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(rshsdepot) DeLand, Florida
From The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All aboard for DeLand depot
Last update: June 22, 2005
GRADE A Votran director Ken Fischer and other local officials deserve credit
for their persistent attempts to restore the DeLand train station.
The station, built in 1918, has been the focus of restoration attempts since
1997. The effort is snarled by the dual ownership of the property -- CSX
Railroad owns the land and Amtrak owns the station -- and by the fact that
the station, unlike other Florida depots, is still in use as a passenger
terminal.
The preservation effort is currently focusing on the outside of the station.
But the interior has its own story to tell, including a separate waiting
room once used for passengers of color.
The station evokes memories of a time when life was less hurried -- but more
restrictive. The station's worth the fight to preserve it.
GRADE D Ormond Beach city commissioners missed an opportunity to save
money -- and potentially lives -- when they voted against joining other
Volusia cities and the county in a coordinated emergency dispatch agreement.
The three commissioners who voted against the agreement may have been
spooked by a virulent direct-mail campaign from the police union, which has
enormous political clout in the city. (Recently, the union negotiated raises
for police officers that will total 19.07 percent by 2007.) The mailer,
which stated that commissioners were considering "dismantling" the police
department, was both intimidating and misleading.
But commissioners knew the facts, and owed it to their constituents to give
reality more weight. Estimates show that Ormond Beach could save $229,000
yearly without sacrificing safety by joining the intercity dispatch service.
The city would also benefit from new computer-assisted dispatch equipment.
The decision means that Ormond Beach will essentially be left behind while
every other city (with the exception of Ponce Inlet) reaps the benefits of
combined dispatch efforts. It was a mistake, and one that Ormond Beach
officials should reconsider -- this time, on the basis of facts.
GRADE B Lake Helen's formal objection to Deltona's extension of its water
service boundary is not "off the deep end," as one Deltona commissioner
suggested. The "deep end" is the cavalier manner in which Deltona's mayor
dismissed Lake Helen's interest in the larger city's aggressive move.
To its credit, Lake Helen has long and fiercely protected its historically
"Old Florida" small-town character and recently annexed 27 properties to
buffer against Deltona's northward sprawl. Less than half a mile separates
the boundaries of the two cities. Deltona Mayor John Masiarczyk responded to
a letter from Lake Helen's attorney with words so dismissive they border on
derision. "Since we have not extended our (water) service area into the
corporate boundaries of (Lake Helen), we are not soliciting your input in
this matter at this time."
Lake Helen Mayor Mark Shuttleworth, who showed a flash of intemperance
himself by calling the neighboring city "a rampaging maverick," nevertheless
had the better take on neighborliness in suggesting a tack of
intergovernmental coordination and collaboration on growth management and
environmental protection. Lake Helen wants to extend its water service
boundary too. The city is also a friend of the court in the county's legal
challenge of Deltona's annexation of the Leffler ranch off S.R. 415. Deltona
and the landowner pushed the annexation to permit dense urban development of
land that obviously should be preserved in a conservation zone. That change,
too, would clearly have impact on Lake Helen.
Whatever Deltona's rights or needs, it ought to be at the table with its
smaller neighbor and Volusia County over issues so important to west
Volusia's comprehensive growth planning. Instead, the ensuing turf war will
make solutions to common problems even harder to achieve.
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1160
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org