Big Wheel

Sources close to someone that may have once worked in Osceola County have confirmed that because of the recent successful economic development projects with the joint efforts of the Economic Development Department and the Osceola County CVB, the two will again join forces for a new project code named "Wheel." WayneWho investigative reporters have learned that Project Wheel is really a large spinning wheel that should become the icon for Osceola County tourism and is an attempt by Osceola County government to stay competitive with surrounding counties. "Orange County is getting one of them," noted one tourism/economic development staffer. "Soon we will have our own expo center that will be much smaller and so it only makes sense for us to get our own big smaller ferris wheel thing."

When asked if any research had be done on how many visitors might be attracted into the area or how this might impact the local economy, Economic Visitor Development Bureau staffers responded that they had done the research, but that common citizens were not allowed to see it. They also noted that there was a slight possibility that a local dog may have eaten the research. Another source close to the staffer noted that the new mega-department was not concerned about the numbers or if the project was really successful at all because, "these local papers pretty much print whatever they give them, so they can say anything they want." This source also pointed to the trend of local media not only using press releases as articles, but then writing editorials defending the unchecked claims and data. The WayneWho staff checked the past several months of editorials to find a striking trend of wistful entries with no reference to supportive data or logical reasoning. A simple example of this can be seen from Saturday's editorial where the claims of a great boom in our local economy from a 100-lane bowling ally echoed passed the history of such endeavors. It seems the same claims were made about installing a freezing floor at Heritage Park and what a great boom for the economy that would be. Or for that matter, Heritage Park itself which has yet to operate out of deficit spending. All of these were touted as great and wonderful achievements based on research done from press releases that later turned out to be less than what was expected.

The WayneWho staff hopes that new top secret projects will receive more scrutiny from local journalists. We at least hope that the papers will all take the same advice they are giving to local candidates, that they should lose the rhetoric and provide real ideas and solutions. Or, at least, some research into the topics they write about.