Politics
Florida in the top 20 for interstate safety and spending in the U.S.
Florida’s urban and rural highway systems are fairly decent compared to the rest of the county, but their conditions fell a bit in the past year, at least that’s the finding in a new study.
The Sunshine State’s interstate roadways are not quite at the top, but they’re in the top 20, according to the Reason Foundation’s “Annual Highway Report.” The analysis found Florida was 14th in the country when it comes to safe interstate conditions. However, the study found that’s a six-spot decline for Florida, which was ranked eighth overall in the previous report.
The Reason Foundation 28th annual report examines the urban and rural pavement conditions, rural pavement, deficient bridges, traffic congestion, and spending on roads and bridges in all 50 states.
In terms of safety, the analysis found Florida still ranks highly for general safety of its roadways.
“In safety and condition categories, Florida’s highways rank ninth in urban interstate pavement condition, fourth in rural interstate pavement condition, fifth in urban arterial pavement condition, fifth in rural arterial pavement condition, 10th in structurally deficient bridges, 48th in urban fatality rate, and 38th in rural fatality rate,” the study concluded.
However, Florida faulters when it comes to funding for interstate projects.
“In spending and cost-effectiveness, Florida ranks 40th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Florida ranks 25th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Florida’s administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn’t make its way to roads, ranks 23rd nationwide,” researchers said.
Florida improved the most in its rural fatality rate which increased from 45th to 38th and administrative financial disbursements, going from 28th to 23th.
Florida got worse in congestion with the urban traffic backup ranking going from 18th to 39th in the country. The urban fatality ranking is still pretty low as Florida ranks 48th in the nation.
The Carolinas apparently have the knack for handling highways. North Carolina was ranked first in the country for interstate wellbeing followed in second by South Carolina. North Dakota was ranked third followed by Virginia in fourth and Tennessee in fifth.
Alaska ranked 50th in the country for road safety and spending with California in 49th which was preceded by Hawaii, Washington, Louisiana and New York respectively.
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A battle of David versus Goliath has emerged in response to a bill filed in the House and Senate which is supported by the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).
The bill (SB 1656) proposes amendments to Florida Statute 651 which are intended to reform the law that governs continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), especially provisions intended to give the OIR new tools to deal with CCRC bankruptcies.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky has gone on record criticizing a major continuing care provider association because some of its members have pressured retirement home residents to oppose provisions of the bill that are supported by Florida Life Care Residents Association (FLiCRA), the association made up of 13,000 residents of retirement communities across Florida.
The Commissioner communicated in writing to LeadingAge Southeast that he found the association was engaging in “unacceptable and unproductive behavior.”
Hank Keith, who is CEO of Westminster Communities of Florida, has also come under fire from Westminster retirement community residents across the state, after he wrote to residents personally several times urging them to launch a letter-writing campaign to urge legislators to oppose the OIR bill.
In his letters to residents Keith claimed that the OIR bill would lead to “significant increases in monthly costs” for residents and would “reduce charitable impact.”
FLiCRA Executive Director Bennett Napier says FLiCRA “supports specific provisions in the bills centered around new and improved definitions, additional financial transparency and protection of resident financial interests.”
“Like other stakeholders, FLiCRA wants to ensure the Florida CCRC marketplace is stable and able to grow to meet consumer demand.” Napier said. “We appreciate that a number of owner/operators of Florida CCRCs chose not to engage their residents in letter writing against the House and Senate bills that are likely to be amended during the committee process.”
Some Westminster residents believe their friends and neighbors may have been misled into signing the form letters that Westminster management provided to them.
One such resident is former Rep. Marjorie Turnbull, who lives at Westminster Oaks in Tallahassee. After receiving communication from Westminster that included a pitch from Keith criticizing the bill, sample letters, and contact information for legislators, Turnbull fired back a response asking Westminster to withdraw the request.
“I was perturbed by the email asking Westminster Oaks residents to contact their legislators regarding a bill that has not been explained to us in detail prior to this request,” Turnbull said. “Without more detailed information and a like statement from FLiCRA, which solicits resident input prior to taking a position, I would suggest that any resident, who sends such a letter to a legislator, may not be acting in his/her own best interest.”
“It would be wise (for Westminster) to retract the request until we receive more information,” she concluded.
It appears Westminster instructed managers at all 12 of its Florida CCRC locations to distribute the Keith communication to residents.
At the Sandhill Cove Senior Living Community in Palm City, local management took it a step further and made a presentation to the community at both the February and March “Cup of Joe” monthly gatherings.
Sandhill Cove resident Pete Morrisey said the presentations came without any advance notice. “At the end of the meetings they said there were form letters they could give to people,” Morrisey said.
Morrisey said he agrees with Turnbull that the tactics of Westminster and some other owner/operators surely led some residents to sign form letters without fully knowing what they were opposing.
The OIR bill is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on Monday.
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Politics
AOC raises a ruckus over two Florida Democrats in Congressional races use her material without permission
Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, David Hogg, warned Democratic candidates to back off using unauthorized material.
Two Florida Democrats with long-shot campaigns for U.S. Congressional seats are taking heat from a national leader of the party for the unauthorized use of material in their advertisements.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC in political pop culture, is the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th Congressional District, is taking Gay Valimont and Josh Weil to task. Valimont is seeking Florida’s 1st Congressional District seat that was held by Matt Gaetz in the Panhandle until he resigned in November after President Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General. Gaetz resigned his Congressional seat but then withdrew his name from the nomination after he had resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives.
Weil is running for Florida’s 6th U.S. Congressional District in and surrounding the Space Coast and as recent as Friday his Republican competitor Randy Fine called for his arrest because one of his campaign workers was distributing campaign flyers on a stolen bicycle. That congressional seat is up for a special election April 1 after Republican Michael Waltz vacated it to become National Security Advisor for Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez in a social media post on the X platform this weekend said neither Valimont or Weil had permission to take excerpts from the New York Democrat’s Instagram speech that lasted 92 minutes recorded in February. The two Florida Democrats were using Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram address to raise funds for their campaigns in the Sunshine State.
“Fyi this is being run as an ad without my consent. I’m not personally involved in any races right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an X post dated Saturday.
David Hogg, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee has gotten involved in the inner-party flap. Hogg, who is from Florida and one of the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland in 2018, said he has advised the Florida Democrats to back off.
“The campaign hasn’t been approving this type of content – it’s this consultant who’s running this without anyone’s consent,” Hogg said in an X post, adding he has sent a cease-and-desist order to the political fundraising consultants on the campaign.
Hogg singled out fundraising advisor Jackson McMillan for the unauthorized use of the the Ocasio-Cortez material.
“I’m done dealing with these a**holes and it’s time they start being called out. Everyone says f*** the consultants but won’t name names. Jackson is one of many,” Hogg said in his X post.
While Valimont is the up for the special election in April 1 for the vacant Gaetz seat, the favorite to win the seat is current Florida Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Patronis.
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