Tourist-tax dollars deserve due diligence
Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax dollars represent an investment in the industry that supports our economy. Decisions about these funds deserve careful analysis, consistent standards, and a transparent process that earns public confidence.
The TDT Task Force process fell short of that responsibility. In our view, it was rushed and flawed, without an adequate evaluation framework to judge proposals fairly or fully measure their value to tourism.
When public dollars are at stake, a worthy idea alone is not enough. Every applicant should face the same requirements, the same scrutiny and the same clearly established scoring system. Changing expectations or considering proposals without comparable information undermines confidence in both the process and its recommendations.
Proper due diligence means examining construction costs, operating expenses, funding gaps, financial sustainability and realistic projections. It also means assessing how each investment will attract visitors, generate overnight stays, support local businesses and strengthen the tourism economy.
Projects should be evaluated against measurable tourism outcomes, rather than broad promises of community benefit. Those benefits may be worthwhile, but decision-makers must establish a clear connection between the proposed expenditure and the purpose of TDT funding.
County commissioners have a responsibility to independently examine the recommendations before committing funds. A task force recommendation should begin that scrutiny, not replace it. Unanswered questions require answers. Incomplete financial information requires further review.
Orange County must also consider existing commitments and the long-term needs of the tourism infrastructure that generates these revenues.
Taking additional time is responsible stewardship. The cost of a thorough review is small compared with the consequences of an expensive commitment based on incomplete information.
Our community deserves a process that is fair, disciplined and accountable. Before spending TDT dollars, Orange County must demonstrate that every proposed investment has received the scrutiny taxpayers and tourism stakeholders deserve.
— John Stine, Orlando
John Stine is the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce chairman of the board and an eight-year member of Orange County’s Tourist Development Council.
Orlando has inferiority complex
Every piece that Mike Bianchi writes about another city (“Yawn! Even a World Series run can’t wake up apathetic Tampa Bay Rays fans,” Oct. 16) reveals what I see as a deep civic truth that people in Orlando (including, perhaps, Bianchi himself) resent ever having to acknowledge. Orlando has spent decades nursing an enormous inferiority complex to the bigger, older, richer, and more historically relevant cities in Florida, the Southeast, and the East Coast. I believe Orlando has long viewed itself through the lens of what it doesn’t have — as in, the amenities, the status symbols and the markers of “big league” status that places like Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, etc. have that we don’t — as much as through what it actually does.
The sad part is that this city and its people weren’t always this way. Maybe they leaned a little too much on their tourist appeal and credentials at times, but Orlando was still a relatively unassuming place that took pride in what it had to offer. Fast-forward to 2026, and I believe it has turned into a “pick me” coded city with a distinct affected-cool vibe, equipped with the type of hubris that makes its residents declare the city’s foodie culture to be on par with New York and Chicago because we have udon shops in the Mills 50 district.
It doesn’t feel like a total coincidence that this mentality shift in Orlando began in earnest at roughly the same time as the start of Bianchi’s run with the Sentinel.
— Kenny Rowland, Orlando
Dan Green’s service gives him the edge
Your Oct. 10 story on the redrawn congressional District 9 (“Controversially redrawn district sees former Trump appointee Green taking on U.S. Rep. Soto”) got one thing exactly right: Dan Green has strong credentials.
Green was at work inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. He then joined the Navy, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and remains a drilling reservist. In 2019 he was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development. Few freshmen arrive in Congress already knowing how the defense budget is spent.
Green grew up in Indian River County, and his priorities match what families here feel every day: lower property insurance rates, an end to federal overspending and gridlock, and secure elections.
Rep. Darren Soto points to projects he helped fund. After five terms, voters can fairly ask whether Washington has made life in this district more affordable. The new district, from South Orlando and Osceola County to Lake Okeechobee, Vero Beach and a slice of southeastern Polk, deserves a representative who has served on the ground and inside the Pentagon.
In Polk County, early voting runs Oct. 19 to 31, and Election Day is Nov. 3. I urge every voter in District 9 to choose Dan Green.
— Sam Romain, Lakeland
Sam Romain is chairman of the Polk County Republican Party.
Be vigilant and vote
Historians will not be kind in judging the shameful legacy of Trump’s presidency. With two years of infamy still ahead, I think the country has reached a boiling point of discontent. I believe his existential stakes (both political and personal) are so high that he simply cannot afford the risk of flipping Congress in November. If he lets Democrats take control, they will torment him with endless investigations and possible impeachments, and in extreme case of losing his job, even criminal prosecution. One way he could proceed is to let the election run its course and declare the opposition’s victory illegal and faked. The other option is canceling elections, invoking the Insurrection Act under some fabricated excuse, or even worse, provoking reasons for declaring martial law. Let’s stay calm and vote!
— Peter Kovarik, Sanford
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