Tampa Bay Correspondent Nicole Roberts


Introducing our Tampa Bay Correspondent Nicole Roberts!

Here at Pedestrian Space we recently launched a Global Walkability Correspondents Network, as a way to build solidarity among walkability advocates around the world and continue to create media on sustainable mobility and urbanism.

We are grateful to welcome Nicole as our Tampa Bay Correspondent to our growing network of individuals who are passionate walkability advocates.

I honestly only initially got involved in walkability because of work, but ever since I have really fallen in love with this realm.

NICOLE ROBERTS
First Bus Rapid Transit in St. Pete

While attending the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to receive their Bachelor of Science in Marketing with a minor in Psychology, Nicole Roberts fell in love with Downtown St. Petersburg. After graduating, they joined the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership to help the downtown grow while maintaining the same vibe that made them fall in love with this place to begin with.

Their main focus is on the Car-Free St. Pete initiative, a movement to encourage locals to use all the amazing alternative transportation options available in Downtown St. Pete.

Nicole served as the lead organizer in 2021 of the first Halloween on Central, a now annual event where Central Avenue is closed to cars to allow the community to enjoy the heart of our city from a different perspective. They are a member of the Leadership St. Pete® Class of 2021, completing one of the oldest leadership programs in America, designed to develop community leaders through an intensive six-month experience. In 2022, they joined the APA Sun Coast Board as the Communications Officer.

CFSP Sticker Found Around Town

being able to walk and bike as a way to commute gave me the opportunity to meet and better understand my neighbors and in a more physical sense, my neighborhood. It really is one of the best ways to get connected to your community.

Nicole Roberts

WHO

I am the Community Engagement Manager with the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership and Project Manager of Car-Free St. Pete, an initiative designed to encourage locals to go car-free in our downtown area. While this started primarily as a marketing campaign, we have expanded in the advocacy space in hopes to improve our local transportation infrastructure to make it easier for people to go car-free.

Halloween on Central, 2021

WHERE

I am from St. Petersburg, Florida, located in the Tampa Bay area! In Downtown St. Pete, we are very lucky to have had thoughtful city founders that reserved our waterfront as a public park system and created a walkable grid of streets as our city structure. Combined with our year-round mild weather, it makes it the perfect place to go car-free!

Unfortunately, this walkability did not expand to greater St. Petersburg, and with one of the most underfunded transit agencies in the country, car-free mobility is a challenge in our area. But, with high levels of relocation to the area that have been intensified by the pandemic, support for mobility has been growing.

Halloween on Central, 2021

WHY WALKABILITY

I honestly only initially got involved in walkability because of work, but ever since I have really fallen in love with this realm. There are so many benefits associated with walkability, and while the health and economic benefits are often talked about, not a lot of people talk about the community benefits. I am not originally from St. Petersburg, so being able to walk and bike as a way to commute gave me the opportunity to meet and better understand my neighbors and in a more physical sense, my neighborhood. It really is one of the best ways to get connected to your community.

Halloween on Central, 2021

I honestly only initially got involved in walkability because of work, but ever since I have really fallen in love with this realm. There are so many benefits associated with walkability, and while the health and economic benefits are often talked about, not a lot of people talk about the community benefits. I am not originally from St. Petersburg, so being able to walk and bike as a way to commute gave me the opportunity to meet and better understand my neighbors and in a more physical sense, my neighborhood. It really is one of the best ways to get connected to your community.

World Car-Free Day 2019

…we have expanded in the advocacy space in hopes to improve our local transportation infrastructure to make it easier for people to go car-free.

NICOLE ROBERTS

I have really only just entered this world of walkability, and while I can bring a lot of creativity to the table when it comes to related marketing campaigns and community initiatives, I am really excited to get connected to peers around the world doing this same work but in different spaces, both physically and in the way they approach the issues at hand. I think by working together and sharing best practices, we will be able to make the work a little more walkable & car-free!

View our St. Petersburg City Rating video with Nicole where she also shares more about her work!

Nicole works at the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership to help the downtown grow while maintaining the same vibe that made them fall in love with this place to begin with. Their main focus is on the Car-Free St. Pete initiative, a movement to encourage locals to use all the amazing alternative transportation options available in Downtown St. Pete. In 2022, they joined the APA Sun Coast Board as the Communications Officer.

Read Tampa Bay Correspondent Nicole’s content here.

Learn more about the Global Walkability Correspondents Network here