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Why Urban Planet/Tally?

FLJerseyBoy

By FLJerseyBoy
in Tallahassee

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FLJerseyBoy Crossroads

FLJerseyBoy

Posted
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This is related to the Welcome topic but I think worthy of its own...

I stumbled upon UP recently by accident; had no idea it even existed, till I was researching some (already forgotten) subject on the Web. [Wait, no, now I remember: looking for info on Fallschase.]

It's easy to tell from people's comments, and/or from their profiles, if they've got expertise in some area related to the "Urban Plan" of the forum's name. But I'd like to see some little narratives about what everyone is doing here. Did you, too, find it by accident? were you directed here by someone else?

More importantly, what's your long(er)-term interest in it? Is it just a place (a good one, for sure!) to keep up on news about developments and subdivisions, public policy and infrastructure? Is your main interest professional (work-related) or personal (live in/near Tally/Leon County but not a "professional")?

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psycuda Hamlet

psycuda

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This is related to the Welcome topic but I think worthy of its own...

I stumbled upon UP recently by accident; had no idea it even existed, till I was researching some (already forgotten) subject on the Web. [Wait, no, now I remember: looking for info on Fallschase.]

It's easy to tell from people's comments, and/or from their profiles, if they've got expertise in some area related to the "Urban Plan" of the forum's name. But I'd like to see some little narratives about what everyone is doing here. Did you, too, find it by accident? were you directed here by someone else?

More importantly, what's your long(er)-term interest in it? Is it just a place (a good one, for sure!) to keep up on news about developments and subdivisions, public policy and infrastructure? Is your main interest professional (work-related) or personal (live in/near Tally/Leon County but not a "professional")?

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FLJerseyBoy Crossroads

FLJerseyBoy

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To kick things off...

As I said, I found UP by accident while researching Fallschase. (I live in the Avondale neighborhood; can't imagine why I'd be interested in Fallschase! Heh.)

I've a vague sort of professional interest in the general subject of urban planning in Tallahassee: I'm a database analyst and the webmaster for the City's Public Works Department. In that capacity, among other duties, whenever citizens submit automated trouble reports/inquiries about PW issues, I receive the questions first, and re-route them to the appropriate PW division (or other department if that's called for). I've been with the City, and with PW, since 1994, and in that time have been exposed to a broad range of specific areas of concern about the city's infrastructure.

Also, like I said in the Welcome topic, I'm not a native Tallahasseean nor even a native Southerner. After living in NJ for the first 40 years of my life, I thought I'd always think of that as my home. But as time has gone on, it's gotten harder and harder not to think of Tally as my real home. I've come to care about the place and people, and at the same time to wonder about much of it -- how come X is true but Y isn't, whether options A and B would solve more problems than they'd fix, and so on.

I don't know if UP is or can be a place to solve problems. But the potential -- and the reality -- of it seems like a wonderful place to talk and sort of "think out loud" about it.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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Nice thread, FLJerseyBoy. I found UrbanPlanet.org a long time before I decided to join. There was a mention of a particular project going on in Tallahassee (The Tennyson) but at that time very few other mentions of Tallahassee. Not even a Tallahassee Forum, only forums for Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Tampa. I read through some of the material in those forums and thought to myself, "Tallahassee has many of the same issues, concerns, and projects going on. Why don't we have a page on this site. I know we're not a big city, but we're still an important city, at least where Florida is concerned." So I contacted the site administrators and shared this thought with them. They quickly replyed to me, offering to create a forum for Tallahassee.

Thereafter I went to work laying some of the building blocks for this little place I like to call my "home inside of home." I was made Moderator of the forum in its early days, but like many other Florida moderators, I no longer have that title. However as Editor, I do still have the important task to maintain the flow of the forum and do what I can to ensure its contents are second in qualty to no other city on this website. It has been my desire from the beginning and still is now, to share the information I've collected for years about Tallahassee, its wonderful people, its beautiful sights, and some of my ideas for it as it grows into the future. While its also a goal of mine to make this into a non-stop conversation on Tallahassee where every minute of the day a new comment is posted or idea is shared, I'm very happy with its progress.

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poonther Town

poonther

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I'll play......

My main interest here is personal. I have a B.A. in Geography and a M.A. in Urban Planning. I worked as a city planner in Boca Raton for several years. I've always had an interest in the comings and goings of restaurant and retail establishments in the cities I've lived, so that part of UP is fun for me too. I'm also very much a local politics junkie too. I especially enjoy talking about Tally since we are at such a crossroads I feel as to who and what Tally may become in the future. It's very interesting here to watch and talk about growth and related issues b/c in Tally we've got all the players (highly educated/not so educated, rural people/big city people, tree-huggers/developers, whacked-out commission folks) and they all make for an interesting, sometimes crazy, sometimes asinine story to follow.

Too many good ideas come to this message board to be wasted just on chat. Some of them need to be taken from print and implemented IMHO.

I found UP by googling something over a year ago. I usually visit twice-a-day when at home.

I think a great place to advertise UP would be a the local coffehouses. If they have bulletin boards a nice flyer would attract more viewers since everyone is on a laptop when I frequent these places.

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thetoolman Whistle-Stop

thetoolman

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I found it after seeing a link to a photo posted on the Southwood community website that pointed to Urban Planet. I followed the link and promptly spent the next 3 days reading nearly every thread of the Tallahassee section. To paraphrase the Grinch, "I think my [brain] grew three sizes larger [those days]".

I am not in planning or real estate (marketing, actually) but have been in tally since graduating from FSU, and enjoy keeping abreast of the changes in the community. I am glad TJ has gone to the trouble of creating and managing this discussion.

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Go Gators Burg

Go Gators

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I came here actually because of the Orlando forum. I am a (gasp) lobbyist who deals with development, land acquisition/use, etc, throughout the state of Florida. You would be surprised of the wealth of information on these boards. Some people in Orlando work for the city, etc, and are good sources to know what is going on. Then Tallahassee got a forum, and since I stayed here, I became a regular here. I use this forum more for personal reasons than work, and I enjoy reading about what is going on here. So, thats it in a nutshell.

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humzai Whistle-Stop

humzai

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I was searching for information regarding the Plaza Tower while out of town and found UP through my google search. I had been searching off and on for a Tallahassee forum since I had moved here two and a half years ago so I was excited to find the place and have ended up staying. My time on up varies quite a bit and I am mostly on after I have posted refreshing every so often to see if anyone has replied.

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Glenn Hamlet

Glenn

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Just like thetoolman, I found Urban Planet-Tallahassee a little over a year ago by following a link someone had posted on the SouthWood Community website. I was immediately hooked & spent several days reading all the previous posts just to catch up. I enjoy the sense of community we have on here and the wealth of information that isn't always known outside of our forum. I really appreciate all of the time & effort that TJ put in to develop this forum. I feel that we have a very diverse group of posters & I'm always amazed at the wealth of knowledge everyone shares. I work with developers, planners, governmental entities, etc. in the field of GIS/GPS systems & applications & travel throughout the State for work. I mainly use this site for personal reasons to keep up with what's going on in Tallahassee & sometimes read the other City forums as well. I really care about quality growth for Tallahassee. This has been my home for 10 years now & will be for many, many years to come & maybe even forever. I'm originally from the Atlanta area & transferred here for work but have no desire to go back up there to raise my family...Tallahassee is just the right size for us! I would really like to see our downtown turn into the type of place we all long for...residential units, retail storefronts, more nightlife, etc. Sure, we're not 100% perfect but then what City really is?

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