PFT Media

TRANSCRIPT: A downtown bodega slash wine shop slash sandwich shop slash coffee shop slash beautifully decorated space opened recently. Eola General located at 522 E Amelia Street in @dwntwn_orlano opened its doors for a soft opening phase recently and it does not disappoint. This lovely corner store fronted by multiple picnic tables offers a selection of wine and beer, cheeses, salads, sandwiches, coffee beverages and more. The false ceilings inside have been removed to reveal what appear to be the original wooden beams giving the space great height, drawing your attention upwards towards the original high windows letting in lots of natural light. The solid yellow glow emanating from the built in refrigerated cases lining the entire left side of the space is unexpected and calming. The main counter is the heartbeat of the space, with products displayed in an old fashioned glass cabinet and an entire kitchen laid out for sandwich and salad making. Eola General is open Wednesday thru Sunday 8 to 8 during its soft opening phase. Follow them on instagram at @eolageneral.

Congratulations to local Orlando vegan restaurant @dixie_dharma! They announced they’ll  be opening a new location in downtown Tampa at the glorious @armatureworks. You can find Dixie Dharma in Orlando at the Market on South and soon a new location in downtown Sanford. Armature Works is a gigantic building on the water with a huge multipurpose rental space for special events and a real honest to god food hall with multiple glorious restaurant options inside. They’ll also be adding a waterfront bar and a rooftop bar soon!

Eastbound I-4 from Gore Street to South Street is scheduled to close multiple times in the month of March.These nightly closures will occur from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. March 11-15 and 11 to 5 March 28-30. These closures are necessary for bridge work at the I-4 and 408 interchange.

At Orlando International Airport Wednesday afternoon, Spirit Airlines debuted a Dumbo wrap on one of its Airbus A321 livery planes. The wrap shows the legendary flying elephant and the movie’s logo. This doesn’t make me like or ever want to ride Spirit Airlines again because much like Dumbo trapped in a hellish circus, that is the expereince I’ve had flying that wretched stink bag in the sky called Spirit Airlines.

We told you last week about the new Freddie Mercury mural painted on the side of the Mills50 location of Floyrds Barber shop. Well, the barbershop chain has another mural that went up recently, this time on the side of their Winter Park location at 610 W. Fairbanks This new mural depicts children’s television icon Mister Rogers wearing a Rollins College sweater and holding one of his puppets, named Daniel Striped Tiger. Rogers’ signature phrase “Won’t you be my neighbor” is printed to the left. For those who don’t recall the character of Daniel Striped Tiger from the Mister Rogers Neighborhood show which went off the air in 2001, according to NeighborhoodArchive.com, “Daniel Striped Tiger is a shy and meek resident of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. He lives in the clock located near the Platypus Mound on the west side of the Neighborhood opposite the castle.”

The City of Orlando has launched a new campaign to encourage downtowners to not give money directly to panhandlers but through a text service called Give Smart Orlando. Downtowners can use their smart phones to  type the message “Give Smart” to the number 85511 and receive an automatic reply message with a link to a secure donation platform. The website givesmartorlando.com says that Downtown Orlando stakeholders are uniting to fundamentally improve the way they support their neighbors in need. While many people give to panhandlers with the best of intentions, QUOTE “this type of giving does not ultimately help the individual get off the streets and into housing. Instead, it nurtures further panhandling activities, which can lead to aggressive panhandling techniques that have a negative impact on downtown’s workers, residents, visitors, businesses, and reputation. The website gives an outright directive to downtowners: QUOTE “Don’t give change to panhandlers” and QUOTE “The next time you are approached by a neighbor in need asking for change, tell them you are going to give smart because you want to see them thrive, not scrape by to survive.”