Four candidates hoping to help chart the path for Orlando’s growth will face off next month for a four-year seat on the City Council.
Incumbent Jim Gray, who has represented the southeastern District 1 since 2012, faces former State Rep. Tom Keen, community activist and real estate broker Sunshine Grund, and Manny Acosta, an insurance agent. All four have served in the military.
Top of mind for voters is improving traffic flow on roads in the city’s fastest-growing area, the most notorious of which is the six-lane Narcoossee Road that spans Orange and Osceola counties with a portion in city-controlled Lake Nona.
Gray, an Air Force veteran, blames the traffic crunch on explosive growth beyond the city limits in Osceola County, as well as Lake Nona’s growing reputation as an employment center.
“There is nothing that we built in Lake Nona that a six-lane divided highway, which is what Narcoossee is, cannot handle. What is causing the big issue is all the construction in Osceola,” he said at a recent debate at Orlando’s Tiger Bay club. “The reason we have it is we have a lot of demand for families, and businesses and jobs in Lake Nona.”
He said relief would be coming soon when State Road 534 is built. The toll road, the route of which infamously passes through a portion of protected land on Split Oak Preserve, is expected to be finished in 2032.
Keen and Grund both argued that more should be done, including improved signal coordination between the three governments that control segments of the road in order to keep traffic moving.
“I think we can do something about it,” said Keen, a Navy veteran who works in the defense industry. “We’ve got to have better coordination between the three agencies.”
He said artificial intelligence could be used to improve signal timing.
Grund, who served in the Army National Guard, said the city should be more willing to invest in infrastructure improvements before approving housing developments. Orlando should be more willing to say no if it will strain traffic beyond a road’s capacity, she added.
Gray says his experience and his business acumen – he’s also the Orlando managing director for the commercial real estate giant CBRE – gives him a leg up in the race.
In his elected tenure, he said he was proud of expanding city services to Lake Nona, including a new sector of the Orlando Police Department set to hit the streets in about a year when a new substation for the agency is opened, as well as a new library and government center.
He’s also long been a critic of downtown Orlando, arguing that it lacks sit-down dining, entertainment and retail options and has too many bars.
Keen, who was elected to the state House in a special election as a Democrat in early 2024 before losing re-election in November, said he’d be a fierce advocate for local control. He also feared that the state plans to abolish property taxes were an effort to gain more control over cities and counties.
He said he’ll work to provide more funding toward housing and seek to ensure fire stations are fully staffed.
Grund said she intends to be accessible to constituents with frequent town halls and meetings, as well as advocate for workforce housing options. She wants to increase accountability for developers and make sure new subdivisions contribute to improving community safety and won’t overburden emergency services and roads.
While the position is non-partisan, Grund and Keen are Democrats, and Gray is the city council’s lone Republican member.
Keen is backed by a host of elected local Democrats and labor unions, including state Rep. Anna Eskamani, state Sens. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Lavon Bracy Davis, and the Central Florida AFL-CIO and SEIU.
The district has the most registered voters in the city. The partisan breakdown is 33.6% Democrats, 27% Republicans and 35.6% with no party affiliation.
Gray won the endorsements of the Fraternal Order of Police union representing the Orlando Police Department and the Orlando Professional Firefighters union representing Orlando’s fire department.
Grund said she doesn’t accept campaign contributions and doesn’t seek endorsements.
Acosta didn’t appear at the Tiger Bay debate, hasn’t set up a campaign website and hasn’t yet filed any campaign reports.
Early voting begins Oct. 27 at the Supervisor of Elections office. Election Day is Nov. 4.
