My thoughts on how to fix downtown Orlando - And I would like to hear yours! (school, wages)

[Robert-Kuypers]

Hey guys. I am a huge fan of this city and well I know our downtown needs some work to truly make it a downtown. I know that the Performing Arts Center and the New Arena will be a boon but the true heart of a downtown is the people living down there. So I am putting up some of my ideas and observations and wanted to hear what you think. Some are really well realistic while others are quite fanciful.

1. We have no park in downtown. We have a great big lake with a trail but, that is about it. I think the open space along I-4 or land just west of the arena should be converted to a park. A park with open fields for picnics and football as well as basketball courts. This is more than one activity, but it is about bringing people downtown and giving them a reason to live downtown. Living downtown is supposed to be convenient I think this would help. Also it would be the first thing to do downtown that would be completely free. Let's do it now before their is no land to build it on. Also in the park I would add a recessed bowl for acoustic concerts.

2. I think the Citrus Bowl should be used to hold the "top" highschool games on Friday night. It will bring more traffic to the area, increasing the economic outlook for the community. Hopefully revitalizing Parmore.

3. We need a mass transportation system. Airport to I-Drive and attractions, airport to downtown, downtown to east orlando, downtown to north orange county. We could even allow private monorail, anything to keep us on the front of the toourism bandwagon. If we want to keep up with growth, cut the wasted time on lost traffic, keep our selves relevant, among many other things. --Adding to that I think a train from the airport to the beach would also increase tourist traffic.

4. I think we should allow gambling in the tourist areas. Use the windfall from the east coast gamblers to first MASSIVLY REBUILD our interal school system in Orange County. I mean computers for every student in every classroom. The rest of the state may stink, but we can be the best. After the update ,we keep a steady supply in the coffers for education and use the rest to lower property taxes here in Orlando.

5. West of the the Church Street round about I would tear up all the raod and put grass and trees down to the end of the block. It would add to the lacking ambiance in the area and make all dining more attractive.

6. With the new park and other amenities I want to give out an ID card for people that live within 2 miles of say The BOA building. Then we would hold events taht only those with downtown id cards can go to. Wine tastings, private concerts with artists in town, get togethers with free food, etc... Again give an advantage for living downtown.

Ok that's a start...please give me your thoughts or any more ideas.

[**NoodLes**]

Although your ideas are good, almost everyone has these thoughts about how to improve downtown. First, Orlando needs to get rid of the clowns and used car salespeople out of office. And second, any improvements will ultimately come from the taxpayers (homeowners) and with the limited amount of job types and stupidly low wages, Orlando will only get worse. Their already talking of increasing property taxes to increase basic services. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,4126616.story Orlando will never be world-class and you can thank the clowns in office and Disney for the bleak outlook. Good try though.

[Alphaman]

Wasn't it the tax payers that voted that amendment that took money from the basic services? Now the city has to get the money from elsewhere can`t really blame the city for that can you?

[**NoodLes**]

I'm sure the new Orena has nothing to do with it either, huh?

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by **NoodLes**

I'm sure the new Orena has nothing to do with it either, huh?

Yea LOL You were probably one who voted for that stupid amendment then left for texas....Thanks !

[**NoodLes**]

You're welcome...ROFL!

[Alphaman]

Hey anyway how do you like it over there? Are you in the Dallas area?

[**NoodLes**]

I live right near the uptown area, its pretty nice. The economic outlook here is so much better than Florida and there's so many more opportunities here. I think Orlando has about 2 mil people and Dallas has about 6 mil so its much busier here. Everything here is so much closer to home. You don't have to drive very far to get what you need. I still like Florida but the wages there are horrible. The employers there don't value knowledgeable and hard working employees. They try to milk you for everything you got in Florida. It almost gets to 100 degrees here, but to me it feels like upper 80's and very low humidity. The air smells so much cleaner and there's plenty of hills here too.

[Alphaman]

Sounds cool glad it`s working out for you, I always wanted to take a drive out to texas there is a town out in west texas that has some kind of orbs that you see at night that no one can explain, maybe someday.

But enough of me hijacking the thread take care!

[Robert-Kuypers]

Hence using the gambling money to pay for the needed services.