Per an email from Pauline Eaton, the City of Orlando’s Main Street Administrator, the City District (formerly known as Church Street Main Street) will now be known as the “Downtown Orlando District” and they will soon be looking for a new executive director.
“Good morning everyone, I wanted to give you all a quick update on City District. Yesterday, the Board of Directors voted to terminate the employment of Rosangela Parker immediately. The Board will be considering hiring an Interim Director as they look for a new full-time Executive Director. They will be reviewing the job posting and will be putting the information out soon. If you know of someone who would be an excellent director to take Downtown to a new level, please encourage them to apply. The Board also voted to change the name of the district to Downtown Orlando District. The branding and logo will remain the same.”
– PAULINE EATON
Eaton’s above statement, which was distributed to a number of city personnel and Main Street directors, neglected to acknowledge that the board actually gave Parker an option to resign, which she decided to take, opting for a graceful exit rather than the dramatic one painted by the city’s Main Street program liaison.
“Fact is the district has been continuously changing and evolving for nearly the past three years from expanded footprint to the expanded board, to expanded staff, to rebranding, to pandemic adjustments, to a shrunken district, to a divided board, to divided Main Streets, to a now more downtown centralized district. This will be a complete reset with mostly new board members, a new name (keeping the branding I helped bring to the organization), possibly a new structure, and a new staff person to help them deliver whatever they ultimately decide. Starting over is never easy. It takes time to earn the trust of our business community. They play a key role in the success of the district. Hopefully, they will be included in the strategic planning. I wish them all the best.”
– ROSEANGELA PARKER, FORMER CITY DISTRICT DIRECTOR
Unrelated, though not totally unnoteworthy, the City of Orlando also declined to re-accredit the City District earlier in the year, based on some missed year-end goals during the pandemic; like not having enough community members on their advisory boards and board of directors. A hard thing to do when people are told not to gather with others.
Board reps Dominique Greco and Despina McLaughlin told Bungalower that the organization is taking this year to look at its overall brand and purpose as the overall state of downtown Orlando is one of transition.
“We’re talking to city staff, our members, local businesses, etc., to make sure it all makes sense now that Parramore is its own independent thing. Now was the time for that. We still need to formally adopt the name change and come up with the branding though, so Pauline was a bit hasty in sharing that news with everyone. We’ll be continuing on as City District for a bit longer.”
– DOMINIQUE GRECO, CITY DISTRICT (DOWNTOWN ORLANDO DISTRICT) BOARD MEMBER
The board even went so far as to take a vote about whether or not to even stay in the city’s Main Street program or to go independent but ultimately decided to stay put and continue on with City Hall. Each Main Street program operates as a separate non-profit from the City of Orlando and receives roughly $50,000 a year from the city to support their community programming. The City District has been functioning as a 501 c6 but is now applying to be a 501 c3 as part of the non-profit pilates it’s currently undergoing.
The City of Orlando approved a strategic expansion of the Church Street Main Street program in 2019 that created the new City District which included the Parramore neighborhood under its umbrella. They also received additional funding in order to hire an Associate Director, who would be in charge of overseeing all committees and activities related to Parramore, with the idea that it would eventually become autonomous once it was economically feasible to do so – something that no other district was forced to do.
You can read an excellent interview by Orlando Business Journal‘s Ryan Lynch with Parramore’s executive director, Natasha Gaye, who has served with the district since 2020 by clicking HERE.
Greco, who recently launched her own chamber-like initiative called the Orlando Hospitality Alliance, shared that a search for a new executive director would be launched shortly.
The Central Business District currently has multiple business associations with a focus on the urban core, including City District, the Downtown Orlando Partnership, the Downtown Development Board/CRA, and the Downtown Arts District – all of which have been collaborating for the first time on reinvigorating the Third Thursday event series post-Pandemic.
Unfortunately these Main Streets are funded by the City which makes them (you) beholden to the politicians and the ring kissers in Planning and Economic Development. Main Street central is a joke as they take no policy positions. They do take money for “training” but do not police the Main Street on Main Street mayhem. Almost seems like a municipal Ponzi scheme. Orlando is not unique – many cities have lost loads of businesses in the “great retirement”. Homelessness is rotting urban cores due to mostly lack of will in basic law enforcement and lack of mandatory mental health treatment through conservatorships compounded by free or reduced fare public transit and the new non-pseudoephedrine based meth that makes people super-extra psycho. Main Streets, I encourage you to stay collected, united and demand change from the consistent City dysfunction. Your public servants should be accountable to you – not the power brokers. The more divided you are they more control they have. The City is not your friend and does not have your best interests in mind and they are not up to the daily challenges you face. You know who the ring kissing tool-bags are. If you lay down with dogs you will come up with fleas.
I agree with everything Kelly said in her comment. Unfortunately it will fall on deaf ears, especially since Rosangela is no longer involved with the city. Downtown is in shambles and we do not see anything changing in the near future.
I’m so fed up. I don’t know the ridiculous politics involved in terminating Roseangela BUT what I do know is that, as a small business owner, I wholeheartedly appreciated Roseangela’s blood, sweat and tears as she constantly went to bat for all of us small businesses in the entertainment district. I first was introduced to her through our fb network group as she daily kept our group informed and up to date through the covid shutdown. She was our breath of fresh air, our line of communication and our glimmer of hope.
I’ve been in the Hospitality business Downtown since 1995 and yes that makes me old, and maybe that’s it, but I don’t think so. We as in City leaders, business owners & managers, police officers and citizens, WE were a team back then. All different but had the same goal. We communicated and respected eachother and busted our asses to create a vibrant downtown… breaks my heart daily to see where we are now. Can’t we just drop the politics and egos and get along.
I have no idea what happened but yet again it seems my city made big mistake! For me, my hope is diminishing as we watch the good people leave, and the not so good people plant their roots in what we used to consider our Downtown. Sad day for sure. I wish Roseangela the best of luck in her future endeavors, no doubt she’ll end up in a place that values her passion, hard work and big heart. 💜