COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Good drivers know that by focusing on an obstacle in the road they are sure to hit exactly what they seek to avoid.

Similarly, it seems to be a law of nature that whatever receives our attention and energy will manifest in our lives.  Put all of your effort into not being poor, and a pauper you will surely be, if not materially, then certainly spiritually. Conversely, channel your energy into experiencing abundance and you will be far more likely to know the blessings that make for a full life.

If Councilwoman Pilar Turner has her way, her fixation on benchmarking statistics, comparisons from which she seems to be drawing her vision of the typical city, will eventually and inevitably result in Vero Beach becoming a shining example of all that it means to be simply average.

One reason Turner gives for opposing efforts to protect Crestlawn Cemetery and more of the city’s park lands from sale or lease without voter approval is her conclusion that the average city has far fewer public parks than does Vero Beach.  Yet, Turner will tell you she moved to Vero Beach because it is a “special place.”

Listening to Turner argue for further reductions in city services and seeing her push for the city to turn its efficient and profitable water and sewer system over to the county, I cannot help but wonder if she understands and appreciates the character and ethos of the community she has chosen to call home.

Being a skilled politician, Turner quickly backed away from what turned out to be a highly unpopular effort to hand the off-leash dog park over to a private club.  Though she has managed to more or less wipe her fingerprints from that failed proposal, the fact remains that Turner joined former councilwoman Tracy Carroll in urging the Marine Commission and the Recreation Commission to approve the deal.

Doesn’t Turner realize the city’s many parks, well maintained by dedicated city employees who take pride in their work and in their community, are one of the distinguishing features that set Vero Beach apart from cities that are “average”?

It is worth noting that of the seven cities benchmarked against Vero Beach in Turner’s most frequently cited statistics, Vero Beach is the community where she has chosen to retired and to build a $1 million home on the water – not Dania Beach, or Stuart, or New Smyrna Beach, or Cocoa Beach, or Maitland, or Punta Gorda, or Marco Island.

The reality is that many of the municipal services and amenities that set Vero Beach apart from the average city have at least partially been paid for by revenues from the city’s electrical utility.  Now that the city’s electric utility income is to be surrendered in exchange for lower electric rates, Turner and her limited-government supporters will hear nothing of seeking alternative sources of revenue.

Their answer to the looming budget gap is to further reduce staffing and services in a city that has already cut its budgeted staff 25 percent since 2006.  The cuts Turner, Craig Fletcher and former councilwoman Tracy Carroll pushed through have been so deep the recreation department now must hold fundraising events in order to keep the Royal Palm Pointe fountain open on Sundays.

Interestingly, despite the critique of its detractors, the recreation department pays for 40 percent of its expenses through user fees.  If averages mean anything, the average is closer to 25 percent.  Despite this fact, through the latest budgeting cycle Turner continued pushing for deeper cuts in the recreation department budget.

Faced with raising taxes or telling city workers they will have to go a sixth year without a raise while making additional contributions to their pension fund, Turner seemed more than willing to give the city’s employees the shaft yet again.  Fortunately, more reasonable and compassionate minds and hearts prevailed.

What the average city has in the way of parks, guarded public beaches, police protection, recreation programs and well-maintained right of way was hugely irrelevant to those who decades ago committed to create and sustain a community that never has and never will settle for average.

The task for current leaders is to stand up to Turner and her extremist Libertarian supporters, who, unchallenged, would lead Vero Beach down the low road to mediocrity.