“The sum of the local is the global.” Majora Carter
I'm on an e-mail list for something called “The Downtown Confidential” which selectively lets me know some of the happenings going on in Orlando's downtown. I say “selectively” because it tends looks at downtown through Disney goggles, primarily promoting things that would be seen as wholesome and good by the affluent. When you want to stay informed, you have to work at it by piecing together several sources and “The Downtown Confidential” is one of those sources for me.
It was through “The Downtown Confidential” that I learned of the Mayor's City Academy. This program gives a select group of citizens a behind the scenes look at how our City government works. I applied through the City's website, listing myself as a writer for Watermark Media, considering that more impressive than my recession-era job of working in a box office. Lo and behold, on February 25, I received a letter congratulating me on making it into the academy!
Our first class took place at City Hall on March 3. We were welcomed by Mayor Buddy Dyer himself who let us know that we were only the sixth such class. I was sufficiently impressed to learn that there is a waitlist for the class some folks have to wait until next year to attend. I'm glad I pulled the Scottie Saves the World card, I suspect it made all the difference in my acceptance.
After giving us a rundown of what the class would entail, Mayor Dyer fielded some questions. I would assume the mayor was hoping for the questions to be on the tame side, but he fielded a few tough questions with the ease of a skilled politician. Look, maybe I'm naive, maybe the wool was being pulled over my eyes a bit, but he seemed pretty genuine in his responses. He joked about bags under his eyes when asked about high speed rail, and it was easy to imagine him enduring sleepless nights as he watched our current governor dismantle years of work. What's happening with the performing arts center? Where will residents of Parramore go now that the Amway Center is changing the face of that side of I-4? Clearly I'm in a class of informed citizens; as a passionate Orlandoan, I ate up this exchange with Mayor Dyer.
We were given an overview of the City government and a brief history of Orlando by a gentlem
an whose name I didn't catch because he was standing in for someone. I wish I remembered his name because he taught me the most interesting Orlando history fact I've ever heard: the name of the gentleman sitting on the alligator in this iconic photograph. That picture was taken at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Pine Street in 1885 and that man's name is Bunk Baxter. (I totally want to adopt a cat so I can name him that!) The scene has been immortalized in a sculpture outside the Orange County Regional History Center.
I learned a couple of other new things from the nameless gentleman. The first probably just shows my ignorance more than anything else, and proves I need to be in this academy: there are no term limits in our city government. When I thought of at least one person currently on City Council, this nugget of knowledge gave me a shiver akin to learning that zombies have circled my house. The second thing is that our police have a response time goal of four minutes and our fire department has a response time goal of seven minutes, which is a good case for the City taking over the Papa John's franchise, if you ask me.
Next, Assistant City Attorney, Kyle Shephard, talked to us about “Ethics and Government in the Sunshine” and the charming father-to-be made the information he gave both interesting and entertaining. His discussion covered our renowned Sunshine Laws which are designed to make our government in Florida more transparent. Brendan had a class taught by a former Orange County Mayor who bragged about his prowess for skirting these laws, asserting that this was the only way to get things done. I asked Kyle if it was possible to cheat these laws. He said it does happen, but not here, maybe down South, but not here. I should note that Kyle wasn't under oath.
Chris McCullion, Treasurer for the City, gave us a rundown of the numbers included in ourAnnual Budget. It turns out that our budget in award-winning. Who knew you even can win an award for something like that? Michele Brennan, Director of Communication and Neighborhood Relations, closed out the presentations with an overview of the various ways you can keep up with City happenings. She also encouraged us to usual social networking to talk about our Academy activities. Michele is also responsible for overseeing the class, so I'll see quite a bit of her over during this 10-week course.
Our first class ended with a tour of City Hall guided by the jocular Don Price from Greenwood Cemetery and Frank Billingsley, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, who puts me in mind of Mr. Rogers. It seems to me a City Hall should have several purposes; of course it houses the offices of our government, but its majesty should impress both visitors and locals, and inspire the people who work in it. Additionally it should be a showcase for the city it serves. I think our City Hall achieves all this.
The main offices of City Hall are wisely constructed in sort of a circle around the third floor. Mayor Dyer can reach many of the key people he needs to by simply walking through the hall that travels the buildings perimeter. The City's art collection, adorning the walls, hallways, and offices of City Hall is overwhelming to the senses, as is the Mayor's collection of memorabilia from his time in office. His office rightfully has a fantastic view of the city and prompts you to daydream of being Mayor yourself someday. Several of my classmates even took turns sitting in his chair.
Economic Development and Downtown Development are the topics for the week's class. We'll meet in The Vue Cyber Café. I'll let you know what I learn!
(Photo of binder cover courtesy City of Orlando)
