County in Crisis

We were very happy to see 10-year County Commissioner Ken Smith admit to the fact that Osceola County is a community in crisis. This admission came in an article in the Osceola County New Gazette on April 7th, which was the fourth part of a series of candidate profiles for the upcoming elections on April 24th. In the article Smith admitted that, "We've got a crisis on our hands." We believe that Mr. Smith has shown a great deal of courage in finally admitting to what many of our residents have known for some time. We believe that this admission is what should secure his re-election bid over his opponent who has only pointed to the problems that our county faces. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting that you have a problem, and that is what Mr. Smith has done by speaking the truth about the state of our community.

Other issues that he admits are problems for our community are rising juvenile crime, a steady stream of expulsions for misbehaving students, low graduation rates, traffic, and the need to revitalize our educational system. As he said in the article, "I wish we (county commissioners) had tried to figure out a better way of doing this earlier." Of course Mr. Smith was quick to blame the residents for not wanting to raise taxes to help pay for the needed roads that the county has to struggle to keep up with, but we realize that telling the truth and providing straight talk to residents is a 12 step process that 10-year politicians must confront gradually.

Candidate Smith has also offered solutions to some of the problems that we now face. First, to control growth, he wants to oversee more growth in the way of the six Developments of REGIONAL IMPACT better known as DRI's. As far as the traffic problems that have become so much worse during his time on the Commission, nothing. He believes that "we have solutions on the table now." Another solution, to the crisis we face with the children of our community, is spending more money on developing the umbrella corporation to coordinate the county's failing efforts with various children and youth programs.

Umbrella Corporation?? That sounds like the best plan we have heard yet. It worked great in a community called Raccoon City, so it should work great here. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your courage and dedication to your vision of our community.