Later this week, as we celebrate Veterans Day and honor our bravest brothers and sisters, our communities will come together for ceremonies, parades, and barbecues, including my hometown of Orlando.
And you’d better believe Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings will be there to pose for pictures and walk the parade route.
But after Veterans Day, they will both disappear and go back to promoting policies that work against struggling veterans in the Greater Orlando area. I know this. It’s why I can’t afford to live at home anymore.
They will continue supporting unfair rent policies, in siding with campaign donors, and push us to the shelters after we lose our homes. That happened to me.
Dyer and Demings, will continue sending millions to a tourism agency to produce commercials we’ll never see, instead of developing effective veterans services that they farm out to other organizations with no oversight.
And both mayors will continue to try to raise taxes on veterans for public transportation that can’t even get us to our doctors in time, while their campaign backers do nothing.
Buddy Dyer and Jerry Demings have seriously lagged behind other Florida cities like Tampa and Jacksonville with help for veterans (story HERE and HERE). Orange County can’t event install a green light bulb for an occasion (story HERE).
Every month, I watch those communities move in the right direction, while my home chooses real estate salesmen and tourism executives over the ones on the street who defended their freedom abroad and allowed them to grow their selfish operations to begin with.
There are plenty of lawmakers in Orlando from both parties who do great things for veterans at the local, state and federal levels. They deserve credit for helping us. Because they stand with us when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Buddy Dyer and Jerry Demings don’t. And after the festivities are over, they’ll disappear, but Orlando veterans will continue struggling.
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