LOOKING AHEAD TO 2019
Nonpartisan elections needed
Lee Constantine,
At the local level, elections are about people, not parties. As someone who served at the city, county and state level, decisions are tougher locally; citizens just care more. For years, I have strongly advocated nonpartisan elections for cities and counties. The partisan stagnation of Washington and Tallahassee has little to do with solutions back home. Local government is about quality of life, innovation and decisions on growth. Citizens must educate themselves on where officeseekers stand on those issues and having a Republican or Democrat next to a candidate’s name is scant indication of that. Seminole County’s electorate deserves a choice. This year, I will push to put local nonpartisan elections on the next ballot.
DeSantis’ decisions
Francisco Gonzalez,
2019 will bring us a new governor in Ron DeSantis. He is defying expectations — even of his political opponents — by selecting highly qualified people from across the political spectrum to lead Florida’s government and its 27 state agencies. After all, most of what Florida’s government does is not ideological. Under Gov. DeSantis, Florida’s executive branch may be one of the most highly qualified in history. And soon he’ll have a chance to flex his judicial principles with three new appointments to Florida’s Supreme Court. In 2019, Floridians might just show the nation we can come together for the greater good.
Make energy changes
Ricky Ly, According to the recent United Nations report on climate change, the world has 12 years until we reach the point of no return unless we make real changes to our energy consumption. From rising sea levels to more devastating droughts to more damaging storms, the report makes brutally clear that warming will make the world worse for us in the forms of famine, disease, economic tolls, and refugee crises. For Florida, the effects already are showing with seawater creep into our fresh-water supplies, king tides flooding Miami Beach’s roads more and more often, and the hottest year in centuries. Thankfully, the City of Orlando and Orange County locally are already working towards a sustainable future, but more must be done in 2019 — from moving more toward renewable energy to transforming our industries to reduce carbon and greenhouse emissions and even eating more vegetables and less meat.
Stop human trafficking
Anna McPherson,
Momentum, awareness and a galvanized community to stop human trafficking will be a major focus for 2019. As our citizens are more aware and more disgusted by the heinous act of buying and selling people for sex or forced labor, we are uniting and saying “not in my backyard.” Realizing that those caught up in the human-trafficking trade are our own children and neighbors who are coerced or abducted into a dark, scary underground trade makes it real and actionable. If you see something suspicious, contact the national human-trafficking hotline at 888-373-7888 or text 233733; Greater Orlando ranks third in the U.S. for the number of reports to the hotline.
Prepare for challenges
Muhammad Musri,
2019 will surely bring new challenges to our state, but most likely they will not be surprises. Being prepared for the next major hurricane, the next mass shooting, or other disasters should be top priorities. Our newly elected state officials should get right to work to serve all Floridians and not just the special interests groups and lobbyists. They should pass a Medicaid expansion, renewable energy incentives, gun control legislation, and raise the minimum wage. They shouldn’t waste the year being partisan and working on the next election, but spend 2019 doing the real work they were elected to do.
Gun reform
Michael Slaymaker,
Central Florida could experience another mass shooting. What? You think we are immune because we already had one? In February 2018, over 10,000 people stood in front of the Capitol and shouted for gun reform. Over 80 percent of the public are in favor of banning automatic guns and magazines. But the stranglehold of the NRA on our lawmakers and a legislature that refuses to hear the cries of their citizenry will lead us to only one logical outcome — more bloodshed. We can’t change our state constitution and override these politicians until 2020.
Help for homeless
David D. Swanson,
One of the most pressing issues facing Central Florida in 2019 will be funding the “housing first” system of care for the chronically homeless. We successfully built the system, housing over 700 people while effectively ending chronic veterans homelessness. However, the work is not done. Once housed, our community bears the cost of support services that keep those 700 successfully housed plus housing the next 500. It is not sustainable to do this with private dollars as is currently being done. Our jurisdictional partners must unite around a plan for public dollars that will not only fund the system, but grow it as will be needed in years to come.