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Brightline

TheEye said:
You always tell people Orlando sucks, but when they tell you the area they are in you say “it’s nice”
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In my opinion...Orlando has gone downhill terribly the last 10-15yrs. Some areas are nice. But the majority is crap. I can't count how many friends have left the past 10yrs...including myself.
* The lowest paying metropolitan area in the U.S
* Crime is rampant
2 of my best friends, both very well to do left in the last 6 months. One a lifelong resident, and the other a resident for 30yrs. Both would have been gone long before, but they both had kids in college, one at UCF...the other at USF. One actually left before his home was even sold. Both are elated they got the **** out of there.
 
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SWFLHurricane said:
In my opinion...Orlando has gone downhill terribly the last 10-15yrs. Some areas are nice. But the majority is crap. I can't count how many friends have left the past 10yrs...including myself.
* The lowest paying metropolitan area in the U.S
* Crime is rampant
2 of my best friends, both very well to do left in the last 6 months. One a lifelong resident, and the other a resident for 30yrs. Both would have been gone long before, but they both had kids in college, one at UCF...the other at USF. One actually left before his home was even sold. Both are elated they got the **** out of there.
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Moved here from Coral Gables in 2004. Traffic continues to be less of a headache in Orlando than Miami-Dade. Crime? Right. Had my car broken into twice in Coral Gables. Never in Orlando.

Miami’s pay vs. cost of living still less manageable than Orlando.

Dr. Phillips is a great area. I don’t have to worry about going across town because everything I need is here. More restaurants and entertainment than the hassle of Miami ever had to offer.

If I do have to go downtown or beyond, the I-4 expansion has solved the traffic jams in mid town Orlando.

Finally, the subject of the thread, Brightline has given me the opportunity to visit firends, family, and sports teams without dealing in standstill traffic of S. Fl.
 
TheEye said:
You always tell people Orlando sucks, but when they tell you the area they are in you say “it’s nice”
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To be fair, @SWFLHurricane lived IN THE CITY of Orlando. I was one of the suburbanites who lived in Seminole County (though in my defense, it was not very built-up when I lived there). Had a lot of dirt roads back in the 70s/80s, one of the LAST of which got paved about a year ago (a few blocks from the house I grew up in).

@SWFLHurricane can tell you, I lived over by the Maitland Center corporate buildings, and that whole area used to be a swamp with dirt roads. When it would rain and our school bus had to go through there...yeah, there were some times that I didn't think we were gonna make it back out again.

I loved the area where @SWFLHurricane lived, though, those are some of the oldest neighborhoods in Orlando, lots of brick streets, lots of charm & character. But the warm weather in Florida makes the homeless problem in our big cities...challenging...
 
TheOriginalCane said:
To be fair, @SWFLHurricane lived IN THE CITY of Orlando. I was one of the suburbanites who lived in Seminole County (though in my defense, it was not very built-up when I lived there). Had a lot of dirt roads back in the 70s/80s, one of the LAST of which got paved about a year ago (a few blocks from the house I grew up in).

@SWFLHurricane can tell you, I lived over by the Maitland Center corporate buildings, and that whole area used to be a swamp with dirt roads. When it would rain and our school bus had to go through there...yeah, there were some times that I didn't think we were gonna make it back out again.

I loved the area where @SWFLHurricane lived, though, those are some of the oldest neighborhoods in Orlando, lots of brick streets, lots of charm & character. But the warm weather in Florida makes the homeless problem in our big cities...challenging...
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It’s gotten worse since the pandemic. However, that area near Lake Eola still has a lot to offer with the restaurants and events. I performed at SAK Comedy Lab before the pandemic too.

I took my Miami friend to Thornton park 2 months ago. He freaking loved it. He currently lives in Chicago.
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
To be fair, @SWFLHurricane lived IN THE CITY of Orlando. I was one of the suburbanites who lived in Seminole County (though in my defense, it was not very built-up when I lived there). Had a lot of dirt roads back in the 70s/80s, one of the LAST of which got paved about a year ago (a few blocks from the house I grew up in).

@SWFLHurricane can tell you, I lived over by the Maitland Center corporate buildings, and that whole area used to be a swamp with dirt roads. When it would rain and our school bus had to go through there...yeah, there were some times that I didn't think we were gonna make it back out again.

I loved the area where @SWFLHurricane lived, though, those are some of the oldest neighborhoods in Orlando, lots of brick streets, lots of charm & character. But the warm weather in Florida makes the homeless problem in our big cities...challenging...
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The homeless situation in Orlando has become catastrophic for the size.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
The homeless situation in Orlando has become catastrophic for the size.
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I'm not going to argue, you lived down there and I didn't. I only went down for work and sports/entertainment.

I saw what I saw along Orange Avenue and whatnot. If it's worse elsewhere, that sucks.

From the 1980s onward, I saw the impact that Camillus House made in Miami. We need something similar for Orlando.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I'm not going to argue, you lived down there and I didn't. I only went down for work and sports/entertainment.

I saw what I saw along Orange Avenue and whatnot. If it's worse elsewhere, that sucks.

From the 1980s onward, I saw the impact that Camillus House made in Miami. We need something similar for Orlando.
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It's terrible downtown, per a married couple who have a condo at the Solaire, which is the Nicest place to live downtown. There upstairs neighbor is the CEO of Darden Foods....55 West/Church St is completely out of control in regards to crime. 2 Cops were shot and almost killed a few weeks ago. I loved the Old Orlando...circa 1989-2001....since then meh...
@TheOriginalCane ...as you know, my home was 2 blks from Lake Lawsona...which was, and still is very nice. In the early 90s when I lived in Orlando I lived near the Sentinel (Concord St)...still is nice, but not like it used to be.
 
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TheEye said:
It’s gotten worse since the pandemic. However, that area near Lake Eola still has a lot to offer with the restaurants and events. I performed at SAK Comedy Lab before the pandemic too.

I took my Miami friend to Thornton park 2 months ago. He freaking loved it. He currently lives in Chicago.
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I'm super close friends with many business owners, not only in Thornton Park...but surrounding areas. My home was 5 blks from Thorton Park....Lake Eola has been COMPLETELY taken over by homeless...Add in Buddy Dyers approach to it makes matters worse. A matter of fact, I met @TheOriginalCane in Thornton Park a few yrs ago for some beers.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
It's terrible downtown, per a married couple who have a condo at the Solaire, which is the Nicest place to live downtown. There upstairs neighbor is the CEO of Darden Foods....55 West/Church St is completely out of control in regards to crime. 2 Cops were shot and almost killed a few weeks ago. I loved the Old Orlando...circa 1989-2001....since then meh...
@TheOriginalCane ...as you know, my home was 2 blast from Lake Lawsona...which was, and still is very nice. In the early 90s when I lived in Orlando I lived near the Sentinel (Concord St)...still is nice, but not like it used to be.
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Yeah, I worked across the street from 55 West (old SunTrust Building, the 4 pyramids roof) and I sometimes parked there for Orlando City games. It's...not great...it has potential...but they needed to do more with the ground level, to kinda block it off from the walk-by traffic.

When I worked there, I used to go to that 7-11 on Pine to buy sodas and 5-Hour Energies, but some of the customers were sketchy. I don't know if I have ALL the solutions, but I wish the downtown convenience stores didn't sell liquor (hard to regulate beer, though).

We need to build a Camillus House over on SOBT. Between soccer/basketball taking over Church/Pine corridors, the park under I-4, the Dr. Phillips Center, and the improvements east of I-4 plus SODO, you are starting to have a pretty nice collection of business/restaurant stuff, and you can't let crime issues derail that.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Yeah, I worked across the street from 55 West (old SunTrust Building, the 4 pyramids roof) and I sometimes parked there for Orlando City games. It's...not great...it has potential...but they needed to do more with the ground level, to kinda block it off from the walk-by traffic.

When I worked there, I used to go to that 7-11 on Pine to buy sodas and 5-Hour Energies, but some of the customers were sketchy. I don't know if I have ALL the solutions, but I wish the downtown convenience stores didn't sell liquor (hard to regulate beer, though).

We need to build a Camillus House over on SOBT. Between soccer/basketball taking over Church/Pine corridors, the park under I-4, the Dr. Phillips Center, and the improvements east of I-4 plus SODO, you are starting to have a pretty nice collection of business/restaurant stuff, and you can't let crime issues derail that.
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A new management company took over 55 West and it's completely outta control per my friend's at the Solaire. I know the 7-11 you're talking about....it's down a corridor off of Pine...Tons of crime there now.
 
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RightSaidFred said:
Why didn’t they make it a bullet train? Trains in China, Japan, and France routinely average over 200 mph. The Japanese have a next generation maglev train that gets up to 370 mph.

Not impressed by some 1960’s technology train that gets you from Orlando to Miami slower than you could drive it, all while charging $200 a seat.

Yawn.
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There's certain entities in this country that don't want trains, let alone fast passenger trains. Namely car manufacturers, the airline industry, and behind both of them are the oil industry. Good luck getting support on the Hill when they're in the pockets of those three industries.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
A new management company took over 55 West and it's completely outta control per my friend's at the Solaire. I know the 7-11 you're talking about....it's down a corridor off of Pine...Tons of crime there now.
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that 711 has been gone for over a year i think. theyre trying to expand the park i believe and trying to remove the homeless hang outs. the better areas to live in DT are where the new buildings are going up further in towards the ice cream shop. 55 west and solaire are both trash can buildings with the new construction building around downtown and SODO along with a lot of the nightlife and higher end spots moving away from DT and towards mills and WP. a friend of mine is involved in RE development for a LARGE development company (JLL) so i get some insights on the plans coming around tampa, orlando, SFL. knew about the water street development in tampa for over 10 years now. while sparkman is okay, the area is great and the new edition and JW water street are gorgeous. both cities have subpar downtowns overall, but the areas to be aretn really DT in either area.
 
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