Plugged in with new JWC laptop

There is a crisis at the Just Wright Citrus World Headquarters.

Deb bought me a new laptop. I scoped it out Tuesday while writing today’s blog.

Here’s the crisis: For a guy whose sole business is online, I am extremely nervous about computers and the internet.

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I’ve been having issues with Weebly, which hosts my website. It was behaving as if it had the flu and was on killer drugs. I’d be in the process of posting a blog (takes about 45 minutes with editing and linking), and Weebly would decide to zone out.

Sunday was to the point where I just didn’t trust it. Hence, no blog on Monday.

I ended up using the Lakes Region Library public computer on Monday to post Tuesday’s blog. Super easy, and it harkened me back to the early JWC days when I would sit in the cool library A.C. and research blog topics on my laptop.

As laptops go, this one is fine. Right size for me. Oddly, no place to plug in the mouse. While I appreciate the computer world adding a mouse to the keyboard, I’m a traditional mousepad mouse person.

So, yeah, today’s blog is a little disheveled. Let’s see how it goes.

I want to mention that this growth anxiety we’re feeling in Citrus County is felt in numerous spots across Florida. Citizens are fighting their local governments over the same issues we’re battling here.

The truth is, Florida continues to attract people. We can raise all sorts of Cain about this, that, and the other thing, but we’re not stopping folks from moving here.

I wrote about this one time. At what point do non-native Floridians stop taking the blame for growth? You know what I’m talking about. Someone complains about new developments being approved, and someone else — usually a native Floridian — points out that unless you were born here, you added to the problem.

Well, I’m into Citrus County history (never miss Ken Marrotte’s weekly column), and it’s my observation that many of the founders of Citrus County came from somewhere else. No one in their right mind would suggest Citrus County’s forefathers were carpetbaggers, yet we easily attach that label to anyone not “born” here.

I think the cutoff is 20 years. If you’ve called Citrus County home for at least 20 years, and participate in a positive way in the community (i.e., not a dirtbag), consider yourself native light.

With our growth-at-all-costs governor and Legislature ripping regulations from local government, it’s pretty much a development free-for-all these days.

Yet, despite our complaints, folks keep coming.

I’ll say it now. The first person in one of these new communities to complain about growth gets it right in the metaphoric kisser.

That reminds me of periodic emails sent to commissioners from indignant new residents of Citrus Springs or Pine Ridge who request — nay, demand! — their lousy roads be repaved. Get on it, commissioners! We’re paying your salary. That kind of thing.

Residential growth and traffic is choking Florida. I read recently that the Sunshine Skyway bridge on I-275 still has a tol lbooth, and the morning traffic is backing up. A person in the news story said the traffic has gotten much worse in the last couple of years.

So, we’re not in a vacuum here.

That’s no excuse for haphazardly approving large residential developments with no plan for the traffic, except to widen roads at taxpayer expense.

Semi-related, several people noted the irony of the County Commission having a morning workshop last week on finding solutions for the homeless, and then in the afternoon approving a mega development that will only cause a wider valley between the haves and have-nots. 

I certainly hope to see candidates for office in 2026 who have a grip on all this and can bring thoughtful discussion to the table. What’s working now isn’t working. We all see it. We all know it. Complain all you want about current office-holders, but without decent alternatives, what are we to do?

And that’s a wrap for my new laptop blog debut. Have an awesome Wednesday, friends.

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