It was not too long ago that the feelings regarding Daytona Beach by many members of the community had sunk so low that many local leaders felt forced to sign up to a campaign to help city pride by featuring their images in a wave of newspaper advertisements; however, just three years later, feeling good about the town no longer needs such radical inducements.
As 2013 kicks off, investors are intending to develop a minimum of two seafront hotels and construction is set to begin on a brand new museum to house the expansive Florida painting collection donated by Cici and Hyatt Brow, for which Daytona International Speedway is getting itself into position.
The doors are also getting set to open for the second of two brand new community centers that have been constructed over the course of the last 12 months in the form of the Yvonne Scarlet-Golden Cultural and Educational Center, while Halifax Medical Center is getting ready to turn 77 vacant areas of forest into a mixture of new businesses.
City leaders and many residents have given much of the praise for this line-up to Glenn Ritchey, who stepped down as mayor last month after six years in office. Pats on the back are also being given to city manager, Jim Chisholm, and the commissioners who served under Ritchey.
“Anything good that’s happening now can be traced directly to Glenn Ritchey,” says the former executive director of the Museum of Arts & Sciences, Gary Libby, who is also a long-time resident of Daytona Beach. “It would not have happened without Glenn Ritchey.”
With two new city commissioners as well as a brand new mayor now in office, a number of local leaders claim that they are confident that the newly elected officials will maintain the momentum.