100 Central Florida
Our panel of 100 influential leaders discusses the most important issues affecting you.
TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK
SAVING GRACE, John L. Evans Jr., organizational behavior scholar; DeSantis appointee: Researchers at Harvard released a study not long ago showing that “death by despair,” from drugs, alcohol and suicide, reduced by 33% among men and an astounding 68% among women, for those who regularly attended church services. This is an eye-popping stat, especially given our society’s dark plight with fentanyl. Get your loved ones to church or synagogue, y’all; only the future of our robust society depends on it.
TAMPA NEO-NAZI PROTEST, Ben Friedman, attorney and community advocate: On July 22, Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the crowd at a major conservative youth summit in Florida, where he was exalted by the rightwing attendees. The conservative students weren’t the only ones excited to see him, though. DeSantis was also warmly greeted by a horde of proud Nazis — swastikas and all — parading around outside the building. Make no mistake, these Nazis were not there to protest DeSantis, they were there to show support for his agenda. In a state with over 600,000 Jewish people, why won’t our governor condemn these Nazis? Simple: in politics, you don’t upset your base in an election year.
SPLASH PAD DEBUT, Viviana Janer, vice chairwoman, Osceola County Commission: The summer heat has been one for the record books. As a county commissioner, I’m very pleased that Osceola County opened its first splash pad, providing families a muchneeded place to keep cool while having fun! Located in Buenaventura Lakes, El Yunque Splash Pad has much to offer kids of all ages, taking inspiration from its namesake — the only rainforest in the U.S. national forest system. It’s a free, fun way to cool off as these hot days continue, and I look forward to seeing families out splashing and cheering with delight every time the dump bucket flips!
RENT-INCREASE NOTICES, Muhammad Musri, president, Islamic Society of Central Florida: As home prices skyrocketed, rents followed, and many people were priced out of both. Landlords have been raising rents sharply and pushing tenants out of apartments where they lived for years. On Tuesday, Orange County commissioners approved a new ordinance requiring landlords to give a 60-day written notice ahead of a rent increase of more than 5%. That is not going to stop apartment complexes owned by out-of-state big corporations from sharply raising rents. What is needed from the county is a temporary cap on increases on existing rentals, funding for more new affordable housing, and approving new developments faster.
MORE OMA QUESTIONS, Jim Philips, retired longtime radio talk-show host: Don’t even think that the paint is dry on this story. The Orlando Museum of Art gave director Aaron De Groft his walking papers shortly after OMA opened a display of “questionable”
paintings by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat. The feds are investigating (since 2013) the paintings’ authenticity. De Groft claims they are not fake. Now comes word from ArtNews.com that there are questions about a Jackson Pollock painting that had been scheduled for a showing at OMA and then canceled. Why? Who knows. The FBI, De Groft and OMA are not talking. How will OMA recover from this controversy? Ralph Waldo Emerson said that “every artist was first an amateur.” It’s time for OMA to admit it was not ready for the pros.
RENT STABILIZATION, Sheena Rolle, senior director of strategy, Florida Rising: In the midst of hardship, it’s OK to celebrate small victories along the way. Orange County renters flooded the commission’s meeting Tuesday as they shared gut-wrenching stories of their rental experience and skyrocketing costs of rent from their landlords. After 10 hours of discussion, renters were granted a 4-3 vote to pass the rent stabilization ordinance to the ballot in November. This advancement in affordable housing within Central Florida has made history as being the first municipality to pass an ordinance of its kind. This win is the result of grassroots organizing. We celebrate the work of the people.
PRISON TORTURE, Carol Wick, CEO, Sharity: In a class-action lawsuit, female inmates in an Indiana jail allege that corrections officers took bribes from male inmates in return for keys to their cells. The men raped 28 women. Closer to home, the Justice Department found that conditions at Lowell prison “violate the Constitution.” This reads like a horror story, including graphic detail of rapes by male guards. Being sent to prison should not include torture.
FIGHTING INFLATION, Michael Zais, political blogger for thedrunkenrepublican.com: There are certainly varying opinions regarding Gov. DeSantis’ plan to use some federal COVID relief funding to send checks to help needy Florida families ravaged by inflation. We should all agree, however, that inflation was primarily caused by bad government policy — trillions in inflationary overspending, and a war on domestic fossil fuel production that spiked energy prices. When Joe Biden took office, inflation was 1.4%. About a year later, it was 7.5% and climbing — before Vladimir Putin brutally attacked Ukraine. The effects of Putin’s actions in Ukraine on inflation are negligible at best — despite the fiction being peddled by the Biden administration to the contrary.