Gwen Graham hits rooftops in Orange County ‘workday’
The second day of Gwen Graham’s campaign for Florida governor found her on a roof outside Avalon Park, installing solar panels and holding a housetop news conference.
Wednesday’s event was another of the “workdays” made famous by Graham’s father, former Florida Gov. Bob Graham, and carried on by his daughter as a congresswoman and now as a 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
“We need Florida to be the solar capital of the world,” Graham said. “We need to be encouraging the use of reusable energy resources. And we are the Sunshine State, as we stand here on a roof in the sunlight.”
Graham kicked off her campaign Tuesday in Coral City Senior High School in Miami — where her father held his first workday in 1974 — teaching classes and working in the cafeteria.
She began Wednesday in Orlando, where solar panels were installed on the city’s Fleet Management building downtown, before heading to Ruben Garcia’s home on Guy Road.
Garcia is a member of the Orange County Solar Co-op, in which members pool resources to be able to buy panels.
“I’m just recording everything,” Garcia joked when asked about his reaction. “Everybody’s on my roof!”
Morgan Brawner of ESA Renewables, the company installing the panels, said the once-formidable cost has dropped significantly over the years due to programs like the co-op, which saves money by buying in bulk.
The cost of installing panels is below $2 per watt for its co-op customers, Brawner said, with 6,000 to 9,000 watts being the average size for homeowners in Florida.
Graham said laws that prevent third-party owners of solar panels, which are then leased to homeowners, hold Florida back when it comes to competing with many other states that allow such a policy.
“It makes it more challenging for people to take advantage of solar energy,” she said.
Expanding on the environmental theme, Graham also had some criticisms of a plan approved by the Legislature that would create a $1.5 billion reservoir in an attempt to halt the toxic sludge emanating from Lake Okeechobee.
The plan “is a good start, but it’s a very small start,” she said. “It prohibits eminent domain, and we don’t want to be limited in the state of Florida in terms of what we need to do for our environment. Clearly, the last six years have been the worst in Florida’s history in those terms.”
Graham is the latest big name on the Democratic side to officially enter the race, following Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and Winter Park businessman Chris King. State Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam filed to run on the Republican side on Monday.
Orlando attorney John Morgan, who is considering a run, said Tuesday he was in no hurry to make a decision.