Latest news with #BobSnow
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Central Florida leaders present annual ‘State of Hospitality and Tourism'
Central Florida leaders presented their annual 'State of Hospitality and Tourism' on Thursday. The forum is an opportunity to discuss the tourism trends expected for the year. Officials said like every industry, there are still struggles in hospitality and tourism. Read: Remembering Bob Snow: Pioneer of Orlando's tourism and founder of Church Street Station It's still a booming industry because millions of people travel to Central Florida every year. However, because of such a demand, it's hard for the industry to keep up with the job demand this creates. Read: Orlando tourism may hinge on Trump, with analysts divided Channel 9 has a crew at the event and will provide updates on Eyewitness News. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Editorial: Bob Snow made magic on Church Street and should inspire Orlando to soar again
Bob Snow's influence on Orlando starts with his simple refusal to stay grounded. He had the knack of seeing things other people didn't see — and helping others to share his vision, even when his ideas seemed wildly inconsistent with reality. In an era where downtown districts were emptying out as shopping, dining and entertainment businesses fled to suburban malls, Snow saw the potential in cities' empty centers — first in Pensacola's Seville Square, then in Orlando's Church Street Station. At a time when disco's pounding beats and clubs filled with flashing lights dominated nightlife, Snow heard Dixieland jazz and pictured venues of quirky, extravagant beauty that demanded close examination. And when Snow first arrived in town in the 1970s and described his plans to transform a few blocks of grimy warehouses and vacant storefronts into a custom-built 'historic district' that had nothing to do with the city's history, many Orlando leaders must have looked at the mustachioed aviator-turned-musician-turned-impresario in his early 30s and wondered if he was …. well, high. Snow, who died last week at the age 82, left a legacy that is nearly impossible to set boundaries on. And it found its perfect home in sleepy downtown Orlando, which in the 1970s was feeling shabbier by the minute as Walt Disney World's own magic unfolded. Over the years, Orlando city officials learned to listen to Snow, to marvel at his extracurricular feats of derring-do and to buy into his high-flying dreams. (At one mid-1980s City Council meeting considering his request to close Church Street for several days and hold street parties, one council member joked that the city really should be paying him and not the other way around.) By then, they knew what he could do. They'd experienced the magical blend of invented history and meticulous detail that, for a few glorious decades, transformed several blocks of downtown into Church Street Station. Within months of opening in July 1974, Church Street became one of the state's top tourist destinations. In its heyday, nearly every detail of the lavish complex was teased from Snow's own fertile imagination — and often decorated with authentic oddities and architectural flourishes he'd tracked down himself. He approved many of the cancan dancers, roguish cowboys and Red Hot Mamas who beguiled and entertained Church Street visitors. And as time wore on, he became more involved in shaping the city's overall vision for revitalizing downtown — though always with his own flourish, including dumping a saddlebag stuffed with cash on then-Mayor Bill Frederick's desk in support of a plan to put police officers on horseback. 'This is what Church Street Station is: An event, a happening, often indistinguishable from the human happening that is its owner, founder and chief barker, Bob Snow,' wrote Howard Means, the Sentinel's critic at large, in 1982. 'Daring projects begat daring projects, and that's what Church Street Station is: A magnificent dare. A vast, richly detailed and gaudy invitation to Orlando to step out of itself.' That dream — like the hot-air balloons Snow cruised in with his friend, Col. Joe Kittinger — eventually came down to Earth. Snow sold his interest in Church Street Station in 1988 and 1989, and the development of theme-park based entertainment complexes starting with Disney's Pleasure Island pulled away some of Church Street's audience. He tried to replicate his success in other venues, including Las Vegas — but those efforts never really soared the way Orlando's did. Today, the names that lit up Church Street's marquees — Rosie O'Grady's Good Time Emporium; Apple Annie's Courtyard, Lili Marlene's Aviator's Pub and Phineas Phogg's Balloon Works — are mostly gone; in December, Snow attended an event at which pieces of the decor from Church Street's ballroom were on display. Downtown nightlife is in a state of struggle, with ongoing clashes drawing a heavier police presence and the abrupt closure of multiple clubs. But Snow will always serve as an inspiration to Orlando's downtown leaders, who are looking at the blocks that still bear signs of Snow's transformative vision and asking: Can the magic happen again? This is Snow's legacy: The memory of Church Street Station's glory can drive the determination to reinvent Orlando one more time. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What's the real cost of Florida's special legislative sessions?
We have several topics to cover today, including a look at a new bill that could help businesses impacted by Orlando's seemingly never-ending road construction projects. Also a look at what the Michelin Guide food folks don't want you to know about their pay-for-play awards. And some final words from Orlando's recently departed entertainment legend, Bob Snow. But first, a few notes about the dumpster-fire special session going on in Tallahassee right now where GOP legislators and Gov. Ron DeSantis are feuding, calling each other names and rushing to pass legislation that keeps changing and which they don't seem to even fully understand. A lot of readers want to know how much all this chaos costs. Well, it varies from year to year, but WESH-Channel 2 did a solid analysis, concluding that over the last two decades, the average special session in Florida costs taxpayers about $50,000 a day. However, I'd argue the real cost isn't that dollar amount, which is relatively small in the grand scheme of things. It's the damage politicians do by hastily passing laws that they haven't fully vetted. See, special sessions are often staged for one of two reasons — either as political theater so politicians can act like they're doing something or because they want to ram through legislation they hope constituents won't thoroughly dissect. (A recent special session on insurance 'reform' was an example of both — a big show meant to make you think they were taking action when they were really giving insurance companies what Donald Trump described as 'biggest insurance company BAILOUT to Globalist Insurance Companies, IN HISTORY.') You got conned. Home insurance costs still rising in Florida | Commentary In the case of this week's special session on immigration, lawmakers frantically switched up their already-last-minute legislation after President Trump weighed in, saying they now want to spend a half-billion tax dollars and automatically apply the death penalty to some crimes that don't involve murder. None of this stuff was fully vetted, contemplated or analyzed for constitutionality. But they did want everyone to know that they'd named the bill 'TRUMP Act.' Listen, DeSantis and GOP legislators may be feuding with each other to try to establish dominance. But it's clear that only one person's opinion really matters these days in Republican politics: Donald Trump. This is his show. Everyone else is just a bit player or an order-taker. One thing I like about the Michelin Guide dining honors is that they provide deserved attention to local restaurants offering stellar products. The restaurant business is a tough one, and talented, hard-working chefs deserve all the accolades they can get. Still, it's worth remembering that some talented chefs all over America don't get these awards — simply because nobody paid Michelin to hand them out. Want a Michelin review? Get ready to pay. Visit Florida & Visit Orlando are coughing up $500k | Commentary Remember, as this column detailed a few years ago, the reason Michelin is handing out awards in Florida is because this state's tourism leaders paid Michelin to do so — more than $1 million in tax money funneled through Visit Florida, Visit Orlando and similar organizations. The point: These awards aren't always given to the best restaurants in America. They're often given to restaurants in places that paid Michelin to come offer reviews. So if you see other parts of the country that have no Michelin-starred restaurants, it doesn't necessarily mean none are worthy. It might just mean that leaders there weren't willing to cough up enough tax dollars. Last year, I wrote about how I believed businesses that had their bottom lines wrecked by lengthy road construction projects deserved compensation. Well, now two Democratic legislators from Orlando — where road projects are notorious for lasting a year or more — have filed a bill that would do just that. As the Sentinel reported earlier this week, the bill filed by Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Rep. Anna Eskamani would provide grants of up to $25,000 and loans of up to $100,000 to businesses that could prove their revenues had been negatively impacted. The bill obviously still needs vetting. But lawmakers from other parts of the state have filed similar bills in the past — and for good reason. Roadwork is certainly needed from time time to time. But small business owners who have invested their life savings into something deserve some relief from obstructions that devastate their bottom lines through no fault of their own. Kappy's closing. Ethos too. Is the Hammered Lamb next? How much do Orlando's small businesses matter? | Commentary And finally, a lot has already been said about the passing of Orlando entertainment pioneer Bob Snow, who created the Church Street Station experience that was the center of Orlando's nightlife decades ago. Snow stepped out of the limelight in recent years. But he never stopped caring about the community. In fact, when I learned of his passing, I remembered a note he sent me years ago when Orlando's economy was worsening for workers. Costs of living were skyrocketing, and wages in Central Florida's tourism-based economy weren't keeping up. That's when Snow wrote to say that he believed much of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of employers — like him. He said he believed employers should offer incentive and profit-sharing programs for everyone 'from general managers to dishwashers.' He said it not only helped hard-working employees make ends meet, but gave employers happier, healthier and more productive workers. 'Free enterprise isn't free,' he said. 'You must feed it every day.' Rest in peace, Bob. smaxwell@
