Mayor Buddy Dyer said Wednesday, Downtown Orlando continues to be the economic engine for all of Central Florida, four years after the start of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.
Dyer made these observations while delivering the 2012 State of Downtown Address before hundreds who turned out at the Amway Center.
Dyer said, more than 100 businesses had opened since last year and seven major projects are underway representing some $800 million investment in Downtown. Another 10 more projects are in the pipeline amounting to an additional $1.1 billion in new investment.
SunRail, Central Florida’s first-ever commuter rail line which connects the City of Orlando, Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties, will come on stream 15 months from now, Dyer said. Other major projects highlighted were the Creative Village, on which work will begin in the coming months, expansion of Orlando Health and Florida Hospital, the Central Station project near the courthouse and Lynx headquarters, and the new Magic Entertainment Complex.
Noting that, in 2007, Orlando was one of the early adopters to undertake a comprehensive program of environmental sustainability with GreenWorks Orlando, Dyer used the occasion to launch the next phase of that program.
Dyer said a GreenWorks Task Force headed by former Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty has now been established. The Task Force will build on the work already accomplished in the first phase of GreenWorks Orlando, which included 8 new LEED certified City buildings and a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption by a City government. Among the new “green goals” would be money-saving energy retrofits on fifty percent of the homes in Orlando over the next ten years and establishing a green building code aimed at encouraging developers to meet green standards.
Beginning in the first week of November, the City will launch its new Single-Cart Recycling program, Dyer said. With new 95 gallon recycling carts in hand, instead of tiny red and blue bins, the aim is to double both the number of people who recycle in Orlando and the amount of material recycled.
In an effort to get Orlando residents more involved in ‘green’ decisions, Dyer said the city has partnered with Mind Mixer on an engagement site. The web site will allow residents to input into decisions being made as these relate to water, transportation, food, energy, and solid waste, among others, he said.
Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and a top advisor to President Obama on sustainability and environmental issues, was the keynote speaker at today’s 2012 State of Downtown Address.
