May 2020

Our Elected Officials……….3 Mayor Derrick: Coronavirus relief Sheriff Chitwood: Sacrifices Zone 1 Trager: Items of note for Daytona Beach

A Native Remembers: Rattlesnakes …….…….....…..6 Save Our Neighborhoods: SON Update ……………….7 Fundraiser Info………….….8 From the Chief of Police…..9 Living in Lockdown (humor)……………..……….10

Our newsletter sure has been an

excellent way for our Community Group to stay informed and to still experience that sense of community we all enjoy. This month’s newsletter covers the Covid-19 pandemic thoroughly.

These are strange times to be in the middle of our annual fundraiser. We have raised $4,280 with our goal of $6,000. I had to have a look at where we were last year at this time, and we had received $4,416. We are not that far behind last year, and we still have hopes of reaching our goal. See page 8 to see our 2020 Donor list to date. Thank you!

We are not meeting this month, but we hope to resume our meetings in June. This is BCG’s fourteenth year. Before this year, we have had to cancel only one meeting due to terrible weather. Talk about persistence! Thanks for coming along with us for this wild ride.

Just to share some nostalgia, I thought it would be nice to have a look at some photos from our 2007 Christmas Party.

Enjoy.

Because we cannot guarantee your safety and because we

love our residents and friends, Bellaire Community Group meetings are suspended for the foreseeable future. We’ll

continue to keep you informed of events that affect us.

Stay healthy! Follow the

recommendations of public health professionals and the Centers for Disease Control,

and know that when this passes, as it will, BCG will be

so very glad to see you.

Bella

ire Community Group

2

(con’t from page 1)

This is our favorite part of the Christmas Party (after the wonderful meals shared by our residents): the dancing!

Clear the floor for line dancing with Nancy Koenig!

Thanks for the journey, Steve Koenig

Bellaire Community Group

2000 N. Halifax

Daytona Beach, FL 32118

2020 Officers Chair

Steve Koenig Office: 386.257.6700 Cell: 386.795.0023

steve@koenigrealty.com

Vice Chair Paul Zimmerman, Founder

386.316.6259 ptzimm@bellsouth.net

Treasurer and

Marketing Manager Nancy Koenig 386.679.3363

nancy@koenigrealty.com

Contributors Paul Zimmerman Weegie Kuendig

Craig Capri Mike Chitwood

Ruth Trager Derrick Henry Steve Koenig

Vol 14, Issue 5: May 2020

Call Us Today – 386-257-6700

YOUR REFERRALS AREGREATLY APPRECIATED!

Contact us for a 10 minute onsite priceconsultation on your property.

Call 386-257-6700

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Our Elected Officials

Derrick Henry, Mayor of

Daytona Beach There are two financial assistance programs available to help

Daytona Beach residents who either rent or have mortgages and have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For renters, the city is offering an assistance program for income-eligible residents. See the income limits to the right. The rental assistance program is intended to provide financial relief to low-to-moderate income Daytona Beach residents who have been furloughed, lost employment, or have had work hours reduced. Assistance includes rental payments, with a two-month maximum assistance per household. Maximum assistance is capped at $1,500 per month and $3,000 total per household. Assistance payments will only be made to the property landlord or rental property management companies and applicants must not have been in delinquency status prior to March 11. The program has limited funds and applications will be accepted until the funds are depleted. Appointments must be made to begin the screening process and to submit completed applications and provide documentation. Appointments can be made by calling Central Florida Community Development Corporation at (386) 226-1216 or Mid-Florida Housing Partnership Corporation at (386) 274-4441, ext. 301 and 304.

For homeowners, Volusia

County’s Community Assistance Division is accepting applications for homeowners needing assistance with paying their mortgages. Mortgage assistance may be provided to eligible households for up to three months and is capped at $1,500 a month. The program includes assistance for eligible households for payment of late, current and, if they remain eligible, future payments. Applicants must have a current mortgage statement in their name and be able to document a loss of income as a direct result of COVID-19. Additionally, the dwelling must be in Volusia County, the mortgage must have been current as of March 13, and the household income must be at or below the area median income level, which is listed below. Assistance will be provided on a first-ready, first-served basis. A limited number of applications will be accepted based on funding availability.

The mortgage application package can be found at www.volusia.org/C19MA. Completed applications may be submitted through the website or by mail to: Community Assistance, c/o COVID-19 Mortgage Assistance, 110 W. Rich Ave., DeLand, FL 32720

APPLICANT HOUSEHOLD SIZE MAXIMUM ANNUAL INCOME TO BE ELIGIBLE1 person household $36,350

2 person household $41,550

3 person household $46,750

4 person household $51,900

5 person household $56,100

6 person household $60,250

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Printed in Daytona Beach at

735 N. Ridgewood Ave. • Daytona Beach(386) 252-6571

4 Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood

As we enter the third month of

the pandemic, I want to remind everyone of the many heroes during these difficult days: our health-care workers.

Nationally and locally, our doctors, nurses, assistants, and others have worked tirelessly to fight the coronavirus that has struck people of all ages and backgrounds. These medical professionals continue to care for seriously ill patients amid a terribly contagious disease while risking their own health and that of their loved ones. Our health-care workers are also working hard throughout our county to test people for the virus while trying to stay positive and look forward to the return of some normalcy. It has warmed my heart to see many kind souls in our community making and donating facemasks, not only to first responders, friends and relatives, but also to our medical professionals. This is a time of unprecedented stress for all as people face the stress and worry--not just about falling ill with this virus, but also losing jobs or livelihoods, making ends meet, and staying home or practicing social distancing day in and day out. Others in our community are organizing food drives to help ease the pain of lost jobs and income and to help those less fortunate than we are.

Despite our challenges, we lift up our hearts to recognize and thank the many medical professionals in area offices and hospitals who are caring for us 24/7, especially now. Unfortunately, we may never have appreciated these professionals more than we do now in the midst of a global health emergency. It’s daunting to look back at the last few months – which feels more like a year -- with the onslaught of the coronavirus and its sudden, drastic effects on our lives. Earlier this month, we celebrated National Nurses Week to honor and appreciate nurses, their support staff and their impact on us. As we get closer to solving this crisis and returning to some normalcy, please take time to say thank you to our medical pros who are seeing us through. Be mindful and help someone if you can,

Sheriff Mike Chitwood Ruth Trager, Zone 1 City Commissioner

Hi, Friends and Neighbors! Well, - I am social distancing, I am mask wearing, I am hand

washing, and I am Staying-At-Home to the extreme!

It is my fervent wish that everyone is well and following the same CDC guidelines, because we need to do this right the first time and not have to start over again at step one. I know how much this pandemic has affected the small business owners (like us) and their employees and the

larger businesses and the many employees laid off or having their hours cut; and I feel for all of us but because this horrible disease is so contagious, we have to get it right the first time. We need for not only our residents to be safe but also the many students who study here and the many tourists who come to Daytona Beach for their vacation.

Speaking of vacations, I have heard of vacations and stay-cations but this stay-at-home rule does not feel like either of them to me. I admit that I am finally getting many things done at home like weeding and gardening, but I wonder sometimes which will get me first, the hard manual labor or the coronavirus! At first, we thought the most vulnerable would be the older folks and those with other health issues, and then we found out that some of the middle age folks were having strokes, and now we found out that some children were dying with rashes and what was called the Kawasaki disease. This is so very, very serious, and I fear it will be with us for a while. Some say that it is wrong for the government to order quarantines and the wearing of masks, but when I wear a mask, I am protecting you as well as myself. Unless we live away from others, we also have an obligation to help protect the community that we live in. We are all in this together and we need to work together.

The City Commission still meets about once a week to renew the Declaration of Emergency, and we are starting to take steps (baby steps) to try to get back to normal. This pandemic will be such a defining time in our lives that in the future many events will be referred to as "Before

the Pandemic" and "After the Pandemic.”

God bless and be with those who go to work so that we can stay safe! God bless and be with those who are struggling with this disease! God bless and be with those who have passed on! God bless and be with all of YOU.

Until next time. I look forward to when we shall all meet again and enjoy each other’s company at the Bellaire Community Group meetings!

Best Wishes, Ruth

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A Native Remembers By Paul Zimmerman

I am writing this on Mother’s Day 2020. As frequently happens, just when I think I have no ideas on what to write about, events of the day trigger memories of my childhood and today is

no different. In tributes to our moms, many folks post pictures or stories on Facebook about their moms expressing love, gratitude, and often some unique memory or quality of their mothers. I saw two such pictures today.

The first one was posted by one of the neighborhood kids I grew up with. Maggie Heffner posted a picture of her mother, Marguerite Heffner, holding a dead rattlesnake by the head that she had killed in her driveway, probably around 1955. The snake had bit the Heffner’s dog and was clearly a threat to her three daughters. Mrs. Heffner knew what to do. Mrs. Heffner was one of the neighborhood parents that were like a surrogate mom to most of us. That is how it was back then. One kid’s parent was everybody’s parent. My neighborhood was out in the country. You can see the dirt roads behind Mrs. Heffner in the photo that made up our neighborhood streets, if you can call it a neighborhood. For the most part, you couldn’t see from one house to the other either, because of distance or the thick woods that separated us.

The Heffners had horses, the Fortichs had cattle, and the LaRoches had orange groves. We were surrounded by woods, mostly pine and palmetto, with some live oaks and ash near the sulfur spring feed canals that watered the cattle. Snakes?.., They were everywhere. I couldn’t count the number of rattle snakes and moccasins I came across as a kid, especially rattlers. We would come across them when we were building forts in the

woods, something that was a constant activity, or we would come across them sunning themselves on the dirt roads. Rattlers, thankfully, always gave you the alarm. Moccasins were the scarier of the two. No warning--you just had to be paying attention. Thinking about that now makes me realize how things have changed and how lucky I was to be born when I was and to whom I was. From the time I was six, I would leave the house in the morning at daybreak and find my friends, and we would go into the woods and not come home for hours. Our parents were the opposite of today’s helicopter parents. I guess either they thought we were smart enough to survive or they were too busy to worry about it. I remember that my dad killed several big rattlers in our back yard. He had been in the South Pacific in WWII and he preferred to kill the snakes with a machete (he called it a bolo knife). We had guns in the house, but I guess he wanted to keep his skills up. I can remember as boy of 7 or 8, watching from the back porch while Dad in his boxer shorts and his bolo knife on a Saturday morning was dancing with a 6 footer until he could get an angle to cut the snake’s head off. Those memories don’t go away.

The other picture is of my mom, Peggy Zimmerman standing in front of my grandparents’ home in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, around 1960. My family, like many Florida families, escaped the summer heat here and went to the mountains of Western North Carolina. This was a tradition that started with my grandparents back in the 1930s and continues with me today. Mom was originally from Philadelphia and I don’t think she ever adjusted to the Florida summer heat. In the picture, she is holding a huge white hydrangea flower in front of the big white clapboard sided house that my Grandfather, Gompy, bought in his retirement. We would drive up there and stay with them for a couple of weeks in the summer. Mom

7 loved it up there. The house sat on a hill with a circular driveway that went all the way around the house. The driveway was lined with multicolored hydrangeas. On one side of the house, there were two big maples, and we would sit in Adirondack chairs under the shade of those two trees and enjoy the cool mountain breeze. The house is still standing, and when I am up there, I always go by and pause for a few minutes to remember what it was like back then. Thank God for memories. Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the neighborhood.

‘til next time,

Paul

Save Our Neighborhoods

Dear Bellaire Friends and Neighbors:

While many of our residents are observing some form of quarantining, I can report that our

city and county governments are still quietly conducting a lot of business. I seem to have to dig harder for information on most issues. Lots of questions just go unaddressed. Plans for the Countywide Space Industry Overlay and Avalon Park in our city come to mind. They have some things in common: namely the destruction of our wetlands from Oak Hill to Ormond through Daytona Beach, the overburdening and degradation of our water supply, the infrastructure requirements both will require, and the ruination of many elements of our quality of life.

A few initial thoughts on the Avalon Park Development : The developers are seeking a Planned Development Agreement - where they can ask for ,and are usually granted, all kinds of exemptions from our LDC and Comp Plan . These exemptions to our now almost useless rules of how we are to grow figuratively and aesthetically get passed easily by our resident Planning Board and our Commission. They have submitted hundreds of pages of documents to our Planning Department already. They paid the required

fees to do so while our citizens were trying to figure out how to stay safe. Cobb Cole is once again leading this development charge. If you know how to use etrackit to follow this process, please do so. It will require many of us to go through it. All the documents are online on the city website. Some are already in the review process and moving along rapidly. It is called DEV 2020- 020. Avalon Park.

This all should make our heads spin, but we residents, already here, need to keep up or we will be run over - almost literally. I don't think we should be required to have legal degrees to make heads or tails over the Land Development Code or the Comp Plan but it is going to take that, I fear. And the city knows it, the developer knows it, and their attorneys know it. I am asking for all hands on deck on this one. 10,000 new homes and apartments, retail, commercial space, etc . right beside their competition of Margaritaville and Mosaic - not to mention all the already established communities of LPGA and others.

Just one more subject I will mention at this point: have you realized how the Ormond Beach City Commission is making a big, public statement to the VC School Board to keep Osceola Elementary in their city? Can't blame them. They get what it will mean. That would mean taking Ortona away from Daytona Beach. I hope our City Commissioners will be as impassioned as our neighboring Commission. Ortona is vital to the well being of our community -- especially if we want to attract families here and keep our economy going. Please email our Commission and the School Board and tell them we need Ortona.

Once again, thanks for the opportunity to express my views. And stay safe.

Weegie Kuendig 386-254-5141

$15 OFF SERVICE CALL FOR BCG AREA RESIDENTS

8

ANNUAL FUND RAI$ER UPDATE Thank you! So far, as of May 12, 2020, you’ve given us $4,280.

We know what the donation means: you support our efforts and our goals.

Our goal is $6,000. If we make our goal this year, we can refurbish our BCG marketing materials. If you can help, thank you!

Residents ($1 and up) Anonymous ( 2 ) Bob and Dot Ducharme Jeanne Edison

Joe Farrell William & Ally Leigh-Manuell

David and Kathryn Owens Patty Perry & Lisa Barr R. Lawrence Vandenberg

Neighbors ($25 and up) Anonymous ( 1 ) Chuck and Tammy Brogdon Pat and Larry Carrico Jim & Laurie Clark The Harfords Rick Holmes Mary Johnson

David & Linda June John R. Lane George Leigh-Manuell Barbara Miller Bo Nickell Robert Patrick Russell Rhodes

Bill Scheeler Steve & Kim Schlossberg Frank Stein Jack & Linda Tracy Mary & Chuck Welch Netta Weiner

Friends ($50 and up) Anonymous ( 3 ) Ray & Kate Abels Penny Bowdren John and Debbie Druzbick Christine Franczek

Judy “Mac” Heller Bruce Hufnagel Larry and Clara Keller Bob & Judy Sterling Irma Sue Stofsky

John E. Wagner Larry and Jane Weiner

Patrons ($100 and up) Anonymous ( 1 ) Rose Marie Candler Bohdi & Nancy Lewandowskiyj

Tom & Betsy Russell Bill Stose, MD Frank & Terre Tumminello Tracy Woodward

Kent and Jane Vogt

Sponsors ($200 and up) Chris & Julie Brown Lawrie Davidson & Shirley Newbill Don Kane In Memory of Elizabeth “Betty” Kane

Don and Hannah King Steve and Nancy Koenig John McGuinness & Sean Doyle Stephen & Marlene Seibert

Paul and Trudie Skinner Paul Zimmerman

It’s not too late to send your donation! Mail it to

Bellaire Community Group 2000 N Halifax

Daytona Beach, FL 32118

From the Desk of the Police Chief

From Chief Craig Capri

It’s been a month that most of us will never forget, that’s for sure.

The challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic have been tough on all levels. Seeing the economy grind to a halt worldwide and people stay at

home to help prevent the spread of this virus is particularly challenging for a tourism-driven city like Daytona Beach. I think we’re seeing the light at the end of this particular tunnel, though.

With the economy starting to reopen, local restaurants, hotels and other businesses should see more traffic soon. I imagine there are a lot of people who could use a vacation right about now, and when that time comes, we’ll be ready as a city to step into that familiar role.

From our end, we continue to push the latest protective equipment and knowledge of COVID-19 to our officers on the streets so that they have the best we can provide to keep them safe. We’re still sanitizing everything we can at all of our buildings, especially the public areas, and we won’t let up until the experts say so.

When possible, we continue to service calls without the need for a physical presence, be that through the phone, online or the occasional drone. We ask for your continued patience as we work through this challenging time.

On a different note… this week is National Police Week, first created in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy to recognize those who keep us safe every day.

Even though the pandemic has robbed us of the ability to plan the community events we normally would at this time, I hope you’ll still take the time to thank our men and women in blue at some point. It means a lot to all of us in the police world to hear and see that support.

One thing we are still working on is the replacement of the monument to our fallen officers which was destroyed in a landscaping accident back in January. Those plans have been delayed in part because of the pandemic. Once we’re able to, we’ll have a big event so that we can, once again, properly honor the nine men who gave their lives to keep Daytona Beach safe.

Until then, please keep following the experts’ guidance in staying safe from COVID-19.

Sincerely,

Chief Craig Capri

P.S.: Our next “Ask The Chief” show is at 3 p.m. on May 20 (Wednesday). Tune in to WNDB (93.5 FM / 1150 AM / NewsDaytonaBeach.com / WNDB app). Feel free to call Marc Bernier and myself during the show with any questions or concerns at (386) 239-0033.

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10

Living in Lockdown (This is just a little Erma Bombeck style humor

from your newsletter editor.) I have found a silver lining to living in

lockdown. I know! It’s amazing! I can’t believe it either! But when I think about it, I’m not surprised. And I am oh, so grateful.

The wildlife is coming back. I’m sure by now you’ve seen the photos of coyotes visiting San Francisco, and the mountain goats taking over a city in Wales, and wild peacocks basically swarming the streets in a city in Spain. These days it’s easy to think about how easily our cities will grow wild again once humans have wiped ourselves off the planet with our stupidity. It’s kind of morbid, I guess, but also reassuring: the animals will be just fine once the apex predator—humans—is out of the way.

Well, suddenly, most of us ARE out of their way. Fewer cars on the roads and fewer people in populated places means lots of open territory for wildlife to reclaim. I am fascinated by birds, so that’s what I’ve been noticing the most. Newcomers I’ve never seen beachside have begun to show up. If you watch the birds in our beachside back yards, you’re used to mockingbirds, cardinals, a motley crew of sparrows, ring-neck doves and mourning doves, and a lot of indiscriminate finches. Also, grackles and starlings are common. At my house, it’s a big day when even a random hummingbird shows up to check out the food supply.

I’ve been sheltering in place since March 18. Shortly after that, someone who looked sort of like a

mockingbird started showing up to have a splash in the birdbath. Turned out it was a catbird. (Two of them, actually.) Another day, I was idly watching the feeder and saw a small, greenish, unassuming bird who turned out to be the female of a mated pair of painted buntings. In my back yard! In Daytona Beach!

I won’t even tell you how astonished I was to see, singing for all to hear in my sea grapes, a yellow-throated warbler. Hummingbirds every day. And what made this ring-neck dove decide that directly above my car, in a convenient branch of sea grape, was an awesome place to build her nest? And when I say “directly” I mean that her nest is approximately two inches above the roof of my car. Idiot bird.

I guess I’m not driving very much. She can have her space. I can share.

Here’s the thing. We do actually require an ecosystem, with a huge amount of biodiversity, in order to survive. Seeing these little feathered ones moving in and settling down (and raising babies) just gives me hope. We don’t have to constantly expand, develop, clear, and pave everything. Pulling back just a bit will let the wild ones come forward, and it’s good for the human soul to see the critters.

Now, if I start to see gators on Peninsula, or coyotes shopping at Petsmart in Bellaire Plaza, my tune will definitely change. But until then I’ll keep watching for birds to come reclaim their living spaces. May your gardens be blessed with new life, friends and neighbors. (And if you happen to see a Florida panther cruising down Woodland, be sure to call me! But first call Fish and Wildlife!)

11

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Thanks for the Journey!

A1A Condos: Steve Koenig Auburn, Cornell, & Bucknell: Larry & Clara Keller Bel Aire & Driftwood: Jamie Love & David

Hermann Boylston: Frank Stein Brookline: Donna Hiatt Chaffee Place: Sherry & Bill Phillips Cobblestone Village: John McGuinness Columbus: Tammy Schreck Euclid: Janice & Mike Felisko Golf: Lisa Gall Hartford: Chris Brown Jacaranda and Chipeway: George Burden Manhattan: Sheryl Cola Morningside: Ted & Cindy Beers N. Oleander: Dan Stockman

N. Peninsula (North end): Judy Schroder N. Peninsula (South end): Lawrie Davidson Plaza: Stacy Prestwood Seabreeze High School Area: Paul Zimmerman Seaview: Katelyn Thomas Stanford: Netta Weiner Williams: Megan O’Neill Waverly: Margaret Fathi and Jules Lemos Woodland: Don Hietala and Kim Medina Zelda: Elly & Rachael Petersen Boylston (west end), Flagstone, Nautilus, N Halifax, Pelican, N. Grandview, and Flushing: Nancy Koenig & Nikolai Hargreaves

Special thanks to our other volunteers: Frank Stein, Donna Coles,

and Reba Peters. A special thanks to Hannah King for her clerical expertise!

Thanks for the Journey!

A St

C

J

Z

S a

The following streets do not have someone assigned to deliver newslettersto:Flagstone, Pelican, Boylston (West End), Nautilus

Flushing & N. GrandviewYou can deliver to a street other than the street on which you live.If you could help deliver newsletters once a month please contact Nancy at386-257-6700 or Nancy@KoenigRealty.comThe time investment is less than 1 hour monthly. Please volunteer to helpour community group. Many hands make light work!

We also need people who can fill-in when our regular volunteers are not available.

Thank You!

BCG Volunteers Needed to deliver newsletters...