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…
SunRail Financial Realities
May 14, 2010 Commissioner Dillaha continually blusters about financial uncertainties involved in the city’s commuter rail agreement with Orange County. Having 35 years of financial management, executive leadership and investment management experience I share Ms. Dillaha’s fiscal conservatism. However, with regard to her dismissal of commuter rail, Ms. Dillaha repeatedly and consistently overstates the risks without addressing the opportunities and exaggerates the costs without addressing the benefits. The most meaningful risks and costs of SunRail for Winter Park arise from not participating. The following analysis relies in part on SunRail operating cost estimates from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)…
Irrelevant and False Objections to SunRail
After several years of attempting to obstruct SunRail, including a January 2009 effort to use her position on our city commission to terminate Winter Park’s commuter rail agreement with Orange County, Commissioner Dillaha has put her objections in writing. Her April 29, 2010 letter to the citizens of Winter Park contained the following objections, the italicized text numbered 1 through 9 below. My response follows each objection. Dillaha: 1) A weak and vague ability for the city to “opt-out” of the agreement beyond one 60-day window within 99 years. The statement above is false. The “opt out” is…
Dillaha’s Dangerous Disaster
May 12, 2010 The Winter Park City Commission meeting of May 24 has been set aside for commission and public input, and possibly action on Commissioner Beth Dillaha’s continuing efforts to terminate Winter Park’s participation in the SunRail commuter rail system. Ms. Dillaha continues her efforts to terminate Winter Park’s commuter rail agreement with Orange County with the intent to terminate Winter Park’s commuter rail station. (A previous move by Ms. Dillaha to terminate the agreement in January 2009 was defeated by a 3 to 2 vote.) If Ms. Dillaha wanted something other than termination of our commuter rail station…
Important News About Winter Park’s SunRail Station.
April 28, 2010 Please contact our city commissioners after reading this. First the great news! The Commuter Rail Commission has confirmed that the state will now be picking up nearly half of the previously projected costs of operating Winter Park’s SunRail station (Note #1). When we voted in 2007 to authorize the city commission to pay for our commuter rail station and its operation, the annual costs were estimated at $587,000 per year (Note #2). Revised projections near the end of 2007 put these estimates at roughly $700,000 per year (Note #3). With the latest changes in funding and pending…
Attention Winter Park Commercial Property Owners
April 20, 2010 It is my understanding that Winter Park commercial property owners have until May 14, 2010 to question the impact of the city’s Comprehensive Plan on their property values and uses. Changes have also been made in the Land Development Code for both commercial and residential properties that warrant your review as a property owner. As a result of the severe restrictions and controls added to the latest Comprehensive Plan several property owners are requesting a “Tolling” agreement with the city that extends this time period for appeal and review by one year on a property by property…