LOCAL and Florida Politics

[spenser1058]

New Mayor Pete tee coming to Florida:

”NOT STRAIGHT BUT STRAIGHTFORWARD”

I like that.

Edited October 20, 2019 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

The Sentinel endorses Buddy for mayor and Bakari Burns in District 6:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-orlando-mayor-sentinel-endorse-buddy-dyer-20191023-ixkp4tqdlrhunnpx7arh5qioh4-story.html

[JFW657]

Yours truly got to "party" with Hizzoner, The Mayor today. 

Sort of.

I went to the annual Beardall Senior Center Halloween Party.

Actually, they call it a "T Dance", (T being short for tea, not the other thing) but really it's just a party where old fogeys dress up in costumes, have some free food and refreshments and dance to live music by a local musician type guy who plays guitar to pre-recorded accompaniment.

Some members of OFD were also there in uniform to dance with the little old ladies. Big treat for them. 

Anyway, I stood up to go refill my coffee cup and who do I see coming straight towards me, but the unshaven one himself!!!  

So I sez "Hello, Mayor!!" to which he responded by giving me a pat on the arm and saying "Nice costume".

Actually, it wasn't really so much of a costume as it was some Halloween themed clothing.

Anyway, he of the bulldozed buildings hung around awhile, danced with a couple of elderly ladies (aka potential voters), hobnobbed with the firemen, had his picture taken with some people then split.

So, I guess you could say, in the most general of terms, that I "partied with the mayor" today. 

Oh, how you all must envy me!!!!   

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, JFW657 said:

Yours truly got to "party" with Hizzoner, The Mayor today. 

Sort of.

I went to the annual Beardall Senior Center Halloween Party.

Actually, they call it a "T Dance", (T being short for tea, not the other thing) but really it's just a party where old fogeys dress up in costumes, have some free food and refreshments and dance to live music by a local musician type guy who plays guitar to pre-recorded accompaniment.

Some members of OFD were also there in uniform to dance with the little old ladies. Big treat for them. 

Anyway, I stood up to go refill my coffee cup and who do I see coming straight towards me, but the unshaven one himself!!!  

So I sez "Hello, Mayor!!" to which he responded by giving me a pat on the arm and saying "Nice costume".

Actually, it wasn't really so much of a costume as it was some Halloween themed clothing.

Anyway, he of the bulldozed buildings hung around awhile, danced with a couple of elderly ladies (aka potential voters), hobnobbed with the firemen, had his picture taken with some people then split.

So, I guess you could say, in the most general of terms, that I "partied with the mayor" today. 

Oh, how you all must envy me!!!!   

JFW is our hero!

[JFW657]

17 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

JFW is our hero!

[spenser1058]

Early voting begins today for Orlando mayor and Orlando City Council District 6 commissioner.

To verify your registration nd check for early voting sites:

https://www.ocfelections.com/

GO VOTE!

[spenser1058]

 

[spenser1058]

It’s Election Day in Orlando, Oviedo and several Lake County cities today.

Polls open 7am- 7pm.

GO VOTE!

[spenser1058]

The Sentinel is reporting one of the lowest turnouts so far in decades for the Orlando mayoral race: 9.36%.

Just what Democracy Buddy was hoping for. Salute!

https://twitter.com/byryangillespie/status/1191786696431538176?s=21

 

[bqknight]

Dyer won with 72% of the vote. 

[Dale]

5 minutes ago, bqknight said:

Dyer won with 72% of the vote. 

Mayor-for-Life Buddy “Maduro” Dyer

[spenser1058]

The bright spot of the evening is that, although it will go to a runoff, Bakari Burns has a nice lead over Gary “Baggy Pants” Siplin.

Great job, District 6. Just need to do it again in a few weeks!

Former Senator Siplin needs to leave the politics to his wife Victoria. He is an idiot and without scruples.

 

 

[spenser1058]

Meanwhile, I’m feeling very happy tonight about Kentucky. One Commonwealth to go!

[spenser1058]

1 hour ago, Dale said:

Mayor-for-Life Buddy “Maduro” Dyer

Former Mayor Bill Frederick once told Scott Maxwell that “10 years is enough”. Wonder what Mayor Bill knew that Buddy doesn’t? One has to love that ~10% turnout - the people have spoken!

Nevertheless, congratulations to Mayor Dyer. The loyal opposition has four years to be the change we want to see. 

[Jernigan]

25 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Former Mayor Bill Frederick once told Scott Maxwell that “10 years is enough”. Wonder what Mayor Bill knew that Buddy doesn’t? One has to love that ~10% turnout - the people have spoken!

Nevertheless, congratulations to Mayor Dyer. The loyal opposition has four years to be the change we want to see. 

I voted but almost didn’t.  I wouldn’t blame Buddy - I’d blame the lack of any interesting candidates running against him.   The landslide was to be expected.

[spenser1058]

7 hours ago, Jernigan said:

I voted but almost didn’t.  I wouldn’t blame Buddy - I’d blame the lack of any interesting candidates running against him.   The landslide was to be expected.

Buddy has to step up, like the mayors before him, and realize it’s time to move on. Had he not been running we would likely have had the first competitive race since 2003. I’ve never been a fan of term limits but apparently it’s time.

This was the first election where I’ve ever found myself voting against a candidate I once actively worked for. And as you note, Jernigan, there weren’t any great alternatives. We can do better than this.

[spenser1058]

Sadly, Tavares will not be getting a performing arts center:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/os-ne-lake-county-elections-20191106-7mdldaumfzdinksjacqn3trwy4-story.html

From the Sentinel 

I know that comes as quite a shock to us all.

[AmIReal]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Buddy has to step up, like the mayors before him, and realize it’s time to move on.

Why? With overwhelming wins and citizens that apparently support his agenda, why do you think "time" is the determining factor in effectiveness? CEOs aren't required to leave at some specific interval. Head coaches and ADs stay as long as they are effective. I would imagine many people on this forum have worked the same job for over a decade and feel they only get better at it over time. 

[Jernigan]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Had he not been running we would likely have had the first competitive race since 2003...And as you note, Jernigan, there weren’t any great alternatives.

I love a good race but man I can’t relate to this. I don’t think I’d ever want to settle just to have a competitive election. 

[spenser1058]

14 minutes ago, Jernigan said:

I love a good race but man I can’t relate to this. I don’t think I’d ever want to settle just to have a competitive election. 

I would agree with you if we only got the candidates we got. What happened though is that the top tier candidates won't run so long as there is an incumbent.

[popsiclebrandon]

45 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

I would agree with you if we only got the candidates we got. What happened though is that the top tier candidates won't run so long as there is an incumbent.

Are there people you have in mind you think should make a run that would be good? I'm not super up on local politicians and who is good and not and who would be a good mayor in the future.

[spenser1058]

3 hours ago, popsiclebrandon said:

Are there people you have in mind you think should make a run that would be good? I'm not super up on local politicians and who is good and not and who would be a good mayor in the future.

It’s an excellent question and one that needs answering. Once upon a time, it was part of my job to identify bright new talents and to encourage them to run (preferably as Democrats, which wasn’t always easy when Orlando was a lot more Republican than it is today).

As Hank points out, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Accordingly, we have to figure out a way to move past Buddy is he plans just to occupy the space like the next Storm Thurmond.

It’s almost impossible to get anyone to run so long as there is an incumbent. Carl Langford became mayor when I was 7 years old and every mayor since has stayed too long. Bill Frederick, arguably the most important mayor in Orlando history, even acknowledged as much.

When a mayor comes into office, there’s an immense energy as the new staff floats new ideas and prioritizes the things they find important that the previous administration let slide. As time goes by, the players from the top down get set in their ways and an attitude of “we’ve always done it this way - it must be the right way” creeps in.

A prime example is Jake Stuart. When he went to work with Mayor Bill in 1980, Orlandoans were amazed a government could have so many ideas proposed in so short a time. Eventually, Jake moved on to the Orlando Chamber and by the time he retired it had just become an endless parade of meetings and fundraisers that hadn’t had a new idea in a decade.

When Buddy came in, there was a sense of things moving again, whether you agreed with them or not. The venues had been stalled for over a decade and Bulldozer Buddy got them moving again. Heck, his dubious consigliere even wanted to sell off OUC (a bad idea but it definitely shook off the cobwebs over there).

We’re seeing the same thing now - everything must be wonderful because this is the way we’ve done it FOR 17 YEARS.

Whenever something doesn’t get fixed, the assumption is, “oh, that can’t happen or it would have already”.

An interesting example - as head of the DDB, Thomas Chatmon should be one of the most high profile staffers in town. Yet twice in the last few days, two people in a forum all about downtown misspelled his name. Would that happen if he was in the press and banging the drum for downtown regularly? I suspect not. If I went to a meeting of downtown folks and asked them to tell me his notable accomplishments over the last decade or so, they’d stare at me (I know, because I did just that).

Obviously, If you think Orlando is perfect and should never change, there’s no need for new leadership. With different priorities, however, we know the things most complained about here can change as new leaders work on them. 

Who should we look too? The farm team should be the council but that amen chorus hasn’t had a new idea in years, either.

It is a priority of mine to start looking. Maybe because I’ve seen the energy of the young people working on Mayor Pete’s presidential campaign I’ve got a new focus myself. We’ll soon find out.

I will say someone like Andy might be a great place to start but nevertheless I’m anxious to start looking around again. I know we can do better because I’ve seen it happen several time and am ready to make magic one more time.

[spenser1058]

Mayor Pete seems to be surging at the right time in both Iowa and NH. I can’t wait ‘til things crank up here in Florida!

[spenser1058]

Privatizing, one of those ideas like supply-side economics that sound great in theory but are a disaster in practice (see: Kansas), has reared its ugly head among wackadoodles on the Jacksonville City Council.

Fortunately, the citizens aren’t having any of it. Remember that Duval County is the most right-leaning of the largest counties in Florida.

Nevertheless, polling by UNF shows 59% of Jax residents oppose privatizing JEA, one of the nation’s largest municipal-owned utilities.

Even better, 63% of Republicans don’t like the idea.

Sanity rules along the First Coast.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/310606-jax-cold-jea-sale

From Florida Politics

Edited November 10, 2019 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Mayor Pete’s husband Chasten is in town Saturday at UCF and in South Eola at The Abbey.

Tickets still available for the downtown event - I’ll see you there!

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-chasten-buttigieg-20191114-htil6pdeszgm3jgdlalsunrsse-story.html

From the Sentinel