A St. Pete Youth Farm ‘EXPOsure’ meeting in 2019. Credit: Photo via cityofstpete/Flickr

Tampa Bay needs more third spaces, aka community building locations that aren’t your home or work, where you don’t have to pay for anything to be there, and you have the option to be out of the elements.

We need more third spaces because across physical locations, socio-economic status, etc., there are a lot of things dividing us, and between work & home, we need a space to build community & connections.

Government sponsored activities to generate conversation and connection would be a great start. Large buildings opening their spaces during off hours for facilitation of events like Creative Mornings, meetups, networking, organizing, etc. People recognizing there are spaces already doing this such as the libraries, public parks, and art galleries like the Factory, and using them as a jumping off point for their ideas would take this to the next level.—Sav Gibbs

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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