by Beth Kassab | Sep 11, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News, Uncategorized
Electric rates go up, but bills still expected to go down
Commissioners approved a $231 million budget, prayed for Charlie Kirk and argued about whether Christmas needs saving
Sept. 11, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Commissioners approved Winter Park’s $231 million budget for 2026 on Wednesday, including a last-minute push led by Mayor Sheila DeCiccio to increase the non-fuel portion of electric rates that officials say will help the city finish the final stretch of it’s undergrounding project and replace aging transformers.
The wide-ranging meeting also included a prayer for Charlie Kirk in the moments before news alerts started hitting phones that the right-wing activist was dead, a performance by renowned violinist Alvaro Gomez and guitarist Chris Cortez and a tense exchange over a petition riddled with inaccuracies and misleading statements attempting to manufacture a war on Christmas in Winter Park.
The budget passed with little public discussion other than a final debate over electric rates, which had been adjusted dramatically from city staff’s original proposal of a 10% overall increase to a 2% increase in August based on discussion by elected officials during a commission workshop.
Ultimately, on Wednesday the board landed on a 4% overall increase after DeCiccio argued the figures from the August meeting would not be enough to finish the city’s ambitious effort to underground every power line in Winter Park.
Over the 20 years since Winter Park purchased its electric grid from Duke Energy (then Progress Energy) costs have increased significantly. About 20% of the city remains with overhead wires that are more susceptible to storm damage.
“I want to again ask for an increase of 7.5% on the non-fuel costs,” DeCiccio said. “By increasing only 3% we will have to stop undergrounding eight or nine months into the year and we won’t be complete by 2030.”
She also emphasized the need to spend millions of dollars to replace substation equipment or “the grid will fail.”
Commissioners had considered a smaller increase in rates while also taking out a bond to finance the remaining cost of the projects.
But DeCiccio argued the city should save its bonding capacity for when its agreement with Orlando Utilities Commission comes to an end and it might be able to “buy” the 600 residential customers inside Winter Park’s borders who are still serviced by OUC.
“This year the cost of fuel has decreased so the customers will not feel the impact of the rate increase, in fact, the bills may be less,” she said.
The dollar amount customers pay each month result from a complex formula of different components on the bill: how much energy a home or businesses uses; the cost of fuel (mostly natural gas in Winter Park); the city’s rates, taxes and other fees.
According to figures provided by the city on Thursday, the average residential bill for 1,300 kilowatt hours will total $171.18 in October when the new rates take effect. The average bill in August was $184.51. The decrease in the total from August to October is the result of lower fuel costs even as the city raises electric rates.
Commissioner Craig Russell supported DeCiccio’s drive for the change, he said, based on what he is hearing from residents.
“You have a contingency talking about how they don’t want rates increased, some people are talking about how they don’t want to take on any debt and they want the undergrounding done on schedule,” Russell said. “At the end of the day … it sounds like that’s what the residents want the most — the undergrounding completed.”
Commissioners Marty Sullivan and Warren Lindsey remained against the higher increase in the non-fuel portion of the bill as they had during the August workshop. They noted that the price of natural gas is volatile and could drive bills up once again.
“I’m not opposed to revisiting it in the future,” Lindsey said, noting that a rate study would soon be underway along with an analysis by the Utilities Advisory Board.
But Kris Cruzada, who was the swing voice in the August meeting for the lower rate, said he had rethought the matter and voted with DeCiccio and Russell.
The increase, he said, translated to “a small price to pay to keep the [undergrounding] ball moving.”
“We can revisit it if fuel goes up,” he said. “I just want to be ahead of the curve and this leaves us with the ability to do more things so we’re not having to play catch up.”
Inaccurate Christmas Petition
Gigi Papa, who started a petition this week claiming that Winter Park’s decades-long Christmas traditions are at risk, took to the podium during public comment to thank the more than 700 people who have signed the petition.
Papa, a frequent attendee and commenter at the public meetings who often voices conservative views, did not acknowledge that multiple statements in her petition are misleading or inaccurate. The petition titled “Save Christmas in Winter Park” appeared designed to appeal to a common right-wing talking point that liberals want to somehow shut down public use of the word “Christmas.”
“We ask that our 70 plus years of traditions continue,” Papa told the commission.
But none of Winter Park’s traditions are under threat. The city asked for the Park Avenue District, which took over coordination of the city’s main holiday decor last year, to change the name it debuted last year as the backdrop for a series of events from “Christmas on Park” to “Holidays on Park.”
Before last year, the overarching name for the decor and series of events was “Hometown Holidays.” The word “Christmas” is not being removed from any of the line-up of events such as “Christmas in the Park,” “Tuba Christmas” and “The Christmas Parade.”
The line-up also includes an event for Hanukkah and recognition of Kwanzaa. The city provides funding for the decor and asked for the more general “holiday” title out of respect for the entire line-up of events during the light display that runs from just before Thanksgiving through New Year’s.
“The petition was fraught with inaccurate information,” DeCiccio responded. “We are not departing from tradition as the petition implies … Virginia, don’t worry, Christmas is alive and well in Winter Park.”
Prayers for Charlie Kirk
After Papa talked about her petition, she asked for Pastor Weaver Blondin to join her at the podium. Blondin, of Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, was in the audience after he had given the invocation at the start of the meeting.
“I would ask the pastor to come up. We were just speaking because we had a 31-year-old person who has been advocating on college campuses and he was shot.”
Word had just started to spread about the shooting of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA that played a significant role in rallying college-age students for President Donald Trump, as he was speaking at Utah Valley University.
Blondin approached the podium and asked DeCiccio if he could say a prayer.
“Yes, please do,” she responded.
The pastor offered a prayer for Kirk’s healing, his family and for young people on college campuses.
A short time later, major news outlets began reporting Kirk died, the latest victim of political assassination in the United States following two attempts on Trump’s life; the murder in June of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota, and her husband and the attempt on the life of U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, also a Democrat, in 2011 that took the lives of six people.
Winter Park will answer 911 for Maitland
Commissioners also approved an agreement with the city of Maitland for Winter Park dispatchers to answer calls and dispatch police and fire service for its neighboring city.
Police Chief Tim Volkerson said the agreement makes logistical sense because the agencies already work closely together and provide backup for each other.
“It really allows that turnaround time of information to be cut down significantly,” he said, noting that currently Maitland is using Apopka for dispatch service.
Maitland will pay Winter Park about $440,000 a year for the service as part of a 10-year agreement.
Blue Bamboo Performance
As part of a new effort to showcase artists in the city, Blue Bamboo founder Chris Cortez and violinist Alvaro Gomez, who has been affiliated with Rollins College, treated the commission chambers to a mini performance at the start of the meeting.
The series, which started with a vocal performance by Maria Bryant last month, is intended to display some of Winter Park’s art and cultural assets.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 10, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Craig Russell to Seek Re-Election. Marty Sullivan to Retire, Leaving his Seat Open
The March 2026 election is gearing up to decide two seats on the Winter Park City Commission
Sept. 10, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Commissioner Craig Russell, a Winter Park High School teacher and coach, said he will seek re-election next year while another commissioner is retiring after two terms.
Official qualifying for the March 2026 election is still about three months away, but jockeying for the two seats is well underway.
Russell, who grew up in Winter Park, won Seat 2 in a tight runoff in April of 2024 to finish Sheila DeCiccio’s term when she became mayor.
He made history in Winter Park as the first Black commissioner to be elected in more than a century and, now at age 44, is still the youngest person on the commission today.
Russell has blazed a trail in another way, too. He was heavily backed by business leaders and the political action committee affiliated with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, but has steadily defined himself as a policy maker who is carving his own agenda with unpredictable votes when it comes to budget and policy issues.
Craig Russell
Winter PAC spent about $30,000 to advocate for him in 2024 and he raised about $100,000 through his own campaign account.
“I don’t just work for one group,” he said. “I work for the residents and the businesses. I work for the entire community.”
Part of what he does, he says, is reach out to “the doubters and talk to them.”
For example, he said he heard “a lot of feedback” after he was one of two votes this summer, along with Commissioner Marty Sullivan, against keeping the city’s property tax millage rate the same. The two men voiced support for a property tax increase.
“I’ve listened to the people and I felt as though investing in the future would benefit the city best,” he said. “I got a lot of feedback and it was mixed, they were kind of surprised and wanted to know, ‘what’s your mindset?’ And I told them and they respected and understood that.”
In another recent discussion, Russell and DeCiccio were two voices who expressed support for a larger increase to electric rates this year to raise capital for infrastructure projects such as undergrounding and equipment replacement. But they were outweighed by the three other commissioners who wanted a smaller increase.
Marty Sullivan
Russell has also spent considerable time advocating for youth on the commission. He helped re-establish a Youth Advisory Council that includes students from Winter Park High, Trinity Preparatory and others.
The group is beginning to meet in the City Commission Chambers and, eventually, will provide reports to the commission on issues that are important to them such as sustainability.
It’s a chance, he said, for students to learn how local government works and also make an impact on decisions.
“They understand the decisions that are made now affect them,” Russell said. “It’s super important to them to understand how that process works.”
Russell is also outspoken on safety and, potentially setting standards, for micro-mobility because he sees electric scooters and bikes, and a fair share of accidents, as students come and go from school. Some of those can move as fast as a car but with kids not old enough to drive in control.
“I’ve seen the broken arms … the road rash,” he said. “The trends are now trickling down to the e-scooters are at the elementary and middle schools and at high school we have the new drivers and the electric bikes — they aren’t bicycles and they aren’t motorcycles they are in between.”
Last year he worked with the police department on a series of educational safety videos and more are in the works this year.
As for his campaign, he said he hopes to continue to broaden his support from 2024.
“I hope to have more support from everybody,” Russell said. “I hope to have support from previous supporters and I hope to have new supporters.”
A spokeswoman for Winter PAC, which supported him last time around, declined to comment on who its leaders will support for either seat in 2026.
Sullivan, a geotechnical engineer who sits in Seat 1, said two terms on the commission have allowed him to accomplish a great deal and won’t seek re-election.
“Six years is enough I believe for doing what I can do for the city,” he said.
He pointed to the expansion of the Community Redevelopment District, which will allow the city to set guideposts for new development near Interstate 4, as one accomplishment.
He is also pleased that there is a new use in the old library building as The Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts has brought a burgeoning music scene there.
He said he was pleasantly surprised to find several commonalities in policy mindset with Russell such as the vote to allow Blue Bamboo and even the idea of a potential tax increase.
“My concern was never to be re-elected,” Sullivan said. “My concern is to do what’s right and if the citizens disagree with me I would have been fine with losing. And I think [Russell] takes that same approach because he has not adhered to the way of thinking that his supporters thought he would, I don’t believe.”
Only one candidate has officially filed paperwork to open a campaign account so far, according to the city clerk’s office.
Elizabeth Ingram, 38, grew up in Winter Park and is a long time resident and community leader. The trained opera singer currently serves on the Public Art Advisory Board is and seeking Sullivan’s seat.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 9, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, Events, News, Uncategorized
Save Christmas? Petition is misleading
City officials asked the Park Avenue District to brand the season of events as “holiday,” but Christmas is not disappearing from the names of the individual events
Sept. 9, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Hold your reindeer, Winter Park. Before you get fired up about the Change.Org petition to “Save Christmas in Winter Park,” let’s take a look at the facts.
The petition, which had 570 signatures by Tuesday afternoon in the city of 30,000 people, makes several allegations, asserting that 70 years of Christmas event traditions are “at risk.”
“In recent planning, the city has agreed to fund holiday lighting only if the word “Christmas” is removed,” the petition states. “As a result, Central Park’s Christmas Tree is now called a ‘Holiday Tree,’ and the annual tree lighting event has been rebranded as ‘Winter on the Avenue,’ intentionally avoiding any mention of Christmas.”
But those statements are misleading and, in some parts, false.
The city is, in fact, asking for the overall name of the events season to change. But no changes are being requested for the titles of the half dozen main events that make up the season — and most of those use the word “Christmas.”
New lights in Central Park made up part of the city’s display in 2024.
Gigi Papa, a Winter Park resident who frequently attends and speaks at City Commission meetings, is listed on the change.org page as the “petition starter.” Papa did not immediately respond to an email and text message seeking comment about the petition’s statements.
Here’s what happened and why the city requested the change:
In 2024, the Park Avenue District, a relatively new group of merchants, businesses and residents who aim to support the central retail hub, took over coordination of the city’s annual light display and decor.
With about $100,000 from the city government and matching dollars from private donors, the group added more lights, an Instagram-worthy walk-through light cathedral in Central Park, a children’s carousel in front of City Hall and new wreaths and other festive touches.
For years, the city used the name “Hometown Holidays,” to advertise its season of events that run from mid-November, when the display goes up, through New Year’s.
The Park Avenue District changed the name to “Christmas on Park” last year.
City spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said Mayor Sheila DeCiccio heard some complaints about the entire season of events being branded as “Christmas” after it had been branded as “Hometown Holidays” for so long. So the city, which is providing about $60,000 for the decor this year, requested the name be changed to “Holidays on Park.”
“We are not breaking tradition,” Howard said. “It’s a season, it’s not one event. We called the season Hometown Holidays because there are holidays other than Christmas happening downtown.”
In 2021, the city added to Central Park a menorah for Hanukkah and a kinara for Kwanzaa.
A menorah is part of the annual lights display in Central Park.
Carina Sexton, executive director of the Park Avenue District, said she expects the name will change based on the city’s request.
“Regardless of the name, we feel confident that the magic of the season will remain the same and we are thrilled to welcome our community and visitors alike back to the Park Avenue District to celebrate with us,” she said.
Individual long-standing city events with the name Christmas aren’t changing and no one from the city has asked for them to be changed, Howard said. Sexton confirmed she has not received any other requests for changes.
Those events include:
“Christmas in the Park” on Dec. 4 is the annual evening that features a display of lighted Tiffany glass windows from the Morse Museum and Christmas music from the Bach Festival Society and a brass ensemble.
“The Christmas Parade” will be on Dec. 6, which is sponsored by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce.
And “Tuba Christmas,” another musical event, will take place on Dec. 20 this year.
The name “Winter on the Avenue,” another event lead by the chamber, has been used for years and is not part of a rebrand as the petition alleges.
That will take place on Dec. 5 this year and is described on the Chamber website: “Begin the evening at the Annual Holiday Tree Lighting in Central Park just east of the Winter Park train station. Winners of the Holiday Art Competition will be recognized, Rabbi Dovid Dubov of Chabad Orlando will do a menorah lighting ceremony ushering in the season of Chanukah, and Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio will lead us in a countdown as we light the Christmas Tree.”
The petition demands the city “return to using the name Christmas Tree instead of Holiday Tree,” even though the chamber’s description explicitly refers to the mayor leading the lighting of the “Christmas Tree.”
“The city does not call it a ‘holiday tree,'” Howard said.
In holiday press releases dating back to 2005, the ceremony has always been referred to simply as the “annual tree-lighting” without the word Christmas. Though Christmas was, and still is, included in many of the event names throughout the seasonal lineup.
“We can’t return to doing something that we haven’t done,” Howard said. “There is no tradition at risk. All of our events are still happening.”
In a press release in August about the light display that will go up Nov. 13, the city noted the season of events and decor brought in about 350,000 people last year, about 7% higher than the previous year.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the wrong year the city added a menorah and kinara to Central Park, due to incorrect information provided to the Voice. The year was 2021.
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 29, 2025 | City Commission, News
Proposed 10% electric rate increase dies
City staff concedes an outside analysis did not justify the increase and City Commissioners appear poised to approve a 2% jump in power prices
Aug. 29, 2025
By Beth Kassab
After a contentious back-and-forth in recent weeks between City Hall staff and members of the Utilities Advisory Board, the City Commission appears poised to reject staff’s original budget proposal to increase electric rates by 10% overall (or 15% on the non-fuel portion of the bill) to cover the cost of undergrounding power lines and other work such as upgrading substations, meters and street lights.
At a City Commission workshop on Thursday three out of five commissioners said they would support a much lower roughly 2% increase (or 3% increase in non-fuel costs) on residents and business owners’ electric bills as well as pursue issuing bonds to cover a portion of the expenses.
Commissioner Kris Cruzada appeared to be the swing vote after Commissioners Warren Lindsey and Marty Sullivan advocated for the 3% increase while Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and Commissioner Craig Russell said they would support a 7% increase in order to raise more revenue sooner and help cover other demands in the budget.
“I’m leaning toward the more conservative number because we don’t know what the new power contracts will be,” Cruzada said, referencing the agreements Winter Park has in place with the Orlando Utilities Commission and the Florida Municipal Power Association that will be up for renegotiation in just a few years. Winter Park doesn’t generate its own power, but buys power from those providers and sells it to its 15,000 customers.
Staff has warned that the current contracts are highly favorable and rates are expected to climb when the new deals are signed.
No formal votes are taken at commission workshops, but if positions remain the same the lower rate increase is likely to be voted on as part of the first budget approval on Sept. 10.
The proposal to increase customers’ electric rates starting in October is largely driven by the city’s plan to finish burying the remaining 20% of overhead power lines by 2030, the target leaders announced three years ago when it moved the date back from 2026.
DeCiccio advocated for the 7% increase, more in line with one of the revised proposals from City Manager Randy Knight, who conceded an analysis by advisory board member Michael Poole showed the original proposal for a 10% jump in rates was unnecessary.
Knight conceded that the need could be lowered after Poole pointed out that the city is keeping a large inventory of transformers on hand after pandemic-time orders — once backlogged by supply chain issues — came in and stacked up. Factoring in those already-purchased supplies helped lower the cost of the undergrounding project.
So did another recommendation by Poole to hold back on a $400,000 segment of the project, which will eventually connect buried lines along the streets with buried lines to individual homes. That will now be done after all of the main lines are undergrounded.
Knight also agreed to wait to factor in non-undergrounding projects such as new meters or street lights until the Utilities Advisory Board can evaluate and prioritize each one.
A map from the city of Winter Park shows the status of segments of the undergrounding project.
The debate exposed not only the complicated nature of how electric rates are set, but also the difference in philosophies in how the city-owned utility should be managed and the extent to which it should help cover other expenses across the city.
Poole, an investment banker, said his analysis showed the original large rate increase proposal was “unwarranted” and said he was happy residents will save some $4 million collectively next year as a result of the changes.
“We need to have a really good discussion on the purpose and priority of the capital expenditures and how we spend money compared to other municipalities,” Poole said.
DeCiccio said she favored the 7% increase because Winter Park customers would still pay less than customers who are provided power by Duke Energy, the investor-owned utility that is one of the largest providers in Florida and serves nearly 2 million customers across five states.
“We would still be about 30% less than Duke Energy and we’re the second-most reliable in the state and it would allow us to purchase the transformers and have the margin we need in the general fund to balance the budget,” DeCiccio said.
Under the original budget proposal the electric fund would have funnelled $800,000 to the general fund, which pays for police, fire and other essential city services as well as projects selected by the City Commission.
The reduced rate increase means that amount will drop by more than $500,000.
DeCiccio said if Lindsey pushed the 3% increase then the $4.2 million worth of projects he had teed up to add to the budget would be “off the table.”
“If that has to happen, then that has to happen,” Lindsey responded, about the projects he wanted to discuss such as a new fire station on Lakemont Avenue, gateway arches for the Orwin Manor neighborhood and a study about the feasibility of connecting the Cady Way Trail with the West Orange Trail.
Sullivan also had to let go of his hope to add $250,000 to the budget to match a private donation to make improvements to Howell Branch Preserve.
DeCiccio said adding that project would ultimately lower the contingency fund to $170,000, a figure she considered far too low.
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 28, 2025 | City Commission, News
New Rollins, Winter Park High leaders talk about being good neighbors
The City Commission also gave final approval to the Winter Park Playhouse lease and effectively banned new residential pickleball courts
Aug. 28, 2025
By Beth Kassab
The president of Rollins College and the principal of Winter Park High School, both barely a month into their positions as two of the city’s most prominent education leaders, stopped by the City Commission on Wednesday to make introductions and express a desire to be “good neighbors.”
“Reading about the history of Winter Park and Rollins College and how those things have come together since 1885, I do think we benefit each other,” said Brooke Barnett, who just arrived on campus to succeed Grant Cornwell. “I have not been able to be out and about in Winter Park as much as I would like, but am looking forward to being a member of the community.”
Barnett, who most recently served as provost, executive vice president and professor at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, said she’s been learning her way around campus — partially via golf cart to beat the Florida heat.
She said that while many Rollins students are temporary residents of Winter Park, they are also engaged in the community and she is willing to address any concerns that arise.
“We want them to be good neighbors,” she said.
Barnett arrives at the private liberal arts college with about 2,600 students as significant projects are taking shape including a controversial off-campus apartment building not far from Park Avenue for early career faculty as well as new on-campus residence halls. Innovation Triangle, which includes the expanded Alfond Inn, a new Crummer School of Business and a new art museum clustered at the corner of New England and Interlachen avenues is also in the works.
New Winter Park High Principal Michael Meechin also reported a learning curve in finding his way around a campus that is also under construction and has about 3,200 students, including the Ninth Grade Center.
Michael Meechin
“What’s incredibly unique about Winter Park High School that I’ve learned in a very short period of time is the year and years of tradition,” said Meechin, who has also served as a principal in Osceola County and runs a company called The Principal School, which provides support and education to other principals.
Meechin said he grew up in the Boston area and attended the same high school as other generations in his family similar to how many parents of Winter Park High students also attended there themselves.
“Next year is Winter Park’s 100th year,” he said. “There are so many stories of just incredible excellence that have happened on that campus … in the classroom, on the field or on the stage … we, too, are looking to become great neighbors.”
Several city commissioners noted the increase in students riding electric scooters and electric bicycles to and from school and asked Meechin to help continue to safety campaign started last year by the police department and Commissioner Craig Russell, who works as a teacher and coach at the school.
WP Playhouse lease finalized
Commissioners gave final approval this week for the $1-per-year lease with the Winter Park Playhouse to occupy the theater building that will soon be owned by the city and undergo renovations before next season.
The nonprofit professional musical theater will also be granted bridge loans of up to $600,000 by the city if needed during the construction process. An $8 million grant from Orange County tourism development tax dollars is footing most of the bill for the project (including the purchase of the building), but a bridge loan may be required as the theater’s required private contributions come in.
Residential pickleball banned
Residents will not be able to build new pickleball courts on their property after a vote this week that made the requirements so onerous as to be an effective ban.
While only a few courts on residential property exist today, there is concern more could appear as the paddle sport has soared in popularity.
The rules, which are designed to prevent noise complaints related to the game’s trademark near-constant ball whacks, will not affect commercial or public pickleball courts.
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by Beth Kassab | Aug 27, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News
Today Show footage, which snubbed Winter Park, used to defend Visit Orlando
The agency is under fire after a county audit of its spending as Winter Park also took exception to the way it used the city without promoting it
Aug. 27, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Visit Orlando promoted the Today Show coverage filmed in Winter Park to defend itself from a critical county audit, but the tourism association didn’t mention city officials’ complaints with the TV segment.
Visit Orlando leaders appeared before the Orange County Board of Commissioners Tuesday following Comptroller Phil Diamond’s audit last month that raised concerns about Visit Orlando’s spending.
Ultimately, the county board took no action Tuesday and will revisit the issues in December as county staff work with Visit Orlando to address the audit’s results and go over the contract.
Assistant Comptroller Wendy Kittleson said Visit Orlando may have misspent an estimated $20 million dating back to 2019.
Visit Orlando CEO Casandra Matej said her organization openly shared its records with the auditors and is already working with the county to address many of the audit’s findings. She defended her organization, saying it helps promote tourism that fuels a major economic impact to the region.
The county board spent three hours discussing Visit Orlando’s value and the audit’s findings.
The debate comes as some officials are pushing to free up the 6% Orange County hotel tax to be spent on public transit, housing and other community needs instead of going toward advertisements and marketing for tourism. Meanwhile, the tourism industry is fighting to keep the status quo.
Winter Park officials, for example, brought up during last year’s budget discussions whether the tourism development tax could be used to help pay for SunRail, which operates one of its most popular stops in the city.
This week amid the marathon debate during the county meeting, Visit Orlando played footage from when Today Show set up in Winter Park — just steps away from the train station — to cover Epic Universe’s grand opening in May.
The video showed off the Today Show’s set, celebrity weatherman Al Roker and the crowd holding signs.
“It’s not just the theme park aspect,” said Broadway star Michael James, a Central Florida native, who was tapped as guest in the segment. “We got culture here, y’all! We got culture in Orlando.”
For Visit Orlando, the Today Show was a big deal to tell Orlando’s story.
“This is so important because we’re able to reach a national audience from ecotourism to dining to our amazing sports in Orlando. We definitely have it all and this is an amazing opportunity,” Matej said in a clip played at Tuesday’s county meeting.
A local eye would recognize the scene as Central Park, the beloved green space in Winter Park’s popular retail and dining corridor along Park Avenue. But in front of more than 30 million Today Show viewers, no one actually mentioned that Winter Park was the backdrop.
“They didn’t say at all they were in Winter Park?” asked Commissioner Craig Russell afterward during a city meeting in late May.
“Not one word,” Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said.
The mayor said she supported no longer giving freebies to Visit Orlando “unless credit is given to Winter Park or they can pay fees like anyone else renting the park.”
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