illliterate02

Sooner or later they will be paying that on other services... or they will be sitting in traffic and complaining why the situation for the roads isnt better. I cant stand these small minded people

I think the criticism comes from the fact that they have waited to build things after the relevance of them has passed. If we have built the HSR 10 years ago... well it would still be underconstruiction, but we would have growth that was trying to accomidate that. We would also have more local oppurtunities to expand our transporational methods. Now, we are going to use a Commuter Rail (which really wont serve a lot of people) in a place that has just been reinforced by car culture forever. The Commuter Rail is not really going to aleviate the problem, its just a symbol to say "we did something." I love it, but I am totally sure that it is going to be a failure. It runs through suburban america and their SUV's, to downtown (where I am sure most people that work there are not going to ride the train) to south orlando where people work in the theme parks anyways. I am really critical of this because it doesnt seem like a real alternative or even that the government of Florida wants a real alternative. If we did push HSR and we did push light rail, those seem like alternatives and if the government made the initiative, then it could have worked. The lack of progression in Florida is totally killing me. We have the oppurtunity to grow smartly and preserve our beautiful state, yet no one cares... as long as they get a house with a yard and 5 yrs later they move back to NY because they miss the city lifestyle.... and the train. If you build it they will come, dont just switch "it" for the step son of the original intention. Commuter rail should have been operational 20 years ago.

There is a lot of new development out this way as well.... I think that it could materialize in a few more years... definatley after 2013 because the main line from Downtown to Poinciana wont even be completed yet.

there is a lot of people that live down there.... it would be as pointless as the northern section.

With gas reaching 3$ a gallon it wouldnt be to difficult to get funding for that... I dont believe... We need something going east to west though... and something from the airport to the attractions.... I think we can get something happening in a few years... Orlando is starting to develop a sense of community.

Maybe because there is a population of 200.000+ Puerto Ricans in the metro area and growing, which would be a sizeable city in PR. They figure they can take advantage of the recognition of their people and their athletes... seeing as how Puerto Ricans are really proud of their people and their achievements.

No one wants to fork over the cash to do it.... If you ever pay attention to the news in the NFL you will still see today that there is immense interest in getting a team there. Its a metro of 14 million people without a team, I am absolutly sure now that you have said it that there is no interest in having a team there... Yet they always have specials on ESPN about how the NFL is trying to get LA a team. But I guess they dont know what they are talking about on ESPN, I wouldnt expect a sports news channel to know anything about the NFL... they have been conning me for years.... I just wonder about some people on these boards... To keep this related to the topic.... I think the Perfrorming Arts Center is the most important piece of this vision. The Arena is second... But we should start planning for a future baseball or football team here. It is going to happen someday...

That is ludacris... LA has been on the NFL's huevos since the 90's for a team! MLB will force a move like they are going to in Miami. Read up on the events...

There is no NFL team in Los Angeles, yet they have a huge market with a lot more money than Central Florida. Size of market really isnt an issue, but they did choose Tampa over Orlando based on that... and they also realized it was a wrong choice. The team will move if the commisioner doesnt agree with the owner on their stlye and requests to move the team. If no one goes to the games you can bet that the team will be leaving. The Marlins will leave Miami, and they are already speculating the departure of the Devil Rays, not that it will happen, there is just an extreme likelyhood of it. And I doubt the Devil Rays would ever be the team of Orlando.... We love the Yankees and Red Sox and Mets.... We are all from up north or Puerto Rico.... Oh and about PR, it was never a viable market... there is no money there.... well legal money. I think that this "City" should grow up and start thinking big... the growth is constant... these small minded individuals need to go to the country if they dont want to experience this lifestyle instead of impeading on the future of the rest of us.

Good evidence, I can see your point...

Well that would be true if most of the latinos in the Orlando area were from Central or South America, but since most are Caribbean, where Baseball is by far the most popular sport, this actually doesn't mean anything for the Orlando area. And dealing with baseball, the Expos were planning to move to San Juan, PR a few years ago, a metro of 1.4 million where the average income is 1/3 less than that of Orlando. If there wouldnt have been such a large open market in Washington then they would have moved to PR. (Not a good move in my book). I think that they should plan for the future and start designing sports complexes for all sports, especially MLB. I am sure that the Devil Rays will be gone in a few seasons and Orlando would be prime area for a new team. Sure there are a lot of transplants, and a lot of Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, Mets fans that would love to watch their teams play against the Orlando So-n-so's in their own back yard. Plus all you need is a few seasons of success to change peoples minds... Sure they might always like the Red Sox, but they can grow to adopt another team especially if they are in separate leagues. My two pennies...

If that is true then no one would pay to see the Devil Rays. And considereing that I used to live down the street from PetCo Park I can tell you that a on the left field fence was 20 dollars last season... I will scan you my stub of the last one I went to if you like. According to the devil rays web site for a single regular season game tickets run 8-90$ with majority of the tickets running less that 37.00$, Not to mention most teams have the same exact set of pricing. I would only think about 2 or 3 teams (Boston, NYY and Cubs) would have different prices, and games circulating record breaking events. Oh well, Im done with it... And those baseball facilities you mentioned Speck are horrendous. Pros would never play there seriously...

Are you serious? you can get seats for 8 dollars in San Diego in the outfield, you can get lower deck outfield for 16 dollars. brand new park. Those seats you are talking about are like maybe 2000 total in the whole stadium. By the way, Disney can ask that much for tickets because they can... People are still going to go. Season ticket holders in babeball are just unrealistic... no one can go to 81 games, lets be real here. But people can surely dish out 20 dollars or so 3-4 times a season. Not to mention, more people would go to football games if they could fit more in the stadium, most of them sell out. I dont think it is unrealistic to have baseball fans attend 5-10 games a season. I know a lot of people that would love to go to Miami or St. Pete to watch the games, but they just dont have the time to drive that far. And you are still discounting the hispanic population, and the growth... You all dont factor so much into your equations. If Oakland can support a team then Orlando could sin problemas...

considering the fact that most people that go to Baseball games go to multiple games in a season, one person would just need to go to 4 games (30+ for all 4) and that the tickets are tremendously less expensive I dont see this to be too far fetched... but I figured that you would be the one to argue my point first... Gotta make a living...

Orlando could support a team... Baseball games are a lot cheaper to attend than football games... you can get the cheap seats for like 7$ a peice... Football games are running like 30$+ ( I might be out of the loop on that one since I havent been for awhile). Not to mention that average attendance to Baseball games is about half to 2/3rds that of Football games. Alsa you forget about the large Caribbean Hispanic population that we have here in Orlando, Babeball is the lifeblood of those countries, not to mention a fair amount of players in the MLB hail from those countries. If they came out to see Arroyo playing off the bench with that much fervor, Imagine a lineup of 4-5 starters that they love? I expect the arguments... Why doesnt it work in Miami? In Miami, they play in a football stadium and kill off all fan support by selling their players away... In fact ESPN has had much to say about that over the last year since they won the Series... about the stadium and the management. Tampa (St. Pete) has one of the most horrendous abominations that one would call a "baseball park." Most Minor league teams get their own facilities, unlike Miami, and they are top notch compared to St. Pete. The market here is growwing and our position as a tourist town can only attract more people. I could plan a vacation around watchin my baseball team play in Puerto Rico (Expo's back in the day) or hypothetically if there was a team in Orlando playing some serious games in San Fran or Seattle (places I would like to visit). Dad can drop the kids off at the theme parks with mom and Aunt Suzie and hit up the Yankee Orlando game with Uncle Tio. We just need a rich Owner like Steinbrenner to buy up talent for us.

Its really sad that people dont get it, their lives could be so much more convenient if we lived in a clustered format. And I can understand peoples arguments that they want their own private yard and such... and if they want that then they shouldnt move to the suburbs of some city which are bout to be LA-ish in a few decades. I am not talking Tokyo density (though I would welcome that), its just ridiculous to drive everywhere and be so dependent on cars. Especially when the weather outside is beautiful like in Florida... they walk around Portland and Seattle all the time, and it is raining and cold!

Well, its mainly ideas that republicans have put in place that have led to this misuse of money, especially the federal money that we get for transportation. Catagorical Grants and Block Grants, all ideas proposed by Republicans which gives tax money for anything or for nothing...Basicaly you can use the money for whatever you want in a block grant, and catagorical grants you get money for roads but you have to fit a specific catagory... There is no grey area, typical of republican politics. In turn that just hurts us. I also find it hard to believe that you have anti-Democrat sentiment, because they havent been able to do anything in office for years. I prefer socialism so attack them both at will, it won't affect me any, just try to do it in traffic on your way to the voter booth.

I think that is how we got up there, because of the size of this city and the situation with the traffic. We should not be having the problems that we are right now. Its too bad that we have had these problems for years. My mother didn't realize that we had such a bad problem here till she moved away. Its just really sad that people care about a half cent here or there in order to improve the quality of life in this city and state. Sure lots of tax money gets wasted on things, but they also help improve the community, and Americans are so anti-taxes it disgusts me. They want to drive on the roads, use the schools, and call the police and fire departments but dont want to give more money to help improve any of them. But they will be the first to whine and complain about how things need to improve. Sorry, my anti-Republican sentiments have been growing inside me for a few weeks... Politics gotta love em..

Without casinos Orlando blows Vegas out of the water in terms of crime. The more people here, the more taxes you can make off of them, not to mention the amount of money that would be put into the casinos. I am not talking massive strip full of casinos and such, I am saying some resorts here and there. Kind of like the casino area in Sydney. Gambling doesnt cause as many problems as people think, they just see it as immoral. There is already a problem with illegal gambling here, due to the fact that it is illegal and unprotected by the police. I just think it would make the total package... parks and craps... who wouldnt want that? Screw Vegas... take the kids to Disney and at night we can hit the lobby for some video poker... Not to mention the beaches just an hour away... Maybe I look at it from a purely economic standpoint. Oh well, we are capitalists right?

Bad things come with poverty as well, and when Disney gets old people are not going to have jobs here.

Orlando would destroy Vegas if we legalized gambling... We could seriously benefit from it.

Shaq and Howard would be the real twin towers... that would be a dream... but D. Wade is the next best secret.... Kobe who?

This money if for the FTA... not just commuter train. It is going to fund new roads and I-4 expansion. In the news they made it seem as if the money was already awarded... but might not be rationed out as fast as they hoped.

Yeah, the metro will hold the title, but west of i-4 there is no height limit i have heard.

Yeah, from my appartment in Kissimmee to downtown Orlando is about 22 miles. Most of that is built land... save a few patches of swampy area or cow pasture... But my friend lives in the Suburbs of Charlotte (according to that city's statistics) and I was in BFE. There were like forests and feilds all around him. Not once did I feel like I was in a city there, until I was in downtown. Orlando feels like San Diego, without the mountains and desert, add cowpastures and swampy area. The downtowns are going to be similar also due to height restrictions and we both have Seaworlds.... strange...