Leesburg to bring website up to ADA compliance

The City of Leesburg is revamping its website to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. City commissioners last week voted to spend up to $100,000 to rework the site after settling a lawsuit alleging documents weren’t accessible to blind people. Specifically, the suit said, the documents weren’t compatible with text-to-voice assistive technology. Joel Price,…

Four CRAs in Pensacola and Cantonment could be designated ‘brownfield areas’

Escambia County is considering designating four Community Redevelopment Areas in north Pensacola and Cantonment as brownfield areas. The County Commission will vote Thursday to schedule two public hearings on designating the Community Redevelopment Areas in Atwood, Ensley, Oakfield and Cantonment as brownfield areas, which would allow properties in those areas to qualify for state and federal…

CRA Website Requirements Webinar

The legislation which passed in the 2019 session, CS/HB 9, is now law effective October 1, 2019. Although there are several provisions that tighten up reporting, auditing and training provisions in Chapter 163, Part III, there is also a part of the bill that deals with new rules for website postings. Due to the fact…

America Needs More Community Spaces

As our political discourse generates derision and dissension, our time in the virtual world crowds out our time in the actual one, and trust in our institutions and one another has plummeted, local places such as markets, libraries, and coffee shops can help. A new study shows that living near community-oriented public and commercial spaces brings a…

CRA’s 3rd mural goes up in Lakeland

LAKELAND — The latest mural to be painted in the city is one artist’s way of permanently honoring the community that raised him. Lakeland native Ahmad Taylor started carefully painting the black outlines of the third and final mural commissioned by the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency on the outside wall of Boring Business Systems overlooking…

HART Board Approves Bus Rapid Transit Study

Hillsborough County’s bus agency has approved spending up to $2.5 million in state grant money to study the possibility of a special bus lane connecting downtown Tampa and the University of South Florida. The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority board voted unanimously Monday to allow consulting firm Tindale-Oliver and Associates to start the first phase…