Outstanding Media Coverage of Planning Issues: Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel
Since joining the Orlando Sentinel in 1998, Kevin has created a body of work that has shaped how Central Florida’s residents understand their environment, transportation, population, community, and quality of life. His reporting is focused on many issues important to planners and communities across Florida, including growth, sustainability, energy, the natural environment, and transportation. His transportation portfolio is particularly impressive and includes Central Florida’s airports, expressways, buses, trains, automobiles, bicycling, walking, scooters, and automated vehicles.
Within the transportation realm, Kevin’s outstanding reporting notably encompasses capital projects, operations, agency management, critical safety issues, and funding challenges, as well as the public outreach and opinion that affect it all. However, his love of the environment is the soul of his work, a passion and commitment shared by many of APA Florida’s members.
Kevin is considered one of Central Florida’s most consistent and sophisticated voice on the many planning issues touching the lives of residents, businesses, and tourists on almost a daily basis. From May 2019 through May 2020, he has filed more than 40 stories on the environment and over 70 stories on transportation. Hundreds of his articles on planning issues over decades mean that many residents — and more than a few planners — have “grown up” with and benefited from his work, especially the manner in which it depicts the integration of land use, transportation, and the environment. Kevin’s insight over the years has helped educate us on the corresponding “long range consequences of present actions.”