LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
WHAT’S NEXT FOR OSCEOLA, Viviana Janer, vice chairwoman, Osceola County Commission: At its annual State of the County address, Osceola County emphasized the billions of dollars earmarked for infrastructure improvements — as well as efforts to help residents find careers that support their dreams and visions. The county’s support for education and training started long before the pandemic. Compiling a year’s worth of research and input, we unveiled a new, forward-looking brand identity with a kaleidoscope of color that conveys the motion and cultural diversity that make Osceola County special. We are focused on the future and we invite everyone to “Be First to What’s Next” — as we march toward a better tomorrow.
STARK PARTISANSHIP, David Kay, chair, Interfaith Council of Central Florida: HB 167, introduced in the Florida Legislature for 2022, is a clone of Texas’ controversial “fetal heartbeat” bill. Now that a federal judge has blocked enforcement of the Texas law at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice, HB 167 may be facing a much steeper uphill climb. Each year, our Legislature debates and sometimes passes laws that are likely or even clearly unconstitutional. Fiery partisan rhetoric widens divisions in our communities and protracted court battles cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. Surely, there’s a better way to govern.
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING MONTH, Pamela Nabors, president/CEO, CareerSource Central Florida: October is Manufacturing Month, which calls attention to the value that this sector brings to national, state and local economies. Designated as one of the region’s high-growth industries, the manufacturing sector in Central Florida consists of businesses large and small making everything from missiles to medical devices. Careers in manufacturing today require highly skilled workers in fabrication, construction and technology and pay well above $20 an hour. This region also boasts exceptional training programs such as those at Valencia and Lake Technical College that prepare workers through accelerated programs for these jobs. Many great career positions are immediately available.
UNJUST PUNISHMENT, Kathleen Oropeza, co-founder, FundEducationNow.org: The appointed Florida Board of Education met to shame and sanction seven large school boards, including Orange, for invoking mask mandates amid a record-breaking explosion of COVID-19 delta cases to ensure the safety of the students and staff they were elected to protect. Gov. DeSantis quickly issued executive orders banning mask mandates, blatantly bypassing the constitutional authority of elected school boards. In an extrajudicial maneuver, appointed Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran drove the Board of Education vote to withhold a month’s pay of each board member as punishment. Why is the state wasting time “punishing” districts for fulfilling their duty to keep our kids safe?
TABLE TALK IS BACK, Beverly Paulk, founding member, Central Florida Foundation and The Orlando Philharmonic: On Oct. 14, Table Talk is again extending a participation invitation to everyone. You can host or join 10 other people to dream about your community — anytime in person or virtually. The Central Florida Foundation coordinates this effort, and has provided 19 local microgrants in the first two years to launch ideas created by these conversations. My 2019 group chose a busy and dangerous road past a poorly marked elementary school where four lanes become two. It took two years and help from Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine to significantly improve signage. No funding needed, only patience. Visit cffound.org/tabletalk for more.
GO, BRIGHTLINE, Joanie Schirm, GEC founding president; World Cup Orlando 1994 Committee chairman: Over decades, Central Florida has considered opportunities to gain meaningful high-speed passenger rail via four proposals to provide seamless connections to major metro areas. All projects involved the private sector, often bringing investment to the public sector rights-of-way that would be positive game-changers for our mobility and economy. Offering no other comprehensive solutions to our traffic congestion, each time selfish interests, mainly in the tourism industry, step up to kill or impact the approval process. Most do this solely because the routes don’t deliver to their doorstep or, conversely, deliver to their competitors’ doorstep. Facts support Brightline’s proposed path. Stop the stalemate and move us rapidly forward.
ORLANDO JOB REPORT, Kannan Srinivasan, former president of Asian American Chamber of Commerce; CEO of Global KTech: Fifty years after the Magic Kingdom’s grand opening, the hospitality and leisure industries have been expelled from their throne as the Orlando area’s top source of jobs, according to an Orlando Economic Partnership report. Banks, tech and white-collar roles are now Orlando’s No. 1 source of jobs.
FEMICIDE DATA, Carol Wick, CEO, Sharity: The Violence and Policy Center released its “When Men Murder Women” analysis of 2019 homicide data. How did Florida rank, you might ask? We didn’t even participate. The only other state without data was Alabama. Why is that? Women are dying in record numbers. In fact, femicide is up 16% in Florida from 2019 to 2020. 107 women were murdered by intimate partners in 2020. This should be a priority, but how can we solve a problem when murdered women’s lives are not even important enough to count? We can and must do better.