TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Between now and September, the North Monroe Corridor Task Force will work to develop recommendations to improve the area of North Monroe Street between Fred George Road and Tharpe Street.
Creating opportunities for new investments, decreasing homelessness, and driving down crime are their three main focuses.
"We saw a heat map, for example, of crime incidents right, so that's a good start for us to take a look at where is crime the highest in the North Monroe corridor and what we can do to address that," said Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor.
Task Force members, noting that some elements of crime like panhandling and vandalism can be deterrents for new and/or re-development they hope their efforts will lead towards.
"Some of the businesses along the corridor, if we get really close to Tharpe Street, back towards downtown, that's an area that probably needs redevelopment, for example," said Task Force member Jo Laurie Penrose.
Some hope developments could give way to more economic opportunities to benefit those who live in the area, as well as those who are working towards securing shelter. Overall, Commissioner Minor said this meeting laid a great foundation for future action.
"We had a really good turnout today because people care about North Monroe," said Minor. "They care about this community. And we have a very diverse task force. These are people from very diverse backgrounds and as you know they were not afraid to talk about the issues and debate the issues and that a really good sign of a task force that's really going to take a hard look at the things we need to discuss."
The Task Force will meet at least three more times before making recommendations to County Commissioners in September.
