HUD funds master plan for downtown
TAMPA – Mayor Bob Buckhorn gathered the city’s press corps at City Hall Monday morning to announce the kick-off of a project he said had eluded five mayors before him: developing a long-range vision for downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Buckhorn described the plan as “a blueprint for this community for the next 25 years.”
The project will look at ways to tie the downtown more tightly to the gentrifying neighborhoods on its fringes. The study area goes from Armenia Avenue on the west to Ybor City on the east, then north on Nebraska Avenue to Hillsborough Avenue.
The project is funded by a $1.2 million federal grant originally awarded to plan for a transit line along Nebraska.
Buckhorn said the city will reach out to the neighborhoods over the coming months to give city residents a hand in shaping the plan.
“This is not a plan that will be driven by the consultants,” Buckhorn said.
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