forum<\/a> in September during which they outlined their qualifications, took turns fielding questions on a variety of topics and appealed to league members for votes.<\/p>\nA telecommunications professional, Jones said he would seek to improve communication between District 4 residents and county government. He said he would maintain an \u201copen-door policy,\u201d stay accessible to residents and create an advisory network of HOA leaders, business owners, non- profit leaders, school representatives and public safety partners.<\/p>\n
On his website, Jones lists a range of priorities and says green spaces are essential to a healthy and vibrant community; a strong economy is built through smart, sustainable growth that benefits everyone; and addressing the issue of homelessness requires a compassionate, coordinated, and results-driven approach.<\/p>\n
He does not list specific proposals to address those issues.<\/p>\n
Both would support and prioritize strategies aimed at improving the inventory of affordable housing units.<\/p>\n
On Amendment 3, the property tax measure<\/p>\n
Jones said he supports it, saying it offers needed tax relief to home-owning taxpayers. To address the expected loss of operating revenues, Jones pledged to help identify budget inefficiencies, eliminate waste and prioritize funding of core government functions before he would vote to approve new fees to make-up for budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n
As a lawmaker, L\u00f3pez opposed the legislation creating the amendment. In the league forum, she said home-owners deserve property tax relief \u201cbut the way Amendment 3 is structured is not acceptable for our community.\u201d She said the measure would reduce funding for public safety, libraries, infrastructure and debt service on existing bond obligations.<\/p>\n
On data centers<\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez supports the county\u2019s cautious approach on large data centers which power artificial intelligence processes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that is going to affect our environment. It\u2019s a lot of noise. It can affect our water. It can affect our air. It can affect our quality of life,\u201d she said in a candidates\u2019 forum. \u201cI think we have to say no to data centers but, once again, even though I think that way\u2026my constituents are going to tell me how to lead this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said he initially was in favor of data centers but after listening to debate and researching the issue he\u2019s changed his view. \u201cI believe Orange County right now has bigger fish to fry,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re never going to approve data centers\u2026Again we have a lot more issues on the table to address before we start adding data centers to the list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diversifying uses for tourist taxes<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been some drama around TDT,\u201d Jones said at the forum.<\/p>\n
But Jones said tourism tax dollars are important to providing cultural amenities for county residents and keeping the tourism industry healthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to prioritize investments,\u201d he said when asked about diversifying uses for the millions the tourist tax generates. \u201cDoes it strengthen our economy? Does it create jobs? Does it improve infrastructure connected to tourism?\u201d<\/p>\n
The lion\u2019s share of TDT has been spent building, expanding and operating the giant convention center on International Drive and promoting the region\u2019s attractions, experiences and opportunities.<\/p>\n
Lopez said the county has to be careful in managing tourist tax revenue, which has soared to record heights in the last year. \u201cI want the TDT money to stay here in Orange County,\u201d she said, worried other lawmakers might try to redistribute the largess around the state.<\/p>\n
shudak@orlandosentinel.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First-time candidate Brian Jones, a Republican, and Johanna L\u00f3pez, a Democrat who has previously won elected seats on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2811,28,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-413782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}