Robert Stewart, Orlando city commissioner and host of the recorded "Orlando History Makers" conversation, interviewed former Orlando mayor Bill Frederick about his legal and political career and the city’s transformation beginning in the 1980s.

Frederick, who became mayor in 1980 and served 12 years, said rapid growth tied to the arrival of Disney and airport expansion strained city services. "Public safety is the number 1 issue of, like, any city government," Frederick said, describing an administration that rebuilt police capacity and addressed visible street-level problems.

He credited coordinated downtown partnerships for improvements in social services. Frederick said the city worked with local agencies to expand shelter and assistance capacity for people experiencing indigence, noting the effort took a "big bite out of the need." Stewart reinforced that these partnerships were a visible legacy of the period.

Frederick also described administrative changes inside city government after he arrived: reorganizing offices, instituting record-keeping where little existed and changing how the mayor’s office operated. He recalled the old open-door culture under predecessor Carl Langford and recounts both practical and colorful experiences from the era.

The conversation closes with Frederick recommending public-safety priorities and renewed energy to address downtown conditions, which he and other participants said intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic. Stewart directed listeners to orlandomemory.info and the Orange County Library System for further reading, including Frederick’s memoir, A Mayor’s Tale.

The recorded conversation is a first-person oral-history account; Frederick framed many events as recollections and attributed accomplishments to broad teams and allied officials rather than sole authorship.