Fellow Winter Park Voter, Please share with your friends and neighbors. For twelve years, I volunteered on multiple city boards and served on the City Commission for one reason – because I care deeply about Winter Park and our future. I am retired and have no conflicts or financial interests in city business or land development. Based upon my belief in good governance that protects the rights of our citizens as well as the future of our city, below are my recommendations on the commission candidates for the March 17, 2020 election and on important Charter Amendments. I hope this…
Let’s Build a Positive Future
Fellow Winter Park Citizens, Please share this with friends and neighbors. As a long term resident and former city commissioner I am concerned to continue to hear residents frustrated with the library and events center project. Much of this frustration is based on misunderstanding of the history and of current circumstances. I offer details here to help residents understand the realities of nearly four years of process and the implications of further delaying or stopping this project. Below is a list of major project milestones with links to source information. Importantly, the cost of delaying or stopping this project includes…
Library/Event Center – March 2020 Election
Commissioner Seidel, Commissioner Sprinkel, and Mayor Leary finalized the decision to start construction of the library and event center on Monday January 27, 2020 in a 3 to 2 vote. Construction begins immediately. Commissioner Cooper and Commissioner Weaver made motions to postpone and/or remove the covered entry (porte cochere) and the event center rooftop venue. They also made motions to re-design the project or to expand the existing library with a parking structure. These motions did not pass. They then voted against starting construction of the project that has been in process for nearly four years. Cooper and Weaver missed…
Orange Avenue Overlay Reality
Please send an email to mayorandcommissioners@cityofwinterpark.org expressing support for the Orange Avenue Overlay. Two of our commissioners have been publicly poo-pooing the Orange Avenue Overlay up Monday, January 13, 2020 for the first of two city commission votes required to make the changes official. In addition to being inappropriate under the Sunshine Law, such poo-pooing has been filled with inaccuracies. The reality of the overlay is that it will keep the total residential units allowable under current code across the 75 acre area the same as exists today at 17 units per acre, but will allow consolidation of this density…
Should Winter Park Have a Mayor?
Our city commission will be considering changes to the City Charter Monday, October 14, 2019 for a referendum vote March 2020. One issue discussed but not recommended by the Charter Review Advisory Committee is removing or limiting the authority of the Mayor to appoint board members. This issue, however, may still be considered by the city commission and commission members have indicated support for changing the authority of the Mayor. Please contact the Mayor and Commissioners to urge them not to recommend changing the authority of the Mayor under the City Charter. The following is a letter I wrote to…
Let’s Get Positive!
We need positive leadership and I ask you to step forward to demand same, even run for city commission, to assure we don’t miss the boat. When you look past the empty complaints and “us-them” dynamic in our political discourse (not to mention lies and slander) you will find that Winter Park is the best it has ever been, both strategically and financially. Property values at an all time high. City cash reserves at an all time high. Capital improvements adding to our quality of life. Golf course and golf course parking. 55 acres of new green space in Howell…
Avoiding Perils of Extortion
From a relevant Supreme Court ruling: “The unconstitutional conditions doctrine vindicates the Constitution’s enumerated rights by preventing the government from coercing people into giving them up.” The approval of the expansion of the Mayflower retirement community by our city commission on July 22, 2019 was not without drama. The city’s Transportation Advisory Board unanimously supported and on Monday three members of the commission initially voted to require two easements from the Mayflower in exchange for approval of an expansion plan modified from a 2018 preliminary approval. These easements were in contemplation of the city eventually creating pedestrian/bicycle trails along sections…
Trees for Freedom
Celebrate freedom by planting a tree on your residential property! The Florida State Legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill effective July 1, 2019 requiring that: (1) A local government may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee, or mitigation for the pruning, trimming, or removal of a tree on residential property if the property owner obtains documentation from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture or a Florida licensed landscape architect that the tree presents a danger to persons or property. (2) A local government may not require a property owner to replant a tree…
Manufactured Chaos
Anne Mooney’s winterparkvoice.com blog and Facebook page continue to mislead Winter Park residents. Her recent “Canopy Chaos” post is an embarrassment to our city in its bias. Ms. Mooney uses the tag line, “A Policy and Issues News Magazine.” Yet, it has nothing to do with policy, issues, and news and everything to do with politics. An accurate tag line might be, “Views for Cynical Conspiracy Theorists.” “Canopy Chaos” implies there is in fact chaos but nothing in Mooney’s post supports that conclusion and information she leaves out supports the opposite conclusion. Mooney selectively edited the exchange between Mayor Leary…
Library/Event Center – Beyond Myth
I enjoyed serving our city and wish Todd Weaver well as he transitions from electioneering to decision making as a city commissioner. He and other commission members will decide Monday, May 13 on proceeding to construction drawings on the library/event center project. Myths about a “bait and switch” on the size of the library and about the Tourist Development Tax grant being used to fund cost overruns, as well as trying to turn the project into a convention center have been fabricated and promoted by those who have always objected to the 2016 referendum and its result. Leadership, however, requires…