Beginning of the End

With a new year comes the hope of something better ahead for those of us in Osceola County. This of course depends on one's perspective of what is right or wrong with our community, and on which side of the political spectrum one sits. If one were on the side of special interest developers then one would feel they found a safe haven in one of the last areas that believes housing growth is the answer to all our problems. If one were on the side that believes being a government official automatically means you have special rights to hand out favors and tax money to contributors or those who might want to hire you after your time as an elected official, it may have felt more like the beginning of the end. For those who believe that government can be good if it is properly watched and attended to, you probably felt like nothing, at all, had changed.

Last year during the New Year's holiday, the WayneWho staff put together a list of predictions for the coming year of 2008. This year will only offer one prediction. 2009 will be much harder than 2008 for many people. For those who were hit hard in 2008, 2009 may not offer anything worse, but it probably won't feel much better. This will be a tough year for everyone, especially governments.

This is why the WayneWho staff will not bring forward any other predictions because everything will depend on the actions taken by local governments as to how well our community will rebound. While much of the rebound will come from influences outside of the control or our local officials, local conditions will determine how well our community responds. Except for the school board, there is a sense inside local governments that a tide has shifted and open and transparent government is finally taking shape and that the needs of the citizens are starting to be addressed. We have noticed that while some of the ideas that are being brought forth (like security taxes) sound crazy at first, government has done a good job of narrowing down to a plausible solution. If this pattern continues, then 2009 may have a completely different outcome than 2008.

Another important tool to make sure 2009 is better than 2008 is the media. This past year has been a sad one for honest local coverage. The WayneWho staff firmly believes that the Osceola News Gazette and the Orlando Sentinel are important vehicles for getting our community to a better destination, but not with the same press release-ism reporting we have witnessed over the past year. Tame reporting making sure not to bite the hand that feeds you is not a good tenet of democracy. A free press is critical and in great demand. We believe it is great to do positive pieces on government, but to gloss over corruption issues because the TDC might not advertise with you anymore does not smell of journalistic integrity. This community needs you to do your jobs. Investigate and report.

While we see some positive signs in our local community, we see many other things that we believe are cause for concern. While we believe 2009 is going to be tough for everyone, we also see it as a year that can stand out as one of the best our community has every seen. This could be a year written about for generations because government, and the community around it, made the right moves. While we hope that this year is the beginning of the end for the doing things the wrong way in Osceola county, we would caution our readers that now is not the time to sit back and relax or we could face a beginning that none of us would like to see.