Proposed Law Would Put Pedestrians At Risk
Florida is in the middle of its legislative session for 2021, which ends on April 30. During this time each year, state lawmakers debate whether to pass bills that could…
Electric Bicycles Give Rise to a New Mobility and Some Questions
By Whit Blanton Perhaps you’ve seen them? The fat-tired, bulky framed or squat bicycles with the bulging disk of a heavy, black battery sitting on the rear rack or inside…
Introducing Amy Elmore
We are delighted to welcome Amy Elmore aboard as Forward Pinellas’ Communications & Outreach Program Manager. One of the most important things we do as an agency is to work…
The Problem with Earmarks
Sometimes doing a good deed does not turn out all that well in the end. As the 2020 Florida Legislative Session begins, we need to discuss earmarks, those legislator-added line…
Planning for saving lives over saving time
You read about them in the paper just about every day: an elderly man killed crossing 34th Street S in St. Petersburg, hit by a driver at 1:42 AM. Or maybe…
Lessons learned from St. Louis
While building transportation projects is a contentious process in Tampa Bay, we are not alone in struggling to engage the community and get projects done. I wrote in my previous…
Building community by learning from others
One of the first lessons I learned as a consultant many years ago is that every community has its own public decision-making process. What flies by with no commentary in…
Dangerous By Design Hits Home
It was probably not how Andy Holcombe wanted to start his first day of an internship with the Philadelphia Phillies. Nor was it my intent to spend part of the…
Creating a Safer Pinellas County
Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report released today ranks the Tampa Bay area as the seventh most dangerous metro area in the country for people walking. Despite that dubious…
Transportation Leadership on the Agenda for Tampa Bay
In the wake of failed transportation funding proposals in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, there’s a growing chorus of voices on both sides of Tampa Bay about how we finally figure…
TBX and the choices we face
The recent vote to support funding for the Tampa Bay Express (TBX) in the Hillsborough County MPO’s Transportation Improvement Program illustrates the difficult choices we face to improve transportation in…
Forward Pinellas – Branding a new identity
The role of transportation and land development in Pinellas County took on increased importance with passage of a special act of the Florida Legislature in 2014 unifying a 13-member governing board…