Thread by @BethKassab, How could we have known that less than 6 mos after hitting [...]

How could we have known that less than 6 mos after hitting the button on this series, @citybeautiful @OrangeCoFL economy would free fall in global pandemic, leaving unimaginable carnage in the tourism sector? @ChabeliH @GabrielleRusson @richnpope https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/laborland/os-bz-tourism-industry-disney-wages-20191205-46u5ykiro5cx3n25qronziiify-story.html

In a theme park parking lot at night, a worker sleeps in her car. This is life in America’s most...

In Orlando, home to Disney, Universal and SeaWorld, workers struggle with the lowest wages of the top 50 metropolitan areas in the country.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/laborland/os-bz-tourism-industry-disney-wages-20191205-46u5ykiro5cx3n25qronziiify-story.html

Now, with so many people talking about this excellent story in @washingtonpost , I encourage you to take a look at @orlandosentinel work in this series and beyond. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/kissimmee-star-motel/

A pandemic, a motel without power and a potentially terrifying glimpse of Orlando’s future

Florida’s tourism economy crashed, leaving dozens of low-wage workers trapped in a crumbling motel without electricity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/kissimmee-star-motel/

Our @katesantich just wrote about the same motel featured in @washingtonpost last month here: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/osceola-county/os-ne-hurricane-maria-survivor-new-disaster-florida-star-motel-20200802-yev7nqpbineuzkcmccddg44bwq-story.html

Hurricane Maria survivor struggles at rundown Kissimmee motel with intermittent power, water

While the coronavirus pandemic has been difficult for most everyone, for Kathia Badillo Feliu, 30, it is only the latest in a string of disasters — some natural, most manmade. The Hurricane Maria...

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/osceola-county/os-ne-hurricane-maria-survivor-new-disaster-florida-star-motel-20200802-yev7nqpbineuzkcmccddg44bwq-story.html

Local journalists do the hard work day in and day out of covering this community - good, bad and very, very ugly. We don't get the glamour of the @washingtonpost (if there even is such a thing lol). We care about THIS PLACE WE CALL HOME. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-progress-orange-20200828-sj36lz4honglhox2udtnmdrpmy-story.html

Central Florida economy stuck in plateau as hotels remain mostly empty, I-4 traffic stays light

With schools and theme parks open to drastically reduced students and visitors, Central Florida has hit a new stage in its recovery from the coronavirus shutdown — a plateau that signals just how...

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-progress-orange-20200828-sj36lz4honglhox2udtnmdrpmy-story.html

The last story piece in our Laborland series had a hopeful tone with more lawmakers coming around to the idea that perhaps the booming collections from the tourist development tax (hotel tax) should be used for essential services like transportation. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/laborland/os-bz-laborland-reactions-20200109-5y4xemjml5habfkt7wodrlfxde-story.html

After Sentinel’s Laborland series, Central Florida legislators support using hotel taxes for...

Central Florida lawmakers are calling for the pot of local tourism taxes — nearly $300 million in Orange County last year — to be used to help solve challenges faced by low-wage tourism workers in...

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/laborland/os-bz-laborland-reactions-20200109-5y4xemjml5habfkt7wodrlfxde-story.html

Now with the bottom falling out of the tourist tax, the future is more uncertain for so many. Subscribe to a local paper like @orlandosentinel We are here covering the aftermath. Every. Day. Without fear or favor. Keeping democracy's light on. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/subscriptions/land-subscribe-evergreen/index-ind.html?int=nav2

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