Orlando-Downtown Vacation Help (West Palm Beach, Ocoee, Winter Park: skyscrapers, real estate, budget)

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

Orlando's last shot at a historic or cultural downtown was flushed down the drain my the crook Lou Pearlman when he destroyed Chruch Street. My brother tells me that Cheyenne Saloon has or will reopen, but that's only one piece of what was a great area. I was fortunate enough to experience the Church Street Station area as a kid in the 80's and also got to see it as a ghost town right before Pearlman tore it all down. I was doing some work witht eh Improv and got to access the areas behind it just before they started working. But, I digress...

Even though it was a make-shift history or past for downtown, it was more of a culture or landmark than anything else in downtown. You can also thank Disney for sucking the life out of downtown as well. When Pleasure Island opened up with it's free parking, downtown became deserted.

I agree church street made downtown much better back in the day I miss that so much and my 8 year old will not get to enjoy it.

[jaimeblt]

"What about Washington DC that does not have a traditional downtown? Or Detroit that has a city center that most in the metro do not dare go to because of crime/blight?"

Just two quick comments:
1) D.C. does have a traditional downtown. There aren't skyscrapers, but there are plenty of 10-15 story buildings. D.C. is only unique in terms of that the height restriction scheme serves to push development outwards. Having been to D.C. a number of times, I find the city's downtown to be pleasant if a bit bland. (Georgetown and Dupont Circle are very nice, however.)
2) Detroit's downtown has been refurbished to some extent during the past 5 years, although I don't know how the current economic troubles are affecting it (and I have never been there myself).

[Mountaingirl67]

That says a whole lot, when your trying to compare yourself to DETROIT??? GO FOR IT!!! Visit Downtown Orlando soon "STRIVING TO BECOME DETROIT"
Based on FBI crime statistics you don't have that far to go.

[Wilshire81182]

ahem, Orlando is nothing like Detroit.

[Wilshire81182]

Just listing a number between one to 20 is very broad and Miami and Tampa rank just as high. Jacksonville's rating is much lower, I think 6/5 which leads me to seriously doubt that site. I have seen other sites that rank out by number of incidents per 100,000 people. That seems to paint a better picture. There are also a lot of places in the US where crimes are underreported.

[Wilshire81182]

One to 10, sorry. Also look at the ratings for Atlanta and Portland OR.
They also state LA is safer than San Francisco.
Pine Hills, FL got 3/2 LMAO, sorry you have officially been discredited!

[Silence Dogood]

Originally Posted by Wilshire81182

One to 10, sorry. Also look at the ratings for Atlanta and Portland OR.
They also state LA is safer than San Francisco.
Pine Hills, FL got 3/2 LMAO, sorry you have officially been discredited!

Talk about discrediting, you've horribly discredited yourself?
Would you walk down the street in pine hills? Not on your life.
Arguing that Orlando doesn't have a rampant crime problem is laughable.

[Wilshire81182]

I was stating that the provided site listed Pine Hills much lower than appropriate.
Everyone knows that they have bad crime in Pine Hills, but it listed it lower than Boise, Idaho on that site. Something wrong there. Orlando was ranked competitively with Miami and Tampa. Atlanta was ranked worse than Detroit. I think that the provided site was not that accurate.

[Metallisteve]

Ehh...whatever. I don't need a website to tell me Orlando is in for some HUGE problems...deeper than it already has. My brother is a cop on night shift in the Parramore District. The stories he can tell scare me to death. To pick one off the top of my head...when roll call is finished at the beginning of his shift each evening and he hits the road, there are on average 10-20 calls for 911 service ON HOLD! These are not just "my cat is stuck in a tree" calls. They're anything from domestic violence to car crashes to fights. He's even been called out fo roll call to respond to calls because the hold list got over 40 calls. FORTY calls on HOLD! I'm out of breath just typing this!

Now to throw gas on the fire...
Due to Jeb Bush's dying effort to make a name for himself by "reforming" property tax (aka: covering everyone's over-zealous real estate purchases) in the state (picked up and carried to fruition by Mr. Crist) and the public not listening to fire fighters, police offciers, and public works officials warn of public service and response time woes if it goes through, municipalities across the state are feeling the crunch. Orlando has already eliminated retirement health care for officers (retro-actively effective for all new hires starting about a week before my brother's start date in Fall '07). On top of that, now they're toying with the idea of selling off half of the patrol car fleet and making day and night shifts share a car! No more take home car for officers.

So now you've got officers dealing with arguably some of the lowest scum on earth in the pits of Orlando also having to put up with abuse from their own department.

So if you still think Orlando is happy-go-lucky Mickey Mouse town and all is well with crime, you're in for a painful kick in the rear end very soon. Deep issues like this benefits tampering all the way up to management issues with pansy politicians and police chief will only compund what is already an out of control trend in Orlando.

Boone, NC PD is starting to look better and better for him...

[Wilshire81182]

Next time post a credible source. I like your story too.