From: MUFFYORKTo: MUFFYORKSent: 8/30/2009 2:23:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight TimeSubj: A1A
Have you driven A1A from Dunlawton to Belair Plaza recently? It is a depressing example of rapid urban decay. From vacant fields overgrown with weeds to abandoned buildings and closed down businesses with "Out of Order' signs there is absolutely nothing to invite tourists and families to spend vacation time here. A motley assortment of panhandlers and homeless people cause visual blight. I cannot imagine anyone feeling safe to walk the street, especially after dark.
Daytona Beach, long touted to be "The World's Most Famous Beach', has precious little left to recommend it. Given the fact that we have fantastic weather year round and magnificent golf courses and that the beach is 23 miles of sandy white delight, we will always have a level of desirability to some diehard beach goers but we are not getting our fair share of tourist business because somewhere along the line, the city gave up.
What do have to promote? Where are the Special Events? Yes, we have 4 days of NASCAR business during the Daytona 500 and a few days of Bike Week in March but little else. All those who shudder at the thought of Spring Break and BCR should remember that every hotel room provides 12.5% tourist tax divided between the State and the County. It is fine to discourage one form of business but clearly a new plan should follow the abandonment of the old one.
Where are the planners and promoters? Why is there no vitality in reaching out to form activities and events to bring back our beach and fill it with happy vacationers spreading the word that Daytona Beach is a fun-filled clean attractive safe place for families to vacation?
I thought that economic hard times would be a help to our tourist business. People who could not afford to cruise the Caribbean or jet off to Hawaii could pile the family into the car and drive to Daytona. But...what is there for them to do once they get here? Not much and not enough.
I remember the throngs of spectators cheering on Beach Volleyball at the Olympics...why not here? Why not marathons and regattas and bike racing and dog shows and backgammon tournaments and dog competitions and treasure hunts and motivational speakers....on and on. Why not build a pagoda on the beach and promote beach weddings on the World's Most Famous Beach?
It is true that the newly expanded Convention Center has been built to attract conferences but this seems to have become the domain of the Hilton Hotel across the street from the center.
So, where do we go from here? I keep thinking 'someone' should do something. 'Someone' needs to organize the energy of this town and bring it back to life.
I now realize that I am 'someone' and so I am 'someone' in search of others who want to form a group which will actively seek out organizations and events which can restore our vitality and replace our tarnished image with a new brand.
We certainly do not need more tattoo parlors or T-shirt stores but we could definitely prosper from redesigning our tourist activities which would fill our hotels and from this influx of people and money our secondary businesses could prosper and grow to service that business.
In short, we need to band together to build up our tourist business because whining won't change a thing!
Carol A. Collett GM
Daytona Inn Beach Resort
219 S. Atlantic Ave.
Daytona Beach, FL
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Open The Beach, the locals come back, patronize A1A stores to the extent necessary for them to stay open year round therefore creating destination for tourists. Where did we go wrong you ask? The County gave away beach access and added tolls to our beach, waves of campaign contributions to the creeps that created CRAs, and these people are is still to this day like a vampire on the throat of Daytona Beach. StandDaytona.com
ReplyDeleteCarol, You have nailed it. Yes, we are in a decline and have been for a very long time. The biker events are all but moved out of the area and into the Destination Daytona locations. The NASCAR events are far and few between and hardly support the community with revenues. I do not see any event or activity that will create a positive dollar flow within the Daytona area. So who or what is too blame?....that is the question? But how to regenerate some life into an old failing township is the bigger question that needs to be answered! Your ideas are sound and you right as to wanting to organize a movement. It takes a few people with some really great ideas to generate some enthusiasm and the ball begins to roll. We need a lot of balls rolling in and around the area to overcome our downward spiral. Within the next couple of years I can foresee the Beach Street area totally abandoned as well as the Main Street Pier area. Along with that will go other supporting street merchants. The ONLY thing that we will have left in Daytona is residential housing/condos and a few restaurants. I do not see tourist coming to the area but for only a day or two stay...they now simply drive over from Orlando and spend the day at the beach and head back to spend the majority of the dollars in and around the many attractions.
ReplyDeleteI look for Daytona to enter into the mega-retirement zone in the near future and perhaps become another Villages Type Community...if we can keep the taxes down!!!!