and being ripped off.  When they are sick they just go to a doctor.  A doctor whose job is to fix people, not to run a business or be an entreprenuer.  Or if we go to the hospital we aren’t followed around by some person toting a computer cart whose job it is to find out how much you can pay and to get you to worry about how  you are going to pay for the visit even before you are being treated.

This next year, let’s focus on the elections coming up in November and make it a single issue campaign over real health care reform.  I think we all need a little motivation so I am going to post the link to the Federal Employee Health Care web site.

http://www.opm.gov/INSURE/HEALTH/INDEX.ASP

Please click on this link and prepare to see just what kind of goodies Federal employees get, including your Congressmen and Senators, the President, and all the staff.  Let me give you some facts to start you off with.

Your Congressman or Congresswoman and Senators have 19 separate plans to choose from and we pay nearly 72% of their premiums.  So when you click on the Premiums link on the left side of the home page, you will be guided to all the plans and their premiums and what the employee will actually pay per pay period all laid out in a nice and easy to understand matrix.  Then, while still steaming, check out the nice calculators and comparison charts for choosing the best (of many) plan for the least amount of cost.

Best yet, remember, these plans are not state specific.  The Federal Government, YOUR Federal Government has negotiated the best rates with all of these companies so all of these companies have had to compete for this business.

This is unlike the rest of us serfs who are stuck with state bound insurance pools and the few companies that control these ever monopolized and non-functioning markets.  You see, Federal employees don’t have to worry about living in a state like Florida where our insurance rates are high because we don’t have that many insurers to choose from.

WHY CAN’T WE ALL BUY INTO THIS FEDERALLY NEGOTIATED POOL WITH ALL THE PLANS AVAILABLE TO US AS WELL?  WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP GETTING SCREWED?

So please, click the link and after you are seething at what you are paying for that you don’t get to also enjoy, contact your elected officials at the Federal level and demand that we want what they have that we pay for and if they won’t do what we tell them to do, they will be fired at the next election and replaced with people who will finally do what needs to be done in spite of what the insurance industry wants or says.  Let’s make this a single issue election in 2010 and get this problem solved.

Happy New Year, stay healthy, work hard, and most of all, HANG IN THERE.

With a large group, it is incumbent on the servers to work as a team and to identify who is the responsible party or if the checks are to be split right off the bat.  Our server worked hard running the food and didn’t get enough help from the rest of the staff.  If she had, all the plates would have been tabled in short order.  The restaurant wasn’t that busy so there was no excuse for the other staff not to jump in.  The bartender handled the wine and brought the wine to those of us at one end of the table who ordered the wine for the table but asked us if anyone else wanted wine and said that she would leave some extra glasses in case anyone else wanted some.  I’m sorry, but I didn’t go to a buffet.  Proper service would have been to place a wine glass in front of each setting when bringing the wine out and if any patron said they didn’t want any wine then quickly take the glass back.  She also should have asked each patron at the table if they would like some wine from the bottles that were ordered and not have left it up to us at one end to ask around.  Also, why was there no bread brought to the table to get the appetite going?

In any case, other than a few hickups, I would rate the experience a 3 out of 5 and I will be back but I won’t be ordering the ribs.

So, the economy still sucks and here in DeLand, FL, it sucks really bad.  The summer high pressure dome sits atop us with its oppressive heat, stores close down, people stay inside, the humm of air conditioners tell the tale of the here and now.  And yes, jobs keep disappearing; unless you work for our government, then the job cuts come slower and managers are advocating for those in jeopardy, trying to find them other positions and such.  Of course, in the private sector, no such help exists at this time for most people facing lay-offs.

I have spoken to more and more people out there who are facing tough times, particularly those in the building industry.  Folks are still hanging in there, but barely.  Many are losing hope and thinking of moving away to Texas or Tennessee or North Carolina.  As for myself, I am lucky to have the work I have and have to work even harder to add work  to the pipeline.  But, it seems that the only people who aren’t too worried work for our government. 

Why do I keep coming back to that theme, because right now, the best jobs with the best benefits and retirement in our area are jobs working for our governments, be they city or county or state or federal.  No one in the private sector at this time has the level of benefits and retirement that our government employees have.  Yet, in the County of Volusia, the County manager is thinking of raising the millage rate on property taxes just to keep the budget level and avoid more lay-offs.  I guess we need to keep the County fully employed while the rest of us go bankrupt.  No, we don’t have to do that.

Look, I hate to see people lose their jobs anywhere, especially good jobs in government.  However, there is a seriously fundemental problem that exists when the best jobs in the area are those in government.  It makes us all feel like we are working for the company store on some coal mine in eastern Kentucky.  This problem can be solved and it will be solved one way or the other. 

The first way it will be solved is by focusing on jobs, jobs, and more jobs; by suspending impact fees and other planning and zoning obstacles to development, good quality development, particularly industrial development.  We desperately need to attract industry to West Volusia that is sustainable and that will create several thousand jobs.  If government leaders and staff cannot focus on creating jobs first and foremost, they ought to resign or mark my words, they will lose at the next election cycle.  Elected leaders must understand the will of the people to have work and decent jobs.  We can’t all work for the government.  Elected leaders must directly order staff to pursue industry and eliminate impediments to job growth.  Staff that wants to argue that order should be shown the door immediately, most of them have a nice little retirement coming to them anyway. 

The other way this will be solved is at the next election cycle.  The people of this county and our local cities will eventually elect individuals to sit up at the diases and if it gets to that point, expect a house cleaning of historic proportions with the staff.  There will be no arguing with the elected officials at that point as they will be driven by the populist angst that is reaching a boiling point. 

Change will happen.  Change is a mathmatical formula that works as follows:  when the cost of not changing exceeds the cost of the status quo, then change will occur.  What several elected bodies and staff don’t realize, is that we have already crossed that line.  People are hurting bad and things are not getting better out there.  So elected leaders and staff ought to take due notice, and govern themselves accordingly.

Friday evening my wife and I were invited out to eat by some friends who wanted to celebrate my wife’s brand spanking new citizenship in the United States.  We had been trying to get together for months and finally we did.  We started out the evening at the Elusive Grape wine bar which is always great and wonderful and the service always good.  Bill runs a tight ship and has even added another and even bigger TV.  The only thing he needs are motorized Lazyboy recliners and permission to take power naps on premise.  After a few warm up beers our party headed to Odom’s Pad Thai for some sushi and thai food.  Once we entered, the trouble began.

Usually the wait is 30 minutes or so and the place is packed with the Stetson kids spending daddy’s money.  However this time, we lucked up and the table was almost ready.  Throughout the dinner, the table was never completed.  You see, when the hostess, who one never knows who they are at this joint, told us our table was ready she forgot to make sure there was napkins and silverware placed.  We didn’t get any until we had to ask our waiter who had already made several trips to the table and didn’t notice herself.  In fact, if we didn’t ask for it, you know, for chopsticks, silverware, napkins, etc., it wouldn’t have landed on the table.  No excuses, that is just poor service and this thing with silverware seems to be an epidemic in town.  Just about every restaurant in town, save Cress, I have eaten in has at one time or another, failed to place silverware and napkins until after I had to ask for it.  Unless you want us to all start eating with our hands people, knock it off.

At Odom’s, while the food is always good; you know, right temp, tasty, good portions, there just doesn’t seem to be any system to run the front of the house, no management whatsoever.  We were seated to a table not ready, and then we ordered appetizers which came with no small plates to eat them on until we asked for them.  Then the dinner orders came and mine was missing in action.  I ordered the Clay Pot Shrimp, a dish my friend recommended and I was savoring trying it out.  Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, our party is eating and my dinner still is missing.  Then the death knell came when I asked the waiter if she actually had placed my order with the kitchen.  Whoops!, “oh I am sorry, I forgot”.  Well, that just sucked.  I was still hungry and most of the table was near finished with their food.  I told her to cancel the order since I was pissed and our friends embarassed.  I managed to remain polite when she told me she could still get it cooked quickly, right.   So I never got to taste the shrimp in clay pot because Odom forgot.

Odom’s is good, but nothing there is done quickly.  Lunches are usually 1 and a half hours and dinner a full two.  They could turn many more tables if they would just fix the front of the house and establish some sort of system.  I mean, I once waited nearly 30 minutes just to get my bill paid after I handed the waiter my credit card.  I had to demand she get me checked out; I felt like I was being held hostage.  Its amazing that people expect a good tip after such poor service or worse yet, the owner doesn’t come by to ask if things are all right or notice that they aren’t and offer to comp a meal.  Odom, its time to call it like it is, food good, service poor, and until things change, you get two stars at best.

On the affordable housing front, the County Council was mandated by the State of Florida to create an advisory committee on affordable housing to find ways to add to the affordable housing stock in the County, an admirable idea.  Except, after assembling a very good advisory committee, seated with people who are hands-on day in and day out professionals who deal with housing as a career, the County Council, and staff, as expressed by County Manager Dineen, blew them off. 

After many meetings and with the help of a creative and forward thinking Growth Management Director at the County, the committee developed a report outlining what steps should be taken to enhance the amount and quality of the affordable housing stock in the County.  The advisory committee met twice with the Council.   At the final presentation of the report before the Council, the final blow off ensued.

According to several on the advisory committee and other interested parties, such as Volusia Home Builders Association, it became very apparent, that most, if not all, of the Council had not read the report released prior to the meeting or simply didn’t care about what they read.  The same goes for County Manager Dineen who was quoted as saying that given the current market conditions, the supply of affordable housing is not an issue; that was echoed by at least one of the County Council members.  Current market conditions, really, how stupid, how ignorant, how arrogant!

Affordable housing is needed in all market conditions, good or bad, and the issue has many layers all of which relate to one another.  For example, affordable housing isn’t just about a recession making 3 bedroom 2 bath houses in Deltona or DeLand or Edgewater available to rent for just $800.00/month.  Its about whether all of our communities have an affordable progression of housing stock in all areas where people choose to live. 

 What I mean by this is that there does need to be apartments available for those just entering the workforce out of school or for those who are retired and don’t want to own; and then we need some townhomes for those seeking to make their first purchase for new couples and folks finally ready to make a purchase; and finally, we need affordable single family detached housing for those new young families who need more room after having children and for elders who desire to still have their own place but don’t need as much space as they had before.  Without this progression of housing stock, folks are often forced to live further away from their work and family circles or prematurely purchase a home which has caused much of our trouble. 

Additionally, the employment that building affordable housing creates allows more people to purchase homes or rent and simply survive in this economy and is a very important layer to the issue.  Mr. Dineen and the Council, as one member of the advisory committee told me, ” don’t have a clue about what affordable housing really is”.  Of course not, they have never built it or financed it, or developed it; they don’t know what they are doing.  That is what the advisory committee was for, too bad they blew it off. 

On the SunRail commuter rail front, we couldn’t have a bigger bunch of idiots in Tallahassee, particularly in the Senate and out Guvna.  This project comes up for approval at a time when the thousands of jobs it will create and its billions of dollars of positive economic impact over the next ten years is most needed.  It comes at a time when the President Obama is holding out nearly 13 billion dollars for high speed rail, with Orlando to Tampa slated as one of the priority corridors (been their done that folks until Jeb killed it).  We will never see this Federal money unless we can get the low hanging fruit of SunRail passed.  What the hell is wrong with us?  Are we all fools?

We will never have another chance in our life time to build these projects and finally move our State into the current century and be prepared for the next for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.  These project are really for them.  Are we too selfish and irresponsible to look beyond the current budget cycle?  The Governor, says he supports it but fecklessly.  In the dictionary, next to the word “equivocation”, is a picture of Charlie Crist (in black and white, not tanned).  Love him or hate him, his predecessor, Jeb Bush, if he supported commuter rail, would have had this thing passed last year because he would have led.  Crist has been looking for an exit from Florida so hard its as if he has already left.  As a result, he has failed yet again to lead on this issue.  What a complete failure and disappointment this guy has been.

So here we are, do we forgive and forget, or do we forgive, and then remember at the polls next election?  I say we remember hard and send all of them packing!

The legislators are like a bunch of chickens scratching the ground looking for their next kernal of corn.  They are cowards for failing to look seriously at how we need to finance the states most basic needs.  I’ve heard it from people who say that a state income tax is impossible; it is never going to happen they say.  Mark my words, there will be a state income tax in Florida within 5 years from now.  If not, we will be living in a thrid world territory depending on the United Nations for help with funding our public school system and we will be turning to the World Bank to finance road construction and other infrastructure needs.  No wonder the Guv is trying his damdest to get the hell out of Dodge and plunk himself down in a cushy senate seat; not a forgone conclusion at all. 

It is time that we who live here and work here year round begin to stand up and take responsiblity for our own stuff.  A state income tax will provide a reliable revenue stream for our state needs and can relieve millage rates on property owners by broadening the tax base and funding sources for local government.  Better yet, by truly funding education properly and lowering property tax rates, we can actually attract industry to Florida.  Right now, no company in its right mind is going to move its people here when they will get hit with high property taxes and when its management staff won’t tolerate having their children in our schools. 

The last time we were forced to “raise” taxes because the education system was collapsing was in 1949 when Florida first introduced a 3% sales tax to save the schools.  If the current problem doesn’t committ people to act , when will it.  Now is the time and time is now.

We educationally abuse our children when we send them to school every day but the teachers who are supposed to teach them take 3 day weekends on a regular basis.  OK, I know that teachers can build up a lot of leave time and have a lot of sick days or personal days, but does that mean that they should use them?  These benefits are much greater than any found in the private sector.  Our children need to rely on their teachers showing up everyday so that a relationship can be built for learning.  Right now, in Volusia schools, too many teachers are selfishly taking advantage of their leave and leaving their students behind.

For example, my daughter called me yesterday from Deltona High during her 7th period class.  I asked her what all the noise in the background was and she told me that her class along with about 100 other students were in the auditorium, or “learning center” as the school now calls it.  What happened was that her teacher and several other teachers didn’t show up for work yesterday and their wasn’t  enough substitute teachers.  So the school warehoused the students in the auditorium without any instruction.  My daughter says this happens two to three times a week.  This same story made the news a few weeks ago at DeLand High as well.

Incensed, I emailed the Principal at Deltona High asking him what the average daily teacher absenteeism was.  He replied that he has 175 teachers on staff and on any day the absentee rate is from 8 to 10 teachers who didn’t make it to work.  Assuming the average includes days when several more teachers are absent, I will use 10 as a regular number, that is nearly 6 percent.  So, on any given day, 6 percent of Deltona High School’s teaching staff isn’t at work; remember, that is each and every day that school is in session.  Ask yourself, how would your business or the company you work for be doing if everyday 6 percent of the workforce was absent?

I am totally convinced that this problem can be solved with an end or a major reform of the tenure laws.  Personally, and as a pro-labor person, I find no purpose for teacher tenure in K-12 education.  All it has done in my experience as a parent of a child in the Volusia school district is to lavish unnecessary leave benefits on teachers and allow too much dead wood to hang on to positions long after they have burnt out and lost their “game”.   Let’s end tenure, pay teachers who show teaching performance more, but require them to show up to work or lose their jobs.  

Now for the rest: parents; community; state; we must stop pretending we are funding education properly in this Florida.  Florida Senate Ways and Means Chair, J. D. Alexander, a Republican from Lake Wales was quoted in the Orlando Sentinel today stating, “I have spent 11 years trying to fund schools better; and I want to do that”.  No, you and everyone else has not.  You’re either lying to us or to yourself or both.  We in Florida haven’t made any attempt to properly and reliably fund education and we continue to ignore the facts staring us in the face, mainly, that we have NO reliable source of revenue to fund education. 

We must finally admit that our tax structure in Florida, designed in the 1930’s, is no longer viable and can no longer meet the needs of the residents of this state.  As a result, we are slowly collapsing the education system here and abusing our children at the same time. 

A family would have to be completely stupid to move from a state like Iowa or Wisconsin, that have great well funded public schools, to Florida for any reason.  Yet so many who have reared their children in such states move here for the weather leaving their grown and well educated children up north for all or part of the year; probably telling them not to move to Florida because of the schools.

This mode of thinking is based on fleeing responsibilty which I have written about before in earlier posts.  We need to begin to behave and act as a state instead of a territory.  We need to completely restructure the tax code in Florida and implement an income tax.  If not paying taxes is the only reason to move to Florida besides warm weather, then retirees should move to Costa Rica or Equador for that.  Go ahead, flee your country and the responsibilities that go along with being one of its citizens.  The rest of us will do what we must to end the educational abuse of our children.

Driving around town that last few days I have seen a flurry of activity and some finished work that is heartening to say the least.  Granted, its Bike Week, and much of what I saw can be attributed to that, but much of the work I saw will be lasting, at least I hope so.  I saw new businesses and newly built buildings, new road work out at the DeLand Airport, folks pressing on regardless.

I realized that’s the point, pressing on regardless.  Yes, we have problems here, BIG problems.  Yet, we are not all going to crawl up into a fetal position and weep.  People are getting financing and building things and starting new ventures, taking risks.  This, because for most of us, and I think this is a particular American trait, we believe in the possibilities that exist in a free and democratic society.  It also helps that we aren’t in New York City or Washington D. C. where the demons of woe and despair have taken roost.  We have those demons here as well, we just shoot them before they make a nest around here, managed hunting if you will. 

So lesson learned.  We don’t ignore our problems ( I will continue to discuss them forcefully) and we deal with them.  Quite often the best way to deal with hopelessness is to hope more, risk more, do more, create more possibility now.  I see many of us doing just that.

Florida has no revenue at the moment and we are facing a nearly $12 billion state budget deficit in 2009.  We also have 20 million residents.  Our public education system is collapsing and we can barely meet the basic needs of our population.  We have very little industry to create jobs except in housing and tourism.  Gov. Crist said on meet the press, “many times government and common sense don’t meet”.  Gov. Crist, in speaking on the program seemed like a kid who had gotten into trouble with not being able to pay for his trans-am and his dad had just told him he would pay for the car.  Mr. Crist is taking the money.  Mr. Crist just met common sense.  Florida in general, needs an introduction as well.

Mr. Jindal, the LA Gov., however, well, let’s just say he is running for President in 2012.  Umm, there is this little problem in his state that we all remember, its called New Orleans and Katrina.  So he is going to say that he isn’t taking the money when New Orleans is still in ruins.  I guess he will be freed up to run for President, because he just lost any chance of being re-elected in LA.  Fact is, he is going to take the money, at least 99%  of it.  He is objecting to 1% of the stim dollars, they’re the dollars going to help the unemployed with a slightly larger stipend and extension of benefits.

You see, Gov. Jindal, and other southern Governors have lured foreign auto-makers to their states.  These Toyota Republicans made deals to get them there and part of the deal was to keep unemployment compensation down to subsistence levels and other sundry things like the length of benefits and no compensation for part time workers.  These Guvs are afraid that they will have to go back to their foreign masters and tell them that the deal about unemployment will have to change a bit and they don’t want to do that.  Gov. Crist doesn’t have to worry about this because, well, we haven’t lured any foreign automakers, or just about any other industry to FL.  He just has lots of poor unemployed people to worry about who happen to be pretty good at dealing with hurricanes.