NSBNews.net wishes everyone a happy and prosperous 2012 as we continue our mission of reporting the news with a priority on New Smyrna Beach where we remain the lone media outlet providing 24/7 news coverage.
For the record, we stand alone. We are not affiliated with any other websites, news or not, period. Our mission is to hold local government accountable to the public, that means, New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater and Oak Hill on the municipal level and Volusia County government. To a lesser extent, we'll deal with Volusia County's other cities as well.
Plus, we're expanding our coverage to include breaking news anywhere and everywhere in the Sunshine State when we can get our hands on it.
We are small with a limited budget, but few thought we'd cover what we have. As for advertising, the efforts by those in New Smyrna Beach government and among a few merchant leaders is going nowhere. Same with the leadership of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, which has a lot of explaining to do about its finances and its blatant media bias.
2012 is the year of the elections and we'll be pushing really hard on making the incumbents and announced candidates answer the important questions, among the first being this: Why doesn't New Smyrna Beach post information about qualifying? So far, there is one announced candidate: Jason McGuirk, who is running for a seat on the city commission. We'll have a story on how much he's raised so far. We had to ask for it through a public records request.
The incumbents, Commissioner Lynne Plaskett and Mayor Adam Barringer stand to benefit benefit the longer the public is left in the dark about who is running. While it's too early to make any concrete predictions, should Plaskett and Barringer wait until the last minute to qualify, then perhaps New Smyrna Beach's commission could face the same ugly situation Oak Hill finds itself in, with a majority of the board not elected by the people.
A couple of months ago, Commissioner Judy Reiker told me she believed if that scenario were to hold true, it would be because the residents of New Smyrna Beach are pleased with the work of the commission. Really, Commissioner Reiker? Really? You couldn't even take the time to respond to a media question asking for your input on the announced closing of Kmart and the dozens of people who will lose their jobs.
None of them responded -- Barringer, Jim Hathaway, Jack Grasty and Plaskett -- though Plaskett thought better a couple of days later and gave a response.
Any politician in New Smyrna Beach boasting of economic success had better be prepared to answer media questions. It's 2012, and NSBNews.net is going to do everything possible to make sure New Smyrna Beach operates in the Sunshine and justifies the spending of taxpayer money, including the New Year's bash on Flagler Avenue that clearly benefited the bars. We'll have more on this in our investigative series: "Show Me the Money: New Smyrna Beach."
