June 2008
Community Paper
copyright ©2008 by Community Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
From the Desk of City Commissioner Robert Stuart
Dear College Park Neighbor,
The month of May began with Mayor Dyer being sworn into his second full term in office. Commissioner Patty Sheehan, District 4 and Commissioner Sam Ings, District 6 were also sworn-in after being re-elected. And in District 2, we welcomed a new commissioner to the Council, Commissioner Tony Ortiz who was also sworn-in during the ceremony.
After the swearing-in took place, the Mayor gave remarks where he looked back at his last 5 years in office pointing out some highlights and also took time to look forward toward the future at what he hopes the City can accomplish in his upcoming term.
The City has made some great strides during the past five years. One of which I am most proud is our own Orlando Fire Department achieving an ISO rating of one. All fire departments receive an ISO rating, from 1 to 10, with one being exemplary and ten being the lowest. Only 55 fire departments out of more than 46,000 throughout the country received this top rating.
Looking toward the future, Orlando’s top priority will continue to be public safety. As this remains my focus, I am glad to know that this will still be the utmost concern of Mayor Dyer and his administration. With this in mind, the IRIS camera program will be operational later this summer in the downtown core and can hopefully be expanded to other parts of our community after it has proven to work, as we think it will, in the Orange Avenue area.
Along with strides by OPD, my hope is to continue growing the Neighborhood Watch program. I am excited to hear about the different National Night Out against crime events that are taking place in some of the different College Park neighborhoods as they will be in Cities all across the country on Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Please plan on attending your neighborhood’s event to do your part in preventing crime in our community. If your neighborhood hasn’t signed up to host a party, there is still time to do so. For more information, please contact Orlando Police Department’s Neighborhood Watch Division at 407-246-2369.
In May we also held the inaugural District 3 Picnic along with the dedication ceremony for our newest green space, Orlando Cultural Park in the Loch Haven area and the designation of Orlando’s first “Play Day.” Thanks so much to all those who came out to enjoy the festivities. The park, which covers more than 3.5 acres, will serve as the gateway to Loch Haven, and in the future, will also be a one-of-a-kind hands-on sculpture park. The first sculpture, a 14.5 foot tall, two-thousand pound bronze piece aptly named the Family of Acrobats has been installed and will remind passers-by that the Loch Haven area is a great place to spend quality time outdoors with friends and family. (Click here to see pictures.)
We were also excited to hold the first “Play Day” as a part of Orlando’s goal of becoming a nationally designated “Playful City.” It is important that our City provides “Play Days” and parks such as Orlando Cultural Park and the other 112 parks and green spaces throughout the City so that our children and their families have the opportunity to take part in active, unstructured play and to remind our residents about the importance of unstructured play for our City’s youth. Play helps children learn to use imagination, teamwork, decision-making, and more. Cities are invited to do their part by providing parks and green spaces that serve as gathering places for family reunions and picnics, locations for pick-up games of football, or Frisbee, as well as just plain fun.
June brings the last two information gathering meetings of the Edgewater Drive Vision Task Force with this month’s topic being Financial Issues. The first meeting will take place on Thursday, June 5th from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at City Hall, 400 South Orange Avenue on the Second Floor, Conference Room “R.” The second meeting will be in the Edgewater High School Media Center on Thursday, June 19th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Please consider attending these meetings to listen to the ideas of the task force and to share your visions about the Edgewater Drive corridor. If you haven’t done so already, please take one of the Edgewater Drive surveys, which can be filled out electronically on the City Planning Department’s webpage, www.cityoforlando.net/planning.
As always, thank you for your continued support of our Great City, our College Park community, your District 3 staff and me.
Robert
Robert F. Stuart, District 3 City Commissioner
400 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801
Phone: 407-246-2003; e-mail Robert.Stuart@cityoforlando.net
or check out Orlando's website (www.cityoforlando.net)
