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Interdependence, engagement, and the trail to revitalization: Why your involvement matters in District 2
Community and economic success start with personal engagement—at work, in neighborhoods, and on our trails. Join us May 31st for the West Orange Trail Bridge Grand Reopening and help make District 2 a place where people want to live, work, and thrive.
Downtown Apopka.
Downtown Apopka at a Crossroads: Will CRA funds spark a comeback - or be killed in Tallahassee?
Winter Garden and Apopka both began their CRAs in the early 1990s. The Winter Garden CRA created an explicit plan and measurable deliverables. Apopka’s CRA documents were just aspirational.
Fear and Resistance: Apopka immigrant communities navigate rising ICE activity, harsh laws, and economic fallout
With recent changes to federal and state laws, there has been a growth of hostility towards immigrants in the community, as well as concerning ICE raids used to enforce new rules.
Dilapidated buildings in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit was an early adopter of the Suburban Experiment, and it’s reached the financial collapse stage earlier than other cities as well.
Are cities passively defaulting on their debts by not investing in the community?
Every mile of road, every pipe in the ground, every pump or sewer or sidewalk—these are all promises. They’re not just infrastructure. They’re obligations. Residents pay their taxes with the reasonable expectation that the city will maintain all the infrastructure it has built.
With infrastructure not meeting the community's needs, it's time for a moratorium on development in Apopka
Olsen: "The infrastructure cost required to support development should fall to the property owner and developer. The power, water, sewer, roadways, sidewalks, schools, and parks to support the new development should not fall on current Taxpayers."
FWC confirms plans for bear "trophy hunt"
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials confirmed their intent to move forward with a controversial trophy bear hunt in December 2025—despite admitting that Florida’s black bear population has not increased since 2015.
Apopka City Hall
Developing Story: Nelson issues statement on Smith's termination
Although the agenda item to review former city administrator Jacob Smith's contract was never voted on, it did allow Mayor Bryan Nelson an opportunity to read from a prepared statement that seemed to defy the laws of time.
Apopka says goodbye to honesty, candor, and bravery and hello to the 2026 mayoral election
Jacob Smith was unceremoniously relieved of his duties as city administrator by Mayor Bryan Nelson with less thought than a baseball coach taking out a pitcher in the middle of an inning.
The Ellaville Tract of the Twin Rivers State Forest holds hundreds of gopher tortoise burrows like this one, along with white tail deer and other wildlife.
Peanut farmer wants Florida water agency to swap forest land
The Suwannee River Water Management District owns some land called the Ellaville Tract, part of Twin Rivers State Forest. Now, there’s a proposed deal to hand over that land to a Georgia peanut farming company. Nearly 700 acres of prime sandhill habitat would be given away. 
Jacob Smith: In his own words
Former Apopka City Administrator Jacob Smith responded to Mayor Bryan Nelson's allegations in the below OP/ED after The Apopka Voice sent several questions to Smith about his termination.
Apopka City Hall
Charter Review Workshop may be the last opportunity to be heard on proposed amendments
Apopka City Council is not expected to vote on the six amendment proposals but to give direction to City Attorney Cliff Shepard on what they want to see in the draft ordinance on first reading to decide which questions to submit to the voters.
Floridians began early voting in most Florida counties on Oct. 21, 2024. The Florida Capitol stands in the background of an early voting sign at the Leon County Courthouse.
Vote suppression doesn’t happen by accident — it’s part of a plan
Voter suppression, subversion, and disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and radical redistricting, are tools long used to subvert the will of the people — particularly African Americans — from their constitutional right to vote.
The end of suburban sprawl
“The Economics of Development in Florida” lays out the premise that tighter-knit communities produce much more value per acre. Why? They pack more people into less space.