--------- Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. All right. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Morning and welcome to the April 21st, 2025 workshop of the Orlando City Council. Hope everybody had a good
holiday weekend. Um today we're going to hear from the office of sustainability, resilience, and future ready initiative. It's a lot of words for one department, but um they're going to give an overview on all things sustainable and resilient.
We've had Greenworks Orlando since 2007. It's hard to believe it's been uh what almost 18 or 18 years. Yeah. So, uh, and I think we can objectively claim the title of the most resilient, most green
city in the southeast United States. So, Mike, you want to come up and uh, fill us in a little bit? Give us an overview of the great work that's happening with the team. Mike H, director of sustainability. Thank you so much, Mayor. Actually, Britney Sers, our assistant director, is going to join me
for this little uh, intro. Oh, you wanted that side. All right. Sorry. All right. So, um, we're very happy to be here today. At least I'm happy. Are you? I'm happy. I'm so excited. We're, uh, so we are happy. Mayor tells us you're happy. Uh, so we're very happy to be here
today. As you said, mayor, we were asked to kind of give an update on all the things we've been working on and and some of our accomplishments and and we're we're pretty proud of those. So, we're happy to be here to do that. Uh, we are super appreciative that you're letting us do that. And it's actually
really really good timing. Um, if you're not already aware, we Oh, how do we get the presentation up? All right. Well, while they're working on that, if you're not already aware, it is Earth Month. We're in the
middle of Earth Month. Uh, tomorrow is Earth Day, and this Friday though is the most amazing event associated with all this, which would be our Earth Day workday celebration. Uh, so it'll be outside of City Hall here around lunchtime. So hopefully many of you can
make it out for Earth Day workday. Um I also just noticed we have a lot of our friends and partners here today. So I just want to say thank you to them. Uh I won't name them all or we'll be here uh for a little while longer than I think you want us to, but I do see some for example I see Carrie. I looked up and
saw Carrie Black who is the uh who is our counterpart from the county uh their director of sustainability and resilience. So good to see a lot of external partners. Um, also just want to recognize we have a lot of internal partners at the city. Uh, and we want to make sure they get credit. Uh, we are a
very, very small team as you'll see in a second. Uh, and and Greenworks is really a citywide initiative. There's a ton of great stuff in there. Uh, so I want to make sure they get credit as well. So, a lot of the folks I see Corey right here. Uh, later I think Evan's going to talk
about our tables of connection. A lot of people don't know that Corey's team in public works is actually project managing that one. So, uh, there's a lot of external folks, a lot of internal folks that are super helpful in the green works initiative. And speaking of green works, I think Britney wanted to
give you a heads up on our greenworks plans. Thanks, Mike. And good morning, mayor. Good morning, council members. So excited to be talking with you today. I am excited. So, in our history of Green Works, Mayor, as you were mentioning,
2007, we've been here for a while. We've been doing great work, making strides. I've been fortunate to be here for more than half of that time. So, it's really uh kind of thrilling to be in our third round of plan updates. Essentially, the
strategic plans that we have both internally, our municipal operations and communitywide. All of the goals that we're going to be talking about today and our strategies came from those plans, from a lot of in uh intensive stakeholder engagement and community involvement. and of course insight from
you all as well. So we will be kicking that off later this summer. We're currently in the solicitation process. So coming forward on one of the May city council dates will likely have that approval of the consulting group we've selected um and going to be moving
forward with launching these plans. As before, we'll be reaching out to the community members and working with you all to make sure we have representation across each of your districts and come up with some more great ideas because we've been making progress on these the last few years. because we've done so much. We need to know what's next along our path towards sustainability and
resilience and appreciate your support in doing that. Thank you. All right. So, I mentioned a lot of our partners, but now I want to focus a little bit on our team. Uh, as I said, we were asked to talk about some of our accomplishments, and I really, really
believe that one of our biggest accomplishments over the last couple years has really been building out our team, and that's obviously with your support. Uh Deborah and FJ are probably sitting behind me. A lot of support from them as well uh to create what I think is a really amazing team. I'm really
proud to work with them. A lot of them are are sitting over there and I honestly feel really uh lucky and grateful that I get to work with such an amazing team. Uh you'll see our org chart up there. I think we're at 16ish people uh total just within our office
at the moment. Um so still a pretty small team. Um, but quite frankly, I don't I don't normally like org charts because they sort of infer this kind of top-down uh pyramid style. Uh, but in reality, we've got leaders spread
throughout our whole team. Um, and really it's just my job and Britney's job to kind of help push them up and help support them. Uh so this morning instead of uh just hearing from me because I know I can be a little bit boring, uh we're going to have some of our leaders actually come up and speak
about their different uh parts within our office. So uh you're going to have Mike Taylor who is our relatively new sustainability initiative manager who uh we actually stole from Disney. So I'm pretty excited that we were able to pull that off. Uh we'll have Evan Novel, our
our future ready manager is going to talk for a little bit and I believe Jacques uh Koulan from transportation is going to help him for a few minutes to talk about some really cool stuff. Um Britney is going to summarize at the end because she is far more eloquent than I
am. Uh but first up, you get to hear from one of my favorite people in the whole city, which is Alyssa Msaceio. Uh Alyssa is one of our uh staff in the resilience team of our office. And I have to say this about Alyssa. If you're
ever having a bad day and you need a pickme up, just go hang out in the gardens with her and like play with worms and all kinds of weird stuff that they do. But she is just uh I think one of the most uplifting people I've ever been around. Um, so definitely recommend
if you're if you're feeling down, just come hang out with Alyssa in the gardens. Um, so thank you again for this opportunity for our team to talk about about what we've been working on and what we've accomplished. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to our our ray of sunshine. We call her Alyssa.
Quite an introduction. Good morning, Mayor and Council members. I'm very excited to be here today to speak with you a little bit about what we're doing in the resilience um office and um some different initiatives that we've been working on. But quickly, I kind of just wanted to echo what Mike was saying
about our team and just quickly share a personal story. Um I have a beautiful six-month-old at home and she ended up coming early, six weeks early and of course we planned for a transition uh when I was going to be out, but the team did an amazing job picking up the slack. She came on a Friday, they got a text on
Sunday night that I was going to be out. Um, and so everyone stepped up. People that are typically, you know, behind a desk for maybe the majority of the day were helping out in our gardens, um, helping to cover education. And something that's really special about this team is we really, um, we really
care about each other's successes and making those happen um, professionally and personally. So, this is just one story um, about the way that our team is amazing, but it's a really rare thing to find. So, I'm um excited to be a part of that team and that these are uh the people working with our Orlando
residents. Um so, with that, I will move into our urban farms. So, we have two urban farms within the city of Orlando. We have Mcquig and South Street. So, um both of these farms, our main goal is to be able to provide access to fresh local
produce for our community members and residents. Mcquig specifically is a two-part um space that has a community garden and then also a hydroponic shipping container and an apiary on the second plot that is adjacent to it. So on um in
the Mcquig community garden, we have over 40 raised beds available for rental. Um I say rental, it's free to residents for them to um farm out whatever produce that they would like in their bed. It's free for them. They just have to sign up with our office. um and
were able to provide education, seeds, plants, stars, anything that they would need to be able to be successful, feel closer to their local food system, and be resilient. Especially with rising costs of produce, this is a way for them to be able to have some independence and autonomy over what they are
growing. Um this is also both of these spaces are also uh multigenerational, so there's something for all ages. It's really fun to go out there and see grandparents with their grandkids out um gardening and getting out in nature and kind of you know maybe taking a break from technology and being able to um
connect with the world around them and South Street. Uh so actually the first picture that you're seeing on the left is our Mcquig community garden and then on the far or sorry yes on the left on the far right is South Street urban farm. Um, and this space is uh
showcasing very innovative ways of farming and gardening. Um, there's a market garden. There's, um, an orchard, um, a food forest. So, this is a really exciting place to be when it comes to gardening and farming. All of the produce that's um, grown here goes out
to our community members. There's a really great partnership with Neighborhood Fridge at this location where quite literally a lot of the produce will get taken uh by our staff to the neighborhood fridge for uh residents and community members to um grab whatever it is that they need.
Neighborhood fridge also has raised beds at this location where they're able to farm out that produce. And then moving on to our hydroponic farm. So, like I mentioned, this was at um this is at the McQuig Community um garden space. And so, this
is going to provide fresh food for our community. And as we all know, we're living in Florida. We're about to get into the really um intense summer months where it's harder to grow fresh produce. So, this hydroponic shipping container is prefabbed out with grow towers and flood trays. Um so, we're able to
control the climate within this space to be able to grow produce. So we can control the temperature, the humidity, um the light, and be able to provide nutrient-dense fresh produce to the community. Think spinach, micro greens, leafy greens that we otherwise wouldn't
be able to grow in this hot Florida summer. So these are this is another way that we're able to um be resilient to what's going on around us um and adapt and be able to get that out to the community. Another exciting um thing that's coming out of our shipping container or our hydroponic farm I
should say is um we are creating a youth entrepreneurship program uh that will be run out of this space and it'll be modeled similar to how Blackbe Honey works but uh it's going to be for high school students in our kids zones where
they'll be able to learn how to um run a hydroponic shipping container. they'll be able to get a certificate for that, take that on with them in their future uh for all of their future endeavors, and then all the money that is made from them selling the produce that they grow
will go back to the students um or into a scholarship fund for them. So, it'll be a very cyclical um opportunity for them to learn more about growing and um opportunity for green jobs in the future. food recovery is another um thing
another opportunity that that we run out of our office. So, as of 2020, 80 88,000 pounds of gleaned food has been transported to the uh by the city. And um you can kind of see in the pictures here, we have we'll glean everything
from peaches to um blueberries, strawberries, cabbage, broccoli. Um, our team gleaned corn in that that lower right hand side picture. Uh, but basically we have partnerships with some farms and Society of St. Andrews and we are able to go out to these farms and
glean or harvest produce that otherwise would get tilled back into the soil. Um, so we're able to get that glean that fresh produce and bring it back into Orlando and get it out to organizations that can get it out to our residents who need it. And then in that top right picture, I
just have to shout out Henkins Neighborhood Center. That's Dakota, one of our students in garden program and her mom. And we had brought some cabbage from one of our gleans and they were able to take it home and have some fresh cabbage. Next up is our apiaries. So we have three apiaries within the city of
Orlando. One at Fire Station 1, Fire Station 2, and Mcquig Urban Farm. Um, these apiaries are run by the amazing Tuesday Piper, who's our city beekeeper. Shout out Tuesday. Um, and basically she is able to support the black bee uh
honey program with uh education, beekeeping gear, hive management, honey collection methods, um, and kind of show them the education of what's going on behind the scenes in the hives. The students with Black Bee Honey are able to sell that that honey. um but there
was kind of a disconnect between how that honey was made um and them selling it. So she's able to fill that gap um and does an amazing job with that program. She also does education at OCPS um at our fall events. So you know people of all ages are able to suit up,
get that immersive experience being able to open up the hives um and get close to the bees and our pollinators which is really fun. If you've never done it, you should come out and and suit up and get into the hives because it's really so much fun. Uh, next up is our garden program. So,
this is a youth environmental education initiative. Um, our garden program is active at 12 neighborhood centers within the city of Orlando. We see about 150 students a year and we focus on kindergarten through fifth grade for our sustainability education. Um, and we really just want to be able to foster a
connection with nature and healthy food with our students. Um, we have over 60 raised garden beds, so it's a we maintain a lot of space and a lot of gardens for our small team. Um, but we have a ton of fun with the kids. They love being able to come out and get
their hands dirty. We know it's um an afterchool program, so we want to make sure that we're have engaging education, making sure that they're excited to be there. Um, and they're not just, you know, kind of sitting at a table doing a worksheet. We want them to be really engaged with our education. Um, and
Elena Hicks does an amazing job with our curriculum for that program. Um, and we just see that it's a a very important way for students to understand where their food comes from, feel closer to their local um, food system and be able to have a good relationship with food.
So, some of those pictures, that's Stacy at Henkins um, neighborhood center holding up some beets from the garden. Um, Callahan Neighborhood Center with eggplants that they had just harvested. Um that's Benjamin at Grand uh Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center. They had just harvested some sweet potatoes and
then up in the um right hand corner is Wade View Neighborhood Center and for some reason edible flowers do amazing at that neighborhood center. So they were able to try some bachelor buttons, no nesters um and and be able to see flowers as you know not only a something that grows and that's beautiful but can
also be edible. So next is our sustainability adventure program. So this is um a program in partnership with families parks and recreation. They do monthly camping trips um along with rock climbing, archery, other field trips. And the this
program is really just an outdoor um education initiative to be able to get students out in nature um immersed in Florida's diverse landscapes, learning basic uh leadership skills and skills that they can take without with them throughout their lives. Um, and this is
also a way for them to kind of get away from technology, um, build relationships with the um, their community around them and um, be able to learn about green jobs and sustainable jobs. They went to a wind tur turbine facility and were
able to kind of see how that works. Um, and with our sustainability adventure program, our garden program, and black be able to have something for all ages. So it kind of starts with garden program in those K through uh K through five
ages. SAP focuses on middle school students in the kid zones and then Blackbee Honey is of course for high school students and then eventually the hydroponic shipping container will be another opportunity for high school students as well. So we want to be able to build those programs um for our
students. So this is our reach mobile resilience hub and um this was built by UCF for the city via a national science foundation grant. So this provides pre and post- disaster necessities. It's solar powered, has satellite internet, um a freezer, a fridge in the picture up
there, that's some of the produce from our uh garden uh education gardens within the city that we were able to stock the fridge with. So we have access to it uh a majority of the time, but in the case of an emergency, Manny and April will be able to take control and deploy out this reach hub into
neighborhoods um that may other that may need it um in an emergency situation. So this this reach hub lives at the um emergency operations center and then we're able to deploy it when needed. Uh and then we've also we haven't had it for a super long time, but we're able to
um we've been able to showcase it at some of our events. And last up is our one person, one tree program. So this is in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. Um we're able to we've been able to give out 16,000 trees uh to our Orlando residents. And
this is all with our city goal in mind of 40% tree canopy by 2040. And we've just recently been able to uh start giving out fruit trees. There was um it's been highly desired by our residents to be able to to be able to give out fruit trees. So, not only are
they getting shade, but they're also getting something edible as well from that. Um, we've been able to give out peach, mango, Barbados, cherry, fig, plum, avocado. Um, and we were able to give out education for planting to make sure that those trees get in the ground
successfully uh and are grown um to be able to provide for our community. And with that, I thank you all so much for your time. I was excited to be here today. and I will turn it over to Mike Taylor who is our sustainability manager.
Thank you, Alyssa. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. Uh, as Mike mentioned, my name is Mike Taylor. I'm the new face on the team. Um, really excited to be here. Orlando is really doing some amazing work in the area of sustainability, and that was definitely something that really drew me to the
team and drew me to this position. So, very excited to be here. Uh we'll start off with a quick update on clean energy. As you know, the city has a goal of 100% clean energy citywide by 2050. So we're doing lots of efforts
to get towards that goal. Here in the city, we are leading by example in our municipal operations. So our goal is to be at 100% clean energy by 2030. We're currently sitting at about 30%. So, we're looking at different ways that
we'll be able to get to that 100% by 2030. And just a few examples of some of the work that has been done, uh, retrofitting some buildings, adding rooftop solar, and of course, community solar is a key part in in achieving those goals. Next up, we'll talk about the
citywide energy benchmarking policy. I know uh earlier this year, Ashley Pettz gave an update on this, but we'll just provide a few updates since then. Um it continues to be a successful program. I think that's one of the key things. Uh we are finding increased performance in
the buildings which is resulting in a decrease in our overall pollution. If you look at the greenhouse gas emission numbers, you'll see that those are continuing to go down while the participation in buildings continues to go up. Um I think the big takeaway here
is that it's working right. The policy is doing what it's meant to do. And this is also another key element in our clean energy goals and getting to those goals by by 2040. Another exciting thing is the
energy efficiency work for our renters. Uh as you know just over 60% of the homes in Orlando are rentals. We worked with a lot of different partners and did some research over the last few years. We worked with Podair Latin X. We worked
with the NAACP and really listened to the residents and what was happening and what they were experiencing. And what we learned was that most of the energy efficiency programs are geared towards homeowners. So there was a big gap there with our renters. So we really had to
think about how can we mitigate that gap? How can we, you know, eliminate that? Um we learned that many residents are struggling with their electric bills and it continues to be an ongoing issue and many of them lack adequate air
conditioning. Um they lack functional and efficient water heaters, you know, basic necessities that we kind of take for granted every day. So we really took a holistic approach at this and how we can address these concerns and um
mitigate those risks for our residents. So what we did was we came up with a new program that we have been phasing into effect. So our phase one was really plug-in technology. We tested this in four homes. Uh Commissioner Burns, there
was one in your district. Commissioner Rose, I believe you visited some of the residents. Uh and we really worked with the residents. We talked with them. We found out what their needs were. We made friends with them. They built the program with us, which I think was really key. Um, if you look down there,
we did some plug-in solar testing where they could uh charge they would have hanging solar panels outside their home and they could charge up the the battery and then draw off of that later in the day. We did a heat uh a heat pump water heater and I have to say like this one
really amazed me when I went to the site visit. Um the amount of cooler air that it puts off was just about as equivalent to one of the air conditioners. And uh the resident was sharing that a lot of times in that closet they have to close the door at night because it's getting too cold. So that was that was pretty
amazing. And then of course some window unit air conditioners. Um in phase one we also created an energy efficient basket. There's an example here we can pass around uh if you'd like to have a have a look at that. A lot of these residents were new to their homes. So we
wanted to make it exciting for them kind of have a welcome home gift. So Ashley put some really great items in there. Some glow stars instead of the traditional night lights. Uh an energyefficient uh shower head, different LED lights just to make it fun and exciting for
them. The kids really enjoyed it. For our phase 2 program, we were really lucky that the Four Roots Foundation donated 50 additional air conditioners. Uh the installations are just about complete, so we had to scale that across the city. So, we worked with our
partners at uh um Homeless Services Network and then we also put some uh registration forms online so that different residents could apply for it. Commissioner Shen, uh there was a resident in your district who learned about it actually from the mayor's academy and was able to apply and was
able to get a window unit AC in his home. So, that has really helped out as well. And then for phase three, we're really thinking about how we can take those pilots, evaluate them, find out what was successful, what w what worked, and then scale it across the rest of the
city. So, we will be working on hopefully getting some of our grants and then also looking at some additional funding so that we can continue to roll this out to the city. So, what did we learn from this? Um, from our phase one results at the top, uh, this was one of the properties.
You'll see the electric consumption went down considerably. Um the Clear Lake the Clear Lake home was saving $40 per month. It was about a 30% savings on his energy bill. Um Sean was so excited about it. He didn't even realize that
solar power existed and that it was an option. So, we were able to roll that out. And he's really become an opinion leader in his community about this. He's telling his neighbors and his friends about it and they're excited about it and want to learn more about the program and how they can participate. There was
another home on Jernigan and I just want you to think for a second what it would be like if you were living in your house. You had just moved in here. You were on the verge of homelessness and you're really lucky to get a place to live and the only air
conditioner in the apartment is in the living room. So you and all three of your kids are literally sleeping on the floor and the sofa in the living room. That's exactly what we what this resident was experiencing. So we were able to put a window unit AC in her
bedroom. And then this is the one that also got the heat pump uh water heater, which again, like I said, surprised me and was really cooling down the room. So she taught us as well. We learned a lot from her. You'll see the image there of the the faucet airator with the light on
and Mike and Ashley were there and they saw the light and they said, "Hey, what's that?" And she goes, "Well, sometimes the kids don't turn the water off all the way and they leave it running." And uh we put she put this in so it lights up when the water is running. So she can literally look out
the side, look up the corner of the room and see the water is running and then tell the kids to turn it off. I'm sure my mom wished that we had that when I was a kid cuz I left the water running often. Um, I think the key component here is that it's really working together. It's a partnership between our
office and the residents, learning from them and them teaching us. And then lastly, uh, we are rolling out an electric vehicle bike pilot. We're really excited about this. We've got four electric bikes. There's two at our office in fleet and facilities and
then there's two at city hall and it's really for us in transportation because we meet pretty regularly to bike back and forth between the two offices like if we have a shorter meeting or uh it's a nice beautiful day and we want to get outside. So, it's a nice way to test this out. Um we're going to see how it
goes. We will figure out next steps and how we can scale this across the city. um possibly adding these to the motorpool or ways for city employees to check them out or what have you. Um we also think that there's going to be a an impact to the operational cost. So we
may see some savings there financially if we're able to go to the bikes versus vehicles. So thank you for your time. Uh it's nice to be here and I will pass it off to Evan Noville. Thank you, Mike. Good morning, mayor, council members, city staff, and uh
members of the public. Um, I'd like to echo my colleague sentiment of gratitude for being able to present to you this morning. Um, in my case for our future ready initiatives. Um, as Mike mentioned, uh, well, both mics really. My name's Evan Novel. Um, uh, I'm
relatively newish in my position now, but, uh, my tenure with the city starts about seven years ago as a sustainability associate with GreenWorks before we were an official office. uh subsequently took a job with solid waste division as a a project manager and now I've come full circle back to the office
of sustainability resilience future readiness as as the uh as the future ready initiative manager sometimes the innovation manager um but to answer everyone's question yes it is the most obscure if not interesting job title at the city so uh something I take great
pride in I get to do a lot of good work um interesting work a big part of my job is to ensure the city uh not only stays a breast of but ahead of um emerging technologies, policies, apps, widgets, services, you name it. Um that are all
on the horizon. But enough about me. We'll get uh we'll get into some of our future ready initiatives. Uh I'll start with the digital divide. So the digital divide isn't isn't actually an initiative. It's more of the challenge or or problem that the city faces, many
cities face. Um it's it's a pretty complex problem but more relevant and gerine to today's presentation is uh lack of high-speed internet access. So believe it or not uh approximately 20% of our households lack this access to highspeed internet. Uh and our first
step towards uh uh reaching our goal in bridging that digital divide is to connect an additional 10,000 households. So as you can see on the map here um a lot of that percentage uh can be accounted for in districts five and six but there is representation across the whole city. So how do we how do we aim
to bridge that gap that digital divide? Uh for one we're relaunching and expanding our hotspot device checkout program to 17 city locations. So, you reme may remember a couple years ago, we had a pilot project where uh basically library style. A resident could go into one of these locations and check out a
hotspot or tablet, a hotspot device or tablet, take it home, use it for academic purposes, you know, attending remote school, homework, uh business purposes, working remotely or or just uh leisure, recreation, browsing the internet. Um we're expanding on that.
So, we're scaling it up, relaunching it, and uh and adding to it. I think uh actually Commissioner Stewart, you may not remember this, but I think you recommended adding laptops to this program. So, uh we're doing that. We actually have a couple hundred laptops that we're going to give away as permanent donations to people who haven't had internet access or digital
tools before. Um and then like I said, having us at 17 locations rather than just a couple. Uh handinhand with this is creating a free digital literacy training program. So the idea here is that um you know if you've just recently
gained access to the internet or one of these digital tools, you may not know how to use it effectively, right? If you if you're a first-time internet user or digital tool user, you may not know how to create an email address. Uh you may not know how to clock into work remotely. So uh it's imperative that we
not only provide access to the internet but ensure a smooth implementation and transition of that technology. Uh and then uh last for this uh designing Paramore public Wi-Fi system. So you can see a a map overlay of part of the Paramore community. Um and the idea here is that uh you know
because there is a a substantial a lot of that 20% comes from this area. So we want to make sure that um we provide some of that some of that access in this area and we aim to do that by sort of punctuating the landscape with um with these Wi-Fi hotspots. So realistically
you may not have internet access in every home, every living room in every home. But the idea is that uh anyone within this area is will be no more than 3 to 5 minute walk from one of these hotspots. All right. So tables of connection is another project we have that that aims to bridge that digital
divide. Uh I'll start with what what is a table of connection? Um it's I mean at its core it's a it's a picnic table. It's very simple but it's so much more as well. So, it it comes with a a canopy overhead and that canopy has solar powering on it. Uh, and that solar power
uh solar paneling powers a couple things that are on board this picnic table. So, we have wireless and wired charging. U, we also have an onboard Wi-Fi hotspot. So, uh, it meets a it meets a ton of needs. It it provides a space for recreation and social gathering. Uh, it
provides shade. So, we all know that's in high demand, short supply in our summer months. And it's also a a Wi-Fi hotspot, so people can come here to work, go to school, some of those same uses, um or or just browse the internet. Uh one of one of my favorite stories is one I heard from Mike of a gentleman who
would come here to check his work schedule. Uh he didn't have internet access at home and he relied on it to know when he had to show up to work. Uh we currently have two of these in operation. Uh the one you see here is uh is Prince Hall. We also have one at Willows Park. Uh, and we are in in the
process of installing 12 additional tables across the city with representation in each district. Um, and like I said, it'll provide free public Wi-Fi and backup power if need be. All right. So, the senior citizen virtual reality pilot VR. Um, I actually
have a my prop down here is a VR headset. Um, and some wands here. I'd love to be the first person to put them on and catch butterflies in council chambers, but I won't. Um, but if you would like to to pilot or test some of this, uh, you can connect with me and and we can arrange a field trip to come
out and test some of the, uh, the pilot project we're doing here. But currently it's at our Callahan Neighborhood Community Center. Uh, we're we're piloting it with some of our senior citizens. Um and it's uh a a good time to step back and kind of reiterate what Mike said in that um you know part of
what our office does and especially my team my pillar is support not only externally uh uh you know our residents citizens but also our internal departments. So um whether it be transportation uh solid waste or in this case uh FPR family parks and recreation
we're we're partnered with them and supporting them in this endeavor. Um but what does this provide? It it provides uh the opportunity for virtual travel and experiences. Um you know many of our senior citizens are limited in their mobility uh not not just you know at
home but their ability to travel. So this thing is jam-packed with all kinds of activities. Like I said you can catch butterflies which allows for that gentle exercise. Um you can you can repel down a giant sequoia. You can take a hot air balloon up to the the edges of the upper
edges of the atmosphere all all from the comfort of your couch. Um, so it's a great way for for our senior citizens to engage in some of those activities they would not normally uh be able to. All right, that brings us to advanced air mobility. I'm uh I'm going
to allow Jacques to come up and speak on this just because he's had his boots on the ground a lot longer than I have. But uh to be clear, we are talking about flying cars uh or as we call them EV talls, electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. So if you're envisioning something similar to the Jetsons, you're you're not far off. Um
there is a little bit more behind that. Uh but it's something that's a little uh less talked about. Um it's perceived as being a bit further back on our horizon, but uh the reality is it's predicted to be a 30 billion market by 2030 uh with some of those first certifications from
the FAA expected sometime this year. Uh with that though, I'm going to turn it over to Jacques for a few minutes to speak a little bit more on that. Good morning, uh mayor and council. um Jacqu Koulan with uh the mobility innovation manager with the transportation department. Um so first
off uh thank you I guess both mics but um for as you've heard throughout this presentation it is a lot of collaboration between the future ready sustainability and resiliency combo uh that team and uh the rest of city hall
and and looking at a am is one of those areas. So, um, what we're looking to do, as Evan mentioned, advanced air mobility, uh, and it covers both the larger aircraft that carry passengers as well as cargo, as well as starting to
look at UAS, unmanned aerial systems, so drones. And for us, we see that the city has a very big opportunity to work with a lot of partners in the private sector, public sector to really make sure that
we're getting the best implementation we can of this technology in the city. And it's all about connections. So regional activity centers, other cities as well as within uh the city as and also looking at are there is there anything
in code in our current city codes and policies that we need to update uh to guide Vertiport locations and we have so far the city has gone through two phases of our AM planning efforts. So we uh
working with uh ECVHB here um on uh looking at the technical side of things. what is the challenges? What's the regulatory environment that we're working under? Also, uh you know, uh Scott and parking didn't love it, but we
looked at for Geico Garage. If we use part of that as a vertaport location, as some of you may know, Geico Garage has a helport. Um looking at that economic impact, both what would the cost be to the city, but also how much would we recoup um an economic development? Um
and looking at we are working we're still a uh we're the only city that's a party uh to NASA and the community planning annex. So a national look at a am and community outreach and then really that first phase uh as you see
here this was uh one of the exercises we did with partners to see well what would you want to connect how would things kind of blend together um and then based off of that we decided it does make sense for the city to continue to plan for advanced air mobility in phase two
we looked at zoning regulations and review. So we have in city code in chapter 58 we have vertiports. It's really geared more towards traditional holorts helicopters but if somebody were to come to the city tomorrow and say hey we want to put a vertaport here or at
the airport what does that look like? Um, and we brought uh uh folks from uh NASA, FAA, from DC all the way from California came uh to a tabletop exercise we held um early early last
year. I can't remember what year it is. Um and to go through that full effort as well as uh that agency coordination. So the city is a member of the FDOT advanced air mobility uh task force as well as world economic forum aviate
committee and um the national league of cities uh advanced aviation or aviation advisory forum. Um and our next phase that we're looking we have not started with is really looking at that traffic travel demand model. So where does it
make sense for those connections? Um, and based off of that, are there things that the city should or want to do to target vertiport locations? As some of you may have heard, Goa has an RFP out right now for two potential vertaports at the international airport. You're
going to need to go somewhere. So, really looking to see what makes sense there. And then uh finally, additional stakeholder outreach as well as community outreach and um really getting more people in that conversation about advanced air mobility. Again, not just
passenger the larger passenger aircraft, but also drone delivery. Uh we have one company that's looking to launch uh services later this year. They submitted through FAA for that. Um and um just really wanting to make sure our community is prepared uh and has some
more answers as these new uh impacts come in. Um but I'm going to turn it back to back to Evan uh to go over digital wayfinding. Thank you, Jacques. All right, we're we're home stretch now, I promise. Um so I'm going to talk about
digital wayfinding. And um I'm going to take a step back from just kind of reading off the slide. I want to uh it's uh it's 10:40 so I think we've all been sufficiently caffeinated and and awake enough to go into imagination mode. But um I just want to explain via story mode kind of how this technology is going to
help the city because I don't think this fully captures it. At first glance it kind of just looks like another dynamic message system or dynamic message board, which it is to a degree. So we've all seen these. If you if you traveled on any major highway, it'll say uh you know the one on on 408 says congestion ahead
I4 exit. Um, but if you would just kind of imagine that you've been given uh VIP tickets to the Taylor Swift concert at the Kia Center. You've gotten dressed up. You're you're on route. You're getting off your exit off of 408 or I4. You hit traffic um and even worse, you
get to your parking garage and only to find that there's no parking available. Right? You've you've missed the first uh the first song, first couple songs, you're frustrated, you're flustered. Um and the rest of the evening goes goes poorly. Right? At this point, I've I've given everyone in city council chambers anxiety, and for that, I apologize, but
I promise we're going to get you to this hypothetical Taylor Swift concert. So, same scenario, but imagine as you get off on your exit, uh you see one of these dynamic message boards, uh that communicates real time with other ones, uh in the same area. It communicates with the parking garages, um and it's
able to update you real time that, hey, uh parking is full at at garage A, B, or C. Seek alternative parking by taking the next right followed by the second left. Um, it navigates you to your parking successfully. Um, you're able to park no problem at all. Arrive at your seat, you visit the restroom, get your
concession stand out of the way, and uh and enjoy the show. So, that's really what this aims uh this initiative of digital wavefinding aims to uh uh resolve. So, and you can you can see many of the applications that are that could be uh applied here as well. Uh you know, you can think her uh hurricane um
evacuation routing. if we're hosting Olympic Olympic running trials, it could it could announce that construction, parades, you name it. Um, it integrates with previous smart parking investments and again it's a joint it's a joint project with many other city departments. Uh, we're currently in the
design phase and pursuing construction funding. All right. Uh, entrepreneur engagement in I'll say intentional entrepreneur engagement. So, the city is is partnered with uh or uses a number of different platforms. One of them being Rally which is a social enterprise accelerator. Uh so one thing Rally does
very well is is uh source locate procure um uh and partner with local entrepreneurs or um startups that um maybe maybe not directly but have a peripheral sort of uh influence on sustainability or resilience and then it
partners them with potential clients or investors. The city being one of those clients and investors. So we we we work with these entrepreneurs to help solve city challenges uh filling in those gaps in our resilience and sustainability plans or goals uh while growing their business. Uh we have funding set aside
for pilot projects which is they're always the the most fun projects but more importantly they they help us minimize and mitigate any risk to the city. So uh we're able to spend 10 or $20,000 on a pilot project to test a product or service rather than you know half a million$2 million $2 million. Um
it's been so successful that we actually want to expand this to our UCF incubator as well. And this is just one example uh the most recent example of one of our partnerships with Block and Lock um who's under Blue Diamond but uh they create uh a mortal concrete block whose
uh soundness and stability comes from the interconnection of the block. So, if you think almost like adult or grown-up Legos, uh they piece together in a way um that that creates that soundness that you would get from having the mortar between the concrete blocks.
Um this product is used worldwide for actual housing, but we've chosen to pilot it here for a raised garden bed, which is located at our South Street Farm. All right. And uh and finally, for for my part, uh we're going to talk about community composting. So, uh, not,
uh, not this council, but next month, you'll see this show up on the agenda. Uh, May 19th, um, we'll include an agreement with the USDA, so a cooperative agreement, uh, for their composting and food waste reduction program. Uh, the city won $100,000 to create an off-grid community composting
system. This will also be located at South Street Farm and, uh, one to be determined location. So, uh, it'll look something similar to this structure on the right. Um it'll be a bay for static aeration compost which just utilizes air as part of the decomposition process. Um
it'll have solar paneling which will power the actual aation process. Um and then and like likely have a um a rainwater harvest harvesting or collection system attached to it as well. And uh that's all I have. I'll turn it back over to Britney Sers. Thank
you. Thanks Evan. All right. We are at the tail end of our presentation. So I wanted to thank you so much again for your time and just a quick recap of our work. Often sustainability can be considered as the green being green just
the environment but really the approach that Orlando has taken under Mayor Dyer's leadership has been to really encompass that people and the planet and prosperity approach. And I think as our work has expanded and the title of our
office has grown longer, uh, with some of the presentations we've had today really demonstrate that we're helping the community be more prepared for whatever is next. In the case of resilience, expanding access, uh, to healthy, affordable, locally grown food,
and everyone who needs it has the opportunity to have access to that, to take part, and as Alyssa mentioned earlier, have a chance to connect to the earth and relax a little bit. But I think we could all use that time to unplug. Across our sustainability efforts, we're helping to lower utility bills. So, that's often the single highest cost after renter mortgage.
That's a direct way that we can have an impact, just working a little bit more efficiently and focusing on some of those who need it most, like our renters who make up the majority of our population. And then finally with future ready, looking ahead to some of the cool things that Evan mentioned um and really considering what it takes for our
community, not just now, but for generations ahead to really be able to thrive. So, thank you all so much again. We're here for any questions that you have and again appreciate your time. Okay. Awesome. Great update. Um questions or comments, Commissioner Sheen and Commissioner Stewart? Yes. Uh
thank you, Mayor. And um I've I've gotten some complaints from businesses about the B West pro, you know, thing and they have have a really hard time and they're having a hard time getting information from OU, which doesn't surprise me. So I would just like to say, could we please make that streamlined easier so that you know,
building owners don't have, you know, you have 49% compliance right now. It's probably because it's difficult to do. So if we can work to make that um more sustainable as well. Um, a concern that I have also is, as you all know, as we've talked about, is is solar energy,
OUC's disenfranchising of solar energy, for rooftop solar. Um, I think we need to do more to advocate for rooftop solar because they were able to control the narrative because they want to profit and they don't want to pass the savings on to customers. And I think that's horrible. And as someone who lives this,
I have solar panels, I now have backup batteries, I have an electric car. So, it's I'm, you know, I want to live this and I want other people to have that opportunity, but it's difficult when our municipal utility who is supposed to be a not for-profit is wanting to profit off people. And something else that I
learned during this process, and Commissioner Burns was was hearing this too when in some of the OU meetings is they are not applying for affordable housing to to have access to solar panels. And that's disgraceful. We need to be doing more as an advocacy group to
make sure the underprivileged also have access to solar than in affordable housing that we put solar panels on to bring those those power bills down for people because I have seen a huge difference. Now, I'm a I'm a true believer. So, when OU said they were going to disenfranchise me, I put
batteries in and I'm surprised at how much even the battery backup is really helpful to keep my power bills down. I've cut my power bills in half. Oh, you see doesn't know that because they don't know what I'm consuming from my battery, which is awesome because I don't like them right now because I feel that they
have been disenfranchising customers. So again, I think we need to do more in terms of advocacy for this. When I was talking to OU about these problems, it's kind of interesting that you all brought up the air conditioners. That is something that, you know, the people that are constrained financially said,
"Well, you know, we can't do anything to help our customers because we can't do an off-site improvement for individuals." But if they won't, then we need to be doing that because that is a a huge problem for people that they have these old rickety air conditioner AC
units they've put in there just so they can have somewhat of a quality of life during our blistering heat. And unfortunately, um, as a renter, you are they're required to give you heat, but they're not required to give you AC. And in
Florida, AC is a need. It's not a, you know, it's not a frivolous thing. So, I'm glad to see that you all are doing that, but I'd like to see us advocate more and let people know that this is something that even if they want to do some philanthropy, that this is an an opportunity because it's so so
critically important. And um on the electric bikes, I think I I think they're great. Again, I have one of those, too. But again, that's a pretty big investment. I'm a little bit worried when, you know, I I have the option when I ride my bike in to park it onto the stairwell so I don't have to worry about
someone taking it. So, you know, I just think we need to work on safe storage because that is a pretty that is a pretty good financial commitment for someone. And I have seen more and more people when as on the urban trail every day using electric bikes. I had no idea
when we were doing these trails how many people were actually using the trails that we have put in to go to work. So if they're using those trails to get back and forth to work and they're using and they're and are buying more electric bicycles, we just need to work in with our growth management plan and
everything that like that to make sure that there is safe storage. So that you know this is a tremendous financial commitment that you know that they have the ability to to safely store that and um with the hotspots. I think that's a great idea especially in in Paramore and
in places where people don't have access. But something that we that I found when we tried to do it around Lake Eyola um that the the uh the internet companies were angry because they were losing customers because our people in Lake Yola Heights were connected to the
Lake Yola hotspot. So again, a situation where the company is angry at the city for providing a benefit. Now maybe they're not as concerned in Paramore because they're not making as much money there. But again, sometimes what we're finding with sustainability is that it's
impacting some other company's bottom line like OU or like our internet providers and that they're not interested in helping others. They're interested in making a buck and sometimes we just need to push back a little bit on that. Um because it is it is important to provide these services to the people that need it the most. So
um that's all I had, Mayor. Thank you. All right, Commissioner Stewart. Thank you, Mayor. Let me um agree with Commissioner Shei and I think there's a lot that we need to do as a city. Uh but at the same time, we do a lot. Um and um I bet you it's probably not a week goes by that I don't
get one or two letters from somebody in our community that says, "Why why isn't the city doing more?" Now, I believe we are. So, I believe that part of the challenge is communicating what we're doing to our to our constituency. I went on a couple of weeks ago and tried to to
respond back and I know that we've had some great articles about the city and what the city has been doing and in the southeast United States. Um, but what happens is that they hear about an idea from somebody else and assume the city ought to go ahead and do that. In almost
every case, we've already done it, but we haven't communicated it very well. So I think we need to look at your um the website that you've got and also provide u some kind of resource on there about where other analysis where other um uh
magazines where other endorsements have come so that people can feel good about what's going on in the city in some of those ways and I appreciate that. Um appreciate the work you're doing with other departments. I think that's important that we miss that a little bit. U the ability to have Jacques sit in and talk about what we're doing in
transportation is important. Um and back to electric bikes. The expansion of the urban trail has to be important. Um I now move I now live on a a major state highway that doesn't have safe um uh trailing trails
that go along there. So, so I really can't get out on a bicycle or electric bike and get out onto the road because I've got 75,000 vehicles that go down my road. So, we've got to work harder on trying to get those major thorough affairs because I think they're important to us.
Um, the citywide Wi-Fi is important. I've been contacted by a couple of vendors. I know that Bin Park is getting ready to do something because of their local vendor they have there, but I've been contacted. Uh those things are important. I think uh that is a
complement to what we're doing in Pyramore. We I think we can make this happen with a little bit of effort. Uh and then the other thing I want to share with you on the render distribution 63.8 I think is what you said was the number of renters. 63% I know that was
somewhere in there. Yeah. Yeah. Um do we have a distribution of who the renters are? um single homes versus multif family homes versus multif family apartments and those kind of things and is our strategy to go after those differently. I know that our and in my
district especially up at College Park, we have a whole section that's all R2. Um and I think that we can be able to reach into those areas as we look at many of those being remodeled and look at some other standards in terms of
making housing more efficient. Um uh I would like to see that. I mean, if we go back and look at what we're doing with um um building houses, we ought to be able to provide incentives for those that are providing um a more resilient
home. Um and I don't I don't think we do that as well as we as we should. Um and so I I would look at you and say, "Okay, what what is happening?" And then how can you work with our permitting and and inspections to see to make this occur?
Same way we ought to do something with with solar power. Put solar power on. There ought to be some incentive because what we're doing is really making a house more resilient for the future. So I'd like to I'd like to see that along the way. Um and uh I appreciate the work
that you guys do. um you you are good experts for us to see where we need to go uh and to make our our city um really essentially self-sufficient in the course of the next 25 years. So, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner
Commissioner Burns. All right. Thank you, Mayor. Uh thank you, Mike, and your team for all that you've do for the sustainability and resilience of our of our great city. Just had a couple of questions. Um you mentioned the reach mobile program uh
and I see that it's designed to respond to after um you know after um disasters and things of that nature. Um and luckily we don't have disasters every day or every week. So my question is, has there been any discussions about
getting that reach mobile program incorporated in our 21st century uh learning centers that we have throughout our throughout our our city? Because I know in in um at the Smith Center, we have I think one of the newest 21st century learning centers where they
focus on uh STEM education. And I I think we need to bring as much of that into those programs because they're already set. So, have you all been doing any work with with those 21st century programs? I don't think so quite yet,
but that um that reach hub was actually funded by a research grant. Uh so, we're actually still in the research phase. So, UCF built it for us. It was handed over to the city. Uh but UCF is actually still testing it at multiple different
locations. Like, I think they've tested it with the Boys and Girls Club and a few other places. So they're they're kind of doing a couple tests of like what's it like to use this at different places. Okay. We haven't even decided on all the places yet. So that could be one of them. Um and so they're really going
to be using it for research for this first year. We've only had it for a month or two. Um and so we're going to they're actually their researchers and their folks who are way smarter than I am are kind of thinking about what's the what's the best way to deploy this uh by testing it out at multiple different
locations. So, I think we should definitely follow up on that discussion as another place because we're still trying to identify uh some more locations. Okay, great. Also, with the Table of Connections, I'm I'm a fan of that program. I believe the first one
was put in at Prince Hall Park. Um and every time I go to the neighborhood, I ask about is anyone using the table of connections? And um for a long time, they say that they weren't because it was not working. it was not connecting.
And so all what we had was just a table. And so as we're looking at expanding this, I'm interested in understanding what does the maintenance plan like that because if we're telling a community you have this resource and then when they need to go use it, it's not there. Uh
that's I think that may be a a larger problem. Yeah. I I can actually talk specifically about Prince Hall Park. uh our friend Hurricane Ian created some flooding that we had probably never seen before. So that table So that table was a pilot. It was a pilot project. So we
wanted to learn from it from it. And I think we learned some hard lessons. One is we might want to expect flooding where we may have never seen flooding before. Um so because that table was partially underwater, uh when the water receded, the table actually worked again, but there was a lot of internal
damage that didn't show up uh until over time. So like parts corroded and then they would start to fail. And so we kept having failures from that one flooding event. So as we move forward the the new projects, all of the components are actually going to be higher up in the
table and not on the ground. Um and we are uh we've we've built a bigger maintenance budget to uh for the first five years as we scale it. So we are thinking about that. Um Prince Hall should knock on wood should hopefully operate much better. Now, we actually
our our vendor that helped us 15 light years is here. They actually took out all of the internal components and replaced everything in that table to make sure we fixed everything that could have possibly corroded by by getting wet. So, it was a pilot. We learned a few lessons the hard way and now we're
applying that as we scale it. So, it was a good thing and I I think we're we're planning to do better in the future. Thank thanks to having that pilot, right? And then the last thing uh mayor my last question is with the uh public Wi-Fi system is there are there any
plans to expand that beyond the initiative in uh in Paramore because I know you mentioned a large percentage of that 20% uh is in Paramore but we just need to keep in mind that they're not all in in in Paramore and there's other areas that need that that type of
access. Yeah. So that's what the tables of connection provide. Uh so the you know kind of the paramore system is a little bit more in depth because it seems to be our area that has the biggest challenge. Uh but the tables of connection I think Evan mentioned it are spread throughout. So we have some of
those uh in everybody's district and we're trying to specifically hit those areas where it's needed the most. So So are you saying that the tables of connection uh is the plan for public for the public Wi-Fi system or is it part of the plan?
Cuz I I just can't see that one table. um providing the connectivity for anything larger than just that immediate neighborhood. Yeah, it it is just part of the plan. Uh the hotspot program is
actually another part of that plan. So any one of our residents should be able to go to the Smith Center or ElClaudia Allen or I think all of your centers are within the the list. So they can either go to some of the smaller parks like Prince Hall and get Wi-Fi access there
or they can go to one of our centers, check out a device and actually have free Wi-Fi inside their home. All right. So outside of those two initiatives, is there anything else that's that's being done? Because even with that with and I love the the kind of the library type of program, but they're limited resources.
So every person who needs uh that we don't have the the stock to provide it. Yeah, I think those are the only Evan, correct me if I'm wrong. I think those are the only two we're looking at right now sort of public Wi-Fi within your district, but I think those those can actually cover a lot of folks. U but
we're not we're not done. I mean, we're we've gotten a certain amount of amount of funding and we're trying to apply that in areas where we think it's needed the most. We are open to doing way more. Um the goal we've set is a pretty high goal, but it's not fixing all of the problems. So, we'd love to follow up
with you and think about how can we how can we do more now with with some of the discussions that's happening at the uh at the federal level. Do we think that there's any funding that we're we've been planning on that uh may be in jeopardy? And I I say that because uh
the city did receive a tree equity uh program grant that I was just notified uh last week that the funding I guess had been rescended or taken back. Uh so I was just curious because um to know you know we may have plans on some
funding but if that funding is no longer available I think we have to have a plan B. So we uh we are working on a plan B. Um with just our small team the areas of disruption that we're seeing from the federal government all seem to be around
clean energy and energy efficiency. So our team over the last couple years won about a million and a half in grants for that space. And I suspect we're going to get probably less than half of that um at this point just based on what we're seeing from the federal government. Some
of them seem to be moving forward. Some of them seem paused. Some of them seem dead. Feels like we're going to get about half of it. Uh so we're immediately pivoting to uh private foundations. Uh actually our our team might I say our team, Mike's doing all the work. Um we're working on some
connections with a lot of private foundations because it is good work. Um you saw the pilot results he showed it's working better than we thought. Uh so it's a shame that we were awarded a grant in some case even had a contract and then that was kind of pulled back when we you know did everything that the
federal government asked of us to win that grant. So yeah we are pivoting to try to find some alternate sources so that something that is working really well we can actually still scale. Uh and I I have a lot of confidence in us doing that. I think Commissioner Rose and Mayor are actually going to be helping with that a little bit too. And mayor, I
just wanted to I think if we can encourage our team that once we get uh grant money awarded that we don't drag our feet in using it uh because I think that's exactly what happened with the tree equity program that funding was
there for I believe believe over a year. I was pushing to get it out and I know there was some procurement concerns but I think uh we can't drag our feet. I think we may need to find a more efficient way in getting those funds out and uh utilized for the purpose that they were granted. Yeah, I agree with
you, Commissioner. That's it. Thank you. Okay, Commissioner Ortiz. Thank you, sir. Great segue. Thank you, Commissioner. great segue to for me to ask about that particular program because we have tables of connections and hotspot but there's a lot of kids
that can't get to those places you know when they come out of school and I appreciated the um tablets because um been given to some of the centers we started that about a year ago also with um UCF and uh just to update you guys on
those tables of connections Park of the Americas was the first one to cater a couple of those and you're going to include those on on your presentation. So, I'm a little Oh, I I can speak those those uh actually do not have Wi-Fi. I'm just kidding. I'm just messing with you. Um tell me more about your energy
efficiency for renters because I see that I I hear you talking about this in the central area, but I would like to see how we can extend that more to the east side also. We have district one, district two, district three. Yeah. So, that's actually kind of in a a pilot
phase still, and that's the one where we have we were getting ready to scale and we're kind of watching some grant dollars get pulled back. Um, I believe the second phase pilot actually did include some homes out on the east side. I'm staring over at Ashley. I think we had a few in district 2, right, Ashley?
Um, so we can probably brief you separately because we have like a I can talk to you about that one for hours. Let me know so I can advertise that because we definitely need to. It's just like all these the bikes, electric bikes and and scooters and all that. For some reason, that plan has not arrived to
district 2 or district one. And we're still struggling with that. We'll love to see more of that. Uh now that we are creating more pathways for for scooters and and for bikes, electric bikes for them to to navigate the system. Um
citywide. Citywide. Love to see that citywide. And the digital divide. Um well I guess I already talked about that uh to a certain extent. Uh how far have we extended? How far have we gone with this particular program? Are we still in a pilot
uh program? There's multiple parts to that program and they're all at different stages. The tables of connection we have uh selected a contractor. Cory's team has actually set up the kickoff meeting. So we're going to be touring the locations I think in the next week or two. So that one is
into implementation. The uh checkout program, the devices, the vendor agreement is actually on your agenda for today. Uh digital literacy training will probably be on your agenda next month. Okay. Um what am I missing? Am I missing any?
So they're all they're all at different stages. Uh some starting to get into implementation, some uh finalizing procurement, and we'll be in implementation in the next couple months. Oh, the Paramore Wi-Fi is actually in design right now. Okay. Uh so we're working on the the design of
that to make it as effective as we can. Okay. Looking forward I always give as an example the U kids zone program and um such a successful program and I loved it for for the start. Took us only about 10 years to get it to the southeast. So
I I would love I would hate for for something like this to take that long. Anyhow, uh so if we can definitely let me know uh how you guys or how can we help you know promote or or take it to the east side from district I guess one two three and so four maybe to a certain
extent too. So um because these are great programs are helping our community and uh I like for everybody to be able to enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you so much for the presentation. Okay Mike and team thank you. Great presentation. That concludes our workshop for today.
Heat. Heat. Part: 2
heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat heat n hey hey hey hey hey hey hey everybody heat heat
heat heat good afternoon everyone and welcome to the April 21st 2025 meeting of the Orlando City Council we're going to begin today's proceedings with the invocation and the pledge of allegiance led today by Commissioner Bari Burns commissioner all right thank
you Mayor uh please join me in a word of prayer if you're so inclined gracious Father as we gather here today we humbly seek your guidance and wisdom grant us clarity of thought and understanding as we embark on this meeting and conducting
the business of our great city help us to make decisions that align with your will and bring about positive outcomes for all who call Orlando home grant us the ability to communicate effectively and do to comprehend one another's perspective this and other blessings we
ask in your name amen to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible liberty and justice for all okay madame clerk I'm gonna call the
meeting to order would you call the role please determine that we have a quorum commissioner Gray here commissioner Ortiz here commissioner Stewart here commissioner Sheen here interim Commissioner Rose here commissioner Burns here mayor Dyer here mayor you
have a quorum with all members present thank you Madam Clerk uh first order of business is the meeting minutes from the gender review and city council meetings of April the 7th 2025 motion by Commissioner Stewart second by Commissioner Sheen all in favor indicate
so by saying I i those opposed and so the motion carries well today is a day of celebration but also a day of sadness um we are celebrating a valued member of our team who has served the residents of
our fair city for over 30 years so I would like to call on our director of communications and neighborhood relations April Michael to honor Susan Harris who is retiring good afternoon mayor and commissioners it is my honor to be with you today to
celebrate Susan Harris and her 30 years of dedicated service to the city of Orlando since 1995 Susan has been a kind and trusted friend to residents across the city beautiful throughout her career she has led trainings and large projects
hosted meetings volunteered organized neighborhood associations built relationships and problem solved often turning issues into opportunities susan understands and cares for people she's a friend maker whether it's her personal network of
friends far and wide or the friendships she is responsible for establishing amongst our many neighborhood leaders and our city team her passion for people and bringing them together to get stuff done has been invaluable to the city she's dedicated she has volunteered year
after year for long hours on the phone during hurricane season helping residents get connected to information and resources she has also volunteered for all kinds of city events and projects that brought residents together on topics like housing homelessness and public safety and during one of the darkest
times in our city's history Susan was there to help families as they received heartbreaking news following the Pulse tragedy she's an Orlando encyclopedia she knows what was here before that building went up the history of that project or who you should talk
to if you really want to get that thing done if you're lucky you've crawled into her car or been on a bus and taken tours throughout our neighborhoods to learn what makes them unique and how to best serve their needs she's honest what sets Susan apart is her integrity and her joy
she will always tell you the truth even when you might not want to hear it and definitely with a shrug and a sorry she is warm and inviting and rarely seen without a smile in fact she shared with me recently that she failed many times at taking her passport photo
because she couldn't stop smiling you're not allowed to smile in that photo susan is beloved by so many in our city in our community and beyond she wanted to go out quietly but a very wise friend reminded her that this is also for us that we also need the opportunity to
celebrate her and her many accomplishments thank you Susan for your tireless dedication to our city we will miss you terribly but we are so very excited for your next chapter mayor Dyer after you read the proclamation we'd love for you and the entire city council to join Susan for a photo
okay we have a retirement proclamation city of Orlando whereas thanks to the dedication and professionalism of its employees the city of Orlando provides critical services programs and amenities that residents rely on every single day and
whereas during her three decades with the city of Orlando Susan Harris has been committed to ensuring that our community's neighborhoods are vibrant inclusive places for all who call the city beautiful home and whereas Susan began her tenure in 1995 as a neighborhood outreach supervisor since
2003 she has held the leadership roles in the office of communications and neighborhood relations where she works to foster relationships with neighborhood organizations and leaders and whereas she is known throughout the community as a warm friendly and knowledgeable person who residents and
city staff can always reach out to for assistance and guidance and recognizing the immense power of collaboration Susan is always working to help residents partner with the city of Orlando through programs like Mayor's City Academy and I lead and whereas she always works to
connect residents with their neighbors to strengthen neighborhood associations that bring communities together to address challenges and improve the quality of life in the area and whereas always putting integrity responsiveness and kindness at the forefront of all she does Susan is a true public servant who
has served the residents with great passion and pride and whereas Susan is retiring after 30 years of service with the city of Orlando will always be grateful for her leadership and countless contributions to our community now therefore I buddy Dyer mayor of the city of Orlando do hereby thank Susan
for serving our city and its residents and its neighborhoods extend best wishes for good health and much happiness in the future let's go down can fix your chair all right everybody else that's good we can't afford a new camera
i got it okay I'm not forgetting this although I was mad my fob quit working i was always used to my mom you got to use your best now i'm like what well she need to stay or else we can say nice things about her take off actually
hey Susan she doesn't have an hour to wait well we're going to go right to I think each of you know what just do your Susan part and then we'll come back bari you're our first up
well thank you Mayor uh Susan I'd just like to say thank you for uh your 30 years of service to the city of Orlando but also thank you for your guidance and encouragement uh in this role for me as being one of the newest commissions i I really appreciate it thank you very much
commissioner Craig Susan thank you for all you've done job well done we appreciate it and best of luck to you we're always here for you if you need us there's a lot to be said so uh I know that they call you a uh encyclopedia i
walk I call you a walking library because you are and uh you're more than just a you've been a counselor to us you've been a confident but more than anything else you have been a friend i love you and this is just a what is it
until until later so best of luck love you Susan we've known each other more than 30 years yeah and uh uh it is it is such an honor
to call you a friend uh and I'm going to miss you and I'm going to miss um the opportunity to um commiserate with you is that a good way to put it we love you and uh and wish you all the best
Commissioner well I lost in 96 or I would have almost been here as long as you were but uh I just want to say that you know we're going to have a tremendous loss of history and common sense with your leaving and uh you know I I I often say uh the the the mark of a
good communicator is you can tell them to go to hell and look make them look forward to the trip and while you never told anybody to go to hell you always made us look forward to the trip so thank you so much Susan so I look forward to We're going to work outside of here congratulations on
retirement you just can't leave us like that so we'll find a way to bring you back but it's been a joy over the last decade um dealing with Paramore issues as a resident when I was an employee upstairs so we'll continue to work together don't worry don't go too far susan between you losing you and Kathy
Russell in this short little time frame a lot of institutional knowledge some of it better swept away than remembered I think so we love you thank you so much now you make go
with your crowd thank you okay I have just a couple items for mayor's update um as we mentioned just about every meeting these days we're celebrating the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Orlando and it's a great
time to learn about our past and a great way to do that is over at the Orange County Regional History Center where we are collaborating with an a collection called Orlando Collected which is an exhibit that has 150 items that showcase
how Orlando has evolved over that time a number of us over over there to open the exhibit um a couple weeks ago I guess and it will run through the end of the year but it's worthwhile going over and taking a peek um this is National Volunteer Appreciation Week and the city
is proud to recognize the incredible service and dedication of our citizen volunteers in Americaore through um through Orlando Cares uh these individuals generously give with their time and talent to strengthen our neighborhood support our youth and uplift our community we are thankful for
their service if you're a sports fan um our city's professional teams are in action the Magic are in the playoffs didn't do so well yesterday um but we're anticipating a 4-1 sweep from here us sweeping Boston not the other way around
but we do have for sure two home playoff games coming up this week the Solar Bears are also in the playoffs and they have a game tonight one item of note on the agenda is a contract we had a great workshop this morning and one of the items that we talked about were uh
reducing barriers to internet access and providing access to technology on the agenda today is a contract with T-Mobile to do that and provide hotspot tablet and device checkout programs with laptops tablets and Wi-Fi hotspots
available for checkout at our city's neighborhood and community centers with that we'll move to the consent agenda which is the number of items voted on through a single vote we give each of our commissioners an opportunity to comment on items on the consent agenda and updates you on important happenings
from their district we rotate the order that we do that and Commissioner Burns is first up all right thank you again Mayor uh on April 8th I uh had the pleasure of attending the uh Paramore Kids Zone and the Holden Height Kids Zone postsecary graduation dinner at
Grand Avenue uh this was an opportunity where we recognize the young adults who have completed some level of post-secary education or schooling oftent times we we uh celebrate the graduates of high school but oftent time never uh
celebrate them again when they complete their postgraduate so thank you to um Joe Cesar and his team for ensuring that we were able to recognize those young uh young adults also on April 14th I had the pleasure of joining Mayor Dyer for a meeting with the governor of the state
of Piranha in Brazil uh our one of our sister cities had a great discussion we're looking forward to uh more developments there also this past uh week I had the pleasure of um accompanying Mayor Dyer to the summer youth uh kickoff at We Print well
Reprint is a local printing company that uh is currently employing three of our uh youth through the youth internship program with Career Source so just like to say thank you to the uh owners of Rep and then I would like to encourage other
businesses to get involved with this uh summer internship program because it really gives our youth the opportunity to see upfront some of the uh employment opportunities that await them uh just a a couple other things our next satellite
office hours will be uh this Wednesday April the 23rd at the Elclaia Allen Center starting at 10:00 a.m so if you want to meet with me and my staff please reach out to the office then our next satellite office hours will be May 14th also at El Claudia Allen Center starting
at nine o'clock uh and that's all I have mayor thank you commissioner Gray thank you Mayor i'll be quick uh everything uh both past and future is on our website two words of thanks real quick attended uh on Wednesday the Hispanic Chamber lunchon where they recognized uh
Hispanic business leaders uh well done there and congrats to those winners and also was fortunate enough to have a community meeting with Goa where they introduced Lance Little the new CEO and shared with the Lake Nona residents uh going on at the airport which is a lot of exciting things going on there so
that was that was great and I appreciate them doing that for the neighborhood and that's all I have thank you sir thank you Commissioner Ortiz mayor I'll be even faster all my stuff is there was a lot so I you can go to my website or you can go to the media all the outlets and
and see what we're doing um I just want to be I want to give a big kudos to uh Cape Cade B uh for the transportation meeting we have with the community uh we're really looking forward to move forward with that bus rapid transit system in
the summer and quarter hope that comes about you know sooner than what we think and that's all I have mayor thank you thank you commissioner commissioner Stewart thank you Mayor and I appreciate Commissioner Gray and Commissioner Dielding their time to me so I can take some more time to thank you very much i
appreciate it uh I want to mention a couple things um Lock Friends of Lock Haven had a great cleanup uh on the 12th uh collected more than 900 pounds of uh of uh debris and stuff around the neighborhood had more than 200 people show up it was a great turnout
appreciate Shan um Atkins and and the whole crew that helped coordinate that with our keeper beautiful so that's a wonderful program for us want to say welcome to the Sparrow Boutique in Bowwin Park um had an opportunity to um be over there for
their grand opening it was really nice they're a group that's out of uh Vero Beach and now they have a place over here in Baldwin really excited about it had a couple Easter egg hunts i want to say appreciate the all the guys who do all that work on that there's a ton of work cpna did one contract neighborhood association at Ottabbon Park i saw one
at Baldwin and I want to say a special thanks to I didn't get a chance to attend it to OFD who who did the um one for special needs kids on Dr on DPAC was a what a great great idea so um please pass on my congratulations to all your
guys over there please um and then special Lake Formosa Neighbor Association is getting organized again i'm excited about that had a chance to speak to them mayor thank you for your your comments about the Orlando uh Orange County the Orlando exhibit at
Orange County Historical Museum it was really neat to be over there and see some of that stuff um and um and appreciate the work that they did put into it some things coming up earth Day is coming up and those things are on my calendar if you'd like to see it there's Rosemont Community Center is having a
meeting and then of course on May 1st is the annual National Day of Prayer and I think the LEO um memorials that evening so if you get a chance we want to spend time remembering those fallen officers on the agenda today um the law
enforcement trust fund is passing out $85,000 from some of their funds um to some really important agencies in town um and I appreciate the work that they're doing let me see if I can just share a couple after School Allstars Camaraderie Association Wounded Warrior
Project uh the AB United Abolitionists that Fight Against Human Trafficking Make a Wish uh Runway to Hope and the Police Survivors this is a way that we uh we we want to make sure that we share some of this comp I guess confiscated funds and get back to the community so I
appreciate that um three item 3B5 uh is the Edgewater Drive complete streets project is starting to move forward so neighborhoods please look for some community meetings coming up during the summer and of course mayor as I mentioned before and the other meeting I'm stayaining on voting on item uh 3C6
and I filed the paperwork with the with the clerk that's all I have thank you Commissioner Sheen thank you Mayor and uh I'd just like to thank the Easter Bunny for all the kids events we had over the next last couple weekends with at Southern Oaks Colonial Town Thornton Park Lake Como and Colonial Town in that
Easter bunny suit is awfully hot this time of year so I appreciate the Easter Bunny very much um this morning um Pope Francis passed away um he adopted his name from St francis lived a life of service to others particularly the poor um I was raised Catholic and my
religious education informed by my catechism informs all of my morality and public service um while this wonderful man who was not perfect he pressed us to be better people he can live on in our commitment to justice fair treatment of immigrants and the poor i love that he
insisted in riding in a Fiat rather than a Mercedes and that he embodied humility rest in heaven our kind Pope compassionate Pope Pope Francis that's all I had Mayor thank you thank you Commissioner commissioner Rose um couple updates i want to thank Bats Lake View
Funeral Home for a wonderful Bunny in the Park event at Lake Lana Doom this past weekend um everyone get your pickup sticks and your gear ready this Saturday there will be two cleanups in the district uh Majestic Life on Saturday at 8 am and then this Sunday with City District and the other main streets at
9:00 am at the soccer stadium um a big congratulations to Evans High School and Jones High School for those that don't know they receive full ride scholarships for any student that wants to go to Valencia um and that's an amazing opportunity it could be a two-year degree or it could be a trade
opportunity so this is a great way to make sure that as soon as our students are done at Evston Jones they have um a direct path to career um and so as a proud alumni go Pumas um the registration so on June 21st I will be
hosting a hook and reel fishing event at Lake Lana Dune June 21st um there will be a lot of fun food prizes and a great opportunity to fish right here in the community um the registration is open and you can find it on the District 5's uh Facebook and Instagram page um I want
to thank the public's volunteers for helping um couple weeks ago we had the Northwest Community Garden as we talked about sustainability this morning um making sure our gardens are upkept um they installed some new beds and it was a great opportunity to interface with
our early learning students they came over and we picked carrots and they kind of cleaned up the garden as well so thank you to Publix for that um for those that don't know on the second Saturday of every month at Lake Lana Dune we have a market so I want to encourage everyone to come out uh 9:00
am so health is wealth is my big motto um and I live by that in every way possible so I am grateful for a partnership with the Orange County Department of Health um they are bringing their dental bus out to our schools within District 5 and making sure that our students have healthy
teeth um everyone mark your calendars for May 10th it is National Stamp Stamp Out Hunger Day so ultimately what you do is you get a bag of food and you put it next to your mailbox and the mail carrier will pick it up and they will um take it to a hub uh for food
distribution so again mark your calendar is May 10th take a bag of food um whether it's canned goods non-p perishable items and just put them all in a bag right next to your mailbox and the carrier will pick it up um on to the agenda um I want to congratulate two
district 5 residents David Hodgeges and Africa Henley for being appointed to the Orange Blossom Trail Development Board i also want to congratulate Rachel from Dr phillips for being appointed to DDB and Shannon um to the public arts advisory um and I'm glad to see 3C11 on the
agenda as we increase affordable housing inventory here in the city of Orlando second motion by Commissioner Rose second by Commissioner Sheen all in favor indicate so by saying I i those opposed motion carries okay if there's
no objection we're going to recess the city council meeting we're going to convene the CRA meeting uh 4A is meeting minutes from February 26th meeting of the advisory board motion by Commissioner Sheen second by
Commissioner Rose all in favor indicate so by saying I those opposed and so the motion carries uh you should go ahead and take 4 B and C david we'll do mayor and good afternoon council mayor council members uh so item two on the CRA agenda today
this is a companion item that you saw under the consent agenda under business and financial services for the adaptive reuse of the Bob Car uh obviously it is a gem in our community uh and the city and the CRA really want to embark uh on the effort to see how we can reintroduce
it uh to our community in a very innovative way that furthers the goals that we've set forth for creative village this contract is with Baker Barios and it is for design services for that building as well as potentially construction drawings uh and owner rep services uh it's split into two phases
uh the first phase is that conceptual work as we can really envision what exactly uh we will be looking to gain from this building and the various uses that it will provide to us as well as the community that's just over a million dollars uh phase two is then the construction drawings and potential um
um um owners rep services associated with the construction at just over 3.8 million for a total potential cost to the CRA of just over $4.8 million and I'm happy to address any questions motion by Commissioner Rose second by Commissioner Sheen discussion hearing
none all in favor of the motion indicates so by saying I i those opposed motion carries and 4C yes thank you mayor this is a DTO facade grant uh for a home in our Paramore community at 701 Arlington Street they're looking to do some upgrades specifically to the windows of that home
they qualify uh for funding from our facade grant uh their cost is just about $60,000 they qualify for $20,000 from our program it did go before our advisory uh committee and they recommended approval on March 17th
motion by Commissioner Rose second by Commissioner Sheen discussion Commissioner Rose um great to see res i would like for us to work on some sort of outreach doing some more outreach to make sure that the other residents take advantage so thank you
further discussion hearing none all in favor of the motion indicates so by saying I I those opposed motion carries david any further business come for the CRA that is all mayor and we'll stand adjourned as to the CRA we will reconvene the city council meeting we'll
go to hearings ordinances second reading 12 madam clerk ordinance number 2025-13 an ordinance of the city of Orlando granting SJP Enterprises LLC DBA Prince Containers a non-exclusive franchise to provide rolloff container
collection and disposal of solid waste within the city of Orlando outlining franchises duties and providing the terms and conditions under which such franchise shall operate providing for severability and an effective date second motion by Commissioner Ortiz
second by Commissioner Stewart discussion hearing none all in favor of the motion indicate so by saying I I those opposed motion carries i should say I don't have any requests to speak on either of the roll off items 12b
ordinance number 2025-14 an ordinance of the city of Orlando granting Earth Hall LLC a non-exclusive franchise to provide rolloff container collection and disposal of solid waste within the city of Orlando outlining franchises duties
and providing the terms and conditions under which such franchise shall operate providing preservability and an effective date motion by Commissioner Sheen Commissioner Ortiz i'll take that as a second um discussion hearing none all in favor of
the indicates so by saying I those opposed motion carries okay that is the agenda business for today let's get ready for general appearance