By Rod Olsen
Rod Olsen is a former HOA President of Rock Springs Ridge and an Apopka resident who often contributes his opinions at the Apopka City Council meetings during the public comments section and in frequent op/eds to The Apopka Voice. He spoke these words of caution to the Council at its May 1st meeting on a number of subjects, all leading to one solution—infrastructure and staffing.
City of Apopka’s Unsung Heros – our School Crossing Guards. The importance of these positions in providing safe passage for our Children cannot be over-emphasized. The relationships they have established with the Children and their Parents are inspiring. I had the honor of filling in 13 times in April. Children and Parents inquiring as to the absence of “our School Crossing Guard” speaks volumes as to these outstanding public servants' positive impact.
As many as 1 in 3 Parents dropping off or picking up their Children are talking on the phone held in their hand. By law, drivers must be hands-free in school and construction zones.
If a vehicle is parked across a pedestrian crossing lane, we, as adults, simply walk around the vehicle. As a School Crossing Guard, we cannot allow children to cross even with a partially blocked pedestrian crossing lane because it is not safe.
When the School Zone lights are flashing, the speed limit is 15 or 20 MPH, depending on the school in Apopka. Some vehicles are going over 40 in these School Zones.
How ironic that, on my walk through the Northwest Recreational Complex (“NWRC”) earlier this week, I saw a US Infrastructure Company truck in the parking lot.
When you consider the following clearly demonstrates that the City of Apopka currently does not have in place the required Planning, Staff, and Infrastructure to effectively look out for our taxpayers’ best interests:
• The poor condition of the current NWRC multi-purpose fields, the increased usage, and the lack of Staff to take care of the fields properly. When the NWRC opened in 2006 we had 16 multi-purpose fields and 38,000 Residents. Now, in 2024, we still have 16 fields and 58,000 Residents. The current planned schedule of 2 new fields per year over the next 3 years is like putting a band-aid on an arterial bleed. To properly rest and maintain these fields, we need 10 multi-purpose fields NOW!
• The poor condition of our streets that now have potholes in potholes and the need for sidewalk repair and mold removal – look at Vick Road as an example - are safety hazards.
• Our traffic islands “enjoy” weeds and poor overall condition.
• The neighborhood flooding experienced this past year.
• Apopka had to request an extension of our CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) from Orange County for our failure to spend the money given to us.
• Apopka’s failure to spend the budgeted money to help address our Homeless population.
• With 1,200 new homes coming in along Golden Gem Road, a glorified cart path with a center line, with no current remediation plans.
• We are now under reusable water restrictions. New homes are being finished daily, laying fresh sod, and our current need for water to maintain our current lawns.
• Kelly Park K-8 school, in all likelihood, will have portables on campus as early as this fall
• Thank you, Mayor, for vacating your seat at the Amphitheater last Saturday’s Jazz concert to address 2 vehicles driving on the walking paths around the Amphitheater. With adequate signage and staffing the potential danger to pedestrians would have been averted without the Mayor’s intervention.
I attended Orange County’s Vision 2050 presentation at Zellwood Elementary on Monday, April 29, 2024. No representative from the City Council was present. Orange County anticipates an additional 500,000 new Orange County Residents by 2050. How many will be in Apopka? What are Apopka’s 2025, 2026, 2027……, and 2050 expectations and plans for this growth?
What is Apopka’s 2050 Vision?
If you wish to see what development will look like around your home based on Orange County Vision 2050, simply go to www.OCFL.net/OrangeCode and enter your address.
We look to our Mayor and Commissioners to look out for us, to plan, protect and serve us today and into the future.
Our City’s leadership keeps rubber-stamping new development and continues to operate within the common theme of:
• If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got (the definition of insanity by doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome) and
• Failure to plan is planning to fail.
For success, we must have a plan with long—and short-term measurable goals and support this plan with the right people and the right tools.
We expect and deserve better from our elected officials.
