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May 24, 2023 – ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer delivered his annual State of the City address, highlighting “The Promise of Orlando,” a city where everyone and anyone has the opportunity to thrive.
“It’s an incredible time to be a part of our Orlando community,” said Mayor Dyer. “We have worked together to build one of America’s premier 21st century cities, a modern melting pot where we create unmatched quality of life, where we expand opportunity for everyone, and where we embody the uniquely American ideal that success doesn’t depend on being born into wealth or privilege, what you look like, who you love, or where you worship. It depends on effort, merit and opportunity. That is the promise of our Orlando.”
As part of the speech Mayor Dyer highlighted the stories of Orlando businesses, residents and city employees, all who showcase how the city puts that promise into practice.
“The promise of Orlando is hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of individual stories that are being written in our community every single day,” said Mayor Dyer. “Those stories, our stories, are the best measurement of the state of our city.”
Through these different perspectives, the address emphasized Orlando’s continued commitment to provide an exceptional quality of life, further ensure a safe community, offer opportunity for all and invest in solutions to challenges, like affordable housing and homelessness.
Mayor Dyer noted that the city of Orlando continues to look ahead and has laid the foundation from which the city will continue to embrace differences, rise to meet challenges and further opportunity for all.
“In Orlando, we’re certainly proud of our history and our accomplishments, but we are fully focused on our future,” said Mayor Dyer. “We know that our best days are ahead of us. That’s because we choose collaboration and partnership over partisanship and division, that’s because we welcome everyone to take part in the incredible city we are building together and that’s because of the promise of Orlando. Because of that promise, the state of our city is as strong as it’s ever been.”
Highlights of the speech and “The Promise of Orlando” included:
PUBLIC SAFETY
Decreasing Crime and Increasing Officers
- Since Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith took over the department in 2022, the city has experienced a22% decrease in shootings and a 7% overall decrease in violent crime.
- By restructuring the department, OPD has increased the number of police officers taking calls and patrolling Orlando’s streets by 20%.
- And this fiscal year, the city will pursue funding for the addition of more than 20 new officers and eight new 911 dispatchers.
Community Response Team
- Instead of a traditional law enforcement response, this new team is dispatched to give immediate help to nonviolent individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, along with follow-up support services.
- In just over two years, the team has responded to2,000 service calls and helped save more than 2,200 hours of police time.
- Because of this success, the team was recently expanded by adding an in-house clinician who is able to triage calls directly at the 911 center.
QUALITY OF LIFE
Investing in Parks and Shared Spaces
- The city continues to invest in parks and neighborhood spaces. This includes Prince Hall Parkin the west that includes new a playground and shaded picnic tables that are solar powered and outfitted with a free Wi-Fi hotspot and charging stations. In the southeast, the new Poitras Park will include a splash pad and pickleball courts. In the east, Commander Drive Park will include new fitness stations and a playground for everyone with wheelchair access.
- These investments also include the larger, signature parks like the newest regional park, The Grove, in the Packing District in partnership with Dr. Phillips Charities that will open later this month. And later this year, renovations to Lake Eola Park will begin.
- Equally important, the city is focused on improving the built and social environment to equitably enhance the lives of Orlando residents of all ages with the first-ever Age Friendly Livability Plan which will result in the expansion of services for adults aged 55-plus at the Jackson, Grand Avenue, Ivy Lane, Rock Lake and Dover Shores neighborhood centers.
Making Transportation More Efficient and Sustainable
- In just the last four years, the city has grown its bike trails by close to70%.
- In partnership with regional governments, the Northern Expansion of SunRail to Deland just broke ground this week. And the city remains committed to connecting SunRail to the airport, to the convention center and expanding service to weekends.
- This fall, Brightline will launch service between Orlando International Airport and South Florida. And the city continues to work with regional partners to help develop a Brightline route that will connect Orlando to Tampa.
A HAND UP – PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Investing in Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
- The city has committed $7.5 million this year to support programs that help businesses start and grow here in Orlando.
- The city also remains hyper-focused on supporting the growth of minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs. This last fiscal year, minority-owned businesses received $30 million in contracts from the city with more than 60% to Black-owned firms, 37% going to Hispanic-owned firms, and 29% to women-owned firms.
Helping Our Homeless
- Through Accelerate Orlando the city is leveraging $58 million in federal funding to make a once-in-a-generation investment to work with local partner service providers to accelerate efforts to address homelessness. These investments in the Christian Service Center, Salvation Army and Coalition for the Homeless, among others, will help modernize their campuses to better serve those experiencing homelessness.
- Alongside Accelerate Orlando, the city has made great strides in placing more than 1,600 people in the region into permanent, supportive housing with 97% remaining in those homes.
- Since 2021, through a partnership with First Step Staffing the city has helped place more than 280 residents in jobs and help them overcome barriers to employment.
- To further these efforts the city continues to bring resources and partners to the table to develop shared solutions to these shared challenges. The city recently unveiled a Homeless Action Plan that establishes bold goals to reduce the number of unsheltered residents by 50%in the city and ensure that no child sleeps on the streets.
Increasing Housing
- To help further access for residents to affordable housing, in 2015 the city invested nearly $7 million to purchase seven vacant, foreclosed, uninhabitable properties in the greater Washington Shores and Mercy Drive areas, with a goal to transform these sites into safe and affordable housing. Today that investment resulted in the creation of600 new housing units and has yielded more than $115 million in private investment or a return of nearly $16 for each dollar invested by the city.
- In addition to these investments, since 2015 the city has supported and championed the construction or rehabilitation of more than 3,100 housing units either completed, in progress or planned.
Watch Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s 2023 State of the City Address at orlando.gov/soc.
Click here for photos from the Mayor’s State of the City Address. Additional photos are available upon request.
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