Jacob Smith, the new Apopka City Administrator, didn't say much in his first budget workshop cycle, but what he did say cut to the core of the challenges facing the City Council.

Good luck to the People of Lockhart, Southern Apopka, Wekiwa Springs, and Clarcona-Ocoee in the upcoming Corridor of the Year competition.

Apopka is treading water. Its millage rate seems as permanent as the John Land statue in front of City Hall. It only looks to the future for inevitable things like a public safety center or wastewater treatment facilities, and its system almost guarantees this outcome.

As Florida law, HB 87 poses devastating consequences for our state. Built upon the bald-faced lie that Florida faces an epidemic of ‘crack bears’ that are ingesting illegal substances and destroying people’s homes.

After a contentious 62-minute discussion, the Apopka City Council did not have the appetite to even make a motion to rescind the 2023 censure of Mayor Bryan Nelson.

"I’ve learned a few things about cleaning up an entire community. I recently wrote a draft manual of the program and will have it available by fall for members of my Neighborhood Leader Program."

It shouldn’t have gotten this far. Yet it passed both the House and the Senate and, according to the House website, was “presented to governor on Friday, June 7, 2024, 2:57 PM.”

If we need more staff and the equipment, supplies, and materials to get the job done timely and appropriately, we look to you to ensure that we budget and staff for this.

"I believe the time has come for the City to take full control of its assets and properly utilize them by housing a department (in the Chamber building) that needs a larger office." OP/ED by Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez.

The Rice’s whale is the only one that lives entirely in the Gulf of Mexico. The species, discovered only recently, is definitely endangered. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 100 of them — maybe as few as 51.