Primary Elections – August 18

Primary Elections – August 18

Primary Elections – August 18

Do Not Ignore This One — Get Out and Vote!

by Anne Mooney / July 13, 2020

While everyone’s attention is focused on the November elections, the August 18 Primary Election will also have an immediate and lasting impact. Mark your calendars and get out and VOTE.

Register to Vote

The deadline to register to vote or to update your party affiliation for the August 18 Primary is July 20. You can do this online at RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov, or by phone by calling 407-836-2070. You can go in person to any driver’s license office, the Winter Park Public Library, or the Orange County Elections office at 119 W. Kaley St., Orlando FL, 32806.

Vote by Mail

The deadline to request a Vote by Mail ballot is August 8 at 5:00 pm. You can request a Vote by Mail ballot online at ocfelections.com, by phone at 407-836-8683 or by email at voter@ocfelections.com.

Early Voting

If you prefer to cast your ballot in person before Election Day, go to <ocfelections.com/early-voting> to find an early voting location that is convenient for you. Unlike on Election Day, when you must vote at your assigned polling place, you can vote at any early voting center. Early voting dates are August 3 – 16. Note the locations, dates, and hours of operation on the <ocfelections.com> website. Be sure to bring photo and signature identification.

What’s on the Ballot?

In addition to several partisan races, there are five non-partisan races, so what appears on the ballots will depend upon your party affiliation.

Republicans will vote for the Congressional Representative from District 7, a State Committeeman, a State Committeewoman, four judges for the 9th Judicial Circuit and a member of the School Board.

Democrats will vote for State Attorney, Sheriff, Property Appraiser, four judges for the 9th Judicial Circuit and a School Board member.

Those with No Party Affiliation will vote only for the School Board member and the four Circuit Court judges.

You can confirm your voter status and find your polling place on the ocfelections.com website. If you have questions, call 407-836-2070 and someone will be able to assist you.

 

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Change is Necessary

Change is Necessary

Change is Necessary

by Mary Daniels / June 30, 2020

Events since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police have raised more questions than answers. Floyd’s death seems to have been the proverbial ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’ 

What to do? First, we examine those questions. The answers will come when we are able to engage in honest conversation about the systemic racism that has plagued our culture for 400 years. The black community is not the only community to suffer from racial injustice, but it is my community and the community for which I can speak authentically. 

What can we do?

One has to look deep within oneself and acknowledge the fact that the problem has and does exist.  No problem can be solved unless you can first truly acknowledge that there is a problem.

Does one have to ask why “Black Lives Matter”?

Black lives have NOT mattered in this society’s system for 400 plus years, when our ancestors were first brought here as slaves in the hulls of ships in inhumane conditions.

The institution of slavery created systemic racism.

We’ve all been told for years that our system works. “If it’s not broken why fix it? it’s worked for years!” Yes, but for whom does it work? And who is being disenfranchised by our system? 

Who needs to worry they might be killed while they’re driving, jogging or simply walking home? Should a doctor unpacking his car in the driveway of his home be worried? Should you be worried, sleeping in your bed, that authorities with no warrant and without announcing who they are will break into your house and open fire? 

On May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black male, was murdered on national TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Mr. Floyd was handcuffed by a white police officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Mr. Floyd was crying he couldn’t breathe, asking for help and calling for his [deceased] Mom. 

While Officer Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, looking into the middle distance with his hands in his pockets, and while two other officers knelt on Floyd’s back and a fourth officer stood by watching, George Floyd took his last breath.   

If this brutal act of murder did not touch everyone, there is definitely something wrong. This ls one of many such events across this nation. And they continue. 

Winter Park finally speaks in a soft voice.

On June 4, ten days after Floyd’s death, Winter Park Chief of Police Michael Deal posted a message on cite-news stating the City of Winter Park was committed to de-escalation and has banned excessive use of force, such as the use of choke holds.

On June 24, City Manager Randy Knight posted a letter on the city website on behalf of the Mayor, Commissioners and Staff as a follow-up to the June 22nd Commission meeting. The mayor himself has never spoken.

Being silent sends the wrong message.  

Although conversations on racism are difficult, especially for white people, we can start the process by reaching an understanding that black people did not create racism. 

Black people were thrown into it by being brought over in the hulls of slave ships and sold as chattel to slave owners. They suffered inhumane treatment, raping of the ladies and their daughters, and filthy congested conditions. The males, for sale to slave owners like cattle, were seen as inferior because their skin was black. 

These captives were stripped of their culture, their birthright and even their names. As slaves, they were required to assume the surnames of their new masters.

What was my great-grandfather’s name?

These were people who were good enough to breast-feed your white babies, raise your white kids, cook your food, clean your homes, wash your clothes, plant and harvest your food — but not good enough to sit at a table and share a meal with you or sit next to you at Church or at a restaurant or on a bus.

The color of our skin, that beautiful brown and black complexion, that color you yearned for when you sat in the sun to get a tan, was what made black people perceived as something dirty and inferior. 

How does this 400-year history of systemic black oppression play out within the context of the history of Winter Park?

Black Men Mattered in 1887, when the Town of Winter Park was incorporated.

At that time, there were not enough registered Democratic white voters for the community to become a town. One black man, Gus Henderson, editor of Winter Park’s first newspaper, The Advocate, rallied the black Hannibal Square Republicans to march across the tracks after sunset to exercise their voices and their right to vote. It was the black Republican vote that secured the incorporation of Winter Park as a town. 

Walter B. Simpson, a land-owner, was elected Alderman and served from 1887 to 1893.

Frank R. Israel, a land-owner, also served as Alderman from 1887 to 1893.

De-annexation

Once the white power brokers had achieved their goal of incorporating the Town of Winter Park, they sought to overturn the election results because they did not want blacks to serve in any governing capacity. Initially they failed. Later succeeding, they finally were able to remove the Hannibal Square community from the town limits. Hannibal Square, as a whole, was kicked out of the Town of Winter Park. 

Re-annexation

Thirty years later, in the 1920s, Winter Park still lacked the required number of registered voters to achieve their new ambition to become a City. Once again, they needed those black Republican voters. So the Hannibal Square community was brought back and restored as part of the City of Winter Park. The rest is history. No black man or woman has served in an elected capacity since 1893.

Black Women Matter.

Some 50 years ago, a black woman, Mary Allen Howard, ran for City Commission. She was told she would never win. In 2019, 50 years after Mary Allen Howard’s unsuccessful bid, a young black Winter Park entrepreneur, Barbara Chandler, also ran for a City Commission seat. Chandler is the manager of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center. She lives in Winter Park.

In the course of her work, Chandler learned the history of the Hannibal Square community, which has had no representation since 1893. As she continued to meet the residents, Chandler became concerned and inspired. She asked herself, ‘what I am doing to make a difference to help eradicate such disenfranchisement through systemic racism?’  Barbara’s campaign for a commission seat, though not successful, made an impact and hopefully has inspired others to be involved and to claim a voice in the city’s governing body.

Fairolyn Livingston, Chief Historian of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center, was

born in Winter Park, attended Hannibal Square Elementary, Hungerford High School, and Howard Community Jr. College. She graduated from Rollins College. 

Fairolyn has researched and interviewed every contributor to the permanent collection of Oral & Pictorial History exhibits at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center. She oversees the project in which she records residents and documents their rich history in the Hannibal Square community.  I often tell her she is a walking encyclopedia. The Hannibal Square Heritage Center is a program of the Crealde School of Art. Everyone is welcome to come there and learn the history of what was a thriving community.

All Lives Matter

I have heard people respond to the “Black Lives Matter” movement by saying, ‘All lives matter.’ All lives do matter – but in our current system, black lives matter less. That is wrong! 

What is my Name?  Can you see me? Yes, I am still HERE in 2020!

My name is Mary Daniels. I am beautifully Black! I Matter!  

Yes, “BLACK LIVES MATTER”! 

SILENCE Is Not an Option. Change Is Necessary. We Are ALL Humans and We All MATTER!

Mary Daniels is a citizen of Winter Park. About who she is, Mary writes, “All that anyone is came from the beginning ancestors Adam & Eve. So then, who are we blacks, and even more importantly, who are you whites – and all the different races of the world? We breathe, bleed and have the same organs as all other human beings. I make no apology for my being born black, my culture and heritage of being a strong, respectful, beautiful woman of color.”

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OAO Email Mystery Solved

OAO Email Mystery Solved

OAO Email Mystery Solved

by Anne Mooney / June 26, 2020

Winter Parkers who received an email titled “Winter Park, Winter Garden. A Tale of Two Winters,” bearing the Winter Park city seal superimposed by the words “Orange Avenue” and including the Notice of Public Hearing from the June 21 Orlando Sentinel were understandably mystified.

Readers Ask: Where Did This Come From?

At first glance, the email appeared to have been sent by the City of Winter Park. However, the body of the email contained an unfavorable comparison of Winter Park to the city of Winter Garden. Adding to the confusion was a call to action toward the end of the text, urging recipients to contact the Mayor and Commissioners and to attend a public hearing July 7th.

 

Email from Demetree Real Estate Services

Communications Director Clarissa Howard, who was not aware of the email until she received a query from the Voice, said she did not know who had sent it. She quickly looked into the matter and discovered the email had come from the Demetree Real Estate Services Constant Contact account. Demetree Real Estate is one of two large landholders within the Orange Avenue Overlay.

Howard fired off an email advising the sender, “Using this official city image in your messaging misrepresents your communication as information produced and distributed by the City of Winter Park.”

Second-degree Misdemeanor

In her email, Howard cited city code, Section 2-4:  “As provided by law, the manufacture, use, display or other employment of any facsimile or reproduction of the municipal seal, except by municipal officials or employees in the performance of their official duties, without the express approval of the governing body is a second degree misdemeanor, punishable as provided in F.S. § 775.082 or 775.083, as the same may be amended. The city manager, or his designee, is delegated the authority to grant permission to others to use the seal.”

Howard’s email concluded, “Absent of our expressed approval, I respectfully ask that you refrain from using the city seal in any of your messaging tools. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.”

Temporary Moratorium

At issue is the Demetree organization’s opposition to a proposed ordinance placing a temporary moratorium on development within the Orange Avenue Overlay district until the current City Commission is able to craft an Orange Avenue Overlay ordinance to replace the one that was rescinded in April of this year.

Demetree company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

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Commission Moves to Wednesday

Commission Moves to Wednesday

Commission Moves to Wednesday

City Advisory Board Appointments Announced & Explained

by Anne Mooney / June 24, 2020

Starting with the July 8 meeting, regularly scheduled Commission meetings will move from the second and fourth Monday to the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. Meetings will continue to begin at 3:30 pm.

The move will avoid conflicts with holidays that are celebrated on Mondays and will facilitate those popular long weekends.

Virtual Meetings Through July

Commission meetings will continue to be virtual through the end of July, based on Governor Ron DeSantis extension of Executive Order 20-69 allowing virtual meetings of local governments to continue.

New Board Appointments Across the Board

The process of appointing members of City Advisory Boards changed with the adoption in March of revisions to the Winter Park City Charter. Formerly, the Mayor made all advisory board appointments, with the approval of the Commission. Now, all boards have seven members; three members of each board are appointed by the Mayor and one member is appointed by each of the four Commissioners.

Transition Appointments – happens only once in 2020

It seems 2020 has thrown everything into a cocked hat, and there will be no exception in the matter of board appointments. The amended Charter dictates that Board members serve “at the pleasure” of the appointing Mayor or Commissioner, and their terms will run concurrently with the Mayor or Commissioner making the appointment. Each board member is limited to two three-year terms on a particular board.

This means, since Mayor Leary has only one year left to serve in his current term, his board appointees also will have one-year terms on that board. Similarly, appointees named by Commissioners Cooper and Weaver will have two-year terms.

Hang in there . . .

At Monday’s meeting, the Commission decided that the one-year appointments will be considered ‘partial terms,’ and will not count toward the two-term limit, allowing these appointees two full three-year terms in addition to the one-year term granted by Leary.

Two-year terms, however, will be considered full terms and will be eligible for only one further term on that board. This condition applies to Cooper’s and Weaver’s appointees.

Fortunately, we will encounter this situation only once, since the newly-seated 2020 Commission decided in April to release all board members from their current appointments and to begin fresh with all new May appointments, which are beginning in June because of the pandemic.

However they got there, and for however long, we owe a debt of gratitude to the people who have agreed to serve the community on the various Advisory Boards. Here is a link to the new slate.

DeCiccio Named to Library Board of Trustees

Commissioner Sheila DeCiccio was named to the seat on the Library Board of Trustees that is traditionally occupied by a member of the Commission. The seat was previously held by former Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel.

 

 

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Juneteenth – Celebrating with Personal Pledges

Juneteenth – Celebrating with Personal Pledges

Juneteenth - Celebrating with Personal Pledges

Valada Flewellyn and Charley Williams / June 19, 2020

 

 

Skin on the Rope

by Valada Flewellyn

 

We all have skin on the rope

Whether a neck on the rope

Or a hand on the rope

We all have skin on the rope

The pain of that connection

Grips us, entangles us

 

Compels us to examine

Our history, then construct

Tomorrow to manifest the

Wounds that need

More than a band-aid

 

Wounds that warrant more

Than a cursory examination

We must dissect the

Fibers of our history

Inspect our suspect

Moral Consciousness

 

Which allows sin to fester

As we turn our heads

Away from the atrocities

That grab our children

Drowning them in the muck

Of our making

 

Leaving them unprepared

Unprotected but infected

Generation after generation

From our refusal to acknowledge

 

How we have Failed

Our children . . . All

 

We ALL have skin on the rope.

January 28, 2020   

 

Crafting Our Pledges

Ending systemic racism starts with taking responsibility. Each of us must craft his or her own pledge, beginning with the word “I.” Valada and I encourage WP Voice readers to craft their own pledges. We will begin the conversation by giving you ours.

Charley Williams’ Pledge:

I commit to learning more about the root causes of racism, how it spreads, how I enable it and how it is incorporated into life-damaging policies on things like voting, education, access to health care and mass incarceration. I will listen. I will call out racial bias when I see it. It starts with me.

Charley Williams, Voting  Advocate

Valada Flewellyn’s Pledge:

I pledge to support my white neighbors, colleagues, friends and family who are courageous enough to pledge themselves to ending racism in this country.  I pledge to listen to, to pray, not to hold either the white race or my own race harmless for how long we have allowed this evil to exist in our society to the detriment of our children.

Valada Flewellyn, Poet

Addressing Our Past

First, It is imperative that we address past atrocities, which have for too long been swept beneath the rug of history — Wilmington, NC (1898), Ocoee, FL (1920), Tulsa/Greenwood, OK (1921), Rosewood, FL (1923), Groveland, FL (1951). The Equal Justice Institute’s (EJI) research shows that over a 73-year period, from 1877 to 1950, more than 4,000 racial lynchings were conducted in the South. That’s the equivalent of one lynching per day for 11 years. Enough.

We Need to Know Our Own History

The outrage is real and deep. Up until 1950, only whites could vote in a City of Orlando primary election, which was controlled by a Florida Democratic Party organization called the ‘White Voters Executive Committee.’

Our single biggest challenge is that we don’t know our own history. It’s time to face it.
This history belongs to every one of us. No one can escape. The horrific legacy of lynching and racial terror continues to haunt and plague us. White people have constructed and maintained this centuries-old institutionalized racism; therefore, it only makes sense that, with the help and cooperation of our black friends and neighbors, the whites must shoulder the brunt of the burden of dismantling it. But no one community can do this alone. We all need help from one another.

We must face our shadow stories, state our personal pledges, encourage and engage in the “courageous conversations.” Please join us now as we learn to listen, strive to learn and learn to act. Together, we can create a future that is our gift to our children and our grandchildren.

 

Valada Flewellyn is a poet and the author of “For the Children: The History of Jack and Jill of America, Incoporated.”

Charley William is past President of the Orange County League of Women Voters.

Flewellyn and Williams are Founding members of Alliance for Truth and Justice, a volunteer group started in 2015 to research the Ocoee Voting Day Massacre of 1920, in cooperation with the Equal Justice Initiative, headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. More at www.ocoeemassacre.com

 

 

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