Apopka commissioner calls for more diversity at city-funded festival
This is a pay to view article, so because I can only post four paragraphs, I'll give you the synopsis along with my analysis.
A black Apopka commissioner called for diversity for a city funded public event. The push back was that the event was advertised on Spanish channels, but you have to get down to the committee-level to understand where the main problem lies.
The meetings that were held by this committee were not open to the public. That's a huge problem, one that you would think a competent city attorney would know would send up a red flag on the first time at bat. But, in Florida, we do seem to have city attorneys who live in two worlds. And this is a good example. The city attorney first claimed that the meetings were not subject to the Sunshine Laws but had to change his opinion a day later.
I will post the last four paragraphs to point out a problem that we have in Central Florida in acquiring good, competent advice from our city attorneys. Until we clear the public sector of these "political attorneys," Central Florida will always be subjugated to a world that relies on backroom politics.
And, for those who read the Orlando Sentinel, I might share that their most useful information usually comes in the last paragraphs.
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An Apopka commissioner is raising protest about a city-funded outdoor festival that he says seems geared predominantly toward whites.
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Last week, Apopka citizen Ray Shackelford was barred from sitting in on one of the festival's planning sessions. Shackelford, 63, who is black, said he'd been allowed to attend on a previous occasion and wasn't sure why he was excluded the second time around.
During Wednesday's council meeting, the city attorney said the committee gathering did not fall under the state's Sunshine Law and didn't have to be open to the public.
But a day later, Apopka attorney Cliff Shepard said he'd changed his recommendation based on additional information he'd learned about the festival planning. Because the group is in charge of hiring musical performers and spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, Shepard said the Sunshine Law might apply to some of their decision-making meetings.
The attorney said city officials will begin to open those meetings to the public, provide notice of them and record minutes.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-apopka-florida-outdoor-festival-20160107-story.html