lala67

does anyone think it might be a ploy to scare donors into opening up their wallets? The Citrus Bowl renovation is not that popular a project so I wouldn't be surprised if it got put on the back burner, but I can't see the DPAC not moving forward considering the support it has.

don't some counties still do emissions testing? I know when I lived in palm beach county we had to get our cars inspected before we could get our tags renewed. Granted it wasn't anything like the inspections we had in the 70s/early 80s, but it was an inspection, albeit limited.

Beautiful pics!! who says we don't have fall color here in Central Florida?

exactly - education is funded by different pots of money and there are also different agencies involved in the funding. The feds are kicking in half of the cost of commuter rail as well. We don't build commuter rail we say goodbye to $300million or so in federal gas tax funding.

this is why doing graphic design by committee is a complete freakin' nightmare.

Off the top of my head, I think around 55,000 workers downtown. That's a lot of people. That stat was from a few yrs ago, I went to downtown orlando's website and there are 62,000 people working within 1 mile of the CBD as of 2007. Here's a link to the pdf Lots of interesting demographics.

then I'm not sure why that pic was posted...why would the DPAC need to look like some sort of cheesy replica of a bygone age? We're not recreating Rosie O'Grady's or something. The Kravis Center in WPB was built in the late 80s/early 90s and I think it's a very nice performing arts center itself. The acoustics are excellent.

I dunno, that looks gaudy and old fashioned ;-) Granted those are interior shots. I love the Fox Theater in St. Louis though. Maybe that style is appropriate in the right setting, but I can't see the DPAC looking like that on the inside, not sure if it should. as for people identifying with Orlando, the challenge is that many people are not from here, much less from FL. They bring all that baggage with them. I'm not a native of Orlando, but I am a native of FL and I have always been annoyed by how things are done/how great things are somewhere else. In terms of Orlando being a commodity market I think one has to define Orlando. The metro area encompasses three counties...Osceola, Orange, Seminole. Granted Kissimmee is fairly separate/distinct, but things all kind of run together from I-drive to heathrow. I don't think downtown orlando is necessarily a commodity market - things are constrained there and the downtown core is fairly well-defined, but it's quite small in terms of area. If we're talking metro area, yeah, definitely a commodity market with competing centers from I-drive to maitland, heathrow, altamonte, waterford lakes and several other areas. This phenomenon certainly keeps the margins pretty tight for downtown, hard to justify paying higher rents for a downtown address when you can get equivalent office space for a lot less in those other areas.

well, some people don't believe in letting their cats outside. We're 'bad' cat owners b/c we let ours outside, as do our neighbors. Between the racoon population and the cats, we don't have any rat problems.

There's good reason to be optimistic. Sorry for the late reply, haven't been here in awhile. At any rate, while Dockery won a battle, she didn't win the war. Her little end around has put other communities that have existing rail and plans for rail service in a bit of a lurch b/c they need that same liability agreement in order to run their rails. These communities would be Tri-Rail in south FL and planned commuter rail hopefuls in Jax and Tampa. The state has until next summer to complete the deal and state officials could take the issue up again during the next regular session. The best news of all about the recent session was that the funding stayed in place.

OIA has at least one that they are using for their park 'n ride lots. I rode on one recently when I came back into town. The driver was pretty chatty about the thing, said he likes it a lot and they've had it about a year now. oops quoted the wrong post. At any rate, OIA has a hydrogen vehicle as well.

someone misspelled schmuck as well

I think things were just starting to take off in 2004. We bought our current place in April '04 just before things took off, sold our existing house in 1 day. Things went nuts after that. The peak probably came around late 2005/early 2006?

interesting you should bring this up. My mother in law and I went to the ballet today and she remarked how much DT has changed. A friend sent me this article today as well on the decline of suburban areas. Is Suburbia Turning Into Sumburbia? Maybe we'll see some relaxation by Fannie Mae to finance more infill and mixed use developments?

I bet the place is PACKED!

I dunno, if Orlando had some truly ridiculous Gehry architecture we could end up on Kuntsler's Eyesore of the Month. I'm all for interesting architecture but it's gotta be functional too. And not some of that crap that some seem so enamored with. http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200405.html http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore.html

great post. a huge part of the problem is our relatively low density in Central Florida. While we have enough potential riders for the region, they're all so spread out that it makes using mass transit difficult. Then there are the improvements needed at the destinations.

I just saw a presentation today on fare box collections in a variety of transit operations throughout the country. I think PATH (NJ transit?) collects about 55% of their costs. Other places collected around 25-40%. Busses as a rule collect around 20%. I was talking to someone from Lynx and they said they get around 20% back. In places like Vancouver, supposedly, they haven't built a new road or added a new lane to their transportation system in 30 years. At this point, developers are creating the demand for more transit service and it's getting built. Shame that Seattle's referendum was bundled with so much other stuff. Richard Crotty learned that lesson back in 2004. The problem for Central Florida is that our land use pattern is such that it's going to be really hard to make transit work. Beyond that, there's the lack of political will to create real change. But small changes are coming. I think the elected officials are just having a hard time thinking outside the box when it comes to things like concurrency and transit oriented design. They seem to understand the need for transit, the need for infill, and the need for multiple modes of transportation, but they have a hard time moving from concept to implementation.

Try Al Coith park in Delaney Park, right at Gore and Delaney...tennis courts, open fields, baseball...it's pretty nice.

or one by the library?

I agree...I think the Parramore area would make for a great artist colony of sorts, for the eclectic that want to live downtown but don't have the bucks to do so. I'm not a fan of gentrification and I think pushing out everyone there in favor of the affluent isn't a great idea. Downtown Orlando also needs affordable housing too to keep things vibrant and diverse. I think you'll see the area gradually come around, but it needn't be glitzy, high end, etc.

damn, no hotlinking allowed! I am really starting to fall in love with 55W, the color is very nice. I too want to see some before/after shots of the downtown, it's really starting to fill in.

I'd move to Seattle in a heartbeat. Miami and LA do nothing for me (talk about sprawl). From an economic perspective, I think Orlando is much better situated than Miami. I don't know if Orlando will ever be a huge city, but I think it can certainly compete with the likes of Charlotte, Portland, Seattle, etc. Downtown Orlando does have a lot of close in neighborhoods that other larger cities don't have, we also have an incredible tree canopy.

Widening of Sand Lake Road from Turkey Lake to President's Drive to six lanes is in the current 5 yr TIP. If I remember correctly, Orange County allows construction to proceed if the roadway improvements are at least in year three of the TIP? According to FDOTs work program construction is scheduled for fy09/10. They're also doing advanced ROW acquisition for 25 miles of the I-4 Master Plan...that likely includes the area in question. I didn't find any improvements listed for Turkey Lake but that doesn't mean they aren't planned. I *think* the developers are probably kicking in funds for improvements on Sand Lake west of Turkey Lake. Growth Management is more about how to accommodate growth rather than actually managing it. I'm concerned that the Metroplan Board and the various local government officials are too focused on trying to create a regional concurrency system (part of the outgrowth of How Shall We Grow) and frankly, as a planner, I think concurrency creates more problems than it solves. Congestion isn't always a bad thing. They're too focused on creating capacity rather than improving functionality. For all modes. Not just cars.

well, I do know that one of the employees spends most of his time on the road travelling around the country and he's technically not located in Orlando. But he does have a bike at the office. I do think a lot of bikes are left there. But many are being used by employees on a regular basis. We got a little tour of the building and they are hosting the FAPA/FPZA holiday party in their 'town center' which is a very open air space with conference rooms, cafeteria, library, et al. I believe it does bleed into Kuhn's space on the second floor, where the town center is located. They've left the interior very rough and open.