While the Ferry between Tampa and St. Pete has been a nice addition (though it needs more frequency, year-round duration and more ground transport at each end), we need many more options beyond just widening our already high-traffic bridges, for both resident and tourist audiences. This could be boats that take you on the Gulf from the Clearwater beaches to downtown St. Pete, or light rail, or helicopters to fly you from Hyde Park to Dunedin!
Cross-water transportation will create a more cohesive Tampa Bay region connecting Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater and every town in between. Altogether, our Bay area has a ton to offer, each city with its own character and identity, but independently we’re just a number of mid-size cities, while combined we’re a powerful metropolitan area. We are better together—to attract economically impactful businesses, to make it more feasible to work across the region and to provide tourists with the ability to visit all the attractions across the area—to name a few.
As for how to make it a reality, I assume we need a lot of collaboration between each city staff, voter-support for investment combined with private enterprise investment. And we need vision; this will not be an overnight or one-size-fits-all answer, it will take time, so we also need patience.—Katherine Greif, Chief Operating Officer & Deputy Director, The Dali Museum
To commemorate the leap year, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay asked readers and local leaders to chime in on what Tampa Bay needs to be a better place in four years. These are some of the results of the “What Tampa Bay Needs” survey.
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We asked locals what Tampa Bay needs to be a better place to live. Here’s what they said.
This article appears in Feb 29 – Mar 6, 2024.