Visions for Tallahassee

[97preludesh]

Hmm we Need an international airport.

[Jahi98]

I like the idea of adding more exits on I-10 at Meridian and Centerville. That's something I've thought about for a while. This distance between the existing exits is just too far. Adding more exits as well as widening it from 4 to 6 lanes will make it feel more like a "local" expressway than a thru highway. It might also bring about additional development along the interstate.

I also like the idea of bridging Monroe Street over Tennessee Street. I think that could be fairly easily accomplished considering the terrain. It's almost set up perfectly for that, being that Monroe Street crosses Tennessee Street at the apex of a hill.

In addition to the other things mentioned, I'd like to see major redevelopment on the south side around Orange Avenue and Monroe Street.

Thinking about the universities, I'd like to see architecture program expanded at FAMU to become a College of Architecture, Construction and Urban Design. (I think they are currently working to transition from school of arch. to college of arch., but I don't know what the full vision is.) Perhaps this new college and the Urban Planning program at FSU could form a joint FAMU/FSU Urban Studies Instititute that will work in partnership with all of the local governments to help improve the built environment.

[Florida]

Nice vision, Jahi, well said.

Are you currently in Tallahassee?

[csmurphy8885]

yes... we must get traffic moving... Tennessee Tunnel.... oh la la loo la

[Florida]

I like the way that sounds... Tennessee Tunnel!

[EbonyGardens]

If I were in control of Tallahassee, my main priority would be bringing quality jobs here. Once the good jobs come here, then everything else will fall into place: growth, college grads stay put, etc. Then I'd work on bringing a couple pro sports teams here, one from the NFL and the other from the NBA. Our pro NFL team could use Doak Campbell, the NBA team could play at the Civic Center. The kind of growth I would have in mind would be a mixture of Atlanta & Tampa, but we would still keep that family-oriented, slower pace of life people know us for. One more thing, I'd shut down The Moon & Chubby's, then dedicate a special district for our nightlife. There would be hip-hop clubs, jazz clubs, blues clubs, something for everyone. The nightlife district would be where Chubby's and Moon will be at. One more thing, I'd create some kind of downtown connector that would link our center city with other parts of Tally. It's the same as Atlanta's I-75/85 downtown connector.

[Florida]

I like the priority on jobs! One of the things I hope to see come out of our Downtown Revitalization is a renewed interest in Downtown Office space by business. I know we have the Floridan office building proposed which is sure to have a good share of associations and lawyers, but I'm hoping to see a major symbol of the banking, insurance industry rise up downtown, specifically Capital City Bank. They've got 3 or more great lots downtown just dying to be developed. I'd like to see them build a tower downtown and take Florida/South East banking to the next level, I believe they can.

Meanwhile, I'd still hope we can lure some type of accounting firms with white collar jobs like Ernst and Young.

[jpl02]

The kind of growth I would have in mind would be a mixture of Atlanta & Tampa, but we would still keep that family-oriented, slower pace of life people know us for.

Don't you know, Tallahassee is a miniature Atlanta in disguise! Just look at this illustration

We've got everything.....I-75, I-85, the Downtown Connector, I-285....even the GA 400, Stone Mountain Freeway and Langford Parkway are on there! And of course is the ATL (Tallahassee) Airport, Georgia Tech (FSU) Georgia State (FAMU), the Georgia Dome (Civic Center), Midtown (both Atlanta and Tally have this!)

wealthy North Fulton & Forsyth (Killearn), and even Stone Mountain (the landfill)!

[Florida]

lol! That's a good one!

The City looks so wonderful with those roads highlighted that way! If only they were all up to capacity! How nice.

[EbonyGardens]

Don't you know, Tallahassee is a miniature Atlanta in disguise! Just look at this illustration

We've got everything.....I-75, I-85, the Downtown Connector, I-285....even the GA 400, Stone Mountain Freeway and Langford Parkway are on there! And of course is the ATL (Tallahassee) Airport, Georgia Tech (FSU) Georgia State (FAMU), the Georgia Dome (Civic Center), Midtown (both Atlanta and Tally have this!)

wealthy North Fulton & Forsyth (Killearn), and even Stone Mountain (the landfill)!

Great illustration, that's exactly what I was talking about West Tallahassee would be Bankhead, South Tallahassee would be the SWATS (Southwest Atlanta too strong )

[DaiDreamer5]

A few things I would add to Tallahassee:

Better telecommunications network: As of right now, there are few choices with High Speed Internet and the cell phone service sucks for most areas. A few years ago, there was a downtown wireless project. I would restart this project and encourage the High Education Institutions in the area to continue to develop thiers.

Better Non Car Transportation: I would improve the bus system by extending the hours and having a few free ride days during the "Car Pool to Work" week (or whatever it is called). I would improve on pedestrian and bike lanes (add bike racks, seating at different intervals along walks etc). I would also funnel more money into traffic enforcement. It is very dangerous to walk anywhere in tallahassee because of the reckless drivers.

Farfetched but hey I'd like it : Add a monorail. Or perhaps a MARTA like Miami. It would compliment the bus system perfectly. Have it got downtown, major universities, the hospitals, and the malls (any other ideas for stops would be good). Have buses there to take people to less frequent locations.

Natural Preservation: Preserve Tallahassee natural element. It is what makes this city beautiful. Keep the old live oaks around and care for them. Plant new trees for future generations (not just the quick grow things). Keep water pollution down and the aquifer clean.

Entertainment: Add entertainment that doesn't require the buying of "things." More plays, shows, parks, community activities. Most of the community activities I find are during the weekday. If you want a high paid work force, entertain them when they are off work.

Jobs: More high paying jobs. The majority of jobs in Tallahassee are catering to college students (low wage). If you bring the high paying jobs to the area, then you can get people to buy the housing.

Housing: There is an issue with low cost housing in Tallahassee. Too many investors. People buy up the house and rent it out to college students. College students don't have the time to care for the house and the neighborhood looks like crap.

[Florida]

Housing: There is an issue with low cost housing in Tallahassee. Too many investors. People buy up the house and rent it out to college students. College students don't have the time to care for the house and the neighborhood looks like crap.

I totally agree. That is something that crossed my mind today in my real estate class as my teacher was trying to pursuade everyone to purchase all of the $80,000 townhomes and rent them out to college students. I'm all for investing in real estate, but I don't encourage the purchasing of all of the affordable housing soley for the purpose of renting it out. There should be some sort of cap on the number of homes a person can own in our single family neighborhoods. Most of the time an out-of-town investor will buy an $80,000 property, do minimal work to make it liveable, rent it out and allow a tenant to live in it with no pressure at all on the maint. and up-keep. The rooming house ordinance we passed a few years ago may have addressed the issue of property managment for those rentals in single family neighborhoods. This is something I might have to look into.

[Glenn]

Don't you know, Tallahassee is a miniature Atlanta in disguise! Just look at this illustration

We've got everything.....I-75, I-85, the Downtown Connector, I-285....even the GA 400, Stone Mountain Freeway and Langford Parkway are on there! And of course is the ATL (Tallahassee) Airport, Georgia Tech (FSU) Georgia State (FAMU), the Georgia Dome (Civic Center), Midtown (both Atlanta and Tally have this!)

wealthy North Fulton & Forsyth (Killearn), and even Stone Mountain (the landfill)!

Great work jpl02, I had never considered the similarities between the road infrastructures of Tallahassee & Atlanta but there is definitely a likeness. Some of our major roads should definitely be upgraded to allow higher speeds & limited access or we'll all be sitting in traffic as we grow.

[Florida]

Yeah... and some may say its expensive now... but its not getting any cheaper people. We've got to get things going or we'll really pay in the future.

[Glenn]

Haven't we all been singing this exact same song for quite awhile now? All the community economic development leaders should just read our forum!

Develop niche, lose turf wars

Tallahassee needs to pick up the pace in the economic-development game. Otherwise, it'll just continue to be a city that's "on the right track."

http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../602010312/1003

[Florida]

I hope they didn't have to pay this guy! Like you said Glenn, we do it for free all day everyday! Our info is the most up-to-date!

[poonther]

In the article Glenn posted from the Democrat, the guy states that Tally leaders need to set aside their egos for better economic growth. Well we all know who he is mainly talking about......"did you hear that T.K.? He was talking about you T.K. Did you get that T.K.?????"

And about the map showing Tally like ATL, should Tally ever become a huge metropolitan area (not in my lifetime) I sure hope it doesn't follow the ATL example. There are many more large metros in this country and the world that I would hope we try and be like and ATL would be second to the bottom of my list. Of course your "individual mileage may vary."

[Florida]

I truly don't believe there exist a city that Tallahassee can model herself after. I think there are good ideas we can borrow from other communities, but when it comes to being like other cities, we stand on our own. That's what I like most about Tallahassee. In many ways, our destiny is very clear, we're on the right path to become "The Perfect City", not too big, not too small, controling the fundamentals, charming the world. We're on our way. Alot of the thing's we need to do to "fix" Tallahassee are minor in perspective. Building up our downtown is at the top of my list, Capital Circle is next. I think everything else would tend to fall in its place. The development we see will soon be complete and will allow us to step back and look at our progress while continuing to move forward.

The speaker that spoke at the Economic Summit may have had some very interesting things to say. They credit the man with the creation of over 45,000 jobs in the North Carolina area. I'd say if we had someone who could create, or help to create 45,000 jobs around here... he'd deserve his own section of town with his picture on the stop signs! I do think we have a tremendous amount of potential in this technology driven idea search for our nitch. Superconductivity Lab Moving to Tallahassee from Madison WI, Tallahassee is Home to the World's Strongest Magnetic Technology, Tallahassee is home to two wonderful universities and Florida's most educated population, energy prices are high, there is a need for more efficient use of our resources and alternatives to fossil fuels... I can't imagine Tallahassee has what it takes to lead this world into the next frontier. Surely we'll have to really think hard on this one.

[Glenn]

Good to see you Poonther I was just thinking earlier this evening that I hadn't seen you on the board recently. Funny...I now find myself noticing palms all over town & thinking to myself "there's another one of poonther's palms" HA! Also, I still love the idea of putting a palm at the top of the new Floridan building as was illustrated previously.

[Florida]

Good to see you Poonther I was just thinking earlier this evening that I hadn't seen you on the board recently. Funny...I now find myself noticing palms all over town & thinking to myself "there's another one of poonther's palms" HA! Also, I still love the idea of putting a palm at the top of the new Floridan building as was illustrated previously.

LOL! I hope you're joking about that palm on top of that building ... btw that RFP is moving forward!!! I say the exact same thing each time I see a Palm... a "Poonther Palm" is what I call'm.

[stjoe]

"Superconductivity Lab Moving to Tallahassee from Madison WI, Tallahassee is Home to the World's Strongest Magnetic Technology,"

That was a huge win for FSU, as is the Mag Lab. But without a research park, FSU is running in mud compared to the big boys in technology.

FSU and the COT have a chance to take advantage of a rare opportunity with the Mag Lab, but Innovation Park is a Yugo in the world of Higher Education/research/techology/.

[stjoe]

"In the article Glenn posted from the Democrat, the guy states that Tally leaders need to set aside their egos for better economic growth. Well we all know who he is mainly talking about......"did you hear that T.K.? He was talking about you T.K. Did you get that T.K.?????"

Actually he is talking about the COT, FAMU, & TCC.

Major research parks don't get run by community colleges or non research universities or small time cities. They get run by major research universities like University of Wisconsin, etc.

The COT demands that TCC be an equal party with everything FSU does (FAMU) also. TCC is not an equal partner iwth FSU....so all possible movement dies.

FSU was ready to start a research park, but the city demanded that FSU not control it. The bottom line with anything in life is if you have 3 groups running the show....you have NOBODY running the show.

The biggest generator of research royalties in higher education is a College of Engineering (and med school). FSU shares an Eng. school with FAMU. It isn't even a top 100 engineering school. So it doesn't work.

Because of that, FSU works on it's own as much as possible. But folks will get mad if we don't have all groups have exact equal say in everything...even if they don't pony up the same amount of money.

If the COT starts a $500 Million research park and FSU contributes $400 Million....how much representation should they have on the board that runs the park? The COT will tell you 1/3 (FAMU 1/3 and TCC 1/3).

Sound right?

[Go Gators]

Housing: There is an issue with low cost housing in Tallahassee. Too many investors. People buy up the house and rent it out to college students. College students don't have the time to care for the house and the neighborhood looks like crap.

Sounds good, but Tallahassee is still relatively cheap and affordable comapared to most other U.S. markets....Tallahasseans should really consider themselves lucky that the boom has not been as rapid here.

[Florida]

If the COT starts a $500 Million research park and FSU contributes $400 Million....how much representation should they have on the board that runs the park? The COT will tell you 1/3 (FAMU 1/3 and TCC 1/3).

Sound right?

No.

This over critical analysis of the city's ability recognize contributions and designate ownership accordingly is unjustified. I can't remember the last time FSU and the City of Tallahassee entered inro an agreement, contract, or project with one another and FAMU and TCC were thrown into the mix for no good reason. I'd like an example of this for clarification.

As far as the speaker was concerned, I took from his message, "it doesn't matter who gets it done so long as it gets done". It seems everyone around here is looking for recognition for their good deeds. FSU has tremendous spending power, lobbying power, and national recognition. Its very hard for me to believe this University can't step up as the leader in this community, setting by example ways to promote/provide education, and enhance the quality of life for its students and community without having to be forced to. I honestly believed the choice of TK as President of FSU would help to fuse a tighter relationship with his former institution TCC, but it seems things are divided as before.

Cite some examples of how FSU has shown itself as a leader among our educational institutions in terms of forming coilitions to address critical community concerns and I'll be more than happy to listen with an open mind.

[poonther]

Hey Glenn thanks for missing me! I've been gone from Tally for 10 days, but I'll be home late tomorrow! I've been in Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale and now at the in-laws in West Palm, so I'm "living large" in my old stomping grounds in the land of palms!

St. Joe I do somewhat agree w/your one statement about the research parks, but that is just a tiny piece of the puzzle. I like TJ thought that ole T.K. would be a great asset not only to FSU but also to Tally, but w/his constant whinning and his super large ego, that has not been the case. If you compare what Bill Law has done for our community as opposed to T.K. there really is no comparison. Yes, I know that Law is President of a Community College and therefore he should be more involved in the community, but T.K. has acted more like a road block to "town & gown" progress. If you watch the news regularly or read the paper, you'll see Law all over the community working hard for us and believing in us while all I ever see is T.K. do is just threaten law suits and beat his chest. I wish we had more Bill Law's in town.

As for FAMU, the best thing I think they can do right now for our community is to get their own house in order first. Once that is accomplished, then they can work on outreach.