Father’s Day
I hope all the Father’s enjoyed their special day Sunday, and I want to thank all the Fathers in our community for their involvement and dedication to their children.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Re-cap
In an effort to bring greater awareness to the issue of domestic abuse in our community, and to benefit Harbor House, last Thursday afternoon, Commissioner Gray, Commissioner Ortiz, Commissioner Stuart, Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney and Chief of Staff Frank Billingsley joined me for Orlando’s first Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event. The walk kicked off on the Orange County Courthouse steps, with most of the men – including us - wearing “high heels” to show their support. It was quite a sight.

I would like to thank the organizers, sponsors and participants in this successful, history-making event, especially the men who walked in high heels for this important cause. The walk raised thousands of dollars for Harbor House.

Fireworks at the Fountain
The City of Orlando’s annual Fireworks at the Fountain event is Thursday, July 4 at Lake Eola Park. This free, patriotic celebration begins at 4 p.m. and features live music on two stages including the 98.9 WMMO Acoustic Café, the Orlando Concert Band and National Recording Artist Joel Crouse, a play area just for the kids and food and beverage for purchase. Preceding the fireworks is patriotic water, light and sound show from the Lake Eola Fountain. The spectacular 20-minute fireworks display will begin at 9:10 p.m. For more information, visit CityofOrlando.net/fireworks.

Vote for Lake Eola, Coca Cola Competition
The Coca-Cola - "America is your Park" campaign focuses on getting people to vote for their favorite park. The park with the most votes wins $100,000, second and third place win $50,000 and $25,000.

We'd love for everyone to go onto the Coca-Cola website coke.com/parks and vote for Lake Eola Park, 195 N Rosalind Ave Orlando, FL. You can vote once a day and there are three different ways to vote. The voting ends on July 15 at midnight.

Please spread the word and ask your friends, family and neighbors to vote each and every day!

More information can be found at coke.com/parks

National Small Business Week/NEC Ten Year Anniversary
This week, in recognition of National Small Business Week from June 16 through 21, you might notice posters hanging in the windows of small businesses throughout the City of Orlando. These businesses are the backbone of our local economy. In addition to offering a variety of goods and services, these businesses make up the majority of the workforce in Orlando. I encourage you to support these businesses especially this week but also year-round.

It is timely that we also celebrate ten years of success at the National Entrepreneur Center this week. With the support of the City of Orlando, the National Entrepreneur Center has become one of the most highly coordinated entrepreneurial engines in the country and offers small business owners in our community a variety of support, training and networking opportunities.

Please join me in congratulating the National Entrepreneur Center on this accomplishment.

Items of Note

Orange Cycle
Orange Cycle, an Orlando mainstay for more than 40 years, is expanding its operation and plans to build a new 7,200 square foot building behind its existing 10,000 square foot storefront on Edgewater Drive. Through our Business Assistance Program, Orange Cycle is eligible to have 50% of its impact fees waived. In exchange for the nearly $18,000 worth of impact fees offset, Orange Cycle plans to make a $1.1 million investment through this project, and hire an additional five full-time employees bringing their employee count to 35.

I’d like to thank Orange Cycle for their continued investment in our community.

The Ivy Residences at Health Village
Also, on today’s agenda is a developers agreement for the Ivy Residences at Health Village.

Adjacent to the Florida Hospital SunRail station, the Ivy is a $38 million, 248-unit residential complex and will be another option for Florida Hospital employees and other workers who would like to live near our new commuter rail line. The project is set to be finished in mid-2014, about the same time SunRail begins operations.

Homeless Outreach & Men’s Service Center
Commissioners, as you know, we are committed to meeting the needs of our homeless population and providing opportunities to help those most in need become self-sufficient. An important part of helping the homeless is to get them connected to key services and resources.

On today’s agenda are two items that will provide funding for the Men’s Service Center and Homeless Outreach Coordinators to continue to assist homeless individuals overcome the barriers they face in their journey from homelessness to permanent housing and self-sufficiency.