Visioning Steering Committee Completes Draft Report
Visioning Steering Committee Completes Draft Report
Creates Foundation for Comp Plan Review
After more than a year’s work, the Visioning Steering Committee voted yesterday to approve their final draft report. The report will be presented to the City Commission for approval July 11.
Winter Park Now “City of Arts & Culture”
Winter Park vision statement has gone from “The city of culture and heritage,” to “The city of arts and culture, cherishing its traditional scale and charm while building a healthy and sustainable future for all generations.”
Four Vision Themes
Four main themes emerged from numerous meetings and conversations with the community.
- Cherish and sustain Winter Park’s extraordinary quality of life.
- Plan our growth through a collaborative process that protects our City’s timeless scale and character.
- Enhance the Winter Park brand through a flourishing community of arts and culture.
- Build and embrace our local institutions for lifelong learning and future generations.
Vision to Guide Comp Plan Review
This new vision of Winter Park is designed to provide a framework for the 2016 review of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which ensures that Winter Park’s growth management plan meets state and federal regulations as well as “the stated vision for the city.”
The Vision Plan conclusion reads as follows. “This document provides an overarching direction for the future of Winter Park and establishes the foundation upon which other regulatory documents can build.”
To read the entire Visioning draft report, go to https://cityofwinterpark.org/docs/government/boards/other-info/VSC-vision-winter-park-draft-2016-06-09.pdf.
No Library in MLK Park
No Library in MLK Park
Open Letter to the Citizens of Winter Park
Editor's Note: Articles written by citizens reflect their own opinions and not the views of the Winter Park Voice.
Guest Columnist – Joe Terranova
Much has been said recently about the construction of a new library in Winter Park. Unfortunately, some of the comments by the Mayor and others have been misleading. Here is another view.
Mayor Steve Leary has stated on several occasions that the petition being circulated is illegal. I am not aware that any court has ruled on the matter. The City Attorney may ‘feel’ that way. Our counsel says our actions are strictly within the law.
City Clerk Calls Petition Unlawful
Although our City Clerk has made statements that cast doubt on the legality and timeliness of the petition, our City Charter gives her, in her official capacity, no legal standing to make those kinds of judgements.
I am a member of the Petitioners’ Committee collecting signatures to prevent the construction of a new library in Martin Luther King, Jr., Park.
Why Are We Doing This?
The citizens recently approved a referendum authorizing the City to issue bonds in an amount up to $30 Million to build a new library, events center and associated parking structure. The Mayor has stated that “everyone knew” the library would be built in MLK Park.
I disagree.
No Site In Referendum
Neither the ballot language nor the ordinance authorizing the referendum stated where the library would be built. In fact, during a Commission meeting when the ordinance was being voted on, one commissioner wanted to specifically say in the ordinance that the library would be built in MLK Park. The Commission voted No.
Publications issued in support of the new library made it clear that all the conceptual renderings of the structures were just that – conceptual renderings. Nowhere did it say the MLK site was cast in stone.
MLK Park – Who Knew?
Our petition circulators have reported that while some people knew where the library would be built, most did not. Many of those who did not said they would not have voted in favor of the referendum had they been aware of the intended site in MLK Park.
Why Not MLK Park?
MLK Park is probably the worst option available to the City for the location of the new library. This huge structure would adversely affect the environment in the park. Traffic at the corner of 17-92 and Harper Street is already bad and will get worse, even without adding a library and events center. Removing an essential element – our library – from the core of our City will, in time, denigrate Winter Park as a special place.
Where Can the New Library Go?
The approved referendum gives the City the legal authority to build the new library anywhere in the City it wants. City leadership, however, has never bothered to get a consensus of the citizens to support the MLK Park site for a combined library, events center and associated parking structure. As a result, the Mayor has unnecessarily divided the City on this issue.
It is now time to take MLK Park off the table and get real as to a proper location for the new library in the City core. The only way we can do this is through our Citizens’ Initiative, which is authorized by the City Charter.
Sign the Petition
If you have not already signed our petition and wish to do so, contact our petition coordinator, Sally Flynn, by email at flynnlinks@aol.com. Someone will be in touch with you. If you believe as we do, we urge you to sign the petition.
Our motto is simple: Library? YES! In MLK Park? NO!
Editor’s Note:
Former Winter Park Mayor Joe Terranova is a member of the Citizens Petition Committee.
What Makes a City Great?
What Makes a City Great?
Charley Williams – Guest Columnist
Editor's Note: Articles written by citizens reflect their own opinions and not the views of the Winter Park Voice.
For the better part of two years – and, really, for many decades prior to that – Winter Park has been engaged in a discussion of how to preserve the character of our city — the character that makes us cherish the privilege of living here. We all want the same thing, but we have difficulty agreeing on how to achieve it.
What Do We Want?
Basically, we want our city to stay beautiful.
How do we do that?
The attached video articulates in a simple, vivid way, six principles of civic beauty. Regardless of which notion you espouse of beauty and how to achieve it, this entertaining, instructive piece offers a framework and a vocabulary with which to conduct the discussion.
Six Principles of Beautiful Cities
1. Variety and Order
2. Visible Life
3. Compact
4. Orientation and Mystery
5. Scale
6. Make it Local
Seventh Principle for Winter Park
7. Create Shade – shade trees, awnings, misters – anything to protect us from that famous Florida sunshine.
I hope you will take the time to enjoy this short video, originally published by The School of Life, located in London’s famed Bloomsbury district. They describe themselves this way. “The School of Life is devoted to developing emotional intelligence through the help of culture. We offer a variety of programs and services concerned with how to live wisely and well.”
To learn more, visit http://www.thebookoflife.org
© The Book of Life
Charley Williams has been a Winter Park resident for 14 years. He serves as a Trustee for the Florida First Amendment Foundation and is a past state Board Member, Florida League of Women Voters.
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