Mayors finally will meet in-person to discuss Citrus Bowl & toxic relationship

In an almost unexpected (but we knew it would have to happen) kind of way, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer will actually meet in-person! This is big news considering the county and city mayors have not spoken face-to-face in nearly 16-months. The meeting on the Citrus Bowl will be June 6th at 9am AND will be public based on what Mayor Jacobs has insisted previously. I would like to be there and will update information on the meeting details as I get them.

This was an issue on the campaign trail often, however, I agree with Mayor Jacobs. The Citrus Bowl renovations need to be a private-public partnership where the business interests who benefit greatly from it are helping with the expenses and upkeep.  For the price tag needed, we simply cannot afford it after the other venues projects and there are greater concerns in our community that must be addressed first.  It’s not the Citrus Bowl’s fault our city leaders have run the credit card to the limit but it’s not the County’s job, nor a good use of our tourist tax dollars, to overextend once again. And what for, at the end of the day a bulk of the project is for luxury boxes and improvements most residents of Orlando will not experience.

Mayor Dyer is asking (begging?) for around $175 million more dollars for renovations that are long overdue to the Citrus Bowl. The only problem is that the City of Orlando has no credit. Well, that’s not the only problem, that’s just our first problem. Mayor Jacobs wants to spend tourist tax revenue on upgrading the Convention Center, by far the region’s largest economic engine.

Other problems include the fact that Orlando under Dyer couldn’t control budgets and community outreach/PR on the spending projects of the Amway Center (which ended near $500 million) and the struggling new Performing Arts Center. The Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center is barely getting off the ground and that won’t include Phase 2, the local portion of the deal. Before they could start construction, Dyer needed private investors to jump in and save face ahead of his re-election – just take a look at some of those “investors” and you can play a fun matching game with Dyer’s campaign contributors. So at the end of the day, Dyer needs the County so he has more money to play with – and he needs that money to secure his venues legacy before Buddy runs for Governor. Don’t even get me started on Creative Village on top of all the rest – that’s going to be a series of posts in the future.

And so our little local meeting of Mayors is set to take place. The battle lines have already been drawn and quite frankly, once again Mayor Jacobs carries the better hand but is willing to move to get things between the County and City back on some sort of track.

But now enter Bill Segal, the man who lost to Jacobs and my former boss for a few months until I chose to leave the campaign and vote for Mayor Jacobs (see transparency side note below*), who has decided he would like to chime in. The only thing “poisoned” is the financial situation of the City Beautiful because of the fact Orlando has no credit and is over-extended on spending projects pushed by Dyer. Segal says “all that’s needed is leadership” and that they need a “meeting in private” – maybe Segal thinks Dyer and he should invite Mayor Jacobs to one of their men-only “No Name” parties to discuss business?

If Bill Segal is Buddy Dyer’s best champion right now, that’s not a good sign for Buddy in the power struggle going on between Orange County and the City of Orlando. I urge Mayor Jacobs to focus on the taxpayers and residents and continue to lead in reforming the broken system around her.

Why won’t Bill Segal and Mayor Dyer provide us some real numbers and some real accountability? How come we still don’t know a complete breakdown of where All-Star money really went in our city and which businesses really benefitted (and which areas of town or business sectors did not)? When will we stop saying “just give us more money and the return will be greater?”  And why does everything have to be done behind-closed-doors and in private – especially when the characters asking for that have shady pasts and are known for their sweetheart deals??

Orlando’s not the good ol boy town that it used to be. Stay strong in these talks Mayor Jacobs, reach out and work with the City of Orlando, but keep your focus on the real people of our community as you have done. My money is on Mayor Jacobs.

* Transparency side note: I’m a fan of Mayor Jacobs so far and to be fair, I did enjoy getting to know Bill Segal personally, he’s a good guy with a good heart. His wife Sara is even better and I almost wish she was the one in politics – but that’s probably what makes her so amazing. However, I could not support Bill’s senior staff & consultants nor his political decisions and lack of genuineness for the office he was seeking and that’s why I ultimately left his campaign and voted with my heart and my brain in the County Mayor’s race.