uncreativeusername

Ideal scenario would be restoring the original deco elements of the Beacham and updating the rest of the block match...

Looks like it shrunk in the wash...

Wow, thanks for sharing--this news hits like a ton of bricks. Spenser always was (and will continue to be) my subconscious UP mascot, and a sort of fairy godfather of urbanism (and of course Orlando history). I've been amused, engrossed, entertained, and fascinated by Spenser's opinions, insight, and wit on these boards for close to two decades. Grateful for all of it. Hear, hear!

A huge improvement, but also uglier than necessary. And not even from cheaping out, just being done in poor taste. Agree with @prahabohemethat Streamline Moderne would have been apropos and easy.

It's absolutely hideous...but the scaffolding is down, so it must be the final plan?

Totally (and I grew up there/went there); but even more confusing given that there are now two performing arts centers and two educational buildings, ha.

I feel you, but I also get it in terms of place-making...between the neighborhood, the high school, the performing arts center, the UCF downtown building...it's almost silly.

Ugh - what a disappointment. I'm not a teal fanboy or anything, but I have always loved this building exactly as it is. The color of the pyramids always read as a copper patina to me, and were an absolutely signature element of the building.

I'm not so bothered by the open field--I think space for activities is especially relevant as an element of a college campus--but I agree that the palms are a bummer. There could have been a very nice perimeter of shade with seating as a compromise. Still very pleased with how CV is shaping up on the whole though, and while I agree it feels a little barren, I'm still optimistic for the long term as foliage matures and more plots are developed.

THANK YOU, @ucfpatriot18. It's flat out hate speech. (I really am deeply appreciative of your response. Part of the reason I took a break from the boards last fall was not just because of the homophobic comments I saw, but the lack of anyone stepping in to challenge them. I thought our community was better than this.)

The fact that you believe this is EXACLTY the reason I don't feel safe or welcome in Florida. For all the talk about the media distorting what DeSantis is doing, the way conservative media has convinced America of this fake threat against children is an extreme homophobic backslide. Do I have kids? I am an educator dedicating my life to kids, so yes, I have 50 of my own "kids" and I care about them all deeply, and I wholly resent any implication otherwise. Child abuse is DISGUSTING, grooming is DISGUSTING, all of these things are DISGUSTING. But they are not "gay" problems, and it is absurd that this is becoming a remotely mainstream belief. And nobody is claiming parents shouldn't have the right to raise their children how they please. This is precisely what I mean when I say the LGBTQ+ community is being used as political fodder. Creating false enemies and scapegoats to divide a society is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. I have been extremely upset by some of the blatantly homophobic things that have been said on these boards in the past year; there has been an obvious uptick with the environment DeSantis and extremist conservatives have recently fostered. I've been on these boards since 2005 (and was a lurker before that), and I had to step away for several months last fall because I was so upset by a string of several unrelated homophobic conversations I saw in these threads. Maybe I was wrong to try and come back.

I absolutely understand that the day-to-day reality is not necessarily so stark; I grew up in Orlando after all, and have generally looked at my formative years with gratitude for the level of acceptance I experienced relative to norms of the time. In the aftermath of Pulse, I also spent a lot of time defending Orlando as a very LGBTQ+ friendly place to my friends and colleagues who seemed unsurprised that such a tragedy occurred in Florida (which was in-and-of-itself a very hurtful layer of that experience). But regardless of the reality on the ground at this moment, I would not feel safe living in a state that is run by a leader with an authoritarian bent who uses the LGBTQ+ community as political fodder. Determining the moment at which things backslide in such an environment is an unpredictable game of Russian roulette in which I have no interest in taking part.

Throwing in my own two cents on the matter (without spilling too much of my personal life): I'm a musician, and a teacher in a somewhat niche methodology that isn't well established in FL. I've been on faculty at a music school in Chicago for a decade now, but my long term dream was always to return to Orlando and share what I do with my hometown. In the past few years, that has become a non-option for me as a gay man - there is no way I would return to Florida in the current environment. (And please withhold any responses telling me that I'm overreacting or that I am in fact welcome - the point is that this is how DeSantis' policies have made me feel, and regardless of whether or not you agree with me, my feelings are my feelings.) I'm actually in a bit of a personal-life crisis because I have no idea what I want to do with my career in the long term with my biggest aspiration being crushed by DeSantis' alienating policies.

You know, it's funny; I'm usually annoyed that the PreCheck lines mostly use the old school metal detectors, because I always have to end up taking off my belt and/or shoes even though I'm not supposed to have to.

Stayed at the AC last weekend, some great views: