LET's go! let's grow!

The houseless population in Orlando can be reduced easily, through conversion of local buildings into shelters that work to help get these people off the streets and working toward rejoining society at large in a really meaningful way. I recently had a discussion with a member of the press in which they discussed houseless people in the metro area as if they're subhuman, basically telling me they wished these people would just leave. I'm of the opinion that most, if not all, of the people on the streets today have something beneficial to contribute. They just need to be given an opportunity to rise above their situation for that to manifest.

We need to keep pedestrians in mind from the beginning when developing roadways and other transit channels. I plan to build more pedestrian-friendly roads, and also add pedestrian friendly features to existing roadways, including bike paths, more sidewalks, and additional safe crossings. This not only reduces incidents, but encourages alternative forms of transport, ultimately freeing up road space. It's a win-win.

This is something that would happen in stages, and we have to get a bit creative with how we replace any state or federal grants that are removed. To an extent, public-private partnerships can replace a moderate amount of the funding granted us by our higher governments, but around a deficit of 100 million dollars or so, it seems we would have to seriously start considering a modest sales tax hike to easily and effectively recoup revenue at extremely small impact to consumers. A hike of 1% would bring in an estimated 18% of our current revenue, or 600 million dollars, enabling us to achieve fiscal independence without affecting our citizens in any large way.