The Parramore neighborhood in Orange County is not just getting a new elementary school as announced over the weekend. It also could get a flood of city investment if what city planners presented Monday comes to life.
An Orlando city workshop detailed plans for economic development in the Parramore neighborhood, including the much-discussed soccer stadium.
It also addressed concerns about heritage preservation and the land at North Parramore Avenue and West Amelia Street where the new school will be built.
Cynthia Harris is the executive director of the Carson Chaney House. She and others expressed concerns about arsenic at the city workshop Monday.
“I still have some concerns about the school going in because right now, you still have contaminated land,” said Harris.
Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill grew up in Parramore and now represents the neighborhood at City Hall. She said cleanup and testing will ensure children attending the new school will not be exposed to hazardous chemicals.
She added the new school will be a good anchor to what the city has planned, allowing for better educational opportunities and job creation. Preserving the neighborhood’s heritage is also an important component of the city’s plan.
“To make sure that the things that I remember growing up, also the culture of Parramore of my mother, of my grandfather, there in Parramore remains,” said Hill.
A federally-funded study presented at the workshop shows the unemployment rate in Parramore is almost 24 percent. Also the median income is a little more than $15,000 a year. The median income in Orlando as a whole is almost three times that amount, $42,418.