Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[JFW657]

7 hours ago, jrs2 said:

I would take Midtown over Orlando because at least in Midtown, panhandlers actually try to sell you stuff for a buck and the ratio is much smaller to everyone else, and, you get the big city amenities to boot.

But which one would you rather live in?

At least in downtown Orlando it gets peaceful and quiet for about 6 or 8 hours a night. Midtown Manhattan is the sound of blaring car horns 24/7.

[jgardnerucf]

Gosh darn ghost town out tonight honestly.

[nite owℓ]

14 hours ago, JFW657 said:

One time when I was in NYC I had to step over a rivulet of urine running down the sidewalk to the gutter... WHILE THE GUY WAS STILL PEEING IT.

Worse yet, it was broad daylight, right in midtown around 5 pm, and he was sitting down against a building with some other homeless guys while "draining the swamp".  Just whipped it out and let it go right there with hundreds of people walking by.

You don't see that in downtown Orlando.

Yeah at least our homeless people have the decency to do their business in the bushes around Lake Eola. Including drunk guys with small bladders.

[HankStrong]

Sometimes drunk guys with big bladders, too.

 

Speaking for a friend.

[popsiclebrandon]

Homeless people downtown pee on the sidewalks all the time. We have one lady who pees in the general area around Post almost every day then throws food at anyone who walks by at the same time. Its quite a spectacle.

Also what happened to the plan to house the homeless? I know Florida Hospital pledged a few mill for it and everything. The population has grown a lot the last year and nothing seems to be happening with that anymore.

[orlandouprise]

I know people will hate me for this but I miss the blue boxes. Homeless are out of control again. I don't wanna be surrounded by bums at every corner if im paying top dollar for a condo DT

[HankStrong]

Has anyone ever seen a solid solution to the homeless problem?

 

• Better mental health care would help, but won't really fix it.
• Housing would probably help, but won't really fix it.
• Shipping them away doesn't work.
• Ignoring them doesn't work.
• Feeding them doesn't really work.

I have to honestly say that I have no idea what WOULD work.

[spenser1058]

10 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Has anyone ever seen a solid solution to the homeless problem?

 

• Better mental health care would help, but won't really fix it.
• Housing would probably help, but won't really fix it.
• Shipping them away doesn't work.
• Ignoring them doesn't work.
• Feeding them doesn't really work.

I have to honestly say that I have no idea what WOULD work.

Mental health issues, of course, ramp up the complexity, but the best results generally seem to be coming from getting folks into non-institutional housing with the ability to have some pride in where they're living and some privacy (although follow up is crucial.) In short, the homeless tend to be pretty much like the rest of us. Often, they simply encountered obstacles they were inequipped to deal with.

[sunshine]

New Italian restaurant coming to former Spice

http://bungalower.com/2018/06/07/new-italian-restaurant-coming-to-former-spice/

----------------------------

Finally, a non taco and beer place....

[dcluley98]

There are renderings of Thornton Park 11 townhomes proposed for the lot at Robinson and Hyer in last MPB report. Not sure if these have been posted anywhere yet. 

[spenser1058]

I'm glad they're finally making progress on the space but I'm sort of meh on Italian. After all, I can do Italian credibly at home without messing it up. Oh well, maybe they'll do some Northern Italian dishes that will make it more adventurous.

[AmIReal]

16 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

I'm glad they're finally making progress on the space but I'm sort of meh on Italian. After all, I can do Italian credibly at home without messing it up. Oh well, maybe they'll do some Northern Italian dishes that will make it more adventurous.

They say "Italian street food"... I assume arancini, piada, pizza and fried stuff in cones. Not exciting, but hopefully they do it well.

Edited June 7, 2018 by AmIReal
sp

[AmIReal]

3 hours ago, orlandouprise said:

I know people will hate me for this but I miss the blue boxes. Homeless are out of control again. I don't wanna be surrounded by bums at every corner if im paying top dollar for a condo DT

I agree on the blue boxes...

Despite our homeless situation being really bad, several other FL cities are worse (Miami, Ft Lauderdale, St Pete in raw numbers or percentage). On a good note, homelessness has declined nationwide and FL saw some of the steepest drops in raw numbers. OTOH, FL has some of the highest numbers of "unsheltered" homeless.

https://www.statista.com/chart/6949/the-us-cities-with-the-most-homeless-people/

https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2016-AHAR-Part-1.pdf these numbers are eoy '16 so not sure how the new political climate has impacted them.

 

[JFW657]

3 hours ago, HankStrong said:

Has anyone ever seen a solid solution to the homeless problem?

 

• Better mental health care would help, but won't really fix it.
• Housing would probably help, but won't really fix it.
• Shipping them away doesn't work.
• Ignoring them doesn't work.
• Feeding them doesn't really work.

I have to honestly say that I have no idea what WOULD work.

Depends on what you feed them to.... 

I'm truly sorry for that awful remark. But there was just no way I could resist such a set-up. 

[sunshine]

Build a wall

[jrs2]

30 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Depends on what you feed them to.... 

I'm truly sorry for that awful remark. But there was just no way I could resist such a set-up. 

Well, here's an awful reply to your awful remark.

Seriously, though, it is a problem and our system creates it.  We'll all get thrown to the sharks at some point.  In a way, we are all already one form of chum or another.

[jrs2]

So, I'll give a follow-up to this conversation, all jokes and JAWS aside. 

Did you guys know that NYC buses homeless people down to Florida?  FYI. 

In the sci-fi show LEXX from the late 1990's, that fictitious society would use the penal system to find violators of totalitarian laws and sentence them in some cases by forfeiting their life.  Their meat would secretly be used to feed a gigantic insect living within their planet which was dormant (it's a lot more tasteful than it sounds). Their totalitarian leader as it turned out, had the soul of an insect, so he didn't care of the inhumanity being committed.  There is a point to this story, I promise.  LEXX is a metaphor.  The elite don't give a rat's a$$ about us; homeless people included. 

Anyway, downtown Orlando has homeless issues as many have acknowledged in this thread.  I don't know the answer, but HankStrong's suggestions are what we've got.  That being said, downtown is where the money is at and that's why they panhandle here.  

[FLClarkKent]

Not too get us too far off topic, but on my run yesterday I noticed that the 7-11 at the corner of Rosalind and Central has installed outdoor speakers near the entrance. They are playing classic music with the dial cranked up to 11.  The idea is that it keeps people from loitering. 

 

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/7-eleven-locations-blasts-classical-music-to-prevent-loitering/752083194

[spenser1058]

10 minutes ago, FLClarkKent said:

Not too get us too far off topic, but on my run yesterday I noticed that the 7-11 at the corner of Rosalind and Central has installed outdoor speakers near the entrance. They are playing classic music with the dial cranked up to 11.  The idea is that it keeps people from loitering. 

 

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/7-eleven-locations-blasts-classical-music-to-prevent-loitering/752083194

Oh, Thank Heaven!

[aent]

55 minutes ago, jrs2 said:

So, I'll give a follow-up to this conversation, all jokes and JAWS aside. 

Did you guys know that NYC buses homeless people down to Florida?  FYI. 

In the sci-fi show LEXX from the late 1990's, that fictitious society would use the penal system to find violators of totalitarian laws and sentence them in some cases by forfeiting their life.  Their meat would secretly be used to feed a gigantic insect living within their planet which was dormant (it's a lot more tasteful than it sounds). Their totalitarian leader as it turned out, had the soul of an insect, so he didn't care of the inhumanity being committed.  There is a point to this story, I promise.  LEXX is a metaphor.  The elite don't give a rat's a$$ about us; homeless people included. 

Anyway, downtown Orlando has homeless issues as many have acknowledged in this thread.  I don't know the answer, but HankStrong's suggestions are what we've got.  That being said, downtown is where the money is at and that's why they panhandle here.  

yup, NYC is proof that busing people to other areas does infact work. And I've also personally seen panhandlers "finish their work day" and have someone pick them up in a car, taking off their nasty clothes, so making sure not to feed them or give them money is pretty critical to reducing their population, but its hard to get people to do that. Making sure there are jobs available that pay better then the panhandling is also real important to solving the problem, and being careful not to eliminate jobs just because they don't pay as well as we think all jobs should pay.

[AmIReal]

2 hours ago, aent said:

yup, NYC is proof that busing people to other areas does infact work. And I've also personally seen panhandlers "finish their work day" and have someone pick them up in a car, taking off their nasty clothes, so making sure not to feed them or give them money is pretty critical to reducing their population, but its hard to get people to do that. Making sure there are jobs available that pay better then the panhandling is also real important to solving the problem, and being careful not to eliminate jobs just because they don't pay as well as we think all jobs should pay.

Pretty much every city does this (including Orlando) and has been doing it for quite some time. Its not that they load up a bus of homeless people and drive them to a destination, but they do offer them a pre-paid one way ticket to various cities.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-homeless-bus-tickets-20160423-story.html

https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/revealed-why-american-taxpayers-are-spending-millions-to-bus-homeless-people-around-the-country.html/

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316520

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/road-to-nowhere-homeless-bused-out-of-st-pete-but-then-what/2236491

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/29/new-york-homeless-ticket-voucher

 

[AmIReal]

Sorry, aent. I intended to reply to jrs2

 

[RedStar25]

4 hours ago, FLClarkKent said:

Not too get us too far off topic, but on my run yesterday I noticed that the 7-11 at the corner of Rosalind and Central has installed outdoor speakers near the entrance. They are playing classic music with the dial cranked up to 11.  The idea is that it keeps people from loitering. 

 

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/7-eleven-locations-blasts-classical-music-to-prevent-loitering/752083194

This might make me want to loiter there. 

[JFW657]

2 hours ago, RedStar25 said:

This might make me want to loiter there. 

Now I'm trying to envision what a crowd of homeless classical music afficionados hanging around outside the 7 Eleven would look like.

"Hey buddy... can you spare some bow rosin???"

 

[HankStrong]

12 hours ago, aent said:

yup, NYC is proof that busing people to other areas does infact work. And I've also personally seen panhandlers "finish their work day" and have someone pick them up in a car, taking off their nasty clothes, so making sure not to feed them or give them money is pretty critical to reducing their population, but its hard to get people to do that. Making sure there are jobs available that pay better then the panhandling is also real important to solving the problem, and being careful not to eliminate jobs just because they don't pay as well as we think all jobs should pay.

When I first moved to Florida I lived in a cheap little place on the N side of Goldenrod & 408.  Almost every day there was a guy panhandling on the EB off-ramp to the 408.  The house I was renting was about a half mile from that intersection off Bryan Road.  I regularly saw that guy ending his shift and walking toward my house.  He had parked on this dead end road called Ormond right off Bryan.  He'd change his clothes, hop in his SUV and drive away.  I remember it being a fairly nice SUV.  I think it was a Nissan Pathfinder, back when I was driving a beat up pickup (I brought it from up North with me and it didn't even have A/C!!!!) and wishing I could have something nice like a Pathfinder.

I was like "why am I working and he panhandles and lives nicer than I do!"   Fallacy or not, I was bummed out by that.

6 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Now I'm trying to envision what a crowd of homeless classical music afficionados hanging around outside the 7 Eleven would look like.

"Hey buddy... can you spare some bow rosin???"

 

"Hey kid, PSSSSSSTTTTTT, wanna try some Chopin?"