Dick Batchelor Management Group - Dick In The News

Rural/Metro unveils ambulances for West Orange

2012-05-10T17:34:59+00:00

West Orange Chamber of Commerce members and local residents had a twinge of nostalgia last Wednesday when they toured five state-of-the-art ambulances that will serve more than 72,000 residents. The orange-and-blue trimmed ambulances will be dedicated to the three West Orange stations in Windermere, Winter Garden and Ocoee, which handle about 4,300 transports a year.

Last year, Winter Garden, Windermere and Ocoee approved one-year contracts with Rural/Metro Ambulance to become the first responders after Health Central announced that new arrangements would need to be made due to its pending merger with Orlando Health. Health Central and its predecessor, West Orange Memorial Hospital, had provided ambulance service since 1966.

Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn called Rural/Metro's service "outstanding."

"Rural/Metro is a very good partner," Winter Garden City Commissioner Bobby Olszewski told the crowd. "Thank you for the service."

Chamber President and CEO Stina D'Uva and former Florida Rep. Dick Batchelor were among those who toured the ambulances. The new ambulances are the latest in a series of initiatives intended to show Rural/Metro's commitment to the West Orange community.

The company's ambulances are typically white with a lime-green stripe, but the five local vehicles were painted to match the traditional blue and orange colors familiar to West Orange residents.

Rural/Metro is also sponsoring a series of "Safety Saturday in the Park" events, where it conducts hands-only CPR demonstrations and other activities aimed at keeping adults and children safe. The first such event was a success in Windermere on April 28.

The next Safety Saturday will be May 19 at Newton Park, located at 31 W. Garden Ave. in Winter Garden, and on June 2 at Freedom Park, located at 351 Thornebrooke Drive in Ocoee.

100 Units Donated: Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive

2012-05-09T21:51:25+00:00

A steady stream of community leaders, community servants, and residents joined together on Wednesday, May 2, at the Chamber of Commerce Building to participate in the Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive, presented by Florida's Blood Centers and its sponsors. 100 units of blood were collected, with each donation potentially saving up to three lives; 300 patients will benefit from these lifesaving efforts.

The Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive was the brainchild of Dick Batchelor and Tico Perez, two political adversaries who came together to put together this inaugural event. LYNX won the blood drive trophy for bringing in the most blood donors during the day. They literally bused in blood donors from their downtown office to the Chamber of Commerce Building.

The mission is simple - to save lives in our community. The goal of the Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive was for the community to come together, showcase the never-ending need for blood donations and save lives!

In addition to Blood Drive Co-Chairs, Dick Batchelor and Tico Perez, a number of celebrity sightings also included Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, Orlando City Commissioner Tony Ortiz and LYNX CEO John M. Lewis, Jr., all of whom brought scores of donors from their ranks to participate.

"It was our pleasure to be the site of the Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive," said Leslie Hielema, President of Orlando, Inc. "Our central location at the Chamber of Commerce Building seemed to provide an ‘easy stop' on the way to work, during lunchtime, and when departing for home in the evening."

100 units of blood were collected at the Central Florida Heroes Blood Drive! Each donation can save up to three lives which means 300 patients will benefit from your lifesaving efforts.

Thank you to all the local businesses who participated and to the many community leaders who rolled up their sleeves and helped spread the word about blood donation.

No-contract GPS monitoring raises questions of fairness, safety

2012-03-05T18:30:43+00:00

No-contract GPS monitoring raises questions of fairness, safety

Though the company has no formal agreement with Orange County, Court Programs Inc. is 'the only game in town.'

If you're a criminal defendant in Orange County and a judge orders GPS monitoring, you must pay a private company $12 a day for the service — significantly more than in neighboring counties — and you have no choice in selecting the vendor.

Court Programs Inc. is the only GPS company doing business here, but it enjoys that exclusive position without having gone through a competitive bidding process, without any contract and with fewer specific guidelines for ensuring victim safety.

CPI's dealings in Orange are a point of pride for Dick Batchelor, one of Central Florida's most influential lobbyists. CPI hired Batchelor in 2006 as a liaison between the company and Orange judges — a fact he boasts of on his website.

Six years later, Chief Judge Belvin Perry acknowledges the company is "the only game in town," with exclusive access to hundreds of clients every year. A monopoly isn't what Perry intended, he said, when he wrote the administrative order governing GPS monitoring for high-risk defendants in 2008.

But with CPI gaining an early foothold in the market, no other satellite-monitoring provider has stepped in. Usually, when a government body hires a private company, there is a public request for bids and a contract spelling out the specific terms of service. But no one actually hired CPI.

"There's no public money involved," said Batchelor, founder and president of the Dick Batchelor Management Group, while asserting that "there's no requirement to have a contract" and nothing keeping other companies away.

In an official statement, SecureAlert Inc., which acquired CPI after Perry's administrative order, asserted that no tax dollars are used in the Orange County GPS program, and "millions of dollars have been saved by the County because of lower incarceration expenses."

'No oversight'

GPS monitoring uses satellites to track the movement of high-risk defendants out on bail while waiting for court appearances. It's typically used when a defendant's release could pose a threat to the victim — domestic-violence cases are a common example.

CPI has come under fire for issues ranging from complaints about its cost to concerns over quality control and victim safety.

•A former CPI employee was found in contempt of court last month for filing a fraudulent document that resulted in one defendant being tossed back in jail.

•In 2010, CourtWatch, a local watchdog group, documented two cases in which defendants placed on CPI's GPS monitoring while awaiting trials on child-sex charges had fled the country.

CourtWatch founder Laura Williams noted on her blog that GPS monitoring can be a "win-win" for all involved — but only if law enforcement is notified of violations, which is not a condition of Perry's order.

"We are concerned that there is little to no oversight of this company as it is tasked with monitoring some dangerous offenders in our community," Williams noted. In SecureAlert's statement, the parent company said judges in these two cases failed to identify the airport as a prohibited area.

In neighboring Osceola and Seminole counties, GPS is contracted to individual companies with specific terms spelled out in contracts dozens of pages long. But Perry's four-page order remains the only document governing GPS in Orange.

Perry told the Sentinel he first learned of Court Programs because the company's representatives had approached judges individually to pitch their product. In his order, Perry envisioned a list of approved GPS companies, with the provider selected by individual defendants. No such list exists today.

Chief Deputy Orange County Comptroller Jim Moye questioned whether CPI's competitors were made aware of the administrative order back in 2008 or whether the company got "an advantage" by being let in the door first.

"It was fair," Batchelor said. "They [CPI] went out and made the contacts they needed to make."

SecureAlert insists that the current arrangement isn't a financial boon for its subsidiary, CPI. Twenty percent to 50 percent of defendants each quarter fail to pay their fees, the company says.

'How did we get here?'

Seminole and Osceola counties use the same company for monitoring, iSECUREtrac. Asked why that company isn't doing business in Orange, CEO Lincoln Zehr said the "vast majority" of iSECUREtrac's contracts involve bidding or a purchasing alliance.

"The absence of a bidding process certainly makes one question: How did we get here?" said Zehr, adding an "incumbent" company always has an advantage in these situations.

Court Programs charges Orange County defendants about $12 a day for monitoring. In Osceola, defendants pay $4.90 per day; in Seminole, the monitoring costs defendants $8.25 to $9.75 per day. In Osceola and Seminole, the programs are partially subsidized with public money.

Other GPS companies said Orange County's approach is unusual, but were reluctant to discuss the matter openly, unwilling to jeopardize potential future business here.

And while Perry's order prohibits judges from directing clients to a specific GPS company, a Sentinel analysis of pre-trial jail-release records from 2010 and 2011 revealed that in more than 560 of the 800-plus times an Orange County judge ordered a defendant to GPS, CPI was specifically named.

"I'm aware of it, and I have advised judges not to do that," Perry said.

CPI also was given a small office in the Orange County Courthouse. Court spokeswoman Karen Levey said it was only used sparsely in late 2010 and not at all in 2011. After the Sentinel asked about the 10th-floor room, a CPI sign was removed from the door Friday.

Nonetheless, CPI remains the vendor Orange judges rely on for defendants they want monitored by GPS.

In June, Circuit Judge Renee Roche ordered it for Larry Duggan. But his pre-trial release was revoked in October after CPI employee Justin Martin reported Duggan had failed to show up for a meeting or respond to "numerous" contact attempts. Roche last month found Martin in contempt of court, determining those claims were not true. Duggan in fact had fallen behind in his payments and owed CPI $1,250 — but owing the company money does not qualify as a violation.

Roche seemed most surprised by Martin's testimony that he had seen Duggan twice and they had spoken only six or seven times by phone in about four months of monitoring. When she ordered GPS monitoring of Duggan, an aggravated-stalking suspect, she expected much more would be done to keep tabs on him, the judge said.

"It was always this court's belief that that monitoring meant something other than putting the device on someone's ankle and then waiting for it to sound," she said, adding that CPI's monitoring "left a lot to be desired."

Not all judges share her view. In fact, two circuit judges in Orange penned recommendation letters when the company sought to expand its business.

GPS monitoring varies by county in Florida. In some, the corrections or probation department oversees inmates on release, while in others, the local Sheriff's Office is in charge. There is generally some law-enforcement involvement.

In Seminole County, iSECUREtrac is required by contract to provide updates to the Sheriff's Office within minutes in the case of violations and technical malfunctions.

In Orange, under the terms of Perry's order, the GPS company reports violations to the judge within one business day. If the violation occurs late on a Friday, it could be days before the judge becomes aware. And the company is not required to notify law enforcement at all. The order does, however, require victim notification within minutes.

Perry said he has been approached recently by another GPS provider looking to move into Orange County, and nothing in his order would prevent that.

"Of course, as you know, competition does tend to drive the prices down," Perry said, adding, "I am a red-blooded American who always likes to see competition."

jeweiner@tribune.com or 407-420-5171

Casinos a big draw for convention business?

2012-01-16T16:20:08+00:00

Among the biggest arguments for supporters of casino gambling in Florida: It would boost the region’s economy by luring in more conventions and meetings.

Many point to Las Vegas as an example, since it seems to have the right recipe in terms of attracting conventions.

The gambling mecca hosted nearly 16,000 conventions and meetings with more than 4.3 million attendees in the first 10 months of 2011, the most recent data available.

The events, casino revenue and taxes generated from conventions during the first 10 months of 2011 exceeded $15.5 billion in economic impact in Vegas.

In comparison, Central Florida hosted only 888 conventions and meetings last year, attracting 1.34 million attendees and generating a $1.4 billion economic impact.

But Orlando comes out on top when looking at the total number of business and leisure travelers: roughly 54 million visitors for 2011, compared to 33 million in Vegas as of October, the most recent data available. Central Florida’s tourism industry generates roughly $28 billion annually in visitor spending.

And now state lawmakers are looking at possibly letting Miami have three casino resorts, which may open the door to casinos here someday. Some businesspeople think that, in turn, would supercharge the local convention and meetings industry.

“Could casinos allow more conventions to come to Central Florida?” said Alan Villaverde, executive director at The Peabody Orlando on International Drive. “Maybe so. There’s no doubt we will see a threat in Miami in terms of convention business if it is allowed to become a mini-Las Vegas and we don’t answer back.”

Villaverde said if the law is passed, Orlando could capitalize on it by allowing casinos to be built along International Drive. “Convention business makes up to 80 percent of our business, so we would want to level the playing field.”

Executives of several of Central Florida’s top conventions coming this year, including the National Plastics Showcase and the IAAPA Attractions Expo, declined to comment on whether the presence of casinos would make this area more attractive to them.

The Orange County Convention Center has not taken a stance on gaming. But event planners ask for grown-up entertainment options when inquiring about the center, said Tom Ackert, executive director.

“If there is anything Vegas holds over us, it’s in its quantity and quality of entertainment options for adults.”

Sound bites

How do you feel about casinos in Central Florida?

“I don’t think casinos are very conducive to our family-friendly market," said Dick Batchelor, president of Dick Batchelor Management Group. "It won’t harm our theme parks, but it wouldn’t help or even fit with who we are. Las Vegas has tried to merge the two, but it wasn’t successful.”

She is a public relations manager for Neiman Marcus Orlando; he is president for DBMG

2012-01-13T19:51:51+00:00

She is a public relations manager for Neiman Marcus Orlando; he is president for Dick Batchelor Management Group.

Married: 28 years

Children: Richard, 24; David, 22; Matt, 18

Community Involvement and/or charity work:

Andrea is a board member at the Orlando Ballet, Mennello Museum of American Art, Canine Companions for Independence, Runway to Hope, Friends of Harriett and board member Emeritus, Shepherd’s Hope. Plus, she serves on numerous gala and advisory committees. Dick is chairman of the Florida Hospital Foundation Board, Dick Batchelor Run for the Children, First Amendment Foundation, and is vice chairman of the Children’s Environmental Health Network. He also sits on several boards, committees and commissions.

Our story:

“It’s a funny story that dates back to 1982,” Andrea explains. “About a month before we started dating, my mom saw Dick on television, and asked me if I know him. I told her I had seen him around, and he was no big deal. My mother said she thought he was “choice,” and I again assured her he was no big deal. Then, coincidentally Lawrie Platt Hall did a little matchmaking with a dinner party she was having. Dick and I were unofficial dinner partners. As I listened to him talk, and watched him interact with everyone, I knew he was for me. Dick has all the qualities I find most attractive: intelligence, humor, and a big heart.

Favorite date nights (or getaways): “Our favorite date night is dinner and a movie,” Andrea says. “Our favorite quick getaways are Palm Beach or Sarasota.”

What makes your relationship work:

Shared values, mutual respect and plenty of humor.

In one word describe your partner:

Andrea of Dick: Exciting (even after 28 years of marriage).

Dick of Andrea: Passionate.

With No Money and Political Power Up For Grabs, An Interesting Legislative Session

2011-12-02T16:13:25+00:00

These are double-dip recessionary times. A grudging callousness is upon the world. And that world includes Tallahassee, according to political observers.

For the second year in a row, Florida Governor Rick Scott, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, face a multi-billion dollar gap as legislators sit down to write a state budget.

That, and the political free-for-all unleashed by constitutionally mandated redistricting this year is all the back story the public needs to know to understand nearly every piece of legislation that politicians, lobbyists and public interest groups will fight over as the 2012 legislative session begins next month.

"Everything is related to the budget and reapportionment — everything," says former Democratic state legislator and Orlando businessman Dick Batchelor.

If the governor and legislative leaders "could address those two issues early on and straight up as possible, I think that would be a real success," he says. If not, every other piece of legislation will become controversial and related to either the budget or reapportionment in some way.

Yawning Budget Gap With Few Easy Answers

In the last legislative session a new governor and the legislature closed a $3 billion budget gap with brutal social welfare cuts that Batchelor says frayed Florida's social safety net. Next year the state expects a shortfall of about $2 billion.

State funding for children, students, Medicaid recipients, and other Florida residents are at risk, Batchelor says,

"I am a child advocate primarily," he says, "and adding the budget cuts last year to the budget cuts this year will be beyond the fat, beyond the meat, and beyond the bone. You are cutting into the marrow."

Batchelor cites per capita public school K-12 funding , which is now the lowest in the nation; higher education funding cuts that cause state universities to impose state-sanctioned double-digit tuition increases year-after-year; and underfunded diversionary programs that could help juvenile offenders avoid a lifetime of crime.

Meanwhile, a state program walking around with a big "kick me" sign taped to its back is the Florida Medicaid program. At about $20 billion, it is the state's largest expenditure — and it's growing.

"As long as you don't have health care cost controls and the laws don't have any way to control the runaway cost of pharmaceuticals for Medicaid, costs are going to keep going up," says Batchelor. "And then we've got to decide whether or not to fund Medicaid, reduce the benefits, or reduce the service covered. That's where the legislature is headed."

These and many other potential cuts are not without political cost, says Jim Philips, host of the Philips Phile, sometimes-irreverent talk radio program that airs on WTKS-FM in Orlando.

"People are already mad about many of the cuts," he says. "You just can't do it anymore.

Occupy movements on Wall Street and Orlando, I think, tap into an anger that is really held by the middle class and the working poor. I tend to believe there is life in this. What direction it takes, I have no idea."

Read My Lips, No New Taxes

Budget cutting alternatives are also grim.

Efforts to outsource the state prison system to save money are bogged down in the courts. Many would like to outsource the state-backed homeowners insurance to private insurers. That could lower financial risk to the state, but does little to close the existing budget gap.

Downsizing government is also an option, says former Republican Congressman Lou Frey Jr. There are many who believe that the government needs to tighten its belt like the rest of the state. They believe government hasn’t cut enough.

"Can you use a job freeze, not cut anybody's job?" asks Frey. "Can we force people to run it [state government] more efficiently? The answer in both cases is probably yes."

Additionally, the legislature could look for new sources of state revenue to fill the gap even as they consider longer-term measures to grow the state economy and create jobs.

But what does raising revenue mean? It doesn't mean raising taxes, says Frey.

"The closer it is to an election, and especially a presidential election, the tougher it is to get any legislation that makes sense," he says. "And obviously raising taxes becomes really a no-no."

The legislature could defer planned tax cuts in state corporate and intangible tax rates. But this, too, seems a hard sell to a Republican governor and Republican majorities in both state houses.

With few good choices, the gaming industry is fighting for the right to open destination casinos in the state. If allowed, it would create new tax revenue from industries willing to pay.

"I think there will be a gigantic push for this," says Philips. "I wouldn't be surprised, depending on how the pari-mutuel industry sees it, for the legislature to allow home rule — your county, your city, you want to have a casino, that's up to you."

Groups are already lined up on each side of the issue. For example, the South Florida construction industry may see things differently than Central Florida's family-friendly tourism industry.

"The concern is that we are a tourist state, a family tourist state," says Frey. "Do you want to become known as the Las Vegas of the South?"

Get Ready to Rumble

The budget battles alone could tie up an entire legislative session. But this year the legislature must also reapportion Congressional and state legislative voting districts based upon the results of the 2010 federal census.

Florida came out of the census sweepstakes a winner, gaining new voting districts due to a net increase in Florida population during the first decade of the new millennium.

So, let the games begin.

"People who say it [redistricting] is going to be non-political; there's no such thing as a non-political redistricting," says Frey. "Somebody is being helped and somebody is being hurt."

But before the party in power (the Republicans this time around) could divide the spoils, Florida voters tried to change the rules.

Sixty-three percent of them passed two, so-called Fair Districts amendments to the state constitution. They require compactness, continuity and a respect for municipal boundaries in reapportioning voting districts. Moreover, you can't draw a district to favor one political party, or one ethnic group.

In response, the Republican-led legislature has filed suit to challenge the validity of the amendments, setting aside $30 million in taxpayer money to pay the legal costs.

"It really comes down to who do you want to decide on the district," says Frey. "Do you want the legislature to do it, or do you want the courts to do it?

I’d rather see the legislature be involved in the process, with the understanding that if they don't do a good job, the courts get another shot at it."

But Batchelor disagrees. The Republicans have "already injected the courts into this matter," he says. "I think in the end, whatever the legislature does will have to be approved by the Department of Justice and will also end up in the state and federal courts."

As rumors fly, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer denies that he would quit to run for governor

2011-11-28T22:41:52+00:00

Buddy Dyer wants voters to give him another term as Orlando's mayor in an election next spring. But if they do, can voters count on him to stay?

Local Democratic circles are rife with talk that even if he's re-elected, Dyer will mount a campaign for governor in 2014, midway through his third full term as mayor.

One of Dyer's opponents in the April 3 mayor's race is so convinced the mayor would take an early exit from City Hall that he's asking all the candidates to sign a pledge to serve a full four years. Fellow Democrat Mike Cantone said he came up with the pledge because he doesn't think Dyer is being honest with Orlando voters.

"It's disingenuous at best if he says he's not even thinking about it. Anyone in political circles knows his name is being floated," Cantone said. "The mayor has already run statewide, and I don't think he's lost that ambition."

For his part, Dyer told the Orlando Sentinel he won't depart early.

"My plan is to run for re-election and serve four years as mayor," he said.

Before he was mayor, Dyer served 10 years in the Florida Senate, including three years as Democratic Leader. He ran statewide for Florida attorney general in 2002 but lost to then-Republican Charlie Crist.

His entry into local politics came not long after that loss, when Orlando's previous mayor left office unexpectedly before her own term was over. Mayor Glenda Hood resigned during her third term to accept an appointment as secretary of state from then-Gov. Jeb Bush.

Hood announced her resignation less than two months after Dyer's loss to Crist. Dyer declared his candidacy just five days later and rolled his attorney general's campaign operation into a mayoral campaign. He won that race, then his first full term in 2004.

Lobbyist and political pundit Dick Batchelor said he has heard the rumors of a possible Dyer gubernatorial campaign. It would be natural for Dyer to consider running in 2014, he said, given Republican Gov. Rick Scott's low approval ratings.

In September, Public Policy Polling found Scott had only a 36 percent approval rating among Florida voters. The poll found that in a hypothetical "do over" of last year's gubernatorial election, Democrat Alex Sink would beat him handily. Scott would also lose a matchup against Crist, now an independent.

"Anytime you've got a very unpopular seated governor, anybody with any political currency is going to look at it because it's about as close to a vacant seat as you can get," Batchelor said.

Among Democrats, Sink is said to be considering another bid for governor in 2014. So is Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich of Weston, former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, who ran unsuccessfully in 2006.

There's also speculation that Crist may switch his party affiliation to Democrat and try to win back the Governor's Office.

"I think having Charlie Crist as our nominee would be, quite frankly, an embarrassment to the Democrats. Are you sure he's still going to be a Democrat on Inauguration Day?" said state Rep. Scott Randolph of Orlando, and chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party.

But as a big-city mayor, Dyer's name keeps coming up.

"Everybody assumes he is moving on, and this is just a transition," said activist Doug Head, former Orange County Democratic Party chairman.

Though Dyer said he's focused on running for re-election to the mayor's office, he has mentioned his interest in being governor more than once in the past.

"I don't think there's anything that's better than being mayor of Orlando — other than governor," he told the Sentinel last year.

Last week, Dyer had this to say: "It's nice to be thought of as a candidate for governor. It's probably the only other public job I'd be interested in."

And Dyer seemed to have a taste for a political fight at the Florida Democratic Party's convention last month. In a speech to party activists gathered at Disney's Contemporary Resort, the mayor's attempt to fire up the base may have foreshadowed a future stump speech.

"We've got a governor who has done more harm to the state of Florida in the last nine months than any single man in the history of the state of Florida," he said to rousing applause.

mschlueb@tribune.com or 407-420-5417

The business of politics: A look at how much money Central Florida companies put into campaigns

2011-11-28T22:25:06+00:00

Central Florida businesses apparently don’t believe in trying to buy influence.

Their political contributions so far make up just $2.6 million, or 2.9 percent, of all money given toward politics in the state so far this year.

Overall, Floridians contributed $88.1 million to the political machine this year. Of that, businesses statewide contributed $37.4 million, or about 42 percent, according to an Orlando Business Journal analysis of data for the first nine months of 2011 from the Florida Division of State, which tracks contributions to candidates, committees, political action committees and parties.

“At first blush, [the numbers] seem low for Central Florida,” said Dick Batchelor, a political consultant and owner of Dick Batchelor Management Group Inc. “I would have thought the contributions would have been much higher.”

So why do businesses donate to campaigns?

“There’s no use in sugar coating it: The real reason is access with results,” Batchelor said. “They want favorable treatment of their issues.”

Meanwhile, Tallahassee will spring to life Jan. 10 for the 2012 legislative session in which state lawmakers will tackle such issues as drawing district lines, dealing with a $3.5 billion hole in the budget and whether to allow destination casinos.

Orange schools to ask businesses for funding help

2011-11-09T21:48:29+00:00

The Orange County School Board on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to a plan the chairman hopes will raise millions of dollars for district programs in coming years.

"Increasingly, we are going to have to look to ourselves to fund programs we need, like mentoring," said board chairman Bill Sublette, citing diminishing government money.

The board approved a committee that will develop a "philanthropic strategic plan" by May 31. It would identify district priorities that are unfunded or underfunded. The list could be taken to area businesses to seek specific donations.

Sublette said he also wants to call together the area's biggest businesses for a summit on the needs of the nation's 10th largest school district. The plan appears to be unique in the state.

Dick Batchelor, a consultant who helped the school district pass a half-penny sales tax increase for new schools in 2002, called the board's plan "a very smart move." He said there's no such thing as reaching out too much to the community. "I think there's been a void of that."

Ray Gilley, an Orlando public relations director who served as chief executive of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission from 2001 to 2010, said he thinks the business community would embrace a strategic plan.

"It will help them make the case for why investing in education is a good thing to do for community- building," Gilley said. And a specific list of priorities will help businesses match their own giving goals.

The committee developing the plan would include five School Board members, five school district staffers and five foundation board members.

The plan will be most effective if it includes principal and teacher ideas, Gilley said.

lroth@tribune.com or 407-420-5120.

This article first appeared in the Orlando Sentinel. View original here.

Change the Menu for China, or the Chinese Will Continue to ‘Eat Our Lunch’

2011-10-04T15:22:49+00:00

By Dick J. Batchelor

I recently had an opportunity, along with a business colleague named Mrs. Doris Duan-Young, to represent Orlando at the 25th-anniversary celebration of its sister-city relationship with Guilin, China. In addition to participating in the China-Guilin International Tourism Exhibition, we also visited Beijing and Shanghai.

Guilin is a relatively small city of about half a million residents. I noted, however, that although this was only Guilin’s second international tourism exhibition, it attracted 59 countries from all parts of the world. This demonstrates that the Chinese are aggressive about all sectors of their economy, including tourism. Then I saw Shanghai, which has more than 22 million residents. I could not help but be impressed that it is essentially a brand-new city, with countless luxurious and modern high-rises that have come to dominate Shanghai’s skyline in less than 20 years.

In Beijing, after I spent time with the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy and representatives of the People’s Republic of China, I could not help to think about New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman. His recent book, “That Used to Be Us,” ruminates on what America must do so that China will not continue to “eat our lunch.” He focuses on the need for the United States to exercise its pure potential. He concludes that China is getting 90 percent of potential benefits from its second- rate political system, while the United States is gets only 50 percent of benefits from our first-rate system.

Further, Friedman contends that our biggest problem is not that we’re failing to keep up with China’s best practices. Instead, he says, Americans have strayed so far from our own best practices: “We’re really talking about ourselves and our own laws of self-confidence,” he writes. Each of the big challenges that Friedman sees somehow involves China: how to adapt to globalization, how to adjust to the revolution of information technology, how to cope with soaring budget deficits, and how to manage a world vexed by increasing energy consumption and rising climate interest.

The overriding factor is education, the common denominator of challenges. And it is a big challenge. “Under-education” leaves so many people in our country unemployed. During the depth of the U.S. recession in the early 1980s, for example, about 15 percent of prime-age men were not working. Today, the percentage of men who aren’t working has spiked to 18 percent. Why? Maybe it’s because the once plentiful low-pay, low-skilled jobs are gone, and the best that Americans can hope for now are low-paid jobs with high-skill requirements. Then consider that not enough students graduate from high school, not enough go on to college, and those who do go to college require more and more remedial education. Yes, we continue to fall behind in the math and sciences.

As an example, at Grinnell, a college of only 1,600 students in Iowa, nearly one of every 10 applicants under consideration for the class of 2015 comes from China. Half of the applicants from China achieve perfect scores on the math portion of their SAT, offering extraordinary competition for American students. Yet China still has far to go. It is rife with charges of human-rights issues; its environment grows dirtier instead of cleaner; and it must retool its economy to meet the needs of so many disadvantaged or unemployed workers. China will be competitive; the United States must compete more keenly to be effective. We must redouble efforts to better educate students so that they are well-equipped to conquer global challenges that define America’s role in the contemporary international economy.

In short, change the menu – our focus – or China will “each our lunch.”

Dick Batchelor is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives. Dick Batchelor Management Group Inc. is a renowned consulting firm specializing in business development consulting, strategic governmental affairs and public policy issues.