Endorsements for the Winter Park Commission election

Winter Park has had its share of contentious elections with seemingly broad splits between candidates. Usually they fall between one of two camps, as far as public perception is concerned; they’re either pro-development, or anti-development. With those connotations lie familiar bedfellows relating to business freedom, need to preserve the community, and autonomy of property rights.

In each political cycle, oftentimes voters already have a good idea who they’re going to vote for before the candidates even make their first speech. In many cases, what’s written on a campaign sign can be enough to convince a voter if they feel strongly enough about an issue, whether they look beyond the surface of a campaign promise or not.

What we know of the challengers in this upcoming March election in Winter Park is they have their jobs cut out for them in making the case for their election. If you’re going to run against an incumbent who’s been elected twice in a city that’s in strong financial health, you’d better have a clear message for what you could do better. That’s the challenge facing Lambrine Macejewski, running for Commissioner Carolyn Cooper’s Seat 3, and Pete Weldon, running for Commissioner Tom McMacken’s Seat 4.

For Weldon, a longtime community board member and prominent political blogger, he’s done well in differentiating himself from Commissioner McMacken. Before the election season ramped up he’d already made a point of dismissing dissenting opinions in one of his blog’s posts as “whining.” This does not mesh with Weldon’s statement during the Rollins College candidate forum that he hopes to lead the way for civil discourse in Winter Park.

Commissioner McMacken, on the other hand, is known for his affable demeanor and thoughtful consideration of outside opinions on the dais, weighing issues and opinions on their own merits. As such he’s served as a crucial swing vote on many pieces of legislation.

As far as policy goes, Weldon has been direct. He sincerely dislikes the recently passed historic preservation ordinance, which made it so that if just over 50 percent of voters in their own neighborhood vote in favor of making their neighborhood into a historic district, they can do it. The former threshold was a 67 percent vote, which at the time made it more difficult to obtain a historic designation than anywhere in Florida. McMacken voted in favor of that ordinance.

Weldon’s argument for being elected, “I’ll protect your property rights,” comes with a promise to vote to rescind the historic district vote.

But in doing so, he’d be rescinding his trust of the residents themselves. Any vote for a historic district is currently up to that neighborhood’s residents to decide. They would vote for it directly, as they would also vote for any design standards. The implication of Weldon’s position is that at least half the city’s residents don’t know what they’re doing (if they vote for a historic district), and that it should be prohibitively difficult for them to democratically determine the design standards of their own neighborhoods.

Winter Park prides itself upon a unique look and feel that sets it apart from the sprawling, “McMansion”-filled neighborhoods in Orlando’s farther-flung suburbs that offer little sense of community and less to do. Winter Park has cultivated a lifestyle worth keeping, which is why people born here tend to stay here. That’s a rarity in such a transitive state.

McMacken has been a key engineer in building that desirable feel within Winter Park. A good deal of Winter Park’s character exists thanks McMacken’s work as a landscape architect. He helped plan the Park Avenue streetscape, the park at Orwin Manor and the Winter Park Village.

Weldon doesn’t mention that in trying to beat back the type of historic preservation ordinance that every city in Florida had long since passed, he’s opening the door for more demolition of historic homes in favor of stucco redevelopment. Weldon wrote in 2010 that the Carlisle building, a large development that was nearly erected where Central Park’s West Meadow lies, wouldn’t have hurt the city. That became one of the most notorious votes in city history. Not one member of the City Commission who voted in favor of the Carlisle was re-elected.

In the race for Seat 4, the choice is simple: between McMacken, a proven leader who has stewarded the city with an even-handed treatment of all issues, or Weldon, whose heels are dug in the sand on many issues, and who despite some kind words on the campaign trail seems less interested in making consensus and has no problem making enemies. The choice here is obvious. The Observer endorses Tom McMacken for re-election in Seat 4.

In the race for Seat 3, we find two candidates: Commissioner Carolyn Cooper, and challenger Lambrine Macejewski. They both like a lot of the same things. They both want to preserve the city’s charm while revitalizing the city’s neglected Fairbanks Avenue and Lee Road corridors.

What separates them is their backgrounds.

Cooper has served as a city commissioner for six years, using her skills as a contract negotiator for Lockheed Martin to debate legislation on the dais.

She’s built a reputation for studying issues vigorously, with an open ear to residents’ concerns. She’s pushed for historic preservation — she voted for the historic district ordinance — and maintaining the city’s character. Those are the type of passions you may hear from all of the city’s candidates this time around, but with Cooper, she’s walked the walk. Having long served on the Commission, she’s proven to never be afraid to advance issues, even in the face of opposition, if she thinks it will help the city.

Macejewski knows Winter Park business well. She’s served as head of the Park Avenue Merchants Association and volunteered to help lead Keep Winter Park Beautiful and Sustainable Advisory Board and with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. As co-owner of the Winter Park restaurant Cocina 214 she’s launched the Running of the Chihuahuas, raising money for animal charities, and volunteered to serve meals for families in need.

She’s made friends throughout the city, and strong endorsements from some former mayors.

On campaign issues, she’s said she wants to preserve the city’s unique charm and to advance popular projects such as the undergrounding of electric utility lines and to keep the city’s famous-but-imperiled tree canopy thriving. But she’s been light on details for how she’d improve the city compared to what Cooper has already accomplished from the dais. The fact that she refused to attend a recent debate hosted by the political online magazine Winter Park Voice, accusing it of bias, didn’t help her in letting voters learn any new details about how she’d improve Winter Park. It did give us a window into how she’d handle contentious issues on the Commission.

And on the controversial issue of the historic preservation ordinance (see paragraph 6 of this editorial), her stance seems to rely on a misinterpretation of the law. “I believe homeowners should voluntarily put their homes on the registry and not be forced by the City,” reads her commentary relating to that ordinance. That’s erroneous, or at least misleading. That historic designation will only occur if 50 percent plus one of a given neighborhood’s homeowners vote in favor of it, not the city government. And only on rare occasions in the city has that actually occurred. Were that ordinance to be rescinded, Winter Park, a city that prides itself on its historic charm, would revert to being one of the least historic-district-friendly cities in Florida.

That similarity between Weldon and Macejewski on that contentious issue makes this election seem more like a referendum on a single vote. Elections in Winter Park frequently are.

That doesn’t change the fact that as a community leader, Macejewski has proven herself well. As a candidate, she’s made more friends than enemies. In the election for Seat 3, the choice is between Cooper, a diligent legislator who has proven herself a champion of the city’s character, or Macejewski, a well-known community leader and strong community advocate looking for her first shot at leading from the city’s highest legislative body. The Observer endorses Cooper for Seat 3, but this one was a close call.