How would you make Orlando Better?

[drjnieto]

First of all,

I will add an urban development boundary and actually use it. Nothing can be built outside of this boundary. Any developer wish to develop their land outside the boundary will have to pay for premium fees for road building. This will cost there products to be extremely pricy and nobody will buy it.

All commercial strips are to be built right up to the street. All surface parkings are to be hidden. Enourage them to build multistory store with garage. for example, Walmart will have to be 5 stories tall with attched parking garage. All stores are to be pedestrian oriented and not auto orineted.

Really focus in downtown rebuilding by bringing tourist elements. Tourists bring world class downtown. Residents alone cant sustain a busy downtown.

Mass transit. LRT from Sanford all the way down to airport and disney. Monorail along I-drive. Street car around downtown.

Have someone buy Jaguar and the Ray and bring them in town.

Built a broadway style theatre district downtown. Built an urban beach along lake ivanhoe that will rival South Beach or Paris beach.

Last, move everybody from Paramore to deland or deltona and level the entire place to build a central park.

Great ideas, we need a state of the art theater district to complement the orlando PAC. We also need to complement the new arena, with night life atmosphere ( see Staples center, LA live just got built across the stree) lets build an O live to complement the arena.

Lets get a pro football team and build a new foot ball stadium. Build a retractable roof baseball stadium for an expansion team or the Rays or Marlins.

Mass transit is definetly needed I agree. Build a highway that go to the airport directly from downtown.

[Boomer136]

Self-serving as it is, I think we need to support culture here, I'm not saying spend tons of money on subsidizing individual groups or artists, but help celebrate what we have, make some of those tax break deals for gallery and studio space. The reason why Orlando didn't become Hollywood South was because none of the writers and other creative types wanted to stay here for the lack of culture.

The beginning of a theatre district starts with having the city keep the Carr. Imagine TWO high production value shows to choose from!

I'd like to see the Shakespeare Festival move out of the old science center, have other troupes move in, and the Shakespeare Festival move into new digs downtown, like in the old CS exchange maybe.

Heck, how about resurrecting the comedy club in old Rosies.

I don't think you can plan a creative village. Like having some sweaty accountant looking over your shoulder and saying you haven't been creative for 5 hours now. I think you have to recognize and support the vibe when you find it.

[bulldogger]

start using this stuff

New Precast Concrete Sucks CO2 Out of the Air

[FLheat]

start using this stuff

New Precast Concrete Sucks CO2 Out of the Air

I think the International Builder's Show used that on the prairie style house they built two years ago on the corner of Broadway and E Ridgewood (it looks like the house is still vacant and for sale).

[USF_Rockstar]

Light rail is seriously needed, and not just for Orlando. I think a light rail system would definantly aid in transportation and will contribute to increaseing population density.

Mass transit. LRT from Sanford all the way down to airport and disney. Monorail along I-drive. Street car around downtown.

They actually almost put a Mag-lav train in from the airport to Disney but in the end it fell through because Disney didn't want them to stop at I Drive.

[lala67]

growth boundaries don't really work, sprawl is going to continue, but I sense it's losing a bit of cache b/c of oil prices going up and the suburbs' own lack of identity. I'd also revamp the whole transportation concurrency system so that public/mass transit is a preferred mode. I'd also encourage bike & ped transportation. You can't do either of those things if your transportation system is only focused on roadway capacity. Move people, not cars. Everybody walks at some point. Make it as inconvenient to drive as it is to ride a bike or walk.

Beyond the other urban design ideas sunshine mentioned, I'd like the powers that be to encourage Orlando to be a funky, vibrant, 'weird' town like Austin & Portland (both have 'Keep Portland/Austin Weird' campaigns). We're never going to be a sleek Miami where all the beautiful people go. Let the beautiful rich people hang out in Winter Park. Let the hip people live in Orlando. We're a college town with UCF & Vallencia boasting nearly 50K students each. Too bad the university is so far removed from downtown, but connect the two places with commuter/light rail. Recognize that we're a college town, not NYC or Chicago or San Francisco. We're only a city of 250K. Demographically, Orlando is one of the younger areas of the state. Focus on the young urban professionals and the urban hiptsters.

Encourage the indie music scene. I don't care if we have a museum that rivals MOMO or a dance troupe that rivals the NYC Ballet. But we have a decent art museum, a pretty damn good ballet theater, a Shakespear festival, etc. Bring back nickel beer night and dump the idea of a $10 martini. We're Florida, let's not copy everywhere else, just be who we are.

I think Orlando has good bones, it just needs to realize its potential and accept itself for what it is, and that's a collection of people from disparate places, a downtown with tremendous potential and some great downtown neighborhoods. Many big cities can not boast the neighborhoods that we have or the great tree canopy. We also have a lot of nice outdoor natural areas on our outskirts.

[sunshine]

Seriously, I think downtown Orlando is just short of a blue man group or an orlando eye to make it major. The arena not gonna help much and the PAC is just depend on the design.

Downtown Orlando needs the "WOW" factor to jump start it.

[leclercnlakenona]

You will be happy to know that the T-Rex Restaruant is coming to Downtown Disney this fall.

So the T-Rex restaurant has now open, and the city still isn't better because of it.

I was putting on my money on this life experiencing project....

[VistaLakes01]

Most cities need something....Miami really sucked in the 70s, Orlando is about where Miami was at in the late 80s, early 90s. I like to think positive about the city I love. I remember back when I was a kid, pre Disney, Orlando was admired by residents of all other cities in the state for it being the City Beautiful, very clean and folks from other Florida cities loved to drive around our neighborhoods, which really never deteriorated like every other city, Tampa was horrid, Miami was dangerous and dirty, Jacksonville smelled and had nothing much to offer,not even a Burdines. One of the factors that has made Orlando a more interesting city is the diversity of the population and the Latin Flava. We are getting our commuter rail and the high speed rail to Tampa and Miami and a third rail system. We are a shopping mecca, believe it or not. Only Orlandoans dislike Orlando, the people who visit love it. The downtown condos and apartments are there nwow aqnd slowly but surely they will fill up, can't help the housing crash ande economy. Every other growing city is experiencing the same problem there.. We have the largest downtown permantent p-opulation in the state ande majorly accross the country. 25K porple live one mile from the city center with plenty of availaqble housing and 15tr0K live within 3 miles of the city center. The woest thing about us is the sprawlo, but it is a benifit having such a small city limits. Almost the entire city is a central district and as it growws, the population becomes more dense for Orlando b ecause of the small city limits. When Orlanod has 400,000 residents, they will all live within a few miles of each other. Also the skyline doesnt really need 50 story buildings, there are many livable cities with a lot of residential buildings in the skyline and traditional architecture for those cities. Baltimore comes to mind, San Francisco's skyline hasn't changed much in 40 years, we are residential cities that will develope character. The arts competion that is coming is real, with the PAC and UCF who will perform in downtown venuues just like the nations largest Fringe festival already does. We could use more parks but there are so many lakes in the city limits with private residences on them that there is not much of land availability. Orange county can develop parks but i'm Orlando all the way. Fountains and sculptures are needed, but if you notice, lots of artwork on our new buildings. Being inland gives us an advantage of "non beach" growth and a younger population. Let's just get out of this Great Recession and things should take off. Oh, one negative thing, also a positive is that more than 50% of downtown Orlando was destroyed by the construction of I-4. There were many more buildings and shops where the interstate is now. But we are one of the few cities with an interstate right in downtown. The original route was for the interstate to go straight north at 33rd and JYP instead of making that curve in to downtown. It would have followed the current JYP route and came back to its current route near Lee Road. That would have made Orlando like a Lakeland or Tallahassee or Ocala or Gainesville. I am impressed at downtowns liberal hipster population. It's very cool to see Orlandos most interesting parade (Gay Pride Parade)go right through the downtown neighborhoods and seeing straight couples with their kids lined up watching the parade. My friends from around the country don't think Orlando is a conservative city at all. After all, the city was founded by the Unitarians. I think we are getting everything we need to get if and when the economy improves and if it doesn't, what will be so great about most of our other US cities? Kansas City is closing half of its public schools,Austin has lost a ton of its funding and is a lot more generic than it used to be. Santa Fe is hurting due to the lack of spending money to purchase art. Tampa has Channelside, but Orlando and LA has Citywalk within their city limits which is similar but better. And what's wrong with the south's largest art festival (Winter Park?) Or Park Avenue in general? I bet we see an explosion of interesting things on North Orange in the Ivanhoe area within the next few years. And Orlando's Baldwin Park was built as a traditional Orlando neighborhood,like College Park, Colonialtown, etc. I would like to see some sort of development in the Colonialtown shopping district. And Parramore will be coming soon. We are growing the right way, the same way the interesting cities grow, we are a city of neighborhoods. Let's be positive because we will be getting so much more and becoming more urbanized every day. PS...I love Miami, NYC not so much....Chicago is a nice city of neighborhoods with a lot of pride. But poor Indy, Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Nashville (kinda tacky for now apparent reason), Birmingham is a beautiful city but growth is stagnant, Atlanta is a nice big city with only 8,000 residents in the downtown proper and doesn't compare to Miami and I believe when Orlando is Atlanta's size, I know we won't have the corporate business but will be a much more beautiful livable city. Savannah is a very interesting city but lacks the urbanization needed and isn't very clean. Charleston is a beautiful historic city with it's own personality. But what of Columbia SC, Charlotte NC kinda has the hype that Houston or Dallas had in the 80s, Atlanta too. But Dallas and Houston are nice and big and have lots to offer but lack the excitment of their character. Phoenix is growing but dull and suburban. I think Orlando can actually be a Portland, due the circumstances in the world. Enough! Orlando needs some things but they are coming and remember the City Beautiful that people visited just because of it being the city beautiful. And military families loved it's beauty and retired here like crazy. And the 408 is a beautiful expressway~!

[prahaboheme]

What could make downtown Orlando more interesting and vibrant are a few well heeled boutique hotels. A good example of this is the new Seagate Hotel & Spa that opened up a few years back on Atlantic Ave in Delray. It stresses location as part of an urban environment and encourages pedestrian activity from the street to it's lobby and hotel bar. Downtown Orlando has the Bohemian, and a few additional boutiques for urban travelers and business types could really up the ante for downtown. Hell, even an inspired Neo-Art Deco boutique could work well somewhere along Orange or Church Street.

[spenser1058]

I know this sounds like a very general topic but I wanted to start a thread here on ways we might improve our city. Specifically I was thinking about great cities not only around the world but right here in our own country and what things help to make them great.

I love Orlando and have lived here since 1963. I have seen it from its infancy, through its teen growing years to what I see now as a town in its early adulthood. One trying to become all grownup but experiencing a lot of growing pains along the way.

When I go to some of these great cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston or San Fran I see things about them that help define them. Things that make them somewhat unique and also special. What I am hoping to hear from others on this forum are suggestions of what you would like seen done to help make Orlando even more special.

For me, one of the things I would love to see Orlando do is make use of more Fountains. We have such oppurtunity to incorporate it water in so many of the projects we have yet we don't. For example I think the new round-about in front of 55W would have been perfect for a multi-tiered fountain. Something that would have made a statement and transitioned nicely into a Piazza. But instead we choose a tree. Granted it is a beautiful and somewhat majestic tree, but to me it just seems to be a tree. In fact I would much rather have seen a statue than a tree. I look at a city such as Kansas City which has 49 fountains within its city limits yet I can not even think of 10 within the city limits of Orlando.

So I ask, what can we do to help make Orlando even better.

Mayor Bill Frederick was also a big fan of Kansas City and, in fact, at one point, water features were required on new buildings (see City Hall, Seaside Bank Plaza (I think that's what we call it now), the space between Capital Plaza One and Two, the Waverly, to name a few. I notice in several of the buildings lately there are no fountains included (The VUE and Paramount, for example), so I wonder if this requirement got dropped along the way (if it did, I missed the hearings or I would have protested vociferously). Jack, any info on that?

Mayor Bill also installed a fountain to complement Eola's at the Southern Gateway on the east side of Lake Lucerne; a fountain was also scheduled in Lake Ivanhoe but was torpedoed by the NIMBY folks on the west and north shore of the lake. Thornton Park also has its somewhat overwrought effort in the midst of the roundabout at Washington and Hyer (dare we call it gay? I guess I can since I are one . So, this is something that has been addressed but I agree that I'm sad it has been deemphasized under Mayor Buddy.

That also brings up the fact that, while Buddy has no doubt worked tirelessly to move downtown forward, he lacks the aesthetic vision Mayor Bill had (it was Mayor Bill's idea to emphasize the water features, the neighborhoods and the swan motif of Eola and to build a more traditional replacement for City Hall, among other things). While I support Buddy's bid for reelection because he gets things done (I fear Phil Diamond's bid would signal a return to Mayor Glenda's days of stagnation - except of course her light rail effort whose failure was not her fault), it would be a very good thing to get some folks on the city council who pick up the city's look as the economy improves. More on that later.

[bic]

Mayor Bill Frederick was also a big fan of Kansas City and, in fact, at one point, water features were required on new buildings (see City Hall, Seaside Bank Plaza (I think that's what we call it now), the space between Capital Plaza One and Two, the Waverly, to name a few. I notice in several of the buildings lately there are no fountains included (The VUE and Paramount, for example), so I wonder if this requirement got dropped along the way (if it did, I missed the hearings or I would have protested vociferously).

The VUE has a fountain in the center of its entrance driveway:

[spenser1058]

The VUE has a fountain in the center of its entrance driveway:

Thanks for finding this, bic - I wandered over there to take a look at it this afternoon. I drive by it every afternoon and it doesn't have the presence indicated in the drawing, but at least it's there. I'm now on my search to find one at The Paramount.

[prahaboheme]

The Paramount has a public art statue along it's sidewalk, as does the Plaza.

[spenser1058]

The Paramount has a public art statue along it's sidewalk, as does the Plaza.

That's a great point, and I'm trying to remember if the rule was a water feature or some sort of public art. If so, it's sort of interesting that, initially, fountains seemed to win, but now it seems to be going the other way. While The Plaza's statutes are quite notable, The Paramount's "Karen" (we've always called her that, since, like poor Karen Carpenter, she's always seemed rather emaciated) hardly seems a replacement for a good fountain. On the other hand, given the cost of public art like The Asparagus, perhaps beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

[cloudship]

It's not how it looks, but what it has. That is, I think, the big difference. Downtown needs to concern itself more with getting a more vibrant community than picture perfect but sterile high-rises. Kansas City works, at least in Country Club Plaza, was because it was developing as a tourist area, albeit for local residents. The fountains added to that. For Orlando, you are already competing against other tourist areas. Ironically, Kansas City once was kind of in the same situation downtown Orlando was in. What made it work was regeneration and interest - not from big development but folks moving in doing small scale projects creating that vibrant, more locally flavored culture. how to get that happening is the big question.

[jack]

I do not think that the City requires fountains. I have never heard of it and if it is in the code, it is never enforced.

Ivanhoe would be nice with a fountain. I do not understand why they are against any improvements there.

[bulldogger]

Lake Ivanhoe is heavily trafficked by boats, skiers, waverunners, etc. I don't think that would be a good place to put a fountain as far as safety is concerned.

[prahaboheme]

I saw this thread about Washington DC markets in the skyscraperpage.com forum and thought about this concept for Orlando. An Eastern Market-style development (a main decorative building with adjacent outdoor covered space for vendors) flanked by mixed-use midrise buildings (retail/restaurant with residental above overlooking the market) to create a vibrant scene that caters to locals (and of course tourists love it and would patron). This works well in so many cities (New Orleans comes to mind as a Southern example; Haymarket in Boston) and with the abundance of space that remains in downtown Orlando I think this concept could easily start with minimal investment by the city (on a city owned parking lot for example) and then eventually build into a public/private partnership. Orlando already has the farmer's market, which could easily be relocated.

Thread: Washington DC - Five Urban Markets

Eastern Market, DC

French Market, New Orleans

[cloudship]

The trick is - how do you keep it local? The biggest challenge I see in Orlando is the chain mentality. Everyone here has been so immersed in big chain operations that they seem to have a hard time keeping it local. That a good thing in the sense that even the lay person down here seems to have a good sense of marketing to the general tourist, but a bad thing in that they market to the tourists, and not to other people in the city. Even the Lake Eola market, when I compare it to other farmers markets in other parts of the country, does seem to have that mass market kind of feel and attitude. Something like the above I am sure would take off, but then become so overwhelmed with businesses trying to market to the tourist market that it would quickly relocate down to the attractions area.

Something I have thought of would be a varying market place - For instance, Saturday is food day, gourmet foods and local market stuff, Sunday is flower market, Wednesday is Mid Century antiques, Friday is crafts, etc.

A thought, anyways.

[FLheat]

I think the Winter Park Farmer's Market next to the old train depot is very successful. It is anchored by a nice, covered building with a large courtyard and street for tents. Every time I have gone it is packed with people and vendors and the main reason is the quality of products offered. I would buy more there but it is a run destination and I can't carry anything back. The produce that sold is fresh. Most of the produce at the Lake Eola's Market looks like it comes out of boxes Publix throws away when they are embarrassed to display in their stores. I am not going to make a special effort to buy something of inferior quality for a higher price. The person who is in charge of the farmer's market needs to obtain quality vendors and the anchor needs to be a fresh produce stand. Since Freshfields Farm (Pop's Produce) is closed on Sundays maybe they can have an employee earn some extra money trucking produce up for the day (ever seen that place on a Saturday?). I, as a vegetarian, get a lot of my food from Freshfield, but it is hard to get down there during the week or fight the crowd on Saturday. I have asked many Winter Park Vendors why they don't come to Lake Eola and most have responded the hours are too long and no one buys after 2PM and they are required to stay until close. A Saturday Morning might work better than Sunday for produce and then reserve Sunday for Food and Entertainment. I think the location for the Farmer's Market at Lake Eola is good, and given our weather, I don't think we need an anchor building, we just need to get a Quality Vendor and the rest will fall into place.

[cloudship]

Trying to keep this thread going, I really wonder how you could tap into the Full Sail student population. There is where I see the most creative potential, but it is kind of out there on its own. How do you bring that downtown? Baring that, how could you create a kind of student based neighborhood. What kind of neighborhood would game designers and graphic artists like anyways?

[alex]

Trying to keep this thread going, I really wonder how you could tap into the Full Sail student population. There is where I see the most creative potential, but it is kind of out there on its own. How do you bring that downtown? Baring that, how could you create a kind of student based neighborhood. What kind of neighborhood would game designers and graphic artists like anyways?

I drove by Full Sail a couple months ago to check out the renovations. I was actually disappointed that the movie posters around campus are ads or something, not posters for actual movies. I know they sponsor the Florida Film Festival, but why not have an ongoing Full Sail movie theater? Likewise, I hear Valencia CC has a good film festival, but only two days, once a year. Enzian has some great festivals, but they're pretty removed from Orlando. The schools (FS, VCC, UCF) should get together and bring some more film and media events to the city. Or, speaking of a multi-use market space, why not set up a projector and have people brings chairs and food to Eola or an empty lot in downtown (similar to Enzian at Central Park in Winter Park)? An indie/classics drive-in theater? A student film fest? After all, Florida is supposed to be the third most popular filming state after CA and NY.

[bulldogger]

I drove by Full Sail a couple months ago to check out the renovations. I was actually disappointed that the movie posters around campus are ads or something, not posters for actual movies. I know they sponsor the Florida Film Festival, but why not have an ongoing Full Sail movie theater? Likewise, I hear Valencia CC has a good film festival, but only two days, once a year. Enzian has some great festivals, but they're pretty removed from Orlando. The schools (FS, VCC, UCF) should get together and bring some more film and media events to the city. Or, speaking of a multi-use market space, why not set up a projector and have people brings chairs and food to Eola or an empty lot in downtown (similar to Enzian at Central Park in Winter Park)? An indie/classics drive-in theater? A student film fest? After all, Florida is supposed to be the third most popular filming state after CA and NY.

The Valencia Film Celebration (April 1 and 2, 2011) is comprised of films that VCC students have worked on. It is not a film festival in the sense that they accept submissions from outside sources. Full Sail and UCF students regularly have their short films showcased at the Enzian Film Slam which runs every month except December when the winners from the year screen at the Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase along with shorts from other indie and student filmmakers. The latest news regarding the Film Slam - Vestiges Wins March Film Slam

On a side note, FSU has one of the best film schools in the country.

[Jernigan]

My focus would be on the east side of the city. People generally confuse the city and county and a lot of the work has been done for us in differentiating the two. the 408 bridge over Lake Underhill is one such way. I drive Lake Underhill from work to home in downtown and literally feel better once I get around the lake and under the overpass where it turns into South Street.

The 50 overpass at 436 can give the same result. If you factor in time for the cars to slow back down, the eastern "Portal" to Orlando could really start at Bennett (if not Lake Baldwin)

My fixes:

- Reduce by 1 lane each way at Bennett.

- Retrofit the ailing Fashion Square Mall into the East Orlando Community Center. It is already starting to move away from a retail mall and putting in more services and even office space. Why not add the Herndon branch of the Library and Post Office? Add buildings along Colonial in front of the mall and then into the mall parking lot. It has more than it needs and it has a garage. This would also serve to better connect Baldwin Park to downtown.

- Retrofit Colonial Plaza by adding a large public square in the middle of this already carved out shopping center and complete the E-W roads from Bumby to Primrose.

- Invest in Bumby. There's already a grassroots "Milk District" of small business owners on Robinson and there are some Orlando staples on Bumby such as Plaza Theater, Funky Monkey, Pom Poms and Beefy King. This has as much potential as other Main Street Program participants (Audobon Park, Mills/50, College Park, Downtown South Ivanhoe Village). Engage TG Lee in the process.

- Personally, I'd love to just get rid of that airport - but if that's not an option, let's hope they'd get on board with any positive changes that happen around them and rethink what they have going on along 50.

In my head it plays out as an easy area to redevelop. Is ANYONE making money along that stretch of 50?

Two other notes -

Public art: Don't forget The Leaper in front of the Orange County building on Rosalind near Church. Look for it next time you're there in traffic!

One other idea that I've mentioned before for Orlando - get the UCF upper level business courses moved downtown ASAP and provide student priced housing mixed in with market rate. 2nd largest school in the nation.