by Beth Kassab | Apr 16, 2024 | City Commission, Election, Uncategorized
Craig Russell ekes out victory in close race for Seat 2 on the City Commission
The results put Jason Johnson at just 34 votes behind Russell
April 16, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Craig Russell won Seat 2 on the City Commission on Tuesday by 34 votes, a victory that fell just over the threshold that would have triggered an automatic ballot recount.
Russell, who will become the first Black commissioner in Winter Park in more than 130 years, tallied 2,869 votes or 50.3% while Jason Johnson received 2,835 votes or 49.7%. The totals were separated by .6% and it takes under a half percent to cause a recount.
Craig Russell, a football and wrestling coach at Winter Park High School, is running for City Commission.
The numbers are unofficial until the canvassing board meets on Friday, but a spokeswoman for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office said the results are unlikely to change because only eight ballots are in question.
Russell, a 43-year-old teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
His historic win comes on the heels of another landmark election last month when Sheila DeCiccio became the city’s first woman to ever be elected mayor. Russell will serve out the remaining two years of her commission term.
Johnson said he wanted to wait for the official results after the canvassing board meets on Friday to see if any overseas or other ballots come in, but thanked his supporters on Tuesday night.
“I am proud of the race I have run and am very proud of how we closed a sizeable gap in the past four weeks,” he said. “Mostly, I am very grateful for the support, encouragement and friendship of both my longtime family and friends and the many wonderful people I have been blessed to meet through this campaign.”
Russell ran on a message of “a new generation of leadership” and will be the youngest elected official on the current City Commission by 10 years.
He was the only candidate endorsed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and significantly outraised and outspent Johnson with the help of high-profile landholders, developers and a political action committee affiliated with the chamber. He said during the campaign that he was open to revisiting the original Orange Avenue Overlay plans as well as the super majority charter amendments that voters passed by a wide margin in 2022.
Jason Johnson, candidate for Winter Park Commission Seat 2.
Russell raised more than $100,000 and Winter PAC raised nearly $30,000 on his behalf compared to Johnson’s $71,000.
Debate over development philosophy dominated the differences between Russell and Johnson, who said he was comfortable with the current OAO that calls for smaller buildings and less density and who supported the amendments that require four votes on the commission for certain zoning changes.
Russell and Johnson, both first-time candidates and both registered Democrats, also sparred over their voting records.
Public records show that Russell, who mostly grew up in Winter Park and graduated from the high school he teaches at now, did not vote in a municipal election until he was on the ballot this year.
Johnson, an attorney who emphasized the need to protect the charm and character of Winter Park, voted in nearly every election he was eligible to vote in.
Turnout in the run-off dropped from about 30% on March 19 to 26%. A total of 5,704 people cast ballots, down from 6,565 in the initial three-way race held the same day as Florida’s presidential preference primary.
While Russell’s victory marks the first time a Black commissioner will be seated on the dais in more than a century, numbers from the March 19 vote show Black voters made up just a fraction of the electorate as the city’s historically Black west side has undergone significant redevelopment and gentrification in the past two decades.
Statistics from the supervisor’s office show only 215 people who identify as Black voted in Winter Park on March 19.
Winter Park voters are largely white. The March election also saw only 229 voters who identified as Hispanic and 344 who identified as “other.”
The current commission includes Kris Cruzada, who is Filipino American, and DeCiccio, whose father is Indian and mother is white.
Demographic statistics from Tuesday’s voter turnout won’t be available until after the results are finalized.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
by Beth Kassab | Apr 12, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News
Chasm in development support widens as money flows into Seat 2 run-off
The debate over how Winter Park will look in the future continues to dominate the race that will be decided on Tuesday
April 12, 2024
By Beth Kassab
The attacks continued in the final days of the run-off for Seat 2 on the City Commission with Craig Russell and Jason Johnson each trying to convince voters they would would be the best defender of Winter Park’s unique character.
The election is Tuesday.
Russell accused Johnson on Thursday of failing to defend the city’s code through his role as chairman of the Board of Adjustments, which considers requests for variances from property owners who are seeking to build a larger pergola than typically allowed or who want a smaller setback from the edge for their land.
Craig Russell, a football and wrestling coach at Winter Park High School, is running for City Commission Seat 2.
“Make no mistake, Craig Russell is the only candidate we can trust to protect Winter Park’s character,” the note to voters stated. “While on the Board of Adjustment the other candidate in this race, Jason Johnson, voted for zoning exceptions over 90% of the time. This record does not back up his talk about preserving our charm!”
Johnson said his votes on the Board of Adjustments “align exactly with my public comments on variances.”
“I recognize that the variance code exists for a good reason,” he said. “I know that not every eventuality is contemplated by the land development code, so variances are sometimes appropriate … But too many commercial developers abuse the process and view the variance and conditional use ordinances as their ‘grab bag.’ Those interests know I will not allow that, so they are throwing a lot of money behind my opponent in the hopes of having a friendly vote on the City Commission.”
Russell’s campaign is largely funded by people who own large commercial properties or have other development interests. The most recent campaign finance report shows Russell collected $5,000 from companies associated with the Holler family or their attorney. Holler companies already contributed $8,000 in the round of fundraising leading up to the March 19 election, which led to the run-off between Russell and Johnson.
Jason Johnson, an attorney and candidate for Winter Park Commission Seat 2.
Russell has raised more than $17,000 for the run-off, according to the most recent report available, bringing his total for the entire election cycle to more than $80,000.
One of the Holler’s companies also contributed another $3,000 in the most recent report from Winter PAC, the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee that has raised $25,000 in support of Russell.
Dan Bellows, known for redevelopment projects on the historically Black west side and for the mixed-use development Ravaudage at Lee Road and U.S. 17-92, contributed $1,000 and his two children contributed another $200.
A recent mailer sent by Russell to voters’ homes said he opposes “irresponsible, high-density overdevelopment.” It also said he would “defend property rights from government overreach.”
Russell, who also announced an endorsement from the Orlando Regional Realtors Association, did not respond to messages from the Voice seeking comment.
“Craig Russell knows that Winter Park is growing, and we need to be focusing on fiscal responsibility for the future and promoting residents-first smart growth,” said the Realtors’ endorsement.
Johnson raised nearly $14,000 for the run-off, bringing his total to slightly higher than $50,000.
His recent contributors included former mayors Phil Anderson and David Strong, who each gave $1,000, and have preached a more scaled back approach to new development. Developer Alan Ginsburg, also gave $1,000, and Belle Isle Mayor Nicholas Fouraker, who operates and commercial and residential real estate brokerage, wrote the maximum check as well.
Johnson also touted endorsements in recent days, including a blurb from Rick Frazee, operator of the former Mt. Vernon Inn.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the message read. “The Carlisle, Combank, the Langford Hotel ‘pyramid’ addition were ‘history lessons’ that cost the city millions of dollars to avert. Jason Johnson will maintain Winter Park’s quality of life and proper scale.”
More than 6,500 voters or about 30% turned out in the March 19 election and Russell led the pack by 540 votes. Turnout often decreases for run-offs, though Winter Parkers bucked that trend the last time the city saw a run-off for a commission seat in 2019, when more than 700 additional votes were cast.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
by Beth Kassab | Apr 6, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Phil Anderson leaves mayor's job with legacy of shaping city's future
The mayor, who will hand off the title this week to Sheila DeCiccio, took a few minutes recently to reflect on his time in office
April 5, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Phil Anderson came into office in the spring of 2021 as the tumult of a global pandemic took the lives of thousands of Orange County residents and upended commerce from New York’s Wall Street to Winter Park’s Park Avenue.
For months at the start of his term, the City Commission was still meeting via video. Shops and restaurants struggled to bring back customers. And uncertainty hung over the markets that affect the city’s key streams of tax revenue such as real estate and new development.
Now three years later, as Anderson prepares to turn over the gavel on Wednesday to new Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, the city just hosted the 65th Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival packed with hundreds of thousands of people and at least four new commercial development projects are in the works.
“When you look at where we were coming out of COVID, it’s remarkable,” Anderson said. “We finished three years later with a lot of initiatives started or in progress.”
Anderson said millions of dollars in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds played a major role in smoothing the city’s recovery.
But then, about halfway into Anderson’s term, the city confronted another historical challenge when Hurricane Ian dumped more than a dozen inches of rain on the region and caused record flooding in Winter Park and beyond.
As a result, the city is now taking the first steps toward drainage projects that DeCiccio has highlighted as a major priority.
Anderson’s term also saw the purchase of the 18-hole Winter Park Pines Golf Course, which this year turned a small profit, according to financial documents; the opening of a more than $40 million Library & Events Center and the start of construction on Seven Oaks Park.
He also led some policy initiatives such as a long-term effort toward renewable energy at the city-owned electric utility, voter approval of charter amendments that require a supermajority on the commission for certain zoning changes and a plan to expand the Community Redevelopment Agency.
“I ran to really make life better and to keep the charm of our neighborhoods and the downtown in tact,” said Anderson, a civil engineer whose career eventually lead him into finance and development. “And I think we did that.”
Mayor Phil Anderson presents Mary Daniels with the Mayor’s Founders Award at the 2024 State of the City Address.
The most recent financial reports show the reserve fund at more than $20.5 million.
While the day-to-day operations are led by City Manager Randy Knight, the mayor plays a large role in setting both the agenda and the tone of the public meetings.
At his final meeting in March, Anderson reflected on his time on the dais and the sometimes contentious comments from residents who would show up to speak for or against policies or projects.
“I want to thank everyone who has stepped up to the mic to speak,” he said. “We may not always agree, but this is what America’s about.”
Listening to those comments, he said, was one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
For example, residents of west Winter Park played a significant role in changes to a proposed rental development known as Winter Park Commons. The project, which will replace a now vacant church in the historically black neighborhood, will have more single-family homes and fewer townhomes as a result of people showing up and speaking out at the meetings.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It does make a difference. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it makes a difference, but over the long run it does.”
Anderson made a habit during meetings of summarizing in real time what he was hearing from fellow commissioners or speakers as a way of building consensus and and steering the debate. And he rarely lost sight of the fact that not everyone in the commission chambers understood the history or nuances of every policy measure, often pausing to provide context or demystify the discussion for everyday residents who stopped in — in person or via live stream — to watch their local government in action.
Jeff Briggs, longtime planning and zoning director, shared a story at Anderson’s final meeting that also captured his penchant for connecting with residents.
Anderson, like many mayors, is often asked to appear at community events. And one morning in Central Park he was giving the opening remarks before the start of a 5K. After he spoke, the DJ was supposed to play the National Anthem before the race started.
But a technical failure resulted in silence.
“There’s this dead pause and then the mayor says, ‘Well, I can sing it!” Briggs recalled.
The former high school choir member of son of Southern Baptist missionaries — his dad was a minister of music — led an acapella rendition of the anthem.
“I happened to have a clear voice that morning, which doesn’t always happen, and I thought, you know, if I start low enough I think I can do this,” Anderson recalled. “There were probably 200 people who started singing it with me.”
For now, there are no new singing gigs in his future. When Anderson’s term officially ends on Wednesday he said he plans to spend more time with his wife, children and grandchildren as well as his parents, both now in their 90s.
“I’m hoping I can find the right path to continue to serve the city,” he said.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
by Beth Kassab | Mar 29, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Orange Avenue Overlay, Uncategorized, Zoning and Development
Where Craig Russell and Jason Johnson stand on issues
The Seat 2 candidates will face off in the April 16 run-off election
March 28, 2024
By Beth Kassab
With less than three weeks until the April 16 run-off and mail-in voting already underway, Jason Johnson and Craig Russell are in a heated contest for a City Commission seat with Russell positioning himself as a political outsider who will break barriers of access for the average resident and Johnson running as the candidate who will most closely guard against unchecked development.
Both men are first-time candidates and registered Democrats and both would join Commissioner Kris Cruzada, 50, on the younger spectrum on the City Commission — Russell is 43 and Jason Johnson is 52.
But there are differences in their positions in the technically non-partisan race. Here’s where they stand:
Voter records
Russell’s candidacy might appear as something of a contradiction: If elected, he would be the first Black commissioner in more than a 100 years who, he says, will bring a fresh perspective to the job compared to what he’s called an “elitist” mentality in City Hall. But Russell, a Winter Park High teacher and coach, is also the candidate with the most money, the endorsement of the local Chamber of Commerce and support from former Mayor Ken Bradley and former Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel, whose names have appeared in his social media posts.
Russell, who won the most votes in the March 19 election with 42%, said he wants to “build a government for all residents, not just political insiders.”
He’s embraced the help of the chamber, which has raised money to support him through its political action committee, but also his status as a political newbie.
His voter record, for example, shows he hasn’t voted in a Winter Park municipal election in the last 10 years until his name was on the ballot in March. Russell voted in the 2004, 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2020 November elections and the 2018 August primaries.
Johnson cast more than 35 ballots during that same time, appearing to vote in every municipal election, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office.
Russell responded to criticism about his voting record by noting that he’s no different from many people who must prioritize demands on his time amid the daily grind — a reason why he said he’s connected with younger voters in the city.
“I’ve been busy raising my family,” he told the Voice. “Am I too busy to vote? Absolutely not. But just like anybody, life gets in the way and the mail-in ballot sits on the counter … I think that’s why my campaign was able to gain first-time and new voters.”
Johnson, a litigator who has the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Phil Anderson, said his voting record speaks to his engagement in the community and the time he’s spent learning about issues that he feels are relevant to residents.
“I guess we just have different viewpoints on the value of voting,” Johnson said of Russell’s record. “I see it as a necessary civic duty to vote in every election and I take the time to educate myself on the people and the issues and that has shown through in my answers to the questions during the debates.”
Future development
Johnson’s campaign presents his own paradox: He once worked for the Lowndes law firm, known for representing some of the biggest developers in Winter Park and across Central Florida, but has firmly staked out his position as the staunchest opponent to drastically altering Winter Park with taller buildings and denser development.
He says that experience has armed him with insight on the “sneaky” tactics some commercial landowners use and how to make sure residents’ interests are protected.
“There are very clear distinctions between my opponent and myself and a lot of them center around development,” he said.
Johnson says he supports the current rules for the Orange Avenue Overlay, which reduced the number of stories allowed and call for dedicated open space under certain conditions.
Russell said he would consider revisiting the original overlay rules.
Johnson supports the supermajority charter amendments voters passed in 2022 that require at least four votes on the City Commission to pass certain land use changes. Those changes include the sale of city property, rezoning parks and public land and rezoning residential land to a non-residential use and rezoning lakefront land from residential to commercial, mixed use or higher density residential.
Russell told Pastor Troy East in an interview with the Winter Park Ministerial Alliance that he doesn’t know if the voters understood the amendments or got it right when they approved them by wide margins.
“There’s two sides to that story,” he said. “You have the voters who voted on it, obviously, and then residents who didn’t necessarily understand it … It’s something I’d like to revisit and speak to the experts and see how historically it’s benefited the city and also talk to the residents, not just the voters. To me, there’s a large majority of the residents that didn’t get a chance to speak on it.”
Johnson is also skeptical of the chamber’s push to rewrite parking requirements for developers, which could reduce the number of parking spaces required for certain projects.
One of Russell’s social media posts included a black and white photo of a large concrete parking lot with the question, “Do you want Winter Park to look like this?”
“When it comes to parking solutions, we need to do more than just add endless parking spaces,” the Instagram post from Vote Coach Russell said. “On the City Commission, we should be thinking about creative solutions for enhancing our transit, our sidewalks and road, and our parking.”
Johnson questions if the desire to reduce parking is more about reducing the burden and cost for developers than it is pushing transit.
“Parking is already challenging enough in the city, let’s not make it more challenging by reducing parking requirements,” he said.
Johnson sent an email to voters in recent days with the subject line, “Do you want this to replace the old Lombardi’s?” with an illustration of a large 7-story building along Orange Avenue.
“This illustration was included in … the now-repealed version of the Orange Avenue Overlay. This would NOT be allowed under our current Code,” read the email. “Craig Russell says we need to take a second look at the repealed Orange Avenue Overlay and consider bringing this back.”
Russell called the email a “scare tactic.”
“To imply that’s something I would vote on, that’s just not true,” he said. “I always look to stay positive and show the residents who I am first-hand.”
He said he is grateful for the financial contributors to his campaign, including prominent landowners like the Holler family and developers like Allan Keen who have helped him raise more than $60,000. The chamber’s PAC has raised more than $20,000.
Russell said the money won’t control his positions if he’s elected.
“There’s no secret meetings I’m having with the chamber,” he said. “That’s not happening. I am nobody’s puppet. I weigh almost 300 pounds and there’s no puppet strings that are going to hold me.”
Johnson, who came in second to Russell on March 19 by 540 votes and raised $45,000, acknowledged that Russell is a popular candidate and well-known from his work at the high school and community.
“I’m not trying to win a popularity contest,” he said. “I am going to point out the issues that I think are relevant to the city of Winter Park and they can decide who they want. I’m going to be a champion for residents. I think the questions remains, if Mr. Russell is elected whose interests is he going to champion?”
Will Reeves voters return to the polls?
Both candidates say they want to win the votes of the nearly 1,600 people who cast a ballot for Stockton Reeves, who did not make the run-off with 24% of the vote.
Johnson said he welcomes support from Reeves voters.
“I have reached out to Stockton Reeves personally and would be honored to have their support,” he said.
Russell also would like those voters to know he wants to represent them.
“He has a following who is very loyal and hopefully they can have as much trust to come back out and vote,” he said. “I want to give them a reason to come back out and vote.”
Leaf blower ban
One of the city’s most controversial issues recently — a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers set to take effect next year — also brings differing points of view among the candidates.
“I’m not for it,” Russell said of the ordinance the commission passed in 2022 that bans gas-powered blowers. “I don’t think it’s something we should be focusing on right now,” and he questioned if large organizations like the public school system was aware of the change and prepared to use electric devices.
Johnson said he’s not opposed to letting voters decide via a referendum next year. But he also said he is concerned that involvement by a state senator sets another bad precedent for locally elected boards to be bigfooted by the state Legislature, which erodes local control.
“I liked my gas leaf blower, but because I’m a law-and-order guy I went out and bought an electric leaf blower, which I was surprised was just as powerful and maybe more powerful,” he said. “I am not opposed to allowing voters to have a say … but I also worry this referendum is a way of giving in to bullying by a state legislator when this is a matter of local governance …. at some point we have to be allowed to govern ourselves.”
Whoever wins on April 16 will likely face the leaf blower question almost immediately. Whether or not to approve a referendum for next year is now scheduled to be decided at the April 24 meeting.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
by Beth Kassab | Mar 22, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Five takeaways from Winter Park's election
Big turnout and big money helped drive this year’s elections
March 21, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park elected a new mayor and sent two of the Seat 2 candidates into a run-off set for April 16. Here’s five takeaways from the results:
1. Glass ceiling shattered. Sheila DeCiccio wasn’t the first woman to run for mayor in Winter Park, but she is the first to win the post in the city’s 142-year history. DeCiccio, an attorney who has lived in Winter Park for nearly 40 years, joins Eatonville’s Angie Gardner and Oakland’s Kathy Stark as the only other women mayors currently in Orange County. Orlando, the county’s largest city, hasn’t had a woman at the helm since Glenda Hood left office in 2003. DeCiccio, who was first elected to the Winter Park City Commission in 2020 and took more than 71% of the vote on Tuesday, said she is thrilled to bring a new era to the city. “I ran based on my experience and I didn’t make an issue out of being the first woman, but yes, it’s great to break the glass ceiling — it always is and I’m happy I was able to do it.”
2. Party politics not a sure thing. With the Republican presidential primary on the same ballot as the city elections for Republican voters, party politics might have seemed like a good strategy. Afterall, Donald Trump easily won every precinct in Winter Park. But the candidates who tried to seize on that tactic fared the worst. Registered Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats in the city (8,300 R’s vs. 7,700 D’s plus 5,200 registered with another party or without any party affiliation) but that didn’t translate to wins for those who tried to align themselves with the right. Stockton Reeves, who had text messages sent out by the state GOP touting him as “your OFFICIAL Republican nominee” in the nonpartisan Seat 2 race and who also sent out mailers that called out “higher prices and inflation” came in third out of three candidates. Michael Cameron, who ran against DeCiccio, used hashtags like “red wave” and “conservative” in some social media posts and spent most of his tiny campaign account on a Republican political consultant. The other thing Reeves and Cameron had in common? Neither showed for public candidate forums — perhaps an indication that talking directly to voters matters more than party in local politics.
3. The money matters. The size of a candidate’s campaign chest doesn’t always determine who wins, but it can count for a lot. In the Seat 2 race, Craig Russell was the top vote getter by 8 points with 42% of the vote and also spent the most or had the most spent on his behalf. Russell, a teacher at Winter Park High School, raised $64,000 and the political action committee affiliated with the local Chamber of Commerce raised another $22,000 to spend on mailers and other activities to support his candidacy. That’s a combined $86,000 compared to $45,000 raised by Jason Johnson, who received 34% of the vote. The two will head into a runoff on April 16 since neither captured more than 50%. But if money were the only deciding factor, then Reeves, who loaned himself more than $50,000 and raised another $20,000, would be in the runoff since he outraised and outspent Johnson. He took just 24% of the vote. In the mayor’s race, DeCiccio far outraised Cameron — more than $41,000 compared to less than $7,000, according to the latest financial reports.
4. Winter Park knows how to turn out. The city has a reputation for being among the most civically active in the county and that held true again. Overall turnout across the mostly blue county dipped by 8 points to 18% since the Democrats opted against a presidential primary vote in Florida (in 2020, the last time both parties had presidential primaries in March, countywide turnout was more than 26%). But Winter Park turnout held fairly steady at 31% compared to nearly 32% in 2020. Only the much smaller cities of Oakland and Eatonville brought out a higher rate of voters for municipal races this time around. In Winter Garden, municipal race turnout was just 8% while Ocoee and Apopka each showed 14%. And while Winter Park is Orange’s fifth largest city with 30,000 people, it saw the most voters with nearly 7,000 people casting a ballot. That figure included the highest percent of Democrats (31%) except for Oakland (35%), the west Orange city of fewer than 4,000 people.
5. Will turnout hold for the runoff? Turning out voters once is hard. Getting them to show up at the polls twice can be even more difficult. That’s why state and national numbers show fewer voters tend to vote in runoffs. But Winter Park’s engagement appears to buck that trend. The last time Winter Park held a runoff was 2019 when Todd Weaver beat Pete Weldon for Seat 4. A look at the numbers shows 726 more people voted in the April runoff than in the first March election — 6,129 vs. 5,403. No one knows what will happen this year, but a drop in participation is not a sure thing in Winter Park.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
by Beth Kassab | Mar 19, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Sheila DeCiccio is Winter Park's next mayor
Craig Russell and Jason Johnson head to run-off for Seat 2 on City Commission
March 19, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Sheila DeCiccio will be Winter Park’s next mayor — the first woman to serve in the role — after she won more than 70% of the vote Tuesday.
Her opponent, Michael Cameron, who barely raised any money and did not appear at a single public or private forum, took 29% of the vote.
DeCiccio, who was first elected as a commissioner in 2020, is known for pushing to shore up the city’s infrastructure in the wake of flooding after Hurricane Ian in 2022. She also played a key role in overturning the original Orange Avenue Overlay, which allowed for taller and denser development along Orange between Rollins College and U.S. 17-92.
She is the first woman to be elected to the post in the city of 30,000’s 142-year history. She won every precinct in Winter Park by a wide margin.
Two of the three Seat 2 candidates will take their heated contest into a run-off on April 16 after no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote.
Craig Russell, a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, won 42% of the vote and Jason Johnson, an attorney, took 34%.
Russell and Johnson have clearly staked out different positions on some issues.
Russell, who raised nearly $64,000 and was the only candidate endorsed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, has said he is open to revisiting the original Orange Avenue Overlay as well as a series of charter amendments overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2022 that require a supermajority vote on the City Commission for certain zoning changes.
Russell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the results.
Johnson, who raised $45,000, has said he supports the current OAO and doesn’t want to see Winter Park’s commercial corridors expanded or dramatically altered by new development.
“I fully expected this race to go into a run-off,” Johnson said Tuesday evening. “I’m happy to be one of the top two vote getters … There are certainly differences between myself and Mr. Russell and, as always, the voters of Winter Park will get the final say on who they want representing them in City Hall.”
Stockton Reeves, the third candidate in the race, won 24% of the vote. Reeves did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
To comment or read comments from others, click here →
Recent Comments