Year: 2021

The problem with narratives is that they don’t reflect reality. Making city policy based on narratives is unwise as it wastes human and financial capital, while also having significant opportunity cost. Our current commission is more interested in narratives than governance. I understood we had a problem when shortly after their election in March 2020, two members of the Winter Park City Commission sent city wide emails expressing empathy for the “victims of racism and police violence” in reaction to the national media narrative about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While empathy is nice, these commissioners used their…

Please see earlier posts about the redo of the Orange Avenue Overlay (OAO) codes. Well, they are almost done redoing the Orange Avenue Overlay (OAO) codes after almost two years of tortuous detailed consideration by five amateur city planners otherwise known as the Winter Park City Commission. (Oh Pete, can’t you be nice?) They consumed nearly two years of our planning department’s manpower on this as well. Keep in mind there is no audience. No private interests have come forward to invest within the OAO area exactly because the new codes are not worth investing in. The commission endlessly nit…

The current commission is not only spending our money unwisely (see links below), they are also devaluing city property while adding to our tax burden. We own approximately 4 acres at the corner of Orange Avenue and Denning Drive (a.k.a., Progress Point). We own the former library site and building, 1.75 acres at New England Avenue and Chase Avenue. We own the city hall site and building, 2.81 acres at 401 S. Park Ave. We don’t know the market value of these properties as the commission has declined to seek formal appraisals and failed to invite private interest in these…

Please contact the Winter Park City Commission and tell them to stop their current effort to buy the 2 acre USPS property on New York Avenue for an estimated cost of $15,000,000 or initiate a voter referendum to accept or reject their plan. When the US Postal Service is ready to sell its land on New York avenue, the city can leverage the public use zoning and acquire the property at a fair market value via eminent domain. Why is the city commission trying to pay $15,000,000 for the land now when the latest formal appraisal is less than $2,000,000?…

When the current commission killed the original OAO codes in March 2020, I noted that their effort to revise the OAO codes was a performance without an audience. Well, they have now spent 18 months in seclusion from their constituents, completing a revised set of Orange Avenue codes that do nothing but spend more of our money on a superfluous park that will not be used. Further, no private investment is expected in the corridor. A recent video from former Mayor Steve Leary and three involved citizens confirms the current commission does not have a representative perspective. That is, they…

With many residents complaining about traffic, our commission made hiring a traffic engineer a big political issue, touting this spending would improve traffic. Truth or political baloney? Those believing we can stop cars cutting through Winter Park on state roads should listen to reality as credibly described by our recently hired city traffic engineer, Sarah Walter. The reality is that traffic engineering in Winter Park has to be focused on pedestrian and cyclist safety as well as traffic calming to slow everything down. This is because Winter Park cannot limit or re-route tens of thousands of cars cutting through Winter…

Each of us plan for our family’s future. Shouldn’t our city commission do the same for Winter Park? This commission has been spending our money without any strategic purpose or fiduciary responsibility, not planning and investing for our city’s future. Spending is easy and wasteful. Investing is hard and useful. Please review the following and let the city commission know your thoughts. They have gone off the deep end, projecting $127,000,000 in new spending, $65,000,000 over the next five years. $127,000,000 – Yes, that’s one hundred twenty seven million dollars. $51,000,000 of this is allocated to “traffic and parking.” Why…

Tell our commission to lower taxes and spending. The City Manager’s proposed budget and property tax rate for 2021-2022 will be voted on Wednesday, July 14. Please write to MayorandCommissioners@cityofwinterpark.org and tell them to lower the tax rate and reduce spending. The City of Winter Park is flush with cash and financially strong. The City Commission has been spending every penny of general fund revenue without regard to demonstrated need or long-term consequences. While they like to talk about the property tax rate remaining constant, the real story is that general fund property taxes have increased from $20.8 million to…

Sheila DeCiccio recently sent a city wide email struggling in over 1,000 words to explain how your city can stop you from removing trees on your property. Some people want to believe trees on your property belong to them. These people concoct complicated rules and penalties related to tree removals in an effort to stop you from removing trees. There is a much simpler approach, tolerance. The only objective of a local tree removal policy should be to encourage replanting when a property owner wishes to remove healthy trees. Pete’s proposed Winter Park Tree Removal Ordinance (87 words): A permit…

UPDATE AUGUST 2021: “Rescue” money for Winter Park now at $15,438,814. Tell the city commission to distribute the $13,000,000 in “Rescue” act money directly to Winter Park residents. If distributed evenly across our 15,000 electric utility customers, your family and/or business would receive a check for about $850. The City of Winter Park does not need $13,000,000 from the “Rescue” act, yet the commissioners currently plan to spend all of it. City revenues have not been materially impacted by the pandemic and the city has achieved record levels of reserves. The commissioners already have millions of dollars they don’t know…