ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings held his 2025 State of the County address Friday morning.
Speaking once again at the Orange County Convention Center, Demings’ remarks touched on affordable housing, tourism and hospitality, education, transportation and more, centering on recent accomplishments and challenges in a county “Building Better Through Efficiency.”
Of note were Demings’ statements regarding the future of public transportation through the county’s Accelerated Transportation Safety Program, or ATSP.
Demings said that the county has invested $55 million through the program to improve LYNX transportation over the next five years, going on to say it will help increase the frequency of buses and reduce wait times.
Also discussed was the planned extension of the SunRail train service, with Demings stating the board of county commissioners voted this year to contribute half a million dollars toward a study to send SunRail out to the I-Drive corridor and Disney Springs.
The mayor also brought up the “Orlando Dreamers,” or the effort to bring a Major League Baseball team to Orlando, downplaying the finality of any such talks at his level while acknowledging it’s worth having a conversation about.
“I have been approached by different ownership groups, it really is more than one. At this point, all of those conversations are at a high level, but in order to get down to any seriousness, there has to be some very specific plans, financial plans, presented,” he said. “(...) Our board of county commissioners has not really had a broad conversation about it because it is premature at this time. It’s just a vision, it’s just a dream right now for some to bring ‘The Dreamers’ to our area.”
Watch the address again in the video player below or by clicking here.