MILTON — Amid continuing debate and questions from citizens in Milton over the program’s future, Main Street Milton traveled to Orlando where they accepted awards for innovative practices and projects that contribute to the success of local Main Street programs. Main Street Milton was presented with two awards, the Honor Award, which highlight the very…
A transformation is now underway in Riviera Beach Heights that has been years in the planning. Facing a neighborhood that has been fractured by improvements to the state highway that dissects it, the CRA is creating safe passageways for our children to walk to school, implementing new designs to soften traffic, and connecting the neighborhood…
In an era when state and local governments are having a harder time than in years past filling jobs, some are turning to the “gig economy” to meet their labor needs, according to newly released survey results. The Center for State and Local Government Excellence released the findings from their latest workforce survey on Monday. A total…
Cities, counties and state governments turn to drones to help fight crime, combat fires and assist in rescue efforts. By 2018, at least 910 U.S. sheriff’s offices, police and fire departments, and emergency services agencies had purchased drones, an 82 percent increase from the previous year, according to a study by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard…
Former longtime Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy has taken on yet another responsibility following his retirement two years ago. He was recently hired as a part-time administrative consultant by the City of Century, which has been going through some challenging times. The city of about 1,500 has a mayor and five city council…
Two years ago, Tacoma, Washington, declared a state of emergency over homelessness. With 1,300 people experiencing homelessness in the surrounding Pierce County, and hundreds of them living on Tacoma’s streets, officials kicked off a three-phase plan to address the issue. They deployed rapid resource pop-ups, such as hand-washing stations and portables, and worked to expand…
Several cities are experimenting with applying fees to parked e-scooters as means of managing the devices and helping to prevent an over-distribution of them on streets. Omaha, Neb.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Detroit are part of a three-month pilot organized by the parking technology platform Passport to assess parking fees when scooters are not being ridden.…
The FloridaMakes Board of Directors announced today that Florida manufacturers who received services through the state-wide FloridaMakes network have reported a combined total of over one billion dollars in measurable economic impacts and created or retained 6,953 manufacturing jobs since the program started delivering services in 2016. The FloridaMakes network is an industry-led initiative operated…
CityGrader, the social platform that encourages constituents to become civically engaged with their local government, expands to all Florida cities. Just one year ago, you’d have to be in South Florida to benefit from the network, but now it is “available in all Florida cities and counties including the Tampa Bay, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee…
ST. PETERSBURG — The risk of flood damage is on the rise in the city. So is the number of new construction projects, including in flood zones. Soon, the city will be forced to decide how to balance the two. In the coming months, the City Council will grapple with an existential question facing the…
LAKELAND — The city is paving a path through Lakeland’s history as depicted through the eyes of student artists. Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency is working in partnership with the Polk County School Board to construct a multi-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians along West Lake Parker Drive that will provide a visual history lesson to the…
It’s been almost three years since Hurricane Matthew brought the city of St. Augustine’s storm resiliency to the forefront of discussion. Hurricane Irma in 2017 didn’t help. But out of both disasters came a much-needed federal boost to the city’s budget to fix flooding problems, repair storm damage and give the Ancient City a fighting…
