Administrators in a Car Getting Coffee

http://www.850businessmagazine.com/December-January-2016/Administrators-in-a-Car-Getting-Coffee/

"First stop on the Magical Infrastructure Tour was Gaines Street. Plans had been in the works to upgrade and improve the stretch of road lined with mostly old, industrial buildings and vacant lots, but the timeline was accelerated during the economic downturn.

“We did it at time when the costs were the least expensive to the taxpayer and the jobs were needed the most,” Long said.

Of course, there was also the little matter of envisioning how a busy, four-lane thoroughfare could be downsized to two lanes. “People went absolutely crazy, particularly our public works staff,” Fernandez recalled. But $28 million worth of construction that included upgraded underground water and sewer utilities and relocated utility lines carried on. The result today is a collection of wide, stroll-able sidewalks, on-street parking, gas lamps, a roundabout and other amenities that attracted about $250 million in private investment in shopping, restaurants and residences."

 "The pair are suggesting that Blueprint set aside $20 million of that economic development money to piggyback on the $400 million investment FSU will be making to build a new hotel, parking garage and business school near the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. The money, they said, would be used to build 50,000 to 80,000 square feet of meeting space, which would put Tallahassee in the running to host larger gatherings. “We’ve got over 200 state associations (in Tallahassee) and nobody has their annual conference here because we can’t accommodate their floor space.”

Rather than trying to grow the economy here by offering incentives to existing out-of-state businesses, the two suggest infrastructure is where money is better spent.

“The biggest thing we can do for economic development is exactly what you saw today,” said Long. “(Businesses) come for what we do well — parks, schools; they come for something like the amphitheater.”