Tom’s Views
- Encourage walkable, mixed-use centers that give residents alternatives to driving everywhere.
- Protect Tallahassee's unique character—our trees, neighborhoods, parks, and natural landscape.
- Welcome investment and new businesses rather than picking winners and losers.
- Strengthen existing commercial corridors through redevelopment and reinvestment.
- Align public and private investment so that growth creates lasting value for residents and taxpayers.
- Focus on development patterns, not individual businesses like mattress stores or restaurants.
- Recognize the role of the market: developers respond to demand, incentives, and the rules we establish.
- Shape better choices through good policy: zoning, design standards, streetscapes, parking, and infrastructure all influence development.
The goal is not to stop growth. It is to grow in a way that makes Tallahassee stronger, more attractive, and more economically resilient—without becoming another interchangeable suburban landscape.