My Interview with Victor Good

Mr. Good and his wife, Julie, joined me for an early cup of coffee at Starbucks recently. Following is our not so brief conversation. Italics and brackets are mine.

IH: What made you run for Mayor?

VG: That was all kind of brought up by the Palm Harbor Golf Course… A lot of people were upset. We wanted to see someone else running, it’s just that a lot of the people in my area are retired and they came here to enjoy their retirement years, and not have to go and argue for something they feel should have been taken care of already…So anyway, we said we have an opportunity here with the elections coming up, let’s get some candidates here we can support…except that at the last minute no one had stepped forward, and I said “we can’t let Mr. Netts go virtually unchallenged, so…

IH: Was Joe (Cunnane) running already?

VG: Yes, Joe was running.

IH: So why would have Mr. Netts been unchallenged?

VG: Well, in a sense that the issues we felt were important to us needed someone who was really going to drive home our development issues and what had happened with Palm Harbor could happen to every other golf course in the city and that’s what people need to realize. It could happen in their neighborhood.

IH: What could have been done differently with the golf course from the start, given the current structure of our comp plan and regulations?

VG: It was never a well planned solution, but given the fact that they approved it, then you have to step in and look at… where are the deadlines, with penalties if they don’t perform; there should be rules where amenities are completed before the certificate of occupancy is given for the condo units, because now they have an 8-story condo unit with no amenities, and no one in their right mind is going to pay over a million dollars for a unit with no amenities and no hope on the horizon that those are going to be built.

IH: Can the city mandate something like that, given that it’s private property?

VG: You bet they can. They do it for you and I. If we want to do an addition on our home, we have deadlines, we have restrictions.

IH: How about if they didn’t ask for any exceptions, didn’t need to increase the height or the density, would the city still be able to mandate anything? VG: The city can within its rights under the Florida State Statute require performance bonds and completion and deadlines with penalties.

IH: Would you be ok with Centex handing over the golf course over to the city?

VG: Sure. But to turn it over is one thing, but their agreement was to have it in playable condition at all times, so they (Centex) need to fork over the 3 million dollars to get the course playable again. IH: So in essence the Centex situation is what made you want to run for mayor? VG: The thing that got me active is that I went to those council meetings and presented my issues to the council, I was told that there was nothing they could do. When I checked the facts, it turned out there was lots they should have done and could still do, but refused to. So that’s when I started checking into the larger picture of developing Palm Coast as a whole and the fact that all of these golf courses could have the same thing happen to them. I mean what drives this community? There are people that say when it comes to leisure services whether it be a golf course or a tennis facility that those are only for a few people, not the general public, but we all benefit from it. The fact is that they increase quality of life, increase our property values, make this a better place to live. I am all for whatever we can afford.

On New Tennis Facility… IH: Would you have voted for this new tennis facility?

VG: Well, here is the thing. People say that we built this private club for a 186 people… Well, I think the fact remains that it’s an amenity that enhances the value of the community for everybody, which helps everybody’s property values whether you use this tennis court or not.

IH: So you are ok with the city paying 2.5 million dollars for the tennis facility where a family will pay $700 a year to play?

VG: Yeah, I am ok with that. I think that the members are basically covering the annual costs of operations, and as long as that’s true and ongoing, it’s fine. Palm Coast was built originally as a retirement community, and it was those amenities that brought them here. It’s the golf courses, the amenities, proximity to the water, the Intracoastal and the marina, it’s the entire quality of life…When we were looking. There is a business we were representing in Deland, and when we came here we looked in Daytona, we looked in Port Orange, we looked around and then we came up A1A and ended up going over the bridge from the Hammock there was the entrance to the Palm Harbor golf course, there were these old oak trees, and that was it. There was nothing like that around. We looked into it further and learned that it has been there for 30 years, so we thought, great, it’s established, nothing is going to happen to it… And six months after we moved in, the great golf course renovation starts, they kill the grass, and boom (laughs), there we have it.

On Political Past

IH: What made you run for Congress?

VG: I ran on the ideals of what the reformists were; the need to bring political and democratic process back to the people.

IH: When did you first become interested in politics?

VG: Well, I was intrigued back in 92 with Ross Perot, because he really struck a chord with a lot of people and myself with his very simple solutions and what we could do. I think we look now at the results of NAFTA and GATT, and I think Perot was right.

On His Opponents

IH: What in your background makes you confident that you can beat Jon Netts, since I assume you don’t really consider Mr. Cunnane a viable opponent, since you haven’t brought him up at all?

VG: I consider Mr. Netts my opponent because of the fact that he didn’t hold up to what he was elected to do. He was elected to represent the citizens of Palm Coast and he chose to elect a few special interest large developers. I feel I can improve on that. I feel Mr. Netts got in over his head, that he is inexperienced at dealing with construction and contracting, has no background in that. His background is in administration. I feel that I have a lot more that I can add; that we need somebody who is more proactive instead of reactive, and we need to get ahead of this development and say: “what do we want the future of Palm Coast to be like”. And Mr. Netts had six years to help define that future and at this point we are looking at a crisis situation on a number of fronts, particularly water, which is something, coming from Colorado, I thought I’d never see in Florida which I thought had more water than I thought we could ever use.

On Water Problems/Solutions.

IH: You are opposed to the desalination plant, why?

VG: I think as a last resort, if we are very desperate that would be something to think about.

IH: You don’t think this is the last resort?

VG: No, I think there are other things. Nothing is set in stone.

IH: Give me one solution that you are aware of that you have looked into in detail?

VG: For one, you don’t approve any further development, or any large development tracts until we have a secure water resource that’s going to be able to service those units. I think there still room to negotiate with St. Johns (St. John’s Water Management District) if we come up with a plan and I don’t believe that pumping water that distance is that much out of the picture if that’s what it takes. But I also think there might be options where we can set aside a number of acres as temporary wetlands to use that for recharging the aquifer to allow for more use out of it.

IH: Temporary wetlands?

VG: Yes, unlike wetlands which don’t necessarily recharge the aquifer, temporary wetlands whenever it rains, that water goes directly into the aquifer, and if we could recharge that and stop the saltwater intrusion into our aquifers, there may be options for that.

IH: Has that been done anywhere that you are aware of successfully?

VG: No, it hasn’t even been looked at or proposed, but that’s the issue…

IH: Well, geologically speaking, would it work and why?

VG: It hasn’t been studied. That’s my thought. It needs to be looked at… We have other options and salt water desalination from what I saw in the Virgin Islands is extremely dirty and extremely costly. Our water rates, the fact that they are going up 12% next year, you can bet they will be going up substantially higher in the following years to cover the costs of 250 million. You know, we need to get some control… If by looking into this further and studying it we say, “ok, we have so much water to support so many homes,” then that’s basically what we have to limit ourselves to.

IH: As far as SJWMD is concerned we still have water to allow future development. So how do you propose stopping development?

VG: I don’t propose stopping development. I look at a sustainable option. Don’t continue to develop what you can’t sustain. If we can’t sustain the growth, we can’t allow it, and legally we have a duty to not allow it if we can’t sustain it, and that is within the rights of the municipal government to do this. Back when I went to college in Colorado State in the 80s, one of the things we started is zero-scape philosophy on landscaping, which is plant native materials that are not taking on supplemental water. When 70% of our water usage is for landscape, we could eliminate a good majority of it, especially here in Florida.

IH: I can see us doing that on city property, but not so much on private property. People want to buy exotics, and I don’t see how the city can tell residents that they can’t buy exotic plants for their yards…

VG: Well, it’s like saying we can’t have water restrictions… We have water restrictions where you can’t water on certain days or outside etc. It is something they did in Colorado… Anyway, here, in May 05 City Council approved 1000 units for development and in that same meeting they put emergency water restrictions on their residents. So to me, that’s not thinking ahead at all. We need to plan out our future and what we want it to be.

On Being New in PC

IH: Some people might hypothetically voice a concern you haven’t really been here long enough to know this city, to be able to make intelligent decisions. How would you address that?

VG: Well, I find it interesting that people would even say anything like that. The history of Mr. Netts speaks for itself. My history and my experience with contracting, horticulture, agriculture, whatever. But the fact that someone hasn’t lived here for more than two years… We could go back and say that only Florida natives should have a say in anything that happens in Florida, and that would eliminate 90% of the people who are here. So I don’t think that’s relevant. When we hired Jim Landon, the new city manager, everybody on the city council and in the community said: “oh, this is great; we get new ideas, fresh thinking…,” so I think the same thing applies to the city council.

IH: You have been pretty vocally unhappy about certain actions of Jim Landon, with the Centex thing anyway, how do you think you will get along with him if elected?

VG: Jim Landon is there to do his job and to initiate whatever the city council decided, but he is the guy that does the day to day operation. So, I mean, I think Jim Landon is still in a learning curve; I think he is doing very well, and I will have no problem working with him.

IH: Learning curve… How long do you think it will take you to get up to speed on everything that’s gone on?

VG: Well, I have no idea, I don’t believe there is much of a learning curve.. .I think the learning curve is non-existent if you have open discussion with the citizens. And I think that’s where a lot of frustration and I know my own frustration came when I went to the Council, got my 3 minutes to speak and then they basically ignored every concern I brought forward. I will not do that.

IH: So you would get feedback from citizens and that will fill in any blank that you may have?

VG: Sure, as far as I am concerned, they have been here 30 years plus, I have got neighbors up and down the street… It the ability to take advantage of the experience of the long time residents and they can help me fill in those blanks.

On Other Concerns

IH: What are the biggest concerns for you other than Centex?

VG: Well, it’s not Centex, it’s development as a whole. This is a bigger issue, it’s unplanned…We are not planning for the future, not planning for sustainable growth, for what we want Palm Coast to look like 20, 30 years from now and how are we going to sustain the growth.

IH: You know everybody says “sustainable growth”… What’s different with you saying it?

VG: But it’s worth looking into. There was a workshop on sustainability with seven counties participating that worked on exactly that. I’d like to implement something like that as soon as we can with surrounding communities and counties, because it’s more than just Palm Coast, it’s a regional issue.

On Attracting Industry/Business.

IH: How would you attract industry? Do you think Enterprise Flagler has done its job?

VG: Well, it’s starting to, but to bring small to medium size businesses we need the same thing that brought all of us here, the quality of life, the amenities, was something that intrigued us. With that, we got a lot of small businesses that we work with that are currently located in South Florida (referring to their aerospace marketing company) that would love to relocate here, but these small businesses look out for their families and their employees first, and how they are going to live.

IH: So how would you go about it?

VG: We have some possibilities with industry but those are few and far between. We have to compete with areas like Tulsa, Oklahoma, where City Council gave 30 million dollars to American Airlines to increase their in-house overhaul capabilities for their airline instead of outsourcing those items. We don’t have 30 million dollars for large industry, but we have quality of life that we can offer… One of the things Enterprise Flagler was working on was import/export business out of the Flagler Airport based on commodities, which to me will be very few and far between. There is not a whole lot of export businesses here in Flagler County. But I do know that there is a huge market right now in the aircraft services, because of the value of US dollar on international markets, it is more cost effective for companies from the UK and throughout Europe to send their aircraft components to the United States for overhaul and back again, because of the value of US dollar. We have an opportunity here to grow that industry, and I know there are a few of those businesses in South Florida that would love to relocate. We need to bring commercial tax base closer to the 25% level, and I think we can do that but at this point to attract businesses here; it’s the same issue, quality of life. We can offer an quality environment to raise a family in and bring their employees to. So with development, I am not anti-development, I am for quality development. I don’t want just thoughtless development that in the end is going to look no different than Orlando…

IH: What’s wrong with Orlando?

VG: It’s all concrete and high-rises.

Up Close and Personal…

IH: There is a line of yours when you refer to yourself as “being Good, not perfect.” And you have owned up to some criminal history when you ran for Congress in Colorado. What happened?

VG: Well, 30 years ago, about the time I had those three businesses started I had a bachelor’s party. There was a guy who was beating the heck out of my younger brother, and I grabbed a bottle and struck the guy with the bottle. I wish it didn’t happen, but it did, and in those seconds that I had to react, I mean the guy had my brother by his neck and I felt his life was in danger and I wasn’t gonna just stand there. So, I ended up pleading guilty to assault because, as my attorney said, I had a life to get on with. I had three businesses at the time, I had just gotten married, so I plead guilty to that.

IH: Did you end up serving time for that?

VG: Well, yes, 28 days in the County Hilton. But the interesting fact with it to me is, the guy that I actually hit with the bottle forgave me. He actually ended up being my room-mate a year later…

IH: But you do regret it.

VG: Oh, yes! What I regret is… It’s very easy for people to judge… I have to deal with the mistakes I’ve made… They didn’t affect the lives of the entire city, but I had a few seconds to react, and it cost me, the immaturity at that time in my life cost me my marriage…I mean it’s 2-3 decades ago. .. The male frontal lobe is not even formed until 27 year of age; that’s what the studies came out with.

IH: You were characterized by a person, the complex director over at Corbitt Hall as “a person who was uncooperative, unwilling to take any responsibility for his actions, very interested in only himself and his wellbeing, with no regard for others, and very demanding.”

VG: Where was this?

IH: This was from the complex director over at Corbitt Hall in 1980.

VG: Oh, in college?

IH: Yes.

VG: I have no idea what that is…

IH: That was another assault charge, which was earlier than the one you just referenced, you were 18 at that point…

VG: That was nothing, there were no charges on that…

IH: There were no charges?

VG: No, and I don’t have any idea about that… That was college; that was 30 years ago…

IH: According to CSU, you were arrested for that.

VG: Well, there is no conviction, I tell you that. Because people can falsely accuse people of anything they want, but that’s what the court process is for. When I’ve done and made mistakes, I own up to them, so those mistakes were college years…

IH: Did that incident happen? Did you pull a knife on your room-mate..?

VG: No, absolutely not. And it’s frustrating that in our society an arrest record, when there is no conviction, and when the charges are dropped or they are not validated, that record continues to stay with you your whole life.

IH: Ok, so you were arrested, but not convicted?

VG: I didn’t even realize I was arrested. I mean this is 30 years ago. {Victor Good was arrested and charged with menacing assault and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a deferred sentence in this case, per the CSU PD and the DA’s office in Denver, CO}.

IH: Eluding and hit and run and vehicular assault charges?

VG: That was one of those things. 18 years old, just watched The Blues Brothers and had my buddies in the truck and went through an intersection a little too fast and the cop turned his lights on and my buddy said: “what do you think?” and somebody said right out of The Blues Brothers: “we’re on a mission from God,” and instead of hitting the brake to pull over I hit the gas and within half a block it was all over, hit a telephone pole.

IH: So that was the “hit and run”, hitting the pole?

VG: I guess. Was there a hit and run involved with that?

IH: Yes. Do you regret that one?

VG: Yeah, it was my new truck. I had it one day… and it was gone, and it took me 15 years to get my insurance rate down. {according to the narrative in the report from Arapahoe County Sheriff’s office, the hit and run charge was the result of Victor Good leaving the scene of the accident before the cops got to the car, and leaving behind his two buddies, who were both injured, one seriously.}

IH: So (according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s report) in 1980s, you have half a dozen of various arrests on your record, mostly assaults. Looking at it, you have owned up to some of those, not all of them,

VG: I’ve owned up to the ones that were true…

IH: Well, not all of them, but anyway,

VG: If those are dismissed, they are not factual…

IH: Ok, regardless, the perception by looking at this list of offences, granted from a few decades ago, makes one wonder if you had a history of being violent. Would you say that was the case? Were you responsible at that age?

VG: Well, if somebody wants to look at their life 20-30 years ago and judge their entire life on actions they took in their formative years, it’s unfortunate. We all grow up, and I…

IH: Have you grown up?

VG: Look at the last 20 years. I would think so. A lot of people like to judge other people without looking at themselves… To expect perfection out of another human being, it’s…

IH: Don’t fault us for that. First of all, everyone’s backgrounds were checked, and well, you are running for public office, we are not. When you are running for office, you expect that to happen…

VG: And that’s one of the reasons it was the last resort for me to run…because we came here to just relax, and we sure as heck didn’t need to go back to any mistakes I’ve made in the past…but… Julie: (to Victor): You make it sound like we came here to get away from that. That has never been the issue…

IH: It never hindered your ability to do anything?

VG: No, well, I mean, it’s there, it pops up just like this. It’s unfortunate, when stuff like that happens, it never goes away…But it’s a matter if people want to judge me on mistakes made 30 years ago, or they want to listen to what I have to say now and if they believe that I will represent them…

IH: And you haven’t made any mistakes recently as far as you are aware of…

VG: We all make mistakes, I mean I played the lotto a few times too many…

IH: Mistakes that show up as part of your public record?

VG: No, I have made no mistakes that are relative to that sort of thing…

IH: On May 24th of this year there was a complaint filed against you by a black woman who claims that you kicked her dog across the street, spat in her face and called her a racial term.

VG: I called her one?

IH: Well, allegedly, per the dispatch report…

VG: I made the call, because we have a cat and she let her dog run in our front yard in front of our cat, and it’s an un-neutered cat and if another animal comes near him, he starts marking his territory. So I asked her to get her dog out…and it (her dog) came up and got on my leg and I gave it a kick… But this is a little dog. If I had lodged that thing, it would have killed him…it’s a little rat dog… And when I asked her to put it on a leash she told me she was new here, and I said: “that’s ok, just put it on a leash and don’t let it up here.” First words out of her mouth were “f you”, and calling me white trash. And that’s when I said: “that’s enough,” and I went in and I call the Sheriff, and the Sheriffs came and they talked to her and talked to me and they said she was saying different things and …

IH: But you made the call?

VG: I made the call. She may have made a call too, but I called, as soon as it happened…She initiated a racial term, I would have never…Be very clear, racial terms are not in my vocabulary, never were never would.

IH: Did you spit in her face?

VG: No… {There is no record at the Sheriff’s office of Mr. Good making the call, and per the dispatch report, the woman was the complainant in this incident. She chose not to file charges against Mr. Good, but both officers who were dispatched to handle the incident confirm that she was the one who made the call… Per Mr. Good’s statement in the dispatch report, he kicked the dog because it was trying to bite him.} VG: Like I say, there is nothing more terrifying than someone making a false accusation against you. Like I said, I’ll own up to anything that I did. I, like I said, good, not perfect.

Last Words

IH: What would you do with what’s left in your campaign fund?

VG: If there is anything left over, and I don’t anticipate there being anything left over, because we don’t have that much, if there is anything left, I will probably give it to Florida Home Town Democracy.

IH: If you were not running, or if you get eliminated in the primary, which of the two candidates would you vote for?

VG: I won’t even think about, I have no idea. It’s not an option…

IH: If you had to vote tomorrow and you had to vote for one of the two, which one would you vote for?

VG: It’s not an option… I am in it to win, and I believe I can represented the people better than what Mr. Netts has done and I hope people will judge me on my vision for the future instead of 30 year-old issues…