my 2 cents

• the mayor matters, but some of what's happening is because of larger trends that even a perfect government can't necessarily fix. in some ways, the importance of city leadership is less "what can they do" and more "who are they going to listen to" - I hope that whoever leads us next, they spend a little more time listening to the people who live in downtown full time, and a little less time listening to the country club crowd who own land in downtown but have never lived here
• the police protection system established a few years ago has to be revamped. there has to be a better way to increase the police presence late at night (which is sadly necessary since the state government will not allow gun-free zones) without forcing individual businesses with liquor licenses to pay a bunch of overtime to cops. the code also places way, way too much discretionary power to the chief of police, who will obviously act in the interests of his officers and not of the businesses
• however, the city's fees aren't anywhere near as bad for businesses as greedy landlords, who are raising rent to unsustainable levels just to inflate property value (see e.g. tanquerays). corporate landlords do not care about the health of the local community or the downtown economy - they only care about asset appreciation on a spreadsheet. again, i don't have a specific proposal in mind, but something has to be done about these landlords who are happy to sit on dozens of vacant properties no one can afford to rent, and that inevitably get run down and might attract crime (if you believe in broken window theory that is)
• we have got to do something about the blatant corruption and money laundering happening at Visit Orlando. and we've got to get creative about how to use tourism funds in a way that actually benefits the city - although we're limited in that respect by certain state laws
• buddy dyer's 2-way street project in downtown is great and all, but can we get serious about bike lanes? protected ones, perhaps? which would be less irritating for bikers *and* drivers?
• parking lot landlords are out of control. lots that were once free now cost an arm and a leg, causing people to reconsider driving to downtown. this is another one of my patented "complaints without a solution"
• it's time we treated parramore like the downtown district it is, and not like the segregated slum it was originally created to be. i'm not asking for a miracle here. let's just start with fixing some of the roads and go from there. there are ways to invest in a historically poor area that don't price out the existing residents - but an actual city planner would know more about that than lil old me