Florida Redevelopment Association’s Post

DENISON’S CHARM PRESERVES ITS HISTORY: We’ve been telling you for months that Denison’s population is on the rise and expected to double over the next few years as work nears completion on the Preston Harbor master-planned community and other major projects. But with all that change coming to the city, there’s one thing that’s not expected to be any different in the years to come and that’s Denison’s quaint but active downtown area. You’ve heard this if you’ve ever listened to one of Leah Slaughter’s property tours: “It’s my favorite downtown in North Texas” City leaders say they don’t plan to make any alterations to Main Street as more and more people move to Denison. This is just another great decision being made in a city that’s seeing unprecedented growth. Don’t miss your opportunity to start investing in this area TODAY. You can start by seeing some of the properties in Dension, Sherman, and other booming North Texas towns during our “Property Toursday” this Thursday at 12 p.m. or 8 p.m.! REGISTER FOR 2/15 12 P.M. TOURSDAY: https://ow.ly/zBHH50QAi2o REGISTER FOR 2/15 12 P.M. TOURSDAY: https://ow.ly/cTMG50QAi2x READ MORE ABOUT DENISON: https://ow.ly/sA7O50QAi2t

Our cities are built of neighborhoods. And our neighborhoods were built with a hundred little things (benches, bike lanes, parks, sidewalks, light posts, flower gardens, cafes, street vendors, etc.). What would happen if we took our dreams to rebuild a better neighborhood and combined it with our ability to do little things? Maybe we could build a better block. Here are my thoughts on building a better block based on what started in Oak Cliff, Texas (near Dallas) and spread from Portland to Detroit and Melbourne to Tahran. https://lnkd.in/gi8HVnmd *What are your dreams for rebuilding a better block in your city?

DENISON’S CHARM PRESERVES ITS HISTORY: We’ve been telling you for months that Denison’s population is on the rise and expected to double over the next few years as work nears completion on the Preston Harbor master-planned community and other major projects. But with all that change coming to the city, there’s one thing that’s not expected to be any different in the years to come and that’s Denison’s quaint but active downtown area. You’ve heard this if you’ve ever listened to one of Leah Slaughter’s property tours: “It’s my favorite downtown in North Texas” City leaders say they don’t plan to make any alterations to Main Street as more and more people move to Denison. This is just another great decision being made in a city that’s seeing unprecedented growth. Don’t miss your opportunity to start investing in this area TODAY. You can start by seeing some of the properties in Dension, Sherman, and other booming North Texas towns during our “Property Toursday” this Thursday at 12 p.m. or 8 p.m.! REGISTER FOR 2/15 12 P.M. TOURSDAY: https://ow.ly/ANUN50QAi2n REGISTER FOR 2/15 12 P.M. TOURSDAY: https://ow.ly/ZnEm50QAi2r READ MORE ABOUT DENISON: https://ow.ly/WVoo50QAi2s

Excellent article and photos by Crystal A. Proxmire of Oakland County Times of our third Main Steet Oakland County Summit. Our 28 Main Street Oakland County downtowns and neighborhoods corridors range in population from 600 to 60,000 dispersed over 900 square miles of rural, suburban and urban settings. Our districts are booming and attract millions of visitors in a given year, are home to over 10,000 small businesses, and has seen the creation of hundreds upon hundreds of units of housing in the last few years, (with more on the way). The districts of Oakland County are nationally recognized as innovative, attractive and bustling where people want to live, play, invest, and shop. The Main Streets of Oakland County are our secret weapon doing their part to fuel the local and regional economy to attract companies, retain and attract talent for all of metro Detroit and Michigan. Main Street America Oakland County, Michigan Government Michigan Economic Development Corporation Michigan Municipal League Michigan Downtown Association Michigan Economic Developers Association https://lnkd.in/g_fZgS2Z...

Definitely a chicken and egg problem here, if you reduce the situation to a binary choice. Does land use inform the community or does the community inform land use? Both things are true. Life is complicated. But, what is a common #story line that doesn't rely on a single causal relationship? "Now I can drive my car right up to the front of the store and still get home in time to have dinner with the family. It's convenient and saves me time." We see that individual convenience of the empowered wins over promoting the general resiliency of the entire community. It's a series of micro and macro decisions that lead to widespread structural distortions. The lesson is old. The dominant majority, by virtue of numbers, wealth, and/or political and religious power, optimizes their lifestyles at the expense of others, and often the long term health of the entire community. The individual transgressions seem inconsequential and rational according to some dominant (yet always ephemeral) cultural story. But, it is death by a thousand cuts. No man is an island, no citizen acts in isolation. We are citizens of our towns, our nations, and the world. Citizens have a responsibility to think beyond themselves, to be accountable for their actions beyond immediate transactional results. Perhaps this accounts for the rising appeal of the undemocratic leader - someone else takes charge, so the individual only has to be obedient, not thoughtful and responsible for their own actions. Perhaps it just seems...easier. And, once again: individual convenience of the empowered wins over promoting the general resiliency of the entire community.

I feel confident saying my grandparents had a good relationship with their city. I mean first off, their city was HOT. Like I said, I’ve seen the photos. Stone and brick buildings, three, or even five stories high. Nice wide sidewalks for people and business and narrow streets for cars. Cute little local shops, big storefront windows. Block after block of well-built houses, all walkable to school and work. 🔥 🔥 🔥 I think about the part of my town that I never got to visit and all the towns across the country that have disappeared. All the lovable little towns that we used to call home, that were scrapped, abandoned and replaced. Not all at once, of course- the process happened over the course of decades, but building by building, business by business, we swapped out pretty, durable, quality and local for cheap, ugly, disposable and national chains. I think about these places that disappeared and what it must have been like to have a relationship with them. These forgotten towns served residents well. Kids knew growing up that they could make a nice life for themselves without leaving. They had sufficient opportunity. They could start a small business, maybe build something, or go work for a local business owner. There was no requirement for the best and brightest to depart for greener pastures. These towns embraced the ideas of progress and effort. City leaders and residents understood that it takes hard work to get better, but when you get better, you feel better. A community that was constantly making strides, constantly progressing, was a place you could be proud of. Think of what it feels like personally, every time you make an improvement to your home- how you experience a sense of reward and pride when you update a room or repair a problem. That feeling lifts you up and makes you feel a sense of accomplishment. Our cities used to improve all the time. Progress was expected. They were updating rooms and making repairs every year. To live in those cities was to experience your surroundings getting better year after year. The towns that went away were particularly good at fostering a sense of community. They were designed to bring people together and provide people with a sense of belonging. This was the nature of the built environment residents enjoyed. Our town builders were simply following the civilization playbook we’ve been using for 7000 years. City founders, leaders and builders understood that a vibrant public realm was critical to the health of the city and its citizens.

Veteran Housing Corp says that IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF A PERMANENT AND LASTING SOLUTION TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS AND HOMELESSNESS, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM! THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS BROKEN AND NOT WORKING FOR AMERICAN TAXPAYERS Veteran Housing Corp would ask every TAXPAYER to demand and get answers from their elected and appointed government officials the below questions as they relate to any affordable, workforce, or supportive housing project in your community! 1. How much local, state, and federal funding, tax credits, or other government benefits or incentives did the project receive? 2. What is the affordability period for each project? Is the affordability period permanent and in perpetuity? 3. What guarantees exist have your local, state, and federal government officials obtained in writing that rents will not go up or that tenants will not be displaced or evicted after the "affordability period expires? Every local, state, and federal housing authority and affordable or workforce housing stakeholder should adopt the State of Vermont's "permanent affordability" policy as a model for all future government funded or subsidized housing projects or developments, no exceptions! https://lnkd.in/eFEUC8c8 Additionally, local, state and federal housing agencies should look to the Helsinki, FINLAND MODEL of ending homelessness by providing affordable housing for all 'It’s a miracle': Helsinki's radical solution to homelessness https://lnkd.in/er9HZSQU Even the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development AGREES THAT adopting FINLAND'S MODEL OF ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS may be of great value to resolving the affordable housing and homelessness crises in America https://lnkd.in/gkSZWYRU

Charlotte, NC is poised for a major transformation with the proposed Queen's Park project. 🏞️ Envisioned as a 220-acre urban green space, it aims to convert a former industrial railyard near uptown into the city’s largest and most dynamic park. Spearheaded by the nonprofit Friends of Queen's Park, the initiative aspires to establish a community hub while addressing the city's need for more accessible green spaces. Queen's Park promises to integrate diverse amenities such as flexible spaces like a great lawn for recreation and events, cultural hubs to showcase arts and host festivals, natural preserves that restore ecosystems and add tree cover and connections to existing trails and infrastructure, linking surrounding neighborhoods and promoting walkability. The park is intended to bridge and unite eight neighborhoods divided by industrial zones, fostering inclusivity and urban renewal. Advocates liken its potential impact to New York's Central Park or Chicago's Millennium Park, emphasizing its role in enhancing quality of life, culture, and sustainability ❗ While the vision is compelling, challenges remain. Securing funding and addressing competing land-use needs complicate progress. For example, parts of the site have recently been allocated for light rail storage, underscoring the complexity of balancing infrastructure with public space development

Remember those maps from a couple of weeks ago? We just released our latest report on 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝘽𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙊𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 in downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. At the request of the City of Morgantown, the Morgantown Area Partnership, and Main Street Morgantown. We compared our downtown with Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Asheville, North Carolina. The findings are useful for attracting and incentivizing the types of businesses lacking downtown or meeting demand that outpaces capacity. Most of all, we hope the report helps spur community conversation and involvement in what downtown should be moving forward. See the report for specifics, limitations, and cautions. The report especially finds the tension between catering to residents and attracting visitors in most rural areas - a common thread in the economic, social, and political transition underway in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia. The report also delineates when common rhetoric around aspirational peers is less useful for local strategizing. Thanks to WVU Rockefeller Institute for Policy Research's Oreoluwa (Ore) Runsewe for leading this project and to West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts & Sciences for its never-ending support of our local communities. #publicpolicy #economicdevelopment #businessincentives #localgovt #Morgantown #WestVirginia #Appalachia #economictransition #tourism https://lnkd.in/d-Tn77kc