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Dr. Stephen Leatherman, aka “Dr. Beach” has come out with his annual list of the 10 best beaches in the country, and the Bay Area has yet another strong showing.
Caladesi Island in Clearwater came in number 2 on the list for the second year in a row, and Siesta Key near Sarasota bookended the list […]

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce succeeded in bringing higher paying jobs to the Bay Area over the last year. The average yearly salary of jobs brought in this year was $52,362, up 35% from the $38,796 average of jobs brought to the area in 2005.
Unfortunately this came at the expense of the number of […]

The Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization is currently working on a “Livable Communities Model Objectives and Policies” document to guide them in their ongoing quest to redevelope some areas of the county.
From their site:
The term “livable communities” is used to describe urban environments where walking, bicycling and transit service is safe, comfortable and efficient and […]

The Pinellas County Tips, Trends & Technology newsletter for April reports on a survey done by ACCRA. In their 4th quarter composite index for Florida cities, Pinellas County dropped in both cost of living in general, and housing costs specifically. Housing costs dropped from 101.2% of the national average, down to 98.6%. The total […]

In an effort to protect the character of neighborhoods and urbanize commercial parts of the county, the Pinellas County Commission approved changes to land use rules in St. Petersburg. The changes, brought about by suggestions in St. Petersburg’s Vision 2020 plan, will affect 37,000 property owners, and 7,789 acres, which is about a quarter of […]

The Tampa Bay Partnership issued a press release highlighting areas of economic and business growth recently. Some highlights include:
SRI International Opens New R&D Facility in Tampa Bay
A little over a month after making its expansion plans public, SRI International Inc., one of the world’s leading independent research and technology development organizations, officially opened its St. […]

Business 2.0 Magazine recently released its list of the 10 hottest cities in terms of job growth, and all are south of the Mason-Dixon. Nestled in that list of 10 are 3 areas in Florida: Jacksonville, Orlando, and the Tampa Bay area.
Business 2.0’s statistics predict a 19.7% job growth between now and 2015. They show […]

In Manatee-Sarasota, the combined economic impact of higher education is conservatively estimated at $500 million a year, based on information supplied by the colleges and universities.
Schools like University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, New College of Florida, Manatee Community College, Ringling School of the Arts, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Keiser University are producing graduates […]

Construction began on Pinellas County’s 23-mile public trail. The Progress Energy Trail will ultimately extend from Tampa Rd down to Gandy Blvd along the counties eastern edge. Eventually it will connect to the Pinellas trail. The first leg of construction will actually be from Belleair Road to Brighthouse Networks Field, at which […]

Doesn’t it seem like there are more political ads this year than any other election season in recent memory? It’s because there are. According to Nielsen Media Research more television political advertising has been purchased in the Bay Area than anywhere else in the country, beating out Los Angels and the other bay area, San […]