September 27, 2010 To: Mayor and Commissioners, City of Winter Park, FL Subject: Who owns the risk? – or- What does Winter Park have to look forward to if Amendment 4 passes? I write to encourage unanimous support for the 2010-2011 city budget you preliminarily approved at the meeting of September 13, 2010. While there are important concerns about the wisdom of recommending spending increases for projects of personal interest to certain commissioners who also recommend decreasing previously established benefits for city employees, overall, your instincts are to be encouraged and applauded. Each of you deserves praise for the unanimous…
The End is Near
August 26, 2010 It has taken several years and much effort to wake the people of Winter Park to the reality that righteous nonsense, lies, and hypocrisy are not a substitute for experienced judgment and leadership. Many more citizens are beginning to recognize the reality. Purveyors of divisive prattle in Winter Park are revealing themselves. (Click the image then press “Ctrl +” or “Ctrl -” to resize within a browser window.) The facts can be found here. Please help as we seek honorable, experienced, and capable people to serve our city in the March 2011 city commission election. Talk to…
Dishonorable
August 22, 2010 Karen Diebel, former Winter Park Vice Mayor and candidate for US House Seat in Florida District 24, believes in individual freedom, individual responsibility, smaller government, and financial restraint. I am a supporter. Craig Miller, an opponent of Diebel’s in the Republican primary for the District 24 US House seat, along with former and current Winter Park city commission members Margie Bridges and Beth Dillaha, believe in character assassination and personal vendettas. Miller mailed a letter to District 24 voters written by Bridges and Dillaha. The authors know this letter contains false and misleading claims about Diebel. The…
More Wasted Time for Winter Park
August 12, 2010 Ms. Dillaha offered another one of her missives in today’s Winter Park/Maitland Observer: http://wpmobserver.com/WPMObserver/article.asp?ID=4319 What possible good can a city commissioner do by repeatedly, publicly, and falsely criticizing another member of the commission? (Answer: None. It can only do harm.) The continual “work sessions” called by Ms. Dillaha are meaningless efforts by one commissioner or set of commissioners to sway the opinion of other commissioners, not to get “work” done as she asserts. Each commissioner has the individual responsibility to do their home work, question city staff, establish their position on every issue and then vote. That’s…
Dillaha Needs to Stop the Nonsense
May 28, 2010 Dillaha is quoted in this week’s Winter Park/Maitland Observer as follows: But Commissioner Beth Dillaha railed against the idea of the city being on the hook to pay for a station and part of the system if dedicated funding for it were to disappear in the future. “You cannot tell a future sitting commission that you have to pay for these things,” Dillaha said. “You can’t do it. It’s the law.” Following the meeting Monday, she said that many of the supporters of the system and the current agreement were those who would benefit financially from SunRail,…
Just a Thought
SUBTITLE: When Reality Meets Righteous Nonsense May 28, 2010 Dear Mayor and Commissioners, I urge you to re-read the writings linked below in light of expected material reductions in assessed values recently provided by the Orange County Appraiser. Wes Hamil has already provided you with the estimated impact of these reductions on our 2010-11 operations as follows: ****************************************************************************************** From: Wes Hamil Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 11:34 AM To: Randy Knight; Michelle del Valle Subject: Property tax numbers We received our “best estimate” numbers from the Property Appraiser this morning. Our overall valuation decreased 10.4% while the valuation in the…
When Pigs Fly
May 26, 2010 Several people have asked me for a clarification of the 3 to 2 vote regarding commuter rail at the May 24 city commission meeting. Here it is: Three of our five commissioners thought it was a good idea to ask Orange County to allow Winter Park to leave the commuter rail system at any time for any reason without any financial obligations and instructed the city attorney and city manager to talk to Orange County about this idea. Regards, Pete Weldon
What is it you don’t understand?
May 20, 2010 Commissioner Dillaha has a letter in this week’s Winter Park/Maitland Observer that includes the same incendiary exaggerations I refuted earlier and that also includes this beauty: “Question those people who are berating my fellow commissioners and me for the audacity to look out for you, the taxpayers, by renegotiating this unilateral agreement with Orange County now. Ask yourself what motivates them to push for an “agreement-at-any-cost.” Investigate who is behind the YES YES Political Action Committee.” The meaning of the word “berate” is to “scold or criticize angrily.” I don’t know anyone who is doing that and…
SunRail Discussion, May 24, 2010
May 19, 2010 The Winter Park City Commission meeting of May 24, 2010 will be focused on discussing Dillaha’s objections to the commuter rail agreement with Orange County and the current city attorney’s concerns about possible “legal risks” with that agreement. The commission agreed on May 10th that any action taken at the May 24th meeting will be limited to possibly requesting amendments for Orange County’s consideration and that the subject of “termination” will not be discussed. NOTE AGAIN: A majority of the city commission agreed that the subject of “termination” will not be discussed. While we now know that…
Confirmation of Winter Park SunRail Realities
May 17, 2010 James Harrison, Director of Growth Management for Orange County, recently offered the points below which confirm my writings on the subject of Dillaha’s continued efforts to obstruct Winter Park’s participation in SunRail. ****************************************************** From: Jim.Harrison@ocfl.net [mailto:Jim.Harrison@ocfl.net] Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 4:11 PM 1. Although the City/County Agreement makes Winter Park responsible for the capital costs of constructing the station, those costs will be covered through a Federal grant and little if any cost will accrue to the City (unless the City “opts out” of the station after the money is spent). 2. FDOT is paying for…