Plus -- When  is  aggressive,  aggressive?

        Let’s take the July 22, 2002 City of Winter Springs Commission meeting for instance.   At this meeting the City Commission agrees to settle an $186,000 lien for code enforcement fines against a property owner.   PLEASE -- somebody take it !   It was an evening of citizen bashing by commissioner Blake along with threats, and finally the BIG BRIBE !

        Upon Commissioner Michael Blake’s suggestion, the Commission agreed to accept $10,000 from the owner to be paid from January 2003 to June 2004.    Wait there is more!   You haven't read anything yet.   The Commission shenanigans now begin!

        Here it is the catch to Blake’s devilish plan.    In return for the Commission forgiving the other $176,000 of the fine, the same owner must voluntarily annex his neighboring parcel into Winter Springs.    This owner’s other parcel just so happens to be in unincorporated Seminole County, and is in the vicinity of the town center.    Darn, we forgot, Winter Springs Downtown --- known by visitors as "Tiny Town". .

        Now would you call that move by Blake aggressive, assertive, or passive annexation?    Well, some city taxpayers would call it illegal.     How many taxpayers in Winter Springs have ever had the opportunity to cut a deal to forgive a code enforcement lien for fines resulting from parking a commercial vehicle, not mowing the yard, having an exposed dumpster, not conforming to the city’s code for monument signs, having open storage on an industrial lot, cutting down a tree, or putting on a roof without a city permit?

        We haven’t heard many taxpayers saying the City Commission cut them any deals for their fines.    Poor saps, they must not have any land to annex into the City of Winter Springs.    This leads one to wonder about Bush’s statement about the city not being aggressive with annexations.    This from the man who pushes empty shopping carts around the town center looking for a Orlando Sentinel photo opt.

See the Mayor [ Shopping ]      or      The Mayor's Favorite [ Fast Food ] Stop.

        Come on Mayor, ditch the façade, and take off the dark shades.    For once look the taxpayers in the eye and tell them the truth.    Winter Springs is aggressive and unscrupulous when it comes to annexations, but worse than that is the heightened zoning it provides those owners who wish to annex.

        How many Black Hammock property owners in unincorporated Seminole County have received zoning and impact fee promises under the table from the City of Winter Springs to annex their properties into Winter Springs?    The public will never know because City Manager Ronald McLemore will make sure that information is never part of the public record, and the City of Commission seals it with a kiss. 

        How many sweet zoning deals, and impact fee deals for properties abutting Orange Avenue have been made behind the scenes in McLemore’s office prior to annexation?    The public will never know because the public is forbidden from seeing public documents relating to any town center development, because McLemore has made town center files off limits…all with the City Commission’s blessing.

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