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Highlands Today

New Year's Resolutions Are Not Just For People

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2009

A lot of people make resolutions this time of year, and our county, cities, towns and schools should be no exception. Of course, most people break resolutions, and by the time you read this, several are already tossed, but it's critical that our governmental entities stick to theirs.

Highlands County should resolve to continue watching every penny. We like the moratorium on expanding the parkway and holding off on the new sheriff's building. There's no doubt the sheriff's office needs room, and our local economy needs a shot in the arm by getting construction moving and people back to work, but the financial part is too questionable right now.

Highlands County School District should resolve to find budget cuts somewhere other than in classroom teachers. It's not easy, but perhaps the administrative model needs changed. If cuts must come, the basic premise of making sure students are held harmless is the top priority.

The city of Sebring should continue its quest to improve downtown. A lot of people are working hard to make that happen. Vision, leadership and persistence is needed to make it happen. What's necessary is to not just fill storefronts, but fill them with businesses that bring people downtown. With a convenient strip of shopping on U.S. 27, that's no easy task. So downtown needs entertainment that appeals to a wide variety of people. Sebring has done a great job with improvements to Washington Heights.

Avon Park must push forward on efforts to make the city more attractive and livable. There's potential there and work already is getting started, but so much more can be done. Like Sebring, strong vision and leadership is necessary to get buy-in from the community, then move swiftly.

Lake Placid does a lot of things right. People there have stood firm to keep their town a certain way. They take heat for it sometimes, but the payoff is a nice town that has a lot of promise. It's clear that most people in Lake Placid support how the town council has worked at beautification and improvements on quality of life.

As for the rest of us, well, we must resolve to make and keep our communities and schools clean, well managed and spend money when improvements are needed. The mentality of "this is how we've always done it" or "in my day we didn't need (fill in the blank)" doesn't make this place any better.

Highlands County has so much to offer and we're glad to see a lot of improvements over a short period of time. The next couple of years will be difficult, but we will emerge and growth will come. No one doubts that. The question is, will we resolve to be ready for it?

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