ORLANDO, Fla. — Downtown Orlando is getting what's being called a new urban trail, but not everyone is happy about the upgrade. The mile and a half walkway has a price tag of more than $2 million.
The first phase will go from South Street to Washington Street, and phase two will extend to Amelia, near the Lynx station. Most of the money is coming from a federal grant, but the rest is being paid for with your tax dollars.
It turns out the City Beautiful isn't beautiful enough yet, so another two million tax dollars are being spent on a 10-block walkway. It's called an urban trail by those who are promoting it, an upgrade and extension to an existing path called Gertrude's Walk. Thursday, WFTV found it's barely used.
"What would you call it?" WFTV reporter Steve Barrett asked.
"A vacant trail," said Allison Tillman, who works near trail.
The money will come from a $1.2 million federal grant and another $800,000 in city tax dollars. The first phase will go from South Street to Washington, and then phase two will extend it to Amelia Street; that's about $200,000 per block.
"Creating a walkable, excited environment for people to use to get into the core of our downtown. There is existing Gertrude's Walk, but we're improving the lighting, the atmosphere, improving the safety," said Christine Kefauver, city of Orlando.
But city leaders don't want it called a sidewalk; it's an urban trail, which WFTV learned means a really nice sidewalk. In fact, there are a lot of "nice" sidewalks throughout downtown Orlando.
Thursday, Congressman Alan Grayson expressed pride in his $1.2 million share-in tax money for the project.
"The project is to renovate and beautify Orlando. It's not just a sidewalk," Grayson said.
Downtown pedestrians WFTV talked to weren't impressed by the plan.
"I think that money could be incorporated into something else that we need better. I mean, a sidewalk is a sidewalk," resident Claudia Payne said.
Proponents of the spending say it's a green initiative, promoting walking and biking and they say it will create nearly 40 new jobs. The city eventually envisions the walkway connecting other pedestrian walkways and leading almost to Winter Park.
The city wants to get much of the work done before the new Amway Center opens.