by Beth Kassab | Feb 2, 2026 | City Commission, News
Winter Park Officials Report No Major Power Disruptions During Prolonged Cold Snap
The city, which runs its own electric utility, asked major power users like AdventHealth and Publix to conserve and use generators as usage soared to heat homes and businesses
Feb. 2, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio alerted residents on Monday evening that the city appeared to be through the worst of the impacts from two consecutive days of below freezing temperatures with few disruptions.
An email from DeCiccio relayed a message from Randy Knight:
Ice appeared across the city on Sunday morning such as on this plant off Palmer Avenue.
“Well, we made it through the worst of the cold weather without any brownouts or blackouts,” he wrote. “We had a few minor outage events that impacted approximately 40 customers.”
Winter Park, which owns its owns electric utility, relies most significantly on power produced by natural gas through purchasing agreements with the Florida Municipal Power Agency and the Orlando Utilities Commission.
Knight said he and other officials called big customers in the city such as Publix and AdventHealth and asked them to use generators during peak hours to free up capacity needed to heat homes and businesses.
“… We were cranking out 2.1mw at our Interlachlen Substation Feeder 159 and when Winter Park Hospital turned on their generators it took 1.4mw off that demand,” he said. “That is a good community partner.”
Publix also placed stores across Florida on generators, Knight wrote.
“That went a long way in helping the state utilities make it through this event,” he said.
The city also used generators to power some of its own facilities and temporarily closed some buildings. For example, the Winter Park Library did not open until noon on Monday.
A resident’s pond froze off Via Tuscany not far from the shores of Lake Maitland.
Running central heat for prolonged periods consumes more power than air-conditioning. That caused concerns about whether the utilities had capacity to manage the loads over the weekend and into Monday when temperatures dropped below 30 degrees.
The cold weather was brought on by a major winter storm that impacted multiple states and drove natural gas prices to temporarily sky-high levels as production of the gas decreased during the storm.
Knight told the City Commission last week that if prices remained high it could increase the amount Winter Park residents and businesses pay for electricity.
In October, customer electric rates increased 4%, in part, after the City Commission determined high prices were justified to help raise enough capital to finish the city’s long-running project to underground every power line.
But customer bills actually dropped because the costs associated with fuel (which, again, is mostly natural gas) were low, though fuel prices tend to be volatile.
Knight said last week he expected the commission to have a discussion this month about whether the city will need to up the amount customers pay for fuel beginning in March to recoup some of the higher expenses brought on by the storm.
“Fuel is a pass through to the customer, we don’t make a profit on that part,” he said at the Jan. 28 meeting.
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 27, 2026 | News, Police and Public Safety, Uncategorized
Police Release Image of Possible Suspect in Winter Park Church Fire
Police asked the public for information in the case of a person who cut down a banner with a rainbow flag on the lawn of First Congregational Church of Winter Park and set it on fire near the church doors
Jan. 27, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The Winter Park Police Department on Tuesday released an image captured from surveillance video that shows a possible suspect in the fire set at First Congregational Church of Winter Park that targeted a banner that said “Everyone is welcome here” over a sky blue background with a rainbow flag.
The photo appeared to show a man on a sidewalk in dark clothing wearing a hat and possibly a face mask. The man is also wearing dark shoes with white soles. It wasn’t clear from the information released by the police department where the image was captured or when.
An image released by police shows a potential suspect in the church fire that burned a welcome banner.
The department did not address why it waited a week since the fire that left a pile of ash and minor damage on the eastern double doors of the church to solicit help from the public in identifying a suspect.
“All avenues of investigation are being followed to identify the suspect and determine if the crime committed had a biased-based motive,” a release from the department stated.
Florida statutes call for tougher penalties on misdemeanors and felonies if there is evidence the defendant acted out of hate or prejudice based on the “race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, homeless status or advanced age of the victim.”
A pile of ash and smoke and heat damage can be seen at the church doors after the banner was set on fire. (Photos courtesy of First Congregational Church of Winter Park)
On Sunday, Senior Minister Shawn Garvey delivered an emotional sermon with a number of notable community members in the pews to show solidarity with the church such as Anna Eskamani, who represents Winter Park in the Florida House, former Mayor Steve Leary, who recently ran for Orange County commissioner, and a number of officials from Rollins College and the Mayflower, a senior community.
Garvey read a statement from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings that said, in part, “though they destroyed the sign, they can never destroy what’s in your heart.”
Garvey told the congregation that, a times, the church’s long history of social justice work and Christian teachings are principles that “sometimes bring the heat, literally.”
“Bring it …,” he said. “…. If the building disappears, we’ll meet somewhere else. Who cares? They won’t break us.”
Garvey said the church’s newly installed surveillance cameras captured the suspect “making a beeline” toward the welcome banner just before midnight on Jan. 20. The church is widely known for its acceptance and support of the LGBTQ community often represented by the rainbow flag on the banner.
The video shows the person cutting down the banner and bringing it to the church doors before setting it on fire.
The banner stood on the lawn of First Congregational Church of Winter Park since about Easter until it was cut down and set on fire last week.
A police report released Tuesday says an unidentified witness called police about 11:50 p.m. after smelling smoke and seeing the fire while walking to the Alfond Inn, which is just across Interlachen Avenue from the church.
The fire was quickly extinguished and city Fire Marshal Jim Santoro and Det. Daniel Fritz from the state Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives arrived to investigate.
Santoro told the Voice that the state bureau along with Winter Park Police would take the lead in the investigation. He said the fire appeared intentionally set, though it wasn’t immediately clear what was used to start the fire.
He said such cases are unusual in Winter Park.
“This is not very common,” Santoro said. “We probably only get something like this every couple or three years and I’ve never seen one exactly like this and I’ve been with the department 36 years.”
The police report listed potential charges of attempted arson, petty theft and damage to church property.
Police are asking anyone who has any information about the incident to contact Winter Park Det. R. Budde at 407-599-3658 or Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS(8477).
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 24, 2026 | News, Police and Public Safety, Uncategorized
Winter Park Church's 'Everyone is Welcome' Banner Cut Down and Set on Fire in Apparent Hate Crime
The incident at First Congregational Church of Winter Park happened earlier this week and appeared to target the church’s welcoming stance toward LGBTQ rights
Jan. 24, 2026
By Beth Kassab
A potential hate crime is under investigation after a banner in front of First Congregational Church of Winter Park with the words “Everyone is welcome here” on a sky blue background and a rainbow flag was cut down by an unidentified man with a knife, placed at the sanctuary door and lit on fire.
The incident happened just before midnight on Tuesday and was caught on security camera footage, said Senior Minister Shawn Garvey, who said he was grateful that a passerby noticed the flames just a few minutes later and called Winter Park Fire Rescue.
A pile of ash remained in front of the doors to the church after the banner fire was extinguished by Winter Park Fire Rescue. (Photos courtesy of First Congregational Church of Winter Park)
“The Fire Department was right there and put it out quickly,” he said. “It could have been worse … at that time of day nobody was on property.”
A pile of ash was left in front of the smoke-stained and heat-damaged white double-doors of the sanctuary. The empty frame that held the banner still stood on the church’s lawn along Interlachen Avenue.
Winter Park Police are investigating, he said, what appeared to be a hate crime against the church’s open and supportive message toward LGBTQ members and the larger community. Winter Park Police could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.
The church first added the banner to its lawn around Easter of last year.
“Regrettably in the history of our church, dealing with expressions of hate like that are nothing new,” Garvey said.
The Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on the lawn of the church’s former parsonage (across the street from where the Alfond Inn stands today) in the early 1950’s in response to a sermon that made a case for desegregation in Florida. The church was founded 1884 by New England abolitionists as part of the United Church of Christ, and its members founded Rollins College. It served as a gathering spot for Rollins President Hamilton Holt and Civil Rights leaders like Harry T. Moore and Mary McLeod Bethune to rally against segregation.
More recently, Garvey said, the church saw 50 people line its sidewalk during worship about eight years ago to protest the church because members supported the right to abortion and other reproductive rights. And in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, he said he received angry phone calls about a sign at the church that expressed solidarity with those impacted by Floyd’s death.
An empty frames stands in front of the church from where the “Everyone is welcome here” banner was cut down.
Garvey said the church’s social justice history is an important part of its fabric.
“Even though it’s sometimes scary and upsetting we still feel called to follow that history,” he said of the congregation that has about 350 members. “The gospel of Jesus speaks strongly to being a voice for the voiceless.”
The church’s web site states that “all of the baptized ‘belong body and soul to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ No matter who – no matter what – no matter where we are on life’s journey – notwithstanding race, gender, sexual orientation, class or creed – we all belong to God and to one worldwide community of faith.”
More than 140 years into the church’s history, he said, some core challenges remain the same.
“As far as we’ve come and all the work we do, hate is just hate and insecurity is insecurity,” he said.
The video footage captured Tuesday by new security cameras the church installed just weeks before does not show a clear image of the face of the man who cut the banner, which had stood on the church lawn since Easter, and lit the fire. He was wearing a black baseball cap.
He appeared to approach the church on foot from the north and walked directly toward the banner. When a car passed by, he appeared to briefly pretend to be on his phone, before continuing toward the banner where he cut it with a knife and then approached the sanctuary doors to light the fire, Garvey said.
At Sunday’s service, Garvey plans to address the incident and share a number of supportive messages, including one from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, he’s received in recent days.
He said people are expressing heartbreak and anger over what happened. But also pride at the church’s presence in the community.
During times like this, Garvey said, the church can “often feel like an island, but we’re not.”
The membership will take up a discussion to determine how or if the “Everyone is welcome here” banner is replaced.
“In our years together since I came to be with you, we’ve gone through a lot,” he told the congregation in an email on Friday. “Through all of it, we have remained strong and grown stronger in our faith and in our commitment to one another. This week is yet another thread of the ongoing tapestry of what we truly are as this church and always have been throughout our history here in Winter Park. We will continue to be the inclusive, loving presence of God as we know it through Jesus and not allow events like this week to deter or frighten us.”
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 15, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Schools
Have Complaints about Electric Scooters and Bikes? Meeting Scheduled for Next Month
Plus Blue Bamboo’s leader offered a short update on the group’s financial status in the wake of multiple changes at the organization operating at the city’s old library
Jan. 15, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Residents who have questions or concerns about safety related to electric bikes and scooters, which have soared in popularity in recent years, are invited to attend a community meeting at Winter Park Community Center on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting comes in the wake of a rising number of accidents and concerns surrounding the motorized devices that are increasingly common in and around school campuses.
Commissioner Craig Russell, who is also a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, has taken the lead on the topic with a series of safety videos aimed at students and parents and, now, plans for a larger community discussion.
Russell said at Wednesday’s City Commission session that the meeting in February will be about sharing the facts and providing any available updates on the Legislative session, where a proposal (HB 243 and SB 382) is being debated that would put more regulations on e-bikes and scooters and their often young drivers.
“I just want to continue with our public safety effort,” Russell said. “It’s not going to be me telling parents what to do. It’s an informational session.”
The Voice reported last month that Orange County School Board members tossed around potential new regulations such as requiring licenses, training and speed limits at a meeting in November.
Since 2017, electric scooter injuries in the U.S. have surged by 400%, with Florida being a top state in emergency room visits for such injuries, staff told board members, citing data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These accidents have more than doubled since 2023 for children under 15.
Update on Blue Bamboo
Commissioners heard an update on Wednesday from Jeff Flowers, who is leading the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts project that is leasing the city’s old library building.
The group’s founder Chris Cortez died last month after a short illness with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
Flowers, a chemist and arts philanthropist who served two stints on the Maitland City Council, noted the challenges the group has faced with the loss of Cortez and difficulty finding tenants for the second and third floors of the building. He said there have been three “very serious” sublease prospects, but no deals yet.
“We are in serious discussions now with another,” he said. “It’s not there yet, but it looks good.”
He said the Blue Bamboo tallied 8,300 people attending shows over the past six months and $180,000 in ticket sales. He said revenue totaled about $340,000 including concession sales and donations.
The Blue Bamboo is required to pay the city $132,000 a year in rent for the building, an amount scheduled to rise to $276,000 next year, according to the lease agreement.
The group has access to a $900,000 grant from Orange County for additional work on the building, but is required to raise matching funds and was counting on help in the form of fundraising and rent from Central Florida Vocal Arts before that group walked away from the deal in August when it was not satisfied by the terms of the sublease offered by Blue Bamboo.
Flowers has loaned Blue Bamboo more than $1 million so far to retrofit the first floor of the building into a performance space and other work.
“The message is look, the Blue Bamboo is here to stay,” Flowers told the commission. “We’ve surmounted every barrier thrown at us.”
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio thanked Flowers for appearing at the meeting and quickly moved on to the next topic after no other commissioners offered any comments or asked any questions.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
CORRECTION: The original version of this story included the wrong location and time for the meeting on e-bikes and scooters. The meeting will be held at Winter Park Community Center at 5:30 p.m.
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 13, 2026 | Election, News
News Collaborative of Central Florida Receives $50K to Support Continued Growth
The group, which includes the Winter Park Voice, also hired its first project manager
Jan. 13, 2026
Staff Report
News Collaborative of Central Florida (NCCF), a collective of independent local news outlets and aligned partners working toward a more informed and engaged Central Florida, is announcing the next phase in its evolving service to the region. NCCF launched publicly in January of 2025 to collaborate on reporting about the local impacts of Florida’s Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping law (House Bill 1365). Over 100 stories were shared, amplifying reach of this vital reporting to residents.
That success has now been met with a combined $50,000 in funding from Collaborative Journalism Resource Hub (the Hub) and Central Florida Foundation, fueling the Collaborative’s next phase of growth. As part of this evolution, NCCF has onboarded its first dedicated team member, and in 2026, NCCF partners will pool their resources to provide comprehensive coverage of this year’s elections.
Erica Rodriguez Kight
“Our first year made it clear that collaborative journalism works, and we’re ready to take on elections coverage – made possible by the support from Collaborative Journalism Resource Hub and Central Florida Foundation,” says Judith Smelser, NCCF’s first task force chair and Central Florida Public Media’s president and general manager. “Ongoing community support is essential to sustaining this unique journalism model and ensuring it can continue delivering impactful reporting year over year.”
NCCF has contracted with Erica Rodriguez Kight as a dedicated project manager to establish governance, coordinate communication across partner organizations and support community engagement efforts that bring residents into the reporting process. Erica is the assistant director for mass media at the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida, where she’s also an associate lecturer in journalism and media production. Her background includes reporting roles at The Bradenton Herald and ABC affiliate WCJB-TV and a reporting fellowship with Cortico AI.
“Collaborative Journalism Resource Hub provides comprehensive support to journalism collaboratives across the U.S.,” says Amy Maestas, director of Collaborative Journalism Resource Hub. “News Collaborative of Central Florida is the first of 20 collaboratives the Hub will support over the next five years to advance the field of collaborative journalism. NCCF is a strong and dedicated group of media and community organizations that are willing to evolve from a competitive mindset to collaboration as a commitment to bringing stronger journalism to their communities. We look forward to being a resource as they join the robust and growing practice of collaborative journalism in the U.S.”
Beth Kassab
Central Florida Foundation serves as a convener, operational advisor and fiscal sponsor for NCCF and is an independent, trusted bridge builder across the journalism ecosystem. As the initial charitable investor in this emerging journalism model, Central Florida Foundation is proud to support local media coming together to better serve the region.
“This collaboration of journalists comes online at a critical moment, when Central Floridians are facing important decisions. By bringing together a more diverse group of journalists committed to helping residents understand what they are voting on, the News Collaborative of Central Florida plays an important role in strengthening our community,” says Mark Brewer, president and CEO, Central Florida Foundation. “Central Florida Foundation has a long history of supporting civic engagement, and local media is a vital pillar of a healthy, civically engaged region.”
The Winter Park Voice is contributing reporting and editing to provide resources and information to empower readers in Winter Park to be more engaged Central Florida residents.
“We know how much our readers value trustworthy news about their city and we are excited to bring them even more information about the 2026 ballots through the next phase of this partnership,” said Beth Kassab, editor of the Voice. “As a small nonprofit devoted to local news, we believe collaborations like this one are the way forward to keep credible, fact-based and independently-vetted information accessible to our community.”
Together, the media outlets participating in NCCF will be able to dig deeper into important local issues, cover more candidates and races and engage more community members.
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 7, 2026 | City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
Mixed-Use Development Proposed for DePugh Nursing Center Site
The new project by Z Properties will include commercial and residential elements on the prominent corner of Morse and Pennsylvania. The nursing center closed last year.
Jan. 7, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center, which closed in the fall after 70 years, will be demolished and replaced with a “flexible, mixed-use environment offering modular opportunities to purchase space” along with a residential component, according to an announcement on Wednesday by Z Properties.
The Winter Park-based development and design firm led by Zane and Emily Williams said in a news release that the residential portion is still in the early planning. The commercial part of the development will look for a mix of “professional, creative, retail, hospitality and service-oriented businesses, with generous ceiling heights, thoughtfully-designed interiors and flexibility to support a range of uses.”
Zane Williams, who did not immediately respond to an interview request, acknowledged the prominence of the corner at 550 W. Morse Boulevard near Pennsylvania Avenue, and the potential for the new buildings to “set the tone” as visitors enter downtown Winter Park via Morse.
“Our goal here, as always, is to develop with intention and care, and to add beauty to our surroundings,” Williams said in the release. “This is a special corner, and we feel a responsibility to create something locals and visitors will pass by and think, ‘That feels right.’”
The new development will bring further change for the historically Black neighborhood west of Park Avenue that dates back to the city’s founding. The area has undergone significant gentrification over the past 25 years with the redevelopment of Hannibal Square and a number of larger homes replacing small, single-story houses.
The DePugh center opened in 1956 as the first state-approved nursing home where aging Black residents could seek care during segregation. The center was named for Mary Lee DePugh, who moved to Winter Park in 1937 to work for a white family she knew from the Chicago area and began advocating to provide health care to those in need as part of her work with the Ideal Woman’s Club, which she founded on the west side of the city. She died before the center opened.
Leaders of the Center decided to close it because of rising operating costs.
Z Properties applied for a demolition permit in October, said city Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis. The permit is likely to be approved because the building is not historically designated.
A representative of the firm said renderings of the proposed project will be available in the coming months.
A portion of the Palmetto Grove work spaces by Z Properties near Seven Oaks Park. The project, which refurbished older buildings, recently won praise from City Commission members. (Photo courtesy of Z Properties)
Williams said in the release that one unique aspect of the plan will be the option for business owners to also own a physical space.
“There are so many business owners who dream of designing and owning their own building in the same way people dream of building their homes,” he said. “Ownership allows you to establish permanence, identity, and control of your space — this project is about making that a reality.”
Z Properties is partnering with Stream Realty on the development.
“It’s exceptionally rare to come across the opportunity to own custom-designed commercial space in Winter Park,” Darryl Hoffman, executive vice president at Stream Realty, said in the news release. “We’re thrilled to partner with Zane on this first-of-its-kind development for the area.”
Z Properties recently received praise from the City Commission related to its makeover of workspaces near Seven Oaks Park known as Palmetto Grove along Palmetto Avenue. The buildings were refurbished to have an elevated, high-end look not far off of Orange Avenue where the city is working to improve one of its gateways.
The release said the team is aiming for completion of the project on the DePugh site in 2027 and will unveil its name and more details in the near future.
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