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What do you think of the new blue signs being installed on 30-A?

  • Love them!

    Votes: 21 7.0%
  • Somewhat like them

    Votes: 12 4.0%
  • Neither like nor dislike them

    Votes: 24 8.1%
  • Somewhat dislike them

    Votes: 32 10.7%
  • They're horrid!

    Votes: 210 70.5%

  • Total voters
    298

Dave Rauschkolb

Beach Fanatic
Jul 13, 2005
1,006
790
Santa Rosa Beach
I applaud Dave's(and everyone's) efforts and certainly am glad to hear the optimistic take on today's meeting. I fear it is just more of the same: they "allow" the public 10 minutes and then hope the people will go away so they can continue business as usual...with almost no public input.

I have lived many places and my career was spent interacting with public officials, I have never seen public officials as arrogrant as the ones in Walton County...some other places were close, but it is as though Walton County officials take some pill once they are elected....whatever happened to the idea of government being the people's business?

It is my opinion that the only way this will be resolved in what we feel is a positive way--the signs removed--is for the community to rise up...the full time, part time, wanna be full time, wanna be part time, the tourists, many of whom have been coming here so long they are almost residents...in spirit anyway. Rise up and make our voices heard.

Can we get video interviews with people who are not physically here and get them to the meetings? Someone put it on YouTube....whatever Internet source is good....

have everyone write letters to the editors of all the papers; call the tv stations...make thousands of logo stickers...put together a campaign to remove the signs.


I am Witchya 100%
 

Dave Rauschkolb

Beach Fanatic
Jul 13, 2005
1,006
790
Santa Rosa Beach
I keep all of my Defuniak Springs Herald and Beach Breezes. Been getting it since early 2004. I'll go back and check them, but I'm pretty sure they didn't post a venue for public opinion on the signs. But, if they did post any examples of what the signs were gonna look like, do you know if they did so with respect to scale? Those puppies are huge.


Wow a treasure trove of DFS/Herald/BBreezes!!! Oh please see if you can find that issue and what the TDC considers a public notice! If it is minuscule that backs our argument all the more.
 

Dave Rauschkolb

Beach Fanatic
Jul 13, 2005
1,006
790
Santa Rosa Beach
First of all I want to thank all who came out and also those few who were allowed to speak who so eloquently stated their position; talk about staying on point and holding folks accountable.

The TDC board and soon to be former Executive Director, came across as arrogant, condescending, narcissistic, and downright unable to recognize that their $260,000 baby is just plain ugly. It was obvious that they wanted to procedure the issue away, with Ms. Titus even blurting out "it's Robert's Rule of Order" at one point. After the first two comments were allowed, Ms. Titus tried to put it all to an end by stating "we get the gist." Fortunately John Gillis agreed to allow more comment, even though he was the one who placed a 10 minute time limit on the entire discussion. Ken Gifford did state that he didn't like the signs and had warned the board about their placement. Mike Stange and Maurice Gilbert repeatedly lectured us on how this plan had been in the works for up to 7 years and "where were you 4, 6 years ago", and while Mary Brown tried to explain how the number of 'lost' tourists asking her for directions had dropped since the signs went up, she was less than believable.

The TDC board is an unelected, non-policy making board, charged with spending tax money that is collected from visitors. For the most part, what they decide has little impact on most citizens lives. Unfortunately, that makes their board meetings pretty low on the list of meetings that concerned citizens must take off work to attend. Yet they act incredulous that we hadn't attended their meetings back when these signs were being discussed. While the signs weren't negotiated in some backroom deal, they sure had good cover to work under knowing that so few would bother to attend their meetings. They were clearly overwhelmed by the large turnout, which was noted by another gentleman in the crowd as the largest ever.

I do hope that Tracy and Claire get the support they need to conduct productive workshop meeting(s). Looks like the BCC meeting will be a good place to express one's opinion once again.

BTW, thanks to Rapunzel I've got a 'Big Blue Monsters Must Go' sticker riding proudly on my jeep:D


Wow! Very good points! Now is the time to alert the newspapers and get them up to speed! I'll get on it. Monday I am going to be interviewed on Rap Line on WKGC 90.7 on this issue.
 

Alicia Leonard

SoWal Insider
Wow a treasure trove of DFS/Herald/BBreezes!!! Oh please see if you can find that issue and what the TDC considers a public notice! If it is minuscule that backs our argument all the more.

If anyone has an inkling of a date they ran this I can go through the archives Friday. I believe they ran a legal ad and that's probably it. That was probably the minimum required.;-)

No one reads the legals(including me until recently) and we all should. Lots of info in them. They're free online to read every week.......... http://www.defuniakherald.com/

The powers that be are working on a new website. When it comes online, I'll post a link.:wave:

We all work at supporting our local businesses(buy local) so please support your local independent press as well:D
 

wrobert

Beach Fanatic
Nov 21, 2007
4,134
575
61
DeFuniak Springs
www.defuniaksprings.com
Yes, well...that's difficult when Commissioners don't respond to repeated requests to be considered for such positions.

I have always been under the impression that they have more positions than people to fill them. I do not think you are going to step up into some positions immediately, but if you started serving somewhere, it would seem that you could easily move into a position that was something you had a passionate interest in. And you never know, Cindy Meadows was once on the planning commission and look at her now.

Scott Brannon, our BCC representative and a member of the TDC, was a no show for today's meeting. It was a meeting he must have realized was very important to a large number of his constituents. I am one of those constituents, and I must say that I've been disappointed by Mr. Brannon more often than not. I understand that he has a great deal of support in the the portion of his district north of the bay, but I agree that he doesn't seem to care much about the concerns of those of us in SoWal.

I agree that it is very aggravating to not see a paid representative at a meeting. I just volunteer for my position and I only think I have missed 3 meetings in 3 years due to conflicts.

But that certainly smells like a campaign issue to me, and we all know what a great organizer you are.........
 

up4golf

Beach Lover
Nov 23, 2007
147
0
Well, I believe the word "notice" might me misconstrued here. I am assuming the TDC did more than post a notice in the paper. I believe, and I may be giving more credit than is due, that the TDC showed the design in an article, perhaps with photos or a drawing. That is the type of "notice" I was talking about. I don't think it was in a "legals" format. My beef is that the public was "informed" in a relatively obscure paper and only one paper at that.
it should have been in the ny times or wsj ? if you live in walton county you should read the herald/breeze also.
 

TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
I want to mention that I read TooFarTampa's Letter to the TDC out loud in the meeting.
:blush: A big thanks to YOU for all the hard work; wish I could have been there in person.

I keep all of my Defuniak Springs Herald and Beach Breezes. Been getting it since early 2004. I'll go back and check them, but I'm pretty sure they didn't post a venue for public opinion on the signs. But, if they did post any examples of what the signs were gonna look like, do you know if they did so with respect to scale? Those puppies are huge.


5thgen, the timeline Walton GOP posted well upthread indicated that the final bid selection was made in August, at which time the Walton Sun and NWFDN printed (or were provided -- the timeline does not specify) "artist renderings." Chrisv provided this link to a NWFDN story that may or may not have had art accompany it in the actual paper:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/scienc...es_in_walton_tdc_wants_visitors_to/index.html

So I would think you should look in your August and September editions to see if the TDC printed an announcement, and whether there may have been a rendering in there.

I have lived many places and my career was spent interacting with public officials, I have never seen public officials as arrogrant as the ones in Walton County...some other places were close, but it is as though Walton County officials take some pill once they are elected....whatever happened to the idea of government being the people's business?

It is my opinion that the only way this will be resolved in what we feel is a positive way--the signs removed--is for the community to rise up...the full time, part time, wanna be full time, wanna be part time, the tourists, many of whom have been coming here so long they are almost residents...in spirit anyway. Rise up and make our voices heard.

It has appeared to me for awhile that officials in Walton County have long been used to little or no oversight. Maybe I am spoiled, since I live in a market that has two major newspapers and a few decent TV stations, but officials here in Tampa/St. Petersburg are well aware that any offhand comment in a public meeting or seemingly small agenda item could become the subject of a major story that is read by 200,000 people. Very little of the really obnoxious crap that has gone on in Walton County would hold up to such scrutiny.

I'm thinking specifically of the Ro Cutchens situation where his own company was responsible for erecting seawalls that were not in compliance with the law -- are you kidding me? But there have been so many other smaller things that have come up where it is obvious that those "in charge" aren't used to hearing a lot of noisy, unrelenting feedback from different sources, and as a result the old-boy network or whatever you call it is still the default method of getting things done.

But with growth comes the influx of new money, new opinions, new influences. They asked for growth, they get everything that comes with it. The old way of doing things is just unacceptable, when you have out of town owners paying a HUGE percentage of the taxes that go to the county's coffers. Those people's voices deserve to be heard. And of course now there are more full time residents in SoWal to join together and really pay attention to what is happening. Responsible leaders will at least make an effort to respond properly. This whole sign issue seems kind of like a test case to me -- what happens when all of a sudden thousands of people are talking about this huge mistake, and not just talking about it, but actively protesting it? The defensiveness that Punzy and others noted today is a sign that at least some people aren't thrilled with the idea of changing the ways things get done.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
:blush: Responsible leaders will at least make an effort to respond properly.

This is what frustrates me the most: they apparently do not care what the public thinks or wants!:bang:
 

Amy W2

Beach Crab
Feb 13, 2008
1
0
Maybe signs this big and bright would be actually useful if placed on Hwy 98. I should think that directions to the respective beach communities would be more needed in a situation where a turn from the main drag (Hwy 98) is necessary. How hard is it to find a particular beach in a case where they are all lined up on one street (30A)? The simple place markers that we had were fine. The beach you are looking for is either straight ahead- keep going, or you have passed through it already- turn around and go back. Anyway- at highway speeds the signs would not be so bad- maybe they can revised and moved to better locations so the money already spent would not be wasted.
 
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