Economic Diversification

Jane Healy of the Orlando Sentinel recently wrote an editorial asking where the big, bold ideas are from our candidates in the upcoming Mayoral election on November 2.   I completely acknowledge that the media is not covering our County Commission race because there are much bigger races overshadowing ours this year.  However, once again, I submitted a response to Healy’s editorial and received no response.  I thought I would post this online for your review.

Thompson’s Response to Healy’s September 12 Editorial.

Bravo, Ms. Healy, for rightly stating in last Sunday’s Feet To The Fire column that big, bold ideas are needed to move Orange County forward.  Our burgeoning “health care footprint” in Medical City is indeed what we need to nurture and protect. Its success or failure will determine what Orlando and Central Florida will look like in ten, twenty years. But leadership on this issue need not be solely relegated to the candidates for Mayor; arguably the next District 4 County Commissioner will be in the driver’s seat as we travel down Innovation Way.
Back in 2003, I co-led and co-wrote the visioning document that was used in part for crafting the Innovation Way vision. Long-term planning is just that: setting goals and carrying them forward over ten, twenty, thirty years, despite how heavy the load may become.

Innovation Way hasn’t stopped solely because of the real estate market, it’s also halted because Orange County no longer acts like it’s a priority. That’s ok… because if we don’t get our act together, Osceola County is happy to capitalize on creating an “Innovation Economy” and taking advantage of Orange County’s investment in Burnham, the VA Hospital and the UCF Med School as they recently did in unanimously passing changes to their comprehensive plan for the lands on the back side of the Medical City. Good for Osceola! But Orange needs to get back on track now before our road map to successful economic diversification is snapped up by our neighbors.

You call for big ideas? How about an Enterprise Zone for this area (let’s work with the State and our regional partners)? How about an ‘Innovation Fund’ to help middle stage companies willing to expand? How about a core focus for making East Central Florida the worldwide hub for medical modeling and simulation companies – take what we did with Research Park (a $10 Billion statewide industry) and do it again with medical modeling?  How about true strategic, private/public partnerships (like medical modeling, NASA partnerships, etc…) designed for creating new industries and taking Central Florida into the next century?

These are the kinds of things my colleagues and I are working towards in District 4, where Innovation Way sits smack dab in the center of our community and our future.  As you’re looking for leadership, just adjust your gaze a bit to the east and you’ll find it.