Destiny's Wrath

The people say it's stupid. The State of Florida says it is a mistake. Even our housing happy County Commissioners wince with pain when they have to talk about anything other than the few jobs the Destiny housing project might bring in. Not even the lure of fanciful water taxis transporting the spoiled upper class to the 'Green' retail outlet of their choice seems to be building much support in the community. But that has not stopped the 'clean-slate' city of Destiny developers from trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Osceola County residents. It seems that the community that our County Commission, Economic Development clique, and the developers of Destiny itself wanted to write-off in favor of their new city, is now important to them. You can see the name Destiny slapped on all kinds of event sponsorships in an attempt to lull our community into a more favorable opinion of the idea of destroying more of natural Florida to make way for more homes. We guess like any good developer, they just can not take 'no' for an answer.

We assume it is in the spirit of Destiny trying to re-write its own destiny that the President and CEO of the oxymoronic Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC), Ray Gilleym, was brought in to educate us dumb country folk. In a letter to the Osceola News-Gazette he writes, "I am writing to voice my support for Destiny, the only proposed completely eco-sustainable community in Florida." It is too bad that Mr. Gilleym and his little group that has met with limited success in the Orlando area was not more focused on building sustainable communities instead of communities with pretend titles. While some of the principals of the clean-slate city as far as being greener are commendable, the community will be far from eco-sustainable all on its own. Its eco-sustainability is based on factors that will actually be more detrimental to the surrounding communities that will be forced into a supportive role. Maybe the Orlando EDC should focus its efforts of creating sustainable communities that are not riddled with foreclosures in their own back yard instead of trying to expand the level of ignorance across the border. Simply put Mr. Gilleym, adding 50,000 homes into a battered housing market would not help our local economy. Adding 50,000 homes means we need to add at least 80,000 jobs to support those who would be fooled into moving into this social experiment. What was the record of job creation last year for the Orlando EDC Mr. Gilleym? That's right, the job pool shrank. Maybe Mr. Gilleym should write a letter explaining his group's record to the Orlando taxpayers instead of trying to make things worse here in Osceola County.

To the Destiny housing developers: It does not matter what you sponsor or who writes letters for you. The proof will be in the jobs. You need to be able to prove that you can create 80,000 sustainable jobs. Green, not green, blue collar, or white collar jobs should be the focus. Until it is proven that 80,000 jobs can be created, any approvals on building more homes, let alone a new city should be 'No' votes. Our community can not afford more broken promises under the banner of Economic Development no matter who writes the letter.