Skip to content


2008 About Winter Park Perspective

This is the original Home Page created in 2008. Click here for the current version of this page.

To automatically receive notice of new posts click here to subscribe your email address or click the “Site RSS Feed” button at the upper right.

I established this site to communicate issues and viewpoints about the City of Winter Park, Florida. I welcome all constructive comments. I hope the writing and debate here will positively influence the political dialog and contribute to the quality of judgments that influence our city’s future.

I look forward to your comments on this site and please feel free to contact me at peterjweldon@outlook.com any time.

I do this because Fran and I have been fortunate to raise our family in Winter Park and we care about the city.

My experience has taught me that success (both personal and financial) is founded in the ability to think objectively and act on principle.

As I became more aware of the political processes in Winter Park over the past years I realized that we have a great opportunity to improve the governance of our city to ensure we build value for ourselves and for future generations. My family, business, and organizational experience leads me to believe we can set and achieve common goals by working together in a transparent and reasoned way.

I have also found a fascination with the vagaries of politics; its irrationality, its attraction for those at the extremes of viewpoint, the behavior of some who challenge a romantic notion of humanity, and the resulting challenges to achieving reasoned judgments that serve the long term interests of the city.

So, I will explore, study, and write until I lose the passion for it.

The only real estate my wife and I own in Winter Park is our home.


4 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

  1. David Leach Emmons says

    Hello Pete,

    For about 60 years I have lived at 2375 Mulbry Dr. For many years this address was in the County, now, it is in the city of Winter Park. When the Naval base was developed into Baldwin Park, people who lived on Parkland Drive insisted on a program to put diverters at the intersection of Parkland Drive and Gen. Reese.
    This turned out to be a waste of time and money because Parkland Drive into Baldwin Park across Gen. Reese did not turn out to be a major thoroughfare as it was predicted. Therefore, the diverters at the intersection of Parkland Drive and General Reese were not necessary and it turned out to be a giant inconvenience and a waste of money.
    Me and many of my neighbors would like for the City of Winter Park to restore the intersection of General Reese and Parkland Drive to its original design.
    Thank you for your consideration,
    David Leach Emmons
    2375 Mulbry Dr.
    Winter Park, FL 32789

  2. Donald Thompson says

    Pete, There are two comments I would like to make; both good. First, in driving down Park Avenue, and comparing it with many streets and avenues I have experienced in Europe and other countries, I AM VERY PLEASED AND PROUD OF OUR LITTLE CITY. Second, my objection to the new library and event center is more in its intended use. I have no objection to spending $37 Million. I have no objection to the site chosen. However, I feel that a depository of many volumes of printed books is a mistake; which will become passé as did the “horse and buggy”. We need a large “world class” computerized learning and information research center which maintains “state of the art” high tech equipment readily available to EVERY CITIZEN. One where they can become and remain current in an ever-changing technical world.

  3. Duncan Butts says

    Dear Mr. Weldon – The Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) counts do not make sense to me. For example, it does not make sense that Lakemont, from Aloma to Baldwin Park, has less AADT in 2017 than before Baldwin Park was built and Lakemont was opened up with direct access from Winter Park to Baldwin Park. It does not make sense to me that the Winter Park Commission would provide us AADTs that show no traffic growth while concurrently telling us that the growth in traffic comes from outside Winter Park. Regardless of the suspect AADTs, it’s unfortunate that the Winter Park Commission attempts to tell us that our perception is not reality. Perception is our reality. My reality, based upon my perception, is that I no longer drive on Aloma to turn into my residence, like I did for several years beginning in July 2003 when I moved here from Colorado. Now I drive through residential areas. I see others doing the same thing. The traffic in Winter Park is like flood waters. The traffic spreads out and finds other ways. Winter Park was more quaint and had more of a special character in 2003. My perception is that Winter Park is becoming more like a real estate developer’s strip mall. Duncan Butts.

    • Peter Weldon says

      Mr. Butts, I live here too and live with the traffic. I have voted to spend $150,000 on traffic monitoring and signal control technology between Phelps and St. Andrews Blvd that we have not yet spent because Aloma Ave traffic exceeds its design capacity at rush hour when no amount of technology will have any impact whatsoever. I agree that more people are using alternate routes to get through Winter Park. Most notably, Palmer Ave has seen a material increase in traffic counts over the past several years. I am constantly talking with staff about their interactions with FDOT and looking for some avenue for relief. These are all public roads. Aloma is controlled by the state, not Winter Park. I welcome your constructive suggestions.



Some HTML is OK

or, reply to this post via trackback.