Winter park is an area of Orlando where the residents expect a small town feel and smaller owned shops that are not invaded in a corporate sense. They want to keep the olden time feelings of a charming hometown sense with a nice aesthetic with cobble stone streets with little garden and fountains spread around to find. The restaurants and shops are unique and eye catching but outside forces like the economy can cause residents to change winter park through lack in money and funds for shops that are there in the area. Things like a need for groceries bring in the farmers market that was established. A need for convenience can cause changes to the area because winter park is advertised as a space where everything is within walking distance and the convenience of say Publix, open every day, is bigger in comparison to a farmers market every Saturday.
Winter Park is an upper tier town. The people living in the town want there to be a sense of union. This is something that has been developing throughout the years and changing with the coming waves of technology. As time passes, aesthetic values change and every town must grow. With roads, come cars, with cars comes commerce and its changing aspects. Just like we see on the photo posted on this entry, Winter Park has changed with the times and its different patrons. The important factor, as in the case of Casa Feliz, is that the residents of Winter Park remain connected to history and value the most important landmarks of their town.
Winter Park is one of those residential areas that exemplifies the "American Dream". Not only is it historical but it is strategically organized, which has helped it become a tight knit community. Winter Park boasts many historical sites and beautiful landscapes. Its residents expect it to be well-kept and its cultural events well run because they pay enough for that kind of quality. I believe the charm of WInter Park is that it still attaches itself to its early history and tradition but has since been constantly developed and renovated. Why can't one have the best of both worlds? In this context, I think Winter Park has tried to achieve both.
There is great tension in Winter Park between the established residential expectations and the forces driving the town to change the norm. If one looks down Park Avenue, the aesthetic that has been created within the past 10 years is one that makes you feel like your in a tight knit, small town. The example of the Colony Theatre building being preserved is an example of trying to maintain that old world feel. However, I would not say that the town is succeeding in maintaing residential expectations as again we can see with the Colony Theatre, it would have been cooler to revamp the old theatre into a more modern day one. Also, see in the housing around Winter Park, many people are unhappy with their already huge homes, and tear them down just to build bigger ones. It's a competition to show who has the most money, it's pitiful.
The kinds of people that live in established residential neighborhoods and areas are always going to want to the have the best of the best. And if that means buying property only to tear it town and build a bigger house that suits them better, than that is exactly what is going to occur. We saw this scenario when Casa Feliz was purchased. The buyer wanted the location of the house, but didn’t want to keep the actual structure. The only reason that Casa Feliz survived is because Winter Park residents and other concerned citizens rallied and created a fund to move the house to a different location. As new people continue to buy property in Winter Park, they are going to keep on personally deciding what actions they want to take with their property. Those very actions are the forces that are changing Winter Park. Sometimes these actions are encouraged in order to change the appeal and flow of an area, but other times these actions change the values that a community was built upon.
Some major forces that might be driving residents to change Winter Park could be fueled by pressure for development and continued expansion in commercial and the housing markets. Businesses might want to invest in a plot of land near the center of town consequently increasing pressure on older historic buildings or preserved open spaces (parks). Winter Park residents face the constant threat of large corporations wanting to become established in the core of the city, turning Winter Park into yet another big business oriented hotspot. The city needs to find a balance between small and large business interests if they want to keep the economy growing and satisfy the residents desire to preserve the status quo. Winter Park inhabitants need to define and defend what is best for the well being of this special community, and resist giving in to large-scale housing development and big business, unless they want to ruin the unique aspects of Winter Park in the long run. Keeping chain restaurants, and large businesses or corporations out of the city takes a strong community voice and solidarity that can preserve the aesthetic beauty of Winter Park for the future.
I believe the tensions here involve the real estate developers and the concerned residents of Winter Park. The developers are always trying to build something new to maximize profits. At the same time the community activists are concerned with a city maintaining its historical culture and character. Areas of the town such as Park Avenue have to find a way to invite new tenants and investment while maintaining their historical culture. A good example of this is the Pottery Barn that used to be a movie theatre. At the same time Winter Park has invited new investment into West Winter Park. This was mentioned on our walking tour on Tuesday. This has provided some nice mixed use buildings for the town. These buildings have attracted reputable tenants such as Morgan Stanley. Winter Park has decided to keep the historic Amtrak station and not develop into something bigger. There has been controversy with bringing commuter rail into Winter Park. All in all I think it’s hard for towns to balance personal property rights with communal good but I think Winter Park has done a good job.
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Winter park is an area of Orlando where the residents expect a small town feel and smaller owned shops that are not invaded in a corporate sense. They want to keep the olden time feelings of a charming hometown sense with a nice aesthetic with cobble stone streets with little garden and fountains spread around to find. The restaurants and shops are unique and eye catching but outside forces like the economy can cause residents to change winter park through lack in money and funds for shops that are there in the area. Things like a need for groceries bring in the farmers market that was established. A need for convenience can cause changes to the area because winter park is advertised as a space where everything is within walking distance and the convenience of say Publix, open every day, is bigger in comparison to a farmers market every Saturday.
Winter Park is an upper tier town. The people living in the town want there to be a sense of union. This is something that has been developing throughout the years and changing with the coming waves of technology. As time passes, aesthetic values change and every town must grow. With roads, come cars, with cars comes commerce and its changing aspects. Just like we see on the photo posted on this entry, Winter Park has changed with the times and its different patrons. The important factor, as in the case of Casa Feliz, is that the residents of Winter Park remain connected to history and value the most important landmarks of their town.
Winter Park is one of those residential areas that exemplifies the "American Dream". Not only is it historical but it is strategically organized, which has helped it become a tight knit community. Winter Park boasts many historical sites and beautiful landscapes. Its residents expect it to be well-kept and its cultural events well run because they pay enough for that kind of quality. I believe the charm of WInter Park is that it still attaches itself to its early history and tradition but has since been constantly developed and renovated. Why can't one have the best of both worlds? In this context, I think Winter Park has tried to achieve both.
There is great tension in Winter Park between the established residential expectations and the forces driving the town to change the norm. If one looks down Park Avenue, the aesthetic that has been created within the past 10 years is one that makes you feel like your in a tight knit, small town. The example of the Colony Theatre building being preserved is an example of trying to maintain that old world feel. However, I would not say that the town is succeeding in maintaing residential expectations as again we can see with the Colony Theatre, it would have been cooler to revamp the old theatre into a more modern day one. Also, see in the housing around Winter Park, many people are unhappy with their already huge homes, and tear them down just to build bigger ones. It's a competition to show who has the most money, it's pitiful.
The kinds of people that live in established residential neighborhoods and areas are always going to want to the have the best of the best. And if that means buying property only to tear it town and build a bigger house that suits them better, than that is exactly what is going to occur. We saw this scenario when Casa Feliz was purchased. The buyer wanted the location of the house, but didn’t want to keep the actual structure. The only reason that Casa Feliz survived is because Winter Park residents and other concerned citizens rallied and created a fund to move the house to a different location. As new people continue to buy property in Winter Park, they are going to keep on personally deciding what actions they want to take with their property. Those very actions are the forces that are changing Winter Park. Sometimes these actions are encouraged in order to change the appeal and flow of an area, but other times these actions change the values that a community was built upon.
Some major forces that might be driving residents to change Winter Park could be fueled by pressure for development and continued expansion in commercial and the housing markets. Businesses might want to invest in a plot of land near the center of town consequently increasing pressure on older historic buildings or preserved open spaces (parks). Winter Park residents face the constant threat of large corporations wanting to become established in the core of the city, turning Winter Park into yet another big business oriented hotspot. The city needs to find a balance between small and large business interests if they want to keep the economy growing and satisfy the residents desire to preserve the status quo. Winter Park inhabitants need to define and defend what is best for the well being of this special community, and resist giving in to large-scale housing development and big business, unless they want to ruin the unique aspects of Winter Park in the long run. Keeping chain restaurants, and large businesses or corporations out of the city takes a strong community voice and solidarity that can preserve the aesthetic beauty of Winter Park for the future.
I believe the tensions here involve the real estate developers and the concerned residents of Winter Park. The developers are always trying to build something new to maximize profits. At the same time the community activists are concerned with a city maintaining its historical culture and character. Areas of the town such as Park Avenue have to find a way to invite new tenants and investment while maintaining their historical culture. A good example of this is the Pottery Barn that used to be a movie theatre. At the same time Winter Park has invited new investment into West Winter Park. This was mentioned on our walking tour on Tuesday. This has provided some nice mixed use buildings for the town. These buildings have attracted reputable tenants such as Morgan Stanley. Winter Park has decided to keep the historic Amtrak station and not develop into something bigger. There has been controversy with bringing commuter rail into Winter Park. All in all I think it’s hard for towns to balance personal property rights with communal good but I think Winter Park has done a good job.
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