Talking sports with the Mayor of Orlando

00:00:00:04 – 00:00:03:04
David Martin
This is the good government show.

00:00:03:09 – 00:00:11:56
Buddy Dyer
There’s economic development that is tied to the venues that are associated with professional teams.

00:00:12:01 – 00:00:19:37
Buddy Dyer
When it’s an idea, it’s not a good idea. When it’s reality, it becomes a good idea.

00:00:19:42 – 00:00:30:17
Buddy Dyer
Most of the sports teams do want to invest in their city and encourage want to encourage their players to be part of the community.

00:00:30:22 – 00:00:40:26
Buddy Dyer
A lot of sports that people don’t realize are out there, and they might be perfect for a secondary tertiary media market.

00:00:40:31 – 00:00:46:54
Buddy Dyer
We are as financially sound as any city in America.

00:00:46:59 – 00:00:55:59
Buddy Dyer
I think everybody put aside Partizanship in the course of that tragedy and everybody worked together.

00:00:56:03 – 00:01:02:13
Buddy Dyer
The mark of a good mayor is being able to shop in the local grocery store.

00:01:02:17 – 00:01:20:43
David Martin
Everyone knows that Disney World is in Orlando and that the area is a huge tourist destination. I had a chance to talk to the mayor of Orlando about being a destination city, and about how sports can be a boon to cities and an economic driver. Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m Dave Martin. First, help us show the message of good government by liking us and sharing us where we are.

00:01:20:43 – 00:01:44:48
David Martin
In your favorite social media. Make sure to review us and share our show everywhere. We all need to talk about good government. Well, there’s the NBA’s Orlando Magic. There’s the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, the Pop Tarts bowl. University of Central Florida football, volleyball tournaments, bass fishing tournaments, all that happens in Orlando, Florida, and a lot more. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is the chair of the Conference of Mayors, the mayor’s professional sports Alliance.

00:01:44:48 – 00:02:02:43
David Martin
I got to talk with him at the conference about the impact of sports on a city and how to best use government dollars on sports. There’s a lot to talk about. Mayor Dyer is already longest serving mayor. He is two more years left to run the city and a recent state of the city. He talked about the need to expand rail transportation and making Orlando the city of the future.

00:02:02:43 – 00:02:13:01
David Martin
With flying cars, it’s always looking forward as he’s starting to step down. That’s all. Coming up next with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

00:02:13:06 – 00:02:39:48
David Martin
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00:02:39:50 – 00:03:04:12
David Martin
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00:03:04:15 – 00:03:13:14
David Martin
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00:03:13:19 – 00:03:31:42
David Martin
Once you wrap up this episode of The Good Government Show, give a listen to our friends over at Good News for lefties. This daily podcast highlights news stories that show there’s more good news out there. Other people in government are really trying to do the right thing. That’s good news for lefties. Listen where you’re listening now.

00:03:31:47 – 00:03:36:46
David Martin
Welcome to The Good Government Show. I’m happy to have with me the mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer. Welcome to the Good Government Show.

00:03:36:46 – 00:03:37:51
Buddy Dyer
Thank you. Glad to be here.

00:03:37:54 – 00:03:53:57
David Martin
Glad we’re going to talk about good government. And we’re going to talk about sports because you are the chair of the Mayor’s Professional Sports Alliance. And we just came out of a session here at the Conference of Mayors called Mayors Game Changer Transforming Cities in Sports and Entertainment. Does sports change cities?

00:03:54:02 – 00:04:13:06
Buddy Dyer
Sports can definitely change cities in a whole variety of ways. Number one, I don’t think anything brings a city together more than perhaps a tragedy. But cheering for the hometown team and when they’re on a good run, when the magic have made it to the finals, I’ve never seen our city as energized.

00:04:13:11 – 00:04:14:03
David Martin
City of the team.

00:04:14:06 – 00:04:23:44
Buddy Dyer
Yeah, or UCF had a few great runs, had an undefeated season, claimed a national championship. They had a claim, they had a claim, and the city was just on fire.

00:04:23:58 – 00:04:25:41
David Martin
Looking bleak in Tallahassee right now.

00:04:25:44 – 00:04:49:35
Buddy Dyer
Yeah. But also in our case, we’ve created a sports and entertainment district that spans about a mile and a half and has our performing arts center on one end. It has the football stadium on the other far end. And then in between you have the Kia Center, which is our arena where the magic play and you have Inter and Co Stadium, which is where our MLS team plays.

00:04:49:35 – 00:05:13:23
Buddy Dyer
So there’s a lot of development that’s going along in that corridor. And a lot of other cities have given over a lot of the property surrounding the stadiums to the teams to be. We, on the other hand, of taking the approach of we’ve built the venues and we actually operate all the venues. We’re the only city in America that operates an arena that houses an NBA team.

00:05:13:24 – 00:05:25:59
Buddy Dyer
Everybody else has a management company or the team management, so we think we’ve done things the right way. But anyways, there’s economic development that is tied to the venues that are associated with professional teams.

00:05:25:59 – 00:05:32:01
David Martin
How is sports good government and how is it money well spent to to beef up teams?

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Buddy Dyer
Well.

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David Martin
At all levels?

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Buddy Dyer
I mean, unfortunately, if you’re going to be in that game, there are not that many owners that are paying for their own stadiums. Jerry Jones did for one hour MLS team actually did for two, but they’re not as competitive with some of the other teams when they’ve invested the money in that fashion. So that’s just the way the world is right now.

00:05:55:02 – 00:06:23:17
Buddy Dyer
If you’re going to have a major league professional sports franchise, you’re likely going to have to participate in some public funding. Now, it needs to be fair to your community. And what fair to our community may be a little bit different than other communities. We happen to have a tourist development tax, a hotel bed tax. So a lot of the money that is generated for that particular tax is on spectators that come to the sporting event.

00:06:23:17 – 00:06:29:15
Buddy Dyer
So there’s a tie to the money that we’ve used to build these facilities would be used to development tax.

00:06:29:17 – 00:06:41:52
David Martin
You know you mentioned that and I want to ask you about that. Anyway. Take a look at what happened in Kansas City. The Chiefs moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas gave them huge tax incentives. Is this good government?

00:06:42:04 – 00:06:45:26
Buddy Dyer
I’m not going to buy in on that particular case.

00:06:45:26 – 00:06:47:09
David Martin
But generally speaking, I mean, the.

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Buddy Dyer
Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, thought they gave them a pretty good, pretty good deal deal as well.

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David Martin
Lucas.

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Buddy Dyer
Yes. So but there’s community and pride involved. So I could certainly make that argument that they ought to pay their own way. But that’s not what’s happening now. So if Kansas wants to be in that game, they have to participate with public funding.

00:07:08:27 – 00:07:16:57
David Martin
How hard is it to sell as a mayor to to have, you know, public dollars go to a private company? And the private company is a sports a sports team?

00:07:16:57 – 00:07:39:08
Buddy Dyer
Well, my guess is that when you pull that before it’s built, it’s going to be at about 25% approval. And then ten years later, after the fans have experienced games and done family events and been part of that, it’s going to pull very high. So when it’s an idea, it’s not a good idea. When it’s reality, it becomes a good.

00:07:39:10 – 00:07:47:48
David Martin
Idea, it becomes a good idea. So what was the you know, you just had the session mayor’s game changer transforming cities in sports and entertainment. What did you discuss? What was the topic?

00:07:47:48 – 00:08:14:30
Buddy Dyer
So the idea is we’re going to start a new track for mayors. We have something that we do with the Urban Land Institute for New Mayors to learn about urban design issues, and we do 5 or 6 mayors and take them through program. So we thought we might be something we want to try to extend to probably newer mayors that have a vision to use sports to enhance their city.

00:08:14:30 – 00:08:38:50
Buddy Dyer
So you heard the mayor of Youngstown talking about some of the assets that they have that are perhaps underutilized. And how do you bring that vision, your old, old convention center, your old Double-A baseball stadium, and whatever you have, how do you anew that? How do you do the economic development around those? How do you bring retail and motels and make it a center of activity?

00:08:38:52 – 00:08:43:30
David Martin
Have you seen sports transform a city, a sports team or a sports program?

00:08:43:33 – 00:08:55:20
Buddy Dyer
Orlando is a good example of that. The sports and entertainment district that we’re talking about is bringing millions of dollars of ancillary money to development. Along that same corridor.

00:08:55:23 – 00:08:58:20
David Martin
You talked a little bit about this. What does it do for civic pride?

00:08:58:22 – 00:09:26:14
Buddy Dyer
That’s the huge part of it is the opportunity for experience making for families and friends. How many often have you gone to a ball game? And maybe you go to a ball game every week with your same friends for years, but then the civic pride, even when your team’s not winning, the civic pride of supporting your team and having a good ownership group that invest in your community is another important aspect.

00:09:26:14 – 00:09:29:23
Buddy Dyer
And we’ve got great ownership groups for all of our teams.

00:09:29:28 – 00:09:45:58
David Martin
So let’s talk a little bit about that. How do you get when the mayors are talking together? How do you get the buy in from the owners to not just get a get a great tax deal to to build a new stadium for half the price. But to invest in the community, to invest in the city? Is that a fair question?

00:09:46:00 – 00:10:06:28
Buddy Dyer
I guess it’s a fair question. We’ve just had we’ve had the good fortune of having great owners that wanted to invest in the city. So I really don’t know about some of the other ownership groups. Okay, relatively, I find that most of the sports teams do want to invest in their city and encourage want to encourage their players to be part of the community.

00:10:06:30 – 00:10:07:30
David Martin
And that’s good government.

00:10:07:30 – 00:10:08:42
Buddy Dyer
That’s good government. Yeah.

00:10:08:45 – 00:10:13:59
David Martin
That’s good government. Do you find the Orlando Magic players out in the community? Are they part of the community?

00:10:14:01 – 00:10:17:54
Buddy Dyer
They’re really part of the community, as is the SOC two soccer teams.

00:10:17:56 – 00:10:20:02
David Martin
Do you have season tickets? Do you go to lots of games?

00:10:20:03 – 00:10:24:32
Buddy Dyer
Well, the city owns the facilities. So yes, city has seats.

00:10:24:36 – 00:10:27:10
David Martin
Yes. All right, all right. How many how many games do you catch a season?

00:10:27:12 – 00:10:40:21
Buddy Dyer
I probably go to 10 or 12 basketball games a year. All right. Probably more if we’re in the playoffs. But that hasn’t been in the cards the last several years. We were what? Well, we actually we went to five games last year.

00:10:40:21 – 00:10:55:56
David Martin
I know that there’s a lot in Orlando, Disney World and Universal and lots of theme parks and also lots of sports. And if correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s a place that people come to for tournaments, for sports.

00:10:55:56 – 00:11:21:47
Buddy Dyer
That’s a huge piece of our tourism business. We have Disney’s Wide World of Sports that probably hosts more cheerleading events than anywhere else in the country that we would know, and then we host some of the biggest volleyball at the Orange County Convention Center anywhere. And what you will find is that people will postpone their regular vacation, but they’re not going to postpone traveling to go watch their kids play whatever sport.

00:11:21:47 – 00:11:28:37
David Martin
It is. No, I’m sure they are. They’re going to catch their kid in the game. What advice would you give to mayors about, you know, getting into the sporting business.

00:11:28:40 – 00:11:37:08
Buddy Dyer
Understand your assets and your resources, what you have, and then choose wisely with your owners if.

00:11:37:10 – 00:11:38:10
David Martin
You can, if you can.

00:11:38:13 – 00:11:39:06
Buddy Dyer
If you can.

00:11:39:08 – 00:11:39:25
David Martin
Yeah.

00:11:39:27 – 00:11:41:05
Buddy Dyer
Would be advice I would give.

00:11:41:08 – 00:11:42:15
David Martin
Is there a minor league baseball?

00:11:42:20 – 00:11:55:31
Buddy Dyer
I know there’s not. And in fact the we used to have spring training a couple. We had the Astros and oh who else did we had we had several teams all around.

00:11:55:33 – 00:11:57:19
David Martin
The Astros. They had moved to Jupiter right.

00:11:57:21 – 00:12:13:42
Buddy Dyer
Yeah. What’s happened is they’re trying to congregate a number of teams all in one place. Right. So down in Jupiter, there’s a couple of teams, and down in West Palm there’s a couple more teams. So the standalone teams Lakeland is about the only one left. The Tigers are over there.

00:12:13:44 – 00:12:22:03
David Martin
They’re the only one left. And I interrupted you. I said you know, what advice are you giving? And you said, make sure you have good owners. What else are you talking about? What was the feedback that you got?

00:12:22:05 – 00:12:37:50
Buddy Dyer
Positive. I think that perhaps there were people that hadn’t thought about the assets that they have. And then the other message we had is there’s hundreds of new start up leagues of I didn’t know there’s drone racing competition now.

00:12:37:52 – 00:12:38:52
David Martin
I did not know that.

00:12:38:55 – 00:13:00:03
Buddy Dyer
Yeah. And there are so many new types of things. We have professional pickleball in Orlando. Not everybody has that. We have professional women’s volleyball, not beach, but regular volleyball. So there’s a lot of sports that people don’t realize are out there. And they might be perfect for a secondary tertiary media market.

00:13:00:05 – 00:13:00:44
David Martin
Like rugby.

00:13:00:46 – 00:13:03:13
Buddy Dyer
For rugby, I played rugby in college.

00:13:03:13 – 00:13:03:32
David Martin
Where did.

00:13:03:32 – 00:13:08:10
Buddy Dyer
You play at Brown University? We had an Ivy League champion rugby team.

00:13:08:12 – 00:13:12:10
David Martin
I played at Florida State. I don’t know if we ever played each other. Did you play after that?

00:13:12:22 – 00:13:12:50
Buddy Dyer
No.

00:13:12:53 – 00:13:13:12
David Martin
Okay.

00:13:13:14 – 00:13:14:05
Buddy Dyer
I retired.

00:13:14:07 – 00:13:28:35
David Martin
I retired, I think this year I think I think I’m retired. I’m not sure. Anyway. Well help out the local rugby team whenever you can. Like I said, you know a lot going on in Orlando. It is a huge tourist destination. Tell me some good government that’s happening in Orlando outside of sports.

00:13:28:40 – 00:13:50:41
Buddy Dyer
We have it raised our tax rate and years. We are as financially sound as any city in America. We had paid up our ope, which very few cities have done. That’s the other post that benefits have 25% in our reserves. So we’re in good financial shape, is good government, I think, and we care about what our citizens care about.

00:13:50:41 – 00:14:04:06
Buddy Dyer
And we’re very sensitive to monitoring that. We have a very robust neighborhoods program, probably have almost 200 neighborhood associations now. So a lot of good community input back and forth.

00:14:04:09 – 00:14:09:47
David Martin
What do your residents care about? What you said? Yeah, we care about what our neighbor, what our residents care about. What are those? What are those?

00:14:09:57 – 00:14:15:49
Buddy Dyer
Unfortunately, they care about what’s going on in immigration. Yes, it’s been a heavy conference.

00:14:15:56 – 00:14:17:43
David Martin
Yes, it has a lot of conversation about.

00:14:17:44 – 00:14:28:48
Buddy Dyer
It and a lot of a lot of conversation. I feel for the mayors that are up in Minnesota. But there’s a lot of fear in our community as well about all things related to immigration.

00:14:28:51 – 00:14:33:48
David Martin
And we’re talking in January at the Conference of Mayors. Have you had any issues so far in your city?

00:14:33:53 – 00:14:49:28
Buddy Dyer
We have not just a lot of rumors. And then people thinking that Ice is coming to raid, you know, a high school or a daycare and it not actually happening. So just a lot of people on edge.

00:14:49:30 – 00:14:50:28
David Martin
How long have you been mayor?

00:14:50:30 – 00:14:51:23
Buddy Dyer
23 years.

00:14:51:23 – 00:14:53:25
David Martin
23 years. Yep. Oh.

00:14:53:30 – 00:14:57:30
Buddy Dyer
I got two, two years left on this term. And I’m going to call it an even 25.

00:14:57:32 – 00:14:57:58
David Martin
That’s going to.

00:14:57:58 – 00:14:59:46
Buddy Dyer
Be it. That’s perfect.

00:14:59:51 – 00:15:05:05
David Martin
You’ve had tragedies in Orlando. How does a mayor deal with that and how did you deal with.

00:15:05:08 – 00:15:23:38
Buddy Dyer
Well that was obviously the toughest period of time that sure, I have gone through as well as our community, but I was extremely proud of how our community responded to the pulse tragedy, which, by the way, is ten years in June, which is hard for me to believe that it has been.

00:15:23:40 – 00:15:25:04
David Martin
The pulse nightclub shooting was ten years.

00:15:25:04 – 00:15:25:28
Buddy Dyer
Ago, ten.

00:15:25:28 – 00:15:26:40
David Martin
Years ago, and.

00:15:26:45 – 00:15:52:00
Buddy Dyer
We’re working on the finishing up the memorial right now. But I was just proud of how our community came together, and I learned a lot about leadership. During the course of that time, we did some things that came natural in terms of redirecting our community from hate and fear, which is what people usually respond with to something like that, to love and compassion.

00:15:52:02 – 00:16:03:16
Buddy Dyer
We had no retribution against anybody or any religion or anything like that, and just so much love and support pouring out for the victims and their families.

00:16:03:16 – 00:16:07:57
David Martin
You’re the mayor. You get that call at night. How do you know what to do next?

00:16:08:06 – 00:16:36:50
Buddy Dyer
We train. We do a lot of tabletop emergency exercises, and we had actually done one that year on is a civil disobedience exercise. But some of the protocols that we used in terms of how we would communicate, we were just coming into a social media world really ten years ago. Sure. So we had set up protocols on whose accounts, whether it be the police department or the mayor’s office, who would be the one that would send out messages?

00:16:36:50 – 00:17:06:05
Buddy Dyer
Because you have to tamp down a lot of the disinformation, right? That is out there after an event like that, and then to provide as much information as you can, but always provide accurate information because you don’t want to come out and ever give information that is not accurate. And that morning, the first press conference we did, I let out and I had a vigorous discussion with the FBI about who would be leading the press conference.

00:17:06:08 – 00:17:25:18
Buddy Dyer
Right. And they finally agreed that it needed should be the local, recognizable, trusted mayor. Versus even though they they are trustworthy, they’re unknown to our community. You didn’t want the first person popping up at a press conference like that to be somebody they’ve never seen before.

00:17:25:18 – 00:17:28:37
David Martin
So was that a difficult conversation to have?

00:17:28:42 – 00:17:32:40
Buddy Dyer
It was a difficult conversation, but they eventually agreed.

00:17:32:42 – 00:17:41:10
David Martin
Okay. All right. That’s mayor. I mean, what did you what did you take away from that experience about perhaps how to do it better or how to prevent it from happening again?

00:17:41:13 – 00:18:04:38
Buddy Dyer
You know, I think we did most of the stuff. Right. And what I learned is you need to have made all those community contacts prior to the day. Something like that happens. I needed to know what I mom, I needed to call to come to the next press conference. Yeah. And I needed to know who at each of the hospitals.

00:18:04:45 – 00:18:21:05
Buddy Dyer
I needed to call. And fortunately, President Obama was president. And he called me first thing because we needed to get a waiver on the hip act, because we had a whole bunch of people that were in the hospital that the hospital was not allowed to.

00:18:21:08 – 00:18:21:58
David Martin
Talk about.

00:18:22:01 – 00:18:33:21
Buddy Dyer
Yeah. Or to disclose that they had them. And we had to get some help in allowing them to be able to do that. So having things like that in place before the the event happens is important.

00:18:33:24 – 00:18:36:14
David Martin
Did you find President Obama to be a good partner in a crisis?

00:18:36:17 – 00:18:50:30
Buddy Dyer
Absolutely. Partner and Governor Scott, who’s Republican, was a good partner during the course of that. His way, I think everybody put aside Partizanship in the course of that tragedy and everybody worked together.

00:18:50:32 – 00:18:55:30
David Martin
Well, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in a situation like that is to put aside Partizanship?

00:18:55:32 – 00:18:56:11
Buddy Dyer
That’s exactly.

00:18:56:13 – 00:18:57:46
David Martin
What you’re not. What we’re seeing now, though.

00:18:57:49 – 00:18:59:37
Buddy Dyer
No, not we’re seeing now.

00:18:59:39 – 00:19:10:31
David Martin
All right. Well, maybe they could take a lesson from the narrative, Orlando, and how to react to a crisis. All right. I have a series of questions we’re going to get to in just a minute.

00:19:10:36 – 00:19:34:20
David Martin
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00:19:46:08 – 00:20:11:13
David Martin
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00:20:11:18 – 00:20:15:18
David Martin
Podcasts.

00:20:15:23 – 00:20:20:29
David Martin
So I have a good government questionnaire. I like to ask all the mayors. We always start with the hardest question first.

00:20:20:32 – 00:20:20:56
Buddy Dyer
Okay.

00:20:21:01 – 00:20:23:32
David Martin
To find good government. What is good government to you?

00:20:23:34 – 00:20:46:33
Buddy Dyer
Effective government provides assessments. A city government has to provide the core municipal services. So that’s fire police. So public safety number one. But then everything else the streets the drainage solid waste collection. So being efficient and effective with the public services that you are there to provide.

00:20:46:35 – 00:20:51:23
David Martin
So people don’t like what they’re seeing from you as mayor or from the city of Orlando. What should they do?

00:20:51:25 – 00:21:00:53
Buddy Dyer
They let me know. If they don’t. I gather grocery store. The mark of a good mayor is being able to shop in the local grocery store. Do you go to the growth of local grocery store? How long does it take you.

00:21:00:56 – 00:21:01:58
David Martin
To get out of the local.

00:21:01:58 – 00:21:04:32
Buddy Dyer
Grocery store? Sometimes a while. Yes.

00:21:04:46 – 00:21:06:05
David Martin
Are you allowed to go by yourself?

00:21:06:08 – 00:21:16:14
Buddy Dyer
I am okay, but I’ve been in office. You mentioned we mentioned 23 years, right? So I’ve got pretty good favorability. So most of the comments I get are positive.

00:21:16:21 – 00:21:26:54
David Martin
I have a mayor I talked to a while ago. His wife no longer allows him to go to the hardware store by himself. It just takes too long. What drew you to public service? What made you run for office and.

00:21:26:59 – 00:21:47:51
Buddy Dyer
Up in a poor family? And just me, born in Orlando, had the opportunity to go to an Ivy League school with a lot of federal aid. Okay? And have always had a sense that I needed to give back in some fashion. So I worked as an engineer and a lawyer for most of my career, but I also served in the state Senate for ten years, and then mayor is 23.

00:21:47:51 – 00:21:56:14
Buddy Dyer
So I retired from private practice when I became mayor because mayor for the city of Orlando as a full time job, you’re the CEO of the city.

00:21:56:17 – 00:21:59:02
David Martin
What made you take that first race, the first election?

00:21:59:04 – 00:22:02:07
Buddy Dyer
That was how I felt I could get back in public service.

00:22:02:09 – 00:22:04:26
David Martin
Okay. Who inspires you? Do you have a political hero?

00:22:04:28 – 00:22:16:54
Buddy Dyer
Probably Lawton Chiles would be. He was governor of Florida when I was first elected to the Senate. So I would say he taught me about early childhood education and how to negotiate.

00:22:16:56 – 00:22:18:44
David Martin
Did you always see yourself running for office?

00:22:18:46 – 00:22:20:01
Buddy Dyer
No. Not necessarily.

00:22:20:03 – 00:22:22:22
David Martin
You weren’t president of your senior class?

00:22:22:27 – 00:22:32:17
Buddy Dyer
Well, I was involved in all of those types of activities. I was president of the Key Club and vice president of my class. And I’ve had I had leadership roles throughout the course of high.

00:22:32:17 – 00:22:42:02
David Martin
School, a long time, 23 years, going for 25 years as mayor of Orlando. That makes you a government insider. What would you like people to know about government? They don’t know.

00:22:42:04 – 00:22:46:47
Buddy Dyer
They should come and do the Mayor City Academy in Orlando, Florida.

00:22:46:52 – 00:22:47:49
David Martin
Tell me about the mayor city.

00:22:47:52 – 00:23:07:31
Buddy Dyer
We we take between 40 and 70 residents and do a ten week course where they meet once a week and learn every aspect of city government. So one week there at the firehouse, next week, the police station, they’ll do solid waste. They’ll do the mayor’s office. They loaded about the finances of the city.

00:23:07:31 – 00:23:10:26
David Martin
And how long you been doing this? This sounds like very good.

00:23:10:31 – 00:23:14:45
Buddy Dyer
I started it when I became mayor. Oh, so 23 years.

00:23:14:45 – 00:23:16:26
David Martin
And who were the people that did attend?

00:23:16:29 – 00:23:19:00
Buddy Dyer
Anybody. That’s a City of Orlando resident.

00:23:19:02 – 00:23:21:14
David Martin
And how many people go through this program every.

00:23:21:14 – 00:23:30:11
Buddy Dyer
Year, depending on the size of the class? We did two classes with the biggest that’s ever been at 70. Usually it’s around 40, so between 80 and 100.

00:23:30:23 – 00:23:32:25
David Martin
People come out of this class and run for office.

00:23:32:28 – 00:23:50:31
Buddy Dyer
Yeah, a lot of people come out. More importantly, they volunteer for our city boards, you know, cities. You may not know this, but cities are a lot of the policies actually made by citizen volunteer boards, whether it’s municipal planning or the parks department or.

00:23:50:36 – 00:23:51:50
David Martin
The zoning or.

00:23:52:02 – 00:24:03:14
Buddy Dyer
Yeah, we have museum boards or school board. So and they’re unpaid individuals. But we get a lot of people that after they’ve done, the City Academy will go ahead and volunteer on the board.

00:24:03:16 – 00:24:12:18
David Martin
There’s a lot of lack of confidence, let’s say, about political leaders and about people in government. What are you doing and what can be done to restore people’s faith in government.

00:24:12:20 – 00:24:19:32
Buddy Dyer
To be as open as you possibly can, and also to tell people what you’re going to do and then go do it.

00:24:19:34 – 00:24:21:13
David Martin
What’s the best part of being the mayor?

00:24:21:27 – 00:24:24:46
Buddy Dyer
Best part about being the mayor? Well, you know.

00:24:24:56 – 00:24:26:32
David Martin
Tickets to all magic games.

00:24:26:32 – 00:24:32:22
Buddy Dyer
Well, having lights on my car that I can flip on.

00:24:32:26 – 00:24:45:03
David Martin
Orlando does have a little bit of a traffic problem. Okay, so it’s been a while since I’ve been to Orlando. I spent a lot of time in Florida. If I’m coming to Orlando, what is the one thing? The dish that you must try? What’s Orlando famous for?

00:24:45:04 – 00:24:52:37
Buddy Dyer
So, believe it or not, we have become a michelin city. Really? We have a variety of cuisines. And if.

00:24:52:37 – 00:24:53:54
David Martin
We were going to say oranges.

00:24:53:56 – 00:25:06:53
Buddy Dyer
Well, if you ask me, what’s the quintessential Orlando dish or cuisine, I don’t know that we have one. But you know what the most Michelin rated restaurants are? Our Asian cuisine. Really? Yeah, a lot of great Asian food.

00:25:06:55 – 00:25:09:53
David Martin
All right. And how far away is you? Are you from an orange grove?

00:25:09:55 – 00:25:26:02
Buddy Dyer
Not many orange groves left in central Florida. The orange groves that are left are more in South Florida. I’ve had it used to be when I grew up going on I for the turnpike. Both sides. Nothing but orange trees and the smell of citrus blossoms. Right now, not many orange trees at all.

00:25:26:04 – 00:25:33:49
David Martin
Well, that’s why the Citrus Bowl was in Orlando, right? Yes, yes. Are there there’s still like 2 or 3 bowl games in Orlando, right? Three. Three. Which ones?

00:25:33:54 – 00:25:37:01
Buddy Dyer
Cheer bowl. Cheez-It Bowl Pop-Tarts Bowl.

00:25:37:03 – 00:25:40:15
David Martin
The pop tarts bowl. That’s the famous bowl that people are talking about.

00:25:40:15 – 00:25:46:36
Buddy Dyer
Every year between Cheez-Its and Pop Tarts are probably the best marketing teams of any of the bowl games.

00:25:46:46 – 00:25:47:41
David Martin
Do you go to the games?

00:25:47:41 – 00:25:48:46
Buddy Dyer
I absolutely go.

00:25:48:51 – 00:25:51:29
David Martin
All right, so you get pop charts. What do you do for fun?

00:25:51:31 – 00:25:54:19
Buddy Dyer
Whatever my wife asked me to do.

00:25:54:24 – 00:25:56:00
David Martin
Which is always fun, honey.

00:25:56:02 – 00:25:57:14
Buddy Dyer
It is always fun.

00:25:57:19 – 00:26:06:21
David Martin
This is the good government show. We always try to bring it back to good government. Tell me about a good government project that you’ve managed to complete in your 23 years so far as Mayor of Orlando?

00:26:06:23 – 00:26:31:14
Buddy Dyer
Probably some of the stormwater. I’m going to take it down. That’s okay. We have hurricanes occasionally. Yes we do. And with hurricanes they’re usually wet events. So some we get occasionally some flooding. So we have done a lot of of old stormwater systems. And it’s not sexy. And it generally cost a lot of money. But I think we’ve done it in a good, effective way.

00:26:31:17 – 00:26:34:12
David Martin
This is the part of the job where you learn on the job, is it not?

00:26:34:14 – 00:26:35:48
Buddy Dyer
Well, I was a civil engineer.

00:26:35:53 – 00:26:37:04
David Martin
Oh, okay. And a.

00:26:37:04 – 00:26:49:33
Buddy Dyer
Lawyer and a lawyer. So before my first project as a city engine or as an engineer was a City of Orlando pump station project. So. Okay, I happen to know a lot about wastewater and stormwater.

00:26:49:42 – 00:27:02:03
David Martin
But I’ve heard from lots of mayors that when you become mayor, all of a sudden, you know, you have to learn about highway paving and sanitation systems and clean water systems and solar panels and stuff you never really.

00:27:02:03 – 00:27:08:09
Buddy Dyer
Thought about. We own utility companies, so had to learn about providing electrical power.

00:27:08:17 – 00:27:21:17
David Martin
Well, I hope that other mayors benefited from your experience as the chair of the Mayor’s Professional Sports Alliance here at the Conference of Mayors. Buddy Dyer, the mayor of Orlando, thanks for coming on. Great to have you.

00:27:21:19 – 00:27:22:35
Buddy Dyer
Thanks. Enjoyed being with you.

00:27:22:38 – 00:27:26:21
David Martin
Thank you.

00:27:26:26 – 00:27:47:55
David Martin
The Good Government Institute has a new partner, the Charles F Kettering Foundation. I really like their podcast to context and I bet you will too. They have a new series called Democracy Under Construction. The show is hosted by historian Alex Lovett, and he looks back at the first 250 years of U.S. history. Alex digs into the moments that have pushed us towards an inclusive democracy.

00:27:47:58 – 00:27:56:26
David Martin
You can find it where you’re listening right now, or visit Kettering and give them a follow.

00:27:56:31 – 00:28:14:23
David Martin
Want to hear more about good government? Check out another show I host leading Iowa Good Government in Iowa cities. I host the show with Brad Kavanagh, mayor of Dubuque, Iowa, and the immediate past president of the Iowa League of Cities. Together, we talked to leaders in Iowa cities. We talk about what works and what good government looks like in Iowa.

00:28:14:27 – 00:28:23:05
David Martin
Join us right here. We’re listening. Now that’s leading Iowa. Good government in Iowa cities.

00:28:23:10 – 00:28:45:18
David Martin
It was called the War to End All Wars. But it didn’t. Three royal cousins, all kings, one from England, one from Germany and one from Russia blundered their way into a war, a completely avoidable war that left millions dead in the trenches across Europe. Good government show executive producer Jim Ludlow details the blunders, mistakes and bluster that started World War One that didn’t end all wars.

00:28:45:21 – 00:29:01:20
David Martin
The book The Royal Cousins details the events and creates an alternative history. Imagine if World War One never happened. It didn’t have to. Just read it yourself. Download the book today on Amazon. It’s just $0.99 and a timely look at history.

00:29:01:25 – 00:29:16:47
David Martin
The mark of a good man is being able to shop in the local grocery store. That’s what our landlord, Mayor Buddy Dyer, said. He admitted that sometimes it can take him a little longer to get out of the store, though, but it does mean he’s an approachable mayor, and that’s good government. And here’s more good government, the mayor City Academy.

00:29:16:48 – 00:29:30:13
David Martin
I’ve heard different versions of this idea, but it’s a great way for people to understand government a little bit better, and you get future government leaders out of it. Well, with any luck at all, my football team will make it to the Pop Cards Bowl next year, so I hope to get to our land now. That’s our show.

00:29:30:13 – 00:29:50:17
David Martin
Thanks for listening. Please like and share this with your friends and review us right here where you’re listening and check out our website. Good Government show for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government and action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is a good government show.

00:29:50:22 – 00:30:29:12
David Martin
The Good Government Show is produced by the Good Government Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting civic engagement and civic education. All donations to the show help promote trust in government. You can donate at Good Govt Institute. That’s good govt institute. Executive producers are Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder. Jason Stershic is our editor and producer. Join us again to hear good stories about our government right here on The Good Government Show.

00:30:29:17 – 00:30:32:22
Narrator
This podcast is part of the democracy Group.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.