She says blight, not street parties, intent of taxpayer-funded initiative

Video produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / County Council at-large member Joyce Cusack answers tough questions in Headline Surfer's online newsmaker show, 'The Sunday Conversation.' 

DELAND -- County Council at-large member Joyce Cusack believes the time is at hand for she and her colleagues to take a critical look at how CRAs are being managed by the cities before and if any new agreements are struck as the current ones begin to sunset.

There are currently 16 Community Redevelopment Agencies in place throughout the county with the CRA in New Smyrna Beach the closest to sunset in 2015, after a 30-year run. Much of the funding has been spent rehabbing bars and nighttime street parties with alcohol as the main draw under the philosophy of "feet on the street" as opposed to dealing with "bricks and mortar" to deal wih blight to improve economic development.

New Smyrna Beach is trying for yet another CRA district, even including some of the areas already fundedsuch as Canal Street. Edgewater and Otange City also are seeking CRA districts.

But Cusack and her colleagues, especially new County Chair Jason Davis, are not too keen on the idea of CRAs based on the present and past histories.

The New Smyrna Beach City Commission, for example, in October awarded $20,000 in CRA funding to Dave Fernandez of Trader's, to renovate his Flagler Avenue bar. Fernadez is the boyhood friend of Mayor Adam Barringer and Flagler Avenue, the beachside hub, is among the most prosperous streets in the city.

The Daytona Beach City Commission awarded more than $6,000 to the merchants of Beach Street for a New Year's Eve street party, where the street was closed off and drinking in public was allowed. The event drew 20,000 people, many of them parents with small children who were exposed to the adult-oriented theme of ringing in the new year with plenty of booze and fraternizing.

Cusack, who grew up in New Smyrna Beach and resides in DeLand, said that's not the image she wants or the purpose of CRA districts. She discussed the issue Thursday during the lunch hour in the council chambers in the Thomas A. Kelly Administration Building in DeLand, following a morning swearing in ceremony for newly elected members.

Cusack, elected to the council in 2009, after serving eight years in the Florida House of Representatives, rising to the rank of  Democratic Leader pro tempore, the second highest party member, handed the gavel of acting chair to Davis. In two years, she'll be term limited as the at-large member of the council. She'll have to decide whether she'll retire or possibly run against Davis for the chairmanship two years after that.

You can watch the The Sunday Conversation with Cusack by clicking the video at the top of the story.

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