The 2008 elections are complete, and we now have a clear vision of those who will be leading our community for the coming years. One of our staff researchers recently made their own step toward responsible spending by canceling their digital cable service, including the city government channel. So until the city starts making their meetings available by streaming internet video, we will be consulting our crystal ball on the recent future of the Kissimmee City Commission...
The recent Eck-Otero runoff, and their statements of vision for the city, make us flash back to the August election and the promises made by the other winning candidates, Mayor Jim Swan and Commissioner Jerry Gemskie. We honestly don’t remember Mayor Swan promising anything more than more of the same, so we’re looking forward to more stories about hard decisions made while on the County Commission, more blame towards Tallahassee for any funding issues the city faces, and the occasional shutdown of a citizen who wishes to speak at a public forum. As to Commissioner Gemskie, we suspect that his large issues of being All-American City and assuring that City Manager Mark Durbin is protected from ‘rogue’ future commissioners have come and gone. We expect more discussion about big future projects that may happen, like Lakefront Park development, and more folksy slogans about graffiti enforcement.
Commissioner Art Otero campaigned heavily on his business knowledge and how making Kissimmee Airport into Kissimmee International Airport will revitalize the city. We concur that the airport is a unique advantage for the city, but we think that Commissioner Otero is barking up the wrong tree by trying to make it an international airport. As a businessman, he should understand the folly of trying to create from scratch a service that is already offered by three competing local airports (Orlando, Orlando Executive, and Sanford), all airports that currently have excess capacity for passenger travel. Commissioner, our advantage for our airport lies in areas like aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance, freight, flight schools, and other uses that compete at passenger airports for space and landing rights. Those businesses create high-wage jobs, and those are niche businesses that are not competitive to passenger travel, which is already more than adequately represented in our area. In any case, while you spend the next few years chatting with Senator Martinez’s office, we hope you have some other rabbits in your hat for revitalizing our city’s business community.
We also look forward to the four male members of the commission squabbling over who will be the alpha male of the group. Look for there to be a battle on the dais in the coming weeks for the ceremonial “vice mayor” and “mayor pro tem” titles. We predict that within six months, two or more of the male commissioners will engage in a shoving or slapping match which will need to be broken up by the KPD security detail. Perhaps it will become a bench-clearing brawl, with all of the male commissioners taking sides while Commissioner Grieb, who had been standing by waiting to give a staff report on downtown Kissimmee historical preservation, dials 911 on her cell phone. If we’re really lucky, Telemundo will be there to record the entire event so that it can be posted on YouTube.
Finally, we know that some of the familiar campaign faces are already gearing up for their 2010 “let’s do it again” run for office, and we’d like to point out the campaign strategies that have run their course locally:
Strategy #1: “I’m Hispanic. I’m Republican. Elect me.” Utilized well by Commissioner Irizarry and Commissioner Otero, it failed miserably for J.P. Quinones. Why? Darren Soto is also Hispanic, and is experienced. We predict that 2010 will bring a Hispanic-on-Hispanic commission race (Irizarry vs. ???) and the strategies and results will be interesting.
Strategy #2: “I’m retired. I’m nice. I’ll be a full-time commissioner. Elect me.” It barely worked for Jerry Gemskie this time, and he was an incumbent (and was lucky in only having one opponent). It didn’t work for Gail Eck. Unless the City Commission has completely turned the city around in time for the 2010 election, running on a campaign of “everything is great here, let’s do more of the same” isn’t going to fly.
In the meantime, be safe and look out for yourselves. Enjoy the cheap gas.
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8 comments:
The Republican Party will field Maria Silva Jackow against Carlos Irizarry. There has already been talk about this. It should be a good race and will further split the Republican party if it can survive until then. George Jackow put up the worst numbers since Greg Livingston and Jeanne Van Meter, but at least Greg and Jeanne grew the party and moved it in the right direction. George is destroying the party.
But I thought the Republican/Fascist party under Jackow would not run one Republican against another? Oh wait, it's Jackow's wife so that makes a difference. Another party split vote. Bet the Demo's run someone strong. They will have Harford to back them up.
Jackow is just another brown shirt. He has completely wrecked the local Republican Party.
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you read Otero's comments about the airport in the Gazette today? He's gonna be another bull in the china shop. Just can't wait until he and Irizarry start demanding their own offices in City Hall again.
Kissimmee residents, better learn to be self sufficient. The majority of the commissioners are going to be spending their time telling everyone how right they are.
To quote a famous puppet: "Oh my god"
Interesting comment about each commish having their own office. That is how it is "supposed" to be done under the Sunshine law. Why in Kissimmee is it not done? Ask Mark Durbin and Don Smallwood. If this matter ever came up seriously in court or ethics committee, Kissimmee would lose and pay a fine as well as restructure City Hall to accomodate it. I told you so almost 4 years ago. But Van Fountain and All America city Gemskie would rather spend taxpayer monies on other things.
Otero and Irizarry should have their own offices. Their heads are too big to share the same office.
Funny how the Gazette did the investigative story on this after the election. Since the airport is pretty much Otero's only economic / employment plan, I wonder how the election outcome might have changed if the article had run the week before the election.
It would not have made any difference. Nobody reads the gazette any more. They did not even bother to endorse candidates in this election. They are just an advertising circular that reports a few fluff articles when it doesn't sell the advertising space.
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