DeBary Mayor Clint Johnson recently went on social media this weekend to solicit support from Sanford residents for a mixed-use development in his city that would include a horse track and card room (Article).
I contacted the mayor by Facebook Messenger. Below is the brief exchange. *Note, I changed the order of some of the messages to make it flow better. If you’ve ever had a conversation by text message, you know that sometimes the responses are out of order. I also corrected a couple of misspellings.
The mayor said he is open to having more discussions about the project. I was more interested in his attempts to reach out to Sanford. If Sanford folks, or anyone else for that matter, want to know more, Mayor Johnson can be reached through Facebook. I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg and his geek squad of billionaires would appreciate everyone spending more time on Facebook.
– by Dan Ping
Sanford, Fla. 
I believe this is much like the House and the Senate needing to get along. There really may be something in it for everyone. If we can support one another, it will strength us all. It it true that at the beginning it seems as though Volusia County has more to gain, but during the building phase, Seminole stands to gain from the revenue if there is access to our downtown life. Once everyone is introduced to both venues of nightlife, we should all be happy.
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Thanks Dan Ping…you are spot on as always. Let me mention that as a Sanford resident and employee of The West Volusia Beacon Newspaper, I approached my manager and suggested we develop a plan to “Bridge The Business Gap To Make Cents” between DeBary and Sanford. She commented, as history proves, “it probably won’t work.” She allowed me to move forward because she saw the passion I had in wanting to cross market and help both communities. I met Mr. Mayor Clint Johnson by accident when I was visiting a client. He was then in the running for Mayor of DeBary. He said, “oh you work for the Beacon, my picture was just in there. I am running for Mayor.” We had a nice conversation, however he seemed more interested in his picture in the paper and his running then my business conversation with my client. I later learned Mr. Mayor owned a company called Screen Enforcement(because he use to “serve his community). I contacted Mr. Mayor to see if he would like to help us “Bridge The Business Gap” and advertise on our local page and wished him luck in the running, etc. He answered the phone the first time and said he had interest. I then not only went and took pictures for his business but had several ad options created for him. I called him back, no answer. This went on for 1 month, I still have not heard from Mr. Mayor. He must of recognized my number. Foolish me thinking he wanted to really “Bridge The Business Gap.” Good luck Mr. Mayor with support from Sanford residents. We want team players.
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