Tony Camarillo kept the RP Funding Center doors open during a seven-year, $16 million renovation, negotiated a five-year, $5 million sponsorship deal that brought an NBA minor league team to Lakeland and reduced the city’s annual operations subsidy by 60% despite enduring a pandemic-induced “worst year ever” in 2020.
Author Archives: John Haughey
Posted inCity Hall, Neighborhoods
Lake Miriam Apartments Hearing Will Likely Be Delayed Two Weeks
The city of Lakeland’s public hearing and decision on a proposed 244-unit apartment complex at the Lake Miriam Shopping Center originally scheduled for March 21 will likely be postponed until April 4.
Posted inNeighborhoods
Lakeland CRA Assembling Small Midtown Lots to Support a ‘Large-Scale Project’
The Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency is cobbling together small, mostly vacant lots in an effort to support investment interest in “a large-scale project” in the Parker Street neighborhood.
Posted inCity Hall, Environment
Lakeland Commission OKs $93M in Alternative Water Projects
There’s water, water everywhere in Florida but only so many drops to drink and so many ways to pipe those drops from wells to spigots.
Posted inCity Hall, Neighborhoods
Petition Makes Noise: FAA’s Approval of Amazon Expansion Set for Mediation
Traffic is a snarly issue in Lakeland with growth not only congesting a stressed road grid, but filling the skyscape with aircraft coming and going from city-owned Lakeland Linder International Airport.
Posted inActivism, City Hall
Madden Presses Issue About Petition Space at Jackson Library
Stephanie Lopez regularly sets up a table off the entranceway of the Larry R. Jackson Library to sign people up for federally subsidized health insurance plans and gather signatures for petition drives to get prospective state constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Posted inCity Hall, Neighborhoods
Lakeland Commission Gets First Look at Hotly Contested Lake Miriam Apartment Plan
Lakeland city commissioners today got their first official look at a controversial zoning proposal that would allow a 244-unit apartment complex to be built next to the Lake Miriam Square Shopping Center.
Posted inActivism, City Hall
Regulating the Public Square When It’s at the Library’s Front Door
Local governments are responsible for the operation and maintenance of public libraries but are limited by the U.S. Constitution in how much they can regulate the “public square” on community-owned properties. That was a key takeaway from a recent Lakeland City Commission discussion.
Posted inCity Hall, Housing
$5.5M in Incentives Secures $127M in Affordable Housing Development
Lakeland secured $127 million in private investment for affordable and workforce housing projects by leveraging $5.464 million in funding and incentives from city, state and federal sources for 581 multi-family units that have been built or are currently under construction.
Posted inBusiness, Downtown
Web-Based Tool Will Visualize Development Downtown and Track Projects
The Lakeland Economic Development Council has a plan and the city of Lakeland has its own plan for downtown Lakeland. By April, all the different master plans plotting the future of downtown Lakeland will be integrated and “visualized” on a web-based platform that allows users to see what downtown’s street grid would look like if all proposed and […]