What has happened to this forum?

[lala67]

It's been awhile, but I'm glad I decided to pop in. Spenser keep on keepin on. I think people have made excellent points about why the forum has languished recently. Myself, layoff in one job then a new job that's keeping me pretty busy.

I'm a native Floridian, born and raised in WPB. I came to Orlando in the mid-90s for a marriage and career opportunities. I make my living as an urban planner - I've dabbled in redevelopment, park planning and design, alternative transportation planning, urban design, and growth management. I've worked for county government, city government and regional agencies as well as a private consultant.

Orlando has good bones. WPB was a dump growing up and it's still far more segregated than central FL in general. When I moved here people talked about how fast paced WPB must have been compared to Orlando. They couldn't be more mistaken. To me Orlando was fast-paced. And YOUNG! Yes, this is compared to a place that was home to the newly wed and nearly dead, but that was my paradigm. Miami has enjoyed a rennaissance as well, but it's sprawl city. Ask Andres Duany. There's a lot of good in Miami, but South Beach was as contrived as Disney when it re-branded itself.

Orlando has great downtown neighborhoods. I live in Wadeview Park. The area is branding itself as SODO and in nearly every place I go people are talking about the SODO development. It's filling in. The apartments are at 90% occupancy. Target is doing well and the City has created a Main Street for south Orange. On the west side of Orange Ave we're seeing houses cleaned up and the place improving. This is an area that's been ignored and neglected by the City for quite some time. I live in probably the best neighborhood in the City when it comes to schools (Boone & Blankner). My kids manage to survive without cars (they're 21 & 17). I ride the bus to work every day. I live downtown, but have a lot of suburban style amenities - large lot, pool, garage, etc. It's got it's issues, for sure, but I really think Orlando is very lucky to be surrounded by so many great residential neighborhoods. The downtown is very small by comparison, but we have a lot of residents, moreso than many other comparable cities, that live within a mile of downtown. SunRail getting approved yesterday will be a huge boost I think. At least it's a start, and I can see it generating a lot of new transit oriented development.

I think Orlando needs to be Orlando...not South Beach, not Chicago, Boston, NY or San Francisco. Maybe more like Portland or Austin. As for culture I find that kind of amusing - I have season tix to the Orlando Ballet, which does a fairly decent job of putting on some very good performances. There's mad cow theater, City Arts, etc. Then there's the Magic and their new arena. There are some small clubs for independent music types. I don't want to pay $8 for a martini, but I think there's a middle road between nickle beer night and ridiculously expensive 'upscale' drinking and dining establishments.

I guess I'm a glass is half full kind of person, I think there's more good than bad here in my adopted hometown.