Apopka: Love where you live

I wrote an article a few months back in the form of a book report on For the Love of Cities by Peter Kageyama. One of our People of Wekiwa Springs board members purchased this book and led an inspired five-month planning session utilizing concepts from the publication. Kageyama is a much sought-after speaker on improving the quality of life in cities. His ideas and guidance are invaluable. These concepts and tips would work wonders in District 2. 

Over this holiday break, I read another Kageyama book, Love Where You Live. The book is chock-full of concepts that deliver a transformational approach to reprioritizing how we think about our cities. The more citizens engage in and “love” their community, the more friendly, approachable, and successful the city will become.

Orange County Commissioner District 2 Christine Moore

Peter also talks a lot about how we have isolated ourselves in cars, missing fantastic experiences, beauty, and unique locations. The author believes we must intentionally walk, bike, explore, and discover our places. Looking at the city close up will develop a love affair turned into quantifiable improvements.

Kageyama recommends an additional book, The Sensory Landscape of Cities by Charles Landry. Landry dissects how we experience cities through our five senses. He calls a city a “360-degree enveloping, immersive experience which has emotional and psychological impacts”. He states seeing a town only at 45 mph is limiting in many ways.  People will miss its unique and uplifting characteristics. 

He goes on to describe this experience deficit as an “impoverished awareness”.  In an impoverished awareness, we only notice skyscrapers, stadiums, massive new amenities, and public artwork. Landry believes we need to experience more human interaction and relate more closely to the little details in our surroundings. 

He believes we too often race past amazing engineering projects, beautiful works of art, interesting shops, and one-of-a-kind restaurants. The author mentions a visit to a town where he was stunned and amazed at a beautiful main street with a gorgeous tree canopy. He was enticed to get out of his car, and then, surprisingly, the tantalizing scent of chocolate propelled him into searching for the source. He found a little one-of-a-kind candy store. And, of course, he purchased a few delicate morsels.

I previously wrote about my summer experience at a Main Street Conference in Ocala with Mable Brinkle, President of the Apopka Museum. We loved exploring the entire city. The downtown offers quaint restaurants, a candy store, a hotel, and one-of-a-kind shops. And porcelain racehorses located at key junctures. 

Mable and I are ready to find local Apopka artists to design and create great-looking potato sculptures. Before you laugh, Apopka means potato-eating people. The tribe of native Americans who farmed near Lake Apopka were ahead of other tribes in cultivating crops. If you have studied anthropology, you know that cultures progressed once they developed the ability to grow crops. 

Finally, the author offers a note of caution, he warns us to get away from thinking that only local government and elected officials can make a difference in improving a city. Every citizen is important to the future success of a city.

Anyone can become a co-creator. Activating blighted areas should feel less about control or focused effort and more about allowing people to explore and develop ideas. For example, I still want to do more after cleaning up the Thompson/Votaw intersection and curating a mural. Call me if you have some thoughts or ideas. Thompson Road is much too special to hide homesteads, ceding the community to the unhoused. I always worry when I see multiple “No Trespassing Signs”. This is not a good sign, pun intended. We must take communities back while building permanent supportive housing for the unhoused. But that is a conversation for another article. It is possible to invigorate small areas with new events, activities, plantings, clean-ups, and artwork.

Activating means we tap into the abilities and stored potential of our citizens. It means as leaders, we must believe and trust our people more. We should treat citizens as partners and participants in the community-making process. Kageyama says we will never succeed if our citizens are treated as menial customers and consumers.

I hope you get to daydream and think about potentially activating activities. I desire to inspire and encourage citizens to create niche projects. In 2024, I intend to add bonus points for Corridor of the Year Contest teams, which recruit creatives and complete activating projects. I will even fund a small amount of supply money or assist with finding donors. Call my office at 407.836.5850 or email me at District2@ocfl.net. Together, we can all engage in improving our cities.