Opinion: Cocoa Beach at Crossroad with Election
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| Photo Credit: Mark Clancey |
In
the world famous tourist mecca of Cocoa Beach, do residents
matter? Incumbent City Commissioner Skip Williams says they do
and uses it as his motto and reelection rallying cry. Red and
white campaign signs and bumper stickers all over town
proclaim “Residents Matter.” But do they, really?
What
if two candidates who are heavily backed by the tourism and
development lobby win election, knocking Williams out creating
a solid majority on the city commission? Local hotel owners
and developers spent big last election to seat commercial
mortgage banker Ben Malik on the city commission, and now
they’re spending large to defeat Williams, who takes no
campaign contributions and is self-financed.
What
do the special interests want? A more favorable regulatory
environment, and big property tax breaks. Hotel owners and
Orlando developers want residents to subsidize their
commercial projects by granting them special exemptions to
property tax reassessments whenever they improve or expand. A
local ballot referendum would give this special interest lobby
tax breaks it desperately wants, subsidies that residential
property owners like you and I will pay for in the form of
higher taxes and reduced services.
So,
do residents matter? Voters will decide.
Mark
Clancey
Cocoa
Beach
