Tampa's Downtown

Karen Kress

Karen Kress, AICP, LCI

Director Of Transportation And Planning

kkress@tampasdowntown.com
Karen serves as the Director of Transportation and Planning at the Tampa Downtown Partnership. In her role, Karen manages all aspects of transportation, parking and access throughout Downtown Tampa. A true advocate for transit and transportation, Karen leads Tampa Downtown Partnership’s Transportation and Urban Design Committees, and its Parking Task Force. Karen has been successful in advocating for and bringing transportation options such as Coast bike share, ZipCar carshare, and Downtowner – an app-based electric ride service.
An avid biker, Karen helped found Tampa BayCycle (now called Bike Walk Tampa Bay), a regional cycling education, advocacy and encouragement campaign in 2007 and for over twenty years she has actively volunteered for the Sierra Club’s Inspiring Connections Outdoors program. Acknowledging her efforts, Karen was honored by the Suncoast Chapter of the American Planning Association Planner of the Year in 2014 and in 2017 she was appointed as a Planning Commissioner by the City of Tampa. She is also a certified League Cycling Instructor (LCI) and is able to teach bike safety classes.
Previously, Karen worked in transportation demand management, marketing, human resources and event planning.
A native of Ohio and Political Science graduate of Ohio University, Karen moved to Tampa in the mid-1990’s and is raising her three children with her husband in their own little slice of paradise on the Hillsborough River.

My Favorite Thing to Do in Downtown

A perfect evening for me begins with hopping on a Coast bike at MacDill Park and riding down to the History Center. Be sure to check out their all-new Treasure seekers gallery! From there, I enjoy a stroll to Tampa Theatre for a tour of their historic movie palace. To close out the night, I’ll grab a drink at Hotel Bar – they make delicious cocktails!

Tampa's Downtown

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