Local Political Leaders Meet to Discuss Future of The World’s Most Famous Beach

Politicians from Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, and Ponce Inlet along with Volusia County officials met on Tuesday to discuss upgrading facilities, removing the beach toll and restoring the luster to Daytona Beach beaches.

James Miller reported today at the Daytona Beach News Journal online about the meeting. You can read about the meeting there, but I want to make a few points as a local citizen and Daytona Beach real estate agent.

The beach is one of our most precious resources and I laud Mayor Glenn Richey of Daytona Beach for calling the meeting and starting the discussion. What we all need to remember is that the beach is a public treasure and that the cities and county are responsible for maintaining the beaches and providing for public safety services.

We have beautiful beaches, but the facilities around the beaches are minimal and what we have needs upgrades and replacement. We are competing for tourist and entertainment dollars and we need top notch services. Make Daytona beaches a national / international showcase.

Think BIG!

Let’s step out of the small town mental straight-jacket and let’s do something that will attract visitors from around the country and around the world. What might that be? Get on the bus and go to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Go to Santa Monica and Santa Barbara and then say publicly that our pier is world class. Go to the European beaches and see how they cater to beach goers with beachfront restaurants, cafes and sun bathing facilities. There’s a lot that can be done.

If the area was willing to spend millions of dollars to publically finance the NASCAR Hall of Fame, we should be willing to spend millions to generate what is really most valuable to the area - tourist dollars.

Let’s go above and beyond the simple maintenance and safety of the beach to making it not only the “World’s Most Famous Beach” to “The World’s Favorite Beach.”

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