by Beth Kassab | Jul 8, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, Library, News
What Sparked Proposed Protest Ban at Library & Events Center? Mostly photo shoots
Records show photo shoots account for most of the reported disruptions at the Library and Events Center, a popular TikTok backdrop with its sharp angles and vaulted rooflines
July 8, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park ordered up a spectacle with a more than $41 million Library & Events Center by British architect David Adjaye featuring rose-tinted concrete of sweeping angles and a complex of vaulted pavilions.
The Winter Park Events Center. Photo courtesy of the city of Winter Park.
And that’s exactly what it got based on the reasoning for a proposed new ordinance to limit protests and other gatherings at the public space that opened in late 2021 at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
“Because of current unrest that is being experienced around the country as well as recent event-related interruptions that have been reported at the Library and Events Center, the city felt this ordinance was necessary,” City spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said in an email. “The Library and Events Center has become a very popular rental venue for weddings, reunions, and other special events. It also architecturally lends itself to serve as a beautiful backdrop for professional and amateur photographers and all types of video productions/recordings. This ordinance would clearly outline the areas in which these types of activities can co-exist balancing public safety and free speech. It is a proactive measure to prevent potential hazards to pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”
A list provided by Howard includes 15 “disturbances” since the beginning of this year. Of those, 10 are described as “photo shoot with props” or “prom photos.” One noted a “changing booth” and “lights.”
The other disturbances were listed as “cars blocking traffic” or “skateboarding/rollerblading/scooter.” Only one was listed as “group with signs” or anything resembling a demonstration or a protest.
The city provided law enforcement call logs for some of the incidents. No one was cited or arrested and the logs appear to indicate the person who called in the complaint dropped the matter or the people or vehicles who were the subject of the complaints moved or left the area when asked.
A search of TikTok and Instagram posts tagged with the library or events center address yielded a handful of users posting photo shoots, wedding videos and other content.
After the first proposal was heavily criticized by two commissioners as potentially unconstitutional last month, the City Commission on Wednesday will consider a revised ordinance that includes a more narrow boundary around the buildings than first presented.
The revised version also includes a lower fine — from a maximum of $500 per day to $200 for the first infraction — for violations referred to Code Enforcement. The new wording also explicitly exempts political activities during elections, which is governed by state law — particularly because the library is a popular early voting site.
A list provided by the city of Winter Park shows disturbances logged at the Library and Events Center in 2025.
Commissioners Warren Lindsey and Marty Sullivan objected to the new rules last month, citing free speech and other concerns.
The blue line represents the new proposed boundary around the Library and Events Center to be considered this week.
“It’s not just just speech,” Lindsey said. “It’s also the right to assembly.”
He said the ordinance is a “solution looking for a problem” and that there are other rules on the books in Winter Park such as a noise ordinance and statutes against disorderly conduct that could apply to the concerns in question.
This image shows the original boundary drawn around the no-protest zone at the Library and Events Center considered on June 25.
All of the incidents on the list took place on a day or time while the Event Center, the city’s highest money-maker when it comes to venue rentals, was rented for a wedding, fundraiser or other private event.
The venue brings in $650,000 to $700,000 each year, according to the city budget. There have been 165 events through May at the venue, mostly for weddings and non-profit or corporate events. Repeat clients include Orlando Health, AdventHealth, the League of Women Voters and City Year Orlando, the budget stated.
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by Beth Kassab | Jul 7, 2025 | City Commission, News, Police
Residents face higher electric and water rates in new proposed budget
The draft $233.5 million city spending plan represents a nearly 9% increase over last year
July 7, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park residents will start to pay higher electric and water bills later this year if higher rates proposed in the 2026 budget are approved by the City Commission.
The Commission will begin on Wednesday to consider the draft budget for $233.5 million across all funds, an 8.9% or $19 million increase over this year amid widespread uncertainty about the national economic outlook and signs of slowing growth.
About half of the city’s budget increase is driven by the cost of undergrounding electric wires — a popular multi-year project that cuts down on outages — and other improvements to the city’s water and wastewater systems, which prompted staff to push for increases in the rates that utility customers will pay.
This year the city celebrated the 20th anniversary of its acquisition of the electric utility from the former Progress Energy, now Duke Energy, in a landmark deal that promised better reliability and lower rates.
Winter Park, which has about 30,000 residents, often boasts of providing customers with one of the lowest electric bills in the state .Over the most recent 12-month period, the city’s rates were about 10% below the average for municipal-owned utilities in Florida and 33% below Duke Energy.
A chart from the draft 2026 budget proposal shows how Winter Park’s electric rates compare across the state. Above image: A crew from the city’s electric utility works outside of a resident’s home. (Photo courtesy of Winter Park Budget Proposal)
But the cost of the undergrounding project, which is now set to be complete by 2030, on top of persistent inflation means expenses are outpacing the current rate structure and, as the proposal noted, “the ability to continue to hold rates but still provide safe and reliable electricity has ended.”
The proposal calls for a 10% increase or about $15 more per month on a 1,000 kWh customer bill. The higher rates will fund the undergrounding project, substation and facility improvements and meter replacement, according to the budget document.
“While this is higher than would have been preferred, not having an annual index or policy for raising rates gradually leaves the utility with making periodic dramatic increases when outside shocks such as inflation and tariffs, affect the ability to maintain the current level of service,” reads the draft proposal. “It is actually surprising that the utility has not had to raise its non-fuel rates for years and is a testament to the extremely good power agreements and low-cost operation of the utility.”
Staff is proposing an additional 2% increase on water bills on top of the 2.23% increase set by the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. The total adjustment would mean a $3.41 increase per month on the average 8,000 gallon customer.
The additional money would help the water utility keep up with capital expenses and stop using reserves to fund its obligations to help improve regional wastewater treatment plants.
Stormwater rates are also set to increase about $4 a month, according to the draft, based on a rate structure the City Commission put in place last year to increase rates by one penny per each property’s impervious square foot, each year, for three years. Those dollars go toward flood prevention, including setting into motion the results of recent basin studies, which identified the most urgent needs.
A chart from the draft proposal breaks down Winter Park’s General Fund, which makes up the largest portion of the city’s budget.
On top of those increases that will hit residents directly in the wallet each month, the budget proposal emphasized the need to balance an uncertain economic climate with political and other pressure to increase wages for police office officers.
“We are entering our 5th year of elevated inflation,” the budget draft states. “The long-vaunted U.S. economy is showing some concerning cracks as job growth is slowing, the number of home buyers vs home sellers has been dropping, retail sales are down, businesses have reduced hiring, creating the largest difference in unemployment between recent college graduates and the general workforce in years. All this points to a slowing economy that is likely going to remain at an elevated new normal of inflation around 3%. This means that the city will be experiencing slowing revenue growth while still facing an elevated inflation rate.
The draft noted that city governments often see a lag of about 18 months between signs of weakness in the economy and when the city begins to feel the downturn.
The budget keeps the city’s property tax rate the same — at 4.2991 mills, including debt service — though revenue will increase as property values increase. Each mill generates $1 for every $1,000 in the assessed value of a property.
“Property taxes are continuing to row the boat for the city’s fiscal picture, rising 7% and accounting for 44% of General Fund revenue,” the draft states. “This stabilizing force is what keeps most city services humming. Its rate of growth is sufficient to support the existing level of city services, but it is limited in what it can provide in excess of just staying on course.”
But even that steady revenue source is being threatened as Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature are looking to cut property taxes while putting pressure on local governments to increase police pay.
DeSantis announced proposed pay increases of 25% for state public safety workers, which pushing cities to set higher wages for their own police and fire personnel to stay competitive.
Winter Park plans to spend an additional $700,000 on public safety pay next year so that the starting salary for Winter Park police officers will reach about $65,000. At the same time, public safety pension costs will rise by $671,000.
Overall, the city employs 555 people and is budgeting for 2% cost of living raises plus an additional merit increase of up to 3%. The city is the fourth largest employer in Winter Park after AdventHealth, Orange County Schools and Rollins College. Publix rounds out the Top 5.
Other budget highlights include a warning that the capital improvement budget is tight and some projects may be deferred, particularly in the area of Parks & Recreation.
The current proposal calls for $885,000 for the following:
- $410,000 for ball tracking technology at the Winter Park Pines driving range and bunker improvements at the Winter Park Nine
- $200,000 through a grant application to replace eight hard courts at the Tennis Center
- $75,000 for LED lighting at athletic fields and tennis courts
- $150,000 for the landscaping office
- $50,000 for general parks maintenance
“The ability to fund new capital projects and priorities is diminished and doing anything new outside of identifying new revenue sources or grant opportunities will be difficult without cutting other services,” the proposal stated. “City services are only as reliable as the people, equipment, and infrastructure that deliver them.”
The city also expects its reserve funds to decline when measured as a percent of reoccurring expenses in the General Fund. Winter Park officials have stated their goal is to maintain reserves equal to about 30% of those costs and have reached that in recent years.
The new budget proposes $478,000 in contingency funds, which would bring the total reserves to about $22.3 million by the end of 2026, or about 26% of expenses. It would take another $3.6 million in savings to get to the 30% mark.
“It should be noted that even though the percentage is slipping, the total balance in the reserves is increasing,” the draft said.
Wednesday will kick off budget discussions in front of the City Commission. Time is set aside for public input on the budget during the City Commission meetings on Aug. 13 and Aug. 27. The first of the two required Commission votes on the budget is scheduled for Sept. 10.
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by Beth Kassab | Jun 18, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News
Blue Bamboo plans weekend opening
The nonprofit music venue recently secured a $1 million grant from Orange County and is counting down to its debut show in the old library
June 17, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Chris Cortez says the old Winter Park Library is buzzing with final construction and preparation this week before the space debuts this weekend as the city’s newest performing arts venue with two sold-out shows of the Orlando Jazz Orchestra on Sunday.
The opening of Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, more than a year in the making, comes on the heels of a $1 million construction grant awarded to the organization from Orange County.
“You’ve got to believe it’s possible or you can’t get anything moving at all,” Blue Bamboo founder Cortez said this week of the once long-shot odds of the venue taking over the old city building that was favored to go to Rollins College. “It’s contagious.”
The City Commission pivoted last year from a pitch that would have allowed Rollins to transform the building at the corner of New England and Aloma avenues into a new art museum and instead signed a lease with Blue Bamboo and rezoned the property to accommodate a venue space.
Cortez, a musician, and his wife Melody Cortez, a visual artist, started Blue Bamboo in 2016. They were on the hunt for a new space after the rent soared at their old location off Fairbanks Avenue at the same time city officials were still trying to figure out how to best use the 33,000-square-foot and three-story former library on New England Avenue.
Jeff Flowers, president of Blue Bamboo and a former Maitland City Council member who grew up in Winter Park, said the building has been transformed.
“This drab library was not very inviting and now it’s just … wow,” said Flowers, who noted the old oculus, the circular opening between the first and second floors that spanned 13 feet in diameter was once home to an indoor tree, is now closed.
The first floor features two performing spaces — a main stage with 182 seats and a smaller stage with a seating capacity of about 60.
Flowers said the nonprofit Performing Arts Matters, which he and his wife founded two decades ago to fund groups such as the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, will have office space in the building.
Central Florida Vocal Arts also plans to take over space on the second floor once construction is done there, said Theresa Smith-Levin, founder and executive director. About $200,000 of the county grant is designated for the group to build out teaching, rehearsal and office space. Central Florida Vocal Arts may use the first floor stages for some of its opera productions.
Cortez said the money from Orange County, which divvys out a small portion of the Tourism Development Tax to local arts groups, will be crucial to completing changes to the building.
He credited contractor Walker & Company with working diligently to help Blue Bamboo secure a certificate of occupancy sometime this week and open by its Sunday deadline.
In addition to the shows planned for Sunday, events are also scheduled for next week and through July.
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by Beth Kassab | Jun 17, 2025 | Arts and Culture, Events, News, Uncategorized
Winter Park awaiting decision on Parade of Bands
The annual December tradition was cancelled last year and may not happen again because of the new college football playoff schedule
June 17, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Officials are currently deciding the fate of the annual Parade of Bands in Winter Park.
A decision is expected to be reached next month whether the December parade is a go or if it is canceled for the second straight year in a row.
The parade normally features the two university bands playing in Orlando’s Pop-Tarts Bowl.
“Florida Citrus Sports is the entity that determines whether or not they will have an event. Once we hear from them, then the city works with FCS for the Parade of Bands event coordination and logistics,” Winter Park spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said. “They are in discussions right now and will determine if there is a Parade of Bands at the end of July. At this point, we don’t have a confirmation yet”
The recently released bowl schedule shows the Pop Tarts Bowl begins at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 at Camping World Stadium.
It is the same kickoff time as last year that forced officials to scratch the parade because of the logistical challenge of transporting hundreds of band members into Winter Park and feeding them before the game and the bands’ other responsibilities.
Blame the new expanded college playoff system for the earlier kickoff times.
City and FCS officials told the Winter Park Voice last year they were disappointed the parade wasn’t happening in 2024 but would try again in 2025 although they warned they couldn’t make any guarantees.
The parade shuts down Park Avenue as crowds line the street to hear the music and watch the mascots and cheerleaders go by. Then the masses gather in Central Park for a drum-off. The event, which is free, draws all ages and has been a tradition since 2007 in Winter Park.
“It has been a crowd-pleaser every year,” Johnny Miller, Winter Park’s special events manager, said at the time.
The marching bands are scheduled to make pregame cameos this year for tailgating at Tinker Field and a pep rally at Pointe Orlando. However, if there’s no parade, that means Winter Park residents miss out on the convenience and the magic of having the festivities right in the heart of their quaint downtown.
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Gabrielle Russon is a freelance reporter and former reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered K-12 education, colleges and universities and the tourism industry. She lives in Orlando with her family and writes about politics, education, theme parks and the courts.
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by Beth Kassab | Jun 12, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News
Winter Park Celebrates Pride, Juneteenth and its 'Flip of the Switch'
Despite local and national agitation against LGBTQ rights, Winter Park moved forward with a proclamation for Pride Month and looked back on its long battle for its own city electric utility
June 12, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park had a lot to celebrate Wednesday: Pride Month, upcoming Juneteenth events and the 20-year anniversary of the flip of the switch from the former Progress Energy to its own electric utility.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio read a proclamation to honor Pride Month that noted the ninth anniversary today of the shooting at Pulse in Orlando, where 49 people died during a night of Latin dancing at the LGBTQ club, and the 59th anniversary on June 28 of the protests after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City.
She said the city is dedicated to fostering compassion, inclusion and safety.
“Let’s continue to build a welcoming Winter Park,” she said, as part of Winter Park’s first official proclamation for Pride Month, which comes two years after a battle over the rainbow peacock Pride flags they city flew during the month of June.
Thor Falk, founder of the Winter Park Pride Project, thanked the mayor for what he called a “bold” decision to recognize the LGBTQ community at a time when diversity and inclusion is being politicized across the nation. The Florida board that oversees the university system, for example, last week rejected the University of Florida’s pick as its new president because he previously showed too much willingness to embrace diversity and inclusion as president of the University of Michigan.
“Having this proclamation today validates what I have believed all along,” said Falk, who runs a campaign each June to provide Pride flags to businesses and residents. “Thank you so much for making this bold decision. It means a lot and it means a little … it’s sometimes these gestures that can make a difference in someone’s day and in how they feel about themselves when they know they are welcome in a community.”
The city of St. Cloud decided last month to pause all proclamations — meaning its own planned recognition of Pride Month would no longer happen — after one council member said some proposed proclamations could be “controversial” and needed more time for review, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Three residents spoke against the proclamation in Winter Park on Wednesday, including one man who said “pride” is associated with a man’s “downfall or ruin.”
Gigi Papa, a resident who frequently speaks at public meetings, said she is against the Pride Month proclamation and referenced Winter Park’s decision in 2023 to stop flying Pride flags on city light poles during the month of June.
The decision was made after a resident requested during an earlier Pride Month to hang banners that read “Choose Life” and “Celebrate Family” with the image of a pregnant mom, a dad and two children holding hands.
Some members of the City Commission considered that message overtly political. The language proposed by the resident aligned with the language often used by the Christian anti-abortion movement.
The U.S. Supreme Court had just ruled the year before that the city of Boston was wrong to deny a group’s request to fly a “Christian flag” outside of City Hall because the flagpole had been used by other groups as a forum for private speech, which would include religious speech. The court explicitly noted that Boston could change its rules so that the flags are only a vehicle for city-endorsed speech.
As a result, Winter Park changed its rules for the light pole banners to only allow for banners to promote city-sponsored events or certain nonprofits who meet criteria for a longstanding presence in the city.
That meant the end of Pride banners as well as the rejection of the “choose life” banner.
Papa, who also stood up during the approval of a contract agreement for the Rollins softball field to ask if the college allows “trans sports,” said residents “should have some say” in proclamations.
But proclamations are already driven by resident requests and the city has clear guidelines, which say the topics can’t be political or ideological but can support arts and culture, recognize a national occasion and create public awareness among other criteria.
Winter Park has issued recent proclamations for Irish-American Heritage Month, Kwanzaa, Women in Construction, Arbor Day, Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month and Purple Week, which recognizes and promotes acceptance of people with disabilities.
Two residents stood up to speak in favor of the Pride Month proclamation as well as the proclamation to recognize Juneteenth, considered the day of emancipation for enslaved Black Americans. The city posted a schedule of Juneteenth events here.
“I am very pleased as a person who was born here in Winter Park that we celebrate Juneteenth and Pride Month … keep up the good work,” said Lee Rambeau Kemp.
Falk, with the local Pride Project, said this weekend’s Peacocks & Divas Drag Brunch at Mead Gardens is sold out. The event will raise money for students in Winter Park seeking technical careers.
DeCiccio said after the meeting that she wasn’t surprised by the negative comments and the numerous negative emails she has received about the proclamation.
“Winter Park is strongest when everyone feels safe and valued,” she said after the meeting. “Exclusion runs counter to our nation’s values — and Winter Park prides itself on being an inclusive community.”
Power Switch
City leaders also celebrated the 20-year mark since they took over their own utility from then-Progress Energy — and what is now Duke Energy — by showing a 13-minute documentary that detailed how the hard-fought decision came about.
The battle between Winter Park and Progress turned bitter and divisive.
The city said it could offer more reliable electric service to its residents and pledged to underground wires and keep rates low. Those against the change warned that Winter Park wouldn’t be able to deliver on such promises and would falter after storms.
Residents overwhelmingly approved the purchase in a landslide vote and the documentary points out all the ways Progress’ ominous warnings of Winter Park’s failure never came to be.
Winter Park is considered one of the most reliable utilities in the state by industry associations and boasts the fourth lowest rates in Florida.
The short film even points out how, with a little time and reflection, some who were so against the public conversion of the electric grid softened their views and changed their minds — a 180-degree flip that seemed inconceivable two decades ago given the acidic dialogue in the community at the time.
Resident Ray Renfo, who was interviewed for the documentary and recently saw his own wires undergrounded, said he’s changed his mind “100 percent.”
He said he’s confident entering this year’s storm season that he won’t be stranded in the dark and feeling “better than we have in years.”
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