now time for the weekly with new six
morning anchor Justin Morman this is the
weekly on click Orlando dot-com with
Justin warmoth good morning and happy
Sunday I'm Justin warmoth come August
voters in Orange County will be electing
a new mayor for the first time in eight
years current Mayor Teresa Jacobs is out
on term limits she has formally
announced that she's running for Orange
County School Board Chair and three
candidates have filed paperwork to fill
her seats they are Sheriff Jerry Demings
Commissioner Pete Clark and businessman
Rob Panepinto
this morning two of those candidates
will lay out their vision for the county
and why they feel they're the best
person for the job
starting with Orange County Commissioner
Pete Clark you've been an orange county
commissioner since 2012 right why did
you feel this was the right time to run
for mayor well mayor Jacobs leaving
office of course with term limits if you
think about what could possibly happen
look at the scenario that we could
possibly have three new commissioners I
don't think that will happen but and we
will have a new mayor and I think at
this point in time where things that are
really going pretty well you know if you
look at the economy and what's going on
things are going well but you know we
have the homestead exemption
item coming there's a lot of issues kind
of underneath this Lamborghini we're
driving right now that we need to pay
attention to you know I've been on the
board for five and a half years now
worked with the county for a number of
years so I know that under the lay the
land and I think at this point in time
somebody seasoned someone who knows was
kind of in the pipeline knows the budget
very very well would be the logical
choice to lead the county I know
stopping the epidemic of human
trafficking was a priority for you has
been a priority for you as a
commissioner how do you hope to further
that as I was becoming there if you look
at kind of the underlying causes and you
know for decades we've been putting a
lot of money after programs and yeah
they're all well well intentioned but
the underlying cost of all this is
poverty and I'm a conservative guy right
you know and and I kind of know where
government needs to stop and look at the
popular take take over but always if you
really drill down you get to the root of
it as pie
and within poverty you have certain
things that happen and it causes certain
people to be vulnerable and trafficking
of course anybody can be a Tyson
trafficking but I think they do prey on
folks who who maybe come up with some
circumstances that are a little lesson
we might enjoy so the thing is to attack
poverty at the root cause because if you
do that then you start attacking
homelessness mental health issues those
things that when you compress them all
together make people and make especially
the young ladies that are recruited in
and if you watch the film but these
things happening it's like an amazing
thing because these recruiters can in
you have five or five young ladies they
can point it to one they can recruit
right so you really get them in the
circumstances where the self esteems
they're they're not preyed on they don't
have the the issues that make them
vulnerable then we start making some
impact and then the other thing is to
make the John's pay if you look at
Scandinavian models when you get caught
if you're a John out and you got a hold
a new place to live for a long time what
is the current state of human
trafficking in Orange County you know
it's um you know people say you know
Florida's number three Orange County's
number three but we have some really
phenomenal organizations here like
Florida volition is the greater Orlando
human trafficking task force and what it
allows I think it allows people to
report more than maybe other areas do so
the activity may be similar to other
areas but I think our reporting is much
much better much much higher we just
opened the first shelter in Florida for
adult trafficking victims and like we've
had ten or eleven victims come in
already and I'm very very proud Orange
County Board of County Commissioners and
for letting me do this and help me do it
especially with a mayor and it's a
testament to how much we're paying
attention to it so that's a key because
if you can get the victims into a place
where they feel safe and that's the
first thing is feel safe then law
enforcement in the
the state attorneys in tourism can come
in and maybe hopefully had them help
prosecute transportation also seems to
be a big a big question you know a lot
of folks want to know about
transportation what can we expect
Orange County's transportation to look
like in five or ten years in five or ten
years if we don't solve the east-west
issue not always kind of kidding out if
you won't go to the berry we can get you
there right and you might want to come
back I'm not sure but now with metal
woods are going out South with Sun rail
and you know Sun rail you hate it or you
know you love it or hate it there's no
there's no tweeter on that that's rail
it's either a boondoggle or a boon right
and if you look at some stations it's
been a boon you around the hospitals and
the the most you stations down podcast
on actually fine Castle station but we
have trouble going east-west so we need
to really look at how we can move
passengers from SunRail east-west and a
lot of that may be buses but not just
kind of buster we have now having some
bus rapid transportation projects coming
where you can have kind of express buses
and you know make it really nice
commuter buses to get to the points
where we could have maybe some some some
stations where you know people younger
folks like Levu burr lift and then have
places where that could help them along
with a journey so I would say kind of as
you know the spine of it is going to be
SunRail unless it folds which you know
in Orange County where we're budget we
have a budgeted so everybody says how
much it gonna cost
let's budget it in our budget for now
for when it happens but at that point in
time where we can get it down south the
key connections the airport to the
Convention Center then it becomes an
economic engine and that's where people
like my district now who live in kind of
the pine castle area down in skylake if
we can get them connected to the big
employment centers then you know it
opens up just just the world to them so
in 20 years you know I could see SunRail
you know if we don't ditch it you know
and we've got a lot of money in it so
you know kind of kind of spine going
north south
then we have the the airport connection
and all aboard Florida connected down
from Miami which would be kind of
interesting because that gets us to the
coast actually gets us over to the BART
County it's us and in and they work out
these rapid transit sandy Stern West
then I think we have something cookin
because I think that just the influx of
people who have moved here and I think
that's why we're seeing the Eiffel
Worlds my project it needed to be done I
know it's it's a tough process to live
through and but you know you see these
other big cities and they have public
transportation as their key way to get
around because simply there's just too
many cars through roads so I feel like
that's where Orange County like you were
pointing at is headed right so we need
to development needs to not precede
infrastructure and I think that's
something we've done in in the past is
development causes infrastructure issues
so we need to plan out our
infrastructure plan out our roads so we
know about peak Clark the commissioner
what does Pete Clark do outside of work
what do you like to do take a nap take a
nap know how signing down your window
not my wife and I we both of our boys
are older ones in law enforcement
another is he says he just started a as
a new job doing some martial arts
training this instructor so they're
they're cool they're they're really
great so we'd have to worry about that
now we'd like going to the beach and
you're kind of lounging and I played a
classic rock band
oh yeah which is kind of fun what do you
play rhythm guitar there you go and we
know for chords we're not three chords
before so we're really good music for
power chords were there that said that's
all you really need so you know really
love doing that this really kind of
relaxing young practice once a week and
we we get out and play yeah maybe once a
month or so a couple of little pubs here
and there really have great time so it's
really really relaxing do you feel it at
all and you do have some recht name
recognition but do you feel at all that
you're at a disadvantage with Sheriff
Jerry Demings on the ballot as well well
you know we did the first poll it was
like you know actually just go back to
do Commissioner yes name recognition but
you know I remind everybody there's a
presidential election which somebody had
a lot of name recognition too and it
turned out different than everybody
thought my first campaign in 2012 I was
outspent seven to one two hundred
thousand and thirty thousand everybody
told me I was nuts and I agreed with him
but I did it anyway and but I worked
hard i'ma work hard on this one and you
know we're getting out there I'm
knocking on doors I you know I have a
lot of folks I know
and then we're Commissioner you know you
meet a lot of folks right but I knew a
lot of people before some of my work in
the community and I think I can go where
a lot of candidates can go a big thank
you to Commissioner Clark for coming in
still to come Sheriff Jerry Demings and
how he'll use what he learned as sheriff
and apply it as mayor and the pointers
his wife congresswoman Val Demmings is
giving him keep here
[Music]