By Cameron Heaton
Special to Valencia Voice

Many would call Teresa Jacobs an outsider. Her proudest role is being a mother of four and a wife for 29 years. A side from her family, Jacobs has always been active in our community, rallying for rights for her and her neighbors.

While serving as commissioner, Jacobs fearlessly faced developers and powerful politicians. She has quickly developed a reputation for being a straight shooter.

It’s important to Teresa Jacobs to note that she is the only candidate in this race that opposed and voted against the 23% property tax increase four years ago. In addition, she fought a plan that would build more toll roads funded by increasing sales tax.

Jacobs proposed an amendment to protect schools against overcrowding and has also initiated
ways to reduce traffic congestion and conserve our environmental resources while keeping taxes low. Most importantly she would like all citizens to get involved.

To ensure that she successfully practices the “Public’s Right to Speak,” reserving time at County Commission meetings is required in order for citizens to speak before votes are passed. The most frequently asked question by Orange County citizens is: “How are you going to provide us with jobs?”

Jacobs has been working on attracting companies to Orlando from around the world. Jacobs is also focusing on what we can do internally. Short term tax exemptions for new and expanding businesses have been suggested, provided that voters are in favor.

Jacobs encourages entrepreneurship for graduating students from Valencia Community College and University of Central Florida. Jacobs does support the SunRail project but does not feel that increasing taxes are necessary to fund it. The SunRail project is a plan to help de-congest our highways and roads.

“A commuter rail transit project that will run along a 61-mile stretch of existing rail freight tracks in the four-county area,”SunRail.com says. Other goals include putting education before development, alternatives to toll increases for the Wekiva Parkway construction, and decreasing police officers behind desks, thus increasing those who patrol the streets.

In the four-way primary race held in late August, Jacobs accumulated 42% of the vote and Segal followed in second with 23% of the vote. Because no one had more than 50%, this lead to another voting on November 2. The primaries were held and Jacobs has received $179,000 in outside donations for the campaign, compared to Segal’s $130,000.

The best way to sum up Teresa Jacobs is her disapproval of raising taxes, enthusiasm for bettering our schools and neighborhoods, faster ways to create jobs, and thorough record of protecting the voters’ interests.