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Community Corner

Greenlight – The Impact of Transit Oriented Redevelopment

Listen carefully you and will hear the word redevelopment used liberally in the Greenlight presentations. Listen even a bit more carefully and you will hear the phrase “Transit Oriented Redevelopment". 

Wikipedia defines it as: “A transit-oriented development (TOD) is a mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership. A TOD neighborhood typically has a center with a transit station or stop (train stationmetro stationtram stop, or bus stop), surrounded by relatively high-density development with progressively lower-density development spreading outward from the center. TODs generally are located within a radius of one-quarter to one-half mile (400 to 800 m) from a transit stop, as this is considered to be an appropriate scale for pedestrians, thus solving the last mile problem.”

If you would like to see a current example of the impact of transit-oriented redevelopment in Pinellas County, take a drive up US 19 from Gandy Boulevard to Drew Street in Clearwater.

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As you drive, look along the side of the new “limited access” highway note the empty, closed and abandon commercial real-estate. Most of us can remember when these were thriving businesses.

What I find most interesting is the support of the Chambers of Commerce from all over the County for a transit plan that will likely cost their members customers and maybe even their businesses in the future. 

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If Greenlight were just a public transportation plan, the light rail component would run from and to where the 2% that use public transportation can readily access it and it would serve the entire County.

Instead it has carefully morphed into a redevelopment route that snakes through the heart of Pinellas County from one prime real estate area to the next.

If you run a small or medium sized business in Pinellas County you might want to call your chamber of commerce and see if they can explain why they support a 2.2 Billion dollar project you are going to pay for but does not support you.

E-mail Doc at: dr.webb@verizon.net. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook and Twitter.
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