This press release was issued by Clarion Partners today regarding their acquisition of the Water Tower Shoppes for $18.3 million. The release also indicates that a Publix grocery store will anchor the plaza.
A grocery store on “this side” of 192 will be more convenient for NEV owners and bike riders than the current Publix at Xentury City.
Thanks to CROA for a fun holiday party on Saturday. Scheduling only allowed us to attend the carols and tree-lighting, but that was enjoyable.
John Baker of JB Creative sent a press release about a new movie about Celebration. John is a filmmaker and Celebration resident.
From the press release:
Celebration is a thriving, diverse and multi-cultural community, set against the backdrop of picturesque homes and public buildings, architecture, nature and scenery.
But to outsiders who visit the town, or read about us in international news reports, there is a common misconception that we live in a pre-fabricated neighborhood, overshadowed by the ominous Walt Disney World and conditioned to live by the rules and regulations of a strict governing home owner’s association.
The Town That Disney Built is a new documentary film that celebrates and honors the Celebration community, with the simple aim: “To document and celebrate the day-to-day lives and times of the residents of Celebration – and to give the community at large a glimpse inside our town, to see what Celebration is truly like – and cut through the mystique, the drama and the misconceptions that exist about our community.”
For more information, and to order, visit www.thetownthatdisneybuilt.com.
Our homeowners association, CROA, recently completed a community-wide inspection of covenant violations, followed by mailed letters to each owner who had a violation. Some of the owners took to the Front Porch to air their displeasure. I noticed a few interesting behaviors.
Some people acknowledged that they had clear violations but wanted to air grievances anyway. “Yes, I know the yard looks like crap but my something was something and the other thing was happening and…”
Others tried to deflect, as if the HOA only had a limited number of citations to hand out and why was I picked when there are worse houses on the block? “Sure, our porch handrail is a rotted-out eyesore, but WHAT ABOUT THE VACANT HOUSE NEXT DOOR? WHY WEREN’T THEY CITED?”
The people who had a legitimate beef were the ones who have had long-term modifications who weren’t cited before. For example, a non-conforming path to the mailbox. I don’t think these people should necessarily be exempt, but they should be given plenty of time to make the corrections without penalty.
For the record, we were cited for our mailbox, which seems like the default citation if nothing else can be found. In our case, the mailbox is probably borderline, so I’ll fix it without grumbling too much. Of course, I live next door to an abandoned home that looks like hell… 
A reminder that, according to the FCC, a homeowners association can’t deny you access to satellite television, despite what the CC&R might say, except for in a few instances. There are a few further exceptions in the case of common property, like in a condo.
This was posted on the internal Celebration message board regarding the proposed library for Celebration. The author has allowed this to be posted here, as it may interest those that don’t frequent or have access to that board:
The library System in Osceola is funded with a dedicated millage rate of .50 mil per 1000.00 of Property tax value. The money generated is to provide for the library system only and could not be used for other activities (i.e. roads, parks, code enforcement, etc). The library millage rate is to be added to the total (aggregate) millage rate for the county and published for the citizens to evaluate.
Before 2008, when the commissioners needed more flexibility in spending for the county, they would reduce the library millage (because it was restricted) and place that portion of the millage as an increase in the general millage rate. This would have the effect of increasing the money available to spend on other projects without having to raise the overall county rate. However it came at a cost…with the library millage being reduced, the library system will have less money for operating the library system. The Commissioners could then say they did not raise your overall millage rate, but with the reduction in library millage, the commissioners would have more money to put in other services. Commissioner Harford feels this is clearly wrong, and the millage rate that was approved by the voting public in this county (.5 millage rate for library services) and that is what we should be using to fund the library. We are currently at .256 millage rate for the Library system.
That being said here is the what you can do:
If no funding is changed possible different scenarios include the West Osceola (Celebration) branch could be delayed, or moved to another temporary site until economy gets better then build the branch. In all scenarios a reduction in hours and services is listed as an option.
If this is an important issue to you, please contact the number or e-mails below. You don’t need to contact Commissioner Harford, other than if you wish to thank him for pushing for this to move forward.Main Number 407-742-2000
Commissioner John “Q” Quiñones
• Vice Chairman, Commissioner District 2
• johnq@osceola.org
Commissioner Brandon Arrington
• Chairman, Commissioner District 3
• barr@osceola.org
Commissioner Frank Attkisson
• Commissioner District 4
• frank.attkisson@osceola.org
Commissioner Fred Hawkins, Jr.
• Commissioner District 5
• fhaw@osceola.org
With the tenant shuffle happening at the Water Tower Plaza and the dubious status of the new library branch, Celebration faces the possibility of having no library until action is taken. The next-nearest branch appears to be about 10 miles away, or probably 20 minutes at least with traffic.
Article: Vacation Lodge Maingate fire displaces 231 people
A number of families were displaced by this nearby fire and are at present being attended to by the American Red Cross. Other organizations that have helped include Main Gate Transportation, Chick-fil-a, Flippers Pizza, Celebration High School, CROA, Robert Schwartz, Orange Lake Resorts, McDonalds, the Celebration Foundation, and Publix, as well as several community churches.
Monetary donations to the Red Cross(a) and Second Harvest are appreciated. Community Presbyterian is collecting clothes to be distributed on Friday. Other useful suggestions, taken from a post on the Celebration message board, include:
If you have more information that you would like posted here, please mail me so I can update.
(a) – A $10 donation to the Red Cross can be made by texting REDCROSS to 90999 from your mobile phone. Donations also accepted at the Mid-Florida Red Cross web site.
Article: Apartment Combats Dog Poo With DNA Testing
This wouldn’t be the worst thing to come to Celebration. It’d be completely unfair to the 99% of dog owners who do clean up after their pups, but unfortunately, that 1% who are letting their dog squat on the Artisan Park boardwalk (and many other places) and not cleaning it up are screwing it up for the rest.
Celebration will be hosting a unique event on May 21 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm called Savor the Flavors. Dine with friends and neighbors in the open air of Market and Front Streets in downtown Celebration. All the dining establishments downtown are offering prix fixe meals, with the price including dinner, listed complimentary alcoholic beverages, gratuity, taxes, and a charitable donation to benefit Florida Hospital – Celebration Health.
A nice-looking flyer, including the menu for each restaurant, is available at savortheflavors.net. Questions can be answered by calling (407) 566-1200, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CelebrationRecreation.
The hardest part is deciding which terrific Celebration restaurant to choose!
Every year the Parks & Recreation department puts on an Easter Egg Hunt down at Lakeside Park. This was our first year going, now that our little one is old enough.
The “hidden” eggs:
Overall there were over 20,000 eggs for this year’s event. Filling this many plastic eggs with treats is no small task.
People lined up at the starting gate awaiting the countdown.
The event was well-attended and, besides a few meltdowns, everyone appeared to be having a good time. Chick-fil-a was there, as was the Easter Bunny and a Balloon Animal Artist.
A great job by Celebration Parks & Rec!
