Its another great day for our Central Florida Region! With the historic announcement on Friday, September 29, 2006, regarding the agreement on proposed community venues, our region is indeed reaching new heights.
Project Hometown is a citizens committee comprised of everyday people, public and private entities, businesses, and community partners, from all walks of life who believe that Orlando is a great destination and that the time is now for us to build an even better hometown.
Project Hometown recognizes and supports all three community venues - the Citrus Bowl, an Events Center and a Performing Arts Center - as one visionary initiative. This vision is shared by many, and this committee will work to encourage all in the Central Florida region to rally in support of changing the face of downtown Orlando forever.
Great cities have great venues for world class arts, first-rate entertainment and championship sports. The momentum is here to build them all, build them now and build them right.
Please visit the website at http://www.projecthometown.com/default.aspx. Learn more about Project Hometown and how together we can build a better downtown for all of us who call Central Florida home.
Three prominent community leaders came together to share their views on these recent historic announcements regarding the future of Central Florida.
The following editorial appeared in the October 1 issue of the Orlando Sentinel and is being reprinted in its entirety with permission from Ms. Dominguez, Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Lewis.
A city is often defined by its ability to come together to solve its greatest needs. Here in Orlando, we are blessed with visionaries who not only seize opportunities to expand our economic base, but to also create opportunities for those who make Central Florida a place to live, work, play and raise a family.
That same type of visionary opportunity exists today. The recent announcement by Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer that an agreement to move forward on three significant community-venue projects has been reached. This will soon prove to be an historic partnership between city, county, public and private enterprise.
This initiative in building a new, state-of-the-art performing-arts center, a new sports and entertainment events center and renovating the Citrus Bowl Stadium will afford Central Floridians with the amenities they so richly deserve.
Our region will become home to more than 7 million people by 2050. How we plan for our future -- and the future of our children, grandchildren and generations to come -- rests solely on our shoulders. Will we continue to sit idly by, watching other communities take bold and decisive steps to ensure a better quality of life for their residents? Or will we rise above cynicism, apathy and naysaying and move forward in building world-class venues for world-class events in a world-class community?
There is no doubt our City Beautiful has reached new heights. We've expanded our dreams to become synonymous with not only a family and tourist destination, but soon, with breakthrough medical research through the Burnham Institute, the University of Central Florida Medical School and an all new VA Hospital. It is only a matter of time until Orlando will be synonymous with a performing-arts center, events center and a refurbished sports stadium in making downtown Orlando a vibrant and growing region.
The momentum for our community to build these exciting new venues is here. The commitment and vocal support of countless business, community, political and civic leaders for these three projects is why the time is right to build them all, build them now and to build them right.
We applaud Rich Crotty's and Buddy Dyer's announcement and their unwavering commitment to our region and to our citizens.
All of us, and countless other large and small business owners, arts and culture supporters, sports enthusiasts, concert fans, restaurant aficionados, and families who understand that in order to remain a strong and vibrant community -- we must take determined and significant action to shape our destiny.
We invite you to contact your local city and county commission and let them know that you, too, believe that the time is now to build these world-class facilities in our downtown community. On behalf of our organization, Project Hometown, thank you, Mayors Crotty and Dyer, for your commitment to this historic undertaking.
Carmen Dominguez is president of Homes by Carmen Dominguez and vice president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando. C. Dean Kurtz is the director of external affairs for Embarq Corp. and the past chairman of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission. James M. Lewis is the president of Disney Vacation Club at Walt Disney World Co. and the chairman of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.
