A countywide public engagement effort begins February 17 to collect public feedback about transportation issues and concerns. 36 interactive workshops are planned to be held in different locations around the County. The first set of public meetings are to “Understand the Issues”. Meetings held in the New North area include March 9 at New Tampa Community Park and March 10 at the Omar K. Lightfoot Center in Temple Terrace. Both meetings are 6-8 p.m. In addition, a Telephone Town Hall meeting will be held March 19. For more information go to GOHillsborough.org or contact Liana Lopez at 813-272-1141.

NNTA’s next general meeting will be held on Friday, February 27, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Center for Urban Transportation Research on the USF Tampa Campus. Public sector and private sector members and guests meet to discuss current issues relating to transportation in the New North area. Meetings are open to the public. For directions and a complementary visitors parking permit, contact Sara Hendricks at 813-974-9801.

Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) is a cross-disciplinary initiative that promotes education, service, public outreach and research on the design and development of sustainable cities. On February 18th and 19th, Dr. Marc Schlossberg, founder of the SCI and Director of the University of Oregon Sustainable City Year Program at the University of Oregon will be coming to USF to discuss the process of establishing a Sustainable Cities Initiative as USF. He will be joined by Dr. Jessica Barlow, San Diego State University, who recently established a similar program at San Diego State called the SAGE project.
A series of free meetings are being planned to engage interested public officials, USF faculty and agency staff. If you are interested in participating in the dialogue, copy and paste the following link to your browser or contact Kristine Williams at 813-974-9807. http://usf-community-engagement.org/?wysija-page=1&controller=email&action=view&email_id=42&wysijap=subscriptions&user_id=2000

In late 2014, RD Management LLC purchased the University Mall, with the exception of the anchor stores. Principal Richard Birdoff told Tampa Bay Business Journal that there potentially could be a mix of uses on the site, including student housing, offices, a fitness club and a warehouse store, as reported by Ashley Gurbal Kritzer, in “New University Mall owner: Site has ‘potential for everything'”. TBBJ, January 9, 2015. In the meantime the University Mall recently opened the Movie Studio Grill.

A meeting of the Tampa Innovation Alliance will be held Friday, January 9, 11:30-1:00 p.m. The Tampa Innovation Alliance is looking to develop the area between Busch Blvd. to the south, Bearss Avenue to the north, I-75 to the east, and I-275 to the west. For more information, contact Eric Larson at eric@tampainnovation.com

A public meeting will be held regarding the widening of Bruce B. Downs Blvd., between Bearss Avenue and Palm Springs Blvd., known as Segment A. The meeting will be held at the Tampa Palms Elementary School, Monday, January 12, at 6 p.m. More information can be found about the road widening project on the Hillsborough County Public Works Dept. web page at
http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=2414

Plans are underway to build a residential facility along Bruce B. Downs Blvd., south of the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, on the site of the former Sunset Square Apartments. The new facility will provide approximately 600 bedroom units with residents sharing common areas. The new owner, The Collier Companies, is investing over $40 million in the project. The source of this information is from Tampa Bay Business Journal, as reported by Eric Snider, June 27, 2014.

Congress for the New Urbanism is launching The Role of Universities in Urban Design and Innovation, which is focused on the influence of universities on the development of our community. These are open public discussions held at P.J. Dolan’s at 2836 E. Bearss Avenue, Tampa. The first discussion in September focused on USF’s influence on our economy, our politics, and our physical environment.  Two more discussions are scheduled as follows.

#2 – Town and Gown: Getting Along and Prospering – Nov 18, 2014 
What is the relationship like between universities and their host cities? How are they changing?

#3 – The Connected Future of USF and North Tampa? – Jan 13, 2015
How do we achieve our vision? How can the relationship between USF and its current/future partners with surrounding local government and community organization help to reshape the greater North Tampa area?

USF Bulls Walk and Bike Week: Complete Streets Open House to be held Wednesday, September 3rd from 11:00am-2:00pm  inside the Marshall Center Atrium.  The USF Bulls Walk and Bike Week is an event to actively promote pedestrian and bicycle safety to the University community. The Open House will be an opportunity for students and campus visitors to learn about ongoing Complete Streets efforts and projects both on campus and in the broader Tampa area.

What are “Complete Streets”? Complete streets are streets for everyone. They are designed to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Complete Streets make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to work. They allow buses to run on time and make it safe for people to walk to and from transit stations. The USF Bulls Walk and Bike Week will also host vendors and exhibits. The public is invited to attend.