Palm Bay Works 2009 rejected by voters

The $75.2 million Palm Bay Works 2009 bond referendum failed yesterday with 56.5 percent of voters voting against the project. Less than 13 percent of the city’s 60,617 registered voters turned out to cast their ballots.

Some advocates of the referendum, like Palm Bay City Manager Lee Feldman, explained that the program was based on the (Keynesian) premise that government spending on public works projects spurs economic activity, and believe that FDR and the New Deal are what got us out of the Great Depression.
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City of Palm Bay spends taxpayer money to promote higher taxes

I received the memo below from Palm Bay City Councilwoman Kristine Isnardi, the only Palm Bay City Council member to vote “no” on the Palm Bay Works Referendum.

It seems the City of Palm Bay wasn’t content to have the Greater Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce lead the charge in promoting the referendum. Nope, they actually spent taxpayer dollars and paid staff to put out signs to promote the referendum.
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So Many Errors, So Little Time

The following missive was sent to the brevardpoliticaljournal.com in response to an article I had written identifying the latest Palm Bay tax-borrow-and-spend ‘job creation’ program to the New Deal of President Franklin Roosevelt and his Brain Trusters. I have always said once an individual moves off the track of facts and moves onto the tracks of personalities, it is a sure fire way of knowing they realize they have lost their argument on its merits. The author below clearly recognizes his cause is lost on the factual debate. So, let me respond to as many comments below as I can in one night.
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What is Seen, and What is Not Seen in Palm Bay

More than 150 years ago Frederic Bastiat wrote his famous essay, “What is seen, and what is not seen”. As the City of Palm Bay moves to put their Mini-Me New Deal to the ballot, what is seen is money will be spent by the city ($13 million) to allegedly create jobs.

What is not seen is how many jobs may have been created had the citizens been permitted to spend their own money as they saw fit. The entire thought of of a city taxing people (a job destroying mechanism) to create other jobs is a scene straight from the Michael Moore film of years ago, Roger and Me, where the city of Flint, Michigan, bedeviled by thousands of laid off autoworkers, builds a tourist attraction called Auto World to ’stimulate’ tourism and ‘create’ jobs. I expect Palm Bay will be as successful as Flint.
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The Palm Bay New Deal: Palm Bay Works 2009

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It’s 1933 again in Palm Bay 

Palm Bay, following the leads of Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, is planning to go to referendum to get Palm Bay working again! I understand paving roads and although I do not trust the numbers being given by the City of Palm Bay , I really do understand asphalt.

 That said, embedded in a referendum which should be about major road improvement we find:

• Provide $8M for a job creation grant program, $2M for infrastructure improvements related to job creation, and $3M for existing local business expansion and job retention grants.

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New Titusville mayor takes on strategic plan

By Jessica Raynor
Florida Today

Jim Tulley wants to take on the city’s strategic plan as one of the first issues he’ll tackle as Titusville’s new mayor.

It’s an issue that will be brought before a new council tonight, with new Titusville City Councilor Martha Jane Long sitting in Tulley’s vacated council member’s seat.
Read more at Florida Today…

Palm Bay Road project on schedule

By George White
Florida Today

QUESTION: Is the project to widen Palm Bay Road on schedule, and when will it be completed?

ANSWER: The project widening Palm Bay Road from four to six lanes for 4.5 miles between Minton Road and Robert J. Conlan Boulevard is on schedule for a fall 2010 completion date, said Stephanie Evans, public involvement coordinator for the Florida Department of Transportation.
Read more at Florida Today…

LIVE! Election night coverage with Isnardi, Ellis & Space Coast Politics

Space Coast Politics will be streaming live video via the Internet from the Supervisor of Elections office on election night.

Space Coast Politics contributor Dawn Hooley and I will be reporting for Dave Isnardi and Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis, who will be broadcasting from the WMMB AM studios from 8 to 11pm.

Tune in to Dave and Scott on WMMB, or load up the Space Coast Politics web page for intelligent commentary and blow by blow analysis of the results as they come in.

Florida Today Live Streaming Video

Florida Today deploys new live video feed as part of storm coverage.

Cocoa to increase water fees by 15%

Florida Today
COCOA — The city council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to increase water rates to its 80,000 customers starting Oct. 1. Mayor Michael Blake cast the dissenting vote.
[Read more at Florida Today]

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