In reply to your comments:
the downtown is already being addressed, but with the type of gentrifying architecture (high-rise luxury condos etc) that you mentioned (in regards to Ottowa). This area is walkable already, although it could have better park'green'open public space...
Orlando is uber-sprawl. the downtown area isn't a center by any means. Smaller neighborhoods exist, some with a center of the own, most without.
Would I like to network with like-minded folk? Absolutely.
Do I want to create a document to submit to the city? developers? That would be great, but here I am only suggesting the very beginnings of such an undertaking.
How would public/community gardens work in Orlando? Is the climate/soil any good for that sort of thing? The weather in sub-tropical Florida is great for being outside most of the year, although some summer months are pretty damn hot, and most wouldn't trade their AC for a nice shadey tree...
"developing new areas for mixed residential/commercial zoning to allow for denser living with less travel required. Each community should have enough jobs for the people who live there (as opposed to moving between bedroom community and city core)."
that's what I'm thinking. Specifically in the Winter Park area, which I have become familiar with, this strategy seems appropriate. There are already aspects of it, but large scale retail development may overtake other parts, detracting from the existing pedestrian scale and adding to vehicular dependency. Mixed use, dense development, even if it meant commuting to work (but not to the store or restaurant), would be a huge help. Community could be stimulated this way...
In Orlando, the business core doesn't really exist. It's everywhere, from Disney in the south up the "I-4 Technology corridor" into the Northern Orlando suburbs. The University of Central Florida area, 20-30 minutes w/o traffic to the east of downtown, also has a fair share of business. The sprawl is here, it is the condition to respond to. It's too late to reverse it, so the inevitable must be embraced and dealt with accordingly.
Also, the big box issue is typical here. Actually, the scale is even larger than usual. Entire mega-strip malls, harboring as many as 20 veritable big box stores (from Target to Best Buy to Jo-Ann Fabrics to YOU NAME IT), along with neverending parking lots and what seems like hundreds of filler stores exist in at least a few locations. It's disgusting. The parking lots have their very own traffic jams and intersections to be avoided at all costs.
General walk-ability is a joke. I've never been to LA, so I can't compare from experience, but without public transit (besides a less than desirable bus system), walking isn't an option unless you live and work either downtown, which isn't very commmon.
So, plenty to deal with...thanks for your continued interest in our plight. |
