On Jan. 14, when Volusia officials were faced with a critical decision on the most galvanizing issue of our time — ultimately, their own self-interests prevailed. 

And future generations lost…  

I didn’t think it possible, but last week our elected officials did what they do best and kicked an issue that has now labeled the “Fun Coast” as the most flood-prone region in the state (seventh in the nation) even farther down the dusty political trail when they did absolutely nothing of substance to address development-induced inundation across the width and breadth of Volusia County.

From political insulation committees and additional costly (and useless) studies to Jake Johansson’s condescending lectures, Troy Kent’s exhausting overexuberance, and David Santiago’s political mini-moves — the special meeting to discuss a tap of the brakes on the malignant sprawl that is destroying the quality of life of taxpayers devolved into another exercise in strategic procrastination.  

That farce proved that, in Volusia County, you get what you pay for…

During the week’s well-choreographed waste of time, Councilman Kent was right when he described the positions on the dais of power as “rented seats,” because it is now painfully clear that the loyalties of those who occupy them have been bought and paid for by influential insiders, and a building moratorium was dead on arrival.

It was frustrating watching anguished residents approach the podium and plead for their very lives before that phalanx of deaf ears, those stone-faced gargoyles who ignore their constituents while relying on a demonstrably incompetent senior staff to tell them what they want to hear, using bureaucratese and double-talk to explain all the reasons why the elected body can’t protect existing residents from flooding. 

So, we get more of the same. 

More studies equal paralysis by analysis, taking existing studies and combining the separate pieces into one, then taking the comprehensive study and breaking it down into separate pieces, establishing impressive-sounding “Czars” and do-nothing “subcommittees” that spread the political liability.

It’s a proven strategy for buying time.

Maybe next month someone will suggest another “Blue Ribbon Committee,” little more than a stationary bicycle that politicians use to burn the energy and enthusiasm out of engaged citizens working for change, anything that will put distance between Jan. 14 and the next 100 year rain event…  

There was talk of cleaning canals (they don’t already do that?), purchasing the perennially flooded homes and properties of their repeat victims, “collaborating with the cities,” quibbling the definition of “wetlands,” yapping about more retention ponds, and “beginning a discussion” about the impacts of those massive sticks-and-glue apartment units that now blanket many areas of Volusia County in some sick post factum navel-gazing exercise.

There was hot air generated over the importance of establishing “relationships” with the St. Johns River Water Management District, a discredited “regulatory” agency that for years was operated like a Turkish bazaar by a former chairman, a cheap fixer who destroyed the public’s trust in the organization for a hundred years, facilitated the destruction of wetlands and wildlife habitat that were churned into muck, and permitted those who paid to play to turn natural places into moonscapes in an atmosphere where the fox ran the henhouse, ends justified the means, and the almighty dollar reigned supreme… 

At the end of the day, Chair Jeff Brower was the only one who supported a moratorium, a temporary means of limiting further harm by asking developers to stop shoving 10 pounds of s— into a 5-pound bag until already-identified (but long-shelved) solutions could be implemented. 

That’s right, they’ve known about these “exciting solutions” for years.  In truth, various iterations of the Volusia County Council and their senior staff have been putting off low-impact development regulations for decades.

… 

Now, we’re all victims. 

In my view, Volusia County voters owe it to our grandchildren, who will ultimately suffer from the spinelessness we witnessed Jan. 14, to disrupt this cycle of pernicious procrastination in the face of crisis, and elect those with the courage to place the suffering and financial devastation of many over the greed-crazed motives of a few.

— Barker writes a blog, usually about local government, at barkersview.org. A retired police chief, Barker says he lives as a semi-recluse in an arrogantly shabby home in coastal Central Florida, with his wife and two dogs. This is excerpted from his blog, lightly edited (he swears a lot) and reprinted with his permission.