Open Letter to Mayor and Commissioners
We Need More Quiet Zones – Protect Progress Point
by Guest Columnist Charley Williams / May 26, 2021
You have a chance to even the score and sooth sore feelings by using Progress Point to restore to our community some of that lost passive green space. Yet, it’s beginning to sound like you plan turn it into some sort of Church Street Station retail-a-palooza.
The entire length of Orange Ave is already a retail zone, and half of Progress Point is already slated to become parking.
How about using what’s left for a park bench with shade trees, bike racks, yoga mats, a drinking fountain, and a pond or fountain? But, please, a park bench without a discarded paper taco tray sitting on it, without a half-full soft drink can underneath it and without a nearby trash can overflowing with IPA cans. And without canned music spilling from a food court.
We have only one Progress Point. For the sake of the soul of our city and the souls who live here, honor it by keeping it green.
Please urge your designers to do better.
With appreciation for all you do.
Totally agree Charley!!
Agree!
I agree with Charley.
Let’s keep our lovely town quiet and safe!!
Well said!
That already busy avenue needs less traffic and more common spaces that provide beauty. That stretch of Orange Avenue has far too little green space!
Thank you for your comments.
The “Viewshed”….. Charley my friend, you have been to one too many Charettes 😜. I have no dog in this fight, but if it is quiet you want, we need something done about these cars and motorcycles that you can hear 10 blocks away. There are Laws, they need to be enforced or it will get worse. No consequences to the 100 Decibel cars, that is a green light for others who think it is all about them.
Good urban form would allow for this green space in the midst of commercial businesses and traffic.
It’s the perfect spot for this Charley.
Will they listen?
Amen
Bravo!
Charlie you are right on point. We don’t need any more retail, etc. The fancy video produced to show “what if” is another example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The City got this property at no cost, so trying to recoup a monetary investment is a false narrative. Let’s make this open space for our future.
Hi Charley
You are an enlightened one. I hope it spreads.
Thanks
David Bond
I agree Charley.
And Bill Segal makes a good point. We have noise ordinances that need to be enforced.
Amen, thanks for the wise words, Charley.
Park space is timeless and an appreciating asset always. We don’t need more retail hell.
City government has already permanently damaged a significant park so it’s time to heal wounds and expand green space elsewhere. Please don’t go gimmicky on us.
Why so much angst over Progress Point and the post office? Good grief. How many residents under 50 pine over the post office!?
It’s time for visionary leadership! Please keep residents in mind, not those pesky lobbyists.
Thank you for your bold voice of wisdom Mr. Williams! We are grieving the loss of the natural beauty of Martin Luther King Jr. Park where the library events center has stolen the space of several large trees which took years to mature. I sincerely regret now some of my responses to the charrette inviting us to envision what we would like to see at Progress Point. Trees providing shade, green grass, beautiful flowers, a fountain, a park bench, an inviting space to relax, breathe, and renew one’s soul.
Amen Bonnie. Winter Park needs to honor its intended green space inclusion not only for our own enjoyment and serenity but for WILDLIFE; and to at least partially compensate for the vast amount of green acreage lost to nouveau zero lot line monstrous abodes replacing the smaller homes which once fit so proportionally within their leafy surroundings. Winter Park truly once was far more beautiful and liveable than it is today. We who grew up here know precisely what has been lost. Its not just MLK park and oversized event centers, but the crassification of WP in toto over time. Kraft Azalea Gardens was once a mysterious fun park for kids to explore nature: its now a dog park, basically. And the huge banks of blooming azaleas and under story to help nesting birds are largely gone. Nature is a healer and a necessity to human mental health, not a frill. Honor its place in the Winter Park vision from the town’s inception. And yes leaf blowers are an abomination!!!
Amen
I totally agree with the goal of adding more park space. We are at risk of losing that which makes Winter Park a desirable place to live and grow.
Charley must have forgotten the north west corner of MLK park was the location of the old civic center and parking lot. It was never passive green space (although it used to be a dump).
Charly wants to live someplace else because there will never be “peace and quiet” on Orange Avenue. It is a public road controlled by FDOT where 70% of the traffic originates 5 miles away. In other words, it is almost all cut through traffic.
We live in the middle of over 2,000,000 people, soon to be 3,000,000.
Please forgive me for acknowledging reality. I know it is not in fashion, but I have this sneaking feeling the residents of Winter Park prefer policy that reflects reality.
I have supported a park at Progress Point provided sufficient residential density is available to create the same village ambiance as exists on Park Ave (Central Park) and Hannibal Square (Shady Park). These areas have apartments and condos from two to six stories as part of mixed-use environments that work for everyone. The only reason Charley and his friends wanted to kill the OAO was to pretend we can have “viewsheds” and “peace and quiet” on Orange Avenue. What a loss for our city!
Now, Charley even objects to the “new” OAO that will not invite private investment and whose amenities will be paid for by taxpayers. So much for reality, let alone common sense.
To our credit, Winter Park already has over 13 acres of park per 1,000 residents, an astounding achievement relative of other urban cities in the Orlando Metro area. If Charley wants a place “to think,” I suggest he walk 1500 feet to the south where he will find 50 acres of passive park waiting for him, Mead Garden.
It’s hard to accept when one becomes an irrelevant punchline.
Totally agree. Don’t need another garbage mixed use/Baldwin Park type development along this corridor. Put a fountain in the middle of Progress Point and a park around it. I’ll be the first to donate towards construction.
PLEASE, PLEASE…..just green space, trees, flowers and a few benches. We don’t need any buildings!
Ex-commissioner Weldon reminds us all with his post above of his unwavering dedication to his own personal opinions to the exclusion of countering data, facts, opinion or viewpoints. Should he declare a run for city office in the future, keep a copy of his post here handy for quick reference. If he believes something, it is “reality”. If you believe something else , you are misinformed, delusional, and obstructionist. Charley Williams ought not be attacked for professing his preference, views and opinions. Weldon is just as entitled to his opinions but not entitled to attack others who disagree.
When the city was forced by the State to replace the additional MLK park land gobbled up by the new library, I felt that THIS land -Progress Point- was the ideal replacement “green” space. Instead the City was able to get away with a swap for land out on Howell Branch Road. Were the two parcels swap worthy?
Tis a swap worthy of development!
The Howell Branch “park” is in waiting for the opportune time to build a couple thousand apartments on it.
That will be after the residents forget about the “swap” and someone will have to go down to the archives to dig out the news clippings and speak at the public comment microphone at a City Commission meeting and remind Commissioners of their promise at the time the “swap” was done that it would remain a park.
And then with a ceremonial thunk of the gavel, Commissioners will approve the apartments.
That’s how things work around here, hunny.
Of course they weren’t! More Randy Knight sleight-of-hand. One day, he’ll lose his shell game!
Weldon has a “sneaking feeling that Winter Park residents prefer reality” versus the notion that green space is precious and rare, or, that traffic is not a crushing , soul killing time-sucker about which we can do nothing. This is a former commission member who joined Leary, Sprinkel and Seidel in a decision to sell 1.2 acres of city land abutting MLK Park. He clucks about his superior “strategic” thinking often in email blasts. Yet, he threw away, with both hands, a once in a lifetime opportunity when he voted to sell that land. Ought we trust his judgment about Progress Point? He had a sneaking feeling we wanted to re-elect him in 2019 too.
NO. Good point.
Howell Branch Preserve – swamp land most residents will never know existed.
Good riddance to the former Leary commission members who waxed on and on about their park equity. WAS
I agree completely. I tried to participate in the charette by filling out the survey, but could not complete it because it was slanted toward having cafes, music, etc. in the park. Since I did not select those things, my input was not recorded. Please just give us green space with a fountain.
I agree the library-events center has totally degraded MLK Park … in fact making Winter Park itself less desirable. So unfortunate. Making Progress Point into a park, butterfly garden, urban refuge, would enhance Orange Ave and the whole city.
Don’t let progress at Progress Point fall short,
It’s oaks, grass and shade—your citizens’ kindly retort,
A parks’ pledge can be simple and bold—
One that for generations will be lovingly told!
A quiet gathering place, a welcome break from the noise,
(The rest of Orange Ave is just fine for retail toys),
So “no” to breweries, food courts and parking galore,
So-called park activation (when less is the more).
The critical question is raised for all to see:
Should the city a retail landlord be?
The current site is surrounded by a railroad track and Orange Ave. That’s a terrible location for a park. Please go to the site and see where this peaceful and quiet green space will be located. On the other hand no one wants an over-developed, insensitive, strip mall in the center of the city. In my humble opinion, Progress Point does not need to be all park or all development. Why can’t it be both?
The Winter Park Land Trust (WPLT) was established to create more park space and green space in our city. In addition, the non-profit will help ensure that the current green space in the city of Winter Park will be protected. Recently, the WPLT has been active in recommending to the City to build a park at Progress Point. This city-owned property would be a key component in the WPLT vision of a city-wide Emerald Necklace, connecting the parks of Winter Park. Progress Point would become the first link connecting Mead Botanical Gardens to MLK Park. Please consider becoming a member by visiting winterparklandtrust.org, it’s free.
Cathy Richey
Outreach Director
Winter Park Land Trust
Let’s think about the present, yes…but also the future for all the children and grandchildren who grow up here. Peace. Moments and places for peace. Prescient and peace-loving thoughts, Charley, passionately expressed. Green is glorious! It’s why I cherish growing up in Winter Park and recently retiring here.