The
local newspaper I chose was the Ormond Beach Observer, which is the weekly
paper in my hometown. It wasn’t until I did this assignment did I realized how
little my newspaper reports on problems; they mainly focus on celebrations and
milestone announcements. Here is a list of five opportunities:
Uniforms:
Will students comply?
Since I was a freshman in high school, the school board has
talked about requiring students to wear uniforms and it seems like they are
finally only steps away from making the transition. This article mentions the
most recent meeting where uniforms were discussed and it brings attention to
some of the pros and cons of uniforms. The problem is that parents feel
uniforms will take away individuality and in addition they will be forced to
buy a separate set of clothes for evening and weekends. A major problem for the
school board is the resistance from students and parents. For years, students
have rebelled against the dress code, which has led to the solution of uniforms
but it seems that the school board will only be faced with more problem if the
use of uniforms gets approved.
Ormond Beach has seen a large shift toward retail and
commercial development in recent years, a change from our usual residential
development. This change however creates problems for residents that live near
the new builds. Recently, the corner of Magnolia Avenue and West Granada has
been approved for commercial use. This change has created a problem for
residents in surrounding neighborhoods because no one is thrilled with the
prospect of having commercial buildings in their view as well as decreased
property values. Residents are also displeased with the potential in the
increase of traffic, which is inevitable once commercial buildings are
developed. Residents fear that Magnolia Avenue will not be able to handle the
traffic flow as more cars will use Magnolia Avenue to turn onto Granada,
arguably the busiest street in Ormond Beach because it runs straight through
the center of the city toward the beach.
On top of Old Tomoka
Road(s)
This article is really more of an informative article about
the street names in Ormond Beach. Currently there are several streets that are
named Tomoka some of which are only known to people that have lived there for
several years. Also many streets have come to be known by several different
names; for example, South Ridgewood and North U.S. 1 are also known as Younge
Street. This is where a problem is created because as new people move to the
city a sense of confusion is created. The problem exists with the new people
because as they are getting directions or navigating the streets there is a lot
of confusion. Because Ormond Beach is directly north of Daytona Beach, we get a
lot of tourist and as you can imagine navigating an unknown city, especially
one with street names like Ormond’s, can be difficult.
City rejects county’s
survey idea
Recently, the decrease in gas prices has caused a decrease
in revenue from the gasoline tax that the city receives, which goes toward
transportation improvement. The county council wanted to send out a survey to
residents to gauge local interests and their opinion on the proposed half-cent
sales tax increase but the survey would cost the city over $5,000 to distribute
which the majority of commission members viewed as an unnecessary cost. The
problem that the commission faces is a lack of money for transportation
improvements that are needed in certain areas. Currently, they are faced with
the decision to increase the sale tax or not. Some worry about what will happen
when the revenue from the sales tax is gone; will they raise it again? This
leads to a second problem that the commission faces, money management.
According to the article, enrollment in voluntary pre-kindergarten
programs has decreased in recent years. The decrease is believed to be due to
the lack of awareness throughout the community; services like pre-kindergarten
programs are best spread by word of mouth. The programs allow an alternative to
homeschooling and allow children to be exposed to school settings early on, in
addition to allowing them to meet other children of similar ages. The article
suggest that the problem is without the experience provided in pre-kindergarten
programs children are not developing relationships with authority figures,
children their own age, as well as cognitive, social and emotional skills.
Therefore, the problem seems to affect the children directly, practically their
potential success in later schooling, and the parents of the children.
