Okeechobee Main Street hosted the Florida Main Street
Resource Team on June 21- 23, 2005. The visit is part of the
continuing support Florida Main Street provides to upcoming Main Streets
across the State. The purpose of the visit was to gain a
perception of the community and provide direction on how to accomplish
the desires of the community in the creation of a master plan for the
downtown area.
The team consisted of four members, Bob Feild, an
architect and community planner from Baltimore, Maryland, Scott Day, a
consultant on Urban development from San Antonio, Texas, Doris Tillman,
Main Street Executive Director from Ft Pierce, Florida and Joan
Jefferson, Florida Main Street Coordinator from Tallahassee, Florida.
The visit began with a tour of various areas in the
community. Some of those area viewed by the team were both
Industrial Parks, medical and school facilities, City and County
complexes, Park Street, Okee-Tanie Park and Lock 7.
At the completion of the tour, the team began a series
of interviews with over 60 individuals of the community including
elected officials, government employees, business and property owners..
The interviews were conducted for the purpose of finding out what the
community's opinions were concerning downtown Okeechobee. The
emphasis was placed on what the interviewees felt about the downtown,
what changes they would like to see in the downtown area and what they
thought the Okeechobee Main Street organization could do to help
implement these changes.
The team also interviewed the Okeechobee Main Street
Board of Directors as well as each individual committee. Following
the tour and interviews, the Resource Team presented ideas, suggestions
and thoughts in the form of a public presentation held on Thursday, June
23 at the South Florida Water Management conference facility.
The Florida Main Street Resource Team has provided a
written report of their findings. The
report is available for review by the public at the Okeechobee Main
Street office located at 111 NE 2nd St. The report can be reviewed
on-line by clicking on the following link.
Florida Main Street
Resource Team Report
For further information, please contact Lydia Jean
Williams, Executive Director of Okeechobee Main Street at (863)
357-MAIN.
