90.7 WMFE

Orlando will today vote on what the next decade should look like. Project DTO, as it’s called, suggests more than $400 million in projects to improve the city.

Today’s vote clears the way for possible tax dollars to be used. Project DTO looks at big ideas, like expanding SunRail to the airport, bringing a college campus downtown and investing in gigabit Internet.

Thomas Chatmon heads Orlando’s CRA. He said the projects that get him the most excited are plans to turn the underside of Interstate 4 into a park, bridging the east and west sides of downtown, and turning Magnolia Avenue into a pedestrian walkway.

“If we can achieve those things, I think we can consider the plan as being successful at taking us in the right direction,” Chatmon said. “Sustainability is important, open space is important, those get me really excited. There’s a lot in there though. I could go on and on.”

Funding the projects will require both public and private partners.

WMFE is a partner with Health News Florida, a statewide collaborative reporting on health care.

Health reporting on WMFE is supported in part by AdventHealth.