ORANGE CENTRAL !

At some point most people have driven down the US192, where a host of restaurants, attractions and masses of discount T shirt and cheap ticket stalls line the way.

Now the problem that the 192 traders have found is that most of us just drive on by, either heading towards Disney or on the journey to our favourite eatery.

So the newly formed ‘192 Business Alliance’ is about to try and bring in the trade to these areas. Presented last week to a smaller than expected group of 40 the alliance has decided that enough is enough and that they must try and promote a 5 mile length of US192E into Orange Central. With two orange shuttle buses moving people into the area from designated pick up points or hotels and a new website promoting the area as well as the concept of orange sidewalks/curbs lining the area.

But all of this comes at a cost, and they need to lobby the County Commission for $300,000 for the shuttles that they hope to have up and running in the spring.

This recession has hurt all of us, and in doing so we haven’t travelled as much and when we have we have to be more selective in where we spend our dollars, so out-of-towners will probably part with their dollars at Disney or one of the major themes parks and not outside the their themepark grips.

Mark Brisson, stated they should no longer live of the crumbs of Disney – but the reality of that is that without Disney, there would be no crumbs at all; and in a recession those very crumbs from the Disney/Universal table are bound to be much much less.

But the alliance is right, they need to act now to bring in the dollars as things start to pick up, which as I have said before wont be until 2011.

But painting the sidewalks or curbs orange; I am not sure that shouts stop here, or please drive on by, after all this is the second decade of the 2000’s and not the tacky 70’s.

But the shuttles will be a great addition; businesses need to look inwards to each and create a safe, clean enjoyable environment for families to come to and plan to come to.

If a neighbours business needs painting then the community needs to come together and do that, reduce the tat on the sidewalks and improve the ‘walking flow’ to make it so that families can walk down the area from business to business and feel safe doing so.

I wish them luck as times are hard at the moment ....so - Go Orange Central – But not too Orange please…