Daytona Beach residents were AOL'ed by the media and DBAVCB

The residents of Daytona Beach have been blinded and guided into not adopting a 'visioning plan' presented by A. Nelessen Associates like a AOL first time user. Just as thousands of AOL users have never seen a true web browser and are led by the hand in the on line activities, such was the case in the overwhelming dismissal of the proposed visioning plan. A plan that cost the city in excess of 250,000 dollars was never given a chance according to the president of A. Nelessen Associates in a statement to the Daytona News Journal here. EDIT: Hmm, it appears that the letter was somehow deleted from the online edition of the Daytona newspaper. Not a problem, you can read the letter here

After reading the statement and looking at what the vision plan actually entailed, it was clear that the residents of Daytona Beach either never were shown the vision, or it was held only in context. The statement released today from Mr. Nelessen tells how his vision plan for the city of Daytona Beach being rejected was a first. The vision it seems called for too much viewable area of the beach being left undeveloped when according to the Daytona Chamber it would be better used building hotel lobbies with restaurants and shops. If you want to see the 'worlds most famous beach" you will have to pay to drive on it or view it from a balcony. The vision also called for too many acres of unspoiled wildlife area being left untouched. The recommendations by the chamber feels that these areas would be better put to use by building housing projects on them to lessen the population density in the downtown and beach areas.
The Daytona Beach City Commission and the Chamber expressed their disappointment that Mr. Nelessen's vision plan made no mention of the area's huge resources like the Daytona International Speedway. They were also miffed that he did not include tourism and special events like Biketober and Bike Week (that they are wanting to downscale) in his vision for the city. The city felt that because these resources generate millions of dollars, they needed to be included in a vision.
The recommendation also points out that Daytona Beach has evolved from a single city into a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) encompassing New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange to the south, and Ormond Beach, Palm Coast, and Flagler Beach to the north. Really?