Keep Orlando Beautiful Awards

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Buddy Dyer and the City Council presented six Beautification Awards, one for each district.  The properties were chosen by Keep Orlando Beautiful.

• District 1: Freshfield Farms, David DeLoach, CEO
• District 2: Omni Leasing of Central Florida for Royal Oak Village, Mike Bitterman, Manager
• District 3: MetalWorks Gallery, Suzanne Grantham, Owner
• District 4: Eola Eyes, Brighid Williams, Owner
• District 5: Transwestern, Erin Killela, Property Manager
• District 6: Boca Club Apartments and Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corporation, Dianna Nazario, Property Manager

Urban Forestry Awards

Mayor Mary Lou Hildreth,  Mayor of Keystone Heights, Florida, and President of the Florida Urban Forestry Council, recognized the City with two awards from the Florida Urban Foresty Council.  Mayor Hildreth presented the 2011 Outstanding Urban Forestry Program in the Large Community category to the City of Orlando Urban Forestry Program.  She also presented the 2011 Outstanding Tree Advocate award to the City’s Green-Up Manager Janice Rahill.

State of the City

On Wednesday, February 29, at 10 a.m., I will deliver my 2012 State of the City Address at the UCF College of Medicine in Lake Nona. 

We chose this location to highlight a project that will shape our region for the next 100 years.  Through strong community partnerships, we identified an industry cluster that is creating high-value jobs and reinventing our Central Florida economy.  By having my annual speech at this location we will be able to highlight this emerging area.

I invite all of you to attend or watch it live on our website.  For more information and directions, go to CityofOrlando.net.

SunRail, LYMMO Expansion and Train Removal

On Friday January 27, we took a historic step toward changing the way we travel as we celebrated the commencement of construction on SunRail. Over the last several years, our community has worked relentlessly to advance a vision for SunRail as the critical first step in the effort to reduce traffic congestion, give our residents desperately-needed alternatives to their automobiles and create tens of thousands of quality jobs.

In about 28 months (May of 2014), Central Floridians will, for the first time ever, have access to a commuter rail line that will connect our communities along a 61-mile path that includes stops in the City of Orlando and Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties.

I am proud to report that more than a half billion dollars of private sector Transit Oriented Development has been announced in Orlando since SunRail was given the green light just last summer.  Major new development is occurring at all four of our stations and developers tell us that they are there because SunRail is coming.

In addition, at the January LYNX Board Meeting both the East West and Parramore Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) expansions of the Downtown Lymmo service received the final ok for construction.  Both new alignments will be operational in the fall of 2013, in advance of SunRail.

Lastly, I want to report on the removal of the Church Street Train.  Staff worked with the Florida Department of Transportation and R.E. Johnson and Sons to facilitate the relocation of the train to Parrish, Florida, where it now has a new home at the Florida Railroad Museum.  As we have reported in the past, the train is in need of serious rehabilitation, and the Museum has committed to restoring it to its 1911 glory. Once SunRail is operational, we will be sure to honor the historic reference of the train and let interested parties know where the train now resides.

OUC Reduced Rates

The OUC Board voted last week to reduce its fuel charge rate by 11 percent and lower electric rates for all OUC customers.   Residential and small commercial customers can expect to see about a four percent reduction in their overall electric bill. Mid to large commercial customers will see a decrease between 4.5 to 5.3 percent.

Orlando Wetlands Festival

Saturday, February 18 will be a busy day in the City.  In the morning from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., we have the City’s 12th annual Orlando Wetlands Festival at Fort Christmas Historical Park.  This free event will include guided wilderness hikes, bus tours of the wetlands, live animal demonstrations, bounce houses for the kids, music and more!  To get all the details, go to cityoforlando.net.

Blues B-Q

When you're done checking out the Wetlands Festival, I invite everyone to spend their evening Downtown for the City of Orlando's 6th annual Blues B-Q in front of the Amway Center on West Church St.  I'm proud to announce that Grammy-nominated Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will be headlining this year's event.  They will be joined by the Lee Boys, CC Teneal, The Kevin Maines Band and the B.B. Kings All-Star Band.  Blues B-Q is a free event that features national and local blues acts as well as Orlando's finest mouth-watering barbeque available for purchase.  For more information, please visit our homepage on cityoforlando.net.

Items of Note

Municipal Elections

On April 3rd, the City of Orlando will hold its General Elections for Mayor and Commissioners of Districts 1, 2, 4 and 6. Because of the Redistricting process some residents will have changed Districts. Additionally, with this process, in conjunction with Supervisor of Elections Office we are establishing new voting locations.

In the coming weeks our City website will link to the Supervisor of Elections website to provide our residents with an easy tool to locate their new district and voting location. I encourage all residents of Orlando to participate and get involved in this democratic process. If you aren’t already registered to vote, you have until March 5 to register. As the election approaches visit cityoforlando.net for all the election information.

Publix

Over the past few City Council meetings, we have approved a number of items as it relates to property owned by Publix in the Southeast area of the City. Publix is considering constructing a nearly one million square foot distribution center on the site that will create more than 150 jobs and add approximately $188 million to our City’s tax base.

Today, two items on our consent agenda relate to the extension of Hazeltine National Drive which would service the future distribution center on the site. The roadway will also be incorporated in to the City’s Major Thoroughfare Plan and serve additional transportation users in southeastern Orlando.

Local Government Comprehensive Planning Certification Program

On Monday, the City held public input concerning the City of Orlando’s Local Government Comprehensive Planning Certification Program.

Eight years ago, the City of Orlando was selected to be the first local government in Florida to be exempt from state and regional review when implementing state growth management regulations. In exchange for that certification, we committed to encouraging compact, mixed use development; pedestrian, bicycle, and mass transit improvements, water and energy efficiency; and other smart growth practices.