Under i

[codypet]

26 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Most things come down to money.

Maybe the cost projections become too high because of COVID related issues.

Or there could be a possible liability factor associated with people playing sports in a high traffic area. 

Maybe there were further studies done which suggest that public interest in the sports courts is not what they originally assumed.

Or.... it's possible that they are telling the truth about local businesses requesting the return of the spaces.

Whatever the reason, I understand why some are disappointed but IMO it was never that great of a proposal to begin with.

I'd have rather seen some kind of dining & retail thing go in there. 

Like a box park.  

I would go with that.  I cringed at the original idea of a splash pad down there, so I agree something needed to be tweaked, but the skate park etc seemed fine.  I just don't like the parking lot and being told  that a parking lot is a park.

[Alleri459]

At least the skate park would have been great to keep, or switching some parts to a container/food truck concept. That is still too much space just for parking making an area more hostile and unlivable.

[orlandouprise]

19 hours ago, codypet said:

The amount of damage control Brendan is doing for the City in that article is sickening too.  

"the City of Orlando is not shelving its plans to build a park under the I-4 interstate running the length of Hughey and Garland Avenues between West Washington Street and West Church Street, but they have recently shifted the original plans to include surface parking."

Then proceeds to show a rendering that has over 300 parking spaces over 3 city blocks practically dominating the site.   Brendan, you let them gaslight you into thinking that's including surface parking instead of it being primarily surface parking?

Remember back when Under I was envisioned, it was anticipated that the new garage Jefferson would provide the ability to walk through the park to the venues providing foot traffic to local businesses.  Thanks to these spots, now we don't have to do that anymore.

This is such a piece of crap city...its not even funny anymore...

Just now, orlandouprise said:

This is such a piece of crap city...its not even funny anymore...

i didnt say crap. thx for the edit. 

[jgardnerucf]

Why is everyone going crazy over this? Put some damn lights up and put some damn parking spots back and call it day. The drummer man will keep playing and the dollar lady will keep asking.

[JFW657]

42 minutes ago, jgardnerucf said:

Why is everyone going crazy over this? Put some damn lights up and put some damn parking spots back and call it day. The drummer man will keep playing and the dollar lady will keep asking.

I mostly agree, but I'd hope they do a little more than just put some lights up.  

[FLClarkKent]

9 hours ago, JFW657 said:

I mostly agree, but I'd hope they do a little more than just put some lights up.  

I wasn’t wild about the proposal, but excited that the city was taking a new approach to address an old problem (how to better connect the downtown code to the Parramore neighborhood). I’m bummed because it seems the city is ditching any kind of approach to improving the area in favor of just going back to how it’s always been.

[spenser1058]

2 hours ago, FLClarkKent said:

I wasn’t wild about the proposal, but excited that the city was taking a new approach to address an old problem (how to better connect the downtown code to the Parramore neighborhood). I’m bummed because it seems the city is ditching any kind of approach to improving the area in favor of just going back to how it’s always been.

Given we can’t even get around to changing the name of Division Street, I suspect we shouldn’t be surprised, sadly.

[AmIReal]

I didn't care for the old proposal anyway. But it seems this group has overlooked it was a "proposal"... a "concept". Remember how CV changed? How about Sodo? Uptown?

When these conceptual ideas are floated, Bungalower, OW and others promote them, and we all start to form opinions.  Meanwhile, did you notice there has not been a public meeting about this project? Was it ever funded, other than for study (No)? Did the public give input? Six years in and none of that was done. To me, that means it was not gonna happen. Btw, that is now on the schedule- The first phase of the project will open up the space for ride-share parking while the rest of the project is constructed. Public input will be heard during phase 2 as part of the DTO Plan process, Papagni said, which will be in about nine months. https://www.yourcommunitypaper.com/articles/under-i-project-altered-to-be-mostly-parking/

Color me not disappointed, not surprised. I'm happy they will return some parking. I think a ride share area is great idea. I hope they dress up the Church to Central zone.

I don't think they're through with the planning. It can be much better than it was. Nonetheless, it will be incremental improvement. 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by AmIReal

[aent]

1 hour ago, AmIReal said:

When these conceptual ideas are floated, Bungalower, OW and others promote them, and we all start to form opinions.  Meanwhile, did you notice there has not been a public meeting about this project? Was it over funded, other than for study (No)? Did the public give input? Six years in and none of that was done. To me, that means it was not gonna happen.

I mean, we paid $3 million dollars for them to design a parking lot under a bridge. How does that make sense? Of course the public has a right to be pissed. While I had some of my concerns about the original concept (a splashpad and anything targeting young kids didn't make sense to me), this leaves basically nothing.

[dcluley98]

On the bright side, a flat parking lot would be easy to develop/replace later on.  I am disappointed, but not surprised at all. 

In reality, playing sports underneath one of the busiest interstates in the country was not really all that appealing to me.  I think that the main connection to Church street and Amway and (hopefully) the S+ED will be the most important thing. 

The rest would be mostly underutilized or homeless/vagrant areas.  (although congregation in that area may be better than other locations downtown like the other "good" parks). 

Edited October 29, 2022 by dcluley98

[codypet]

Not disagreeing with the possibility of vagrants, but I think some of the noisier asphalt sports would have been served well there.   Mainly a skatepark.  Looking at the skatepark over by Festival park, its clearly overused and crowded and could use an expanded footprint.  The idea of clean sheeting it between Central and Washington made sense to me.  That would have freed up the Festival Park space to expand the Volleyball courts which are also used quite a bit.

[jack]

3 hours ago, codypet said:

Not disagreeing with the possibility of vagrants, but I think some of the noisier asphalt sports would have been served well there.   Mainly a skatepark.  Looking at the skatepark over by Festival park, its clearly overused and crowded and could use an expanded footprint.  The idea of clean sheeting it between Central and Washington made sense to me.  That would have freed up the Festival Park space to expand the Volleyball courts which are also used quite a bit.

Skatepark would work. Basketball courts are a popular use under highways. 

Look at what Miami did with the underline. It is not directly comparable since it has more direct sunlight but it show their creativity compared to Orlando's. 

[MrShow]

This is some Mickey Mouse crap. Not only are parks desperately needed but the city should be encouraging more micro mobility. The I-4 expansion should be the last major investment in traditional automobile infrastructure. 

[Uncommon]

14 minutes ago, MrShow said:

This is some Mickey Mouse crap. Not only are parks desperately needed but the city should be encouraging more micro mobility. The I-4 expansion should be the last major investment in traditional automobile infrastructure. 

I-4 should've been torn down and moved away from downtown. It's a travesty that so much money was poured into a gigantic highway running right into the center of our city, meanwhile other cities are demolishing their interstates that bisect their downtowns.

[spenser1058]

1 hour ago, Uncommon said:

I-4 should've been torn down and moved away from downtown. It's a travesty that so much money was poured into a gigantic highway running right into the center of our city, meanwhile other cities are demolishing their interstates that bisect their downtowns.

It’s even worse when you know it was never supposed to go downtown in the first place.

Former Sentinel publisher Martin Andersen wanted easy access for Sentinel delivery trucks and was also one one of the area’s leading segregationists*, so it’s no accident I-4 runs parallel to Division St. He is long gone as are the Sentinel trucks and such racial nonsense needs to be moving quickly in the rear view mirror.

Instead, with the return to parking, Mr Andersen is just smiling wherever he may be that nothing much has changed.

(*Feel free to ask me why Andersen’s discrimination caused Valencia to be Florida’s last public junior college established and his role in keeping it from merging with OJC when it was finally created). 
 

[codypet]

https://www.yourcommunitypaper.com/pageview/viewer/2022-11-01#page=11

Looks like there will be a public hearing about this after all........In about 9 months.

[AmIReal]

On 10/27/2022 at 9:37 PM, aent said:

I mean, we paid $3 million dollars for them to design a parking lot under a bridge.

No, we paid $3 million for them to design a park, but then we pulled the plug on that idea after the contract was let.

[JFW657]

It's BAAAAAAA - AAAAAAACK.......

The latest greatest plan for underneath the I-4 overpass in DTO is proposed to be called The Canopy.

Some kind of light show/visual thing that's supposed to be the largest of it's kind in the world.

Slated to begin in January and take a couple of years to complete if I'm not mistaken.

Enjoy....

 

[FLClarkKent]

Obviously I’m in the wrong line of work. Need to get into the “professional urban planner” gig to take advantage of that sweet municipal cash that gets handed out for proposals like this. As someone else here noted, if this is going to continue to be used for parking, just stick a few basketball courts and a skate park down there and call it a day.  Use the funds you would have spent to help revive the business on Church Street and around the soccer stadium (the intent of under I4 was to bridge the barrier between the eastern and western parts of the city core… but if the businesses are barely hanging on, that becomes besides the point).

Also, really, really love that we’re paying homage to the importance of the city’s tree canopy with fake trees under a multi-lane highway while the city itself continues to destroy the canopy with its policy of replacing  shade  trees with crepe myrtles and palms. Chef’s kiss, Orlando.

[codypet]

It's soooo loud down there.   This is not gonna be a pleasant place to be.   A skate park, tennis courts, and a basketball court would be so much better.

[dcluley98]

Maybe the lightshow will deter people from moving in. 

[JFW657]

2 hours ago, codypet said:

It's soooo loud down there.   This is not gonna be a pleasant place to be.   A skate park, tennis courts, and a basketball court would be so much better.

Maybe they feel that the loud, obnoxious rap music blaring from the speakers constantly, will drown out the noise of the traffic overhead. 

[cubanbread]

If you've got a problem with loud hip-hop, I don't think Florida is the place for you. We're the state that invented bass music and has had one of the strongest rap and hip-hop scenes pretty much since the genre hit the mainstream in the 80s. 
That's like moving to Nashville and complaining about country music. 

Outsider's perspective on this project, I think it's great and I believe if organizations like FDOT are going to force highways through our cities the least they can do is utilize all of the available space. I'm jealous that Tampa and St. Pete haven't used their overpasses in the same way. 

[Ivanhoe]

20 minutes ago, cubanbread said:

If you've got a problem with loud hip-hop, I don't think Florida is the place for you. We're the state that invented bass music and has had one of the strongest rap and hip-hop scenes pretty much since the genre hit the mainstream in the 80s. 
That's like moving to Nashville and complaining about country music. 

Outsider's perspective on this project, I think it's great and I believe if organizations like FDOT are going to force highways through our cities the least they can do is utilize all of the available space. I'm jealous that Tampa and St. Pete haven't used their overpasses in the same way. 

To be clear, Orlando is not using the highway overpass through downtown for anything. This is just an annual update regarding what could be and what isn’t. Put us right there in your jealously bucket with Tampa / St Pete.

[JFW657]

6 hours ago, cubanbread said:

If you've got a problem with loud hip-hop, I don't think Florida is the place for you. We're the state that invented bass music and has had one of the strongest rap and hip-hop scenes pretty much since the genre hit the mainstream in the 80s. 
That's like moving to Nashville and complaining about country music. 

Maybe, if Nashvillians blasted their country music as loudly as their speakers were capable of everywhere all the time including out of the trunks of their cars, your comparison might be valid.

But they don't and it isn't.

Also, if country music had an aggressive and underlying antisocial tone or glorified gang violence etc, you might also have a point.

But it doesn't and you don't. 

No offense intended. 

BTW, I've lived in Florida since 1965. 

You?