The Pine Hills Community Council is wrong for Pine Hills.
The Pine Hills Community Council has long outlived its usefulness and can point to nothing it has achieved on behalf of the residents of Pine Hills. Its flaccid and impotent leadership has served as a deterrent to community involvement. It behaves as a filter and screen discouraging the participation of Pine Hills residents who want the best for their community.
The recent veto of the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League Senior Housing project was met with glee and celebration by the Pine Hills Community Council. Their concerns and apprehensions were just a smokescreen,disguising their real contempt for this community, its multicultural residents and those that seek to get things done without their tacit approval.
What were their concerns? The departure of the concept from their current vision for the area. What vision is that? A user friendly, urban village? Who came up with that? When did the Pine Hills Community Council ever share ‘their’ vision with the community?
Their anemic concerns that the senior housing project did not provide for security, off-street parking, and lack of signalized access to Silver Star Road are just a smokescreen covering up their fear that the Metropolitan Orlando Urban League really had something to offer.
Since when was the Pine Hills Community Council concerned about street lights on Belco Drive or any other side street in Pine Hills? Is this their real reason for opposing a senior housing project that is badly needed?
To her credit, District 6 Commissioner Tiffany Moore did support the project, a sign that she is in touch with the community and its needs. Shes to commended for not succumbing to the feeble, wishy-washy excuses given by the other Commissioners.
It is interesting to note that the reasons given by those who voted no were in response to community concerns. Apparently, Fred Brummer and the other Commissioners who voted against the project were not impacted by community concerns when they voted in favor of big box stores, siding against what the citizens task force advised.
Who in their right minds would associate a housing project for seniors with economic development and jobs? It is a simple issue: Is there enough affordable senior housing available in Pine Hills or Orange County in general?
If the Pine Hills Community Council were really concerned about the future of Pine Hills, its senior citizens and others, they would have worked closely with the Urban League and Lance McCarthy towards getting it done.
This project was well thought out and although it needed some adjustments, it did not warrant the dismissal it received as if it were going to be some kind of radioactive waste facility.
The concern that a housing project for senior citizens goes against revitalization or commercial/retail projects that create jobs is hogwash. The real problem was that it was the Urban League.
The Pine Hills Community Council has long outlived its usefulness and can point to nothing it has achieved on behalf of the residents of Pine Hills. Its flaccid and impotent leadership has served as a deterrent to community involvement. It behaves as a filter and screen discouraging the participation of Pine Hills residents who want the best for their community.
Other than serving as errand boys for the County Commissioners, what have they done for Pine Hills lately, besides take up valuable meeting space in the Pine Hills Community Center of Jennings?
Where was the Pine Hills Community Council last Christmas, when not one holiday decoration was deployed in Pine Hills? Where is the Pine Hills Community Council when it comes to beautification of the community that they claim they love and support.
The PHCC should concern itself with public safety issues, such as reducing the speed limit on Pine Hills Road, better zoning enforcement, perhaps even beautification issues on our main thoroughfares like Colonial Drive and Silver Star Road.
Perhaps they should take a walk around the community and take a look at some of the eyesores that are glaring examples of their failed leadership. Talk to the residents, get a sense of the folks in the community before taking sides against a much needed project.
The residents of Pine Hills should finally see the PHCC for what it really is: inept, incapable and misinformed.
The appalling eyesore at the intersection of Pine Hills Road and Silver Star which once operated as a gas station is an outrage and insult to the senses. The gateway to Pine Hills is a filthy, dirty testament to their leadership. Where is their strategic vision concerning that?
