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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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 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. 

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 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.

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 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.