Universe_Explorer

My God, it's beautiful...I'm glad my name's on one of those bricks!

Orange County's sustainabiliy plan has transition zones that are supposed to create a boundry of sorts. Philosophically, the problem centers on the classic urban/surburban county versus city conundrum. It does not exactly behoove the board of county commisioners to encourage growth in the city of Orlando - development in unincorperated Orange County is what grows their tax base - but at the same time they want to limit sprawl. In the traditional sense, counties were supposed to provide bare minimum services to their rural citizens, while cities provided more services (and often taxed at higher rates). Suburbanization created a class of county citizen that wants/demands the same services as those in the cities of this country. That requires a tax base. That encourages counties to promote development. Which in turn, creates sprawl...If you look locally, the vast majority of social services in our region (housing, healthcare, crisis assitance, mental health care) all comes from Orange County Gov, not the city of Orlando. It's quite the reverse of what was expected decades ago.

I think there's something to be said for rethinking how a city must develop in the 21st century. Historically, urban areas developed around trade and commerce (near shipping and rails), then more so around industry and factories, then around major company headquarters. All of the urban fabric (arts, sports, vitality) followed the people that were drawn there for purposes of work. In today's (and tomorrow's) economy, what will be the motivation to bring people to that one geographic location? Commerce and large businesses will continue to do it to an extent - even tech companies have huge base headquarters - but large industrial centers don't anymore. Those huge tech companies (Google, Apple, even Tesla) are not building headquarters in places that were traditionally urban centers - and we'll see if sprawl follows them. I wonder if the 21st century cities won't have a component of humans deciding to live together in such an environment despite the fact that they will commute out to work, rather than commute in. Many of the techies in Silicon Valley live in SF and commute out to there office space, if they aren't working remotely, and I know there are people on UP who do the same with downtown Orlando. Add that to the creative class needing less traditional office space per se, and it makes me wonder if huge office towers are really going to be the future of cities at all.

I a big supporter of the Arts Center and *really* want to see it completed, but I can't help but to be suspicious of Ramsberger always crying poor at this point. Every time the city/county have come up with innovative ways to get them TDT money, she says "thanks, but we need more". Last time it almost cost us the whole project, before Jacobs put the screws to her. Lo and behold, they started building. I feel like this most recent ask is another attempt to extort a bit more out of donors, and it feels stale...anyway, everyone around the project seems quite convinced it's going to get built now, and that's all that really matters

I like it better than how it is now. Edgewater is such a mish-mash of styles anyway. I believe, during the bubble, that this lot was supposed to have a companion condo/retail project similar to the one across the street with the suntrust

Spotted a crane on this property today, so it looks like it's a go - NIMBY's be damned!

Actual, living, non-homeless people are now using the park! It's official! I drove by at mid-day and there were still several people hanging about as their dogs frolicked. It's nice to see this beautiful little space finally get some use

We're getting off topic, but...the approach the city and county are taking toward the chronically homeless (permanent supportive housing) is expensive, but has been shown to work in other communities. It definitely helps the most vulnerable survive and live better lives, but I question whether it will every really change the panhandling/loitering issue. Even if these folks have a roof over their head and are maybe getting better psychiatric/addiction care, they aren't just going to hang out in their apt all day. They have social (and addictive, in many cases) needs, and this is life they have been living. I applaud the approach Orlando and Orange County are taking but I think they are fooling themselves if they think it will reduce the visibility issue most people here complain about...

Are they taking away parking at the trailhead for Cady way? It looks like outparcels and sidewalks where there currently is parking. I realize this is the lesser-used portion of the trail, but that would be annoying (maybe I'm the only one who uses it weekly...)

I'm glad they're going to do something different with the site, but it's pretty underwhelming considering the initial plan with the bridge over Orange into the hospital. Doc's never made sense - maybe a restaurant/bar will work there if it's attached to a hotel, but I'm skeptical. ORMC's expansion out to the sidewalk gives this area a much more urban feel, but it's surrounded to the north and south with pedestrian-hostile environments (small sidewalks, no shade, 4+ lane road, etc). The supposed draw is from folks working at or visiting the hospital, but the "doors" of the hospital, so to speak, mostly face the other direction. If the food is great, they could draw people willing to drive from Delany park, downtown, etc. The food at Doc's wasn't great.

I love this project. Ran down Alden this morning, and it seems like there are no more active businesses in the warehouses. It will be interesting to see when they actually get moving on this

The fencing is up for the dog run. There's a fire hydrant in the middle of it, which is cute I guess, and a concrete pad at the entrance that has what looks like a water station. This, in addition with the new sidewalk, and some new tenants in the townhomes (and hopefully 520) should transform this little-used area with a beautiful tree into an actual park. I like it

I don't think it's terrible when it comes to traffic delays, but considering it's status as a destination (and the addition of two large apartment complexes on either end), it's inadequate for pedestrians. I don't think there's a enough room for a turn lane, but I think they can improve sidewalks, crossings, and streetscape to make it work better for everyone. I do worry about traffic at the Ivanhoe and Mills intersections once The Yard is done - Virginia is already a heavily used cut through to link College Park/Mills 50/Audubon Park/ and Baldwin Park.

I run past there several times a week. Very little has been happening since the demo of the first set of buildings, but there still appear to be businesses working out of the warehouses across Alden. I assumed they were still waiting out the leases on those before proceeding. The city is also conducting a much needed study on Virginia Drive - when this project is done traffic will likely be a problem there, but also brings so much potential for a great walkable region. Currently the side walks are tiny, non-existent, or a mess. Just fixing that would be a boon for those businesses.

The lack of signage has always driven me nuts, I like the idea of the cool little corridor between Pine and Church, but I'm not sure why anyone would want to open a business there unless/until every other location on Church is full and bustling - like those small hidden walkways/shops off of Park Ave behind the main stores in WP

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to stadium names, but a realist when it comes to how these decisions are made. Does it bother me that we will now have the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl held at Camping World Stadium? yes. Is it any different anywhere else in the country? Practically not. Selling out is as American as it gets... That said, stadium sponsorships with deep local ties make for more forgiving names (Coors Field in Colorado, Busch Stadium in St Louis, etc). This unfortunately demonstrates the lack of deep local commitment from the few giants we have. Would "Disney Field" bother anyone that much? Oh well...

Earth Fare's a great addition to the area. We had one where I used to live, it's kind of like Fresh Market/Whole Foods - pre-made stuff, funky wine selection, organic produce. Considering how well Fresh Market is doing just north of downtown, I imagine this place will do well here.

I went by yesterday. The submerged field aspect is interesting - it's surprising how short the stands/roofline appear from street level, then you look in and realize how far down the field is. It's going to be a sweltering cauldron of noise in there in the summers, with the steep, raked stands, partial roof, and sunken field - could be a wicked home field advantage. I can't wait Going up Church street with the improvements they made will be all right, but the area immediately north is still a mess of vacant lots and practically condemned buildings. I'm sure the hope is for revitalization, but there's no evidence a stadium will do that. There's going to be work to do there...

Agreed. I'm not much for the hat, but I don't dislike the building. It's so massive, I think/hope that when more buildings go up around to put it in perspective people will see it as a unique, if not beautiful, structure. It reminds me of the worldwide plaza and lipstick buildings in NYC - initially reviled, now unique pieces of the overall skyline

Orange County is an interesting example of the failure of local government structures to adapt to suburbanization. Baltimore City and County are another example. I find it fascinating. County governments were meant to create a bare-bones infrastructure to support basic municipal resources to the farmers and small town folks that didn't live in "the city" - roads, sewer, storm drainage, waste collection, etc. The cities - with their larger tax base and populations - were thought to be more attractive places for additional social services and major government functions. Then suburbanization occurred, and all of the sudden the tax base flipped. Counties became the recipients of a the larger (and more demanding) tax base, and county government got in the business of big-time municipal governing (social services, fire and law enforcement, parks, etc). However, the wealthier residents left behind those more likely to need social services in the cities. Cities raised their taxes to compensate, and now you're stuck with this interesting model where the cities require higher taxes to maintain almost equivalent service levels of the urban/suburban counties, which in turn have governments that behave more like cities. Heck, Orange County even changed the chairman position to a "mayor" title! Either way, state law still allows the cities to annex portions of the counties - what was supposed to happen when the big cities expanded and the small town county folks wanted better services - and not the other way around. But in the current scenario - here in Orange County - there is pushback from county residents that get similar services for lower taxes. Of course, the cities are also only really interested in annexing areas that provide a boost in the tax base - not the places that geographically makes sense (there are some geographic rules about enclaves, etc) so we have these jagged city/county lines seemingly at random...

This is a great area. Essentially broken into Delaney Park (mix bigger houses and bungalows), the Lake Davis Historic area (expensive houses), Lake Lancaster (expensive houses), Lake Como (cheaper, smaller homes), and Belle Air in the lower right area (also known to old folks as Pill Hill because it's where a lot of doctors from the old Orange Memorial Hospital - now ORMC - used to live, nice houses). Older homes, some quite large, great school district (Blankner/Boone). We looked here extensively before deciding on College Park - our decision came down to the cohesiveness of CP feeling like a "town within the city" with it's own main street, etc, but we have a lot of friends that live in this area and love it. Tell them to take a walk around Lake Davis and grab a bite at Mills market

I'm skeptical. This area looks like it's in Osceola County, and Osceola County has never really been able to pull this kind of thing off

Agreed. Phase one was really just the path of least resistance to get going (I mean, seriously, how many people are going o ride from Maitland to Church Street?). Phase 2, particularly the southern extension, is where I think most of the ridership will come from. Commuter rail thrives on outer suburbs, and ours barely reaches them currently. Also thrives on a city center that supplies most of the jobs, which we kind of lack as well....

When I moved here from NYC, this is one thing that was desperately missing from Orlando. Glad the gap is being filled - I hope they don't try to be too fancy or modern and keep with a traditional diner feel/price point. Sometimes the Orlando "version" of things tries too hard to reinvent the wheel

This! However, I assume that's privately owned land. That patch of grass is already a turd mine-field, and so many people use Lake Eola as a focal point for their walks - plus it's right in the hear of where a ton of new apts are opening. I absolutely believe an off-leash dog park would be a huge hit downtown (Fleet's is nice, but the whole point is for the apartment-dwelling dog owners to have a place they can walk to). Constitution Green may not be the best place for it, but it is a need. And I don't even own a dog!