Urban cores cope with a slew of inherited problems, which stem from poor or unregulated planning. By many indications, Tallahassee is moving in the right direction. Look at the visitors pulled into the downtown Odyssey Science Center and Museum of Art. Nearby, consider the crowds that arrive for festivities these Saturdays at the Downtown Marketplace along Park Avenue. Downtown is alive.
Development is slated to begin there on a stormwater basin, park, new homes and office buildings.
This is all good news. Now, Kathy Archibald and other members of the Economic and Environmental Consensus Committee propose a system of interconnecting waterways and greenways for Tallahassee's south-side. As summarized by Archibald on these pages, the Blueprint 2000 and Beyond plan seeks attractive solutions to stormwater and economic woes that threaten the long-term vitality of Tallahassee's urban core. These ideas aren't new. For years, stormwater visionaries have imagined creative alternatives to those ditches.