Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[jrs2]

35 minutes ago, Alleri459 said:

I could see this potentially having some sort of additional aspect (think a performer considering the initiative it is part of). This would also be entertaining if it had a pop-up themed bar/food element on certain days(similar to the summer pop-up bar at the gardens of the Lake Nona Wave Hotel).  Creative use and activity-oriented monuments help create "buzz", but is the current leadership creative enough to allow this type of use? This leads me to my observations and opinions below.

Pivoting the conversation a bit: I will add, as many have already mentioned, the City is overdue for new leadership, especially the Downtown Development Board and essentially letting OPD make rules and the City arbitrarily implementing them when police should have done their job and stop posing for selfies with crowds late at night. Seems like an environment has been fostered making elected leaders seem untouchable. This stifles creativity in every sense due to groupthink (direction, zoning, planning, art, etc) and take these bizarre desperate measures. There is never one true factor in the economic boom, stagnation or decline of a neighborhood. Factors at the national and state level directly and indirectly have affected every city in this country.  In DTO's case, I don't believe enough people see the impact remote work has had. Let's take restaurants that are also bars at night, where licensing limitations need a percentage of food sales that came from daytime office crowds now significantly reduced or entirely gone. This either forces them to significantly reduce hours, raise prices, or close altogether; an issue at the state and national level. THese are not only the office towers, but all the smaller converted homes all throughout the downtown area neighborhoods. Homelessness is a problem everywhere in this country, even in the pretty white picket fence suburbs, you just don't see them because they're in the woods near homes, or behind your nearest Publix plaza. Housing costs are outrageous making this worse.  The City can provide solutions for these business, but keep in mind, the City of Orlando feels much bigger than it is, and is limited financially due to its size. Comparable metros have principal cities that are often close to double or even triple the population of the City of Orlando and have those funds to show, or ridiculous amounts of private investment (South Florida cities, for example). 

Since DTO and a small handful of the surrounding neighborhoods are the only true walkable areas in the Orlando Metro, all eyes are always on DTO making all these problems hyper visible.  I also believe the success of the Orlando Main Street program cannibalized DTO in some ways. I say cannibalized because similar sized metro areas have less options: their downtown and maybe two neighborhoods. This created entirely new corridors around Orlando that did not exist 10-15 years ago. Where most young and middle-aged people once congregated, they now have many neighborhood-oriented options. Given the City of Orlando's size, it is impressive with the population points I mentioned above. Millennials aging and changing habits are also being replaced by a significantly smaller generation with changing habits. When you have elected leadership in place for a generation, they tend to resort to out of touch tactics that may have worked 10 years ago, but not today. Lets not get started on the social club-like behavior. Looking at this as a planner there are so many ways the city can help with this (parking minimums, removing or shifting appointment based zoning restrictions in a post-covid world, etc). 

The current administration has helped deliver big projects in a time they were needed, but the city is continuously evolving and it is time to continue to the next phases of the City. It is easier said than done, and that requires participation from the City's residents.  I could go on.. but I am just doing my best acknowledging what the city has or doesn't have in its control, and adding pop-up art exhibits that don't seem to be well-received on this forum may come off as the City just doing whatever it can with its limited resources.

The Mayor has had two opportunities to make a public appearance, one for the Citrus Club remodeling, and the other, for a Juneteenth event (at said club), and he was a no show, as was the douche crying about Parkland as motivation to run for office.  But, Demmings was there and was very engaging (love that guy)...but he's Orange County Mayor, but, the guy who's office is two blocks away didn't go.  Go figure.

Remote work because of covid has, IMO, killed the downtown UCF campus (or any momentum it would have brought to DTO), and it hurt commercial real estate as well- but it did wonders for Bill Gates' MS Teams...

Tell it!  I tried to preach that about Orlando's small size but nobody's taking hits off my hookah pipe...

My assessment of DTO was that its strategy was to build those big projects to attract companies downtown...but, as we've seen from other cities, money talks and cool things only go so far...

[codypet]

1 hour ago, jrs2 said:

  But, Demmings was there and was very engaging (love that guy)...but he's Orange County Mayor, but, the guy who's office is two blocks away didn't go.  Go figure.

Mayor Demmings was at an event I attended and this was just after Val Demmings had lost her bid for Senate.   At the time he attended the entire duration of the event even though it was an ongoing pop in kind of event.  Mayor Dyer was there for about 15 mins.  Mayor Demmings however joked that his wife after the election decided to remodel the house and he did not want to go home to that mess.   I wonder just how big that renovation was that he's still trying to stay out of the house.

Edited Tuesday at 07:45 PM by codypet

[jrs2]

21 hours ago, codypet said:

Mayor Demmings was at an event I attended and this was just after Val Demmings had lost her bid for Senate.   At the time he attended the entire duration of the event even though it was an ongoing pop in kind of event.  Mayor Dyer was there for about 15 mins.  Mayor Demmings however joked that his wife after the election decided to remodel the house and he did not want to go home to that mess.   I wonder just how big that renovation was that he's still trying to stay out of the house.

Dyer should be ashamed of himself for missing a Juneteenth event, an Pan-Asian event, a Black up and comers event, and the Grand Remodel event.  And, the Parkland pseudo non-victim should also be ashamed because he didn't even have the courtesy to show for yet a third event where he instead sent his proxy...because he cares so much.  

[jack]

8 hours ago, jrs2 said:

Dyer should be ashamed of himself for missing a Juneteenth event, an Pan-Asian event, a Black up and comers event, and the Grand Remodel event.  And, the Parkland pseudo non-victim should also be ashamed because he didn't even have the courtesy to show for yet a third event where he instead sent his proxy...because he cares so much.  

Are you talking about the congressman? Could be in DC. 

[Ivanhoe]

1 hour ago, jack said:

Are you talking about the congressman? Could be in DC. 

I assume the poster refers to Jared Moskowitz (D), who helped draft the bi-partisan bill the "Safety Act" which increased the age limit to 21 along with a 3-day waiting period on the purchase of firearms.  It is quite clear who the Parkland victims were, so its a little perplexing what this poster is even talking about.

Edited Thursday at 02:39 AM by Ivanhoe

[jrs2]

15 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

I assume the poster refers to Jared Moskowitz (D), who helped draft the bi-partisan bill the "Safety Act" which increased the age limit to 21 along with a 3-day waiting period on the purchase of firearms.  It is quite clear who the Parkland victims were, so its a little perplexing what this poster is even talking about.

nope

[jrs2]

15 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

I assume the poster refers to Jared Moskowitz (D), who helped draft the bi-partisan bill the "Safety Act" which increased the age limit to 21 along with a 3-day waiting period on the purchase of firearms.  It is quite clear who the Parkland victims were, so its a little perplexing what this poster is even talking about.

I'm talking about the guy who's campaign dealt with how moved and/or disturbed he was at the shooting; a real virtue signaler- like anyone cares what his opinion is, as he wasn't a parent, worker, nor a student there.  All he was doing was pandering so that The Left would endorse him as being tough on guns.  His bio looks like it was written by a 9th grader, and is a complete joke how he correlates other regional or national events as having affected him personally- like he was the actual victim.

If he really wanted to make a difference, he would find out thru FDLE or other investigation why the local police sat there doing nothing while the shooter was inside the school, killing students, which prompted BCSO, which arrived a few minutes later, to immediately storm in on their own authority and take out the culprit themselves after they grilled the local authorities on what the hec they were waiting for (while kids were dying).

And like I stated, he was more interested in getting elected than engaging with the community than doing his job.  In contrast, Mica made Sunrail happen.  This guy made being an opportunistic victim happen.  

If those synapses are firing, you'll figure it out; then you won't have to be so perplexed...

[JFW657]

2 hours ago, jrs2 said:

I'm talking about the guy who's campaign dealt with how moved and/or disturbed he was at the shooting; a real virtue signaler- like anyone cares what his opinion is, as he wasn't a parent, worker, nor a student there.  All he was doing was pandering so that The Left would endorse him as being tough on guns.  His bio looks like it was written by a 9th grader, and is a complete joke how he correlates other regional or national events as having affected him personally- like he was the actual victim.

If he really wanted to make a difference, he would find out thru FDLE or other investigation why the local police sat there doing nothing while the shooter was inside the school, killing students, which prompted BCSO, which arrived a few minutes later, to immediately storm in on their own authority and take out the culprit themselves after they grilled the local authorities on what the hec they were waiting for (while kids were dying).

And like I stated, he was more interested in getting elected than engaging with the community than doing his job.  In contrast, Mica made Sunrail happen.  This guy made being an opportunistic victim happen.  

If those synapses are firing, you'll figure it out; then you won't have to be so perplexed...

Is there a prize for whoever figures it out first?  

[jack]

3 hours ago, jrs2 said:

I'm talking about the guy who's campaign dealt with how moved and/or disturbed he was at the shooting; a real virtue signaler- like anyone cares what his opinion is, as he wasn't a parent, worker, nor a student there.  All he was doing was pandering so that The Left would endorse him as being tough on guns.  His bio looks like it was written by a 9th grader, and is a complete joke how he correlates other regional or national events as having affected him personally- like he was the actual victim.

If he really wanted to make a difference, he would find out thru FDLE or other investigation why the local police sat there doing nothing while the shooter was inside the school, killing students, which prompted BCSO, which arrived a few minutes later, to immediately storm in on their own authority and take out the culprit themselves after they grilled the local authorities on what the hec they were waiting for (while kids were dying).

And like I stated, he was more interested in getting elected than engaging with the community than doing his job.  In contrast, Mica made Sunrail happen.  This guy made being an opportunistic victim happen.  

If those synapses are firing, you'll figure it out; then you won't have to be so perplexed...

Ah, Mr Frost. 
 

wasn’t the local police BCSO? They may have stormed in but the problem was the officer assigned to the school did nothing when he was on the scene the entire time.  

[jrs2]

28 minutes ago, jack said:

Ah, Mr Frost. 
 

wasn’t the local police BCSO? They may have stormed in but the problem was the officer assigned to the school did nothing when he was on the scene the entire time.  

Yes, Fr05t.  You know, I was watching Tower 2 go down real time on TV and cried...  What?  Am I going to somehow bankroll off of that just because I was only 5 feet from my TV set?  Makes no sense. Totally disingenuous.  

1 hour ago, JFW657 said:

Is there a prize for whoever figures it out first?  

 

[codypet]

Hey guys, could you move it to the coffee house?  I want to continue to whine about the crappy art installation on Orange.  J/K

Actually A la Carte style box food truck spot is wrapping up and now a Cuban Restaurant is opening in the new DoveCote spot.  I'm curious how both do downtown because if they do well, they could bring the resurgence downtown.

[Alleri459]

1 hour ago, codypet said:

Hey guys, could you move it to the coffee house?  I want to continue to whine about the crappy art installation on Orange.  J/K

Actually A la Carte style box food truck spot is wrapping up and now a Cuban Restaurant is opening in the new DoveCote spot.  I'm curious how both do downtown because if they do well, they could bring the resurgence downtown.

It will add onto the pretty successful tenants at that MAA apartment building. If they are great, people will not see whatever literal or mental obstacle to get there. Stemma is unique and a quality coffee shop drawing in people from all over Central Florida, for example, while also providing the block with a great third space. I am excited to see how this stretch of Orange Avenue gets activated.

[codypet]

2 minutes ago, Alleri459 said:

It will add onto the pretty successful tenants at that MAA apartment building. If they are great, people will not see whatever literal or mental obstacle to get there. Stemma is unique and a quality coffee shop drawing in people from all over Central Florida, for example, while also providing the block with a great third space. I am excited to see how this stretch of Orange Avenue gets activated.

Hughey Magoos is always slammed at lunch.

[jrs2]

44 minutes ago, codypet said:

Hughey Magoos is always slammed at lunch.

that is a good anchor.  a good anchor can really have grand benefits...

[klstorey]

The Beacham seems to finally be getting some facade TLC. You can really see the layers of history in the marquee. I was surprised to see the neon still intact under panels on the north side. 

This marquee really should be restored to its previous glory, downtown doesn't have a cool retro style sparkling theater sign. 

[JFW657]

6 hours ago, klstorey said:

The Beacham seems to finally be getting some facade TLC. You can really see the layers of history in the marquee. I was surprised to see the neon still intact under panels on the north side. 

This marquee really should be restored to its previous glory, downtown doesn't have a cool retro style sparkling theater sign. 

Wow. That really looks like trash.