Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and city officials are now touting a proposal to build a new $40 million police department and give the current land to the Orlando Magic. Orlando Police have been headquartered at their current location downtown just a block away from the new Amway Center.
Despite Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney insisting the building does not fit the needs for a modern police force, it has functioned in this building for 40 years. It is also disturbing that city officials are eyeing a piece of land located just blocks away from the Citrus Bowl, at South Street and Orange Blossom Trail. This is well within the city’s own designated “Downtown West” area which will gentrify Parramore and expand Creative Village’s redevelopment throughout the historic area.
The land grab is on. If any family ran their checkbook the way Mayor Dyer is running our city’s budget, they would be on the fast-track to foreclosure.
The fact is the city does not have the money to be considering this move right now. It is clearly a move to further enrich the Orlando Magic and provide them with more of the most valuable downtown property. Mayor Dyer seems intent on continuing to spend and develop no matter what the financials say.
The city of Orlando is considering making energy-efficient changes to close to 100 city buildings which should result in $2 million of savings a year, and that is a good thing. The bad thing is that the city wants to then spend those savings to build a $40 million building we do not need in an area that the city has refused to truly invest in. Take the empty lots that used to be homes, the broken promises of Pathways for Parramore, and the drop in African-American residents in the area.
Buddy Dyer already dipped into City reserves to close up budget holes this year, and now instead of using the energy cost savings, he wants to waste them.
Looking at the map, it is also a blatant move for city officials to continue to giveaway land between the new Amway and the old Amway, where Creative Village is proposed to be built. The city will also demolish the Orlando Municipal Auditorium (Bob Carr) as part of those plans.
Of course Alex Martins and the Magic are interested – and this new land will not only inch them closer to possibly building a $100 million entertainment complex, which would definitely add more value to the NBA team. However, the Orlando Magic have yet to complete a feasibility study on the construction of the new complex and has repeatedly asked City Council for delays. It is also rumored that the DeVos family could be interested in testing the Magic on the market after their 25th season next year and this would obviously also add value to any potential deal.
Once again, it will be the taxpayers and residents that lose out in this deal.
