Headline Surfer videos by Henry Frederick / These videos were shot during the New Smyrna Beach Shrimp and Seafood Festival on Flagler Avenue. What started off as an attempt to report positive news soon turned sour thanks to Traders bar owner Dave Fernandez and three of his bar patrons who did their best to try and block the 24/7 internet newspaper's video camera shoot. And with good reason. As it turned out Fernandez didn't have a permit to serve or allow customers to drink on the public sidewalk in front of the bar. Though the city is looking the other way, Headline Surfer has alerted state liquor authorities.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The bullying of Traders bar owner Dave Fernandez has become a popular video on Youtube. It has rocketed to No. 13 among the most popular videos on our YouTube channel.
As of 2 a.m. the second of two videos labeled "Bar Bullies Harass Reporter on Public Street" had 727 views.
What I love most about this video is how it demonstrates the lack of class of the owner, Dave Fernandez, and his cast of goons. Let's be real about this: The video clearly shows they have no class. None. Is this the New Smyrna charm Mayor Adam Barringer talks about?
After all, he and Fernandez are boyhood friends. The mayor took care of his friend last October, securing a $60,000 CRA grant for a "significant facade", meaning fancy windows where they can be swung open and beers handed through to patrons sitting in a beer garden.
What I didn't know the night of the New Smyrna Beach Shrimp and Seafood Festival, but have since learned why Fernandez and his goons were so eager to block my video camera: They had no permit to serve or allow alcohol consumption in a public setting. The shrimp festival was a dry party.
Headline Surfer photo by Serafina Frederick / Complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics continue to mount against New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer and at least a couple more are expected.
That explains why the other bars on Flagler were only serving soft drinks out in front of their bars. But like Barringer, Fernandez thinks he's entitled.
So what did the cops do when I called them. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
In fact, when the arriving officer got there, something happened that had nothing to do with me, but I'm saving it for a story. It's a real shocker, too.
The behavior exhibited by Fernandez is symptomatic of that exhibited at New Smyrna Beach City Hall led by the mayor and City Manager Pamela Brangaccio. That the mayor and city manager are both facing multiple state ethics charges should come as no surprise.
The behavior exhibited by Fernandez is symptomatic of that exhibited at New Smyrna Beach City Hall led by the mayor and City Manager Pamela Brangaccio. That the mayor and city manager are both facing multiple state ethics charges should come as no surprise.
They say I'm destroying this city with my reporting, though they don't give me credit as a reporter. Instead, they dismiss me as a "blogger."
But the stories we produce are all too real and are easily found in the major online search engines and news directories of Google, Bing and Yahoo. No matter how much they try to keep a lid on their insider wheeling and dealing, they can't stop us from reporting the news.
I find it ironic that the first cop who showed up was officer Ralph Hunnefeld, who was on the receiving end of the mayor's sarcastic handshake after he walked up to him when he was waved off the side street and said to him in no uncertain terms: "Thanks for bering a pr-ck!" before getting back in his "Barringer Construction pick-up truck and driving off.
Then Barringer climbed aboard a fire truck to give his phony wave to the masses during the ride down from Flagler to the North Causeway, Riverside Drive and down Canal Street in the heart of the Community Redevelopment Agency district where the mayor and his insider friends have feasted since he was first elected in 2009.
Barringer was supposed to be the outsider, the newcomer with smarts, who was going to bring New Smyrna Beach forward. All he's managed to do is smirk and scoff at those who dare question his behind the scenes moves that take care of his friends.
With millions in CRA tax dollars at his disposal, the mayor could have built a parking garage on the beachside.. He could have installed badly needed sidewalks for the roads springing off bustling Flagler.
Instead, Barringer and his elected commissioner colleagues have spent $2 million on bars and restaurants that emphasize beer and wines, along with advertising and promotions for alcohol-fueled street festivals that supplement the Flagler bars in the past five years.
Those commissioners are Jack Grasty, Judy Reiker and newcomers Jason McGuirk, who replaced Jim Hathaway and Lynne Plaskett in the last election cycle when they opted not to seek re-election.
Plaskett had a whole host of family and financial problems, including foreclosure of her home and Hathaway was defeated in his bid for a seat on the county council in the November elections.
In fact, it was a private party held for Hathaway at Barringer's wine-bar restaurant, SoNapa Grille,for some 45 guests just days after his election defeat, whose $30 dinners were paid for with a city credit card that led to the first of the ethics complaints against Barringer and Brangaccio.
This is not the first time, of course, that Barringer has tried to line his own pockets through the use of his elected office. Two years ago, he had friend Chad Schilsky appointed to the CRA commission where Schilsky quickly sought a $20,000 grant to fix up his own restaurant, That's Amore.
And who was one of the contractors? Low and behold, Barringer Construction.
Being that he's experienced and all, City Attorney Frank Gummey, who is paid a whopping $215,000 annual salary (thanks to a previous commission that included Hathaway and Plaskett) ruled that as long as Schilsky and Barringer abstained in their respective commission votes, the deal was fine.
But as fate would have it, it wasn't fine.Not only was it improper, it was against the law.
Then-consulting attorney Mark Hall wrote a letter to the city saying it was against the law for CRA commission members to benefit from such deals.
Schilsky was surprised as anyone, summoned to Brangaccio's office where he was told to sign a letter he didn't even write, stating he would not accept the money. In the end, Schilsky ended up paying for everything out of his own pocket, including Barringer Construction.
Hathaway was incensed, stopping short of criticizing Barringer directly. And with good reason. At the time, his son had just graduated from law school and was hired by Hall's law firm.
Of course, the ripple effect was another CRA commission member, Jim Kosmas, had to pay back a $2,500 grant he received a couple years prior. Both he and Schilsky quit.
But before the CRA was disbanded in favor of the elected commissioners ands mayor taking it over, they acted asa "de facto" CRA, getting $50,000 in rent subsidies for former Mayor Sally Mackay's Canal Street artisan factory, The Hub.
Not only that, but Mackay's 2009 campaign manager, Gerard J. Pendergast, was designated as the CRA's official architect, without the formalities of any competitive bidding.
This ensured Mackay, who lost by mere percentage points to the upstart Barringer, would not try and unseat him last year. With her out of the picture, Barringer ran without opposition and was automatically re-seated last year for another two years.
Headline Surfer videos produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / Critical issues and divisiveness involving the New Smyrna Beach CRA and the City Commission are aired at City Hall in these Jan. 19, 2012 videos. In the video at far right (second row) produced Feb. 14, 2012, the City Commission acts as a de facto CRA in approving $50,000 in CRA rent subsidies for former Mayor Sally Mackay's Hub on Canal Street.
In the Nov. 29, 2011 video at left, Mayor Adam Barringer refuses to take responsibility for his role in Chad Schilsky having to pay back a CRA grant that the mayor's family business piggybacking on. Schilsky end up paying nearly $20,000 out of his own pocket, including Barringer Construction. In the two videos at right produced Dec. 5, 2011, Barringer is taken to task for his role in the Schilsky affair.