Week 10/14: Ten Tools for reshaping St. Cloud, Florida

St. Cloud Florida rests at the southern tip of the Orlando metropolitan area and boasts a modest population of 30,000 residents. Like most cities in the southeastern United States, the automobile dominates the urban framework of the city as residents pay very little attention to sustainable practices or the consequences of reckless consumption. Consequently, the city perpetuates both unsustainable practices and the uninformed ideologies that encourage such practices. I have listed below several strategies for combating this feedback cycle and for introducing sustainable practices into the urban framework of the city.

1) Educate the population about sustainability. The residents (and government officials) of St. Cloud operate with very little awareness of sustainable practices. Consequently, we must educate the population and then encourage them to think holistically about issues of sustainability. Perhaps the best place to start educating the residents is within the public school system—a school system which, up until now, has paid very little attention to the natural environment. Residents must hear about sustainability on a regular basis before they can begin to make lifestyle changes or support sustainable policy.

2) Stop developing on the periphery. Period.

3) Do not allow developers to build new subdivisions without paying large impact fees and providing sufficient infrastructure. Under the current operating system, companies can develop incredibly large areas of land without having to provide any sort of additional infrastructure (parks, schools, services, etc) within the community. We should heavily tax these developers and force them to provide new infrastructure.

4) Market mass transit to the middle class. Although St. Cloud boasts an ingenious layout that would be perfect for some sort of light rail or trolley system, the city currently supplies only one form of mass transit—an unreliable and undesirable bus system. Not only should the city look into alternate forms of transportation, but it should also launch extensive marketing campaigns to encourage residents to use them.

5) Stop allowing big box businesses to enter the community. Although St. Cloud does a great job of finding new uses for abandoned big box facilities, we should not allow large corporations to dominate the physical and economic framework of the city any longer.

6) Provide free recycling for residents. The city of St. Cloud still charges its residents if they wish to recycle.

7) Find creative ways to bring the population out of commercial establishments and into public space. St. Cloud already boasts an outstanding park system that stretches two miles along the shore of Lake Toho. We simply need to market this park system to the residents and promote active living instead of mindless consumption.

8) Encourage bicycle use amongst residents who live within the city limit. Although most homes within the city limit are located very close to commercial facilities and schools, residents usually choose driving over bicycling or walking around town. Perhaps there is a creative way that we can encourage residents to stop using cars to make these short- distance trips.

9) Create some sort of carpool incentive. Many residents of St. Cloud commute to the same areas of Orando every day. These residents could easily join together in a carpooling effort.

10) Plant trees along the US 192 corridor that stretches through the heart of the city. This 5 mile strip provides a prime location for new tree plantings. Not only would such trees encourage drivers to slow down (current speed limit 45) but they would also remind residents of the importance of the natural environment.