Published

From the Commissioner’s Desk

Apr 25th, 2011

Commissioner’s Corner- Pine Castle

Clean-Up Pine Castle

When we walk or drive down our neighborhood streets, I think we can all agree we want them to be clean, we want to take pride in where we live. To help out our fellow neighbors, I want to personally invite you to join me for a Community Clean-Up in Pine Castle on Saturday, May 21.

If you’re interested, volunteers should plan to meet at Oakridge High School at 8 a.m. and will be served a light breakfast and provided with T-shirts, gloves and all the goodies you’ll need to help us throughout the morning. At 11:45 a.m. we’ll come back together for a complimentary lunch. I hope you’ll join me in helping spruce up our community!

District 4 and 2012 Pioneer Days

I’m pleased to announce that one of our District 4 Aides, Susan Makowski, is now serving on the Pine Castle Pioneer Days Board where she’ll be helping plan the 2012 Pioneer Days! Susan helped plan this year’s event as well. The 2011 Pioneer Days was a great success and I want to thank everyone who put the event together and attended. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with residents and learning a bit more about this historic area of our county.

I look forward to seeing what Susan and the rest of the Pine Castle Historical Society Board have planned for next year’s Pioneer Days!

Small Business Luncheons

One of my main goals as your County Commissioner is to help small businesses get connected with local government and assist them with the resources already available to help further their success. This past month, I hosted the first in a series of small business luncheons to do just that. We had over a dozen business owners located near the South Orange Ave. corridor, including Mayor Bagshaw from the City of Edgewood. A delicious lunch was provided by Sonny’s BBQ on South Orange Blossom Trail and served as a finger-lickin’ good opportunity for the business owners to get to know one another (and for me to get to know what’s important to making their business successful).

Stopping Domestic Abuse

I recently spoke at an event for Harbor House of Central Florida, which is launching a Pine Castle initiative called Project Courage. Project Courage is a community engagement pilot project that involves saturating a neighborhood with knowledge, information, training, programs and events that will help eradicate domestic abuse from that community.

This project teaches individuals how to recognize what abuse is, respond to the abused and abuser, and where to refer the survivor and family members of abuse for help and guidance. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse please call 407-886-2856, or for more information about Project Courage please visit www.harborhousefl.com.

SunRail Community Meetings

Last month Orange County hosted a community meeting about the planning process for the proposed SunRail station at Sand Lake and Orange Avenue. If the Governor allows Sun Rail to move forward, local residents can expect another community meeting as the process moves forward. If you would like to be notified of these future meetings – which I highly recommend – please let our office know by emailing district4@ocfl.net.

Summer Camp Options

Apr 12th, 2011

by jennthompson.

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Hopefully all of us have our summer camp memories – mine are filled with cherished mementos attending summer camp at Cady Way Park in Winter Park. I remember sitting with all my new friends – sweaty with sunken eyes from playing so much, enjoying our boxed lunches and admiring our dirty shoes from our adventures in the fields. Oh, and the breaks the lifeguards made us take every hour. The high-dive at the pool seemed so intimidating back then that I couldn’t bear to dive head first and always decided to leap off the dive holding my nose with my legs together. In fact, I’d probably still dive that way today.

Summer camp was always a good option for my single-parent family because my mother worked and summer was hard when the kids were out of school. An organized summer program was relatively inexpensive for her and she knew that her kids were receiving quality care, good exercise and were even learning the occasion life lesson. Not to mention we were guaranteed to come home tired and ready for a good night’s sleep. Those were the innocent days of yesteryear and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Orange County has a program out there to help parents this year provide the same types of memories for their children called Camp Scooter.

Orange County Parks and Recreation Division will hold a registration March 28 – April 8 for lottery selection for this summer’s Camp Scooter program. Camp for grades K (must have completed kindergarten) through 5will be held at the following 10 Orange County Parks locations on weekdays from June 13 through August 12 (closed July 4) from 7:30am – 6pm:

Barnett Park, 407-836-6248, 4801 W. Colonial Dr., Orlando 32808
Bear Creek Rec Complex, 407-254-9040, 1600 Bear Crossing Dr., Orlando 32824
Bithlo Park, 407-568-4025, 18501 Washington Ave., Orlando 32820
Capehart Park, 407-254-9160, 715 Capehart Dr., Orlando 32822
Fort Gatlin Recreational Complex, 407-254-9820, 2009 Lake Margaret Dr., Orlando 32806
Goldenrod Recreation Center, 407-254-9025, 4863 N. Goldenrod Rd., Winter Park 32792
Meadow Woods Recreation Center, 407-254-9065, 1751 Rhode Island Woods Cir., Orlando 32824
Orlo Vista Park, 407-254-9050, 1 N. Powers Dr., Orlando 32835
Silver Star Recreation Center, 407-254-9250, 2801 N. Apopka-Vineland Rd., Orlando 32818
South Econ Recreation Center, 407-254-9070, 3800 S. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando 32829

Camp Registration Details

Registration for the lottery selection process will be held March 28 – April 8 as I mentioned previously. Lottery winners get first choice to reserve their weeks of camp. If selected, a parent/guardian must pay a non-refundable security deposit equal to the first and last weeks’ fee; if applying for one of the discounts, you must bring the School Board letter that indicates the student’s lunch program status or the family’s proof of qualification for food stamps.

Camp Cost

The following prices include one fieldtrip per week:

· $80/week per child

· $75/week per additional child

· $60/week for youth qualifying for Reduced Lunch program

· $50/week for youth qualifying for Free Lunch program

· $25/week for youth qualifying for Food Stamps

· $20/week additional cost for non-county resident

Parks and Rec

Orange County Parks and Recreation has 95 parks and trails, with five Orange County Orlando Magic Recreation Centers now open. For information on Parks’ programs for youth and adults, free dog parks, pavilion rentals, tent and RV camping and more, visit www.OrangeCountyParks.net. Fitness center memberships are available for $100/year for ages 18 – 54 and $75/year for ages 55+ at Barnett Park, Goldenrod Park, Meadow Woods Park, Silver Star Community Park, South Econ Community Park and West Orange Recreation Center; visit www.OrlandoMagicOCFLgyms.net or call (407)836-6200.

We are pleased to announce two new additions to our District 4 Team!

Mar 2nd, 2011

by jennthompson.

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Olga “Reggie” Caporale has joined our District 4 Team and will be handling Community Affairs. Reggie attended high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico, graduating from the Academia Perpetuo Socorro. She received her B.A. in Liberal Arts concentrating in Sociology from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Reggie spent 25 years in marketing and sales with Pamal Broadcasting in New York. She is a certified radio marketing consultant and has worked for two major tri-state, 50,000 watt stations, WHUD FM and WSPK FM. Reggie loves photography, traveling, and taking her three grandkids to SeaWorld!

Laura Roberts is our new student intern, studying Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. She is currently a member of the UCF Equestrian Team, the current number one team in the state of Florida. She has been riding horses since she was 10 years old. Laura grew up in East Orange County, attending Timber Creek High School. In her free time she enjoys tending her vegetable garden and has a cat named Wally.