Editorial: Jane Healy's legacy - a fight for Central Florida

As Central Floridians move through their daily lives, few of them realize how different things might be without the influence of Jane Healy. Many of the things Healy fought for during her 35-year tenure at the Sentinel are still in place, if you know where to look: Local development restrictions that protect some of the region's most sensitive areas. Shorter commute times on some of the area's busiest roads and commuter rail that takes some of the strain from downtown parking lots. Local governments that kept a lid on budgets and tax rates during some of Florida's most free-spending eras, and leaders who kept in mind the reality many local residents faced an ongoing struggle to afford housing, food and other basic necessities.

The opinion pages Healy oversaw featured hundreds of plainspoken, fact-filled editorials, many of which she wrote herself. After her promotion to managing editor, she inspired dozens of reporters to be as dogged in their pursuit of the truth as she was.

As Central Florida grieves her death last week at the age of 77, we should look for ways to take on the battles she fought.

Facts and flair

There are many ways to do that. Under Healy's tenure, the Sentinel's editorial page often skewered lavish taxation and blasted attempts by local leaders to duck accountability. Her biggest point of pride has often been mentioned over the past week. In 1988, she brought the Sentinel its first Pulitzer Prize (and other national awards) for a years-long examination of irresponsible, runaway development throughout Central Florida. The series, known as "Florida's Shame," spanned dozens of editorials and associated news stories, and actually drew Pulitzer attention three times. The first part of the series was a finalist in 1985, as was a followup in 2007. Throughout its lifespan, "Florida's Shame" was showered with national and state awards that were well-deserved.

The series also brought Healy an editorial writer's most beloved accolade, visible evidence that her words made a difference. In 1985, the state Legislature passed a set of sweeping growth-management reforms that included, for the first time, a requirement for Florida's cities and counties to adopt local frameworks for future development, known as comprehensive plans. Former state Rep. Dick Batchelor, who served in the Legislature through 1983, backs up what many people remember: Without the Sentinel's series, state leaders might never have envisioned such an ambitious effort. In subsequent years, as the Sentinel probed the early implementation of the law, Healy’s thorough reporting and pointed prose helped lawmakers refine its language.

The law put communities in charge of their own futures - but then held their feet to the fire. It required municipalities and counties to ensure that roads, schools, water supply and public-safety improvements were in place to serve new residents and ensuring that developers didn't dump their bills on local communities by requiring them to contribute to the cost of the infrastructure that would be needed.

It was an innovative approach that drew nationwide attention. "Florida's Shame" helped lead the state to a genuine point of pride.

Rise and fall

But Healy, with her characteristic bluntness, didn't sugar-coat what happened to that law. Today, it has effectively been gutted. The erosion started before the turn of the century. But then-Gov. Rick Scott and the state Legislature attacked growth management with savagery, passing a 2011 law that finally killed growth management as an enforceable concept in Florida. In the following years, many Florida lawmakers have done their best to bring back the bad old days of irresponsible, uncontrollable growth - passing laws that grant developers outlandish "rights" to plow down forests and throw up large-scale housing developments in the middle of nowhere. The most recent trend: Laws that trample the autonomy of cities and counties, even of local voters, to control what happens in their neighborhoods.

Healy didn't hesitate to use her own triumph as the basis of an admonition. The battles she fought can never be decisively, finally won, because the agents of greed and irresponsibility never rest. They keep pressing fat campaign checks into politicians' hands, keep pushing for "improvements" to state law that only improve their ability to turn a quick buck. But even as she lamented the devastation, Healy was able to see how her legacy survived. Central Florida officials are still pushing back against the state's pro-profiteering dictates, and defending local initiatives like urban growth boundaries. And many of the young reporters she inspired and mentored are carrying on her work.

Over the past week, it's become evident that Healy is still regarded with respect here, especially from elected leaders who remember what it was like to find themselves in her crosshairs. But saving what remains of sensible growth management in Florida, along with myriad other good-government initiatives, will demand more than memories - more, even, than regrets. It will mean rallying Floridians to demand a return to thoughtful, exacting consideration of how it grows - and a return to the principles of accountability and transparency from the people entrusted with Florida's leadership.

Healy will no longer be able to rally the troops, but her legacy should inspire others to take up the call, demanding transparency, fairness and vision from the men and women who lead this community.

This is the legacy Healy wanted to leave, a treasure that is too rich for Central Florida to abandon.

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Use insight@orlandosentinel.com to contact us.

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:40 AM.