dcluley98

We have one. It is on the NE Corner of Lake Eola Park. (although not quite as fancy as the one you are showing here)

Correct, it was in reference to Codypet's comment: "W Church between Garland and the RxR tracks. Only Hamburger Mary's operates there."

There is going to be a food hall there eventually that should drive a little more traffic with the gravity there and CSPII. Not sure if they are planning on building out the food hall prior to CSPII or concurrently with it.

New art installation at Pine and Orange corner. Looks like it is temporary for EDC festival.

NeverMore

I might wander and come back. If they do it right.

I Don't know who needs to hear this, but the Sunshine Corridor would be a Multiplier Game-changer. A reliable, frequent, and plannable connection from the airport to the convention center/idrive area as well as downtown would solve so many problems and multiply upon itself for benefits. Having come from a nightmare travel scenario for a globally prominent tradeshow, this could attract the best companies in the world to come to and invest in Orlando. Combine that with the connectivity to the fast-growing Miami/SFL area, and it is cooking. Sunshine Corridor, people. . . Sunshine Corridor.

I was there for a convention, and the LA CC is somewhat close, south of downtown. I would disagree that having a downtown convention center is a good thing for a vibrant downtown. From my experience, CC patrons are a captive audience, and should be in their own separate ecostystem, informed and able to navigate easily. (paid for usually by corporate sponsors). They are unfamiliar with the area and just want the easist way to get to and fro with transportation and options, easy navigation and wayfinding, and convenient food and entertainment very close to their lodging and meeting space. DT should not try to be the Convention and Entertainment center. It should be it's own vibrant thing with a connection to both.

I was comparing to Miami Metro, and DT Orlando Lymmo, which as a Local, I don't use, but as a tourist if I knew about a free circulator I would definitley use. Especially if a connection from the Airport to DT existed. Airport to DT is the KEY.

I had the Ceviche Torta there. Pretty decent. I would love that to be what the Church street food hall ends up as. One of the highlights of my expereience DT. I would disagree with your assessment of transportation there, however. It seemed lacking or not accessable or not apparent to me as a visitor. Good signage and awareness is very key to public transport systems, especially visitors.

@Aent Have you been to DTLA? I did not find their public transportation system adequate DT in any way. In fact, it was much less adequate than Orlando's. I think the Inter-sprawl connectivity is probably better, but DT itself, yeah. Awful.

There were very good food options. I found several that were awesome with Yelp/Eater (had a great food hall that I would love for DT Orlando). https://grandcentralmarket.com/ But the point was the comment from the local uber driver. "We don't come down here". Basically, it is not a neighborhood. It is a destination/construct. I do not want Orlando to become something like that.

This is absolutely not true. I walk around the lake, pretty much every day. There are always people that see the rainbow colored bandshell as an iconic element of Orlando along with the Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain. The colors don't matter, and the preference of the observers don't matter. Most people see all of these things combined as a good thing, and it is a good expression of Orlando and its inclusive spirit, for outside observers. Inclusivity does not equate to factionalization, and there is too much of that.

Some folks can't understand the difference of a place like L.A. vs. local Orlando problems. . . To put it into perspective, I jaywalked across 7 lane Stroads multiple times to avoid encampments or weird goings-on before me the side I was walking. The parks DT were OK, but mainly havens and sleeping areas. The traffic was horrible. There were buses circulating around DT, but I don't know if that was like a Lymmo or paid bus system, no rail system, or things like Miami's Mover. I had to google how to walk a quarter-mile from gate to an uncovered parking lot to find a taxi from the airport that cost me $60 to get to DT. During one Uber, we asked the driver where is a good place to go to eat, and he said "I am sure there are very good places to eat, but we don't go here. Nobody who lives here goes down here. I live in East L.A., and it's much nicer, I just come down here to work. " There was very little "green-space" and mostly in the larger parks occupied by campers. Many of the streetscapes and sidewalks not maintained or consistent, and no real landscaping or tree guidelines. There were places where treewells were dirt, places where they put in astro-turf around trees in front of the "classier" buildings, and places where they were just pitfalls waiting to have somebody trip and fall into. Pretty much an urban wasteland, car-determined hellscape of unwalkable sketchiness. I am a fairly experienced, aware, and hubristically brave walker, but that was sketch even by my standards.

Been saying it for a while that it is the rent costs causing this revolving door of businesses. It is dumb as hell to require all retailers to provide ground-floor retail space in every building with lack of the economics to fill the space. We just end up with empty store-fronts or revolving door starts and closes with people trying the impossible and losing money, rinse repeat. The economics just don't work with the numbers involved here.

I just spent 4 days in DT LA, and there is no comparison. There were areas of LA that are like sidewalk encampments. Super sketchy to walk around (even though I did, because, well, I don't care). Orlando is fairly benign compared to the problems of these larger urban centers. I would never want to live in a place like LA.

Neither CSPII (The Edge) nor S+ED are dead. They are soliciting bids for both. I believe they are trying to prepare a GMP for CSPII and soliciting qualifications for portions of S+ED.

Yes, they planted new oak trees from Washington to Pine. They did this while the road was temporarily closed from the Scaffolding Debacle. They also printed a ton of trees at Colonial and I-4 mini park with the Orb statue and Pedestrian Bridge.

Yeah, a lot were from the first day, but I don't think all of them. I think it should get better and more reliable over time, and I expect them to make some more improvements to improve efficiency such as the bridge Aent mentioned above and double-tracking in some spots. Would like to see BL work to improve some slowdown areas and/or try to eliminate some grade crossings in areas over time, but unsure if they would spend the money on that when the already have ambitions elsewhere such as BL west and the Tampa phase.

A lot of the videos online of the full trip from Miami to ORL the duration was actually a lot longer than what they quoted. Not sure if this is just because it is the initial runs and they are still getting used to the tracks and speed/crossings, or if it will stay that way. More stations adds more time and it would eventually make it less beneficial compared to car-driven. This was meant to be intercity with other services serving local connections. I believe they will only have 2 stations between MCO and Tampa: One in the tourist area (whether it be CC/Sunshine Corridor Sunrail connection or Disney) and Lakeland.

Art2 Park Update:

It appears to be similar to the mural downtown that a few of us disliked as well. Hmmmm.

Sorry JRS, I misinterpretted your quote of the other person, thinking that you meant BL West was part of the cost over-runs of the CHSR project. It is debatable whether CHSR will be the first "true" HSR. Until they actually complete the route and run an actual service, I wouldn't claim that. Also, technically, the Acela will likely be the first "True" HSR in the United States. Amtrak is currently working on upgrading the corridor and has a plan for new trainsets that will achieve 250kph+ https://www.amtrak.com/next-generation-high-speed-trains#:~:text=The new Acela will operate,on the NEC in 2024.

CHSR and "Brightline West" are two entirely different projects. CHSR Phase 1 is through the Central Valley from Madera to about Bakersfield. Brightline West is the project that intends to go from Rancho Cucamunga/San Bernardino to Las Vegas. This would be either privately funded or PPP/grant mix. The $ you are quoting are not for the Brightline West project. I think you are mixing the two different projects in your mind.