Flagler Hospitality events strong on alcohol; weak on desired 'feet on the street'
NSBNews.net videos and photo by Henry Frederick / The video to the left was shot during Biketoberfest showing a sparse crowd for the Chili and Chaps event on Flagler Avenue. The video to the right shows Halloween revelers drinking alcohol outside bars on the public sidewalks in violation of the law. Both events were sponsored by the Flagler Hospitality with $13,000 in taxpayer funding from the Community Redevelopment Agency and approved by the New Smyrna Beach City Commission.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Two young men in Halloween costumes standing on the sidewalk in front of the Om Bar on Flagler Avenue yell out "police brutality" as a cop car heads east toward the beach parking lot. Both are drinking beers purchased from inside the bar.
The ease of drinking on the sidewalks is a refrain throughout the night during the sparsely attended Monday night "Flagler Avenue Halloween New Smyrna Ween Creepy Crawl," sponsored by the Flagler Avenue Hospitality Group, with $6,500 in funding from the Community Redevelopment Agency.
A video shot by NSBNews.net shows adult Halloween revelers standing outside Flagler Avenue bars on the sidewalks drinking open containers of alcohol in violation of the law. Cell phone messages left for Mayor Adam Barringer, Vice Mayor And Commissioner Judy Reiker and Commissioners Jack Grasty and Lynne Plaskett were not returned to NSBNews.net.
Commissioner Jim Hathaway said this is not the type of event espoused by the city yet he, the mayor and fellow commissioners approved $64,000 in CRA funding at a Sept. 27 City Commission meeting under the "consent agenda" where public participation is not allowed.
NSBNews.net questioned the vote during the subsequent public participation because $46,000 of the $64,000 in funding was requested for event advertising, which went to Daytona Beach-based Black Crow Media, which shares some of the funding with the weekly Observer newspaper.
No CRA advertising was afforded WSBB Radio on Canal Street nor to NSBNews.net, the 24/7 online newspaper operating under a home occupation license in Sugar Mill.
Black Crow recently emerged from bankruptcy. The Observer newspaper left Flagler Avenue after its owners were told to leave last spring for non-payment of rent, retreating to their home in Edgewater, which is now in foreclosure.
Three days after the commission meeting, the mayor pulled his ads for his wine bar restaurant and his family construction business as well as his blog with NSBNews.net. He has refused to speak with NSBNews.net since then, saying only in an e-mail: "Henry, by way of this email, please remove all advertising for SoNapa and Barringer Construction. Furthermore, my writings as mayor have been inconsistent and realize that I cannot commit to any future 'blogs.'"
Last month's "Chili and Chaps" event on Flagler Avenue was a major flop with little more than a few hundred people on the avenue during the course of the Biketoberfest event. And the Halloween night "Creepy Crawl" event didn't fare much better, despite each event having $6,500 in advertising designated to promote them.
And while the Flagler Hospitality Group received the collective $13,000 in advertising from the CRA for the two events, funding for both of these events this year was denied by the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority.
NSBNews.net witnessed people at the Chili and Chaps event walking the sidewalks with open containers of alcohol and its video camera recorded drinking on the public sidewalk during the Halloween night event.
And while NSBNews.net captured a New Smyrna Beach patrol car passing through Flagler Avenue on Halloween night, there was no police presence during the Chili and Chaps event, which was closed to vehicular traffic with the exception of motorcycles.
Security was provided instead for the hospitality group by Black Crow, whose personnel did not ask anyone consuming alcohol to take their drinks inside. At least not while NSBNews.net was on the avenue for a couple of hours during the afternoon biker event.
NSBNews.net relayed what it had witnessed on Halloween night, including a shot taken with the video camera of a bench with its billboard back snapped in half that night by vandals. Police Department spokesman Lt. Mike Brouillette left a telephone message Friday asking NSBNews.net to consider having police inspect the video for possible information on the vandalism. Brouillette did not offer any statement on the issue of public drinking. NSBNews.net was unable to get back to him before the close of the business day.
A sworn cop with the NSBPD, who spoke to NSBNews.net on condition of anonymity, said the public drinking is a violation of the city's ordinance and those caught drinking would be charged with a misdemeanor offense. Any bars allowing this could lose their liquor license.
"We don't like these drinking events either," the police source said. "We don't have the manpower to babysit these events. You'll see officers at the events there on Flagler and Canal Street that are sponsored by the city."
"We don't like these drinking events either," the police source said. "We don't have the manpower to babysit these events. You'll see officers at the events there on Flagler and Canal Street that are sponsored by the city."
Commissioner Hathaway, who is running for the dist. 3 seat on the Volusia County Council, said the city allowed the hospitality group to allow for drinking outside the bars in designated seating areas roped off from festival visitors. These two events were not included and any public possession of open containers of alcohol is prohibited, period, Hathaway stressed.
The Hospitality group under Elaine Statakis, manager of the Om Bar, and the CRA, have said funding for these alcohol-related events was just justified because they "put feet on the street" a slogan referencing what they interpret as economic development. The police source doesn't see it that way: "These are nothing more than a way for the bars to push the alcohol and make money for themselves at the expense of the taxpayers. They drink the night away and then get in their cars and drive home drunk."
No elected officials attended the Creepy Crawl event; essentially five bars providing spirits for adult Halloween revelers, with women dressed in skimpy and provocative costumes and men adorned in a variety of get ups. The common denominator was booze and $5,000 in prize money for creative costumes.
"These are not the family events," Hathaway said, adding he plans to discuss the alcohol situation at an upcoming City Commission visioning session."
"These are not the family events," Hathaway said, adding he plans to discuss the alcohol situation at an upcoming City Commission visioning session."
