Poison Poles To Be Removed: Jeff Bower To Hard Rock Hotel
Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : February 5, 2021Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower has found a great way to snub the Hard Rock Hotel for its outlet on the Daytona Beach.
According to him, the unethical use of carcinogenic coating on the posts that secure the beaches owned by Hard Rock Hotel is “unethical”.
Poison Poles To Be Removed: Jeff Bower To Hard Rock Hotel
Therefore, he has taken a stand wherein he would not indulge in any event at the Hard Rock Hotel unless the owner speaks to him and makes the desired amendments to the poles put in place to keep vehicles off the beach.
The secured area was once the parking lot of Hard Rock Hotel. However, the cafe authorities decided to renovate the area and remove the parking lot to the front of the hotel, on the east side of the State Road A1A in order to provide parking space which was lost to the beach behind the Hard Rock Hotel.
The issue cropped up when Bob Davis, the president of the Lodging and Hospitality Association of Volusia County invited the County Chair to be the main speaker during the National Travel and Tourism Week in the early part of May in this year.
This got Jeff Bower in a candid mood where he replied with an email saying, “I’m not doing anything at the Hard Rock until they remove the poison poles on our beach and give Volusia residents our beach back,” Brower wrote on Tuesday. “This is hurting our tourism.”
Soon after the email, he contacted Lori Campbell-Baker, executive director of the Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to show his support for all local hotel and motel owners.
He clarified that he supported each one of them including the Hard Rock Hotel but somehow cannot support the cafe now, only because of the restricted vehicular entry posts.
According to him, the poison on these posts is harmful to human beings as it is known to be carcinogenic and should be replaced.
To take his initiative a step forward, Paul Zimmerman, President of Sons of the Beach decided to call for driving in the no-drive zone behind Hard Rock Hotel, which again was thwarted by Bower.
He asked Zimmerman to stop the movement saying he wanted to speak to the owner of Summit Hospitality, the chain that runs Hard Rock Hotel and sort things out for the better.
The harmful chemical is known as CCA which is actual y Chromated Copper Arsenate, a pesticide. It is also known to be a carcinogenic and citizens have repeatedly raised concerns about the toxin seeping into the soil or contaminating playground equipment.
This matter was brought to the notice of Volusia County’s coastal direction in the year 2018 by state environmental manager Carmen Ash. Ever since then, local sentiment towards the area has been negative and wary.
The no-drive area, however, is sanctioned as one by the Volusia County Council in 2015 and Hard Rock Hotel complies with it.
To ensure that the issue is resolved, Lori Campbell-Baker then organized a meeting between Abbas Abdulhussein the owner of Hard Rock Hotel and Jeff Bower. Abbas Abdulhussein was not available for any comment when he landed at Daytona Beach for the meeting.
With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.