December 12, 2011 This negative mailer was distributed just before the March 8, 2011 Winter Park city commission election and caused an understandable stir. After the person claimed on the mailer to have paid for it acknowledged he did not even see the mailer before it was sent (Will Graves), I filed this complaint with the Winter Park Police who sent it on the the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida for investigation, seeking to find out who was behind the mailer. The Detective Supervisor for the Circuit Court followed up on June 21, 2011 with this report noting that…
Year: 2011
Swap Realities: Risk, Return, and Judgment
November 18, 2011 I received the following message from Winter Park City Commissioner Steve Leary today and thought many citizens would welcome his detailed view of the facts and circumstances surrounding the city’s recent approval of a land swap of the State Office Building property at the corner of Morse and Denning (SOB) for the Progress Point property (PP) located on Orange Avenue. As with many city decisions, this one has its share of disagreements and controversy. While some seek to exploit controversy to engender resentment and foment discord, others are focused on serving our long term interests with respect…
Get On Board the Sun Rail Opportunity
July 1, 2011 Today the Governor of Florida gave the go ahead for the Central Florida Sun Rail commuter rail system. Sun Rail has been an extraordinarily contentious political issue in Winter Park over the past several years. For all the contention, Winter Park is the only political jurisdiction to be served by Sun Rail that held a popular vote on the project, and we voted to support it. Various Winter Park city commissions have carefully considered our city’s specific obligations under the Sun Rail agreement with Orange County. Last year, these obligations were materially clarified and agreed to by…
Notional Accusations
Here is a letter I wrote to the Winter Park Mayor and City Commissioners today: June 15, 2011 Mayor and City Commissioners of Winter Park, After listening to the audio of your meeting of June 13th I felt compelled to write. I had the opportunity to talk with Jack Rogers at a “Community Conversations” session (or was that “Factional Conversations”) and was enlightened by him noting that when Park Place, Douglas Grand, Landmark, and the Carlisle were approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission there was one woman attending some of these meetings who noted that three of the five…
Realizing Transparency
April 26, 2011 As a citizen interested in governance I marvel at the great job our city management and staff do to further transparency. Our city has been extremely proactive and a leader in making information available to all. Use these Internet resources: Virtually any information can be readily found at the City of Winter Park Web Site. Stay connected with automatic email notices of city events important to you. Register for the city Outreach program (emergency notifications). Friend the City of Winter Park Facebook page. Receive Tweets about city news in real time. Our city management and staff provide…
Urban Planning Lecture March 16th at Rollins
March 9, 2011 Bruce Stephenson of Rollins College contacted me about an upcoming lecture I thought may be of interest to some readers. Andrés Duany will be discussing planning and civic organization on March 16th at 7:00 PM in the Bush Auditorium at Rollins. Click here for a preview of the lecture. Regards, Pete Weldon
And the winner is: Winter Park
Congratulations to Sarah Sprinkel and Steve Leary. The numbers speak for themselves.
Truth or Consequences.
March 6, 2011 Below you will find messages I received this weekend. One from a former mayor and commissioner who served our city for 12 years, another from a former member of the Historic Preservation Commission and a current leader of the friends of Mead Gardens, and then one from a group of citizens. Please vote on Tuesday. Please encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to vote on Tuesday. In recent years our local elections have provided an outlet for the most strident and churlish among us to willfully engage in lies, distortions, hypocrisy, and character assassination, I presume on…
Don’t let your vote be manipulated.
March 1, 2011 City management noted material falsehoods (see below) in the Fleet Peeples Park mailer sent under Herb Weiss’s name. Herb Weiss acknowledges that the the mailer was paid for by people who wish to remain anonymous. The most sensational points about “environmental devastation” in this mailer are totally bogus, fabricated, a manipulation to support an intentionally inflammatory conclusion designed to influence your vote on March 8. Don’t fall for it. Our city deserves better. We as voters need to see through the curtain of fear and elect people who are motivated to serve our city, not their personal…
Is this the behavior of a Winter Park city commissioner?
February 25, 2011 Every Winter Park voter needs to read the email exchange below before marking their ballot in the March 8 election. Related reading: Lawyers or Leaders? When is something true? Regards, Pete Weldon