UPDATE: Suzanne Cartwright and Marta Goldsmith from Urban Land Institute will participate in ORT meeting immediately following the Legislative Dialogue.

Legislators from the 18-county region of Northwest Florida (from Madison and Taylor counties in the east to Escambia in the west) will hear from economic and workforce development leaders on the issues facing the region. Presented by Florida’s Great Northwest and Our Region Tomorrow, the event will take place Monday, February 15, from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon at the Doubletree Hotel in Tallahassee, Florida, to coincide with the planned legislative committee week.

We presented before the TalTech Alliance yesterday at lunch. Discussion focused on opportunities for economic development in this region for clean, high tech jobs. Key ingredients for such an economy are found in the region, with universities and colleges supporting the knowledge economy and small businesses poised to take advantage of opportunities with state government.

A meeting of the full Advisory Board was conducted on Monday, October 12, immediately following the Big Bend Regional Partnership meeting at Tallahassee’s City Hall. The meeting enabled each ORT Task Force to present a report on recent activities and to receive direction and guidance from the Advisory Board.

The next ORT Advisory Board meeting will be held this Monday, October 12, 2009 from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. at Tallahassee City Hall (in the Tallahassee Room). The meeting will be focused on the ORT task forces—where they are now and where they are headed. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay up to date on the exciting developments within our region.

Thank you to Steve Seibert (Collins Center), Rob Palmer (Urban Land Institute), and Barbara Lenczewski (DCA) for participating in our Land Use and Environmental Conservation Task Force meeting Wednesday at the Goodwood Museum and Gardens in Tallahassee.

We discussed water resources, regional growth for rural counties, and the idea of a Reality Check program for the ORT region.

Next up: ORT Advisory Board meeting on October 12, immediately following meeting of the Big Bend Regional Partnership in Tallahassee City Hall.

Today ORT held its second E/WD Task Force meeting, at Tallahassee Community College. Many thanks to TCC President Bill Law for hosting the meeting and offering insightful remarks. Bottom line: a well-trained workforce is key to any vision for economic vitality, whether global, regional, or local.

Today, members of Our Region Tomorrow and members of the Transportation and Logistics Roundtable of the Tallahassee/Leon County EDC met in a planning session to discuss closer coordination between key stakeholder groups and likely collaboration on a joint event. The meeting resulted as an action item from the ORT Transportation Task Force meeting held August 4.

Next week, CRTPA will be gathering public input on the development of the regional mobility plan. Now is the time to get involved. Meetings will be conducted in the evenings and will include a location in each of the four counties in CRTPA’s focus (Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla).

Congratulations to Chair Glenda Thornton, President Sue Dick, and the entire team at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce for another outstanding Chamber Conference. The sessions couldn’t have been more relevant and timely and touched on issues that we have been discussing on a regional basis over the past year: air transportation, managing natural resources, economic development, and regional identity, just to name a few.

ORT conducted its first meeting of the Transportation Task Force, on Monday, August 3, at the Betty Easley Conference Center Conference at Southwood. Presenters included Harry Reed, executive director of Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency, and Ron Garrison, executive director of StarMetro.