Orlando core still tends to repel people

[corpkid]

Interesting read in the business section of the Orlando Sentinel today... Anyone who lives downtown (outside the Eola Heights/Thorton Park area) knows this already:

CLICK HERE

[UrbanNTittlemynt]

He was right about the lack of people spaces, however, there are some "attempts" to address this with spaces such as Wall Street Plaza and the History Center Plaza. Mayor Dyer's Downtown Transition Team also addressed the need for open space and parks. We should not be widening any roads through downtown.

Also, as desirable as the idea of putting I-4 may be, it is a non-starter from a technical point of view. The existence of a high water table in Central Florida rules out the underground highway schemes.

quote=corpkid,May 11 2005, 06:28 AM]

Interesting read in the business section of the Orlando Sentinel today... Anyone who lives downtown (outside the Eola Heights/Thorton Park area) knows this already:

CLICK HERE

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[prahaboheme]

I really don't see how we need more open spaces in such a small area. We have Heritage Square and Lake Eola, and when 55W gets their act together, the Esplanade. We need dense, urban development with streetside retail. That is what will bring people downtown I do agree that widening roads is a really bad idea, who thought of this?

[Hisma]

Maybe not more open spaces, but more places for residents to congregate in the daytime. Downtown is always hoppin' at night, but I'm sure we can all agree it's fairly dead during the day time, especially on the weekends when there's no office workers to fill the streets.

I simply can't believe the city nixed a plan to include a public marketplace at the base of the courthouse. That end of downtown has virtually NOTHING, and instead of helping to draw more people to a part of downtown in serious need of streetlife, they make a huge stone facade with no street interaction whatsoever. And on top of that they have plans to widen orange ave? What are these people smokin??

I just hope the city has learned from it's past mistakes, and people like Fred Kent can talk some sense into the less civic-minded officials.

I feel orlando could do a little more to help draw people at all hours, to help truely make us more like a 24/7 city.

[sunshine]

I hope a market will be put at the new project. Something like a permanat farmer market.

[cwetteland]

^ with regard to open spaces ,,, I think a lot could be achieved if people think a little outside the block. Take for instance the plaza area on the SE corner of Orange & Church. If PremiereTrade could have made their plaza line up with the other plaza it be a bigger open space ... but not additional open space. Of course if the plaze at the SE corner had some public access to the building there, that'd help too. It'll be nice if on the SW corner they add all the little food places that are planned.

Palm Beach Crust could do something similar if that have a little open area that could compound the open space already at the courthouse. And I hope the courthouse could backfit some ground level activity center.

Developer plans tend to just look at their particular piece of gound and don't consider surroundings. Shame.

[Jaybee]

The City is not expanding Orange Avenue, with the exception of creating two-way traffic on South and Anderson Streets at Orange (that's why the Tower of Light is moving). Two-way traffic is a goal of anyone with New Urbanist thinking like Mr. Kent - it's unfortunate that he'd take such a stoopid pop-shot without knowing the project.

[cwetteland]

The repel factor sure exists across Church from Mako's and the Kress Chop House. That giant wall of impenetrable marble on the North Side of Sun Trust ... anti-personnel armor.

[OCF]

Another factor that must be taken into consideration is that this is the post 9-11 era. Like it or not, most public buildings such as courthouses and federal buildings are built with security in mind, not neccessarily ambiance. I don't think it would not be pracitical to put such a high pedestrian traffic area such as a market on the footsteps of the courthouse. If I remember correctly, the courtyard separating the courthouse from orange avenue main purpose is to put some space between the road and the building to minimize the potential damage from a car bomb. Its unfortunate that our public places are now built like fortresses and ironically less open to the public but it's the world we live in now.

[GRS328]

The repel factor sure exists across Church from Mako's and the Kress Chop House.  That giant wall of impenetrable marble on the North Side of Sun Trust ...  anti-personnel armor.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

likewise can be said about the base of the former(?) Southern Community Bank buidling on Orange. That may be the most repelling building from street level I have ever actually physically encountered.

[Dale]

I would have liked to have seen more consideration given to the public spaces already planned and u/c, the effect they are likely to have.

Of course, if he was so charitable, and the Sentinel neglected to include those remarks, then the expert is hardly to blame.

[Chemmie]

1. Most major cities downtown areas are dead on the weekends.

2. The park areas Orlando has don't even come near capacity. (Lake Eola, Art Museum, etc. Actually, the most popular park in Orlando is Fleet People's Park in Winter Park and it's an off leash dog park.)

3. The West side of I-4 is perfect for this type of redevelopment. It's time the city start offering major incentives to businesses and residents to start fixing up the area, leaving adequate space for parks.

[sunshine]

A Central Park is being put in the Parramorre area, I wish they would make the park as large as Eola.

The plan to put pathed trails around Lake Ivanhoe is killed by the people that lived there.

[cwetteland]

2.  The park areas Orlando has don't even come near capacity. (Lake Eola, Art Museum, etc.  Actually, the most popular park in Orlando is Fleet People's Park in Winter Park and it's an off leash dog park.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think it is great that the dogs have a place to play, especially one that allows them to splash in the water like at Fleet Peoples Park; BUT, it's time for this park to relocate. The perimeter of Lake Baldwin is about 95% in Baldwin Park. Lake Baldwin is at least 20 times bigger than Eola. Baldwin park wants to build trails that circle the whole lake so it can be used for biking, jogging etc. Fleet Peoples is owned by Winter Park, and they are unwilling to let the trails go through Fleet Peeples because you'd have to remove the fence and then the doggies can escape.

It seems to me that Winter Park citizens would have more to gain by joining with Baldwin on this than Baldwin Park has to gain. All WP has to do is find an new place for the dogs to go.

[prahaboheme]

I agree, but its more likely Winter Park nimbyism than anything else. They just don't like to change things around, and don't feel like they have to unless its in their own interest.

[cwetteland]

I agree, but its more likely Winter Park nimbyism than anything else. They just don't like to change things around, and don't feel like they have to unless its in their own interest.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WP made a key mistake in playing a key role in shooting down light rail. When the WP Village opened many Park Ave customers starting going to the village. Shop owners were mad at city gov't for not forseeing this and killing light rail which would have brought in replacement customers. So when Baldwin Park was negotiating for extending lakemont into BP, WP gov't did all they could to prevent it because they felt a whole new wave of customers would migrate to the BP urban scene further infuriating the Park Ave shop owners.

That started a pissing contest between BP and WP. Luckily it looks like new urbanism is helping Park Ave recover and it all worked out for WP. But it'd be much better if they had light rail. And the Fleet Peeple's park issue still is a thorn in everybody's side because of the historical war between the two.