Hands Across the Sand at Lake Eola

Orlando is about an hour from the Atlantic and about an hour and a half from the Gulf. So when I heard about Hands Across the Sand, I really wanted to drive to the beach to participate in this exercise to say no to offshore oil drilling and yes to clean energy. It was pointed out, however, that I would be a hypocrite by burning a great deal of fossil fuel in driving to the coast and back. Fortunately one of the 850 world-wide locations was just a couple miles from my house at Lake Eola.

I rode my bike downtown and rushed over to the lake and found three people holding a sign at the appointed meet-up location. Soon we were joined by others until we had between 30 and 40 like-minded individuals wanting to link hands in a show of unity for clean energy. We stood on the edge of the yucky green lake water, trying to hug the shade as it was pretty warm. In fact, I must say, riding your bike at midday in the Central Florida summer is a hot and sweaty endeavor. But it felt appropriate for the statement we were trying to make. I just hope clean energy solutions of the future include air conditioning!

I've never participated in something like this before, and I must admit I was not sure what to expect. Everyone I met seemed very kind and warm and committed to making this small stand. At first, I was pretty bummed that in a region with the population of Central Florida, only three dozen or so would show up. But later I saw photos of HATS folks all over the world and realized that we were part of something much, much bigger. Thousands of people all over the world, from India to South America, from Hawaii to Alaska, linked hands at the same time we did. In some places only three people gathered, in others the line of humanity stretched beyond the lens of the camera, appearing to extend into infinity.

It has been extremely frustrating to sit and watch the oil continue to gush into the Gulf and feel like we could only sit and watch. I know that linking hands for 15 minutes on a Saturday isn't going to make that stop. But as I saw the coverage of HATS on the national news, in the New York Times and all across the Internet, I have to think a message is being sent, that people are realizing the magnitude of whats going on in the Gulf and recognizing that we have to change the way we've been operating. For 15 minutes we stood in the humid Florida heat, linked hand-in-hand with our brothers and sisters around the world, and instead of feeling powerless, we felt pretty good. I look forward to having the opportunity to do it again.

Ed, our organizer

The nasty water at Lake Eola was a pretty good substitute for the oil-spilled waters of the Gulf

Perhaps this is to keep the swans from noticing the conditions of the water?

Our unofficial HATS mascot, Daisy

Recently repaired Lake Eola Fountain

Lake Eola property to be preserved

This mornings paper had wonderful news, that a deal is in the works to preserve land adjacent to Lake Eola in Orlando that was threatened with development. The 1.3 acres parcel currently has 5 historic homes sitting on it that were built between 1915 and 1930. One of the homes that was threatened with demolition had the parcel been developed, was owned by John Mott, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. This brief bio is from the minutes of the city's Historic Preservation committee meeting in 2008:

"Mr. Mott won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1946, served as General Secretary of the International Committee of the YMCA, was President of the YMCA’s World Committee and, during World War I when the YMCA offered its services to President Wilson, Mott became General Secretary of the National War Work Council and received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work. He kept up his work for the YMCA and helped to conduct relief work for prisoners of war in various countries. He had been offered the Ambassadorship to China under President Wilson, but declined that offer and did serve as a member of the Mexican Commission and as a member of the Special Diplomatic Mission to Russia headed by Senator Elihu Root. Mr. Mott wrote 16 books, crossed the Atlantic over 100 times and the Pacific 14 times averaging 34 days on the ocean per year for 50 years and delivered thousands of speeches, chaired innumerable conferences, was honored with decorations from China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Jerusalem, Poland, Portugal, Siam, Sweden, and the United States. A record of Mr. Mott’s life and work was preserved for posterity with every note, report and letter classified and filed by Mr. Mott’s secretaries and were donated by the family to the Yale University Library where they occupy 230 archival boxes and 95 linear feet of shelf space."

These minutes were from a meeting where concerned neighbors came out in force to say "This Place Matters." Hooray!

View of Lake Eola looking northwest shows numerous hi-rises
including many vacant condos.

View looking north; behind the commercial structure is the historic
Eola Heights neighborhood featuring some of Orlando's best preserved historic homes. The parcel in question is southeast of the lake.

Behind this mid-century type is a building on the southwest corner
of Lake Eola also threatened with demolition, however, a new business was moving in last time I saw it, so perhaps its demise has been postponed.

This Place Matters, Part 1

Vintage postcards from the State Archives of Florida

Last week I found inspiration for preservation in downtown Orlando. Central Florida is the lightning capital and frequent summer storms mean unplugging electronics in case of a lightning strikes. I worked a place in Gainesville where a nearby lightning strike fried all the computer equipment and I'll never forget the image of fried computer monitors stacked up in the hallways. So it makes perfect sense that a large object sticking up in the middle of a lake would be huge target for lightning. And that's what happened last week to Orlando's unofficial landmark, the fountain in Lake Eola.

It couldn't happen at a worse time as the current financial situation is affecting the City of Orlando in a negative way and they are considering drastic cuts like laying off firefighters. So almost immediately sides were drawn between those wanting to raise the funds to restore the landmark and those seeing the opportunity to be rid of it, once and for all.

Going inside the fountain to assess the damage

Lake Eola Park was established in the late 1800s just east of downtown Orlando. The fountain, officially called Centennial Fountain was installed in 1957. Orlando Lake Eola Historical Trail put together by Steve Rajtar says this about the fountain's history:
"The Orlando Centennial Fountain was formally dedicated on October 5, 1957. W.C. Pauley, an Atlanta landscape artist, was paid $1,200 for his plans, and the total construction cost was $162,000. It was built in 24-foot deep water by driving 28 60-foot long steel cylinders, which were then filled with 320 tons of concrete. It is not in the center of the lake to avoid a very deep sinkhole located there."

"ORLANDO CENTENNIAL FOUNTAIN IN
LAKE EOLA, ORLANDO, FLA.
"THE CITY BEAUTIFUL"
A spectacular display of everchanging colors and continually changing water spray effects. Sixty feet in diameter, teh fountain uses 2,900 gallons of water per minute."

The years have taken a toll on the 52 year old landmark that adorns the city seal and street signs. So the fountain as we know it today, is not nearly as colorful or animated as the original light and water show put on originally. And without water, it looks like a poorly -constructed green UFO sitting in the middle of a lake. Many don't see the value of the mid-century marvel, but it is a symbol of the city from its pre-Disney days. As the city exploded with growth after the Mouse came to town, those with ties to the real city here, became fewer and fewer. So for many, the fountain is just an old ugly thing the middle of the lake that breaks down all the time. And still others never even venture into downtown Orlando. I see it as one of the few signs that a city existed before we became a theme park mecca, and that generations before us strove to make this place a good place to live. It shows that this city has a soul. And to me that's a symbol worth saving.