by Beth Kassab | Apr 1, 2025 | Uncategorized
See the changes planned for one of Winter Park's most dangerous roads
Commissioners looked at final concepts for the plan to fix S.R. 426, though the city’s share of the cost is still unclear
April 1, 2025
By Charles Maxwell
Final plans are ready for the long talked about improvements to the unusually narrow and curvy 1.7-mile stretch of State Road 426 between Park Avenue and Lakemont Avenue, but it’s still unclear how much the city will pay for its share of the project.
State data shows the busy stretch of S.R. 426 averages six car crashes per month and more than 4,000 speed violations daily. The road is controlled by the state of Florida, but serves as a major east-west passage through Winter Park, winding around and over the city’s chain of lakes.
Residents who live on the lakes and off the side streets have called for years for improved safety features.
Final plans show repaved roads, raised medians, and new high-visibility crosswalks to help prevent collisions, bring down travel speeds and protect pedestrians. Construction of the project is expected to start in early 2026.
City of Winter Park engineer Hongmyung Lim told the City Commission during a work session last week what he’s heard from residents throughout the Florida Department of Transportation’s design work on the project.
“A lot of the stakeholders and residents wanted general support for pedestrian features and safety, and slowing down traffic on 426,” Lim said.
Primary concerns included turning left safely onto S.R. 426 from the side streets and safely turning into driveways and side streets from the main road. Requests also included several additional traffic signals.
The plans include raised intersections with high visibility crosswalks at Chase Avenue, Sylvan Drive, and Cortland Ave, along with three different raised crosswalks with pedestrian hybrid beacons and advanced signage to help pedestrians safely cross dangerous roadways.
Vice president of American Structurepoint and project manager for the project’s design phase, Nick Harrison, addressed the commission and elaborated on each of the proposed improvements. Harrison believes that the changes, such as raised crosswalks, will encourage drivers to slow down and punish the vehicles that choose not to. “If you’re traveling 45-50 mph, it’s going to create a problem for you,” said Harrison.
The city of Winter Park made an initial financial commitment of $1.8 million to support the project on September 27, 2023, but is expected to reduce its investment as some of the scope of work has been reduced.
Due to maintenance challenges and complications, Lim said that some original features, such as brick intersections, landscaped medians, and bus stop pavement markings, have been removed from the plans.
“The city would be responsible for maintaining those bricks whenever they popped out, and also if we were to have landscaping inside the medians our team would have to go out there to make sure it’s maintained and trimmed… we ensured that any of these changes did not impact the intent of the traffic operations of the project,” said Lim. “We’ve been coordinating with FDOT and will determine a final financial commitment soon.”
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Charles Maxwell is a graduate of Winter Park High School and Florida Atlantic University with a degree in multimedia studies. His work has appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boca Raton Tribune, and he is a contributing writer for Keeping it Heel on the FanSided network.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 31, 2025 | News
Winter Park Voice Joins 380 Newsrooms in Raising Millions for Nonprofit News
The donations and matching dollars are essential in helping the Voice achieve its mission of providing stories that would otherwise go uncovered in Winter Park
March 31, 2025
Staff Report
The Winter Park Voice and 380 other nonprofit news outlets secured more than $55 million in individual donations from their audiences in 2024 as part of the nationwide NewsMatch program, now heading into its 10th year.
The results represent an 18% increase in donations from 2023 and the highest in the program’s history.
NewsMatch is a collaborative effort: The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) raises money to seed a pooled fund for matching gifts, and INN member organizations like the Voice fundraise with their audiences in November and December to become eligible for those gifts. Participants also receive fundraising training, tools and services through INN and its partner News Revenue Hub.
The program is a key way news outlets have attracted and diversified donors during a prolonged period of contraction and instability in the news industry.
A map shows the reach of INN’s NewsMatch program across the nation.
For the 2024 NewsMatch campaign, the Voice received nearly 100 donations totaling $20,000. As a result, the Voice received the maximum $15,000 in matching dollars from INN’s NewsMatch program.
“We are so grateful to our donors here in Central Florida and to INN for this incredible campaign,” said Voice Editor Beth Kassab. “People in Winter Park want news about their community from a trusted source. And it shows in their support of our work. Every dollar goes directly to our journalism and expanding the amount and variety of content we can provide.”
Kassab noted how hyperlocal organizations like the Voice are essential to reporting stories that would otherwise go uncovered and holding elected officials and others in power accountable.
“With misinformation on the rise and traditional media in decline, it’s up to sites like ours to shine a light on the facts,” Kassab said. “We follow clear reporting standards with stories backed up by public documents, public meetings and interviews with sources. We give the people and institutions in our stories the opportunity to comment. We value fairness and accuracy above everything else.”
In order to become members of INN and participate in NewsMatch, nonprofit newsrooms must meet membership standards for editorial independence, original news reporting and financial transparency.
Over nine NewsMatch campaign cycles, INN and the outlets in its network have raised more than $400 million, attracting donations from nearly half a million first-time donors and, increasingly, inspiring major donors, regional and community foundations and businesses to add news to their giving portfolios.
INN’s Executive Director and CEO Karen Rundlet calls NewsMatch “a conversation between newsrooms and their communities.”
“When a neighbor, a reader, a PTA president, a block captain, a concerned voter donates $10, $25, $100 to NewsMatch participants, it’s evidence that the community is investing in accurate and trusted information and reporting,” says Rundlet. “It’s the audience saying, ‘It matters that this exists, and I’m supporting it with my money.”
The Voice is solely supported by reader contributions and grants like the one from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
If you want to help the Winter Park Voice in its mission to serve local readers visit our contribution page.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 28, 2025 | City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
Residents Fear Noise from Pickleball Courts Planned Behind Homes
The racket sport is wildly popular but its addition to the Ravaudage development, neighbors say, could bring a near constant drone of ball whacks
March 28, 2025
By Charles Maxwell
Residents who live behind the Ravaudage development where a Life Time Fitness is constructing at least 10 pickleball courts say the city and developers aren’t doing enough to blunt noise and other impacts from the project.
The complex of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts are part of the new 85,000-square-foot health club facility, an estimated $48 million project, slated to open in 2026. The mixed-use development off Lee Road and U.S. 17-92 already includes a Miller’s Ale House, a hotel and other office and retail space.
“Pickleball is a great sport, but it does have a very bad byproduct,” Mark Russell, who has lived in the Park Green Place townhomes for more than 25 years, told the City Commission at a meeting last month. “The hit of the ball on the paddle creates about an 1100-hertz spike, that’s about 70 to 95 decibels, equivalent to a vacuum cleaner to a subway train.”
The views from David Adhira’s patio and dining room table (above) show the staircase of a parking garage under construction at the Ravadauge development. (Photos courtesy of David Adhira)
Russell cited an article from the New York Times in which a York, Maine resident who lives across the street from a private pickleball club said that “having a pickleball court in your backyard is like having a pistol range in your backyard. It’s a torture technique… living here is hell.”
David Adhira, another resident of Park Green Place, said plans show the courts will be just 50 feet from his home. Photos taken from his dining room table and patio show a portion of a staircase for a new parking garage that appears just over the fence from his property line. He told commissioners he’s worried about the toll of the sound from the pickleball courts. He worries about listening fatigue, stress, anxiety, sleep disruption and poor concentration.
Adhira said the construction behind his home is already disrupting his daily life.
“I have observed and documented tangible structural damage to my ceilings, while kitchen plates and glassware shuddered, doors and floors vibrated, and keyboards rattled on our desks,” he said. “I’ve been woken up countless times by the noise, vibrations, and screaming from the construction site, resulting in poor sleep for weeks on end. Even worse may be phantom noise, or auditory hallucinations.”
Commissioners asked Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis to meet with residents and the developer to consider solutions.
She told the Voice that the developer shared updated landscape plans for the south side of the Life Time facility, which borders Park Green Place.
The plans include additional layers of shrubs and trees to help reduce the noise and light expected to be produced by the facility.
“They are not proposing additional sound barriers at this time, but have stated that if additional measures are needed once they are operational, an option would be to install an outdoor acoustical barrier such as Acoustifence on the court fencing.” McGillis said. “Staff is going to propose a ‘check-in’ at 90 days and 180 days after they are operational to determine if the additional acoustical barrier is needed.”
A section of plans shows the proximity of the courts to the homes and the proposed landscape buffer.
Adhira said he reached out to commissioners and Mayor Sheila DeCiccio in an email on March 17 because he is not satisfied with the changes proposed by the developer. But he has yet to hear a response.
“An acoustic-fence and a scattering of bushes will not counteract the level of noise projected from these courts,” he wrote. “Waiting three to six months after the facility opens to collect obvious data and possibly consider changes, as though this were an experiment with no legal precedents, is either incredibly naïve or cruel.”
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Charles Maxwell graduated from Winter Park High School and Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Multimedia Studies. His work has appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boca Raton Tribune, and he is a contributing writer for Keeping it Heel on the FanSided network.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 27, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News
Kris Cruzada and Warren Lindsey Sworn In for New Commission Terms
The commissioners took office and got down to city business
March 26, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Commissioners Kris Cruzada and Warren Lindsey took the oath of office on Wednesday before turning to regularly scheduled city business.
Lindsey, a first-time commissioner who was automatically elected after no one ran against him to take over Todd Weaver’s seat, took the oath with his wife and daughter by his side. Senior Judge Emerson Thompson, who previously served as chief judge for the circuit and served on the Fifth District Court of Appeals, swore in Lindsey, a longtime criminal defense attorney.
Kris Cruzada takes the oath of office for his second term with his family by his side.
Lindsey appointed Weaver, who decided not to run for election again after two terms, to the city’s Utilities Advisory Board.
Cruzada, who started his second term after winning by a large margin earlier this month, had his wife and children by his side and his parents and brother in the audience.
After the brief ceremony, the commission moved on to scheduled business including the approval of about $30,000 for wider sidewalks and other improvements for children who walk to Hungerford Elementary School just across the city border in Eatonville, known as the oldest incorporated historically Black town in the United States.
While the nearly one-mile stretch of improvements are technically in the city of Maitland, the main beneficiaries are Winter Park residents who live just over the border in the Margaret Square area.
Winter Park, with a population of about 30,000, is the largest of the three jurisdictions with Maitland tallying about 20,000 residents and Eatonville fewer than 3,000.
One resident stood up to object to the city spending money for improvements outside of its borders.
“I’m not really understanding why we are doing it,” said Gigi Papa, who frequently speaks at commission meetings. She questioned why sidewalks aren’t being improved near Lakemont Elementary in Winter Park. “Winter Park must first address the needs of its own residents.”
City staff explained that residents using the route do live in Winter Park and that a number of residents “are excited about the project” that came about after Orange County Public Schools rezoned neighborhoods years ago.
Commissioner Craig Russell, who grew up in the city and was elected last year as the first Black commissioner in more than 100 years, noted that Margaret Square is a historically Black neighborhood next to Eatonville and Maitland that deserves attention and a safe route to school.
“The important thing is we are serving Winter Park residents,” he said. “… The school zones were changed. Those students go to Edgewater (High) and live in Winter Park.”
The 5-0 vote in favor of the improvements is conditioned on another entity picking up any cost overruns if the project exceeds the nearly $30,000 estimate.
The board also voted 5-0 to annex 13 lots on Stonehurst Road off Glenridge Way. The single-family homes, some of which have sold at $2 million or more, will add to the city’s tax base and resolve the problem of two different jurisdictions — the city and the county — providing services on the street.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 24, 2025 | Opinion
Steaming Piles of Art: Commentary
Eat it, it’s good for you
Editor's Note: Articles written by citizens reflect their own opinions and not the views of the Winter Park Voice.
By Bob Morris
That beautiful image you’re looking at is the official poster for the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival which took place over the weekend just down the street from where I live.
No, despite its name, this is not a festival featuring art drawn on sidewalks.
Although that sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And I hear it’s a thing in some cities where chalk artists convene to show off their skills on concrete.
I’ve never attended such an event, but I can only imagine that when festival-goers want to buy something they have to use jackhammers to remove the slab of concrete, haul it home in front-end loaders and hope like hell the hangers they bought at the hardware store will do the job.
Yes, art endures. But their walls won’t.
***
The Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival —”one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious in the country,” according to its website—has been calling itself that since it started 66 years ago.
These days, it draws so many people you can’t even find the sidewalks.
I’m talking tens of thousands of people, spilling out from the sidewalks and onto our quaint, bumpy brick streets, which exist mostly to keep local muffler shops in business.
I find it encouraging that there are so many art lovers here in Florida, which is too often portrayed as a place where culture goes to die.
This is absolutely not true.
As I write this, there are vast throngs of Floridians consuming art in Winter Park.
Then again, my definition of “art” extends to funnel cakes. And festival-goers are consuming a whole lot of those.
***
Many of the artists at the festival felt compelled to post an official “Artist’s Statement” outside their booths. Apparently such statements are necessary to explain what drives the artists to unleash their creations on an unsuspecting public.
And trust me, from what I saw, some of them have a whole lot of explaining to do.
Here is an actual statement I read outside a booth where a bunch of glass bowls were on display: “I find inspiration at the intersection of humanity and compassion, nourished by the synergy of color and fecundity, and reflecting the common denominators of resilience and spirituality.”
Having read that, I looked at the display again, hoping to spot some fecundity or synergy that might have eluded me at first glance. But no, it still looked like a bunch of glass bowls.
The funnel cake stand didn’t have a statement, but if I were a funnel cake artist, which is becoming more and more appealing, my statement would read: “I find inspiration by pouring batter into hot grease, frying it and sprinkling sugar on top. That’ll be seven dollars.”
***
The first day of the festival, my lovely wife and I took a stroll downtown to expose ourselves to art (I am happy to report that art did not press charges. Ba-dum, ching …)
We stopped at an official art festival booth that was selling this year’s poster, along with t-shirts and coffee mugs and other stuff emblazoned with the poster’s image.
My wife asked the young volunteers working the booth: “Do you have stationery?”
Long pause.
Young volunteer #1: “What’s stationery?”
Young volunteer #2 (light bulb going on in his head): “Oh, you mean like pens and things to write with? No, we don’t have any of that.”
My wife, for the record, is the World’s Foremost Writer of Notes. If you’ve ever met her and you have a birthday or an anniversary or are celebrating an engagement or a bar mitzvah or an appendectomy or whatever, then you will get a sweet and thoughtful handwritten note from her. For what she spends on stationery each year, we could treat the whole world to funnel cakes.
We eventually did find a booth that sold stationery and my wife bought a box of it. The moment we got home, she said: “I should have bought more.”
That meant I had to return to the festival with my wife the next day and risk exposing myself to more art. Thankfully, our first visit had built up my immunities and I survived. Still, I had a hard time finding a front-end loader to bring all the stationery home.
***
This is a good place to credit the artist who createdthis year’s festival poster.
His name is Andrew Spear and since I am not paying him for using his art here, I figured I would at least pimp his website.
Here’s one of his t-shirts. It carries a powerful message.
“Thou Shalt Not Care About the Opinions of Others.”
***
I should probably tell you that my wife will no longer allow me to attend the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival unless she accompanies me.
That’s because several years ago I wandered off from her, found a piece of art I really liked and bought it.
It shows a flock of sandhill cranes (one of my favorite Florida birds) flying over Paynes Prairie (one of my favorite Florida places.) Here it is:
My wife hates it. And when she found out how much I paid for it, she immediately went out and bought hundreds of dollars worth of stationery in retaliation.
Still, my wife loves me. And she let me hang this beautiful artwork on one of our walls. That the wall is right outside the downstairs bathroom and there’s not enough light to see it very well does not in any way diminish the love she has for me.
But it does bring us to Today’s Poll!
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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