People Over Politics

Mission Statement

Our mission here at POP is to bring you information and opinions you will not get anywhere else.

This is a grassroots initiative to give people hope, a voice, and sometimes to confirm what you believe to be true about what is happening in your city. The views and questions raised here will not be seen in a newspaper. We know that the only way to keep you coming back to this website is to offer links, questions, a point of view, and an attitude that you agree with for the most part. This is a non political website, not owned by any establishment or institution. We write our own comments and offer links to other newspaper articles with our commentary and questions. We are a watchdog for the people; we will bring the latest news about DeBary to your attention as well as any upcoming issues we feel are important for you to know about.

Our second mission is to make this a place to get the word out for those occasions when we need people to show up at city council meetings. This has happened twice already in the last two and a half years: The eminent domain/CRA issue and more recently the city hall debacle and the potential purchase of Rumors for almost a million dollars. When an issue arises that affects your money and your City, we will put the word out for citizens to come to the next city council meeting. While we do not expect this to happen often, we want to be prepared for when it does as development issues or bad decision making seem to be always on the horizon.

Three citizens started this website:

Lenny Marks

John Likakis

Norm Erickson

We used our own money to start the website and buy the business cards to promote it.

And now a personal mission statement by John Likakis:

The inspiration for this Web Site was the realization the people of DeBary need to be informed about what is happening to their City and to their tax dollars. So, whether you know it or not, EVERY decision made by the City Council affects your way of life and your taxes. We hope this will generate a grass-roots effort- where everyone has a say in what "is good for DeBary" and "what is good for you". Not what 5 Council members think is good for you. It's time you became part of the decision making process - for you and for your neighbors. We hope to get information to you about what's behind some of the proposed decisions - before it's too late to do anything about it. This is your Web Site. We have no particular axe to grind. Just the truth to help restore your trust. We want you to be a part of what's happening in your home town. We look forward to your input and suggestions.