Today we’re going to offer up another round of hugs and slugs — hugs for those doing good work in Central Florida’s parks and culinary scene and slugs for politicians playing games with insurance and education.
But first I wanted to invite you to dish out some hugs of your own — by giving me your suggestions for this year’s list of “101 Things to Love about Central Florida.”
That’s right, it’s already November. (You can tell it’s fall in Florida because the temperatures aren’t expected to get back into the mid-80s for five whole days.) And this column’s Thanksgiving tradition is to celebrate all the things that make this community so enjoyably unique.
So, what do you love most about Orlando and the rest of this multi-county region we all call home? Feel free to send your nominations for the places, experiences, traditions, businesses, organizations, entertainment and people that you’d like to recognize to the email at the bottom of this piece.
Now on to the hugs and slugs…
A decade of dining
Let’s start with a hug for Central Florida’s OG food hall, East End Market.
The Sentinel’s culinary queen, Amy Drew Thompson, noted that the market just celebrated its 10th anniversary. And while food halls are pretty common these days, that wasn’t the case back when East End transformed an old church into an epicurean destination in 2013 — and attracted global attention for doing so. (The New York Times cited the Market as one of the reasons it put Orlando on its list of the best cities on earth to visit.)
I’m no Amy Drew, but if you want my suggestions for East End dishes to sample, consider the wings from Domu, the grilled cheese sandwiches from La Femme du Fromage, the overly indulgent butter-fueled cookies from Gideon’s Bakehouse or the Buffalo “chicken” sandwich at the plant-based Winter Park Biscuit Co., which is kinda mind-blowing.
A Fine whine
I’m not sure whether State Rep. Randy Fine deserves a slug or tongue-in-cheek hug for his gloriously self-absorbed whine — and admission — about why he didn’t get the job as president of Florida Atlantic University.
If you didn’t read the South Florida Sun-Sentinel interview with Fine, it was truly something. Basically, the Brevard County Republican and former casino executive with no higher-ed experience said Gov. Ron DeSantis told him the job was his, but then trustees at FAU had the audacity to ask him questions about his qualifications. “I was given a series of questions that basically had nothing to do with anything about me,” he said. “They were for a seasoned traditional academic. Talk about your experience managing sports teams. Talk about your experience managing academic research.”
In other words: The people looking for someone to run a university had the gall to ask whether the applicants might be remotely qualified to do so. And it made Randy really, really mad.
‘You’re going to waltz right in’: Randy Fine talks of how FAU presidential bid fizzled out
Accessibility matters
A hug to the Friends of Seminole State Forest for donating motorized wheelchairs with all-terrain rubber tracks for use at Blue Spring and DeLeon Springs state parks.
Most people can already explore the parks’ boardwalks and paved areas. But, as the Sentinel’s Patrick Connolly recently wrote, the EcoRover chairs provide most everyone the opportunity to explore less-traveled parts of the parks, including sandy trails. It’d be nice if all parks and the agencies that run them provided such a service. But kudos to this local nonprofit for doing so.
Blue Spring State Park: New tracked chair aids accessibility outdoors
Vote, then profit?
A slug to Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters for reportedly trying to personally profit off investing in an insurance company — after voting to make it tougher for policyholders to sue insurance companies that stiff them out of benefits.
Both the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune wrote about the actions of the senator in their backyards. As the Times explained: “Lured by the nation’s highest premiums and new laws making it harder to sue insurance companies, investors see an opportunity in Florida’s beleaguered insurance market.” The Herald-Tribune then reported that Gruters was one of those potential investors, saying he had “solicited fellow lawmakers to sign on as investors and shared a prospectus touting big investment returns.”
This isn’t complicated. Politicians should never vote on issues that affect their own finances.
NEW: A Florida state senator pitched fellow lawmakers on investing in a new homeowners insurance company, after voting to limit lawsuits against insurers.
"There lies a unique and lucrative opportunity for investors," it states:https://t.co/dc6jTXo17w
— Lawrence Mower (@lmower3) October 30, 2023
Roll them bones
And finally, the Seminole Tribe gave gamblers a hug by announcing Wednesday that the tribe’s Hard Rock and other casinos will debut live roulette and craps next month.
This could still face legal challenges. But frankly, it’s silly that Florida allowed these casinos to offer slots, blackjack, poker and gobs of other games — including video roulette and video craps — but not actual roulette and craps. Gambling laws are some of the goofiest laws around.
The problem was that the tribe got greedy in its last compact negotiation with the state, asking lawmakers (whom the tribe has showered with campaign cash) to also grant them a monopoly on sports-betting throughout the entire state. And the tribe’s argument that the betting action would only take place on tribal land — since that’s where the bet-processing computer servers would be located, even if the bets were actually placed anywhere from Pensacola to Big Pine Key — was just as goofy.
Still, the tribe should be able to offer whatever gaming it wants on its own property. And it should’ve been that way all along.
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
