by Beth Kassab | Sep 3, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission
Blue Bamboo Looks to Lease Space to Visual Artists
The performing arts venue has hit multiple obstacles as its rent for the old city library building increases
Sept. 3, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Beset by the death of its founder last year, construction delays and increasing rent, Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts is now facing the loss of $12,900 in annual funding from the city as it presses forward with a new plan to lease space on its second floor to visual artists.
City Commissioners appeared in agreement at a budget work session last week to end its yearly contribution to Blue Bamboo, one of seven local nonprofits that has traditionally received dollars from the city in recent years.
“Why are we funding Blue Bamboo if they are paying us rent?” asked Mayor Sheila DeCiccio at the work session called for commissioners to evaluate potential cuts to the budget as financial pressure intensifies on local governments as voters prepare to vote in November on property tax reductions.
The commission is set to take its first budget vote next week.
The day before that meeting, Todd Weaver, a former city commissioner who is now vice chairman of Blue Bamboo’s board, appeared before the group to ask for a month-long extension to secure a certificate of occupancy for the second floor of the old library building that the group leases from the city.
Weaver said construction was nearly complete and the group would begin paying the new higher rent amount this month. The commission granted the extension for the group to bring the space into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other city codes.
Weaver told the Voice the second floor will be partitioned into 21 visual art studios that artists can rent.
The plan comes about three months after a contentious meeting between Blue Bamboo Chairman Jeff Flowers and the City Commission in which Flowers was seeking changes to the group’s lease because, he said, he was having trouble finding an arts group that could afford the rent in the wake of the original tenant walking away and construction delays as well as the death last year of founder Chris Cortez.
The commission did not agree at the time to grant the group any rent reductions or allow it to deviate from keeping the building as an arts hub.
So far, the group has invested about $1.5 million into the building, including more than $900,000 in grants from Orange County’s Tourism Development Taxes.
The music venue on the first floor opened more than a year ago and boasts a calendar full of events most weeks from Thursday to Sunday.
Weaver said he could not speculate on when the visual artist spaces will open on the second floor.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 2, 2026 | City Commission, Police and Public Safety
Winter Park to Remove Flock Cameras Per State Order
“The cameras have value in terms of investigative and security uses, but the issue is whether or not people’s privacy rights and concerns over surveillance outweigh those legitimate and positive uses,” Commissioner Warren Lindsey told the Voice
Sept. 2, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park Police Chief Tim Volkerson said all three of the Flock cameras operating in Winter Park will be taken down in order to comply with a state order to remove the license plate readers from state roads.
Volkerson said the cameras will come down within 30 days as required by the order from the Florida Department of Transportation.
“… The recent exponential increase in deployments along our roadways, coupled with concerning reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes merit immediate action to preserve Floridians’ sovereignty and quality of life,” read the memorandum dated Aug. 31.
An example of how a camera appears on the road. (Photo courtesy of Flock Safety)
Winter Park has operated the cameras on Lee Road, Fairbanks Avenue and Aloma Avenue for about five years. All are on state-owned roads and must be removed to comply with the state’s order revoking permits for the devices.
Volkerson said it’s possible the cameras will be placed on city-owned roads, which would not be impacted by the state’s order. He said the original locations were selected because they cover the major roadways that lead in and out of the city of 30,000 people surrounded by Orlando, Maitland and neighboring Seminole County.
The Voice reported last month that Volkerson made changes to the way the police department used the cameras in response to increasing concerns about privacy and growing awareness about instances of law enforcement in other jurisdictions abusing the database created by the cameras. He ended direct access to Winter Park’s cameras by outside agencies and also said he planned to more strictly audit how his department was using the database.
Flock cameras, which get their name because they are manufactured by an Atlanta-based company called Flock Safety, are mounted along roadways and photograph vehicles. They create a searchable database of license plate numbers and other details such as the vehicle’s make, model and distinguishing characteristics. Police can search by inputting a description such as a blue Toyota RAV-4 with damage to the back bumper or by a tag number as part of an investigation.
A chart from Flock Safety’s website attempts to address some concerns about the camera system.
Officers can also program the system to alert them if a vehicle with a specific description or tag number is captured by one of the cameras.
In July, his officers conducted between 50 and 60 searches using the cameras, which cost the department $7,500 a year to lease.
Volkerson previously told the Voice the network of surveillance provides a “huge benefit” for safety as a tool for solving crimes.
As an example, Volkerson said the cameras proved helpful earlier this year when there were some residential burglaries along Phelps Avenue. He said his officers pursued a suspect but lost him. About 20 minutes later, they received an alert for the vehicle from a camera near South Orlando Avenue and pursued it again but did not capture the suspect. Eventually a different agency’s camera alerted that the vehicle was near Apopka and the suspect was arrested.
But in recent months, the network of cameras has prompted nationwide backlash among people concerned about data collection and the privacy of law-abiding citizens.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey, who is also a well-known criminal defense attorney, said he has concerns about the cameras and wants to consider the risks and benefits before the city decides to continue to use them in other locations not governed by the state order.
“We need to look at it carefully,” he said. “Where does the data go and where is it used? The cameras have value in terms of investigative and security uses, but the issue is whether or not people’s privacy rights and concerns over surveillance outweigh those legitimate and positive uses.”
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 26, 2026 | City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
Chabad Synagogue Approved in 3-2 Vote
The development will also include townhomes and a daycare that some neighbors said will cause too much traffic and parking problems
Aug. 26, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission on Wednesday approved a new development near Park Avenue to include a synagogue with a daycare and five townhomes after hearing from residents about the meaning of Chabad of Greater Orlando’s work and the importance of it becoming the first permanent synagogue in Winter Park.
The 3-2 vote followed more than three hours of discussions and comments, including objections from some neighbors who said they worried the project will create too much traffic, noise and parking problems. Commissioners Elizabeth Ingram, Craig Russell and Kris Cruzada voted in favor while Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and Commissioner Warren Lindsey dissented.
“I’m willing to risk parking and I’m willing to risk traffic so people and children can have a better understanding of each other,” Cruzada said just before the vote, adding, “I’m willing to live in a little discomfort” to show acceptance in the community.
DeCiccio and Lindsey supported a motion to postpone the vote, not because they oppose the synagogue, but because they wanted additional conditions on the project such as moving the location of three parking spots closer to the townhomes and an agreement that the synagogue would hold multiple simultaneous events.
“We would welcome a synagogue in Winter Park,” DeCiccio said. “We are with you. We stand with you. Attorney [Rebecca] Wilson can tell you we do this to everybody who comes in.”
Wilson of the Lowndes law firm represents the developer of the townhomes as well as the synagogue and has logged hundreds of hours in front of the Winter Park board over years answering questions about developments down to the smallest details from a commission known to publicly dissect proposals.
When the project passed on the first of two required votes, DeCiccio suggested that before the second vote next month the developer move three parking spaces closer to the townhomes on the 0.6-acre site at the corner of Morse Boulevard and Knowles Avenue where the El Cortez apartment buildings stand today.
The El Cortez Apartments along Morse Boulevard.
Other conditions previously approved by the Planning & Zoning Board include a requirement that child drop-off and pick-up related to the daycare take place in the underground parking area planned for the synagogue as well as prohibiting speakers or amplified music on the rooftop patio; requiring all noise and lights from the rooftop end by 10 p.m.; any expansion of the synagogue or daycare must go back to the city for approval and car lines related to daycare drop-off or pick-up can not spill onto the public streets.
Rabbi Dovid Dubov said most services at Chabad have just 10 to 30 attendees. He also said the location proved the best option for Chabad because other sites proved too expensive or not in a location that people could easily walk to. 
A rendering shows what the synagogue will look like from Knowles Avenue.
The 40-year-old organization lost its Maitland building to a fire in 2024 and has been operating out of a temporary space on the far end of North Park Avenue.
The proposal calls for 80 seats in the synagogue and the daycare is limited to 60 children. The five townhomes on the site are being developed separately and will be sold once completed.
Some residents who live in nearby townhomes and condominiums questioned the accuracy of a traffic study and noted how congested the small roads already become as a result of the Methodist Church preschool across Morse Boulevard and other church schools just blocks away.
Former Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards attended the meeting on Wednesday and said he represented Frank Santos, who lives next to the site of the project and is chief executive officer of Rosen Hotels & Resorts.
Edwards said concerns centered on the Chabad’s planned rooftop event space that he said was more appropriate for a commercial area than a residential neighborhood.
People who attend the Chabad explained that Jewish law and tradition calls for some meals and events to be held outdoors, which is the reason for the patio.
Wilson pointed out that the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, a three-story building just one block down from the synagogue site and across Knowles Avenue, also rents out space for events without major disruptions to traffic or parking.
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 26, 2026 | Columnist Bob Morris
Column: The Uplifting Story of One Park Ave Shop
How boobs – and class – equal business for local entrepreneur
By Bob Morris, Columnist
Hello, hungry people.
I was out for a morning walk the other day — it was 7:30-ish — and Winter Park’s main drag was largely deserted except for us early a.m. pavement pounders.
Then from the block ahead came a loud commotion, lots of cheering and shouting.
And I saw a dozen or so women dressed in red and waving signs that said: “Go Braless!” and “I ❤️Boobs!”
I picked up the pace.
From a distance, it had all the signs of a 1960s-era women’s lib demonstration, but for the fact that the participants were better dressed. And not angry. They were smiling.
So, being a creepy old guy, I stopped and gawked and asked what was going on.
Turns out, it was a photo shoot for a Labor Day sale at the store where they work.
“We specialize in clothing that women can wear without needing a bra,” said one of the women in front of the store.
This gave me pause. I had reached a point where I could not hold up my end of the conversation.
And yet, I persisted.
“Can’t women go braless in any type of clothing?” I asked.
This got laughs and indulgent smiles from the women in red.
“Sometimes that’s too revealing,” said one of them. “And jiggly.”
“And sometimes it’s too scratchy,” said another.
“Plus, bras aren’t comfortable,” said yet another.
Again, not my field of expertise. But I wasn’t finished being a creepy old guy.
“OK if I take a photo?” I asked.
They were, as you can see, all for it.
“We love encouraging women to go braless,” said one. “In the right kind of clothes.”
Said another: “We love spreading the word on social media.”
And so, friends, here we are.
The name of the store is — klassy. — and that period, apparently, is necessary.
Yes, it looks like a comma in the photo below. But that’s a shadow. It’s really a period, And it has a purpose.
Other brands — JOANN. and Marc Jacobs., for instance — employ periods, too. It’s a design thing. The period, I am told, “sends a psychological cue of confidence, completeness, and finality — communicating that the brand is the ‘definitive’ word on what they do.”
And the lowercase presentation, I am further told, “mimics modern texting habits, making a retail storefront feel more human, direct, and casual rather than corporate.”
Who knew?
Now for the klassy. origin story. (Actually, that period is confounding and we will henceforth dispense with it.)
The klassy co-founder, Natalie Rogers Soto, grew up right here in the Orlando area. She got tired of uncomfortable bras that weren’t flattering to her outerwear, and she couldn’t find built-in bras that felt right. So she started designing her own.
In 2018, she and her husband, Jacob, launched klassy online. It was slow going at first. But they posted twice daily on TikTok. And in 2022, klassy went viral with its summer “brami” (a hybrid bra and camisole) and hit $1 million in sales in a single day.
They opened the first and, so far, only klassy retail store in Winter Park at the tail end of 2025. And in March 2026, Natalie was honored by her alma mater with induction into the University of Central Florida College of Business Hall of Fame.
How’s that for an “uplifting,” story?
“It’s all about body positivity and feeling good in your own skin,” one of the women outside the klassy store said.
It reminds me of the origin story of another clothing line, Lululemon, which has a store just down the street from klassy.
Back in 2002, when Lululemon launched its first shop in Vancouver, the owners advertised that they would give $200 worth of clothing to the first 30 people who showed up naked on a specified morning. Being Vancouver, it was rainy and very cold. Yet, way more than 30 people stood shivering outside in bathrobes that day and, after they stripped down, Lululemon let them all inside and gave them free stuff.
I have searched for photos of this historic event. Sadly, I’ve come up short.
Fast forward to present-day: Lululemon now has 811 stores and, in 2025, rang up sales of $11.1 billion.
Far be it from me to suggest that klassy is on the same trajectory. But to think that you could become a billionaire by helping women go braless? Surely it would boggle the minds of 1960s-era feminists.
I kinda wanted to take a peek inside the klassy store. Just so that, years from now, I can say I knew it when.
“Come back at 10 o’clock when we open,” said one of the women in red. “We have a little coffee shop inside. You can try our specialty, a ‘matcha k.’”
Maybe another day.
And so I carried on, just a guy on an early morning walk who set out with no expectations, learned a little something, met some lovely women, and came away with a bounce in his step.
Is this a great country or what?
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
This commentary originally appeared on Bob Morris’ Substack. A former newspaper columnist and magazine editor, Bob is author of the Zack Chasteen series of mysteries set in Florida and the Caribbean, along with several non-fiction books and collections of essays. A fourth-generation Floridian, he lives in Winter Park.
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 21, 2026 | Chain of Lakes, Environment, News
How Healthy is Lake Virginia? New Buoy Sends Real-Time Data
The project from the Freshwater Alliance at Rollins will help scientists and average lake goers know more about the quality of the Winter Park Chain of Lakes
Aug. 21, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Boaters and paddleboarders may have noticed a new yellow buoy floating near the center of Lake Virginia and hoisting a Rollins College flag.
But the addition isn’t an average buoy warning of a speed zone or marking swimming boundaries.
This buoy is a first-of-its-kind for the lake to monitor water quality in real time.
Operated by the Freshwater Alliance at Rollins, the buoy is collecting data around the clock related to water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, algae concentrations and other factors.
Eventually, all of that data will be crunched and coded into an easy-to-use dashboard for water-goers or anyone who wants to know about the health of the lake as well as researchers like Rollins’ Emily Nodine, who is interested in understanding environmental trends and how to best manage the health of the Winter Park Chain of Lakes.
“Over time we hope to develop a livestream of data that goes into a platform that will be publicly available,” said Nodine, chairwoman of Environmental Studies and faculty director of the Freshwater Alliance.
A view of the new buoy on Lake Virginia. (Photos courtesy of Rollins College)
In recent years, the city of Winter Park has closed the Chain of Lakes related to hurricane and storm activity and closed individual sections such as swimming off Dinky Dock because of algae blooms.
The buoy, which cost about $50,000 and was funded through a private donation to the alliance from the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, will provide consistent sampling every 15 minutes and allow for more analysis of trends and future projections than the once per month water sampling currently done by the state and the city.
The buoy is floating near the deepest area of the lake — about 20 feet — and collects samples from about a meter under the surface to near the lake bottom. Temperature measurements from different depths will help Nodine’s team also understand how the water is moving through the lake.
And while the buoy is collecting samples from Lake Virginia on the south end of the Winter Park Chain, the lakes are connected both above and below ground and the data could provide clues about the entire system of water bodies. The chain of lakes is crucial to life in Winter Park where everything from real estate values to weekend skiers to Rollins crew and sailing teams to visitors on the Scenic Boat Tour rely on the health of the water.
“Someone who lives on Lake Osceola or Lake Maitland or even Lake Killarney, whatever Lake Virginia is doing, your lake is probably doing similar stuff,” Nodine said.
A view of the buoy before it was deployed.
The buoy is anchored near the center of Lake Virginia (coordinates 28° 35′ 15.45″ N, 81° 20′ 41.07″ W). While it will remain in a fixed location, it is not permanently installed and may occasionally be removed for maintenance or future research needs, according to a Rollins advisory.
It is equipped with safety features, including a flashing light and reflective markings. Boaters and other lake users are asked to be aware of the buoy’s presence and maintain a safe distance when navigating nearby, the advisory said.
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