Recently, Victoria attended the Seminole County/Orlando North Hob Nob, Central Florida’s Premier Event of the Political Season.
Igor Spasojevic, Insurance Consultant and host of RIMM Podcast recapped the events of the Hob Nob. He sat down with Victoria to discuss her reasons for running, her desire to get involved, and her plan for serving the great city of Winter Springs.
Yesterday Evening 07/26/2022 A meeting was held in the City of Winter Springs to Discuss a development.
The interesting part of this meeting for me is that I had 3 questions to ask of the Commissioner who was speaking.
Here are the questions:
1) Did you speak with the property owner about this project and did you promise to her to change the zoning on this property for this project? Did you share with the property owner that this project would be both hers and your legacy to the city of Winter Springs?
– The answer to this question is YES. The commissioner has had this discussion with the property owner and he did share with her that this project would be her legacy and his.
2) Involving the Golf Course Property – have you spoken with the property owner and shared with him that you are in conversations with City Staff to remove the conservation easement? Did you also share with the property owner you would be working with him and his developer to get his project approved?
– The answer to this question is YES. The commissioner had this conversation with the property owner recently and then asked to have his signs put on the property.
3) You have shared with people tonight that you have only ever spoken to the developer once – yet it would seem that this is not the case? Since this is the same developer who has developed 434/Tuskawilla and has been in conversations on this property with city hall since April of this year?
– The truth is – Commissioner Cannon is playing with your emotions. He is intimately aware of what happens in City Hall – he is the single leader of everything in this city. His ability to spin the truth to his favor always intrigues me – it is how Lawyers operate, yet respectfully we don’t need a lawyer – we need a Community Advocate who will work with the community.
We need #Integrity, #Honesty and #Community back into Winter Springs. Vote #CadeResnick4CityCommission
Cade Resnick For Winter Springs
https://caderesnick.com/
One hears of the mass number of homeless in big cities, but what is the situation in Seminole County?
The Seminole League of Women Voters, partnering with several other organizations, is sponsoring a Forum on “The New Faces of Homelessness.” The panel will be moderated by Dr. Joel Hunter and include panelists Meghan Killingsworth, Trevor Fraser and Jillian Finklestein. The panelists represent those involved with housing issues, the Seminole County Public Schools, and services currently available. Learn what you can do individually and politically.
Date: August 18, 2022
Time: 6:00-8:30pm
Place: First United Methodist Church of Sanford
RSVP: www.lwvseminole.org
Cost : 1 school supply item to donate ( optional)
“Please join us for this important discussion. Be informed!”
One of the first things I will do when elected is turn back on the comments. This NO COMMENT commission is so interested in hearing from its resident’s it has turned off or limited who can comment on official city communication across the most popular social networks residents use today.
This has caused residents to form separate “groups” which then become echo chambers of the different tribes in our city. Nobody knows who to trust, or what group they should follow.
This doesn’t sound like a great strategy for building our city and bringing our people together.
We also did a check around other nearby cities in Central Florida to see how they handle comments and I could not find another that has comments blocked like Winter Springs. Lake Mary, Oviedo, Casselberry, Orlando, Winter Park and others all have comments enabled.
The City of Winter Springs pays a social media consultant $7,000+ per month to manage their online presence, but that apparently does not include comment moderation, which in my opinion one of the best ways to promote transparency in government.
Here are some screen shots that I took that show comments blocked on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
I’d love to hear from residents, do you think we should ask the city to turn on the comments so we can have respectful conversation about the important issues facing our city?
We’re building a community to connect Winter Springs residents and give them a place to speak up for their community. You can find me on Facebook keeping you informed of key stories that impact you and our community. We’ll never block or delete your comments because we want to hear from everyone. When the time is right, I will ask you for your vote in November to be your next City Commissioner.
We are going to make sure all local voices are heard… from your home to our Winter Springs City Hall!
Poor water quality has a direct impact on water quantity in a number of ways. Polluted water that cannot be used for drinking, bathing, industry or agriculture effectively reduces the amount of useable water within a given area.
Declining water quality has become a global issue of concern as human populations grow, industrial and agricultural activities expand, and climate change threatens to cause major alterations to the hydrological cycle.
Globally, the most prevalent water quality problem is eutrophication, a result of high-nutrient loads (mainly phosphorus and nitrogen), which substantially impairs beneficial uses of water. Major nutrient sources include agricultural runoff, domestic sewage (also a source of microbial pollution), industrial effluents and atmospheric inputs from fossil fuel burning and bush fires. Lakes and reservoirs are particularly susceptible to the negative impacts of eutrophication because of their complex dynamics, relatively longer water residence times and their role as an integrating sink for pollutants from their drainage basins. Nitrogen concentrations exceeding 5 milligrams per litre of water often indicate pollution from human and animal waste or fertilizer runoff from agricultural areas.
An emerging water quality concern is the impact of personal care products and pharmaceuticals, such as birth control pills, painkillers and antibiotics, on aquatic ecosystems. Little is known about their long-term human or ecosystem impacts, although some are believed to mimic natural hormones in humans and other species.
The current Proposed SUPER WALMART Plans WILL NOT HAPPEN ON MY WATCH. This would require a CHANGE to the ZONING, which I am NOT interested in. Current Commissioner Cannon refuses to say NO to Super Walmart, calls 200 acres “vital for the future of economic development.”
Currently, the property is classified as the Greenway Interchange District (GID)
The intersection of State Road 417 and State Road 434 is known as the Greeneway Interchange District (GID) and lies within the Seminole Way corridor. The GID has the largest consolidation of vacant developable land within the City under one ownership.
Target Industry Uses appropriate for the GID include:
• Financial and Information Services
• Legal Services
• Architectural Services
• Publishers
• Associations
• CPA’s
• Headquarters
• Insurance
• Banks
• Telemarketing Bureaus
• Financial Transactions Processing
• Public Relations Agencies
• Credit Bureaus
• Advertising Agencies
• Consumer Lending
• Title Companies
• Computer Software and Design
• Life Sciences
• Hospitals and Medical Education
• Diagnostic Imaging Centers
• Medical Laboratories
• Agri-science Facilities
• Outpatient Facilities
• Blood and Organ Banks
• Research Laboratories
• Nursing Care Facilities
• Veterinary Services
• Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing and Research
• Digital Media
• Motion Picture and Video Production
• Simulation and Training
• Teleproduction
• Graphic Design
• Computer Hardware/Software
• Design and Development
• Animation
• Technical and Research Services
• General Management Consulting
• Marketing
• Interior Design
• Graphic Design Services
• Human Resources and Executive Search
• Environmental Engineering and Consulting
• Precision Instruments
• Civil Engineering Surveying and Mapping
• Telecommunications
• Industrial Design
• Lasers and Photonics
Other
• Long-Term Tourism
• Convention Center
• Hotels and Lodging
In 2012, Winter Springs finished construction of the Lake Jesup Augmentation Facility. The plant would draw water from Lake Jesup and filter it to supplement Reclaimed water for the City of Winter Springs, to keep up with the increase of development.
However, the TOXIC Algae Bloom in Lake Jesup hindered this concept!!! The Lake Jesup water plant filters were continuously clogged by the toxic algae. In fact, the entire State of Florida has not yet found a solution to remove the excess nutrients of phosphorus and nitrogen. The main culprit is Fertilizer, Sewage being put in the Lakes, and Surrounding Septic tanks.
Fixing harmful algae blooms requires correcting the underlying problems that led to their growth in the first place. Because the toxins in algae blooms can spread rapidly.
The St. Johns River Water Management District has launched a pilot program which was implemented in August 2021 to harvest and remove algae, suspended solids and associated nutrients from Lake Jesup’s waters.
A harvesting unit mounted on a barge will be transported around Lake Jesup so that algae can be harvested at various locations. An innovative dissolved air flotation technology will be used to attach microscopic air bubbles to algae and suspended sediment, allowing efficient separation of algal biomass and clarified water. Clarified water will return to the lake while algal biomass will be managed/treated at Seminole County’s Yankee Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Are you Utilizing Drinking Water for Irrigation???
The majority of Winter Springs Neighborhoods like Tuskawilla Crossing, Oak Forest, etc… are currently utilizing Potable Water (From the Aquifer) to irrigate their land. Currently the City has plans to can provide adequate reclaimed water to meet the needs of the development through piping which is included in the new $100 million dollar Wastewater Improvements.
Other neighboring properties, have older infrastructure that needs to be replaced or fixed, as some areas of Oak Forest do not have any access to Reclaimed Water!!!
It is the City of Winter Spring’s responsibility to provide this infrastructure to our residents.
https://www.winterspringsfl.org/publicworks/page/lake-jesup-reclamation-plant
𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 for raw water (black), potable water (blue), waste water (red), recycled water (purple) and storm water (grey).
The environment has an incredible ability to deal with small amounts of pollution and waste in water, but it cannot cope when dealing with an overwhelming amount of waste.
80% of the world’s wastewater, mostly untreated, is released into the environment.
That is why treatment of wastewater is crucial for humans and the environment.
By now you may have heard of an up and coming Winter Springs resident, Victoria Colangelo. She has certainly made her mark in a short period of time. You could have seen one of her many videos on social media in which she does a great job interviewing several of our city’s influential leaders.
Raised in Boca Raton, Florida, she graduated from UCF, loved our area, and made her home here. She majored in Business Administration with a specialty of Service Marketing. While in college Victoria was involved with a group called Society for Marketing Professional Services. She did a lot for this organization and soon became its president. Even before graduation, she was highly recommended by her professors to be an intern for a small “mitigation company” in central Florida and that’s where she went to start her career. She worked all the way up from intern to president. And then, six years ago, she left that job to start her own business called The Mitigation Banking Group, Inc. which does environmental consulting all over Florida.
Victoria had a proclivity for politics from an early age. She grew up with a political background. Her father served as city commissioner of Boca Raton and she would often tag along with him when he was involved with Parks and Recreation and other commission assignments. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she was taking it all in and learning valuable lessons for her future.
“Doing this kind of work is just in my blood,” said Victoria. As a schoolgirl, she ran for student government and was elected president of both her junior and senior class. Like father, like daughter.
In 2009 she attended a political leadership institute where she met Charles Lacey, prior to being elected as the Mayor of Winter Springs. He was so impressed with her talents that he asked Victoria if she would be interested in running for a commission seat in Winter Springs. Because she was in the process of moving to another home and not quite ready to become involved in city politics, she declined that possibility. But times have changed and Victoria is now quite ready, willing, and able to take on the job and has announced her candidacy for Commissioner of District two, where she lives.
Victoria has many pro-active visions for the future of our city. To begin with, she is reviewing the budget to make sure all things are in order, transparent and fiscally sound. Victoria plans on expanding the arts in our city, continuing the expansion of State Road 434 to reduce traffic, bringing in more and better restaurants, and most importantly, solving our water crises by using local potable water and enhanced water treatment technologies.
Victoria works closely with Bryan Bruce who is her fiancé, confidant, videographer and number one fan. They have a wonderful personal and working relationship. Bryan is also a graduate of UCF and has his degree in Communications. After graduating, he worked for the Marriot Corporation. He has an extensive background in radio, video and telecommunications. Bryan said, “Radio and TV has turned into Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. It’s a natural evolution from what I’ve learned, in order to convey what is happening using contemporary media resources.”
Victoria and Bryan have three children between them. They are Bella, age 16; Lily, age 12; and Briella, age 10.
Together, Victoria and Bryan are an unstoppable couple who set their sights high and can be very proud of their many solid accomplishments.
